Monday, September 6, 2010

Birthday Cannolis!

Jeremiah and I have a special love for D'amato's Bakery. If you've never been there, GO! It's being remodeled but they are still open across the street from their normal location. For Jeremiah's birthday last year, I got him a giant cannoli that was stuffed with a bunch of baby cannolis. Sadly, traditional cannoli's are far from vegan. As a birthday surprise for me, Jeremiah bought all the fixin's to make vegan cannoli's. Yes, I am a VERY lucky girl! So we spent my birthday making vegan cannolis together. The end result? AH-MAY-ZING!

Check 'em out!








Yours truly!

Thursday, June 17, 2010

Vegan Tarts!

I've been wanting to make my own vegan whipped cream for quite some time now. After dishing out 5 bucks on store bought vegan whipped cream only to be disappointed in the end when after topping two shakes with it, I could no longer get it to come out of the can fluffy, but as a drizzly disappointment instead. I found a very alluring recipe requiring only two ingredients: full fat coconut milk and powdered sugar. Upon discovering this recipe, I ran out, grabbed a can of coconut milk, stuck it in the fridge over night and deliberated what to partner it with.

Since I had a bag of frozen blueberries and a chilled banana, I decided to make tarts. I'd never made a vegan pie crust before, but was pleasantly surprised with how easy and successful my first attempt was!



After baking the tart crusts, I sprinkled a bit of powdered sugar, cinnamon and mace into the bottom of each one. Then I filled each crust with a few blueberries and slices of banana. To add a sweet kick I drizzled a bit of agave nectar over the fruit and for the sake of being heart-healthy, I sprinkled ground flax seed over everything.


Production of the whipped cream was quick and easy! After chilling the coconut milk over night, I punched a hole in the bottom of the can to let the liquid drain out, leaving the solidified coconut "cream" on top. I quickly scooped the cream into our Magic Bullet, blended it for 20 seconds, added 1/4 cup powdered sugar and blended another 20 seconds, then put a healthy dollop atop each tart. I garnished it with some chocolate chips that I blended into a powder and a few berries. Check out the end result!



All in all, this is a pretty guilt-free dessert. Although coconut milk has a high fat content, it is high in omega-3 fatty acids and lauric acid which is believed to have antimicrobial properties.

Friday, June 4, 2010

Summertime Delights


I've been itchin' to try out a new version of my vegan refrigerator cookie recipe and finally got a chance to do so! Inspired by my recent score of two GIANT basil plants from Stanley's Fruit Market for only 98 cents each, I whipped up a batch of lemon basil refrigerator cookies... sans refrigeration. can you blame a girl for not wanting to wait a day to make her cookies?!

I also made a delicious sammich of battered and fried tofu with marinated mushrooms and zucchini sauteed with onion served up on toasted bread with fresh basil, tomato and spinach. Sadly, I lost patience and no photos were taken. Next time!

Tuesday, March 30, 2010

Sunday, March 28, 2010

Another Sweet Sunday


On today's morning menu... an old family recipe from my childhood, Dinosaur eggs! Peanut butter, honey, cornflakes, a pinch of powdered sugar and raisin on top.

Saturday, March 6, 2010