Thin Crust Cashew "Cheese" Vegan Pizza Mouthgasm

I promised all of my Facebook friends that I would post this recipe today. So whether they want to use it or not, I figured I could use some practice in following through.

I'm a little off the grid right now (or a lot) because I'm working on something pretty big and exciting. As I work on that, I'm trying to sort out some balance for when I don't need to put all of my time into it. I'm pretty excited about the whole thing, and some of you might be too. Hopefully I find some time for a real update before too long. I've got a queue of recipes to share, we went camping (okay we tried), and I want to talk about some other changes. Eventually....now I just need to get this recipe out there.

Last night I wanted to make a pizza. I've made quite a few homemade pizzas, some before we were vegan, lots of different dough and crust experiments, so I felt daring and confident enough to fly by the seat of my pants. Zero recipes, zero Pinterest reference pictures, just my surprisingly intuitive rationing skills. I was expecting it to be just good, but it turned out to be the best pizza I've made yet. High five! I use only whole wheat flour, so if you want to use white/all purpose you will need more. I've struggled with perfect thin wheat crust as long as I've been making pizza. Nailed it this time.

Starting at the beginning, with the sauce:

3 medium vine tomatoes
7 cloves garlic
2-3 tbsp EVOO
Sprinkle of sea salt and pepper.

Roast in a 450 degree oven for about 35 minutes, stirring once in the middle.

While that's roasting away start your dough:
1 cup warm water
1 1/2 tsp instant dry yeast
1 tbsp sugar
1 tbsp EVOO
1 tsp sea salt (fine)
2 cups whole wheat flour.

Place the water in a mixing bowl, sprinkle with yeast and sugar, and whisk it together then let it activate for 5-10 minutes. Before you move on you should have a nice dense foam on top. While that activates prep/slice your preferred toppings. Don't go too heavy on them or you'll have a soggy pizza and your palate will be overloaded.

This is also when you can start quick soaking some cashews in hot water for the "cheese", in a bowl or something (not the blender because you'll need it for the sauce first).
1 cup hot water
1 1/2 cup raw cashews
Pinch of salt
Other seasonings ( I used 2 tbsp nooch and a few dry basil leaves)

Cover it and set aside.

Back to the dough... Add in the oil and salt and mix. Dump in your flour and go to town mixing until you have a completely combined, non sticking ball. Cover the bowl and let it rest about 10 minutes. After that you should mix  a little more and then knead it with a bread hook attachment on a mixer or with your hands until the ball becomes smooth and elastic. Flatten the ball between your hands and stretch from the center, evenly in all directions until it's about 6-8 inches in diameter, then set it on a lightly oiled pizza stone or pan and roll out thin to the edges.

Pull the roasting stuff out and scoop it into your blender or food processor.

Turn up the oven to 500 degrees.

Hydrate the tomatoes and add:
1/4 cup water
1 tsp sugar
Pinch sea salt

Blend just slightly so it's equally smooth and chunky. Pour it on to the crust and smooth out evenly. Rinse your blender/processor and add soaking cashews with water to it. Blend until very smooth, and distribute like the sauce, with a light hand or it will be a orange mess.

Add your remaining toppings and bake for 9-14 minutes depending on how crisp you like your crust.

Purr a little, ooh and ah, and send me your thanks! Haha. Hope you try it sometime at least.

Father's Daying

All photos courtesy of Photography by David L. Clark

So, not that I haven't been doing lifey stuff a lot lately, but yesterday we celebrated Father's Day and it was kind of perfect so...

1. Breakfasting: For breakfast I made vegan whole wheat and oatmeal belgian waffles and topped them with local raspberries that I pureed with some agave. Pretty, delicious, filling. Oh, and you know, chemex coffee.

2. Housekeeping: It always feels nice to do a little cleaning and care on a day when you know you get to do fun things as well. I did laundry, David tidied and vacuumed, and I cleaned the kitchen.

3. Treat Making: After some cleanup I made these raw lemon bars. They were really quick and simple to make, plus I managed to clean as I went so I had no mess afterwards (that's a huge deal, I make the worst kitchen messes).

4. Lunching: Friday night we were in Tacoma and ended up hanging out at my uncle's house pretty late, so we grabbed some vegetarian pad thai and sweet and sour tofu and veggies. It was a ton of food so we had leftovers for lunch.

5. Hiking: We headed out around 1 o'clock to the Twin Falls trail in North Bend. I did the trail when I was a kid and loved it so I thought it would be a fun, easy, spontaneous hike. Apparently every one else thought so to, it was really crowded but we really enjoyed ourselves anyways. Lorelei is a little pro! We brought our carrier backpack thinking she'd love it as much as last year, but girl's got too much energy and independence going for her, and a HUGE sense of adventure. We hiked about 1.8 miles with her hoofing more than half of it. She took lots of spills, saw a gardener snake, chased a much older ginger boy, tried to befriend a chipmunk, got blisters on her heels, peed on a rock, and made me a nervous wreck. I think she's pretty much the coolest child I could be lucky enough to know, let alone gestate myself and spend every day with ( I love her, my little "very best friend").

