Peanut Butter Carrot Muffins

Peanut butter and carrot is a really good combo. Don’t believe me? Dip a carrot in peanut butter, eat it, and find out for yourself! This delicious combination is mixed together in these muffins.

They’re inspired by the peanut butter carrot muffins from a local bakery near my cottage that I ate almost every morning this summer.

They’re super moist, sweet, and airy. They’re delicious. Case in point? My mom ate four when I made them. And the best part? They’re full of protein from the peanut butter and they provide you with a full serving of vegetables!

Give them a try, and feed them to people who hate vegetables because you can’t tell that there are vegetables in them.

Peanut butter carrot muffins, fresh out of the oven.

makes 12

Dry Ingredients

• 1 cup flour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• ½ teaspoon salt
• ½ cup + 2 tablespoons creamy peanut butter

Wet Ingredients

• ½ cup yogurt (or vegan yogurt substitute)
• 1 egg (or 1 flax egg: combine 1 Tbsp ground flaxseeds with 3 Tbsp water. Let sit in fridge for 15 minutes, until it gels up.)
• ½ cup brown sugar
• 1 cup carrot puree*

*Put 1 cup shredded carrots OR 10 baby carrots OR 3 large carrots (cut into smaller slices) + enough water to cover them in a microwave-safe bowl. Heat in the microwave for 3 minutes. Drain them (using a colander), then process the carrots in a food processor until they are pureed. You’ll have to process, scrape down the sides a few times, then process again. You may need to add a teaspoon or 2 of water.

1. Make the flax egg, if using.
2. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
3. Make the carrot puree and put it in a separate bowl.
4. Process the dry ingredients (including peanut butter) in a food processor or mixer.
5. Add in the wet ingredients, including the carrot puree and yogurt, and process / mix until just combined. The dough should be very thick.
6. Spoon into prepared muffin tins.
7. Put the muffins in the oven and bake for 18-20 minutes, or until they’re golden-brown, fluffy, and a toothpick comes cleanly out of them.

Have a sweet day!

xx Ellie

Vegan Resources

My Cookbook Staples

• Chloe’s Kitchen by Chloe Coscarelli
• Chloe’s Vegan Desserts by Chloe Coscarelli
• Chloe Flavor by Chloe Coscarelli
• The Oh She Glows Cookbook by Angela Liddon
• The Happy Herbivore by Lindsay S. Nixon
• Isa Does It! by Isa Chandra Moskowitz
• VegNews Magazine

      

images via Amazon.com

Favorite Vegan Food Blogs

• Oh She Glows is bursting with simple vegan recipes that even non-vegans will enjoy! The site is run by Angela, the author of The Oh She Glows Cookbook (mentioned above).
•  Minimalist Baker is run by a husband and wife duo. They create delicious dishes, and their photography skills are out of this world!
• Chocolate-Covered Katie is full of healthy but still yummy desserts created by Katie, who might love chocolate even more than I do!
• Oh, Ladycakes is awesome. Wonderful, simple recipes + gorgeous photos + funny commentary = perfection.

Favorite “Vegan” Documentaries

• Fat, Sick, and Nearly Dead
• Food, Inc. 
• Vegucated
• Forks Over Knives
• Super Size Me

I hope you enjoy these “vegan” resources! Have a happy and healthy day!

xx Ellie

Strawberry Pie

Are you sick of strawberries yet? I’m not. In fact, I ate a quart and a half of them today! And I could have eaten a whole quart more… I’m a serious strawberry monster. When I pick berries, I probably eat as many as I pick!

Oh, how I love to pick eat berries. Unfortunately, though, strawberry season is coming to a close. *sobs* No more strawberry picking until NEXT YEAR! That’s too long of a wait.

But no fear! You can use the rest of your berries in this delicious strawberry pie! And if strawberry season is over for you… don’t worry! You know what you can do? You can swap the strawberries in for raspberries when raspberry season starts next week (HOORAH).

