Friday the 13th comes only a few times a year. Some of us consider it an unlucky day, or a day where frightfully awful things are bound to happen. Some of us get amped up about it and make cupcakes with Jason masks and blood spatter to celebrate. Now that's making lemonade out of lemons.

This is a  chocolate stout cake, filled with fudgy ganache and spread with a thick layer of chocolate buttercream, then topped with a fondant Jason mask! I plan to eat these while watching old low-budget scary movies and drinking the rest of my 16 ounce chocolate stout. Gotta get down on Friday.

Cherry Blossom Cupcake! 

Since it's Spring and all the cherry blossoms are decorating the trees looking pretty, I thought I'd make a cherry-blossom-inspired cupcake! It's an almond cake filled with cherry preserves and topped with cherry-almond icing and a marzipan flower. Clearly prettier than all of her brother and sister cupcakes on the menu. They're all jealous. She consoles them by reminding them of their other good qualities...

Happy Friday the 13th everybody!

I had an ideal weekend planned, where I would wake up early Saturday morning, go to the gym, come home, do the dishes, shower and start cooking my menu for the day. I would make a hundred different things, clean out the fridge, clean my kitchen and leave it spotless before going out for date night. 

About half of that happened. Doesn't that always seem like that's the way things go? Apart from a few key things, like my kitchen looking as though Godzilla trampled through it overturning bowls of flour and chocolate instead of cars and trampling out after dipping his feet in barbecue sauce, and me completely skipping out on a days worth of exercise, I guess you could say things went swimmingly.

I had 3 bananas past their prime, which is prime time for banana bread, banana muffins, banana cupcakes, even cheesecake. I opted for the Banana chip muffins this morning, maybe because muffins are so easy, and come together with 1 bowl and 1 pan. As you may be able to discern, I am of the no-dishwasher set-up. It's almost like when I buy bananas, I look forward to 4 days later when there are a few brown ones left for me to mash up and go to town on, as if brown bananas are more exciting to me than fresh ones. I do also love me a straight up fresh banana. As you can see this study has been inconclusive.

I. love. Challah bread. Pre-vegan, I used to buy it at Panera Bread and eat the whole thing in one day because I couldn't stop ripping pieces off and shoveling them down. I once brought home a loaf and left some on the counter, and my mom came along and encountered the same problem, that is lack of self restraint in the context of eating Challah bread. I then learned to make it, and made it so much that I got tired of it (gasp) and shortly after that I became vegan and thought my Challah-eating days were over. But alas, vegan dad has saved me from such a horrible fate, that being unable to enjoy Challah bread, with his killer recipe. The dough was remarkably more sticky than most doughs I've had to knead out, but power through, just sprinkle a little flour when needed. It also makes a giant batch of dough, which was really fun to knead. I liked being able to push and pull and take up my whole side counter with a huge massive dough. It's bigger than any I've kneaded yet, and I kind of liked it. Is that weird?

And here we have exhibit B, the classic case of losing all self restraint and ripping off a huge chunk of the bread almost straight out of the oven, still piping hot, and before photography no less. Can't wait 10 measly minutes for the bread to cool before shoving it into my mouth. Good thing this recipe makes 2 loaves. There's a certain crack-status this bread holds. It's quite mysterious. The authorities are without answers.

S'mores Pie!! A variation on Vegan Pie in the Sky's Chocolate Pudding Pie, with cashew creme, graham crackers, and torched dandies marshmallows. Topped with ganache, she sure does photograph nicely. 

After forcing him to drop what he is doing and immediately come marvel at my amazing creation, Alex asks, "How are you supposed to slice that?" A fairly valid question to which I replied, "Carefully." I have yet to slice it, but when I do, I will use my utmost care and caution. Once sliced, I will become fox-like and ditch all silverware or food utensil and mow face, Fantastic Mr. Fox-style.

This was planned to be the Spicy Blue Potato and Corn salad from Appetite For Reduction but I couldn't find any blue potatoes. These little baby bliss potatoes swapped nicely, though. This is a vinaigrette-based potato salad with pinto beans, corn and chipotles. It's for a brunch tomorrow, but I obviously had to take a taste, and I'm pretty into it. I'm usually a vegenaise-mustardy-dressing fan when it comes to the potato and macaroni salad, but the vinaigrette pulls its weight and it's so much lighter. You've got to pack healthy dishes with flavor, otherwise you're never going to eat it! 

