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Orange Grapefruit Sorbet

April 3, 2013 by Erin

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So, what has happened since I left you at St. Patrick’s Day? Um…

I didn’t die, yeah! But I was insanely sick for about a week. Hence the lack of posts.

Girls had its season finale. Thoughts? I love/hated it. Half of me is like, ‘Aww, Adam!’ because what girl doesn’t want some guy to come and rescue her? Like even just a tiny bit? Come on…you so do! Even if he’s as creepy as Adam. Because nothing says ‘I Love You’ like your ex dumping that prissy new girlfriend of his and sweeping you off your feet…even though it looks like you haven’t showered in a month…and you have a crusty raptured ear drum…and you’ve been wearing that oversized t-sirt and no pants forever…yeah, that storyline was clearly written by a girl. BUT, the other half of me is like, “really, Hannah? Get off your butt and get your crap together. You don’t need a guy!” So yeah, I’m clearly bi-polar on the whole thing. Share your thoughts.

Speaking of season finales, Taylor Swift is set to guest star on New Girl during the season finale. I’m about to explode from excitement! It’s my two biggest girl crushes on one show. Yes. Please!

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I got instagram from my phone. I am now addicted. It’s like facebook but better cause you get pictures! I know I’m like 2 years behind on this trend…

I also got Spotify Premium. Best $10 a month purchase ever. I had to get rid of Netflix but being able to listen to any album, ever, anytime I want on my phone is way better then getting a random DVD, forgetting I got a random DVD and then paying $9 a month for 3 months for one DVD that you end up watching and hating. Truth.

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What else? Easter happened. I didn’t give you one single Easter recipe. Why you ask? Because Easter usually ain’t my thing. I dont love pastel colors, and jelly beans and scary giant bunny suits. Also, mom cut me off from getting an Easter basket this year. I mean, I’m only 27! Whatevs. I did end up making the worlds cutest baskets though for some friends with homemade goodies. I will share that with you later this week…mostly so I have another chance to lament on how I didn’t get an easter basket this year! Whatevs.

Here is something that has nothing to do with Girls or Spotify or Easter, though. Its Orange Grapefruit Orange Sorbet and it’s so good you’ll want to cry.

Orange Grapefruit Sorbet
modified slightly from How Sweet Eats

  • 4 1/2 cups of fresh squeezed grapefruit (if you can find 100% all natural grapefruit juice, no sugar-added, that is an option)
  • 1 cup of fresh squeeze orange juice (again, all-natural juice can be used)
  • 1 1/2 cup vegan cane sugar

Combine 1 cup of grapefruit juice and all of the sugar in a saucepan over medium heat. Whisk until sugar dissolves, cooking for about 5-6 minutes. Remove from heat and pour in a large bowl, mixing it with the remaining grapefruit and orange juice. Refrigerate for 25 minutes, or until chilled.

Once chilled, pour the mixture in your ice cream maker and churn according to the directions. I used my mom’s KitchenAid  attachment and churned it for 25 minutes. After churning, pour in a container and freeze for 6-8 hours until frozen.

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It’s no secret Jessica is one of my favorite bloggers. It’s also no secret that my most favoritest non-vegan treat ever, which I always end up cheating on my vegan diet with, is ice cream. So when I saw that Jessica posted a vegan-friendly frozen treat that could help me break my scandalous affair with ice cream, I died of excitement…and then I waited two months to make it. Fail. Don’t wait two months to make this! This is the best sorbet I’ve had. It’s refreshing and a perfect balance of tart and sweet. And Delicious! I’m telling you, don’t wait to make this!

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Posted in Recipes | 1 Comment »

Thin Mint Donuts

March 15, 2013 by Erin

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I lied my face of when I said I wasn’t doing another Friday Favorites. As I sit here, contemplating how I could possibly top the brilliance of my Veronica Mar’s post,  I realized, Oh wait, I don’t have to! I’ll just throw together all my favorites from the week and have that entertain you! Because really, the only thing that is more awesome then me rambling on about the pope, V-Mars and (more) St. Patty’s Day recipes, is Justin Timberlake…dressed as tofu!

Justin Timberlake’s SNL performance, which every vegan blog has posted this week. I don’t care. It’s brilliant!

