April 17, 2011 Recipe #12: Baklava

My parents came to visit on their way down to Pompano Beach. They usually travel down this way, by car, three times a year and we usually get together for a bit of lunch before they reach their final destination! So I began brainstorming of what to make for lunch.... I decided on Greek! Vegan Greek! The menu consisted of: homemade hummus and vegan tzatziki sauce served with lightly toasted pita wedges. a traditional greek salad (no lettuce) with a vegan feta cheese substitute, and fresh fruit! Of course we can't forget the dessert! Vegan Baklava! Another great recipe included in The 2011 Cookbook Challenge!

"Hello Ladies! Fresh baklava!"
Quoted from My Big Fat Greek Wedding

Lunch turned out great and everything was delicious! I was in heaven over the baklava! Let's just say it was definite sweet tooth satisfaction! The vegan recipe actually called for agave nectar in the sweet syrup, but I decided to use honey instead. I know it's not considered vegan, but I use it anyway :) I also used raw sugar in the syrup, rather than the granulated sugar the recipe called for. I chose to make this recipe with only two types of nuts: almonds and walnuts. Perfect! Next time though, I think I would try more of a variety - maybe hazelnuts, pistachios, almonds, and walnuts. Yum! I also used a soy-free non-dairy butter to brush over the phyllo dough.

Now one major change I made, which really made a difference on the sweet tooth scale! I ended up halving the recipe (half the phyllo dough, which was only a quarter of the package I purchased; half the butter, 8x8 pan instead of 9x13) BUT I used the full amounts of the syrup and nuts... which meant OVERLOAD! This made the baklava very rich but I seriously loved every bite of it.

However, I will be making this recipe again without halving any of the recipe, just to see how it compares!

This recipe is a definite keeper so let me know if you are interested in getting your hands on this recipe!

And the mystery recipe is....Stuffing? In April?! Oy Vey...

I'm browsing through one of my new vegan cookbooks, Color Me Vegan, and BAM, there it is... a recipe for stuffing. Mmmm... okay, now I want some stuffing! So all I can think about is stuffing, and I started thinking back to past Thanksgiving and Christmas feasts, remembering how much I enjoyed the stuffing David's mom always prepares... using muffins in place of stale bread!! Delicious! Last Christmas I actually made the muffins for Jacki's stuffing and it was as good as ever!

This time though I was ready to take on my own stuffing. I tried making stuffing once before; not bad, but not great either. Let's putting this way, I wouldn't go out of my way to make it again. So I decided NOW was the time to master stuffing (yes I'm a big dork), with two goals in mind: 1.) Use Muffins and 2.) 100% Vegan! Where would I get these vegan muffins though? What could be better than making homemade muffins using recipes from The 2011 Cookbook Challenge! That's right! 

So I decided to make three kinds of muffins: corn, apple walnut, and pumpkin spice! I wanted to try something new - the addition of pumpkin bread into stuffing was intriguing!

I made a fantastic stuffing! Normally I'm not so confident about my recipes but this was seriously delicious! I found that making the stuffing moist enough was the key to making this so wonderful!

So here's the recipe! I used the recipe from my vegan cookbook as a base and changed it up the way I wanted it. I hope you enjoy it! If you want the vegan muffin recipes that I used feel free to let me know and I'll send the recipes your way!

 

Apple, Cranberry, and Walnut Stuffing

Ingredients

• 6 regular-sized corn muffins, cubed or crumbled
• 3 large (or 6 regular-sized) pumpkin muffins, cubed or crumbled
• 6 regular-sized apple walnut muffins, cubed and crumbled
• 1-2 tbsp grapeseed oil
• 1 large yellow onion, chopped
• 3 stalks celery, finely chopped
• 2 tsp dried sage
• 1 tsp dried rosemary
• 1/2 tsp dried thyme
• 1/2 tsp dried tarragon
• 1/2 tsp dried parsley
• sea salt, to taste
• fresh ground black pepper, to taste
• 1 tart apple, cored, chopped, and unpeeled
• 5.2 oz container dried cranberries
• 1 cup walnuts, chopped
• 1-1/2 - 2 cups vegetable stock, or more if needed
• 2-3 tbsp nondairy butter (Earth Balance, soy-free), melted

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees F.
2. In a large bowl, combine all of the muffins. Set aside.
3. Heat oil in a large skillet and add the onion and celery. Cook on medium-high heat for about 10 minutes.
4. Add the sage, rosemary, thyme, tarragon, parsley, salt and pepper. Stir to combine.
5. Remove the skillet from the heat and transfer the mixture to the bowl of bread.
6. Stir in the apple, cranberries, walnuts, and vegetable stock. Mix thoroughly.
7. Add more vegetable stock if mixture is not moist enough.
8. Transfer mixture to a casserole dish and drizzle with melted butter.
9. Bake for aproximately 1 hour , or until the top is a golden-brown color.
10. Serves 8-10.

