Back to the Good Stuff – Hot Chocolate Pancakes

After last week’s somber post I thought it was time to talk about something a little happier. And what is happier than vegan chocolate pancakes. To me there is something really fun about breakfast for dinner, or in this case breakfast for dessert. Maybe that’s because vegan breakfast is my favorite meal of the day. And chocolate is good anytime of day.

These vegan pancakes are incredible. Literally one of the best things I’ve ever made, behind the mint chocolate chip cookies (maybe). And I have to credit this deliciousness partly to Paula Dean. The women truly has found the secret to life in butter. She just needs to switch to vegan butter. So don’t for a moment think these pancakes are healthy. They aren’t terrible for you but they are certainly a dessert. But sometimes in life when bad things happen the best cure is chocolate, not matter how bad.

Ingredients:

Vegan Hot Chocolate Pancakes (adapted from Chocolate Covered Katie)

1/4 cup all purpose flour

1/4 tsp baking powder

1 tbsp vegan hot chocolate mix (I used Starbucks)

1 tbsp brown sugar

1/16 tsp salt

1 and 1/2 tbsp melted vegan butter (I used Earth Balance)

5 and 1/2 tbsp milk of choice (I used Silk soy milk)

Directions:

1. Heat pan to medium.

2. Mix dry ingredients, then add wet ingredients.

3. Once well combined, spoon onto pan.

4. Cook until top starts to bubble, then flip (about 4-5 minutes, as these are small pancakes)

5. Cook for another minute or two until pancakes are cooked through.

For me this recipe made 3 small pancakes. These are delicious on their own but if you wanna take it to the next level, layer the pancakes with this vegan hot fudge sauce…. Equal parts hot chocolate mix and melted butter, heated over the low heat. Be careful cause this burns quickly!

Seriously though add the hot fudge… it melts into the pancakes and makes for pure heaven.

Just a quick running update… I’ve started my six month training plan, which you can find here. I just want to say thank you so much to the support I received from that post, it means the world to me and my city. We are so fortunate that they found the perpetrator so that justice can achieved. #bostonstrong

The Terrorist Attack on Boston and My Pledge

It is a rarity that I ever do two posts in one day, but in response to the recent events in Boston I felt it necessary to say a few words. As many of you know I am from Cape Cod, a short drive to Boston, which I have always considered my city. I know the streets and the T well and many of my friends and family live there. I am sure all of you have heard of the terrorist attack on Boston today, targeting the finish line of the Boston Marathon, a timeless tradition of my city. One of my best friends ran in it and I am so thankful that she finished before the attack. However, this does not alleviate the pain of the 141 injured and two killed, including an 8 year old boy.

I am not going to focus on the anger I feel towards whoever felt it necessary to disrupt such a beautiful moment as crossing the finish line after 26.2 grueling miles, coming towards a cheering crowd. Instead I want to appreciate the prayers and thoughts that have poured out to Boston today; never has my newsfeed on Facebook or Twitter ever made me miss home so much or feel so proud of where I come from. I am especially proud and gracious to the policemen, firemen, marathon personnel and the bystanders who took action immediately to help the injured. Considering the enormity of the annual event, the consequences could have been much greater without their incredible efforts.

A marathon is test of human strength. Today it also became a test of humanity. I have never been a runner, never been able to push past 5 miles without giving up. But I know the runners today overcame much more than my petty asthma and tendonitis to run the Boston Marathon, and now 141 will be forced to overcome even more. So I have decided to train for the Cape Cod Marathon that comes in the Fall to honor the victims and all people affected by this tragedy. I feel that this is a respectable way to pay my respects to the athletes who worked so hard for today and traveled from all over the world to the beautiful city of Boston.

All my love is in Boston tonight. Thank you to everyone who feels the same.

