A Smoothie, A Sandwich & Some Yoga

/ pumpkinhoney / Leave a comment

At least once a week (sometimes more) I drive the 2 minutes down the road to the Harbour Center for lunch. WHY? Because I’m freaking obsessed with Robeks & Potbelly. And I always order the same thing.

From Robeks, I get a regular (which is actually HUGE) Dr. Robeks smoothie which contains strawberries, raspberries, orange juice, raspberry sherbet (which upon further research I’ve discovered contains a very small amount of dairy… oops), and immune system & vitamin boosters. Unfortunately, the HUGE regular sized smoothie has 372 calories in it and that is the smallest size offered for the Dr. Robeks that I enjoy so much. I usually don’t finish my whole smoothie but still, that’s quite a few calories. I shall try to cut back in the future or maybe cut out the smoothie altogether. I shall commence a mission to make my own, healthier, vegan version!

Then I walk next door to the Potbelly and order an original (size) vegetarian on multi-grain with no cheese (aka just fresh mushrooms please). After they toast it, I ask for “mustard, hot peppers, lettuce, onion & pickles, please.” Okay, let me rave. They make their own mustard which is a spicy brown & it’s freaking delicious. They make their how hot peppers which are actually comprised of peppers, cauliflower, carrots, celery and I honestly don’t know what else but they’re salty & vinegary & spicy & yum. Then, the pickles are sliced so thin they’re like sheets of paper. Oh how I love this sandwich. It is supreme. According to the Potbelly meal calculator  my sandwich is only 350 calories. There are also 9 grams of fat, 6 grams of fiber, and 14 grams of protein. It also contains a buttload of sodium but I can’t bring myself to skip the hot peppers… don’t make me… please… they’re so… tasty.

So, all in all, that’s about 722 calories for lunch. That may sound like a lot, but when you consider that there are 750 calories in a Chipotle burrito with no meat or dairy (just tortilla, rice, beans, fajitas, salsa, lettuce, guacamole), that seems like a pretty good deal. A big old portion of fruit, whole grains, and bit of veg. I’m satisfied 🙂

Pammy & I are also doing “gentle yoga” which really just means beginner yoga every Wednesday. And I called the local gym today to ask about membership costs… I’m thinking a 6 month membership since (fingers crossed) I may be moving to DC soon. They also offer yoga classes & a bunch of others.. cycling, zumba, etc. Emily may be joining as well! AND I just found a totally awesome Groupon deal for 10 classes of hot yoga. My only worry is that they’ve sold so many that the classes will be overflowing! Disclaimer: No, I cannot do yoga like Briohny Smyth. Seriously though, how many people can?

 

On a less positive side…  My immediate reaction to websites with unexpected sound is usually “HOW DO I TURN IT OFF????? HOW???” Does anyone else feel this way?

Lemon Coconut Cake

/ pumpkinhoney / 14 Comments

My mom LOVES lemon, much like she loves ginger. So every year when I ask what kind of birthday cake she’d like she requests something lemon. And what goes better with lemon cake than coconut? I did some serious searching for vegan lemon coconut cakes and I really didn’t find much. The best, simplest (and probably tastiest!) recipe I found came from Epicurean Vegan (thankyou!). She has some seriously incredible looking recipes… this was the first I tried. It was so simple and it looked so beautiful I was like “damn, I’m gonna make that cake.” And I did! I did make some tweaks because of the ingredients I had. I had a whole can of cream of coconut, you know… the kind you use to make Pina Coladas. And I had sweetened shredded coconut I couldn’t not use. And I bought some beautiful organic lemons from Fresh Market.

The original recipe is for a bundt cake and I do have a bundt cake pan but I’ve never used it… it reminds me of the Sydney Opera House to be honest. Not that there’s anything wrong with that… I’ve just never had the urge to make a bundt cake. It was a gift from my dad (thanks dad, I’ll use it one day!).

Anyway, I wanted to make a more traditional birthday cake so I broke it down into two layers and totally winged it with the frosting. I made sure coconut oil icing had been done before & then I did my thing. The measurements for the icing are estimates as I really just eyeballed my ingredients as I threw them in. I knew it was a winner when dad came home, tried it without my approval, and said “oh man, that’s delicious!” Even though he’s had INCREDIBLE vegan desserts from Vegan Treats in Bethlehem, PA & vegan doughnuts in Las Vegas he still does that “but it’s vegan?” (and makes a face) thing.

Anyway, the major point here is that the cake was delicious and every person who ate it Saturday night agreed. These cake-eaters were all non-vegans by the way (besides Stephen). It was moist, it was coconuty & lemony, the frosting was fluffy. It was pretty damn good if I do say so myself. Dad & Stephen both had seconds. As only my second attempt at a vegan cake thus far, I couldn’t have hope for better and it’ll definitely be hard to top.

