Vegan Knitting and Holiday Baking

No posts since September - time really flies.  I haven't been doing much cooking, but I've been knitting and baking a ton.  Here are some of my favorite recipes of late:

•  my own ooey gooey chocolate chip pumpkin bread
• chewy chocolate raspberry cookies from Veganomicon
• chocolate chip banana cake from Chloe's Vegan Desserts
• gluten-free pumpkin chocolate chip muffins

To my delight, one of my co-workers baked vegan sugar cookies this week, and they were out of this world with vanilla frosting.  Here's the recipe for those yummy vegan Christmas cookies - it's quite simple, which is the best part, besides how good the cookies are.

As I mentioned, I've taken up knitting.  I learned the basics just four lessons at Stitch House Dorchester, and after that I started using YouTube videos and Pinterest patterns to make gifts for everyone in my family.  This holiday season I tried my best to avoid commercial Christmas.  It's far more pleasant to sit at home knitting than to be standing in line at the mall. My challenge has been to find to vegan yarn, since most of the local knit shops sell wool, angora, merino, and various other blends.  I did some research on the wool industry, and I'm not interested in wearing a scarf that represents sheep being tortured.  There are plenty of alternative fibers - it just requires some extra leg-work.  Fake Sheep is a blog about vegan knitting with lots of info about various alt fibers.  As always, living the veg life makes things a bit more challenging, but it's all part of being the change. 

Have yourself a vegan little Christmas.

Blogger's Soundtrack

 She and Him Holiday Pandora Station

Perfect Pumpkin Waffles

Fall is the best season, and I only appreciate it more after having missed out on it while living in Phoenix.  Fall fashion, football, New England foliage... I'm even learning how to knit!  Fall also gives me an excuse to indulge in anything and everything pumpkin.  You will find me drinking pumpkin ale while watching the fall television premieres, moisturizing with pumpkin lotion, eating pumpkin spice ice cream (with hot fudge) at Fomu, surrounding myself with pumpkin candles... I even have my kitty eating pureed pumpkin.  In addition to all this, I've been doing lots of baking.  You can find my recipe for ooey, gooey chocolate chip pumpkin bread here, and a great recipe for pumpkin muffins at the Post Punk Kitchen- so delicious.  Another one of my favorites is pumpkin waffles.  Anyone who stays with me gets treated to vegan waffles- if you visit in the fall, they will be of the pumpkin variety.  Here's the recipe:

Ingredients
3/4 cup All-Purpose flour
1/2 cup whole wheat flour
1/4 cup brown sugar
1-1/4 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp baking soda
1 tsp pumpkin pie spice
3 Tbs unsweetened apple sauce
1 cup vanilla almond milk
1 cup canned pumpkin (puree, not pie mix)
1 Tbs canola oil

Directions
1.  Combine the dry ingredients in a mixing bowl.
2.  Combine the milk and oil separately, then add to dry ingredients.
3.  Add the pumpkin and apple sauce to the bowl and stir until mixed thoroughly.
4.  Make waffles using your waffle maker!


This recipe is really easy and the results are amazing.  Definitely a must if you are a pumpkin addict. 

Blogger's Soundtrack

 Lana Del Rey - "Summertime Sadness"

 I got my red dress on tonight
Dancing in the dark in the pale moonlight
Done my hair up real big beauty queen style
High heels off, I'm feeling alive

Super Easy Blueberry Muffins

I bought two pounds of blueberries last weekend.  I couldn't eat all of them so I made these blueberry muffins and brought them to work.  Since there were none left by the end of the day, I will go ahead and say they were great.  I doubled the recipe and it made 14 muffins.


Ingredients

• 1 1/2 cups unbleached flour
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 3/4 cup vanilla almond milk
• 1/4 cup vegetable oil
• 1 1/2 cup fresh blueberries

Directions 

1. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.  Prep your muffin tins with cupcake liners.
2. Combine the dry ingredients, then add the almond milk and oil.  Stir to combine, then add the blueberries. 
3. Bake for 25-30 minutes, until the tops of the muffins are just browned.

Blogger's Soundtrack

  Bob Dylan - "Don't Think Twice, It's Alright"

Bean and Quinoa Tacos

I've been wanting to try something different when it comes to Mexican cuisine, given that I generally stick with my trusty fajita recipe.  I found this recipe for bean and quinoa tacos, and I decided to modify it a bit and whip it up for a dinner party.  I was excited about the blue corn taco shells that this blogger used, but sadly I was unable to find them.  I will continue to keep a lookout, though-- blue corn chips are my favorite so I will obvi become addicted to the taco shells.  I went with multigrain shells instead this time.

