[Accidentally] Vegan TV

There's a blog and a YouTube Channel called, [Accidentally] Vegan, which collects videos of cooking shows where the recipes are, as the title suggests, "unplanned" vegan foodstuffs. Regulars from the Food Network (Guy Fieri, Ina Garten, Bobby Flay, Giada De Laurentiis, etc.) are represented along with Martha Stewart, Debbi Mazar, The Chew, The Today Show, etc.

I love it cause you don't have to worry about veganizing anything or making conversions. The recipes are ready to go as is.

[Accidentally] Vegan YouTube Channel
[Accidentally] Vegan Blog

Here's Asian Street Fries from Guy's Big Bite.

Recipe Round-Up: Une Bûche de Noël Végétalienne / Vegan Yule Log

A couple nights ago my sister emailed this video of the Vegan Black Metal Chef with his recipe for a Vegan Yule Log Cake and asked me to make one for our family dinner. Here's the PC version of the video which was presented by CHOW.com.



As you can see, VBMC's version is super easy to make with a vegan cake box mix, some egg replacer, and a couple jars of store-bought icing and frosting. Simple. But it looks like a glorified German Chocolate Cake to me. And if I'm going to make one of these Yule Logs, I'm going to try something a little more traditional and a little less chocolatey.

I've seen recipes for Yule Logs before but it's been awhile, and to be honest, I was never interested because these things tend to be designed for chocoholics. I like my chocolate in moderation and usually it has to have nuts or crunchies in it.

So I did some google-digging. Bûche de Noël or the Yule Log Cake is a traditional French dessert served around Christmas.

And apparently there are two types of bûche de noël or yule log cakes, a génoise and buttercream version or a frozen yule log. The génoise is like a rolled-up sponge cake layered with icing and topped with a ganache and designed to look like firewood.

The frozen yule log, on the other hand, appears to be a far more complicated French version shaped like a bread pan with layers of biscuit, mousse, ganache, pralines, creme brulee, and icing.

I'm pretty sure I'm going to make a génoise cake, and most of the recipes I found were for that style, but I was able to provide some recipe ideas on the frozen yule log for those of you interested in that one.

Génoise-style
~The Gluttonous Vegan's Christmas Yule Log

~Vegan Good Things' Orange Spice Bûche de Noël with Orange Cream Cheese Frosting & Chocolate Ganache

~Sweet Vegan's Yule Log

~Hasta La Vegan's Chocolate Yule Log

~Végéta-Löu's Bûche Pâtissière/Yule Log (Pear/Chai/Chocolate) (in French and English)

~My Paper Crane's Vegan Peppermint Icebox Yule Log Cake

~The Healthy Voyager's Holiday Yule Log

~Fuck Yeah Vegan Recipes' version of Bryanna Clark Grogan's Basic Holiday Roll

~Inhabitots' Vegan Yule Log Cake

~BORO Magazine's Raw Vegan Yule Log

~Vegan Peace's Yule Log Cookies


Frozen-style
The original non-vegan Yule Log recipe modified by the vegan Daring Bakers.

And here are some of the vegan bloggers that participate in Daring Bakers, their versions, and how the modifications they made.
~Madcap Cupcake
~Vegan Bits
~Musings From the Fishbowl
~Cooking at the Pacific Outpost


If you decide to make a Yule Log, post a comment and link to any photos and tell us about it!

Recipe Round-up: Vegan Thanksgiving Goodies

Every year more and more vegan holiday recipes are shared. Below is a link to my previous Thanksgiving Recipe Round-up, and after that, the rest are links to goodies being talked about this year.

2010 Thanksliving Menu Round-Up

[And if there is one dish I could personally recommend for Thanksgiving, it's the Sage- and Pumpkin Seed- Encrusted Seitan with Roasted Garlic Pumpkin Sauce, it's a fantastic main dish.]

Moving on to the new stuff...

~Chef Chloe is well-represented over at the New York Times Vegetarian Thanksgiving section with her Chocolate Pumpkin Bread Pudding, Maple-Roasted Brussels Sprouts With Hazelnuts, Harvest-Stuffed Portobello Mushrooms, Coconut Mashed Yams with Currants, Southern Skillet Black-Eyed Peas and Cauliflower, and Quick Biscuits with Maple Butter.

