"Pepperoni" Pizza Scones with Spicy Tomato Dipping Sauce

So I finally got around to making the vegan pizza scones that I mentioned a few weeks ago. And boy let me tell you: these did NOT disappoint. The final recipe is truly a hodge-podge of various scone recipes adapted and bastardized into this lovely form:


I have never baked my own scones before and I have to say that they are a lot easier than I had anticipated. I will admit that time is a factor when making these but the rewards are completely worth it. Yum!

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Vegan Pepperoni Pizza Scones with Spicy Tomato dipping sauce:
Yields 8 large slices

3 cups of all purpose flour
1 tsp salt
1 tbsp baking powder
2 tbsp freshly cracked black pepper
1 tsp Italian seasoning
1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
1/2 cup chilled nondairy butter, cubed
1 1/2 cups shredded nondairy cheese (I used Daiya mozzarella)
4 green onions, thinly sliced
1/2 cup vegan pepperoni, diced
3/4 cup Vegan Buttermilk + 1/4 cup (recipe below)
Vegan Egg-wash (recipe below)

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F.

In a large bowl sift together the flour, salt, pepper, Italian seasoning and garlic powder. Gradually add the cold butter and mix until the texture starts to feel crumbly.

Add the pepperoni, onions and 3/4 cup of buttermilk. Mix the dough by hand while adding a as much of the extra buttermilk as needed 1 tablespoon at a time or until the dough is pliable. Be careful not to overwork the dough as it will become light and tender when you bake it.

Place the dough onto a floured surface and pat into a ball. Roll the dough into an 8 inch circle that is about 1/2 inch thick. Using a pizza cutter, slice the dough into 8 sections.

Place the slices onto on ungreased baking sheet and lightly brush the tops of each with the egg wash mixture.

Bake for 20 minutes or until the edges become brown and the center is no longer wet. Remove from the oven and let the scones cool for 5 minutes before transferring to a wire rack.

Serve immediately with Spicy Tomato Dipping Sauce.

Vegan Buttermilk

1 tbs lemon juice
1 cup nondairy milk (I used almond milk)

In a small bowl whisk together the ingredients. It should curdle just slightly. Allow mixture to sit for 10 minutes before using.

Vegan Egg-wash

1/2 tsp cornstarch
water

In a small microwaveable bowl, mix the cornstarch with a small amount of water until it thickens. Add 1/2 cup water and whisk briefly.

Place bowl in the microwave for roughly 1 minute.

Spicy Tomato Dipping Sauce

15 oz Organic Tomato Sauce (or 1 can)
1 tbsp Basil Olive Oil (regular olive oil works too, but I *heart* the flavor of Basil Olive Oil)
1/2 tsp Italian Seasoning
1/4 tsp garlic powder
1/2 tsp red pepper flakes
1/4 cup vegan pepperoni, diced

In a small saucepan, briefly heat the tomato sauce and olive oil while gradually incorporating the spices.

Add the pepperoni just before you remove the sauce from the heat.

Serve immediately.

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I just love how scones are so totally portable! They are a grab and go lunch and the possibilities for both savory and sweet scones are boundless. I will definitely be trying my hand at some other variations in the near future. Any suggestions?

Tofu Spring Rolls

Tofu Spring Rolls

I love spring rolls! They are such a light but filling treat. The idea for spring rolls had manifested in my mind weeks ago. And the other night, I was sitting at home doing homework when I was suddenly overcome by the sudden urge to cook. (SHOCKER!) Knowing that I had ample supplies with which to work from (I had just gone shopping), I immediately set up my workspace in the kitchen to whip up a few of these babies.

My workspace included: A large, shallow bowl for dipping the rice paper rolls into, a pot of water for the rice noodles, and a pan for sauteing the tofu block that I had already pressed. The rice noodles take only minutes to prepare. They only cook for about 6 minutes in the boiling water and then you can just drain the water out and set them aside until you're ready to use them. Next up: the tofu: Into the pan went a marinade mixture of soy sauce, toasted sesame seed oil, a pinch of ground ginger and a splash of EVOO. The tofu, which I had already sliced into long, thin strips, was next in the pot. A few minutes on each side and then into a dish with a paper towel to drain off the excess liquid.

