Vegan and Gluten Free Pumpkin Pie Brownies

Fall is my absolute favorite season. I love getting to sip on pumpkin lattes, bundle up in my favorite sweaters and walk around in boots. Whether by lighting scented candles, or baking  fall treats, my house is always full of the aromas of my favorite fall scents that seem to warm your soul.

From: Vegan Cookies Invade Your Cookie Jar

I specifically signed up for "snack duty" for one of my graduate classes in October because I knew I would be aching to bake around this time. (Yes - we bring snack to our three hour, sometimes back to back, evening classes.) After flipping through all of my cook books for days, we decided that Pumpkin Pie Brownies from Vegan Cookies Invade Your Cookie Jar would be the best to share with my classmates. They are unique, which I love, and they've got chocolate for those chocoholics I know, and a pumpkin pie topping that reminds us fall is here (- in Southern California, it's sometimes hard to tell.)

Ginger, allspice, cinnamon, and vegan gluten-free chocolate chips 

A friend in my class is gluten-free, so we adapted the recipe to accommodate her needs. This was the first gluten-free baked good I've made from scratch, and I was pretty stoked to see how it would go. We simply used Gluten- Free All Purpose Baking Flour, and used Tapioca Flour instead of Corn Starch for the pumpkin pie topping. 

These brownies are totally genius. They're moist, delicious, and full of flavors thanks to the pumpkin pie topping. If you want to make these, I guess you're going to have to go buy Isa Chandra Moskowitz and Terry Hope Romero's fabulous little cookbook (Vegan Cookies Invade Your Cookie Jar). It is definitely proof that vegans do not survive off of rabbit food. If you're close by and want to borrow it, let me know.

XO - T

Plum Jam

Last weekend we couldn't resist the $10 "fill your bag" deal at our farmers market which left us with a ridiculous amount of plums and asian pears. The pears made for great arugula, fennel, asian pear salads, (recommended by a lady at the market) but we barely made a dent in our drawer full of plums. Over the summer Nick's aunts made an excellent plum jam, something I had never considered before, so I thought I'd give it a try before our plethora of plums go to waste. This is a very simple, pectin free recipe, and makes enough to fill a large mason jar. And now we can enjoy a favorite summer fruit throughout the rest of the year. 

Ingredients: 

4 Cups of Sliced Plums

1 1/2 Cups of Vegan Sugar

2 Lemons

Many recipes tell you to peel the skin off of the plums, but we decided to leave them on to create a more tart jam. So, if you want your jam to be very sweet, then go ahead and peel the skin. If not, simply slice them into tiny pieces and place them in a large, rounded skillet.

Who says you can only use one variety of plum?!

Next, slice and juice your two lemons. 

Pour the lemon juice over the plums in your non-stick skillet, begin to warm them on medium to high heat for ten minutes, stirring occasionally. After ten minutes, add the two cups of vegan sugar, and continue to stir occasionally. 

Thank you to Jenny for the adorable measuring cups ! 

With  a whisk or a spoon try to mash up the larger pieces. Lower the heat, and continue to stir and mash occasionally for about 40 minutes.


Once it has reached your desired consistency, pour the jam into your mason jar, and allow to cool to room temperature before refrigerating. And... enjoy. I hope this inspired you to jar your favorite summer fruits before it's too late. XO- T

Our locally grown and homemade vegan plum jam 

The Best of San Diego, California

My vegan food favorites of San Diego...

Best Sangria: The Linkery
      -Both the red and white are to die for. They also have delicious (local) vegan food. Rumor has it that they also serve the same sangria at El  Take it Easy.

Best Vegan "Fish & Chips": Ritual Tavern
      -Beer battered eggplant with fries... genius.

Best Vegan Pizza: Blind Lady Ale House
      -The vegan pesto, topped with arugula, crimini mushrooms, and pickled onions is my favorite.

Best Vegan Veggie Burgers: Veg-N-Out
      -They have a huge variety of veggie burgers- all delicious.

Best Soy Chai Tea Latte: Caffe Calabria
      -Spiced or vanilla, iced or hot. Step aside Starbucks, Coffee Bean, and (sorry...) Peet's, these guys make the best chai latte, hands down.

Best Vegan Mexican Food: Ranchos Cocina 
       -Their vegan lentil, avocado, and vegan cheese burrito is my favorite. They have vegan/ vegetarian specials everyday, like "carne esada burritos". Another plus- it's family run and owned!

Best CSA Box Supplier: Suzie's Farm 
       -Amazing organic and local produce for a very reasonable price. You can find them at Farmers Markets all around San Diego- Little Italy, Hillcrest, North Park, La Jolla, Ocean Beach, etc.

Best Tea Shop: Halcyon Tea
       -Adorable little shop in South Park, with a very nice variety of tasty loose leaf teas.

