Isa's Chickpea Picatta

My version

One of my favorite "fancy" things to make is a picatta - whether it be seitan cutlets or gardein. So, when I saw in Isa's new cookbook "Appetite for Reduction" that she had revamped her recipe to be around 400 calories, I was pretty amped. The white wine sauce and all the mashed potatoes with tons of earth balance of the standard picatta is quite indulgent, albeit delicious, but maybe more indulgent than I would like.

Isa Test Kitchen: Oven Baked Onion Rings

Andrew LOVES to cook. He gets such joy out of it. Especially when you have to painstakingly dredge onion rings in batter ONE by ONE. It's the most fun one could possibly have, right?

I'm lying. Obviously, no one likes battering stuff like that. It takes forever, and it's boring. Andrew and I tried to tag in and out so we could rest our minds from the bland abyss. But it doesn't help a whole lot. So, if you're ever going to a potluck and think making onion rings for 100 people sounds like a good idea -- don't. It's not really a good idea. I mean, it is. But it's a lot of work.

We made do though. MAYBE everyone didn't get onion rings. But I don't think I'll lose any sleep over it.

This recipes comes from www.theppk.com. I think they have a new low-fat, weight-lossy vegan cookbook coming out to counter the years we've all been cooking from Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World. And rightfully so. The recipe was super easy. We used Italian bread crumbs instead of just plain ones. We thought it'd be a little bland without all the oil and fatty deliciousness. We also cut the salt a little since a few commenters thought they were too salty. Give 'em a try!

Vegan Donuts (revisited)

I'm really not much of a baker. At all. I know some basic rules, and I can follow a recipe like a champ, but I'm not confident enough to "invent" recipes. Sometimes I'll try to veganize a recipe. Like maybe once. But for the most part I leave it to the experts. I've tried two vegan donut (or doughnut... I don't know which one I like better yet) recipes, and they've both been phenomenal.

I'm Still Here

These are the "Oysters" Rockefeller from The Conscious Cook. They're absolutely amazing if you ever need a fancy appetizer for something. A lot of time goes into them, but it's worth it. Coincidentally, The New York Times has an article questioning why vegans shouldn't eat oysters. It's a silly point, mostly because oysters do have a simple nervous system. But you might want to check it out none the less. Some interesting comment discussion.

Anyway, life has been busy and thus the blog has been vacant. Andrew is fighting at the end of April, so he will need to cut weight. We're transitioning his diet this weekend to a low carb vegan diet. Any suggestions!?

Something Green: Sushi!

I actually made something of my own for once. That was last night, and unfortunately I have no pictures or recipes up yet. But for now, I'll show another recipe from the Conscious Cook, because it's St. Patrick's day and it fits!! Sushi!!

Get it? The nori sheets are technically green? And the avocado??


Well, this dish was pretty awesome. The thai chili sauce I got was pretty sweet, so I might just use some siracha next time to mix in with the vegenaise to make it more spicy and less... sweet. And if you're trying to find something to do with your bag of bulk quinoa -- do this!! It's blackened portobellos that were marinated in creole seasoning and wine [[there's more to it than that]] with avocados, scallions, and that thai chili vegenaise.

Here are some other green things:

Spinach Artichoke Dip
Green Bean Casserole
Fried Green Tomatoes

More Conscious Cook: My Heart Shaped Timbale

My obsession with The Conscious Cook won't end. I think I'm cooking my way through it, easily. Most cook books will take me years just to make 4-6 things, but not this one. A lot of the recipes are really accessible for me with how I cook, I already have a lot of the ingredients on hand.

Anyway, I just wanted to share a particularly exceptional dish. This, pictured above, is the timbale. It has a longer name, but I can't think of it now. From top to bottom we have: quinoa cooking in veggie broth with jalapenos & cilantro, some chopped avocado, roasted sweet potatoes, raw kale, and some spicy blue corn chips. The sauce is a roasted tomatillo, cilantro, & olive oil dressing. This is freaking amazing. Not only is it probably the most perfect meal you could eat [[3 super foods and the more nutritious grain ever]], but it's flipping delicious. The recipe calls for you to make your own spicy creole chips using a tortilla, but I just bought some from Whole Foods. It also calls for micro-greens, which I've only found at the Clintonville Community Market, so I just used chopped kale. Arugula works really well, too. The great thing about this meal is that after you've made it once, you have left over dressing so you can make it again really easily.

