Blintz Souffle Success!

WARNING: NOT PASSOVER-FRIENDLY. I made this a while ago, I’ve just been keeping it to myself. As soon as passover ends, I’m making this. And I’ll post a photo.

Okay, get ready for this. I made a SUCCESSFUL vegan blintz souffle!!!!!
My camera is still broken so I’ll just jot down the recipe:

Blintz Souffle

• 1 package Nasoya firm lite tofu (or 14 oz of any firm tofu, not silken)
• 2 tablespoons lemon juice
• 1/4 cup sugar ( I used maple sugar just because I don’t like using regular sugar, but plain sugar sould give it a more neutral taste)
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 cup flour ( I used spelt, but any flour will do)
• 1/4 cup corn flour
• 2 teaspoons vegan cream cheese
• 1/2 cup vegan milk

Throw all ingredients into the blender until smooth, and then pour into an 8 inch souffle dish. Bake at 375 for about 30 minutes, or until risen and set in the middle. Enjoy!

P.S. I actually don’t remember exactly how I baked it, but you could pretty much do it by eye.  And if you want more texture, leave half of the tofu out of the blender and mash it with a fork instead.

CRAPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPP

I just got the battery stuck in my Nikon. Actually, it’s my dad’s Nikon. I’m so screwed and I’m freaking out. I can’t fix it. It’s sunday so the camera store is closed. There’s also a snowstorm going on so I don’t know if I’ll be able to make it over there tomorrow…
shit.
On a lighter note, I’ve almost perfected my blintz souffle. That’s what I was trying to take a picture of.

shortish and sweet

I made a LOAD of cupcakes for a bakesale today, all from Vegan Cupcakes Take Over The World. I made the mistake of not taking pictures before I sent them off. I was so sure there would be a few left. So no pictures. But they were absolutely GORGEOUS. Even after we sold out, people came back asking for more. So I’m making more for the next bakesale, and I’m also charging more. One dollar for sweet, organic, vegan goodness is just not enough. Anyways, I picked out the cookies and cream cupcakes, and the cappuccino cupcakes. Unsurprisingly, The cookies and cream sold out within minutes (what else would you expect from starving kids at 3:00?). The cappucino went slowly but surely. The next time I make the cappucino, I’m adding a teaspoon of coffee extract- the flavor just wasn’t pronounced enough. The topping I used was amazing! From here. It’s without a doubt, the best vegan whipped cream substitute. I’ve made it before and it came out perfectly. Today though, I only had lite coconut milk on hand and decided to use that instead. Mistake. If you want to make it lower fat, you have to increase the cornstarch and agar. Mine turned out more like a pudding than whipped cream. Tasty all the same.
Exciting news!! I might start teaching a vegan cooking class at my school. Not definite yet, but it would be so great to answer the question “what do vegans eat?”. Not to mention teaching my fellow vegans how to bake. I don’t want to be mean or offensive, but the other food at the bakesale really wasn’t all that great. I want to prevent vegan food from getting a bad reputation because a few people, to put it nicely, need to brush up on their skills. Well, I guess that might be a little harsh considering I’m talking about high school freshmen and sophmores..but still. Oh! and I’m also going to start taking classes at the natural gourmet institute =] First class I think will be a knife skills class. Admit it, someone who can slice and dice in seconds is pretty hot….yes, and skilled.

victory cookie!

so it’s not a very good picture (taken with a cell phone) but….

yeah…I had a young democrats party…the cookie was very much enjoyed…
here’s the recipe:
http://www.pakupaku.info/sweets/blondies.shtml <—i would reduce the sugar to 1/2 cup because the cookie came out a little bit carmelized. Not that it tasted bad at all =]

for decorating:
1) find a picture of your chosen design and print it to scale.
2) tape the design onto the back of a cookie sheet
3) wrap the entire cookie sheet with cling wrap neatly. the fewer wrinkles the better.
4) use a piping bag with your prefered icing (i used buttercream) to trace the design onto the cling wrap. freeze the pan for 10-15 minutes.
5) remove from the freezer and carefully unpeel cling wrap from the cookie sheet.
6) place the cling wrap icing side down on top of the cookie.
7) lightly press the design onto the cookie- hard enough that the icing makes contact with the cookie, but light enough that the design is not ruined.
8) refreeze for another 15 minutes or until icing is firm.
9) when firm, slowly peel cling wrap off of the cookie. any icing that does not transfer onto the cookie can be drawn in with extra icing in the piping bag. VOILA!

