Blake Bakes

Baked Strawberry Oatmeal

2012-01-06T11:47:00.003-05:00

I think I've mentioned previously that I participate in a local, organic produce buying club. It's one of my favorite things. About every other week, for $25, I purchase a 10-15 pound share of local, organic produce. I've tried so many different vegetables because of the club. The club is also partially responsible for my love affair with beets. Well, between the end of the semester, going out of town, and the holidays I haven't bought a share in a few weeks. But yesterday, I was able to pick up my first share in over a month, and oh my goodness is it amazing. Baby red chard, sweet orange peppers, tomatoes, cucumbers, grapefruits, red kale, I could go on, but I'll end the list with strawberries.

Winter time in Florida means strawberry season. I knew I wanted to make something for breakfast. Something warm and comforting, because it's been pretty cold for my thin Florida blood the past few days. So I did some searching on the internet for baked oatmeal recipes. There were quite a few, but I ended up combining several to come up with my own. And it was fantastic.

Baked Strawberry Oatmeal:

1 1/2 c quick cooking oats (you can use rolled oats, but you'll need to increase the amount of milk in the recipe)
1/4 c brown sugar (or maple syrup or agave)
1/2 c soy/rice/almond milk, whatever you've got
1/4 c vegan margarine, melted
1/2 banana, mashed
1 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
1 tsp vanilla extract
3/4 fresh, sliced strawberries

Preheat your oven to 350. Combine all ingredients. Spread into a greased baking dish. Bake for 25-30 minutes, until the edges are golden brown. Serve immediately, and top with a few tablespoons of warm soy milk plus extra strawberries. Feast!

You could also assemble this ahead of time and bake the morning of. I would say it serves 4, except I ate two servings, so maybe it only serves two. Who knows. It's up to you if you want to share.

Making Gnocchi

2011-12-15T23:11:00.003-05:00

As a senior in high school applying to various colleges, I fantasized about attending a small liberal arts school where I would get to know my professors on a personal level. They would find me so brilliant that they would invite me over for dinner and we would have deep, intellectual discussions. Obviously, I have super nerdy dreams. And it turns out that small liberal arts schools are incredibly expensive so I ended up at a public state university. But I've still gotten to know several professors. One of those professors was my professor for Spanish III and the program director for my study abroad trip to Costa Rica. A small group of us students, plus my professor, got to know each other fairly well during our month abroad. And we spent a lot of time talking about food. It turns out my professor knows how to make gnocchi and pasta, from scratch! She promised to teach us and this past Tuesday we were all finally able to get together. And now I know how to make gnocchi!

I know more of a method, than an exact recipe. But I had such a great time I thought I'd share it with you. So if you want to feed an army, you start out by boiling a 5 pound bag of peeled potatoes until tender. Drain the potatoes in a colander. Then use a potato ricer to rice all of your potatoes. You'll do this in batches, making several piles so the potatoes can cool.

Once all of your potatoes are riced you spread a whole bunch of flour onto your surface (we didn't measure, but I'd say at least 2 cups). Then you work together the potatoes and flour until they form a dough. When the dough gets sticky, just add more flour. And note, no eggs so this gnocchi is vegan friendly! (I specifically asked my professor/execute chef why no eggs, and she said that she thought they made the gnocchi more dense.)

Once the dough is formed you start pulling chunks to roll into thin rope strands. Once you have your strands, you cut your gnocchi with a regular kitchen knife. Once you cut your gnocchi press your thumb into it to make a little dent. Toss the gnocchi into the flour to keep them from getting sticky.

Once your gnocchi are formed, toss them into a pot of boiling water. You'll need to do this in batches because you'll have a ton of gnocchi. You know they're done cooking when they float to the top. It shouldn't take more than two minutes. Now after the gnocchi are cooked, it's really up to you. We put ours in a baking dish with liberal amounts of red sauce and cheese, then baked it in the oven for a few minutes. Served with garlic bread and salad in the company of great friends, it was a perfect meal.

Central Florida VegFest 2011

2011-11-18T13:36:00.003-05:00

I think I'm very lucky to live in a region that's home to not one, but two, VegFests. Tampa's (home base) was October 15th this year and Central Florida (Orlando) was the following Saturday. Two Saturdays back to back filled with amazing food, beautiful animals, and great friends? Yeah, October was great. So what did I eat in Orlando this year?

I started out with a giant plate of vegan nachos. Oh my goodness, they were amazing. Blue corn chips topped with veggie chili and vegan queso. I split a plate with the boyfriend. Though we have a pretty great relationship, it got a little tense when there were only a few bites left. We worked it out, but maybe next year I'll just pig out with my own plate.

The nachos were just an appetizer there. I didn't drive all the way out to Orlando to stop with a plate of nachos. But there were just so many options! How's a girl to decide? Well, I just had to go with my gut, hehehe. And what really caught my eye was the "meatloaf" sandwich. This picture doesn't really do the sandwich justice. The meatloaf was wonderful, I'm pretty sure it was some kind of lentil loaf. It was smothered in ketchup and sandwiched between two slices of really good bread, served with a side a cole slaw. I really liked this sandwich, but I have some ideas for improving it at home. Mainly, making it an open faced sandwich and replacing the ketchup with...GRAVY!!! I'll keep you posted.

Other items our group of friends had were a veggie dog, a "philly" sub with portabello mushrooms, and a meatball sub. All were great (I stole bites, you know, to give a professional opinion) but I'm really glad I went with the meatloaf.

My only criticism of the Fest this year was the lack of dessert options. Granted, we waited awhile before searching for dessert, until around 3, but still. Cupcakes were the only option but I really wanted some ice cream or sorbet. The banana soft serve truck from Tampa needs to make it over to Orlando next year.

But all in all, it was a pretty great day. The weather was perfect, the company was awesome, and the food was fantastic. I'm not sure where I'll be next year, but hopefully in a town with a VegFest!

Vegan Breakfast Pizza

2011-11-10T13:18:00.002-05:00

Oh. My. God. This pizza was INSANE!!! Gravy on pizza? Hell yes! I found this recip e on one of my many Food Gawking nights. I knew I just had to make it. And now that you all have the recipe you have to make it too.

Vegan Breakfast Pizza:

1 pizza crust, whatever your favorite is

For the gravy:

1/2 c coconut milk
1/2 c almond milk
3 tbsp flour
Salt
Pepper
Garlic powder

For the tofu scramble:

1 package extra firm tofu, pressed, drained, and cubed
1/3 package gimme lean breakfast sausage, diced
1 onion, diced
2-3 cloves garlic, minced
2-3 tbsp Earth balance
1/4-1/2 c Nutritional yeast
1 tsp Italian seasoning
Dash of turmeric

Preheat the oven for the right temperature for your pizza crust. Start by browning the veggie sausage. When browned, place on a paper towel lined plate. In the same pan, saute the onions until soft. Add the garlic, tofu, and earth balance. Cook until the tofu is crispy and has absorbed all of the earth balance. Then add nutritional yeast, Italian seasoning, and turmeric. Add in browned sausage. Stir and lower heat until ready to serve.

While the tofu scramble is cooking start your gravy. In a pan heat the coconut milk until boiling. When boiling, add the salt, pepper, garlic powder, and flour and whisk. It will thicken up really quickly. Slowly add in the almond milk (or use more coconut milk) until the right consistency. Spread the gravy on your prepared pizza crust. Place pizza in the oven and cook until the crust is browned.

When the crust is ready, slice and spoon tofu scramble on top. Serve immediately. Devour. Most importantly, enjoy! Also, when I make this again I might make extra gravy to dip the crust in. Because gravy is awesome. I served mine with some fruit, but breakfast potatoes or hash browns would be good as well. Also feel free to add whatever veggies you have on hand to the tofu scramble.

Tampa Bay VegFest 2011

2011-10-20T21:14:00.004-04:00

Last Saturday, October 15th, was the second annual Tampa Bay VegFest. I'm happy to say, this year's was bigger and better than last year. And unlike last year, I remembered to take pictures of the food I ate. Bonus.

The boyfriend and I started out by making a lap of all the booths. We ended up eating a ton of free samples that way. Gardein, Dandies vegan marshmellows, So Delicious vegan ice cream, Field Roast sausages, and more. It was pretty fantastic. So by the time we made our way over to the food vendors we weren't actually super hungry. So we both got a $3 veggie dog. Turned out to be a good choice. I had mine on a whole wheat bun with ketchup, onions, and relish. It was just the right amount of food after feasting on samples.

Of course, we couldn't skip dessert. One of the vendors was a vegan ice cream truck, selling soft serve style ice cream made from bananas. I ordered a medium with chocolate sauce and graham crackers. It was really, really good. The texture was spot on and the combination of banana, chocolate, and graham cracker is just about perfect.

I also made new friends at all the different animal rescue organizations. But my best friend, the one who tempted me the most to make an impulse adoption, was Myla. She's about 2.5 months old and a collie boxer mix. She was as sweet as can be. Many of the other dogs seemed pretty bored with being petted and adored, and pretty much ignored me when I pet them. But Myla kept licking me and nipping my fingers. Oh my goodness, I wanted her so bad. It was really hard for me to walk away. I mean, look at that face!

All in all, it was a successful VegFest. The weather was perfect, the food was great, and the animals were adorable (and not on the menu). I'm not sure if I'll still be living in Tampa this time next year, but if I am, I will certainly return for round 3. And this Saturday I'll be going to the Central Florida VegFest in Orlando. It's hard work, going to festivals made especially for me and eating all this food, but someone has to do it!

My Day of Pumpkin Puree

2011-10-15T20:55:00.003-04:00

I participate in a pretty awesome local, organic buying club. Unlike a regular CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) instead of paying for an entire season up front, we buy per week. For $25 I receive between 10 and 15 pounds of local, organic produce from a family farm. I can cancel or change my weeks at any time. I usually buy every other week. I started participating in the club last March. It went on hiatus during the summer due to Florida's growing season, but it just started back up last week. I love the club because it really forces me to be creative in the kitchen. I receive fruits or vegetables that I've never heard of before or that I don't normally cook with. So one exciting item we received in our box last week was an entire calabaza pumpkin, a tropical variety. The pumpkin had a lot of potential, but I decided to turn the pumpkin into a giant batch of pumpkin puree.

First, rinse the outside of the pumpkin to get any dirt or grit off. Then cut the pumpkin in half. For this job you'll need the biggest, sharpest knife you have. And be very careful. It took a little maneuvering but eventually I got my pumpkin into two halves. Once the pumpkin is split in half, scoop out the guts and the seeds. Rinse and save the seeds for roasting later.

Then go ahead and slice the halves into slices about an inch wide. You want all your slices to be roughly the same size so they cook evenly. Line the slices of pumpkin on a baking sheet (I ended up needing two baking sheets). Roast the pumpkin in the oven at 350 for 45 minutes. I didn't drizzle the slices with any oil or salt because I wanted the puree to be simple and pure.

Check the doneness of the pumpkin by sliding in a knife. If it slides in easily then they're done cooking. Take them out of the oven and let them cool. Once cool, use your knife to remove the peel. When all the peels are removed toss the slices into the food processor. Blend until smooth. You'll need to do this in batches. My pumpkin yielding 7.5 cups of pumpkin puree.

Now, you can store puree however you want. But unless you plan on using a crazy amount of pumpkin in one week, I recommend freezing it. I also recommend freezing it in pre measured portions. I placed one cup of puree into a ziploc bag. I squeezed all the air out and then sealed the bag. This allowed for easy stacking in the freezer. For a quick way to defrost, fill a bowl with hot water. Place a bag of puree in the water for a few minutes until defrosted.

If you live in the Tampa Bay area and are interested in buying local, organic, seasonal produce click here.

Bluebbery Waffles with Lemon Glaze

2011-10-06T17:55:00.004-04:00

Every Thursday I have a standing brunch date with my friend Sammi from Vegan Pandamonium. This started out as a going out to lunch date. But one week, when I was trying to save some money, I asked if she would like to come over and I would make brunch instead. And since we're both still trying to save money, and we love cooking for each other, brunch has stuck.

This week we both went all out trying new recipes. I really enjoy waffles but have never really found a recipe that turns out the way I want it to, crispy on the outside and fluffy on the inside. Well today I finally found a recipe that did just that. It came from VeganYumYum with just a few small adjustments on my part. This will now be my go-to waffle recipe. You can definitely change it up with the fruit of your choice.

Blueberry Waffles:

2 cups all purpose flour (I prefer unbleached)
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
3 tbsp sugar
2/3 cup vegan sour cream
1 1/3 cup almond milk
5 tbsp water
1/3 cup canola oil
1 cup fresh or frozen blueberries
1-2 tsp lemon zest (optional)

Preheat waffle iron. In one bowl combine dry ingredients. In another bowl, combine wet ingredients. Then add dry to wet in 2-3 batches. Gently fold in blueberries. Use about 1/2 cup batter per waffle. My waffle iron cooks the waffles in about 7 minutes. Place finished waffles on a baking sheet in the oven to keep warm.

Lemon glaze:

1 cup powdered sugar
1 tsp fresh lemon juice
Zest of half a lemon
3 tablespoons of almond milk

Sift powdered sugar. Add all other ingredients. Stir until smooth. Drizzle over waffles.

***A good tip from VeganYumYum. If you use frozen blueberries, reserve two tablespoons of the dry ingredient mixture. Toss the frozen blueberries with the dry ingredients, then fold into the batter at the last minute. This keeps the batter from turning a greyish purple color.
***I subbed vegan sour cream for soy yogurt in the original recipe.

Chocolate Cherry Smoothie

2011-09-29T17:42:00.002-04:00

Let me begin this post by saying that I never measure ingredients when making smoothies. It just seems unneccessary. I taste and add as I go. So the measurements given for this chocolate cherry smoothie are imprecise and are definitely allowed to be adjusted based on your taste preferences.

I had the idea for this smoothie originally when I bought 2.5 pounds of cherries one week when they were on sale. It turns out that me and the boyfriend can't eat that many cherries by ourselves before they go bad. So before the cherries could take a turn for the worst I popped them in the freezer and began brainstorming on what recipes I could make with them. For some reason the idea of doing a healthy take on the Ben & Jerry's Cherry Garcia flavor stuck with me. I'm not really sure why, because I don't think I've ever actually had the Cherry Garcia flavor. But this is what came out of my brain and into the blender (figuratively, not literally).

