If President Obama came over for a meal, I'd like to think I'd keep it real. (Sorry, didn't mean to rhyme!) ^_^' I voted for the guy twice, I think he's a rad dude, and he seems pretty down to Earth. I also think he has a cool family and some cute dogs. =P Political opinions aside, you have to see what I'm talking about right? I don't think President Obama would be one to expect some fancy five-course meal from me. Well, if he did, he would have to say so. ;) I came up with a dish that the adults and kids would enjoy. I also wanted to create a flavorful dish that was also healthy, since Michelle seems to promote healthy eating awareness. I thought a nice jackfruit dish would be nice...it's something not a whole lot of people have heard of/eaten in this country and it would be nice to introduce to such an influential family something different yet fairly accessible. I had never heard of jackfruit being used in vegan cooking until I saw the Seabirds food truck on the Food Network a few years ago. They were serving jackfruit in tacos at the time and I was thinking, "Fruit?! WHAT?". Then, I finally found out how jackfruit can be prepared to be used as a pulled meat substitute when I attended cooking school. The jackfruit itself is best used from a can, as it is already soft and easy to work with. I found some at my local Asian market, and I'm sure you would be able to purchase it online. Right out of the can, jackfruit seems pretty bland. However, once you chop it up, season it with spices and cook it, it's pretty delicious! The result is a somewhat light but meaty texture that resembles pulled meat. I like that it isn't very heavy like tempeh or seitan. That way, you can garnish it with all the veggies, non-dairy cheese or beans you want and it isn't overwhelmingly filling! Well, unless you want it to be. ;) Look out, Mr. President! I've got some jacked up tacos for you! ^_^' Pulled Jackfruit TacosIngredients Yield: 2 large soft tacos Pulled Jackfruit
Marinade
Garnishes:
*Recipe Below Instructions
Jackfruit
Cashew Queso Ingredients
Instructions
Assembly
Surprise! My favorite cookbook is NOT vegan! I absolutely love love love my mom's Better Homes & Gardens cookbook from the late 80's-early 90's. It's the cookbook that I grew up using for all my baked goods, especially around the holidays. This cookbook has a chapter for everything and separates foods by categories that make sense (cake, pies, candy, etc.). I've used this cookbook for my foundations for baking just about anything. They have recipes for everything you could want (or not want!) to bake. I love that they take a from-scratch approach to most of their recipes. Some recipes are simplified for the busy cook, but most are left as complicated or uncomplicated as they should be. The recipe that I used for my shortbread cookies came from this book! It's such a simple, foolproof recipe! Ever since I've gone vegan, I've managed to get frustrated with this book because of recipes that are not easy to veganize. On the flip side of that, however, I love the challenge! Making any of the cookies in this book is nostalgic for me and brings me right back to my childhood. My favorite recipe from here is the snickerdoodle recipe. I've attempted to recreate them here in my first ever blog post. There's also that other post from last year that features another BHG recipe: ranger cookies! I remade them to be semi-healthy for Father's Day. I absolutely love the recipes in this cookbook. They are all meant to share with your favorite people...that's the entire reason that I love food! (Well, eating it is pretty rad, too...but I wouldn't enjoy it nearly as much if I had to eat it alone!) =) For this cookbook celebration, I made one of the easiest and most simple recipes of all: muffins! These muffins come out more like a cross between a scone and muffin rather than a breakfast cake like most would eat nowadays. These muffins are dry and crunchy on top, which is quite satisfying. They are less sweet than commercial muffins and I made them with raspberries studded on top for tartness. I never underestimate our power as cooks to be able to transform any recipe into whatever we want to. I don't like to confine myself to just vegan cookbooks or vegan recipes. Vegan is a parameter for cooking that should be factored in just as dietary restrictions should. Sometimes, I still want a simple baked good from my childhood and this cookbook still holds solid recipes for me to use. With a few tweaks, I can still enjoy food that I love, just in a different way. ;) <3 Basic Raspberry MuffinsYield: 6 Muffins
Free of: Gluten, Nuts Adapted from: Better Homes & Gardens Cookbook Ingredients
Instructions Preheat oven 400 F.
