Vegan Carrot Ginger Chia Spelt Muffins (adapted from Oh She Glows)

Carrot Ginger Chia Spelt Muffins

Dry:

• 2 cups spelt flour
• 3 T  sucanat
• 1/4 t sea salt
• 2 t baking powder
• 1/2 t baking soda
• 1.5 T chopped up dark chocolate – Lindt 70% dark
• 3 T candied ginger cut into small pieces

Wet:

• 2 T chia seeds
• 1/2 c – coconut milk
• 2 T water
• 3 carrots, grated
• 1.5 t vanilla paste
• 1/4 c maple syrup
• 1 mashed banana
• 1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil

Directions: Preheat oven to 375F. Spray Muffin pan with cooking spray. Mix dry ingredients together in a large bowl. Mix wet ingredients together in a medium-sized bowl and add wet to dry, mixing until combined. I used an ice cream scoop and scooped the batter into a 12-cup muffin pan. Bake for 25 mins or until a toothpick or cake tester comes out clean.

Freshly Baked

Yum!

And I had to test these out – so yummy!

Carrot Ginger Chia Spelt Muffins

And here’s a recap of yesterday’s eats…

Breakfast: 1 string cheese + 1 ripe banana

string cheese

Banana

Snack: 2 prosciutto wrapped dates stuffed with soft goat cheese

Lunch: Dal + Kale Salad + 2 TJ’s mini blueberry dunkers

Kale salad + dal

TJ's blueberry almond mini dunker

Dinner: Tuna Salad on 1 piece of toast + sliced cucumbers

1/2 tuna sandwich

Alright y’all!  Have a great Wednesday afternoon…I’ll be back later.

I made scrambled eggs with some fixings…        

• 1 egg + egg white + a splash of milk
• 1 slice of prosciutto
• red onion
• green chilies
• goat gouda cheese
• cilantro

eggs

I also wanted to post a few items I’ve made recently since moving into our new place.  After a about a week or so of moving, I was itching to get into the kitchen and make something for us.       

I just finished reading Cooking for Mr. Latte the other day I was inspired to try out one of the recipes in the book.  I really liked this book, it was super cute and has lots of yummy recipes I can’t wait to try out.      

Apricot Tart – Adapted from Cooking for Mr. Latte by Amanda Hesser      

Crust:      

• 1.5 cups of all-purpose flour
• 3/4 tsp sea salt
• 1 tsp sugar
• 1/2 cup olive oil or vegetable oil (I used 1/4 cup olive oil + 1/4 cup smart balance)
• 2 Tbsp milk
• 1/2 tsp vanilla extract

Fruit:      

• Apricots – I used about 7.5 apricots – sliced – unpeeled

Topping:      

• 3/4 cup sugar ( I used part granulated sugar and part Sucanat)
• 2 Tbsp cold unsalted butter (I used Earth Balance)
• 2 Tbsp flour 

I chose to use a 9″ tart pan as my dish of choise.  And with this recipe, it tells you to mix the After mixing the dough right inside the pan, press it into the pan and up the sides so that it’s at least 1/8 ” thick.  Trim any excess.  After the dough is ready, slice the fruit and line it in the pan so that it’s snuggly packed in the tart pan.      

Apricots snuggly placed in pan

Mix the topping ingredients together and sprinkle evenly over the tart       

Brown Sugar Topping Added

Pop in to the oven.  Bake tart at 450 degrees for 25 mins and let cool       

Baked for 25 mins

 The book says you can serve with creme fraiche whipped cream, but I decided to serve it alongside coconut ice cream – a nice complement.      

I think that my fruit might have needed to be a little more ripe because it was kind of tart – no pun intended.  I didn’t mind it too much, but I wouldn’t want to serve it to guests this way.  It had a nice flaky crusts, although it was super crumbly and I think that the crust was too moist.  But I thought it tasted rather good. Especially with the ice cream.      

I was also inspired to try my hand at making a new type of potato salad – this one was amazing and so colorful, I can’t wait to make it again.  It was cool thinking about the ingredients that would work together.      

 New Potato Salad with Dill      

•  New Potatoes – 3
• Edamame – 1/4 cup shelled
• Red Onion – 1/5 Tbsp
• Dill – 1 tsp
• Olive Oil – 1 tsp
• Dijion Mustard – 1.5 tsp
• Sea Salt
• Coarse Black Pepper

New Potato Salad

 And then I decided to kick it up a notch and add some sautéed prosciutto       

With prosciutto

I only made this for about 1 serving, but it would be no problem making this for a ton of people.       