Also, if you want to make this look super fancy, you use a hollowed out cylinder-shaped item to place all the ingredients in a perfectly round shape. Since I don't own that, I just used a heart-shaped cookie cutter. It came out really adorable & perfect for Valentine's Day. :)

More Conscious Cook & Fasting

Hey all. We just got back from an amazing trip in Chicago, and now we're fasting. I have a lot of pictures and food spots to share. In the interest of not completely torturing myself, I'll just mention this really great recipe from The Conscious Cook. I made the cashew ravioli, and it is completely and utterly amazing. All the work and the time is totally worth it. So, if you want someone to bow to your feet in awe of your mad cooking skills or just worship the ground you walk on for the next couple days, make them this. It's so rich and creamy, and if you don't have a pasta roller [[like I don't]] just roll out the dough yourself. It takes a bit longer, but it works well. And if you roll out the dough, cut your circles with a wine glass top or something, and then roll out those circles ever more -- you get a really thin dough.

Warm Wasabi Cream

I got a new camera last week! I'm pretty excited about it. It's a Nikon D5000, and though I'm not exactly a mad wielder of awesome pictures yet, I can see a huge difference with my food photos already. Which makes me pretty excited about this post. It's the premiere of the D5000.

I've really been plowing through The Conscious Cook. The recipes are a little challenging and often time consuming, but I really enjoy the change. This recipe is Old Bay Tofu Cakes with Horseradish Cream and Summer Vegetables. I made a few alterations, because sometimes it's just a pain in the ass to run out and grab every ingredient. Especially when you've gone to two stores already looking for old bay and you somehow forgot the horseradish.

Can't find Old Bay? It's often in the seafood section.

The recipe called for some shallots and other ingredients with fresh vegetables, bla bla. Instead, I bought a frozen bag of mixed, organic vegetables and cooked them with some thinly sliced yellow onion [[it's what I had on hand]], olive oil, garlic, salt and pepper. And because I forgot the horseradish like a dummy, I decided to make a warm wasabi cream. Again, it's what I had on hand. Here's what I did:

[[Warm Wasabi Cream]]

1 heaping tbs earth balance
1 glove garlic
about 2 tbs brown rice flour
1 1/2 cups unsweetened soy milk
1 tsp salt and pepper
2 tbs wasabi

-- Warm the E.B. and the garlic.
-- Add the brown rice flour when the E.B. is completely melted and slightly bubbling. Whisk together and let sit for 20 seconds.
-- Add the soy milk, salt, pepper, and whisk to combine.
-- Allow to thicken on medium heat.
-- When thickened, whisk in wasabi and set on warmer until ready to use.

The tofu cakes were phenomenal. I'm not a huge white pepper fan, so I may leave that out next time, but they were really great. They were a little difficult to patty after sitting in the fridge for a a half hour [[still too runny]], but I made due. They certainly didn't come out as pretty as his, but they still tasted great. Creamy inside, with greasy crispy outside.

Last Minute Vegan Gifts: The Conscious Cook

I love finding new cook books that are able to give you something different. A lot of the time, you'll buy one, and get a lot of overlap in recipes, which isn't always bad, but it is uninteresting. But Tal Ronnen's "The Conscious Cook" gives a lot of variety and modernizes a lot of your old recipe books by incorporating things like Gardein and Field Roast.

This book is great for veteran vegans and newcomers. It contains high quality glossy pages full of amazing [[and sometimes not so simple]] recipes, plus information pages. It has interviews with the best vegan restaurants, with the creator of gardein, and "best of" pages with his favorites-- from his favorite types of mushrooms, to the best items to pickle. I especially love the utility recipes, like Ronnen's cashew cream. And if you get bored of Ronnen's style, he has guest chef recipes in there, too.