Yummy!!

Now for those of you who do not like all the fruity/nutty stuff (a.k.a. David), I also made a vegan traditional stuffing! I made it the same exactly way except the bread consisted of 6 corn muffins and 1/2 loaf of French bread, omitting all the fruity muffins, chopped apples, cranberries and walnuts. Still great! 

April 2, 2011 Recipe #11: Apple Walnut Muffins

I'm on a roll with The 2011 Cookbook Challenge! And ooooh, don't these look yummy?! The original recipe was actually "apple pecan muffins" but due to a slight allergy to pecans, I used walnuts instead. Aside from the walnut substitute, the only change I made was the use of grapeseed oil, rather than canola oil. Grapeseed oil can be used for baking and frying. Want to know a little more about it? Check out these websites:

Grapeseed oil
Wise Geek: What is grapeseed oil?

I liked this recipe because it used half whole wheat and half all-purpose flour, as well as a limited amount of oil. This recipe used unsweetened applesauce, which is actually a healthy substitute for oil. I went with a Granny Smith apple since it's a tarter apple and good to use in baking!

So guess what? These muffins were ALSO used in the mystery recipe that I have been talking about for the past couple of blog entries! Don't worry, I promise, the next recipe will be the revealing of the tasty, fabulous mystery dish I can't stop talking about!

April 2, 2011 Recipe #10: Corn Muffins

Leave it to The 2011 Cookbook Challenge to give me something to complain about. I can't complain about this recipe too much, because everything worked out in the end, but something did go very wrong. Since I was making these muffins with the mystery recipe I will be sharing with you very soon, I decided to omit the addition of corn as well as the suggested addition of blueberries. I used a flax/water mixture for the egg stubstitute which I think may have been my problem. The original recipe called for Ener-G Egg Replacer, which I didn't have on hand, so when I made the "flax eggs" I don't think I made enough of an egg-like consistency. The flax to water mixture probably could have used a bit more water. My batter ended up being too dry, making it difficult to incorporate the dry with the wet ingredients. Grrr. I had also substituted the flour, originally calling for all-purpose flour, but I did half whole wheat and half all-purpose. I don't think this substitution would make the batter too dry though. Anyway, I went with what I had and contined on to baking them. The muffins baked for a shorter amount of time, but when they were done baking you could tell they seemed a bit too dry. Fortunately, they were perfect for the mystery recipe! Stay tuned! And well, you live and learn, right?

April 2, 2011 Recipe #9: Pumpkin Spice Bread or Muffins

You can't go wrong with pumpkin muffins! Yum! In the past when I've made pumpkin bread, I only used cinnamon, but this time, as part of 

The 2011 Cookbook Challenge, I decided to follow the spices exactly: cloves, cinnamon and nutmeg! These smelled delicious and were nice and moist when they came out of the oven!

Now I did make a coupe of changes. The recipe called for 2 cups granulated sugar. Instead, I used 1 cup raw sugar and 1 cup brown sugar. Also the original recipe recommended using 1-1/2 cups applesauce or 1/2 cup applesauce plus 1/2 cup canola oil. I took the equal parts of oil and applesauce, but decided to use grapeseed oil in place of the canola as well as homemade unsweetened applesauce that had been sitting in my freezer waiting to be used in a recipe. I also used ground flaxseeds and water to make the equivalent of eggs, but rather than follow the directions, I mixed the two together and let the mixture sit for 10-15 minutes until it was thickened, looking more like an egg consistency. Last but not least, instead of using all-purpose flour, I went with whole wheat flour and the remainder of whole wheat pastry flour that I had on hand. Mmm, mmm, mmm.

Unfortunately, I can't tell you how these tasted, alone; however, I incorporated them into a recipe that will be coming soon! And let me tell  you - you aren't going to want to miss this one! Amazing!

