Chocolate Cupcakes (vegan)

Last summer I made a chocolate-avocado cake out of sheer curiousity. I wanted to see what it would taste like, and was intrigued that it had no eggs. It turned out great.

Now I find myself baking cupcakes for Bobble's 4th birthday, and using this recipe again. There is a child in Bobble's class that has a dairy allergy. What better way to include everyone than by making something everyone will enjoy?

Again, I found myself lacking (enough) caster sugar, so I used our immersion blender to blend up what we had to be super fine. Other than that, the recipe was a breeze! The recipe is very simple, and the results are delicious.

Of course, I had to try the batter since it is safe (no raw egg).... not what I expected. The cupcakes/cake with this recipe tastes simply like chocolate. Delicious. Raw batter, however, tastes just like avocado. How curious! Especially confusing since the chocolate-avocado pudding is uncooked and tasted great. Huh.

We decided to add a squirt of (natural) cherry syrup to the frosting as we mixed. This is the same sort of syrup you'd find for coffee drinks. We debated between the cherry or the mint, but since we had coconut cream frosting we thought the cherry would go better. It was delicious.

Chocolate-avocado cupcakes

• 3c flour
• 6T unsweetened cocoa powder
• 1/2t salt
• 2t baking powder (we used sodium-free baking powder)
• 2t baking soda
• 1/4c canola oil
• 1/2c mashed avocado (~1 whole avocado)
• 2c water
• 2T white vinegar
• 2t vanilla extract
• 2c caster sugar

Preheat oven to 375F.

Sift together flour, cocoa, salt, baking powder, and baking soda. Set aside.

Whisk together the avocado, oil, water, white vinegar, and vanilla. Add in sugar, whisking until combined.

Add in dry ingredients, whisking until smooth.

Portion batter into lined cupcake pan. (Should make 24-30 regular sized cupcakes.)

Bake for 15-18 minutes, or until toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.

Arrange on a wire baking rack to cool. Allow to completely cool before frosting.

Coconut Cream Frosting

• 1 can coconut cream
• 3T powdered sugar (+/- to taste)
• 2T cocoa powder (if you want chocolate frosting, otherwise, just omit)

Whisk all ingredients together until fluffy. 

Allow frosting to chill before using (this allows it to firm up).

Disclaimer: Thoughts of Fluff was not compensated for this post. All opinions are my own and may differ from those of your own. Frosting recipe is a Thoughts of Fluff original recipe. Cupcake recipe was an adaptation from a cake recipe found here. Conversions to Fahrenheit and U.S. measurements made by Thoughts of Fluff. 

Braised Barley and Vegetables (LS)

I had never made barley in my life before trying this recipe, so this was definitely an experiment for my family. In fact, I don't recall ever EATING barley in my life. I'm sure I've had it in a soup or something, but I'd never really had it to where I remembered it. I had no idea what it would be like, or how well I would make it. Still, it sounded tasty, looked simple, and easily could be a low sodium dish.

I don't have a kitchen scale, so I just eye-balled it. I also had no idea how much 8 ounces of cut rutabaga and 8 ounces of cut potatoes would look like. In fact, I'm most certain that I didn't have the "correct" amounts of them in there. This dish claiming to serve 4 people should fit in my 3QT pan, so I had a rough idea. The pan was to the brim, so I definitely went with the larger pan the second time around.

The meal turned out well. Inexpensive, easy prep (just chopping a few things), super easy to make, and hubby even said, "...this isn't what I expected. It's DELICIOUS, just not what I expected!" before I even had one bite.

It was delicious, actually. Very delicious. I was surprised, as there wasn't really any spice in it to flavour it, but it was a good flavour. It would be good with cut up mushrooms in there, too. If you like mushrooms, that is. It was so delicious, actually, that both children LOVED it!

Pre-cooked Bacon (optional!)

