Here’s the deal.  I’m always slightly disappointed (and sliiiiightly annoyed) when I visit a blog and they’ve gone and done something like a “Wordless Wednesday” post.  I mean, I sorta get it.  Sometimes there’s just not much to say, or the photos are so amazing they do all the talking or whatever.  Blah blah.  It’s just that usually when I visit a blog, it’s 60% for the oogle-worthy food photos, 20% for the recipes, and the rest for the commentary!  So basically if my calculations are correct, without the commentary I’m being stripped of at least 20% of my blog enjoyment!  That’s generally at least 80% unacceptable!

I like to read about the creation of the recipe, or someone’s workout, etc…(except I don’t like to hear about everything someone ate in a day, especially if the photos aren’t super lovely.  That’s just me.)

So, what else am I probably going to do today but disappoint you all (maybe you’re relieved and you like a break from jabber?) by not exactly following this wordless trend, (since obviously I’ve still done and am still doing some blabbing!) but by cutting it short.  Slightly wordless Monday?  Mostly wordless Monday…..ugh, it’s a working title, darn it! 😉

iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiKnooooooow….

To be real with you, I have stuff to say.  A lot of stuff.  More stuff than I should say.  But I mostly feel awful because I left town and forgot to bring with me the recipe for this awesome birthday cake I made for my brother’s fiance…future sister-in-law!  So, I guess you get to enjoy it in photos, and I hope you will forgive me for not saying more and not including the recipe!

I hope this made her day a good one! 😀

Happy Birthday (again!), Becky!

I’m going to keep this one short and sweet in the interest of the long, gorgeous, holiday weekend!  Things started off a little cloudy yesterday, but cleared right up today!  On to the food…

I wish I could say this pizza was entirely made from scratch, but alas it was assembled with the help of Bob’s Red Mill pizza dough mix – Shhhhh!! 😀

If it wasn’t so dang delicious, I’d be sorta ashamed. Or not. Sometimes you just need a quick, yummy, GLUTEN FREE, DAIRY FREE pizza on a Friday night!

This one’s really simple, and dare I say, the BEST pizza I’ve made, hands down, with the help of Bob since I started using this dough mix! Self-proclaimed kale fanatic that I am, obviously I threw it on a pizza, tossed on some artichoke, a generous helping of black olives (LOVE!), and of course, the best thing to happen to dairy-free cheese since…since nothing! Daiya is just waves beyond the competition, nothing even comes close.

Artichoke, Kale, & Black Olive Pizza

(Gluten-Free, Dairy Free, Vegetarian)

Ingredients:

* Bob’s Red Mill packaged pizza dough mix, divided in half
* 1 egg
* 2-3 Tbsp Olive Oil
* 1/2 package included yeast
* 1 package Daiya mozzarella cheese
* 1 clove garlic, diced
* 3-4 medium-sized kale leaves
* 1/2 large can artichoke hearts, quartered
* I small can sliced black olives

Directions:

Follow the directions on the Bob’s Red Mill pizza crust mix to make the dough. Spread dough out on oiled cookie sheet or a cornmeal-sprinkled pizza stone. Poke small holes all over the dough with a fork.

Pre-bake crust according to the package directions. Spread olive oil over the crust in an even layer and sprinkle with diced garlic.

Sprinkle on as much cheese as you’d like (I like to put some down, add the rest of the toppings and then sprinkle on a bit more cheese to hold it all down). Layer on the kale, artichokes, and then black olives. Top with more cheese, if desired.

Bake 20-30 minutes, depending on how browned you like the top of your pizza. Slice and enjoyyyyy!

I kid you not, I made this pizza, had it for dinner, and then both lunch AND dinner the following day. It’s THAT good!

Om nom nom nom…

Happy Holiday Weekending, all you Memorial Day-ers!

First of all, happy Sunday!

I hope daylight savings isn’t kicking your butt as much as I know it’s going to kick mine once my better senses kick in and realize I’ve lost a sweet, sweet, precious hour of sleep! Hoping this gorgeous, sunny, blue sky weather we’ve been having lasts and helps me through this…with a teeny bit of help from the most giant mug of coffee of all time! =)

Anyway, if this post doesn’t do it, I’d like to make it clear that I’ve taken it upon myself to use March as an excuse for baking with more green foods!  It’s a Leprechaun’s world and I’m just living in it, St. Patty’s Day style.

When you hear “green foods,” there’s a good chance your mind immediately snaps to thoughts and images of leafy greens, herbs, green peppers, and zucchini – rarely ingredients that you’d see featured in dessert foods – but stay with me here.  My biggest concern here was keeping things yummy, somewhat healthy, green-colored, and yet FREE from ARTIFICIAL COLORING!  So the wheels started turning…

At the risk of blog readership plummeting big time, I ruled out spinach brownies (though I’ve heard those are good!), avoided celery ice cream, and didn’t even let my mind wander to a place where I’m 100% sure I’d be spending my entire post trying to convince you to try green onion pie.  You’re welcome.  Also, there’s no possible way I could even convince myself of that, so I’ve also spared myself the guilt of lying my way through an entire post.  I’m welcome?  Nevermind.