The pumpkin muffins here do not have any extra add-ins because of how I was using them in the recipe to come, but nuts and/or chocolate chips would be a delicious addition!

Enjoy!

March 13, 2011 Recipe #8: Irish Soda Bread

Ah-ha! The culprit of not following the recipes of The 2011 Cookbook Challenge according to my sequence generator! Honestly though, it makes sense to make Irish soda bread for St. Patrick's Day! Doesn't it?! And it's exactly what I did :)

I had never had Irish soda bread... it was delicious! Just spread a bit of butter (vegan butter) on it and, oh man, yum! Since I had made it for St. Patrick's Day, I served it with corned beef and cabbage (thanks to Allrecipes)! Yes, I'm still sticking to the vegan diet, so I didn't have the main dish, but David and his mom seemed to enjoy it!

This bread is also good lightly toasted with peanut butter and jelly! Mmmm...

I guess I do have one slightly negative comment about this recipe though. The directions have you knead the dough for only 10-12 strokes, but my batter was so wet, that I wasn't quite sure how to knead it with the consistency it was, so I decided to add a bit more flour to work with it a little better. The addition of more flour may have been a mistake though - the batter became tougher than expected, and once baked, the bread seemed a little dense. It was still good though! Also, the addition of raisins or nuts would be good in this bread!

March 12, 2011 Recipe #7: Chocolate Peanut Butter Cupcakes

Moving right along with The 2011 Cookbook Challenge, I was definitely in the mood for some chocolate! Where did I go wrong though?! These cupcakes look delicious! BUT, I did it... I screwed them up. However, the chocolate peanut butter frosting on top was delicious! And I decorated them with some confectioner's sugar :)

So on to these cupcakes though.... just awful... I've been reading how whole wheat flours are better for you than white all-purpose flours, so I decided to use whole wheat pastry flour in place of the all-purpose flour. BIG MISTAKE. The cupcakes ended up a bit too dense and weren't flavorless, but the flavor just wasn't there. I ended up throwing them all away :(

Now, I will tell you though, there are certain recipes where you can make this clean substitute, using whole wheat flour instead of all-purpose flour. Unfortunately, it just doesn't go over so well when making cupcakes. Muffins, on the other hand, taste great with this substitution!

Well I knew this was bound to happen sometime with this challenge... some are winners, and some not so much. Moving on!

Fun with Fondant! Spending Quality Time with Family!

Mishkie and Mom came out to visit in February and we decided to have a little fun with fondant! We've been wanting to play around with fondant lately to practice for my bestfriend's (or maybe I should say other sister's) wedding cake! To stay away from any time conflicts we could possibly have the week before her wedding though, we decided we will just make her a 1-year anniversary cake, which will be put on display at her wedding! So until then, we all decided it's best to keep practicing! 

Previously, I made fondant for the first time from a marshmallow base. It was a little tough to work with, but overall, I had a good experience with it. So for the next homemade fondant, we decided we wanted to try making one that might be a little easier to work with, plus we wanted to see if there was a recipe out there that called for ingredients we had on hand. Leave it to Allrecipes to give us something to try! Yay!

Rolled Buttercream Fondant (Original Recipe)

Ingredients

• 1/2 cup light corn syrup
• 1/2 cup shortening
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon clear vanilla extract
• 1 lb. confectioners' sugar

Directions

1. In a large bowl, stir together the shortening and corn syrup.
2. Mix in the salt and vanilla flavoring.
3. Gradually mix in the confectioners' sugar until it is a stiff dough.  Add more confectioners' sugar until it is smooth.
4. Store in an airtight container at room temperature or in the refrigerator until ready to use.
5. *Note: This recipe is best made with a stand mixer, using the dough hook attachment.

This fondant recipe had it's advantages and, unfortunately, disadvantages. The fondant was extremely easy to work with and mold, making it less stressful on first-time fondant users. AND we happened to have the ingredients already available, so we didn't need anything too special to put this together. But it was a softer type of fondant, so if you played with it too much, it just got softer, almost to the point of melting (but not quite). Now, there are actually solutions to this, but we didn't figure them out until we were done, such as the addition of more confectioner's sugar (but careful on the amount added, as you don't want the fondant to crack) OR the addition of cornstarch (I really wish we had tried the cornstarch!). 

Enjoy!  

