Happy New Year!

My new year's resolution is to take more pictures of the food that I post on my blog. I know how irritated I get when a recipe doesn't come with a picture and I don't want to be that chick. Sometimes it really helps to have a visual reference. It can also be inspiring. Or make you really, really hungry.



So, while relaxing on this final day before heading back to work tomorrow, take 20 minutes to whip up some of my mom's blueberry muffins. They kick ass and will be a quick breakfast while your rushing out the door in the morning. Let's face it, your snooze button will probably be getting a work out tomorrow. I know mine will.

Blueberry Oatmeal Muffins

What you need:
2 1/4 C. plus 2 tbsp. all purpose flour
3/4 C. rolled oats
1 tbsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. sea salt
3/4 tsp. cinnamon
1/4 tsp nutmeg
1 C. soy milk (or you can use buttermilk if you chose not to go the vegan route)
EnerG egg replacement equivalent to 2 eggs (or you can just use 2 eggs)
1 C. sugar
6 tbsp. vegetable oil
1 1/2 C. fresh blueberries
1 Tbsp granulated sugar

What you do:
Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Line a muffin tin with paper liners.

Combine 2 1/4 C. of flour, oats, baking powder, salt, cinnamon and nutmeg in a large bowl. Sift ingredients together.

Combine milk, eggs, sugar, vegetable oil. Whisk just until combined. Pour liquid mixture into dry mixture and stir until just incorporated. Do NOT over mix. Toss blueberries with remaining flour and fold into muffin batter.

Spoon equal amounts of muffin batter into lined muffin cups, sprinkle with sugar and bake for about 20-25 minutes.

Chica Cherry Cookies

Damn Savage Garden. Now I have that song stuck in my head. Yuck.

Well, the baking season didn't go as planned. Life happened, my belt testing got moved up a couple weeks and things just kept coming up. However, I did manage to make two kinds of cookies. One of which seems to be a big hit. Vegan friendly (minus the white chocolate, but that is optional). Chica check it out.

What you need:

1 cup powdered sugar
1 cup margarine or Earth Balance butter
1/2 teaspoon sea salt
1 Tbsp maraschino cherry liquid
1/2 teaspoon almond extract
2 1/4 cups unbleached all purpose flour
1/2 cup drained maraschino cherries, chopped well
1/2 cup white chocolate baking chips (optional)

What you do:

With an electric mixer beat together the sugar, "butter", salt, maraschino cherry liquid, and almond extract. Once combined, add the flour and mix until just incorporated. Add the chopped maraschino cherries and mix together.

Preheat oven to 350.

Scoop the dough (approx a tablespoon) and roll into balls. Place 1 inch apart on cookie sheets and bake one sheet at a time for 8-10 minutes (depending on how your oven cooks) or until very lightly brown on the bottom. Remove from the cookie sheet and let cool.

Heat up the white baking chips in the microwave for 1 minute and drizzle over cookies. These are very cute, girly cookies and they taste amazing!

You can also try variations with raspberries, pumpkin or blueberries! Just swap out the 1/2 cup of chopped cherries for your new substitute!

If you looking for a tea cookie with spice, try swapping the cherries for cinnamon and nutmeg! Try using 1 tsp. of cinnamon and 1/4 tsp of nutmeg.

Tis the season for baking!

My amazing mother is my biggest baking inspiration. My friends used to call her Betty Crocker. Some still do to this day. She is a machine. Especially around the holidays. I distinctly remember holiday tins filled with cookies, lemon bars and homemade fudge covering the dining room table as far as the eye could see. Adorably decorated snowman and santa shaped sugar cookies we always a favorite (I still have some of the old copper cookie cutters). From the end of November until the first week of January, the entire house would smell like a bakery. The sugary-sweet aroma would even make it's way into my book bag and follow me to school and to dance class. Pure bliss!

Alas, these days are long gone. I have left the nest and my parents have followed the other retirees to Florida. However, this year, I will do my best to re-create the cookie madness that my mother inflicted on our old kitchen. I will bake to my hearts content and try to fill some cookie tins. I will make the essentials, like my grandmothers snickerdoodles and peanut butter kisses. I will also add some new surprises like a cranberry fruit bar (take that lemon!). Bear with me as I stumble through the next couple weeks of baking.



Yeah. That's the stuff.

What are some of your favorite holiday cookies and treats?

Stuff Your Shell (v)

If you know me, you know that I love cheese. Well, that's kind of an understatement. I adore it. I think about it all the time. However, since I have discovered that my tummy doesn't like cheese as much as my taste buds do, I've been learning to make some slight adjustments. One huge dilemma was: how do I make stuffed shells with ricotta cheese? Duh, tofu.

