Coconut Date Oval, Pumpkin Bread & Puffies

The week is wrapping up and I can't believe that I haven't found time to post! But I have lots of yummy offerings to say I am sorry. A little something sweet, and a little something savory! We ate lots of good food this week, including pizza, some great granola, sweet potato and bean burritos (thanks kevin) and some great sketti sauce - none of which was captured on film. Rather, I have the goodlets of today!!!

I had planned on baking yesterday afternoon and taking some vegan goodness over to a friend's mexican-soiree, but, alas, following a light lunch and a morning of new duvet shopping, the walnut wasn't so happy, cutting me down at the knees and leaving me a nauseated mess atop the new duvet (and new duvet cover that I just love). Kevin took care of dinner - turning out a pretty good rendition of Lynnie's Sweet Potato and Refried Beans Burritos AND guacamole!

After a nice morning at the market I came home and got straight to work making Fat Free Pumpkin Bread, Coconut and Date Squares and prepping tonight's dinner - Aubergine, Tomato and Chickpea Puffies. Yum Yum. Of course these dishes were all excuses to play with our sexy new kitchen toy....no not a mixer, not a bread machine, not even a waffle iron. We picked up an amazingly wonderful new Nikon D90! Wow. By far the most darling camera I have ever owned. And, I figure by 2010 I might know what to do with it?

Coconut and Date Oval

Crust:
4 cups of oats
2 cups of w.w. flour
2TSP apple sauce
3/4 cup of maple syrup

Innards:
4 cups of dates (pitted)
1 cup of water
1 cup of coconut milk

I boiled the water and added the pitted dates, stirring them a couple of time before leaving them to simmer whilst I cobbled together the crust. I wanted fattie/sugar free date squares, so I decided to go the apple sauce and maple syrup route - which produced a stickier crust, but one that proved to be as crispy post-oven as its' higher calorie cousins. I threw all the crust ingredients together in a bowl, gave them a mix and then pressed half of the lot into a spring form pan (no square pan for me!). The dates were done warming up and squishing down, having soaked up all the water. I added the cup of coconut milk to the date-goo, mixed it in and added the pot full to the top of the crust. I whipped out my trusty purple spatula and lovingly moved my date-goo all about the crust. Once I was happy with the date goodness, I crumbled the remaining crust atop. Having already preheated my oven to 350, I popped the date squares in the oven and turned the timer to 40 minutes.

They are delicious. Seriously...I could eat the whole plate up in one go.

Not one of the Puffies were the same. I decided to be silly and play with my dinner tonight. Since Kevin was out at a late Sunday (!!!!) work meeting, I had free-reign in the kitchen and made a selection of puffies using the (yes, shock, horror) pre-prepared pastry I found yesterday at the shop. Earlier today I had sliced and baked a whole eggplant - so those slices were going in for sure. BUT - I also wanted to get rid of some of the other stuff kicking around the fridge in an attempt to clean out the fridge before heading off to Nice on Tuesday night (yes, the sunshine of Nice awaits me). The Puffies were all super yummy - I was happy with every single little version that I made....and I think Kevin was too - I even made him a cheesy non-vegan version.


Here are a couple of the insides -
- tomato puree, spring onion, green tomatoes, eggplant, and hummus
- black olive tapenade, spring onion, tomatoes, eggplant and chickpeas
-tomato puree, chickpeas, basil, eggplant and tomato

Super yummy!

Baby Update:

We had the first ultrasound on Friday. Wow. I wasn't ready for the uber-strong emotions that hit me the second the doctor fired up the screen that faced me. But there in front of my eyes was our little baby in all its tiny tiny glory. I was dying to hear the heart beat and I didn't have to wait long because the doctor cranked up the volume and for the first time I heard the sound of my littlest vegan. The baby entertained us for a good long while - moving around, kicking its little legs and turned around. Kevin and I both were a bit of a soggy, teary mess when we left the hospital. And of course we scanned and emailed the ultrasound photos to both Canada and the U.K. We want the grandparents, aunties and uncles to be involved as much as they can be - even if they are a plane ride away. Thanks so much to all the great comments, info and support. I love it!