Vegan MOFO Day 26- Black Friday and a Vet appointment for Spanx

Black Friday wasn't as interesting this year as I would have hoped. I was looking forward to it for a couple months. I was looking at the black Friday websites everyday waiting for the adds to come out. Specially Walmart they are normally my first big stop. But then the Walmart paper came out and there Black Friday add was split into..... Half at Midnight and Half at 5am.... I live an hour away.. there was no way I was going to at Midnight and waiting or returning at 5am when they opened. 

We wanted a 42" tv and some games. So instead of going out at 5am I went to Target and purchased a 40" tv for the same price as the 42" I was going to buy... I would smack myself later for this...

We came home Thanksgiving evening and laid down to take a nap after visiting with his family for a while. I never fell asleep. But that was ok. The adrenalin of the evening was kicking in and I was ready to shop. we show up at Walmart around 9pm and people started showing up around 9:30pm. We waited by the PS3 games till midnight and then kaos broke loss. We got all 7 PS3 games we wanted we were first in line. Plus I grabbed a Wii game and A game for Chey's DS. Then I went and grabbed some picture frames and a few other things. Plus I price matched an 8GB memory card for my new Nikon. Price matched it for $12.88.  O yeah and I got my first 2 blue ray movies....

Don't have a PS3 yet but we have a bunch of games!!!! $10 each on Black Friday plus two I got off like for $12.99 each. Got my wii game for $10. DS game for $7, The dark Knight for $5 and The Wizard of Oz for $10. So we made out on games!!! Now we just need to purchase a PS3...lol

After our Quick Walmart visit we went home. We had to get up early to go back to Mo-town to take Spanx to the vet. The day before Thanksgiving I noticed he had two swellings about were his Lymph nodes should be. So I made him an appointment as soon as we could get him in. They took a sample to test for Lymphoma. Luckily  4 days later the test came back good. but while we waited Abu also swelled up. The Vet doesn't know why this is happening. she said the test said some kind of infection so they are both on Antibiotics.

After the long vet appointment we drove across town to Mountain Peoples Market only to find out they were closed. So we went to Walmart... where what did my wondering eyes see..... the stupid 42" tv the I wanted... They still had it ins stock.... Evil people!!!! the only time I have ever not waited and just purchased something in advance and they had to have the tv when I walked in to Walmart at 2pm.... evil... Then went to target and looked through what they had left. I got my pyrex fridge set that I had been wanting so I could get rid of all my plastic storage bowls. I also got a kind set of sheets. Chey used her B-Day money and had me pick up a Barbie boat and Barbie.... So I even got a couple of things on Black Friday that I didn't think I would run into... 

But no interesting food.. Sorry...

Vegan MOFO Day 25- Thanksgiving Day

Thanksgiving day we went to see my family and eat dinner. I took our left overs. I always cook  the night before so I can take our left overs for Thanksgiving dinner because we have to drive a good distance to get there. We had a good day and got to spend some time with some members of the family who I don't get to see very often.

John being funny..lol.. He was holding my plate too. while I was taking pictures. 

This is me. I was taking pictures of everyone eating so my Cousin, Shelly, grabbed my
camera and said I better post this picture if I was going to post her picture.... I posted her pic on facebook....
 I was eating the yummy pumpkin pie I had made the day before.

Vegan MOFO Day 24- Baking with the in-laws and our first Thanksgiving Dinner

Every year my husbands family starts the Thanksgiving celebration out the day before with a day of baking. I went to the first one 4 or 5 years ago and hadn't been to one since. But I like to bake and I like to be around people who like to bake. And in my family no one really does. So I decided to go spend some time at his families which we never get to do. I took Chey with me and she played while I baked.

I made a Cherry pie and an apple pie.

Here they are after they cooked. Sadly they were not vegan. Nothing was that day so I couldn't try any of it...
O well. 

Here are all  the kids sitting down for lunch. Johns family have alot of kids and we had  10 or 11 with us that day.

This is Dale... He was supposed to be shaking the chocolate peanut butter 

chex mix but didn't check the zip lock first so.... lol

Then I went home to start cooking for John and I. we was supposed to eat at my parents house. So I started out making the vegan cream cheese filling for my first vegan pumpkin roll.

