Vegan Food Swap: January 2013

The Vegan Food Swap is back and it's time for the January reveal! We took a few months off for the holidays but I'm excited to be getting these fun packages in the mail once again.

The vegan food swap is organized by The Verdant Life and is an awesome idea! You get matched up with another person and send them a box full of your favorite vegan foods. It's a great chance to try new things and meet other bloggers! I always get so excited when a new box of vegan treats shows up at my door.

This month I sent a box to Cobi over at Veggietorials. You can see her post on it here!

I received my food swap box from Livvy at 86 Lemons. She was paired up to send me a package a few months ago, but it was so awesome that I knew another food swap box from her would be a treat! I wasn't wrong - check out what she sent me below.

* Fantastic World Foods vegetarian taco filling
* Organic Quinoa Flour (can't wait to try this!)
* India Spice rice blend

* earnest eats power grains granola bars
* gnu foods cinnamon raisin bars
* eden organic udon pasta

I've already dug into the granola bars and they are really tasty!

Thank you so much for the great vegan swap box, Livvy!

If you want to join in on the vegan food swap fun, you can sign up right here.

You don't even have to have a blog to participate - come on, you know you want to. :)

Chocolate Chia Pudding

 

I've decided to try out these chia seeds everyone's talking about. These little seeds are economical and have some great health benefits, including being full of omega 3's. Naturally I decided the best way to try these for the first time was surrounding them with chocolate!

This recipe is so easy, and you can make it ahead of time and keep it in the fridge overnight for ease of snacking. I don't know if this could really pass as "real" pudding, because the chia seeds do give it an interesting texture, but it will definetly satisfy those sweet cravings and topped with sprinkles or fresh fruit would make a tasty dessert.

Chocolate Chia Pudding
serves 2-3

4 Tbsp chia seeds
1 C almond milk
4 Tbsp maple or agave syrup
2 Tbsp cocoa powder
1 tsp vanilla

Mix all ingredients together well. It takes a little stirring time to incorporate everything.
Refrigerate for at least 30 min or leave overnight. Enjoy topped with chocolate sprinkles or fresh fruit!

For extra fun I served this chia pudding in these pink-based cocktail glasses and topped it with some vegan chocolate sprinkles. This pudding is not as thick as traditional puddings usually are, but I still think it's worth a try, especially if you have a sweet tooth like I do!

Thanks for stopping by!

Vegan Food Swap: October 2012

It's time for the October vegan food swap reveal!

The vegan food swap is a wonderful idea created and organized by The Verdant Life.
You get matched up with a person and send them a box full of your favorite vegan foods. It's a great chance to try new things and meet other bloggers! Plus it is really fun to get a surprise box of food in the mail. :)

This month I sent a box to Jannifer, who doesn't yet have a blog. I hope you enjoyed your treats!

I received an awesome food swap box from Mary!

Here's a list of what was in my box:

• Can of Pumpkin
• Imagine Mushroom Gravy
• Dried Sour Cherries
• The Essential Bite Banana chip oat
• Blueberry Muffin Larabar
• Justin's Nut Butter: Vanilla Almond and Chocolate Hazelnut - my 2 favorite flavors!
• Fearless Chocolate Bar
• Adorable halloween cupcake liners

I loved the halloween theme, such a cute idea! She also included this fun card with a recipe for pumpkin mac n cheese which I will be trying soon.

Thank you so much for the great vegan swap box, Mary!

If you want to join in on the vegan food swap fun, you can sign up right here.

There will not be any swaps in November or December, but you can join in for January!

Maple & Sea Salt Popcorn

As a part of Vegan MoFo I decided to dedicate my Wednesday posts to Ladies' Night! You'll find ideas to host a fun movie party complete with drinks and snacks for the perfect girls night in.

For my final ladies' night post (at least for now), I decided to make something no movie is complete without - popcorn! I love popcorn. It's one of my favorite snacks. I bought an air popper a few years ago and I love that thing. I love salty popcorn and sweet kettle corn equally, so I though I'd see what happened when I combined the salty and the sweet together.

Maple & Sea Salt Popcorn
1/2 C unpopped popcorn kernels
1 Tbsp vegan butter
1 Tbsp pure maple syrup
Sea salt to taste

Pop your popcorn in an air popper, or on the stove. Melt the vegan butter in the microwave, and then whisk in the maple syrup. Pour over the top of the warm popcorn and shake. Add sea salt to taste.

This was amazing! Kind of like eating waffles for a snack or eating popcorn for breakfast. Basically the perfect combination of sweet and salty. I think I have a new favorite popcorn flavor combo! I could barely take these photos because I kept sneaking handfuls. It you are a fan of salty and sweet flavors together I highly recommend this tasty snack for your next party or movie night.

What are your favorite popcorn flavors or toppings?


