Bruschetta Hashbrowns

Category : Food & Beverages, Recipes


Saturday morning Eric and I went to the Green City Marketwith our friend Joe.  When we got back from out frigid spring outing I made some hot coffee in the french press and Eric made this delicious breakfast.  He’s obsessed with different styles of bruschetta and so he somehow came up with this.  Sliced, fried potatoes topped with sauteed red pepper, vidalia onion, green onion and garlic – not the version you’d think….it looked like this…

…to top it off he drizzled a reduced balsamic vinegar on the each piece.  It was so good and such a fun twist on a hashbrown breakfast.  We’d also picked up some amazing fresh wheat bread from Bennison’s Bakery , which we toppedwith Earth Balance and Rasperry Mint Preserves from Seedling (I’d never thought of putting mint in my preserves but it was fabulous!  I’m going to do that when I make my next homemade batch)

What a great way to start the day – before I began my LONG project of cleaning out my pantry – which took me all day long to fully empty it, wash it down and re-organize it all – I suppose it was the perfect thing for a rainy day.

AMAZING Sticky Toffee Pudding

Category : Food & Beverages, Recipes

Sticky toffee pudding

photo from The Great Vegan Conspiracy

The other night I made the most amazing sticky toffee pudding.  I LOVE sticky toffee pudding but I’ve never made it before.  I randomly came across this recipe and got super excited to make a vegan version of this yummy treat.  The hardest part was converting the measurement to ones that made a bit more sense in my kitchen.  You’ll find this funny – I quickly glanced at the label on my Earth Balance butter and say 14g, so somehow got it in my head the entire package was 14g (but really its 1T).  So, I started thinking how unhealthy this pudding was going to be and even ran out to buy more Earth Balance butter since I didn’t have enough!  So, after I creamed my third stick of butter with the brown sugar, I suddenly realized what an idiot I was.  I put all the creamed butter in a bowl and spooned out the correct number of tablespoons and adjusted my sugar.  Oh my – what a mess I would have created if I’d gone ahead with all that butter!

Anway, I got the recipe from The Great Vegan Conspiracy.  You’ll find the original recipe here and below you’ll have an more Americanized version.

Ingredients for two 350ml puddings:

1 cup dates

4 tablespoon  vegan butter

½ cup brown sugar

Egg replacer equal to two eggs

1 cup self raising flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 tablespoon ground flax seeds

1 teaspoon molasses

1 teaspoon golden syrup (I was out of maple syrup so I added more molasses)

1 teaspoon vanilla

50ml soy milk (I used coconut milk)

Ingredients for the sticky toffee sauce:

6 tablespoons vegan butter

½ cup brown sugar

250ml soy cream (I used vanilla coconut creamer to add a little more flavor)

1 tablespoon molasses

1. Preheat the oven to 365°F.  Spread two pudding basins with butter and dust with flour.

2. Finely chop the dates and place in a bowl. Pour 175ml of boiling water over the dates and leave to one side.  After soaking I put mine in the food processor and pureed them.

3. In a large bowl cream together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Stir in the egg replacer then fold in the flour, baking soda and ground flax seeds, followed by the milk and vanilla. Fold in the dates, molasses and syrup.

4. Divide the pudding batter between the two basins and cover with foil. Place in the oven and cook for 25 minutes. Remove the foil and cook for a further 10 minutes. Do a skewer test to check the puddings are done.

5. During the last 10 minutes of cooking make the toffee sauce. Melt together the butter and sugar over a low heat and add 100ml of the cream. Bring to the boil and cook, stirring for 5-8 minutes until the sauce starts to thicken (mine really didn’t thicken but it wasn’t a problem at all – it still tasted fabulous).

6. Run a knife round the edge of the puddings to help release them from the basins. Stir the remaining cream into the sauce and drench the pudding. Serve with vanilla ice cream (that might be a bit much – the pudding on its own is enough).

**I made mine in one basin rather than two but it took a lot longer to bake.  Next time I’ll split it up per the recipe but if you don’t have two small basins one larger one will do.  Also – by basin they just mean a bowl.  I used a pottery bowl, you could use any type of bowl – glass, tin, etc.  

