Mochi and Yogurt...not together, though.

So my post today isn't really about anything I created or made, but these were some good treats, nonetheless!
First, a product review: So Delicious Coconut Milk yogurt! I know several people have blogged about this stuff already, so I may just be reiterating what they have already said. Anyway, I love this stuff! As far as vegan yogurts go, I still like the So Delicious soy yogurt better in terms of texture and creaminess, but this coconut version has a wonderful flavor and is surprisingly light and refreshing. I also like the nutritional aspect, as it is made with very few ingredients and has the great fatty acids that coconut provides. And it's soy-free if you are sensitive AND it has probiotics! yay! I would eat this everyday if it weren't so pricey :)
Out of the few flavors I have tried, I like this plain (which I guess would be coconut then...) and the Passionate Mango flavors. If you have a place near you that sells these, give them a try!
Another new-to-me treat that I tried last night was this Mochi that Steve brought me back from his trip to Colorado last week! I have had mochi once before, a few years ago, but this particular brand is different than what I have previously eaten. This is Harvest Moon brand, made and sold in Boulder, CO, so it was a local product when he was visiting there! He picked up two different varieties: the one we tried last night was the Sesame and he also got a cinnamon raisin, which will get eaten soon, I'm sure!
Here it is in the package, pre-baked (the label was foil, so it would NOT photograph well! ah!!)

And here it is all baked and puffed up. The directions say to cut it into strips so it would puff up properly, so I sliced it into french fry-like shapes, and it worked great!

I served them with some almond butter for our dipping pleasure...yuuuuuum city, u.s.a, population: me!!

I will tell you how the cinnamon raisin variety is soon! I'm sure it won't disappoint...

Carrot Cake Cupcakes

I swear, I will never get sick of all this wonderful local summer produce! This week, I picked up some local organic carrots at the market...and they were so freakin good, I knew exactly what to do with them: carrot cake cupcakes! I used the recipe from Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World, but I added about 1/2 cup of chopped crystallized ginger to the batter with the raisins and walnuts. These were so tasty! Perfectly moist and full of carrot-y goodness! And of course, they were even more awesome with cream cheeze icing and a lovely toasted walnut half on top!
If you can get your hands on some nice local carrots, give these a try! (oh, p.s. sorry about the blurry crappy picture! my apt has awful lighting...i'm workin' on it)

Vegan Carrot Cake Cupcakes (makes 12)

(the ingredients with a * are my additions to the recipe)

2/3 c whole wheat pastry flour

3/4 tsp baking soda

1/4 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp salt

1/4 tsp ground cinnamon

1/4 tsp ground ginger

*pinch of nutmeg

2/3 cup turbinado sugar

1/3 cup vegetable oil

1/3 cup plaiin soy yogurt

1 tsp vanilla extract

1 cup finely grated carrots

1/4 cup chopped walnuts

1/4 cup raisins

*1/4 cup chopped crystallized ginger

Preheat oven to 350 F. Line muffin tin with 12 cupcake liners.

In a mixing bowl, combine the sugar, oil, yogurt, and vanilla. Sift in the dry ingredients and mix well. Fold in the walnuts, raisins, and ginger pieces.

Spray the liners with non-stick spray. Fill each liner with batter to 2/3 full. Bake for 26 to 28 minutes, until toothpick comes out clean.

Cool completely and frost with Cream Cheese Frosting. Then stuff your face.

Cream Cheese Frosting

1/4 cup non-hydrogenated margarine (ok, Earth Balance. let's be honest.)

1/4 cup vegan cream cheese

2 cups powdered sugar

1 tsp vanilla

Cream together the softened margarine and cream cheese until smooth and fully combined. Sift in the powdered sugar, 1/2 cup at a time and whip until fluffy and creamy. Stir in the vanilla and whip for a few more minutes. Smear onto fully cooled cupcakes and place toasted walnuts on top to make them all pretty like.

**Adapted from Isa and Terry's Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World**

Muhammara

Like I have said before, I love dips. I think it's such a shame that many vegans seem to be confined to plain old hummus (not that it's not incredible!!) when it comes to creating an amazing mezze platter! So, when I first tried muhammara at a Middle Eastern restaurant in Kansas City, I was hooked! Then, the most recent issue of Vegetarian Times had a recipe for it in their "easy entertaining" section! yay!

Luckily, summer has blessed me with lots of red bell peppers and our local Middle Eastern foods store had a great selection of pomegranate molasses...so this recipe was really a breeze! Try it next time you want to have a mezze platter for dinner with friends or just a good dip for snacking!

