kbaked

5-ingredients, appetizer, easy, entertaining, fast, parties, potatoes

Baked Buffalo Potato Wedges

February 3, 2019February 3, 2019by Katherine Baker1 Comment

Baked Buffalo Potato Wedges. Are you ready? Because I feel like I was born ready for this moment.

Now you may be asking yourself, how did we get here? How did we find ourselves engrossed in a world where the humble spud got made over into glorious, tangy and fluffy Baked Buffalo Potato Wedges? Well, allow me to tell you a story…

Once upon a time, there was a girl who loved buffalo sauce. Back when she ate meat ~20 years ago, the only meat product she really liked or would crave for was buffalo wings. She then realized you could buy buffalo sauce and put it on other stuff and that this was easier and better than licking it off bony chicken wings.

And then ~16 years later cauliflower wings came into her life and mouth with open arms. And one day at the store she had this epiphany that you could probably make ‘wings’ with potatoes and that that was probably a great idea since potatoes are life. And so here we are today, just the story of a gal who made Baked Buffalo Potato Wedges. And yes, obviously, that buffalo potato wedge-making plant-loving girl is me. Nice to meet you. Now let’s do this.

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baking, dessert, health, vegan, vegan baking, whole grains

Wholesome Vegan Carrot Cake with Vegan Cream Cheese Almond Frosting

January 28, 2019January 28, 2019by Katherine Baker2 Comments

Carrot cake! Vegan carrot cake! Also known as my favorite dessert on the planet (tied with Van Leeuwen vegan ice cream).

My favorite non-homemade carrot cake is from Peacefood cafe (which I ate last weekend!). If you like carrot cake and you’re ever in New York City, go to Peacefood and order their glorious carrot cake, even if you’re not vegan. I promise you, it is life-changing.

This year, I had Peacefood carrot cake the day after my birthday, but I also wanted to make myself a cake for the actual day.

While thinking about my cake, I actually got curious about the origins of carrot cake, and did a little bit of googling. According to Wikipedia, the origins of carrot cake are widely disputed, but most food historians believe carrot cake was somewhat inspired from Medieval carrot puddings eaten in Europe. During the Middle Ages, when sugar became scarce, people began using carrots as a substitute for sugar.

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life, weekly eats roundups

NYC Birthday Weekend Vegan Eats and Being a Hot Mess

January 21, 2019January 21, 2019by Katherine Baker1 Comment

Hello everyone! I haven’t shared a “what I’ve been eating lately” -type post in a while. I didn’t blog a ton over break because I was in serious need of some down time, and had a bunch of technical issues with getting my computer fixed. Anyways, I had a great break and an awesome final weekend to top it off. My sister and her husband flew out to celebrate my bday/just hangout (okay, they came to eat), so I thought I’d share some highlights.

This is definitely not reflective of my normal eating pattern (I rarely eat out, especially when I’m at school), but since this was a fun weekend, I thought some things were worth sharing. Enjoy!

(Pst, if you’re looking for more NYC recs, here’s my Guide to Vegan Eating in NYC. It could use an update since last January, but it’s still a solid list!)

Friday:

Early Friday morning I flew into LaGuardia from Milwaukee. About 15 minutes into our uber ride home, southwest called me to tell me I left a bag there. I had a mini lack-of-sleep-induced panic, but my uber driver was super understanding and took me back to get the right bag. Not sure if it was the lack of sleep and coffee, lingering sickness, or the fact that I was traveling with my dog and disabled mom, but I was so out of it this day! Mood:

Thankfully there was no harm done, and the correct bag made its way back to me, and after that, I headed home to my apartment in jersey where I dropped off my luggage and doggo and quickly freshened up before heading to a meeting on campus.

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health, life, Uncategorized

I Feel Old: Reflections, Gratitude, Goals, and Other Random Stuff from my Birthday

January 21, 2019January 21, 2019by Katherine Baker2 Comments

chocolate, cookies, Uncategorized, vegan, vegan baking, whole grains

Vegan Dark Chocolate-Dipped Homemade HobNobs

January 13, 2019January 13, 2019by Katherine BakerLeave a Comment

Do you ever just randomly get the urge to bake something British in the middle of a Saturday afternoon? Because same. I’m not sure if Mary Berry was whispering in my ear as I was sleeping last night, or what (okay, more likely that I saw a pile of HobNobs in the clearance section at Sendiks the other day), but for some reason, I had quite the hankering to make some homemade dark-chocolate dipped homemade hob nobs this weekend.