This is a FABULOUS cold-weather meal.It would be great accompanying a variety of meats, though the second time around I put in 4 slices of (finely crumbled, cooked) bacon. I used the Aldi uncured bacon brand "Simply Truth", which has 65mg/slice. This is the lowest sodium bacon I have found anywhere. There was no salt added to the veggie stock since I make my own, so the overall sodium for this entire dish was roughly 300mg, 560mg with the added bacon. Keep in mind that the sodium content will be altered by using store-bought stock, and by how much of particular vegetables you add. I googled the nutritional information for each veggie I used to get a rough idea of the sodium content they added. 

* NOTES *

• I only had a 2 cup pyrex cup, so I guesstimated the additional 1/2 cup of water, covered with plastic wrap (and a rubberband to secure it), and left over night in the fridge
• Lacking a kitchen scale, I added half of a rutabaga and only 2 (red) potatoes. I also added 3 ribs of celery and 3 carrots.
• I sprinkled in a tiny bit of some pink Himalayan sea salt and ground some fresh pepper into the pan (it was a peppercorn medley and not just black pepper), brought it to a boil, then set the stove to 3 for a simmer.
• I seriously had no idea how to tell if barley was done, so I just set the timer and hoped for the best. Worked out great. Timer went off, turned off the burner and moved the pan from the heat (like I do for other things that need to lose their liquid or absorb/thicken).
• I expected this, originally, to feed all 4 of us with a bit left over for someone for lunch since youngest isn't going to eat a full serving.... we have enough for ALL Of us to have left overs, and then even one or two more servings after that.It goes a long way!
• For extra flavour, you can soak your barley in stock instead (all the water the barley is with gets dumped into the dish anyway)

This is another recipe out of my Russian, German & Polish Food & Cookingcookbook.

Braised Barley and Vegetables 
Serves 4
Ingredients

• 1 cup pearl or barley
• 2 tablespoons sunflower oil
• 1 large onion, chopped
• 2 celery stalks, sliced
• 2 carrots, halved lengthwise and sliced
• 8 ounces rutabaga or turnip, cut into 3/4" cubes
• 8 ounces potatoes, cut into 3/4" cubes
• 2 cups vegetable stock
• salt and freshly ground black pepper
• celery leaves, to garnish

Instructions:
1) Put the barley in a measuring cup and add water to reach the 2 1/2 cup mark. Let soak in a cool place for at least 4 hours or, preferably, overnight. (Below is when I first put it in to soak that morning, and when I took it out to use that afternoon)

2) Heat the oil in a large pan and saute the onion for 5 minutes. Add the sliced celery and carrots and cook for 3-4 minutes, or until the onion is starting to brown.

3) Add the barley and its soaking liquid to the pan. Then add the rutabaga or turnip, potato and stock to the barley. Season with salt and pepper. Bring to a boil, then reduce the heat and cover the pan.

4) Simmer for 40 minutes, or until most of the stock has been absorbed and the barley is tender. Stir occasionally towards the end of cooking to prevent the barley from sticking to the base of the pan. Serve, garnished with celery leaves.

Disclaimer: Thoughts of Fluff was not compensated for this post. All opinions are my own and may differ from your own. Post contains affiliate links.

Baked Veggie and Grains Pilaf

This is a nutritious side dish that will go with any meat. We paired it with a yummy lamb roast, but it would be delicious accompanying anything. You can also add different veggies into the mixture like eggplant, zucchini, yellow squash, and more.

 

Rice and Veggie Pilaf
Ingredients:
1 Tablespoon Butter (or oil)
1 Onion, chopped
3 ribs celery, chopped (or 4 smaller ribs)
1 chopped bell pepper (red, yellow, or orange)
1 ear of corn (cut kernels off)
4 small to medium sized carrots (chopped)
1 medium zucchini (chopped)
3/4 cup millet
3/4 cup quinoa
1 teaspoon salt
3 cups stock of choice (use veggie stock to make vegetarian)

** Use oil instead of butter and veggie stock to make the dish vegan

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F
2. Heat butter or oil in a skillet over medium heat; cook and stir vegetables in the hot oil until softened, about 10 minutes.
3. Mix veggie mixture, millet, quinoa, stock, and salt together and put into an 8x8-inch casserole dish; pour in stock. Cover dish with aluminum foil.
4. Bake in the preheated oven until grains are tender and have absorbed all the liquid, about 30 minutes.

