Stuff I Ate in Tennessee

Last week I crossed off one of my bucket list destinations: Nashville. I traveled with my friend and assistant Jess to do makeup for three models. My first vegan stop was actually when I decided that if I was THAT close to Sun Studio (where Johnny Cash, Elvis and Jerry Lee Lewis recorded) and didn't go, I would regret it forever. So we drove 4 hours in the rain to Memphis.

I had heard that Memphis wasn't very nice, outside of Graceland, but that was seriously wrong. The streets are lined with a mix of 100 year-old and brand-new buildings, everyone is cool, and their vegan food was amazing. We went to Imagine Vegan Cafe, a vegan restaurant built into a house (this reminded me of Minneapolis' only 100% vegan restaurant, Ecopolitan). 

How freeing it was to have an entire menu where I could order ANYTHING. Here's their very cute menu:

I decided since I was in the south, to order the vegan Southern Fried Chicken sandwich. It was Chik-Fil-A style with pickles and vegan mayo on a soft bun. I was dreaming about it that night, that's how amazing it was. Like somebody's vegan grandmother made it. I also ordered a side of vegan macaroni and cheese.

Jess got a vegan eggplant Parmesan sandwich with a side of garlic kale which she called "messy and tastes unbelievable." 

We also shared their spinach artichoke dip and chips which was the only thing we could not finish (we were too full). It was incredible and I ate the rest for breakfast right before our shoot. 

Here's me geeking out: 

We drove back to Nashville exhausted and slept until we woke up early to attend to our call time. One of the models works at a vegan restaurant called Sunflower and when I told her I wanted to try a place she said she wished she had known- she would have brought us some stuff! I had already decided to try The Wild Cow as soon as we were done shooting but hopefully I can revisit Nashville and go to more places (apparently there's also a raw place called Avo). 

The Wild Cow has an all-vegan menu except you can special order some dairy cheese on certain items which I thought was really weird. There was no information on why they chose to do that, or where the cheese comes from (did they decide to offer cheese because it's from an extremely humane farmer up the road or something? No further information was given). One thing I did notice with both restaurants I visited though, was that they both served beer and wine. When I go to a vegan place out of state I always try to observe how it is a success and I think Tennessee vegans understand that they can keep their restaurants busy if they offer alcohol and comfort food, which makes sense. I didn't order any, though.  

I ordered the portabella mushroom burger with vegan chèvre and roasted red peppers. The Wild Cow offered a large selection of sides just like Imagine did, including garlic kale (is this a southern thing?) but I opted for the pineapple cole slaw which was very good. 

Jess (who is not vegetarian) adored her grilled tofu rice and lentil bowl. We were so full we couldn't fathom ordering their sizable selection of homemade desserts (the most intriguing being their vegan lavender-blueberry cheesecake).

 

I was shocked how inexpensive the restaurants were. In fact, after returning to Minneapolis I went to a restaurant with a special vegetarian menu (so, not a vegetarian restaurant) and a vegan hot dog and tater tots was $15. Jess and I ate at both restaurants in Tennessee for $15-20 total and the food was much better. Being outside of Minneapolis I am constantly reminded how much we can improve here, especially since we are a big city with a lot of vegans and we pride ourselves on being a progressive and diverse "food city." 

I am itching to go back again already, and daydreaming of when my hometown will have the same options and variety as other places in the country.

Asian Lemon Chicken, Wit.

Hey friends! It has been forever. I'm posting because of an unexpected nicety!

My roommate went to Trader Joe's and brought me back some vegan chicken-less strips. They sat in the fridge for a few days because I couldn't think of anything cool to do with them. Then, like I do, I was laying in bed thinking about the vast expanse of the universe or something and it came to me: I need to make lemon chicken.

You know the Asian lemon or orange chicken you can buy in any food court and in a lot of freestanding places? I could make a vegan version of that. 

