Saturday, April 23, 2011
Sunday, April 17, 2011
6 oz. semisweet vegan chocolate (I used chocolate chips), coarsely chopped
1 TB walnut oil (or canola oil)
12 oz. MoriNu soft tofu, well drained
1/4 cup pure maple syrup
1/4 cup vanilla or plain soy milk
1 tsp. fresh lemon juice
1/4 tsp. vanilla extract
1 TB tahini
fresh strawberries or raspberries (optional)
1. Heat chocolate and oil in top of double boiler set over barely simmering water. Whisk until smooth. Remove pan from water, and let cool 20 to 30 minutes.
2. Meanwhile, cut tofu into thick slabs, and place on triple layer of paper towels. Press firmly on tofu to squeeze out as much water as possible; change paper towels if necessary. (I omitted this step and everything turned out fine – I just dumped the tofu from the box into the bowl.)
3. Put maple syrup, soy milk, lemon juice, vanilla extract and tahini into food processor. Crumble tofu into mixture, and purée until smooth, scraping down sides with spatula as necessary. Add melted chocolate, and process until well blended.
4. Transfer pudding into 6 custard cups or small bowls. Cover each with plastic wrap, and refrigerate 2 to 3 hours, or until softly set. To serve, top with berries.
2 tsp olive oil
6-8 oz. mushrooms, sliced
8 oz. broccoli florets, cut on the small side
1-1/2 TB Earth Balance margarine
1-1/2 TB all-purpose flour
1 cup soy milk
2-3 cloves garlic, minced
1/4 tsp. salt
1/4 cup shredded Daiya mozzarella
1 pizza dough
1. Place pizza stone in center of oven, and heat to 500°F for at least 30 minutes; 60 is better. You want your oven as hot as you can get it.
2. Heat oil in skillet over medium-high heat. Add mushrooms and cook 2 to 3 minutes, or until beginning to brown, stirring frequently. Add broccoli and 1/3 cup water. Cover tightly, and steam broccoli in skillet 2 to 3 minutes, or until barely tender. When done add some seasonings, stir and drain. Set aside.
3. Meanwhile, heat margarine in saucepan over medium-high heat. Add garlic and cook a minute or two; add flour, and cook 2 minutes, or until pale golden, stirring constantly. Stir in milk and salt. Cook 3 to 4 minutes, or until mixture thickens and begins to boil, stirring constantly. Remove from heat. Stir in mozzarella and whisk until sauce is smooth and cheese is melted.
4. Shape pizza dough and place on piece of parchment paper on pizza peel.
5. Spread white sauce over dough. If you're a fan of Daiya cheese go ahead and add a bit more if you like and top with broccoli mixture. Slide on to top of pizza stone and bake for 6 minutes. Then slide parchment paper from underneath pizza and cook for several more minutes until pizza is brown on edges.
Saturday, April 16, 2011
14 oz. tub of firm Nasoya Organic tofu, drained, pressed and crumbled
2 tsp olive oil
1/2 c sweet Mayan onion, chopped
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 fresh jalapeno, seeded & chopped
kale, several leafs, chopped
2 carrots, peeled and grated
1 to 2 zucchini, grated
2 cup raw spinach, chopped
2 Roma tomatoes, seeded and chopped
3-4 slices Smart Bacon, chopped
2-4 TB nutritional yeast (depends on how much you love or hate nooch)---
1/4 tsp chili flakes
1/4 tsp paprika
1/2 tsp salt (optional)
1/2 tsp pepper
1 tsp turmeric
mix up spices and set aside
whole wheat tortillas
Heat olive oil and saute garlic and onion. Cook until garlic starts to brown and add vegetables, one at a time, cooking each for a couple of minutes. Add spinach last and cook until spinach begins to wilt. Add tofu and stir to mix. Add spices and cook for a minute. Add tomatoes and Smart Bacon and cook for about a minute. Add nutritional yeast. Cook for 1-2 minutes until hot and take off heat.
Put 1/2 cup of mixture into lower center of heated tortilla and fold once, fold in sides and roll up.
Sunday, April 10, 2011
Please read up on making the "sponge" which is part of a starter that has been fed goodies and left to sit for several hours. I'm not going to go into all the details here, just the basics and the recipe I used.
To make the sponge
3/4 cup starter
3/4 cup flour
3/4 cup warm water
Mix together in glass bowl, cover and let sit until it gets nice and bubbly, anywhere from 2 to 8 hours. If you're going to bake in the morning, just let the sponge sit out overnight.
