Streusel Cup cakes:

Streusel Cup cakes:  

This is something that I am trying and I love it because it has the texture and layers of a coffee cake.  

Cupcake ingredients:

• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon sea salt
• 1 1/4 cups sugar
• 1/2 cup  vegan butter substitute, softened
• 1/2 cup unsweetened applesauce
• 1 cup vanilla milk sub (SIlk, soy, almond milk...ect)
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 tablespoon distilled white vinegar

Streusel ingredients:

• 1/4 cup brown sugar
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• pinch of sea salt
• 1/2 cup chopped pecans
• 1 tablespoon melted Earth Balance or vegan butter substitute

Glaze (Optional):

• 1 1/2 cups vegan confectioners’ sugar (Powdered sugar)
• 2 1/2 tablespoons vanilla milk sub
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 teaspoon melted vegan butter substitute

Cupcakes:

Preheat oven at 325 degrees F.  

  

Mix all of the dry ingredients together in one bowl while using a hand mixer to combine the wet ingredients   

Once you go to combine dry and wet ingredients make sure that your streusel is made and ready to go.  You want to get the cup cakes into the oven as fast as you can once they are combine and creamy.  

Streusel:  

In small bowl combine and mix all of the ingredients together making sure that there are no clumps of butter.  

Fill cup cake liners in pan halfway with cupcake mix.  Add in the stresuel making sure it is a light layer and not too high before filling the cupcake liners up the rest of the way with the remaining cupcake batter.  

Use remaining streusel to sprinkle over the top if desired. Place in the heated oven for 30-35 minutes or until a toothpick can be inserted and than pulled out relatively clean.   

While cup cakes are cooking whisk together the ingredients for your glaze and drizzle on top of cakes with a spoon.  If you want to make a more intricate design on top (Checkers ect) put into a baggie and cut off small corner to drizzle into a pattern.  

Cinnamon Bun Smoothies

Here is a nice sweet smoothie recipe packed full of yummy banana!  Perfect for breakfast or as a sweet cooling snack.
Makes 2:

2 frozen bananas
2 cups of none dairy milk
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1 tsp maple syrup
1/2 tsp vanilla extract

Combine all ingredients together in blender and blend well.  Feel free to use some extra ground cinnamon for a garnish as seen in the picture.

Vanilla Chia Pudding

Here is a great recipe for a yummy, not so fatty, o sugar desert that will knock the socks off of anyone who tries it.

-3 1/2 cups of non dairy milk
-1 Table spoon of vanilla extract
-1/2 vanilla bean
-1 Tablespoon of cinnamon
- 1/6 cup of agave nectar
-1/2 cup of Chia seeds.

Blend all of the ingredients (Except the Chia seeds) together in a high speed blender and pulse.

Place Chia seeds in the bottom of a large bowl. Pour mixture over the chia seeds and whisk. Keep whisking from time to time over an hour and half half to make sure that the Tapioca does not clump.

Strawberry Pistachio Snackers

Yummy yummy snacks! I have been starting to increase my work out routine again. Trying on wedding dresses makes you realize what needs toning. After a run or yoga I get so hungry! These little buggers are great as a nice raw snack after a work out!

Ingredients:
-1 1/2 cups coconut flakes
-1/2 cup pistachios (ground into flour)
-1/2 cup fresh strawberries, chopped
-3-4 medjool dates,lightly chopped (about 1/4 cup or so)
-3 tbsp coconut oil

Grind pistachios by using food processor.

A dd in the dates and strawberries. Pulse till combined.

After the batter starts coming together add in coconut flakes and oil. And pulse a few times till just combined. Or hand stir this although you will need to either make date paste, or use a liquid sweetener.

Watermelon Sorbet

This is such an easy way to make your own desert. Say bye bye to ice cream, cause this will rock your world! It is perfect for a hot summer day.

7 cups of chopped seedless watermelon/ juice.
1/2 cup of raw sugar or agave
Juice from 1 lemon

Combine all ingredients into blender and blend well. Pour into several or one large Tupperware container. Freeze.

After frozen you can spoon out. This recipe will make 8 large servings.

