Snow Day!

Well, it's not exactly snowing out, but school is most certainly canceled. I am all for it! We are looking forward to watching the snow start to fall, staying cuddled in bed and doing some much needed baking. I go through these baking spurts in my life. In the past month I've baked more than I have in years. Coffee cake, chocolate cake, cookies, granolas, sticky buns and of course the donuts(which aren't exactly baked). I've got a killer sweet tooth that will need to be reined in at some point soon. This chocolate cake recipe was from sweetpepita, you can find it on the YetiLovesSeamonster blog

I substituted rice milk and I used my Martha mini loaf pan to make tiny little cakes. The frosting is just powdered sugar, Earth Balance, vanilla and rice milk. I added the rice milk until it was nice and creamy and I whipped it really well so it was light and fluffy. Mmmmm. So here are a couple of other updates on the home front. First, we went to our ultrasound a couple weeks ago and baby3 is superb and I'm feeling almost normal. It's a little bit strange to be in bed for so long at the beginning of pregnancy and then when I finally get up and start moving around again, I'm huge. Oh don't worry I'll get even bigger, I'm only half way there! They gave us another 3D shot this time, so cute. Baby has been kicking up a storm and we started childbirth classes in the Bradley Method taught here in Lancaster city by Kelly Cassidy a couple weeks ago. It's a refresher for me, and a beginners course for pops. It's really fun and informative. My first birth 8 years ago was a pretty sad home birth attempt/ emergency cesarean. But my second was a very successful almost pain free VBAC delivery. Thats the goal again this time! Bradley is really great because they teach you all sorts of information about what you body is going through, relaxation, prenatal exercises, medical interventions. It makes you feel really well informed and empowered when it comes time to birth that baby.
I tried my hand at dying some roving last week and that was a complete fiasco. I only did a little bit of wool because I have Procion dyes and they work best with plant fibers. I dyed some really beautiful tencel and bamboo in pink/purple, and yellow/green.
I love that stuff, so shiny, soft and silky! The gray yarn is some "black diamond" bamboo roving I spun. It's my favorite of them all. In other fibrous news I also squeezed through a little loop hole in my fabric buying strike and bought a pack of king sized organic sheets on clearance at Target for $30! I've been craving some organic fabric to go with some yarns I bought a while ago, but I'm not buying new fabric, remember? I'll dismantle the sheets, dye them in a variety of colors and see when I can do with them. Luckily the dye is still out from the roving mishap. This is the funniest.
It started out as beautiful light and fluffy wool and then it became a pink mass of sheep dreads. I have no idea what to do with it, does it need to be carded again? I have no means to do that though. Oh, so many silly little projects like this, but I do honestly have about a million ideas these days and I'm actually bringing them to life. I feel so much better about this craft business when I worry less about the business and more about the craft. I'll leave you with some happy family vegan dinner ideas that we've been eating around here lately.
Chili with 'cheese', no-smash guac, fruit salad, 'Red Hot Blues' chips

Miso soup, tofu-veggie rolls, salad, blood oranges

Baked potato, garlic sesame tofu, fruit salad, green salad, carrot apple juice

tofu salad on toast, potato salad, fruit, greens, tomatoes

veggie star pasta soup, 'cheesy bread' w/ pizza sauce, chard, rice milk


Happy Snow Day to All!