Best Vegan Popsicles: Viva Pops
       -These guys make some unique pops, and always have a handful of delicious vegan ones to choose from.

Best Vegan Friendly Grocery Stores: People's Co-op and Sprouts

(And I'm sure I'll be adding more.)
xo - T

Citrus Sugar Cookies

- 1/2 cup Earth Balance Buttery Spread

- 1/2 cup Citrus Olive Oil

- 3 3/4 cups all purpose flour

- 1/4 cup vegan cream cheese

- 2 eggs worth of Ener-G

- 1 1/2 cup sugar

-2 teaspoons baking powder

- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Mix the Earth Balance, citrus olive oil and 1 cup of the sugar together in a large bowl. Continue to mix in the Ener-G egg replacer, vanilla and vegan cream cheese. Add the the baking powder and gradually add the flour to the mixture. Using your hands to knead the dough usually works best here. Split the dough into two loafs, wrap, and refrigerate for at least hour.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Lightly flour the surface you're working on, roll out the dough, cut into your desired shapes and gently press the remaining sugar onto the top of your cookies. Bake for 12 minutes and enjoy! (Makes around 30 cookies)

XO- T

Vegan Crepes

I'll admit.... the hardest part about becoming vegan was giving up crepes. They are my favorite, hands down. After a few months of being vegan and thinking that making a vegan version of crepes would be pretty impossible, I checked out a few different recipes for them. I found that flaxseed and buckwheat recipes do not work for these if you are used to the non-vegan kind. Here is the tastiest recipe so far:

1 cup unbleached all purpose flour

1 1/2 cups soymilk (or almond milk, soy milk creates a denser batter)

3 tsp ener-g egg replacer (mixed with 4 tablespoons of H2O)

2 tbsp of canola oil

2 tsp vanilla extract (if you're making these for savory crepes, you should probably use 1 tsp)

a dash of salt

Bring your skillet to medium heat. Butter it up with some Earth Balance Natural Buttery Spread, depending on your skillet size and how large you want your crepe to be, scoop 1/2 cup or 1 cup of the batter into the skillet. Depending on how talented you are at crepe making, you can either rotate the pan to spread the batter or with a thin, flat, rubber spatula spread the batter around the skillet. It should be ready to be flipped fairly soon; these can be fragile and take a lot of attention. Once your crepe is done, make sure to wipe the skillet and add more Earth Balance before pouring the batter for the next crepe.

Your first crepe might turn out like this...

But it will definitely get easier with practice :)

There are so many ways to enjoy these! Tonight, our crepe menu was:

- lemon, sugar, agave, strawberries

- semi sweet vegan chocolate chips, agave, strawberries, cinnamon

- agave, cinnamon, sugar

Delish :)

Happy Birthday Laura

Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies

With an apartment full of guests this past weekend, I wanted to whip up something delicious to share with everyone after our adventures at Power to the Peaceful in San Francisco. So, I decided that I would make Nick's favorite cookie (minus raisins plus chocolate.) It's a simple recipe but if you have a KitchenAid- use it, this one takes some strength to mix. And beware, these cookies disappear within seconds.... Enjoy :)

2 1/2 cups oatmeal
1 cup vegan chocolate chips
1 & 1/2 cups flour
1 tsp baking soda
3/4 cup canola oil
3 eggs worth of egg replacer
2 tsp vanilla
3/4 cup sugar
3/4 cup brown sugar
1 tsp salt

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees. Mix your egg replacer with the appropriate amount of water. Add in canola oil and vanilla. In a larger bowl mix the flour, baking soda, sugar, brown sugar and salt together. Now add the egg replacer, canola oil and vanilla mixture into the dry ingredients. Once those are all mixed in well enough, add the oatmeal and chocolate chips. Scoop them out onto cookie sheets, cook for about 10 to 12 minutes and then devour. A nice cold glass of soy milk pairs nicely with these :)

The Most Delicious Blueberry Muffins!

My friend Molly and I made these the other night after spending the day wine tasting in Napa Valley. They were a great end to an already delicious day. It's a very simple recipe. We added a brown sugar topping with Earth Balance natural buttery spread and instead of 1 and 1/2 cups of blueberries we added an entire bag, which turned the batter into beautiful blue and gold swirl. Check out the recipe here: Vegan Blueberry Muffins

Sweet Couscous

- Whole wheat couscous
- Vegan butter (I use Earth Balance, natural buttery spread)
- Cinnamon
- Dried cranberries, raisins, and blueberries
- Organic blue agave sweetener

Step 1: Follow instructions for couscous with the vegan butter.
Step 2: About one minute before the couscous are ready, add the cinnamon, dried berries and raisins, and agave sweetener.
Step 3: Mix together and continue to warm for the last minute.
Step 4: Devour.