That's So Vegan

Whole-Wheat Apple Ginger Muffins

2012-02-24T14:13:00.004-05:00

The skies have been pretty grey around here lately and I don't know about you, but if it's cloudy for too long I tend to fall into a slump. This month, though, I have vowed to keep myself out of those rainy day blues by doing little things to cheer myself up once in a while! Here's what I've come up with:

-Exercise every morning

-Listen to songs that take me back to really happy moments in my life

-Watch Breakfast at Tiffany's

-When I study, relocate once in a while to somewhere across campus to get a change of scenery plus a refreshing walk

-Wear lipstick (silly, but I've found that a little glamour always helps)

-Reserve a studio and dance around for an hour

-Make an effort to prepare myself a good breakfast to start the day on the right foot

As far as breakfast goes, my favorite thing to do lately is bake a big batch of muffins or scones, freeze them and then heat one up in the microwave in the morning. Voila! Instant, delicious baked-goods. These yummy apple ginger muffins have kept me going for about a week now, and I'm still not sick of them :)

Whole-Wheat Apple Ginger Muffins

makes 12 muffins

1 1/4 cup whole wheat flour

1/4 cup all-purpose flour

1/3 cup sugar

2 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp salt

2 tsp grated fresh ginger

3/4 cup almond milk

1 tbsp lemon juice

1/4 cup canola oil (can be replaced with applesauce for a fat-free version)

1 apple, peeled and grated

1. Preheat your oven to 375º and line a muffin tin.

2. In a large bowl, stir together the flours, sugar, baking powder and salt. In a separate bowl, combine the almond milk with the lemon juice and let it curdle for a minute or two. Whisk in the ginger and canola oil.

3. Add the wet ingredients into the dry and mix until just combined. Fold in the grated apple. Distribute the batter evenly between the muffin liners and bake for about 20 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.

What do you do to cheer yourself up on grey days?

Golden Scones

2012-02-21T09:41:00.001-05:00

A miracle has happened in these past few weeks: I have become a morning person.

I used to be that person that called getting up any time before 10am "early," but now here I am, up and at 'em at 7am every day. I've found that it makes me more productive. Not only do I get to see the sun rise, but I finally have time in my day to read books for fun, journal a bit, write more blog posts, and bake scones!

Even if you are not a morning person, the promise of these delicious and crumbly scones might just get you to roll out of bed.

Golden Pumpkin Scones (adapted from Students Go Vegan Cookbook)

Makes about 8 medium scones

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cup cornmeal
2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
3/4 cup canned pumpkin (or fresh pureed)
3/4 cup soy milk
1/4 cup vegetable oil
1/4 cup brown sugar, plus a little extra for sprinkling

1. Preheat your oven to 450º and lightly oil a baking sheet.
2. In a large bowl, add the flour, cornmeal, baking powder, salt and stir well. In a medium bowl, whisk together the pumpkin, soy milk, oil and brown sugar.
3. Add the wet into the dry and mix until just combined. Plop the batter onto the baking sheet in 8 equal dollops. Bake for about 12-15 minutes or until the tops begin to brown.

Not only are these perfect for breakfast, but they would be amazing alongside a bowl of my pumpkin and black bean chili, or any other soup you like :)

What do you wake up for?

Simple Orange Tofu

2012-02-17T08:30:00.000-05:00

Every semester I tell myself "Okay, this semester I'm not going to overbook myself- I'm going to try to stay sane." So far, I have failed. There is just always so much to do and so little time! Luckily, everything I'm doing is something that I genuinely want to do. My classes are all pretty awesome (dance and the camera, dance history, a Shakespeare English class, and chemistry and the environment), plus I'm choreographing a dance, performing in another dance, and I still have my great waitressing job. So much for not overbooking myself.

I have been living up to one of my goals for the year: really setting aside time to cook myself quality meals! All you need is to get some good, versatile ingredients that will last you a couple weeks and then set aside half an hour to whip up something delicious.

This is the first time I've tried cooking tofu by myself and I must say, it went really well! I think this dish is going to become a week-night staple. It's delicious and uses very basic ingredients that I almost always have on hand.

Orange Tofu with Rice

makes about 4 servings

1 block extra firm tofu
1 orange
3 tbsp soy sauce
1 clove garlic, chopped
2 tbsp olive oil, divided
1 cup prepared brown rice (I used Trader Joe's Brown Rice Medley)
optional: cooked spinach or peas to throw in with the rice

Note: If you are making this tofu for dinner, I would recommend marinating it around lunchtime. If it is for lunch, let it marinate overnight.

1. Drain the tofu and wrap in a paper towel. Squeeze the excess water out of the block of tofu and cut it into triangles or cubes.
2. Peel your orange and smash it in a medium-small lidded bowl, getting it nice and pulp-y. Stir in the soy sauce, garlic and 1 tbsp of the oil.
3. Place your tofu into the marinade, cover with the lid and shake gently so that every piece is covered with the sauce. Let it marinate for at least 2 hours.
4. Once the tofu is done marinating, heat the other tablespoon of olive oil in a non-stick pan over high heat. Add the tofu (but save the marinade!). Cook for a couple minutes on each side and flip. Repeat until the edges begin to brown and get slightly crispy.
5. Serve warm over rice with a little extra sauce poured over the top.

If you have leftovers, these little wedges would be excellent tossed into a salad, served in a wrap with some hummus and veggies, or just eaten plain as a snack!

Happy Valentines, Have a Cookie!

2012-02-14T10:22:00.000-05:00

Things I Love:

-listening to music and reading in a warm and cozy coffee shop
-laughing so hard you cry
-the feeling you get when a plane is taking off- like your stomach is dropping and your body is lifting. weird, but I love it.
-having picnic dinners on my living room floor with my family
-watching bad movies with best friends
-dancing so hard that you forget your feet hurt
-my cats
-staring out at the ocean
-classic love stories
-the smell of cookies fresh from the oven....

Orange Spiced Sugar Cookies with Cinnamon Icing

makes about 8 large hearts

Cookies:

1 1/2 cups white unbleached flour
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp cloves
zest of 1 orange
1/2 cup canola oil
1 tsp vanilla
1 tbsp orange juice
2 tbsp cornstarch mixed with 1 tbsp water (replaces an egg)

Icing:

2 tbsp soy milk
1 cup powdered sugar
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp vanilla

1. In a large bowl, mix the flour, sugar, baking powder, spices and orange zest. In a measuring cup, stir together the remaining ingredients.
2. Pour the wet mixture into the dry and combine using a wooden spoon or your hands. You may need to add a little bit of water if the dough is too crumbly. Form the cookie dough into a ball, wrap it in plastic wrap or foil and refrigerate it for about an hour.
3. Begin to preheat your oven to 375º. Once the dough has chilled, let it soften and warm up a bit, then roll it out to about 1/2 cm thick. Cut out desired shapes (hearts for today, of course) and place on a greased cookie sheet.

4. Bake cookies for about 8-10 minutes, or until the bottom edges begin to turn golden brown. Let them cool for at least 10 minutes before icing.
5. While the cookies bake, prepare the icing by whisking together the ingredients in a medium bowl or in a food processor.

6. Ice the cookies, let them harden for about 10-15 minutes, and share with everyone you love!

Chocolate Raspberry Cupcakes for My 50th Post!

2012-02-11T16:55:00.000-05:00

You know how everyone is talking about the winter that wasn't? Well, now it is. I woke up this morning to find a blustery winter wonderland outside of my window and even though it feels about 2 months too late, I'm not complaining. I woke up my friend at 9am this morning so we could venture out into the blizzard together for brunch and a steaming cup of coffee. I love snow :)

On a different note, I can't believe I'm already on my 50th blog post! I guess that's not a whole lot in the long scheme of things, but when I started this thing up I had no idea how far it would go. I am so flattered and grateful for all of the support I've received from friends and readers who continue to follow That's So Vegan! I wish I could send you each one of these cupcakes... but somehow they magically vanished. Oops.

Chocolate Raspberry Cupcakes with Chocolate Banana Glaze

makes 1 dozen cupcakes

Cake:

1 3/4 cups flour
1/3 cup cocoa powder
1 tsp baking powder
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup applesauce
1/4 cup canola oil
1/2 tsp vanilla
1 cup mashed raspberries

Glaze:

1 ripe banana
1/2 tsp vanilla
1/4 cup cocoa powder
2 1/2 cups powdered sugar

1. Preheat your oven to 350º and grease or line a cupcake tin.
2. To make the cupcakes, combine all of the dry ingredients in a medium bowl and the wet ingredients in a large bowl. Add the dry to the wet and stir until just combined.
3. Pour the batter into your prepared pan- about 3/4 of the way full for each cupcake. Bake for 20-25 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.
4. While the cupcakes are baking, make the chocolate banana glaze by mashing the banana with a fork, then whisk in the vanilla and cocoa powder. Add the powdered sugar a little bit at a time, whisking as you go. Once it is all added, stir until smooth.
5. Let the cupcakes cool for about 10 minutes, then spread the glaze on top. Enjoy!

These cupcakes are sweet, tart, moist and delicious. If you don't like bananas (aka if you're crazy), they would also be awesome with cream cheese frosting.

I hope everyone has a great pre-Valentines weekend!

My Love Affair with Upside-Down Cake

2012-02-06T17:23:00.000-05:00

I have this thing for upside-down cakes. You could call it a crush, but I'm pretty sure it's become more than that. I've started daydreaming about the different possibilities of flavors and imagining that beautiful moment when you bite into the perfect combination of fruit and cake and it just melts in your mouth...

Yeah, I am officially having a love affair with upside-down cake.

I realized I've been holding out on you guys- I made this gingerbread and pear cake about a month ago when I was still home for winter break! It was a parting gift to my family, but let me tell you, that cake was hard to leave behind.

Gingerbread Pear Upside-Down Cake (inspired by this recipe on Epicurious)

1 1/2 cups flour
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp allspice
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 cup earth balance
1/4 cup water
1/2 cup dark brown sugar
1/2 cup molasses
1/4 cup applesauce
3 tsp ener-g egg-replacer
1/4 cup water
1/4 cup grated fresh ginger
1 1/2 tbsp apple cider vinegar

1 pear, peeled and sliced thinly
1 tbsp melted earth balance
1 tbsp brown sugar

1. Preheat your oven to 350º. Line the bottom of a 9" round pan with parchment paper and grease the sides. Pour the melted earth balance into the bottom of the cake pan and swirl it around so it covers the whole surface. Arrange the pear slices on top and sprinkle them with brown sugar.
2. Whisk together the flour, baking soda and spices in a medium bowl. Melt together the butter and water and combine the egg-replacer with the other 1/4 cup of water.
3. Beat the molasses and brown sugar together, then stir in the applesauce and egg-replacer. Once smooth, add in the flour mixture and stir until just combined. Finally mix in the butter/water mixture, ginger and vinegar.
4. Pour the cake batter on top of the pears and place the cake in the oven for about 35-40 minutes. Promptly lick the bowl. Don't even fight it, it's impossible to resist.
5. Once the cake is done, let it cool for at least 10 minutes, then carefully flip it over onto a plate. Serve warm and enjoy :)

Freshly flipped

This cake is perfectly moist, rich and sweet. The fresh ginger also gives it a kick that you don't get with powdered ginger- it's incredible. It would be really great served with vegan whipped cream or coconut ice cream!

Pumpkin and Black Bean Chili

2012-02-03T14:21:00.000-05:00

How did I end up in rural Ohio?

This is the question I have been asking myself for the past 3 days.
Don't get me wrong, I love my school, but after being in California for a month, this place looks a little bleak. No more morning walks on the beach, no more farmer's markets open year-round, no more sundresses in January... Oh well. I'm just going to take advantage of everything this school has going for it and head West the minute I graduate. That's the plan.

In the meantime, I will keep myself sane by periodically redecorating my room...

and making soup.

This pumpkin and black bean chili is the perfect college meal. All you need is an onion, some fresh garlic and three 15-ounce cans and you have a flavorful, hearty winter soup that will feed you for a few days. Cheap, healthy, and did I mention it tastes like spicy pumpkin pie? Yum. It can't get better than this.

