Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World

This weekend I was surprised to see how many vegan cookbooks have popped up in the bookstore and was excited to see a couple new ones by a couple of my favorite cookbook authors. I decided to get vegan cupcake cookbook by the authors of my favorite cookbook, Veganomicon.

It's a tiny cookbook, but it's chock full of cupcake recipes and most of them use ingredients most well-stocked pantries will have on hand.

I decided to start out on the easy side and made the "Golden Vanilla Cupcake" recipe. They turned out really nice and I can see this would be a good base for lots of variations.

For the frosting I made the "Chocolate Buttercream Frosting" which took a little more effort to prepare. Lots of mixing with the hand mixer and more than a little bit of frosting ended up around the kitchen. I'll probably try a different frosting next time since this uses a lot of cocoa and is very sweet. I'm also going to need a bit more practice with my mechanical pastry bag... I'm not very confident and I think it shows!

This Year's Garden is In!

Since we finally had some lovely weather today I was able to get the rest of the garden in. So if all goes well this year, we'll have any or all of the following:

• Green beans
• Onions
• Fingerling potatoes
• Three kinds of squash (green zucchini, yellow zucchini, pattypan)
• Cucumbers
• Lettuce
  
• Ten kinds of tomatoes (cherry, grape, roma, slicing, in a variety of colors)
• Cubanelle, jalapeno, and serrano chili peppers
• 5 varieties of basil, and the usual herbs
• Maybe some blueberries

Not to mention all the goodies I usually get from my Working Gardens CSA subscription...

Ummm.... Perhaps this is the year I actually learn how to can. Anyone want to teach a newbie?

I don' t have any exciting pictures of the vegetable garden since there's really not that much to look at right now, so here are some pictures of other pretty growies around the yard...

Centaura
(A recent purchase from the Working Gardens plant sale)

Snow in Summer

Taste Test

Did you know that most wine isn't vegan? I discovered this a while back and have been interested in finding some tasty organic / vegan wine. I think I tried a vegan wine about a year ago because I remember that Fisher's has an organic wine section. While at Raisin Rack last week I picked up a bottle of Orelans Hill California Syrah and wanted to see how it stacked up to my favorite Funky Llama Shiraz from Argentina.

This particular wine spoke to me because of the label. Who could pass on a bottle with a picture of Don Quixote approaching the windmills???

So what's the verdict? I'm going to stick to my Funky Llama. I'm not a wine person so I have a hard time putting my finger on why I didn't like the vegan wine. I guess all I can say is that it seemed weak or watery... Maybe too sweet? I just prefer the fruity / peppery taste of the Funky Llama. Oh, well... So, I'm not a perfect vegan. I think I'll try a different variety next time.

Want to know more about why some wine isn't vegan? Check out this online article from VegNews.