Coconut Chai Cake

Last month I was putting together an Indian-inspired dinner with friends and wanted to make a little somethin’-somethin’ sweet for dessert.  I wanted it it to compliment the spices I was using, and be quick and easy.  A few days earlier, The Fat Free Vegan had posted the perfect little cake recipe! She makes it for breakfast, and indeed it would be heavenly for first thing in the morning with a cup of coffee, but I also found it to be the perfect not-too-sweet bite after an evening meal.   Whips up and bakes in a flash; so moist it needs no frosting.  The only problem is waiting to eat it until guests arrive….

Gather up your ingredients!

• 1 cup strong chai tea ( I used a coconut chai–perfect!)
• 1/3 cup uncooked quick (not instant) oatmeal
• 1 cup whole wheat flour
• 1/2 cup unbleached white flour
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• 1/4 tsp ginger (use more for a spicier cake)
• 3/4 cup sugar
• 1/3 cup unsweetened applesauce
• 1 tbsp vinegar
• 1/2 tsp almond extract
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1/2 cup flaked coconut, 2 TBSP reserved  ( I used an unsweetened, large-flaked coconut I usually have on hand for making granola.)

Preheat oven to 350F, spray-oil an 8×8 pan, and make a strong cup of tea by steeping 2 bags in 1 cup of boiling water until it is cool/room temperature.

Combine the dry ingredients (oats, flours, soda, salt, cinnamon, ginger and sugar) in a medium bowl.

Add the wet ingredients (tea, applesauce, vinegar, almond and vanilla extracts and all but 2 TBSP of the coconut.  Mix until just combined.

Pour into the prepared pan and top with reserved coconut.

Bake 25-30 minutes, or until a pick comes out clean when inserted near the center, and the coconut topping is nicely toasted.  The scent that will envelop your kitchen is just heavenly! Good luck not touching the cake until your guests show up!

Cut into pieces and enjoy warm or at room temperature.

So easy, so yummy.  I might just need to bake another one for tomorrow’s breakfast….

Easy Coconut Curry Lentil Soup

Yesterday we ate a late lunch, so I scrapped my planned dinner menu and searched around for something lighter.  I looked around my pantry for what I already had and decided to make lentil something.  Using vegan lentil soup as my search term, I came across this recipe.  I didn’t have greens of any sort and made the soup without them.  The soup fragranced my house with exotic curry and in short order, we were enjoying little bowls of this soup.  The original recipe says it freezes well, so if you’re making soup for one, this is a winner!

I had most everything on hand–subbing ground ginger for fresh.

• 1 large onion, chopped
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 tbsp fresh ginger, minced, or 1 tsp ground ginger
• 2 TBSP tomato paste
• 2 TBSP curry powder
• ½ tsp hot red pepper flakes
• 4 cups No Chicken broth
• 1 (140z) can light coconut milk
• 1 (14 oz) diced tomatoes
• 1 1/2 cups dry lentils
• salt and pepper, to taste
• cilantro for garnish
• rice for serving

Add a splash of No Chicken broth to a large stock pot and saute the onion and garlic until the onion is translucent–about 2-3 minutes.

Add ground ginger, tomato paste, curry powder, and red pepper flakes.  Stir to combine and cook for another minute.

Add broth, coconut milk, lentils and diced tomatoes.  Stir to combine.

Cover and bring to a boil.  Reduce heat to a simmer and cook for 30-35 minutes, until lentils are tender and soup is thick.

Taste the soup and adjust seasonings (add salt and pepper) to your taste.

Spoon prepared rice into bowls and add the lentil curry.  Garnish with cilantro.

Quick and easy enough for a weeknight, yummy and comforting.  I think we’ll have the leftovers tonight rather than freezing them.  Mmmm-mmmm-mmm!