6. Coffee Drinking: After our hike I mentioned that we still needed to get Huxdotter coffee sometime, because it was the first coffee stand I ever went to, as a small child, and they have lots of milk choices. So we found ourselves there. David and I opted for iced lattes with hemp milk, him a double shot, me a single, and Lorelei a cake batter frappe. It only cost us $9.00 and it was pretty darn good, so that was worth the detour.

7. Dinner and Movie Watching: For dinner I did what I usually do and pulled some ideas out of my head into a perfectly executed, new favorite dish. It was a cashew cream and rainbow chard lasagna. David said it was restaurant quality and possibly his favorite dish I've ever made. It really was delicious, and EASY and I only dirtied 5 dishes making it! We watched The Company You Keep with Shia Lebeouf (good, good movie) while we ate.

8. Coffee and Desserting: So this is where we eat dessert, with more coffee (this time iced aeropress with coconut milk). The lemon bars were ambrosia! I'm convinced that I would be completely okay with eating all raw. I can't even begin to describe how delicious they were, just, if you like coconut and lemon, you would LOVE them.

So that was our Father's Day. It was just what we needed and we all went to bed pretty contentedly. I hope you're all having a lovely day celebrating the dads in your life, those guys are pretty darn important!

It's Too Late To 'Pologize...But...

Day 13: Issue a public apology. This can be as funny, serious, or creative as you want.

Before I make some sort of apology I have to make some confessions. You see, I'm one of those "bad vegans" or "forgetful vegans," the ones that real vegans think are a joke and say have no right to call themselves vegans. They are right to feel that way! I may need to re-watch Earthlings every week to keep myself in line because my love of food, and my ability to eat without thought and consideration is a bit out of hand...

We decided to become vegan in September of last year, after 6 months of being vegetarian. We were vegetarian for economic purposes, and because I'm not particularly fond of meat anyways. I had entertained the thought of going vegan around the time we went vegetarian, but at that time David was resistant. When it actually came up again that maybe we should try it out it was his idea, and I was hesitant (things like butter, and cheese, and eggs in baked goods seemed like necessities in my head). Then we watched Earthlings and boom! I was horrified, David was horrified, and we didn't want to contribute to the violence, mistreatment, and superiority humans were inflicting on animals that are raised and slaughtered to feed our gluttonous race. As we delved into information about where to find key nutrients we would have a harder time getting, and finding recipes and substitutes for yummy stuff we loved that was non-vegan, I found that an all plant based diet would prevent combat the diabetes that I'm genetically predisposed to. That was a huge selling point for me in going vegan.

Now we're going to fast-forward through several glitches and cheesy pizza runs to last week when we went to Portland. While we very well could have been completely satisfied with one of the best vegan food scenes in the country we decided that vegetarian would be "good enough." So we ate basically whatever we fancied while we were there (minus meat). The only vegan things consumed were coffee and Red Bull. And then, in the Alberta neighborhood we sashayed past a japanese bistro, you know, sushi. Sushi was hands down always our favorite non-vegan food, also our first date, first dating anniversary date, first marriage anniversary date. Most of our dates ever actually. So it was sentimental, and the prices were insane(ly good), and we ate it. We ate the fish. While we were eating our way through Portland I never really felt guilty or unhealthy. The worst part of it all is that now I want to just eat whatever I feel like, like ice cream...because Salt & Straw.

I'm apologizing now to the real vegans who are strong and passionate. And to the animals who had to suffer in order for me to be a crappy human. I also apologize to my readers for being led to think that I had some awesome self control and that I don't miss sushi and cheese, and for the amount of pictures of non-vegan food you will see in the next few days of my posting from our naughty foodcation. Oh, and I apologize to my body for putting 5 pounds back on it in my discrepancies. I feel like I need to apologize and hold myself accountable so that I can get back on track. Dun dun duh...

Anybody else have any food problems? Apologies?

Vegan Whole Wheat Cinnamon Rolls - A Delicious Time Suck

Pictures courtesy of Photography by David L. Clark

On Saturday, by some miracle, I was up before 9 o'clock. I woke up craving cinnamon rolls, so I thought, "Hey, I'll just make some for breakfast!" Problematic, because homemade cinnamon rolls require  A LOT of rising time and waiting. If I had read the recipe through before making them, I might have decided against it, so I'm kind of glad I didn't. Even if we didn't eat anything until around 1 o'clock... It's okay really, they WERE good enough to make up for the growling, angry tummies the wait evoked. I advise making them after eating some sort of breakfast, or doing everything up until the second rise the night before. Also, I found this recipe at VeganBaking.net, substituted whole wheat pastry flour, and ditched the nuts and raisins.

