Monkey Bars

Thanks to my wonderful friends, family and your lovely comments, I ended up having a great twentieth birthday! Let me recap the highlight of the night for you...

A group of friends and I went to this mexican restaurant for dinner. My best friend Melissa decked me out in obnoxiously glittery necklaces saying "happy birthday" and a birthday goblet. When the servers of the place noticed this, one of them came over and said "It's your birthday? I make you something." 
About 20 minutes later, out came this huge plate of deep-fried something covered in whipped cream with a trail of servers following. They put a sombrero on my head, sang me happy birthday and tried to spoon feed me whipped cream and couldn't understand why I wouldn't just eat it. I'm pretty sure I was bright red the entire time. 

Lesson learned? Birthdays are really just excuses for your friends to embarrass the hell out of you :)

Anyway, the day after my birthday I had a huge sugar crash, so I decided I had to bake some other treat to have around. I called them monkey bars because of the super yummy banana and coconut combo- monkeys eat those things, right?

These really don't have too much sugar in them and with oats and whole wheat flour I decided I could justify eating one for breakfast! Although they are so delicious, it's really hard to eat just one.  I pawned a couple off on my friends and they absolutely loved them. 

Friend tested, friend approved. 

Monkey Bars

makes 9 bars

1/4 cup canola oil
1/4 cup brown sugar
2 tbsp agave 
1/2 tsp vanilla
2 ripe bananas
1 1/2 tsp energ-G egg replacer mixed with 2 tbsp water or 1/4 cup applesauce
3/4 cup whole wheat flour
1/2 cup oats
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/3 cup shredded unsweetened coconut
1/4 cup chocolate chips

Topping:

1 tbsp agave
2 tbsp oats
1 tbsp brown sugar
2 tbsp shredded unsweetened coconut

1. Preheat your oven to 350º and lightly oil an 8x8" pan.
2. Mash the bananas in a large bowl. Whisk in the oil, brown sugar, agave, vanilla and egg-replacer. Stir until smooth.
3. In a separate bowl, combine the flour, oats and baking powder. Add the dry ingredients to the wet and mix until just combined. Fold in the coconut and chocolate chips and pour the batter into your prepared pan.

4. Make the topping by placing all of the ingredients in a small bowl and crumbing them together with your fingers. Sprinkle evenly over the batter and bake the bars for about 35 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean. Let cool at least 15 minutes before cutting, then dig in and enjoy!

Chewy, crumbly, chocolate-y, with a hint of toasted coconut. Does it get any better?

The Best Vegan Fudge Brownies

Just keep dancing, just keep dancing...

It's all I can do to stay sane. Homework? Psh. Social life? Yeah right. Just keep dancing...

That, my friends, is my week.

In the meantime, I've been meaning to do a link love post for a while and what could go better with the best vegan brownies except the best links I've found recently? So here are some things that I have been loving lately:

-This is one of the most unique TED talks I have ever seen, and hey! It's dance-related :)
-Jen Altman's food photography- love the vibrant colors and how she encorporates people.
-I have a pair of these and I get so many complements. They are addicting- I want more!
-Whenever spring and summer start to creep around the corner I start to crave one of my favorite classic desserts: strawberry shortcake. This slight twist on the traditional version looks divine. Time to put my veganizing powers to good use.
-I can't wait for this duo album to be released.

And now, onto the brownies...

The Best Vegan Fudge Brownies (adapted from 100 Best Vegan Baking Recipes by Kris Holechek)

makes about 9 brownies

3/4 cup all-purpose flour
1/4 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
6 tbsp earth balance
1/3 cup chocolate chips
1/4 cup good quality cocoa powder
2 tbsp ground flaxseed
1/3 cup water
1 cup sugar
2 tsp vanilla
optional: 1/2 cup chocolate chips to add in

1. Preheat your oven to 350º and lightly oil a an 8x8 baking pan.
2. In a measuring cup, combine the flaxseed and water. Whisk for a minute ad set aside. In a small bowl, mix together the flour, baking powder and salt.
3. Combine the earth balance chocolate chips and cocoa powder in a small saucepan over low heat. Stir until melted together and smooth.
4. In a large bowl, beat together the "flax egg" and chocolate mixture. Mix in the sugar and vanilla, then add the dry ingredients. Fold in the remaining chocolate chips.
5. Pour the batter into your prepared pan and bake for about 35-40 minutes. They will still be slightly gooey, but they solidify as they cool.

I think these are the best because I am a huge fan of melt-in-your mouth fudge-y brownies. These have that perfect texture along with a really deep, dark, chocolate flavor. It's impossible to just eat one!

