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Chickpea and Wheatberries Salad

November 9, 2011 by Erin

Sunday, I may have stayed up until about 2:30 am making 5 dozen cupcakes and my lunch for the week. And then I may have had to wake up at 6:30am…

And then Monday, I may have worked 7:30am-9:30pm between both my jobs and I may not have gotten to bed until 10:30, which may not have helped me recover from my 4 hours of sleep the night before…

And then I may have come home from work on Tuesday with every intention of going to my dance class, which I love to pieces, but I may have been so tired from Sunday and Monday, that I crawled into bed at 6, caught up on all my TV shows I’ve been missing out on (I’m so addicted to Once Upon a Time), snacked on some Cafe Indigo Vegan Chocolate cake and went to bed early…instead of going to dance class.

You know…that may have happened…

Good thing I had this yummy salad for lunch. Makes me feel less guilty about that whole crawl-into-bed-and-do-nothing thing…

“Back on Track” Wheatberry and Bean Salad
  from Oh She Glows

Yield: 7.5-8 cups

Salad Ingredients:

  • 1 cup dry wheatberries, cooked and drained
  • 2 cups chickpeas
  • 1 English cucumber, diced
  • 1 red pepper, diced
  • 1 large tomato, diced
  • 2 large garlic cloves, minced
  • 4 green onions, diced
  • Kosher salt + pepper, to taste

Dressing (or sub in your favourite dressing)

  • 1 tbsp balsamic vinegar
  • 1 tsp extra virgin olive oil
  • 1 tsp water
  • 1 tsp pure maple syrup
  • Kosher salt, ground black pepper, & Herbamare, to taste

Prepare wheatberries according to package. I could not find mine in the bulk section of Whole Foods so I had to buy it in the bag from the grain section. To prepare, I added 1 cup of wheatberries to 1 1/2 c. of boiling water and let sit for one hour. Drain excess water (if you have any).

In a large bowl, mix together the diced vegetables (cucumber, red pepper, tomato, minced garlic, green onions). Add in chickpeas and stir.

In a small bowl whisk together the dressing ingredients. Set aside.

When the wheatberries are ready, stir into the salad. Add the dressing just before serving and stir well. Now season with kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste. Garnish with parsley if desired.


I can’t say I loved the wheatberry, though, in fairness, mine look nothing like the ones on Oh She Glows so it may have been the type I bought. I think next go around, I’d substitute some brown basmati rice or try a different type of wheatberries.

Also, this recipe called for 1 cup of fresh, chopped parsley but I couldn’t find it anywhere at the grocery store. They were all sold out. It still has a good flavor without it.

It’s appropriate this salad is called “Back on Track” because after being a lazy bum all Tuesday evening, I’m seriously going to have to get back on track today!!

Posted in Recipes | Tagged , , , , , | 4 Comments »

Do you trust me?

November 7, 2011 by Erin

Oh, man. Look how pretty those cupcakes are! Look at that color. Isn’t it beautiful? Aren’t you super dying to know what I used to get that pretty purpley-red color?

Ready?

ok…Beets…WAIT! DON’T LEAVE!! hear me out…

I know what you are thinking- Beets in cupcakes? Um…eew!! I know that’s what you are thinking because that’s exactly what I thought when my friend, Melinda, sent this to me. She sent this to me, clearly excited about her vegan find but I was not convinced. I filed in politely in my recipe folder and mentally wrote it off as ‘aint never happenin’!

But, here’s why:  I was at a friend’s house once when I was fairly young and her mom served us boiled beets. Just plain, soggy, boiled beets. I was expected to clean my plate, too. The only way I could get them down was to put a little bite in my mouth, take a big swing of milk, chew it really quickly and rinse it all down. It took me two glasses of milk to get through the beets on my plate and I’ve never eaten one since then. In fact, I’m getting queasy just typing this.

I just can't get over the color of this batter...

Melinda’s email and recipe conjured that queasy feeling again. I couldn’t bring myself to be excited about it. Then, she sent me the following email yesterday after she made them:

“My dad just had one with his morning coffee and declared them absolutely delicious (and as a fellow foodie my dad’s not a liar about food). And said that he couldn’t even tell that there were beets in them, (then also being a fellow health food nut) he asked, so how good are these for you?? Pretty damn good for something covered in brown sugar, chocolate and white flour. I used bittersweet Ghiradelli chocolate chips instead of semi-sweet and added walnuts. I figure with dark chocolate, walnuts and beets, it’s a veritable nutritional powerhouse. Beets and walnuts are constantly on the tops of lists of most nutritionally packed foods/best foods to eat, and dark chocolate is full of antioxidants. Also, I haven’t done much research into sugar, but some claim brown sugar is better for you than white sugar? Anyways, in summation I feel like these cupcakes are a sugary dessert that packs a nutritional punch. 