I used my moms pumpkin role recipe and just took the eggs out and added 2 yogurt eggs and a flax egg. It came out flat...
So next time I will have to try another egg replacement. But its flatness didn't stop of from eating it. It was still really tasted.
I love pumpkin Roles!!!
Then I made a pumpkin pie... wish I would have used libbys and not the organic brand. I try to eat all organic. But when you grow up with a brand its funny that it just doesn't taste right when you just use a different brand of pumpkin.

Recipe for the pumpkin role will post soon. I have to get it again....

It set up pretty good. And the homemade crust was good. But I couldn't find my good rolling pin so the crust was super thick.. which wasn't a bad thing.

John finds this when he walks back to the kitchen... Guess what it is?

That is a paw print. I am not sure which gat did it.. but... someone stepped on my pretty pie.
But It was still tasty none the less. Even with the wrong pumpkin.

O..I have a picture of the crust! See how thick it was....

Here is the rest of our dinner. We all kinds of vegan yumminess!  A Tofurky, Roasted Glazed sweet potatoes,
 stuffing, and Roasted Cauliflower and Broccoli. Everything was so good!

and check it out. I even got to use the new antique set of Friendship Pyrex I got on ebay. I really love these bowls.

The tofurky turned out really yummy. I glazed it with Oil, soy sauce, sage, like it said on the box. That is the version I always use. But this time I added some brown sugar to it for just a touch of sweetness and it turned out really tasty! I will make it like that for now on.

This is one of my good pro cookie sheets I used for baking syrup and brown sugar on the sweet potatoes. Instead of scrubbing it I took out of the oven put some hot water on it and stuck it back in the oven for some easy deglazing. This way You don't scrub the pan to death and it doesn't take forever for the hard sugar to some off.

Well after all that cooking my parents decide hey wanted to eat so ... I didn't get to have dinner with them. John got home 15 minutes later. I was annoyed because we said 7:30 and he was home by 7:30 but I guess thats just how things work out sometimes. 

 

Vegan MOFO DAY 23 Mo-town, Daiya!, and cookies

Well today I decided I was going to Mo-Town and do some shopping.  I decided I was going to go to Mountain peoples market which I hadn't been to in for ever. I used to go there all the time for my organic spices and bulk pantry items. I had stopped going because they had taken the whole back section out and only started carrying about half the stuff and I could no longer find some of the stuff I was looking for. But I am really happy that I stopped that day. I didn't only get ....

Vegan Parm topping, 2 spice jars, Bulk organic popcorn, organic cinnomon sticks,
organic dried apples, Organic coconut, & organic pumpkin pie spice.

But I also got Daiya!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I have been wanting to try this stuff for ever and now I got too!

Cheese pizza anyone!!!??? It was really good. But... When you use
daiya you have to use it sparingly because it has such a sharp flavor. We used the
Mozzarella daiya and it tastes more like a super sharp cheddar. So use it sparingly.
I will only put about half of the bag on our next pizza instead of 3/4 of the bag.
But it was definitely worth the money!

After I got home I wanted to make some cookies to take to my in laws for there baking day. so I tried 2 new recipes...

Espresso Chip Oatmeal cookies

These are from Vegan cookies take over your cookie Jar and I thought they were promising  I mean how can
chocolate and espresso get  messed up??? well I didn't like them.... I had so
 much hope for these and was so sad when they didn't work out. But next time I make
 no bake cookies I will add some Espresso I am sure those will turn out alot better.

So then I tried another cookie recipe that looked so good in the book. I had even remembered to pick up the dryed organic apples at Mountain peoples market....

Peanut Apple Pretzel Drops

These cookies also came from Vegan cookies take over your cookie jar. I thought they looked really good in the book.
But after I cooked them I thought they tasted bland.
So I might try these again but next time I will add more spices. Plus for buttery cookies I need
to find some vegan stick butter and I can't get it around here.  

these are the cookies. They came out cute but not as cute as in the book.
 I think it was because of the bowl butter. Bowl butter normally has more
 water in it but I am not sure about the vegan butters. Really wish I could find vegan stick butter here. 

