4th of July: Parade, Food, & the Raptor Rehab

There are horses in the Parade every year.... I have been watching this parade for over 20 years and not one of them have urinated! But This fourth... They ended up stopping and pausing in front on the house and the horse flooded the road! It was awful and funny all at the same time.... so of course thats how our day started...lol

 So on the cooking list for the 4th!

Vegan Chocolate Chip cookies from The Joy of vegan baking (My Faves)

Both Cupcakes recipes from The Joy of vegan baking... The chocolate chocolate cake recipe with an extra 1/2 tsp of dutch processed chocolate... The Vanilla Cupcake recipe with a tsp of vanilla and a little extra vanilla. Then I made Raspberry frosting and Chocolate Peanutbutter Frosting... I think The chocolate frosting was really strong... I icing some of the Vanilla cupcakes with some artificiality clue colored icing.... I made some Raspberry and Blueberry syrup but I didn't have time to drizzle them...

I love the Raspberry Icing... But I liked it on the vanilla more than the chocolate...

A Hawaiian Rhubarb Pineapple Crumble pie... I thought this was really sour.. John liked it... It never got finished.. I through it out....

For dinner I Made Igors Special Pasta from Vegan Vittles )I love that recipe) I also made hotdog sauce and used it as sloppy joes.. John did have some hot dogs though...I just skipped those...

The West Virginia Raptor Rehab
On the 4th the West Virginia Raptor Rescue also came and spoke at the towns celebration. They did a great Job. The person who spoke is also our chickens vet! Dr. Fallon, from Cheat lake animal Hospital

This is Owlice (Like Alice but Owlice) she also has a wing injury and an eye injury after being hit by a car..Click for her story.

Annie the Red Tailed Hawk- Was found with leather tethers around her ankle begging for food and was raised by humans before she was found so should could not hunt on her own.  Click for Story

I am pretty sure this guys name is Mike and I had met him before at the vet clinic with this same Eagle. Her name is Thunder and was shot when she still had her brown head feathers... she was shot in West Virginia through her wing and leg. She now is missing part of her wing and can not be release. Click for Her Story...

Dr. Fallon

At the end of the night, John, Chey, Chey's find and I went to watch fireworks.. The kids stayed down on the play ground though and John and I had the fireworks to ourselves :)

Happy Mothers Day

Happy Mothers Day to my Wonderful mother. I love you very much! I hope you have a great day and that you start feeling better.

I went to My moms this morning and I wanted to make her breakfast but I didn't get the chance...So I made her a Giant Chocolate Chip cookie (The Joy of vegan baking recipe)... That turned out pretty good. this is the first time I have ever made a Big Chocolate chip cookie and I was hoping it would cook right and luckily just like when they are little they cook up nice and soft/chewy and yummy! I cooked it for 20mins in a spring form pan and I only used about 2/3 to 3/4 of the actual cookie dough. I didn't know how thick I could make it and it still cook through without burning on bottom.

Easter Dinner 2011

We had a good Easter. John and I had dinner with my parents the evening before Easter because John worked Easter. We didn't have our normal Tofurky... sadly no one in our area carried them last Thanksgiving/Christmas season when I normally stock up... So this year I have one left for this coming Thanksgiving unless I find somewhere to purchase them again... I hope I do... 

So we had breaded eggplant as the main course. Sides included Maple glazed sweet potatoes, stuffing, green beans & salad... And I also made 2 desserts. Lemon cupcakes and Rhubarb Apple Crisp. All the food turned out really well and we all had a nice evening. The next day My Mother, Sister, and I went to my Aunts for dinner and I took left overs with me. I did get to try wild mushrooms for the first time that day and I have been wanting some ever since and I am not a huge mushroom fan.. But those were really good... O yeah... After I try them my Aunt is like.... "Well if you ever get any make sure you soak them so all the critters will come out".... and I am like "What!?" lol... that was a little freaky... but they were good...

