Holy Mole Popcorn

(pronounced holy mole-ay, por supuesto)

I sat in a conference room for twelve straight hours today. It was, let’s say, the opposite of fun. And while I thought I would be prepared by eating a hearty breakfast at home and bringing a nutritious granola bar to supplement the lunch that would be provided, it turned out that a) we had to stay for dinner as well and b) therefore all I ate between the hours of 9 AM and 9 PM was bread, salad, more bread, more salad…..and a granola bar. So my preparation was a bit lacking. You would think that this would inspire me to go home and cook a meal full of vegetables and protein. But instead…..I had beer and popcorn. And it was amazing.

But not just any popcorn. I recently realized that making popcorn at home is SO. FUN. It’s also terribly easy and cheap. I generally top it with melted Earth Balance and tons of Nutritional Yeast. But that wasn’t enough after the day I’d had. No, I needed dessert popcorn. Definitely some chocolate, a dash of spice, a hint of peanut butter, and something salty and crunchy to top it all off. This is, officially, my new favorite snack.

I have a confession, though. There’s one non-vegan thing over the past few months that I have (knowingly) fed myself. And that thing is peanut butter chips (sorry Dad, poor subject-verb agreement there). But whatever. They’re awesome. And this is what I did with them tonight:

Holy Mole Popcorn

2 C plain popcorn (from 1.5 T kernels – basic instructions here)
1 T Earth Balance Buttery Spread
1-2 T Chocolate Chips
1-2 T Peanut Butter Chips*
1/4 t cinnamon
dash cayenne pepper
roasted peanuts and crushed pretzels, for garnish

*you could probably make this a bit healthier (and vegan-er) by subbing 1T of peanut butter

1. Combine Earth Balance, Chocolate Chips, and Peanut Butter Chips (or peanut butter) in a microwave-safe bowl. Heat on high for 1 min, stirring once or twice.

2. Add spices and stir into chocolate mixture.

3. Pour chocolate mixture over your popcorn and top with roasted peanuts and pretzels (the pretzels are KEY). The mixture clearly combines best if you toss it with the popcorn, but I can’t be held responsible for how nasty this will make your hands look.

4. Enjoy with an ice cold beer, this book, and the satisfaction of not being in a freezing cold conference room.

chocolate cupcakes with pumpkin buttercream (!!!!!!)

Isa Chandra Moskowitz’s vegan chocolate cupcake recipe is one of the best things to ever happen to my baking repertoire. Seriously – the recipe is so easy to make, and your friends will be so impressed that these moist (YEAH I SAID IT), chocolatey cupcakes are made without eggs or dairy products. They also don’t have any weird rando scary vegan ingredients, so you won’t have to go spend $50 at the store once I convince you to make them.

This weekend, I completed my 200 hour yoga teacher training. We celebrated the culmination of the nine month process with a potluck dinner on Saturday night, and I jumped at the opportunity to bring dessert. I’ve made Eat, Live, Run’s version of these cupcakes with chai buttercream (and those are amazing too), but wanted to try something a little different this time. Since it’s fall, and you’re basically mandated to make at least one pumpkin-flavored thing a day this time of year, I went with pumpkin buttercream, adapted from this recipe.

chocolatey, pumpkiny goodness. topped with cacao nibs for crunch.

The cupcakes turned out perfectly and the pumpkin-chocolate combination is my new favorite. Please, please try these out and give them to people you love. Erika, I’m looking at you.

Vegan Chocolate Cupcakes with Pumpkin Buttercream Frosting

Chocolate Cupcakes:
Find the recipe here
I doubled the recipe and it made 24 cupcakes – you can probably make even more if you don’t chug liberally sample the batter.

Pumpkin Buttercream:
1/2 C Earth Balance (or other butter alternative), at room temperature
1 lb plus 1/4 C Organic Powdered Sugar
1/2 C Canned Pumpkin Puree
1.5 tsp Vanilla Extract
2 tsp Cinnamon*
1/2 tsp Nutmeg*
1/4 tsp Cloves*
1/4 tsp Ginger*
1/4 tsp Salt

Ziplock bag and disposable pastry tip (optional)

*you could also just use 3+ tsp pumpkin pie spice – these measurements are far from exact, so just taste as you go to find the spice combo you like best. But be careful with the ground cloves – those things are STRONG.

Cream together Earth Balance, pumpkin, vanilla, salt and spices with an electric mixer. Sift and gradually add in powdered sugar. Taste and adjust spices as you see fit. Try to resist the urge to eat it straight out of the bowl.

This icing was a bit runny, so i chilled it in the fridge for 1 hr before icing. Once your cupcakes are cooled to room temp and your icing has firmed up a bit, cut a tiny corner off of your ziplock bag and insert the pastry tip (insert innuendo here). Dump your icing into the plastic bag and sqeeze onto the cupcakes. Don’t be stingy with the icing! It legitimately tastes like pumpkin pie. Squeeze any excess icing into your mouth. Or do something more socially acceptably with it. It’s your call.

…and then your kitchen will look like this.

sometimes

Sometimes I wake up at 5 AM on a weekday to go to yoga and start my day off with a good sweat and a clear mind. Other times I wake up at 3 AM on a Sunday morning, can’t get back to sleep, and decide to make a trip to the 24-hour grocery store so I can make Peanut Butter Fudge Pretzel Brownies.

heaven.