Chocolate Cherry Smoothie:

3/4-1 cup frozen or fresh cherries
1-1 1/2 tbsp cocoa powder
1 tbsp almond butter
Drizzle (maybe 1-2 tsps?) agave nectar
1 cup almond milk

Place all ingredients in the blender. Blend until smoothie consistency. Add more milk if the smoothie is too thick. Drink up!

Vegan Chocolate Silk Pie

2011-09-15T10:51:00.003-04:00

So what's the excuse this time? School, work, thesis? Regardless, I've been slacking. But I'm here with a recipe for a kinda sorta healthy chocolate pie. And it's vegan. So that counts for something, right?

I believe I found this recipe during one of my many Foodgawker stalking nights (that counts as busy, right?). As soon as I saw the recipe and realized I had all the ingredients on hand I knew I had to make it. And I'm so glad I did. It couldn't be easier and it couldn't be more delicious.

You can use any pie crust you prefer. I made a graham cracker crust, but I also would not judge you at all if you used a store bought crust. I also won't judge you if you don't make a crust put simply spoon the chocolate silk into your mouth straight out of the food processor.

Chocolate Silk Pie:

1 package silken, extra firm tofu (I used mori-nu)
1 tsp cocoa powder
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 tbsp almond milk (or soy, rice, whatever)
Pinch of salt
About 1 1/3 c vegan chocolate chips
1.5-2 tbsp agave nectar

Melt the chocolate in a double boiler or microwave (your choice, I used microwave). Then throw all of the ingredients into a food processor. Process until completely smooth, no chunks of tofu. Pour into a pie crust of your choice. Place in fridge, chills for a few hours. Devour. I garnished mine with fresh raspberries. Strawberries or bananas would also be good. I'm also thinking next time I might add a tablespoon of cooled coffee to enhance the chocolate flavor. Enjoy!

Costa Rica: Parte 3

2011-08-12T23:17:00.004-04:00

Casado, meaning "married" in Spanish, is a typical meal in Costa Rica. Traditionally, it comes with a meat of your choice (chicken, beef, or fish), a salad, rice, beans, and sometimes plantains. This meal was fairly easy to have vegetarian as I would simply order the "casado vegetariano" or the "casado sin carne" (vegetarian casado or casado with no meat). This is the very first casado I had, served at the cafeteria of the institute where I was studying Spanish. This meal, complete with an iced tea or fresh fruit drink of the day, set me back about $4 American. Needless to say, I ate this meal quite often for lunch while I was in Costa Rica. It really was a whole lot of food for a very small price. It was fairly healthy and kept me full for a long time. My only complaint about this plate of food was...it only had two pieces of plantain!

Costa Rica: Parte 2

2011-07-31T12:20:00.008-04:00

When I left for Costa Rica I expected that I wouldn't have a ton of food options as a vegetarian. I left fully expecting to be eating rice and beans for three meals a day for 28 days. However, I was pleasantly surprised that this turned out not to be the case. Don't get me wrong, I did eat a fair share of rice and beans but I was also lucky enough to stumble upon a few vegetarian restaurants. My favorite was the Veggie House. I ate there twice and ordered the same thing both times, it was that good. Both times I had the wrap. It came with your choice of garbanzo or soy patty. I chose the garbanzo. Hummus was spread on the tortilla and then filled with numerous veggies including lettuce, carrots, beets, tomatoes, and avocados. On the side they served fresh, homemade salsa and chips. I know this doesn't sound super exciting, but it was incredibly delicious.

I've been making a similar wrap since I've been back. I spread a liberal amount of hummus (usually roasted garlic hummus) on a whole wheat tortilla. Then I add spinach, thinly sliced onion, grated carrots, and grated beets. I then add a good sized handful of chickpeas. A few times I've also made baked falafel to replace the straight up chickpeas. It's a healthy, satisfying lunch. I make it the night before and grab it on my way out the door to work. And it's perfect at room temperature.

Bears Eat Beets

2011-07-20T22:21:00.003-04:00

Finally! I was finally able to stretch a recipe into an Office reference. So what about beets? Well, as mentioned previously I really love beets. In fact, after this post I have two more recipes coming that involve beets. But this recipe is all about beet juice. My mom has an awesome juicer so whenever I visit home I request some fresh juice with breakfast, at least once. Well this time my mom made the BEST JUICE EVER. I say this with absolutely no hesitation. This juice was so good I think both bears and Dwight Schrute would approve.

Mom's Awesome Juice:

2-3 beets, scrubbed
5-6 carrots, scrubbed
3 granny smith apples, washed
1 lemon, peeled

Place fruits and veggies in the juicer. Make juice. Enjoy! I believe this made us about 3 cups of juice, perfect for mother daughter sharing. I've actually been craving this juice since my mom made it for me. I need to get myself a juicer...

Also for breakfast that morning was my mom's amazing frittata with red bell pepper, broccoli, potato, onion, and garlic topped with provolone and parmesan cheese. And a nice side of fresh ciabatta. One of the many, many reasons I love visiting home.

Homemade Laundry Detergent

2011-07-02T10:23:00.004-04:00

As a college student with a minimum wage part-time job I am always looking for ways to save money. And as a person who cares deeply about the planet I am always looking for ways to change my routine in order to help the environment. Well when I discovered homemade laundry detergent I definitely killed two birds with one stone.

Homemade laundry detergent is very simple and inexpensive to make. All you need is borax, washing soda (not baking soda), and mild bar soap. Borax and washing soda can both be found in the laundry aisle of your grocery store. I decided to go with a powdered form because it's quick to make as there is no cooking involved. I found the recipe here, recipe #4.

Powdered Laundry Detergent:

1 cup borax
1 cup washing soda
2 cups finely grated mild bar soap

Mix all of the ingredients well and store in an air tight container (I use a cleaned out ice cream container). Use two tablespoons per load. That's it!

I've found that this detergent cleans my laundry just as effectively as store bought detergent. The only thing different, which doesn't bother me but did take some getting used to, is that the clothes don't really smell "fresh" when they come out of the washer. Because the soap is unscented, no scent is imparted to your clothes. But don't worry, they're definitely clean! Do any of you have money saving, green household tips?

Costa Rica: Parte 1

2011-06-26T20:39:00.003-04:00

Hola! It's good to be back. I've actually been back in the states for a week but I've been doing laundry, spending time with family, and getting back into my routine. I can't wait to share all of my food adventures in Costa Rica with you all! I've decided to post about Costa Rica in several parts. Since I was there for a month I ate a ton of food. And I've decided to start with the most important dish in Costa Rica.

Gallo Pinto. For all of my non-Spanish speaking readers, gallo pinto literally means painted rooster (even though there is no rooster in the dish). Traditionally, gallo pinto is made using leftover rice and black beans. It is typically a breakfast dish, even though it can be eaten any time of the day. Nicaraguans also claim that gallo pinto originated in there country, but don't let a Costa Rican here you say that because you'll be in big trouble.

Gallo pinto originated as peasant food. There are two explanations behind the name "gallo pinto". The first, and most likely, is that the name was given to hide the fact that there is no meat in dish. Historically, meat was expensive and hard to come by. The other explanation is that the dish is "painted" with the specks of cilantro and peppers that color the dish.

Gallo pinto, as stated earlier, is made with leftover beans and rice. It is flavored with onions and liberal amounts of cilantro. In Costa Rica, a sauce called San Lizano is also used. Because it is a breakfast dish it is usually served with eggs, tortillas, cheese, and fresh fruit or fried plantains. And I can tell you from personal experience that gallo pinto is ridiculously delicious. In fact, I even brought a bottle of San Lizano back to the states with me so I can cook an authentic version. And that recipe will be coming very, very soon.

Tofu Bruschetta

2011-05-20T17:36:00.004-04:00

I can't really post the recipe for this tofu "bruschetta" because it's from a copyrighted cookbook. But I can tell you how absolutely delicious it was. For Mother's Day I bought my mom Sheryl Crow's new cookbook If It Makes You Healthy. To my pleasant surprise the cookbook turned out to be pretty veggie friendly. And to my even bigger surprise my mom chose the tofu bruschetta as the first recipe she wanted to try.

Now, my mom is not a vegetarian, but she's really supportive and open minded. I mean, hello, she took me to Sublime for my early birthday dinner, so obviously she's awesome. But she's not really the biggest tofu fan. I think this recipe may have converted her. But then I was in for a third surprise!

My dad and my sister tried it as well. And not only did they try it, they loved it! While my dad and sister are supportive of my choice of being vegetarian, they're not always the most open minded when it comes to food. Especially my sister, who basically eats no vegetables at all (it's ok little sis, I still love you). My mom and I conveniently did not answer their question for the first ten minutes of dinner when they asked what was in the "spread". I basically listed every other ingredient. "Oh, it's just lemon juice, olive oil, garlic..." But my dad finally guessed right and continued to eat two more servings. So what I'm telling you is that you can get this spread approved by even the most die hard, tofu bashing omnivores.

We served the tofu "spread" with sliced tomatoes, cucumbers, and red onions. We made crostini out of our favorite whole grain baguette. And then we sprinkled our assembled bruschetta with fresh herbs. It's was ridiculously delicious.

Well my lovely Blake Bakes followers, this will be my last post for about a month. Because...I'm going to Costa Rica! I'm studying abroad for four weeks and I will be a little busy studying Spanish and site seeing to do any posting. But I will be back at the end of June, probably with a recipe for gallo pinto, a traditional Costa Rican dish.

Couscous Salad

2011-05-18T15:46:00.003-04:00

This recipe comes from my wonderful mom. She actually doesn't use a recipe for her couscous salad, and neither do I. But this is the "recipe" I've come up with after watching her make it and being a professional taste tester.

I've made this salad three times in the past two weeks. The first time was for a class pot luck party. It wasn't so well received there. The football players in my class don't like to eat that much green (seriously, their words, not mine). I then made it again for the USF Community Garden potluck for two reasons: 1) I needed validation that my salad is in fact delicious and 2) I love this salad. Thankfully, it was very well received at the second pot luck. In fact, one party goer was licking the bowl clean. And the final time was for mother's day. And yes, my mom loved it!

Couscous Salad:

1 box whole wheat couscous
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 onion, finely diced
1-2 carrots, grated
1-2 stalks celery, finely diced
1/2 cucumber, peeled and finely diced
1 tablespoon fresh parsley, minced
1 teaspoon dried thyme
1 teaspoon lemon zest
1/4-1/2 cup dried cranberries
Juice of half a lemon
1-2 teaspoons olive oil
Salt and pepper, to taste

Prepare couscous according to box directions. While the couscous is cooking prepare the vegetables and herbs. Place all prepared veggies, herbs, and cranberries in a bowl. When the couscous is done mix with veggies. Stir in lemon juice, olive oil, salt, and pepper. I prefer to make this a day ahead and let the flavor meld in the fridge. But it's also good the day of.

Sublime

2011-05-05T10:03:00.004-04:00

A few weeks ago as a very early birthday present my mom bought tickets to Wicked at the Broward Center of the Performing Arts. I had wanted to see Wicked for about five years, so I was super excited to finally see it. Even more conveniently the play was in Fort Lauderdale, the home of Sublime, an all vegan restaurant I've been wanting to try for basically forever. It was a girls day with me, my mom, my sister, and the Vegan Pandamonium mom.

First we were brought a complimentary amuse bouche of basil polenta. My mom usually doesn't really like polenta, but she gobbled hers right up. It was smooth, creamy, and had a lovely basil flavor. It was a very nice way to start the meal.

For our appetizer we ordered the Frito Misto; fried cauliflower in a sweet chili sauce with sesame seeds. I really enjoyed it. I order a similar dish when I go out for Indian food but there was definitely a difference. At Sublime the Cauliflower wasn't too soft, it had texture. I loved the sweet chili sauce, but I would've liked a little more heat.

For my entree, with the recommendation of Sammi over at Vegan Pandamonium, I ordered the "steak" sandwich. The "steak" was made of gardein and was topped with daiya cheddar and housemade "special sauce". The sandwich was really good, but I don't know if I'd order it again. While I really do love gardein products, since I make them at home I don't usually like to order them when I'm out to eat. But still, the sandwich was really good. But the best part of my entree by far was the sweet potato fries. They were thick cut like steak fries. Oh. My. Gosh. So good.
For dessert, again from the recommendation of Sammi, we ordered the chocolate nirvana cake. The cake was chocolate cake with kahlua buttercreme covered in chocolate ganache. The cake was really good. But Sammi built the cake up a lot, telling me it was the best chocolate cake she had ever had. I don't know if I would go that far. The cake was good, but a little dry. However, I could have eaten the kahlua buttercreme with a spoon. Bring on a bowl of kahlua buttercreme.

All in all, it was a really wonderful meal. Great company and great food. What more can you ask for?

Sweet Potato Oatmeal Breakfast Casserole

2011-03-27T22:46:00.006-04:00

I love breakfast. And within the last year or so I've started eating oatmeal. A lot. Like almost every day. For better or for worse, a few months ago I discovered that a spoonful of Nutella is an excellent way to make oatmeal exciting. Now even though I still recommend this as an occasional treat, it's not the most healthy way to eat oatmeal. So when I stumbled across this recipe from Oh She Glows I knew I had to make it. I've made this recipe about four times, almost once a week since I discovered it. I've made adjustments based on a) my personal preferences and b) what I have one hand in my pantry. I think I've got it pretty perfect now.

Sweet Potato Oatmeal Breakfast Casserole, adapted from Oh She Glows

For the Oatmeal:

1/2 cup oats (instant is fine)
2 cups almond/soy milk
1 small sweet potato, peeled, diced
1 ripe banana
1/3 cup dried cranberries
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 rounded teaspoon cinnamon
1/8 teaspoon nutmeg
2 tablespoons agave nectar

For the Topping:

1/3 cup chopped pistachios
2 tablespoons vegan margarine (I use Earth Balance), cold
2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1/4 cup brown sugar

Preheat oven to 350. Bring water to a boil in a medium pot. Add the sweet potato. Cook until tender, about 5 minutes. Give the pot a quick rinse then add the milk and oats. Whisk well and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and cook 1-2 minutes (if using instant) or 5-7 minutes (if using regular), stirring frequently. With a potato masher or pastry cutter, mash in the sweet potato and banana. Then stir in the cranberries, cinnamon, nutmeg, vanilla, and agave. Cook on low for another minute or two. Make the topping by cutting the butter, flour, and sugar with a fork or pastry cutter. When the margarine is pea sized, stir in the pistachios. Transfer the oatmeal to a greased casserole dish or cake pan (I use an 8x11 pan). Sprinkle the topping on the oatmeal. Bake the oatmeal uncovered for 20 minutes. After 20 minutes set the oven to broil. Broil on low for about 2 minutes. Be careful not to let the topping burn. Serve warm out the the oven. Yum!