Blogging by Mail

My BBM arrived!! =] I have yet to blog about it because I’ve been loaded with school work, but I promise, by tomorrow. It was the best box ever! I actually don’t think my friends could have made a better package.

Still Here

I haven’t abandoned this blog. Actually, I meant to post yesterday. I thought I’d amaze you all with a vegan angel food cake recipe. Unfortunately, my attempt resulted in total disaster. It came out all gummy and un-angel food-like. I may not be able to give you a recipe to make one, but I can tell you what not to do. Here was my procedure:

1. Make vegan meringue
2. Combine 1/2 C flour with 1/2 C pineapple juice until smooth. Fold into the meringue.
3. Bake at 350 for 35 minutes.

Looking back, it definitely could’ve used way more flour. I was just so afraid of ruining the meringue. If anyone plays around with this, let me know. I’m sure there’s a lot of us who’re interested.

When Boredom Strikes?

News travels pretty fast in the blogosphere, and the latest craze that’s been showing up on food blogs far and wide has been The Omnivore’s Hundred, a list of 100 foods that all omnivores should eat at some point in their lives. Well, I like the idea, but obviously that sort of thing just doesn’t fly with me. Instead, I present to you my revised list, The Vegan’s Hundred instead! Everything here is either naturally free of animal products or can be veganized, and just like the original, these foods vary from the every day to extraordinary, delectable and disgusting. They’re simply all of the things that, in my opinion, any vegan foodie should definitely sink their teeth into at least once.

Your mission, should you choose to accept it:

1) Copy this list into your own blog, including these instructions.
2) Bold all the items you’ve eaten.
3) Cross out any items that you would never consider eating.
4) Post a comment here once you’ve finished and link your post back to this one.
5) Pass it on!

1. Natto
2. Green Smoothie
3. Tofu Scramble
4. Haggis
5. Mangosteen
6. Creme brulee
7. Fondue
8. Marmite/Vegemite
9. Borscht
10. Baba ghanoush
11. Nachos
12. Authentic soba noodles
13. PB&J sandwich (allergic to peanuts)
14. Aloo gobi
15. Taco from a street cart
16. Boba Tea
17. Black truffle
18. Fruit wine made from something other than grapes
19. Gyoza
20. Vanilla ice cream
21. Heirloom tomatoes
22. Fresh wild berries
23. Ceviche
24. Rice and beans
25. Knish
26. Raw scotch bonnet pepper
27. Dulce de leche
28. Caviar
29. Baklava
30. Pate
31. Wasabi peas
32. Chowder in a sourdough bowl
33. Mango lassi
34. Sauerkraut❤
35. Root beer float
36. Mulled cider
37. Scones with buttery spread and jam
38. Vodka jelly
39. Gumbo
40. Fast food french fries
41. Raw Brownies
42. Fresh Garbanzo Beans
43. Dahl
44. Homemade Soymilk
45. Wine from a bottle worth £60/$120 or more
46. Stroopwafle
47. Samosas
48. Vegetable Sushi
49. Glazed doughnut
50. Seaweed
51. Prickly pear
52. Umeboshi
53. Tofurkey
54. Sheese<—I’m currently on a mission to buy some. Getting it shipped is too expensive.
55. Cotton candy
56. Gnocchi
57. Piña colada
58. Birch beer
59. Scrapple
60. Carob chips
61. S’mores
62. Soy curls
63. Chickpea cutlets
64. Curry
65. Durian
66. Homemade Sausages
67. Churros, elephant ears, or funnel cake
68. Smoked tofu
69. Fried plantain
70. Mochi
71. Gazpacho
72. Warm chocolate chip cookies
73. Absinthe
74. Corn on the cob
75. Whipped cream, straight from the can
76. Pomegranate
77. Fauxstess Cupcake
78. Mashed potatoes with gravy
79. Jerky
80. Croissants
81. French onion soup
82. Savory crepes
83. Tings
84. A meal at Candle 79
85. Moussaka
86. Sprouted grains or seeds
87. Macaroni and “cheese”
88. Flowers
89. Matzoh ball soup
90. White chocolate
91. Seitan
92. Kimchi
93. Butterscotch chips
94. Yellow watermelon
95. Chili with chocolate
96. Bagel and Tofutti
97. Potato milk
98. Polenta
99. Jamaican Blue Mountain coffee
100. Raw cookie dough

Banana Split Cupcakes!

