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Vegan Stuffed Shells

Dairy has just been hating my body lately. It makes me feel completely awful. This of course doesn't stop me from craving it. I LOVE stuffed pasta in all its forms. Stuffed shells and manicotti are my two favorites. What's normally in these two dishes? Ricotta cheese, mozzerella cheese and parmesan. That is a LOT of ricotta too.

I've made normal stuffed shells before and forgot how tricky they were, even though my friend Suzy was there to help - it was quite a feat but they turned out super tasty. I've been craving shells again and decided to be nice to my stomach and see if I could find an equally tasty vegan version.

Hello tofu! I found a great recipe for Spinach Stuffed Shells and used a great brand of mozzerella cheese. Even Shane liked these!

Fake Bacon, Lettuce and Tomato with Sally Lunn bread

Yummmm. The title ought to have your mouth watering...nevermind having pictures! Okay well since everyone loves pictures I have some for you. I'm so nice.

I've tried fake bacon before and let me tell you, it was only so so. Not good enough that I really wanted to consider buying it again. Bacon is the one meat I actually miss so not finding a good substitute was kind of sad.

But the other day at the store I saw a new brand of fake bacon (new to me at least) and thought hey why not. I have tried other things by this brand and was pleasantly surprised. I went home, put it in the fridge and promptly forgot about it.

So of course one day I am scouring my fridge looking for something to make with my fresh new wonderful loaf of Sally Lunn bread and I remembered I had all the ingredients for a BLT!

I quickly fried up some of the bacon slices (they were a butt to get out of the packaging though!), toasted my bread, spread some mayo, laid the tomato slices and lettuce and dug in.

What a wonderful and yummy lunch.

Popcorn Tofu, Saucy Seitan and more....

Usually I am just on the internet looking for the best recipes out there already created. There are SO MANY so why would I think to create some of my own?

Well that's simple - because I can't find a recipe for popcorn tofu! Perhaps seitan would be better in it's place. In fact I think it would be, the trouble would be getting the roughed up random shapes. So there's that...

I was also thinking - "boy am I bloated! I could use some fennel tea!" TMI??? LOL. But then I also thought "some ginger might help with my upset stomach too. But would that taste weird together? Would lemon help make it right?" See, so many questions and I am pretty sure finding the answer online would be tough.

The answer to my woes? Experiment of course. So on account I am in fact a little full in the tummy I think I will experience ginger fennel tea, possibly with lemon. I'll report back shortly.

--------------------------(Jeopardy theme music)--------------------------

While I'm waiting for the ginger to cook I was thinking of one of my favorites foods that I miss - pulled pork. There must be some way to recreate that. There's the beeper!

--------------------------(Jeopardy theme music)--------------------------

Results are in and the tea was surprisingly yummy. I added a bit of sugar and a little splash of lemon juice. I couldn't tell which flavor was stronger between the fennel and the ginger but it blended well regardless.

Dang Bluetooth!

I have taken pictures of food lately with my phone and getting them to the computer is frustrating me! I used to move the pictures to my Mac using bluetooth all the time and lately either the computer can't find my phone or vice versa. It's driving me nuts! So I promise, I have yummy pictures to put up - just as soon as I figure this out.

Today I made some more yummy Buffalo Tofu wraps. They have become a favorite of mine to make. Even Shane likes them! Today while the cut up tofu was sitting on the counter, Dennis just started grabbing pieces and eating it! My little boy is so weird with food! He eats lots of things that no other kid will, but getting him to sit still and eat his food in less than an hour is just not happening!

Last night I made stuffed pumpkins for the first time. Dennis was very excited about this but sure didn't want to get his fingers all yucky pulling out the seeds and pulp! LOL, so I got to do three pumpkins all by myself :) I plan on roasting the seeds later on tonight. Mmmmmm!

Also, I made another loaf of Sally Lunn bread today and once again - PERFECT!

Sally Lunn Bread

Several people asked for this recipe before I had even posted it online! This really is a great recipe, best one for sandwich bread I have ever made! Even toasted great! I will put pictures up later with another post. I thought I'd put this one up now since people seemed eager :)

This is a bread machine recipe. If you do not have a bread machine then you must do all the kneading and resting by hand. There are a few things I have done differently to get a wonderful loaf of bread that I never used to do.

The first is I proof the yeast. Put all the liquids in the bread machine. Add the sugar, add the yeast. Let it be for about 5 to 10 minutes. Then add everything else as you normally would and turn on the machine.

The second is since I don't have bread flour, I add 4 tsp of vital wheat gluten to every loaf (and take out 4 tsp of normal flour).

Because of these two things, I had a wonderful loaf the last several times and last night's was perfect!

This is for a 1.5 pound loaf.

1 egg plus enough water to equal one cup PLUS 2 tablespoons.

1 tsp. salt

1 Tbsp plus 1 tsp of sugar

1/4 cup plus 2 Tbsp of softened butter

3 cups of bread flour

1 tsp of bread machine yeast

Put everything in according to the machine - after proofing your yeast - then put it on a basic/white cycle. Use a medium or light crust setting.

Enjoy!

3rd New Moon Trailer

I promise, I have more food related stuff to post but I just HAD to post this.

It's true, I'm a Twilighter and i am beyond excited with each new trailer that comes out. Only 2 more months! This trailer is the best one I've seen yet!