Top 2 Drinks For Spring

Spring is here and that means you need to put away the cocoa mix.

Last week there was a foot of snow and now it's 60 degrees. If you're out with friends or have friends over, pick up an actually refreshing drink. These are my favorite two- Apple Ginger Ale and MAPLE iced coffee.

 

1. Apple Ginger Ale

 

This is mostly Thug Kitchens Agua Fresca recipe, so go check it out on their blog.

1. Juice a few apples, until you have 2 cups of juice.

2. Throw it in a blender with a cup of water and  juice from half a lime.

3. Add the tiniest bit of agave or if you want it EVEN sweeter you can add more.

4. Once that's blended, add ginger ale and serve/drink

Drink it straight out of the blender if you want to.

 

 If you're over 21 or within your household and have permission from your parents, a splash of whiskey (Jameson works best) makes this a great party drink

 



MAPLE SWEETENED ICED COFFEE THING.

DUDE.

If you've walked any sort of step for any sort of man kind on any moon or planet you've had iced coffee. Cold brew coffee. I don't have a recipe of my own and I don't want to feel like I'm copying someone so just look online. Add a small scoop of coconut cream or the white stuff collected at the top of canned coconut milk to a blender with a cup or two of ice. Dump in 2 cups of cold coffee. IF you don't want to cold brew coffee, use some old stuff but it's not the same. Add maple syrup- as much as you want for how sweet you'd like it. My favorite soy creamer is the one at Trader Joes. If I were to go back to a regular diet, I would still be using this stuff. Anyways, add 1/4 a cup UNLESS you like it more or less diluted. Blend and possibly add extracts like vanilla or almond for an extra kick.

Top with whipped coconut cream and anything from chocolate flakes to toffee chunks. 

Sweet Potato Cupcakes

I was on the cooking channel and it was around 3 AM so I was feeling really open to ideas, and since it's now been over 24 hours since I've slept, I decided to go through. I made jam thumbprints and a giant breakfast for my family and now at 4:38 PM, sweet potato cupcakes. The thing on the cooking channel obviously had eggs and butter and cheese and just a bunch of anti-vegan things. I didn't use a recipe and they actually turned out pretty delicious. The one on the cooking channel actually had an espresso icing filling, and I did the same. That's also below. Now because I didn't measure, this is going to be a little different.

One thing you should expect is for it to be really moist. I really like it, but if you don't want it to be so much, use a regular vegan vanilla or plain cupcake recipe and replace whatever butter replacement with the measurements you need for yam.
 
MAKE SURE to adjust it with sugar, almond meal, and what ever else.

                                                            INGREDIENTS

3/4ish a cup of sugar

Small spoonful of almond butter- this adds moisture but it's really not needed

1 1/2ish cups of almond meal

Small handful of flax seed (ground)

Mix some baking soda and baking powder somewhat evenly until you have about considerate tablespoon

One yam/sweet potato boiled for about 20-25 minutes, peeled

Dash of vanilla extract

Small splash of almond milk or dairy milk substitute

2 pinches of salt

Dash of nutmeg, dash of cinnamon, dash of ground clove

                                                            DIRECTIONS

1. Mix this all together and put in the oven at 375 for 15 minutes, or until they seem done.

2. Let them cool completely.

3. Add icing on top, and place in the fridge.

                                                              ICING

Vegan butter substitute, spoonful or two

Pinch of salt

Splash of rum

Splash of vanilla

Splash (or two) of espresso coffee and

5 to 8 spoons of powdered sugar or until it's the texture you want it
                                                     
                                                    DIRECTIONS

1. Whip/whisk together
2. Place in the fridge to cool/harden 

• 

Daikon Noodle and Spinach Salad with Cilantro, Lemon, and Peanut Sauce

1. Using a vegetable peeler, scrape daikon raddish to form noodles. Set aside.

2. Peanut Sauce:

• 2 dollops of peanut butter, 1 tablespoon of sugar, 1 tablespoon or more of chili flakes, and 5 to 7 tablespoons of soy sauce- depending upon how thin you want the sauce. I had mine as an almost thin paste but not yet qualifiable for the title.

3. Mix the noodles and peanut sauce together. Add a handful of spinach or some leafy green.

4. Put into a serving dish and top with cilantro, basil, carrots even. Squeeze lemon (preferably lime, but both work nicely) over top.