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Vegan Bfast mess

I eat Tofu most mornings. This is a basic play on a vegan breakfast.

Cook down veggies (In this case I had a bag of frozen mixed veg)

Added some extra protein with a half can of Chickpeas

Cook all with S&P and some loud Tumeric

Drop a block of tofu in, season well and mix

I was bad today and added in some Cashew “Cheddar cheese”

Throw in fresh herbs if you have on hand

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Vegan BBQ

Tempeh “BBQ RIBS”

Maple-Rosemary Cornmuffins

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Pretty Charleston

Some recent pretty moments at home

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Health, Donuts and Vegan cheese

I’ve started the Doterra “Vegan Vitality pack”. It includes every multivitamin that you are supposed to take, but it’s Vegan so I don’t have to swallow fish oil..whatever that really is...After 12 pills a day for a month I’ll let you know how I feel. Right now I can see through walls this stuff is so strong. 

In other news; I stuffed fresh squash blossoms with cashew nut cheese...I bought 10 dollar Vegetable ash plant-based cheese from Wholefoods, because this is America and I just realized the donut shop 5 minutes from my house that I pass every day on my way to work is Vegan.

Life is great 

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These were SO GOOD

-vegan

-sweet

-tasty

-only 130 calories for two pieces

Got them at the “Caviar and Bananas” in the CHS International Airport 

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Mocha-Choco-Vegan-Cuppies

This was my first Vegan-cake experience, and I could get used to it, really.

Nothing too drastic or different. Take away the egg, add oil, take away the butter, add some more oil. (No one ever said sweet-treats were supposed to be healthy.)

The cake recipe was from ChowHound and the Frosting was a combination of a few things I read, some things I made up along the way. 

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MOCHA FROSTING:

..1/2 cup unhydrogenated Veggie shortening

..1/2 cup Earth Balance (non-dairy butter)

..Touch of Vanilla

..Brewed and cooled instant espresso, I used about 4 Tbs. Add more or less.

..Touch of Almond milk 

..About 3 cups of so Powdered Sugar.

Whip it up, add more milk if it’s too thick for you. Play around!

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Rice-less, dairy-free “Chocolate, coconut rice pudding”

I based this off of a recipe I found in some random “spiralizer” cook book, while learning how to “rice” raw plantains. Then I changed everything.

FIRST, how to “rice” a plantain. I used the blade from a fancy doo-dad I had in my cabinet. You could probably get the same effect from finely dicing, if you don’t have a spiralizer or mandolin handy. The effect is to get the raw plantain into the size and texture of rice.

..2 plantains, “riced”

..2 1/2 cups Chocolate Almond Milk

..1/2 cup Cacao Butter (a half cup measured in solid form...melted, comes out to be about half that volume)

..2 tbs. brown sugar

..Chopped nuts (I used almonds)

..Chopped dried fruit (I used candied apricots)

..Coconut flakes (I used unsweetened) 

..A few dashed of cinnamon

..Whipped topping (You don’t need this, but I had left over Coconut Whipped topping in the fridge)

1. In either a small saucepan or microwave, melt about a half cup of cacao butter. Set aside.

2. In a medium saucepan, combine 2 cups of the almond milk with “riced” plantains. Bring to boil on high heat then simmer on low for 5-10 minutes until the “rice” starts to stick to the saucepan. Add the remaining 1/2 cup almond milk and cook until that has evaporated and your plantain is chewy, like soggy rice. At this point stir in brown sugar (or honey, or nothing.) and melted cacao butter.

3. While cooking “rice”, chop the nuts and fruit. 

4. In a medium sized bowl combine the “rice pudding” with the nuts, fruit, coconut and cinnamon (use your judgement on measurements). 

5. Top with more coconut flakes and enjoy!

Best served chilled.

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My first Vegan-dessert attempt.

Not bad!

White Chocolate Macadamia Cheesecake from the Minimalist Baker.

Discovered Cocoa Butter in the process (google that right now)

The hardest part of vegan anything so far that I’ve found is texture. This “cheesecake” firmed up a bit in the freezer, but it didn’t have that rich, velvety bite of cream cheese...but still very tasty! 

We topped it with Frozen Coconut Whipped topping we found at Whole Foods

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SO

I’m transitioning...my stomach.