As for the rice paper rolls, all you need to do is make sure you have a dish that is large enough to hold whatever size your wrappers are. I happened to use a glass pie dish with about a 1/4 inch of water. The sheets of rice paper only need to sit in the water for about 45 seconds to a minute. Careful though: If they sit too long they will become mush! After you soak the wrapper, you should remove it from the water and lay it onto a flat surface. Now you're ready to add the stuffing and roll it up.

The insides of a spring roll are entirely up to the chef making them and also whatever happens to be at his or her disposal. In my case, I happened to have a bag of shredded broccoli, red cabbage and carrots, as well as a small head of lettuce. Into the spring roll it went with a few strips of the marinated tofu, a small handful of the rice noodles and a few pieces of lettuce. I rolled it all up and that was it! SUPER simple!

As for a dipping sauce, I simply seasoned some Hoisin sauce with some chili oil until it was just spicy enough and I was good to go. Seriously it was THAT easy.

Alright folks, that's all I have for you for now. Stay tuned...more vegan goodies to come!

Walnut Chocolate Fudge

Today I made fudge! I have never made my own fudge but I had the sudden urge to try it today and I am quite pleased with the results:


Yum! It was SO easy! In fact the hardest part was probably being patient since the cooling time takes a couple of hours. Other than that, it's a snap!

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Recipe:

Yields 2 to 3 dozen fudge squares

12 oz nondairy semisweet chocolate chips
6 tablespoons of non-dairy butter plus 1/2 tbsp for greasing the pan
3 1/2 cups confectioners sugar
1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/4 non-dairy milk
1 cup chopped walnuts or any other nut that you prefer

Lightly grease an 8-inch square baking pan with nondairy butter.

Mix the first 6 ingredients together in a double boiler. (If you do not have a double boiler, you can easily create your own by placing a small saucepan inside a larger pot that's filled with a small amount of water.)

Heat the mixture on medium heat. Stir constantly so that you do not to burn the chocolate. Keep heating until the mixture becomes smooth. Add the nuts and briefly stir once more.

Pour the hot mixture into the prepared pan, cover with plastic wrap and chill thoroughly for several hours in the refrigerator.

After thoroughly chilled, remove the pan from the fridge, cut the fudge into small squares and enjoy with friends!

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This recipe was very simple. It definitely made me think about other fudge variations that I could try. Perhaps something with coconut or peanut butter? Hmm... What are some of your favorite fudge flavors?

Aloo Do Piaza & a Mango Shango

My oldest sister and her family came down from Michigan to stay with us this past weekend. On their last night here, we decided to go out to a local Indian restaurant called Spice Xing. I don't have much experience with Indian cuisine, but I've been there once before and really enjoyed their food. Some of their foods are a little bit spicy for me but the few things I've tried have been absolutely delicious. I love that their menu even has vegan items marked with a "v" right next to the prices. It's wonderful to know that I can order so many things without having to "special request" anything. All you other vegans out there know what I'm referring to. ;)

To start with, I ordered this fruit beverage called the Mango Shango:


It was AMAZING! I didn't get the full breakdown of everything they put in this, but I do know it had mango juice, pineapple juice and a few other fruit juices along with a swirl of raspberry coulis. It was so refreshing and the little cherry on top was a more than welcome garnish! It should be no surprise that this definitely came in handy when I received my spicy entree:

Aloo Do Piaza

The menu describes it as "cumin tempered potatoes with scallions and bermuda onions." I am a big fan of potatoes and an even bigger advocate for onions. This meal was a perfect blend of both. I would certainly order it again!

As I mentioned before, I haven't had much in way of Indian cuisine but based on my few experiences, I would certainly be open to trying other things. What are some of your favorite dishes? What would you recommend?

Alright folks! That's it for now. I must return to my stack of homework. Ugh! On a good note though: I'm currently in the process of cooling some fudge that I made this morning. Pictures and post to come so stay tuned!