Vegan Thanks Giving- Cranberry Sauce

Well after many many many Thanks Giving's filled with a big, stuffed carcase in the center of the table, having to pretend the food looked good to me to protect the feelings of my host and having to hide practically all of the food offered under my napkin (Or if I was unlucky enough having to eat it and then be sick for the next week) I decided to host my own Thanks Giving with some of my friends. So the next series of recipes are for a very vegan thanks giving!

The thing that is awesome about cranberry sauce is that it is so easy to make. Plus since there are so few ingredients it has a very clean, pure taste that can be lost during Thanks Giving.

4 cups of raw cranberries
1/2 cup agave, maple or rice syrup
Juice from One Orange

Rise the cranberry's and transfer them into a large sauce pan. Add in the Syrup, orange juice and 1/4 cup of water.



Bring to a boil over medium heat, stirring often. When it comes to a boil reduce heat and cover. Boil gently until berries pop (About 10 minutes.). Chill for 1 hour before serving.

If you keep it warm it is also a great thing to put on top of pancakes or waffles!

Rainbow Salad With Kiwi Stars

So I have been waiting for this! A chance to debut my beautiful new lunch box that by lovely boyfriend got me for my birthday (because thats just how wild and crazy we got). So here we go....not that I haven't been taking lunch to work but because it has been relatively normal food (Almond butter and jam and what not). This salad though really looked great and I'm sure its going to taste great tomorrow too.

I suppose you could say that this is my version of left overs...which is to say, the veggies in my fridge that are nearing the end of their lives. I love it because it encompasses what I love to tell people about eating the rainbow.

On the bottom I have layered red pepper slices, then avocado, next some radishes, followed by red onions. Next I mix up some lemon juice and olive oil and drizzled that across the top to soak in over night in the fridge. I left a bit of lemon on the side because I love the taste of lemon and avocado together.

For desert I just took some of my favorite raw fruit to snack on. The kiwi I cut with a cook cutters to make cute little stars.

As for my birthday lunch box....its awesome. It creates a vacuum to hold everything perfectly into place. There is also a little sauce case but I didn't want to use it today! Love!

Banana Cashew Power Balls

I was looking for a good snack after running for Will and I. The raw craze has really brought up the love of "Raw Balls". These are not raw but they are still great and tasty! Keep in mind that they are highly fattening though so unless you have a high metabolism and/or exercise a great deal eat them in moderation.

That being said they are a great snack for after a work out!


2-3 overripe banana
2/4 cup raw cashews (about 1.5 ounce)
2 tablespoon flax seeds, ground
6 tablespoons oatmeal (regular or quick oats)
dash of vanilla extract

Cut the banana into slices about 3/4-inch thick and place them on a plate. Microwave on medium power for about 7 minutes, until most of the moisture has boiled out of the banana.

Using your hands (Moist works better) form into small balls and put into a tuperware container. Refrigerate before eating and keep in the fridge after.

While you are waiting on this pulse the cashews in the food processor until coarsely ground. Add the flax seed and oatmeal and pulse a few more times. Add the banana and dash in the vanilla extract into the processor. Blend into a thick paste.

Banana Ice Cream

Public Confession Time....

Alright I give in and have to tell all of you that I am an ice cream addict. Some of my fondest memories are of my family and myself sitting around after dinner and having a bowl of ice cream.

Alas, ice cream is not vegan. True you can find some yummy ones that are but they too are stuffed with processed sugar. Purely Decadent is my favorite and a guilty pleasure. But Fear not health food lovers! I bring you a recipe for home made, non dairy, no artificial sugar, one ingredient ice cream just in time for summer!

Ingredients:

3 Bananas

Thats it.

Peal off the banana's and cut into pieces about 1 inch thick. Place them in the freezer for about 1-2 hours. You can also try adding foods like frozen mango and other fruits to alter tastes!

When frozen take them out and stick them into a food processor. Puree until creamy....freeze again if not cold enough for you. Thats it. You are done! I sprinkled some walnuts on top of mine cause I love them!

Spring break food: Avocado Chocolate Moose

Alyssa, Will and I decided to go up the lake this week. It is spring break and meant to be a yoga retreat, but but that fell through. Oh well, We had a great time checking out Mabel Falls and Granite Shoals anyway (Right off lake LBJ). How could we not enjoy it? Just take a look at the view!

