The Best Blueberry Muffins Ever!

These muffins are the best I've ever had or made- vegan or otherwise! Dairy free, gluten free, with no refined sugars, and the best part is the bottoms don't come out dry like most muffins, these are cakey and moist beneath the muffin top. Because, let's face it: we all wish every part of the muffin was as satisfying as the top!
I started with a recipe from the Sweet Vegan cookbook, with a couple of substitutions:

The Best Blueberry Muffins (makes 8-10 standard-size)

• 1 1/2 cups gluten free flour (cheap at Trader Joes!)
• 3/4 cup cane syrup* 
•  1/2 tsp cinnamon (it gives the flavor that extra something)
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/3 coconut oil
• 1/3 cup soy milk
• 3 tsp Ener-G egg replacer, whisked w/ 4 tbsp warm water
• 2 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 cup fresh blueberries

1. Preheat oven to 350 F. Line a muffin pan with liners or, in a pinch, torn pieces of parchment paper.
2. Mix flour, cane syrup, cinnamon, baking powder, and salt in a large bowl.
3. Add the coconut oil, soy milk, egg replacer (pre-whisked) and vanilla and mix until well combined.
4. Fold in the blueberries.
5. Scoop 1/4 cup of batter into the liners. Bake 17-20 min, until a toothpick inserted into the center of a muffin comes out clean. I could see clear moisture on the toothpick but no batter, and mine were done perfectly.

Enjoy immediately with your spread of choice and coffee!


*the original recipe called for 3/4 cup evaporated cane juice, which is a solid sugar, whereas I used the liquid cane syrup because that's what the store had, but I think this sub worked great and wonder if this contributed to the delightful texture on the bottom. If you try the other way let me know!

Carob Celebration Cake w/ Peanut Butter "Buttercream" Frosting

As promised:

Cake!

I made this for our end-of-the-school-year staff party at work.
For taste it earned an A+.
The composition... well, maybe a C-.
Still, this recipe makes the honor roll for being delicious and soundly vegan!

Our oven is terrible and I partially blame it for the way this cake stuck to the pan. The other reason is I think I used the wrong kind of pan. I didn't have a round cake pan but wanted a round cake, so I used a Springform pan. I have only used these to make cheesecake, and I think they are not meant for regular cakes. Someone enlighten me on pan ettiquette, please.

Meanwhile, the taste proved that I am getting better at substitutions. I started with this recipe for the frosting and this recipe for the cake itself, then tried to make them healthier. These are the modified recipes I came up with:

No-Chocolate Carob Cake (Vegan, Gluten Free): 

1 1/4 cups gluten-free flour
1 cup turbinado sugar
2/3 cup carob powder
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 cup warm water
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/3 cup coconut oil
1 tsp distilled white or apple cider vinegar
1 cup carob chips

 

Vegan Peanut Butter Buttercream Frosting

1 cup creamy peanut butter
1/2 cup vegan margarine or coconut oil
2 cups powdered sugar
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
3 tablespoons vanilla almond milk

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
Mix together flour, sugar, carob powder, baking soda, and salt with a fork, making sure it is really blended together.
Add the water, vanilla, oil, and vinegar, and mix together very well. Gently stir in the carob chips. Pour into a cake pan. A real one. Do as I say, not as I pan'd.

Bake for 30 minutes (until a knife or toothpick comes out clean) and let cool completely, on a rack if possible. I think. With my bad oven/choice of pan, it took more like an hour and got stuck to the Springform bottom. Which was kind of good, because otherwise it was so moist it might have fallen apart when I unlocked the spring. But oh! The flavor itself was sooooo good.

Meanwhile, the frosting. Add all ingredients to a bowl and mix until smooth, 1 to 2 minutes. You can adjust the consistency by adding more powdered sugar if it’s too thin, and adding more milk if it’s too thick. Mine was too thick, in retrospect, but it tasted out of this world!

Lastly, if you wanna get fancy, use this cool star and banner printable I found on good ol' Pinterest. I used jewelry wire, tape, and tacky glue to hold up the stars, and decorated them with yellow sugar (because glitter on your cake would be the worst!!!) and drew the word "Summer" on the banner to mark the party occasion. Fancy, easy. Enjoy!

See more photos on my Instagram: @veganlifeisgood

Introducing the Smorbet. It's F#ing Delicious.

Raise your hand if you like to eat food.

Great. I bet if I could stare out through my screen I would see a couple of hands from people like me.
I love eating food. I love chewing so much I realized I was wasting valuable precious chewing time by drinking smoothies- even a 3-banana smoothie would be down the hatch in a matter of minutes, usually less. What a waste. Aren't we supposed to savor the things we love?

What better way to slow down and enjoy the pleasure, I thought, the unfettered fruit-mazing JOY of smoothie consumption, than to stick a spoon in one? Oh, man. But straws be damned, I didn't stop there.

Plagued by the fear that I'd been over-indulging on the vanilla soy milks lately, I swapped in my latest obsession: Zico dark chocolate coconut water (cue angel choir). This stuff is packed with good stuff for athletes to hangover-havers and everyone in between. Potassium rocks! Chocolate-flavored potassium really, really rocks! And when you throw Zico in a blender with frozen fruit it turns into glittering Jesus kittens. I swear it.
The result is something between a smoothie and a sorbet, so I am calling it The Smorbet (pronounced "s'more-bay"). It racks in around 220 calories and packs a whopping Vitamin C punch to boot. This is an icy, summery treat you can sit and enjoy for awhile. With a spoon. Here's the first recipe, with more to come soon:

Follow me on Instagram! @veganlifeisgood

Choco-Berry Smorbet:
-1 1/2 cups dark chocolate Zico coconut water
-1 cup organic frozen strawberries
-1/2 cup organic frozen blackberries

Blend completely, until a soft sorbet texture is achieved. Garnish with more fruit, shredded coconut, hemp seed, whatev. Mmm... tastes like summer!

