Chocolate Frosted Doughnuts

Yesterday as I was doing some errands I stopped by the Bulk Barn since I wanted to get a mini heart cookie cutter for Valentine's Day.  Of course when I shop at the Bulk Barn I have to check out their baking supplies, since there is always something new I can add to my collection.  As I was perusing the Valentine's stuff I stumbled across a heart shaped doughnut pan, woohoo!  Doughnut pans are a lot cheaper than what I had expected them to be, for only $10.00 something, I definitely snatched one up.

I have never been a huge fan of doughnuts.  I worked at Tim Horton's for quite some years while I attended school and truthfully was never really tempted by them.  I can honestly say I probably ate less than ten the whole time I worked there (now cinnamon buns, and cranberry blueberry bran muffins are a different story mind you...), but, seeing healthy-baked versions of doughnuts on blogs has always tempted me.  I even attempted to make a batch of doughnuts in the past, thinking that without a doughnut pan they would still rise, silly me, this was when I first started blogging however, and wasn't really aware of the tools back then, it's funny to think how much my culinary knowledge has extended since then, wow.

Anywho back on track.  I looked at a few recipes last night, knowing I wouldn't have time to make a batch since I was going to dinner then heading over to my boyfriends, but I wanted to save some recipes so I can make them today.  /I guess this sort of makes up for the crummy blogiversary food I had yesterday right? ;)

I reviewed a few of the recipes I had saved, but they didn't quite satisfy what I wanted, until I remembered that Ashley from (never home)maker had posted a few doughnut recipes lately.  I quickly scooted on over and saw a recipe that seemed really interesting to me.  A doughnut that has oat flour, wheat bran, maple syrup plus others?  Healthy and baked, yet still delicious?  Let's try it out.  I went over to the kitchen, started pulsing my oats, adding the ingredients, stirring, and within less than twenty minutes I had a delicious smelling, freshly baked batch of doughnuts, perfect.  Needless to say, I gave them only a few short, short minutes to cool down before spreading the chocolate frosting on top and digging in.

I absolutely loved these.  I wouldn't say they are your traditional Tim Horton's doughnuts or anything, they remind me of an almost lighter muffin or something, but they are incredibly delicious, and you can definitely tell you are eating a treat rather than something healthy.  The wheat bran and the oat bran definitely add some sweetness which is delicious.  The only thing I would however just alter a teeny, tiny bit is the amount of maple syrup.  I would probably change it to 1/4 cup instead of 1/3 as I found it to be a little too sweet, however, everyone else enjoy them entirely so perhaps it's just me considering I haven't been eating sweets as of late.  However, an amazing first attempt and will surely be savoring these bad boys until they disappear, which hopefully isn't too quick.

Chocolate Frosted Doughnuts

Recipe taken from here

 Ingredients:

• 1 1/2 cups rolled oats - processed into flour
• 1/4 cup wheat bran
• 1/3 cup maple syrup
• 1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
• 3/4 cup coconut milk
• 1 tbsp flaxseed + 3 tbsp water - mixed together (or 1 egg or other egg replacement)
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• Pinch of salt

Directions:


Preheat to 350 degrees F. Lightly grease a doughtnut pan.


Put all ingredients in a bowl and mix well.  Pour into the six doughnut holes (this recipe made 10 doughnuts for me).


Bake for 12 to 14 minutes, until slightly firm. Let cool in pan and then turn over to pop out.

Chocolate Frosting:

Ingredients:

• 2 tbsp coconut oil
• 1/2 cup powdered sugar
• 2 tbsp cocoa powder
• 2-3 tbsp coconut milk
• 1 tsp vanilla extract

Directions:

I used the paddle attachment on my food processor -- on high -- to blend together.

Do you have any recipes for healthy doughnuts you can pass along?

Things I've recently learnt.

Hello friends,

I want to first start this post off with an apology.  I'm aware that I've been slacking quite a bit these past few weeks.  I've made very few appearance acts, and it's making me sad, as I've missed writing, sharing stories and of course recipes with you all.  The reason for my disappearances lately is because... in all honesty I've had a lot of stuff on my mind.  My insomnia was going away... but then some personal things around me happened and it's really affected me psychologically and emotionally.  I've seen personal behaviours in myself lately that I'm not too proud of and its due to my anxiety that's been creeping in lately.

One thing that gets really bad when I'm feeling anxious is that my OCD tendencies seem to come out.  I write a lot of lists, I'm continuously organizing things in my head, and I clean a lot.  Take for instance tonight.  I got home, I made my lunch , cleaned the kitchen, started cleaning the living room, looked at the list I actually did write, went to clean my room, folded clothes, then decided it would be a good thing to start packing for my trip... which is 17 days away, then to start packing to move back to Toronto, then I came upstairs, put more things away, etc... etc... yes, it wasn't pretty, but I couldn't stop.  I then told myself enough is enough, get the show on the road, take a breath in and a breath out, and I stopped.

However, while all of this was happening I was becoming aware of certain things I've learnt over the past while... some of which I'd like to share.

Age really is just a number.  Just because you're twenty doesn't mean you're a child, nor does being forty make you an adult.

Some men really are just boys, no matter how old they really are.

The majority of people you meet truly do not care what you have to say, but use your stories and experiences as things of entertainment and curiosity.

If you have to ask someone "when you are going to see their boobs", the truth is you probably never will.


Distance makes the heart grow fonder yes, but distance also makes you realize who your true friends are.  Before moving to Montreal I had certain people who I thought I was going to miss to bits, people who I've considered to be some of my best friends for years, and realized how wrong I really was in that aspect.

People who you would least expect to share wisdom with you can be the most enlightening beings you've ever met.  With that being said, really, do not judge a book by its cover.

The most important things to say truly are the hardest.  I lost a friend because I was genuinely worried about her, and she took it as being pompous, arrogant and judgmental, when in fact it was neither of those things, nor was it to hurt or make false accusations of.

^ honest really can ruin friendships, even when you're trying to protect them.  What's better to let a friend hurt themselves or take a leap and ask what a lot of people are thinking but won't say in fear of hurting ones feelings.