March 8, 2011 Recipe #6: Banana Chocolate Chip Muffins

Here's another great recipe from The 2011 Cookbook Challenge! Banana chocolate chip muffins - could this get any better?! Well yes it can! I added cinnamon (because when you have bananas, you have to have cinnamon - they just pair so well together!) and some shredded unsweetened coconut. Yummy! Even the non-vegans loved this recipe!

This muffin recipe called for unbleached all-purpose flour, but I decided to change it up a little bit. Instead, I used whole wheat pastry flour, which some people tend to use instead of all-purpose flour. It's definitely a healthier option! When making muffins, this substitution works great, but not for all recipes, especially cake/cupcake recipes (I'll fill you in on a future post). 

The addition of banana has two purposes in this recipe: 1) flavor and 2) binding of the ingredients to create a moist muffin (no one likes a dry muffin!). I used turbinado (raw) sugar rather than granulated sugar and there is a limited amount of vegetable oil. I happened to find nondairy semisweet chocolate chips at a health food store, which are quite yummy, and walnuts topped off this great muffin! Enjoy!

March 7, 2011 Recipe #5: Strawberry Cupcakes

It's about time I updated you on my 2011 Cookbook Challenge! Yes, I know... it has been too long and I broke my promise by screwing up the recipe order from the sequence originally generated. I have a good excuse though! I got stuck on a recipe that I wasn't in the mood to make at the time (it was one of those recipes better to make during the holidays...) so I procrastinated. And well, if any of you know me, I put the PRO in procrastination! UNTIL, I decided that the order didn't really matter, as long as I eventually did all of the recipes in The Joy of Vegan Baking before the end of the year. BUT, if I do happen to be clueless of what recipe I want to make next, I'll go back to my generated sequence and follow that. Deal?! LOL





Ok, enough about my kvetching....

Let's get to the topic of strawberry cupcakes!! Mmm, mmm, mmm....

DELISH!!

While Mallory, Eric and Sloane were visiting, the Strawberry Festival happened to be in town, so we all went to check it out. Of course, we couldn't come home empty handed.... we brought back lots and lots of delicious strawberries!! Perfect for the strawberry cupcakes!

The cupcakes were amazing. I haven't always been huge on "fruity" baked goods but the amount of strawberries used in this recipe was just right! Sweet, not too fruity, and so delicious!

The strawberries were pureed in a food process before being added to the batter. The cupcakes were topped with a vegan buttercream frosting and a fresh strawberry! This recipe is a keeper! Let me know if you want this recipe - I'd be happy to share!



 



Yummy Teething Biscuits!

Yes, this is it! A recipe for teething biscuits! A great way for babies to take their mind off of those aches when their teeth are beginning to come in.

Now why would I want to make teething biscuits? Well Mallory, Eric and the newest addition, Sloane!, came to visit! Fabulous company, fun times, and Sloane is too cute for words! She's adorable! But Miss Sloane had it rough one night. Poor thing. It was possible she may have began teething, so we starting searching for home remedies and Eric found a recipe for Teething Biscuits: Oats & 'Naner Drops. Of course I had to make these for Sloane! Anything to make her feel better.

 

Teething Biscuits

Ingredients

• 1 cup quick oats
• 1 cup ground oats (grind oats into a flour-like consistency)
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp cinnamon
• 1/4 tsp ginger
• 1/4 t nutmeg
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 2 ripe bananas, mashed

• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 3 tbsp oil

Directions

1. In a medium bowl, mix together the oats, salt, cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, and baking powder.
2. In a separate bowl, mix together the bananas, vanilla extract, and oil.
3. Add the banana mixture (wet) to the oat mixture (dry).
4. Drop by the spoonful onto a greased baking sheet.
5. Bake at 350 degrees F for 12-15 min.
6. Let cool on a cooling rack. 

These were like banana bread bites! This recipe was actually adapted from a vegan cookbook. And guess what? Sloane loved these! They fit perfectly into this great new invention: The Munchkin Fresh Food Feeder. It looks like a pacifier, but a mesh-like bag is attached to it, where you can put food in! It's really neat because you don't have to worry about the baby's safety (i.e. choking) while he/she is biting down or sucking on it.

I'm not sure who liked these more though... Eric or Sloane! Ha!

Valentine's Day 2011 Recap

I hope everyone had a nice Valentine's Day! It's always nice spending this special day with loved ones (or talking on the phone), whether it's a significant other, family, or friends! Of course we always celebrate year-round, being surrounded by our loved ones, but I like to make this day extra special with David (all though, come to think of it, we have quite a few extra special days)!