Yields 12 Rolls

Dough:

• 1 tablespoon golden flax meal
• 3 tablespoons warm water

• 1 1/4 cup warm water
• 2 1/2 teaspoons active dry yeast

• 4 1/2 cups whole wheat pastry flour

• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1/3 cup Earth Balance
• 1 teaspoon salt

1. In a small bowl whisk together flax meal and water, and set it aside.

2. In another small, non-metallic bowl, sprinkle the yeast on top of the water and combine well, and allow to set and get foamy for about 10 minutes.

3. Measure the flour into a large mixing bowl.

4. Beat together the Earth Balance, sugar, and salt in another bowl.

5. Combine all of the wet ingredients in one bowl, and then mix into the flour either by hand or in a stand mixer, until you get a sticky dough ball.

6. Continue to knead in the mixer if you have a dough hook on low for about 4-5 minutes, or knead by hand on a lightly floured surface for 5-10 minutes, until the dough is smooth.

7. Place the dough back into the bowl and allow to rise for at least one hour, in a warm spot.

Meanwhile...make the...

Filling:

• 1 cup brown sugar
• 1/3 cup Earth Balance
• 2 tablespoons maple syrup
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract

8. Whisk this all together, nothing fancy.

Back to the dough...

9. Roll the dough out on a lightly floured surface into a rectangular shape. I'm not much of a measurer, but the original recipe says 16x20 inches.

10. Spread the filling evenly on the top of the dough.

11. Roll the dough length wise, and the carefully cut into 1 1/2 inch thick disks.

12. Plop them into a greased 9"x13" baking dish, cover, and let rise for another hour (or if you're prepping night before put them into the fridge now). 

13. Preheat the oven to 400º F.

14. Bake for 15 minutes, turning the pan around once during.

Don't forget the icing!

• 2 cups powdered sugar
• 3-4 tablespoons non-dairy milk
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• pinch of salt

15. Whisk together until smooth.

16. Pull the rolls out and let them cool 5-10 minutes before drizzling on the icing and serving warm. 

So delicious, and not too guilt laden. Perfect treat!

Sinful Vegan Baked Donuts

I know you wanted another donut recipe...just me?! Yeah, I didn't think you would mind. I call these ones sinful because unlike my previous recipe they are full of Earth Balance and sugar. But these babies are freaking delicious! I may or may not have wanted to eat the entire dozen yesterday while we sat on our butts watching Quantum of Solace and Skyfall (the only thing stopping me was the gorgeous Bond girls prancing around with their beautiful figures).

This recipe is essentially the recipe for baked donuts in awesome vegan recipe book Vegan Yum Yum. I checked it out from the library, but I would seriously buy the crap out of it. I would eat every recipe in it, minus the crunchy kale one. Am I the only person, especially vegan, who dislikes kale (I ask as I drool over these donuts)? Alright, enough of my antics...

*You will need a donut pan for this recipe. It may or may not be a sound investment. ;)

Ingredients:
2 cups all purpose flour ( I used whole wheat pastry flour on this batch, they rock either way)
1 cup sugar
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 pinch cinnamon (little pinch, unless you just love cinnamon)
1 cup soy milk (if you're soy free other's will work, just add slowly as the consistency varies)
1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
8(!) tablespoons Earth Balance margarine
Egg substitute for two eggs ( I always use Bob's Red Mill Egg Replacer Powder)

Glaze:
1 cup powdered sugar
2 tablespoons soy milk
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 tablespoon Earth Balance

Garnish:
1 cup untoasted, unsweeted coconut flakes

Instructions:
1. Preheat your oven to 350ºF.
2. In a mixer or large bowl combine flour, sugar, baking powder, cinnamon, and mix thoroughly.
3. Measure your soy milk and whisk in the vinegar, set aside to curdle.
4. In the microwave (about 30 seconds), or in a saucepan on the stove top, heat the margarine, vanilla, and egg substitute until melted and warm but not hot to the touch.
5. Add the wet ingredients to the dry and mix well. There shouldn't be any lumps and it should be the consistency of a thick batter, or a really soft dough.
6. Grease the donut pan and spoon in batter (about 3 heaping tablespoons per donut) not quite to the tops of the donut molds. Wipe any batter off the sides and center to keep them pretty.
7. Bake for 15 minutes.
8. Let set long enough for the donuts to just pop out and put them on a cooling rack. Wait until they are completely cooled to glaze.
9. Make the glaze whisking all of the ingredients together until smooth. You can color it or not...
10. Go straight from the glaze to the coconut (the glaze will be dripping everywhere, careful) and then onto another cooling rack over a plate to catch the drippings.
11. Try not to eat them all yourself.

