Mocha Chocolate Chip Muffins

This week I decided to try out the Mocha Chocolate Chip muffins from VwaV.


Let me summarize these for you. Chocolate cake. Shaped like a muffin. Shot of espresso included. AMAZING.

Selah.

Vegan Quesadillas

Now I realize that Vegan quesadillas is an oxymoron...what with queso meaning cheese and all..but I wasn't sure what else to call them. This was actually a conglomeration of a couple Vegan Dad recipe from the cookbook, but since I'm an over achiever, I went and found them on the site for you as well.

The main idea came from his Potato-Cheese quesadillas. I made the tortillas from the recipe, and did the potato filling, although I tripled the hot sauce. Instead of using Vegan cheese, I mixed in about 1/3 cup of Nooch. In the search for a protein of sorts, I made his Tofu Chick'n from the wrap recipe.

The quesadillas were filled with the potato mixture and generous handful of the tofu chick'n. They were folded in half and then pressed down in a cast iron skillet for about 30 seconds a side, just to heat things up a bit.

I drenched everything in salsa, because that's what I do, but I'm excited to report I didn't miss the cheese in this AT ALL. In fact, it occurred to me as I was eating that greasy cheese melted over all the great flavors inside probably would've killed this. Now I just need to figure out nachos without cheese...that'll be harder for me.

Selah.

Mushroom Curry

This is a recipe I'd been wanting to try from Melbedggood since we're always up for trying new mushroom recipes over here. I added some chopped scallions to the recipe for a bit of green, and used a full teaspoon of hot Asian chili paste.

I'm pretty sure I also doubled the tomato paste, although I wasn't really measuring as I squeezed it out of the tube. (side note: tomato paste in a tube is my new favorite thing, ever). Thanks to my alterations, this was VERY hot, but also deliciously tomatoey, through which I thought the heat was fine. Then again my opinion of "ok" heat is about 6 levels above most people's, so I wouldn't take my word on it if I were you.

All the same, props to Melbedggood for a great recipe...which coincidentally, was delicious over couscous. Go figure.

Selah.

Sweet Potato-Watercress Hash, Stir-Fried Turnip Greens, and Asian Marinated Tofu

I realize that the sweet potato hash recipe in VwaV is supposed to be a breakfast food, but I really don’t think I’d want it for breakfast. The sweet potatoes are very rich and savory, and watercress is simply not a breakfast vegetable as far as I’m concerned. Don’t get me wrong, this was REALLY good, I’m just glad I chose to make it for dinner. I’m not sure how Isa cooked her sweet potatoes in 12-15 minutes like the recipe said though. I ended up covering mine (which wasn’t in the recipe) and it still took over half an hour for them to really get soft. I never even made it to the caramelizing step, since I was too hungry by that point. In the future I think I’d treat this as I do a normal hash…boiling the potatoes first, and THEN adding them to the skillet to crisp up.

I’d never had turnip greens before, but I saw them at the market this week, and was curious. I used the easy stir fried greens recipe from V’con, and was quite happy with the result. As it turns out, Turnip Greens are a bit bitter, and probably not my absolute favorite flavor (I much prefer milder greens like chard and spinach) but this wasn’t bad. The sauce ingredients definitely made the recipe. I might have mixed some sliced button mushrooms into this if I’d thought of it; they would’ve added some nice dimension to the dish. Something to keep in mind for the future…

Last but not least, were the tofu steaks, which I kind of screwed up. I used the Asian marinade recipe from V’con, and once again, decided to bake the tofu in the marinade. At some point during the 45 minutes at 400F, the sauce completely cooked away, in the process concentrating the shoyu, and making these much too salty for my liking. (someone else might tell you it’s a matter of opinion) When I make this recipe again, I’ll either drain the marinade before cooking, or halve the amount of Shoyu, so there isn’t so much in there to concentrate into the tofu. The crispiness on this was great though, so I’m happy with that.

Mmmm, I like an Asian inspired dinner that doesn’t involve pasta or rice of some variety; I’m thinking this is something I should do more often.

