VeganMofo 2010: Pizza Rolls

When I was younger, my Aunt used to bring these amaaaazzzzing pizza rolls to every holiday family gathering that we would have. The crust was super-duper thin, and they were really moist and filled with goodness.  When a kid devours pizza rolls stuffed with spinach, you know they are good. I was trying to recreate these, and almost succeeded.  I used the pizza dough recipe from Vegan with a Vengeance, and used homemade tomato sauce with seitan and onion filling in one roll, and broccoli/cheese in the other.  Both definitely could have used more sauce and cheese, as they were a little doughy.  I asked my Mom later on if she knew what dough my Aunt used and she said it was store-bought bread dough. Huh.  Who knew.  These were actually much, much better the next day, when I smothered more sauce and cheese over the top and ate them with a fork. 

There isn't much of a recipe for this!  Just get all the fixings that you use for making regular pizza, but roll out your dough in a rectangle, put all the toppings on, and then roll it up and bake!  These would make yummy little appetizers for a party. 

Seitan and onion 

Broccoli Cheese

VeganMofo 2010: Muffins for the sick

I almost said PHOOEY to today's 'MoFo post, since I have been dragged down by the plague sickness all day today and I'm working on a big project. I'm being dramatic. I just have a sore throat and it's making me whiny!  

I did bake muffins this morning though, because that's what I do when I'm sick and busy. Ha!  

I super-love the recipe for Cranberry-orange muffins in Vegan Brunch, and it is my "go-to" muffin base recipe, mostly because I always have the base ingredients on hand. I rarely make it "as is" though, usually subbing in apples or whatever fruit or nuts I have on hand for the cranberries, and using soymilk + 1 tsp. apple cider vinegar if I don't have OJ (which I don't usually, but today I did!)  Works everytime!  I like this recipe because it is super-basic and doesn't require any soy yogurt or applesauce or other things that I don't usually have laying around. I like instant muffins!  I like to mix up the flours sometimes too, throwing oats into the mix.  Woo!

Anyways, I think I'm babbling. Bedtime!

Apple-cinnamon muffins with some oats thrown in there somewhere too.

VeganMofo 2010: A Landscape of Apple Pie

This didn't last long!

Basic Crust (makes enough for top + bottom crust)

Ingredients:
2 1/2 cups flour
1/2 cup + 2TBS Earth Balance, cold
Heaping 1/4 tsp. salt
1/4 cup + 2 TBS Water

Directions:
Pulse together flour, EB, and salt until combined. Slowly drizzle in water until dough is all combined.  Wrap and chill for 1 hour in fridge.

I brushed the top crust with soy milk and sprinkled a little sugar on it before putting it in the oven, and then once again when there was 15 minutes of cooking time left.

VeganMofo 2010: PB & J Crepes

Etsy has this food series that they blog about every week or so, called Eatsy, and most of the time the meal isn't vegan or vegetarian, but every so often they will surprise me.  A few months ago they posted a recipe for plum jam, and I thought, "hey, I have plums, let's jam!"  I also had some sad looking pears and apples, so I included them in the party, but kept the jam mostly on the plum side.  And, ohhh, it was good! I've never had plum jam before, much less made it (or any jam! I know!) 

I made fancy crepes, from Vegan Brunch, and decided to put some good old PB and apple-plum-pear jam in it (yes, I am 5!), with a drizzle of agave nectar on top.  Yummers!

Veganmofo 2010: Ohh Homemade English Muffins

My big project over the weekend was making homemade English Muffins, from the cookbook Urban Vegan. And by "big project," I mean that I had to make the starter friday night, and let it sit overnight so that the yeast could work its magic.  I have made other english muffin recipes before, but let me tell you what. The secret is letting the yeast sit out overnight. Seriously, these were soooo gooooooood.  Nik and I couldn't get enough of them, and were all sad-faced when they were gone (which only took a day).  Totally worth the effort; Get on it!  

Nooks and Crannies!!

They turned out super-fluffy.

I celebrated these muffins all dang day, having them with Earth Balance spread for Breakfast, and then making these mega-yummy sandwiches for dinner. Yay breakfast for dinner!  I marinated some tofu 

(in olive oil, shoyu, pepper, salt, apple cider vinegar, thyme, liquid smoke) and then grilled it on my grill pan, and topped with Follow Your Heart Cheese.  Hash Browns on the side! Swoon!

