5K Fundraiser

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Hi Everyone!

As you may or may not know I have been volunteering with a wonderful therapeutic riding program for the past few months (learn more about Lovelane from the link and video below). By volunteering I have experienced great joy and I now have the great opportunity to give back! On June 13th Tom and I will be running a 5K to benefit Lovelane and the many families they help. It's going to be a really fun day with kids activities, food, and of course running. I'd love it if you could be there to cheer us on with a donation and/or in person.

Love

Lauren and Tom

Watch this video Learn more about Lovelane Here Donate Here

Tacos and Brownies

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Mmmmm tacos and brownies... we are the pictures of health right now. Honestly I cook and eat incredibly healthy but I don't post that stuff because really who wants to see me have hummus and veggies and salads everyday. After a LONG week of running and a marathon rock climbing session today with Tom we decided to make something fun for dinner. I haven't had tacos in forever and Tom loves cream cheese brownies so we went to Whole Foods, got some supplies and settled in on this rainy night to cook and watch movies (Zombieland is awesome!).

Tacos:
Mix one jar of taco sauce with, 1/2 can black beans, 1/2 cup of frozen or fresh corn, and 1/2 package of yves meatless grounds or taco stuffers in a saucepan. Heat until slightly thickened. Serve in taco shells with avacado, shredded lettuce, salsa and guacamole and of course anything else you might want.
Brownies:
Ghiradelli chocolate chip brownie mix
1/3 cup water mixed with 1&1/2 tsp ener-g egg replacer
1/4 cup vanilla soy yogurt
1/3 cup melted smart balance

Cream Cheeze (whisk together):
8oz Tofutti
3 TBS smart balance
1/3 cup sugar
2TBS vanilla soy yogurt
tsp vanilla

Set oven to 325. Mix brownie stuff together and pour 1/2 in 9x9pan. Add cream cheese mixture and the rest of brownie mix. Swirl together and bake 45min. Let cool and cut! TIP: line pan with parchment paper and spray with pam. When cool lift brownies out and chill in fridge 30min before cutting.

Here are some pictures from our deck-Tom and I just moved into the city in October and hadn't had a chance to spend much time on our deck. With all the nice weather we've been spending more time out there and thought we would try our hand at growing some stuff!

Derby Day: Chips, Dips, and Big Hats

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I'm not a huge Kentucky Derby fanatic or anything but in my family, any excuse for food and drink is great! My aunt hosted a great party with hats, snacks, a little betting, and lots of family fun! I brought a layered that was pretty popular (we started scarfing it before I got the picture).
It is easy peasy to make:
1. Tofutti cream cheese mixed with 2-3 TBS taco seasoning (Trader Joe's has a spicy one)
2. Amy's re-fried black beans mixed with a little hot sauce
3. Chopped black olives and pickled jalapenos
4. 1/2 cup black beans (make sure to rinse and dry these or they will make the dip wet)
5. Guacamole
6. Fresh salsa
Just layer everything in a nice shallow dish. You can get creative about what you use. Serve with chips and veggies. We also a great dinner with roasted veggies and a rice and bean salad with herbs, spices and veg and LOTS of Gin and Tonics!

Here's a picture of the ladies lookin pretty! My hat is so big I couldn't see!

Quesadillas and Pumpkin Cranberry Muffins

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I was inspired by Vivacious Vegan's post on quesadillas here. You can make them with almost anything, but I used a low carb tortilla with refried black beans, fresh salsa from whole foods, black olives, and jalapenos. I thought about sauteing some spinach but I was soooo hungry. I served it with a simple tomato, cucumber, avocado salad dressed with some lemon juice and zest. Fold in half and toast in a non stick plan-I did not use oil but I guess you could. TIP: if you need to make a lot of quesadillas for a party (see my Superbowl post on sweet potato quesadillas) set the oven to 350. Lightly spray a cookie sheet and place quesadillas on it. Flip after 5 min and cook 5-7 minutes more. Let cool a bit and slice with a pizza cutter.

Tomorrow is the Kentucky Derby and we will be going out to western MA to party hardy with my family. I wanted to bring something yummy but not too sweet for an afternoon garden party. I've made a lot o cookies lately and so I decided to make my favorite muffins. I made these a lot this fall because they are great around the holidays, but I missed them so they are coming out one last time before summer!
Pumpkin Cranberry Orange Muffins
2 cup whole wheat pastry flour
3 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp ea. cinnamon, allspice, nutmeg
1 cup maple syrup
1 can of pumpkin
1/2 c applesauce
Juice of 1/2 orange and zest of whole orange
1/2 cup orange flavored cranberries (from Trader Joe's or just use regular ones)
1/2 cup chopped walnuts (optional)
NOTE: You can use pumpkin pie filling and omit spices and 1/2 cup maple syrup

Set oven to 350. Mix wet ingredients, then add dry, fold in nuts and berries, and fill lightly greased muffin cups 1/2 way. Bake 14-17 min.