Selah.

Javanese-ish Noodles

Originally, I was trying to make the recipe for Javanese Noodles from Madhur Jaffrey’s World Vegetarian. I’m not entirely sure what her dish was supposed to look and taste like, because apparently it was written above a BA reading level, and I got totally confused and lost at some point. Since I’d already had to replace a couple ingredients due to availability, I figured “what the heck” and ended up doing my own thing, which was a pretty standard spiced pasta dish. If you’ve got the cookbook and want to try and figure out the real thing…go for it. Then let me know how it’s supposed to taste. This is what I made:

And this is (more or less, to my memory) is how I made it.

Ingredients
1 lb fettuccini noodles, cooked al dente.
3 large tomatoes, diced
1 13 ounce can black eyed peas
Approx. 20 basil leaves, julienned
½ cup minced cilantro leaves
3 shallots, peeled and sliced thinly
1 cup mung bean sprouts
2 manzana chilis, seeded and minced
2 tablespoons tamarind paste
1 tbs. ground asafetida
2 tsp. ground mustard
1 tbs. curry powder
4 tablespoons peanut oil
Salt
1.5 cups water

Directions
1. Put a pot of salted water on to boil. Once it has reached a rolling boil, add the noodles.
2. Heat a large skillet over medium heat, and add 2 tablespoons of the peanut oil. Once the oil is hot, add the asafetida, 1 tsp of the mustard and all of the curry powder. Allow the spices to toast for about a minute before adding the shallots, one pepper, and basil. Sautee until the shallot is translucent.
3. Add the tomato, beans, and 1.5 cups of water to the shallot mixture. Stir, bring to a boil, and then lower to a simmer and cook, covered, for 7-8 minutes or until tomatoes have broken down into more of a sauce.
4. Uncover the sauce, and add cilantro, tamarind paste and salt, to taste. Stir again, and cover, allowing to simmer for 15 minutes this time. If the sauce looks too thick, feel free to add a bit more water.
5. While the sauce is simmering, pour remaining peanut oil into a small/medium skillet over low/medium heat. Once hot, add the peanut oil and 1 tsp. of the ground mustard. After 30 seconds, throw in the two remaining shallots, pepper, and mung bean sprouts. Sautee for about 5 minutes and then turn off the heat.
6. Drain the Pasta, and pour into a large bowl. Add the sauce that’s been simmering, and mix well. Top each individual serving with the mung bean mixture. Enjoy.

I under salted this a bit, so if you’re giving it a shot, try not to make that mistake. Fortunately, you can always add salt on individual servings, so it wasn’t a big deal. When push comes to shove, the topping was definitely the best part of this dish. I loved the crunch of the bean sprouts interspersed with the noodles, and as usual, I was a fan of the kick from the peppers. I do wish I knew what the dish was ACTUALLY supposed to look/taste like, but as meals go, I was fairly happy with my own rendition. I might also increase the tamarind to 3 tablespoons, or add a bit of lemon juice for some additional acid, but it’s not totally necessary.

And what part of the world does Javanese refer to anyway? Sorry if that makes me look un-educated, I’ve heard the term before but really don’t know…

Selah.

Carrot Bisque and Cornmeal Blueberry Sunshine Muffins

This was another VwaV night, and as has been my experience with the cookbook, a total success.

I'd never made a carrot soup before, but decided it was high time to give it a try, and I'm happy that I did. This actually reminded me a lot of baby food, which is totally not a bad thing...I've been known to enjoy some fruity varieties of baby food past my baby years...shhh don't tell!

I do think I'd make this a complete puree in the future...it would be absolutely to die for in a smooth and creamy form. It was great with some texture, but I think a real puree would class things up a little bit. It would also make it thermos ready, and who doesn't want classy carrot bisque in a thermos? The flavor also reminded me of something I've had before, but I still can't put my finger on exactly what that is.

