gluten-free chocolate cuppins cakes!

back in december Jes made the most glorious looking gluten-free mexican hot chocolate cupcakes. i printed out the recipe and an occasion for cuppins cakes came up (thinking about it now, do you really need an occasion for cuppies?! i could eat them every day!) - my sister's birthday celebration. these gluten-free chocolate cuppins cakes were so awesome! crazy delicious, super moist, and everyone was surprised they were gluten-free. triplew00t!

i adapted the recipe using what we had on hand in the house since we're still working on our pantry challenge. we didn't have any quinoa flour so we used the last of some bob's red mill gluten-free all purpose baking flour that was tucked away in the freezer from when i first started my gluten-free adventure back in june. we also used almond milk and more cocoa powder as we didn't have coconut milk or chocolate chips... but anyways.....here's our adaptation of Jes' rock'n recipe.

ingredients:
1 1/4 cup bob's red mill gluten-free all purpose baking flour
1 1/2 c unsweetened plain almond milk
1 tsp apple cider vinegar
1/3 c canola oil
3/4 c sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 cup cocoa powder
1 tbsp ground flax seed
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt

what you'll need:
- muffin tray
- cupcake liners (optional. you can spritz a little cooking spray in the muffin tin instead.)
- large mixing bowl
- small mixing bowl

what'cha gotta do:
preheat oven to 350º and line a muffin tray with the cupcake liners. toss the almond milk & apple cider vinegar in the large mixing bowl and give it a good mix. add in the canola oil & sugar and combine well. add ground flax seeds & vanilla and give it another good mixing. in the small mixing bowl combine the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and cocoa powder. stir the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients until it's all combined.

fill the cupcake liners 3/4 full and bake for 20 minutes. let the cuppins cakes cool for 3-5 minutes before carefully transfering them to a cooling rack.

once completely cooled you can frost them up with whatever you love the most! for our frosting we used a hand mixer to beat a few tablespoons of earth balance with a cup (or so) of powdered sugar & added in just a 1/2 tsp of vanilla extract. easy peasy and tasty, too! sugar rush!

colcannon puffs, tester eatz, and a recipe!

happy friday, everyone! just thought we'd pop in and say howdy before the weekend gets rolling. we hope everyone's week has been most excellent, and that there's mucho fun to be had by all this weekend. :) .we don't have too much to post about this week, as wednesday we had carry-out and tuesday and thursday my dinners (while dan was at firefighting classes) were mostly comprised of tasty salads topped with raw tahini dressing, pumpkin seeds, tomatoes, red onion, cabbage and raw olives. yummers!

we did test out a super tasty recipe for the southern style cookbook Bianca's is creating. these are her awesome 'n ever-so fantastical black-eyed pea corn cakes with roasted red pepper crème. let me tell you, my friends - they are as delicious as they look! we served ours with oven baked potato rounds and roasted broccoli for one helluva tasty meal. mmmmmmm!

last year i was drooling over Susan v.'s colcannon puffs and earlier last week when organizing all the recipes we print out we pulled the recipe and decided to give 'em a whirl. ooooooh, these were so delicious! crispy on the outside, fluffy on the inside - and not only are the colcannon puffs most stellar, but they're incredibly easy to make. huzzah!


now it's recipe time! since we have a ton of tvp and brown rice in the pantry i decided to combine the two for a comforting meal to keep us warm. so i created a cheezy not-chicken broccoli 'n brown rice. dan absolutely loved this and i did, too! while the cooking time is a bit (about an hour for the brown rice), it's worth the wait - and if you make the brown rice ahead of time it would be easy to pull it all together in about half an hour. anywhooooo....here's what i did....

