VEGAN AND WHEAT FREE CARROT CAKE

So to start I must admit I am not vegan nor have a gluten free diet but this past weekend I was browsing my bookshelf and remembered this vegan cook book I have and decided to pull it out (for anyone who is interested in knowing more about the cookbook I will post a link below). As I perused the pages I came across this carrot cake recipe I 'dog eared' (weird expression I know) and decided to try it out. The results were a very nice and moist cake that I am sure will make any vegan person jump for joy.

INGREDIENTS:

Can of vegan, oil based non stick cooking spray
3/4 Cup Garbanzo Bean Flour
1 1/4 Cup Rice Flour
2 TSP Xanthan Gum
2 TSP Baking Soda
1/4 TSP Salt
2 TSP Cinnamon
1/2 Cup Apple Sauce
1 Cup Canola Oil
1 Cup Water
1 1/4 Cup of Maple Syrup
1 TSP Vanilla Extract
2 Cups Grated Carrots

Frosting - choose whichever flavor you like (mine was cream cheese) pre-made or I can list ingredients below.

Coconut Cream Cheese Frosting
8 OZ firm Silken Tofu
12 OZ Soy cream cheese
1 Cup of Powdered Sugar
1 TSP of coconut extract
1/2 Cup of Unsweetened Coconut
2 TSP of Xanthem Gum (for thickening)

DIRECTIONS: - SHORT VIDEO BELOW

*Like with most cakes you start by mixing all the dry ingredients together in one bow.. mixing all the wet ingredients in another bowl and then combining them together...vegan baking is the same

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees

Grab a 9 inch bread baking pan and coat it in non-stick cooking spray.

In a large bowl mix your garbanzo bean flour, rice flour, xantham gum, baking soda, sat and cinnamon together.

In a separate medium bowl mix your applesauce, canola oil, water, vanilla extract and maple syrup.

Next mix your wet ingredients into the bowl with the dry ingredients and stir until it is well incorporated. Then add in your grated carrots and mix well.

Pour cake mix into the coated baking pan and bake in the over for 75-80 minutes

Once finished remove from the oven and allow to cool before adding icing on top.

To make the frosting simply place all ingredients except the unsweetened coconut in a food processor and blend until smooth. Stir in the coconut after by hand. If possible you can make this the night before and refrigerate so it has more time to set and thicken.

 

 

For those who are interested in the cookbook I got this recipe from 'Sinfully Vegan' by Lois Dieterly.

 

 

I hope you enjoyed this recipe as much as I do. If you have any comments please leave them below and I'll be happy to answer them as soon as I can! Bon Appetite!!!

CHOCOLATE COVERED STRAWBERRIES

Chocolate covered strawberries are a great dessert to have at your party or event. There are so many cool designs techniques that make them versatile for different occasions and really fun to make. I made mine using dark chocolate and white chocolate but you can easily interchange those with milk chocolate or ground walnuts! Just have fun with it :)

INGREDIENTS:

15 Large Strawberries
170 Grams of Dark Baking Chocolate (you an also use milk chocolate)
1/2 a bag of White Chocolate (I used Hersey's mini chocolate chips)

**You will also need toothpicks, Styrofoam and a zip-lock bag!

DIRECTIONS:

Wash your strawberries and place them on a drying rack. It is important for them to be free of moisture before you coat them so leave them to dry for at least an hour. Stick a toothpick in the fat end of the strawberry to help you grip them better.

If your dark chocolate comes in a bar break it up into smaller chunks so it melts faster and evenly. I used a food processor to do this quickly.

The best way to melt chocolate is to use a method called "double boiling" on low heat. This is done by filling up a small pot with water and bringing it to a light simmer. One the water starts to simmer reduce heat to low.

Next place your chopped up chocolate into a glass bowl slightly bigger then the pot so that the bottom of the glass bowl does not hit the bottom of the pot but is still submerged in the water (see photos)

You will slowly start to see the chocolate melt. Using a spatula move the chocolate around so that it evenly melts. Stir often with spatula in order to get the best consistency. Make sure no water gets into the chocolate!

Repeat the double boil process in a new glass bowl with your white chocolate.

Dip your strawberries in the dark chocolate. Use the toothpick to help you rotate the strawberry so it is evenly covered in chocolate on all sides. Allow access chocolate to drip off before placing it upside down to dry so the toothpick is in the Styrofoam.

Continue until all the strawberries are covered and place upside down on the Styrofoam to dry.

Next put the white chocolate in a zip lock bag and push it to one corner. Cut a small hole in that corner so that the white chocolate can come out slowly. Pick up a strawberry and quickly move across it (side to side or back and forth) while squeezing the white chocolate bag to create your design. Place it back upside down on the Styrofoam. Repeat with remaining strawberries.

Once finished place strawberries and Styrofoam in the freezer for 30min to 1 hour to harden. Once harden you can serve them to your guest.

 

 

I hope you enjoyed this recipe. I would love to know your thoughts! If you have and suggestions or question please feel free to leave them in the comments below!

MINI ROSE APPLE PIE

Recently I've been searching for new recipes to try and add to my Superbowl Sunday menu. Next weekend is the Super Bowl which means a lot of friends across the nation will gathered around together and spend their entire Sunday eating and cheering for their favorite team! Even though I'm not a big football fan I still do enjoy participating in this event and getting together with friends to watch the game, drink and eat food. Since most of the time these gatherings don't involve an actual sit down meal finger foods and bite-size food are always a good choice. This way as people get hungry they can just grab a little bite and don't even need a plate necessarily. That is why I decided to try these mini rose apple pies. They are small enough to fit into your palm and take about two's bites to devour. Just enough of the dessert to satisfy you without having to commit to filling up on this one dessert choice. It also helps that they are super pretty! hehe

Servings: One 200Gr Pie Crust makes about 6 mini pies roses.