Unphotographed are a couple of pizzas, barbecued seitan, chile-cornmeal-crusted tofu burritos with broccoli cole slaw, and some seitan chicken-style nuggets. Slam dunk.  Also, a new spring flavor will go up shortly perhaps followed by 2-3 more before the seasons end. 

Happy Easter, Passover, Challah-eating Day everybody!!!

I cook every day of my life. Most days I do this because I live in a world that doesn't always support my diet. But truth be told, I'd cook even if I wasn't on a strict diet, or had no dietary restrictions at all. I do it because I feel weird if I haven't cooked yet today. If I have a full day off, I spend a lot of it in the kitchen, because that's where I like to spend my days off. I really love cooking. No really, once I said to my mom, "I bet it would be fun to make your own tortellini" while we were out grocery shopping together as she reached for a frozen package of tortellini. She obviously looked at me like I had just gotten a tattoo of Glenn Danzig on my face. Anyways, the point I'm somehow trying to surface is that nobody ever cooks for me. Not that I ask them to, or that I don't go out to dinner with friends, but I can count on one hand the number of times someone has prepared something in their kitchen especially for me that I wasn't paying them for. And I have the most fond an appreciative memories of those times. 

So I went to dinner a couple weeks ago at my friends Naomi and Greg's house and they cooked for me! They made a kickass salad with garlicky croutons and tomatoes and avocados, and you know you have me at avocado, and a Jamaican stew with seitan! It was obviously delicious and I loved every bite. I made a dessert to bring along, and then realized there was no way Alex was eating a pie with 2 of his least favorite ingredients in the title of it. So I made some brownies too. 

Chocolate fudgy brownies with mini chips inside. I topped it with ganache and a sprinkle of mini chips for maximum chocolate-chip impact. Success. They were well received by both coconut and non-coconut-eating parties.

This is my pie. It's beautiful, I know. It's out of Vegan Pie In The Sky and it's called Coconut Lime Cream Pie. It needs no further explanation.

Okay, I know it's gorgeous, but believe it or not, it looks even better in non-phone pic format, which at this time I am unable to achieve.  I also made a Patstichio from Terry's book, an Appleberry pie from my pie book, and a gazillion cupcakes. Basically, I've been breakin' necks and cashin' checks, and by that I mean baking a lot. Pretty cool, huh..

For friends' birthdays I try to make them their favorite flavor. If it's my friend Patrick, I know I've got to bring something with chocolate and peanut butter. If it's my friend Brian, I know he's gonna go for the vanilla cake with vanilla frosting. My dad will light up if I bring him home red velvet cupcakes, and my mom will find no guilt in houzing cupcakes if they're coffee flavor. I'm lucky enough that my friends and family will try anything I put before them, but at the end of the day, the reason I do what I do is to make them happy, and sometimes they're happiest with the classics.

So here is my list of classics, as I consider them. I'd happily run train on a dozen of any of these flavors without the need of a special occasion. Hopefully, you won't need one either. These will be available year-round-- which is all the time. That means if you have an emergency, like a raging painful craving for chocolate cupcakes, a nightmare about a world that outlawed cupcakes, or a special uncle flying in from Czechoslovakia last-minute and he's on a strict banana-split diet and all the Friendly's are closed, then I'm your girl. 

Vanilla/Vanilla with sprinkles! The best birthday cupcake ever!

Chocolate Glaze- chocolate cake with ganache center, dipped in ganache and sprinkled with oreo pieces.

Banana Split- banana cake, vanilla buttercream, chocolate drizzle, chopped peanuts and a cherry

Chocolate Peanutbutter- chocolate cake with ganache center, peanutbutter frosting, chocolate and PB drizzle and mini chips

Red Velvet- red velvet cake with cream cheese frosting

Enjoy everbody!

