I Like Pie!

So when I was I college I took this music appreciation class and sat next to an international student from China. She was very timid and sweet and we just kind of smiled at each other at the beginning of class. Little by little we started talking to each other but it was difficult at times because of the language barrier. One thing I do remember about our talks was that she really liked pie – her face would light up when she would tell me about the pies she had tried! Well, this week I have had that same excitement over pies and so the title of the post is my friend’s famous line “I Like Pie!”

Cranberry Cherry Pie

First up, a cranberry cherry lattice pie! This pie is sweet and tart and oh so wonderful for breakfast! The recipe is from here. Here’s a close-up:

Pie Close-Up

When making a lattice top, I always end up with extra crust so I made these two mini-pies:

Mini Apple Pie

This one is filled with 2 fuji apples and a little bit of brown sugar and cinnamon.

Mini Strawberry!

Fresh strawberries from the farmer’s market sprinkled with a little bit of sugar.

For the grand finale I made a peach pie with a crumble topping:

Peach Pie!

This is about 3 lbs. of fresh peaches tossed with a cup of brown sugar, 1 tablespoon of cornstarch, and some cinnamon. The topping is 1/2 cup of oats, 1/2 cup of brown sugar, 4 tbs. of EB vegan butter, and cinnamon.

Peach Pie Slice!

This one turned out absolutely delicious! Nothing beats making your own pies with fresh, ripe fruit – totally worth the time and energy!

The crust on all of these pies is one that I found on Vegetarian Times several years ago and it never fails me!

Pie Crust:

1 1/2 cups flour

1 tbs. sugar

1/2 tsp. salt

1/2 cup Earth Balance vegan margarine, cut up

1/4 cup cold water

In  food processor combine first 3 ingredients. Add margarine and process for a few seconds. Add water and process until dough starts to form. Make a ball and wrap it in plastic wrap and put in fridge until ready to use.

At this point you can either roll it out on a lightly floured surface or just press it into a pie plate. It really does work both ways!

I hope you like pie as much as I do and that this post has inspired you to make your own!

Til next time…

Advertisement

2 Days of Cornbread Buns Courtesy of The Urban Housewife!

Anyone that knows me knows how much I love corn. Hell, I think it should be its own food group! You can have it in many of its multiple forms for breakfast, lunch, dinner, and snacks! So when I was reading The Urban Housewife’s  blog and she posted a recipe for cornbread burger buns, I knew I had to make them! I sure am glad I did, they are delicious!  

Cornbread Burger Bun

I thought it would be a good idea to make a BBQ veggie burger patty to go with the cornbread bun. Boy was I right – the BBQ with the cornbread was fantastic! I used Trader Joe’s Kansas City Style BBQ Sauce because I just plain love this stuff! I used red kidney beans and millet for these burgers and they creepily looked like meat burgers but the flavor was incredible. Here’s a close-up of the patty:

BBQ Burger

And the recipe:

BBQ Burgers

 Yields aprox. 6 burgers

 15 oz. can of red kidney beans, drained and rinsed

½ cup onion, diced

2 cloves garlic, minced

½ cup red bell pepper, diced

½ cup mushrooms, diced

1 cup cooked millet

1 cup breadcrumbs

¼ cup BBQ Sauce

½ tsp. onion powder

½ tsp. garlic powder

½ cup corn

 Directions:

In a food processor add all of the ingredients except the corn. Process for a few seconds and scrape down the sides. Process for a few more seconds and check the consistency. You may need to add more breadcrumbs until the mixture is neither too wet nor too dry. The mixture should be a good consistency for forming patties. Taste the mixture and adjust the seasoning to your taste. Add the corn and incorporate by hand. Transfer the mixture to a bowl and put in the fridge for at least 15 minutes. Form patties and cook in a cast iron skillet with a bit of oil for approximately 5 minutes per side.