The muffins were TO DIE FOR. These retain a pretty serious crunch from the cornmeal, which might be a turn-off to some people, but was probably my favorite part. I didn't have soy yogurt in the fridge, but I upped the soy milk a bit and it seemed to work fine. These weren't dry at all.

As Isa says in the book, I'm sure they'd be great with a bit of margarine, but they're just fine plain as far as I'm concerned. I wouldn't want to weigh them down with anything additional.

Selah.

Pepper Bake and Pad Thai

The pepper bake is actually a thicker version of a flatbread, and is VERY good. The recipe came from Madhur Jaffrey's World Vegetarian and was real easy to make. There's no yeast involved, as I'm sure you can tell from the picture, although it does require you to cover and leave it alone for an hour before cooking.

The inside of this is soft and moist, and the onion and pepper provide great flavor. The only complaint I have is that the hot pepper I minced into the bread batter lost all of its heat in the cooking process, robbing me of the kick I was hoping for. Perhaps I need to go with habanero over manzano chilis next time...

The Pad Thai was a conglomeration deal...

I made the sauce from the Brooklyn Pad Thai in VwaV, and instead of tofu, used the chicken nugget recipe from Vegan Dad's Cookbook. I skipped the breading of the nuggets, and cut them into strips before adding them to the wok with the other pad thai ingredients.

There weren't many vegetables in the fridge for me to add to this, but we did have garlic, lemongrass, a full onion, and a handful of fresh basil. I cut the onion into slivers, and sauteed it along with the garlic, lemongrass and chick'n. The sauce went in along with cooked bean thread noodles (damned if I can tell the difference between those and rice noodles) and everything simmered for a few minutes. The basil was julienned and mixed in when I turned off the heat.

I wish I'd had some more vegetables to put in this, but it was delicious with what we had. This also didn't taste very peanuty, although I added a couple of tablespoons PB to the sauce to make up for the roasted peanuts which I didn't have. The tomato paste really shone through though, and made for a wonderfully bold dish that I can't wait to make again...

Selah.

Pink Bean and Quinoa Croquettes with Mushroom Sauce, and Italian Tofu over Wilted Spinach

Who ever would've thought to do a croquette with quinoa? I swear Isa is a genius...
I was worried these would never stay together, but I'm glad to report that I was dead wrong. Until they were hit with a fork, these held their shape perfectly, and that's all I can ask for.

Recipe from VwaV

The recipe is actually supposed to be made with black eyed peas, but I didn't have any of those, and there was 3/4 of a can of pink beans that's been sitting in the fridge for about a week. I'm sure the black eyed peas would've been good too, but I loved them as is. The mushroom sauce was great as well, although I put in a bit too much tamari for my liking...my counterpart was thrilled with it though. These also would've been great served in a more Italian style with a marinara dipping sauce...like mozzarella sticks, but SO much better...

On the Italian front, I made some of the Italian Marinated Tofu, also from VwaV, and served that up over some quick wilted baby spinach.

Isa recommended marinating for an hour, and then draining the liquid before baking the tofu for 30 minutes at 400F. I actually made the marinade in the casserole dish, and after marinating for an hour, put the entire thing in the oven. It spent 40 minutes at 350F with the croquettes, and then I turned things up to 400F for the last ten. This ended up being nice and chewy, and very well flavored, since it soaked up every last bit of marinade during the cooking process. I only wish I'd had twice as much spinach to wilt down...it always amazes me how it melts away to nothing in seconds...

Selah.

Maple-Mustard Glazed Potatoes and String Beans

VwaV...you went off, and you did it again, these are AMAZING. As usual I went ahead and jazzed things up a bit by mincing a hot pepper and adding it to the mix, but the sauce was all Isa.

I could've eaten the entire casserole dish worth of this by myself, but sadly, I had to share. These are sweet, tender, spicy (at least my version is), and straight up comforting. A big bowl of this after a tough week at work would probably be my ideal for a friday night.

I'm glad I started prepping this early and actually read the recipe, because I hadn't realized it needs about an hour and a half in the oven. This definitely is not a thirty minute meal...but it's totally worth it. It would make a great side dish with tofu or seitan as the protein, but I skipped the traditional protein tonight and went with a side salad and some leftover kugel. Yum.

