Soundtrack For Baking

Cup-Cones

2010-05-23T19:19:00.000-07:00

Ok, coming up with a cute name for these has proved impossible, but they are damn awesome even without a name. I got this idea from Vegan Yum Yum and they came out even better then I could have expected, for the most part. This weekend I went up to Boston for Unrestrained show, as part of their bike tour to raise awareness for OXFAM. The show was a ton of fun and I was really impressed with Unrestrained. I decided I wanted to make some sort of after show treat for hanging out and these came to mind.

For the recipes, I used the basic chocolate cupcake out of Vegan Cupcakes Take Over The World and the vegan buttercream icing. I filled the cones almost all the way full, as you can tell from the photo. Next time, I will fill them a little less so the icing sits a little closer to the cone. The rest is pretty self explanatory, bake normal, pipe icing however you desire and decorate how you choose.

Mishaps:
I had a ton of trouble with the icing. I am really realizing how important using the proper vegan margarine is. My icing started to melt so fast, I didn't even bring them with me to Boston because they were a mess. I popped them in the fridge to attempt to harden them, and as soon as I would take them out they started to melt again. This is something I am going to have to work on. I also have to figure out how to transport these babies without toppling them over. I think it is going to involve creating some sort of cardboard container and getting crafty. Overall, even with the shortcomings, I would recommend making these.

Soundtrack for baking:

The Loved Ones- Build And Burn

Ghostlimb- Bearing and Distance

Tom Petty- Greatest Hits

Vegan French Toast!

2010-05-20T14:50:00.000-07:00

I know, I've disappeared. Call it frustration, or bad weather or whatever you want but I just didn't feel like blogging. I also was too broke to buy food. But! I am back and ready to go! Tonight I made french toast for dinner. French toast takes me back to my childhood big time, my dad would always make it for me and, most importantly, cut it for me. I shouldn't admit this, but he cut it for me until I went vegan and I can assure you I was way too old for my father to be cutting my food for me. Every time I see french toast on a vegan menu I have to get it, its one of the treats I miss the most. Making vegan french toast at home is a lot easier then you might think though, and I really should do it more often. Here is a great recipe thats simple and easy.

Vegan French Toast Recipe
You Will Need:
1 cup soy milk
2 tbsp flour
1 tbsp sugar
1 tbsp nutritional yeast
1 tsp cinnamon
*optional - a drop or two of vanilla. if you use vanilla soy milk you don't need it
Bread of your choice- The thicker and crustier works best. Even leaving bread over night tends to work best, makes it more solid.
1. Mix all ingredients in a bowl
2. Coat each side of bread into mixture and onto pan over medium heat
Recipe makes about 5-7 pieces of toast

Where Do Eggs Come From?

2010-05-14T16:42:00.000-07:00

In my blog searching I was directed to an awesome post at Brooklyn Feed. Melissa discusses the debate if eating eggs raised by your own chickens is humane. She is a brooklyn based chicken farmer who has an excellent set up for her very spoiled chickens. This is a debate I have actually been pondering for a while, concluding that I'd rather just not eat any eggs until I make up my mind. I guess I feel like it is a slippery slope as well. If I make exceptions for one part of my beliefs, it won't be long before I am making mass exceptions and eating pizza, right? Well, maybe it is not that extreme, but I'd rather just not go there.
You can find the blog entry here

She also discusses a new documentary that came out recently. Fowl Play discusses the harsh realities of factory egg farming, and is supposedly extremely disturbing. I really want to see it, even though I assume I will probably cry my way through most of it.
Fowl Play

I made more vegan alfredo for dinner tonight, its so damn good! As mentioned before, I totally feel like I am cheating. Daiya cheese man!

Vegan Mac n' Cheese Recipe

2010-05-06T18:20:00.000-07:00

Mac n' cheese is one of those amazing comfort foods that I have missed terribly. Not necessarily because it is tasty, more because I ate it in hoards as a kid. It takes me back to those kraft macaroni and cheese boxes, so tasty, and one of the first things I learned to cook. This is a recipe for a cheese sauce that can be easily be used for macaroni and cheese, or on top of veggies, or as nacho cheese. Endless possibilities!

