Love Your Ma'ma!

I know this is super last minute, but...

As a very special treat, I'm actually officially filling orders
for Mother's Day boxes in Los Angeles. If you're interested in
some taste vegan treats and forgot to grab something-- I've got your
back with...

Cake Donuts! : $12 a box - A pack of 6 classic cake donuts, 2 in each flavor:
Vanilla-Lemon
Cinnamon Sugar
and Original Sprinkle







Breakfast Scone Box: $12 a box - Features 4 delightful types of scones:
Orange-Cranberry
Green Tea
Ginger-Lemon
and Savory Sage





Fairy Cakes: $4 for each miniature cake
Raspberry with White Cake
Mango with White Cake
and Chocolate Creme







Order Now while you still can by emailing me misskitchenwitch(at)gmail(dot)com

Beet Bejeweled Risotto

Since we had recently gone a little over the top with bread, we hit up
some standard burritos and tacos, and then I had to move on
to a different starch for my meals.

I’ve recently developed a love affair with risotto. There are so many
myths surrounding risotto, telling people it is too hard to make
unless you’ve got Gordon Ramsey screaming over your shoulder,
telling you what to do. I’m here to tell you that risotto is super easy.
If you can pour broth into a pan and stir rice around for a half
hour, you can make risotto.

Of course I like twisting the flavours around. You’ll usually see
some tomato and basil risottos-- anything you might find replicated
from a pasta recipe. Most of all I wanted to change the colour of
the actual dish, so what better than beets? The beets are steamed,
peeled, and chopped before hand so that they are ready to go when
you’re making the risotto.

Its perfect because I wanted to start up some themed dishes to get
you all ready and in the mood for St. Valentine’s Day.

Yes, I know a lot of people really hate St. Valentine’s Day.
Especially, if you’re single or sometimes with a really annoying person.
Well if St.Valentine’s Day is about love, what about loving yourself
a little? Love yourself with a special meal, some dark chocolate,
a glass of wine, and your favorite movie.

Or throw a little dinner party and then you won’t be alone. Maybe
invite all your single friends so no one feels alone out there in
the world of candle light couple events... I honest have never seen
St. Valentine’s as something corporate or designed to make you feel
bad for not having a significant other. I always used it as a day to
remember all the people I love. I’d make cards, cookies, or candy for
all my friends and family. Later on in life, I got little things here
and there from boys and that was nice too. But I wasn’t expecting it,
so it was even better.

Getting back to cooking.... If you are trying to multi-task while
making risotto, good luck. I mean forget it. You’ll probably end up
with some hard, sticky rice. You can hardy leave the pan alone for a
minute without it drying out.

So make sure everything else is set and ready to go. Feed the cats,
take out the dog, avoid interruptions. And enjoy~

Bejeweled Risotto



3 medium beets, cooked, peeled and chopped
1/2 large onion, minced
4 cloves garlic, minced
3 tbsp earth balance or olive oil
1 cup vodka
6-8 cups of vegetable broth
or water with a few bouillon cubes dissolved
2 cups arborio rice
1/4 cup daiya moz cheese
black and white pepper
sea salt
sage, thyme, lemon zest

First heat the oil in a large frying pan or saute pan.
Add the onions and garlic and cooking in the oil for a few minutes
at a medium to low high heat.

Add the rice, coating well with oil. Cook for about two minutes,
stirring. Add the vodka, making sure that it is warm or room temp
to not shock the rice leaving it unable to cook properly.

Once the vodka is almost absorbed and the liquid looks sparse,
add a 1/2 cup of warm or room temp broth. You will continue to do
this. Add broth, stir, cooking it just at a light simmer until the
liquid is not quite gone, add more broth. Don’t let it get too dry.

Once it starts to look puffy and sticky, start testing it to see if
the center is cooked. Once it is near al dente, add the seasonings
and chopped beets. Continue to cook until the beets are hot and the
colour has distributed nicely. Add more broth still as needed.
Finally, add the daiya and stir until completely melted. Serves 4-6

I had mine with some garlic-chili grilled tofu! Yum!