Blackberry Thumbprint Cookies

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I made these from the Whole Food website. They are super easy and come together in the food processor. Instead of grinding down the almonds I just pulse the oats and then add almond meal, flour, oil and maple syrup and blend together. I used blackberry jame because it is Tom's favorite. We also made oatmeal raisin cookies from "The Joy of Vegan Baking"

Almond Joy Cupcakes

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These cupcakes are gluten free and taken from a recipe my aunt made last week. The frosting is from Licking the Beaters, a low fat vegan cookbook. You really don't need the frosting because the cakes are moist and delicious and healthy enough to eat for breakfast.

Gluten Free Almond Coconut Cakes:
1 1/2 cup almond meal
1/4 cup organic unrefined sugar
1/2 cup shredded unsweetened coconut
1 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt

2 TBS canola oil
1 tsp vanilla or almond extract
1/2 cup unsweetened apple sauce
1 TBS flax seed meal mixed with 3 TBS HOT water (Let sit for 10min before adding to wet ingredients)

Preheat oven to 350. Mix wet ingredients and dry ingredients in separate bowls. Add wet to dry, and mix until combined. Fill lightly sprayed foil muffin liners with a heaping TBS of batter. Bake 20 min. Makes 6-8 muffins.
Note: Using these muffins for breakfast would be great since they are pretty healthy. I would like to try adding some cinnamon and raisins.

Chocolate Almond Butter Frosting: Lickin' The Beaters: Low Fat Vegan Desserts by Sue Moffat
Combine the following ingredients in the bottom of a sauce pan:
3 TBS soy milk
2 TBS almond butter
4 TBS cocoa
6 TBS maple syrup (I used agave nectar because I didn't want the taste of maple)
Whisk together the ingredients until smooth. In a separate bowl mix together 4tsp arrowroot powder and 1/4 soymilk. Pour into chocolate mixture in pan. Heat on medium low and stir occasionally until thickened for 10 minutes. Let cakes and frosting cool before frosting.

Shepards Pie

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This is something I never actually had when I wasn't a vegan so I have NOOO basis for comparison but I served it to my husband and my friend from England, Craig. They are boys, they ate it, they asked for more so... win!
Filling (use any or all of the following):
Carrots
Celery
Onion
Zucchini
Peppers
Saute veggies until soft and then add 2-3 cloves garlic. Season with 1 tsp fennel seed and some crushed red pepper. Add small can of tomato sauce or crushed tomatoes and one bay leaf. Cook together for 15minutes. Add your favorite TVP or saute gimme lean breakfast sausage in a seperate pan and then add to sauce. I stirred in 2 cups of baby spinach, and 1/2 cup each frozen corn and frozen peas. Cooked until spinach wilted. Transfer to a quiche or pie plate.
Topping:
3 cups small red potatoes
1/2 cup tofutti sour cream or for lighter potatoes add plain soy milk
2 TBS vegan margarine
2tsp garlic powder, salt and lots of black pepper

Spread potatoes on top of filling and bake at 375 until potatoes start to brown (didn't get a picture out of the oven only before it went in). This would be good served with some corn muffins. I had some pumpkin cranberry muffins that the guys like with their dinner! Enjoy this dish before the weather gets warmer (Yay!) Here's a picture of the filling:

Vegan Superbowl II (and the best cupcakes EVER made)

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Geaux Saints!!!

That was a great game and we had some good food, beer and cupcakes!!! We had the standard food: Chips, dip, hummus, trail mix, and chili (I used smart start breakfast sausage in my typical veggie and bean chili. People seemed to like this-just crumble the sausage and crisp it up nicely in a saute pan and add to chili at last minute). The picture below doesn't show one of our treats because frankly by the time they came out of the oven, anyone who cared about taking a picture (me) was two beers and a lot of potato chips in the hole!

