Vegan-Gluten Free Recipe Muffin - Tastes Just as Good as the Unhealthy Version!

Vegan-Gluten Free Chocolate Banana Muffin

Ingredients:

1/2 cup coconut milk (Or Chocolate Almond Milk to make it extra yummy)
1 cut up banana
1/3 cup canola oil (I used half olive oil and half vegetable oil, and I assume melted coconut oil would work even better)
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
3/4 cup sugar
1 cup flour (I used gluten free flour)
1/3 cup cocoa powder
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon cinnamon

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Oil up the muffin tin with olive oil or coconut oil or that spray oil stuff or use muffin tin liners.

In a small bowl, mash the banana with a fork. Whisk in the coconut milk, sugar, oil, and vanilla. Mixture will still be a little lumpy because of the banana, but mash up as many large lumps as you can.

In a separate bowl, sift together the flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, baking powder, cinnamon, and salt. Stir in the banana mixture.  

Pour into the muffin tin, (cups should be no more than 2/3 full). Bake 18-20 minutes, turn the oven off and let the muffins sit in there for another 5-7 minutes, take them out and let cool for about 5-7 minutes before you attempt to get them out of the muffin tin.

I didn't make the frosting, and I took the original recipe from here: http://www.loveandoliveoil.com/2010/05/chocolate-banana-cupcakes.html

It doesn't have to look pretty – It just has to taste good Part 2

I’m sick of seeing these blogs with perfectly presented platters of food.  On fancy dishes. With fancy garnishes. Guess what world, I’m 24 I don’t have fancy dishes. Or the money for fancy garnishes, (if you’re like me and wondered “what the hell is garnish” click here) So here is my REAL –middle-class-I’m-still-in-my-twenties-and-broke food blog post. First off I can’t eat half off the world, (more on this in a future post I'm sure) so my recipes are pretty healthy and pretty simple.  
Sunday: Zucchini-Potato Fritters
Ingredients:
1 jar of Salsa1 bag of frozen corn2 cups of frozen hash brown potatoes thawed1 1/2 cups of shredded zucchini ( I used a cheese grater and grated 2 zucchinis until I got to the seeds)  1 egg¼ cup flour I used gluten free flour)2 Tbs. chopped onion2 Tbs. chopped green onionPinch of saltPinch of pepper
How to make it
1)Prepare Warm Corn Salsa. Keep warm. (mix the corn with the salsa and put it over heat, add cilantro at the end)2)Combine potatoes, zucchini, egg substitute, flour, onion, bell pepper, salt and black pepper in a medium bowl until well blended.3)Spray a large non-stick skillet with cooking spray; heat over medium-high heat until hot. Drop potato mixture by ¼ cupfuls into skillet. Cook pancakes, four or six at a time, about 3 minutes on each side or until golden brown. Serving size is 1 pancake and 1/4 cup of corn salsa. Place 1 pancakes onto a plate; top with 1/4 cup of Warm Corn Salsa. Tuesday: Stir Fry


