Carrot Cake Breakfast Cupcakes

I got a new food processor for my birthday! And I love it. It is a 7 cupper, quiet and it pulverizes food about 90 billion times more effectively than my old 3-cup FP.

What did I not get for my birthday? A cake. Why? Because I'm a picky, picky lady. I obviously didn't want gluten, dairy, or eggs in the picture. And I also didn't want weird, unknown vegan and gluten free ingredients, such as gums, margarines, or other chemically produced shenanigans. I did want carrot cake. Because my momma always made me (each of us) cake for our birthday. And I always wanted carrot. Much to my older brother's dismay. So, my birthday present to you, carrot cake breakfast cupcakes with coconut cream, is a twist on a nostalgic favorite.

Cake Ingredients:
1 c almond meal/flour
1/2 c coconut flour
1/2 t baking powder
1/2 t baking soda
1/2 T cinnamon
1/2 t nutmeg
2 T diced crystallized ginger
1 T pumpkin purée
2 flax eggs
1/4 c honey
2 T melted coconut oil
1.5 cups grated carrots (about 6 carrots)
3/4 cup chopped pineapple (I thawed some frozen pineapple)

Topping Ingredients:
1 can coconut milk (not light)
1 tsp stevia
1 tsp cinnamon

First, the day before you want cupcakes. mix the topping ingredients in a container with a lid. Put it in the fridge. This will allow the cream from the coconut milk to rise to the top. If you have a high tolerance for frustration, you can try, multiple times, to skim the cream off the top and whip it into a fluffy topping. If you want to save your sanity, just skim and plop the cream on top of the cooled cupcake. I digress...

Now for the cake. Grate your carrots! It is a good thing I hate this part. Otherwise, I'd have carrot cake every week. What is that you say? The FP has a grating attachment? What a wonderful reason to make carrot cake more often!

Here we go, carrots! Cut them into similarly sized pieces.

It's working! Instant grater carrots.

Grated carrots in less than 3 minutes.

On a side note, organic carrots taste like a completely different product than conventional carrots. Reason number 204828375236420394 to buy organic.

Transfer carrots to a bowl. Mix in pineapple, flax eggs, coconut oil (melted!) pumpkin and honey.

In another bowl, mix flours, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, nutmeg, crystallized ginger.

Add the wet to the dry. Or the dry to the wet. And mix until blended. Bake at 350 degrees F for 20 minutes.

Cool and top with coconut cream, as described above. If you are interested in sharing your cupcakes with your coconut-disliking, cream cheese loving husband, you can leave a few unfrosted so he can top his cupcake with another form of frosting.

Cream cheese (business) in the front. Coconut cream (party) in the back.

Up close and personal

Mmmmm. Happy belated birthday to ME!

I dubbed these "breakfast cupcakes" because again, they are healthy enough to eat for breakfast. At least on your birthday. And because the texture is closer to a muffin than a cupcake. I think omitting the pineapple might help. If you try it, let me know in the comments below.

Deep Dish Pizza Round TWO

Tuna and I managed a weekend without a trip to Mellow Mushroom, which has been a staple in our social agenda the past month or so. This left me with a craving, nay, a need, for pizza. I struggle to buy gluten free pizza dough mixes for two reasons. One, they all call for eggs. De-veganizing the pizza crust. Minus one point. Two, I am fundamentally opposed to baking mixes as a cooking staple. Sure, I've made a Funfetti cake or two (ten), particularly in a pinch, but baking mixes/boxes/pre-made doughs, etc take all the fun out of being in the kitchen!

I am determined to make a delicious gluten free, vegan pizza crust. And I've deemed deep dish my first endeavor. My first deep dish pizza was amazing. But a little crumbly. And a bit bland without the delicious toppings. With version two, I wanted to make a tasty and more pliable dough. No crumbles.The key changes were adding an egg substitute (in this case, pumpkin) and dried herbs. I tweaked the flour mixture a bit to use less oat flour too.

Ingredients:
1 cup of warm water (90-105 degrees)
1 packet of yeast
2 T honey
3/4 c sorghum flour
1 c oat flour
3 T potato starch
1/4 c + 3 T brown rice flour
1/2 c cornmeal
1/4 c pumpkin purée
2 T oil (I used half melted coconut and half EVOO)
1 tsp Greek or Italian seasoning
1 tsp garlic salt
Pizza toppings- vegetables, meats, sauce, cheese, herbs, etc.

Mix water, yeast, and honey. Set aside for 5 minutes to let the yeast activate. It should look foamy.

Combine flours, potato starch, herbs, salt, and cornmeal. Once yeast is ready, add it to the flours along with the oil and the pumpkin puree. Mix with a dough hook or knead by hand for 6-10 minutes. I mixed the dough for 6 minutes because I am impatient.

Place dough in a baking pan coated with coconut oil or other oil. Let it rise in the oven for 6-8 hours. Again, my dough did not seem to rise or multiply. It is still TBD if this step is necessary.

Press into a 9 in round baking pan.

Top with favorite pizza toppings, then cheese, then sauce. Then extra cheese to ID the vegan side. I want a delicious pizza in my belly. Not a belly ache.

Bake for 30-35 minutes at 350 degrees. Allow to cool for 5 minutes before cutting with a knife.

Is that not the most beautiful pizza you've ever seen?

Spillover sauce. What happens if you lack the patience for cooling.

Now that is a beautiful crust! Saving the best part for last.

The result? Amazing. Seriously. Make this for dinner ASAP. As you can see from the picture above, the crust is still somewhat textured. There is room for improvement. Next up? Cut the cornmeal (maybe dust the bottom only) and determine if the 6-8 hour rise time is needed. Who has the time for that anyways? And I may try a flax egg instead of pumpkin. Just to experiment with binders. As for you, get off your rump and make this pizza!

