Christmas 2016

It's Christmas morning for the next 32 minutes or so and I'm looking up my recipes for Christmas dinner.  I'm making an Vegan Eggnog Cheesecake from Susan Voisin's website, FatFree Vegan Kitchen.  I'm also making vegan filet mignon, a recipe I posted in March 2015.  I have since bought the cookbook the creator published, Meatless Meals for Meat Lovers by Tracy Williams. It's a mere $5 and has the recipe for both the Best Damn Seitan I've Ever Had PERIOD and for the Seitan Turkey and Stuffing I have made for Thanksgiving.

This year, I made homemade gifts for some coworkers.  I made bottles of vanilla extract. I used 1 vanilla bean for every 2 ounces of vodka.  I began seeping the beans on September 9, 2016.  The longer the beans seep, the richer the extract. By the time I gave them to my coworkers on December 22, 2016, the extract was a nice brown color and very fragrant. 

I also made them Vanilla Cinnamon Nuts. I got up at 4:00 a.m. on December 22, 2016 and by 5:20 a.m., I had made 8 cups of nuts.  The recipe was extremely easy and vegan.

Vanilla Cinnamon Nuts

4 cups of any type of nuts (raw)
1½ cups sugar
2/3 cup water
4 teaspoons vanilla
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon or so of freshly grated nutmeg

Preheat oven to 350º F; roast nuts on jelly roll pan for 15 minutes, shaking the pan every 5 minutes to prevent burning.  

Combine sugar, water, vanilla, cinnamon & nutmeg in a dutch oven (large enough to hold all of the nuts) and bring to a boil.  Over medium heat, add all nuts and stir constantly.  The mixture will bubble up.  Keep cooking and stirring until the sugar crystallizes.  This will happen in 6-10 minutes.  All of the liquid evaporates and the sugar on the nuts dries out.  Once it starts drying out, it will happen quickly.  You need to continue to stir (it will be harder since the liquid is gone) until the coating on all nuts has crystallized. Turn off the burner to prevent burning.

Line the same jelly roll pan you used to roast the nuts with a piece of parchment paper. (I did this immediately after I put the nuts in the sugar so it was ready when the nuts were done.)  Dump the nuts on the jelly roll pan and spread out to cool.  If the nuts stick together, once they are cooler, break the bigger chunks apart. Store in a sealed container. (I used Ball jars.)

I decorated my vanilla bottles and Ball jars with jute and red yarn and made labels for them. I believe in giving homemade, because it's from the heart, but I don't believe in sloppy homemade.  The packaging is a reflection on me and it takes so little to make things nice.  I bought the labels at Hobby Lobby and they came with a website address where I found templates and could personalize them. The labels even had a hole punch out to hang on my projects.  They are Avery labels #80503.  Great little labels.

Hope you all are having a Merry Christmas!  It's time for me to go cook. 

What Took Me So Long? Vegan Yogurt & Granola

Who buys a yogurt maker on September 21, 2013 and waits until August 29, 2016 to make her first batch of yogurt?  I mean really, after 3 years, wouldn't you think that the yogurt maker should go in the Goodwill box?  I hadn't even opened the box to look at it.

When I bought the yogurt maker, I had looked at many recipes and thought I could make yogurt.  I wanted to make vegan yogurt.  I had tried commercially prepared vegan yogurt and I liked it fine.  But it's expensive and hard to find different flavors.  I even had a hard time finding plain vegan yogurt.  So I bought the yogurt maker and ordered vegan yogurt starter (2 boxes - I was ambitious) and threw the starter in the freezer like I was supposed to.  And then everything stopped and sat waiting.

In August, I decided I would dig out the yogurt maker and make vegan yogurt. It seemed like I read 100 recipes and tips articles, but I'm sure it wasn't that many.  I finally decided on one recipe that heated the soy milk (Edensoy or WestSoy - the kind with only soy beans and filtered water in it - no other additives). It was very easy.  This recipe used cornstarch as a thickener and I'll admit, the yogurt was very thick.  I thought I cooked it too long (10 or 11 hours) as it was a little sour for my taste, but it turns out, that's just because I wasn't used to the flavor. 

