Bake Sale Success aka Partying With the Haiti-ins.

Remember this scene?  Well, we made some serious room at the table yesterday.

At the Vegan Bake Sale for Haiti at Locali we raised … (drumroll please) … $3285.43!!  Which will all be sent to Doctors Without Borders for relief in Haiti!  Thank you so much to everyone who came out and loaded up on goodies.  Thanks especially to Beth who completely bought me out (and several other people) at the end of the day! These pictures are courtesy of the lovely Ashley.

Haitian Flag Cupcakes!

S’Mores Explosion Cupcakes by Alix!

The greatest guy ever!

My Oatmeal Cream Pies!  I also had Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Blondies and Fat-Free Berry Bran Muffins that all sold out!  Hooray!

And in conclusion may I please remind you it does not say R.S.V.P. on the Statue of Liberty.

Lemme See Yr Muffin Top

Oh you didn’t want me to put on my really tight pants?  Because I can do that too … oh.  Ok.

I made these Blueberry Oat Muffins last week for breakfast and LOST IT because they’re the best I’ve ever had.  I really wanted some muffin tops, which is a feat rarely achieved in vegan baking … why I do not know.  It seems like the baking powder and baking soda should aid in the leavening, but vegan muffins are (usually) reluctant to rise.  The magic secret (omg) is to overfill the cups.  Did I just blow your mind?  Whoa.

Check out the Recipe:

(Makes 12 normal sized muffins and 8 jumbo muffins with tops)

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 Cup AP Flour
• 1/2 C Oats
• 1 tsp Baking Soda
• 2 tsp Baking Powder
• Pinch salt
• 1 Cup Sugar
• 1/2 Cup Vegetable Oil
• 2 Flax Eggs (2 T ground Flax seed + 6 T water)
• 1 Cup Soy Yogurt
• 1 tsp Vanilla Extract
• 1 C Blueberries (fresh or frozen)
• 1/2 C Chopped Walnuts

Directions

• Preheat your oven for 400 degrees and grease your muffin tin with vegetable oil or vegan margarine.
• In a small bowl, create your flax eggs by whisking together the ground flax seed and water.  Set aside.
• In a large bowl, combine all the dry ingredients.
• In a separate bowl, combine all the wet ingredients, including your flax eggs.
• Pour the wet ingredients into the dry and top with the blueberries and walnuts.  Stir only until everything is just incorporated – be sure not to over-mix!
• Scoop your batter evenly into the muffin tins, filling them all the way to the top.  Don’t be afraid!  These muffins don’t rise very much!
• Place the muffin tin on a middle rack in your oven and bake for 20 minutes, or until the edges just start to look caramel brown.
• Cool on a rack and enjoy!

All this talk of muffin tops and racks, I can only imagine what the search engines turn out this week.

Vegan Coachella: Day 1

Oh, hey Paul McCartney.  From where I was standing, I could not see anything but the backs of those in front of me.  However, holding my camera above my head and zooming in allowed me to have a private face-to-face performance every time.  Thanks to Carl Zeiss for that sweet zoom lens.  Note to self: Bring stilts next year.

SO.  Day 1 of Coachella was pretty tremendous on the music and vegan food front.   Leonard Cohen, Beirut, Morrissey, and Paul McCartney killed it.  This incident was marvelous.  But let’s backtrack.  Before getting to the actual music venue, the boyfriend and I stopped at Native Foods in Palm Springs.  I had never been there, but heard so many marvelous things that it became a necessary destination.

I ordered the Royal Thai Tofu Salad, which was beautifully presented and refreshing, but not really something I would order again.  There was simply too much cabbage and not enough tofu.  I left still feeling a little hungry, but I suppose that’s what one should expect when one dines on salad alone.  On the other hand, my boyfriend ordered the Baja Surf Tacos which were INCREDIBLE!

Mock fried fish(seitan? tempeh? don’t rememer?), cabbage, tomatoes, some kind of tartar sauce, and guacamole on top of soft tacos.  So filling and wonderful!  I want to try to replicate this one soon.  We went back to the restaurant on Monday and ordered these again!