I've only made one recipe so far-- the Cajun Portobello Sandwich with Avocado and Remoulade. It has a lot of flavor-- the mushrooms hold a very meat-like savoriness, and the remoulade is a nice tangy accompaniment. It's easily one of my favorite sandwiches to make. And if you're really into cooking, you'll have a lot of fun making this. This recipce wound up only making two sandwichs for us-- mostly because I like a lot of portobello in my sandwich, so you may want to double up the portobello and marinade recipe. You get lots of remoulade left over, too, which is nice for other sandwiches you make throughout the week.


Anyway, try out this recipe, and buy the book. It's amazing. Get it for someone for Christmas. I don't think Ronnen ever mentions veganism in the book. He calls them "meat-free" recipes. Which is nice if you want to get this for someone who eats meat, and may want to incorporate some "meat-free" cooking into their lives. Either way, get it-- it's beautiful and the recipes are spectacular.

[[Cajun Portobello Sandwich with Avocado and Remoulade]]

Mushrooms:
Pinch of sea salt
1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
2 shallots, chopped
2 garlic cloves, minced
2 to 3 tablespoons low-salt Cajun seasoning, divided use
1/2 cup dry white wine
1 1/2 tablespoons white wine vinegar
4 large portobello mushrooms, stemmed, gills removed, cut on the bias into 1/4-inch slices

Assembly:
About 1/4 cup rémoulade (recipe follows)
4 soft sandwich rolls, split
4 to 8 romaine lettuce leaves, rinsed and dried
1 large tomato, thinly sliced
1 ripe avocado, peeled, pit removed and sliced

Rémoulade:
1 cup vegan mayonnaise
1 tablespoon ketchup
1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
1 teaspoon hot sauce
1 teaspoon vegan Worcestershire sauce
1 tablespoon freshly squeezed lemon juice
1/2 teaspoon sea salt
2 teaspoons capers, minced
2 teaspoons minced shallot
1 teaspoon minced fresh parsley
2 teaspoons minced red bell pepper

For the mushrooms: Place a large pot over medium heat. Sprinkle the bottom with a pinch of salt and heat for 1 minute. Add the oil and heat for 1 minute, being careful not to let it smoke. This will create a nonstick effect.

Add the shallots and garlic and cook for 3 to 4 minutes, until softened. Add 1 tablespoon of the Cajun seasoning, along with the wine, vinegar and 1 cup water. Bring to a boil, then lower the heat and simmer for 20 minutes.

Add the mushrooms and cook for 1 minute. Pour the mushrooms and liquid into a shallow container, cover and set aside to marinade for 1 hour.

Remove the mushrooms from the marinade and press between paper towels or in a cotton dish towel to remove the excess marinade, then sprinkle with the remaining Cajun seasoning, pressing the seasoning into both sides of the mushroom slices. Discard the marinade.

In a cast-iron skillet over medium high heat, cook the mushrooms in a single layer (you may have to do this in two batches) until blackened, 2 to 3 minutes on each side. Remove to a plate.

To assemble: Spread a spoonful of the rémoulade on one half of each roll. Top each with 1 or 2 lettuce leaves and a few slices of tomato and avocado. Divide the mushroom slices among the rolls. Close each sandwich, cut in half and serve.

Makes 4 sandwiches.

For the rémoulade: Place mayonnaise, ketchup, mustard, hot sauce, Worcestershire sauce, lemon juice, salt, capers, shallot, parsley and pepper in a food processor or blender and blend on high for 1 minute. Store covered in the refrigerator for up to 1 week.

Makes 1 1/4 cups.

It's Been a While: Aloo Chana & Pumpkin Muffins

The other day Andrew said to me, "Remember when you had a blog?" This was joke of course, but it made me feel bad for abandoning the CV for so long. I recently received a copy of "The Conscious Cook" that I promised to try out and post about-- and while I have several good intentions to make some recipes from it, I haven't quite had the time recently. But that's changing. So, here I am. Crawling back. With a post about one of my longtime battles: Indian food. [[I'm trying out "The Conscious Cook" tonight, and will report back.]]

Anyway, Indian food, for whatever reason, is really flippin' hard to make taste right. The recipes online or even in cookbooks just don't match the flavors you get in restaurants. They're either bland or too sweet. I combated the sweetest in past attempts by removing things like cardamom and garam masala [[lots of cinnamon]], but a lot of flavor was still missing. After talking to a fellow vegan in the area [[evolution]] about enchilada recipes, it occurred to me that maybe a tomato based sauce wasn't right for an aloo chana. He mentioned that the enchilada sauce he liked is chili pepper and water based. So with this aloo chana, I cut out the tomatoes and went chili based.

