Chocolate Cake Donuts with Raspberry and White Chocolate Icing

Valentine's Day is almost upon us. If you are seeking a decadent dessert to make for your loved ones (or satisfy a little self-love), these donuts should do the trick.

You can dress them up by spending a little more time decorating or just add sprinkles for a little flourish. This is a veganized version of a doughnut recipe I came across in Family Circle.

Chocolate Cake Donuts
2 cups flour
1/2 cup cocoa powder
1 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt
1 cup soy/coconut/almond/hemp milk
1 tbsp. vinegar
1 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup melted margarine (I use Earth Balance)
2 tsp. vanilla extract
1/2 cup applesauce

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Lightly spray donut pan with non-stick spray.
2. Measure out non-dairy milk and add vinegar. Let it sit while preparing other ingredients.
3. Combine melted margarine, applesauce, vanilla, and sugar, then mix well.
4. Sift in the remaining dry ingredients: flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, and salt. 
5. Add in the non-dairy milk (the vinegar makes it a vegan buttermilk).
6. On a slow speed mix until the batter is even, being careful to not over mix.
7. Fill the donut cavities 2/3 full, and bake for 12-14 minutes, until toothpick comes out clean.
8. Remove and allow to cool completely before icing.

Raspberry Icing

1/3 cup raspberry powder* (click here for simple instructions on making your own)

1 1/4 cup powdered sugar

5-6 Tbsp. soy/coconut/almond/hemp milk

1 tsp. raspberry extract

1. In a bowl, whisk together the raspberry powder and powdered sugar.
2. Add raspberry extract, and then a tablespoon at a time of non-dairy milk until icing slowly drips off of a spoon. If it is to runny, add a little more powdered sugar.
3. Apply to cooled donut with a basting brush or by spreading it on with a spatula. 
4. Decorate with sprinkles or add to sandwich bag with a small tip cut off to drizzle it on (this makes the little "stripes" on the donut.
5. *Follow the link to former recipe which explains making strawberry powder. The same applies to freeze dried raspberries. You may need to double sift to remove seeds. 

White Chocolate Icing

1/3 cup melted white chocolate

1/2 cup powdered sugar

1 tsp. vanilla

2 Tbsp. melted margarine  (I use Earth Balance)

2 Tbsp. soy/coconut/almond/hemp milk

1. Melt the white chocolate in the microwave for 3 to 4 minutes, stopping after each minute to stir. This prevents burning the chocolate.
2. Whisk together the vanilla, melted margarine, soy milk, and powdered sugar.
3. Slowly whisk in the melted white chocolate.
4. Before icing with it, heat 10-15 seconds in the microwave. It will spread more easily.
5. Apply to cooled donut with a basting brush or by spreading it on with a spatula. 
6. Decorate with sprinkles or add to sandwich bag with a small tip cut off to drizzle it on (this makes the little "stripes" on the donut.

Banana Nut Butter Flax Muffins (No added fat)

Like many folks do at the beginning the year, I am trying to focus on healthier foods. While I still like a treat every now and then, I hoped to make one with solely healthy fats.

Before anyone gets all up in arms, I am aware nut butters and flax seeds have fat in them. When I say "no added fat," I mean there is no vegetable oil or margarine.

Bananas offer so much in the way of moisture, I decided to try "Banana Peanut Butter Sandwich Muffins." You could use any nut butter here, but may need to adjust if you are using the non-separating kinds. Sun butter would work for those with allergies.

An important note is the nut/sun butter is a substitute for an oil, therefore it isn't as discernible in the taste. Banana is pretty overpowering. Just wanted you to be forewarned.

I'd like to try adjusting the baking temperature to 375 degrees with a shorter baking time. If you try it out, please share the results. Regardless, the combination I used worked well too.

Banana Flax Nut Butter Muffins


1 cup unbleached flour
1/2 cup natural cane sugar
2 mashed bananas (mine were frozen)
2 Tbsp. ground flax (optional)
1 tsp. baking soda
1/2 cup nut butter (I used natural peanut butter)
3/4 cup almond, hemp, soy, or coconut milk
1 tsp. vanilla

Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Line muffin tin with liners or lightly spray with oil.

