Indoor Grillin'

Just because I don't have access to my backyard (and yes, our building does have one, ugh!) does not mean I have to be denied the privilege of a nice meal of grilled tempeh and veggies! I marinaded the tempeh in tamari, garlic, salt and pepper for a few hours, then we threw it on the grill with some zuchini, onions and red pepper. We served the whole shabang over couscous, and it was healthy and yummy. If only I had the energy to wash that indoor grill every night of the week, imagine the possibilities!

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 ;-)

If you're sick, eat this.

I don't have swine flu, but I have been at home under the weather for the past two days. In the past I would have been jealous of those who can enjoy a nice bowl of Jewish Penicillin when they are sick, but Amy's No Chicken Noodle soup has come to my rescue. Thank you, Amy's.

Sunday Night Setian

Here's last Sunday night's country-fried-seitan dinner. Full disclosure: the setian was store bought, I still haven't found a solution for the icky tasting vital wheat gluten I was using. A shout out to Phil for the delish mushroom gravy and snazzy plating skills.

Vegan Zwetschgenkuchen

Say what!!???

Zwetschgenkuchen (pronounced svet-ch-ken-koo-gan, I guess) is a German plum tart. The word on the street is no one makes it like my great-grandmother, who served it with whipped cream.

I changed her original recipe (converted from metric and German by my mother and grandmother) to veganize it. The result probably didn't taste exactly like the traditional kind (which I have not had in a long time) but was yummy and gobbled up quickly.

ZWETSCHGENKUCHEN

Apparently this is tradionally made with Italian plums, which are not in season until August. Use whatever is ripe and looks good at the grocery store.

3-4 plums
1 cup whole wheat pastry flour
1 Ener-G egg replacer "egg"
1/4 cup sugar
1/2 tsp. vanilla extract
1/2 stick "butter" of your choice
1/4-1/2 cup water
cinamon sugar to sprinkle on top

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

Combine flour, "egg", sugar and vanilla extract in a mixing bowl. Crumble butter in using your hands. Add a little bit of water at a time until the dough comes together. Form a ball and put into the fridge or freezer.

While the dough is chilling, carefully cut plums into small slivers.

Remove dough from fridge/freezer after about 30 mins. Roll out on a floured surface until about 1/4-1/2 inch thick. If the dough is not holding together well, knead it up into a ball again a few times, your hands will melt the butter a little bit and the dough will become more elastic.

Place the crust in a greased pie tin and fold sides down on the insde so the crust only comes up about an inch. Now arrange the plums in a circle starting at the outside and working in. Sprinkle with cinnamon sugar. Bake for 40-45 mins until crust is browned and plums look cooked.

Serve with vanilla soy or coconut ice cream.

Ukrainian Poppyseed Cake

The weather in Colorado has been absurd these past few weeks.  We had almost no snow this winter, and then once spring came we have been hit by a series of major storms. I should be used to this by now, as this is a state well-known for its sporadic, unpredictable weather patterns. I was recently snowed in chez Lindsey, where I sometimes have the very fun responsibility of watching their personality-packed dog.  Such was the case a few weekends ago, and Lindsey encouraged me to take the opportunity to do some baking.  

I am part Ukrainian in heritage. People often mistake me for a large number of nationalities, but few rarely get it quite right without looking at my family name. This baking project allowed me to connect to some of my roots, and to make one of my mum's favorite treats, loaf. 

The recipe is from the original Moosewood Restaurant Cookbook-go check it out!  According to my paternal Grandma, this is one of the twelve traditional dishes served during Ukrainian Christmas, each one representative of an apostle. 

Saucy Seitan

Last week I had the great fun of cooking with Lindsey, as she came home to visit her family in Colorado.  We took on seitan again, despite Lindsey's protestations that the brand of wheat gluten we had used in the past made it taste like elephant or horse.  (She has not eaten meat since her early childhood, which makes this comparison even the more troubling...).  She found a recipe for piccata sauce, which was an easy way to dress it up.  It tasted great, particularly when the seitan was cut in thin enough pieces to really take on the sauce.  

We were also Robin's sous-chefs for her chicken piccata. 

Sam, Lindsey's family's adorable black lab, liked them both. For desert I brought over some brownies that I had veganized, which despite their questionable texture tasted just fine with some dairy-free ice cream.