I know. I know it's Monday and Germanfest Monday to boot or das boot. I'll have something Oktoberfesty for you a few paragraphs down, I promise. I am really sorry I can't deal with the Fraulein Lipshitz costume right now. Heimlich aka Psycho Boy is having another stupid allergy attack and I don't want him to mess up his lederhosen. They are on loan. Heimlich is not.
I want candy. I didn't make any. As a rule I don't eat candy or processed sugar even in it's non bone char form. The powers that be must want me to stare and salivate over candy because this has been a newsworthy week for candy in our house.
First off guess what?! I won swag. I won swag. I won a nifty organic bag and quinoa chocolate and a coupon for free Coconut Bliss ice creme. Yeah, I won it from John's blog the Laziest Vegans in the World. I was so surprised that the swag got here super fast since John is lazy and might not have ever gotten around to putting my prizes in the mail. John got up off his recliner and away from his own stash of vegan raisinetts to mail it. Go John! So here I am staring at the chocolate, or is the chocolate staring at me? I've already used the bag. Swag. Thank you, John. Oh LVIW is the best place to learn about vegan convenience fun foods.
Then there is this really cool vegan online bakeryEtsy shop opening up. Anne, the owner of Annabel's Lil Rescue Hen is a really kind pastry chef who loves saving chickens. Ann will distribute 30% of all proceeds to several rescue org. Anne currently has 16 chicken companions. Anyway I passed on a few Etsy tips to very sweet Ann, and she's been plying me with vegan treats to share with my friends ever since. Thank you for your generosity. I did take a few little nibbles as you can see by the teethmarks below. And everyone I have shared these goodies with has agreed that they are absolutely top notch and delectable. If anybody else needs any tips from me in exchange for good things, I am here. Right here at this blog. I never leave.
I guess I was supposed to share the very hearty Bavarian barley soup we had for dinner tonight, as promised. I don't think so. Now I understand why you are supposed to eat dessert after soup instead of before. I mean really... who wants barley after a lolly. Ho hum guess we'll have to save the soup for a rainy day. That's life in candy land or Veganville.
I've been down and out. Me and crazy boy really hit the skids. In my experience, nobody shares almonds. It's hard to get a nutritious meal from the food banks. We once got a fifty pound bag of potato flakes and three 16 ounce jars of sugar and oil laden generic peanut butter. One church attendant called us entitled when I gave back the cans of spam and deviled ham that were in our bounty. Well true, we still had our teeth and a toothbrush to share. We even had jobs and we could clean ourselves up in the sink of the local Amtrak lavatory. Hmmm, maybe we were entitled, maybe we were a special kind of homeless couple. Our kind of homeless was way before the 99% occupy was fashionable. We were the one per cent. Homeless employed vegans, but stuff happens even to those who are cruelty free. The good news was that my Bloomies card hadn't totally run out so, I had my last hurrah and ran up credit for a couple of bad ass bras. I guess I could have purchased some almonds or shoes instead of the undies, but it's tough on those mean streets and it's good to feel like you got some under armour.
Chocolate Almond Boats with Strawberry Topping
I've tried making quite a few raw chocolates and thus far this has been my favorite. The chocolate base is from one of my favorite cookbooks, Lacey Sher and Gail Doherty's You Won't Believe It's Vegan. We also made some bark which was equally delicious.
Chocolate Base 1 C raw cacao nibs 1 C agave 1.5 C coconut oil pinch of sea salt 1/2 C almond slivers
Blend all ingredients, except almonds in food processor or blender, until completely smooth. Stir in almonds. Pour into candy molds or spread on parchment lined sheet pan. Freeze until firm. Store in freezer until firm.
Strawberry Topping (also in the Veganville archives, but hidden under the code word blueberry...oh just exchange fruits) Well it is our sincere hope that this post has given you some food for thought. You can't always judge a book by it's cover. And because we've been through it and have lived to tell it we encourage you to say hi to your local panhandler, give them a smile, some dental floss and some much needed greens. We usually protect our anonymity when it comes to our charitable deeds, but we hope you can follow our example.So, in addition to helping one or two animals every 6 months, Veganville now contributes two jumbo cupcakes every 5th Saturday to our favorite Vet on the street. Next month we will be contributing to Junkie Joe and his pitbull Axe. Won't you?
