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Mushroom Gravy Rice Bowl

March 19, 2012 by Erin

Greetings from vacation!

Before I start, I just want to thank everyone who checked out Wicked Vegan for my St. Patty’s Day posts. I had a record high number of hits Thurs, Fri and Saturday, tripling what I normally get in an average day. I hope everyone enjoyed themselves and got to make some yummy St. Patty’s day food!!

I’ve left the city behind for a week and have gone up north with some friends to the mountains. I had expected loads of snow and cold weather and lots of comfort food but, temperature-wise,  it’s a record high up here and yesterday I went and sat in the sun for 2 hours. Of course, in true me fashion, everyone was in shorts and sandals and I was in boots, tights and a skirt. But, in my defense, I had packed for the mountains! Lots of hoodies and jeans and warm boots. Plus, my skirt had a floral print and my boots were suede ankle boots. It was practically spring gear!

Anyway, this weather is making me really glad I didn’t spend a boatload on a plane ticket to FL. It’s the perfect weather for shopping (which I’ve done a lot of!), not so good weather for holing up and scrapbooking/crafting (which was my plan).

It’s also throwing of my very rough idea of what I was going to be making food-wise. Plus, I’m in a strangers kitchen, which isn’t stocked like mine, so recipes this week may be scarce. I’ve already gone to the local smokehouse once and I’m contemplating going again tonight (they have a super delicious vegan burger with homemade hummus and BBQ sauce. I’ve already bought a jar to take home with me…).

I did manage to whip together this dish the first night I was here, when it was still cold, before I went grocery shopping and before I discovered where the smokehouse was so at least you’ll get one recipe this week!

Mushroom Gravy Rice Bowl
adapted from Oh She Glows

Yield: 2 servings

Ingredients:

  • 1/2 cup uncooked brown basmati rice
  • 1/2 tsp extra virgin olive oil
  • 2 cups chopped sweet onion (1 medium onion)
  • 3 garlic cloves, minced
  • 4 cups sliced crimini mushrooms (300 grams)
  • 1.5 tbsp minced fresh rosemary*
  • 2 tbsp nutritional yeast
  • 1.5 tbsp low-sodium tamari (soy sauce)
  • 1/2 tbsp cornstarch
  • 1 & 1/4 cup vegetable broth
  • Freshly ground black pepper & kosher salt, to taste

Cook your basmati rice according to the directions on the package (should take about 15-20 minutes).

While your rice is cooking, heat olive oil in a medium size skillet. Add the onions and garlic and saute for about 5 minutes.

Add the mushrooms in and cook for 12 minutes. Now add the rosemary, nutritional yeast and tamari/soy sauce. Stir everything in and let that cook for one or two minutes.

While that is cooking, mix together your veggie broth and cornstarch and whisk with a fork or small whisk until there are no clumps. Add to the mushroom mixture, stir and let cook for another 5 minutes or so until the mixture has thickened to a gravy consistency.

Spoon your finished rice into a bowl and top with gravy mixture.

*My only complaint about this recipe was that the needles of rosemary really took away from the gravy consistency. I would suggest running a knife through the needles before adding them to the recipes or grinding them up. You could leave them out all together but they add a great flavor to the gravy.

This recipe originally called for Kale and millet instead of rice but my super market didn’t have millet and I forgot my kale in my late night, night-before-I-leave packing. I imagine kale would be a great addition to this and will definitely add it next time I make it.

Even without it though, the mushroom gravy was delicious and hunkering down on the couch with a bowl full while watching movies was the perfect start to my vacation.

Now…off to finish scrapbooking Day 1 of my Italy trip I took 2 years ago. I’ve managed to buy an excessive amount of condiments while here and even buy a purple polka dotted paring knife at an outlet kitchen store but I haven’t even made a dent in my scrapbook, which is why I’m here! Let’s see if I can remedy that today.

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Guiness-Glazed Potatoes

March 14, 2012 by Erin

Now, let me be straight with you: I have some irish in me but I’m a pretty poor representation when it comes to stereotypes. For one, I can’t hold my liquor to save my life (I’m pleasantly buzzed after one beer or hard cider, my preferred drink of choice). It makes me a cheap date but you certainly won’t see me at the local irish pub going toe to toe with the big boys. In fact, I don’t even really like alcohol! I’m sure my ancestors are shaking their heads sadly right now. Secondly, I really don’t like their food. Boiled cabbage? Are you for real?? Yuck!

Well, we already solved the Corned Beef food issue, so let’s tackle the traditional irish sides and see if we can’t make it more edible. First thing first, we have to get rid of these boiled veggies. I will not be shoving boiled cabbage and onions down my throat. That is no way to treat vegetables.

My first thought when I thought cabbage was, brussel sprouts. They are the cute, little baby version of cabbage that is both tasty and versatile. My preferred way of eating them is roasting them. I figured throwing some potatoes and carrots with them couldn’t hurt! My second thought was, clearly I need to get some beer in here somehow!

