Cakes & Muffins

Butternut Squash Muffins

So, most of the time when I make muffins, I generally use what I have around the house whether it be fruit, nuts, or veggies. I had some butternut squash this time. I still have not found a muffin that this kid will not eat. You guys are going to get so sick and tired of muffins, but hey, it’s what my little guy likes!

What will you need:

  • 3 cup of flour
  • 2 tsp baking powder
  • 1.5 tsp baking soda
  • 1/2 tsp pink salt
  • 1/2 cup of brown sugar
  • 1/2 cup of granulated sugar
  • 2 tsp of ground cinnamon
  • 1/2 tsp nutmeg
  • 1/2 tsp apple pie spice
  • 1/2 tsp ground cloves
  • 1/2 cup of vegetable oil
  • 1/2 cup of water
  • 1.5 cups of pureed butternut squash

Let’s get baking!

  • Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
  • While the oven is preheating, cut the squash in half and scoop the seeds out.
  • Bake for about 20-30 minutes or until the squash is easily mashed with a fork.
Bake your squash open side down so that the moisture from the squash steams it and cooks it faster.
This is what your squash should look like when it is ready to come out of the oven.
  • Mix all of your ingredients together (sorry every single recipe and cookbook that I have ever read but I don’t do dry in one, wet in the other, then combine… I just dive on in!)
  • Fill your muffin cups almost to the top. This recipe made 18 muffins but if you “follow the rules” and fill your muffin cups 2/3 of the way full, it will make 24.
  • Bake muffins at 350 degrees for 20-25 minutes. I always check them with a toothpick at 20 minutes to see if it comes out clean. If it doesn’t add another 2 minutes and check again. Do so until they are ready.
This is why I fill those bad boys up! Look how big those muffins are!!!

What can I do to make these muffins even more yummy?

  • Sprinkle some sugar on the muffins before baking them
  • add some chopped walnuts, almonds, or pecans for some crunch
  • chocolate chips

Tell me what you thought about this recipe if you try it. Just remember until next time, anything you can make, I can probably make vegan!

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Cakes & Muffins

Citrus Poppy Seed Muffins

I know, yet another muffin recipe. It’s not that I like muffins, or making muffins, but my son just loves eating muffins more than anything else in this world. I am always making them from whatever I have laying around the kitchen. Peanut butter, zucchini, different squash, carrots, lemons, oats, and everything else.

I looked around the other night and realized that I had oranges, grapefruit, and lemons… in abundance. Well, there’s one of 2 muffin batches that I will make this week! EZPZ!

What do you need?

  • 2 TBSP citrus zest (lemon, lime, orange, grapefruit)
  • equivalent of 2 eggs (see end of list for egg replacement ideas)
  • 2 TBSP of fresh citrus juice (lemon, lime, orange, grapefruit)
  • 1/2 tsp almond extract
  • 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
  • 3/4 tsp baking powder
  • 1.5 Cups of flour
  • 2 TBSP of poppy seeds
  • 3/4 tsp pink salt
  • 1.25 cups of sugar
  • 2/3 cups vegetable oil
  • 3/4 cups of non dairy milk

Egg replacers:

  • 1 tsp baking soda + 1 tablespoon vinegar
  • 1/4 cup of unsweetened applesauce
  • 1/4 cup of silken tofu
  • 1/4 cup of mashed banana
  • 1 tablespoon of ground flax seed + 3 tablespoons of water (let this sit for 5 minutes)

Let’s make this!

  • Preheat your oven to 350 degrees
  • Get your mixing bowl or stand mixer ready!
  • Mix together all of your dry ingredients
  • Add your citrus zest to the dry mix
  • After mixing together your dry ingredients, juice your citrus. In these I did a mix of oranges and lemons.
  • Add in all the rest of the ingredients
  • Most recipes tell you to fill your muffin pans 2/3 or 3/4 of the way full to bake… Yeah, okay. I want my muffins big and pretty. I fill mine this high!
  • Sprinkle the top of your muffins with some sugar if you want (no one is looking anyway, just do it)
  • Bake your muffins for 20-25 minutes. I usually check them at 20 minutes with a toothpick. Just check to see if the toothpick comes out clean. Once it does, they are ready to come out of the oven and onto the cooling rack.

I love silicone muffin cups because they not only save you a ton of money, but the muffins and cupcakes never sticks to the inside of them!!! Patrick just likes letting everyone know what color muffin he wants. Silly boy.

Look at those pretty muffins!!!