INGREDIENTS:

3 Apples (Washed and cut into quarters, remove seeds than slice thinly)
6 TBSP of White Granulated Sugar
1/4 -1/2 of a Lemon (juiced)
400Gr PiIlsberry Pre-made Pie Crust
Cinnamon Spice (as desired)
Icing sugar for garnish (as desired)

*You will also need toothpicks and a baking tray covered in wax paper/ nonstick baking sheet.
 

DIRECTIONS:

In a sauce pan add in your thinly sliced apples, 2 TBSP of sugar and lemon juice. Fill sauce pan with water to submerge your apples and place on stove on High heat. Bring your water to a boil, then reduce heat letting it simmer for an additional two minutes before draining the water.

Lay the apples out on a absorbent cloth to suck up any access water.

Preheat over to 350 Degrees.

Next lay out one of your pie crust. Sprinkle it with the remaining sugar (more or less as you please) and cinnamon.

Cut the dough into 3/4 to 1 inch strips and place your apple slices slightly overlapping along the strip. Roll the strip and tie off the end using a toothpick to hold it in place. 

Place strip on baking tray (previously covered with wax paper)

 Bake for 20 to 25 minutes or until golden.

 Remove from oven and allow to cool before sprinkling icing sugar on top. Enjoy!!!

 

 

I hope you enjoyed this recipe as much as I do. If you have any comments please leave them below and I'll be happy to answer them as soon as I can! Happy cooking!!!

DELICIOUS CREPES

'Crepe' in French mean pancake and are often used for both breakfast and dessert. For example in the evenings you can serve them with Nutella and Strawberries for dessert after dinner or in the mornings as a savory low carb breakfast option with egg and vegetables. Try it for yourself using this recipe below. ENJOY

INGREDIENTS

1/2 Cup of Water
1/2 Cup of Milk
1 Cup of all Purpose Flour
1 TSP of Vanilla Extract
2 TSP of Sugar
2 Eggs
Butter

Suggested Fillings:

Savory -
Egg (cooked separately)
Smoke Salmon
Red Onion
Cream Cheese

Sweet -
Peanut Butter
Honey
Berries or Banana
Nutella

DIRECTION:

Add water, milk, flour, sugar and vanilla extract to a blender. In a small separate bowl crack the eggs and make sure there are no shells before adding it also to the blender.

Blend on low until nicely mixed together.

Heat a skillet on low-medium heat and add in butter. Once ready add blended batter to the skillet and move around so that it spreads out evenly.

The crepe will start to cook immediately. After about a minute when the bottom side is golden flip the crepe - use a spatula to aid you.

Once flipped add your contents to the crepe. Once crepe is finished cooking on the side facing down fold the crepe over itself, capturing the contents inside. Serve Hot.

 

I hope you enjoyed this recipe as much as I do. If you have any comments please leave them below and I'll be happy to answer them as soon as I can! Happy cooking!!!

PEANUT BUTTER, BANANA, ROLLED OAT CHOCOLATE CHIP COOKIES - GLUTEN FREE

I found this recipe while looking for a good healthy dessert recipe as a reward for a job well done on my post Christmas diet. I originally found this recipe on MyRecipe.com (ill post the link below) and made some adjustments for what I liked/had in my pantry. I was a little worried when making them that they wouldn't come out to my high 'flour based' cookie standards (these are gluten free) but they are actually quiet delicious! Don't be worried - as i was - at the end when you have mix all the ingredients together and it seems kinda runny; once backed the cookies maintain their structure/hold. Did I mention that they are also under 100 Cal a pop?? ENJOY!

INGREDIENTS:

1/2 a Cup of Flax seed meal
1/2 a Cup of Almond Flour
1.5 Cups of Rolled Oats
1 TSP of Baking Soda
3/4 Cup of Peanut Butter
2 TBSP Butter (you can use non dairy butter substitute)
1/3 Cup of Granulated Sugar
1/3 Cup of Brown Sugar
2 Mashed Ripe Bananas
1/2 TSP Vanilla Extract
2 Eggs (lightly beaten)
1 Cup of Semi Sweet Chocolate Chips
1/4 Cup of Unsalted Roasted Sunflower Seeds

DIRECTIONS:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

In a medium size bowl add in your flax seed meal, almond flour, rolled oats and baking soda. Whisk together until fully blended.

In a large bowl mix your butter, peanut butter, granulated and brown sugars. Blend with a electronic beater on medium speed until smooth.

Add in your eggs, bananas and vanilla extract to the large bowl! Keep beating till they are incorporated.

Start to add in - bit by bit - the contents of the medium bowl followed by the chocolate chips and sunflower seeds. Fold the mixtures over one another till they are fully incorporated.

Scoop cooking dough out of bowl and place on a lined baking tray about 2 inches apart. Place in oven for 12 minutes or until edges are brown.

Remove from oven and let cool on cooling rack for a couple minutes before eating.

 

I hope you enjoyed this recipe as much as I do. If you have any comments please leave them below and I'll be happy to answer them as soon as I can! Happy cooking!!!

 

Original Recipe -> http://www.myrecipes.com/recipe/pb-banana-oat-cookies