Selah.

Cauliflower-Leek Kugel with Herbed Almond Topping

I feel pretty safe saying that I'm something of a kugel expert. I am infinitely familiar with sweet desert kugels...sweet dinner kugels....vegetable kugels...noodle kugels...meat kugels (although I haven't had one in years) you name it...I've probably had it in kugel form.

This VwaV recipe, however, was my first vegan kugel, and the actual kugel part was damn good. I replaced the matzos in the recipe with sourdough flatbread crackers which lent the dish a pretty exciting dimension...I just thought the topping was a bit much.

When I make this again (and I will make this again) I'll probably just mix together parsley, dill and panko with a bit of olive oil for the topping. I just didn't need all the almond and additional crackers in there, it was a bit too much crunch for me.

Selah.

Valentines Dinner

This was me and my boyfriend's third V'Day together and we did the same thing we have the last couple years, which is cook a nice dinner together, for just the two of us. This was the first time our Valentines dinner was completely Vegan, although with all the coconut milk it was beyond decadent, there was certainly no one wanting for dairy here...

In VwaV, Isa says that Sweet Potato Crepes with Cilantro-Tamarind sauce are the perfect Valentines day meal because they're sexy. I'm not sure about that, but they taste damn good.

The recipe says to chill the crepe batter for half an hour, but after leaving it for about 40 minutes I discovered it had become way too thick for crepes, and had to add a solid cup of water to loosen things up. That was the only issue I had with these, and the sauce is DAMN GOOD. I'd eat that stuff on my toast in the morning if I could...it'd get a bit messy though.

We decided to pair up the crepes with Green Thai Curry on the preceding page in VwaV, not just for proximity, but because a lot of the ingredients overlapped, and I'm big on having complimenting flavors in my meals.

Unfortunately I added a bit too much lime juice and not quite enough maple syrup, which I figured out too late. The result was a rather tart curry, which wasn't bad, but also wasn't exactly what I was looking for. I'd also refrain from frying up the tofu as well as we had beforehand because it stayed pretty dry and didn't soak up the flavor of the curry which I found disappointing. That's a personal thing though. Some people might prefer texture to flavor, in which case you should go right ahead and get those triangles golden. This would also be really good over rice, although we ate it as-is.

I left the desert making to the boy, since I have a penchant for screwing up sweets. He made the strawberry cobbler with lemon-poppy seed crust from V'con, minus the rose water, since after going 4 separate places we couldn't find any. It was replaced with almond extract, which seemed to work fine.

That's a scoop of Mango gelato on top, it couldn't have been a better finish. It's impossible to tell with a single serving, but I would like to give credit for the GORGEOUS lattice crust he made, I would never have been that talented...

Selah.

No-Rise Bread

Even a non-baker like me couldn't screw this up. (too bad; the bottom did burn a bit) This bread was deliciously crusty on the outside and luxuriously soft on the inside. It was great for sopping up all the sauce from the vegan baked ziti that was sadly gobbled up too fast for a picture.

This is the bread:

It's not actually orange, it just looks that way because the sun was beaming down on my kitchen table when I took the picture, and the alternative was looking blue. I find orange much more appetizing. The recipe is from The Kitchn which also has a very exciting looking slow rise bread, I was just too hungry to wait that long on this particular occasion.

The idea for the ziti came from VegTimes via LindyLoo at "Yeah that Vegan Shit" She made the ultimate lasagna and was less than impressed, but couldn't speak highly enough of the tofu ricotta filling, so I decided to give it a shot. I skipped the onion/garlic/spinach step, combining tofu, cream cheez, olive oil, basil, nooch, and salt and pepper in a blender. I mixed that with TONS of tomato sauce, and once the ziti had cooked to al dente added it to the mixture. The whole mess went into a casserole dish and I coated the top with panko. It spent 25 minutes, covered, in a 375F oven, and then another ten without the foil to brown the panko. Perfection. Seriously. I never want baked ziti with animal derived cheese again, this was WAY too good. The cream cheez is key to making it creamy and fulfilling.

