Are you feeling blue?

Good Morning guys!!!! It's freezing today. It snowed a crap-load last night. I would've cracked up if we were snowed in, but unfortunately, we're not. I do have some fun news for you guys though. Today is the first day of my DrNatura Cleanse. Have you heard of this before? My therapist told me about it because I've had digestive problems ever since I was a baby. It was pretty expensive, but that really didn't matter haha I just had to get it!!! It's vegan, too, which is always a plus. It's supposed to rid your body of all the toxins that you take in on a daily basis. The first month is the Colonix program and the second month is the Toxinout program. I won't EVER post disgusting bathroom pictures on here, but if you want to see them, then you're just nasty haha

But I won't leave you hanging there. I have a splendid and funky muffin recipe for you today. I found my inspiration recipe on eat me, delicious. I just love all the muffins she makes. These ones are some of my favorites, but I guess I say that about practically every muffin I make- they are also gluten-free. I was just in the mood to make blue muffins. I know there's no such thing as a blue food, but I just had to do it. I made two recipe attempts. The first was a blueberry corn muffin which was good, but I knew I could do better. The next was a blue raspberry muffin and I just loved them. I would feed these to my kids if I had any because kids always love blue raspberry shit... at least I did haha and still do.

Here's the recipe:

Blue Raspberry Muffins
1/2 cup soy milk
1 cup quick or rolled oats
1/2 cup sorghum flour
1/4 cup millet flour
1/4 cup tapioca flour
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp sea salt
1 tbsp flax seeds
2 tbsp water
1/4 cup unsweetened applesauce
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/4 cup turbinado raw sugar
1 cup frozen blueberries
1/2 cup freeze-dried, dried, or fresh raspberries
approx. 1/3 raspberry jelly (depending on how many muffins you make)

Directions: Preheat oven to 400F. Prepare muffin tins with non-stick cooking spray or cupcake liners. Make the flax eggs by combined the flax seeds and water in a cup. Stir together and let stand until it thickens.

In a medium bowl, stir together milk, applesauce, vanilla, sugar, and flax eggs. In a large bowl, stir together the oats, flours, cinnamon, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. In the microwave, nuke 1/2 cup blueberries for 30 seconds. Using a stand mixture, hand mixer, or blender, puree the 1/2 cup warm blueberries. It can be messy so I'd use a blender. Add the puree to the milk/sugar mixture and stir through. Add the wet mixture to the dry mixture and fold together. Stir in the 1/2 cup of frozen blueberries and the raspberries. Fill the muffin cups half way with batter, add 2-3 tsp of jelly on top, and then fill the rest with the muffin batter. Bake for 13-15 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.

Muffin Mania

Hello everyone. I have a question for you guys. Do you feel like you cook way too much? If you do, it’s okay because I do, too. It’s kind of ridiculous haha Maybe I’m home too much or something… I don’t know. I think it’s probably because I love it. And when you love something, you just can’t get enough of it!

There’s really no point I’m trying to make with that. I just felt like reasoning out my obsession with cooking. I wish I could just cook all my life in my kitchen and have no other job. Wouldn’t that be freakin awesome?!?! The only way I see that happening is if I win the lottery or marry a rich man. There’s probably more of a chance of me winning the lottery. I could never marry someone for just there money. I’ve thought about it, of course, but has the opportunity presented itself? No haha. It makes me think of the housewives of Orange County. I love that show!! My mom and I watch reruns of that. Some of the wives work, but the majority of them just go tanning all day… which isn’t such a bad life, I guess. So, I take back how I said there’s no point to this. I just thought of one haha Here it is: Do what you love!!!!!! Even if it means that you won’t make a lot of money. I mean, yeah, I like money, but when it comes down to it, it’s just paper… and it smells bad.

And speaking of love, I love muffins. So here’s another muffin recipe haha I’m so sorry. I’ll completely understand if you quit reading my blog due to the amount of muffins I bake. These are in my top 5 favorite muffins in the world. They were really moist and dense. I love that combination in a muffin. I found the recipe in Viva le Vegan. It was originally a bread recipe, but I changed up some stuff and made gluten-free muffins. Worked like a charm!

Apricot-Almond Muffins

½ cup oat flour
½ cup organic cane sugar
1/3 cup blanched almonds or almond slivers
1 ¼ cup millet flour
½ cup sorghum flour
1 ½ tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
¼ tsp ground nutmeg
¼ tsp sea salt
1 cup non-dairy milk
1 tbsp flax meal
½ cup unsweetened applesauce
½ cup dried apricots, chopped
1 tsp pure vanilla extract
½ tsp almond extract
2 ½ tbsp canola oil
Handful of blanched almonds for garnish

Directions: Preheat oven to 350F. In a large bowl, combine the first 9 (all dry) ingredients and stir together. In another bowl, combine the milk with the flax and stir through. Add the applesauce, apricots, extracts, and oil and mix well. Add wet mixture to dry mixture and stir through until well-combined. Scoop mixture into a prepared muffin tin and bake for 20-22 minutes. Makes approximately 8-10 normal size muffins. The baking time may vary because my muffins are always gigantic, so I’d check normal muffins at 16 or 18 minutes with a toothpick.

The story of the girl and the muffin

Hi guys. It’s been a pretty rough week so far. School is just taking its tool on me!! I feel so drained, mentally and physically. I hadn’t cooked anything since Thanksgiving, so a few nights ago, I made muffins. They are my “get happy” food. It was about 11:30 p.m. when I started, and my stepdad was noticeably annoyed by the clanking of bowls and spoons in the kitchen because he was trying to watch tv. I didn’t care though- I just needed some cooking time, so he was gonna have to deal. Cooking is just so therapeutic to me- I get in my own little world, wear my favorite bathrobe, and nothing matters anymore except for my muffins.