Today's prompt is "something blue"! What a perfect day for blue shortbread cookies...it's been raining all day by me! I knew I wanted to use blue cornmeal again for this recipe. I made some cornbread with it last year and loved it. There's something fun about the color blue when it comes to natural cooking, because blue is so rare in fruits and vegetables. I took the only other accessible blue food I could get, blueberries, and paired them with both my cornbread and my cookies. I love berries and corn together, so it really works out! Blueberries are also a nice fruit to bake with. I almost prefer them baked or cooked sometimes. Their flavor develops nicely and they create a wonderful syrup all by themselves. They're also very healthy for you! If yesterday's cookie post was oil-free, this one is its antithesis. This recipe makes only about 12-15 round shortbread cookies and it has an entire cup of oil in it! Before you shake your head though, give me some credit for using only unrefined coconut oil! I actually love that the coconut oil gives a very subtle flavor to these cookies because I didn't want to overwhelm them with butter flavor from a vegan butter substitute. Don't get me wrong, I still use Earth Balance and Melt sometimes, but I like to use them sparingly. For certain things, butter flavor isn't necessary. I think these cookies really have a wonderful flavor. If you change up your sweetener, you will be able to taste the different facets of flavor each one has to offer. I used Bee Free Honee in mine because it has a mild apple flavor that I love. The consistency of the vegan honee also helps to keep these shortbreads moist but not overly oily. The recipe is very easy and you can use only one bowl for it! You don't have to roll out the dough if you don't want to get all messy. You can always do hand-rolled cookies (roll the dough into about 1 Tb amounts between your palms and flatten onto your cookie sheet). Have fun with this recipe! Change up the berry you put on top, use jam instead, add citrus zest to the dough, make an icing for them, add nuts, whatever you feel! For a serving tip: pair with a nice fruity black coffee. I did just that and it was sublime! Blue Corn SandiesYield: about 12-15 round cookies
Free of: gluten, nuts, refined sugar Ingredients
Instructions Preheat oven 325 F.
This retro recipe is inspired by a few things for me. I wanted to pick a recipe that reminded me of my grandparents. I picked halva because it is one of my grandpa's favorite treats and I always thought it was weird as a kid (and it's also a totally ancient recipe...now that's retro!). The only memory I have of it is seeing it in the Joyva package while thinking, "What is that?". Only till I became vegan and discovered all the wonderful things you could do with tahini did I realize that sweetening it was genius. Tahini is just the sesame seed version of peanut butter, right? ;) So, deciding that I wanted to make a tahini confection, I decided on grain-free cookies. I took inspiration from a traditional pignoli cookie recipe which is just almond meal, egg and sugar. When she first started eating a gluten-free diet, my mom requested these cookies at Christmas time. She isn't a big fan of sweets, so this came as a surprise to me. Pignoli cookies have a different character than a regular cookie, though. They are crispy, chewy, light but full of flavor. They're moist too! Moisture without butter or oil...what a wonder! I decided that in order for my cookie to taste like tahini first and foremost, it must be grain-free. I added some things to the cookie dough for texture and sweetness, but not overly so. I think this cookie is wonderful as a snack because it satisfies a sweet craving but also offers some nutrition without a ton of processed fats included. The only fats in this recipe are from seeds (flax and sesame), so it is suitable for those who are allergic to nuts! I added in a pop of acidity and flavor with chopped dried apricots and apricot jam in the icing. There's also a candied apricot on top because, why not? ;D Apricot Halva CookiesYield: Approx 15 cookies Free of: Nuts, Gluten, Refined Sugar (excluding icing) Ingredients Cookies
Icing
Instructions Preheat oven to 350 F.
