Saturday, November 16, 2013

Banana Chocolate Chip Cookies

A while ago I made banana chocolate chip cookies, and this is the recipe:

 1 banana
3/4  c brown rice syrup (or agave)
1/4 c vegan milk
1/4 c veg oil
3 c flour
1/4 teas. salt
1 teas. baking powder
1 teas. baking soda
2 cup chocolate chips

Preheat oven 325
Mix banana, syrup, milk, and oil with whisk.
Mix dry in a separate bowl. Add wet to dry ingredients.
Fold in chocolate chips.
Bake for 10-12 minutes.

Very Yummy, soft, and bready!

I would like to try THIS recipe next time!




Blueberry Muffins Classic Recipe

I found the recipe at Veg Web.

I made this recipe with unbleached whole wheat flour and oat milk.

I baked them for 25 minutes, but could be baked for 27-28 minutes.

Made about 11 muffins (fill each paper 2/3 of the way up, or even a little more)

Pretty sweet for breakfast, so the salt could be reduced to 1/3 or 1/4 cup.

Also, try reducing the amount of sugar to 1/2 teas instead of 1 teas.

Overall, very good recipe for frozen blueberries, and will be remade! :)


Glowing Green Smoothie Recipe

Very good smoothie, but you can taste the celery!

Handful Kale
Half handful Spinach
1 Pear
1 Green apple
1 Celery stick
1 Banana
1 Cup Water
Handful of Grapes? (For extra sweetness)

This makes roughly 20-24 oz. of smoothie!

Pumpkin Walnut Muffins

I found the recipe on the Hell Yeah It's Vegan Blog.

It orinally called for Agave as the sweetner, but unfortunately I was almost out. 

I used half the amount in organic sugar instead.

Should have filled the muffin papers 3/4 the way because they didn't rise very much.

I also baked them for around 18 minutes.

Could have been a little sweeter, but were still great for breakfast muffins! Very moist!

Would definitely remake these, they made over a dozen (I think around 17)! :)




Thursday, November 14, 2013

#2 Gingerbread Cut- out cookies

I found the recipe Here.

I substituted the 1/4 teas all spice for 1/8 teas cloves and 1/8 teas nutmeg.  I also used coconut oil instead of shortening.

I chilled the dough in the refrigerator for 2 hours and also preheated the stone in the oven.

Also, I lowered the temperature to 350* and baking time to 7 minutes because the first batch burned. (400* for 8 minutes)

I noticed the first two batches didn't rise or crack in the oven, but a few of the cookies in the third batch did.

Made a little over 20 cookies.

In comparison to #1 Gingerbread cookies recipe:

The dough seemed more oily.  Dough was harder to work with, and isn't as sweet or spicy. Just a molasses taste.

Overall, I love the #1 Gingerbread recipe, and will continue making those instead!




The Easiest, Simplest Vegan Bread Ever!

This was my first attempt at making a whole wheat vegan bread.  I only made half a batch this time as usual since I have never tried it before.  Just want to make sure its good! :)

The only thing I noticed differently about this bread is that after it was done rising for the second time, in the bread pan, it did not get any bigger or swell while it was cooking.  So pretty much the baked loaf is the same size as it was before it went in the oven.

I have made french bread a couple of times, and I'm pretty sure it was vegan as well, however this was the first time I used Whole Wheat flour!

I simply googled "vegan bread recipe." Then clicked on THIS ONE and decided to give it try.

Here is the recipe:

Ingredients:


4 cups unbleached flour (whole wheat)
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1 (2 1/4 teaspoon) packet active dry yeast
2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
1 3/4 cups hot water (about 105 degrees)

Directions:


1.  In a large bowl mix together flour, salt, and yeast, and form a well in the bottom.

2.  Pour in water and add the oil.

3.  With a wooden spoon slowly pull the flour into the liquid until it's fully adsorbed.

4.  Work it into a ball with your hands and place on a floured work surface.

5.  The dough should be tacky but not hopelessly sticky. sprinkle flour on the work surface and hands if needed; continue to knead the dough for 5-10 minutes or until the dough becomes elastic.

