Digging for Worms.

Posted on by

1

So everybody and their mother is writing about Mother’s Day [pun totally intended], and I will be too, but a little differently I think. My mom is a little nutso and I am totally my mother’s daughter: hair brained, animal loving, “forget where my own shoes are” crazy. We spent a wonderful day together. So Happy Momma’s Day to all your beautiful women out there!

Today was pretty perfect if you ask me. It was warm and sunny with a nice ocean breeze here in my quaint little town. It was the perfect day for appreciation of all things [especially mommas] and that was exactly what happened. After visiting B’s mom and wishing her a happy day I came back to Momma’s, got my ‘okay to get dirty in’ clothes on, and headed outside.

We live downtown, on a main road, and have no back yard. Now don’t let this confuse you, momma loves to get dirty gardening. She is what you might call and ‘urban gardener’. She has collected 5 gallon buckets [ a lot of them] from the local candy shop and the restaurant I work at and started planting in them. She is an avid composter and only has about one bag of actual trash every couple of weeks. She uses these “pots” to grow an all organic garden that produces enough to last throughout the winter! Today she needed some help [because my muscles are wicked huge] and it being momma’s day and all I happily obliged.

[what should be a driveway converted into and 'urban' vegetable garden]

[momma in her garden, check out her Boston Vegetarian shirt!]

[starting some new seedlings]

[Momma using her "special homemade seaweed fertilizer" and our cute little neurotic pup Sophie]

Now, we did some reorganizing and planting but mostly we used her amazing compost to make soil. Momma added a special heated rock [vermiculite] to the compost helping it retain moisture and making it a super soil fit for growing the produce of Gods [or mommas, but ask any kid, Gods and moms are interchangeable]

Before we added the vermiculite we wanted to make sure we got all the worms out of the soil [we wanted to save them]

So for the most part [aside from around 45 minutes we actually planted] we literally went digging for worms, and to be honest it was a blast. I forgot how much fun it was to just get dirty. We found hundreds of worms and moved them from the mixing bin [aka kiddie pool] back into the composter.

[WORMS, or as B called them as a child "rerms"]

[more WORMS, because there literally were hundreds]

Here is a picture of a giant asparagus stalk: [with my medium dunks cup for a point of reference]

[did you know it takes THREE years to establish an asparagus plant?]

Momma has a lot of different plants going: Kale, Cabbage, Cauliflower, Peppers, Tomatoes, who knows how many different types of beans. Believe me I will be cooking up some delicious recipes with these yummy yummy veggies and until then maybe Momma will come and guest post about her homemade seaweed fertilizer! Until then, B and I are still looking for a place, I’ve signed up for TWO more 5Ks and I’m looking for a running partner, anybody around the north shore? I’ve set a goal of a 5k a month starting May 19th, why wait, right? All happy and healthy here. A few more pictures to send you on your way:

[some kale sprouts]

[sprouts]

[neurotic Sophie]

[me and Momma after a long day in the "garden"]

Q: What would you grow if you could set up shop in your driveway?

From A to B to C then D

Posted on by

1

Well me and B didn’t get the first apartment we applied for, but the way I see it, it’s just because there is something better out there waiting for us. So for the moment all my belonging are stacked all over my mother’s first floor. Poor woman puts up with so much from me.

Image

[and this is only a portion of it]

 Aside from the fact that my material life is in shambles [which is making me realize how little I use all these things!] Things are seriously looking up!

A. Me and B are on the search for apartments that fit our needs [think loads of kitchen counter space], and I have all the faith in the world that we will find the perfect one for us.

B. I got my new running shoes! Vibram Bikilias, they look a little silly and take some getting used to, but they are beyond comfortable and in perfect time to break them in for my first 5K coming up in July [more on that later!]

C. I’ve been accepted as a Sweat Pink Ambassador for Fit Approach! This is really exciting. Its a group of women who stay active but still love their cupcakes [ ahh, the cupcakes] I’m really honored.

D. I’ve got some serious recipe ideas swimming around up in this noggin of mine waiting for the right moment [i.e. my own kitchen] to come to fruition, until then bare with me!

Battery Drained

Posted on by

3

A description of both myself and my computer. I have to make this snappy as one of us could die at any moment. [Surprise, I packed my laptop charger] I have almost everything moved into my mothers and stacked in a corner ready to be put in a truck again because me and B are looking at an apartment tomorrow! Wahoo. I will not turn 25 living in my mothers house! So sans a few pieces of heavy furniture, I’m essentially done. To top of the horrendous nature of moving poor B is deathly ill, such a sick little muffin, so he had some trouble today so I sent him home…. How do you deal with moving? I’ve already cried today, but that is.not.saying much, I cry almost everyday.