Muhammara (makes 2 cups or so)

2 cups walnuts

3 large red bell peppers

4 Tbs olive oil

4 cloves garlic

2 tsp salt

2 Tbs pomegranate molasses

**pinch each of cumin and crushed red pepper (my addition!)

Preheat oven to 375 F. Spread walnuts on baking sheet and toast until light brown and you can smell them...about 10 minutes. Place peppers on greased baking seperate baking sheet and bake at the same time as the walnuts, for about an hour, until the skins are blackened and super soft. (The recipe calls for you to peel the peppers after you bake them, but I left the skins on, cuz that's how I like it, and it was still rockin'). Saute the garlic in 2 Tbs of the olive oil for about a minute until fragrant and caramelized. Puree all of the ingredients in food processor until smooth and creamy, then season with salt and pepper to taste. **I served mine with veggies and toasted pita bread and it was awesome! It also tastes good with a little Sriracha sauce...if you like it hot :)

Recipe from July/August 2008 issue of Vegetarian Times

Jerk Seitan and Tofu Crab Cakes

This week has been waaaaaay less busy than last week, so I have actually had the time and energy to cook! Real meals, too, not my typical sandwich or salad! I was pretty proud :) I was feeling pretty creative and I had a lot of resources with all of the great summer produce about, so here are a couple dishes that I made this week (oh, and Steve enjoyed them too!)...

Tofu "Crab" Cakes

I took this idea from when I went with my mom to the Chicago Diner a few months ago, and it seriously turned out to be one of the best things I have ever made. seriously. I just kind of made up the recipe as I went, so the measurements may not be exact, but you can play around with amounts and make things to your taste....but if they turn out how I made them, they should be tasty, plump little cakes of yum with crispy outsides and soft insides and taste like heaven. So go for that when you are making them! I also made a vegan tartar sauce to dip them in, and I served them with some brown rice and a nice summer-y vegetable salad. My new favorite I think.

Tofu "Crab" Cakes (makes enough for about 6 or so people)
1 lb. tofu
3 cups bread crumbs
zest and juice of one lemon
2 stalks celery, finely minced
1 red bell pepper, finely minced
1 small yellow onion, finely minced
3 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 cup parsley, chopped
1/4 cup pickle relish
1/2 cup hijiki, soaked in warm water for 20 min. and drained
1 tsp salt
1 tsp pepper
1 tsp paprika
2 Tbs Old Bay seasoning
2 tsp canola oil
1/2 cup Vegenaise...or more if you are me :)
2 Tbs dijon mustard
1 tsp hot sauce (I use Frank's)

Preheat oven to 350 F. Lightly oil a cookie sheet and set aside.
In a large bowl, mash the tofu until all crumbled up. Add in the Vegenaise, mustard, seasonings, and breadcrumbs, then use your hands to blend everything together. Then add in all the veggies and the oil and mash everything together until completely combined and homogeneous.
Divide into 12 or so uniformly-sized balls and space evenly apart on greased cookie sheet. Lightly flatten the tops of each ball with the palm of your hand. Place in oven and bake for 20 minutes. Remove from oven, flip each patty, and bake for 15 more minutes, until golden and crispy on the outside and the patties can stay together when moved. Serve with tartar sauce and make the world jealous that you are a vegan master!

**Vegan Tartar Sauce**
1 cup Vegenaise
1 Tbs lemon juice
1/3 cup pickle relish
pinch of salt and pepper

Mix all ingredients in a bowl and chill for 15 to 20 minutes before serving with your kick-ass faux crab cakes!

Jamaican Jerk Seitan

I made this dish because I was feeling something spicy and I had some seitan in my fridge that I needed to use up. I had also not really ever tried to make jerk before and I had always wanted to, so I guess this was a logical choice for dinner! It is pretty spicy and has just the perfect hint of sweetness to cool it off. This is just the recipe for the seitan itself, but I served it over some rice that I cooked with some coconut milk, then put it with a stir-fry of onions, carrots, broccoli, greens, steamed sweet potatoes, tomatoes, and peppers. For a pretty garnish, top it with some fruit salsa...it's sooooo good!

