Tag Archives: recipe

Simple Snacks are the Best

14 Jan

Sometimes we often overlook the simple things in life for the more flashy, sophisticated things. But sometimes the simple things are the best.

When I was younger, my mom used to make this snack that she simply called “Oats”. Technically, you could call it granola, but we always just called it “oats”. Recently I was thinking about them, and made her dig out her old recipe card. And when I call it old, it’s old.

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See what I mean? All smeary, and even some sort of stain. I think it’s vanilla. Anyway, there weren’t a lot of instructions on this index card. Actually, there were none. I added the 1/4t of salt (Never trust a recipe that doesn’t have salt in it.) and the “350 for 20-25min”.

They were delicious. Most of it comes out in these chewy, granolay chunks, and then theres a little left at the bottom that’s perfect over yogurt, in a smoothie, or with milk as cereal. It’s like two snacks in one! The spice is pretty basic, but there’s lots of room to change things up!! How much fun would it be to add cocoa powder and some cayenne pepper?

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Mmmm. Check out those clumps of granola!!

It’s ridiculously simple as well.

Oats
2 3/4 cups oats (I used Bob’s Red Mill Gluten-Free Old Fashioned Oats)
1/2 cup sugar
1t vanilla
1 egg, beaten (Or, 1 replacer egg. I used an actual egg, but I plan on trying it with a substitute soon!! Maybe a banana!)
1/2 cup water
1t cinnamon
1/4t salt

Mix all of the ingredients together in a bowl. Once the oats are coated, dump them out onto a cookie sheet that has been lined with parchment, or sprayed with oil.

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Bake at 350 degrees F for about 20-25 minutes. The oats on the edges will start to get crispy.

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Not going to lie, I ate these all by myself. In like a day. It’s a great grab and go snack!!

Do you have any recipes that are so simple to make, but so good? What types of add ins or flavors do you like in your granola? I’m looking for some ideas to spice this recipe up!! 

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It’s Virtual Vegan Potluck Time!!

1 Nov

I am so so so excited for this you guys. The first time Annie over at An Unrefined Vegan hosted one, I was like, I gotta get in on that. But I ended up being to lazy and never signed up. This time, I was not about to not participate.

I whipped up an awesome dessert to share with you guys today, but first, some introductions! I love the idea of this potluck, because I am hoping on finding about a bazilion fun new blogs to read. Some of you are probably new to my little corner of the blog world, so let me introduce myself. I’m Liz. You can read more about me here. But that’s not important. I want to introduce you to my plus 1 for this potluck. (Potlucks have plus one’s, right? He’s really cute. I promise.)

This is my new kitty, Balto.

I told you he was cute. Sometimes he likes to pretend he’s a book and hang out on the bookshelf.

Anyway, now onto the food! (Making new friends is fun, but food is the best part of a potluck, amiright?)

I’m pretty proud of this recipe, it’s my first official try at from scratch gluten-free baking since I was told I was gluten intolerant. And it’s delicious and vegan! What more could you ask for? (Answer: harsher punishments for parole violators, Stan. And world peace. That’s what more you could ask for. maybe?)

Donuts! Delicious fluffy pumpkin donuts with fudgey chocolate frosting, and fall sprinkles!

But before we dig right in, can we get off track for a moment? I’m sure a lot of you have Vitamix blenders. I’ve had one for a while now. But I have never used the “dry” blender attachment until this recipe. And criminy you guys, why didn’t anyone tell me it worked that well? I wanted to whip up some quinoa flour for this recipe, and I was almost a little annoyed because I had to get the blender out, and then I was going to have to wash it. I think it took me longer to get the thing out than it did to actually grind the quinoa into flour.

Amazing.

Nooooowwww time for the recipe. I promise! This recipe is adapted from the Vanilla gluten freedom cupcakes from this amazing book. The frosting was as well!

Baked Pumpkin Donuts with Fudgy Chocolate Frosting
Makes 12 delicious donuts

For the donuts:
1 cup full fat coconut milk
1/2 cup pumpkin puree
3/4 cup sugar
2 t vanilla extract
1/4 cup tapioca flour
2 T ground flax seed
1/3 cup almond meal
1/2 cup white rice flour
1/2 cup quinoa flour
1t baking powder
1/2t baking soda
1/4t salt
1/2t pumpkin pie spice

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees. Grease your donut pan. (Mine is nonstick, but I grease it anyway.)

