Scraps and Snippets ~ Berry Coconut Cupcakes and Frosting ~ So Delicious

 I'm entering this recipe into the So Delicious Spring Fling Recipe Contest. 

Berry Coconut Cup Cakes (makes 18)

1 egg substitute (1 TBSP ground chia or egg replacer)

1/2 TBSP baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

3/4 Cup So Delicious coconut milk (at room temperature)

1/4 Cup jam (I used organic strawberry all fruit)

1/2 Cup of coconut oil (melted)

1 1/4 Cup sugar

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

2 1/4 Cup flour

Put milk and egg replacer powder together in a bowl and set aside. Cream coconut oil and sugar together. Add salt and baking powder, mix until incorporated. Pour half the milk and the extracts in and mix. Pour in half the flour and mix well, add the rest of the milk, stir then the additional flour and mix for two more minutes.

Fill cupcake liners 1/2-2/3 full. 

Bake at 350 for 15-17 minutes or until knife comes out clean. If you want vanilla, use 1 Cup of So Delicious and no jam.

Berry Frosting

3 TBSP berry jam

3 TBSP Earth Balance or coconut oil

1/2 tsp of vanilla

2 Cups powdered sugar

If too thick add just a splash of coconut milk, if still too wet add a little more powdered sugar.

When the cupcakes are cool frost each cupcake.  

Scribbles and Scrambles ~ A Few Words for the Weekend in Vegas...

We, my daughter & and I, went to Vegas for an Arbonne conference. Can I recommend Vegas to the average bear? Let's just say that it's not my favorite city.  If you don't smoke and don't drink and don't gamble, I don't know that it's a great choice for vacations. One of the doctors I work for took his family a few months ago and they did museums and shows and had a blast. He has video of his teens having an indoor sky diving fun time. 

But all that costs some serious green. And I spent my serious green on the ticket and the hotel. So. I didn't fully experience Vegas unleashed. But, like I said, I'm not sure I want to experience Vegas unleashed. 

This year we stayed at the Wyndam Grand Desert as it was right across the street from the MGM conference center. Next year we will do that again. The rooms had full kitchens and the pool areas were open 24 hours. We spent a lot of time hanging out at the pool and that was glorious. 

The conference was amazing. I am going to build my business. I have to. Arbonne cares about it's people and the world. I'm so impressed with the heart of the company. And I don't know that I've seen more beautiful people in my life. Seriously, Arbonne stuff works. The men and women there are users of our line and their skin, hair and confidence is a powerful testimony of how well these pure, safe and beneficial products work. Newly released is a combo weight loss system that has a metabolism booster with green coffee bean extract and a plant based appetite control component. My batch is in the mail. The testimonials from the guinea pigs who tried the products are impressive. There is a sleep spray that helps with insomnia and for those who just have sleep issues. 

While they introduced the new products they released millions of petals from the cat walks above. And then little foam happy face frisbees. So fun to have all of that rain down on us. 

During conference breaks we ventured out a bit. Took a half walk/half taxi ride to the Wynn Casino. Wynn has a vegan chef influence so many vegan options are available in their restaurants. After our walk we were pretty hungry so we split a vegan spinach artichoke dip, a "tuna" sandwich and the "hamburger"-chocolate shake-french fry meal we fell in love with last year.  Loved, loved, loved. And none of us took a single picture. The first morning we were there we took a taxi to Ronald's Donuts which had been highly recommended. I'll be doing a review this week, so more later. But I must say. WOW. 

Then. The trip home. 

We hit turbulence. I'm not horribly prone to motion sickness. But. Turbulence is not enjoyable at all. My daughter, &, was really having difficulty with it. Then it got worse. Omaha was having really bad weather. We flew through some clouds with lightning. The pilot said we were going to try to skirt the storms. We began descending and seemed like we might land. But suddenly the descent felt a little more like leveling out, then climbing. Not a good sign. Ten minutes later he announced that we would be taking a detour to Des Moines. Uh. Most of us didn't know Des Moines had an airport. Des Moines wasn't expecting us. A skeleton crew was all that was there. We landed, deplaned and spent an hour waiting for news. A plane heading to Chicago joined us, too. 

There was a lot of activity including a spontaneous volleyball practice. 

