Tag Archives: macaccino

Vegan Mofo 2016 Day 5: Pumpkin Spice Macaccino Muffins

November 5, 2016

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I have no idea if these are cupcakes or muffins. I kind-of get annoyed by American standards for muffins. When I use to work at the coffee shop my current bosses ran, they would taste baked goods from various bakeries to choose a supplier. Their biggest complaint was the muffins were too gritty or dry. When they asked for my opinion, I replied with “they’re muffins, not cupcakes.” Sadly we ended up picking frozen buckets of muffins and baking them on location. My bosses were so proud of their decision, I hated those muffins, too soft, too sweet. Muffins are suppose to be low-sugar, have some whole wheat, or spelt flour, or something of the like. Sure you can have a chocolate chip muffin, if most of the sweetness is tied up in the chocolate. Muffins should be a limbo stage between bread and cupcake.

But what about these? I originally was going to call them cupcakes, originally tossing in some chocolate chips and a crumb topping. Surely that would make them decadent enough to make them cupcakes, right? Well, the crumb topping melted after a day, so I scrapped that. I had to make a second batch, and ran out of chocolate chips. So the new photographed results felt like a lie to have a recipe for naked cupcakes. But I personally like them without a glaze or frosting. But they are surely very soft and tender. So muffins they will be called.

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Many of you guys know that I have been going nuts over Macaccino. I don’t like promoting brands like this (unless I am making money, come on macaccino! give me money I can keep making these recipes!) but I am loving the powder form and the unique flavor. But you can skip the macaccino in the recipe and use espresso powder, or brewed coffee to make more a Pumpkin Spice Latte muffin. Variations will be in the recipe below.

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You can also switch things up by using half whole wheat flour instead of just all purpose flour to make these more muffin-y. But since I’ve been eating these as a midnight snack, I didn’t feel like it was needed. In fact that is kind-of why I love macaccino! I don’t have to worry about caffeine levels late at night. No I don’t think it would have much if you use espresso powder or real coffee, but just one less thing to worry about.

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Other little tips about these muffins. The first batch I made I used home roasted pumpkin (actually long pie squash to be exact.) If you make your own home roasted pumpkin you might have to take an extra step to puree the squash. You can be lazy (like me!) and just mix all the wet ingredients in a blender. But if you are using the canned stuff, like I did for the second batch, you can mix everything perfectly fine with a fork.

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What about nutrition? Well, I think of these like a dessert, hence why I am eating them as a midnight/bedtime snack. Below are the vitamins and minerals in recipe. There will be variations, clearly, if you are using hemp milk instead of soy, or if you decide to add chocolate chips or coffee. No none of these numbers are particularly high, but I don’t think it is too bad for 220 calories (10% of the calories for most people) and for something that tastes like such a dessert.

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Posted by Jennifer in Recipe, Vegan Mofo, Vegan Mofo 2016 Tags: espresso, latte, macaccino, muffin, pumpkin, pumpkin spice, pumpkin spice latte, recipe, Vegan MOFO, vegan mofo 2016

4 comments

Coffee Like Drink Taste Test

October 25, 2016

Unless you are just checking out my blog for the first time ever, you probably already know that I am pregnant. Actually, 8 months along at this point. And some people already know that most pregnant women aren’t suppose to have coffee- or rather they are only suppose to have so much caffeine. I am pretty sporadic about my coffee intake, but because I don’t have it all the time, I can accidentally guzzled too much in one day. And top it off, pregnant women have a harder time getting caffeine out of their system. I had a day or two where I accidentally drink too much caffeine and was rather jittery.

But I know many people like to drink less coffee, or can’t have any caffeine in their diet for medical reason. Because of these reasons, I was really happy to try out some coffee like products on the market. I tried to have the products in various styles to try and fill everyone’s coffee desires.

Two Quick Notes! I bought all these products on my own. So these are all my own opinions, though I never give my input about if the cost is worth it. Truthfully I like buying expensive coffee so I say all are worth the price. But if you are looking for cheap- go for the teeccino. My second note is that I don’t think caffeine is evil. I think out of most plant based stimulants caffeine is pretty awesome and safe (when in a natural state of coarse, you can overdose on the purified powdered stuff.) I am reviewing low caffeine or caffeine free products so no tea and yerba mate reviews. I also wanted the flavor to be in the same ball park but still be fairly easy to find in stores.