for the rice ‘n not-chicken awesomeness:
1 cup brown rice
2 cups + ½ cup water, divided
½ cup tvp (we used Bob Mill’s gluten-free tvp)
1 small yellow onion, finely diced
1 small head o’ broccoli, chopped into tiny bits
1 tbsp safflower oil, divided
1 tsp poultry seasoning
1 tsp black pepper
½ tsp liquid braggs
½ tsp sea salt, divided
¼ tsp garlic powder

for the cheeze sauce:
1 cup unsweetened non-dairy milk (we used almond milk)
¼ cup nutritional yeast
2 tbsp raw brazil nuts
2 tbsp raw almonds
2 tbsp cornstarch
1 tbsp tahini
1 tbsp fresh lemon juice
1 tsp yellow miso
½ tsp black pepper
½ tsp paprika
¼ tsp sea salt
¼ tsp garlic salt

what you’ll need:
blender
1 small pot + lid
1 large pot + lid
large skillet

what’cha gotta do:
place ½ tbsp safflower oil & the uncooked brown rice into the large pot & turn the heat on high. toast up the brown rice for just a minute or two and then add in 2 cups of water. cover the pot with lid, reduce the heat to low, and cook the rice for 50 minutes. after 50 minutes, remove the rice from the heat & leave it covered for another 10 minutes. while your rice is cooking get a move on the other yummies!

bring the remaining ½ cup of water to a boil in the small pot. stir in the liquid braggs, ¼ tsp sea salt, and the poultry seasoning – then toss in the tvp. remove the pot from the heat, cover, and let the tvp chill out for 10 minutes. now on to the veggies! place the remaining ½ tbsp safflower oil in the large skillet and heat to medium. add the onions, broccoli, and 1/24 tsp sea salt and saute them until the onions just start to brown. remove from heat. once your tvp is reconstituted you can let it hang out in the skillet with the sauteed veggies. place all the ingredients for the cheeze sauce in the blender & puree until it’s super smoooooooth. wipe out the small pot & dump the cheeze sauce in. heat the cheeze sauce on medium and give it a good stir every 30 seconds or so until it becomes nice ‘n thick. set aside. once your rice is cooked add the tvp, sauteed veggies, garlic powder, black pepper, and cheeze sauce (you can save a little cheeze sauce to pour directly on top of your serving if you like, too!) into the large pot to meet up with the brown rice. combine, adjust seasonings to taste, and dig in!

happy weekend times - and hugs 'n happyfaces to you all!

help'n out Haiti and more pantry challenge eatz.

there's a lot going on in Haiti right now, and we'd like to ask everyone to help in anyway you can. please support the relief efforts in Haiti - every bit counts. Isa's rounding up the bake sale awesomeness for Haiti, the world food programme and unicef are programs that we support - doing what you can is better than not doing anything. please lend a helping hand and support the relief efforts!

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at this point we're just over half way through our pantry challenge. i say pantry, but in reality we're talking about a closet, and our cabinets, all of which are stocked with foodz. i have this "zombies are going to run rampant someday" theory so i stock up on food like you wouldn't believe (well, i also stock up on recycled toilet paper 'n tissues, soap, toothpaste, dental floss and other fun things - i'd say there's at least a 6 month supply of those items in our home at all times. ah ha ha!). we're getting through all the foodz though! we're almost out of brown rice pasta, brown rice, green lentils, black-eyed peas, tofu, and azuki beans - and we're finished with almond butter, chocolate chips, chickpeas, jalapenos, mung beans, kidney beans, black beans, navy beans, wheat bran, butter beans, pickles, soy crisps, brown rice flour, gluten-free pretzels, apricot preserves, frozen peas 'n corn, almonds, and white flour (i used white flour to make christmas cookies for friends and family. w00t!). we've got a little ways to go - but it's pretty darn fun planning eatz around what we've got and just buying produce every week.

this week we've enjoyed some pretty tasty eatz, fo 'sho! dan made the most yummy snobby joes for our monday night dinner. while he likes his sans mustard (weirdo! tee hee!), i can't get enough of the stuff. yum! those are the last of our frozen peas - we sauteed them up with some cremini mushrooms. tasty, indeed!

