Celine Steen's Blog, page 6

How spoon is now?

I needed a big wood scoop for a job, so I ran to Etsy and into Kim Kelly’s Woodward Gardens Botanicals. I ended up purchasing far more spoons than one person needs. Hooray, self-control. But look at the curves! The different types of woods!

Dear Santa: If there truly is such a thing as reincarnation, sign me up for a career as a skilled wood carver and/or ceramicist so that I can make pretty things like these and stare at them all day. Cookies are in the mail. Thank you.

PS: I am so sorry abo...

Easy as Vegan π

A review copy of Hannah Kaminsky‘s Easy As Vegan Pie arrived a couple of weeks ago and I immediately dove in to get my good pie mojo going.

I couldn’t not choose the Snickerdoodle pie recipe, here’s why. But if you don’t want to click, here’s the TL;DC* version: snickerdoodles are Chaz’s go-to cookie, and I think there cannot be anything wrong with something that involves sugar and cinnamon.

(*Too Lazy; Didn’t Click. Hey, I’m not judging. I’m a proud TL;DCer myself.)

I like mini pies the most s...

Maple of my Eye

The folks at Square Deal Farm shared samples of their organic maple products, which are made on their home turf in Vermont. The package included a vegan assurance statement from the sugarmaker himself (Ray Lewis), something I don’t think I’ve ever seen done before. Kudos for that.

Organic Maple Sugar: Prepared by reducing maple syrup to its non-liquid form, the extremely aromatic sugar is so fine it’s almost powder-like. To say that I have repeatedly opened the bag and taken numerous whiffs wo...

Tis the Season for Tofurkying

(I’m still getting caught up on a handful of product reviews I was planning on posting here and there so they wouldn’t appear in quick succession, but after being sidelined for several weeks due to health hiccups, it looks like my plan will have to change. Sorry about that, guys.)

Tofurky, one of the top makers of vegan meats, allowed me to try a few meals from their line of frozen items. I don’t think any product sent for review was ever eaten so fast before. You’d think there were a pack of...

Pies & Tarts with ♥

I’m thrilled to be a (small) part of the blog tour for Dynise Balcavage‘s brand new book, Pies and Tarts with Heart.

Thank you to the publisher, Quarry Books, for sending me a review copy.

Every time I open Dynise’s book, I seem to land on the raw tarts section. I took that as a hint I should go for something raw in order to write this. Considering the temperatures were still sweltering here when I worked on this review, it seemed even more of a no-brainer.

I selected the Raw Cacao Almond Tarts...

Whoa, Nelly

What a bummer. I wanted to snap shots of the Nelly’s Energy Truffles Bars I received for review, but they got banged up pretty badly due to a long stay in our mail box on a hot summer afternoon, going against their penchant for constant refrigeration. So I hope a few jars of sweeteners including agave nectar, which is among the components of the bars, will still do as a poor replacement. Click here to have a look at a few pictures of non-banged up bars and you’ll see how gorgeous they are.

Rea...

Wolf in cheeseclothing

I have a soft spot for beautifully dyed cheesecloth. Just as colorful as candy, loads of fiber to boot. Hardy har? Look at that texture!

Since I’m good at going for random: Chaz and I have to take a quickie trip to San Francisco in a few weeks and we’re already plotting where to eat. I’m thinking Ike’s Place because you can’t beat a good vegan sandwich.

We’ll barely have four hours of fun there, that doesn’t leave room for much anyway. To be honest, food really isn’t my number one priority this...

Tutti Tofutti

(Entirely unrelated to this post since the ice creams that follow aren’t GF, but it’s too good not to mention: did you know there are tax deductions for celiacs in the US? I had no idea.

Found via BabyCakes NYC.)

A charming Tofutti power that be got in touch recently to see if I’d be game for trying a few of their frozen products. Considering I’ve had a hankering for ice cream all summer long without ever buying some of that wonderful cherry chocolate chip soy ice cream from Trader Joe’s, I cav...

This post isn’t about persimmons

A quick addendum to the previous post: Veestro is offering 15% on all orders to have cake readers until December 31, 2013. Simply enter coupon code “HAVECAKE” during checkout. Niftiness.

PS: Hi, hi! It’s been a while since I’ve written a post that isn’t a product review, I know, but I’m trying to catch up right now. Also attempting to get back into blogging mode because I seem to have forgotten how. Which button does what? Ah yes, publish is the one I’m looking for.

And also: It will be my firs...

Veestro, Maestro

Michal from Veestro sent me a generous amount of vegan meals to try, and now the time has come to review them. As much as I enjoy cooking, I’m not against taking a break from it every rare chance I get. Kitchen freedom: all right!

If you’re not familiar with Veestro, here’s the gist: they send you carefully prepared and portioned meals you get to pick from their site, all vegan, some gluten-free, and always frozen. Don’t worry about the “frozen” part: you don’t need to be home when the shipmen...