Fabulous Vegan Recipes

Pumpkin is so delicious. It's especially delicious in this recipe. You can taste the vanilla flavor but I love the pumpkin flavor bursting through. I had this for breakfast today and it was a super simple recipe.

My stress eating during this pandemic is slowing down (yay, I only had one of these cupcakes after I made them) but I still have the urge to bake. These cupcakes are amazing and I used my usual icing for them (get lemons or lemon juice!) Other than that, I am just taking one day at a time during this period of isolation and trying to put good food in my body and move everyday (mostly weight lifting) You should have all the ingredients for these cupcakes in your pantry but I also added a cool unusual ingredient: blackstrap molasses. It goes so well with pumpkin and it has a great amount of iron in it...and I want to use it up. You don't need to add the molasses but I like the subtle taste. I also used powdered sugar because I had no other sweetener but feel free to use coconut or brown sugar. These cupcakes turn out pretty moist and springy and taste great with and without the icing.

How appropriate that I'm writing this recipe on the first day of what finally feels like fall. My fingers are a little chilly and I found myself walking purposely in the sun as I was out and about around the city today. What a fabulous change from yesterday, which was way too humid for October. It looks like the extended forecast says that fall is sticking around. 

Despite writing out and testing this recipe on another warm, humid day here in New York City, it's finally fall and my morning coffee has reflected the season as of late. But first I must tell you how I celebrated the first day of fall!

Alfredo sauce....I used to order fettuccine alfredo at restaurants all the time before I became vegan. It's creamy and comforting and totally fattening and delish. So, I wanted to make a sauce that was just as creamy and delish but also healthy with whole ingredients. When you're buying the ingredients for this recipe, buy nutritional yeast. It's nutty and cheesy tasting and goes great in this dish. Nooch is perfect in sauces and soups and on top of popcorn tossed in coconut oil. Whoa, it's so good! At the last minute I added a carrot into this sauce so that it made the sauce more orange and added some sweetness. Turmeric, pumpkin and even a little maca powder...this sauce has everything and each ingredient has healthy, healing properties. I might make this for Christmas if I'm feeling up to it just to add a plant-based, filling dish to the table. It's fun to make Italian food for Christmas, especially when you're vegan. Everyone is carbing up on

I'm making something other than oats for breakfast...and it's taking me longer than I normally would at this time of the morning. That's how much I wanted to make this soup! It's shaping up to be lovely, smelling awesome and warm and garlicky-again, something else I would never make or add to food in the morning. I'm trying to change things up so that I'm putting more leafy greens into my body first thing in the morning instead of sugar (I always add coconut palm syrup or maple syrup to my oats). Maple syrup isn't bad for you but I think waking my body up with veggies had to be a little better!

I've had three recipes in my head since coming back to the city after Thanksgiving but I'm low on leafy greens (I know!!) and my new hot chocolate recipe did not photograph well this morning. I have a cool summer roll recipe that I'll post when I stock up on kale. I'm on a sugar detox! My only sugar source has come from dates, other fruit and veggies. I tucked the coconut sugar away and the chocolate chips. I'm also measuring out the fat. I already feel better!

So I changed the font on some of my posts and it's such a mess. This morning I couldn't change the font size so I had to copy the blog post into notepad and then paste back into my blog. I guess I will stick to Times Roman font that is a decent size so people can actually read my posts! Happy Friday all! I just went food shopping, bought some coffee for tomorrow's coffee smoothie that I'm obsessed with and made some raw desserts that are now in the freezer. My cousin is patiently helping me use my new camera so I hope to have some new awesome photos of said desserts tomorrow when the natural light comes into my windows.

Everytime I go to a vegan restaurant and they have a raw cake, I gotta order it. It ends up being thick, creamy with just the right amount of sweetness and absolutely delish. I made this recipe yesterday but it didn't turn out well at all. Today I repeated it and I'm ready to give it to anyone to taste test-it's perfect! Cashews make the difference when making raw cheesecakes as does coconut oil and lemon juice. I'm so psyched for pumpkin season!

These cookies looked good and the cookie dough was delish but when baked, the cookies were tough and rubbery. I used gluten-free flour from Trader Joe's and I don't think that flour was best for cookies. I usually use oat flour or a mixture of oat and garbanzo or another gluten-free flour...and I'm not gluten-free, per se, I just usually end up being gluten-free by default; it just seems to go well with being vegan. So, for this recipe, you can use regular all purpose flour, I just want to be able to make these GF and have them turn out fabulously. Also, I didn't have baking powder so that may have thrown the cookies off as well.

Today is farmers market day when I head downtown to Union Square and check out what the farmers are growing. I love weekends, New York is so relaxed! People are cheerful and talkative, the city shines, people are out and about celebrating, it's easy to see why people gravitate towards this city. I love the farmers market, people bring their dogs, they walk around munching on produce, if you're me, you're buying a vegan muffin and everyone has giant cups of coffee. Today was like summer meets fall; the sun was bright and warm but the breeze was chilly and autumnish. Such a beautiful day, such beautiful fall produce. I bought my usual kale, potatoes, tomatoes but I also found spaghetti squash, which I plan to make like pasta (recipe coming) and I also bought another cabbage. I love baking cabbage in spices.

I'm on Day 4 of my weight loss challenge and I've been eating clean all week.  I didn't get a chance to go grocery shopping so I've been making do with what I've had in the house and I'm super proud of myself!  2 cups of blueberries make a beautiful color smoothie :) 2 cups of blueberries, 1 frozen banana, 2 scoops of chocolate protein powder, 1.5 cups of oat milk, blend and enjoy.  It tastes like a chocolate blueberry explosion.