Vegan Cheese Sauce:
You Need:
3 tablespoons margarine
3 tablespoons flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
1 and 1/2 cups soy milk
1 cup vegan (daiya) cheese
1/2 teaspoon dijon mustard

To Make:
1. In small saucepan on medium melt the butter.
2. Take the saucepan off the burner and whisk in flour, salt and pepper until smooth. Put back on the burner.
3. Add 1/2 cup of milk, and whisk constantly until the mixture is thick. Add the rest of the milk 1/2 cup at a time, whisking constantly and letting it get thick before adding more. You should end up with a thick white sauce.
4. Add the cheese a handful at a time to the white sauce, letting the cheese you add melt fully before adding more, whisking constantly.
5. Add the dijon mustard.
6. Pour over macaroni (or veggies, or whatever your hearts desires).

You can use any vegan cheese for this, but I used daiya and seriously it was one of the best things I have eaten in a long long time.

Vegan Fettuccine Alfredo Recipe

2010-05-02T14:44:00.000-07:00

Vegan alfredo is something I have been experimenting with for ages. Every recipe I have tried uses tofu. The cream cheese works so much better as a base then tofu its nuts! This is a pretty basic recipe you can change any way you want depending on what you like. Roasted pine nuts are always awesome to add if you want a roasted taste, more or less onion changes the taste, the amount of nutritional yeast, etc. I could not believe the difference adding melted daiya cheese in made! I seriously feel like I am cheating. Its not traditional alfredo, but it is the closest thing I have made to alfredo yet.

Vegan Fettuccini Alfredo

You Need:
1 ¾ Cup Soymilk (If you want it extra creamy use coconut milk)
1/2 or so of a small onion sliced
Garlic to taste (this really depends on how much garlic you like, I use a couple cloves) minced
1 tablespoon vegan butter
½ teaspoon black pepper
½ teaspoon salt (more or less depending on what you like)
¼ cup nutritional yeast flakes
half a container vegan cream cheese
half a bag of shredded daiya cheese (again, this can be to taste on how “cheesy” it is)
A box of fettuccini pasta

Directions:
1.Cook the fettuccini according to the package directions

2.In a medium pot sauté the onion and garlic in the vegan butter until the onions are clear

3.Lower the heat and add the vegan cream cheese to the pot, so it melts but doesn’t burn

4.In a blender blend the soymilk, salt, black pepper, nutritional yeast flakes and the onion, garlic and cream cheese from your pot.

5.Put back in pot, heat. Make sure the mixture is hot enough to melt the cheese, but the heat is not so high you will burn the sauce.

6.Add the daiya cheese a handful at a time, making sure it melts before you add more.

7.Pour over fettuccini! Top with fake chicken, broccoli, peas, etc. etc.

Also, why does alfredo show as being spelled wrong? It is a real thing, whats word thinking?

Vegan Ice Cream Recipe

2010-04-28T19:45:00.000-07:00

Prior to going vegan I was totally an ice creamoholic. It was one of my favorite meals (yes MEAL). I went through a slight depression after going vegan, missing ice cream and annoyed at how expensive vegan ice cream was. One day I went over to a friends and the most amazing shiny hot pink appliance was sitting in the kitchen- an ice cream maker. We made ice cream and my mind was blown, it was better then most vegan ice cream on the market and a whole lot cheaper. I immediately went home and ordered one for myself. I have never looked back. Most of my treat making focuses on not having to get a ton of fancy vegan ingredients, I try to keep it to things you normally buy/are fairly cheap to get. There are a few vegan ice cream recipe books on the market, but I have yet to be impressed by any of them and they love to add unnecessary ingredients. For ice cream I usually substitute soy milk for the soy creamer, but that’s just because I won’t spend the money on creamer. It comes out just as yummy, just not as thick.

My favorite type of ice cream to make is peanut butter! Rich and creamy, it is super easy and super cheap. The vanilla recipe is a good base with a ton of possibilities. You can easily subtract 1 cup of the soy “creamer” and add a cup of fruit. Make sure to use soy milk as well, I tried rice milk for the first time in these photos and it was way too watery.

Basic Vanilla Vegan Ice Cream

4 oz. egg substitute (2 “eggs”)

1 cup sugar

1 cup soy milk

2 cups soy “creamer”

1 ½ tsp. vanilla

To Make:

1.Combine egg substitute, sugar, and vanilla in a blender.

2.Add soy creamer and milk.

3.Blend well, chill thoroughly.

4.follow standard instructions for your ice cream maker.

Vegan Peanut Butter Ice Cream

1 Cup soy “creamer”

1 cup soy milk

1 cup sugar

1 ½ teaspoon vanilla

1 cup peanut butter
4 oz. egg substitute (2 "eggs")

To Make:

1.Combine sugar, peanut butter and “eggs” in a blender.

