This Week in Instagram

I've been really busy baking these past few weeks, which is awesome, and I could not BE happier.  As a result, though, I have been neglecting my blog.  Rather than try and make promises of "I'm going to blog more regularly" or "I'm going to post one recipe a week.  Instead, I'll post when the mood hits and when time allows!

Well, tonight the mood is hitting and time is allowing!

Below are some of the treats I've whipped up lately (baking and otherwise).  All are made by MOI, unless otherwise noted:

Spinach salad, raw zucchini noodles in an avocado-nutritional yeast Alfredo sauce and apple slices:

Arugala salad with roasted beet and spicy maple-Dijon vinaigrette:

Sushi roll with avocado, julienned carrots, green beans, edamame, pickled ginger and wasabi:

Veggie grape leaves from La Saj in Sterling Heights (it was my first time at the restaurant and it was SO wonderful--just when I thought all Lebanese restaurants were the same...)"

Stuffed portobello "pizzas" with spaghetti squash cheeze, garlic-tomato sauce and oven roasted green beans in garlic and olive oil:

Roasted butternut squash and apple spinach salad:

Roasted squash, right out of the oven:

Early Thanksgiving-y dinner of green beans, roasted beet, mashed butternut squash and roasted Honeycrisp apple:

Stuffed poblanos with mushroom 'meat,' cherry tomatoes, chipotles, sweet corn and spices, with a side of pineapple:

Quinoa medley of toasted almonds, edamame, raisins and orange bell pepper, seasoned with salt, pepper, lime juice and red wine vinegar:

Untitled--avocado and roasted cherry tomatoes atop a bed of spaghetti squash:

Spooky pumpkin spice scones with pumpkin pie icing, just in time for Halloween:

The Halloween season continues with pumpkin-cinnamon chip scones:

Pumpkin brownies with chocolate ganache:

Simple avocado sandwich on a toasted sprouted grain Ezekial muffin with Dijon mustard, coconut oil and sea salt and a side of grapes and green beans:

Roasted beet and carrot arugala salad with toasted walnuts:

Baby kale-quinoa salad and a side of spaghetti squash with avocado and sea salt:

Lemon cake with lemon buttercream frosting:

Lemon cake with lemon buttercream frosting...about to be devoured:

Celebrating Fall!

This post is really just for the sake of showing pictures of some of the goodies I've made lately--no recipe or review.  I've been baking a lot of fall-inspired treats to bring in to work and I wanted to share them!  Some ingredients I've been using a lot of are apples, pears, pumpkin, cinnamon, et cetera.  Warm, comforting flavors :)

Pumpkin Spice Muffins with Cinnamon-Sugar Toasted Walnut Streusel

 Ooey Gooey Pear-Cranberry Pie Bars

RECIPE: Vegan Pear-Apple-Cherry Mini Pies

It has been awhile since I've posted a recipe so now is the time!  The other day I made mini pies, featuring the flavors of the season, to bring into work.  The pies featured Honeycrisp apples from Royal Farms in Ellsworth, Michigan and Bartlett Pears from the Rochester Cider Mill!  The cherries, while appropriate for the season as well, were not local.  They were, however, organic!

In any event, feel free to make your pies using whatever apple, pear and cherry variety you so choose! I recommend using tart apples and pears that are ripe but feel free to get creative!  Try Cortland apples or Danjou pears and see how they work.  I'm providing just a rough template!

Vegan Pear-Apple-Cherry Mini Pies

Ingredients:

Crust
- 1.5 c. all-purpose flour
- 2 T. cane sugar
- 1/2 tsp. sea salt
- 1/2 c. canola oil
- 2 T. orange juice (no pulp--I hope this goes without saying!)
*Note:  This is the BEST crust ever--so easy, incredibly delicious and virtually failproof!
Filling

Filling
- 3 small Bartlett pears (or 2 large), peeled and diced
- 1 large Honeycrisp apple (or 2 small), peeled and diced
- 1/2 c. dried cherries, heaping
- 2 T. freshly squeezed lemon juice
- 1/2 tsp. lemon zest
- 1/2 cup brown sugar, tightly packed
- 1/2 tsp. cinnamon
- 1/4 tsp. nutmeg
- 3 T. flour
- 1 T. non-dairy milk, for brushing
- 1 T. coarse turbinado sugar, for topping


Ingredients:

1.  Preheat oven to 425' Fahrenheit.  Grease and flour a cupcake tray.  Set aside.

2.  Combine all filling ingredients and allow to sit while you prepare crust.  To make crust, first mix dry ingredients.  Add orange juice and oil and mix until dough forms and ingredients are incorporated.

3.  Divide dough into 12 golf ball-sized pieces and place in prepared cupcake molds (you will have some dough left over*).  Press dough into each mold to make a shell.  Bake for 8-10 minutes in preheated oven, or until slightly golden.  Remove tray from oven and allow shells to cool before adding filling.  Reduce oven temperature to 375' Fahrenheit.

