Sunday, October 31, 2010

Spooky Halloween Dinner




Happy Halloween! I tried to make a spooky dinner tonight. I was inspired by pictures on
Wing-It Vegan blog and decided to make the mashed potato ghosts and veggie loaf. I didn't have time to make my own veggie loaf so I ended up using Field Roast Classic Meatloaf instead. However, I made my own mashed potatoes, horseradish sauce (with freshly grated horseradish) and steamed vegetables. Mashed potato ghosts in graveyard mist, "Jack Skellington" mock meatloaf and rotten vegetable compost.......



Saturday, October 30, 2010

Spider Web Pudding



2 cups cold non-dairy milk of your choice (I used almond milk)
3 Tbs cornstarch
3 Tbs cocoa powder
4-5 Tbs sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1-2 Tbs non-dairy sour cream (I used Tofutti)
Combine 1 cup of milk, vanilla extract and sugar in a saucepan. Whisk until smooth, heat until boiling over medium-high heat. Mix the rest of the milk with cornstarch and cocoa powder in a small bowl, until well combined and smooth. Pour the cocoa mixture into the boiling milk in a saucepan. Cook over medium heat, stirring constantly until pudding is very thick and smooth (at least 1-2 minutes). I used a whisk for stirring, it seems to make the pudding smoother. Pour into serving dishes.
Place sour cream in small Ziploc bag and seal it. Cut off very small corner of bag, pipe sour cream in circles over warm pudding. Run tip of knife through sour cream creating spider web effect. Serve warm, or chilled.

Friday, October 29, 2010

Furry Halloween Pictures





The Halloween story about two black cats



If it was not for Halloween, we would have not adopted our twins Abbey and Bear. Abbey and Bear were born to a feral cat mom two and a half years ago. A rescue group that I volunteer for took them in, along with their other brothers and sisters. At that time we already had Shelly (an English Cocker from Prague) and Van Gogh (a cat from Atlanta), and we were not looking for any more furry kids. FOA rescue is one of the many rescues that does not adopt out black cats during the month of October. There are two reasons why some rescues don't adopt out black cats around Halloween. The first one is the fact that some people adopt a black cat and use it as a Halloween decoration for their house or as a part of their witch costume. When Halloween is over they simply return the cat to the shelter or dump it out on the street. It is a cruel and inhumane practice, because these poor cats suffer real trauma from being dragged back and forth from shelter to home and back again. Another reason, much worse, is the fear of people who abuse or sacrifice cats during Satanic and other dark rituals. FOA gets all the black cats out of the shelter for a month, finding them temporary foster homes. We agreed to foster Abbey and Bear together. We first only wanted Bear, but then I saw how codependent Abbey was on her brother and I simply could not leave her behind. Abbey was litter box trained and never had any accidents in the shelter until one night. I came to the shelter one day to find Abbey in a cage by herself (until then she was always with Bear). Someone had separated them for a night. She missed her brother so much that she peed all over her bed due to loneliness and sadness.....
Fostering Abbey and Bear was fun, but also a lot of work since they were still crazy kittens who got into things and made a lot of mess. They chewed up most of our cords and wires around the house, including surround sound cord, several cell phone chargers and subwoofer wire, book corners and magazines..........
However, we fell in love with them despite all the destruction and craziness. When Halloween was over and we had to bring these mischievous twins back to the shelter, we hesitated. The idea of Abbey and Bear sleeping in cold cages, eating crappy food, being locked up in a cage for more then half a day each day terrified me. They had their new routines at home, their favorite food, treats, toys, plenty of love and play time, and their new sister and brother (Shelly and Van Gogh). I was also scared that they would be adopted separately, because it is very hard to find a home for two cats together, not to mention homeless black cats are very hard to adopt out.
We decided to adopt Abbey and Bear and they have been part f our family for two years now. I am grateful for Halloween, because without that holiday, we would not have our black twins. I will post more pictures of our furry family soon.

Thursday, October 28, 2010

Veggie Hot Dog Mummies



Halloween is one of my favorite holidays. I didn't celebrate Halloween in Czech Republic when I was growing up since Halloween isn't a Czech holiday. I missed out on trick-or-treating and other cool traditions as a child.
I celebrated my very first Halloween in USA in 2005. I was blown away by all the scary decorations, costumes, creepy food, pumpkin carvings and spooky Jack-O'-Lanterns. I have always enjoyed horror movies and scary books, so I loved the the idea of scary movies marathon on TV for the whole month of October. Even though I don't dress up for Halloween, I like to make Halloween themed food, pumpkin pies, pumpkin bread and pumpkin pudding.
Last year, I made Veggie Hot Dog Mummies (a vegan Halloween version of Pigs in a Blanket), and vegan Halloween cupcakes. The Mummies were so easy and they tasted pretty good warm, and then cold the next day. The cupcakes were devilicious! I am not sure what I will create this Halloween yet.

Monday, October 25, 2010

Getting ready for the Vegan MoFo



November is the Vegan Month of Food. I will try to participate as much as I can. You can look forward to try some veganized Czech traditional recipes, read my reviews for vegan products, and you can also check out my furry kids.