Wisdom truly does not always come with age.

True friends really are a dime a dozen.  Again, sometimes the likely of candidates become people who you cannot imagine living the rest of your life without.

Sometimes you really can't have what you want, especially when it comes to people.

Don't be cheap, spend money on a good bra, it does wonders.

Some people will walk into your life and leave the biggest impression on your life.  Some will teach you lessons about life, others will offer you words of wisdom, others will teach you things about yourself you didn't know, some will enlighten you about the world in a way you'd never picture it.  Others will walk out of your life not knowing what truly could of been there.

One night with someone change you in a way that you didn't think possible, no we are not talking sex here.

Love at first sight does exist.

Listening to yourself, facing your fears, taking chances, sticking up for yourself, standing up for what you believe in, it really is important.

These are just a few of the things that I've felt I've needed to say for quite some time now which I haven't really expressed.  All of these little things I've posted have been things that have been keeping me up at night, things that have been running through my head from the second I open my eyes until the second my brain finally stops thinking about it (... which lately hasn't been happening too regularly).

One of those people who I least expected to be knowledgeable or... intellectual to be quite honest shared a piece of wisdom with me that really made go wow.  Screw counting sheep.  Screw trying to just stop thinking it's not going to happen.  Picture a blank canvas, picture your thoughts going onto this white canvas, picture your thoughts as blob of paints, and picture them dripping and running down.  Realize that these are just thoughts, they run and run, but know that right now at this moment, you can't change the situation.  These are your thoughts that you push away during the day, the things that you don't deal with, and only deal with at night when you are trying to sleep.  Thinking about them now is not going to change, it's only going to keep you feeling miserable because you won't be able to change the situation nor will you be able to sleep.  Deal with your thoughts during the day when you can make a difference, when something can actually be done and dealt with.

Sometimes you have to truly listen to yourself.  You need to listen to your bodies signals.  You need to know how to read your body, learn from its patterns and deal with them.  If I hadn't suffered from fibromyalgia which later turned into an eating disorder (out of anxiety and depression), I wouldn't know my signs, I wouldn't know my weaknesses, I wouldn't know my strengths, nor would I know how to deal with those faults and push them aside.   I am grateful for my past no matter the heartache because it's made me who I am, and it's made me strong.  I love myself, body, mind, and soul alike.  With all of this being said... just listen to yourself, know when you need to take a second to relax, breathe in and let go.

That was a lot of words, and seeing how this is a food blog there should be a recipe on this post at some point... so here it is.

Over the weekend when I went to the grocery, my eyes quickly zoomed in on the 50% off fruit/vegetable section.  Dun, dun, dun a huuuuge bag of bananas!  Needless to say I quickly scooped them up because now I can have delicious breakfasts with those cheap fruits!  Do not be surprised if the next few weeks you see a lot of smoothies, and banana soft-serves on here.  I've been craving them a lot, they are simple to make, and that bag of bananas I swear came with about twenty, so I need to work through that bag before I go to Korea/move back to Ontario (that is going to be an insanely sad day, I never want to leave Montreal).

With that being said this morning was of course based around the use of a banana.  This morning I didn't feel like having a smoothie and instead opted for some banana soft serve.  This morning I was craving a little carrot cake for my day, and so that is exactly what I whipped up!

This soft serve was so delicious.  It reminded me of cupcakes or muffins you'd whip up around Easter time.  What I loved especially about this was the colour, the carrot made the soft-serve a simply beautiful orange colour.  I'm not a fan of having nuts or raisins in my carrot cake, however, I didn't even think of putting coconut into this (what blasphemy I'm aware), but instead I threw in some raisins, which is a little odd for me, but it worked.  I absolutely loved this, and would surely make it again.  Carrot cake ice cream?  Yeah, I think so!

Note: chia/flaxseeds were not used as I used peanut butter for my protein, and it was a perfect addition since it had the spices that I would throw into a regular carrot cake. 

Carrot Cake Banana Soft Serve

 

Ingredients:

• 1 large banana, frozen
• 1 small-medium carrot
• 1 1/2-2 tbsp soy milk
• 1 tbsp gingerbread peanut butter (if using regular peanut butter, add 1/2 tsp ground ginger + 1 tsp cinnamon)
• 1/2 tbsp raisins + more for topping

Directions:

Peel, wash, and coarsely chop your carrot (this makes it easier on the food processor).  Add to your food processor until tiny pieces remain.

Chop your banana into small chunks, add your banana and soy milk to the food processor along with your peanut butter and raisins.  Mix until your ice cream texture forms.

Scoop into your bowl and top with additional cinnamon and raisins.

What do you think?

Wt-fudge happened to those cupcakes?

AHHHHHHH!  GASSSSPPPPP!  SCREEEAAAAAMMMM!

 

Sorry, I had to get some of that, eeeekness factor out of me.  Monday went by as quick as the speed of light, which I was hoping would be the same for the rest of the week, but unfortunately that just couldn't be the case.  Today was one of the worst days at work, and I'm in far, far too foul of a mood to even get into it, because the /cough nineteen followers I do have, I'm afraid I will make them run for the hills.  The fact that after having two straight weeks of long weekends I'm feeling a little anxious of having a five day week (pathetic?  I know)... that and the fact that Thursday issssss my 22nd birthday, wooooo!

Now, let's set something straight here.  Every single year, starting on June 6th (as it's my cousins birthday, one month and one day before mine) I start my birthday countdown.  Then June 17th, 27th, 30th, 1st of July and continuous until the day comes.  I make a habit of mentioning it any chance I get, THREE MORE DAYS 'TIL MY BIRTHDAY... the thing is, I absolutely hate my birthday.  I love the countdown (as it gives me something to look forward to) but the day of my birthday, it's something I dread every year.  I know that sounds so negative and quite Debbie Downer of me, but for the most part, each year it's a huge let down.  I've made plans to go out for my birthday this year... but we shall see if that happens.