2.Blend in soy creamer, soymilk and vanilla.

3.Blend well and chill thoroughly.

4. Follow standard instructions for your ice cream maker.

I got extra fancy tonight and made vegan cookie ice cream sandwiches. I used my chocolate chip cookie recipe, then sandwiched my ice cream. The ice cream was vanilla with raw cookie dough swirled in. As I have told all my friends, I have no idea why I am not 300 pounds.

Vegan Donuts X2

2010-04-20T17:53:00.000-07:00

I made vegan donuts about a week ago and was not too impressed. This time though I had the proper donut pan and actually glazed them and wow! While they might not be straight from dunkin donuts, I am pretty happy with how they came out. Maybe next week I will try to make chocolate ones.
This recipe comes from Vegan Yum Yum

Vegan Donuts:

You need:

1 Cup Flour

½ Cup Sugar

1 ½ tsp Baking Powder

¼ tsp Salt

¼ tsp Nutmeg (a shake or two)

A shake of cinnamon

½ cup soymilk or rice milk

½ tsp Apple Cider Vinegar

½ tsp Vanilla Extract

1 Egg (egg replacer, I use ener-g)

4 Tbs Earth Balance

To Make:

1.Preheat oven to 350 degrees

2.Mix flour, sugar, baking powder, salt, nutmeg and cinnamon in a large bowl.

3.Combine soymilk, apple cider vinegar, vanilla extract, egg replacer and earth balance in a small pot on low heat on the stove.

4.Mix until earth balance is melted, the mixture should be warm, not hot. You should be able to dip your finger in it.

5.Add wet ingredients to dry ingredients. I folded it in, the dough does not require a ton of mixing. Vegan Yum Yum has a youtube video of what your dough should look like.

6.Using a tablespoon measure, scoop out dough into each of the mini donuts in the pan. The dough should sit just below the rim, or else they will come out like mine, a little bit of a muffin top.

7.Bake for about 12 minutes, it shouldn’t get brown. You should be able to remove a tester clean.

8. Glaze, cover with sprinkles, dip in chocolate, powder sugar, or cinnamon.

Glaze:

½ Cup Powder Sugar

1 Tablespoon soymilk or rice milk

1 Teaspoon Vanilla Extract

Whisk together ingredients and dip donuts in it. Then top with sprinkles if you so choose. Plop the donuts on some parchment paper so any excess glaze (or chocolate) drips off but your donut won’t stick to anything.

You can also melt your favorite chocolate and dip the donuts into that for hostess like chocolate covered donuts.

Notes: The recipe on Vegan Yum Yum says to use soymilk. I did not have any, so I decided to try rice milk. The donuts are a little softer and fluffier. Either one works well, you can play with it and see what your preference is.

Vegan Enchiladas Recipe

2010-04-16T13:09:00.000-07:00

This is a super simplistic enchilada recipe that comes out so tasty! I have made enchiladas a few time with recipes off the internet and they are always overly complicated, a lot of pizzazz I don't need. This was birthed from a word of mouth recipe from a friend and I am surprised how amazing it is.

Vegan Enchilada Recipe

You Need:

1 can black beans

1 package frozen corn or 1 can of corn

Package of small flour or corn tortillas depending on your preference

Oil (I use olive oil, vegetable oil works as well)

1 can of enchilada sauce

Vegan Cheddar Cheese Grated (Daiya is always the preference, Follow Your Heart is my next choice)

Onion salt, garlic powder to taste (a teaspoon or two of each)

9x9 glass baking dish, you can use a larger one if you want to make more.

Green Onion otherwise known as leeks. Sliced into quarter inch parts.

Tofutti sour cream (optional!)

To Make:

1. Cook the black beans in a skillet/frying pan, season with the onion salt and garlic powder. Heat the corn. Mix the two together.

2. Pour oil into a small frying pan, half an inch is the most you will need. Heat until simmering when something is placed in it.

3. Dip each side of a tortilla into the oil, then fill the tortilla with a spoonful of the corn/bean mixture and sprinkle cheese on. Roll the tortilla up and place into you dish.

4. Repeat oil, spoon, cheese, roll until your dish is full.

5. Pour enchilada sauce over everything using the whole can. Sprinkle cheese over all of it. Finally sprinkle the onions overtop, you don’t need to go overboard.