So David woke up the morning of Valentine's Day with post-it notes EVERYWHERE! In the pockets of his work pants, the pocket of his work shirt, in his shoes, on the bathroom mirrors, on his car, in his lunch bag, on his coffee mug... I mean EVERYWHERE! Ha! I had wrote little love notes on about 20 post-its and put them in random places for David to find. What can I say? I love the guy, and I wanted to do something cute and cheezy!

David had tulips sent to the house... my favorite :) One day, I want to be able to grow my own tulips - they are so beautiful, but I feel I don't have the space to grow my own garden right now.

We decided to spend our Valentine's Day with a special homemade dinner. David had requested pasta with a meaty marinara sauce and garlic bread. The day before Valentine's Day I decided to take on a challenge and make my own French bread to make the garlic bread. I found a great recipe on Allrecipes! Turns out, French bread is for everyone! Vegans and non-vegans! It is very simple to make too! The only non-vegan step involved in making this bread is an egg-wash that is brushed on the dough before baking it - this is to just give the bread a nice, crusty, dark color though, which can also be done with milk! Since I wanted to try this French bread too, my "egg-wash" substitute was almond milk - perfect!

French Bread

Ingredients

• 1 pkg active dry yeast
• 1 cup warm water
• 2 tbsp sugar
• 2 tbsp vegetable oil
• 1 tsp salt
• 3 cups all-purpose flour
• Cornmeal
• 1-2 tbsp almond milk

Directions

1. In a large mixing bowl, dissolve the yeast in warm water. Let the mixture sit for 10 minutes, allowing the yeast to activate.
2. Add the sugar, oil, salt and 2 cups flour. Stir the mixture until well-blended. Stir in enough remaining flour to form a stiff dough.
3. Turn the dough onto a floured surface. Knead the dough until it is smooth and elastic, about 6-8 minutes.
4. Place the dough in a greased bowl, turning it on all sides so the dough will not stick to the bowl. Cover, with a piece of plastic wrap or a damp towel, and let rise in a warm place until doubled, about 1 hour (I usually place my dough in the oven. I warm up the oven a little, but not too much, before setting the dough in there).
5. Punch the dough down. Allow the dough to rest for about 10 minutes, then cover the bowl and let rise again for 30 minutes.
6. Punch the dough down again. Turn the dough onto a lightly floured surface. Shape it into a loaf (16 in. long x 2-1/2 in. wide) with tapered ends.
7. Sprinkle a greased baking sheet with cornmeal and place the loaf on the baking sheet. Cover the dough and let it rise until doubled, about 25 minutes.
8. Brush almond milk over the dough. With a sharp knife, make diagonal slashes 2 in. apart across top of loaf.
9. Bake at 375 degrees F for 25-30 minutes or until golden brown.
10. Remove from pan to a wire rack to cool.

Unfortunately, my bread didn't rise as much as I would have wanted it to, so I didn't take a picture (to spare my embarrassment LOL). I don't know if my yeast wasn't activated enough (water may have been too warm, potentially killing the yeast) or if I had accidently formed the dough into something too long and wide. Who knows, I will do better next time!

 

The day of Valentine's Day I sliced up the bread and layed the slices on a baking sheet. I minced fresh garlic and put it in a small pan with vegan butter, allowing the garlic to saute a little in the melted butter. I then brushed the butter-garlic mixture on the tops of the sliced bread and sprinkled veggie parmesan cheese on top. All vegan and you would never even know it! I turned the broiler on and put the garlic bread in the oven for about 2 minutes - Perfect! David loved it!

 

For dessert, I made David's favorite... Gingerbread Cookies! I made one big cookie for him with lots of little heart-shaped cookies on the side. Since this was all for David, I did not "veganize" the recipe... they are perfect the way they are :)

 

I love Valentine's Day because it gives me a chance to get all creative and gives me a GREAT excuse to be beyond CHEEZY! LOL. I love it!

 

January 25, 2011 Recipe #4: Cornbread

After a long day at school, I don't know how I managed to find the energy, but I decided to take on Recipe #4 of The 2011 Cookbook Challenge: Cornbread! So it's 5:30 pm, just got home (after being at school since 6:45 am - I'm crazy) and I start making this cornbread, along with a fresh pot of chili (keep posted for a blog about my new chili recipe). I was done in an hour, exhausted, but still had quite an appetite!