Jamican Jerk Seitan
(adapted from the Jamican Jerk Tempeh recipe at http://ivu.org/recipes/latinam/jamaican-jerk.html)
3 large cloves garlic, minced
1/4 cup minced fresh ginger
1/4 cup thinly sliced scallions
1/2 small habanero chili, seeded and minced
1 1/2 tsp salt
1 1/2 tsp allspice
1 1/2 tsp thyme
1/4 tsp freshly ground pepper
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp ground nutmeg
2 tbsp olive oil
1 tbs lemon juice
3/4 cup lime juice (can substitute apple juice, pineapple juice, etc.)
2 tbsp maple syrup
1 lb. seitan, thinly sliced

Preheat oven to 350 F. Put all of the ingredients, except the seitan, into a blender and blend until smooth. Pour over sliced seitan in a glass casserole dish and cover with foil. Bake for about 45 minutes, until sauce has reduced and it all starts smelling really good :)
Remove from oven and serve over rice, sweet potatoes, veggies, etc.


ah! I'm sooooo glad I decided that I like cooking again!

Baba Ghanouj

Because summer in mid-Missouri is hot and wet and awesome, we get some killer produce in at our Columbia Farmer's Market...how lucky could I be?!
Last week, I got a butt-load of veggies from the market (yay) and my bounty included a couple beautiful EGGPLANT! (double yay) I only wish I had pictured these babies before turning them into something delish :( oh well, onto the yum....

I often crave creamy dips, such as hummus, like a freakin preganant woman or something, so I knew that using my new eggplant for a smooth, rich baba ghanouj! I just kind of winged the recipe, and made it to my liking, but you can make adjustments if you have a different palate.

Baba Ghanouj

(makes 2 cups)

2 small to medium fresh eggplant, sliced into rounds

2 Tablespoons plus 1 tsp olive oil

1/2 cup tahini

4-6 cloves of garlic

2 T lemon juice

1 tsp cumin

1/4 tsp salt

1/4 tsp pepper

1/4 tsp paprika, or cayenne if you like it hotter

1. Heat oven to 350 F. Toss eggplant rounds in 1 tsp olive oil and spread in single layer on a cookie sheet. Bake for 30 to 45 minutes, until browned and soft and gooey. mmmm

2. After eggplant has cooled so you can handle it, place it along with all the other ingredients in your food processor.

3. Blend until smooth, but leave some chunks, cuz chunks are good. seriously. But if you like it super-smooth and creamy, you dirty thing, blend it longer...it will still be goooood!

I dipped mine in veggies and pita bread and for dinner, but you can stuff it in wraps, sandwiches, or eat it out of the bowl with your fingers, cuz there's no shame in that either :)

oh, p.s. no farmers, no food! support your local agriculture, please and thank you!

My Sweet Vegan!!

I had told myself last week that I was going to do a better job of keeping up with posting...but I guess that was a lie! I worked like a mad woman everyday this week and ate most of my meals at work! I barely had enough time for sleep, so I didn't put blogging as my top priority. sorry.
But, I did have a wee bit of time to bake...duh...so here's what my cray-cray week consisted of, besides cooking ALL DAY at work:

My biggest news this week is that I finally received my copy of the one, the only My Sweet Vegan by the young miss Hannah Kaminsky in the mail!!! I read it immediately, cover-to-cover. It was fantastic! I admire her talent sooooo much...so I HAD to make something from it that day! of course.I chose my first recipe to be the Almond Avalanche Bars. omigod!!

It may be hard for common folk to believe that a treat like this can be sooooo dang delicious and vegan and gluten-free and soy-free and incredibly tasty and even full of protein and fiber...wow, that's a lot of ands...but these things are freakin gooooooood! Luckily, people like us know the truth: our healthy, vegan, "hippie" desserts most often ARE BETTER in general than your run-of-the-mill baked good. period! Anyhoo...I slightly modified the recipe by adding 1/2 cup of dried cherries in with the chocolate chips, and the tanginess and chewiness of the dried fruit was perfect with the rest of the bar's richness and sweetness--I highly recommend this recipe, with or without cherries!

Last week, I decided to take a cue from the summer season and make a batch of strawberry shortcakes!!! It sounded so refreshing and summer-y and tasty, that it was a no-brainer when I was in the mood to bake!

I used the Strawberry Shortcake recipe (including the shortcakes themselves, the whipped "cream," and the strawberry goodness parts) from Bryanna's Vegan Feast Kitchen...it's on her website, so you should do this:

1. go to your farmer's market and buy some fresh strawberries

2. go to Bryanna's website and get this freakin recipe, quick!

