perdita

3 red/orange/yellow bell peppers (use whatever colors are available, just NOT GREEN!)
2 heads of garlic
Salt
Pepper
Olive Oil

Roast the peppers; rub them with olive oil and stick them under the broiler until theyre nicely charred. Let them cool in a paper bag and then peel off the skins. Dont rinse them!!! Thats how you rinse off the flavor. Rip them apart and toss them in the mixing apparatus*.

Roast the garlic. Cut off the top third of the garlic, remove any extra bits of husk, drizzle it with olive oil and stick it in a tin foil pouch (though admittedly its easier to do the drizzling after theyre on the tinfoil). Stick in a 350-400 oven for anywhere from an hour to an hour and a half. Let the garlic cool, and you can just squeeeeze the garlic out of the husk, into your mixing apparatus.

Add salt and pepper, and start mixing! As you mix, drizzle in olive oil until its smooth.

Use as a dip, or a spread for sandwiches, or pizza, or whatever! But be warned, it is definitely potent stuff.

*mixing apparatus = blender, food processor, etc. I use an immersion blender with the cup thing it came with.

Note: Im not actually turning vegan; quite simply because I hate limiting my options. I like milk, yogurt, ice cream, roast beef, and pizza, among other various food items. I look forward to finding new vegan blogs, or when my favorites update. I love the wave of new ideas and the seemingly limitless possibilities when it comes to food. But wait,you say, did you not just say you dont want to limit your options? Yes I did. But given the fact that vegans do not eat things that I do, they tend to have a far greater range with what they do choose to eat. This culinary range, as well as the healthful aspects, are what attract me to vegan eating. Dont get me wrong, I know its possible to be an unhealthy vegan (since refined sugar, white flour and frying are still vegan), not to mention maintaining a consistent variety of food in order to get the proper amounts of vitamins and minerals. Im also not crazy about substitute foods, mostly things that are blatant copies of meat products, such as tofu sausage/pepperoni, tofurkey, etc. Seitan and tempeh intrigue me but Im not brave enough to try them yet. I HATE the texture of tofu. Its always in my miso soup and its a major turnoff. Its just so . . . rubbery. Blech. Plus it is really easy to screw meat up if you dont have a lot of experience cooking with it and who wants to waste all that money? What does bum me out is that though there is a Veggie group around these parts, the description says no meatcrashers. *lesigh*

1. Red skin mashed potatoes (possibly with scallions) with steamed carrots and broccoli in a lemon/garlic/thyme sauce.
2. Broccoli, red pepper and snow peas sauted with soy sauce and sesame oil, garlic and ginger, sprinkled with toasted sesame seeds. Oh and scallions as well. I love scallions. This would be really good with beef if I had the patience for it. Oh and I have rice noodles to serve it over. Excellent.
3. Perfecting my paprika/oregano veggie stir fry over rice noodles. Usually carrots, green beans, and bell peppers, with red onion and garlic with olive oil and *gasp* butter. Also served over rice noodles with salt and pepper.

How often do you eat cupcakes?
Not often enough! I love them so much, but they arent terribly good for you in large quantities, which is how most bakeries sell cupcakes around here.

What's the best thing about eating cupcakes?
I think thats the kind of question that answers itself, but I would have to say, the soft squishy cake thats not too moist and sweet creamy frosting.

What's your favorite type of cupcake?
Yellow or white cake with vanilla frosting, Betty Crocker Rainbow Chip, or the generic yellow cake ones you can get at every grocery store.
How do cupcakes compare/contrast to other baked goods for you?
I think the individuality of cupcakes is what makes them so special. They are for you and only you. I mean really, who shares a cupcake?

Is there any innovation you'd like to see made to the cupcake that would improve it for you?
They are perfect as is. But I would love to see single serve cupcake mixes available. That way instead of having a whole batch of sweet deliciousness taunting you, you can have 2 freshly baked cupcakes and feel not-so-guilty.

Do you bake your own cupcakes? Or (even better) have someone who bakes them for you?
I have in the past, and I certainly like to, and while I also purchase them I think someone baking them for me would be a dream come true.

What's your first cupcake-related memory?
My maternal grandmothers chocolate cupcakes with white frosting and coconut on top as a welcoming greeting after the 5 hour car trip to her house.

What's the most fun you've ever had with a cupcake?
This, and also eating the cupcakes afterwards with that secret knowledge of naughtiness.

Do you have anything else to add?
I sure do love cupcakes.