Over the weekend, I decided I would make myself some cupcakes because, /cough, last year I did not get any cake.  I was insanely disappointed since cake is my biggest food obsession (tied with ice cream of course).  Some people like chocolate, or chocolate cake, me it's cake and ice cream, vanilla please.  So, I wanted to make myself a batch of cupcakes (which then turned into two batches since oops I only had a big can of pumpkin in my house)... the more the merrier is how I thought about it.  I figured I'd freeze the batch and unthaw them on Wednesday night so that I could bring in some treats to celebrate my day and again have something to look forward to.  HA HA HA! ...yeah, no.

I found this recipe for peanut butter chocolate pumpkin cupcakes (yes... I even did chocolate since it had pumpkin in it and I wanted to use up my can that I've been hoarding since December).  Well... I chose a non-vegan recipe, and since the can of pumpkin was so big I decided to double the recipe... hahaha, well lesson learnt, don't ever replace more than two eggs in a recipe with flax... or maybe don't ever replace gluten-free ingredients with ingredients that contain gluten, something goes wrong, very, very wrong.  Well, I think it was a combination of both to be honest.  The "cupcakes" turned out to be very dense muffins, no moistness really (other than from the almond butter and or peanut butter I slathered on the interior).

I have to admit... and I say this in a non-cocky douchebaggey way... there are very, very few recipes I screw up.  I mean really, I cannot remember the last time I made something that was so bad I had to throw it out (I may not always make food that others enjoy... different palettes) but, they always please my flavour palette.  These cupcakes however, I looked at them and knew something was off.  The cocoa, holy moly, farrrrr too much chocolate for me, far, far too much.  I mean so much cocoa, that I don't even know if the chocolate-crazed Katie would of approved of these.  Despite how over-chocolatey they were though, the addition of peanut butter/almond butter made them edible.  After really disliking the first one, I gave them a second chance.  I sort of enjoyed the second cupcake.  The third one, I actually really enjoyed.  I then even gave in and had a forth.  Yes, I love cake, no matter how much they suck, do not meet my expectations, are heavy, ugly, non-frosted, I cannot throw out a cupcake/cake/pancake.  Even before, if I made them with eggs and they didn't bake all the way through, were gummy, and I was too lazy to put them back into the oven, I wouldn't even eat around the gumminess, no I took one for the team (haha as if I needed much convincing) and would gobble them down.

These cupcakes are hideous, they are basically jet black, the peanut butter looks like pumpkin (I don't know what my oven did to them), they feel as though they're made of bricks, they are un-frosted, however, after gobbling down quite a few at this point I'm actually beginning to enjoy them, I even look forward to my lunch dessert so I can gobble down those five pound feeling "cupcakes".

I'm not going to post the recipe, because, unfortunately I don't think anyone other than myself would enjoy these puppies.  What I will show you however is what I've been enjoying for breakfasts.  And no, this time it's not smoothies.  I'm feeling a little deterred at the moment by my smoothies, and truthfully, a couple of weeks ago I made these killer delicious bagels that I never posted, had only eaten a few, and have been craving so I figured hey, hey, hey time to eat!

My breakfast yesterday, despite how small and limited it may look, was so insanely filling that if I had to wait to eat lunch at 1:00 pm instead of 12:00 pm I could of probably done so.  It was a simple breakfast, but one of the best in a long time, partially due to the fact of how simple it was to throw together and the result was just so gratifying it was perfect.

I had one banana + almond butter + cacao nibs + coconut + sunflower seeds + raisins with a White Chocolate Raspberry Bagel (recipe below) lightly microwaved (yes... ever since I was younger my brother and I would go to Great Canadian Bagel, ask for a plain bagel microwaved with tonnnnnnnnnns of butter... although my bagel tastes' definitely have veered far, far away from plain bagels, and butter is not something I really choose to put on my bagel anymore I still choose microwaved bagels over toasted bagels).

This morning for breakfast (I truthfully don't know which one I enjoyed more) I kept it just as simple, yet just as delicious!

One orange, cut.
A couple of blueberries tossed in for colour (I don't like uncolourful brown food, yuck processed)
One White Chocolate Raspberry Bagel (recipe below) microwaved for 45 seconds, then tossed into the oven on broil for three minutes with almond butter + 3/4 large banana, sliced
The remaining banana
Garnished with dark chocolate flakes, sugar, and cinnamon!

White Chocolate Raspberry Bagels

Recipe adapted from here

Ingredients:

• 1 1/2 cups warm water (112-115 degrees F)
• 2 tbsp dry yeast
• 3 tbsp sugar
• 1 tbsp salt 
• 4 1/4 cups bread flour
• 8 cups of water, for boiling
• White chocolate raspberry: 1/4 cup white chocolate chunks - 1/2 cup frozen raspberries

Directions:

In a small bowl, mix yeast, sugar and warm water together and let stand 3 minutes.

Mix your flour with the salt in a large bowl; then add the yeast mixture. Stir until combined and slowly mix in the rest of the flour.

Knead dough on a floured surface for 5 minutes, adding additional flour if necessary. Dough should be fairly smooth and somewhat firm. Place dough in a greased bowl, cover and let rise until double.

Punch dough down (add in your white chocolate + raspberries -- knead just enough to swirl ingredients through the dough). Divide and shape into 12 balls. (For larger bagels, make only 8 balls.) Allow to rest for 5 minutes.

Bring 8 cups of water to boil. Make a hole in each ball of dough and pull open about 2 inches, making a bagel shape. Place the shaped dough onto a cookie sheet and cover for 10 minutes.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Drop 2 or 3 bagels at a time into the boiling water for about 45 seconds, turning each once.  Drain cooked bagels on a wire rack.  Place bagels on greased baking sheets.

Bake for 35 minutes, turning once half-way through baking.  Bagels will be lightly browned and shiny.

How do you enjoy your bagels?  

Have you ever tried microwaving your bagel before?

My weekend.

Allo allo mes amis!

