Curried Collards and Chickpeas

I am trying to keep this blog alive while I prepare for Chase’s wedding. Please bear with me for a couple more weeks!

I have only one food pic and recipe for you today, and it was so delicious I’ve made it twice. It’s super easy to prepare and you can use any greens you have on hand. I know it’s just beans ‘n greens, but it’s really yummy.



Curried Collards and Chickpeas

Ingredients:
1 medium onion, chopped
3 cloves garlic, minced or pressed
¼ cup veggie broth
1 t. your favorite curry blend
½ t. turmeric
1 bunch greens, trimmed and chopped
1-15 ounce can diced tomatoes
1-15 ounce can chickpeas, drained and rinsed
S&P to taste

Directions:
Cook the onion and garlic, then add in the broth and spices. Mix well. Add in the greens, tomatoes, and chickpeas and heat through. Season with salt and pepper.

Enjoy!

My sister from Alabama will be here for spring break week, and she will help me pick out my dress for the wedding. The invitations are out, and aside from some occasional drama, all the plans are in place and we should have a beautiful wedding.

I apologize again for neglecting blogland. I promise to catch up as soon as I can!

Daring Bakers Challenge - Tiramisu

The February 2010 Daring Bakers’ challenge was hosted by Aparna of My Diverse Kitchen and Deeba of Passionate About Baking. They chose Tiramisu as the challenge for the month. Their challenge recipe is based on recipes from The Washington Post, Cordon Bleu at Home and Baking Obsession.

I have never eaten tiramisu. It must be because I’m not a fan of cheese, and tiramisu is all about the cream cheese. It’s also not the least bit healthy nor vegan friendly, and if you avoid soy as I do, it’s even more unfriendly. Nonetheless, I love these challenges and every month they are indeed a challenge!

Another major component of tiramisu is the ladyfinger cookies. Even though I didn’t use the vegan friendly recipe provided in my version of tiramisu, I did make these cookies. I used applesauce instead of margarine to keep them low fat, and although they were not the melt-in-your-mouth ladyfingers of my memory, they did make a tasty cookie.

My healthy tiramisu was quick and easy – half a banana cut in half, layered with almond cream, and topped with cacao nibs.

This is a delicious dessert I can enjoy and never feel guilty eating!

Here’s the recipe for ladyfingers if you’d like to try a vegan or dairyfree version.

EGGLESS LADYFINGERS

(Source: Adapted from Recipezaar.

This recipe makes about 4 long biscuits (3" long and 3/4" wide).

(I made a half batch and got 3 cookies.)

Ingredients:

4 tablespoons/ 55gms sugar

1 teaspoon/ 5ml vanilla extract

1 1/2 cups/ 340gms unsalted butter (I used unsweetened applesauce)

2 cups/ 250gms all purpose flour

1/2 cup/ 40gms coarsely ground almonds

powdered sugar

Method:
Blend all the ingredients well and adding the coarsely ground nuts last. Scrape the batter into a piping bag with a ¾-inch plain tip and pipe into fingers about 3 inches long at 1-inch intervals onto an ungreased cookie sheet. Bake them in a 300 degree F (150 C) oven for 30 to 45 minutes till they start turning slightly brown at the edges.

Take them out of the oven and cool on tray for about 5 minutes and then move the biscuits to a cooling rack. When slightly cool, roll them in powdered sugar. Store in an airtight container till required.

Christmas Treats

I’ve been doing lots of Christmas baking lately and want to share a couple of recipes. The first recipe is for some most excellent Ginger Cookies. The recipe I found was almost vegan, except for the eggs, so it was easily adaptable. The recipe includes a little cocoa powder, and the method is different from any other cookies I’ve made in the past. They are rolled in coarse sugar, so they turn it out crispy on the outside and remain chewy in the middle. They are spiced just right. I think they’re the best I’ve ever made.



Ginger Cookies
(adapted from Once Upon a Tart)

Yield: 5 dozen cookies

Ingredients:
2 cups sugar
2 eggs (I used EnerG egg replacer)
½ cup molasses
1-1/2 cups vegetable shortening, melted and cooled to room temperature
4 cups AP flour
1 T. cocoa powder
2 t. ground ginger
1 t. cinnamon
½ t. cloves
½ t. allspice
2 t. baking soda
1 t. salt
coarse sugar for rolling

Directions:
Heat oven to 350º and position rack in center of oven. Line baking sheets with parchment paper.

