best vegan blog and bread

Amazingly I had never seen cup cake wars until the other night which is very hard to believe because I am obsessed with anything to do with cupcakes, cakes, and baking! I love ace of cakes and the food network so how I over looked this wonderful little show is just unknown, but go figure the first time I watch there is an adorable vegan girl who makes the best vegan cupcakes, Chef Chloe. She has some amazing award winning recipes on her blog so check them out

http://www.chefchloe.com/blog.html

Any ways after watching her I got the baking bug and was just itching for exams to be over so I could get home and start making some delicious food with my family! Later that night instead of studying for my exams of course I was surfing the net looking at vegan blogs and I stumbled on another blog, which so far has been the best vegan blog I have found http://www.meettheshannons.net I some how found their challah bread recipe and since it was the last night of Chanukah and my family occasionally celebrates jewish holidays I decided it would be perfect especially since my jewish grandparents were coming to town. Any ways I ended up staying up all night with nothing else to do (nothing to study for the next day) kneading my bread and it turned out perfect so here is the recipe taken from

The Betty Crocker Project: Challa Atcha'! on http://www.meettheshannons.net/2010/12/betty-crocker-project-challah-atcha.html

Challah Bread

3 Cups Flour
1/4 Cup Sugar
1 1/2 Teaspoon Salt
1 Teaspoon Nutritional Yeast
1 Package Quick Active Yeast
1 Cup Very Warm Water
2 Tablespoons Olive Oil
1 Tablespoon Applesauce
Olive Oil Cooking Spray - for baking sheet
Vegan Vegetable Shortening - for greasing bowl (I just used some vegan butter and it worked fine)

Vegan "Egg Wash"

1 Tablespoon Water
1 Teaspoon Olive Oil
1 Teaspoon Apple Juice (I used fresh juice from a juicer)
1 Teaspoon Nutritional Yeast

In a large bowl, mix 1 1/2 cups of the Flour with Sugar, Salt, Nutritional Yeast and Quick Active Yeast. Add the Water and Oil and blend with an electric mixer for 2 minutes. Be sure and scrap the sides of the bowl often to make sure all the ingredients are mixed in. Then blend in the Applesauce and remaining Flour until the batter is smooth.

Place Dough on a lightly floured surface and knead for 10 minutes. Grease a large bowl with Vegetable Shortening. Place the Dough in the greased bowl and spin it around a few times to get a light coating. Loosely seal the bowl up with plastic wrap and place in a warm place to rise for an hour or until it doubles in size. We let ours sit overnight.

Heat oven to 375.

Spray a light coating of Olive Oil Cooking Spray over a cookie sheet.

Once the Dough has doubled in size and is springy to the touch, remove it from the bowl and divide it into 3 equal segments. Roll each segment into a long rope - try to keep them about the same size. Here's a tip : Don't stretch your dough. We did and you can see it caused the bread to have that pulled and well just not smooth appearance. Just roll it out.

Lay the 3 ropes in a row and start braiding them loosely from the center out. Then pinch the ends under to secure them. Brush a light coating of Olive Oil over the bread and then place the Loaf on your greased cooking sheet. Cover loosely with plastic wrap and let rise in a warm place for another hour.



In a small bowl mix mix all the ingredients from the Vegan Egg Wash with a whisk. Once the loaf has risen, brush the Loaf with the Vegan Egg Wash.

Bake 20-30 minutes (I baked mine for 15 minutes). Remove from the oven once it is golden brown. Thicker braids may take longer to bake.



I hope you enjoy this recipe and this blog it really has some great recipes I can't wait to try out a few more!

Mushroom pasta

During exam week food is usually the last thing on everyones mind and I usually end up eating out a lot or eating animal crackers for dinner. After a long day at the library and a very difficult exam I wanted something delicious and luckily we had some mushrooms in the fridge and I thought why not try to make something delicious. My room mate had told me about these irresistible mushrooms she had at thanksgiving a few years ago and it was just simply button mushrooms sautéed in worcestershire sauce. I decided to put my own spin on this and use what I had so this is what I came up with.




1/2 a package of White mushrooms
a sprinkle of red pepper flakes for some heat
olive oil
worcestershire sauce
1/2 cup bow tie pasta or as much as you want

This was only a single serving so if you want to make more just use more shrooms and pasta and use a little more sauce for marinating.

Put a pot of water on the stove to boil for the pasta while you are preparing the mushrooms. I don't usually wash my shrooms I just brush off any dirt or peel back any of the dirty spots. Then heat up the oil, worcestershire sauce and let the red pepper flakes heat up so the oil can absorb some of their heat. Next throw in the mushrooms, I left mine whole, and sautéed them in a fry pan with the olive oil, worcestershire sauce, and pepper flakes. let them cook on medium low until they are a darker color and a little bit smaller. Be careful how early you start cooking them because I had a hard time resisting them and ended up eating half of the mushrooms before the pasta was even done!



Next throw the pasta in the boiling water and cook for 7 to 8 minutes or however long your pasta package recommends. You can taste a bow tie and see if there done around 7 minutes if you like your pasta al dente. Then toss with the mushrooms after draining the pasta and enjoy!