Portland Farmer’s Market – A Guest Post

This week I welcome back Becca, my guest blogger from December (here’s her first post, Tour of the Freshmen Cafe). Today she writes about cooking while at home in Oregon, and gives us her recipe for her veggie saute using ingredients from a local farmer’s market. Baltimore has lots of farmer’s markets, unfortunately none of which I’ve managed to get to (mostly because the only one within walking distance closes by 12 on Saturday. I’m usually still sleeping). Hopefully I’ll get myself over there soon and get a review! Now here’s Becca:

This blog post has been in the works since the holiday break! Sorry Liza for being a lazy guest poster!

I was home over break studying for the MCAT, which I didn’t even end up taking, though it drove me completely insane. Though I was going crazy with stress, I did very much enjoy being home in Portland, OR, and enjoying the company of my family and friends, as well as presence of what I’m still convinced is the BEST farmer’s market scene in the whole entire world.

My mom, sister, and I have a tradition of making a farmer’s market run every Sunday to load up on our week’s fresh fruits and vegetables. It’s become more than a “grocery run” but rather a fun way for the three of us to spend quality time together. With my sister in school in New York, my parents living in Portland, OR, and myself in school in Baltimore, it’s rare we are all together in one place. We make a morning of our farmer’s market trips…loading up on gluten free treats at our favorite bakery stand and eating them with coffee at the park next to the parking lot the farmer’s market makes shop in.

We always end up leaving the market with bags and bags full of local, fresh apples, seasonal berries, and assorted vegetables. My mom is the sauteed veggie master and her skills along with the remarkable fresh vegetables we get weekly combine to make one of my favorite dishes….a simple veggie saute:

brussel sprouts
chopped butternut squash
red beets
rosemary
olive oil
salt
pepper

Put all chopped and uncooked veggies in a big mixing boil and apply olive oil liberally, add rosemary, salt, and pepper to taste. Pour into wok pan and allow to satee on high heat until tender (normally 10ish minutes). SUPER EASY!

You can seriously use any veggies…but make sure they are as fresh as possible! This makes the dish!

Now that I’m back at school, fending for myself on the food front, I miss my mom’s cooking more than ever! I also can’t tell you how much I miss my hometown of Portland and it’s amazing farmer’s markets and fresh food I become accustomed to. If you ever make it to the west (BEST) coast, make sure to check out the farmer’s market scene…it’s rampant all up the coast.

It’s always nice to hear about vegan cooking from all over the states. As always, if any of my readers are interested in doing a guest post for the Vegan Collegiate, just email me at vegancollegiate@gmail.com with your idea!

Happy eating!

Sweet and Refreshing – Junior Mint Oatmeal Cookies

I’ve realized when it comes to cooking, I learn the most by trial and error. Now having made pasta with some kind of faux meat and vegetables about 4 times a week, I’m an expert at timing and it comes out delicious every time. Similarly, vegan brownies from the box are my specialty now that I’ve made them too many times to count. But for something like Junior Mint Oatmeal Cookies, a couple more tries would probably benefit this recipe.

To be clear, these tasted incredible, evaluated by some frat brothers. But the process and end appearance needs some work. As I probably would’ve realized if I was a chemistry major rather than creative writing, I would have predicted that the centers of the Junior Mints would melt into sticky peppermint liquid that sticks great to a cookie sheet. I think the solution to this would be to make a cookie pie so that the peppermint would just go back into the dough when it melts, without covering my friend’s cookie sheet (and requiring a serious arm workout to remove it later). Also I would suggest adding the Mints on the dough after its already been placed in the pie tin.

But regardless of how they looked this time around, they tasted great. If I can drag myself out of the sunshine that just seemed to appear in Baltimore this week I’ll try the pie version. For now here is my original.

Ingredients (makes 12):

1/3 cup vegan butter

1/3 cup brown sugar

3 tbsp white sugar

1 tbsp cornstarch

1/2 cup all-purpose flour

1/4 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

1 and 1/3 cup quick cook oats

1 package of Junior Mints

3 tbsp water

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F (165 degrees C)

2. In a large bowl, cream together the butter, brown sugar, and white sugar until smooth. Add cornstarch and water.

3. One well mixed, add flour, baking soda, and salt; stir into the creamed mixture until just blended. Mix in the quick oats and Junior Mints. Drop by heaping spoonfuls onto ungreased cookie sheets.

