This Food Is Good!

Vegan Chocolate Cupcakes with a Fresh Orange Glaze

This is without a doubt my favorite chocolate cake recipe. It is easy, makes great cakes and even better cupcakes. It has a very rich yet fluffy texture... the end result will look like you were in the kitchen forever making it. But in reality, you threw it together in about 5-10 minutes. Here's the recipe:

Preheat oven to 350.

Put these in a bowl and mix:
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 cup sugar
1/2 t. salt
1 t. baking soda
1/4 cup cocoa powder (unsweetened)

Now push everything to the sides of the bowl so you have an empty spot in the center. Add these:
1 1/2 t. vanilla extract
1/3 cup vegetable oil
1 T. white distilled vinegar
1 cup cold water (cold coffee will also work very well)

Mix everything together (don't over mix, though) and bake for 15 minutes.

For my glaze, I mixed 3/4 cup confectioner's sugar, 2 T. of fresh orange juice and the zest/peel from that orange. I left the pieces of zest a bit long, but you could mince them as well and it would still look nice :)

This is a great smoothie to pair with a light salad at lunchtime or for an afternoon energy boost.

Strawberry-Banana-Kiwi-Flaxseed Smoothie... now with shadow of doom behind it!

1 c. Frozen Strawberries
1. Ripe Banana, not frozen!
1. Fresh Kiwi, peeled and cut in half
1 t. Ground Flaxseeds
1 c. Almond, Soy or Rice Milk

Add everything to a blender, and pulse it until it is smooth. It's that easy. Make sure you use an unsweetened milk, whichever one you choose. There is enough sugar in the fruit that you will not need any more. You won't taste the flaxseeds if you just add a teaspoon, but they're a really healthy addition. I add them to all of my smoothies. Make sure you fill the blender jar with water right away, even if you are just going to leave it in the sink for a while. You'll be glad you did that later on when you go to do the dishes. Plus it's less than a dollar to make, and serves 2.

It looks basic, and it is, but the flavor is very satisfying. First though, I have to give credit to my friend Melvin, who told me how he makes his salsa... and I based my recipe on his. Having said that... it's cheap, easy and healthy. You can prepare it in just a few minutes, and it's easy to make it in large quantities.

SALSA

3-4 Tomatoes
1/2 c. Red Onion
1/2 c. Sweet Corn
1/4 c. Cilantro
2 T. Lime Juice
Adobo Seasoning with Pepper

Dice the tomatoes and onion and toss them in a bowl. Add corn. Chop up the cilantro and add it. Add the lime juice and then shake on the Adobo to taste. Mix it all up and you are done. If you would like, you can mince a clove or two of garlic and add that.

TIP: I use about 1/2 of a can of sweet corn to make this. Take the rest of the corn from the can, put it in a small freezer bag, and freeze it until the next time you are making salsa, soup or a stew. Don't fall into the habit of throwing out extra food that can just as easily be frozen and used in the future.

It is really easy to procrastinate making healthy food when it requires a lot of preparation time every time you want to make something. Who wants to spend time every day slicing tomatoes, rinsing lettuce and sprouts, dicing onions and chopping peppers just to make lunch? No one has time to add more tasks to their day, and it creates more dishes.

I go grocery shopping once a week. When I get home, I make it a point to go through and prep the food for cooking. Fresh herbs get rinsed, wrapped in paper towels and stored in a zip lock bag. Lettuce and sprouts get rinsed and stored in containers with paper towels. Everything else gets chopped up and put into small containers. A mandolin slicer will make this go even faster. Rinse the slicer and cutting board between veggies.


This makes it really easy to take your lunch to work (but more on that later)... as it now will take you less than 5 minutes to throw this together:

Whole Wheat Veggie Wrap

Warm a whole wheat wrap or tortilla of your choice on the stove. Just toss it on the skillet, no need to spray. Warm it for a minute before flipping it over to warm the other side.

Spread some hummus (I used the Chipotle Pepper Hummus that I made yesterday) in a line down the center of the wrap. Mustard also works well.

Sprinkle chopped veggies on the wrap. Don't overload it, or you won't be able to hold it together later. I find that you get a better overall taste with chopped rather than sliced veggies.

Top it off with some large pieces of red lettuce, fold the sides over, and you are done.

This photo was taken just before the lettuce was added.