ALSO they are crazy moist and really rich. “- Melinda
 
A “veritable nutritional powerhouse”, huh? *sigh* Fine, I will give it a try. Melinda tends to be annoyingly right about food things… (see The Great Bread Dilemma)
 

Beet Cupcakes
Epicurious via Melinda

Makes 12-16

  • 1/2 cup (120 ml) canola oil
  • 1 1/2 cups (340 g) packed dark brown sugar
  • 2 cups (450 g) puréed cooked (boiled or steamed) red beets (about 3 medium-size beets)*
  • 1/2 cup (90 g) nondairy semisweet chocolate chips, melted ( I used 365 Dark Chocolate mini chunks)
  • 1 teaspoon (5 ml) vanilla extract
  • 2 cups (250 g) all-purpose flour
  • 2 teaspoons (9 g) baking powder (look for aluminum-free)
  • 1/4 teaspoon salt
  • approximately 1/4c semisweet chocolate chips to stir into batter ( I used 365 Dark Chocolate mini chunks)
  • approximately 1/4c. pecans or walnuts to stir into batter (I used pecans)
  • Confectioners’ sugar, for dusting

*To get a beet puree, cut the ends of three beets and place in a medium size sauce pan. Cover with water and bring to a boil. Once the water begins to boil, reduce heat and let simmer for 45 minutes to 1 hour, or until the beets are tender. Once cooked through, remove beet from water with a slotted spoon (reserve beet water) and run under cool water until the beet is cool enough to handle. Peel off the skin. It should just slide right off. Repeat with the rest of your beets. Then place beets in a blender with a little of the water they boiled in. Puree. Continue to add water until you have 2 cups of beet puree.

My beet puree was very liquidy. Melinda used 4-5 beets and less water and her puree came could closer to an applesauce consistency. Both will work for this recipe.

Preheat oven to 375°F (190°C, or gas mark 5), and line cupcake tin with cupcake liners.

In a mixing bowl, cream together oil and brown sugar. Add beets, melted chocolate chips, and vanilla, and mix well.

In a separate bowl, combine flour, baking powder, and salt. Add to wet beet mixture, and stir until just combined.

Fold in the semisweet chocolate chips and walnuts/pecans. I did a little more than a handful each so you can add more or less based on your preference

Pour into prepared cupcake tin, and bake for 15-20 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted near the center comes out clean. (Melinda’s took about 17 minutes, mine took about 19)

Cool in pan for 10 minutes before removing to a wire rack. Cool completely. Before serving, dust with confectioners’ sugar.

I agree with everything that Melinda said in her email. (oh man, she’s going to have such an ego after this post!) These came out really moist and chocolatey. I loved the addition of the chocolate chips and the walnuts at the end. The cupcakes are dense and almost bread-like so the nuts add texture that I think is a definite plus. And no, you can’t taste the beets! Yeah!

Melinda included a PS in her email. It read: “the only addition my dad recommended was pot. which he claims is also healthy and all natural” LOL! I will let you make up your own mind regarding the pot. I thought the cupcakes were great without it.

Posted in Recipes | Tagged , , , | 9 Comments »

The Mac and Cheese Dilemma

November 4, 2011 by Erin

 

Until about 3 months ago, my cooking skills included:

1. Pouring cereal in a bowl, followed by milk

2. Box Mac and Cheese

3. Baked goods, excluding anything with yeast.

I’ve come a long way since then! I’ve tried brussel sprouts, lentils and balsam rice. I’ve been planning meals and cooking regularly. AND I’ve successfully made vegan bread. Score for me!

But I can’t get the box Mac and Cheese out of my head. I LOVE mac and cheese. I used to always keep a box in my pantry for that rare Saturday I was home, doing nothing and I just wanted to curl up and watch a movie.

And, it comes in fun shapes!! I caved this month and bought a box of the Halloween shaped ones. How can you go wrong with Halloween shapes?

Weirdly enough, though, I didn’t enjoy it! Bats and Pumpkins and Ghost shaped pasta drenched in cheese sauce and I didn’t like it?? How is this possibly??

Maybe it’s because I’ve been putting yummy, healthy, unprocessed foods in me for the last few weeks and I’m getting used to it.  Maybe it’s because after this long stretch of homemade food my body was like, “SODIUM TRIPOLYPHOSPHATE? WTF, Erin?” Agreed, body. Agreed.

