Matcha & Green Tea Cupcakes w/ Vanilla Bean Frosting.
See that beautiful (and yummy) cupcake up there? Sure, I made it and all, but I can’t take credit for it. That would belong to the creative minds behind The Bear & The Blackberry. In less than 24 hours after reading their recipe for Matcha and Vanilla Bean Cupcakes, I had these babies rising magnificently in the oven. Sure, I made my standard tweaks: used applesauce in place of canola oil; whole wheat pastry flour for white and used maple sugar and stevia to achieve the proper sweetness. I did not have matcha powder but did have green-matcha tea bags. I snipped a few and emptied them of their lovely green, powdery contents and voila! Almost-matcha powder. The biggest change I made was to modify the Lean Cocoa Frosting recipe from The (Almost) No Fat Cookbook, by Bryanna Clark Grogan. Do not expect thick, creamy, buttery decadence here, folks. But do expect lots of tasty vanilla flavor and zero eater’s remorse. Here’s the (very quick) recipe:
Lean Vanilla “Frosting”
Makes enough to coat 8 cupcakes
1/2 cup soy milk
1/4 cup maple sugar
half of 1/3 of a cup (I’m not a mathematician) cornstarch
1 tsp. vanilla extract syrup, vanilla extract or a vanilla bean, scraped
Combine everything but the vanilla in a blender and process until smooth and well-combined. Pour into a small saucepan and turn the heat to medium. Whisk constantly until the mixture thickens. Remove from the heat and add the vanilla. Let sit until it reaches room temperature and then you’re ready to frost the cupcakes.
And now for some more blender action…Despite promising myself I would stop, I need to share another green smoothie recipe with you all.
Can’t Not Share it Green Smoothie
Serves 2
1 6 oz. container coconut-flavored almond milk yogurt
1 cup coconut water
1 orange, peeled and quartered
1 apple cut into chunks
1 stalk celery, cut into chunks
1 carrot, peeled and cut into chunks
1 cup frozen pineapple
1 big handful of spinach or other green
Process until smooth in your favorite blender-type appliance.
Recently I received this cuddly little cutie (above) in the mail from Rachel of Rachel in Veganland – why? because I won (woohoo!) the very first giveaway she held on her blog. Rachel must know that the color of my thumb hovers between gray and black and that I can’t do much harm to a crochet cactus! When I opened the package, all kinds of sparkles and fuzzies tumbled out of the envelope along with her handmade gift – it was kind of like getting a hug from my blogging friend. Thank you, Rachel! Your cactus has a place of honor right next to my computer.
Last but most definitely not least: Have you been thinking about what you’re going to bring to the next Virtual Vegan Potluck?? I have!
While I’m not quite ready to divulge what recipes I’m considering nor the work behind the scenes of the next one (November 3, mark your calendars!!), I will share that I recently asked two of my favorite bloggers to help me out with the details. Apparently my powers of persuasion are better than I imagined. I’m happy to report that both Jason of Watch Me Lose 150 Pounds fame and Somer, the plant-based heart and soul of Good Clean Food, have graciously agreed to help plan and execute November’s Potluck – and they’ve already been contributing awesome content to the VVP Facebook Page. (If you haven’t Liked us, please do!) If all goes as planned, the facade is going to look a lot different – but (pardon the expression) the meat and potatoes of the event will remain true to the first go ’round.
Maybe it’s because I’m getting older and more inclined to speak my mind. Maybe it’s because I’m so passionate about being vegan. Maybe it’s something I haven’t even thought of yet. Whatever it is, I’ve become one of those people. A letter-to-the-editor-writer.
As fun as seven days of salad were – - I’m ready for something different! What better way to dive back in than to share something crunchy, chocolatey and slightly sweet to go along with your afternoon tea or coffee? Without further ado:
Big thanks go out to Holly at My Plant-based Family and to Averil at The Cook, The Baker and the Clay Boy Maker for sharing The Versatile Blogger and The Sunshine Awards with me. Woohoo! I really appreciate the recognition from these two wonderful women and am enjoying their posts and getting to know them both. Please take some time to check out their blogs.
