Sweet – Dirty Gourmet

Blueberry Cornmeal Pancakes

Mai-yan — Wed, 23 Dec 2015 23:00:00 +0000

There’s something undeniably luxurious yet comforting about eating pancakes for breakfast. It’s basically cake that you drizzle with more sweetness – who can deny the beauty of that!

Making pancakes while backpacking is easy and just what you need to fuel you up for another day on the trail. We made these Cornmeal Blueberry Pancakes on our last day of a short 2-night trip. It was perfect for a leisurely morning while enjoying the tranquility and immensity of White Chief Dome in Mineral King, Sequoia National Park.

All the batter ingredients where pre-measured at home and put into a gallon-size zip-top bag. At camp, the only thing left to do was to add water directly in the bag and mix. Tip: write how much water to add on the bag before you leave.

The Trader Joe’s dried blueberries we used are moist and naturally sweet. They melted in the batter and made for delicious sweet and tart bites against the earthiness of the cornmeal. If you don’t care for a sweet breakfast or want to save the weight of maple syrup, these pancakes are perfectly good without syrup as well.

Almond Poppy Seed Bundt Cake

Aimee — Fri, 30 May 2014 15:44:12 +0000

Bundt cakes belong at picnics. They’re not covered in delicate frosting, so they won’t get destroyed in transport. And more importantly, they’re so pretty! They add just the right amount of fancy to a picnic, without being fussy.

My bundt pan used to live in the garage because we didn’t have enough storage in our old kitchen. We moved in March and our new kitchen has lots of storage, so my bundt pan now has a home in the kitchen, where it belongs. Now that I see it all the time, I’ve made more bundt cakes than ever and have become a little obsessed with them. I love them because there’s crust in every slice of cake.

This Almond Poppy Seed Bundt Cake recipe is super easy to throw together. It has a strong almond flavor, so if you don’t like that flavor, you could omit the almond extract and add some lemon zest instead. If you’re worried about transporting the cake with the glaze on it, you can use less glaze or just leave it off entirely. Even Emily, the self-proclaimed cake-hater loves this cake.

Chocolate Jar Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Frosting

Aimee — Tue, 25 Jun 2013 15:48:25 +0000

I realize I’m late on the cupcake in a jar trend, but there’s a reason. When I first heard of it, I thought it was a pretty silly idea. But then it occurred to me that it was brilliant for camping trips or picnics, since there’s always the issue of how to transport frosted cakes or cupcakes. I’ll never buy one of those cupcake carriers, but I’ve got plenty of jars around the house. You can even use old jelly jars. The cakes even bake right in the jar – no need for cupcake liners and muffin tins. The Chocolate Cupcake recipe is vegan by chance, but I also make a vegan version of the cream cheese that’s great. Just substitute vegan cream cheese and margarine (such as Earth Balance).

Banana Chocolate Chip Muffins

Emily — Tue, 06 Nov 2012 20:10:53 +0000

When it rains, it pours. And the wind blows and it snows and the full moon comes out, and so do babies! Aimee hatched her teenies on Tuesday night, October 30, at 6:31pm and 6:32pm, only one minute apart. The girl, 5lbs 6oz, came first, keeping with our recently realized family tradition of older sisters. Then the boy, 4lbs 13oz was next. They are in the NICU waiting on their lungs to catch up since they were a little early, but they’re doing great and are the cutest things any of us have ever seen. None of us have had any newborns around, so its been quite an experience.

I can understand why they’d want to show up during such an exciting week (Frankenstorm, Cyclone Nilam, full moon, Halloween), but I have to admit I was a little frustrated to hear of their arrival. I specifically told those kids to stay in there until at least Wednesday. I was on a work trip and had gotten my first cold in who knows how long. Aimee had been requesting the same thing, as she was very excited for a pregnant lady Halloween costume this year (options were: plumber with beer belly, the earth, or a giant boob). Figures they were in there giggling and plotting to mess up our plans from the beginning. Aimee ended up being a hospital patient for Halloween, and I had to wait until Thursday to meet them. We spent a lot of time this week discussing names. Aimee and Kismat were planning to wait until next Tuesday (the last possible day), but the family did a great job of encouraging speediness by coming up with some lovely nicknames (Roger, Bob and Marla, Angton and Bington). The decision was finally made today.

Asha Leona

Ravi James

I may still call them Angton and Bington, but I think their real names are perfect. We can’t wait until they come home. Until we can hold them and watch their personalities grow. Until we can go on their first hikes and then camping trips. Until we can start feeding them all sorts of interesting new foods. This is a very exciting new chapter for all of us, and for Dirty Gourmet.

As a side note, Mai-Yan baked these Banana Chocolate Chip Muffins before coming to the hospital and they were such a hit with all of Aimee’s visitors that we thought we should share the recipe. It’s from the 30 Day Vegan Challenge book by Colleen Patrick Goodreau.