HAPPY HOLIDAYS!

Thanks so much to all of my customers and friends, I feel very lucky to have met you all :D

I was recently interviewed by Anna of Annuk Creations, you can check it out on her awesome blog!

She is a wonderful person I met through Etsy and has the most loveble kitty named Zoe :) Anna makes beautiful and unique jewelry (Purrfect for Christmas presents!) go visit her Etsy shop and her web page :)


http://annukcreations.blogspot.com/

Once again~ Thank you Anna!!!

Baked Seitan (Wheat Gluten Meat Substitute)

Looking for a meat substitute that is easy, quick and tastes great? Seitan is a very versatile food and can be eaten in stir fries, sandwiches, stews etc. It tastes great with brown gravy and is even awesome cold! The only problem I can think of is that most people believe you have to boil it, and alot of times this method results in tough, chewy blobs or soggy unidentifiable crap-ola.
After searching teh interw3bs for better ways to cook wheat gluten (Seitan) I have found a few really good recipes and have reworked them to fit my own families tastes :D


Ingredients:
One and a half cups vital wheat gluten
1/4 cup nutritional yeast
1 tsp salt
2 tsp pepper
2 tsp onion powder
2 tsp garlic powder


3/4 cups water
4 tbsp tomato paste
3 tbsp tamari
2 tbsp oil


Preheat oven to 325°.

In a large bowl mix dry ingredients. Mix the liquid ingredients in another (smaller) bowl. Stir or whisk well until mixed.

Add the liquid ingredients to the dry ingredients. Mix well and add a bit more water if necessary to absorb all of the dry ingredients into your dough, then knead for about two minutes (you don't have to go crazy kneading--just make sure your everything is mixed together well).

Cooking:

I usually coat the bottom of a round cake pan with oil and add a bit of liquid (veggie broth, gravy etc.) just enough to cover the bottom of the Seitan blob. I then cover the pan and cook for about 60 minutes. (This is because I NEVER have tin foil around!) It turns out very good except the bottom gets a bit crispy.

I would much rather follow the method I found on the Post Punk Kitchen blog:

Form into a log (6-8" long), wrap tightly in foil, twisting ends. Bake for 90 minutes. When done baking, unwrap and leave out to cool all the way. Then wrap it foil or plastic and refrigerate. Slice to use as desired.

This tastes wonderful smothered in vegan brown gravy...

And there you have it! I guarantee that once you make Seitan this way you will never boil it again! Let me know how it turns out :)

Bully for the Bulls! They are SAFE!

Just found out that the three gorgeous bulls that Jodi of This Is It Creations was trying to raise money to save from slaughter are now the newest members of her family!

You can read all about her story on her blog. She will also be needing "moo-la" to take care of her new babies and I am planning on trying to do something special so check back here in a few days :D

~♥~~♥~~♥~~♥~~♥~~♥~

Happy Valentine's Day to all of you! Please remember that your animal friends deserve a little extra loving today too!

Jodi of This Is It! Creations just found out that the 3 bulls who graze on their land were scheduled to be slaughtered today. They asked the owner if he would consider selling them the bulls instead and he has agreed. But he needs them to pay the full amount of $3600 in just under two weeks time.

These three are amazing animals. They have been named Pooka Cow (the brown one), Spotty Friend, and Less Spotty Friend. They are only 2 years old and have many more years of happy lives to live. So let's save these lovable bulls, What are ya waiting for? Mooove it! :D

I will be donating 50% of all sales in my Etsy Shop from Feb 2 through Feb 11
You can also find the link to donate directly here: http://cutelittlepackage.blogspot.com/2010/02/help-save-3-bulls-from-being.html


Also, if you would rather mail a check, please send it to:

This Is IT! Creations
P.O. Box 1252
Jacksonville, OR 97530

This post was originally found at http://cutelittlepackage.blogspot.com/


I just found out that you can see the list of shops currently donating here: http://cackleberry.blogspot.com/2010/02/compassionate-art.html

~♥~♥~~♥~♥~~♥~♥~~♥~♥~~♥~♥~~♥~♥~~♥~♥~

Omigosh this is the best Vegan Chocolate Peanut Butter Cookies recipe EVER! I found it surfing around the web looking for something to make my kids for dessert last night, made them after dinner and within an hour they were gone :)

I had to use vegan spread instead of margarine because it was all I had, and omitted the chocolate chips (couldn't find any that were vegan) so I needed to add a little more flour...but they turned out so good, and were very easy to make!
Tell me whatcha think!