So whats a former boxed Mac and Cheese addict to do?? Find a good vegan mac and cheese recipe, that’s what! Here is my first venture into the vegan Mac and cheese world…

 

Vegan Stove Top-Style Macaroni and Cheese
 from Bittersweet Blog

1 Cup Peeled and Diced Yukon Gold Potatoes
1/4 Cup Shredded or Finely Diced Carrot
1/2 Cup Chopped Yellow Onion
1 Clove Garlic, Thinly Sliced
1 Cup Water
1/4 Cup Raw Cashews
1/4 Cup Nutritional Yeast
1 Teaspoon Salt
1/4 Teaspoon Dijon Mustard
2 Teaspoons Lemon Juice
1/4 Teaspoon Smoked Paprika
1/8 Teaspoon Tumeric (Optional, for Color)
3/4 – 1 Cup Unsweetened Non-Dairy Milk
1/3 Cup Neutral-Flavored Oil, Such as Canola or Rice Bran

1 Pound Pasta, Cooked, preferably whole wheat or brown rice.

Place the cut potatoes, carrots, onion, and garlic in a small sauce pan, and pour in the water. Set over medium heat on the stove, and bring to a boil. Once the water reaches a vigorous boil, cover the pot, turn down the heat to medium-low, and let simmer for 15 minutes, until the potatoes are extremely tender.

Meanwhile, place the cashews, nutritional yeast, salt, mustard, lemon juice, paprika, and tumeric in your blender. Give these ingredients a light pulse just to begin breaking down the cashews slightly. No need to blend together entirely. We’ll do that when the veggies are done cooking.

When the vegetables on the stove are fully cooked and ready, pour them into your blender along with all of the cooking water. Add in 3/4 cup of the non-dairy milk, and turn on the blender to its highest setting. Thoroughly puree the mixture, until completely smooth and lump-free. If you’re using a blender that isn’t so hearty, this could take 6 – 10 minutes. With the motor still running, slowly drizzle in the oil, to allow it to properly emulsify. Check the consistency; if you like your sauce a bit thinner blend in the remaining 1/4 of non-dairy milk.

Pour the sauce over your cooked noodles, and serve immediately.

Makes 6 – 8 Servings

"cheese" sauce

 

I know exactly what you are thinking: “Where the frick is the rue? And what are those vegetables doing in there??”. I know, right! It’s a super weird recipe and I was hesitant to make it. It didn’t have the basic structure of a homemade mac and cheese and the vegetables were a little odd.

I was pleasantly surprised, though! This was a really good pasta dish. Will I be passing it off as Mac and Cheese to my non-vegan family and friends? No. It definitely doesn’t taste exactly like Mac and Cheese. It does satisfy that craving for M&C, though. It was warm and creamy and I threw in some Daiya cheddar cheese to give it a little bit of a gooey texture.

My biggest gripe is, much like Mac and Cheese, it doesn’t reheat exceptionally well. It looses that creamy texture. That is sort of a problem for me because there’s only one of lil’ ol’ me. I can’t eat a whole pot of anything by myself! Left overs are what keep me functioning!

 

Overall, I’d give it a 7 out of 10. I would definitely make it again but maybe with a few open-minded friends to help me eat it so I have minimal left overs. As for you, definitely give it a try! It’s a healthy alternative to all that dairy and chemicals and watching the cream sauce come together is almost as fun as watching the cashew cream come together!!

 

Posted in Recipage | 2 Comments »

Butternut Squash-Apple Soup

November 2, 2011 by Erin

Do you know what I slept in last night? Are you ready for this? I’m going to tell you in the order they would have to be put on:

-black tights

-knee high socks

-fleece boot slippers

-legwarmers

-leggings

-flannel PJ bottoms

-tshirt

-long sleeve shirt

-hoodie

-scarf

-fingerless gloves

Ridiculous? Yes. Was I warm and toasty in bed? Yes!

I told you my apartment was cold. I wasn’t joking!!

Because my roommates and I have not turned on the heat yet (its suppose to get up to the 60s at the end of the week and we are waiting to plastic our windows so we aren’t heating the outside), all I can think of is hot things like:

-blankets

-hoodies

-hot showers

-hot tea

-hot coffee

-hot soup

-Ryan Gosling without a shirt on

Hey, Whatever works!

I was actually planning on giving you guys a homemade peanut butter cup recipe today but really, I should have posted that last week so that you were all prepared for the Halloween onslaught of non-vegan candy. If you are anything like me, you’ve shoved your face with seen so much candy the last few days that having more presented to you would simply be over kill. Plus, peanut butter cups are best served cold and I can’t even think of going near my refrigerator.

So here’s more soup. This is approximately my 100th soup recipe since I started this a month ago. I’m probably the worst blogger ever. But its cold outside (or inside, if your me). And our bodies want to hibernate.  And soup is so good for that! Plus, you can pack it in nice to-go containers and bring it to lunch so it saves you time AND warms you up AND its stuffed with good stuff.

