Graduation & Holiday Party

Hope everyone’s had a great weekend. I’m trying to figure out how it went by so quickly!

Some things we’ve been up to … Erik officially graduated with his Masters in exercise science on Friday, woo hoo!

Yes, he meant to put that right in front of my face when I was taking a picture, why wouldn’t he?? Ha.

Holiday Party

On Thursday evening we went to a holiday party at Portfolio Kitchen.

I posted a little while back about their grand opening in which Thermador also launched a culinary studio with eight live professional appliances. Thermador’s chef, Chef Brad, who was at the grand opening event was also at this holiday party.

I’ve seen other bloggers talk about Thermador blogging events so I was already familiar with Chef Brad but we got an opportunity to talk to him this time. Chef Brad is passionate about cooking with grains, and we spent some time with him talking about different kinds of grains, flours, products, etcetera.

After finding out we’re vegan, he nicely made up special plates of food for us that included squash and quinoa topped with a tasty salsa/chutney. We were delighted to get our own plates and it was delicious!

Chef Brad’s website has a lot of great information with all kinds of tips, recipes, products, etcetera. Definitely worth checking out, especially if you want to learn more about fusion grain cooking!

Purple Carrot Portfolio Discount

Last, but certainly not least, Portfolio Kitchen would like to offer 10% off to YOU, blog readers, on any of their Portfolio Boutique merchandise! As you see from my last post, they have a wealth of local and national cookbooks and products that would make awesome Christmas gifts. They have signed copies of Bluestem the Cookbook, Jasper’s Kitchen Cookbook and Fresh Mozzarella Theater Kit, Kansas City Food Lover’s Guide, Foodie Fight and Foodie Fight Rematch games, and more.

All you have to do is stop in, check out what they have and mention The Purple Carrot to get the 10% off. Their hours are Monday through Friday 9-5 and Saturdays from 11-3, and they’re located in the historic Pershing building across from Union Station in Kansas City.

Have a great Monday!

End of the week Pinterest fun

Thought I’d stop in with some end of the week Pinterest fun, and share some of the things I’ve been “pinning” lately! Everything from home décor to cinnamon roll pie crusts, to making your own natural food coloring.

Here we go!

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Vintage Christmas
via flickr

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Cinnamon roll pie crust – I’m thinking I need to try this with my mini cinnamon roll crust recipe … yum!
via Taste for Adventure

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Quotes to live by
Via Tumblr & Via flickr

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How to make your own natural food coloring for all those holiday cookies!
Via Buzzle

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I really love this wall color against the dark wood trim … plus everything else about the décor!
via Apartment Therapy

Come pin with me!

Lulu's & Pumpkin Cashew Ice Cream

Hi!

Hope everyone is doing well! It’s getting colder and colder here in Kansas City and we even woke up to a nice dusting of snow. My parents were in town this weekend and we had fun running around on Monday doing some shopping. We ended up eating dinner Lulu’s and after a weekend full of running around, neither Erik or I felt like cooking tonight so guess what we had? More Lulu’s, ha. Yes, two nights in a row.

This time it was takeout though, so that’s different enough, right?

Anyways, we both got the drunken noodles, vegan style (basically, without egg):

I put my food on a plate, spent a little take taking photos and still finished my whole plate well before Erik finished his.

He was impressed. Or something like that.

Ha, either way … yum!

Next up … I realize pumpkin season is coming to an end and sugar cookie season is beginning, but I couldn’t help one last commemoration of pumpkins! It looks a little something like this …

Pumpkin Cashew Ice Cream

Ingredients:

• 1 cup plain cashews
• 1 cup water
• 1/3 cup plain canned pumpkin
• 1/2 cup agave nectar
• 2 tablespoons melted coconut oil
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
• 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• 1/4 teaspoon sea salt

Instructions:

• Blend together cashews and water until smooth.
• Add remaining ingredients, and once again blend until smooth. The mixture should be blended enough that it’s slightly creamy
• Place in ice cream maker until thickened. My ice cream maker usually takes around 30 minutes.

Note: If you don’t have an ice cream maker, you can place the blended mixture into the freezer, stirring often, and it should produce pretty good results. It may be a tad icy depending on how often you stir it but the taste should still be delicious.

It would taste especially delicious with these delicious vegan brownies!

Yes, it’s cold outside.

But who doesn’t like ice cream all year round?

Exactly.

The end.

What have you been baking or cooking lately??

Gourmet sweet potato fry dinner

Happy weekend, everyone!

How’s the weather treating you all?? It’s been nice and gloomy here, raining all day. My parents are coming to visit this weekend, and even postponed their trip by a day because it was snowing like crazy in Nebraska (where they live).

I’m kind of ready for it to snow here! After all, when you’ve got a Christmas tree up and a warm cup of tea or hot chocolate in hand, who cares? Not this girl. Bring on the winter coziness!

Anyways … since my parents are going to come a day late, it means I’m going to play hooky from work on Monday, thus my Saturday was spent doing Monday’s work. Because of that, I’m really not sure what day today is, ha.

Vintage dishes love

The highlight of this gloomy Saturday? Getting these babies in the mail:

It’s a 12 piece cup and saucer set; 6 Pyrex tea cups and 6 Corelle saucers from Queen Bee Vintiques on Etsy. Love them, and they’re in excellent condition.