Chocolove Chocolate bars– namely dark chocolate with almonds and sea salt or dark chocolate coffee. I’ve pretty much given up all desserts since Rachel and I entered this Team Lean Challenge…except this chocolate. It gets me through man…it gets me through…

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The Top 16 White People Song Lyrics Statuses and Tweets of All Time by Matt, aka Goose. I went to high school with this kid and have seen him exactly zero times since we graduated but I’m wishing that that wasn’t the case after reading this. It’s hysterical in a ‘oh-crap-I’m-totally-F*ing-guilty-of-this’ sort of way. If you are 20-something-ish or younger and have ever posted lyrics in your AIM away message/Myspace Profile/Facebook status, and your white, you’ve probably posted one of these lyrics. Or if you’re me, 6.5  of  them (not that Zac Brown song but definitely two others…crap). I’m apparently super white. Just read it.

from Matt's blog, The Goosefiles

from Matt’s blog, The Goosefiles

I can’t NOT post my favorite Dropkick Murphy’s song, Wicked Sensitive Crew, 2 days before St. Patrick’s Day,. “…And we sure ain’t vegan!” It’s ok guys. I still love you.

and last but not least, Sunday brunch with friends! These donuts were made for the ‘donuts and carbs’ brunch we had a few weekends ago. That theme wasn’t intentional but no one cared. The food was excellent.

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Are you even seeing all the donuts on that table?! This was my contribution to the brunch:

Thin Mint Donuts

from Cheeky Kitchen;

For the Donuts:

  • 1 cup garbanzo beans
  • 1/2 cup almond milk
  • 3/4 teaspoon baking powder
  • 1/4 tsp baking soda
  • 2 tablespoons vanilla
  • 1 tsp white vinegar
  • 1/2 tsp salt
  • 1/2 cup sugar
  • 1 1/2 tablespoon Earth Balance ‘butter’, melted
  • 1 cup vegan chocolate chips, melted
  • 1 cup whole wheat pastry flour

For the Glaze:

  • 1/2 cup vegan chocolate chips, melted
  • 2 tablespoons Earth Balanc, melted
  • 1 tablespoon almond milk
  • 1/2 tablespoon vanilla
  • 1 cup powdered sugar
  • 1/8 tsp of peppermint extract (or more to taste)

In a blender, combine garbanzo beans, almond milk, baking powder, vanilla, white vinegar, salt, sugar, and melted butter. Blend until pureed. Transfer to a large bowl and blend with the melted chocolate chips and flour. Transfer to a large zip-top bag and allow the dough to sit for about 5-10 minutes before snipping the corner of the bag, and piping into donut pans that have been generously sprayed with nonstick baking spray. Be gentle. This is a thick, sticky dough and I definitely popped my the ziploc bag I was using. Trust me, you do not want to have to spoon this dough in. I made such a mess!

Bake in an oven preheated to 350 degrees for 9-11 minutes, or just until the donuts set. Remove and cool for 3-5 minutes before turning your donuts onto a cooling rack.

For the Glaze:

Melt everything in a double boiler and frost the donuts!

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Two weekends ago, before donut baking, I would have bet you a million dollars I had two, large, regular donut bans. I would have lost. Apparently, I only own heart shape pans. Nothing screams St. Patty’s day like heart donuts? Just roll with it…

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Ok, I think this may be my last St. Patty’s Day post. I was hoping to post one more dessert recipe tomorrow (guinness truffles? Carbomb cupcakes?) but I’m not sure if I will get the chance. Double check on Saturday just in case. If you are celebrating all things irish this weekend, be safe! Don’t drink and drive! That’s illegal. Don’t wander around completely drunk! That’s dangerous. Don’t urinate in public. That’s also illegal, I hear. Don’t drunk text exes! That’s also dangerous…and dumb.  Be smart. And may the luck of the irish be with you!

Posted in Life, Recipes | Tagged , , , , | 1 Comment »

I’m not done yet…

March 15, 2013 by Erin

…but I may have spent my evening hunkered down in JP Lick’s sipping mocha lattes,  eating ice cream, and watching The Vow. Then,  I spent a solid 2 hours chatting it up with a friend instead of editing photos (I use the term loosely) and writing up a post.

Check back in at 5 and I will send you into the weekend with a donut recipe! YUM!

