Month: February 2012

Happy Leap Day!

/ pumpkinhoney / Leave a comment

Happy Leap Day!! A “holiday” you can only celebrate every 4 years!

Leap year occurs in years evenly divisible by 4, except years that are evenly divisible by 100, with the exception of years evenly divisible by 400! Wow. Leap Day traditions include the famous Irish female marriage proposal, which if refused by the man warrants money, gowns, or 12 pairs of gloves (to hide the shame of no ring) to the asker. Also included is the Scottish superstition that marriage on a leap day is bad luck! Leap Day is necessary because it actually takes the Earth 365.2422 days to circle the sun thus the extra day every 4th year.

A Recipe I just tried that I totally love:

Grapefruit, Lime & Ginger Juice from Lottie & Doof

This juice was perfect for Sunday brunch! So clever. Mom & Stephen both loved it.

So after being sick for nearly the entire month of February, I finally feel GREAT. I came home on Friday with a lot of great produce from the “Amish Market” and decided I absolutely had to clean out the refrigerator. I started to throw out all the old food & condiments we’d managed to hoard over the days, months, yeaaars. Then I rearranged everything & cleaned off all the shelves with a white vinegar & baking soda mixture. I organized the whole fridge (except the meat/cheese drawer)! It made me feel like all the food I put into it was that much healthier… living in my clean fridge. Now I just need to clean out the freezers.

Then comes the big one… I cleaned my room. It started with washing my sheets, pillowcases & duvet cover (which I do on a regular basis, be reassured) and then I moved on to some major straightening. I folded every piece of clothing, recycled paper from high school!, threw away random receipts I found, and for the first time in what was probably years I vacuumed! Yes, I still have papers (and probably dirt) from high school! How ridiculous. I swear, I’m not that gross. I do shower. I wash my laundry. I don’t have bugs (except the occasional spider) in my room or old moldy food sitting around. I’m just really messy : ) In the kitchen too!

I also finally get to work out this year! I clocked in 25 minutes on the elliptical for my first (technically second if you count gentle yoga) workout since feeling well again.  I cannot wait to get re-immersed in yoga so I can do a thorough vinyasa routine at home.

Recipes I want to try really badly:

Asian Slaw by Once Upon a Chef

Topped with a peanut ginger dressing. This looks absolutely incredible. And perfect for Spring.

Lemony Saffron CousCous from The Shiksa in the Kitchen

So light & full of flavor. Another dish perfect for spring!

Jam-filled Scones from The Teaspoon

I’ve wanted to make these for weeks. The messy picture makes them look warm & perfectly wonderful.

Raw Macaroons from Simple Medicine

Grown-up, vegan macaroons? Yes, please, and thank you. I’ll take a baker’s dozen.

Sticky Toffee Pudding from Oh She Glows

I love how simple this dessert is. Only a few ingredients and voila – warmth & yum.

Vegan French Toast by Epicurean Vegan

I love the easy ingredients & this just looks killer. Cannot wait to try!

Also, I’ve just noticed in posting these recipes that nearly everything I want to make has sugar in it. Is that just because I have a craving as I write or is that an everyday thing? Oh dear, I better watch myself. I can smell the maple syrup wafting off of the computer screen.

A Smoothie, A Sandwich & Some Yoga

/ pumpkinhoney / Leave a comment

At least once a week (sometimes more) I drive the 2 minutes down the road to the Harbour Center for lunch. WHY? Because I’m freaking obsessed with Robeks & Potbelly. And I always order the same thing.

From Robeks, I get a regular (which is actually HUGE) Dr. Robeks smoothie which contains strawberries, raspberries, orange juice, raspberry sherbet (which upon further research I’ve discovered contains a very small amount of dairy… oops), and immune system & vitamin boosters. Unfortunately, the HUGE regular sized smoothie has 372 calories in it and that is the smallest size offered for the Dr. Robeks that I enjoy so much. I usually don’t finish my whole smoothie but still, that’s quite a few calories. I shall try to cut back in the future or maybe cut out the smoothie altogether. I shall commence a mission to make my own, healthier, vegan version!

Then I walk next door to the Potbelly and order an original (size) vegetarian on multi-grain with no cheese (aka just fresh mushrooms please). After they toast it, I ask for “mustard, hot peppers, lettuce, onion & pickles, please.” Okay, let me rave. They make their own mustard which is a spicy brown & it’s freaking delicious. They make their how hot peppers which are actually comprised of peppers, cauliflower, carrots, celery and I honestly don’t know what else but they’re salty & vinegary & spicy & yum. Then, the pickles are sliced so thin they’re like sheets of paper. Oh how I love this sandwich. It is supreme. According to the Potbelly meal calculator  my sandwich is only 350 calories. There are also 9 grams of fat, 6 grams of fiber, and 14 grams of protein. It also contains a buttload of sodium but I can’t bring myself to skip the hot peppers… don’t make me… please… they’re so… tasty.

So, all in all, that’s about 722 calories for lunch. That may sound like a lot, but when you consider that there are 750 calories in a Chipotle burrito with no meat or dairy (just tortilla, rice, beans, fajitas, salsa, lettuce, guacamole), that seems like a pretty good deal. A big old portion of fruit, whole grains, and bit of veg. I’m satisfied 🙂

Pammy & I are also doing “gentle yoga” which really just means beginner yoga every Wednesday. And I called the local gym today to ask about membership costs… I’m thinking a 6 month membership since (fingers crossed) I may be moving to DC soon. They also offer yoga classes & a bunch of others.. cycling, zumba, etc. Emily may be joining as well! AND I just found a totally awesome Groupon deal for 10 classes of hot yoga. My only worry is that they’ve sold so many that the classes will be overflowing! Disclaimer: No, I cannot do yoga like Briohny Smyth. Seriously though, how many people can?