Dairy-free, meat-free, egg-free(ish), plant-based.

I’ve got a pretty shitty body. I try to eat well, I exercise often, but as an adult who grew up with childhood asthma, taking antibiotics every other week, I have a terrible immune system, allergies and severe acid reflux (I dropped coffee almost a year ago now).

SO

I’m giving the vegan thing a try. It’s only been about two weeks in and I really feel great. And not bored. Between recipes from the Blue Carrot and The Minimalist Baker, dinner time has become quite the event. 

But, I still want to bake. So here we go, me spending way too much money on unhydrogenated veggie shortening and cashew nuts, and trying to fix my old crippled body in the process. 

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The FL strawberries were delicious this year, and abundant!

Used a Martha recipe for cupcakes, used my own mascarpone frosting, which I can’t remember at the moment. I’m the worst blogger. Here...

http://www.marthastewart.com/258957/sprinkles-strawberry-cupcakes

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GREAT overnight, no knead bread recipe...So easy, even I could do it :)

https://cooking.nytimes.com/recipes/11376-no-knead-bread

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Copy-cat Twinkie Recipe 

Pretty easy NYTimes recipe, but some of the step by steps could use a little explaining (like what exactly is a spice jar?). 

Here’s my play by play. Enjoy, let me know how yours turn out. Mine were goooooooood.

RECIPE: https://cooking.nytimes.com/recipes/12328-homemade-twinkies

1. Twinkie tomb construction:

Cut tin foil into 14 x 12 squares, 12 times. Takes time but easy enough.

2. Fold in half, length wise, then fold in half again, width wise. You get a smaller rectangle. Use a normal spice container (spice jar?) and mold it tightly around. 

3. Twinkie coffins:

Fill about halfway per coffin.

4. From the bottom up:

Creamy egg yolk, beaten egg white, flour mixture.

5. Pre-baked Twinkie graveyard.

6. Strawberry fluff:

As was the Superbowl celebration when these were made, red needed to be injected into the process. The results of the evening weren’t so successful but at least the dessert was tasty. 

7. Fill em’ up:

Chopstick those cakes open then fill em’ up. Wrap them in plastic wrap and then destroy.

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Pasta is really easy to make

...even without a machine

To give credit where it is due, below is the recipe list from the website used.

The rest is kneading everything by hand, really well, letting it sit on the counter in plastic wrap for 45 minutes, rolling it really really really REALLY thin, then boiling til it’s cooked (I’m a great teacher)

Make sure you have flour on hand, it’s gonna get sticky

I made a pesto sauce, that’s another post for another day and yum pasta

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CANNOLI and ANTIPASTA

Here are some ideas for your next Holiday gathering

Cannoli

I’ve attached the Alex Guarnaschelli recipe as a GUIDELINE. In lieu of a quarter cup I ended up using about a cup, maybe more of the whipped cream. My shells were pre-bought because no one has that kind of time. And Pistachios were used.

Antipasta

Here are some ideas: 

Veggies: High heat, lots of oil, salt and pepper until greasy and crispy. Mushrooms, bell peppers, onion, garlic, mushroom, eggplant.

Caprese: Fresh mozzarella, fresh tomato, fresh basil, good balsamic vinegar.

Fresh Focaccia Bread: http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/anne-burrell/focaccia-recipe.html

Sliced Italian meats, Mixed Italian Olives, Stuffed Grape Leaves

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MILLE CREPE CAKE off of Buzz Feed Tasty.

Enjoy!

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Cherry Almond Shortbread Cookies

Link below, I left out the white chocolate drizzle.

Sweet and east...http://sallysbakingaddiction.com/2014/12/08/cherry-almond-shortbread-cookies/

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Dom Deluise’s Sister Ann’s Cookies

1 stick and a half margarine 1/3 cup sugar 3 eggs 1 tsp. vanilla 1/2 cup orange juice 3 cup flour 3 tsp. baking powder...........and Sprinkles!

350 degrees.

Cream together the first 5 ingredients. Gently add in dry mix. 

Roll into balls, let set for 10 minutes.

Mix together icing ingredients, set aside.

Bake for 15 minutes.

While cookies are still slightly warm, dip with icing and top with sprinkles.

For Icing

1/2 pound Confect. sugar

1/2 cup orange juice

Touch of Vanilla