Vegan Pizza Party

Who doesn't love vegan pizza?! I have only made it twice now, both times it was very tasty. The first time, we purchased the dough already made from Whole Foods. This time, I made it from scratch from this recipe. I used half whole wheat and half all purpose flour, and although it was tasted OK, did not rise as much as I would have liked. I am willing to give it another try though. This recipe makes enough dough to make two medium sized pizzas, in case you are cooking with a non-vegan friend (ah hem, Mom, Phil!) who wants to add a little cheese to their pizza.

So, I made the dough, then got to work on some pesto to use instead of regular tomato sauce.

Here's my pesto recipe:

First, combine the following in the food processor
1/4 cup pine nuts
2 cloves garlic
Juice of 1/2 lemon
Large pinch salt
Small pinch pepper

Then add
Two heaping cups of fresh basil leaves

Keep the food processor running, and pour olive oil in through the feed tube until it is the consistency you want.

We brushed the pesto on to the pizzas, leaving room for a crust. To mine I then added some tofu-ricotta, basically pressed and crumbled tofu mixed with garlic, basil, lemon juice and nutritional yeast. I also thew some olives on top, and sun dried tomatoes in the last five minutes of cooking (they burn otherwise, I found out the first time).

The final product was quite a tasty pizza, that had a good amount of protein but not the fat of the usual cheese-laden kind. In the words of Oprah, "love that!"

Happy Passover!

THANKS MOM for making me this delish Vegan Matzoh Ball Soup!!!!

I think I am going to go have the leftovers for lunch now...

Back on the Chain Gang

This week I conquered two of my fears: soba noodles, and kale. I've been meaning to try out soba noodles for ages, but never knew what to do with them...After reading this posting about soba noodles, I felt inspired, but wanted to cook something that also used portabello mushrooms and kale while watching the movie Ghost on television, possibly the strangest movie I've ever seen. Here's what I came up with based on that idea:

Portabello Mushroom and Kale Soba Noodles

two generous servings

two portabello mushrooms

1 bunch of kale

half of a tomato (except for Lindsey because she doesn't like them)

1 can of butter beans

1 clove of garlic, minced

1 1/2 tbps balsamic vinegar

1 tbps tamari

juice of half a lemon

splash of tabasco sauce

2 bundles of soba noodles

*how fun is it to have bundled noodles? seriously...I took a picture.

Ok so here's the drill: while you're boiling the water for the noodles, cook the sliced mushrooms, and then add the beans. After a few minutes, add the kale, and stir-fry together, and begin to cook the noodles.

Mix together remaining ingredients in a small bowl, and then add to the pan. Drain the noodles, toss in a little olive oil, mix together and presto:

Bonus: soba noodles are so good for you! They are made from buckwheat flour, and have nine (9!) grams of protein per serving. Add the protein from the beans and you're in serious business.

Salad... Ick?

I have always thought I hated salad. I would eat it sometimes when I was out to dinner, but I never made it at home. However, I recently tried making my own vinaigrette, and now I am throwing together a salad with dinner a couple times a week.

You could make this using a whisk, but using one of my favorite pieces of equipment, an immersion blender (thanks again, Mom!), makes the vinaigrette frothy and creamy.

Here's what you need, this is just a guess of the measurements, it's really a judgment and preference call. It's pretty tangy-tasting, so if that is not your thing use less lemon and garlic.

1/3 cup olive oil
Juice of 1 lemon
1 garlic clove, pressed
Pinch salt
Pinch pepper

Put everything together in a bowl or the handy-dandy cup that comes with your immersion blender. Blend until creamy. Toss together with some mixed baby greens. Perfection!

Lazy Cupcakes

Clearly, I am in desperate need of a better camera.

Anyhoo, this recipe for vegan banana cake is a favorite in my family, and has become my go-to cake when I want to bake something quick for desert on a weeknight. I always keep a couple of bananas in the freezer to make this cake, and I am beginning to think my obsession with it is preventing me from exploring other cake options. Oh well.

So, on Friday night after a long work week I decided to make cupcakes, but did not want a big production. So, I made the banana cake into cupcakes, filling each muffin cup almost to the top. I then baked them for about 25 minutes.

For the top, I melted some semi-sweet chocolate together with some soy creamer to make a ganache. The result looked like a delicious bowl of chocolate soup I could have eaten right then, but I proceeded with my plan and dipped and swirled each cupcake in the ganache.