In a mixing bowl add dry ingredients and mix well. Add in all wet ingredients, and mashed banana. If using a frozen banana, thaw in advance or heat in microwave for 30 seconds to soften them.

Mix on slowest speed until just combined. Fill muffin liners or pan 3/4 full. Bake for 20-23 minutes or until golden brown with a toothpick coming out clean.

Allow the muffins to cool 5 minutes and remove from the pan. Once completely cooled, store in am airtight container until ready to serve.

Easy Pumpkin Spice Pancakes with Pecan Butter Whipped Creme Topping

If you've got house guests who you need to feed this upcoming holidays, here's a delicious recipe for breakfast. You won't spend all morning in the kitchen preparing it either. Bonus!

While both types of Bisquick are vegan, one has trans fats that our family avoids. The Heart Smart Bisquick is the type I recommend. It also makes some really tasty biscuits, which I plan to post.

Bisquick Pumpkin Spice Pancakes


2 1/2 cups Bisquick
1 3/4 cup almond milk
2 tsp. pumpkin spice mix
1/2 cup pumpkin puree

Whisk together all the ingredients until just combined. Turn on non-stick skillet or griddle to medium heat.

Once it is warm, pour batter into pan to create the size pancakes you prefer. They will start to bubble and look cooked around the edge when ready to flip. Cook on other side until golden brown. Remove and serve hot.

I REALLY recommend making Pecan Butter Whipped Creme Topping to put on the pancakes, but if you are pressed for time maple syrup will do just fine.

French Toast Sandwich with "Cheezly" Hashbrowns and Spinach Chips

Awhile back my son randomly threw out a comment about making a french toast sandwich. It sounded interesting, so I shelved it in my brain to revisit at a later date. Today became that day.

Our "go to" recipe for french toast is in a past post, so I'll focus on how we made the tofu and "cheezly" hash browns in this one. Once I made homemade hash browns, we were struck with how simple it is to do. Really it is not hard.  For the record, we worked on preparing everything all at the same time, so the food would finish approximately at the same time.

Vegan "Cheesy" Hash Browns

4-10 red baby potatoes, washed and unpeeled
1/2-1 cups vegan cheese (we use Cheezly)
2-4 tbsp. canola or vegetable oil

Prepare 2 potatoes per person you plan to serve. Wash the potatoes, then start to heat the oil in the frying pan using 1 tablespoon per 2 to 3 potatoes.

Shred the potatoes in a food processor leaving the skins on (there is great vitamins in there). Remove the shredded potatoes and dry with a paper towels, and put into hot pan with shredded cheese added on top of the potatoes.

Cook on medium heat until browned on one side, flip, and repeat for the second side. Remove when fully browned and eat hot!

Now onto this french toast sandwich recipe. As state above a great french toast recipe can be found in a previous post. The same process for kale chips I made before can be used to make spinach chips. Unfortunately my kids would eat the spinach cooked in the hash browns, so feel free to try that out. For now, they'll eat the spinach chips, and I'll take what we can get.!

Maple Fried Tofu

1 lb. firm tofu
1/4 maple syrup
spray of vegetable oil

To prepare the tofu, we pressed it between two plates (still wishing for a tofu press). Marinate in maple syrup for 10 minutes after pressing it, making sure to brush the tops with it. Lightly spray and heat a non-stick skillet or griddle on medium.

Add tofu and cook on one side until brown. Before flipping, lightly spray uncooked side, flip it and cook until brown. Place between two slices of french toast and enjoy. If you want a stronger maple flavor then add a little to the top of the tofu.

Don't forget to go and enter the Mofo contest this week for a chance to win a $25 gift certificate to Vegan Essentials.

Wild Black Raspberry Chia Muffins

Finally getting around to sharing the recipe I created for the wild black raspberries we picked. We ate about half, and then they rest went into these. Loving foraged food!