Yields 12 donuts.

All photos courtesy of Photography by David L. Clark

Zest is Best Chili

Photo courtesy of Photography by David L. Clark

So I was tempted to keep this recipe all to myself... and then I remembered that I'm trying to teach my toddler to share, and so I should lead by example. As if she has any idea that's what I'm doing...even though she is currently sprawled across my lap making me draft this with one hand (my left at that!).

I found this recipe on Yummly, and had to adapt it slightly only because I didn't have some of the ingredients. Also, I unintentionally skipped the first step in the original recipe where you bake the eggplant. Next time I'll do that, and you probably should too.

Ingredients:

• 1 pound eggplant, cut into one inch pieces
• olive oil
• 2 yellow onions, chopped
• 4 cloves garlic, minced
• 2 zucchini, chopped
• 2 red bell peppers, cored, seeded and diced
• 1-2 jalapenos, for desired heat, cored, seeded, and finely minced
• 28 oz can plum tomatoes, chopped into one inch pieces, reserve liquid
• 1 tablespoon ground cumin
• 2 tablespoon chili powder
• 1 tablespoon oregano
• 1 1/2 cups cooked white beans
• 1 1/2 cups cooked black beans
• Zest of 1 lemon (this is THE most necessary ingredient to make this chili awesome)
• 3 tablespoons lemon juice
• 1 tablespoon sugar
• 1/3 cup fresh cilantro, chopped
• Salt and pepper to taste

Directions:

• Chop, mince, dice, and prep all of the ingredients first. It makes everything SO much easier.
• In a 350º oven, place shallow roasting pan (or cast iron skillet) with eggplant slathered in olive oil. Bake for 30 minutes, giving it a good stir/turn halfway through. Remove and set aside.
• Put olive oil and onions to an 8qt pot on medium heat, cook til the onions are just turning translucent and add the garlic.
• Once the garlic is fragrant and not quite golden add the zucchini and peppers. Cook for about 5 more minutes, stirring frequently.
• Add in the tomatoes, reserved liquid, cumin, chili powder and eggplant. Simmer for another 20 minutes.
• Put in the sugar, lemon zest, lemon juice, cilantro, and beans and cook for about 5 more minutes. 
• Salt and pepper to taste.
• Serve with vegan skillet cornbread!

Horchata Coconut Lime Donuts

Photograph courtesy of Photography by David L. Clark

Let's talk about donuts...or, as David says, let's just eat them, forget about talking about them.

I am a little bit obsessed. I got a donut pan for Valentine's day because we decided that we were going to make homemade donuts a family tradition for all of the holidays. I didn't think that it would be like, a weekly tradition...Actually this week I've already made them twice.

These particular donuts were made for a Mexican themed potluck that we went to on Monday. I really wanted to take donuts, and I love experimenting with flavors so I was like hmm, what are some good things that you find on the hispanic aisle at the store? Lime...check. Coconut...check. But it needed something special. Horchata...check!!! Technically the horchata wasn't vegan, it had caseinate in it, but I had two hours to prep 2 dozen donuts, fry a ton of chips, and make pico de galo, guacamole, and puree some beans. Otherwise I would have made some myself...

Here is my proudly self derived recipe for 1 dozen, these are baked so they require a donut pan:

Donuts

• 2 cups whole wheat pastry flour
• 1/2 cup vegan sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 tablespoon lime juice
• 1 tablespoon lime zest
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 cup horchata

First, preheat your oven to 350º. Measure out your horchata and add the vanilla, lime juice, and lime zest. Put all of your dry ingredients in a bowl or stand mixer and mix until completely combined. Add in the wet mixture and mix until very well combined, no lumps. It should look pretty smooth and be a little sticky, like a halfway point between cake batter and muffin batter. Grease a donut pan and spoon in the batter until it is level with the hole punch in the centers. Bake for 15 minutes. Cool on a rack for at least five minutes before dipping in glaze.

Glaze

• 1 cup powdered sugar
• 1 teaspoon lime zest
• 2 tablespoons lime juice
• 2 tablespoon horchata

Measure sugar and zest into a bowl, add liquids one tablespoon at a time and mix with a whisk or fork until smooth. If it gets too runny add sugar, or if it's too sticky add more liquid. It should be smooth enough to gently dip a donut in and drip off, but not run off.

Topping

• 1 cup unsweetened coconut flakes
• 2 tablespoons cinnamon

Put coconut flakes in a frying pan and toast on medium heat until golden brown. Add in the cinnamon and toast for another minute. Remove from heat to a separate bowl/plate.

