Emmy's Macaroons

I was lucky enough to be allowed to sample Emmy's Organics delicious/raw/vegan macaroons.

The most difficult part of this assignment?

Deciding which flavor to try first.

I was given six delicious flavors:

Coconut Vanilla, Choco Chili, Dark Cacao

Lemon Ginger, Mint Chip, and Choco Orange

I surprised myself and started with Coconut Vanilla (I thought for sure I would tear into the chocolate).

I was kind enough to share these with my kids.  My daughter thought they tasted like vanilla ice cream...just not cold.

I have to agree with her the vanilla had a nice light and pleasing flavor.  A completely fantastic way to end a meal.

The only flavor I did not try was the Choco Chili...I don't like the two mixed together.  So I gifted them to a friend of mine, and he thought they were wonderful.

So I mentioned that they are delicious but they are also made with a short list of ingredients (always a plus sign in my book).

The coconut vanilla are made up of seven things (all of which I can pronounce and more than likely probably have in my pantry):

• organic raw shredded coconut
• organic raw agave nectar
• non-gmo almond flour
• organic raw coconut oil
• fair trade vanilla flavor (alcohol-free)
• raw vanilla bean
• himalayan crystal salt.

Not only does Emmy's make a delicious and well thought out product but they carry that through to their packaging.  The macaroon packages can be composted.  How cool is that?

I love getting behind companies that subscribe to the same types of ideals that I do.

I am happy to say I would recommend these to everyone...you just need to like coconut!

You can find Emmy's on Facebook, Twitter, and Pinterest.

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Improv Challenge Review for December

It has been such a long time but I am back in the groove and participating in the Improv Challenge again, which is graciously hosted by Kristen of Frugal Antics of a Harried Homemaker.

The challenge this month was chocolate and marshmallows.

I knew instantly that I would have a s'mores theme to my recipe but I wanted it to be a little different.

I started out by making my own marshmallows.

They weren't photo worthy, but they were easy (when you follow Anna's instructions here).

From there I went on to make s'mores cheesecake...yes it is as good as it sounds.

Start by making your crust:

1 1/2 C crushed graham crackers (I used cinnamon but the choice is yours)
3 Tbsp Earth Balance melted

Combine the two in a bowl and then press into the bottom of a spring form pan.

Bake at 350 degrees for 7-10  minutes.

Once your crust is out of the oven place a layer of marshmallow on top.

For the filling:

16 oz cream cheese (regular or vegan)
1/2 C sugar
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
2 ener-G egg replacers
3/4 C chocolate (I used semi-sweet squares chopped)

You will want your cream cheese to be at room temperature before you start working with it, it makes mixing much easier.

In a bowl combine your cream cheese, sugar, and vanilla (a stand mixer gets this job done quickly).  Once they are incorporated add your egg replacers.

With a spatula fold in your chocolate and then pour the mixture on your crust/marshmallow.

Bake at 350 degrees for 40 minutes (or until the center of the cake is set).

Allow the cheesecake to cool and then refrigerate for 3-4 hours (it just tastes better this way).

Be sure to check out the other great tasty submissions, I think you will be impressed with how creative some bloggers can be.

Happy Thursday to you all.

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Brownie Biscotti with Peppermint

Hopefully none of my kids teachers are reading this post...but I will just take the risk.

For teachers gifts this year I made brownie biscotti dipped in chocolate and peppermint, they were accompanied by a jar of homemade hot cocoa mix.

I know teacher's get tons of gifts and I always try to make the gifts something they will enjoy and something that will not clutter their houses.

The biscotti themselves are vegan, but I dipped half in white chocolate (which does contain milk) and then the other half in semi-sweet chocolate, which was free of dairy...so it was vegan.

Ingredients:

1 1/2 C all purpose unbleached flour
1 C spelt flour
1 1/3 C sugar
3/4 C unsweetened cocoa powder
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp sea salt
1/2 Earth Balance, melted
3 ener-G egg replacers
3 Tbsp almond milk
2 tsp vanilla extract

Place flour, sugar, cocoa powder, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.  Mix together with a fork and set aside.