Sometimes I judge the stringy-haired teenager working the night shift at Harris Teeter. And then I ask him for paper bags and we bond over soy-free Earth Balance. Don’t judge a book by its haircut.

Sometimes I make balanced breakfasts and eat my daily requirement of vegetables. Other times I spend my Sunday morning eating brownies, drinking coffee, and watching Freaks and Geeks in bed.

Sometimes I call my mom and cry because I’m lonely, and bored, and lost. But then, I randomly find myself baking and dancing around my kitchen at 4 AM, just because I can, and I remember how much fun this whole single-irresponsible-20something thing can be.

Sometimes I spend my Saturday evenings cooking nutritious dinners and reading books. And then there are the times where I ride in Karaoke Cabs on the way to dinner and eat a huge plate of sweet potato fries. (Sweet potatoes are good for me!)

don't stop believin' in the awesomeness of karaoke cab

Sometimes I pride myself on eating healthfully and taking good care of my body and doing things that are good for myself and good for the earth. But sometimes I just want to bake a huge batch of brownies and drink too much coffee and be lazy and carefree. I’ve learned that I have to allow myself these things – as long as I learn how not to eat the whole pan in one sitting.

While it’s important for me to treat myself well, establish healthy habits, and feel good, sometimes that means indulging in treats, or laying in bed and watching a movie, or going out with friends instead of getting a proper night’s sleep. We can’t expect ourselves to be perfect in any aspect of life – diet, job, relationships – or else we’ll just go crazy. So sometimes we have to learn to cut ourselves a little slack – because if we don’t allow ourselves that lazy Sunday or second third brownie, we begin to resent the healthy choices we are making. Eat salads and balanced meals and vegetables 90% of the time. And for the other 10% – let yourself live a little. Because what’s life without brownies every once in a while?

CUPCAKES

So about these brownies. I veganized them! And they are amazing. They even got roommate approval. If you do eggs and dairy, follow the original recipe and it’ll knock your socks off, I’m sure. But I’ve included my notes on what I did below. Either way, go make these. Now.

Pretzel Layer: I used melted Earth Balance instead of butter. Make sure to crush your pretzels up small! And don’t underestimate the combination of melted butter and salty pretzels – try not to eat it by the handful. [Note to any angsty girls out there: put on some Adele and whack a plastic bag full of pretzels with a heavy kitchen object. It will solve all of your problems!] I might try adding this layer on top of the brownies next time – some of the crumbles stayed in the pan, and I like as many salty pretzel bits as I can get.

Brownie layer: I used my favorite brownie recipe and used about 3/4 of the batter (the rest went into my mouth a few muffin tins)

Peanut butter layer: Make sure to microwave and mix right before you pour this on. Again, I didn’t use all of the PB mixture – maybe 3/4. FYI: I try to use organic powdered (and regular) sugar, as regular white sugar is often processed using bone char (source).

I baked these for 30-35 minutes and stuck them directly in the fridge to cool. The edge pieces are CLEARLY my favorite. Especially with extra pretzels crumbled on top. I have a feeling they won’t last very long.

Happy Baking! Go give yourself a hug and eat a brownie.

making mama proud

My mom is my best friend.  She has made me who I am, taught me compassion, and shown me how to live life with optimism and an unfailing desire to make the most of each day.  She also taught me how to bake.

baking pie, summer 2010

Countless times throughout my childhood, we would pull a red box of brownie mix out of the cupboards in our kitchen and dump the chocolate powder into a large metallic bowl.  We would add in water, oil, eggs, and stir until they made a sweet, rich, irresistible batter.  Sometimes, the batter would actually make it into a pan (Salmonella who?).  But there were always two crucial steps in the process.

First, my sister and I always got to lick the bowl.  And the spoon.  The amount of batter that “remained” in the bowl after pouring into the pan always varied.  I distinctly remember one time smearing batter all over my belly and promptly being placed into the bathtub.  We may not have been perfect (or clean), but we always had fun.

Second – and I hope my mom won’t disown me for giving away her secret to almost all baked goods – the brownies were underbaked.  This always created a gooey, delicious consistency – those that weren’t eaten straight out of the over went into the fridge, to be enjoyed later once they had become dense and fudgy.  Never cakey.  They were brought to school, lacrosse games, birthday parties – or just into the TV room.  But they were always the best.

Side note: my mom is also awesome because, knowing that edge pieces were my favorite, she would take a batch of brownies to my sister’s field hockey games but cut off all the edges and leave them at home for me. If that’s not love, I don’t know what is.

Now that I try to avoid processed foods and animal products, I’ve been trying to find a legitimate vegan brownie recipe.  It’s sort of been my baker’s Everest.  A brownie-like texture is hard to achieve since eggs do so much for texture, taste, binding, and rising.  There are a lot of recipes that SAY they are vegan brownies, but they’re really just chocolate-flavored baked goods.  But I FINALLY found the perfect recipe on one of my favorite healthy living blogs, Une Vie Saine.  Warning: these are not health food. They are fudgy, chocolatey, perfect.  Find the recipe here.  I added in 1 C chopped 100% dark chocolate and followed the rest of the recipe to a T(easpoon?).

I think my mom would approve.  Now who wants to help me finish the pan of brownies in my fridge?