Pumpkin and Black Bean Chili (adapted from Keeping it Real Food)

1 tbsp olive oil
1/2 onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 15-ounce can black beans
2 cups diced tomatos
2 cups pumpkin puree
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp cayenne pepper
2 cups water

1. Heat the olive oil in a large pot and add the onions and garlic. Saute until the onion becomes transluscent.
2. Add in the black beans, tomatoes, pumpkin and spices. Stir well for about 2-3 minutes, then pour in the water.
3. Put on some tunes and take a dance break while you let the soup simmer for 40-60 minutes.
4. Serve with sliced avocado (smuggled back from Monterey), coconut shavings, vegan sour cream, or just keep it plain and simple!

Oh wow, I can't believe classes start in just 2 days. Wish me luck for my incredibly daunting add/drop period!

Goodbye Butterflies

2012-01-30T20:51:00.000-05:00

Saturday was the last day of my internship at the Pacific Grove Natural History Museum. While some of the projects they had me doing were slightly random, overall it ended up being a great experience. In the last couple weeks, they began to give me more substantial assignments when they saw what I could do with photoshop and design. The director of the museum had me create posters for their upcoming exhibits, brochures for a big fundraising event, and a sign to honor all of the museum donors. She referred to me as the official "graphic design intern," which is pretty cool :)

I wish I could be here to see the monarch exhibit opening in March. I think it's going to be a really fun, interactive, multimedia display. It's amazing to see the amount of work and attention to detail that goes into this kind of production. The exhibition curator and I spent a long time just picking out a font from 3 very similar choices to go on the inside of the advertising flyers!

The box of over 200 folded origami butterflies...
all done by yours truly.

Monarch caterpillar sleeping bags for kids to crawl around in-
aren't they adorable? They were really fun to paint, too.

I will miss working in Pacific Grove, with all of it's great people and small-town charm. However, I also can't wait to get back to school- did I really just say that?

Yes I did. I'm a nerd. I love school.

You know what I also love?

Nutella.

My friends I'm staying with have a whole jar in their cupboard that looks so yummy, but unfortunately, this delicious chocolatey spread is definitely not vegan. Thanks to Chocolate-Covered Katie, however, now I can make my own! I cut her recipe in half and added a splash of extra soy milk because it was a little thick, but result was amazing. There is so much you can do with it! Spread it on bread, graham crackers, bananas, swirl it in oatmeal, bake with it... the possibilities are endless. Next time I will make a full batch- I could eat this stuff by the spoonful.

I have an incredibly early flight tomorrow (leaving at 4am... gah), so I think a quick breakfast of toast and vegan nutella is in my future. Now that is something to wake up for.

Also, side note, That's So Vegan just joined Twitter! Follow me for updates on my vegan baking, cooking and life adventures.

Chocolate and Peanut Butter is for Lovers

2012-01-27T12:06:00.000-05:00

Don't worry, I will have more fun stories about California and my internship coming up soon, but I wanted to take a quick break from that and talk about the holiday that is fast approaching...

I've been posting a lot about chocolate and peanut butter on here lately, but unless you happen to be deathly allergic to either one, I don't think there's anything wrong with that. Chocolate and peanut butter were a match made in heaven and therefor perfect for Valentines Day!

Now I may not have a significant other, but I am not one of those people who gets really depressed around February 14th because they feel so unloved. Excuse me, but who wouldn't enjoy a day where you can get together with your other single friends, watch bad movies and eat lots of chocolate? It's all about being with people you love- romantically or not.

So, what better way to express your love for someone than by making them homemade Reeses peanut butter cups? You can find this fabulous recipe at Have Cake, Will Travel. The only alteration I made was to use powdered sugar for the filling instead of brown sugar. Oh, and make sure you reheat the chocolate while the peanut butter filling refrigerates- I had an incident involving rock-hard chocolate and a mini blowtorch. It was mildly dramatic.

Let me tell you, these babies were better than the real deal. Not only do they leave out the icky chemical stuff in the original candy, but they are made with delicious dark chocolate, stuffed with all-natural creamy peanut butter, and made (I assume) with a whole lotta love.

Cut down the edges of normal cupcake liners to make them look pretty!

How do you feel about Valentines Day?

Here's a song for friends (obvious, I know),
and here's a song for your special friend :)

Berkley and Lillian's Shallot Spaghetti

2012-01-25T23:00:00.000-05:00

love.

Well. I spent my weekend living in a house with my very liberal cousin and her 9 male, conservative, mormon roommates. How was your weekend?

Seriously, though, I felt like I was in the middle of a ridiculous sit-com or something! They were all super nice guys, but there were some semi-awkward debates about politics and a lengthly explanation of what exactly being a vegan means.

Speaking of which, Berkley is like vegan heaven. Almost every restaurant at least had options for me, but some were all vegetarian or vegan. There is this ice cream sandwich shop called Cream that has vegan ice cream sandwiches. Oh. My. God. I got chocolate cookies with white chocolate chips stuffed with cherry chocolate chip soy ice cream and practically had a heart attack at the first bite. I would have taken a picture to try to show you how incredible it was, but it was gone within a couple minutes.

Sorry the photo quality isn't great- it was dark and there were no leftovers to photograph in the daylight!

My cousin and I also made a lot of our own yummy meals. This one we created from some random things we had on hand, but I wanted to share it because it was so amazingly good! Lillian said that one of her meal-time staples is to make pasta with caramelized shallots and garlic. The secret is to slice the shallots super thin and saute them slowly, so that they are soft and stringy and blend in with the texture of the pasta. We did a spin on this basic dish by adding mushrooms and parsley for a richer flavor. The measurements are not set in stone, so feel free to adjust them slightly to your taste- just don't skimp on the shallots!

Lillian's Shallot Spaghetti with Red Wine Mushrooms and Parsley

serves 2

1/4 pack of whole wheat spaghetti
olive oil
6 shallots, thinly sliced
6 cloves garlic, minced
8 white mushrooms, sliced thinly
1/4 cup red wine
1 medium bunch of parsley
salt and pepper, to taste

1. Heat olive oil (enough to cover the pan) in a large skillet over medium heat. Add the shallots and half of the garlic and lower the heat. Saute for about 30 minutes or until they begin to brown. Stir occasionally to prevent burning.
2. While the shallots caramelize, heat a little bit of olive oil in a medium pan and add the rest of the garlic and the mushrooms. Once the mushrooms begin to cook, pour in the red wine. Stir and let simmer until all of the liquid has evaporated.
3. Prepare your spaghetti according to the package directions. To serve, divide up the spaghetti among plates and top it with a generous helping of shallots, mushrooms and parsley. Sprinkle on some salt and pepper and enjoy!

We turned our meal into a whole feast, complete with a salad that we threw together from mixed greens, strawberries, and fresh-squeezed lemon juice, complements of her backyard lemon tree.

And a dessert plate, of course, with strawberries and yummy No-Cookie Cookies.

This is one of my favorite new pasta dishes- it tastes like a gourmet meal, but it is so simple!

Candles and red wine make everything fancier.

Puffy Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies

2012-01-21T13:36:00.001-05:00

This weekend I'm really excited to take a little break from my internship and visit my cousin in Berkley. I've never been to the area before, but I can't wait to check it out! I'll be there for three days, then I work for one more week, and then it is back to cold and dreary Ohio... boo. At least I'm looking forward to seeing friends again and starting up some good classes for the semester! More about all of that later. Time to talk about cookies.

I actually made these cookies while I was at home. My dad is a peanut butter fanatic, so I like to make at least one treat for him while I'm in town. These have the consistency of a fluffier shortbread and are full of delicious peanut butter-y flavor, but of course my dad still insisted on eating them with some extra peanut butter smeared on top :)

Puffy Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies (recipe adapted from Just Everyday Me)

makes about 2 dozen cookies

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp baking powder
1/8 tsp baking soda
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup earth balance
1/3 cup creamy peanut butter
1 tsp sugar
1 eggs worth of egg replacer
1/2 tsp vanilla
1/2 cup chocolate chips

1. Preheat your oven to 350º and line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper. Prep your egg replacer.
2. In a large bowl, whisk together the salt, baking powder and baking soda. In a medium bowl, cream together the earth balance and sugars. Then add in the peanut butter. Once that is fluffy, add the egg replacer and vanilla.
3. Add the wet ingredients into the dry and combine. You may want to use your hands so thats it's not too crumbly. Roll smallish pieces of dough into balls and form them into mounds on the cookie sheet.
4. Bake for about 10-12 minutes- do not over-bake or they will get too hard! Let cool for about 10 minutes and enjoy.

These cookies are especially yummy dipped into my favorite kind of tea.

Have a great weekend! If you have nothing else to do, bake these. You will not be disappointed.

Taste & Create

2012-01-17T15:25:00.000-05:00

Eat well, travel often.

This is my new life motto. I'll be completely honest... I found it on stumble upon. Doesn't make it any less important.

Recently, I think I have been doing an excellent job following this saying. I have been taking walks to new places every day here in California and trying delicious food at farmers markets, mexican restaurants and in our own kitchen!

Can I just live here now, please?

Both of these I took on a morning walk along the Monterey coast with my 1970s pentax

Now, onto the food. Funny story about making these cookies. This was my first time doing Taste & Create (a fun monthly blogger recipe exchange) and I was really excited to swap recipes with Kat from Study Food! I decided to try veganizing her chocolate oat spice cookies. Making it vegan wasn't a problem- I just swapped earth balance with butter and a flax egg with a real egg- the issue was accidentally reading the amount of flour as 1 tbsp instead of 1 1/4 cup minus 1 tbsp. I'm not sure why I thought that could be right... but I put the little oatmeal-y blobs in the oven anyway. When I saw that they were not doing anything except bubble and melt, I double-checked the recipe, saw my big mistake and quickly pulled them out of the oven. I ended up scraping all of the oatmeal mush back into the bowl and then adding in the flour, but since the chocolate chips had all melted they ended up as solid chocolate cookies instead of chocolate chip. Despite that whole ordeal, they turned out pretty well!

Oatmeal Chocolate Spice Cookies

makes about 2 dozen

1/2 cup earth balance

1/2 tbsp vanilla extract

1/2 tbsp water

1/4 cup brown sugar

1/4 cup granulated sugar

1 flax egg (1 tbsp flax meal mixed with 3 tbsp water)

1 1/4 cup whole wheat flour

1 tbsp cocoa

1/2 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp nutmeg

1 1/2 cups rolled oats

1 cup chocolate chips

1. Preheat the oven to 350º and grease or place parchment paper onto two large cookie sheets.
2. Whip up the earth balance with a fork until it is creamy, then stir in the vanilla and water. Add the sugars and cream until nice and fluffy.

3. Stir in the flax egg, then slowly add the flour, cocoa, baking soda and nutmeg. Mix well, then fold in the oats and chocolate chips (or stir in melted chocolate chips if you want just chocolate cookies!).
4. Roll about tablespoon-sized pieces of dough into balls and flatten them onto your prepared cookie sheets. Bake for about 8 minutes. Take the cookies out while they're still very soft- they will harden as they cool and you don't want them too crumbly! Let cool and enjoy with some milk, coffee or tea.

These are very unusual cookies. The chewy texture is great, but it took a few bites to get used to the strong nutmeg flavor. They definitely grew on me. The friend I'm staying with didn't like them at first, but had another the next day and said they were in fact oddly addicting and actually pretty tasty. They taste like fairly "healthy" cookies because of the whole wheat flour, so keep that in mind. However, it was a fun experiment! If you decide to make them, just make sure you do the smart thing and read all the directions and ingredient amounts before putting anything in the oven. Whoops.

See what Kat from Study Food tried out from my recipes here!

Caramel Apple Upside-Down Cake

2012-01-15T15:44:00.000-05:00

Well this is turning out to be one of the most random internships I could have imagined. Yesterday I spent all day folding origami butterflies for a monarch exhibit and scanning pictures of wildflowers from the 1940s. Today I folded more butterflies and cut out little magnetic pictures of plankton.

Among these funny little crafty things I'm doing, I am learning some interesting stuff about the inner workings of museum curation and the collection of local natural history. Plus I get to go to the Pacific Grove monarch sanctuary and film and take pictures of the butterflies as part of my job... not too shabby!

When I'm not working, I'm off exploring Monterey, shopping at little thrift stores, and cooking and baking with my friends who are hosting me! My friend Maria, who is an expert baker and has even made award-winning cookies, has never actually tried vegan baking before. I knew I had to find an incredible recipe to prove that baked goods can be just as delicious without all the dairy and eggs. Angela's Caramel Apple Upside-Down Cake turned out to be the perfect thing.