***Be sure to serve this warm – if you manage to have any left-overs, always heat bef

Quick Asian Inspired Dinner

Category : Food & Beverages, Recipes

 

I had some leftover rice from Thai takeout the other day and some veggies that desperately needed to be used up.  So…this is what I came up with…

I put carrots, green peppers, bok choy, portobelloand peas, in the wok with coconut oil.  After it was cooked I added the rice and seasoned with onion powder, braggs, brown rice vinegar, nutritional yeast and powdered ginger (which gave it a good zing).  I’d never done that combo of seasonings - it was great!  Then I took a slice of firm tofu – pressed it between a tea towel to drain it and fried it with some olive oil Soyaki from Trader Joe’s.  YUM!

Seitan Bourguignon

Category : Food & Beverages, Recipes

Seitan Bourguignon

I forgot to take a photo of mine so I borrowed this Martha Stewart :)

Monday night I made the Seitan  Bourguignon that Biz Stone and Martha Stewart made on her recent vegan episode and it was absolutely delicious!  It was super easy to make, hearty and full of flavor.  I didn’t do the mushroom topping – I had planned to use some cripy onions that I had on hand but I completely forgot.  I will definitely be making this again!

 

Check out the video clip and get the recipe for yourself!

Valentine’s Day Treats

Category : Food & Beverages, Recipes

I love Valentine’s Day.  It’s not that I’m crazy about making a huge deal over it with Eric and I, but I love all the hearts, red and pink, etc.  I love making treats for friends and family.  It’s like having a second chance to show your love to them after Christmas, Hanukkah, etc.  That’s such a busy time of year and although I often want to do more for people I run out of time.  Luckily Valentine’s Day always comes so quickly and I get to make up for it then.  This year I’ve had fun making heart shaped blueberry muffins, chocolate mint cupcakes and mini cheesecakes! 

The cupcakes are of course from Vegan Cupcakes Take Over The World, the blueberry cupcakes are from an old non vegan muffin book where I simply substitued with egg replacer and coconut milk and the cheesecakes were from VegCooking.   The only thing I did differently was I also added a little lemon zest and I skipped pie filling on top and garnished with fresh kiwis.

This was my first attempt at vegan cheesecake and I must say it was fabulous!!  I made them for Eric’s birthday since it’s really the only sweet thing he’ll eat.  I will tell you that you must be patient and allow them to cool over night.  I didn’t make them until his actual birthday so since we were stranded on vacation with the storm so I didn’t have time to allow them to set enough.  It was still delicious but the consistency was far better the next day.  The only thing I wasn’t happy about was the crust was a bit gooey.  I’m not sure if my spring form pans allowed the water to leak in a bit or if it has to do with the recipe.  I have always baked my cheesecakes in a water bath but maybe next time I’ll try skipping that to see if the crust turns out crunchier.

Over all, I’d highly suggest this very simple recipe for those of you who are missing cheesecake from your pre-vegan days :)

 

The Vegan Girl’s Guide to Life

Category : Animals, Beauty, Food & Beverages, Household, Recipes

 The Vegan Girl's Guide to Life: Cruelty-Free Crafts, Recipes, Beauty Secrets and More

Back in November I was fortunate enough to meet Milsser Elliott at Moo Shoes NYC!  I purchased her new book (which she signed for me!) The Vegan Girl’s Guide to Life and finally got around to reading it on our holiday in Puerto Rico.  I loved it!  There’s definitely a lot that I already know about veganism but there’s also always plenty to learn.  I pick up a lot of new tidbits.  Who would have ever thought that my husband’s favorite Doritos – Sweet & Spicy – are actually vegan?!  This book would be PERFECT for a new vegan or someone considering going vegan.  They’ll quickly realize how easy it really is to live without animal products.  You’ll find everything from recipes to random packaged foods you’d surprisingly find to be vegan, to vegan tatoo ink.

January Pure Green Magazine

Category : Beauty, Fashion, Food & Beverages, Household, Recipes, Shopping

The new issue of Pure Green Magazine is out!  This is a new favorite of mine.  They do a fabulous job of covering everything green – clothing, cosmetics, food, architecture, decorating, and tons more.  Be sure to check it out!  I do love a printed magazine (I know – it’s a horrible eco-sin) but this is unbelievably easy to read online!