My vegan yogurt starter expired in February 2014.  YIKES!  Turns out, it stays good indefinitely in the freezer.  I have used it for every batch of yogurt I've made except one where I added 1/2 cup of my yogurt instead as the starter.  Good thing the starter is still good - I have those two boxes to use up!

I tried another recipe using Arrowroot Starch for the thickener.  It turned out OK, too, but wasn't as thick as cornstarch.  Then I read another recipe and the author said she uses no thickeners and doesn't heat the milk before culturing.  She just adds 1 capsule of vegan probiotic (the refrigerated kind) to the milk and then cultures it.  That sounded great to me ... BUT ... I still have these 2 boxes of vegan yogurt starter.  So, I dumped a box of soy milk in my Pyrex bowl, added an envelope of vegan yogurt starter, and threw it in the yogurt maker for about 11 hours.  VOILA!  It's not as thick as when I use a thickener, but it's not soupy either.  Honestly, it's thick enough for me.  It's a softer set, but still delicious and perfect for granola or protein shakes. I've made it this way several times now and it's the only method I'll use.

My first yogurt attempt.

Now, instead of making yogurt in the little jars, I make it in a 7-cup Pyrex bowl so I can just dish out as much as I want into a ball jar to add a bit of fruit and granola.  Those little jars are great to only eat yogurt as they are big enough to add fruit to, but they are not big enough to add anything else. To flavor the yogurt, I have been adding a teaspoon or so of fruit butters that I made (blueberry butter and peach butter).  I also add fresh fruit.  I've been on a kick of adding 1/2 cup of granola to the yogurt and having it for lunch.  It's good and filling. 

I've been buying granola in bulk from Whole Foods or the Health Food Store, but I don't know what's in the granola and I like the idea of making my own.  It's taken me a couple of months to actually attempt to make granola ... enter today.  I have been collecting granola recipes in Pinterest waiting for the day I was ready to make granola.  I ate the last of my health food store granola for lunch, making a perfect opportunity to move forward.

I used a simple granola recipe and made it my way.  It has smelled heavenly cooking. 

Fruit & Nut Granola
Makes about 6 cups

Preheat oven to 300º F. Prepare jelly roll pan by placing parchment paper in it.

Dry ingredients; mix together.

4 cups rolled oats

½ cup raw unsalted Pepitas

½ cup raw unsalted Sunflower seeds

½ cup raw Pecans, chopped

¼ cup golden raisins

¼ cup Bing cherries, dried/chopped

¼ cup mixed dried fruit 

¼ cup Coconut sugar or brown sugar

1 teaspoon Cinnamon

1/8 teaspoon (or so) freshly ground nutmeg

Wet ingredients; mix together.

1/3 cup vegetable oil (I used canola because I didn't have coconut on hand)

1/3 cup agave syrup (or could use pure maple syrup)

2 teaspoons vanilla extract (homemade of course)

Stir the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients making sure the dry ingredients are coated.  Pour into the jelly roll pan and spread around. Stir every 10 minutes for a total cook time of 30 minutes.  Granola will not get crispy-crunchy until it cools.  Cool, break up the granola and store.  Enjoy!

Now, I only need to start using the yogurt cheese maker to make vegan yogurt cheese and vegan Greek yogurt.  BUT, I only purchased it on August 31, 2016, so I have time yet.  ;)

Farfalle with Caramelized Onions and Walnuts

After making that lovely soup this afternoon, I thought I would make another soup to carry me through the week on nights that I didn't want to cook.  I like to freeze portions for "fast food" nights.  :::smile::: BUT, I got my copy of Vegan Italiano by Donna Klein yesterday and when I did my quick glance through, I saw some interesting dishes.  This is one of them although, in the cookbook it's Fusilli with Caramelized Onions and Walnuts.  I didn't have any fusilli and I wasn't going out to buy just that, so I made do with Farfalle.