~Oh She Glows blogger, Angela Liddon has some healthy recipes featured at Veg News: Guilt-Free Garlic Mashed Potatoes, Sumptuous Shepherd's Stew, and Sinless Sticky Toffee Pecan Pudding.

~Cornmeal Buttermilk Biscuits, Coconut Butternut Squash Soup, Herbed Cream Collards, and Fourless  Chocolate Cake with Whipped Cream from several awesome vegan chefs via VegNews.

~Dreena Burton's Plant Powered Kitchen has a whole bunch of Vegan Thanksgiving and Christmas Recipes...too many to give you the details, just check out her post.

~And of course, The Post Punk Kitchen has an entire category of recipes perfect for Thanksgiving.

Let me know what you plan on making!

Passionate Vegan's Pumpkin Chili

from Passionate Vegan via Katherine Lawrence of Plant-Based Health (dot)com and Veg News TV

EAT MORE KALE! Mesquite-Avocado Kale Salad

Maybe you're still not sure about kale. Maybe you tried it and didn't like it. Maybe this recipe from Heather of HealthyVeganRecipes.net with fix everything for you!

And maybe you just need to try mesquite powder.

No cooking necessary. Light and perfect for summer.





Recipe at: One Green Planet (dot) Org

Recipe: Skeptical Salad

I have no idea where my sister found this recipe originally, but it has been a staple in my family for several years now. It's one of my favorites, because it is so dang simple, and yet so delicious. I called it "skeptical" because I couldn't understand why there were green onions in it and how the combination could possibly taste good. But it does, although the green onions are optional if you aren't a fan. Also, I adore the dressing! And you can eat this with strawberries during the spring and summer, and with pomegranate arils during the fall and winter. Both versions are excellent.

Skeptical Salad

Skeptical Salad
Salad Base

INGREDIENTS

Mixed greens
*1 pint strawberries, hulled and sliced OR 1/3 cup pomgranate avrils
*11 ounce can of mandarin orange segments in juice
*2/3 cup green onions, sliced
*1 cup glazed walnuts

DIRECTIONS:
Toss all ingredients together in a large bowl.


Dressing

INGREDIENTS
 1/4 cup orange juice
 1/4 cup agave nectar
 2 tablespoon vegetable oil
 2 teaspoon Dijon mustard

DIRECTIONS:
Mix all ingredients. Refrigerate until serving. Shake/mix well before pouring on salad.

Recipe Round-Up: Vegan Mac 'n' Cheese

Today is National Macaroni Day. Mac 'n' Cheese is probably the most popular way to use macaroni noodles. Good vegan Mac 'n' Cheese recipes used to be but a dream, but now there are many fantastic and inspired vegan recipes out there. I've gathered quite a bunch including some gluten-free, nut-free, soy-free, grain-free, paleo, and raw vegan options. Some are baked, some are more traditional, some use nutritional yeast, or cashews, or Daiya shreds. Do some browsing and see which ones catch your eye.

The Recipes!

Cooking with the Vegan Zombie: Vegan Mac & Cheese


*Green's Chef Damon Brasch Vegan Mac-n-(Cashew-Cheddar)-Cheese

*Fat Free Vegan Kitchen's Easy Macaroni and Cheeze and Baked Macaroni and Cheese

*Happy Herbivore's Soy-Free Mac n' Cheese

*Chef Chloe's Vegan Mac 'N' Cheese

*Vegan Housewives' Southern Baked Mac & Cheese

*That Was Vegan?'s Cauliflower n' Cheese

*The Wannabe Chef's Gluten-Free Vegan Mac n Cheese

*Vegan Dad's Creamy Mac and Cheeze

*Post Punk Kitchen's Mac & Shews and Sunflower Mac

*VegWeb's No-Nooch, No-Tofu, Excellent Mac 'n' Cheese

*Happy Healthy Life's Fake-Out Mac 'n Cheese, Baked Dill Mac n Chreese (with spicy sausage), and Easy Mac n Cheese

*The Gluten Free Vegan's Mac & Cheese

*Manifest Vegan's Vegan Mac & Cheese

*Seitan Beats Your Meat's Jalapeno Mac n Cheese

*Allison Rivers Samson's Vegan Macaroni & Cheese (via VegNews)