Unfortunately, Trader Joe's does not carry brown rice syrup, so we used a different recipe for vegan caramel. The cake still came out amazing- everyone in the house was blown away!

Caramel Apple Upside-Down Spice Cake

For the caramel (adapted from The New Vegan Table):

1 cup sugar
1/4 cup water
2 tbsp maple syrup
1/4 cup earth balance
3/4 cup soy creamer
1/2 tsp vanilla

For the cake (from Oh She Glows):

4 apples (we used sweet fuji apples- yum!), peeled and sliced thinly

1/2 cup earth balance
1/2 cup sugar
1/3+1/4 cup maple syrup
1 cup soy milk
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 tsp baking soda
3/4 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
2 tsp cinnamon

1. To make the caramel, stir together the sugar, water and maple syrup in a medium sauce pan over medium heat. Bring to a boil and let cook until it reaches 248º. Carefully add the earth balance and soy creamer and whisk quickly. Lower the heat and stir for about 2-3 more minutes. Remove from heat and let cool for about 5 minutes.

2. Grease a 9-10" round pan and once the caramel has cooled slightly, pour about 2/3 of the batch over the bottom of the pan. Place apple slices on top, layering them if necessary.

3. Preheat the oven to 325º. With a mixer or by hand, mix the earth balance and sugar until fluffy. Whisk the wet ingredients together in a small bowl, and combine the dry in a medium bowl.

4. Alternate adding the wet and dry ingredients to the butter and sugar, mixing well as you go. Pour the batter over the caramel and apples and spread evenly with a spatula.

5. Bake for about 45 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. Let cool for about 10-20 minutes, then flip onto a plate and pour the rest of the caramel sauce on top. Serve and enjoy!

This cake is warm and comforting on a chilly day!

California Dreaming

2012-01-10T21:55:00.000-05:00

Photo taken by my friend Anne Ylvisaker on her iPhone- unfortunately I left my camera at home on our walk today!

Every time I visit California, I realize this is where I belong. The air is so fresh, the sun is (almost) always shining, there are great places to get vegan food, and you can hear the ocean from everywhere. I always feel so rejuvenated, especially since I've been stuck in the Midwest for so long. After college, you can definitely count on me heading to the west coast. Just look at how beautiful it is here, how can you resist?!

Also by Anne!

Because I'm pretty busy starting my internship with the natural history museum, I'll just leave you with a quick and easy lunch recipe that I made for my mom and I while I was home. It's from my favorite cookbook I mentioned before, Big Vegan. These wraps were super tasty and incredibly healthy!

Easy Veggie Tahini Wraps

serves 2

1 1/2 cups broccoli florets
2 cups chopped kale
3 tbsp tahini paste
2 tbsp fresh lemon juice
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 cup halved cherry tomatoes
2 large spinach tortillas

1. Steam the broccoli and kale so that they become tender and bright green. Drain them and pat dry.
2. In a medium bowl, stir together the tahini, lemon juice and salt until smooth. Mix in the broccoli, kale and tomato halves. Warm up the tortillas in a toaster oven or microwave and fill them with the veggies. Wrap up and enjoy!

I think these are about to become a lunch staple for me.

I love listening to this song by the ocean. Excuse me while I go dream about dolphins and waves...

My Favorite Cake

2012-01-06T00:07:00.001-05:00

I really love cake. So when I say this cake is my favorite, you know it's some serious business.
I don't think there's anything more romantic or heavenly than chocolate and cherries. Maybe chocolate and strawberries, but it's a close tie. This cake is moist, rich but not too rich, and will blow your mind at the first bite. Make this for that special someone and if they're not already in love with you, they sure will be now.

Chocolate & Cherries Cake with Rich Chocolate Frosting (adapted from Cookie and Kate)

1 1/2 cups whole wheat pastry flour
1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup canola oil
1 cup strong coffee, cooled
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 tsp chocolate extract (or more vanilla)
2 tbsp apple cider vinegar
1 bag frozen cherries (thawed), or about 2 cups fresh and pitted

1. Make your cup of coffee and stick it in the fridge to cool down. Preheat the oven to 375º and line the bottom of an 8" or 9" round pan with parchment paper.
2. In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, cocoa, baking soda, salt and sugar.
3. In a measuring cup, mix the oil, cooled coffee, and vanilla & chocolate extracts. Pour this into the dry and stir until combined.
4. Add in the vinegar and you will see little bubbles appear in the batter. Mix until the vinegar seems to be evenly distributed.
5. Pour the cake batter into your prepared pan. Sprinkle the cherries evenly over the batter and press them towards the bottom of the pan with your finger. Bake for about 40 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. Let cool completely before you frost it.

Frosting:

1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
2 tbsp soy milk
1/2 tsp vanilla extract

Melt the chocolate chips in the microwave, or if you don't have a microwave like me, in a double broiler until smooth. Remove from heat and stir in the soy milk and vanilla. Spread frosting evenly over the cake and top with a sprinkling of powdered sugar.

Just one bite...

Yum.

Put down whatever you're doing and go make this cake. Now.

On a completely non-cake related note... I'm going to California tomorrow for my College Winter Term project! I will be working at a natural history museum taking photos and setting up galleries for them. I'm staying with some friends who also love to bake and are excited to try some vegan baking with me. I can't wait to post recipes from the land of sun, surf and sand!

Pasta with Broccoli-Walnut Sauce

2012-01-04T15:30:00.000-05:00

To be honest, I don't really cook meals that often. When given the time, I usually choose baking over cooking just because it's what I'm better at. Another New Years Resolution of mine is to be more creative with making meals for myself- I'm getting a little sick of basic stir-fries and salads.
I just got this fantastic new cookbook for Christmas, Big Vegan by Robin Asbell, that I think will help with my goal. I've only tried a couple recipes so far, but they turned out amazing! I would highly recommend this book to anyone looking for a thorough vegan cookbook.

The first recipe I tried was Roman Broccoli-Walnut Pasta. The sauce had a very light and subtle flavor, but was really delicious. It's not too difficult to make, you just have to let the veggies simmer a while. It helps if you have a friend to help you with all the chopping.

Pasta with Broccoli-Walnut Sauce (slightly adapted from Big Vegan)

2 tbsp olive oil
1 cup chopped onion
1 rib of celery, chopped
1 medium carrot, chopped
4 cups broccoli florets and stems, chopped
1 medium tomato, diced
1 cup white wine
3 cloves garlic, sliced
1/4 cup silken tofu
1/2 cup walnuts
salt to taste
1/4 cup soy creamer
about 8 oz. whole wheat pasta

1. Bring a large pot of water to boil. In a large pan over high heat, saute the onion, celery and carrots in the olive oil until the veggies are soft. Add the broccoli, tomato, wine and garlic. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat and let simmer until there is almost no liquid left.
2. Meanwhile, place the tofu in a food processor and puree until smooth. Once the vegetables are ready, carefully add them to the food processor. Add in the walnuts, salt and soy creamer and blend until it forms a thick sauce.
3. Cook the pasta according to the package's directions, drain, and put back into the pot. Add the sauce and stir well to combine. Serve with salt and pepper and enjoy!

Currently loving: this song.

A Sweet Start to the New Year

2012-01-01T14:58:00.001-05:00

My favorite part about writing down new year's resolutions is looking back on your hopes and wishes from the past year. Sometimes I get lucky and they come true, sometimes they don't, and sometimes the wish is not something I even care about anymore. This past year a few great resolutions came true, like making new friends, doing well in all of my classes, getting a job that I enjoy, and discovering a new passion- baking! 2011 has been an incredibly eventful year.

Some of my resolutions for this coming year include:
-Cut back time on my laptop (which is a difficult task for a college student these days...)
-Start to do yoga again
-Travel outside of the country
-Update this blog at least twice a week, hopefully more!
-Continue to make new friends and reach out to people
-Always continue to take risks and have adventures

I feel like my resolutions are always a little cheesy, but I'm okay with that. What I've come to learn is that you can never really imagine where you're going to be a year from now. I never guessed that I would have my own vegan baking blog- a year ago, I was still eating meat and cheese!

Anyway, enough holiday rambling. I'll bet you want to get on to the food. Despite being up until about 5am last night, I just had to start the year off right with a delicious breakfast. I still had some coconut milk eggnog leftover from Christmas and I decided to put it to good use and make some perfectly sweet and fluffy pancakes.

Fluffy Eggnog Pancakes (adapted from here)

makes about 16 medium pancakes

2 cups all-purpose flour
2 tsp egg-replacer
1/4 tsp salt
2 tbsp sugar
3 tsp baking powder
2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1 tbsp earth balance, melted
1 1/4 cups vegan eggnog (I used So Delicious Coconut Milk Eggnog)
1 1/4 cups rice or almond milk

1. Preheat a griddle to 375º or a non-stick skillet over medium heat.
2. Combine all of the dry ingredients in a large bowl and mix well. Then add in the wet and stir until just combined- it's okay if there are still lumps. For maximum fluffiness, stir as little as possible.
3. Grease the skillet or griddle with a little earth balance and pour the batter out in heaping 1/4 cups. You may have to spread it out into a circle, then cook on each side for about a minute or until the bubbles at the surface begin to pop.
4. Serve with a sprinkle of cinnamon and maple syrup.

Happy 2012 everyone!!
Here's my favorite pump-up song to celebrate a new beginning :)

Clementine Cupcakes

2011-12-30T14:33:00.000-05:00

Slowing down is one of the hardest things for me to do. I'm so used to having every minute of my day filled up and even though I get stressed, I kind of enjoy it. I like having purpose. So now, having time to just sit at home and do nothing is really bizarre. It was an adjustment at first, but now I'm finally relaxing into just reading a book, doing crossword puzzles or listening to music while I can! I started a new book- Tinkers- and it's amazing so far. New Years Resolution: read more books for fun.

With all this spare time, I can finally experiment a little more with baking! I'm not exactly sure why, but my family tends to go crazy buying clementines in the winter. I decided I would put them to better use than just sitting in the fruit bowl...

These cupcakes are the perfect mixture of sweet and tart and are just so pretty! Because of the usual holiday overload of decadent sweets, I decided to make these super low-fat. However, if you don't like the texture of low-fat desserts (think less fluffy but more moist), you're welcome to sub out the applesauce for more canola oil.

Clementine Cupcakes with Clementine Vanilla Glaze

2 cups flour

1 cup sugar

1 tsp baking powder

1 tsp baking soda

2 tbsp clementine zest (about 4 clementines)

1/2 tsp salt

1 1/4 cups soy milk

1 tbsp egg replacer

3 tbsp applesauce

1 tbsp canola oil

3 clementines, peeled

1 tsp vanilla

1. Preheat oven to 350º and line or grease a cupcake tin.

2. In a large bowl combine the flour, sugar, zest, baking powder and soda and salt.

3. In a cup, whisk 3 tbsp of the soy milk with the egg replacer. Puree the three clementines in a blender until liquified, then pour only 1/4 cup of the puree into a small bowl and mix it with the "egg," milk, applesauce, vanilla and oil.

4. Add the wet ingredients to the dry and stir until just combined. Spoon the batter into the cupcake liners- about 3/4 of the way full. Bake for about 20 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.

Glaze:

1 cup powdered sugar
1/4 cup clementine puree
2 tbsp soy milk
1/2 tsp vanilla

1. Combine the wet ingredients in a bowl and slowly add in the powdered sugar. Whisk until smooth.
2. Once the cupcakes are done baking, dip just the tops into the glaze for about 10 second each so that they can absorb the sugary goodness. Let cool on a baking sheet and serve with a clementine slice on top.*

*I attempted to make caramelized clementines by slicing them and coating them with 2 tbsp of oil and 1/4 cup of sugar and baking them in the oven for about 20 minutes at 400º. I'm not sure if they ended up completely caramelized, but they taste delicious and look good on top of the cupcakes! You can try this if you want and maybe vary the method a little.

These would be excellent to bring to a New Year's Eve Party! It's always good to bring your own dessert if you are vegan, because otherwise you just have to cry silently in the corner while everyone else eats cake. It's pretty sad. These will save you, I promise.

Monkey Bread

2011-12-28T11:40:00.000-05:00

Okay I'll admit, I still get ridiculously excited on Christmas morning and tend to wake up at 6:30 or 7am to go open my stocking with my brother. Maybe slightly embarrassing, but hey, I'm not sure if the Christmas morning magic ever fades. My dad lights a fire in the fireplace, we turn the tree lights on, and take our sweet time enjoying each and every present we unwrap.

