Breakfast is the Bestest!

Well it's been a while since I posted...I've had a cold for a few days, but I'm feeling much better now and ready for blogging!

This past weekend was another edition of the KC Vegan Crawl. At my underground restaurant, which I am now doing on Saturdays btw, I served breakfast....because it's the best meal EVER!
One of my favorite breakfast meals is Breakfast Burritos, so that's what I served! These burritos were big and delicious and perfect for a chilly Saturday afternoon! They were whole wheat tortillas stuffed with scrambled local tofu, homemade seitan sausage, shredded Follow Your Heart vegan cheddar, and organic spinach!! So goooood! I also made some Homemade Salsa to go with them. On the side, I served Garlic-Roasted Local Potatoes, which rocked! It's just not breakfast without potatoes. Am I right or am I right?!And, since it's just not a meal without dessert.....DOUGHNUTS!!! Maple-Glazed Sweet Potato Doughnuts, to be exact! These were my first ever homemade fried doughnuts! I have made baked ones before, but there's just something soooo satisfying about a hot, fresh fried treat. mmmmmmm.
I used a modified version of one of my grandma's recipes for Glazed Potato Doughnuts, and they turned out perfectly! I just have to share a recipe, because people ate them up faster than I could make them in my little Fry Daddy! So great! These have been veganized and kinda healthified for your pleasure....make these asap! You don't necessarily need a deep fryer; you can use a large pan or wok for the frying. Go! Vegan Maple-Glazed Sweet Potato Doughnuts
1 pkg active dry yeast
1 cup warm water
1 cup soymilk, scalded
1/4 cup non-hydrogenated vegetable shortening
1/4 cup vegan sugar
1 tsp sea salt
3/4 cup mashed sweet potatoes (I used local sweet potatoes, and they were perfect)
2 Tbs flaxseeds, ground and whisked together with 1/4 cup water
4 cups all-purpose flour
2 cups whole wheat pastry flour

1 lb powdered sugar
6 Tbs water
1 tsp maple extract
1 Tbs vanilla extract

Dissolve the yeast in the warm water. Set aside until the yeast forms a foamy layer on top of the water. In a large bowl, combine the scalded soymilk, shortening, sugar, and salt. Whisk together, and then set aside to cool until lukewarm. Stir in the proofed yeast, mashed sweet potatoes, and flaxseed mixture. Mix until just combined. Sift in the flours, 1 cup at a time, until a soft dough forms. Turn dough out onto a floured surface and then knead until you have a smooth, satiny dough. Place dough in a lightly greased bowl and turn over the ball so the top is lightly greased; this will prevent the dough from drying out. Cover with a clean cloth and let rise for 1-2 hours, until doubled in size.
Turn dough out onto a floured surface and roll to 1/2" thickness. Using a 3" doughnut cutter, or biscuit cutter and a mini round cookie cutter, cut out your doughnuts until no more dough remains. This should produce about 3 dozen doughnuts and doughnut holes. Place cut doughnuts on lightly greased cookie sheets. Cover and let rise for another hour to double in size.
While these are rising, whisk together the powdered sugar, water, and extracts to make the glaze; whisk well until no clumps remain. Set aside.
Heat oil in deep fryer or large pot, to 375 F. Fry each doughnut for 1 minute per side, until lightly browned and puffed. Drain on paper towels or newspaper. Drop hot doughnuts into glaze, then set on cooling rack until glaze has set.
Serve warm with coffee or hot cider for an out of sight wintertime experience!!!! Yields: 3 dozen doughnuts/holes.

Now quit reading and go make some doughnuts!

Super Sustainability Sunday

Yesterday's Sustainability Sunday, aka the KC Vegan Crawl, was so great! Tons of people came out for tons of great food!
It was even more super special because I busted out the Fry Daddy! yessssss!

For lunch, I served Homemade Black Bean Burgers topped with braised chard and garlic, caramelized onions, and homemade chipotle vegan mayo, all piled onto a homemade Cornbread Burger Bun, courtesy of Melisser from The Urban Housewife blog!! I served them with Sweet Potato Fries...that were actually fried! yeah! The chard, onions, corn in the burgers, and sweet potatoes were all locally-grown, too! Even better!I got some of those adorable little red diner baskets during my trip to Denver, at a thrift store, so I served the burgers and fries in those! How cute, right?!

Dessert was Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cupcakes from Isa and Terry's Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World! I had leftover homemade local pumpkin puree from Thanksgiving's pumpkin pie, so this was an obvious and amazing use for it! I used my own Cinnamon Buttercream recipe for the frosting, and this turned out to be one freakin amazing little cupcake!