Well, the cornbread was good, but it was nothing to go bragging about. It wasn't horrible but it wasn't great either. As I ate a piece of cornbread though, I just craved butter. Okay, for those of you who don't know me, I really don't care for butter... so for me to crave butter is just shockingly wierd! BUT I will tell you, that spread a little butter on this cornbread and it is so delicious! Since I have been trying the vegan diet, I used Earth Balance Natural Buttery Spread which is quite tasty! I couldn't tell the difference between this butter and regular butter. David liked the cornbread with a little butter but he prefers the sweet cornbread over this cornbread recipe (unsweet).

David had a great idea: to use the leftover cornbread in stuffing! I'll let you know if I end up doing this.

January 23, 2011 Recipe #3: Chocolate Cake with Buttercream Frosting

Our Sunday night dinner came along and we were quite excited for Recipe #3 of The 2011 Cookbook Challenge... Chocolate Cake! Yummy! I really like the vegan chocolate cakes... some people describe it tasting somewhere between cake and a brownie. And for some odd reason, I find that if I freeze the cake and then let it thaw out on its own, it tastes even better! I have noticed this a few times!

The cake recipe called for a choice of chocolate or buttercream frosting. I went with the buttercream frosting to avoid having a cake that was too rich, and my choice was perfect... it was delicious. The frosting was easy to spread on the cake and had a slightly hardened texture once refrigerated. Before refrigerating the cake though, I wanted to decorate the top of it. I recently learned how to make homemade chocolate, which I keep in the freezer until I'm ready to use it. I grated the chocolate with a microplane grater. Unfortunately, I didn't take a picture of the block of chococlate because it is really not pretty LOL. The chocolate shavings gave the cake a lovely look! Next time I will have to try making little chocolate curls on top!

I gave the leftover cake to Jacki before she left on Sunday night so that she could take the cake into work with her Monday morning. She shared it with her coworkers and they enjoyed it! One guy even wants the recipe!

So far so good with The Joy of Vegan Baking!

Chocolatey Peanut Butter Brownies

This was a little thank you to our maintenance crew for improving our screwy stove! While one of the guys was fixing our stove I asked what I could bake for him..."Anything with peanut butter!" LOL. So I found a recipe for peanut butter brownies on Allrecipes and modified it just a bit! Enjoy!

Chocolatey Peanut Butter Brownies (Cick to view original recipe)

Ingredients

• 1 cup crunchy peanut butter
• 4 eggs
• 2 tsp vanilla extract
• 2 cup packed brown sugar
• 1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, softened
• 2/3 cup all-purpose flour
• 2/3 cup cocoa powder
• 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/2 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
• 1/2 cup Reese's peanut butter chips

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease a 9"x13" Pyrex dish.
2. In a large mixing bowl, cream together the peanut butter and butter. Add the brown sugar, vanilla and eggs and beat until light and fluffy. Combine the flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, and salt in a separate bowl. Add to the butter mixture and mix until well blended. Stir in the chocolate chips and peanut butter chips.
3. Spread batter evenly into pan and bake for 35-40 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean. 

January 15, 2011 Recipe #1: Blueberry Lemon Muffins

The very first recipe of The 2011 Cookbook Challenge! Yay! Blueberry Lemon Muffins!

Okay, so I kind of cheated... rather than start with the first page number listed from the random sequence generator, I picked this recipe... ONLY because I had some blueberries I needed to use. But from here on out I give you my word that I will be making the recipes that fall on the page numbers given by the random sequence generator! I didn't have to tell you I cheated but I felt guilty for listing a rule I already failed! David has called me a "goober" for mentioning this to all of you. Hey, at least I'm honest!

Breakfast: A blueberry lemon muffin with fresh fruit!



Well the blueberry muffins passed! They were delicious! I did however make a few little changes. The addition of cinnamon into the batter was wonderful and I doubled up the amount of lemon extract, instead of using  lemon zest the recipe had called for. I also couldn't resist sprinking a little cinnamon-sugar mix on top of the batter before popping them into the oven. Amazing! I decided to change the baking temperature too, which originally called for 400 degrees F. In my opinion, and with experience, muffins should be baked at 350 or 375 degrees F. A couple of months ago I baked muffins at 400 degrees F and after carefully watching them and making sure the inside of the batter was cooked enough, they ended up being a little more well done on the outside than I would have liked. Unfortunately, I haven't had a good experience using that temperature for muffins.

