Friday Favorites

1. huge heart eyes for these breakfast waffle nachos

2. vegan pizza needs to happen more often in my kitchen
3. I feel like I've waited my entire life for side by side comparisons of films and their re-makes
4. how funky cool are these psychedelic spring rolls?
5. matcha can go on anything - even dusted with sugar over churros
6. the ultimate supercut of the fourth wall being broken
7. bourbon plus girl scout cookies - need I say more?
8. here's what's next for cocktails in 2016
9. cereal milk, chia, and Lucky Charms are the healthiest/least healtgy breakfast combo that I would totally justify if I could
10. how did my beloved negroni become today's favorite cocktail?
11. so much love for black sesame thumbprint cookies
12. one of my absolutely favorite drinks - in frozen form!
13. literally the only shamrock shake I care about - she had me at peppermint and matcha!
14. in honor of International Women's Day, here is my favorite round-up of the badass women of Greensboro (my hometown and current stomping grounds)
15. I thought this cake would be my gateway excuse to buying culinary grade matcha, but it turns out it's my excuse to buy a ridiculous amount of fancy marshmallows (earl grey?!!)

Little Ham having his daily brushing session.

Friday Links

1. Some of the most overlooked Wes Anderson costumes are some of the greatest.

2. Someone (awesome) turned Jeff Goldblum's laugh from 'Jurassic Park' into a song. Definitely the highlight of my week.

3. This king cake is so beautiful! I love the marzipan topping instead of sanding sugar.

4. This is definitely the coolest thing I found this week: what a tree ring sounds like on a record player. 

5. Homemade vegan GF doritos sound SO GOOD. I have to admit, I envy anyone who eats the cool ranch ones because they were so good (although I know they're bad!). 

6. I LOVE this list of books you should read based on childhood favorites! 'James at the Giant Peach'/'Kafka on the Shore' is a pretty accurate pairing since they are two of my favorite books!

7. Apparently a box set of all Wes Anderson soundtracks is being released this year.  If it comes out on vinyl, I will be SO happy.

8. Using vinyl covers to match parts of the body. This was so awesome.

9. This GF/dairy-free German chocolate cake looks DIVINE!

10. Wondering what the cocktail above is? It's the burly Temple (grenandine, ginger ale, bourbon). If you haven't checked out Make for 365 you must! It's one of my favorite cocktail sites. This lady vowed to make a new cocktail every day for an entire year!

Friday Links

1. It's Friday! And these ginger beer margaritas sound prettttty good right about now.

2. I always look forward to seeing Megan's valentines day brunch post every year. Hopefully one day I can throw a brunch just as adorable as hers!

3. I'm currently eyeing these delicious looking baklava muffins or anything with pistachios lately. 

4. What happens when two of the most delicious vegetables get cross-pollinated? The answer is BrusselKale. I am so curious to know what it tastes like, but I highly doubt I can find them anywhere around here.

5. If I can sub fruity pebbles for froot loops, I am totally making this Momofuku inspired cereal cashew milk cake! 

6. After word got out that 'True Detective' was heavily influenced by this book and this one, both of their sales have shot up on Amazon. And we definitely bought the first one to read. Can't wait to read them over spring break! (More info on the mythology here)

7. It's been storming all morning, so these earl grey tea latte pancakes look absolutely perfect right now.

8. I've decided to make these GF V everything bagels over Spring Break because oh my gaaad. 

9. One of my favorite little bloggers wrote a post about changing dreams, which really resonated with me. Recently, I've really been struggling with this problem and this post was incredibly comforting to me. Thanks, A Beautiful Mess! 

10. Top with Cinnamon is writing a cookbook! Which is insane because she's only 18! She takes some of the most beautiful photos of lovely baked goods, so check her site out if you haven't already!

catching up

So I definitely haven't posted in over a month...which means I've been incredibly busy! Here are some things I cooked last month and I'll have another post up soon!