For mam’s birthday we enjoyed dinner & drinks at one of our favorite restaurants EVER… Old Stein Inn. Dear Old Stein Inn, I love you. Thank you for your incredible fried pickles & potato pancakes (with applesauce) & red cabbage & franziskaner hefeweisen on tap. I shall take pictures of all that you have to offer one of these days to show the people of blogosphere world. Until then, enjoy my lemon coconut cake. NOM.

Lemon Coconut Cake

  1. Adapted from Epicurean Vegan
  2. Makes a 2 layer cake using 9inch rounds.
  • 1-1/2 Cup Granulated Sugar
  • 1/3 C Canola/Veg Oil
  • 1/3 Cup Coconut Oil (melted)
  • 1 1/2 Cups Coconut Milk
  • 1/4 Cup Cream of Coconut
  • 1/4 Cup Soy Milk
  • 1/4 Cup Lemon Juice
  • 2 Tbsp Lemon Zest
  • 2 Tsp Vanilla
  • 3 Cups Flour (I actually used 2 cups AP, 1 Cup + 2Tbsp Cake)
  • 2 Tsp Baking Powder
  • 1 Tsp Baking Soda
  • 1 Tsp Salt
  • 1 Cup Shredded Unsweetened Coconut
  • 1/2 Cup Shredded Sweetened Coconut

Preheat oven to 350 F. Grease two 9″ round cake pans. Dust with flour and tap off any excess.

In a large mixing bowl, combine the granulated sugar, canola/veg oil, melted coconut oil, coconut milk, cream of coconut, soy milk, lemon juice, lemon zest, and vanilla. Stir to combine.

Sift the flours, baking powder, baking soda, and salt into the wet ingredients. Stir well to combine, tiny lumps are okay but you want to mix thoroughly.  Add the shredded coconut and stir one last time to combine!

Distribute batter evenly amongst the two pans. Bake for about 30 minutes. Keep an eye out, the cake is done when it springs back when lightly poked.

Slide a knife around the edges of the pan to make sure it’s loose. Flip onto cooling rack & let sit.

Lemon Glaze

  • 3/4 Cup Granulated Sugar
  • 1/4 Cup (or 2 lemons) Lemon Juice
Combine granulated sugar & lemon juice in small saucepan over medium/low heat and stir until sugar is dissolved. Take off heat & let cool slightly. When cake is no longer hot (but still warm) gently poke several times with a fork. Make sure to poke the sides of the cake that will be facing upward. Lather glaze onto cake. It should soak up in front of your eyes (much like tres leches cake).

Coconut Icing:

  • 1/4 Cup Coconut Oil
  • 1/4 Cup Vegetable Shortening
  • 1 Box + 1/4 Box Confectioner’s Sugar (this is how I remember dumping it into the bowl, for everyone normal out there… about 2 1/2 cups)
  • 2 Tsp Vanilla
  • 1 Tbsp Lemon Juice
  • 2 Tbsp Cream of Coconut
  • 1/4 Cup Coconut Milk

Beat coconut oil (not melted) and vegetable shortening until soft & fluffy. Alternate between adding powdered sugar & liquids until your icing is creamy & fluffy. This may require slightly more coconut milk. Wait until cake is completely cooled before frosting! You don’t want your icing to melt!

I probably should have made two. It was really divine.

Green Pizza

/ pumpkinhoney / 3 Comments

So I know it’s almost the end of January but I’m still reminiscing about the holidays.

My New Years Resolutions/Goals:

  • Improve Photography
  • Eat a mostly Vegan Diet
  • Work on my Fitness

PHOTOS: My aunt & uncle bought me a wonderful tri-pod for my camera and I can definitely notice my pictures improving in quality. So exciting not to try to hold my camera perfectly still while taking a picture in the right light and getting so nervous my hands shake anyway! Now I just need to figure out all of the rest of those photography tricks… lighting, composition, aperture…

FOOD: I can’t say it hasn’t been difficult. The first week was easy shmeesy & it’s definitely easier than I THOUGHT IT WOULD BE. Aaaand I thought cheese would be the killer. But I get some serious egg cravings. Oh. My. Lord. On the other hand, I made Cathy’s (from What Would Cathy Eat?…. LOVE HER) Chocolate Cake the other day. Um, so freaking good it’s unbelievable. Seriously, I still hardly believe it. And I can guarantee it’s going to be my go-to-chocolate-cake for a long time. Oh, and I made some really incredible vegan biscuits using the FIVE INGREDIENT Baking Powder Biscuit recipe on the side of the container. Using soy milk, of course. 3 times in one week. They’re that good.

