Happy Birthday Abby!

This last Wednesday was my good friend Abby's birthday! I decided to whip up some Peanut Butter Chocolate Pillows for the occasion. The recipe is from Isa Chandra Moskowitz and Terry Hope Romero's new book Vegan Cookies Invade your Cookie Jar. I haven't ordered this book yet, but it's on my wish list! Their last dessert book, Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World changed my life, basically. You can see some of my cupcake creations here.

Back to the crack-cookies... The recipe makes 2 dozen so you have plenty to go around (making any less would be a literal crime). They've been tested by ages 7-45, and all responded with "mmm!", "ahh!", and "can I have another one pleeeease?" (that last quote was by a 20 year old, not a 7 year old). I highly recommend these sweets and buying Vegan Cookies Invade your Cookie Jar, and no, Isa Chandra isn't paying me to say that. Are you out there Isa? I do accept cash.

Num,
Kate

Sweet, Crumbly, Banana Heaven

When my neighbor offered to give my roommates and I several bunches of bananas, I was skeptical. Don't get me wrong, bananas are my number one favorite fruit, but what was I going to do with several bananas, all nearing the end of their very short lives. Eat three at once for breakfast, of course!
I read a lot of crumble recipes and have to say I was not very satisfied with what I was seeing, so I decided to make one up myself. I'm not sure if it is a real certified "crumble", as I didn't bake anything, but what the heck, I'm running this show. So a crumble it is.

This breakfast treat is sweet and DELICIOUS, and I honestly could not take more than three snapshots before the drool was down to my knees and I had to dig in (slight exaggeration). Also, easy easy easy. I say that a lot, but really. This took me less than 5 minutes with virtually no prep-time.

Ingredients:
Three bananas, cut into circular slices
A spoonful of Natural Balance "butter"
1/2 cup oats
A spoonful of Brown Rice Syrup
A spoonful of brown sugar

-Start by heating up a frying pan and throwing in that spoon of Natural Balance. I let it melt, about thirty seconds, then cut up the banana right over the pan and letting the slices roll around in the pools of butter. Mmmm. I threw a little brown sugar over the top, but just a pinch, and the bananas instantly started to brown and get soft.
-Let the bananas sit about three minutes total while on the side in a small mixing bowl, add the oats, syrup (a natural sweetener that I have to say I don't use enough), and brown sugar. These proportions can be played with. I mixed it all up until I liked the consistency.
-Pour the bananas into a bowl, the oats mixture on top, and voila! You have a crumble! Sort of...

Eat it while warm, it's dangerously good, and could easily be a dessert also.
Try adding any other type of fruit you may have around! I imagine apples or berries would also be the bee's knees.

Still in heaven,
Kate

Oops..

Has it really been 13 days? I swear that I have eaten these past two weeks, although in the midst of dead week and now finals week, it hasn't been much besides the occasional binge on sourdough pretzels, mixed nuts, and rice cream. Ummm...

You (all 6 of you!) may have noticed I'm in the middle of a little blog makeover. I figured as a design student I should probably make my blog more "design-y" (hey, I'm no english major). And that means minimal. This banner is only temporary until I complete a better one. Spring break project!

Anyway, back to my last two weeks -- to clarify for those that are unfamiliar with my strange terminology: Dead week (the week before finals) at Cal Poly is a big deal; the architects are in studio, day and night, every day and night, because our projects are due during dead week. All other majors basically camp out in the library. It's not a fun time, but we get through it with the help of a little comfort food!

My plan of survival for dead week was to make a large dish of comfort food to last me through the week. This plan was both successful and unsuccessful. It lasted about 4 meals, but honestly with each day the taste faded. It's definitely best on day 1, and I'd recommend this dish when serving a group of people.

I chose to make vegan mac+cheese because anyone who knew me b.v. (before vegan) knew I was a sucker for mac+cheese -- like literally when I was on my last $20 for the month I'd buy a costco case of kraft. Disgusting, right?

I like to think I'm reformed. A graduate of mac+cheese rehab.

I guess that would make this a relapse. But a much healthier relapse! And I'm okay with that. WINNING!

 

Ingredients: 

1 cups soy milk

3 packets nutritional yeast

2/3 cup canola or vegetable oil

2/3 cup water

1/4 cup tamari or soy sauce (very salty, you can add less of this, or omit extra salt)

2 ounces block firm (not silken) tofu

2/3 tablespoon garlic powder

2/3 tablespoon paprika

2/3 tablespoon salt, optional

1 dollop mustard, optional

1 bag macaroni noodles (1 lb)

-Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
-Boil water and cook noodles until tender
-Combine all ingredients besides noodles in blender to make "cheese sauce"
-Pour over noodles in a baking dish and bake until crispy, about 15 minutes. Adding break crumbs would be divine, but I didn't have any at the time.
*Note: I added a little Vegan Mozzarella on top for some extra cheese. The same affect could be achieved with more yeast (a main component in the cheesy flavor!).


