Orange Cupcakes With Orange Icing

Yummy orange on orange cupcakes.

As summer winds down, fruit is a great way to quench neverending thirst. Water is the best way of course, but fresh pineapple, juicy grapes, and plump strawberries revitalize the system with sweet pleasure and aide in that beautiful, radiant glow to skin. Whilst drinking a tall glass of orange juice, I suddenly craved cupcakes with that delicious citrus flavor and found this recipe on Kelly's The Pretty Bee Blog.
The icing has a funny story. I blended my ingredients together. First it became whipped cream. I was so excited-- over the moon. Yes! I made orange whipped cream! Unfortunately, due to the room temperature and other random science, the cream turned clear, thick liquid. After the cupcakes cooled, I ate them with that icing. Funnily enough, in the refrigerator, the icing thickened and turned snowy white and suddenly I fell in love with this accidental orange tasting sweetness on top of orange tasting sweetness.

Orange Cupcakes With Orange Icing Ingredients and Preparation

1 1/2 cup flour
1 cup sugar
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup dairy free milk
1/2 cup coconut oil, melted
2 tablespoon orange juice (used Tropicana)

Frosting

1 cup sugar
1/3 cup coconut oil
2 tablespoon orange juice
3 tablespoon dairy free milk

Preheat oven to 359 degrees.
Mix all cupcake ingredients together.

Batter is completely mixed.

Fill baking cups and bake for 20-25 minutes. Prepare the icing: blend sugar, coconut oil, orange juice, and dairy free milk together. 

The clear icing version....

It's like orange syrup.

Refrigerated frosting, however, is the best.

Gnocchi

Little gnocchi served with cheese sauce and a side of tempeh.

Last night, I made gnocchi for the first time.
If you didn't know, gnocchi is an Italian origin dumpling traditionally composed of potatoes and flour. They can be flavored with herbs, vegan cheeses, and other ingredients before being dropped into hot water for a quick cooking.
I found this easy peasy gnocchi recipe on Lauren Caris Cooks. The scrumptious cheese sauce, smothered thickly of my preparation was just a little Parmela Creamery nut cheese mixed with almond milk, garlic, nutritional yeast, and crushed red pepper-- which suited perfectly fine.

Gnocchi Ingredients and Preparation

1 1/2- 2 cup potatoes ( used Yukon Gold Potatoes)
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup flour
1 teaspoon olive oil
2 cup water

Bring potatoes to a boil. Mash completely.
Add salt and flour. Knead with olive oil.
Cut off a piece of dough at a time and ball it into small rounded shapes.

Using a fork to make indentations is optional (some people opt to have smooth gnocchi). After making them (should be about twenty five to thirty), bring a pot of water to boil and add a few gnocchi at a time. They're ready once floating.  

Yummy gnocchi.

Dig in.

Baked Apple Hand Pies

Move over Hostess and Little Debbie-- first and certainly not the last foray into pie-- hand pie.

Time to share the perfect Juneteenth dessert.
I have always wanted to make pastry, especially something along the lines of pie, but butter is such an essential ingredient. Most vegan substitutes rely on palm oil. I wonder why it seems to be in everything, which screams red flag. Thankfully, Miyoko's Kitchen has a scrumptious new alternative on the market (look for the official AfroVeganChick review next week). It has been a life saver. At last, certain things are possible.

Organic Royal Gala apples from Mom's Organic Market.

I certainly should have prepped the dough yesterday. It is an involved process that was a bit too taxing after walking to work, eight hours of work, a great artist lecture after work, and the hour + walk back home. So yes, to return to the kitchen and retain dead set determination to create this dessert is a thing in itself. Still, I was excited and joyous about making my first hand pies. The efforts were well worth the end result-- eating a delicious warm sweet straight out of the oven inspired by That's So Vegan's Classic Apple Hand Pies recipe, amended from another amazing blog, Oh Lady Cakes.


Baked Apple Hand Pies Ingredients and Preparation

2 1/2 cup flour
1 tablespoon sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup butter (one package of Mikoyo's Kitchen butter), cold and cut into chunks
8 tablespoon water

2 apples, peeled and chopped into small bits
3 tablespoon water
1 tablespoon melted coconut oil
1 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon pumpkin pie or apple pie spice
1/4 cup sugar
1/2 teaspoon lemon juice
1 teaspoon arrowroot powder (or 1 1/2 teaspoon flour)

Mix flour, sugar, and salt together. Add butter chunks and fork stir until crumbly. Cover and place in a freezer for 15 minutes. Take this out and distribute water one tablespoon at a time. Once dough sticks together, knead for a minute or so. Roll into a large ball. Cover again and place in the refrigerator for an hour.

