If you read my last post, you will know that I had experimented with a very special needs kind of cake for my lovely BFF. She has (or rather, SHOULD have) very restricted eating habits! She’s not supposed to eat any wheat OR any sugar (even fruit sugar isn’t the best thing for her). She can, however, tolerate agave nectar pretty well.

Yesterday was her birthday. We had a little get together for her, which was a pot luck. We made some pesto with the BUSH of basil on her front porch, and made a quinoa-pasta pesto salad with creminis, sun-dried tomatoes and hearts of palm! Of course, it was amazing. Other people brought various things. Such as a delicious gazpacho risotto. YUM!

Using the successful recipe from my previous cupcakes, I made Britt a delicious wee cake. It was a VEGAN chocolate, gluten-free (a blend of many flours)Cake, sweetened ONLY with agave nectar.

It was a 5-layer 6″ cake, with chocolate almond butter frosting (which i changed the recipe a lot from the last time, to make it creamier), and a raspberry puree reduction inside. DAMN did it turn out delicious! I love chocolate, but not a TON of it, like Britt does. But I found myself really loving this creation. Mmmmm….

With the extra, I made pretty little cupcakes.

OK, so that’s the cake. I’m psyched to now have perfected a gluten-free cake that doesn’t leave a graininess in your mouth! It was Billie and I who made that happen, to give credit where credit is due.

ANYWAY…here are the other odds and ends.

I’ve mentioned before that Britt has a jewelry company, which she sells her stuff on an etsy store. The last time I posted about it, however, was when she just had a couple of items up. SO…I’m mentioning again that her stuff is ADORABLE, classy, pretty, hip…anything you’re looking for, there will be something for you!

So go check it out, buy something and support one of the best women ever! You won’t be sorry! Here’s a link, and some of her stuff…
Bird & Monster.

Speaking of my favorite women ever. (This post is just turning into a plug for my friends…but alas…I love them.)…
My good friend and a professor I had in college, Sara, is also a baking fanatic. I found this out recently, and had a fun time helping her out (ahem…watching mostly!) with a fondant covered cake she made for someone in her department.

Check out her cakes and send her love at
La Dulce Vida

Ah yes, it’s rainy in central Texas today. Due to the hurricanes down near the gulf. We do need rain though. AND it’s a great excuse to lounge around in bed all day! (as though I needed an excuse)….

cheers to a rainy day.
xo.

First, I’d like to reiterate how much I LOVE
Have Cake, Will Travel! Definitely one of my favorite blogs, chock full of delicious recipes.

So, I wanted to make some cookies, and that was the first place I looked for a reference. I used the recipe (which is actually from a Veg Times issue) to make the best Vegan Snickerdoodles ever! While mine may not be as picturesque as Celine’s… they sure were tasty! I was ecstatic that they turned out so perfectly! (Thanks Celine, Thanks Veg Times!)

Here are mine:

and here is the link to the recipe:
Veg Times Vegan Snickerdoodles via Have Cake, Will Travel!

Today Billie and I went to the bookstore. This, of course, usually results in more cookbooks for one, or both of us. My Bff’s bday is on the 23rd, and she has serious dietary restrictions that she really should follow. SO…as the girl who loves her the most, I did some research, and experimented with making a Vegan, Gluten-Free Cupcake Sweetened only with Agave Nectar.

Found an awesome cookbook called “Cooking Free”, which gives you all sorts of recipes which are one or some of the following: Dairy-Free, Wheat/Gluten-Free, Sugar-Free (although, mostly he calls for maple sugar and you have to adapt it yourself) and Egg-Free. There is great info in the book, as well, on how to use various ingredients and how to adapt recipes accordingly. The one drawback for vegans: it has recipes involving meat. Some of them seem interesting though, and adaptable. You never know.

ANYWAY…With a little tweaking of the recipe, Billie and I had a serious breakthrough. We made Vegan Chocolate, Gluten-Free, Agave sweetened cupcakes. AND GUESS WHAT? they were amazing!

They had a fine crumb, but stayed in tact. They weren’t grainy like most gluten-free baked goods (ie: no “sandiness” in your mouth), and they also had no bizarre aftertaste. Just straight up delicious, delicate chocolate cake! Sigh…I love a successful day!

SO…to top them off, we made an Almond Butter chocolate frosting. Agave sweetened only.

seriously, these things are SO much better than this picture conveys! And aside from some canola oil, you can feel pretty darned good about all the ingredients. There is even Quinoa flour in it. And you KNOW how good Quinoa is for you!

You can get the recipe (which allows you to select different flours and such) from the book Cooking Free. Or, if you really want it, just drop me a line, and I’ll send it to you. I’m too tired to type it out right now! (ahem…who’s lazy?)

Ok, last but not least…I will tell you that I’m SUCH an old lady in some ways. Here is one of them…

Natural Desserts Vegan Raspberry “Jel Dessert” (ie: JELLO!), with bananas and cherries trapped inside the sweet sweet lovin’.

This dessert MAY only be for children and old ladies…but it’s setting in my refrigerator as I type, and I just might eat it for breakfast!

OH…and in the interest of being EXTRA long-winded. I am, yet again, Aunt Meghan, with the Birth of Christopher Lawrence (I plan to call him C-Lo!), my nephew who was born 3 days ago. He is CUTE, and I can’t wait to meet him. Hopefully sooner than later, even though my Bro and his family live in far away NC.