In a separate bowl mix together your Earth Balance, vanilla, almond milk, and egg replacers.

Gradually add in your dry mixture and beat until fully incorporated.

With damp hands form two loaves (12" x 3") from the dough and place on a greased baking sheet.

Bake at 325 degrees for 30 minutes.

Allow the loaves to cool for 10-15 minutes on the baking sheet.

Remove from the sheet and slice the loaves (you should get at least 12 slices from each loaf).

Place the sliced cookies back on the baking sheet, cut side up, and bake at 325 degrees for an additional 20 minutes.

Allow them to cool before dipping (or eat them as is...I promise they are delicious just like this).

The ones dipped in semi-sweet chocolate and candy cane tasted just like a thin mint cookie from the Girl Scouts.  I happen to like those cookies A LOT so it is fortunate I've given these away and they don't have to add any inches to my waist line.

I hope you all are ready for Christmas...it is only 7 days away (not that I want that to frighten you).

What sort of gifts do you give your children's teachers?

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How do you spelt goodness?

My title is my attempt at being funny...

How it is working?

When purchasing ingredients sometimes companies are kind enough to put recipes on the packaging to give you some ideas.

For example we are all probably VERY familiar with Toll House and their cookie recipe.

Today I want to share something that I found on the back of my Arrowhead Mills Spelt flour bag (hence the spelt joke).

Spelt Chocolate Chip Cookies

1/2 C Earth Balance, softened
3/4 C turbinado sugar
1 Ener-g "egg"
1 tsp vanilla
1/2 tsp baking powder
1 3/4 C spelt flour
1/2 tsp sea salt
1/2 C vegan chocolate chips

Mix all of the ingredients in a bowl.

Take a tablespoon scoop and place about 2 in. apart on a greased cookie sheet.  They will need to be patted down if you want a flatter cookie (I found that these didn't spread as they cooked like a traditional all purpose flour cookie will).

Bake at 350 degrees for 10-12 minutes.

This recipe made 30 cookies.

They were completely delicious, of course you can't really go wrong with a chocolate chip cookie.

I really enjoy the "nuttier" flavor of the spelt flour and I think it gives it another layer of taste which just ramps up the yum factor for the cookie.

I hope you all have a wonderful weekend.  I have decorating and cookie baking to do?  What is on your to do list?

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Peanut Butter Shortbread

I was given an opportunity by Mom Central and Food Lion to participate in a bake off blog tour.

I thought about what I wanted to present and instead of going with a family favorite I went with something new:

Peanut Butter Shortbread

The recipe is easy but delicious!

You can put these together in about 20 minutes.  Which makes them perfect for throwing together for a teacher's gift, or maybe for a holiday pot luck.

Ingredients

6 oz unbleached all purpose flour
2 oz sugar
4 oz smooth peanut butter
2 oz Earth Balance (or butter if you prefer)

Soften the peanut butter and Earth Balance in a bowl and add in your flour and sugar.

Stir until combined and then press into an 8x8 pan and bake at 350 degrees for 12 minutes.

Allow them to cool completely and then top with melted semi-sweet chocolate.

I used 2 semi sweet baking squares melted in the microwave to top these treats.

Allow the chocolate to cool before cutting into squares.

Do you have a recipe that your family loves?

Food Lion is hosting a baking contest through November 28th.  Entries can be submitted here.

You can enter recipes into four categories:  Appetizer, Main Dish, Side item, and Dessert.  Twelve lucky grand prize winners will receive a $500 Food Lion gift card....that is a lot of food for the holiday time!

So get baking and submit your entries today!!!

I wrote this review while participating in a blog tour for Mom Central Consulting on behalf of Food Lion. I received a promotional item to facilitate my shopping experience and review

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Vegan Palm Sugar Cupcakes

On Friday I had a bit of a panic when I realized I was supposed to bring in 4 dozen cupcakes for a quarterly birthday celebration in my 10 year old's classroom.

Have no fear!

