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Posts Tagged ‘peanut butter’

Healthy-ish Peanut Butter Balls

Posted in Recipes, tagged , , , on February 21, 2014| 1 Comment »

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Happy Friday, everyone! I’m made you something with fun sprinkles to help you celebrate the end of your week. I hope you have some awesome plans for this weekend. I think I have not 1, but 2 fun things in the works that I am looking forward to sharing with you on my next Travel Tuesday-Staycation post.

Ok, now let’s get down to business. The family I nanny for often has chocolate chip cookies in the house. They are good. Real good. Like, I’m pretty sure in one day, the Dad and I can make a fairly large dent before the kids even know I restocked. They aren’t vegan and they aren’t healthy. Thus, they are my worst enemy. They whisper to be from the very top of the cabinet saying “psst, Erin. You worked out this morning. You can totally have 1. Or 3. I’m yummy and chock full of chocolate chips…”

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It’s the worst.

peanut butter + maple syrup

peanut butter + maple syrup

So I’ve been trying to make some cleaner, healthier-sorta-kinda, desserts that I can keep around the house that I don’t have to worry about sharing. This way, when I’m being taunted by store bought chocolate chip cookies, I have a better option.

peanut butter/maple syrup + coconut flour

peanut butter/maple syrup + coconut flour

Healthy-ish Peanut Butter Balls
from Oh She Glows
serving 20-25

Ingredients:

  • 1 cup 100% natural peanut butter (smooth or crunchy, I used Teddy’s. You want it to be the all natural kind that is kind of drippy.)
  • 3.5-4 tablespoons pure maple syrup, to taste (I only tried maple syrup so I can’t vouch for other liquid sweeteners like honey and Agave Nectar)
  • 2-3 tablespoons coconut flour (I used 2.5)
  • fine grain sea salt, to taste (I used 1/8 teaspoon because by PB was already salted)
  • 6 tablespoons rice crisp cereal
  • 3/4 cup dark chocolate chips
  • 1/2 tablespoon coconut oil

Instructions:

  1. Combine natural peanut butter and the maple syrup in a medium bowl and stir vigorously for about a minute until the mixture has thickened.
  2. Add the coconut and stir until well combined. The amount of the coconut flour will depend on the consistency of your peanut butter. Start with 2 TBSP, combine and let sit for a minute or two. The coconut flour will continue to absorbed the moisture in the mixture and will continue to thicken. Add a bit more if the peanut butter remains sticky. You want to be able to roll the peanut butter into a ball without it sticking to your hands (add more flour if this is the case) and without cracking or crumbling (add more maple syrup). See my picture below for a reference on what your dough should look like.
  3. Add salt and combine.
  4. Add cereal and gently combine.
  5. Shape into balls and place on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper (I was able to make 20 but I would suggest going smaller for a better Peanut butter/ chocolate ratio). Place in freezer while you prepare the chocolate.
  6. On medium heat,melt the chocolate and coconut oil in a double boiler. Once the chocolate had begun to melt, stir the chocolate around until it becomes smooth then remove from heat.
  7. Remove the peanut butter balls from the freezer. One at a time, drop them into the melted chocolate, roll around until it is covered, then roll it gently up the side to help remove excess chocolate.
  8. Place in the fridge or freezer for another 10 minutes or so for the chocolate to harden. Keep chilled.

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I had been eyeing this recipe since I received two large jars of Teddy’s peanut butter from home for Christmas. I sort of forgot about it with the craziness of the holidays but the other day, I realized I was down to my last 1/2 of a jar and knew I had to make this before it was too late.

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The filling is straight up peanut butter goodness! The rice cereal adds a nice texture but the best part is, because it’s so peanut buttery, I’m good with one. It’s the perfect little afternoon snack!

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AND peanut butter is a very American thing and most of the family doesn’t particularly like them so they are all for me! Yesssss!

PS. did you notice in the first picture the condensation on the Peanut Butter Balls because it was SO hot here when I was photographing them? It reminded me of this skit. LOL! Happy Friday.

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Friday Favorites and Peanut Butter Triple Chocolate Cookies

Posted in Life, Recipes, tagged , , , , , , on January 31, 2014| 2 Comments »

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So today I’m sharing with you Peanut Butter Triple Chocolate Cookies, aka, The Resolution Breakers. These can be eaten in cookie format OR in cookie dough format. They have three kinds of chocolate, they have peanut, they have sugar, they are basically everything that people give up when they start the New Year and swear to eat health. I’m sorry but they are just too good not to share.