Broccolini with Spicy Hurry Up Alfredo Sauce

Today I went to my first graduate school class for this 2-year education program that I'm doing. (Woo Hoo!) Today's class was an all day seminar where we discussed (at great length) the classes, requirements, schedules, projects, etc of the program and also got to meet the rest of our 17 person cohort. It was a long day for sure.

After class, I finally made it home around 4:15. Exhausted and worn out after such an intense class, I found myself with a sudden hankering for a filling and tasty snack that would be easy to whip up quickly. I grasped the handle to my fridge, looked around inside briefly and stopped when I spotted the Broccolini on the shelf that I had been meaning to cook since Saturday. I decided steaming it would be an easy cooking option and then I could just cover it with a tasty sauce. I immediately thought of the Hurry Up Alfredo Sauce recipe and ran to get my very worn out copy of Lauren Ulm's Vegan YumYum. That stuff is liquid YumYum! =) You can click here to get to the recipe for this sauce from Lauren's blog.

Broccolini with Spicy Hurry Up Alfredo Sauce

This recipe is very simple to throw together in a mini food processor and it tastes great on just about anything. Mine is a little bit more orange than Lauren's because I added a heaping scoop of red chili sauce to the mix to lend some spiciness to the dish. Steaming the broccolini required minimal additional effort so it was the perfect duo for a super speedy and healthy snack. It goes without saying that this snack really hit the spot! Alright kids, that's all I have for now. Off to do homework. Wish me luck!

What's your favorite vegan snack to whip up in a hurry?

Almond and Peanut Butter Truffles

My mom's birthday was this weekend and I wanted to make an extra special treat for her. My brother had already baked a 2 layer red velvet cake with fondant icing so I needed to come up with something else that would delight her just as much. Behold tantalizing Almond and Peanut Butter Truffles!

Flavors include: Peanut Butter with Cocoa Powder, Peanut Butter with Toasted Sesame Seeds, Almond Butter with Cocoa Powder, and Almond Butter with Unsweetened Coconut and Almond Meal

These were super easy to make and definitely tasty! Looking at the picture, they kind of look like mini doughnuts. Despite my love for good ol' chocolate, surprisingly my top favorites were the coconut and toasted sesame seed ones. Deee-lish! Def try these if you can. You won't be sorry!

Truffle Recipe:

1 cup of nut butter
1 tablespoon Soy Protein Powder
1 teaspoon sugar
Different ingredients to coat the truffles in

In a medium-size bowl, mix together the nut butter and the soy protein powder. I actually used my hands for this bit to get it really well blended. Add in the sugar and continue mixing thoroughly.

Roll the mixture into 3/4 inch balls and place on a piece of parchment paper and set aside for rolling.

Roll the truffles in any assortment of coatings. Some suggestions include: toasted sesame seeds, unsweetened coconut, almond meal, or cocoa powder. Since I made both almond and peanut butter truffles, I also added either an almond or peanut to the top of the truffles respectively so that tasters could easily distinguish which flavored treat they were about to enjoy.

If you aren't going to serve these immediately, I suggest putting them in the fridge to firm up for a bit. If you absolutely can't wait though, go ahead and dig right in! I won't tell. =)

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Before I go, I will leave you with this photo from my mom's birthday dinner:


These are the rather awful fortune cookies my family received after we finished dinner at a local Chinese food restaurant. My dad got the "You look pretty" one & my mom got the "if your desires are not extravagant..."
Um, all I have to say is EPIC fail and Happy Birthday Mom! =)

In which I learn to cook tofu

So I had fun in the kitchen again...Yay! Summer is nearly over and I'm about to embark on an intense 5 semester-long graduate/internship program along with working part time in a 1st grade classroom. I worry that this program will completely consume my life so I'm scrambling around trying to cook as many of the "Big Deal things that I've dog-eared in my cookbooks" as I can while I still have a bit of free time to work with. When I say Big Deal, I'm referring to recipes that might take a bit longer in time to make but I know that I want to try my hand at. Since I have the time to tackle some of these now, I figured I should have a go because I may not have as much free time in the coming months.