Vegetarian in Savannah, GA!

2011-03-19T11:54:00.003-04:00

This week is my spring break. Back in November a good friend of mine mentioned taking a trip to Savannah or Charleston for spring break. Because we're both from Florida, partying it up on the beach in Daytona or Ft. Lauderdale just sounded boring and unappealing (I'm also a really big square and I don't actually party). I had heard really great things about both Savannah and Charleston but we ended up deciding on Savannah. She invited her roommate and I invited my boyfriend and off we went!

Savannah is just a really neat little town. If you're a history buff like me then you'll love it. The town is really old and there are just loads of historic sites. But let's be real, this is a food blog. So this trip was really about some great food. I'm proud to say we didn't eat a single chain the whole time we were there; we only ate at local, independent businesses. And the food was really really really good.

After a 6 hour car drive and no lunch, we were pretty much starving upon our arrival in Savannah. I have a friend there and he had recommended a few places to eat. One of those places was Zunzi's, which we happened to spot after being downtown for about 5 minutes. We liked Zunzi's so much we ate there twice. And it was fabulous.

The first picture is of some really excellent falafel. It was served with lettuce, a fresh pita, and homemade yogurt sauce (it usually comes with tomato, but I don't like raw tomato so I asked them to leave it off). Now, this wasn't necessarily the most authentic falafel I've ever had but it was delicious. It was moist on the inside, crisp on the outside and the yogurt sauce just really pulled it all together. I demolished it and didn't even leave a single crumb.

My boyfriend ordered the portobello mushroom sub both times we went, that's how much he liked it. The sub comes with portobello mushrooms, zucchini, hummus, cheese, spinach, and tomato on freshly baked french bread. They also put their house-made dressings on the sandwich. I really don't know what kind of dressings they were, but they were delicious. Kind of like a buttermilk, vinagrette-like, ranch. And a spicy kind of the same dressing. Seriously delicious (and I don't even really like salad dressing!).

On our second trip to Zunzi's I decided to order something different, even though my falafel was delicious. I ordered the vegetable curry over mashed potatoes (you get a choice of mash or rice). It also came with a choice of spinach, romaine, or peas and carrots with a hunk of fresh french bread. Again, it was delicious. The curry was definitely a "white people curry" but super flavorful with lots of fresh vegetables. Again, the home-made dressing on the salad was delicious. The mashed potatoes were just how I like them, super smooth. And I am a sucker for any kind of fresh bread.

Also, one of the best things at Zunzi's I never snapped a picture of. They had some amazing iced tea. Not southern iced tea, which I drank a lot of in Savannah. But iced African tea. It was some sort of rooibos blend. It was amazing. They even gave me a sample before I ordered a cup. Basically, if you're ever in Savannah you have to check out Zunzi's! And if nothing else, order the African iced tea!

The next night for dinner we were planning on going to another recommendation of two Savannah locals, a pizza place called Vinnie Van Go Go's. But when we got to the restaurant it was an hour wait so we decided to look somewhere else. And we stumbled upon 606 East Cafe. Again, we had a pretty delicious, inexpensive meal. One of my favorite parts was the decor. There were an assortment of bras and panties hanging from clotheslines throughout the restaurant. There were also funky lamps and other furniture.

My boyfriend and I both ordered a sandwich (I don't remember the name). It had artichoke hearts, onions, cheese, and broccoli. We also ordered a side of curly fries. The sandwich was pretty good, but my only criticism is that is was cold. It was really tasty, but it would've been better warm. But my friend Sam ordered a curry chicken salad. I tried a bite of the lettuce that the chicken hadn't touched. And oh my goodness. The curry salad dressing was amazing! I am definitely going to try and recreate it at home.

Our last dinner in Savannah was a success at Vinnie Van Go Go's. We went on a Monday night before the dinner rush and were able to get seated right away. You can do pizza by the slice, but my boyfriend has a pretty big appetite (I've seen him eat an entire pizza by himself) so we split a medium pizza with pineapple and onions, our favorite toppings.

This was seriously good pizza. The crust was perfect, just the way I like it; really thin with fluffy edges. The cheese was ooey gooey and melted and perfect. And they used fresh pineapple, not canned. And it was $13 for a huge "medium" pizza with two toppings. Two thumbs up.

So if you're ever in Savannah, don't eat at chains. It is totally possible to eat entirely at awesome, local businesses. There were places that looked really good but we didn't get to try. But seriously, if you ever go, eat at Zunzi's, 606 East Cafe, and Vinnie Van Go Go's. You won't be disappointed.

West Palm Beach Green Market and the ABC's of Me

2011-03-01T15:36:00.006-05:00

Though I am currently living in Tampa, I'm originally from Palm Beach County, FL. My one Friday class was canceled last week, and I am done with class at 12:15 on Thursdays so I took the opportunity to go home and see my family. My mom happens to be just as big of a foodie as me. So Saturday morning we headed to downtown West Palm Beach to enjoy the beautiful weather and walk around the Green Market.

The West Palm Beach Green Market is a great market. It's located at the end of Clematis Street right on the Intercoastal. Currently, there are over 50 vendors and free samples are plentiful.

My favorite vendor? Oh! Pickles. I know what you're thinking. Pickles? Really? But let me explain. These are the BEST PICKLES EVER. They are sweet, spicy, and garlicky all at the same time. The picture is really not indicative of how delicious they are, but if you look closely you can see the pickles swimming in red chili flakes and whole garlic cloves. They give out free samples on crackers with a little bit of cream cheese. My boyfriend likes his on sandwiches, my mom on black bean burgers. But me? I like them straight up, right out of the container.
And here a few other photos of some great vendors, Organic Teas N Spices and Farmhouse Tomatoes, Inc.

Now on to the ABC's of Me. This is just a fun little thing floating around the blog world that I stumbled on at one of my favorite blogs, Organically Me.

A. Age: 20

B. Bed size: Queen. It's basically the perfect size.

C. Chore you hate: Dishes. You think I would get over it because I cook so much and cleaning the dishes becomes routine, but I really do hate it. I keep trying to make my boyfriend responsible for all the dishes since I do all the cooking.

D. Dogs: I am definitely a dog person. My entire childhood I had the best dog ever. Her name was Lisa and she was the perfect mutt we found at the pound. She passed away my freshman year of college. I haven't gotten another dog yet, for several reasons, but whenever I need some dog time I go visit Oliver, my friend Sammi's dog. He's the second best dog ever.

E. Essential start to your day: OJ and a banana. I also enjoy a cup of coffee with agave and soy/almond milk, but the coffee is optional. The OJ and banana are a requirement. I only go to the grocery store when I am low on OJ and bananas. If I'm out then it's a real emergency.

F. Favorite Color: Blue

G. Gold or silver: Silver

H. Height: 5'4

I. Instruments that you can play: I played cello from third grade all the way through high school. I also used to play guitar and bass guitar, but I haven't picked up either in a while.

J. Job title: Student. And also Park Operations Hostess, but I don't like to talk about that one.

K. Kids: Not today. Get back to me in 7+ years.

L. Live: Florida, born and raised. Tampa is the furthest north I've ever lived and I'm fairly certain I'd like to keep it that way.

M. Mom's name: Darlene. Hi Mom!

N. Nicknames: Blakey and/or Blakey Wakey. My dad always calls me Blakers.

O. Overnight hospital stays: When I was born. That's about it.

P. Pet peeves: Bad drivers. Wet towels on the bed. When my classmates ask a question that the professor already answered...twice. When I tell people I'm a vegetarian, they ask if I eat eggs, I say yes, and they say: "Well, that's just like chicken abortion!". Just to name a few.

Q. Quotes from a movie: "No, no. It's not schizophrenia. It's just a voice in my head. I mean, the voice isn't telling me to do anything. It's telling me what I've already done... accurately, and with a better vocabulary." Any guesses?

R. Righty or lefty: Lefty. I'm special.

S. Sibling: I have a little sister, Paige. She's 17, so not so little any more.

T. Time you wake up: Usually by 8 for school. On days when I have no responsibilities I prefer not to set the alarm which means I get up around 11, sometimes later.

U. Underwear: Excuse me?

V. Vegetables you dislike: I'm not a huge fan of broccoli, but it's growing on me. I've also never been brave enough to try brussel sprouts.

W. What makes you run late: I always set my alarm three seperate times, in five minute intervals. But somehow I still keep sleeping...

X. X-rays: Only of my teeth. Luckily, I've never needed any other x-ray.

Y. Yummy food you make: Everything on this blog, hahaha.

Z. Zoo animal: Ok, I don't really support zoos. But. My favorite animal has always been the bottle nosed dolphin and I like sea mammals in general. And elephants.

Chocolate Covered Strawberries

2011-02-17T15:51:00.003-05:00

Happy belated Valentine's Day! My boyfriend and I, considering it is our sixth Valentine's Day together, kept it pretty casual. We went out for pizza (amazing, bbq tofu pizza) and then came home and watched Dexter. Super romantic. But I did want to make us a nice Valentine's Day treat. Considering it's strawberry season in Florida I thought chocolate strawberries would be perfect. And they couldn't be easier to make. Seriously. Two ingredients. That's it.

Chocolate Covered Strawberries:

1/2 c semi sweet chocolate chips
1 pound strawberries, rinsed and patted dry

Slowly melt the chocolate in the microwave. I melted at 30-45 second increments at 20% power. Once chocolate is melted, use a spoon to smother the strawberries in chocolate. Place strawberries on a parchment paper lined baking sheet. Chill in the refrigerator for about an hour. Enjoy with a special someone. Or keep them all to your self.

*Be sure to melt the chocolate slowly, otherwise it will burn. You could also melt the chocolate with a double boiler.

Drumroll Please!!!

2011-02-12T18:32:00.002-05:00

And the winner is...#1!

Congrats Tim! I will be e-mailing you shortly with the details. Thanks all of you for entering. And a special thanks to CSN for sponsoring!

Giveaway Entrants and Your Numbers

2011-02-12T00:16:00.002-05:00

I have given each entry a number. A random number will be selected using Random.org. The winner will be posted tomorrow. Good luck!

Tim: 1
Ashley 1: 2
Domestic Diva: 3
Sammi: 4, 5
Ashley 2: 6
Liz: 7, 8

Veggie Meat and my first ever Giveaway!

2011-01-27T16:19:00.006-05:00

If you are a follower of Blake Bakes then today is your lucky day! CSN Stores has offered to do a giveaway! I know you all remember me mentioning CSN numerous times. I've done two product reviews, first I reviewed a fabulous pair of baking sheets. More recently, I reviewed a wonderful 9x5 circulon loaf pan. Well, now it's your turn. CSN seriously has everything, not just kitchen supplies. They have a really nice laptop messenger bag for you computer lovers as well as Valentines Day gifts.

But we'll get back to the giveaway in a little bit. How about a recipe? Now, when I ate meat I was never big sandwich person, but my boyfriend was. He loved sandwiches and still does. We also try to bring our lunches to work instead of eating in the cafeteria but he tends to monopolize the leftovers. So for a while now I've been looking for a good meat substitute that would make good sandwiches for lunches. Well thanks to Vegan Dad, I found a great recipe. You should have most ingredients on hand; the only thing I had to run to the store for was the vital wheat gluten. And feel free to substitute whatever herbs and spices you want, it should turn out wonderful.

Veggie Lunch Meat, adapted from Vegan Dad:

1 cup white beans (chickpeas also work fine)
2 cups water
1/4 cup olive oil (canola or vegetable is also fine)
2 tsp salt
2 tsp paprika
2 tsp onion powder
1 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp sage
1 tsp Italian seasoning
1 tsp pepper
1 tsp soy sauce
2 3/4 cup vital wheat gluten

Get water steaming in a steamer. Place all ingredients except the vital wheat gluten in a blender. Blend until smooth. Pour into a bowl and mix with vital wheat gluten. Work the mixture into a dough. Shape the dough into a thick log and wrap in aluminum foil. Place the log in steamer and steam for one hour. During the last 15 minutes of steaming, preheat the oven to 350. Remove the veggie meat from the steamer and place in the oven. Bake for 45-60 minutes. The veggie meat should swell up and press against the foil. Cool completely in the refrigerator. Store in the refrigerator. Slice thinly for sandwiches. My boyfriend likes his with veganaise, spinach, mustard, and pickles on a good whole wheat bread.

If you don't have a steamer basket, like me, there is a cheap, easy way to make one. Take an old aluminum pie plate and poke holes in it, about 1/2 inch apart. Get water steaming in a pot, place the pie plate on the pot, and place in the veggie loaf. Cover with a lid and steam for the indicated amount of time.

***This giveaway is now closed***

Now back to the giveaway! CSN has graciously allowed me to giveaway a gift certificate for $35! There are two ways to enter. Make sure you are a follower, then leave a comment telling me what you would buy with the gift certificate; it doesn't have to be kitchen stuff. But also don't be boring. For example, "I want a frying pan" won't count. The second way to enter is to be a fan on Facebook. Click on my Facebook badge and "like" my page. Make sure you post a comment telling me that you "like" me on Facebook. If you are not a follower your entry will not be counted. The giveaway will be open until February 11th at 11:59 pm. Each entry will be assigned a number and a winner will be chosen using Random.org. Thanks again CSN!

Happy (Belated) New Year!

2011-01-13T16:45:00.003-05:00

As I very well know we are almost two weeks into the New Year. It's crazy how time flies. Remember a few weeks ago when I mentioned that CSN Stores had approached me with another opportunity? Well, that opportunity was a product review! I was actually able to order two products this time, but I'll just review one of them today. And that product is....a 9x5 Circulon Loaf Pan. And it's beautiful. I ordered it for a very similar reason that I ordered my baking sheets. The only loaf pans I owned were flimsy, cheap aluminum ones. It was definitely time for an upgrade. But recipe would I use to break in my new loaf pan?

Well, as I so courteously bragged, I received a KitchenAid stand mixer for Christmas and I had been itching to try the dough hook it came with. And for some reason, the idea of cinnamon bread kept invading my brain. I found a perfect recipe while lurking Food Gawker. Now, as it was my first time making this recipe I did not make any modifications or adjustments other than using almond milk instead of regular milk.

