Since it’s been so long since I’ve been able to bake & cook, I went crazy in my kitchen the other night. At 11pm, the madness started…& did not end until almost 3am.

First, I should tell you that this was my dinner & dessert on that day. The So Delicious Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Ice Cream is my faaaaavourite, but I already knew that. I uncontrollably ate the whole thing at 10pm. Oops.

The Amy’s vegan macaroni & cheese is spectacular! I was hesitant to pay $4.29 for a frozen meal, but it was SO WORTH IT. Creamy, gooey, cheesy pasta made the most comforting dinner, & I am really impressed with it. I will be buying this again {and obviously more of that ice cream}.

Onto the baking!

Last week, I came home to this beautiful bag of plums hanging on my door.

My landlords had been picking them at a friends’ house and generously picked 3lbs for me! Since I’m not the biggest fan of raw plums, I decided I had to bake with them. I came across this recipe for a Rustic Plum Tart & started working away.

Isn’t it beautiful? WELL, this was seconds before I attempted to transfer it to the baking stone. Notice the keyword attempted. Because I hadn’t floured my surface, & I’m pretty sure there was waaay too much filling, it started to come apart in the transfer. Thinking quickly, I dumped it all into my favourite pie plate & baked it anyway.

Rustic, indeed.

But delicious nonetheless! I’m that weirdo who loves eating raw dough {cookie dough, bread dough, pie dough…} & I kept breaking off pieces of it to munch before even baking it. This dough is SO GOOD. It’s amazing baked, too. {Duh.} The plums made this quite tart, which I really liked. If you want it to be a bit sweeter, try subbing half or all of the plums for peaches and/or nectarines!

For my subs, I used Earth Balance in place of the butter, I omitted the egg needed for brushing {subbed nothing}, & I didn’t have apricot preserves, so I skipped those, too. Amazing, amazing treat!

At the same time, I had almond pulp to use up, so I made these peanut butter cookies…

…but you’ll have to wait for my next post for the recipe 

I also baked chocolate chip cookies from Isa Chandra’s Vegan with a Vengeance to send to Dallas. These are my all-time favourite cookies, & I sent them to Dallas last year, too. He also loves them & is eagerly waiting for his homemade cookies to arrive.

And last but not least, I found this recipe for Maple Baked Beans on Green Cuisine’s website while browsing for plum recipes. Yes, my kitchen was full of amazing chaos that night.

The beans were a bit dry, but I honestly think I “simmered” them a little too hard. Be patient with them, because I think these are definitely worth it {and I will be making them again, with more patience}. In any case, they’re sweetened with maple syrup instead of sugar & taste friggin’ delicious. I love that there are only a handful of ingredients in the recipe, too. I plan to spice ‘em up a bit & toss them into a wrap with some avocado. Served up fresh with toast is amazing, too!

Anyhoo, that’s all I’ve got today, foodies! Recipe for those peanut butter cookies coming soon ;)

peace, love, food <3

Char, xo