Butternut Squash-Apple Soup
courtesy of my friend, Melissa Constantine

makes 3-5 servings

2 bags of frozen butternut squash or 2-3 fresh butternut squash, depending on the size, cut into 1″ cubes (I used frozen)
3 apples (not red delicious), peeled and chopped
1/2 an onion
1 large container of veggie broth
1 stick of vegan butter (I used Earth Balance)
1 tsp of Pumpkin Pie Spice
Brown sugar- optional
Cream (such as the cashew cream I made for the Mushroom Onion Soup)- optional
Sunflower seeds/pecans- optional

Melt the butter slowly, and add the onion. Cook the onion just a bit, then add in apples. Cook for a few minutes over medium heat. Add in butternut squash. It cooks faster, so add it last. Stir. Add broth. Let bubble, stirring every once in while for an hour, or until the squash has completely fallen apart and the apples are easily squashed with a spoon.

Add about a tsp of pumpkin pie spice, then blend with an Immersion blender. Don’t have an Immersion blender? A Regular blender works just as well. Puree until consistently smooth.

Taste it and decide if you would like to add the optional ingredients such as brown sugar, if you want it sweeter, or a few tablespoons of cashew cream, if you want it thicker.

I opted not to add these ingredients. I think the apple made the soup sweet enough and I was planning on having the soup for lunch so wanted it to be on the lighter side, so opted out of the cream. If I was serving this for dinner or wanted an extra kick of protein, I would most likely add the cashew cream.

I did sprinkle with sunflower seeds and pecans, though. I love smooth soups for lunch but I like adding that little bit of crunch. It helps me from feeling like I’m not eating hot baby food.

Lunch for the week. Yeah!

Do you think Ryan Gosling is single? I bet he has his heat on. Or, you know, enough body heat for two…

Posted in Recipes | Tagged , , , | 3 Comments »

It’s the Most Wonderful Time of the Year!

October 31, 2011 by Erin

Happy Monday, Readers. But more importantly,

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

I that song is suppose to be for Christmas but I love Hallween WAY more. It’s sort of a big deal in my world. For the past few years, my roommates and I have thrown a huge party at our place. I start buying decorations weeks in advanced. My costume is usually decided sometime in September. I love it! This year, though, I’ve been juggling 2 jobs, a brand new blog and other hobbies so halloween seemed to come super fast!! I spent the first half of this weekend last minute preparing for our party because I was so unprepared. Then, I spent the rest of the weekend recovering from it! Oi! Good thing we only party that hard once a year.

Needless to say, your Monday treats will not be posted this week. I was so hoping to make you creepy shattered glass vegan cupcakes, which I found in the book A Zombie Ate My Cupcake. I had the ingredients and everything, but alas, I never got a chance to make them. So sad! We will resume our regular scheduling posting as the week progresses though!

Despite the lack of recipe, I wanted to wish everyone a super fun and super safe Halloween!

Love,

The Mad Hatter Erin

Rockin' the Halloween costume to work. What did you dress up as for Halloween??

 

 

Posted in Life | 2 Comments »

Dinner for One

October 27, 2011 by Erin

My apartment has awful lighting, as demonstrated here. Please scroll down for a more appetizing picture of the spinach. Thank you!

Last week was hard. Like, really hard. On Tuesday, I went to see my doctor in serious pain and walked out with a prescription that would make my week an emotional rollercoaster. It made PMS look like a leisurely stroll in the park. One minute I’d be sitting in my cube at work on the verge of sobbing hysterically because, well… just because ,and the next I’d be skipping down the hall, quietly singing Rihanna’s We Found Love. On top of that, a friend and I are on the fritz, my favorite black flats bit the dust and BOTH my jobs got seriously busier (#whitegirlproblems). None of those would be terrible if I wasn’t on that super fun emotional rollercoaster.

Needless to say, by Friday I was physically and emotionally beat up. So I treated myself to a nice dinner.

Er, ok…that’s a lie. I actually treated myself to a brand new blender, a brand new Immersion Blender, a brand new DVD player AND a nice dinner. Lesson 1 kids: Don’t go to Target while you are medicated. Emotional shopping will only lead to regret in the morning. Or in my case…homemade hummus and another big pot of soup (recipes coming soon!)

So, after splurging on appliances (all of which I did need AND were on sale!), I came home and cooked up this nice, warm, filling meal- Sweet Potato and Lentil Stew served over brown basmati rice and a side of steamed spinach with sunflower seeds and craisins.

It. Was. Delicious.

It’s from The Kind Diet by Alicia Silverstone, which I have been reading and love. She writes about all the reasons to go vegan, which include being kind to yourself, the earth and all the animals on it. I won’t get preachy but I was really impressed by her presentation and her positive attitude. Definitely pick it up if you are looking for more info on veganism and are toying with the idea of converting. She has three levels she talks about: Flirt, Vegan and Superhero. There’s definitely something in there for everyone!

