Olive Oil Garlic Spaghetti

This recipe is so delicious and easy to make. 

Ingredients:

5 cloves garlic
1 teaspoon dried oregano
3/4 cups extra virgin olive oil
1 pound whole wheat or brown rice spaghetti

What to do:

In a large pot, boil water for spaghetti.
While waiting for the water to boil, cut the cloves of garlic in half.
Once water is boiling, pour in pasta and cook for time stated on the bag. 
In a medium sauce pan, simmer garlic, oregano, and olive oil until spaghetti is a la dente.
Once pasta is cooked, drain it and pour over garlic pasta sauce.
Serve with any vegetable you would like.

An easy side to make is sweet potato and asparagus.
Chop up the sweet potato and cut off the bottoms of the asparagus.
Put them all onto a baking sheet, pour 1 tablespoon of olive oil over all of it.
Bake at 400 degrees for 20 minutes!

Vegan Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies

My friend Brittany just turned 21 and had a great party at her house. I decided to make cookies because I figured she would already have a cake. It turned out she didn't have a cake! But, she was happy with these cookies and everyone loved these cookies. These are super easy and quick to  make. 

Ingredients:

1 cup peanut butter
1 cup vegan butter, at room temperature
2 cups packed brown sugar
egg replacer equivalent of 2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
3 cups whole wheat flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 cup almond milk
1/2 cup vegan chocolate chips

What to do:

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Lightly grease 2 cookie sheets.
Mix together peanut butter, butter, and brown sugar. Mix in egg replacer and vanilla.
Sift together flour, salt, baking powder, baking soda, and cinnamon.
Mix in flour mixture to the wet ingredients.
Roll cookies into balls and flatten them.
Bake for 10 minutes.
Enjoy!

Brownies!

I cannot bake brownies for the life of me and I can barely make boxed brownies. So, I knew I would fail somehow, someway with these brownies. I did but in a good way! They are crumbly and don't stick together to well. But, they are delicious and it's like being in ooey gooey crumbly brownie heaven.I still won't give up on brownies and if I ever perfect them I will share. But for now, these are delicious and perfectly imperfect.

What you need:

8 ounces vegan dark chocolate
3/4 cup vegan butter
Egg replacer equivalent to 2 eggs
1/2 cup sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
3/4 cup flour
1/2 cup semi sweet vegan chocolate chips
1/2 cup chopped walnuts (optional)

What to do:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit and lightly grease a baking pan.
Chop up the 8 ounces dark chocolate and melt into a double boiler. Then, melt the butter into the melted chocolate. Remove from the heat and let cool for about 5 minutes.
With an electric mixer, beat in egg replacer, sugar, and vanilla. Add in the melted chocolate and butter mixture.
Mix in the flour and then stir in the chocolate chips and walnuts.
Bake for 20 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean!
Enjoy!

Did you say Vegan Pop Tarts?

I love pop tarts. I especially the Maple and Brown Sugar ones. But, since I've been Vegan I haven't been able to have them! I created a pop tart recipe that is completely Vegan and completely delicious. This is probably one of the more complicated recipes I've made, but it is definitely worth trying! I only made Maple and Brown Sugar but I will give you other versions you can make such as, chocolate or strawberry (my second favorite.) I had a small pitfall with the brown sugar pop tarts. I put only brown sugar in the center, so when it baked it absorbed into the pastry crust. Adding flour to the brown sugar mix seems to solve that problem. Enough rambling, here's the recipe!

Recipe for the Pastry: 

1 1/4 cup flour ( I used half whole wheat and half white)
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon sugar
1/3 cup cold vegan butter
4 to 5 tablespoons ice cold water

Recipe for the "Egg Wash:"

1 tablespoon vegetable oil
2 tablespoons almond milk

Recipe for the filling (3 types):

Brown Sugar- 1/2 cup brown sugar and 2 tablespoons flour mixed together
Strawberry-1/2 cup of your favorite Vegan Strawberry Jam
Chocolate- 1/2 cup vegan melted chocolate chips

What to do:

In a small bowl mix flour, salt, and sugar. Cut in the butter with a fork.
Slowly add the ice cold water until you can form the dough into a ball. Wrap up in plastic wrap and refrigerate until chilled (about 30 minutes).

Once chilled, take the dough and roll it out onto a floured surface into a large square about 1/4 inch thick. With a pizza slicer cut small rectangles all about the same size. If the dough starts to warm up and becomes hard to work with out it into the fridge for about 20 minutes.

Whisk together the oil and milk. With a paint brush or basting brush, spread out the "egg wash" over the surface of each rectangle.

This is where you add in the filling of your choice.
On half of the rectangles add a hefty amount (about 1 to 2 tablespoons) of the filling onto the pastry. Once half of them have the filling, place the other rectangle on top.

Press the edges together. With the pizza slicer, cut off the very edges for a smooth finish and to really seal the edge.

Refrigerate the tarts for about 30 minutes and Preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.

