Category: desserts


Let’s make an Organic Vegan Lemon~Poppy Seed Pound Cake! and a Strawberry~Raspberry topping too!

Filed Under: desserts, recipes, vegan
Aug.30, 2012


I made a vegan birthday cake for my husband two years ago and it fell apart into too many pieces to count! I was trying to make several layers, and basically the cake said “Oh no, you’re not!” and flopped before my eyes. I was expecting a home full of guests within the hour and had to think quick, so I did what any good hostess would do, and scooped all the pieces into one giant mound and covered it with frosting. It was one ridiculously looking vegan cake mess, but the candles flickered just as bright and we all enjoyed our tasty scoops o’ cake nonetheless.
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This year, there would be NO such disaster. As I’ve mentioned before, I’m not much of a recipe person and haven’t used one more than a dozen times. However, I DO love cookbooks and have a nice collection of them. So I gave a stack to my husband to thumb through and asked him to pick out one to give me some idea of what to bake! It was a tough decision, but he finally selected the Lemon Poppy Seed Poundcake in Alicia Silverstone’s “The Kind Diet” – so although I’ve adapted the recipe to what I had on hand, and what I thought would be tasty, I owe a BIG thank you to her for providing the “groundwork” and inspiration!



Ingredients:

1 cup organic whole wheat pastry flour
1 cup organic all-purpose flour
1/3rd cup organic sugar
2 teaspoons Ener-G (egg replacer)
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon sea salt
1/2 cup vanilla almond milk
1/4 cup fresh squeezed organic lemon juice
1/2 cup organic coconut oil
1/2 cup organic agave/maple syrup
2 tablespoons poppy seeds
(1/2 lemon for the end!)


Berry Topping

1 cup frozen strawberries
1 cup frozen raspberries
1/4 cup agave/maple syrup
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Preheat Oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit and oil the pan and/or pans. A bundt pan will work – or a few mini-loaf tins. I used an 8 x 8 casserole dish, but keep in mind, I eat a lot of batter while I’m cooking!

Take your frozen fruit out of the freezer so it can start to thaw.

Combine flours, sugar, egg replacer, baking powder, baking soda and salt. In separate bowl, combine the almond milk with the lemon juice and set aside for a few minutes – it will curdle. Stir in the oil and syrup (maple/agave). Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and stir until combined. Gently mix in poppy seeds.

Pour batter into the pan/pans and bake for 15-25 minutes – the larger the pan, the longer it will take, i.e. if you’re using several small pans it will take less time to cook. Check with a toothpick to see when it’s done. The toothpick should come out clean. Ovens really vary, so please adjust according to how fast your oven cooks. I checked on my cake several times because my oven is so unpredictable.

Now, on to making the topping! Place 1 cup of strawberries and 1 cup of raspberries into a blender. They should still be slightly frozen, but loose enough so you can get them out of the bag. Add 1/4 cup of lemon juice, 1/4 cup of syrup and a little bit of vanilla extract to the blender & blend until it’s a nice purée. (Make sure the frozen fruit is soft enough so that it doesn’t break your blender – I broke mine once with frozen artichoke hearts, so I always feel a need to say that now lol!)

Once cooked, let it cool & place your cake on a platter. (I also went around the edge of the casserole dish with a butter knife first, just to make sure it would come out nicely)

Then, take the end of a chopstick, or something similar, and poke a dozen or so 1 inch deep holes into the cake.

Squeeze lemon juice into the holes – you can mix the lemon juice up with a little bit of sugar first if you prefer. My mother always did this with English lemon tea cakes and they were always SO moist! Then gently scoop the cool and refreshing topping onto the cake… SO perfect in this hot weather! It’s like a frozen fruit smoothie topping! I love it!

And voila! Feel free to adjust as needed! You can use whatever frozen fruits you like, and you can substitute a different nut milk too if you prefer. As for sweeteners, I found an organic agave/maple syrup blend at Trader Joe’s that I used, but you can use whatever liquid sweetener you’d like. There are lots of variations you can try!