The result is Guiness-glazed Potatoes and Roasted Carrots and Brussel Sprouts, both are insanely easy to throw together and both taste delicious.

 

Guiness-Glazed Potatoes
inspired by this recipe

  • 2 TBSP olive oil
  • 4 or 5  yukon gold potatoes, peeled and cut into 1/4 ” wedges. 
  • 1/2 tsp salt
  • 1/4 tsp black pepper
  • 1/2 tsp onion salt
  • 1/4 cup Guiness Beer (or other dark stout)*
  • 1/4 cup vegetable broth
  • 1 TBSP brown sugar

 Heat the olive oil in a skillet over medium heat. Place the potatoes in the pan, season with salt, pepper and onion salt and let cook uncovered for about 25 minutes, turning the potatoes every once in a while so they brown evenly. After 25 minutes, add the beer, vegetable broth and brown sugar. Cook for an additional 3-5 minutes, until the beer reduces down and the potatoes are tender.

* It is my understanding that Guiness as a general rule is not vegan, EXCEPT the Guiness Extra Stout bottled in North America. See the emails from Guiness here . The Canadian Guinness brewery doesn’t use Isinglass. Make sure you are getting the Guiness Extra Stout brewed in Canada though, the one from the UK is NOT vegan.

Roasted Brussel Sprouts and Carrots
based off my brussel sprouts recipe

  • 1 lb of brussel sprouts
  • 4 large carrots
  • 3 TBSP olive oil
  • 1 tsp of salt
  • 1/4 tsp of pepper

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

Remove the stem and out leaves of the brussel sprouts and cut in half. Toss with 1.5 TBSP of the olive oil, 1/2 tsp of salt and 1/8 tsp of pepper. Spread out on a baking pan and bake for 15 minutes.

Meanwhile, cut the carrot into sticks of roughly the same size and toss with remaining oil, salt and pepper. After 15 minutes, add carrots to the brussel sprouts and cook for an additional 20-30 minutes, depending on the size of your vegetables. Mine were done after 35, which is unusual since my brussel sprouts usually cook for 45 minutes.

Though the brussel sprouts and carrots were pretty simple, I really loved the carrots done like that. I have never tried roasting them before but they tasted delicious! The potatoes though, definitely stole the show, and I’m not even a potato person (another Irish stereotype down the drain)! The glaze was perfect and the potatoes get soft and golden cooking in the pan like that. I’m a huge fan!

And there you have it! Your main St. Patrick’s day dinner is all set. What are we missing? Dessert? Soda Bread? I’ll see what I can do for you the next two days… =)

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Vegan “Corned Beef”

March 13, 2012 by Erin

Guys! I made my own corned beef. I’m so excited! This is my first venture into the world of making my own meat substitutes and I have to say, I was pleasantly surprised.
Before I go on, I just have to put a little disclaimer out there. A few days ago, a friend and I were arguing the merits of fake meat. He is a die hard carnivore and just did not understand the purpose of non-meat “meats”. His argument was, “you gave up meat. Why are you eating something that now taste like meat?” and “it’s not chicken, so it shouldn’t me called chicken”. Touche, my dear, touche.
I like to think of fake meats as the Epcot of foods. When you go to Epcot Germany, you aren’t going for an  authentic German experience, are you? No. You are going for the idea of Germany. You get to partake in the German experience without having to go to a foreign country, with a foreign language and foreign people. With fake meat, you get the idea of meat without the cruelty of animal slaughter/torture, chemicals and bad health effects. Cool, right?
Now with that in mind, I try not to eat fake meat often. They are great for the transitional process from meat eater to non-meat eater but I like to reserve them for special occasions. They are a processed food and overall, I try not to eat too many of those. It’s just harder to monitor what you are eating (unless you make it from scratch, of course). There tends to be more chemicals and such so I keep them to a minimum. After all,  Epcot wouldn’t be fun if you visited fake Germany everyday, would it? No. So, you save Epcot for vacations. And so I save fake meats for special occasions too, occasions where nothing else seems to work. Like, St. Patrick’s Day!
Mush together until strands of gluten form

Mush together until strands of gluten form

Vegan “Corn Beef”
from The Domestic Vegan

Dry Ingredients:

  • 2 c. vital wheat gluten
  • ½ c. nutritional yeast
  • 2 Tbsp. vegetarian beef broth powder (I could not find this at Whole Foods so I added an additional 1/2 tsp of salt, as Domestic Vegan suggested)
  • 2 Tbsp. onion powder
  • 1 Tbsp. smoked paprika
  • 1 Tbsp. fennel seeds (ground)*
  • 1 Tbsp. caraway seeds (ground)*
  • 4 juniper berries (ground)**
  • 2½ tsp. sea salt
  • 1 tsp. black pepper
  • 1 tsp. dried mustard
  • ½ tsp. cloves
  • ½ tsp. allspice

Wet Ingredients:

  • 1 c. + 2 Tbsp. vegetable broth
  • 2 Tbsp. olive oil
  • 1 Tbsp. liquid smoke (hickory flavor)
  • 1 Tbsp. apple cider vinegar
  • 1 Tbsp. maple syrup
  • 1 Tbsp. tamari or Braggs

Directions:

In a large bowl, combine all dry ingredients.  In a separate bowl, whisk together wet ingredients.  Pour the wet ingredients into the dry, and stir to combine.  Knead with your hands for a couple minutes, until everything is well combined & strands of gluten start to form.

