Thursday, March 25, 2010
Middle Harbor Shoreline Park
On a blustery Tuesday afternoon, Sonny and I decided to take Apple on an outing. We went out to Middle Harbor Shoreline Park to do a little exploring.
Tuesday, March 16, 2010
Beefing up the Kitchen Arsenal
I wanted to check with everyone local out there, before I lose myself on a mad day of thrifting (although it's gonna be a blast!), to see if anyone had any of these particular things lying around unused in their kitchen. Perhaps I could take them off your hands and put them to use? I promise to share whatever deliciousness comes out of them! I've had great luck finding this kind of stuff through friends in the past, so I figured I'd ask! It is spring cleaning time, right!?!?
A simple stainless steel stockpot. This one is 6qt, but I could go even bigger! I make a lot of soup and stews and tend to go a bit overboard, with multiple smaller pots cooking at the same time....something like this would be a lifesaver!
Food Dehydrator. My brief experiments with a rad countertop convection oven that also had this capability, way back in the warehouse days, were enough to convince me I need one of my own. I used the dehydrated berries I'd made in a ton of different things for months! I'd love to expand on the amount of raw food in my diet by playing with different dehydrated food ideas.
Nut and Seed Grinder. Looking for either an electric or manual version! Or, if anyone has a coffee mill they're no longer using, I'd love that too!
Cast Iron anything! Specifically pans or skillets. Eventually I'd like to get rid of everything in my pot/pan brigade that's been coated w/ any type of "non-stick" surface, and move to cast iron.
Dry Ingredients Sifter. Baking is in my future!!
Speaking of baking, more Muffin Pans! I currently have 1, which holds 6 at a time. How are my vegan cupcakes going to take over the world at that rate?!
Aaaaaaand I'm sure I forgot a TON of other things, but hey, this is a good start. OH and if any one is doing spring cleaning of their kitchen and finds something they no longer use/want (really, almost anything) HIT ME UP before tossing it. I'll probably be happy to take it off your hands.
Thanks Everyone!!!!! <3 <3
A simple stainless steel stockpot. This one is 6qt, but I could go even bigger! I make a lot of soup and stews and tend to go a bit overboard, with multiple smaller pots cooking at the same time....something like this would be a lifesaver!
Food Dehydrator. My brief experiments with a rad countertop convection oven that also had this capability, way back in the warehouse days, were enough to convince me I need one of my own. I used the dehydrated berries I'd made in a ton of different things for months! I'd love to expand on the amount of raw food in my diet by playing with different dehydrated food ideas.
Nut and Seed Grinder. Looking for either an electric or manual version! Or, if anyone has a coffee mill they're no longer using, I'd love that too!
Cast Iron anything! Specifically pans or skillets. Eventually I'd like to get rid of everything in my pot/pan brigade that's been coated w/ any type of "non-stick" surface, and move to cast iron.
Dry Ingredients Sifter. Baking is in my future!!
Speaking of baking, more Muffin Pans! I currently have 1, which holds 6 at a time. How are my vegan cupcakes going to take over the world at that rate?!
Aaaaaaand I'm sure I forgot a TON of other things, but hey, this is a good start. OH and if any one is doing spring cleaning of their kitchen and finds something they no longer use/want (really, almost anything) HIT ME UP before tossing it. I'll probably be happy to take it off your hands.
Thanks Everyone!!!!! <3 <3
Sunday, March 14, 2010
Mountain View Cemetery - Oakland
Sonny and I spent some time wandering around the silence of the Mountain View Cemetery in the Oakland Hills a few days ago. It's an incredibly gorgeous, relaxing, interesting setting, and the final resting place of some of the SF Bay Area's pioneers and founders.
Some images of the beauty I saw...
Some images of the beauty I saw...
Wednesday, December 23, 2009
Applesauce Raspberry Muffins *Vegan*
I got the bug to bake today. It was cold, I was bored, and there were a stack of cookbooks staring me down, taunting me. I've been wanting to try my hand at these muffins for quite some time now. The smell of apples and cinnamon wafting through the house on crisp winter mornings in the mountains when I was a bit younger was...well...near perfect.
So! I looked up a couple of different recipes for vegan versions and settled on this one from How it All Vegan!
Applesauce Muffins
2 cups flour
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 cup soy milk
1 tbsp apple cider vinegar
2 tbsp oil
1/3 cup maple syrup
1 cup applesauce
3/4 cup raisins
2 tbsp raspberry jam (I added this into the mix for extra yum)
Assemble the players!
Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. In a large ceramic bowl, sift together the flour, salt, baking soda, and cinnamon. Make sure your dry ingredients are thouroughly mixed before adding anything wet! Add the soy milk, vinegar, oil, maple syrup, applesauce, jam, and raisins.
Mix together gently until "just mixed". Spoon batter into lightly oiled muffin tins. I added a little dollop of raspberry jam to the top of each of my muffins pre-baking, for extra sweetness.