They turned out amazing!!! But that’s no surprise. You guys know I don’t bake crappy muffins haha They are Coconut Macadamia Muffins. I just love macadamia nuts. I don’t think you heard me. I LOVE macadamia nuts. Haha I’ve been eating them like a madwoman, but I’m okay with it. The original recipe called for almonds, but I didn’t have any. I found it on eat me, delicious. I had to change some ingredients to make it gluten free, and I substituted a few others just for my own enjoyment haha

Coconut Macadamia Muffins
1 cup oat flour
½ cup millet flour
1 cup unsweetened shredded coconut
½ cup organic cane sugar
1 ½ tsp baking powder
½ tsp baking soda
¼ tsp sea salt
¾ cup light coconut milk
2 tbsp ground flax seeds + 6 tbsp water (or egg replacer for 2 eggs)
¼ cup canola oil
½ tsp vanilla extract
½ tsp almond extract
1/3 cup macadamia nuts, chopped

Directions: Preheat oven to 400F. In a small cup, combine flax seeds with water and let stand while assembling other ingredients. In a large bowl, combine flours, shredded coconut, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Stir together. Add in the coconut milk, egg replacer, oil, extracts, and nuts. Stir together until well-combined. Spoon into a greased muffin tin and bake for 12-15 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. Makes 10 muffins.

*There was a superman candle sitting on a shelf, and he really wanted to be in the picture. Can you blame him? Look at those two fine ladies!

Me and My Muffins

Hello Folks!!! Are any of you having one of those weekends where you just stay home and do nothing? I'm having one right now, and I love it!!!! Besides the usual trip to the gym, I've been hangin out at home with my mom, the cat, and the dog. We've been watching A LOT of tv, doing laundry, cooking, and cleaning. It's been fun though. I'm not one of those people who goes out a lot in the first place though. What?!?!! you ask. You're so vivacious and charismatic on your blog!! I know, I know, but I'd rather stay home and bake than go out. I guess I'm just an old woman in that sense... but my body is all 19!!!! hahahahaha Couldn't help myself with that one.

As for food, well I've been making a million batches of muffins this week... which really isn't that weird. haha Today, I have Lemon-Raspberry Poppy Seed Muffins!!!!! Finally!!!! I made a batch a few weeks ago, and they weren't very good, so it's taken me a little while to recover. These were better, and I wasn't even planning on making them yesterday. I was just thumbing through Dreena's book "Vive le Vegan" and saw a recipe for Orange-Poppy Seed Muffins. I swapped out all the orange ingredients, replaced some the flour, threw in some raspberries, and Voila!!! However, I think poppyseeds are just an acquired taste, and I'm not sure if I have it. It's probably why they make a drug test positive after you've eaten a bunch. Poppyseeds are just plain weird. I mean, these were good, but I wouldn't make them all the time. My mom loved them though and the raspberries really made them pop. I ate mine with agave nectar.

Lemon-Raspberry Poppy Seed Muffins
1 1/4 cup oat flour or ground oats
2 tbsp poppy seeds
2 tbsp organic cane sugar
2 tsp lemon zest
1/4 tsp sea salt
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/8 tsp allspice or 1/4 tsp nutmeg
1 cup millet flour (or barley flour)
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1/4 cup freshly squeezed lemon juice
1 1/2 tbsp flax meal
1 cup unsweetened applesauce
1/3 cup almond milk
1/3 cup pure maple syrup
1 tsp pure vanilla extract
3 tbsp canola oil

Directions: Preheat oven to 375F. In a large bowl, combine oats, poppy seeds, sugar, zest, sea salt, cinnamon, allspice, millet flour, baking powder, and baking soda. In another bowl, mix the lemon juice and flax meal and stir through. Add the applesauce, milk, maple syrup, vanilla, and oil. Add the wet mixture to the dry and stir until well combined. Spoon the mixture into a prepared muffin tin (sprayed with cooking spray or lined with cupcake liners). Bake for 22-25 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean. Makes 8-9 medium-large muffins or 10-12 small muffins.

Little Butter and Bethany... sittin in a tree

Good morning everyone!!! I never get up this early, but I just couldn't stay asleep. Right now, I'm watching America's Next Top Model reruns on MTV. I usually hate this show but somehow, I can't look away... except at the monitor!!! But on the brighter side of things (since it is morning), this is a picture of our cat. Everyone in the Blogosphere has cat pictures and I was starting to feel left out. Her name is Butter, and she's completely huge. My mom only feeds her Party Mix Treats, so that's what the cat lives off of. She's usually pretty friendly to people, but she likes to attack the dog. Our dog is ancient and last night, the cat jumped on her back. The dog completely flipped out, snapped at her, and started barking. I didn't break them up because the only thing I could do was laugh hysterically.

But here's the deal with food. I baked a lot yesterday, so you probably know what that means already... MUFFINS!! I baked Carrot Pineapple Muffins from The Everyday Vegan. The recipe calls for canned crushed pineapple, but I just cut up chunks of fresh pineapple. These were really moist and flavorful... and tall (as they usually are). I ate two of these babies for dinner. I just loved them.

Here's the recipe:
Carrot Pineapple Muffins
2 cups oat flour
1/4 cup organic cane sugar
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp ground nutmeg
1 1/2 tsp cinnamon
a couple pinches of sea salt
3/4 cup carrots, finely grated
1/2 cup pineapple chunks, diced or 1 8oz can crushed pineapple, drained
1/4 cup raisins
1/4 cup pure maple syrup
1 cup + 2 tbsp almond milk or soy milk
1 tsp pure vanilla extract
2 tbsp canola oil

Directions: Preheat oven to 375F. In a large bowl, combine dry ingredients. Mix well. Add the carrots, pineapple, and raisins and stir well. In a separate bowl, combine maple syrup, milk, and vanilla, and add to dry mixture. Stir through and add canola oil as it starts to come together. Mix until just combined. Spoon into a lightly greased muffin tin and bake for 19-23 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. Makes 10-12 muffins.


