Wellness From Inside

Vegan Chocolate Cake

 

 

My 13 year old daughter actually made this cake on Mother's Day. The pic does nothing for it but I am working on my photog skills so bare with me. It was delicisous, dark and decedent...just how we like it. The magic is in this stuff right here:

adapted from Minimalist Baker

Super Duper Dark Choclate Cake

PREP TIME

15 mins

COOK TIME

25 mins

TOTAL TIME

40 mins

 

 

Serves: 10

INGREDIENTS

• For the Cake:
• 1 1/2 cups water
• 2 tsp white or apple cider vinegar
• 1 1/4 cups unsweetened applesauce
• 1/2 cup strong brewed coffee 
• 2/3 cup melted coconut oil, or sub grape seed or canola oil
• 2 tsp pure vanilla extract
• 2 cups + 2 Tbsp unbleached all-purpose flour
• 1 1/3 cups sugar
• 1 cup unsweetened Hersheys Special Dark Cocoa Powder
• 2 tsp baking soda
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1/4 tsp salt
• For the Frosting:
• 1 cup (16 Tbsp) vegan butter, softened
• 2 1/2 - 3 cups powdered sugar
• 2/3 cup unsweetened Hershey's Special Dark Cocoa Powder
• 1/4 cup dairy-free semisweet chocolate, melted and slightly cooled
• 2 tsp pure vanilla extract
• ~1/4 cup unsweetened almond milk

 

 

INSTRUCTIONS

1. Preheat oven to 350°F and lightly spray 2 8-inch round cake pans or one large rectangular pan with nonstick spray . Dust with cocoa powder, shake out the excess and set aside.
2. Mix the water and vinegar in a large mixing bowl, and let set for a few minutes to activate. Add the oil, coffee, vanilla extract, and applesauce and beat until foamy.
3. Mix the flour, sugar, cocoa powder, baking soda, baking powder, and salt  and slowly add into the wet ingredients while mixing with a hand-held or standing mixer. Beat until no large lumps remain. It should be creamy and pourable. 
4. Divide batter evenly between your 2 cake pans or rectangular pan.
5. Bake 25-30 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Let cool completely before frosting.
6. While cooling, prepare frosting by beating together all ingredients until light and fluffy, adding the powdered sugar in small amounts until you reach your desired consistency and sweetness. If it becomes too thick, add more almond milk. If it's too thin, add more cocoa powder or powdered sugar.
7. Once the cake is cooled, frost generously with buttercream frosting, adding a thick layer between the top and bottom layers (if doing a 2-layer cake). Alternatively, omit the frosting and dust with cocoa powder.

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Vegan Biscuits

Recipe adapted from Quick and Easy Vegan Comfort Food by Alicia C Simpson

Ingredients:

 

2 cups flour

1 tablespoon + 1 teaspoon baking powder

1 teaspoon salt

2 teaspoons sugar

7  tablespoons Earth Balance or some other non hydrogenated margarine or vegan butter substitute

1 cup water

Directions

Preheat oven to 425F

After stove is preheated and while making the biscuits, melt 2 tablespoons of the margarine by sticking your 9 inch round cake pan or baking dish you will use for the biscuits in the oven and letting the butter melt.

Combine flour, baking powder, salt and sugar.

Add in the  rest of the margarine and mash it together with your fingers until it starts to look flaky

Make a well in the center and pour the water in it and then stir it to make dough

Transfer to a flour dusted work surface.

Put flour on your hands and biscuit cutter

Knead the dough gently for about 30 seconds

Roll it out with your hands or a flour dusted rolling pin do desired thickness

Cut out biscuits

Take your pan out of the stove and coat the biscuits in the melted butter and place in pan.

Cook for 10 or 12 minutes

Cook your chicken less patties according to directions

Make your chicken less biscuits!

 

 

 

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Are You Really Going To Eat That?

Whenever I bring cashew cheese for a snack(ground up cashews with seasonings. NO cheese involved), 3 things happen:

Curiosity

People Eat it

Judgement

Let's talk about the judgement. It happens so often that me and Elizabeth at the front desk actually joke about. At a glance, it looks like nacho cheese sauce. Obviously, this brings things up for people. I get stares, eyebrow and lip raises, nervous laughs and comments.

It just seems appalling that a yoga teacher would eat a jar of cheese. When I explain what it is, you can hear the relief in their voices. Cashews is acceptable. A jar of nacho cheese is not.

It is a reminder to me of expectations set on yoga teachers.  We are supposed to be cute and fit and examples of health and happiness. I don't get upset. I am kind of flattered that people care enough to have expectations of me. 

Even if it was a jar of cheese, i would eat it anyway. I am human and my students need to know that. They need to know that at the end of the day, their yoga journey is their own.

How To Make the Infamous Cashew Cheese

Ingredients:

8 ounces raw cashews

1/4 cup of roasted red peppers

3 dashes of onion powder

pinch of salt

3 Tablespoons nutritional yeast

1/2 cup of water

Dash of tamari or soy sauce

Instructions

Cover cashews in water and soak for 4 to 24 hours

Throw everything in a blender and process until smooth

Dip some tortilla chips in it and you are in heaven

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I used to have organic veggies delivered to my home but my money started getting short and I had to cancel it.  Things are on the up and up so I decided to start it up again. I like veggie delivery services because:

• encourages me to eat more veggies
• inspires me to be creative by creating dishes and finding recipes
• the veggies are all organic, local and in season which is better for the environment, local farmers and me

This time I chose, Simply Fresh NC because I liked their prices and the fact that I had a choice in how much I got. I chose the small box which is pictured above. They dropped it off on Monday in a nice insulated box. So far I have made home fries, roasted veggies,grilled mexican corn with vean mayo and chili powder,and  a huge salad.

The verdict is still out on rather I love it or not. I did have a few peices of produce that were questionable, however, I understand that this is real food and sometimes it is not perfect. 

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Peanut Butter and Kale Fried Rice

Recipe adapted from Connoisseurus veg

I can't fry rice to save my life but this still turned out delicious. If you have tips on frying rice, please share below. 

Peanut Butter & Kale Fried Rice

Prep time: 5 minutes

Cook time: 10 minutes

Total time: 15 minutes

Serves: 2-3 servings

 1/4 cup creamy natural peanut butter
1/4 tsp of ginger power or use fresh ginger
1 tbsp. soy sauce
2 tbsp. vegetable oil
3 cups leftover cooked rice
1/2 bunch of kale, stems removed and sliced (about 3 cups)
1/4 tsp onion powder

Optional but highly recommended: Siracha and extra soy sauce for kicking it up later

Whisk together peanut butter, ginger, soy sauce and onion powder. Set aside.

Fill a medium saucepan with water and heat to a boil. Remove from heat and blanch kale in water for 30 seconds to one minute, until just tender. Do this in batches if needed. Transfer to plate and set aside.

Heat oil in large skillet or wok over medium-high heat. Add rice and peanut butter mixture. Flip with spatula to blend, then continue cooking and flipping until rice begins to form brown, crispy spots. This should take about five minutes, but you can continue cooking as long as you like to get the rice up to your preferred level of crispness. Add kale and mix with rice. Remove from heat.  

Note: My rice never got crispy. That paragraph came directly from the original recipe

Add soy sauce and Siracha on top and bam....so delicious

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