Hopefully my schedule will be readjusting itself soon, and more regular meals will surface once again. I will be traveling some in the next few weeks and will hopefully have some creative out-to-eat dishes to share!

Gotta get that Cheese Fix,
Kate 

March Mushroom Madness continues...

This was totally unintentional, but last night I once again feasted with my good friend, the mushroom. Perhaps my subconscious responds well to clever alliterations referencing college basketball. Or maybe I just really love mushrooms. True love, indeed!

Get these:

 

 Really. Tasty. 

So because I had work last night and was feeling on the quick-n-easy side, I defrosted one of these babies and came up with a new creation. This may have transformed into a real burger real quick if only I kept hamburger buns on hand instead of a plethora of sourdough loaves. A girl's gotta have her sourdough.

Mushroom Melt

Ingredients - 

2 sourdough slices, lightly toasted with some Natural Balance (vegan butter)

1 Light Burger Mushroom Veggie Protein patty, cut in half and warmed with some cooking spray in a skillet

Raw (or cooked if preferred) onion slices

Jalapenos(of course, I feel like you know me by now)

Daiya mozzarella cheese, melted on top of the patty

See how I did that? Include directions in the ingredients? Efficient, it's my middle name. 

I served up this banging sandwich with some left over green beans and fresh sweet potato wedges. Oh, you want to know how to make those too? Well since I'm feeling generous...

Sweet Potato Wedges

Cut 1 medium sized sweet potato (or more if you're feeling really hungry) into long wedge shapes, started by cutting it in half long-ways. In a large bowl, combine a pour of veggie oil (very precise), some salt and a little red cayenne pepper. Toss the wedges in the oil mixture, throw onto a cookie sheet, and bake for about 30 minutes at 400 degrees F. They came out somewhere between soft and crispy, perfect for me! If you'd like them extra crispy, I recommend leaving them in another 10 minutes. 

Vegan Americana at it's finest,

Kate 

PS! If any of you reading this were considering veganism to lose weight, I wanted to share my most recent progress! I'm currently down 3 belt holes (yippie!) and my pants are getting pretty baggy in the legs. I'm officially down 17 pounds since I became a vegan on January 2, 2011.  :) 

 *Those black lines are from where the buckle previously sat. 

4 Ways - Portobello Mushrooms, Recipe 4

 

It's finally time for the fourth and final recipe of the 4 ways - portobello mushrooms feature! This last one is a little more ambitious than my previous recipes, but rewarding all the same. 

Recipe 4: Mushroom and Garlic Ravioli (from scratch) 

I've heard making pasta from scratch could be hard, but with my Monday classes canceled for the day, I thought I'd give it my best shot (fiiire aaawaaaay! Pat Benetar, anyone?). 

Ingredients - 

For the dough (from go vegan meow!), makes 10 very large ravioli

1 1/2 cups whole wheat flour (and some for dusting)

1 1/2 cups semolino flour 

3/4 cups water

1 tsp EVOO (I'm channeling my inner Rachel Ray)

For the filling (makes 5 very large ravioli, could serve 2)

1 large portobello mushroom, cut into cubes

1/4 cup pine nuts 

4 cloves garlic (I love garlic, and these were definitely spicy)

Quick pour of EVOO

Pinch of dried basil leaves and oregano

-Simply mix all the ingredients for dough together in a large bowl and knead together until you get a smooth ball. Add flour or water as needed to get a nice doughy texture. Covering the bowl with plastic wrap, let it sit for 30 minutes. I got to work on the filling in the meantime. 

-Add all filling ingredients into a food processor and blend! It's that easy! The pine nuts were not completely obliterated, but I think that's a good thing -- it gave the filling some texture.

*right before processing

-Take the dough in pieces (rolling out the entirety of the dough gets too crowded on one cutting board) and roll into a thin sheet (emphasis on thin because mine were pretty thick and were way too filling)

-Use a small cookie cutter or glass to cut circles in the dough

-Scoop desired amount of filling onto the circle, then add another circle on top and press the edges together with a fork (make sure you flip it over and do the same on both sides)

-Cook in boiling water for 7-10 minutes and you have a pasta meal! 

I made mine large so 3 filled me up and I had plenty for lunch the next day (and then some). The recipe I pulled from on Go Vegan Meow (link above) made much smaller ravioli. This is a preference call. 

The amount of filling I made covered 5 ravioli. For the remaining ones I added together EVOO, pine nuts, soy feta and olives for a Mediterranean flavor. They were good, but the mushroom garlic ones still came out on top. Mushrooms are the champions, my friends. 

 

The finals are coming the finals are coming! May this week be filled with productivity and good food.

Busy and Full,

Kate