Crio Bru

Website: Crio Bru.com
Where to buy?: Amazon, Online Shop, & Store Locator
Style: Ghana Light Roast

What is it?: I’ve heard about this drink for awhile and have wanted to try it ever since I’ve heard of it. Pretty much the cacao bean is roasted in the same style as the coffee bean

Positives: It isn’t 100% caffeine free, which to me is a good thing. I like having a little bit of a caffeine kick, and it also provides a little bit of bitterness. It also never claims to taste like coffee so you can drink it with an open mind. But the cacao is easy to mix with coffee beans if you are trying to help wean yourself off of coffee grounds. Mixing the two also give a really awesome and unique flavor (think mocha)

Negatives: It is a little watery and pre-ground. The drink is thinner than normal brewed coffee, and I think it would help if the grinds were a little smaller. But you can’t do that since they are pre-ground.

How to Brew: I’ve tried this in many ways, pulled an espresso shot, french press, and drip. I have found the only way to drink this is by using a french press. The espresso was a watery mess, and the drip was alright but tended to have trouble filtering. The French Press will give the best full body flavor.

What it tastes like?: It tastes like a watered down mocha latte- kind-of. There is a distinct chocolate/cacao flavor going on, but you have some rich notes that give a subtle notes similar to coffee. This clearly doesn’t taste like coffee, it has a totally different flavor profile, but can fill the void of full body, bitter, hot beverages.

Teeccino

Website: Teeccino.com
Where to buy?: Amazon, Official Shop, & Store Locator
Style: French Roast, Mocha, Maya Chai

What is it?: A blend of various plants and herbs. The main ingredients being used are carob, chicory root, nuts, barley, dandelion root, and some nuts and dried fruit. There are many blends available in different packaging. There are some that are gluten free (without the barley), tea bags, loose for drip, and lots of accessories.

Positives: This is 100% caffeine free for anyone who wants it. The drink also comes in various different methods so you can either brew it at home, or have tea bags for on the go. There also many flavors which works well for anyone who might be a picky eater. This brand is also probably the most widely available coffee substitute as I found it at Whole Foods, Wegmans, and small mom-and-pop health food stores.

Negatives: It is easy to mess up the brewing process. There have been times where I over brewed and had horrible tasting teeccino. Because of this, it isn’t so easy to mix the teeccino with coffee grounds if you are trying to get rid of caffein from your diet. The brew time is less than regular coffee, and you need much less grinds as well. I am also not a huge fan of their push for a caffeine lifestyle as they use very questionable spokes people sometimes.

How to Brew: I’ve tried many methods, and found my favorite is the tea bags and pulling espresso shots. The tea bags make it so you don’t add too much tea to the brew, and you want to use less than the average cup of coffee. Because of this strong flavor, it works perfectly for an espresso machine. I pulled a shot, added it to iced soy milk, and had a yummy latte, though it highlighted the flavors that aren’t as coffee-like.

What it tastes like?: This tastes the most like a cup of coffee. It doesn’t quite taste the same, but if you ever had a coffee-chicory root drink than you have a better idea what this stuff tastes like. It uses various grains and such that give a similar bitter flavor, but they use coffee flavorings which really give it that authentic flavor. Overall if I am craving coffee but don’t want the caffeine, this stuff is pretty satisfying. It is full bodied, full of flavor, and in some ways better than just drinking decaf coffee. Crazy? Maybe.

Macaccino

Website: Macaccino.com
Where to buy?: Amazon, Official Shop, & Store Locations
Style: Original Roasted Maca Blend

What is it?: These are blends of maca root that have been roasted to give a more coffee like flavor. Their original blend uses maca, cocoa, nutmeg, mesquite, and cinnamon, but they have two other blends. Their black reserve uses black, red, and yellow maca root along with beet powder. Their mint has a little dried peppermint leaf.

Positives: Super portable and quick to make. If you like instant coffee (ugh, so bad tasting) this is the coffee replacement for you. Just add hot water, stir, and add any creamers and sugar. Because of the powder form, it makes it easy to make other coffee flavored snacks like lattes, smoothies, and desserts. I also like how this brand promotes the use of other vegan products when making.

Negatives: It is a little gritty overall. I find that towards the end of the cup it gets a little too thick, which could be remedied by adding more hot water. Even when I make my macaccino latte, it still gets a little thick at the bottom.

