October Oatmeal

My love affair with fall flavors continues, as it should for the remainder of this joyous season. It's all this pumpkin butter's fault!

I woke up yesterday (after getting a lot of sleep) and headed right into the kitchen where I got to work on a new recipe. What started as basic oatmeal quickly morphed into a warm, filling, bowl of autumn goodness!

Apples? Check!

Pumpkin? Check!

Cinnamon? Ginger? Allspice? Nutmeg? Check check check check!

All of these flavors have me singing a familiar song:

October Oatmeal

(Makes 2-3 servings)

2 ¼ cups water

¾ cup oats (I use Trader Joe's quick cook steel cut oats)

½ teaspoon cinnamon

¼ teaspoon ginger

1/8 teaspoon allspice

1/8 teaspoon nutmeg

1 medium-sized apple, chopped into small pieces (Honeycrisp are divine this time of year!)

3-4 tablespoons almond milk

3-4 tablespoons pumpkin butter

½ tablespoon brown sugar

2 tablespoons of walnuts

• Bring the water to a boil in a medium-sized saucepan.
• Add the oats and the spices and bring the water down to simmer.
• Cover the saucepan with a lid but make sure to stir frequently for about 4 minutes.
• At this point the liquid should be mostly absorbed, so mix in the almond milk and the apple and cover again.
• After a few more minutes, when the oatmeal has reached the desired consistency, remove from the stove.
• Stir in the pumpkin butter and the walnuts and top with a thin layer of brown sugar.
• Optional step: curl up in bed with a warm bowl of this and save the dishes for later :)

This oatmeal makes a perfect breakfast in bed or brunch addition. The recipe makes 2 large servings or 3 smaller servings, but if you're having a solo breakfast (embrace that “me” time!) you can refrigerate the leftover amount and reheat the next day like I did. I added a splash of almond milk this morning and zapped it in the microwave for a bit, and it was good to go!  

Warm, gooey, rich flavors. Heaven!

Magic Fall-Inducing Muffins

Guys, I think it's safe to say that it's finally fall, which means that for the next two months (if we're lucky!) I can revel in boots, sweaters, warm beverages, crunchy leaves, and pumpkin flavored everything. While fall is definitely my favorite season, it doesn't mean as much as it once did when I lived in Vermont, where the mountain views and intense reds and oranges of the foliage were right outside my door.

Photo courtesy of Vermont Academy

I miss it, especially now that I'm in New York and walk outside to the smell of garbage and urine instead of that distinct autumn scent.

Ok. That took a gross turn. To distract you I'll just show you these bad boys:

Back to the whole pumpkin flavored everything. Since high school, I've made it my mission to devote the entire month of October to one of my favorite flavors: once upon a time this included pumpkin ice cream, pumpkin donuts, bagels with pumpkin cream cheese, pumpkin lattes, pumpkin whoopie pies (OH MY GOD YUM), and once the month came to a close, the grand finale: a pumpkin birthday cake with cream cheese frosting.

So. Moral of this story is that I love fall, I love October, and I love pumpkin. The problem this past week? I think the weather forgot that it couldn't be summer anymore. So with temps in the 70s and low 80s, it was anticlimactic! Never fear, sometimes you just have to take things into your own hands. That's where these delectable muffins come in...

A visit from my boyfriend this weekend gave me an excuse to bake a new treat, but who am I kidding, I definitely don't need a reason to bake (and you don't either!). I decided it was finally time to kick the pumpkin into high gear and turned to a comforting classic. The spices in this muffin are really key – feel free to play around with the amounts of each, and maybe even throw in some ground cloves for more dimension. And you can obviously omit the chocolate chips, add walnuts or dried fruit, or just leave them plain. But I don't know why you wouldn't want the chocolate chips melting in every bite. It's pretty fantastic.

