Breakfast Cookies!

    No not really... Just breakfast AND cookies :)


    I've been on an oatmeal kick lately, especially with the breeze thats been a blowin and making it really feel like fall here, oatmeal is a great comfort food! Especially with bananas, almond butter, walnuts, and cinnamon.. mmm. I've been doing something with the banana though that I never thought of and it makes it taste like Banana Bread pudding, its so good. You just cook the oatmeal as normal and then you add a banana, mash it up really good until its like baby food and stir it in, and then put it back in the microwave for around 30 seconds. Don't knock it til you try it! Then add the rest of the fixins. 

      Now for the COOKIES! 

      These are whole wheat goodness. Well if you're like me and like healthier tasting stuff. They just have less sugar and are made with whole wheat flour... duh? But my room mate approves.. I think ;) Its the recipe in Vegan Cookies Invade Your Cookie Jar by Isa Moskowitz, my favorite vegan. Feast your eyes on these babies!

 

Thats it for now... Enjoy your first day of fall!

The College Life

      With my move to one bedroom where I am suppose to do all my living, also known as a college dorm, I was a little skeptical as to how my cooking would go. It will still take some getting used to, but here are some things I've made in these past two weeks!


    The first thing I made was hummus because it's super easy and I will pretty much eat it with anything. I also got this little food processor from target for 6 dollars. Yup. Pretty awesome. It works pretty well too. It was just the basic hummus recipe, no tahini, but still good. Just garbanzo beans, veggie oil and garlic!

Then my second adventure was trying sunflower "cheese". I usually buy sunflower seeds to toss in my oatmeal so I had a bunch and I saw a recipe on a blog, and I thought why not? I get to use my handy dandy food processor! So this was just soaked sunflower seeds, lemon juice, and water. The recipe called for dill, but I didn't have any in my limited pantry so I went with out. It could have used some spices or something but still not to shabby. Good with these Ezekial pocket breads I've come to love!

My first trip shopping I bought a bunch of bananas and I realized I don't use a bunch of bananas before they go bad, so I froze two of them. And here is the lovely creation they turned into...

ONE ingredient ice cream! So so good. 

I just like slurpees :)

Then I made another yummy treat, not all on the same day of course :)

CAKE IN A MUG!! 

And it was good for you too... well sort of.

I made up this recipe too :)

4 Tablespoons whole wheat flour

3 Tablespoons Agave

2-3 Tablespoons rice milk

2 Tablespoons cocoa powder

2-3 Tablespoons Applesauce

Heat it in the Microwave for 5 minutes and then drizzle some more agave on top and it is delicious!

I was talking to my mom the other day and we both share a love of figs so she told me they were buy one get one free at Publix. So I went and got two packages of figs. How am I going to use them all? I have no clue, but here is one way!

These are like super yummy and healthy fig newtons, but better!

I didn't make this one up I just changed one that I found. And I made it smaller in order to use my little food processor.

The crust is...

1/2 cup whole wheat flour

1/2 cup oats

1/4 tsp. baking soda

2 tablespoons Applesauce

1 1/2 tablespoons agave

 Mix all that up and spread half on the bottom of a pan.

The middle is where I changed it a lot and don't have exact measurements either. 

6-7 figs

2 pitted dates

a splash of lemon juice

a splash of water

a tablespoon of agave

couple dashes of cinnamon

Just mix that all up in a food processor until its pasty like. Put it over the bottom crust and then put the remaining crust mix on top. Bake at 375 for about 20 minutes or until the top gets brown. 

This is one of my favorite things I've made! It is so yummy and it has no refined sugar! 

So that's all so far, more to come I'm sure! Especially now since I have a kitchen on my own floor and don't have to go all the way down to the base level. 

Ok I'm done :D

          Starting to wind down from the sugar train and jumping back on the feeling good, healthy train. Here's a few recipes you might find on that train. :)

         This would be a desert...

   Banana Chocolate Pudding

2 bananas

About 1/4 cup Agave

3-4 Tablespoons cocoa powder

A couple splashes of soy milk

Just mix it all in a food processor or blender and you can either keep it in the fridge for more of a pudding or you can do what I did and put it in the freezer and eat it like ice cream... yum!

Now for some bean dip. It's super easy and fun to make and most importantly, tasty!