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Strawberry Chocolate Chip Milkshake

Ugh Monday morning! Why do I sleep until 8 AM on Sunday and then expect that 5 AM will feel just as springy on Monday. This week, I couldn't do it. I couldn't drag myself out of bed at 5 AM to then further torture myself on an elliptical or bike. I felt guilty by the time my last chance alarm went off at 6:40. You know the feeling.

All was made right with this smoothie. The smoothie tastes like a milkshake. Probably because it tasted like I should feel guilty eating it for breakfast. But as the ingredients indicate, there is no need to feel guilty. So I was twice cleansed of my guilt. And  quite proud for throwing this together on a groggy Monday morning and using leftover ingredients from yesterdays baking extravang-zah.

2 c coconut milk (left-over from thinking I was special and could whip "light" coconut milk. Don't do it. It doesn't work. You need the heavy stuff.)
5 strawberries (fresh or frozen)
1/2 c frozen fruit (I used bananas and raspberries)
1 scoop chocolate green or protein powder
1 T melted coconut oil mixed with 1 t chocolate powder (left over from yo Frisco)

All you have to do is mix it all in a blender. Or in a cup with an immersion blender. The melted oil/chocolate combo turns into tiny chocolate chunks when it combines with the cold fruit. It is amazing! Try it! You will be amazed!

Extra swirl of coconut milk on top. Don't mind if I do.

And no. I did not drink half the smoothie and then decide to take a picture. I put half of it in a mason jar for tomorrow, as per my own recommendation, thankyouverymuch.

Now, I do feel a bit of remorse that these pictures are pretty awful. I'll blame it on the Monday AM grog. You get the idea. No go try it!

Getting frisco-y

Place the top cookie and you've got yourself a Frisco.

What a difference a week can make! I'm halfway through my 2x/wk x 3 weeks of ART. I've had another PT evaluation. And, perhaps most news-worthy, I'm attempting another return to running number. Comeback number three. The new additions to my rehab include low-dye arch taping (below), ultrasound, and a tweak to my calf stretch to avoid compensatory eversion and keep my posterior tibialis happy.

I also have a better understanding of why my foot and ankle share the hurts. And have resolved to wear a shoe or tape (no bare feet) at all times until my foot pain is a distant memory.

I'm not getting my hopes up too high and I'm not going to be pushing the limits, but I am feeling good about this.

Wrinkles. What happens when you tape your own foot.

As expected, with the potential for running comes an increased loathing of cross training. So, Saturday I headed to Velocity Cycle Studio in Powell for a great 60-min spin class.The studio is in the back of a personal training gym and has about 8 bikes.  The class was great! Exactly what I needed to break up the monotony. The teacher warned us that interval training was on the menu. I wasn't intimidated. After one-song warm-up, the intervals set in. About halfway through song number two, my heart rate was high and I was thinking, "I am SO out of shape." But much to my surprise, without too much coaxing, almost naturally, my thoughts turned into "Wow, I haven't worked this hard in a while." My heart rate has stayed in the 150-160 range for most of this cross training quarter. It is no wonder why I felt uncomfortable when my HR was pushed near its maximum. I haven't training like this, via running or cross training in over three months! As I said, the class was great, but really the highlight of Saturday was this quick and subconscious change in mindset. Tayler has told me all along, "your foot is pissy for a reason." Maybe cross training will teach me something after all.

Enough mushy mush stuff. The real reason you visit this blog isn't to hear of my petty foot drama. It is for the food. Am I right? Today I set out to make another version of gluten free deep dish pizza and some carrot cake cupcakes to celebrate a belated birthday with... myself. I ended up with an extra flax egg. Not a bad problem to have. So I ended up making some peanut butter cookies. They reminded me of the peanut butter cookies at Pasquale's Italian Restaurant, specifically of the delicious cookie they use to make a Frisco. What is a Frisco, you ask? It is a Reese's Cup/Peanut Butter Blossom combo on steroids. More specifically, it is creamy peanut butter and melted  chocolate (that has solidified) smashed between TWO peanut butter cookies and drizzled with more  melted chocolate. It is the most delicious thing I have ever tasted. And it will cost you about half the amount of dessert at any other restaurant. Needless to say, I have missed Pasquale's and their Frisco since going dairy/egg/gluten free. I have been meaning to recreate it, but hadn't made a peanut butter cookie worthy of the name. Until today.

Gluten free, vegan peanut butter cookie:

1/2 c oats
1/4 c coconut flour
1/2 c coconut sugar
1/2 c creamy peanut butter
1/4 t baking powder
1/8 t baking soda
1/4 t vanilla
1/4 c non-dairy milk

1/4 c add ins, if desired- chocolate chips, raisins, peanuts, etc

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Combine all ingredients. The peanut butter can be hard to blend in, so you may want to plan on being patient or just use a hand mixer. Scoop onto cookie sheet and bake for 12 minutes. Cool completely.

Delicious vegan, gluten free peanut butter cookie

To make the Frisco-
1-2 T creamy peanut butter per person. I love Trader Joe's creamy.
melted chocolate (did you know Trader Joe's chocolate chips are vegan?) OR homemade vegan, loaded chocolate (recipe below)

Homemade vegan loaded chocolate:
Coconut oil
Chocolate greens powder (Barleans, Amazing Grass GreenSuperfood, etc)

Melt coconut oil and mix in chocolate greens powder. Put it in the fridge to harden 10-15 minutes. Melt ever so slightly again, if needed. You want the chocolate to be slippery enough to get out of the bowl but it can still be in hunks.