Fill a large pot with about 12 cups of water, and add 2 bay leaves & 1 Tbsp. of whole juniper berries.  Bring to a boil, then lower heat to keep the water simmering.  (The original recipe said you can throw some beer or red wine into the water. My dad had some left over red wine so I added 10 cups of waters and 2 cups of red wine)

On a clean surface, shape the seitan into an oval (about 8” by 5” with a 1” thickness).  Don’t stress over the size.  If it’s roughly the size & shape of a roast, you’re good.   Wrap the seitan in a double-layer of cheesecloth, and roll the ends like a Tootsie Roll (not too tight, though; the roast will expand a bit while cooking).  Secure with string (or just tie the ends in a tight knot if you have enough fabric, which is what I did).

Place the corned seitan roast in the simmering water.  Cover and simmer on medium-low heat for 1 hour, turning the roast a couple times during the cooking process to ensure even cooking.

When done, remove the seitan from the pot (I use tongs to do this), and allow to rest/cool on a plate or cutting board for about 10 minutes.  When cool enough to handle, unwrap the cheesecloth.

 

My pseudo-ground up spices

My pseudo-ground up spices

* I could not find ground fennel seed, caraway seed or rosemary so I ground them myself using a combination of a mini food processor and running a super sharp knife through them. Neither of these methods were particularly efficient. I would recommend a mortar and pestle if you have one or even a salt and pepper grinder. Because the spices are now freshly ground and therefore release a stronger flavor, I would recommend cutting them down a bit to 1/2 TBS  or preparing them the night before to give them a chance to mellow out. I didn’t do this and my roast was very strongly spiced.

** I could not find juniper berries anywhere and no one had even heard of them when I asked about them. If they are popular in regular corn beef, it’s possible that they will pop up this week in grocery stores but I subbed in rosemary where ever the recipe called for juniper berry. I used 1 tsp of rosemary for every 2 berries, as recommended by Ehow.

This corned beef was SO easy to whip together. Though the ingredients list is long, it goes together pretty quickly. The most tedious process was grinding my own spices and if you have them already ground, whether the came like that or you did them the night before, this will speed up the preparation process.

Tune in tomorrow, where I’ll plate this up for you with some yummy, traditional-inspired St. Patty’s day vegetables.  Yum!

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Homemade Irish Cream

March 12, 2012 by Erin

As I mentioned last week, I was feeling kind of sick and in a bit of a cooking funk after my two messed up recipes. As a result, I avoided the kitchen. I was eating raw carrots, cucumbers and avocados (I told you I’m obsessed!) with hummus for lunch, heating up left overs for dinner and overall, not doing a lot of things that make for good Wicked Vegan posts.

But this weekend, oh…this weekend was different. Why? Because St. Patty’s Day is this week! Sometimes you just need a little inspiration to get you back in the kitchen and that is exactly what St. Patrick’s Day has done for me. I was a cooking fool this weekend and as a result, I have a week full of yummy Ireland inspired meals for you!

First, let’s start with homemade Bailey’s Irish Cream. What better way to start my week of Irish inspired food than by starting with an Irish drink, which you can drink straight up on the rocks or use in a myriad of recipes. When my family and I went to Ireland in 2007, I had a nightcap of Bailey’s almost every evening I was there. It’s had a special place in my heart since then.

Homemade Vegan Irish Cream Original Flavor
inspired by cupcakeproject.com (I’m sorry I’m not linking to that page but every time I try to check out this recipe, it allows me to scroll for 5 seconds and then it freezes on me. It took me several times, strategiclly scrolling in those 5 seconds, to get the non-vegan recipe for me to convert.)

1 C soy cream

14 oz sweetened condensed milk (I used vanilla almond milk)*

1 C- 1 2/3 C Irish whiskey (I used Jameson’s)**

1 t instant coffee

2 T melted vegan chocolate (the original recipe called for Hersey’s syrup but I wasn’t feeling the chemicals in Hersey’s syrup so I just melted some vegan chocolate chip with a little vegetable shortening to thin it out)

1 t vanilla

Combine all ingredients in a blender and set on high speed for 30 seconds.

Bottle in a tightly sealed container and refrigerate. Shake before using.

