don't look now.

today is tyler's birthday. he is a quarter of a century old. haha. sounds important eh? we're going to his mom's for dinner. he asked for some large chunk of meat cooked for his birthday dinner (i can't for the life of me remember what kind... probably because it doesn't really matter to me). it's his step brother's birthday today too... so i imagine it will be a big family event. i work till 7, so i have to go straight there. by myself. i'm a really big wuss... and i don't like the idea of showing up there by myself, even though i know tyler will be there and i know his whole family. i've known his step brothers since i was about 11. whats the big deal? i don't know.

and now the biggest reason i wanted to write today... i've done a whole bunch of cooking! yay!! the first task i took on was COCONUT BACON! i had it once in a wrap at a vegetarian restaurant in montreal called aux vivres. amazing. so good. they have the best food i have ever had. and its all made fresh and in house. it always baffled me that they made bacon out of coconut - and it tasted like bacon! i have for 3 years now wondered how it came to be. and then jasmine was over on monday... and i randomly thought of it and decided to google it. i found a recipe. lots of them, actually. i tried the one that didn't include marinating the coconut overnight (i wanted to make blt's for dinner if i could!) and it worked! it worked really well. i was pumped. although i'm sure none of you will be super into this (considering meat is a part of your diets, and you'll probably just eat the real thing), but 3 handfulls of shredded coconut, 1 tblsp of liquid smoke, 2 tblsp of tamari or soy sauce, and 1 tblsp of water. you mix it all together until the coconut is totally coated, and then bake it in the oven at 400 until it gets kinda crispy (i stirred it a few times so the stuff along the edge and the top didn't burn). it gets more crispy once it cools too.

my second feat was veggie burgers. i haven't ever before tried making my own. it was easier than i thought it would be. and the ones i made are DELICIOUS! oh wow. best i have ever had. they are from the whitewater cook book (i got it for my birthday). its recipes from the fresh tracks cafe in nelson. fantastic fantastic recipes (it isn't vegetarian either... just delicious food). so first... you fry 1 onion and a clove of garlic (i did two) in some oil, and set them aside to cool. in a LARGE bowl mix: 1 tblsp cumin, 1/2 tblsp chili powder, 1 19oz can of black beans (drained and rinsed thoroughly), 1 tsp oregano, 1/4 cup chopped parsley or cilantro (i did parsley), 2 tblsp sesame oil, 1/2 cup roasted and chopped almonds (i food processored mine), 1 cup roasted and chopped sunflower seeds (same thing), 3 cups fine bread crumbs, 1/2 cup soy sauce, 5 eggs, 2 cups grated carrots (we don't have a grater... tyler chopped them all really small, haha), 2 cups oats. add the cooled onion and garlic, mix it all up, shape into patties and dredge them with some flour. then you just put them in a frying pan and brown them in some oil. be gentle though, tyler tried his fancy flipping technique and broke one really bad. i made him eat that one. haha. but they were super fantastic, and my friend mikha said they freeze really well. the batch made probably around 15 burgers? try it out!

and then after making those last night, and watching an episode of the office season 5 while eating, i made white chocolate hazelnut brownies. from the same cook book. tyler and i are putting together a package to send his dad and step mom for christmas, and i wanted to add in some baking. so i started with the brownies. they turned out really well. i love the flavour from the hazelnuts. mmmm... and still so moist in the middle. if you would like this recipe, let me know. i won't post it up right now though.

anyway... tonight is dinner at tyler's mom's. so i won't really have any baking time. but i have some overripe bananas that i think i need to make some banana bread with or throw them out... so i am gonna go do that now before work.