Well, I guess it's about time that I update my blog.  It's been three days yes, but it feels like forever.  The past couple days I just haven't been able to bring myself to blogging, I'm not sure why.  I've been focusing more on biking, reading, and just relaxing and haven't been around the computer as much as I usually am.  However, I have gotten a couple of messages from people asking me to write a post and so I thought I should finally write one, especially as I have some really great recipes to share :)!  With that being said I hope everyone enjoyed a nice, recreational weekend :).  For me this was by far the best weekend I've had in Montreal as of yet.  Friday night was the party at one of the actor's house, which was a load of fun.  Got to meet a lot of people that we will be working with which is awesome, and just getting to see people outside of work is always neat.  Didn't leave the party until about 2:00 am, which was a really nice change from my regular calm Friday nights.

Saturday I pretty much lounged for the good part of the day.  I finally got up and made myself breakfast (which I must add was kickin'!)  I was inspired by the Banana Coconut Cream Pie I made a couple of months ago.  Since I had already made a dessert for this weekend (which you will soon see) I decided I'd keep that recipe for another weekend, instead I made a smoothie that replicated the flavours.

Banana Coconut Lime Cream Pie

Recipe inspired by here

Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup coconut milk
• 1/2 cup water
• 1/2 cup flaked coconut
• 1 tsp vanilla
• Juice from 1 lime
• 1 frozen banana 
• 2 tbsp granola
• Toppings: coconut meat

Directions:

Give everything a good whirl in your blender until desired consistency is reached.  Top with coconut meat.

Lunch was simple and not worth blogging.  However, for dinner, I had invited my friend over.  This was someone I worked with when I lived in Guelph, it was nice to catch up and just be see a familiar face.  I had a lot of fun, was good company and good food, those two go hand-in-hand I suppose and always makes for a great time?

Well, I had decided to make a "meat" loaf.  I wasn't sure what to expect as I'd never even had a real meat loaf.  However, I was willing to try it and thank heaven's I did.  I really, really enjoyed it, plus it gave me leftover's for quite a couple of days.  This I found was incredibly filling, and would definitely make another batch again so that I could freeze some and just unthaw it as I need.  I was a little skeptical about making this at first, only because last year I had tried lentils.  I had made a soup and it called for lentils, but since I couldn't find dry lentils at the store I went for the can.  I absolutely hated the soup it was disgusting.  Since then I've been terrified to try lentils again because the texture was just mushy and off.  However, the more and more my mom and I go to Jean-Talon the more I'm wanting to try different foods.  I saw a bag of brown lentils from this organic farmer and figured I'd pick up a bag.  I mean, no matter what I've tried from canned foods (which isn't a lot) but they've always been gross other than chickpeas/black beans.  When I saw the recipe for the vegan "meat" loaf I knew I should try that for the first time with the lentils.

Holy moly, the loaf was fantastic.  Dry lentils are nothing like gross canned lentils.  I cooked them al dente so they still had a little bit of crunch to them.  What I loved is that 3/4 of the lentils were pureed while the other were kept in their original form.  This was fantastic.  It is filled with sooooo much protein, good nutrients, fibre, iron, I loved, loved, loved it.  This would definitely be a great holiday meal if those around you are eating meat... what I liked is that honestly, it could fool you into thinking you're eating real meat loaf (which sounds kind of gross) but it was neat.

Vegan Lentil Almond "Meat" Loaf

Recipe thoroughly adapted from here

 

Yield: 8 thick slices

Ingredients:

• 1 cup dry brown lentils
• 3 cups water
• 3 tbsp ground flax seed
• 1/2 cup warm water
• 1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
• 3 garlic cloves, minced
• 1 cup sweet onion, diced
• 1 medium sweet potato, grated
• 3/4 cup toasted almonds, roughly chopped
• 1 tsp kosher sea salt
• Freshly ground black pepper, to taste
• 1 tsp cumin
• 1/2 cup regular oats, ground into a flour (I processed the oats in food processor)
• 3/4 cup breadcrumbs (I used 2 slices of my ciabatta bread lightly toasted, and processed in food processor)

Sweet Glaze:

• 1 tbsp ketchup
• 1 tbsp balsamic vinegar
• 1 tbsp maple syrup
• 1 tbsp applesauce

Directions:

Cook dry brown lentils:  In a medium sized pot, add 3 cups of water and a vegetable bouillon cube and boil water until cube is dissolved. Alternatively, you can also use already prepared veggie stock. Rinse lentils and pick over being sure to remove any small pebbles that may be in the mix. Add lentils, bring to boil, and reduce heat to low and simmer until liquid is absorbed and lentils are tender (about 40 minutes). Be sure to stir the lentils frequently so they do not stick to the bottom of the pot. Once the lentils are cooked, remove from heat and set aside to cool.

Preheat oven to 350 F and line a loaf pan with parchment so that parchment paper hangs over the edges by 2 inches.

Almonds: Toast 3/4 cup of walnuts at 350F for about 6 minutes and then set aside to cool.


Flax egg: Mix 3 tbsp of ground flax with 1/2 cup warm water and stir well. Set aside for at least 5-10 minutes so it can gel up.

Prepare vegetable mixture: In a large skillet over medium heat, sauté onion and minced garlic for about 5 minutes on low-medium heat, being careful not to burn. After the onions are tender, add sweet potato and cook until they get soft, about five minutes. Add the chopped almonds and sauté another minute or two.  Add thyme, salt, and pepper to taste. Remove from heat and set aside.

Breadcrumbs: I took 2 slices of ciabatta bread and lightly toasted them. Then I ripped up the slices and placed into my food processor and processed until small breadcrumbs were left. Alternatively, you can use store bought breadcrumbs too.

Process 75% of lentils and Mix everything together: Once the lentils are cooled, take 75% of the lentils and place into food processor. Process until mostly smooth (some small lentils will remain!). Now take the processed lentils and scoop into a large bowl. Add in the remaining 25% of non-processed lentils and place into bowl. Add the breadcrumbs, flax egg, veggie mixture, oat flour, and ground flax seed. Stir well with a spoon and then remove the spoon and mix well with your hands, pressing it through your fingers. Taste and adjust seasonings if necessary.