In a large mixing bowl, beat the sugar and eggs together, using the whisk attachment of an electric mixer on high speed until light and well incorporated. Turn mixer to low, beat in the molasses, then the shortening.

In a separate bowl, whisk together the flour, cocoa powder, spices, baking soda, and salt. Gradually add to wet ingredients using the paddle attachment of your mixer on low speed until no flour is visible. (My mixture needed about 3 T. of water at this point to get the dough to come together. If you make the nonvegan version with 2 eggs, this won’t be necessary.)

Pour a handful of coarse sugar onto a plate. Scoop up heaping teaspoons of dough and roll between your hands to form cookie balls (about 1-1/2 inches in diameter). Roll each cookie ball into the sugar, then place onto the baking sheet. (No need to flatten.) Bake for about 11 minutes or until almost set.

Cool the cookies on a wire rack briefly, then transfer off the baking sheet to cool completely.


The next recipe is Cherry Pecan Bread. It’s my favorite bread to bake for Christmas because it’s pink! It’s really a cake baked in a loaf pan. It’s soft and light and perfect for Christmas morning. I made mini loaves to give as gifts (and had one left over for me!).

Cherry Pecan Bread

Ingredients:
2 cups AP flour
2 t. baking powder
1 t. salt
¼ cup margarine, softened
¾ cup sugar
1 egg replacer
1 t. vanilla
1-1/4 cup cherry juice + nondairy milk
1 8-ounce jar maraschino cherries, juice drained and reserved
½ cup chopped pecans, preferably toasted

Directions:
Heat oven to 350 degrees. Lightly grease a 9 x 5 loaf pan.

Drain the cherry juice into a 2-cup measure, then add enough milk to make 1-1/4 cups. Coarsely chop the cherries.

Stir together the flour, baking powder, and salt in a medium bowl.

In the bowl of your stand mixer, beat the margarine, sugar, egg replacer, and vanilla until light and well incorporated. Stir in dry ingredients alternately with cherry juice mixture, stirring just until combined after each addition. Stir in cherries and pecans.

Pour into prepared pan and bake for 1 hour and 15 minutes or until tester comes out clean. (Bake mini loaves for about 35 minutes.) Cool in pan for 10 minutes, then remove to wire rack to cool completely.

HAPPY HOLIDAYS!

Look Closely

I’ve been eating very simply lately, so this post is brought to you by my very talented and creative aunt. I believe she made these tricky treats for Halloween.

TV Dinner for Two?




These mashed potatoes, peas and carrots, and fried chicken are really cupcakes! Aren’t they the cutest things ever?!! The mashed potato cupcakes are topped with yellow starburst candy and caramel, the peas and carrots are m&m’s and starburst, and the fried chicken breading is crushed cornflakes. I think they are quite impressive. Her inspiration came from this recipe.

Anyone motivated to make a cupcake Thanksgiving buffet?

Daring Cooks Challenge - Sushi!

The November 2009 Daring Cooks challenge was brought to you by Audax of Audax Artifex and Rose of The Bite Me Kitchen. They chose sushi as the challenge.

Hooray for a fun vegan challenge!

The challenge was in four parts:-

Part 1: Making proper sushi rice – wash, rinse, drain, soak, cook, dress, and cool short grain rice until each grain is sticky enough to hold toppings or bind ingredients. Then use the cooked rice to form three types of sushi.
Part 2: Dragon sushi roll – an avocado covered inside-out rice roll with a tasty surprise filling.
Part 3: Decorative sushi – a nori-coated rice roll which reveals a decorative pattern when cut.
Part 4: Nigiri sushi – hand-shaped rice rolls with toppings.

I’ve mentioned many times how poor my rice making skills are. Part 1 was obviously my biggest challenge. I prepared the rice exactly as per the instructions. After all the rinsing and soaking, I put the rice in a big pot along with a piece of kombu.

I am thrilled to report that my sushi rice turned out perfectly! Quite unlike my usual attempts at making a proper rice. Look at all those individual grains.