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But first, Friday Favorites!

This commercial, which has me dying to know where my pogs went and if we can make them a thing again

This Full House Reunion, which begs the question ‘Has Uncle Jesse been living in a bubble because he looks EXACTLY the same’:

This song and the entire Save Rock and Roll album by the Fall Out Boys. I’ve listened to it every day this week during my work outs and I can not get enough. For some reason, I just really love FOB when I am in a foreign country. I can’t explain it

Sally Hansen- Golden Rule nail polish. It’s gold and glittery and nothing like the normal nail polishes I wear, which are black or red. But I’m half way through my Golden Rule bottle and I still love it so that speaks volumes. I tried to take one of those fancy pinterest photos of my nails and the nail bottle and honestly, it just wasn’t happening. Google it. You’ll find pictures a thousand times better then mine.

from Sallyhansen.com

from Sallyhansen.com

and finally, these Peanut Butter Triple Chocolate cookies. I’ve been craving chocolate like there’s no tomorrow lately and these seem to hit the spot. I threw in some peanut butter on a whim. My all time favorite peanut butter is Teddy’s and I received two jars from the states for Christmas. I’ve pretty much been eating it on everything which may or may not be a good thing. So, when I was making these cookies I thought, why not throw some peanut butter in? And then I thought, why not dunk the thing in even more chocolate.  Yeah…I think I have a problem.

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Peanut Butter Triple Chocolate Cookies
recipe adapted from Cadbury Double Chocolate Chip Cookies

  • 1/4 C. butter, softened
  • 1/4 C. all natural peanut butter
  • ½ cup brown sugar
  • ⅓ cup sugar
  • 1 Energ-E egg
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla
  • 1½ cups self raising flour
  • ½ cup cocoa
  • ¾ cup vegan chocolate chips

1 cup of vegan chocolate chips for dunking (optional)

1. Cream together butter, peanut butter and sugars until light and fluffy. Whisk in “egg” and vanilla. Stir in flour and Cocoa then fold in the chocolate chips
2. Roll into balls and place on greased baking trays. Bake in  oven at 320°F/160°C for 10-15 minutes or until cooked. Cool on a wire rack.
3. Once cool, melt your chocolate chips in a double boiler (my preferred method) or in the microwave. Dunk half the cookie in the chocolate and place on wax paper to dry.

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These also make DELICIOUS cookie truffles. To make, just skip step 2. Instead, roll your dough into balls, chill and then dunk in melted chocolate. This is equally delicious and you can save yourself 10-15 minutes if you are UBER craving chocolate. Or you can just mix the dough and eat it straight out of the bowl. I’m not judging.

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Chocolate Peanut Butter Banana Bites

Posted in Recipes, tagged , , , on December 9, 2013| Leave a Comment »

This recipe is a huge cop out. Like, I don’t even know if it’s considered a recipe. But here we go.

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As I mentioned last week, I’ve been in a HUGE food funk. These overnight oats are what I have for breakfast, followed by some sort of toast with hummus for lunch and leftovers for dinner. I’m just not feeling food. It’s too hot here! Add to that the fact that the kids are now on summer break so I no longer have all afternoon to myself and there goes my cooking time! I did try to make some M&M cookies last week with the kids. The M&Ms weren’t vegan but I had leftovers from when I was making cookies for the kids’ teachers. The results were these colorful, flat-as-crepes cookies. Yeah…one of the kids put 1 1/2 c. of flour in instead of 2 1/2 c. of flour. Whoops.

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So basically, my cooking time slot has been narrowed down to the 30 minute reading time I force upon the kids each day. Well, it’s supposed to be 30 minutes but after taking out the 10 minutes I spend telling them to “focus” and “stop talking” and “stop making faces at each other” and “stop kicking each other!” and “Oh my gosh if I have to tell you one more time to read your book…!”, it’s usually only about 20 minutes. That’s why this recipe is perfect. It takes about 10 minutes to prepare, you pop them in the freezer and the result is a little bite sized cold, chocolately/salty treat that you can grab in between activities. It’s hot here so they are perfect as an alternative to bites of ice cream. As for those in colder weather, they may be a healthier alternative to munching on holiday cookies?

