Vegan Apple Walnut Cake

I had a huge craving for apple walnut cake today.  And the rain has been pouring down.  So what better day to heat up the house with the delicately spiced, amazing smell of baking apple walnut cake!

I tried to get a picture of the whole cake, but it disappeared too fast.  

Ingredients 

• 4 medium red delicious apples, w/peel,diced
• 1/3 cup coconut oil (melted)
• 2/3 cup canola oil
• 2 Tbsp ground flax seeds
• 6 Tbsp water
• 3/4 cup sugar
• 2 1/4 cups flour
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/4 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 1/2 cup walnuts, chopped

1. In a small sauce pan over medium heat, mix flax and water.  Heat just until it forms a gelatinous mixture
2. In large bowl, mix oils, flax mixture and  sugar; mix in apples and let stand for 15 minutes.
3. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
4. In small bowl mix together dry ingredients; set aside.
5. When apple mixture has set, mix in vanilla
6. Add dry ingredients and mix just until moistened; add walnuts.
7. Pour into greased and floured Bundt Pan. Bake at 350 degrees for one hour. Let cool 10 minutes and remove from pan. Cool completely and serve. (Or cool mostly, slice some for yourself and enjoy with vegan margarine which will melt deliciously on your warm, yummy bread.)

Yummy Rice

Looking for Mexican rice recipes to bring to a banquet for my students, all I found was a lot of Spanish rice recipes.  They are really not the same thing, but I made Spanish rice anyway.  Much more delicious than I expected.  The secret is to toast the rice.  This recipe makes a lot.  Which you'll be glad about because you'll want to keep eating it.

Ingredients:
8 Tbsp. canola oil (or some other light oil)
3 C. white rice, rinsed and well drained
2 cloves garlic, pressed
1 1/2 tsp. cumin
1 C. diced white onion (diced small)
1 14 oz can tomato sauce
1 14 oz can diced tomato
4 1/2 C. veggie broth
diced green chile (optional)

Heat the oil in a large, deep pan over medium heat.  When the oil is hot, add the rice and stir constantly for a few minutes until it gives off a slightly toasty smell.  Add the garlic and cumin.  Give it a couple of stirs and then add the onion.  Stir for a few more minutes until the onion is translucent (or at least close).  Add the tomato sauce, diced tomatoes, and veggie broth.  Bring to a boil.  As soon as it starts to boil, turn the heat to low, cover and let simmer for about 20 minutes until all of the liquid is absorbed.  NO peeking.  After about 20 minutes, remove the lid, fluff with a fork and enjoy!

Vegan Carrot Cupcakes

It's little man's birthday on Sunday.  And Mother's Day.  So we're celebrating on Saturday instead.  I'm not selfish- I really just want the other mothers to be able to enjoy themselves instead of focusing on my child.   And maybe I am just a wee bit selfish.  Is it too much to ask to want to sleep in for one day?! And let's face it- he's going to be 1, he won't know the difference.  And maybe I'll get some sleep, or at least stay in bed.  By myself.  For at least 10 precious minutes.

Anyhoo, I decided to make him carrot cupcakes.  Looking for recipes, I was wholly dissatisfied with all of the sugar in every recipe I found.  Of course, with the limited time of a mom with two small (but EXTREMELY active) boys, I'm sure I missed some kick-ass recipes already out there that didn't contain a butt load of sugar.  Long story short, I decided to make my own.  I  know that it's his special day, and perhaps I shouldn't worry about the sugar.  But after seeing the consequences of sugar with chico numero uno, I would like to give the entire neighborhood a break and keep them from our craziness.

Recipe

3 Tbsp. ground flax meal
1/2 c. warm water
1/2 c. oil
4 pitted dates
1/2 c. maple syrup
1 1/2 c. peeled and shredded carrots
3/4 c. raisins (optional)
1 tsp. vanilla extract

1 1/3 c. flour
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1 1/2 tsp. pumpkin pie spice
1/2 tsp. salt

Preheat the oven to 350 degree F. Line a muffin tin (or mini muffin tin) with liners or spray with oil to prevent sticking.

Blend the flax meal and water in a food processor or blender.  Add the dates and continue to blend for a couple of minutes.  Combine with the oil and maple syrup.  Add this mixture to the carrots in a small bowl.

In a separate bowl combine the flour, baking powder, baking soda, pumpkin pie spice, and salt.  Mix in the carrot mixture until just combined.

Pour into the muffin tins and pop into the oven.  Bake for about 18 minutes.  You know the drill- test the center with a toothpick to see if they're done.  If the toothpick comes out clean- you win!

Cilantro sour "cream"

You know when you get a bunch of cilantro, and then you only use a few measly leaves sprinkled on your main dish? You have most of the bunch left over, and often it just sits in your fridge or on your counter and rots. Well, here's a super easy recipe that can make use of that left over cilantro and it keeps for about a week, making you feel really good about yourself for not wasting food. Oh yeah, and it's also super yummy.

