Tuesday, February 06, 2018

...Also over the weekend......

...Our Girl had a birthday!
...Scout had gotten her tickets to an event...and as a unique surprise package...he put them into a balloon with some confetti...
...and spent a really long time wrapping up a box...with specific colours of paper and it had to be able to be opened without cutting the paper...
...and then he wrote "Pop Me" on the balloon...
...closed the box and tied it up with some wide white ribbon...
...and there's a pin tucked into the bow for popping...What fun!

...now on to the Birthday Dinner...we're having her favorite things...Chick'un and Dumplings...and Apple Streudel...(there will be biscuits and veg as well)...
...I'm using a bunch of homemade Vegan Butter to make a puff pastry...

...I've never made puff pastry before...
...cut that in with a pastry fork...
...make a dough...
...let it rest...
...meanwhile...take two sticks of Vegan Butter and whack it hard with a rolling pin...
...until it's nice and flat but still hard and cold...
...roll out the dough and put the vegan butter disc on it...
...fold the dough over...
...roll and fold and mark it once...and put it in the fridge for 30-45 minutes...
...get the dough packet out and roll it out into a long rectangle...
...you can start to see the layers forming...
...fold it over...mark it twice...and put it back into the fridge...
...roll it out again into a rectangle...
...look at those buttery layers...
...mark it three times and put it back into the fridge...this is the last time...
...now when you take it out the fridge...you can roll it into the shape/thickness that you are going to use...
...so I rolled it out pretty thin...and put it on a parchment lined sheet pan...
...peeled and sliced a bunch of Granny Smith apples...they were so small for some reason...
...added some sugar and a lot of cinnamon...
...placed the apples in the middle of the dough and folded it all up nicely...
...but...it really expanded while it cooked...and sort of burst open...it smelled divine though...
...behold the flakiness...

...now onto the Chick'un and Dumplings...
...I made a broth just with some Orrington Farms Vegan Chick'un Base...

...and then I rehydrated some Soy Curls in the broth...
...tossed those on the Foreman Grill for some browning action...
...and then back into the broth...

...made some simple dumplings...using self rising flour and vegan probiotic yogurt whey and almond milk...

...and dropped spoonfuls into the hot broth...
...let it simmer until the dumplings were pouffy and done...
...and a vegan Birthday Dinner was served...
...after dinner the streudel had cooled enough for candles...we had 19 small candles as well...but couldn't quite make them all stand up in the now open streudel top...
...so in the end we just went with the big numbers and the Happy Birthday sign...
...Scout lit the candles and carried it into the dining room while we all sang Happy Birthday to Our Girl...
...she was delighted...
...then it was time for cards and presents...
...and Our Girl is a scarf-wearer-extraordinaire...
...a loop and a tuck...and the scarf looks really good on her...

...we had a lot of fun preparing for and then celebrating with Our Girl...

~Have a lovely day!

2 comments:

  1. What a splendid birthday dinner, green with envy I have a cold cough and no appetite!

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  2. certainly, happy birthday to her!! what a wonderful meal....that was all just divine looking. you're very sweet! love, k

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