We made this to accompany a lamb roast, so we did the stock part a bit differently. We had 2c of chicken stock that needed to be used, so we used those 2 cups, 1/2c of the juice from the lamb roast, and then pulled a 1/2c of frozen chicken stock from our freezer.

Disclaimer: Thoughts of Fluff was not reimbursed for this post. All opinions are my own and may differ from those of your own. Recipe was an adaptation of this recipe. Post contains affiliate links.

Black Bean Salad Recipe

I have a bunch of canned beans, and I am forever looking for new recipes to use them up. In an attempt at a meatless dish, I decided to try to make a variation of a black bean salad I found online.

I had to change it up due to some ingredients I had on hand not being good (like corn being black at the cob when I cut it... something I had never seen and it looked fine from the outside), but it turned out great for our family. We ate this over rice (warm) and we ate this with tortilla chips (cold). Everyone loved it, it was easy to make, and healthy. Enjoy!

Black Bean Salad
Servings: 4-6

Ingredients:

• 1 15-ounce cans black beans, rinsed and drained
• 1 ear fresh cooked corn, kernels cut off the cob
• 1 red bell peppers, diced
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 2 tablespoons minced shallots, from one medium shallot
• 1 teaspoons salt
• 1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
• 2 tablespoons sugar
• 9 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
• 1 teaspoon lime zest (be sure to zest limes before juicing them)
• 4 tablespoons fresh lime juice
• 1/2 cup chopped fresh cilantro, plus more for garnish
• 2 Hass avocados, chopped

Instructions:
Combine all ingredients except for avocados in a large bowl and mix well.
Cover and chill for a few hours or overnight.
Right before serving, add avocados and mix gently, being careful not to mash avocados.
Garnish with a more chopped cilantro if desired.
Serve at room temperature.

adapted from: My Balanced Plate

Mixed (sans avocado) and ready to chill!

Chopping Avocado to add into our bowls

Squiggle's bowl

Disclaimer: Thoughts of Fluff was not compensated for this post. All opinions are my own and may differ from those of your own. Post contains affiliate links.

MOMables Black Bean Soup (GF)

I am a sucker for black bean soup, and it really does get expensive to buy it premade (and even more to get it in a restaurant). When I saw the MOMables GF recipe for Black Bean Soup, I simply had to try it. It sounded delicious, we had all the ingredients, and it was apparently very quick to make! Also, with one super simple alteration, the recipe could be vegan. Easy peasy!

My hubby took the kids for a jog, and I started dinner. Dinner involved opening cans (unless you soaked and cooked your own black beans, stirring things while they heated, and then serving. Yes, it was really that simple.

Starting out

Ready to eat!

Heating up

I was astonished at how easy it was! Even more so at the fact that this meal costs about $7.50 if you're buying store brand items and full price.

I was even more surprised that Bobble and Squiggle both ate all their food, and that hubby got seconds while going on about how this recipe was a keeper. I had seconds, myself.

This recipe fed us a lot. In fact, this is what was leftover after dinner (which fed a 1yo, 3yo, and two bowls full for 2 adults):

Leftovers in our 2 quart dish

As you can see, definitely enough for leftovers the next day!

If you're not GF, you could always eat with tortilla chips. We enjoyed this with tortilla chips one night cornbread for lunch the next day, and with cheese quesadillas, too. (MOMables has a free recipe for making GF spinach tortillas, too!)

Enter for your chance to win a 3 month subscription to MOMables and get more great recipes like this one!

Disclaimer: Thoughts of Fluff received a trial to MOMables in exchange for reviews. This did not sway my opinion in any way. All opinions are my own and may differ from those of your own.