In a mixing bowl, combined the coconut milk, pumpkin, sugar, and vanilla. Mix until combined. Add the tapioca flour and flax seed, and stir it up.

Add the almond meal, white rice flour, quinoa flour, baking powder, soda, salt, and pumpkin pie spice. Mix the crap out of it. For like 2 minutes. Or thee. It’s your call. (Let’s say 2 1/2?)

Fill your donut pan about 3/4 full. They don’t raise an awful lot, but you don’t want them splooging out of the pan or anything. Then you’d have funky donuts. But I promise you, they’d still taste good.

Bake these for about 15 minutes, until they bounce back when you poke them. (Or, just BAKE THEM UNTIL THEY’RE DONE. That’s what my chefs in culinary school always told me. It drove me crazy.)

When you take them out of the oven, let them cool in the pan for about 5 minutes. Then, remove them, and let them cool completely on a wire rack.

Now it’s time for the best part, the frosting!

Fudgy Chocolate Frosting

2T vegan butter substitute (I use Earth Balance sticks)
1/4 cup agave syrup
1t vanilla extract
3T cocoa powder
1/4 cup soy milk powder
3T coconut milk
Optional- a pinch of ginger

Whip the futter (That’s what we call vegan butter, or “fake butter” over here at A Tablespoon of Liz) with the agave and vanilla until it’s combined and there are no awkward chunks of futter hanging around.

Add the cocoa powder, and once it is mixed in add the soy milk powder and ginger. Then beat it, beat it, and beat it. until it gets lighter in color and fluffy. As you do this you’ll want to add the coconut milk, one tablespoon at a time.

Then bam, all you have to do is frost your donuts! And before you know it, there will only be a few bites left because your family will have eaten them all.

Bother.

Thank you all so so so much for stopping by for a bite! Continue the party by going forward or backward to see who else joined the potluck!!

   

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It Warms the Cockles of Your Heart

29 Oct

Has anyone else heard that phrase before? Does anyone else think the word “cockles” sounds gross? I had a friend in college tell me that about the chili she was eating once, and I was like wwwhhhhaaaatttt? Whatever a cockle is, I don’t want them, and I don’t want to warm them. But then I googled it and don’t worry you guys, it’s legit.

I know I’ve made chili here on the blog before, but I’m totally disowning that chili. I’m not even going to link to it. This stuff is the real deal.

I know what you’re thinking. Liz, that looks like real cheese and sour cream on your chili there. Aren’t you lactose intolerant? Both of those answers is YES. But you guys, when I have real cheese and sour cream in the fridge I can’t just not eat it.

I had these things in the fridge because this chili was for a chili contest I was participating in at work and we wanted to have fancy toppings. We got 4th place, out of 8, but I’m pretty proud. This was vegetarian chili, and I don’t know if you’ve ever been to central Indiana, but people don’t take kindly to vegetables here. One man wouldn’t try it because it had “too many vegetables in it” I was like, YOU’RE A 30 YEAR OLD MAN AND YOU’RE AFRAID TO EAT A SPOONFUL OF VEGETABLES?” If I didn’t have to be polite, I would have called him a coward.

Oh well. We did have people come over and say, “I hear you guys have a really good vegetarian chili.” I was like uuummm, no. We have a really good chili. period. Whatevs. There was one vegetarian girl there who kept coming back for more. She was excited.

So much chili you guys!

And thanks to my awesome boss, for not giving me crap about not putting meat in it. She sometimes gives me a hard time, but she’s really respectful of my foodie choices.

bubbling away

I ended up making 2 batches of this stuff. It could feed an army. Everyone also said that it would win the award for most colorful, prettiest, and healthiest. After all, we do eat with our eyes! Also, it had beer in it. What more could you ask for?? I was looking for a darker beer, but my local Krogers had this stuff, and I was like ohmygoshIhavetotrythatit’sglutenfreeyougys! I needed 2 for the chili, and drank the other 4. Out of all the things that are gluten free that I wish would taste like their gluteny counterparts, beer is not the first on the list. But this stuff tasted just like beer.