So get in the kitchen and make yummy food with fresh strawberries while you can! Make this pie, then make some jam, then make these muffins!

And don’t forget that vegan ice cream, banana nice cream, or coconut cream are necessary pie toppers!

HOORAH FOR STRAWBERRIES AND HOORAH FOR PIE (WOW capital letters are fun to use).

Simple Strawberry pie (vegan, can be gluten free)

makes 1 pie

• 1 quart of strawberries, washed and with stems cut off — half the strawberries will be in the sauce, and half the berries will be cut into slices for the pie filling.
• 1 cup sugar
• 6 tablespoons flour (gluten free flour = gluten free pie)
• a dash of salt
• 1 of your favorite vegan (/ gluten free) pie crust

1. Prepare the pie crust as needed. I had to poke holes in my crust and bake it at 350 F for 8-10 minutes (until it was golden-brown).
2. Cut half the strawberries into small slices.
3. Add cut strawberries into the prepared pie crust.
4. Meanwhile, add the remaining strawberries, sugar, salt, and flour into a medium saucepan. Smush the berries as best you can and cook the mixture until thick, stirring constantly. This will take  6-8 minutes. You want it thick enough that it won’t spill all over once you pour it into the pie crust, but you don’t want it too thick that it won’t cover the whole pie.
5. Pour the “sauce” into the pie crust.
6. Chill the pie in the refrigerator, overnight or for at least for 6 hours.
7. Cut and serve with vegan whipped cream, coconut cream, or vegan ice cream!

XX Ellie

Strawberry Jam Muffins

It’s FINALLY my favorite time of the year : strawberry season! During strawberry season, my mom and I go out at least five times to a local berry field to pick eat berries. Throughout the season, we probably pick 50 quarts. We pick berries for eating, for making jam, and for making yummy baked goods with!

One such baked good we like to make is strawberry bread. However, the strawberry bread we usually make is chock-full of dairy, oil, eggs, and white sugar! I missed this strawberry bread since becoming vegan, so I made my own VEGAN version of the bread. I also decided to cut out the icky, unhealthy stuff in the bread so that it’d be healthy enough for breakfast. I decided to go all out and cut not just the icky stuff out of the recipe (refined sugar and oil), but also the gluten. That way, ANYONE can enjoy this recipe without worrying about their food allergies.

I actually didn’t follow the old bread recipe at all after glancing over it and seeing it was full of stuff I don’t want in my body. In fact, I didn’t even make it a bread! I made muffins, because muffins are easier to eat than bread!

Maple syrup takes the place of white sugar, nondairy milk and banana replace the oil and eggs, and oat flour and tapioca flour are swapped with regular flour to make the muffins gluten-free.

I added strawberries to the muffin batter, as well as our homemade strawberry jam for extra strawberry goodness. I hope you love these sweet, satisfying muffins!

vegan, gluten-free, oil-free, and refined sugar free

makes 14

by Ellie Haun

• 1 cup gluten-free oat flour
• 1/2 cup tapioca flour
• 1/2 cup gluten-free oats
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• 1 very ripe banana
• 4-5 Tbsp maple syrup
• 1/4 cup nondairy milk
• 1/2 cup strawberry jam
• 1 loosely-packed cup of strawberries, washed

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Mash a banana, either in a mixer or with a fork in a bowl. Add in maple syrup and non-dairy milk to the banana mash and mix it all together. Add in everything else EXCEPT the jam and the berries. Mix it together. Then, whisk in the jam and the berries. Line a muffin pan, and scoop batter into muffin tins. Fill each tin 2/3 of the way full. Bake the muffins for 20 minutes. Let them cool in the pan for at least 5 minutes, then take them out and let them cool for a few more minutes before devouring. These muffins taste great fresh out of the oven and smothered with even more jam!

Happy strawberry season!

xx Ellie

Hearty Party Bowl

This is one of my favorite dinners EVER.