Tell me what you thought about this recipe if you try it. Just remember until next time, anything you can make, I can probably make vegan!

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Other

Herb Garden

What do I have in my garden?

I love that, even when you live in a city, you can bring some fresh into your life. Morgan and I have our very own herb garden on our back porch that we can take from any time we need. Sunday gravy is much better with fresh herbs, rosemary bread has that little extra something to it, lemon rosemary cookies taste that much better, and do you have any idea how well watermelon and mint go together??? We do!

No matter where you are or where you go, bring a little bit of that green into your life, some days it just makes your whole day better just going out back and smelling all of that good stuff.

Most herbs that you think are just for savory could and should be used in sweet dishes as well. Don’t be afraid to experiment with food. You will never know how something tastes without ever trying it.

Curry
  • rice
  • soups
  • stews
Peppermint
  • Homemade peppermint extract
  • Sugar scrubs (cucumber mint is a really nice combination)
  • mixed into fruit salad
  • pairs amazingly well with chocolate
  • Peppermint tea
  • Homemade peppermint mouthwash (oh, we will definitely get to that one)
Basil
Sage

Sage pairs well with:

  • butternut squash
  • pasta
  • Garbanzo bean burgers
  • Roasted slices of delicata squash
  • mashed potatoes
Italian Oregano
Rosemary
Parsely
  • Top off pasta dishes
  • Topping for naan bread
  • Mixed bean salad
Sweet peas
  • Pick and eat straight from the vine
  • Sautee with some vegan butter
  • green pea hummus
  • pea soup
  • sesame sauteed sugar snap peas
Always add a gnome!

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Desserts

Cinnamon Sautéed Jicama

The fruit and veggie box strikes again! Again I get a new root veggie that I have not used before but have seen many times. So what is jicama?

I automatically inspect new foods the same way. I cut it open, smell it, taste it, feel it. So, jicama looks like a big, brown turnip and it smells and tastes almost like an apple.

To the cooking!

What you will need

How do you cook this thing?

  • Cut the skin off of your jicama. I tried to use a potato peeler but it took forever and it was awful. I gave up half way through.
  • Cut your jicama into smallish cubes
  • Melt your butter in a cast iron pan
  • Add in the jicama
  • Sprinkle in the cinnamon and brown sugar
  • Sautée the jicama until it gets a little softer. (It will not get fully soft, just slightly less firm)
  • Eat!

Tell me what you thought about this recipe if you try it. Just remember until next time, anything you can make, I can probably make vegan!

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Sides

Onion Fritters

Why onion fritters?

For some reason, we go through so many onions in our house. I don’t think there are many recipes that are missing that vital ingredient. So what do you do when you have too many onions? You make the onion the main ingredient! I know, just stay with me here on this, I promise it will be worth it.

My daughter loves fritters of almost every kind, and she loves onions, so we decided to take our zucchini fritter recipe and make onion fritters!

What do you need?

  • 2 1/2-3 cups of onions
  • 3/4 cups of non dairy milk (unflavored and unsweetened)
  • 3/4 cups of all purpose flour
  • 2 tsp baking powder
  • 2 TBSP corn meal (make sure it isn’t corn meal mix because that has sugar added)
  • 1 TBSP sugar
  • 1/2 tsp pink salt (plus more to sprinkle on top)
  • 1/4 cup of chives (fresh or dried)
This might look too wet, but it is actually the perfect consistency!

How to make your fritters!

  • Add vegetable oil to a cast iron pan and heat it to med high (trust me, you will want to replace all your pans once you start using cast iron)
  • Cut up your onions. Start with 2 1/2 cups and add more if you think your mix is too runny
  • In a large bowl mix together all of your ingredients (or use a large plastic drink pitcher because kitchen hacks are epic and awesome. You’ll love this later when you go to pour the mix in the oil)
  • If you want to make the mix a little thicker, add more corn meal instead of flour for better flavor
  • Pour your mix into pancakes in your hot oil (make them as big or as small as you want)
  • Fry your fritters until they are golden brown on both sides
  • When you take them out of the oil, make sure you drain the excess oil off of them so that they don’t get all squishy. (I use a splatter screen or cooling rack over a plate since we don’t use paper towels in our house)
  • While the fritters are still hot, sprinkle them with some more pink salt

What to add to your fritters

I know that some of these are going to sound strange, but give them a chance

  • Applesauce
  • vegan sour cream
  • vegan spicy mayo (1 part sriracha sauce and 3 parts vegan mayo)
  • what we call pepper sauce (1 part hot pepper relish and 2 parts ketchup)

Tell me what you thought about this recipe if you try it. Just remember until next time, anything you can make, I can probably make vegan!