This tempeh cacciatore was pretty amazing! I don't think I ever ate chicken cacciatore when I wasn't vegetarian, but the flavors here were great! You cook the tempeh in a mixture of red wine, tamari, and Italian herbs along with a ton of vegetables and olives. This recipe can't be found in a cookbook or on a website, so if you would like the recipe, just leave a comment with your e-mail address!

I finally got an ice-cream maker! I can't wait to use it. I think I will do peach ice cream first. Have you ever made ice-cream at home?

New found love: boba tea

Birthday pizza for Mike. I made my absolute favorite: kale, red onion + pistachio with a homemade crust and lots of garlic.

This tofu chili has been on my to-make list for quite a while now. I finally made it and it's incredibly easy, cheap, and delicious! It has a ton of protein from tofu and beans, and extra delicious topped with hot sauce, corn chips and vegan cheese. I highly recommend it and I'm sure it even freezes well! //whole foods market

I made one of my favorite cakes for Mike's birthday: a pina colada cake with pineapple, dark rum and cream of coconut. It's actually pretty simple to make and so delicious! The pineapple rum glaze was amazing. I substituted: 1 C sorghum flour, 1 C tapioca starch, 2 tsp xanthan gum, and earth balance vegan butter sticks. //smitten kitchen

This lovely colorful little salad is full of green onions, mangoes, black beans and red pepper! This would be great as an easy summertime meal or for a picnic/work lunch. The recipe is very straightforward, simple, and takes less than 10 minutes if you have leftover cooked quinoa. There's something really great about eating this salad because of the sweet bites from mangoes! //veganomicon

New bar tools: swizzle spoon, measuring shot glass, and perfect ice cube trays. 
Drink pictured: 1.5 shots dark rum over ice topped off with ginger beer and a lime wedge.

I have been craving donuts for quite some time now, so I made these incredible baked banana donuts with a coffee glaze. The process of making these donuts is different, but still easy. You use thawed (previously frozen) mashed banana, vegan sour cream, bourbon, etc. I would like to try the PB glaze next time. I subbed: 1/2 C sorghum flour, 1/2 C tapioca starch, 1/4 C almond flour + vegan sour cream. These would be amazing with coffee! //vanilla bean blog

This is now easily one of my favorite pasta dishes: pasta al pomodoro. Using cherry tomatoes, you cook them down until they release their juices along with garlic and Italian herbs. No heavy cream or butter needed; the leftover pasta water will thicken the sauce for you as it boils away. I can't express how easy, filling, and satisfying this pasta was. Alongside gluten-free vegan garlic bread, I was in heaven. //eat this poem

Gin and tonics

Once again, I learned that Daiya's faux cheese wedge makes me incredibly ill. I am just going to have to deal with that one. When I made pizza for Mike's birthday, I used vegan gourmet's mozzarella block which worked just fine and tasted/melted wonderfully! I later made these sinful buffalo tempeh kale grilled vegan mozzarella sandwiches. This would obviously be better if you can have regular cheese, but vegan still did the trick! I served these with oven fries and it was amazing/filling! //vegan yack attack

(997) le dîner de cons

Well I guess I have been really busy because it's been over two weeks since my last post! But things are kind of back to "normal" now, you could say, except it is the end of school. My classes are getting harder, I am certainly more stressed, but I only have a little over 3 weeks left (!!!). I haven't been cooking too much due to being out of town, having a friend visit from NY, and just having too many books to read for class. I also only had to cook for one person for about a week since the boy was away to Puerto Rico for business. So things are back to how they were (kind of) so I should be in the kitchen more now! 

