Let Me Eat Cake

Anyone that knows me, knows that I am not always the most responsible with money. From time to time, I just say fuck it and go spend. I like doing it, it feels good and I rarely have remorse, even when I get the credit card bill. I go from being flush to broke all the time and I am pretty used to it. When I feel flush, I spend and when I am broke, I stay home.. and ground myself. I have never had long term goals to strive to. even though I am not the biggest thrill seeker or risk taker out there, I try very hard to live in the present. I don't want to die with thousands saved away for a rainy day. I make mistakes all the time, but I rarely dwell on them. Shit happens and  hopefully in the end I will make more good decisions than bad and most of my risks will pay off.

This week, I noticed a large amount of money sitting in my account. Not so much that I could pay off everything I owe and be good, but enough that it was like I was a month ahead. I happily paid all my bills for the month... not realizing that I had forgotten I was holding money int here for a cheque that was going to be coming out soon... So that cheque, all my bills and my rent all were withdrawn and just like that I was broke until next pay day. So much for being responsible!!

Normally Sunday is my day to make lots of food, do lots of food shopping and plan out the week. This week was a little different. Even though I could have gone and got groceries, I figured maybe this would be a good time to see what I can do with what I have. Sometimes my best creativity comes out when I am forced to look at what I have stocked and figure out what to cook with it.

I think this week is going to be an interesting one. I have lots of grains (Rice, barley, Wheat  berries, cornmeal), but not so much for protein (Chickpeas, dried beans and a little bit of tofu).  I have decided that I am only going to purchase food with whatever cash I can find in my apartment... so far I have found about $10, but opted to do laundry with it.

Feeling a little down about this forced grounding... I started really craving something sweet. I had an overwhelming urge to buy cake mix. Luck for me, I seemed to have enough ingredients kicking around to make a cake.. not a mix, but from scratch. It's always better from scratch. the nice thing about a cake is that almost all the ingredients are ones that are pantry items.. nothing that really goes bad. Really all you need is flour, sugar, milk, chia egg and baking powder. From there add any other ingredients you see fit. My favourite cake is golden yellow cake... I am pretty sure that nice golden colour comes from all the egg they put into most recipes. I decided that I needed to figure out how to veganize this..

Giant Vanilla Golden Cupcake Cake 

*Makes 1 small cake (8" pan), double for using in a 9 X 13"

Cake:

• 1 cup all purpose flour
• 1/2 cup + 2 Tbsp white sugar
• 1/2 Tbsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp cinnamon
• 1/4 cup butter
• 1/2 cup milk
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 1 chia egg (1tsp ground chia + 2 Tbsp water)
• 1/4 tsp tumeric (makes it golden)

Icing:

• 1/2 cup vegan butter, melted
• 1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder (you may add more if you like)
• 1/4 tsp cinnamon
• 1/8 tsp chili powder
• 1/8 tsp cayenne powder
• 1/3 cup milk
• 1 tsp vanilla extract or almond extract
• 2 cup of icing sugar 

Toppings:

• Toasted Coconut
• Chopped walnut

For the Cake: Pre-heat the oven to 350 F. Get a sieve and sift the flour with the sugar, baking powder, cinnamon and salt. Use your mixer and now mix in the butter, milk and vanilla until well combined. Now add the egg and the tumeric and mix very well (About 3 min or so). Prepare your pan but either spraying with cooking spray or using shortening to crease it. Add a little flour and cover it on the bottom and sides.

With cakes, sifting is always better

Another great thing about this recipe, only one bowl

Pour the batter into the pan. For mine, I used what seems to be a giant cupcake pan. Honestly I am not really sure what the real purpose of this small of a pan is, but it works perfect for me. I tend not to share my cakes, so whatever I make either gets thrown out or eaten. Personally I would rather just make less.

Giant cupcake, ready for the oven!

Put the cake into the oven and bake. Mine took about 35-40 min, but if you were doing cupcakes, I would think about 23-30 minutes. Keep an eye on them. To tell if they are ready either use a toothpick (Insert it into the centre of the cake and it is ready when that comes out clean) or look for when the edges start to pull in from the pan.