To make the bread
1-1/2 cups of sponge
2-1/4 cups unbleached flour
3 tsp sugar
1-1/2 tsp salt
I like to use my KitchenAid Stand Mixer for this part. Add all of the ingredients except all the flour. I like to add the flour in 1/2 cup increments until you have the "right" amount. Mix or knead until smooth. Let the dough rise in a warm spot loosely covered until doubled in bulk. When a finger poked into the top of the dough creates a pit that doesn't spring back, it's ready.
Punch the dough down, and knead a little more. Make a round and place on a baking sheet lightly greased or sprinkled in cornmeal. Cover and let rise again, until doubled in bulk.
When doubled in bulk, place the pan in the oven, slash the top a couple of times and turn your oven to 350 degrees and bake for 30-45 minutes. Do not preheat the oven. The loaf is done when the crust is brown and the bottom sounds hollow when thumped with a wooden spoon. Turn the loaf out onto a cooling rack and resisting cutting in to it for an hour. This baking is different from what I'm used to, but it worked for me and the bread was wonderful. It was not really crusty though. I am not complaining; this is just how this particular person suggests baking the bread. Good, but different.
1 cup sourdough starter
1 cup whole wheat flour
2 TB honey or brown sugar
1 cup all purpose flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
fine yellow cornmeal
Combine starter with whole wheat flour, sweetener and 1/2 cup warm water. Cover loosely and let sit overnight.
The next day, stir together 1/2 cup of the all purpose flour, baking powder and salt in separate bowl. Stir this mixture into the starter mix. Stir in the remaining 1/2 cup flour and mix until dough is no longer sticky. I had to knead at this point.
Roll dough out 1/2 inch thick and cut out 8 muffins with 3 to 4 inch cutter. I like to place the cut muffins onto a baking sheet that is lined with parchment paper and a dusting of cornmeal. Cover the muffins and let sit for about an hour until slightly puffy.
Heat up cast iron pan that is lightly oiled. Reduce heat to about medium and cook 2-3 muffins until lightly browned, about 3 minutes or so. Turn over and cook the other side until browned. You can insert a instant thermometer to see that it reads at least 198 degrees to be sure it's done cooking. Don't let them get too brown or you won't be able to toast them without burning them.
Cool 15 minutes or so before serving. Makes 8 delicious English muffins.
Saturday, April 9, 2011
Okay, to make some quick sourdough starter, get the March 2011 issue of Vegetarian Times. It has other sourdough recipes you may want to try. However, if it's sold out, here's a mini-primer on quick sourdough starter. Further down I will have links on a couple other website with very useful information and videos to help you make incredibly good, wholesome, and tasty sourdough goodies of your own!
Quick Sourdough Starter
1 cup all-purpose flour
1/4 tsp QUICK RISING yeast, such as Fleischmann's Rapid Rise
1 cup warm water (not hot!)
Combine flour and yeast in non-reactive bowl. Mix in water. Cover bowl loosely and let sit in ambient temperature – around 68-70 degrees – for 12 hours. After this time, it should be bubbly and smell yeasty. Stir starter, discard half, and mix in 1/2 cup flour and 1/2 cup warm water. Stir well, cover and let sit again for 12 hours. Then stir, discard, add flour and water. Do this every 12 hours for a total of 3 days (72 hours). Now you have your very own sourdough starter. Keep it in the fridge, feeding once or twice a week. Here is a very good website for making, maintaining, and baking with sourdough starters.
I put some Earth Balance margarine and strawberry spread on it. Doesn't it look delicious? It was! And I can't tell you how much better it was than the ones you buy in the store! The recipe is the next post.
Saturday, April 2, 2011
This recipe is sized to work in a small ice cream maker, such as the Hamilton Beach. If you have a regular ice cream maker, I'm sure you could double the recipe.
1/2 cup vegan chocolate chips, frozen and chopped
3/4 cup organic raw cashews
3/4 cup water
1/2 cup pure maple syrup
1-1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 tsp chocoate extract
1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
Soak cashews in water for several hours or overnight. Then place cashews with their soaking water in high speed blender or food processor and blend until smooth. Add everything except the chocolate chips and blend again until well mixed. FOLD in the chopped chips. Chill in refrigerator several hours or overnight. Process in ice cream maker until firm.