This dish has a ridiculous amount of protein: corn-quinoa pasta, kidney beans, tempeh, and nutritional yeast. If I remember correctly, it had well over 35g of protein per serving! The best part is, this dish is incredibly cheap, filling, and quick, like most Happy Herbivore recipes. It's called tempeh chili mac because it greatly resembles regular chili mac. //happy herbivore everyday

Sometimes I just want incredibly good Indian food, but it's next to impossible for me to eat Indian restaurants/or out at all. Even though this is probably not authentic, this curried chickpeas and greens with jasmine rice was amazing! It comes together in less than 30 minutes and leaves you with so much food. I was eating this (happily) for days. There is no better combination than ginger, garlic, garam masala and other Indian spices! //appetite for reduction

I have become a little obsessed with making tofu scrambles for brunch on the weekends. I really need to try out vegan omelettes and benedicts before I get bored with scrambles! This particular scramble, from the PPK, is a blackened tofu scramble with onions, garlic, swiss chard, and tomatoes served with garlicky vegan buttery grits. I really enjoyed the blackened flavor of this scramble and it obviously is a million times better with hotsauce! //the PPK

There is something so incredibly satisfying about baking a cake. The process is slow, relaxing, and quiet. Playing music when I cook or bake is a must. Lately I have been listening to my huge Wes Anderson playlist, the Beach Boys, or Yelle. This cake is now being hailed, by my parents, as the best cake I've ever made (note: they say this after every cake). I made this for Easter, so it needed to be springy and light: so I made the lemon coconut bundt cake from Veganomicon. I was so pleased with the delicate flavors of this cake. Here are the substitutions I used: 
-1 C tapioca starch -1 C millet flour -1 C almond flour -3 tsp xanthan gum
The almond flour gives the cake a very soft crumb and the millet flour makes it a little denser. I will definitely be making this again! //Veganomicon

A very unhappy Easter Bunny!

Easter grill dinner on my father's new grill: asparagus, portobello mushrooms, brown sugar-soy sauce salmon + lemon garlic salmon

Sometimes I seriously have to force myself to cook something, even if it takes little effort. I steamed broccoli and seasoned it with nutritional yeast and garlic powder. Then I baked a potato, split it down the middle, stuffed it with Amy's organic canned baked beans, vegan butter, nutritional yeast, and garlic powder. You better believe I ate the entire thing! 

I have discovered one of the greatest tofu products ever: Twin Oaks tofu More than Tofu. I used the garlic shiitake one for this recipe, which also has quinoa and amaranth for extra protein! For once 8 ounce block, I believe, there are about 32g of protein. I decided to pan fry it until golden to eat with this amazingly simple stir-fried noodles with broccoli and portobellos. I will definitely be making this again all the time because of how simple it is! I seriously recommend this tofu because it comes pre-seasoned/marinated so all you have to do is fry/bake/grill it! It didn't need any seasoning whatsoever. //Foreals Life

South in your mouth: Cheerwine, lime juice, gin
Blueberry Lemonadka: lemonade, Stoli vodka, blueberries

Well, the weather finally perked up in Greensboro. It may be hot as crap outside, but I still crave soup year round. I made this very easy, simple, yet satisfying soup: tomato-rice soup with navy beans and roasted garlic. I did not roast the garlic, however, because of the onset of laziness. The soup is still delicious though and just what I wanted today. It takes no effort at all. If you do roast the garlic, the only thing you're chopping is an onion. Too easy! //Veganomicon

(914) le frêne

The first week of school is almost done! This is definitely a good thing, but the weather this week has been awful! And of course we're expecting snow tomorrow...I hope if it DOES snow, we can at least stay in. That would be lovely! My semester looks like it's going to be full of reading: in French, in English lit and in French lit. Excited but already ready for it to get moving haha. My second film, and my first one, both sold out! Things have been busy but I've been making some really delicious things too, so here we go!