4.  Roll out leftover dough* and cut desired shapes out (I chose hearts) to top pies with.  Fill pies to the brim and place cutouts on top.  Brush cutout shape with non-dairy milk and sprinkle with the turbinado sugar.

5.  Bake pies for 22-27 minutes, covering them with foil towards the last 5-10 minutes so as not to let the crusts/cutout toppings burn.

6.  Allow pies to cool for five minutes before transferring to wire racks to finish cooling completely.

Stuffed Poblanos and Caramel Apples...(Not Together Though!)

I've gotten back into the groove of cooking lately.  For awhile I was just making salads--good salads, with various toppings, assorted greens, different types of dressings and so on--but that got old fast.

Last night, however, I made stuffed poblano peppers and they were sure delicious!  A recipe in the March 2012 issue of Vegetarian Times inspired me but I made a lot of modifications.  Not only was it my first time stuffing a poblano but it was my first time eating one!  While I'm not a huge bell pepper fan (actually, I don't like them at all), I really liked the poblano!  It's very mild and, when broiled, has a buttery, soft texture.

Per the recipe's directions, I broiled the peppers for 15 minutes (but would probably do so for less time the next time I make this because they got almost too soft and tore easily) and then rubbed off the outer, charred layer of skin.  I removed the seeds and stuffed the peppers with a mushroom 'meat' filling, consisting of organic grape tomatoes, chipotles, onion, garlic and spices.

Let me clarify just a bit here.  The mushroom 'meat' to which I referred is not actually meat.  I shredded two portobello mushroom caps, which I then sauteed.  I am so used to roasting the caps whole, slicing them in strips or coarsely chopping them.  Never before have I shredded them but I absolutely LOVE the texture shredding gives--utterly soft, moist from the mushrooms' natural water content and, well, meat-like!  I'll definitely be shredding my mushrooms again!

Now for part two of this post: vegan caramel apples.  With fall in full swing, I thought it would be festive to make some caramel apples!  Very non-vegan in their original form, I veganized mine by creating coconut milk-based caramel instead of the usual, butter and dairy milk-based.  For my apples, I used local Honeycrisps from Dietrich Orchards in Conklin, Michigan.

Caramel apples are typically made with Granny Smiths because the apples' tartness counteracts the sweetness of the caramel but I wanted to make mine a little different.  Honeycrisps are fairly tart as well but they have a thinner skin, which I prefer, a greater crispiness and a beautiful red color.  Win!  Win!  Win!  I doused these babies in organic peanuts, wrapped them up and called it a day!

Enjoy the fall!

September Foodie Pen Pals

Foodie Pen Pal reveal day is here!  This is my third month in the program and I am absolutely loving it!  I've met some wonderful people, not to mention received some tasty treats!

Nely was my pen pal this past month and she sent me a wonderful, totally "me," package of goodies!  They met all my taste standards: vegan, spicy, healthy, chocolate-y and DELICIOUS!  I feel very fortunate to have been matched with such a kind person who presented me such a thoughtful package.  Now, without further ado, here are the contents!!!

My package arrives!

A sneak peak of the goodies!  Eek!  Eek!  So excited!  The letters I've received thus far in the Foodie Pen Pals program are almost more precious to me than are the food items.  Nely wrote me a very nice letter!

And here is everything!  Item by item, from left to right: salted dark chocolate almond bark, local strawberry hot sauce, pomegranate candies, chili-lime pumpkin seeds, dried mango, mango spread and chili-seasoned plantain chips!  I think I might have mentioned to Nely that I like mango...oh!...and that I like hot/spicy foods...

 Nely's letter and the ridiculously wonderful chocolate bark.

  I did not even have enough will power to photograph the chocolate bark before ripping into the packaging to eat, like, a third it.  Ay yi yi.  I quickly put the rest of the chocolate in a Ziploc baggy and shoved it in to my bread box in the depths of my pantry in order to resist temptation...at least for the time being...

I am very sad that this chocolate is a thing of the past : (  It looks so yummy!

  This hot sauce was awesome!  Nely told me, in her letter, that a local, California-based company makes it and that they use strawberries as an ingredient!   The sweetness of the strawberries and the heat of the peppers works really well together.  I like the fact that Nely included something from her hometown that I can't get here--that 's one thing that makes FPP packages even more special!

  Yum.  Yum.  Yum.  The plantain chips in particular, though, were my absolute FAVORITE item in my package.  I liked them even more than the chocolate, which is saying a lot.

 Featured in the top left corner of the photograph are the plantain chips!  I had them with my collard wrap for lunch one day and took an Instagram of it!

  I LOVE mangoes and so I was super excited to get these.  Now, I've had my share of "too dry" dried mangoes (yep, dried fruit can be too dry) but these were plump and flavorful!  I ate some plain, others I wrapped with salsa and hot sauce, and others still I cut up and out in my breakfast bowl, alongside fresh fruit, grains, almond milk and other goodies!  The mangoes were delicious in every form.

Thanks again, Nely, for a great September Foodie Pen Pal package!  I can't wait to see what next month's pen pal program brings!