Smoooooooothies

I must have the worst track record of any food blogger around. Seriously, it’s actually quite pathetic how little I have posted in the past semester. Sure, I could blame it on having virtually no free time whatsoever, but the sad truth is I spend more time reading blogs than actually writing. It didn’t help that my “cooking” was limited to easy, boring meals that would have no place on the interwebz. Blurry shots of marinara pasta do not a good food blog make.

The happy fact is that summer is upon us, which means more sun, more sleep, and more blog time. If I weren’t so worried about finding a summer job, I would be completely stress-free.

To get everyone up to speed, I just finished my sophomore year of college and man it was a DOOZIE. Too many sleepless nights spent at the film school for my liking. Despite my crazy school/work schedule, I had a fantabulous semester. My friends are truly amazing people and I love each and every one of them. Chapman—situated in super-rich, conservative, boring Orange County—is surprisingly starting to feel like home. Who ever thought that would happen?!

I just moved out of my apartment in Orange to head back home in Nor Cal for the summer. As much as I hate living at home, I do love it in Sacramento. The familiar hot weather, the abundance of trees, my needy golden retriever, the backyard swing calling my name- it’s such a treat to be back.

For now, here’s a fabulous smoothie I had a while (and I do mean a WHILE) back: frozen blueberries, strawberries, and banana plus almond milk, a dash of vanilla, flax seeds (for Omega-3s), leftover So Delicious chocolate coconut milk yogurt (review coming soon), and cinnamon.

Really, smoothie making is so easy I’m surprised more people don’t do it. Any combo of fresh, high quality fruit and nut milk is almost destined to be great. Plus, they are so healthy, filling, and, most importantly, tasty.

This is an old photo, but here’s another great “smoothie” (more like a shake) of bananas, peaches, cocoa, and soy milk from The Joy of Vegan Baking by Colleen Patrick-Godreau. I added crumbled Oreos cuz that’s how I roll. This is a fantastic book and I have checked it out from the library way more times than I like to admit. Every recipe I’ve tried is delicious!

To my readers (assuming I still have some), what is your favorite smoothie? I would love new suggestions.

I have a lot in store for the blog in these next few weeks. Stay tuned for an upcoming product review (my last one received a surprising amount of success) and some fun recipes I’ve been working on.

I’m not dead, promise!

If I had any regular readers since starting my blog, I’m sure I’ve all but lost them now. I am a lazy ass when it comes to blogging, not gonna lie. Ignoring my little MuffinTopped for a month… it’s pretty bad. I’ve just been crunched for time lately with school, travel plans, and work. Finals week has finally arrived. But really, I know that you don’t care about my excuses.

I must say, today has been simply splendid. I spent most of the morning sleeping in, which was a nice change. Finished my Statistics take-home final and spent some quality time with my friend Erika watching French movies and discussing our plans to visit Paris in Janury. Plus, this rain gives me a nice excuse to lounge around my apartment all day in my fuzzy sweats, drinking chai tea and watching The Office.

The cold weather lately has left me craving stew and other warm savory foods that stick to your ribs (in a good way). I’ve made this eggplant stew a few times, always altering it according to my fancy or what veggies/beans happen to be in the fridge at the time. The base is basically roasted eggplant, roasted garlic, and a little bit of veggie broth as needed. Then I add in whatever, this particular time sauteed carrots, potatoes, jalapenos, and bellpeppers; chickpeas; and lentils. Then I spice the hell out of it with tons of cumin and cayenne and anything else that looks good. It’s fairly simple to make, but extremely satisfying.

Not very pretty, but damn tasty.

Here’s some other food randoms I’ve photographed lately:

Basic pancakes with EB and (real) maple syrup. I made pumpkin pancakes the other day, but neglected to take pics.

Mmm look at that melty Earth Balance and maple syrup...

Finally… muffins! These little babies are Pumpkin Bran muffins w/added walnuts from Isa Chandra Moskowitz’s Vegan Brunch. Highly recommended book- everything I’ve made from it has turned out scrumptious and these muffins were no exception. My roommates loved them (“It’s like they’re from a bakery.”)

My apologies for the horrible pictures. No natural lighting is a problem.

A fairly simple teriyaki veggie stir fry with toasted sesame seeds on top. Lately I’ve been working on creating the perfect teriyaki and I think I’m getting close. More details when I’m finally happy with it…

A lemon poppyseed cookie that I always end up getting whenever I visit my local health food store (in the Orange Circle). I have no self-control when it comes to vegan cookies!

Hell yes.

I promise from now on to start blogging more regularly and to actually take pictures of my cooking adventures. Until next time, happy holidays!

My talented swap partner KatieUD made me this. Isn't it gorgeous?

Vegan Baking, Je T’aime

As you can probably surmise by the name of this blog, I like to bake. Muffins specifically, but really anything will do! When I had a fully stocked vegan pantry with all the necessary spices, baking powders, extracts, flours, etc things were easier. By that I mean that any old time of day my heart’s desire happened to be for a warm, moist chocolate chip muffin, I could whip up a quick batch in 45 minutes, no problem. Baking was something I did when I was bored, felt like treating my family, or when the urge for sugar overcame me.

Alas, my baking supplies is pathetically insufficient at the moment. It’s mostly due to lack of money (i.e starving college student). There’s also the daunting task of re-stocking an entirely new pantry while also buying enough real food to actually survive upon. I’m afraid that buying a head of best-veggie-ever-broccoli (a subject for another post) usually wins over splurging for quality vanilla extract. No longer though! I’m determined to rekindle my love affair with vegan baked goods and gain back some of the recent weight I’ve lost. Chocolate chip cookies! Scones! Banana bread! Coffee cake! I can hardly wait.

I think I might just start with apple pie! It’s one of those classic fall comfort foods, and everyone gets really impressed when I tell them I make it completely from scratch. And there’s the added bonus that it makes the house smell like cinnamon-y goodness. Mmmm… pie

*And I promise to post more, starting now! I’ve been a’ slackin’ on brand new baby blog.

“Just order a salad”

I remember talking about veganism once with a few “friends” in my freshman public relations class and how skeptical they were about the whole concept of a diet free of animal products. “But, what do they eat? Salad?” said one girl as the other (sorority bimbo) laughed in agreement. Needless to say I didn’t take that opportunity to explain the merits of a vegan diet to these two disrespectful critics. Honestly, comments like this are hard to hear. It’s amazing how omnivores think vegans only eat bits of twigs and bark when really the culinary delights of animal-free food is endless! All you have to do is look at the thousands of vegan food blogs on the interwebz for proof.

But, sometimes I like to take stereotypes and use them for my own purposes. When someone informs me that I can “just order a sald” at a restaurant it usually makes me want to throw very large objects in that person’s general direction. But my salads are a far cry from the pathetic ice-berg salads minus chicken they serve at Applebee’s.

I had some beautiful brussels sprouts just begging to be used so I figured sauteeing them with some garlic was the way to go. Add some sauteed zucchini and other various salad stuffs and you’ve got a quick and filling nutritious meal. So I say, let them eat salad! as long as the salad always looks like this…

Sauteed brussels sprouts and zucchini with carrot shavings, alfalfa sprouts, and Goddess dressing over a bed of dark leafies

And when in doubt, add Goddess dressing! That stuff is like vegan crack.