Remember the soy chorizo I bought a while ago? Well I finally used it in these sweet potato black bean chorizo enchiladas (made in the slow cooker!). The recipe has 5 ingredients and spends anywhere between 4-8 hours in the slow-cooker depending on the heat. I suggest you make them when you won't be home because I was so anxious to eat them that I didn't cook them as much as I could've haha. They were perfect! Just spicy enough, flavorful, delicious. I don't have the recipe link because it's from an amazing book so I suggest you all just buy it because it's great and perfect for vegans! (or if you really need it, just post a comment with your email haha) //the vegan slow-cooker book

This was my second vegan bowl that I've made: a red curry miso roasted vegetable bowl with tofu and quinoa. The vegetables are tossed in a tangy sauce and roasted in the oven, along with tofu, then tossed with oven wilted swiss chard, quinoa + soft tofu. It wasn't my absolute favorite but still nutritious and filling! //love + lemons

My film series was featured in the Go Triad! insert in the paper!

Wilted swiss chard, extra garlic with a half-ass alfredo sauce (this begged for mushrooms but had none). I just cooked pasta after steaming the swiss chard. In a skillet, I cooked some garlic in vegan butter, then added nutritional yeast and vegan milk, brought it to a slight boil, then added it to the pasta and swiss chard. This stuff was spicy! Still amazing though. i'm starting to think I might need to keep mushrooms on hand at all times...

Leftover extra firm tofu = tofu scramble with shredded carrots + avocado toast! I've found the best tofu scramble spices: nutritional yeast, salt, pepper, dried thyme, curry powder, paprika, tumeric, and garlic powder. I still need to play around with the flavors though! Next time I'm going to try adding a bit of GF soy sauce. 

Perfection combo: French Connection cocktail, vegan sushi with GF soy sauce, and fries with ketchup [from Cowfish in Charlotte].

Lavendar lemonade and macarons for me. Brought home meringue tarts for my mom.

My dad's birthday was last Saturday. I never know what to get him so I usually try to bake him something. Last year I made some amazing vanilla bean cupcakes with chocolate frosting, but this year, I wanted to try something different. I made the Tortuga Rum Cake from the Happy Herbivore Everyday cookbook. It was lovely! Just enough rum, with a hint of orange in the glaze, and it gets better as it sits. I highly recommend this book (everything is vegan!) for anyone. For my substitutions: 1 C GF oat flour, 1/2 C sorghum flour, 1/2 C tapioca starch + 2 tsp xanthan gum. //happy herbivore everyday cookbook

I love pasta bakes but most of them involve me subbing out the cheese for Daiya, which I am avoiding as much as possible. Luckily, this sweet potato surprise is a great substitute for any pasta bake! This one is made with a garlic coconut milk sweet potato sauce, green onions, and GF panko breadcrumbs on top. It's great for the weather being so gross and is even better the next day. //love + lemons

I have been dying to make acorn squash apple soup...so I did, in the slow-cooker! I adapted a delicata squash pear soup from the vegan slow-cooker book above and it was fabulous! It was great to come home to after walking in the rain all day. The addition of thyme and rosemary pairs perfectly with the vegetables/apples as well. On another no-Daiya note, I have been craving grilled cheese. We all know that I love grilled cheese. Not eating Daiya isn't that hard, but it's without a doubt the best cheese substitute out there. Well, I found a grilled cheese made with out it, and with pantry staples! (What?!!!) It uses things like nooch, almond milk, GF flour etc to make a spreadable cheezy sauce. The recipe is from the same Happy Herbivore book above (you should really check it out!). //

Do you ever have plenty of food to eat, but just feel like making something else for a quick meal? This happens to me every once in a while. The way I plan my meals is so that I only end up cooking 3 days out of the week (that's the beauty of living alone!). I usually eat off of one recipe for at least 2 days and I try to stretch it as far as I can, sometimes by freezing leftover soup or turning leftover components into something different or sharing with my parents. I know I'll be eating the soup above for at least two more days, and I've been eyeing this roasted garlic sweet potato recipe. I also made garlic red pepper wilted spinach and green onion scrambled eggs. So amazing! Good thing garlic is great for your health, and keeps away vampires, because I eat so much of it! //naturally ella

