This month, I’m going to have to split my “leftovers” into two posts; I have lots to share with you!
This is a big block of raw white chocolate coconut fudge (a cookbook test recipe). I gifted some of it to Megan when we met up for drinks and tapas. She loved it!
While hanging out at First Fridays in the Crossroads district, Matt and I stopped at a new organic food truck, Good You, for a snack: a grilled vegan burrito stuffed with kidney beans and sweet potato chunks. The very next day, I recreated it for us at home for dinner.
On a sunny Sunday morning, I made us these slammin’ apple pie muffins. They tasted like they came straight out of a Starbucks, I kid you not. At some point, I plan on sharing this recipe with you, because you NEED to try these. Wowza.
Here’s another batch of rice-fried veggies and tofu I threw together. I also decided I don’t have nearly enough baby corn in my life.
Another will-share-in-the-future recipe is this lower-fat banana bread I created. I must say, it’s pretty out of this world!
I found a (possibly ancient) bag of chik’n chunks in my freezer, which I put to use by combining it with navy beans, green beans, garlic, and herbes de Provence for a one-pot dinner.
Speaking of apple pie, here’s more apple pie kamut-oatmeal I made for Matt. I don’t know when or how I got obsessed with this “apple-pie-anything” business, but I’m just fine with it!
After reading previously about Ela‘s use of Xylitol, I was excited to experiment with this bag of it I received from Emerald Forest Foods. Xylitol is a natural sweetener with 40% fewer calories than sugar. It’s good for your teeth, too!
The first thing I made with it was this batch of chocolate zucchini muffins (recipe from The Happy Herbivore Cookbook
Taco roll-ups strike again! This filling had black beans, corn, and sweet potato. I added jalapeños to mine only, cuz Matt’s a spice wuss. 
And finally: one last muffin to show you. If you “like” Almost Vegan on Facebook (or follow me on Twitter), you’ve already heard the story behind these beauties. I’ll recount it here, though, because it’s too precious to miss.
Here’s what I wrote right after it happened:
“I need to go outside and see if pigs are flying, because today when I woke up, Matt proudly presented me with fresh-baked vegan strawberry muffins! HE made them!! It took me 10 minutes to believe he was for real!
Listen to this: while I was still asleep, Matt looked through my cookbooks and picked the recipe for Strawberry Love Muffins out of Hannah Kaminsky’s book. He consulted one of Isa’s books on how to replace oil with applesauce. He replaced granulated sugar with a blend of palm sugar and Xylitol. He used whole wheat pastry flour in place of all-purpose. He put one on a plate for me and garnished it with a sliced fresh strawberry. And last but not least, he TOOK PHOTOS! What has gotten into my man?! I’m blown away!”
Is that amazing, or what?! I didn’t even know Matt knew how to preheat the oven! Though he did make a couple rookie errors (like combining all the ingredients in one bowl before reading the directions, hehe), these were some of the sweetest muffins, literally and figuratively, I’ve ever had. Matt, I love yer guts!
LADIES’ QUESTION: Has a guy ever cooked or baked something for you?
great food as always want that recipe for the apple muffin
you must be rubbing off on matt that is so sweet and he took pictures awesome!
I must be! The picture-taking might’ve been the cutest part
Yummy eats! Yes, mine has made cookies and meals for me. He is quite the cook!
Nice! Go Ryan!
Everything looks awesome. I recently bought some Xylitol after I heard Russell talking about it. Did you simply replace the sugar in the recipe or did it explicitly call for Xylitol?
I have had men cook for me in the past – there is nothing more romantic. Well, I like it when they clean toilets too
The recipe called for sugar, but I just subbed Xylitol 1:1.
Toilet-cleaning, eh? I don’t think Matt’s quite there yet
Apple pie anything rocks my world!
The husband of mine can’t cook to save his life, but he’s a pro at dishes.
Way to Matt! Sometimes it’s the little things that make a marriage thrive
Hopefully Matt will keep doing stuff like this if/when we get married
Dishwashing is an important job! Matt does a lot of that too, which I’m very grateful for.
Any chance that you’ll be sharing the White Chocolate Coconut Fudge recipe??? It all looks amazing!
When my cookbook finally comes out, it’ll be in there! I may try and find way to share it before that, too.
I would love to get this recipe too! I love white chocolate!
Noted! I’ll definitely try to make that recipe one I share in advance.
What did you think of Good You? Haven’t tried any of their food yet.
It was pretty good. Easy to replicate, clearly, but when you’re out and about and need to grab something quickly, it was a nice option to have around.
Aww, that’s so sweet that Matt made those muffins! AND made all those substitutions. AND pictures. AND they look awesome, to boot – lucky lady!
I love all these “leftovers.” And will patiently wait for you to post the promised recipes. Patiently being the key yet maybe not so accurate word
I AM a lucky lady
Hehe, patience is a difficult virtue, I know, but I promise it’ll pay off when it comes to these recipes!
What a cute little muffin! Nope Chris has never made a muffin but he makes lots of other foods, more to the savory side. He actually used to make raw chocolate before I took over that operation.
Hehe! Maybe I should teach Matt how to make raw chocolate…
That’s so stinkin’ cute that Matt made those for you! They look great!