Sweet Potato -Lentil Stew

from A Kind Diet by Alice Silverstone

1/4 cup Safflower Oil

1 medium onion, diced

2 small tomatoes, diced

1 tsp minced fresh ginger

1 1/2 tsp turmeric

1 tsp cumin

1 tsp ground coriander

1/2 tsp ground cinnamon

1/8 tsp cayenne

fine sea salt

2-3 medium sweet potatoes, peeled and cut into 3/4″ cubes

7 cups vegetable broth

1 cup brown lentils (I used green because I couldn’t find brown)

“Heat the oil over medium heat in a large, deep pot. Add the onion and cook, stirring frequently, for 2 minutes or until the onion starts to soften. Stir in the tomatoes and ginger and cook for 3 minutes. Stir in the turmeric, cumin, coriander, cinnamon, cayenne and a small pinch of salt. Cook and stir for 2 minutes, then taste for seasonings; try to use only enough salt to heighten the flavors.

Add the sweet potatoes, brother and lentils. Stir well, and bring to a boil over high heat. When the mixture comes to a boil, reduce the heat, cover, and simmer for 40 minutes or until the lentils and sweet potatoes are soft.”

Alicia recommended serving over brown basmati rice or couscous. I went with the basmati rice. It ended up being significantly more soupy than I thought a stew should be (see picture below). Next time, I’ll reduce the broth for a more stew like consistency.

Baby spinach with sunflower seeds and craisins

adapted from Sicilian Collard Greens with Pine Nuts and Raisins in The Kind Diet by Alicia Silverstone

1 bag of baby spinach

2 TBS toasted sunflower seeds (you may buy regular sunflower seeds in the store or be super awesome like me and follow the toasting directions below)

3 garlic cloves, peeled and chopped

1 TBS safflower oil

3 TBS craisins

2 TBS balsamic vinegar

(directly from The Kind Diet) “Rinse the seeds and drain immediately in a fine sieve. Transfer to a hot pan over medium head, and stir constantly as they dry and become golden brown and a little puffed up. They may begin to pop, and some popping is ok, but if the seeds begin to pop right out of the pan, reduce the heat. Remove from the pan when done and sprinkle with a few drops of shoyu (or soy sauce, which I did), stirring to combine.”

Rinse the baby spinach under cool water in a colander. Place the garlic and oil in a large skillet, and saute over medium heat for 1 minute or until the garlic is fragrant. Add the damp spinach and stir, then cover the pan and cook for 2 minutes. Add the craisins and sunflower seeds, and stir. Cover and cook for 2 more minutes. Stir in the balsamic vinegar, cover, and continue to cook for 1 to 2 minutes longer.

Never heard of brown basmati rice? Me neither! In fact, I really dislike rice in general. I blame my mom for passing onto me the inability to cook rice. Mine ALWAYS comes out sticky and/or burnt on the bottom so I don’t bother. Plus, I find brown rice boring. This brown basmati rice was delicious though! Much more flavorful than regular brown rice. Mine still came out sticky but at least it tasted so good I didn’t care!

As for the steamed greens, here’s the deal: A vegan diet can’t be made up of vegan snickerdoodles and pumpkin chocolate chip cookies. You need some nutrients. It’s really important to get all sorts of veggies, beans and grains so you have a balanced diet. Ms. Silverstone talked about greens all the time. In fact, in her books, she tried to convince me to have them for breakfast. yeah…I don’t know about that. Also, I can’t quite commit to collard greens yet. Baby steps. I can tell you though, this spinach/sunflower/craisin/ balsamic vinegar recipe I cooked up from altering her recipe (she wanted raisins. We all know I don’t do raisins!) was a-maz-ing. It was so tasty and you felt so good eating it! I’m a huge fan. I was actually pretty sad when I ran out of spinach a few days later. I definitely have to go buy more! Or maybe I’ll try collard greens this time!

Definitely try this recipe on a cool night and check out The Kind Diet by Alicia Silverstone or her website, Thekindlife.com

Posted in Recipes | 1 Comment »

Snickerdoodle Cookies

October 24, 2011 by Erin

Lets be honest with one another here- sugar cookies are hands down the most boring cookie ever. Yeah, ok…they get trooped out a few times a year when we need to decorate cookies but no one really loves sugar cookies. I don’t know anyone whose ever like, man…I could use a good sugar cookie right now. Because they are boring. They have no pizzazz!

Since cookies were homemade when I was growing up, more often than not, they were chocolate chip or oatmeal raisins (I’d pick the raisins out, obviously). During the holidays, the really good ones came out- mint chocolate chip, chocolate rolos, white chocolate dream cookies,  cookies with Andes mints in the middle, etc. So, why would we ever make sugar cookies when we had these amazing cookies to choose from?!?