And while this isn't exactly right, it's damn near the best Indian food I've ever made. You'll like it. I'm just trying to blindly recreate a flavor in my mind, so whenever I don't get it right, I'm frustrated. But at least this recipe tastes good.


[[Aloo Chana]]

2 14 oz cans of garbanzo beans, drained
3-4 red potatoes, chopped into bite sized pieces

2 Anaheim chilies, roasted and chopped
1 white onion, chopped
2 small red bell peppers, chopped [[when I say small, I mean organic small]]
5 cloves of garlic, minced
1 cup of no-chicken broth
juice of one small lemon

3 tbs vegetable oil
1/2 tsp mustard seed
1 1/2 tsp freshly ground Indian cumin
1 tsp chili powder
1/2 tsp cayenne pepper or more for heat
3/4 tsp turmeric
1/2 tsp ginger
1-2 tsp of salt

1/2 cup soy creamer
3 tbs fresh chopped cilantro
a lemon peel
brown rice

-- Place the two Anaheim chilies on a cookie sheet under a high broiler and roast until they are blistered and black. This should take about 10 minutes. Be sure to rotate to get all sides. Remove them from the oven and place in a paper bag for 10 minutes.
-- While you roast the chilies, chop the potatoes and boil in salted water until tender, about 20 minutes.
-- Remove chilies from the bag, and remove the blistered skin. Chop the tops off and remove seeds. Place in a blender with chopped onion, bell peppers, lemon, garlic and 1/2 cup of broth. Blend until smooth. Set aside.
-- In a skillet, lightly toast the mustard seeds on medium heat for about five minutes. While that's toasting, blend the cumin seed in a coffee grinder or spice grinder. Add the ground cumin to the skillet and toast that with the mustard seed. Add the rest of the spices, except salt. Stir for about 2 minutes.
-- Add 2 tbs vegetable oil and the chickpeas. Stir coat the chickpeas and allow to cook for a few minutes.
-- Add the boiled potatoes and stir those to coat. Add the remaining 1 tbs of vegetable oil if necessary.
-- At this point add your puree. Let the chickpeas and potatoes sit in the chili puree on medium high heat for about 10 minutes. Add chopped cilantro, creamer, and salt. Stir. Let sit for another 2 minutes.
-- If it becomes to thick, use your left out broth to thin it out. Serve over brown rice or basmati rice. Garnish with more more cilantro and a lemon slice.


I realize Aloo Chana isn't very festive. A lot of bloggers this time of year go out of their way to give you awesome holiday recipes. And if I were more on top of things, I'd probably do that, too. But I'm not. I did however, have this looming can of puree pumkin that never made it's way to a pumpkin pie for Thanksgiving, so I made these pumpkin spice muffins from Vegan with a Vengence. If you've never made them [[and I've had this book for a while, and neglected to try them]], you definitely should. They taste like winter and smell like heaven. Really. Sub in whole wheat pastry flour, and they're practically guilt-free [[maybe]].

Vegan MoFo Day 16: Cinnamon Rolls!

I've wanted to make these for a while. I don't baked breads much, so the thought of making cinnamon rolls is a bit daunting for me. The kneading and the shaping and the rising time-- it all seems like too much work to be worth it. But like most things I've tried in the kitchen, and in life, it's never as hard as you think.

And to make it that much easier for you, I created step by step instructions with photos. Sometimes, especially in pastry recipes, I'll read an explanation of how to do something, and it's gibberish. That's usually when I get frustrated, throw something in the sink, and tell Andrew I'm never cooking again. Luckily, most of my baking time is while I'm home alone now, so he doesn't get to see the tirades.

I got this recipe online. The pictures sold me. However, the recipe did not come with "by hand" instructions, just bread machine, stand up mixer, and food processor. Since I broke my food processor the first day I bought and I have been too stubborn to go buy a new one, I just did it all by hand. If you want other instructions, go to the link.