Happy Birthday to my loving husband! Full fledged “meat” eater when I met him a few years ago… 99% vegan today! He’s wonderful and he LOVED his birthday cake! Whoohooo! Now if only I had remembered to buy more candles… ha!

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Let’s make vegan whipped cream!!

Filed Under: desserts, recipes, vegan
Aug.27, 2012

Ok? OK!!

I feel like the last vegan in the world to catch on to this easy, but tasty, way to make vegan whipped cream, but better late than never!

I don’t know about you, but I haven’t had the best of luck with the pre-made vegan whipped cream that comes in a can. I tried the one made with soy milk but the canister seemed to stop working before the contents were empty. I bought the rice milk version of it a few months later, and again… the same thing happened. At about 6 bucks a pop, it’s too expensive of treat to have malfunctions… alas, no more. I’m making my own!


Here’s how you do it!

1) Place a can of coconut milk upside down in the fridge overnight. Get the regular one, not the “low fat” or “light” type.

2) About 15 minutes before you’re going to make your vegan whipped cream, put your bowl and your blender “beaters” in the freezer so they get nice and cold!

3) While they’re chilling down, prepare some nice sliced fruits (I used organic strawberries!), or get your pie out and ready to top!


4) Open the can and scoop out the thick part, leaving the really liquidy part behind. You’ll notice a really nice hard clump on the top of the can, and a decent amount on the bottom too!

5) Place in bowl and add vanilla and sugar to taste. I added 1 teaspoon of vanilla and 2 teaspoons of organic sugar, but we’re all different, so add what you think you’ll like!

6) Blend! I used a hand held blender & blended about 1 1/2 minutes or so… and you can see the nice consistency I got in the pictures.

7) Top a cake, pie, fruit, hot cocoa, vegan ice cream or whatever else suits your fancy & enjoy!

You can usually find canned coconut milk for less than $2 in stores, so this is a great alternative to pre-made vegan whipped cream and it’s DELICIOUS! The only thing I can think of that may be a problem for someone is that it does have a hint of coconut taste – which I love, but if you don’t like the taste of coconut, then you might want to pass on this, or add additional flavors to it. I bet cocoa powder might be nice!

Excited to try this out at thanksgiving on pumpkin pie!! oh YES, it’s gonna be great!! And you know what else is great? The slaughterhouse that was just shut down in Hanford, California for abuse was a place where they slaughtered DAIRY cows who could no longer give milk. So by substituting vegan alternatives like this whipped cream in lieu of stealing and whipping up a cow’s milk, you’re really showing that you care about animals… and they thank you for that.

Bon Vegan Appétit!!

(ooooh, all that french just reminded me of cream puffs!! oh YUM! Maybe I’ll make that next!! Au reviour!)

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cha cha cha CHIA Vegan Pudding! Yowza! These little seeds make an awesome vegan dessert!

Filed Under: desserts, recipes, vegan
Apr.10, 2012

What does several tablespoons of chia seeds + some vanilla almond milk + some brown sugar + some vanilla extract equal?? It equals YUMMM!!! Just put these items into a glass and let it sit for a few hours or so, giving a little stir every so often, and all of a sudden you’ll have something that’s out of this world good! Since chia seeds can absorb 12 times their weight in water by simply sitting there, this mixture slowly works its magic and becomes a gelatinous~like pudding thingy that I can’t quite describe, other than by saying I LOVE it and as soon as I’m done with it, I always want more!

It’s healthy too! Chia seeds really pack a healthy punch. They’re high in Omega 3 & 6, fiber, calcium and protein too! The next time someone starts scolding you for not eating a cute fish for Omegas just start singing “Cha cha cha CHIA!” and give a little wink! You’ll be the smartest & spunkiest guest of the evening!