I'm not a huge fan of sandwiches. I always like the idea of sandwiches, of course, but I find that I get really full from the bread before I can enjoy any of the goodies on the inside. Sometimes I like to take all the stuff out of the sandwich, eat it, and then have dessert to fill my stomach. That method has worked for me countless times. ;) However, I went to college in New Brunswick, NJ and I did have a brief affair with sandwiches at that time. Eating as a vegetarian in college left me with few options for food that wasn't salad or pretzels. I always had something to eat at the dining hall, but it was rarely healthy. Did that stop me? Of course not. One of the foods that my friends and I would grab routinely after every semester as a celebration would be the infamous fat sandwiches from the grease trucks. These bad boys are sandwiches with everything you could ever want (or not want) to eat on them. Protein? Yes. Veggies? Yes. Sauce? Of course. French fries? Duh. I always got one of three sandwiches there. One had a veggie burger on it, one had some mozzarella sticks and the other had falafel. The last one I ever ate had falafel on it. ::drool:: I decided that if I was going to make a vegan sandwich for Vegan MoFo this year I had to go all-out. So, I went the extra mile and made from-scratch rolls and fried up some cauliflower. This sandwich is going to be the most complete sandwich experience of your life. And you won't need to eat another. Ever. Enjoy! ^_^ Ingredients Makes 3 large sandwiches. You can always make less and save the fillings for salads or snacking later!
Instructions
Preheat oven to 375 F.
MoFo Day 2: recreate a meal from childhood So, this prompt was pretty easy for me to figure out. I was a very picky eater as a kid, which I'm sure many people can sympathize with. I was very wary of new flavors and new foods. I had a huge sweet tooth. I also loved carbs. The two things that haven't changed about my tastes from childhood are my love for carbs and my distaste/indifference towards meat. I was never a big meat-eater. I merely ate meat because it was served to me. It was the only real option for a sit-down meal. I always preferred carb-heavy options, however. I loved baked goods, rice, pasta, crackers, pretzels, etc. I also loved cinnamon on everything. Okay, so that hasn't changed either... Put cinnamon on it, and I'll probably approve. The one thing that my grandma would make for my dad, his siblings, and my sister and I for breakfast was something she called "Ichiban Cinnamon Toast". My grandma is from Japan, and she never really ate bread growing up. Bread in Japan is very rich, buttery, and flaky like a pastry. Japanese bread, like most of their baked goods, has an abundance of egg and dairy in it to give it a very airy texture with a rich, buttery flavor that is pretty much to-die-for. My grandma would take a slice of white bread, toast it lightly, and spread some butter on top while it was still warm. Then, she would lightly sprinkle some cinnamon and sugar over the toast. This is a very common thing to do, I'm sure...but, when she made it, it was so much better than anything I'd ever had! The bread was crispy, light, savory and lightly sweet with a hint of warmth from the cinnamon. It's the most amazing breakfast I've ever had. I make it to this day when I'm feeling under the weather or down in the dumps. It's wonderful with hot tea or coffee. Ever since I pretty much stopped buying bread on a regular basis due to my growing bread snobbery, I haven't eaten cinnamon toast often at all. I reserve the pleasures of cinnamon toast for times when I have an excellent bread to toast. I decided, since I made my very first successful gluten-free and vegan bread last year, that I would make a loaf of bread and make an excellent slice of cinnamon toast from it. So, I've revisited the bread recipe that I used from Cara Reed's blog Fork & Beans and I've altered it to be more buttery and airy than my last loaf. I used the same ratios from Cara's recipe, but changed some ingredients around a bit. I snuck in some aquafaba, non-dairy butter, and Ener-G egg replacement powder among other things to yield a gluten-free bread that rises like a champ and is tough enough to knead like regular gluten-filled dough. Thanks to Cara, this bread recipe is gum-free for anyone who doesn't like to use xanthan or guar gums. I usually don't mind using these products, but it's nice for those who don't feel like buying them for just one recipe or who cannot eat them for dietary or health reasons. Here is my bread recipe and below that are instructions for my favorite cinnamon toast! Have fun! B) Gluten-Free Vegan BreadYield: 1- 8x4 loaf Gluten & Gum-free/Can be: Soy & Nut-free Source/Adapted from: Fork & Beans Ingredients Wet
Dry
Instructions
Cinnamon ToastAll you need for this (it isn't really a recipe) is some non-dairy buttery spread (like Earth Balance or Melt) or coconut oil + sea salt for a less processed option. If you use coconut oil and salt, I'll suggest on adding a sprinkle of nutritional yeast on your toast as well. I find this combination together gives a slight buttery taste. It's pretty delicious!