Melty and delicious vegan chocolate sauce.

To assemble to Frisco (first in words, then in pictures)

1. Turn your cookies upside down
2. Spread chocolate on the bottom of one cookie.
3. Spread peanut butter on top.
4. Add more chocolate on top of the peanut butter
5. Top with another cookie

Voila! Best dessert ever. And save the rest of that chocolate sauce for your Strawberry Chocolate Chip Milkshake. You'll be glad you did!

Gluten free deep dish pizza crust

As I mentioned in a post earlier this week, I've been inspired, nay intrigued, to make gluten-free deep dish pizza. Tuna and I LOVE Geno's East in Chicago. I mean, obsessed. So I wanted to recreate it in gluten-free fashion. With one half covered in vegan cheese.

A typical pizza dough is made of yeast+ water + sugar mixed with flour (usually 2.5- 3 cups) + oil + salt. Some deep dish doughs also call for corn meal. I figured I could sub in a GF flour or flour blend and leave everything else the same. But there are SO MANY varieties of GF flour in my cupboard alone. And I was also worried about maintaining the texture of the crust.

I searched a bit and found this great PDF with the weights of gluten free flours per cup. Regular white flour weighs 125 grams per cup. I chose sorghum flour and oat flour because both had weights similar to wheat flour. Other options were amaranth, millet, garbanzo, teff or buckwheat. I chose sorghum because i recently bought a GF beer made from sorghum and figured if beer could be created from sorghum, surely pizza dough could as well. Oat flour made the cut because I thought the sticky nature of oats might help the dough bind and stretch. I also wanted to use some potato starch for binding. And because i just bought it and was eager to use it.

Some quick math and I knew I wanted between 317 and 375 grams of GF flour. I set my kitchen scale to metrics and started measuring.

Vegan version

Deep dish dough/crust:
1 cup + 2 T oat flour
1 cup sorghum flour
3 T potato starch
1/2 cup cornmeal
1 packet yeast
1 cup water 90-105 degrees
1 T sugar- coconut, date, white, honey, just not artificial. The yeast needs calories!
2 T oil
1 tsp salt

Other stuff you need:
Deep dish pizza pan or a 8-9 in cake pan
Mixer with dough hook. Or patience and a clear surface to hand knead.

Mix yeast and water in a large bowl. Water should feel neither warm nor cool to the touch. Or you can measure temperature with a thermometer. Add sugar. Stir and set aside for about 5 minutes.

Measure flours into another bowl. Add salt and mix. Add yeast water and oil. Use a mixer with a dough hook to knead for 6-10 minutes. Or you can knead by hand. Like this (describes the method by which I learned from Edward Espe Brown's The Tassajara Bread Book and the documentary How to Cook Your Life. Both highly recommended). But you will need to knead (giggles) for at least 10 minutes.

Cover with plastic wrap on a greased baking sheet and set aside. I put my dough in my oven. Oven was OFF.

I let my dough rest 8 hours. I can not confirm that this is necessary. To be addressed in the next version.

Press dough out onto baking pan or counter to 1/4-1/2 in thick. It might be crumbly. Wet your fingers with water if needed. Turn cake pan or deep dish pizza pan upside down and press into dough. This provides a perfectly sized circle for the bottom of the deep dish/cake pan. Use a knife to trace the outline. Then use a spatula to transfer dough to deep dish. Press dough further, towards and up the edges of the pan to create the deep crust.

Top with pizza favorites. Traditional deep dish order is cheese, other toppings, then sauce.

Vegan cheese slices/shredded mozzarella topped with mushrooms

Then pepperoni

Then sauce and Daiya shreds, to identify the vegan side of things...

Bake at 350 degrees Fahrenheit for 30 minutes or until edges of dough appear crispy.

Tuna and I were so happy with the result! His primary complaints were more cheese and more sauce. This can only mean that the crust was great! I think it needs seasoning, either herbs and more salt in the dough. The current dough had great flavor when topped but i want to look forward to eating the crusts! I also think the addition of a wet binder like a flax egg or pumpkin to decrease the crumblies. Both to be addressed in the next attempt.

Pizza pie! Sans one slice:)

BBQ lentil pizza pancake

I'm obsessed with pancakes. I believe we've already covered this. And this. Well, dinner tonight turned in one big pizza pancake.

The pizza pancake was inspired by a variety of recipes. First and foremost, by my mom's pork BBQ, which I adapted to the crockpot once I had more than one meal a week to cook. Translation: about midway through grad school. My second inspiration came from a recipe for BBQ lentils from Healthful Pursuit. Knowing that my carnivore husband, Tuna, would NOT be fooled into eating beans with BBQ sauce as a meal, I opted to make it into a pizza. And my lentils always seem to turn to mush. They never stay plump and pretty like in the recipe from Healthful Pursuit. Yet another reason to make them into sauce.

I've been searching for a good gluten free pizza crust recipe. Tuna and I made homemade pizza a few times a month before the cleanse. We have both missed it since I quit dairy and gluten. I've never been one for bags, boxes, or mixes. So I turned to the net. Edible Perspective had a recipe that caught my eye. It looked quick and by Wednesday, I'm pretty lazy. I love both these blogs so much. Sometimes I accidentally hybridize them into Edible Pursuit or Healthful Perspective. Ultimately, I usually find what I am looking for. Usually thanks to Tayler, Or Google.

So with dual inspiration, I set to making gluten free, dairy free BBQ pizza. Then I invited my brother, Master Splinter, who is vegetarian, further complicating the issue, as you will see later in pictures.