With a copious amount of baking ingredients on hand I was very pleasantly surprised to turn out these beauties:

Palm Sugar Cupcakes (vegan)

2 1/2 C all purpose unbleached flour

2 1/2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp sea salt

2/3 C Earth Balance (softened)

1 3/4 C palm sugar

1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract

2 egg substitutes (I used ener-G egg replacers)

1 1/4 C almond milk

Combine everything in a bowl and mix until combined.

Pour into cupcake liners and bake at 375 degrees for 18-20 minutes (until a toothpick comes out clean when inserted into the center).

This should make about 30 cupcakes (just make sure you use about a tablespoon of batter per liner).

Now these are delicious on their own but they taste EVEN better when topped with vegan chocolate buttercream.

The cake is moist and light.  

The palm sugar gives the cake a toasted flavor to it which really gives it another layer to put it a step ABOVE just a regular cupcake.

I had to have a bite....I just couldn't help myself.

How palm sugar is made is pretty cool.  Take a moment and head over to Wholesome Sweeteners and check out their process.

What flavors of cupcakes do you enjoy?

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It's Big, It's Huge, It's Vegan MoFo

This year I have decided to join up with tons of other bloggers and participate in the Vegan MoFo.

MoFo you ask?

Vegan Month of Food...get your mind out of the gutter I wasn't talking about THAT kind of mofo.

I am very excited and a little nervous as most bloggers will post every day of the month...YIKES!

To make things more complex I am also doing the October Unprocessed 2012 challege (where I eat food that I either make myself or COULD make myself using whole foods NO processed foods).

I know I can do this.

I know I can talk about all things vegan and unprocessed for one month.

So to start things off I have Hershey's chocolate cake veganized.

It had to be a dessert because the chocolate will calm my nerves as I prep for what lies ahead.

Hershey's "Perfectly Chocolate" Cake

2 C sugar
1 3/4 C all purpose unbleached flour
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
1 C almond milk (I chose unflavored)
2 tsp vanilla extract
3/4 C cocoa powder (I used Ghiradelli)
1 1/2 tsp baking soda
2 ener-G egg replacer eggs
1/2 C vegetable oil
1 C boiling water

Grease two 9-inch round cake pans.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Put all of your dry ingredients in a bowl and mix with a fork.

Add eggs, milk, oil, and vanilla (beat for about 2 minutes).

Add in your boiling water.  This will make your batter very thin...but trust me the result is AWESOME!

Bake the cakes for 30-35 minutes

"Perfectly Chocolate" chocolate frosting

1 stick Earth Balance
2/3 C cocoa
3 C powdered sugar
1/3 C almond milk
1 tsp vanilla extract

Melt your Earth Balance and then stir in your cocoa. 

Alternate adding powdered sugar and milk.  If you think the frosting is too thick add just  bit more milk.  For mine the 1/3 C milk was perfect.

Add in your vanilla (you should have about 2 cups of frosting) and then spread on your cooled cake.

I added some candles because tomorrow is my birthday.

I encourage you to check out the other bloggers participating in Vegan MoFo maybe it will inspire you to replace some of your conventional foods with vegan friendly options.

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WIAW The Scratch Edition

Welcome to the weekly party that is What I Ate Wednesday hosted by the lovely Jenn from Peas and Crayons.

The theme this month is "fall"ing into good habits.



Last week I announced that I have gone vegan and guess what?

I still am vegan.

I am loving the daily joy of figuring out how to eat (I know eventually it will become second nature).

I must say that I haven't enjoyed food this much in quite a while.

Now that it isn't 100 degrees outside (I mean who wants to bake in that heat) I have cranked out a few yummies:

Breakfast vegan buttermilk biscuits with baked apples and caramel:

Lunch (I didn't eat it but the hubs did) quick dough stromboli (recipe will be posted tomorrow):

Dinner wasn't terribly exciting so let's skip to the dessert...OOH this is just the best dessert.

Ultimate Chocolate Fudge Pie from Chocolate Covered Katie topped with Coconut Whipped Cream from Oh She Glows:

Holy Cow this pie took the cake for the weekend of scratch made items.

The pie is rich and creamy and bursting with chocolate flavor yet not heavy on the calories (I think Katie worked it out to 143 for 1/8 of the pie).

