Baked Mac and Cheese

Here is a sneak peek at a baked mac & cheese recipe I have been experimenting with. Gotta make it one more time, actually write down what I used and how much of each, and tweak a few things here and there.

This is a cashew based "cheese" sauce I am working with for this, look for this soon!

Carrot Ginger Soup

I did not have the faintest idea what to make for dinner yesterday, I checked the fridge and my cupboards, and then checked them again. And....again. Nothing. Then I realized I had a few key ingredients to make a really simple and delish soup...carrots and ginger. I have never made this kind of soup before, but I thought..."Hey, how hard can it be? You can figure it out!" So I did my best, and came up with a really tasty little soup.

This is a really nice, light soup but it is filling at the same time. I think normally this is made into a sort of cream soup, which is easy to veganize and do, but I wanted to avoid the heavy feeling of the creamy soups, and just have a really nice, clean and savory soup.

Here is what you'll need:
1.5 pounds of carrots
1 medium - large onion
4-5 cloves of garlic
2-4 tbsp of minced ginger (adjust to taste)
5 c. veggie broth (or use water with corresponding amounts of veggie bullion)
1 tsp of fresh grated nutmeg
2 tbsp Earth Balance or your fav. vegan butter sub.
salt
pepper

Start by slicing each onion, then chopping each sliced section into about thirds. The pieces will be kind of big, but you will be putting the soup into a food processor anyways. Add your Earth Balance or vegan butter to a large soup pot over medium high heat, and add your onions. While these cook, give your garlic a rough chop and toss them into the pot as well. Finely mince your ginger and add. Cook for 3 minutes longer, or until onions start to turn a golden color.

Add your veggie broth. While this comes back up to temp, start with your carrots. I used a mandolin slicer for mine, and sliced them at a 1/4 inch. Alternately, you can just roughly cut your carrots into slices. Just keep in mind, the larger pieces of carrots you cut, the longer you will have to let it simmer to soften them up. Add the sliced carrots as you go, and keep the soup at a simmer.

Cover and simmer for 15 minutes. Check the tenderness of the carrots. If they easily come apart with a spoon or fork, you are good to go. If not, cook for 5 more minutes, check and repeat if neccessary.

You will notice at this state it just looks more like a vegtable soup than carrot ginger soup. Here is where the magic happens. Turn off your burner, so your soup can start to cool down a bit. With a slotted spoon or ladel, spoon out the slices of carrots, and if you get onions and garlic too, that is even better. Fill your food processor no more than 2/3 full, and pulse until it is a mushy mess and add it back into the soup. Spoon out the rest of the carrot/onion/garlic and food process again, add back into soup. I left some slices of carrots and onions in mine, I probably processed about 3/4 of all the carrots and onions in my soup.

Now, it should look more like a real carrot ginger soup. Since the consistancy is right where you want it, take the time to season your soup now. Add a bit of salt and pepper to your taste. Grate fresh nutmeg, and add to your soup. If you love nutmeg like I do, feel free do add maybe 2 tsp and adjust to your taste. Let simmer for 5-10 minutes, serve and enjoy!

Ginger & Agave Eggplant

The latest addition to the cookbooks has been "The Spice and Herb Bible" by Ian Hemphill and it is such a great book! I love how it goes through poretty much everything under the sun, gives you a history of it, how to store and use it. It even has many spice combinations in the book, so I can do cool things like make my own curry powder! It has some really great flavo combinations and ideas that are almost counter-intuative but when you follow this guide, you will be really surprised by the results.



That being said, this appetizer is inspired by this book and I was not sure if it would be bad, or just ok. The combo seems a bit strange at first....smokey cumin...sweet agave....ginger...? What on earth would this become...but man, I am sure glad I went with it and tried it out. It is unlike anything I have ever had before, in a good way. A really good way. It is tangy, zesty, sweet and savory all in one taste. It does have a pretty intense flavor, so I would suggest making this as an appetizer, or maybe making some jasmine rice with it if you want to make it into a meal.