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Muffins

(Makes 12-16 muffins)

1 ¾ cups flour

1 ¼ cups sugar

1 tablespoon baking powder

¼ teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

½ + ¼ teaspoon ground nutmeg

½ teaspoon ground ginger

¼ teaspoon ground allspice

1 cup pureed pumpkin

½ cup almond milk (This wasn't quite enough, so once you've mixed all of the ingredients together, just add more almond milk, one tablespoon at a time, until your batter is the desired consistency)

½ cup canola oil

2 tablespoons molassses

Chocolate chips (go as wild or as mild as you'd like!)

• Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Line or grease your muffin tins. Blah blah blah.
• In a large bowl, whisk together the dry ingredients: flour, sugar, baking powder, salt, and spices.
• In a separate bowl, whisk together the the wet ingredients: pumpkin, almond milk, oil, and molasses.
• Pour wet mixture into the dry mixture and whisk until combined.
• Throw in as many chocolate chips as your heart desires (Just a tip: the mini chips create the perfect chocolate to pumpkin ratio!)
• Fill the muffin tins about 2/3 full with batter and bake for 18-20 minutes.

Do yourself a favor and eat a ton of this batter with a spoon. Your life will be better for it. 

As fate would have it, today it finally felt like fall! I wore my cute new boots and fall jacket, there was a brisk breeze. Aaaahhhh. I think it was my muffins that did it, right?! So as I walked home from class I stopped into one of my fave places - Peacefood Cafe - and grabbed my favorite warm beverage for the occasion. Their apple ginger soy drink is heaven in a cup - refreshing, crisp, foamy, warm. The perfect alternative to coffee that didn't even make me miss pumpkin spice lattes (RIP), this drink is incredible. I attempted to capture just how frothy this drink is, but not even pictures can do it justice: 

To complete my fall frolic, I stopped into Trader Joe's for some groceries, where I FOUND THIS!!

So now I'm in heaven. If you're in New England, enjoy the foliage for me pleaseeee! 

You Never Need a Reason to Make Cupcakes

Weekends. Aahhh, weekends. As someone who appreciates sleeping in, lounging around all day in pajamas, and brunch (because it's just an excuse to eat sweet and savory foods at the same time), weekends have pretty much always rocked. Ever since my boarding school days, when I had classes and sports practice/games on Saturdays, I have grown to really appreciate my time away from the normal routine. However, I've quickly realized in the last month that weekends come to mean a hell of a lot more once you're out in the working world.

What? You guys don't frolic around Harlem on the weekends, stopping to take a pic with Freddy D?!

Now, as I only have three months left to enjoy the blissfully wonderful class schedule of a second semester senior in college, I have taken it upon myself to reflect on what awaits me in the big bad real world that exists one step beyond receiving my diploma: it's not pretty. Both my roommates leave the apartment (one in pantyhose and heels – shudder) in the morning and return home at the end of the day, frustrated and uninspired by their menial employment.

Moral of this story? Fuck excuses, fuck birthdays, fuck rational thought. Just make cupcakes for the hell of it. You don't need a reason, and they're often better if you have none. Just scamper off to Whole Foods like a deranged addict (wait, is that just me?) and bake your little heart out. Because we all deserve an escape from the mundane.

P.S. new shoes from your mom help too

So. These fluffy, moist (sorry all you moist haters) little pillows of deliciousness were brought in to celebrate making it through another week. It's a basic vanilla cupcake that's probably the best vanilla cake I've had since going vegan, topped with a salty, but still incredibly sweet, caramel frosting. This is what sugar comas are made of folks. Embrace, enjoy, and celebrate absolutely nothing!