MOMables Cauliflower Rice

Have you considered going grain or gluten free, but love rice too much to give it up? Cauliflower rice might be a great option for you! It's simple to make, and it tastes great! Bonus, it's veggies for the kids when they might not even realize it!

MOMables has an easy how-to for making Cauliflower Rice, though I'm going to share the recipe below and our experience with it.

We don't have a food processor, so hubby added some water to the 1" pieces and used an immersion blender. When they were the size desired, we dumped that into a mesh strainer and then cooked it after it drained.

Enter for your chance to win a 3 month subscription to MOMables and get more great recipes like this one!

Disclaimer: Thoughts of Fluff received a trial subscription to MOMables in exchange for reviews. This does not sway my opinion of the product and all opinions are my own.

MOMables New Grain Free Menu!

MOMables is a fabulous service where you can get menus sent to your email every week. The menus will offer alternatives for lunches for your children so you don't get stuck in that sandwich rut. Yes, there are sandwiches from time to time, but not your plain old lunch meat and cheese.

Sandwiches or not, there is always a fun spin on the foods. For example, "sushi" sandwiches, gluten free fish sticks, and much more.

MOMables offers a free week trial of their menu services. To sign up for a free week, click here.

In the summer time, you get more dinner ideas. The best thing about this service is they not only have a whole week of different meals ready for you so you don't have to try to come up with something new, but the shopping list is all there and ready for you to just print out. There are also tips for what to make extra of to use in the next day's meal.

Recently, MOMables has started offering an alternative to their regular menus (which contain tips for making things allergy friendly), and they now have a grain free option.

To read more about their regular menu offerings, please check out my previous reviews and posts on MOMables found HERE.

MOMable's GF option has many delicious recipes that the family will enjoy, and if you don't want to make the recipe gluten/grain free, you don't have to. I love experimenting with new cooking styles, so I was all about trying their GF option.

Keep an eye out for some of their GF option recipe reviews in the near future! Not all of the MOMables recipes are available for free, obviously, so I will share the recipe itself if it is a free recipe.... like I did with their Chocolate Avocado Pudding!

Want to try MOMables for yourself? Enter below for a chance to win a 3 month trial in either the GrainFree option or the Original!

Don't forget to follow MOMables on Pinterest, Instagram, Twitter, FaceBook, and their Blog for more recipes!


a Rafflecopter giveaway
 
Disclaimer: Thoughts of Fluff received a trial free of charge in exchange for a review. This did not, in any way, sway my opinion of the product. All opinions are my own and may differ from those of your own.

Chocolate Avocado Cake (w/coconut creme frosting [original recipe])

I decided to do a trial run cake for Squiggle's party last month. Honestly, that was only an excuse to make and eat some cake now. I wanted some. I've had my eye on a chocolate-avocado cake for a while, and I am a curious sort of person. I am all about some fresh avocado on a taco, burger, etc... but it's not really something I pair with a dessert in my mind. Of course, after learning you really could mix it with chocolate and not taste avocado, I was sold. I reeeeeeally wanted to try out the cake, now! It's a vegan cake recipe, so I was even more intrigued.

While I won't be using this for the birthday party, I will totally be making this cake again. I really liked it! It is not a fluffy, light cake (what do you expect? NO EGGS!), but rather a yummy, heavier cake. It was dense, but not ridiculously so. All in all, if you're one of those people that doesn't mind a cake not super fluffy, you should really try it out! Easy to make, and very good!

I didn't use the recipe for the frosting, as my last avocado that was very ripe was actually bad when I cut it open. Bugger. I opened a less-ripe one and it was not ripe enough, so I just made it into pudding for the kids since Bobble has been begging for more of it since I made it a week or two ago. (That's a good sign, right?) Instead, for frosting, I busted out a can of Trader Joe's coconut cream, grabbed some powdered sugar and cocoa baking powder, and whipped with the whisk attachment. It really just fluffed up like whipped cream, and that won't work for what I wanted, so I grabbed a thing of cream cheese (greek yogurt cream cheese, actually) and threw that in, too. It got thicker, but not like you would expect for frosting. I frosted the cake anyway, threw it in the fridge, and knew it would be good for morning once the frosting chilled a bit. It was.