* I used almond milk for my condensed milk, which I had never done before. The result was a very strong almond after taste, which you can pick up in the finished Irish Cream. This isn’t bad, and the original recipe even called for 1 tsp of almond extract, but it definitely is a difference between the vegan version and the original Bailey’s. As you read this, I have soy milk condensing in my slow cooker and if you check back tomorrow, I will let you know how that comes out.

** Um, sooo…the original recipe on cupcakeproject.com recommended 1 2/3 C of whiskey but, um, well… I’m a huge lightweight. There! I said it! I’m part irish and I’m a lightweight. *sigh* it’s not something I’m proud of people. But, because of this, I only put 1 C of whiskey into my irish cream, and not the full 1 2/3 C. You can use your own discretion when adding the booze. Also, in case you were curious, Jameson is vegan friendly. That website is great for any alcohol/vegan questions you may have.

Now, seeing as I have been DYING to make this recipe for about 2 months, when I finally had a chance, I couldn’t resist making 2 batches. I became obsessed with Chocolate Mint Bailey’s in December when my friend, Melinda, bought me a bottle as a Thank You gift. I think I had a glass every evening, which was the perfect way to end some seriously stressful work days. I knew that I had to attempt the Chocolate Mint version, as well as the original.

 Homemade Vegan Chocolate Peppermint Irish Cream 

inspired by cupcakeproject.com 

1 C soy cream

14 oz sweetened condensed chocolate milk (I used half chocolate almond milk and half dark chocolate almond milk)

1 C- 1 2/3 C Irish whiskey (I used Jameson’s)

1 t instant coffee

3 T melted vegan chocolate (the original recipe called for Hersey’s syrup but I wasn’t feeling the chemicals in Hersey’s syrup so I just melted some vegan chocolate chip with a little vegetable shortening to thin it out)

1 t peppermint extrant

Combine all ingredients in a blender and set on high speed for 30 seconds. The notes above regarding the almond milk and whiskey, obviously apply here too

Aww, perfect way to start off our week long celebration of Ireland. Cheers!

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Avocado chocolate chip cookies

March 7, 2012 by Erin

Bonjour, my friends. Sorry I didn’t post the last few days to get this week started off right- I’ve been sick and in a crappy mood. Also, I messed up two recipes in an attempt to get something up here for Tuesday and alas, both of them were failures. I took this as a sign from the powers that be:

sick=bed rest, not cooking.

Anyway, so now some food for you! I have been obsessed with avocados since my little adventure into the world of avocado cupcakes. They were seriously the best cupcakes I’ve ever made. My friend, John, is leaving BN and I’m going to send him off on his next adventure with a batch of those. Cause seriously? You couldn’t start the next phase of your life with a better cupcake.

So, since I had such luck with avocados in cupcakes I thought …why not with cookies?? Result, a pretty damn good cookie if I do say so myself!! Not as epic as the cupcake but still delicious

Avocado Chocolate Chip Cookies
from What Runs Lori

Makes about small 28 cookies

  • 1 cup coconut flour
  • 1 tsp baking soda
  • 1/4 tsp baking powder
  • 1 tsp sea salt
  • 2 ripe bananas
  • 1/4 ripe avocado (about 1/4 cup)
  • 1 cup almond milk (to bring out the coconut flavor, use coconut milk)
  • 4 tbsp honey (agave nectar or maple syrup would also work. I ran out of honey so I used 2 TBSP honey, and 2 TBSP maple syrup)
  • 1 tbsp apple cider vinegar
  • 1 tsp vanilla extract
  • 2 “eggs” (I used Ener-G egg replacers)
  • 1/4 cup shredded coconut
  • 2/3 cup vegan chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

In a medium bowl, combine all dry ingredients, coconut through salt.

In another larger bowl, add in the remaining ingredients, mashing the banana and avocado with a fork. Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients, mixing well. Make sure to work out any clumps of coconut flour.

Spoon out about 2 tablespoons of dough and form into a ball, placing it on a parchment lined baking sheet. Continue this process until you’ve created all of your round cookies.

Bake cookies for 20 minutes, or until golden browned.

These cookies are delicious but different. They have a consistency that is closer to cake then the chewy, chocolate cookies that I normally like and they aren’t quite so sweet. This works for me, though. The chocolate makes it feel like a snack but I’m not sent on a sugar high.

I kind of love these adorable little cookies of deliciousness. And I kind of want to make another batch but am afraid of burning them with my streak of bad cooking luck.

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Crackers? Chips? Bird Seed?

March 1, 2012 by Erin

This blog is going to the birds lately. I had the Nuts and Oats burger, which my mom lovingly said looked like bird seed. And now I have these super yummy seed cracker/chip things. Crackips? Chickers? I’m not sure I can combine crackers and chip to make an appealing word but I assure you, these are yummy- bird-seed looking  or not.

This is my answer to savory snacks. You know, when you are craving the potato chips from the vending machine mid-day, or just want something salty to munch on.

