Vegan eggplant rolotini

Tonight I got to make eggplant rotini with vegan ricotta cheese! I have never seen ricotta cheese before I usually used a mixture of tofu nutritional yeast and spices but I finally found a vegan version by tofoutti!  It was excellent to say the least!  I will try it again maybe in lasagna! 
I made it like a traditional eggplant rotini to where I mixed the vegan ricotta with Dayia vegan mozzarella with a good amount of basil. I sliced about 1/8'' and fried the eggplant and then let it cool. I then read the mixture in the pieces of fried eggplant. And then covered with homemade pasta sauce and bake at 350 for 45 minutes. The results delicious, that is the reason I don't have any photos, we ate it to fast!

Eggplant and Gnocchi

So I had a eggplant in the refrigerator I knew I needed to you but he really wanted some gnocchi, so I decided to do is combine the two with delicious homemade sauce. The results pure deliciousness!
First I fried up some eggplant you could use a mandolin slicer if desired but I just used knife. I sliced it in about one inch slices.  It's important to make sure the eggplant is nice and tender. Next cook gnocchi as directed.  Yes yes I know I could have made my own gnocchi but it was a weeknight and I was hungry!  Well that is cooking in a separate pan cook your sauce and sliced fried eggplant together. When you gnocchi is done combine all three and cook for approximately 7 to 9 minutes.

eggplant fried and diced

eggplant and sauce combining nicely 

just put the gnocchi in!

yum and done!

Fondant Owl Cake

This is the cake that I made for a Wilton children's class that I'm teaching. It is a vanilla cake with vegan buttercream frosting. My recipe is modified from the Joy of Vegan Baking cookbook I felt that the cake recipe in that cookbook was a little to sleep so I reduce the sugar by 1/3 cup.

Spicy Thai Coconut Curry

This recipe was modified from a recipe I found on the Peta site and the original was written by Ashley Palmer, and here is a link for the original.  Ashley's original recipe was delicious the reason I decided to motify it is because of the veggies I wanted that evening I also wanted to use more rice noodles and make it more of a stew and less like a soup.  The results were amazing, but I think everything is amazing with coconut!
Ingredients:
• 12 oz. light coconut milk
• 12 oz. coconut cream
• 3 to 3 1/2  cups vegetable broth
• ¼ cup Thai red curry paste
•2 Tbsp. powdered ginger
•4 to 5 cloves garlic, minced
1/4 yellow onion, diced
• 2–3 scallions diced

• 1 cup cabbage (your color choice) diced
• 2 large red bell pepper, cut into strips
• 5 to 6 large carrots, diced
• 24-oz. bag frozen peas
• 1 lb. firm tofu, pressed and cut into cubes
• 12–15 fresh basil leaves, torn
• 1 portoablo mushroom top cut into strips
• 1 to 2 tbsp red pepper flakes
• 12 to 14 ounces Rice noodles

Here are the veggies waiting patiently 

 Directions:
Combine the coconut milk, coconut cream, and 2 cups of the broth in a large pot over medium heat.  Stir in the curry paste, ginger, garlic, red pepper flakes and onion. Bring to a boil.  Add the rest of the vegetables bring to a boil again. Add the rice noodles and incorporate them into the soup add the rest of the broth.  Reduce to a simmer and let cook for 25 to 30 minutes.  Feel free to add Sriracha sauce if you need more heat!

 

Yum and done!

Mom's Vegan Kitchen Pancakes!

I have never been a good pancake maker.  I have tried various recipes with moderate results but I have never been able to make them like my Mother or Grandmother.  I have had delicious vegan pancakes but just can't master them myself.  Well I have finally found the solution:  Mom's Vegan Kitchen Pancake mix, I purchased it from Vegan Essentials .  The pancakes were fluffy delicious and easy to cook!  For anyone pressed for time or just can't master the perfect pancake I highly suggest trying Mom's Vegan Kitchen.

Mom's Vegan Kitchen is based out of Portland Oregon but can be purchased on line as well as around the Oregon area, you can find more information on their very informative and smartly designed website at http://momsvegankitchen.com/

 

Here is the first one on cooking and looking very delicious!

 

Sorry it is a bit dark but we were to excited to try it!

Yum and done!

Daiya "Cheese" snacks

This recipe was adapted from a recipe using cows milk cheese.  I have modified it to use vegan cheese.  I am very happy with the results, as most of the snacks are already gone!  But next time I think I might make them a bit more spicy.  The vegan cheese I used was from a company called Daiya, I used their Cheddar Wedge. 

Ingredients:

• 7 ounces (one full Daiya cheddar wedge) chopped into inch cubes

• 1/2 cup vegan butter ( I use earth balance whipped but any should work fine)

• 1 cup unbleached all-purpose flour

• 1/4 tsp salt

• 1/4 tsp cayenne pepper

Directions:

Preparation in a food processor.  Add the Daiya and butter and process for about 30 seconds until well integrated.  Add the flour a half cup at a time pulse for 10 seconds after each addition.  Add the salt and cayenne pepper and blend for another 30 seconds.  It should be smooth and a bit tacky at this point.  Chill the mixture for 30 minutes.

After chilled roll into a long cylinder, if you would like smaller rounds make the cylinder longer, if you want larger rounds make the cylinder shorter.  My cylinder was about 18''.  Chill again for at least an hour, if you like you could chill over night.

Preheat the oven to 400.  Cut dough into 1/8 inch slices. Because the dough has been chilled this should work fine if not, you can hand work the disks as well.  Place on a cookie sheet about 1/2 inch apart and bake for about 12 minutes, or until they are a nice golden brown on the bottom.  Watch out after 12 minutes they can burn quick so keep an eye on them!

Yum and done!

Trail Mix Cookies

Our usual Saturday plan is to take the dogs to the dog park and then go to the open air market.  Our favorite bread maker had something new this week, a delicious granola mixture with oats, coconut, wheat germ, nuts, and sunflower seeds.  I had to pick some up and sense we usually have smoothies for breakfast I needed to figure out what to do with this granola.  Then the trail mix cookie was born, and it is delicious!


Ingredients:
• 1 3/4 cup unbleached all-purpose flour
• 1 cup brown sugar
• 1/4 cup granulated sugar
• 2 cups your favorite granola mixture
• 1/2 cup nondairy butter
• 1/2 cup raisins
• 2 tbsp canola oil
• 3 tbsp egg replacer disolved in 4 tbsp of warm water (the equivalent of two eggs)
• 2 tsp vanilla
• 3/4 tsp baking soda
• 3/4 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp fresh ground nutmeg
• 1/2 tsp salt
Directions:
Heat oven to 350.  Comine the sugars, butter, oil and vanilla set aside.  Next combine the flour baking soda, baking powder cinnamon, nutmeg and salt together.  Mix the wet ingredients with the dry well then add the egg replacer.  Add the granola mixture and rasins, combine but do not over mix.

Here is the mixture ready to go

Place a tablespoon at a time on your cookie sheet and cook for 12 to 14 minutes.

on the cookie sheet!

they won't last long.

yum and done!