For the rest of the challenge I made a small batch of each type of roll. The inside out roll took me a couple of tries, but surprisingly I had a rather easy and fun time making all the sushi.

TexMex sushi is quite popular here, so that was the inspiration for Part 2. My Inside-Out Dragon Roll was filled with spicy sweet potatoes and black beans.

I topped him with avocado and then plated him with cilantro and sriracha legs, and a green onion tongue and head decoration. He was deeeeelicious!

Part 3, the Spiral Roll, was simply filled with colorful veggies – cabbage, carrots, cucumbers, and red bell peppers.

Nothing fancy, but quite pretty and so fresh tasting.

Finally, Part 4, the super easy Nigiri Rolls. Simply topped with a smear of wasabi paste and shitake mushrooms.

Chase and I ate as much as we could for a fabulous late lunch. Thanks again to the hosts for providing such great instructions. Click here for recipes, including the perfect sushi rice.

Beer Food

Not food you EAT with beer; food you MAKE with beer! Beer was the theme for our October Food Bloggers potluck. Now it may not seem like the season for cole slaw, but it’s still warm in Texas. I can even remember making a Christmas cole slaw one year with green cabbage and red peppers. Anyway, I brought Cole Slaw with Beer Dressing to our potluck and got plenty of compliments on it. I admit I know nothing about beer and I don’t even drink beer, but I do keep Budweiser in my fridge for guests, so that’s what I used in this recipe. I would think whatever you have in your fridge would work just fine.




Cole Slaw with Beer Dressing

This recipe serves 12. I also made a tester half batch using exactly half of all ingredients.

Ingredients:
1 pound red cabbage, finely shredded
1 pound green cabbage, finely shredded
1 pound carrots, shredded (I used a preshredded package)
1 yellow onion, thinly sliced
1 red bell pepper, thinly sliced
1/3 cup white sugar
1 t. celery seeds
1 – 12 ounce can beer
1/3 cup canola oil
¼ cup cider vinegar
3 t. prepared mustard
1 t. agave nectar
2 t. salt
½ t. black pepper
½ t. red pepper

Directions:
In a very large bowl, toss together the cabbage, carrots, onion, and pepper. Sprinkle the sugar and celery seeds over the mixture and toss again.

Pour beer into a saucepan and bring to a boil. Let boil for 5 minutes. Whisk in the oil, vinegar, mustard, agave nectar, and spices. Remove from heat and pour over slaw. Stir until well coated. Cover and refrigerate overnight.

When ready to serve, drain in a colander. Taste for seasoning, toss again, and put into a serving bowl.


Our potluck was held at the 512 Brewery. Can you believe I had never been to a brewery before? 512 is a small business, more like a hobby for the proprietors. They had several beers available for sample and of course the head man was available to answer our questions.

As always, the bloggers brought some very creative dishes to share. Some food I could eat:

Beer Battered Fried Avocado

Beer Braised Brussels Sprouts

My slaw and my cousin’s beer braised black bean salad and homemade tortillas (My cousin makes what she calls *hybrid* tortillas, made with half white flour and half corn meal – corn flavored tortillas that don’t break!)

Some rice that went with a meaty stew!


Nonvegan foods that were a hit:

Beer Crust Pizza

Kabocha Squash Pumpkin Ale Cakes; Roasted Cauliflower and Rice

Pumpkin Ale Cheesecake

And the crowd favorites – Beer-a-misu and Beer Caramels.

Kind of a small crowd this month, but the weather was great and 512 was a great host. I look forward to the next event!

Favorite Pumpkin Stew

I made this stew Halloween night. It’s so yummy, much a like a chili but sweet with pumpkin and corn. I hope you enjoy it as much as I do.