P.S. Sorry for these less than stellar photos. Other food bloggers - are you having trouble with your photos too now that we are loosing hours of daylight?

Thanks for stopping by!

Corn Dog Muffins

As a part of Vegan MoFo I decided to dedicate my Tuesday posts to easy weeknight recipes. We can't be fancy all the time, so these recipes are quick to put together!

 
Growing up I was not a fan of hot dogs. I never really got the appeal of corn dogs either, except I guess it was kind of fun to eat foods that were on a stick. A few years ago I saw a recipe for making a box mix of cornbread into muffins and putting a piece of hot dog in the center, and I thought my husband would love them. I tried this recipe 2 or 3 times, and it never ever came out right. My bread was crumbly and dry, and I was totally unimpressed.

I decided that I needed to give this idea another try now, but of course make it vegan style. I was thrilled with how this corn bread turned out! No crumbly mess in the muffin pan. The vegan hot dogs added in make this a substantial side or snack.

Corn Dog Muffins
makes 12 muffins, adapted from the average foodie

1 C flour
1 C ground cornmeal
3/4 tsp salt
4 tsp baking powder
2 Tbsp ground flax seed
6 Tbsp of water
1 T vegetable oil
1/4 cup agave
1 cup almond milk
1 cup sweet corn kernels (fresh or frozen)
2 vegan hot dogs (I used Field Roast)

Preheat oven to 425F.

Add the water to a small sauce pan and bring to a boil. Add the flax seed and stir, then cook for a few minutes until the mixture thickens.

Mix the flour, cornmeal, salt and baking powder in a large bowl. Add in the almond milk, agave, corn kernels, vegetable oil and flax seed mixture. Stir together until combined.

Cook vegan hot dogs according to package directions. Once done, cut each one into 6 small pieces.

Fill your muffin tins with a scoop of the corn bread batter, and then press a hot dog circle into the center of each.

Bake for 16-18 minutes.

I love baking successes! These delicious muffins would be perfect to pair with some soup or chili this fall. (I have a great soup recipe coming up this week!) I think kids would love these too. Serve with some ketchup or your favorite hot dog toppings. Also feel free to leave out the hot dog pieces for just plain (delicious) cornbread muffins.

P.S. This is my 100th post! Thanks to everyone who has encouraged me and motivated me to keep on cooking. :)
I'm so glad you're here!

Soft Pretzel Bites

As a part of Vegan MoFo I decided to dedicate my Wednesday posts to Ladies' Night! You'll find ideas to host a fun movie party complete with drinks and snacks for the perfect girls night in.

I almost picked another musical movie this week, but I figured I'd better spread them out so I don't seem too crazy. (Too late?) So this week I want to talk about 90's teen movies. 10 Things I Hate About You, Empire Records, She's All That, and my personal favorite - Clueless. These movies are the epitome of agnst-filled cheesiness, but they are still so fun to watch which makes them perfect for girls night. 

Does anyone else automatically start singing this song in your head whenever anyone mentions the mall?

Everyone who is anyone in 90's teen movies hangs out at the mall, and there is no better mall food than soft pretzels! If you've been missing your mall soft pretzels or are planning a 90's teen movie marathon, then this snack is for you. 

 

I followed this recipe for soft pretzels from Peas and Thank You. At first I did attempt to roll the dough into a pretzel shape, but realized after doing one that my dough was maybe a little too dry (or I just did not have pretzel shaping skills). Instead I broke off chunks off the dough and formed little pretzel bites. I followed the same steps of boiling them for 30 seconds, and then baked them.

They came out great! The soft pretzel taste is spot on, and paired with some of our favorite spicy german mustard, these were a great snack or party appetizer.

Have you tried making pretzels or other fancy folded or braided bread? They always look so pretty in photos, but mine always look kind of sad. I may just need more practice!

Thanks for stopping by!

Monkey Bread Muffins

When I was growing up, having monkey bread for breakfast was reserved for special occasions and holidays only. Probably because it took awhile to make, and maybe because my Mom didn't want us having all that sugar! It just made the times we did eat monkey bread so much more fun.

I had made these muffins versions awhile ago, but I needed to upgrade them to vegan status. I have to say that this way may even become my new favorite. I will warn you that it's really hard not to eat the whole batch in one sitting!

 



Monkey Bread Muffins
makes 12 muffins, adapted from the pioneer woman and the cheeky kitchen

3 Tbsp vegan butter
1 1/4 C flour
1/2 Tbsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp pure maple syrup
1/2 C almond milk
juice of 1 lemon

sugar
cinnamon
vegan butter

1 C of powdered sugar
3 Tbsp of almond milk





Heat oven to 400F.