Now, we need to discuss a date for you to post the banana bread and apple wonderful muffin recipes…. I NEED those in my life!
Haha, I can’t give an exact date…YET…but I’ll make it happen
A male friend of mine made a coconut cream pie for me in grad school. I was shocked because it was so good. I hope he’s still cooking cuz I lost track of him several years ago. BTW it was way prior to my becoming veganized.
Nice!
I need that white choc coconut fudge recipe! I have some good ones myself, but I’d love to know the geography of that one.
So much fun to recreate recipes after eating them out. And that’s awesome that Matt made you muffins–how adorable! I don’t think I’ve had quite that pleasure (but I tend to be a little possessive of the kitchen, maybe).
Glad you’re trying the xylitol and hope you enjoy it.
love
Ela
The fudge is a cookbook recipe! Maybe I’ll share it in advance, though
Hehe, I’m possessive of the kitchen too…had I been awake, I’m sure I’d have been hovering over Matt like a hawk! But he surprised me with this secret kitchen finesse of his.
That’s adorable! Props, Matt. My boyfriend’s claim to fame is that he made soup. Once. I cook for him, he doesn’t cook for me.
And raw white chocolate coconut fudge? Yes please. You have a gift, my friend.
Hey, soup is still something!
Aw, thank you Nat!
My husband, Nathan (I’m Kelly!) actually really enjoys cooking up a surprise for me every once in a while. I love it. The man makes a MEAN smoothie!
And my doctor (a holistic, natural dr.) actually sells gum that is sweetened with xylitol and when I saw it in his office last week, that was the first I’d heard of it. Is it good? I’ve been taken in by the likes of Stevia before…and was, um…less than impressed, you could say.
P.S. As a KC resident myself, I keep expecting to see you just like out walking some day.
Hope I do!
Thanks for all the great food ideas and photos. Love them!
Matt’s getting pretty good with smoothie-making, too!
I couldn’t detect any difference in taste in the Xylitol muffins, actually. Two thumbs up from me!
Ahh, how cool you’re in KC! It’s a small world…so who knows, someday, we may just run into each other (literally!). If you see me, do say hi!
wow that is a whole lotta left overs. I am craving the taco wraps for sure. Also the banana muffins. Love that Matt cooked that for you and made all of those amazing changes. Awesome.
I know, right? I’m so proud of him
wow, great looking food!! I would keel over dead if my hubby baked me something!!!! LOL
Haha! Hey, you never know, it could happen! I certainly never expected it
Ohh. My. Gosh. Can you just cook for me everyday?
Whitney
I’d love to! Wanna hire me?
Woah! I’m so impressed with Matt! That’s cool
Your eats always look SO GOOD! Wish I could reach into the computer screen and pick things out!
Now THAT’d be a cool trick. As soon as you figure out how to do that, teach me!
The first night my German came (and stayed… ahem) over, he brought a traditional german cake that he’d made to which he’d spur-0f-the-moment added coconut cream and lychees and cherries. It made me happy. And then he left, which made me less happy.
Just like the white chocolate fudge made me unhappy. You cruel, cruel taunting lass you!
I would have saved some for you had you been here, Hannah. We’ll find some more German chefs for you. Surely there must be some around here somewhere…
Aw thanks Matt. Could you please make sure that the German you find doesn’t turn out have had a girlfriend he didn’t tell me about, the existence of whom I only discover via Facebook photos later? Kthnxbai!
Ohh, your German’s cake sounds wonderful. Your German? Not so wonderful, in the end. =/
All of the four boys I’ve had connections – albeit brief – with since my travels started in 2009 are now in serious relationships, and I’m still miss alonepants. It makes me cry inside. And outside. Sigh!
Well that simply means they settled – and you haven’t. You’ve come out ahead.
But I do understand the heartache.
Thanks love. Right now I just feel like a bit of a freak, but it’ll pass
Plus I just made raw pecan carob (well, the carob isn’t raw, I guess…) biscotti, so that helps!!
Good. Biscotti should always help
Amber deserves this sort of treatment from me more often. She cooks for me all the time. It was time for me to get off my rump and get creative. Thanks Hannah K. for the excellent and clearly successful recipe!
Hugs all around!
Matt
Aww. Well, I can’t say I’d complain if you did stuff like this more often
But you spoil me enough already in so many other ways! :*
Hey, Amber, What a great post!! Everything looks fabulous, as usual.
I just loved reading about Matt. What a joy to share with all of us!
I have to tell you that my young teenage son, Ryan, who reads your blog, has surprised me more than once with homemade treats.
One of the most memorable was a few years ago, when I came home from Jury Duty (having eaten nothing all day) he had looked up a smoothie recipe and followed it to the letter. I had a major green smoothie made iwth mango waiting for me when I walked in the door.
After being at a meeting all day, I came home to his first two-layer cake (organic).
Upon return from a retreat he greated me with red colored, heart shaped biscuts. <3
And just this last Sunday, Mother's Day, he created an original papaya smoothie for me! It was so good, that I recreated it again today!
He is such a blessing to me, I just had to share it with you, too.
WOW, Simone! I hope I have kids half as sweet at that someday. Ryan sounds like the most thoughtful son ever! You’re a lucky lady to have him…and he’s a lucky guy to have you as a mom
Happy belated mothers day to you!