3. Bake for 12 minutes in the preheated oven. Allow cookies to cool on baking sheet for 5 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely.

Note: To adjust to my recommendations, do not mix in Junior Mints. Place dough in ungreased pie pan, then put Junior Mints on top.

Now I’m off to enjoy Spring Fair activities! Maybe a post on surviving fair food next week?

A Week In the Life

As I may have mentioned before, I have seem to come too close to the end of my Dining Dollars (aka money to buy food with) to be comfortable. Finishing the last month of school with no way to eat probably isn’t the best way to head into finals week, so I’ve had to start budgeting. But one of the great things about Hopkins is that it is actually much more cost effective to buy fresh vegetables to cook myself than go to dining halls. For about 4 dollars I can buy a potato and a vegetable, combine it with my Gardein chick’n and have a meal. Although it does take significantly longer to cook, and my kitchen is far from ideal, being forced to cook at least 3 times a week has been very good for me the past couple of weeks. It has made me better at having limited ingredients but still having to make nutritious, filling meals.

So for this post today I thought I would show some of the things I’ve been cooking up! Just to really drive the point home, my kitchen sucks. To see how much it sucks refer to this post. But I have been able to overcome, and I think I’m getting better at cooking with all this practice!

This kind of a random assortment of ingredients, well mostly just the combination of teriyaki chik’n and vegetables with whole wheat pasta. But I thought it was delicious so that’s all that really matters. Ingredients: Whole wheat pasta, Gardein chik’n strips, button mushrooms, brocolli, Soy Vay sauce (if you haven’t had this yet, you must try it. So good!), canola oil spray

This is a more cohesive meal. As my great grandfather used to say, “I could make  meal out of potatoes.” Obviously this plate is so exception, but in my defense I ate most of the broccoli waiting for the potatoes to cook. Here I just boiled them for a short amount of time, pre cut, and then sauteed them with salt and pepper. The chick’n is covered in honey mustard, my favorite condiment. Another variation of this meal (potatoes, veggies, protein) was tofu, potato, asparagus. This is my usual formula for dinner. Ingredients: Baby potatoes, Gardein chick’n, honey mustard, broccoli, canola oil spray.

 

And finally more pasta! I can’t lie, I could eat pasta everyday. If I’m not eating potatoes, I’m eating pasta. What is that sprinkled on top? Rice cheese! This is the first time I’ve had it and I can’t lie, I love it. Yes I have been eating it straight from the bag. There was supposed to be asparagus with this but I may have eaten that all while waiting for the pasta to cook (I can’t help the fact that whole wheat takes significantly longer to soften!) I sauteed chick’n with asparagus, added pasta at the end and mixed all of it with jarred tomato sauce. Delicious. Ingredients: Whole wheat pasta, asparagus, Gardein chick’n, rice cheese, canola oil.

Hope this gives you a couple ideas of easy meals you can make with just two stove tops! I’ll try to post new options every week. Next week I’m thinking about getting Gardein beef tips. Bold decision? We shall see. As you can tell all of these meals are based around staple items (pasta and chick’n) so make sure whatever you buy a lot of, you like it. I promise chick’n is not that bad!!!

Happy cooking!

 

 

Nothing Better than Spring Snow and Ice Cream

So I’ve already  talked about my addiction to Nutella. And considering how long it has been since I’ve enjoyed my favorite chocolate hazelnut spread, it’s still at the top of my list for favorite cravings. But a close second is definitely ice cream. I have been known to eat entire pints in one sitting, including a certian occasion where I was bet five dollars in scratch tickets that I couldn’t do it. Oh but I did, in under 15 minutes, and walked away with 13 dollars in winnings. So nobody needs to question my addiction to the frozen treat.