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Either way, I thought these were a great little treat for myself but silly me, I made them in full view of all three kids. Which means I had to share. And they loved them. Which means they didn’t last nearly as long as I thought they would.  I don’t know if that is a good thing because they were clearly tasty or a bad because now I have to use my precious 30 20 minutes of free time to make a much larger batch tomorrow.

Chocolate Peanut Butter Banana Bites
from Nom! Nom! Nom! Blog
serves 1-2, but can easily be doubled

1 banana

1/8 c. of peanut butter, approximately

1/2 cup of vegan chocolate chips

Line a baking sheet with wax or parchment paper and set aside.

Cut your banana so you have round discs that are about 1/2″ thick. Top the discs with peanut butter.

Melt your vegan chocolate in the microwave or on the stove with a double burner. I prefer the double burner method but whatever you find easiest. If your chocolate isn’t melting smoothly, add a little bit of shortening. Once your chocolate is melted, remove from heat. Dunk your banana into the chocolate. I found the easiest way to be with a fork. Pierce the side of the banana with the fork, then dunk it into chocolate. Use another fork to slide the chocolate-covered banana off the first fork and onto the wax paper.

Freeze until the chocolate hardens. Remove from wax paper and place in a baggy or container and return to the freezer.

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I feel like the directions for this are really wordy. It could also read “Cut banana. Put PB on top. Dunk in Chocolate. Freeze.” 3 ingredients, 10 word instructions, and we’re done!

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Now if you’ll excuse me, I need to go secretly make another batch of these and hide them where the kids can’t find them. Why can’t they just be satisfied with messed up, flat M&M cookies? Sheesh!

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Peanutty Noodles and Veggies

Posted in Recipes, tagged , , , , , , on May 22, 2013| 4 Comments »

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During the whole Team Lean Challenge I did with my friend, Rachel, I cut out a ton of bad food. I realized if it was in my house, I would eat it. I’m looking at you bread, pb and chocolate chips. I may not have cookies in the house but combined, you make an amazing 9pm snack.

At the top of my list was pasta. It’s just so easy! I mean, I could roast a ton of veggies which takes forever… or I could just heat up some noodles and dump some sauce on it/cook up roman noodles/pour boxed mac and cheese into a pot.

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See. Pasta had to go.

But the week of the bombings in Boston, a friend of mine was planning a potluck for Sunday as a way to end what had been a very stressful week on a positive note. It was a great idea! I brought this and all the non-vegans ate it up. I had no leftovers!

Of course, it was so delicious, I was dying to make it again, fitness challenge or not! When I made it for just me, I pumped up the veggies significantly and added some tofu for an extra kick of protein. The result was a super creamy, veggy-packed noodle fest. So delicious!

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Peanutty Noodles and Veggies
adapted from Chloe Coscarelli’s Peanutty Noodles recipe found in Chloe’s Kitchen and on line at KATU.com
serves 4 to 6

  • 1 pound brown rice noodles
  • 1 block of tofu, pressed and cubed
  • 1 cup coconut milk
  • ½ cup water
  • ¼ cup maple syrup
  • ¼ cup soy sauce
  • ½ cup peanut butter, chunky or creamy
  • 1 tablespoon chili-garlic sauce
  • 1 teaspoon grated fresh ginger
  • 3 cloves garlic, minced
  • 2 tablespoons lime juice
  • 1 tablespoon toasted sesame oil
  • 2 carrots, peeled and shredded
  • 1 cup of edamame (no shells, thawed if using frozen, which I did)
  • 1 red pepper, diced
  • 3 scallions, trimmed and thinly sliced
  • ½ cup peanuts, roughly chopped, for garnish

Instructions:
Bring a large pot of heavily salted water to a boil. Add brown rice noodles and cook according to package directions. Drain, rinse with cold water, and drain again. Return noodles to pot.

Heat some sesame oil in a skillet. Saute tofu in the pan until golden. (if you prefer your veggies cooked, you can also throw them in with the tofu at this time. I sauteed my edamame with the tofu but left my peppers and carrots raw). Set aside.