Dump the mixture into your loaf pan and spread out with a spoon. Now take your hands and press the mixture firmly and evenly into the pan.

Preparing Glaze:

In small bowl combine all glaze ingredients.  Spread evenly over loaf and bake, uncovered 45 minutes at 350F.

Cool for about 10-15 minutes and serve. Serves about 8 thick slices.

As you might have noticed the past couple of weeks, raw desserts have been what I've been treating myself to.  I've really enjoyed making the, I've enjoyed staring at them (I really find them pretty) but more so I enjoy eating them; as do the people who have been enjoying them with me.  This cake was definitely lovely.  I didn't look at any particular recipe and sort of just based it around what I've made in the past.  I changed up the crust and added dates/plums and the combination of both of them were blissful, absolutely amazing.  My four year-old cousin... let's just say, his face, arms, and the table were coooovered.  He loved it, helping himself to seconds.  You know your food is a success when children eat them... he was very close to licking his plate when we all sort of gave him this look and he stopped.  It was amazing, unfortunately there is only a teeny tiny slice left... but it's probably for the best because I'd be eating it myself.

Cherry Raspberry Bliss "Cheese" Cake


Recipe by me

Crust

Ingredients:

• 1 1/2 cup almonds
• 2/3 cup dried plums
• 3/4 cup dried dates
• 1/4 tsp sea salt
• 1-2 tbsp water

Directions:

 In the bowl of your food processor, process the almonds to a coarse meal.  Add your dates, plums and salt and process to combine.  The mixture should stick together when you press your fingers to it, if it doesn't stick add a little bit of water until it sticks.

Press the mixture firmly and evenly into the bottom of a 9 inch springform pan, set aside.

Filling

Ingredients:

• 1 1/2 cups cashews, soaked for 4-6 hours
• 1/3 cup raspberry agave nectar
• 1/4 cup fresh lemon juice
• Seeds of 1 vanilla bean
• 1/2 cup frozen raspberries
• 1/2 cup frozen cherries
• Topping: coconut meat

Directions:

In the bowl of your food process, process the cashews, agave, lemon juice and vanilla bean seeds until smooth.

Spoon about 1/3 cup of the mixture on top of your crust.

Add the raspberries and cherries to the remaining mix in the food processor and process until smooth.

Add the mixture to the top of the vanilla  filling and smooth with the back of a spoon.  Place the pan in the freezer for 3 or so hours to set.  This can be frozen for many weeks, but I doubt it will last that long.

Before serving let sit at room temperature for ten minutes. 

Did you make anything ultra-delicious this weekend?

Carrot cake muffins + British Columbia

Happy weekend everyone!

I hope you all had a wonderful weekend, I know I sure did.  I'm going to update you a bit with what has gone on since I've arrived in British Columbia.  Oh, oh first I need to update you.  After I posted my last post I was still sitting in the terminal, waiting... it was now 15 minutes after I was supposed to board the plane.  My friend kept asking me, "shouldn't you be on the plane by now?", "well they haven't called us".  I look down at my plane ticket I'm sitting at terminal 141, supposed to be at 151!!  I shut down my laptop in panic mode, run all the way across the airport to where I'm supposed to be.  I get there, no one is there... panic strikes even harder.  I'm breathing like a maniac, and sweating like a sprinter, it's a good thing I work out or I'd be dead... I jump over this one guy who is sleeping on the floor, speak to someone who works there, "miss please calm down!"... uh no, clearly he does not know me.  He finally get's in, that they have been transferred to 145... seriously?  I have to run ALL the way back to where I initially was.  I finally get there, wait in line, look like a demon on crack and wait... I board the plane, success!

From there everything went well.  I wrote in my journal, did a little bit of reading, listened to Mumford and Sons over and over again, and finally I slept quite a bit!  I get to baggage claim, after a few minutes am greeted by my aunt and my cousin (who I haven't met before), we go to the car and my uncle is there too.  It was really nice that they were all there (they are a bit older, and it was 1 in the morning, so I was very grateful).  When I got there, I simply went to sleep it was now 4 o'clock my time, very, very tired. 

I wake up the next morning... and am overstuffed with food, in every direction.  Unfortunately Italians really love to feed you (it's not a bad thing, but... they just don't stop and it can get a little bit frustrating).  After a while I remind them that I don't eat animal products, "so you can eat fish then?!"... "well no, that was alive at one point so I don't eat fish... I don't even eat butter, eggs or milk", then the whole protein conversation ensues and I just begin to get a little frustrated... I'm still trying to be nice, but my aunt just isn't understanding.  Eventually I pull out my blog (thank heavens I blog!) and show her that NO, I don't under eat actually get a ton of protein in my diet, and don't starve myself to death... le sigh.  Finally she began to understand.

Later I went to my little cousins hockey game, they lost... I really don't understand hockey, but it was nice to go.

I also went with my older cousin to downtown Vancouver.  It was nice, he even brought me to a vegan restaurant!  It was amazing!  I'd never been to a vegan restaurant before, and it was really nice of him to think of it.  We took it for take out since his daughter needed to nap (17 months).  We went to his place and ate.  I got organic brown rice, the most amazing chick peas with spices, and curried vegetables with a papadum, it was fantastic!

 

For dinner we made a really delicious chickpea salad that I will be replicating when I go home, so I am not going to post it here yet!  Got back to my aunts, went to sleep and now I'm lounging in bed, even though I've been in my room for over 14 hours... I feel really tired and don't want to hear about food unfortunately. 

Tropical Carrot Cake Muffins

Recipe thoroughly adapted from here

 

Before I left, I had made some snacks to bring onto the plane, I hadn't posted them because I wanted something to post this week.  I made tropical carrot cake muffins, after making the Tropical Carrot Cake Smoothie I've been craving some mad carrot cake, so I decided I would make muffins.  These were the most sinful, delicious, yet healthy muffins ever, hooked, hooked I tell ya!  I will be making these again and again.  I'm not a big fan of store-bought carrot cake because they always throw in nuts, nasty dried fruits (I love dried fruit but when mixed with ingredients properly) and tons of cream cheese icing, yuck!  I made this to meet my taste buds and I can honestly say this may be one of my favourites, and will certainly be made again.  One thing I look forward to when I go home is defrosting some of these bad boys and munching on them while I tell my mom about my vacation!

