Have you ever tried a vegan donut? If so, how did you like it? Do you think Homer Simpson would enjoy vegan donuts?
At the Whole Foods Markets nearby where I live, I noticed a variety of vegan donuts being sold for delectable purchase. Funny observation though was that they only sold vegan donuts... there were no donuts on the display that were considered non-vegan. For someone like me who is lactose-intolerant and would like to find more baked goods that are healthier (if you can consider them healthier when they're made without dairy products like butter and whole milk), I say "THANK YOU WHOLE FOODS MARKET!"
Assorted vegan donuts at Whole Foods Market in Walnut Creek, California
Now that the vegan baked goods have been identified, my adventure begins. I tried all six vegan donut variety flavors offered at one of my local neighborhood Whole Foods Market. The available vegan donut flavors were:
- Chocolate Vegan Donut
- Maple Vegan Donut
- Vegan Apple Cinnamon Donut
- Blueberry Vegan Donut
- Cherry Vegan Donut
- Vegan Crumb Donut
And yes, folks,... I ate all six flavors in one sitting. Here's my verdict:
- All Whole Foods Market vegan donuts are of the cake donut texture.
- All are tasty and moist. Being that these donuts are vegan, they are not dry at all and taste very similar to a non-vegan donut. The difference is actually not detectable. Well done.
- The best flavors out of all of these, in my opinion, were the Cherry, Maple, and Chocolate Vegan Donuts. These donuts tasted like the flavor description given to them.
Chocolate Vegan Donut
Cherry Vegan Donut
Maple Vegan Donut
- The worst flavors out of all of these were the Blueberry and Apple Cinnamon Vegan Donuts. These donuts tasted like sweet sugar. Though the sweet sugar taste was flavorful, and given that the texture was moist and good, they get minus points for not tasting like the flavor description given to them.
Blueberry Vegan Donut Vegan Apple Cinnamon Donut
- The Vegan Crumb Donut was just okay in terms of flavor. Tasty and enjoyable, taste and texture matched its flavor description, but not significantly impacting for me to comment much about.
Vegan Crumb Donut
So now that I've completed my pig-out adventure session, the question remains - would eating these vegan donuts really be healthier? I turn to my search engine (Google of course) to find nutrition facts pertaining to these vegan donuts from Whole Foods Market. I can't find nutrition facts for more than just the Chocolate Vegan Donut from Whole Foods Market, but I'm thinking perhaps I shouldn't have eaten all six in one sitting.... Or I should have baked my own at home. Comparing the nutrition facts of the Chocolate Vegan Donut from Whole Foods to the nutrition facts of Krispy Kreme cake donuts, the total fat is slightly lower, but the saturated fat content (in grams) is pretty similar. Yet the vegan donut trumps the non-vegan donut health-wise still with 0mg of cholesterol and significantly less sugar (in grams). So all in all, I am not unhappy with my pig-out adventure session.
Homer Simpson is a cartoon character that loves donuts. I believe he would not discriminate between the non-vegan and vegan donuts, especially if he were to eat Whole Foods Market vegan donuts. If you haven't tried these vegan donuts yet, I encourage you to put it on your to-do list. You won't be sorry (or feel too guilty!)
When growing up, I often spent time with my mother's parents. They grew a beautiful garden in their backyard, and my grandmother would always bring into the house a small flower bud that smelled like ripe bananas. This banana-like aroma was so pleasant to my nose, I will never forget it. But what was this flower's name?
Whenever asked "what's your favorite flower?", my response tends to be "I don't know" until I start guessing flowers I usually find significantly pretty such as lilies, irises, and sunflowers. Despite my attempts to answer, this question always leads me back to my childhood memory of a banana-smelling flower. I eventually mention this as part of my answer, but no one seems to know what I'm talking about.
After years of responding "I don't know" or with possible guesses, I finally found the time to find out about this flower. I can now confidently say that my favorite flower is the Michelia figo (Banana Shrub).
I do not find myself having a green thumb, but being that I am "bananas for nostalgia" today, perhaps I will find myself cultivating this plant some time in the future.
Speaking of bananas, some friends of mine either really love or really dislike bananas.