On a greased cookie sheet, lay out the pastries. Bake for about 20-30 minutes or until the bottom is lightly browned.

Take out and let them cool, while cooling make the icing.

Recipe for the Icing:

Maple Icing:

1/2 cup to 1 cup powdered sugar
1 tablespoon room temperature vegan butter
1 teaspoon Maple Extract
about 1 teaspoon almond milk

Mix together all of the ingredients until well combined. Spread the icing evenly on top of the Brown Sugar Tarts.

Vanilla Icing:

1/2 cup to 1 cup powdered sugar1 tablespoon room temperature vegan butter
1 teaspoon Vanilla Extract
about 1 teaspoon almond milk

Mix together all of the ingredients until well combined. Spread the icing evenly on top of the Strawberry Tarts.

Chocolate Icing:

1/4 cup cocoa powder
1 cup powdered sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 teaspoon room temperature vegan butter

about 2 teaspoons almond milk


Mix together all of the ingredients until well combined. Spread the icing evenly on top of the Chocolate Tarts.

Eat and Enjoy!

Vegan French Toast

Do you want a topping for your french toast? Well I have two! First, there is a simple blueberry compote that is sweet and delicious! Then, there is my favorite, bananas sauteed with walnuts and brown sugar! Either one is delicious or you can make both! 

Ingredients for French Toast:

-Makes 2 servings-
4 slices of Bread
1/2 Ripe Banana
3/4 cup almond milk for regular sliced bread OR 1 cup almond milk for thicker sliced bread (the extra liquid keeps the bread from being dry in the center)
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/4 cup flour
1 teaspoon sugar
vegan Butter for the pan

What to do:

In a medium bowl, mash the banana.
Whisk in milk, flour, and sugar.

In a large pan, melt about 1 teaspoon butter.
Dip both sides of the bread in the batter.
On medium heat cook the toast until lightly brown on each side.
That's all!

Ingredients for Sauteed Bananas:

1 banana sliced
1 teaspoon vegan butter
2 teaspoons brown sugar
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 cup chopped walnuts

What to do:

On medium heat, melt butter in a pan.
Add in bananas.
Pour sugar and cinnamon over bananas and stir. Add in walnuts.
Stir occasionally for about 5 minutes.
Remove from heat and pour on top of french toast.
Serve with warm maple syrup and enjoy!

Ingredients for Blueberry Compote:

1/2 cup frozen blueberries
1/4 cup sugar
2 tablespoons cornstarch

What to do:

In a small saucepan on low heat add blueberries and sugar.
Stir occasionally for about 5 minutes.
Add in cornstarch.
Heat until it begins to boil.
Remove from heat.
Pour over french toast, you don't even need maple syrup!

Cinnamon Banana Coffee Cake

When I have bananas that are getting quite ripe, I almost always make the Chocolate Chip Banana Muffins. But, this time I wanted to switch it up. I designed a coffee cake recipe that is to die for. It's moist, sweet, and delicious!

Ingredients:

3 very ripe bananas
2 cups sifted whole wheat flour (sift flour before measuring)
2 teaspoons baking powder
3/4 cup sugar plus 1/2 cup
1/2 cup vegan butter
1 teaspoon vanilla
Egg replacer (equivalent to 2 eggs)
1 tablespoon cinnamon

What to do:

Preheat Oven to 325 degrees fareinheit.
In a small bowl mash bananas well with a fork.
In a medium bowl mix together sifted flour and baking soda.
In a large bowl cream together butter and 3/4 cup sugar for about 1 minute. Add in mashed bananas, then vanilla.
Slowly add in the flour mixture. Then add in egg replacer.
Mix until incorporated.
In a seperate bowl mix together 1/2 cup of sugar and cinnamon. Leave just about 1 tablespoon out.
In a greased bundt pan add half of the cake batter. Then pour the sugar-cinnamon mix evenly over the cake batter. Add the remaining cake batter on top of that.
Bake for about 45 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.

Cut the edges of the cake and flip over onto a plate. Sprinkle the remaining cinnamon-sugar mix on the top.

Babycakes!

Hello! So, one of my best friends works at the well-known Vegan bakery called, Babycakes. She works at the LA location as a baker. She always gets to bring home leftover yummy treats. The other night she made a pit-stop to my place! I got to try some of the donuts, which were delicious. The flavors ranged from banana chocolate, to coffee, and a lemon coconut. She also delighted me with Babycakes "cakeballs." They're little balls made up of left over cakes and then drizzled with different kinds of icing. This isn't even the beginning of what Babycakes has to offer! If you're ever in LA or NY, you must go get some sweet treats! My all-time favorite is the cookie sandwich and I don't even like cookie sandwiches.

 

Here are the addresses:

NEW YORK CITY, NY 
248 Broome Street (Btwn Orchard & Ludlow)
New York City, NY 10002

DOWNTOWN LOS ANGELES, CA
130 East 6th Street
(between S. Main Street and S. Los Angeles Street)
Los Angeles, CA 90014