My loaf pan worked perfectly, turning out a wonderful loaf of bread. I definitely recommend this recipe and the loaf pan. It was a little bit of work, and a whole lot of waiting for the bread to rise, but it was so worth it. My whole apartment smelled like cinnamon. It was wonderful. The bread was soft, sweet, and basically perfect. Straight up, smeared with a little butter, toasted, whatever. Just make some. And thanks again, CSN!

I love you, Santa Claus

2010-12-27T17:05:00.004-05:00

I normally love the Christmas season, but this year I just couldn't find my Christmas spirit. I think it has to do a lot with the fact that this hasn't really been a "break" for me. Sure, I have a month off of school, but instead I've been working 35-40 hour weeks, at a theme park, during the busiest season. I haven't relaxed as much as I would like. Also, because I work at a theme park, it didn't seem likely that I would get more than 3 days home with my family.

But this year, just in the nick of time, I received a small Christmas miracle. I ended up getting an extra 2 days off of work, for a total of 5 days home with my family. I also finally got to spend Christmas with some extended family for the first time in about 8 years. It was lovely. And Santa Claus was very, very good to me.

Judging by the picture, I obviously made out like a bandit. The obvious star is my very own KitchenAid Stand Mixer. I'm in love. You can definitely expect some recipes featuring my mixer in the near future. My mom/Santa really understands my dorky love of kitchen gadgets. She gave me a nice cutlery caddy and a spice rack. My wonderful sister gifted me some plates to feature the food for the blog. And I also received two cookbooks; the KitchenAid Baking Companion Cookbook and the Skinny Bitch cookbook, which is full of vegan recipes. Both cookbooks are beautiful, and I can't wait to test out some recipes.

All in all, I ended up having a wonderful family, filled with the most important thing: family. The gifts were just gravy...mushroom gravy (my favorite). I hope you all had a wonderful, family filled holiday. I wish you safe travels and a very happy new year for you and your loved ones.

Merry Christmas!

2010-12-24T15:10:00.005-05:00

So this post is coming a little late, as I'm sure every has already held their Christmas parties or if your party is tonight, a menu has already been planned. But the food I served isn't especially Christmas-y, so I would recommend it for any time of the year. I made empenadas as the main event, served with rice. I changed up the empenada filling from my original recipe. And for dessert, ginger sandwich cookies with cream cheese frosting and an eggnog cheesecake. I never got a photo of the eggnog cheesecake, but the recipe can be found on the side of Silk Nog. It's delicious, trust me. We also held a secret Santa at my party and I pulled my good friend Manny, the tres leches lover. So what better to make as a gift than an entire tres leches, just for him? I couldn't think of anything better, so that's what I made. It was a lot of cooking, but it was worth it.

Revised Empenadas:

2 packages regular size empenadas
1 can black beans, rinsed and drained
1 can rotel tomatoes, drained
1 onion, diced
1 small bell pepper, diced
2-3 cloves of garlic, minced
1 tablespoon chili powder
2 teaspoons cumin
1 teaspoon coriander
1 tablespoon fresh cilantro, minced
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
1/2 cup shredded cheddar cheese
Oil for frying

In a saute pan, saute the onion and bell pepper until soft. Add garlic. Stir in black beans and tomatoes. Heat the beans and tomatoes. Stir in spices and cilantro. Turn off the heat and let the mixture cool. Using a large cutting board, make your empenada assembly station. Flour the cutting board. Lay out the empenada discs. Fill with roughly a tablespoon of filling, sprinkle with cheese. Fold over and seal edges with a fork. Do this until all 20 empenadas are done. Once the empenadas are assembled, heat a large pan and add oil up to half an inch in the pan. Fry empenadas three at a time, roughly 1-2 minutes on each side, until light golden brown. Set on a plate lined paper towels. Serve hot.

Cilantro Lime Rice:

1 1/2 cups white rice
3 cups of water
1-2 tablespoons fresh, minced cilantro
1/2 of a lime

Heat water til boiling, add rice. Turn heat down, cook for about 20 minutes until rice is tender. When rice is done, stir in cilantro. Squeeze the lime over the rice. Stir and serve along side the empenadas.

Cranberry Dark Chocolate Biscotti

2010-12-16T10:56:00.007-05:00

Before I hand over this biscotti recipe I thought I would mention that I was approached again by CSN Stores. If you remember from my previous post about them, they really are great. They have all sorts of gifts that would be great for the holidays. I loved my baking sheets and still use them all the time. They also have other great, non-cooking products. They have a really nice laptop messenger bag that I have my eye on. Keep your eye out for another product review.

Back to the food. One of my favorite blogs that I read on a regular basis is Basil & Wine. The food always looks amazing and it inspires me to try to eat more healthfully. A few weeks ago a recipe from cranberry white chocolate biscotti appeared. I had never made biscotti before, and it's possible I had never really eaten biscotti either, but I just couldn't get the recipe out of my head. I made a few adjustments for my own taste preferences and ingredients I had in the pantry. Also, I feel that the original author's suggestion and baking while listening to Christmas music is a key element to the success of your biscotti.

Cranberry Dark Chocolate Biscotti:

1 cup all purpose flour
3/4 cup whole wheat flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 cup sugar
2 flax eggs (2 tablespoons flax, 6 tablespoons water)
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon almond extract
Zest of 1 orange
1-2 tablespoons orange juice
1/3 dried cranberries
1/4 cup dark chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350. In a small bowl, combine cranberries and orange juice, then set aside. In a large bowl combine the flours and baking powder. In a separate bowl whisk the flax eggs and sugar, about 2-3 minutes until sugar is dissolved. Add zest, vanilla, and almond extracts to the wet mixture. Combine the wet and dry ingredients. Add cranberries and mix into a dough. Form the dough into a 9x2 log, place on a greased baking sheet (or line with parchment paper). Bake for 25 minutes, then cool for at least 10 minutes. Reduce the oven to 325. Slice the long into 1/2 inch slices. Bake for 10 minutes on each side. Melt chocolate over a double boiler. When the biscotti have cooled, drizzle with the chocolate. Place the chocolate drizzled biscotti in the fridge until the chocolate hardens. Serve with a cup of coffee; dipping is highly encouraged!

Carrot Soup with Croutons and Asparagus

2010-12-14T20:18:00.004-05:00

I first had this soup about 3 years ago at my very good friend's birthday party. Everyone at that party, myself included, fell in love at first bite. Reportedly, some party guests felt the urge to hug the cook. The soup was that good. After much begging, I received a copy of the recipe. And that dear friend posted the recipe on her blog. I insist that you make this soup. It's amazing.

To go along with the soup I made homemade croutons and crispy asparagus. Both recipes couldn't be easier. You'll notice that both recipes have almost identical ingredients and methods. They're so simple they almost aren't even recipes. But really, simple food is the best food.

Simple Croutons:

Day old bread, 4-5 thick slices
Olive oil, about 1 tablespoon
Garlic powder
Salt
Pepper

Preheat your oven to 275. Cut the bread into cubes. Drizzle the olive oil over the bread. Sprinkle with garlic powder, salt, and pepper to taste. Toss the bread. Spread on a baking sheet. Bake for about 15 minutes, until crisp. Top your soup with the croutons.

Crispy Asparagus:

1 package asparagus
Olive oil, about 1 tablespoon
Garlic powder
Salt
Pepper

Preheat your oven to 400. Cut off the ends of the asparagus spears. Drizzle the olive oil over the asparagus. Sprinkle with garlic powder, salt, and pepper to taste. Pop into the oven for about 20 minutes, until very crispy. Eat them straight up or dip them in your soup.

Chili Mac

2010-12-06T13:57:00.005-05:00

I know all of you north of Florida have been experiencing cold weather and even snow for a few months now. But here in good ole’ sunny Florida, this week is the first week of consistently chilly temperatures; and when I say “chilly” I mean the highs are just at or below 70 degrees, with nights in the 40’s or 50’s. So what did I make to celebrate these chilly temperatures? Chili! I thought about following a recipe but that seemed boring. So I looked at a few different recipes and then I just winged it. Turns out, chili is pretty hard to mess up. I love to serve mine over some macaroni with a sprinkling of cheese, but feel free to serve yours straight up. Here is my version. Feel free to add or subtract whatever you like.

Basic Vegetarian Chili:

1 package veggie crumbles (optional)
1 large can diced tomatoes
1 can Rotel tomatoes (diced tomatoes with green chilies)
3 cans beans, any variety, drained and rinsed (I usually do a dark/light kidney bean combination)
1 can vegetable broth
Olive oil
1 onion, diced
1 bell pepper, diced
1 carrot, diced
4 oz. frozen butternut squash, defrosted
3-4 cloves of garlic, minced
2 tablespoons chili powder
2 teaspoons cumin
1 teaspoon coriander
1 teaspoon red chili flakes
1 teaspoon garlic powder
Salt and pepper, to taste

In a large soup pot, bring to medium/medium high heat, coat with olive oil. Sauté onions, bell pepper, and carrot until soft, about five minutes. Add garlic, sauté for one minute. Stir in the squash. Add beans, tomatoes and rotel tomatoes with liquid. Stir in spices. Add vegetable broth. Cover and bring to a boil. Uncover, reduce heat, and simmer for one hour or until ready to serve. Serve over macaroni, sprinkle with cheese.

A few tips about this recipe:

The veggie crumbles are completely optional. They are really tasty, but if you don’t have them on hand I wouldn’t run to the store to get some just for this recipe. I’ve made this recipe with or without them and it is equally delicious.
The squash is also optional, but highly recommended. It gives this chili some added veggie power and makes it somewhat silky and smooth.
Feel free to adjust the heat level of the chili to your liking.

A Halloween Dessert

2010-10-26T14:43:00.003-04:00

For a few weeks I've been brainstorming about a perfect dessert for Halloween. I knew I wanted something chocolate. I was originally leaning towards a chocolate orange cupcake with orange frosting to keep with the colors of Halloween. But then I thought about not only keeping with the colors, but also with the flavors of fall. I came up with a chocolate cupcake with pumpkin cream cheese frosting. In all honesty, these are probably the second best cupcakes I've ever made; second to my birthday tiramisu cupcakes. The recipe for the cake comes from Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World. The recipe can be found here online. The chocolate cake itself is incredibly moist and delicious. It's even better with my pumpkin cream cheese frosting.

Pumpkin Cream Cheese Frosting:

4 oz. cream cheese (or Tofutti Better than Cream Cheese), softened
1/4 cup canned pumpkin (not pumpkin pie filling)
1 cup powdered sugar
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
Red and yellow food coloring (optional)

Cream together ingredients. If you want a more orange hue, add about 3 drops of red and one drop of yellow food coloring. Spread on cupcakes. This is enough frosting for 12 cupcakes. Happy Halloween!

Central Florida Veg Fest!

2010-10-24T18:35:00.003-04:00

For me, one Veg Fest isn't enough. That's why on Saturday I ventured over to Orlando for the Central Florida Veg Fest. The weather was beautiful, mid 80's and breezy. And there was so. much. food. CF Veg Fest seemed to be about twice as big as the Tampa Veg Fest. This was both a good and bad thing as there were plenty of options but my stomach (and wallet) wasn't quite big enough for me to try everything. But there was one thing I absolutely knew I wanted to eat; that was a vegan chili dog. There were not one but two booths serving vegan chili dogs. I went with the first place I saw. For $3 I could get a vegan hot dog with two toppings; I went with 3 bean chili and vegan cheeze sauce. They also had a little toppings bar so I added diced onion and vegan bacon bits. This dog was really delicious but it had one major downfall: not enough chili. I would have to give it 3.5 out of 5 stars.

Now I only had one bite of the second vegan chili dog but I feel that this one bite was enough for a proper rating. From the picture you can tell the second dog had plenty of chili. In fact, some chili fell off and was later eaten with the best utensils: fingers. This dog was sooooo good. It was $4, but a lot bigger than dog #1, and again, a lot more chili. I'm giving it 4.5 out of 5 stars. The only thing keeping this dog from the top rating is it's lack of vegan cheese. But overall, I would have eaten 3 of these if my stomach was big enough.

I also enjoyed some pretty incredible Indian food as well. I eat Indian at least once a month, so I almost didn't go with Indian because I wanted to do something different. But when I saw that it was a mere $5 for this huge plate of food I couldn't turn away. The plate had a samosa (fried pastry with potatoes and peas), stewed chickpeas, rice, and jalebi (a very sweet fried dough).

And as if I hadn't already eaten enough I cooled down with some iced coffee. It was only $2 and I had the choice between almond milk and soy creamer and was able to use agave nectar to sweeten it. I'm not a coffee expert, but this one was incredibly good. I went with almond milk and a little bit of agave. Creamy, sweet, cold, and simply delicious.

Overall, I had an awesome time at the Central Florida Veg Fest. There were lots of great organizations as well as lots of great food. I will definitely make a point to visit again next year.

Hawaiian Beans and Rices

2010-10-20T12:40:00.003-04:00

Lately I've been on an eating healthy and losing weight quest, not that you'd be able to tell from those cookies...Anyway, I also spend a lot of time looking at other blogs for inspiration now that I no longer have cable, and most importantly, Food Network. I stumbled across a really great blog, No Meat Athlete. The No Meat Athlete has some really great recipes for beans and rice; a cheap, easy, complete protein meal. There are several variations on a theme but the one that spoke to me was the Hawaiian Beans and Rice. I love pineapple in my savory food and I also have a new found love for cabbage. So with a few tweaks, here's my version.

Hawaiian Beans and Rice:

1 cup chickpeas, dried or 1 can
1 cup brown rice
1-2 tablespoons olive oil
1 onion, sliced
3-4 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 head red cabbage, sliced thinly
2 tablespoons soy sauce
1 small can pineapple tidbits
1 small can sliced pineapple (optional)
3/4 teaspoon paprika
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
Hot sauce, to taste
Salt and pepper, to taste

If using dried beans, soak overnight and cook until tender. To save time, feel free to use a can of chickpeas. Cook rice according to package directions. While rice is cooking, heat a large saute pan and coat with the olive oil. Saute onions, cabbage, and garlic for about 15 minutes, until tender. Stir in chickpeas. Season with salt and pepper. Stir in pineapple tidbits with the juice, extra juice from sliced pineapples if using, soy sauce, paprika, ginger, and hot sauce. Salt and pepper again, to taste. Keep warm.

*Optional Step* In a small saute pan, lay out pineapple rings. Caramelize both sides, about 2-5 minutes per side. On a plate, place rice, then beans, then pineapple rings.