Our beautiful Christmas tree!

Christmas loot

Continuing with the theme of tradition in the last post, our holiday breakfast tradition is to make monkey bread- a delicious twist on traditional cinnamon rolls. Of course we're all in a sugar coma by lunch time, but it's totally worth it. Again, we had never tried making this vegan before, but my mom and I made a few adjustments and everyone agreed it was actually the best we had ever made!

Monkey Bread with Caramel Glaze (adapted from the Martha Stewart Holiday Magazine 2002)

Bread:
1/4 cup warm water
1/4 cup granulated sugar, plus a pinch for the yeast
1 package yeast
2 tbsp earth balance
3/4 cup soy milk, warmed
1 tsp salt
1/4 cup applesauce or 1 egg replacer
3 1/4 cups flour

Coating:
1/2 cup earth balance, melted
3/4 cup light brown sugar
2 tsp cinnamon

Caramel Glaze
1/2 cup brown sugar
5 tbsp earth balance
6 tbsp soy milk
1 tsp vanilla
1 cup powdered sugar

1. Put the warm water and a pinch of sugar in a small bowl and sprinkle the yeast over the top. Stir and let it sit for about 5 minutes.
2. Place the earth balance, warmed soy milk, salt and applesauce in a large bowl. Grease a medium bowl.
3. Once the yeast is foamy, add it to the bowl and mix well. Slowly add the flour and knead for 5 minutes. Put the dough in the greased bowl, cover with plastic and let it rise for 20 minutes.
4. To make the coating, pour the melted butter in a bowl and combine the cinnamon and sugar in another. Grease a bundt pan.

5. Divide the dough into 4 sections and roll each section into a long rope, about 1/2" thick or less. Cut the ropes into tiny pieces and roll them into balls. Dip each piece first in the butter, then coat it in cinnamon sugar and place in the bundt pan. Repeat until all the dough is used up.

6. Cover the pan with plastic wrap and let the dough rise for about an hour.
7. Preheat the oven to 350º and bake bread for 30 to 35 minutes. Let it cool for 15 minutes in the pan before turning it onto a plate.
8. Make the caramel glaze by combining the brown sugar, 2 tbsp of earth balance and 2 tbsp of soy milk in a sauce pan. Cook over low heat until dissolved, then cover and cook for 3 more minutes. Take the cover off and let it simmer without stirring.
9. Turn of the heat then stir in the remaining ingredients. Drizzle it over the monkey bread right before serving.

It's a little labor intensive, but can be really fun if you get family and friends involved in rolling up the dough balls. I guarantee this bread will give you a great reason to wake up in the morning, even if it's not Christmas!

This post was featured on Sweets for a Saturday!

Christmas Eve with Mr. Cookie Baker

2011-12-26T13:20:00.000-05:00

Christmas is my absolute favorite holiday- full of great company, perfect presents and of course, delicious food. My family is not religious, so our Christmas is always more about being together, being thankful for each other and everything we have, and generosity. This movie just about sums it up.

We also tend to stick to old childhood traditions, like watching Muppet Christmas Carol on Christmas eve and eating crab for Christmas eve dinner. The Muppets continue to live on, but the crab tradition had to be thrown out the window this year since we now have two vegans in the house. Instead, I decided to make a seitan roulade with mushroom and walnut stuffing. I was a little skeptical at first about making my own seitan, but it ended up delicious! You can get the recipe here, but I used dried cherries instead of cranberries and took out the onion and garlic because my dad's stomach is super sensitive. Everyone loved it, even my carnivore brother.

Our other tradition is to make Christmas cookies and decorate them together. I'm pretty sure we've used the same recipe every single year. We found it in the back of a children's book- Mr. Cookie Baker- that my brother and I used to read over and over when we were little. Actually this book is the reason I wanted to grow up to be a baker (and look at me now!)

Of course we had to veganize the recipe this year, but they still ended up buttery, delicious, and so much fun to make!

Mr. Cookie Baker's (Vegan) Cookies

makes about 3 trays full of cookies

5 cups all-purpose flour
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1 cup earth balance
1 1/2 cups sugar
2 eggs worth of egg replacer or 1/2 cup applesauce
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 tsp maple extract
1/4 cup plus 2 tbsp non-dairy milk

1. Mix together 2 cups of the flour, baking powder and salt in a medium bowl.
2. In a large bowl, cream together the earth balance and sugar. Then beat in the egg-replacer, vanilla, maple and non-dairy milk.
3. Stir the dry into the wet and gradually add enough remaining flour until the dough is stiff enough to roll out.
4. Form the dough into a ball, wrap in plastic wrap and chill for at least 1 hour.
5. Preheat the oven to 375º and roll out the dough on a floured surface to about 1/8" thickness.

6. Cut out into pretty shapes, then re-roll and repeat until all the dough is used up!

7. Bake the cookies on an un-greased cookie sheet for about 10 minutes or until lightly browned.

Frosting:

2 tbsp earth balance

2 cups powdered sugar

1 tsp vanilla

1/4 cup soy milk

1. Combine all of the ingredients in a food processor and mix on high until smooth and creamy.

2. Divide into separate bowls and mix a couple drops of food coloring into each bowl.

Once the cookies are completely cool, decorate them with frosting and sprinkles and place them on parchment paper to let the frosting set.

These are great to share with your family and friends! Mr. Cookie Baker has never let me down. I hope everyone had a great holiday! Does anyone else have any fun family traditions?

Here Comes the Sun

2011-12-24T00:25:00.000-05:00

Just like true hippie parents, my mom and dad raised my brother and I to celebrate the solstice every year. We do Christmas as well, of course, but we would always have some sort of party or special event to mark the shortest day of the year. For the past 6 years or so, we've started a tradition of making gingerbread sun cookies with our own special flair.

Each person in my family is an artist in some way- my dad paints and composes music, my mom is a children's book illustrator, my brother draws and performs in a youth circus, and I dance and take photos. The combination of all of these creative talents makes for some very fun and unique cookies.

Gingerbread Solstice Cookies

makes 4 large suns

1/3 cup earth balance
1 cup brown sugar
1 cup molasses
3/4 cup water
6 cups all-purpose flour
2 tsp baking soda
3/4 tsp salt
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp ginger
1/2 tsp cloves

1. Cream together the margarine, brown sugar, molasses and 1/2 cup of water in a large bowl.
2. sift flour, baking soda, salt and spices in another bowl and then add the dry ingredients to the wet. Add more water if dough is too crumbly.
3. Turn the dough out of the bowl and form into 4 equal balls. Wrap each in plastic wrap and refrigerate for 1 hour.
4. Preheat oven to 350º and grease two baking sheets. Roll out the dough and cut or mold each piece of your sun.
5. Bake suns for about 10-12 minutes or until puffy and slightly browned.

You don't have to just make suns with the dough- you can also roll it out and make cut out cookies! But just look at how gorgeous these turned out.

Clockwise from top left: My sun, my dad's, my mom's and my brother's fish/sun.

This is such a great family tradition. We put on some carols, shape our suns, then watch a Christmas movie or just sit around the tree and chat while the heavenly smell of gingerbread baking wafts through the house. It keeps us cozy on the shortest, darkest day of the year.

Only one more day until Christmas! Can you believe it? Today is going to be full of so much last-minute baking and cooking. I will be posting my family's all-time favorite Christmas cookie recipe soon, so stay tuned!

Lemon Ginger Scones

2011-12-22T17:25:00.000-05:00

Home for the holidays at last. I survived finals week! I think they all went really well in the end, so now I just get to sit back, relax, and bake all day if I feel like it! Although, because I've been so wrapped up in school I completely forgot that Christmas is in 3 days. I can't completely relax- I need to do some serious Christmas shopping.

My first pre-Christmas present to my family, however, was to make them something yummy for breakfast. I've been wanting to try out vegan scones for a while, so I veganized a basic recipe from this really old cookbook we have laying around and they turned out great! Perfectly buttery, flakey and not too sweet. The lemon and ginger flavor is pretty subtle, so they're best served with jam or some extra earth balance.

Lemon Ginger Scones

makes 8 scones

2 cups all-purpose flour

2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

1/4 cup (4 tbsp) cold earth balance

1/2 cup unsweetened applesauce

1/3 cup soy creamer

zest and juice of 1 lemon

1 tsp fresh grated ginger

1. Preheat your oven to 425º and lightly grease a 9" round pan.

2. In a large bowl, mix together the flour, baking powder and salt. Using a fork, add in the earth balance and chop it up until crumbly.

3. Mix in the applesauce. Then stir in the creamer, lemon zest, lemon juice and ginger. You may want to use your hands.

4. On a lightly floured surface, knead the dough for 2 minutes or until smooth. Stretch the dough out into a circle and press it into the 9" pan so that it covers the whole surface.

5. Cut the dough into 8 slices and separate the edges slightly so they are easier to cut later. Bake in the oven for about 20 minutes or until the tops just start to turn golden brown.

This is great scone base- if you take out the lemon and ginger, you could add anything you want! Fruit, nuts, chocolate... whatever your heart desires. These would be great for christmas morning :)

Also I just finished watching this movie, one of my favorite holiday classics!
What's your favorite holiday movie?

One More Final to Go...

2011-12-19T23:51:00.002-05:00

...and then it's home for the holidays! I can't wait. It will be great to see family and old friends again and actually have a real kitchen to bake in!

In the meantime I'll cram for my history final while I cram my face with cinnamon sugar rolls.

My boss at the pizza restaurant I waitress at is a perfectionist about the consistency of his pizza dough and usually ends up throwing a bunch away at the end of the night. I hate to see decent food wasted, so yesterday I offered to take some home and see what I could do with it!

You absolutely cannot go wrong with dipping something in butter, sugar and cinnamon. I melted some earth balance, rolled the dough balls in cinnamon sugar and baked them at 350º for about 20 minutes or until the tops turned golden brown. Then I decided that this was the perfect opportunity to whip out the last of my leftover cream cheese frosting. Thanks to these babies, my friends and I had a very productive and very delicious study session.

Sorry for the mediocre lighting in these, we made and ate them all between 10pm and 1am.

This is me once I'm all done, wearing my super awesome "vegan" shirt:

Wish me luck!

Virtual Vegan Holiday Dinner: Holiday Crescent Rolls

2011-12-15T23:18:00.001-05:00

Remember when I got really excited about the first snow? Well that only lasted about an hour, then it all melted and we haven't had any since. It's so hard to believe that it's almost Christmas when it looks like Spring outside!

I guess I'll just have to get into the Christmas spirit through lots of carols, hot chocolate and a Virtual Vegan Holiday Dinner! I was so excited when Marley invited me to be a part of this. Other bloggers and I have all made our own delicious recipes so that when you put them all together, you get an amazing vegan feast. Go to the bottom of this post to see the full list of what everyone is bringing to dinner!

Because nothing relieves finals stress better than baking bread, I volunteered to make the dinner rolls! These rolls turned out amazing. They are sweet, buttery, flakey and made my whole dorm smell like fresh-baked bread.

Sweet Crescent Rolls

makes 6 rolls

1/3 cup soy milk
1/4 cup earth balance
1/4 cup warm water
1 package active dry yeast
1/4 cup sugar (can be cut down if you want your rolls less sweet)
1 tbsp ground flax seed
3 tbsp water
1/2 tsp salt
2 1/2 cups flour
1 tbsp canola oil

1. Pour the warm water in a large mixing bowl and sprinkle in the yeast. Stir, then let it sit and get foamy for 5 minutes.
2. Warm the soy milk in a small saucepan over low heat, then add the earth balance and stir until melted. Remove from heat.
3. Combine the flax seed with the 3 tbsp of water in a small bowl to make a "flax egg."
4. Add the warm soy milk mixture to the yeast. Stir in the sugar, flax egg and salt. Then add 1 1/2 cups of the flour and stir until smooth.
5. Add in some of the remaining flour until you can easily form the dough into a ball. Save the rest for kneading the dough.
6. Knead the dough for 5-10 minutes on a floured surface, adding more flour to the dough if it becomes sticky. You should end up with a smooth ball that springs back if you poke it.
7. Pour the oil into a large bowl and roll the dough ball around to coat it completely. Cover with a towel and let it rise until it doubles in size, for about 45 minutes.
8. Punch down the dough, then divide it into 6 pieces. Form each piece into a triangle, then roll it into a crescent shape. Place the rolls two inches apart onto a greased cookie sheet.
9. Cover the dough again and let them rise for about 30 minutes more on top of the oven as you preheat it to 350º.
10. Bake the rolls for about 15-20 minutes, or until the tops are golden brown.