But cheers to the first recipe being a hit! I will be happen to post the recipe if anyone is interested! Enjoy!

A Great Dinner & Dessert for My Vegan Friends!

My friend Shannon and her husband, Chris, came to visit David and I for New Year's. Since they were traveling quite a long way (from North Carolina), I wanted to cook up something special for them when they arrived! My only challenge I now faced was to make a vegan dinner! Something I had yet to try! I have become very interested in my guests' vegan lifestyle, and have researched quite a bit about it. I recommend checking out their blog at The Road Less Traveled. I've learned about different vegan foods, how to save money, and how to help make our environment greener!

 

So I began browsing vegan recipes to figure out exactly what I would make them for dinner! Perfect! I would make lasagna! All though this was not going to be an easy task, I was set on making this after reading good reviews about different vegan lasagna recipes. I decided to prepare the lasagna the day before. That way, I could take my time putting it together and I could let the lasagna marinate in its flavors and juices for a day.

 

Vegan Tofu-Veggie Lasagna

 

To make this dish, I took the ideas for a vegan lasagna from two different recipes:

Allrecipes' Vegan Lasagna

Fat Free Vegan Kitchen's Vegan Lasagna

 

Ingredients

• 1 (8-oz) pkg lasagna noodles (egg-free)

For the marinara sauce:

• 2 tbsp olive oil
• 2 onions, chopped
• 3 tbsp garlic, minced
• 1 (15-oz) can tomato sauce
• 3 (15-oz) cans diced tomatoes
• 1 (6-oz) can tomato paste
• dried basil
• dried parsley
• dried oregano
• salt
• ground black pepper

For the "ricotta" filling:

• 1 (10-oz) pkg fresh spinach, steamed and drained
• 2 tbsp garlic, minced
• 1/2 a lemon, juiced
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 2 (1-lb) packages tofu, one pkg extra firm and one pkg soft
• onion powder
• dried basil
• dried parsley
• ground black pepper 

For the veggie layer:

• 1-2 tbsp olive oil
• 2 small yellow squash, diced
• 1 large zucchini, diced
• 2-3 tbsp garlic, minced
• 1 small head broccoli, chopped, stem discarded
• 2 carrots, diced
• 1 red bell pepper, diced 

Directions

1. Make the sauce: In a large, heavy saucepan, over medium heat, heat the olive oil. Place the onions in the saucepan and saute them until they are soft, about 5 minutes. Add the garlic; cook 5 minutes more.
2. Place the tomatoes, tomato paste, basil and parsley in the saucepan. Stir well, turn the heat to low and let the sauce simmer covered for 1 hour. Add the salt and pepper.
3. While the sauce is cooking bring a large kettle of salted water to a boil. Boil the lasagna noodles according to the package's instructions, then drain and rinse well.
4. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
5. Place the tofu blocks in a large bowl. Add the spinach, garlic, onion powder, basil and parsley. Add the salt and pepper, and mash all the ingredients together. Mix well. Place in the refrigerator until ready to assemble lasagna.
6. Saute the vegetable layer: In a large skillet, heat oil over medium heat. Add all ingredients and saute until vegetables become tender. Remove from heat.
7. Assemble the lasagna: Spread 1 cup of the tomato sauce in the bottom of a 9x13 inch casserole pan. Arrange a single layer of lasagna noodles, sprinkle one-third of the tofu mixture over the noodles. Distribute 1/3 of the sauteed vegetables evenly over the tofu. Next ladle tomato sauce over the tofu, and top it with another layer of the noodles. Then sprinkle another 1/3 of the tofu mixture over the noodles, top with 1/3 of the sauteed vegetables, then the tomato sauce, and top with a final layer of noodles. Finally, top the noodles with the final 1/3 of the tofu and sauteed vegetables, and spread the remaining tomato sauce over it.
8. Cover the pan with foil and bake the lasagna for 45-60 minutes. Serve hot and enjoy. 

The next time I make this, I would like to try roasted, thinly-sliced rounds of eggplant (possibly dipped in bread crumbs to give them a nice, crisp texture) in place of the lasagna noodles. I would also add some veggie cheese the next time: a combination of mozzarella and parmesan subsitutes. Yum! I did not add the veggie cheese this time because it unfortunately contains a couple of ingredients that are not vegan. There are veggie cheeses out there that are vegan but my grocery store is so small that they don't carry it... sad. When I try this recipe with these other ideas I will post it!