 

 

Tofu Veggie Tikka Masala

I’m one of those people who can be convinced to try a new grocery item with a coupon for it.  Recently, I had a coupon for one item from a certain brand.  The shelf-safe Tikka Masala sauce caught my eye.  It sounded exotic and flavory.  A perfect compliment to my veggies and tofu.  So I bought it without checking the label–I was shopping my local health food store, what could be a problem?  Dairy.  Turns out this particular sauce has dairy.  In reading recipes for Tikka Masala sauce, yogurt seems to be key.  Sigh.  Oh well, I had it, why not go ahead and cook with it?  This yummy recipe is therefore vegetarian rather than my preferred vegan.  Have a look–you can make this in no time.

I cruised the Google and found quite a few vegetarian and vegan versions of Tikka Masala, which is traditionally made with chicken chunks (tikka).  I combined ideas from these two: Tofu Masala and Vegetarian Tikka Masala, made all the easier for the premade sauce.  Here are the ingredients:

• 1 large onion, chopped
• 1 red pepper, diced
• 2 cloves garlic, minced  (the pic shows little garlic ends leftover from roasting whole garlic heads)
• 1 (14 oz) extra firm, organic tofu
• 1 (14oz) can chickpeas, drained
• premade Tikka Masala sauce
• cilantro for garnish
• prepared rice
• naan or pita bread for serving

Drain and then press the tofu.  Wrap it in a clean kitchen towel and set something a bit weighty on top of it.

Saute onion and pepper in a bit of veggie broth until onions are translucent–about 2-3 minutes.

Add garlic and saute until fragrant–30 seconds to a minute.

Remove the saute to a bowl.  Set aside.

Cube the tofu by cutting through the center of the flat side, then cut into sticks and then cubes.

Spray your pan with a bit of spray oil and saute the tofu cubes until mostly browned.  I do this by stirring occasionally–I’m too lazy to turn each cube for perfect even brownness.

When tofu is sufficiently browned, add saute back to the pan, along with drained chickpeas. Stir to combine.

Add the sauce and stir to coat.

Scoop rice into a bowl, add the tofu tikka masala, garnish with cilantro, and serve with naan or pita.

So yummy!  I’m currently looking around for a truly vegan masala sauce recipe.  I’ve found a few so far, some using coconut yogurt–a flavor that sounds yummy with the rest of the ingredients here.  I’m also thinking about marinating the tofu ahead of time and grilling it to more closely recreate a traditional Tikka Masala.  Do your recipes evolve like this?

 

 

Chocolate Marbled Banana Bread

Nearly everyone I know loves banana bread.  And chocolate.  And who isn’t fascinated by a marbled baked-good?!  When I saw this recipe on the PPK (Post-Punk Kitchen) the other day, I actually started wishing my bananas would hurry up and get over-ripe.  Which for me, is when the spots start to appear.   My beautiful slightly green bananas granted my wish and soon became spotted and then became delicious work of (vegan!) baked art.

Grab those over-ripe bananas and a few other ingredients and create your own edible art.

• 1 cup mashed very ripe banana  (about 3 bananas)
• 3/4 cups sugar
• 1 tsp pure vanilla extract
• 2 TBSP canola oil
• 1/3 cup almond milk (or your preferred non-dairy milk)
• 1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
• 3/4 tsp baking soda
• 3/4 tsp salt
• 3 TBSP unsweetened cocoa powder
• 6 TBSP boiling water, divided

Preheat oven to 350F and lightly oil a 4×8″ loaf pan.  Put water on to boil.

Peel and mash bananas.  Measure before placing in a mixing bowl.

Add milk, sugar, oil and vanilla.  Mix until well combined.

Add flour, salt and baking soda.  Mix until JUST combined.  If you still see a bi of flour, that’s ok.  Be careful to not over-mix.

Measure and scoop out one cup of this mixture and transfer to another bowl.

In a small bowl, dissolve the cocoa powder with 3 TBSP boiling water.  Stir vigorously with a fork until smooth.

Add the dissolved chocolate into the one cup of banana mixture.  Mix until completely smooth and combined.

