Everyberry loves muffins.

I have a thing for blueberries. I love blueberry smoothies, scones, pies and I even eat frozen blueberries as a snack. I had been craving vegan blueberry muffins and after sifting through a few different recipes online- this recipe (from thatsonetoughcookie.com) seemed to be the easiest and "healthiest." Only because it didn't involve any butter and used less oil. Can't get rid of the sugar though!

You will need a muffin tin, two mixing bowls (small & large), a whisk or large spoon for mixing and the following ingredients.

1/4 cup safflower oil

2 eggs worth of Egg Replacer

3/4 cup vanilla soymilk (I used unsweetened soymilk since it was what I had readily available and the muffins still had just the right amount of sweetness)

1 tsp. apple cider vinegar

1 tsp. vanilla extract

1/2 cup white sugar

2 cups spelt flour

1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon

1/2 tsp. salt

3 tsp. baking powder

1 1/2 cups fresh berries (I used frozen blueberries which worked perfectly fine. It is also cost friendly)

Directly from the original recipe:

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees F. Lightly grease or line a muffin tin with wrappers.

Mix the soymilk with the apple cider vinegar in a small bowl, and let sit for a few minutes to curdle. Meanwhile, whisk together oil, egg replacer, and vanilla. When milk is good and curdled, pour it into the oil mixture and whisk together. Add sugar. In a separate bowl, sift together all dry ingredients, and then add to the wet, mixing with a wooden spoon. Batter will become quite thick and heavy. Add your berries at the end and quickly mix in, careful to not break them.

Spoon into your prepared pan. (The original instructions noted that the muffins do not rise much. Enough to have a round muffin top. If you fill them half way- they will not come out filling the pan. I suggest half way. Just the right portion)

Bake for 35-45 minutes. (I suggest checking on them at 20-25 minutes as cook time will vary depending on the oven)

TADAAAAAA!!!!

Everyone will eat these right up. Next time, I am going to do a little experiment with sweet ripe bananas!

Healthy snack.

Farmers Market, oh how I love thee. I always try to buy produce from local farmers markets. One of my favorites is every Wednesday in El Segundo right in front of Whole Foods. This past Wednesday I picked up some awesome vegan treats (I will blog about at a later time), hummus, eggplant dip, red pepper dip, fresh romaine lettuce, asparagus, carrots, fuji apples, cherries and strawberries.

The strawberries were incredibly sweet and juicy. Tasty on its own of course, but one day, I wanted to spruce them up a little. This is what I came up with.

Topped with shredded unsweetened coconut, sliced raw almonds and pumpkin pie spice. So yummy!

Its simple. Just dice and slice up your strawberries and add as much of each ingredient as you'd like. You can also use cinnamon if you do not have pumpkin pie spice. Just an easy and healthy way to make ordinary strawberries taste a bit more exciting.

This combination is great with oatmeal for breakfast as well. To turn it into a dessert, just drizzle melted dark chocolate on top!

I love fruit. Apples, blueberries, mangos, bananas, pears, persimmons- the list goes on. A great option for a healthy snack or healthy dessert.

FUN FACTS:

(According to www.londonstrawberryfestival.com)

"Strawberries are low in fat, low calorie, high in vitamin C, fiber, folic acid and potassium."

"Strawberries are the first fruit to ripen in the Spring."

"Strawberries are a member of the rose family."

Got Chocolate?

Its been too long! I'm not sure what happened, but I just stopped blogging for awhile. It comes and it goes. As an"artist," I act upon inspiration or that urge to create, and if/when I don't feel it- I just don't. Consequently nothing happens- no blog action. But, feeling absolutely inspired right now, I have an overwhelming amount of tips, recipes, experiments and pure deliciousness to share.

I see no other way to re-start this baby. Heres some chocolate cake for ya soulllll.

So, chocolate...I love it. I also like trying new and adventurous things such as baking a double layered 100% vegan chocolate cake and decorating it. Shivers.

I found this recipe on this website-----> www.instructables.com -It said this was "the best chocolate cake, ever...that happens to be vegan. I kid you not" so I thought I'd give it a try.

The recipe is as follows:

CAKE

1 1/4 cups flour1 cup sugar1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt1 cup warm water
1 tsp vanilla extract1/3 cup vegetable oil

1 tsp distilled white or apple cider vinegar

Depending on what you would like to make, you will need a square brownie pan such as an 8x8 or a 9 inch round pan for the double layer cake I am writing about. The springform pans are easiest. Super cheap from target. Life savers.

1. Preheat the over to 350 degrees.

2. No separating or sifting involved. Just mix that ish together in a large bowl. Grease your pan up and pour that baby in. For a double layer cake you will just double the recipe and bake two pans at once. Easy.

3. All ovens are different so I would check the cake at 20 minutes. It should be a bit moist so if you are testing with a toothpick/utensil, it will not necessarily pull out clean. Just as long as there is not wet batter on it, and the cake seems to be firm enough on top- it should be fine. Use your common sense/best judgement.

While your cake is cooling, you can make the icing!

The recipe calls for a chocolate glaze. Whatever that is. I decided it probably wouldn't be rich enough for my palette so I opted for a vegan cream cheese frosting.

The recipe is as follows:

ICING

1 container of tofutti cream cheese

1/2 cup of vegan butter (I use Earth Balance)

2 cups powdered sugar

1 tsp vanilla extract

1 1/2 tsp lemon juice

(for fun flavors, you can incorporate coco powder or different flavored extracts)

Make sure the butter and cream cheese are ROOM TEMPERATURE. This is imperative.

Using an electric beater, beat the butter and cream cheese together. Add in vanilla extract and lemon juice. Then, slowly begin to incorporate the powdered sugar a little bit at a time. Be careful or it will be snowing powdered sugar in your kitchen. Might be a good thing though.

Make sure the cake is cooled COMPLETELY. Be patient.

Ok, now you may ice your cake.

I saved a little for the filling. Adding some strawberry jam to make a strawberry cream cheese filling. It was really nice with the chocolate.

And thats how you make a completely vegan chocolate cake. It tastes like a normal chocolate cake. Just like that lady said in her blog. I am obsessed with it. Next time, I want to incorporate melted chocolate and also chocolate chips. Maybe even make the frosting chocolate. AHHHHH.

(I must tell you, I tried baking this recipe again but with whole wheat white flour and splenda. FAIL. I do not suggest it. When baking with splenda, things cook a lot faster. Also, I believe that using the whole wheat flour is what caused the cake to be ..well, wheaty and dry- it just completely changed the consistency of the finished product. If you bake the recipe as is- it will be moist and chocolatey.)