Pumpkin, Corn, and Bean Stew
(Also known as Three Sisters Stew)
Adapted from 150 Vegan Favorites

Yield: 4 large servings

Ingredients:
1 T. vegetable or canola oil
1 medium yellow onion, diced
3 cloves garlic, minced or pressed
1 15 oz. can fire roasted tomatoes
1 T. sweet paprika
1 T. dried Mexican oregano
1 t. ground cumin
½ t. salt
½ t. crushed red pepper
½ t. black pepper
3 T. fresh parsley (or 1 T. dried)
4 cups diced pumpkin or winter squash
2 cups vegetable broth
2 cups frozen sweet corn kernels
1 15 oz. can red or pink beans, drained and rinsed

Directions:
Heat oil over medium heat in a 3 quart sauce pan. Add the onions and garlic. Cook and stir until soft and fragrant, about 5 minutes. Add tomatoes and spices and cook a few more minutes. Add pumpkin and broth and bring to a simmer. Cook over medium low heat, stirring occasionally, for about 20 minutes, or until the pumpkin is tender. Add in the corn and beans and heat through, about 10 more minutes. Thicken the stew by mashing some of the pumpkin. Enjoy as is or over a bed of grains.




There were so many outstanding MoFo posts this year! Congratulations to all of you who participated.

If you want to wish me a Happy Veganiversary, November 1 was Year 4!

Treats!

Happy Halloween everyone!

I have two treats for you today, both recipes from Celine at Have Cake Will Travel.

Pumpkin Whole Wheat Bread – a yeast bread that is one of my family’s favorite sandwich breads.



Apple Pie in Pecan Crust

What I love about this pie, aside from its fantastic flavor, is that the crust is made with no oil, no margarine, just pecans ground into butter. How clever is that!

Absolutely fantastic served slightly warm.

If you’re celebrating tonight, be safe and have fun!

Stuffed Flying Saucer Squash

I was pleasantly surprised with something other than eggplant and okra in my last CSA box – flying saucer squash. Flying saucers are basically giant patty pan squash, soft flesh with minimal seeds and edible skins. They are great raw or lightly steamed, but I thought I should do something other than chop them up. I decided to showcase their fun form by stuffing and baking them. This delicious recipe is adapted from one I found on Tofu Mom’s blog.

Stuffed Flying Saucer Squash

Cut the tops off six large squash. Scoop insides out leaving 1/4 inch shell. Reserve scooped out flesh.

Filling
1/4 cup chopped onion
2 cloves garlic, pressed
reserved scooped out squash, finely chopped
1/4 cup chopped roasted green chiles
1/3 cup your favorite salsa
1/2 cup black beans, drained and rinsed
salt, pepper, and cumin to taste
1/2 cup cooked brown rice
vegan "cheese" as garnish

Saute onions and garlic in nonstick pan until onions are soft. Add squash, chilies, salsa, black beans, and seasonings. Simmer until squash is soft and most of the liquid has been released. Add rice and stir until heated through. Check seasonings and adjust if needed.

Season inside of squashes with salt and pepper. Pack filling into hollowed out squashes. Set squashes onto baking sheet. Top with vegan cheese if desired




Bake for 30 - 40 min. at 375 degrees or until squash is soft - put broiler on for a moment to melt cheese, if using.

Sprinkle with chopped fresh cilantro to garnish.

Dear blogger buddies, I need some advice. My blender broke. It was a nice KitchenAid blender, but not a great one. I used it to make my Green Smoothie Dressing every week, and of course for other smoothies, ice creams, etc. I dropped my entire last batch of dressing when I was taking it out of the fridge and I’m sort of having withdrawals.

Yeh, that was fun to clean up! I really really want a VitaMix, but it’s difficult to justify that expense when money is tight. I can buy a refurbished one for a good discount and pay for it in three installments, but it’s still a LOT of money. What would you do? VitaMix with a seven year warranty or cheapo with a 90 day warranty?

Daring Cooks Challenge - Indian Dosas

This was my favorite challenge so far. Thank you Debyi from Healthy Vegan Kitchen for this vegan, gluten free, and low fat recipe from the refresh cookbook by Ruth Tal. It may not sound as though this was much of a challenge for me since it is exactly the way I normally cook, but it was my first attempt at dosas. I’ve made Indian food numerous times, so I decided to use the recipes Debyi provided for the entire dish, with the addition of potatoes to my filling since that is Chase’s favorite.

First I made the chickpea filling. It was easy to make and quite good. I found it a little salty on its own, but perfect when eaten with the dosas. I made a half recipe because, well it’s just me here!

Curried Garbanzo Filling

This filling works great as a rice bowl topping or as a wrap too, so don't be afraid to make a full batch.