One slight bummer, I was out of ginger. Next time I will absolutely use that. And next time I think I would add the chickenless strips absolutely last (because they were sooo crispy and yummy when I got them out of the oil but softened a tad once I put them in the sauce). But overall it was amazing. If you don't like the taste or texture if fake meats, frying the crap out of them and then slathering them in a delicious sauce will change your tune. Everyone loves fried things. And sauce.

I adapted a recipe from Yummily Yours which was for asian orange cauliflower. I used fresh lemon juice instead of orange, added fresh pineapple, and used a vegan-friendly brown sugar instead of white sugar. Also, instead of sriracha I used a traditional chili sauce that is found at most Asian markets. And finally -obviously- I used chickenless strips instead of cauliflower. You can view that original recipe here, and I plan to try it myself sometime soon: 

http://yummilyyours.com/orange-cauliflower/

Here is my version: 

Asian Lemon "Chicken" with Peppers and Pineapple

• 1 package of Trader Joe's Chicken-less Strips (or about a cup and a half of your favorite meat substitute)
• 1/2 cup diced bell peppers (I used red and green)
• 1/2 cup fresh cut pineapple
• 2 tsp diced white onion
• 1/3 cup + 2 tbsp corn starch
• 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
• 1/2 cup water (to make a batter)
• Oil for frying + 1 tbsp oil
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1/4 teaspoon ground ginger
• 1 tablespoon lemon zest
• 3/4 cup vegetable broth (or you can just use water)
• 1 lemon's worth of freshly squeezed lemon juice
• 2 tsp soy sauce
• 2 tbsp brown sugar
• 1 tsp Sriracha (or another kind of red chili paste/sauce)
• 1/4 teaspoon crushed black pepper
• Salt to taste
• (You can garnish with sesame seeds and green onions as well, if you like) 
• 
  
• Heat oil for frying
• 
  
• In another pan, heat half tbsp. oil and add the diced peppers. Sauté them for a min or 2 until they turn golden. Make sure that you are not overcooking the peppers. Set aside once they are done.
• 
  
• Mix the corn starch and all-purpose flour with a pinch of salt and water to make a thick batter. The batter should be thick enough to coat the chickenless strips evenly.
• 
  
• Dip each strip into the batter and add them into hot oil for frying.
• 
  
• Fry them in batches so as to not overcrowd the pan.
• 
  
• Once the batter covering the strips turns crisp, drain them out of the oil and place them on paper towels.

Once you are done frying all the strips, you have to keep them crisp until you are ready to toss them in the sauce. You can do this either by keeping them warm in a pre-heated oven or re-frying them in hot oil for just a min before adding them into the sauce.

For the sauce, heat 1/2 tbsp oil in the pan you roasted the peppers in. Add minced ginger and garlic.

Sauté them for a min until they turn golden. Add the lemon zest in

Add the broth, lemon juice, sriracha, soy sauce, brown sugar and mix well.

Meanwhile, measure out 2 tbsp of corn starch batter than you used for the frying

Once the broth-lemon mixture begins to boil, lower the heat. Add the crushed black pepper and salt

Add the corn starch paste into the boiling mixture in a slow steady stream. Make sure you are constantly stirring the simmering mixture with your other hand while adding the corn flour paste.

Once the mixture thickens, toss in the fried strips, the sautéed bell peppers and the fresh pineapple pieces

Mix well and increase the heat up a notch. Heat for a min or 

Transfer it to a serving dish (and garnish with sesame seeds and sliced green onions if you want to

Donuts.

I made these last week... The recipe is from "Betty Goes Vegan." These are the strawberry shortcake donuts, dipped in vegan sprinkles immediately after glazing. Again I had two non-vegan taste-testers who approved. I'm not a huge fan of the "Betty" book as it is loaded with recipes that rely heavily on fake meat and fake cheese, but the baked items I have tried are solid and the book is fun to read. 

Falafel Pie

I saw this Buzzfeed article of 30 vegan recipes that take less than 30 minutes. I'll be honest that most of them looked gross. Two got my attention though- falafel pie and cauliflower pizza bites.

