And here's some more....

I finally got around to trying the pumpkin cinnamon rolls from the second issue of Don't Eat Off the Sidewalk. I have no clue why I waited so long to make these, because they are awesome. They were nice and soft with just a hint of pumpkin flavor. For those of you who haven't ordered the second issue yet, she put the recipe up on her blog. The only change I made was I used a 9x13" pan, as a 9" square pan just seemed to small to me. Normally I like my cinnamon rolls covered in cream cheese (Tofutti non-hydrogenated, of course) icing, but these were good with just the glaze.


For Hanukkah, I made the potato latkes from Veganomicon. Sorry I didn't get a very good picture of them. These were good, but I am undecided as to whether I prefer latkes with or without matzah meal. They had more body this way, but still...I'm just not sure. I like both, though. Last weekend we had a family Hanukkah celebration in Columbia, SC. We spent the night at my parents' house in Greenville, then drove down to Columbia just for the day on Saturday. I brought the leftover latkes to serve with dinner Friday night and my dad really liked them (I'm sure Momma would have, too, but she wasn't there...she went to go help out my sister with her new baby). At the family Hanukkah celebration, they made me some vegan latkes before they fried the non-vegan ones. My aunt even made me vegan cookies (Mexican wedding cookies from The Joy of Vegan Baking, which she got me for Hanukkah).

I brought some dessert with me to the family Hanukkah, so there were vegan cookies galore. I got this sugar cookie recipe from A Veg*n for Dinner. I didn't use any food coloring for the icing, though, as I avoid artificial colors and the natural food colorings are just too expensive for me right now (and I've never seen them locally anyway). I also made the sparkled ginger cookies from Vegan with a Vengeance, but I didn't take a picture because I've also blogged about them before. I have learned that my family is scared of the word ginger, but if I call them "molasses cookies," they are okay. Crazy people.

This is the hot and sour soup with napa cabbage and woodear mushrooms (I may have muddled that name up a bit) from Veganomicon. My cabbage was being stubborn about coming off the head of cabbage neatly, so I cut it up in the food processor instead. The only other time I've had hot and sour soup was at a restaurant in Richmond, VA called Panda Veg. It was good, but homemade is better (and quite simple). Awhile back we were at a Whole Foods and we found this little package of dried woodear mushrooms for a reasonable price. We'd never even heard of woodear mushrooms, but we bought them anyway, then couldn't think of a use for them. Veganomicon arrived and ta-da, finally a recipe that calls for them. This soup is both spicy and filling and the leftovers reheat well.
Hanging out behind the soup are some homemade fried wontons. They would have been spring rolls, but I was having a ton of trouble with the rice paper wrappers. I got so frustrated that I defrosted the wonton wrappers that I had in the freezer and decided to use those. I know that wontons are normally boiled, but I already had the oil all set to fry, so I just went ahead with this. They actually turned out pretty well this way. The filling was napa cabbage, red cabbage, dried shiitake mushrooms, Morningstar Farms chik'n strips (they'd been hanging out in the freezer for quite awhile, so I figured I might as well use them in something), soy sauce, sriracha sauce, ginger, and garlic.

I'm still here. No, really, I am.

I have been a really lazy blogger in the past month. As you can see from all of these pictures, though, I haven't been so lazy about cooking and baking.

We went to my sister's house in North Carolina for Thanksgiving. In addition to the vegan Thanksgiving meal I brought with me, I also brought some blueberry muffins for breakfast. I want to make the ones out of Damn Tasty, but I didn't have any soy yogurt. I found this recipe on VegWeb. I had all of the ingredients and it got such good reviews, that I figured it was worth a shot. The results were...meh. Despite turning out fairly pretty, if I do say so myself, the muffins weren't very flavorful (okay, they were downright bland) and were rather crumbly. I definitely don't plan on trying that recipe again. I don't know...maybe they'd be better with a teaspoon of vanilla and some sort of binder.

For Thanksgiving, I made whole wheat dressing/stuffing from homemade bread. I didn't really follow a recipe on that one, just looked at several different recipes to get a basic idea of what I should do, then went from there. This turned out well, but I should have let the bread dry out a bit more before I used it.

I also made the holiday cranberry sauce from Veganomicon. It got rave reviews from everyone who tried it (even my incredibly picky-eater sister tried it...I was impressed). I also made the mashed spiced sweet potatoes from Veganomicon, but I didn't take a picture because I've blogged about them before. They are so simple and everyone loved them, too. My brother even ate sweet potatoes for the first time. Have I mentioned that my siblings are not very adventuresome eaters? My brother's girlfriend is getting him to try new foods, though. One day, I will get my siblings to actually eat vegetables (besides corn, which they already eat).

This is the rustic white beans and mushrooms from Veganomicon. This recipe made a TON. I would probably cut it in half the next time I make it (and I will make it again....my boyfriend saw me make it, but didn't get to have any because he went to his parents' house for Thanksgiving. He said it looked good and asked me to make it another time, though.). I was going to have this as the main part of my Thanksgiving meal, but my boyfriend insisted on getting me a Tofurky when we were at the store. I do like Tofurky, but I sure can't get it to slice very neatly. Every time I try, the stuffing crumbles and spills right out. I think their stuffing recipe could use some work, personally.