The worst part... waiting for the cake to cool

And.... ready for icing

Once the cake is done, let it cool fully before icing.

For the icing, melt the butter in a bowl. Sift in the cocoa, cinnamon, chili powder and cayenne. Now add in the the icing sugar and mix until it is well absorbed. I used about two cups, but it depends on what consistency you like. I recommend adding the icing sugar by a half cup until you get the desired consistency.

Trick to this icing, combine everything but icing sugar first

Then.. add a ton of sugar... a ton

Lastly, get some fun toppings like coconut, chopped nuts, sprinkles.. what ever you want and add them on top of the icing.

Top of the cupcake to you!

This cake is so good. A little spicy (No heat, but you can tell it isn't a mix!) the tumeric gives it a beautiful golden yellow colour and the chocolate icing is just the right amount to get a good amount on the cake.

Since I used a giant cup cake pan, I decided to lop off the top of the cupcake and make it into a mini cake. Check out the results... I think it turned out pretty awesome.

Raw Vegan Icecream

This is one of my first attempts at a raw recipe… You can buy vegan ice creams in most grocery stores now. There are soy, rice, and coconut ones that I have seen here. In the US they have endless flavours and types. Here in Canada, we don’t have so many, but the basic ones are available and they are delicious.

I have heard of easy vegan ice cream recipes before, but most of them are frozen banana in a food processor with a few other ingredients. My boyfriend calls this baby food and while to his face I deny it.. in reality I completely agree. There are not a lot of occasions that I have the urge to eat mashed banana. Maybe if it was with something else, but not on its own! The store bought ice cream is really expensive. Last time I checked, I think I spent $9.00 on a pint of ice cream. A little ridiculous.

I found a recipe in a raw food book for a raw, hard ice cream. It seemed easy enough. Basically nuts, agave and water plus what ever flavor you want to add. Could it really be this easy? I had to try for myself.

I made two types – Straight up vanilla and spicy chocolate.

I think that people overlook how good cinnamon and chocolate are together. They rarely get paired, yet when they do they are so delicious. I have a brownie recipe I hope to try one day that is a similar flavor combo, so I thought this would be an easy place to test things out.

Vegan Ice Cream

* 10 minutes to prepare, 2-4 hours to chill. Makes about 1 1/2 cups

• Nuts (Cashew, Hazelnut, almond etc)
• ¼ cup of agave syrup
• ¼ - 1/2 cup water

Vanilla Ice Cream

• 1 tbsp vanilla or a vanilla bean

Spicy Chocolate

• 2 Tbsp cocoa
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 2 tsp cinnamon
• ¼ tsp cayenne

Apple Cinnamon Spice

• substitute apple juice for the water
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• 2 tsp apple cinnamon spice
• Optional - stir in diced apple

Easiest instructions ever. Process the nuts until they are finely ground. While the food processor is running, add the agave, water and then flavouring. Check the consistency. Mine came out more like a brownie batter and I should have added more water. You want the consistency to be closer to a cake batter or a very thick cream. Put it in a container and freeze for 2 hours. Remove and stir and then freeze again for 2 more hours or up to overnight.

Processed... looked a lot like brownie batter.... hmmm

So... Results. Well... it is a frozen dessert. I think if I did this again, I would use more water in the recipe. It is almost too rich. Normally I can eat a bowl of ice cream, but I would say about 1 scoop is plenty for me.

That said, for the amount of time it took to make this, it is a pretty cool way to save some money to do your own ice cream.

I think if you had an ice cream maker and followed a more traditional recipe, you would get something that was a little closer to the store bought stuff. It is nice to know though that this raw alternative works. I am considering still attempting a raw diet and one thing I freak out about is lack of treats. I would eat this again for sure.

Kind of looks like ice cream, doesn't it?
Kind of tastes like it too!

I am actually pretty excited to try this again. Hopefully I can post some more pictures and results for you soon!