CSN Product Review AND Pumpkin Oatmeal Cookies

2010-10-14T16:18:00.005-04:00

A few posts ago I mentioned CSN Stores approached me with the opportunity to do a product review from one of the great stores. I chose the Ciculon 25th Anniversary 3 Piece Rectangular Bakeware Set. The set includes two baking sheets and a cooling rack. Below are a side by side comparison of my old baking sheet and my new ones. Do I really need to explain why I'm already in love?

I figured the best way to test out my new baking sheets would be with cookies. As it's getting close to feeling like fall in nice and sunny Florida I've also been having some serious pumpkin cravings. I searched around on the internet for some pumpkin cookie recipes. The pumpkin oatmeal cookies from The Post Punk Kitche n seemed to fit my basic requirements; they had pumpkin and I already had all the ingredients on hand. Winner! You can find their recipe right here. I pretty much followed the recipe. I only made two changes/substitutions: 1) I used half all purpose and half whole wheat flour and 2) I didn't have molasses, so I substituted equal parts brown sugar. I also included the optional ground flax seed.

The cookies were fabulous and my new baking sheets are absolutely wonderful. They are truly nonstick; they were so easy to clean. And I love having a cooling rack. Notice that I placed a paper towel under the cooling rack for easy clean up. I would really like to thank CSN Stores again for the wonderful opportunity. I love my new baking sheets! More cookies will be coming out of my oven in the near future.

Tampa Bay's First Ever Veg Fest!

2010-10-03T22:31:00.004-04:00

This past Saturday Tampa had it's first ever Veg Fest! I took the day off from work and was super psyched. I was not disappointed. First off, the weather was beautiful. It was possibly the first day it did not hit at least 90 degrees in about five months.

This is a view of most of the booths. There were tons of businesses, charities, organizations, and my favorite, free food! Typical me, I scarfed down every piece of food and not until I was finished did I think "Oh, I should take a picture." But I'll fill you in on some of the delicious treats I had. Gardein was there giving out free tacos with their beef tips, peppers, onions, and mushrooms. The Gardein taco was quite possibly my favorite thing I had all day. It was simply fabulous. I also sampled some sausages from Field Roast; I sampled the Italian and the Smoked Apple Sage. Both were delicious, but if I had to choose a favorite I'd go with the Italian.

While the free goodies were very tasty, I was pretty hungry so I also bought lunch. There were several local Tampa veggie friendly businesses there; I went with the Taco Bus. I had a Butternut Squash taco with Hibiscus Lemonade. Oh. My. God. Generally, I'm pretty partial to the vegan chorizo made by the Taco Bus, but really, I am now converted to the squash. It was sweet and tender and so so so good. The lemonade was also really good. For dessert, I had vegan pumpkin ice cream from Three 2 Oh. The ice cream was delicious; it tasted like a frozen pumpkin pie filling. And though I didn't have one, my friends had some vegan cupcakes and I'm pretty sure they enjoyed them, as I didn't see a crumb left.

All in all, I had an awesome time at Veg Fest. Between the weather, the food, and the company it made for a pretty perfect day. I really hope this becomes an annual event in the Tampa Bay area. Maybe I can even get a booth next year selling some homemade Blake Bakes goodies. And one final picture, just because they're so adorable; my boyfriend and Oliver (contender for the title of Cutest Dog Ever).

Channa Masala

2010-09-30T15:00:00.004-04:00

Before I get started with a lovely Channa Masala recipe I'm really excited to let you guys know that CSN Stores has given me an opportunity to do a product review from one of their many wonderful websites. Keep an eye out for the review and in the meantime checkout some of their beautiful dining chairs. Thanks so much CSN Stores!

Back to the food. Since becoming a vegetarian I have fallen in love with several cuisines that I had never tried in my meat eating days. The most important, delicious of these cuisines is Indian. I'm a little bit obsessed. Tampa has some really great Indian food and I make it a point to go out for an Indian lunch buffet at least once a month. But as a college student with limited funds I have been trying to recreate Indian food in my own kitchen. While this channa masala didn't necessarily taste authentically Indian it was still delicious, filling, cheap, and easy to make.

Channa Masala:

1 can chickpeas, drained and rinsed
1 onion, diced
2-3 cloves of garlic, minced
1 zucchini, diced
1 14 ounce can diced tomatoes
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
1 teaspoon red pepper flakes (more or less based on your heat preference)
2 teaspoons coriander
3 teaspoons cumin
1 teaspoon fennel seeds
2 teaspoons paprika
1 teaspoon curry powder
2/3 cup vegetable broth or water, plus about 1/2 cup extra
Juice of half a lemon
Salt and pepper to taste
1 tablespoon olive oil

In a large saute pan heat oil over medium heat. Add the onion, garlic, ginger, and red pepper flakes and saute for about 5 minutes. Add the coriander, cumin, fennel seeds, paprika, and curry powder and saute about 1 minutes. Add the chick peas, tomatoes, and broth. Bring to a boil and cook for 10 minutes. Add lemon juice and salt and pepper. If you find that the liquid is reducing and the chickpeas are sticking, add more liquid. Cook for another 10 minutes until sauce is thick. Serve with brown rice.

First Restaurant Review:The Loving Hut

2010-09-26T21:07:00.008-04:00

As much as I love to cook sometimes I can be pretty lazy. And on those very lazy days (usually after a long day at work) I like to go out to eat. I've become pretty attached to several restaurants, so I thought I'd do some restaurant reviews. So to start off we have the Loving Hut. I've been to the Loving Hut several times. It's an all vegan restaurant, so for me it's really nice to go to a place where I can order anything on the menu. It's a fairly new place in Tampa so it's never crowded; usually there are only a few other diners. The prices are really reasonable; my boyfriend and I always get water so our check almost always comes out under $20 before tip. The service can be slow, but the food is so good it's worth it.

This first dish is what I ordered the last time I went; Ocean Alfredo. It's a vegan alfredo and usually comes with vegan shrimp. I never ate seafood when I did eat meat so I asked to substitute vegan chicken instead, which they did, with no problems. It was really tasty. I've had more realistic vegan alfredos but this was really yummy and comforting.

This is what my boyfriend got. It was called Savory Eggplant. It had eggplant, silken tofu, and red bell peppers with a delicious sauce that reminded us of teriyaki. I only had one bite, but I enjoyed it. My boyfriend is an eggplant fanatic so he loved it. Other dishes I can recommend are the Tofu Scramble and the Noble Philly Sub. Definitely check out the Loving Hut if you're ever in Tampa.

Crispy Cajun Chickpea Cakes with Sauteed Kale

2010-09-10T22:52:00.003-04:00

The chickpea cakes aren't an original recipe, but it turned out really tasty, so I thought I'd share. I used the recipe for the Chickpea Cakes from Vegan Dad. I pretty much just followed the recipe, except I substituted red pepper flakes for cayenne pepper. And my one piece of general advice about the chickpea cakes are to flip them as few times as possible. The more you flip them, the more likely the are to not stay together. That means you need to make sure your pan/oil is at the right temperature, so they don't cook too quickly.

And here is a quick and easy kale recipe.

Sauteed Kale:

1 bunch of kale
3-4 cloves of garlic, minced
Olive oil
Salt
Pepper

Pull the kale off the stem and give a rough chop. Coat a saute pan with olive oil. Saute garlic for about two minutes, then add the kale. Saute until kale is tender. Season to taste with salt and pepper. That's it. So simple, and so delicious.

The BEST Pizza

2010-09-05T21:36:00.002-04:00

That's right. Kale on pizza. I know it's really not that crazy for some of you, such as Sammi from Vegan Pandamonium. But for others, who would've thought? I'm here to tell you, kale is probably the best pizza topping ever. The kale gets crispy in the oven and goes lovely with melted mozzarella. Don't believe me? Try it.

Kale Pizza:

1 Pillsbury thin pizza crust
1/4-1/2 cup marinara sauce
3-4 leaves of kale
1 package Morning Star Italian Sausage (or veggie sausage of your choice)
1/2 an onion
2-3 cloves of garlic
1/2 a bell pepper
1-2 cups mozzarella cheese or Daiya

Preheat oven to 400. Slice sausage, thinly slice onion, garlic, and bell pepper. Pull kale off of stem, and roughly chop. Coat a saute pan with olive oil and brown the sausage. Once brown, take the sausage out of the pan. Add more olive oil, saute the onion, bell pepper, garlic, and kale until soft.

While sauteing veggies, spray a baking sheet with nonstick spray. Roll out crust, pre-bake crust for five minutes. After five minutes, pull crust out of the oven. Spread desired amount of marinara sauce on the crust. First layer with sausage. Add all but 1/4 cup of cheese. Layer veggies, with kale on top. Sprinkle the rest of the cheese. Bake in the oven for about 10 minutes, until the cheese is brown and bubbly.

This pizza reminds me of this soup I used to love in my pre-veggies days, from olive garden. It was an Italian sausage, kale, and potato soup. This is better, as it's vegetarian, and it's on a pizza!

Tres Leches

2010-08-28T21:06:00.003-04:00

This isn't an original recipe (and certainly not a vegan one, sorry my veggie friends), but it turned out so good I just thought I'd share the picture and story with you, as well as a link to the recipe.

Two weeks ago, my boyfriend and I moved into a new apartment. Our friend Manny helped us move in. Since we are poor college students/Busch Gardens employees, I told Manny that if he helped us I would pay him in the form of dinner and dessert. He requested a Tres Leches cake. For those of you who are behind on your Spanish, "tres leches" means "three milks". The three milks in this case are half and half, evaporated milk, and sweetened condensed milk. So even though I had never eaten or made a Tres Leches cake, I agreed.

This recipe was really easy. The only pain-in-butt/time consuming part was the whipped cream. I do not currently own an electric mixer, so I made the whipped cream by hand. That's right. Me, a cold bowl full of heavy cream, and a whisk. For over fifteen minutes. Man, was my arm tired, but that was the best whipped cream I've ever tasted. However, though making it by hand made me feel like a domestic goddess, if you have an electric mixer, USE IT.

The cake turned out really delicious, and since Manny gave it his stamp of approval, I was rather pleased with myself. This cake was really dense, rich, and sweet. But that's how it's supposed to be. Enjoy.

Vegetable Broth (from the new kitchen)

2010-08-18T17:59:00.010-04:00

Wow, it's been a long break. Too long. But never fear, I am finally done moving, and fresh from a Publix trip, my pantry and fridge are now fully stocked for some new, fabulous recipes. First up, something savory. I've been wanting to make vegetable broth from scratch for a while now. I googled some recipes the other day and pretty much realized, it's something you just have to make up. Here's what I did, based on the ingredients I had in my produce drawer.

Vegetable Broth:

5 cloves of garlic, smashed
1/2 large onion, cut into chunks
1 cup baby carrots
2 stalks celery, plus extra celery leaves, cut into chunks
1 potato, cut into chunks
Small handful of parsley
5 small tomatoes, cut into chunks
4 oz. sliced mushrooms
3 bay leaves
1-2 teaspoons soy sauce
Salt
Pepper
8 cups water

Cut all your veggies into chunks. Feel free to not peel them, leave the paper on the garlic/onions, etc. Throw all of your veggies and herbs into a stock pot. Cover with 8 cups of water and bring to a boil.

Reduce to a simmer, add soy sauce and pepper. Simmer for one hour. Taste and add more salt if desired. Strain your broth, put into some Tupperware, and refrigerate/freeze until you need some vegetable broth. This recipe made about 6 cups.

Don't throw those veggies away; I snacked on them right from the pot once I strained the liquid. Yum.

Best Gift Ever

2010-07-29T17:33:00.003-04:00

I know I've been slacking with posting. I'm in the process of moving and cleaning out my fridge, which unfortunately for me and the blog, means I've been eating a lot of pasta and morning star products. But, I did want to share this with you. I just received a wonderful belated birthday gift from Sammi of Vegan Pandamonium; my very own Blake Bakes mug. It was nice coming home after work this afternoon and enjoying a cup of coffee out of my own, beautiful mug.

Chocolate Chip Cookies

2010-07-15T14:56:00.003-04:00

Chocolate chip cookies had never really been my thing, at least as far as being one of my specialties. They always turned out fine, but nothing special. But one day I had a brilliant idea, one to liven up my chocolate chip cookies to make them special. That idea was cinnamon.

Chocolate Chip Cookies (makes about 1-2 dozen):

1/2 cup plus 1 tablespoon all purpose flour
1/2 cup plus 1 tablespoon whole wheat flour
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/8 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup canola oil
1/2 cup firmly packed brown sugar
1/4 cup sugar
1 Ener-G Egg Replacer
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
6-8 oz. chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350. In a small bowl combine all dry ingredients. In a large bowl, beat together oil and sugars. Add egg replacer and vanilla, mixing well. Slowly add the flour mixture, mixing well. Stir in chocolate chips. Drop dough by spoonful onto a greased cookies sheet. Bake 9-11 minutes until lightly browned. Cool on wire racks. Enjoy with a glass of almond milk. Yum!

A few tips:

Traditionally, cookies are made with butter. I was out, so I just used canola oil. I have also made this recipe with 1/4 cup vegan margarine and 1/4 canola oil. I'm sure it would also turn out fine with all margarine.
If you use all canola oil, as this recipe calls for, the batter is kind of crumbly. To shape the cookies, get a spoonful and press together with your hands.

Tiramisu Cupcakes

2010-07-01T17:03:00.002-04:00

This isn't a recipe, as I got it out of a (copyrighted) cookbook. But they turned out so adorable I had to share them with you. For my birthday, I made these delicious tiramisu cupcakes. The recipe came from Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World. I highly recommend this cookbook. I've made three of their recipes thus far, and they were all fabulous.

I'm sorry I haven't had any recipes lately. Keep checking back, I promise I will update soon!

Peach Blueberry Cobbler

2010-06-13T10:31:00.004-04:00

I can't think of a fruit that says "summer time" more than peaches. And I also can't think of a dessert that says "summer time" more than peach cobbler. My parents and sister were in town and my wonderful mom brought me some peaches. As delicious as peaches are by themselves, they gave me a real hankering for cobbler. I also had some blueberries in the fridge and I figured they wouldn't hurt the cobbler one bit.