This is caper hummus, it was really good. I had it everyday last week :)

1 can of Garbanzo beans

2 Tablespoons of Tahini

1 Tablespoon minced Garlic (or about 3 cloves)

1-2 Tablespoons of Capers

I used a hand blender but a food processor would work just fine. Just put all the ingredients in a bowl and blend away!

Then for my second round...

This one is pretty good, it's a little spicy though.

1 can of pinto beans

1 1/2 tablespoons tahini

1 tablespoon garlic

2-3 teaspoons of hot sauce, I used Crystal

3-4 teaspoons of lime juice

1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper

Same thing, just blend it all up!

Then for something sweet again (but still semi-healthy)

Rice Pudding!

2 cups brown rice (I had some left over so I just used that)

1 cup non-dairy milk, I used almond but I think next time I'll use rice.

1/4 cup brown rice syrup

1 teaspoon vanilla

1 tablespoon cinnamon

Add rice and milk to a pan and keep on medium high heat until it gets a little thick. Then add the syrup, vanilla, and cinnamon and keep on heat to let it thicken a little more. Let it cool in the refrigerator for a little while, but I had some warm and it was really good! 

That's all for now, but I tried a new restaurant with my Gramma and of course I took pictures! But I'll save that for my next post. :)

Vacation Goodies!

             Daniel Fast is done! Very good, but glad to be baking goodies again. These are not very sugar conscience friendly, but they are tasty. Hey, its vacation! :) Yesterday was our first day off the fast and we went sugar crazzzy. Peanut Butter Chocolate Pillows. Oreo Cupcakes, and Agave Vanilla Cupcakes (These had no sugar and were good, but then we put the oreo icing on top :o) I got all my recipes from my absolutely FAVORITE cookbooks Vegan Cupcakes Take Over The World and Vegan Cookies Invade Your Cookie Jar by my easily becoming favorite chef Isa Chandra Moskowitz. I also got her cookbook Vaganomicon which I'm really excited about to get home and make some real meals :)

I had little tastes of everything, before and after it was baked and it was all tasty! Even the other 20 people of my family here for the week agreed. :)

Then Today...

My baking itch wasn't quite gone so I made Chocolate Chip Chai Cookies! I think these might be my new favorite. Mmmhm.

Almost Done.

          In one way I can't believe these three weeks will be over tomorrow and in the other way I've been ready for it. I can't deny that I feel better on this fast, but I must admit that I've been trying to suppress my desire for "normal", sugary, delicious food on my own. My first fast I knew from my previous failed attempts at dieting that the only way I could do this was total reliance on God, but this one I guess I just thought it would be easier since I wasn't giving up as much. One of my goals for this fast was establishing a mourning routine of prayer and devotion which I sort of did. I skipped some mornings because I woke up too late or stayed the night at a friends or whatever, but I have loved setting apart that time on the mornings I did and hope to continue improving on that. However with my first one my devotions were all centered around the fast or the principles of the fast and these devotions were what I would have done normally. Which was fine, I'm learning how much I need the word everyday and how it sustains me and fills me up, but it didn't relate to my physical surrender so my fast was more of a diet this time. I forgot how much I need to fill up on The Word and the Holy Spirit in my surrender in order to connect the body, soul, and spirit. My body is made from this world and will return to this world and wants things of this world. If I'm trying to turn away from the things that my body wants, then I better have my spirit and soul completely focused on Him. Everything I try to do on my own even if its something good like dieting, will fail. Without taking my body under control of taking every thought captive to focus on Christ, I can do nothing. Regardless of what I'm doing, in order to live the way God calls us to live, my body, soul, and spirit must be focused on Him, and in surrender to Him. 

"Jesus looked at them and said, "with man this is impossible, but with God ALL things are possible."

Matthew 19:26

Daniel Fast Update!