 

On a less positive side…  My immediate reaction to websites with unexpected sound is usually “HOW DO I TURN IT OFF????? HOW???” Does anyone else feel this way?

Lemon Coconut Cake

/ pumpkinhoney / 14 Comments

My mom LOVES lemon, much like she loves ginger. So every year when I ask what kind of birthday cake she’d like she requests something lemon. And what goes better with lemon cake than coconut? I did some serious searching for vegan lemon coconut cakes and I really didn’t find much. The best, simplest (and probably tastiest!) recipe I found came from Epicurean Vegan (thankyou!). She has some seriously incredible looking recipes… this was the first I tried. It was so simple and it looked so beautiful I was like “damn, I’m gonna make that cake.” And I did! I did make some tweaks because of the ingredients I had. I had a whole can of cream of coconut, you know… the kind you use to make Pina Coladas. And I had sweetened shredded coconut I couldn’t not use. And I bought some beautiful organic lemons from Fresh Market.

The original recipe is for a bundt cake and I do have a bundt cake pan but I’ve never used it… it reminds me of the Sydney Opera House to be honest. Not that there’s anything wrong with that… I’ve just never had the urge to make a bundt cake. It was a gift from my dad (thanks dad, I’ll use it one day!).

Anyway, I wanted to make a more traditional birthday cake so I broke it down into two layers and totally winged it with the frosting. I made sure coconut oil icing had been done before & then I did my thing. The measurements for the icing are estimates as I really just eyeballed my ingredients as I threw them in. I knew it was a winner when dad came home, tried it without my approval, and said “oh man, that’s delicious!” Even though he’s had INCREDIBLE vegan desserts from Vegan Treats in Bethlehem, PA & vegan doughnuts in Las Vegas he still does that “but it’s vegan?” (and makes a face) thing.

Anyway, the major point here is that the cake was delicious and every person who ate it Saturday night agreed. These cake-eaters were all non-vegans by the way (besides Stephen). It was moist, it was coconuty & lemony, the frosting was fluffy. It was pretty damn good if I do say so myself. Dad & Stephen both had seconds. As only my second attempt at a vegan cake thus far, I couldn’t have hope for better and it’ll definitely be hard to top.

For mam’s birthday we enjoyed dinner & drinks at one of our favorite restaurants EVER… Old Stein Inn. Dear Old Stein Inn, I love you. Thank you for your incredible fried pickles & potato pancakes (with applesauce) & red cabbage & franziskaner hefeweisen on tap. I shall take pictures of all that you have to offer one of these days to show the people of blogosphere world. Until then, enjoy my lemon coconut cake. NOM.

Lemon Coconut Cake

  1. Adapted from Epicurean Vegan
  2. Makes a 2 layer cake using 9inch rounds.
  • 1-1/2 Cup Granulated Sugar
  • 1/3 C Canola/Veg Oil
  • 1/3 Cup Coconut Oil (melted)
  • 1 1/2 Cups Coconut Milk
  • 1/4 Cup Cream of Coconut
  • 1/4 Cup Soy Milk
  • 1/4 Cup Lemon Juice
  • 2 Tbsp Lemon Zest
  • 2 Tsp Vanilla
  • 3 Cups Flour (I actually used 2 cups AP, 1 Cup + 2Tbsp Cake)
  • 2 Tsp Baking Powder
  • 1 Tsp Baking Soda
  • 1 Tsp Salt
  • 1 Cup Shredded Unsweetened Coconut
  • 1/2 Cup Shredded Sweetened Coconut

Preheat oven to 350 F. Grease two 9″ round cake pans. Dust with flour and tap off any excess.

In a large mixing bowl, combine the granulated sugar, canola/veg oil, melted coconut oil, coconut milk, cream of coconut, soy milk, lemon juice, lemon zest, and vanilla. Stir to combine.

Sift the flours, baking powder, baking soda, and salt into the wet ingredients. Stir well to combine, tiny lumps are okay but you want to mix thoroughly.  Add the shredded coconut and stir one last time to combine!

Distribute batter evenly amongst the two pans. Bake for about 30 minutes. Keep an eye out, the cake is done when it springs back when lightly poked.

Slide a knife around the edges of the pan to make sure it’s loose. Flip onto cooling rack & let sit.

Lemon Glaze

  • 3/4 Cup Granulated Sugar
  • 1/4 Cup (or 2 lemons) Lemon Juice
Combine granulated sugar & lemon juice in small saucepan over medium/low heat and stir until sugar is dissolved. Take off heat & let cool slightly. When cake is no longer hot (but still warm) gently poke several times with a fork. Make sure to poke the sides of the cake that will be facing upward. Lather glaze onto cake. It should soak up in front of your eyes (much like tres leches cake).

Coconut Icing:

  • 1/4 Cup Coconut Oil
  • 1/4 Cup Vegetable Shortening
  • 1 Box + 1/4 Box Confectioner’s Sugar (this is how I remember dumping it into the bowl, for everyone normal out there… about 2 1/2 cups)
  • 2 Tsp Vanilla
  • 1 Tbsp Lemon Juice
  • 2 Tbsp Cream of Coconut
  • 1/4 Cup Coconut Milk

Beat coconut oil (not melted) and vegetable shortening until soft & fluffy. Alternate between adding powdered sugar & liquids until your icing is creamy & fluffy. This may require slightly more coconut milk. Wait until cake is completely cooled before frosting! You don’t want your icing to melt!

I probably should have made two. It was really divine.