*Cheeky Kitchen's Creamy (Vegan) Mac & Cheese

*Glutenfree Goddess' Best Vegan Baked Mac & Cheese

*Vegan Yack Attack's Mexican Macaroni & Cheeze

*The Noochy Noodle's Mac n’ Quiche With Caramelized Onions, Spinach and Smoky Curls

*My Darling Lemon Thyme's Roast Tomato and Thyme Macaroni 'Cheese'

*Vegetarian Times' Mac and Cheese

*Aylin Erman's Whole Wheat Macaroni and Sweet Potato Cheese (via EcoSalon)

*The Paleo Mama's Paleo Mac n Cheese

*Olives for Dinner's Vegan Macaroni and Cheese

*Get Sconed!'s Smokey Baked Mac n Cheese

*The Spunky Coconut's Butternut Mac-n-Cheese

*Vegan Yum Yum's Mac & Cheeze and Mac & Cheeze (Take 2)


*****************

Some Mac-n-Cheese recipes from popular vegan cookbooks that you might have handy (these are from the cookbooks I have handy):

Mac Daddy from Veganomicon
Mac and Trees from Appetite for Reduction
Baked Mac and Cheeze from Vegan Yum Yum
Claire’s Macaroni and “Cheeze” from La Dolce Vegan

The Noochy Noodle has a more thorough blog post on vegan Mac 'n' Cheese recipes in cookbooks, and a whole blog dedicated to vegan Mac 'n' Cheese, as a matter of fact.

*****************

Too hot? Don't feel like cooking? Restaurants!

Pomegranate Cafe has a Southwestern Mac & Cheese.

Green's Mac-n-Cheese isn't on the regular menu, but Chef Damon often offers it up as a special. Join the Green Facebook group or follow Green on Twitter for notices on specials.

Or if you are lucky enough to be in the area, Peta has a list of the top 5 vegan Mac-n-Cheese dishes at restaurants in the U.S.

*****************

Or you can always try one of these frozen meals.

I prefer the Amy's, but the Candle Cafe is pretty good too.

Candle Cafe's Macaroni & Vegan Cheese

Amy's Dairy Free Rice Macaroni & Cheeze

*****************

And, lastly, here are a couple of 'cooking' videos for raw vegan Mac 'n' Cheese.

Corin Stephenson's Raw Vegan Mac 'n' Cheez


Mrs. Leafy Greens' Raw Vegan "Macaroni and Cheese"

The Sexy Vegan Cookbook & Show

"Brian Patton, aka The Sexy Vegan, is the executive chef for Los Angeles-based vegan food-delivery service, Vegin’ Out. He also hosts an instructional cooking video show on YouTube where he plays ukulele and shows off his goofy side." from Laughing Squid.


The dude's got the funniest book trailer I have ever seen. And I usually hate book trailers. haha.


The Sexy Vegan Cookbook Official Trailer





An episode from his instructional online show: New England Blam Chowder.

On the Road: Seabirds Truck, Orange County, CA

Seabirds Truck

Seabirds Truck! Infamous from their run on season 2 of the Food Network's Great American Food Truck Race, the Seabirds have returned to their normal routine of serving food, gourmet truck-style in Orange County. I had been to California a few times recently but was unable to track them down. They move around a lot and if you don't have a certain time frame free, they can be  tricky to get to. The menu changes weekly too, but  a couple of the usual suspects tend to be on it, like the Sweet Potato Fries and the Beer Battered Avocado Tacos. Just follow their menu and schedule online. If you can manage it, the trip is worth it.

Sweet Potato Fries with Dipping Sauce

Before my visit to Seabirds, I had declared The Veggie Grill's Sweetheart Fries the best sweet potato fries I had ever eaten. And then I tried the ones from Seabirds. Oooooh. Even better! Lightly dusted with cinnamon with a delicious cilantro/jalapeno dipping sauce. Hello. Sounds like the flavors would conflict but not so. Really good. And it's your lucky day, because I just found a copy of the super tasty Seabirds Dipping Sauce recipe online. I can't help you with the fries though, unless the recipe is in the Seabirds Truck ecookbook.