In other vegan food news, I went a little crazy with my vegan stir~fry tonight! Started off in Ireland with some cabbage & potatoes, then I swung by India & added some carrots, peanut sauce & curry, then went to the South & added collard greens & onions, and wound up in Asia with some organic soy sauce, seitan & mung bean noodles! Miso Silly haha! It was tasty! Kind of makes putting an apple in last night’s soup seem almost normal lol!

And a bit of good news…San Francisco (i LOVE the bay area!) is about to get its very first all vegan store! Pinko’s Vegan Mercantile will be opening next month, with a storefront facade that can be seen clearly by every single car that enters and exits the freeway at Market Street. Have you ever been to an all vegan store before? They’re awesome! I went to “Food Fight” in Portland, Oregon and wow – how nice it was to be in a store where I didn’t have to check the labels on anything! If you live near Olympia, Washington, you’ve got “Oly Vegan” too!


Lastly, if you need more vegan recipes, here’s some great news! There’s a FREE digital copy of the current April/May 2013 issue of Vegetarian Times and it has lots of vegan recipes in it!

Have a vegantastic day!


“I ask people why they have deer heads on their walls. They always say because it’s such a beautiful animal. There you go. I think my mother is attractive, but I have photographs of her.”
~ Ellen DeGeneres.

Cha Cha Cha CHIA! (so good!!)

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Stephanie Sparkles of Bliss Cakes wins Cupcake Wars’ Vegan Showdown!

Filed Under: desserts, vegan
Mar.04, 2012

I had never even watched a cooking show on the Food Network up until tonight and boy did I pick a good one!

I grabbed my giant scrumptious artichoke, a little vegenaise for dippin’ and a beautiful organic salad, plopped myself down on the couch and turned on Cupcake Wars for the Vegan Showdown!

Tonight’s theme was environmental in nature and the cooks worked with local produce, fresh herbs & flowers, as well as natural wood for displays. Vegan cupcake flavors included apple cinnamon, s’mores, gingerbread, caramel apple and poppyseed with all sorts of flavorful frostings including matcha green tea and lavender.

My favorite was the the vegan clementine buttercream frosting. It looked so beautiful and refreshing and the judges thought so too!


In addition to getting a $10,000 prize, tonight’s winner was also given the opportunity to feed over 25,000 guests at the Los Angeles Green Festival last November. The closing credits showed Los Angeles City Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa gobbling up one of Stephanie Sparkles’ cupcakes at the festival and making a few nice comments about it. Very cool!



Oh how I wish they’d have a vegan cooking show on the Food Network that would air regularly! Especially considering the public’s disappointment over Paula Dean’s promotion of a pharmaceutical company, rather than just changing her diet and promoting healthier meals. Paula may prefer popping pills over healthy eating habits, but what about the rest of us? Come on, Food Network! Throw us a vegan cooking show to balance out all the greasy Heart~Attack~on~a~Plate Faire. The time is ripe and vegan cooking has never been sweeter!

Congrats to Stephanie Sparkles and all of the bakers on tonight’s show! I thought all of the cupcakes looked vegan~tastically delicious! Oh.My.Gosh.I.Want.A.Vegan.Cupcake.Right.This.Second!

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vegan cardamon sugar cookies & a super sweet and vibrant fresh fruit & kale smoothie!

Filed Under: desserts, smoothies, vegan
Feb.20, 2012

I’m not sure if any of you are familiar with “Glitter and be Gay” from Candide, but it’s a really beautiful aria that goes clear off into the stratosphere of the coloratura soprano range. I was supposed to sing it at a vocal audition today and just couldn’t get that last crazy high note this afternoon, so I cancelled. (Darn you, Kristin Chenoweth! lol)

Feeling like a big 98 pound blob (yes, that is possible), I moped around the house complaining that I was cold and wanted something warm and sweet. Since I’ve stopped buying most “convenience” foods, the best my husband could offer me was “microwaved sorbet.” Umm, thanks but NO thanks, hubby! “A” for creative thinking though…well, maybe more like an “A minus”.