The whole process took a couple of hours (cupcakes must cool completely before topping) but I only had two dirty bowls to wash! I have no dishwasher, so when I am tired and just want a cupcake, that is the best news ever.

Holy Hamantashen!

Today was one of my most favorite kind of days, a SNOW DAY! Apparently people who work in offices don't get to take snow days, so I had the apartment all to myself. I needed a project. After giving it some thought, I decided to attempt to make hamantashen, delicious three cornered cookies eaten on the Jewish holiday of Purim.

Why hamantashen you may ask? First off, I have never made them before. Second, I know I will be tempted with many a non-vegan hamantashen cookie at school in the week ahead, and I thought it might be a good idea to be armed with my own vegan version. Unfortunately, my beautiful baby-pink Kitchenaid mixer in currently in-transit from Colorado to Brooklyn, so this project proved to be a little more difficult than I had intended.

The dough recipe is hodge-podged from a few different places, but mostly inspired by a Barefoot Contessa recipe for rugelach I have veganized and used in the past which is so good it's addictive, with a few modifications (mostly because I was running low on some ingredients).

Hodge-Podge Vegan Hamantashen
(makes a dozen cookies)

The Dough
3/4 cups Tofutti Cream Cheese (at room temp)
1/2 cup Earth Balance or any vegan margarine (at room temp)
1/4 cup sugar
1/4 tsp. salt
1 tsp. vanilla extract
5-6 tsp. vanilla soy milk

Cream together tofutti, earth balance and sugar in a mixer (I had to do this in the food processor, which was a bit more tedious but worked). Mix in flour, salt, and vanilla until combined. The dough will be crumbly, so just as you would when making a pie crust, add soy milk one tsp. at a time until it just comes together. Dump onto a floured surface, knead until it sticks together in a large ball, and throw in the fridge or freezer for an hour or so. While it is chilling, you can make the poppy seed filling.

Poppy Seed Filling
1/2 cup poppy seeds
1/2 cup soy milk
1/2 tsp. corn starch
2 1/2 tbs. agave nectar
1 tbs. earth balance
zest of 1/2 lemon

Simmer soy milk and poppy seeds together in a small sauce pot for about 10 minutes. Add cornstarch and earth balance, whisking to prevent as many clumps as possible. Simmer for about 5 more minutes, stirring occasionally. Take off heat and add the lemon zest, and let cool.



Other (and easier) fillings include jellies and jams. In addition to the poppy seed filling, I used some raspberry jam I picked up at the farmer's market last week.

Take dough out of the fridge, and roll out with a rolling pin on a floured surface. Use a cookie cutter or a glass to cut circles a couple of inches wide out. Put a teaspoon of whatever filling you are using in the middle of the circle, and fold three sides up to form a triangle. Pinch the corners closed very tightly (especially if you are using jam) and put on a greased cookie sheet.











Bake in a 350 degree oven for 20-50 minutes until just brown.


Conclusion: if you are looking for a project to take up half of your day, make hamantashen filled with jam (which I found to be the tastiest anyways). If you are looking for a project to take up all day and drive you slightly crazy, make hamantashen with poppy seed filling.

Lunch for tomorrow- DONE.

It's another lazy, chilly, grey, blegh Sunday day in Brooklyn. I didn't really get around to thinking about lunch until about 2:45ish. Whoops.
When I did get hungry enough to get up and do something about it, I made this. It was simple, easy and delish, and I have enough to bring for lunch tomorrow. Nothing makes me happier than having tomorrow's lunch packed early, I feel accomplished, people (or person I know that actually reads this blog, HI OMI!).

This recipe from Smitten Kitchen (not a vegan blog, but lovely all the same) is inspired by one at 'wichcraft, which I had in September and have been hoping to have again. Making it at home was a lot cheaper, and dare I say tastier?

And I used "Lindsay" olives. How many times do I have to tell you people, it's Ey!

It makes me happy to add a new sandwich to my repertoire, I usually stick to pbj, tofutti and avocado, or tofu "egg" salad. I enjoyed this smashed chickpea salad on toasted sprouted whole grain bread (a new favorite, and it packs 5 grams of protein per slice, holla) and it would probably be perfect alongside some of Ashley's tabouli.