The kids enjoyed the muffins and insisted on sharing with the world just how much. They requested I take a picture, which is a rare occasion. It has been awhile since I've baked "just because." Their response was a reminder (ie excuse) to do it more often.

If you don't have chia seeds feel free to substitute with flax, sunflower or pumpkin seeds.

Wild Black Raspberry Chia Muffins


3/4 cup white wheat flour
3/4 cup whole wheat flour
1/2 cup sugar
1 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. baking soda
2 -3 Tbsp. chia seeds
1 tsp. vanilla
3/4 cup almond, soy, hemp, coconut or rice milk
1/3 cup oil
1 cup wild raspberries

Preheat oven to 375 degrees Farenheit. Mix together dry ingredients in bowl. Add the wet ingredients and stir until just combined. Fold in the raspberries and add batter to lined muffin tins. Bake 16-20 minutes or until golden brown and toothpick comes out clean.

Vegan Raspberry Swirl Muffins

I'm a huge Tori Amos fan, therefore I had Raspberry Swirl in my head while I was mixing these up. It was a pretty simple recipe which created a delicious aroma throughout the house.

They were for the next morning, but luckily there were a couple extra to taste test after cooling enough. If you try them out, let me know what you think of them.

Raspberry Swirl Muffins

1 1/2 cups flour
1/2 cup sugar
1 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. baking soda
1/3 cup oil
3/4 cup almond, soy, hemp, or coconut milk
1 tsp. vanilla
3-4 Tbsp. seedless raspberry jelly

First preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Then combine the dry ingredients in a bowl and mix well. Next put the jelly into a covered bowl and microwave for 30-45 seconds or until it is melted. Mix the wet ingredients into the dry ones excluding the raspberry jelly. Line muffin pan with paper liners or lightly spray pan with oil.

Fill muffin well 1/4 full and then add 2-3 tsp. melted jelly. Cover with batter until 1/2 full. Add another 2-3 tsp. melted jelly. Once all the muffin tins are 1/2 full, swirl with a toothpick first clockwise starting at the middle and then counterclockwise. If it appears swirled enough they are ready for the oven. If not, run toothpick through in straight lines like creating a tic tac toe pattern. Bake in oven 15-25 minutes.

Makes 12 regular sized muffins or 6 jumbo muffins.

Lemon Blueberry Muffins

First, my apologies for the lack of entries the past week and a half, but I was without a camera. Now that I've been reunited, we're back in business.

My kids love this recipe, and it has also been it hit with friends and family. Feel free to switch around the type of fruit and/or type of extract to make your own flavors. These have a nice soft and fluffy texture to them.

Lemon Blueberry Muffins


1 1/2 cups flour
1/2 cups sugar
1 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. baking soda
2 1/2 tsp. lemon extract
2 Tbsp. lemon juice
1/3 cup oil
1 cup soy or almond milk
2 cups fresh blueberries
2-3 Tbsp. Natural Sugar (ex. Sugar in the Raw)


Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Mix together all dry ingredients in a bowl. Add all the wet ingredients and stir until just mixed. Be careful to not over mix. Last, fold in the blueberries. Fill muffin tins almost full (more than 3/4 full). Sprinkle tops with about 1/2 tsp. natural sugar.  Bake in oven for 18-22 minutes until toothpick comes out clean.

Vegan Sausage Bacon Tofu Sandwich with Cheese

If you find yourself missing the non-vegan version of a sausage, egg, bacon and cheese biscuit, I think this will quell any cravings for it. It is all the better for being cruelty-free.

Now we aren't big proponents of eating a lot of highly processed vegan substitutes. That being said, on rare occasions we may make something like this. My son enjoyed it quite a bit, but preferred eating the components separately. 

My hubby joking said he is going to make the vegan version of a "double down." If you have no idea what that is, imagine a fast food creation which eliminates buns made of bread and replaces them with fried chicken patties. Even a vegan version sounds over the top to me. 

The biscuit sandwich was made pretty easy by frying 1/4 inch thick slabs of tofu on both sides in canola oil for about 5 minutes  on medium heat. The vegan sausage here is made by Lite Life and is called Gimmie Lean Sausage. The vegan bacon was made by the same company, and is called Smart Bacon. They were prepared following the instructions on the package.

