The Makeshift Cook

I have been a bad, bad blogger, but I have been cooking! Here are a few recipes I've followed lately, and then eaten:

1. Vegan Nacho Cheese Dip, from the (apparently abandoned) kid-friendly vegan blog, Shmooed Food. We have this non-vegan friend who is always raving about the home fries and vegan nacho cheese at the Triple Rock. I've never tried it myself, but I've been intrigued by the whole idea. The Shmooed Food recipe has gotten a ton of hits and positive comments, so I went for it. The result was pretty good, but didn't set my pants on fire, and believe me, I wasn't expecting it to be CHEESE, so that wasn't the problem. Also, I love nutritional yeast, so that wasn't the problem either. I think I would adjust the spice profile--maybe ease up on the garlic powder and cumin and add adobo instead, or in addition. We ate it with broccoli and cauliflower. Maybe that was my problem: I should have been eating it with chips. Or the aforementioned home fries. Oh heck, I might make it again.
   
2. Balls! To be exact, they were Peanut Butter Buckeyes from my friend Kickpleat's adorable food blog, Everybody Likes Sandwiches. I made them for a clothing swap two weeks ago, and they were a HUGE hit. I even used healthy cereal in them (Kashi flakes) and natural peanut butter, so they were, y'know, healthy. Also vegan, incidentally. I sustained an impressive burn while melting the chocolate, the aftereffects of which I am still suffering. The bowl sizzled my middle finger right across my writing callus, and the wound tends to crack every time I bend my finger, thanks to winter dryness. I know, you're welcome. Anyway, I would most CERTAINLY make these again, even though they are messy and my ball-dipping technique (hee) leaves something to be desired. If you're anything like me, you'll call them Chocolate Salty Balls and spend the whole day singing that song from South Park.
   
3. Also from Kickpleat and IN PROGRESS, these vegan Power Cookies are awesome. She sent me some of her first batch in the mail and I ate them for two days straight, to the exclusion of other food. I have eaten two of the first sheetful of my batch, and will probably eat more. The best part so far is that the contents are customizable and I can envision tweaking the recipe any number of ways. I subbed chopped dried apricots and some currents for most of the raisins, and topped off my maple syrup with molasses (didn't have quite enough maple syrup). Also, the cookies can be eaten for breakfast--well, all cookies can be eaten for breakfast. But these have nutritional value!! So you will feel virtuous.