❤

Posted in Life | Leave a Comment »

Thin Mint Protein Smoothie

March 14, 2013 by Erin

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Serious news is going down, people. This has nothing to do with Veganism, St. Patrick’s Day or food BUT it does have to do with some serious awesomeness, which is pretty much the corner stone of Wicked Vegan. Awesomeness with a side of food.

It has nothing to do with a new Pope because let’s be serious. Yeah, smoke signals are cool and all but the whole electing the Pope thing was way more interesting when Dan Brown told it. Where’s the exploding helicopters, the murder, the car chases? The art history lessons about Bernini which I totally nerded out about? No? None of it? Bah! Definitely not awesome.

It also has nothing to do with the fact that those backstabbing traitors known as The Patriots let my beloved Welker walk away. That is not awesome at all! In fact, where just not going to talk about it…

Nope, this is bigger. Ok. Deep breath. After YEARS of speculation…

…there is going to be a Veronica Mars movie.

I KNOW! I’m so excited!!

What? Were you expecting something else? I mean, weren’t you texting your equally excited friend for like, 2 hours counting down the Kick Starter bids to $2 million (seriously, watch the video on that site. It’s frickin’ hysterical!), stalking Kristen Bell and Rob Thomas’s twitters for the latest updates and rewatching your favorite Kristen Bell and Veronica Mars videos?

No? Oh, ok. Um, neither was I. I was totally working on this super yummy protein shake for you… Clearly.

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Chocolate Mint Protein Smoothie aka Thin Mint Smoothie
from Rabbit Food for My Bunny Teeth

1 cup frozen spinach (or 2 cups fresh)
1 cup almond milk
2 scoops vegan chocolate protein powder (I used vega protein powder which I talked about here. You can buy individual serving sizes. I found mine at Whole Foods)
1/4 cup rolled oats
1/8 tsp peppermint extract

Toppings:
1 Tbsp walnuts
1 Tbsp 70% dark chocolate chips

Combine the almond milk, spinach, protein powder, rolled oats, and peppermint extract in a high powered blender and blend until smooth. Transfer to a glass and top with walnuts and chocolate chips.

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It’s not exactly Irish but it is green. And it will taste great when you go to hot yoga at 9am on St. Patty’s day after lord-only-knows what sort of debauchery went down the night before. (yeap, that’s my plan!)

I’m really sorry this post was long and rambly. I average 1-2 post a week and this is my third with another one coming tomorrow. My life is clearly not interesting enough to fill 4 posts a week!

Posted in Recipage | 1 Comment »

Beer Bread- 2 ways

March 13, 2013 by Erin

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Guinness bread

So…This daylight savings thing is kicking my butt in the worst way! Let’s just say that according to my stove clock, I was TOTALLY on time for work today.  I think Arizona was right to boycott this non-sense.

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Pumpkinhead Beer Bread

With that said, let’s keep this short and sweet, shall we?

I whipped up this beer bread to go along with the Guinness stew I gave you yesterday. It’s SUPER easy and a thousand times better then Soda Bread, which usually comes with raisins. And you know I don’t do raisin. Plus it has booze!

Bread -raisins+booze=St. Patrick’s Day Awesomeness!

(this math problem was brought to you by an English/Art major.)

So the first recipe I’m giving you I made with Shipyard Pumpkinhead. ummmm, yeah. I still have some leftover from Halloween. I’m hoarding it and drinking like, 1 a month to hold me over until October when it’s released again. Or, let’s be real, August, since halloween/fall crap is pulled out in the summer now.

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Pumpkinhead Beer Bread

Beer Bread:
via Rachel Robin’s Nest

  • 3 cups flour
  • 1tbsp baking powder
  • 1 tsp salt
  • 1/4 cup sugar
  • 12 oz (1.5 cups) beer


Combine all ingredients and put into a well-greased bread pan.  Bake at 375 for 45 minutes.