Ingredients:

1 bunch (more or less) cilantro leaves

Juice of 1 lemon

1 14 oz. package tofu (you can use silken or regular, but NOT the tetrapak kind of silken)

2/3 c. oil

salt

Blend the cilantro, lemon juice, salt and tofu in a food processor. Drizzle in the oil through the feed tube. Whir it around in there 'til you've got a nice creamy consistency.

Tastes amazing on anything Mexican themed as well as in wraps.

ALL HAIL SEITAN

Glorious seitan.  The other fake meat. It's not nearly as evil as it sounds; just sinfully delicious. It's simply the protein part of flour, so if you're allergic to wheat this recipe isn't for you.  The recipe looks daunting, but it's actually super simple.  Just a lot of spice ingredients to give your seitan some flavor.

Ingredients:
1 ½ cups vital wheat gluten
1/4 cup nutritional yeast
1 tsp salt
1 tsp paprika
1/4 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp cumin
1-2 tsp pepper (I use 2 tsp)
1/8 tsp cayenne pepper

3/4 cup +2 Tbsp cold water
2 Tbsp tamari 

2 Tbsp olive oil
2 Tbsp vegetarian Worcestershire sauce
1-3 cloves garlic, crushed well  (I use 3, I like garlic)

2 Tbsp. tomato paste (optional- my husband likes it with tomato paste, I don’t- it makes for a slightly spongier consistency) 

Preheat oven to 325°.

In a large mixing bowl mix dry ingredients.  Mix the rest of the ingredients (liquid ingredients) in a smaller mixing bowl.  Whisk well until mixed.

Add the liquid ingredients to the dry ingredients.  Mix well, then knead for a couple of minutes.

Form into a log (6-8" long), wrap tightly in foil, twisting ends.  Bake for 90 minutes.  When done baking, unwrap and leave out to cool all the way.  Then wrap it foil or plastic and refrigerate.  Slice to use as desired (stir fry, sandwiches, pot pies, etc.)

Enjoy! 

Basic Black Beans

These beans are great for tacos, nachos, or just mixed with rice.  If you are super ambitious, you can make these using dried beans that you've soaked overnight. But for most of us, that seems like a lot of work.  So I give you (and myself) full permission to use canned beans.  

1 15oz. can black beans

oil

1/2 onion

2-3 large cloves of garlic

1 1/2 tsp. cumin

1 tsp.chile powder

1/2 tsp. cayenne 

(a pinch of salt if you decide to soak your own beans)

bell pepper  diced(red or green depending on your preference)

2 Tbsp. chopped cilantro

Heat oil over medium high heat in a pot.  Saute onion and garlic until soft, then add cumin, chile and cayenne.  Drain about half of the liquid from the can of beans, but leave enough to cook your beans in.  Add beans.  Reduce heat to medium low.  Add cilantro and simmer for about 5 minutes or so.  Don't overcook unless you want mushy beans.  If you want to keep your beans warm for awhile, try covering the pot and leaving the beans on the burner (with the heat off).

If using salt, add it at the end so as not to toughen your beans too much.  

Ryan Walsh Sammy

Who can resist a good sandwich?  Not me.  Whether you're picnicking, grabbing a quick bite at work or between classes, sitting in the bleachers watching a baseball game, or driving down the road with one hand on the wheel b/c the other's on your sandwich, you just can't go wrong.  I wouldn't advise eating this next sandwich in your car however, as it can get pretty messy.

 

My friend Isam says I'm playing a dangerous game mixing the East (hummus) with the West (Avocado) like this, but I say live dangerously.

Bread- You can use whatever you like (obviously).  I like to be super decadent and use wheat walnut, focaccia, or ciabatta.

Hummus (homemade! or store bought)

Avocado (you'll only need 1/3-1/2 of the avocado- but you can always make more sammies and share!)

Roasted Bell Peppers

Artichoke Hearts

Feta (regular or soy)- optional

I don't think you're an idiot, so I'm not going to get into all the specifics of how to make a sandwich.  You know the basics:  the bread goes on the outside, the ingredients go in the middle.  However, I do have a couple of good tips for you about this sandwich.  Both the hummus and the avocado should be placed directly onto the bread, and the other ingredients should go in between them.  For the avocado:  Slice it, then put it directly atop your bread.  Use a fork to mash the avocado into the bread a little bit, this will prevent it from continually sliding out of the sammy as you're eating.  Try sticking the peppers into the hummus and the artichoke hearts into the avocado to give them some sticking power too.  Sprinkle on your feta (if using).  Your sammy is ready to be closed and eaten!

As with most sandwiches (especially those with wet ingredients like hummus or extremely perishable ingredients like avocado), try to make this sandwich as close to when you're going to be eating it as possible.  One thing I often do is to bring all of my prepared ingredients to work and then construct the sandwich at lunch time.  

Have fun and eat well!