The fact is, we didn’t. I called my mom for a sugar cookie recipe last year and she didn’t even have one! When I tried a few online, I felt like Goldilocks with porridge- these are too crunch, these are too cakelike- and I could never find the right one.  I quickly got bored and gave up. Sugar cookies are so not worth the effort.

So it goes without saying that I never made a snickerdoodle cookie. They’re just sugar cookies with cinnamon sugar, right? Well, having exhausted my apple and pumpkin taste buds over the last few weeks (and mildly concerned one of my my co-worker would kill me if I brought one more pumpkin thing into work), I was desperate for a different fall flavor for my Monday treats for work. Since I’ve been shoving my face with this cinnamon honey bread like my life depended on it, obviously my first thought was cinnamon. Hence, me turning to the snickerdoodle cookie. And I must admit, these cookies may be worthy enough to go toe-to-toe with our mint chocolate chip cookies…well, maybe…

Snickerdoodles

veganized version from How Sweet Eats

makes 16-20 cookies

1/2 cup vegan butter, at room temperature ( used Earth Balance)

1 cup sugar

1 Ener-G “egg”

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon

2 tablespoons milk replacer (I used unsweetened soy milk)

1/4 cup sugar + 1 tablespoon cinnamon for dipping

Preheat oven to 375.

Cream vegan butter and sugar with an electric mixer until smooth. Add “egg” and vanilla, mixing well until combine, about 2 minutes. Stir in flour, baking powder, salt, and 1 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon. Mix until dough comes together. Dough will most likely be crumbly at this point. Add in milk 1 TBS at a time until the dough comes together. Refrigerate for 30 minutes.

In a bowl combine remaining sugar and cinnamon. Remove dough from fridge and roll into big 1 1/2 inch balls. Dip in cinnamon sugar mixture and place on baking sheet. Lightly press down on dough to flatten it. Bake at 375 for 10-12 minutes.

These cookies were the perfect texture. A little crunchy around the edges, soft and chewy in the middle. I’m sort of in love with them. And, I may have just had one for breakfast…

Side note: I know I’ve been giving you guys a lot of How Sweet Eats recipes lately. This week I’m going to be getting seriously vegan on your butts though and trying out some recipes from Alicia Silverstone’s Kind Diet, as well as my second favorite blog Healthfulpursuit.com. Stay tuned!

Posted in Recipes | Tagged , , , | 7 Comments »

The Great Bread Dilemma

October 21, 2011 by Erin

I had a little break down in the bread aisle last week. Don’t feel bad for me-It was due to Karma. About 2 years ago, my roommate and really good friend Melinda, told me about a breakdown she had in the bread aisle because she could not find a decent bread without high fructose corn syrup. I laughed at her and rolled my eyes.

I was not laughing last week.

Here’s the scoop: I’ve had it in my head since the beginning of October that I wanted to make apple butter (coming soon!). My thought was, ‘how delicious would apple butter be smothered on toast for breakfast? OH! On cinnamon toast for breakfast.’ After that I couldn’t get the thought out of my head. I simply had to have cinnamon bread with apple butter. So I began my search for cinnamon bread.

Not a simple feat. By the third store and after looking at more bread than I could count, I sort of felt like the teacher from Daria who sort of freaked out and got the one ginormous eye. Yeah…I felt like that. All the bread I was finding either  had A. high fructose corn syrup or other chemicals and/or B. raisins. I wanted my bread to be simple with ingredients that are not overly processed. I didn’t want to start my day by shoveling chemicals down my throat! And HFCS is a chemical. I don’t care that once upon a time it was corn. Its made in a frickin’ lab for Pete’s sake!

'WHY can't I get BREAD without frickin' CHEMICALS or RAISINS' yeah...that was me...

And don’t even get me started on raisins. I HATE them. Know the book Green Eggs and Ham? It’s basically 20 pages of this little kid talking about all the places he hates Green Eggs and Ham. That could be me…but with raisins (“I do not like them here or there, I do not like them anywhere, I do not like any raisins, I do not like them, Sam-I-Am”). I know the book ends with him liking Green Eggs and Ham but that’s not the point…My point is, Raisins suck and finding a cinnamon bread without raisins AND high fructose corn syrup/other chemicals is damn near impossible.

Hence the break down. Melinda, feel free to laugh at me and roll your eyes. I deserve it.

So I decided to just make it. This is an attitude I (and my mom and her friend, Lu) often take with crafts and I take all the time with baked goods, like cakes and cookies, but bread? Bread is a whole nother ball field. I had never made bread before and prior to the beer pretzels I’ve never had much luck with yeast. My frustration overrode practicality, though. Bring on the bread making!!

