Chocolate Chip Waffles with Strawberry Sauce

While I've enjoyed sharing pictures from my trip to Italy, and still have more of those to share, I thought it was high time to post an actual recipe.  I found the recipe for the waffles one night while stalking Food Gawker and Finding Vegan.  I no longer feel guilty about that activity since I have the whole summer off from academic responsibility.  And the motivation to make the strawberry sauce was simple; I was out of maple syrup and had strawberries in the freezer from the season's peak.  The waffles are great leftover, heated up in a toaster oven to keep them crisp.

Chocolate Chip Waffles, adapted from Mangia, Gioia!

• 1 cup almond milk (soy, rice, whatever you've got)
• 1 flax egg
• 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 2 tablespoons sugar
• 3 tablespoons canola oil
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 1/3 cup chocolate chips

Preheat your waffle iron.  Add the dry ingredients in a large bowl and give it a quick whisk.  Mix wet ingredients in another bowl.  Fold the wet ingredients into the dry, don't over mix.  Gently fold in the chocolate chips.  Prepare the waffles according to your waffle makers instructions.  Serve with homemade strawberry sauce.

Strawberry Sauce

• 2 cups chopped strawberries, fresh or frozen
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

 Combine all the ingredients in a sauce pan and bring to a simmer.  Cook for five minutes or so, stirring often.  Remove the pan from the heat and allow to cool.  Once cooled, blend until you reach the desired consistency.  Spoon over waffles, ice cream, etc.  It keeps in the refrigerator for a week or so, if you let it last that long.

More recipes and Italy pictures coming soon! 

The Best Meal I Ever Ate (Eats in Italy: Part 2)

 The majority of day three in Tuscany was spent in a family vineyard eating the most ridiculously delicious meal I've ever had in my life.  The meal started with champagne and parmesan cheese.  The owner of the vineyard, where they make their own champagne, opened the first bottle with a sword.  So the meal literally started with a bang.  The name of their champagne is Bella Bolle, which means Beautiful Bubble in Italian.  And the champagne was beautifully delicious.  Then an enormous wedge of parmesan cheese was brought out and cut into chunks.  So we sipped champagne, nibbled on the cheese, and enjoyed the amazing view of the beautiful Tuscan vineyard.  And that was just the beginning.

The meal was served family style and our group of sixteen sat at two large tables.  The wine flowed and the food never stopped coming.  First several types of antipasti were passed around the table.  I of course, sampled all the vegetarian options which was almost all of the antipasti.  Pictured are a slice of typical Tuscan bread, two crostini (one with mushroom spread, the other with a spicy tomato spread), grilled marinated eggplant, and an artichoke tart.  The mushroom crostini and artichoke tart tied for my favorite antipasti.  It was all delicious.

Wild boar are a huge problem in Tuscany, as they love feasting on grape plants.  So they are widely hunted in the region.  Because of this, wild boar was a large part of the meal and everyone was served wild boar lasagna.  Everyone except me.  And boy was everyone else missing out, because the spring vegetable lasagna, filled with asparagus and zucchini, was incredible.  It was a little salty for my palate, but it was so good that I really didn't care.  At this point in the trip I began pacing myself at meals, because I realized I would be served crazy amounts of food, but I ate every last bite of that lasagna.  Every.  Last.  Bite.

After the lasagna, but before dessert, everyone else was served stewed and sliced wild boar, while I was served eggplant marinara.  It was good, but I only managed a few bites as I was stuffed from the lasagna, and I also knew dessert would be on it's away.  And this dessert...oh my god...The highlight of the meal, and until two days later when I finally had tiramisu, it was the best dessert I had ever eaten.  Ever.  It was a pear cake served with pastry cream and macerated strawberries.  Everything about it was perfect.  I requested the recipe and am excited to recreate it at home.  

Eats in Italy: Part 1

I'm baacckk!!!  After almost a 3 month hiatus, I'm back.  Writing a senior thesis is no joke.  But as a reward my mom and I took a trip to Italy and it was amazing.  We were there for 10 days so obviously we ate a lot of good food.  I mean it, a lot.  Meals were about 3-4 hours long.  It was amazing.

The first town we stayed in was Siena, which is about a 90 minute drive outside of Florence.  We stayed for two days and here is what I ate.

Meal one, three courses.  First course, four types of anti-pastia.  Clockwise from top, bruschetta, fresh and aged pecorino cheeses, grilled bread with olive oil and garlic, raw artichoke salad.  Everything on this plate was amazing, but I have to say I loved the raw artichoke salad.  I had never had artichoke raw before.  And the fresh pecorino cheese was also delicious.  It's not in the picture, but they served a chili jam to go with the fresh cheese and it was amazing.

For the second course I had a risotto with radicchio, cooking in red wine.  It was a beautiful and delicious plate.  

This dessert is somewhat hard to describe.  It was like a coffee mousse on top of a sponge cake, topped with whipped cream and chocolate sauce.  And yes, it was also delicious.