Tempeh

The other day I had a greek salad at Mellow Mushroom with tempeh on top and it was sooo delicious. I had never cooked with tempeh before but every time I try it out I always really enjoy it so I figured it must not be too hard to make. Plus when I went to the store they had it for so cheap I just picked some up and figured I could think of something to make with it.



I used an asian toasted sesame dressing to marinade the tempeh in the fridge for an hour before cooking it.



While the tempeh was marinading I chopped up some carrots and red pepper into bite sized pieces and grabbed a handful of walnuts to throw in with the tempeh.



I added the carrots, peppers, and walnuts and let it soak up a little more of the dressing while I heated up a pan with a little bit of olive oil in it.



After adding the tempeh mix to the pan I let it cook on one side for 5 minutes and the flip it over to cook on the other for another 5 minutes or so. Next I poured the rest of the marinade over top of it and let it cook up while stirring it around making sure to not let the marinade burn or have the tempeh stick to the pan.



After it was done cooking I spooned the tempeh mix over some fresh baby greens for a delicious tempeh asian salad but you could always mix this with rice, noodles, on a sandwich, or even use it as the filling for a lettuce wrap .



Enjoy.

Cinnamon Bun Pie Pockets

I found this recipe on stumble upon last year and saved it as a favorite but then just never made them for the longest time and I wish I would have thought to make them sooner because these are delicious! After not doing so hot on my spanish test I needed a little pick me up and so I thought these would be perfect especially since it is getting nice and cold out a warm little treat was just what I needed in this fall weather!



The blog where I found these on is called gimme some oven an it is not a vegan site but I easily converted her recipe so I suggest you check it out plus she has a lot better pictures for prep work and instructions. http://www.stumbleupon.com/su/2ezR42/gimmesomeoven.com/cinnamon-bun-pie-pockets

These were so easy to make and so delicious so make a list and go get:

2 refrigerated 9-inch pie crusts (they come in a pack of two)
1 tub (8 oz.) vegan cream cheese (I used tofutti brand)
1/4 cup brown sugar, packed
1 tsp. ground cinnamon (1/2 for filling, 1/2 for topping)
1 Tbsp. sugar
2 Tbsp. vegan butter, melted (I always use Earth Balance)
1 cup powdered sugar
2-3 Tbsp. soy milk or water (I used almond dream vanilla)

First set your oven to 350 F, line a baking sheet with parchment paper or aluminum foil, and put out all the ingredients and measuring utensils. Then clear a counter or cutting board and sprinkle it with flour before spreading out the pie crust dough. I did not roll the dough so just using the pie crust as is yielded 8 little bun pockets but I think if you were to roll it out you could get at least a dozen. It just depends how thick you want your crusts to be and if you need to make more you can always double the batch!

After spreading out the dough on the floured surface pick what shape you want to make. I stuck with the circles just for the first time but next time I will definitely be breaking out my heart shaped cookie cutter. Also if you do not have any cookie cutters you can do like I did to make the circles I just found a wide glass to cut them with (about 3 inches across). Cut two circles for each pie, one for the top and one for the bottom and place the bottoms evenly spaced on the baking sheet with the tops set aside (you can put them fairly close because they dont rise too much).

Next is the fun part grab a medium sized bowl and mix together the cream "cheese", brown sugar and half of the cinnamon (1/2 tsp.) I used a hand mixer but if your up for a work out you could surly beat it with a fork just make sure to let the cream "cheese" soften first.

After this you can scoop a generous portion of the cream "cheese" mixture into the center of each circle. Then rub a little bit of water around the edges of the circle to wet before placing the top circle on. seal the edges with either your finger or pressing with a fork. Now mix together the sugar and remaining cinnamon. Spread the melted butter on top and sprinkle the cinnamon sugar mixture on top before baking. The cinnamon shouldn't burn on top which I was fearful of; it will just darken up the tops a bit.

Bake for 25 to 30 minutes or until the dough looks a little golden brown.



While your letting them cool a little whip, up the last addition to these tasty treats, the drizzle. Mix the powdered sugar with the soy milk using either a fork or a whisk until a desired consistency. I like mine to be a little thick but drizzle-able. Now slowly pour the frosting glaze over the buns and serve while there still warm.



Enjoy them while they last cause mine sure were gone fast!

Pan Fried Tofu, Kale, and Stir-Fried Noodles

Yesterday my dad came through town and stopped by for lunch. Usually we go to one of our favorite vegan friendly restaurants like Tomato head or Sunspot but I thought why not make lunch. So I still have this bag of kale and I decided to find a good recipe that could include it so I searched one of my favorite vegan blogs VeganYumYum and found this http://veganyumyum.com/2007/12/pan-fried-tofu-kale-and-stir-fried-noodles/
recipe and it looked so good I had to try it plus I already had everything I needed to make it with. VeganYumYum says it serves two so this was the perfect meal for the two of us.

