Archive | October, 2015

Candy Corn Meringues

26 Oct

Halloween is quickly approaching. I already have my costume (or three) and I’m in the spirit for Halloween themed treats and Hocus Pocus marathons. My husband is a huge fan of Halloween and decorates our house and yard accordingly.

I saw the idea for these cute little frosting filled meringues while searching for pumpkin meringues and couldn’t resist making them. All the fun of macarons with way less effort and failure!

Candy Corn Meringues

Be sure to check out the Vegan Meringue Facebook page for more information about aquafaba!

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Speculoos Cookie Bars

22 Oct

I developed a slight addiction to a Trader Joe’s product called Cookie Butter sometime last year-if you’ve ever tasted it, you can understand why. There are secret underground communities dedicated to worshiping the stuff. I’m dead serious, just look up cookie butter on Tumblr and browse for about 30 seconds. It combines everything that is good about gingerbread and peanut butter and cookies into one addicting jar.

Speculoos Cookie Bars

All love fades eventually, though and then you are left with the remnants of your broken relationship. In my case, that’s about 4 jars of cookies butter hiding in a cabinet. I had honestly forgotten about them until the past weekend. I was forced to move everything out of my pantry to make space for a washer and dryer (yay!). Our recent 14 inches of snow inspired me to make a warm, comforting dessert and I knew I could find a use for all that cookie butter.

Speculoos Cookie Bars

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Aquafaba Buns

19 Oct

Last week we celebrated my husband’s birthday. He’s a pretty neat guy, but one of his few flaws is his favorite foods-burgers. I have a particular dislike for most vegan burgers on the market these days. I’d take a black bean burger over a Boca Burger any day.

But, being the wonderful wife I am, I indulge his burger cravings occasionally, especially on his birthday. These homemade buns were perfect for burgers and actually made them palatable for me. We’ve been enjoying these buns for other sandwiches recently too!

Aquafaba Buns

Aquafaba works great as a binder in this recipe. Be sure to check out the Facebook page for more aquafaba recipes!

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Cheesy Ham and Quinoa Skillet

14 Oct

I’m often inspired by the ingredients in my fridge or freezer to make easy weeknight dinners like this. To be more accurate, I’m more often inspired by the LACK of ingredients, so I throw something together like this.

 

ham

Casseroles are not common in our weekly menu, but I really enjoy recipes like this that are one pan-dishes. The less dishes I have to do the more time I get to spend with my family, and that’s always a win.

You can use any vegan cheese sauce you prefer for this recipe. I am particularly partial to the carrot-potato cheese sauce, but hey, that’s just me. You could also sub the quinoa for rice or noodles. For some reason I always forget about quinoa in the back of my pantry, but it’s delicious and good for you, so I probably should remember it more often.

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Chocolate Chip Banana Muffins

12 Oct Chocolate Chip Banana Muffins

Today is my husband’s birthday and one of his usual requests is something with chocolate. I knew I needed to use up these bananas from my freezer, so chocolate chip banana muffins were a great way to satisfy both his sweet tooth and my desire to declutter.

Aquafaba makes a great egg replacer in these muffins and no one would even be able to tell they’re egg and dairy free. I actually brought them in to share with his coworkers and they gobbled them up.

Chocolate Chip Banana Muffins

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Three Mushroom Stroganoff

9 Oct Three Mushroom Stroganoff

Beef stroganoff was one of the first recipes I tried as a young woman living on my own. It failed pretty miserably and was only deemed “okay…but too sour” by my then-boyfriend. Since then, I’ve improved my recipe and gone vegan. This dish is even more delicious due to my addition of extra mushrooms in the vegan version.

Three Mushroom Stroganoff

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Chocolate Mousse

8 Oct

I’m going to be completely honest in writing the post.  I actually screwed up this recipe in my own impatience, resulting in seized chocolate in my mousse. However, the recipe itself should work if you have more patience than I.

My advice to you is to stir slowly and add your chocolate to your meringue a little bit at a time. Also, definitely wait for it to be at room temperature. If you happen to screw it up like I did, just pour some more chocolate on top. Your husband won’t notice unless he’s a French chef.

And in that case, why isn’t he making you dinner?

Chocolate Mousse

P.S. Check our the Vegan Meringue Facebook group for more great aquafaba recipes!

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Salt and Pepper Tofu

5 Oct

When I was in 6th grade my teacher, Mrs. Dagle, gave the class a get-to-know-you survey. She asked for everyone’s favorite color, book, food, etc. I remember answering my favorite food as “anything except tofu.” I hated the texture of tofu for years-I would often buy it and leave it in the fridge for weeks until I finally cooked it, only to throw half away. Salt and pepper tofu was the first recipe I tried where I really enjoyed the texture and the taste. Something about frying tofu to give it a crunchy texture made it more palatable to me.

I bookmarked this recipe years ago and it’s become a favorite for busy weeknights. I’ve also experimented with cooking the tofu in sauce afterwards, but I prefer to leave it crunchy just the way it is. Feel free to use it in other dishes or as a beginning step to making barbeque tofu.

Salt and Pepper Tofu

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Spicy Thai Noodles 2

3 Oct

This recipe for spicy Thai noodles has been one of my most pinned and viewed recipes. I still make this regularly, but my cilantro hating husband requested I change that part of the sauce.
Spicy Thai Noodles

I usually have basil around from my herb pot, and when it’s not being made into pesto, it goes great with this recipe.

Try Thai basil if you can find it. If you can’t, that’s fine, but it’s definitely more authentic. Spicy Thai Noodles

Another note; dark soy sauce can be subbed for a tablespoon or two of the regular sauce sauce if you want a darker color.

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Vegan Calzones

2 Oct

We’ve been watching a lot of Parks and Recreation lately and there’s a lot of talk about calzones. Personally, I was never a huge fan of calzones. I think this picture sums it up.

I may have changed my mind after last night. These were delicious and VERY filling. Try drinking a brown ale with these-since it’s autumn, I’d suggest Sierra Nevada’s Tumbler.

Vegan Calzones

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