After chanting “On your mark, get set, Bake!” to myself, I got to the kitchen and made my British bake-off homemade Hobnob dreams come true.

Now what is a HobNob, you may ask? ‘HobNobs‘ are a brand of commercial biscuits popular in the UK (and according to Wikipedia, parts of Ireland).

They’re simple, salty-sweet, crispy cookies that are similar to digestive biscuits, but are visibly studded with oats, making for a rustic-looking round cookie.

The best way I can think to describe the flavor of a Hobnob to someone who has not yet experienced their glory is as follows: imagine a salty and more-textured-than-usual, oat-studded circular graham cracker. That’s kind of what you get when you eat a Hobnob. And they are nothing short of glorious.

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baking, breakfast, gluten free, glutenfree, health, healthy, sweet potato, sweet potatoes, vegan, vegan baking, whole grains

Vegan Sweet Potato & Apple Baked Oatmeal

January 9, 2019January 9, 2019by Katherine BakerLeave a Comment

Hello my fine friends! Happy 2019 to you. How’s the weather where you’re at? Here in Wisco, after a long weird warm spell, we have returned to our regularly scheduled January-in-the-midwest programming, with highs in the teens and twenties. I woke up this morning wanting something warm and comforting, and birthed this easy, delicious, Vegan Sweet Potato & Apple Baked Oatmeal out of my oven.

Baked oatmeal is a favorite comfort food of mine. I used to love the hot stepping bowls of Baked Oatmeal at Alterra (RIP) in Milwaukee. I’ll spare you my opinions on the current state of the now-Collectivo chain, and delve into the details behind this luscious, wholesome version of baked oatmeal you can easily make at home.

This Vegan Sweet Potato & Apple Baked Oatmeal starts with rolled oats (I used Bob’s Red Mill, but any will do). From there, mashed sweet potato (I used canned Organic pureed sweet potatoes, canned pumpkin would also work) adds an umami depth and richness, complimented with a healthy, hefty dose of cinnamon.

I sweeten the deal with a shredded apple and a couple tablespoons of maple syrup. Baking powder brings the fluffiness, salt provides some balance, and nuts add both crunch and lasting satiety.

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health, healthy, life, nutrition

What I’ve Realized About Health Recently

December 31, 2018December 31, 2018by Katherine Baker1 Comment

Hey hey! It’s almost 2019! Truth be told I actually had an entire probably-too-lengthy post reflecting on 2018 and what I’ve learned and what I’m thankful for and what I hope to accomplish in 2019, etc etc. But as I sit here waiting for my MacBook pro appointment at the Mayfair genius bar, publishing it didn’t feel right. I may still publish it later, but I felt inspired after my physical therapy appointment to write about something else, especially amidst all the diet/fitness goal posts I’ve seen on social media lately.

So today, I’m going to share some important realizations I’ve had lately about health. I hope these inspire you to see health as something more than ‘eating clean’ and/or ‘keeping it tight.’ If you need more inspo, check out my post from last year, 11 Food and Health-Related New Year’s Resolutions That Are Way Better Than Losing Weight.

So here are 5 things I’ve sort of been reflecting on in regards to what ‘health’ means lately; I hope they serve you well into the new year. Thanks as always, for your support, and for sticking by me! Love you the most!

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baking, chocolate, delicious, dessert, peanut butter, vegan, vegan baking, vegetarian, whole grains

Easy Vegan Peanut Butter Blossoms

December 24, 2018December 24, 2018by Katherine Baker4 Comments

Lol it’s been a month since I last blogged. What can I say, other than sorry? Even though you probably didn’t even notice or care I didn’t post for a month, it bothered me. I just was under so much stress from the hardest semester of school of my entire academic career/finishing my applications and finals and my two jobs I just kind of drafted like, 9 different posts, got anxious they weren’t good enough, and didn’t publish them. Reminder to self: don’t let the obsession with being perfect prevent you from being good. Moving on. It’s Vegan Peanut Butter Blossom time.