Add 3 TBSP boiling water to the original plain banana mixture.  Mix until mostly smooth.

Scoop alternate “1/2 cupfuls” into the oiled loaf pan.  I used a large “spoonula” to mix each batter and just used those to scoop out each mixture.  Have fun and place the two different batters into the pan in a random fashion.  The randomness will help you make the groovy swirls!  Here are my layers as they built up.

When all the batter is in the pan, use a butter knife or wooden skewer to swirl through the batter in a circular motion for about 10 seconds.

Bake 55-65 minutes.  Check for doneness by inserting a skewer or butter knife into the center of the loaf.  It’s done when a few moist crumbs cling to the skewer.  Cool in the pan on a rack until you can handle the pan without an oven mitt, then turn the loaf out to cool completely.

Now comes the oooooooo-ahhhhhhh part:  Cut 1/2 inch slices and watch the ever-changing, swirled banana bread art present itself.

No need for a spread–moist and flavorful on its own.  Freshly cooled, this bread has a nicely crisp crust; after storage, it softens.

I went to the store today looking for bananas past their prime.  Alas, none to be had.  I bought the least ripe ones which are now in a paper bag on the counter.  Can’t wait to make another one of these beautiful and yummy breads!  I highly recommend you make one for yourself and keep the recipe in mind for the next potluck or food-gifting occasion.  Perfect!

The PPK is my go-to site for fabulous vegan recipes.  The recipes are easy to follow and written with just the perfect amount of humorous snark.  Isa Chandra is not your Mom’s Betty Crocker.  Click on over and see for yourself!

 

 

Tofu-riffic Tacos!

Pickled red onions on a taco?!  Oh bay-bee!  The favor combination of the vinegar-y onions, creamy guacamole and the spicy, smoky sauce on the tofu is other-worldly good.  Like something I’ve never tasted or even imagined.  You may think you don’t like tofu, but after trying these tacos, you’ll be running to the store for more!  We came across this combo in a Denver restaurant called Fuel Cafe–a tricky place to find in an industrial part of the RINO district–click through the images on their page to get a feel for the place.   Well worth the journey for tacos like these.

To get started, you’ll need to pickle a red onion.  It’ll need time to chill and be ready for your tacos.  You can make the pickled onion ahead of time.

• 1/2 cup cider vinegar
• 1 TBSP sugar
• 1 tsp kosher salt
• 1 red onion, thinly sliced.

Slice the onions as thin as you can.

Blanch the onions in boiling water for about 10-20 seconds.  You don’t want to blanch the color out–if you see it starting to fade it’s time to drain them!

Drain completely in a colander and return to the now empty but still warm blanching pot.

Add the vinegar, sugar and salt along with enough water to just cover the onions.  Bring to a boil and simmer for 1 minute.

Place onions and vinegar into a jar and chill.  The onions will turn a beautiful fresh hot-pink color!  So pretty!

Now that your onions are chilling, prepare the sauce–it’s essentially the same as for sofritas.  The sauce can be made ahead of time.  You’ll need:

• 1/4 cup chipotles in adobo sauce
• 2 poblanos, roasted, peeled and seeded
• 1 tsp cumin
• 1 tsp oregano
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 tsp chili blend–like a fajita mix or a chili powder of your choice
• 1 tsp garlic powder
• a splash of lime juice
• 1/4 cup broth–I use No Chicken broth
• 1-2 TBSP tomato paste
• NOTE-ignore the tofu, I recycled the pic from the sofritas post!  🙂

Roast your poblanos, either in a 400F oven or on your grill.  I chose my outdoor grill–it was a beautiful day!  Roast, turning until blistered on all sides.

Place the peppers in a plastic bag and seal to steam.  This will help the skins slip right off.

When the peppers have cooled enough for you to handle them, peel by rubbing them gently with your fingers.

Then remove the seeds and stem.

Place the cleaned poblanos in your blender.