6. Rinse and grease the large bowl, then place the dough back in it. cover lightly with damp cloth or plastic wrap. let rise in warm place (i usually turn on my oven and place the dough on the stove above it) until double in size (about 1 to 1-1/2 hours).

7. Turn dough back out onto floured surface. punch down and kneed slightly to work out air bubbles.

8. Divide the dough in half, form round loaves and place on lightly oiled pans. preheat oven to 375 and let dough rise 20 more minutes.

9. Bake 30-40 min until crusts golden. you can also throw 1/2 C of water on the bottom coils 10 minutes in for "crustier" bread.








#1 Gingerbread Cut-out cookies

The recipe can be found Here. 

They were good! Nice amount of sweetness with no icing, and just soft enough!

I chilled the dough for 1 hour in the refrigerator.  Also, I baked the first batch longer because I used a pamper chef stone.

Recommend baking time is 8 minutes, next time I would bake the first batch maybe 2 minutes longer, unless you preheat the stone as well!



Saturday, May 11, 2013

Update : VEGAN !!!

So I just wanted to update that I am officially a VEGAN. Yay!! I have been trying to also do a detox, so I have been juicing, and eating a whole food, plant-based diet!  I hope to start reading The Kind Diet, the book, as well as the website/blog that you can find HERE.

My sister, Deese, with whom I am living with now and for the rest of the summer, has been reading this book as well as eating a whole food, plant-based diet (Vegan) for about two months now.  She has lost around 20 lbs already!!  Her awesome new blog is called In the Cathouse.  Check it out! You won't be disappointed; she is an amazing writer and includes awesome house stuff and crafts as well as recipes!

So from here on out there will only be vegan recipes on my blog documenting my new lifestyle as a VEGAN! Here we go! :)

Saturday, April 20, 2013

Chocolate Chip Cookies

These cookies were pretty good and quite chewy!

But they were quite thin. 
However, I did use mini chocolate chips this time too, and accidentally put double the about of baking soda in them:/  I'm not sure if that was why they were so thin or not, but oh well!

Not sure I will make them again because I like thicker and softer cookies.








Recipe from: CookwithApril Youtube Video

INGREDIENTS:
Chocolate Chip Cookies (Makes 4 dozen, enough to save in your freezer)
1 cup white sugar
1 cup softened butter
1 cup packed brown sugar
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
3 cups all purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda mixed with 2 teapoon hot water
1 teaspoon salt
2 cups semi sweet chocolate chips: http://amzn.to/SrnfNk
Optional walnuts: http://amzn.to/SrngRq

Bake for around 10 minutes at 350 degrees.

Lemon Bars

These are my favorite lemon bars!
I cant wait to make a whole batch some day when I get to make them for more people :)

Here's the recipe from: CookwithApril Youtube video

INGREDIENTS:
CRUST:
1 cup softened butter
1/2 cup white sugar
2 cups all purpose flour

Cook at 350 degrees for 15 minutes

LEMON FILLING:
4 eggs
1/2 cups white sugar or more if you prefer
1/4 cup all purpose flour
2 lemons juiced

Poor on top of crust,
bake again for 20 minutes.





French Bread Rolls to Die For

So here are some pictures of my first go at making rolls of any sort.

I just made a half of a batch, just to see if I liked them!

I must say..this recipe is pretty good. No extreme flavor of course.. just a nice plain roll:)

What I learned:  Don't put damp paper towel and cloth directly over the dough rolls! They will stick and ruin all the rising!












