tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-39834261951544343252024-02-20T23:08:12.221-08:00milk-and-teaIbrahim Samirhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16609960624731314818noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3983426195154434325.post-23024592827491240102014-01-14T08:22:00.001-08:002014-01-14T08:22:46.864-08:00 Happy Birthday <div dir="rtl" style="text-align: right;" trbidi="on">
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Guess what today is?<br />
...<br />
"The day after Christmas...?" you say? Eh. True, but also something else.<br />
<br />
Today is my birthday!<br />
Yup. My birthday is right after Christmas.<br />
To celebrate, I invited a couple of friends over and we ate cake, talked, <strike>went on omegle</strike>, and partially watched Monte Carlo.<br />
My dad somehow got me to get a cake from Cold Stone (the Cookie Dough Delirium one), even though I made vegan cupcakes prior to that. Sigh.<br />
Nobody ate them; then again, I never introduced them.<br />
Meh. Whatever, more cupcakes for me :]<br />
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However, this is not my recipe by any means! But, let me describe this cupcake for you.<br />
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First of all, the cake is nice and fluffy. Spongy, with a decadent, rich
chocolate flavor. Somewhat healthy, but just sweet enough to satisfy a
sweet tooth. The cake is vegan and wonderfully <b>rich</b>. Did I mention that yet? The richness, however, <b>isn't too rich</b> to when you bite into it, you feel heavy.<br />
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It's also just really delicious and not greasy. That's a serious win, because some cakes I get, they're greasy or <b>wayy</b>
to sweet to the point where I feel like I'll throw up. Ooh, I crushed
up about 1-1/2 oreos and just sprinkled it on top (<- my parents
bought oreos for my sister, but she never ate them >_>)<br />
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The frosting is very simple and can easily be piped on by using a ziploc bag, or if you're feeling <b><i>fancy</i></b>, a pastry bag can also work, but ziploc bags are just much cheaper and they seem to be a home staple :]<br />
The frosting can easily have it's flavor changed. I used a couple of spoonfuls of Adam's Natural Peanut Butter
and mixed/folded it into the frosting 'batter'. It's just a hint, but
when you bit into the cake, you'll definitely get the PB taste.<br />
<br />
Honestly speaking, I wish I was more creative with my 'decorating' even
though no one really saw it or ate it. Sure, these squiggly lines were
nice, but what about spirals?!<br />
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Okay. Enough with my weird mindless talking. Here are the links to the recipes:<br />
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Vegan Chocolate Cupcakes: <br /><a href="http://www.snack-girl.com/snack/vegan-chocolate-cupcake-recipe/">http://www.snack-girl.com/snack/vegan-chocolate-cupcake-recipe/</a><br />
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<i>how to make them healthier:</i><br />
-use healthier sugar alternatives, such as organic cane juice, demerara, turbinado, Sugar In The Raw,
etc. and just give it a whirl in a food processor or blender to make
the sugar finer (it may look like your processor have caught fire and
'smoke' may emanate from it; it's fine, just sugar powder)<br />
<i>-</i>lower the sugar if you want and add less dry ingredients (maybe 2/3 or 1/2 cup? 1/4 cup is too drastic in my opinion)<br />
<i>-</i>use whole wheat or spelt flour instead of all purpose<br />
-use half of the amount of oil recommended and substitute with
applesauce, banana, or pumpkin (although, personally, I think the
applesauce would affect the taste the least) for the other half.<br />
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Frosting Recipe:<br /><a href="http://itsybitsyfoodies.com/natural-buttercream-frosting-dyes/">http://itsybitsyfoodies.com/natural-buttercream-frosting-dyes/ </a><br />
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<i>variations:</i><br />
-cocoa powder makes a great chocolate frosting for chocolate cupcakes!<br />
<i>-</i>peanut butter gives it a slight brown-ish tint, but tastes amazing too.<br />
-the dyes in the post are great too; plus, they're natural (beet juice, carrot juice, spinach juice, and grape juice)<br />
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Night everyone :] As of today, I'm officially a teen, haha ^^<br />
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First photo but with Nashville filter :]</div>
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Ibrahim Samirhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16609960624731314818noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3983426195154434325.post-76658435800372151902014-01-14T08:14:00.003-08:002014-01-14T08:14:55.105-08:00 New Eating Changes...? <div dir="rtl" style="text-align: right;" trbidi="on">
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Hi there! :]<br />
I've noticed that since Halloween, my healthy-eating habits have been
waning and it's honestly not something I'm glad about. I mean, I <i>have</i>
been eating things like apples and quinoa but also things like Nutella
(from my friends during lunch. It's like melted milk chocolate spread on
bread) and too much sugar.<br />
<br />
Reminds me...I found Biscoff spread at my local grocery store yesterday. I heard it's addictive. I also heard that if I haven't tried it before, I shouldn't so I can save myself from an addiction.<br />
<br />
Anyways, during winter break (Dec. 16-30) I decided to rid meat in my
diet, but still include foods like shellfish (although I rarely eat
that, maybe max. 5 times a year), fish, and eggs (I need protein, of
course :). So far, so good.<br />
<br />
I'm personally notorious for eating many slices of bread a day,
sometimes even 4 slices in a day. Bad, bad habit. To break it, I decided
to freeze the bread I buy (who wants to give me a fool-proof yeast
bread recipe?) and that has helped or I only eat 1 or none slices in a
day. The most would be 2 since the bread is out of sight and mind.<br />
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Quinoa has been added to my diet, but will soon vanish as the store I go
to has stopped stocking on it. Instead, I'll be trying millet instead,
as that grain(?) is the only one available to me now.<br />
<br />
So, awhile ago, I made these muffins:<br />
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Recipe can be found here<br />
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Some modifications</div>
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<li>I couldn't actually <i>grate</i> an apple. Too much water in them, I guess, so I used ~1/3 cup apple sauce in place of the grated apple</li>
<li>In the topping, I decided to only use 1 tsp honey since the topping
already had 1 tbsp sugar + the muffin itself had 1/4 cup of honey</li>
<li>In the directions for the topping, it said to add oil, which wasn't
placed on the ingredients list so I just left it out. No harm done</li>
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Verdict: awesome muffin. I loved the topping; it was crunchy and sweet while the muffin was moist, although <b>very slightly </b>oily, so next time I think I'll add 2 tbsp oil and 2 tbsp applesauce (+ the applesauce for the grated apple)<br />
PS. Photos taken with iPhone 3GS, edited with apps on the iPhone (I
think one of them was Camera+). Also taken on a pretty bad day too...<br />
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<br />
So yeah. Ignore them :]
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Ibrahim Samirhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16609960624731314818noreply@blogger.com0