I was so excited to make my first loaf of bread I literally took a picture at every step...I'll only subject you to a few

Thankfully, I just happen to have a bread machine lying around courtesy of my roommate, Bonnie’s, Grammie. Bread is surprisingly easy when you just dump it in a pan and let the bread maker do the work!

Raisin-less Cinnamon Honey Bread

adapted from Sunbeam’s Bread Recipes

1 1/4 c. water

2 TBS of Earth Balance vegan butter

3 1/4 c. bread flour

1/4 c. honey*

1 1/2 tsp salt

1 tsp cinnamon (I was a bit generous with my cinnamon. It may have been closer to 1 1/2 tsp)

1 packet of yeast

Place the ingredients in the bread boxes in the order they are given (except the yeast). Put all the liquid ingredients in and then all the dry ingredients. Make a well in the flour and place the yeast in the well. The yeast should NOT touch wet ingredients. (the directions told me this at least three times so yeah… don’t let your yeast touch the liquid layer). Snap the bucket in your bread maker. Set your machine for sweet dough and the desired color of your crust.

Voila!

This bread was Ah-Ma-Zing. It was super moist and springy and it tasted delicious as toast with almond butter and apple butter. AND it didn’t have raisins OR funky chemicals. Take that super market bread!

This is totally doable without a bread maker, especially if you have a kitchen aid stand mixer. I have a feeling, based on the research I did for this recipe, that you would follow the exact some procedure, except you would layer all the ingredients in the bowl of your mixer and then start it on low. When the dough is formed, you would let it rise for about an hour, punch it down, dump it out of the bowl, shape it on a greased pan, let rise for another hour or so and then bake it. I’ll try it next time this way and let you know how it works out.

OR! if you try it without a bread maker, let me know how it goes in the comments section!

*I know a lot of vegans do not consider honey to be a vegan product due to the fact that it is technically an animal product. I disagree. I’ll be updating the ‘Life’ page soon with my thoughts on Honey. For now, you can just sub in 1/4 cup of sugar, which is what the original recipe called for. I just didn’t want sugar in my bread. I felt honey was a bit more natural and a lot less processed.

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oh, Hello Cold

October 19, 2011 by Erin

So here’s the thing with being a 20-something at an entry-level job living in a city- you don’t have a ton of money. At least not with a degree in english and art history and a nasty Starbucks habit you can’t kick.

This means that I have to be stingy- I can’t purchase that studded Burberry purse that I’ve been drooling over for over a year. (Ms. Lindsey-I-have-no-job-but-800-outstanding-lawsuits-Lohan gets one though. WHATEVER!) That trip to Disney World so I can go to the halloween night 5 days in a row and wear 5 different costumes ain’t happening. Decorating my kitchen with gadgets from Crate and Barrel will have to wait…until I’m married…and they are purchased for me.

This frugal attitude also extends to my apartment. My very drafty apartment. The roommates and I do our best to keep the heat down low. Which means from mid-October until May my house is cold. Sometimes very cold. Like, sleep-in-multiple-layers-and-gloves cold.  Though no one will come visit us and we walk around in full length sleeping bag/body suit things, it does helps us save money so we aren’t eating only Ramen Noodles (and I can save for a trip to Italy).

Though we avoid the Ramen, soup does helps fight off the chill, which is already starting to creep into the apartment. This mushroom onion soup is definitely going to be in rotation this winter. PLUS, it may give me a legitimate excuse to buy an immersion blender. Yeah! one gadget I don’t have to wait for my wedding day for!

Vegan Cream of Mushroom Soup with Cashew Cream

from JoytheBaker.com

2 TBS olive oil

1 medium yellow onion, chopped

3 garlic cloves, minced

1 pound of cremini mushrooms. cleaned and sliced

1 TBS soy sauce

1 TBS vegan Worcestershire sauce

about 1 tsp course ground black pepper

3 cups vegetable broth

salt to taste

For the Cashew Cream*:

1/2 cup raw cashews

1/2 cup water

*you may substitute the Cashew Cream with 3/4 cup half and half or 8 oz. of silken tofu

Cream from just cashews and water. How cool is that?!

In a large pot, heat olive oil over medium heat.  Add onions to hot oil and saute until translucent and slightly browned, about 5 minutes.  Add garlic, stir, and cook for 1 minute more.  Add the mushrooms, soy sauce and Worcestershire sauce and cook until mushrooms are cooked and broken down, about 5 minutes.  Stir occasionally.  Add cracked pepper and  vegetable stock and cook at a simmer until mushrooms are completely soft.  This took me about 10 to 15 minutes.