Once the donuts have cooled 5-10 minutes dip them tops up into the bowl of glaze, then into the coconut and then place back on cooling rack with some sort of pan underneath to catch the drips. Let set for about 5 minutes and eat the crap out of them. :)

Soba Noodle Salad

So, I tried this new recipe last night, and I loved it so much that I wanted to share it ASAP. It's really more of a summer dish (being as it's cold and all), but some how, in my mind (I'm thinking summer, summer, summer), this past week cold food just sounded good. Enter spring rolls, vegan sushi, and this here salad. And, um, I love Asian fusion food? The best thing about this dish (besides the flavor explosion) is that it's pretty easy to make. I'm going to cut to the chase.

Makes about 4- 1.5 cup servings.

Ingredients:
1/2 cup rice vinegar (no substitutes here, it has to be rice vinegar)
1/6 cup sugar or agave
1/2 teaspoon salt
3 large garlic cloves, minced
1 lime, zest and juice
1 tablespoon toasted sesame oil
8oz package soba noodles
1 bell pepper, for this I highly recommend orange (the flavors are very different, if you didn't know)
1 cup broccoli florets
1 cup red cabbage, thinly sliced or shredded
1/2 cup chopped basil
1 tablespoon chopped mint

Suggestions from experience: Add some ginger juice, and peanuts.

1. Boil the soba noodles according to package instructions, drain, rinse in cold water, and set aside in a large bowl.
2. Combine vinegar, sugar, and salt in a small sauce pan. Heat on medium heat until the sugar is dissolved. Once hot add the minced garlic, then remove from heat. Allow to cool, then add the lime zest and juice, and sesame oil.
3. Poor the prepared dressing over the noodles and toss.
4. Add the fresh basil and mint, and then the vegetables.
5. Place in refrigerator to cool and marinate, at least 1 hour. All day or overnight is even better!

This would be good with so many variations. I suggest trying it out and experimenting. If you do, let me know what you used! :)

Dau Sot Ca Chua: My American-ized, Vegan Take on a Vietnamese Dish

Photo Courtesy of Photography by David L. Clark

 
One day several weeks ago I googled "tofu and tomato sauce" and found a few different versions of this Vietnamese fried tofu in tomato sauce recipe. I'm not really all that good at sticking to a recipe. That's way too orthodox for my cooking style (unless I'm baking, because that involves chemical reactions, which I understand and respect the importance of precision of)! So I made some changes, obviously omitting the fish fish sauce to make it vegan, substituting organic tamari for that and adding garlic because I really can't help it. I have to use garlic. I also decided to serve it over a bed of steamed cabbage, because I had a crap ton of it, and because tomato sauce and cabbage = delicious.

This dish has made it's way into our regular rotation of recipes, and we eat it at least once a week. Before trying this, I honestly wasn't a huge fan of tofu (also, organic tofu makes a huge difference, for me personally, it doesn't taste like absolutely everything has been processed the hell out). I highly recommend shopping around for tofu and trying different brands to see what you like best. This weekend while we were jaunting around Seattle (more on that tomorrow) I saw a place in the international district that sold fresh, handmade tofu (!!!). Blah, blah, blah, irrelevant stuff.

Ingredients:
1 package extra firm tofu (1lb.)
5 medium tomatoes
3 tablespoons tamari (shoyu is fine too)
3 cloves garlic, chopped finely
2 teaspoons sugar
1/2 cup olive oil
2 cups shredded cabbage + 1 tablespoon olive oil
Green onions for garnish, about 1 per serving

Instructions:
1. Press the tofu to remove excess moisture. Do this by wrapping the block in a clean, lint free, kitchen towel and sandwiching between two plates. Do so for at least 20 minutes.
2. Cut the tofu into pieces, I cut them into about 1 inch cubes.
3. Pour oil into a pan small enough to have it be at least 1/2 inch deep, and heat over low-medium heat until a single piece of tofu dropped in deep fries on contact.
4. Fry all of the tofu this way and put into a glass or metal bowl covered with foil to keep it warm.
5. Cut the tomatoes. I first cut them into eighths, and then cut those in half. Then toss them into the leftover oil from the tofu. Immediately add the chopped garlic, tamari/soy sauce, and sugar. Cook on medium heat for about 10 minutes.
6. While that cooks down steam/sautée the cabbage in oil.
7. Put the tofu into the pan with the tomato sauce and stir to coat. Cook an additional 5 minutes. Add water, tablespoons at a time to the tomato sauce if it becomes too thick ( I haven't had to add water to mine).
8. Serve over cabbage, or steamed rice if you like, both would even be good, and topped with thinly sliced green onions.

Leeky Irish Stew + Skillet Cornbread

Photo courtesy of Photography by David L. Clark.