The original falafel pie recipe was from theveganstoner.com which, even though I don't smoke pot, pretty accurately describes the way I eat and think about food. For two days- TWO DAYS- afterward I couldn't stop thinking about this awesome falafel pie. It's falafel mix pressed into a pie pan instead of the traditional falafel ball, topped with hummus, cucumber, tomato, kalamata olives and homemade vegan tzitziki sauce. 

I went to SuperTarget and was surprised they didn't have falafel mix. I could have sworn I had purchased it there in the past. I knew they didn't have the unflavored soy yogurt I needed for the tzatziki so I wasn't filled with rage about the ordeal. But I was very certain that Trader Joes would have both. Trader Joes had NEITHER! I couldn't believe it. So I said "F-word this S-word," drove home and improvised. On the way home, premenstrual and exhausted, I heard the Trader Joes sales associate's voice in my head over and over: "have you tried Whole Foods?" Pffft have I tried Whole Foods.

I started thjnking, the main ingredient in falafel is chickpeas. I had a can. I had spices. I could do this. After finding a falafel recipe I could trust, I noticed that the recipe was ACTUALLY a recipe FOR falafel pie, but using a falafel-from-scratch method, unlike the Vegan Stoner. 

I made mine gluten-free so my son Felix could eat it too (I had to add a couple more tablespoons of flour to form the dough into a ball, and I have a feeling that traditional flour would have made the crust crispier, but it was still good), and had two non-vegan friends over for dinner as well. I grilled some veggie kabobs to go with this. The grown-ups loved it and asked for seconds. I used the onions I had on the kabobs as additional falafel pie toppings, so next time I'm definitely throwing some onion on top of the pie before baking.

Believe it or not, the tzitziki sauce thing also pissed me off because I was not about to make it with vanilla flavored soy yogurt but couldn't go without it. Then I remembered that I made vegan ranch dip for my fried veggies a couple days prior. So I used that, finely diced 1/4 cucumber  into it and a little bit of lemon juice. It was perfect. So if you've got Veganaise and soy milk laying around you don't need soy yogurt to make this necessary sauce. 

FALAFEL PIE (recipe from Heat Oven to 350)

1 15-oz can chickpeas, drained and rinsed
1/2 large onion, roughly chopped
2 tbsp finely chopped fresh parsley
2 tbsp finely chopped fresh cilantro
1 tsp salt
crushed red pepper flakes to taste
4 cloves of garlic
1 tsp cumin
3/4 tsp baking powder
4 – 5 tablespoons flour
vegetable oil
1 tomato, roughly chopped
1 cucumber, roughly chopped
1/2 cup Kalamata olives, roughly chopped
3/4 cup hummus (prepared or homemade)
cucumber sauce/tzatziki for drizzling (suggested recipe below)

1. Heat oven to 375 degrees.
2. Place chickpeas, onion, parsley, cilantro, salt, red pepper flakes, garlic and cumin in bowl of food processor fitted with steel blade. Process until blended but not pureed — texture should be rougher than hummus.
3. Sprinkle in baking powder and 4 tablespoons of flour, and pulse. Add enough flour so dough can be formed into ball.
4. Coat bottom of 9″ pie pan with vegetable oil. Add falafel mix into pie pan and pat it down until flat. Brush top of falafel mix with more oil and sprinkle lightly with salt. Bake just until top appears dry and the falafel is firm to, about 20-23 minutes.
5. Top baked falafel with hummus, cucumbers, tomatoes, and olives. Top with cucumber sauce (I spooned it into a ziploc bag and cut the corner of the bag with scissors to squeeze out uniformly) and serve.

More Waffles

Ok so this time I made gluten-free vegan waffles (same recipe but using GF flour... My favorite is King Arthur's), and decided to sandwich them with Tofutti Better Than Cream Cheese blended with powdered sugar, a bunch of strawberries and some maple syrup. All was going well and I produced four good (airy, flaky and funnel-cakelike) waffles until I got distracted by something and cooked a waffle too long. 

My waffle iron from 1974 refused to open, even after calling it a "stupid motherf@&$." Luckily a friend was there to help me pry it open. This took multiple tries.

