Pat's (Vegan) Black & Raspy Muffins

This new recipe comes from one of my big brothers, Patrick. In addition to these muffins being vegan, they're lactose and dairy free! This is because my SIL is lactose intolerant and, well, it's just not fair making muffins your wife can't eat. Needless to say, cooking is a huge thing in our family and one of our favorite past times. The second is eating said food. Pat also has an AMAZING Raspberry Cheesecake with an Oreo crust recipe that I may be able to pry from his hands. We'll see. Anyways, prior to me posting the recipe to these I have to mention that I have not made these muffins yet, so I have no idea how they taste. But I have a lot of Pat's other baked goods and....they're delicious! So I think it's safe to assume, these will be too. But you guys be the judge and let me know what you think! I'll pass it on...

Pat's (Vegan) Black & Raspy Muffins

1⁄2 cup of vegan margarine 

1 cup raw sugar

1-1 1⁄4 pureed banana

8 oz. pureed blackberries 

1 tsp. vanilla

3⁄4 tsp. baking soda

1⁄4 tsp. salt

2 cups whole wheat flour 

1⁄2 cup almond milk

8 oz. raspberries (halved) 

Raw sugar for topping

Preheat oven to 375°. Grease or line 18 standard muffin cups (or 12 large muffin cups). In a large bowl, mix butter on high until creamy. Mix in sugar. Reduce mixer speed to medium, and add pureed banana. Reduce mixer speed again to low-medium, and mix in pureed blackberries and vanilla. Mix in baking soda and salt. Fold in half of the whole wheat flour and then half of the almond milk, then repeat with the other halves. Last, fold in the raspberries. Spoon into muffin cups and sprinkle with raw sugar immediately. Bake for 15- 20 minutes (closer to 15 for standard muffins and closer to 20 for large muffins), or until they start to turn golden brown and spring back when touched. 

There you go folks! This recipe is straight from my email. I did not alter it in any way. Except fix typos...Enjoy!

Photo by: Patrick Ryan

Paleo Banana Bread

Before I start I have to say that the base of this recipe is coconut flour and if you're not use to eating it, well....it takes some getting use to. Needless to say, it doesn't always go over well. BUT, it's really good for you and loaded with fiber. The problem with coconut flour is it's very dry...and a little pricey. So the way to get around that in this recipe is to use VERY ripe bananas. I'm talking about the pretty much black ones that are on the verge of being spoiled. The more ripe they are, the more moist they are and it compensates for the dryness of the coconut flour. With that said, the taste is the same as a typical banana bread, which means it's just as yummy! 

Another recipe I jacked off Pinterest and did it my own way.

Paleo Banana Bread

⅔ c Coconut Flour

1 tsp salt

1 tsp baking soda

2 tsp cinnamon

3 ripe bananas, mashed

6 eggs

2 tsp vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 350. Mix all the dry ingredients together in a small bowl, set aside. Mash bananas in a large bowl (I used a potato masher), and add remaining wet ingredients. Mix well. Add dry ingredients to wet ingredients and mix until well blended. Pour mix into a greased bread pan and place in the oven for 45-50 mins. 

Dry ingredients

Mashed bananas

Wet ingredients with bananas

Now a yummy way to jazz this recipe up is to add a teaspoon of pumpkin spice seasoning or put a mix of turbinado and cinnamon on top of the mix prior to placing it in the oven for a really sweet crunch! This recipe wasn't a big hit in my house but only because of the coconut flour and, the other downside to it, it's grittiness. Obviously, you could sub out coconut flour for almond flour, since I really have done a good job of making coconut flour sound that appetizing. BUT then it wouldn't be Paleo! Hope you guys enjoy this one!

Cabbage and Chicken Soup

I know it's been forever since I've posted on here but I'M BACK! And I've changed the name of the blog too because this name is more fun and more cooler! One of my coworkers made a delicious cabbage and chicken soup (that I sampled) that is the inspiration for this recipe. What's cool about this recipe is, you can add whatever veggies you'd like. She added okra to her's, which I really liked, but totally forgot to buy. Anyways, this recipe make a lot of soup and it's really good.