Buffalo Cauliflower & Blue "Cheese" Dip

Had a potluck/ BBQ this weekend and saw it as the perfect opportunity to make this recipe that I've been seeing all over Instagram:

Vegan-tested, gluten-free-loved, and carnivore-approved!

Here's a link to the recipe I used. I subbed gluten free all purpose flour because I couldn't find brown rice flour that day. The batter didn't stick or bake very well, so I will need to play with the recipe again next time. Still edible and enjoyable, especially the blue "cheese:"

• Cauliflower Buffalo Bites

Here are 2 more recipes, if that one doesn't suit you. I love Snapguide in particular, for making anything! Yay, for steps and pictures.:

•  Crispy Buffalo Fried Cauliflower
• Snapguide: How To Make Vegan Spicy Buffalo Wings

Love this recipe? Find more photos and recipes on my Instagram @veganlifeisgood

Simple Juices: Part 2

Awhile back I posted some easy 2 ingredient juices (click here to see that post) that pack a punch against cancer and are soooo good in so many other ways. Here, as promised, are some more of my favorite supersimple concoctions I put through my juicer:

Watermelon Lemonade

• 1/2 watermelon
• 1/2 lemon, peeled

In my original Instagram post, I added lots of fresh water and some agave to this recipe. plus another half lemon with the peel on through the juicer. Not only is this new recipe easier, I think it is actually quite tastier. Why water this down and add sweetener if it isn't necessary? Only add the extras (and plenty of ice!) if you want a pitcher-full for a party.

Orange & Ginger

• As many oranges as you can drink (I average 5-6!)
• 1/2" to 1" peeled fresh ginger

When I juice ginger, I cut into whatever else I'm using, in this case an orange, and wedge the ginger inside to easily juice them together.
This is such a good juice for immunity or fighting an existing sickness. I was experiencing a lot of detox symptoms from eating raw and kicking caffeine, so the orange nourished me while the ginger blasted my tummy troubles and migraines. I felt so much better if I could get a big, simple juice into me before a raw meal!

Watermelon + Mint

• Tons of fresh watermelon
• Handful of mint, plus more for soaking/garnish

If you read this post you already know of my serious affection for the combination of watermelon and mint. Life really does not get much tastier than these two together. Enjoy the last of summer watermelon while you can, the weather here in Santa Cruz has been alternating between getting a bit crisp then heating back up again.




Stay tuned for many more juices. Or you can follow my instagram account @veganlifeisgood, which shows tons of creations that I can't keep up with on the blog! Here's a little taste of what I've been up to:

Follow me on Instagram! @veganlifeisgood

Homemade Vegan Cream Cheese/Sour Cream

Last night I made a couple of major discoveries.
The first was that I can make my own cream cheese/sour cream substitute at home with just some cashews and a few common ingredients.
The second was that they are the same recipe.

I made vegan, soy free and gluten free sour cream to add to a vegan Mexican pizza (delicious recipe coming soon). At first I was really taken aback by the flavor, probably because I was expecting it to be just like non-vegan sour cream, plus I'm not used to apple cider vinegar. I actually thought, "Ick." Then I tried some more. Then some more. Then more. I realized I was licking it off the rubber scraper, then diving back for even more.

I can't really describe how the flavor works. But it was amazing on the Mexican pizza, and also delicious the next morning on toast, as a cream cheese, with a fruity jelly.
I am really, really excited about it.

Homemade Vegan Sour Cream AND Cream Cheese:

• 1 cup raw cashews, soaked a few hours or overnight
• 1/4 cup fresh water
• 1-2 tsp apple cider vinegar
• juice of once lemon
• dash of salt (optional)

See photos for steps! 1. Soak (then drain, of course!)  2. Blend  3. ServeI only had time to soak the cashews for about 2 hours, and it worked fine. I used the Magic Bullet blender, which made short work of things.

See more photos on my instagram: @veganlifeisgood

Raw Vegan Butterfinger Smoothie

You read that title right. Raw, vegan, plant-based, gluten-free, and pretty darn HEALTHY smoothie that tastes like a Butterfinger bar in your glass.  Winning.

My instagram: @veganlifeisgood

I originally found this recipe through @chilali13 's Instagram and then on her blog: http://chilali13.wordpress.com. She has amazing photos and recipes and I recommend following her!
The texture is not the thickest, and I had to tweak the amounts a little to my taste, so you might too:
Vegan Butterfinger Smoothie:
Blend:

•  2 cups carrot juice (through a juicer, or blended then strained if you only have a blender)
• 1 tbsp organic creamy organic peanut butter
• 1 tbsp raw cacao powder*
• 1-2 tsp raw maca powder*
• even less than a pinch of sea salt

 *If you are new to these ingredients and they sound intimidating, relax! They are in most markets now. Try the bulk, baking, health, or nuts sections. I use Divine Organics brand.
I'd like to call your attention to the nutrition info posted on the Butterfinger website vs. the nutrition info (calculated through MyFitnessPal app, which I love and use for everything!) for this smoothie:

If health were only about calorie counting, a Butterfinger would seem almost worth it. But candy has about zero nutrition and is a true reach-for-it-quickly-then-regret-it-all-day treat, whereas this smoothie takes 5 minutes to make and is packed with vitamins A and C, potassium, protein, and even a decent bit of calcium. There's no "sugar-slump" from the energizing carbs in this guy. The cacao is rich in minerals and gives you your chocolate fix, while maca is a powerful anti-oxidant that promotes stamina and mental clarity and is really pretty tasty, a lot like toffee.

This is one delicious treat! You're so welcome!!