Baby girl on the way!

So the exciting news in our family is that baby number two is on the way and doing well. I am due January 31, 2013. I am currently 19 weeks and we just found out last week that we are having a little girl. I finally started taking belly shots like I did for him. It is really fun to see the belly blossom. It is also super fun this time since he likes to be in the photos and we are using the his chalk board to record the weeks. I am sewing a lot these days and planning to make more cloth diapers. I have a few newborn diapers but they have been through two other babies in addition to him so probably time for new ones. I am also making really cute maternity tops and skirts for myself. The orange top is my latest creations. I made both the top and skirt out of thrift store t-shirts and came up with the patterns from other clothing. I am having fun adding the flowers and trying new designs. I made this top a bit snug though but it will work great next year. I have made a lot of other fun skirts and tops that I will post soon.

Canning this summer

Our csa at Bellair Farm has pick your own fields which is really awesome for canning. They have several varieties of tomatoes, peppers, green beans and herbs. We picked a lot of tomatoes a few weeks ago and I decided try out a recipe for tomato jam. It is pretty simple and basically sugar along with tomatoes. You cook it for many hours until it thickens. It took quite a bit of tomatoes and only made one pint so not sure if I would do it again but it was a fun experiment and tastes really good. I also found some lovely organic cherries and made sweet cherry jam. I just opened a jar last week and it is pretty yummy.

Lazy Daze craft festival

The Lazy Daze craft festival was on Saturday. The weather was nice in general and a lot cooler than previous years. My booth spot was great and attendance seem good but unfortunately sales were not good. I received a lot of really nice comments on my quilts so very that was great. I also have a good selection of quilts now and new for this year is the smaller size that works great for babies, furry friends and also as wall hangings. I managed to make 12 small quilts and 9 larger ones. I am going to restock my esty shop very soon and see if I can generate any sales. It was really fun hanging out with my sister and her family so a fun a weekend overall. I just need to figure out a way to sell a bit more to make it worth it to go to the shows.

Beet coconut milk ice cream

I finally made beet ice cream. I used a version of the vanilla beet ice cream from Fragrant Vanilla Cake. I added one steamed and pureed beet along with coconut milk, sugar, vanilla, soy milk and a little guar gum. The color of the ice cream is amazing. The texture is really good also though I could have used a bit more sugar. I only added 1/4 cup since I thought the beet would add a lot of sweetness. Next time I will add half a cup and it will be perfect.

Mango beet cheesecake with coconut crispy rice streusel

At the Post Punk Kitchen they are having an online Chopped contest. The mystery ingredients are fresh mango, red bunch beets, dried unsweetened coconut and crisp rice cereal. I was able to get together an entry this time. I think I was motivated by the fact they included beets which is evident from last post. I decided to make a cashew tofu cheesecake using the beets and mango. The crust and streusel topping have the dried unsweetened coconut and crisp rice cereal. I used one fresh organic mango, one fresh organic beet, organic unsweetened dried coconut and organic brown rice crisp cereal. I came up with the crust recipe and used a version of the Pumpkin cheesecake in Vegan Pie in the Sky by Isa Chandra Moskowitz and Terry Hope Romero. 

Mango beet cheesecake with coconut crispy rice streusel
Three mini cheesecakes or one large

Crust and streusel topping

1 cup walnuts
1/2 cup unsweetened dried coconut
8 pitted dates chopped
1/4 cup coconut oil
2 Tbl maple syrup
1 cup crispy rice cereal

Place the walnuts, chopped dates, dried coconut, chopped dates, coconut oil and maple syrup in a food processor. Process until the mixture starts to stick together and the walnuts are ground. Add the crispy rice cereal and process for a few seconds to incorporate the cereal. Take half of the mixture and press it into a spring form pan or I have cute little heart cheesecake pans. Bake at 325 for 15 minutes and remove to cool while you make the filling.