Here is what you need for the BBQ Lentil Sauce:
1 onion roughly chopped
2 cloves garlic
6 oz can tomato sauce
1/3 cup apple cider vinegar
1 T worcestershire sauce (mine was gluten free)
1-2 T coconut sugar or maple syrup
1/2 T cumin
1/2 T smoked paprika
2 cups of cooked lentils or other legume. (I'm trying it next with black beans!)
1-2 T pineapple juice- I used what was left in the container of my fresh, cored pineapple. Juice from the can or a few chunks blended up would work too.

For the Crust:
1 cup gluten free flours- my combo was 1/2 cup AP (Bob's red mill), 1/4 cup brown rice, 1/4 cup buckwheat flours
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp oregano or Greek/ Italian seasoning
1/2 tsp garlic powder or garlic salt (omit salt below if using garlic salt)
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 cup pumpkin
2 T coconut or olive oil
1 T coconut sugar
1 cup non dairy milk

Toppings:
Pineapple cut into tidbits
Bacon
Chopped onion
Pinch of cinnamon

Blend all sauce ingredients in food processor. My food processor had been on the fritz, so I've been using my immersion blender for everything.

Then, simmer sauce over medium heat on the stove top until thick.

Toss the pineapple with the cinnamon. Then add pineapple, onion, and bacon to a sheet pan. Unless you're feeding a vegetarian. Then bake them separately. Don't contaminate your dining partners' delicious pizza with a food they consider to be evil. This is not a way to make dinner friends. You will end up eating alone. Forever. Over-exaggeration? Yes. But you will likely not have a repeat dinner guest. I digress...

Bake the toppings (together or separate)  on a sheet pan at 375 degrees for 10-15 minutes. 

I had to modify the pizza dough from Edible Perspective since the jury is still out on eggs. With my immune system already down with a virus that can only be compared to the mumps, I wasn't willing to chance it.

Mix all dough ingredients until combined. I love gluten free baking because I'm not concerned with over mixing, since there is no gluten to make the dough gummy, sticky or otherwise useless. Heat a large skillet on medium high with some oil for 3-5 minutes. Pour dough onto skillet. The dough is a little thicker than a "pour," so help it out with a spatula to form a giant PAN sized CAKE. Let it cook, like a pancake, for about 5 minutes. Little bubbles will form on the edges, just like a pancake. If you desperately want to avoid flipping the pancake, turn the heat to low after 5 minutes and put a lid on it. When the top isn't wet anymore, add sauce, toppings cheese and return lid to melt cheese 2-3 minutes.

If you're feeling brave, bored, or want to impress your brother with your mad culinary skills, or create unnecessary stress for yourself after a stress-free sick-day on the couch, try to flip the pancake. The process went something like this.*

Internal dialogue:

"Do I flip the pancake?"

"No, I'll put a lid on it. And steam it. Like an omelet. That will work."

Place lid. Watch pancake for a few minutes. Steam clouds the lid. 

"No, I want it crispy. I'm gonna try to flip it." 

Two spatulas in hand, Insert one under pancake. Try to flip.

"It's too wide! The pancake is too wide!"

Insert next spatula. Try to flip.

"It's cracking. Oh $#^%#^&%, it's cracking."

Call in reinforcements. Master Splinter. Give him spatula. Pancake now has three spatulas under it. Forming a peace sign underneath.

Dialogue now becomes external:

MS: "This is stressing me out"

Me: "I know, don't say anything!"

Much shimmying of spatulas. One failed attempt to flip. A edge piece of pancake breaks off. MS is whimpering. Concernedly. I shoot him a look that pierces through him. To the round pizza bake pan behind him. ALAS! I grab the pan, flip the 

Photo from amazon.com. And now I want a pizza stone. Blast!

pancake onto the bake pan. In one piece. YES! Then with MS whimpering, no.... cowering... in the corner of the cupboard, I heroically slide the pizza pancake onto the skillet to cook the other side. 1-2 minutes should do.

Top with toppings in any configuration necessary to please all dinner guests. Ours had 1/2 vegan cheese, 1/2 regular cheese and 1/2 of each 1/2 had bacon. Because I've learned that I can put together just about any crazy gluten-free, almost vegan concoction and call it dinner and the Tuna will eat it if there is bacon on top.

*This may have been a dramatization of the truth. But I feel it is justified. I've been couped up inside for too many days. Too many days being... two.

The verdict: 

The crust was not as crispy as I would have liked. But it was super easy and filled the pizza craving perfectly. And the way it slid around in the pan inspired me to try to make gluten free DEEP DISH pizza crust next. Ok. Truthfully, Tuna gave me the idea. But if I create a bombshell, I'm taking the credit!

And, I'll be trying the whole sauce/lentil combo in the crock pot. Since the lentils were cooked to softness the sauce became rather uniform. Come to think of it, I don't think I even told Tuna there were lentils in his BBQ sauce. What was that I said about disclosing all ingredients to your dining partners? I may have a tendency to break this rule sometimes with Tuna. But he doesn't have any allergies or intolerance. And it's a habit I am trying to break. Starting now.

We all scarfed it up. And I have some leftover BBQ lentil sauce which I am looking forward to eating with some tortilla chips for lunch this weekend!

Maple cinnamon rice pudding bars

I have a thing for rice. I've tried millet and quinoa and I even have some amaranth in my pantry. But I always come back to rice.  I ended up making about three times the amount of rice needed for dinner. So decided I would try my hand at a rice bar.

3 cups leftover cooked rice or other grain
1/2 cup nut butter- recommend coconut, almond or cashew
1 T cinnamon
1/4 cup almonds
1 T maple syrup

Pulse/blend the rice in food processor 30-60 seconds for sticky texture. Add all ingredients except almonds and blend again. Stir in almonds. Press into 9x9 baking dish coated in coconut (or other) oil. Bake on 350 about 20-25 minutes. Cool and cut into bars to enjoy all week!