Then last night was Dane's turn to whip up some more vegan goodness!
There was a great turnout, so tons of people got to share in the yumminess!

For dinner, Dane served a Rice, Bean, and Veggie Burrito topped with Sweet Potato Butter and Sauteed Local Bok Choy. On the side were Rosemary Roasted Potatoes and Ginger-Brown Sugar Baked Local Radishes. So much good fooooood!

Dessert was Ice Cream Cookie Sandwiches--with Strawberry-Sunflower Seed-Oat Cookies and Homemade Vanilla Vegan Ice Cream. There was also a Vegan White Cake for a birthday cake!There were a couple of peeps' birthdays this week, so we celebrated them all together with some tasty vegan cake!Now for some random pics of people having good food and fun at Sustainability Sundays! Dane, cooking it up in his kitchen...It also happened to be a moustache party as well, so those of us who didn't already have a natural moustache drew one on...like the lovely Chelsea here!
More food and good times to come next Sunday for sure! KC Vegan Crawl baby! It's gettin out of control big!! yay!

Seitan Chik'n and Dumplins and Some Other Good Stuff!

I finally got around to making the next tester recipe for Bianca's Cookin' Crunk cookbook, which was the Seitan Chik'n and Dumplins! I had to wait til I went to the store to buy some more gluten, and I am so glad I did! This dish is absolutely perfect! It has all the elements of a great meal: comforting and warm, chewy dumplings, creamy base, tender vegetables, hearty seitan. Steven and I both thought this was a winner for sure, and it was even better the next day as leftovers! Score!

A few other random things I have put off posting, but should be mentioned:

The Garden Burrito from Main Squeeze here in Columbia (my place of work!)....

Whole wheat tortilla, brown rice, refried beans, avocado, lettuce, beets, carrots, sprouts, homemade organic salsa. Seems like a strange combination with the burrito stuff and the veggie stuff, but it totally works and is one of my favorite menu items! This burrito always leaves you full from all the fiber and protein, yet refreshed from the crunchy cool veggies. Perfection.

Breakfast at Ingredient, a new restaurant here in Columbia. The original location is in Lawrence, Kansas, so this isn't really a chain, just a second location of a local KS eatery. And they have breakfast, which is the best meal of the day...yay!

I had the Breakfast Burrito (always my favorite), and you get to choose your fillings, so mine had tofu, vegan mozzarella, housemade pico de gallo, and roasted red peppers in a spinach tortilla, served with a side of "skillet potatoes." This was pretty good...the potatoes were really paprika-y and delicious, and the burrito was not amazing, but tasty overall. I was a little skimped on the tofu, but I don't think they had made it that way before or something. Who knows. Either way, I would eat it again!
Steven had their Steel Cut Oatmeal Bowl (which was ENORMOUS!!). You get to choose your oatmeal fixings, so he picked fresh blueberries and bananas, toasted pecans, and brown sugar. It was really good!! Steel cut oats kick rolled oats' butt, btw. There is something special about the blueberry-banana combination that I don't understand, but it is just delicious.


On to my new discovery: Dark Chocolate Peanut Butter from Target's Archer Farms brand!!! I suppose you could call this the generic version of the PB&Co. Dark Chocolate Dreams peanut butter, but there is nothing generic-tasting about this treat! It is so creamy and fudgy, and really tastes like a vegan version of Nutella, so I was in heaven when I had my first taste. It goes really well on toast (especially the local Kansas City bakery Farm to Market Grains Galore bread, which is just awesome and nutty. period.) with some raspberry jam. If you have a Target store near you, run...don't walk...to it and pick some of this up!!

Archer Farms Dark Chocolate Peanut Butter and Raspberry Fruit Spread, on Farm to Market Grains Galore Bread...mmmmmm....

I think that's all I have today. And p.s. if you aren't excited about Bianca's (of Vegan Crunk) upcoming cookbook full of Southern delights, then please do so! Every recipe I've tested so far has been mouthwatering and amazing...so get your bibs ready for drooling and your bellies ready for filling! :)

I Went Apple Picking!