Alright, gotta get back to job hunting and getting our place cleaned up.  See y’all later.     

So here’s a little recap of my adventure over the weekend.  I headed up to Atlanta to meet up with the hubby and my SISTER to find a new dwelling place for the next year.

Thursday night, I was a busy bee getting everything packed and ready to head out early on Friday morning.  The hubby hadn’t planned on staying so long, so I brought him some more clothes to get him through most of this week!

Dinner: 1 egg + 1 egg white topped with Cannelloni bean hummus, left over broccoli and 1/2 of my sweet potato from lunch.

Egg, Broccoli + 1/2 Sweet Potato

I also tried to make some granola bars from scratch, but I didn’t have my 8′x8′ pan, so it is really granola.  Tasty, but I was hoping for bars as they are much easier to transport and less messy. Oh well.

Homemade granola bars

Recipe based on this one from the GOOP Newsletter

I used Oats, apricots, unsweetened shredded coconut, flax seeds, poppy seeds, maple syrup, oil, brown rice syrup and then I also tossed in some roasted/salted sunflower seeds.  Yum!

FRIDAY

I left Tampa a little before 6:00 am. Made my first stop in Valdosta looking for a chick-fil-a, but settling on some yummy Starbucks.  Then I stopped again in Tifton to refuel.  I decided I rather get up there than stop for lunch, so I had plans to eat lunch with my sister once I got to Athens.

Lunch: Chargrilled Chicken Sandwich Combo – yep, w/ fries, I was starving!

Chargrilled Chicken Sandwich

And I had to snap a pic of this little guy – this is definitely a sign that you’re in Athens, GA a.k.a. Bulldog Country – it’s a little uga (pronounced uh-guh)

Baby UGA

Snack: Some Planter’s Healthy Mixed nuts.

My sister’s apt is right next to a Borders, so I headed over there after our lunch to see if I could use their wi-fi and look around.  I saw this on one of the bookshelves and thought it was funny because we just read this for our book club and then it had my name by it. I think it was a staff’s pick display or something like that.  Funny.

Border's Display

After my sister got off work, we changed and headed over to Target and got a few items and then went to dinner.  The hubby was driving from Hilton Head and ended getting to the restaurant before it closed so that he could eat with us.

Dinner: We ate at one of our favorite spots – Taqueria Del Sol in Athens, GA!  So delicious.  By the time we made it to dinner it was like 8:30.  We started with the guac and chips.

I had a Lexus taco (marinated chicken and red onions), a Memphis taco and (BBQ pork with coleslaw) + a Tilapia taco (battered tilapia with tartar sauce + jalapenos) and a yummy margarita – forgot to take a photo though. And I only took 1 bite of the Lexus taco and saved it for the hubby.  It was all so delicious.

Here’s another UGA around town we saw on our way out in downtown Athens.

large UGA

I always try to get my sister or husband to take a picture of me whenever we see one, but they weren’t as excited about the idea as me.  Oh well, they were gracious to let me have this photo-opp.

Then we headed over to Bourbon Street – which is a bar in downtown Athens, one of my sister’s co-workers is part owner and he made us some drinks.  It was a very entertaining evening.

Not too long after that we all called it a night.  The hubby and I were tired from all of the driving we did that day.

SATURDAY

We got up early and headed down towards the Buckhead area to find us a new place to live in Atlanta.

After looking at our first place on the list, we decided we were hungry so we ate an early lunch at Jason’s Deli – one of my sister’s favorite places.  I got the salad bar and it was so yummy!

Salad

After lunch, we returned to our search and then popped into a nearby coffee shop called Library Coffee in Brookhaven.  I had a soy latte, which was so yummy!  Super cute place.  Don’t know why I didn’t snap some photos.  I’ll be heading back there soon, so I’ll take some next time.

Then it was off to my FAVORITE store – TRADER JOE’s – Oh how I missed you!  I’m so glad to be moving back to a place that has 3 locations!  I picked up a few items, wanted to buy lots more, but don’t want to have to move it so I just got a few items, included some raw almond butter, PURE bars, roasted/sunflower seeds and backed salt & vinegar chips for the hubby! Sweet!

Around 5:30 we  headed over to get a hotel room – the hubby was still going to be in Atlanta the next week.  So, we decided to stay in town rather than heading back up to Athens.   My sister drove separately to head back after dinner.