Peach Blueberry Cobbler

Filling:

2 cups peeled, sliced peaches
1/4 cup blueberries, rinsed
1/2 cup sugar
1/4 cup water

Topping:

1/2 cup flour (all-purpose or whole wheat)
2 tablespoons sugar
1 tablespoon brown sugar
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
1 1/2 tablespoons vegan margarine
3/4 teaspoon Ener-G egg replacer
1 tablespoon warm water
1 1/2 tablespoons almond milk (soy or rice is also fine)

Preheat oven to 400. In a saucepan combine all of the filling ingredients. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer for about ten minutes. While the filling is simmering, mix the egg replacer and warm water in a small bowl. Sit together flour, sugars, baking powder, and cinnamon. Cut in margarine until crumbly. Mix together egg replacer and milk, then add to flour mixture. Stir with a fork until combined. When the filling is cooked, pour into a pie plate. Drop by a tablespoon full the topping onto the filling. Place pie plate on top of a cookie sheet. Bake 25 minutes until brown and bubbly. Serve warm with vegan vanilla ice cream. Serves 4.

Red Velvet Brownies

2010-06-06T15:33:00.004-04:00

So, I've been pretty in love with beets lately. In the last issue of Vegetarian Times there were five recipes for beets! The one I found the most intriguing was for Red Velvet Brownies. The article discussed how beets, like applesauce, are good for low-fat baked goods. They're called Red Velvet because of the reddish tint given by the beets, not food coloring. I knew I had to try them, so I just put a little vegan spin on them.

Red Velvet Brownies:

1 14 oz. can beets, rinsed and drains
1/2 cup vegan margarine
1 cup sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
8 oz. silken tofu
1/2 cup whole wheat flour
2-3 tablespoons coffee, cooled
1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder
1/2 cup vegan chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350. Coat 9-inch square baking dish with cooking spray. Puree beets in a food processor until smooth, scraping down the sides as necessary. Set aside. Again in the food processor, puree the tofu with coffee until smooth. Set aside. Whisk together margarine and sugar until smooth. Add vanilla and tofu. Stir in the beets. Whisk together flour and cocoa powder in a separate bowl. Fold flour mixture into beet mixture until just combined. Stir in chocolate chips. Pour into prepared pan. Bake for 30 minutes, or until toothpick inserted into center comes out clean. Cool, then cut into squares.

Orange Cranberry Muffins

2010-05-20T19:51:00.004-04:00

This afternoon my roommate and I were sitting on the couch browsing through cookbooks and foodie magazines. Whenever I do this I get an incredible urge to bake something. However, I was having trouble finding a recipe that I already had all the ingredients for. In the Vegan Yum Yum cookbook I found a recipe for Lemon Cranberry Muffins. At first I was disappointed, because I didn't have any lemons. But just as I was about the flip the page, I realized what I did have was oranges. So, here is my slight variation on some delicious, vegan muffins.

Orange Cranberry Muffins:

1/2 cup dried cranberries
1/2 cup water
2 cups whole wheat flour
1/2 cup sugar, plus extra for dusting muffin tops
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon cornstarch
Zest of 1 orange
1 cup almond milk
3 tablespoons orange juice
1/3 cup canola oil
2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 400. Line a muffin tin or spray muffin tin with nonstick baking spray (recipes makes 12 muffins). Place cranberries and water in a small saucepan and heat until simmering. Simmer for three minutes, then turn off the heat. Let them stand until ready to use. In a large bowl, mix together flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cornstarch, and zest. In a separate bowl combine the almond milk, orange juice, canola oil, and the vanilla. Gently fold the wet ingredients into the dry until almost combined. Strain the cranberries and then fold into the matter, mix until just combined. Fill muffin tins with batter. Bake for 18 to 22 minutes or until lightly browned and a toothpick inserted comes out clean. Cool and eat!

The Best Green Beans

2010-05-14T11:54:00.003-04:00

I know that green beans aren't the most exciting vegetable. I don't know what it says about me, but green beans are in my top five favorite vegetables. This recipe is so simple it's hardly even a recipe, but because it's one of my favorites, I had to share it with you.

The Best Green Beans:

1 pound green beans, rinsed and the ends snapped off
2-3 cloves of garlic, minced
1-2 teaspoons olive oil
1-2 teaspoons fresh herbs of your choice, minced (I used rosemary and parsley)

Fill a medium sized pot with water and bring to a boil. Drop in the green beans. Cook for 3-4 minutes, until tender. Once tender, strain the green beans and immediately put them into a bowl of ice water to stop the cooking. Once cooled, in a medium saute pan, heat the oil. Put in the green beans and garlic. Saute for five minutes. Sprinkle with fresh herbs. Serve with a side of whole wheat couscous. Enjoy a light and satisfying lunch!

Ginger Sandwich Cookies With Cream Cheese Frosting

2010-05-06T10:48:00.005-04:00

I received the inspiration for these cookies while munching on some Newman's Own Ginger O's. They're kind of like oreos, except ginger and organic. Pretty amazing. So I thought I'd go ahead and make a homemade, vegan version (The Newman's Own Ginger O's are vegan). While searching on the internet for ginger cookie recipes I found a great candidate for veganization, a Paula Deen recipe. So, here we go.

Ginger Cookies:

3/4 cup vegan margarine
1 cup sugar, plus extra for rolling
Equivalent 1 egg Ener-G Egg Replacer
1/4 cup molasses
1 cup all purpose flour, sifted
1 cup whole wheat flour, sifted
2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon ground ginger
1/4 teaspoon allspice
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon salt

Preheat the oven to 350. Line cookie sheets with parchment paper. Using an electric mixer at low speed, cream the margarine and sugar. Add the Egg Replacer and molasses and beat until incorporated. Sift together the flours, baking soda, cinnamon, ginger, allspice, nutmeg, and salt. Add the dry ingredient into the wet. Mix until incorporated. Roll the dough into balls about 1-inch in diameter. Roll the balls in the extra sugar. Place 1/2 inch apart on prepared cookie sheets. Flatten the balls slightly with your finger tips. Bake for 12 minutes. Cool on a wire rack.

Cream Cheese Frosting:

4 oz. vegan cream cheese, softened (I used Tofutti Better Than Cream Cheese)
1 cup powdered sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
1-2 tablespoons almond milk (Soy or rice would also be fine)

Beat together the ingredients until smooth. If too thin, add a little extra cream cheese and sugar. If too thick, add a little extra milk.

When the cookies are cooled, create sandwiches by spreading the frosting in the middle. Devour them. Yum.

A few tips:

For me, the dough was super sticky, so I rolled the dough into balls with a spoon and then rolled them in sugar.
If you don't have vegan margarine, go ahead and use vegetable shortening, that's what the original recipe called for.
Make sure to let the cookies cool before frosting, or it'll be extremely messy.

Vegan Mac and Cheese

2010-05-02T14:56:00.004-04:00

Let me tell you my food philosophy. To put it simply, good food is good food. So no, I'm not a vegan (maybe a vegan flirt) but when my roommate first made me her vegan mac and cheese, I could care less that it was vegan. Why? Because it was good food, plain and simple. I've made her recipe several times, but a few nights ago a little light bulb went off in my head when I was trying to figure out what to do with some extra sweet potatoes I had. I had heard of moms sneaking butternut squash into their child's mac and cheese to give them their daily dose of veggies. I decided to try it with sweet potato. And let me tell you, it turned out fabulously. For Sammi's original recipe, go here. Here is my twist.

Vegan Mac and Cheese:

1 box whole wheat penne, cooked
3 medium sweet potatoes, cooked and mashed
2 cups boiling water
1/2 cup vegan margarine
1/2 cup flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4-1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
1/2 cup nutritional yeast, plus a little extra
1/4 cup breadcrumbs

Either reserve your pasta water, or begin boiling a fresh pot. Preheat the oven to 350. In a large saute pan, melt the margarine over medium heat. Once melted, begin whisking in the flour. *WHISK don't stir* or the texture and consistency will be wrong. Once the mixture is thick, begin adding the boiling water a little at a time. You might not need all the water. Add the water until the sauce in the consistency of gravy. Whisk in the mashed sweet potatoes. Then mix in the salt, garlic, nutmeg, and nutritional yeast. Toss the pasta with the sauce and transfer to a casserole dish. Sprinkle the breadcrumbs and extra nutritional yeast on the top. Bake for 15-20 minutes. Enjoy!

Kind Cupcakes

2010-04-12T17:12:00.005-04:00

A few months back my friend Sammi bought The Kind Diet, Alicia Silverstone's book advocating a vegan diet. Sammi was kind enough to lend it to me. It was a very easy read. It's only a little over a hundred pages of information and the rest is recipes (obviously, my favorite part). While I'm still just a regular old vegetarian, I have been trying to reduce my dairy consumption and limit how much white sugar and flour I eat. These cupcakes came from her book with just a few ingredient variations on my part, so I have christened them "Kind Cupcakes". Make them and you will not care that they are vegan and mostly healthy. I promise.

Kind Cupcakes

2/3 cup soy milk
1 teaspoon apple cider vinegar
2/3 cup agave nectar
1/3 cup canola oil
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 1/3 cup whole wheat flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
Pinch of salt

Preheat the oven to 325. Line a 12 cup muffin tin with paper liners. Combine the milk and vinegar in a medium bowl, and set aside for at least 5 minutes until it starts to bubble a little. Add the agave, oil, and vanilla and stir. In a separate bowl combine the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Add the west ingredient to the dry, mixing until no lumps remain. Pour the batter into the prepared muffin tin and bake for 18 to 22 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center of a cupcake comes out clean and the tops are slightly springy when pressed. Cool for 10 to 15 minutes in the pan, then cool completely on a baking rack before frosting.

Frosting

1/2 cup vegan margarine
1/2 cup powdered sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder

Use a mixer to cream together margarine and sugar until very smooth. Add the vanilla and half of the cocoa powder, mix on low speed to combine, then add the remaining cocoa powder. This is a rather runny frosting, so let it firm up in the refrigerator before frosting the cupcakes. When the frosting is somewhat firm, frost the cupcakes. Garnish with sprinkles if so desired. Then devour them!

Strawberry Oatmeal Pancakes

2010-03-30T19:06:00.002-04:00

This past semester I haven't had class on Fridays, so almost every Friday morning I've been making a delicious pancake breakfast for myself and my boyfriend. However, these pancake breakfasts haven't been helping my goal of eating healthy. So I did some searching on the internet and combined several recipes I found to make some vegan oatmeal pancakes, which are so delicious I forget that they're healthy. Combine that with some fresh, organic strawberries I bought directly from a local farmer and I think it just might be the best breakfast ever.

Strawberry Oatmeal Pancakes:

3/4 cup of oats
1 1/2 cups plus two tablespoons of almond milk, divided (rice or soy will work fine)
1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar (or regular white vinegar)
3/4 cup of whole wheat flour
1 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/8 teaspoon nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 banana, mashed
2 tablespoons vegan margarine, melted
1 tablespoon brown sugar
8 ounces strawberries, sliced

In a small bowl mix 3/4 cup of milk with the vinegar and let it stand for about 5 minutes. In the milk mixture mix in the oats and let soak for 10 minutes. In a different bowl mix flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, nutmeg, and salt. Stir in banana, margarine, brown sugar, 3/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons of milk, and oat mixture into the flour until just combined. Fold in the strawberries. In a pan or on a griddle, melt some margarine over medium heat and pour the batter by 1/4 full. When the edges are firm and the batter is bubbly, flip the pancakes. Cook for another minute or so until golden on each side. Garnish with some extra strawberries and serve with some maple syrup.

Irish Soda Bread

2010-03-20T18:30:00.004-04:00

Happy (belated) St. Patrick's Day! In honor of the occasion, I made some Irish soda bread. I can't claim this recipe as my own, but it did come out pretty tasty so I thought I'd share it with you. The recipe can be found here. I would recommend slicing it up while warm and serving it with some butter and jam. The recipe isn't vegan, but I promise a vegan-ization of this recipe in the near future.

Roasted Organic Golden Beets

2010-03-14T13:06:00.005-04:00

Until yesterday, I had never eaten a beet before. For a while my mom was really into making juice in the morning and she would put beets in the juice, but as far as eating one, I never had. I've lived a sad nineteen years. Yesterday, my mom and I went to the West Palm Beach Green Market. I highly recommend this market. They have some great vendors, pastries galore, and a wonderful selection of produce. While my mom and I were browsing we saw organic golden beets, which we have never seen in our local grocery store, and therefore we have never eaten. We decided to buy them and roasted them for a snack/lunch. A little sweet and a whole lot delicious, I highly recommend this incredibly simple recipe.

Roasted Golden Beets:

3-4 golden beets
Olive oil
Salt
Pepper

Preheat your oven to 350. Leave the skins on the beets and toss with olive oil, salt, and pepper to taste. Place on a baking sheet and roast in the oven for 1 to 1 1/4 hours, until tender. Take the beets out of the oven. When the beets cool, peel and slice them. Garnish with some fresh herbs (that's thyme in the picture). Eat and enjoy!

Some tips:

I haven't tried this with regular purple beets, but I'm sure it's equally delicious
To determine if the beets are done, slide in a knife. If the beets are tender, you should meet no resistance.
I am now in love with golden beets, so check back for other recipes with this great vegetable.

Kale with White Beans and Polenta

2010-03-05T15:20:00.005-05:00

When I tell people I've just met that I'm a vegetarian they generally assume that I eat a lot of salad and love my vegetables. But I have a confession to make. I'm a pretty picky eater, especially when it comes to my vegetables. And I don't really like salad. But since becoming a vegetarian I've tried to try as many vegetables as possible. I've found out that I'm not as picky as I once was. It's funny how for your whole life you convince yourself you don't like something, then you try it and feel like an idiot because you realize you've been missing out for a very long time. Kale is one of those vegetables. Leafy greens used to totally freak me out, but I am now officially in love with kale. This dish is healthy, delicious, and totally satisfying.

Kale with White Beans:

1 large bunch of kale
1 19 ounce can of white beans, drained and rinsed
1 14 ounce can of diced tomatoes
4 garlic cloves, minced
1 onion, diced
1 tablespoon of tomato paste
1/2 teaspoon of red pepper flakes
1/4 cup of vegetable broth
Olive oil
Salt and pepper, to taste

Fill a large pot with water and bring to a boil. Meanwhile, rinse the kale and slice into strips (hold onto the stem and pull down, whatever comes off it good to eat). When the water is boiling, drop in the kale, stir once, and put the lid back on. Cook the kale for about 15 minutes, until tender.

While the kale is cooking, coat a saute pan with olive oil. Begin sauteing the onion and garlic. Stir in the tomato paste and the red pepper flakes. Pour in the tomatoes, including the liquid. Let the mixture simmer then stir in the rinsed beans. Season with salt and pepper.