Vegan, Grain-Free and Nut-free Chocolate Brownies with Mint Topping

Next week is Golden Gopher's birthday (henceforth referred to as GG or Geej). But today was the last day we would both be at work before her birthday. So we celebrated today. Geej loves the chocolate mint brownie from Sugar Daddy's, so I have started a tradition of chocolate mint creations when celebrating with her.

Now, creating treats for co-workers has become a challenge. Moreover since my cleanse, but even before. You see, Tiny Dancer is allergic to ALL nuts and eggs. Meanwhile, Crunchie Bar and I are still holding strong with gluten-free and dairy-free eating.  The challenge was to make a delicious, chocolate-mint creation that was (deep breath) gluten free, dairy free, egg free, nut free and free of all products processed in a facility with nuts. Oh, and it meant I couldn't use my food processor or blender, which have weekly, if not daily, contamination with nuts or nut products.

Challenge accepted.

I scoured the net. I really wanted something without tofu since I didn't think I could get it creamy enough without electricity. I couldn't find something that didn't have nuts as a substitute for grains. Or eggs as a substitute for flour. Or dairy in the frosting. I was also afraid black or garbanzo beans wouldn't mash up without a blade.

So, I decided to try an original creation. Chocolate brownies with white beans with avocado mint chocolate chip frosting and a chocolate shell. The result? Complete indulgence.

I wanted to use a sugar with a lower glycemic index. I ended up using white sugar out of necessity when I noticed my date sugar had a nut warning on the label as I was filling the measuring cup. Phew!

Here is what you need:

6 T pumpkin

3/4 cup white beans soaked and cooked

6 T melted coconut oil

2 tsp baking powder

1 cup white sugar

1/2 cup cocoa (Hershey's, to be nut-contaminant free)

1" of a vanilla bean, scraped or 1 tsp vanilla extract

2 avocados

2 cups powdered sugar

1 tsp mint extract

1/4 cup + an extra 1 cup "Enjoy Life" chocolate chips

In a ziplock bag (or in your food processor if nut contamination is not a concern) mash beans and pumpkin. I did this with a rolling pin and then with me hands. Pour into a bowl. Add melted oil, baking powder, sugar, vanilla and cocoa and stir until combined. Spread into greased 9x9 baking pan or muffin tins. Bake at 350 degrees for 40 minutes (baking pan) or 15 minutes (muffin pan). Cool completely.

In the meantime, peel and mash the avocados in a bowl. I used my hand mixer. The beaters had been removed and cleaned compulsively. Gradually add 2 cups of powdered sugar while beating. Stir in extract and chips. When brownies are cool, spread with mint frosting. If you are worried about the frosting browning, don't be! It doesn't! But if you are, add 1 T cocoa and it will be brown from the start.

Melt the chocolate chips in a microwave safe bowl 3 x 15 seconds, stirring between intervals. Spread on top of mint frosting.  I think the extract prevented the avocado from browning.

The frosting is a bit more like a mousse because it is rather runny I read something about adding melted coconut oil to solidify the texture but I forgot to add it to this batch.

Everyone LOVED these. Well, Crunchie Bar, Tiny Dancer and I did. Geej thought the flavor was good but wasn't sure about the texture. Two out of three ain't too bad. My other two Wednesday co-workers were out sick today (not at all related to brownies) so they didn't get the change to weigh in. We will see what the Tuna has to say!

Brownie pan at the end of the day. Looks like success.

Variations of this recipe are definitely in my future!

In other news, I am contemplating calling Tiny Dancers and Crunchie Bar Juniors' allergist for some testing. Details to come, as available.

These are a few of my favorite things.

It's 12pm, and I haven't gotten out of bed yet. Well, I have, but only to rinse my sinus cavity (hold on, I'll explain), take a decongestant, and make a smoothie. I suppose I can no longer live in denial and admit to myself that I'm sick. No running, today or tomorrow. Under normal circumstances, if someone instructed me to go a day without spinning my wheels a little bit, it'd be a miracle if I listened to them. If I did by slim chance, I'd be surprised if it didn't drive me borderline nuts. Clearly I'm pretty sick, because there is not a single cell in my body that wants to run. Or shower. Or eat solid food. Or perform any task that requires functioning on a higher level than that of say, a toddler.

Sometimes I think of me as two different people: sick-Tayler and me-Tayler. Sick-Tayler refers to me before I gave up eating all the allergens that I go without now. I was sick, tired, miserable, and frankly, not nearly as good as me-Tayler, or present-day Tayler. Of course, I'm sick today, but Sick-Tayler being sick was a totally different story than the girl most of you know being sick. Before, being sick was much much more than a physical thing;  it had heavy emotional and mental effects. Before, I still had the brain, personality, and all the physiological traits that I have now, but it was like someone had taken a little gray veil and pulled it tightly overtop, dulling and restricting them. You could see through the gray haze what was inside, but it wasn't anywhere close to what it could be.

No one likes being sick, so to say "I admit that I hate being sick" would be a stupid statement. I still am slightly annoyed that I'm sick, but I'm not fixated on the work that I'm not getting done, the miles that aren't getting run, and all the other things on my to-do list that are going to go untouched. I'm in attack mode: be proactive as possible to help my immune system beat the shit out of this bug who has robbed me of a sunny afternoon 400m session. I got a decongestant. I've been taking echinacea and zinc. Instead of eating any junk that sounds appetizing, I'm slamming juices and smoothies with as much nutrition as I can cram into about 16oz.


