I got really motivated to cook last weekend, and I'm hoping that I can keep my momentum going through the next one! I'm finally feeling better, and my cough is almost gone (thank GOODNESS), so I'm pickin' up my spatula and going to work all over again. And I'm darn excited about it.
I can't spoil any Valentine's Day surprises just yet in case John visits my blog, so it'll have to be after the fact. ;) But here's what I got into last weekend!
I had a big time craving for savory AND sweet, and since we had a big snowstorm and not much else to do, I figured why not make both? I whipped out Alicia Silverstone's book The Kind Diet, and got to work. Seriously guys, this book is fantastic. Every recipe is really easy, totally vegan, and crazy delicious. All those things are very important to me!
These are Chocolate Peanut-Butter Cups. I seriously think they are even better than Reese's. Yep, I said it. And I'm a HUGE Resse's Peanut-Butter Cup fan! But I could just not stop eating these puppies.
You basically just melt together peanut butter, sugar, and ground-up graham crackers, then dump them it into cupcake liners. I think vegan butter was in there somewhere too, but you'll have to check the recipe!
Then you melt up some chocolate chips with soymilk. I used 1/2 white chocolate chips, and 1/2 semi-sweet 'cause I didn't have enough of one or the other!
Dump the chocolate on top of the peanut butter, add some chopped nuts, then pop in the fridge for 2 hours to set. They are DELICIOUS, and I'm very very sorry about the fact that you will not be able to stop yourself from eating them. :)
Next up was Cheesy Oozy Guacamole Dip! Yes, it was as delicious as it sounds...
I used my pie pan since it was kind of the perfect size for this. It's really just a big ol' layer dip - with baked beans, mashed avocado (with lime), tomatoes, fake sour cream (mixed with taco seasoning), green chiles, vegan Daiya cheddar cheese, and olives...
Almost done!! YUM!
.... and there you have it! You pop it in the oven so it's all bubbly & melty, and I had mine with some tortilla strips. It was absolutely fantastic, and totally satisfied my craving. Who knew vegan could be so darn good?
John's birthday is next week (just 2-days after Valentine's day), and I'm trying to figure out cute & creative ways to show him how much I adore him without spending any money. This is going to be a hell of a challenge for me (I'm the girl with the gift-buying problem), so I hope to have some good tips for you afterward!
Can't wait to catch up with y'all next week - I'll have some surprises (I hope). ;)
Did you make the PB cups exactly like the recipe? I have made them twice, and while DELISH, they never really firm up where you could take them out of the cup and they just sit there, if that makes sense. They are not totally runny, but I think if I ate them with my fingers instead of a spoon there was some left on the wrapper. I want them to be more like these pics. They are WAY better than Reeses!
ReplyDeleteI think I actually added a bit more of the mashed-up graham crackers! They really helped them stiffen up - also I used all-natural no-sugar-added peanut butter (so it was a bit less creamy than the regular stuff). I kept them in the fridge too (last time I didn't do that and they were too melty)! So definitely give those adjustments a shot & see how they turn out for ya! :) I LOVE this recipe!
ReplyDeleteI did keep them in the fridge, but will try the others (I also use the same kind of PB just for everything as I like it better...so really I will try more graham crackers!!!)...thanks!
ReplyDelete