Ingredients:

• 1 1/2 cups finely grated carrot, unpacked
• 1 cup flaked coconut
• 1 tbsp ground flax seed
• 1/2 cup pure maple syrup
• 3/4 cup coconut milk
• 1/3 cup canola oil
• 1 1/2 tsp pure vanilla extract
• 1/2 tsp apple cider vinegar
• 2 tsp freshly grated lemon zest
• 1 1/2 cups whole grain spelt flour
• 2 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp ground ginger
• 1/2 tsp nutmeg
• 1/4 tsp cloves
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1/4 tsp kosher salt 
• 1/2 cup candied pineapple

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350F and line a muffin tin or a small loaf pan (20cm x11cm x 6cm) with parchment. Lightly grease the parchment and sides of pan with oil and set aside. 

In a medium bowl, mix together the grated carrot, ground flax, pure maple syrup, soy milk, oil, vanilla, vinegar, and lemon zest. Set aside for at least two minutes while you gather the dry ingredients.  In another large sized bowl, whisk together the spelt flour, cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, cloves baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Pour the wet ingredients over the dry ingredients and stir until just combined (a few dry spots may remain). Fold in the dried pineapple. Be careful not to overmix as spelt is a very delicate flour.

Pour into prepared pan and bake at 350 degrees F for 45 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. Cool for 10 minutes in the pan, and then transfer the loaf to a wire rack to cool completely. 

May be frozen.

 

Have you ever had issues trying to explain to family members about dietary restrictions?

Carrot

Smoothies + Dessert!

As I have mentioned, I have been starting my days off with smoothies. When I first started blogging I had said that I don't like making the same recipes twice, especially when there are hundreds of millions of bazillions of recipes out there, boy that is a lot of recipes, and all of those can be extremely, or slightly altered to adjusts your tastes' so let's just say there are an infinite amount of recipes out there.

No, I may not make the same recipes twice, but, the past few weeks I've repeatedly made this, oh an this smoothie more than one. I am so incredibly obsessed with how wonderful and refreshing these two smoothies are, they seriously take me to another universe for a couple of minutes while I sip them back.

With that being said. Here are some of my latest smoothie creations.

Peachy-keen Goji Smoothie

This was definitely a tasty smoothie, however, I was a little taken a-back by it's flavour at first sip. Then on my second sip, the tastes' literally burst in my mouth and I was hooked. This was so different than something I've tasted before, but it was a new flavour combination for me, and it was certainly something I will enjoy seeing again in the future.

1/4 cup goji berries rehydrated (put some hot water on them for a couple of minutes 'til they fluffy up) + 1 frozen peach + 1/2 cup vanilla soy milk + 1/2 cup coconut water + 1/2 scoop vanilla protein powder ... pulsed in your blender until desired consistency.

Blueberry Bliss Smoothie

Love, love, looooove, and I'm not even a big fan of blueberries but vanilla and blueberries definitely make one sweet batch of lovers and sweetly kissed my mouth. I loved this, and yes, even made this one two days in a row, gasp!

1/2 cup frozen blueberries + 1/2 cup vanilla soy milk + 1/2 cup water + 3 ice cubes + 1 scoop of vanilla protein powder ... pulsed in your blender until desired consistency.

Pear-y Good for You Smoothie

Refreshing with a little zing from the ginger. Loveeeeed it!

2 cups of kale (ribs removed) + 1 Bartlet pear - chopped + 1/2 cup coconut water + 2 tbsp hazelnut agave nectar + 1/2 tsp ground ginger + 1/2 cup vanilla soy milk + 1/2 scoop vanilla protein powder ... pulsed in your blender until desired consistency.

Cherry Amaretto Smoothie

As I have said before, if there is one thing that makes me Italian above anything else it is my love for almonds. I love, love, loooove the flavour of almonds, especially in my favourite *cough alcohol - Amaretto. This smoothie was reminiscent of that drink with the addition of cherries. I loved this, and will certainly be making this again, considering I just bought a four pound bag of frozen cherries at Costco this weekend!

1/2 cup coconut water + 1/2 cup vanilla soy milk + 3/4 cup frozen cherries + 1 1/2 tbsp almonds + 1/2 tsp almond extract + 1/2 scoop vanilla protein powder ... pulsed in your blender until desired consistency.

Lemon Poppy Seed Pull-Apart Bread

Recipe inspired from here

Lastly, this may not be a smoothie, oh no, but it goes down as quick as a smoothie does. No, I'm not talking about any other beverage either. I'm talking about a quick-bread or a cake, whichever makes you feel better thinking about what this "thing" really is. To me it was a br-ake. It looked like bread, but I ate it like it was cake, so a "br-ake".

This was super delicious, I've never made pull-apart bread/cake before, and I'm glad that the first time I attempted it it was a vegan version. I looked at a lot of examples of non-vegan pull-aparts and I came up with a combination of my own. I loved a lot of the flavours out there, but they were far too... je ne c'est pas... so I decided on a simple yet elegant with full flavoured lemon poppy seed version.

I love lemon poppy seed. I love anything to do with citrus OTHER THAN grapefruit, nope, I still haven't been able to jump onto that bandwagon. Love the smell, love the colour, strongly dislike the taste. I loooove the look of poppy seeds though, they speckle whatever food they are in with such beauty. I just love staring at the teeny tiny little speckles and admiring them. They may not have a huge impact on the taste, but with the lemon, zing, love!

This was super delicious. It was insanely gorgeous to stare at... honestly I couldn't stop. It reminded me of a xylophone, or of intestines twisting... okay, I'm a little weird. But, I've seriously looked at the photographs many time since I've taken them. This was so good, especially when dunked in fresh maple-syrup, oh frig yes! This was gone the first day, yup, as unfortunate as it was... although I am thankful it wasn't lying around the house because I'd be doomed. I don't know what it is with me and desserts lately, but I have been a pig. Making between two-three each week, ugh oh well... it will have to end soon... right?

