HAPPY HALLOWEEN

 

Have a safe and happy halloween!

pumpkin... in a lot of forms

Fall and pumpkins are synonymous in my life and this fall has not failed me.  Pumpkin pie, pumpkin doughnuts, pumpkin granola and pumpkin smoothies so far have topped my list.

This pumpkin pie is delicious and not too sweet.  Thank you Martha Stewart, you continue to exceed my expectations! The only thing I did was add a teaspoon of pumpkin pie spice.  The pie tasted even better the next day.

 

I found this pumpkin doughnut recipe on pinterest.  As a side note, I'm kind of obsessed with pinterest.  It can get bad.  I feel like I turn into this drone who can only scroll down and say things in my head like "just one more picture..." On the bright side, I do find things inspiring enough to pull away from the screen for a little while.  These doughnuts were one of those things, and a hit in my house.  

Another pinterest find, this pumpkin granola was really good.  I've since decided I like my granola much plainer but for what it was it really was delicious.  

Josh makes fun of my love affair with chocolate chips.  I eat them with a lot. Popcorn, cereal, almonds, chips, alone... I seriously think if there is one thing I couldn't live without it would be chocolate chips.  And coffee but definitely chocolate chips. 

 

The pumpkin smoothie I made up after seeing a bunch of other recipes.  It was super easy, fast, delicious and nutritious.

 

Pumpkin Pie Smoothie

from back to basics

1 cup unsweetened almond milk

1/2 cup canned pumpkin

1/2 frozen banana

1 Tbs whey protein

1 Tbs maple syrup

1 tsp pumpkin pie spice

In a blender (or magic bullet in my case) blend all ingredients and then enjoy!

I love everything about the fall.  

We'll see what other goodies I can come up with in the next little while.  I'm thinking apple picking and apple sauce. Whatever it is I know my kitchen will smell delicious!

vegan chocolate cupcakes

My last post was all about the lemon cake I made Margie for her birthday.  Along with that cake I also wanted to make something special for our wonderful friend Ashley, who also happens to be a vegan. 

I've never made anything vegan, or at least anything baking wise that's vegan.  As far as daily meals go I can sometimes get a little lazy and a lot of the things I eat end up begin vegan without my even trying, but that's not what this post is about.  

I found a recipe for vegan chocolate cupcakes in a book I downloaded for free on amazon for my kindle app.  It's from a book called Cupcake Recipes To Impress Your Loved Ones by Chris Cooker.

I must say I was very intrigued by the idea of vegan cupcakes, but while these look delicious, the actual cake came out so dense I had a hard time really enjoying them because of their texture.  The buttercream on the other hand was delicious!  

Despite the fact that I would probably not make this recipe again, I'm really interested in trying the whole vegan thing again.  Hopefully round two turns out delicious tasting as well as delicious looking.

Fingers crossed.

Vegan Chocolate Cupcakes

from Chris Cooker

1 1/2 c flour

1 c brown sugar

1/3 c cocoa powder

1 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

1 c water

1/4 c almond milk

1/4 cup apple sauce

1/2 cup oil

1 tbs vinegar

2 tsp vanilla 

Preheat oven to 375

Line a muffin tin with 12 paper liners.

Mix together dry ingredients and set aside.

Combine wet ingredients and add to dry until batter comes together.

Fill muffin tin evenly with batter and bake for 20 mins

Let cool before frosting.

Vegan Chocolate Buttercream

 from Chris Cooker 

1/2 c vegetable shortning

1/2 c vegan butter or margarine

4 c powdered sugar, sifted

1 c cocoa powder, sifted

1 tsp vanilla

3-6 tbs almond milk

Cream together shortening and butter with either hand or stand mixer.  Add sifted powdered sugar and cocoa powder, vanilla and slowly add the almond milk as needed.

lemon lemon lemon cake

 

I love my sisters.  They're kind of fantastic, all of them.  Yesterday was Margie's birthday, and last night I had the enormous privledge of not only spending the evening with her and some of her wonderful friends, but I got to bring the cake!

 

It was a couple months ago when Margie asked me if I could replicate a cake she found on pinterest and fell in love with.  Of course I said yes!  Her only request was that it was very lemony with a tart lemon filling.  I was trying to find a recipe that met the criteria and I came across one from fine cooking.  It was super fun to make!  

The cake called for the lemon zest to be put in a blender with 1/4 cup of the sugar, something I'd never done before.  It added such a deliciously light lemon flavour to the finished cake.  The lemon curd filling, also from fine cooking, is honestly the best lemon curd I've ever made.  Ever other recipe I've made uses corn starch as the thickener but this recipe just used egg yolks.  6 of them.  It was so rich and delicious it took everything I had not to just start eating it with a spoon.

Now enough with the amazing cake and filling because the buttercream was kind of a bust... a soupy mess that just wouldn't set.  I attempted Italian meringue buttercream for the first time.  I decided against swiss meringue buttercream because I've done it enough times that I wanted to try something new.  In retrospect I should have just gone with what I knew but I leaned so atleast there is that.  

Note to self: Next time don't over beat the egg whites and under cook the sugar.  Just sayin.  Anyway, as long as I kept the cake refridgerated nothing melted and realiztically it still tasted fantastic.  

The outside of the cake was decorated with pink crushed meringue.  All in all, exactly what Margie wanted.  Or at least that's what she's telling me.

Love you Mugs, like a lot.  Can't wait to see what you request next year!

Photos taken by Margie at fresh images