Poor vanilla. It's used as a descriptor for the most boring, pedestrian, run-of-the-mill things in life. Dull, conventional people are described as being vanilla, unexciting music is vanilla, and "plain vanilla" is even used in the financial world to describe basic, standard financial instruments.
But vanilla really is a treasure of a flavour. Where would hot fudge sundaes be without vanilla ice cream? Those cookies baking in your oven wouldn't smell half as good without vanilla. Vanilla is the ingredient that makes the difference; it ramps up the quality of baked goods, it turns good enough into OMG AMAZING.
So I say, it's not just plain vanilla. It's just plain amazing that we have such a flavour in our lives. Aren't we lucky?
Ingredients
For the cupcakes:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Stir apple cider vinegar into the coconut milk. Mix this together with sugar, oil, and vanilla.
In a large bowl, stir together baking soda, baking powder, salt, and flour. Add the wet ingredients to the dries, and stir until just combined.
Divide among 12 paper-lined cupcake tins; bake for 20 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the middle of a cupcake comes out clean.
Allow to cool before frosting.
To make the frosting: beat together coconut oil, icing sugar, and vanilla. Add coconut milk slowly until desired consistency is reached.
(Yield: Makes 12 cupcakes)
Want more cupcakes? Try my super-easy Pot of Gold Chocolate Cupcakes, or my Va-Va-Va Voom Velvet Cupcakes - red velvet without all that food colouring! Maybe you're just looking for a good dairy-free dessert; why not try my Dairy-Free Coconut Cream Puffs!
Adapted from Vegan Cupcakes Take Over The World
I've always loved pears—they are a sweet, juicy harbinger of Fall. My whole family races to eat them when they become ripe. Speaking of which, have you ever noticed that pears, like avocados, seem to follow a certain pattern: not ready, not ready, not ready, THEY ARE ALL PERFECTLY RIPE, oops, now they are overripe. That window of perfect ripeness is only a couple of days long, hence the race to eat them all.
I don't know what you did this summer, but I lived the good life. The very good life, I should say, and now that it's Fall, I'm feeling that it's time to cleanse a little. What better way to cleanse and detox than by adding a few pears to your life, especially when one is feeling especially, ahem, pear-shaped?
Besides being delicious, pears are very high in fibre, Vitamin C, antioxidants, and anti-inflammatory flavonoids. When mixed with spinach and hemp, the result is a power house of nutrition! This green pear smoothie is a perfect way to start your day—with energy, vitamins, and lots of fibre to make you feel full all morning.
Ingredients:
In a high-powered blender, blend together spinach, hemp seed (if using), and water until smooth.
Add pears and blend until smooth. Add ice and blend until frothy. Use more ice if you prefer a slushie-like smoothie, less if you prefer a thick juice-like one.
(Yield: 1 giant or 2 medium smoothies)
Did you live the good life this summer and need some cleansing? Try my 3 Best Juices for Detoxing and Cleansing, my Green Goddess Juice, or my Easy Tropical Green Smooothie.
Change is hard. Take, for example, seasonal change—especially the change from summer to autumn. Where I live, summer doesn't gently fade into fall, it jumps; one day I'm wearing sandals and tank tops, and the next day I'm digging in my closet for boots and sweaters. One day it's too hot in the house to sleep without the air conditioner, the next day I'm turning on the furnace.
What I'm trying to say is that fall is here, but I'm not quite ready to say goodbye to summer.
Well, we can't stop time, can we? We must keep marching forward, even if our newly pedicured toes are hiding underneath wool socks and boots, and our inner beach girl is being smothered with a thick scarf.
What does all this have to do with sweet potatoes? Sweet potatoes are one of the most nutritious and delicious of the fall harvests, and preparing them on the barbeque is one way to hold on to that summery cookout feeling, even when there is a crisp snap in the air. The leaves and the times, they are a-changing, but let's hold on to the summer for just a little bit longer, even if it's just to fire up the grill.
Ingredients:
Directions:
Scrub the sweet potatoes and cut into thick wedges, leaving the skin on.
In a small saucepan, heat oil and add garlic, cooking over medium heat until browned. Add chipotle chili powder, smoked paprika, apple cider vinegar, oregano, sea salt, and water. Bring to a boil, reduce heat, and simmer for ten minutes until thickened.
Brush sauce onto sweet potato wedges. Grill over medium heat for about 45 minutes, until insides of the wedges are tender, but the outside is crispy.
Non-grill option: bake in a 350 degree oven for 30-45 minutes, until insides of the wedges are tender and outsides are crispy.
Serve with lime mayo dip (recipe below).
Lime Mayo Ingredients:
Whisk all ingredients together until smooth.
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