Here is what you will need:
1 medium to large eggplant
olive oil
2 cloves garlic, minced very fine
4 tsp fresh ginger, grated or finely minced
1/4 cup water
1/3 cup agave nectar
1 tsp. cumin
1 lemon, for juice and zest

Start by slicing your eggplant into at least 1/2 inch slices. Add oil to pan, and fry the sliced eggplant in batches until each slice is brown on both sides. I found doing this that eggplant absorbes a whole lot of oil, quickly, so you will need to add more oil as you go. You can also brush each side or eggplant and fry it that way if you want to cut down on the oil. Set aside on a plate and drain on a paper towl on plate.


After your eggplant is done, add a small amount of oil to your pan, just enough so the garlic and ginger can cook on a medium low heat for a few minutes. When the garlic is just starting to get a bit toasty/golden brown, add your: water, agave nectar, cumin, lemon juice and zest. Cook for 10 minutes, and then add in the eggplant you have already fried. Cover this and let simmer for another ten minutes.

Enjoy and have your tastebuds be amazed at what you just made!

Zucchini & Cherry Tomato Quiche version 1.1

So, for whatever reason, I had the biggest urge to try and make a vegan quiche the other day. It was an urge that stuck with me all day and dragged me out of the house and out to the store for supplies. I had never made a quiche before, but I knew of recipes that use tofu instead of eggs. So I just kinda added things until everything felt "right."

Having said that, this is more of a prototype recipe in this current state...and by that I mean: no amounts, no measuring, just a basic list of stuff I used. I will remake this very very soon because I want to eat more of it, and....I want to get a real recipe for this written down.

Ok, you have been warned! Enter at your own risk, but doing so may result in awesome deliciousness!

Things I used:
1 block of firm tofu
1 pint of cherry tomatoes
3 small zucchini
1 small onion
garlic - chopped
soy creamer
salt/pepper/all purpose veggie seasoning
nutmeg - fresh grated
nutritional yeast
grated veggie parmesan
1 tsp. curry powder
fresh basil
corn starch
olive oil
1 pie crust

ok...I hope those are all of the ingredients I used and am not forgetting anything. So, start out by chopping up your garlic and adding it to a hot pan with a bit of olive oil. While your garlic is cooking, slice your zucchini into about 1/4 inch slices, and then cut into halves. Add to your garlic. Finely chop up your onion, and add to garlic and veggies. Turn to a lower heat.

While veggies cook ( do not over cook since they are still going to cook in the oven), cut your tofu into managable sized chunks and put about 1/2 into the food processor. Or if you have a really big, fancy food processor...go ahead and throw all of the tofu in there. As if starts to look more like a paste, add your soy creamer....I would say I added maybe 1/4 cup to each half? Again...I'm sorry for my lack of amounts here...this was purely a test case! Back to the quiche.....add the soy creamer and blend so it is a nice, thick but creamy texture. Put this into a medium to large sized bowl, and repeat this for the rest of the tofu. Add to bowl. Turn off heat on the veggies and set aside.

I began by adding a tiny bit of curry powder, about 1 tsp, I mainly did this for the color and usually use tumeric for this, but I didn't have any and this worked fine. Season with salt, pepper, veggie seasonings to your taste. I also added a bt of italian seasoning for mine, which includes some hot pepper flakes...yum! Add your veggies to this mixture...and reseason if neccissary. Grate your nutmeg into the mixture, I would say I added about 1 - 2 tsp. to mine, but then again, I really like nutmeg....it's quite a strong flavor so be careful and try the mixture as you go.

I added maybe 1/2 - 3/4 of a cup of nutritional yeast. Stirred in maybe 1/4 cup at most of some grated veggie parmesan. Then I roughly chopped up about 6 or 7 large fresh basil leaves and mixed those in as well. And the final thing I did was add 2 tsp. of corn starch, so make sure it would thicken up as it baked. Mine turned out ok, but if you want yours a tab firmer, I would go ahead and add around 3 - 4 tsp. of corn starch.

As for a pie crust, mine needs some serious work and attention. I did however make a more savory pie crust using a mixture of flour and wheat flour, and adding spices and herbs into the crust as well. For things like this, I really like savory crusts a whole lot better than just a sweeter, store bought crust. Hopefully, I will soon have a good pie crust recipe to match my future, complete quiche recipe!

Anyways...back to the quiche......when everything is seasoned to your taste, pour it into your pie crust.


Also, you want to pre-heat your oven to 400 degrees. I topped mine with some additional slices of cherry tomatoes that I had set aside for this. I sprinkled the top with some veggie parmesan and put it in the over. Bake for about 40 - 45 minutes or until the top of your quiche looks like it has an almost crispy layer.