Enjoy these along side your holiday dinner, with a big bowl of soup, or for breakfast with some raspberry jam!

Here's the rest of the vegan feast!

Appetizer:
Diet, Dessert and Dogs: Carrot Pate

Drink:
Pea Soup Eats: Winter Warmer Cocktail

Main Dish:
Namely Marley: Vegan Holiday Casserole

Side Dishes:
Love, Veggies and Yoga: Cranberry and Orange Ginger Mango Chutney
Vegan Good Things: Sweet Potato Puree with Maple and Sour Cream

Desserts:
-Lunch Box Bunch: Four Ingredient Pumpkin Pie
-The Tolerant Vegan: Pear Gingerbread Cake
-Your Vegan Mom: Chocolate Pecan Cookie Pies
-Manifest Vegan: Eggnog Cheesecake

Cinnamon Bun Cupcakes

2011-12-15T14:05:00.000-05:00

Since I'm still in the thick of studying for finals, it's sometimes even hard to find time to eat! This cupcake is the perfect solution: breakfast and dessert all in one. I just need a big cup of coffee and I'm set. Who needs healthy meals like lunch and dinner... right?

Don't worry, I'm actually eating real food too. I just wish I could eat one of these for every meal- they're that good. I brought a plate of these cupcakes over to a dancers potluck and they were a hit. I was sneaky and didn't tell anyone they are vegan, but no one even guessed!

Cinnamon Bun Cupcakes

makes 1 dozen

Cinnamon cupcakes (adapted from Vegan Cupcakes Take over the World):

1 cup almond milk (or any other kind of non-dairy milk)

1 tsp vinegar

1 1/4 cups flour

2 tbsp cornstarch

3/4 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

1/3 cup canola oil

3/4 cup sugar

1 1/2 tsp vanilla

1 tsp cinnamon

1. Preheat the oven to 350º and line a cupcake pan.

2. Combine the almond milk and vinegar in a large bowl and set aside to curdle for at least 5 minutes.

3. Sift together the flour, cornstarch, baking powder, cinnamon and salt in a medium bowl.

4. Add the oil, sugar and vanilla to the almond milk mixture and stir well.

5. Add the dry ingredients into the wet and stir until just combined. Then fill up the cupcake tins about 2/3 of the way full.

6. Bake for about 20-25 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. Make the frosting while they bake. Let cool for at least 15 minutes before frosting.

Cream Cheese Frosting:
1/4 cup vegan cream cheese
1/4 cup earth balance
1 1/2 cups powdered sugar
1 tsp vanilla

1. Cream together the cream cheese and earth balance in a medium bowl. Stir in the vanilla.
2. Slowly add in the powdered sugar, whisking as you go until it is smooth and fluffy. You could either use an electric mixer or good old-fashioned elbow grease, like my friend and I did!

Mmm just look at that melt-in-your-mouth frosting.

These were definitely worth the extra-long study break!

If you're in the midst of finals like I am, here are a couple of my favorite relaxing study songs:

Jose Gonzales

Iron and Wine

Regina Spektor

Does anyone else have good suggestions for study music?

Random and Exciting News

2011-12-09T13:15:00.001-05:00

I know this isn't food related, but I wanted to share it anyway :)
When I was in New York in October, I attended the Wall Street protest and participated in a march for single-payer health care. I don't want this to turn into a political blog, however I know Occupy Wall Street got a lot of crap for being made up of "uninformed liberal hippies," but I just want to say that everyone I talked to there was extremely educated on all the issues and passionate about the cause. It was exhilarating and empowering to be a part of the movement!

Here's the really random and exciting part... my photo from the rally ended up in Glamour Magazine! My friend sent me a link to this photo asking if it was really me, and I couldn't believe it. I've never had anything like this happen to me before- I was really shocked. So if you open up a copy of the New Year's edition of Glamour Magazine, say hi to the face of this blog!

That's me on the left, "channeling my hippie protest roots!"

Anyway, sorry to toot my own horn, but I just had to share this with you guys! I will be posting a couple new recipes this weekend, but in the meantime have a happy Friday!

Creativity and Banana Chocolate Chip Muffins

2011-12-08T09:00:00.001-05:00

"Creativity is problem-solving"

That's what my choreography teacher said to my class the other day and it just completely makes sense. In dance, when you get stuck in a pattern of the same movements, you have to solve the problem and find some new way to move. In photography, if the angles or the lighting aren't working out, you have to solve the problem and find a way to make the picture beautiful differently than you had originally planned. Even creativity in cooking is problem-solving. If something goes wrong, you just have to see what you can do with what you're left with.

Remember way back over Thanksgiving break when I messed up that pecan pie caramel sauce and ended up with this? Well, even though it wasn't what I was trying to make, that sugar tasted pretty yummy- kind of like maple candy. I couldn't just throw it away! Instead, I decided to save it and use it to top off these delicious muffins. See? Problem solved, muffins made.

These taste like something you would get at Starbucks, but vegan and much healthier!

Iced Banana Chocolate Chip Crumble Muffins

2 1/2 large bananas
1/4 cup applesauce
1/4 cup canola oil
1/3 cup brown sugar
2 tbsp molasses
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 cup whole wheat pastry flour
3/4 tsp baking soda
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 cup chocolate chips
maple sugar
1/2 recipe white icing

To make the maple sugar:
Combine 1 cup of brown sugar with 1 cup of maple syrup in a sauce pan. Stir over medium heat and let it boil until it turns into crumbly sugar then immediately remove from heat. If you don't feel like doing this, just a sprinkling of brown sugar would be tasty too.

1. Preheat your oven to 350º. In a large bowl, mash the bananas, then stir in the applesauce, oil, sugar and molasses.

2. Stir in the flour, baking soda, cinnamon and salt and mix until just combined. Fold in the chocolate chips.

3. Fill muffin tin with the batter, about 3/4 way full for each. Top with maple sugar or brown sugar, and bake for about 15-20 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.

4. Once the muffins are out of the oven, let them cool for 10 minutes and then drizzle with white icing.

Muffins are best made and served with love.

Peanut Butter Thumbprints

2011-12-05T16:10:00.001-05:00

When life gets really crazy, I always try to make more of an effort to luxuriate in the little things. Lately I've been taking comfort in big mugs of tea in the morning (like my personalized mug? my mom's friend made it for me when I was 6!), study breaks with friends where we just sit around and talk about girly things, making really awesome work-out playlists, doing spins and leaps in dance, working on this blog, and really good cookies. Little things like this make the weeks leading up to finals so much more bearable.

My friend Melissa and I have recently been baking together whenever we need a break from work. What this means, really, is that I bake while she reads Cosmo and keeps me company. It's a nice little tradition :)

Yesterday, we made these amazing cookies! They just go to show that you can never go wrong with peanut butter and chocolate.

Peanut Butter Thumbprint Cookies

makes about 30 cookies

2 cups all-purpose flour
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
1 cup natural peanut butter
1/3 cup canola oil
1/2 cup maple syrup
2 tbsp granulated sugar
2 tsp vanilla

filling: chocolate chips, nuts or jelly

1. Preheat the oven to 350º and line two cookies sheets with parchment paper.

2. Mix the dry ingredients (minus the sugar) in a medium bowl. Combine the peanut butter, oil, syrup, sugar and vanilla in a large bowl and stir until creamy.

3. Add the dry into the wet and stir well- you may want to use your hands.

4. Roll the dough into balls about 1-1 1/2 inches wide and place them on the cookies sheets. Then press your thumb into the center of each ball and fill the center with anything you like! I used chocolate chips, but jelly/jam would also be delicious.

5. Bake cookies for about 15 minutes or until they start to turn golden brown. Let them cool for at least 5 minutes before transferring to a plate, or else they will crumble! They harden as they cool.

These cookies are the perfect mix of salty and sweet, so they will satisfy any late-night-study craving.

Pumpkin Pancakes

2011-12-02T18:56:00.001-05:00

So busy so busy so busy. My head is constantly spinning these days! This weekend I'm going to need to take a day to sleep in, relax, and whip up another delicious batch of these amazing pancakes. I made these while I was at home also- if you couldn't tell, I basically just went home and spent all of Thanksgiving break in the kitchen!I'm pretty sure the main reason my family misses me now that I'm gone again is because they don't have a constant stash of fresh-baked treats on hand. They'll just have to wait until Christmas...

In the meantime, I'll have to make these pancakes for my friends and me. They are light,fluffy and super easy to prepare. Now that it's December it may be a little past pumpkin season, but if you have some leftover like I do, you should definitely head on over to Vanessa's blog for the recipe and try them for yourself!

Gingerbread Drizzles and Snow

2011-11-29T09:39:00.001-05:00

Not many people at my school share this sentiment with me, but as a born-and-bred Minnesotan, I absolutely love snow.It has mostly been gross and rainy here in Ohio, but this morning I looked out my window, saw everything coated in a sparkling white blanket and then did a little happy dance (only slightly embarrassing). I just really love snow.

The problem with the first snow is that is gets me completely into holiday mode. All I want to do is wrap presents, listen to christmas music, sit by the fire with a mug of hot cocoa, and of course, bake something warm and delicious. Too bad instead I get to read three books, write two papers, take two exams, finish an art project, wait tables, and choreograph a dance. Yay. Looks like my Christmas spirit will have to be on hold for the next three weeks...

If, unlike me, any of you lucky people out there have some time on your hands to begin your holiday preparation, nothing says Christmas morning better than the smell of gingerbread fresh out of the oven. I made these cookies during my Thanksgiving break and after one bite I was ready to break out the Christmas carols. They are perfectly chewy and slightly crispy on the outside- beware, they will launch your holiday spirit from zero to ten.

Gingerbread Drizzles

makes about 2 dozen cookies

Cookies (thank you to Oh, Ladycakes for the recipe):

1/2 cup earth balance
3/4 cup sugar
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1/4 cup dark molasses
3 tbsp vegan sour cream (Tofutti brand is my favorite)
1 1/2 tsp ground ginger
3/4 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp ground cloves
1/4 tsp sea salt
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

White Icing
(I had a bunch of extra icing, which I ended up using on another recipe coming soon, but if you only want enough for the cookies I would cut this recipe in half)

1 1/2 cups powdered sugar
2 tbsp vanilla soy milk
1/4 tsp vanilla extract

1. Preheat oven to 350º and line two baking sheets with parchment paper.

2. In a large bowl, cream together the butter, sugar, molasses, vanilla and sour cream. Whip vigorously until light and fluffy. Stir in the spices and baking soda, then add the flour and mix until combined.

3. Spoon batter onto your cookie sheet in tablespoons. Depending on your cookies preferences, either flatten or leave in balls- they don't spread that much. I left mine round. Bake for 10 minutes.

4. While the cookies are baking, prepare your icing by whisking together the sugar, milk and vanilla until it is the perfect drizzling consistency. You may need to add some extra sugar.

5. Once the cookies are done,let them cool for at least 5 minutes, then drizzle with the white icing. Let the icing set for about 10 minutes, then eat your heart out!

Enjoy these cookies with a mug of coffee (or tea), a good book and this song.

Because One Pie is Never Enough

2011-11-26T23:26:00.001-05:00

Here is the second pie I made for Thanksgiving this year! I have never actually had pecan pie before and figured my switch to veganism would completely rule it out for me, but then I found this recipe. My dad, who loves pecan pie, says it's the best he's ever had. My mom, who hates pecan pie, went back for seconds, and my brother and my aunt will love any pie as long as it's drowned in whipped cream. This pie was the overall favorite dish at my family's dinner- which is saying a lot, because we ate some amazing food!

Maple Pecan Pie (recipe from here)

1 9-inch pie crust

1/2 cup sugar

1/2 cup brown sugar

1/2 cup pure maple syrup

1/4 cup nonhydrogenated margarine

6 ounces extra-firm silken tofu (1/2 of a tetra pack)

1/4 cup cold, unsweetened, plain nondairy milk

2 1/2 tbsp cornstarch

1/2 tsp salt

1 tsp pure vanilla extract

2 cups pecan halves

1. In a medium saucepan, mix the sugars and maple syrup. Heat on medium-low and stir occasionally until bubbles begin to form, then stir constantly for 10 minutes. DO NOT let it boil too much, or you will end up with this. It should turn into a thick, syrupy caramel. After 10 minutes, stir in the margarine. Remove from heat and pour into a bowl to cool.

