So This Happened Tonight

I found this recipe earlier this afternoon. I knew it would be my Friday night treat so I can get up and run in the morning. It worked perfectly.

5-Minute Chocolate Mug Cake

INGREDIENTS:
4 tbsp all purpose flour
4 tbsp sugar
2 tbsp unsweetened cocoa
1/4 tsp baking powder
3 tbsp applesauce (I used soy yogurt)
1/8 tsp apple cider vinegar
3 tbsp non-dairy milk
1/8 tsp vanilla extract
2 tbsp chocolate chips

PREPARATION:
Mix together dry ingredients in a large mug. Then add applesauce, vinegar, non-dairy milk, and vanilla. Stir in the chocolate chips. Microwave on high for three minutes (my microwave took 2:30). Cool slightly before eating.

***Recipe from Vegan Heartland here.

Vegan Pumpkin Smoothies!

I had some remaining pumpkin to use. Pulled out the Vegan Planet cookbook, and voila! A pumpkin smoothie. Like a drinkable pumpkin pie - so delicious.

Pumpkin Smoothie:

INGREDIENT:
1/2 C. pumpkin (canned is fine)
1 t. vanilla
3 T. maple syrup
1/2 t. cinnamon
1/4 t. nutmeg
1/4 t. allspice
2 C. soymilk or other alternative dairy (I used unsweetened almond milk)

PREPARATION:
Blend the pumpkin, vanilla, maple syrup and spices in blender. Add the milk and blend completely. Pour in two glasses and serve.

***This comes from Vegan Planet by Robin Robertson.

I Can't Stop!

More pumpkin! I opened a can of pumpkin for that Pumpkin Quinoa Breakfast and then had to find some ways to use the remainder of the can. I went here this morning....

Vegan Pumpkin Muffins:

INGREDIENTS:
1 3/4 C. all-purpose flour
1 1/4 C. sugar
1 T. baking powder
1/4 t. salt
1 t. ground cinnamon
1/2 t. nutmeg (ground or freshly grated)
1/2 t. ground ginger
1/4 t. ground allspice
1/8 t. ground cloves
1 C. pureed pumpkin (not pumpkin pie mix!)
1/2 C. soy milk (I used unsweetened original almond milk)
1/2 C. vegetable oil
2 T. molasses

PREPARATION:

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Lightly grease a twelve-muffin tin.

Sift together flour, sugar, baking powder, salt and spices. In a separate bowl, whisk together pumpkin, soy milk, oil and molasses. Pour the wet ingredients into the dry and mix.

Fill the muffin cups two-thirds full. Bake for 18 to 20 minutes, until a toothpick or knife inserted in the center comes out clean.

***This made 12 regular size muffins and then 12 mini muffins, at least in the size tins I have.

***I found this recipe by Isa Chandra here: The Post Punk Kitchen.

Coffee Cake - Vegan Style

OK, I woke up this morning and thought, "I know! I'll make a coffee cake to share with my friends." (Mandy and Brian are staying with me this weekend; they're going to see U2 tonight here in Nashville.) My original idea was to make one using the Pioneer pancake mix in the cupboard but when I got there, I realized that I didn't have enough of the mix to make the recipe.

Turn on computer and search Google: "vegan coffee cake recipe." And up popped this. It's baking in the oven now....

East Coast Coffee Cake:

INGREDIENTS:
Topping:
1 C. flour
1/3 C. brown sugar
1 t. cinnamon
1/4 t. nutmeg
1/4 C. canola oil, plus up to 2 T. more if needed

Cake:
3/4 C. non-dairy milk (I use almond milk here.)
1 t. apple cider vinegar
1/3 C. sugar
1/2 C. canola oil
1 t. vanilla
1 1/4 C. flour
2 t. baking powder
1/2 t. salt

PREPARATION:
Preheat over to 375 degrees and grease an 8-inch square pan. Mix the milk and vinegar together and set aside to curdle.

Mix topping by combining flour, sugar, cinnamon and nutmeg. Add canola oil and mix until crumbs form. You want mostly large crumbs.

For the cake, mix milk mixture, sugar, canola oil and vanilla. Add flour, baking powder and salt, and mix until smooth. Pour batter into pan. Evenly sprinkle the topping over the batter and pat down just a bit.

