Friday, October 22, 2010

How do you like them apples?!

I am going to a Halloween party tomorrow. I didn't know what to bring until I read Peas and Thank you. Mama Pea made vegan Carmel apples. I have never had them, so I decided to try them out. The only boo boo I made was not having a candy thermometer. Apparently I didn't cook the carmel long enough, so it just runs off the apples. You can't get it off your hands or the pan, but it doesn't like apples! I wasn't about to whip up more carmel sauce since it takes enough ingredients. I hate wasting. The peeps at the party will just have to scrap the carmel back onto the apple! It's more fun that way... ;) 

I'm not even going to list the ingredients and process...just go to Mama Peas link and see for yourself. However, here are my apples!

After their bath! 




With their runny sauce




For dinner I tried a new tofu recipe. My Mom found it for me. It's called Buffalo Tofu Bites. When I make my tofu, I typically make it buffalo style, without breading. This has breading. I am in love with franks red hot sauce and any excuse to eat it, I will! --For dinner, I also had roasted potatoes and spinach salad. There are a lot of potatoes on the plate. I haven't had them in a while.

Buffalo Tofu Bites

1 lb extra-firm tofu -- drained and pressed
3/4 cup franks red hot sauce
1 cup panko or bread crumbs
1/8 cup flax seed
8 Vegan Ritz crackers
spices you want to add

 Cut the pressed tofu into bite size cubes, place in a bowl, and cover with hot sauce. Marinate for 1 hour or over night.

In a blender, mix together panko, crackers, and flax seed. Season to taste.

Remove tofu from marinate and dredge through crumb mixture. 

Bake at 375 degrees for 18-20 minutes. Drizzle with 1/2-1 ratio melted butter and franks hot sauce. Enjoy!


 To make the potatoes I just cube them, drizzle with olive oil and spices.

I make my own dressing. I've never been a fan of the store bought. It is called Spinach Salad Dressing.  


Spinach Salad Dressing

1 cup oil (I use 1/2 olive, 1/2 canola)
3/4 cup sugar (I use less)
1 tsp vegan Worcestershire sauce 
1/3 cup ketchup
1/4 cup apple-cider vinegar

Place all ingredients except oil in a blender. Slowly drizzle in oil to emulsify. It will look like french dressing. 

Hope you all have a great weekend!

Wednesday, October 20, 2010

It's that time of year!


I finally had a day off where I didn't have many errands to do. I was able to get into the kitchen and make a few things that I have not shared with you yet! 

For Brunch (Brunch only because I forgot to eat breakfast, duh) I had a pancake. I found the best recipe for pancakes! They are much fluffier than the original. Initially, when I wrote down this recipe I copied it wrong. They still turned out but it was funny when one morning Mom and I had made up the batter and we were waiting for my Dad to get home before making them... while sitting at the kitchen table we hear something and we look over and see that the batter has risen so far out of the bowl it was over flowing! See,  instead of 1 tbsp of baking powder I had written down 2 tbsps! I'm a dork! I had been making it this way for a good year before Mom said I think this is wrong and we should try it with only 1 tbsp. 

Vegan Pancakes

1 cup of flour
1 tbsp sugar
1 tbsp baking powder (not 2!)
1/8 tsp salt
1 cup almond milk
2 tbsp oil

Mix dry, add wet. Mix and cook. -- I halved this recipe to just make one pancake for myself. I cannot eat more than one. I was also out of maple syrup so I used blue agave nectar.  





For dinner I made Savory Cabbage Soup. I got this recipe from a magazine and then modified it. I love soup and I'm always looking for new ones to try. The original recipe just called for cabbage, carrots, vegetable broth, onions, and rice. I added beans, vegetable bouillon, and other spices.  I have also left out the water and added more vegetable broth, to add more flavor. It's up to you. 

Savory Cabbage Soup

3 tbsp olive oil
1 small cabbage, cleaned and cut small
3 cups vegetable broth
3 cups water
1/2 cup jasmine rice
good hand full of chopped carrots
good hand full of diced onions
1 vegetable boullion cube
1 can white beans, rinsed and drained
spices

Saute carrots, onions, and cabbage in oil. Add broth, water, beans, bouillon, and spices. Cover, bring to a boil, reduce heat to medium and simmer 15 minutes. Add rice, cover and simmer for another 15 minutes.  

As I was eating my soup and grilled cheese I remembered that I had forgotten to take a picture so here it is in the pot!
Enjoy! :o)

Thursday, October 14, 2010

Kale Chips Please!

Yes, I know I haven't written in a very long time! I haven't tried anything new and have finally got a job! It isn't in the field I went to school for but it pays! Plus I do not want this blog to be about my life, I want it to be about the vegan part of my life. Things I want to share about being a vegan; not what I did all day! Therefore, I should seriously change the blog name. Perhaps to something like The Picky Vegan?! Any thoughts? It took me forever to even come up with this one.

After my monthly trip to Whole Foods, I went to make Kale Chips again. I thought I posted the recipe on this blog, but couldn't find it. So here it is again. It is taken from Mama Pea.

Kale Chips

One large bunch of kale, rinsed and torn into pieces
Spices


I recently made Mama Peas's BBQ Kale chips, so that is what is in the picture below. Today I made Salt and Pepper Kale Chips. * While writing Salt and Pepper, I then immediately sang to myself "Shoop" by Salt-N-Pepa haha! It's kind of like when you hear "who you gonna call?" I immediately say Ghost Busters. Yeah, I know I'm a dork! 

The presentation looks horrible, but I was hungry and in a hurry! With my kale chips I had a veggie dog with sauerkraut! The only reason I eat veggie dogs is for the sauerkraut I can eat with it! 





Every once in a while my Mom wants cookies. So, I made her Peanut butter cookies! Her favorite! Which I got from Sarah Kramer's book La Dolce Vegan


Peanut butter Cookies


1/2 cup vegan butter
1/2 cup organic peanut butter
1 cup brown sugar
1 egg replacer
3 tbsp of water
2 cups of flour (I used whole wheat pastry flour)
1/4 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt


Cream together butter, PB, sugar, and egg replacer. Add dry ingredients and stir well. Roll into one inch balls and place on parchment paper. Fork them! Bake at 350 for 8-10 minutes. 





I finally went to the Vegan restaurant in Nashville called the Wild Cow! It was awesome! I can't wait to go back. I had a buffalo sandwich with tempeh and tofu! So good! I love being able to go to a restaurant and to not have to worry and eat more than one item from the menu. 


Also, for my birthday my parents got me a vegan cupcake-cake from Fiddlecakes! OMG! They were so good! Fiddlecakes is a little cafe/bakery place in Nashville. They have desserts, sandwiches, soup, coffee, etc. They accommodate vegans! 
Isn't it pretty?! :o)

Hope you all have a great weekend! I'll be working from now until eternity!