2. Crumble tofu into a food processor then add the milk, cornstarch and salt. Puree until smooth.

3. Preheat oven to 350º. Once the caramel is cooled (it can still be warm), add the tofu mixture and vanilla and stir. Fold in the pecans and pour it all into your prepared crust.

4. Bake for about 40 minutes, let cool and store in the refrigerator until you're ready to serve!

Crispy and filled with maple custard- the perfect winter treat.

Perfect Pumpkin Pie

2011-11-25T17:42:00.001-05:00

I can't even count how many things I am thankful for in my life, but on my long list of friends, family, health and other gifts, pumpkin pie is most definitely included. Pumpkin is a flavor that always reminds me of the holidays and sitting around a fireplace with the people I love most. It encompasses fall and the inner warmth that comes with colder seasons. Maybe that's a lot to put on one dessert... but I think this pie can handle it!

This is the first time I've tried this particular recipe for vegan pumpkin pie and it was amazing! The texture is perfectly silky smooth and it is just bursting with flavor. My whole family absolutely loved it. It's also super easy to prepare, especially if you have a store-bought crust like I did.

Pumpkin Pie (recipe from here)

1 9-inch pie crust (I used Whole Food's whole-wheat vegan crust)

1 15-ounce can of pumpkin (or about 2 cups fresh cooked)

1 cup vanilla soy milk

3/4 cup sugar

3 tbsp cornstarch

1 tsp cinnamon

1/2 tsp ginger

1/2 tsp salt

1/4 tsp cloves

1/4 tsp nutmeg

Preheat your oven to 350º. Mix all of the ingredients together in a food processor or blender, pour into the pie crust and bake for 60 minutes. Once it is out of the oven, let cool for about 10 minutes then stick it in the refrigerator for about an hour, or until you're ready to eat. Serve with vegan whipped cream, soy ice cream, or just eat it plain! Enjoy!

Creeping Cat

Happy T(of)urkey Day!

2011-11-24T14:01:00.001-05:00

See what I did in the title there? Tofurkey? Hah. This is my first completely vegan thanksgiving! My house smells wonderful right now- onions and garlic, pumpkin pie spice, brown sugar, and sweet potatoes. Because I am now the official baker in the family, I have been put on pie duty. Tomorrow I'll post all the recipes and tell you about the whole delicious dinner, but here's a sneak preview while we prep everything...

All ready to go in the oven!

Onions and garlic and peppers for the vegan meatloaf.

Oops... I already had my first baking mishap. See that sugar above? Yeah, that's supposed to be caramel sauce for my pecan pie. I think I just let it boil too much. Luckily it worked the second time I tried!

Mmm caramel. Problem solved.

How is YOUR thanksgiving experience going?

Check back for recipes tomorrow!

Countdown to Cookies

2011-11-11T12:04:00.000-05:00

Oh, killing me softly

and I'm still falling

still the one I need,

I will always be with yooou

This is what I was singing the whole time I baked this weekend. Is anyone else as addicted as I am? The video is also super adorable.

I have another thing for you to get addicted to- more cookies. This has been kind of a stressful week for me. I've been trying to register for classes for next semester plus I'm in a dance show that just opened last night! Thank goodness for chocolate.

Not only have I been on a quest for the perfect vegan pancake, but I've been searching for the perfect vegan chocolate chip cookie as well. I think I got it. They are crispy on the outside, chewy on the inside and the molasses adds an amazing richness to the flavor. These cookies are killing me softly. Just like Beyonce.

The Best Vegan Chocolate Chip Cookies (recipe slightly adapted from here)

makes about 20 cookies

2 cups flour

1 cup brown sugar

1 tsp baking powder

1 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

1 cup dark chocolate chips/chunks (make sure they're vegan!)

2/3 cup vegetable oil

1/4 cup soy milk

1 tsp vanilla

1 tbsp dark molasses

1. Preheat oven to 350° and lightly grease two cookie sheets.

2. In a large bowl, mix together the flour, sugar, baking powder and soda, salt and chocolate chips.

3. In a medium bowl mix the oil, soy milk, vanilla and molasses.

4. Combine wet and dry ingredients. It works best if you use your hands!

5. Roll dough into balls and flatten onto the cookie sheets. Bake for about 10 minutes. Let cool and enjoy!

Munch.

Oatmeal Choco-Banana Cookies

2011-11-07T16:03:00.000-05:00

My friend's class was having a potluck the other night and since I will take any excuse to bake for a bunch of people, I decided to make cookies for her to bring. I didn't have much time or supplies, so I scrounged together the random ingredients I had and actually came up with something pretty delicious! She said everyone loved them. The only problem is they dry out a little the next day if you don't seal them up really well- they're best eaten the day you make them.

Oatmeal Choco-Banana Cookies (adapted from Vegan Cookies Take Over Your Cookies Jar)

Makes about 2 dozen

1 ripe banana

1/3 cup oil

2/3 cup sugar

1 tsp vanilla

3/4 cup all-purpose flour

1/2 tsp baking soda

1/4 tsp salt

1/4 tsp cinnamon

1/3 cup cocoa powder

2 cup quick oats

optional if on hand: chocolate chips or walnuts

1. Preheat your oven to 350° and grease two cookies sheets.

2. Mash up the banana really well in a large bowl, then mix in the oil, sugar and vanilla.

3. Add in the flour, baking soda, salt, cinnamon and cocoa. Stir until combined, then add the oats. Add a little water if the dough is too crumbly.

4. Roll dough into balls and flatten them onto your cookies sheet. Bake for about 10 minutes- do not over bake or they will dry out!

Mmm these ingredients make such a great cookie combination!

Sunday Pancakes

2011-11-02T10:25:00.000-04:00

When I was little, having pancakes on a Sunday morning was always the most exciting thing in the world. It didn't happen very often, so you knew it was an extra special day when you woke up to the smell of butter sizzling on the griddle.

Confession time: Now that I'm in college and I have more control over my own meals, I have pancakes at least every other weekend. Somehow though, the novelty still hasn't worn off. They're still a super exciting prospect to wake up to. My friends and I usually go to this great brunch place in town, The Black River Cafe, that has incredible vegan pancakes, but this past weekend I decided I didn't feel like spending the extra money, so we made our own!

I have had the most difficult time coming up with a good vegan pancake recipe- I'm on a quest for the perfect one. The recipes I've made in the past were either too cakey, chewy or just plain ugly looking. This easy little recipe, however, is getting much closer to the perfect pancake. I will continue to tweak it in the future and let you all know how they turn out, but for now try this one! It's great!

Sunday Pancakes (adapted from Kirsten's Kitchen)

Serves 2

1 1/4 cups flour

1 tbsp baking powder

1 tbsp sugar

pinch of salt

1 cup soy milk

1 tbsp canola oil

1 tsp white distilled vinegar

Mix all the ingredients in a medium bowl, then ladle batter into circles onto a heated and greased pan. Cook over medium-low heat for about 1-2 minutes each side.

I love how versatile pancakes are. Feel free to slather them in syrup, like I did, or else applesauce, peanut butter, and jelly are all great toppings. You could also mix anything into this batter; chocolate chips, bananas, berries, whatever your taste-buds desire!

Thank You Cake

2011-10-29T13:08:00.000-04:00

Sometimes words just are not enough. Sometimes you have to find other ways of expressing gratitude to someone. The solution to this problem is always chocolate cake. Trust me.

I took a train back to school from New York and it was delayed 3 hours and my poor friend was stuck waiting for me at the station, freezing in her car while I called her every five minutes saying "Okay, they said we should be there in 20 minutes. Oh wait, make that an hour. Oh wait, two hours...." The least I could do was bake her a cake.

This cake is fairly basic, so I decided to boost the chocolatey goodness by drizzling homemade chocolate sauce all over it. Mmmm it came out light and fluffy and was so easy to make! It's the perfect recipe to whip out when you need another way to say "thank you" or "sorry" or "you're the best."

Basic Chocolate Cake with Chocolate Sauce (from The Joy of Vegan Baking)

Cake:

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

3/4 cup sugar

1/2 tsp salt

1 tsp baking soda

1/4 heaping cup cocoa powder

1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract

1/3 cup canola oil

1 tsp white distilled vinegar

1 cup cold water

1. Preheat oven to 350° and oil a bundt pan or 9" round cake pan.

2. Combine the dry ingredients in a large bowl. Make a well in the center and pour in the wet ingredients. Mix until just combined and pour the batter into the prepared pan.

3. Bake for 30 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. Let cool for about 15 minutes and flip onto a plate.

Chocolate Sauce:

1 cup sugar

1 1/2 tbsp flour

1/8 tsp salt

3 tbsp cocoa powder

1 cup vanilla soy milk

1 tsp vanilla extract

1. Combine dry ingredients in a sauce pan and then add the milk and vanilla.

2. Stir over medium heat and let it boil for 3 minutes. Remove from heat, it will thicken as it cools.

Of course, my kitchen lacks a real sauce pan, so I came up with the genius idea of using a tea kettle instead. It was actually perfect for easy pouring! ...Oh college life.

Enjoy!

Oops

2011-10-28T09:53:00.000-04:00

Hey everyone, I'm sorry about this little hiatus I've been on the past couple of weeks. You see, there's this evil demon named midterms and he was keeping me under lock and key for a while, but after last Friday I was free! I've been on fall break in New York City for the past several days, seeing museums, shows, visiting friends, and of course trying delicious vegan food. There are some great places in the city. If you're ever there, go to 'S Nice Cafe- best vegan muffins ever.

Anyway. Long story short, I need to get back on my blogging game. I plan on having a new recipe for everyone tomorrow now that I have some free time to cook before classes start up again. See, I haven't abandoned you!

In the meantime, enjoy one of my all-time favorite artists/videos.

Pear Muffins

2011-10-04T05:24:00.000-04:00

Finally, a recipe! After weeks of non-stop commotion, I finally had a chance to take a breather and bake.

Muffins are one of my absolute favorite things to make. They are so simple and so delicious and you can put almost anything in them and still have them taste great. Also I'm all out of oatmeal and cereal and it's been to rainy and gross to walk to IGA, so these little gems just solved my breakfast problems. Seriously. When I don't have breakfast, it's a big problem.

Pear Muffins

(make 18 muffins, or 12 muffins and 1 small loaf of bread)

3 cups flour

¾ cup brown sugar

4 tsp baking powder

1 tsp cinnamon

1 ½ cups soy milk

½ cup canola oil

2 tsp vanilla

2 pears, chopped

1. Preheat oven to 400° and line a muffin tin with paper cups.

2. Mix all the dry ingredients together, then add the wet. Stir until just combined.

3. Fold in the chopped pear and pour batter into prepared pan. Bake for about 25 minutes, let cool and enjoy!

This song has been my jam this week.

September Loves

2011-09-27T17:16:00.000-04:00

My plans to bake keep getting squashed by so many things. First, it was just the fact that I was too busy, and now it's because I've caught the college plague. You know how that goes, everyone around you is getting sick and you're all like "Psh, I eat my fruits and vegetables, I'm not gonna get sick." And then you wake up on Monday with a fever. Oops.

Anyways, because of this I've been bedridden for two days, only getting up to go get smoothies and soup from the cafe nearby. I figured while I have some free time to sit in front of my computer (since I already finished a whole season of Mad Men...) it's about time to compile some of my favorite things from this past month. So here we go...

-This music video. It's so endearing and the little dance breaks are the best.

-This incredible looking pie. It's so far from vegan, but I'm determined to veganize it at some point.

-I'm obsessed with underwater photography, and this artist in particular. Her photos are so dreamy and stunning.

-Pears, apples and maple syrup. A perfect fall combination.

-That Book. The Sparrow by Mary Doria Russel. I finally finished it recently and it was so intense, enlightening, beautiful and disturbing all at the same time. I would highly recommend it!

-This song. I saw him live last year at my school and he was incredible, but I just rediscovered it!

-These shoes. Too bad I'm too cheap to spend over $20 on shoes. Plus did you know Urban Outfitters gives a lot of money to the Republican Party? Booo...

-Last but not least, it's mildly embarrassing, but when I'm sick I tend to watch all 6 parts of this. It's as comforting as eating a big bowl of mashed potatoes :)

That's all for now! As soon as I can walk without getting dizzy, I will have some new recipes for you.