My computer is warning me so… see ya soon?

Packing Tape.

Posted on by

0

Holy stress ball [not usually my favorite self description]. Oh where, oh where has this week taken my level head?

Far, far away… I can tell you that much.

This has been the craziest week I’ve had in QUITE some time. Nothing like too little time to keep you on your toes. I’m currently packing up my apartment and moving out this weekend. I have been planning to move home to save some money but am having some serious anxiety/ second thoughts and have been frantically searching for an apartment [which is totally illogical]. Even as I type out this post I’m flipping back and forth to the Firefox tab labeled ‘boston all apartments classifieds’.  Just now I got distracted for over an hour. Way to focus Zoë.  The entire apartment is packed up with only a few more boxes to be filled. Not only am I moving but there is a Bruins game on tonight. Not just a Bruins game though, its game seven of the Stanley Cup playoffs. It’s a big deal. So I’m going to take a break from being a stressball, put the packing tape down and go have a beer and some grub. I’m not sure watching this game will help me relax at all, it may make it worse. Well I’m off. I hope to be back early next week, but for now the pots and pans are packed.

Chickpeas and the Winner.

Posted on by

3

So I’m moving next weekend. This means lot of boxes filled with things I don’t have the heart to throw away, the urge to fill my empty refrigerator and eat something other than cereal, and a whole lot of stress. I don’t know about your neck of the wood, but in mine it has been damn hot, which hasn’t helped my to-do list get checked off any quicker . These hot days make me dream of family gatherings with grills going and afternoons naps on the porch after sun soaked days on the beach.  So I scoured the pantry. Chickpeas, that’s it. Yes, my pantry is in serious disarray, it’s quite pathetic, along with everything else in my apartment right now.

Chickpeas were my main ingredient. Awesome, I have to start somewhere.

Crap, I have no other ingredients. So chickpeas, now what? Well, some Veganaise never made anything worse. I’ll toss them with a couple tablespoons of that. Now flavoring… I have some green onions growing, I’ll throw some of those in, some dried parsley, some salt and pepper. Give it a nice mix.

Holy crap. I’m freaking amazing. I’m pretty sure this is going to be at every BBQ I ever go to from now on and possibly every BBQ you ever go to from now on.

Now onto some important business,

WE HAVE A WINNER!

Brittany from blissfullbritt.com is the winner of the cookbooks! She has two days to reach me and claim her prize! Wahoo!

Local Brew Loving & a Giveaway

Posted on by

2

 I recently had the pleasure of meeting with Joey C, the local blogger of Good Morning Gloucester to chat about my vegan cupcakes.[Thanks for having me!] Very exciting stuff, exciting indeed! I mean how often do you get to change someones preconceived notions? Not to say Joey was against my vegan cupcakes, but I find most people will opt for the non-vegan counterpart if given the chance. Even before we met when Joey and I were just emailing, he was all for the cupcakes but was a bit apprehensive about the whole vegan side of the deal.  I find most people are.  But most of the time, with baking at least, I find if you don’t tell them, they don’t know. And I really don’t think there’s any harm in not divulging ingredients up front unless they ask.[exception: allergies.. serious matters]

Now I was extremely nervous. I’m not sure why, I’ve met this guy before. I’ve had tons of people try my cakes, but the whole premise made me want to hide in the cabinets of my kitchen [a la Ralphie's little brother in the Christmas Story]  I think it was the idea of it being broadcast to all of my very small hometown. I love the spotlight until there’s one shining directly at me. Well, it’s too late for backing out now as the teaser post with pictures is up and the video interview will posted this evening. Oh my goodness [think of the high pitched orphan in Annie]. So go check that out later tonight.

 When I made the meeting I had only a days notice to whip up some samples to showcase. I stuck with a classic and made two NEW recipes. Why I chose to make two new recipes is beyond me, I mean, what if they turned out like bricks as they so often do on the first go? Well lucky for me they came out just dandy, First I went with the ever popular Pumpkin Cupcake with Maple Rum Frosting, the classic. The second was a Vanilla cupcake with a Lemon filling and Lavender frosting. The third cupcake was a beer cupcake [can't go wrong], a Honey Pilsner Cupcake and a Blueberry Frosting [made with the local Cape Ann Brewing Company's Honey Pilsner, keep it local people].***(This cupcake is not vegan, it contains honey)

