Baked Goods

I love vegan baking!  Here is a pic of a carrot cake I made for my love’s God daughter – her 1st birthday smash cake!

And here are some cupcakes.  Friends of our recently had a private wedding ceremony in Bali.  We wanted to honor them some how so we brought cupcakes to the beach!  I decorated them using colors I think of when I think of Bali.

What’s for suppah?

This summer I’ve been making and bringing tofu kebobs to BBQs.  Veggie burgers are quick and easy, but boring.  People tend to pass them up and have animal products.  The kebobs usually fly! 

A vegetarian chef once said to me, “The key to making tofu is how long you press the tofu.”  After that I bought a tofu press and believe it is up there with the best $30 I’ve spent.  So much easier than wrapping in cheese cloth/rolls of paper towels and piling all the cookbooks in the house on top.  Since I’ve been pressing accordingly, I am getting the hang of cooking tofu.  I really think a good press makes the difference between “oh I tried tofu once and hate the texture” and “the texture is different but I like it!”

Tofu Kebobs
1 block of tofu, pressed and cubed; I do a 4x5 cut to make 20 cubes
1 1/2 T olive oil
Juice from 1 whole lime
2 T brown sugar
1 t cinnamon
1 t chili powder
1/2 t cumin
1/2 t kosher salt
1 chopped garlic clove
Depending on my mood, I usually add onion and garlic powder. 

Whisk ingredients together, place marinade in covered bowl or ziplock bag with tofu, shake to coat, marinate as long as you like or cook right away.

Thread on water soaked bamboo skewers with veggies of your choice, broil in oven or cook on grill; turn kebobs once or twice during the process.

Every oven and grill is different, 10 minutes is a good average.  You’ll know when your veggies start to char a bit and the outside of your tofu gets a bit crispy.

I find this texture is great – crispy on the outside, melts in your mouth on the inside.  Serve with your favorite summer sides!  I have it above with sweet potatoes and an avacado salsa.

Cookie Dough Monster

When ever I make chocolate chip cookies I eat a lot of the dough and I think of two stories about my little sister and her early adventures in cookie baking.

One of her first times reading a recipe on her own she misinterpreted a little something.  Contrary to her belief, 2 1/4 cups of flour meant 2 cups plus 1/4 of a cup of flour.  She scooped the 1/4 cup into the flour twice to add to her dough.  When in the oven, everything seemed to melt and the dough just souped all over the baking sheet.  We helped her retrace her steps to find the issue.

The other time was when she turned off the oven and she decided to let the cookies “rest” a bit.  Then when she felt the cookies were done with their nap, they were burnt to a crisp.

Someone has been after me for a while to bake him some cookies for quite some time.  I stopped procrastinating and did so. 

I’d give out the recipe but I think I’d be crossing some copyright boundaries or whateves.  I use the recipe on the back of the semi-sweet chocolate chips and veganize it.  The chips I’ve always used are vegan to begin with, bonus!  Instead of butter, I use earth balance.  Instead of 2 eggs, I use 2 flax eggs.  I didn’t use as much flax meal this time as I think it tends to make the cookie a tad greasier.  You’d never know they pack extra fiber and omega-3s!

Food Confession.

I put garlic and chili powder on everything.


Well, not my oatmeal.

Date Night!!!

So my love is going away next week and I’m working the days leading up to his departure so we decided to go on a special date night last night!  We went to the waterfront in New Bedford not expecting too much.  Some areas aren’t that great…  What we found was a quaint, artsy downtown area and had a fabulous dining experience at the Waterfront Grille. 

Being vegan and dating an omnivore, going out to dinner can sometimes be more trouble than it is worth.  If we go to a vegetarian restaurant, my love’s palate isn’t truly on the same page as mine, so it is usually pizza or some other “safe” food for him.  If we go to a restaurant with meat, one hundred questions later and a lot of apprehension, it is a salad, pasta, or cheese-less pizza for me.  Although going out is more about the company than anything else, I really want to eat something I’m not going to cook at home.  I want to be impressed and I don’t want my company to be left behind. 