Banana Peach Spice Bread

2011-09-19T16:24:00.000-04:00

Yay we got our oven back! Just in time. I finished a difficult paper for my literature class last night, so baking this bread was the perfect stress release. There is no better way to begin a week than by making some good old-fashioned banana bread.... except this recipe has a twist. I realized I didn't have enough bananas for the recipe I had planned on using, due to my late night peanut-butter-and-banana snacking, so I decided to mash up an overripe peach instead. Bananas and peaches go together great in smoothies, so why not in bread as well?

Banana Peach Spice Bread

(adapted from Susan's recipe)

2 large bananas

1 peach, peeled

1 tbsp white vinegar

1/3 cup soy milk

½ cup sugar

2 cups unbleached flour

¾ tsp baking powder

¾ baking soda

½ tsp salt

½ tsp cinnamon

½ tsp nutmeg

¼ tsp cloves

Preheat oven to 350F. Spray or wipe a 9×5-inch loaf pan with oil.

Mix the soymilk with the vinegar and let it sit until it curdles into vegan “buttermilk”

In a large bowl, mash the bananas and the peach together. Add the “buttermilk” and sugar and stir.

In a separate bowl mix the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and spices. Add the dry ingredients to the wet and stir until it is combined.

Spread the mixture evenly in your loaf pan and bake until a knife inserted into the middle comes out clean or for about 50 minutes. Cool and eat!

This actually might be one of the best banana bread recipes I've made. It's not only vegan, but super low-fat, which a lot of people are usually skeptical about. However this quick bread will hush up any skepticism. It's moist, just the right density and full of tummy-warming flavor. Use this to surprise anyone who thinks vegan baking is bland!

On a different note, I know I set out with the intent that I would have new posts on here every other day, but between classes, Fearless and Loathing, work, being in a dance piece and actually trying to have some sort of a social life, I think that's gonna have to change. Here's the deal, I can promise at least one new post per week. Depending on my schedule and how often I cook, sometimes it'll be more, but I think once a week will suffice! I have so many recipes that I can't wait to make and share with you all, so stay tuned. :)

Speaking of staying tuned... does anyone else have to have music when they cook or bake? I know I do. This is a song from my banana bread baking music.

Toasted Veggie Sandwich and Disaster

2011-09-16T19:51:00.000-04:00

Disaster has struck my dorm. Our oven and stove are broken. Now instead of baking lovely treats for everyone, I'm going to actually have to do my homework this weekend. Maybe it's a sign that I need to adjust my priorities. Hopefully it will be fixed soon though, because I have a long "to-bake" list for you guys. Meanwhile....

I discovered the fact that the stove was broken midway through preparing to make a grilled veggie sandwich. I was about to completely give up after waiting 10 minutes for the pan to heat up and just go with boring old peanut butter and jelly, but then I had an idea. I could toast/roast the veggies instead. The result was still delicious.

Basically I drizzled sliced eggplant and tomato with olive oil and sprinkled them with oregano and rosemary and baked them at 400° in the toaster oven for about 15 minutes (until the eggplant was soft). I toasted two slices of bread (I used plain old wheat, but I wish I had some better bread like ciabatta so it didn't get so soggy) and then spread a layer of spinach and artichoke hummus, topped it with fresh basil and finally added the veggies. Perfect for a quick and healthy dinner before I ran off to serve pizza for 5 hours!

Haven't you ever noticed that the best sandwiches are always the messiest to eat? It's a fact.

Apple Brown Sugar Tart

2011-09-14T08:10:00.000-04:00

I have to be honest... I've been holding out on you guys. I made this recipe weeks ago but I didn't have my cookbooks for a while (slow shipping...) so I couldn't type it up! So here it finally is, a delicious fall twist on a regular fruit tart.

What's funny is I actually set out to make a normal peach tart with plain pastry custard. Then I thought to myself "I wonder what would happen if I made custard with brown sugar instead of plain sugar..." and then I noticed "Those peaches are actually nectarines. And they're moldy. Gross." Luckily there were some lovely apples sitting at the bottom of our fridge, and voila, the apple brown sugar tart was born. Sometimes it's great when things don't quite go as planned. Like ending up at a dance party when you really should be studying ancient Greek palaces... but that's another story.

Apple Brown Sugar Tart (crust and custard recipes adapted from The Joy of Vegan Baking)

Brown Sugar Custard:

1/3 cup brown sugar

2 tbsp flour

4 tbsp cornstarch

1/4 cup water

1 1/3 cups soy milk

2 tsp vanilla

1. In a medium bowl, beat together sugar, flour, cornstarch and water quickly for about 2 minutes, or until it's creamy.

2. Bring the milk to a simmer in a medium saucepan. Pour 1/3 cup of the milk into the sugar mixture and combine. Add the sugar and milk back to the saucepan and heat over medium-low heat, whisking constantly. It starts to thicken right away.

3. Cook until it begins to bubble, whisk super hard for 30 seconds then remove from the heat. Add in vanilla.

4. Transfer to a bowl and let cool in the fridge while you prepare the crust and apples.

No-Bake Pecan Crust:

2 cups raw pecans

3/4 cup pitted dates

1/4 tsp salt

1. Grind nuts in a food processor until they make a course meal.

2. Add dates and salt and process until thoroughly combined. Press into a lightly oiled 9-inch pie pan.

Baked Apple Topping:

2 medium apples

1 tbsp maple syrup

1. Slice the apples and mix them with the maple syrup.

2. Place them on a baking sheet and bake in an oven or toaster oven for about 20 minutes, or until soft.

Assembly:

Pour custard into the pecan crust and spread evenly. Arrange baked apple slices on top and sprinkle with 1 tsp cinnamon and a little powdered sugar. Either place in the fridge to chill, or serve immediately.

It's amazing how well the flavors of this tart complement each other. At first I was a little weirded out by the brownish, wiggly custard, but once it all comes together- the crumbly crust, crunchy apples and creamy custard (yesss alliteration, my poetry professor would be proud)- it works perfectly. Eat this on a lovely fall day and enjoy!

Good to the last crumb...

Warm Tomato and Peach Salad

2011-09-12T11:18:00.000-04:00

One pattern you might notice on this blog is that I use a lot of the same ingredients, but do different things with them. Yes, I'm cheap. I make ingredients last as long as they possibly can, so I apologize for the repetition but also I think it's good to find new ways of mixing together similar foods! Like having tomatoes in 3 different posts so far...

This past weekend I went to the Oberlin Farmer's Market and got some yummy fresh veggies. Here's what I bought:

Now to be honest, I don't really know what to do with an eggplant- I've never cooked with one before, but I thought I might as well try! Any suggestions?

I did, however, know what to do with tomato and basil. My favorite food, before I went vegan was a Caprese salad: tomato, basil and mozzarella. Now that I'm vegan I decided to put a new spin on this basic idea. Remember that fresh peach I had a picture of a little while ago? Yep, that's what I added. You may be thinking, "tomatoes and peaches? what kind of a combination is that?" Well, let me tell you, it was amazing. This salad is so easy to put together and could be served as a side dish or a light lunch (or lunch and dinner, like I did).

Warm Tomato and Peach Salad

serves 2

2 large tomatoes, sliced

2 large peaches, peeled and sliced

1 tbsp olive oil, plus a little extra

1/3 cup packed, chopped fresh basil

salt and pepper to taste

1. Place the peach and tomato slices on a tray and drizzle with the extra olive oil. Broil them in a toaster oven (or real oven) for about 20 minutes.

2. Take them out of the oven, and then mix them in a medium bowl with the 1 tbsp of olive oil and basil. Season it to taste and eat!

Super easy, super delicious.

Check out my super awesome wolf-eye knife.

I suppose you could make this salad cold too, but it was really good warm. Especially on rainy cold days.

Enjoy!

Double Chocolate Cookies

2011-09-10T05:14:00.000-04:00

Well my class schedule is now official and I couldn't be more excited about what I'm taking. Lots of literature, dance and art- what could be better? It will be incredibly busy... but I'll figure out a way to handle it. In fact, you know what the best way to handle stress is? Bake cookies. Especially chocolate cookies. Take my word for it, it's incredibly therapeutic.

My friend and I were just going to make plain chocolate chip cookies, but when we found cocoa powder in the pantry, we decided the more chocolate the better. They ended up delicious and had a great, crumbly-on-the-outside and chewy-on-the-inside texture.

Double Chocolate Cookies (adapted from here):

makes about 2 dozen

2 cups unbleached flour

1/2 cup cocoa powder

2 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

big handful of vegan chocolate chips

1/2 cup sugar

1/2 cup brown sugar

1/2 cup canola or vegetable oil

1 teaspoon vanilla

1/4 cup water

1. Preheat oven to 350°

2. In a large bowl, mix together the flour, baking powder, cocoa powder and salt. Stir in chocolate chips.

3. In a medium bowl, combine sugar and oil. Then add the vanilla and water.

4. Add the wet ingredients to the dry and stir until combined (you may need to add a little extra water if dough is too dry).

5. Roll dough into tablespoon-sized balls and place them on an un-greased cookie sheet. Flatten them down a little- they don't spread much.

6. Bake for about 10-12 minutes. Take them out when they're still a little soft, as they will harden as they cool.

The weather here has been gross and rainy, but these cookies make the perfect rainy day snack.

Also, while I eat cookies and start studying and everything, I have been revisiting this song and the whole album it's on. It's one of my favorites! My friend and I listened to it as we baked these :)

Oh and just so my readers know... I'm still not super happy with the theme of my blog. So if stuff keeps changing I apologize and promise I will be content soon!

Escaping Cafeteria Food

2011-09-08T04:06:00.000-04:00

It's not that bad, really. Sometimes you walk out with a plate of great food- an awesome salad from the salad bar, a yummy vegetable soup- but honestly, most of the time being vegan, what I get in the Stevenson dining hall is mush. Mush that gives me a stomach ache. So after less than a week of eating there already, my friend and I decided it was time to take action and make our own dinner with fresh ingredients.

We basically mixed together we had on hand and maybe what we came up with also looked a little mushy... but I promise you, it was delicious and super easy.

Chickpea, Zucchini and Cherry Tomato Sauté

1 cup cooked grain of your choice (we used Trader Joe's Three Grains Blend)

1 can chickpeas, drained

1/2 large zucchini, sliced and cut into half-slivers

1 pint cherry tomatoes, halved

2 cloves garlic

2 tbsp olive oil

salt and pepper to taste

1. Heat up the olive oil in a large pan, then add chickpeas and tomatoes. Cook, stirring occasionally, until the tomatoes start to shrivel and the chickpeas start to brown a little.

2. Add the zucchini and sauté for another 2-3 minutes. Then add garlic and cook for another 2 minutes. Serve over grains and add salt and pepper to taste.

This dish is so simple for any college student to whip up, and it's so much better than what you get in dining halls. Sorry for the not-so-great lighting in these... unfortunately our kitchen is plagued with florescent lights only. College life.

Cooking buddies are the best. We actually made a little something for dessert too... but that recipe will come later. Time for me to rush off to class!

Fresh and Peachy

2011-09-05T12:27:00.000-04:00

I wish I had a yummy recipe to share to go with this peach that I stole from my college's dining hall (shhh)... but unfortunately I have been too busy unpacking and moving into my dorm room to bake anything in the past couple of days. Let me tell you though, that peach was delicious. I think peaches are my favorite fruit. Hopefully I will get a chance to bake something with them soon!

In the meantime... I was feeling like my blog theme was a little bit too simplistic, so I've decided to change things up a bit. What do you think? I want some honest feedback here. I personally like it better this way. It feels more accessible, but let me know what you think!

Just to give you an idea... here's what my room has looked like the past couple of days....

A lot of half-unpacked boxes....

Desk space occupied by cooking supplies (my friend laughed at me for keeping canned beans in my on-campus storage)...

and here is my workspace for blogging! Hah. Temporarily. Until I clear off my desk.

New things are always fun. New school year, new room, new blog layout, new people, everything. I have a good feeling about this year. Now I just have to get myself organized before it officially starts.

Saying Goodbye to Summer with Gingerbread Cake

2011-09-03T12:14:00.000-04:00

With classes starting on Tuesday, it's about time to say goodbye to the summer days. Let me tell you, these past months have been a roller-coaster, but overall it was a rich, wonderful time. I love being on campus, but I miss Minneapolis and all the people and places....

friends...

and I dearly miss my cats. I just developed my roll of black and white film from the summer, so the photos above are some of the highlights I wanted to share with you. While digital is more convenient overall, I do love using my dad's old 1970s pentax for my more artsy-fartsy stuff.