Tempeh Biryani

I also ordered the Biryani because I had to try everything. While it was respectable, it was only okay. I am not a huge fan of Indian food to begin with (I wish I was-I keep trying), and I don't really like curry spice. Sadly, I think its biggest downfall for me was there were too many different ingredients mixed in. Eh. I wouldn't order it again.

Jackfruit Asada Taco

Next up I tried the Jackfruit Asada Taco served with salsa verde, chopped onions, and  cilantro. I was super intrigued by the jackfruit tacos and had heard many good reports. This version is the most popular, I believe, but they also use jackfruit in other menu items like the Island Jack Tacos and Jack Shwarma Tacos. Plus, jackfruit...what the hell was jackfruit anyway and why did it resemble pulled pork? The Jackfruit Asada Taco was spicy, sweet, and tangy. Pretty good.

Beer Battered Avocado Taco

But holy insane tastebuds, the Beer Battered Avocado Tacos were a.maz.ing. Served with the Seabirds Dipping Sauce, red onion, and cabbage slaw, these things are little slices of fried HEAVEN. I can't wait to go back for more of these and the fries. Mmmm.

Couple more things, Seabirds usually has about half their menu as Gluten-Free. And they used to do Raw Wednesdays, but I'm not sure if they do that anymore since I think Chef Raya is doing her own thing now, like giving raw food demos at Whole Foods Huntington Beach.

Seabirds Truck with Customers

Seabirds Truck
Ranking: ****1/2

***** awesome! Highly recommended.
**** hey, this is pretty dang good.
*** not bad at all.
** eh.
* bad. Keep looking for alternatives.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Seabirds Truck
Location/Hours: Varies
Check the schedule on their website or follow their stops on Twitter.
http://seabirdstruck.com

Special bonus interview with Stephanie Morgan, Owner/Creator of Seabirds Truck

Thai Dinner

clockwise from top center: Red Thai Tofu, Green Beans with Thai Basil, and the Bhutanese Pinapple Rice

I recently made a Thai dinner from recipes in the Appetite for Reduction cookbook. It went over very well. Very tasty, and the recipes were on the healthy end of the spectrum. I made the Red Thai Tofu, Green Beans with Thai Basil, and the Bhutanese Pinapple Rice.

I used jarred Thai basil instead of fresh. I found the Thai basil, Thai red curry paste, and the Bhutanese red rice at Whole Foods. The rest of the ingredients are simple to find. I think I've also seen the Thai red curry paste at Sprouts too. And both the Thai red curry paste and jarred/fresh Thai basil can probably be found at LeeLee's Oriental Supermarket.

This post is very short. Just sharing the small menu, a couple of tips, a quick photo, and a hearty recommendation to check out not only these recipes, but the book itself. I have Appetite for Reduction in paper book, but just had to get it for my Kindle too, so I can travel with it.

Recipe Round-up: Vegan Croque Monsieur et Madame

I'd never heard of Croque-anything until I took a French class in college and was suddenly having to order them from my classmates, along with a café au lait and croissant. I don't know what made me think of them recently, but I suddenly decided I wanted a vegan version. This meant digging through recipes online to see if I could find something workable. A few vegans have beat me to the punch and created their own vegan Croques. Of course, I had to share.

By the way, I saw a couple of non-vegan, vegetarian recipes (heavy on the gruyere) that used mushrooms and/or spinach instead of vegan ham, so you might consider substitutions like that if you don't want the faux ham that some of the recipes use.

There aren't very many recipes, so people, get on this!
~Parsley Soup's Vegan Croque Monsieur

~The Vegan Croque Monsieur with Dijon Dill Aioli at Veganize It...Don't Criticize It

~D.I. Wine and Dine's Vegan Croque Monsieur aka Savory French Toast

~The Vegan Croque Monsieur (with a side of Dijon Potatoes!) over at Yummy-Licious

~Shins' Vegan Lovin' has a Vegan Croque Madame Panini

~Animal Emancipation showcases a Croque Madame...no real recipe but you should be able to figure it out with all the ingredients listed.

Best Vegetarian Dish Competition on The Valley Dish

Sasha Raj of 24 Carrots Cafe and Cassie Tolman of Pomegranate Cafe served as judges for this Best Vegetarian Dish competition on The Valley Dish with Tram Mai.

