A Brunch-y Ode to Winter

I love brunch. And I love winter and wintertime treats. This brunch was a beautiful marriage of these loves of mine!! I served it a few weeks ago at my Saturday supper club, and the crowd was oh so pleased!

Pumpkin Bread French Toast with Candied Pecans and Cinnamon-Infused Maple Syrup.
Apple-Sage Seitan Sausages.And doughnuts!!! Served fresh and warm with some delicious coffee, and you are having a great day for sure!

Homemade Jelly Doughnuts filled with Blackberry Jam, topped with a Vanilla Glaze and Homemade Granola!!!!! Deep-fried, comfort food heaven.Ooey Gooey. I never thought I would ever have a jelly doughnut again after going vegan. I'm so glad I was wrong!!

Almond-Quinoa Granola!

Seriously this is the best granola EVER. I was playing around with some ingredients and measurements, and out from the oven came this fragrant, warm, crunchy mix of perfection! Quinoa-Almond Granola (makes about 2 qts, which is A TON of granola.)
2 lbs rolled oats
12 oz. sliced almonds
8 oz. sunflower seeds
8 oz. uncooked quinoa
2 Tbs cinnamon
1 tsp nutmeg
2 tsp sea salt
2 Tbs agave
1/2 cup brown rice syrup
1/2 cup coconut oil
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 tsp almond extract
2 tsp canola oil

Preheat oven to 350 F. Grease 2 sheet pans with canola oil, 1 tsp each. In a large bowl, combine the oats, almonds, sunflower seeds, quinoa, cinnamon, nutmeg and salt. Stir until well mixed. Add in the agave, brown rice syrup, coconut oil, and extracts. Coat dry ingredients with wet ingredients. Spread evenly onto prepared sheet pans, 1/2 of mixture onto each pan. Bake for 45 minutes, until lightly browned on the edges. Remove from oven and let sit for at least 1 hour to cool before storing in air-tight containers. Serve with almond milk, soy yogurt, or even by itself!

Sunny Millet Granola

With the rising cost of food these days, it just makes sense to go more DIY! From making your own seitan, baking your own bread, and even making your own soymilk, it seems like everybody is making an effort to make more foods themselves, which benefits the environment, your health, AND your wallet! So, I decided to make a weekly post about something completely homemade, DIY style!! I want to encourage everybody to try this out, and hopefully it will be contagious!

For this week's DIY dish, I made this Sunny Millet Granola! I just played around with some ingredients I thought went well together, and it turned out great! I highly recommend this drizzled with plenty of hemp milk, or sprinkled on top of some vanilla soy yogurt with fresh fruit!!

Step 1: Toast the seeds and nutsStep 2: Bake the granola

Step 3: Add the raisins and enjoy!

Sunny Millet Granola (makes approx. 5 lbs)
3 lbs old-fashioned rolled oats
1 lb uncooked millet
2 cups sunflower seeds
1 cup sliced almonds
2 cups flame or golden raisins
1 cup applesauce
1/2 cup molasses or agave nectar
2 Tbs cinnamon
1 Tbs nutmeg
1 tsp sea salt

Preheat oven to 375 F. Spread sunflower seeds and almonds in a single layer on a sheet pan. Toast in the oven for about 10 minutes, until lightly browned and you can smell the nuts. Set aside to cool.
While the nuts cool, mix together the oats, millet, applesauce, molasses, cinnamon, nutmeg, and salt. Add in the cooled nuts, and stir well to coat all the ingredients with the molasses and applesauce. Pour the mixture into two baking dishes, distributed evenly, and bake for 40 minutes, stirring halfway through. Remove from the oven and allow to cool completely. Stir in the raisins. Transfer granola to an airtight container. This will keep for several weeks if well-sealed!

Now go get cooking!!

The First Day of School...My Last One!

So everyone be really excited and happy for me because today was my last first day of school ever! I will be graduating in May, with a degree in dietetics, so no more class for me after that! At least not for a long time...

To celebrate this momentous occasion (kind of.) I thought I needed to start the day with a good breakfast! What better place than Columbia's best local bakery, Uprise Bakery! They make a fantastic granola there, and they offer soy milk, so this was perfect. Their Almond Crunch Granola has a really nutty and sweet flavor, but is not too sugary to overpower the wonderful flavors of the almonds and sesame seeds. The perfect combination of salty and sweet, with a lovely hint of vanilla! One of my new favorites!A lovely bowl of Uprise's Almond Crunch Granola with Soymilk

And for a great way to end the day, another tester recipe from Bianca at Vegan Crunk for her upcoming cookbook! Yes! Tonight's Southern treat was Country-Fried Tempeh Steak with "Milk" Gravy. That just sounds too good...AND it tastes that way! This recipe is really true to its country-fried cousin with its triple-breading and salty, savory flavor. Oh, yeah, did I mention gravy? Maybe I forgot to mention this awesome gravy! I love a nice, peppery gravy for a little creamy texture on top of my crunchy. This did the trick! You all are going to love this freakin cookbook if you like down-home cooking at all!! Tester Country-Fried Tempeh Steak with "Milk" Gravy,

served with Homemade Sweet Yeast Rolls and Collard Greens!

Tasty TVP Loaf and Homemade Granola

I have been cooking more and more lately (I am actually waiting to take cupcakes out of the oven right now!), but I haven't been doing a good job of keeping up with my blogging because school is so crazy right now....so here is a catch-up of the past week or so: Homemade Granola with coconut, dried pineapple, raisins, and sunflower seeds!

Kung Pao Seitan, from the Whole Foods Cookbook, with Steamed Brown Rice

I also whipped up a faux "meat"loaf the other night, which we have had as leftovers a few times. I didn't go off of any recipe, so I was kinda just throwing stuff in there....and it turned out amazing! Some of the ingredients included: TVP, brown rice, breadcrumbs, carrots, celery, local bell peppers, onion, garlic, sage, thyme, tomato paste, olive oil, tamari, parsley. There's more, I'm sure. Anyway, I spread some organic ketchup on top before baking for that mom-made feel.

Crazy TVP Loaf with Rosemary-Mashed Sweet Potatoes, Sauteed Chard

Crazy TVP Loaf, Garlic-Mashed Potatoes, Leek and Local Zucchini Saute

Has anyone else already planned their Thanksgiving dinners? I have been thinking about mine for a long while now...too long, probably...so here's a few hints:

--Tofurkey, cuz I'm kind of lazy

--roasted sweet potatoes

--my homemade apple butter on something

--brussel sprouts

--a pie and a cheezecake

--probably lots more!!

What are you thinking of cooking up for Save-the-Turkeys Day??