Happy Baking Soda Day!

Blogger of the Day: Kris at nom! nom! nom!
Pubs:
The 100 Best Vegan Baking Recipes
The Damn Tasty Vegan Baking Guide
Have Your Cake and Vegan Too
The I Heart Trader Joe's Recipe Cards
The I Heart Trader Joe's Vegetarian Cookbook
Vegan Desserts in Jars
Vegan Ice Cream Sandwiches

Baking Soda Day? Yep, today you can celebrate the wonders of that humble white magic. You can put it to work or put it to play...make fizzy eggs, fat balloons, lots and lots of rockets and fountains of dayglo lava flows. Crazyfun stuff!  ;)

Or you can make it bake! Baking soda is a leavening agent, which means it helps make dough or batter rise by creating trapped carbon dioxide bubbles...baking powder does the same. So what's the difference?

Baking soda requires an additional acid (like buttermilk, citrus juice, molasses, yogurt or vinegar) to work...
Baking soda + acid + liquid = bubbles --> immediate rise

Baking powder contains baking soda and acid so all it needs is liquid to activate. Double-acting baking powder (what you see in most grocery stores) boosts it up when heat is added...
Double-acting baking powder + liquid = bubbles --> immediate rise + heat = more bubbles --> extended rise

Some recipes require both...balance is the key. Too much soda, powder or acid will result in a bitter taste so follow directions and measure carefully...this is why baking should be considered a science and why you should get school credit for flipping fluffy pancakes!  :)

Kris is a wise and clever baker, supersmart recipe creator...and Harry Potter pastrymaker! She's also a chemistry whiz in the kitchen so watch, listen and learn...then eat!  :)

Giddy-Up Janes

The Sorcerer’s Scone

Sweet Biscuits and Gravy

Cherry Almond Quinoa Bread

Teesy Tater Tot Hot Dish

Savory Muffin Madness

Veggie Meatloaf

Carrot Cake Bread

Pistachio Cake with Chocolate Sauce

Dad is Great Chocolate Cake

Hell Yes! Cake Bars

Boston Cream Pie

Baking soda basics and more...
Leavening Agents -- Definitions, Cooking For Engineers
Food Science: Baking Soda and Baking Powder by Brian Geiger, Fine Cooking
Kitchen Chemistry by Professor Angela G. King, Wake Forest Magazine
The Difference Between Baking Soda and Baking Powder by Matt Shipman, NCSU
Leavening, Food Science 101, Oregon State U
Kitchen Chemistry includes (chocolate!), Dr.Patricia Christie, MIT

Does the chemistry of baking interest you? Have you used baking soda in a science project? What's your favorite fluffed up baked treat?  :)

Celebrate some more with our 2014 Daily Food Holiday and Featured Blogger Series!

Happy National Oatmeal Muffin Day!

Blogger of the Day: Natalie at Bake and Destroy
Pubs: Bake and Destroy: Good Food for Bad Vegans
Shop: BaD tees & merch

Natalie is famous in the baking world for her rad attitude, fabulous tats and fearless kitchen skills! Her blog is busting with cupcakes, cookies, punk rock and pro wrestling, plus...
• Teno the Food Puncher...Natalie's son reviews foods, demos toys, dances madly and more. Not all vegan but crazycute!
• SugarSlams...pro wrestling-themed online bakeoffs!
• Gift guides, giveaways, fundraisers and free stuff!
• Easy and yumful veganfriendly eats!
Natalie is also a totally devoted familywoman, she is remarkably generous and openhearted, and she has raised thousands of dollars for worthy and compassionate causes, so along with all of that snark and sarcasm come a whole lotta hugs...and bake sales.  ;)

Maple Oatmeal Muffins

Very Lemon Poppy Seed Muffins

Crouching Cornbread, Hidden Broccoli

(via Veggie Girl)

DILLIGAF Falafel Waffle

Tot Pot Pie

Taco Lasagna

Four-Ingredient Mouth Party 

(Doritos-Crusted Tofu)

Spaghetti Cake with Grandma Sharon’s Hater-Proof Sauce

(via real food traveler)

Banana Bread French Toast Cupcakes

Carrot Cake with Maple Cashew Frosting 

(and a Food Puncher Review!)

Mint Twist Whoopie Pies

Find Natalie here too!
Banana Bread French Toast Cupcakes (via Twinkie Chan)
Breakfast Pizza (via Healthy Slow Cooking)
Candy Apple Salad (via Just the Food)
Candy Bar Cupcakes (via Healthy Slow Cooking)
Candy Bar Smoothie (via spabettie)
Cannibal Corpse Crock-Pot (via Canned Time)
Cujo Chow (via Your Vegan Mom)
Falafel Waffle (via An Unrefined Vegan)
Grilled Mac ‘n’ Cheez Sandwich with Chee-Zee Sauce (via The Lisa Ekus Group)
Indian Buffet Pizza (via Everyday is a Holiday)
Pistachio Whoopie Pies (via Meet The Shannons)
Pretzel Dogs of the Dead (via Vegan Yack Attack)
Shepherd’s Pie Pizza (via Get Sconed!)
You Don’t Know Jack Hash (via Canned Time)

On one post Natalie solves the mystery of her fishy tattoo. If you could get a tattoo commemorating a special event, what would it be?  :)

Check out the rest of our 2014 Daily Food Holiday and Featured Blogger Series!

Happy National Coffee Day!

