Pickles

I made pickles today. The recipe is based on Alton Brown's bread and
butter pickle recipe. (My zucchini version here
http://lexiloves.com/zucchini-pickles ) I slightly altered the spices
this time, used less sugar, and made them with cucumbers.

Tagged pickles recipe vegan

Gooey Chocolate Deliciousness

I had a craving for something like a "lava cake" and this is what I came up with after looking at a couple recipes online.  It is a brownie-like cake with a chocolatey sauce on the bottom. I used a silicone "all edges" baking pan so my timing is based on that. (Similar to this http://kidscooking.about.com/od/cookbookskitchentools/gr/bakersedgepan.htm but a smaller size.) I'd suggest a 9" square pan otherwise.


Ingredients:

  • 1 cup flour
  • 3/4 tsp. salt
  • 2 tsp. baking powder
  • 1 tsp. cinnamon
  • 3/4 cup granulated sugar
  • 2 T cocoa powder
  • 2 T melted margarine
  • 1/2 cup strong coffee or espresso
  • 2 tsp. vanilla extract
  • 1/2 tsp. almond extract
  • 1/4 cup cocoa powder
  • 1 cup packed brown sugar
  • 1 3/4 cups hot water
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Mix flour, salt, baking powder, granulated sugar and two tablespoons cocoa powder in a bowl. Stir in vanilla and almond extracts, melted margarine and coffee/espresso. Spread batter into baking pan. In separate bowl, mix brown sugar and 1/4 cup cocoa powder. Sprinkle mixture over batter. Carefully pour hot water over top. Do not mix. Bake 50ish minutes. During baking, chocolate sauce will form on the bottom and cake will rise to top. Serve warm. Yum!
Tagged chocolate dessert recipe vegan

Cheeze / Not Cheese

I love cheese. I really do. It’s not really the healthiest thing to eat, and I think I might have a dairy allergy. Every time I eat a large amount of dairy I get very bloated and my ankles swell. It’s just not a good thing for me to eat. I won’t even get into the ethical questions of mass produced dairy products.

I love Joanne Stepaniak’s faux cheese recipes. I’ve used her cookbooks for over 12 years. She has some recipes for “block uncheez” as she calls it. I’ve tried a few of these. They are good, but I wasn’t thrilled with any of them. I was inspired to try to make my own version. The basic idea of using an agar formula comes from Joanne Stepaniak. Without her originals I probably never would have  created mine.

Basic Block “Cheeze”

  • 1 1/2 cup water
  • 2 tablespoons agar powder (not flakes)
  • 1/2 cup cashew butter
  • 1/2 of a roasted red pepper
  • 1/4 cup nutritional yeast
  • 3 tablespoons lemon juice
  • 2 teaspoons white miso
  • 2 teaspoons onion powder
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
  • 1/4 teaspoon mustard powder

Oil a 3-cup bowl or container, set aside. Put water and agar powder in saucepan and let sit. Combine remaining ingredients in food processer and blend thoroughly. (If necessary, add water 1 teaspoon at a time to enable processing. Only add if needed.)

Boil agar and water mixture until agar is dissolved and mixture if syrupy. Immediately pour into food processor with blended ingredients and process until well mixed. Immediately pour into oiled bowl. The mixture starts to set very quickly.

Now, let the “cheeze” cool before covering and refrigerating. The next day simply turn the bowl over to unmold. You’ll have wonderfully sliceable “cheeze”.

It makes to die for, melty grilled cheese sandwiches. Seriously the best. Yum. That’s what we are having for dinner tonight. I think tomorrow we’ll use some on our burritos.

Tagged cheeze recipe vegan

Simple vegan “turkey”

This is the recipe I used for Thanksgiving with little tweaks. It’s basically become a standard seitan technique with me to use the pressure cooker to steam the gluten. I love seitan.

I haven’t eaten meat of any type in twelve years so I honestly can’t say how “meaty” this is, but it reminds me of the frozen turkey loaf things I had eaten in my past. Yeah, probably not the most appetizing comparison…

Once again, I use Hodgson Mill vital wheat gluten. It is packaged in 6.5 ounce boxes which is the measurement I use for my seitan recipes.

Dry ingredients:


  • 1 box Hodgson Mill vital wheat gluten (or 6.5 ounce of other vital wheat gluten)

  • 1/4 cup nutritional yeast (optional - I like the texture better with it.)

  • 1/4 tsp. garlic powder

  • 1/4 tsp. onion powder

  • fresh ground pepper (optional)

  • 1 tsp. rubbed sage


Wet:

  • 1 cup warm (not hot) vegetable or poultry flavored broth/stock minus one tablespoon

  • 1 Tablespoon olive oil

  • Salt if you are using unsalted broth or stock


Put all dry ingredients in bowl and lightly mix. Stir in wet ingredients. Knead a few minutes until very springy, spongy mass forms. I do this in the stand mixer with the paddle attachment on a low speed for about 2 minutes. Form into a log shape and wrap with aluminum foil. Place on steaming rack in pressure cooker and cook at high pressure for 30 minutes. Allow to come down from pressure naturally.
Tagged pressure cooker recipe vegan vegan turkey