Meanwhile, make the sauce by combining coconut milk, water, maple syrup, soy sauce, peanut butter, chili-garlic sauce, ginger, and garlic in a medium saucepan. (this will look so gross when it’s all going into the pan and you will definitely be thinking “eeew! this is going to taste weird.” It won’t. Trust me.) Let cook over medium heat, whisking frequently, until sauce comes together and thickens.

Remove from heat and mix in lime juice and sesame oil.

Toss hot noodles with the sauce, tofu and veggies.

Garnish with peanuts and scallions and serve. Any leftovers can be served warm or cold the next day for a delicious lunch.

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I had fro-yo three times last week and may or may not be planning to share some Game of Thrones-themed cupcakes with you later in the week. Yeeeah…clearly, the fitness thing is over. Good thing I haven’t given up on the exercise!

PS. This would be great for a memorial day cook out. It tastes good hot or cold and it doesn’t scream, LOOK AT ME I’M VEGAN! well…maybe leave out the tofu if your hanging with all carnivores…

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Peanut Butter Chocolate Crispy Treats

Posted in Recipes, tagged , , , , , on February 13, 2013| 4 Comments »

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All I want to do all day is make Valentine’s Day treats!!

I don’t know what has come over me. Half of me is like Grr! Valentine’s Day *insert bitter single person ranting about it being a commercial holiday*

BUT, the other half of me is like, But I just want to stay home all day and bake cute red and pink heart-shaped treats. And put Valentine’s Day Sprinkles on everything. And watch the Notebook while making cute Valentine’s Day cards and crying because Ryan Gosling is probably planning something cute for his real life girlfriend, Eva Mendez, aka, not me. Actually, I’ve move on (sort of)- I’m all about Ed Sheeran right now. I desperately need to get tickets to see him with Taylor Swift this summer or I may die. Not to be dramatic or anything…

Unfortunately, for my Valentine’s day- loving, Martha Stewart-wannabe side, I have that little thing called work that fills up most of my life. So instead of staying home all day and laboring over cute cupcakes with pink hearts inside, or red velvet heart-shaped pancakes, I have to find fast easy dessert that I can do in between work and my life.

Enter heart-shaped Rice Krispie hearts. Cute, easy and able to decorate with valentine’s day sprinkles. yes, please!

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Vegan Peanut Butter Rice Krispie Treats
from A Kind Diet but Alice Silverstone; found on-line here; heart-shapes inspired by My Blessed Life

1 3/4 cups brown rice syrup
1 pinch sea salt
3/4 cup peanut butter or almond butter (Alicia Silverstone suggests all-natural, unsweetened, unsalted. I used Teddy’s which is all-natural and unsweetened. Its like Meatloaf said, “Two out of three aint bad”)
1 box brown rice crisps cereal
1 bag of vegan chocolate chips

Heat rice syrup with a pinch of salt in a saucepan over low heat. When rice syrup liquefies, add peanut butter and stir until well combined and heated through.

Pour entire box of cereal into a large bowl. Pour rice syrup mixture on top. Use your hands to incorporate everything together.

If you are cutting out shapes, line a 9 x 13 baking dish with wax paper. Press mixture into baking dish (mine fit into a 9×13 with enough left over to fill a 9×9). Wet your fingers as your press down to keep them from sticking. If you are using a cookie cutter to cut out hearts, make sure you do not make your rice krispie treats thicker then your cookie cutter. It makes it more difficult to cut. Let cool for 1 hour. Once cool, remove the wax paper from the pan and place on a clean surface (if you are just cutting into squares, just cut them in the pan). Cut out your hearts. (If you do hearts, you can roll the scraps into balls and dunk them in chocolate. I kept those for me cause they’re kind of ugly)

Melt chocolate chips in the microwave or on the stove using a double boiler (I prefer the stove-top method). Once melted, pull off heat and let cool for a minute or so. Dunk the top half of your rice krispies in the chocolate. Top with sprinkles. Let cool for 30 minutes to an hour.

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I apologize that I’m getting this recipe to you so late. I started it last night and then got distracted by the President’s speech (aka, fell asleep about 10 minutes in). BUT on the plus side, there’s only 5 ingredients and it’s super easy to make. You have PLENTY of time to pull this off before Valentine’s Day tomorrow. It would be such a cute surprise in that special someone’s lunch. Or your own!