We met the owner/chef Tanya, who was really friendly!  She got really excited that I was blogging her restaurant when she caught me taking pictures.  We tried to convince her to open a Native Foods closer to where we live – specifically Silverlake because the neighborhood is fostering a lot of great vegan places that are thriving (most of which don’t even come close to rivalling NF!). Please please please do it!

I had really good Iced Chai for dessert before we hopped on our bikes to head into the festival.  We had dinner at an Asian place in one of the food areas inside Coachella, but I failed to document it due to my ravenous beastly hunger.

To be continued…

Spring Awakening

That’s right kids, it’s time to start eating flowers again.  This salad was simple and awesome – spinach, 3 kinds of beans, olive oil, balsamic vinegar, salt, pepper, and nasturtiums picked from the garden!  It’s so refreshing to sit outside at dinner with the sun still up.  My garden is getting bigger and bigger – I feel like I’m watching some preschoolers start to read.  I’m a little overzealous about it – when my soybeans started sprouting I jumped up and down and ran a few victory laps.  The zucchini plants are getting huge and my tomatoes, basil, and onions are starting to peek their little heads out of the ground.  Soon I’ll put up some pictures of my little plant babies, but for now this electric neon salad will have to do.  Here’s a list of edible flowers – get to it!

How Dare You Post So Late, Baker!

Oops.  March kind of slipped through my fingers … I blame the ides.  Speaking of ides, I made a Caesar Salad with Tempeh Croutons (to go with the rest of my post…)

I’ll put up that recipe later … Now!  On to the more important matter at hand – March’s Daring Bakers Challenge!

Lasagne of Emilia-Romagna (veganized)

(From The Splendid Table: Recipes from Emilia-Romagna, the Heartland of Northern Italian Food by Lynne Rossetto Kasper (published by William Morrow and Company Inc., 1992))

Recipe

(Serves 8 to 10 as a first course, 6 to 8 as a main dish)

Preparation Time: 15 minutes to assemble and 40 minutes cooking time

10 quarts (9 litres) salted water
1 recipe Spinach Pasta cut for lasagna (recipe follows)#1
1 recipe Bechamel Sauce (recipe follows)#2
1 recipe Country Style Ragu (recipe follows)#3
1 cup (4 ounces/125g) freshly grated Parmigiano-Reggiano

Method
Working Ahead:
The ragu and the béchamel sauce can be made up to three days ahead. The ragu can also be frozen for up to one month. The pasta can be rolled out, cut and dried up to 24 hours before cooking. The assembled lasagne can wait at room temperature (20 degrees Celsius/68 degrees Fahrenheit) about 1 hour before baking. Do not refrigerate it before baking, as the topping of béchamel and cheese will overcook by the time the center is hot.

Assembling the Ingredients:
Have all the sauces, rewarmed gently over a medium heat, and the pasta at hand. Have a large perforated skimmer and a large bowl of cold water next to the stove. Spread a double thickness of paper towels over a large counter space. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit (180 degrees Celsius). Oil or butter a 3 quart (approx 3 litre) shallow baking dish.

Cooking the Pasta:
Bring the salted water to a boil. Drop about four pieces of pasta in the water at a time. Cook about 2 minutes. If you are using dried pasta, cook about 4 minutes, taste, and cook longer if necessary. The pasta will continue cooking during baking, so make sure it is only barely tender. Lift the lasagne from the water with a skimmer, drain, and then slip into the bowl of cold water to stop cooking. When cool, lift out and dry on the paper towels. Repeat until all the pasta is cooked.

Assembling the Lasagne:
Spread a thin layer of béchamel over the bottom of the baking dish. Arrange a layer of about four overlapping sheets of pasta over the béchamel. Spread a thin layer of béchamel (about 3 or 4 spoonfuls) over the pasta, and then an equally thin layer of the ragu. Sprinkle with about 1&1/2 tablespoons of the béchamel and about 1/3 cup of the cheese. Repeat the layers until all ingredients are used, finishing with béchamel sauce and topping with a generous dusting of cheese.