5 cloves garlic

1 onion, peeled and finely diced

1 carrot, peeled and finely diced

1 green pepper, finely diced (red, yellow or orange are fine too)

2 medium hot banana chilies, minced

2 TBSP (16gm) cumin, ground

1 TBSP (8gm) oregano

1 TBSP (8gm) sea salt (coarse)

1 TBSP (8gm) turmeric

4 cups (850gm/30oz) cooked or canned chick peas (about 2 cans)

½ cup (125gm/4oz) tomato paste

1. Heat a large saucepan over medium to low heat. Add the garlic, veggies, and spices, cooking until soft, stirring occasionally.

2. Mash the chickpeas by hand, or in a food processor. Add the chickpeas and tomato paste to the saucepan, stirring until heated through.

I also made the coconut curry sauce. It too was quite easy to make and was a soothing complement to the spicy filling.

Coconut Curry Sauce

This makes a great sauce to just pour over rice as well. This does freeze well, but the texture will be a little different. The flavor is still the same, but the texture is a little runnier, not quite as thick as it was before freezing.

1 onion, peeled and chopped

2 cloves garlic

½ (2½ gm) tsp cumin, ground

¾ (3¾ gm) tsp sea salt (coarse)

3 TBSP (30gm) curry powder

3 TBSP (30gm) spelt flour (or all-purpose GF flour)

3 cups (750ml/24oz) vegetable broth

2 cups (500ml/24oz) coconut milk

3 large tomatoes, diced

1. Heat a saucepan over medium heat, add the onion and garlic, cooking for 5 minutes, or until soft.

2. Add the spices, cooking for 1 minutes more. Add the flour and cook for 1 additional minute.

3. Gradually stir in the vegetable broth to prevent lumps. Once the flour has been incorporated, add the coconut milk and tomatoes, stirring occasionally.

4. Let it simmer for half an hour.


I did not photo the sauce or the dosas alone. I guess they were too brown and boring to make me think to get a picture. So you’ll have to trust me that they both turned out fine. I had at least a dozen little six-inch dosa pancakes to fill and plate.

Dosa Pancakes

1 cup (120gm/8oz) spelt flour (or all-purpose, gluten free flour)

½ tsp (2½ gm) salt

½ tsp (2½ gm) baking powder

½ tsp (2½ gm) curry powder

½ cup (125ml/4oz) almond milk (or soy, or rice, etc.)

¾ cup (175ml/6oz) water

cooking spray, if needed

1. Combine the dry ingredients in a bowl, slowly adding the almond milk and water, whisking until smooth.

2. Heat a nonstick skillet over medium heat. Spray your pan with a thin layer of cooking spray, if needed.

3. Ladle 2 tablespoons of batter into the center of your pan in a circular motion until it is a thin, round pancake. When bubbles appear on the surface and it no longer looks wet, flip it over and cook for a few seconds. Remove from heat and repeat with remaining batter.

Makes 8 pancakes.

To plate, a little sauce on the dosa, followed by filling, then roll into crepe or cone, or fold in half like omelette. More sauce on top. Serve with rice and side veggies.

For a side dish I made Rice with Cabbage, but I overcooked the rice and it was mush. I swear I will never be able to make a proper rice. The only way I can get it right is to bake it in the oven. You’ll probably tell me to get a rice cooker. I had one, but I lost it. I don’t know how you lose something like that. I just know I can’t find it anywhere in my house. Anyway, the rice and cabbage was pretty, but you can see it is more akin to mashed potatoes. You can’t discern one grain in this picture!

I also sliced some cucumbers and carrots for a side salad, and topped the dosas with plenty of cilantro.

Indian food is always a favorite here because it’s so flavorful and delicious - without meat, fat, or gluten!

Marvelous Mutabbal

Sunday the Austin Food Bloggers gathered for another potluck. This month’s theme was Hatch chile peppers. Our local markets have giant roasters and for the past two weeks have provided us with the most delicious peppers.

