Likes to Play With Her Food: 2015

December 24, 2015

Veggie Pot Pie with Be'If Schmeat ~ Warm, Comforting, and Simple

It's been really cold and rainy this last week. We had a really huge wind storm the other day. I was in the house and listened as branches hit the house. It was really loud. Don't think I've worried about a storm for a long time. It was a little scary. The lights flickered a few times, but nothing major happened.

I thought about how grateful I am to be home with electricity and my slippers. I thought, an old fashioned pot pie sounded good for a such a cold rainy day. I didn't need to go anywhere, I have some puff pastry in the freezer and it can be made with just about any veggies on hand. I had some basics on hand, but any veggies added to this would make a great filling: broccoli, mushrooms, yams, and leeks.

So, I took a tour through my fridge to see what I had on hand. I usually always have some celery, onions, carrots, as those are staples on my shopping list. I have some peas in the freezer. At first I thought I'd make it with just veggies as I didn't have any extra firm tofu or tempeh. What I did have was some seitan roast. It's called Be'IF and it's a seitan roast made in Portland, OR, The Homegrown Smokehouse and Deli.

Check it out if you're in Portland. There are a variety of "Schmeat's" made a the Smokehouse. There's quite a variety to choose from as well as a the same great menu as the food truck on Mississppi. Homegrown Smoker BBQ.

This is how it happened...

Vegetable Pot Pie with Be'If

    * 2 cups diced seitan, optional - If you don't have this, that's OK
    * 6 cups veggie stock or water (I used low sodium vegetable broth)
    * 1 cup yellow onion, diced
    * 1 cup carrots, peeled and diced
* 1 cup Crimini mushrooms, quartered
    * 1 cup diced potatoes
    * 1 cup green peas
    * 3/4 tsp thyme, minced
    * 3/4 tsp sage, minced
    * 3/4 tsp sea salt
    * 3/4 tsp fresh ground black pepper
    * 1 tbsp nutritional yeast flakes
    * 1 tbsp tamari soy sauce
    * 1/3 cup flour, (wheat or spelt works well)
    * 1/3 cup vegan margarine such as Earth Balance
    * 1 puff pastry sheet rolled out to by 12x10 inches

Preparation:

Preheat oven to 375º.
To make a roux, melt the vegan margarine in a saute pan, add flour and whisk constantly until light brown in color. Cool and set aside.
In a large pot or skillet, cook onions for 3 minutes stirring constantly and adding veggie stock 2 TB at a time time when onions begin to stick. Add carrots, sage, thyme, salt and pepper. Continue to cook for 5 minutes. Add stock, potatoes, and mushrooms, and simmer for 8-10 minutes, until potatoes are tender. Whisk in nutritional yeast flakes, peas, tamari, and diced seitan, if using.

Add the roux a bit at a time and continue to cook as sauce begins to thicken. Once mixture is cool, pour into individual ramekins, glass pie pan or small casserole dish. Cover mixture with puff pastry (be sure to leave a small excess of pastry for folding and fluting of the edge) and seal edges. Cut small slits in the top of crust.

Bake at 375º until crust is golden brown and filling mixture is bubbling. Enjoy

December 13, 2015

Caramelized Onion Upside Down Cornbread

This is a fun recipe, a full meal in one slice of flavorful Onion Upside Down Cornbread. The onions are perfectly caramelized, the cornbread is light and the broccoli adds a nice touch. It's really pretty when it comes out of the pan. From a distance the whole dish looks like cinnamon rolls. In fact, when Scott came home from work Friday and saw it on the stove-top he said "Yum, cinnamon rolls tonight". Nope, something quite different.

I saw this recipe online while looking for some interesting polenta ideas. I decided I could veganize it pretty easily. I recently bought some wonderful stoneground polenta made from heirloom Abenaki corn from Lonesome Whistle Farm. It's much more colorful than the usual polenta we buy at the market. I ground it a little finer into more of a fine cornmeal with my Vitamix. If you make this cornbread, yours will probably turn out a little more golden brown then mine if you are using the conventional bright yellow cornmeal.

This is what happened when I made this recipe without the dairy products asked for in the original recipe.