So I decided to whip up some cookies really quickly… I noticed there was an old sugar cookie recipe on the fridge, so I used it to get the proper ratios between sugar & flour, and then pretty much just winged the rest. I substituted “Ener-G Egg Replacer” for the “egg” and used coconut milk for the little bit of liquid it required. I usually use vanilla almond milk, but we were out of it. In lieu of butter, I used “Earth Balance Buttery Spread”, which is vegan.

The point is, just take your favorite sugar cookie recipe and adapt it. Here’s a list of “egg replacers” and here’s a picture of “earth balance buttery spread” so you can find it in the store. Smart Balance Light Original with Flax (marked VEGAN on the tub) works too. And then add whatever spices or flavors you want. I chose a dash of cardamon, but I bet “pumpkin spice” or even a little cocoa powder would be tasty too!

In the mood for something a little healthier? Make a vegan smoothie! I made one yesterday with organic dinosaur kale, baby spinach, frozen raspberries, cherries & blackberries, a fresh banana, green apple, almond butter, a little flaxseed meal & vanilla almond milk. You don’t need a recipe! Just throw a bunch of healthy fruits, veggies, nut milks & nut butters together and give it a whirl! You don’t need a fancy blender either! Just remove any large stalks from the kale leaves and you can munch on those while you’re blending!

P.S. Happy Presidents Day! (how awesome is it that Clinton is vegan??!) and a very happy kick off to National Justice for Animals Week! I’m going to be volunteering for a few days at the National Animal Law Competition. Even if you can’t make it to an event to help out, just remember, EVERY vegan meal you eat helps the animals tremendously. I thank you… and the animals thank you too! Compassion for ALL! Whoohooo! …and now back to my sweet, warm cookies!

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Super Easy & Yummy Vegan Red Rhubarb Crumble (now that’s a mouthful!)

Filed Under: cooking classes, desserts, recipes, vegan
Feb.19, 2012

Here’s another awesome vegan dish that Chef Kendall taught us how to make at the Native Foods Cooking Demo! This was my favorite out of the bunch, but then again, I have a sweet tooth, so it’s no surprise!


Red Rhubarb Crumble

Filling:

4 cups rhubarb, cut into 1″ pieces (frozen works if you can’t find fresh)
3 cups organic sugar
1/2 cup unbleached white flour
1 tsp. vanilla extract
1/2 tsp. ground cardamom

Crumble:

2 cups unbleached white flour
1 tsp. sea salt
2 cups organic brown sugar
1 cup earth balance, vegan butter

1) Preheat oven to 375 degrees. In a bowl, mix together the rhubarb, sugar, vanilla, cardamom and 1/2 cup of flour. Spoon the mix into the bottom of a pie pan or casserole dish.

2) In a food processor, pulse together 2 cups of flour, salt, and brown sugar. Add the vegan butter and pulse until the pieces of butter are pea in size. Or cut the butter into the dry mix with two forks. Spread the topping mixture over the rhubarb mixture.

3) Place the pan in the oven for 35-45 minutes, or until the filling is bubbly and the topping is lightly brown. Let it cool for at least 30 minutes.



Serve with your favorite vegan ice cream or vegan whipped cream!

SO good!

And here’s the recipe for —> Blood Red Beets with Pine Nut Vegan “Goat Cheese” in case you missed it!

I love Native Foods!

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Attack of the Vegan Cookie Dough Truffles!

Filed Under: chocolate, desserts, recipes, vegan
Feb.04, 2012

I rarely use recipes for anything I make in the kitchen, but I came across a recipe with a title much too enticing to pass up! Chef Chloe’s Vegan Cookie Dough Truffles! Alas, a recipe that insists that you eat the cookie dough!

Here’s the gist of it!