The last night I was in town, my mom (who is also vegan) made the most amazing cake as a sort of sending-off present. She is a great cook, and is a children's book illustrator with her own blog- artistand3cats- which you should check out if you like art or books! This recipe is not the most summery flavor, but it was one of the most delicious cakes I've ever had in my life, so I just had to share the recipe.

Gingerbread Goodbye Cake with Maple Cream-Cheese Frosting

Cake (she adapted the recipe from here):

1 cup plus 2 teaspoons whole wheat pastry flour
1 cup unbleached white flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2-teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon ground ginger
1/2-teaspoon ground cloves
1/4-teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 cup canola oil and 1/4 cup applesauce
1 cup pure maple syrup
1/2-cup molasses
1 cup vanilla flavored soy milk
1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar
2 tablespoons vanilla extract

1. Preheat oven to 350-degrees Fahrenheit. Oil two 9-inch springform pans or a cake pans. Line it with a parchment circle.
2. In a medium bowl, sift together the flours, baking powder, baking soda, salt and spices. Whisk to combine.
3. In food processor, combine the oil, applesauce, maple syrup, molasses, soy milk, vinegar and vanilla for one minute.
4. Pour liquid ingredients into dry, whisking together just until all liquid ingredients are absorbed. Batter will be quite wet.
5. Pour batter into prepared pans and place on middle rack of oven. Bake about 45 minutes, or until cake is springy to the touch and a toothpick inserted comes out clean.

Frosting (adapted from here):

1/4 cup vegan butter (I like Earth Balance), softened
1/4 cup vegan cream cheese, softened
approximately 2-3 cups powdered sugar
approximately 2-3 tablespoons vanilla soy milk
1/2 teaspoon maple flavoring

In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, cream together first two ingredients on high speed. Add powdered sugar and soy milk with mixer turned off and then slowly bring the speed up to high to completely incorporate it, adding approximately 1 cup of powdered sugar and 1-2 tablespoons of milk at a time until desired consistency is reached. If too thin, add more powdered sugar; if too thick, add more soy milk. Beat in maple extract.

Frost and layer the cake and serve warm!

I don't think I can even describe how perfect this cake it. It's rich, moist, gingery... just try it. You have to.

Pizza and My Crazy College Life

2011-08-31T12:58:00.000-04:00

This week is insane. I expected to have a nice, relaxing week on campus before classes began, but nope. The craziness started the minute I got here. I work for my college's independent online newspaper- Fearless and Loathing- as the multimedia editor, so I've been busy with those responsibilities like recruiting freshman and taking pictures. Then there's always trying to catch up with friends I haven't seen all summer... and on top of THAT I am a waitress at this really great family-owned artisan pizza restraunt, Magpie Pizza. Everyone there makes fun of the fact that I'm vegan and yet I work in a place where everything is slathered with meat and cheese. Despite this, my managers know how to make a pretty great vegan pizza when I get hungry.

This one had tomato sauce, mushrooms, black bean and corn salsa, spinach, roasted red pepper, black olives, green pepper, and some of our house-made hot sauce. Yummy. Whoever says vegans can't enjoy pizza too is crazy. I'm excited though, because one of my managers saw this very blog, and now wants to train me to make salads (maybe even pizzas eventually too) as well as waitress! It would be awesome to get some real kitchen experience under my belt.

Anyway. My goal for this blog eventually is to post something new every other day... but forgive me if that doesn't quite happen for the next week. I promise that once I have more time (and money for groceries) I will have some fabulous new recipes for you all. I have a couple that I've been meaning to post... but my cookbooks are all in boxes that are currently being shipped to me, so those will have to wait a few days.

In the meantime.... who else goes to a liberal arts school? Does this video remind you of anyone you know? Hah, it sure does for me.

An Abundance of Plums

2011-08-29T04:09:00.000-04:00

God, it feels good to be back at school. Classes don't start for another week, but it's nice to be on campus early when everything is quiet and the weather is still all summery and beautiful. However, the quiet part will definitely change when the freshman start arriving tomorrow.

I've checked out the kitchen in my new dorm and it's so much nicer than my old one. I can't wait to start cooking in it! But for now, here's something I made a couple weeks ago...

I kind of went on a plum kick for a bit. You already know about this little treat, but what you don't know about are the amazing plum and blueberry rolls I made for my aunt's birthday. Okay I suppose I have also been on a breakfast rolls kick... but they're just the perfect thing to wake up to in the morning.

These rolls might be one of my favorite things I've ever made. They were also the most labor-intensive, but it was totally worth it. You make a vegan dulche-de-leche spread first so that you can use it in the dough, which is a genius idea. It adds a subtle carmel flavor to the buns, but then you can pile on even more of the spread later to make them extra yummy.

I also got this recipe from seitan is my motor, who apparently shares my love of plum-filled desserts. My aunt absolutely loved these- I think they trumped the non-vegan cupcake she had afterwards! The filling is such a perfect combination of flavors, especially with the rosemary (I know it sounds strange, but trust me) and lemon zest. In fact, just imagine that plum and blueberry sauce poured over some soy ice cream... mmm. I might have to make another batch all by itself.

These are definitely something to wake up for!

Plum Cake

2011-08-27T06:00:00.000-04:00

This is going to have to be a shorter post for now, because I am thick in the middle of packing to go back to school! Leaving for my second year is definitely not as daunting as it was the first time... however the pile of clothes on my bedroom floor is just as terrifying. Time to pull out some bags for the salvation army...

I actually made this cake while I was in Grand Marais last weekend along with these buns. I love baking up there! We have this adorable, cozy little kitchen and since the air off of Lake Superior is usually pretty cool, it's never too hot to bake.

I had never tried making a yeasted cake before, but this one turned out amazing. The bottom layer had a slightly sweet, bread-like flavor, and the tartness of the plums contrasted perfectly with the crumbly buttery topping. Yum. You can make this cake with overripe plums if you want them sweeter, or just a little under-ripe if you like them more tart. I ended up with a mixture of both. You can get the recipe for this amazing cake here, at one of my favorite vegan blogs. I've tried a couple of her other recipes (photos to come!) and each one is so unique and delicious.

And just for fun... this cracks me up. Probably because it's my life... Prius and all.

August Love

2011-08-25T21:47:00.000-04:00

This post is not exactly about food, but I did want to include some general things from my life in here as well, so here we go!

Who has been to the Minnesota State Fair? Well if you haven't, you are seriously missing out on a quintessential midwestern experience. I have been every year since I was born. We actually have an old photo of me as a baby sitting next to the state's largest prize-winning hog. I don't think I've gotten that close to a hog since then.... but the fair continues to be a great tradition. Food on a stick (I even found vegan options!), funny looking chickens, roller coasters, seed art...

and Johnny Depp look-alikes? Yes please.

Speaking of traditions, I've decided on a tradition for this blog. Near the end of every month, I'm going to do a wrap-up list of random little things that made me smile throughout the days. Hopefully they make you smile too!

So, here are a few of my favorite things from the month of August, food related and otherwise:

-This song. It is absolutely perfect for a summer road trip.

-This food blog. Cute and Delicious... the title says it all. I tried the orange muffin recipe a while back and it was one of the best muffins I've ever made.

-All of the My Drunk Kitchen episodes. She may not be able to cook for shit, but this girl is hilarious.

-The book Tender at the Bone by Ruth Reichl. It's a beautiful memoir about the way food can play a role in one's life. it can bring people together, tear them apart and teach them who they are. I recommend it to anyone, even if you're not a hard-core foodie.

-This song too... it's my guilty pleasure. It's just sooo catchy.

-Mad Men. I just discovered this TV show and I am in love. I secretly wish I lived in the 1950s... or at least that people still dressed like that.

-Any recipe that uses fresh fruit. I've just been craving it lately!

That's all for now! Let me know how you feel about having posts like this mixed in with the recipes and such. Being new at this, I'm still deciding what exactly my content should be. If anyone has any ideas please leave a comment!

New recipes and photos coming soon... stay tuned.

Chocolate Raspberry Buns with Chocolate Ganache

2011-08-24T18:06:00.000-04:00

Yesterday I got back from a second (and final) vacation to the cabin this summer. This time the whole family came along and it ended up being the perfect weekend of walks along the beaches, a 5 mile hike through gorgeous northern woods, knife throwing (did I mention I have a 15 year old brother?), sailing adventures, and, of course, good food.

In our cabin's backyard, we had an abundance of raspberries and lots of cocoa powder in the cupboard.... what was I to do? Well I decided to experiment a little and came up with my first almost original recipe! I'd say they turned out beautifully... although the recipe could maybe use a little tweaking.

Dough:

1 cup plain soymilk heated over the stove until warm- not hot!

2 1/4 tsp (or 1 0.25 oz packet) active dry yeast, at room temperature

2 Tbsp unsweetened applesauce

2 Tbsp canola oil

1 1/4 cup whole wheat pastry flour

1 1/4 cup unbleached all purpose flour (plus up to 1/4 cup for kneading and rolling)

½ cup cocoa powder

1 Tbsp baking powder

2 Tbsp granulated sugar (or 1/4 cup for a sweeter dough)

1/2 tsp ground cinnamon

1/4 tsp salt

Filling:

1 cup smashed raspberries

¼ cup sugar

2 T melted earth balance

1 tsp cornstarch (I didn't actually add this, but the filling came out pretty watery and spilled out the sides when I rolled the dough up, so next time this is what I would try!)

Ganache (adapted from Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World):

1/3 cup soy milk

1/3 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips

2 Tbsp maple syrup

Coat an 8×8 inch square baking pan, or 9-inch round cake pan, with canola oil baking spray. Set aside.

Scatter yeast over warmed milk and allow to activate for about 10 minutes, or until foamy.

Meanwhile, stir together both kinds of flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, sugar, 1/2 tsp cinnamon, and salt in a large bowl.

When yeast and milk mixture is bubbly, stir in the applesauce and oil. Add wet ingredients into the dry and mix. Transfer dough onto a clean lightly floured surface and knead for about 2 minutes. You may have to add extra flour to make it less sticky. Let it rest for 5 minutes.

Lightly flour work surface again and roll dough out to about 1/4-inch thickness, about a 12-inch x 9-inch rectangle.

Mix together the smashed raspberries, sugar, earth balance and cornstarch. Spread the filling onto your chocolate dough, leaving a 1-inch space around the edges.

Roll up the dough starting from the 9-inch edge- beware of oozing raspberries!!

Pinch the edges of your dough and cut the log into 8 even pieces, then place them in your prepared pan. Cover buns with a cloth and let rise for 1 hour.

Preheat your oven to 35o° F and once the buns are done rising, bake them for 30 minutes.

While they bake, prepare the ganache by heating up the soy milk until boiling. Add the chocolate chips and maple syrup and stir over heat for 30 seconds. Turn off the heat and continue to stir until it is smooth and chocolatey.

Let the buns cool for about 10 minutes, then drizzle them with the chocolate ganache and serve warm.

They got the family stamp of approval.

Let's Start it Simple

2011-08-23T23:12:00.000-04:00

Hello and welcome to That's So Vegan! I've been thinking about starting a food/lifestyle blog for a couple months now, and I finally worked up the courage to do it.

I started reading food blogs last winter when I went through a sort of food crisis in my life. I needed to make some changes in the way I ate so that I could feel healthier and happier.

So I went vegan.

And it's actually pretty great.

However, being a broke college student with an ill-equipped kitchen, I found that there was a lacking number of cooking blogs aimed at my demographic. Which is why I thought, "What the hell, I'll start my own."

I'll be honest and say that I don't know exactly what this blog will evolve into, but you gotta start somewhere, right?

My first recipe here is not quite a real recipe, seeing as there are not exact measurements. My friends and I made this simple pasta dish a few weekends ago on a trip to my family's cabin in one of my favorite small towns, Grand Marais, MN. This recipe was actually thought up by my friend Evie, but we all helped put it together and it was absolutely delicious and fresh.

We started with about a pint of cherry tomatoes, chopped in half and sautéed them in 2 tablespoons of olive oil until they began to get sort of wrinkled. We then added 3 cloves of garlic and a big handful of fresh basil and mixed it around until the garlic browned a little. Served over pasta, this twist on a regular tomato sauce is probably my new favorite dinner.