Vegan Onion Upside Down Cornbread

Original recipe by Demetra Overton - Sweet Savant.com
You will need a 10 or 12 inch cast iron skillet for this dish.

Ingredients

2 Onions, sliced thin, about 1/4"
4 TB toasted sesame oil (I used sesame oil because I like it, you can use olive oil)
1 1/2 cups of fine ground yellow or white cornmeal
1 cup all purpose flour, I used an heirloom wheat. For gluten free cornbread, use Bob's Red Mill Gluten Free Baking Flour
1 1/2 teaspoons sea salt
1/3 cup raw cane sugar
1 TB baking powder
2 cups chopped fresh broccoli
Egg Replacer for 4 eggs (I used EnERG egg replacer, it's a tapioca and potato starch blend)
1/2 cup filtered water to mix with egg replacer
16 ounces silken tofu soft or firm, drain and rinse the tofu before using.

Preheat oven to 400º

Slice the onions into rings leaving the rings in order.

Heat the oil in a cast iron skillet and place the onion slices in the hot oil, cook on medium heat for 5 minutes. Dice remaining onion pieces and set aside.

While the onions are cooking, mix the batter. In a large bowl combine the dry ingredients: cornmeal, flour, sugar, salt, and baking powder.

Mix the egg replacer with filtered water and whip until it's foamy. I like using this egg replacer when baking as it whips up like frothy egg whites.

Next, crumble the tofu into the egg mixture and blend together into a batter. Toss this mixture with the chopped onion pieces and the chopped broccoli.

Add the broccoli mixture to the cornmeal mixture and mix thoroughly with a wooden spoon. You might have to get in with your hands and mix this a bit. It's a pretty thick batter. Pour the batter over the onions.

Bake the cornbread for about 25 - 30 minutes or until golden brown. Let the cornbread cool for about 10-15 minutes. Run a knife around the edges and carefully flip the pan over and remove the cornbread from the pan.

We enjoyed it with some sweet potato kale stew.

December 4, 2015

Vegan Fusion Cooking Workshops Santa Cruz, CA May 16-20, 2016

Come learn to play with your food in Santa Cruz, CA. Learn how easy it is to to cook great vegan meals with or without a recipe. We'll cover all aspects of vegan cooking from appetizer to dessert, raw, cooked, and fermented. Most recipes are gluten free, and can be adapted for most preferences and allergies. This one week raw and cooked vegan cooking workshop will transform your life in the kitchen.

Please join Vegan Fusion Certified Teacher Deb Kay in Santa Cruz, CA for a 5-day Vegan Fusion Cuisine Immersion into the world of vegan cooking and raw food preparation.

The dates are Monday, May 16th to Friday, May 20th, 2016.
Prepare to transform your life and take your cooking abilities to the next level!

Experience greater confidence in the kitchen
Save money by learning how to prepare more delicious and healthy cuisine on your own
Learn new tips and tricks that will greatly enhance your culinary abilities
Connect with others who share a similar interest in vegan and raw foods
Deepen your knowledge of the healing qualities of vegan foods
Discover new ideas for presentation that will transform an ordinary meal to a gourmet experience
Whether you are an experienced chef, looking to get a job in the vegan restaurant industry, or simply a curious foodie interested in deepening your knowledge of vegan foods, you can learn from a pro how to prepare healthy world-class vegan cuisine!

Day 1 Vegan Soups/ Salads & Dressings
Day 2 The World of Grains and Beans/Tofu, Tempeh & Seitan Dishes
Day 3 Casseroles and Sauces/Wraps, Spreads, Sandwiches and Rolls
Day 4 Vegan Desserts/Raw Cuisine 1 Smoothies, Pates, Pasta & Pudding
Day 5 Raw Cuisine 2 Elixirs, Soups, Plant Cheeses, Ravioli, Parfaits & Ice Cream/Raw Cuisine 3 Nut and Seed Milks, Granola, Pizza, Tacos, Live Pies

Tuition is $675/Person

Reduced tuition for dishwasher position available $250

For more information and registration email info@veganfusion.com or kaydebbie25@yahoo.com

Follow this link for Pictures of past Vegan Fusion class with Deb

Cobbler - with a secret ingredient - Zucchini

December 2, 2015

Four Ingredient Pumpkin Pie - Simple Vegan & Gluten Free

A simple recipe post today ~ Vegan & Gluten Free

Four Ingredient Pumpkin Pie

Pumpkin Pie with Coconut Whipped Crème

1 1/4 cups raw soaked cashews

1 cup maple syrup
1 can organic pumpkin puree (16 ounces) (or use fresh puree)
2 tsp pumpkin pie spice

Blend all together until smooth.