Recipe Round-up: Vegan Fruit Cake

You may remember that in June I posted about Emily Dickinson. She liked to bake and  the Library of America recorded her recipe for Black Cake (aka Fruit Cake). It inspired me to do a recipe round-up for fruit cake, but of course, I really needed to wait til December since it's more of a seasonal holiday treat. And here we are.  I've never made a fruit cake before, but I'd like to try one of these.

The first two recipes were the ones that seemed the closest vegan recipes to Emily's Black Cake. The rest are the various vegan or easily veganizable takes on fruitcake that I have seen online. A couple of the below recipes just need vegan margarine and non-dairy milks, which are simple substitutions. You'll have to convert from British measurements and terminology on a couple of them as well.

~Bryanna's Low-Fat Vegan Carrot Fruitcake at the Vegan Feast Kitchen

~Vegan and Demanding's Fruitcake

~The Fruit Cake and Fruity Marmalade Cake over at The Vegan Society

~ About.com's Vegan Christmas Fruit Cake

~Vegan Christmas Fruitcake from Madhuram's Eggless Cooking

~Nom!Nom!Nom!'s Vegan Fruitcake Delight

~Parsley Soup's Fruit Cake

~Christmas Cake at Vegan Village

~Fruit and Nut "War" Cake from Jugalbandi

~Veggies.Co.Uk's Maggie's Falling Down Fruit Cake

~Suburban Yogini's Spiced Vegan Fruitcake,  and Christmas Cake with Marizpan and Icing

~1940s Experiment's Eggless Fruit Cake and Eggless Xmas Cake

~Cake's Eggless Fruit Cake

~Aayi's Recipes Eggless Fruit Cake

~Food in the Main's Eggless Fruit Cake

~Ina Garten's Dried Fruit Cookies - They look like Fruitcake Cookies to me! You'll want agave nectar instead of honey, and egg replacer for 1 egg.

Colombian Raw Vegan Fruitcake with Coconut Milk
(In Spanish with Subtitles)

Mashed Spiced Sweet Potatoes with Vegan Toasted Marshmallow Topping

Mashed Spiced Sweet Potatoes with Vegan Marshmallow Topping

My dad loves Sweet Potato Casserole. His version involves sweet potatoes mixed with brown sugar and, well, I'm not sure what else he puts in it. He's one of those "whatever-I-feel-like" chefs who doesn't use recipes or measurements much. But his sweet potatoes always have browned and melted marshmallows on top. This year I was in charge of cooking Thanksgiving for my parents. I had to make a healthier version of my dad's favorite entrees. And vegan versions, of course.

Mission accomplished. Essentially these are the Mashed Spiced Sweet Potatoes from Veganomicon placed into a casserole dish and topped with Dandies vegan marshmallows. I'm normally not particularly fond of sweet potatoes, but I really liked this version. A lot. And I had to share it.

Thanksgiving is over, but there are sure to be several holiday potlucks and dinners you will be attending, and these sweet potatoes are a great and easy dish to share.

Mashed Spiced Sweet Potatoes with Vegan Toasted Marshmallow Topping

(Adapted from Veganomicon by Isa Chandra Moskowitz & Terry Hope Romero)

INGREDIENTS

3 pounds sweet potatoes
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/8 teaspoon allspice
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon ginger
2 tablespoons pure maple syrup
1 tablespoon grapeseed oil or other light vegetable oil (but not olive oil)

1 & 1/2 bags of vegan Marshmallows (I used Dandies from Whole Foods)
 

DIRECTIONS

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.

Place the sweet potatoes directly on an oven rack (no tray is needed and no need to poke holes in them). Depending on the size of the sweet potatoes, the cooking time will vary. An average-size sweet potato takes about 45 minutes but large ones can take longer, sometimes up to 75 minutes if they are the giant kind.

Once you can easily poke through the potatoes in the center, they are done. Remove from the oven and split them lengthwise; leave them opened to speed up cooling.

When still warm but not too hot to handle, scoop out the sweet potatoes with a spoon and place in a casserole dish. Discard the skins.

Add the salt, spices, maple syrup, and oil and mash everything with a strong fork. Once well incorporated, flatten mashed spiced sweet potatoes into casserole dish and top with vegan marshmallows as desired. When toasted they will expand and melt, so no need to cover all of the sweet potatoes. Place into still-warm oven and broil for a couple of minutes until marshmallows are toasted to a light golden brown. Watch the broiling carefully...they could blacken too much quite quickly. Serve warm.