Do not accidentally overcook a waffle.

Also, buy cooking spray. I didn't.

Anyway here's a picture.

My Kitchen Smells Awesome

I got a ton of fresh veggies and hadn't fried anything in a while. I decided that trying to make my own tempura vegetables was a good idea. Miraculously, even though I burn myself on things a lot, I managed to not sacks any part of myself. 

I trimmed and washed green beans, cauliflower, red pepper strips, zucchini and button mushrooms. Preparing the tempura batter took a little while but was worth it. The end result was light, crunchy and delicate, not heavy like traditional beer batter. 

Here's the recipe. Not sure why it was important to refrigerate the batter for 15 minutes prior but I didn't want to screw it up (this was a TON of veggies). Another fringe benefit was that it required no egg replacer which I always forget to buy:

http://vegetarian.about.com/od/sidevegetabledishes/r/vegantempura.htm

Hello, dollies. 

Also I made some vegan ranch. I was skeptical. You see, I've learned I hate fake meats and cheeses for the most part (I like tofu if it's fried, mock duck if it's covered in BBQ and nut cheeses... I like Daiya NEVER). But this ranch is better than any store-bought traditional ranch. Promise.

1 cup Vegenaise
1/4 cup soy milk
1 Tbs. parsley, finely chopped
1/2 tsp. garlic powder
1/2 tsp. onion powder
1/4 tsp. salt
1/8 tsp. pepper

2 tsp. fresh dill

Waffle Maker Dreams Fulfilled

Today I went to the thrift and bought a waffle maker from 1975 for $6.99. It has one setting, no on/off switch and worked like I just bought it. 

I made some vegan blueberry pancakes and whipped up some coconut cream to top it off. Coconut cream takes some steps but once you get the hang, it's sooooo easy. 

Here's a link to make coconut cream: 

http://ohsheglows.com/2012/08/30/coconut-whipped-cream-a-step-by-step-photo-tutorial/

Improvise.

Sometimes you find yourself with a kitchen full of stuff that doesn't seem like it would go together. And in those moments, sometimes you throw together something and happen to have all the ingredients. This happened tonight when I made this. It was tasty and warm, and just as I finished making it, it started snowing!

Curried Apple Rice Pilaf

2 teaspoons olive oil

1/2 cup chopped onion

1 tablespoon chopped garlic

1/2 cup applesauce 

2 teaspoons curry powder 

1 cinnamon stick

2 cups vegetable stock 

1 cup basmati rice

Handful of cashews, halved

Salt, to taste (optional) 

Heat olive oil in a pot with a cover. Sauté onion and garlic on low heat until soft, then add applesauce, curry powder,and cinnamon stick until blended and warm. Add the vegetable broth, cashews and rice, and heat to boiling. Reduce heat to low, cover and simmer for 20 minutes. Turn off the heat and let it steam for five minutes, then stir the ingredients together (the applesauce and spices will rise to the top of the rice).

Pumpkin Bread!

It has been a while. I have actually accidentally veered into vegan, gluten-free foods. It's really easy in fall time: baking vegan and gluten-free is so much easier when you can use pumpkin and applesauce to keep breads, cakes and other baked goods moist. 

I'm a single mom now. Thinking that two years ago I cooked like this almost every day, it's a wonder I have quite lost a bit of weight! I miss walking into my kitchen in the morning and smelling the yummy things I baked or cooked the night before. I'm starting to get back into the groove and it feels great! 

Last night I took a traditional pumpkin bread recipe, substituted some ingredients so it would be GF and vegan, and it turned out yummy! I want to make it again and add raisins or frost it with a sweetened vegan cream cheese. I wasn't fully aware that the recipe made three whole loaves, so after the kids and I were done baking we brought some up to the other three tenants in our 4-plex. 