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Tomorrow morning I will be posting one more Vday recipe (if it comes out), which is so ridiculous since you won’t have time to make it but I don’t care. I’m excited for it and who knows. Maybe you’ll have time to make it after dinner or you’re celebrating Valentine’s Day this weekend.

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Peanut Butter Cup Pumpkins.

Posted in Recipes, tagged , , , , on October 17, 2012| 4 Comments »

Last Saturday I went to Target with the sole purpose of buying 1. toothpaste and 2. halloween-themed tupperware.

Does anyone ever leave Target with only what was on their shopping list? If so, please tell me your secret. My wallet would kiss the ground you walk on.

Anyway, in order to find Halloween tupperware, I had to walk into the Halloween section of Target. This was a problem. I. Wanted. Everything. I haven’t bought anything for Halloween yet because I haven’t had a chance to go through the halloween decorations I do have to see what I need. Plus, I didn’t budget for Halloween shopping! BUT I was convinced that if I waited until Friday aka Payday, everything would be gone.

So there I stood, in the middle of the Target’s Halloween section completely paralyzed and teetering on the edge of a panic attack. I couldn’t stay and buy anything but I couldn’t go and leave all the pretty Halloween stuff behind!

Thankfully, a very cute, bearded sales associate, seeing my wide, panic-strictened eyes, came over to me and asked me if I needed help. When I squeaked out Halloween tupperware, he told me they didn’t have any but he led me out of the decoration section…right into the halloween baking section. Dude, seriously? You just told me you didn’t have what I wanted, thus freeing up money I budgeted elsewhere, and then you proceed to lead me to my most favoritest section ever?

Hence, the numerous halloween themed things from the Monday Things post. SO many cute sprinkles (traditional sprinkles or shapes?)…and liners (monsters or pumpkins?)…and spatulas (how can I choose between a big and a small spatula??).

My wallet wept.

BUT I did manage to resist the urge to buy Reeses peanut butter cup pumpkins. Target- 50, Erin- 1. So what’s a girl with a Reese’s peanut butter craving to do?

Um…obviously use this as an excuse to buy a silcone pumpkin candy mold and make her own! Duh! (I found mine at AC Moore)

Peanut Butter Cup Pumpkins
from my early post, Peanut Butter Cups, which is from The Kind Diet by Alicia Silverson

INGREDIENTS
1⁄2 cup Earth Balance butter
3⁄4 cup your favorite peanut butter (I used Teddy’s smooth PB)
3⁄4 cup graham cracker crumbs
1⁄4 cup maple sugar or other granulated sweetener (I used Palm Sugar)
1 bag of vegan friendly chocolate chips
a tiny bit of vegan shortening

Melt half the bag of chocolate chips with a little bit of vegan shortening. Spoon the mixture into the candy molds. You want just enough to cover the bottom of the molds and to line the sides. (I just used a spoon for this. I found it to be the easiest way. I tried measuring spoons to be more precise and a butter knife but the spoon won me over.)  Once all the molds have chocolate on the bottoms and sides, place in freezer. Let sit for about 20-30 minutes to solidify.

Once the chocolate is solid, melt the butter in a small saucepan over medium heat. Stir in the peanut butter, graham cracker crumbs, and sugar and mix well. Remove the mixture from the heat. Spoon the mixture into the candy molds. Fill almost to the top but leave a little room for the top chocolate layer. Place in the freezer to solidify, again, about 20 minutes.

Once the peanut mixture is hard, melt the rest of the chocolate with a tiny bit more shortening, and fill the rest of the molds with chocolate. Stick in the fridge for at least 2 hours for the chocolate to harden and the rest of the cup to not be so frozen solid.

This recipe made about 36 pumpkins. Since I only had 1 tray of molds, I just left the extra chocolate and peanut mixtures in their pots and reheated them when it was time for round two. I didn’t have any problems with this.

I’m 100% in love with this recipe. They are cute. They are delicious. They are shaped like pumpkins! And they should help with those candy cravings when all those kids are ringing your doorbell halloween night. You can be all like “sure, here, have a chemically ridden, refined sugar-filled, made-in a factory candy bar. I have homemade peanut butter pumpkins! ‘  So there!