So since this is 4th place award winning (4th place is an award, after all) chili, I’m assuming you guys want the recipe. I got my inspiration for this from the many “vegetarian chili” recipes my boss printed out while we were supposed to be working. I took things from each one that I liked. I’ll give you the amounts for just one recipe, if you want to feed an army, just double it.

4th Place (but really, way better than that) Chili

3- 15oz cans diced tomatoes
1 can kidney beans
1 can black beans
2 cans pinto beans
7oz can diced green chilis
1-2 chilis in adobo sauce (Sooooo spicy!)
3 cloves garlic
2 onions
1 green pepper
1 yellow pepper
1 red pepper
1 orange pepper
1 T olive oil
1 bottle beer
2 cups vegetable stock
1 T chili powder
1 t salt
1 T oregano
1 T cumin

Optional: some grinds of Trader Joes everyday seasoning, and South African seasoning (I like the South African one because it’s smokey!!)

1. Chop the onions, and peppers. (You can use all green peppers if the other ones are crazy expensive, but they do make it so pretty and colorful!) pour the tablespoon of oil into a big ole pot and add the onions and peppers once it’s hot. Let them hang out for about 10 minutes. You don’t want to overcook the onions. Everyone is going to get to know each other in the pot. (Virtual high five if you can tell me what TV show that’s from!!!!) 

2. Chop the garlic, and chiles in adobo sauce, and add them to the pot with the green chiles, and tomatoes. Bring to a simmer.

3. Once the mixture is simmering, ad the spices, beer, and veggie stock. Simmer, uncovered, for about 30 minutes, stirring every once in a while.

Feel free to add some veggie meat crumbles to the recipe if that’s your thing! You can serve this with sour cream (real or soy) cheese (or cheeze!) green onions, and crushed tortilla chips. It is a little spicy, so if you want it to be less spicy, take out some of the green chilies, chiles in adobo sauce, or chili powder. If you like it super spicy, add more!

Have you ever entered any form of cooking or food contest? 

Also, please tell me someone knows the onion/chili reference I mentioned earlier?!

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Taco Tuesdays

21 Aug

Ok- I’ll admit. I didn’t really eat this on a Tuesday. Well, actually, maybe I did. This meal was made a while ago. BUT it’s definitly one of those meals like I mentioned yesterday, that doesn’t take a lot of time.

There is a little bit of prep work with chopping up veggies, but my brother who’s home from college for the summer has been hounding me to teach him how to cook (I think it’s to impress the ladies… lol) So he’s been awesome at getting veggies chopped and prepped, and has become an expert at roasting everything from asparagus to zucchini.

So, Here is the easy meal:

I really need to start taking nicer photos. Anyway, this is Taco Tofu, rice, and taco salad. I ended up mixing everything on the plate together. So good. This photo was also pre-dressing. I slathered it in dairy-free sour cream and salsa.

Believe it or not, the tofu only had THREE ingredients in it. Talk about easy.

Taco Tofu
1 block tofu, pressed and sliced into 8 pieces
1 packet taco seasoning
1/3 cup water

Mix the water and the taco seasoning together, and pour into a greased baking dish. (Or a tupperware container, then move to a baking dish)

Let marinate for at least an hour, flipping the tofu over halfway through. Bake at 375 degrees F for 30-45 minutes. It’s that easy!

At first I was worried that it would be too salty or too much taco seasoning, because it was so concentrated, but it ended up being just perfect!

For the salad, I put shredded romaine, tomatoes, olives, black beans, and green pepper. I had onion and crushed tortilla chips on the side.

We also had guacamole, which is a must when having Mexican food. My brother is also an ace at making that- of course I had to teach him the important things first! If there are any girls out there who want to be hooked up with an awesome vegetarian cook, let me know and I’ll see what I can do, lol.

What are your favorite go to quick meals? Do you prefer tacos, or taco salads? 

