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Chocolate Whoopie Pies (Paleo)

13 Mar

Whoopie Pies - 15I must admit, I never had a whoopie pie before I made these. It turns out I like them. They’re like an inverse cupcake, and they were fun and easy to make. They’re also a lot easier to frost than a cupcake, and they look pretty any way you do them. Next time I might pipe the frosting in to make them a bit neater, but just using a knife worked fine.

I had no idea how they’d turn out, since I made up the recipe using a few others for paleo cupcakes, hoping that it would all be alright in the end. Whew! They turned out really well, and I think most people would be hard pressed to realize that they were totally grain free if they weren’t told. Continue reading →

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Persimmon Almond Cake

20 Oct

Persimmon Cake11I have a confession to make—I’ve been scared of persimmons. Fear of the unknown, I guess, even though they are beautiful and plentiful here in California. When I saw that we had some growing on our tree this year, I figured I’m going to have to do something with them. Nothing would be worse than wasting these gorgeous, bright orange fruits.

So I must admit, I’m pretty proud of this cake. Mainly because I took a recipe that didn’t have any persimmons in it and made it work. I’m excited to credit the excellent blog Mama’s Gotta Bake for the inspiration here. First of all, all of her recipes/creations make you want to lick your screen because of their obvious deliciousness. I’m so glad she lives an hour and a half away, because if I was anywhere near her house (not that I know where she lives, except in the Los Angeles area!) I’d keep stopping by and weigh about 300 pounds.

Then you look at the photography—I swear this woman works for Martha Stewart Living magazine as a stylist and photographer. EVERY photo is amazing—both in composition and lighting. Clearly, there’s not one shred of jealousy in my body. Not one. Nope. Continue reading →

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It’s Summer. Time For Strawberry Rhubarb Pie!

24 Jul

Photos - 5996What!? I know! Where the hell have I been? I’ve been incredibly rude by not posting, and I apologize. But I tell you, there’s been so much going on this summer I haven’t known if I’m coming or going half the time. I’ve only got time to write this because I’m on a 5-hour train ride down the coast to a client seminar.

I also must admit, I’m loving Santa Barbara. There are so many wonderful distractions it’s made it easy to ignore my little blog—my garden, my new running buddy, restaurants, our new bikes, parks like the Douglas Preserve, events like the Solstice parade…and let’s not forget the new, larger kitchen. Continue reading →

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Virtual Vegan Potluck: Homemade Schnickers Bars (and Paleo!)

10 May
Yep, it's food porn.

Yep, it’s food porn.

Ding ding! Round three! The Virtual Vegan Potluck is such a wonderful highlight in my blogging world. It’s amazing that so many bloggers get together and make this whole thing happen! There’s 169 bloggers from around the world this time. Of course, there’s a few superheroes at the helm that keep us all in check: Annie at An Unrefined Vegan; Somer at Vedged Out; and Jason at Jason and the Veganauts. Hurrah and huzzah to these lovely folks! It must be like dealing with a huge class of kindergarteners.

vvpLOGOAnd this time I’m doing a dessert—homemade Schnickers Bars—after two rounds of main courses. If you want to check those out, they are here and here. I’m happy to say that you can make this a raw vegan dish, but I used roasted salted peanuts and roasted peanut butter, so it’s not technically raw. You could make this paleo by subbing the peanuts for almonds, but I didn’t have time to do that. But at the rate these treats are going to get eaten, I’ll have a chance to try that out very soon. Continue reading →

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Tropical Ice Cream for a Heatwave

30 Sep

I was going to post about my trip to San Francisco last week, detailing all the great food I ate and what I learned about my stomach’s reactions to certain things, but the heatwave in SoCal this weekend has totally trumped that post.

It’s been a long, hot summer here in Orange County. Which is fine, but we don’t usually get hit with any temps over 80 degrees F here on the coast. I mean, it’s part of the price we pay to live here, I thought, our payback for dealing with all the tourists leaving garbage in front of our house. (Really, people? Were you raised by wolves?) Continue reading →

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Chocolate Caramel Brownies

1 Sep

Caramel and chocolate—a close second to peanut butter and chocolate!

I meant to post this last weekend, but it was a crazy few days filled with boring Quickbooks data entry, a visit to an awesome vertical farm in Laguna Canyon, drinks with my parents, two kids’ parties, a run around Lido Island and a stop at the Newport Beach farmer’s market.

You might be wondering how my paleo-style diet’s going, seeing as how these brownies are not on the menu at all, and I’m happy to say it’s going well. I made the brownies for the Laguna Beach Public Works Department, as they rescued my iPhone from certain death in a storm drain. Yes, I managed to drop my iPhone during a run which, combined with some unfortunate timing, bounced off my foot and straight down a storm drain. Continue reading →

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A Raw Deal: Blueberry “Cheese”cake

12 Aug

Cool, raw and delicious.

So, nobody ever dares make me a birthday cake, and I don’t blame them. It’s tricky with my dietary restrictions, plus I guess all my baking makes a few people a little hesitant to make things for me. Although my dad did make a vegan carrot cake for me once—it was tasty, but the presentation was hilarious, mainly because he plopped it down in front of me, saying: “And that’s what you get when you don’t make frosting with real butter!” Yes, the frosting appeared less than perfect, but it was all delicious. And I loved him for making a vegan cake for me!

This year I made my own, and about a month after my birthday. What with all the celebrating, I didn’t really have a chance before that! Continue reading →

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Come Here, You Pretty Little Cupcake

20 Apr

Since the Tiny Kitchen is in a state of Big Disarray, and not ready for a full blog, I decided I’d post some pics of back when I was Elevenses Bakery. I was reminded of it by Deb Brunson, who is in culinary school and last week (or this? I can’t remember, and I haven’t had time to keep up with my fellow bloggers) was focusing on cakes and frostings.

When I got my tonsils out a few years ago, they gave me Percocet for the pain, which was lucky for me as they forgot to mention they’d be taking out my adenoids as well. I woke up feeling like I’d gone a few rounds with Mike Tyson (although my ears were fine and unbitten), and although the pain took the focus off my throat, I needed that Percocet.

And in my lovely Percocet haze, I came up with Elevenses Bakery. (Click on the link for more info on Elevenses!) The concept, the branding, everything. Continue reading →

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Pumpkin Chocolate-Chip Cupcakes

31 Mar

Our neighbors, and friends, went away a week or so ago. I call them Pal and Am, fondly, but they are really Al and Pam. We have an arrangement with them where we watch each others’ cats when any of us are out of town, but this time Cookie, their older cat, was a little under the weather. I won’t go into details, but I did suggest trying to give her some puréed pumpkin.

I didn’t promise it would work, which is good, because neither of the cats even tasted it. The potassium I was supposed to give Cookie was nasty—if it tasted anything like it smelled, the poor girl was in trouble. Luckily, the poor kitty’s bad day was someone else’s delicious baked treat… Continue reading →

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Like Taking Candy from a Baby

17 Mar

There’s two reasons why I named the post the way I did: One, these treats were so easy to make it’s not even funny. I may never buy them again. Two, The Husband is hilarious.

I love this blogging thing—I am so inspired by my fellow bloggers! I want to make almost everything they do, but alas, that “work” thing gets in the way. But this one I had to try.

Not only does “In Pursuit of More” have a great concept, which you’ll have to read about here, she also makes great food with a less-is-more attitude. When I saw these peanut-butter cups, I knew I had to make them. Continue reading →

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