Kneaded dough before being refrigerated. A little tear spilled from my eye. It was such a good moment.

In a saucepan set on low heat, combine apples, water, coconut oil, cinnamon, pumpkin or apple pie spice, sugar, and lemon juice. Once apples are tender and soft add in arrowroot powder or flour to thicken. Remove from heat. Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

Take out chilled dough. Roll out onto floured surface and form circles. Place a small amount of apple filling in the center and fold corner over. Fork press the corners together. Poke ventilation holes (or hearts) into top of the pies. Brush with a small bit of oil.

Bake for 15-25 minutes or until edges are browned.

Bursting with apple goodness.

Pie resting in a bed of homemade vanilla ice cream.

The heart wants what it wants.

Vegan Apple Chocolate Cake

Make tea parties more delightful with Apple Chocolate Cake.

So Mother's Day was yesterday. Last week, I made this beautiful little cake that my mom would probably love (well, if there had been a lemon version). Still, she loves chocolate.
This special, very creative Apple Chocolate Cake by Adrianna's Living Healthy With Chocolate Blog combines the love of sweet, divine chocolate bliss and scrumptious apples together as a cake. Although her recipe has eggs, the white vinegar substitute plays well in my remixed veganized version, bringing forth a modest sized dessert that would entice any guest for a generous helping.

Organic Lady Alice Apples for cake.

Moist, spiced cake packed with chocolaty goodness and apple bites and a rich, decadent frosting that is finger licking delicious.


Chocolate Apple Cake Ingredients and Preparation

3 cup flour
1/2 cup cacao or cocoa powder
1/2 cup cane sugar
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 cup coconut oil, melted
2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 1/2 cup unsweetened almond milk
1 tablespoon white vinegar
1 1/2 cup apples, chopped

Topping

1/2 chocolate chips (used Pascha's 100% Unsweetened Cacao Chips)
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 teaspoon coconut oil
1 teaspoon vanilla

apples slices for garnish

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Prepare a cake pan (8" or 9") with coconut oil along the sides and parchment paper on the bottom.

Sift flour, cacao, sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg, salt, and baking soda together.
Combine coconut oil, vanilla, and almond milk.
Blend wet with dry ingredients. Add white vinegar.

Stir apples last. 

Pour batter into prepared cake pan.
Bake for 20-30 minutes.

To make topping: combine cacao (or chocolate) chips, brown sugar, coconut oil, and vanilla together in a steel bowl over boiling hot water.

Once cake is ready and cooled, spread with chocolate icing over top. Add apple slices and layer with remaining icing.

Sample a slice.

Yum!

Eggplant Roll Ups With Cashew and Tofu Ricotta (From Coco Verde Vegan)

Although I've eaten eggplant at various restaurants in roasted vegetable salads, in Baba Ganoush (my absolute favorite), and as fries, I've never worked with eggplant before last night. The moment Coco Verde Vegan posted an enticing picture and recipe for Eggplant Roll Ups on Twitter (posted here), I was blown away, desiring at last to experiment, bring the vegetable into the home kitchen at last..

With a fulfilling side of Lotus Foods Forbidden Black Rice (which had been out of stock for quite a while), the roll ups are completely simple to make and incredibly delicious. One great trick from Coco Verde Vegan is if not having time to soak cashews overnight, you can boil them for twenty minutes instead. This makes cashews susceptible for traditional blending method in a quicker fashion. Thick, luscious cashew tofu ricotta cheese and chunky tomato sauce topping deliver a pleasing reminder of stacked lasagna flare. I had leftovers for lunch-- still impressive and beautifully composed.

Eggplant Roll Ups With Cashew and Tofu Ricotta Ingredients and Preparation

1 large eggplant

2 tablespoon olive oil

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon black pepper


Cashew and Tofu Ricotta

1 cup cashews

extra firm tofu

2 tablespoon nutritional yeast

1/4 cup aquafaba (canned chickpea water)

2 teaspoon garlic

1 teaspoon salt

tomato sauce (I used a jarred vegan Portobello Mushroom sauce)

1 teaspoon Italian Seasoning


Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Slice eggplant vertically as thinly as possible-- about 1/4 inch a piece.

Coat slices in olive oil, salt, and black pepper. Bake for 35 minutes, turning them around about 18 minutes in.

