Brownies & Black beans?!

For over a year my dear friend Jordan has been telling me that when making boxed brownies the easiest thing to substitute for eggs is.... black beans?! At first I thought he was crazy, but the more I've talked to him about baking and had my hits and misses on experimenting with egg replacements the more I thought he was probably not wrong.... Back in May he was kind enough to make me some amazing vegan brownies using black beans! They were AWESOME!! With that being said.... I've still been a bit hesitant to try it myself for no other reason then, I tend to fail lately at baking in the kitchen.

Today, bored and not having much want to do anything at all, I decided that I would try out this theory of his.... I had a pre-packaged bag of brownie mix that my old roommate left when moving out.... Don't like eggs or have any desire to use them.... Figured I'd try it out....

I pureed the best I could a can of black beans and mixed them in with the rest of the ingredients....

I am a convert........ Black beans will forever be used when making boxed brownies instead of eggs!! Try it out!! It sounds crazy, but really.... you can't even tell they are there!

Lactose Intolerant...

So something I've learned recently.... If you eat pretty much no dairy for 3+ months then decide to randomly eat it again, you get really really sick! If I eat something like cake, or chocolate that has eggs or milk in it I seem to be okay because there isn't a lot in it, but any kind of cheese or ice cream.... in any amounts.... I get sooo soo sick.

Turns out I've made myself lactose intolerant.....

I spent a couple days at my brothers and my sister-in-law made a cheesecake type thing and I knew it would probably make me sick, but didn't want to be rude so decided to try it anyway... Spent all of last night and most of today sick because of it.....

This has been happening for the last couple weeks.... I bought cheese for the first time in a few months.... told my roommate she could have it after the first night I had it home.

I guess now I have an excuse to not eat it other then I choose not to.... My brother really doesn't like this me going veggie thing at all... I'm not sure why, it's not like it affects him in anyway.

Anyway.... That is my news for today...... Once you decide to stop, stick with it, the sickness that comes along after is all kinds of not fun.

failing in the kitchen....

I have been having the worst luck baking anything for over a month now. I had some peanut butter cookies turn out just fine and a couple tarts work, but the pie I made, a cake, and now a second batch of cupcakes.... Not work... The pie was fine, just needed to bake longer but it was so late I just decided to not care and take it out... The cake needed another 7min or so in the oven too, but I'm having a hard time getting used to this vegan baking thing and thought it was done. Tasted okay though...

These cupcakes though........ I am soooo full of fail!! I tried to recreate the epic mocha cupcakes but used different milk because I didn't have any of the coffee milk at the time an I don' know what happened but they did not turn out well.

Today trying to edit the mocha recipe just a bit to just make regular chocolate cupcakes instead... I used vanilla soymilk instead of the coffee and didn't add in the extra coffee.... Oh and I used all shortening instead of half butter, half shortening.... Should those small changes really make THAT big of a difference??? In regular baking, no it wouldn't matter and that should be fine, but for whatever reason you take out the egg factor and try and make a slight change and it just doesn't work as well.... WHY???

I have friends that make perfect vegan cupcakes every time, they try out new recipes and they work... I'm seriously feeling extremely discouraged when it comes to baking?!

I've been baking my entire life, I've always been really good at it... it's in my blood, but now.. After more then a month and a ton of wasted ingredients later... I'm about ready to throw in the towel and only make cookies and tarts forever....... Which is fail because cookies are my least favorite thing to bake, but people LOVE them....

On a brighter note... When it comes to cooking dinner and non dessert foods I seem to be doing just fine... So yay for that.... :)

I think it might be time to break down and find a cookbook to start using.... Not something I'm used to, but I can't keep wasting so much money on ingredients for things that don't turn out, and really I need to expand on dinner foods too........... *sigh*

Okay.... done for today.... cupcakes need to come out of the oven... Hopefully I can make them work so I don't have to make more tonight.

I just realized that I didn't post at all in May... I have been BUSY!! Moving, concerts, work and lots in between! That doesn't mean I haven't been cooking though!! So since I don't have a lot of time here are some pics of some super yummy things I've been eating lately!

Cherry Lime Cupcakes with Lime Cream Cheese frosting!
They even had a cherry baked inside!


Epic Lime Cheesecake for Logan's birthday!


A little apple tart w/a touch of raspberry in it


A Raspberry/Peach Pie w/Dinosaurs & a tart of the same flavor w/feet!




First time I've ever made stir fry! It was awesome! Broccoli, onions, mushrooms, pineapple and tofu! It was also my first time ever cooking my own tofu!


And last, but not least... My very first homemade vegan pizza! Garlic pizza dough from scratch, homemade sauce and Daiya cheese!! :D It was super yum!!

Epic Mocha Cupcakes!! (vegan!)

FINALLY a blog post from me! I've been moving and had a lot going on and my poor blog has been neglected! That doesn't mean I haven't been making some great food in the mean time!

For over month I just kept thinking and thinking about how I could turn my vegan white cake recipe in to a chocolate one.... Then a friend gave me the brilliant idea of mocha cupcakes! I thought and thought and finally one night at like 2am my brain worked out these cupcakes.... turns out they rock! As far as the coffee part goes, I'm not allowed to have it, so I don't often have it in my house, but was given some awesome coffee milk from a friend that I wanted to try and also had some instant coffee packets that I'd been given from my birthday!