You could also make these for a party, you know, if you want to share…

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Single Serving Funfetti Cupcake

Posted in Recipes, tagged , , , , , on August 31, 2012| 1 Comment »


Guess what I discovered this week? Spotify’s radio station “The Best Emo Songs of All Time”. I’m absolutely dying right now! I was all about the emo music in high school. I used to listen to Dashboard Confession and Brand New ad nauseam. This was pre-Ipod days, though. I remember sitting on the bus (ugh, if I never have to ride another bus, I’ll die happy) with my CD player and I’d listen to whichever CD I had over and over again. I saw Get Up Kids, Ataris and MXPX live in concert and I’m pretty sure my life was complete when MXPX played GSF live. Ok…maybe I still have a rather large soft spot in my heart for emo music (and Chris Carrabba…) I clearly need to get an Iphone just so I can carry this radio station with me everywhere!

Know what else I discovered this week that has nothing to do with my questionable taste in music (I actually made a Spotify playlist with Drake, Justin Bieber and Taylor Swift…who am I?)? That this is Wicked Vegan’s 100th post!! YEAH! I was going to post a quesadilla for this post but I realized, um…a quesadilla isn’t celebratory at all. I need some sprinkles up in this joint!

Enter, the single-serving funfetti cupcake.

Single-Serving Funfetti Cupcake
from Chocolate Covered Katie
yields one cupcake

  • 3 tbsp flour (I used regular all purpose but you could use almost anything: whole wheat, pastry, spelt, etc.)
  • heaping 1/16th tsp salt
  • 1tbsp applesauce, oil, pre-melted vegan butter, or a combo (I used coconut because it’s all I had. You could definitely taste the coconut, which was delicious, just warning you)*
  • 1tbsp plus 1 tsp liquid (milk of choice, or water)
  • 1/4 tsp vanilla extract
  • 1/4 tsp baking powder
  • 2 tsp sprinkles (or more or less, as desired)
  • Sweetener (Try 1 tbsp sugar or 1 packet stevia. If you use liquid sweetener, cut back on the other liquid.)

*Note: CCK says “subbing all the oil in a recipe for applesauce will give you a gummier result. Still yummy, but much denser than your traditional cupcake with oil.”

Directions: Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Mix the ingredients and pour into an oiled (or sprayed) muffin pan. Smooth top of batter. Cook for 12-15ish minutes.

For the “frosting”, I was out of Earth Balance so a traditional butter cream was out. Plus, I wanted something fast to go with the recipe. So I just melted about an 1/8th cup of chocolate chips with a tsp of peanut butter in the microwave then swirled my cupcake in it. YUM!

 This came together so fast! I had all the ingredients and it was in the oven in within 5-10 minutes. It totally hit the spot for a fast sweet treat and the best part? You aren’t stuck with a dozen cupcakes! It’s perfect for a cheat day if you’re dieting cause you don’t have to worry about the left overs

For me? I found it perfect for when I was blasting emo music and  eating my emotions regarding my relationship limbo and uncertain future. Cupcakes make everything better. =)

You should be warned that Wicked Vegan’s 1 year birthday is coming up. As is, my birthday and the first day of fall. Expect a few more celebratory cupcakes!

Best part of this post? As I was writing this, Spotify let me know I can post a playlist on a blog. It’s like they know me! So, here’s your playlist for your single cupcake adventures!

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Peanut Pasta Salad with Fried Tempeh

Posted in Recipes, tagged , , , , , , on July 2, 2012| 1 Comment »

It’s Monday again. I hope you had an excellently exciting weekend.

A lot of my favorite bloggers are posting pictures of their weekend but I’m going to spare you that show. Unlike theirs, my weekend did not consist of yummy food, pool parties and oodles of socializing. In fact, most of my friends have peaced out of Boston and are vacationing this week. So I did almost nothing this weekend. I didn’t even bother wearing real clothes for most of it and pictures of me in my pajamas does not make for an interesting blog.

I did manage to go to the late showing of Ted on Friday night, which was hysterical. After that though, I pretty much spent all day Saturday in bed and soaking up the air conditioning. I enjoyed it, trust me, it just wasn’t picture worthy.

Anyway, so this week consists of a little holiday called the Fourth of July. Most of you will be enjoying the day off, BBQ’ing and boozing it up, with a nice little fire works show afterward.

I’ll be working until 9:30 pm. Apparently, retail stores don’t close on the 4th?? Who knew.

But, I wanted to give you a recipe that you could take to your cookouts that was a little different. Burgers and potato salads are so predicable. This is a nice little twist on the pasta salad.