By now, the kale should be done. Drain the kale and put in with the beans and tomatoes. Pour in the vegetable broth. Bring to a boil and let the liquid reduce, tossing the kale and beans. When the liquid has reduced and thickened, drizzle with a little bit of olive oil.

Polenta:

1 log of precooked polenta (found in the produce aisle with the tofu)

Slice the polenta into 1/2 inch thick slices. Heat a small saute pan with some olive oil. Cook the polenta slices until slightly crispy or light brown on both sides. Put the polenta on a plate and top with the kale and beans. Start cooking the polenta while the liquid is reducing in the kale mixture.

Penne with Garlicky Butternut Squash

2010-03-01T14:22:00.007-05:00

What do I love as much as pasta? Garlic. What do I love more than pasta with a whole lot of garlic? Nothing comes to mind. So this weekend, while I was reading through recipes trying to figure out what to do with my butternut squash besides soup I ran across this recipe for penne with garlicky butternut squash. I saw the recipe I knew immediately I had to try it. Not only was it super delicious but it was simple and I already had all of the ingredients in my pantry.

Penne with Garlicky Butternut Squash:

1/4 cup of olive oil
1 (1 1/2 pound) butternut squash, diced
4 large garlic cloves, minced
1/2 - 1 cup vegetable broth
1/4 teaspoon grated nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon powdered sage
Salt, to taste
Black pepper, to taste
1 pound of penne (I prefer whole wheat)
Nutritional yeast
*2-3 tablespoons of vegan margarine
*2-3 teaspoons of garlic powder, divided

Bring a large pot full of water to a boil. Drop the penne and cook until your preferred tenderness. Once the pasta is done cooking, drain, reserve some of the pasta water, and return the pasta to the pot. *Toss the pasta with the margarine, half of the garlic powder, and nutritional yeast. While the pasta is cooking, heat the oil in a large skillet over medium high heat. Toss in the squash and saute for five minutes, until it begins to get golden. Sprinkle in the garlic and saute 2 minutes. Pour in 1/2 of the veggie broth, and cover the pan. Periodically check the pan for the tenderness of the squash. If all the liquid is gone but the squash isn't tender, add more broth and some of the pasta water. Cook the squash until tender, mix in the garlic powder, sage, and nutmeg. Pour the squash mixture into the pasta pot and toss, adding the salt and pepper. Sprinkle on some more nutritional yeast. Serve with some crusty whole grain baguette.

Some tips about this recipe:

I went a little easy on the garlic because my boyfriend doesn't love garlic as much as I do. But even he said it needed more! So the 4 cloves is just to start, I probably added about 6 and plan to add more next time. But I really, really love garlic.
Don't worry about adding "too much" broth or pasta water because it will make a good sauce.
This makes a whole lot of pasta, but make the whole recipe. It's great leftover.
The * indicates where I updated the recipe.

Cheesy Orzo

2010-02-13T13:49:00.002-05:00

My mom started making cheesy orzo as a side dish a few years ago. It's simple and easy and soooooo delicious. And I decided if you throw in a vegetable, it can upgrade from side dish to main course.

Cheesy Orzo:

1 cup orzo
1 14 oz can vegetable broth
1/4 to 1/2 cup frozen peas
1/4 to 1/2 cup shredded mozzarella cheese
Dash of garlic powder

Bring the vegetable broth to a boil in a small pot. Add the orzo and the peas. Turn the temperature to a low setting. Let cook for about 20 minutes, stirring occasionally. Sprinkle with garlic powder and stir in cheese until melted. Put into a bowl and eat up!

A few tips about this recipe:

I cook this orzo (which is pasta) like you would cook rice, with a 2 to 1 ratio, 2 parts liquid to 1 part orzo.
Though I think the cheese is the best part, vegans could easily leave out the cheese. And I am sure vegan cheese would be great, as long as it's a cheese that melts well.
Feel free to substitute parmesan or whatever your favorite cheese is for the mozzarella.

Tennessee Hummus

2010-02-07T13:48:00.003-05:00

This past summer my family and I vacationed in this small town outside of Gatlinburg, Tennessee. As a vegetarian, I figured my vacation in Tennessee would be spent eating a lot of salad. But I was given a very pleasant surprise. In the town down the road from the cabin we stayed at there was a small restaurant with several vegetarian options. My family and I ordered some hummus and sat outside by the river. It was the best hummus I've ever had, slightly spicy with whole black beans. So I developed this recipe in order to recreate the best hummus ever.

Tennessee Hummus:

1 can chickpeas, drained and rinsed
1/2 can black beans, drained and rinsed
2-3 tablespoons olive oil
1 tablespoon tahini
1/2 an onion
3-4 cloves of garlic
Dash of hot sauce
1 tablespoon of lemon juice
Salt and pepper to taste
Paprika (optional)

In a food processor combine all ingredients except the black beans until smooth. Taste to adjust the seasoning. Put into serving dish and fold in the black beans. Dust with paprika for color. Serve with pita, chips, or fresh vegetables.

Hearty Vegetable Soup

2010-01-16T18:14:00.012-05:00

I'm sorry it's been such a long time since I've updated. The holidays were a super busy time for me. Lots of cooking and eating, but not so much photographing and writing down recipes. But I'm back with lots of great recipes in store for the new year.

While it is starting to warm back up slightly, for the past few weeks it's been really really really cold. Well, it has been by Florida standards any way. So here is my hearty, go to meal when it's cold outside. It's quite easy, what I call a "chop and drop" recipe. Chop up whatever vegetables you have, and drop them into a pot.

Hearty Vegetable Soup:

Olive oil
1 onion
3 cloves of garlic
1 bell pepper
2 stalks of celery
2 carrots
2-3 handfuls of escarole
1 can of white beans
Veggie sausage of your choice
2 cartons of vegetable stock
Fresh or dried herbs of your choice

Start out by chopping up the vegetables. It really doesn't matter if it's a dice or a rough chop, as long as all of the pieces are roughly the same size. Then chop up the sausage. Heat a saute pan. Pour in the olive oil and saute the onions and garlic. When the onion is soft, add the sausage and brown. Add the rest of your veggies into the saute pan, except for the escarole. While the veggies are sauteing, in a decent sized pot (one big enough to fit all of your veggies in addition to the liquid) fill with your vegetable stock and bring to a simmer. When the broth is simmering add the escarole and herbs. Add beans. Add all of your sauteed veggies and sausage. Let simmer for a few minutes. Either serve right away, or lower the heat and serve when ready.

Some tips about this recipe:

The vegetables I listed were just a base. You can use whatever vegetables you want. Those are just my favorites and the ones I had on hand that day. Feel free to add or omit whatever vegetables you like.
Even if you're cooking for one, don't be afraid to make a big pot of soup. It freezes well and is a great supper to reheat on nights you really just don't feel like cooking.
Pasta, barley, rice, or any type of starch is also great in this soup. Just be sure not to add it too early or it'll be overcooked and mushy. For example, if your pasta takes 8 minutes to cook, throw it into the soup about 8 minutes before serving.

Vegan Sugar Cookies

2009-12-14T12:35:00.002-05:00

One of my earliest memories is decorating sugar cookies during Christmas time with my sister and two cousins. My mom would buy store bought refrigerated dough. She would roll it out, let us kids cut the shapes, and then decorate them. So for me, sugar cookies are a holiday tradition. Since this is my first holiday season in my new apartment, I really wanted to keep the tradition and make some sugar cookies. And now that I'm older than three, I figured it was time to make the cookies from scratch. One of my roommates is vegan, so I wanted to make cookies that I could share with her. So here they are:

Vegan Sugar Cookies

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup oil
1 tablespoon vanilla
1 tablespoon maple syrup
1 egg replacer

Preheat the oven to 375. Mix the dry ingredients in a bowl. Mix the wet ingredients in measuring cup. Make a well in the dry ingredients and pour in the wet ingredients. Use your hands to form the dough into a ball. Dust a cutting board with flour and coat a rolling pin with flour. Place the dough onto the cutting board. Dust the dough with flour. Roll out the dough until it's about 1/4 inch thick. If the dough sticks add a little more flour to the rolling pin. Use your cookie cutters to cut out the cookies, place on an ungreased cookie sheet. Bake for about 7 minutes, until the edges are just barely a light golden brown. Cool on a cooling rack. Frost, if desired.

Simple frosting:

Powdered sugar
Soymilk
Vanilla
Food coloring

In a bowl combine a cup of powdered sugar, one to two teaspoons of soymilk, and a half a teaspoon of vanilla. Stir. If the frosting is too thick, add a little more soymilk. If the frosting is too thin, add a little more sugar. To make colors other than white, pour the frosting into other bowls. Add the food coloring that is desired, stir until no longer streaky. Frost! If so desired, add sprinkles. Making this kind of simple frosting isn't an exact science, just eyeball it.

Zuccanoes

2009-11-29T11:45:00.002-05:00

I found this recipe in a cookbook I received for my birthday from my wonderful Aunt Cathy and Uncle Mario. It's called The New Moosewood Cookbook. I highly recommend it. Any way, zucchini were on sale last week and I decided to give them a try. I've made them twice now, so here is my adapted recipe.

Zuccanoes:

4 medium sized zucchini (about 2 pounds)
Olive oil
1 onion, diced
1/2 pound of mushrooms, minced
6 garlic cloves, minced
1 1/2 cups cooked rice (I used brown)
1 1/2 cups minced pistachios
3 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
Black pepper and cayenne (or hot sauce), to taste
A few pinches of freshly minced and dried herbs (parsley, basil, dill, thyme, etc.)
1 cup grated cheese, swiss, cheddar, mozzarella, etc.
Dash of salt

Cut the zucchini lengthwise down the middle. Use a smallish spoon to scoop out the insides, leaving a canoe with a 1/4 inch shell. Mince the insides, set aside. Heat the oil in a medium sized skillet. Add the onion and saute until the onion is soft, about 5 to 8 minutes. Add the minced zucchini and the mushrooms. Add the dash of salt. Turn up the heat and cook for about 8 minutes, stirring, until the liquid evaporates. Stir in the garlic and remove from the heat. Stir in the rice, nuts, and lemon juice. Season to taste with black pepper, cayenne, and herbs. Preheat oven to 350. Fill the zucchini shells, top with cheese, and bake for 30 to 40 minutes.

Some tips:

The recipes makes a lot of filling, I had leftovers both times I made it. However, the filling is delicious on it's own.
I used pistachios because it's the only nut I like, but feel free to use almonds, pecans, or the nut of your choice.
This dish seems to be a "chop and drop" dish. Add whatever vegetables you have on hand. I've added black beans and diced tomatoes and they were both delicious additions.
If you leave off the cheese, this is a wonderful vegan dish.
If you are not vegan, tossing extra cheese in the filling is super tasty.

Sweet and Sour Tofu

2009-11-21T13:09:00.004-05:00

I'm not going to lie. After making this for dinner last night, I am extremely proud of myself. This is better than takeout. And the best part? All the ingredients are things you should have in your fridge/pantry. The only thing I needed to pick up from the grocery store was the tofu. And after making this, tofu will now always be in my fridge so I can make this meal.

Sweet and Sour Tofu

The sauce:

1 tablespoon cornstarch
3 tablespoons plus 3/4 cup vegetable stock
2 tablespoons white wine vinegar
3 tablespoons sugar
1 tablespoon ketchup
2 tablespoons light soy sauce
1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper (or hot sauce)
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
2-3 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 inch fresh ginger, grated (I used ground, about a tablespoon)
Black pepper, to taste

The tofu:

Vegetable oil for frying
1 package firm tofu

The vegetables:

1 onion, diced
1/2 package frozen mixed vegetables
1/2 package frozen green beans

Mix the cornstarch with 3 tablespoons of the stock until smooth. In a medium bowl mix together the vinegar, remaining stock, sugar, ketchup, soy sauce, cayenne, and black pepper. Heat 1 tablespoon of oil gently in a small saucepan, and soften the garlic and ginger. Add the vinegar mixture to the pan and simmer for about 4 minutes. Stir in the cornstarch mixture until the sauce thickens. Check the seasoning.
Slice the tofu into thin squares. Coat a saute pan with oil and heat over medium/medium high. Brown the tofu on both sides, about five minutes. Drain on paper towels. Toss the tofu in the sauce. Saute the onions and vegetables until slightly charred. Top the vegetables with the extra sauce.
Serve with brown rice.

An extra tip:

I would recommend doubling the recipe for the sauce so you have plenty for both the tofu and the vegetables.

Sweet Emepenadas

2009-11-11T14:20:00.004-05:00

I love it when my brain surprises me. The last time I made empenadas for dinner I ran out of filling and had two leftover shells. I was just about to put them back into the fridge and use them another time when a light bulb went off in my head. Dessert empenadas!

Sweet Empenadas:

1 apple, diced
1 tablespoon butter
2 tablespoons sugar
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 tablespoon cream cheese
2 empenada shells

Preheat oven to 400. In a small saute pan melt the butter. Toss the apples in the butter. Stir in sugar and cinnamon. When the apples get somewhat caramelized add the cream cheese. When the cream cheese is melted turn off the heat. Spoon the apples into the middle of the shells. Fold and seal with a fork. Place on a baking sheet, brush with a little melted butter, and bake for about 15 minutes or until brown. Enjoy them on their own or with some vanilla ice cream. Yum.

Savory Empenadas

2009-11-06T12:54:00.007-05:00

My mom started making empenadas a few years ago and they were an instant family hit. They're were very easy to make vegetarian and you can also make them into desserts! So, for round one:

Savory Empenadas

1 package 10 grande empenada discs, goya brand (found in the freezer section of the grocery store under "ethnic food")
1/2 bag frozen mixed vegetables
1 onion
3-4 cloves garlic
Tablespoon chili powder
1/2 teaspoon Complete Seasoning
Dash of hot sauce
Olive oil
Cheddar cheese (optional)

Preheat the oven to 400. Heat a saute pan on medium heat, coat the pan with olive oil. Saute the onion and garlic until soft. Add the frozen vegetables and cook until thawed. Add the chili powder, complete seasoning, and hot sauce. Remove pan from heat. On a cutting board lay out 2-3 discs at a time. Spoon the veggie mixture into the middle of the disc. Add some of the cheese. Fold the dough in half. Seal by pressing a fork around the edge. Place on a greased baking sheet. Repeat until all are stuffed. Brush the top of each empenada with olive oil. Bake for about 15 minutes or until golden brown. Serve with rice, sour cream, salsa, or condiment of your choice.