Whilst eggplant is roasting, cook cashews in water for twenty minutes. Drain. Pulse them in blender or food processor with tofu, aquafaba, garlic, and salt until rich and creamy.

Take eggplant from oven, which should be soft and "rollable," spoon a generous bit of cashew tofu ricotta and roll. Repeat for each.

Heat up tomato sauce and pour over top of eggplant roll ups. Sprinkle Italian Seasoning.

Delicious Hot Carrot "Dogs"

Carrots take up space between whole wheat buns in a fascinating way!

The minute I saw the recipe for Carrot Hot Dogs on Blacks Going Vegan's Facebook page I knew a tasty destiny was in store. Carrots replacing hot dogs? Replacing even processed vegan alternative hot dogs? Get out! I had to test them out in order to see if tantalizing, well-documented photographs were simply teasing delicious possibilities.
Well, as it turns out-- a bonafide hit! Hot carrot dogs are amazing! So simple and easy to make.
Vegans never cease to amaze with their creativity.
Long carrots are cut, boiled until softened, marinated in eight ingredients, and then cooked up the next day. One could grill these too. I can already imagine them with the signature black lines, taking on a smoky rustic flavor. The texture from frying them on the skillet alone is phenomenal. The exterior is crisp and a little charred (just how I like them) while the interior is firm and soft with that irresistible carrot sweetness. Plus the buns and the fixings took on unique challenge too well.
Hot carrot dogs are definitely the way to go! I recommend them.

Hot Carrot "Dogs" Ingredients and Preparation

8 carrots, rinsed and peeled

2 tablespoon Liquid Smoke
1/4 cup Liquid Aminos
1 teaspoon garlic
1 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup balsamic vinegar
1/4 cup water
1 tablespoon maple syrup
1 teaspoon Italian seasonings (optional)

Bring carrots to a boil. Drain and rinse with cold water. Mix ingredients to make marinade together.

Coat carrots in marinade ( use about two tablespoons), wrap them in plastic (or ziplock bags), and refrigerate overnight.

Along with some olive oil and a little extra marinade, fry carrot dogs, browning each side to desired preference.

I dressed my carrots with Daiya Provolone, sliced red onions, and Annie's Homegrown Organic Ketchup.

Closeup of terrific color once biting into the "dog!"

Homemade Lavender Coconut Friendship Scrub

When friends make epic concoctions to please your skin and spirit

I don't wear foundation often. Just eyeliner, mascara, lip balm, and lipstick on occasion. For a crimson cheek, that mentioned lipstick performs double duty.
The latest craze is to look like you're not wearing makeup at all, but while wearing makeup. Very confusing logic. Why not just leave the brown stuff at home and utilize the kitchen cabinet? Many tricks of the beauty treat trade lies in ingredients used to bake cookies.
For refreshed, super clean and soft, pliant skin, a gentle scrub is the skin's BFF! The face alone contains an ample amounts of layered dirt and grime. Even the most beneficial cleanser + toner cannot promise to rid it all. Homemade scrubs are simplest secrets to uncover beauty. With a little gentle massaging and water rinse, dead skin cells are temporarily gone, waiting with revenge for you to be out of scrub. Noticeable rejuvenated complexion takes place. And it's a beautiful, beautiful change.
I'm one of the unfortunate folks who has flaky, dry skin around chin, cheeks, and nose. A lot of cleansers are alright, but adding scrub regime remedies the nuisance.
My Toronto alchemist friend made us the loveliest recipe hence the title. She too is a lover of all things natural and organic for body inside and out. Throughout winter vacation, I used her splendid concoction twice a week. And not just on the face-- it's a supreme benefit to the entire body as well!
Absolute plus! Just have a back scrubber handy to make bath time a rewarding experience. Whole skin feels smooth and silky. Goodbye dry, problematic winter dryness hello to wishing to be greeting summer weather in a maxi dress. As for your hands? Well let's just say they'll have a hard time keeping off the irresistible softness.
So put dead skin cells on notice. Let them beware. Maybe get a "don't trespass too long" for your hands too.
Friendship Scrub is composed of lavender, coconut oil, and sugar. I love love sugar scrubs! Although one can use salt, it is considered much more abrasive than the sweet, kind sugar companion. Sugar is love y'all.

Homemade Lavender Coconut Friendship Scrub

4 oz organic coconut oil, room temperature
4 tablespoon organic granulated sugar
3 teaspoon lavender

Mix all ingredients together.
Pour into a glass container and refrigerate until hardened.

Ready for use!