The coconut whipped cream was so much fun to make.  As soon as I saw the post from Angela I KNEW I had to make it.  It was so simple and delicious (and follow Angela's advice and be sure to put in the vanilla).

Both of these ladies are indeed rock stars and that is why they are both writing books to be published in the near future.

So have you eaten anything this week that just knocked your socks off?

Be sure to head over to Peas and Crayons and check out the other delicious eats from my fellow blogging buddies.

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Friday Pinterest Cravings

Today is Friday...WOOHOO!

I have had some delicious vegan food this week, and I really haven't had much in the way of dessert.

I have a serious craving today for chocolate.

I know you get it too.

To help sate that feeling I pinned several vegan delights via Pinterest and wanted to share them with you today:

Source: premieremoisson.com via Mags on Pinterest

Source: askannamoseley.com via Amanda on Pinterest

Source: chocolatecoveredkatie.com via Michaela on Pinterest

Source: chocolatecoveredkatie.com via Jumana on Pinterest

I now sufficiently have a tooth ache and feel a bit of sugar overload...but sometimes it is worth it.

I hope you all have a lovely weekend.  I am looking forward to heading to the farmers market to see what great finds I can come upon.

What are you cooking/baking this weekend?

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Vegan Apple Pie

Yesterday on my What I Ate Wednesday post I featured a picture of the apple pie I made with my 9 year old:

(this pie)

I made a homemade crust, and for the first time succeed (previous crusts have all sucked and failed).

I used Mama Pea's recipe from her book.  I chose it because it doesn't call for shortening in the dough.

I just find shortening completely disgusting.

For the filling I used apples which I got for free...WOOHOO!

My mother-in-law has apple trees and for 12 years I never knew they were there...you would be correct in guessing that I will be raiding those trees every year from here on out.

Apple Pie Filling:

1/2 C Earth Balance

3 Tbsp All Purpose flour

1/4 C water

1/2 C sugar

1/2 C packed brown sugar

8 apples sliced (I like to leave the peel on but feel free to remove it).

Preheat your oven to 425 degrees.

In a pot melt the Earth Balance and then stir in your flour to for a paste/roux.

Once the mixture has thickened (to a frosting like consistency) add in your sugars and water.

Stir together and bring to a boil.  Once boiling reduce to a simmer.

Place your apple slices in the pie crust and pour the syrup mixture on top.

Bake at 425 for 15 minutes then turn down to 350 degrees and resume baking for 30 to 45 minutes.

Please allow to cool before cutting  and trust me the syrup is hot and should not be touched NO MATTER HOW GOOD IT LOOKS (might be from personal experience here).

I did want to add on a side note.

Once we got rolling on this process I realized we have no brown sugar.

Holy Crap!  Who runs out of brown sugar?

Well a quick search of the internet and I found this great short cut:

1 C sugar

2 Tbsp molasses

Put in a food processor, allow to mix until combined, and you then have brown sugar.

This was cool, a lot like when I found out you could make your own powdered sugar (thanks to Anna of Crunchy, Creamy, Sweet).

Have you ever started a recipe and realized you were out of an ingredient?

What did you do (run to the store or find a homemade solution)?

If there are other homemade solutions I would love to hear them.

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WIAW Vegan Treats

I have been vegetarian for a year.

And last week I decided I was ready to make the leap to vegan.

I decided that cheese was no longer going to hold me back from obtaining my goal.

I have inadvertently, although it coincides nicely with Jenn's theme, decided to fall into some healthier habits.

So let's dig into the eats this week.

For breakfast I have really been stuck on drinking this cinnamon bun smoothie:

And of course there is plenty of water...must stay hydrated.

This weekend I had the same lunch on Sunday as I did dinner on Monday...socca pizza.

The socca recipe is care of Laura from Sprint 2 The Table.

Oh my goodness this is fabulous, and I may never go back to traditional pizza again.

To make the recipe a little more frugal/cost effective I ground my own flour (a stride I am taking to fall in healthier habits).  If you haven't tried this I promise it is easy peasy, I posted about it here.

