A Typical Wednesday Night

I had every intention of making a delicious lemony green bean risotto today for dinner, but my plan was thwarted when Safeway was completely out of arborio rice (or "weird rice", as K calls it). So, I went home and did what any self-respecting 27 year old would do: I made pancakes. 

Sometimes dinner is just too much work and pancakes at 7pm sound like an infinitely better option, ya know? Especially when they're giant, fluffy pancakes with a big fistful of chocolate chips and plenty of maple syrup and butter. MM. I like to sweeten the batter with maple syrup instead of sugar, which locks in that rich sweetness, and I use coconut oil to make these babies smell even more heavenly that regular pancakes. Perfect for any time of the day or night!

Vegan Pancakes

Adapted from About Food

Makes six 3-inch pancakes pancakes

1 cup all-purpose flour

2 tablespoons baking powder

a pinch of salt 

1 cup almond milk (or soy, coconut, etc)

1 tablespoon maple syrup

1/2 teaspoon vanilla

2 tablespoons coconut oil, plus extra to coat your pan

1/3 cup chocolate chips

In a large bowl, stir together the flour, baking powder, and salt. In a smaller bowl, whisk the almond milk, maple syrup, and coconut oil until it starts to get a little frothy around the edges. Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ones and stir until everything is evenly incorporated. If you're in an indulgent mood, this is where you'll add the chocolate chips. Your batter should be smooth and thick, almost like a brownie batter.

All you need!

Grab a non-stick pan, set it on a burner over medium heat, and pour in a little bit of coconut oil. Let this heat up for 20 seconds or so, then carefully pour 1/4 cup of the batter into the pan. Tilt the pan around to help the batter spread, then cook until you see little bubbles start to form on top.

My bubbles my bubbles!

Flip! If you're fancy you can fling your pancake up in the air. I'm uncoordinated and wary of accidentally destroying perfectly good food/my kitchen, so I use a spatula like a peasant. Toast your pancake until it's nice and golden brown on both sides. Serve with maple syrup, apple butter, cranberry sauce, or any other toppings your heart desires!

Whip It Real Good

Apologies for the radio silence! Between running the Marine Corps Marathon and officially entering my late 20s, it's been a busy couple of weeks. Now that life has calmed down again, I want to make it up to you all with homemade hummus!

Can I tell you how long I've wanted to make my own hummus? My mom has been doing this for years and it's unfair how delicious it is - my family can inhale an entire bowl within minutes. The key to super smooth hummus, however, is having a food processor that can whip your tahini and chickpeas up to a light, fluffy cream. This critical kitchen gadget has finally entered my life, courtesy of a birthday gift from my lovely parents, and this is how I felt:

You said it, Ellen Page, you beautiful Canadian. The first thing I made was this amazing batch of hummus to have with our Saturday morning bagels, and I can safely say I will never need to buy pre-made hummus again. Check out the photos below, assemble your food processor, and head over to Inspired Taste for the recipe!

Tahini and lemon juice... 

...plus chickpeas... 

...equal a beautiful brunch. 

My Muffin Top

I'm not sure I want to know what kind of Google searches are going to lead people to this post (fun fact, more than one poor soul has ended up here as a result of searching for "Pokemon eating sweets"), but I don't care - the more people know about today's Banana Chocolate Chip Muffins, the better!

I dunno, do I really need to sell you on muffins with chocolate in them? Vegan muffins and quick breads often end up unpleasantly gummy for some reason - any chemists here to clarify why this is so? - but these little treats are a happy exception. The insides are soft and fluffy, the tops are crunchy and sweet, and all the potassium and vitamins in the bananas cancels out the fact that you're eating chocolate for breakfast. Pro tip: I highly recommend eating these muffins warm for maximum chocolatey gooeyness.

Banana Chocolate Chip Muffins
adapted from Doron Peterson’s Sticky Fingers’ Sweets

Makes 16 muffins

¼ cup coconut oil
½ cup sugar
3 ripe bananas
½ tsp vanilla
¾ cup soymilk
2 ¼  cups flour
1 ½ tsp baking powder
½ tsp baking soda
¼  tsp salt
½ tsp cinnamon
¼  tsp allspice
¼  tsp nutmeg
¾ cup chocolate chips

Preheat your oven to 350 F and pop paper liners into a muffin tin. You can also use a little bit of Earth Balance or coconut oil to grease the pan instead. In a medium bowl, cream together the coconut oil and sugar until it's super smoothly - this should only take a few minutes. In another bowl, mash the shit of your bananas. They should look like something a toddler might smear in her hair while you try to give her a snack.