Strawberries and Spring

85ºF one day and 35º the next, shorts with sweaters, flip-flopping between hot coffee and iced lattes... Yep it is officially Spring in the Midwest. 

I'm trying to do some hard-core spring cleaning this year. It suddenly hit me that everything I'm going to need for the next coming year has to fit in a single backpack. Everything I currently own would probably need at least two moving trucks, so I'd say it's time to do some serious purging.

Spring cleaning is the not-so-fun part about this season. The fun part, however, is switching from winter to spring flavors! This means more salads, less soup and my favorite part- more berries. Berry season is my favorite. 

Strawberry Cream Cheese Crumble Bars

1/2 cup earth balance buttery spread
3/4 cup brown sugar
1 cup whole wheat pastry flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1 cup rolled oats

1 tub vegan cream cheese (I used Tofutti)
1 1/2 cups fresh or frozen strawberries
1/2 cup maple syrup
1/3 cup powdered sugar
2 tbsp cornstarch

1. Preheat your oven to 350º and lightly grease an 8x11 or 9x13 inch pan.
2. In a medium bowl, cream together the brown sugar and earth balance. In a separate bowl, mix together the remaining crumble ingredients and then add them into the sugar mixture. Combine with your hands until nice and crumbly. If it seems too dry (not enough clumps) add a tablespoon or two of water.
3. Press half of the crumble mixture into the bottom of your pan so that it covers the whole thing evenly. Set aside.
4. Now to prepare the filling, combine all of the ingredients in a food processor and puree until smooth. Pour on top of the crumble layer and spread evenly with a spatula. Sprinkle the remaining crumbs on top of the cream cheese layer.
5. Bake for about 30-35 minutes or until the top begins to turn golden brown. Remove from the oven and stick in the fridge to chill for at least 30 minutes before serving. If there happen to be leftovers, make sure to keep them refrigerated.

Mmm just looks at that perfectly creamy sweet filling. These are melt-in-your-mouth delicious.

These would the perfect treat to bring for an easter brunch! Your friends and family won't even guess that they are vegan. 

Wanderlust & Brownies

Remember how I said I had really exciting news? Well it’s finally official:

I am taking a leave of absence from school to travel around Europe all by myself for a whole year.

I am actually bursting with excitement. It’s hard to focus on anything else except planning and fantasizing!

So far, I have an internship in London this summer working for a small theater company doing arts administration-type stuff. From there, I will travel to Paris in mid-September where I’m hoping to find some kind of au pair position, then on to Spain, Italy and Greece. I’ll be getting a student Eurail pass, so who knows where else I could end up on the way to these main destinations!

I’m still deep in the process of organizing all of this and getting tickets and such, but it’s coming along really well! I’ve been considering the possibility of taking a year to travel for a while and next year just felt like the right time. I’m one of those people who gets antsy when I stay in one place doing the same thing for too long. I need a big change in my life, so I am taking a leap of faith and pushing myself out of my comfort zone. I’m terrified, obviously, but also ecstatic.

Making plans and doing research has been so much fun, but also so time consuming. However, I am a firm believer that no matter how crazy things get, you should always leave a chunk of time in your schedule for chocolate. In this case, chocolate, cinnamon and pear brownies. Trust me, these are 100% worth the procrastination.

Pear Cinnamon Brownies 

makes about 9 brownies

1 cup sugar

3/4 cup applesauce

2 tbsp water

2 tbsp canola oil

2 tsp vanilla

1 cup all-purpose flour

1/3 cup whole wheat flour

2/3 cup cocoa powder

3/4 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp cinnamon
optional: 1 cup chocolate chips

1 pear, cored and sliced vertically

1. Preheat your oven to 350º and grease an 8x8 inch pan.
2. In a large bowl, whisk together the sugar, applesauce, water, oil and vanilla. Stir in the flours, cocoa powder, baking powder, cinnamon and chocolate chips (if you're using them. Unfortunately I couldn't due to the fact that my friends ate my whole bag during a study session the other night. Thanks, guys). 
3. Pour the batter into your prepared pan and smooth the top with a spatula. Place the pear slices on top in a pleasing arrangement and bake for about 45 minutes-1 hour or until a toothpick comes out clean. Cool for 10 minutes before serving. Unless, like me, you enjoy eating them hot, gooey and messy :)

I brought these as a treat for the performers in the dance I'm choreographing- the pan was clean within minutes :)

I'll keep you updated on the progress of my travel plans! Let me know if any of you experienced travelers have any handy tips, tricks or resources I should know about!