Vegan Cider Waffles With Apple Cranberry Topping

Don't tune me out at the word vegan, y'all. I personally dip my toes in vegan baking pretty frequently, as I am a semi-lactose-intolerant vegetarian who lives with a dyed-in-the-wool vegan. I can say with confidence that this is among the easiest vegan "pastry" recipes ever. There are no flax or chia eggs, no Ener-G egg replacer, only really simple ingredients that you probably already have in your pantry.

But seriously, YUM, guys. These are light and crispy, spicy and aromatic, and they pretty much taste like fall on a plate. The apple cranberry topping is a quick and simple touch that take these to the next level. They don't take that much effort to make, and they will totally make your Saturday morning the best one ever. Trust.

RECIPE (adapted from Art of Dessert)

Makes 3 large waffles

Waffle Ingredients:

1.5 cups + 3 tbsp flour

1 tbsp baking powder

1 tbsp brown sugar

1/2 tbsp pumpkin pie spice

1/4 tsp salt

1.5 cups almond milk

6 tbsp apple cider

5 tbsp coconut oil (or vegetable oil)

1 tsp vanilla extract

Apple Topping Ingredients:

2 medium apples (I used Gala, but feel free to use whatever you like)

2 tbsp brown sugar

1 tbsp pumpkin pie spice

3 tbsp coconut oil (or vegan margarine)

3 tbsp dried cranberries

Dash of maple syrup (optional)

Waffle Instructions:

Preheat waffle iron and spray with non-stick spray

Stir all of the ingredients together in a large bowl until smooth

Pour 1/3 of the batter into the iron

Repeat until you have achieved a warm waffle trifecta

Topping Instructions:

Peel, core, and slice your apples

Preheat coconut oil in your pan

Add spices, sugar, and cranberries, stir until combined

Add apples, saute for about 5-7 minutes or until apples are tender

If using maple syrup, stir it in right at the end and get it out quick to prevent sticking

Pour on top of warm waffles and enjoy a taste of the season!

P.S. the waffle maker we have now is an old one of mine from my parents' house. It's shaped like a princess carriage. So every breakfast is 300% more awesome for this fact. Look on in envy:

Beat the Heat: DIY Passion Tea Lemonade

I have another confession to make: I have a Starbucks issue, and mostly everybody knows. Every birthday and Christmas, I get roughly 7 Starbucks gift cards, and like clockwork, I burn through them each semester. They really didn't do me any favors by starting to charge for soy milk. It's like, excuse me, Starbucks, do you know who I am? I have a gold card.

I battle the soy milk conundrum by drowning myself in passion tea/green tea lemonades. I'm not too enthused about spending $5 on a glorified Arnold Palmer, however. Hence why I was so excited to find the Starbucks Tazo Iced Tea bags on sale at Target near the tail end of last summer. I promptly forgot about them, then rediscovered them while digging through my basement in a heat exhaustion-induced haze on this 90 degree afternoon. I broke out my juicer and I got to work, and let me tell you: this is so much better than the Starbucks lemonade-out-of-a-carton version. I promise.

PREP TIME
15-20 minutes (or however long it takes you to juice 7 lemons...)

MAKES:
6 big-ish glasses

INGREDIENTS:
 1 1/2 cups lemon juice (about 5-7 lemons)
8 cups water
1 Tazo passion tea bag
Zest of 2 lemons
Rind of 1 lemon
1 1/2 cups sugar*
Strawberries for garnish (optional)

DIRECTIONS:
1. Bring 4 cups of water to a boil. Remove from heat and add lemon zest and rind, tea bag, and sugar. (The box says to let the tea steep for 5 minutes, but I probably left mine in there for 15)
2. Juice your lemons until you have 1 1/2 cups, then strain out seeds and pulpy gunk
3. Strain out the zest and rind from your tea 3. Combine lemon juice and tea in a large pitcher and add 4 cups of cold water. I added a few sliced strawberries at this point, but that's optional
4. Refrigerate for at least 1 hour, then serve over ice. Garnish with a strawberry if you'd like.

*I put 1 cup of sugar in mine and it turned out a little too sour for my liking, so I added a few squirts of agave nectar. If you like yours as sweet as Starbucks makes it, I would advise putting at least 1 1/2 cups in there, maybe 2.

This is the perfect summer drink to cool down with, and it tastes even better knowing you didn't pay a whole bunch of money for a cup of ice with a splash of tea and lemonade in it. With the way the forecast is looking this weekend, I may be making another batch...or two.

Recipe: AB&J Smoothie

I can't believe I haven't shared a recipe with you guys yet! I'm really passionate about food, and I live to cook. It's a bit difficult in a dorm room, though! Now that I'm home for the summer, look forward to a lot of Frankenstein-y vegetarian/vegan recipes. Some of it may look a little funky, but I promise there's a method to my madness.

I love smoothies for breakfast, and I always try to experiment to make something that marries really healthy and really delicious. Enter the AB&J - fruits, veggies, protein, and Omega 3s make a breakfast worth getting out of bed for.

Ingredients:
1 large banana, frozen in chunks
~4 strawberries
~3 baby carrots
1 heaping tbsp almond butter
1 tbsp ground flax (whole flax works too, but makes the smoothie a little chewy)
3/4 cup almond milk (or whatever milk you prefer. This makes a realllly thick, milkshake-esque smoothie, so if you like yours thinner, up the quantity accordingly)

Instructions:
Throw everything into a blender, with milk last
Even the baby carrots will blend up...I promise

Blend until smooth

And enjoy! This is seriously the perfect summer breakfast, and the almond butter/strawberry combo makes this smoothie taste like a delicious peanut butter and strawberry jam sandwich. Bonus: there's about 8 grams of protein in this sucker, and it's jam packed with healthy fats and sweet, fruity goodness. Other bonus: it tastes like a milkshake.

Let me know if you give this smoothie a try - I swear by it! Happy blending.

Baked Apple Cider Donuts

Have you ever been to a New England apple orchard and eaten apple cider donuts fresh from the fryer, covered in delicious cinnamon sugar? They make your hands all sticky and grainy, but it's SO worth it, because your taste buds are doing dances of joy. If you've never experienced this, make these donuts IMMEDIATELY. If you have, I probably don't need to convince you.

We don't need to get into semantics about how these are in no way, shape, or form seasonally relevant - I made these for my mother's Christmas office party a few months and people went nuts over them; I made a batch for my roommates last month, and they were gone in a day. They're (slightly?) healthier than their fried counterparts because they are baked and made with white whole wheat flour. You don't need a special donut pan for these, which is not something you can say about a lot of donut recipes. And reducing the apple cider makes your house smell like a warm, apple-y wonderland. They're so perfect for Sunday brunch, and they keep for a week or so in an airtight container (not that they last that long in my house) for an on-the-go breakfast, or lunch, or dinner, or snack. These are just really good, guys. Check out my post on Simmer Magazine to get the recipe, and get cookin'!