Salted Caramel Cupcakes (from Chloe Coscarelli's Chloe's Vegan Desserts)*

(Makes 12 cupcakes)

1 ½ cups all purpose flour

1 cup sugar

1 teaspoon baking soda

½ teaspoon salt

¾ cup almond milk

½ cup canola oil

2 tablespoons white vinegar

1 tablespoon vanilla extract

• Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Line or grease your cupcake tins. Blah blah blah.
• In a large bowl, whisk together the dry ingredients: flour, sugar, baking soda, and salt.
• In a separate bowl, whisk together the wet ingredients: almond milk, oil, vinegar, and vanilla.
• Pour wet mixture into the dry mixture and whisk until combined.
• Fill the cupcake tins about 2/3 full with batter and bake for 20 minutes

* This recipe may seem insanely familiar if you've perused my chocolate cupcake recipe from last week. These basic chocolate and vanilla cupcake recipes always yield scrumptious results from very little effort.

Caramel Frosting

½ cup Earth Balance

1 cup dark brown sugar

¼ cup almond milk (I needed more)

¼ teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

3 cups powdered sugar

Sea salt, for sprinkling

• In a medium saucepan, melt Earth Balance and whisk in brown sugar, almond milk, and salt.
• Bring to a gentle boil and let boil for 3-4 minutes.
• Remove from heat, stir in vanilla, and let cool (I put it aside for 20-ish minutes).
• Once cool, slowly beat the caramel mixture with the powdered sugar using a hand mixer (When I did this it produced a crumbly mess so I took Chloe's suggestion and added in a couple of tablespoons of almond milk which smoothed it out into a recognizable frosting).
• Beat on high until smooooooooth.
• Optional: I threw my bowl of frosting into the freezer for 20-ish minutes to firm it up a bit. There's nothing worse than going to assemble your cupcakes and having the frosting slide down the cupcake because it's too warm or too runny.
• Once the frosting is firm, spread it generously on the cupcakes and sprinkle those bad boys with some sea salt to give them that extra kick!

Bonus:

if these cupcakes last the weekend they can serve as an incentive for making it through your mopey/manic/mundane Monday! Coming home to this little treat will no doubt put a smile on your face :)

Omnivore-Approved Chocolate Cupcakes

Hello world! I'm back: back in New York, back in the blogosphere, and back in the kitchen! Being unable to cook or bake for two and a half months this summer was brutal - but I love my job and adore escaping to the middle of nowhere in Maine, so it's worth it, even for a foodie like me.

When I came home I found myself making really basic things to eat - salads with bottled dressing for lunch, crispy tofu when I was feeling uninspired, and peanut butter sandwiches when I didn't feel like doing much. I think I actually had to remind myself that I loved to cook and bake!

So, there I was, seeking out more recipes online, making longer and longer Whole Foods lists, and perusing cookbooks at the public library. And then I remembered that it was going to be my roommate's birthday and BAM! I was in the kitchen and donning my apron like I had never left. Both roommates came home to the smell of chocolate cake wafting through our apartment and an extra tub of frosting sitting in our freezer. There are worse ways to spend a Friday night, right?

The birthday girl didn't have any crazy requests, so I decided to whip together something that we would all enjoy: chocolate and peanut butter. Because let's get real: who doesn't love this sweet and salty combination?!

These cupcakes are sheer perfection. Time and time again I've turned to this recipe when I need a dose of chocolate, or when I'm slightly weary of serving baked goods to people who expect the familiar tastes of cholesterol-laden Magnolia Bakery cupcakes. You see, I can accept that my taste buds have grown accustomed to substituting almond milk for cow's milk, Earth Balance for butter, and flax seeds for eggs, but it can be difficult for some people to see beyond the ingredients they think they are missing when they're eating vegan treats. Let me tell you – these cupcakes definitely don't have that problem! People are too busy devouring these beauties to even miss those unneeded ingredients.

I've made this chocolate cupcake for friends and family, and it's a personal favorite of mine, but until this recipe I hadn't experimented with very many types of vegan frosting. While I usually turn to the reliable chocolate ganache topping, I decided to try something new and turned to one of my old, pre-vegan favorites – cream cheese frosting. It is my belief that there are two types of people in this world: cupcake people or frosting people. I am definitely a cupcake person, and believe that there shouldn't be a huge glob of frosting on top to distract from the main event, however, you always need a little something to bring in a new flavor or enhance the cake aspect. I'm a huge fan of this frosting because it balances out all the sugar (and there's a lot!) with the tartness of vegan cream cheese and slight saltiness of peanut butter. Yummmm!