How to Brew: There is pretty much only one way to “brew” and that is to dissolve the powder. You can use hot water or add mostly soy milk like I do. You can sub any recipe that uses espresso powder with this.

What it tastes like?: Just like the Crio Bru there is something very coffee like that comes from roasting the maca. But you most definitely can taste the maca flavor coming through. There is no way you could just sub the macaccino powder with just maca. As mentioned before, since it is a powder that is mixed with hot water, it does have some off the pitfalls as instant coffee does. But I would think more on par with Starbucks super finely ground instant coffee.

Posted by Jennifer in Food Review, Pregnancy, Reviews, Tea Time Tuesday Tags: cacao, coffee, crio bru, maca, macaccino, Tea, Tea Time Tuesday, teeccino

What I Ate Wednesday #3

October 12, 2016

Let me first point out- today is such a nicer healthier collection of foods than the past few days. Yeah, I’ve been scarfing down lots and lots of sugar. Hello pumpkin spice oreos and birthday cake flavored target-os. Oh a cookies and cream filled doughnut, the broken smarties from halloween candy, you know, anything I can get my hands on really. It is so easy to eat carbs and sugars since they are shelf stable and quick to make. Bagel and cream cheese? Easy and satisfying. Vegan boxed mac and cheese? Pretty filling. My acid reflux has been AWFUL the past few days, which I think has made me reach for the super junky foods. It also might be making leftovers filled with veggies less appealing. Part of me wonders if the things I am craving with the reflux (read: sugary snacks) are what is causing it.

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But let’s start with my shake. I just wasn’t feeling spirulina this morning. I wanted to taste more of the chocolate so I took out the spirulina and blended up a small beet from my CSA. I love how it makes the shake turn a deep shade of pink. I pretty much made the same shake I always do- soy milk, banana, cocoa powder, stevia, brown rice protein, kale greens, and chia seeds. Super tasty and yummy.

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I was feeling a little peckish before heading out to work so I quickly made a macaccino using some ripple chocolate milk. I really love the consistency of ripple, it is so thick and creamy and possibly a little gritty. Target keeps having sales for them so I keep snatching the small ones.

lunch

Around 12 I got too hungry and ate my lunch. I ate two very small golden delicious apples and a cluster fuck of leftovers. I made a red curry that was very thin. It made quite a lot so I kept trying to make the leftovers a little different each time. It kind-of morphed into a bland linguine dish that had some angel hair pasta as well. I pretty much just plugged 1 1/2 cups linguine, 1/4 cup white beans, 1/8 cauliflower, and 1/8 green beans into Cronometer. Seriously, no clue what the nutritional/calorie count would be for that. My bosses also opened a bag of corn chips, and I might of eaten a few handfuls of those.

hinderfork

So I clearly didn’t eat this- but I didn’t take photos of many things I ate (2 apples, corn chips, or raw cookies) so I figured I would share this interesting piece we just got in at my work. It is a fork from the Hinderburg! One of our clients said he was scoping out the field for work and his co-worker accidentally kicked it around. The backside of the fork has a lot more melting going on. It is hard to see in the photo, but on the burnt part there is a little logo (you can see a close up here.) For the record- I did NOT use this fork for my lunch.

Then I got hungry again around 3, and ate the rest of the Rawdical Raisin Cacao Cookies with Oats I made. I really didn’t like them much, which is weird since I really like a similar dish from Ani’s Raw Food Kitchen. I think it is the coconut oil that Emily adds to hers, it just is icky to me. Plus Ani puts hers in a dehydrator, which I think makes them a little more intense in flavor. I ate about 2.5-3 little cookies worth.

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Then for dinner I made a recipe for the Vegan Mofo Blackest Dish challenge. Funny because I love this dish, it is very dark, but compared to the black rice, the stir-fry looks so brown. XD I thought the super metal dish matchy my spoopy shirt. So you guys get some tummy action. And you’ll just have to wait for the recipe for this. But it does use chunjang, a Korean black bean paste. I also used eggplant and broccoli from my CSA and a can of vegan abalone that I’ve had sitting around forever.