Gardein Stuffed Turkey…mmmm

Category : Food & Beverages, Recipes

The other day I discovered the delicious Gardein stuffed turkey (well obviously not real turkey).  These are going to be perfect for me to take home for Thanksgiving when we eat with both of our families.  Both sides of the family are being great about preparing the basic veggie dishes with vegan butter and soy milk this year but it’ll be nice to have these to add to my plate.  I baked them so they were crispy on the outside and moist inside.  I highly recommended these!  Eric even enjoyed his!  They come two in a packet with a bit of gravy.  It was just enough gravy although a bit more would have been ideal.  The gravy was good but I honestly like the gravy from those powdered packets better.  Next time I’ll make one of those.  For sides I made….

Garlic Mashed Potatoes…
baby yukon gold potatoes (don’t peel them – the skin is good for you!)
garlic powder
tofutti sobetter than sour cream (vegan)
so delicious coconut milk
earth balance vegan butter
salt & pepper
 
Stuffing…
sautee onion & celery in olive oil then add sliced mushrooms
herbs de provence seasoning
dried cranberries
dried bread chunks
broth made with Better Than Bouillon (Chicken) (this stuff is AMAZING – has the best flavor of any bouillon!)

 

Home-style Creamed Corn…(I made creamed corn for the first time!!!)
here is the recipe
I was out of onion so I omitted that.  I added a bit more Arrowroot and a bit of whole wheat flour to really thicken it up.  After following the recipe I put it in a 350 degree oven to continue thickening it up.

Squash Alfredo

Category : Food & Beverages, Recipes

LunchBox Bunch

 I made a version of this the other night and didn’t take a photo so I’m borrowing the original.

I absolutely love squash – really any squash but my favorites are acorn and butternut so this recipe really caught my eye.  The original recipe from LunchBox Bunch is here but as usual I made changes according to what I had on hand.  Be sure to read the original recipe though as she was very detailed and even shows you how to roast your squash.

1 small butternut squash (roasted)
a few sprigs of sage
coconut milk until its creamy & thinned out to your liking
1/4 c Nutritional Yeast Flakes
1 Tbsp EVOO
1 Tbsp apple cider vinegar
a few shakes of garlic powder
1 Tbsp maple syrup
a few shakes of red pepper
salt and pepper

I cut my squash in half, roasted it, scooped out the flesh and put it in a bowl with the above ingredients and used my hand blender to make it all nice and creamy then mixed it with whole wheat penne, warmed it up and it was fabulous!  Thanks Kathy at LunchBox Bunch for such an amazing dish!  I only recently discovered her blog and I’m absolutely in love with it!  She has so many great things that I want to try!

Veggie Curry in 4 Easy Steps

Category : Food & Beverages, Recipes

photo from the Urban Vegan

The Urban Vegan recently posted this quick veggie curry recipe.  While in Zurich of all places, Eric and I fell in love with red curry so I was excited to find out how easy it is to make.  I always used to get green curry and Eric was never interested in curry at all.  We ended up arriving in Zurich from Greece very hungry and after wandering around our hotel’s neighborhood we settled on the Asian restaurant across from out hotel.  Eric said he was over his hunger and told me to get what I wanted.  I was in the mood for curry but all they had was red so I figured I’d give it a go.  It was fabulous so of course Eric broke down and tried it and now he’s hooked.  So,  Thursday night I whipped up this recipe from the Urban Vegan for Eric and I.  For our veggies we used cauliflower, carrots and peas.  I definitely used a lot more curry paste than she used – well she said to start with 3 tablespoons and I maybe used 5 – I’m sure it just depends on the brand of paste and what I used is not what she used.  It was still a bit bland for us so I added some garlic powder, salt, pepper, and a package of soy sauce from some previous take out.  At that point it was good but still needed something, not sure what but I’ll continue to play with it since it was so insanely easy to make.  Regardless, I’d suggest trying it and adding your own seasonings to get it to your desired taste.  The Urban Vegan’s recipe is a great starting point and then you can make it your own.  So much cheaper than ordering out for curry and even better is that you can use organic produce which your local Thai place likely isn’t doing.

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