You know it's fall when you finally get to go apple picking!!! Fall is my absolute favorite season...what's not to love?? Sweaters, beautiful weather, squash, apples, and bonfires. Perfect! On Sunday, I went with Steve and a bunch of friends to an orchard about 30 minutes outside of Columbia, and we picked a literal butt-load of apples! I could barely carry all of them! There are about 6 or 7 different varieties, too! This was so much fun...the perfect combination of celebrating fall and local food! Hooray! I, of course, want to bake with these bad boys, so I need your help! Any good recipes for desserts using apples? Help me out! :)

In other food happenings, we also had our traditional Sunday breakfast at Cafe Berlin this weekend! I had one of my favorites: the vegan breakfast burrito! This isn't on the menu, like the slinger I had, but Steve, Eli (the chef), and I came up with this as an amazing alternative to the breakfast burrito already on the menu...filled with meat and eggs and cheese. boo! This creation is a big tortilla filled with scrambled tofu, tempeh bacon, roasted red and sweet potatoes, cilantro, spinach, and a drizzle of maple syrup...served with a side of their homemade salsa! I always load mine with a healthy dose of hot sauce and wash it down with a biiiiiig 'ol mug of fair trade coffee! aaaahhhh perfection!Last night, I was feeling some comfort food, particularly some nice southern dishes. I had a few more ears of local corn and some local okra to use up, so I already had a good start on dinner! I made the Blueberry Chipotle BBQ Sauce from the PPK Blog and used it with sliced seitan(I even got to use up the last of my local blueberries in this dinner! score!). If you haven't made this, please please please do it! So sweet and spicy!!! I served it with ears of roasted local corn...slathered with Earth Balance and sea salt...homemade whole wheat biscuits, and my oven-fried okra. Outta this world! Steve couldn't stop raving, either! The okra tastes a lot like my grandma's real fried okra, but it is much, much healthier! Try it out next time you get okra from the market!

Oven Fried Okra (serves 2-4...depends on how much you like okra!)

1 lb fresh okra, sliced into 1/2" rounds

2 Tbs canola oil

1 tsp hot sauce

1/4 cup soy milk

1/2 cup cornmeal

1/2 cup breadcrumbs

1/2 tsp sea salt

1 tsp black pepper

1 tsp paprika

Preheat oven to 350 F. Spray a cookie sheet with non-stick spray. In a large bowl, whisk together the soymilk, oil, and hot sauce. Add in the okra and coat with liquid mix. Let sit for 10 minutes to absorb the liquids. Add in the dry ingredients, and stir to coat with dry mix. Spread okra in an even layer on the prepared cookie sheet and place in oven. Bake for 20 to 30 minutes, until coating gets crispy and brown, and you can smell the yummy okra. Serve warm with any of your favorite southern meals, especially bbq seitan :)

I may love the big city, but homestyle cooking is still one of my favorites!!

Burritos, Stew, and Brats...oh my...

I haven't been baking much over the last week, because of busy schedules and such, but I have been doing some good cooking! I really want to hone some of my cooking skills, so I have been focusing on that a bit more lately than the baking side of life! As wonderful as it is, though, my heart will always belong to the wonderful world of baked goods :)
A few nights ago, I made tempeh burritos for me and Steve, with a medley of steamed vegetables on the side. These burritos are one of our favorite things to eat...they are really savory and unique and totally hit the spot!

Tempeh Burritos
(serves 2)

6 to 8 oz of tempeh
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 T Braggs (tamari or shoyu will work, too)
2 whole wheat tortillas
1/2 an avocado
1/2 c cucumber, sliced
1/2 c tomato, diced
6 kalamata olives
1/2 c red onion, diced
1 cup spinach, chopped into bite-sized pieces
2 T tahini

Dice the tempeh into cubes and mix with minced garlic and Bragg's. Place onto a lightly oiled sheet pan and bake at 350 F for 15 to 20 minutes, until nice and browned.
Warm the tortillas in a skillet until soft and pliable. Mash 1/4 of an avocado on each tortilla and spread evenly around. Add the baked tempeh, diced veggies, and spinach. Drizzle 1 T of tahini over the vegetables and wrap the tortilla shut. Place closed tortilla fold side down on a skillet over medium heat to toast, then flip burrito and toast on the other side to golden brown.
Serve warm...goes really well with some steamed broccoli! :)


The next night for dinner, I made one of my favorite recipes. This is the Indonesian Tempeh Stew from the Students' Vegan Cookbook. I am not sure if the sweet and spicy flavors and the awesome use of the sweet potato (one of my favorite foods!) makes this one of my favorite recipes, or the fact that it comes from my first all-vegan cookbook...either way it is awesome and I could eat it every single day! Especially when I serve it all nice and hot over a bed of quinoa...it doesn't get much better!!

Tonight's dinner was similar to something I made a few weeks ago: Tofurky Beer Brats! This time, I had them with braised red cabbage with onions, garlic, apples, and fennel seeds...and tons of saurkraut on top! Fermented foods will save the world. Paired with some oven-roasted potatoes and steamed broccoli, this meal was hearty and satisfying. If you haven't tried the Beer Brats yet, I highly recommend it...not too scary meat-like or anything! Check 'em out!

I am planning on doing some awesome baking this week...
I hope I can remember to post about it !