Being sick is obviously not what the title of this entry references. Among the things I that I do like is Brother's Drake mead. If you don't know about mean, it's just wine made with fermented honey instead of grapes.  Isn't that a lovely little shot? That was taken at Bodega where they have a cocktail on the menu with the Drake elixir and a splash of ginger ale. Divine. I like to rep the local businesses. However, I advocate avoiding the sauce when you're sick (yes, even in that Hot Toddy.)

I love these temporary tattoos. I exercised a little retail therapy whilst licking my sick-wounds today and bought the awesome chubby baller-man.

I love this mango veggie smoothie from Naked Juice. Anything with sweet potato in it is fine by me.

I love this fresh juice of lemon, ginger, celery, grapefruit, and green apple. I can't say enough about lemon juice. It's antioxidant power is beastly; have you ever put lemon juice on sliced apple or avocado to keep it from turning brown? I want that awesomeness in my gut.


Another one of my favorite things: flavors for smoothies that involve non-drinkable foods desserts (cake, pie, cookie...). You might notice a pattern. Red velvet cake, snickerdoodle, German chocolate cake, key lime pie. You get the point. I could keep going. Another one of my favorite things: Amazon Subscribe and Save. Ironlady, another member of the Columbus Running Company family who is also gluten and dairy intolerant, told me about it and recommended it as a great place to get a huge selection of gluten free products with free shipping and and discount for subscribing. Choose your own shipping frequency. No contracts. Cancel anytime. Seriously. After going through 4 cans of pumpkin last week, I decided to add that to the list of things Amazon sends me on a monthly basis. Ridiculous?

Maybe. But it's wonderful for everything, including desserts in a glass. Cue electro dance mix and boogie to the blissful thoughts of cool, creamy pumpkin pie through a straw. I'm not a huge pumpkin pie fan, probably because compared to chocolate pecan or nonveggie-based pies it tastes a little...healthy. It's a different story if you throw some vanilla coconut milk ice cream on top. Then I'm sold. Before I gave up the cow, I would die a little bit inside when Edy's pumpkin ice cream was discontinued post-Thanksgiving season. This smoothie is basically like an Edy's pumpkin milkshake, but with Superman nutritional value. To kick it up even one notch further, I add Trader Joe's Very Green powder to all my smoothies. It looks like mold. It goes completely unnoticed in smoothies. I feel good when I know I'm drinking chlorophyll. And no, I'm not kidding. I'll hide as many good-for-you things in a smoothie as I can without it turning into a non-dessert, so I threw in 3 aspsaragus spears for a little extra zinc content. Spinach or any other green would work, and zucchini is pretty easily camoflaged as well. 

Pumpkin Pie in a Glass

 Ingredients


1 cup unsweetened almond milk
1 scoop vanilla protein powder
1tbsp chia seeds
1/2 cup canned pumpkin (not pumpkin pie filling)
tsp vanilla extract
3 asparagus spears (optional)
3 oz silken tofu
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1 tsp ground ginger
1/2 tsp ground cardamom
1 tsp lemon juice
1 tsp Very Green powder (optional)
3-4 ice cubes

Combine all ingredients in a high speed blender until well combined. Since you can't lick the inside of a glass, I suggest serving in a bowl.

Monday Pick-Me-Up: Microwave Cake for One!

Today was a remarkably good Monday. I noticed that when my days are slamma-jamma busy, it puts me in a good mood. Weird. But the big reason it was a good Monday was that I was able to run 12 glorious minutes at the Monday Night Run!!

I've been in a melted chocolate and peanut butter on fruit kick the past three days, trying to finish up some left over fondue. Today was day one without fondue. I needed something to fill my chocolate peanut butter void.

Enter: chocolate peanut butter cake for one. Vegan and gluten free.

Ingredients:
1 T coconut oil
1 T pumpkin
2 T garbanzo bean flour
1 T rice milk (or other non-dairy milk)
2 T date sugar. Or you could use 2 T any sugar, to taste.
2 tsp agave
1.5 tsp cocoa powder
Crunchies as desired- I used about 1/2 T "Enjoy Life" chocolate chips
1 T peanut butter

Here is how it went down.
1. Melt coconut oil in a bowl in the microwave. 3 x 15 seconds ought to do the trick.
2. Swirl oil around to coat bowl
3. Add all ingredients except peanut butter and mix
4. Add dollop of peanut butter in the middle
5. Scrape down sides of bowl with spatula and cover peanut butter with batter
6. Microwave 2 x 30 seconds
7. Eat out of the bowl or invert onto plate and eat

In college, my bestie Jen-Jen and I would add a splash of milk/non-dairy milk to all our baked goods. Probably to make up for the lack of fat. So, I added a splash of rice milk to the top, which is why this photo looks glittery. And festive on a Valentine's Day plate! Also left over from the fondue/party.

Even better: a brownie recipe for an allergy-free crowd...coming soon!

Wicked Wednesday

The words are almost jumping out of my mouth and onto the keyboard; the Villain of the Week was an easy decision this week. I was in the middle of an easy run having a little thinky-think yesterday, and almost as soon as the words "Villain of the" were processed, a kid rode by me on his bike on a campus sidewalk. Cue ominous beats: this week's VoW is the crowded sidewalk cyclist.

Summery hipster

A few Sundays ago, Girl Tights and I were putting in some Sunday miles heading north on High Street. A the corner of 5th Ave. and High, a flannel-donned Hipster whizzes around the corner on her perfectly weathered 10-speed quick enough so we were about nose-to-nose before I even knew she was there. And  it wasn't my nose I was worried about. That front tire on her vintage Schwinn was pointed right toward my lady parts.