Here is a recipe that makes it's way into our dinner menu frequently enough I thought I should share. The idea for this recipe struck when I decided it was about time I purchased and tried some leeks. I perused Pinterest for soup recipes and was disappointed that they were all creamy and pureed soups. Not that I dislike that sort of soup (I actually get on kicks where I make some variety at least once a week), I was just looking for something more substantial. I was looking for comfort food, and I was missing things like corned beef and cabbage and ground beef with cabbage (favorite meals while living at home and before becoming vegan).

Cabbage is one of my absolute favorite vegetables, of all time. It's the trace amounts of Irish blood running through my muttley veins. So, I knew that my soup needed cabbage. And potatoes for heartiness. Then, carrots for color, because I believe in colorful food. So this is what I came up with. It's pretty simple, pretty delicious, and will feed an army. In fact, if you don't like having leftover soup to eat for days I would consider halving the recipe.

Soup Ingredients:
3 cloves garlic, finely chopped
3 leeks, thinly sliced pale parts
3 tablespoons of olive oil
3 medium potatoes, cut to your size preference with or without skins
1/2 head of cabbage, cut
1 large carrot, sliced rounds
8 cups vegetable stock
4 cups water
Sprig of thyme
Bay leaf
Salt and pepper

1. Add olive oil, sliced leeks, and garlic to a 5 qt or larger pot and heat on medium high heat until softened and fragrant.
2. Toss in the potatoes, carrots, bay leaf and thyme and cover with all 8 cups of stock. Cook on med-high heat for about 20 minutes, until potatoes are tender.
3. Once the potatoes are tender add the cabbage and 4 cups of water, stir well to combine, and let cook another 5-10 minutes.
4. Salt and pepper to taste.

Photo courtesy of Photography by David L. Clark.

The cornbread is the second vegan cornbread recipe I have tried and it will definitely be my go to for easy and scrumptious dinner bread in a pinch. The recipe is from Veganomicon, and mostly unmodified (save my flavor additions).
Makes 8 big slices, that you'll devour whether you're still hungry or not, at least that's what I did.

Cornbread Ingredients:
2 cups plain soy milk
2 teaspoons apple cider vinegar
2 cups cornmeal
1 cup all purpose flour
1/4 cup sugar (okay, here I used 1/8 cup agave nectar because my sugar canister is near empty)
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/3 cup oil

1. Preheat the oven to 350ºF. Lightly oil the bottom and sides of cast iron pan (you can make this in a 9"x13" baking pan if you don't have an oven safe skillet). Preheat the oven with the pan inside.
2. Combine soy milk and vinegar in a measuring cup/small bowl and set aside to curdle while you prepare everything else. This is a vegan substitute for buttermilk.
3. In a large mixing bowl sift or mix together the flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt. Create a well in the center and add the soy milk mixture and oil. Use a wooden spoon to mix until just combined, lumps are okay. This may seem a little liquid-y for a bread batter, but it's a moist bread so it's okay.
4. Pour the batter into the heated skillet and bake for about 30 minutes, until inserted fork/knife/toothpick comes out clean.
5. Let cool a bit before slicing and serving.

My variation was to add one clove of finely minced garlic and a pinch of finely chopped fresh thyme (still trying to use it up from Thanksgiving). It gave a very subtle amount of flavor to the bread.

When corn is in season, I'll sauté some of that to throw in!

I'm Eating Pancakes

Lunch is the difficult meal for us in this house. We always seem to have enough food for yummy dinners and decent breakfasts. Most mornings we eat farina or oatmeal because it's more substantial than most cold cereals and because it's pretty quick to make (I struggle to get up when David's alarm wants me to after being up at least once, usually twice, in the night with miss LeiLei). Dinners are usually something with tofu or meat replacements and lots of veggies and flavor.  But lunch, well if we don't have any leftovers (we only ever have any when I make soups), lunch is real chore. Half of the time I can't remember what I finagled for us to eat at lunch time. I've started trying to keep track by taking iPhone pictures. Yesterday we had a delicious concoction of pasta, homemade tomato sriracha sauce (way more delicious than it sounds even if you are a rooster sauce junky like me) and spinach.

Today I wasn't sure how I was going to manage. We don't buy bread, I make all of it from scratch which takes planning (and let's face it, I am way to scatterbrained, not to mention tired, at 9:30 in the morning to remember to make some dough) so sandwiches are usually out of the question. Also we generally only have things for PB&J on the sandwich frontier. Anyways, today I made pancakes. 

I've been experimenting with homestyle vegan pancake recipes and struggling to find one that I'm truly happy with. I just wanted some tasty, traditional pancakes without eggs and butter. After trying enough to know what things I did and didn't like about the recipes, and about how much of a flour to moisture ratio I needed I came up with my own today. It rocked our socks! Perfect, for us, pancakes (pancake preferences are a sensitive matter, David didn't even like pancakes before I made them for him). Not too fluffy or too dense, and very moist. If you've never made pancakes without a mix, you should try some ASAP, whether you use this recipe or not.