I really didn’t want to be the cliché vegan bringing hummus to the party, and I came awfully close by selecting Mutabbal for my dish. I got the idea from Bryanna Clark Grogan. Mutabbal is basically a spicy version of baba ganoush. Bryanna’s recipe didn’t actually use any peppers though, just chile powder, so I improvised my own tasty recipe. I thought my Mutabbal turned out fabulously, and it got raves at the potluck. One guest said it was her favorite dish at the party, which I take as quite a compliment coming from a group of accomplished and creative foodies. So if you are lucky enough to get your hands on some Hatch chiles, this would be a great way to use them. If not, a poblano or even a jalapeno would work as well.

Mutabbal

(This recipe serves 12, but can easily be halved.)

Ingredients:

3 large eggplants, totaling about 3-1/2 pounds
12 cloves garlic, cut into several long wedges
½ pound roasted Hatch chile peppers
6 T. tahini
4 T. EVOO
4 T. fresh lemon juice
1 t. kosher salt
1 t. freshly ground black pepper
¼ cup chopped Italian parsley, plus more to garnish
¼ cup toasted chopped walnuts, to garnish
pomegranate seeds, to garnish

Directions:

Prepare your outdoor grill and set it to high. Wash the eggplants and trim the tops, but don’t cut off the tops. Make many slits on each eggplant and insert the garlic wedges into the slits. Place the eggplants on the grill and grill until the eggplants are very soft, about 20 minutes. Turn the eggplants every 5 minutes to char evenly. Remove to a plate to cool. They will look like this:

When the eggplants are cool, remove the charred skins and chop off the tops. Place the eggplants with the garlic into a food processor. Pulse a few times. Add the roasted peppers, tahini, EVOO, lemon juice, salt, and black pepper. Puree until almost smooth (a little chunky is nice). Taste for seasoning and add more salt, pepper, or lemon juice to your tastes. Let chill for several hours or overnight; it keeps well for several days.

Spread the eggplant mixture onto a platter. Garnish with the parsley, walnuts, and pomegranate seeds. Serve with pita chips.

Not only does it look beautiful, but it tastes out of this world!

Here’s a few pictures from the potluck. Every dish was made with Hatch chiles, including brownies, cookies, breads, mac n’ cheese, Indian food, sandwiches, popcorn, gazpacho, and a fabulous vegan orzo pasta.

Rachel brought a delicious vegan peach cobbler with Hatch biscuits.

I think my favorite was the Hatch chile vodka served with habanero ice cubes – yum!

I hope you enjoy the Mutabbal recipe, and by the way, eat’n veg’n is now three years old!

Daring Bakers Challenge - Dobos Torte

The August 2009 Daring Bakers' challenge was hosted by Angela of A Spoonful of Sugar and Lorraine of Not Quite Nigella. They chose the spectacular Dobos Torte based on a recipe from Rick Rodgers' cookbook Kaffeehaus: Exquisite Desserts from the Classic Caffés of Vienna, Budapest, and Prague.

A Dobos Torte is a six-layer cake with a caramelized layer of cake for the topping. It is quite rich with chocolate buttercream between the thin layers of sponge cake. As you can see, it is beautiful. I had visions of beautiful finishing touches for my cake, but kept it simple on my smaller, six-inch version. The cake was quite time-consuming. I would say from prep to cleanup was a good six hours. I baked the cake layers one day, and finished the next.

The original recipe is heavy on eggs and butter, so for my vegan version I used Bryanna Clark Grogan’s sponge cake recipe, and VCTOTW chocolate buttercream. I normally loath and despise buttercream, but I actually liked my recipe using Smart Balance instead of EB, and my favorite Scharffen Berger cocoa. I also made it mocha flavored by using strong coffee instead of milk. The sponge cake was fun to make since I got to make vegan egg whites. It really worked!

This was the first time I made cake layers without a cake pan. I drew 7-inch circles on parchment paper and spread the batter onto baking sheets.

This is how my kitchen looked when I was making the cake layers.

As I said, I finished up the next day and the cake turned out just lovely.

I took it to my mom’s (I try not to keep such decadent desserts at my house!) and nervously plated a slice.

Rich and delicious. I’m always amazed when I complete a vegan version of these fabulous challenges.

You can read the full recipe here.

If you have several hours to spare, make yourself a vegan or nonvegan Dobos Torte and I’m sure you will enjoy it.