To top pizza I used Dianne's, from Veggie Girl, cashew cheese.  I was a little timid to try this but once I tasted it...I was in, this stuff is the bomb.  I think my next batch will include a little sriracha (I like to kick things up a notch).

I finished topping the pizza with Trader Joe's Red Pepper Spread with Eggplant and Garlic:

This combined with the cheese as well as spinach and tomatoes from my garden made for a meal that was out of this world...and one that apparently I needed to eat twice in two days.

Now I can't forget about dessert, because it was equally as delicious as the rest.

The impetus for making dessert was my 9 year old...he really loves pie.

So I used Mama Pea's vegan whole wheat crust, which I found in her fantastic book :)

And made this vegan apple pie (recipe will be posted tomorrow):

So these are my eats and I have to say the first week of being vegan was very tasty.  I look forward to growing my knowledge and branching out to more deliciousness.

On aside, as I am a proud little mama, my baby girl Caroline started ballet.  I was filled with joy last night as we attended her first lesson.

All of my fond memories of taking dance flooded back as I got her dressed.  I hope she enjoys it as much as I did :)

Happy Wednesday to you all and be sure to head over to our lovely hostess Jenn's place and check out what other bloggers had to eat.  I guarantee it will be some good stuff.

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Pumpkin Chiffon Pie

I promised to share with you a recipe that would remind you of fall and so today I am sharing with you my Nana's Pumpkin Chiffon Pie.

Why make pumpkin pie in the summer when it is traditionally a fall delicacy? 

Because my 9 year old who never specifically asks for a dessert asked if I could make him a pie.

On hand I had everything for pumpkin, all other pie recipes would have required a quick trip to the store.

This recipe makes 2 pies so you, or your child, can be doubly happy.

Mary's Pumpkin Chiffon Pie

3/4 C dark brown sugar
1 envelope unflavored gelatin
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1/4 tsp ginger
3 slightly beaten egg yolks
3/4 C almond milk
1 1/4 C canned pumpkin
3 egg whites
1/3 C sugar

On medium heat in a sauce pan combine brown sugar, gelatin, salt, and spices. 

Combine the egg yolks and milk and then add to sauce pan.

Stir constantly until mixture comes to a boil.

Remove from heat and stir in pumpkin.

Allow mixture to chill (I put it in the fridge for about an hour).  The mixture should mound slightly when spooned out, that is how you know it is ready.

While the mixture is cooling beat egg whites to soft peaks and then gradually add sugar.

Continue beating until stiff.

Fold into your pumpkin mixture (below is a quick video if you need a visual on how to fold without deflating your egg whites).



Divide your pumpkin mix between two pie shells and cook at 350 degrees for 40 minutes (or until the pie is firm to the touch).

The pie was delicious and just the right amound of spice, just like I remember having at my Nana's house.

Was there a special dessert that you got at your grandmother's house? 

Now that I have made her version I am going to test a little and try a vegan version to see if it comes out as yummy.  If it does I will be sure to share it with you.

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Vegan Chocolate Chocolate Chip Zucchini Cake

No I didn't stutter I just made a delicious cake that happens to have a double dose of chocolate.

Our garden this year decided to produce zucchini the size of my forearm which has meant needing to find many uses for this large squash.

Enter the chocolate chocolate chip zucchini cake.

My children are always fans of cake and adding a little chocolate to it never hurts.

3 flax eggs
1 C vegetable oil
2 C cane sugar
1 Tbsp vanilla extract
3 C grated zucchini
2 C all purpose flour
1 C white wheat flour (King Arthur is what I used)
3 Tbsp unsweetened cocoa powder
1 tsp sea salt (I used pink Himalayan)
1 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp baking powder
1/2 C chocolate chips

Prep the flax eggs first by taking 3 Tbsp ground flax meal and combining with 9 Tbsp water.  Whisk together and allow to sit for a minute or two until thickened.

To the eggs add your vegetable oil, sugar, vanilla extract, and zucchini.  Mix until thoroughly combined.

In a separate bowl combine the remaining ingredients, except for the chocolate chips, and then slowly incorporate with the bowl of wet ingredients.