Bake for 35 to 40 minutes (I baked for 30 minutes). Let cool one hour before serving and sift powdered sugar on top before serving, if you like (I like).

***This took less than 10 minutes to stir up and what I love about vegan recipes is that they are such basic ingredients that you are bound to have them in your kitchen if you cook or bake at all.

***I found the recipe here. This person found it in Vegan Brunch by Isa Chandra Moskowitz, which sounds like my kind of recipe book. I'll have to check that out.

Found: New delicious vegan recipe...

I made goodies for my friends Kristin and Chad Clark's big adoption yard sale, which included a bake sale. I didn't have anything to donate to the yard sale but was more than happy to provide some happy vegan baked goods to the bake sale.

Along with my usual vegan red velvet cupcakes, carrot cupcakes (both with vegan "cream cheese" frosting) and peanut butter cookies, I tried a new recipe for Sweet Potato Muffins, also vegan. And boy, are these delicious. Lucky for me, the larger muffins were a bit brown (what happened in that oven?) while the mini versions I made were perfect so they were packaged for the bake sale.

I'm trying to remember where I found this recipe. It's only printed out from an email and I know Gmail didn't come up with it....

Sweet Potato Muffins:

INGREDIENTS:
1 C. + 2 T. sweet potato puree
3/4 C. coconut milk
2/3 C. brown sugar
1/3 C. water
¼ C. oil
2 T. maple syrup
1 T. lemon juice
2 C. flour
2 t. baking powder
1 t. baking soda
1/2 t. salt
1/2 t. ground cinnamon
1/4 t. ground ginger
1/8 t. ground nutmeg
1 C. fresh or dried cranberries, optional

PREPARATION:
Preheat oven to 400°F and lightly oil a muffin tin. In a large bowl, mix together sweet potato puree, coconut milk, brown sugar, water, oil, maple syrup, and lemon juice. In a medium bowl, sift together flour, baking powder, soda, salt, and spices. Combine wet and dry mixtures until just mixed.

Spoon batter evenly into prepared pan. Bake for 25-28 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center of a muffin comes out clean. Let muffins rest a moment in the pan, then cool slightly on a wire rack before serving.

Tomato Walnut Basil Pasta

My friends Kristin and Eric made this sauce while I was visiting them in Boston recently.

This recipe comes from the "Oh She Glows" blog, the home of many delicious vegan recipes.

This is so easy to make that I could go without buying another jar of tomato pasta sauce.

My version

Tomato Walnut Basil Pasta
Yield: 3.5 cups sauce 

INGREDIENTS:
One 28oz can crushed tomatoes
2 T. extra virgin olive oil
1/2 medium onion, diced (1 C. diced)
3 garlic cloves, minced
1 t. dried oregano
Pinch red pepper flakes
1/2 C. packed fresh basil leaves (one package of basil, like Jacob's Farm Organic)
1 t. kosher salt, or to taste
Freshly ground black pepper, to taste
1/2 C. nutritional yeast
2 large handfuls spinach, roughly chopped
1/2-3/4 C. walnuts, roughly chopped
Pasta of your choice

DIRECTIONS:
Chop onion and garlic. In a large skillet, heat olive oil. Add the onion and cook over low-medium heat for about five minutes. Add minced garlic and cook on low for another 4-5 minutes until the onion is translucent. Add oregano, red pepper flakes, salt and black pepper. Stir well. Cook on low for a few minutes. Add crushed tomatoes, chopped basil and nutritional yeast. Stir. Bring to a low boil and then simmer on low for about five minutes. Start the pasta. Stir in chopped walnuts and spinach. Cook for about 10 minutes on med-low. Serve over pasta and garnish with basil leaves and additional walnuts.

Makes about 3.5 cups sauce (equivalent to one jar of pasta sauce plus a serving).

Vegan Carrot Cake

I've had carrot cake on the brain lately so I searched for a vegan carrot cake recipe and found this one. And it's delicious. The recipe doesn't give a pan size, only says that it serves 8. I made cupcakes and it made 14 regular-sized cupcakes.