Side-note: even though there was clearly no smoke or fire, my fire alarm did not like this pumpkin bread. It completely flipped out. I couldn't disable it because it was wired to the wall. I pulled it out. I think it was possessed because it kept beeping even afterward. As you know, there is never a "hey, you may want to check the oven" setting on a fire alarm. It's always a horribly loud "HOLY SHIT YOUR HOUSE IS ON FIRE GET OUT NOW BEFORE YOU DIE" setting. So I threw it in my car. Don't worry... I have another one.

Vegan gluten-free Pumpkin Bread

1 can (15 oz) pumpkin purée

1 cup applesauce 

1 stick Earth Balance buttery spread 

2/3 cup water 

3 cups white sugar 

3 1/2 cups Bob's Red Mill gluten-free flour 

6 teaspoons baking powder 

1 1/2 teaspoons salt 

1 teaspoon cinnamon 

1 teaspoon nutmeg 

1/2 teaspoon ground cloves 

1/2 teaspoon ginger 

Grease 3 loaf pans. Heat oven to 350. Mix wet ingredients and sugar in a mixer. Blend together the dry ingredients separately and slowly add until well-blended.  Divide mix into the three pans and bake for 50 minutes or until a toothpick placed in the center comes out clean. 

You gotta have cute bag clips... 

Black bean spaghetti with squash, spinach, pine nuts and tomato!

Here was dinner last night... So very pretty. It looked like a culinary rainbow.

A friend got me some black bean spaghetti. "It's fun!" she said. I thought it looked weird and would taste like crap. And I didn't have any idea what I would cook with it. But dudes... It's GOOD.

I got the recipe from Honest Kitchen and modified it. It calls for pumpkin but I thought squash would be easier to find, easier to work with and milder in flavor. It worked great! The kids loved it (I was a little worried they wouldn't but they all destroyed it).

I think next time I will try crumbling some Punk Rawk Labs vegan cheese on top, or grilling some cubed marinaded tofu and mixing it in (the original recipe calls for it to be topped with feta cheese).

1 1/2 cups butternut squash, cut into small chunks
1 cup cherry tomatoes
2 cloves garlic
olive oil
sea salt
black pepper
1 tablespoon dried rosemary or 1 sprig fresh rosemary
1 packet black bean spaghetti
pinch of sea salt
1 tablespoon olive oil
2 big handfuls baby spinach, washed
a few tablespoons pine nut kernels, toasted


Dressing:
1/2 lemon, zested and juiced
100ml (3 ounze) extra virgin olive oil
black pepper, extra

1. Preheat oven to 350 F.

2. Place the pumpkin, tomatoes and garlic on a roasting tray. Drizzle with olive oil and sprinkle with sea salt, black pepper and rosemary. Toss to coat. Bake for 15 minutes or until the pumpkin is just cooked through (you can take the tomatoes out earlier if they look like they’re getting too soft). Leave to cool slightly.

3. Cook the black bean spaghetti according to the packet instructions (6-8 minutes in a boiling water with pinch of sea salt and olive oil). Drain and place in a large bowl. Add the spinach and toss well. Add the pumpkin and the tomatoes and fold to combine.

4. To make the vinaigrette, combine the olive oil, half of the lemon juice and the lemon zest in a bowl and whisk to combine. Season with black pepper. Drizzle the salad dressing on the dish and fold to combine.

When Life Gives You Lemons...

A fitting title for my latest blog after a hiatus of a decent length, wouldn't you agree? I'm finally back at making some food and not just microwaving Amy's frozen dinners. It's been a long few months!

I don't know what got into me but I wanted dessert, and bad. Felix is gluten-free and I wanted him to be able to have some of whatever it was I was making. Vegan and gluten-free doesn't always sound good especially when you're talking desserts.

Enter: sugar, vegan butter, some GF carbs and a whole crapload of lemons.

All of those things are pretty good. So together they made a good treat. I got the recipe from Cheap and Simple Vegan, you can find it here:

http://www.cheapandsimpleveganrecipes.com/gluten-free-vegan-lemon-bars/

Here are some pictures! It was pretty easy to make, just wicked messy. It felt good to bust out my beautiful cherry red KitchenAid mixer again.