International Vegan Pizza Day

I new celebration on the rise is coming up the 29th of this month:
International Vegan Pizza Day, which sounds like a blast.
Or at least a perfect excuse to throw a party.

So for all you vegan pizza lovers out there, get busy and
make your plans. Check out what places around you serve
the best vegan pizza and help spread the word.

Or if you're like me and would rather stay in and do it all
yourself... Check out some of my awesome pizza recipes...

The TMNT Cowabunga Pizza
The BBQ Pizza
The Double-Decker Pizza
The Nutty Chipmunk Pizza
The Rastafarian Pizza
Strawberry Fields Pizza
Tostada Pizza (vegan CPK copycat)
El Diablo Pizza
And an apricot pizza


A great way to throw a pizza party is to have all the attendees
all bring a few of their favorite toppings, not a lot though.
Then everyone can help and design their own pizza or slices.

An easy basic crust goes like this...

1 1/2 tsp yeast
1 tsp sea salt
1 tbsp sweetener
2 tbsp oil
1 cup warm water
2 1/2-3 cups flour

Mix all but flour together and let it set for about five minutes.
Slowly add the flour, a half cup at a time. Once it begins to pull
away from the sides, tip onto a floured counter top and knead.
Add more flour as you knead-- if you NEED! ha ha

Once the dough is elastic and appears smooth, place into a bowl
with a tablespoon of oil and flip dough over, so it is greased.
Cover with a towel and let rise until doubled.

At this time you can store it away in the fridge or freezer until
you want to use it later or you can roll it out and use right away!

Other tips for your own vegan pizza party:

* Make sure to have enough and a variety of sauces.
red sauce is great, but what about a white sauce or a pesto?
* Add extra flavors to your dough(s)
what about sun dried tomatoes, black olives, a variety of herbs!
* What are you cooking your pizzas on?
A stone is ideal, but cookie sheets work well. If using a stone
remember to preheat it beforehand for 500 degrees then turn down
to 450 when you put the pizza in.
* Whats for dessert?
A sweet pizza is always fun with jam for sauce, topped with sliced
fruits, chocolate shavings or even drizzled with frosting.
* Have a few pizzas ready to go and planned in case you don't end up
with enough toppings or not enough variety. I usually have two
pizzas ready to go on stand-by just in case!
* Take lots of pictures and have fun!

Let me know what you're doing to spread the word or celebrate for
International Vegan Pizza Day!

Happy 2011

Now that all the cookies are eaten and a New Year has arrived, I
suppose I should be making a resolution to burn all that off. But
I am no good at sticking to plans like that. If I get into the
habit of things, I'm fine. But nothing makes you feel worse than
failed promises to yourself.

I know a lot of people complain about New Years resolutions
because we shouldn't be only trying to make a change at the beginning
of the year or once a year. The same as how people are only nice
and giving at Christmas instead of all year 'round.

I see it more as a chance to remember what is important in our
behavior and actions. These times are an opportunity to try again
and keep track of our habits. No, this shouldn't be restricted to
one time of year, but it does serve as a good yearly reminder of
what we've done or not done. In fact, my going vegan started as a
New Years Resolution long ago.

Than yes, I'm going to try to get into a better exercise routine, I'm
gonna try to not eat so many goodies, and try to drink more green
smoothies-- or something like that.

Instead my resolutions are a little more general. I'm not worried about
strict pounds, inches or even dress sizes. My New Years Resolution
falls into the range of 'tivities' By that I mean productivity and
creativity. This year I will strive to allot more time to enhance my
productivity and creativity. Planning ahead and indulging in artistic
pastimes is my idea for 2011.

Last year I was resolved to become more sustainable and I did pretty
well. I've restricted my purchasing to products that have less
packaging, I eat out anymore, and produce only 1 gallon of trash every
six months. I've got my cats on a biodegradable litter. I shop at the
farmers market, locally owned shops, and go for organic whenever possible.

I'm starting to sew again and rarely buy anything new. To continue
building on my resolution for last year we are going to build a
container garden in the spring and I'll start doing tons of preserving
and canning.

