Veggie Roll Ups

Okay you guys, I'll just go ahead and admit that this isnt really a recipie, but I make it at least once a week for lunch or a light dinner and it's so delicious! Recently I have partaked in a Raw Wednesday Challenge proposed by Gena from http://www.choosingraw.com/ and Jenna (both pronounced the same way!) from http://www.eatliverun.com/ .

Looking for a way to try new things, I promptly accepted the offer! Now here comes the yummy lettuce roll ups...it's really simple...so get ready!

Lettuce Roll Ups:

Lay down a large romaine leaf, fill it with raw hummus (or normal hummus if you wish), add sliced tomatoe, sliced carrots, sliced avacado, sprouts and grate more carrots over the top if you want it all pretty. Then if you want even more flava you can put a lil' drizzle of the dressing of your choosing.

*NOTE*

The difference between raw hummus and normal hummus is this. Raw hummus is made of soaked nuts along with all of the tahini and other hummus ingredients. The raw foodists believe that this no bean method is alot easier for your body to digest than normal chickpea beans for the hummus. I thinks both are equally delicious. You can find a good raw hummus recipe in Raw Food/Real World: 100 Recipes to Get the Glow- here is a link :

http://www.amazon.com/Raw-Food-Real-World-Recipes/dp/0060793554

Vegan Chocolate Cupcakes with Blackberry Buttercream

For as long as I can remember while growing up, whenever I baked something, it usually came out of a box. For someone who loves cooking and baking as much as I do, you'd never guess that my mom despises it so much. No wonder she always used a box, the quicker the better! The bad thing about using the box was that it required eggs. In my opinion the less animals I use, the better. I would rather eat an egg than waste it in a baked good.

In all honesty, the cupcake I created wasnt the best in the world. Although it is good I much prefer the chocolate cupcake from vegan cupcakes take over the world. My original plan was to use that recipe, but seeing that I had no soymilk or granulated sugar on hand, I ended up devising my own.
The real kicker to this whole shin dig is the Blackberry Buttercream frosting. I am telling you what it is sweet, it is tangy, and it is so fresh tasting. I AM IN LOVE WITH THE STUFF!!! I'm not evn kidding you folks, pick your favorite cupcake base if you please, but you have got to try out this frosting.

When I first started thinking up ideas of what to bake my mom for mothers day, I knew I wanted something vegan, and something relatively quick so my mom would want a copy. I am proud to say that I ended up with an absolutely perfect product with one very happy mother.

*EDIT TO ADD- my mom loved the actual cake part and told me to definitley save it. So you judge!

Chcocolate Vegan Cupcake:

1 cup flower

1/3 cup cocoa powder

1/4 cup brown sugar

1/2 cup powder sugar

3/4 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp salt

1 cup water

1 tsp apple cider vinegar

1/3 + 3 tbs cup canola oil

1 tsp vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 350 degress.

Combine the brown sugar and powder sugar into a large bowl and whisk thoroughly. Then add the flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, baking powder, and salt to the bowl and continue to whisk. Make a well into the center of the dry ingredients to add the wet ingredients, water-vanilla extract. Pour mixture into a dozen cupcake holders and bake for about 15 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.

Blackberry Buttercream Frosting:

1/2 cup room temp. non-hydrogenated vegan margarine

3 cups confectioners' sugar

4 tbs blackberry jam (with out or with out seeds-you pick!)

1 tsp lemon extract

In a large bowl cream the butter with an electric mixer until its nice and fluffy. Add the blackberry preserves and extract, continuing to beat the mixture until it is fully combined. Then slowly add the powder sugar by 1/2 cup until the entire mixture is well incorparated.

Pipe or spread onto cooled cupcakes, top with a blackberry if desired.

ps. Just so you know who you're dealing with.

This is me! This is one of my most recent pictures from Easter.

Spring Greens Salad- my first entry!

I'm not entirely sure how one should start their first entry for a blog, but I guess I should say hello and welcome to my site!

One of the reasons I started this blog was that I have always loved food blogs. I love reading them when I wake up in the morning and before I go to sleep - there are always so much inspiration and ideas for what I would like to make next. I love the blogs centered around healthy diets (kind of like a food diary) and the ones filled with wonderful recipes full of baked goods and savory meals. Though these blogs are enjoyable, there are also times that I would like to share the things that I come up with, so I decided to create my own.

I pondered for a long time what I should feature as my first recipe. All I knew was that I wanted something delicious, something simple, and something that would thoroughly represent me. So, I formed this spring salad.

I like to focus my cooking around wholesome good for you ingredients and I highly believe that the fresher something is, the tastier it is as well. I am a pescetarian and know that having a balanced diet is pretty important for optimum health. Just because something is good for you doesn't mean flavor and fun have to be sacrificed in the process though and I hope I can help prove that. I mean, hey, I am still a an 18 year old who is about to graduate high school. If I can like it, so can you!

So heres to my journey of fun creations in the kitchen. I hope it will keep me from eating poorly and resorting to take out when my college life begins!

Spring Greens Salad

1 orange, juice only
1/2 a lemon, juice only
2 Tbs olive oil
1 Tbs chopped fresh basil
dash of salt
2 large handfuls baby spinach
1 cup asparagus, cut into segments and steamed
1/2 cup peas
1/4 of a sweet onion, sliced
a spinkle of feta cheese

In a medium bowl whisk together the juice of orange, lemon juice, olive oil,basil and salt. Whisk together until emulsified, taste and adjust with more salt or lemon juice if needed.

When you're ready to serve, place the salad greens in a large bowl. Toss very gently with a generous splash of the dressing. Add the asparagus, peas, and onion. Give another toss. Taste and decide if you need to add more dressing, if needed, add a bit more at a time, giving a good toss between additions. Make sure the peas and asparagus haven't all gone to the bottom, help them back up to the top if needed. Sprinkle feta over the top.

Note: I like a simple salad with a refreshing dressing, but you can feel free to use your favorite bottled dressing. If you do decide to use mine, just adjust it according to your tastebuds!