Ginger Snaps

I recently got some crystallized ginger chips from The Ginger People and decided to try my  hand at the ginger snap recipe they had on the container.  I made it vegan by using egg replacer along with an extra 1/4 cup of water.  The results were awesome!  This is by far my favorite cookie I have made this year, I will make this recipe again, and again and again!  
One word of warning you have to chill the dough and make balls then roll those balls in sugar.  If you think you can skip out on chilling the dough you are wrong as it will make it much less sticky and easier to handle so don't skip that step.

This stuff is pretty awesome!

Ingredients:
• 2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 cup sugar plus more for rolling the dough in sugar
• 1/2 tsp ground cloves
• 1/2 tsp ground ginger
• 2 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 3/4 cup non-dairy butter
• 1/4 cup dark molasses
• 2 tsp of ener-G egg replacer dissolved in 2 tbsp warm water
• 1/4 cup water
• 1/2 can or 3 1/2 ounces of ginger chips

Directions:
Preheat oven to 375.  Sift dry ingredients together in a bowl then set aside.  Next cream butter and sugar add in molasses and egg replacer along with the 1/4 cup of water.  Incorporate the dry ingredients 1/3 at a time mix well after each incorporation.  Next chill the dough for one hour.  

Here they are getting rolled in sugar

After the dough is chilled form into 1-inch balls and roll in granulated sugar.  Place on a parchment paper lined cookie sheet, 2 inches apart.  

getting ready for the oven, be careful they spread!

Bake 10 to 12 minutes.  Remove while still soft.  Let cookies cool on sheet before removing.  Makes about 3 dozen.

Yum and done!

Almond Milk

I have seen a few things on the internet about home made raw almond milk and I figured I would give it a try.  I am so very happy I did it was pretty easy to do an probably the best almond milk I have ever tasted.  Make sure you have some cheese cloth on hand before you start the recipe, you will need something to strain the mixture through and even a fine weave strainer won't work.  There are companies that make nut milk straining bags but I am pretty happy with the results from the cheesecloth.

Ingredients:

• 2 cup raw almonds
• 6 cups of water for soaking almonds
• 4 cups water
• 4 dates (optional)
• 1/2 tsp vanilla (optional)

Directions:

Soak almonds at least 12 hours in the six cups of water.

Here they are post soaking

Drain the water from the almonds and rinse well. Place the almonds and 4 cups of water in a blender, plus the optional dates and vanilla if you are using them.  Blend until smooth, you shouldn't be able to see any large chunks of almonds.

before the blending process

Strain the blended almond mixture using a cheesecloth, I placed my cheese cloth in a strainer, which I believe made the process easier.

The cheesecloth in the strainer

This is an example of the almond mixture left over in the cheesecloth

This raw almond milk will keep well in the refrigerator for three or four days, so drink up!

Yum and done!

Apple Crisp

I was wanting something sweet the other day and wasn't in the mode to make a cake or something to rich and chocolaty, plus I had some extra apples in the fridge.  The results, delicious!  This is a pretty simple recipe the hardest part is letting it cook for almost an hour but after that you can feel free to put a scoop of vanilla soy ice cream on the side for an extra treat!
Ingredients:
• 5 apples peeled, cored and sliced
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 3/4 cup flour
• 2 tsp cinnamon

• 1 cup quick oats
• 1/2 cup packed brown sugar
• 1/2 non-dairy butter melted
• 1/4 tsp salt


here it is ready for the oven

Directions:
  Preheat oven to 375, and spray a 9 by 9 baking dish. Then in a large bowl toss the apples, sugar and 1 teaspoon cinnamon and 1 tablespoon of the 3/4 cup of flour together and place in the baking dish.
 In a medium bowl combine the rest of the flour, cinnamon, quick oats, brown sugar and salt mix then add the butter mix until there are dime to nickel size lumps. These will be little bits of deliciousness after baked!  Pour the mixture over the apples and push some down to rest between the apples but leave a good amount on the top.  Cover with foil and bake for 45 minutes then take the foil off and bake for another 10 minutes this will give it a great brown crust!

Yum and done complete with soy ice cream!

Sunday breakfast

This was the lovely breakfast my wonderful Husband made for me.  It is his breakfast specialty, vegan biscuits and gravy. He is not ready to give up the recipe to the wide world of the internet yet but I will keep trying to convince him!

Yum and done!

Party Roll by ecoVegan

I was looking for some new lunch ideas when I came across this on Vegan Essentials I decided to give it a try.  To be completely honest when I got it I was a little taken back, it kind of reminded me of a Field Roast or a Tofurky.  But the directions said keep it in the fridge and slice when you are ready to use.  So that is what I did. 

Here is the party roll waiting to party

I got it out of the fridge and unwrapped and although it said it was seven servings I got about ten servings out of it as I cut the slices thin.  I thought about using a serrated knife but my sharp chef knife worked great!

Waiting to be sliced!

I really wanted to find a sandwich that would complement it, as I was pretty excited to try it.  So I went traditional with a twist.  So lettuce tomato and onion on sourdough, sandwich staples for sure, but we went with chipotle mayo was a must!

The usual suspects

The build almost done!  Time to flip and cut!

Our lunches for the day complete with chips and apple slices.  It was truly a delicious sandwich and all non GMO ingredients is a plus!  We had this exact lunch for a few days and I couldn't get enough!

Yum and done!

Lemon Poppy Seed Muffins

This is a delicious but simple recipe from a wonderful chef Isa Chandra Moskowitz author of Vegan Brunch and also the co-author behind one of my all time favorite vegan cookbooks, Veganomicon. 
These muffins are the right combination of lemon and poppy seed, the only modification I made was I put a small amount of confectioners sugar and water mixture on the top for a little more sweetness.  It wasn't necessary but it was tasty and decorative!

Ingredients:
• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 2/3 cup sugar
• 1 tbsp baking powder
• 5 tsp poppy seeds
• 1/2 tsp salt

• 3/4 cup soy milk
• 1/4 cup fresh lemon juice
• 1/2 cup canola oil
• 2 tbsp lemon zest
• 2 tsp pure vanilla extract

Directions:

Preheat oven 375.  Mix the first five ingredients, I used a stand mixer but you could also do this by hand.  In a separate bowl mix the wet ingredients, make a well in the center of the dry ingredients, then mix the wet ingredients in, mix until smooth and place in a muffin tin 3/4 of they way fell back for 23 to 27 minutes.

 

Yum and done!

Healthy Top Vegan Whipped Cream

Healthy Top is a vegan whipped cream by MimicCream.  It is a wonderful alternative to dairy creams.  I have used it a few times each time with great results.  It is made from both cashews and almonds.  It is best to chill the carton for at least 30 minutes before whipping.  Then it is as simple as emptying the carton into your mixer and mixing for about 4 minutes.  Then it is ready to serve.  It can also be chilled for later use.  It doesn't last that long in our house but it will stay fresh for 7 days after whipping!




Here is the carton ready to be whipped

almost fully whipped!

Yum and done!