Here's my version of the recipe:

Ingredients

• 1 yellow onion onion, diced
• 2 green bell peppers, diced
• 4 cloves garlic, chopped finely
• 1 cup cooked quinoa
• 1 15 oz can pinto beans, rinsed and drained
• 1 15 oz can black beans, rinsed and drained
• 15 ounces diced tomatoes (1 can)
• 2 tsp cumin
• 2 tsp chili powder
• 1 tablespoon lime juice
• 12 taco shells of your choice

Toppings (these are my favorites, but you can do whatever you'd like)

• sliced avocado
• chopped tomatoes
• baby spinach

Instructions

1. Heat 2 tablespoons olive oil in a large pot. Add the onion and saute on low until translucent, stirring frequently.  Add the garlic and cook for another 3-4 minutes. Add the peppers and cook for 10 minutes or until tender. 
2. Stir in quinoa, pinto beans, black beans, and diced tomatoes.  Add the lime juice, cumin, and chil powder.   Bring to a simmer and then reduce heat to medium low. Cook for 15 minutes.
3. Heat the taco shells according to the package directions-- mine required heating at 350 degrees for 4 minutes.
4. Spoon bean/quinoa mixture into taco shells and add your favorite toppings. 

(It's a very easy recipe.)

A couple of things to note with this recipe:  it worked well for me to cook the quinoa as I was chopping the ingredients and cooking the onions, garlic, and peppers.  By the time all that was done, the quinoa was ready to be added.  I started out with a skillet, as the original recipe suggested, but there was simply way too much food to fit, so I had to dump everything into a large pot.  I am not big on spicy food, so you may need to add more cumin/chili powder, depending on what you prefer.  As far as servings, there were four of us at dinner, we each ate two tacos and some chips, were completely full, and had lots of leftovers.

Blogger's Soundtrack

OneRepublic - "Counting Stars"

 

Vegan Grilling Part 2: Grill Your Pizza

This week I started reading The Happiness Project, by Gretchen Rubino.  She writes,

My research had revealed that challenge and novelty are key elements to happiness.  The brain is stimulated by surprise, and successfully dealing with an expected situation gives a powerful sense of satisfaction.  If you do new things-- visit a museum for the first time, learn a new game, travel to a new place, meet new people-- you're more apt to feel happy than people who stick to more familiar activities... This is one of the paradoxes of happiness, we seek to control our lives, but the unfamiliar and the unexpected are important sources of happiness.  (74)

Going vegan has given me new challenges- from the early days of restocking the cabinets and reading food labels religiously to finding veg-friendly restaurants and ordering off not so veg-friendly menus.  I really enjoy trying out new recipes and putting together my own meals, and I haven't been doing enough of it lately.

That being said, I make pizza a lot, but I have never grilled it before.  I used my vegan pizza recipe and the steps for grilled pizza found here, which are basically the same regardless of which site you visit.  I was apprehensive about doing this, because I envisioned the dough dripping between the grates.  This actually didn't happen, but the dough did cook very quickly, so you must be ready to flip it fast.  This is the trickiest part.  We actually ended up using broiler pans for the second two pizzas, but then we sacrificed that "grilled" taste.  All three pizzas tasted incredible, though -- maybe even better than traditional oven-baked pizza. 

Here's what I'll be sure to do next time:

• Shape the dough into personal-sized pizzas.  It was hard to flip the dough because it was too large.
• Invest in a large spatula for flipping.  My brother actually wants to buy a pizza spade.
• Make sure you have everything you need outside, including pot holders.  You have to work quickly so you don't end up with a scorched mess!
• Work with multiple people.  Between flipping the dough and adding all the layers of ingredients, you need some assistance at the grill. 

 

Like most vegan challenges, this one was definitely worth all the work.  

Blogger's Soundtrack

Calvin Harris ft. Ellie Goulding - "I Need Your Love"

 

Homemade Vegan Ice Cream and Sorbet

I <3 ice cream.  My apartment is 1/2 mile from the vegan ice cream shop in Allston and that makes me very happy (yes, I've mapped out the distance).  Admittedly, however, vegan ice cream can be pricey.  A pint of soy ice cream typically costs at least $5, unless you buy Soy Dreamy at Trader Joe's, which is the best store bought vegan ice cream anyway.  I recently became interested in making my own ice cream after spotting some recipes in Chef Chloe's dessert book and Vegetarian Times magazine.  Therefore, for the past week I have been experimenting with a bunch of different combinations.  Once you acquire an ice cream maker, concocting your own ice cream and sorbet is simple and cheap. 

For one thing, if you puree enough fruit to fill your blender, that's pretty much all you need to make sorbet.  Next boil 3/4 cup water and 3/4 sugar, stirring until the water has cooled.  Combine the pureed fruit with the water/sugar solution and refrigerate for at least an hour, until it has cooled throughout.  The final step is to add this to your ice cream maker and follow the directions for your particular machine.  Most of them require freezing the mixing bowl overnight.  Being an impatient person, I only froze mine for six hours, so my first batch didn't turn out all that well.  So far I have tried this with fresh cantaloupe and watermelon.  The watermelon sorbet was particularly delicious and refreshing... and cheap.  You can use fresh or frozen fruit, in whatever combinations you like.  There are some more creative recipes here, here, and here in the Vegetarian Times this month- the avocado recipe looks pretty tasty.