Finally, after the hungry hoards had eaten everything they could find before the Pizza Hut and snack/book/trinket store locked up, we were given the news we'd be going back to Omaha. We got back on, fired up the engines and took off into the storm that had been in Omaha and was heading toward us. Let's just say that by the time we went way into Kansas and circled back to Omaha and landed, poor & was clutching her barf bag and doing lamaze style breathing. She never gave up the contents of her stomach but I believe that hour and a half was the longest of her life. 

Terra firma has never been more fabulous. 

Scribbles and Scrambles...What a Weekend....Word (Free)

Scribbles and Scrambles ~ Happy Friday

Scribbles and Scrambles ~ A Picture Paints a Whole Lot of Words.

Kansas City restaurant outside wall. Don't know what it's called but every time we've gone to Cafe Gratitude this little happy tot greets us. How can it not be great? She thinks it is. 

Sad Sushi. Ha Ha. My friend Lindsey snapped a picture of this guy before she snarfed him down. It shouldn't make me happy but it does. Sad Sushi. Ha Ha. 

Uhhhh. Not sure what this horrible contraption is. We saw it at an antique store and paused just long enough to take a picture. The string? Dental floss. "Hey kid, floss your teeth or I'll haunt your dreams!" Maybe the purpose was to tie the string on a loose tooth and throw the cast iron clown head over the railing thus removing the tooth. (Again, dream haunting for those who disobeyed.) The purpose can't be sweet, whimsical or happy. Right? Shudder.

Scraps and Snippets ~ "Tuna" Ring

Tuna Ring

1 can of young green Jackfruit in brine

1 TBSP of seaweed of choice

1 Cup of water

Dump these three things in a pan and simmer for 20 minutes. 

Remove the chunks of jackfruit into a bowl and shred/chop into tuna looking bits. (I removed the chunks of jackfruit and left the seaweed behind since I don't love super fishy taste and this was just the right amount of sea flavor since the jackfruit absorbed the taste while simmering.)

Add 1/2 of vegan cream cheese container. (4 oz)

1/2 TBSP dill pickle relish

1/2 TBSP sweet pickle relish (or 1 TBSP of whichever you have)

1 TBSP finely chopped onion

1/4 teaspoon salt

2 TBSP nutritional yeast

Mix all together very well

Crescent rolls (1 can, make sure it's vegan) You could also use your favorite pizza dough and make this a pocket or calzone. 

To make a crescent roll ring separate the 8 triangles of dough. Lay each of the  longest pointiest ends over the rim of a large pie plate or round baker. The shorter two point ends will over lap and there will be a hole in the center. It's going to look kind of like a stick drawing of a sun. Press the overlapped edges in the pan together. 

Scoop the "tuna" mixture onto the flat inner circle of dough. Then take each outside point and pull it over the mixture and tuck it slightly under the inner ring of dough. 

Bake at the temperature called for on the can (or in your pizza dough recipe) Bake approximately 6 minutes longer to make sure everything is cooked through. 

Serve.  

Scraps and Snippets ~ Salted Caramel Apple Fritter

Salted Caramel Apple Fritter

Makes 8

1 package of vegan crescent rolls

Preheat oven to 350 (or temperature on the package)

Lightly grease a muffin tin. 

Take each crescent roll triangle and place the triangle into the muffin tin. Press and stretch/break off tips as needed to make the entire muffin tin filled so it looks like a little pie. Bake these for 10 minutes (or until golden.)  Remove from oven. These won't be flat and pie shaped any more, but no worries. You could also do this with pie crust or phyllo dough. 

While the crusts cool make the Salted Caramel Apple Filling/topping.

2 Apples diced (I seeded them but did not peel them.) 

1/3 Cup sugar (or brown sugar)

1/4 Cup maple syrup

1/2 teaspoon vanilla

1/4 Cup chopped pecans (or walnuts or dried cranberries)

1/8 teaspoon salt

1 TBSP cornstarch (or arrowroot)

1 TBSP water

Toss diced apples into a saucepan, add syrup and sugar and begin simmering. Simmer about 10 minutes until apples begin to tenderize and release the juice and sugar melts. Add the salt and pecans and stir well. While simmering, in another cup or bowl mix the vanilla in the TBSP of water and add cornstarch, stirring until the cornstarch dissolves. Then pour the cornstarch mixture into the simmering apples. Stir well and simmer for an additional 7 or so minutes until the mixture thickens and reduces into a caramel. 

Scoop mixture into the crescent cups.