Heres one before baking- bake the crust for about 20 minutes first, then pour on a decadent lemon sauce that you bake for about 20 minutes more.

And after... Dusted with a little powdered sugar!

Warming Up with Wild Rice Soup!

It is officially fall! Lars is on the east coast right now, but I didn't want to slip into "meals for one," so I've been cooking a lot and making big batches to share with friends.

My new favorite thing are those microwave rice pouches- especially the wild rice. Wild rice is incredibly easy to mess up but you never know until it's too late. I bought an Archer Farms one from Target, and used it in a recipe for cabbage rolls. I had a whole bunch left over- almost two cups- so I decided to improvise and try making a recipe for a vegan wild rice soup.

I am definitely not opposed to soy cheese, nut milks, or anything else that is meant to directly replace a meat or dairy product, but I like when I can make a recipe without them that is like the original. That means, this recipe happens to also be soy-free!

I always get nervous when I make a new recipe... this one was great! I am so happy with it. I almost can't wait until the weather gets colder so that I can warm up with some more of this.

Vegetable Wild Rice Soup

1 Tbsp olive oil
1 onion, chopped
2 cloves minced garlic
10 baby red potatoes
4 carrots, chopped
1/2 carton of sliced button mushrooms
1 1/2 cup cooked wild rice
2 boullion cubes
1 Tbsp thyme
salt and pepper to taste

Boil the potatoes (I did mine unpeeled) in enough water to cover them, until they are just barely soft, then add the carrots to the water until both veggies are soft and fork-tender.

Heat the olive oil in a skillet and saute the onion, garlic and mushrooms over medium heat until onions are translucent, garlic is fragrant and the mushrooms are soft.

Process all but about 4 of the potatoes in a food processor. Remove the remaining potatoes and cut them into cubes, then return them to the water. Add the bouillon cubes as well as the onion-mushroom mixture until boiling.

Pour in the wild rice. Make sure the bouillon is fully melted, then add the processed potatoes and stir until the broth looks creamy. Season with thyme and salt and pepper.

Vegan Rosh Hashanah!

Rosh Hashanah is Jewish new year. I'm not super religious but Rosh Hashanah is fun because it focuses a lot on the fall harvest. This year I was committed to making a vegan Rosh Hashanah dinner and to my surprise and delight, everything turned out great! We had dinner outside JUST before sundown so we could enjoy our food in the beautiful weather, then have a fire in the back yard. My friend Rachel Klein joined the boys and me, and was named Captain of Pediatric Wrangling during the hours-long food preparation.

I wanted to blend Eastern European recipes, á la my grandma, along with traditional Israeli and middle Eastern staples. I ended up making my old standby Moroccan stew over Israeli couscous (which you can find in earlier posts), potato and onion borek, eggless challah, cabbage rolls, apple strudel, and falafel with hummus. I found the excellent recipes for the challah and apple strudel on this post by vegkitchen.com What was crazy and I did NOT realize while I was planning this menu, was that I made a ton of "wrapped" foods. Two foods wrapped in pastry and one wrapped in cabbage. Both of these recipes below require some tuck-n-roll.

The recipes I adapted were all either dairy or parve, and some of them require a lot of prep, so be prepared to spend some time in the kitchen! I took some shortcuts like buying microwavable wild rice (I always screw up wild rice anyway) and jarred tomato sauce (I found one with green olives which is what the recipe called for... not having to make sauce saves you a good 40 minutes)! I was terrified I was going to screw up the cabbage rolls but they were easy to assemble and were the standout success of the dinner. You will need a food processor!


Cabbage Rolls 

6 large cabbage leaves
4 Tbsp olive oil
2 onions, chopped
2 large carrots, grated
5 oz mushrooms (I used portabello)
1/2 precooked brown rice
1/2 cup precooked wild rice
1/4 cup black beans (the original recipe called for lentils which you could also use)
2 cups veggie stock
3 1/2 oz vegan cream cheese
salt and pepper to taste
premade tomato or pasta sauce with olives

Boil a large pot of water and blanche the leaves for about 5-10 minutes. While you're waiting, combine the two rices and set aside.

