Vegan Desserts?

Lately I have been on a vegan dessert craze! I don't know why- maybe because I don't feel good when I eat milk and butter? I also have been trying to experiment with different sweeteners. The artificial type creeps me out but the regular refined sugars makes my blood sugar spike and then drop. I've been hearing a lot about agave but have been hesitant to try it. It just looked weird to me. I recently saw this book when grocery shopping and became instantly obsessed with the frosting! I decided to give some of these vegan recipes a try!

Strawberry Shortcake the first recipe I have made from the Baby Cakes recipe book. The shortcake is made with spelt flour, water, coconut oil, vanilla and evaporated cane juice. I switched the evaporated cane juice for agave because I wanted to try it. The dough was absolutely delicious! I thought I had died and gone to heaven when I tried it! The shortbread smelled divine when they cooked in the oven.

 The recipe called for a vanilla frosting, but I wanted something that more like whip cream. I saw a recipe for vegan Cool Whip online and tried it out. I basically took the fat from a can of coconut milk, vanilla, and agave and whipped it. It tasted pretty good- but I like coconut. Not as sweet as real Cool Whip, but you could add powdered sugar if you like it sweeter.

Cory seemed to like it!

 He told me that it was good, but not his favorite dessert. It probably tasted too healthy! I thought it was a great dessert! The 'whip cream' was just slightly sweet, the strawberries juicy, and the shortbread had a warm wheaty taste. They only problem was that they were dry (that could have been because I tinkered with the recipe). I liked them though. They filled me up with just one serving! I might have to make the shortbread again, just for the dough!

For those interested, here is the recipe for the whip cream (I subbed the sugar for agave to taste):
http://kblog.lunchboxbunch.com/2011/09/how-to-make-whipped-coconut-cream-from.html

More Renovations!

This is what my car looked like when I drove home from Goodwill one day! The nice guys at Goodwill helped me jerry-rig this. This was a steal- $25 for a solid wood hutch. I love finding a perfect (well, almost perfect) piece of furniture to redo. Unfortunately Cory and I no longer have any room for more furniture projects!

 It made it home!

 The first step was sanding the top because there were some deep scratches. I decided I was too lazy to sand the whole piece and I really didn't want to use a stripper again (yucky stuff!) so I did some research and learned about chalk paint. I'm so glad I found it! You can use chalk paint on any finished wood- without all the time spent on sanding! I was going to buy one from a retailer for $40 a liter but decided that was too expensive and found a recipe online. I found out that all you have to do is take a regular paint and add Plaster of Paris and a little bit of water. I used my left over Behr paint from the desk project. I found that the paint really did stick to the finished wood surface. I did have several small lumps but sanded them down later. After the whole piece was painted and dry, I lightly sanded the whole surface and also distressed the cabinet doors and corners. Then I added a furniture wax and it hardened right into the paint, creating a matte durable surface. Cory helped me buff out the wax!

 The other project I have been working on is this picture frame. I also found this at Goodwill for about $5. It was pretty beat up, but I was going for the shabby chic look. I spray painted it white and then distressed it. Next I stapled some chicken wire to the back to create a fun picture display board.

My third project I have been working on is a 'what's for dinner?' sign. I always somehow forget what I was going to make during the week! I bought a cabinet door for around $3 and spray painted it white, then distressed it. I found chalkboard paint at Joann's and painted it on the door. Cory has fun seeing what's for dinner (sometimes not when he sees things like tofu on the list).