That’s it! Crazy, right? No rising, no kneading, no nothin’!

ok, now the second one is for Guinness. You can definitely use Guinness in the recipe above. Rachel said it comes out delicious but I was thinking brown sugar might be tastier with the Guinness. So I gave this recipe a try:

Guinness Beer Bread

via The Black Peppercorn

  • 3 cups flour
  • ½ tsp salt
  • 4 tsp baking powder
  • ⅓ cup oats
  • ⅔ cup dark brown sugar
  • 12 oz Guinness (Guinness Extra Stout is supposedly vegan according to Barnivore)
  • 1 tbsp oats
  • 1 tbsp butter (Earth Balance)
  1. Preheat oven at 350F
  2. Grease a loaf pan with the 1 tbsp butter.
  3. Whisk together the flour, baking powder, salt, ⅓ cup oats and brown sugar.
  4. Slowly beat in the Guinness into the dry ingredients using a wooden spoon or an electric mixer on the low setting. Do not over mix the batter, but make sure that it is not too lumpy.
  5. Pour the batter in the greased loaf pan and sprinkle the 1 tbsp of oats on top ( I totally forgot this step because I was all, COOK FAST SO I CAN EAT YOU!)
  6. Bake the bread for 50-60 minutes. The bread is done when a toothpick inserted, comes out clean. Check at 45 minutes just in case the bread is done early.
  7. Place on a cooling rack until at room temperature.

Mine took longer to cook, about 60 minutes.

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Guinness Beer Bread

Both of these are delicious, though I think my favorite is the first recipe. This could just be because I adore Pumpkinhead beer above all others, including Guinness. The Pumpkinhead is sweeter so it just makes a super yummy bread. BUT, experiment with your own breads and let me know what beers work.

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Guinness Beer Bread

Would you believe I have TWO more, maybe even three, St. Patrick’s Day-themed recipes for you guys?? I’m am all over this holiday!

PS. I’ve had a few requests for an easier search engine for recipes. I’m looking into adding a Recipage tab, which would help organize things a bit. Stay tuned and if you see some weird, pseudo-complete changes going on, hold tight. It means better things are coming =)

Posted in Recipes | Tagged , , , , | 2 Comments »

Vegan Guinness Stew

March 12, 2013 by Erin


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St. Patrick’s Day is right around the corner. Tis the season to eat all the irish food we avoid the rest of the year (cause seriously? the irish just dont have the best food), celebrate our 1/64th bit of irish blood and drink copious amounts of beer until we pass out. Oh, St. Patty’s really brings out the best in people!

With that said, I’m totally jumping on that bandwagon and partaking in all the above. Except maybe the drinking copious amounts of beer. Because holding my liquor is not a trait I inherited from my irish ancestors. Lightweights Representin’!

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Anyway, here are a few St. Patty’s day recipes from last year:  Irish Cream, Corned Beef and guinness-glazed  potatoes. I think I am most looking forward to sauteing up those guinness-glazed potatoes. SO yummy. And here are some recipes that may not be typical St. Patty’s day grub but they fit the theme: green monster smoothy, for a nutritional, green, kick to your morning; spinach artichoke dip, a green appetizer for a more casual get together; vegan irish stew, which I totally forgot I had on the blog!; and how about one more? Beer fries.

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Annnd, here is a new one!

Vegan Guinness Stew
from The Curvy Carrot
6ish large servings

  • 1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
  • 2 large onions, peeled and chopped
  • 6 small celery stalks, chopped into bite-sized pieces
  • 16 ounces (1 lb) button mushrooms, cleaned, de-stemmed, and sliced
  • 1 tablespoon all-purpose flour
  • One 11.2-ounce bottle of Guinness Stout*
  • 4-5 medium carrots, peeled and chopped into bite-sized pieces
  • 3 lb (about 3-4 large) Russet potatoes, peeled and chopped
  • 1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
  • 4 cups of Vegetable Stock
  • 2 tablespoons tomato paste
  • 1 bay leaf
  • 1 teaspoon black pepper
  • 1 teaspoon paprika
  • 2 teaspoons granulated sugar
  • 1 teaspoon salt

*according to Barnivore, Guinness extra stout from North America is vegan.

1.  Heat the olive oil in a soup pot over medium heat until shimmering.

2. Add the onion, celery, and about 1/4 of the mushrooms, stirring frequently until softened, about 10 minutes.

3. Add the flour to the mixture and stir to coat and cook for another 2 minutes.

4. Carefully pour the bottle of Guinness over the mixture, and stir to scrape up any browned bits.

5. Add the remaining vegetables and ingredients and bring the mixture to a boil.

6. Decrease the heat to low and simmer, uncovered, for about 45 minutes.

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This is super hearty and is perfect served with a thick, warm slice of beer bread. Beer bread you say? Well…you’ll just have to come back tomorrow and get that recipe!