I find that I personally LOVE eating bananas (I am referring to Cavendish bananas mostly as I have rarely eaten other kinds of bananas, if at all, from what I can remember). I can eat bananas whole on their own, cut into my bowl(s) of cereal, oatmeal, and/or yogurt/frozen yogurt, in baked goods (for example, banana bread and muffins), ... I am pretty sure my list can go on. To my friends that dislike bananas, I am so sorry that you cannot find yourselves able to enjoy this available luxury.
I mean... even Whole Foods Market is "going bananas"!
Not only are bananas a nutritious part of a balanced diet providing healthy benefits such as essential vitamins for nourishing the body, but bananas are so versatile, they can even help save our environment:
On an interesting food-for-thought note, the aroma of whole fruit bananas themselves is just mediocre to me. There is something sweeter in the aroma of the Banana Shrub that I feel is just beyond comparison. Perhaps my body's senses just simply feel that bananas are for eating and that the Banana Shrub is for luxurious aromatic enjoyment. But I cannot and will not complain :)
I remember seeing fruit platters designed with the use of inedible materials to make a creative fruit dish, but it amazes me when whole fruit is used on its own to create art.
Check out the photo of my friend's lemon peel bear to give you an example.
Simple but cute and creative, no? It's not easy though to handle a sharp chef's knife and carve fruit into art without cutting oneself or messing up the form of the creation somehow. I am truly impressed.
So what's the most creative fruit carving you've ever seen?
Most people say food is for the soul, but I believe games can treat the soul too (and when I say "games", I am referring to any game you can play on a video game system, arcade, computer, mobile, and/or by the board). Just as people can eat according to their feelings and emotions, video games can provide similar relief but can additionally provide a sense of reward and satisfaction. After eating according to one's feelings and emotions, one can feel that they over-ate or feel guilty - basically just negative feelings, although during the pig-out, one can feel happy to taste such delectable foods or from satisfying their cravings. On the other hand, with games, (depending on the type of game) you can play as a single player or play with others either to compete or to just bond with friends. You can move up in levels or stages during most games, and there's usually a means for trying again. It may not be the best feeling when the game outright says "YOU LOSE", but I believe that for most people, they get a sense of wanting to try again until they see the words "YOU WIN" or just accomplish clearing the stage, level, or round to feel they've succeeded. It may be more difficult to try again when competing against others as your opponents may stop play after they've won and you've lost, but in this case, the sense of trying again could be fulfilled by playing against a variety of opponents where there is an acceptance and awareness of a "wins versus losses" concept with the goal of improving one's playing skill and with the hopes of competing against those that one had lost to so as to seek redemption.
I definitely enjoy playing other games, but these are the ones that are memorable for me and are games I still play from time to time when I can afford the leisure. And thinking of it more thoroughly, the above-mentioned games may be most memorable for me and listed as my favorites because I've gained that sense of accomplishment and success from playing these games either by myself or with others (depending on the type of game, but I've provided links to each so readers of this post can find more information about these games). Do you find this to be the case for you if you have any games you can call your favorite?
For the video game system and arcade games I have played or have learned about in my lifetime thus far, I must say that these types of games are very clever in providing all-around pleasurable user experience. The premises of the games are enjoyable as there are usually stories that are told and levels / stages / rounds to clear in order to find out further how each story unfolds. The design, including graphics and layout, of these types of games are also usually very appealing. Most video and arcade games are released in a series, so there is further story or character development and upgrades are made to enhance the user's experience (such as less lag time between levels / stages / rounds, faster character movements, more character abilities, etc). But these happen to be things that I have come to expect out of video and arcade games. What I did not expect to enjoy from these types of games are their music!
Most (if not all) of the video and arcade games I have encountered have really great music that can truly ease the mind (at least in my opinion). Tetris game music has always been pleasing to me to listen to not only while playing the game, but I used to sit in my parents' car while waiting for them to complete some errands and just listen to the Tetris game music from my brother's old school Nintendo Game Boy.