After you spread as much of your "butter" of choice as you would like on your sliced, toasted homemade bread (OMG I'm hungry!), sprinkle on some dry sweetener of choice. I used coconut sugar because I'm obsessed with it and I love its flavor. You can always substitute sugar with stevia or any other natural vegan sweetener you like. Then, the kicker: add a dash of organic cinnamon on top. I always try to buy organic spices and dried herbs so I can control the quality of my dishes. I also like to get the best quality that I can for ingredients that will last me a long time. Enjoy your ichiban cinnamon toast with a piping hot cup of something and relax. You've earned it after all that effort it took to bake bread from scratch. ;) Good morning, Everyone! I'm so excited to be participating in Vegan MoFo for my second year! Last year was a bit of a loose participation since I didn't have any prompts. I liked picking my own theme, but I definitely could have posted more. It's tough to make yourself post every day when you run out of recipes. =I This year is different, though and I'm so stoked about it! I loved all the prompts that were thrown at us this year, even if some were a bit difficult. This first one was a gift, though. Breakfast? Endless possibilities. I chose to recreate a delicious on-the-go version of biscuits, gravy and sausage. I used to love fast food sausage biscuits when I was a little kid. Little did I know how absolutely disgusting they were! I haven't had one since. Although, I have had vegan sausage and gravy dishes from places like Lamplighter Espresso and I absolutely fell in love. I feel much better about eating this version of this dish, even if it isn't the healthiest thing in the world. I've tried to make this as wholesome as possible in my own kitchen. I took the gluten out of the biscuits, replaced the regular white flour with my own blend of flours and used good fats. I also made my own meat-free sausage using tempeh, which is one of my favorite soy products. I try to eat fermented soy more often than not. Tofu is always an easy option, but it definitely doesn't give much texture to a dish unless it's drained properly. This tempeh came together wonderfully after I par-cooked it in a saucepan with some water and salt. After that, I mashed it into a wonderful mixture of spices and formed it into sausage patties. Well, here's what I did in picture/recipe form. Please try this out if you have the time. It's not a very long process and you will have sausages and biscuits for a few days! Oh, the possibilities! <3 Happy MoFo, Bloggers and Vegans! Let's kill it! ^_^/ Gluten-Free & Vegan Sausage BiscuitsYield: 5-6 biscuits
Adapted from: Better Homes & Gardens Ingredients Biscuits
*If using coconut oil, add 1/4 tsp more salt Tempeh Sausages
Instructions Biscuits
Tempeh Sausages Servings: About 4
Eating breakfast is a bit of a treat for me. Since I'm a cake decorator, I work very early hours and I have little to no time to myself before I head off to work for the day. I envy my past self who had to wake up for an 8 am class in college or a 10 am arrival at my old job sometimes. That is SO much time! You could run, shower, make pancakes and still have time to spare! That is, if you get up as early as I do now... I usually make myself a protein shake for breakfast. It's fast, easy, neutral in taste and easy to digest. I also love that it's so transportable. Sometimes, it is nice to chew something for breakfast. I do like chewing. One day recently I was craving blueberry muffins something fierce. I haven't had one in so long. I used to love them as a kid. I didn't know how horrible the ones at the grocery store were for you, nor did I really care. I mean, they were sweet, moist and vanilla/blueberry flavor bombs. How could I NOT love them? Now, since I'm much more conscious about what I eat, I do not get to enjoy muffins often. I love to make and eat them, though...I'd go as far as to say that muffins are one of my favorite food groups. Next to the noodle/rice group. ;D I modified this recipe from my gluten-free cake recipe that I published last year for Vegan MoFo (which is coming up soon, everybody!). I wanted the muffin to be a little more nutrient-dense, so I added flax and some whole grain amaranth flour for extra fiber and healthy omega-3 fats. The resulting muffin is still light, fluffy and moist with a delicate buttery sweetness. It's quite wonderful in the morning, I must say. Now, on to the good stuff... Jumbo Blueberry MuffinsYield: 6 jumbo/12 regular muffins Gluten & refined sugar free; can be soy and nut free Ingredients
Instructions
Oven preheat to 325 F.