Thoughts Of Fluff's (Vegan) Coconut Creme Frosting:

• 1 can Coconut Cream
• 3 T. Powdered sugar (add more until you reach your desired sweetness)
• 2 T. Cocoa Baking Powder (can also add more to taste)
• * 1 pkg. Greek Yogurt Cream Cheese - OPTIONAL ... obviously the recipe won't be vegan anymore if you add cream cheese

Directions:

1. Blend all together with a whisk attachment until fluffy. 
2. Chill before using to allow to thicken or frost cake and chill cake to allow frosting to thicken.

I had some for breakfast (cake, not just frosting) and it was soooo yummy! Bobble wanted more, too. Hubby didn't know why it was so dense, and was afraid to comment on it at first. He said it reminded him of pound cake... that it was good, but he just didn't realize it would be dense. I explained there is just avocado and no egg, and he was surprised. It really was impossible to taste! He also didn't believe me when I said the cake was vegan. He had, however, suggested a different recipe for the party, and I agree, as most people expect a fluffy cake.

Don't be fooled... although it's a denser cake, it's still moist. :) I used coconut oil instead of vegetable oil, and I also only had 2/3 a cup of caster sugar (super fine sugar). I ended up measuring out regular sugar and using the handblender on it for a bit to make it a bit smaller.

I poured my batter into two round cake tins. One had a bit more batter than the other, so I figured one would be done quicker. I was right, but so glad I opted to check my cakes early. I set the timer for 40 minutes, as that was the minimum bake time listed (and you're all probably aware by now my oven likes to be super crazy), and the first cake was done after TWENTY MINUTES. The second cake was done after 30 minutes. Not sure if it's my oven, or what.

And for the record: my husband had gotten this cake out of the fridge 3 times the next morning.... before 11am.

 Recipe converted by Thoughts Of Fluff

Vegan Chocolate Cake with Avocado Chocolate Icing
Cake recipe from Joy the Baker
Avocado Chocolate Icing adapted from Paleo Spirit

Ingredients

For the Cake:

• 3 cups plain flour 
• 6 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder 
• 1/2 teaspoon salt 
• 2 teaspoons baking powder 
• 2 teaspoons baking soda 
• 1/4 cup vegetable oil 
• 1/2 cup well mashed avocado 
• 2 cups water 
• 2 tablespoons white vinegar 
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract 
• 2 cups caster sugar

For the Icing:

• 1 very ripe avocado 
• 1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder 
• 3/4 cups icing sugar

Instructions For the Cake:

1. Preheat the oven to 375F. Line two 20cm round cake tins with baking paper. (I used two 8" round cake pans).
2. Sift together the flour, cocoa, salt, baking powder and baking soda into a mixing bowl and set aside.
3. Whisk together the oil, mashed avocado, water, vinegar and vanilla extract, followed by the caster sugar.
4. Mix the wet ingredients and dry ingredients together, whisking until smooth.
5. Pour the batter into the prepared tins.
6. Bake for 40 minutes to an hour, or until cooked when tested with a skewer. Allow to cool in the tins for 10 minutes, then turn out onto a cake rack to cool completely.

For the Icing:

• Place the avocado flesh, cocoa powder and icing sugar in a food processor and whizz to combine. Add a tablespoon of water if necessary to achieve a spreadable consistency. Spread the icing over the top and sides of the cold cakes in a swirly fashion.

Makes 2 x 8" cakes.

 

Disclaimer: Thoughts of Fluff was not compensated in any way for this post. All opinions are my own and may differ from those of your own. The coconut creme frosting is a Thoughts of Fluff original recipe, the latter recipe was converted to U.S. measurements and to Fahrenheit by Thoughts Of Fluff. Post contains affiliate links.