Posted in Recipes | Tagged , , , , , | 2 Comments »

Friday Favorites and Lemon-Lime Margarita

March 8, 2013 by Erin

Let me preface this by saying, I know ALL the best blogs are doing Friday Favorites and Product reviews. I didn’t mean to jump on that bandwagon but I started to post my love for Ed Sheeran and it just kept going! So, here are some things I’m loving on right now. I probably won’t do this again:

1. This video. Seriously, can Ed Sheeran do anything wrong? I’m in love. 

 

2. Lush products. Some of their stuff can be pricey but a ton of it is vegan-friendly and most of their stuff is all-natural or close to it. I have far, far too much stuff from this store but my two favorites are : aqua marina face wash and the buffy bar. You can see the aqua marina below. It’s literally clay wrapped in seaweed. It works SO well, though. I actually ditched Proactive and started using that cleanser with the Tea Tree Toner and Grease lightening (both from Lush) and I like the results much better. As for the Buffy Bar- It exfoliates and moisturizes like nothing else and you can use it in the shower. I’m obsessed.

image from Lush.com. Links to products are listed above

image from Lush.com. Links to products are listed above

3. Vega chocolate protein powder. I’ve been working out like a fiend lately and this stuff is great for a post-gym protein boost! It’s a protein powder that is plant-based and vegan-friendly. I have a recipe coming next week that includes this stuff and you’re going to love it! (hint hint go buy some hint hint)

I bought these little sample packs at whole foods

I bought these little sample packs at whole foods

4. Candy crush. I’m so addicted. I’m not really a video/smart phone/computer game person. I peaked at Zelda back during the n64 days but i cant stop playing this! Currently, i’m totally stuck on level 33. Send help!

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5. Veronica Mars. Sometimes, you just need some spunk and bad-ass attitude in your life and V. Mars delivers! “You under-counted the Sassy!”

6. Ugh, I’m sorry- One more song! She and Him’s new single “I never wanted your love”. I almost posted Carly Rae Jepson’s new single, Tonight I’m Getting Over You, buuuut I decided to spare you.

 

7. And last but not least, these margaritas. I call them ‘When Life Gives You Lemons’ margaritas. I feel like the past two months, life has been handing me lemons by the cart full. Make lemonade, you say? Please! I’ll add those lemons to tequila instead, thankyouverymuch.

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“When Life Gives You Lemons” Margaritas
based off of the How Sweet Eats recipe for margaritas

  • 2 ounces Grand Marnier
  • 1 1/2 ounces tequila
  • 2 ounces lime juice
  • 2 1/2 ounces lemon simple syrup (recipe below)
  • sugar for the rim (optional)
  • lemon or lime slices (optional)

Add Grand Marnier, tequila, lime juice and lemon simple syrup in a shaker with ice. Shake until cold. Serve with sugar rim and lemon or lime slices

Lemon Simple Syrup
based off of Martha Stewart recipe

1 cup of sugar
1 cup of water
zest from 1 lemon* ( I used fresh meyers lemons. Regular lemons will work, too)
3/4 c. fresh lemon juice

Heat your sugar, water and lemon zest in a small sauce pan until sugar has dissolved. Let simmer for a minute or so to give the sugar water more time to become lemon-y. Remove from heat. Strain the sugar water through a fine sieve to get the lemon zest out. Set aside to cool. Once completely cool, stir in the lemon juice.

*If you don’t have a fine sieve for straining out the zest, you can simply peel the rinds into long strips. This will allow you to pull the rind out with just a fork or slotted spoon. I did this and it worked out fine.

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This margarita is delicious. It’s super refreshing and putting the lemon in the simple syrup prevents the whole drink from getting too sour. I think it’s the perfect citrus margarita. If you want more lemon juice, replace the 2 oz of lime juice with 1 oz of lime and 1 oz of lemon. I liked the sweet rim with the sour lemon and lime but salt would work just as well if that’s your thing.