First, I sliced up about a pound of onions.  I had to saute them, then cover them and saute them, and then uncover them and saute them some more.

I sauteed them a total of about 35 minutes until they were golden brown.  Then I threw in a couple of cloves of garlic and sauteed them a couple more minutes before I added the pasta.

While I was waiting for the onions to be caramelized, I broke out a bottle of Pinot Noir.  This was, of course, after I had chopped the walnuts and basil.  No way could I drink wine and THEN chop.  

Once the onions were done, I added the pasta, basil, walnuts, and some organic, low-sodium vegetable broth. 

I tossed it all together, put some in my bowl, remembered to take pictures, and then enjoyed it with another a glass of Pinot Noir. 

I have to say, I thoroughly enjoyed this dish.  It was light and refreshing and a very nice change from the normal marinara sauce with pasta.  I will definitely make this again.  Although next time, I really need to have a bottle of my absolute favorite wine, Santa Margherita Pinot Grigio. :::smile:::  I'll be making many more dishes from this cookbook.  There are some fabulous looking recipes in it.

Pecan Dirty Rice with Spicy and Lemony Mushrooms

I had 2 packages of baby portabello mushrooms in my refrigerator that absolutely NEEDED to be cooked and eaten.  I had researched stuffing them over the weekend, but did I do that?  NO!  :::grin:::  So today, when I read the Vegan Epicurean blog with recipes for Pecan Dirty Rice and Spicy and Lemony Mushrooms, I was hooked.  The recipes are in the lower half of the blog entry using the recipe link above.

Both recipes are oil free.  The rice has cinnamon, allspice, Italian herbs, ginger, crush red pepper flakes, and pecans in it.  It is a delightful combination of herbs and spices.  I used a brown rice blend that I get in the bulk section at Whole Foods.  I only fixed 1 cup of rice because I wasn't sure if I would like the spice blend.  Man, do I!  This is a wonderful rice dish.

The cooking technique for the mushrooms was just to add all of the ingredients, put it in a pan, cover, and cook over a medium flame.  There was no stirring while cooking, no oil, no water.  The only moisture was the juice from the lemon, and the moisture the mushrooms would release.  I was skeptical of this method, but followed the directions, and the mushrooms turned out lovely.

I used about a teaspoon of fresh thyme instead of 1/4 teaspoon of dried thyme.  I will say, you MUST like lemon for this mushroom dish.  If you don't like lemon, this is not the dish for you.  The tartness of the zest contrasted with the heat of the crushed red pepper flakes is delightful.  I love the dish and will definitely be making this one again.  Thanks to Vegan Epicurean for sharing these two recipes with us!

Pecan Pie Muffins and Slow Cooked Mushroom Gravy

YES! I am drinking Kim Crawford Sauvignon Blanc.  Yes, I had had to open the bottle of wine to add 1/2 cup to the Slow Cooked Mushroom Gravy.  This gravy ROCKS!  It is excellent!  I'm telling you, I'm going to have to try the entire recipe, including the Chicken Fried Tofu Steaks.  Man, this is some good gravy. 

Yes, my pan is a mess and you should see the front of my shirt.  I used the immersion blender and guess what?  The gravy was not deep enough so the gravy went FLYING everywhere!  I finally got smart and just pulled all of the mushrooms out of the pan into a deep blending container (that actually came with the immersion blender) and blended them in the container and then returned them to the pan.  The gravy is not 100% smooth, it still has some texture from the mushrooms, but just enough.  This gravy will be perfect on my Seitan Turkey with Stuffing roast (which I sampled and is very good).

I happen to love mushrooms and these mushrooms looked perfectly sauteed before I add the wine to them.  I generally don't like a wine flavor in my food, but surprisingly, I do not taste "wine" in the gravy, just savory goodness.