1 Package Extra/Super Firm Tofu
1 Head Kale, deveined and torn
5 oz. Dried, Wide Rice Noodles (Mine come in 10 oz packages)
Sugar
Soy Sauce

Tofu Marinade
1/4 Cup Water
1/4 Cup Soy Sauce or Tamari
1 Tbs Thinly Sliced Ginger (or minced)
1 Tbs Maple Syrup
1 Tbs Oil
1 Tbs Seasoned Rice Vinegar
1 Garlic Clove, minced
1/2 tsp Mustard
1/4 tsp Sriracha or Hot Chili Sauce
Black Pepper, to taste

Dipping Sauce
1/4 Cup Soy Sauce or Tamari
1/4 Cup Water
1 Tbs Seasoned Rice Vinegar
1 tsp Mustard
1 tsp Sriracha

I started off with the tofu. I am not too fond of cooking my own tofu. I really love the tofu at my work and sometimes I can make a good tofu scramble but grilling is not my specialty. To start I did as the blog said by draining the liquid wrapping it in paper towel and then wrapping it with a kitchen towel and I put four cans on top of it in a pan because I did not have a heavy enough pan to really squeeze out the liquids. I let it press for 15 minutes while I prepared the marinade.

I did not have any rice vinegar cause I think when I moved I left my bottle at home that I used to make sushi rice but any ways I just subbed in extra water and it worked fine. After preparing the marinade it was exactly 15 minutes just like VeganYumYum said so I cut up the tofu into 8 equal strips and put them in the marinade to sit for 30 minutes (15 on each side).



While the tofu was marinating I boiled the noodles which the package says to cook for 12 mintues VeganYumYum said only 6 minutes so I followed her instructions. Drained them and rinsed them in cold water before setting aside to cool.



Next I mixed up the dipping sauce and set it on the table.

I did not have a cast iron pan like she said to use I just used a cheap regular old fry pan and I lightly oiled it with olive oil and it worked great with no sticking. I browned the tofu on one side and then the other just judging the time by the cooking and spooned extra marinade into the pan while it was cooking occasionally.



I could have browned up the tofu a little more but I have a fear of burning things so I took it out when it was just a little grilled to let it set and harden. VeganYumYum describes how this works when you let the tofu sit and cool it hardens up the only problem was then we had to eat cool tofu and I like my tofu hot so next time I am going to cook the tofu before hand let it harden and then reheat with the dish.



Then it was time to add the kale. I added some more olive oil and cooked down the kale until it was soft and then added the noodles cooking until it was a little browned.



Finally I plated the noodles and kale and cut the tofu into triangles and piled them on top with just a splash of the dipping sauce.

juice and crafts

So I feel like it is summer vacation all over again because I just finished my summer class and now I have nothing to do but hang out with friends and work.. work a lot, but I still have a lot of free time. Some how I managed to get sick this summer though. Not sure how that happened Im guessing all the late nighters studying and stressing out. So.. I made some carrot, apple, kale juice. As you can see I bought a 2 lb bag of kale :)



No worries this bag is great for juicing but I have another great recipe with kale that I will be posting shortly. hopefully this will cure me cause i am sick of being sick!

Also since I have all this free time I decided to do some arts and crafts. On this girl's blog (she is a friend of a friend out in cali) http://samanthamerica-create.blogspot.com/ there was the cutest picture of a sign and I went out and got some popsicle sticks and went at it.

snack time

Today I was craving a snack before I headed off to class. Since I had a fresh home grown cucumber from my parents garden, I decided to slice it up and use it like a cracker. The question was what to dip it in? Every time I go to the grocery store I keep seeing hybrid foods like guacaummus and I decided to give it a try. I already had some hummus I had made the other day and I just added one avocado and some dried oregano for flavor. Mash it all up and scoop it out with the cucumbers.

Home made peanut butter

One of my favorite things to eat is peanut butter. I love it on a pb&j, on bananas, with chocolate, or even just a spoonful by itself. So with my newly passed down champion juicer I decided to make my own. As you can see I used roasted and salted peanuts (I would not recommend using these because it ended up pretty salty, but next time I am going to try roasting them myself and then maybe adding some salt at the end if need be. I also plan on making some almond butter soon too yum!) Using the juicer to make peanut butter is pretty simple. When I first turned on the juicer and poured in the peanuts they all started shooting back out at me (You can see the mess in the pictures but what you can't see is the mess in my hair) so I would recommend pouring in some of the peanuts before turning it on and inserting the press to keep them under control. After it started coming out it was no problem pouring more in to the juicer. Don't forget to catch the butter coming out the other end in whatever kind of container you like. I choose this cool glass jar which actually originally came with a great red pepper bruschetta from Trader Joe's in it. Here is the finished product just a little bit crunchy and delicious. If you like you can add some agave to the peanut butter to give it a little bit of sweetness. Now I just need to think of a great recipe to use my freshly ground peanut butter in! Enjoy!

My first blog post EVER!

Hi everyone I am still working on the design elements of my blog and once I get it just the way I like it I will then hit the kitchen! Check in soon for my first masterpiece!