           This fast has been completely different than my first one, in a good way. My first one I gave up a lot more and was more focused on the spiritual side of it mostly because I was giving up a lot more. This time I still craved the sugar, bread, sugar, Starbucks, tea, sugar, and sugar. Do I sound like I'm complaining? If you asked me about it two days ago I might have ripped your head off for a cupcake, but I think I've hit my sweet spot. (pun intended!) My last fast I got to this point where I began to love this way of eating and feeling so great and let me just say that if you put a cupcake in my face today I might throw it on the ground. I get excited all over again about the amazing affects that food has on our bodies. What we put in our bodies actually effects the way we feel, isn't that crazy? It's a new concept I know.
         God created all the food we need on this planet before we even got here, food that nourishes, food that heals. We don't have to take away or add anything to it or change the chemical properties to make it anything new. How can we make something better that the perfect, all knowing God already made perfect? When we try and alter it and then put it into our bodies that were not made to process something that has already been toyed with, we are not going to feel as fantastic as we want to.
        I think my "sweet spot" is the point where eating whole foods has replaced the sugar cravings and I feel so good because I'm running on good fuel, the fuel we were meant to run on. I'm two weeks into this thing and excited to finish it off, but I think like last time I won't ever really finish. God has shown us the way to live in every aspect of our lives, including food. I'm not saying I won't enjoy a nice vegan cookie and soy latte every one in a while, but that white addictive stuff that most people call sugar but reeks havoc in this body, will be very rare. Not to say I won't have anything sweet, there's a bunch of not so crazy sweeteners out there, or that I won't ever have sugar again, but I wan't to feel as good as God intended us to feel on this earth as I can. I firmly believe God has put this passion in my heart, a passion for health and healing body and soul and seeing other people experience it that He continues to grow more and more. I've loved having my Dad, Sister, and Gramma doing this with me and hearing about their different experiences! (One more week guys! ) I know I say it a lot, but I'm just excited, about everything!
  Ahh, Life is SWEET! :)

Daniel Fastin it up!

            You may have noticed that the majority of my posts on this blog have been well, sweet. And while living on the sweeter side of life is fun for a little while I think I have to relate it to my trouble sleeping, sluggishness, and of course, craving more sugar. Just because I will be getting rid of sugar doesn't mean being a vegan will not be sweet, in fact quite the opposite! I can't wait to have the awesome feeling of being rid of sugar and its nasty side effects. The feeling of balance and satisfaction I feel from eating whole and unprocessed foods way out weighs the momentary pleasure of those yucky foods that don't give me so much pleasure later. 
           When I first did the Daniel Fast it was in a way related to sugar but also to food in general. Since my first fast and becoming vegan I feel completely different about food and about myself all together. I can honestly say that the Daniel Fast changed my life and I loved those three weeks. (Maybe not the first week, but definitely towards the end! :) ) For this next one I feel completely different going into it, I'm excited but I'm also excited about the fact that my Dad will be doing it with me this time! The Fast is really healthy but that can not be the only reason for doing it, or else its just another diet, the Fast has to be for a spiritual purpose. My spiritual purpose on this fast will be one- to create a morning routine of bible reading and sitting at My Father's feet soaking in His presence. And two- prayer for healing for my Dad's blood pressure. Then for the food side of it, my goal is to be rid of sugar and processed foods and feel more balanced.
        So I won't be doing a daily post as I did last time but there will be updates! Also since the dessert posts will be stopping for at least three weeks, you will be seeing some of the yummy "Daniel Fast approved" foods I'll be creating. 
     It begins tomorrow! I have to be honest though I'm sitting here enjoying the last of my ABC cookies as I type this :) But if anyone (of three readers hehe) is interested in joining us feel free to ask me about it or visit Here. Can't wait for tomorrow but I will savor every crumb of my cookie! :)

Life IS Sweet

           I know, I know more sweets, but what can I say? I need to get off this sugar kick but while I'm on it I had to share my excitement for these awesome TOTALLY VEGAN cookies that are seriously following me EVERYWHERE! They're sold at this mall I've been to a couple time recently and so of course I had to get one each time I went, they're sold at Smoothie King where I recently went with my sister, and I went to one of my health food stores to get some cashews and they were there too! GAH! I am excited to see awesome vegan yummies main streaming but seriously they are too tempting! :) So here they are... 


The company is called Alternative Baking Company or ABC and they have a whole bunch of cookies! My favorite is the Snickerdoodle which is also wheat free, but I've also had the Phenomenal Pumpkin Spice, The Cranberry Orange Muffin Cookie, and Mac the Chocolate Chip (that one is also wheat free). I told you I've been a little addicted :) 

                    

                    

So this sugar rush has been fun but I will be saying good bye to my cookies at least for a little while. I promise I eat all those healthy vegan foods like fruits and veggies, but those those pictures aren't as tantalizing as all the sweet ones :) 

Chocolate & Peanut Butter.