I might have a snack- thinking maybe half of a pumpkin mocha scone that I made from Protein Ninja. It’s the first time I made scones before, and I think I added too much flour to them. I wish she gave weights instead of cups for measurements. I plugged half a scone into Cronometer, just incase I decided to eat it before going to bed. As always, the numbers are off. The black rice and ripple didn’t have a full nutritional profile, nor did the canned abalone, I used miso instead of black bean paste, and so on. So I fell short, though I am sure I would of been off anyways.

As always, got all the calories I need- and hey I have 45 calories left! JK I had half of a broken package of smarties. I mean I can’t give it to trick or treaters right? Just got my fats requirements, all my carb, and pleanty of protein (160%, who says vegans don’t get protein?!) I am getting a lot of sugar though. I know I ate a banana and two apples, but there was a good amount of sugar in the ripple milk and in the raw cookies I ate which used agave. I am still short on a lot of various vitamins, but again, some food didn’t get fully registered, and it might of added to the totals.

Anyone else get their Halloween candy yet? And do you have a strong will to not eat the whole thing?

I know I’ve got the will to not eat the ones I can give out. XD

Posted by Jennifer in Pregnancy Tags: macaccino, pregnancy, rawesome vegan baking, ripple, ripple milk, third trimester, this rawesome vegan life, week 31, what I ate wednesday

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Pumpkin Spice Macaccino

October 7, 2016

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Since becoming pregnant I’ve been scoping the scene for caffeine free coffee alternatives. Yes, you can have some caffeine while pregnant, and yes, it is probably the safest stimulant to consume during pregnancy. But I drink coffee for flavor, never to wake myself up. This results in some days of me drinking 3 cups of a coffee, and none the next three days. And certain times of the year I really just crave a warm and bitter drink.

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One coffee substitute I found was Macaccino. They are pretty new on the market, and is a blend of roasted maca root with some cinnamon, cocoa, mesquite powder, and nutmeg. I can safely say the taste is unique and isn’t something I could easily whip up on my own. The cool thing is that there is some nice nutritional perks of the blend. One serving has one gram of protein, 2% of the standard calcium recommendations, and 4% of the standard iron recommendations. They even have a super serious breakdown on their website (the number cruncher in me loves all the details!) BTW no hate on coffee- it does have a lot of B2 and B5 vitamins, so isn’t totally helpless.

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When I first got macaccino I follow their directions- suggesting to put a tablespoon in 10 ounces of water, and add creamer and sugar. I didn’t like it so much served like a black coffee. It was a little too gritty for my taste. But I liked the flavors and how it was so easy to make. So it hit me that I should drink it more like a latte! It isn’t the first time I used maca in a latte, but roasting the maca really alters the flavor.

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Since it is fall aka pumpkin spice season, I thought I would break out the pumpkin spice syrup recipe I made a few years ago. Just keep in mind, the syrup proportions are suggested with the homemade pumpkin spice syrup listed below. I have found that the best pumpkin spice lattes are from homemade syrups or coffee shops where they make their own. If you are buying a premade syrup (note clear ones are usually the vegan ones) you may want less. I also used an unsweetened milk because otherwise I find it will get way too sweet.

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I am not huge on featuring a recipe that uses a specific product. I bought Macaccino on my own and really like to drink it this way. This is not a sponsored post, and these are just my honest opinions. I would love to give some alternative options, but as far as I know, there isn’t any equivalent to this yet. I used the original mocha, but they also have a mint and black reserve.

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Posted by Jennifer in Recipe Tags: fall, latte, maca, macaccino, pumpkin spice, vegan

What I Ate Wednesday #2

September 28, 2016

I wanted to do a What I Ate Wednesday at least once a month during the pregnancy, and I am almost running out of time to do my September post! It has been a pretty busy month, so I figured it is now or never. Sadly today is a little boring in my selection of food, there are lots of leftovers and repeats.

I started the day with my usual chocolate spirulina smoothie. I went back to the powdered spirulina since I found the spirulina tablets more expensive and annoyingly you need to take 6 tablets to get 1 tsp of powder. The tablets are annoying to swallow, and aren’t very pleasant to chew either. What I do like about my chocolate spirulina smoothie is that hits so many of the nutritional needs for pregnant ladies. I get about 50% of the calcium (from the greens and soymilk) and 61% of the iron (from all that cocoa and spirulina) that I need for the day. I also get about 30 grams of protein with only adding 2 tablespoons of protein powder to the whole thing. I should probably post this bad boy on the blog because I think this is a great shake. And the greens I used today? Some beet greens and a little bit of swiss chard.

