Archive | July, 2015

Cream Cheese

31 Jul

Since making Nina’s vegan butter a few days ago, I couldn’t stop thinking about what would happen if I added cashew cream to the mixture. When I get ideas like this in my head, they tend to stick there until I actually make them. Some might call it “obsessive”, I call it “dedicated.”

I never think to plan ahead to soak my cashews, so I boiled them for 15 minutes to soften them for blending. This recipe will be much easier for you if you have a high powered blender – I only have a Ninja and it worked well.
I also added a few more ingredients to increase the “tang” for the cream cheese. It might seem really tangy originally but it will mellow a bit in the fridge. There isn’t a great substitute for the vegan lactic acid powder, but it’s not that expensive to purchase on Amazon or Modernist Pantry and it will really kick up your vegan mac and cheese! You can try 1 tablespoon of fresh lemon juice for a similar acidic flavor.
image

Continue reading →

Tags: , , , , , , ,

Truffle and Herb Butter

30 Jul

So you like Earth Balance, eh? Wait until you try this!!! I’ve been meaning to make my own vegan butter for months now, but it hasn’t been high on my agenda as most recipes call for a few ingredients I didn’t have, mainly soy lecithin. But this recipe?? Well, I had all of those ingredients in my fridge! I know you’re probably tired of hearing about aquafaba by now, but this recipe just proves it can do anything. Don’t forget to check out the Facebook group for other great recipes.

The lovely Nina at Plante Pusherne gave me permission to share this recipe here, but be sure to check out her blog for the original! She gives a lot of helpful tips and information that I’m not including here, especially for some ingredient substitutions.

This truffle herb version is amazing spread on bread or tossed with pasta (how I used it!)

image

Continue reading →

Tags: , , , , , , ,

Lazy Samoas

27 Jul

A few Christmases ago I received Vegan Cookies Invade Your Cookie Jar and it sat on my shelf for months before I finally opened it up. Once I did, I baked as many of the recipes as I could and sent them off to work with my husband. The consensus thus far is that the caramel pecan bars are the best, but these are a close second. Here’s where to buy it!!

I decided to try using aquafaba instead of flax egg in these and I wasn’t quite sure it would work. To my surprise, it worked perfectly and resulted in a fluffy and chewy cookie, as opposed to the dense flax – egg cookie. If you loved the covered shortbread girl scout cookies by the same name, you will love these, plus they’re way easier to make!

image

Continue reading →

Tags: , , , , , , , , , , ,

Vegan Lemon Thyme Macarons

24 Jul

I was really intrigued by the idea of infusing aquafaba with different flavors and I have some beautiful thyme growing in my garden this summer. These macarons combined the savory flavor of thyme with a sweet lemon filling and are a perfect light treat.

Be sure to check out my macaron troubleshooting guide for a step by step with pictures!

As always, a big thanks to Charis at Floral Frosting for the vegan macaron recipe and inspiration! Check out the aquafaba Facebook group for more recipes involving aquafaba!

image

Continue reading →

Tags: , , , , , , , , , , ,

Blue Tahini Macarons

14 Jul

Heather at Let’s Go Bake A Cake shared these macarons almost two months ago and I’ve been wanting to try them ever since. I love the idea of tahini filling, as it’s one of my favorite flavors. I thought I’d make them aqua colored and photograph them on top of chickpeas as my little joke on aquafaba. Admit it, it’s pretty funny.

I went back to using the measurements created by Floral Frosting as I’ve had more success with her recipe than any other one.

Blue Tahini Macarons

Continue reading →

Tags: , , , , , , ,

Lentil Soup

13 Jul

Some days I really love cooking and I enjoy spending the time chopping and sautéing and preparing something fresh for my family. Other days I really enjoy throwing everything in a pot and watching Netflix. This recipe is for the latter days.

image

Continue reading →

Tags: , , , , , , ,

The “Cheese”

10 Jul

If you are offended by anything involving by breastfeeding or breastmilk, please do not read any further. Continue reading →

Tags: , ,

Vanilla Macaron with Chocolate Whiskey Ganache

5 Jul

I started these macarons with intention of filling then with a rum ganache, but the bottle that I thought was rum was whiskey instead. Definitely a sign of as new parent-I don’t even know what alcohol we have anymore!! I figured whiskey would work just as well as rum and if nothing else they were still chocolate and delicious.

Check out Floral Frosting for more great recipes!

Vanilla Macaron with Chocolate Whiskey Ganache
Vanilla Macaron with Chocolate Whiskey Ganache

Continue reading →

Tags: , , , , , ,

Aquafaba

1 Jul

After posting so many enticing recipes with aquafaba, I had a few requests to type up a blog post about how I make my aquafaba. To be honest, I’ve only used canned aquafaba once. There’s a lot of great reading about aquafaba at Aquafaba.com, including a FAQ by the creator of the first vegan meringue, Goose Wohlt.

I’ve tried to make my beans from dry since I purchased my Instant Pot 7-in-1 pressure cooker. Here’s my few minute speech about the Instant Pot – I tend to put large kitchen purchases on hold for a few months until I really know that I’m going to use them regularly. I did not do this with the Instant Pot. It was a bit of an impulse purchase, but I knew it would be put to good use in our house. It has a permanent place on my counter (which I try to keep cleared off) because I use it so regularly. I tend to forget about a pot of beans on the stove or yogurt in the oven, but with the Instant Pot, since everything is kept in a sealed environment, I don’t have to worry about my forgetful brain. I use it as a pressure cooker for beans, rice/grain cooker, yogurt incubator, steamer for seitan, and even for entire 1-pot meals.

Basically, this thing is amazing.

Back to aquafaba (bean water.)

Aquafaba

Continue reading →

Tags: , , , , , ,