Bake for 15-20 minutes. Test with a toothpick to see if done. Makes 6 BIG muffins, or 12 small muffins.
And voila! The super, super tasty result! Moist and sweet and delicious with a little vegan butter....mmmmmmmmm
Maybe I'll make something like this for my fam on Christmas morning...they'll never know the difference!
So! I looked up a couple of different recipes for vegan versions and settled on this one from How it All Vegan!
Applesauce Muffins
2 cups flour
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 cup soy milk
1 tbsp apple cider vinegar
2 tbsp oil
1/3 cup maple syrup
1 cup applesauce
3/4 cup raisins
2 tbsp raspberry jam (I added this into the mix for extra yum)
Assemble the players!
Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. In a large ceramic bowl, sift together the flour, salt, baking soda, and cinnamon. Make sure your dry ingredients are thouroughly mixed before adding anything wet! Add the soy milk, vinegar, oil, maple syrup, applesauce, jam, and raisins.
Mix together gently until "just mixed". Spoon batter into lightly oiled muffin tins. I added a little dollop of raspberry jam to the top of each of my muffins pre-baking, for extra sweetness.
Bake for 15-20 minutes. Test with a toothpick to see if done. Makes 6 BIG muffins, or 12 small muffins.
And voila! The super, super tasty result! Moist and sweet and delicious with a little vegan butter....mmmmmmmmm
Maybe I'll make something like this for my fam on Christmas morning...they'll never know the difference!
Thursday, December 17, 2009
The Magical Powers of Vinegar
For a while now, I've been on this ongoing quest to remove products that are toxic, carcinogenic, or otherwise unhealthy from my life. Obviously, in the world we live in now, its near impossible to escape it all, but a few small, easy changes can still be beneficial.
Take common cleaning products, for example. Three of the most common ingredients in household cleaners are bleach, ammonia, and formaldehye. All respiratory irritants, all toxic, some dangerous if combined with other chemicals, some known carcinogens. Sounds like something you want to be breathing in, doesn't it? More about the three most dangerous chemicals under your sink here.
A much safer, more natural, and even cheaper option for plenty of cleaning tasks is an old standby in the kitchen. Plain white vinegar!
Vinegar can be used for so so many uses, from degreasing, deodorizing, preventing mildew, killing mold, laundering, etc, etc, etc. For an awesome, extensive list of some of the best ways to use vinegar, check this article out. I was surprised to see it can remove stickers and labels from surfaces, and get the smell of smoke out of fabric!
I've been using vinegar for cleaning around the house for a few years now. Recently I decided to see if it would work on a really tough job...degreasing and cleaning a really dirty stovetop. Take a look..
This was what I was up against. Old, melted on, burned-up grease. Both vegetable and animal.
For this job, I sprayed the vinegar on at 100% concentration, or non-diluted. Really saturated the entire surface. Then I let it sit for about 15 minutes to give it a chance to soften up the hard stuff. When it was time to come back and use some elbow grease, I used a regular sponge, scrub side. That's all it took. Everything started coming up!
After a bit of work (nothing too difficult, and definitely less trouble then potentially inhaling poisonous cleaners), the job was done and I had a gorgeous white stovetop once again!
Long live a clean, inviting space! Now I want to cook for everyone!! Visions of stir-frys, scrambles, soups and sauces are dancing through my head...let's eat!
------
Thanks to The New Homemaker for the links :)
Take common cleaning products, for example. Three of the most common ingredients in household cleaners are bleach, ammonia, and formaldehye. All respiratory irritants, all toxic, some dangerous if combined with other chemicals, some known carcinogens. Sounds like something you want to be breathing in, doesn't it? More about the three most dangerous chemicals under your sink here.
A much safer, more natural, and even cheaper option for plenty of cleaning tasks is an old standby in the kitchen. Plain white vinegar!
Vinegar can be used for so so many uses, from degreasing, deodorizing, preventing mildew, killing mold, laundering, etc, etc, etc. For an awesome, extensive list of some of the best ways to use vinegar, check this article out. I was surprised to see it can remove stickers and labels from surfaces, and get the smell of smoke out of fabric!
I've been using vinegar for cleaning around the house for a few years now. Recently I decided to see if it would work on a really tough job...degreasing and cleaning a really dirty stovetop. Take a look..
This was what I was up against. Old, melted on, burned-up grease. Both vegetable and animal.
For this job, I sprayed the vinegar on at 100% concentration, or non-diluted. Really saturated the entire surface. Then I let it sit for about 15 minutes to give it a chance to soften up the hard stuff. When it was time to come back and use some elbow grease, I used a regular sponge, scrub side. That's all it took. Everything started coming up!
After a bit of work (nothing too difficult, and definitely less trouble then potentially inhaling poisonous cleaners), the job was done and I had a gorgeous white stovetop once again!
Long live a clean, inviting space! Now I want to cook for everyone!! Visions of stir-frys, scrambles, soups and sauces are dancing through my head...let's eat!
------
Thanks to The New Homemaker for the links :)
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