Blog
Check out my food blog! www.veggie4ayear.com. There I write out my own recipes and some product reviews!
About me
Excerpt from my blogs about me section:
So I guess I will start this off with an explanation. I am a lover of food and cooking. I have been for as long as I can remember. I am (I feel) an adventurous eater. I love to try new types of food and I have always enjoyed the challenges that come along with trying to recreate the food I have had. One of my favorite parts of a meal is definitely dessert. I have a big sweet tooth. Cookies, cakes, ice cream, or pretty much anything covered in chocolate is right up my alley. Baking cupcakes is probably one of my favorite ways to de-stress and relax (if my wallet allows). I anxiously await friends birthdays, so I can come up with some custom cupcakes to celebrate the occasion. I really feel like food is a great way to take care of the people that you love. So if I love food so much why go vegan?
Well about a year and a half ago I started reading a book called, “Eat Animals” by Jonathan Safran Foer. I had always known the horrors of our animal food production system, but never in such detail. I suppose a part of me didn’t really want to know. I quickly realized I needed to change some things in my life. At first I could bend my morals. “Oh I will only eat meat once in awhile”, or “just when I go out to dinner.” But towards the end of this year, I really started to feel more and more hypocritical for my food choices. I was supporting a system that disgusted me, with my most important vote, my dollar.
I have always prided myself in, if nothing else, living by what I thought was right and wrong. So this realization that my food choices weren’t living up to my morals, was a hard pill for me to swallow. I kept thinking about all the things I would miss out on. All the fancy food and amazing flavors I couldn’t try. But when it comes down to it, I think I was looking at it the wrong way. There are still amazing foods and flavors that don’t involve an animal’s life being taken or degraded. Cutting out animals from my diet has opened up a whole new world of flavors and foods for me, if I let it.
Towards the end of 2011, I had been mostly eating vegetarian and vegan when I was cooking for myself, but when I would cook for others or go out to eat I wasn’t. So as part of an effort to live by my morals and a new years resolution, I have decided to go vegetarian and eventually vegan for a year.
It has been over a year now and I am still going strong. Feeling healthier mentally and physically. In the past year I have gotten sick once. Which is a vast improvement for the 6-8 times I had to make doctors visits in a single year.
So feel free to follow me on my crazy food journey!
From one foodie to another,
Heather
So I guess I will start this off with an explanation. I am a lover of food and cooking. I have been for as long as I can remember. I am (I feel) an adventurous eater. I love to try new types of food and I have always enjoyed the challenges that come along with trying to recreate the food I have had. One of my favorite parts of a meal is definitely dessert. I have a big sweet tooth. Cookies, cakes, ice cream, or pretty much anything covered in chocolate is right up my alley. Baking cupcakes is probably one of my favorite ways to de-stress and relax (if my wallet allows). I anxiously await friends birthdays, so I can come up with some custom cupcakes to celebrate the occasion. I really feel like food is a great way to take care of the people that you love. So if I love food so much why go vegan?
Well about a year and a half ago I started reading a book called, “Eat Animals” by Jonathan Safran Foer. I had always known the horrors of our animal food production system, but never in such detail. I suppose a part of me didn’t really want to know. I quickly realized I needed to change some things in my life. At first I could bend my morals. “Oh I will only eat meat once in awhile”, or “just when I go out to dinner.” But towards the end of this year, I really started to feel more and more hypocritical for my food choices. I was supporting a system that disgusted me, with my most important vote, my dollar.
I have always prided myself in, if nothing else, living by what I thought was right and wrong. So this realization that my food choices weren’t living up to my morals, was a hard pill for me to swallow. I kept thinking about all the things I would miss out on. All the fancy food and amazing flavors I couldn’t try. But when it comes down to it, I think I was looking at it the wrong way. There are still amazing foods and flavors that don’t involve an animal’s life being taken or degraded. Cutting out animals from my diet has opened up a whole new world of flavors and foods for me, if I let it.
Towards the end of 2011, I had been mostly eating vegetarian and vegan when I was cooking for myself, but when I would cook for others or go out to eat I wasn’t. So as part of an effort to live by my morals and a new years resolution, I have decided to go vegetarian and eventually vegan for a year.
It has been over a year now and I am still going strong. Feeling healthier mentally and physically. In the past year I have gotten sick once. Which is a vast improvement for the 6-8 times I had to make doctors visits in a single year.
So feel free to follow me on my crazy food journey!
From one foodie to another,
Heather
Sample Recipe:
Chocolate Cupcakes
Whisk together the soy milk and vinegar in a large bowl, and set aside for a few minutes to curdle. Add the sugar, oil, vanilla extract (if using) to the soy milk mixture and beat until foamy.
In a separate bowl, sift together the flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, baking powder, and salt. Add in two batches, to wet ingredients and beat until no large lumps remain (a few tiny lumps are OK).
Pour into liners, filling 3/4 of the way. Bake 18 to 20 minutes, until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Transfer to a cooling rack and let cool completely.
Blackberry Filling
In a separate cup mix cornstarch with a few tablespoons of water. Add mixture to fruit and stir constantly for a minute or two. Remove from heat and set aside to cool.
Hollow out a small hole in each cupcake and fill with blackberry filling.
Red Wine Frosting
In the bowl of a stand mixer, combine the butter and confectioner’s sugar. Mix on low speed at first, gradually increasing to high until powdered sugar is well incorporated. Whisk until fluffy. With the mixer running, carefully pour in the cooled wine reduction. Beat well until combined, scraping down the bowl if necessary.
Transfer the frosting to a piping bag and frost cupcakes.
- 1 cup soy milk
- 1 teaspoon apple cider vinegar
- 3/4 cup granulated sugar
- 1/3 cup canola oil
- 1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 1 cup all-purpose flour
- 1/3 cup cocoa powder, Dutch-processed or regular
- 3/4 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
Whisk together the soy milk and vinegar in a large bowl, and set aside for a few minutes to curdle. Add the sugar, oil, vanilla extract (if using) to the soy milk mixture and beat until foamy.
In a separate bowl, sift together the flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, baking powder, and salt. Add in two batches, to wet ingredients and beat until no large lumps remain (a few tiny lumps are OK).
Pour into liners, filling 3/4 of the way. Bake 18 to 20 minutes, until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Transfer to a cooling rack and let cool completely.
Blackberry Filling
- 2 cups of coarsely chopped frozen blackberries
- 2 tbsp sugar
- 1 tbsp of cornstarch
- ½ cup water
In a separate cup mix cornstarch with a few tablespoons of water. Add mixture to fruit and stir constantly for a minute or two. Remove from heat and set aside to cool.
Hollow out a small hole in each cupcake and fill with blackberry filling.
Red Wine Frosting
- 1 cup red wine (I used Siciliana)
- 1/4 cup vegan granulated sugar
- 1 cup earth balance or favorite vegan butter
- 3 cups confectioner’s sugar
In the bowl of a stand mixer, combine the butter and confectioner’s sugar. Mix on low speed at first, gradually increasing to high until powdered sugar is well incorporated. Whisk until fluffy. With the mixer running, carefully pour in the cooled wine reduction. Beat well until combined, scraping down the bowl if necessary.
Transfer the frosting to a piping bag and frost cupcakes.