In a large bowl combine the vegan butter, flour, baking soda, and salt with a fork until you get a crumbly mixture.
In another bowl, whisk together the almond milk and lemon juice and let sit for a few minutes to curdle. Add the maple syrup and whisk.
Make a well in the flour mixture and pour the wet ingredients into the center. Stir with a fork in one direction until the dough is fully combined and moist, then knead it a few times on a floured surface.
Separate and roll the dough into 1" balls.

Place about 1/2 tsp of vegan butter in the bottom of each opening in your muffin tin. Sprinkle some sugar and cinnamon on top of this. Add 3-4 small dough balls into each muffin space. Top with another round of the butter, sugar and cinnamon.

Bake for 8-12 minutes, or just until the edges of the biscuits are light golden brown.

Whisk together 1 C powdered sugar and 3 T almond milk to make the glaze.
Drizzle over the top of the muffins and serve!

Pull-apart goodness!

A huge THANK YOU to Heather from Sunday Morning Banana Pancakes for passing the One Lovely Blog award on to me. My first ever blog award - I feel so fancy!

Part of this award is to list seven random facts about yourself, so here are mine:
1. I love all things vintage.
2. Our current kitchen is really tiny. In the next place I would love a huge open kitchen.
3. I couldn't last one day without a cat in the house. My parents moved with their 2 cats and an hour after they drove away I went and adopted Minnie.
4. I have a very large and almost complete collection of vintage 1980's Care Bears.
5. I love disco music.
6. One time I met Rue McClanahan.
7. Even though my husband is not vegan, he is amazing and very supportive of my cooking efforts. He taste tests everything you see here on the blog!


I am so happy that starting this blog has allowed me to meet some amazing people and I'm excited to pass this award along to some bloggers that inspire me everyday!

Kristy at Keepin' It Kind
Caitlin at The Vegan Chickpea
Courtney at The Fig Tree Blog
Richa at Vegan Richa
Lysa at Cooking with Lysa

(If you've already gotten this award before you can just have another one because you are so awesome!) :)

Vegan Food Swap: August 2012

It's time for the August vegan food swap reveal!

The vegan food swap is a wonderful idea created and organized by The Verdant Life.
You get matched up with a person and send them a box full of your favorite vegan foods. It's a great chance to try new things and meet other bloggers!

This month I sent a box to Kyleigh at The Only Vegan I Know. Hope you liked it Kyleigh!

I received my box of vegan food from Stephanie at Vegan Mainstream. Check out the great snacks she sent me:

Here is a list of what was in my box:

• Go Raw Pizza Flax Snacks
• Evelyn's To Go Cookies
• Fruit Bliss Apricots
• Just Great Stuff Superberry Acai Bar
• Candice Foods Chocolate Fudge Energy Bar
• Justin's Maple Almond Butter
• Panda Raspberry Licorice

My favorite was definitely the Evelyn's cookies. They were like a cross between oatmeal raisin and spice cookies -yum! The flax snacks are very tasty crumbled on top of salads, too. Thanks Stephanie!

If you want to join in on the vegan food swap fun, you can sign up right here.

Squash, Pepper and Black Bean Nachos

 

Here's a quick and easy snack or dinner. I have a weakness for tortilla chips, so I love any excuse to eat them as a meal! These blue corn tortilla chips are my new favorite.

Squash, Pepper and Black Bean Nachos
serves 2 as a meal
 
 2 T olive oil
1 clove garlic, minced
1/2 red bell pepper, sliced
1/2 summer squash, sliced
1 can black beans, drained and rinsed
1 tomato, diced (I used a yellow tomato!)

Serve with:
tortilla chips
sliced avocado
vegan sour cream
salsa
cilantro

Heat the olive oil in a large skillet and cook the garlic until slightly browned. Add in the bell pepper and squash and cook until tender. Add in the black beans and heat through.
Put tortilla chips on a plate and top with the bean mixture, then add on the diced tomato, avocado, salsa, vegan sour cream or your own favorite toppings. Enjoy!

This would also be great on top of some lettuce for a taco salad, or what about over some rice or quinoa? I may have to make this again soon!

Thanks for stopping by!

Banana Avocado Dip

I found these plantain chips at my local grocery store, and I had to try them out! They are really good and I bet would be even better if you made them yourself. But sometimes I'm lazy. I did make a dip for them though!

Banana Avocado Dip
makes about 1/2 cup, adapted from martha stewart

1 ripe banana
1 small ripe avocado
2 tsp lemon juice
dash of salt and pepper
dash of garlic powder 


 

Peel and pit the avocado, then mash it up in a bowl. Add in the banana and mash them all together. Add in lemon juice and the spices, and combine. Serve with plantain chips, tortilla chips, fruit and veggie slices, or anything else you'd like!

This was really good! I think this dip would also be good with different spices in it. What about a little cinnamon and sugar instead of the garlic? Hmm... guess I'll need to try it out!

Thanks for stopping by!