Bake with or without crust - 400º for 15 minutes, then reduce to 350º bake for about 35 minutes more.

OR: Don't bake at all and scoop into small serving bowls and call it Mousse.

**You can buy Pumpkin Pie Spice or use a combination of: cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger, & cloves. Omit anything you don't like. Remember this is an "easy" recipe.

Here's a quick and tasty crust.

Pie Crust

2 cups rolled oats

1/2 cup pitted dates (packed)

1/3 cup almond butter

2 tablespoons nondairy milk

1/8 teaspoon sea salt

For the crust, use a food processor to process the rolled oats and dates into a fine, crumbly texture. Add the almond butter and process for about a minute. Add the nondairy milk and salt. Pulse until the mixture comes together without crumbling. If it’s not holding together, add more nondairy milk, 1 teaspoon at a time. Transfer to a pie plate. Press mixture into pie plate evenly around the base and up the sides. Set aside.

Coconut Whipped Cream

1 14 oz. can unsweetened coconut milk (use top firm part only)

1/3 cup organic powdered sugar, maple syrup or agave may be substituted, texture might be thinner, but just as delicious

¼ cup raw cashews, soaked two hours in filtered water and drained well

1 tsp Vanilla bean (scrape inside) or 1 tsp vanilla extract

Place can of coconut milk into refrigerator for 4 hours. Open and remove thick part on top to use in recipes. Reserve rest for other uses.

In high speed blender, blend cashews and coconut to smooth, add powdered sugar, blend to thick and fluffy, stir in vanilla.

Chill 2 hours or overnight.

Use within 2 days

November 29, 2015

Orange Spice Cookies - Light, Vegan, & Gluten Free

VegFest was a couple weeks ago and I had the pleasure of helping Laurie Sadowski set up her demo and 200+ samples each for two gluten free baking demos. Today, I thought I'd look through her cookbook I picked up at Vegfest "The Allergy Free Cook Bakes Cakes & Cookies". I found a recipe for Orange Spice Cookies that looked nice and I had most of the ingredients. As usual, I scanned the ingredients and decided what I was going to use for the ingredients I didn't have on hand. It's Sunday and very cold. I went for a nice long walk today, but I'm not going to the grocery store. I'm sure I have what it takes to make these cookies with ingredients I already have in the kitchen. That's one of the purposes of this blog, to help myself and others get through some of these recipe hurdles. I always suggest to my cooking students to use recipes as a template and change the components to suit their tastes or availability of ingredients. Then I need to remember to write down what I did so I can to repeat the recipe again. It's been very helpfull to have my recipes stored here.

This is Laurie's recipe as it's printed in her book, "Orange Spice Cookies". It's a good recipe, free of most allergens, but I need to make some changes since I don't have the specific flours suggested and I want to avoid the oil.

1/4 cup unrefined cane sugar
1/2 cup coconut oil, softened
1/4 cup pure maple syrup
2 TB freshly squeezed orange juice (zest orange before squeezing)
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 1/4 cups sorghum flour
1/4 cup quinoa flour
1/4 cup tapioca flour
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
3/4 teaspoon xanthan gum
1/4 teaspoons fine sea salt
1/2 teaspoon ground cardamom
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground ginger
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1 TB finely grated orange zest

