SNOW DAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Two years in a row now- yay! Luckily my school called the snow day yesterday before I left, so I went to Whole Foods to stock up.

Apple cinnamon oatmeal for breakfast with brown sugar, raisins and pecans... Made from scratch of course, I don't do the whole instant oatmeal thing.

Black bean "quesadillas" (sans cheese, of course) with homemade refried black beans, avocado with lemon juice and toffuti sour cream for lunch...

Dinner... who knows?! I am busy concentrating on hoping we have another snow day tomorrow (highly doubtful)! :-)

Vegan MoFo: Perfect Pancakes

Cookbook: Vegan Brunch

Author: Isa Chandra Moskowitz

Result: I messed with this recipe quite a bit, and by the time I was done I realized I had essentially made the pancake recipe from Skinny Bitch in the Kitch. Ah well.

I replaced the all purpose flour with whole wheat pastry flour, replaced the maple syrup with agave nectar, and threw in some frozen blueberries and ground flax seeds for good measure. Why not.

They turned out pretty well, which is a small victory, considering I actually suck at making pancakes. For some reason they usually turn out gummy when I make them, and fall apart. Only the first two pancakes disintegrated today, and the texture was fine, so I will be using this recipe again for sure.

Vegan MoFo Day 12: Breakfast for Ma- Banana French Toast

I know, I am cheating with the days... Whooops.

This is not a cookbook entry, but it is a recipe I have made before and posted on the blog. Here. Today I caramelized some bananas to top this French toast, which I made with a vegan "water" challah I smuggled from work... It was a great way to start a busy day.

(Robin's verdict: The breakfast was awesome!)

Back to School Granola

Because something has to get me out of bed at 6 a.m. tomorrow.... HOLY cow. Inspired by my lovely friend, Prysm.


* Granola*

• 4 1/2 cups organic rolled oats
• 1 cup raw pecans
• 1/2 cup raw walnuts
• 1/2 cup flax meal
• 1 1/2 tsp. salt
• 1/2 cup unrefined sesame oil
• 1/2 cup pure maple syrup
• 1 tsp. vanilla extract
• 2-3 dashes of cinnamon
• 1 generous cup chopped dates
• 1/2 cup golden raisins

Preheat oven until 350 degrees. In a large mixing bowl, combine oats, pecans, walnuts, salt and flax meal. In a smaller bowl, whisk together sesame oil, maple syrup, cinnamon, vanilla extract and cinnamon until well combined. Pour wet ingredients into dry, and mix with a rubber spatula until all of the oat/nut mixture is completely coated, this will take awhile but it will happen, I promise.

Once everything is well combined, pour onto a lightly greased cookie sheet, spreading the granola into an even layer, about an inch thick. Bake in the oven, checking granola every 6-8 minutes and moving it around on the cookie sheet with a spatula. After about 25 mins or so the oats should be golden brown, which means its time to take the granola out of the oven.

After the granola has cooled a bit, mix it together with the dates and raisins. Store in an airtight container.

Many granola recipes have you toast the oats before mixing them with the other ingredients and baking everything together. I found that it was fine without pre-toasting, and it makes the whole process quicker.

Blueberry Coffee Cake Bars

This week for Craig's Kitchen, I baked coffee cake from my newest cookbook purchase, Vegan Brunch. Since I needed to include fruit from the local CSA, I added blueberries, which were delicious addition. I cut the cake up into bars, and walked them over this afternoon (in the rain!) to the church. I hope everyone enjoyed them!


Of course, I doubled the recipe, so I will be motivated to get up in the morning for the rest of the week knowing I have blueberry coffee cake waiting for me. Although, as you can see, most of it has already been devoured... Is wasn't all me, I swear!

Vegan Breakfast Bread Pudding

Sometimes, I think about devoting a blog entirely to veganizing recipes from The Food Network, especially Ina Garten's recipes. I think I have seen every episode of The Barefoot Contessa, and many of her recipes lend themselves easily to veganizing, and they almost always turn out great. This morning I decided to take a crack at her breakfast bread pudding.

I was a little nervous about how this vegan version would work out, considering the original recipe is made with a custard of eggs and heavy cream. But, the results were so yummy I ate half of the whole thing in about ten minutes. I guess I can feel a little less guilty about it knowing the vegan version has way less fat and calories than the original one.

Below is the recipe with a bunch of modifications. To the top I added earth balance for some rich buttery goodness, and cinnamon sugar to give it some nice caramelized crunchiness.

Vegan Breakfast Bread Pudding

*I loaf (vegan) challah, sliced into 1 inch thick pieces
*2 cups soymilk (I used vanilla)
*2 tbs. whole wheat pastry flour
*3 tbs. corn starch
*1/3 cup agave nectar
*1 1/2 tsp. vanilla extract
*Generous pinch salt
*Handful of raisins
*1 tbs. earth balance (or soy butter of your choice)
*Cinnamon sugar for sprinkling on top

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a mixing bowl, whisk together soymilk, flour, corn starch, agave nectar, vanilla and salt.

Line the bottom of an 8x8 inch glass baking dish with half the challah slices. Sprinkle raisins in an even layer on top of the challah. Layer the rest of the challah on top of the raisins, and press the whole thing down as far as you can into the dish with your hands.

Pour liquid soymilk mixture over the everything until it just barely covers the top of the challah slices. Dot the top with small pieces of earth balance (just as you would when baking a pie), and sprinkle generously with cinnamon sugar.

Bake for 35 minutes, or until the top is golden brown and the liquid has formed a custard-like consistency. Serve with real maple syrup. Try to not to eat the whole thing in one sitting, although I won't judge you if you do ;-)

Challah French Toast

I won't lie to you people, I have serious challah connection. That means pretty much every Friday I end up with a delicious "water challah" which is a challah made without eggs, and is coincidentally vegan. I could tell you why I have such a serious hook up with, but then I'd have to kill you. J/K. Kind of.

Anyhoo, this challah makes amazing french toast. For those of you who aren't lucky enough to easily get water challah, you could make your own, or use another vegan bread of your choice.

There are a lot of vegan french toast recipes out there, some using silken tofu or nutritional yeast, but I keep mine pretty simple. Below is my recipe, which I have been told by meat eaters is better than the egg-drenched kind. Enjoy!

What you need:

5-8 slices challah (or whatever bread you are using)
1.5 cups soy milk (I use vanilla)
3 tbs. whole wheat pastry flour
2 tbs. corn starch
pinch salt
a few shakes of cinnamon
canola oil

In a medium bowl, whisk together all ingredients except for bread (obviously) and oil until well combined. Pour mixture into a shallow baking or casserole dish.

Heat some canola oil up in a pan. Carefully dip bread in mixture, then flip and coat the other side. Cook one or two slices at a time in oil until lightly browned on both sides, and then throw in a 200 degree oven to keep warm until all your slices are done.


Serve warm with earth balance and real maple syrup- YUM!

p.s. If you have leftover, wrap in foil and keep in the fridge to reheat in the microwave, it will keep and still be delish after one or two days.