Cabbage and Chicken Soup

1 package of organic chicken breast cutlets (about 3-4 cutlets)

1/2 of a small head of green cabbage

1/2 of a small vidalia onion

1 small bag of frozen corn

4 carrots peeled and cut into 1 inch pieces

1 28oz can of crushed tomatoes (I used Muir Glen Fire Roasted Tomatoes)

1 vegan bouillon cube (I used Rapunzel vegan vegetable bouillon)

Salt, black pepper and garlic powder to taste

A dash of cayenne powder

Preheat oven on broil. Season chicken to your liking and place chicken in oven to cook. This shouldn't take more than about 10 minutes MAX as these are cutlets and they aren't very thick. I seasoned my chicken with Borsari seasoned salt that I get from Whole Foods.

Cut up veggies and place in a big ass pot. Empty can of tomatoes into said big ass pot. Then fill can up with water and empty water into big ass pot as well. Throw in your bouillon cube and seasonings and put stove on medium heat. While this chicken is cooking, place lid on the pot and let it simmer.

Cut cooked chicken breasts into cubes and throw in big ass pot with everything else, when finished cooking. Leave stove on medium heat for approximately 20 minutes and then reduce to low and let simmer an additional 25 minutes or until veggies are to your desired tenderness. I like my veggies with a little crunch, so 45 minutes was exactly right for me. Longer, obviously, will yield softer veggies. 

The great thing about this soup is...you can do whatever you want with it! Thank you Terry for inspiring me and I hope you guys enjoy this one!

Vegan Chocolate Chip Cookies

So I'm just gonna get straight to the point here: THESE ARE AMAZING!!!! Ok, now that I got that out, we can get started. Another recipe I found on Pinterest, but jazzed up! This is also a simple recipe and is gluten free as well. Let's get to it:

Vegan Chocolate Chip Cookies

2 1/2 cups of almond flour

1/2 tsp of baking soda

1/4 tsp sea salt

1/2 tbsp cinnamon

1/2 cup chocolate chips (or raw cacao nibs, if you can get them)

1/2 cup grape seed oil

1/2 cup agave

1 tbsp vanilla extract

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. First, mix all the dry ingredients. I used Ghiradelli 60% Cacao chips because they actually didn't have any raw cacao nips at Fresh Market. Still just as good though. Second, mix all the wet ingredients. Then pour the wet ingredients in with the dry ingredients and mix everything together. I don't have a mixer so I just did this by hand, it's really not that difficult anyways and it all mixes together pretty quick.

Spoon dough onto a greased or lined cookie sheet. I used a teaspoon, and I'm glad I did as they expanded, tremendously, during baking.

Bake at 350 degrees for 8-10 mins. Let cool first, then remove from the sheet, it'll be easier.

Again, these are so freaking DELICIOUS!! Try these yourself and let me know what you think. I understand that if you do not have a gmail account you cannot reply or comment on my blog, but since I post these on Facebook and Pinterest, feel free to comment there and let me know. Enjoy and thanks for being healthy!!

Balsamic Parsnips

So these are a great side to, well...ANYTHING. They're easy to make and they just so happen to be yummy, as well! So if you don't know what a parsnip looks like, it looks like this...

So basically, they look like white carrots. They're softer than carrots and have a totally different flavor, they're kinda sweet. But they're great! This recipe is simple, so let's get to it:

Balsamic Parsnips

4 parsnips, peeled

1/2 tbsp agave

1 tbsp balsamic vinegar

1 tsp thyme


Preheat the oven to 425. Mix all the ingredients except the parsnips in a bowl. Then cut the parsnips in half then in quarters. The thicker the pieces, the longer they take to cook. Toss the cut parsnips in the balsamic mixture and coat well.

Lay the parsnips on a lined or greased cookie sheet, in a single layer. Place in the oven for 20 mins. Turning about halfway through, 10 mins into it. Remove from the oven when the time is up and enjoy!

Thanks for being healthy!

Smashed Partatoes

Soooo what we initially paired this with last night for dinner, honestly, wasn't really a good combo. And it's not because anything I made didn't taste good. I just think that the flavors involved in this and the flavors of the crab cakes and shrimp we made last night were clashing. But I paired this recipe with today with my Sweet Baby Ray's Burgers (see previous post), and what a combo!