Then add the chipotles, cumin, chili blend, salt, garlic powder, oregano, lime juice and broth.

Blend until smooth, transfer to a bowl and stir in the tomato paste.  Set aside.

Now for the tacos!  You’ll need:

• pickled red onions (see recipe above)
• prepared sauce (see recipe above)
• 1 (14 0z) package extra firm tofu–always choose organic tofu to avoid GMOs
• prepared guacamole–buy it or make it yourself.  Mine is simple–avocado, garlic powder, salt, lime juice, and cilantro.
• corn tortillas
• chopped lettuce
• chopped cilantro
• lime wedges

Drain and then press the tofu by placing it on a clean kitchen towel.

Wrap the towel around the tofu and place something on top to help press out most of the remaining liquid.

Let the tofu sit for at least 15 minutes (up to 30 minutes) and then cut into cubes, by cutting through the side and then cutting long sticks.  Finally cut the sticks into cubes.  The cubes will be about 1/2 inch on a side.

Spray a fry pan with oil and place over medium high heat.  Add tofu cubes and fry, stirring occasionally to brown on all sides–or as many as you can get.  Don’t worry about getting every cube perfectly browned.  🙂

Reduce heat to low and add enough sauce to coat the tofu–about half of the sauce.

Stir to coat.  Now it’s time to put the tacos together!

 

Warm the tortillas inside a kitchen towel in a microwave or however you like to warm them.  Place a bit of lettuce, then tofu cubes, then a bit of guacamole, then pickled onions and finally a sprinkle of cilantro.  Look at them!  Like art!

Squeeze a lime over the top, pick one up and have your first wondrous bite.  Oh my.

Both the sauce and the onions can be made ahead to speed up the tacos when you’re ready to make them.  Is this my new favorite way to eat tofu?  Yessssssss!  Mmmmmmmmmm-yummy!

Easiest Beer Bread Ever!

It seems like every time I decide soup for dinner is a great plan, it’s too late to start a yeast bread to go with it.  Wah.  Fresh bread is so yummy with soup!  What to do, what to do?!  If you have an hour, beer bread is what you do!  It’s quick!  It’s easy!  It’s very much like “real” bread!  Yum!

I Googled this recipe, which says it’s the most popular beer bread recipe on the internet.  It IS super easy and super fast.  Now that I’ve made it, I do have one recommendation not mentioned in the original recipe–the beer you use will have a huge impact on the flavor.  I used an IPA–very hoppy–which gave that same hoppy flavor to the bread.  For my taste, I’ll be using a more mellow beer next time.  That being said, this recipe is a keeper!

• 3 cups flour (sifted)
• 3 teaspoons baking powder (omit if using Self-Rising Flour)
• 1 teaspoon salt (omit if using Self-Rising Flour)
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 1 (12 ounce) can beer
• 1/4 cup melted butter (or margarine)

Preheat oven to 375F and oil a standard loaf pan.

Sift the dry ingredients (flour, baking powder, salt, sugar) together–very important to keep the bread light and fluffy.  Use a flour sifter or a fine mesh strainer.

Add the beer.  Stir until just combined.

Pour into the prepared loaf pan.

Pour melted butter over the top.  (Sounded weird to me, but resulted in a wonderful crunchy, buttery crust!)

Bake for 1 hour, and cool on a rack until you can handle the pan, then remove from the pan and cool for a total of 15 minutes.  This will make slicing a LOT easier!

Slice, spread on your favorite buttery spread and enjoy!

I was making potato soup when I realized I needed a bread to go with it.  Yummy combo!

Now that I’ve made this once, I’m thinking of all the other things that would be yummy to include–like a whole wheat, oats and stout combo, or a light wheat ale and jalapeno combo, or roasted garlic or ????!!!!  Oh yeah, lots of ways to make this easy, yummy bread a bit more “gourmet!”  Have fun with your favorite combos!

A Sweet Valentine’s Day Collection, Part 2

Here’s last year’s Valentines Post with new vegan options to make for your sweetie!