When deciding where to eat, I knew I wanted some veggie sushi.  This is usually safe choice for us both – I get my sushi, he gets something he really enjoys.  But still having only one or two options can get boring.  To my surprise, Waterfront Grille had a vegetarian section to their menu with a make it vegan option.  !!!! I was so excited.  My sushi ideas turned from ordering a boat of sweet potato maki to having my maki as an appetizer and having an actual entrée from their vegetarian menu.  Service was great, atmosphere wonderful.  Can’t wait to go back when it is warmer and sit on the deck.  Also can’t wait to explore New Bedford’s cobblestone streets. 

After happy, full bellies, we went to see American Reunion.  In a way, I feel like I grew up with those movies.  When the first two came out, I was graduating high school and then coming back to home life after college.  Then it was wedding season during American Wedding.  Fun times!

How do you keep your palate entertained?

  

Another snow day.

I don't really feel productive on snow days. 

My day started with coffee, PB&J oats, and Veronica Mars.  I finished season two.  Chrissy and I have been working on our Logan Echolls face.  He has the same "I'm about to drool on you" expression for every emotion.  I'm about to cry.  I'm about to kiss you.  I just realized I'm in love with you.  My dad SUCKS.  Your step mom bangs me.  I'm going to jail.  I'm out of jail.  I love you again.  I hate you again.  I'm having a party.  In my pants.  Hopefully by the end of the post I'll have a picture for you.

The rest of my day included this:

Yes that is my lunch on my yoga mat.  Had a little Dave action on the mat.  That sounds real bad.  My love, if you are reading this, it was only a podcast yoga workout.  Anyway, I did a different podcast than the other day and I still got tripped up on his half pigeon flow.  I'm going to have to you tube it or something to attempt to figure out what the hell he is telling me to do. 

I was hungry.  As always.  So I made up some onions and made the sandwich!  Chrissy loves me today.  I made her one too.  I had some green tea with it and my book.  Goal is to finish that book today! 

Lets have a closer look at deliciousness...

It was great.  The apples look like pickles but I swear it wasn't an onion and pickle sandwich.  Gross.

What is that hiding behind my sandwich?

Oh.  That.

Just some of the best vegan chocolate chip cookies evah!  Chrissy made them this time.  She's good at that. 

What are you doing to not lose your mind during the snow day?


I almost forgot about Logan's drool!

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Do you see what I mean?!?!  Any other actors/actresses you notice that seem to be making the same face for every emotion?  I'm totally team Logan over team Duncan, but seriously, don't drool on me.

Onion breath.

Before we get into my oral hygiene, Beth put together a special post for all you Cedar Falls V*s! 

I always think of Cedar Falls and the secrets of the town when I hear this song...



Back to morning breath, have I brushed my teeth yet? onion breath.  Ever since I had the sandwich I think I've made caramelized brown sugar onions every day.  How?

An unyun, olive oil, brown sugar, salt, and a cast iron skillet.

Whisk together:
1 T of olive oil
1 T of brown sugar
A pinch of kosher salt

Pour the above concoction on your skillet and let it heat up on a low to medium heat.

Chop as much onion as you'd like while everything gets warm and ready. Mince, slice, whateves.

Combine all on the skillet and make magic!

The steam is getting in the way of a glorious picture, hence why I don't have a completely browned up onion shot. 

I've used the onions in sauce, zucchini cakes, and recreations of the sandwich.  Beth made her own sandwich too!

Veggie Restaurants!!!

In the past week I went to two vegetarian restaurants!!  I wish I brought my camera and took pictures. 


The "BIL" is away on military duty so he treated his lovely wife and I to dinner.  My "SIL," Liz, is such a beautiful person and we always have a blasty together.  The two of them just found out the little peanut-fetus inside is a female peanut-fetus.  I put quotes around the in-law label because don't you have to be married to officially have in laws?  It is so much easier to say in laws rather than, my boyfriends brothers wife sista motha fatha.  PLUS I'm crazy in love with my love and getting married is way too in style for us right now. 