Some tips:

The Goya brand discs are not vegan. I haven't shopped around for a brand that is, but if you find one, let me know!
Feel free to use whatever vegetables use have on hand.
I bake mine for several reasons. A) They're more healthy that way and B) I am terrified of a big pan full of hot oil. However, these empenadas are equally delicious fried if you are more brave than I am.

Apple Pie Cookies

2009-10-24T12:20:00.002-04:00

One of my favorite desserts of all time is apple pie. However, apple pie can be a very labor intensive dessert. Sometimes I just don't have the time or the patience. So what do I do? I make apple pie cookies, inspired by the recipe I found on the Post Punk Kitchen. Oh yeah, they're vegan too.

Apple Pie Cookies

1 cup flour
2 crushed up ice cream cones
1 apple, chopped into small pieces (granny smith works best)
1 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 cup soymilk
1/2 cup unsweetened apple sauce
1/2 cup sugar
1 dash of salt

Preheat oven to 350. Melt apple sauce, soymilk, and sugar in a saucepan until the sugar is dissolved. Pour in a mixing bowl and add apple and ice cream cones. Slowly pour in flour as you mix nutmeg, cinnamon, baking powder, and salt. Shape into heaping cookies and bake for 15 minutes until nice a crunchy brown. Makes about 10 cookies.

Puff Pastry with Lentil Filling

2009-10-24T12:10:00.003-04:00

Ok, again, I kinda stole this recipe. But, again, I changed it to make it my own. The original recipe calls for crescent roles, but I didn't have any. What I did have was puff pastry. So here you have it.

Puff Pastry with Lentil Filling

1 sheet of puff pastry, thawed
1 cup lentils, cooked
1 cup frozen peas
1/2 an onion, diced
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 teaspoon oregano
1/4 cup marinara sauce
Olive oil

Preheat oven to 375. In a pan, saute onion, garlic, and peas with the olive oil until soft. In a bowl, mix onion, garlic, peas, lentils, oregano, and marinara sauce. Cut puff pastry sheet into about 6 squares. Spoon lentil filling into the middle of the square. If you have room, fold the pastry over the filling. If you don't have room, don't sweat it. Bake in the oven for 15 minutes until golden brown.

Some tips about this recipe:

When I made this recipe I had leftover filling. Not sure when I would get to the grocery store again to buy more puff pastry, I threw the extra filling into a vegetable soup I was making. But honestly, I could have eaten this filling with a fork, no pastry needed.
You can use whatever vegetables or beans you like in the filling. Again (a recurring theme in my cooking) I just used what I had on hand.

Cinnamon Pears and Grahams

2009-10-24T12:01:00.004-04:00

So I got this idea of the back of a box of graham crackers. I changed it up a little bit and this recipe is super easy to vegan-ize. Just make sure the grahams you buy are vegan and use vegan cream cheese.

Cinnamon Pears and Grahams

2 unpeeled pears, thinly sliced (you could also use apples)
1/2 teaspoon of ground cinnamon
1/3 cup cream cheese
2 teaspoons of maple syrup
4 graham cracker, each broken into 4 small rectangles
Cinnamon sugar (optional)

Mix cream cheese, syrup, and cinnamon. Spread the cream cheese mixture onto the graham rectangles. Top with sliced pears. Sprinkle with a little bit of cinnamon sugar. Super simple and a tasty snack or light dessert.

Mushroom Burgers

2009-10-10T11:15:00.002-04:00

This is a pretty tasty burger that I think vegetarians and meat eaters will both love. Sorry vegans, this burger isn't for you. But both of the sides, green beans and baked sweet potato fries, are.

Mushroom Burger:

1 1/2 pounds sliced mushrooms
1/2 onion, diced
4 cloves garlic, minced
2/3 cup rolled oats
1/2 cup shredded Parmesan
3/4 cup breadcrumbs
2 eggs, beaten
1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
Olive oil

Saute the mushrooms, onion, and garlic in the olive oil over medium heat. Sprinkle with salt to draw out the moisture in the mushrooms. Add the oregano. Saute until all the moisture is gone. Then in a bowl add the mushrooms, oats, breadcrumbs, salt, pepper, cheese, and eggs. Mix. Let it sit for about fifteen minutes. This will make 4-6 burgers. Form the patties and saute them in some olive oil until browned on both sides.

These burgers are super easy and pretty tasty. On the side I served some green beans and sweet potato fries.

For the green beans:

1 can of green beans
Olive oil
Complete seasoning/garlic powder/whatever seasoning you like

Set a small pan and medium eat. Add the olive oil, green beans, and seasonings. Saute until the green beans become charred. Also works well with frozen green beans, just defrost first.

For the sweet potatoes:

2 sweet potatoes
Olive oil
Garlic
Complete seasoning

Preheat the oven to 400. Slice the potatoes into thick cut fry shape. Coat with olive oil, garlic, and complete seasoning. Place on cookie sheet and bake for about 30 to 40 minutes, turning them half way.

A few tips about this recipe:

Flip the burgers as little as possible to prevent them from falling apart.
The sweet potatoes will not get really crispy like regular fries in the oven. But they will be really tasty.
I use "complete seasoning" on just about every thing I make that's not a dessert. I don't know exactly what's in it. I use the Badia brand. Trust me, it's awesome.

Pan Fried Tofu with Spinach and Noodles

2009-10-04T19:47:00.004-04:00

So, a few weeks ago my good friend/roommate Sammi introduced me to VeganYumYum. That website is some serious food porn. Any way, I was hungry and needed to go to the grocery store when I saw a recipe for pan fried tofu with kale and stir-fried noodles. The pictures looked amazing and I was really hungry so I headed out to Publix to pick up a few things I needed. Now, I couldn't find kale or the wide rice noodles that the original recipe called for, so I improvised. Here is my slightly different version. And yes, it's vegan!

Pan Fried Tofu with Spinach and Noodles

1 package extra/super firm tofu
1 bag of spinach
1/2 box of whole wheat spaghetti (or whatever kind of noodle you have on hand)
Sugar
Soy Sauce

Tofu Marinade

1/4 cup water
1/4 cup soy sauce
1 tablespoon minced ginger (I used ground, because that's what I had)
1 tablespoon maple syrup
1 tablespoon oil
1 tablespoon rice vinegar
1 garlic clove
1/2 teaspoon of mustard
1/4 teaspoon hot sauce
Black pepper, to taste

Begin by pressing the tofu. I wrapped mine in a paper towel and then in a bar towel and weighted it down. The original recipe says to weight it down with a cast iron pan, but a pan with a big can of soup or tomatoes works fine too. Do this for about 15 minutes to drain the water. While the tofu is pressing whisk together the marinade. Cut the tofu into 8 equal sized rectangles and let it sit in the marinade for 30 minutes. Meanwhile, cook the pasta. Heat a large skillet over medium-high heat. Lightly oil the pan. Add the tofu once the pan is really hot. Brown the tofu on side, then flip and brown on the other side. Spoon extra marinade over the tofu and flip every few minutes. In total, the tofu should cook for about ten minutes until it looks like it'll be burnt if it cooks for any longer. Remove the tofu and let it rest. Heat a little more oil in the pan and add the spinach. Once softened add the noodles and toss. Flavor the noodles with a touch of soy sauce and a pinch of sugar. Plate the noodles and spinach and place the tofu on top.

A few tips about this recipe:

The pan will spit oil at you when you add the tofu, so just be careful. I'm a really big baby when it comes to hot things, so I wore an oven mitt. But trust me, if I survived it, you most certainly will.
Soy sauce is like using salt. When you put soy sauce on the noodles at the end, a little goes along way, especially since the tofu was already marinaded in it.
It's ok to use the leftover marinade. The reason you were always told to toss extra marinade is because of cross contamination with raw meat. You won't get e coli or salmonella from tofu, so don't let that tasty marinade go to waste.

Vegetable Frittata

2009-09-24T16:47:00.009-04:00

Soup is one of my favorite cheap, comfort food meals. It's a "chop and drop" kind of meal. By "chop and drop" I mean you chop up whatever vegetables you have in the fridge and drop it into the pot. I have now discovered that frittata is a great "chop and drop" meal too. What is frittata? I suppose it's like a crustless quiche that's cooked mostly on the stove. Here's my recipe.

Vegetable Frittata

4 tablespoons olive oil

1 potato, peeled and diced

1/2 onion, chopped

2 garlic cloves, minced

salt and pepper

6 eggs

1/4 cup milk

1/4 cup grated parmesan

2 tablespoons chopped basil

2 morning star italian sausages (optional)

1 cup frozen mixed veggies

Heat oil in a heavy skillet on medium heat. Add potato, onion, mixed vegetables, sausage, and garlic. Season with salt and pepper. Saute until potato is golden and crisp (about 7-10 minutes). Preheat broiler. Whisk eggs, milk, parmesan, and basil in a bowl. Stir the egg mixture into the veggie mixture. Cook until egg mixture is almost set. Place the skillet under the broiler for about 4 minutes, until the top is golden.

A few tips about this recipe:

Frittata is good for breakfast, lunch, or dinner.
Use my recipe as a base. Experiment. Throw in whatever vegetables, fake meat, or cheese that you have in the fridge.
Make sure whatever pan or skillet you use doesn't have plastic on the handle because it will melt under the broiler.

Debut: Vegan Carrot Cake

2009-09-19T12:23:00.004-04:00

It took me a while to think of what dessert would be worthy enough to become my first post. Finally it hit me: mom's carrot cake! But of course, I had to change it a little. I decided to make it vegan. It was super easy to veganize this recipe because the only non-vegan ingredient in the cake was eggs. I had to do some reading on vegan egg replacers, so I went here: http://theppk.com/veganbaking.html. I decided on Ener-G Egg Replacer for this recipe and it worked great.

Pineapple Carrot Cake

For the cake:

1 cup vegetable oil

2 cups flour

2 teaspoons baking soda

1 teaspoon baking powder

1 teaspoon salt

2 teaspoons cinnamon

3 eggs (Ener-G Egg replacer equivalent: 4 1/2 teaspoons of replacer mixed with 6 tablespoons of warm water)

1 teaspoon vanilla

2 cups shredded carrot

1 8 ounce can crushed pineapple

1 3/4 cups brown sugar

3/4 cup flaked coconut

Preheat oven to 350. Grease 13x9x2 pan. Dust with flour. Sift flour/soda/powder/salt/cinnamon. Make well in center, add in order: sugar, oil, eggs/egg replacer, vanilla. Beat with wooden spoon until smooth. Stir in carrots, coconut, and pineapple. Blend well. Pour into pan. Bake for 45 minutes until center springs back. Cool in pan.

For the frosting:

3 ounces cream cheese (I used Tofutti Better Than Cream Cheese)

1/4 cup softened butter (I used Earth Balance vegan margarine)

2 cups powdered sugar

2 teaspoons milk (obviously, soy/rice/almond is ok here)

1 teaspoon of vanilla

Beat cheese with the butter. Beat in sugar and vanilla. Add milk if necessary to make spreadable.

A few tips about this recipe:

Now, I have a friend who doesn't like pineapple in her carrot cake. In this recipe the pineapple is essential in keeping the cake moist. However, if you really really really really really don't want to use pineapple subsitute unsweetened apple sauce instead.
This is for all cakes in general. If you noticed in the picture the frosting doesn't look quite set up. That's because I was really hungry and frosted the cake while it was still warm. Of course, the cake was extremely tasty still hot from the oven but the frosting will not set. You can decide whether or not you're ok with that.

Introduction

2009-09-19T11:59:00.000-04:00

My name is Blake and I like to bake. And as a recent vegetarian I love experimenting with recipes that can satisfy omnivores, vegetarians, and vegans all at once. I am no chef so I like for my recipes to be as easy as possible. And perhaps most importantly, I'm a college student, so cooking on a budget is essential. All of the recipes can be recreated by omnivores and vegetarians and I'll try my hardest to make every recipe vegan friendly. Hopefully I can inspire you to get in the kitchen and make some delicious and wallet friendly meals and desserts.

Blake Bakes

Baked Strawberry Oatmeal

Making Gnocchi

Central Florida VegFest 2011

Vegan Breakfast Pizza

Tampa Bay VegFest 2011

My Day of Pumpkin Puree

Bluebbery Waffles with Lemon Glaze

Chocolate Cherry Smoothie

Vegan Chocolate Silk Pie

Costa Rica: Parte 3

Costa Rica: Parte 2

Bears Eat Beets

Homemade Laundry Detergent

Costa Rica: Parte 1

Tofu Bruschetta

Couscous Salad

Sublime

Sweet Potato Oatmeal Breakfast Casserole

Vegetarian in Savannah, GA!

West Palm Beach Green Market and the ABC's of Me

Chocolate Covered Strawberries

Drumroll Please!!!

Giveaway Entrants and Your Numbers

Veggie Meat and my first ever Giveaway!

Happy (Belated) New Year!

I love you, Santa Claus

Merry Christmas!

Cranberry Dark Chocolate Biscotti

Carrot Soup with Croutons and Asparagus

Chili Mac

A Halloween Dessert

Central Florida Veg Fest!

Hawaiian Beans and Rices

CSN Product Review AND Pumpkin Oatmeal Cookies

Tampa Bay's First Ever Veg Fest!

Channa Masala

First Restaurant Review:The Loving Hut

Crispy Cajun Chickpea Cakes with Sauteed Kale

The BEST Pizza

Tres Leches

Vegetable Broth (from the new kitchen)

Best Gift Ever

Chocolate Chip Cookies

Tiramisu Cupcakes

Peach Blueberry Cobbler

Red Velvet Brownies

Orange Cranberry Muffins

The Best Green Beans

Ginger Sandwich Cookies With Cream Cheese Frosting

Vegan Mac and Cheese

Kind Cupcakes

Strawberry Oatmeal Pancakes

Irish Soda Bread

Roasted *Organic* Golden Beets

Kale with White Beans and Polenta

Penne with Garlicky Butternut Squash

Cheesy Orzo

Tennessee Hummus

Hearty Vegetable Soup

Vegan Sugar Cookies

Zuccanoes

Sweet and Sour Tofu

Sweet Emepenadas

Savory Empenadas

Apple Pie Cookies

Puff Pastry with Lentil Filling

Cinnamon Pears and Grahams

Mushroom Burgers

Pan Fried Tofu with Spinach and Noodles

Vegetable Frittata

Debut: Vegan Carrot Cake

Introduction

Roasted Organic Golden Beets