Vegan MOFO Days 18-19-&20 Best Buy Sucks, Sick Ferret, and Gardening

I have had a long three days. Friday I went to Best Buy to pick up my camera I had ordered. What I didn't realize was it would turn into a four hour ordeal....

I called in a day before my order was due for pickup because John had to pick it up and that was his only day off. They said that was fine come in and they would give us the one they had in stock which was the same exact camera I had ordered.... The Nikon D3000 with VR lens and Extra 55mm-200mm VR lens. I get there the manager goes and gets the camera but the bar codes do not match. so he tells me to call  Best buy online and see what they want us to day. I finally have them cancel the order I had placed online but the credit company would not release the funds like they were supposed to so when I went to check out my card wouldn't run. It was a huge mess. But at about the 4 hour mark luckily the credit company finally released the money on my card and I could finally check out.  The guy who waited on us at the store was really great though. All the managers are worthless... :)

 I was so frazzled by that time I couldn't even think of the groceries I needed at the store so we stopped and ate, went to TJ maxx (didn't get anything), stopped at Giant Eagle to try to remind me what I needed.. no such luck so I gave up and went home.

I came home and my day gets even more stressfull. I go to check on the ferrets. I pick Abu up and she is skin and bones. Ferrets loss weight and get dehydrated very quickly. She had been fine the morning before. I put her down and she couldn't walk. She would curl her toes under and and her back hips would fall over to the side. So I gave her 2 raisins in case it was her blood sugar. Then I mixed up some "Duck soup" (which isn't duck it is a dry mix of food and vitamins for sick ferrets) , with baby food, and Ferretvite, and water.

 She was very dehydrated and I knew I had to get food and water into her or as weak as she was she wouldn't make it through the night. I fed her 5 to 10mls of this food mix ever 30mins to 1hour that evening into the late night. I also gave her a 1ml dose of carafate for her tummy. She was grinding her teeth which normally means tummy pain.

 I got up and called the vet bright and early Friday morning. When we got there she was eating a little more and was more alert. They took a stool sample and was getting ready to take a blood sample to check kidney function & send me home with two antibiotics, carafate & SubQ fluids for stomach ulcers. But her stool sample came back with coccidia in it so now we are treating her for coccidia and hoping that is the issue. But normally coccidia doesn't pose a problem unless there is an underlying issue. So fingers crossed it is just the cccidia. But it really could be anything from ulcers to cancer. She is 7 and ferrets have a high instance for cancer. I am hoping for the best. All day I fed her every couple hours and gave her her meds and SubQ fluids. After her SubQ fluids she spunked up a little. She is on Albon to take care of the parasite with 20ml subQ fluids once a day as long as she is taking the meds. After meds are finished fluids are as needed.

There are Three links on coccidia above just click on of the "coccidia" s above and it will take you to some information about it.

Today she is doing better. I am feeding her ever 2 to 4 hours and she is taking in any were from 15 to 35mls. Which is really good. she is supposed to take in from 90-120mls of food a day. She is also walking better. she is no longer curling her toes and she is gaining her weight back quickly. Even her hip bones that had been out just yesterday is filling it. It is crazy with ferrets how fast they can go down and come back. Fingers crossed she will continue to get better and that Spanx will not get coccidia....

Abu slowly eating her food mix. This is really good for sick ferrets and will help them
gain there weight back, get strong, and healthy again. Plus they love it.

Looking more alert when she wakes up now.

Spanx wondering where his sure of the food mix is...

On the food side... Nothing interesting. So many things have been going on I have been slacking on the cooking. I am getting ready to Thanksgiving... or trying to. I still need to go grocery shopping and I am not sure when I am going to get the chance to do that with a sick ferret on my hands. I hope to do it Monday or Tuesday. I hope she is feeling better by then and can eat her regular food while I am at the store. I have been being sustained on Organic Raisin Bran & almond milk, organic apples & organic creamy peanut butter and today I had my fave quick lunch of organic kidney beans, broccoli & organic potato w/ smart balance light and salt.