This week I decided I wanted to find a recipe for cooking tofu. Having been a vegan for just about 3 years and a vegetarian for almost 8 before that, it is almost unbelievable that I have never cooked my own tofu! Don't get me wrong, I do like tofu, but I just never took it upon myself to actually cook it for myself. I would order tofu from restaurants or settle for putting them in baking recipes and ricotta recipes. I figured it was high time to attempt a recipe where the tofu truly shines. I found just that when I consulted Lauren Ulm's Sweet & Sour Almond Broccoli Tofu with Wild Rice in her Vegan Yum Yum cookbook.

Broccoli Almond Sweet-&-Sour Tofu with Wild Rice

Boy! She wasn't kidding about the Yum Yum part. This dish was amazing! Since I had never fried my own tofu, I was careful and went about the whole cooking process very slowly. I was in the kitchen for well over an hour and a half before I could sit down and enjoy this. No regrets though because it was well worth the wait.

For the rice I used Lundberg's Wild Rice Blend. This stuff is great because it has such a nutty and rich flavor. Not to mention that it makes the house smell wonderful as it cooks! Seriously, if you haven't tried this stuff, leave your house right now and go buy some. You won't regret it.

I must say that cooking tofu was really easy and I can't believe I haven't done more of it over the years. I simply can't wait to try other tofu recipes of my own!

Fruit at the Beach

I'm pretty much in love with this video right about now.

Chocolate Dreams Smoothie & the Fair

Last night, I got home from my last day of my summer job and immediately headed into the kitchen to whip up a cool and refreshing treat. My dad and youngest brother were coming over to pick up my sister and I to go to the Montgomery County Agricultural Fair. We've been going pretty much every year for as long as I can remember. So without a whole lot of time and knowing that Fair food is not really something that I can count on to have a lot of vegan option, I wanted to make something quick and satisfying. Behold the Chocolate Dreams Banana Date Smoothie that I concocted:

Chocolate Dreams Banana Date Smoothie

This was truly divine! With a good dash of protein and a bit of fruit and maple syrup for sweetness, this is definitely a treat I'll be returning to again and again.

Recipe:

* 1 ripe banana, frozen
* 3 dates, chopped
* 2 tablespoons of chocolate peanut butter
(I used Dark Chocolate Dreams Peanut Butter)
* 2 cups of almond milk
* 1 tablespoon of molasses
* 1 dash of cinnamon
* 1 tablespoon of pure maple syrup
* 1 teaspoon of pure vanilla extract
* chocolate shavings for garnish (optional)

1) Place chopped dates and bananas into a blender and blend until creamy.
2) Add the peanut butter, molasses, cinnamon, maple syrup and vanilla. Continue blending until thick.
3) Add the almond milk and pulse until thoroughly mixed.
4) Garnish with a bit of chocolate shavings.

Enjoy! I know I sure did!

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At the County Fair we saw a good deal of farm animals. Below are some of my favorites:

Did you ever notice that when Alpacas eat, they almost look like they might be talking...

What a handsome rooster this guy was

I really wanted to take him home!

These two looked like friends posing together.
I think they were.

Oh hello there!

Truthfully, I'm torn by the idea of the fair. Of course I love the chance to see the animals, but it's also heart wrenching to know that the majority of these animals are destined for slaughterhouses. Not to mention the stress that this environment must be for them. I'm sure many of the animals are treated wonderfully but at the same time strings still tug at my heart when I see their big brown eyes looking up at me from confined crates and pens. Alright, I'll step down from my soapbox now.

Of course we waited in the 45 minute line to ride the Ferris Wheel like we do every year. Tradition is worth the wait and I was clearly in good company though so I didn't mind. =)

Oh and in case you were wondering, I was able to find vegan food at the fair! There was a tent selling Spanish foods and among their menu was mango on a stick (or slices in a plastic sealed bag if you preferred). Although I opted for the mango in a bag option (less mess) I must tell you that I found this little gem absolutely fascinating. It should be renamed the mango rose. I only wish I had snapped a picture but it was late in the night and pretty dark already. Do a google image search if you're curious. It was just the right choice for a healthy pick-me up snack!