BIRD SEED CRACKERS/CHIPS
from Oh She Glows

Ingredients:

  • 1/2 cup chia seeds (can find at whole foods)
  • 1/2 cup sunflower seeds
  • 1/2 cup pepita seeds (or pumpkin seeds)
  • 1/2 cup sesame seeds
  • 1 cup water
  • 1 large garlic clove, finely grated
  • 1 tsp grated sweet onion
  • 1/4 tsp kosher salt, or to taste

1. Preheat the oven to 325F and line a large baking sheet with parchment paper.

2. In a large bowl, mix the seeds together. In a small bowl, mix the water, grated garlic, and grated onion. Whisk well. Pour the water mixture onto the seeds and stir until thick and combined. Season with salt and/or garlic salt to taste. Add spices or fresh herbs if you wish.

3. Spread the mixture onto the prepared baking sheet with the back of a spoon until it’s less than 1/4 inch thick. Not to worry if a couple parts become too thin, you can just patch them up.

4. Bake at 325F for 30 minutes. Remove from oven, slice into crackers, carefully flip onto other side with a spatula. Bake for another 30 minutes, watching closely after about 25 minutes. The bottoms will be lightly golden in colour. Allow to cool completely on the pan. Store in a container or plastic baggy.

 I know some of you may think these look weird but they are actually kind of like the outside of an everything bagel…without the bagel part, you know?
 
I’m a big fan of garlic and onion so I decided to sprinkle the crackers with garlic salt when I flipped them. Delicious but SUPER garlicky. If you want to make out with anyone within 24 hours of eating these, I would probably NOT add the extra garlic.
 
One thing to note is that these are pretty fragile. If you toss them in a plastic baggy and then in your book back, they are going to get totally crushed and most likely revert back to seed form. The dilemma is they taste awesome with hummus! I was finding my hummus was too thick for these babies to handle. Totally by coincidence, my roommate made the lightest, fluffiest white bean hummus that went perfectly with these!
 
 Mediterranean-inspired White Bean Hummus
 from Exclamations of a Curious Bonnie
 
  • 1 can of white beans (cannelini or white kidney beans), drained with the liquid set aside
  • 1 TBS of tahini
  • 2 tsp lemon juice
  • 2 cloves of garlic
  • 2 TBS olive oil

and the following seasoning, which Bonnie says she didn’t measure but would estimate at 1/2 – 1 tsp:

  • paprika
  • cumin
  • black pepper
  • ground coriander seeds
  • cayenne peper
  • dried parsley
  • salt to taste

Place all ingredients into a food processor and blend. If the consistency is too dry or sort of “cakey,” add small amounts of the bean-water you set aside. When desired consistency is achieved, taste and adjust seasonings as necessary. Add salt if needed. Enjoy with pitas or crackers or veggies!

The slow addition of the bean water made this so fluffy. I loved it! I’d been eating my hearty garlic hummus all week and this was a great change of pace, and like I said, it worked perfectly with these cracker/chips. They were made for each other!
 
 
Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’m going to go bath in listerine in hopes I can get this garlic/onion smell off of me…

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Deep Dish Chocolate Chip Cookie Pie

February 28, 2012 by Erin

I don’t know what has come over me lately. All I want to do is snack. On chocolate. Or Sugar. The other night for dinner, I definitely had 3 scoops of White chocolate Peanut Butter (how did that even get into my grocery cart???) and a handful of almonds. That’s it. What is wrong with me??

So when I sat down last weekend to figure out what I was having for food this week, I definitely made sure to factor in some healthy snack. I knew that I couldn’t make it through another week on handfuls of chocolate chips and late night microwavable mug cakes (one of the blogs I follow calculated how many calories are in one of those and it was like 900. Kill me…)

Let’s begin with the sweet stuff, shall we? Let me introduce to you one of my favorite, new desserts. I was skeptical at first, then when I made it I was undecided on the taste. But after snarfing on it for three nights straight, I have to accept that I really like it. My friends, I introduce to you the Deep Dish Chocolate Cookie Pie aka, my answer to the perfectly undercooked monster cookies that call to me from the caf each day at work.

The cafetaria cookies are in no way, shape or form vegan. But when it’s two o’clock, and I forgot a little something sweet for after lunch, those cookies are relentless in calling to me. BUT, knowing that I have a slice of this cookie pie waiting for me at home, makes it a trazillion times easier to resisit.

Deep Dish Chocolate Chip Cookie Pie
from Chocolate Covered Katie

  • 2 cans white beans or garbanzos (drained and rinsed) (I know…I seriously have a cookie recipe with chickpeas!!)
  • 1 cup quick oats (or certified-gf quick oats)
  • 1/4 cup unsweetened applesauce
  • 3 T canola oil
  • 2 tsp pure vanilla extract
  • 1/2 tsp baking soda
  • 2 tsp baking powder
  • 1/2 tsp salt
  • 1 and 1/2 cups brown sugar
  • 1 cup chocolate chips

Blend everything (except the chocolate chips) very well in a good food processor (not a blender)*. Mix in chips, and pour into an oiled pan (I used a 10-inch springform pan) Cook at 350F for around 35-40 minutes. Let stand at least 10 minutes before removing from the pan.