While the soup simmers, prepare the cashew cream.  In a blender, combine raw cashews and water.  Blend on high until smooth.  Pour into a measuring cup and set aside.  Don’t worry about washing the blender… we’re going to use it to blend the soup.

When mushrooms are cooked through, add about one third of the soup to the blender.  Hot soup rises high in the blender so definitely be careful how high you fill the blender.  Blend soup on low, increasing the speed to high, until no large mushroom chunks remain.  Pour blended soup into a clean pot or large bowl.  Blend the remaining soup in batches.  *If using silken tofu instead of cashew cream.  Blend the silken tofu in with the mushrooms and broth.

Add the cashew cream to the blended soup and stir to incorporate.

Place a fine mesh strainer over the pot that you cooked the soup in.  In batches, pour the blended soup into the fine mesh strainer and work the soup through the strainer with a rubber spatula.  Don’t use a wooden spoon… you could get splinters in your soup… seriously.  Heat and serve the strained soup.  Or place in a freezer safe container for a few weeks down the road.

This recipe was delicious! And how cool is the cashew cream thing?! Cashew’s have such a subtle taste to them that it didn’t overwhelm the onion and mushroom taste. Also, I didn’t bother straining it. The blender did a good enough job and, honestly, I don’t have a strainer that fine. If you don’t have a blender or aren’t into soup that sort of resembles baby food, that’s cool. I tried a bite of the soup before it went into the blender, with just the onions, mushrooms and broth all cooked together, and it was amazing! It was sort of a different twist on a french onion soup.

So, technically, this soup recipe could actually be considered two soup recipes- a vegan cream of mushroom AND a French Onion Mushroom soup, depending on how you prepare it. Don’t you just love this blog =)

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The Chewy Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies that Weren’t

October 17, 2011 by Erin

 

Ever have one of those mornings were its chilly outside but nice and warm in your bed; your pillows are perfectly squished and arranged for optimum comfort; your comforter is feeling especially fluffy and cuddly; and overall, you are just too stickin’ comfortable to think of getting out of bed??

Today was one of those mornings. I would have sacrificed a small, annoying child to be able to stay in bed all day.

Unfortunately, I don’t know any small, annoying children. Also,  I had 2.5 dozen of these cookies in my kitchen and if I did not bring them to work this morning, I would get up later in the morning just long enough to bring at least one bag of these back into bed with me where I would curl up and eat them all.

And I could not have that! So, here I am…

This is another Howsweeteats.com recipe. She posted it last week and I was intrigued by the idea of a flat, chewy pumpkin cookie as opposed to the soft cake-like version I had made last year.  Well, mine were not flat or chewy. My cookies were definitely more cake-like.

Howsweeteats.com

wickedvegan.com

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
When we look at the side-by-side comparison here that I have conveniently provided for you, we can clearly see mine are way too soft and pillowy (much like my pillows were this morning *Sigh*).  I suspect the egg substitute had something to do with that. Maybe next time, I’ll try replacing the eggs with applesauce instead and see if that works. They still tasted amazing, though!
 

Chewy Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies made with Pumpkin Butter

[adapted from the howsweeteats.com]

makes about 24-30 cookies

1 1/2 sticks (12 tablespoons) vegan butter, melted and cooled (I used Earth Balance)

1 cup packed brown sugar

1/2 cup granulated sugar

1 egg replacer + 1 egg yolk replacer (conversions are on the Ener-G egg replacer box)

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

1/2 cup pumpkin butter

2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

3 tablespoons cornstarch

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 tablespoon pumpkin pie spice

1 1/4 cups vegan chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 325 degrees F.

Mix the flour, salt, cornstarch, pumpkin pie spice and baking soda in a bowl and set aside. In another bowl, mix the melted vegan butter and sugars until they are combined. Add the egg replacer, egg yolk replacer, and vanilla and stir until mixed. Stir in pumpkin butter until smooth. Gradually add flour mixture and mix until a dough forms – it will look crumbly at first, but it will come together. I even used my hands to help at one point. Fold chocolate chips and chunks.

Refrigerate dough for 30 minutes, then roll into golfball-sized balls. Bake for 12-15 minutes, or until cookies are crisp and slightly golden on the edges, then let cool completely.

So, these cookies are definitely delicious (my roomies were raving about them!) but I have to be honest- Pumpkin Butter was about $7 for 3/4 of a cup. Not terrible if you are making one batch of these. If you are crazy though, and decide to tackle 2.5 batches of these on a Sunday night, I would suggest going the pumpkin puree route.  It’s cheaper and the pumpkin butter didn’t make a huge difference when you make the cookies vegan.

On a more exciting and completely different note, look what I found in Whole Foods.  Sticks of Earth Balance! I’m so excited!! No more measuring TBS of Earth Balance out of the tubs!!! It’s the little things in life…

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