Me + My sister

Me + The hubby

Saturday turned out to be really nice – we had thought it was going to rain, but it held off for us.  Here are some outside picks as we walked from the hotel to our car going to dinner.

Tall Buildings Amongst Us

View From Hotel

Dinner: We headed down the street to one of our favorite places to eat sushi – TWIST

I started with a Kiona Reisling wine and it was very fruity…not overly sweet, really good.

I didn’t remember to take a photo of our sushi but I had the Rainbow roll: cucumber, avocado, eel, crab topped with Tuna, Yellowtail and Salmon

It was awesome!  And then we decided on dessert – I ordered the Tiramisu parfait and my sister ordered the molten chocolate cake.  The hubby had some of each.  Delicious!

Tiramisu Parfait

Molten Chocolate Cake + ice cream

SUNDAY

We got up early, I packed all of my stuff up and then we went and grabbed some breakfast down in the hotel lobby.

We both had the breakfast buffet.  I had some eggs, potatoes, fresh strawberries, a few pecans; a little serving of grits and a little serving of oatmeal with brown sugar, dried cherries and pecans.  I know it sounds like a lot, but I got small portions so I could try lots of stuff.

I left around 9:40am for the journey back to Tampa and made sure I drove straight through downtown to see all of the massive buildings.  As many times as I’ve been through downtown, it never gets old – it’s amazing to see all of the development that has taken place in the past 2.5 years!

Oh and my air went out on my car.  I mean, I was about 30 mins into the ride when I noticed this and it made for one hot ride home.  Thankfully, I could ride with my windows down.  I was tired and hot by the time I drove 7 hours.  I’m trying to hold out until I can head back to Atlanta and take my car to where my sister works to have them fix it.

I hung out with Bentley for a while and just relaxed in the air conditioned condo – nice!

Snack: Gatorade + baked lays

Dinner: 1 egg + 1 egg white, hummus slathered on top and steamed edamame

Eggs + Hummus

Edamame

Workout: I had planned on getting in workout on Friday and Saturday, but that didn’t happen.  Sunday, I did manage to make an appearance in the gym.  I did 45 mins on the Stationary Bike.

I watched a little TV and crashed out.  I am so excited about moving back to the ATL!!

Peace out guys….

Saturday 

Workout: I got up rather early and hit the gym.  I had planned on just doing the Couch to 5k plan that has been alternating walking with running.  I did that for about 17 mins and then ran the remaining 13 mins without stopping.  Felt pretty good.  I also jacked up the incline to 10 and then ran for .25 miles and then walked for about 10 mins to cool down. 

Breakfast: 1 Egg + 1 Egg white w/ almond butter and a drizzle of maple syrup. 

Eggs w/ AB

Snack: GF Chocolate Chip cookie – the last one 

GF Choco Chip Cookie

We took a little break to play with Bentley…soccer anyone?! 

Bentley + Soccer Ball

Good Catcher

Bentley + Soccer Ball

Bentley + Soccer Ball

Catching the Ball

After playing with Bentley and packing some more, I went and got me and the hubby some lunch from Whole Foods – I was seriously craving some sushi! 

Lunch: Veggie Dragon Roll from Whole Foods 

Veggie Dragon Roll

Inside

The hubby’s – Spicy Salmon Roll 

Spicy Salmon Roll

My plate with 2 of the hubby’s salmon 

My plate

This was seriously delicious!  Super fresh – it hit the spot as you can tell 

All gone

For dessert – the hubby and I split a PB&J Larabar!  This is by far my favorite flavor. 

dessert

Then it was back to the grind and Bentley decided to join in the fun too!  I love him. 

Special Delivery

Bentley-in-tha-box

Surprise!

Bentley in the Kitchen Cabinet

We finished up packing around 5:00 and both got showers.  Tonight I was heading to our monthly book club and then out in St. Pete for a friend’s b-day and the hubby was heading out to the monthly manly man night festivities. So, I prepared us a light meal of soup that I picked up from Whole Foods earlier. 

Dinner: I bought 3 soups from Pacific Natural Foods – Curried Red Lentil, Spicy Black Bean and Butternut Squash.  The first one we decided to try was the Curried Red Lentil which had a nice flavor.  Very smooth, but almost a little too sweet for me – for soup anyways.  This would be a good base for a hearty soup with mushrooms, veggies and even chicken. 

Curried Red Lentil Soup

Then I headed out to book club to discuss Water for Elephants.  It was a great time and he’s a peak at the snacks we had.  It was our hostess’ b-day as well and a girl in the group made her a cake and cupcakes that looked like a flower – really pretty. 