Let cool for a few minutes so it has a chance to set, and won't be a runny mess on your plate. If you want it to look all fancy, add a bit of fresh basil to each slice of quiche served...it looks really, really pretty against the bright red of the tomatoes.

Eat. Enjoy. Repeat.

Red Pepper Pizza

Unfortunately, the past week went by way too fast with not enough cooking experimentation time, but I did end up making a pretty simple pizza! It is pretty basic, since I did buy the dough at Trader Joe's (...I know, I know, could have made it myself but it was a spur of the need for pizza)

Here is what I used:
1 batch of pizza dough
1 block of "Follow Your Heart" Vegan Gourmet Mozzarella
1 Pint of Cherry Tomatoes
1 28oz. can of diced tomatoes
1-2 red peppers
1 head of garlic
olive oil
vegan sugar
basil

Since I didn't do anything special for the dough, this is mainly for making a simple and verrry delicious tomato sauce for your pizza....the sauce is so so important in making or breaking a really yummy pizza for me, and this really hit the spot.

Begin by chopping up your garlic and toss it into a pan with some olive oil. Let this cook for 2-3 minutes, enough to let the garlic soften up but not burn. Cut your tomatoes into small slices and then add it to your garlic. Add about 1 tsp. of vegan sugar, this help cut the acidity of the raw tomatoes. Let this simmer for about 10-15 minutes, and then add your can of diced tomatoes.

Chiffonade your basil, and add this to the sauce. Also, add any salt/pepper and other spices to your taste. I added some of my really great italian seasoning I got from Italy, which includes red pepper flakes! yum!

Let this cook down for a while, so you don't get left with too much watery liquid, this might take another 15 minutes or so.



Roll out your dough, add sauce, grate the vegan gourmet cheese, add topping....you know the rest! For baking pizzas with the FYH Vegan Gourmet cheese, I found that it works best baking it at about 400 degrees for 12-13 minutes. Your cheese will look like it is starting to melt, but still in pieces and not really melting together. The trick here is take a flat spatula, and slightly smoosh your pizza down, and then set your over to broil for about 4 minutes. Keep an eye on your pizza once you do this, you don't want it to burn. But this is the best way to get vegan cheese to actually melt like regular cheese.

Let cool for a few, if you can and enjoy!

Peach & Plum Tea Cake

Ever since this month's Gourmet Magazine has been out, the Plum Kuchen has been popping up everywhere...I could not get away from seeing it. And when I finally caved and bought the magazine for myself, it was the opposite page that had a little section on a Stone Fruit Tea Cake! I knew that was the baking project for me...I mean, I am sure the Plum Kuchen is wonderful...but this Tea Cake really caught my eye.

It features a shortbread-like dough that is not overly sweet, which balances beautifully against the fresh fruit that is layered into it. I chose a mixture of peaches and plums. I really wanted a kind of sweet and tart to play off of each other, and the combination of the sweet peaches against the slight bitterness of the plums really adds a yumminess to this cake, in my opinion. However, you can use any combination of stone fruits, or go all out with your one and very favorite!


Peach & Plum Tea Cake (adapted from Gourmet Magazine, Aug. 2009)

you will need:
2 1/4 cups flour
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt (i used the chunkier, kosher salt here)
1 cup vegan sugar
3/4 cup vegan earth balance
3 egg equivalents for Ener-G (use warm water)
3 cups fruit (I used 1 large peach, 2 large plums)
brown sugar (this will be sprinkled on top, so you will not need much)

Begin by adding the earth balance and the 1 cup vegan sugar into your mixer, and beat for almost 5 minutes to cream it. It should be a nice, light, fluffy mixture. While this is mixing up, I mixed together in a seperate bowl my flour, baking powder and salt. I also got my 3 egg equivalents of Ener-G together.

When you are done mixing your sugar/earth balance mixture, slowly add about 1/3 of your ener-g mixture at a time, making sure each 1/3 is incorporated before adding your next 1/3.

After all of your Ener-G is mixed together with your sugar and earth balance, add your bowl of dry ingredients slowly. Continue to mix until it comes together into a very smooth dough. The texture almost reminded me of sugar cookie dough while I was making this. Wrap this up in plastic wrap and leave in your freezer for about 30 minutes.