One night I decided to be adventurous and make homemade sweet potato gnocchi. Oy, what a pain. I have no idea how people manage to shape gnocchi into anything remotely attractive-looking. It tasted good, but was a little gummy. It also made quite a bit and there is more waiting for me in the freezer. I served it with a homemade sundried tomato cream sauce, but I didn't write down what I put in it and it's been a couple of weeks now, so I don't remember. I know I used pureed canellini beans as the base, though.

Fresh Blueberry Waffles with Lemon Icing

These blueberry waffles with lemon icing are another test recipe for lolo at VeganYumYum. This was my first successful attempt at making waffles. Woohoo! My previous attempt was with a recipe from some Peta cookbook that I checked out of the library. That recipe clearly had too much leavening ingredients in it, as the batter started rising even though it hadn't sat very long. I was a little scared to try my hand at waffle-making again, but I am so glad I did! I made the full batch of lolo's recipe, so I have several waffles waiting for me in the freezer. Yum! The lemon icing was a very nice touch. Lemons and blueberries go so well together.

Pizza and Blueberry-Oatmeal Muffins

I know you've probably seen vegan pizza on just about every vegan food blog, but I felt like taking a picture of our dinner last night. Stores here have started getting in Vidalia onions, so along with green peppers and mushrooms, this pizza has caramelized Vidalia onions on it (and, since those were my pieces you see in the picture, red pepper flakes). Yum!

Last weekend my boyfriend's momma shared her blueberry-oatmeal muffin recipe with me. She made it for breakfast while I was there, but since she didn't really have anything on-hand to use as an egg substitute, we just left them out. They were a little crumbly, but still very good. This morning I decided to try out the recipe replacing the eggs with flax seeds. It worked really well.

Blueberry-Oatmeal Muffins
Yield: 12 muffins

4 TB ground flax seed whisked with 6 TB water
1 cup oatmeal
1 cup plain soymilk
2/3 cup sugar
2 ts vanilla extract
1/2 cup vegetable oil (or 1/4 cup veg. oil and 1/4 cup applesauce...I was just out of applesauce when I made these)
1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
3 1/4 ts baking powder
1 ts cinnamon
1 cup frozen blueberries

Preheat oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit. Grease muffin tins.
Stir together oats and soymilk. Add sugar, vanilla, flax mixture, and vegetable oil. Combine flour, baking powder, and cinnamon in a separate bowl. Add to oatmeal mixture. Stir in blueberries. Divide batter into the muffin tins. Bake 20 minutes. Let cool in pan for a few minutes, then transfer muffins to a cooling rack and let cool completely.

Chana Masala with Seitan and Muffins That Don't Really Taste Like Donuts

We are going to Nashville for the weekend and I like to bring some food with me, just in case. My boyfriend's momma is good about making food I can eat, but I like to bring stuff with me, too, as I really don't like being a bother. I had some seitan to use up, and remembered that I had a box of chana masala spice mixture hanging out in the pantry. Hence this Chana masala with seitan thing-a-ma-jig that I came up with.

Probably not very authentic Chana Masala with Seitan

2 tsp Earth Balance Whipped (could use regular EB or olive oil)
1 small onion, diced
2 cups seitan, chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 15 oz. can of chickpeas
1 28 oz. can of diced tomatoes
3 tsp chana masala spice mix (mine was by a brand called Roni...I found it at the health food store)
1 tsp chili powder

1. Melt Earth Balance Whipped in a large saucepan over medium heat. Add diced onions and cook until translucent.
2. Add chopped seitan and cook, stirring occasionally, until it begins to brown. Add minced garlic and cook until fragrant (only takes 30 seconds or so).
3. Stir in the chana masla spice mix and chili powder. Reduce heat to low and simmer for 20 minutes.
4. Serve over rice.

This rather odd-looking picture is a Muffin That Taste Like Donuts from Vegan Vittles. These aren't bad, but by no means do I think that they taste like donuts. I really don't get the comparison. With the small amount of sugar in the recipe (2 TB sugar and 1 TB of maple syrup per 6 muffins), I don't see how they could possibly wind up tasting like donuts. I will finish these, but I'm not sure I'd make the recipe again. I'm a blueberry muffin kind of girl.

More Tester Recipes

I know that I just posted the tempeh wingz and the jalapeno poppers, but tonight I served the leftovers with a biscuit recipe that I tested for mrsbadmouth. I still prefer the biscuit recipe that my boyfriend's momma gave me (because they're fluffier), but these were a little easier since I didn't have to roll them out.


These are apple zucchini muffins that I also tested for mrsbadmouth. Historically I have not been a fan of zucchini (or squash), but I remembered having zucchini bread years ago and liking it, so I was willing to give these a try. I'm so glad I did. These are really good. Despite having whole wheat flour in them, they're pretty light, and they have a good flavor.