Generous applied sweep, letting it melt into hands beforehand. Looks like a oily, sweaty mess from excessive gym exercise right?

Massage into face, making sure to get sugar and lavender pieces on the skin. Rinse well.

Towel dried and already glowing before applying moisturizer.

Flawless clean! 

Raw Date Syrup

Add sweetness to pancakes, smoothies, and such with yummy date syrup.

Happy August! Let the school countdown begin. I cannot be the only one excited. Haha. (smiling big)
For now it's the final Daytonian First Friday for me. Psyched about seeing great art and sampling fruit. I Never stop sampling free fruit. One of my favorite dried fruits is a medjool date. It's especially addicting whenever stuffed with Peanut Butter & Company's amazing award-winning Dark Chocolate Dreams Peanut Butter and raw walnuts. Okay, I may have been stretching the award-winning peanut butter just a bit but everyone and their mamas know that Dark Chocolate Dreams is the best chocoholic pb lover's treat.
With medjool dates, possibilities are endless.
Thanks to Oh, Ladycakes and sticky, dried fruit goodness, we have a rich, caramel like syrup that is thick and oozing sweet. One could simply mix soaked dates and water- voila! Instant dripping sap. Additions like lemon juice, vanilla bean, and even coriander (which I used here) can bring extra flavor flare to this great simple syrup! Cannot wait for the weekend. Stacked "buttery" pancakes galore.

Raw Date Syrup Ingredients and Preparation

9 medjool dates
1 1/4 cup water
pinch of ground coriander (optional)

Soak dates for 30 minutes to an hour. Or overnight if preferred.

Drain. Place into blender with water and optional coriander. Puree well.

Pour into a jar that can be sealed tight. I used one of my old coconut oil jars.

Place into refrigerator. It keeps yum up to 2 weeks.

Vegan Hot Chocolate Fudge Sauced Bananas

Another choconana recipe? AfroVeganChick is trying to kill us!

In seminar this morning, we discussed the relationship between art and writing. Since the dawn of the nosy grapevine, artists have a natural progression towards loving written word with same relish as the paintbrush or lump of clay. In my case, the honest truth is that despite adoring art and writing, chocolate is my life. No- chocolate gives me life. A reason for being. Sorry art and writing. I'm keeping it real today. I have always been devoted to chocolate. We're destined for each other. Our love affair was written in the stars. Or for this recipe, made inside a hot pan with bananas thrown in.
Thanks to Top With Cinnamon for helping me perfect chocolate sauce. Her version is no sugar added. Plus photographs on her site are droolworthy fantasy. Seriously. Someone should draw a scandalously clad lady, who instead of a shirtless man holding her heaving body close, a promisingly devoted bowl of hot fudge takes place, the proximity between them undeniable. And she should definitely hold a silver spoon.....
It's easy to get off track under the influence of such a stimulant.
Mine isn't a no sugar added variety. I used brown sugar. The medjool dates got in an unfortunate accident colliding with peanut butter and hungry opened mouths. That's another story for another time. On the other hand, this yummy hot fudge sauce best complements strawberries, vanilla ice cream, plain graham crackers, a piece of stale bread or some.... bananas! Yippee! Bananas again? Well, I gave proper warning on Monday. Can you just hear Gwen Stefani shouting this recipe is bananas? B-A-N-A-N-A-S!
Yes, bad pop culture reference, but it was bound to happen. Three straight days of bananas? Yes. Hollaback Girl was going to be mentioned somehow regardless of the lack of chocolate.
The hot chocolate fudge sauce makes the banana slices divine and the cinnamon gives a spicy area for the sweet toothed tongue to rest. Overall, very satisfactory and simple to make.
Place any excess sauce in a jar and refrigerate. It can be reheated for another day. 

Vegan Chocolate Sauced Bananas Ingredients and Preparation

1/2 cup unsweetened almond milk
1/4 cup brown sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 tablespoon cocoa powder
2 bananas, ripened and both cut in half
1 teaspoon cinnamon

In a medium heated saucepan, heat almond milk, brown sugar, and vanilla together. Stirring gradually as it boils.
Evenly mix in the cocoa powder.
Allow simmer. Don't stop stirring.
In about 7-10 minutes, the sauce will thicken.

Turn off heat and add bananas, being sure to coat each to desired chocolate satisfaction.

Plate and pour excess sauce over top banana goodness.

Gaze at them for a while and embrace feeling like a 5 star dessert maker.

Sprinkle with cinnamon and share with a friend. Or eat the leftovers for later. If there are any leftovers....