My sous chef (Emma) and I went to work this morning whipping up this recipe for a very healthy sounding fig bar. The sky was very overcast outside and it sounded like the perfect indoor activity. The entire recipe was incredibly easy to make, although I had to add a little bit more water than the recipe calls for to thin out the filling enough for my food processor to, I guess, process it. I also used maple syrup in place of the agave nectar. Other than that, I followed the recipe exactly.

These turned out really tasty, although, I think Emma preferred the uncooked version. After licking the spoon clean, she said it was:

While my figgy bars were baking, I thought of the tons of bananas in my freezer taking up valuable space that I should try to use up. I buy a big bunch of bananas every time we are at the grocery store and, when they start getting brown and spotty, I peel them and freeze them. I probably had 3 bags of frozen bananas to use up and, since my kitchen was already a mess, why not whip up some muffins too?! My sous chef abandoned me for her legos and I was left to tackle this challenge all on my own.

I’ve made this recipe for banana bread before and thought it was “very, very good,” but all that non-dairy butter is probably not too good for my thighs. I decided to substitute 1/2 cup homemade applesauce in place of the 1/2 cup margarine. I followed the recipe exactly, other than that one substitution. After filling my muffin cups, I pressed a few walnut chunks into the tops of the muffins for a little extra crunch and some Omega-3s. Baking time was about 20 minutes, and I got 12 good sized muffins from this recipe.

The Joy of Vegan Baking is one of my favorite vegan cookbooks. You wouldn’t believe the amount of recipes in it and I refer to it often. The chocolate cake recipe is also available online and is the best chocolate cake that I have ever had. It’s also so easy to make. When I made the recipe for the chocolate buttercream, I waited until the end to add the cocoa powder. Once the frosting was made, I scooped out about half so that I would have some white frosting to decorate with. Then I added in the cocoa powder (the full amount that the recipe calls for) and it was super chocolatey and delicious! Since it was a Hawaiian themed party, I went with a flower design on the top. Writing this post is making me want to eat another one… good thing we had a few leftovers!

On the side, we had some of vegandad’s focaccia. I’ve actually made this once before, but never blogged about it because it didn’t turn out quite right. I was not very precise when measuring the flour, which made the bread turn out a little on the brick-ish side. It was still very good, but I realized right away that I need to be more careful when measuring for baked goods.

This batch turned out much better. So fluffy and yummy… I did substitute dried basil for the sage and it was delicious! Since my mixer does the kneading for me, I will definitely be making this all the time. It is awesome on it’s own, but it would be great for veggie sammies or paninis.