        Enough said, right?


        What if I threw popcorn into the mix? Well I did, and it hit the spot!


         I started by popping the popcorn in my air popper and then in a small saucepan I warmed up some crunchy peanut butter, chocolate chips (vegan of course), and some agave syrup. Let that get all gooey and then pour it over the popcorn. I also threw in some unmelted chocolate chips to the popcorn and then mixed it all up so the chocolatey sauce gets all over the popcorn. Then munch away!

Good sweets and not so good sweets

             Recently I've been on a baked good kick which I'm going to kick in the but and actually cook (I just ordered my rice cooker!) but for now it's been fun... and sweet!


I had some puffed rice which I needed to use and I had made the rice treats from The Kind Life but I wanted to change it a little bit. So in these there's puffed rice, oats, brown rice syrup, agave nectar, ground flaxseed, banana and peanut butter. They're a good alternative to granola bars and no sugar!

Then I wanted to turn it into a healthy oatmeal cookie, so I looked at a couple other recipes and made my own. They're pretty yummy and guilt free since they also have no sugar, but are still just sweet enough.

The "wet" ingredients include almond butter, applesauce, soy milk, vanilla, ground flaxseed, brown rice syrup, and agave nectar. Then the dry is whole wheat flour, oats, flax seed, baking soda, cinnamon, chopped almonds, and chopped apple pieces. 

(Pre-oven)

Look at all that wholesome goodness

Now for the not so good ones. These are delicious but by no means healthy. I was just craving something chocolatey and peanut buttery so this is what I came up with. Its just dark chocolate mixed with peanut butter and melted in the microwave. Then I crushed some pretzels and covered them in the mix and added some more dark chocolate chips and unmelted peanut butter to make it all stick together. Let them sit in the freezer for a little while and then you have a very tasty treat!

So hopefully that will end the sweets and I can make some good for you good food! :)

           Graduation was yesterday! Woo, Big sigh of relief! It was so nice to have so many family and friends here to celebrate with me. Being all together laughing and enjoying each other just makes me want to smile. But of course when families get together there has to be, you guessed it...FOOD. And lots of it. My mom is an amazing cook and made the most wonderful meal, however me being a vegan, limited it a little. Just a little, because there was so much good food I could eat and boy did I! Between the veggies, bean dip and pita chips, salad, bread and gazpacho (and then some Oreos and peanut butter later.. shhh) I had quite the belly full. And I indulged a little in some ginger ale and cranberry juice, which added to food baby that was growing inside me. I went to bed feeling very large and in charge and woke up to some disagreement going on in the tummy. And then the guilt sets in and I wanted to say to heck with it, I'll just eat Oreos all day long! Needless to say I didn't, but the indulgent mind set was still there through out the day, hence the GIANT Slurpee at the movies. 
        
           But through out the day I felt my body sort of fixing itself and calming back down. It got me thinking to how our bodies were made to work for us and feel good. We're not meant to feel sluggish and bloated all the time and we shouldn't just go on accepting it or trying different aids to quiet that feeling. We need to look at the whole picture, all the things we do, and everything we put inside of us for the crux of the problem. Sometimes it blows my mind how people continue to get sick and feel bad and don't see the correlation between that feeling and the double bacon cheeseburger they eat for lunch everyday. But anyways that was a little different direction then what I wanted to say... 

         My point was that even though I went a little crazy last night and indulged a little too much, my body wants to get back to balance. God in all His wisdom created this awesome machine that knows its job, I just have to treat it the right way. It's okay to indulge every once in a while, but we have to take care of ourselves and let our bodies to it's job before going crazy again. I must also add that the food was delicious but I didn't think the feeling all of it gave me was so awesome. I want to wake up everyday ready to take on whatever that day holds in store for me, not feeling sluggish and bloated. 


       So, writing this and sipping on my white tea, (and letting my body do its work if you know what I mean ;o ) I feel so much better and excited all over again about not only being a vegan, but learning to care for myself and feel amazing!

Dinner at Grammas!