Calcutta Curried Potatoes and Cinnamon Rolls

This is Calcutta Curried Potatoes (served over yellow rice) from Olive Trees and Honey by Gil Marks. The subtitle of the recipe says that it would be called Aloo Bhaji. I added peas to the recipe (along with cutting the recipe in half....we still had enough for two nights, so four servings in all), which I know would change the name of the recipe, but I can't remember the word for green peas. This was a good recipe that I would make again. It had a lot of flavor without being overly spicy. I don't know that it would be considered a very authentic Indian recipe, based on the spices called for, but then again the cookbook is referred to as "a treasury of vegetarian recipes from Jewish communities around the world," and I know nothing about Jewish communities in India. Olive Trees and Honey is a huge cookbook. Many of the recipes are not vegan in the least (for instance, the recipe for Sephardic potato croquettes calls for 6 eggs, plus an additional egg for the coating!), but I look forward to trying more of the vegan or easily veganizable recipes.

For the cinnamon rolls, I used this recipe, substituting plain soymilk for the milk, Earth Balance Whipped for the butter, and Ener-G egg replacer for the egg. Although I have a bread machine, I decided to make these by hand because I was worried that 6 cups of flour was too much for my machine. I didn't use the frosting recipe included in that link. Instead, I beat an 8 ounce tub of Tofutti non-hydrogenated cream cheese with 2 tablespoons of EB Whipped and 1 3/4 cups of powdered sugar. These turned out really well. They are much softer than the previous ones I made. Don't ask me why I didn't cut the recipe in half, though. Twenty-four cinnamon rolls is a lot for two people! Our refrigerator is now busting at the seams with cinnamon rolls. Not that we're complaining or anything....

Cheddar Biscuits!

I've been wanting to make some sort of cheddar biscuit for awhile, and I finally got around to doing it. I used Follow Your Heart cheddar for this, and was surprised at the results (seeing as how I don't think the FYH cheddar tastes like much of anything at all). I used the biscuit recipe my boyfriend's momma gave me, but added 1/2 cup flour and 3/4 teaspoon of baking powder to make up for the extra liquid I would be adding with the melted soy cheese. I didn't think the soy cheese would melt into the biscuits very well if I didn't melt it ahead of time. I melted a cup of shredded cheddar soy cheese into about 1/4 cup of plain soymilk on the stove and added 1/4 cup of nutritional yeast for some extra cheesy flavor. I prepared the biscuits as directed in the original recipe and added the melted soy cheese mixture along with the "buttermilk". I followed the original recipe for baking them. They didn't turn out as fluffy as their predecessors, but were still pretty good.

Fluffy "Buttermilk" Biscuits

This is another recipe from my boyfriend's momma. I am forever in her debt for teaching me to make some decent biscuits. Mine were always kind of hard and dense before, but not now! Folding them over several times while rolling them out really is the trick.

Homemade "Buttermilk" Biscuits

2 cups self-rising flour (sifted) (I subbed 2 cups all purpose flour, 3 teaspoons baking powder, 1 teaspoon salt)
¼ cup shortening (I used the spectrum stuff and it worked great)
¾ cup "buttermilk" (soymilk + vinegar)

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
Place sifted flour into bowl, add shortening and use pastry blender or fork to cut shortening into small particles.
Add "buttermilk" a little at a time until a medium-soft dough is formed. (More may be needed if dough is too hard.)
Turn out onto floured surface, and dust with more flour. Pat with hands to form ball. For flat biscuits, roll out and cut. For tall biscuits, fold dough in half and pat down about 3 or 4 times then roll out and cut. Place in pan with edges touching. Bake at 400 degrees for 10 – 13 minutes or until golden brown. Yum!!

Bryanna's Soy Nog Muffins

I kept hearing such good things about soy nog (especially the Silk brand), so I really wanted to try some. Now, I've never had egg nog either, but I was disappointed with the stuff. To me, it had an odd banana-ish flavor that I wasn't expecting. I didn't want to be wasteful and just pour the stuff down the drain, so I was excited when Bryanna posted this recipe for some vegan eggnog muffins. I left the cranberries and pecans out of mine because 1) I'm picky and 2) I didn't have any. My topping wasn't as pretty as hers because I was out of Earth Balance and Smart Balance Light does not create a crumbly topping. It was still tasty, though.

Strawberry Muffins

We went to visit my boyfriend's parents in Nashville recently and I wanted to take some breakfast food with me. I found this recipe in Nava Atlas's Vegetarian Family Cookbook. It is the basic muffin recipe with frozen chopped strawberries added in. I think I added about twice as many strawberries as the recipe said; I reallyyyyy like strawberries. These muffins were really easy and they rose pretty well, too. Often when you find vegan muffins at bakeries, they're really dense, but these were nice and fluffy. It's so disappointing when the only vegan food a place sells really isn't very good.

Mmmmmm Cinnamon Rolls

Savory Cinnamon Rolls from the Garden of Vegan. So very gooey. I wish the roll itself was softer, but I choose to blame my oven for that one (we just discovered that it's nearly 75 degrees off!).