Om nom nom nom.

Veganmofo 2010: An Ode to Apple-Pumpkin Butter

Happy toast. I was going for a "Care-Bear STARE" moment with this (why yes, I AM a child of the 80's!) 

So, I am officially obsessed with apple-pumpkin butter. It's like pumpkin pie on a spoon. And in my belly.  Those cute pumpkins that Nik and I carved last weekend? Yeah, I totally stored them in the fridge and then slaughtered them this week to make some delicious apple-pumpkin butter. I couldn't let them go to waste (and hey, they were $3.00 each!)  

I vaguely followed Susan's recipe, at Fat-free Vegan, but omitting the raisins (blech!! Not a fan!), and used chunks of apples instead of applesauce (and more of them).  And I used two sugar pumpkins, so mine took F O R E V E R to cook. Like four hours! It was a really delicious smelling four hours though. 

Poor kitty cat and big-eyed pumpkins steamed 

Guts scraped out.

DON'T do what I did, and keep it in big chunks cooking. You will have a big burn mark on the bottom of your pan. Puree ASAP!

Much better. Now let this simmer for many hours.

Try not to eat it all in one sitting. (there was a whole other big jar filled, but that mysteriously disappeared.)

So I have been putting this on toast, in my morning oatmeal (um YUM), and my favorite use:

Pumpkin-Chocolate Hot Cocoa!

makes 1 serving

1 Cup Almond Milk (or soy, rice, oat, hemp, etc.)

2TBS unsweetened cocoa powder

2TBS sugar

3TBS apple-pumpkin butter 

Blend all ingredients in blender until combined (or super-whisk if you don't have a blender).

Heat on low in a saucepan, stirring constantly, until desired non-tongue-burning temperature has been reached. Enjoy!

Oh god. It's DELICIOUS.

VeganMofo 2010: Loafing Around

So I wanted a loaf. A veggie loaf, to be exact. It's cold out and has now become the season where all I want for dinner is comfort food.  TV dinner, Mom-style, with lots of mashed potatoes.   I was looking to make a veggie loaf where everything held together and I could smother with ketchup.  This worked well! It held together beautifully! For the veggies, I used celery, a tomato, a jalapeno, a few radishes, and a red onion. Whatever you have in the fridge basically. And make sure you dice them real, real small, so everything holds together well. And then make sure you are liberal with the ketchup and mashed potatoes. Yum, yum, and yum. 

Veggie Loaf

(makes 1 loaf)

Ingredients:

1 cup lentils

1 cup TVP

1 cup SUPER-diced veggies, your choice

2 TBS Olive Oil

3 TBS Tomato Sauce

1 tsp. liquid smoke

2 Cloves Garlic, minced

1 1/2 cups bread crumbs

1/4 cup Vital Wheat Gluten

1 tsp. Thyme

1 tsp. Basil

1 tsp. Parsley

salt and pepper to taste

Directions: (Preheat oven to 350F)

1.  Steam Lentils until cooked.

2. Rehydrate TVP ( I usually add water, a dash of shoyu, and a dash of liquid smoke to it and let it all absorb).

3. Mash Lentils to a paste

4. Add the remaining ingredients and mix with hands until everything holds together and is incorporated. 

5. Oil loaf pan and add loaf.

6. Bake loaf for 1 hour, until golden brown.

7. enjoy!

VeganMofo 2010: The Best Place on Earth

Seriously, farmer's markets are the best places on earth. It never ceases to put a smile on my face (except when people get in my way!), and I absolutely love the change in seasons because it means there are fun new things to be seen and most importantly, eaten. 

I love this goose squash, below, or whatever the heck they are. Holy humoungous!! I've never gotten one...maybe I should? I would probably lose a finger or two trying to cut it up.

Reaping the benefits from my CSA and farmer's market, I made some yummy sauteed collards, with carmelized onions and hot pepper, and some roasted butternut squash.  I have found that the trick to yummy collards is to not really cook them much at all, so you don't just get a mushy mess of greens.  I sauteed the onions and hot peppers for a long time in some olive oil and then when I add in the collards, I put a dash of shoyu sauce and some salt, pepper, thyme, and only let it cook for a couple of minutes more.  I just keep an eye on it and taste it until it they are just slightly wilty, but mostly still crunchy and definately still super-green. Yum!

And ohhh roasted butternut squash is the best.