*A high speed food processer is best and here’s why: I blended the crap out of these ingredients and they  still were n’t perfectly smooth. There was definitely a little bit of oatmeal and possibly a bit of chickpeas that remained a bit intact. Nothing severe but it added texture. That texture really threw me off at first and I wasn’t sure how I felt about the pie. But I got over it…cause it tasted great and it was super moist! My friend, Rachel, compared it to having bits of coconut flakes in the pie and she is right. I’m possibly overreacting. But, if you are a texture person, I would suggest either using a high speed food processor or blending the oatmeal seperately first, until it’s the texture of flour, and  then adding in the other ingredients. I haven’t tried that but I bet it would be a huge help in the texture department.

Seriously, could that recipe be any easier?? It’s easier than the 900 calorie mug cake I devoured, that’s for sure! AND this makes 8 serving slices, the mug cake just made one large mug…and made me feel really guilty. Chocolate Covered Katie put the nutritional count of this at about 200 a slice. Not great but hello? Better then 900!! You could also bake this in a square or rectangle pan and cut them into bars if you wanted to get more servings out of it. Just adjust the cooking time accordingly

Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’m going to go munch on an apple with a bit of dark chocolate peanut butter and granola and ignore that monster cookie in the caf. I have better waiting for me at home, thankyouverymuch!

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King’s Cake and Polariods…Oh My!

February 24, 2012 by Erin

Guys…this post is a hot mess of bad pictures and awesome recipes. So lets just get this thing over with, shall we?

Tuesday was Mardi Gras. Hellz to the yeah!

If I was a better blogger, I would have posted this recipes on Monday … and I would never use the phrase ‘Hellz yeah’ again…but I’m not, so you are going to get this Mardi Gras recipes 3 days late. It is SO good I couldn’t resist sharing.

Melinda cooking up the jambalaya. Kinda one of my favorite pictures of her…

My super delicious jambalaya recipe. Bonnie and I just about ate this entire pot between us. I’ll post this recipe next week. It so yummy I’m planning on making it again!

Andrew and my roommate, Daniel, working oh-so-hard in the kitchen while the girls slaved away. Thanks for the help guys! (Daniel later cleaned the kitchen so all was forgiven!)

KING’S CAKE!! Definitely in the top 5 of best desserts I’ve made. Melinda said it was second only to the almond joy truffles, Dan said it was second to none. Yeah…It was that good. (Recipe Below) The icing was suppose to be yellow, green and purple but I had some issues with my all natural food dye…especially the yellow, as you can see…

Jester Bonnie! The point of the King’s Cake is a small toy baby or uncooked bean is placed in the cake before it cooks and whoever finds the bean/baby gets the crown and to host the party next year. Bonnie won this year!! (I put a dried chickpea because a plastic baby in a 350 degree oven is weird.)

Vegan King’s Cake
from DairyfreeCooking
makes one cake, 10 to 12 servings (HA! in our case it had maybe 6. We couldn’t stop eating it!)

For the Cake:

  • 1 package dry active yeast
  • ¼ cup warm water
  • 1 T. maple syrup
  • 2 ½ cups all-purpose flour, plus more if needed
  • 1 t. salt
  • ¼ t. nutmeg
  • 3 T. sugar
  • 6 T. soy margarine, cut into pieces
  • 3 T. Egg Replacer Powder mixed with ¼ T. hot water
  • ¼ cup coconut milk (not “lite” variety), plus more for brushing (I used the thick coconut milk from a can)

For the Filling:

  • ¾ cup dark brown sugar
  • ¼ cup dairy-free soy margarine, softened
  • ½ cup finely chopped pecans  (I used a mix of pecans and walnuts because I ran out of pecans. It was good though!)
  • ½ t. cinnamon

For the Icing:

  • Confectionary sugar
  • coconut milk from above
  • food coloring (preferrably all natural)

1. In a medium-sized mixing bowl, combine the yeast, warm water and maple syrup, mixing gently until the yeast dissolves and bubbles begin to appear on the surface. Set aside until frothy, about 5 minutes.

2. Meanwhile, the bowl of a food processor, combine the flour, salt, nutmeg and sugar. Add the soy margarine and process until the mixture resembles fine crumbs. Add this mixture to the yeast, along with the Egg Replacer mixture and coconut milk. Knead, adding flour as necessary, until a soft dough forms. Place in an oiled bowl, covered, for 1 hour, or until the dough is doubled in bulk.

3. Meanwhile, make the filling. In a small mixing bowl, combine the brown sugar, soy margarine, chopped pecans/walnuts and cinnamon until combined.

