eating lately: summer edition

Even though our pool hasn’t closed yet, I think it’s fair to say that summer is on its way out.  I mean, once you can sleep through the night fully clothed without waking up numerous times drenched in sweat, you know fall is on its way.  Anyways, I’m compiling our favorite eats from the past three months into one post because we used cookbooks (with actual pages, yo) so much this summer due to our never-ending computer issues (internet ceases working, computer ceases working, printer in office disappears, and so on and so forth), and thus, not as many recipes from the www (world wide web, for those of you who forgot what those iconic letters stand for).  So, without further ado, I give you our latest and greatest…

Desserts

• White Lemon Cake with Raspberry Filling.  Danny and my mom worked together to make this delectable cake for my birthday, and it was so good, that I don’t know, it might become a tradition.  Like maybe every birthday?  And half birthday?  Because I’m pretty sure it’s not possible to get enough of this cake.
• Zucchini Brownies.  I’ve made these three times in the past three weeks, which in my book means they’re really good.  And they are.  Plus I feel slightly justified in eating them because they have 2 cups of zucchini in them.  I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again: veggies in dessert means you can eat more than usual.  Or something like that.
• Pumpkin Streusel Bundt Cake.  To be fair, I didn’t actually make this.  But my BFF Dog did, and goodness, this is a treat.  I’ll be making this myself come fall.

Sides

• The Best Broccoli of Your Life.  Whenever something is called “the best of your life” you take note.  I found this recipe way too salty for my liking, but Danny found it just right.  Plus this just might be the easiest broccoli of your life, and we all know that if something is “the easiest of your life,” you do it.  Next time I’ll ease up on the salt, though.

Actual Food

• Tomato Basil Cream Pasta.  To be fair, I didn’t make this for this first time this summer.  I made it last fall (over and over again).  However, after a six month hiatus, it’s back, and it’s good.  Oh, and kind of like the broccoli, it’s super easy.

Snacks

• Banana Blueberry Coconut Bread.  This. Bread. Will. Change. Your. Life.  So moist and so full of delicious things like bananas and blueberries and coconut flakes.  Mmm.  Now, whenever we have blueberries, we make this bread.
• Banana Cookies.  You will not believe me when I tell you these ‘cookies’ have 2 ingredients: bananas and oats.  True story.  Mash them together, put them on a cookie sheet for 15 minutes and you have a (legitimately) healthy snack.

Breakfast

• Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Muffins.  I’m going to be upfront and tell you that these call for soy yogurt, which is part of what makes them so awesome.  Unfortunately, the best (and possibly the only) soy yogurt company I know of shut down this past May, and won’t be able to produce yogurt again until late fall, so don’t go and try to make this recipe until then.  The wait will be worth it though, because these muffins rock.
• Chocolate Chip Oatmeal Pancakes.  Funny story involving these pancakes.  The first (and only) time I made them, I accidentally included a piece of glass in the recipe, and Danny ended up with said piece of glass in one of his bites of pancake.  It was really traumatic for him, and much to his frustration and disbelief, kind of comical for me.  Thankfully, he did not receive any injuries and is doing quite well.  The pancakes were tasty, but they were kind of overshadowed by the glass incident.
• Peanut Butter Banana Donuts.  These are delicious.  The peanut butter frosting is especially delightful, and all I can really say is, if you don’t have a donut pan yet, go get one.  Only $10 at BB&B, so you have no excuses.
• Fluffy Coconut Oil Banana Muffins…are the best muffins of the summer.  If I didn’t run out of coconut oil back in July, I would’ve made them every time I had ripe bananas, all summer long, but alas, still no coconut oil.  Anywho, I accidentally left out ALL of the sugar in this recipe, and they’re still thebomb.com, which is really saying something.
• Baked Banana French Toast.  Y’all.  If you’ve been looking for easy but delicious French toast, look no farther,  We’d been searching for a good recipe since we got married, and this one takes the cake.  Beware though.  This recipe made 16 slices, which is a lot of 2 people.
• Fluffy Maple Pancakes.  Delicious.  Just another great pancake recipe.

In case you’re curious, I’ve been shunning The Vegan Menu lately (for no reason in particular).  Instead we’ve eaten (homemade) pizza 1-2 times every week for the past 6 weeks, as well as other random things (like Dr. Praeger’s California veggie burgers – made of REAL veggies and oh so tasty).  But we have been eating actual food.

***All recipes listed are vegan.