Deviled Potatoes

I found this recipe while browsing my favorite vegan websites one night.  Now, I don't think I ever actually ate a traditional deviled egg before I was vegan, as I don't really like mayonnaise or really hard boiled eggs that much.  But this recipe looked delicious and simple and perfect for vegan Easter.  It would also be an impressive item for any potluck or picnic.

I followed the recipe found here and added some garlic and onion powder.  Garnish with paprika and dill.

Holy Guacamole

Probably like most people I go through cycles with recipes.  I'll find something I like, make it once a week for a month or two, then kind of forget about it for another few months.  Then one day I'll think, it's been a while since I've had ____, and then the cycle starts again.  Enter empenadas.  I've posted two different recipes for empenadas on the blog before.  And to be honest I never make the recipe the same way twice. 

The filling always consists of whatever I have in my fridge and/or freezer.  Today I used half a package of Boca meat crumbles, a can of black beans, red onion, garlic, cilantro, and spinach.  Then I sprinkled a tablespoon or so of taco seasoning.  Top that mixture with some pepper-jack Daiya cheese and that makes one tasty empenada.  In the past I used Goya brand empenada shells, which aren't vegan.  But I found another brand in the same section of the grocery store that is vegan.

I served these with yellow rice (Mahatma brand is vegan) and homemade guacamole.  Guacamole is a new passion of mine.  I simply can't get enough of it.  When I saw a recipe for a copycat of Chipotle's guacamole on Pinterest I knew I had to try it. 

Chipotle Guacamole:

• 2-3 ripe avocados
• 1/2 cup red onion, diced
• 1/2 cup fresh cilantro, minced
• 1/2-1 teaspoon red chili flakes
• Juice of one lime
• Salt to taste

Mash avocado with a fork, it can be chunky.  Mix with all other ingredients.  Serve with empenadas, tacos, or tortilla chips.

Vegan Ranch Dressing

On August 8th I started Colleen Patrick Goudreau's 30 Day Vegan Challenege.  Other than one slip-up about half-way through I've been vegan since that day.  And I've been loving every minute of it.  My boyfriend went vegan on the same day, as I do all of the cooking in our house.  He was on board, but one of his biggest concerns was finding a replacement for ranch dressing.  Personally, I'm not a fan of the stuff, but he uses it almost as much as he uses barbecue sauce.  I searched for a few recipes online until I found one that I had all the ingredients for.  It took less than 10 minutes to whip up.  And this recipe received my boyfriend's stamp of approval.

Vegan Ranch Dressing:

• 1 cup vegan mayo (I used vegenaise by Follow Your Heart)
• 1/4 cup unsweetened, plain soymilk
• 1 teaspoon garlic powder
• 1 teaspoon onion powder
• 2 teaspoons fresh parsley, minced
• 1/4 teaspoon dried dill
• 1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar
• 1/4 teaspoon each salt and pepper

Whisk together all of the ingredients.  Store in the refrigerator.  I used an empty agave nectar bottle.  For a thinner ranch for salads, use the above recipe.  For a slightly thicker ranch for dipping add about 1/4-1/2 cup more mayo.

I might be posting a little less frequently until October 1st, when Vegan Mofo starts up.  Since I'm going to try to post every day I need to save up a few recipes.

Vegan Thin Mints

I finished my last minute preparations for Tropical Storm Isaac by early afternoon so I decided to make some snacks for tomorrow.  I pinned this recipe awhile ago.  It just looked so simple and easy, as well as tasty.  And yes, it was incredibly simple and easy.  It took me about ten minutes, then I just had to wait for the chocolate to harden in the fridge.

The recipe can be found here.  I will enjoy snacking on thin mints tomorrow while the storm rages on.  To all of my fellow Floridians, stay safe and dry!

Coming soon are recipes for homemade, vegan ranch dressing and homemade onion rolls!

Chocolate Cherry Smoothie

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!

Tofu Bruschetta

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

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.

Orange Cranberry Muffins

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!

Roasted *Organic* Golden Beets

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.
  

Tennessee Hummus

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.

Cinnamon Pears and Grahams

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.