          I actually cooked my first vegan meal last night! (With a little help from my Gramma, she was the Su Chef) ;) I've made little things like rice and beans, but this an actual recipe that we sort of followed. I should have read the instructions the whole through first, but lessoned learned. Any who I got the recipes from Ina Chandra Moskowitz's book Vegan With a Vengeance. We made Mango-Ginger Tofu, Sweet Potato Fries, and Quinoa with a giant strawberry for desert. It was so much fun to cook it! And Improvising was interesting too. The tofu was suppose to be marinated for over an hour at least so we nixed that and just fried the tofu and turned the marinade into a sauce to put on top by not adding all the juices. And we cut the sweet potatoes more like suns instead of fries but I'm sure they tasted the same. Put the tofu and sauce over the quinoa (if you want to) and gobble it all up! We did! 

Can't wait to cook more! Especially from Ina's cookbooks, they're awesome!

         I got in my new cookbooks which I am SUPER excited about! I can't wait to try all the new recipes! :) This was the first one I tried from Vegan Cookies Invade Your Cookie Jar, they're called Chocolate Peanut Butter Pillows, and they are very yummy if I do say so myself. I made these first because they looked good and I had everything to make them except maple syrup which I substituted with brown rice syrup which I don't think changed the taste that much. These cookies are mostly sugar so you can't really go wrong taste wise, but they might make you want to make them again! So here's some pictures! 

The peanut butter filling

the chocolate dough

All put together

All done!

And tasty!

Vegan Comforts

          One of my favorite things to do since going veg has been finding great restaurants and health stores that are vegan friendly, and boy has it opened my eyes and my palate! I never even knew these wonderful places were out there until I looked for them. My Gramma and I have dinner together every once in a while and she has been amazing in finding some of my new favorites! 
         The first one she took me to was called "Unconsciousness Blossom" and it was all vegetarian with plenty of vegan options. I was still vegetarian when I went there but going there was one of the factors that contributed to my veganism. I just loved the atmosphere and I left feeling light and good after a meal when usually I felt sluggish and stuffed after eating out. Then after making the leap to vegan I began looking for other places like this and it took me to awesome health stores, one which has a little cafe where I found my the BEST cookies in the world! They're filled with oats and chocolate and teeny tiny almond peaces and OH MY GOODNESS I love them. They're a lot on the sweet side so it's a once in a while treat but still, yummolicious. 
        Then tonight my Gramma and I went to a place called "Zen Forest" which she also found (go Gramma!) and it was so so tasty. I wish I had some pictures but I'll still share the delicousness with you :) I started with Tai (?) tea which was super good and sweet and we had Edamame and a salad with lots of sprouts and red cabbage and other goodies covered in a sesame dressing. Then for dinner we both had pan fried tofu (she ate vegan for the night, woo hoo!) but hers was a coconut type dressing and mine was more spicy asian. More yummies. And for desert, dun du du DUH... tofu mousse! So rich and delicious! The meal was amazing, a little heavy on the sugar side, but a little indulgence is sweet! :)
     I guess one of the reason I love these places and all the vegan blogs I've become obsessed with is because with all the things that aren't vegan friendly its rejuvenating to find places and people that are. Another reason I get excited all over again! :)

Feeling Good!

        With prom this Saturday (woah!!) I've been trying to eat extra healthy in order to feel really great that night, so I've been following the detox plan from the blog plateandsimple.com since Sunday and I do feel great! Though I haven't been doing the greens, one because they're really expensive and two because I tried it and am still deciding how I feel about it. I got one with a little fruit in it too so I'll see if I can stomach that one :) I also broke down today because I hadn't had chocolate in forever and I was at the health food store getting cashews and they had these adorable bite size vegan chocolates, and I couldn't resist!


        Earlier this week I cooked up some garbanzo beans and yesterday I turned them into some hummus, well sort of. I whipped them up in a food processor with some oil and garlic salt and pepper, but I think it was really tasty!

          I didn't really add enough oil and I didn't put in any garlic so it didn't blend but I think it was healthier this way.

I also cooked up some Bulgar wheat and got some Chard leaves (weird name, but tasty) and used that with some tomato and my hummus to make this!

                             

                             

             I had it for dinner last night and lunch today it was so good!
          And then I went to the health food store again and got some huge roasted cashews which has been one of my cravings lately. This might show you why!

                                                   MMMhhm. 


