Starbucks Pumpkin Spice Latte With Soy=NOT Vegan

I guess I didn't get the memo that the Starbucks Pumpkin Spice Latte has milk in it, even if you get it made with soy. Bummer, big time. According to Your Daily Vegan, Starbucks pumpkin spice latte syrup contains: Sugar, condensed nonfat milk, sweet condensed nonfat milk, anotta (a colorant), natural and artificial flavors and caramel coloring. 

I distinctly remember seeing advertisements a year or so ago for Starbucks new 'vegan' soy drinks, so I assumed a soy pumpkin spice latte would be dairy free. I figured they used a sugar syrup, so how could it not be vegan?! I think they should consider making vegan-friendly seasonal alternatives! My suggestion is to replace the condensed nonfat milk with condensed soy milk and the sweet condensed nonfat milk with sweetened soy condensed milk.  I'll just have to enjoy my pumpkin spice lattes at home for now.

Hibbard Kitchen Original: Vegan Pumpkin Spice Latte 

6 oz freshly-brewed coffee (or espresso, if you have it)
1/2 cup almond milk (or any non-dairy milk)
2 TBSP vegan sweetened condensed milk (recipe below)
3 TBSP pumpkin spice syrup (recipe below)

Combine all ingredients into a cup. I like mine iced, so I brew my coffee over ice, then add the other ingredients.

Pumpkin Spice Syrup
1 1/2 cups water
1 1/2 cups sugar
4 cinnamon sticks or 1 tablespoon ground cinnamon (I used 4 cinnamon sticks)
1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
1 teaspoon ground nutmeg
3 tablespoons pumpkin purée

1) Combine water and sugar in a medium pot over medium heat. Cook until sugar has completely dissolved.
2)Whisk in remaining ingredients.
3) Cook for about 6 minutes, stirring frequently. Do not allow mixture to come to a boil.
4) Strain syrup through cheesecloth into a large glass measuring cup or bowl.
5) Transfer to bottle of your choice and store in the refrigerator. I poured my syrup into a salad dressing mixer, which is awesome for mixing it up before pouring it into my coffee.

Vegan Sweetened Condensed Milk
Powdered soy milk (re-constitute using package recommendation...I used 24 ozs of water and 3/4 cup of NOW Foods powdered soy milk)
1 1/2 cups sugar
6 Tbsp vegan butter/margarine (I used Earth Balance)

1) Add soy milk powder and the accompanying water into a pot and heat until mixture boils.
2) In a separate pan, melt 6 tbsp of vegan butter/margarine
3) Add sugar to the melted butter
4) When sugar begins to melt, add the hot milk from the other pot and add a dash of salt.
5) Bring the mixture to gentle boil for at least 5 minutes. The mixture should be finished cooking when it gets a little thick.

I think this pumpkin spice latte tastes very similar to Starbuck's version. If you skip the sweetened condensed soy milk, it will likely fall short of your expectations though.

Hibbard Kitchen Green Juice

A couple months ago my husband got sucked into the concept of juicing, after watching the documentary Fat, Sick and Nearly Dead. We embarked on a 3 day long raw juice diet together, just to see if we could do it. I discovered that I LOVE juicing, but that I hate beets. We spent approximately $230 on organic produce for the 3 days, which is why the program is impossible to stay on for more than a few days....you'd be fat, sick and broke if you did it much longer.
We bought a super extravagant juicer made by Breville and we agreed to make juicing a part of our life. One recipe we created was based on Fat, Sick and Nearly Dead's 'Mean Green' recipe. Our recipe is green, but it tastes better than you'd think.

Hibbard Kitchen Green Juice (Serves 2)
1 bunch of kale
4 whole small granny smith apples cut in halves (or 2 large ones)
1/2 honeydew cut into pieces that will fit in the juicer (skin peeled)
1" piece of ginger (skin peeled)
2 stalks of celery
optional: 1/2 cup cut pineapple (skin peeled)

 Add all ingredients to your juicer and voila!

I made the creamiest, yummiest vegan cake batter ice cream!

I am on an ice cream kick lately (well, always...who am I kidding). My favorite ice cream of all time is cake batter from Coldstone Creamery, which I haven't had in over a year. I thought I would google cake batter ice cream recipes and found a few to choose from. Some called for eggs (weird) and I found 1 vegan recipe that called for arrowroot, as a thickener and required stovetop preparation. I decided to see if I could get away without warming the ingredients on the stovetop...I was successful at removing that step for this recipe. I came up with my very own Hibbard Kitchen original cake batter ice cream recipe. I died when I tried this. Matt died, too. It's pretty much the most awesome thing I've ever created. This would be exceptionally tasty with strawberries and graham cracker crumbs (That's how I used to order it at Coldstone Creamery)

Hibbard Kitchen Original Vegan Cake Batter Ice Cream
1 cup Silk organic vanilla soy milk (any vanilla flavored non-dairy milk should work)
3/4 cup sugar (I used organic and it dissolved just fine)
2 cups unsweetened MimicCreme
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1 cup vegan yellow cake mix (Dunkin Hines yellow cake mix is vegan and many store-brands are vegan...check the label)
Optional sprinkles

Directions
1. In a large bowl with a whisk, combine the soy milk and sugar, until the sugar is dissolved.
2. Mix in the Mimiccreme and vanilla.
3. Sift in cake batter about 1/4 cup at a time. You'll likely need to whisk for a little while after all the cake mix has been added to remove lumps.
4. Pour mixture into your ice cream machine and follow the machine's instructions. My ice cream began to get thick and get creamy around the 30 minute mark.
5. Eat immediately (I like instant gratification) or put in your freezer for a few hours before eating (I doubt you'll be able to wait that long to eat it).