Anyway, I did, however, wrap my head around the prospects of zucchini and avocado, and found the idea to be promising!  Afterall, I’ve featured zucchini prominently in several recipe posts like this  and this, waxing rather poetic about the versatility and ease with which it blends into sweet treats.  Avocados hold a special place in my heart, too, and though featured here  as a savory Super Bowl snack, it’s still a fruit, dangit!

Zucchini bread and coffee cake inspired zucchini cupcakes seemed like the perfect choice!  Avocado could have been more challenging, but thankfully its creamy smooth texture practically begs to be made into frosting.  Ideal.  I wouldn’t recommend the frosting if you don’t like avocados, but then again if that’s the case I’d recommend you start liking avocados because they’re super delish and healthy!

And so, zucchini spice cupcakes with avocado buttercream frosting were born – TA DA!

Somewhat healthy?  Let’s be real, these are still cupcakes, but made with nutrient-packed plant-based ingredients.

Since we’re talking avocados, I think it’s important to note just a few of the awesome health benefits these powerful little green guys boast.  Not only are they high in vitamins and minerals such as folate (for heart health and prevention of birth defects), B-6, and potassium (helps to regulate blood pressure), they are also host to nutrients that combat oxidative damage, cholesterol levels, inflammation, and even cancer.

So again, healthy?  Ya, check!

Green color without any artificial coloring?  Yessir – Check.

Yummy?  Duh.  I mean, check.

I’ll be the first to admit these aren’t the sexiest little cupcakes – they’re sorta more like the homey looking little sweethearts that have a great personality, ha!  No, really.  Love them!

Zucchini Cupcakes with Avocado Buttercream (Vegan)

(Makes 6)

 Lightly spiced, zucchini-laced cupcakes with a super tender crumb – you’d never guess they were vegan if I didn’t blatantly tell you – really!  Perfectly accompanied by an unexpectedly smooth, delicious buttercream frosting packed with healthy omega-3’s and vitamins.  Double the recipe if you want to make a dozen.

 Cupcakes-

 Ingredients:

*7/8 cup all-purpose flour

*½ tsp baking powder

*½ tsp baking soda

*½ tsp ground cinnamon

*½ tsp ground nutmeg

*¼ tsp salt

*¼ cup granulated sugar

*¼ cup brown sugar

*½ cup non-dairy milk of your choice

*¼ cup canola oil

*1 Tbsp vanilla extract

*½ Tbsp white vinegar

*½ cup grated zucchini

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350*F.  Line a cupcake pan with 6 cupcake liners.

Sift together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, nutmeg and salt in a bowl.

In a separate bowl, stir together the granulated sugar, brown sugar, and canola oil.

In another bowl or cup, stir together the non-dairy milk, vinegar, and vanilla.

Pour the milk, vinegar, and vanilla mixture into the sugar and oil mixture.  Add grated zucchini and mix.  Gradually stir the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients, until just combined.  You don’t want to over mix.

Fill lined cupcake wells to just about full.  Bake for 15-18 minutes, rotating the pan half way through, until tops slightly spring back when pressed on.  Remove pan from oven and allow to cool about 10 minutes before removing cupcakes and placing on a wire cooling rack to finish cooling.  Allow to cool COMPLETELY before frosting.

Frosting-

This frosting is thinner than a typical buttercream frosting because of the softer texture of avocados compared to margarine or butter, but has just the lightest, yummiest hint of avocado vanilla flavor!

Ingredients:

*2 small avocados

*½ stick non-dairy margarine

*3-4 cups confectioner’s sugar

*1 tsp vanilla

*Dash of salt, to taste

Directions:

Peel avocados and remove pits.  Cream together the avocado and non-dairy margarine in the bowl of a stand mixer.  Add vanilla extract.  Slowly add confectioner’s sugar, ½ cup at a time until consistency is as desired.  Add salt to taste.   Frost your little heart out!  Go to it =)

Happy Spring!

Happy March!  Happy St. Patty’s month!

Valentine’s Day can be a complicated little bugger, can’t it?

Ask any guy, and chances are good the mere thought of Valentine’s Day somehow warrants a defensive front of epic proportions akin only to that of a man staring down the barrel of a gun ready to strip him of his manhood.  All of a sudden a cute, simple, holiday becomes a bank-breaker, a platform for anti-Hallmark rants, candy and Tiffany’s protests, and a potential one-way ticket to the couch for the night.

Dramatic.

Now, ask any girl, and chances are good Valentine’s Day probably ranks 1^st, followed only by New Year’s Eve (that’s a different story), in terms of expectations for romantic gestures from the fella in their life.  We want flowers, flowers are good.  Candy is doable.  Jewelry will get you everywhere, guys.  Lingerie is a sensitive subject.  We want seductive and lovey, but not tacky.  There’s a fine line…a verrrrrrry fine line between a blissful day and a day spent pasting a guy’s face on a dart board.  Just saying.

And what do girls get their guys on this particular hive-inducing, red alert prompting holiday that won’t be seen as girly or cutesy or a passive aggressive stab to his ego?

Dramatic.

