Chocolate Mint Cupcakes!

I wanted to update earlier but I spent the better part of last week struck down by the death cold.

I have had my eye on Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World for quite a while. Firmly knowing that my waistline did not need that many cupcake recipes, but my curiosity and taste buds won the battle and i gave in.

One of the first recipes I made was the Chocolate Mint Cupcakes. They tasted like Girl Scout cookies in cake format. Absolute heaven. But, i couldn't eat them all by myself so I brought them to school and actually had people come back to me and ask me for the recipe. They are that great.

I really want to make Margarita Cupcakes but don't have all the ingredients yet.

The other bit of news i have is not vegan related. I submitted a photo to JPG Magazine and they use voting to help determine whether or not a photo gets included in an issue. Voting is open until April 11. It would mean a great deal to me if you could swing by and vote yes on my image!

Parsley Asparagus

Last night I went trolling for recipes through the new cookbook. I came across a Parsley Asparagus Pasta dish. That is not it's official name ( I can't remember it, but I'll edit and stick it in later). The dish sounded great. Pasta, asparagus, a little garlic, orange zest some parsley, all things I like. Plus I knew the color would be great, all that green.

But this was not as awesome as I thought it would be. But first the good part: oven roasted asparagus. Wash, trim, drizzle with a little oil and sprinkle with salt. Bake for around 10 minutes and you get a pass into asparagus heaven.

The not so great part: Parsley. Specifically a half cup of chopped fresh parsley. and Yuck. I had never had parsley-ed potatoes or anything else involving lots of the herb so i was unprepared for what it would taste like. Unpleasant is a nice way to put it. I am tempted, from here on out to put parsley on the garnish only list. For the most part. Because it does wonders in a great red sauce and some other dishes. But i will never again use a half cup. ever.

Buffalo Chick'n Wraps

Yesterday was an incredibly long day, especially considering how short it was because of daylight savings. Between work and homework by the time dinner arrived i was spent and had no time to actually cook something involving more than one pan. So I dug through the refrigerator and found some Light Life Chick'n Strips and decided to give them a go.

Up until this point I had only tried the morning star chick'n strips, and so did not have high hopes of an incredible product. But I was surprised. When I opened the package and poured them into the hot pan I was surprised by their appearance. Surprisingly chickeny. They weren't widely cut spicy fake meat pieces but strips that held together and didn't flop around like the M.Farms kind. They were almost creepy realistic - this is a good thing. They fried up nicely browning on the outside and then I tasted one with out any sauce and the flavor was present but not peppery at all. I think i could pass these off to my omni father and he wouldn't know the difference. Definitely a four star product.

I added some buffalo sauce to the strips and then laid them on some lettuce and tomato in a vegan wrap. I topped them with some home made ranch dressing and it was a really great meal.

Black Creek Ranch Dressing

1 1/4 cups vegan mayo
1/4 tsp garlic powder
1/4 tsp onion powder
1/4 tsp sea salt
1/2 tsp black pepper
2 tsp finely chopped parsley (can sub dried for fresh)
3/4 cup soy milk

I put all ingredients in a mini food processor and just blended for a few seconds. Though I suppose a whisk and a bowl would work too.

Update! Updates! Updates!

As you can see I've updated the template! Yay!

It has taken me many hours to get it this far. There are still things that aren't completely working - a few of the links in the nav bar don't yet lead anywhere. But I think we are far enough along to go live. That and I couldn't stand to look at the green and black look anymore.

so please bear with me for a few days while I work towards 100% done.

And please, tell me what you think.

Red Lentil Pasta

I got a new cookbook in the mail. I am super excited about it because almost all the recipes in it look incredibly awesome - which is good- but more importantly for my busy school schedule they are quick. 30 minutes from pot to plate. I don't have the book in front of me but he emphasizes "good food fast" instead of just fast food which is, you know, crap.

The other reason I'm excited by the book is it was written by Robin Robertson, who wrote Vegan Planet - which is one of my favorite cookbooks. I am inclined to say that I like this book better because it does not rely heavily on tofu - which is my only gripe about Vegan Planet - and most recipes have rather short lists of ingredients. Another plus is the absence of hard to find ingredients available where the author lives but not widely across the US. Oooh, the biggest plus of all the recipes are vegan. Except i think two or three which include cheese.