Once combined pour in your chocolate chips and mix some more.

You can bake this in either 2 loaf pans or a bundt pan (just be sure to grease and flour the pans).

Bake at 325 degrees for 1 hour (about 40 minutes if you are using a convection oven).

Allow to cool for 10 minutes in the pan and then turn it out onto a plate.

I ramped up the dessert aspect of this by adding a glaze.

1 C powdered sugar
2 Tbsp almond milk
1 tsp vanilla extract

I poured this over the top and YUM! 

I hope you all have a wonderful Tuesday and be sure to enter my Almond Breeze almond milk giveaway (it ends tomorrow, Wednesday August 8th).

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Blueberry Lemon Cheesecake

Last night I looked at my ingredients and was inspired to make a dessert.

I had fresh blueberries from the farmer's market and vegan cream cheese (compliments of Follow Your Heart).

I decided vegan blueberry cheesecake was in order and I thought "Hey let's throw in some lemon."

I felt I needed some inspiration and had to look no further than Inspired Taste.  Adam's fantastic photography and Joanne's delicious recipes are enough to make your mouth water. 

I searched around their site and found this recipe.

I made some modifications.

For the crust:

6 Lucy's Ginger Snap cookies
1 Tbsp sugar
1/8 C Earth Balance melted

Crush the cookies, my favorite method is in a ziploc bag and then smash the hell out of it with a meat tenderizer. 

Mix with sugar and Earth Balance then press into your dish.

Bake at 325 degrees for 10 minutes.

I have a sidebar here to illustrate just how much fun it is to have kids.

While the crust is cooking I hear a phrase I don't ever want to hear again "Mommy I have a kernel up my nose."

Seriously?  Who thinks it is a good idea to put a popcorn kernel UP your nose?  Well apparently Caroline did.  However after several attempts to get it out (q-tip, tweezers, bulb suringe, and pepper) it fell out due to her nose being a little lubed up from crying.

It was a harrowing 25 minutes and luckily I was able to get my crust out without burning it and allowed it to cool before I moved on to the next step.

Continuing with the recipe...

For the cheesecake

8 oz vegan cream cheese (I recommend Follow Your Heart)
zest of 1 lemon
juice of 1 lemon
1 "egg" (I used ener-g egg replacer)
1/4 C sugar

I put all of the ingredients in a food processor and whipped it together in no time.

OH MY GOODNESS!

It was good enough to eat straight out of the food processor as a dip (and since it was vegan there was no fear of food issues like salmonella)...I know because me and the boys tried it (several times).

Place the lemon cream mixture in your cooled crust them top with fresh blueberries.

I baked it for 40 minutes at 325 degrees (with a convection oven).  It will take a little longer if you use a conventional oven.

The cheesecake came out a little thin, but the flavor is PHENOMENAL.

The vegan cream cheese reacts and turns out just as regular cream cheese would, and this for me is a big plus, as I am a big cheesecake fan.  Now I can enjoy it vegan and take another step towards less dependance on dairy products.

Next time I make it I will double the recipe so that it will be typical cheesecake size.

I hope you all have a fantastic Tuesday and as a public service announcement "be aware of popcorn kernels you never know what trouble lurks."

If you have kids have they ever put anything up their noses?  Or as a child did you ever?

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Triple Threat Brownies

For Father's Day this weekend my husband had one request "to sleep in."

Well he got his wish, but I really couldn't just leave it at that. 

The least I could do was bake him a delicious dessert to go with dinner.

The tough part was deciding what type of dessert to make.

I always go for cake right off the bat, but he doesn't like that so much.  He is more of a cookie and brownie kind of guy.

So I decided to make him brownies and fill them with three different kinds of chips (chocolate, peanut butter, and white chocolate).

Triple Threat Brownies

1 2/3 C sugar
3/4 C butter (melted)
2 Tbsp water
2 large eggs
2 tsp vanilla extract
1 1/3 C all purpose flour
3/4 C baking cocoa
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 C chocolate chips
1/4 C peanut butter chips
1/4 C white chocolate chips

Combine your sugar, butter, and water.