This cupcake is denser than most, however the flavor of the Honey Pilsner really shines through. It’s not the simplest recipe but it gosh is it tasty. [printable version here]

*pictures were taken by www.goodmorninggloucester.org

3/4 cup of Earth balance butter [melted]

1 3/4 cups sugar

3 cups flour

2 1/2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

Replacement for 3 eggs [Ener-g]

1 1/4 cup Honey Pilsner

1/4 cup honey

  1. Preheat oven to 350°F and line cupcake molds.
  2. Sift all the dry ingredients in to a bowl and mix well.
  3. Prepare egg substitute [Ener-g] according to box.
  4. Beat butter and sugar and honey with an electric mixer until creamy
  5. Add *eggs [1/3 of mixture] at a time until just combined.
  6. Alternate adding dry mixture and Honey Pilsner on low speed mixing just enough to combine, make sure not to over mix,
  7. Fill cupcake liners 3/4 of the way and bake in preheated oven for 25 minutes until a toothpick inserted in comes out clean.
  8. Let fully cool before frosting.

Whip up some Blueberry Frosting and your good to go!

The Giveaway

Well Miss. Zoë has passed 1000 subscribers since starting on January 1st and to thank you all I’m doing Miss. Zoë’s first giveaway! If your not vegan don’t be scared! ! I’ll be giving away two of my favorite cookbooks. Vegan with a Vengeance by Isa Moskowitz and Vegan on the Cheap by Robin Robertson. Think of these as just another cookbook, I promise you won’t be disappointed

Here’s the deal: Comment below on this post! THAT EASY!

I’ll randomly be choosing a winner Saturday the 21st!

*[U.S. Residents only, These books/authors have no affiliation with Miss. Zoe]

Smooth as Fred Astaire

Posted on by

1

Breakfast has been a wicked bummer for me lately. My breakfast of years past consisted of sausage and bacon with some toast, and a couple of eggs, those days are over.

I’ve never been a cereal kind of girl [I take to long and it always gets soggy, yuck]

I’m not big on pancakes [ waffles are a totally different story]

 I can only eat oatmeal so many times a week. [I'm not a big fan to begin with]

So I’ve had to get a bit creative and find alternatives… or wait until lunch [unacceptable]

Smoothies have found their delicious way into my life and because I have a smoothie every morning I thought it fitting to share some of my recipes with you. Now I make at least five smoothies a week, many similar, many very different, so I thought I would make it weekly post, “Blender Monday”, “Smoothie Sunday”, both titles are horribly cheesy and so fitting for myself. We’ll work on that at a later date, but for today here is my smoothie! [I use the "I Survived" glass on Mondays after my killer workout class]

1 cup Cultured Coconut Milk

2/3 cup Pomegranate Juice

1 Large Banana

1 cup frozen blueberries

1/2 cup frozen raspberries

Blend until  smooth, Think Fred Astaire stealing all the ladies in “Holiday Inn” [ If you haven't seen Holiday Inn you are SERIOUSLY missing out. This is a classic, it debuted "White Christmas' it became an instant classic, You may be thinking oh its a Christmas movie, get over that thought real quick, you'd be depriving yourself a whole  eight more months without seeing it. Don't do this to yourself]

I had a little over a 16oz glass, so my roomie Z got a little treat [weird our names both start with Z right?] If she hadn’t been hear I would have thrown the leftovers in an ice cube tray and added them to a future smoothie [waste not, want not is what they say right?]

Its so easy, and delicious. Whats not to love

Lavender Fresh

Posted on by

1

Sounds like a snarky laundry detergent advertisement. I hate that, all those fake fragrances added to laundry detergents. I don’t need my laundry to smell like a fresh mountain spring, I just don’t want it to smell like B’s baseball socks that it was stuffed next to in the basket for a week.

I’m always off topic.

With Easter tomorrow I’m feeling a bit left out being a vegan and all. No cadbury eggs, no peeps, no ham dinner, no milk chocolate, I am so deprived, so I decided to get in the spring spirit with a spring style Vanilla Cupcake. Now, vanilla cupcakes come around all year so what makes this one special? Lemons. And Lavender. Both refreshing and crisp, the lemon and lavender balance each other nicely and are flavors that remind me of spring as much as those tiny blue flowers that are popping up all along the road sides [ I'm no horticulturist, do you know what they are called? Blue bells maybe?]

Here they are: Vanilla Cupcakes with a Lemon Filling and Lavender frosting

Now make sure you haven’t handled any paper products in the past month. Are you positive?! Hand squeezing 1 ¼ cups of lemon juice will let you know if your mistaken, and I’m positive unless you keep hand gloves in your kitchen there is no escaping the searing pain of citrus in a cut.