we had a little less than 2 cups worth of a homemade marinara sauce that one of dan's coworkers made for him (they're so nice!) - so we served the marinara over an easy dinner of brown rice pasta 'n broccoli and used a block of local herbed tofu we had in the freezer to make some oven baked 'fu sunday night. oven baked 'fu is one of my personal favs!

oooooh, yay! i don't remember how i stumbled across it ain't meat, babe, but i am so happy that i did! i love a new vegan blog full of all kinds of yummies, great stories, and rock'n pictures of eatz - we made this vegan spanish omelet for brunch on sunday and oh my goodness, squeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee! it was sooooooo absolutely awesome! someone doesn't like olives (that would be the guy who abhors mustard.) and we didn't have any roasted red peppers, so we left the olives out and used some diced fresh red bell pepper, but this was awesome & kept us full for hours. easy to make and oh-so delicious! hellz yeah!

we used up the last of our kidney beans last night. i created some spicy kidney beans using a little cube of tomato paste from the freezer, a little paprika, chili powder, 'n cumin, 1/2 a yellow onion, a little diced red bell pepper, and some chipotle tabasco sauce. dan made some guacamole with an avocado i splurged on, and we had some organic roma tomatoes to make a little homemade salsa that used up some sad looking scallions and the last of our pickled jalapenos. i had my mexi-fixings on some corn tortillas we had in the freezer and dan had his packed into some taco shells that were also tucked away in the freezer. w00t! we've still got 3 or 4 taco shells 'n corn tortillas left so i see more mexi-eatz in the near future. i can't complain about that!

we hope everyone's week is flying on by! may you all have fantastical fridays and the most awesome weekend! happyfaces, hugs, and puffy hearts!

Ricki's holiday nut roast & raw kale salads.

squeeeeeeeeeeeee! dan and i finally made Ricki's holiday nut roast from her gloriously awesome anti-candida feast ebook. we made ours tuesday night and not only did we have the most delicious leftovers for our weekday lunches, but we had a few slices to freeze for gobbling up later. w00t! let me tell you, my friends - words cannot describe how fantastical Ricki's holiday nut roast is - it's hands down the best loaf we've made or tasted!!! it's truly scrumptrulescent. mmmmmmmmmmm! we didn't have enough almonds leftover from the nut roast recipe to create Ricki's smoky almond gravy (once the pantry challenge is over you bet we'll have more almonds and give this a whirl!) so we made our go to simple onion gravy to smother our nut roast, roasted brussels, and galicky smashed potatoes with. super stellar, fo 'sho!

if you all don't have your own copy of Ricki's anti-candida feast ebook - you really need to get a move on! we're hoping to make the carrot pate, millet polenta, and simple sesame crackers super soon - and her sweet potato pudding too. hooray!

i've also been really digging some raw kale salads for breakfast lately (yeah, kale for breakfast - it's the bees knees!). Lauren is always posting pictures of the best looking raw kale salads and when i saw JoLynn enjoying them too i gathered up some courage and gave them a go. i'm so glad i did! ooooh, yay - raw kale salads = pink puffy hearts! :)

here's how i've been making 'em lately.

yummies to be enjoyed:
1 small roma tomato, diced (halved cherry tomatoes would be rock'n too)
1/2 medium sized bunch of kale, de-stemmed and torn into wee pieces
1 tsp fresh lemon juice
1/4 tsp sea salt
1 tsp cold-pressed olive oil
1/2 avocado
a few super thin slices of red onion (more if you like)
1 tsp apple cider vinegar
1 tbsp pine nuts
(olives, sun-dried tomatoes, peppers, etc. would be most excellent as well.)

