Halloween Cupcakes (Vegan)

BOO!

I love halloween. You have no idea. I don't know if its the scary things, costumes, treats, or the parties. I guess I love it all. So lets combine my love of food with my love for Halloween:

I don't get to bake a whole lot, but I really wanted to try my hand at vegan cupcakes. After a lot of research, I settled on this cupcake and frosting recipe. The cupcake is light and fluffy, with a hint of coconut. The frosting is sweet, but not too sweet, and has a hint of lime. Combined, they taste like a pina colada / margarita in your mouth!

My family actually really loved this, and even though they do not have sweet tooths, they still ate them up :) They look a little scary, but they really are the cutest, sweetest things... muHAHAHAHA.

Halloween Cupcakes (Vegan)

40 min total, Serves 18

Cupcake

• 1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar
• 1 1/2 cups almond milk
• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 cup white sugar
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 cup coconut oil, warmed until liquid*
• 1 1/4 teaspoons vanilla extract
  
  1. 1. 
        1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease muffin pans or line with paper baking cups.
        2. Measure almond milk into a 2 cup measuring cup. Add apple cider vinegar to milk and give a quick stir. Let the milk mix stand until curdled, about 5 minutes. In a large bowl, whisk together flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda and salt. In a separate bowl, whisk together the milk mixture with liquid coconut oil and vanilla. Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and stir just until blended. Spoon the batter into the prepared cups, dividing evenly.
        3. Bake in the preheated oven until the tops spring back when lightly pressed, about 17-20 minutes. Cool the cupcakes in their pan, setting the pan over a wire rack.

Frosting

1 1/2 Avocados, peeled and pitted

juice from a lime, freshly squeezed

3/4 package of 1 lb confectioners sugar

2 1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract

1. Combine avocado and lime juice in a bowl. Mash the two together and blend using hand blender or transfer ingredients to an upright blender. Once the ingredients look smoother, add the sugar in small batches and continue to blend. Once completely smooth, add vanilla and blend until color is even.

2. Spread frosting over cooled cupcakes with a spoon. Add additional decorations and allow to set at room temperature.

*Found the coconut oil at Fred Meyers in their organic/health foods section. Its a solid that comes in a jar, so it needs to be scooped out, warmed to a liquid, and then used. I bought the organic coconut oil, scooped it into a bowl, microwaved on medium for about 30 seconds and then stirred. I repeated this for maybe 2 minutes more, stopping at 30 seconds each time.

Here are the links I went by:

Cupcake

http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Vegan-Cupcakes/Detail.aspx?src=etaf

Frosting

http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Avocado-Icing/Detail.aspx?src=etaf

Aubergine and Bulgur Salad

Originally the recipe calls for couscous but my friend had a small tub off bulgur wheat that I couldn't let go to waste. Whipped it up for a friends bbq. One person told me "ew", another said "yum". I liked it so, XP

Aubergine and Bulgur Wheat Salad
20 minutes, Serves 6

olive oil
1 aubergine*, chopped into chunky
1/2 onion, chopped

1/2 zucchini, chopped
5 baby portobello mushrooms
10 cherry tomatoes
Salt and pepper
1 tablespoon garlic, minced
1 cup parsley, finely chopped
2 cups bulgur wheat or couscous

1. Heat a nonstick skillet to medium high. Once warm, lower to medium and add a tablespoon of olive oil, move pan to spread around.

2. Season aubergine with a little olive oil, salt and pepper and grill for a 5 minutes or until they start to brown. Add onion, zucchini, mushrooms, cherry tomatoes, and cherry tomatoes to the pan and continue to cook until all the vegetables are tender crisp.

3. In a seperate pan, heat cooked bulgur wheat or couscous with garlic and parsley. Continue to cook until garlic is fragrant and add the cooked vegetables. Mix well and serve immediately for a warm salad or cold as an easy lunch.

*Aubergine is just a fancy word for eggplant

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Phyllo Pizza

Whenever Friday comes around, I get a sudden craving for pizza. Or maybe its cheese in general... I don't understand it really. But here is a quick way to get a pizza going using Phyllo dough! Did you know: Pepperidge Farm makes theirs vegan friendly??

It's almost impossible to mess this pizza up. You should find the light crispy crust sandwhiched with gooey cheese irresistible.

Phyllo Pizza
25 min, Serves 2

5 sheets of phyllo dough, unfrozen
non-stick spray
1/2 cup mozzarella cheese
1/2 cup parmesan cheese
1/2 cup feta cheese
salt and pepper
(optional) italian seasoning
2 cups tomato, sliced thinly
2 garlic cloves, minced or crushed
2 tablespoon green onion, sliced
1 cup basil, fresh OR 1 tablespoon basil, dried

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.
2. Mix cheeses, salt and pepper, and seasonings in a small bowl.
3. Unroll unfrozen phyllo dough and cut in half lengthwise. Spray baking sheet with non-stick spray. Layer 2 pieces of phyllo on baking sheet and spray. Spread part of cheese mix on top and cover with one sheet of phyllo. Repeat spray-cheese-dough (1 piece) process until two pieces of phyllo are left. Put the last two on top together. Spread any remaining cheese on top.
4. Evenly spread tomato slices on top, followed by garlic, green onion. When oven is ready, bake for 20 min or until crust has turned golden brown and cheese has melted. Sprinkle basil over the top and enjoy!

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Quinoa Salad

Thank you Christina!

She introduced to me my first quinoa salad, and I can't stop looking for recipes and using it. Quinoa... pronounced "KEEN-WAH" can be found in stores in natural sections in either white or red. Usually its white, but Trader Joes has organic red, which is the one I buy. For something so tiny, its very filling and has much better nutrients than regular rice or even brown rice! It's easy to use, and cheap (at Trader Joes at least) and a little goes a long way. I like.

