Vanilla Cinnamon Bacon Cupcakes

Hello! I know it has been a long time since my last post. Sorry for the delay but I've been doing some extreme wedding planning for the last two weeks.

My posts might be few and far between this month because I'll be spending most of it traveling and visiting friend and family I haven't seen much of in the last two years.

The Carnivore isn't travelling with me. However, I am


so thankful to be marrying a man that is secure enough in our relationship for me to be out of town for an extended period of time.

Therefore, before I left I decided to make a special dessert as a treat for him that highlighted his love of bacon. After looking at several recipes I used bits and pieces and created my own Vanilla Cinnamon Bacon Cupcakes.


Batter
1 stick of butter
1 cup of sugar
1/4 cup brown sugar
2 tsp vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups flour
1/2 tsp baking
1/4 tsp salt
2/3 cup milk
1 tsp cinnamon

I always crack the eggs first to make sure I don't end up with shells in the batter. Then I added all the other ingredients together and mixed on medium for about 30 seconds.

I baked the cupcakes on 350 for 18 minutes.

Frosting
1 cup butter
4 cups of powdered sugar
1/4 cup milk
1 tsp vanilla extract

I topped each cupcake with two pieces of crisp maple bacon that I cooked on a cookie sheet in the oven.

This recipe made 12 yummy cupcakes. However, I did have quite a bit of frosting left over.

I had planned to take the extras to the guys upstairs that taste tested my vegan pb&j cake but The Carnivore wouldn't let me give away even one of these cupcakes. He loved the frosting. It was super vanilla-y. The cupcake itself was sweet I think the cinnamon flavor really tied the cupcake to the bacon.

Sweet Potato Chips

The Carnivore LOVES sweet potatoes. So, after my successful experiment with kale chips I decided to make some sweet potato chips for him.

I used 3 medium sweet potatoes and then treated them basically the same as the kale.

I took my time and sliced the potatoes very thin with a sharp knife. I didn't peel the potatoes first but probably should have since I wasn't able to buy organic.

Then I tossed them in a tablespoon or so of olive oil and sprinkled them with sea salt.

I set the oven to 250 and let them bake for two hours. I turned them once with tongs at the halfway mark.

Yes, two hours. And at the end of that time about only half the chips were as crispy as they should have been.

I became impatient and turned the oven up to 300. Big mistake. The remaining chips burned within five minutes.

The chips that turned out good, turned out really good. Good enough for me to try this again. Except this time I'll be much more patient!

Also, these chips should be eaten soon after baking. I tried to store some overnight and while they were still edible most of the crispness was gone.

Vegan Black Bean Burgers Two Ways

Somehow I always end up with several cans of  black beans in the pantry. I haven't been buying food we weren't using each week so I'm not sure if these had been hiding for a while or if I unconsciously put them in the cart one day.

Either way, I decided it was time to use them and I wanted to be more creative than tacos or burritos.

Therefore, I decided to tackle black bean burgers. I'd never made them before so I looked through several recipes. I can't point to one that I followed, I kind of created a smash up of all of them. However, I can say after all that research I had no idea there were so many variations of black bean burgers.

My Ingredients
2 cans of black beans

2 cups of uncooked quinoa
1/2 red onion sauteed
1 tablespoon each of
           -chipotle powder
           -cayenne power
1/2 tbs cumin
salt and pepper to taste

These burgers were very easy to make but next time I'll add some panko or maybe walnuts to give them more texture and to bind them more. They fell apart very easily.

To make these I sauteed the onion and cooked the quinoa. Then added half the black beans, all the onion, and 3/4 of the quinoa to the food processor.

After blending the ingredients I mixed them in the with reserves black beans and quiona and added the spices. 

Finally, I formed them in to patties. I kept for out for the next two days and wrapped the rest in plastic wrap and put them in the freezer for later in the week.

The first set I back in the oven at 350 for about 20 minutes, turning once.

Later in the week I tried grilling the burgers to try a get a crunch on them. 

And, even later in the week I cooked them in a pan on medium for about 10 minutes with some olive oil.

I like the pan cooked burgers best because they got a little crunchy. 

Over the course of the week I served the burgers two ways.

First, I served them with a serrano vegan sour cream and salsa on a bread thin. The sides were carrots with vegan Godess dressing and homemade sweet potato chips. (more on the chips later!0

homemade mango salsa

Second, I made burger towers layered with avocado, and a homemade mango salsa. The side is a grilled pineapple and watermelon salad.

I'm sure I'll make these burgers again because they are versatile and fairly cheap to make. I'm going to keep playing with the recipe until I get a sturdier patty.

avocado slices are the middle layer

 The Carnivore like the 2nd version of the black bean burgers best. I agree the avocado really helped bring out the flavor. His only complaint was that I gave him too much fruit that day.



As we were eating I realized I do go a bit fruit crazy that day! I'm just so happy to have so many fresh fruits and vegetables this summer.