Baked ziti and bread reminded me of Italian takeout in school...but so much better cause I made it...

Selah.

Sweet N Spicy Stir Fry

Making this over Ramen was a mistake, but otherwise it wasn't bad. The dish was a little too sweet for me, and the spice was lost in all the sauce. Next time I'd probably halve the sugar and double the chili flakes, but other than that, the foundations of a good sauce are there.

I'll post the recipe as I made it, but if you're going to give it a shot, I'd definitely recommended half the sugar and twice the chili.

Ingredients
1 scallion, sliced
2 tablespoons cornstarch
4 tablespoons rice vinegar
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 teaspoon crushed red pepper
1.5 cups pineapple juice

Directions
1. Create a slurry by combining the rice vinegar and cornstarch.
2. In a pot over high heat, bring pineapple juice,sugar, scallion and red pepper to a boil. Stir in the cornstarch mixture, bring back to a boil, and then cook.
3. Use as desired.

Selah.

REALLY GROSS Pasta Salad and Portabella Burgers

I knew as I was making this that it would be gross. The ingredients were just plain weird, but I kept at it anyway, pulling things out of the fridge and combining them, more out of sheer boredom than anything else. I was right, this was gross, and I won't even bother sharing what I put into it, because frankly I don't want anyone else to suffer through the same pain.

I think my first mistake was thinking I could make a cold pasta salad with tofu shirataki noodles, they should never be served chilled. They also don't go well with vinegar, or any number of the Mediterranean based ingredients I used. The sliced smartdogs didn't help either.

Moral of the story? If something SEEMS wrong as you're making it, stop, and do something else. It won't be magically delicious, and it's a waste of perfectly good food.

The portabella sandwich was good...probably because it was the same V'con mushroom recipe I used for the salads earlier this week, and I set it up with some chipotle mayo and salad greens.

Easy, and something of a relief after that disastrous pasta dish.

Selah.

Stuffed Graffiti Eggplant

I'll be honest, and admit that I bought these because they were called graffiti eggplant, there was nothing more to it than that. What can I say? I'm a sucker for cool looking vegetables. For some reason I came up with the idea to stuff them, and it was a good one. I was originally going to roast the eggplants in the oven, but I think the steaming method I eventually chose preserved the peels much better for stuffing.

Ingredients
2 graffiti eggplants, halved the long way
1 large bunch swiss chard, sliced
3 celery stalks, sliced
1 teaspoons five spice powder
1 cup rice
2 cups water
3 cloves Asian Marinated Garlic, minced
1 tablespoon roasted red chili paste (I use the Thai Kitchen variety)
2 tablespoons peanut oil
1 stalk crushed lemongrass
2 tablespoons soy sauce
2 tablespoons lime juice
1 scallion, sliced
Gomasio (sesame seed-salt seasoning)

Directions
1. Set a steamer over boiling water (if you use a bamboo one like me) and place the four eggplant halves, flesh down into it. Allow to cook for 15 minutes.
2. While the eggplant is steaming, heat a large skillet, and add the peanut oil, garlic, lemongrass, five spice powder, and roasted red pepper paste. Stir around and once the garlic is starting to turn golden, add the swiss chard (including stems) and celery. Stir around for 30 seconds to coat, and then add soy sauce and lime juice. Cover and low heat to simmer for approx. 5 minutes.
3. In the meantime make the rice, I did a cups worth using a 2-1 ratio.
4. Remove the eggplant from the steamer and allow them to cool for a couple minutes before scraping out the insides with a spoon. Mince the eggplant flesh and add to the greens and celery, turning the heat up to medium so it will cook.
5. When the rice is ready,add that to the vegetables, and cover for 5 minutes so that the rest of the liquid can cook out.
6. Spoon the rice mixture into the eggplant halves, top with scallions and Gomasio, and serve!