Ingredients:

1 cup + 2 tablespoons unbleached all purpose flour

1/2 cup whole wheat bread flour (regular would be okay, just a little more dense and dry)

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 1/2 tablespoons vegan sugar

1 teaspoon baking powder

1 tablespoon egg replacement powder* =ERP, plus 3 tablespoons warm water

2 tablespoons vegan shortening (ie: Earth Balance), melted

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 1/4 cup soymilk

1. Mix the dry ingredients (minus the egg replacement powder) together until well combined. 

2. In a small bowl whisk ERP with water until dissolved.

3. Mix the shortening, vanilla, ERP mixture, and soymilk into the dry ingredients until fairly smooth. Some lumps are okay.

4. Pour desired pancake sizes into a skillet with vegan shortening and cook on low-med heat. Flip the pancake when bubbles uniformly cover the batter-up side.

Serve with any toppings you like. We used organic agave nectar this time around. Blueberries and powdered sugar would be amazing with these! 

Ginger Pumpkin Curry Soup

This Thanksgiving I made every bit of my pumpkin pie from scratch. This entailed sawing open, gutting, and baking a 6 pound pie pumpkin. I had twice the amount of pumpkin that I needed in the end (sadly not more, because there are at least 20,000 more recipes using pumpkin I'd love to try). I'm not a fan of wasting food so I whipped up this recipe in my head and gave it a whirl. It turned out exactly how I imagined and like most puréed soups was stupid easy. 

Here's what you'll need (of the ingredient varietal):

1 sweet onion, chopped

2 tablespoons olive oil

1 large clove garlic, minced

4 cups of cooked pumpkin, or 2 cans of purée (not the pie filling)

2 cans light coconut milk

2 tablespoons fresh ginger, finely grated

1/3 cup soy sauce or tamari

2 tablespoons curry powder

1 cup chopped spinach

Optional garnish:

Sesame oil, toasted sesame seeds, chopped green onions.

Tools: Measuring cups, grater, knife, 6-8 quart pan, food processor/blender/immersion blender.

First things first, get out all of your ingredients and chop and grate. Doing this first makes the whole cooking process more breezy.

Add the olive oil, onion, garlic, and ginger to your pot and heat on medium until the onion becomes cooked and the others fragrant. 

Next throw in that scrumdiddlyumptious orange mushy stuff called pumpkin, mix it a little, and pour in both cans of decadent coconut milk (try not to taste too much of it from the can, you need all that creamy goodness in the soup). Mix well and add the soy sauce and curry powder.

Cook until hot and pretty well combined and then blend until it's velvety smooth. Once it's blended add it back to your pot and throw in the chopped spinach. Cook it for a couple of minutes (that will seem hideously long if you're really hungry or just want all the pumpkin in your mouth like me) on a medium low heat. 

Serve hot and garnish if you please. Enjoy the rich creaminess and pumpkin-y color. I highly recommend having it with a good ginger brew, but I might be a little bit of a ginger fiend. No big deal...

Everyone should also note, and be as thankful as I am, that my husband took the pictures for me. He's the photographer in this family. 

Stuffed Acorn Squash

Since we get all of our produce for a week from Bountiful Baskets we have no control over, or advance notice of what our produce for the week will be. This works to keep me on my creative cooking toes. This week we got some acorn squash, which I was pretty stoked about. I REALLY love squash, all of it! Last night before making dinner I perused Pinterest for inspiration and discovered that most recipes for acorn squash involve stuffing them. Working with what I had, I came up with this recipe and my husband and I both enjoyed it. 

What you'll need:

1 Acorn Squash
4 Tablespoon Olive Oil
1 Sweet Onion
2 Stalks of Celery
1/2 Tart Apple
2 cloves garlic
1 cup cooked rice of choice
1 lemon
Pinch of dried sage
1 tablespoon balsamic
5 teaspoons agave
Salt and Pepper to taste

This recipe serves 2, with leftover stuffing mixture (that's delicious on it's own).

1. First you'll need to bake your squash. I cut mine in half, scraped out the seeds, brushed on a tiny bit of oil, salted and peppered it, and put it flat side down on a baking sheet in a 400º oven for 30 minutes.
2. While the squash bakes make the filling. Starting with the rice since it takes the longest. Cook your choice of rice according to it's directions. 
3. Caramelize a chopped onion by sautéing it in about 3 tablespoons of olive oil on a med-low heat until it is dark on the edges (not burnt).  
4. Mince the garlic and chop the apple and celery into about 1/4 inch pieces while the onion cooks.
5. Once the onion is properly cooked toss in the minced garlic and cook for about a minute, til it's fragrant.
6. You can add the celery and apple simultaneously. Cook the mixture for about 5 minutes.
7. Mix in your cooked rice.
8. Remove baked squash from the oven and scrape out some of the flesh to combine in the stuffing. Leave enough in the squash for it to keep it's shape.
9. Add the juice of half of the lemon, 3 teaspoons of agave, the balsamic, and sage, and as much salt and pepper as you see fit.
10. Generously spoon the stuffing into the two squash halves. Drizzle each half with one teaspoon of agave and place in the oven for about 5 minutes. 
11. Serve with lemon wedges to add some moisture and zing!
12. Enjoy. :)

