Vanilla Cupcakes with Chocolate Buttercream Frosting

Happy Valentines Week! I've always loved valentines day, maybe because it happens to also be my birthday so I had two reasons to party and eat cake. People ask me if I disliked my birthday falling on a holiday when I was a kid, but I didn't mind - everyone was swapping cards and eating candy, so it just made it feel like everyone was celebrating!

I enjoy experimenting and trying new flavor combinations in my desserts, but I still have a soft spot for the classics. These vanilla cupcakes with chocolate frosting is perfect to bring to parties or make for any special occasion. I topped them off with some pink sprinkles in honor of valentines day.

Vanilla Cupcakes with Chocolate Buttercream Frosting
makes 12 cupcakes
adapted from vegan cupcakes take over the world

For the cupcakes:
1 C almond milk
1 tsp apple cider vinegar
1/3 C canola oil
3/4 C granulated sugar
2 tsp vanilla extract
1 C all purpose flour
1/4 C coconut flour (or all purpose flour)
2 Tbsp cornstarch
3/4 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt


Preheat the oven to 350 and line your muffin pan with cupcake liners.
Whisk together the milk and the apple cider vinegar and set aside for a few minutes so it will curdle.

Beat the milk mixture, oil, sugar, and vanilla together in a large bowl.
Sift together the flour, cornstarch, baking powder, baking soda and salt.

Mix everything together until smooth.
Fill cupcake liners 2/3 way full, and bake for 20-22 minutes Let cool completely before frosting.

For the frosting:
1/4 C vegetable shortening
1/4 C vegan butter, softened
1 1/3 C powdered sugar
1/3 C cocoa powder
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
3 Tbsp almond or soy milk

Cream the shortening and butter together with an electric mixer. Slowly add the powdered sugar, mixing well each time. Add in the cocoa powder, vanilla and almond milk and mix again. Spread onto your cupcakes or use a frosting piping bag.

Optional: top with sprinkles!

I also figured out the secret ingredient to getting that perfect fluffy frosting. I had made a chocolate buttercream before and it tasted great, but it really wasn't fluffy. This time I added in vegetable shortening, and that did the trick.

I also made these heart shaped frosted sugar cookies. Check back later this week for the recipe! 
I thought I'd include this last photo so you all could see what happens when you run out of the fun pink cupcake papers and all you have left are Halloween themed ones...

Happy Valentine's Day!

Pesto Risotto and Caramelized Cauliflower from the Horizons Cookbook

A few weeks ago, my friend from Philadelphia came to visit me and she brought me a great present - the Horizons: New Vegan Cuisine cookbook by Rich Landau and Kate Jacoby. These chefs used to have a restaurant called Horizons in Philadelphia, but now can be found at the amazing Vedge, so I knew that the recipes in this cookbook had to be incredible. We selected two recipes to try while my friend was here: the Basmati Risotto with Pesto, Peas and Tomatoes, and the Caramelized Cauliflower in Spanish Green Garlic Sauce.

We made a few slight changes to the risotto by adding in a few things we had on hand such as the mushrooms, and using arborio rice instead of the basmati, but we followed their directions for making the basil pesto sauce which was delicious! I had never had a pesto risotto before but I can say now I am a fan.

The caramelized cauliflower was also really amazing. We mixed our cauliflower with some brussels sprouts and roasted both together, and then topped it with their parsely and garlic sauce and I LOVED it. We definitely ate well that evening.

The rest of this book is filled with some really interesting and tasty sounding recipes including appetizers, soups, salads and desserts. I can't wait to try out more.

You can get a copy of the Horizons Cookbook here, and also check out their new cookbook Vedge which is coming out later this year. It looks promising!

Thanks for stopping by!

Spinach Vegetable Lasagna

The other night I was trying to decide what to have for dinner, and I mentioned to my husband that I had everything to make baked spagetti. When he suggested I add in some spinach, I was immediately reminded of the amazing spinach lasagna I used to eat growing up. I realized I had not attempted to make a lasagna since I began eating vegan, and the time had come to change that!

This lasagna came out so much better than I hoped! The cannellini beans hidden in the spinach mixture give it the perfect texture. I did not miss any cheese in this at all. I added in some onion, peppers, and mushrooms because that is what I had on hand, but this would be great with all types of vegetables added in.

Spinach Vegetable Lasagna
makes a 9 by 13 pan
adapted from vegan american princess

12 lasagna noodles
6 C marinara sauce (about 1.5 jars)
2 cans cannellini beans (drained and rinsed)
2 oz basil leaves
1 C raw cashews
3 cloves garlic
1/4 C nutritional yeast
1/4 C lemon juice
1/8 tsp red pepper flakes
1 Tbsp olive oil
2 lbs. frozen spinach (thawed drained and squeezed)
1/2 onion, finely diced
1 bell pepper, diced
1 C mushrooms (sliced)
panko crumbs

In a food processor add the beans, basil, cashews, garlic, nutritional yeast, lemon juice, pepper flakes and olive oil and puree until smooth. Add the spinach and puree again. Add in a small amount of water if the mixture is still too dry. Puree until smooth and set aside.

Boil water and cook the lasagna noodles, drain and set aside.

In a large saute pan, saute the onions and bell pepper in a small amount of oil until softened. Add in the mushrooms and cook until lightly browned.

Pour 2 cups of marinara sauce in the bottom of a 9 by 13 dish. I used a sauce from a jar to save some prep time, but feel free to use your favorite kind.
Place 4 lasagna noodles in a layer on top of the sauce.
Next spread a layer of the spinach mixture on top of the noodles.
Top with 1/2 of the onion, pepper and mushroom mixture.
Repeat these layers another time: sauce, noodles, spinach, veggies.
End with the last layer of the noodles and top with marinara sauce.
Sprinkle the top generously with panko crumbs.

Bake for 50-60 minutes at 375, let cool for 10 minutes and then serve.

My husband is a great sport and always tries my cooking creations, and I was so happy when he said this was one of his favorite things I've made yet. If he doesn't miss the meat and cheese in this vegan lasagna, I'm sure that you won't either! I hope you'll enjoy it as much as we did.

Thanks for stopping by!

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. :)

Friday Flashback

Last weekend my best friend came into town and we did all sorts of fun activities and tried out a couple of Denver restaurants I've been meaning to get to, including Denver's vegan food truck!

1. Delicious brunch at Root Down - tofu scramble and home fries
2. The Vegan Van!
3. Minnie looking adorable.
4. The menu at the Vegan Van. Too many fun options.
5. My selection - the Ludacris: IPA waffle with Denver Seitan Company Chickenesque. Yum!


Thanks for stopping by!