Another epic fail for my collection

With no further introduction,  here's how I messed up this time. I inherited a bunch of containers from a friend when her mother in law moved into a retirement home. Many of them had free dry goods in them-woot! So I lovingly emptied my ugly bulk bags into these shiny canisters and stacked them into the pantry of my dreams. Fast forward to this particular evening when my dinner guest Courtney and I decided to make chocolate crinkle cookies for dessert. Before tonight, these crinkle cookies have pretty much been my ace in the hole. While we were making them, it was taking an alarmingly long time for them to thicken. We just kept adding more and more flour with no change. So we called it and started rolling them in sugar. But first the taste test. TEETH PAIN! That was no flour, it was icing sugar! *Facepalm* They were so sweet you could get a cavity from looking at them in a mirror. We tried to bake them anyways as I hate wasting efforts/food. To try to save them, we put large globs of organic peanut butter in the middle. Turns out that didn't save them, it just wasted more food.

Cookies that look like nipples and tastes like regret.

In the end, all we got was cards and dinner which turns out isn't that bad a deal.

If you'd like to give these usually delicious, but one time epic fail cookies a go, here is the recipe. Chocolate Crinkle Cookies from Vegan Cookies Take Over the World. Check out this girl's apron. Must. Have.

Book Review: Appetite for Reduction

I've been a bit of a slacky blogger as of late, so to make it up to you- I'm going to sift through some food porn, write up some of my favorite dishes and hopefully blow your ever loving mind with vegan goodness. Before I do that, I have to gush about my favorite Christmas present. I've been an obsessive fan girl since I picked up Isa's first book "Vegan with a vengeance". At that time, I was a new vegetarian with the cooking skills of a seventh grader. A lot of the recipes sounded amazing, but had weird ingredients that required some searching and a lot of trying strange things. They also required skills and time management in the kitchen that I didn't have yet. So I made lists, went on ingredient treasure hunts and dove in feet first. I had so many delicious results that I had to have each book as they came out (many were co-authored by the awesome Terry Hope Romero, who me and Jules got to see in person at the Toronto Veg fest) :Veganomicon, Vegan brunch, Vegan Cupcakes Take Over The World, and Vegan Cookies Take Over Your Cookie Jar. I couldn't even begin to choose a favorite. Veganomicon is a vegan Bible, with basics like how to cook rice and beans plus recipes for just about every veggie or occasion under the sun. Vegan brunch has the best tempeh bacon in the world. As for cupcakes and cookies, I use these about every other day. Certainly not healthy, but amazingly delicious! When I want to show people how fantastic vegan food can taste, I look no further than these two. Appetite for Reduction doesn't have deserts, but it makes up for it with incredible, fast and easy recipes. All are under 400 calories and many are under 200; if you care about that sort of thing. Our favorite so far has been the Caesar Chavez salad with eggplant bacon. It's creamy, it's smokey, it made me weep with happiness. We also loved the blackened tofu with butternut squash coconut rice. Epic win! Isa started off in Brooklyn, and an international flavour in her cuisine really shines through.Check out some food porn from the book here. If you are just starting your vegan journey, are veg curious, or just looking for some great new cookbooks-I highly recommend picking up one of these bad boys. You might start a novice, but you'll leave a pro!