The one recipe i did have the ingredients to try was Red Lentil Pasta. A home made spaghetti sauce involving red lentils, onions, garlic, basil, oregano and chopped tomatoes. I was apprehensive because usually i don't like lentils. They never rank high on the favorite bean list. I have tried to make several failed lentil loaves and so they always get short billing.

But this recipe was fantastic! Even in the short cooking time they were not under cooked and hard. The sauce was delish and when spooned over spaghetti very filling. I usually cook only for myself and there was plenty of left over sauce for at least two or three more meals - which I've put in my freezer. Having a freezer full of reheatable healthy foods is one of my goals this year.

Pasta FreeEggplant Lasagna

Last night i made No Pasta Eggplant Lasagna from fat free vegan.com. By far my favorite part was the filling. the spinach and tofu - when both pressed to expel all water and then food processed actually makes a wonderful ricotta-ish texture. I did add an extra 2 tbsp of nutritional yeast and seriously, I could have sauteed the filling and eaten it with a spoon. it was that good.

The eggplant as noodles however were less thrilling. I did cut them quite thin, and left them to sit in the salt as the recipe instructs. Salting them is supposed to cut down on the acid bite. Well it sort of worked. The slices that came out slightly wider than the recommended 1/4" did not cook through enough during the 30 minute baking time. So after taking my slice i popped it back in the oven for a few more minutes, to see if i could save my thicker pieces.

Do not pop anything into the oven and then walk away with out setting a timer. about 2 hours later my mom calls up the stairs, "are you cooking something in the oven?" Shit. By then it had been burnt beyond recognition.

But all is not lost. I can say that the recipe held together well. There was no sloppy typical lasagna. Also, next time I would add a third layer of sauce.

::Project Redesign::

So, in an attempt to get some of the new widgety features i upgraded to the new blogger format. Awesome right? Well, maybe.

I have been spending time customizing the code, trying to get some essence of me inserted into the standard templates with little luck. The problem is I don't yet understand the widget code or how to insert it into a template of my own design. Because of this I was trying to use a standard template but I really I like the unique face that a customized design gives me. Until i have time to study the new widget code And figure out how to make it work for me I've returned to the original blogger and an old design. But I am working on a hopefully fantabulous design that will be easier to read and more awesome than any of my other looks thus far.

Coconut Chai Breakfast Cake

I made coconut chai breakfast cake in hopes of finding a healthy-ish breakfast item that i could freeze and bring out one at a time for mornings when I'm on the go. But the first time through a recipe never works out that way for me, this one especially because the cake smelled so good. I heart chai, infact most mornings i have a mug of chai tea -not the prepackaged latte mix but real tea- with some milk and sugar.

So when this popped out of the oven all hot and smelling of chai spice goodness i was in heaven, along with everyone else in my house. The coconut in the recipe i felt was more decoration than actual flavor, you couldn't really taste it so I'm guessing that you could leave it out with out much harm to the flavor. 45 minutes after it was done half the small cake was gone. Which i guess is a ringing endorsement for the recipe, but not good for my save some for later idea.

The cake came out moist which is great. I think I'll attempt this again but actually put it in a cupcake pan next time. The only thing that occurs to me is that I'm not sure there will be enough batter in one recipe for 12 cupcakes. I'll just be ready to quick whip up a second batch of batter.

Amazingly Secret Alfredo

Today Vegancore came down and we cooked the most amazing secret alfredo ever. Oh my goodness, this may be as good as, or better than "actual, real" non vegan alfredo. Except I can't share the recipe with you because she was testing it out for someone who is writing a cookbook. and what a mighty good book it will be if all the recipes are this great. We added sauted tomatoes and zucchini and served it with a slice of garlic bread.


While not pictured i can whole heartedly recommend pretzels and semisweet chocolate chips as a not to high calorie snack. I'm starting my journey down the weight watchers path so this snack/desert is a piece of salty sweet heaven that comes in at 5 points. Which is totally worth it to curb those cravings.

what you don't see very well in this picture are the new oriental lotus plates we bought today on clearance at target - though you can see the bowls pretty well in the background. I heart clearance dishware.