As for more fun and exciting stuff, I got a Butterfly Award from Bethany at Spotted Devil Cat and his Vegan Assistant (that name is just amazing). It's my first blog award, I really appreciate it, Bethany!!! In fact, this post is dedicated to Bethany because she's awesome and hands up one of the FUNNIEST people I've ever met.

meme rules & regs:

(1) post about the award,
(2) link back to the person that nominated you
(3) place the award on your sidebar
(4) choose 10 blogs that you think are really cool, link to them, contact each person and talk about why you think their blogs are cool.

Since some of my favorite blogs already have the award, these blogs are ones that I don't think have it yet. I always stalk these blogs religiously, so they deserve it!!! They keep me away from my homework for hours.

1. Agnes' World of Vegan Pleasures- Agness!!! You are the happiest person I know. I love talking to you all the time about life, food, school, guys, and all that other fun girl stuff. I know we'll meet someday even if you live in Poland. Stay happy and funky!!!

2. A Vegan with a Reason- Becca!!! We have so much in common and you are a blast to talk to. You have awesome taste in music, and I know we'd be great friends if you lived in the Pittsburgh. We both have a weird sense of humor, but that's why you're so funny.

3. Sugar Plum- Emiline!!! You are such a creative, and cool cook. I love reading your blog because I know I'll see something crazy and beautiful. You're really friendly, and I know you'll reach your dreams of going to culinary school.

4. Vegan Dance if you Want to- Jenn!!! You are such a cool and random girl and I love seeing all the stuff you make. That Vegan Scrapple still cracks me up. We both love the Vita-Mix and grocery shopping, so that pretty much tells me all I need to know haha

5. A Year of Crockpotting- Stephanie!! I read your blog everyday in amazement at how creative and hilarious you are. You are really honest, but in a funny way. The food you come up with is great, and I know you'll be using the crockpot forever!!!

6. Cookie Madness- Anna!! Where do I even begin? You are a master baker-cookie maker. You're soo nice and friendly and Fuzz is lucky to have you as a mom. You were the first blog I started reading, and you inspired me to start my own. Thanks for being so great!

7. Yummy, Low Calorie Diet Food- Juliet!!! You've got a knack for finding really good food. I always add something to my grocery list after I read your blog. You're a really positive person and you know a lot about nutrition, too. Your husband's a lucky man!!!

8. Chocolate Covered Vegan- Katie!!! You are such a nice girl. You're always smiling (in your blog pictures) and just being plain adorable. You are a master fondant handler and I envy your mad skills!! You'll always be the Cupcake Queen!

9. Veggie Girl- Liz!! You are the busiest person I virtually know. haha You're really good at getting everything done and keeping a positive attitude. You're also a great dancer and also a contributor to my Enrique Iglesis obsession. Thanks for that! haha

10. Flowers at Home- Flower! You are a very gentle human being and a beautiful writer. I don't think you would ever say something mean or hurt anyone's feelings. You're just a really good person. Your blog is very soothing and calming... like a warm, bubble bath... with candles.

Wow that took a long time, so all of you better appreciate this post!!! haha

That Damn Butter

Top of the mornin’ to ya. Haha I have no clue where that came from. I guess I’m channeling my inner Irishman. Anyway, yesterday was an awesome day (hence my happy, spinning around my bedpost pose). To start off, I won all this wine stuff from Anna at Cookie Madness!!! I only drink wine when my mom lets me, but I’m still excited to get wine charms and all those other “21 and over” accessories. I’ll take a picture of them when I get them in the mail. After that joyous experience, it was time to film my cooking show. I did a cooking video for a project at school, and it’s called “The Blonde Experiment.” Haha I knew you would love that. I didn’t post it on here because it’s about 30 minutes long and you’d probably die of boredom or start to make fun of me haha In my video, I converted traditional blondies into vegan blondies and then had a judging panel at the end. Everybody voted that the traditional blondies were better than the vegan ones, but I wasn’t too surprised. I didn’t use any butter or oil in them- damn. There is a plus side though- I have a crapload of blondies in the house now. And you know what that means?!?!?!!? Yeah, I don’t either haha I just love the suspense.

And no, the recipe for today isn’t for the blondies. I’ll post that some other time when I’m fresh outta recipes. It is for….. dun dun dun… you guessed it!!! MUFFINS!!!! Oh the joys of muffin making. These babies were divine and somewhat like cupcakes- they were pretty crumbly. I made Peanut Butter and Jelly Muffins from Sweet Tempered. I changed the recipe to make it gluten-free and also just a few other ingredients here and there. I think I interpreted the directions wrong because I put the jelly on top of the muffins rather than pushing it down in the middle. It didn’t really specify what to do, but I would recommend filling the muffin tin half way, putting the jelly in the middle, and then putting more batter on top. My muffins kind of, well, not kind of, rather COMPLETELY overflowed with jelly haha They tasted marvelous though- that counts, right? I melted more grape jelly and drizzled (ok, poured) it over the top of my masterpiece.