Stir in your eggs and vanilla extract.

Combine flour, cocoa, baking powder, and salt.  Then add to wet mixture.

Mix in your chocolate chips.

Spread into a greased 9x13 pan and top with peanut butter and white chocolate chips.

Bake at 350 degrees for 18 minutes (or until a toothpick comes out clean).

As you can see I didn't go the healthy route I went completely BAD...but hey it is only Father's Day once a year.

Substitutions could easily be made to make this vegan, but my husband SOMETIMES gets tired of my substitutions and just craves treats made the old fashioned way (with fat and animal products)...who am I not to oblige, after all he helped me create three of the most precious children ever.

(sometimes it is hard to get a shot of them all happy at once)

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Caramel Birthday Cake for Mom

This past Sunday was my mom's birthday (to protect the innocent I won't reveal her age)

She asked for a pound cake with caramel frosting.

There was a standard to live up to, as the best pound cake with caramel frosting comes from a woman by the name of Frances who ran my youth group when I was younger.

I was pretty sure I wouldn't live up to Frances' standards, but I gave it my best shot anyway.

I took a recipe of my grandmother's for pound cake but made the error of using all purpose flour instead of cake flour.

This wasn't a complete fail, but the cake turned out a bit more dense than I would have liked it.

So here is the final product:

I took the picture in the Mexican restaurant we went to (sorry I should have taken the time to style it).

Nana's Pound Cake

2 sticks butter
1 3/4 C sugar
5 eggs
2 C cake flour
1/2 tsp salt
2 tsp vanilla

Cream your butter and sugar with an electric mixer.

Add eggs one at a time (incorporate fully before adding next egg).

Fold in flour, salt, and vanilla.

Pour into greased and floured bundt pan.

Bake for 70-80 minutes at 350 degrees.

For the frosting I went with a recipe I found of Paula Deen's (I figure she knows what to do with butter and sugar).

1 stick butter
1 C packed brown sugar
1/3 C heavy cream
16 oz (1 box) confectioner's sugar
1 tsp vanilla

Melt butter in saucepan over medium heat.

Add brown sugar and heavy cream, bring to a boil.

Pour in mixing bowl and add vanilla and confectioner's sugar.

Beat with an electric hand held mixer until it reaches spreading consistency.

This was the easiest frosting to make.  I was quite intimidated as caramel makes me nervous, but I couldn't have been more pleased with the turn out.

By the looks on their faces I have to say I think they were pleased:

I am going to keep working on the pound cake, because it wasn't exactly what I wanted.  If any of you have suggestions for good pound cake recipes comment below, or e-mail them to me, I would love to give them a try.

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Muffin Fail Turned into Muffin Bites

Last night I had the grand idea I would take a vegan blueberry muffin recipe and make it donuts...just by baking it in a donut pan.

FAIL!

The dough definitely needed to be firmer.  Oh well you learn something from moments like this.

My kids ate the donuts anyway with a little maple syrup on top (as if they were pancakes) and declared they were delicious.

That certainly helped with the defeat I was feeling.

So not only did the donuts not come out of the pan right neither did the mini muffins I made with the left over batter.

I lost about 8 mini donuts to crumbles (such a sad little bunch).

I salked about it a little and then thought "Hey what if these were like cake pops?"

So I commenced to smashing the hell out of the crumbles to prep for the homemade icing featuring these:

Gorgeous delicious meyer lemons from the wonderful people at Dandy Fresh.

For the icing:

juice from two lemons
zest from the same two lemons
powdered sugar

Mix all of the ingredients in a bowl.  You want enough powdered sugar so that the mixture isn't too runny but you also don't want it too think.  The purpose of it is to hold the muffin crumbs together.

Pour enough icing on the crumbs to moisten and so you can form into balls.

Place balls into freezer for at least 30 minutes before coating.

To coat I thought about using white chocolate, but decided the meyer lemon icing was too good to go to waste.

So I coated the frozen balls in it and returned them to the freezer overnight.

This morning they came out beautifully.

A little birdie appears to have taken a nibble out of it...I don't want to name name's but I suspect the culprit is about 2 years old and answers to the name Caroline.

