Carrot Muffins with a Creamy Cashew and Toasted Coconut Top

I wanted to make some muffins today for our Father's Day picnic, and my mom mentioned that she would like carrot cake muffins, so that's what I made! :)

I didn't have any plain Toffuti better than cream cheese, so I though that I'd try using cashews in the icing. It took a little bit of work using the vitamix to purée the cashews, just because of the small amount I was using, but in the end the icing turned out great! Doesn't taste like cream cheese icing, but it has a great flavor that goes well with the muffin. 

                      

Preheat oven to 400 and grease or line a  12 muffin tin. 

Muffins 

You will need : 

1 Cup sprouted wheat flour

1 cup white flour

1 tbsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 cup raisins

1/2 cup shredded coconut 

1 tsp cinnamon

1/2 tsp nutmeg

1/4 tsp allspice

1 cup shredded carrot

1.5 tsp vanilla

1/2 cup oil (I used grape seed)

1 chia egg (1 Tbsp ground chia, 4 tbsp warm water)

1 cup water

1 cup coconut sugar (you could sub this with raw or regular sugar if you don't have it).

Mix the chia egg, set aside.

Combine all dry ingredients in a large bowl (except sugar), along with raisins, carrots and coconut. In a smaller bowl combine oil, vanilla, water, coconut sugar 

and chia "egg" mixture. Add the wet ingredients to the dry and combine. do not over mix. Divide evenly amoung muffin tins and bake at 400 for 15 minutes if until a knife is inserted and comes out clean. 

Icing

1/2 cup raw cashews

3 tbsp vegan margarine

1 tsp vanilla

3 tbsp plain soymilk

1.5 cups icing sugar

1/2 cup toasted (unsweetened) coconut

Purée cashews, vanilla, margarine and soymilk in a high speed blender, food processor or vitamix until smooth. Transfer to a bowl. Sift icing sugar into the cashew mixture. It won't be a fluffy icing, more like a cross between a glaze and an icing. Spread icing on to cooled muffins and then dip each muffin into toasted coconut. Makes 12 muffins. Enjoy! 

My New Favorite Breakfast

Nothing fancy or new, and no real measurements in the recipe, but it's my new fave for breakfast or a snack, so I just wanted to share! :) 

Take half an avocado, mash it in a bowl with about 1.5 tsp coconut oil, a pinch of salt, a sprinkle of garlic powder and a few  crushed red chili flakes. Spread it on toast, and voila! Simple and delicious :) Enjoy!! 

Dinner Tonight

Tonight I had some roasted poblano peppers in the fridge that I needed to use, some corn tortillas that I had made a couple days a go and needed to use, a few avocados that were on their way to being overripe. My original plan was to make some sort of tacos with the corn tortillas that I had made, but they weren't co-operating and kept breaking when I folded them. Another part of my plan was to make a sauce with the roasted poblano peppers. That part of the plan worked out well, and I will post the recipe below. I ended up making a "taco beef" type mixture using walnuts, onion, mushrooms, with a homemade taco seasoning, a roasted poblano and cilantro cream sauce, rice, guacamole, fried strips of the corn tortillas and salad... lol. I made a wrap with a store bought flour tortilla, rice, poblano sauce, "taco beef", guacamole, salad (greens, lettuce, cucumber mostly), and salsa. My mom and hubby made a taco salad type dish using the strips of fried corn tortillas, salad mix, "taco beef", guacamole, rice and poblano sauce. So everything worked out in the end even though it was a hot mess until the very end!! haha. And we have lots of fried corn tortilla strips left over for snacking! :)

Roasted Poblano and Cilantro Cream Sauce

Roasted Poblano and Cilantro Cream sauce

You will need:

1/4 cup raw cashews
1/2 tsp sea salt
1/2 tsp cumin
1/4 cup fresh cilantro, roughly chopped
2 roasted Poblano peppers peeled and seeded* (See roasting instructions below)
1/3 cup water


Combine all ingredients in a high speed blender and blend until smooth. Simple as that!

*To roast poblano peppers, heat oven to 425 degrees. Rub peppers with olive oil. Place on cookie sheet and roast for approximately 30 minutes, turning every 10 minutes, until they are softened and turning blackish. Remove from oven and place in a container, cover and let sit for 30 min. Once they have sat for 30 min,  peel and dicard peel, seeds and stem. Store the skinned pepper in an airtight container in the fridge until ready to use (for 2-4 days max I'd say).

Taco "Beef" Mixture

You will need:

8 large mushrooms, halved
1 cup roughly chopped onion
1 cup walnut halves
Homemade Taco Seasoning (one batch, you may want to decrease the salt slightly).
1 Tbsp oil (I used grapeseed)

Place onion, mushroom and walnuts in food processor. Pulse until you get a crumbly type mixture... not too fine, you don't want it pasty, but not too chunky, and you don't want to be getting big pieces of walnut. I don't have a picture, but next time I make it I will take one for sure!! Next, heat oil in a frying pan and add the the walnut mixture. Sprinkle in seasoning and fry on medium high until the moisture and left the mushrooms, and it is getting a nice brown crust on it. Now it's ready for whatever you want to use it on! Tacos, burritos, nachos... your choice!

This was my wrap. I know it doesn't look like much, but it was tasty! I layered rice, Poblano Sauce, salad (greens lettuce, cucumber), Taco "Beef", guacamole, and salsa.

Broccoli and Cheeze Rice Casserole

One of my favorite foods when I was vegetarian was those packaged "broccoli and cheese" rice side dishes. Except it was my main meal and I ate the whole package.... haha. Anyways, today I decided to attempt a vegan version of this dish. I used the sauce in this recipe I LOVE from Kid Tested Firefighter Approved... well a version of the sauce anyways. .. with just a few tweaks to fit this recipe. I love that sauce so much I could drink it! Lol! Anyways, dinner is in the oven so I had better make this snappy!!

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Cook approx 2.5 cups of rice. I used 4.5 cups of cooked rice in the recipe.

You will need:

4.5 cups cooked rice (I used brown sprouted rice)
4 cups broccoli florets

1/4 cup cashews (soaked for a couple hours if you don't have a vitamix or similar)
2/3 cups unsweetened almond milk
1/2 cup water
1 tsp onion powder
2 tsp sea salt
1/2 tsp garlic powder
1 roasted red pepper
2 tsp arrowroot powder or cornstarch
1/2 tsp lemon juice
1/4 tsp black pepper

Combine all ingredients except broccoli and rice in a vitamix or blender and puree until smooth.
Place rice and broccoli in a casserole dish and pour sauce mix over top and mix together with a spoon.
Cover and bake at 350 for 35-40 min or until broccoli is tender.