Chop the onions in a food processor, and sauté them in a pan heated with olive oil, until they are translucent. Process the carrots and mushrooms together in the processor, then add them to the pan and cook until soft. Finally add the rice mixture, beans (or lentils) and herbs as well as salt and pepper to taste, until everything is incorporated and heated through. Transfer mixture to a bowl and mix with the vegan cream cheese.


Borek is similar to a spanakopita (Greek spinach pie) because its a savory pie wrapped in a puff pastry. Awesome fact- Pepperidge Farm Puff Pastry is VEGAN! Use that information wisely, because its not exactly low-fat, low-calorie or very good for you, even though it makes some amazing treats and is easy to use. Borek is traditionally served with a tzaziki (yogurt-dill) sauce, but they are totally decadent enough on their own!

Potato, Onion and "Cheese" Borek

1 Pepperidge Farm puff pastry
1 Tbsp Earth Balance, melted
1 onion, finely chopped or processed
3 1/2 oz vegan garlic-chive cream cheese
7 oz cooked mashed potato (I actually boiled my potatoes, peeled and mashed them... time-consuming!)
1/2 chopped italian parsley
1 tsp thyme
salt and pepper to taste

Heat oven to 450 (original recipe says to heat to "446 degrees," which I found so funny! Old recipe books are so odd, especially when they have been translated from another language or converted into different forms of measurement).

Mix all the ingredients except the puff pastry and Earth Balance into a bowl. Lay the puff pastry on a flat surface and cut into 9 squares. This is pretty easy because it's folded into thirds, so if you cut that, and then cut it the other way, you'll have 9.

Fill each square at its base, tuck in the sides and roll up. Be careful not to overfill the pastry, and seal it by pinching the seam after rolling. Place them all on a baking sheet and brush each one with Earth Balance.

Bake for 10-15 minutes or until golden brown.

Ciabatta Madness!

I picked up these little take-and-bake ciabatta buns from the grocery and was really happy to learn they are vegan! I made two awesome sandwiches with them that quickly became favorites for me.

The first was a portabella sandwich with roasted red pepper and garlic-chive vegan cream cheese. I simply sautéed a mushroom cap in some oil, red wine vinegar, garlic and rosemary, then added jarred roasted red peppers and a schmear of the cream cheese onto a toasted mini ciabatta. Voila.

The second came from a take-home recipe magazine from Kowalski's Market and inside it was a recipe for a Mexican chicken sandwich that looked pretty good... so I veganized it.

On second thought I kind of wish I had called this blog, "Veganize This." Because I feel like all I do is take "regular" recipes and make them vegan. You can find the original recipe here on their website, and then you can say, "OOOH, I see what she did there."


Mexican Veggie Ciabatta Sandwiches

• 1/3 cup Veganaise
• 1 tbsp. fresh squeezed lime juice
• 1 tsp. grated lime zest
• salt and pepper to tastes
• 1 tbsp. Kowalski's Extra Virgin Olive Oil
• 1/2 cup canned black beans, rinsed and drained
• 2 tbsp. chopped red onion
• 6 mini sweet peppers, sliced into rings
• 1/4 cup fresh, canned or steamed corn
• 1 tbsp. finely chopped fresh cilantro
• 1 tsp. ground cumin
• 2 tsp. chili powder

• 3/4 tsp. cayenne pepper
• handful of Daiya pepperjack cheese
• 4 mini ciabattas
• 6-8 tomato slices
• Wholly Guacamole or fresh avocado

Heat oven to 350 and heat the ciabattas after cutting in half (open-face style). After removing from the oven, place a handful of Daiya pepperjack on one side and allow it to melt.

Combine the Veganaise with lime juice and zest, and set aside (refrigeration is a good idea). Heat the olive oil over medium, and sautee the black beans, red onion, peppers and corn until heated through but still crisp. Season while still warm.

Spread lime vegan mayo on one side of the ciabatta and top with avocado or guacamole, and tomato. fill the sandwich with the bean and veggie mixture. 

