Miessence Foundation (Review)

Previously, I used Almay Smart Shade foundation. I liked the price point (18.99 on well.ca) and Almay's cruelty-free status. Things changed in the cruelty-free claim so I began my hunt for a better foundation.

I started by ordering a sample of Miessence foundation. The sample cost $8 (with tax and shipping) and I was mostly satisfied, so I ordered the actual product.

The good:

• It works better than the Almay foundation. I don't get shiny nearly as quickly.
• And that's pretty much it.

The bad:

• If I worked with little kids there would be a problem. At first, they would love me. But then that would wear off because while I smell like Play-Doh they would be let down when they realized I am not made of Play-Doh. Yes, that's right. Miessence has a Play-Doh odour.
• The sample I ordered was an ok texture....but the real deal is watery. It may get better in time, but I've been using it for a week and it's still watery.
• So, at $80 (including shipping and tax), this will not be a repeat purchase.  

Pancake Puffs

So, these look nothing like the original recipe. They are supposed to be cute little pancakes in muffin shape. Mine look more like balls because they put up a fight to stay in the muffin tin.

In the moment, I vowed I wouldn't make them again. But really, they are pretty good. And they were much easier to get out of the pan once they had cooled a bit.

Naturally, I made some changes to the recipe. I added half of an apple, 1 tbs brown sugar, reduced the maple syrup to 1 tbs, and added a tbs of chia seeds. My husband said they are pretty good, except the chia seeds make them crunchy.

Uh, really dear? I'm eating the same recipe and I haven't had any crunch at all. I attribute his complaint to him being a reluctant food-tester with distrust of all things vegan.

The good things

It can be really easy to get bogged down with the not-great things in life....but it can be just as easy to take stock of the good things. Today I choose the good things.

1. A thing that makes me happy: My husband *finally* got an electrician to fix his handy work that he started six months ago. I can use kitchen outlets again!!!

2. A thing that gives me hope in humanity:



(I love that something like this is part of popular media)

 3. A thing that inspires me:


How awesome is this kid?

ETA: the kid video had been deleted previously, so I'm not sure how long it will stay up. Sorry if you get another random video instead!

Vegan Lasagna & Cheeze Sauce Experiments

I have put off making lasagna in *forever* because of the whole dairy thing. It seemed like kind of a bummer to omit the most key ingredient of a lasagna. I finally felt ready to try something. And I'm happy with the results. Mostly.

The sauce consisted of store-bought sauce with veggies (peppers, mushrooms, garlic, onion, etc) and beans added in. I used regular noodles. The 'creative' part was the cottage cheese replacement. I used a recipe for Lemon Basil Cashew Cheese as my guideline. But, of course I made alterations. I don't like nutritional yeast, so I used a mixture of that with soy paremesan. I also skipped the basil and used spinach instead. And I added in some silken tofu. I will tweak this a bit more and may eventually share a recipe.

Next time around I need to make more sauce or do something to bulk up the middle layers.

I figured since I was already messing around with a cheeze sauce, I tried another one as well. I had planned to drizzle this on top of the lasagna but I opted not to because I didn't really like it. I think it's because it has a stronger nutritional yeast flavour, and I really don't like nutritional yeast. Luckily, it's all used up and I will never buy it again.

I tried the sauce on nachos and it was almost ok. The flavour of the chips made up for the not-so-great sauce. I will probably make the sauce again but use the soy parmesan instead.

Weekly wrap up

Things have been kind of crazy around here. I haven't done much in terms of new recipes. I've just been trying to get through each day with some sanity left over.

I have big plans for the day. I've already made pancakes and cookies (from a mix). I'm prepping my cheeze sauce for my macaroni casserole tomorrow. Later I will whip up more mock tuna salad and then do dinner prep.

In non-cooking stuff, I hope to have a chance to prep my blog for the week, prepare for some work stuff, finally finish a book so I can give it back to my coworker, maybe go for a walk....I guess I will just see how the day plays out.

(Some) Stuff I Ate

Eggplant parm

Mock tuna

The mock tuna is super easy and is good enough for me. Essentially, it's smooshed up chickpeas with some mayo (next time it will be Vegenaise now that I have some), some Tofutti sour cream, and some relish. Oh, and celery to give it a bit of a crunch flavour. I use this mixture as a sandwich spread or a dip.

Of course I had a few other things, but they are going to get a separate post.

 

Stuff I want to Eat

• A mash up of my usual casserole and a mac & cheeze
• Stuff portabella mushroom burger
• Green smoothies
• Overnight vegan oatmeal
• And I can't remember what else is on the meal plan

 

In the Rest of My Life

• I helped a family member move closer to me. Yay. :)
• I'm still reading the same books but have a plan to finish at least one soon. It's gorgeous out today, which means it is a hammock day.
• On my radar: Easy Vegan Nutella, and Vegan Mocha Frappuccino;  and of course, a bunch of books to add to my "I will never actually read because life doesn't stand still" list.

I almost forgot the bunnies!



Naveen, sunning

 

Zayne, sunning






Behr, chilling

How to screw up brownies

Another one of those days....tijya in the kitchen. I had decided to make black bean brownies. My first attempt (a while ago) was a failure. My blender couldn't hack it. I decided to try again. I used this recipe as my base, but I wanted to substitute the eggs. I opted for applesauce. I mixed up the ingredients and threw it into a pan.

And you would think that considering these are black bean brownies I would make sure to add two key ingredients. One being beans. I did so (yay for one victory!). The other being some kind of chocolate to make them *brownies*. Well, I sort of skipped this.

I only realized my error once they had been in the oven for twenty minutes. I had hopes that I would call them black bean bars and that they would be delicious. But when I took them out, they were bubbling in a non-dessert kind of way. So I figured that this was not a yummy mistake, but a tijya-in-the-kitchen story.

I have decided that it's not a three-strikes-you're-out with these brownies. I'm done. I quit. Since when are brownies supposed to be healthy anyway?

Peanut Butter Cups

I've had this recipe forever. It's super easy and appreciated by pretty much everyone. It's sort of a non-recipe in that I would make quantity tweaks depending on your preference for chocolate to peanut butter ratio. The original calls for:

Ingredients

• 1 cup of peanut butter
• 1/4 cup of icing sugar
• 1 bag of dairy-free chocolate chips
• Muffin wrappers

However, I find that there is way too much peanut butter filling left over, so I typically slightly reduce the filling and bump up the chocolate.

Steps

1. Melt half of the chocolate chips. I use 30 second intervals in the microwave.
2. Spoon melted chocolate into muffin wrappers. It should do at least 12 cups.
3. Place in freezer to chill.
4. Mix up the peanut butter and icing sugar. Drop the filling into the chilled chocolate cups. Place back in freezer.
5. Find something else to do for twenty-ish minutes.
6. Melt the remaining chocolate and spoon on top of the firmed up peanut butter/chocolate base. Chill some more and then enjoy.

The one on the left is the pretty version.
The one on the right is the version for members of your own household
(once you've gotten lazy).