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Peanut Butter and Jelly Macarons

My home town high school had a breakfast available every morning for the kids who were dropped off early or who rode the bus. My favorite was breakfast pizza (the cafeteria would be full every other Thursday morning.) This is, unfortunately, not a recipe for breakfast pizza macarons. The other popular breakfast there were the Smuckers Uncrustables peanut butter sandwiches, because apparently it was too hard to make real peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. These macarons remind me of the cloying, sweet flavor of those sandwiches in a bite size package.

If this is your first time here, be sure to check out Charis’s recipes at Floral Frosting, as she is the creator of this recipe. She’s got some beautiful recipes there, her buttercream is one of our favorites! You also should take a look at the Vegan Meringue Facebook group for more amazing recipes. If you have trouble with the directions, try reading my troubleshooting guide for a little more in depth description.

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Tags: aquafaba, dessert, macarons, peanut butter and jelly, plant-based, recipe, vegan, vegetarian

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Categories american, desserts, gluten-free, vegan

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!

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Tags: aquafaba, chocolate, coconut, cookie, dessert, food, plant-based, recipe, samoas, vegan, Vegan Cookies Invade Your Cookie Jar, vegetarian

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Categories american, desserts, vegan

The Easiest and Best Vegan Cheddar Cheese Sauce

15 May

I know, that title sets a pretty high standard. I was pretty skeptical when everyone in a Facebook group I’m in with posting about this potato carrot cheese, stating that it was the best cheese they’ve ever made. We decided to try it to see if it lived up to the hype, but obviously made a few modifications. I’ve tried my fair share of cheese sauces, from cookbooks and online blogs, but this one is going to be my current go to from now on. This cheese sauce works because the cell walls of potatoes release starches when you destroy them, this is a common problem when making mashed potatoes and results in a gluey texture. However, with vegan cheese, gluey texture equals amazing stretch.
The carrots add that nice orange flavor, coconut oil replicates the creamy mouth feel of dairy fats, nutritional yeast has the stinky cheesy smell of cheddar, miso paste gives an authentic umami flavor, and lactic acid provides the sharp tang of dairy cheese. Please try this cheese!

This recipe is fantastic for nachos.

As well as breakfast sandwiches.

In fact, it’s pretty much good with just a spoon and nothing else 🙂

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Tags: cheddar cheese, cheese, cmpa, dinner, food, gluten-free, mspi, recipe, soy-free, vegan

Comments 16 Comments
Categories american, dips, gluten-free, vegan

Ham Style Seitan

26 Nov

One of the things I miss most from my meat eating days is ham. Not the cruelty and death that comes with it, or even the texture, but the smokey, sweet flavor that’s perfect on pizzas, in salads, or with Sunday dinner. I’ve been on the lookout for a ham seitan recipe for a while, and this recipe seemed to combine all the good flavors of ham in one place.

We ate this sliced into rounds on pizza, but I think this would be a great alternative to Tofurky at a thanksgiving dinner. It would be perfect baked with a glaze and slices of pineapple. This seitan is a bit soft as is, but if you bake it in the foil for 30 minutes at 350° F it comes out perfect for snacking and slicing.

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Tags: dinner, food, ham, recipe, seitan, Thanksgiving, vegan, vegetarian

Comments 11 Comments
Categories american, breakfast, meat alternative, pizza, vegan

Vegan Banana Bread

10 Nov

We always buy bananas at the beginning of the week for packed lunches, so inevitably at the end of the week we have a few very ripe bananas leftover. Because of this, I’ve been baking this banana bread almost every week for months. We always have a loaf on the counter to snack on after dinner or with coffee. The recipe is originally by Isa at Post Punk Kitchen, and it’s become our favorite. I love adding chocolate chips, blueberries, or topping it with struesel topping.

A trick I’ve learned recently is that if your bananas are not quite banana bread ripe, but too ripe for normal eating, you can toss them in a 350°F oven until they are black and mushy.

If you love your family, make this bread. I promise they will love you back.

Ingredients:
• 1/2 cup brown sugar
• 1/2 cups white sugar
• 1/2 cup coconut oil
• 3 very ripe bananas, mashed well
• 2 cups flour
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/4 cup vanilla almond milk, mixed with 1 teaspoon apple cider vinegar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1/4 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice
• 1/2 teaspoon salt

Directions:
1. Cream together the coconut oil and sugars. Add bananas, almond milk, and vanilla.
2. Mix in flour, baking soda, salt and spices.
3. Pour batter into greased 8×4 pan. Bake for an hour to an hour 10 minutes at 350 ˚ F.

Tags: bananas, bread, breakfast, food, recipe, vegan, vegetarian

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Categories american, breakfast, desserts, grains, vegan

Buffalo Seitan

26 Oct

Football on Sundays is a tradition in my house. I usually serve nachos, but some weeks I want something different. We love spicy foods and finger foods:buffalo wings are an easy answer. Obviously we don’t eat wings, but seitan is an easy substitute. I’d love to try wrapping the seitan around skewers so you get the “handle” for eating. Something like this from Meet the Shannons would work great.

I was curious as to why they are called buffalo wings, and Wikipedia gave me this answer “One of the more prevalent claims is that Buffalo wings were first prepared at the Anchor Bar in Buffalo, New York, by Teressa Bellissimo.” One more question I will no longer have to wonder about.