Vegan Peanut Butter Filled Chocolate Cookies
Makes about 26 cookies

1 ½ cups flour
½ cup cocoa powder
½ teaspoon baking soda
½ cup margarine
½ cup sugar
½ cup brown sugar
¼ cup soy milk
½ cup powdered sugar
½ cup peanut butter
1/3 cup chocolate chips

* Mix flour, cocoa powder, and baking soda in a bowl.
* In a separate bowl, cream together the margarine, sugar, and brown sugar. When combined, mix in the soy milk.
* Add the flour mixture to the wet ingredients and mix.
* In a separate bowl, mix the powdered sugar and peanut butter with a spoon or your hands.When ingredients are incorporated, add the chocolate chips and knead further with your hands to incorporate the chocolate chips.
* Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
* Take about a 2 or 3 tablespoons of the chocolate dough in your hand, and roll into a ball.Flatten the ball on the parchment paper to form a disk. Take a pinch or about 1 teaspoon of the peanut butter mixture and place in the center of the disk. Fold the edges of the disk up and over the peanut butter, pressing the seams together. Place the cookie seam-side down on the parchment paper to bake.
* Bake for 8-12 minutes in a preheated 350° oven.





**Original recipe and pic found at http://macandcheesereview.blogspot.com

"The Painted Cat"

This is my latest painting... I just finished it last night :D The actual colors are very bright , I am kind of dissapointed in how the scanner shows it. Ah well, you will just have to buy it to see how beautiful it is in person :P It is currently on sale in my Etsy shop.

Namaste♥

Sweet Dreams Kitty

What do Kitties dream about? They dream about love♥!
My newest mixed media piece for Valentine's Day :) As always 10% of sale will be donated to Blind Cats Rescue & Sanctuary~

Vegetarian Suet Treats for Birds

One of my most favorite things to do in the morning is grab a cup of coffee and watch the birds visit the feeder on our deck. I love the woodpeckers and the itsy bitsy Carolina Wrens the most. These little guys love to eat suet (which is a bird treat made from lard and other gross things, peanut butter etc.)and it costs me alot of money to buy it since the majority of it is carried away by the squirrel bandits. I wanted to try an experiment and make my own "suet". Being a household of vegans and vegetarians there isn't much lard or beef fat or icky stuff like that in our fridge so my version will have to be vegetarian :D

I took even amounts of peanut butter (preferably crunchy), rolled oats, bird seed, a little bit of margarine, and some hush puppy mix (don't laugh--it was the only thing I could find in our cabinets that had corn meal in it!) You can use plain corn meal :) I mixed all the ingredients in a bowl and then spread the concoction into a square pan--I guess I made it around 2-3 inches thick and then stuck it in the fridge overnight. When the sun came up I cut out a square chunk of veggie suet and put it in my suet holder (you can buy these pretty much wherever bird seed is sold).

My little birdie friends went wild for it and I was so thrilled to see all my most cherished birdie friends: the Red Bellied Woodpecker, a Downy Woodpecker and of course my little bitty buddies the Carolina wrens, nuthatches and cute lil chickadees all grabbing a snack while I sat and watched. I think my kitty Sheppy loves watching them almost as much as me (obviously for different reasons though lol...)!

I've made different varieties of this veggie suet (more or less of some ingredients or some not at all, added different seeds and nuts etc.) and the birds love it every time (unfortunately so do the squirrels!) So if you enjoy watching birds and feel like making them a treat, go ahead and whip up some veggie suet!

P.S. I've also found other vegan suet recipes by searching online, one of them can be found at this wonderful blog: http://shenandoahvegan.blogspot.com/

~♥~Valentine's Day is coming!~♥~

Here is my latest Kitty Card for Valentine's Day!

I've started making my Kitty inspired jewelry, mostly pendants and charms right now but also working on some kittylicous earrings and bracelets too! Let me know what you think of them :) These can also be customized to look like your little furry friend--just ask!