Most of the time, we try to have the snacks match the theme of the book and this was about the circus.  We also had popcorn, Chocolate & Peanut butter Fondue with animal crackers, apples, vanilla wafers, marshmallows.  We also had a Turkish sweet that resembled cotton candy and chocolate covered animal crackers.  Yum! 

To drink we had Sangria, Sparkling wine and Merlot 

Book club b-day

Singing Happy Birthday

After book club was over, a few of us headed over to St. Pete to meet up with another friend that was celebrating her b-day.  We met up with her and some of her friends at Independent Bar and I ordered a nice beer – Triple Karmeliete - very fruity tasting – the after taste was like froot loops – it was nice and smooth. 

Triple Karmeliete Beer

After hanging out for a while and exploring a little bit of St. Pete’s nightlife, we headed back to Tampa.  I didn’t get home until after 2:30 and I was ready for BED! 

SUNDAY 

Man was I tired when I woke up on Sunday morning!  But I got myself out of bed and ready for church. 

Breakfast: I chose to have a brown rice cake smothered with AB love and a few chocolate chips – I love Almond butter – well, actually any nut butters! 

Brown Rice Cake + Almond Butter + Choco Chips

Lunch: For lunch, I had some more of the Curried Red Lentil soup. 

Curried Red Lentil Soup

And I beefed that up with 1 egg + 1 egg white and then I sautéed some frozen strawberries with balsamic vinegar.  I’ve had balsamic strawberry gelato before, and it rocked, so I thought I’d experiment with this a bit.  Actually, I think I’ll make some strawberry-balsamic ice cream soon. 

1 Egg + 1 egg white w/ Strawberries

After packing some more and then taking a brief nap (I finally had to give in and take one) and watching some TV I decided to make some more GF Chocolate Chip Cookies.  This time I added in coconut, which gave it a nice tropical flavor. 

I had to sample it of course. 

GF Chocolate Chip + Coconut Cookie

The rest of the night was spent vegging out in front of the TV – the weather started to turn bad and was thundering and lightening bad.  We watched a few documentaries – B.I.K.E and 30 Days: Minimum Wage  

Workout: None 

Then it was off to bed to begin a new week! 

Peace out… 

Gluten-Free, Dairy-Free Vanilla Cupcakes

Based off of this recipe from Elana’s Pantry – which has become my go to website for baking these past few days.

I began by sifting the almond flour – it’s pretty dense so I had to bust out the old fashion sifter that you have to turn.

Sifted Almond Flour

Combine remaining dry ingredients and set aside.  Next start with the wet ingredients.

Eggs

Combining all of the wet ingredients

All Wet ingredients added

Once added to bowl, mix until well combined. Add the wet ingredients to the dry.

Wet Ingredients added to Dry

After combining the ingredients I lined my mini muffin pan with cupcake liners and then used my Tablespoon measuring spoon to scoop out the batter into the liners.

Popped it into a 300 degree oven for about 17 mins.  Once done, I cooled in the pan for a few mins and then took them out of the pan and placed onto a cooling rack

Unfrosted cooled mini cupcakes

As they’re cooling, I made the chocolate frosting.

Vegan Chocolate Frosting

I used this recipe from Elana’s Pantry.

Melt chocolate on stove, low heat.

Adding Chocolate to melt

Once melted, I added the remaining wet ingredients and stirred until well incorporated. I do not have grapeseed oil, so I used what I had on hand, Smart Balance oil

Additional ingredients added

Elana recipe recommends popping into the freezer to cool for about 15 mins and next time I would recommend doing it for that long, I got distracted and it was probably in the freezer for about 30 mins, which meant it was hard and had to soften up a bit for the next step, which is to beat it in the mixer until fluffy.

Beat chocolate mixture until fluffy

I cranked my mixer up pretty high in hopes of softening the frosting.  I can’t believe the solid mass I had before turned into this nice fluffy frosting.  It’s delicious as well.  I think this will be my new go to chocolate frosting!!

Chocolate Frosted Mini Cupcakes

I didn’t pipe these either, #1 because I forgot to take out the frosting when I went to the gym this morning and it was still cold and #2 I like that homemade look so that’s what I went with.

Another shot

Please excuse my ancient baking pan.

Mini cupcake

These are AMAZING.  I love baking gluten-free it is truly delicious.

These came together very easily and are really yummy.  I’m hoping that the birthday girl will enjoy these mini cupcakes as much as I have “sampling” them.

Peace out y’all….