6. Bake at 375 degrees for about 20 minutes, or it’s simmering and the cheese is melted.

7. Enjoy! You can top with tofutti sour cream for a little something extra

Vegan Lentil Soup Recipe

2010-04-13T15:30:00.000-07:00

Sometimes I want a recipe that isn’t super simple, but also is not really complicated. It turns into a hunt to find what I want though. Lentil soup tonight was like that. It was either recipes with the bare minimum, or so complicated it seemed unnecessary. I melded two different recipes to reach this in between, it is super simple to make and even tastier then I could have imagined.

You need:

1 Tsp oil (veggie or olive)

1 Onion, diced

1 Carrot, sliced

4 Cups Vegetable Broth, or 2 vegetable bullion cubes and 4 cups water

1 Cup dry lentils

1 Tsp Cumin

1 Tsp Turmeric

1 Tsp Salt

¼ Tsp Pepper

In large pot, sauté the onion and carrot in oil till the onion turns clear.

Add vegetable broth/water, lentils, cumin, turmeric, salt and pepper. Reduce heat and simmer for about 45 minutes. Enjoy!

The spices can be to taste and you can add any vegetables you want as well such as potatoes or mushrooms. Bread for dipping is crucial as well.

Vegan Pancakes Recipe

2010-04-03T08:58:00.000-07:00

I stalled in bed as long as possible this morning enjoying the opportunity to be completely lazy. Finally having to get up because of sharp pangs of hunger, I made pancakes. It is a beautiful spring day, so I got a little fancy and made them blue with food coloring.

A friend of mine always makes pancakes without measuring, he just throws everything into a bowl and somehow makes perfect pancakes everytime. I am not that good, so this recipe came from me demanding we measure everything out. It is really simple, but is a great base to add things to. My personal favorite is adding chocolate chips, but banana, berries or pretty much whatever you can imagine taste great as well.

Vegan Pancakes Recipe
You Need:
1 cup flour
1 tablespoon sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/8 teaspoon salt
1 cup soymilk
2 tablespoons vegetable oil

Mix all ingredients together, just enough to blend, you don’t want to over mix pancakes. I have been told it is good to let batter sit in the fridge for about an hour, but I am never patient enough to do so. Butter your pan. I heat up the pan, dripping a little batter to check when it in ready. When it is hot enough, pour your pancakes! I cannot flip large pancakes, so I always spoon out silver dollar sized pancakes. They won’t take long to brown since they are small, flip when ready. Easy! This recipe makes enough for about 2 people. I always just half it when I am making it for just myself.

Vegan Chocolate Chip Cookies

2010-03-24T20:20:00.000-07:00

Today was a lazy day. Went to work, came home and slept. My wonderful acid reflux was acting up and I did what I normally do when I feel sick, attempted to sleep it off. It is a hit or miss method, and today it worked! I woke up craving chocolate chip cookies for some reason. I honestly don't know where I got this recipe from. I printed it out a few years ago, probably from either a website or an email. The recipe is great! Whenever I make chocolate chip cookies I always think back to the cookies in elementary school. They were half baked, white cookies that were perfection. Wednesdays were 50 cent cookie day, by far the most exciting day of the week. I'll never be able to put my finger on what made those cookies so good (probably the sweat of lunch ladies), but these come close. I don't bake them fully. You'll notice in the photo they rise, but then fall because they are not fully baked. It gives them that gooey, soft consistency we all love so much. I take them out while they are still white, but starting to brown at the edges.

You need:
2 and 1/4 Cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup vegan margarine
3/4 cup granulated sugar
3/4 cup packed brown sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Egg replacer for 2 eggs (I use ENER-G egg replacer, but really any works)
Semi-sweet chocolate chips to taste (i use about half a bag, depends what you like)

1. Combine flour, baking soda and salt in a bowl. Set aside.
2. Beat together margarine, granulated sugar, brown sugar and vanilla.
3. Add egg replacer one "egg" at a time (this is important! make sure to mix the egg replacer and water together as well before adding it in.)
4. Gradually beat in flour mixture. I do it in thirds.
5. Stir in chips.
6. Drop balls of dough onto a baking sheet and bake at 375 degrees.
7. Enjoy!

Black Salt On Everything!