Hit me up with what your obsessed with right now and I’ll check it out. I hope everyone has a great weekend! I’ll be escaping the city life and city drama for a little road trip and mini-getaway 😉

Posted in Life, Recipes | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments »

Lentil, Mushroom & Sweet Potato Shepherd’s Pie

March 7, 2013 by Erin

Sometimes, it’s Saturday and I’m able to take my time taking awesome pictures for the blog, complete with props and natural sunlight and cute dishes.

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Other times, I have been trying to make a dish for two weeks but haven’t found time;  had to toss ingredients out at least once because they went bad before I could use them; had to hussle out of the kitchen cause my roommate needed it to make dinner with his friends; had to take pictures in front of old plastic-ed windows in the early morning gray-ness because it’s snowing; and the recipe I’m photographing is really nothing but a pile of orange and  brown (albeit delicious) mush.

(Did I use those semi-colons correctly?!?! I think I followed the rules the Oatmeal gave me! oh yeah!)

Can you guess which situation this delightful shephard’s pie recipe falls under?

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Despite the fact that it may win the award for the most unpleasant pictures on the site, the recipe is actually really delicious, which is a lot coming from me. Shephard’s pie used to be my one freebie at dinner. You know, you had to eat what Mom makes except for your one freebie meal because she knew you genuinely hated it. Shephard’s pie was my freebie (until I went vegetarian, then I got a special meal each night. Go me!). But since this recipe has exactly none of the ingredients that my mom’s shephard’s pie had, it shouldn’t be a big surprise that I like it better.

Like my potato masher? After I made the Sweet Potato burgers for my parents and it took me a million hours to mash the potatoes with a fork, Mom bought me my very own potato masher. yeah!! lol

Like my potato masher? After I made the Sweet Potato burgers for my parents and it took me a million hours to mash the potatoes with a fork, Mom bought me my very own potato masher. yeah!! lol

This recipe takes the tradition meat, potatoes and veggies (Mom’s always had ground beef, corn, mashed potatoes and gravy) and subs in lentils, mushrooms and sweet potatoes, all things I love! Weirdly enough, when it was cooking though, it definitely smelt like I remember Mom’s did! Maybe I was just psyching myself out…

Lentil, Mushroom & Sweet Potato Shepherd’s Pie

From thekitchn.com
Makes 6 servings

6 medium sweet potatoes, scrubbed*
1 cup brown or green lentils, washed and picked over
3/4 cup dry steel cut oats
1 bay leaf
1 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 pound  mushrooms, divided ( used baby bellas, the original recipe used creminis)
1 onion, chopped
2 carrot, chopped
1 celery stalk, chopped
1 garlic clove, minced
3/4 cup low-sodium vegetable stock
1/4 cup red wine
1 tablespoon tomato paste
1 tablespoon soy sauce or tamari
2 teaspoons smoked paprika
1/4 cup chopped fresh parsley

Preheat the oven to 400°F. Prick each sweet potato several times with a fork and place on a baking sheet. Roast for 45 minutes to 1 hour, or until very soft to the touch. Set aside to cool.

In a medium pot, combine the lentils, oats, bay leaf and salt with 5 cups of water. Bring to a boil and lower heat. Simmer uncovered for 15-20 minutes or until lentils are soft but not mushy, stirring occasionally to keep the oats from sticking to the bottom of the pot. Discard bay leaf and drain mixture into a colander or sieve.

While the lentils and oats are cooking, finely chop half of the mushrooms and set aside. Cut the remaining mushrooms into quarters. Warm the olive oil in a large pot over medium-high heat. Add the quartered mushrooms and a pinch of salt and cook until browned and soft. Add the chopped mushrooms, onion, carrot, celery and garlic and cook, stirring occasionally, until onions are soft and translucent. Lower heat to medium and add the lentil and oat mixture, followed by the vegetable stock, wine, tomato paste, soy sauce, paprika, and parsley. Taste and add salt if needed. Simmer mixture for 5 minutes. Remove from heat and add a few grinds of black pepper.

Preheat oven to 350°F. Peel sweet potatoes with your hands and place in a medium bowl. Use a fork to mash them into a smooth paste and season to taste with salt and pepper.

Evenly spread the lentil mixture into a 9×13-inch baking dish. (For thicker layers, use a 9×9-inch pan.) Spoon the sweet potato mixture on top and smooth with a spatula. Bake for 30 minutes, or until the filling is bubbling at the edges.