The Impromptu Scone.

I need to concede that I dislike fake meat. Most fake meat, anyway. I do like tofurky and the soy Bacos, but most of the time it doesn't sit right with me. I made an otherwise-awesome enchilada recipe today (with avocado instead of cheese) but the fake chicken ruined the experience for me.

I've been a really good girl lately. I'm exercising (not well, but still) and trying to eat well. I needed a treat after this sadness. I didn't have much in the fridge- we just got back into town and all the bills were due the moment the plane landed- but we had some coconut milk I knew was destined for something good.

I was unsure about the batter when I first saw it because it was so moist, but it was amazing, tender and delicious- not too sweet and melt-in-your-mouth. My only criticism was that I couldn't taste the lime much. I think next time I will use lime zest instead of lime juice, or a personal household favorite- rose water. I modified this recipe to make it my own (out of necessity) but the original is on Art of Dessert (theirs is an adaptation too) and calls for adding fruit and nuts!

I cannot wait to eat one of these for breakfast, warmed up and buttered with Earth Balance.


Vegan Coconut Milk Lime Scones


2 cups all-purpose flour
1/3 cup sugar
1 Tbs. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
1 tsp. lime, orange or lemon zest (or rose water- play with the options! Maple might be great too)
1 cup canned coconut milk (cold)
1 small container Amande vegan almond milk yogurt (I used coconut flavor)

...and...

A couple tablespoons of sugar for sprinkling

Heat oven to 425. Combine all dry ingredients, then add coconut milk, vegan yogurt and your flavor add-in.

Place heaping ice cream scoops of the batter onto a baking sheet about a half-inch apart. Generously sprinkle with sugar.

Bake for 15-20 minutes or until golden brown.

GF Vegan Eggplant Parmesan

Today was a day of discovery for me. I rifled through my entire Pinterest account and re-pinned my own pins into categories called "Veganize This." I made four- Breakfast, Lunch/Dinner, Dessert and Snacks. While doing this I found a great resource for some fun vegan recipes. I got lost in it!

http://foodgawker.com/tag/vegan/page/2/#1

Of all the things I can cook, my Achilles' heel was always eggplant. I'm not sure why but I always messed it up. Today I tried again and the results turned out pretty good!

I did a little research and discovered that peeling eggplant helps smooth out the texture, and soaking it in salt water for a few minutes gets it pliable. I did this before I started.

Funny thing is that I went to all these extra lengths to make this recipe gluten-free, even though I was pretty sure he would hate the texture. Autistic kids almost always have texture issues and my son is no exception. He is very picky and didn't care for this, but ironically my middle son who inquired and subsequently scoffed the eggplant LOVED it. Kids... What are you gonna do?

Vegan Eggplant Parmesan

1 Tbsp olive oil

1 medium eggplant (peeled, sliced 1/4 inch thick, soaked in salt water and patted dry)

2 slices Udi's gluten-free bread (you can use regular bread too)

1 teaspoon Italian seasoning

1/2 cup almond milk

1 cup shredded or sliced vegan cheese

3 cups pasta sauce (I know it's not very foodie but my very favorite sauce of all time is Prego)

2 Tbsp Vegan Parmesan

1 box quinoa pasta, any type

Place the eggplant on a baking sheet and brush with olive oil. Broil until the eggplant is browned on both sides.

Toast the Udi's bread and pulse it in a food processor with the Italian seasoning. Place in a shallow bowl.

Remove from the oven and let cool. Set the oven to bake at 350 degrees. Boil the water and cook the quinoa pasta.

Dip each slice of eggplant into the almond milk and dredge them one by one into the bread crumb mixture. Return them to the baking sheet and sprinkle them with shredded vegan cheese (or top each one with thinly-sliced vegan block cheese). Pour pasta sauce evenly over the top of the eggplant and bake until the pasta is al dente, drained and rinsed, and cheese is melted.

To serve, plate the pasta and top with the eggplant, then scoop the sauce over the top. Generously sprinkle with vegan Parmesan or nutritional yeast.