 

 

7th Annual Thankful Veghead Menu

Wheat Berry Waldorf Salad

Sigh. I just cannot remember to take photos or delegate the photos to others sometimes. But I did manage to borrow from a guest who snapped a couple with her iphone. Here is the menu with recipe links for the Thankful Veghead Dinner. A very small and cozy affair this year.

Entrees
*Tofurky Roast w/ Savory Baste and Savory 'Giblet' Gravy
*Sage and Pumpkin Seed Encrusted Seitan w/ Roasted Garlic Pumpkin Sauce
*Almost Beef Wellington with Madeira Sauce


Sides
*Creamy Scalloped Potatoes (I added 2 tbl minced onion, 1 tbl minced parsley, & black pepper to taste to the sauce.)
*Green Bean Casserole (Native Foods)
*Tangerine Cranberry Sauce (Vegan Yum Yum)
*Wheatberry Waldorf Salad (Native Foods Cookbook)

*Christmas Kale Chopped Salad

*Spaghetti Squash (My sister made this and added Daiya mozzarella shreds, sage, and thyme to the squash.)
*White Chili (A guest brought this, I don't have the recipe.)


Christmas Kale Salad

 Dessert
*Boston Cream Pie Cake (Vegan Pie In the Sky)
*Apple Pie (My sister made this and subbed in vegan margarine and shortening & skipped the grains of paradise.) with Apple Cider Caramel Sauce
*Red Velvet Soda [Cup]Cake[s] with Pomegranate Spread and Buttercream Frosting [My sister made this as well, and added 1/2 cup margarine and more powdered sugar for proper consistency of the frosting.)

A photo of last year's dinner. This year's dinner looked a fair bit like this, though the actual recipes were different. Haha.



6th Annual Thankful Veghead Dinner (November 2010)

Super Top Secret

I started my recipe testing for Terrry Hope Romero this past weekend. A look at some of the ingredients and final products. 

Some Salad Ingredients...notice the bright red pomegranates! ::LUST::

Preserved Lemon (not cheap, but was a time saver)

Preserved lemon smells SO. GOOD.

Kale Salad with Preserved Lemon and Pomegranate

Crispy Eggplant and Skordalia

This Garam Masala Apple Pie is not-so top secret. Terry posted the recipe on her blog months ago, I guess it didn't make it into the new pie cookbook. But it was so very intriguing to me, in the end I made this one. I still haven't made anything from Vegan Pie in the Sky. haha. Also, this is one ugly textured pie, but I totally short-cutted it by using two frozen ready-made bottom pie crusts. Vegan Pie in the Sky tells you how to make one of the crusts into a top. It worked good enough for me! I really like this pie. It has a nice warm kick. Highly recommended.

Garam Masala Apple Pie

Alright, it's the end of Vegan MoFo. I was gonna try to squeeze in one more post, but it's been a long month and I'm ready for November.

Mesquite Chocolate Chip Cookies

Mesquite Chocolate Chip Cookies

These quiet, unassuming, regular looking chocolate chip cookies have a devastating secret; they are made with mesquite flour. Which, I have to say gives them a very interesting taste. The recipe is based on Isa and Terry's Chocolate Chip Cookie recipe from Vegan Cookies Invade Your Cookie Jar. I had read somewhere that you shouldn't replace more than 1/4 of the flour in a recipe with mesquite flour. It doesn't have gluten so it doesn't bind. And the flavor is fairly strong, so no more than that is even needed.

Anyway, in my head this translated to 1/4 cup of mesquite flour replacing the regular flour for these cookies. My omniveore taste-testers who like the regular version of these cookies, also thought the mesquite version was good. I think they are good, but there is this unmistakable, indescribable taste that comes from the added mesquite. I can't even think how to describe it. Give it a try.

Mesquite Chocolate Chip Cookies

INGREDIENTS
1/2 brown sugar
1/4 white sugar
2/3 cup canola oil
1/4 cup sweetened almond milk
1 tablespoon tapioca flour
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract

1 and 1/4 cups all purpose flour
1/4 cup mesquite flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt

3/4 cups chocolate chips

DIRECTIONS
Preheat oven to 350 F. Lightly grease two large light metal baking sheets, or use parchment paper on baking sheets. I swear by parchment paper.

