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.)

Hello pumpkin.

Tis the season for such things as PUMPKIN cookies, pies, loafs, lattes, candies, ice creams...and, you catch my drift. I found a delectable recipe for VEGAN PUMPKIN PIE (thanks to www.vegetariantimes.com). So incredibly easy you might pee your pants.

The pie should set in the refrigerator over night so it should be made a day in advance.

(Ingredients and instructions directly from vegetarian times but photos are mine)

Ingredients:

• Crust:
• 1/2 cup unbleached flour
• 7 Tbs. whole wheat pastry flour
• 1/2 tsp. salt
• 1/2 tsp. sugar or granulated sugar cane syrup
• 1/2 tsp. baking powder
• 3 Tbs. canola oil
• 3 Tbs. soymilk plus 1/2 tsp. lemon juice
• 3 to 4 Tbs. water
• 
  

Filling:

• 2 cups canned pumpkin
• 1 cup low-fat soymilk or rice milk
• 3/4 cup granulated sugar
• 1/4 cup cornstarch
• 1/2 Tbs. dark molasses or to taste
• 1 tsp. vanilla extract
• 1 tsp. ground cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp. salt
• 1/2 tsp. ground ginger
• 1/4 tsp. grated nutmeg
• 1/4 tsp. ground allspice

Directions:

1. 
   

1. 1. Crust: In medium bowl, combine both flours,salt, sugar and baking powder. In small bowl, mix oil and soymilk mixture.

1. 
   

1. 2. Pour liquid mixture into dry ingredients and mix with a fork until it holds together in a ball. Ifit is too dry, add some water, a little at a time, until dough is moist enough to roll. (If time allows, cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for 1 hour.)

1. 
   

1. 3. Roll out dough on a lightly floured surface with a lightly floured rolling pin forming an11-inch circle. Line a 9-inch pie plate with the dough. Flute or crimp the edges with your fingers or a fork. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate until ready to use.

1. 
   

1. 4. Preheat oven to 425F.

(This is what it looks like before going into the oven. Mixture poured into unbaked crust.)

1. 1. 
      

1. 1. 5. In large bow

1. 1. l, mix all remaining ingredients until smooth and blended. Pour into prepared crust and smooth top. Bake 10 minutes.

1. 1. 1. 1. 
            

1. 1. 1. 1. 6. Reduce oven temperature to 350F; bake until filling is set, about 50 minutes.

1. 1. 
      

1. (This is after it has been baked. Mine took about 30 minutes. Make sure you check on it regularly by giving the pie pan a shake. If the filling wiggles too much, it has not set yet.)

1. 1. 1. 1. 
            

1. 1. 1. 1. 7. Set on wire rack to cool, then refrigerate overnight. Top with your choice of dessert topping if desired.

1. 1. 1. 1. 
            

1. 1. 1. (After sitting in the refrigerator over night.)

I am curious to alter this recipe a little by adding tofutti cream cheese (Whole Foods Market) and even a tad of vanilla extrac

t to give it more of a creamy TASTE. The texture is fantastic and even the taste of original recipe is fantastic but the difference between this recipe and a regular pumpkin pie is that the spices are a bit more prominent in taste in the vegan recipe.

But you know me and my desserts- If I say its good....

..its good :)

Cookie Monster.

My sweet tooth has gotten me into trouble, once again. On a trip to Whole Foods Market during my stay in Washington, my brother and I went a tad overboard on our cookie purchases. He has allergies as well so its fun to experiment with food together.

There are so many options for people living with food allergies now, its wonderful. When I am in the grocery store, I'm 5 years old all over again discovering a new world of treats I once thought I'd never be able to taste again. Not without an allergic reaction at least. Well, here are the solutions!

In this photo (from left to right), we have:

Uncle Eddies: Vegan Trail Mix Cookies

http://www.uncleeddiesvegancookies.com/

(I have found these at Whole Foods Market, Trader Joes and some regular food stores)

Uncle Eddies is a favorite of mine. This brand has delicious cookies. I have tried chocolate chip, oatmeal chocolate chip, oatmeal raisin, and peanut butter chocolate chip. They are all great and taste just like regular cookies. The trail mix is an interesting one. Baked with peanuts, sunflower seeds, cranberries and other things you would find in trail mix, its a nice combination of sweet and salty.

Enjoy Life: Soft Baked Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookies

http://www.enjoylifefoods.com/

(I have found these at Whole Foods Market and some regular food stores)

I have to say that these were a bit of a disappointment. They are eatable, but it's a taste and texture you would have to get used to or learn to appreciate, if you will. The chocolate chips are grainy and it tastes more "vegan" than other cookies I have tried.

(Bagged) Enjoy Life: Soft Baked Chewy Snicker-doodles

http://www.enjoylifefoods.com/

(I have found these at Whole Foods Market and some regular food stores)

Snicker-doodles with a twist. Not as buttery and sugary as your usual snicker-d00dle but hey, anything is tasty with some cinnamon and sugar thrown on it.

Barbara's: Snackimals Chocolate Chip

http://www.barbarasbakery.com/

(I have found these at Whole Foods Market but cereals can be found at Whole Foods Market, Trader Joes and regular food stores)

These are incredibly addicting. Light, crisp and yummy! Better than the animal crackers you grew up with. This brand also has great healthy cereals that are:

100% Natural

Dairy Free

Low Fat

Wheat Free Ingredients

Gluten Free (Honey Rice & Multigrain)

Cholesterol Free

Vegetarian

I must note that Uncle Eddies are vegan and it also states this on the package. The other brands are only dairy free and egg free according to the ingredients and are not certified vegan.