Sweet golden beets + juicy plump mushrooms + crunchy green asparagus + crispy toasted tofu + purple sticky rice = the perfect meal!

It’s a delicious, hearty meal full of veggies, protein, and complex carbohydrates. In my opinion, it’s the perfect meal taste-wise and nutrition-wise!

Serves 2-4

• • 3 cups purple sticky rice
  • 3 to 6 large golden beets, chopped into 1or 2 inch squares
  • 3 large sweet potatoes, cubed
  • olive oil
  • 3 cloves garlic
  • 1 head of broccoli
  • a few handfuls of asparagus
  • 8 oz container of button mushrooms
  • 1 brick of tofu
  • 1/4 cup soy sauce

1. Press the tofu to get the moisture out.
2. Make 3 cups of your favorite sticky rice. Follow the directions on the back of the rice container for how to make the rice. We love purple sticky rice!
3. While the rice is cooking, cube the beets, drizzle olive oil over them, then roast them at 400 degrees F for 18 to 20 minutes. Stir them, then cook for another 18 to 20  minutes, or until they’re golden-brown and not as crunchy anymore.
4. At the same time, cube the sweet potatoes, and roast them with a bit of olive oil and 3 cloves of garlic for about 30 minutes.
5. Meanwhile, cut the tofu into strips and coat the strips with a bit of soy sauce (approx. 1/4 cup). Put it in a pan and roast for 20 minutes per side, or until they’re golden-brown and crispy.
6. Wash and cut the broccoli and mushrooms into bite-size pieces. Either sauté the broccoli, asparagus, and mushrooms OR roast them. When the beets only have 10 or so minutes left in the oven, add in the other veggies and let everything cook until the timer goes off (and the veggies are soft).
7. Add some rice to bowls, then top the bowls with tofu, beets, broccoli, asparagus, potatoes, and mushrooms. Enjoy!

xx Ellie

 

Snickerdoodles (v + gf)

 

When I was 14, I had my first love (Justin Bieber, anyone?)

You see, I tried a snickerdoodle for the first time when I was 14. It was love at first bite, even though it didn’t have ANY chocolate in it! It was sweet, had a soft fluffiness, and an aromatic cinnamon and vanilla combination. It was a cookie that deserved to be loved.

Not so long ago, I was craving Snickerdoodles. So, like any logical person, I searched through my array of cookbooks for a vegan snickerdoodle recipe. I found one in Let Them Eat Vegan, a cookbook by Dreena Burton. They sounded delicious, but they weren’t gluten-free. I wanted to make them gluten-free because I was making them for my tennis team and one of the girls on the team is gluten-free. She’s also my doubles partner, so together we make up the crazy vegan / gluten-free doubles team!

I followed the basics of Dreena’s recipe, but tweaked it by adding gluten-free oat flour to make it gluten-free, as well as adding more cinnamon. They were sweet and delicious! I hope you make them and love them as much as my tennis team and I did!

Snickerdoodles

vegan and gluten-free

adapted from the “Snifferdoodles” recipe in Let Them Eat Vegan, by Dreena Burton

makes 16 cookies

• 1 cup gluten free oat flour (I made my own by pulsing 1 cup of gluten free oats in the food processor until they became flour) (oat flour can be subbed for regular gluten free flour or whole wheat flour, but I prefer the oat flour)
• 1/3 cup raw sugar (cane or coconut sugar)
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/4 cup maple syrup
• 2 teaspoons vanilla
• 3 tablespoons oil (I used a mixture of vegetable and coconut)

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Whisk together the dry ingredients in a bowl. Combine the maple syrup, vanilla, and oil in a separate bowl. Add the wet mixture to the dry mixture and whisk until combined. Cover the mixture and put it in the fridge for 5 minutes. Roll a ½ tablespoon or so of dough into a ball and place on the cookie sheet. Repeat until you run out of room on the baking sheet or all the dough is gone. Do not flatten the cookies, because they will flatten naturally in the oven. Bake the cookies for 10 minutes, or until they are golden-brown. Let them cool for a few minutes, then ENJOY!

xx Ellie

P.s. – What is your favorite type of cookie? I love snickerdoodles, but I also love chocolate chip cookies and these hippie cookies. Give me a cookie and I will be happy!