Recipe from http://allrecipes.com/recipe/french-bread-rolls-to-die-for/
  • 1 tablespoon active dry yeast
  • 2 tablespoons white sugar
  • 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 4 cups bread flour
Directions
  1. In a large bowl, stir together warm water, yeast, and sugar. Let stand until creamy, about 10 minutes.
  2. To the yeast mixture, add the oil, salt, and 2 cups flour. Stir in the remaining flour, 1/2 cup at a time, until the dough has pulled away from the sides of the bowl. Turn out onto a lightly floured surface, and knead until smooth and elastic, about 8 minutes. Lightly oil a large bowl, place the dough in the bowl, and turn to coat. Cover with a damp cloth, and let rise in a warm place until doubled in volume, about 1 hour.
  3. Deflate the dough, and turn it out onto a lightly floured surface. Divide the dough into 16 equal pieces, and form into round balls. Place on lightly greased baking sheets at least 2 inches apart. Cover the rolls with a damp cloth, and let rise until doubled in volume, about 40 minutes. Meanwhile, preheat oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C).
  4. Bake for 18 to 20 minutes in the preheated oven, or until golden brown.

My mom's Pancakes


Hi Guys!

So this is my mom's recipe for pancakes that she always made when I was growing up.  Some of my sister's have found their own recipe to make, but let me just say I am loyal to my mom's :)

Here's the ingredients:

2 cups Flour
4 teas Baking Powder
1 teas Salt
2 Tablespoons granulated sugar
1 egg
1 1/2 cup Milk
1/3 cup Oil

Just mix all dry ingredients thoroughly together with a whisk, then I mix the egg and oil together separately.  Then add them to the dry ingredients.  Lastly I add the milk.

These are my all time favorite! Very easy to make! :) 


Cake Mix Cookies: Chocolate Chip


 Recipe from: Six Sisters' Stuff Blog


I used a Butter Rich Yellow Cake Mix that was 15 and some odd ounces instead of 18.
I added a little extra flour.
And also used mini semi-sweet chocolate chips. (Patrick and I thought they'd be more fun lol :)

These were really good!! Definitely will remake these, they are very cakey and soft!
I sent these to Patrick for Easter:)
 



Saturday, March 2, 2013

Biscuit recipe

Hello All!!!

So this is the recipe for biscuits that I have been making recently..which I also got from my sister, Deese. She actually found this recipe at, Joy the Baker's Blog! What can I say.. she's just so helpful. :)

2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons granulated sugar
3/4 cup (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, cold and cut into cubes (I just chop mine up with a knife)
1 large egg
3/4 cup buttermilk, cold ( I make my own:)

**Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.
In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and sugar.

Add butter to the dry ingredients. Use your fingers to quickly incorporate the fat into the flour. Break up the butter with your fingers until some of the fat is the size of oat flakes and some of the fat is the size of small pebbles.



In a small bowl, whisk together egg and buttermilk.

***I made my own buttermilk substitute because I didn't have any:
3/4 cup of regular milk mixed with a little less than a Tablespoon of Distilled Vinegar.
Let it sit for about 5 minutes before adding to mixture.


Make a small well in the center of the fat and flour mixture. Add the buttermilk mixture. Using a fork, combine the wet and dry ingredients. Try to moisten all of the flour bits with the liquid.  Knead together until dough forms a disk about 1 1/2 inches thick.  The dough is quite sticky so make sure you use quite a bit of flour on the counter before you dump out the dough and then also I also added some on top of dough!



You could use a round, 1 1/2-inch biscuit cutter to cut biscuits (you can use a water glass if you don't have one!). I decided to use a heart shaped cookie cutter to make them all cute and stuff :)




Gather the dough scraps, knead for a few turns, and cut out more biscuits until no dough remains. Place biscuits on a small cookie sheet and place in the fridge until ready to bake.

Place a rack in the center of the oven. Bake between 10 and 20 minutes until golden brown, every oven is different! Will last for 4 days, longer if kept in fridge or freezer.

Finished product!
(Some of mine pancaked because of the temperature in my oven :/ )





Rice and bean dish

Hey guys!!

So last night I was not in the best mood..So I decided to do some cooking and baking!!