While the dough cools in your freezer (it will be easier to handle when cooled) roughly chop your fruit. Pre-heat the oven to 375 degrees.

After you have cooled the dough, take about 1/2 of the dough and spread it evenly in the bottom your pan. Add the fruit over this layer, and then crumble the remaining dough over the fruit. This does not have to be small crumbled pieces, I made mine about table spoon sized. Sprinkle with brown sugar.

The original recipe calls for a 10" pan, but I would recommend a 9" spring form pan. It almost seemed like my first half was not enough to spread out across the 10" pan.

Bake for about 45 minutes, or until the top is golden brown.



I know this is the hard part, but you want to wait a little bit before cutting into this awesome tea cake. All of your fruit has released its moisture, forming a sticky liquid. As it cools, the liquid will thicken up and make it easier and neater for you to take out your cake.

Ok....now, enjoy!

Pasta Pomodoro e Carciofo

I have been visiting my family in Germany recently (where I got to spend 3 days in Paris...amazing!), and then when I got back to the Northwest, at work, we were getting ready for the awesome Sock Summit here in Portland! Dublin Bay Knitting Co. had a booth there, and the turn out was fabulous...so so so much fun!

The only down side to all of this knitting awesome time is the fact ever since I got back from my trip, I have had zero time to spend in the kitchen and really cook something! So today was my first real day off, and I went right to New Seasons so simply browse (...yes, I go grocery shopping to browse and look at all of the pretty food!) and get some much needed food inspiration.

That is when I came across this great display of these adorable, cute and colorful cherry tomatoes and I knew I had to use them. Tonight.

The pint of tomatoes I bought were a mixture of local, organic red and yellow cherry tomatoes. Take a peek!


Cute, right?? I really wanted something to show off the great taste of these tiny and flavorful, so I came up with a really simple and fresh recipe for what I am calling Pasta Pomodoro e Carciofo. On a side note, if artichokes are not your thing, I still think this sauce turns out amazingly as a simple pomodoro sauce sans the artichokes!

Here is what you will need:
1 pint of assorted cherry tomatoes, cut in half
5 large cloves of garlic
1 small jar of marinated artichokes
1 tsp. sugar
1/2 tsp. bragg's liquid aminos
2 tbsp. extra virgin olive oil
1 tbsp. italian seasoning
1/2 pound capellini pasta

Begin with the garlic, and roughly chop them but not very fine. I wanted this to have somewhat a "rustic" feel so large, uneven chunks of garlic are a-ok with me! Drizzle olive oil to coat a large pan with raised edges (as this is the pan that will hold the sauce and pasta). Add garlic and cook for about 3-4 minutes, or until the garlic starts to turn a golden brown color.

As this was cooking, I began to cut my cherry tomatoes into halves, and give my artichokes a rough chop. When your garlic is done, set the pan aside off of the burner to let the oil cook for a minute, then add your halved tomatoes and artichokes.

If you add the tomatoes right away, the juices will mix with the oil and splatter like mad! Believe me....this comes from experience.

As the tomatoes begin to cook down, add the sugar. I find that this small amount of sugar takes away some of the acidity of the tomatoes. Add the Braggs, italian seasoning, and the additional 2 tbsp. of olive oil.

A note about italian seasoning: I got this fabulous seasoning straight from Italy on my trip, But you can make your own! It looks like it contains a mixture of basil. oregano, rosemary, thyme, maybe some marjoram, dried slices of garlic and lots of yummy crushed red pepper flakes.

Even if you have a generic italian seasoning mix at home, it will do, but you will probably have to add the crushed red pepper yourself, as this generally is not a component of the dried italian seasoning mix you buy. If you make the seasoning this way, simply add and adjust the crushed red pepper to your taste.

Let the sauce simmer while you bring your water to a boil for your pasta. I used capellini for this dish, and felt it worked well. Capellini pasta tends to grow and grow when it is cooking, so I suggest 1/2 a pound for the amount of the sauce you are making. If you are planning this for 3 or 4 people, I would double this recipe and make 1 pound of pasta.



Let the pasta cook until it is al dente. Drain and add to your sauce. Mix the sauce around until the pasta is coated, serve and enjoy!