 *Note: The original recipe called for 5 medium sweet potatoes but that didn’t even cover 3/4 of my shephard’s pie in a 9×13 pan. I would suggest buying and roasting 6. Start by mashing 5 and if you need more, mash the 6th. If you end up not using that 6th roasted sweet potato, you can always cube it and add it to a salad or have it it for lunch.
 
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Bonus points for me: Shephard’s Pie is considered an Irish cuisine on wikipedia. Which means that I am over a week early with presenting you with a St. Patty’s Day dinner idea. Just add a Guiness (Extra Stout is vegan according to Barnivore.com) and your done. More St. Patty’s day recipes to come!

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Mocha Almond Butter

February 27, 2013 by Erin

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Aaand I’m back! The lack of posts around here has been shameful but I have to confess, I have been working my butt off elsewhere.

As I mentioned before, I’m participating in a work-sponsored competition called Team Lean. It’s led to some new and exciting exercise attempts. So far I have tried boxing (which is awesome if you just want to let out some pent up anger at your ex/boss/friends/whatever), hot yoga (so sore the next day!) and snowboarding (so sore the next day…and the entire week!!). All this experimenting has not only made me realize that I am quite possibly the least graceful person on the planet (I think I spent more time on my ass then on my snowboard) but has also sucked up all the free time I used to use for playing in the kitchen. But it’s paying off. My team is…well, we aren’t winning. We’re like 40 out of 100+ BUT at least we aren’t last! =)

Not only has my general kitchen time been removed but what I am making is nowhere near as exciting as Red Velvet Nutella Rolls or Cookie Dough Truffles. Lots of random fruit and protein powder getting dumped into blenders, lots of veggie salads, not so much with the desserts or sweets.

So, here is another recipe I gave out around Christmas time that I have been meaning to post but have been dragging my feet on.

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Mocha Almond Butter
from Edible Perspective
yields ~ 1 1/4 cups

  • 2 cups raw almonds
  • 1/3 cup pure maple syrup
  • 2 teaspoons + 1 teaspoon instant espresso powder*
  • 1 tablespoon extra virgin unrefined coconut oil, melted (may need more)
  • 1 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder
  • 2-3 teaspoons coconut sugar or sucanat (optional)
  • 1/8 – 1/4 teaspoon salt
  1. Preheat your oven to 300*F and line a rimmed baking sheet with parchment paper.
  2. Toss the almonds with the maple syrup and 2 teaspoons of instant espresso powder, then spread on the baking sheet.
  3. Roast for 10 minutes, turn almonds, then roast for another 10 minutes.
  4. Remove and let cool for 10-12 minutes.  You want them to still be warm but not hot.
  5. Scrape almonds from the parchment into your high powdered food processor [at least 10 cup capacity] and turn on.
  6. Let spin, scraping down the sides as needed until it starts to form a thick, doughy texture.  8-10 minutes.
  7. Add in the melted coconut oil and let spin until it is fully smooth and drippy.  Scrape the sides as needed.  The process will take 12-15 minutes in total.
  8. Add in the 1 teaspoon espresso powder, cocoa powder, and salt and let spin until smooth.
  9. Taste and add 2-3 teaspoons of coconut sugar and/or more salt if desired.
  10. Pour into a jar and let cool to room temperature before sealing.  Best kept in the fridge.

*I made several jars of this and experimented with the instant espresso. I used powdered instant coffee which I ground into a fine powder. It was ok but a little bitter. You’ll want to up the sugar. I also tried instant cappuccino, which was lingering in my cabinet from a former recipe but was not dairy-free. It got the most rave reviews, though.

notes: This fits in an 8oz jar with about 1/4 cup leftover.  You can sub another oil for coconut if needed.  You can sub another sugar for the coconut sugar if desired.

I don’t really love almond butter as a general rule but for some reason, homemade almond butter is so much better then store bought! Especially when you add coffee and chocolate.

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Like the cashew butter, you can serve this with fruit (like an apple, strawberries or banana), put it in your oatmeal (swirl in 1TBSP with your hot oatmeal and then top with toasted coconut and pecans. I bet it would be delicious!), slather it on some bread or heck, eat it off a spoon for dessert. I’m not judging!