4. Roll out the dough on a lightly floured surface to a large rectangle about 1/8” thick. Using a floured bench scraper or sharp knife, cut the dough in half lengthwise. Cut each of the strips into triangles, each about 3 inches at their base. (Think of a zipper or zigzag pattern when you cut, alternating the tops of triangles with the bases.) With the tips of the triangles pointed inward, place the triangles in a circle (or oval in my case) on the prepared sheet, overlapping one over the other and pressing the edges to seal. Place an even amount of the filling on the centers of the triangles, and place the baby or dried bean somewhere on the filling. Fold the outsides of the triangles over the filling, so that the reach just over the filling. Fold the tips over, pressing slightly to adhere the tips to the outside of the ring. Cover the ring lightly with a paper towel or clean dish towel, and let rise for 20 minutes more.

5. Bake in the preheated oven for 25-30 minutes, or until golden brown. Allow cake to cool completely on a wire cooling rack, and then transfer the cake to a serving platter large enough to catch excess icing.

(Or, just leave it on the hot pan and put the icing on it while it still hot so that it gets all melty and messy because your too inpatient to wait. That’s what I did… though letting it cool works too…)

6. While the cake is cooling, mix together the icing. It should be noted, I NEVER measure out this icing because it’s so insanely easy. Place 3 or 4 spoonfuls of confectionary sugar in a bowl (more if you are going to want a thicker icing to spread). Add coconut milk to the confectionary sugar one spoonful at a time, stirring after each addition, until the desired consistency. I knew I wanted mine a little more liquidy because 1. Melinda likes coconut flavors so I wanted more coconut milk in my icing and 2. I knew I was drizzling it on the cake because I was inpatient so the icing needed to be runnier. I would say I added about 4 or 5 spoonfuls of coconut milk. If you want is spreadable so you have it thicker, you would want to add less coconut milk, obviously. That’s why you want to add the coconut milk slowly. Once you have the icing to the consistency you want, divide it into three and add the food coloring. I used India Tree, which is made from fruit and veggy extract, but only comes in yellow, blue and red. The yellow is STRONG! Go easy with it. Apply icing to cake.

7. Shovel  unceremoniously into your mouth and try not to eat the whole cake!

I know this is traditionally a Mardi Gras thing but it can serve as a delicious dessert or even a morning pastry if you leave out the dried bean/baby and cool it with the mardi gras colors. So definitely don’t wait 362 days to make this!! It really was insanely delicious. If I make it again, I will add the better pictures, I promise.

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Nuts and Oats Burger

February 21, 2012 by Erin

Some friends and I have a nice tradition of getting together Friday evenings and making dinner for each other. We take turns so we only have to cook, approximately, every fifth time we get together. This works great for me because sometimes, I just don’t want to cook!

But this week it was my turn. I knew I wanted to make them these beer fries because I was obsessed with them and because I actually wanted to try them when half of them weren’t cooked to a lovely shade of black! My problem was, what to serve them with? I’m the only one in the group that has any sort of weird dietary restrictions. Because of that, we tend to eat a vegetarian diet on Fridays. I knew I couldn’t try and get a veggie burger past them, though. One of the guys at the dinner, BJ, reluctantly gives up meat for this one meal per week but often notes how everything we eat would taste better with bacon.  One time, his sister and I slipped some Morningstar chicken in his meal and he still threatens to slip me bacon as pay back. I couldn’t risk feeding him a veggie burger!

So I did what any good friend would do…I made them real hamburgers while I chowed down on this super delicious vegan burger. Thank gosh I didn’t try to feed these to them… they affectionately dubbed them “The Bird Seed” burgers. I just call them delicious!!

Nuts and Oats Veggie Burger aka “Bird Seed” Burgers
from Oh She Glows

Ingredients:

  • 1/2 cup onion, diced
  • 1 large garlic clove, minced
  • Flax eggs: 2.5 tbsp ground flax + 1/2 cup warm water, mixed in bowl
  • 1 cup oats, processed into flour* (other flours might work)
  • 1.5 cups bread crumbs (I processed 3 pieces of When Pigs Fly Honey Wheat bread until fine crumb)*
  • 1 cup grated carrots
  • 1 cup cooked black beans, rinsed and roughly pureed or mashed  (I just roughly mashed them with afork)
  • Heaping 1/4 cup finely chopped parsley (or fresh herb of choice)
  • 1/3 cup almonds, chopped (toasted if preferred, I bought unsalted dry roasted)
  • 1/2 cup sunflower seeds, (toasted if preferred)
  • 1 tbsp. Extra Virgin Olive Oil
  • 1 tbsp Tamari (soy sauce)
  • 1.5 tsp chili powder
  • 1 tsp. cumin
  • 1 tsp. oregano
  • Kosher salt and black pepper, to taste (I used about 1/2 tsp kosher salt)

Directions:

1. In a large skillet, sauté onions and garlic in 1/2 tbsp oil. Mix your flax egg together in a small bowl and set aside for at least 10 mins while you prepare the rest of the ingredients.