Chocolate Zucchini Bread

As a kid, I did not like most vegetables. In fact, you could probably count the foods I would eat with one hand and I did not tolerate foods and flavours combined. However, my mother tricked me with chocolate zucchini bread. Except for the name, you would never know as a kid that there were vegetables in there at all. Who ever came up with this combo was genius.

That's right, I took a bit before i could snap a pic... I couldn't resist!

I stole my mom's recipe when I moved out and I still have the scrap piece of paper I wrote it down on. It's faded and covered in chocolate, but I am pretty sure I have it down. The original recipe called for eggs so I replaced them with chia seeds. I think they are my favourite egg replacer for baking. Plus they are insanely healthy. Combine that with the dark chocolate and zucchini and basically this is a healthy snack.... well in moderation!

Why so healthy? Chia seeds are load in potassium, really high in omega-3, high in amino acids and are a complete protein. I use dark chocolate it this recipe and that is on the list of super foods. Full of antioxidants, dark chocolate is known to be good for your heart and lower cholesterol.. Then there is zucchini, another great source of antioxidants and has beta carotene, vitamins C and A. It is also low calorie and high in fiber.

Even though there is white flour (easily substituted for whole wheat, I didn't have any at the time), I stand by this is a decent snack... better than processed junk food anyways.

The recipe....

Chocolate Zucchini Bread
Makes 1 loaf

• 1 1/2 chia eggs (click here for recipe)
• 1 cup sugar
• 1/2 cup canola oil
• 1 square melted unsweetened chocolate
• 1 1/2 cups grated zucchini, leave the skin on and buy organic if you can (about one large one)
• 1/2 tsp vanilla
• 1 1/2 cups flour
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp cinnamon
• 3/4 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp baking soda

Easy batter, once your prep is done, it takes 5 minute to combine

Pre-heat the oven to 350 F. Make your chia eggs and then add to a bowl and beat until fluffy. Add the oil and sugar and beat again for a couple minutes. Stir in the melted chocolate, vanilla and grated zucchini. In a second bowl mix the dry ingredients and pour the wet into the dry and stir until combined.

The hardest part... Waiting for it to cool!

Bake for 50-60 minutes (test with a tooth pick, it should come out dry). Cool 15 minutes in the pan and then transfer to a cooling rack.

Photo credit: www.epicurean.com

Just like mom used to make. And for all you non-vegans... this recipe was tested with five non-vegan colleagues.. It's not just me, this is a truly addictive recipe.

Late Night Chocolate Pecan Muffins and Coconut Butter

I didn't go grocery shopping today like I normally do and I really wanted to make some muffins for breakfast... and a late night snack. So I found a really tasty looking recipe that I thought I could pull off (Found Here at the Baking Sheet).

Unfortunately, I was out of the following: whole wheat flour,vanilla, vanilla soy milk and walnuts! It is really hard to make decent baked goods without vanilla and the whole point of these muffins were that they had walnuts in it! Dammit! I decided that I didn't want to wait until tomorrow and went ahead with the recipe anyways. I had to modify it though to incorporate the fact that I lacked a couple key ingredients. Here is what I did:

Late Night Chocolate Pecan Muffins
Makes 8

• 3/4 cup of stone flour
• 1/2 cup whole wheat flour
• 1/4 cup cocoa
• 1/2 tsp instant espresso powder
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 cup maple syrup
• 3/4 cup of soy milk
• 2 Tbsp canola oil
• 1 Tbsp coconut flakes
• 1/2 cup of chopped walnuts and 8 more for the garnish

Line or grease a muffin tin and preheat the oven to 350 F. Combine all the dry ingredients in a large bowl and mix. Combine the Maple syrup, milk, and oil in a small bowl and mix. now pour the wet ingredients into the dry and stir until just combined. Add the chopped pecans and the coconut and stir again. Fill the muffin tins about 3/4 of the way and bake for 18 - 20 minutes.

Learned this trick to cooling muffins without a rask from theppk.com

I served these up with some homemade coconut butter. How do you make this? Take a couple cups of unsweetened coconut (DO NOT use sweetened, I tried and it didn't work. Then I found this warning while searching online to figure out why) and put it in your food processor.