I know you're probably like,"This dumbass misspelled potatoes, what an idiot!" Yeah, I totally didn't. I mean, potatoes obviously isn't spelled like that but for what's in this recipe, the spelling is fitting and correct. Parsnips + Potatoes= Partatoes. The combo of the two is actually really good and love the aroma of parsnips as they're cooking. And even if you've never had parsnips before, the flavors of EVERYTHING else that's involved in the recipe, including the potatoes, covers up the taste of them. Just in case you were worried about not liking the way they taste.

I used Yukon Gold potatoes for this because they're softer, so they cook faster, and I like the darker yellow color they have. Parsnips are softer too so they cook in the same amount of time as the potatoes. Ready Freddy?

Smashed Partatoes

3 medium Yukon Gold Potatoes, unpeeled

4 large organic parsnips, peeled

1 tbsp butter

1 tbsp finely chopped fresh rosemary

1 tbsp garlic powder

1 tbsp onion powder

Sea salt and pepper to taste

After peeling the parsnips and NOT peeling the potatoes, chop them up into large chunks. Takes less time to cook. Boil the partato combo on high for approximately 30-40 mins or until soft and easy to split with a fork. Drain partatoes and throw them back in the empty pot. Smash them up a little with a potato masher, then add the remaining ingredients. Depending on how smooth you like your partatoes. I like mine lumpy. After you've reached the desired lumpiness, mix with a spoon to ensure all the seasonings and butter spread evenly throughout.

Notice I didn't use any milk? That's ANOTHER great reason to use the Yukon Gold. Since they're softer, they're more moist as well. So no need for the milk, and the extra calories.

If you wanted to use fresh garlic, that would be a great idea. Hope you enjoy this as much as I did. Thanks for being healthy!

Sweet Baby Ray's Burgers

So I just made these and they're AHMAZING!!! This is actually totally my own recipe and not one I tweaked, like I usually do. This is actually the first time I've used the 95% lean grass fed ground beef, and it definitely will not be the last! It tastes so much better and cleaner! I'm in love ::sigh::

I really love cooking on my days off. I just like to look in my spice cabinet, look in the freezer, look back in the spice cabinet, look in the fridge and then I decide what I'm cooking and what's going in it. This method generally works out well, in case you were wondering. This method worked out very well for this recipe as well.

I'm really not a fan of consuming things with HFCS (high fructose corn syrup) in it (mostly because my brother is allergic to corn), for obvious reasons, but I love me some Sweet Baby Ray's BBQ sauce. I can't help it. It's delicious. And its so good that I'm afraid to try an all natural brand with no HFCS in it and then it's gonna suck and I'll just end up pissed. So, after much thought. It's decided. I'm sticking with the Ray's. I found 1 burger to be plenty when I ate these, but that may be because I ate it with my Smashed Partatoes (that's the next recipe btw), so everything was quite filling. Let's get this party started:

Sweet Baby Ray's Burgers

1lb 95% lean grass fed ground beef

1/4 cup of Sweet Baby Ray's Original BBQ sauce

2 tbsp minced garlic

1/4 cup minced onions

Pinch of black pepper (eyeball it)

Pinch of Borsari seasoned salt (again, eyeball it)

In a medium bowl add all the ingredients, including the beef, and mix throughly. I used my hand to mix it, it just works better. I actually put this back in the fridge for like 2 hours, only because I made this mixture ahead of time and wasn't ready to cook it yet. But there's no reason why you can't cook these immediately after combining everything.

Form patties to the size of your liking. I made decent sized patties, so 1 lb yielded 4 burgers. I cooked these stove top, cuz I'm afraid of using the grill (long story). But I'm sure they'd be sooooo much better on the grill. I cooked these about 7 minutes on each side total, over medium heat. I turned them a few times so as to brown evenly. You can cook them less or more depending on your desired "doneness."

Did I mention these came out amazing?!? Seriously though. Amazing. I also fried some plantains to eat with this. I did put about 2 tbsp of extra virgin olive oil in the pan for the burgers, but no oil for the plantains. You really don't necessarily need it if you have a good non-stick pan.

I hope you enjoy these as much as we did!! Thanks for being healthy!!