Here's the Recipe:

Peanut Butter and Jelly Muffins
1 cup oat flour
½ cup millet flour
1 ½ tsp baking powder
½ tsp baking soda
¼ tsp salt
½ cup crunch peanut butter
2 tbsp canola oil
½ cup agave nectar
½ cup almond milk
1 tbsp apple cider vinegar
1/3 cup jelly (I used grape because I’m obsessed with grapes)

Directions: Preheat over to 350F. Spray the muffin tin with non-stick cooking spray or line with cupcake liners. Combine flours, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in a large bowl. In a cup, whisk together vinegar and milk and set aside. In a separate bowl, stir together the peanut butter, oil, and agave nectar until smooth. Add vinegar mixture to this and stir. Add the liquid mixture to the dry mixture and stir until just combined. Scoop half the amount into a prepared muffin tin, place 1 tsp of jelly into on top of batter, and then fill the muffins with the rest of the batter. Bake for 18 minutes or until the muffins give a little to the touch.

Good Ole Sunday

Geez. It's really cold outside. And when I say cold, I mean BURRRR!!!!! My little toes (including my ugly black and blue one) are like icicles. Thank God I have on these dashing argyle socks. And of course, I'm in my bathrobe that everybody hates. But it's been a good day so far. I'm taking a Zumba class today, so that should make it even better. I have no clue what I'm getting myself into but that's the whole point haha I don't mind if I'm cluelessly (that's NOT a word...or is it?) dancing around in the back of the room by myself. That's what happened when my friend, Brian, and I took hip-hop. Wow was that funny. I'd definitely consider myself a bangin dancer- honestly, I'm not even kidding haha- but this hip-hop class was tough!!! We were just such a mess that we ended up making up our own routines the majority of the time. The instructor would always glare at us, but we were just getting our jive on... and you don't ever wanna step on our jive! haha

So anyway, I should definitely figure out how to upload a video of myself dancing. That would be a riot... and I'm positive none of you would ever come back to read my blog!! haha So for now, here's what's cookin!! First off, we have Vegan Ginger Muffins. I found these on Cookie Madness, and they were sinfully good. They are all gone because muffins never last more than a day in my house... and it's all because of me haha The other recipe I have for you guys is a Raw Spiced Walnut Cream. I found it on Gone Raw, and it's texture is somewhat yogurt-like. And I'm aware that the picture of the cream is gross looking, but it is cream. haha I really liked it because I miss having Cool Whip all the time. I used to eat it out of the container, so this was a nice alternative.

Here's the recipes:
Gingerbread Muffins
1 1/2 cups oat flour, spooned and swept
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt + an extra pinch
2 tsp ground ginger
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp ground cloves
1 cup silken tofu ( I used firm, but it doesn't matter)
1/2 cup molasses
1/2 cup organic cane sugar
1/4 cup canola oil

Directions: Preheat oven to 375F. Spray muffin with cooking spray or line with cupcake liners. Combine flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and spices. Stir until well-combined. Put the tofu, molasses, sugar, and oil in the food processor and blend until smooth. Add tofu mixture to flour mixture and stir until mixed. Scoop mixture into muffin tin and bake for 18 minutes. Makes 12 standard muffins.

Spiced Walnut Cream
2 cups walnuts, soaked a few hours, rinsed and drained
1 cup water
1/2 cup soaked dates
2 tbsp ground flax seeds
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/8 tsp ground ginger
pinch ground cloves

Directions: Whip all ingredients in blender until thick and fluffy. Chill for 1 hour.

It's A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood

It is a glorious day today. The sun is beaming through the windows and blinding my eyes. I love days like this. I'm just sitting here sipping some Chocolate Tea- soo good. And some of you may be wondering what the heck this weird yellow food is. Well, it's a roasted spaghetti squash (at least what was left of it) sprinkled with sea salt and loaded with Tofutti sour cream. I got the recipe from Katie's blog and it was just phenomenal! I had never had a squash so delicious in my life. The inside caramelized somehow, and I was just in heaven when I ate it. You have to try this cooking method if you have a random squash sitting on your kitchen table. You won't regret it!

And today's recipe is a delicious one. As most of you already know, I eat muffins for breakfast, lunch, dinner, dessert, midday snack, etc. Well, this muffin is no exception. I ate 2 for breakfast and 2 for lunch. Sooo delicious and they aren't too sweet either. It's a pumpkin pecan raisin muffin and I found it on eat me, delicious. I love how these muffins looked. They had a crazy, tornado-like top to them. And of course, they smelled amazing as well. The only adaptations I made to the recipe was to use oat flour in place of whole wheat and to cut the recipe in half. The oat flour makes the muffins pretty dense, so if you have whole wheat pastry flour or spelt flour, use 3/4 cup of that and 1 cup of oat flour.

Here's the recipe:
Pumpkin Pecan Raisin Muffins
1 3/4 cup oat flour
1/4 cup sugar
1 tbsp baking powder
1/8 tsp salt
2 1/2 tsp pumpkin pie spice
1 cup pureed pumpkin (I used canned)
1/2 cup almond milk
1/2 cup unsweetened applesauce
1 tbsp molasses
1 cup chopped pecans
1/2 cup raisins

Directions: Preheat oven to 400 F. Spray muffin tin with cooking spray or line with cupcake liners. Sift together flour, sugar, baking powder, salt, and spices. In a separate bowl, whisk together pumpkin, almond milk, applesauce, and molasses. Pour wet ingredients into the dry and mix together. Scoop the batter into the muffin tin and bake for 18-20 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean. Makes 12 standard muffins, 6 jumbo muffins or in my case, 8 freakishly tall muffins. haha

Do you know the muffin man?