On the 2nd day, I decided to use the left over burger mixture and create a kind of “sloppy joe” filling because again, I thought this would be tasty with the cornbread buns.  I sauteed half of an onion, half a red bellpepper, and 2 cloves of garlic in aprox. 1 tablespoon of olive oil. Then I added the crumbled up burger mixture and let this cook for about 5 minutes in a cast iron skillet. Then I added 1 small can of tomato sauce and let it simmer for about 10 minutes. I added about 1/2 cup of BBQ sauce and a bit of pepper and let it simmer for 5 more minutes. This is what I got:

Sloppy BBQ Joe

And sloppy it was indeed but the flavor with the cornbread bun was outta this world! I also made some coleslaw following the recipe from Veganomicon!

Coleslaw

All in all it was 2 days of cornbread deliciousness! Thanks Melisser!

Ripe From Around Here and More!

Strawberry Rhubarb Muffins

Strawberries, rhubarb, and spelt flour make for one heck of a muffin! These beauties are for the upcoming book Ripe From Around Here by Jae Steele and the recipe can be found on her site. Yes folks, I am testing for another book and am truly enjoying Jae’s recipes which focus on local ingredients. These pictures don’t do these muffins justice, they are fabulous:

Strawberry Rhubarb Muffin

I also made this very tasty roasted cauliflower:

Roasted Spicy Cauliflower

I definitely have other recipes that I am excited to try out so stay tuned for more RFAH porn!

This week I also made Spring Onion Pancakes. If you’ve never had these chinese delights I highly encourage you to. They are pretty simple to make and with the abundance of spring onions at the farmer’s market it’s a great time!

Spring Onion Pancakes

The recipe is pretty standard: for 4 pancakes I used 1 1/2 cups flour, 1/2 cup boiling water, and 1 tbs. of cold water. Stir to form dough and then on a lightly floured surface knead for a few minutes. Cover and let rest for about half an hour. Divide dough into 4 balls and roll each into a disc. Spread some sesame oil and sprinkle chopped onions. Fold in half and roll into a log and then roll the log lengthwise to make a spiral (kinda like a cinnamon roll). Let rest for 15 minutes. Flatten out each one into a flat disc and your onions should be incorporated into the pancake.  In a skillet add a 2 tbs of oil and fry til golden.

Pancakes!

They are oh so tasty! Next time I will defintely make more because these were gobbled up in a minute. The dipping sauce is Blackberry Wine Soy Sauce with some toasted sesame seeds and onions added. Here’s a close-up of the dipping sauce in my cute little fish bowl!

Fish Bowl

And last but not least, have you tried Coconut Bliss  yet? If not, what are you waiting for?? Best vegan ice cream EVER! Seriously!

Coconut Bliss

This is the Naked Coconut flavor with some sliced strawberries – pure bliss! Luna & Larry definitely got the name of their product spot on – this is coconut bliss! So go out and get some, you won’t be disappointed!

Til next time…

Cheater Lasagna!

Cheater Lasagna!

Why “cheater” you ask, well, because it doesn’t have any noodles and I used jarred pasta sauce! This can easily be made on a weeknight as long as you have your components made ahead of time, so its super easy! Here’s what I did: I took one japanese eggplant and one medium zucchini and sliced the lengthwise – these are your “noodles”. I made the cashew ricotta from Veganomicon! I used 1/2 an onion, 4 cloves of garlic ( I like garlic you can use less), 1/2 of a red bellpepper, and about 6 shitake mushrooms – all sliced and sauteed in a little olive oil. I also used some Trader Joe’s Organic Marinara Sauce – use whatever kind you like. The topping is stale whole wheat bread ground up in a food processor with some oregano, salt, pepper, garlic powder, and onion powder – I used about a cup of these breadcrumbs and added 2 tablespoons of nutritional yeast!

To assemble take a baking dish and lightly coat the bottom with olive oil. Place a layer of eggplant as your base. The next layer is the ricotta, then the rest of the eggplant. Add some sauce to the top of the eggplant and then add the sauteed veggies. A layer of the zucchini is next and then some more of the ricotta. The last layer is the rest of the zucchini, some sauce, and then the bread crumb mixture. Cover with foil and bake in a preheated oven at 350 for 45 minutes. Uncover (test with a knife to ensure all your layers are cooked), raise the temp to 400 degrees and bake for about another 15 minutes until the top is golden. Let cool before slicing or it might fall apart! This is what it looked like:

Cheater Lasagna

It was sooo tasty! I totally did not miss the noodles or the cheese! The cashew tofu ricotta bakes up wonderfully and all of these flavors worked very well together.