Mix together sugars, oil, almond milk and tapioca flour in a mixing bowl. Use a strong fork and mix really well, for about 2 minutes, until it resembles smooth caramel. There is a chemical reaction when sugar and oil collide, so it’s important that you don’t get lazy about that step. Mix in the vanilla.

Add 1 cup of the flour, the baking soda and salt. Mix until well incorporated. Mix in the rest of the flours. Fold in the chocolate chips. The dough will be a little stuff so use your hands to really work them in.

Makes two dozen two inch cookies or about 16 three inch cookies.

For 3 inch cookies, roll the dough into about ping pong ball size balls. Flatten them out in your hands to about 2 1/2 inches. They will spread just a bit. Place on a baking sheet and bake for about 8 minutes – no more than 9 – until they are just a little browned around the edges. I usually get 16 out of these so I do two rounds of eight cookies. Let cool on the baking sheet for about 5 minutes then transfer to a cooling rack.

For 2 dozen two inch cookies roll dough into walnut sized balls and flatten to about 1 1/2 inches and bake for only six minutes.

Recipe Round-Up: Mesquite Flour

As promised, vegan (or veganizable) recipes that use mesquite flour. Gotta say, raw foodists are really representing with the mesquite flour recipes. I'm gonna make some cookies and the raw caramel apple dip to start,  what about you?

Raw Vegan
~Hungry Vegan's Carob-Mesquite Dream Smoothie
~Raw Food Recipes' Bring on the Heat Raw Vegan Chili

~Raw Sacramento's Tahitian Vanilla Crème Parfait with Tropical Fruit Compote, Candied Walnuts, and Sweet Ginger Corn Cakes

~Jamie Abrams' Ginger Mesquite'en Me Crazy Balls and Sunny Ice Cream

~Marisa's Healthy Kitchen- Butterscotch Smoothie, Banana and Avocado Sweet Snack, Banana Ice Cream Love, Superfood Smoothie

~Durian Coconut Delite via Recipe Puppy

~Raw Beets' Sweet and Creamy Caramel Apple Dip (video below)



Vegan
~Free Range Cookies' Mesquite Date Muffins

~Tusconivore's Mesquite Flour Tortillas

~Peace Love Bagels' Vegan Mesquite Chocolate Chip Cookies

~Aprovechar's Mesquite Chocolate Chip Cookies (vegan=non-ghee)

~Affairs of Living's Gluten-Free Sugar-Free Vegan Pumpkin Pie Recipe with Crunchy Crust and Cashew Whipped Cream

~No Knead Mesquite Bread via Craftzine

~Mohave Mesquite Bread

~Mesquite Bean Jelly- requires vegan gelling agent like agar maybe?

~Jack Keller's Mesquite Bean Wine

~Desert Harvesters' Simple Mesquite Drink, Pinole, Mesquite Margaritas, Mesquite Carob Tortillas, Hearty Mesquite Bread . The Neighborhood Mesquite Holiday Bars just require using agave nectar and vegan margarine, the Basic Yellow Mesquite Cake just needs non-dairy milk and vegan margarine, and the Mesquite Shortbread and Kukukadoo Solar Cookies just need vegan margarine. All of the pancake recipes require egg replacement egg replacement and non-dairy milks.

~Mighty Foods' Mesquite Cornbread- This one requires some veganizing, but it looks fairly easy. First, replace the butter with vegan margarine (like Earth Balance). Then sub the egg with egg replacer (like Ener-G Egg Replacer or the flaxseed/water combo). Change the honey to agave nectar. And finally, replace the buttermilk with 1 cup of non-dairy milk plus 1 teaspoon of apple cider vinegar (mix those two in a small bowl and let sit for a couple of minutes before adding.)

~Mesquite Margarine: Mix half a stick of softened vegan margarine with 1/2 teaspoon of mesquite flour to create a smokey, nutty, slightly sweet spread.