Sweet Potato and Spinach Quesadillas:
Makes 18 pieces
2 medium sweet potatoes roasted at 350 for 45min until mushy
2 cloves garlic
1 tsp cumin
2 tsp salt
3 cups baby spinach
1 chipotle pepper in adobo or 2 tsp chipotle hot sauce

Peel sweet potatoes when cool and place flesh in food processor with spices and chipotle. Meanwhile sautee spinach in 1tsp EVOO and crushed garlic until just wilted. Process until smooth. Remove mixture to a bowl and fold in half a can of black beans. Spread filling on half of a tortilla (you can get all different colors/flavors) and fold in half. This should fill 6 tortillas. Spray baking sheet with canola or olive oil spray and bake these for 5-7 min on each side. Remove from oven and let cool 10 minutes. Slice with a pizza cutter into three pieces and serve with guacamole. The smokey sweetness is great with the cold tangy-ness of the guacamole!

For dessert we had the yogurt pineapple cake from Eat Drink and Be Vegan which was very good with fruit and soy whip cream (this stuff tastes just like Redi-whip so I didn't get any complaints!) and I made some special cupcake pictured below. It is a known fact that I could eat peanut butter and banana sandwiches all day but don't (I can't keep peanut butter in the house anymore because I really will eat a jar every 3 days) so this is my all out tribute to peanut butter plus chocolate. How could anyone NOT like these????

Banana Chocolate Chocolate Chip Cupcake with Peanut Butter Chocolate Mouse Frosting:

Cake:
1 Box Duncan Hines chocolate fudge cake or chocolate devil's food
1/2 cup vanilla soy yogurt
2 ripe bananas (brown almost black)
1/4 cup canola oil
1 1/3 cup water
Ener-g egg replacer equal to one egg mixed into water
1/2-3/4 cup vegan semi sweet or dark chips
Combine ingredients and bake according to package directions (16-18 minutes)

Frosting: This frosting comes from a peanut butter pie recipe HERE. It is damn good as pie or layered in a martini glass with any of the following: banana slices, chocolate sauce, peanut butter, crushed cookies, and topped with soy whip cream for a fancy looking trifle OR eaten straight out of the Tupperware you put the leftovers in (whatever!)

1 12 oz container firm silken tofu (yes it sounds like a contradiction but it is real I got mine at Whole Foods)
1 cup creamy peanut butter (I use the real stuff and always pour off the initial layer of oil before stirring. I like Trader Joe's organic creamy)
1/2 cup pure maple syrup
1 cup vegan semi sweet chocolate melted

In food processor process tofu and maple syrup until smooth. Add peanut butter and bleand again, completely scraping down the sides of the bowl until everything is smoothly combined. Then add melted chocolate and process until uniformly creamy and delicious. This makes more than enough to frost the 18 cupcakes I made but weirdly it disappeared by Monday night!

Here's a picture of the peanut butter filling in a pir crust with crushed chocolate covered pretzels. I think it would be prettier topped with soy whip cream and chopped chocolate. I'll make one and update soon =)

Black Bean Tofu Cakes with Pineapple Mango Salsa

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I made these around Christmas as a veggie alternative to my mom's pork roast which was accompanied with the same salsa. They are a little hard to flip and might benefit from some more bread crumbs but they were good.

Saute a combination of diced vegetables. I used mushrooms, zucchini, peppers. Add garlic, cumin and coriander to taste. Meanwhile blend 1/4-1/2 cup bread crumbs and extra firm tofu, salt and pepper in food processor. In a bowl fold together 1 can black beans, tofu, and vegetables. Form into patties and cook in EVOO about 3 minutes on each side. TIP: wait until one side is brown to do the flip. It's hard to do but easier if one side is firm. You can keep these warm in an oven at 200 until ready to serve.

Salsa:
1/2 cup pineapple diced
2 mangoes diced
1 avocado diced
1/2 jalapeno seeded and diced
juice of one lime
1/4 cup chopped cilantro
salt to taste

Vegan Brunch

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By oldest and bestest was in town this week from L.A. and I thought a ladies brunch would be a great way to celebrate seeing her. It was a great morning with old friends just drinking coffee and soy hot chocolate while the snow came down outside!
Fruit and yogurt parfait-layer vanilla soy yogurt, strawberries, granola, yogurt, slivered almonds and drizzle of agave syrup
Fruit Salad
Salad with pears, walnuts, and cranberries. dressing here.
Sausage-Saute pieces of field roast apple and sage sausage and serve with mustard
Crescent rolls with jam
Roast potatoes with vegetables-Saute onions, peppers, zucchini and broccoli in pan while you roast small potatoes in oven. Mix together and bake before serving. You could also add field roast sausages to this mixture.
Pumpkin pancakes-Pancake recipe here. Substitute pumpkin pie filling for the apple sauce in this recipe. We actually ran out of soy milk and used some soy eggnog as well. The spices in the nog worked out really well.
Bagel Sandwiches-Mini whole wheat bagels, spread with hummus and layered with vegetables