Baking and Serving the Lasagne:
Cover the baking dish lightly with foil, taking care not to let it touch the top of the lasagne. Bake 40 minutes, or until almost heated through. Remove the foil and bake another 10 minutes, or until hot in the center (test by inserting a knife – if it comes out very warm, the dish is ready). Take care not to brown the cheese topping. It should be melted, creamy looking and barely tinged with a little gold. Turn off the oven, leave the door ajar and let the lasagne rest for about 10 minutes. Then serve. This is not a solid lasagne, but a moist one that slips a bit when it is cut and served.

My Alterations

I used a pasta recipe from Bryanna Clark Grogan for my handmade noodles, a  Mushroom Lentil Ragu recipe from Eat The Right Stuff, and a Beschamel recipe from Vegan Dad.  I adapted everything to my own needs and it worked out really well!  I made everything all in one day, starting with the sauces in the morning.  I took a break to go throw a frisbee in the park (it’s gorgeous outside!) and came back to work on the noodles.  For the parmesan, I ended up using shredded FYH Mozzarella – this was the first time it didn’t melt perfectly for me.

Right now, I’m in a kitchen that is equipped with little more than a stove and one pot, but I made this thing work!  I ended up kneading my dough by hand and rolling it out on the dining room table, using a giant bottle of soy sauce as a rolling pin.  I used to make pasta when I was a kid with my parents, but we used a machine and there were usually eggs involved.  They’re really not necessary!  I even used semolina in place of the chickpea/soy flour and everything held up really well.  The mess wasn’t too heinous and I would probably make this recipe again if I wanted to impress someone with my Italian prowess.  I do have dual Italian citizenship, so it’s about time I prove my worth with some homemade pasta!

Best served to friends and family outdoors with romantic lighting.  Don’t invite anyone you don’t want falling in love with you.

Daring Bakers February: For The Love of Chocolate

With much thanks to February’s hosts – Wendy of wmpesblog and Dharm of DadBaker – I give you my take on a Flourless Chocolate Cake and vanilla ice cream. The original recipes posted in the DB forum were chock full o’ heavy creams and eggs so I decided to check out what the other alternative (we’re just like the Gin Blossoms) bakers were doing. Shelleyfish brought forth a recipe for a raw chocolate cake and I had to bite. I’m of the brownies-for-breakfast foodie school, so I like to try to work healthy foods into my diet in sneaky ways. I’m like Jessica Seinfeld minus the children. The only one I’m duping is me.

Recipe (from Jennifer Cornbleet’s Raw Food Made Easy)

Ingredients

1 1/2 cups raw walnuts, unsoaked
dash salt
10 pitted medjool dates, unsoaked
1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa or carob powder
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract (optional)
2 teaspoons water
1/2 cup fresh raspberries for garnish (optional)

Directions

• Place walnuts & salt in food processor fitted with S blade and process until finely ground.
• Add the dates, cocoa powder, and optional vanilla and process until the mixture begins to stick together.
• Add the water and process briefly.
• Transfer to a serving plate and form into a 5-inch round cake. Chill for 2 hours.
• Decorate the cake and plate with fresh raspberries before serving if desired.
• Covered with plastic wrap this will keep for three days in the fridge, or two weeks in freezer. Bring to room temp. before serving.

To accompany my raw chocolate friend, I called up his pal Raw “Vanilla” Sorbet.

Recipe

Ingredients

5 bananas – peeled, sliced, and frozen

1/3 C coconut cream (refrigerate coconut milk and scrape off the solids)

1/3 C coconut milk (the remaining liquids in the can)

4 T agave nectar

1 t vanilla

Directions

• Place all your ingredients in a blender (preferably Vita-Mix because it owns) and blend until creamy.
• Freeze again to let it set up, or just scoop it out with a spoon because you won’t be able to resist.