Things I want to try: raspberry-lemon sorbet, substituting agave for sugar, and making ice cream using coconut milk and agave- specifically, mint-chocolate chip ice cream.  More to come on that soon.

(Pictures Coming Soon)

Blogger's Soundtrack

 "Your Love" - The Outfield

Vegan Grilling

When I first went vegan, there was a lot of stress accompanying food-related events- each holiday and party meant a new meal to figure out.  Now that I've been doing this for a few years, I usually have ideas in mind ahead of time, but there are still "ah!  What will I eat?!" moments.  I've recently been doing a good amount of grilling with my family, and I realize that at one time I had no idea what to prepare for all those inevitable summer barbeque parties.  There are actually a lot of options, which I will share, but first, a few tips:

- Invest in a grill pan.  There are a few reasons for this.  First of all, I never feel completely assured that all of the meat and juices are completely gone, even if the chef scours the grill or even has a huge fire going, in the case of charcoal.  Something about it is just unsettling to me.  Also, veggie burgers can easily fall apart and vegetables will slip between the grates, while a grill pan keeps everything together.  Seriously worth it.

-Let people know ahead of time that you're vegan.  Even if you're planning on bringing your own meal, the hosts (hopefully) will be nice enough to at least have a veggie platter or some fresh fruit, which they might not have done otherwise.  I've attended two parties this summer where the hosts had a plethora of vegan food - quinoa, potato, and pasta salads that were really good!  Often I don't expect people to prepare anything special, but I forget that just because it's vegan doesn't mean everyone else won't enjoy it, as well.


Now for the recipes:

1.  Vegan Black Bean Burgers
This is one of my favorite vegan recipes, in general.  I got it from VegWeb and modified it a bit.  My family actually likes them more than eating meat off the grill, and that's saying a lot.  These have just the right amount of spiciness and definitely fall apart while you're eating them.  Topping with slices of avocado is a must and they're delicioso on a whole wheat bun.

Ingredients:

• 3 cans black beans, rinsed and drained
• 1 Tbsp olive oil
• 1 green bell pepper, diced
• 1 medium red onion, minced in food processor
• 2 large stalk celerys, minced in food processor
• 6 cloves garlic, minced in food processro
• 2 tsp cumin
• 2 tsp paprika
• 1/4 tsp cayenne pepper
• 1/2 cup original hummus
• 1 Tbsp soy sauce
• 1 cup quick oats

Directions:

1. Heat oil in a frying pan on medium low
2. Sauté garlic & onion in oil until soft
3. Add the celery & pepper, fry until softened
4. Mix in the herbs & spices and heat through
5. Mash or puree half the beans
6. Combine all beans with cooked vegetables and quick oats.  Mix well by hand.
7. Add enough of the hummus or liquid seasoning to moisten mixture fairly well
8. Form 10-12 flat patties (this will get messy!).  Spray a grill pan and grill for about 10 minutes, until the burgers are warm and browned.  You can also fry them on the stove using olive oil.

 2.  Sweet Potato Burgers
These have also recently become a family favorite.  These burgers are not actually cooked on the grill, but are fried or baked instead.  They are still a great substitute for traditional burgers.  I made a batch, baked it in advance, and brought it to a party where more people tried it than I had anticipated.  These are also great with avocado, but I've seen people eat them with ketchup.  The recipe can be found here: Lunch Box Bunch


3.  Grilled Vegetables / Skewers
This one is super easy!  The other day I sliced up a bunch of zucchini squash and red and yellow bell peppers, keeping them in sizable slices.  I arranged everything on the grill tray, sprayed it with olive oil, and grilled for about 10-15 minutes.  The results were delicious.  If you want to get a bit fancier, buy some wooden skewers and include whatever you like- onions, tomatoes, mushrooms, pineapple, eggplant - there are lots of options.  There are many recipes online for vegetable combinations and marinades.  Here's one that looks great: Vegetarian Times

4.  Grilled Potatoes
It's so simple!  Here are a few ideas:
    -Slice sweet potatoes in half.  Wrap each half in foil.  Grill for 20 minutes.
    -Peel and slice a bunch of red skin potatoes into rounds.  Add a thinly sliced red pepper, green pepper, and sweet onion.  Wrap in foil, drizzled with olive oil.  Grill for 30-40 minutes.


There are so many options for vegan grilling - sometimes it's just hard to think outside the box of what you have eaten in the past.  All of these recipes are healthy and satisfying- you'll be glad you didn't eat that hot dog (gross).  So choose a recipe and get started!