But it’s no secret that it’s not the healthiest of foods, even the vegan versions (if you haven’t yet, try any So Delicious flavor. A pint of their Cookie Dough ice cream became victim to my addiction this Spring Break). This fact, combined with the new Pinterest fad floating around for banana ice cream, was the inspiration to this recipe. Peanut Butter Banana Cap’n Crunch Ice Cream. PBBCCIC for short. Or may Peanut Butter Banana Crunch. Take your pic.

Banana Peanut Butter Crunch

Basically the idea is that when bananas are blended into a cream, combined with some toppings (in this case peanut butter and Cap’n Crunch), then frozen, it becomes a low cal substitute for ice cream. Lo cal ice cream? That’s a dream came true.

But like many Pinterest fads, this one isn’t perfect. This is not an ice cream for people who don’t like bananas, because unlike the rumors, this will taste like bananas. Maybe I should have tried a less ripe fruit but I’m sure it still would have the flavor. Fortunately I love bananas and peanut butter together so this was fine with me. Other than that, this stayed true to Pinterest promises. It thickened up into a delicious “ice cream.”

Just a few suggestions before hand:]

1. Remember to peel the banana before freezing it. (common sense I know but this is something I lack during midterm period)

2. Add the Cap’n Crunch at the very end and blend just enough to make sure they’re spread evenly with the banana-peanut butter cream. The bigger the chunks of Cap’n Crunch, the better.

3. Get creative! There’s an endless number of toppings that could be added to the banana.

Peanut Butter Banana Crunch “Ice Cream”

Ingredients:

1 frozen banana (unpeeled!)

1 tbsp peanut butter

1 tsp agave nectar

1/4 cup Cap’n Crunch

Action shot

Directions:

1. Blend banana on high until it has been completely creamed (2-3 minutes).

2. Add peanut butter and agave, blend until well combined.

3. Add Cap’n Crunch and blend for as short amount of time as possible, just until the cereal is spread throughout.

4. Put into a freeze safe container and freeze until the “ice cream” is at a desired consistency. Make sure to cover the container so that the banana does not brown (it’s really ugly)

How banana should look when blended

Prefreezing

As the title suggests, we just got SNOW in Baltimore. It’s practically March. I am very not OK with this. Maybe the weather is better wherever you are. Crossing my fingers for a change in temperature over the next week so I can enjoy some Peanut Butter Banana Crunch outside.

Enjoy!

Vegan on Vacation Part 2

Sadly Spring Break 2013 is drawing to a close, just as my skin finished peeling and my tan finally started to get legitimate. But I go back to Baltimore with a full stomach from lots of delicious food so that’s all that really matters right? Good thing because I doubt I’ll even have time to eat with the amount of work waiting for me back at the Hop.

I picked out a couple of meals to share with all of you to illustrate my dining experience while in Florida. For breakfast everyday I just had a bagel with jelly so that’s pretty unexciting. Lunch usually consisted of something by the beach; I ate at Quinn’s at the Marco Island Marriott twice. Once I had the Marco Island Salad, which was amazing, and the next time I had the Black Bean and Quinoa burger, which was less than exciting. But more on the salad. It was a mix of lettuce, mango, red pepper, sliced almonds and banana nut croutons, with a papaya seed vinaigrette. The vinaigrette in itself was delicious, not overly sweet but flavorful enough to complement the mango and red peper well. The mangos were perfectly ripe, but what really stole the show were the croutons. They tasted like mini banana bread loaves and were so incredibly delicious that when I went back and got the burger I had my mom order the salad just so I could steal them. A good banana bread to me isn’t too sugary and desserty, which croutons obviously aren’t, so the combination of the two made for a perfect topping.