 

As a student ambassador, I have to help out with the student orientation tomorrow for all the new kids who aren’t freshman. After touring the kids around the school, we have a whole lunch/snack type thing in the cafeteria where all the ambassadors bring food. It took me a while to come up with something vegan that wouldn’t scare a new kid. BANANA SPLIT CUPCAKES! Every other recipe I’ve seen uses pineapple, which I personally think is gross, so I made up/modified my own recipe. While they’re great dessert treats, they’re also on the healthy side.

Banana Split Cupcakes

1 1/2 cups organic unbleached flour
1 1/2 cups organic whole wheat pastry flour
3/4 tsp. baking soda
3/4 tsp. non-aluminum baking powder
pinch sea salt
1/4 cup canola oil
2 T unsweetened yogurt 
3/4 cup maple syrup
1 tsp. vanilla extract
1 tsp. vinegar
1 cup almond milk

2 ripe bananas, mashed
1/2 cup pureed fresh strawberries
1/4 cup mini chocolate chips

Sift all dry ingredients together and whisk all wet ingredients together. Combine. Divide batter between two bowls. Fold bananas into one batter, and straweberries in the other. Spoon banana batter into cupcake liners to fill a little less than halfway. Spoon strawberry batter over the banana batter until the cups are 2/3 full. Bake at 375°F for about 25 minutes. Makes about 33 mini cupcakes.

Strawberry Glaze
1 cup confectioner’s sugar
1/2 cup frozen strawberries, rinsed, defrosted, and patted dry
2T vegetable shortening

Chocolate Drizzle
3T semisweet chocolate chips

1 banana

Blend strawberry glaze ingredients until smooth. Use a small spoon to drop about 1/2 tsp glaze on each cupcake. Top each cupcake with a thin banana slice. Melt chocolate chips in microwave for 20 seconds. Use a piping bag and a small round piping tip to drizzle chocolate on each cupcake.  If you really want to dress these up, proceed to top with whipped cream, cherries, and walnuts.

Bittersweet Chocolate Raspberry Tea Bread

This is my last post for a month. No time to blurb- here’s the recipe (it’s delicious by the way):

1 cup strong raspberry tea
1/3 cup oat bran
1 cup spelt
1/2 cup dutch cocoa powder**
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp ginger (optional)
1/3 cup soyogurt
2 T raspberry jam
1 tbsp apple cider vinegar
1 tsp vanilla extract
pure stevia extract (optional- adjust to taste)*
*this is meant to be a bitter breakfast loaf, not dessert cake. If you prefer it sweeter, go for it. Otherwise, it tastes really good with raspberry jam.

**This amount of cocoa powder makes an extremely dark loaf. It almosts masks the flavor of the raspberry. I would replace half the cocoa powder with more flour to make the raspberry more pronounced. Chocolate lovers, leave as is.
Prepare the tea ahead of time by steeping two teabags in one cup of boiling water until cool.

Preheat oven to 350 F. Grease one regular loaf pan or two mini loaf pans.
Combine the dry ingredients (oatmeal through ginger) in a medium-sized mixing bowl. Add the tea, yogurt, vinegar, vanilla, syrup, and jam. Mix well and add the stevia, adjusting it to taste.

optional step: line the bottom of the greased pan with fresh raspberries for an upside down loaf. invert before serving.

additional optional step: sprinkle 1-2 tablespoons sugar on top of the batter after pouring it in the loaf pan for a crisp, sugar crust.
Pour the batter into the prepared pan. Bake for about 25 minutes, or until a tester inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean. Serve warm or at room temperature.

Just a Short Note on Vegan Cheesecake

If you feel the need to make one, use this recipe: http://bakingbites.com/2005/09/imbb-19-i-cant-believe-its-vegan-cheesecake/

It was absolutely spectacular, and my omnivorous father is begging me to make it again. Besides, it was possibly the easiest pie I’ve ever made. Just throw all the ingredients in a blender, pour it into the pan (crustless or not), and bake. Waiting for it to cool was the hardest part.