Lemon Poppy Seed Muffins

This is a delicious but simple recipe from a wonderful chef Isa Chandra Moskowitz author of Vegan Brunch and also the co-author behind one of my all time favorite vegan cookbooks, Veganomicon. 
These muffins are the right combination of lemon and poppy seed, the only modification I made was I put a small amount of confectioners sugar and water mixture on the top for a little more sweetness.  It wasn't necessary but it was tasty and decorative!

Ingredients:
• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 2/3 cup sugar
• 1 tbsp baking powder
• 5 tsp poppy seeds
• 1/2 tsp salt

• 3/4 cup soy milk
• 1/4 cup fresh lemon juice
• 1/2 cup canola oil
• 2 tbsp lemon zest
• 2 tsp pure vanilla extract

Directions:

Preheat oven 375.  Mix the first five ingredients, I used a stand mixer but you could also do this by hand.  In a separate bowl mix the wet ingredients, make a well in the center of the dry ingredients, then mix the wet ingredients in, mix until smooth and place in a muffin tin 3/4 of they way fell back for 23 to 27 minutes.

 

Yum and done!

Healthy Top Vegan Whipped Cream

Healthy Top is a vegan whipped cream by MimicCream.  It is a wonderful alternative to dairy creams.  I have used it a few times each time with great results.  It is made from both cashews and almonds.  It is best to chill the carton for at least 30 minutes before whipping.  Then it is as simple as emptying the carton into your mixer and mixing for about 4 minutes.  Then it is ready to serve.  It can also be chilled for later use.  It doesn't last that long in our house but it will stay fresh for 7 days after whipping!




Here is the carton ready to be whipped

almost fully whipped!

Yum and done!

Tropical Muffins

This is a recipe I am currently working on so I am not ready to post the actual recipe yet but I am getting close.  The inspiration for these is simply someplace warm!  I am so sick of winter and I just want a little sunshine in my life or I guess in my mouth.  I am taking a traditional banana bread/muffin recipe and adding other fruits.  This round I added dried pineapple, that I rehydrated and banana as well as fresh vanilla.  The pineapple gave it a good flavor but it was a bit chewy.  So back to the drawing board, well the cutting board anyway!  I plan to post my new results sometime in the next week.  I think it is going to be very exciting and delicious!

Yum and done!

Mississippi Mud Cookies from Vegan Crunk

This recipe came up in my facebook feed and I knew I needed to try it!  It is from a fellow blogger Bianca, her blog is Vegan Crunk.  This recipe is for Mississippi Mud Cookies.  They are delicious and easy to make the are going to make it into heavy rotation in our kitchen!  The next time I make them the only mofificaiton I will make it to cut down on the sugar by 1/4 to 1/3 cup.  Not that there was anything wrong with the sugar in this recipe I just like to use less if I can.

Ingredients:
2 cups sugar
1/2 cup soymilk
1/2 cup natural creamy peanut butter
1/2 cup soy margarine
3 tablespoons cocoa powder
3 cups old-fashioned rolled oats
1 teaspoon vanilla extract


Directions:
Stir together the sugar, soymilk, peanut butter, margarine, and cocoa powder in a large saucepan. Turn on medium heat and bring to a boil.
Once the mixture begins boiling, set a timer for 1 1/2 minutes. Allow to the mixture boil undisturbed (do not stir) until the timer goes off. Turn off heat and stir in oats and vanilla extract.
Line two large cookie sheets with waxed paper. Scoop tablespoons of cookie batter onto the waxed paper-covered cookie sheet. Allow cookies to cool. The cookies will be soft at first, but they should set within a few hours. Yields about 30 cookies.





 Yum and done!

Fake Cake

As some of you know I instruct cake decorating on the weekends.  I wanted to make some display cakes for the school and this was my first attempt at it.  This is a buttercream frosted half circle of Styrofoam.  I took a photo of if before it got put in the glass display case. The rose technique I used is the ribbon rose, which is a traditional rose that I teach in my introduction to decorating classes.

Vegan Eggplant Rolatini with Nutty Cow Ricotta

I received a wonderful gift for my best friend Anna!  This gift was three different versions of
Nutty Cow vegan cheeses!  I was a bit skeptical at first.  I heard a lot of hype about Nutty Cow but I try not to get to excited about new products until I try them.  Well I should have believed the hype this time because everyone of them were wonderful.  I was able to try the garlic herb, ricotta and the maple pecan.  They were all delicious but the ricotta really stood out for me.  I decided to take a taste of it before I decided what to do with it.  As soon as I tasted it I knew I had to make eggplant rolatini.  I always have eggplant on the mind but I had a hunch this would be great in my regular recipe.

Delicious!

I prepared my recipe as usual lightly frying the eggplant after skinning it and cutting it to about 1/8 strips.  As I have said before I always make extra pasta sauce so I had some ready to go.  I decided not to put anything extra in the ricotta, usually when I make rolatini I add nutritional yeast and a bunch of italian herbs.  But I wanted the Nutty Cow to stand on its own.

Next I rolled about 2 to 3 tablespoons of the ricotta in each eggplant placing each on my bed of pasta sauce.  I then added more pasta sauce on the top can placed about 1/2 cup Daiya vegan mozzarella which is a standard in our kitchen. I baked at 375 for about 50 minutes and let cool for 5 minutes after.

Yum and Done!

Birthday cupcakes

These were some cupcakes I made for a coworker for his birthday. My recipe is modified from the Joy of Vegan Baking cookbook. I have reduced the sugar from the original recipe and added more egg replacer. I also did something fun with the the batter, I separated it into three different bowls and added coloring to each and swirled them around they almost looked like they were tie-dyed!  For the frosting I use a basic butter cream frosting recipe but I put some white frosting in the bag as well as some bleeding to get the nice swirl. Which always looks fun and also like it is a lot more work than it really is!