Pineapple, Strawberries, and Blueberries

Now, these fruits, I cannot complain about!  I eat them almost every day. 

Buckwheat Pancakes, a Marcus Specialty

If I told you that these pancakes taste as good as they look, I wouldn’t need to say more, and yes, they do, but I also want to note that they are partially whole-grain, and I ate my portion with minimal syrup and no Earth Balance.  Aren’t pancakes always better when someone else makes them?  Yum!

Sweet Potato Scones w/ Maple Glaze

 

While this is a tester recipe, I have made it many times, as the scones are so good!  I’ve even made them lower in fat, but they do taste best when you use the original recipe.

These are going to be a part of the Thanksliving potluck dinner tonight.  I hope to get some good pictures of the rest of the food!

VeganMoFo - Pumpkin Oatmeal

A Rare Breakfast Post!

Makes one large bowl or two smaller-size bowls

2 cups water

3/4 c. rolled oats

1/2 c. cubed pumpkin or sweet potato (fresh or frozen) or pureed pumpkin or sweet potato

1/2 tsp. cinnamon

1/4 tsp. ginger

1/4 tsp. nutmeg

1/4 tsp. allspice

Non-dairy milk and brown sugar, to taste

Heat the first seven ingredients in a pan until simmering, then lower the heat and continue to cook, stirring here and there, for 4-5 minutes.  That’s it!

A Pancake Tip

Don’t be mad at me - I have no pictures to share this week yet! 

 I do, however, have a pancake tip and recipe.  Add chickpea flour.  It adds great flavor, and I got the idea from Isa, who uses chickpea flour in her excellent French toast recipe in Vegan With a Vengeance.

Makes 8 large pancakes.

2 cups soy-rice milk or other nondairy milk.  Add 1 T. lemon juice for buttermilk effect.

1 c. unbleached white flour

1/2 c. chickpea flour

1/2 c. whole-grain spelt flour

1 T. baking powder

1 tsp. salt

2 T. agave nectar

1 T. neutral-flavor oil

Pinch of cinnamon, if desired.

Mix ingredients together, leaving some lumps, and let it set for 10 min. while you preheat your skillet. 

Nothing Says Friendship

Better than Banana Peanut Butter Muffins…

 

WITH CHOCOLATE CHIPS!  HOW ARE WE LIVIN’, SANCTUARY, GOERS?! 

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Peanut Butter Banana Muffins w/ Chocolate chips Vegetarian Times, March 2007 (Adaptation)Serves 6-12

1/2 c. whole-wheat pastry flour

1/2 c. unbleached white flour

3/4 c. light brown sugar or raw sugar

1 tsp. baking powder

1/2 tsp. baking soda

1/4 tsp. salt

2 medium bananas, mashed

1/3 c. unsweetened crunchy peanut butter

1/4 c. soymilk, applesauce, or soy yogurt

1 egg replacer (as in Ener-G mixed with water or flax) (optional - these will hold together, as most baked goods, without it)

2 T. canola oil

3/4 c. chocolate chips

1 tsp. vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 350 F. Line a muffin pan with paper liners.  Combine flour, sugar, baking powder & soda, and salt in a large bowl.

Whisk together bananas, peanut butter, soymilk, egg replacer, vanilla, and oil. Stir banana mixture into flour mixture until combined. Fold in chocolate chips. Pour batter evenly between the muffin cups (12).

Bake 18-20 min. or until a toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool on rack for 15 min.  GREAT EATEN WARM….you know, to test and make sure they taste good.

Tropical Fruit Pudding and Hempnut Milk

Sensational Stevia Desserts (nonvegetarian cookbook)

This is a great salad which is pretty easy to make, once you get the pureeing parts done!  The main base is bananas, silken tofu, coconut extract, and stevia.  To one part, I added strawberries and the other, raspberries (my variation).  Also shown in the middle is a mango puree and fresh blueberries and strawberries.  Yum!

The making of hempnut milk:

It looks like I’ll need to strain it a little bit to remove the froth, or maybe that disappears when it cools.  Either way, thanks, Sue, for the maker!  I am going to make tofu tomorrow.

English Muffins

 

Shown here toasted and with agave nectar.

I found this recipe online and will just cut & paste it, using vegan and healthy versions, of course!  These are DELICIOUS muffins and pretty easy to make.  Much better than store-bought.

English Muffins

Whisk these together in the bowl of a stand mixer and set aside until foamy: 1/2 cup warm water

3 tsp. yeast

1 tbsp. sugar

Place in a microwave-safe glass measuring cup (or in small saucepan over medium-low heat

1 cup hot water

1 tbsp. nonhydrogenated shortening

1 tsp. sugar

1/2 cup soymilk powder

Whisk together and microwave for 1 minute, or warm over low heat for a few moments until the mixture is hot and the shortening starts to melt. (It doesn’t have to melt completely.) Cool to lukewarm (make sure it’s not too hot, or you’ll kill your yeast!)

Sift together:

1 1/2 cups unbleached white flour

1 cup whole-wheat pastry flour

1 tsp. salt

When water & shortening mixture is cooled, add to the yeast mixture, using the paddle attachment of your stand mixer (or mix like crazy by hand with a wooden spoon.) Add 1 1/2 cups of the sifted flour mixture, and mix on low until combined. Turn mixer to medium-low (about speed 3 on a KitchenAid) and slowly add additional flour, a few tablespoons at a time, until you get a stringy, springy, wet batter. Cover and set aside to rest for half and hour.

After resting, turn the mixer back on for about 2-3 minutes on low speed. The batter should be really stringy now, and relatively difficult to finagle, so the next part is the only tricky phase. Preheat a griddle or cast iron skillet to around 300°F. (I say around, because on my electric skillet 300° is too hot, although 275° is not hot enough; you’ll have to keep an eye on things.) If you have English muffin rings, wipe with a little oil or hit them with cooking spray, and place on the heated griddle. Ladle a scant 1/3 cup into each ring. 

Cover the skillet or griddle and cook for about 5 minutes, then flip them over and cover again, cooking for another 5 or 6 minutes.

 

Remove to a rack in a warm oven to hold while you cook the rest of the muffins.

Pancrepes & Biscuits w/ Gravy

Introducing the pancrepe - a cross between a pancake and a crepe.  The best part is that they don’t stick to cast-iron skillets and are sweet, with agave nectar and chickpea flour.  The sauce on top is blueberries with apple juice, stevia, and cornstarch.

Heart of the Home

From Ann Jackson’s book, Heart of the Home, I made soysauge, which was made up mostly of tofu and white beans, plus some spices and miscellanous items such as bread crumbs.  The recipe was tedious and, honestly, not as good as tempeh sausage from Vegan With a Vengeance.  It was tasty, but not worth the effort for me.  The biscuits are from the same book, but they are accidentally broiled; my oven seems to want to be turned off between broiling and baking, so, even if I change the temperature to 450 F from broiling, the heat element on top stays hot.  Luckily, I noticed this before the bread burnt! 

We also had raw apple pie from Raw Food Made Easy for 1 or 2 People, which I prefer to cooked apple pie, and the ingredient list is healthful and short:  walnuts, coconut, dates, apples, lemon juice, cinnamon, and raisins.

B’Nanner Bars

 

La Dolce Vegan!

Great for taking on the go when you have errands or for a snack at work.  The wet mix is made from bananas, ground flax, margarine, and sweetener (I used granulated date sugar), while the dry mix has oat flour and pecans.  The recipe called for frosting these, but I prefer to stay lower in fat and calories and just enjoy the healthiness and simplicity of the naked bars!

Shown here topped with cinnamon.