Mix ½ cup vegan margarine, ¾ cup light brown sugar, ¼ tsp salt, 1 tbsp vanilla, 2 tbsp water, 1 ¼ cups flour & 1/3 cup vegan mini chocolate chips, refrigerate for an hour, roll into balls, freeze for 15 minutes & dip into melted vegan semisweet chocolate & chill…

However, since I’m not one to follow recipes (nor sewing patterns), I made my truffles a bit differently. I added about 1/4 cup extra flour, simply because I wasn’t paying attention, and so I had to add about 1 extra tablespoon of water. I also skipped adding the salt. (ok, fine. I forgot to. lol)

Also, my husband isn’t the biggest fan of chocolate, so I skipped putting chocolate chips in the dough, and I didn’t have any semisweet chocolate bars or chips to melt so I had to get creative with what was handy! I mixed a few tablespoons of cocoa powder & sugar with a bit of Earth Balance Vegan Buttery Spread, and a little bit of almond milk. I tasted it and thought.. uh oh. Too chocolatey for my sweetheart! So I added some vegan cream cheese to it… and tasted it a few times more… much better!

Then I dipped the cookie dough balls into the chocolate cream cheese mixture… tasted it again… Mmmm! Then I decided to be extra considerate and only put dollops of the chocolate on top of the rest of the truffles, so my husband could really enjoy them. The one in the center is how they would look if you covered them completely with chocolate.

Then to make them even prettier, I sprinkled powder sugar on top! I always use my mesh ball tea infuser for dusting desserts. Much easier than a giant sifter! And then I tried them again… Mmmm!

And then. BAM. I was sick. I mean really sick… as in lay down and get me some water quickly sick. I tried to counteract everything by eating a giant organic dinosaur kale leaf as fast as I could. I simply ate TOO many of these cookie dough truffles & all that goes in them while I was making them and I began to hate them (stupid cookie dough truffles!!) I couldn’t even write about them last night. I seriously thought I was going to throw UP and swore off all sweets! And if you know me, ya know, that’s just not like me! Earth to Jackie! Hellooo??!

But alas, after a good night’s sleep, I arose and all was well. Me and the truffles made up, and I’m happy to report, they are ALL in our bellies and we’re feelin’ just fine! I really do love them! Just don’t eat too many!! And have some antidotal greens on standby just in case…

“Life is uncertain. Eat dessert first.”
~ Ernestine Ulmer

p.s. NEWSFLASH! Greece just banned the use of ALL animals in circuses! Hurray!!

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How to “Veganize” a One Dollar Box of Chocolate Chip Cookie Mix!

Filed Under: chocolate, desserts, recipes, vegan
Dec.14, 2011

I popped into the Dollar Tree store on the way home and found a box of Duncan Hines Chocolate Chip Cookie Mix for only… you guessed it, one dollar! I prefer to make baked goods from scratch, but I know some people are short on time and cash, so cookie & cake mixes can come in handy! For me, it was the appeal of it being a vegan mix that I had never seen before that got me. So for one buck, I decided to take it home and “veganize” the “suggested” egg & butter and make some cookies!



When I got home, I cleared about 20 lbs of fresh organic veggies from the table and made room for mixin’! It was super easy, too! Instead of stealing an egg from a bird, I simply used “EnerG Egg Replacer” mixed with a bit of water, and I used a heaping tablespoon of “Earth Balance Buttery Spread” in lieu of dairy butter.

If you don’t have EnerG Egg Replacer handy, smushed bananas or applesauce may work well too. I’ve used those to replace eggs in cakes and cupcakes before. Also, if you don’t have easy access to Earth Balance, you can use Smart Balance Original Light with Flax. It’s also vegan (clearly labeled on the tub) and pretty easy to find at most grocery stores. There are several different types though, so just make sure to get Original Light with Flax.

After mixing in a handful of chopped walnuts, I scooped the dough onto the cookie sheet, baked for about 10 minutes and voila… a baker’s dozen of warm and gooey vegan chocolate chip cookies! From a one dollar box of Duncan Hines! Easy as pie! Piece of Cake! Yummy, compassionate cookies!

