itsalettucelife-blog - Tumblr blog

[itsalettucelife-blog]

Bomb Brownies

I’m back! After a canceled flight, I’m finally at my grandma’s house which is perched in DeKalb, Illinois: an itty bitty town (at least compared to LA) an hour and something minutes outside of Chicago where all that exists are corn fields that go on as far as the eye can see. The cooking and baking I’ve done while here has been minimal as I’ve been spending my time soaking up the unique, quirky places that reside here such as visiting the Ellwood House which was the residence of Isaac Ellwood, inventor of barbed wire. The few batches of muffins I’ve made haven’t been photo worthy, at least from my perception, so I figured I’d wait to write a new blog post until I made something sweet for the going away party my family and I are hosting here for my grandma as she prepares to move out to California. After days of craving something chewy and chocolate, I came up with an obvious but delicious dessert to whip up for the event: brownies! It wasn’t until I was around fourteen that I actually made brownies from scratch and lemme tell you, they are worth every minute spent making them. Even the time spent melting chocolate over a double broiler if that’s what your recipe calls for. (Don’t worry, this one doesn’t.) Boxed brownies just can’t compare. Yes, even you Betty Crocker. A perk of vegan baking is that because you’re not using eggs, everything is safe to taste raw, meaning you don’t need to sneak it in while your mom’s back is turned! Cookie dough, cake batter, brownie batter, you get the point. As soon as I tasted this concoction out of the mixing bowl, I knew I had found a good recipe. So much of baking is ratio related that it takes a while to find your favorite proportions. From interviews I’ve watched with olympic athletes, the common thread we share is the love for challenges and space for improvement. There is ALWAYS space for experimentation, testing the limits, and pushing past your previous performance, whether it’s on the ice rink or in the kitchen. Always. Think of when you were learning to swim and your swim instructor told you to swim to them but kept backing further and further away, leaving space for you to continue. This is exactly how I feel about baking. Nailing a dish is the first chapter of the book, and every chapter after is the expansion and exploration of furthering its development. While the recipe I’m about to share is gooey and on the high end of the chocolate-y scale, it is also the crumbliest thing I’ve ever touched so beware. Even my usually steady hands couldn’t get them out of the pan in well cut squares. I still recommend it though! Just don’t serve them to Duff Goldman or Ron Ben Israel and expect a high score on presentation. The brownie recipe is from the blog Jessica In The Kitchen and the ganache recipe is by Texanerin Baking, both of which came to me as a result of some Pinterest digging. (Jk. The entire process of finding the recipes took like five minutes.) Some might claim brownies topped with frosting is over-the-top, but I say go big or go home and I’m already home, so the only option is to go big. Plus a little (or a lot) of chocolate never killed nobody. Here are the recipes with some slight modifications I made:

INGREDIENTS FOR BASE

1 cup melted chocolate chips

1 cup flour (I used oat flour)

1/2 teaspoon sea salt

1/4 teaspoon baking soda

2 flax eggs (1 TBSP flaxseed meal + 2 TBSP water per “egg”)

3/4 cup sugar

1/2 cup melted coconut oil

1/4 cup water

1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

1 cup chocolate chips (unmelted)

Combine wet ingredients in a large bowl excluding the melted chocolate chips. Add in dry ingredients. Stir until incorporated. Add in melted chocolate. I used my grandma’s confectioners oven and baked the brownies at 300 degrees for 20-25 minutes until baked well but still gooey. If you are using a standard oven, bake at 350 degrees for 25-30 minutes.

INGREDIENTS FOR GANACHE

1 cup dairy free dark chocolate chips

1/4 cup almond or coconut milk

1/4 cup coconut oil or unsalted vegan butter

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1/3 cup powdered sugar

Combine all ingredients except the powdered sugar in a saucepan and heat on the stove over medium heat until melted and smooth. Take off heat and stir in powdered sugar. Let sit for 15 minutes. Place in fridge to allow the thickening process to occur, stirring every 5 minutes for about a total of 20 minutes. After brownies have completely cooled, cut into squares and dollop with ganache. Bon Appetit!