Day two, four courses but I only have pictures of the first two.  For the anti pasti, fried zucchini flowers and sage leaves.  This might have been my favorite anti pasti of the trip.  Two things I had never had before and it was incredibly delicious.  Lemon wedges were served on the side to squeeze over the fried leaves and flowers.  Again, incredible.  I'm drooling now just thinking about it.

Second course, pici pasta with a sauce of fresh tomato, garlic, and breadcrumbs topped with parmesan cheese.   Pici pasta is a type of pasta specific to Siena.  It's like a really thick spaghetti.  This was maybe my favorite pasta dish of the trip.  The tomatoes were so fresh and the pasta perfectly cooked.  It was fantastic.

Stayed tuned for more Eats in Italy as well as new recipes.  It's good to be back.

Restaurant Review: Cafe Hey!

Starting in January, Cafe Hey! started offering a "Not Just for Omnivore's Brunch" on the last Sunday of every month. My first reaction to this news? Hell yes! Sign me up! As a vegetarian who occasionally eats eggs, eating out for breakfast isn't really much of a challenge. But I know my good friend over at Vegan Pandamonium has told me on several occasions that one of the few things she misses since becoming vegan is being able to go out for breakfast. Well thank you Tampa, for continually trying to become more like Portland. One step at a time.

So our vegan breakfast options on the first brunch were: vegan donuts, sausage gravy over biscuits, and 2 types of tofu scramble: one standard, and one tex mex-ish with vegan chorizo. Among my party of three, we all decided we needed to try a vegan donut. There was only one flavor, which I took to be a lemon poppy seed flavor. The donuts were baked, not fried, but had an awesome fluffy texture on the inside. My criticism was: I wish it had some kind of glaze and had been served warm. But I ate the whole thing, casting my criticism aside. I ordered the biscuits and gravy, as this is something I never ate as an omni, but now love as a vegetarian. And I loved the biscuits and gravy at Cafe Hey. Again, only a few small things: I thought the scallion garnish was a little heavy, I ended up scraping most of it off. And my plate came out pretty much room temperature. And the other plates at the table showed up cold. I had bites of the tofu scramble, which were good, but nothing too exciting. Side note: why do restaurants that make tofu scramble not know about nutritional yeast?

That being said, this was their first brunch and they were slammed, I mean, crazy busy. The ran out of all the vegan options in 2 hours! I would definitely go back and probably order the same thing. And it's my understanding that they added vegan cinnamon buns and biscuits with strawberry compote to the menu. Even with the criticisms I had, I ate every last bite of my breakfast, it was crazy delicious. So yes, I will be back again. And again. And again. And if you're ever in Tampa on the last Sunday of the month, you should head to Cafe Hey! too.

*Update* So I went back for brunch on 3/25 and it was even better than the first time. All of the food came out perfectly hot. I ordered the biscuits and gravy again, and they toned down the scallion garnish. They also had vegan cinnamon roles and revamped the donuts. Amazing. Definitely check out Cafe Hey.

Black Bean Burgers for the Coolest Class Ever

Yep, once again, I've been m.i.a. My last semester in college, finishing graduate school applications, and working 30 hours a week have not been conducive to updating the blog. I can't promise it'll get better, but I do have an awesome recipe for you and a few restaurant reviews coming soon.

And speaking of school, I'm taking an unbelievably cool class this semester called "The Ethics of Food Production". It's a fairly new class, but when I read about what it would consist of it sounded like someone had designed this course just for me. Planting a garden, cooking vegan organic food for the whole class, and just learning more about our food system in general? I couldn't sign up fast enough. We were split into groups of three at the beginning of the semester and each group has to make a vegan, organic meal for the entire class at some point in the semester. My group went first. And I have to say, I think we set a pretty good standard as far as the food was concerned. On our menu, a mixed vegetable salad, black bean burgers on homemade buns with a Cajun aioli (this was all me), and my chocolate silk pie. We had very few leftovers. The recipe for the homemade buns can be found here and my chocolate pie recipe can be found here. And now for the burger and aioli recipes.

Black Bean Burgers:

• 2 can black beans, drained and rinsed
• 1/4 c silken tofu, pureed in a food processor OR 1 flax egg
  
• 1/2 c bell pepper, diced
• 1/4 c bread crumbs
• 1/4 c celery, diced
• 1-2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 tsp Cajun seasoning
  

Mash the beans with a potato masher. Add the pureed tofu/flax egg, bell pepper, bread crumbs, celery, garlic, and Cajun seasoning. Mix well. I recommend letting this mix rest for 30 minutes or so in the fridge, but this isn't a required step. Shape the burgers into 12 patties, about 1/2 an inch thick and 3 inches in diameter.

Lightly spray a baking sheet with cooking spray. Place the burgers on the sheet, and put into a 350 degree oven. Bake for about 20 minutes. Flip over and bake for another ten. Serve on homemade burgers buns with Cajun aioli and preferred burger toppings.

Cajun aioli:

• 1 tsp Cajun seasoning
• 1/2 c vegenaise or preferred brand of vegan mayo

Mix Cajun seasoning and vegenaise. Spread liberally on your burger.

Baked Strawberry Oatmeal

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

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.