(730) a wild strawberry cannot be tamed

Wild Strawberries
By Shel Silverstein

Are Wild Strawberries really wild?
Will they scratch an adult, will they snap at a child?
Should you pet them, or let them run free where they roam?
Could they ever relax in a steam-heated home?
Can they be trained to not growl at the guests?
Will a litterbox work or would they leave a mess?
Can we make them a Cowberry, herding the cows,
Or maybe a Muleberry pulling the plows,
Or maybe a Huntberry chasing the grouse,
Or maybe a Watchberry guarding the house,
And though they may curl up at your feet oh so sweetly,
Can you ever feel that you trust them completely?
Or should we make a pet out of something less scary,
Like the Domestic Prune or the Imported Cherry,
Anyhow, you’ve been warned and I will not be blamed
If your Wild Strawberry cannot be tamed.

vegan butter//brown sugar//strawberries//cake batter//baked + flipped

the beautiful finished product on a rainbow plate and tablecloth

strawberry cake with beer and cider

 roasted strawberry coconut milk popsicles made in ice cube trays

roasting strawberries


//1. strawberry upside-down cake with cardamom
//2. roasted strawberry coconut milk popsicles

(707) blueberry boy bait

HAPPY FOURTH OF JULY!

I finally made one of Smitten Kitchen's beautiful desserts: blueberry boy bait. What starts as a simple sheet cake is studded with blueberries and topped with cinnamon sugar mixture to create a crunchy topping. It is by far the best thing I've ever baked with blueberries (yet I'm still craving Joy the Baker's brown butter blueberry muffins). I highly recommend it and it's extremely easy to bake! I used 1 C sorghum flour, 1 C tapioca starch, earth balance butter, 2 tsp xanthan gum, and 1 C rice milk. make this now, and enjoy your holiday!

(686) father's day + remembering grandma

so I made a cake for Father's Day:

The most perfect lemon bundt cake was made, to be exact. This was sort of an homage to my late grandmother, Zettie, who used to make a mean lemon pound cake as many times as I wanted it. We never got her recipe for it, or for her famous prune cake, but I wanted to remember her by making this for my father since she was his mother. This cake, adapted from Deb, is moist, citrusy as all gets out, and sweet. It was perfect. This is my favorite cake that I've made so far, in the year and a half span of baking I've been doing. 
I used about 8 lemons in this cake all together for the batter, lemon syrup, and glaze. I could've used more glaze but I didn't want to over do it. Next time, I will use all of the glaze because it sets after cooling for a while and is awesome. 
I converted this using 1.5 C sorghum flour, 1.5 C tapioca starch, 3 tsp xanthan gum, 2 sticks of vegan earth balance sticks, about 1/2 tsp (and a pinch more) of salt instead of 1 tsp, and 3/4 C vegan buttermilk (1 c rice milk + 1 T vinegar, leveled off). 
I am very, very pleased with this cake, and more so with the fact that it came out of the bundt pan perfectly this time! My mother told me more grease and less flour works best. It turned out great. I think Zettie would be proud of me if she could try this cake. I really miss her and don't think of her too often because sometimes it's hard to believe she's gone. I think this reminded my father of her too. But I'm sure that she's smiling somewhere for this cake and me.

(674) sugar dusted rubies

This. Cake. Will. Change. Your. Life.

Ever since Deb posted this beautiful cake, I have been dreaming of baking it ever since on a lovely spring or summer day. After one more prod and recommendation from a good friend of mine, who swore up and down that this was the cake of my dreams, I gave in. I declared to my mother that this cake would be made this weekend in a beautiful Anthropologie pie plate. This is probably one of the easiest cakes to make. A simple batter with all the usual ingredients, topped with sliced strawberries and sprinkled with sugar on top, to make an extra crumbly crust. Do yourselves a favor and bake this, tonight!