The Holidays went by much quicker for me than ever before.
Our Christmas got postponed, so I've been playing mental catch-up
for over a week now. I'm back to school on Monday, which means lots
of last minute shopping, ordering of books, and back to riding my
bike late at night in the cold.

On a more positive note... Here is my second and more successful
attempt at the Stained Glass Window Cookies. I did the things I
noted for improvement and came out with a much better product!







The last batch of cookies I made were some fancy Thin Mint
Christmas trees. Very very tasty and cute to boot!



For Christmas I got Monkey-man a cast-iron Panini Press that
he has been coveting. To break it in, we are doing a Panini
series! So stay in touch for some lip-smackin grilled sandwichies!

Cookie Commotion: Folk Style Painted Cookies

Finally I got the hang of the painted effect that I was
trying to do on my gingerflake cookies.

It is done by dipping the cookie in glaze and then using
a toothpick to spread colored glaze into pretty designs.


Separate a little bit of glaze to make the extra colors.
You won't need a lot, only a few drops of glaze for each.
Then add as much color as you need.

I added some orange extract for extra flavor and had some fun!

With each stroke you'll have to dip the toothpick to draw.
Its very easy and super pretty, check it out!

Don't let the glaze harden and dry before doing the color
or it won't work.

Cookie Commotion & a Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas to everyone out there celebrating!
I haven't been able to get out here posting anything,
we had to take a last minute trip to Palm Springs to visit
with my Uncle who is not doing so well. So, our personal
Christmas is being postponed a couple of days until we
can get home and replenish our energy sources.

Since I'm a little backlogged I'm going to continue showing
off the cookies I've been making for my friends and family.
A lot of these ideas can be used through out the year for
different holidays or just if you feel like being fancy.



So here are my 'Cute as a Button Cookies'.
They are just some basic colored sugar cookies with a
decorating twist. I'm going to do these again in Easter
in a whole range of colors. The pastels are so cute and
they were perfect with just the little tiny bit of frosting.


First you cut out a basic round shape.


Then you use a lid to make a deep impression on the cut
out shape, to make the ridge of the button shape.
Add little holes for the button holes with a toothpick.


After they are baked you add a little bit of frosting
with a pastry bag to make the 'strings'.

You can of course flavor the frosting or the cookie dough
to match the colors. I was thinking of adding strawberry
or raspberry extract to the pink ones and lemon to the yellow.



I'll have more treats for you tomorrow. In the meantime,
have a beautiful holiday.

Christmas Cookie Commotion & Yuletide

I was really excited for Monday as Winter Solstice aligned with
a lunar eclipse. However, we've been getting some nice rainfall
here in Los Angeles and I'm certainly the last one to complain about
rain. I know our water reserves needed it more than I needed to see
a lunar eclipse. Alas, our night was cloudy.

Yet, the rain certainly didn't stop me from making Buche De Noel:
A french sweet cake in the shape of a Yulelog. Otherwise known as a
chocolate heart attack! Traditional French versions are filled with
chocolate whipped cream and rolled with a egg-laden sponge cake.

I just used a basic vegan chocolate cake and made a special flavored
chocolate frosting for the filling.

My frosting is about 1 1/2 cup of powdered sugar, 3 tbsp cocoa powder,
3 tbsp earthbalance, a tbsp- 2 tbsp of soymilk and 1/2 tsp of raspberry
extract.



I went pretty overboard with the presentation and everything.
I frosted the middle (filling) and then frosted the log when it was
rolled up. Then I melted semi-sweet chocolate chips with a little
bit of soymilk to make a firm chocolate glaze. Usually it is just
chocolate frosting on the outside, scraped to look like a wooden
log. But I really like the glossy chic-ness of the glaze.
Very neo-traditional!



I melted some more chocolate chips by themselves and drizzled designs
on to wax paper, then froze them to make the twigs on the top.


Then I topped it with toasted almonds, some powdered sugar for snow
and some decorated truffle cookies.



Traditionally, the plate would be adorned with meringue mushrooms,
but I make sugar cookies filled with raspberry jam. I then glazed them
and painted them with coloring and vodka, like my snowflakes from
yesterday.