Off to burn more calories! I’m hoping to post a new margarita recipe soon so I have to go earn that tequila =)

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Red Velvet Nutella Breakfast Rolls

February 14, 2013 by Erin

Happy Valentine’s Day, everyone!

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Yesterday for Valentine’s Day I treated myself to a Target shopping spree. This was the worse thing I could do for my wallet but it was fun. I walked away with such necessities as nail polish (Essie’s Fishnet Stocking. Love it!), 2 DVDs (Perks of Being a Wallflower and Juno. I couldn’t decide, they were both on sale!!) and the Ed Sheeran CD. Because I love him. Hey! We all need to treat ourselves a little on the day of love.

Besides unnecessary shopping trips, what are your plans for tonight? Staying in? Going out? Do tell! I will be doing what ever person should be doing on Valentine’s Day- smuggling food into a zombie movie. oh yes! Nothing says ‘I love you’ like watching the undead eat brains. Yes please! Possible Valentine’s Day treats being smuggled in? Chocolate covered popcorn (I’ll try and post the recipe tonight) and Wild Berry skittles (aka, the best kind!). I, of course, will not be smuggling in a pomagranite margarita even though it’s pink and boozy and perfect for this holiday. That would be illegal. So, of course, I’m not doing it…

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ANYWAY! I told you I was going to try and squeeze just one more recipe in here for you and here it is! I don’t know what to call these things. The original recipe called them “cinnamon” rolls but that just doesn’t work for me. They are sort of assembled like cinnamon rolls, except for the whole shaped-like-a-heart thing. They are bright red and super rich smothered in chocolate hazelnut spread and cream cheese frosting but oh so good! I will take suggestions on names cause “breakfast Rolls” aint cutting it. And “Nutella rolls” is just kind of ‘meh’.

uncooked, on their way to the oven!

uncooked, on their way to the oven!

Red Velvet Nutella Rolls
veganized from Yammie’s Noshery

  • 2 tablespoons sugar
  • 1 1/2 tablespoons (2 packets) active dry yeast
  • 1 cup warm water
  • 2 bottles red gel food coloring (1 oz. each)
  • 1/4 cup (1/2 stick) melted Earth Balance (or other vegan) butter (but not too hot)
  • 1/4 cup oil
  • 3 cups all-purpose flour
  • 3 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 1/2 cup of chocolate hazelnut spread, like Justin’s or Nutella

In the bowl of your electric mixer, combine the sugar, yeast, water, food coloring, butter, and oil and just give it a few gentle stirs with a spoon to incorporate. Let sit for about five minutes.

Sift together the flour, cocoa powder, and salt. With your mixer on its lowest setting and using your generic mixing paddle, add about 1/2 cup of the flour mixture to the wet ingredients at a time, mixing well after each addition. Once all the flour is combined, remove the paddle, put your dough hook on and knead your dough for about 5 more minutes.

Put dough in a greased bowl and cover in a warm place for about 30 minutes or until doubled in volume. (my apartment is so cold that my new trick is to turn my oven on to 400 degrees for 1 minute. The turn it off complete and put my dough in the oven, covered with a towel. It worked great for me!)

Preheat oven to 375ºF. Roll the dough into a rectangle on a lightly floured surface. It should be about 1 foot by 1 1/2 feet or so (don’t worry about being exact). Spread on the chocolate hazelnut spread (if it’s not soft enough, you can warm some up in the microwave a little to make it easier).
Slice the dough into strips (about 1 inch wide or so). Roll the edges of each strip towards each other and then pinch the bottom to make into a heart shape.

Place the spirals on a well greased baking sheet. Allow to rise at least five more minutes. Bake at 375º for about 9-11 minutes. Frost with cream cheese frosting (recipe below).

Cream Cheese Frosting:

8 ounces softened vegan or organic cream cheese
1/2 cup softened vegan butter, such as Earth Balance
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
3 cups powdered sugar

Beat together the cream cheese, butter, and vanilla. Add the sugar, 1 cup at a time until well combined. Spread over cinnamon rolls. Drizzle with more Nutella if desired.

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Nothing says I love you like carbs dripping with chocolate and frosting. YUM! Hope you have a great day!

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