vegan apple-carrot muffins

I am about to share with you one of my favorite recipes!  They're perfect for Fall and are my go-to item for school parties, snacks, playgroups, really anything kid-related.  Parents love them because they're full of healthy fruits and veggies. These are egg-free, dairy-free, and nut-free.  Fruit/veg ingredients can be adjusted (more or less) without changing the taste!  I haven't done it, but I bet the sugar could be reduced as well...  Makes about 2 1/2 dozen.

Vegan Apple-Carrot Muffins

2 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup white sugar
4 tsp cinnamon
2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
2-3 medium (ripe) bananas, peeled and mashed
1 1/4 cup natural applesauce
1/4 cup vegetable oil
2 cups finely grated carrots (3-4 carrots)
3 apples, peeled and grated

Preheat oven to 400 and prepare muffin tin with liners
Mix together dry ingredients in a large bowl (flour, sugars, cinnamon, baking soda and powder, salt)
In a small bowl, mix mashed bananas, applesauce, and oil.  Stir into dry ingredients until well-combined
Grate carrots and squeeze out excess moisture with paper towel.  Mix into batter.
Repeat above step with apples.
Spoon batter into prepared pan(s)  * fill 1/2 to 3/4 full - these will rise a lot
Bake for 20-25 minutes until toothpick inserted into center comes out clean.
Cool in pan for 5 minutes then remove to wire racks to cool completely.

Happy, healthy eating!

eggplant napoleon

We're having one of my recent favorites for dinner tonight!  This recipe is highly adaptable, so feel free to adjust to suit your tastes.

Eggplant Napoleon

1 eggplant
salt
1/4 cup ranch dressing
1 cup almond flour (or panko, or breadcrumbs)
1 small log goat cheese or fresh mozzarella, sliced
1 ripe tomato, sliced

Wash and slice eggplant into 1/2 inch rounds. Salt both sides and set aside for about 30 minutes
Rinse eggplant and pat dry
Preheat oven to 350
Brush ranch on eggplant rounds then coat in almond flour or breadcrumbs (both sides)
Bake for 15 minutes in a greased glass casserole dish
Flip then bake for 15 minutes more
Top with cheese and tomato slices then return to oven for 5-10 minutes, until cheese is warm and bubbly
* Make sure eggplant is soft, but not too soft!

So good!  Mine are ready to flip - only 30 minutes left til dinnertime!

giving thanks

Despite all the craziness that has been my life in the last few months, I am very thankful for what I have!  We have been adjusting well (for the most part) to our new life 2000+ miles away.  And even though I miss my family and friends dearly, I am looking forward to celebrating the holidays and maybe creating some new traditions with my little family of four.  Here's our semi-traditional Turkey Day menu, minus the turkey!

salad with smoked gouda, walnuts, pears, apples, and balsamic vinaigrette
fresh sourdough
sweet potato casserole with vanilla bean marshmallows and praline pecan topping
broccoli
corn
dry-aged grass-fed ribeye (for Daddo)
faux chicken nuggets (for the girls - they don't know they're faux, but if they did I don't think they would care)
pumpkin-apple pie

The pie is a new recipe from Whole Foods. It turned out a little wobbly even after cooking it forever, so I hope it still tastes good.  I made the sweet potatoes last year and they were great!  I'll post the recipe soon. 

I'm getting hungry talking about all this food.  I can't wait to dig in!  Happy Thanksgiving!

I'm back!

It's been a loooong time, friends!  In the last year I have lost my gall bladder (with a less than ideal recovery), lost interest in cooking, lost interest in being vegan, and moved across country and practically lost my sanity.  I am 2000+ miles away from my support system, my kids are in school, and my husband is going into an office 5 days a week.  I've been up and down, happy and sad, and I've learned some things during the last year about myself as a foodie and family chef...

I'm not meant to be a vegan and am happy as a vegetarian (and very rarely pescetarian if the mood strikes and I am around super-fresh shellfish), although I ultimately define myself as a whole-foodsetarian (I just made that up).  Where I live now, I have more access to fresh produce year-round, and I am now within 10 minutes of 3 Whole Foods and multiple Trader Joes!  I also joined a CSA and enjoy a variety of fresh, organic, local produce every week.

Maybe the most surprising thing I've learned is that my family is quite adaptable and I don't have to fix 4 different meals!  Hubby and kiddos are now semi-vegetarian.  I don't buy meat or prepare it at home (except for the occasional hot dog), and no one cares!  Hubby eats meat when we go out, but he is at a point where he doesn't mind not having it at home and will even decline if I offer to buy some.  This has made my life a lot easier and helped to renew my interest in dinnertime.