Here you can see the jam in the little pocket. I just shaped them
into little bowls, plopped in the jelly, then covered it up with
another piece of dough and rolled it gently before baking.





Monkey-man had to work late, so this was his surprise when
he came home. I love Buche de Noel and its much more eco-
friendly than burning a wooden log!

Christmas Cookie Commotion: Gingerflakes

I don't know how many times I've mentioned it, but as I've probably
said at least once-- gingerbread is my absolute favorite
cookie. I love the depth and muskiness of molasses along with the
soft and chewy texture of the cookie itself. I could live off of them,
at least for a bit.

Instead of the typical gingerbread men and piped icing, I did some
glazing that was perfect in my head but came out a little bit weird.
I wanted to try the effect of glazing and spreading drops of color
with a toothpick, but I let it dry to much. So I came out with some
smeared bizarre looking flower-flakes.



So I pulled one of my favorite tricks that I learned from doing fondant
and cake decorating... Coloring and vodka. I mixed some blue coloring
with a tsp of straight vodka and painted on the patterns I had wanted
to do.



I used a clean new paint brush and gently tapped the brush into
the glaze, so it didn't drip and had a darker color.



Personally, I really like the result. But like I said yesterday,
I'm going to get a properly shaped snowflake next time.

Tomorrow I'll share my Yule pictures with you, in the meantime
here is one of the Christmas cards I made to send out this year!

Christmas Cookie Commotion!

I originally saw these done in a non-vegan cook book and wanted to
try the idea out for myself, just to see how they would turn out.
The original is full of butter, eggs, and refined candy-- lifesavers
I think. I'm not so much concerned about the candy as I am about
the artificial food coloring that goes into those or jolly ranchers.

There is a lot of things that I will tweak on my second try,
but I'll tell you about that after. Overall this is a really awesome
idea and pretty fun, albeit time consuming. But if you've already
allotted a good amount of time to decorate cookies, there are no
worries there. The project?

Stained Glass Cookies



I have no doubt that you'll surprise your friends and family by gifting
these, as they are pretty stunning.

You start with a basic sugar cookie recipe, roll out, and cut out your
desired shapes...



From there, you cut out some small shapes from the cookies that will
serve as the windows.



Next you're going to select your hard candies.
I'm using Fox hard candies. They are colored from fruit and vegetable
sources and sweetened with juices. I believe they are from the UK,
judging from their vegetarian symbol on the back of the packet. I
got them from Cost Plus World Market for $2.99.


The original author says to put the candies into a plastic bag and
pound them with a hammer. But I just kept mine in the original wax
paper wrapper and hit them with my marble rolling pin.




Next fit the candies, whole or broken into the cut shapes.
This took the most experimentation because I was putting too
large or too small candies in the holes.



You'll be baking these on foil or parchment paper as to remove
them from the hot pan to cool. Also press down around the edges
of the hole so the candy does not leak down under the cookie while
they are baking.


Once they are baked, let them sit on the pan for one minute. Then
remove the paper/foil with the cookies on it and let that sit for
about 20 minutes, until the candy and cookie are completely cooled.







The things I would change:

I'd definitely not use whole wheat or even the white whole wheat
flour again, as it made for a much darker cookie. If doing a darker
cookie I'll make it a chocolate or gingerbread.

I'll be flavoring it with almond extract instead of vanilla, to keep
the colour of the dough lighter.

Get a better snowflake cookie cutter. Frankly, the snowflakes I made
looked pretty... 'special'. They looked like trippy hippy 60s flowers,
not snowflakes.

I'll go back to my go-to sugar cookie recipe. I used a veganized
version from the original recipe from the book and it was too dry
and the cookies cracked a little.







Stay in touch for my next cookie adventure!
Tonight I'll be doing my traditional Buche De Noel for a perfectly
Bewitching Yule, my true holiday celebration! But don't tell Monkey-
man-- It's a surprise!

In the meantime you can check out my other cookie recipes:

Pumpkin Gingerbread Fluffkins
Classic Gingerbread
Applesauce Oat Cookies
Snickery Doodle Cookies
or some Pumpkin Biscotti with Cranberries

Yule Blessings and enjoy the total Lunar Eclipse tonight!