            I got a gift card to Amazon so I got two vegan cookbooks which I am SUPER excited about. 
           The first one was Vegan With A Vengeance and the second was Vegan Cupcakes Invade Your Cookie Jar both by the same author, Isa Chandra Moskowitz and both look AMAZING. I have to be honest though I'm more excited for the cookie one! They should come in next week so expect some taunting pictures and some free cookies! I hope to be baking and cooking all the time since I'll be done with school and have lots of time to do and I'll be happy to give them out for opinions and smiles :)

yumminess all around.

            Well, May 7th counted as my one month anniversary as a VEGAN! WOO HOO! It went by so fast, I love it! I'm having so much fun trying all these new recipes, feeling wonderful, and eating all this tasty food, If I do say so myself. :) I get more and more excited everyday about becoming a vegan all the time. Between the food, my soft skin, my happy belly (and bladder), my head that hasn't had a headache in a while, and knowing that I'm making a difference, I get excited a lot, which makes for a very happy me!

So here is some of the yummy food I was talking about...

 This is just tomatoes, carrots, cucumber, and I think that's parsley but I'm not sure, I just like to put leaves on things to make it look pretty, with some balsamic vinaigrette over it. I made it again a couple days ago and added some quinoa which I had never tried but it was very yummy with this! 

 Then for a breakfast I had at school where we all I had to bring something I brought...

 MUFFINS!!!

They were soo good. I found the recipe on vegweb.com under "simple muffins" But I changed it a little bit. I used whole wheat flour, applesauce instead of the oil, and added a teaspoon of vanilla and about a 1/4 cup of walnuts. Everyone loved them, including my mom who ate the last two! :)

Okay and then for Mother's day, my mom asked for red velvet cake and of course I wanted to veganize it so I found a recipe online, I don't remember where, I think I just googled vegan red velvet cake and used the first one that came up. But there is a funny story that should be heard before looking at the picture. After making the batter I realized we didn't have any red food coloring, therefore we made green velvet cake, therefore the cake looks a lot healthier than it actually is. But for my first vegan cake I think the taste turned out pretty good. The icing was delicious! I got a little bit of a tummy ache from licking the bowl :) It was Earth Balance, confectioners sugar, a little almond milk and some vanilla. For the cake it was the only thing different I did from the recipe was I used applesauce again instead of the oil and it called for distilled white vinegar but I just used apple cider vinegar. Okay so here's this lovely looking cake... Also mind you this one has been wrapped in foil for a day because I didn't have my camera yesterday, and the whole cake had a big chunk missing from where my little brother took a big handful out of it, He loved it, everyone else I think had their favorite red velvet cake taste in their mind so mine was a little questionable. :) 

 Next time I'll make sure I have red food coloring so it at least looks like the real thing.

And I don't have a picture of it with me, but I have to say my wonderful mother made me a very tasty whole wheat pasta with a tomato sauce that was awesome! I put some sunflower seeds on it and some basil (again for looks) and ate almost the whole plate! Go Mom!! 

So there's been my food for a little while and a glimpse into my vegan life so far. Over the summer, I'm thinking I want to do like a Julia and Julia type thing where I try a new vegan recipe at least once a week, I can't wait! 

More SUHweets!

             I really want to make some more real food, but these recipes are just so tempting! I got the recipe for the peanut butter cups in The Kind Diet again but I had to alter it a little because I'm a cheapo and didn't want to buy everything. The recipe called for graham cracker crumbs but all we had was the chocolate ones so I used those, which was still good. And I didn't use the maple sugar because it was a whopping twenty dollars! Yeah, so I just used turbinado sugar which I haven't tried them with maple sugar, but I'm sure it was a similiar taste, its still sweet right?! BUT while I was at the health store getting the ingredients, they have a little cafe where they have vegan chocolate chip cookies that have oats and almonds in it too and I couldn't resist. It was seriously the best cookie I have ever eaten. So yummy. So heres a picture of that and my try at the peanut butter cups! 

Some interesting things about the peanut butter cups...
Like I said I'm cheap and thought we had muffin tins had home so didn't get any. We didn't. So I made them with parchment paper. 

Second thing was I couldn't get the chocolate to spread on the melted peanut butter so I just plopped the chocolate in the middle and called them inside out peanut butter cups!                      

I snuck one before I took the picture! :)