[itsalettucelife-blog]

Pumpkin Muffins

Welcome back to the blog! If you’re new, thank you for checking it out, and if you’ve been here since the beginning (a whole two weeks haha) thank you for encouraging my vegan food obsession. After finishing finals and moving out, I can officially say I’ve completed my first year of college! For the first time since September I can breathe without the weight of looming deadlines, assignments, and papers. The smell of summer is in the air and I can’t wait to embark on all my summer adventures that lie ahead! After arriving home in LA late Friday night, the kitchen has been yelling my name. Finally, today, I gave it some attention in the form of baking pumpkin muffins. Yes, pumpkin. No, it’s not Thanksgiving or anywhere close to it, but your girl just NEEDED a good dose of pumpkin and spice. And with a giant can of pumpkin puree, how could I not?? I adapted a delicious recipe from www.cookieandkate.com by making it vegan and adjusting some of the spice proportions, and tada! Boom-- warm muffins right out of the oven. It was my first time making this particular recipe, and in my opinion it was a success. Here’s my version of the recipe:

Ingredients:

~2 flax eggs (1 TBSP flaxseed meal + 3 TBSP water per “egg”)

~1 cup canned or fresh pumpkin puree

~½ cup maple syrup

~⅓ cup melted coconut oil

~¼ cup almond milk (or other nut milk)

~1 tsp pure vanilla extract

~1 tsp baking soda

~½ tsp salt

~1 tsp cinnamon

~½ tsp ground ginger

~¼ tsp nutmeg

~½ tsp allspice

~1 ¾ cup flour (all purpose, rice, blend)

~⅓ cup oats

Directions:

Mix flaxseed meal and water together in a large bowl to create the flax eggs. Let sit for 5 minutes until it reaches a gelatinous consistency. Add pumpkin, maple syrup, coconut oil, almond milk, and vanilla and stir until well incorporated. Then, add all dry ingredients and stir until all flour is mixed in. Prepare muffin pan by spraying with cooking spray or spreading coconut oil in each mold. Bake at 325 degrees F for 20 minutes or until golden brown.

One of my favorite things is showing people how easy it is to eliminate animal products. There are endless substitution options these days, many of which are even cheaper, which means there are no excuses to use animal based “foods.” Vegan food has a reputation of being referred to as dry and distasteful, but I’m here to prove that theory WRONG! It couldn’t be easier. Many times, people compliment my dish and can’t believe it when I tell them it was made with all vegan ingredients. If there is something you’d like me to veganize next, no matter how crazy it sounds, feel free to send me a message.

See you next time,

Vegan College Gurl (aka Hannah)

[itsalettucelife-blog]

Nice Cream

Whatsup my friends? Ever since I wrote the first post, my brain has been brewing with ideas for tons more! I love writing about things I’m passionate about, LOVE food (nobody knew that), and people are constantly asking me how I’m vegan in college, so it’s a win win for everyone involved! I definitely see this as an outlet for creative expression and to share mouthwatering recipes with you guys regularly. I’m currently headed into my last week of the spring quarter. Man time flies. Currently I’m a cognitive science major with a specialization in neuroscience. I’m not certain I will keep that major, but maybe. As of now, I have a quiz, paper, and research paper left before I’m done for the year. Yesterday I had my critique for my photography final which always causes my heart to beat out of my chest. Standing up in front of a class full of people to be roasted is a lot harder than it seems no matter how confident you are in your work. After I’m done here, I’ll be going home for a few days and then flying to Chicago to see my grandma for two weeks! Cooking and baking for her is always fun and almost anything I make is received with a smile. Stay tuned for a post about what I make for her. I can’t wait to see my dog named Lois who is a Bichon Terrier mix when I go home. It’s been so hard to be away from her. At least FaceTime exists. I’m sad to leave the friends I’ve made for the summer, but happy to go back to the city of angels and see everyone I’ve missed, as well as cross some bucket list items off this summer. And HAVE A KITCHEN AGAIN!!! No joke, the part about moving into college that I was most scared for was not having my favorite room of the house. My heart cracked. A true tragedy for me. Luckily I’d been experimenting with raw recipes since the spring of my senior year of highschool, so I was well prepared with things to make without a stove or oven. Part way into the winter quarter (yes, we’re on the quarter system ugh) I got a blender. The smoothie gods were smiling down. It was the best addition because smoothie bowls are easy, cheap, quick, filling meal options. I’ll go to the market here on campus, use dining dollars to buy as many bananas as my arms can hold (I quickly learned to bring a bag with me.) and peel them to freeze overnight so they’d be ready to blend up the next day.