^That was the worst transition ever. And why did I keep it in the first paragraph? Because according to SEO crap I have engrained into my brain, the search term should be in the first paragraph. So there it is. Here it is again in the second paragraph: easy Vegan Peanut Butter Blossoms.

Wow, this post is officially all over the place, and we’re only to the third paragraph! But such is life. I’m just pumped to be back home in Wisconsin, with ample time and creative energy to devote to creative pursuits, including this blog.

I also am very stoked to have a new camera. The upgrade was years overdue, but being a chronic student doesn’t leave much wiggle room for big purchases.

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bread, entertaining, healthy, side dish, vegan, vegan baking, vegetarian, whole grains

The Best Vegan Stuffing Ever

November 22, 2018November 22, 2018by Katherine BakerLeave a Comment

Happy Thanksgiving! Or happy turkey-free turkey day, as I like to say. People often ask me if I’m sad or somehow disappointed by the fact that I don’t eat turkey on Thanksgiving. My answer is HECK to the no because the sides + desserts are truly where it’s at (at least, for me). And one of my holiday favs? This stuffing. Which is the best vegan stuffing ever, in my humble opinion.

I’ve made this several years in a row and it’s always been a hit. What makes my version of the best vegan stuffing ever different? Well, while most veg-friendly stuffing recipes use veggie broth, I go a different route with liquid and coconut aminos and nutritional yeast for flavor.

I also use sprouted bread (Angelic Bakery is my favorite brand, but Ezikel or any other sprouted bread will work) instead of regular, which happened circumstantially originally, but ended up being delicious and has therefore remained part of the recipe.

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daily eats, health, healthy, nutrition, vegan, weekly eats roundups

Midterm Season Vegan Eats + Cherry Bombe University Recap

November 7, 2018November 7, 2018by Katherine Baker2 Comments

Hello once again to my fine internet friends! I hope you are having the warmest coziest fall filled with mugs of tea, hearty soups, scrumptious baked goods, and warm blankies. I’m back in the blogging game after a fatiguing few weeks of midterms and application work.

Midterms really did not bring out the best in me this year, and after crying in public from lack of sleep and overloads of stress, I decided it was a healthful idea to take a step back from the internet and putting pressure on myself to blog for a few days and focus on learning how to chill and sleep and and socialize and eat like a normal homeostatic human being again.

But! I’m feeling quite restored after this weekend of naps and friends and oodles of baking and wanted to share some meals and snacks from the past few weeks. Hope you enjoy! Leave me your favorite snacks and cozy meals in the comments below, or pop over to my Instagram and slide into my DMs.

I’ll also be recapping my experience at Cherry Bombe University, so keep on reading for that!

Avocado Toast with Za’atar:

This was a new-to-me-combo that I’d wanted to try out for a while. I also added some hemp hearts and nutritional yeast for extra flavor/texture/satiety. It was pretty good, but not my favorite avo toast flavor combo. Still fun to try though!

Oatmeal with frozen blueberries and almond butter

I cannot get enough of this combo lately. I basically make this cinnamon banana-blurberry-oatmeal thing by cooking a 1/2 cup oats with 1/2 a mashed banana and about 1/4 cup frozen blueberries stirred in towards the end of cooking. I then pour my oats into a bowl and top with almond butter while the oats are still warm so the almond butter gets melty, and pour almond milk on top to cool it off, and enjoy.

Dumplings and the Sweet Soy Bowl from Luanne’s Wild Ginger

I visited one of my BFFs Raag in Brookyln last weekend for an early bday celebration. We grabbed lunch at Luanne’s Wild Ginger and it was excellent.

We started with dumplings (<3) and tempura. I’m not a huge fried-foods person, but I love me some doughy doughy dumplings.

For my entree, I got a sweet soy something bowl (can’t remember the actual name), with chewy brown rice, tangy-sweet-sour-spicy gluttonous soy medallions, steamed Japanese pumpkin, house-madee pickled veggies, and kale, and some yummy sauces. This was incredible. I’d eat it every day. Yum.

Happy birthday Raag!

Cinnamon Rolls

Made from scratch with Raag. We used this minimalist baker recipe. Delish! Cinnamon rolls are life.

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