Salt & Humor

Who doesn’t love cake, or chocolate cake for that matter?  Well, chocolate cake is pretty much my very favorite!  I think I was still dreaming of the super rad vegan chocolate ganache cake from my birthday  that I was thinking I must make some for Valentine’s Day.  

If you live in or travel to Reno be sure to check out Dandelion Deli!!

Well, I was not going to pull a cake like that off so I settled for cupcakes.

If you love moist chocolate cake like I do, I recommend this recipe!

For the frosting I mixed in the stand mixer: powdered sugar, Tofutti cream cheese, vanilla extract and a bit of almond milk.  The frosting was good but my favorite way to eat chocolate cupcakes is with no frosting.  I am telling you, please check out this recipe!

For dinner, WE made penne pasta with tomato vodka cream sauce.  Jason was a big help in the kitchen and it made me wonder why we don’t do that more often.  Cooking together was great.  We added mushrooms and chopped up “meatballs” from Trader Joes.

Looking back at this meal is making me hungry! It might have to be my special dinner in 22 days.  Why 22 days?  Well, I am starting a 21 day cleanse tomorrow.  I read and love Crazy Sexy Diet.  I am hoping to jump start a healthier way of eating, see if  I am gluten sensitive, eliminate inflammation and of course ditch a few unneeded pounds.  So tomorrow will start the lovely juicing, greens, yummy salads and lots of water.  I will be leaving sugar, gluten coffee, alcohol and of course dairy and meat.    Dairy meat has been out of life since September 20, 2010 <3 The others things are going to be a bit tough.  I can do it for 21 days though.  I NEED to and I WANT to .  I am really looking forward to the personal and spiritual benefits as well.  Check out Kris Carr’s book my friends.  Some of the info may be a review or brand new information to you.  If you are still learning or just reviewing, it is a good boost either way.

Growing up, I would always order alfredo sauce pasta when out at an Italian restaurant.  I don’t even want to think about the amount of fat, calories and cholesterol were in those dishes.  As I became more aware of health I stopped ordering it, knowing how guilty I would feel for all the fat I was eating.  Not to mention the usual stomach ache that would follow.  Now, having given up all dairy products, it seems that alfredo sauce would be dead and gone as an option for sure.  Nope, think again.  The other night I was falling victim to the gooey pasta dish craving.  So I searched for a non dairy alfredo sauce on VegWeb and made this simple recipe.  I actually forgot to add the butter, as it forgot to mention that step and I think it wasn’t even needed.  I might add it next time I make it. I served the pasta and sauce with roasted brussel sprouts, broccoli, tomatoes, green beans and Trader Joe’s meatless-meatballs.

This sauce was fantastic! I highly recommend you try this recipe for yourself!