Vegan Carrot Cake

INGREDIENTS:
3 C. shredded carrots
1 1/4 C. sugar
2 C. flour
1/2 t. salt
2 t. baking powder
1/2 t. baking soda
2 t. cinnamon
1/2 C. orange juice
3/4 C. canola oil
1 C. raisins
1 C. chopped walnuts

PREPARATION:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Do not use a hand mixer for this recipe, use a ladle
or spoon. Mix all the dry ingredients together. Then mix in the Carrots and the Oil to the dry ingredients. Add the orange juice and mix it all together. Fold in the nuts and raisins. Grease pan with cooking spray or oil. Put the batter into cake pan.
Bake for 45 minutes or until knife/toothpick comes out clean when inserted in the center. Let cool completely.

***FOR CUPCAKES: I baked them for 25 minutes at 350 degrees.

***Vegan cream cheese frosting recipe coming....

***I found this recipe here.

Spicy Thai Tofu with Red Bell Peppers and Peanuts

I recently downloaded the Epicurious app on my Droid. The thing is so handy; you can search for any kind of dish by ingredients, etc. and then create a shopping list.

So I found this recipe based on my search for tofu and vegetarian. And it is delicious! And really easy!

My version

Spicy Thai Tofu with Red Bell Peppers and Peanuts

INGREDIENTS:

1/3 C. olive oil
2 large red bell peppers, seeded, thinly sliced
3 T. minced peeled fresh ginger
3 large garlic cloves, finely chopped
1 14-to 16-ounce package extra-firm tofu, drained well, cut into 1-inch cubes
3 green onions, thinly sliced on diagonal
3 T. soy sauce
2 T. fresh lime juice
1/2-3/4 t. dried crushed red pepper
1 6-oz bag baby spinach leaves
1/3 C. chopped fresh basil
1/3 C. lightly salted roasted peanuts

PREPARATION:

Heat oil in wok over high heat. Add bell peppers, ginger, and garlic; saute until peppers just begin to soften, about 2 minutes. Add tofu and green onions; toss 2 minutes. Add next 3 ingredients. Toss to blend, about 1 minute. Add spinach in 3 additions, tossing until beginning to wilt, about 1 minute for each addition. Mix in basil. Season with salt and pepper. Sprinkle peanuts over.

Read more about this recipe at Epicurious here.

Vegan Red Velvet Cake

If you hadn't heard, I'm addicted to anything red velvet nowadays. So for my birthday I decided to make a red velvet cake. I asked my mom for her recipe but discovered that it contained shortening. The only shortening I found in my pantry was made from vegetable oils and meat fats; not something this vegetarian wanted in her birthday cake. I searched for vegan recipe online and found this one. It turned out perfectly delicious.

Vegan Red Velvet Cake with Buttercream Frosting

INGREDIENTS:

For Cake Batter:
3 1/2 C. unbleached all-purpose flour
1 1/2 C. granulated sugar
2 t. baking soda
1 t. salt
2 t. cocoa powder
2 C. nondairy milk (soy, rice, almond, hazelnut, hemp, or oat)
2/3 C. canola oil
3 T. red food coloring
2 T. distilled white vinegar
2 t. vanilla extract

For Buttercream Frosting:

1/2 C. nondairy, nonhydrogenated butter (such as Earth Balance), at room temperature
3 C. powdered sugar
3 T. nondairy milk (soy, rice, almond, hazelnut, hemp, or oat) or water
1 t. vanilla extract

DIRECTIONS
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Lightly grease one 9x13-inch pan (or two 8-inch round cake pans).

To make the batter, in a large bowl, combine flour, sugar, baking soda, salt and cocoa powder. Create a well in the center, and add milk, oil, food coloring, vinegar and vanilla, and mix until thoroughly combined.

Bake for about 35 minutes. When the cakes pull away from the side of the pans and a toothpick inserted into the center of each comes out clean, they are ready. Let cool completely before frosting.

To make the frosting, with an electric mixer, cream butter until it is smooth and begins to fluff. With the mixer on low speed, alternately add powdered sugar and milk. Add vanilla to finish and mix.

***The use of dairy milk and/or butter in the recipe will work but negates the vegan part.

This recipe comes from The Daily Green; find it here.