The basic recipe is pretty much the same as the white cake, but I'll post it fresh here w/changes included



Epic Mocha Cupcakes

1 cup white sugarhttp://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gif
1/4 cup vegan margarine
1/4c vegetable shortening(CRISCO)
2TBS flax + 4tbs water
1TBS vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 3/4 teaspoons baking powder(slightly heaping)
1/2c chocolate fudge instant pudding mix
1 packet instant coffee mixed w/just enough water to dissolve it.
1c Pearl brand coffee soymilk


Beat together sugar, margarine and Crisco until smooth. Then add flax/water mixture and vanilla. Add your baking powder and flour, then pudding mix. Mix well then slowly add milk. Mix until smooth. Will be kind of thick, it's okay... they will fluff up and bake nicely.

Pour in to lined baking cups.
Bake 350 for 30-40min

For frosting I just used a basic frosting recipe... powdered sugar, shortening, and vanilla and milk....

I melted down some semi-sweet chocolate chips with a tiny bit of milk in them to keep it smooth and mixed it in to the already mixed frosting, added another packet of instant coffee and called it great! ;)

The Curry Guest Blog... Finally.

I promised Meagan I would guest blog about curry forever and a day ago. So here it is, the curry guest blog you've all been waiting for.

I personally love curry, It is one of my staples. It is so versatile, you can make pretty much anything into a curry and it'll taste good.

I compiled a list of a few of my curry recipes so that you could all enjoy curry like I do.

• Thai Massaman Curry with Tofu

This is by far my favorite curry. Meagan said it's the only curry she has ever tried and liked. It's a thai curry, so it's a little on the sweeter side. I tend to make my sweeter as well, using sugar and peanut butter. This curry is a little more time consuming than the other curries, but it is well worth it.
Check out the recipe here.

• Instant Chickpea Rice Curry

  
  
  

   

  This recipe is just an easy one. Like most quick curries. It doesn't take a lot of work, and it tastes awesome. It uses golden curry blocks which you can get at the asian market as well as chickpeas, which are my just awesome.

  Check out the recipe here.

  • Instant Coconut Curry Rice

    

    This is another really easy recipe using instant rice that is a sweeter curry, almost dessert like. It uses coconut milk and peanut butter. It's great for pot lucks because it is quick and it'll make you look like you spent time when really it was easier than buying a bag of chips.

    Check out the recipe here
    
    

    • Quick and Easy Potato Tofu Curry
      
  

  
  

   This curry may not look the prettiest, but it is quick, easy and tasty. It uses the Golden Curry blocks from the asian market. A must have staple in my kitchen.

  Check out the recipe here.
  

  • Curried Couscous
    
    

    
    I love couscous, it is like pasta, rice and potatoes all mixed into one. Only natural that it should be made into a curry. This quick recipe is just as easy as making normal couscous, just switching out the vegetable broth for a curry broth.

    
    Check out the recipe here.
    
    
    
    I hope you enjoy these recipes. 

    Use them as a guide for your "experiments in the kitchen" (ba-da-bing). 

    -Jordan Halliday

    Militant Vegan Cooking
    

Vegan White Cake & Lemon Frosting!

I got my kitchen all nice and extra clean today, which of course meant it needed to be dirtied again! I had no idea what I wanted to make so I sent out a tweet and had a friend suggest I make a cake because she has only ever baked one cake ever.... I was a little surprised and decided I'd google white cake recipes and see what I could find... Because to be honest, making cake from scratch doesn't usually end well for me, and vegan cake isn't something I've had much luck with either....

I found this recipe for Simple White Cake and thought I'd try my hand in making it vegan.... SO here goes nothing.... The best homemade white cake I've ever made!

Simple Vegan White Cake

1 cup white sugar
1/4 cup vegan margarine
1/4c vegetable shortening(CRISCO)
2TBS flax(heaping) + 4tbs water
1TBS vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 3/4 teaspoons baking powder(slightly heaping)
3/4c + 1/8c milk

Beat together sugar, margarine and Crisco until smooth. Then add flax/water mixture and vanilla. Add your baking powder and flour, mix well then slowly add milk. Mix until smooth.

Pour in a greased and floured 9in round pan.

Bake 350 for 30-40min

Let cool before taking out of pan, frost and enjoy!

I get bored with playing 'white' cake so I tend to do things like add food coloring to it so it isn't so boring.... I added blue food coloring to the second cake I made. Sorry I don't have a better picture.

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Some side notes with this.... I made a beyond stupid sweet lemon frosting for it. I wouldn't use such a sweet frosting for it, but maybe that is just me, I've never been one for overly sweet stuff.

I made two so that I could make a layered cake... They were a tiny bit on the crumbly side, but I think that is because I didn't let them cool enough before I decided to stack them... Test it out and see what you think and let me know. Let me rephrase that.... The cake is super moist and super yum! The outer edge is what crumbled a tiny bit.

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For my frosting I used about 1lb powdered sugar, 1/2c-3/4c Crisco (vegan margarine will work just as well) and about 3/4 can lemon-aid concentrate (from can), creamed it all together and yum! Add your lemon-aid slowly and only add until it gets to your desired lemon flavor.... Add some food coloring if you want, keep in fridge until ready to use.

I added some yellow food coloring to it, for a happy yellow to contrast the blue of the cake.