What you need:
1/2 block of extra firm tofu
2 tbsp. olive oil
salt and pepper to taste
1 bag of spinach
1 1/2 C. of mushrooms, diced
1 garlic clove, minced
dash of red pepper flake, unless you like it spicy, then go crazy! (of course this is totally optional)
dash of oregano
1 box of jumbo shells

What you do:
Preheat oven to 350.

Toss the cubed tofu into a blender with the olive oil and some salt and pepper. Blend until it looks like ricotta cheese. Set aside in a medium sized bowl.

Cook the jumbo shells according to the directions on the box.

Saute the minced garlic in some olive oil and toss in the mushrooms. Then throw in the spinach and let it cook down. If your using frozen spinach, let it thaw and then toss in with the garlic and mushrooms. Once cooked, mix into the bowl with the "ricotta cheese". ;)

Remove the shells from the water (careful not to break them!) and let cool. Once the shells have cooled down, stuff the shells with the spinach, mushroom and "cheese" mixture. Place stuffed shells into a baking dish. After the dish has been filled, cover with your favorite tomato sauce. Cover with tin foil. Pop the shells into a the preheated oven and bake for 25 minutes. Turn off oven, remove tin foil and bake for another 5 minutes.

Enjoy with a yummy salad and a nice glass of wine.

Vegan Pumpkin Oatmeal Cookies

Just because it's December, doesn't mean you can't make some tasty pumpkin goodies. Here's a quick, easy cookie recipe that even includes a maple syrup glaze to drizzle on top!

What you need:
2 cups flour
1 1/3 cups rolled oats
1 teaspoon baking soda
3/4 teaspoon salt
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg

1 2/3 cups sugar
2/3 cup canola oil
2 tablespoons honey (I know that honey isn't vegan, but I don't care. You can use molasses if it really is an issue for you. No judgment.)
1 cup canned pumpkin, or cooked pureed pumpkin
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 tablespoon ground flax seeds (optional)
1 cup walnuts or pecans, finely chopped (optional)


What you do:
Preheat oven to 300. Have ready 2 greased baking sheets.

Mix together flour, oats, baking soda, salt and spices.

In a separate bowl, mix together sugar, oil, honey, pumpkin and vanilla and flax seeds until very well combined. Add dry ingredients to wet in small batches, folding together. Fold in walnuts or pecans.

Drop by tablespoons onto greased cookie sheets. They don’t spread very much so they can be placed only an inch apart. Flatten the tops of the cookies with your fingers, to press into cookie shape. Bake for 12-15 minutes at 325.

For the maple glaze:
1/3 cup powdered sugar
2 1/2 Tbs maple syrup

Stir together and drizzle over the warm cookies.

Obviously they are really good...

My broccoli can do tricks!

I was trying to think of an alternative to jarred pasta sauce. Something that incorporated some vegetables and that could be pretty versatile. I pondered on broccoli for a bit and thought to myself, why not teach an old veg new tricks? I threw the cooked trees into the blender with some other goodies and made a tasty sauce that can be eaten over pasta, or over baked chicken.

What you need:

2 bunches of fresh broccoli
1-2 garlic cloves depending on size (you can add more depending on how much you like garlic)
1/4 C. olive oil
salt or to taste
dash of pepper
juice from 1/2 a lemon
1/2 C. water

What you do:

Cut broccoli and cook in a saucepan until tender. Throw the broccoli into blender with other ingredients and puree until desired consistency. Serve over pasta, or on baked chicken.

I threw some sauteed mushroom and tomatoes in the mix for some extra flavor.

I love pumpkin.

I really, really do. Pumpkin pancakes, pumpkin waffles, pumpkin soup, pumpkin muffins. Yeah. I want it all. Especially the muffins. Apparently my boyfriend and his friend did too, because they only lasted 24 hours.

What you need:
1 C. Pumpkin puree (fresh or canned)
1 egg, or Ener-G equivalent to 1 egg
1/4 C. vegetable oil
1/4 C. whole milk or soy milk
1/2 C. sugar
1 1/2 Tbsp. maple syrup
1 C. flour
1 C. organic quick cook oats
3 tsp. baking powder
1/4 tsp. salt
1/4 C. pecans
1/2 C. cranberry sauce (the awesome homemade stuff)

What you do:
Preheat oven to 350. Prepare a muffin tin with muffin cups.

Beat together pumpkin, milk, oil, syrup, sugar and egg in a large bowl. In a separate bowl, combine flour, oats, baking powder and salt. Stir the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients until combined well. Add in chopped pecans.

Spoon evenly into muffin tin and top each muffin with a dab of cranberry sauce and a whole pecan. Bake for 15-20 min.

These are great for a quick breakfast when your running out the door, or for a quick snack.