Liz and I went to the Garden Grille and I got my stand by Eggplant Rollatini that is stuffed with herbed tofu-nut cheese.  Delish.  I also had a glass of vino.  Liz got the lasagna special with multiple side salads.  I ran late so she got a salad to appetize herself, then decided to order the lasagna that came with a salad.  Then the server mistakenly thought she ordered another salad.  I ended up eating one of them.  Between the two of us we probably cleared out a garden.  This restaurant has fantastic lunches as well as dinners.  All their desserts are vegan too.  I typically get a juice while I am here but the server inside me felt bad.  Making juice is a pain in the you know what and it was busy.  So I stuck with the lemon water and vino.  The atmosphere is just amazing in this place! 


My sister Katie and I were going to go to the Garden Grille, but plans changed a bit and we decided to meet up in Boston after I got out of work.  The restaurant didn't open until 5, so we got coffee at Mr. Crepe in Davis Square.  This cute place does not have a website.  I loved the high ceilings and the color scheme of the place.  It made me really want to move into a loft with exposed pipes and a ceiling that's half tiled and half industrial.  Really unique.  Katie got a double americano sweetened with vanilla and I got a soy latte.  She is so city.  I love her.


Starving, we wandered down the road hopping puddles of melted snow, wicked gross btw.  We reached our destination of The Pulse Cafe.  This restaurant is completely vegan!  I've been here once before they changed their menu.  Now their menu is more diner style and the food snob in me was initially skeptical until I fell in love with the description of one sandwich.  Apple Melt: Grilled Cheese with Twist: Sliced Granny Smith Apples, Brown Sugar Caramelized Onions, Cheddar Mozzarella Blend and Dijon on choice of White, or Whole Wheat.  I decided to nix the dijon just cause I'm not a huge mustard fan and had the sandy on wheat with a side of fries.  SO GOOD.  Diner style typically means to me greasy and unhealthy but this sandwich was anything but.  The only oil seemed to be from the Daiya Cheese, which is my fave vegan cheese, and it was just amazing.  I almost went back there yesterday after my doctors appt in the city, but I was just so wiped from my day I couldn't dodge snow banks and walk around in the freezing cold.  I need to go back and try their butternut squash mac and cheese.  They use a cashew cheese sauce, I wonder if it is similar to mine.

I'm so hungry right now after writing this post.  I promise next time I'll bring my camera and take pictures so you can see the deliciousness!

Talk amongst yourselves...

What restaurants are you totally digging right now?  Or are you  more craving a type of cuisine?

CREAMY!



What a wonderful day of binge eating. Since I am sick of cafeteria food, a snow day at home meant cooking. Well, I only made one meal but it should carry me through the rest of the work week.

As I mentioned, cheese and I broke up a year ago. There are plenty of replacements but not always the most convenient. Some items aren't easy to find either, as there is not a nearby Whole Foods or TJ's. I loved pasta dishes in creamy white sauces with, you probably guessed it, cheese.

MAC & CASHEW CHEESE
 Adapted from Color Me Vegan by Colleen Patrick-Goudreau

INGREDIENTS

• 1 ¼ cup of raw cashews
  
• ½ cup of nutritional yeast
  
• 2 t of onion powder
  
• 2 t of kosher salt
  
• A few grinds of fresh pepper (use with your own taste buds in mind)
  
• 2 cloves of garlic
  
• 1 t of garlic powder
  
• 3 ½ cups of almond milk
  
• 3 T of cornstarch
  
• ½ cup of Earth Balance
  
• Juice from 1 lemon
  
• ¼ cup of Daiya cheddar shreds
  
• Panko or other bread crumbs
  
• 1 lb of whole wheat pasta
  

DIRECTIONS
While your pasta cooks according to its directions, finely process the cashews in a food processor. Don't let it become cashew "butter." Add in nutritional yeast, onion powder, garlic (cloves and powder), salt, and pepper. Process a bit more. Again, you want it processed fine. Kinda like a flour.

In a saucepan, simmer the almond milk, cornstarch, and earth balance. Reduce to a low-medium heat and cover for 10 minutes. Stir occasionally.

Combine the liquid and the dry ingredients in the food processor by slowly adding the liquid. Then add your lemon juice. The result will be creamy goodness.

If you are attempting to make this dish slightly more nutritious…

Add some veggies! Broccoli and cauliflower are always delicious au gratin.

