A Sweet Start to the New Year

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 :)

Pumpkin Pancakes

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! 

Sunday Pancakes

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!