Good morning, everyone!! I've been so busy with school lately- it's driving my bonkers! I can't wait til December 15th when I'll have some time to do whatever the hell I want. I do feel like I manage my time wisely... most of the time. haha Well last night was an exception. At 10 pm, I baked a huge batch of chocolate chip coconut cookies because my teacher has been asking me to make them for her. I wish I could bake for A's. That would definitely help my Biology grade! It's my toughest class right now. I mean, my major is Wellness and that's a combination of fitness and nutrition, and I'm more interested in the nutrition aspect of it. All my Biology class has been is hydrocarbons, microtubules, and other words that I don't understand. Oh well... at least I have my youth haha

As for a delicious recipe today... I found it on Barbara Bakes. She found the recipe in Shape magazine, so I veganized it and changed a bunch of other stuff as well. It's a Tangerine Berry Muffin recipe and it's the best muffin I've ever had. I feel like I say that for all my muffiins, but these really are. I ate them all in one day (I made 4) and had to stop myself in order to take the damn picture. If you need a muffin recipe or just don't know what to make one day, these are so good for you and taste amazing. They are super moist and the dried berries plump up as they bake. Words can hardly describe it!! And I realize the ingredient list is massive, but I had all this stuff on hand. I always have sour cream because I'm addicted!

Here's the recipe:

Tang Berry Muffins

1/4 cup quick oats
1/4 cup Toffuti sour cream
3/4 cup oat flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp quick rising yeast
1/8 tsp nutmeg
1/8 tsp sea salt
1/4 cup tangerine juice
2 tbsp turbinado raw sugar
2 tbsp canola oil
1/8 tsp xanthan gum + 2 tbsp water
1/2 cup blueberries (fresh or frozen)
1/4 cup dried mixed berries (strawberries, cherries, and blueberries)

Directions: Preheat oven to 400F. Coat a muffin pan with cooking spray.

Mix the xanthan gum and water together in a cup and let it stand for 5 minutes. In a small bowl, stir together the oats and sour cream until well-mixed (it will be lumpy). Combine the flour, baking powder, yeast, nutmeg, and salt in a medium bowl and mix together. In another bowl, mix the tangerine juice, sugar, oil, and xanthan gum mixture. Add the sour cream mixture to the wet mixture and stir until well-combined. Pour the wet mixture into the flour mixture and stir together. Fold in the blueberries and dried berries.

Spoon batter into muffin tins and bake for 12-16 minutes (depending on size of muffin tin). I have a taller muffin tin, so mine took 16 minutes.

Muffins make everything better

Yesterday was a nice day. I went to yoga which always makes me feel amazing. Then, I hung out at home and baked muffins. It was so relaxing just being in my pink plaid bathrobe. Everyone in my house hates my bathrobe because they say I look like an old woman in it; however, I don't care. haha It's just so warm and cozy. I can usually be seen in it when picking my sister up from school. She loves that, I'm sure. Anyway, after I got out of my bathrobe, I needed to clear my head and "get back to nature" as Emerson so eloquently puts it. I went running in South Park and watched how beautiful it was outside. I just felt so happy to be alive. The cold air going into my lungs just invigorated me and made me fun faster... okay that's stretching haha I haven't ran since August, so my speed was pretty crappy, but I still felt good. I stumbled upon a playground while running and swung on the swing-set as well. I know parents thought I was a pedifile because they were taking their kids away from the swings as soon as I got on!!! It was so funny, but I just kept swinging anyways. All in all, it was a darn good day.

Well, I've been making muffins like a madwoman these past few days. These ones were originally mini loaves, but I made them into muffins (mostly because I don't have mini loaf pans). I found them on eat me, delicious. I changed the recipe quite a bit because no one follows recipes anymore these days haha It's a thing from the past. They came out so delicious,sweet, and moist-even in muffin form. I just loved them. My main motivation for making them was to get rid of this pear that was sitting on the kitchen table. My grandma gave it to me last week because she orders pears from Harry and David. If you haven't ordered pears from there, do it now. H and D pears are sweet and huge and are great for baking. This recipe make 4 big muffins or 6 standard muffins.

Here's the recipe:
"I Want to Use Up This Pear" Muffins

3/4 cup oat flour
1/4 cup almond meal
1 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp yeast (quick rise)
1/4 tsp sea salt
1 tbsp turbinado raw sugar
1/3 cup + 1 1/2 tsp almond milk
2 1/2 tbsp unsweetened applesauce (generous)
1 large pear, cored, peeled and cut in half (mash one-half of the pear and cube the other half)
1/8 tsp almond extract
1/8 tsp pure vanilla extract
1/8 tsp maple extract
1/4 cup pumpkin seeds

Directions: Preheat oven to 350F. Spray muffin tin with cooking spray or line with cupcake liners. In a large bowl, sift together the flour, almond meal, baking powder, yeast, and salt. In a separate bowl, stir together sugar, almond milk, applesauce, mashed pear, cubed pear, and pumpkin seeds. Add the extracts to the wet mixture and stir. Pour the wet mixture into the flour mixture and mix together. Spoon batter into muffin tin and bake for 20-22 minutes. Since mine were bigger muffins, I baked mine for 24 minutes. Use a toothpick to check the center of muffins and let them cool for 15 minutes before popping them out.

Bugs and Muffins

I'm watching Regis and Kelly and the guy who called in for the "Fall Frenzy" is absolutely hilarious. I hope some of you watched it because he's cracking me up. I actually got up at a decent time today so I could see the show. Thank Heavens. I did wake up with a big bugbite right on my ankle. It's itching me like crazy. Bugs are just everywhere in our house. My cat is constantly attacking centipedes on the wall, and I'm killing stinkbugs like a madwoman. A few days ago while I was in the shower, I saw a stinkbug and had to kill it with shampoo. I was terrified!!! And to change the subject really quick, ZAC EFFRON is on Regis and Kelly right now!!! haha I don't even like Zac Effron but my friend, Mitchel, is obsessed with the poor guy. He's probably jumping up and down in his dormroom right now. He'll be hitting himself if he misses this.