I also made the Vegan Pecan Pie Muffins and they turned out nice.  I didn't have quite a cup of pecans, probably 3/4 of a cup, so I added about 1/4 cup of shaved chocolate and 1 teaspoon of vanilla.  Mine look MUCH darker than the original recipe, and that must be due to the chocolate.  They are very sweet, but very good and they absolutely do taste like pecan pie.  :)

I still need to clean up the pans from the gravy (and all of the splatters), so I better go do that before I drink any more wine.  I hope you all have a wonderful Thanksgiving filled with the love and laughter of good friends and family! :)

Barley and Bowtie Pilaf with Figs, Lemon, and Thyme

I got this recipe in a Yahoo! vegetarian group when I was trying to figure out what to do with the figs I bought.  I ended up eating them all raw ... delish!  I bought some more figs over the weekend and wanted to do something different with them.  I settled on this recipe, mostly because I had nearly everything in my pantry. The recipe was posted by Maureen, but credits Chupa Babi for the original file.   

The recipe started with cooking chopped onion in olive oil until it was golden colored.  Then the pearl barley was added and cooked for two minutes to toast it.  Next the broth was added, the pan was covered, and the barley was simmered for 35 minutes.

Meanwhile, the pasta was cooked according to the package directions.  I didn't have bowtie pasta, but I did have mini penne pasta, so I used that.  Once the barley simmered, the figs were added and it was cooked for 5 more minutes.  I must admit, I had to add broth to the barley mixture at least three times.  Once while it was cooking and had 15 minutes left, once when I added the figs, and then again before I added the spices and pasta.  The directions stated to drain the pasta, put it in a bowl, and add the spices to the pasta before adding the barley mixture.  I didn't have fresh spices, so I added the dried spices to the fig mixture in hopes that the flavors would meld better.  I used frozen lemon zest.  I have lemon, lime, and orange zest in my freezer in little prescription containers so I always have some on hand.

This is a sweet pasta dish.  I thought it might be a little savory due to the thyme, but it's really not.  It's not overly sweet, just has a hint of sweetness.  It's a fresh, new taste for me.  I love the figs in the dish.  I think I needed to add more water to the barley and let it cook a little longer than it did as it's not as tender as I would like it, but overall, it's good.  

For those of you who would like to try the recipe, I've listed it below with my changes in parenthesis.  I did not use nuts, although I had some almonds.  I didn't feel like toasting them.  I can see where almonds would add a wonderful element to this dish.  I'll have leftovers.  I think I'll toast some almonds to sprinkle on the leftovers when I have them.

Barley and Bow Tie Pilaf with Figs, Lemon, and Thyme

2 T. olive oil, divided

1 c. chopped yellow onion

1/2 c. pearl barley

1¼ to 1½ c. broth (I used at least 2 c., maybe more of veggie broth)

8 oz. bow tie pasta (I used mini penne pasta)

1 c. figs, stemmed and halved or quartered

½ c. chopped, toasted almonds, walnuts, or pecans (optional)

3 T. chopped fresh thyme leaves or 1 t. dried thyme leaves (I used ½ t. ground thyme)

1½ t. finely grated lemon zest (I used frozen)

salt, to taste (optional ... I didn't use any salt)

Heat half of the olive oil and saute onion until golden; add barley and saute 2 more minutes.  Add broth (I added 1½ cups to start); cover and simmer for 35 minutes.  Add figs and cook for an additional 5 minutes adding more broth if necessary.

While barley is simmering, cook pasta.  Drain, put in a bowl, toss with rest of olive oil.  Stir in barley, and spices.  Serve warm.  Variations include adding ½ c. browned TVP or tofu chunks.

It's a nice alternative to regular pasta.  Although I won't have this as one of my regular dishes, I think it's good for an annual fig, barley, and pasta pilaf.