Blanching system. Let’s pretend my stove isn’t uber gross and just focus on how awesome it is that I unintentionally matched all my pots and bowls!

Peanut Pasta Salad with Fried Tempeh Bits
from Skinny Bitch: Ultimate Everyday Cookbook; posted on Madejustright.com

Makes 4 Servings

  • 4 tablespoons sesame oil, divided
  • 1 (8-ounce) block of tempeh, crumbled
  • 1 large carrot, julienned
  • 1/2 cup broccoli slaw (you can also use broccoli florets if you want but the texture creeps me out which is why I went the slaw route)
  • 1 red bell pepper, julienned
  • 1 (8-ounce) package of brown rice pasta spirals (or any other pasta)
  • 3 tbsp  peanut butter
  • 1/4 cup water
  • 2 tbsp soy sauce, to taste
  • 1 tbsp agave nectar
  • 1 tbsp apple cider vinegar
  • 2 tsp minced fresh ginger
  • Sesame seeds, for garnish

Directions 
1. Heat 3 tbsp of the oil in a skillet over high heat. Fry the tempeh until slightly crispy, about 10 minutes. Stir occasionally.
2. Bring a large pot of water to a boil. Blanch the carrots, broccoli, and red pepper separately until they turn bright in color, or about 30 seconds. Do not overcook. Drain, rinse under cold water, and set aside. (I had three bowls set up for this which I found easy: 1 pot with boiling water, 1 pot with ice water, and one pot with  mess strainer over it. (See Above) So you boil the veggies for 30 seconds, plunge them in the ice water until their cool, and then dump them in the strainer. For the broccoli slaw, I put the broccoli in a different mesh strainer with handles on the side, plunged the strainer with the broccoli into the hot water and then into the cold water. This way, since the slaw is so finely cut, you don’t have to worry about fishing little pieces out of the water.)
3. Cook the pasta, according to the directions on the package. Drain and set aside.
4. In a blender, mix together the peanut butter, the remaining sesame oil, the water, soy sauce, agave nectar, vinegar, and ginger. Toss the vegetables, pasta, and sauce together. Garnish with the sesame seeds. Serve warm.

Blanched veggies!

Voila! Something new and exciting to bring to your BBQs. Don’t forget some veggie patties and you’ll be good to go.

Stay tuned this week! Tomorrow I’m posting a 4th of July sweet treat and some other recipes that are BBQ worthy. That’s right… I used my time Sunday to actually plan out this week’s posts and be productive! Crazy how much you can get done when you don’t sleep until noon like I did on Saturday. I did still spend all Sunday in my PJs, though…

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Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Peanut Butter Cups

Posted in Recipes, tagged , , , , on April 4, 2012| 2 Comments »

It’s Easter in less than a week. Let’s face it, Easter is a sad sort of holiday. The candy isn’t as good as halloween, the food isn’t as good as Thanksgiving and the Easter baskets aren’t as cool as presents under the trees. It’s a sad fourth on the list of major holidays.

This does not mean that it isn’t as big of a consumer holiday though. When I went to Target the other day in search of a cookie cutter, I stumbled into the holiday area and nearly died of shock when I saw how much candy they were selling. There was an entire aisle of jelly beans! Who even likes jelly beans?! I’ve never met a single person that lists jelly beans as their favorite candy. This didn’t stop me from having an urge to buy up every. single. Reeses product under the sun…but I managed to resist!

Anyway, when I left (with no cookie cutter, thanksfornothingtarget), I couldn’t get all that candy out of my head. I wanted chocolate peanut butter in the worst way! So many of the chocolates and candies have milk or gelatin in them, though, that I couldn’t resist the challenge to make my own.

Of course, I had planned to make one and then I looked down and found I was making two recipes at the same time. How did that happpen?!

