Yummy Candy in my Tummy March 31, 2009

A couple weeks ago I found a great recipe online for vegan Reese’s style peanut butter cups. I was enthralled to say the least. A couple days later I set out to make the little devils and they came out fantastic!! I gave some to my parents and they declared that they were much better than the Reese’s version.

I got the recipe from the wonderful website vegweb.com and below is a altered recipe from that site. I changed a few of the steps but it’s basically the same recipe. Also, for mine I had a little bit of flavored dark chocolate (crystallized ginger, yum) so I added that in for an extra umpf even though it didn’t need it.

Peanut Butter Cups

1 cup peanut butter (reduced fat and creamy)
1/2 cup sugar
1 1/2 cups of vegan chocolate chips
1/4 teaspoon salt
mini paper muffin cups

Microwave the chocolate chips for about 2 minutes at 50% power in a glass or microwaveable bowl.  Stir until creamy, you might need to microwave them a little more.  Make sure you do not overcook them.

Using a spoon or paint brush spread the chocolate evenly within the muffin cups making sure you fill the crevices on the sides.  Place the coated muffin cups in the freezer so that the chocolate hardens.

In a separate bowl combine the peanut butter and salt and fold in the powdered vegan sugar.

Spoon the peanut butter into the chocolate cups leaving a little room for the top layer of chocolate. Then use a spoon to fill in the top and wait as long as you can to eat them (estimated time 10 minutes hehe).

Can be stored in the fridge in an airtight container.

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A few tips:

I used a brush for the first chocolate layer to make sure I got the sides well, then I used a spoon to fill over the peanut butter.

If you have problems with the peanut butter being too stiff, put in the the microwave for a few seconds to soften it up. I used natural creamy peanut butter and had no problems though. Actually I would get a spoonful then shape the peanut butter into shape and drop in in the cup so it came out really pretty on the inside.

It is messy! Be prepared to get chocolate everywhere. But it is also fun and if you have kids around 12 yrs and up it might be a fun activity to do together.

Natto Roll of Death March 24, 2009

Over spring break, the man and I went to Honolulu, which was fantastic. Luckily for him, his birthday was that week also so I took him out to a fancy sushi place for dinner.

While looking through the menu, I saw the natto roll. In case you aren’t familiar, natto is fermented soybeans and is popular in Japan. So, feeling brave, I ordered it along with a couple other rolls. Our waiter tried to warn me about the natto roll, but I persisted that I knew what I was getting into.

There it is, sitting innocently on the plate.

Here’s the sequence of facial expressions as I tried the natto.

As you can see by my facial expressions, natto is not pleasant to say the least. After I ate that piece I started playing with it a little because I heard it gets slimy…

After that it started stinking more so I asked the waiter to take it away. Overall I thought it was an interesting experience and I’m glad I’ve at least tried natto now, but boy was it gross!