My sorbet looks a bit mushy because I was trying to rush to get this post up today and trying to take my photos before the natural light went away! So there was no time to freeze it before taking the picture. Boo. It tasted wonderful though! Neither the banana flavor or the coconut was too strong – it didn’t taste anything like a pina colada so I was happy. I pressed my cake into cookie cutter molds in honor of Valentine’s Days past. The cake itself is delicious – you only need a couple bites because it is so dense and rich. The thing I love the most about raw desserts is the fact that you’re really just eating fruit and nuts. So you can indulge without the sugar rush and feel like you’re building muscles so you can be big and strong. Ya know.

Los Bruncheles: New York Edition

Naked cinnamon rolls.  Food porn.

Sunday!!  It was snowy and windy and my favorite people were in town, making a New York stop before heading to D.C. for the most exciting day evar!

What a perfect time for a brunch, amiright?  Presidents love brunch!  I think President Obama would approve of this Apple Cider Cinnamon Roll recipe that I adapted from a recipe on veganrepresent.com.

Ingredients

Rolls

2 1/2 tsp active dry yeast

1/2 C unbleached sugar

1 C apple cider, warmed

2 eggs worth of egg replacer OR 2 tbsp ground flaxseeds whisked together with 6 tbsp hot water

1/3 C vegan margarine, melted

4 1/2 C unbleached flour

1 tsp salt

1 C brown sugar, packed

2 1/2 tbsp ground cinnamon

1/3 C vegan margarine, softened

Frosting

1/2 C soymilk

1/4 C vegan margarine, softened

1 1/2 C powdered sugar

1/2 tsp vanilla extract

1/8 t salt

Directions

Mix yeast, sugar, and heated apple cider in a large mixing bowl and let stand until foamy.

Add egg replacer, melted margarine, flour, and salt. Mix well and knead for 5-10 minutes. The dough should be firm and smooth, not sticky. Set the dough aside in a covered bowl and let double in size.

After the dough has doubled, turn it out onto a floured work surface, cover, and let rest for 10 more minutes.

Meanwhile, in a small bowl, combine brown sugar and cinnamon.

Roll dough into a 16×21 inch rectangle. Spread dough with margarine and sprinkle evenly with sugar/cinnamon mixture. Roll up dough and cut into 12 sections with a sharp knife.

Place rolls in a lightly greased 9×13 inch baking pan. (A cookie sheet also works fine.) Cover and let rise until nearly doubled, about 30 minutes. Meanwhile, preheat oven to 400 degrees F.

Bake rolls in preheated oven until golden brown, about 15 minutes. While rolls are baking, beat together soymilk, margarine, powdered sugar, vanilla, and salt. Spread frosting on warm rolls before serving.

I may have accidentally bought crack rather than powdered sugar.  Following the consumption of one of these little fellas, I had heart palpatations and the overwhelming urge to dance like Jennifer Beals.

It is always best to exercise restraint.

I’ve tried a few different recipes for cinnamon rolls and I think the search is over.  I’ve already sent the recipe out to two people who begged at my feet – their faces smeared with icing and tears of joy.  This post is getting gross.

Oh yeah and I made this stunner as well:

Mmkay maybe not so pretty?  This is a Tofu Frittata!  I found the recipe at Kaji’s Mom’s blog. I changed up some of the veggies because I am in love with sun-dried tomatoes.  Here it is:

1 block extra firm silken tofu (I used mori-nu aseptically sealed), drained
1 clove garlic pressed
2Tb nutritional yeast
3-4Tb unsweetened soy milk (may need more if it doesn’t blend smoothly)
1/4tsp turmeric (optional, for color)

1/4 C chopped (yes!)sun-dried tomatoes
1 small onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic diced into large pieces
1C chopped spinach
1Tb olive oil

-Heat
olive oil in a small cast iron skillet over medium heat, add the onion and
garlic, cook until onion is translucent.  Add sun-dried tomatoes and heat over a low flame until spinach wilts.