And to answer the question a few of you had about the pumpkin seed milk, I just used organic raw pumpkin seeds. I'd recommend soaking them overnight if you do make it. I think the pumpkin flavor would've been stronger. I'm gonna try pistachio milk next, so we'll see how that goes. As for today's recipe, it's the chocolate tahini muffins from have cake, will travel. It was originally called "Chocolate Tahini Bread" but I made the muffins instead with a few adaptations as well. I loved these muffins. I just have a strange addiction to anything in a muffin-like form. I don't know where this love of them came from, but I've embraced it. I ate 2 of these muffins for dinner with some Tofutti cream cheese.

Here's the recipe:
Chocolate Tahini Muffins

6 Tbsp carob powder
3/4 cup whole wheat pastry flour
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
pinch of sea salt
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1/3 cup tahini
1/3 cup pure maple syrup
4 oz unsweetened applesauce (1 individual container = 1/3 cup + 1 Tbsp)
1 tsp pure vanilla extract
1 tsp coconut extract
1/4 cup pumpkin seed milk or other non-dairy milk
Directions: Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Spray non-stick cooking spray in muffin tin. In a large bowl, sift together all of the dry ingredients (first 6 ingredients). In another bowl, whisk together the wet ingredients (last 6 ingredients). Combine wet and dry ingredients together- don't overmix. Scoop the batter into the muffin tin. I got 4 muffins. Bake for 18 minutes and let cool for 10 minutes before removing from the tin.

And just for the fun of it, I did this survey from For the Love of Guava. Her answers were absolutely hilarious and mine don't measure up at all. You have to read hers. haha

What’s your biggest guilty pleasure in the way of food?
There’s so many. I would have to say peanut butter, date rolls, and ALL vegan ice cream.

Have you ever done anything nasty to anyone’s food and then served it to them?
OMG too many times to count. I can’t even think of a situation.

Have you ever lied to an omni, telling them you were serving them something meaty but instead serving them veg-food?

Yes, I do it to my family. Mainly my sister… or random Sears employees.

Have you ever been arrested? If so, what for?
No, and that’s really sad.

What is the weirdest thing you’ve ever done in the sack?
Wear foot pads to detox my body.

Who’s the weirdest person you’ve ever done (or thought about while) in the sack? These questions are so funny and I wasn’t aware that this survey was a sex survey before I started it haha

If, for the rest of your life, you could only have sexual relations with folks in one manner/style/position, what would it be?
Downward Dog haha what?

Do you have any weird fetishes? (i.e. Turned on by orange oily feces)
Umm I hope so. I honestly don’t know. I think I’m just weird.

What’s your worst drunken experience?
I’ve never been drunk, so I haven’t had one yet. When I do, I’ll write about it on my blog.

If you could eat any vegan food off another person’s body, what would it be?
I LOVE Peanut Butter. End of story.

Have you ever done anything naughty with a vegetable?
Peanut Butter? Yes. Vegetable? No. Oh wait. You didn’t ask about peanut butter ;)

Do you think your mom would sleep with me if I asked nicely?
Haha Honestly, I wouldn’t be surprised if she did. She’s a hoot.

Do you have any tatts or piercings?

Just my ears. I wear fake tattoos ALL the time though. I have an enormous rose on my stomach right now.

Any strange names for you and your partner’s privates (and/or your sex toys)?
Oh Jesus. I don’t have a boyfriend, so no. As for mine, they are sold during Easter time and everyone gets them in their Easter backets.

Are you into PDA?
Yeah sure. A little PDA never hurt anyone.

Have you ever cheated on a significant other?
No. If you’re gonna cheat, you might as well just break up with the person.

Did you ever walk in on your parents doing it when you were younger?
Eww I hate this question. Gross memories are fogging my train of thought.

What’s one of the craziest things you’ve ever done?
Anything involving Lands' End dog and Mitchel. Lands' End dog is this gigantic fake golden retriever and we take it everywhere we go together.

If you could get it on with any vegetarian you know–famous or not–who would it be?
I have no idea!! I don’t know any vegetarians. I wish Frank Lloyd Wright was a vegetarian.

Thank God It's Thursday!

I had a VERY long day at school. Nothing bad really happened... it just dragged on and on. I'm sure you know what those days are like. I couldn't wait to get home!!! So now I'm home and there's no school tomorrow!!! I just finished my dinner and I don't feel like moving. haha. My head is telling me to go to the gym, but my body is saying "I want ice cream!" I have a feeling that I'll go with the latter because I'm just beat. I watched an episode of Parental Control when I got home. Honestly, who on earth would go on that show? I mean, it's hilarious and all, but you have got to be crazy. I feel so bad for some of these parents... but I do laugh for the majority of the show. I think I just watch way too much tv. Anyone catch the premiere of Fringe? It's a new show and I love it! I really shouldn't get addicted to another show, but this one is just THAT good. It's not LOST good... don't get me wrong, but it kept me on my toes.