Remember making valentines in grade school?   Hearts made from doilies, pink and red construction paper, stickers, some Elmer’s glue and a bit of glitter.  Valentines are still fun to make–the paper kind and the chocolate, or decadent ice cream kind!  I’ve gathered up a yummy collection of recipes from Somethin’ Yummy for you to make for your valentines, including yourself.  ❤

Vegan Valentine Truffle-O-Rama

Serve these yummy vegan truffles frozen!

Vegan Chocolate Mousse Pie

Rich and silky.  A house favorite!

Mexican Hot Chocolate Cupcakes

Chocolate-y and spicy.  A lovely tender and yummy vegan cupcake for your sweetie.

Vegan Triple Chocolate Cupcakes

Almost brownie-like, let a few mini chocolate chips melt on top instead of frosting!

Easy Chocolate Truffles.

Your valentines will love the rich, melty chocolate and the cute, cute toppings!

Red Velvet Cupcakes, Poppers and Trifles

Such a classic flavor and the perfect color for Valentine’s Day!

Chocolate Shortbread Cookies (Gluten-free version, with instructions to adjust for regular flour.)

These melt-in-your-mouth cookies have a wee bit of pepper in the batter.  OMG, so, so yummy!

Flourless Chocolate Cake

This rich, dense cake is simple to make and quite the “Ta-Da” dessert.

Decadent Dark Chocolate Tart with Gingersnap Crust

Chocolate bliss spiced up with ginger.

Sweetheart Chocolate Waffles

A perfect Valentine’s Day breakfast, and super yum with ice cream in a Sweetheart Sundae!

Chocolate-Covered Salted Caramels

A bit of effort, but so, so worth it!

Carol’s Frozen Mango, Raspberry and Vanilla Mosaic

A superbly yummy treat if chocolate just isn’t your Valentine’s Day desire.  Drizzled in raspberry liqueur for extra valentine-y-ness!

Still not finding something to your liking?  Type dessert or cookie or cake in the search window for more sweet ideas!  Have a yummy Valentine’s Day!  Be my Valentine?!

I’m a Featured Apronista!

Squeeeeee!  I have a new friend, Shawnee, who creates The Apronista–Domestic Dish for the Hip Homemaker.  Her site is about lots of homekeeping things, but focuses on Aprons.  How I loves a cute apron!  Shawnee found me through a couple of my apron posts: Apron Strings, Heart Strings, and  Holiday Baking Needs a festive Apron.  I associate aprons with cooking and the women in my family.  Like Great-Aunt Rosie who was only without an apron in church.  Here she is “herding” the passel of first cousins, apron underneath her cardigan.  Notice her hand firmly controlling cousin Danny.  😉  I’m the one closest to her right elbow.  Her apron strings were powerful, indeed!

Now I can add a new apron association–making new friends!  Trip-trap on over to Shawnee’s site to see me(!) and check out groovy apron patterns, recipes and more.  Like her page on Facebook for apron-tastic updates!  I’m thinking I may need a new apron to celebrate!

 

Vegan Valentine Truffle-O-Rama

Truffles.  THE decadent candy.  Butter and sugar and flavors coming together in the perfect proportions to create a melt-in-your-mouth sinful candy experience.  But I’m vegan, I whined.  Will I need to turn my back on my dietary preferences and REALLY sin?  turns out, no!  Just in time for Valentines Day, a vegan truffle appeared in my Facebook feed, compliments of VegNews Magazine and the Healthy. Happy. Life. blog at lunchbox.com.  Cake Batter Truffles.  Who doesn’t love cake batter?!  A quick pantry check revealed everything I needed to make these exquisite little yummies.

The original recipe said it made 9 truffles.  Seemed hardly worth the effort, and I was worried it wouldn’t be enough to process properly, so I doubled the recipe.  Then I decided that chocolate and espresso might make this even more of a party; why not make half of them mocha?!