Gourmet sweet potato fry dinner

Last by not least for this random post, look what Erik made me for dinner the other night:

I was working late, and we had just about zero groceries in our cupboard or fridge to eat! My dinner expectations were pretty low when Erik started cooking dinner simply because I knew we didn’t have much to pick from. Next thing I know, this plate shows up in front of my face.

Fancy schmancy!

I was impressed. I’m one lucky girl.

Needless to say, it. was. delicious.

Basically, it was roasted chopped vegetables consisting of carrots, onions, red potatoes, kale and cucumbers – yes, cucumber! –tossed in coconut oil, sea salt and pepper before roasting, served with hand cut baked sweet potato fries with a ginger cashew crème.

Before putting the fries in the oven, he placed them on a skillet for a little bit with coconut oil. Delicious!

Full disclosure: Upon taking photos, I immediately jumped up and loaded the rest of my plate with more sweet potato fries. I would have added ketchup to the mix but we were out!

And that’s about it!

What have you been up to this weekend??

Portfolio's 12 Days of Cookbooks (great holiday gift ideas!)

Happy December, everyone!

It’s hard to believe that it’s already that time of year, isn’t it?? And I have yet to get one Christmas present for one person! This is no surprise though, as I’m typically pretty good at doing such things last minute, ha.

Speaking of Christmas gifts, Erik and I went to an event last night at Portfolio Kitchen called The 12 Days of Cookbooks. It featured “12 Days” of cookbooks from renowned local and national authors to inspire great holiday gift ideas for the foodies in your life!

I thought it was a great idea to feature so many local cookbooks, and what a great gift idea, not only spreading good food, but supporting local authors. And not to worry … so none of you miss out, here’s a list of the featured “12 Days of Cookbooks”:

• Heartland by Judith Fertig
• Bluestem by Colby & Megan Garrelts
• The Bonne Femme Cookbook by Wini Moranville
• Mastering the Art of French Cooking by Julia Child
• The Way to Cook by Julia Child
• Mozzarella Theater Kit & Cookbook by Jasper Mirabile, Jr.
• Venezia by Tessa Kiros
• Grilled Pizzas & Piadinas by Craig Priebe
• Lidia Cooks from the Heart of Italy by Lidia Bastianich
• Miette by Meg Ray
• Chocolat by Stephan Lagorce
• Luscious Chocolate by Lori Longbotham
• Milk & Cookies by Tina Casaceli
• Sticky, Chewy, Messy, Gooey by Jill O’Connor
• Foodie Fight, Wine Wars, and Food Fight Rematch Games by Joyce Lock
• Food Lover’s Guide to Kansas City by Sylvie Hogg Murphy
• The Artisan Bread Machine by Judith Fertig
• Cake Simple by Christie Matheson
• Amish Baking Book by Lovina Eicher
• Luscious Lemon Desserts by Lori Longbotham
• Wine Bites by Barbara Scott-Goodman
• Small Plates-Perfect Wines by Lori Lyn Narlock
• Cakebread Cellars’ American Harvest Cookbook by Jack & Dolores Cakebread
• Prairie Home Cooking by Judith Fertig
• Bon Appetit Y’All & Basic to Brilliant Y’All by Virginia Wills
• Casserole Queens by Crystal Cook and Sandy Pollock
• Plenty by Yotam Ottolenghi
• Homemade by Clodagh McKenna
• 500 Cupcakes by Judith Fertig
• The Pretty Cupcake Kit and Cutie Pies by Dani Cone

One awesome non cookbook item to point out are Joyce Lock’s Foodie games. She has three different games: Foodie Fight, Foodie Fight Rematch & Wine Wars, which are trivia all about food and wine.

Not only can they be great games for any foodie, but also a fun and challenging way to learn more about food and wine in depth. You can visit her Facebook page for more information. These would definitely make a unique holiday gift for the food lovers in your life!

Chef Jasper Mirabile from Jasper’s & Marco Polo’s Italian Market was also there last night doing a fresh Mozzarella demonstration.

You can even purchase a kit to very easily make your own Mozarella (just add milk), along with his cookbooks on his website. Both excellent holiday gifts!

It was a great event at Portfolio and hopefully you’ve been inspired in your holiday gift giving! I posted more pictures from the evening on my Facebook page as well.

How many gifts do you have left to get?? (For those of you that say “ALL of them”, I’m right there with you! ha)

Pinterest: December style

Guess what?

December is tomorrow! In lieu of the changing of the months, a December-inspired Pinterest post is in order!

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Hello December

From Tumblr

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This is my kind of Christmas wreath!
I can’t decide if I’m going to make it, or just stare at it on Pinterest … only time will tell.

From Better Homes and Gardens

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I played “Guess that Christmas movie” with this picture on Facebook yesterday.
It wasn’t very hard! Apparently I’m not the only one who loves Elf.

p.s. this is a free printable in case anyone wants it! click link below

From Inviting Printables

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One fun part about Christmas is cookie cut outs!
I love this idea, and just may have to conjure up a delicious vegan sugar cookie recipe for such an occasion.
(if you have one, I’m all ears)

From The 36th Avenue

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And last but not least … Merry Christmas!
It IS December and all, it’s not too early to say it anymore.

From Flickr

If you have Pinterest, have you found any neat December-inspired pins? Do share!