A less stellar meal I had was a take out vegetarian burrito from Nacho Mama’s on Marco. Granted I know it can be difficult for Mexican restaurants to make an interesting burrito that differentiates themselves from others. But Nacho Mama’s hadn’t even seemed to try. I asked for jalapenos and instead of including them in the burrito they just gave me little container with a max of ten. It cost me 75 cents extra on top of what was already an 11 dollar meal. Instead of having their own hot sauce they included little generic packets in the take out bag. Basically it came down to being some sauteed peppers and onions wrapped in a tortilla. I could have made it myself for under a dollar.

But in a turn for the better we stumbled upon another restaurant in at the Marriott called Kurrents. I was a bit hesitant at first because the only thing they listed that I could eat was a “Vegetarian Option.” When we got there they informed us that it was tofu with cauliflower and mushrooms. Although it didn’t sound like much it ended up being the best meal of the trip. The cauliflower was in some kind of sauce that made it seem creamy, the mushrooms were fresh and the tofu was perfectly grilled. And for those of you who are non vegan readers, my parents equally loved their meals. Not to mention the service was impeccable; when my dad received an appetizer with bad tuna he sent it back the manager came over and apologized, offered free dessert and continually checked in for the rest of the meal to make sure everything was perfect.

I hope you all had as restful a week as I did. Now back to the grindstone… Get ready for my ice cream recipe coming up this week!

Vegan on Vacation

Hello there! Due to photography issues I won’t be able to post my recipe post this week, but I’ll give you a hint for next week… It includes ice cream.
So instead I’ll be talking about being vegan on vacation. Currently I am writing this post from the beach in Marco Island, Florida. And it is perfect… Hopefully I’ll be returning to Baltimore a few shades darker.
Of course traveling vegan can get pretty tricky. And I’ve found in the past day that Marco is not particularly vegan friendly. But what else can be expected from a place that caters to tourists who want seafood. So I’ve been going over countless menus trying to find restaurants in walking distance that have vegan options. I promise you, if I survive this vacation with three meals a day vegan then you can survive almos anywhere.
My meals started at the Baltimore airport yesterday. But with their newly constructed Chipotle I was good to go. I think I could eat their guac by the bucketful.
Things got a little more interesting when I set out to find dinner. After perusing some options online I set out for a plaza called Marco Walk. Unfortunately I stumbled upon a giant St Patricks day celebration there, so even the places that could have been options weren’t doing take out, which I needed. Walking a little farther along I found Toucans Bar and Grill. Of course this was exactly the type of establishment the name suggests. Cheap fried food, stereotypical Floridian old people and me. For example the woman I say next to waiting for my food was decked out completely in green and had the seat next to her saved for her little dog.
But Toucans saved the day as I found a portobello burger on the “Healthier Side” menu. Of course I cancelled out any healthy aspects by ordering the waffle sweet potato fries but I can never say no to sweet potato fries.
All in all the burger was good, not the best portobello sandwich I’ve ever had, and the fries were a little under seasoned (but yes I still ate the entire order).
I’ll keep you updated on my future meal adventures. I’m hoping for Mexican tonight!
Wishing you sun wherever you are!

Now For Something A Little Different – Talk About Vegan Criticism

I’ve decided to bring you a different kind of post today. Partly because I think it’s good to switch up for recipes all the time and partly because the chocolate pumpkin cookies I tried to make this week were a failure. Oh well, it happens to the best of us. Get ready for something really good next week (haven’t figured what this will be yet but it’ll be awesome I promise).

So instead I’m going to talk about a different aspect of the vegan lifestyle. That is, how people react when you tell them you’re vegan. I think this may be one of the hardest aspects to overcome in order to remain vegan. There was something really exciting in telling people about my diet change 9 months ago (how the time flies). But as soon as I started to hear feedback I felt very defeated. Rarely did I get a positive comment, like “Wow, that’s really great! Congratulations!” Or even “I’m really impressed you’re able to do that.” More often then not people would comment on how it was pointless, or didn’t accept my reasons for going plant based, and some even tried to bribe me to stop. I’m proud to say I’ve never succumbed to that kind of peer pressure, even when one of my good friends offered me some Pretzel M&Ms, promising he wouldn’t tell anyone if I had some.