Combine everything in your baking pan. I recommend a big baking pan as I initially spilled some of this creamy goodness while trying to stir everything around. By everything I mean cooked pasta, the completed sauce, and veggies. Then sprinkle and stir in the daiya cheese. It is warm enough to melt the cheese. You can eat now, but I love crispy bread crumbs. Plus I didn't cook my veggies yet. I topped with panko and cooked it in a 400 degree oven (don't forget to preheat!) for 15 minutes.

Yum.

Chrissy couldn't wait.



Yes I used paper plates. Do you know how many dishes I've done already?! Don't judge me.  And don't judge my photog shadows. 

Notes: Next time I'd use more garlic and daiya cheese. I might use less nutritional yeast. This was delicious, creamy, and satisfying. I used rottini for my pasta and my dad was upset with me. Macaroni and cheese should only be used with elbows! My cookbook suggested placing the liquid in a mold or bowl, refrigerating, then serving as a hard cheese!

Saucy Berries!

I needed dinner. I have not been the most proactive cook lately. Vegetables have wilted. Canned goods have become dusty. I don't even want to look at the lemon I bought to juice. Peanut butter will never go out of style. Pasta Bene is on speed dial. Anyway, last week I saw a blogger's recipe that I had to try! Angela posted a recipe for a "back on track wheat berry and bean salad" to help with the post holiday feeling of what the frick did I just eat!? and I'm still hungry.
Speaking of "what the frick?!" What the frick is a wheat berry? I did what any educated person does. I googled which then led me to Wikipedia. This did not give me much more information other than a wheat berry is the entire wheat kernel. Yay for unprocessed! But really… what is a wheat berry? I did further research and came across this food network blog post. I love that this little berry is packed with nutrients especially protein, fiber, and iron. I find this nutrient combo helps give me an extra energy boost.
Angela's recipe is for a cold salad, but with our recent blizzard and my dysfunctional relationship with winter, I had to morph this into something warm. Something warm and saucy. The results were amazing.


Warm and Saucy Berries and Beans
Adapted from: Oh She Glows

Ingredients

• 1 cup of dry wheat berries; soaked, cooked, & drained
• 1, 15 oz. can of navy beans; I used Eden Organic navy beans but any white bean would go great in this recipe
• 1 sweet onion, diced
• 2 small-medium sized red bell peppers, diced
• As many cloves of garlic your heart desires minced real fine; I used 3 cloves
• 1, 15 oz. can of diced tomatoes
• 1-2 cucumbers
• ½ t of dried thyme
• ½ t of dried oregano
• ½ t of dried basil
• 1 T of olive oil
• 2 T of balsamic vinegar
• 2 pinches of sugar
• Kosher salt and pepper to taste

Directions
Begin preparing the night before. Soak wheat berries in cold water overnight. Drain, rinse, and cover with water in a medium sized pot. Bring to a boil, cover, and simmer on a low-medium heat for 1 hour. Drain.
While berries are simmering, prepare diced veggies. When berries have about 30 minutes left, sauté peppers, onions, and garlic in a pan with olive oil on a low heat until onions are translucent but there is still liquid in pan. Add tomatoes, herbs, balsamic vinegar, sugar, S&P, now let simmer for about 10 minutes before adding beans. Make sure all the liquid does not cook off in order to make it saucy!
If you sauté pan is big enough, add in the wheat berries. Mine is not, so I combined the sauce with the wheat berries in a bowl on the side.
For the finishing touch I added the chopped cucumbers. I found it gave the dish a nice crunchy and cool contrast. I'm sure you could cook the cukes or even substitute it with some zucchini!

They will be transformed…

I cheated and used the food processor for my chopping. I love how it minces garlic! How do you like your garlic?

This aroma gets my sister hanging out with me fast. She only likes me when I cook for her.

It is all coming together.

Check out the new dish towel from the “in-laws.” I know it clashes with the meal and plate, but its fun!

Thoughts on pans? I heart cast iron. I’m looking forward to creating a registry one day full of beautiful pots and pans.

Anyone else in a cooking rut? I hope this gets me out of it... speaking of getting out of ruts, I should post my New Year Intentions.