Pre-smooshing. 

Add the bananas and the vanilla to your sugar mixture and stir until evenly incorporated. Then add the soy milk and slowly stir until everything is blended up really well. In a separate bowl, whisk the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salta, cinnamon, allspice, and nutmeg. Dump this into the wet batter and carefully stir together to avoid a spicy cloud of flour from settling all over your kitchen. Don't overstir here! Just mix until there aren't any patches of flour or weird banana clumps visible in the concoction.

Bliss. 

Finally, the most important step - toss in the chocolate chips and stir the batter a couple of final times, stopping as soon as all the nuggets are mixed into the batter. Use a big spoon to drop the batter into the prepared muffin cups.

Taste-test liberally. 

You can fill them up almost to the top, and be sure to monitor for appropriate chocolate chip distribution. Pop the muffin tin in the oven for about 30 minutes, until a toothpick stuck into the center of a muffin comes out clean. Enjoy!

Guest Post: Kalen's Baked Oatmeal

GUYS. Guys.  I have a guest post of epic proportions for you this week - my college roommate and baking goddess Kalen has been kind enough to share a ridiculously delicious recipe with us all. Kalen is actually a professional - she's the head baker at this lovely little place in LA - and I legitimately don't think I've ever eaten anything she made that wasn't phenomenal. She also sent me this incredible guest post as I was scarfing down a bowl of cereal for dinner and trying to survive my last round of grad school finals, so she gets extra brownie points on top of everything else. Mm brownies.

Maybe last week's coffee cake was a little too dessert-y for your breakfast needs. Maybe you've tried Kalen's baked goods before and know that she actually can do no wrong when given a mixing bowl and an oven. Maybe you just really like oatmeal - I do! Whatever your reasons, this delicious Baked Oatmeal is sure to please your taste buds and your tummy.

 *********************************************************************************

Hey!  I'm Kalen.  I was Justyna's roommate in college.  I like butter.  Like for real.  I'm a baker, and I'm into butter.  Glad we got that out of the way.  When Justyna decided to be vegan, I had a lot of qualms.  You see, Justyna and I in college probably had a few too many excursions in pursuit of cupcakes, and/or pie, and/or ice cream.  We were partners in dessert crime.  I hope you are picturing us as hamburglars with cupcake accessories, because that's a dream come true!  Anyway, when Justyna decided to be vegan, I thought these excursions would be gone.  Goodbye to our cupcake destruction days.  Luckily, the girl still likes to eat delicious food.  And double luckily, being vegan has made her explore cooking and baking even more!  While I'm still going steady with butter, Justyna being vegan helps me to think about baking in a different light.  When preparing pastries at work, I like to play around with recipes I think might be easily adaptable to be vegan and still be awesome.  For me, vegan baking should be making something super delicious, that just so happens to be vegan. With this, I give you Vegan Baked Oatmeal.

This oatmeal is the perfect dish to share with your friends at a brunch, or perfect to have on hand throughout the week when you need a quick healthy breakfast on the go.  It is easily customizable too!   It's like those oatmeal swirlers from the 90s but grown up and way better. 

I've made it a few times, sometimes with berries and bananas, sometimes with apples and hazelnuts.  You can adjust your oatmeal to whatever produce is in season. Once you get the hang of it, you can go crazy with toppings and try different combinations to suit your tastes.  (You can also make this gluten free if you get your hands on Gluten Free Oats!)