2. Place all ingredients (except spices and salt) into a large mixing bowl and stir very well. Now, add seasonings and salt to taste.

3. With slightly wet hands, shape dough into patties. Pack dough tightly as this will help it stick together. I made 8 medium patties.

4. Cooking methods: You can fry the burgers in a bit of oil on a skillet over medium heat for about 5 minutes on each side. If baking in the oven, bake for 25-30 mins (15-17 minutes on each side) at 350F, until golden and crisp. For the BBQ, pre-bake the burgers for about 15 minutes in oven before placing on a pre-heated grill until golden and crisp on each side. I fried it in a skillet. Yum!

I had high hopes for these burgers. Angela at Oh She Glows.com called them the Perfect Veggie Burger. Well…how could I not try it? Though I don’t know if I would call them perfect, they were pretty darn tasty! I actually really liked the crunch that the sunflower seeds and almonds gave them. Will, the only brave soul to try these on Friday, seemed to agree with me on that point.

Also, because I was making this while trying to make beer fries and real burgers (um…I don’t even know how many times I got burned with grease…), I ended up only cooking  2 or 3 on Friday and then freezing the rest, uncooked. To reheat them, I just thawed out the patty, reshaped it a bit and then fried it up. Still tasted delicious!

They were especially delicious when topped with caramelized onions, sautéed mushrooms, sliced avocado and BBQ sauce. *drool* I can’t wait for dinner tonight….

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I Heart You…so have some Heart Donuts!!

February 14, 2012 by Erin

HAPPY VALETINE’S DAY!

I made you doughnuts!!! =D

I don’t know why I’m so excited about this. I’ve made you doughnuts before. In fact, it was the first thing I ever made you.

Maybe it’s because I’ve been dying to make doughnuts for about a week. But I couldn’t make them for myself because, uh, hello? I just made a whole batch of beer fries for myself and my roommates!

Drippy batter. See my note below.

Or maybe it’s because it would allow me to play with these new pans which Target forced me to buy. I went looking for another mini doughnut pan because I only have one and really? Is there anything more annoying then only having one baking pan? But of course, Target didn’t have mini doughnut pans. They only had full size heart doughnut pans. So you know, I had to buy 2, because really? Is there anything more annoying then only having one baking pan?

Either way though, I made you doughnuts!!! Yeah!

Naked!

Strawberry Glazed Baked Doughnuts

Doughnuts
from VeganYumYum

Dry Ingredients:
1 Cup All Purpose Flour
1/2 Cup Sugar
1 1/2 tsp Baking Powder
1/4 tsp Salt
1/4 tsp  Nutmeg
1 tiny pinch or shake Cinnamon

Wet Ingredients:
1/2 Cup Soymilk
1/2 tsp Apple Cider Vinegar
1/2 tsp Pure Vanilla Extract
Egg Replacer for 1 Egg
4 Tbs Earth Balance

Preheat oven to 350º F

In a large bowl, combine dry ingredients thoroughly. Combine wet ingredients in a small sauce pan over medium low heat and mix until earth balance is melted. Heat it until about a minute or so after the butter is melted. You want the mixture warm, not hot.

Add wet to dry and mix until just combined. It should form a very soft dough*

Using a tablespoon measure, scoop out dough into your ungreased nonstick donut pan. Smooth out the top of the dough with your fingers, this will make for more even, prettier donuts, but isn’t crucial.

Bake for 12 minutes. They should not be browned on top, but a tester will come out clean. Invert hot pan over a cutting board or cooling rack to release donuts. Allow to cool completely before decorating

*my dough did not look like dough. It looked more like cake batter. The resulting doughnut was delicious though. Very light and fluffy, and so, so tasty.

Strawberry Glaze
from Heather Christo Cooks

2/3 cup strawberries, pureed
½ cup butter
2 ½ cups powdered sugar
1 Tbs or extract
¼ cup hot water

Puree strawberries. In a small saucepan, heat butter until it has melted add the vanilla and powdered sugar. Add the strawberries and stir until it is starting to melt. Add the water (if needed!) to thin the glaze, and whisk it until smooth. Dip your doughnuts in the glaze. YUM!

NOTE: Because the doughnut is so fluffy and spongy, it super absorbs the glaze. I made these the night before for work and they definitely tasted best right after it was glazed as opposed to the next morning. They weren’t super soggy, the glaze sort of just becomes the doughnut. It wasn’t like Krispy Kremes, were the glaze rests on top of the fried dough. Make sense? Good.

I also made chocolate glazed ones with the leftover Nutella mess up frosting…

Those sprinkles…oh man! They came in a container with blue and  lime green sprinkles-not heart sprinkles, just sprinkles. Clearly, I had to pick them out because, clearly, they were ugly and not festive!

….I have issues.

Anyway, I hope you have a great Valentine’s Day!!!

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