Ingredients I get for smoothies and smoothie bowls are:

~bananas (Lots of em)

~blueberries

~strawberries

~cacao/cocoa powder

~acai packets

~mixed berries

~mango

~almond butter

~peanut butter

~spinach

Toppings I get for the bowls include:

~cacao nibs (for a chocolate-y taste)

~chia seeds

~shredded unsweetened coconut

~granola

~additional fruits

Liquids I use to get things blending:

~almond milk (or any other nut milk.)

~coconut water

When people see photos of my smoothie jars and smoothie bowls, they often ask how I get such a creamy consistency that is like soft serve. The golden rule is freezing EVERYTHING except your liquid the night before. And you only want to use about ¼-½ cup of the liquid. If you don’t have a durable-as-steel blender like a Vitamix, make sure you take breaks so your blender doesn’t die on you. (Opps might’ve done that once.) It might take a while to get to its creamy state, but don’t give up. It’ll be so worth it to contently be chowing down on your smoothie bowl/jar while your suite mates have lunchables. I mean if Lunchables are your thing, go ahead. (Jk, please don’t. They’re overly processed and damaging to the planet.) Ok, back to the recipe. Turn the blender off to stir every few seconds until it transforms into smooth, fruity heaven. If you need inspiration, check out the Instagram account @earthyandy. It’s run by the mom of a family in Hawaii and she is always posting her newest vegan ice cream (also known as nice-cream because it’s nice to the planet, the animals, and your body.) with her cute kids. On a couple different occasions this year, there’d be someone in the common room of my dorm while I’d be making a smoothie. They’d ask what I was making and I’d tell them and offer a taste. Every single time their eyes would pop out of their heads as the spoon entered their mouth. It makes me so happy to be that person to remind them of how delicious fruits, vegetables, nuts, and seeds can be in their purest form. The majority of the kids in my dorm now know me as the weird banana girl who rattles the sliding glass doors with the piercing sound of the blender at least once per day. It’s pretty funny at this point. It might seem odd to the lady working the cashier at the on-campus market that I buy more bananas than she’s had in the last 5 years, but I say it’s ultra weird and disturbing that we live in a society that says processed food and animal flesh are good. That the government has put such a heavy emphasis on protein and worked those animal “foods” into the MyPlate and MyPyramid chart that doctors and nutritionists look to for guidance. Question everything, and accept nothing. Otherwise the world is a trap. I beg you to educate yourselves. I’m currently sitting inside my favorite vegan cafe in La Jolla and every single one of the human beings here is alive. Vegans are more than just surviving, we’re thriving. Food can either be a drug or medicine. You choose.

Until next time,

Vegan College Gurl (aka Hannah)

[itsalettucelife-blog]

Hi & Story Time

Heyo! Welcome to my first post! Writing a food blog has always been something I’ve wanted to do (let’s be real, the list is endless) and I’m so happy to finally take action. First off, my name is Hannah and I’ve been vegan for about 1.75 years, but let’s rewind back to when this all started. *rewind tape noises* At age 11 I became obsessed with wildlife. Most specifically, I was drawn to creatures native to the Australian outback. Around this time I became OBSESSED with Steve Irwin’s The Crocodile Hunter and spent every waking moment watching his show, watching other wildlife/nature documentaries, and learning as much as possible. I became bothered by how media protrays animals like snakes, crocodiles, and sea animals such as sharks to be the villains and monsters of the story. In movies, television, and almost every other form of media we are influenced by, there seemed to be a common theme of how these animals were being represented. To me, they were amazing and deserved the utmost respect. For the next couple years I’d drag my parents to reptile shops (which my mom HATED with a passion) and be that annoying kid who wouldn’t stop talking about how great these species were to every human I came into contact with. (Sorry not sorry.)