The cheese is made by Bute Island and is the Sheese Smoked Cheddar variety. To make the biscuits, we use a Bisquick Heart Start mix, since we're often short on time with two young kids. If you decide to try it, just be sure to get the Heart Start kind of Bisquick, as the regular kind has trans fat in it.

Tofu Spinach Quiche

Back in the spring we received an issue of VegNews, and there was a quiche recipe. I'd been thinking about trying one out, but been a little lazy about tracking down a recipe. My husband and I can hardly ever make something without altering the recipe, and while this one was good we spiced it up a bit. The original recipe was sans cheese, but we decided it would be a good idea to add some Cheezly.

Once it was done, we put it to the toddler test. My youngest chowed down, and our oldest was a little more reluctant with all that "green stuff" in there. In the end he picked the spinach and liked it pretty good. The leftovers were heavily coveted and it was a show down to see who would get the leftovers for lunch. Brian won.

The next time we made this, Brian pulvarized the spinach in the food processor. When we mixed it in the quiche looked like something out of Dr. Suess's "Green Eggs, and Ham." It was a scary electric green and didn't look appetizing. Ironically, Elliott had no problem eating it, since it had no "chunks of green stuff" in it. Go figure.

Breakfast for Dinner: French Toast & Hash Browns

 

Tonight we had the fun combination of daddy being sick and momma's neck issues flaring up. Since I was on my own, I didn't want to make anything too complicated. So tonight, we had vegan french toast, fresh hash browns, avocados, and veggie bacon.



It wasn't until about three years ago that I started making hash browns from scratch. After doing it though, I don't know why you'd ever buy frozen. All you need to do is wash the potatoes and then shred them in a food processor. It only takes 2-3 minutes total.

The french toast is so easy to make, and the kids love it.

French Toast Recipe

1 cup soy or almond milk
2 Tbsp. flour
1 Tbsp. sugar
1 tsp. cinnamon
1 Tbsp. canola or vegetable oil

Whisk all ingredients together in a bowl large enough to dip the toast into. Heat a skillet to medium heat with a very light coat of oil. dip toast into mix on both sides and then brown in pan on both sides (2-3 minutes each side). Makes 6-8 pieces of french toast.

Items Used for Meal:

1) 8 pieces of whole grain bread ($1.60, Cost-co)
2) French Toast Mix (~$0.50, Various)
3) Avocado ($1.00, Trader Joe's)
4) 4 Medium/Large Organic Red Potatoes ($1.00, Trader Joe's)

5) Veggie Bacon ($2.00, Whole Foods)
Total Time Spent Making Meal: 25 minutes


Total Cost of Meal for Family of Four: $6.10 or $1.53 per person

What's for Breakfast?

Even though we no longer eat eggs, there are plenty of scrumptious options for breakfast. Below you will find the tofu scramble recipe our kids enjoy most. We usually serve it with home-made hash browns, and lately we've been making sweet potato hash browns. They are my new favorite side dish. Top it off with some tasty vegan french toast or pancakes, and who said we needed eggs to make a tasty breakfast?

In all our years being vegan, we've tried a lot of tofu scramble recipes. After many attempts to find one we loved best, in the end we developed our own. Without further adieu here is our tofu scramble recipe.

Tofu Scramble

1 Tbsp. Canola Oil

1-2 Tbsp. Water

2 Tbsp. Nutritional Yeast

1 tsp. garlic powder

1 tsp. onion powder

1/2 tsp. pepper

1/2 tsp. salt

1/2 tsp. turmeric

1 avocado cubed

1 lb. fresh tofu

Heat oil in the pan on medium heat. Squeeze all excess water from the tofu. Cube the tofu and avocado. Add this to the heated pan. Mix together the remaining ingredients and add to the mixture. Cook until any remaining water is cooked off. The avocado helps add a creamy texture to the scramble that we like a lot. Feel free to add any other veggies or additions you would like.