I think fruit should be sold on a stick more often. I think I'll look into that...

Back to my roots...recreating the Ecuadorian Empanada

Empanada: it is a Spanish pastry filled with all sorts of delicious fillings that are either baked or deep fried to perfection. Empanadas are made in many countries and each country has their own special fillings, doughs, etc... Most commonly enjoyed with a sprinkling of sugar on top or a special dipping sauce, they are simply divine. I have recently been on a quest to recreate my family's non-vegan Ecuadorian empanadas and can quite happily say that I have finally succeeded! My family has only ever made meat and cheese stuffed ones, (though I hear people get a lot more creative with fillings these days) and I figured that it's high time, I try veganizing the family recipe so that I too can enjoy their deliciousness once again!


I still remember many long Saturdays of my youth spent in the kitchen slaving away with my family. When your living in a house with 4 other siblings, in which everything needs to be categorized in a "fair-share" manner, the only solution for preventing petty arguments over the empanadas is to make sure you cook more than enough! Indeed we did. It was often a whole day affair but worth every minute of our time. You'd think with all of the extra hands in the kitchen it would be a quick task, but for us, making empanadas was a labor of love that required supervision at every step of the way. Someone to help cook the fillings, someone to help mix the dough, someone to roll out and press the dough in the tortilla maker, someone to fill each pastry, someone to seal each one (in the special way that only my mother and grandmother could do), and then of course someone to cook the empanadas. It goes without saying that there were always enough hands and mouths to help eat, no wait, devour the empanadas once they were finally cooled. Yum!

In our various family adventures in making empanadas we have baked and deep fried them. Both are delicious cooking methods, though not surprisingly the latter offers an unrivaled crispy crust flavor with the drawbacks of higher calories. Once in a while though, everyone deserves a deep fried treat. ;) Today, I decided to stick to baking for the sheer fact that I think it is a heck of a lot easier to simply put a large tray in the oven rather than to heat oil and dip the pies into it only a few at a time.

As for the fillings, I decided to go with two very different flavors. The first being a vegan recreation of the traditional beef filling that included a medley of vegetables and beans with some veggie crumbles. (Um, so can I just let you know that I definitely spent a few minutes just eating this stuffing right out of the bowl after I cooked it. Yes it was THAT good. Want to know another secret? Apparently, so did my omnivore sister! If that's not proof to the deliciousness of this filling, then I don't know what is! Haha.) The second filling I created was a vegan spinach, onion and ricotta mixture. Also very tasty!

Here's a shot of my prep station including: the dough, beef filling, spinach & ricotta filling, and the tortilla press. Now feast your eyes on the finished products:

Vegan Beef Empanadas

Vegan Spinach, Onion & Ricotta Empanadas

All in all, today was definitely a success! I'm happy to say that these tasty treats were enjoyed by vegans and omnivores alike! Definite win! I will certainly revisit the vegan empanada as there are a whole host of other fillings I'd like to try out. Perhaps a fruit flavored filling or maybe even something with chocolate?! I'll keep you posted... =)

Cookies & Cornbread!

Here's a few photos of some things I've made recently. I'm also in the middle of whipping up a couple of kinds of empanadas. Literally, they are in the oven at this very moment! I'm pretty stoked! Stay tuned for those! Yum! For now, please enjoy photos of the following:

Cornbread Muffins
(Courtesy of Bob's Red Mill Cornbread Mix-I know, I know...I only used a mix because I was feeling EXTRA lazy that day but was totally craving cornbread...)

Rocky Road Cookies
(Recipe from VCIYCJ- Terry and Isa, these are pure genius!)

Espresso Oatmeal Chocolate Chip
(Another recipe from VCIYCJ- Oh Isa and Terry, what would I do without your amazing cookbooks!!! Haha!)

Be back soon!