Fast forward a few months later when I stared down at my meat dinner and had the realization that I was being a hypocrite. How could I possibly preach to the world how much I loved animals when here I was eating them?? My parents hated me, but my stubborn a$$ self made the promise that I’d stop eating red meat: cows and lambs. I’d only ever eaten pork once by accident (shoutout Souplantation for the poor labeling) since we are Jewish and didn’t eat pigs or bring shellfish into the house. So from then on my parents made turkey and chicken dishes for casual dinners, and still London broil, beef, and lamb quite regularly. Keep in mind red meat was almost a constant guarantee for me growing up so switching to more white meats was a big deal for my mom who was the one who mostly cooked for me and my 2 sisters.

Skip to the Thanksgiving of 2014 when I was 15 year old. As usual for our family, we went all out for the feast which included a 30 something pound turkey. That day (does everyone start eating at 4 in the afternoon?) we filled our plates with endless fall inspired dishes and squished our many guests around the dining room table. I picked up my fork and cut off a bite-sized piece of turkey from the piece of breast meat I’d put on my plate, built up the long awaited suspense of delicious Turkey Day dinner as I dipped it in cranberry sauce, and entered it into my mouth. As I chewed, I felt a dissatisfaction I’d never felt before. And had a flashback to that time only a couple years earlier when I was eating lamb and made the human-eating-animal connection. After that bite was chewed and sent down my esophagus, I set my fork on my plate in disgust as everyone happily chowed down. I felt guilt. And most of all, sadness. Why were we doing this? Why was I doing this? From then on, I became a vegetarian with the occasional piece of fish. Yes, people around me gave me a hard time about not eating meat. My dad teased me and my mom just thought I was a weirdo who was going to become severely deficient in iron and protein, but I was a girl on a mission to align my values with my actions. If you gave me a penny for every time someone asked what I eat or how I’m not dying from not getting enough protein, I’d be as rich as Bill Gates. It really wasn’t that hard. And it surely wasn’t anywhere close to as hard as people made it out to be. In fact, it was quite the opposite. The kitchen became my playground. (Like it wasn’t already. If you know anything about me it’s that I’ve been cooking and baking since before my first words.) It was this magical place where mixing a few things together could either turn into a yummy creation, or a volcanic eruption. Either way it was nothing short of fun and easily became my favorite room of the house.

During the spring of 2016 I cut out dairy because I developed an allergic reaction to it. Occasionally I’d cheat and pay for it by not being able to move from fetal position for hours. I deemed it not worth it to eat cows milk and went about my life as normal. That June, I ate my weighs worth of fish during my trip to Costa Rica, as it came with almost every lunch and dinner. I returned from that trip and maybe touched fish once more in the months following. At this point, the only animal product that remained in my diet were eggs. I liked those fluffy clouds. After all they were a yummy breakfast food! A brunch staple, and the common food everyone could agree on. Chickens naturally lay eggs so there’s no cruelty involved, right? Wrong.

Sometime in August of 2016 (Yay! The summer olympics!) I decided to watch a documentary on Netflix called Cowspiracy. I was speechless. The blinders were removed from my eyes and the brutal truth was exposed. I felt depressed over what happens in factory farms everyday worldwide, how animal archiculture harms this beautiful planet called Earth, not to mention the massive amounts of food being taken away from people who need it just to feed the animals that’ll later be murdered for our taste buds, but more than anything else, I felt inspired. Suddenly I had a purpose-- something to live for that was greater than myself. It was a hard night because I couldn’t stop thinking. I’m not going to lie, it’s hard to watch the violence, but compared to what these animals go through, it’s the least we can do. So far, everything I’ve talked about is related to being an ethical vegan, meaning making choices solely based on the choice to not participate in the using or eating of animals for the sake of the animals and world. The health results I saw from transitioning to a vegan diet were out of this world and are way too much to talk about in this post. (There’ll be a future post on that topic though, so check back soon!) Being vegan is the best decision I’ve EVER made. Because of it I feel a greater connection to all beings. My perspective has dramatically shifted for the better. I don’t believe non-vegans are bad people, instead I think they’re good people making bad choices out of ignorance, lack of understanding, and fear. Whenever I’m asked in a nutshell why I’m vegan, my answer is: if I’ve done nothing all day, at least I know I haven’t contributed to the injustice of animals who are fellow inhabitants of this planet just like I am. Choose love. Some might have fins, fur, scales, or feathers, but at the end of the day, we’re all breathing, feeling creatures who want to love and be loved.

Much love,

Vegan College Gurl (aka Hannah)