The recipe I decided to make is from my sister Deese.  She is my oldest sister and such a FOODY, so you know her recipes are always bomb. haha Well here is the recipe:

1 cup Rice (or 1/2 cup each Rice and Quinoa)
2 cups water or Tomato juice
1 can chopped or crushed tomatoes or stewed tomatoes (crushed will make a less chunky dish and is my favorite choice. Stewed tomatoes were cooked with onions and peppers before being canned)
1 can chili beans
1 can corn or 1 cup frozen corn (more if you want)
1 TB Chili Powder
1/4 teas pepper
1/4 teas salt
can add 1 small onion or 1/2 a large onion, I would chop it finely and saute until translucent in oil in the same pan before adding the rest of ingredients.
can add 1 cup Boca or Morning Star Crumbles (no need to thaw)

I just mixed everything together at once and cooked on medium high until it started to bubble, then I turn it down to medium and covered with a lid. You'll know it's is done when the rice has soaked up water/tomato juice, can take 45 mins to an hour! 

*** But I modified this recipe just a bit:  to make a faster version all you have to do is use already made rice (like microwaveable rice) and don't add the 2 cups water/tomato juice! So i just popped a cup of brown rice with a cup of water to bowl, covered it and let it cook in the microwave for 7 minutes!

The key here is to add the already cooked rice to the pot last, since its already cooked and not frozen like the other ingredients. 

Plus always remember any thing with spices like this...It doesn't hurt to let it sit on warm temp. for a little while longer than needed!  Married ingredients taste better!! :)

***Last but not least: PUT IT ON A BISCUIT :)

Here is a picture of the finished, fabulous creation :





Tuesday, February 26, 2013

Cake Mix Cookies: Chocolate

So something I have made recently for the first time is:  Cake Mix Cookies.  So what is this amazing creation you ask... well its exactly how it sounds, silly goose.  Cookies that are made from cake mix:)

So I went to Food Lion and picked out a chocolate Devil's Food cake mix and also a Classic Yellow Cake Mix.  I found a recipe on a really cool Blog: sixsisterstuff.com.  I recommend you definitely check that out by the way. It's awesome:)

So using their recipe, I decided to use the chocolate cake mix to make cookies first.

First, I preheated the oven to 350 degrees. Then, I added the whole box of cake mix into a mixing bowl.  Then I whisked together 2 eggs and 1/3 cup of vegetable oil in a separate bowl.  After that I poured the wet ingredients into the bowl with the dry cake mix.

Its a bit crumbly so feel free to dig in with your hands! :)

Once its mixed completely, I pulled out my handy-dandy Tablespoon measuring spoon (mines perfectly round) and scooped out some cookies!  Popped them on a cookie sheet and put them in the oven for 6-8 minutes and VOILA.  Yummy chocolate cookies....Okay, they are actually quite interesting, I would say they are like a combination of:

A brownie and chocolate cake (with texture) and the cookie part of an Oreo (with taste).

Let me just say it would be delicious with a glass of milk (and I don't even really like milk..haha)

Also I was thinking I could make it even more interesting by adding some vanilla frosting in between two cookies.  BAMM..its a homemade Oreo. That's quick and easy.

Oh and also this recipe made about 30 cookies! Once again...AWESOME. :)
Here's a little picture!



Until next time!
--Miranda Rose

PS. My future baking victims: Homemade Macarons with Salted Caramel Filling!! And Cake Mix Chocolate Chip Cookies!! Can you say YUMMM?? I can...and I plan to very soon. lol
Stay tuned!!




INTRO/Random Facts

Hello all! 

First of all, I'd like to introduce myself!!
My name is Miranda Rose and I am currently a junior in college.  I am majoring in fashion merchandising and can't wait to get out into the real world! (Yeah, I know I'll probably regret saying that later..haha) But anyhow, this blog is going to be my journey with my new found love, BAKING. You will hear about the ups, the down, and all the inbetweens of me learning to bake all the different wonders of the baking world. :)

And just another random fact you should know before we get started: There is another passenger that will be going on this journey...because I am happy to say I have found the most amazing love with a Wonderful guy, Patrick, which I'm sure you will be hearing a lot about along the way.  He gets the lovely task of being my encouraging, supportive taste-tester. :)

Welp! HERE WE GO :)