Since we are all relativally broke and I am vegan (If you didn't figure it out Texas isn't exactly the place for road side vegan) we had the chance to try a lot of new Recipies that I have been meaning to tinker with.

This is the first one. I'm not really a huge desert person but this was something that everyone seemed to like!

Ingredients:
3 Hass Alvacodos (2 cups when massed up.)
1/4 cup of raw agave nectar
1/4 plus 2 Tablespoons of raw cocoa powder
3 tablespoons of vegan butter
1 teaspoon of lemon juice
Pinch of cinnamon
pinch of nutmeg
Pinch of salt (if you need to mellow out the sweetness)
3 ice cubes

Puree all of the ingredients together in a food processor until they have no chunks. If you don't mind it not being "Live" place in fridge for and hour before serving. As for the Picture....I swear he really did like it (He's actually been nagging me to make it again) he just very much zones out when he eats!

Coconut Chocolate Chip Cookies

Well I have been having a craving for some chocolate chip cookies so I had to make some today! Here is my recipe. I including coconut because I love the taste of coconut and chocolate together! Yummy!

Ingredients:

2 cups unbleached flour
1 tsps baking powder
1/2 tsp.salt
cinnamon to taste
vegan chocolate or carob chips
1 cup raw sugar
1/2 cup canola or vegetable oil
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/4 cup water
Handful of shredded coconut



Also while your oven is pre-heating put the cookie sheets you are going to use on top of the oven so they get preheated as well. Preheat oven to 350.

In a large bowl mix flour, baking powder, salt, cinnamon (if you choose). Add chips and coconut. Make a well in the center and set aside.

In a medium size bowl mix vegan sugar and oil. Mix it well. Add the vanilla and then add the water. Mix it well. Add the wet to the well in the dry. Mix it well but be careful not to overwork it. Add more chips if you need to. Spoon onto ungreased cookie sheets. Put them in the oven. Bake for 5 minutes and then flip and rotate the sheets. Bake another 4 minutes and check them.

The cookies are done when they seem a little bit softer then you want them to be. They will harden up some as they cool. If not hard enough rotate again and cook for another 4 minutes but keep an eye on it.

Take them out when they are done and move them to wire cooling racks. If they split or come apart when you try to remove them let them sit on the pan for few minutes before transferring them to the racks.

Carbo Chip (Chocolate) Covered Strawberries & Apricote Coins

Okay! These are carbo chip (Vegan chocolate...it just has no dairy in it at all)
This is really easy, really romantic and really tasty! I know these dont look awesome but cut me some slack. It is the first time I did this and I didn't have any parchment paper!

1 cup of carbo chips
1/2 cup of soy or rice milk
strawberries
dried apricotes
almond slices (optional)

Have a tray that will fit into your fridge with a lineing of parchment paper. Flatten out you apricotes by rolling them over with a rolling pin or bottle of wine. Dont press too hard cause you dont want to crush them into pulp. Heat up carbo chips and soy milk on medium or low, wisking continuously until its a smooth texture.

When it is smooth drip in your fruit and twirl it so that its coated in the chocolate. Place on parchment tray and if you want sprinkle it with almond slices. Place in the fridge and let cool until hard. Easy!
Add a caption
Okay! These are carbo chip (Vegan chocolate...it just has no dairy in it at all)
This is really easy, really romantic and really tasty! I know these dont look awesome but cut me some slack. It is the first time I did this and I didn't have any parchment paper!

1 cup of carbo chips
1/2 cup of soy or rice milk
strawberries
dried apricotes
almond slices (optional)

Have a tray that will fit into your fridge with a lineing of parchment paper. Flatten out you apricotes by rolling them over with a rolling pin or bottle of wine. Dont press too hard cause you dont want to crush them into pulp. Heat up carbo chips and soy milk on medium or low, wisking continuously until its a smooth texture.

When it is smooth drip in your fruit and twirl it so that its coated in the chocolate. Place on parchment tray and if you want sprinkle it with almond slices. Place in the fridge and let cool until hard. Easy!