(As an aside, I realize that it might come off as if I'm making fun of hipsters. Maybe I am, a little bit, but merely for irony since I have been accused of being a liberal hipster and living in a liberal hipster neighborhood on a number of occasions. I'm okay with it. If you want to know more about being and living like a hipster, check out this blog entry over at Verbal Vomit. I laughed. )

I know I don't have all the goods down there that Girl Tights has, but let me tell you something: getting hit in the lady junk hurts like a motherf*#$er. I ran into the corner of a desk in the second grade. Life-changing pain. The experience was so life-changing, in fact, that I'm fairly sure it was the reason why I am hardwired so that upon first awareness of the wheeled Hipster, fight-or-flight instincts overtook my left arm which shot in front of me as fast and as hard as my neuromuscular system could permit. My hand, ninja-ed Bruce Lee-style directly into the middle of Hipster's chest, stopping her so that my hoohah was mere inches away from a black rubber death.

I've had several other incidents with sidewalk bikers, most of them on campus, and most of them on crowded sidewalks. I've never been able to figure this one out: why must we ride our bikes on such sidewalks, making it impossible to move two-wheeled vehicles any faster than a walk's pace anyway? I'm also that subscribes to the notion that if you're walking on the sidewalk, the same rules apply to you that apply to cars on the road. We walk on the right and pass on the left. And we certainly don't walk in the left lane when there is oncoming traffic. All these rules go to shit with pedestrians, and even more so when you throw a bike or two in there. It's not a good sign that my first instinct is to shoot my left elbow out anytime a sidewalk Contador goes flying by me. There have also been numerous times when I've seriously contemplated the Big Daddy stick-though-the-spokes trick. Let's get it together: bikes and all other "cars" belong IN! THE! STREET!

Whew. I feel better now. Okay, onto superfood: ginger. It's an ugly little root, but this knobby herb is a powerful anti-inflammatory which is something everyone can get pumped about. Me and my porcelain digestive system love it because it combats nausea and indigestion in about every sense of the word, including acid indigestion and gas. When I feel like someone's blown a balloon up in my gut, I juice some lemon and ginger root and throw it on some ice with some water and it does WURK. It is also suggested that this guy helps relieve motion sickness and promotes general digestion. Recent studies have shown that ginger root directly affects the muscle tissue in the digestive tract, preventing abnormally strong and fast abdominal cramping. Hello, ladies: have some ginger tea during your "special time" and see what it does for you. Aside from digestive inflammation, ginger has been shown to relieve symptoms of rheumatoid and osteoarthritis, and new developments in the study of diabetes in animals shows that ginger may help to lower blood sugar and cholesterol levels. Even studies of ginger root and the suppression of cancer cells are of recent interest, though these studies are very preliminary. Basically, the moral of the story is that this root is a baller.

How do I eat it? Frankly, I dump ground ginger into anything that makes sense. Juices, smoothies, stir-fry, oatmeal, and baked goods, but Snickerdoodle Alo Bites are a simple, easy favorite. (Also pictured are the blueberry pie variation.)

 
Snickerdoodle Alo Bites

Ingredients:
1/2 cup medjool dates
2/3 cup raw, unsalted cashews
1/2 cup unsweetened coconut
2 tbsp chia seeds (or ground flax)
1 tsp extra virgin coconut oil
1/4 tsp sea salt
1 tsp ground ginger
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp vanilla extract

Pit the pits from the dates and add them, along with the coconut, and coconut oil to food processor and process until dates and coconut are finely chopped. Be sure not to process too long; your mixture will turn to paste and wind up in one big ball of dough spinning along the inside of the processor bowl. The mixture should have a "meal-ly" consistency. Transfer the date-coconut meal to a bowl, add vanilla, and set aside. Process the cashews and chia seeds to the consistency of a fine meal. Again, avoid over-processing, as the cashews will turn to butter. Add the salt, ginger, and cinnamon to the cashew-chia meal and pulse a few times to combine.  Knead the cashew-chia meal into the date-coconut meal with ever-so-slightly dampened hands (this will prevent the mixture from sticking to your hands.) Add in chocolate (or white chocolate!) chips if desired. Roll into balls and store in the fridge.

Why does "fridge" have a "d" but "refrigerator" doesn't? Oh, and what's up with the goofy name? I'm currently slacking on some statistics, so we'll have to leave that for later.

Priorities, perspective.

Sundays are habitually a day of reflection for me, a hybrid of the diminuendo of the preceding week and the crescendo into Monday and the warp speed of the week. I do a lot of talking to myself on Sundays. Literally, I will have a conversation with myself. Out loud. I'm not sure what it is about the thinking process that is enhanced for me with just spoken word, but no matter the context, problem solving happens for me most efficiently if I explicitly say out loud what it is that I have, where I want to get, and then stumble along various paths until I find the right one.


I've decided that life is just one big balancing act-or perhaps more like a continuous series of balancing acts one after the other separated by little blips that might shuffle the positions of priorities on their totem pole of utility. There are two tricks, then, that we need to be able to identify: the first is actually deciding what our priorities are and which ones are most important. The second is then teeter-tottering appropriately given the leaders on the priorities totem pole. The second is tough, but nearly impossible if you can't explicitly identify what is truly important to you. The more I ponder this, the more I realize that many people are trying to do just that: run the balancing act without the proper weights installed on either end.


We, as people, are so aware of so many things, including the other people around us and those that are far away from us no matter what distance metric you use. We're aware enough of the moon and its properties, which is over 238,000 miles away, that serious consideration of colonizing it has been tossed around. Why, then, is awareness of ourselves so elusive? So elusive, in fact, that the lack of self awareness is not even a second thought to the majority of us? It requires an extra muscle, an extra oomph to shove us into a perspective that lets us see what we're doing in a way that makes us ask why we do what we do and how what we do effects everyone else around us. It requires work, and that I think is the answer to the previous question-why so many of us don't do it.