Gardening... Although most gardening is over for the year I have left some kale and herbs out to see how long into the fall I can grow cold weather crops. Right now I have kale and catnip still growing even though at night it has been getting about 30F. I have noticed that the kale has started to wilt some. But the catnip is still going strong. Next summer I might make some cold crop boxes for next fall/winter.

Kale

Catnip

Vegan MOFO Day 16: Hmmmmmm....

Ok. well I really don't have any new food tonight. I went shopping today and had Buddhist delight at my fave Chinese Restruant again... Sad but true I have become addicted to this tofu.... I  crave it like crazy... lol... So every few days I make up some kinda excuse to go get me some.... Tofu..... I love it :)

O it rained the whole time I was out again today and I even seen another rainbow today. Post pictures soon.

Vegan MOFO Day 14: Indian Rice

Haven't made Indian food in a long time. But I have been craving it for a while. Really wish I would have had time to make Roti too but it was kinda late and I was being lazy...  :) and trying to catch up on blog entries... I have listed the recipe before so I am just going to leave you with a yummy picture (Not brought to you by my new Nikon because it hasn't come yet..errr). The pictures on my recipe page are alot better so check them out. My camera on my phone doesn't do the best job...

Vegan MOFO Day 13: No Food but...

I did finally order my Nikon!!!!! I can't wait to get it... I am so excited. Been needing a new camera for a year now and now I am finally going to get it. I still have to pick it up at Best Buy but I can't wait. I just hope it works great and isn't a lemon or horror story like others have had with the expensive Nikons and Canons.

Vegan MOFO Day 12: Birthday Cake Galore w/ Homemade Fondant/Gumpaste

Every year for Chey's, my little sister, birthday I make her a vegan chocolate cake and this year was no different. I used the recipe from The joy of vegan baking but I add some instant espresso to bring out some more of the chocolate flavor in the cake.  The Recipe is listed on her sample recipe page " Chocolate Cake"

This year I also took on fondant. I have been wanting to work with fondant for a while and hadn't been able to find any vegan recipes but luckily I came across a "Rolled Butter cream" recipe on allrecipes.com which was vegan! I was so excited!!!

So on to making the cakes. I started by mixing 3 cakes and ended up using 6 of the Chocolate cake recipes. Two for the small cake and four for the large. I was in such a hurry for the first 3 cakes I ended up only using half the cocoa in the recipe for the first large cake. I was worried it would taste funny but I actually think it tasted more like the mellow taste of a red velvet cake. So for people who like chocolate but not tons try using half the recipe it still works and tastes really good.

Forgot to use Cocoa to powder my pans... so they were both covered in flour.
 Didn't ruin the taste but they didn't look very pretty until I put icing on them. Next cakes I used cocoa.

 Next while I waited on the first cakes to cool I mixed up the fondant. This was a messy task. Powder sugar went everywhere. Each fondant recipe called for 2 pds of powder sugar to be mixed in. That is alot and it seems like it will never happen but it really does take in most of the powder sugar.

The beginning of the fondant.

Totally mixed getting ready for the fridge.

Started to add coloring. Made 4 or 5 colors all turned out pretty.

After the cakes cooled and I took them from there pans I cut the tops off, so they would lay flat, and not crack. Then I noticed they were to small and so I made 3 more cakes... This time I remembered all the chocolate... :)

So after the cakes finally cooled I crumb icinged them with a little more icing then a crumb layer because my sister loves chocolate. Then started working with the fondant. Problem was every time I rolled it out it all fell apart. It took some doing but I kneaded in some more powder sugar and then stuck it in the fridge to get cold. It was much easier to work with then. The 2nd batch I got to much sugar in and that caused it to crack when I put it on the cake. So it is a very small balance at which you need to fall between to get the fondant to not crack or sloth off. But I had fun working with it and it is something I will definitely do again.

First color took some work. But it went on pretty smooth.
The purple one cracked a little though and was more bumpy.

I also made cupcakes for her whole class and I took them to school the following day which was actually her B-day. She turned 9. So

Made 24 of these and they were yummy too.

 Happy B-Day Baby Girl!!!!!!!