3. make these Strawberry Shortcakes

4. eat these Strawberry Shortcakes while watching old episodes of the old Strawberry Shortcake cartoon

5. smile. a lot. :)

later!

Sandwiches! And apologies...and more...

I can't believe I have allowed almost an entire MONTH to go by without posting! I am so sorry...not that what I eat or make is super interesting, but I feel responsible to post about as much as possible! I hope you all can forgive me :)

So, because of the oppressive heat lately and my lack of a/c...I know, I have complained about this before!...I have been making a lot of sandwiches. quick, easy, cold. oh, yeah, and sandwiches of any kind are pretty much my favorite kind of meal!!
Here's a few I've enjoyed lately:

Smoked Tofu Club: (also kind of a product review...)
This is the Smoked Tofu from Tree of Life...it is so great! Really firm texture, lots of flavor, and really satifsfying on a sandwich for some protein!
I made a sort of southwest-y club sandwich with the smoked tofu on some whole wheat bread: red onion, tomato, roasted red peppers, avocado, lettuce, and chipotle-spiced Vegenaise (which makes everything good!) This was awesome! I made the same thing a few days later in a wrap, and it was even better...but didn't photograph too well.

Since seitan and I are BFF's, yesterday I made an awesome seitan "chicken" salad for another easy meal go-to...

I would eat in in a bowl...

I would eat it on some bread...

I would eat it til I was dead! yeah, I'm bad at jokes and stuff....but at least I can cook :)
we can't have it all.

Seitan "Chicken" Salad (makes...enough.)
2 cups chopped seitan
1 clove garlic, minced
1/2 cup chopped red onion
1 celery stalk, diced
1 cup red grapes, sliced in halves
1/2 cup chopped fresh parsley
1/4 cup chopped toasted almonds
1 T lemon juice
1 tsp Bragg's or tamari
1/4 cup (or more!!!) of Vegenaise
2 T dijon mustard
salt 'n' peppa to taste

Chop up everything. Mix all the 'ish up in a bowl and chow down. You will love it!

Then, a sandwich cousin....sushi!

A few weeks ago, some friends and I had a sushi-making partay!
I think making some delish vegan sushi together is a great way to bring friends closer, have some fun, and eat healthy foods! What more could you want?
Here's one of the rolls I made: rice, spicy ginger tempeh from Veganomicon, shredded carrots, golden beets, cucumber, avocado, bok choy, sunflower seeds, and miso! yay! and, of course, some wasabi and sriracha to finish it off!

I made these a few weeks ago, but have neglected to write about
them...what a shame, too! These are Strawberry-Almond Blondies, based on the raspberry-chocolate chip blondie recipe from Vegan with a Vengeance. These were less gooey and rich as their chocolate-filled ancestors, but the strawberry was very sweet and refreshing, and the toasted almonds added a nice crunchy texture and the flavor paired well with the vanilla in the blondie batter. I highly recommend trying these out...if it's not too hot to bake in your kitchen!

Strawberry-Almond Blondies (makes 12)

2 cups frozen strawberries, thawed and sliced in halves

2 T tapioca starch

1/4 cup cold water
1/4 cup turbinado sugar

3 3/4 cup whole wheat pastry flour
1 1/4 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp sea salt
6 oz vanilla or plain soygurt
1/4 cup "milk" of your choice
1/2 cup plus 2 T canola oil
2 cups sugar
1 T vanilla extract
1 tsp almond extract
1 cup toasted almonds

Preheat oven to 350F, greats a 9x13 baking pan.
Combine strawberries, tapioca, water, and 1/4 cup sugar in saucepan, then bring to boil. Lower heat and let thicken for about 5 minutes.
Sift together dry ingredients in a large bowl. In a seperate bowl, whisk together the wet ingredients, then combine the dry ingredients into the wet and mix well.
Set aside 1 cup of dough, and spread the rest into the pan.
Spread the strawberry layer over the top. Sprinkle 1/2 the almonds over the top. Drop the reserved dough over the top to cover most of the blondies. Sprinkle the rest of the almonds evenly over the top, then bake for 35 minutes...and eat. all. of. them.
***Adapted from Isa's Vegan with a Vengeance***



And, finally, to coooooool off: Ice Cream Sandwiches!!! These were for a Fourth of July BBQ...
I took the Chocolate Chip Cookie recipe from The Joy of Vegan Baking and filled them with the incredible Vanilla ice cream from Soy Dream. This is a classic summer-y dessert

Eat me! Love me!