I've never been an unhealthy eater. I've always been into the idea of taking care of myself above the average maintenance standards that most would agree are "normal." However, it wasn't until becoming a mostly-vegan and a 90-100 mile/week girl that I became immensely aware of my eating habits and how I made food decisions on a day-to-day basis. I am certainly not perfect, nor do I expect to be, but each day I feel like I get better and better at being completely aware of what I'm putting into my body and why. Most people would say that running 100 miles in a week is grounds for being a garbage disposal-any and every food is fair game. The reality is precisely the opposite: my body undergoes far more stress than the typical person, making it even more important  that I flood this thing with as much nutritional value as I can given the amount of food I can comfortably take in on a daily basis. 


Running is a funny thing. Some days, running dropkicks my appetite into full gear, but if the exercise bout is intense enough, it really does a lovely job of pissing on all my desires to ingest solid food. The idea of choking down a bowl of oats with nut butter and fruit is enough to make me dry heave immediately (or even an hour after) some of the mid-September 20 mile marathon work days. It's then that you have to plan: I can (have to) stomach liquid. What can I get in that can be liquid form? Later in the day, I have to ask what did I not get in earlier that I need to have now?  I stumbled on this article on http://www.seriouseats.com. A meat-eating manly man takes a "30-day vegan challenge" and kept a daily journal about his experience. It was clear from his writing that he very much intended to go back to his burger-and-wing lifestyle after the challenge and that the challenge wasn't going to do any magical transformation and veggie enlightenment. However, I found great pleasure in reading this statement he makes on day 6 of the challenge:

"Veganism has forced me to be constantly aware of what goes into my mouth and this has consequently resulted in a big decrease in calories that I consume and an increase in the regularity of my meals."

I don't believe veganism is for everyone. If you're cool with eating hormone-free chicken, then by all means, nomnom on some of that.  I'm completely cool with eating some forms of seafood. But I will say that it unquestionably benefits everyone to be aware of what you're eating, when you're eating it and why. The relationships that people develop with food are extremely interesting to me. From a biological point of view, food is simply the fuel we put into our bodies to live. Ben Franklin was the one who said "eat to live, not live to eat."  Most people don't have an emotional attachment to the unleaded that they throw in their car. I also don't think that one should sacrifice flavor, taste, and the occasional indulgence for optimal nutrition. It all goes back to balance and moderation-that annoying teeter-totter. 


I don't have time to cook is something I hear all the time, and I'm here to tell you that you don't have to spend tons of time on a meal for it to rock your tastebuds and be good for you. I'm constantly eating on the move; I'm a grazer and eat fairly constantly all day long rather than eating separate, designated meals. Cue breakfast on the go:




 Red Velvet Cake Smoothie, v2.0


Ingredients


1 cup unsweetened almond milk
1 swiss chard leaf (or your favorite green)
1/4 cup roasted beet puree
1/4 summer squash
1 scoop chocolate protein powder
2 tbsp cocoa powder
1 tbsp ground flaxseed
1 tsp coffee grounds
3 oz. silken tofu (I just used 1/5 of the package)
pinch of sea salt
tsp vanilla extract


Combine all ingredients in a high speed blender until smooth.






One of my favorite snacks doesn't require a recipe, but it's genius:

PB&J Boats


Ingredients


1 medjool date
1 tbsp peanut butter


Cut the medjool date like a hotdog bun; remove the pit. Stuff with peanut butter. Inhale. Repeat.









I like to eat a reasonable combo of carbs and protein post-workouts. No, I do not bring my food scale and make sure I'm eating a ratio of 4:3. If I'm in a reasonable neighborhood of that ratio, I'll chalk it up as a win. These dudes taste so good, I feel kinda like a rebel eating them right after I've stepped off the track:

White Chocolate Pistachio Protein Bars
Inspired by Chocolawtay


Ingredients


For the shortbread layer:
1 cup GF oat flour
1 1/2 scoops vanilla protein powder*
1 tbsp coconut oil
1 1/4 cup brown rice syrup
1/8 tsp sea salt
3/4 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 tsp almond extract (or just more vanilla)
2 tbsp stevia powder





For the pistachio layer:
1 cup pistachio butter* (no salt, no sugar added)
1/4 cup + 1 tbsp honey
2 medjool dates
3 scoops vanilla protein powder*
pinch sea salt


For the white chocolate layer:
2 tbsp almond butter
4 oz. white chocolate
tsp honey


1 scoop = 30g


Line a 9x9 inch pan with parchment or wax paper.


For the shortbread: combine all ingredients in a blender or food processor. The consistency will become that of stiff dough. Press the dough into pan and place in freezer to set while you prepare the second layer.


For the pistachio butter layer: to prepare the pistachio butter, place 1 cup of roasted pistachios in food processor and process until butter has formed. Since the oil content of pistachios is lower than that of most nuts, this may take a while and you may have to stop the processor and scrape down the sides of the bowl a few times. If necessary, add 1 tbsp of coconut oil to help develop butter. Once the pistachio butter is prepared, add the remaining ingredients to the food processor and combine. This dough will be looser than the shortbread layer. Press the dough onto the shortbread and place in freezer to set.


For the white chocolate layer: place all the ingredients in a microwave-safe bowl and microwave in 10-second increments until the chocolate is melted and ingredients are combined. Spread onto the chilled bars. Work quickly, as the chocolate sets fast on the cold surface. Refrigerate until the chocolate has just barely hardened and remove and slice the bars. Store in refrigerator and remove ten minutes before noshing to soften.