Ingredients:
Veggies that you enjoy cooked I used:
2 zucchinis1 red pepper1 yellow pepper1 crown of broccoli1 red onion
Cashews(other ideas: peas, carrots, green or orange peppers, yellow squash, cauliflower, spring onions, beans, almonds…)
 Stir-Fry Spices:Garlic powder (a lot)Salt
Ginger (a lot)
Cayenne pepper (just a tiny bit of this)4 tablespoons Honey2-3 tablespoons Sesame oil
4 tablespoons Rice Vinegar       Wednesday: Scalloped Potatoes
Ingredients 3 pounds of Gold potatoes, thinly sliced (I used red skin potatoes because I thought it wouldn’t matter, turns out I was probably wrong)1-2 teaspoons of salt3 tbsps. butter2 tbsps. of flour (I used gluten free flour of course)
1 cup of greek yogurt1-2 tablespoon of garlic powder (or a clove or two garlic chopped up finely)1 cup of grated cheese (I use Colby jack for just about anything)
 Directions Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Lightly butter a 3-quart baking dish. Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil; add the potatoes and cook until just tender, 8 to 10 minutes. Drain the potatoes and return to the pot.Meanwhile, melt 2 tablespoons butter in a saucepan over medium heat. Stir in the flour, yogurt, garlic and salt stir constantly, for about 3 minutes. Remove from the heat and stir in the cheese (save a little cheese for just topping if you’d like). Pour the sauce over the potatoes and gently toss to coat.Transfer the potato mixture to the prepared baking dish and add some cheese to the top. Bake until heated through, about 10 minutes. Switch the oven to the broiler setting and broil potatoes until browned on top, about 5 minutes. Let it sit for 10 minutes before serving (I never actually do this but it sounds good). Thursday: Left Over NightFriday: Avocado Tuna Pasta Salad
Ingredients:1 medium sized ripe Avocado1 can of tuna 1/2 lemon’s juice ( I leave this out because I can’t eat citrus and it still tastes great)2-3 garlic cloves, to taste (or garlic powder if you don’t feel like having your fingers smell like garlic for three days)1/2 tsp kosher salt, or to taste (regular salt works fine too) 1/4 cup Fresh Basil, (you don’t need this but its yummy) 2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil (if you don’t like olive oil use hummus)
2 servings/6 oz of your choice of pasta ( I use gluten free pasta for myself and regular for the hubs)
 What to Do:1.       Cook the pasta, if you’re totally lost on how to do this call any college student or twelve year old tween girl.
2.       Meanwhile, make the sauce by mashing up all the other ingredients in a bowl. Feel free to use a food processor if you’re lucky enough to own one. (If you use the food processor leave the tuna out until the end and add it to the sauce right before step three)
3.       When pasta is done cooking, drain and rinse in a strainer and place pasta into a large bowl. Pour on sauce and toss until fully combined. Serve immediately because avocados have a tendency to turn brown and gross looking fast.

  I’ve never written out my recipes, I’m pretty much an eyeballer when it comes to cooking, so if you happen to want to make any of these recipes, email me or comment and I’ll re-explain everything. 

Two cardinal rules of cooking at home, that some how turned into 4 while I was typing this:

1. Make it, how you  like it (if you like garlic add more garlic)

2.  Recipes are meant to be tinkered with (so tinker with them)

3. Only Tinker with recipes when only you and your closest friends or family are going to be eating it, stick with tried and true recipes when cooking for a big gathering. NEVER  TRY A NEW RECIPE WHEN YOU’RE TRYING TO IMPRESS SOMEONE, YOU WILL FAIL 92% of the time. I have no clue what happens the other 8% of the time.

4.   It doesn't have to look pretty, it just has to taste good. (Unless you’re trying to impress a large gathering, then this rule could be null and void) 

It Doesn't have to be Pretty it Just has to Taste Good: Part 1

I work full time. I live with my husband (who wants to eat paleo) and my brother (who is a straight carnivore). And I have tummy issues. (More on that in a future post I'm sure) Long story short, figuring out what to eat is a major weekly task. However, I've come up with a system that works for us.

1.      Schedule a time to plan your meals

2.      Plan out your meals for at least one week

3.      Go to the grocery store and only get what is needed.

4.      Do all your meal prep in one sitting.

Photo Credit: Auto Setting on my iPhone (remember the title of this post)

To give you an idea of how this all looks for me; I usually plan my meals out using Pinterest and my Cookbooks on Saturday morning before going to the store. I write out which meals look good for which day of the week. I always include a leftover day. I then make a list of the ingredients I need from the store. Usually on Sundays I do all of my prep work. I chop my vegetables, mix my sauces and make at least one full meal if not two. 

Top left corner: future stir fry, top right corner: prep for butternut squash soup and potatoes, and the bottom dish is going to be scalloped potatoes. 

This way when I get home from work on Monday and I’m tired and just want to prop up my feet with a bottle of Moscato, I basically can. I throw the food in a pan, pot or dish, cook with occasional stirring, flipping or poking and boom healthy meal all done and I didn't have to think about it after a long day of work. Because if I did, we would be eat out. Or eat PB&J. Or my favorite, tortilla chips covered in shredded cheese, microwaved for 30 seconds. Super gourmet. 