The Grocery Bill

Since Thursdays are our grocery shopping day and I'm already sitting here making this week's list I figured I would share our grocery budget. You see, I'm kind of proud of it. This version is revision number 5 or 6 since we got married. Several revisions were based on the amount of money we had for food, then on changing to a vegetarian diet, and now vegan. David and I pride ourselves on not ever having discrepancies over money because we have very detailed budgets for all of our income that we've decided on together. Sure it's tight sometimes, but we don't let it freak us out. Our bills always get paid, and we have everything we need.

It doesn't seem like a lot of food, but we always end up with enough to eat 3 (sometimes very weird and *ahem* "creative") meals every day. Bountiful Baskets has been great for us because we end up with extra produce at the end of most weeks instead of running out 2 day before grocery shopping day comes around. We can't wait to pay of our car in February so we can afford the organic basket. Anyways, there's a little peek into our food and finances. I'm sure it won't be the last. :)

Our Week in Food

This past week we have been seriously considering giving up the dairy and eggs in our vegetarian diet and go completely vegan. I had been skeptical before I started experimenting with vegan recipes, but it turns out that they are delicious. My breads don't miss butter. I can have espresso from our newly acquired machine (via trading a camera body we couldn't afford a lense for) with soy milk. "Nooch", as strange as it sounds is super yummy. I also know that a vegan diet will probably serve me well health wise. And then, we watched "Earthlings" a documentary about the mistreatment of animals. How they are raised, how they are slaughtered, how as humans we don't generally care, and I was sick over it. So, we have a few sticks of butter left in our fridge and a block of cheese to finish off, but we aren't buying any more animal products for consumption. Yesterday we took a trip to the library and grabbed several good vegan nutrition/recipe books. I've spent so much time in the kitchen this week my feet and back hurt (not complaining, I LOVE it!). Some of the things I've made were non-vegan like graham crackers and breadsticks, but I'm only showing off the animal friendly food I've made. Flying our vegan flag I guess! Oh, and I hope you can forgive my bad food photography skills. I'll own up to them. ;)

Fancy Feast

This last weekend (which goes Thursday night to Saturday night for us kids) David's parents paid us a visit from Boise. Their trip was short, and included lots of food. Grocery shopping Friday morning spanning three cities to go to WinCo, Trader Joe's, and Whole Foods. Friday afternoon was intended to be dedicated to Pike Place, but the place was PACKED! No parking to be found anywhere downtown. Instead we headed up Madison Ave. to hang out near the restaurant we'd be having dinner at. That brought us to the Arboretum and Japanese Garden. The heat and old timers kept the walk in the Arboretum short, and the garden's entrance fees were out of our range for this particular trip. We waited and played near a few picnic tables in a grassy area until Nishino opened at 5:30. 

Sushi is kind of a big deal when you're part of the Clark family. I'm pretty certain my father-in-law tried it the first time in the 70's and never went back. The first date that David and I ever went on was to the sushi restaurant his family frequents. It was my first time trying sushi, and I've been told if I hadn't liked it, it would have been a deal breaker. So, naturally, coming to Seattle (fresh fish abound) it only made sense to find a great sushi restaurant and make a night of it. 

We all enjoyed the same thing, the Omakase or "chef's choice" dinner. A nine course spread of delight! Lorelei isn't accustomed to eating out, so she made the night a bit stressful for me, but all in all it was a real treat! 

On Saturday morning we ended up going back downtown to the market. It was still packed, but my mother-in-law had never been, and my father-in-law last visited in the 70's. They were so comical to watch there, obviously tourists. They found trinkets and souvenirs to bring back to the other grandkids in Idaho. We ate at a fantastic little seafood cafe down on the pier. The weather, while cold at first, was much more tolerable for a day spent outside (I'm one of those Pacific North-westerners who really loves the cold and rainy weather typical to the area). 

We headed back to the apartment during rush hour. Oops! I made a dinner that consisted of from scratch breadsticks, pureed curry carrot soup, a salad of mixed greens with creamy miso dressing, AND a homemade blackberry pie (my first ever pie, made with blackberries picked off the side of the road). 

Sunday morning they left, and today Lorelei is still running around looking for papa. Here are the few pictures David and I managed to get while trying to soak up the experiences, enjoy. :)