Recipes, projects & products that don’t suck.

A few weeks ago, I had the grand idea of inventing a key lime coconut popsicle recipe for Cinco de Mayo. Unfortunately, it didn’t turn out so well. I must have used too much key lime juice because they were quite tart. Not horrible, just not what I hoped for. BUT, in the process, I learned an awesome trick for juicing key limes–use a garlic press! GENIUS! Worked like a charm. I decided to revisit that flavor combination another time, and moved on to Orange Creamsicle instead. I was shooting for a popsicle recipe, but as it turns out, I prefer this vegan, gluten-free recipe in its original form–as a creamy beverage. Instead of using navel oranges, I used my new favorite fruit discovery–minneola oranges….

I kept seeing this recipe all over Pinterest. That ooey-gooey, melty chocolate photo finally got the best of me and I decided to see if these grain-free little devils tasted as good as they looked. Unfortunately, I noticed that there have been a few other bloggers who have made this recipe, then stolen the original photo, which they posted to Pinterest with a link to their own blog. Dude, that’s not cool. Don’t do that. That’s stealing. Post your own photos. I finally tracked down the original recipe source (or at least it appears to be the original source). In any case, I’m so glad I found the Texanerin Baking blog because the blog author, Erin, has some mad baking skills. There are loads of…

Last weekend we were invited to our friends’ house for a vegan, gluten-free dinner. Vegan because of us, gluten-free because of them. It was an excellent meal! For starters, there were chips & salsa and veggies & hummus. Then we enjoyed a salad with roasted pears and stir-fry with vegetables and tofu. We should have stopped there, but there was vegan, gluten-free Carrot Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting, which needed to be taste-tested for the blog. Tough job, I know. I brought this dessert because I know our friends like carrot cake and so do we. I had never tried this recipe before, though, so it was a risk. Fortunately, it passed the test. I was surprised by how much I liked it. The flavor…

Before going vegan, microwave popcorn (usually the 94% fat-free kind) was pretty much a staple in our kitchen. In fact, I thought of it as a healthy treat. Now that I read the ingredients before the nutritional info, microwave popcorn is out. We can do without the artificial flavoring, the trans-fats and toxic diacetyl. Instead, we do it old-school now – in a big pot on the stovetop. It’s so simple, cheap and fast that I’m not sure why the microwave kind even seemed like a good idea. Making it the traditional way eliminates the junk and allows you to choose your oil (try coconut oil!), your seasonings, flavorings, etc. When I started making popcorn this way, it brought back so many memories. My mom used…

I know, I know – ANOTHER dessert post. Believe me, I’m well aware. I’ll be sure to get back to more entrée recipes soon. A while back, I mentioned a Lemon Bar recipe I found, tested and loved. I promised to share the recipe and finally, here we are. Actually, what I found was a Grapefruit Bar recipe which I converted to Lemon Bars. Traditionally, lemon bars are made with a lot of butter and eggs. Instead, this recipe uses coconut oil and silken tofu. Don’t freak out – you won’t even taste the tofu. I promise. There is still a load of sugar in this recipe, so I wouldn’t categorize it as healthy, but it’s definitely better for you than traditional lemon bars. And…