Sunday, October 23, 2011

Vegan Extreme Couponing

I have been guilty of using excessive coupons, but this vegan gal Perry takes extreme couponing to the max! I set my DVR to record the new episodes of Extreme Couponing on TLC and to my surprise, a vegan was represented....soooooo cool!


Perry has a community facebook page for her vegan couponing:

There is popular facebook page for vegan coupons that I stumbled across:

Dominex Eggplant Cutlets

Another new item I discovered at Sunflower are these Dominex Eggplant Cutlets. They are all natural, vegan breaded eggplant cutlets and only 100 calories for a serving, which works out to about 3 points. They are sooooo tasty. We decided to bake them in the oven (12-15 minutes) and then put a little marinara sauce and Daiya cheese on top. It tastes so good that you'll think you's eating naughty food, but the combo is only 6 Weight Watchers points. We put a small baked potato and steamed vegetables with it for a dinner total of 9 points. It's a quick easy main dish for busy vegans.

Lenny and Larry's Complete Cookies

I am in love...with a cookie. I usually scour the aisles of Sunflower and Fresh and Easy for new vegan items, when I go shopping. A couple weeks ago, I saw these massive cookies at Sunflower called Complete Cookies by Lenny and Larry. Right on the front of the packaging, it says 'vegan'. I bought a chocolate chip one just to see if it was any good. I split the soft cookie own the middle and gave half to Matt. We both looked up at each other after our first bite; YUM! So, this is not a low-calorie food, but it is not highly-processed and is a great source of protein. For half a cookie, it is 5 Weight Watcher points. You really only need half a cookie....it is huge. I bought a few the last time I went to the store, and when we need a sweet treat, we grab a Complete Cookie from the pantry. You'll love it.


Thursday, October 6, 2011

Hibbard House Halloween Decorating

Every year, I love to break out my decorations and get in a festive mood. From October 1st to December 31st, my house definitely gets a seasonal look. I always try to keep my decorations simple and modern, but sometimes I get carried away. This year I bought flicker flame light bulbs for my sputnik light in our front window.


Every Christmas, I change the usual star light bulbs to red and green lights. I thought of doing orange lights for halloween and then came across the flame ones....they are soo cool! Here's a short 10 sec video of them in action:


Here's a peek into our halloween decorations:





Hankerin' For Coconut Macaroons

Tuesday night, Mr. Hibbard asked me to print out a recipe for vegan coconut macaroons and he would make them while I was at a night work appointment. I came home to a macaroon pancake...ha! Not his fault, but it just wasn't a good recipe. I always try to use vegan recipes, but sometimes, you have to 'veganize' a well-reviewed non-vegan recipe to get a good result.

This non-vegan coconut macaroon recipe has 605 mostly great reviews. So, my challenge was to veganize it. The only non-vegan ingredients I had to have substitutions for were the butter (I used Earth Balance) and sweetened condensed milk (I had to make my own!).

I don't think I have ever baked with sweetened condensed milk, even before becoming vegan. So, I went to the internets and found this recipe for vegan sweetened condensed milk . I happened to have some powdered soy milk, from my holiday adventures with vegan white chocolate, so this recipe was perfect.

Vegan Sweetened Condensed Milk
Powdered soy milk (re-constitute using package recommendation...I used 24 ozs of water and 3/4 cup of NOW Foods powdered soy milk)
1 1/2 cups sugar
6 Tbsp vegan butter/margarine (I used Earth Balance)

1) Add soy milk powder and the accompanying water into a pot and heat until mixture boils.
2) In a separate pan, melt 6 tbsp of vegan butter/margarine
3) Add sugar to the melted butter
4) When sugar begins to melt, add the hot milk from the other pot and add a dash of salt.
5) Bring the mixture to gentle boil for at least 5 minutes. The mixture should be finished cooking when it gets a little thick.





Vegan Coconut Macaroons
Makes 12 macaroons

  • 1/4 cup and 1 teaspoon all-purpose flour
  • 2 1/4 cups and 1 tablespoon flaked coconut (I used Fresh and Easy sweetened shredded coconut)
  • 1/8 teaspoon salt
  • 1/2 cup and 1 tbsp vegan sweetened condensed milk
  • 3/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
  1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Line cookie sheets with parchment paper.
  2. In a large bowl, stir together the flour, coconut and salt. Stir in the sweetened condensed milk and vanilla using your hands until well blended. Use an ice cream scoop to drop dough onto the prepared cookie sheets. Cookies should be about golf ball size. 
  3. Bake for 12 to 15 minutes in the preheated oven, until coconut is toasted (mine took about 17 minutes and I probably could have baked them longer)
 

Starbucks Pumpkin Spice Latte With Soy=NOT Vegan

I guess I didn't get the memo that the Starbucks Pumpkin Spice Latte has milk in it, even if you get it made with soy. Bummer, big time. According to Your Daily Vegan, Starbucks pumpkin spice latte syrup contains: Sugar, condensed nonfat milk, sweet condensed nonfat milk, anotta (a colorant), natural and artificial flavors and caramel coloring. 

I distinctly remember seeing advertisements a year or so ago for Starbucks new 'vegan' soy drinks, so I assumed a soy pumpkin spice latte would be dairy free. I figured they used a sugar syrup, so how could it not be vegan?! I think they should consider making vegan-friendly seasonal alternatives! My suggestion is to replace the condensed nonfat milk with condensed soy milk and the sweet condensed nonfat milk with sweetened soy condensed milk.  I'll just have to enjoy my pumpkin spice lattes at home for now.

Hibbard Kitchen Original: Vegan Pumpkin Spice Latte 
6 oz freshly-brewed coffee (or espresso, if you have it)
1/2 cup almond milk (or any non-dairy milk)
2 TBSP vegan sweetened condensed milk (recipe below)
3 TBSP pumpkin spice syrup (recipe below)

Combine all ingredients into a cup. I like mine iced, so I brew my coffee over ice, then add the other ingredients.

Pumpkin Spice Syrup
1 1/2 cups water
1 1/2 cups sugar
4 cinnamon sticks or 1 tablespoon ground cinnamon (I used 4 cinnamon sticks)
1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
1 teaspoon ground nutmeg
3 tablespoons pumpkin purée

1) Combine water and sugar in a medium pot over medium heat. Cook until sugar has completely dissolved.
2)Whisk in remaining ingredients.
3) Cook for about 6 minutes, stirring frequently. Do not allow mixture to come to a boil.
4) Strain syrup through cheesecloth into a large glass measuring cup or bowl.
5) Transfer to bottle of your choice and store in the refrigerator. I poured my syrup into a salad dressing mixer, which is awesome for mixing it up before pouring it into my coffee.


Vegan Sweetened Condensed Milk
Powdered soy milk (re-constitute using package recommendation...I used 24 ozs of water and 3/4 cup of NOW Foods powdered soy milk)
1 1/2 cups sugar
6 Tbsp vegan butter/margarine (I used Earth Balance)

1) Add soy milk powder and the accompanying water into a pot and heat until mixture boils.
2) In a separate pan, melt 6 tbsp of vegan butter/margarine
3) Add sugar to the melted butter
4) When sugar begins to melt, add the hot milk from the other pot and add a dash of salt.
5) Bring the mixture to gentle boil for at least 5 minutes. The mixture should be finished cooking when it gets a little thick.

I think this pumpkin spice latte tastes very similar to Starbuck's version. If you skip the sweetened condensed soy milk, it will likely fall short of your expectations though.