5 ingredients

 Whisking all ingredients

 Ice cream churning

 After the ice cream is finished in the machine

 We couldn't wait to eat it...straight out of the ice cream machine

Here is the ice cream after freezing.

Mandatory sprinkles on top

Enjoy!

Vegan quinoa black bean patties on lettuce buns with chili lemon baked french fries

I recently ate at The Mission in Scottsdale. It is not a vegan restaurant, but they were able to tell us which items were vegan. One of those items was their Mission Fries, which are sweet potato and potato fries + lemon + chile + cumin. They were tangy and super delicious! I always love it when the ingredients are listed on the menu because I am a diehard recipe copycat! So, I grabbed a bag of potatoes earlier this week to test my copycat recipe. My fries (which are baked, not fried) were a perfect compliment to my quinoa black bean patties, which I sandwiched between 2 leaves of romaine lettuce. I have also come to realize that my quinoa black bean mixture would make a wonderful vegan bean dip! I could even layer it with vegan sour cream, salsa and some teese cheese....I gotta try that for my next party! My sister who is not vegan always hates when I ask her to try the food I make, but when she does, she usually likes it. So, I ended up making her a patty and fries, as well.

Chili Lemon Baked French Fries (HibbardKitchen original recipe)
Makes 4 servings

Ingredients
3 large potatoes (slice how you like-we make long thin french fries, as they bake quicker)
2 tbsp of fresh lemon juice (adding zest would increase the lemon factor....gonna try this next time)
2 tbsp of olive oil
1/2 tsp chili powder (or to taste)
1/2 tsp cumin (or to taste)
salt to taste

Directions
1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees
2. Mix the lemon juice, olive oil, chili powder, cumin and salt in a small bowl
3. Remove skin from potatoes and slice into french fries
4. Place sliced potatoes in large bowl

5. Pour the oil mixture over the potatoes and toss to coat
6. Lightly spray your cookie sheets with oil (we used 2 cookie sheets)
7. Place coated potatoes onto the cookie sheets
8. Bake in oven for 15 minutes, then switch the upper cookie sheet to the bottom rack and the bottom cookie sheet to the top rack. Bake another 15 minutes or until lightly browned and crispy

I presented the fries to my sister like this...I knew she couldn't resist!

The next time I make these, I am going to experiment with ingredients that might help create a firmer patty. I am also going to experiment with making this recipe into a layered bean dip...
Quinoa Black Bean Patties
Makes 6 patties
Ingredients

• 2 garlic cloves, minced .
• 1 jalapeno pepper, seeded & sliced .
• 1/2 tsp ground cumin .
• 1 c quinoa . (you can use inca red variety or regular quinoa)
• 1 (14 oz) can black beans, rinsed & drained .
• 1/2 tsp chili powder .
• 1/2 c red onions, grated & squeezed dry .
• 1/4 c fresh cilantro, sliced .
• 1/3 c dry breadcrumbs .
• 3 tbsps extra virgin olive oil . (1 for the patty mixture and 2 for the cooking...we just spray the pan, so we only use 1 tbsp of oil to make this recipe)
• 1/4 tsp fresh ground black pepper .
• 3/4 tsp salt

Directions

• Step #1 Rinse quinoa under cool water for couple of mins in fine sieve to remove bitterness. (we never do this)
• Step #2 Put in rice cooker with just over 1 & 1/3 c water & set to cook. (or follow quinoa stove top cooking instructions on your quinoa package)
  
  
  
• Step #3 Transfer to food processor/blender fitted with metal blade.
• Step #4 Add beans, garlic, salt, jalapeno, 1 tbsp of oil, onion, cilantro, chili powder, cumin & pepper.
  
  
• Step #5 Puree until smooth. (if the mixture is really soft, you can put in the refrigerator for 30 minutes to an hour to make it easier to handle)
  
  
• Step #6 Form into six 1/2-inch thick patties.
• Step #7 Place bread crumbs in shallow bowl. (The bread crumbs help the patties hold together while cooking)
  
  
  
• Step #8 Press patties into crumbs, turning to coat both sides.
• Step #9 In non-stick skillet, heat remaining oil over medium-high heat. (I use my oil spritzer, so that I am not using the 2 tbsp oil the recipe calls for cooking in)
• Step #10 Cook patties in batches, turning once, for 8 mins or until browned.
  
  
• Serve with buns or lettuce leaves