Ingredients:

For the dough:

• 3/4 cup vanilla soy milk
• 2 1/4 tsp active yeast
• 3 cups whole wheat bread flour
• 1 tbsp baking powder
• 1/4 cup granulated sugar
• 2 tsp cinnamon
• 2 tbsp poppy seeds
• Zest from 1 lemon
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 5 tbsp unsweetened applesauce
• Juice of 1 lemon
  

For the filling:

• 1/4 cup granulated sugar
• Zest from 1 lemon/1 orange

Directions:

In a small saucepan, gently warm 3/4 cup non-dairy milk to about 110 degrees. Sprinkle yeast over warmed non-dairy milk and let it dissolve, about 5 minutes.

In a large mixing bowl, combine 2 cups of flour, 1/4 cup sugar, baking powder, cinnamon , zest, poppy seeds, lemon juice and 1/4 salt in a large bowl. Add 5 tbsp applesauce and yeast mixture, stir to combine. Add in another 1/2 cup flour, stirring to combine. Continue mixing until you have a sticky dough ball.

Place the dough is a large, oiled bowl (or drizzle a little oil in your current bowl and roll the dough in it. Cover with plastic wrap and/or a kitchen towel. Place in a warm space and allow to rest until doubled in size, about 1 hour. Once risen, you can refrigerate overnight to use in the morning, just allow to rest for 30 minutes on the counter before rolling out.

While the dough rises, mix together the sugar and zest and mix well with your fingers to allow the oils to release their flavours. Grease and flour a 9×5×3-inch loaf pan. Set both aside.

Sprinkle remaining flour on a flat surface and knead dough, kneading in most of the flour. Using a floured rolling pin, roll dough into a large thin rectangle, about 12-inches tall and 20-inches long, or roughly as large as you can make it.

Slice the dough vertically into strips and stack strips on top of one another and slice into strips again. The strips will measure around 3 1/2-inches on each side. Layer into your greased loaf pan and cover with a kitchen towel and allow to rise for 30-45 additional minutes.

Meanwhile, place a rack in the center of the oven and preheat to 350 degrees F. Bake for 30 to 45 minutes until tips are deeply golden brown. The center takes much longer to cook, so deeply golden tips will be indicative the entire loaf is cooked through.

Allow to cool for up to 30 minutes before removing from pan and onto a clean surface or serving dish. Drizzle with glaze topping if desired.What are your favourite smoothie combinations?

Banana coconut cream pie - vegan

I have been eating tofu since I could remember, I mean, when I first started eating it it certainly wasn't used in the healthiest of ways; deep fried with a spicy sauce. It may not of been healthy but it sure was delicious. This was the only way I knew how to eat it... and that was by ordering it at our incredibly expensive Chinese restaurant. Over the years I stopped eating there, because everything was simply unhealthy and well expensive. As the years went on, I started eating tofu in different ways.

Last year I had been perusing blogs and came across a lemon poppy seed cake, what was different in this cake was that the base was made from silken tofu. I had never heard of putting tofu into cake before this time, (even though I had already made tofu cookies and quickly devoured those bad boys). However, I kept putting the recipe to the side, and eventually I deleted it because I wasn't feeling a lemon poppy seed cake. The other day however, I got this epiphany and I wanted to make a pie, a pie using tofu. Even after seeing many vegan dessert/smoothie recipes using silken tofu I never got around to doing so myself.

I came up with a rough sketch of what I wanted to put into my pie. I used a basis for a normal graham cracker crust and veganised it (here I'm using the term vegan because there is no eggs, butter or milk. I do consider honey to be an animal product, however I know there are people who are on the fence of whether or not honey is vegan. For the sake of this recipe due to it not having eggs, butter, or milk I'm going to call it vegan, I even added honey since the agave I have contains nuts and the reason for me making this pie was for a nice lunch with Jenna and she's severely allergic to nuts). With that being said. Here is what I did for the graham cracker crust.

Preheated oven to 350 degrees F.

In my food processor went 24 graham crackers, 1/3 cup coconut sap, 1/3 cup canola oil, 1/4 cup coconut flakes and 1 tsp chia seeds.

Mixed until everything was well dispersed. Dumped into a pie dish, and baked for 10 minutes. Voila, set it aside.

This is where the fun came in! The filling, oh nomnomnom. Again take your food processor out (have I told you before how much I love recipes that you get to use your food processor the whole time?!)

Here I threw in one 12.2 oz package of lite firm silken tofu, 1 tbsp cornstarch, 1/4 cup coconut milk, 1 tsp vanilla extract, 3/4 tsp coconut extract, 1/2 cup coconut flakes, 1/4 cup maple syrup, and one medium/large very ripe banana.

Gave it a whirl. Mixed until everything was thoroughly incorporated. Added it to the graham cracker crust.

Baked it in the oven for 15 minutes at 350 degrees F.

Took that gorgeous, sexy dish out of the oven and became totally encased by it's wonderful aromas. I spoke the other day about the feeling you get when you come up with a recipe on your own and the accomplishment you get, this was it. This was the icing on the cake, the cherry on the icing, it was perfect.

I then mixed 1/2 tbsp chocolate rice milk, 2 tsp cocoa powder, 1 tbsp coconut oil and 1 tbsp honey. Mixed until there were no lumps. Put it into a Ziploc bag and snipped off the corner.

I decorated the pie with sliced bananas (x2) and coconut flakes, some graham cracker crumbs, then drizzled it with my chocolate sauce.

I let it chill overnight. When I awoke this morning... yes I may have had some for breakfast I cut myself off a piece. Um... I was left speechless. It was, I've mentioned before I'm not a pie person, I'm a cake person alllllll the way (Jordan never did like that part about me 'cause he is a pie man all the way!) This however would win me over. I mean, the thing I don't like about traditional pies is the crust, I just find them too doughy. This was perfect. It was light, it was incredibly flavourful, it was more or less healthy, and it was beautiful. Honestly this is the perfect dessert, and if you want to fool for your friends and family into eating something healthy, and vegan (depending on your definition) then you will achieve it with this recipe. I loved it, and will surely be using silken tofu in other desserts to try and make them healthy. I will be making this in the summer that's for sure!