[[Cinnamon Rolls]]
by these people with some additions

bread:
Ener-g eggs, room temperature and beaten -- next time I'd try a flax egg
1/4 cup warm water (110 degrees F.)
3 teaspoons active dry yeast
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup raw sugar
5 cups bread flour
1 tablespoon vital wheat gluten
1/2 cup butter, room temperature
1 cup plain soy milk (heated approximately 1 minute in microwave)
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

filling:
1/2 cup earth balance
1 cup soft brown sugar
4 to 5 tablespoons ground cinnamon

icing:
1/2 tub vegan cream cheese (like Tofutti), room temperature
1/4 cup vegan margarine, room temperature
1 cup icing sugar
1 teaspoons pure vanilla extract

By hand preparations:
1. Whip the egg replacer [[check out the box instructions]] until foamy. Set aside.
2. With a tsp sugar, mix the 1/4 cup warm water with the 3 tsp of active dry yeast. Set aside for 10 minutes.
3. While you wait for your yeast to look foamy and "alive", prepare the dry ingredients. Mix bread flour, vital wheat gluten, sugar and salt together.
4. Cut the room temperature butter into the dry ingredients.
5. Add warmed milk, vanilla, egg replacer, and yeast/water mixture to the butter/flour mixture. 6. Knead until it comes together to form a smooth, sticky ball. All the flour may not incorporate and that's ok. Just knead until it just comes together.
7. Place in a clean bowl and allow to rest for 10 minutes.
8. Get together your ingredients for the filling. Here comes the hard part... for me anyway.






9. Remove the dough after it has rested and roll it out into a large rectangle.















10. With a basting brush, spread softened butter onto the rolled out dough.












11. Sprinkle with brown sugar. In this photo it looks like a lot less. I halved the brown sugar just to make it a little lighter, but I'd recommend using it all.











12. Sprinkle with brown sugar.















13. Like a hot dog, roll from the longest side up. The tighter you roll it, the more it will buff up in the middles, so try to avoid rolling it too tightly. When you roll it up, seal the flap with a little water by pinching it and smoothing it.












14. With a knife, slice little lines so you cut them into even rolls.














15. Slice them and lay them in a grease baking dish about 1/2 inch apart. Flatten them a bit with your hands. Do not have them touching. Cover with plastic wrap and allow to rise for 2-3 hours, or until they double in size. You can also refrigerate them and let the slow rise overnight for the morning. Or you can freeze them and save the 2-3 hours of rising for later.



16. Preheat oven to 350 F. Bake for 20-30 minutes.
17. While they're baking, mix together all incing ingredients. My rolls' icing looks different because I ran out of earth balance. So, if you want to make a thinner icing, you can do it without the butter and with a little soy milk, about 2-3 tbs. Use icing at room temperature.
18. When they're done, cover in icing and top with chopped nuts or raisins if you so choose.

Vegan MoFo Day 11: PPK Banana Bread

I almost didn't post today! We went out with Andrew's parents to get a new computer. It's Andrew's birthday in two weeks, so they were buying him an early present. His old computer sort of just died on him.

Anyway, this is some killer whole wheat banana bread, soft on the inside with a hard, crusty outside. I found the recipe on PPK and subbed in some whole wheat. Unfortunately, it being fall, it fell prey to the fruit flies that we keep getting. Apparently they love bananas and subsequently banana bread. It was deeply upsetting. It was in the microwave, too!

Vegan MoFo: Blueberry Scones

When I was little, we lived in Santa Barbara, CA. My mom, for some strange reason, was obsessed with winter holidays. She had whole collections of strange Christmas CD's, our houses always had to have a fire place [[we moved a lot]], and we always baked a lot. As a kid I always enjoyed it, but looking back I see how silly it is to have a roaring fire when it's 70 degrees out. It was all fun, but seemed really unnecessary. My mom wore Ugg boots with her shorts and t-shirt.

Now that I live in the mid-west, where there are seasons, especially fall and winter, I'm starting to understand exactly why we do all these wintery things around the holidays. It's grey. It's cold. All your plants died. It's pretty depressing. But baking... and fires... and snuggling... those all grab new meaning to me.

Perfectly flaky in the middle.