So what’s a guy to do?  What’s a girl to do?  Can’t we all just love and be cute and wrap things in pretty bows and pink paper and be thankful for one another and cuddle up and watch movies or stare at each other and go back and forth all night about who’s prettier, and then eat these brownies?

Sigh.  I sure hope so! 😉

Red Velvet Brownie Bites

Adapted from How Sweet It Is red velvet brownies

Ingredients:

* 1 ¼ cups all purpose flour

* ¼ tsp salt

* ½ cup butter, room temperature (or non-dairy Earth Balance)

* 1 ½ cups sugar

* 4 Tbsp cocoa powder

* 1 ½ Tbsp red food coloring

* 2 tsp vanilla extract

* 1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips (or non-dairy chocolate chips like Enjoy Life)

*****

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350*F.  Line or grease standard muffin tins or heart-shaped muffin molds.

Combine cocoa powder, food coloring, and 2 tsp vanilla extract to create a gravely mixture.

In the bowl of a stand mixer, cream together butter or non-dairy spread and sugar until fluffy.  Add in eggs one at a time, mixing between additions.

Add cocoa powder mixture slowly to the butter and sugar and mix until combined.

Sift the flour and salt in a separate bowl.  Add slowly and mix until just combined.  Don’t over mix!  Stir in the chocolate chips by hand.

Evenly distribute into prepared muffin tins or heart-shaped muffin molds until each well is about full.

Bake about 22-25 minutes depending on your oven.  Don’t overbake!

White Chocolate Chip Buttercream Frosting

Ingredients:

* ½ cup (1 stick) butter or non-dairy Earth Balance

* 2 ½ cups confectioner’s sugar

* 2 tsp vanilla extract

* Dash of salt, to taste

* ½ cup white chocolate chips, melted (I used Ghirardelli) – omit if you’d like dairy-free, or use non-dairy chocolate chips!

* 1 ½ tbsp milk, or non-dairy milk like soy or rice

*****

Directions:

Cream butter or non-dairy spread in the bowl of a stand mixer.  Add in one cup of confectioner’s sugar and mix.  Add the vanilla extract and dash of salt, mixing to combine.

Melt the white chocolate chips or non-dairy chips in a microwave safe bowl.  Set aside to cool slightly before adding.

Add another cup of the confectioner’s sugar, and then the milk.  Beat.  Add the remaining ½ cup of confectioner’s sugar and mix well.  Add in the melted chocolate.

Add a splash more milk if frosting is too thick, and a bit more confectioner’s sugar if it’s too thin.  Beat until fluffy.

Happy Valentine’s Day!

A note, a hug, a kiss, a call, a text?  Scratch that last one.  A brownie!  Now that’s more like it….share the love!

PS:  No, YOU’Reeee prettier…. 😉

XOXO

I’ve been moving non-stop the last couple days! Definitely busier today than I have been since finals ended a little over a week ago. Semi-last minute shopping, cleaning, packing, wrapping presents, and lots of baking. I spent a good 5 hours on Saturday knee-deep in flour, brown sugar, and various other baked good accoutrements, trying to make sure I can get a few gits shipped out on Monday! Nothing like hoping for the best in terms of the US Postal Service delivering before Christmas! 😉

In the midst of it all, I managed to carve out just enough time to whip up a few festive-flavored muffins. These puppies have Christmas morning written all over them! They come together quickly and the best part of all is they make your kitchen smell like fresh ginger snaps. Opening presents tree-side with the fragrance of sugary ginger pear wafting through the air? Mmhmm, magical!

Candied Ginger & Pear Gingerbread Muffins

Ingredients:

Dry-
* 1 1/2 Cups All-purpose flour
* 3/4 Cup Whole wheat flour
* 1/2 tsp Salt
* 1/2 tsp Baking soda
* 1 1/2 Tbsp Ground ginger

Wet-
* 1/4 Cup Butter (1/2 stick, 2 oz.)
* 1/3 Cup Molasses
* 1 Cup Milk (I used regular, non-dairy would probably work, too!)
* 2 Eggs
* 1/2 Cup Brown sugar, packed

Add-ins-
* 1/2 Cup candied ginger, roughly chopped
* 1 pear, roughly chopped
* A few Tbsp Turbinado sugar for sprinkling on top (optional)

Directions:

Preheat oven to 400*F. Grease or line a jumbo muffin tin with muffin cups.

In a microwave safe bowl, melt the butter with the molasses. Set aside to cool.

Sift together the flours, baking soda, salt, and ground ginger in a separate bowl. Stir in the brown sugar.

Once the butter and molasses mixture have cooled, make a well in the dry ingredients, and pour it in. Slightly beat the eggs, and pour them in. Add the milk, the chopped candied ginger and pear, and stir everything together until just moistened. Don’t over mix!

Spoon the batter in to the muffin tin, filling each cup almost to the top. Sprinkle tops with turbinado sugar. Bake for 15 minutes. Reduce heat to 350*F and bake for another 5 minutes. Check at this point, and if the tops are getting too brown, cover with foil. Bake for another 5 minutes. Remove and allow to cool in the tin before removing muffins and setting on a cooling rack.

See, it’s like I pretty much got you all a Christmas gift…early! 🙂