Vegan Black Metal Chef

The Vegan Black Metal Chef is all about style as well as tasty veganism, as you can see by his hardcore make-up, propensity for black, insane knives, and pentagram cutting boards. If you can handle the fact that the recipe instructions are sung growled black metal style, the Vegan Black Metal Chef offers vegan recipes to try, such as Pad Thai and Tempura Asparagus Sushi. I found the videos to be hilarious and entertaining. My throat winced in sympathy from all of the growling. But I think one thing is clear, everyone should have a black and silver-studded gauntlet for cooking.

Re. Tofu for the Pad Thai: "Form the triangles into the symbol of the ancients on the plate...."  haha!




"Cut the potato on the altar..." hahaha!

Vegan Tofurky Roast Beef Style Sammie with "Arby's Sauce"

Vegan Roast Beef Sammie: Whole wheat bun, Vegenaise, lettuce, tomato, grilled onions, Tofurky Roast Beef Style Deli Slices (heated), homemade "Arby's Sauce"

This post has two recipes and a product review. Bonus!

I saw the new (to me) Tofurky Roast Beef Style Deli Slices at Whole Foods, and picked up a package thinking I might make a vegan Arby's Roast Beef Classic. I even found a nice copycat recipe for the Arby's sauce. (Arby's sauce is accidentally vegan, so you could just swipe some packets from there, but it has high fructose corn syrup, which I don't like, so I just decided I'd try making my own.)

First, the recipes.

Arby's Sauce
from CopyCat Recipes

INGREDIENTS
1 tablespoon corn starch
2 tablespoons water

1 cup water
1/2 cup catsup
2 tablespoons brown sugar
1/4 cup white vinegar
3/4 teaspoon onion powder
3/4 teaspoon garlic powder
1/2 teaspoon paprika
3 tablespoons vegan Worcestershire sauce¹
1/8 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon cayenne pepper

DIRECTIONS
 In a small bowl, combine corn starch and 2 tablespoons of water. Mix well and set aside. Place all sauce ingredients in a blender and blend on high speed for 15-20 seconds. (I skipped the blender step and just stirred everything in the saucepan.) Pour ingredients into a small saucepan, heat on medium low. Simmer gently for twenty minutes, stirring several times. After twenty minutes add cornstarch mixture, stir well. When sauce begins to thickens let simmer on a very low temperature for ten minutes. Remove from heat and let cool. Mixture will be similar in thickness to steak sauce. Store in a covered container in the refrigerator.

My preferred products and where to find them:
1. Vegan Worcestershire Sauce- I know of two vegan products, Annie's and The Wizard's. I believe they sell both at Whole Foods. They also sell The Wizard's at Green in their little pantry section. And I "think" they have the Annie's Worcestershire< at Sprouts and Fry's Marketplace in the natural foods section. You can also get one or the other at the online vegan grocers like Vegan Essentials , Food Fight!, and Pangea.

~~~~

The Tofurky Roast Beef Style Deli Slices package had a recipe for a similar sauce on the back. I didn't notice it until I had already made my Arby's sauce, so I haven't tried it, but here it is. Also, I can't recommend any vegan horseradsh products, I never use it, so I haven't looked for any.

Horseradish Sauce

INGREDIENTS

1 1/2 tablespoons vegan prepared horseradish
1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
1/4 cup vegan mayonnaise
1 tablespoon plain soy yogurt
Sprinkle of garlic powder

DIRECTIONS

Whisk together the horseradish, mustard, mayonnaise, yogurt, and garlic powder. Dress sandwich.

~~~~

I haven't had an Arby's Roast Beef Sandwich in over 20 years, so the memory isn't so fresh and I can't reliably compare the taste. But I definitely liked this sandwich. The sauce was a nice addition, and the Roast Beef Style slices were a nice change of flavor from the Oven Roasted Chicken Style slices I sometimes eat.

That said, I am not entirely sure these slices taste anything like roast beef, which is a mixed blessing, I suppose. They were okay on their own, but I really liked them hot and dipped in Arby's sauce. I probably won't eat these unless I have a batch homemade Arby's sauce handy.

Mmmm!

[The sandwich gets ****, the slices get ***.]


Tofurky Roast Beef Style Deli Slices
Ranking: ***

***** awesome! Highly recommended.
**** hey, this is pretty dang good.
*** not bad at all.
** eh.
* bad. Keep looking for alternatives.


[Tofurky Deli Slices can be found at Whole Foods, and possibly Sunflower Market and Trader Joe's.]