Hope you'll try this out :)

Vegan Cupcakes? Vegan Brownies? You bet!

Recipe taken from here

As I've mentioned a few times now, I really am considering going vegan. I've been pescatarian for well over a year a now, and haven't eaten pork or been in almost eight years. I have always had an interest in becoming vegan at some point in my life but never really did any research or anything towards it. Last year I bought a "Becoming Vegan" book that I am beginning to read, and as I read many blogs out there, and attempting many vegan recipes, I know that it wouldn't be that challenging for me. With that being said, I found a recipe the other day for vegan cupcakes. I was in the mood to try them out today, so I reduced the batch to 1/4 each (one vanilla batch, and one chocolate batch) this left me with two cupcakes from each batch. While making these cupcakes I was so tempted to lick the bowls (both looked like frosting, beautiful vanilla and chocolate frosting, yummy!) however, I didn't because well, the apple cider vinegar curdled the soy milk and to me that just doesn't scream yum, if you know what I mean.

As you all know cupcakes and ice cream are my weak points when it comes to food, however, cupcakes even more so than ice cream. These cupcakes were delicious, and the fact that they were vegan made me enjoy them that much more because I didn't feel guilty for enjoying each and every bite down to the last crumb. I believe that some people, when they think of vegetarian, vegan, gluten-free, egg-free cooking they think that because it lacks certain ingredients it also means that the taste is missing as well. This certainly is not the case for these cupcakes. They are fluffy, moist, tasty, sweet and just cute.

As you can see it is just as fluffy as a non-vegan cupcake.

When I first tried them, I cut one vanilla, and one chocolate in half. Needless to say my favourite was the vanilla, however, the chocolate did come close. My mom preferred the chocolate one, as I split both the halves with her. What I liked most about the cupcakes were that the exterior were so crunchy and sweet and inside was still oh so spongey, moist and fluffy as I said above. I would definitely make these cupcakes again. Next time playing around with some spices... in the vanilla I'm thinking I would add some anise, oh delicious!

This is a great cupcake for anyone a-like, but I think it would be even better to server to your non-veg friends to show that eco/creature friendly foods could be just as tasty if not more sometimes. On another note, I think it's important for us foodies to post recipes that may not be exactly what we follow. What I mean here is, yes I am not vegan, but I am posting a vegan recipe (despite of my intentions on becoming vegan I am not at the moment), however, if there are more options on the Internet, and it allows people the opportunity to try out some of these recipes perhaps without actually going out and advocating the cause this can help make a difference. If people know that there are in fact, healthy, tasty and simple vegetarian meals out there, perhaps they won't be so easy in going to a fast food restaurant and getting that greasy burger and fries because instead they could go home and make a tofurky sandwich with some baked potato fries or baked onion rings. Who knows, but all I know is, there are so many people out there, who are all, "Vegan recipes can't be good, they lack so much flavour", that isn't the case, as you will find with these cupcakes.

Ingredients:

• 2/3 cup soy milk
• 1/2 tsp apple cider vinegar
• 2/3 cup light agave nectar
• 1/3 cup canola oil
• 1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
• 1/2 tsp almond extract
• 1 1/3 cup all-purpose flour
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1/4 tsp salt

Chocolate Cupcakes:

Same ingredients all through out except you need to alter the flour for the addition of cocoa powder, or else the chocolate cupcake will be very dry.

• 1 cup flour
• 1/3 cup cocoa powder
  

Directions:

Line muffin pan with cupcake liners and preheat oven to 325

Mix the soy milk and apple cider vinegar in a bowl; allow to sit for a few minutes to curdle. Beat in agave, oil, vanilla, and almond extract. Sift in the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt and mix until smooth.

Fill liners two-thirds full. Bake 20 to 22 minutes, until knife or toothpick inserted into the center of the cupcake comes out clean; do not over bake, cupcakes will be dry.

These cupcakes need to cool at least an hour before topping or filling, and also to develop the flavor and texture properly.

Vegan Brownies

Recipe adapted from here

Since I was so impressed with the vegan cupcakes I figured I might as well try another vegan dessert. The recipe I was anticipating trying was right up my alley. I’ve seriously become very fond of walnuts lately since I’ve been putting it on my oatmeal quite frequently. Walnuts and dates are meant to be lovers. This brownie was incredibly tasty, however I did find it to be incredibly chocolatey – that didn’t stop me from taking another bite after another and so on. I really liked this recipe, however, in trying to cut the pieces for everyone it was so crumbly. It was so crumbly that it kept falling apart. So I kept having to squish it together, try and cut it, a piece would fall apart and the whole event would happen again. I ended up getting nice squares in the end though, but it was a long process. Would I make these again? Probably not. As much as I loved the taste, and texture it was a lot of work to cut them (however, making the brownie took less than three minutes). I loved the taste of these just disliked the crumbliness during the cutting stage. Nonetheless, vegan dessert number two was highly successful in taste.

Ingredients:

• 3 cup raw walnuts
  
• 1/8 tsp salt
  
• 22 pitted Medjool dates
• 2/3 cup cocoa powder
• 1/2 cup dried cranberries, chopped
• 2 tsp water
  

Directions:

Place the walnuts in a food processor fitted with the S blade and process until coarsely chopped.

Remove 1/2 cup of the walnuts and set aside in a small mixing bowl. Add the salt to the food processor and process until the walnuts are finely ground. Add the dates and process until the mixture begins to stick together. Add the cocoa powder and process to incorporate. Add the chopped walnuts, dried cranberries and water and process briefly, just until mixed.

Pour the mixture evenly into an 8-inch glass baking dish and press down with your hand to compact. Cut into squares.

Yield: 16 small brownies (8 servings)

Enjoy your Earth and Creature friendly desserts!