The first thing I made was some spicy coconut broccoli stir-fry. I was feeling super lazy, but I wanted something healthy-ish that was easy and reminded me of Chinese takeout. So I came up with a 10 minute tasty dinner. (Ok, I had it for lunch too.) I've actually had it three times in the past two days. Super yummy.
Spicy Coconut Broccoli Stir-Fry
1 serving whole wheat udon noodles (in the Asian foods section of the grocery store, they're sold in bags with three little single-serving bundles)
2 cups broccoli
1 clove garlic, minced (I actually grated mine in)
2 tbsp teriyaki sauce (I was lazy and used store bought, but you can certainly make your own)
2 tbsp coconut water
1 tbsp coconut oil
1 tsp red pepper flakes
Grated frozen lemon to taste
Heat the oil in a pan over high heat. Cook the noodles until just underdone. Cook the broccoli with the garlic, and red pepper flakes in the oil until just cooked through. Add the teriyaki sauce and coconut water. Drain the noodles and add them to the pan with the other ingredients. They will finish cooking and absorb all of the yummy sauce. I also had some curried, sprouted sunflower and pumpkin seeds that I threw in at the last minute. They added a crunchy smoky, element that went perfectly. Then grate some frozen lemon over the top. (In a previous post I mentioned this. Now I keep a lemon or two in the freezer and grate it over everything.)
After I ate my stir-fry, I of course had to have something sweet, so I decided to make some vegan cupcakes!! I wanted something light and refreshing so I decided on a lemon-ginger cupcake. They're delicate and sweet and light and moist and sooo good!! And, it only took about a half hour to make them.
Vegan Lemon Ginger Cupcakes
2 cups whole wheat pastry flour
1 cup vegan sugar
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 1/2 cups almond milk
1 tbsp apple cider vinegar
1/2 cup coconut oil, warmed
2 tsp vanilla extract
zest of 1 lemon
1/3 cup ginger lemon simple syrup (leftover from my green tea, just heat 1 cup water with 1 cup sugar, zest of 1 lemon, and 2 tbsp chopped fresh ginger for about 10 minutes, then strain it)
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Line 2 cupcake pans with 18 cupcake liners. In a small bowl, combine the almond milk and apple cider vinegar and let that sit while you get the other ingredients together. Sift together the flour, sugar, baking soda and baking powder in a large bowl. Combine the oil, almond milk mixture, vanilla and lemon zest. Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and stir to combine. Pour a little less than 1/4 cup of the batter in each cupcake liner and bake for 15 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean. When they are hot out of the oven, drizzle each cupcake with the simple syrup. Let them cool completely.
For the frosting:
1 can coconut milk, left in the fridge overnight (it will separate into butter and water)
1/4 cup ginger lemon simple syrup
grated frozen lemon
When the coconut milk has separated, put the butter in a large bowl. Combine with the simple syrup and blend until thick and creamy. Top each cupcake with a little frosting and then zest the frozen lemon over all the cupcakes. Yummy!!! :)
Now for a bonus recipe!!! These are my all time favorite, always requested, easy peasy dessert. They are a variation on the peanut butter cups from Alicia Silverstone's book The Kind Diet. I made them once and they were so good, I make them all the time now.
Vegan Peanut Butter Cups
3 cups vegan chocolate chips
1/3 cup almond milk
1 cup crunchy peanut butter
1/3 cup vegan butter
1/3 cup vegan sugar
3 brown rice cakes
1/2 tsp cinnamon
Slowly melt the chocolate and the almond milk over a double boiler. Make the rice cakes into crumbs in a food processor. I usually use graham crackers, but as I finished making my crumbs today, the bottom of the magic bullet broke and spilled them all over my floor, so I improvised and these turned out just as yummy. Melt the butter, peanut butter, sugar and rice cake crumbs over low heat. Line 2 cupcake pans with 18 cupcake liners and fill each one with just enough chocolate to cover the bottom of the liner. Then add about a tablespoon of the peanut butter mixture on top of the chocolate. Then top with the remaining chocolate. Then put them in the fridge to cool. Then try to fight off everyone that tries to steal them.
Bonus bonus recipe!!!! (Don't you feel lucky)
This one is easy and pretty tasty too. In fact it's so easy, I feel like I'm cheating by even saying it's a recipe.
Vegan Chocolate Chia "Pudding"
1 tbsp chia seeds
1/2 cup chocolate almond milk
Combine and refrigerate overnight. Maybe top it with a little coconut frosting?!
Consider yourselves spoiled for all that I've shared with you!! ;) Enjoy! I'm going to get back to my super busy night off of reading and cuddling with my dog.
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