what you'll need:
- large mixing bowl
- small bowl

what'cha gotta do:
combine the super thin slices of red onion with the apple cider vinegar in the small bowl and set aside. toss your torn up tiny kale bits into the large mixing bowl and drizzle on the olive oil & sprinkle on the sea salt. using your hands, mix and kinda massage the kale until it becomes a little soft (it takes just a minute or two for me). add in the avocado and massage it in a smidge (or you can dice it up if ya like) with the kale. add the onions, pine nuts, tomatoes (and anything else you love the most!), and lemon juice - mix it one last time with your hands and that's it. enjoy!

getting unstuck & lots of inspiration.

happy new year! Sal’s new year’s post reminded me that our 2 year veganversary was this past new year’s day. wahoooooooo! it’s been one super stellar (and super tasty!) adventure so far and we’ve got so much more awesomeness to look forward to! i've really been enjoying reading about your delicious holiday eatz, rock’n new year’s resolutions, and all the fun everyone’s been getting in to lately!

it’s been a good while since we've posted and i'm hoping to pick things up again & share some tasty new recipes, a few stories, and some yummy food photos. i must admit i've been in a bit of a rut lately (actually, it’s kinda felt like i’ve been stuck in a big ‘ol trench.). the rut developed back in november after running the half marathon. while i was training for the half marathon i decided i wanted to challenge myself and run even further – so i signed up for a marathon that’s to take place in march; i told only dan so i wouldn't let anyone else down if i didn't finish/had to drop out for any reason. when running the half marathon i injured myself (by running rather hard on the crowned roads) and i'm still recovering from some nasty peroneal tendonitis. i was unable to run at all for a full week after the half marathon, and since then i've only been able to run about 3 times a week, the longest i can run without my peroneal tendonitis going crazy & setting me back is about 6 miles (and even then, i have to build up to 6 miles throughout each week with 2 shorter runs). it kinda stinks because i really want to run the marathon i registered for, but it's become painfully obvious that i won't be able to because i'm still working on recovering from my sucktacular/nagging injury and i don't want to injure myself any further or cause any permanent damage. training for a marathon requires running a lot of mile, and my foot won’t allow me to run all the miles i need to be able to run the marathon this time around. needless to say, i've been pretty damn sadfaced about not being able to accomplish my goal (although i will run a marathon someday – hopefully next year, or perhaps in the fall, if my foot will allow me to do so), i've been very upset with myself, really realllllllllly frustrated, and downright depressed. it's upsetting to me that just a few months ago i could was able to run 13 miles and really enjoy it, and now i have difficulty running just 3-6 miles because of the peroneal tendonitis. i have been reading about all the awesomeness you guys have been nomming on, but my feeling very blah wasn’t the best energy for creating new recipes and i wasn’t feeling very inspired in the kitchen. just this morning i went out for a short run and got to thinking…..i've got sooo much to be happyfaced about - it just doesn't make sense for me to be so upset and withdrawn and sad about not being able to run the marathon for any longer. i’m kind of ashamed that i had been wasting so much energy being sad, when instead i should be grateful, thankful, and happy that i can still run (even if it's for shortened distances) and that every day i wake up to running water, a warm home, a loving spouse, my sweet dog & adorable kittehs – i have so many amazing friends, a community of people i can always turn to for support (thank you all soooooooo much!), and all kinds of fantasticalness to be happy about! so today, right now, my new goal is to pull myself up and get unstuck. thank you all so much for reading along and for sticking with me through the sporadic posts. you are all so awesome!


okay, enough mushiness - let’s get on to mucho mas pantry challenge eatz (many of which have been inspired by so many fellow vegan bloggers). w00t!
first up we’ve got one delightful black bean hummus inspired by Lisa's black bean hummus recipe . we just made ourselves some roasted garlic hummus and tossed some cooked black beans into the mix, served it up with lots of veggies, and had ourselves a helluva tasty snacky dinner.