But seriously could you deny this little face?

Yeah me neither, which is why I let her polish it off.

As I am still in the midst of my cleanse I did not have any of these tasty morsels...but I will make them again.

Now for a quick update.

In this past week I have lost a total of 3 lbs (down to 152). 

For the sake of punishing myself science I tried taking a tablespoon of olive oil at night to see what that was like.

Well I almost threw it up in the sink.  Oh my goodness it was oh so nasty and the reminder of it will probably haunt me the rest of my days.

Now some people may be able to get it down...BUT NOT ME.

I will stick to the nightly dose of fiber, which I am actually getting used to.  The flavor is mainly flax so it isn't too bad to get down.  The trick has been to keep stirring the mixture so that the flax doesn't all fall to the bottom.

Well I hope you all have a wonderful weekend.  My mother-in-law is coming up for a visit so I am sure good times will be had by all.

Also be sure, if you haven't done so already, to enter my Gardein giveaway here (it is open till Sunday March 4th).

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Carrots and Ginger an Improv Challenge

Happy Thursday one and all.

Today is the reveal day for the monthly Improv Challenge hosted by Kristen of Frugal Antics of a Harried Homemaker.

The two ingredients we were challenged with was carrots and ginger.

As soon as I heard this I knew exactly what I wanted to make, and then I modified it.

Carrot Donuts with Ginger Turbinado Sugar

1 3/4 C all-purpose unbleached flour
1/3 C sugar
2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
1 flax egg (1 Tbsp ground flax meal & 3 Tbsp water whipped)
3/4 almond milk
1/2 C unsweetened applesauce (I used homemade)
3/4 C grated carrots

Combine all of the ingredients together.  If you really want to put all of your dry ingredients in one bowl and mix and then put all of your wet ingredients in another bowl AND then combine the two you can.  I just don't possess a ton of patience and so I combine everything into one bowl.

You can spoon your dough directly into your greased donut pan, OR

You can scoop it into a plastic bag, nip the tip, and pipe the dough into your pan (it just makes it a little neater as long as your tip wasn't nipped too big).

I know I just said I didn't have any patience but I did pipe the dough.

To give the donuts a little extra zing I combined some fresh ginger and turbinado sugar for a couple of days.

The sugar was sprinkled on top of the donuts just before I put it in the oven.

Bake at 400 degrees for 10-12 minutes.

For a little extra love I added a vegan buttercream on top.

1 Tbsp Earth Balance softened
1 tsp almond milk
a tiny splash of vanilla extract
powdered sugar (add enough for your desired thickness)

The result was pure deliciousness and not much guilt.

Be sure to check out the other wonderful creations my fellow bloggers have come up with. 

Oh and also I would like to announce the winner of my Food Should Taste Good giveaway.  The lucky comment was # 33 from Maggie who write the fantastic blog Kitchie Coo.

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Vegan Brownie Pie

This past weekend my kids and I wanted to celebrate my husband's birthday (a little early).

I think it is because they wanted some cake love him so.

I asked him what kind of treat he would like...which I knew would be like pulling teeth.

See Kyle isn't one for sweets and really he only had one request...he wanted oreos in it.

Well of course I could accomodate him.

I decided I would create for him a brownie pie with oreo crust.

The chocolate all blended together so that you couldn't see the crust, but I promise the overload of sweet does hit you.

For Crust
20 organic chocolate sandwich cookies
1 Tbsp Earth Balance, melted

Take the cookies and smash the hell out of crush them in a gallon ziploc bag with a rolling pin.

Add your Earth Balance and then press into a spring form pan.

Bake at 350 degrees for 10 minutes.

Brownie filling was from Colleen Patrick Goudreau's The Joy of Vegan Baking (which as a side note is just a wonderful book for some very delicious desserts).

Pour the prepared brownie on top of the crust and bake for an additional 40 minutes.

The result was pure joy from my house...mainly because Caroline was so very excited to sing "Happy Birthday."

What is your favorite cake to have for your birthday?

I hope you all have a wonderful Thursday.

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