Now I’m not going to say that every response was negative. There are a few who were very encouraging, and even my parents have made a valid effort in accommodating me. I know there are times when it is inconvenient to people for me to be vegan, but I always try to explain that if I can’t eat something at one dinner that doesn’t mean I’ll forever be starving.

So how does one deal with criticism? I usually try to approach the situation in a way that I’m not trying to argue back but instead just explain its my decision and I really love it. I’m not torturing myself or punishing myself or anything, this is my choice and I wouldn’t want it any other way. But if people keep pressing I am willing to defend myself. People usually criticize my diet based on lack of knowledge. I point them in the direction of documentaries that helped me in my transition (either Forks Over Knives or Vegucated, both available on Netflix). I explain to them I feel so much healthier. When they attack aspects of being plant based, like that I don’t get enough iron or protein I show them how I do. The best way to deal with ignorance is education.

Now I don’t mean to seem preachy in this post but I want to let me fellow vegans know that we all have to deal with the nonbelievers and that there are good ways to go about talking about being plant based. Here’s a few other great bloggers who have posted about this topic:

Happy Herbivore

Healthy Happy Life

Cadry’s Kitchen

Keepin’ it Kind

Just remember, you’re doing this for you, don’t let what other people think change the fact that it is healthier to be vegan.

I hate posting things without pictures so here are some random shots from the “snow” day we had yesterday here in Baltimore.

 

 

Vegan Gluten Free Peanut Butter Chocolate Cookies

There has been far too much healthy stuff being posted recently.Time to delve back into the dessert world. And the best part? These aren’t even that bad for you. And they’re amazing. I’d say one of the better things I’ve made, especially considering most other times I’ve tried to make cookies without flour has turned into a bubbly mess. I think the key is putting the dough in the refrigerator for a little bit, even if it’s not for more than hour. But these did not turn into boiling pools of sugar as I’m accustomed to so you should probably start baking now.The other best part? You probably already have all the ingredients in your kitchen. And they’re gluten free. And processed sugar free. And oil free.

Also, just to make sure I’m making it clear that these are good, I made them for a sorority bake sale. Most times vegans urge that if you’re baking for others try to keep is as close to non vegan as possible. These aren’t your usual peanut butter chocolate cookies, but that sets them apart. And I wouldn’t put my baked goods out there against girls who are some of the best chefs I know if I didn’t have faith. But you can decide for yourself.

Peanut Butter Chocolate Cookies {Vegan, Gluten-free, Oil-free} {Adapted from Averie Cooks}

Ingredients:

1 cup + 2 tablespoons creamy peanut butter (I used Jif)

1 cup light brown sugar, packed

3/4 banana

1 tablespoon vanilla extract

1/2 cup unsweetened natural cocoa powder

1 teaspoon baking soda

Directions:

1. Combine peanut butter, sugar, banana and vanilla extract. Mix until well combined and the mixture is no longer granular. You can use a stand mixer but I enjoyed the nice arm workout.

2. Add cocoa powder and baking soda. Mix until a dough has formed. The mixture may be a little crumbly, so feel free to add extra peanut butter to make it stick together more. I added some melted vegan butter but that was also to make it a little more appealing to the non vegans.

3. Refrigerate for around an hour, up to over night. I only did it for about half an hour and it was fine but better safe than sorry.

4. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

5. When the cookies are chilled and the oven is preheated, roll dough into small balls and then press flat on baking sheet (make sure sheet is either greased or has aluminum foil on it).

6. Bake for about 10 minutes. The cookies will still look soft in the middle but let them sit for about 15 minutes and they become chewy and delicious.

Mix before adding cocoa

 

Mix after adding cocoa

Makes about 20 small cookies.

And yes it’s ok to eat all of them in one sitting.

 Some other cookie recipes I’ve made:

Mint Chocolate Chip Cookies

Healthy Banana Brookies