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Canned Goods

Watermelon Jam

I know, another watermelon post. The watermelon that I bought was HUGE! Besides the watermelon lemonade and the frozen watermelon balls, I also made 4 pints of watermelon jam. When you have too much of something, you know you can’t use it in time, and don’t want it to go to waste, more times than not, it can be canned. I didn’t think about it ahead of time so I composted my watermelon rind, but you can actually pickle the rind! Okay, enough about the could haves, let’s get sticky!

What you will need

  • 4 cups of watermelon
  • 1/2 cup of lemon juice
  • 7 tablespoons of fruit pectin
  • 4 cups of sugar
I told you it was as big watermelon!

Time to start… Jammin

  • puree 4 cups of watermelon
  • Pour into a medium sauce pot and juice 1 large lemon (don’t forget to zest the lemon first so that you can save it for a later recipe. It will be good in the refrigerator for about a week give or take a few days)
  • forgot to zest my lemon first, BAD JEN!
  • Look at all of that deliciously beautiful lemon juice
  • Add the lemon juice and watermelon to the sauce pot
  • Add in the sugar and the fruit pectin to the sauce pot
  • Bring the mixture to a boil and let boil for 20 minutes. Please make sure you watch it and stir it on occasion. I walked away for 2 minutes and boop… it bubbled over a little. Sad day. Don’t worry, it wasn’t much.
  • Get your canning supplies ready and put all the lovely deliciousness into the half pint jars and wait.

What’s next?

Don’t panic if your jam doesn’t set right away. With some jams it can take up to 48 hours for it to set. If it still hasn’t set at the 48 hour mark, resanitize your jars after dumping the mixture back into the pot. If you add a little more lemon juice and a little more fruit pectin to your mixture, you should be fine. Remember that jam, as with most other baking and cooking, has a little to do with altitude and humidity.

If you want to give it a little extra zing, you could add some of the lemon zest to it or some meddled mint leaves. Watermelon and mint is an excellent combination and it makes for a delicious and refreshing summer treat.

I was able to fill 8 half pint jars. 4 for us and 4 for the neighbors upstairs to steal like we aren’t going to notice that something this good is missing. Yeah, okay…

Until next time, leave some comments, send some feedback, let me know if you made this jam and how it turned out or if you tweaked it at all. Just remember, anything you can make, I can probably make vegan!

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Drinks

Watermelon Lemonade

I went to the grocery store today and they had massively huge watermelons for only $3.99 each! I definitely got one but picking it up was the challenge. I was destroying my brain trying to think of things to use all of this watermelon on. I made the kids a fruit salad with watermelon, strawberries, and blueberries. I made some fruit Popsicles using the same ingredients, and I also made some watermelon jam (don’t worry, I have a recipe coming for that one right after this one.

What do you need?

  • 6-7 cups of watermelon after it’s been pureed
  • 1/2 cup-1 cup of sugar
  • juice of 2 large lemons (probably about 1 cup)

Time to make those yummies!

  • cut a bunch of watermelon up (if you want to save yourself the headache, make sure that you get seedless or you’re going to get really bored, really quickly)
  • put the watermelon chunks into a blender and blend until perfectly pureed.
  • using a fine strainer or cheesecloth to strain the liquid out of the pureed watermelon.
  • While waiting for the watermelon to strain, zest 2 lemons (save the zest, it’s not for this recipe but always good to have some on hand. It will last about a week in a container in the fridge.
  • juice both lemons, should be about 1 cup of lemon juice.
  • add 1/2 cup of sugar to the lemon juice and blend for a few seconds.
  • If the watermelon is drained enough, add it to the lemon juice and sugar in the blender and blend until fully combined.
  • Pour the watermelon lemonade into mason jars. Mine filled exactly 4 pint jars.

What would make this even better?

  • A little drink umbrella, because it makes every drink better
  • mint leaves. Bruise some mint leaves in a mortar and pestle to release some of the flavors.
  • Frozen watermelon balls. A melon baller is an amazing kitchen tool to have. It’s good for the obvious reason, making fruit balls, but also to scoop seeds out of a squash such as butternut, pumpkin, and acorn.

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Cakes & Muffins

Oatmeal Apple Pie Muffins

My 3 year old son is obsessed with muffins. I make fresh muffins 2-3 times a week. So far I haven’t found one that he doesn’t like. I usually look around in my cabinets, on my food shelf, my fruit bowl, and my veggie box to figure out what kind I am making that day.