Mango and beet cheesecake filling

I used the recipe from the Vegan Pie in the Sky book as I stated above and I added the mango and beets. I included the raw cashews, silken tofu, coconut oil, cornstarch, lemon juice, salt and vanilla extract from the Pumpkin cheesecake recipe. I also added 1/2 teaspoon of guar gum. I left out the rest of the ingredients. I also omitted the regular and brown sugar. I added 1/4 cup of maple syrup instead. You may want to add more sweetener. Both the mango and beet are really sweet so I figured that would make up the difference. It made a vanilla cheesecake base. I split the batter in two. I added one chopped fresh mango to one batter and processed in the food processor until smooth. I poured this into the heart pans and filled them about half way. I then added a bit of the streusel topping and pressed down gently. To the rest of the batter I added one large chopped steamed beet and processed in the food processor until smooth. I poured the beet batter on top of the mango batter and filled to the top. I added the remaining streusel topping. I baked the cheesecakes and then put them in the fridge to cool for a few hours.


We just had one for dessert this evening and it turned out yummy. I think the other two will be even better tomorrow morning. I may put one in the freezer since that sounds like fun and I think the filling would be really great frozen. I might also make beet ice cream tomorrow and have it with the frozen version.

Beet waffles

 
He loves waffles so I try to be a bit creative with the ingredients. I add just about everything to the waffles. My favorites are banana nut with greens and gingerbread with sweet potatoes. We are getting a lot of beets through our csa so decided to give it a try. The color is really lovely from the addition of the beets and they taste really great. He ate a whole one this morning. My next adventure with beets is going to be ice cream. I found a great recipe online for coconut milk beet ice cream. Yum!

Raw strawberry cheesecake

I recently came across the blog Fragrant Vanilla. She has awesome recipes for desserts. I made the little raw strawberries and cream streusel topped cheesecakes last night and they turned out really yummy. I halved the recipe and made three small heart cakes. I wasn't sure if he was going to like it due to the coconut and pecans but he loved it.

Cap sleeve shirts

I have a cap sleeve shirt that I bought a while back that I love to wear. I decided to use the shirt as a pattern to make a few more for myself. I have also been playing with adding texture to my shirts with ruffles and flowers. I used recycled XL shirts from my favorite shopping place Goodwill. The shirts turned out really comfy. The lovely flowers are from Bellair Farm CSA where we get a lot of our produce. They have a huge field of flowers where you can pick your own each week.

Super hero fun

A friend of mine gave me a whole bunch of curtains to use in the new house. We already have curtains for J's room so decided to use the blue gingham ones for a different purpose. The super hero cape pattern is from Georgia Leigh. I purchased the pattern in her etsy shop but you can also draft your own pattern using her great tutorial. The pattern is super easy to sew and comes in a few sizes.

Homemade ravioli

We finally moved into our new house and it is awesome. One of the best parts of the house is the kitchen. It is pretty much a dream for me to cook in the new space. I am busy crafting and cooking in the new space but obviously very neglectful about posting. So here is a post on a whole wheat sweet potato ravioli with a white bean sauce. I am experimenting with making my own pasta and this batch turned out pretty yummy for a first try. The recipe for the whole wheat pasta dough is from The Modern Vegetarian Cookbook by Peter Berley. The white bean sauce is from The Voluptuous Vegan by Myra Kornfeld.

Hemp milk is yummy

For my new years resolution I decided to make more of our food from scratch. I really enjoy home cooked food and in most cases I like the version we make way better than anything we buy already prepared. It is also cheaper to make everything so definitely worth the extra effort. J loves to help out in the kitchen too. It usually involves a bigger mess and more time but it is fun to show him my love for cooking and baking. One thing I have wanted to try is making my own nut or seed milks. In particular I have wanted to try making hemp milk with the blender. I bought organic shelled hemp seeds at Whole Foods and found the hemp milk recipe online. It is really easy to do and tastes better to me than the store bought versions. I haven't figured out the costs yet but I think if I buy the seeds in bulk on Amazon then it will be quite a bit cheaper than buying it in the carton. It also is better trash wise since I don't have to throw away the aseptic cartons. I made a smoothie with the milk by adding a banana, frozen strawberries and mangoes, and a little maple syrup. Very yummy.