-While the vegetables are
cooking add the tofu to your food processor and puree until the tofu
looks a little like cottage cheese. Add the garlic, nutritional yeast,
soy milk, and turmeric. Puree until the mixture is completely smooth
and resembles a thick yogurt.

-Preheat oven to 350.

-When

veggies are cooked and tofu is smooth remove the skillet from the stove, and stir in the tofu mixture and smooth
over the top, making sure the middle is a little shallower than the
sides so that it cooks through.

-Bake for 20-25 minutes, until
the top is a light gold. Then turn off oven and leave in the oven for
another 10-15 minutes to give it time to set up and finish cooking
without burning.

-Serve hot

After all that cooking, you’re going to need a nap.  You deserve it!

Teany

Forgive the cell phone photographs, but I have to review Teany.  There are prettier pictures on their website.  It’s my favorite go-to spot for a rainy day and we’ve been having quite a few of those recently.  On my last trip, I tried their vegan quiche:

It came with a really good vodka sauce on the side and a green salad that I had with their tahini dressing.  The quiche was WONDERFUL.  It had a very soft crust and a nice quichey(quiche-esque? quiche-ish? the word ‘quiche’ looks like it’s not real now that I’ve typed it so many times) texture and the flavor was perfect.  The sauce on the side was also really good – some nice mushrooms hanging out in there.  I sat around working and grazing for about an hour before I started wondering if it was time for dessert. It’s always time for dessert.  I ordered the Chocolate Macaroon Cake:

Ridiculously good.  This shouldn’t be allowed to exist.  It was chocolate cake with chocolate coconut buttercream.  Enough said.  I am in love with Teany and its preciousness.  I didn’t have any tea this time (coffee addiction is too strong) but the Green Cherry Blossom tea is beautiful. Of course there’s the whole Moby connection – which is very cool.  Check out his blog! Go eat their Chicken Salad Salad!

Brownies For the Win AKA Stop It With the Chocolate Already

These bad boys are adapted from Have Cake, Will Travel’s Butterscotch Chocolate Fudge Brownies.  Thanks for sharing!!

Original Recipe

Butterscotch Chocolate Fudge Brownies

preheat oven to 350F. prepare an 8×8 pan with non-stick cooking spray.

in a microwave-safe bowl (or in a double boiler), melt:

1 1/2 cup mix of vegan butterscotch chips and semisweet chocolate chips (if you cannot find butterscotch chips, go for all chocolate)

set aside to let cool.

place melted chocolate in a large bowl and whisk in:

1 cup sweet potato purée
2 T mild-tasting oil (vegetable, canola…)
1 t pure vanilla extract
2 T soy creamer (or milk alternative)

in a separate bowl, sift together:

1/4 cup organic powdered/icing sugar
1/2 cup light spelt flour
2 T unsweetened cocoa powder
pinch fine sea salt
1/4 t baking powder

combine sweet potato & flour preparations, fold in:

1/2 cup mix of vegan butterscotch & semisweet chocolate chips

mix until combined. pour batter into prepared pan, bake for 28 minutes. let cool on a rack, place in fridge (still in pan) once cool enough or even in the freezer for more ease of slicing. I love to eat these when they’re really cold!

My adjustments

I didn’t have access to sweet potato puree (really I’m just to lazy to puree potatoes) so I used a canned butternut squash puree.  I also can’t find vegan butterscotch chips in this neck of the woods (which is kind of unbelievable considering the monstrosity of this city).  I doubled the recipe because I’m a nut (and I wanted to share these beauties with everyone).  That last fact turned out to be a bad idea because I polished most of them off by myself.  I had a few days when I ate these for breakfast and felt heart paliptations for hours.  Wheeee!  I also used almond milk because … I had some.

When I first tried one of these, I wasn’t really sure how I felt about them.  However, after chilling them in the fridge they took on this moist, chewy texture that is amazing.  They’re very dense, which is the way I like a brownie to be.  They’re still not quite what I’m looking for as far as replacing egg/milk laden brownies, but they are definitely a giant leap in the right direction!  I think I’ll try adding flax and Earth Balance on the next trial – which will be a while from now.  I’m still recovering.