Vegan Lemon Cupcakes. I used the white cupcake recipe from The joy of vegan baking... I added 3 tsp or lemon extract.. I would say only add 2 and try that because these came out with a little to much lemon in them. The icing was good though and it was 1/2 Earth Balance, 2 Cups powder sugar, couple tbsp almond milk, and I think I used 2 tsp lemon extract... I would love to try lemon oil because I am thinking it would have better flavor. I would also like to find a recipe with a better crumb. But I love lemon cupcakes and I have become obsessed with them since I went to Columbus, OH to Patty Cakes Bakery.. They have the best vegan baked good ever!!!!!! :)

I cut fresh rhubarb from the garden and wanted to use up last years frozen... Plus my rhubarb plants were from my Grandfathers (My mothers father)  garden. He passed a couple years ago and my husband and I dug up most of his rhubarb and brought it home and planted it. So I really wanted to share that rhubarb with the family. But this crisp was so yummy. A little sweet but had that touch of tart in the background.. So it was really good. I used this recipe on about.com and just used vegan supplies... Look for more vegan Rhubarb recipes in the future I have a ton of rhubarb this year and will be sharing alot of recipes I try.

mom made a salad always better when someone else makes it for you??? I don't  know but it has started a salad craving I have been fighting off with huge yummy salads ever since :)

One of my fave Sweet potato recipes that I make for every holiday now!!! Maple glazed sweet Potatoes... 

This is the Breaded eggplant. I just long cut the eggplant, sprinkled with salt and let drain for an hour or so,  dipped them in flour,  then almond milk, then I mixed whole wheat bread crumbs, panko bread crumbs, black pepper, & salt, dipped the eggplant in that then placed it on a baking dish and cooked it in the oven at 375F to 400F for about 20 minutes or until slightly brown and cooked through. I also like these fried.. They turn out good both ways.

Most of the food in my nice Friendship Pyrex that I love!!!!! I forgot to use my new small ones though :(

This is the 2nd apple rhubarb crisp I made to take with me to my Aunts house to share with everyone. That is my Flamingo Pink Pyrex baking dish... Such a pretty pink... Which reminds me I haven't been antiquing lately and I am feeling the pull!!!

How many people does it take to find the last 4 eggs.... Alot and there was still two missing at the end.. Atleast they were the plastic kind.... but we all had a good day and visiting with the finally was really nice!

Christmas Day

Normally every Christmas we get up early and got to my families house a few counties away. But this year it snowed so John and I decided to stay home for the day. Although I missed seeing everyone on Christmas it was nice staying home with my Husband for the entire day, watching movies, reading while he played on his PS3 and eating left overs from our Christmas eve dinner. It was a nice quite Christmas and I really enjoyed it.

Christmas Eve

Christmas every year for us is normally started on Christmas eve with at least a dinner at My parents house. But this year we also had breakfast and a morning full of family as well.

We started out the day at John's Families house for breakfast and for the children of the family to get their presents. We took Vegan pancakes and Lightlife vegan sausage with us to eat. It was really good even rewarmed. My little nephew even ate one of our pancakes because he didn't want the waffles that everyone else had. He didn't even notice a difference :) and gobbled it up.

Me on the couch, Jessica, one of the girls I grew up with is also married to John's brother, and John on the 2nd sofa.

The boys with their new toys from their Grandparents. They were so cute running around the house.

But the Big Boys had just as much fun as the little ones running around the house shotting each other.

We stayed there for a few hours that morning and then came home so I could make dinner so that we could go to my parents house for the evening.  I made Tofurky basted in soy sauce, olive oil, sage, and brown sugar, roasted broccoli and cauliflower, roasted sweet potatoes, and stuffing. Everything turned out so yummy we stuffed.  :) Served in my awesome pyrex casserole dishes.

I also made gingerbread cupcakes with Lemon icing from Vegan cupcakes take over the world. Those on the other hand I didn't like and neither did anyone else. John said they were ok. But.... Maybe without the lemon icing I made. The lemon icing on its own was good. I bet the cupcakes alone would have been good. But together they just didn't mix.

After dinner we always open our presents because we leave early Christmas morning.

John and his creepy new stocking stuffy... Face protection for the winter...  But still creepy... lol

He finally got the number 1 game he had been wanting. 

Chloe finally getting her stocking.

My parents had also given us money toward our new 40" TV we had picked up early while it was on sale.

 We have decided to make a new tradition that I have fallen in love with. It is simple and sweet and makes for a nice, warming, Christmas eve evening. Every Christmas we are going to open new Christmas PJs and watch Christmas movies all evening. This year we watching Home Alone & The Christmas story. We had a really nice day with all our family close to us.

She also opened her stocking from us on Christmas eve during our movie evening.

John and I had swapped gifts a few days in advance since he already had his PS3 he let me have my Kindle and order a couple books. 

So I gave him his other gifts.