Inspired by Herbivoress‘ beautiful Chocolate Peanut Butter Oreo Pie, I went in search of a recipe for chocolate wafers. I haven’t bought Oreos or any kind of store cookies in over 5 years and I couldn’t bring myself to break that streak – so I made my own – minus the creme center. While searching for recipes, I came across Smitten Kitchen and a recipe for chocolate wafers, but also something called Icebox Cupcakes. Tiny little layer cakes made by layering whip cream with chocolate wafer cookies. Oh wow.
1/2 cup AP flour
When I started researching stocking my pantry, I ran across a reference to powdered peanut butter. Images of astronaut food and hikers came to mind, but the idea of having a very shelf-stable product appealed to me. And then I read a description of what reconstituted peanut butter tasted like. I’d sooner help myself to a bowl of wet cement. I mean, I’d be happy to have it during a nuclear winter, but, I wasn’t tempted just yet to load the pantry shelves with it. So I gave up on that particular idea and decided to stock up on the jarred variety instead. Its shelf life is pretty decent and in our household, there would never be a problem of rotating the jars – we consume the stuff too fast.
Long ago, when Mikey liked Life cereal, when it was okay to wear an orange plaid shirt with brown cords and when, as my mother describes it, “the whole family looked as if it had the flu for a decade,” pancakes came in one flavor. Pancake (a.k.a. Bisquick) flavor. Sometimes you got crazy and chopped up some apples to add to the batter, or if you felt really wild you’d sprinkle on a few blueberries as the ‘cakes were cooking. And then you looked around to make sure the neighbors hadn’t seen you do it. Now there are all kinds of ways to make pancakes – you can even make them savory and eat them as dinner with yummy things stuffed inside of them. (Some might be tempted to call these crepes, but I’m not talking about that flimsy cousin of the pancake.) No one even thinks you’re nuts to do it. This recipe certainly isn’t the craziest of the crazy, but compared to 1970s-era pancakes, they are downright zappy. And I think you can dig it.
1 1/4 cups whole wheat pastry flour
Looking back over my recent recipes, it seems I’m currently fixated on sweet things to eat. Some kind of deficiency? Or just that cold weather sending my taste buds looking for something to brighten gray days. With neither shame nor apology here’s another recipe aimed at the sweet tooth. Bundt cakes are appealing on many levels: for starters, one gets a big bang for the effort; two, they’re attractive; and three – well, they’re generally delicious (when the chemistry goes as it should) all the while being homey and comforting and old-fashioned. The 1950s, Betty Crocker, Ladies Home Journal, Tupperware parties, bridge games and afternoon tea. In short: a classic whose lone challenge is getting it out of the pan in one piece. I served mine with a generous puddle of warm Chocolate Fudge Sauce – that recipe will appear on Valentine’s Day (tucked inside of heart-shaped sugar cookies).
cooking spray
Spoon half of the batter into the prepared bundt pan, then sprinkle on the streusel mixture. Top with the remaining batter and bake for 1 hour or until the top springs back when pressed and a toothpick comes out nearly clean. Allow to cool in the pan for 10 minutes before removing. Let cake cool completely on a wire rack.
When I make chili, I almost always make cornbread – me and everyone else, right? I love the taste of “pure” cornbread (made nearly wholly with cornmeal) except I have a little problem with it: it makes me choke. Maybe that’s why traditionally it’s served with butter and honey? My solution was to create a cornbread with a preponderance of wheat flour. It eliminates the choking feeling, yet retains enough corn flavor to pair up perfectly with a spicy vegetable chili.
2 tsp. baking powder
I never did try Ben & Jerry’s Chunky Monkey ice cream (I was heavily addicted to Phish Food, myself), but apparently the inspiration for these muffins is that particular ice cream flavor. These are delicious: soft, chocolatey and nutty with little bursts of sweet-tart pineapple. I love the nuttiness that the wheat germ and oat bran impart. I veganized this recipe, naturally, using a bit of peanut butter (almond butter would work as well) instead of oil, egg replacer instead of eggs and a combination of stevia and maple sugar to lighten the sugar load.
1/2 cup buttermilk (add 1/2 tbsp. lemon juice or apple cider vinegar to 1/2 cup soy milk, let sit to curdle)