Normal civilized people would probably eat this with a knife and fork...me and my other half? Simply picked up the eggplants and started chowing down. It was a bit messy, but it worked, and it was good.

My thoughts on this were that the rice dish is really good, and has a great Asian flair to it. I was also a big fan of the celery, as I had intended, it added a much needed crunch to the dish. Stuffing the rice into eggplants looked really cool and made a nice eating vessle, but it was in no way necessary. The hollowed out eggplant skins were pretty bland and unexciting, all show no glow. So the rice dish? I give myself a star, but I would be more excited about the eggplant if it added a solid taste element to the dish.

Selah.

Portabella Salad with Spicy Mustard Dressing

I went back to V'con tonight, because when I'm having a tough day (and tough is an understatement for my last couple days) and need something comforting...V'con it is. I'm not even necessarily saying the food is comfort food (although much of it is) but the book is comforting to me. The pages are folded and spattered with food, I know where all my favorite recipes are by touch alone, and it's brought me so many happy meals and snacks over the past year or so.
When I was out shopping the other day, they had the most beautiful portabella mushrooms I'd ever seen, and unable to resist, I picked up four HUGE ones. Enter the Portabella salad with spicy mustard dressing. I'd been eying this one for awhile, but not being a huge "salads for dinner" person, had never really gotten around to it.

I am SO glad I finally tried this! The mushrooms were juicy and perfectly flavored, and the mustard dressing on the salad was delicious. My boyfriend actually thought it was a raspberry vinaigrette at first, and after a couple tries I just had to give him the ingredient list. This is GOOD. It's REALLY good, and after one bowl full, I'm totally satisfied. I think I've finally found a salad I can have for dinner!

Selah.

Tofu N' Roots

The bland, unexciting avocado BLT burger is in the past. It is SO in the past. I can't even remember it, that's how far out of my memory it's been pushed. You know why I'm totally over it? Because these were so darn GOOD.

This was another burger recipe from Just the Food and boy did it perform. As the recipe says, these are pretty mild and sweet, don't expect anything bold and spicy here. On the other hand, they're absolutely delicious, don't weigh you down, and hold their shape like nothing else. To top it all off, the recipe makes about 3 million, so I was able to pack away more than a dozen burgers in the freezer for future consumption.

I topped these off with a napa cabbage slaw which was based on the one I found here

I simplified mine a bit though, combining about two tablespoons of peanut oil with some fresh-minced ginger and then adding a handful of the sliced napa cabbage. Once the cabbage had wilted down, I added a couple tablespoons worth of chopped scallions, a generous squeeze of honey, and a couple teaspoons each of honey, shoyu, and rice vinegar.

I had this burger on bread, and set each slice up with some Nayo. The slaw went on top of the burger, and this was absolute perfection, I could've eaten three. (although I held myself back) The one thing I would say, is that these are definitely not "ketchup and mustard" burgers. The condiments would totally overpower the mild patty and clash with its sweetness. I think any sort of mild wilted green would go great on top though...

Selah.

Irish Pizza

Ok, the picture does this no justice. It is SO much better than it looks, and while I could've added some sparkle or something in photoshop, I don't think that would have made it look more appetizing, so I left it alone.

I tend to trust Vegan Dad, since in all honesty, he has yet to steer me wrong, but potato pizza just sounded weird. I was dubious about so many carbs on one poor crust, but yesterday was pizza friday, and having not planned ahead, I had to go with something for which I had all the ingredients on hand. Vegan Dad's Irish Potato-Sausage pizza. And OH WAS IT GOOD.

The only annoying thing about this, was that the potatoes didn't actually attach to the pizza in any way, so you had to hold them on while slicing and eating. I promise you though, it was a small price to pay. I wasn't able to eat too too much of this, only because the white sauce that goes on the crust is very rich, and I am forever limited in how much I can eat of anything rich and creamy. My boyfriend had no such issues though, and polished off 3/4s of the pizza in a single sitting.