So here is the first recipe:

Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Peanut Butter Cups
from How Sweet Eats 

2 1/2 cups vegan chocolate chips

1/2 cup Earth Balance Butter

1/3 cup packed brown sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1/4 cup creamy peanut butter (I would recommend Earth Balance or Teddy’s)(I used chunky because it’s what I had and it tasted great)

3/4 cup powdered sugar

2 tablespoons all-purpose flour

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup mini chocolate chips (I couldn’t find vegan mini chip so I just ran a knife though some regular chips once and it worked fine)

In a small saucepan, heat butter until melted. Whisk in brown sugar until dissolved, then let it bubble for 1-2 minutes. Remove from heat and whisk in peanut butter. The mixture will be liquidly. Whisk in vanilla. Let sit and cool completely, about 20 minutes but not longer. If it sits too long (like while your making a batch of other candies…it will solidify and you have to start all over)

Line a mini muffin with with liners. Melt 1 1/4 cups of chocolate chips (I do mine in the microwave, heating on full power for 20 seconds, stir, 30 seconds again, and stir until melted). Drop 1/2-1 teaspoon of chocolate into each liner, then use a pastry brush to brush chocolate up the sides of the liner. Place in the freezer for 20 minutes. By this point the butter + sugar mix should be cool. Whisk in powdered sugar, salt and flour, until combine and few lumps remain. Fold in mini chocolate chips (if the dough isn’t completely cool, your chips will melt and you will be left will swirled dough…so don’t do that…). The dough will be wet, but pop it in the fridge for 15 minutes to harden.

Remove muffin tin and cookie dough, then place 1 teaspoon of cookie dough (I somewhat rolled mine) into the chocolate cups. Place back in the freezer for 10-15 minutes. Melt the remaining chocolate chips, then cover each cookie dough top with chocolate, smoothing with a spoon. Freeze again for 15-20 minutes. These are fine out in room temperature for a few hours (they may soften a bit) but I like them best stored in the fridge.

This was the second candy recipe I had no intention of making. I had extra chocolate from my other candies and they were in the freezer chilling. All of a sudden I look down and I’ve lined mini muffin liners with chocolate. What?! well…ok…I might as well continue…

These were great. I love the fillings texture. They are also dangerous in the mini-size so my recommendation is eat like 4 in one night until you feel sick because they are so rich and chocolaty and then you will want to die and will give them all to your roommates…or spouse…or something…I imagine.

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Bringing in the New Year with a Green Monstah!

Posted in Recipes, tagged , , , , , , on January 3, 2012| 2 Comments »

Happy 2012, everyone! I hope you had a safe and happy New Years. I kept things chill. I had dinner with a friend and then we dragged our butts to The Common. We attempted to watch the fireworks but had a meh view. But it was a good evening. I knew I didn’t want to start 2012 with a hang over- I wanted to be productive and start the year on a positive note- so we kept the drinks to a minimum. It was a perfect mix of celebratory and low key.

Now that the new year is here, I’m sure we are all sick of seeing chocolates and sweets everywhere. I know that I am! My body started to revolt against all the junk food the week before Christmas. I just couldn’t take it anymore! Everywhere I went there was sugary confections and big bowls of comfort food. I need something green and healthy, which is why this Green Monster Smoothie (or Green Monstah Smoothie, as we Bostonians call it!) is perfect for your post-holiday, new years-resolution diets.

Green Monstah Smoothies

from Oh She Glows

1 cup  almond milk
1 TBSP ground flax seed
1 TBSP nut butter (I used peanut butter)
2 handfuls of baby spinach
1 banana, frozen
3-4 ice cubes

Add all ingredients to a blender in that order and blend until smooth. Consume and feel awesome!

I’m not even exaggerating when I say that this smoothly will make you feel great and full of energy. The week of Christmas, when I was working at my retail job after a full 8+ hours at my regular job, I had about 15 minutes to myself from when I arrived home to when I had to leave for my second job. I would make this and drink it in the car. It gave me so much energy that it was actually a problem one night when I was working behind the cash register and didn’t have any customers. I was dancing around my co-worker, John, because I couldn’t stand still. He kept giving me weird looks.  “It’s this awesome Green Monstah smoothie I made!!!” I said . “Did it have crack in it”, he asked. In fact, it does not! But it will help you shed that sluggish, junk food haze and help give you energy for all those New Years Resolutions. Yeah!

Speaking of resolutions, here are mine. I decided to put them on the back of my door so I can check in and see how I’m doing every once in a while.

Do you like number 5? That one comes courtesy of my friend, Haley. We have a $10 bet riding on that one so I definitely have to keep it! lol!

I’m pumped for 2012. I think its going to be great! What are some of your resolutions? You know, besides eat more vegan meals 😉

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