[yeah, I had a long way to go]

Strain Twice! Those little lemon seeds are pesky!

In a recent interview with some locals [more on that soon] they rated these cupcakes on a scale of 1-10 and gave them a 10+. I will definitely take that!

Enjoy!

10 Minute “Mousse”

Posted on by

2

Did you know that April 3 is National Chocolate Mousse Day? I had no freaking idea. I mean really, no idea, National Chocolate Mousse Day!? While I may think it’s a little silly to have a day dedicated to a specific food I’m not one to pass up an opportunity to whip up something delicious.

I love simple desserts. I love all desserts it’s just that by the time I’ve worked out the kinks to a recipe, I’ve taste tested so many times that I don’t want to have anything to do with it by the time I’ve reached the finished product. I usually hit my cravings for something sweet after ‘B’ has gobbled up the last cupcake.

Yesterday, April 3rd, 2012, I made a vegan Chocoloate Raspberry ”Mousse”. Why the quotes you may ask? Dictionary.com describes mousse as a sweetened dessert with whipped cream as a base. My “mousse” has no such thing, but has the same qualities of a traditional mousse.

[printable recipe here]

It’s a super quick prep time with only five ingredients, I’d say this one is a winner. It’s a wonderful dessert to make the night before and have sit over night for your guests to really firm up.

Simple and elegant,

Delicious and Classic,

and vegan to boot. Enjoy!

Who makes a pigs ear cupcake?

Posted on by

5

You may want to ask yourself that question, the answer is NOT me, however it is a response I got when I recently asked my Facebook friends what type of cupcake they would want to try.  I got quite a few responses, close to 50 actually. I told them if theirs was picked they would get a dozen hand delivered, boy did that expedite the process. I got plenty of responses from every day cupcakes [red velvet, chocolate, vanilla] to some weird ones [espresso, pig ear, Laphroaig (should probably look that one up)]. Using a randomizing program [to be fair] I ended up with Pumpkin Cupcakes with a Maple Rum Frosting. THANK GOODNESS. Can you imagine if I ended up having to make a pigs ear cupcake?

[Maybe I should specify that the pigs ear cupcake was requested by a good friends dog, Thatcher, better luck next time pup]

Regardless of the outcome I was going to make a batch of cupcakes and deliver them. A co-worker[we will call her T] won and was the lucky recipient. I swung at this one and was remarkably happy with the outcome. I made two dozen cupcakes and it was difficult not to eat them all. The dozen I had made to keep were gone within 48 hours. YUP, that good.

So here it is:

Pumpkin Cupcakes with a Maple Rum Frosting

They are so delicious so here is how you do it [printable version of the recipe here].

Ingredients:

2 2/3 C. Flour

2 TSP Baking powder

2 TSP Baking Soda

2 TSP Cinnamon

1/4 TSP Nutmeg

1/4 TSP Ground Cloves

1 TSP Salt

1 Can of Pumpkin Puree

1 Cup Sugar

1 Cup Dark Brown Sugar

1 Cup Vegetable Oil

Egg Replacer for 3 eggs ( I used Ener-G)

Preheat oven to 350°F and line cupcake pan with 24 liners. Sift first seven ingredients into a large bowl and combine well.

With an electric mixer, mix Sugars and Oil just until combined. Add “eggs” one at a time until just combined. Beat in the pumpkin.

Add Dry mixture to the sugar mixture in 3 parts.

Fill Cupcake liner 3/4 of the way full, and try really hard not to eat the batter.

Bake for 25 minutes or until inserted toothpick comes out clean.

Don’t even try to fool yourself, your mouth is totally watering right now.

Let the cupcakes cool for 15 minutes in the pan then move them to a rack and let cool fully. When the cupcakes are ready to frost mix some of this up and apply generously.

Maple Rum Frosting [printable recipe]

1/2 Cup Earth Balance Butter

1/2 cup Shortening

4 Cups Powdered Sugar

1 1/2 Tsp Vanilla

1/3 cup Maple syrup

1/2 cup Dark Rum (I sued Myers, to taste)

I ended up using a bit more than the called for 1/2 cup of rum,  because, well, YUM. My boyfriend B thought it was too much, me and T however thought it was just enough. It had a rum flavor with a maple finish and I think it turned out really well. Now remember, Apply Generously. [HUNGER GAMES SPOILER] Just like Katniss to her burn [because apparently who HASN'T seen the hunger games?] Again, Apply generously and ENJOY!