dan went up to see the Giants spank the Redskins a few weeks ago (although since then the Giants haven’t had the best of luck) and he surprised me with cuppins cakes (as he calls them) from sticky fingers bakery!!! he brought back 3 gluten-free chocolate cuppies for moi and snagged himself a smores, coconut (which he ate on the car ride home), and chocolate espresso cuppy. i was the happiest girl!

last week we whipped up some black-eyed peas with kale ‘n tomatoes and made Ricki's easy breakfast "sausage" patties to enjoy throughout the week. let me tell you, my friends - not only are Rick’s sausage patties the best ever, but they’re ridiculously easy to make as well! i also purchased her anti-candida feast ebook and am looking forward to whipping up all kinds of awesome from it, especially the holiday nut roast with smoky almond gravy. mmmmmmmmm!
Mihl had me drooling with her gloriously tasty look’n mihl's roasted cauliflower split pea soup. i didn’t have any leeks and was missing one or two of the spices her recipe called for (i’ll be refilling many of the spices that we buy in bulk & have run out of once the pantry challenge is over) so i used her recipe for inspiration, used what i had on hand to created a tasty soup of my own. i roasted up a potato with the cauliflower, cooked up the split peas, sauteed a little onion and lots of garlic and made it all a soup with some homemade veggie stock. huzzah! thanks for the inspiration, Mihl – this was one tasty soup, and i hope to follow your recipe once i get my spices restocked & some leeks. :)

my brother and his man hector came down for a visit from nyc over the holiday. they stayed with my parents for a bit and then stopped by our place for a few days before heading back home. thursday i gave them a tour of richmond (per their request) and dan and i took them out to lunch at one of my favorite places, aziza’s, where we enjoyed all kinds of awesome. dan had the roasted veggie sammie ‘n a lentil & rice soup, i had the stewed veggies, pickled turnips, a couple of dolmas, ‘n lebanese potato salad, and ryan and hector shared a slice of quiche, a southern style potato salad, a wonderful dish consisting of a squash stuffed with all kinds of stewed veggies ‘n rice, more lebanese potato salad. the most delicious garlic hummus, too. we stuffed ourselves silly and then went home and played wii together. i had my ass handed to me in tennis and super mario kart – it was so much fun! my sister and her man joined in on the fun as well and we all had a wonderful dinner at cous cous new year’s eve followed by a nice night in that evening talking, sharing stories, and laughing a lot!

Ricki's easy breakfast "sausage" patties were made with some leftover rice from a huuuuuge batch of rice we had cooked up – in which we made this sweet ‘n sour tofu stir-fry (using mel's recipe for sweet 'n sour sauce) and the most gigantical batch of rice mix for dan to take to his firefighting class this past saturday (they had a potluck after class one day). there was about 2 cups worth of the rice mix that people didn’t eat (we also made Celine’s oreo cookie-cookies. dan said everyone gobbled them up & raved about them. thank you, Celine!) so dan brought the leftovers home to which we added some spicy tvp to the mix and made cheezy nachos last night.

last but not least…one of dan’s coworker’s gave us a goodie basket full of homemade sauces (they were so sweet to give us vegan-friendly homemade goodies and some fantastical kitchen towels!) – one of which was the most gloriously good pasta sauce (it had chunks of tomatoes, onions, & peppers. ooooooh!) we enjoyed the marinara over brown rice pasta and eggplant parmesan this past sunday. it was the absolute best (and we’re excitedfaced to have about a cup’s worth of the sauce left to use throughout the week)!

my new year’s resolution is to waste less. less water, energy, food, materials, money, etc. – waste less all around. our pantry challenge is certainly in line with my resolution and so far this week it’s been really fun taking leftovers and revamping them, getting even more creative with what we have on hand, printing everything at work double-sided, eeking out the absolute most from each tea bag, and really evaluating what we “need” and don’t need. hooray for 2010! here’s to getting unstuck, inspiration, and the new year - and may 2010 bring you all much wonderfulness, love, endless happyfaces, and open hearts!