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Back to School

20 Aug

I think I would be more disappointed that school was starting up again if I hadn’t been busting my butt taking 4 classes this summer. To be honest, every time new classes start, I get a little excited. I love school supplies. I almost actually wish I was going to normal school (as opposed to online) So I could buy fun notebooks and folders and such. I’ll probably end up buying some regardless.

I think I saw some One Direction folders at Target that are calling my name. Haha, just kidding. (Would you think I was lame if that was actually true? It might be.)

I have had a few weeks of vacation at least though, so tomorrow I’ll be getting back into the grind of it all. Work, school, Internship, so much to do.

Because the fun starts, and since I’m the one who cooks most of the dinners in my house, I resort to a few quick, simple, but delicious recipes that don’t take much time at all.

One particular favorite of my families is Roasted tomatoes and tofu. Yum!

I serve it over brown or white rice normally, brown for the madre, and white for me. I used to love love love brown rice, but for some reason, when I got slammed with the stomach flu a couple months back, I can’t even look at it without feeling a little queasy. So white rice it is.

To be honest, I don’t have an exact recipe for this marinade, but it’s simple enough.

I call it my “Everything but the Kitchen Sink Marinade” Because I literally throw a bazillion different things in it. Here are some things that have gone into it:

Olive oil
Balsamic Vinegar
Red Wine Vinegar
Apple Lingonberry Vinegar
Salt and Pepper
Everyday Seasoning (From Trader Joes)
Vegetable Broth
Salad dressings (Different vinaigrettes mostly)
Garlic
Paprika
Chili Powder
Lemon Juice
Agave nectar
Brown Sugar
Liquid Smoke
GF Soy Sauce

…..See what I mean about everything but the kitchen sink? The key to it is just tasting as you make it.

So here is what you need for this dish:
1 block of tofu, pressed, and sliced into 8 pieces
1 cup marinade
1 cup cherry tomatoes, cut in half
1/4 cup onions or green onions, chopped/sliced- optional

(I normally double this recipe- Hello leftovers!!)

Spray a 9×13 inch pan, and pour the marinade in. Dredge the tofu in it, flipping it over. Add the tomatoes and onions. Let sit for 30 minutes, flip the tofu then flip and let rest another 30 minutes.

Bake at 375 degrees for 30-45 minutes, flipping the tofu at least once during cooking. Serve over your favorite grain.

om nom nom!

Easy peasy lemon squeezy! I even got my dad to eat some of it. Ok, so he just ate the tomatoes, but that’s good enough for me.

Are you starting school up soon? Are you excited, or do you wish summer could last a little longer?

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One Ingredient Can Make All The Difference

6 Jun

Thank you all so so much for your kind comments and words of encouragement on my last post!! I love knowing that I have some awesome blogger friends to cheer me up and give me great advice.

When I was growing up, my mother always made sure to serve a vegetable with dinner. Most of the time, that meant taking a bag of green beans out of the freezer and microwaving them. I never ate much of them. It wasn’t until years later that I realized you can do so much with vegetables, the green side dish at the dinner table doesn’t have to be a microwaved afterthought.

It’s been a little project of mine recently to use up some of the things stashed in the back of our freezer, as it’s starting to overflow. To my dismay, I found one bag of green beans. After making the recipe I’m about to share with you, I wish I had several bags stashed back there!

And this ingredient made all the difference:

Apple wine vinegar with lingonberry. I got this at Ikea. I almost walked right past it. So glad I didn’t. I originally bought it for salads and vinaigrettes, but I thought it wouldn’t hurt to splash a little in my green beans.

Oooooohhhhhhh mmmyyyy goooooddnnessss you guys, it’s amazing. Even my brother, who self diagnosed himself with dead tastebuds asked what was in the green beans. It oddly adds a sweetness to it, with a slightly tangy apple taste, and just a hint of lingonberry. I can’t get over it. I wish I had bought a case of the stuff.

Anywho, back to the beans.

Apple Lingonberry Vinegar Green Beans

16 oz. frozen green beans
1 clove garlic, chopped
1T olive oil
2T buter (futter, margarine, your choice) -optional
2T apple wine vinegar with lingonberry (Or you could try using any fun vinegar you have!)
1/2 cup slivered almonds
Salt and Pepper, to taste

First, you want to sauté the garlic in the oil. I may or may not have added a little more garlic than one clove. What can I say, I love garlic.

mmmm. Love the smell of garlic cooking!