2010-03-23T17:40:00.000-07:00

Tonight I unexpectedly went to hear a photographer talk after class. I was super pumped to hear him speak, he is an Argentinean whose brother was disappeared. His focus has been on using photography to represent memory, specifically to recount the dirty war. Totally up my alley. He ended up being completely crazy and impossible to follow. A total bust. Not having planned to attend this gathering, I had not eaten lunch. By the time he started answering questions with long drawn out tangents that never reached a real point, my stomach was coming up my throat demanding food. So I ran over to the grocery store before going home and purchased the makings for vegan alfredo. This is a recipe I have been trying to perfect for a while, constantly merging different recipes people advise me to try to create a super hybrid vegan alfredo. I'm able to make a good, light white sauce but not that alfredo taste. Tonight was by far the closest I have come thanks to my new friend black salt. The recipe is still being worked on but tonight I included tofu, soy milk, salt, pepper, onion powder, garlic powder, margarine, garlic, black salt and toasted pine nuts. Minus the black salt, this is basically a hybrid of two recipes I have separately been playing with in vain attempts to reach perfection.

Dinner:

Vegan "egg" mcmuffin

2010-03-17T18:26:00.000-07:00

This is my new obsession! I made these on a whim and oh man they are tastey! I also took a suggestion from the internet and purchased black salt from an indian market. Black salt? Black salt is an Indian spice that smells and, most importantly, tastes like egg. I put a little of that in this recipe and it blew me away.

You need:
1 block of tofu
1/4 cup apple cider vinegar
1/4 cup olive oil
Spices to taste (I use black salt, turmeric to make it yellow like egg, onion powder and garlic powder)
Vegan Cheese (daiya rules all)
Vegan English Muffins
Vegan Butter

Mix the apple cider vinegar, olive oil and spices in a rimmed cookie pan. Drain the tofu and cut it into slices (either 6 or 8 depending on how thick you want it). Put tofu slices into your mixture, making sure to coat both sides. Back at 450 degrees for 20 minutes, flipping the slices at 10 minutes. Toast and butter both sides of your english muffin. Melt the cheese on your tofu patty, put together the sandwich and enjoy!

Black Salt
I put avocado on mine, but you could also put fake bacon on there. No matter what it will taste awesome!

Vegan Peanut Butter Fudge

2009-12-28T19:18:00.000-08:00

For christmas I made mass amounts of vegan fudge. The chocolate didn't come out that great, so that recipe is still being worked on but as requested here is the peanut butter fudge recipe.

Vegan Peanut Butter Fudge

You will need:

2 cups sugar

1/2 cup soymilk

3/4 cup peanut butter (any kind really works)

1/2 tsp vanilla

A candy thermometer (you can get one at the grocery store for like 6 bucks)

Wax/baking paper

Use a 9x9 pan. "Line" the pan with the paper, this will make getting your fudge out MUCH easier because you just lift out the paper. Otherwise your fudge will stick to the pan. The thermometer will come with a hook thing that lets it hang on the side of the pot. Make sure its not touch the bottom of the pot, but is resting in the mix.

In a medium pot (this will boil high and splatter so make sure its decent enough size) on high heat mix together the sugar and soymilk until it starts to boil. STOP stirring and allow it to reach 235 degrees F, or the soft ball line on the thermometer. Remove from heat and immediately mix in the peanut butter and vanilla. Mix well until its smooth and then pour into the pan. Put in the fridge for an hour or two (it'll get hard like fudge) and then enjoy!

Thats just cute...

The Sugar and Soymilk boiling

Vegan Chickpea Broccoli Casserole

2009-12-18T16:27:00.000-08:00

You know those moments when your day is utterly sucking and you want to escape into some sense of victory? That is when I break out my pots and pan, turn on my oven and put on a apron. Tonight I made Vegan Chickpea Broccoli Casserole and got to feel like a culinary genius, if only for the evening.

This is the basic recipe. It is a little on the bland side so you might want to doctor it with spices, or at least some more salt and pepper. Casserole came out awesome none the less though, an excellent side dish and made a lot.

You need:

3 cans of chickpeas drained

1 large onion, thinly sliced and squared

3 carrots grated

1 head of broccoli cut into small florets

1/2 cup bread crumbs

3 tablespoons olive oil

1 cup vegetable broth

1 teaspoon salt (to start, but I used a good amount more)

pepper to taste

Preheat oven to 350

In a large (LARGE) bowl mash the chickpeas. I used a potato masher and it worked relatively well, but its hard to mash them all so don't worry. Add the vegetables and mix/mash everything together. Add bread crumbs, mix/mash. Add oil, mix/mash. Add vegetable broth, salt and pepper, mix/mash. Pour all into a 9 x 13 casserole dish and firmly press down. Cover and bake for 45 minutes. Uncover, bake for another 15 minutes. Enjoy!