Now I could not forget about dessert! I wanted to do something special because not only did Shannon and Chris drive so far to come visit us, but they were also recently married (back in July)! So I decided I wanted to make a cake for them to celebrate their marriage! I've been in a Hawaiian-themed mood (probably because my parents were just there) so I decided to take the banana bread recipe I normally make and turn it into a cake with, yep, you guessed it, Hawaiian ingredients a.k.a. pineapple, coconut, and macadamia nuts!

Now, because this banana bread is not vegan, I had to make a few subsitutions! Most importantly, I needed a substitution for the eggs. So in baked goods, eggs are very important for two different reasons: 1.) leavening and 2.) binding. In order to have both of these important effects incorporated into the recipe without eggs I researched a bit and found a recipe from The Vegan Wolf  which is a great substitute for cakes, muffins and quickbreads. And it worked great!

Egg Substitute (equivalent to 1 egg)

Ingredients

• 1 tbsp ground flax seeds
• 1 tbsp cornstarch
• 1 tbsp vegetable oil
• 2 tbsp water

Directions

1. Stir together all ingredients until a thick paste forms. Let sit until ready to incorporate into recipe.  

Vegan Ho`olaule`a Cake

 

Ho`olaule`a means Hawaiian celebration! Perfect for my guests who were just married over the summer.

 

Ingredients

For the egg subsitute (equivalent to 3 eggs):

• 3 tbsp ground flax seeds
• 3 tbsp cornstarch
• 3 tbsp vegetable oil
• 1/4 cup + 2 tbsp (1/8 cup) water

For the cake:

• 3 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 1-2 tablespoons ground cinnamon
• 2 cups raw sugar
• 1 cup vegetable oil
• 1 (8-oz) can crushed pineapple in water
• 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
• 4 ripe bananas, peeled and mashed
• 1 cup shredded coconut
• 1 cup macadamia nuts, chopped

For the frosting:

• 8 oz. cream cheese substitute (Tofutti)
• 1/4 cup light coconut milk
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1/4 tsp coconut extract
• 1 lb (16 oz) organic powdered sugar
• 1 cup shredded coconut 

Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F.
2. Grease and flour two 9-inch cake pans
3. In a large bowl, combine all egg susbtitute ingredients and stir until a thick paste forms. Set aside.
4. To prepare the cake: Whisk the flour, baking soda, salt, baking powder, and cinnamon in a medium bowl to blend. Set aside.
5. In the large bowl with the egg substitute, beat in the sugar, oil, crushed pineapple and vanilla to blend. Add the dry ingredients and stir just until blended.
6. In a small bowl, stir together the banana, coconut, and macadamia nuts. Then fold into the batter.
7. Divide the batter evenly among the cake pans. Bake until the tops are golden brown and a toothpick inserted into the center comes out with no crumbs attached, about 35-40 minutes. Keep an eye on the baking time. Transfer the cakes to a rack and cool before frosting.
8. To make the frosting: Using an electric mixer, beat the cream cheese subsitute, coconut milk, and vanilla and coconut extracts in a large bowl until combined. Slowly beat in the powdered sugar until the right frosting consistancy forms. Stir in the coconut. Consistancy will be runnier than most frostings. Refrigerate for at least 30 minutes before frosting cake to allow frosting to become firmer. After frosting the cake, sprinkle with flaked coconut and chopped macadamia nuts.

This cake with the frosting was amazing. This was my first time making my very own frosting (without a recipe to follow) and I can confidently say that I did well! The only negative comment I have to make about my frosting though is that it was runnier than regular cream cheese frostings, so it was difficult to frost the sides of the cake without it trying to run down the side and accumulate at the bottom of the cake (hence, the mess I made on the cake plate). Okay, so, it was a bit of a mess but I wouldn't change a thing!

I am so glad Shannon and Chris loved the meal I prepared. My hard work payed off! Even David didn't mind it! I really think the word "vegan" throws people off. In reality, it is mostly just healthier eating. Sometimes :) You can make amazing dishes that are vegan though! You also learn to really appreciate fresh herbs and spices more!

Thanks Shannon and Chris for being such wonderful guests! We had a great time and I enjoyed learning more about the kind of vegan meals you prepare at your home! Thanks for sharing some of them with me!