Vegan gluten free chocolate cupcakes

I made these today out of sheer boredom, and because I got the craving for some chocolate after flipping through a chocolate cookbook. They have a melty white chocolate center and are dipped in rich ganache frosting. I also made a few truffles with the left over ganache. :)

Vegan green tea cupcakes

I made these for my friend for her birthday this week.

She LOVED them. :)

Raspberry cheesecake

I love, love, love cheesecake. And it's rare that I try a vegan cheesecake I like. So I decided to make my own.

I made this recipe basically without a recipe, I sort of just took here and there from a few regular recipes and adapted them to make mine vegan. It came out really well, I only think I'll try another crust next time. 

I added cream sherry to this, and I think it added a  nice something extra and went nicely with the raspberry jam swirled on top.

GF vanilla bean cake

So this was a mix from a box, I think it was Betty Crocker. 

The frosting was my own recipe and I made it with fresh vanilla bean.

I think it came out pretty well, I still like baking from scratch better though.

Vegan and gluten free red velvet cake

With lots of the best fluffy frosting ever  : )

Tofu benedict

Heck yes.

Recipe from Vegan Brunch by Isa Chandra Moskowits (love her!)

Fried polenta over a bed of fresh corn, avacado, and tomato salsa

Super amazing yummyness.

Chocolate three layer cake

This was a super yummy moist cake. 
I frosted the layers with white chocolate creme and then covered it with chocolate and drew raspberry flavored swirls all over.

Polenta with mushroom creme, green beans, baked japanese eggplant, grilled shitake mushrooms and smoked paprika cashew creme

Yeah, it was as good as it sounds :)

Guest post on linda lost in switzerland

The lovely Linda, from Linda lost in Switzerland asked me to do a guest post about my vegan blog for her hobbies, interests, and passions segment this month and I was more then happy to do it :) I always love to hear that people are interested in my diet and lifestyle and I like to get the chance to tell people about it. She has a lovely blog and I love the way she set up my post, I hope you will all go check it out :) 
(plus the post by Lina about thrifting, she's my cousin!)

Quinoa sushi

Weird huh? That's how I felt seeing this recipe, but then I thought, neat I want to make it! So I did and I was very pleased, it's actually pretty good (granted nothing beats the real stuff, you know with that amazing stuff, rice) the filling is cajun portobello fillets and avocado and served with homemade spicy vegan mayo (and some sprouted savory tofu slices) 

 

 (also a photo of a yummy very green salad with homemade herb dressing)

Black bean burgers from rachel red lips

These burgers are easy to make and delicious, thanks Rachel for sharing your recipe!

Lots of fresh flavor and spices and yummyness :)
I'm not a big burger fan but these I will definitely make again.

Vegan raviolis

Let me start off with, these were A-MAZING! So yummy and fresh and like pillows of love.
I made them with the recipe for pasta dough and tofu ricotta filling from The Conscious Cook cookbook and topped them with basil arugula pesto. The only hard park was kneading the tough dough for ten minutes by hand, but worth it.

Baklava

Today I made some GF vegan doughnuts, and they didn't turn out so well, sure they look good in the photo but they were dense and dry. :(
So with that disappointment looming I had to make something I knew would be yummy, and I wanted it to include the leftover phyllo dough from the beggars purses, so I made baklava.
Oh how I love your flaky, syrupy, nutty goodness.
P.S. a hint of rosewater in the syrup makes them all but irresistible.

Pasta with tomato basil cream sauce and balsamic onion beggars purses

Recipe request again, vegan cinnamon rolls

Here you go Linda have fun making these and I hope you enjoy!

For the dough

1 packet dry yeast (2 1/4 tsp)

1/3 cup sugar, plus 1 tsp

1/2 cup warm water

3/4 cup non dairy milk at room temp (I use soy)

1/3 cup canola oil

1/2 tsp salt

1 tsp ground cinnamon (I use Saigon cinnamon)

about 3 cups flour

For the filling

1/4 cup brown sugar

1/4 cup regular cane sugar

1 tbs ground cinnamon

1/4 cup melted margarine

For the frosting

1/4 cup vegan cream cheese 

1/4 cup margarine

1 tsp pure vanilla extract  

2 cups powdered sugar

Cream together the cream cheese and margarine and vanilla, then add the powdered sugar a little at a time and beat for about 5 minutes until fluffy. Place in refrigerator until your cinnamon rolls come out of the oven.

Preheat your oven to 375degrees  and grease an 11 by 13 inch rimmed baking pan.

In a large bowl combine yeast and 1 tsp sugar and warm water, let sit about ten minutes until foamy.

Add the rest of the sugar, milk, oil, salt, cinnamon and 2 cups of the flour, stir until most of the flour is incorporated then add the rest of the flour (and more if needed) to the dough by 1/2 cup fulls until you get a soft dough. 

