I Love Peanut Butter and National Doughnut Day

I just found out yesterday that National Doughnut Day was Friday.  Apparently it is always on the first Friday in June.  I'm not sure how I had never heard of it before.  :)  

I have been searching for the perfect vegan doughnut recipe (that doesn't require yeast) and this seemed like a good reason to try out a new one.  I figured better late than never definitely applies to honoring National Doughnut Day!

The doughnut above actually celebrates two things I love, doughnuts and peanut butter.  The recipe I used is here  http://lizlemonnights.wordpress.com/2012/05/31/peanut-butter-banana-donuts-with-chocolate-glaze/

Peanut butter and bananas, oh my!  Plus this recipe uses some whole wheat pasty flour which makes me happy.  The recipe directions don't mention when to add the non dairy milk (I used almond milk, I thought it would pair nicely with the peanut butter) so I added it into the banana, sugar, vanilla, EB  mixture..  The verdict: these were good, although I think I would have liked them even better with a peanut butter glaze instead of the chocolate glaze. A peanut butter glaze would have definitely amped up the peanut buttery goodness.   Despite all these had going for them, I have to admit my search is still on for the doughnut recipe of my dreams, but I would be inclined to make these again with a few tweaks.  Oh, in case you noticed and were wondering, my coffee cup in the picture has my 3 wonderful grandchildren on it.  It's my favorite cup if you can imagine.  :)

As the title states, I love peanut butter, and really anything nutty for that matter.  I was at our local coop yesterday and one of the soups of the day was their African Groundnut Stew.  This soup is delicious and has ingredients like sweet potatoes and nuts in it, yum!  Even though it's not really stew weather, I couldn't resist sitting at one of the outdoor tables and devouring a cup with a nice whole wheat rockin roll (not pictured) and a Reed's Raspberry Ginger Brew (currently on sale).

All in all a great day!!

Not Quite Chili Cheese Fries (or Leftover Memorial Day Food Nachos)

 

Welcome to the official revamp of my blog.  Unfortunately, my pictures still leave something to be desired  :) but I think I'm going to like the layout a little better.

So right or wrong, I decided to start my revamp with a take on vegan junk food.  My son (who is not vegan) was talking with me a couple of days ago about wanting a chili cheese dog and fries.  Unfortunately (fortunately) that sparked a craving in me that I couldn't ignore.  I really like Amy's chili for a quick fix when I don't have the time to make chili from scratch, however I didn't have any in my pantry that day and I didn't feel like making homemade.  Then I remembered I still had some leftover baked beans from Memorial Day in the refrigerator.  An idea started to form.  I didn't have any french fries in the freezer, again I wasn't going to make them from scratch, then I remembered I still had some potato chips leftover from Memorial Day.  I had a few Field Roast hot dogs leftover from Memorial Day (I'm sure you see the theme) that I sliced up and sauteed in a little olive oil.  Things were starting to come together nicely.  :)  All that was left was the cheese, in this case it was the wonderful, amazing Cashew Queso from the PPK  I didn't have red pepper when I made mine so I used yellow pepper, delicious just slightly lighter in color then normal.  No hot dog buns left, no problem.  I layered it all together and voila!

These were amazing and totally hit the spot.  Another name for them could have been Beenie Weenies with Chips and Cheese, because that is what they tasted like.  Whatever they're called I would definitely eat these again.  I love when necessity (or laziness) is the mother of invention.  Now if only there had been a leftover piece of Julie Hasson's Banana Pudding Pie.  :)