As for the recipe... it's meatloaf!!!! Okay, Tofu Oat Loaf. I found it on some food blog a while ago, and I feel really bad that I can't give this person credit. I've searched for this recipe on a bunch of people's blogs, and I can't seem to find it. If this is your recipe, it is very good! I changed some ingredients because I didn't have a lot of them and because I like a little spice in my meatloaf. It turned out SOO GOOD! I also made it in my muffin tin because it was sitting right on the counter staring back at me. You know how it is. haha

Here's the recipe I used:

Tofu Oat Loaf

1 pkg firm tofu
1/3 cup tomato or marinara sauce ( I used spicy)
1 cup fresh spinach, chopped
1 tsp dried oregano
1/2 tsp dried basil
1 tsp minced garlic
1/4 tsp chili powder
1 tsp freshly ground black pepper
1 cup rolled oats
1/4 cup wheat germ

Directions: Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Spray the muffin tin with Canola Oil cooking spray or use regular Canola Oil to grease the tin. Drain the tofu and pat it dry. In a large bowl, throw ALL of the ingredients together. I used my hands to mash everything together, but I suppose you could use a potato masher. Make sure everything is well-incorporated. Make little balls with the mixture and press into muffin tin. The mixture will be loose, but will firm up when as it cooks. Makes 6 muffins! Enjoy with some spicy marinara sauce.

I'm so sorry... this is the last muffin... for today?

I have to go to work today. Blahh. Cannot wait til next Saturday (my last day). Thank Heavens. As for the man in the picture, it's my old boss Charlie. He's back again as a cashier and I'm like putty in his hands. I love that man!! I'll still see him because I'm doing seasonal but that won't be til November. Today, I work til 4:15 and then I gotta go home and test some recipes for school. It's for my cooking show for Biology. I'm transforming traditional blondies to vegan blondies. It shouldn't be too hard considering all the damn baking I do. haha. I say that now, but I'll probably be going nuts later.

So this is the recipe for today. It's another muffin. haha. You guys probably think I don't eat anything but muffins, but that's probably true. I ate 5 yesterday. They are just the all around health food. I found these ones on the "Have Cake, Will Travel" blog, but I adjusted the recipe. Here's what I used because they turned out really good!!! I even halved her recipe and got 5 muffins, so this is the halved recipe. The hemp seeds give this a distinct hempy flavor, but I don't mind it. I accidentally deleted all of these muffin pictures... damn... but that doesn't mean I didn't eat these like crazy. I had them with cream cheese and maple syrup. Yum.

Here's the recipe:

Cornmeal Hemp Muffins

3/4 cup cornmeal
3/4 cup whole wheat flour
pinch of sea salt
1/8 cup turbinado sugar
1/4 + 1/8 tsp baking soda
3 tbsp hemp seeds
1/3 cup unsweetened shredded coconut
1/8 cup applesauce
scant 1/2 cup soy milk
scant 1/2 cup freshly squeeze orange juice ( I used a mineola)
1 tsp apple cider vinegar

Directions:
Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Prepare muffin pan. In a large bowl, stir together the cornmeal, flour, salt, sugar, baking soda, hemp seeds, and coconut. In a smaller bowl, combine applesauce, milk, juice, and vinegar. Mix together until just mixed. Spoon into prepared muffin pan and bake for 12 minutes, or until toothpick inserted comes out clean. Let cool in muffin pan.

YAY for Muffins

Alrighty. So last night might not have been my brightest moment. I was working in mens and a group of about 7 guys and one girl came up to me. They asked me if we have bright orange shirts and of course we don't. We talked for a while and they were all really nice guys. They asked me if I could drive them to Walmart to get orange shirts and I told them sure (they said they would pile into my car like Mexicans). Yeah, I know. They are strangers and such but do I give a damn? No. haha. When my managers saw all of those kids, I told them I was giving them a ride to Walmart and they went nuts. "No, Joanna!! I will not allow that!!! You are too valuable and you don't know what they could do to you!" They all went on and on about it, so when it was time to go out to my car, they made someone walk me to my car. And of course, the boys were outside waiting. Just great. So obviously, nobody would let me drive them to Walmart, but I didn't think it was that big a deal. Maybe I'm just used to picking up random guys and taking them places. haha

Anyway, here's the recipe for today. It's muffins again!! I love MUFFINS!!! Woohooooooo. It's Cinnamon Cornmeal Muffins from Dreena Burton's Cookbook. I actually forgot half the flour and the baking soda and used almond extract instead, but they were still AMAZING. I've posted the original recipe just in case you want to make them Dreena's way because there's probably more ingredients that I forgot, too. haha I didn't even throw the cinnamon in until the whole mixture was mixed. Let's just say botching a recipe can lead to a beautiful creation. The tops of these muffins were really mushy... I LOVED that. I've never had a mushy muffin top, but I hope to have many more of them : )

Here's the recipe:
Cinnamon Cornmeal Muffins

1/2 cup vanilla soy milk
1/2 fine cornmeal
1 cup whole wheat flour
1/2 cup kamut flour or more whole wheat flour (i forgot this)
2 tsp cinnamon
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
couple pinches sea salt
1/2 cup pure maple syrup
1/2 cup unsweetened applesauce
1 tsp pure vanilla extract (or almond extract-so good)
1 1/2 tbsp canola oil

Directions:
Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. In a medium bowl, combine soy milk and cornmeal to soak while you prepare the other ingredients. In a large bowl, combine all other dry ingredients. Mix well. To the soymilk/cornmeal mixture, add maple syrup, applesauce, and vanilla or almond extract. Mix together well, then add to dry mixture. Stir through then add canola oil just as mixture starts to come together. Spoon into a lined or lightly oiled muffin pan and bake for 16-19 minutes, until golden brown and a toothpick comes out clean. Makes 8-9 muffins.

Note: If using whole wheat flour instead of the kamut flour, the muffins will bake faster so check the muffins at 16 minutes to avoid dry muffins.

I heart Muffins

So I pretty much slept as soon as I got home from school yesterday. I was ambushed. haha love that word. I got my Bio test back, and I got an 84%!!!!! Praise the Lord. I thought it was so much worse so I didn't even look at the grade myself. I handed the test to my mom when I got home and had her read me the grade. I ended up hittin up the gym really late last night, and I'm goin again this morning. Pilates time. Love my Pilates!! And of course, I have to work tonight... but that's a given. It's my dad's 43rd birthday, and I can't go out to dinner with him. Damn Sears. I won't have to deal with them much longer, only another week.