Flour a cutting board and knead the dough for at least 5 minutes, until it's nice and smooth. Place in a lightly oiled bowl and cover and set in a warm place to rise for 1 hour. Once dough has risen punch it down and then let it rest for 10 minutes, in the meantime prepare the filling by mixing together the sugar and cinnamon together in a small bowl. Lightly flour your cutting board again and roll the dough out in a 1/4 inch thick rectangle around 18 by 12 inches or so. 

With a pastry brush or your hand, spread the melted margarine over the dough and then sprinkle the filling mixture over the entire surface of the dough leaving about a 1/2 inch border at the end of one side. Now tightly roll the dough into a log and cut into 1 inch thick sections, place them in the greased baking dish about 1/2 inch apart put them in the oven for 18 to 22 minutes until light golden brown. While they are still nice and hot spread the frosting all over and enjoy! :)

pine-nut-and-basil seared "chicken" with mushroom beurre blanc, braised kale, and roasted fingerling potatoes

Yes I know, that is quite a title, but it is oh so appropriate for this amazingly scrumptious bit of vegan heaven. Ever since I got Tal Ronnen's cookbook The Conscious Cook I have fallen in love with him, his use of ingredients and flavor combos are glorious and  he is heaven sent to us vegans out there and I'm so thankful that he can show non vegan/vegetarians how yummy a healthy animal/eco friendly lifestyle can be. This is the first dish I made from the book and it was love at first bite! My non vegan family loved it and I am super excited to make it for my non vegan friends. This picture doesn't do it justice but I hope it's enough to make your mouth water. ;)

Recipe for GF banana chocolate chip cake with sunflower seed frosting

I was asked for the recipe I used to make this cake awhile back and I have just now remembered to find it and blog it (sorry rachel!). It seems like a bit of work, especially if you don't have some of the ingredients just laying around like the GF flours or the sunflower seen butter, but it's worth it to go get them. 

Now on the frosting, you just add 2/3 cup of sunflower seed butter to it, and I buy pre made vegan marshmallow fluff online but hopefully you can find some where you live. 

(if not I think the frosting will live without it, just use less sunflower seed butter.)   =)

Ratatouille and cinnamon rolls

Yum.

 Dinner was scrumptious. I made ratatouille from some farm fresh veggies I picked up in cali and it turned out really yummy. Then I made my best cinnamon rolls yet, they were fluffy with melt in your mouth goodness and smothered (the way I like it) with "cream cheese" frosting. I used Saigon cinnamon which is from Vietnam and has such an amazing spicy rich flavor, I'll never go back to normal cinnamon after this. 

Try it! :) I bought mine at Costco hehe.

(all thanks to Lina's family) 

 

Vegan chedder biscuits and papaya salad

The other day I found this interestingly different papaya poppy seed salad dressing and decided to try it out. So for dinner last night I through together some mixed greens, tomatoes, and vegan blue cheese and topped it with the new dressing accompanied by some biscuits  I made from this recipe.

Vegan gluten free chocolate cake

I's pretty  proud of this cake I made the other day, I swear you would never guess it was vegan, let alone gluten free. I'm getting better at GF baking and it's actually quite fun.

Vegan chicken pizza

This is to the geniuses who invented Daiya and Gardein, you are my heroes! I love you.


On this super yummy vegan pizza, my homemade pesto, Daiya cheese, and Gardein scallopini cut in strips.

 

Gluten free banana cake with sunflower seed frosting

This is a really moist, rich, and different cake. It's gluten free and you would never even guess, and the frosting has sunflower seed butter in it which gives it a really unique flavor.

Veg sushi....again

I made some sushi today with new fillings I haven't tried before, pickled daikon radish, pickled ginger, Umeboshi (salty pickled Japanese plums) and inari pouches.

Mandarin stir fry

I bought a pouch of mandarin stir fry sauce at Whole Foods and added it to a tofu, mock chicken, baby corn and assorted veggie stir fry. Yum :)

Oatmeal pancakes

With berries and cream =)

Breakfast

Tarts

I have been sick for almost the whole week this week and so I am definitely shying away from sugary foods, but I wanted something sweet today so I made these little tarts filled with jam. I learned how to make these from my aunt on my last visit. They are the perfect little size, easy to make, and so yummy :) Also a perfect crowd pleaser if you wanted to whip up something. You simply make (or buy) a  pie crust, roll it out fairly thin, cut them into about 3 inch round circles, pop them into mini cupcake tins, and then drop jam in the center bake for about 8 to 10 minutes and voila! I made my crust from scratch and filled them with strawberry and black raspberry jam :)

....Cocolate stuffed, and chocolate coverd raspberries.

Yum. I filled these little raspberry gems with vegan white chocolate and then dipped them in dark chocolate, double whammy! And to say the least they were heavenly. I ate a ton :)