And that's what this blog is now about.  The mostly healthy, mostly whole foods, mostly delicious way I feed my family.  

Happy, healthy eating!

bad blogger!

As excited as I was to start the new blog, I can't believe it's been a month since I've posted! A lot has been going on the home-front. My kids started preschool - both of them. I am a little wistful for the good ole days, but at the same time getting a ton of errands done in my 4 free hours a week. I started an 18-week house cleaning and organizing project at organizedchristmas.com. Thanks to my facebook friend who is leading it all, I am pretty much keeping on track with that. And finally, my gall bladder has turned against me! I started getting really sick right after Labor Day and ended up in the ER with chest pains I thought was a heart attack. The doc told me I had heartburn and sent me home, but I followed up with an Internal Medicine guy who ordered an ultrasound and found gallstones. I had a total of 5 attacks in a short 2-week period, so my gall bladder has to go! My surgery is scheduled for October 16.

What bewilders me about the whole gall bladder thing is that I have never had problems before, and now that I am vegan the stones show up?!? I am losing weight slowly, and not eating excessive amounts of oil, fried foods, or foods high in fat - all the classic causes. My theory is that my body - during it's adjustment period to becoming healthy - has sacrificed my gall bladder to get rid of the remaining bad stuff.

Despite all the crazy busy sickness, I have been cooking! Mainly recipes from my birthday present cookbook, Moosewood Simple Suppers. It's a great book with fantastic recipes! While I'm not going to reprint the recipes (buy the book, you won't be disappointed), I would like to review some of them here. Perhaps in my post-op, while I am hanging out on the couch, have other people caring for my children, and am hopped up on pain pills :)

Stay tuned... and in the meantime... happy, healthy eating!

dreamsicles and fuzzy navels

Yum... I'm going to a martini party this week where everyone brings a different type of martini and everyone samples it. Basically, a bunch of girls sitting around drinking froo-froo shots. Last year, the Blueberry Martini won by a landslide! Could be because it was the 15th one and everything tastes good after 15 shots! Anyway, this year I looked to the internets to help me find a good drink. I found a recipe for the Dreamy Martini and had to try it out over the weekend - to make sure it was good. And it was! Tastes just like a creamsicle. I think what made it even better was that the kids were at Grandma's for the night. Here's the recipe:

1 part vanilla vodka (I used absolut)
1 part triple sec (use grand marnier for a high-end drink)
4 parts orange juice (I used pulp-free valencia)

Shake with ice and serve in chilled glasses. Mmmmm...

And since I had leftover OJ, I decided to add some to my morning smoothie today. The result came out tasting like a fuzzy navel! So good! Here's how you make a Fuzzy Navel Smoothie:

1 banana
1 peach
1/4 pineapple
1/2 cup (or more) OJ
1/2 cup (or more) soy milk
water, if desired
baby spinach - fill up the blender!

Blend and enjoy! Tastes like the real deal, but won't leave you with a headache in the morning!

Happy, healthy drinking!

zucchini brownies

Happy birthday to me! Since I am the primary (read only) baker around here, I doubt I will be given gifts of homemade vegan goodies from my hubby and preschoolers. So, out of the freezer come... Zucchini Brownies! They taste just like regular brownies but are a whole lot healthier. I did miss the crusty top one would get with a traditional brownie, but I will gladly give it up for only 5g of fat per brownie - the trick is not to eat half the pan in one sitting! Been there, done that. I got the recipe from recipezaar and didn't change a thing this time around. The last time I made them, I used some applesauce in addition to the oil, and they turned out a bit moister and sweeter.


2 cups flour (I use a blend of unbleached white and wheat flours)
1 1/2 cups sugar (I use organic cane sugar)
1 tsp salt
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 cup cocoa (use a good-quality, premium brand)
2 Tbsp vanilla
1/2 cup oil (or applesauce)
2 cups finely grated zucchini (peel first if you want to "hide" the zucchini)


Mix dry ingredients
Add vanilla, oil, and zucchini and stir until well-mixed
If it seems a little dry, let it rest (to let some of the zucchini's moisture out), or add 1-2 Tbsp applesauce
Bake in an ungreased 9x13 pan 30 min at 350 degrees.


Happy, healthy (birthday) eating!