It warms my hear when I feel him tugging on my apron yelling muffin!!! I barely got them out of the oven and he’s already waiting for the first one. Everyone else in the house knows better than to try and take that first one.

What you will need

  • 1 apple peeled, cored, and cut into small cubes
  • 1.25 cups of flour
  • 1/2 cups of rolled oats
  • 1/3 cup of brown sugar
  • 1/2 teaspoon of pink Himalayan salt
  • 2 teaspoons of baking powder
  • 1/2 teaspoon of baking soda
  • 1/4 cup of vegetable oil or coconut oil
  • 1/2 cup of applesauce (usually unsweetened but I use whatever I have made at the time)
  • 1/3 cup of non dairy milk
  • 1.5-2 tablespoons of my apple pie spice (click here for my personal recipe: https://misscherise.home.blog/2019/06/23/apple-pie-spice/ )

How do you make it?

  • Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
  • grease up some baking cups. I finally found my love of silicone cups!
  • In a stand mixer or a bowl, mix together your flour, oats, brown sugar, and the apple pie spice.
  • Add in the applesauce, vegetable oil, and non dairy milk.
  • Stir until moistened
  • Fold in chopped apple pieces.
  • Fill muffin cups 3/4 of the way full (or whatever, lol. So what if they go a little over the top when they bake)
  • Sprinkle the top of your muffin with a little bit of sugar and pop those bad boys into the oven for 20 minutes.
  • Check with toothpick, it should come out clean.

Storage tip:

When storing your brown sugar, you should invest in a clay disc. They are probably one of the most useful but random things that you could probably have in your kitchen. All you do is soak it for 30 minutes in a bowl or cup of water, pat dry, and put it in your air tight container of brown sugar. The moisture in the clay will keep your brown sugar from getting all hard and crunchy.

Until next time, leave me some ideas and always remember that anything you can make, I can probably make vegan!

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Seasonings & Dressings

Apple Pie Spice

This is a must have staple in my house. I definitely use it more than I thought I would. It’s a simple mix of spices that is convenient to have on hand.

What you will need

  • 1 cup of ground cinnamon
  • 1/4 cup of ground nutmeg
  • 1.5 tablespoons of ground ginger
  • 1.5 tablespoons of ground allspice

How to make it

  • Put it in a pint size mason jar or airtight container and shake the shit out of it

Really, that’s it. It’s made and ready to go. Now you just use it!

How can you use it?

  • In applesauce
  • Muffins
  • Cake
  • Baked apples
  • I put some in my coffee
  • On oatmeal

The possibilities are endless!

Send me some ideas for next time. Just remember, anything you can make, I can probably make vegan!

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Cakes & Muffins

Zucchini Cake

I haven’t found a recipe for zucchini that I didn’t like so far. Zucchini bread, or cake, has always been one of my favorites but I haven’t made it in years. I decided to make it last night.

What you will need:

  • 2 cups of grated zucchini
  • 3 cups of all purpose flour
  • 2 teaspoons baking soda
  • 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
  • 3 teaspoons cinnamon
  • 1 teaspoon nutmeg
  • 1/2 teaspoon of all spice (if you have it)
  • 1 cup of brown sugar
  • 1 cup of granulated sugar
  • 1 cup of vegetable oil
  • 1 cup of non dairy milk
  • 2 tablespoons of apple cider vinegar -or- white vinegar
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

How to make it:

  • Preheat oven to 350 degrees
  • start with your wet ingredients including the grated zucchini.
  • In a separate bowl mix together dry ingredients.
  • Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients (I try to add at increments of 1/2-1 cup at a time.
  • Using baking spray or Crisco to a fluted bunt pan
  • The batter is going to be runny like typical cake batter.
  • Pour the batter into the fluted bunt pan or into 2 8″x 4″ bread pans
  • Bake in the oven for 50-60 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean without any batter stuck to it.

I let my cake cool overnight on a cooling rack upside down with it still in the pan so that it doesn’t lose its pretty shape.

How can this cake get any better?

Use some of these to make your cake even better.

  • confectioners sugar
  • orange marmalade glaze
  • vegan BUTTER

I have to say that this is by far my favorite recipe so far. The cake turns out moist with that bit of cozy bite from the cinnamon and nutmeg.

Send me some ideas for things to cook/bake! Just remember, anything you can make, I can probably make vegan!

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