St Patrick's Day is here! What a great holiday... An excuse to wear green, which we blondes look especially good in, to drink many beers perhaps beginning at an early hour, and to cook an Irish feast! Now I know you're all thinking, "That's just what she does every day..." but March 17th is special. The green is much more elaborate, I almost always break out the kelly green, the best shade of green. The beer-drinking is accompanied by the rest of the participating country, and the beer is often green. Of course the feast is special too. I make Irish stew many times throughout the year, yes... But I don't serve it alongside beer-braised cabbage, colcannon, and loaves upon loaves of Irish soda bread. See? Holiday.

I've always been a bold girl. I've always said just what I felt and had a hard time not saying what I've felt. I've always opted for bright instead of muted, hence painting my room a shade of yellow that made it look like the lights were always on instead of a nice beige or olive. I've always been rebellious, and sometimes only because someone told me I couldn't do something. I played football and soccer instead of barbies and babydolls, I once wore flip flops and ripped jeans through a whole winter in New England because I was, in my head, rebelling against winter, and I may or may not have punched a boy in the face for saying that girl's couldn't be punk when I was in high school. I feel like now, though toned down quite a bit, I still maintain my bold roots. I drink beer, never anything with sour mix, and I drink IPAs, never lite beer. I'll take a whisky over rum, and I drink red wine, not white. I wear black boots, not cowboy boots, flats not pumps, and flip flops, not heels. I'm punk, not country, bold, not tame, sassy, not sweet. I roll this way in my kitchen as well. Observe.

Mixed grill for vegans! A Jamaican Jerk grill, at that! Now this recipe called for 1 habañero chile, but I do things extreme, and used 1 habañero chile, 1 fresno chile, and 1 jalapeño chile (that's triple extreme). I made some garlicky, spicy seitan and roasted it in my marinade along with some pressed and sliced tofu for the best mixed grill ever! Jamaican Jerk Sauce from the Terry Hope Romero collection.

Soup? Although soup seems un-bold, this soup is anything but. A labor of love, the broth is homemade (duh) and laced with sesame tahini and miso. Roasted sweet potatoes, ramen noodles, grilled corn, silken tofu, crisp scallions and peppery cabbage bring it all home. This bold, salty, silky, amazing broth can be a brilliant canvas for whichever noodles and veggies you have burning a hole in your bottom bin or hanging veggie basket or wherever you typically let things hang out until they start to go bad. Also on loan from THR's latest.

This is weekend falafel. The falafel I make every weekend. I do a special falafel dance when I eat it. It's my favorite thing ever and I think about it all week long while I'm a work, while I'm at the gym, while I'm driving to the health food store in Princeton, while I'm watching DD&D, while Alex tells me all about all the work he has to do, and while my neighbors scream and make holes in their walls. I even dream about this falafel. So yes, that's some good falafel. I don't know how it's punk or badass.. it must just be because it's vegan. All vegans are punk. Everyone knows that.

I'm approaching free-book status in the Terry Hope Romero testing pool. We all strive for free-book status, and I am one Italian-style cheesecake away. This batch of recipes is SO awesome!! I have loved everything I have made recently and can't wait to see the book all put together with pictures and notes and funny commentary as per usual with all of Terry's books and writings. I promise it will be badass and punk and bold and all the things I claim to represent in all its glory.

Next post: A variety of [non]traditional Irish fare, boozy desserts, and St. Patricks Day cupcake special!

<3 KZ

I know I already told you that the first thing I learned how to cook was spaghetti. I used Rachel Ray's recipe for pasta sauce. Although now I may or may not consider that fact a skeleton in my closet, then, I thought it was the best pasta sauce I'd ever tasted, that hit all the right notes on the flavor scale. It was probably because I was so impressed with myself for making something that tasted okay, well-seasoned, not burnt, or didn't catch on fire.

My friend Trevor shares the same passion for a good pasta sauce, and always lets me know when it tastes right or what it's missing. He'll take a taste, think carefully, and deliberate, "..Good acid, good salt content, nice flavor profile... Missing that heat though..." I've cooked many meals for Trevor though fewer recently since so many miles separate us, but he was always my favorite fan and critic. 

One of the first few times Trevor came over for dinner, I made this meal. I called it 10-shallot pasta, which is exactly what it sounds like-- pasta with 10 sauteed shallots, olive oil, and parsley. It is incredibly easy to make and more importantly costs peanuts. I said, "This is what I make when we're poor." In response, my good friend Trevor said, "Don't ever get rich." 

This one's for you, Trev.