Red Velvet Cupcakes

Ever since I got an iPhone for my birthday I've been really bad about using a camera.  And I've also become kind of crazy about instagram.  So excuse the instagram photo.

I started graduate school in August.  I'm loving it and I've made new friends really quickly.  One of my new friends had a birthday in September and her favorite dessert is red velvet cake.  Wanting to let my new friends know how awesome vegan desserts can be, I made cupcakes for the M.A. students on her birthday.

I found the recipe for the cake here.  Instead of making 2 8-inch rounds as the recipe calls for I made about 20 cupcakes.  Bake for 20-25 minutes, until the tops spring back and a toothpick comes out clean. 

I topped the cupcakes with homemade cream cheese frosting.  That recipe can be found from the early days of the blog here. 

*Make sure the red food coloring you use is vegan.  Alternatively, you can substitute with an equal amount of fresh beet juice!

Paris Cafe

When I was in high school about once a month or so my school would have "late start days".  Sometimes I would sleep in, but more often my friends and I would meet downtown for brunch before going to school.  I'm not sure which friend found this gem, but the Paris Cafe was where we went.  The food has always been consistently fantastic.  The place is fairly vegetarian friendly, but this was my first time back as a vegan.

The options were more limited but I really enjoyed what I ordered.  It was the Moulin Rogue salad; mixed green, cherry tomatoes, avocado, and pistachios.  They also serve a house made tarragon dressing with almost all of their salads.   I'm not a huge fan of salad dressing but I'm tell you I could drink this stuff!  It's seriously the best salad dressing I've ever had.  And they serve it to you in a super cute Eiffel tower bottle.  Also served along with your salad is a big chunk of fresh baguette.  It's an awesome place and I highly recommend it if you're ever in downtown West Palm Beach.

Victory Garden

USF has a botanical garden on campus, including a limited number of plots in an organic vegetable garden.  Who has two thumbs and one of those plots?  This girl!  Florida's growing season is pretty much reversed from the rest of the country.  October is a good time to plant, as the weather is slightly cooler (this is kind of a joke, I sweated buckets out there in the cool 88 degree weather).  We started with some tomato, basil, and parsley plants picked up from a local shop.  Then we planted carrot, kale, and lettuce seeds.  I'm going to update the blog with progress from the garden.  I'm hoping for lots of kale by the time Thanksgiving rolls around.

Holy Guacamole

Probably like most people I go through cycles with recipes.  I'll find something I like, make it once a week for a month or two, then kind of forget about it for another few months.  Then one day I'll think, it's been a while since I've had ____, and then the cycle starts again.  Enter empenadas.  I've posted two different recipes for empenadas on the blog before.  And to be honest I never make the recipe the same way twice. 

The filling always consists of whatever I have in my fridge and/or freezer.  Today I used half a package of Boca meat crumbles, a can of black beans, red onion, garlic, cilantro, and spinach.  Then I sprinkled a tablespoon or so of taco seasoning.  Top that mixture with some pepper-jack Daiya cheese and that makes one tasty empenada.  In the past I used Goya brand empenada shells, which aren't vegan.  But I found another brand in the same section of the grocery store that is vegan.

I served these with yellow rice (Mahatma brand is vegan) and homemade guacamole.  Guacamole is a new passion of mine.  I simply can't get enough of it.  When I saw a recipe for a copycat of Chipotle's guacamole on Pinterest I knew I had to try it. 

Chipotle Guacamole:

• 2-3 ripe avocados
• 1/2 cup red onion, diced
• 1/2 cup fresh cilantro, minced
• 1/2-1 teaspoon red chili flakes
• Juice of one lime
• Salt to taste

Mash avocado with a fork, it can be chunky.  Mix with all other ingredients.  Serve with empenadas, tacos, or tortilla chips.

Vegan in an Omni Family

 A few months ago I was the only vegetarian in my family.  It had been a little over three years and it seemed like everyone had finally adjusted.  And then I told them I was going vegan.  So now I'm even weirder, still the only one who doesn't eat animals, but now I don't eat their secretions either.

My family is very supportive of my choice to be vegan.  To me it seems like one of their primary concerns is how we're going to eat together as a family.  I'm vegan, my sister is notoriously picky, and my dad would eat junk every day if my mom let him.  So when we find gems like BurgerFi it's a very happy occasion. 

It's a burger joint, so obviously there's a whole lot of animal flesh going on.  But they do have an AWESOME veggie quinoa burger.  Seriously, probably the best veggie burger I've ever had.  Restaurants like this are great because they show my family that just because I'm vegan doesn't mean I can't share meals with them.  In fact, there are many places we can share a meal that satisfies all of us.  We each had our own burger with the fixings we wanted and shared/devoured a bucket of well done, super crispy french fries.  It was a great lunch.

If your family is hesitant about you adopting an animal-free diet I think it's really helpful to not only cook for your family, but find restaurants that serve all of your unique tastes.  That way they realize that you can still share meals together and that you're not missing out on anything.  My mom had a bite of my quinoa burger and loved it!  It's unrealistic to think that we can change our families, but we can come together and share delicious meals and have honest conversations about our values of compassion and kindness.

And just to reiterate, this was the best veggie burger I've ever had.  Crispy on the outside, creamy on the inside.  And they have all sorts of cool toppings.  I had lettuce, tomato, grilled onion, pickles, and ketchup.  Be sure to tell them to hold the cheese. Hindsight, some avocado would have been great as well.  Not pictured is the glass of strawberry lemonade I had which was also amazing.

Onion Rolls

Oh onion rolls, how I love thee.  I've made these probably about ten times now.  They never get old.  They're always perfect.  Even though I know I usually eat two tempeh sandwiches, meaning two rolls, I always have to sample an extra one straight out of the oven.  You know, for quality control.

Onion Rolls:

• 1 cup lukewarm water 
• 2 tablespoons Earth Balance
• 1 egg replacer (1 1/2 tablespoon oil + 1 1/2 tablespoon water + 1 teaspoon baking powder)
• 3 1/2 cups all purpose flour
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 1 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon onion powder
• 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
• 1 tablespoon rapid rise yeast
• 3 tablespoons minced dried onion, plus more for topping
• 1-2 tablespoons soymilk

Using a stand mixer with the dough hook, combine first 8 ingredients.  Mix on low until a ball forms.   Place dough ball in a lightly greased bowl and cover with a towel.  Place in a warm spot and let rise for at least 1 hour, until doubled in size.  Roll out dough into a 12x17 rectangle.  Sprinkle dough with the minced onion.  Roll the dough into a log, sealing the ends and the seam.  Cut the dough into 10-12 rolls.  Places the rolls on a lightly greased cookie sheet, then flatten with your hand.  Cover with a towel and let rise for another hour, until they're very puffy.  Remove the towel.  Brush the rolls with soymilk and sprinkle with more minced onion.  Bake in a 350 oven for 20 minutes, until golden brown.  Cool slightly.  Slice in half to use as sandwich rolls. 

First Year of Vegan Mofo

This is my first year participating in Vegan Mofo (month of food).  Some bloggers have a theme they try to work on for the month.  For me, as a new vegan, my theme is simply what I'm eating on a regular basis and how I'm dealing with the transition from vegetarian to vegan.  And one thing I'm eating a lot is this BBQ tempeh sandwich with coleslaw and sweet potato fries.  I found the recipe through the Kind Life.  I make it about two or three times a month now.  The recipe can be found here.  I've also been trying to make the onion rolls that I serve the sandwich on.  Because what's better than homemade bread?  I'll post my recipe for onion rolls later this week.  And if there is anything you'd like to see on the blog during Vegan Mofo just let me know!