Black and White Cupcakes

Cupcakes for everyone! EVERYONE!

AHAHHAHAHHAHAHAHA!!!

B&W Cupcakes in one of the classy boxes my SIL gave me for Christmas.

The sticker reads "2011 Baked GLUTEN FREE with love by Mairi"

Excuse me, but these cupcakes are so darn good, I just can't contain myself. And best of all, they are gluten free AND vegan. Yes, that's right. My sister-in-law (different SIL) is a celiac and recently decided to become a vegan as well. Conveniently before her birthday celebration. So I had to scramble to find a vegan, gluten free cake recipe to replace the one I was imagining. I found this recipe and used it as my jumping off point. I topped it off with a little vegan cream cheese frosting using this recipe, which really just tastes like a buttercream, but it's better than any other dairy-free frosting I've had. Oh, and you know how you really have to cover GF cake with frosting to make up for the fact that it's GF? Notice how little I used on the pictured cakes? These little darlins don't even need frosting. Enjoy!

Black Cake

Gluten Free, Vegan

ingredients:

1/2 cup sorghum

1/2 cup brown rice flour

1/2 cup tapioca starch

1/2 tsp guar gum

1 cup white sugar (certified vegan, if you prefer)

1/4 cup cocoa powder (high quality. seriously. especially if you don't use coffee.)

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/3 cup vegetable oil

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 teaspoon distilled white vinegar

1 cup coffee (you can use water, but coffee makes it the bomb)

2 oz semi-sweet or dark chocolate (dairy free)

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Prepare muffin tin.

Sift together the flour, sugar, cocoa, baking soda and salt. Add the oil, vanilla, vinegar and water. Beat together until smooth. Add the melted chocolate. Beat again, scraping regularly until smooth. Batter should thicken slightly and be sticky, not soupy.

Pour into prepared tin and bake at 350 degrees for 20 minutes. Remove from oven and allow to cool completely before frosting.

Makes 12 muffins or 1 8 inch cake round

I yam what I yam

I have been enlightened!  Yams are not sweet potatoes.  Sweet potatoes are not yams.  All my life I've been walking around using the terms interchangeably, but they are actually different vegetables!  What I did know is that I didn't like sweet potatoes.  My mom loves them and every Thanksgiving she asks me if I like sweet potatoes.  What?  Ick!  No!  So because of my strong dislike for potatoes that are sweet, I've never even considered preparing them and really didn't even notice their "humble" existence in the produce section.  

I recently came across a cookbook by Susan O'Brien called The Gluten-Free Vegan.  I have been eating less meat, but assumed that being GF and vegan (can't have dairy and  really shouldn't be eating eggs anyway) would make the simple task of eating even more difficult so I was thrilled to find this gem of culinary creations.  There are a ton of great recipes!   This is where the yams come in.  I threw caution to the wind and decided to give yams a try (although they are apparently not even closely related, yams and sweet potatoes both have a sweet flavor).   I headed to my local Fry's for *gasp* sweet potatoes or yams or whatever and was thoroughly confused.  Yams.  Sweet potatoes.  Next to each other?  I thought they were the same thing?  So I bought whatever they had labeled as yams and a few other things I didn't have on hand and got to work.  If you don't rush right out and buy yams right now, you'll be sorry!  This dish is GREAT!  Here it is:

J&J's Favorite Yam and Black Bean Burritos

2 large yams (I bought 2, but only ended up using 1.)

1 tbsp. olive oil

1 cup chopped onion

2 tbsp. seeded and chopped red bell pepper

1 small jalapeno, diced

2 cloves garlic, chopped (I'm allergic, didn't use it.)

1 cup diced tomato

1 cup tomato salsa

1 tsp. chile powder

1 tsp. ground cumin (mmmmm...cumin.)

1 15 oz. can of black beans, drained and rinsed (I used dry beans that I soaked and cooked myself.  Sooooo much better!  You can make a huge batch and freeze them for later!)

2/3 cup chopped fresh cilantro (eh, didn't make the cut.)

2 tbsp. lime juice

1/2 tsp. salt

1/4-1/2 tsp. black pepper

8 rice or hemp tortillas (hahahahahahaha!  We all know that rice tortillas are a joke!  I used corn.)

There are two ways you can prepare the yams for this recipe: prick the yams all over with  a fork, bake in the oven at 400 degrees until soft, but not mushy (this is what I did); or prick them with a fork and microwave until soft, 5 to 6 minutes on high.

While the yams bake ( I waited until they were done, it took at least an hour in the oven), heat a large skillet over medium-high heat and saute the onion in the olive oil until soft, 3 to 4 minutes.  Add the red bell pepper and jalapeno and continue sauteing for another 3 to 4 minutes, or until the pepper becomes soft.  Add the garlic and cook for 1 minute.  Peel the yams, cut into cubes, and add to the vegetable mixture.  Add the tomatoes, salsa, spices, black beans, cilantro and lime juice.  Heat through.  Season to taste with any additional salt or black pepper.  Heat your choice of tortillas and dig in! (I also added avocado on top!)

These mini burritos/tacos have such an interesting spicy/sweet flavor!  So yummy!  I have more respect for yams now, but sweet potatoes can still suck it!  Enjoy!