Before you get going on the cake, you should probably make the frosting first so as to let it chill in the fridge or freezer while you're baking. This firms it up to a perfect consistency when it's time to put it all together.

Peanut Butter Heaven (or peanut butter “cream cheese” frosting)

6 oz vegan cream cheese (I used Go Veggie! brand)

3 tablespoons peanut butter

½ teaspoon vanilla extract

1 ¼ cup confectioner's sugar

• With a hand mixer, cream the vegan cream cheese and peanut butter in a large bowl.
• Slowly add the confectioner's sugar ¼ cup at a time until it is fully incorporated.
• When everything is properly mixed, stir in the vanilla extract.
• Place in the fridge (or freezer if you're short on time) to chill!

Omnivore-Approved Chocolate Cupcakes

(This recipe makes 12-14 cupcakes, depending on how much batter you want to eat. My recommendation? Make 12 cupcakes and spoon the rest of the chocolately goodness straight into your mouth as you smell these babies baking away in the oven. This method was roommate-tested, Brenna-approved.)

1 ½ cups all purpose flour

1 cup sugar

1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder

1 teaspoon baking soda

½ teaspoon salt

1 cup cold coffee

½ cup canola oil

2 tablespoons white vinegar

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

• Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Line or grease your cupcake tins. Blah blah blah.
• In a large bowl, whisk together the dry ingredients: flour, sugar, cocoa powder, baking soda, and salt.
• In a separate bowl, whisk together the wet ingredients: coffee, oil, vinegar, and vanilla.
• Pour wet mixture into the dry mixture and whisk until combined.
• Fill the cupcake tins about 2/3 full with batter and bake for 16-18 minutes

When the cupcakes have cooled, spoon the frosting into your pastry bag and go to town! With the help of my handy roommate-assistant, I topped these beauties with tiny semisweet chocolate chips (courtesy of Enjoy Life) and subsequently devoured them in the name of birthday celebrations! 

Now that I've caught the baking bug again, what am I going to make next week?!

100 Calorie Cocoa Cookies

My sweet tooth is taking over my life. Here's a typical scene from my life: I finish a totally yummy (and usually fairly healthy) lunch or dinner, I wash my dishes, I get out some homework, and BAM! It hits me. I need something sweet.

This sucks. Because if I don't have something sweet standing by then I make it my mission to find something or make something. This takes up time (and sometimes money) that I really don't have to waste, and my single-mindedness and insatiable need for dessert wins. Not anymore, my friend!

I go 10x less crazy when I make a batch of cookies or something to last me the entire week. This way I have something I can grab at the end of a meal and cross it off my list before it gets the best of me. But, this isn't the healthiest thing in the world and I'm still trying to cut down on the sugar. So what do I do? I play around with a new recipe that gives me the best of both worlds: something sweet and chocolatey, as well as something that won't send me into diabetic shock.

These cookies are chewy like brownies but still crisp around the edges. They're not too sweet but still chocolatey and they totally fulfill all of my expectations for dessert. 

100 Calorie Cocoa Cookies

(makes 12 medium-sized cookies)

¾ cup flour

¼ cup cocoa powder

¼ tsp baking soda

¼ cup Earth Balance

¼ cup sugar

¼ cup brown sugar

6 tsp nondairy milk (I used unsweetened plain almond milk)

Optional toppings: walnuts, peanuts, dried cranberries, dairy-free chocolate chips, pumpkin seeds, goji berries, coconut, etc.

• Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Lightly grease a baking sheet or fit it with parchment paper.
• In a small bowl, mix together the flour, cocoa powder, and baking soda.
• In a medium-sized bowl, cream the Earth Balance, sugar, and brown sugar with an electric mixer.
• When fully combined, toss in the nondairy milk and pour in the small bowl of dry ingredients while the mixer is still running. Mix until completely combined.
• With your hands, form the dough into small balls, pressing them down slightly on the baking sheet.
• Optional: top each doughy disc with any number of toppings (see above for my picks)
• Bake for 9-11 minutes, or until desired consistency.

I do want to start coming up with some new healthy dessert recipes and utilize natural sweeteners like mashed banana and applesauce, but this recipe was crafted based on what I already had sitting in my pantry, and took hardly any time to whip together, so it's a start. Compared to the other treats I've been eating lately this will be a welcome shift! Now, I'm not much of a calorie counter, so I'm not entirely sure if this is accurate, but with the help of a handy website this is what I came up with:

(Bare in mind that this is without the optional toppings, but depending on what you choose you can still play around and create some fun combos while still sticking to the 100 calorie range)

Bonus pic of the cookies cooling by the open window because IT'S 73 DEGREES OUTSIDE! WOOHOO! 

Please ignore the disgustingly dirty window. There's no way of cleaning it when it only opens up that far!

P.S. I made another dragon bowl for lunch today and the leftover veggies I made yesterday are just as amazing reheated as they were when they were fresh last night. Just pop them all in a microwaveable bowl with the rice and tofu, heat 'em up, and then drizzle on the dressing and sprinkle on some mixed greens. Even easier when all the meal prep is already done!

Happy Monday!

Xoxoxo

Dragon Bowls: Grains, Greens, and 'Teins!

Lately I've been really feeling the dragon bowl. It's a great way to load up on fresh veggies and also use up any leftovers you have sitting in the fridge. I spent an hour on Sunday cooking all of the veg and cramming the fridge with carefully-stuffed tupperware, giving myself plenty of meal options for the coming week. The awesome thing about dragon bowls is that you can really throw just about anything in them – I usually start with some quinoa or brown rice, then toss in some arugula or mixed greens, and then I go wild with the veggies. Then, on top of some dry-fried tofu, I throw a little bit of dressing over it all. Yum! Healthy, filling, and flavorful.

You can't see all of the goodies but this baby is loaded with layers of veggies!

• Brown rice: I try to keep a container of rice or quinoa in the fridge at all times, that way it's easy to make a meal when I'm not feeling all that inspired.
• Mixed greens
• Dry-fried tofu: this is a super basic way of cooking tofu, but lately I've been trying to cut down on the amount of oil that I cook with. Dry-frying is great, oil-free cooking option. You basically press the tofu like you normally would, and cut it into whatever shapes/thickness your recipe or heart desires. Then you just heat a pan on medium-high heat, throw the tofu in, and use a spatula to press down on each piece to suck out any remaining moisture. This will make a really funny sound that always reminds me of the screaming mandrakes from Harry Potter. So this tofu is quick, easy, and entertaining. Press down on the tofu a few times, until the bottoms brown. Then you flip and do the same on the other side.
• Maple roasted brussels sprouts: I made a batch of Chloe Coscarelli's Maple-Roasted Brussels Sprouts late last week and figured they'd make a good addition to my dinner. I didn't have any hazelnuts on hand, but they ended up being really scrumptious.
• Asparagus: Usually I roast my asparagus with a good amount of olive oil, salt, and pepper, but this time I thought I'd try something new. I'm normally not a huge fan of boiling vegetables, but I decided to try it and I'm glad I did. I cut the spears into 1-inch pieces, boiled them up until they were fork-tender, then tossed them with a touch of olive oil and s+p.
• Kale with onion and garlic: I love love love kale, and garlic is obviously amazing, but traditionally I've been pretty anti-onion. I don't know what it is about onion, but for whatever reason I've spent the better part of my life avoiding them unless they are in a super flavorful dish like yellow curry. That's all changing now! I'm slowly introducing onions to my taste buds, convinced that you can train your palate to like foods if you stay persistent. And this combo is goooood. Saucepan, medium heat, a touch of olive oil. I chopped up a few cloves of garlic, a medium-sized onion, and threw them in, letting them brown with a healthy dose of cumin. Once these bad boys become translucent beauties (and fill your kitchen with a lovely scent), throw in a bunch of chopped up kale and ¼ – ½ cup of water to deglaze the pan. Mix it around a bit, throw a lid on that sucker (leaving a crack for steam to escape), and let it all cook together until the kale is wilted and a beautiful color. Drain the water and you're good to go!
• Carrots: A thin julienne has been my method of choice. Get those babies looking like matchsticks and toss them in just about anything.
• Peanut lime dressing: Taken from Isa Chandra Moskowitz' Appetite for Reduction, this dressing is basic but heavenly. Lots of store-bought dressings are loaded with tons of unnecessary shenanigans, so I try to whip up my own whenever a recipe calls for it. I normally use this one with Moskowitz' Pad Thai Salad (SO GOOD!), but I happened to have some of this sitting in my fridge nearing the end of its prime. Turns out, it serves as a perfect binding ingredient for all of the other parts of the bowl. Super simple: ¼ cup peanuts, ¼ cup lime juice, ½ cup water, 2 tbl agave, 2 tbl soy sauce, and 1 tbl chili-garlic sauce. Throw it all in a blender and buzz away! It's a super light, thin dressing, but I much prefer that to thick globs of dressing.

