very veggie

Best Cookies Ever

This is my awesome vegan chocolate chip cookie recipe. These cookies taste like they came right from a bakery.

Ingredients:
*makes 12 cookies*
1/2 c Earth Smart butter (light or regular)
1/2 c brown sugar
1/2 c white sugar
1/4 c applesauce
1 tsp vanilla
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp hot water
pinch of salt
1 1/2 c all-purpose flour
1 c semi-sweet chocolate chips (just check the ingredients to find non-dairy ones)

To make Chocolate-Chocolate chip cookies:
4 tbsp cocoa powder

Baking Instructions:
-Heat oven to 350
-Cream together butter, applesauce, sugar and vanilla (I melt the butter in the microwave)
-Mix in the rest of the ingredients and add the chocolate chips or peanut butter chips last
-Put spoonfuls on a non-greased cookie sheet. I then flatten the dough out a little with my hand.
-Bake for 10-12 minutes, let cool a little, and then devour

Pumpkin Pie

This is the pie I made for Thanksgiving. It was a pumpkin pie with chocolate shavings.

Ingredients
1 (16 ounce) can pumpkin puree
3/4 cup sugar ( half white, half brown)
pinch of salt
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp ginger
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1/4 tsp clove
1 (12 ounce) package silken tofu, processed in blender until smooth
1 9 inch chocolate pie shell
1 square of semi-sweet baking chocolate (shaved on a cheese grater)

Directions
1.Cream pumpkin and sugar.
2.Add salt, spices, and blended tofu.
3.Bake at 425 for 15 minutes, then at 350 for 40 minutes.
4.Chill, sprinkle chocolate shavings over the top and serve.

Current Mood:  accomplished

Pumpkin Bread!

I wish I had a picture, but I don’t because it burned a little. (stupid oven cooks too hot, grr) I combined a bunch of recipes and came up with this. It’s awesome and tastes like fall! Oh, and it’s low fat and vegan, A++.

Makes 1 loaf (4×8 pan)
Molly’s Awesome Pumpkin Bread
1/2 c white sugar
3/4 c brown sugar
8 oz of pumpkin puree (half a can)
3/4 c unsweetened applesauce
1 2/3 c all-purpose flour
1 1/2 tsp cinnamon
2 Tbsp canola oil
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp baking powder
pinch or two of salt
2 tsp pumpkin pie spice
(or 1 tsp nutmeg, 1/2 tsp ground cloves, 1/2 tsp ginger)
1 tsp vanilla
1/2 c mini-chocolate chips and/ or chopped walnuts

Mix wet ingredients
Add in dry, and mix well
Pour into a greased 8×4 loaf pan
Bake at 350 for 45-60, or until toothpick comes out clean

Brunswick Stew

Recipe is from My Vegan Cookbook

This was really good! Things I would change for next time:
- no liquid smoke
- add red pepper
- substitute crumbled tofu for the hearts of palm

Hearts of palm are kinda pricey, especially for my frugal ass these days.

Current Mood:  accomplished

Chickpea Burgers!

These came out really awesome! They had a great texture and tasted really good with the guacamole, but then again, what doesn’t taste good with guac? The only thing I did differently from the original recipe was that I just used a whole can of chickpeas, and I didn’t bother breading them because I’m lazy. I mixed the spices in with the mashed chickpeas. I also forgot to add the nutritional yeast, paprika, and salt, oops! I guess I was only loosely following the recipe.

Guacamole:
One mashed avocado
Diced roma tomato & some diced onion
A little garlic powder
Squirt of lime juice
Lots o’ hot sauce

Chickpea Burgers (recipe from VeganDad)

INGREDIENTS

Makes 8 burgers
- 1 cup cooked chickpeas
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 1/2 cup vital wheat gluten
- 1/2 cup plain breadcrumbs
- 1/4 cup vegetable broth or water
- 2 tablespoons soy sauce
- 1 tsp onion powder
- 1/2 tsp garlic powder
- 1 tsp poultry seasoning
- 1/2 cup soy milk
- 1/2 tsp apple cider vinegar
- 1 cup bread crumbs (I used panko)
- 1/4 cup nutritional yeast
- 1/2 tsp salt
- pinch of paprika

METHOD

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.

1. Pulse rinsed and drained chickpeas in a food processor until they resemble coarse breadcrumbs. Pulse in oil, then transfer to a bowl and add gluten, breadcrumbs, broth, soy sauce, and spices. Knead together for about 3 minutes, until strings of gluten have formed. Divide into 8 and press into 8 thin patties.

2. Mix together soymilk and vinegar in a bowl. Mix together breadcrumbs and spices in another. Dip a patty in soymilk, then toss in breadcrumbs. Make sure it gets coated well. Transfer to prepared baking sheet. Repeat with remaining patties.

3. Bake for 10 min per side, or until patties have firmed and breading is lightly browned.

Pesto

Vegan Pesto (original recipe)

• 1 1/2 cups fresh basil
• 1/4 cup olive oil
• 3/4 cup pine nuts
• 5 cloves garlic
• 1/3 cup nutritional yeast
• 2 tsp garlic salt

Tempeh “Crabcakes”

Sadly, I don’t have a picture for this post, but I couldn’t not share the recipe.

Holy Cow >> Tempeh Crabcakes Recipe

These were so good! I would recommend not putting them in the pan until the oil is very hot as the first batch crumbled a bit (hence why there’s no picture). The second batch came out much more solid though, and I ended up eating mine in a spinach wrap with red leaf lettuce and some diced tomatoes.  I think that next time I will try to bake them to make them a bit healthier.

Vegan tendancies…

As time goes by, I keep thinking more and more about going vegan. In the past month, I’ve stopped buying anything with egg or dairy when I go grocery shopping. If I still have things at home that have those items in them, I’ll use them up, but I won’t be replacing them.  Honestly, the only times I really don’t eat vegan are when I go out to eat just because it’s so hard here in Rochester. But! That won’t be an issue much longer. I’m going to be moving across the country to Portland at the end of the summer.  It’s a change I’m really excited for, not to mention there’s a huge vegan/ vegetarian ’scene’ out there.

So, anyways, I have one or two older recipe posts that I still need to get up that are vegetarian dishes, but after that, I’m going to try to only post vegan recipes.

“Fish” Sandwich

I’ve noticed that pretty much the only things I’ve posted on here so far are sandwiches. I swear I do actually make a lot of other things, but I just forget to take pictures of them. Anywho, these are really easy and good. They reminded me of the “fish” sandwiches from one of my favorite restaurants, Skippy’s Veg out, that closed a few years ago.

Tofu Fish Sandwich:
1 pkg of extra firm tofu
1/2 cup of cornstarch
garlic powder
onion powder
paprika
poultry seasoning (I’ll probably use Old Bay next time)

Drain the tofu and cut it into 6 1/2 inch pieces. Mix the cornstarch and seasonings on a plate. I just sprinkled a bit of each in without measuring. Roll the tofu pieces in the cornstarch mixture. Have a frying pan with enough oil to cover the bottom heated up and ready to go. Fry the tofu for about 5 minutes on each side or until it browns. Set the tofu on another plate with paper towels to get the extra oil off.

The tarter sauce was just a mix of veganaise, relish, and hot sauce.

Hot Sauce Glazed Tempeh

This recipe is from Veganomicon. It’s probably one of my favorites of the ones I’ve tried so far. You can also find the recipe listed over at the Post Punk Kitchen web site. I’m pretty sure the sauce you make for this would taste good on just about anything.

The fries on the side are just yams that I put through our new french fry cutter and baked with a little seasoned salt. A++