I was laying on the couch last night, feeling cold and bored and just zoning out like a giant sloth. The cold weather really gets me down. Eventually, I got out "The Joy of Vegan Baking" and made her amazingly delicious blueberry scones. And suddenly I didn't seem to mind that it was near freezing and dark at 6. Because I was eating an incredibly flaky, warm blueberry scone. That was my a-ha moment. Baking makes so much more sense when it sucks outside.

Anyway, if you want to bake the best vegan stuff ever, like scones and pies and lemon cheesecakes -- buy The Joy of Vegan Baking. It's my favorite.

Happy World Vegetarian Day! And the start of Vegan MoFo!

Meet Thai Chef Andrew

The thing that really irritates me about Andrew is that he's good at everything. It's unfair. He's just one of those people who's done everything and can do everything. And recently, he's taken it upon himself to invade my realm of pseudo expertise, cooking. After our excursions in the East [[the East being NY and Philly]], we've been really craving Thai curry all the time. So, I suppose in an attempt to create vegan thai food [[they use a lot of fish oil]], Andrew consulted VwaV and made Isa's Thai Green Curry. He used reduced fat coconut milk [[because who needs a weeks worth of fat in one sitting?]] and added some broccoli. Mostly because we had some in the fridge, and we love broccoli.

It was pretty excellent and I have to say, I'm impressed with the huge task of making curry that he took on. It's not like he slapped some simple stir fry together. He made a chili paste and fried tofu excellently, and made substitutions where he thought fit. I don't know when we'll make this again, but I enjoyed it thoroughly.

In the back, I made some whole wheat crepes for dipping. It usually comes with these savory Thai Pancakes, but I can't figure out where to get them or what they are exactly. They're so of like puff pastry, though.

Last week, I also consulted VwaV and make some falafel. It's not super traditional and it doesn't look green mostly because I didn't have any parsley. I use some dried cilantro instead. I wrapped it in a whole wheat pita with hummus, tomato, red onion, and spicy spinach.


I'll have a more regular post tomorrow. I just thought I'd show you we're still sticking to the regiment as best we can. Keeping it whole wheat, and using lower fat options. Since we started this I've dropped one pant size and 24 lbs. Andrew's cut 4-6 inches [[it's hard to say, he never used to try on pants]] and around 30 lbs. We're feeling good and eating well.

Tempeh Bacon

Hey guys, thanks for being patient with the blog template changes. I think I have it under control now, hopefully there won't be any more parsing errors.

I couldn't get mine as thin as hers, but they were perfect.

I wanted to do a quick post about this amazing tempeh bacon I tried. Kathy of "Healthy. Happy. Life." posted this recipe a few days ago, and I can only say amazing things about it. The sweetness of the maple syrup with heat of cayenne [[ She says to add a dash, I add a good tsp]] really creates an amazing complex flavor. I love how "mock greasy" it is. It's covered in a smoky sauce, which makes it feel greasy and unhealthy. I remember bacon being dripping with fat, not like these dry imitation, shards that you buy in the store. They're great for bacon bits, but when it comes to a BLT they just don't cut it. But these ones rocked. The sweet, smoky, greasy flavor completely satiates my cravings. For the "BBQ spice blend" I used minced garlic, onion powder, plus the other spices, and then used liquid smoke for the "smoky flavor". You can find liquid smoke at ANY grocery store. Just ask.

Pot Pie Revisited

I don't have any pictures of it, mostly because it looked exactly the same. Instead of using just whole wheat pastry flour for the crust, I used half whole wheat and half whole wheat pastry and it came out fluffier. However, it was much more distinctly whole wheat flavored, which if you like it, is delicious. Probably not something good when cooking for non-vegans, but a great healthy alternative to an a white flour crust.

I also added some spinach to the pot pie mixture and used chicken style seitan instead of tofu. The chicken style seitan worked so well, especially with it's shredded nature that I so vividly remember in chicken pot pies.

Anyway, pot pies are a lot fun, try experimenting with them. It's easy. And in the end, it's still awesome.

Vegan Pot Pie - My Other Comfort Food

Candle Cafe's cookbook has stolen my heart. I love every freaking recipe I try, and I want to try them all. If you haven't bought it-- BUY IT.