Blogger of the Day: Ashlee at The Little Foxes

Ashlee's a Texan at heart but currently busts out her blog from cosmo Chicago where she's hooked in and hooked up to the cutting edge of vegan style. She features the latest in crueltyfree makeup, fashion, film and food, and writes about it all at her site and at hip hubs like Vegucated, Ecouterre and Refinery29. She's an animal rescue champ and compassionate advocate, offering her services through All is Wellness and Home Chef...plus she shares recipes for international eats and Texacago treats! For National Coffee Day you can start with her simple Espresso Cafe Crisps or go straight to this coffeecrazed muffindeliciousness!  :)

Coffee Muffins with Mexican Cocoa Glaze

Flaky Pesto Shortbreads

Easy Hummus In a Flash

Minted Moroccan Meatballs with Aromatic Barley

Baked Pumpkin Seed Falafel with Sundried Tomato Tahini Sauce

Backyard Veggie Burger Sliders

‘Manly Mac’ (aka: The Best Mac + Cheese Ever)

Savory Sausage + Onion Corn Cake

Cookie Butter Creme Tart

Jamocha Silk Pie

How do you celebrate National Coffee Day?  :)

Check out the rest of our 2014 Daily Food Holiday and Featured Blogger Series!

Happy National Blueberry Muffin Day!

Blogger of the Day: Lindsay at Happy Herbivore
Pubs:
• The Happy Herbivore Cookbook: Over 175 Delicious Fat-Free and Low-Fat Vegan Recipes
• Everyday Happy Herbivore: Over 175 Quick-and-Easy Fat-Free and Low-Fat Vegan Recipes
• Happy Herbivore Abroad: A Travelogue and Over 135 Fat-Free and Low-Fat Vegan Recipes from Around the World
• Happy Herbivore Light & Lean: Over 150 Low-Calorie Recipes with Workout Plans for Looking and Feeling Great
• The Happy Herbivore Guide to Plant-Based Living
• Happy Herbivore Under Pressure - A Pressure Cooker Travel Guide
• Broke Backpacker: Europe on $30 a Day
• Minimalist Monday Books Series
• Minimalist Monday: Decluttering Your Life! Letting Go of Emotional Baggage, Toxic Relationships, and Social Chaos to Build Your Ideal, Zen Life
• Happy Herbivore Holidays & Gatherings: Easy Plant-Based Recipes for Your Healthiest Celebrations and Special Occasions
• Better Than Vegan: 101 Favorite Low-Fat, Plant-Based Recipes That Helped Me Lose Over 200 Pounds
• Live Better

Lindsay is a crazysmart superenergetic wondervegan! She's constantly on the move, cooking, creating, teaching and traveling...at the moment she's playing and tasting in the summery south of France! Lindsay started off her career as a lawyer but quickly ditched it to pursue bigger, better, happier things. So far she's produced almost a dozen books, a boatload of videos and a website jampacked full of recipes and helpful info on how to eat, travel and live healthier! She covers everything from teaching you how to lose the fat (in cooking) to kicking your butt into being a wondervegan too! I've got two of her cookbooks and they're practically in shreds because I've used them so much. If you can't buy them, take them out of the library and follow her blog so you can become a Happy Herbie too!  :)

Blueberry Oatmeal Muffins

Quiche with Greens

Chipotle Roasted Corn Soup

Crispy Chickenless Nuggets

Hawaiian BBQ: Teriyaki Chickpeas

Cajun Chickpea Cakes

Chickpea Tacos

Baked Vegan Corndogs

New York Bagels

Fruit-topped Cheesecake

Blueberry Crisp

Do you groove on blueberry muffins? Do you bake or fry your corndogs? Burgers? Potatoes? Where would you spend a summer...southern France, South America? South Africa? The good old American South?  ;)

Celebrate some more with our 2014 Daily Food Holiday and Featured Blogger Series!

Happy National Raisin Day!

Blogger of the Day: Helen at Eat Pray Bake

A long time ago there was a bakery in our neighborhood that made the most yumful muffins on the planet. I loved their raisin bran muffins...so weird because I don't usually like raisins in baked things but these little gems were drenched in stickysyrupy sweetness, packed with raisins and were heavier than a wet sandbag. Dizzyspinninggood! I haven't yet found a recipe that equals them but I keep trying. And eating muffins. And trying some more.  ;)

That's how I found Helen's raisin muffin recipe. Helen is a superactive socially motivated nutrition student from Toronto who thrives on travel, Tabata, yoga, running and healthy vegfriendly cooking. Her blog is a bright beautiful read...travel stories, fun and lovely photos, food facts and easy treats. I'm still on the hunt for the ultimate muffin, but I gotta love Helen's BRB Muffins because, admit it...blueberries make everything better!  :)

Blueberry Raisin Bran Muffins

Banana Bread Muffins

Dark Chocolate Almond Brownies

Chocolate Beet Cupcake

Chocolate Truffles

Coconut Matcha and Spiced Date Balls

Vegan Ice Cream Sandwich with Banana Soft Serve

Super Easy Key Lime Pie

Yellow and Green Quinoa Salad

Sweet Potato Pesto Canapés

Brown Rice Flour Banana Pancakes with Lentils

Helen puts raisins in plenty of recipes...bars, cookies, fudge, salads, even her eggplant caponata stew! What kinds of foods do you raisin up? Who makes your favorite muffins? What's your favorite fitness workout?   :)

Celebrate some more with our 2014 Daily Food Holiday and Featured Blogger Series!