Though I have not listed any role-playing games (RPGs) as my favorite types of video or arcade games, my brother contrarily LOVES playing most RPGs and gets really excited to share with me when he clears a level / stage / round to learn how the story unfolds. RPGs I'm aware of these days such as the Final Fantasy series, Chrono Cross, Xenogears, and Kingdom Hearts series have eye-catching graphics and heartfelt stories to follow, where it seems that as a game player, you are the controller and proactive participant of how an animated movie unfolds right before your eyes. However, it is quite a slow process in my opinion compared to other types of video and arcade games like Tetris and Street Fighter. So although I do not care to play RPGs personally, I surely don't mind watching others play RPGs as they are like movie shows to me (and I don't have to do the work to find out what happens next!) :) AND, some of the music (at least from the RPGs I know of) are, for lack of better words, beautiful and/or engaging. Below are some samples of RPG music that I personally love from RPG composers Nobuo Uematsu, Yasunori Mitsuda, and Yoko Shimomura:
To Zanarkand (Final Fantasy X), composed by Nobuo Uematsu
Reminiscence (Chrono Cross), composed by Yasunori Mitsuda
The Afternoon Streets (Kingdom Hearts), composed by Yoko Shimomura
So this is where I believe games for the soul meet music for the mind. But again, just my opinion :)
Ever pounded a sake bomb before? If not, you might be missing out on one of the littlest things in life that could make life more meaningful to live! I'm blessed to have that one friend in my life who can break me out of my shell and try new things that feel like adventures although they are actually quite small in significance. (But I believe that the more you value the littlest things in life, you can tend to view life on the brighter side more than not, and who doesn't want to enjoy life as best they can?) Without this friend, I would never have experienced the fun and enjoyment in pounding a sake bomb (among other things I have never tried before, such as making paper clips jump).
If you've taken sake bombs before, did you drop the tiny cup of sake into your larger cup of beer with your hands? If so... THAT'S BORING! But no offense - at least you've taken sake bombs before ;) But when I ask if you've "pounded" sake bombs before, I am referring to setting up the tiny cup of sake on a bridge of chopsticks lying on the rim of your larger cup of beer... and when ready, you POUND the surface they're sitting on with force, allowing physics to do the sake bomb drop for you, and then you chug your drink like a champ ;) If you haven't pounded a sake bomb before, I recommend you try it with a good group of friends - you won't be sorry O:) well... maybe not until the next day ;)
Also, here are a couple of dishes you can try with your sake bombs some time. These are offered at a Japanese restaurant called "Umami" in San Francisco, California, United States.
Hamachi "Pastrami" Carpaccio
Ahi "Poke" Tacos
Both dishes are delectable. Give it a try and let me know what you think ;)
For the 2011 holidays, my friends requested that my next baking project be a cheesecake. But not everyone likes the idea of a low or non-fat cheesecake. I have friends that love the taste of fat, so to speak, in certain foods. In my baking projects, though, my challenge is always to see how popular baked goodies can be made healthier.
So the roundabout question is...
I decided to bake a tester cheesecake, low in fat using all the same recipe ingredients except using non or low fat versions of those ingredients (which were cream cheese, cottage cheese, sour cream, butter, and [for the crust] graham crackers).
First Homemade Low-Fat Cheesecake
My coworkers and friends taste-tested my first homemade low-fat cheesecake, and it was successfully liked as they could not tell it was low in fat. Even the person who gave me the recipe (who is also a great baker himself as he is a descendant of a well-known baker who owned Anderson's Bakery back in the olden days) really liked the cheesecake and had nothing bad to say about it. This was a good sign!
Then came the "game day" - I had planned on baking both the low-fat and regular full-fat versions of the cheesecake using the recipe I had and offer it at my friend's infamous holiday party to determine if anyone could tell which was low-fat and which was a regular full-fat cheesecake. The results are in:
All attendees enjoyed both versions of the cheesecake and could not tell the difference between the two versions
Three attendees who are known for "loving the taste of fat" enjoyed the low-fat version and guessed incorrectly as to which cheesecake version was which
Only one out of the 23 attendees guessed correctly but commented that he could not really tell but is just guessing
So perhaps it is possible to bake a healthier cheesecake that can be enjoyed by everyone =)
It's that time of the year again for Americans... the dreaded need to complete the annual tax return. Those who receive money back will be happy, and those who have to owe the government more money than they already paid via their paychecks and other taxes paid through purchases, etc. feel screwed and upset =P Which one of these categories did you fall under this year? o.O
Either way, successfully baking yummy treats can make the situation even better =) I have two homemade lactose-free recipes to share!