Ok, time to go do something with that giant box of “Farm Fresh to You” organic veggies! Gotta make up for eating these not~so~good~for~me~but~ SCRUMPTIOUS ~warm~and~gooey~vegan~cookies!

Have a peaceful & cozy evening, everyone!

“Life is uncertain. Eat dessert first.”
~ Ernestine Ulmer

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My no recipe, cheapo blender, yummy vegan green smoothie!

Filed Under: desserts, recipes, smoothies, vegan
Dec.03, 2011

I’ve been putting off making green smoothies because I don’t own a vita mix. Silly, I know. We just have a cheapo blender that my husband found online for $1.04. Yep, one buck & 4 pennies for a new blender! So alas, this evening, I put off all procrastination and decided to make a green smoothie for two, with our no~frills blender & what was handy in the fridge.

Here’s what I threw in:

2 ripe bananas
1/2 organic granny smith apple
1 petite forelle pear
2 chopped dates
1 heaping teaspoon of peanut butter
1 handfull of fresh spinach
1 large leaf of dinosaur kale (without thick stem ~ you can munch on it while you’re blending!)
1/2 cup of almond milk
1/2 cup of orange juice
1 small scoop of vegan ice cream (totally optional)

Blend & Enjoy!

If I were to make this again, I’d try to resist adding the vegan ice cream (it practically jumped out of the freezer!) & I’d cut the dates into smaller pieces since some of the pieces got stuck in the straws. I might also add blueberries, just because I love them so much! But since I was also making this smoothie for my husband, who loathes blueberries, I didn’t add them tonight. And, I just now realized I meant to add some flax powder for Omega 3s. Whoops! There’s always tomorrow!

The point is, you don’t need a really awesome blender or a fancy schmancy recipe book to make a yummy, healthy green smoothie. Just experiment! Add something green for vitamins, antioxidants and phytonutrients (kale is packed with them!), a bit of citrus for extra vitamin C, a nut butter or nut milk for protein, a fruit like apples for fiber and fruits like bananas and pears for sweetness! And Voila! A Green Vegan Smoothie! Simply scrumptious. Take that vita mix!

‎”Let food be thy medicine, and let thy medicine be food.” ~ Hippocrates

à votre santé, my friends!

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No use crying over spilled vegan brownies! Just make little vegan brownie ice cream cakes instead!

Filed Under: desserts, recipes, vegan
Oct.31, 2011

I’m SO excited that Trader Joe’s has vegan baking mixes! The directions are easy to follow and all you have to do is replace the butter and eggs with vegan versions! I usually just add about 3/4ths of a large smushed ripe banana in lieu of 2 eggs. Some people also use EnerG Egg Replacer, prune puree, arrow root powder or apple sauce. Check out the MVJ “Egg Replacer Page” and pick your fancy!

For the “butter” I use vegan margarine. Two easy to find types are Earth Balance and Smart Balance (original light with flax). Both are clearly marked “vegan” on the tub.

When making the brownies, I decided I didn’t want to use up all of my vegan butter, so I scrimped a bit, adding a little bit less vegan butter and instead adding a few tablespoons of Vanilla Almond Milk.

My husband isn’t a big fan of chocolate, but he loves peanut butter, so I decided to use my shortcake pans to make giant brownies that I could fill with peanut butter. Chocolate + Peanut Butter = Yummy!

Everything was going just fine (the batter tasted fantastic!!) but when it came time to turn the pan over and for my giant baked brownies to fall gracefully onto the cutting board, well… they just didn’t. So I slammed the pan down, and circles of brownies came out, leaving huge chunks of brownie stuck to the pan.

I don’t know what I did wrong… I probably either oiled the pan too much, or not enough… who knows, but as the saying goes… desperation leads to inspiration! I decided to make little vegan ice cream cakes!

All I did was place scoops of vegan ice cream on top of a brownie circle, shape it a bit, and then layer another circle on top! Cooking disaster averted! SO easy! And sooo very pretty… Delicious & cruelty~free too!

Bon Vegan Appétit!

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