Their pot pie was TREMENDOUSLY easy. And it's a pot pie, so you just put whatever in it-- I added more peas, because they're my fav. I used mushrooms because they're delicious. I didn't have sweet potatoes or russets so I just used red potatoes. The rest was celery, carrots, the usual.



The sauce was so good, and not too bad for you, like a traditional pot pie. A little white wine, a little soy milk, a little soy margarine. Delicious!

I didn't have tarragon, so I thought I'd just use cumin instead. haha I know they're like nothing alike, but hey-- I like cumin. [[no pun intended]] It tasted good too.

The Reg is anti-white flour, so I used all whole wheat pastry flour for the crust. And it turned out perfect! I was worried it wouldn't be light and fluffy, because of the decreased protein in the whole wheat pastry flour, but it was a great, crispy crust.

Chipotle Ranch Spicy Tempeh Spinach Salad

As promised, I said I would post about the most delicious salad ever. If you haven't checked it out, you should get Candle Cafe's cookbook. The recipes are a snap and they have such utility. This chipotle ranch-- I've already used it 3 times. Once in a Vegan Gyro, based off of Vegan Dad's recipe [[I subbed in the chipotle ranch for the Tatziki sauce]]. Once in this sick ass salad. And once in another recipe from Candle Cafe for a chipotle-rubbed seitan sandwich. It's pretty out of this world. I just made a few alterations, pretty much because I didn't have it haha. I used lime juice instead of lemon. I also couldn't find pure chipotle peppers, I only had them in adobo sauce, so I just rinsed it off and used it in the sauce-- I know, kind of ghetto rigged but it works!

But this salad, I tell you, was delicious. If you have Vcon, which I'm sure most of you do, make the spicy tempeh from the Spicy Tempeh with broccoli raab recipe, put it over a bunch of spinach and cover it in some chipotle ranch. It's a really thick, creamy dressing, so I covered it with a lid and shook it up so it got nice and blended. It's a really great salad. Easy to make. Healthy. Give it try.

Tiramisù

About a week ago, Andrew and I took a trip to Barnes & Noble looking for some healthy cookbooks to help out with the regiment. Instead I found a tiramisù recipe in Candle Cafe's cookbook and had to buy it. I guess it was a farewell dessert before the regiment -- but it was pretty healthy as far as desserts go. It called for only natural/raw sugar and used whole wheat flour. The last and only time I had tiramisù was during my sorority rush sophomore year. I don't remember much about the cake but I did pick that house-- so I probably liked it. :) I did have a problem with this recipe. The "cake" part would not bake all the way through. I know I have my oven temperatures pretty figured out, so it wasn't the oven. It was only supposed to bake 15 minutes, but it was a gooey mess when I took it out. I probably baked it another 30 minutes on top of that. I'm not sure if it was a typo or what, but 15 minutes was not NEARLY enough. Once I got the cake done, it was easy breezy from there. And the end product-- delicious. Not spot on texture-wise, from what I remember and what Andrew says, but the flavors were amazing. If you haven't checked out Candle Cafe's cookbook yet, you should. It has some amazing recipes for dressings, pot pie, tomato bisque, some breads, cheesecakes, and tiramisù of course.



It's a big mess so it's hard to tell, but it's double layered, with a Tofutti Cream Cheese based cream, topped with cinnamon and cocoa powder between layers. And it is to delicious. Really. I'd probably just make this every day and eat it if I could. This and maybe some Baja-style Tempeh tacos.

Carrot Cupcakes!

This isn't my recipe, but I thought I'd impart a review of this recipe. The Joy of Vegan Baking has a carrot cake recipe that I used to make carrot cupcakes. I hunted for other recipes, and it seems everyone has such different takes on carrot cake. Some like it sweeter, some like it earthier. I like mine sweeter personally, and unfortunately, Coleen's recipe was on a the earthier side. With enough of that amazing cream cheese frosting, though, they're pretty out of this world. Oh, and they're like loads better refrigerated. It's kind of strange.

My question to you is, how do I make these sweeter without ruining the balance. I know adding more sugar will effect the texture, so how do I sweeten them while keeping them fluffy and delicious still? I also wanted to substitute brown sugar, because I like the molasses flavor, but I was unsure how the moisture in the brown sugar would affect the recipe. Any advice would be much appreciated. :)