One of the first ingredients I noticed I would have to substitute was unrefined cane sugar. I have some coconut sugar, but no cane sugar available. Then I noticed 1/2 cup coconut oil, softened. Although this is a pretty healthy recipe, as is, I still want to avoid processed oils as much as possible, that includes coconut oil. I decided I had a nice ripe avocado, but didn't want to overpower the flavor so I replaced half the suggested amount coconut oil with ripe mashed avocado and used fresh applesauce to make up the rest of the coconut oil. I have quite a bit of Bob's Red Mill Gluten Free Baking Mix in the kitchen, so I used that instead of sorghum flour and tapioca flour. Bob's Red Mill's blend is a combination of sorghum flour, tapioca flour, potato, garbanzo bean, and fava bean. I probably could have substituted all the flour with the BRM blend, but I thought I'd like to use the quinoa flour as suggested in Laurie's recipe. It should add a richer flavor as well as a bit of protein. Quinoa flour pretty easy to make a small amount. Just wipe out your coffee grinder and grind some whole quinoa.

This is what happened to the same recipe in my kitchen:

1/4 cup coconut sugar
1/4 cup mashed ripe avocado (not too ripe)
1/4 cup applesauce (just core and apple and throw in the blender)
1/4 cup pure maple syrup
2 TB freshly squeezed orange juice
seeds from one half vanilla bean
1 1/2 cups Bob's Red Mill Gluten Free Baking Flour
1/4 cup quinoa flour
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
3/4 teaspoon xanthan gum
1/2 teaspoon pink Himalaya sea salt
1/2 teaspoon ground cardamom
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground ginger
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1 tablespoon finely grated orange zest

Preheat the oven to 350º F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper or a silicone baking sheet.

Put the sugar, avocado, applesauce, maple syrup, orange juice, and vanilla in the bowl of a stand mixer. Using the paddle attachment, or a large bowl and hand mixer, beat on medium=high speed until smooth and creamy, about 2 minutes.

Mix the flours, baking soda, xanthan gum, salt, and spices in a medium bowl. I like to sift my flours and spices together in a sifter or mesh strainer. Add the orange zest and mix together.

With mixer on low speed, gradually add dry ingredients to the wet until combined and a soft dough forms.

Scoop out a rounded tablespoon of dough and place on lined baking sheet, leaving 2 inches between cookies.

I topped half of my cookies with a few pecan pieces then baked for 10 - 12 minutes.

These cookies are delightful! Light and full of flavor. They are the perfect light snack that might also be good served with a little jam.

Vegan Fusion Cooking Workshops Portland, OR March 14-18, 2016

Come play with your food in Portland, OR in March. Learn how easy it is to to cook great vegan meals with or without a recipe. We'll cover all aspects of vegan cooking from appetizer to dessert, raw, cooked, and fermented. Most recipes are gluten free, and can be adapted for most preferences and allergies. This one week raw and cooked vegan cooking workshop will transform your life in the kitchen.

Please join Vegan Fusion Certified Teacher Deb Kay in Portland, OR for a 5-day Vegan Fusion Cuisine Immersion into the world of vegan cooking and raw food preparation.

The dates are Monday, March 14th to Friday, March 18th, 2016.
Prepare to transform your life and take your cooking abilities to the next level!

Experience greater confidence in the kitchen
Save money by learning how to prepare more delicious and healthy cuisine on your own
Learn new tips and tricks that will greatly enhance your culinary abilities
Connect with others who share a similar interest in vegan and raw foods
Deepen your knowledge of the healing qualities of vegan foods
Discover new ideas for presentation that will transform an ordinary meal to a gourmet experience
Whether you are an experienced chef, looking to get a job in the vegan restaurant industry, or simply a curious foodie interested in deepening your knowledge of vegan foods, you can learn from a pro how to prepare healthy world-class vegan cuisine!

Day 1 Vegan Soups/ Salads & Dressings
Day 2 The World of Grains and Beans/Tofu, Tempeh & Seitan Dishes
Day 3 Casseroles and Sauces/Wraps, Spreads, Sandwiches and Rolls
Day 4 Vegan Desserts/Raw Cuisine 1 Smoothies, Pates, Pasta & Pudding
Day 5 Raw Cuisine 2 Elixirs, Soups, Plant Cheeses, Ravioli, Parfaits & Ice Cream/Raw Cuisine 3 Nut and Seed Milks, Granola, Pizza, Tacos, Live Pies

Tuition is $625/Person

For more information and registration email info@veganfusion.com or kaydebbie25@yahoo.com

Vegan Fusion