God it feels good to be a gangsta….

First, I will admit that historically I have killed every plant that I’ve touched. This includes herbs, flowers, other plants and even ALOE! That’s right…Aloe. Dead.

Anyway, I’m really determined to have a garden someday when I own a house. A big one. Full of veggies and herbs and fruits and deliciousness. SO…my education has been a little flawed up until now. Here are some pictures to prove that I have not yet killed anything I’ve tried to keep alive this year. I’m very proud of myself!

My Peppermint (amazing digestive aid when used as a tea!) and my ornamental Spider Plant:

My amazingly thriving Thyme. And a couple of Basil plants that are doing pretty well:

AND…even a Marigold plant that I have repotted and managed to nurse slowly back to health!

If you look closely, you will see that someone has chosen to hide amongst the pedals.

That’s my little start to what will someday be a nice garden, I hope.

Now that it is a zillion degrees here in Austin, all I really want is lemonade. BUT…since I have to eat to stay alive, I have become obsessed with Vietnamese food. More accurately, Spring Rolls. I’ve always liked them, but never to this extent. My friend Billie is totally consumed by them, and it has officially rubbed off on me! I swear I could wrap anything in Rice Paper and be a happy girl.

In the interest of not eating out at EVERY meal, which I have been doing lately, I decided to buck up and make my own Spring Rolls.

Despite the crappy quality of the photograph…They turned out amazingly!

Here’s what went inside:
Mock Duck (from a CAN, if you can believe that!)
Vermicelli Noodles
Cucumbers (from my friend Matt’s garden)
Raw Spinach
Basil (from MY garden, see above!)

Then I made a delightful peanut sauce to go with it.

Here’s what went into that:
Peanut butter
Coconut Milk
Soy Sauce
Grated fresh ginger (again, I keep some in the freezer then grate with a microplane!)
A wee bit of brown sugar
Siracha sauce (duh!)
Squirt of lemon juice

The only thing missing was a little hoisin sauce, which I love.

Roll these up, dip ‘em in the sauce, add enough Siracha to burn your mouth off, wash down with ginger lemonade and…
ENJOY!

Life is definitely NOT bad.

I don’t mean to be redundant in my blogging…but SERIOUSLY, you must must must do yourself this one favor! MAKE THIS LEMONADE.

Today is a cool 90 degrees in Austin. That’s right…COOL. A tiny breeze even.

I went to the dog park, and totally forgot to bring a beverage. Mistake numero uno!

SO…after dropping Hallie off safely at home, I promptly went to the grocery store and bought 12 lemons. And some La Croix fizzy water, in the Pamplemousse variety. That’s Pomelo in Spanish, and Grapefruit in English. Now you know.

But, I digress… Fizzy water and this lemonade are mutually exclusive of one another, unless you get sassy and want fizzy lemonade!

For the Love of Christ Lemonade
(AS IN: for the love of christ do yourself a favor and make this NOW!

Juice from approx 6 lemons
approx. 1/4 cup agave nectar (again, I used tangerine ginger, but regular works)
Fresh grated ginger approx. 3 teaspoons or to taste (I freeze some and then use a microplane to grate it!)
approx. 1/2 gallon of filtered water

First Juice all your lemons. Make sure not to get any seeds in there, but the pulp is nice. A fine strainer works pretty well for this if you don’t have a citrus juicer. Then add the water, until it isn’t the most sour thing you’ve ever tasted. Then add agave until it’s sweet but not too sweet. Then add ginger until you’re happy, realizing that tomorrow it will taste more gingery than today. Stir and/or shake the shit out of it in a pretty glass pitcher, giant pickle jar that you’re reusing or anything that will hold a bunch of liquid!

Then…sit back, relax in the sun, and rejoice in that cool refreshing drink.

You will not be disappointed, I promise.
Mmmmmmmm.

PS: If you’re worried about lemons and acidity in your gut…
read this. The opposite is actually true!

I was going to start by saying that I am the biggest slacker ever. But, truth be told, I’ve actually been busier than normal. This is a good thing. But, it has meant that I haven’t had time to post about my roommate Skot’s little birthday get together.

First, I made tiny open-faced sandwich appetizers.

As I mentioned before, one kind had a deliciously spicy chipotle spread with veggies:

and the other had broiled (my favorite texture) lemon basil thyme tofu, with veggies:

These were my favorites!

I also got a little WT and made some vegan pigs-in-a-blanket. Mmm…here they are before being baked into golden nuggets of joy!…anything to be dipped in spicy mustard is A-ok in my book.

On the beverage menu:
-Pomegranate Blueberry “Mimosas”…champagne, organic juice, and floating blueberries! AMAZING! MAKE THESE!
-Gingery Lemonade sweetened with agave nectar (I used tangerine ginger). No heating required! The most refreshing drink this side of the Mississippi on any day of the hottest June in Texas history!

And the grand finale, of course…Skot’s Vegan Bicycle Cake. Strawberry (with delicious strawberry puree, and strawberry buttercream frosting! Dense, but delicious! Kind of cute, don’t you think?

For me, July is definitely Birthday Month. I will be making at LEAST one more cake this month, and possibly more if I find the time!
MAKE A WISH….