Load up a bowl with your grains, your greens, and your 'teins (protein. Duh.) and drizzle some dressing over the whole thing. A little goes a long way in this case. And there you have a super green, healthy, and absolutely delicious meal that fills you up and leaves you feeling good afterwards. Win win!

xoxoxo

I'm Aliiiiiiive!

I'm baaaaaack!

It's been a long week. A week filled with a ton of the following: peppermint tea with lemon juice and agave, popsicles, chocolate chip pancakes, and green smoothies. I've been kicked in the ass by a brutal virus since late last week, and I'm finally turning the corner. You know what sucks? Having a crazy sore throat, earaches, and headaches ON TOP OF a painful crick in my neck. Needless to say this left me eating some pretty uninspired meals.

Today I celebrated my renewed health with some kick ass food. I went back to The Cinnamon Snail. 

YAYYYYYYY!

This time I made good on my promise to try some of their savory menu items. I chose the lemongrass seitan sandwich, but I'm sure I could have selected anything and I would have been happy. This grilled baguette had deliciously spiced seitan, curried cashews, spicy wasabi mayo, arugula, and chili sauce, and I devoured it as soon as I came home. The cashews added a slight crunch and the wasabi mayo gave it a kick that helped clear out my sinuses. I've been cooking a lot of tofu lately so it's been a while since I've had seitan, and The Cinnamon Snail definitely did not disappoint. I'm glad that I ate my sandwich in the comfort of my own home because the chili sauce dribbled down all over my face and I know that I probably looked crazy and food-obsessed. But it was goooood.

I didn't go wild with the sweets this time, but I couldn't walk away from the truck and NOT get dessert. The donuts just stared at me! So I got another maple glazed coconut donut and it was just as good the second time around. I don't know about you guys but whenever I'm sick I just crave sugar, and no matter how hard I try to subsist on kale, sprouts, and tofu, my sweet tooth takes over my ailing body and demands that I eat an insane amount of pancakes and the wonder/horror that is the single-serve-chocolate-cake-in-a-mug phenomena. Now all that's left of my virus is a tired spirit, a slight cough, and a raspy voice that I'm trying to tell myself is sexy. It's really not.

