Avocados and Ales

Chocolate Mousse

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?

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

Continue reading →

Tags: aquafaba, chocolate, dessert, gluten-free, mousse, recipe, vegan, vegetarian

Comments Leave a Comment
Categories aquafaba, desserts, gluten-free, vegan

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.

Continue reading →

Tags: asian, cake, dinner, easy, egg free, food, gluten-free, recipe, spicy, tofu, vegan, vegetarian

Comments 15 Comments
Categories asian, chinese, gluten-free, vegan

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.

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.

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

Continue reading →

Tags: basil, broccoli, carrots, dinner, easy, noodles, pasta, plant based diet, recipe, rice, spicy, thai, vegan, vegetarian

Comments 8 Comments
Categories asian, thai, vegan

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.

Continue reading →

Tags: calzone, cheese, food, pizza, Television, vegan, vegetarian

Comments 1 Comment
Categories Italian, pizza, vegan

Peanut Butter Cookies

30 Sep

Cookies are delicious. This is a known fact of the universe.

Peanut butter is delicious. This is another known fact. (Unless you’re allergic, in which case, avoid this recipe at all costs.)

Peanut butter cookies?

Let’s just say these are best for a day when you are leaving the house, otherwise you will eat the entire container. Or bring them with you and share with your coworkers, because shared calories don’t count. That is another known fact.

Aquafaba is a great binder in these cookies. In fact, these are better than any other vegan peanut butter cookie I have tried. They are crunchy with a bit of give, like a perfect cookie should be. But don’t just listen to me, try them yourself!

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

Continue reading →

Tags: aquafaba, cookies, desserts, food, peanut butter, recipe, sweets, vegan, vegetarian

Comments 5 Comments
Categories american, desserts, vegan

Almond Birthday Cake Dacquoise

29 Sep

What does one do when one has leftover cake?

Well, if you’re me, you bake it into an entirely new cake! I have gotten such a positive response on my birthday cake macarons, I wanted to make a birthday cake flavored dacquoise. I didn’t feel that hazelnut would go well with this flavor, so I chose to only use almonds to keep the flavor mild.

Be sure to check out my other dacquoise recipes!
Birthday Dacquoise
Hazelnut Almond Dacquoise with Espresso Buttercream and Chocolate Ganache
Strawberry Buttercream and Lemon Curd Dacquoise

Be sure to also check out the vegan meringue Facebook group for more amazing aquafaba recipes and Aquafaba.com for frequently asked questions.

Continue reading →

Tags: almond, aquafaba, birthday, cake, chickpea, dacquoise, dessert, recipe, vegan, vegetarian

Comments Leave a Comment
Categories aquafaba, desserts

Eggplant and Spicy Tofu Spring Rolls

28 Sep

I love spring rolls. I love eggplant. And I love tofu. The combination of all three is pretty much the perfect meal for me.

This recipe is definitely a fusion of many different cuisines so don’t take it as anything authentic. It was basically born out of my attempt to use up a bunch of different bottles in my fridge. I used the same marinade I use in my baked tofu on the eggplant, and I still LOVE the flavor. Black vinegar is just something else!

You can definitely change any of the fillings in this recipe. I would highly recommend adding rice noodles as well, because we can all use more carbs. Carrots would be really tasty too, but only the good carrots, not those ones that taste weird. Does anyone else ever get weird tasting carrots?
Now I’m rambling. Here’s the recipe!

Continue reading →

Tags: basil, cucumber, dinner, eggplant, food, gluten-free, lunch, plant based recipe, tofu, vegan, vegetarian

Comments 8 Comments
Categories asian, japanese, thai, vietnamese

Facebook Page?

26 Sep

I recently started this Facebook page for my blog and I would love it if you took the time to give it a like!

Here’s a photo of some giant pumpkin spice macarons to help convince you!

Comments Leave a Comment
Categories vegan

Galaxy Cake

24 Sep

On a similar theme as my galaxy macarons, I wanted to create a galaxy cake. The cake portion is simply a no egg, no dairy chocolate cake. The recipe is available in the Vegan Meringue Facebook group recipe files: it’s the chocolate midnight cake by Rebecca August.

The frosting is a vegan buttercream. I originally made about 2.5 cups, but realized with the petal technique I was going to need quite a bit more. I made another 1.5 cups of icing and it ended up being just enough. I highly recommend using Earth Balance butter for frosting recipes. We normally wouldn’t eat a lot of artificial color like this; I usually pawn most of my baking off on coworkers and friends!

I topped the cake with these galaxy meringues, which were made with 1/3 cup reduced aquafaba and 1/2 cup sugar. I dripped gel color down the inside of the piping bag to achieve the galaxy effect. I also crumbled one of the meringues, sprinkled on a little powdered sugar, and used pearl sprinkles for the stars and moons.

The petal technique is extremely easy. Pipe a blob of frosting with a piping bag fitted with a round tip, and spread it to the right with a spoon or spatula. Continue piping and spreading all the way around.

The cake itself is moist and delicious and we’ve been slowly enjoying it over the past few days.

Hope you enjoyed the photos!

Tags: aquafaba, cake, chocolate, dessert, galaxy, recipe, space, vegan, vegetarian, what vegans eat

Comments 2 Comments
Categories desserts, vegan

Sweetfire Seitan

14 Sep

Most people who know me know I worked in a famous Asian restaurant for well over a year. I was very limited in my meal options there; I pretty much exclusively ate white rice and vegetable spring rolls. Every once in a while I would cook my own meals using the ingredients available to me. One meal I ate regularly was vegetables cooked in their sweet chili sauce (which they called sweetfire.) I was never able to add a vegan protein to it there, but recreating it at home gave me that option.

I used seitan I had dipped in a soy/flour mixture and fried, because the recipe from my work used deep-fried chicken bites. You could easily sub tofu or unbreaded seitan as well. This recipe is extremely quick and easy, especially if you use premade sauce and seitan. Perfect for busy work nights or long days with a teething toddler.

Continue reading →