• 1 cup raw cashews, soaked
• 2/3 cup extra virgin coconut oil, melted
• 5 Tbsp liquid sweetener (I used agave)
• 4 Tbsp non-dairy milk, warmed
• 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
• a couple pinches of pink salt
• sprinkles of your choice–1 tsp to fold into half, the rest to coat the truffles
• 2 TBSP cocoa powder (optional–amount is enough to flavor half of this truffle batch)
• 2 tsp espresso powder (optional–amount is enough to flavor half of this truffle batch)

Start by soaking your cashews in enough water to cover them by an inch.  At least a few hours, overnight is best.

When cashews have soaked, melt the coconut oil over low heat.

Combine cashews, coconut oil, agave, non-dairy milk, vanilla, and salt in a food processor.

Process until silky smooth.

If making two flavors, divide into two seal-able containers that will fit into your freezer.

Fold in 1 tsp sprinkles in one container, fold in cocoa and espresso powder into the other.

Most of the sprinkles melted into my cake batter-flavored half.  The resulting pink hue was not a problem as I wanted them for Valentines anyway.  Freeze until firm enough to form into balls, but not too stiff.  I found the mocha truffle half firmed up quicker and was much easier to work with.

When firm, work quickly to scoop the truffle mixes and form into balls.  (The heat of your hands will melt them a bit.)  Quickly roll in sprinkles and place in an oiled pan.  This pan will need to fit into your freezer as well.

Once again, freeze until firm.  The cake batter ones slumped a bit; not affecting their yumminess at all.  😉

Serve frozen.  Pack into cute little Valentine tins with mini-muffin liners if you choose.  I shop the after-Valentines sale for these sorts of things and stash them away for the following year.

 

 

 

Use the tin’s lid to trace a heart-shape onto parchment paper.  Cut out inside your pencil line for a clean heart that will fit perfectly over the truffles, inside the lid.

Continue packing and then place tins and all back into your freezer to wait until Valentines Day.

Who wouldn’t want a cute little tin of vegan truffle-love for Valentines?!

The cake batter truffles have a coconut-y flavor to them that would marry well with lots of other flavors besides mocha.  Let your imagination loose and think about what flavor YOUR sweetie might enjoy, and truffle on!  Get all creative with sprinkles as well–cocoa powder is classic for chocolate truffles, but what about toffee bits or chopped nuts or powdered sugar, or ….. ?!

Avocado Garbanzo Sammiches

Oh glorious garbanzo, how I love you.  You make fabulous dips and spreads, delicious soups and curries, and the most spectacular sammich salads.  When I saw you pairing up with avocado, oh my.  Swoon.  A huge thanks to Amuse Your Bouche for introducing the two of you.  ❤

Run to your pantry and fridge!  Your mouth will be so happy.  🙂

• 1 avocado
• 1 can (15 oz) garbanzo beans (chickpeas), drained
• 2 green onions, chopped
• 3 TBSP fresh cilantro, chopped
• 1 TBSP lime juice
• salt and pepper to taste
• garlic powder to taste–I added this at the last minute–yum!
• pita pockets and tomato for serving

Skin and pit your avocado and place it in a bowl with the drained chickpeas.  Mash them together with a fork or potato masher.  Leave a few “half” garbanzos for a nice texture.

Stir in green onions, cilantro, lime juice, salt and pepper, and garlic powder.  Taste and adjust seasonings.

Spread inside a pita, add a few tomato slices (I like roma tomatoes) and lunch is served!  I enjoy this sammich even when it’s cold outside.

The creaminess of the avocado pairs nicely with the meatiness of the garbanzos and is perfectly punctuated by the onion and cilantro.  Lime brings the freshness and prevents the avocado from browning.  Leftovers can be safely stored in an air-tight container in the fridge for a day or two.

If you’re like me and enjoy a chickpea salad, you might also want to try my Curried Chickpea Salad Sammiches.  Yum!