Stay tuned for my first recipe post at the end of the week. 

Millennials

If you're in your 20s, this will be super funny. I can't even fathom a time without the internet being our main source of news. 

 Our generation will definitely be looked at as the time changers... do all generations feel like they were living in an era of huge change? Or is that unique to us? 

Books r Phun

I picked up Ape House because I love love loved Water For Elephants. Both the book and the movie. And thank goodness, Sara Gruen did not disappoint with this one. The story captures your heart by exploring the relationships between humans and animals (a very similar theme to Water for Elephants). I was not only enthralled with the story, but I learned so much about the apes and their amazing humanness. If you have a heart, this is a great book for you! Click here for the cutest 4 minute video ever.


Bone Season peaked my interest because it’s a fictitious alternate world story that has already had it’s movie rights sold. This made me think it was going to be similar to Twilight and Harry Potter where fans will one day be Bone-Hards (haha get it, like Twilight- Twihards) or something like that. Anyway, I was sadly mistaken, this book is nothing like those magical, get sucked in, can’t put the book down, fanatical series’ that we've come to love. 
This book is filled too much made up jargon. I felt like I was back in college; constantly flipping to the glossary. Or to the front-of-the-book diagrams. Trying to remember bizarre names, all making it extremely hard to follow. And extremely hard to get lost in. 
Although I give major credit to the author (Samantha Shannon) who is only 22 years old and is already a published author, and is ambitious enough to project this as a 7-book series. I love a good success story, so hopefully Samantha proves me wrong on all of this and the rest of the world will love it!

 

YOLO vs. Responsibility

Trying to find the balance between the infamous YOLO (if you have no clue what YOLO is click here, if you know what YOLO means and just need to laugh at people that don't click here) lifestyle and that of a responsible young adult is a very precarious position. One could easily topple too far on either opposing side. Living all YOLO all the time could lead to a hell of a lot of good stories but also unfortunately overspending, overindulging and a lack of a stable future, which is obviously not a place I want to end up. Or one could be super strict with themselves and penny pinch till their blue in the face. But then before you know it a year or two or five or ten has passed and you’ve not enjoyed the passed time. 

Someone once said to me (and of course at this moment I can't think of who in the world it was, aren't I such a good story teller?) “You money, but you have the freedom. When you get older you don’t have the freedom you do now.”So right now I have the freedom, I don’t own a house (yet) and I don’t have kids (thank goodness) and I have a decent job (amen), so I should be doing everything I’ve ever wanted to do before its too late. If you happen to be interested at all in why I started thinking about this topic click here.

  But I guess I’m slowly starting to realize that I’ve got to find this silly balance between seizing the moment and saving for the future. Answer my poll question on the right or leave a comment below with your thoughts, I’d love to hear how other 20-somethings are dealing with this scenario. 

Day 1 as a self-proclaimed blogger. I feel different. I feel excited. I love the idea of starting a new project. I’ve got about twenty New Year’s Resolutions. I have no idea what I’m doing. But I feel inspired and I’m diving in. Head First. Topic number one: make a New Year’s Resolution. Not because it’s a new year but because you’re reading this and therefore obviously are looking for some sort of a starting place for your next move, wherever that move may be.

Find some way to make yourself accountable for your new resolution, me I’m gonna post it right now to my blog, I also told all the people in my office. Not that anyone cares. At all. But because I might look slightly silly if I keep telling people things and then not following through on them; ergo personal accountability. What would make you accountable for this new goal?

What do you hope to accomplish with your new goal? Why is it important to you? What might happen if you actually stick with it?

Drum roll please…

Resolution: I resolve to take a photo every day for one entire year.Accountability: Blogged it. Talked about it. Posting the photos to this blog, check out the link on the side called "A Photo a Day Keeps the Doctor a Way? (Mixed Idioms Are Kinda My Thing)"

Purpose: To document my life. To revamp my love for photography