hello, non-existent blog followers. i unfortunately took a leave of absence for awhile, but i promise now that school is back in session, i am back to having no life except for going to class, work, and staying in on saturday nights baking.

speaking of work, i have been a busy little worker bee at a teashop lately. not my own, unfortunately, but i am moooooore than happy to do nothing but drink tea allll day. i think, to combine my love of tea with that of baking, i may just start a little journal of which teas i find go with which baked goods and why. lately, with all the changes happening in my life, i have been drawn towards comfort teas and midnight chocolate cake. we'll see how that goes!

but alas, i am off to the natural foods market before work! i promise to post more, and i may just start promoting my blog a little bit more once i get going. :)

SHEESE?!

so, i'm not sure how many people out there have tried the scottish cheese replacement "sheese," but i recently discovered its existence at my local planet organic (which i typically do not frequent as at this specific location i have two planet organic stalkers who tend to follow me around the store. plus, i accidentally once left my writer's journal there with my most embarassing moment enclosed inside, and i'm pretty sure they read it). but i digress...

now, normally i'm not the type to seek out such vegan luxury items. i am a rather content vegan. growing up lactose intolerant, i couldn't even tell you the last time i actually ate a slice of cheese. but given other ravings i have heard about sheese, i thought i would test it on my own, going in with zero expectations, and see how it holds up in items one would normally throw cheese into. so, i've picked up the classic, a "medium" cheddar variety, and opened it up for the first time...



upon opening the package, i was at first overwhelmed by its potency... it smelled like CHEESE. so much, that it actually threw me off for a second, and i felt a little nauseous as cheese has never been my favourite smell. i tasted a slice of sheese on its own.

again, it really did taste like cheese. or at least from what i can remember, as i went consciously vegan years ago. i live with my uncles right now, and got THEM to smell the cheese afterwards, and compared its texture to really dense velveeta, and declared it did smell like a sharp cheddar. they refused to taste it though.

anyways.... i decided to kick off these cheese by making a classic grilled cheese sandwich. a couple slices of bread, a little earth balance, and some sheeese in the middle. i did all this, and set it on the grill, waiting eagerly for the results. what WERE the results, you ask? not the GREATEST.


sheese doesn't melt! at least not well. the sheese, inside the sandwich, reached a certain point where you could tell it was affected by the heat, but never did it actually melt. i left it on a lot longer than i should have, with still no luck. it failed to bind the pieces of bread together, which i think in essence is what usually happens to a grilled cheese sandwich. it was a little awkward to eat, and i was a little put off by its sharpness. so much in fact, that i didn't finish half of it, eeeeeven after covering it in organic ketchup.



all these being said, i deem sheese okay if you're craving it as is. (although i personally wouldn't eat it this way). melting wise, it could do better, but such is life. i think i'm going to test it in a savoury scone before i go to class tonight, or maybe tomorrow. i will keep anyone reading this posted. which is probably no one.

Uhm, peanut butter chocolate chip banana bread anyone?
This is probably actually one of the first recipes that got me into vegan baking, and I decided not too long ago to bake myself a batch for old time's sake. Between my friends and I, a loaf didn't even make it through a couple pots of tea! Good thing I made two.
I was actually inspired by my grandmother's amaaaaazing banana bread recipe, when she passed away, my parents always continued to make it.
However, upon attempting to veganize HERS, I actually ended up coming up with my own completely different recipe! :)
Like I said with the cheesecake thing, I'm working on actually formally writing these out!

coconut key lime "cheesecake"

i am going to start this off with a creation of mine from the past. mostly because i think it's kinda pretty. this is the coconut key lime cheesecake i originally came up with after a birthday request.
i have decided not to give out my recipes on my blog unless by request, as i'll be working on a vegan baking "cookbook" type collection anyways and will make everything available at once, hopefully over the summer.
plus i'm a pretty neurotic baker, so i have a super hard time articulating what i do onto paper anyways!
if you're absolutely dying though, i'm always happy to share! <3