I cut the regular recipe in half (maybe even a quarter??) because I would have to end up eating this a whole week if I were to try to finish it on my own. Quinoa is great with fresh vegetables and adding avocado adds a nice soft creamy texture to the salad. Use any left over fresh vegetable in your fridge and it'll still taste great. It's perfect cold so its a home run for the summer table.

Quinoa Salad

20 min, serves 2

1/2 cup red quinoa

1 cup water

2 celery stalks, chopped

1/2 cucumber, chopped

1 jalapeno, diced

1/2 red onion, diced

1 cup cooked corn kernels

5 sesame leaves, julienned

1 tomato, diced

2 tablespoon lemon juice

1 tablespoon red wine vinegar

salt and pepper to taste

1. Rinse quinoa in cold water a few times (very important). Bring water to a boil and add quinoa. Lower heat and simmer for about 10-15 min until excess liquid is gone.

2. While the quinoa is cooking, prepare all vegetables and place together in a bowl.

3. Once the quinoa is done cooking, remove from heat and fluff with a fork. Allow to cool. Add quinoa to the vegetables and season with lemon juice, vinegar, salt and pepper.

Keep refrigerated for up to 3 days. Try using red bell peppers, avocados, tiny shrimp, cilantro, whatever you have!

Kimchee Pizza

Have you ever seen that Skittle commercial, where the Korean kid was growing up in Scotland so he had that crazy Asian-Scottish accent? Well, thats a little like kimchee pizza. The Korean flavors piled on to the Italian pizza pie is a little crazy sounding, but surprisingly delicious and very easy to make. And no, I do not find little Korean-Scottish boys tasty.

Kimchee Pizza
30 min, serves 2



1 whole wheat Flatout wrap*
2 tablespoon Gochujang
1 teaspoon sesame oil
2 cloves garlic, minced

1 teaspoon sugar

vegetable oil

1/2 cup zucchini, sliced

1/2 cup baby portobello mushrooms, sliced

1/2 onion, sliced

1 cup kimchee, chopped

1 teaspoon margarine

1 green onion, diced

1/2 cup mozzarella cheese

1. Preheat oven (or toaster oven) to 350 F.
2. Lightly spray wrap on both sides. Toast in oven once preheated, do not let it lose all moisture.
3. In a small saucer, mix gochujang (spicy korean chili paste), sesame oil, garlic, and sugar together. Set aside.
4. In a frying pan, add oil and stir fry zucchini, mushrooms, and onion until soft. Set aside.
5. In the same pan, add the margarine and stir fry kimchee until soft. If it becomes too dry, you can add a little water to the pan. Set kimchee aside once cooked.

6. On the toasted wrap, add the sauce, spreading evenly. Top with stir fried vegetables, and then kimchee on top. Sprinkle the cheese and top with green onions.

7. Add pizza back into the oven until cheese begins to melt. Slice and serve immediately.

*Feel free to use any type of pizza crust. I use Flatout brand because its oval shape, nutritional value, and its tendency to toast to a thin crispy crust.

Blueberry Cornbread Muffins

Another blueberry recipe! Today was the type of Sunday morning that required baking. My family loves cornbread muffins so I baked some cornbread blueberry muffins today. I didnt want to use butter as the original recipe asked for so I substituted in yogurt instead. Too bad I woke up hours after they did so they havent tried them yet. I also cut the recipe in half because we usually end up wasting baked goods.

Blueberry Cornbread Muffins
30 min, serves 6


1 1/4 cup corn flour (Bob's Red Mill brand)
1/2 brown sugar, loosely packed
pinch of salt
1/2 tablespoon baking powder
1/2 cup almond milk
1/2 cup butter or 3 tablespoons yogurt
1 egg white
1 cup of fresh blueberries


1. Preheat oven to 375 F. Grease muffin cups or line with cupcake liners.
2. Sift flour, sugar, salt and baking powder into a bowl.
3. Combine milk, butter or yogurt, and egg white in a seperate bowl. Mix ingredients well.
4. Add blueberries to dry ingredients and mix. Add wet ingredients by spoonful until the batter is moistened. Spoon batter into prepared muffin tins.
5. Bake in preheated muffin for 20 minutes. Let muffins cool for 10 minutes before loosening them from the pan.

Blueberry Chick Pea Pancakes

I LOVE BLUEBERRIES!!They are all over the place, and nothing like locally grown blueberries to sweeten the pallate. Also, blueberries have many health benefits! Their loaded with antioxidant anthocyanins, vitamin C and help prevent vision degeneration diseases, several cancers, and helps boost brain power. Recently I discovered chickpea flour from Bob's Red Mill. I like that I can use it to make breading, but get the protien punch with it. It definitely has a nuttier taste, and will take some time to get used to. If you feel its too much, just cut the flour in half and replace it with regular baking flour. I followed this recipe from Organic.org with a few adjustments according what I had in my cupboard.

Blueberry Chick Pea Pancakes
20 min, serves 4

1 cup chick pea (garbanzo bean) flour
3/4 cup-1 cup rice, soy or almond milk
1 large egg
1 tablespoon grapeseed oil
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 quart of fresh blueberries or 8 ounce bag of frozen blueberries, defrosted



1. In medium mixing bowl, beat the eggs thoroughly. Add milk and oil and beat again. Stir 2/3 of the blueberries into the mixture. Ladle spoonfuls of batter into a well-oiled, heated skillet. Skillet will be ready when drops of water dances and evaporates.
2. Turn pancakes when the edges are brown and bubbles start to pop through the center of the pancake. Add oil or non stick spray as needed. Sweeten the stacks of pancakes with fresh blueberries, yogurt, honey, or the sweetener of your choice.