This was GREAT. Everything about it worried me to begin with...would the recommended breakfast sausage be too sweet, would the potatoes just be WRONG...would the crust ever harden underneath all the toppings? The crust was perfect, as were all the toppings, the potatoes were light and delicious, and the sausage couldn't have worked better. After some less-than-mediocre recipes of late, it was high time for a real success.

Enjoy with your favorite Irish beverage...I did ;)

Selah.

BLT Burgers

I'd been looking forward to making these for about a week and a half since my oven's been broken since before I saw them on Just the Food.

I started things off with the bacon bit recipe from the Same Place. That was really my mistake with this recipe, as the TVP never become flavorful at all, and I decided to just run with it. My payback, was burgers that weren't flavorful at all. Shocking.

Don't get me wrong, this is an AWESOME burger idea, and I in no way blame the chef who wrote the recipe, it's all directed at myself here. This burger probably held together better than any veggie burger I've made in the past, and the avocado in the middle was a great idea. It kind of popped out when I cut the burger in half, but had stayed in through the cooking process, so I'll chalk this up to user error as well.

I definitely plan to do more experimentation with this and other stuffed burgers...I feel like I've got a whole new world at my fingertips. The next attempt will involve crumbling up the tempeh bacon from VwaV, which should give it tons of the "bacony" flavor I was looking for here.

Selah.

Strawberry Macadamia Nut Muffins

This was my first attempt at making up my own baking recipe, since I'm normally terrified of messing with anything that's supposed to rise. All things considered, this went really well, and while I think I need to tweak things a bit, these will be polished off without any issues.

I got the idea for these last week when I asked my friend what kind of muffin she'd make if she could do anything, and she responded "how come no one ever makes strawberry muffins? Do that." So I set about coming up with a strawberry muffin recipe. The cool thing about this is that the strawberries basically turn into jam during the cooking process, totally pumping up the inside of the treats. the only real issue I had with these was that they were a bit chewy, and if anyone's got recommendations on what causes that, I'd love to hear them. The flavor was spot on...

Ingredients
1/4 cup canola oil
1 cup non-sweetened vanilla hemp milk
1 tsp. salt
2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 cup turbinado sugar
1/4 cup brown sugar
1.5 cups unbleached white flour
1 cup minced strawberries
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 tsp orange zest
10-12 macademia nuts halved
1 tbsp. ground flax seeds
3 tbsp. water

Directions
1. Combine the flax and water in a small bowl and whip until it starts to emulate the consistency of egg whites.
2. Combine all the dry ingredients in a large bowl, and then add flax mixture and all other wet ingredients. Stir well.
3. Preheat your oven to 375F. Grease a muffin tin and pour in batter. These don't do a ton of rising, so you can fill the tins without worry.
4. Bake for 25 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean. Allow to cool ten minutes, if you can wait that long...

I'm beyond excited to have my oven back, and you can expect more exciting oven creations in the near future.

Selah.

Ethopian Tofu of Meh

So I'm in a rut. My oven has now been out of commission for over two weeks. Remember the sloppy joe buns I had to make in the toaster oven two weekends ago because the oven wasn't working? Well they came in a few days later, and supposedly fixed the oven...in attempting to make a casserole that week, I discovered it still didn't work. The "oven guy" finally made it back last monday, and after saying the whole thing *WAS* actually shot, my super decided to order me a brand new oven. It was supposed to be here today...shockingly, it wasn't. I went looking for the super, but it doesn't even appear that he ever came in today.

THAT said...there are only so many pasta dishes and soups I can show, which is why this place has been a bit slow lately, and will probably continue to be until I get an oven...join me in praying it shows up soon...

I made an Ethiopian dish called "dorowat" tonight, which had already been (kindly) switched from the traditional chicken to tofu by Rhonda on Recipezaar. Too bad, because it still wasn't very good. This was way over-spiced, and under-salted. It tasted dry, and almost chalky, probably because half of my spice rack went into it (and I have a pretty expansive spice rack). The dish seriously needed salt, along with acid, although the tomatoes provided a bit of that.


Overall though....very disappointing, it just made me miss my oven even more...

Selah.