Anywho, here's today's recipe. I am obsessed with muffins. If I've never said that on here, I'm saying it now. I make muffins all the time because they are the perfect breakfast, snack, dinner, what have you. I had 4 yesterday, and I have to share the first recipe with you. you'll get the other one tomorrow. haha. These ones are called the "As-You-Like Muffins" from Dreena Burton's cookbook. They are so delicious and really hearty. I halved my version, but this is the full recipe. It makes 9-10 medium muffins.

Here's the recipe:

As-You-Like Muffins

1 cup whole wheat pastry flour or whole wheat flour
1 cup ground oats
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp cinnamon
3/4 cup fruit or nuts
1/4 cup unrefined sugar
couple pinches of salt
1 cup unsweetened applesauce
1/2 cup vanilla or plain soymilk
1/4 cup pure maple syrup
2 tsp pure vanilla extract
1 tbsp canola oil

Directions:
Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. In a large bowl, combine flour, ground oats, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, fruit and nuts. Combine well. In another bowl, mix applesauce, soymilk, maple syrup, and vanilla and add this to the dry mixture. Stir and add canola oil as it starts to come together. Mix until well-combined (do not overmix). Spoon into a lained or lightly oiled muffin pan and bake for 19-24 minutes, until golen brown and a toothpick comes out clean. Mine were done in 19 minutes exactly.

Endoscopy Day

I have to get an endoscopy this afternoon. I haven't been allowed to eat or drink anything this morning, so I'm obviously very weak. haha. I had my mom call off work for me because I'll be too tired to go in... yeah. All right. I'm pretty much getting this done because my stomach just sucks. It always hurts and my mouth tastes like crap all the time. I got home yesterday from school and just went to bed because I didn't feel good. I ended up baking muffins to get my mind off of things. I didn't try one though. I ended up eating a few brownies, okay 3, that we had leftover. They were from a picnic I went to and they were the chewiest, chocolatelyest brownies I've ever had. I need some real food though. This vegetarian/vegan eating is just taking it's tool on my body!!!

These muffins that I made are vegan, though. haha. They look really beautiful, so I hope they taste amazing as well. I doctored up the recipe quite a bit just because I wasn't in the mood for following one. I also made them healthier by omitting the sugar and adding some almonds. The one I started with was Dreena Burton's Carob Chip Muffins. I'll change the title to Crazy C's Muffins just because I like that better.

Here's the recipe:
Crazy C's Muffins

Dry ingredients:
2 cups spelt flour
1/2 cup carob chips
1/4 cup unsweetened shredded coconut
1/3 cup blanched almonds
1/4 tsp sea salt
1 tbsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp nutmeg

Wet ingredients:
1 cup plain non-dairy milk
3 tbsp maple syrup
1/8 cup agave nectar
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 tsp coconut extract
1/3 cup canola oil

Directions:
Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. In a large bowl, combine the dry ingredients. Stir through until well combined. In another bowl, combine the wet ingredients and stir. Add the wet mixture to the dry mixture and gentle fold together until well combined. Spoon the mixture in to a muffin pan lined with cupcake liners, or lightly oiled. Bake for 21-24 minutes, until a toothpick inserted comes out clean. Makes 6 large muffins or 9 small muffins.

A Sweet Morning

Well, I'm in a very good mood today, so I figured I'd wear one of my favorite shirts. The reason for the extra pep in my step is that my one manager quit yesterday. The whole store was happy to see her go because she was just treated everybody like trash. I'm also happy because these muffins I just baked for breakfast are ABSOLUTELY DELICIOUS! I found a recipe for sweet potato muffins on the blog "have cake, will travel." Since sweet potatoes are my favorite food in the world, I knew I had to make these lovelies. I changed the recipe a little bit because I didn't wanna use some of the original ingredients. I also added marshmallows and pecans to make them sweet potato casserole muffins. I mean, who doesn't like a little piece of heaven in the form of a muffin? They came out so moist and the marshmallows melted inside so they were nice and gooey. Just pure heaven!!! You must try these!

Here's the magical recipe:
Sweet Potato Casserole Muffins

½ cup whole wheat flour

½ teaspoon baking powder

¼ teaspoon baking soda

Pinch of sea salt

½ teaspoon ground cinnamon

¼ teaspoon ginger powder

1/8 teaspoon ground nutmeg

2 tablespoons almond milk or soy milk

1/3 cup sweet potato puree

1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

¼ cup pure maple syrup

¼ cup unsweetened applesauce

20 marshmallows

4 whole pecans, or a few chopped pieces

Directions:

Preheat over to 350 degrees F. Spray muffins tins with PAM or use muffin liners. In large bowl, sift the flour, baking powder, and baking soda. Add salt, cinnamon, ginger powder, and ground nutmeg to dry mixture. In separate bowl, stir together the almond milk, sweet potato puree, vanilla extract, maple syrup, and applesauce. Combine wet and dry ingredients and mix together. Scoop a tablespoon of batter into each of the 4 muffin holders. Add 5 marshmallows on top of the batter. Cover the muffins with remaining batter. Add pecans to the top of the batter. Place in oven for 16 minutes or until toothpick inserted comes out clean. Let cool in muffin tin for a few minutes until they have firmed up. Then place on cooling rack.

Note: I used 1 medium-sized sweet potato and had about 1/2 cup sweet potato puree leftover. I ended up just eating it out of the food processor with a spoon- You don't wanna waste that beauty.