Chewy Chocolate Cookies

Chocolate-y.

Chewy.

Sweet.

Is your mouth watering yet? If not, here’s a picture.

Still not convinced? What if I told you these cookies were…

Gluten-free.

Sugar-free.

Vegan.

Paleo.

AND had only 3 ingredients!?

Yeah, that’s what I’m talking’ about!

 

These cookies are the perfect pick-me-up snack, sweet treat after a meal, and on-the-go breakfast. They’re great for a SPRING BREAK road trip, since they’re easy to make and easily transportable! Make ’em and pop them in the oven while you pack the car. They’ll be done by the time you’re ready to go, so you’ll have warm cookies to eat in the car on the first leg of your road trip!

I hope you enjoy them as much as I did!

makes a dozen

• 1 banana
• 3 tablespoons dark chocolate peanut butter (a tablespoon of cocoa powder and 3 tablespoons of peanut butter would probably work if you don’t have a chocolate peanut butter spread)
• 1 cup oats
• chocolate chips, optional

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Process the banana and peanut butter in a food processor. If you don’y have a food processor, you can mash up the banana and peanut butter together. Stir in the oats.  Form into the dough into balls with a cookie scoop. Press down the balls so they are flatter. Bake for 12 minutes, or until the cookies are soft and chewy! Let cool, and enjoy!

Have a wonderful day!

xx Ellie

This post is part of Spring Break V, a collaboration among vegan and veg-friendly bloggers. Follow along on social media at #SpringBreakV. Want to learn more or become a contributor? Find out more here.

Strawberry Love Cupcakes

I hope that everyone had a great weekend and a lovely Valentine’s Day. I had fun hanging out with friends. We ate these cupcakes and had a dance party. Since we were hanging out on Valentine’s Day, I decided to bring over valentine-inspired cupcakes. I couldn’t find a great pink-colored, strawberry cupcake recipe that non-vegans would also love, so I decided to make my own! I used strawberries we froze this past summer for the recipe since we didn’t have any fresh ones. If you use fresh strawberries, puree them so you get juice to make the cupcakes pink!

My friends loved these cupcakes, and I hope you will too! They’re moist, fluffy, sweet, and mouthwatering.

Strawberry Love Cupcakes

based on Vanilla Birthday Cupcakes from Chloe’s Vegan Desserts

makes 15 cupcakes

• 1 and ½ cups flour
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• ½ teaspoon salt
• ½ cup nondairy milk
• ½ cup canola oil
• 2 tablespoons white vinegar
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 1/2 cup frozen strawberries

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Whisk together all the dry ingredients (flour to salt). In a separate bowl, mix together the wet ingredients (milk to vanilla) and pour into the dry ingredients. Put the frozen berries into a microwave-safe bowl and microwave for 30 seconds, or until the strawberries are unfrozen and juicy. Add the strawberries and their juice in with everything else and whisk until everything is combined. Line cupcake tins, then fill the liners 2/3 of the way full. Pop them in the oven for 18-20 minutes, until a toothpick comes out dry if you stick it in a cupcake.

Strawberry Glaze (to top the cupcakes)

• 1 cup powdered sugar
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 1 to 2 tablespoons of strawberry juice (from frozen strawberries)

Melt about a 1/4 cup of frozen strawberries (the “how to” is in the cupcake directions). Add the juice from the strawberries, powdered sugar, and vanilla together in a bowl. Whisk them together, then pour a tablespoon or so over each cupcake! I also topped the cupcakes with chocolate chips. Feel free to top them with chocolate chips, strawberry slices, or whatever else you’d like!

Enjoy and spread love through cupcakes!

xx Ellie