Leroy On Sunday afternoon after Rob and I finished eating some delicious vegan hot wings, we sat on the screen porch and talked about our cat Leroy. It was extremely pleasant. Leroy was asleep nearby on a little couch under the ceiling fan. Even though …
When I showed Rob this picture of himself and our neighbors’ cat Bubbles, he nodded and said, “Oh, yeah, I see. There’s Bubbles reading the newspaper.” I thought his remark captured just perfectly the charm of the photo. Bubbles looks like a tiny person as …
Two Saturdays ago, Rob and I repainted the dark green fence that runs along North Adams Street in front of our house. The old paint had really faded over the years. We installed the fence in 2007, and it hadn’t been painted since then.
Painting was fun because it was the first truly warm day of the year and for once I wasn’t cooped up in an office. I was out in the world, enjoying the spring. We were kneeling among the lyre-leaf sage and golden ragwort, and we could smell the festive aroma of our neighbors’ barbecues. Everybody was celebrating the season.
Bubbles, who is not actually our cat, was keeping us company, rolling around in the grass, looking cute. Rob and I were singing Gordon Lightfoot songs and cheerfully criticizing each other’s painting, blaming each other for drips and missed spots. Rob thought I was putting my paint on too thin. I thought he was putting his on too thick.
And so it went–a little arguing, a little singing. The air smelled of smoked pork and wisteria. It took us about four hours to finish the fence, and we admired it for the rest of the day.
About a month ago, Rob and I bought some vintage cast-iron garden furniture in Dothan—a bench and two chairs, with a fern motif. We scraped the rust off, primed everything, and painted each piece a nice, glossy black. Last night we applied our last coat …
The other day I made a vegan version of the pecan balls my mom always baked at Christmas when I was a kid. They were really good (rich and vegan-buttery) and they brought back lots of happy memories.
In December when I was young, Mom would become a baking fiend, whipping up pecan balls, date balls, toffee, fudge, icebox fruitcake, cut-out cookies, party mix, spiced pecans, cheese wafers, and more. She’d fill old tins and Cool Whip containers with goodies, hiding them from us kids (we were ravenous freaks), saving them up to use as presents and to serve on the big day. Finally, on Christmas Eve, we were free to dig in. We’d pull everything out and have a little party just for us, for our family (Mom and four kids).
Mom would put her special Christmas table cloth on the table, and my sister Kris and I would make punch out of Sprite and lime sherbet. We’d arrange our treats on Mom’s best dishes. The party mix would go in a big cut-glass bowl with a silver rim, and the cookies and candy would go on a round white platter that looked like a giant, wide-open flower (it had a ruffled edge).
We used to laugh so much as we ate like pigs. I’m afraid we kids were pretty goofy and obnoxious. One of Mom’s old friends used to send these unintentionally hilarious Christmas newsletters that we always looked forward to receiving, and I think lots of our jokes were about the newsletters; I believe Kris would even do dramatic readings.
I guess I think it’s pretty neat that we could have such a great party with only five people, the same people we saw every day. We’d be so excited even though nobody was coming over (all our relatives lived far away). Christmas music would be playing, and my brother, Jacob, would be dancing. The tree would be sparkling, and cats would be casually sharpening their claws on the Christmas presents, ripping up the wrapping paper. Things could get pretty crazy.
Pecan balls were part of the fun. I’m glad I can still enjoy them now even though I’m a poor deprived vegan.
Vegan Pecan Balls
Ingredients:
1 cup vegan butter, softened
1/2 cup sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup finely chopped pecans
Powdered sugar
Directions:
In a large mixing bowl, cream the butter, sugar, and vanilla until light and fluffy. Gradually add the flour. Stir in the pecans. Shape rounded teaspoonfuls of dough into balls. Place 1 inch apart on a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper. Bake at 325 degrees F for 20 to 22 minutes or until the cookies are set and the bottoms are lightly browned. Let the cookies sit for 2 to 3 minutes before removing to wire racks to cool. Roll in powdered sugar when cool enough to handle.
On Sunday Rob and I put up our Christmas tree. It was so much fun. We listened to Christmas songs and heated up some cider in a pot on the stove. The house smelled wonderfully cinnamon-y and was a big, festive mess of boxes and …
A coworker of mine, Evelyn, brought a big pot of Sweet Potato Maafe to our office Thanksgiving party and passed out lovely color copies of the recipe. Well, I liked it so much I made it at home the very next night. A maafe is …
I love gingerbread; I always have. Gingerbread has always been my favorite. Some of my fondest childhood memories are of going with Mom to Heidi’s Bakery and choosing a cookie from the big glass case. My sister Kris always got thumbprint cookies, and I always got a gingerbread boy, with raisins for buttons down the front of his tummy. Trips to Heidi’s were rare, an extra special treat. We’d go early in the morning, in the dark, and then eat cookies for breakfast in the car on the way to school. I’d feel very fancy and lucky and spoiled—because my cookie was so pretty and came in such a pretty, dainty white bag.
I got a hankering for gingerbread about a week ago and started looking for recipes. I would have liked to whip up some handsome gingerbread boys, but since I’m kind of a terrible baker I decided I better go with something easier—gingerbread muffins. Even I can’t mess up muffins. I used this terrific recipe and tweaked it just a bit.
Vegan Gingerbread Muffins
Ingredients:
2/3 cup almond milk
2 tsps apple cider vinegar
4 Tbls ground flaxseed
2 1/2 cups flour
4 tsps baking powder
2 Tbls ground ginger
2 tsps ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp ground cloves
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 cup canola oil
1/2 cup unsweetened applesauce
2/3 cup molasses
1/2 cup brown sugar
2 tsps vanilla
Directions:
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Line a muffin tin with 12 muffin papers.
Measure the almond milk into a medium-sized bowl. Mix the apple cider vinegar and flaxseed together in a separate small bowl; stir vigorously for about a minute. Then add the vinegar/flaxseed to the almond milk and let it sit for a few minutes.
In a large mixing bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, ginger, cinnamon, cloves, and salt. Make a well in the center and add the milk mixture. Then add the oil, applesauce, molasses, brown sugar, and vanilla. Mix everything together until just moistened; be careful not to overmix.
Fill muffin tins and bake for about 22 minutes.