This is about 5 minutes into processing

and... 10 min later - Buttah!

Processor for 10 - 15 minutes, scarping down the bowl once in a while. The coconut will first shred and then will start to clump up and when you think you can't bear the sound of your food processor anymore, voila! It will be pretty soft at first, but will harden if you leave it at room temperature. I was shocked at how easy this was..If you like coconut, give it a try!

So the question - did these work without the vanilla? Every time I forget or omit the vanilla I regret it, but I didn't notice it so much in these. They were light and chocolaty and the pecans were a great added crunch. I still stand by the rule, never omit the vanilla, but these do not feel like they are lacking in anything.

No Bake Black Bottom - Peanut Butter Silk Pie

Well, as some of you may know, I have managed to kill my oven about 10 days ago and in true ADD style, I have yet to get around to calling the landlord about it. Instead, I planned my week sans oven. I am working my way through a variety of recipes from Vegan with a Vengeance written by Isa Chandra Moskowitz. I have never let the lack of an oven or any kitchen appliance stop me from having dessert and this week was no exception. I scanned through her book and found something perfect for testing - A no bake pie.

These sort of recipes scare me a bit. I get a little nervous when the instructions are to dump in a package of tofu into anything that is meant as dessert. Combine that with my fear of gelatinous sea vegetables and got a recipe full of fear! Some use love as a secret ingredient... not me!

Agar Agar anyone?

So it is time to get over this silly fear. What's to be scared of? Luckily this recipe is going to drown the scary ingredients with chocolate, peanut butter, and more chocolate. Besides, I think the animal derived alternative should be considered much scarier. I mean it is made of cartilage and connective tissue of animals... ew.

So here is the recipe and my review of it below:

No-Bake, Black Bottom-Peanut Butter Silk Pie
For the crust:

• 1 1/2 half cups of chocolate cookies, crushed
• 2 Tbsp of granulated sugar
• 1/8 tsp of salt
• 1/4 cup canola oil
• 1 Tbsp of rice or soy milk

For the chocolate bottom:

• 4 oz of bakers chocolate
• 1/4 cup soy milk

For the filling:

• 12 oz  extra firm tofu silken tofu
• 3/4 cup creamy all-natural peanut butter
• 1 1/2 cups confectioners sugar
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 2/3 cup of coconut milk
• 1 1/4 cup of boiling water
• 3 Tbsp agar

Prepare the crust:
Combine the sugar and the wafers in a food processor and blend until it is fine crumbs. Pour into a pie plate and add the oil and mix with your fingers. Add the milk and mix again and press into the bottom of the pan. Put in the fridge to chill.

Chocolate bottom:
Melt the chocolate in a double boiler. When the chocolate has melted, add the soy milk and whisk until smooth. Remove from the heat. Pour most of this mixture on to the crust reserving a couple tablespoons for drizzling on the pie. Put the pie crust in the fridge.

Make the filling:
In a blender combine the silken tofu, peanut butter, sugar, and vanilla and blend until smooth. In a sauce pan boil the water and add the agar. Stir constantly until it is completely dissolved (about 10 min). Pour it into a glass measuring cup (not plastic). There should be about 1/3 of a cup or so. Add this to the blender and then add enough coconut milk to make a cup (i.e. if you have a 1/3 agar, you will need 2/3 cup of milk). Pour the milk in the blend and blend until smooth and combined.

Slowly pour the filling into the pie crust. pour the remaining chocolate on top and make a pretty design. Put it back in the fridge and cool for three hours.

So when I made this recipe, my chocolate did not turn out ok. I wonder if maybe the recipe has a typo and really it should have half the amount of baker's chocolate. It still worked, but the chocolate layer I had was too thick and it over powered the peanut butter filling. Other than that, this recipe, was easy and super yummy! I recommend for a hot day when you don't want to use an oven.

Sorry about the lack of pictures on this one, I forgot to put my memory card in while I was snapping away, so all I was able to get were pictures of the proof that I did eat a quarter of the pie for dinner. :)