Cookie Party!

Luckily, cookies with faces and appendages are still vegan.  And they apparently have the added bonus of hallucinatory qualities!

Last week, I came down with the “Welcome to New York, Here’s Your Deathly Seasonal Illness.”  It was charming.  And by charming I mean soul-sucking and beastly.  I had no appetite for a good five days, and all I could imagine eating were comforting cookies.  After day four of being sick, I ventured out to the grocery store and managed enough oomph to bake not one but TWO kinds of cookies.  I brought them all in to work (after eating as many as possible) and assured everyone of my adamant hand-washing during the baking process.  So here’s what I managed:

Dreena Burton’s Homestyle Chocolate Chip Cookies

(Wheat-Free! – I used spelt flour)

Recipe

Ingredients

1 cup unbleached all-purpose flour (see note)
1 teaspoon baking powder
1⁄2 teaspoon baking soda
1⁄4 cup unrefined sugar
1⁄4 teaspoon sea salt
1⁄3 cup pure maple syrup
1⁄4 teaspoon blackstrap molasses
1 – 1 1⁄2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
1⁄4 cup canola oil (a little generous)
1⁄3 cup non-dairy chocolate chips

Directions

Preheat oven to 350°F (176°C). In a bowl, sift in the flour, baking powder, and baking soda. Add the sugar and salt, and stir until well combined. In a separate bowl, combine the maple syrup with the molasses and vanilla, then stir in the oil until well combined. Add the wet mixture to the dry, along with the chocolate chips, and stir through until just well combined (do not over-mix). Place large spoonfuls of the batter on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper and flatten a little. Bake for 11 minutes, until just golden (if you bake for much longer, they will dry out). Let cool on the sheet for no more than 1 minute (again, to prevent drying), then transfer to a cooling rack.

Note: Unbleached all-purpose flour or spelt flour produces a more classic cookie taste and texture, but you can use whole-wheat pastry flour and still get a delicious cookie. For a wheat-free version, use spelt flour, but add an extra 2-4 tablespoons of the spelt flour to the dry mix (the amount needed varies with brand of spelt flour and whether you are using a refined spelt flour versus a less processed spelt flour).

Note: If, as you are mixing together your batter it appears quite floury and thick, simply mix together a couple of teaspoons more canola and maple syrup and incorporate it into the batter. Sometimes humidity, type of flour used, and other factors can affect the density of the batter and so a touch more liquid may be needed.

Makes 9-12 large to average sized cookies

© Copyright 2005 Dreena Burton

Pumpkin Oatmeal Cookies

I’m normally a chocolate chip cookie gal, but I really loved these.  They are the perfect autumn cookie.  Hands down.

Ingredients
2 cups flour
1 1/3 cups rolled oats
1 teaspoon baking soda
3/4 teaspoon salt
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg

1 2/3 cups sugar
2/3 cup canola oil
2 tablespoons molasses
1 cup canned pumpkin, or cooked pureed pumpkin
1 teaspoon vanilla
optional: 1 tablespoon ground flax seeds

1 cup walnuts, finely chopped
1/2 cup raisins

Directions
Preheat oven to 350. Have ready 2 greased baking sheets.

Mix together flour, oats, baking soda, salt and spices.

In a seperate bowl, mix together sugar, oil, molasses, pumpkin and vanilla (and flax seeds if using) until very well combined. Add dry ingredients to wet in 3 batches, folding to combine. Fold in walnuts and raisins.

Drop by tablespoons onto greased cookie sheets. They don’t spread very much so they can be placed only an inch apart. Flatten the tops of the cookies with a fork or with your fingers, to press into cookie shape. Bake for 16 minutes at 350. If you are using two sheets of cookies on 2 levels of your oven, rotate the sheets halfway through for even baking. You’ll have enough batter for 4 trays.

Remove from oven and get cookies onto a wire rack to cool. These taste best when they’ve had some time to cool and set. They taste even better the next day!