FITNESS: Okay, I was slow to start this goal. Last week I finally got my arse on the elliptical & then tromped up & down the stairs for what felt like forever… okay, only 5 minutes… but climbing stairs is SERIOUS. Mom also signed us up to do 6 yoga sessions starting in February & hopefully I’ll remember enough to do it on my own. Seriously girls, who doesn’t love yoga? But mostly I like exercise that doesn’t feel so mechanical. Hiking, anyone?

Okay, okay, the pizza! Now, I call it green pizza because when I was thinking of what I wanted for dinner the other night I had that annoying craving for both a big salad & a greasy pizza. Does anyone get that? I guess so, otherwise why are there so many Olive Gardens & shit? This pizza definitely could have been greener (and obviously there’s not a salad on top), but I used what I had on hand! I found a recipe for a Spinach pizza crust a couple of weeks ago and I was dying to make a spinach crust ever since (I couldn’t find frozen spinach at Fresh Market). I even dreamed about it. The recipe for their fresh veggie pizza looked incredible too (i’m salivating) and must be veganized soon. I also knew I wanted to make an avocado cream sauce to drizzle on top. So I just had to figure out the middle. I’m already devising plans for a Mega Green Pizza. It shall be even greener & mightier… probably with a huge salad on top.

Green Pizza

Crust:

  • 3/4 Cups Warm Water
  • 1 Packet Yeast
  • 1 1/2 Tbsp Sugar
  • 1 Tsp Salt
  • 1 Package (5oz) Fresh Spinach
  • 2 Cups AP Flour
  • 1/2 Cup WW Flour
Topping:
  • 1 Medium Zucchini, sliced thin
  • 3 Tbsp Olive Oil
  • 2 Cloves Garlic, paper thin slices
  • 2 Tbsp Zaatar
  • Salt & Pepper
Avocado Cream:
  • 1/2 Avocado
  • 2 Handfuls Fresh Dill, chopped
  • Juice 1/2 Lemon
  • 1/4 Soy Milk (or oat, almond, etc)
  • Salt & Pepper

The crust is so easy. Combine the warm water, yeast, sugar & salt in a large bowl. Let sit until the yeast has softened and “activated.”

Next, you want to wilt/cook the spinach in a saute pan until it’s just cooked… aka, all the spinach leaves have withered. Then you can choose… I was lazy and didn’t feel like getting out the food processor so I chopped up my cooked spinach into tiny bits. You might find it even more lazy to just whiz it around the processor for a few seconds. My laziness was in the ‘cleaning it later’ part.

Stir the spinach into the yeast mixture. Add flour and stir with a wooden spoon to form a ball. You may need a bit more liquid depending on your spinach. Just enough to have a non-sticky dough. You want to be able to run your hand over it without being covered in gooey dough.

Let sit for about 20 minutes.If you have a pizza stone, now is the time to put it in the oven. Pizza stones are amazing. While the dough is rising (just a tiny bit), preheat your oven to 425F. Sprinkle either a large wooden cutting board or a pizza peel with plenty of coarse cornmeal. Then, on a floured surface, begin to shape dough. I usually just use my fingertips to push the dough outward, rotating it to make a circle. If it seems sturdy i’ll pick it up and pull on it some. When it’s about the shape & size you want it, place the dough on the cutting board/peel. If you need to you can reshape it some.

I always pre-bake my crust to ensure it achieves it’s absolute crispiness. If you have the pizza stone this isn’t really necessary, but if you’re a crispy crust lover like myself you can pop it into the oven for about 5 minutes before adding the toppings. If you don’t have a pizza stone use a round baking sheet and if you don’t have a round baking sheet then make a rectangular pizza 🙂

To make the sauce just combine the zaatar, olive oil, garlic, salt, and pepper in a small dish. It should be like a paste. Spread on dough. Cover with zucchini slices and bake for about 15 minutes. Honestly, the baking time will vary with how dark/crispy you like your crust and how baked you want your zucchini. I pre-baked my crust on a pizza stone so mine turned out quite dark but my zucchini was just cooked, not browned.

While the pizza is baking make the avocado cream sauce. SO good. Mash the avocado in a small bowl… you can use the same one you used for the zaatar olive oil mixture to save dishes. Or if you want to be a professional, you can go ahead and use your food processor. Whatever you prefer. Add the rest of the ingredients… the dill, the soy milk, the lemon juice and the salt & pepper and combine until thin enough to drizzle with minimum chunkage. LOL.

Pull the pizza out of the oven and drizzle with sauce… and dunk the crust in as well. It’s good. For real.

I know, I know, so late… But I want to know what everyone else’s goals are this year! What were your New Years Resolutions and have you been sticking to them? What have your greatest challenges been so far?