Then, you add the green beans. If you’ve already thawed them out, you won’t need to cook them as long. Saute them for 5-7 seven minutes if they’re still frozen. Add the butter. This step is optional, but I think it adds some richness.

Let the butter melt, Then season with salt and pepper to taste. Add the almonds.  They add a fun crunch! Saute for 2-3 more minutes, then you’re ready to serve them!

If you want, you can cook them a little longer, depending on how you like your green beans. I normally like mine to have a little crunch left in them, so I don’t cook them as long.

Are there any ingredients that make all the difference in a dish you make? A condiment you just couldn’t live without? 

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KALE!

5 Apr

You guys. I have discovered the most awesomest thing at the grocery store. I’m sure those of you who don’t live in East-bum-fuck Indiana probably already have this. But my grocery store just started carrying it.

Kale. Pre washed. Pre shredded. Bagged. Kale. Just like the lettuce. I think I scared the man in the produce department with my shriek of excitement. Because now, I will eat Kale so much more often. Because the only bad thing about kale is washing and de-stemming it.

So I took the entire ginormous bag and made a yummy kale salad, with some leftover quinoa and a bunch of veggies that were going to start turning bad if I didn’t eat them up soon.

Isn’t it puuurrty?

Here’s what went into the mix. I didn’t measure anything. Psshh. Who does that?

I put the kale in a bowl. (Thanks captain obvious.) Then I poured in a little olive oil, lemon juice, and balsamic vinaigrette. I massaged the heck out of it. (Don’t worry, I bought it dinner first, haha.) Then I added the following ingredients:

Quinoa
Red, orange, and yellow bell peppers
Cucumber
Red Onion
Cherry Tomatos
Black Grapes
Blackberries

Then, I added a little more balsamic vinaigrette. It was aaammmaazziinnggg. So yummy.

Here are some more shots of it:

With an Amy’s Gluten-free, Dairy-free veggie burger. (One of the BEST burgers I’ve ever had. No joke. One of my biggest fears with going g-free was that I’d never get to eat a veggie burger again.)

Kale salad with some more veggies, and hummus. yum!

Do you like kale? What’s your favorite way to eat it? Can you buy it de-stemmed and bagged? I swear, it changed my life.

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Steak Fries

3 Apr

I have never, ever, ever liked steak fries. At the Cracker Barrel, they definitly weren’t one of the sides I would choose. (Who would when you can get those awesome fried apples??)

But my thoughts changed completely, when I saw these at the grocery store. (FOR A DOLLAR, mind you.)

Fingerling potatoes. I didn’t really know what else to do with them, besides make steak fries. The seasonings are easy enough as well, I just used the only seasonings I ever use.

Steak Fries
1 1/2 lb. Fingerling potatoes
1/2 t salt
3/4 t garlic powder
1/8 t pepper
1/2 t chili powder
2 T olive oil (I used 3, but they were pretty greasy. Next time, I’m definitly taking it down to 2.)

Cut the fingerling potatoes into quarters, and place them on a parchment lined pan.

Pour the oil on, and using your hands, toss the potatoes so they’re all evenly covered.

Then, add your spices, and toss them with your hands again.

Bake them at 350 degrees for 45 minutes.

I wish this photo was better. I mean, I do have a light box, but when it comes down to recipes I make for dinner, everyone is too hungry to wait!

And these are so easy, even this little guy helped me with them!

Sorry for the lame tiny cell phone photo. (What’s up with that, cell phone? why do you take such small pictures?) He might look big, but he’s only 4! I keep telling him that girls love a guy who can cook. His mom does, that’s for sure, because when he ran and told her he had made the steak fries for dinner, she was ecstatic!

Have you ever had steak fries? What’s your favorite way to eat a potato? 

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Pizza!

20 Feb

Sometimes, I just get a craving for pizza. I won’t lie, sometimes that craving is for pizza covered in greasy cheese. I won’t like again when I tell you that sometimes I indulge in the greasy cheese pizza.

But most often, I don’t. Sometimes, It’s worth the stomach ache. Most of the time, it’s not.