Thanks Cinnamon Snail for welcoming me back to the land of the living! xoxoxo

Flip Flops and Chocolate Chip Cookies

Spring has sprung! (uhh, I think)

Yesterday was gross and rainy and I was cold and tired but today! Today! It's in the high forties, the sun is beaming down on us, and my mood is restored. I gleefully headed downtown for my first class at 9:30 (alright, so maybe “gleefully” isn't entirely accurate – I was headed to my boring science class after all) and took in some Vitamin D. An hour later, after sitting through a presentation by an abysmal guest lecturer, I had a very important decision to make: do I stay on campus for my three hour break or do I go home? Now, a reasonable person would argue that I already lugged my lunch down to campus with me and I had an exam to study for, so I should really stay on campus and be productive. However, that's just not who I am the majority of the time, so I hopped a bus back to Gramercy! And do you want to know what I did once I got there? I think you do:

CHLOE COSCARELLI'S CINNAMON-ESPRESSO CHOCOLATE CHIP COOKIES

Oh Chloe, you never steer me wrong! Now, I'm a huge fan of Ms. Coscarelli, so if you haven't heard of her you should really check out her recipes. She first burst onto the scene as the vegan baking maven who beat out all the other egg- and dairy-heavy cupcakes on Food Network's Cupcake Wars, and in the last twelve months she has released two cookbooks, Chloe's Kitchen (2012), and Chloe's Vegan Desserts (2013).

In Chloe's Kitchen, Coscarelli expanded on her obvious talent for sweet confections by collecting a varied assortment of both her sweet and savory recipes, many of which have become staples in my house. Her mac and “cheese” and peanut noodle recipes pop up in my kitchen more often than I'd like to admit... But as much as I love love love her lunch and dinner recipes, there's a special place in my heart for her sweet recipes. Hence these cookies:

So after scarfing down my pad thai salad (recipe courtesy of yet ANOTHER vegan goddess, Isa Chanda Moskowitz) I happily whipped up these bad boys. Exam tomorrow?! I'll just study later... with a big fat cookie and glass of almond milk by my side. Now, doesn't that sound much better?

Cinnamon-Espresso Chocolate Chip Cookies 
(from Chloe Coscarelli's Chloe's Kitchen)

Makes 26 3-inch cookies

2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
3/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup vegan margarine
3 tablespoons instant espresso powder
1 cup powdered sugar
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1 1/2 cups dairy-free semisweet chocolate chips (I probably used closer to 1 cup)
About 1/4 cup granulated sugar for sprinkling 

• Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Line 2 or 3 large baking sheets with Silpat or parchment paper. 
• In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, cinnamon, and salt. 
• In another bowl, using a mixer, beat margarine and espresso powder until well combined. Add powdered sugar and brown sugar, and beat until combined. 
• Mix in the flour mixture 1/2 cup at a time. If dough seems too dry to scoop, add 1 to 2 tablespoons water. Stir in chocolate chips. 
• Scoop about 2 tablespoons dough at a time. Roll each scoop in a small plate of sugar. Place each scoop, round side up, on the prepared baking sheets, about 2 inches apart. 
• For crisp cookies, gently flatten the dough with the palm of your hand. For soft cookies, leave as is.
• Bake about 12 to 14 minutes, or until the edges are browned. Let cool and serve!

Two of my roommates came in an out of the kitchen while I was baking these little chunks of heaven, and I officially became THAT roommate. The one who just yesterday spent an absurd amount of time shopping at both Trader Joe's and Whole Foods and chopping up fresh veggies to store in the fridge.

My name is Brenna and I'm a foodie.

P.S. This is me geeking out last month at a book signing event at The Natural Gourmet Institute here in NYC. I may or may not have spilled to Chloe that she's my idol...

Happy Tuesday! Peace, love, and cookies, y'all!

xoxoxo

Sundays and Sugar

There's this vegan food truck here in NYC called The Cinnamon Snail, and up until today I have lusted after them from afar, ogling beautifully Instagrammed pictures on Twitter of decadent, sugary baked goods and plotting my first encounter. Their menu makes my mouth water, with both sweet and savory options, and this morning I woke up to find that they were parked in Union Square, so how could I resist?!