The first one is a blueberry streusel pastry recipe - these are supposed to be muffins but since I haven't invested yet in muffin pans, I will call these blueberry streusel squares =) I based my recipe off of this original one: http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Blueberry-Streusel-Muffins-2/Detail.aspx
- My modifications were only using the egg white (no yolk), using Silk Light Vanilla soymilk, and using olive oil instead of butter/margarine with reference to this handy conversion found via Google searching --> http://www.amazingoliveoil.com/substitute-olive-oil-for-butter.html
These turned out great! It's sugary but this experiment allows me to think that there are alternatives for folks like me who have become lactose-intolerant and prefer to eat low-fat foods ;) yay! Note: since I didn't have any muffin pans to use, this came out as a big rectangular blueberry muffin LOL
Lactose-free, Low-fat Blueberry Streusel Pastry
The second one, I intended to make the banana-walnut version of this streusel "muffin"-based pastry, but I was curious about making a chocolate version and added 3/4 cups of Hershey's "special" dark chocolate (100% cacao) powder (as on the back of the Hershey's powder container, it mentioned 3/4 cups of the powder for making a chocolate cake, so I thought... sure, why not?) But this ends up being too much chocolate powder for the base mixture already made by using the aforementioned recipe, so I had to add about 3/4 cups more Silk Light Vanilla soymilk, and then the mixture was back to equilibrium - although it looked very chocolaty so I suggest if you want to try this recipe, you must REALLY love chocolate (and you should not mind the slight bitterness of the dark chocolate, unless you use a different chocolaty powder for your recipe) ;) I then added one very ripe banana and about 3/4 cups of walnuts that I chopped up a bit. After baking, it looked like a big rectangular chocolate muffin ;)
but it looked like it needed something... a topping! I decided to glaze it with homemade vanilla glaze - so I used this recipe: http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Vanilla-Glaze/Detail.aspx?prop31=5 (although I used the same Silk Light Vanilla soymilk instead of actual / whole milk and substituted the melted butter/margarine for heated olive oil using the same aforementioned conversion website) - other things to note if you're experimenting with trying to make your recipes "healthier" by lessening the sugar content (etc), ... at first I tried to lessen the amount of confectioner's/powdered sugar in this glaze recipe but I found that it doesn't work out because the mixture is soupy without the right amount of this sugar so definitely follow the recipe's amount of sugar is my suggestion - however, there were reviews that stated the amount of milk listed did not make sense so everyone who used this recipe measured the milk in tablespoons instead of teaspoons like the recipe states, and so I made sure to measure my amount of milk in tablespoons instead (FYI) ;)
The reviews also stated to let your cake/pastry cool for about 20 minutes (I think I let it cool for longer than this since I kept experimenting with the sugar amount for the glaze though =X) so I would recommend this. The glaze doesn't actually solidify nicely until about 15-20 minutes after sitting on top of the cake/pastry (in my opinion or from this experience so again, FYI). And even with the glaze though, I still felt like it needed something... so I dusted it with more confectioner's / powdered sugar - looked better... still needed something... so I chopped up / crumbled more walnuts and dusted the very top of the pastry with this - MUCH BETTER! Here's the result:
Chocolate Banana-Walnut Powdered-Sugar Pastry
Even though I am a chocolate fan, I must say that the blueberry streusel wins between these two, but both are tasty treats and are lactose-free AND low-fat! Sugary - yes, but it needs some flavor right?
If you try these recipes or experiment on your own, please let me know how it turns out! I think I will try the banana-walnut version again without chocolate and with the streusel topping next time - I'm super curious as to how that will turn out. But for now, blueberry streusel for the win! =D
As for taxes... whatever the outcome is for you this year... make some yummy treats for yourself and you will feel better ;) If you are reading this and do not have to file taxes, you are LUCKY =P
Happy baking everyone =)