I can still have my pizza though. Just not covered in cheese. And it’s still amazingly delicious.

Ccccheck it out: (sorry for the crappy photos… cell phones, love ‘em and hate ‘em at the same time)

This pizza was amazing! In all of it’s mushroomy garlicy spinachy goodness.

Want the recipe? Of course you do.

Spinach Mushroom Pizza
One pizza crust of your choice, pre baked. I used Trader Joe’s whole wheat pizza crust. It’s amazing.
12 oz. mushrooms, cleaned and sliced.
3 cups baby spinach
1 can cannellini beans
2 cloves garlic
1/4 cup water
2 T oil
1 t salt
1/2 t black pepper
2 green onions

Puree the beans, water, one clove of garlic, oil, salt, pepper, and onions together until smooth.

Sautee the mushrooms with the other clove of garlic in a little oil for 3-5 minutes, until they start to get soft. Put in a bowl, then sauté the spinach. You could just cook them together, but I’m super OCD and I like placing them on my pizza separately.

Spread the bean puree onto your crust, leaving about an inch around the edges. Spread the the mushrooms, garlic, and spinach on top.

Bake for about 15 minutes at 350 degrees. You really just need to warm it up because the crust is already cooked.

This pizza is definitly one of my favorites. It’s a fun change from the marinara sauce type pizzas, and the beans and spinach are a great source of protein! And I just love things that are super garlicy. I really like garlic. Beware vampires, lol.

On a completely unrelated note, has anyone tried these??

They are soooooooo good. Probably the best candy I’ve ever eaten. Ever. They make butterfingers crisps too, but the crunch ones are so much better. I can’t stop eating them.

What’s your favorite kind of candy? Do you ever get in a pizza mood? 

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I Love Me Some Vegetables

17 Feb

And carbs. don’t get me wrong. But veggies are up there. Fo sho. Speaking of carbs and veggies, guess what’s hiding in this loaf of bread??

You can see them peeking out!!!

OMG, It’s tons of veggies!!!

I got this idea from a Rachel Ray (yes, feel free to cringe.) recipe I found ages ago, when I still ate meat. It consisted of buying a round tuscan type loaf, cutting the top off, hollowing it out, and stuffing it with artichoke hearts, roasted red peppers, lettuce, tomato, cheese, and a billion different types of lunch meats.

It was a huge hit in my family, and to be honest, I kind of missed it when I stopped eating meat. But, last week I decided I wasn’t going to let the meat eaters of the world have all the fun. I was going to make this sandwich and pack it with veggies!

Here is a list of the stuff I packed in this sandwich:
Lettuce
Cucumber
Tomato
Banana Peppers
Roasted Red Pepper
Avocado
Green Peppers
Red Onion
White Bean Hummus
Sprouts

I’m sure there is more, but I’m forgetting. It’s so good! And the best part is, it’s such a huge sandwich, there are tons of leftovers! My mom and I got this lucky sandwich three whole nights this week, yum! We ate them with sweet potato fries, or sweet potato puffs.

And It’s so easy to make too! There is a little prep involved, with cutting the veggies,  and hollowing out the bread takes a few minutes, but it’s totally worth it. I promise. You also have to keep pressing the veggies down, as you want to pack them in.

I think if I ever make this again (and I will!) I’ll add a layer of baked tofu in it for some added protein.

Close up shot!

It’s also a great thing to make in advance. I made this in the morning before I went to work, and when I came home all I had to do was slice it up.

I was even craving sandwiches so bad, I made myself a sandwich (not as amazing as this one though, obviously) for lunch that day with some of the extra veggies that didn’t fit in the sandwich.

With even more veggies and hummus on the side, a date, cashews, and a blood orange. Amazing lunch! Sometimes I get into such a sandwich mood, wraps just won’t cut it.

Also, look what finally came in the mail!

My donut pans! I got a regular sized one, a mini one, and a heart shaped one, which isn’t pictured. That one I think is going away until next Valentine’s day. But I can still play around with the other two, and I can’t wait!

Do you ever get sandwich cravings? What do you like to put on your sandwiches? Have you ever made baked donuts?  

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