Bear in mind that I just returned last night from being home in Massachusetts for four days, where I baked crumb cake, lemon poppy seed muffins, and devoured almost an entire box of Thin Mints. So this actually couldn't have come at a worse time. Hopefully this means that I've gotten this insatiable need for sugar out of my system and I can go back to craving kale chips and raw cacao macaroons.

So here I was this morning: I showered, threw on some spandex and my sneaks (in an effort to look like I was out being active and not loading up on sugar), and headed down to Union Square. Sunday mornings in New York might be my favorite time, especially now that spring is coming, because everyone who's out and about seems to be enjoying the sun. There's a different kind of vibe, and it always puts a smile on my face.

So I sidled up to The Cinnamon Snail truck and was shocked to see that no one else was in line. I was fully prepared to put in the time and wait for my treats (this picture was taken yesterday) but in this case I guess the early bird gets the worm! I stood, perusing the mountains of donuts, and finally settled on three amazingly beautiful treats: a cinnamon bun, a chocolate cookie glazed donut, and a maple glazed donut with coconut.

Mmmmmmmmmmmm

I sauntered back to my apartment, clutching my bag of donuts, intoxicated by the familiar donutty smell that was wafting into my nostrils. Donuts are intrinsically linked to childhood memories for me, connecting me to people and places that are no longer a part of my life. But the smells – the smells! - bring me back. And that, right there, is one of the things I love about food.

And MAN were these treats scrumptious! I think it's a good thing that the truck is very rarely parked in my neighborhood at a convenient time for me, or else I'd weigh 400 pounds. Lately I've had a strong craving for donuts, and these bad boys really delivered. They tasted just like the donuts of my youth, especially the coconut one, and I now need to compensate with a dinner of veggies, rice, and tofu. And go to the gym tomorrow. But it was so worth it.  

Love and What I Ate

I'm back to blogging, y'all!

After documenting a tumultuous year of personal discovery (which is still going on) in my first blog, I've decided that there's a huge part of who I am and what I love to do that I've only really briefly touched upon: food.

Now that I'm settled (or as settled as I can be) back at NYU, my life is pretty boring: I'm in class, I'm reading mountains of textbooks and articles, I'm writing papers, I'm trying to be social, and I'm glued to Netflix and Hulu at the end of the day. The most exciting part of being back in New York City for me is the plethora of amazing vegan food options. From all types of restaurants imaginable, to food trucks, to farmer's markets, to grocery stores, being a vegan in this city is pretty amazing.

I figure that my day-to-day life is much more boring than my amazing adventure last fall, so it wouldn't make for an entertaining blog anymore. BUT! My love for vegan food can't be suppressed, especially now that I'm back in NYC, and I find that there's so much that I want to share and talk about. My light at the end of the tunnel when I'm stressed and overwhelmed is thinking about what new restaurants to try, reading recipes, and sharing all this love with the people in my life.

I'm going to try not to get all preachy or corny, but here it goes: for me, eating a vegan diet is about consuming compassionately. I'm hyper-aware of the food that I eat, and the quality and backstory of the ingredients I am consuming. This does not mean, however, that I am a perfect, uber healthy spokesgirl for nutrition. I eat junk more often than I'd like - I'm not perfect. But even when I devour more than my fair share of Thin Mints (ahem, like I did this afternoon) I think about what I'm putting into my body, and for me, I've reached a point where I am not comfortable consuming any animal products. There's no one simple reason for this, and maybe I'll elaborate more at a later date, but this is what it boils down to for me: I want to live a life full of love, and over the years I've found so much joy and peace and inspiration by getting rid of meat, seafood, dairy, eggs, etc. from my life.

My goal with this blog is to take what I've learned and what I feel and show people that a vegan diet can be really kick ass, and it definitely isn't just lettuce and sprouts. Cooking and baking delicious vegan food is about putting a little love back into the world. How can you argue with that?