Veggie Lasagna

I will definitely be making this again!

Homemade Bagels, Part Deux!

As promised, here is the 2nd installment of my life with homemade bagels…

Homemade Bagels!

Aside from eating these toasted with Earth Balance, I decided to make some veggie patties so I could make bagel sandwiches! I had some leftover cooked wild rice/brown rice combo and decided to make red kidney bean wild rice patties. Here is the recipe I made up:

Red Kidney Bean Wild Rice Burgers

Yields aprox. 6 burgers

 15 oz. can of red kidney beans, drained and rinsed

½ cup onion, diced

2 cloves garlic, minced

½ cup red bell pepper, diced

1 cup crimini mushrooms, diced

1 ½ cups cooked wild rice

1 tsp. cumin

1 tsp. parsley flakes

½ tsp. sage

½ tsp. chili powder

1/2 cup cornmeal

 Directions:

 In a food processor add all of the ingredients except the cornmeal. Process for a few seconds and scrape down the sides. When it is well incorporated start to add the cornmeal a little at a time. Process for a few more seconds and check the consistency. You may need to add more or less cornmeal until the mixture is neither too wet nor too dry. The mixture should be a good consistency for forming patties. Taste the mixture and adjust the seasoning to your taste.

 Transfer the mixture to a bowl and put in the fridge for at least 15 minutes. Preheat your oven to 350 degrees. Place a silicon mat, parchment paper, or lightly grease a cookie sheet. Form the dough into balls and press into patties of the desired size.  Bake for 15 minutes and then flip the burgers and cook for an additional 15 minutes.

I didn’t have any breadcrumbs so I used cormeal as a binder instead. I was really pleased with the result as the cormeal gave the patties a nice crunchy texture!

Red Kidney Bean Wild Rice Burgers

These were so yummy and it brought me a sense of accomplishment that I hade made everything myself in my kitchen! So if you’ve never tried to make homemade bagels, I highly recommend you head over to Kamutflake Girl’s  blog and grab the recipe for these tasty bagels!

I also made this pumpkin cheesecake from the Ultimate Uncheese Cookbook  with a pistachio, date, and cardamom crust.  It’s tasty but wasn’t quite the texture I expected – more pumpkin pie than pumpkin cheesecake! The inspiration for this came from Swell Vegan’s beautiful raw pumpkin pie!

Pumpkin Cheesecake

And if that isn’t enough I scored some beautiful portabella mushrooms at the Hollywood Farmer’s Market and had to bust out the Weber! Of course these mushrooms couldn’t just go any any store bought bread so I had to make some Rosemary Focaccia Rolls from Veganomicon! I used Isa’s recipe for the marinade from here.

Portabella!

The sandwich is the grilled portabella, grilled red peppers and green onions, red leaf lettuce, some Vegenaise, and some grilled japanese eggplant – simply delicious! Funny story: while at one of my favorite vendors at the fm, I came across these beautful japanese eggplants. I knew they were eggplant but I wasn’t certain of the variety. I asked what they were and the lady told me they were japanese eggplant. I replied that they were beautiful but I wasn’t certain what I’d do with it. She said “why cook it and eat it of course!” We both looked at each other and started laughing hilariously – classic!

Baja Style Tofu Tacos!

So I’m not sure of it’s a Cali thing but on a hot, sunny day all I want is some cervezas and Baja Style Fish Tacos! I have been missing these immensely so I decided to take matters into my own hands! First, get your hands on some good mexican beer – I prefer Pacifico Clara – light, crisp, and delicious. Side note: if you wanna know if your alcohol is vegan check out Barnivore.  Take a pound of extra firm tofu (I use Wildwood brand)  and press it for about half an hour, pat it dry and cut roughly into “fish stick” sized pieces. Marinate it in 1 1/2 cups of beer for about another half an hour. In the meantime, mix together 1 cup of flour, 1/2 cup of cornmeal, 1 tsp. of cumin and oregano, 1/2 tsp. of onion powder, garlic powder, cayenne or some other type of chili powder, or cheat and use your favorite cajun style spice mix, and salt & pepper to taste. Once your tofu has sat in the beer for awhile go ahead and pour that beer into the dry mixture. Mix well until it has a thick pancake like consistency. You might need to add a little more beer to get the right consistency (if you still have any left at this point). Coat your tofu pieces in the batter and in a cast iron skillet or deep frying pan add enough of your favorite oil ( I use canola) to completely submerge the tofu pieces and fry them until golden brown. They should look like this:

Beer Battered Tofu

I used shredded cabbage and carrots, avocado, and I made some “cheater” sauces. I took a cup of Tofutti Sour Cream   and added about a cup of chopped cilantro and 1 tbs. of lime juice. Then I took another cup of the sour cream and added 1 chipotle pepper in adobo sauce (seeded and finely minced) and a bit of the sauce until it was just the right amount of spicy. Assemble your tacos on corn tortillas, add some limes and your favorite hot sauce and you’re set!

Baja Style Tacos

If I may say so myself, these tacos turned out fantasic! Just like the fish tacos I remember but cruelty-free!

Beer Battered Tofu Tacos

So get your cervezas ready amigos and have yourself a feast!

Happy Vegan Day!

Today, February 1, 2009 is my official turning vegan day. I have been a vegetarian for many years and I recently decided that I needed to finally take the plunge and go vegan. The obstacle for me has always been cheese – give up meat and dairy, no problem. Cheese, wait…that’s dairy??? That was always my issue. Well I’ve made the commitment to not let cheese take over my life so as of today – no more cheese!  

I’ve been reading many vegan blogs and vegan cookbooks in the last couple of weeks and trying new recipes and have realized that I don’t really miss the cheese. In the process I have become completely addicted to vegan blogs. Most provide a wealth of information – tips, recipes, and endorsements of products by real people. So far, no one has led me astray and all of the stuff I’ve tried has been great! I’m like a wide-eyed kid in the kitchen – completely amazed that ” I made that” and it tastes better than the “regular” version. I think I’ve been driving my partner crazy by obsessively grilling her “did you like that?” and she’ll respond and then 5 minutes later I’ll reword the same question 🙂 She’s been vegan for a while so it is not that magical for her as it is to me.

So here are some of the things I made this weekend – first off I baked these cookies. I got the recipe from Joni’s blog . I only had crunchy peanut butter so I used that instead of the creamy kind, they still had a great texture.

For dinner tonight I made Black Bean Burgers. I kind of just made up the recipe myself  from the inspiration that is Joni’s Blog (see below the pic). I served them with baked sweet potato fries!

Black Bean Burgers

 

Yields aprox. 6 burgers

 

15 oz. can of black beans, drained and rinsed

1 med. onion, diced

4 cloves garlic, minced

1 jalapeno, seeded and diced

½ cup red bell pepper, diced

1 tbs. olive oil

2 cups mushrooms, diced

½ tsp. onion powder

½ tsp. garlic powder

½ tsp. cumin

½ tsp. chili powder

3 tbs. ketchup

3 tbs. hot sauce

1 cup breadcrumbs

 

Directions:

Heat a medium skillet or frying pan over medium heat and add oil. When oil is hot add onions, garlic, jalapeno, and bell pepper and sauté for a few minutes. When the onions are translucent add mushrooms. Continue to cook for about 5 minutes until all vegetables are browned. Set aside and let cool.

 

In a food processor add rinsed and drained beans, the sautéed vegetables, all of the spices, the ketchup, and hot sauce. Process for a few seconds and scrape down the sides. When it is well incorporated start to add breadcrumbs a little at a time. Process for a few more seconds and check the consistency. You may need to add more or less breadcrumbs until the mixture is neither too wet nor too dry. The mixture should be a good consistency for forming patties. Taste the mixture and adjust the seasoning to your taste.

 

Transfer the mixture to a bowl and put in the fridge for at least 15 minutes. Preheat your oven to 350 degrees. Place a silicon mat, parchment paper, or lightly grease a cookie sheet. Form the dough into balls and press into patties of the desired size.  Bake for 15 minutes and then flip the burgers and cook for an additional 15 minutes.

 

Well, I guess that’s it for today. Not bad for a first post from a blog newbie!