Yes, I am that lunatic who uses the oven in the summer. I love everything that the oven does for my food for the most part (unless I'm having an unlucky day). I tend to use it less as the weather gets warmer for the sake of my well being. However, when I found myself with an abundance of red potatoes that needed to be cooked, I decided to take one for the team and fire up the oven. Because, fries. I do love a deep fried potato every once and a while, but usually not at home. I would always rather bake something than fry it at home because of a couple of reasons. I don't like to add any more excess oil than I need for cooking purposes. I do like oil, but I cannot eat anything that is too oily. It ruins the texture and mouth feel of the food you are eating. Also, I hate cleaning oil. When you deep fry, there's always that smelly left-over oil in your pan that you've got to dispose of and then wash off. Not for me, thanks! The last time I did all of that craziness I made it worth my while: Yeah, an oozing mountain of doughnuts is definitely worth the clean up. ;) But, for now, I think I'll stick to my trusty oven to crisp my food for me! I sliced my potatoes into wedges and doused them with flavorful spices to give them an amazing aroma. Man, they were delicious. These curry fries are easy to make, easy to customize, and super easy to pop in your mouth hole. They're great as a snack or with a wonderful main dish for dinner (veggie burger, anyone? Check Hilary's out! She's got great ones). Summer's not over just yet, so make your picnic foods while they're still trendy! =P Curry Oven FriesYield: 4-6 servings Oven: 375 F Ingredients
Instructions
Happy end of summer, everyone! Maybe make some of these babies for Labor Day? ^_^ I am so happy that summer fruit is in full swing right now! I made some peach crumble bars about a week ago for a graduation party. I love coming up with desserts for this particular group of friends because it's quite a challenge to make something that everyone can eat. I love a challenge. ;) I am vegan, of course. My friends who hosted the party are unable to eat: dairy, soy and nuts. Most people who talk to me about accommodating friends with specific dietary needs have a certain venom in their voices. It must be tough for those who have to purchase expensive allergen-free desserts from the store. More often than not, if you're unable to get them fresh, you have to splurge on frozen products. I don't know about anyone else, but I only enjoy frozen things if they happen to be ice cream. Or smoothies. Or milkshakes. Or chocolate. Honestly, some chocolate tastes really good frozen. Moving on. So, I made these crumble bars because they seem to fit the bill perfectly. I had some perfectly ripe peaches, oats, gluten-free flour, and all the other ingredients just lying around in my kitchen wasting away. I decided to give them all a purpose. I love peaches in the summer. They're juicy, sweet, tangy, and soft. Nothing better in a salad, on pancakes, in my smoothies, and just, generally, around and in my mouth. They also cook down very nicely into jam or compote. I made the latter for these crumble bars and it was the easiest process in the world. I would definitely recommend a Vitamix/food processor/stick blender for the compote. It's not necessary, of course. I've also made the compote without blending the peaches beforehand and it came out just as delicious. The amount of time and texture does change when you blend the fruit, though. I found that it comes out more consistently and is easier for slicing the finished bars. Chunky or smooth, it's up to you. Now, if you would care to indulge (but not too much because this is kind of healthy), go grab some ripe peaches and crumble them! ^_^ Peach Crumble BarsYield: approx 9-12 servings (1-8x8 square pan) Soy, Nut, & Gluten Free Ingredients
For the compote
For the crumble
Instructions Oven 350 F.
|
I'm Jess!This is my very first food blog! I post revised conventional recipes of foods that I hold near and dear to my heart. My cooking here is all gluten-free and cruelty-free, but full of flavor and comfort. Archives
December 2017
Categories
All
|