Vegan Baked Oatmeal

Makes 9 squares 

2 cups Oats

½ cup Walnuts

⅓ cup Brown Sugar

1 teaspoon Baking Powder

1½ teaspoon Cinnamon

2 cups Almond Milk (Or milk of your choice)

1 tablespoon Flax Seed Meal (Or Chia Seed Meal)*

3 tablespoons Water

2 teaspoon Vanilla

1½ teaspoon Canola Oil

1½ cups Assorted Berries

2 Bananas

Preaheat your oven to 350 F.  Spray an 8X8 Pan.  First make a flax egg by combining the flax meal and the 3 tablespoons of water.  Stir to mix and let sit for 15 minutes.  In another bowl mix together the oats, 1/4 cup of walnuts, brown sugar, baking powder, cinnamon, and salt.  

I'm sticking my tongue out at you in this picture!

Grab your prepared 8x8 pan.  Slice your banana and arrange slices in a single layer in the bottom of the prepared dish.  Sprinkle 1 cup of the berries over the top of the bananas.  Pour oat mixture evenly on top of the fruit.  

In a separate bowl combine the almond milk, flax egg, canola oil, and vanilla.  Stir to combine.  Slowly pour milk mixture over oat and fruit mixture to coat.  Tap pan on counter to make sure the milk moves through the oats.  Sprinkle remaining nuts and berries over the top of oat and milk mixture.  

Bake for 20-30 minutes, until the top is nicely golden and the oat mixture has set. You should be able to jiggle the pan without any movement from the oats in the middle.  Remove from the oven and let cool for a few minutes.  Cut oatmeal into 9 squares, serve warm.  Oatmeal will keep about 5 days, and can be heated for your breakfast throughout the week!

* Notes:  The Flax/ Chia Egg is used as an egg substitute, but I have a feeling that this recipe doesn't even need it.  I haven't tried it without it, but if you can't get your hands on flax or chia, try it!  If it doesn't hold together, you will still have delicious oatmeal.

**Next I want to try breakfast baked quinoa, or maybe a mixture of oats and quinoa!  Ooo fiber!

Coffee Cake Cake Cake

Let's face it: mornings are hard. I naturally tend to wake up pretty early (we're talking 6am on a Saturday), but leaving my warm little blanket burrow is never not a struggle. Luckily, my love of food generally wins out of my love of lazing around, so I'm infinitely more likely to make it to a vertical position if I know there's a delicious breakfast, like Cinnamon Streusel Coffee Cake, waiting for me.

I don't really have to sell you guys on this too hard, right? Cake is cake, and this one in particular is light, fluffy, and moist. And "streusel" is just a fancy word for "sugar-butter-flour crumbles", which sounds like everything good and holy in this world so of course I'm going to put it on my breakfast. The crunchy topping is a perfect complement to the soft coffee cake, and the combination of subtle coconut flavor and spices smells and tastes incredible.

If cake for breakfast is not your jam (who are you?), rest assured that this sweet treat remains highly edible during Sunday brunches, afternoon coffee breaks, and anytime you need a little pick-me-up!

Cinnamon Streusel Coffee Cake
Makes 16 servings

1 cup coconut milk (or soy milk, or almond milk, etc)
¼ cup coconut oil 
1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar
1 cup flour
½ cup brown sugar, packed
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 teaspoon cinnamon 
1 teaspoon nutmeg
 ¼ teaspoon salt 

½ cup vegan butter, melted
½ teaspoon cinnamon
1 cup brown sugar, packed
1 cup flour 

Preheat your oven to 375 F, and line an 8x8 pan with aluminum foil. In a small bowl, combine the coconut milk, melted coconut oil, and apple cider vinegar and whisk it up really well. Set it aside for a couple of minutes - it's going to curdle and look kinda gross, but it'll make your cake moist and delicious!

In a medium bowl, whisk up the flour, brown sugar, baking soda, baking powder, vanilla, cinnamon, nutmeg, and salt. Slowly pour in the liquid mixture and stir just until combined - don't worry if there are a couple of clumps in there. Pour the batter into the pan while you make your streusel.

For the sweet, crunchy crumble topping, just combine the leftover butter, cinnamon, brown sugar, and flour in a small bowl. This is the fun part - you get to get down and dirty with your hands! Work the mixture between your fingers to make little streusel clumps, then sprinkle that all over your cake batter. Make sure to get the edges!

Stick your cake in the oven and bake for 35-40 minutes, or until a toothpick stuck in the middle comes out clean. Enjoy that delightful cinnamony smell, along with some piping hot coffee and tea to start your day off right!