I’ve been obsessed with fizzy drink as of lately. I think it has to do with the fact that I can’t really have beer or cocktails. I’ve been getting by with non-alcoholic beers, tonic water with shrubs, and seltzers. And if I am honest I am always have a sugar-free soda at work, which I know, isn’t the best, but for awhile I was bringing my own seltzer into work. I also have been bringing in powder mix packets to mix with my water. I really like the Target brand mixers because they use both sugar AND stevia making it only 15 calories. I like how they don’t use coloring in the mixes, the drink ends up being a pale white-ish or completely clear. But they do use artificial flavors. I also really like Madhava’s powder mixes, though I usually find them a little stronger than I prefer. Just like the target ones, they use a mix of stevia and agave powder but they tend to stay away from artificial flavors. But I think I mainly wanted to show my wonderful new wall color ^__~

It was nice a chilly this morning, so chilly I got to wear a sweatshirt while getting ready. I was in the mood for something warm and comforting, and didn’t want to make a cup of coffee (just in case I needed a caffeine kick in the afternoon.) So I made a little latte using Macaccino. They are a new coffee replacement that is on the market, and I think it works best as a latte rather than with just water. I made my own latte by mixing a tablespoon of macaccino with 1/4 cup of hot water. Then I added 8 oz of hot soy milk and a tablespoon of a pumpkin caramel syrup. It was pretty amazing, and perfect for the weather.

Lunch consisted of watermelon, the last watermelon of the season! It was nice, this year we had yellow, orange, and red watermelon. But I think my favorite has been the red watermelon. It was just perfect this year. I ate a curry burrito with it. I used white rice my Mother made from a previous night. It was weird rice, I have a feeling my Father bought instant rice and didn’t tell my Mother. The other half is a South Indian styled chickpea and eggplant curry from Vegan Richa‘s cookbook. Sorry the photo is so crummy, I was trying to take a photo discreetly since my bosses were there. They nicely offered me some corn chips, and ate a small handful as well.

After lunch I eventually had a snack bar that I made. I forgot to take a photo- plus they were ugly looking and nasty tasting. I was trying to make a bar using tahini, cranberries, and lime coconut chips. It was a MASSIVE fail. Oh well. I drove by Wegman’s on the way home from work to pick up some veggie dogs for Jon on Friday. He is going to a Mets vs Phillies game and his office is doing a tailgating thing. I opted out since there are so many reasons why a pregnant woman shouldn’t be at a baseball game. No beer, uncomfortable seats, peeing every inning. Besides I am not a huge baseball fan. I was pretty hungry at the end, and grabbed a small bar to nibble on before dinner. I am a huge fan of these Raw Rev bars, though I only get them on special occasions.

I originally was planning on going for a run afterwork but it was raining a little and my hamstrings were pretty tight from a workout from the day before. But I kept with the plan of eating leftovers and had some brown rice noodles with leftover massaman curry from Vegan Eats World. The curry is filled with green beans, sweet potatoes, cherry tomatoes, and baked tofu. If you’ve never had a massaman curry before it is pretty much like a peanut butter curry. It’s awesome. Sadly, after dinner I got a lot of acid reflux, so I am not sure I will be eating anything else for dessert. It is seriously up in the air.

So how are my nutritional stats? Well, for one I noticed some foods didn’t really track any nutritional information other than what is on the label. So I might have been a little closer to some of the nutritional goals. But that is also why I take prenatal vitamins ^__~ And FYI cronometer is a little weird. I always get a lot of red because I have it in weight gain mode I guess most clients are trying to loose weight. But if you read closely, it says I can eat 210 more calories. I already ate 2400 calories! I got 100 grams of protein, 273 grams of carbs, and 90 grams of fat. I am a little shocked about the fat since I tend to have a low fat diet. Not really intentionally though.

Well, I am off to watch some TV with the hubs and count kicks for the doctors. Ugh. It’s so sad, it is always within 10-15 minutes I count 10 kicks. Plus I tend to ignore the small ones, depending on how interested I am in the TV show.

What are you guys snacking on today?

Posted by Jennifer in Pregnancy Tags: macaccino, pregnancy, raw rev glo, third trimester, vegan eats world, vegan richa, week 29, what I ate wednesday, wiaw

6 comments