It just so happened that my bananas reached an awesome state of ripeness on this holy day. National Bundt Cake Day.

As I mentioned on my birthday post, my mother bought me a mini Bundt cake pan.  And I have been eager to pour anything possible into it’s tiny cavities. So I’ve combined my obsession with my new bakeware with my desire to make banana bread and I shamelessly call these Bundt cakes.

What I like about this particular banana bread recipe (passed onto by a friend on myspace… Do you remember Myspace?) is it’s simplicity.  You will not find a simpler Banana bread in the blog-o-sphere.  This recipe does not include nuts, because I don’t like nuts in my baked goods.  But I suppose you could add some if you like.

The Recipe:
5 ripe bananas
1 Cup Sugar
1 tsp Vanilla extract
1/4 Cup Water
2 Cups Flour
1 tsp Baking Powder
1/2 tsp Baking Soda
1 tsp Cinnamon
(I added 1/4 cup cocoa powder for this batch)

Put your 5 ripe peeled banana in a large bowl and mash them up.  You don’t have to mash them completely smooth. Banana bread is very forgiving.

Add your sweetener, vanilla & water to the mashed Bananas.  Mix well.

combine your dry ingredients and sift them into the wet ingredients.  As pictured, I added cocoa powder.  Fold the dry ingredients in to combine well.

Your batter will probably be much thicker than your average cake batter.

Here I diverge from the written instructions.  Normally you would put this batter in a loaf pan and bake at 350° F for an hour.  But as muffins or mini Bundts the cooking time is much less.  Mini Bundts have a much greater surface area for cooking, so these baked up in 15 minutes. Muffins, I would venture, would take 20 to 25 minutes.

I overfilled these because I didn’t want to make a second batch. I’m lazy like that.  But you could easily get a dozen moderately sized muffins from this.

Here are the finished mini-Bundts still in the pan.  I let them cool to firm up before attempting to dislodge them.

While these were cooling I decided to mix up a sugar glaze of powdered sugar, margarine, soymilk & chocolate extract.  I don’t have an exact recipe for this. I just do it on instinct.

dunk the Bundts & drizzle off the excess glaze before letting them set.

And here are my finished Bundts laid out on wax paper to catch any dripping glaze.

Happy Baking!

Now, as I mentioned in my last post, I had been marinating some tofu in pepperoni spices. This was because the plan for my birthday was to have pizza with my family. Nothing special, but something somewhat new.

Yesterday when I cooked my tofu I ended up forgetting about it. We don’t have a food timer in the house and I just kind of blanked out. As a result, my tofu was waaay overdone. There was just no way it was making it’s way to a pizza. But pieces of it were still edible and I have to admit that the tofu-pepperoni probably would have been quite excellent on a pizza. I’d make it again if it weren’t so time intensive. You see, I’m not the type to plan ahead well, so the pressing, freezing, thawing & (8+ hour) marinading prior to actually baking the tofu just isn’t going to cut it for me. Thankfully, I had already planned on making seitan pepperoni as well, so I was no left in the lurch.

I followed this recipe for making seitan pepperoni. I made my logs fairly smaller so I reduced the cooking time slightly. The end result was really good. Though, next time I might increase the red pepper flakes and add a little olive oil to the mix.

I can’t imagine making this with gluten dough that you’ve made from regular wheat flour. the kneading and rinsing of starches from the dough in order to get a good seitanic dough would rinse out too much of your spices and flavorings. So if you are one of those people that make your seitan the old fashioned way I’d recommend buying the Vital Wheat Gluten for this one

I then set about making cupcakes and my pizza dough.

I used Mark Bittman’s recipe for simple pizza dough. I love the yummy yeast flavor and the texture of the crust it provides.

1 teaspoon instant or rapid rise yeast
3 cups all-purpose flour
2 tsp or sea salt
1 1/4 cups water
Olive Oil

Mix together your flour, yeast & salt. Then add the water & a couple Tbsp of Olive Oil slowly until you have a good dough that isn’t too wet/sticky.
Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface and knead it briefly. You want to get the dough to form a nice smooth little ball. Grease your bowl and turn your dough over in a it a bit before covering it and leaving it to rise some place warm until it doubles in size. Mine took an hour because of all the baking I was doing already).
Preheat your oven to 500° F. Commercial Pizza ovens cook pizzas at very high heat, so this is the next best thing. Spread your dough out onto your baking sheet/pizza pan/whatever. Cover with your toppings and cook for 10-12 minutes.

My pizza was fantastic. I used Gimme Lean sausage and Daiya shreds. It was s typical kid-approved pizza. And more importantly, my parents approved.

I also made mint chocolate cupcakes. I used the chocolate cupcake recipe from Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World and added a small amount of mint extract. I used my pretty new mini bundt cake pan and I am super duper impressed. The large amount of cooking surface equates to shorter cooking time and increased carmelization of the sugars. Ever single surface of this little cake was so sweet that I scrapped the idea of making any kind of frosting.

Tomorrow is my birthday and instead of settling for a potentially disappointing restaurant experience I’ve opted to move up my pizza planning and have a nice evening in with my family.  We’ll be making pizza & watching movies and just spending time together.  So last night I pressed and froze my tofu in preparation to begin marinating it today.  And while I was thawing the tofu slices I decided to get some other random food prep out of the way.

I’m fortunate in that the grocery store I do 90% of my shopping at actually has vegetarian/vegan Worcestershire sauce.  However, upon seeing a post a few days back about making your own Worcestershire sauce I decided I would have to give it a try.

After a quick google search to see what recipe variations were out there I found out that they were all basically the same.  I eventually followed this recipe from Martha Stewart.

No. I have no plans of incorporating Worcestershire sauce into pizza night/my 31st birthday. I just felt like it would be a good thing to have on hand for other future cooking sessions. And since this stuff can be stored in the fridge for up to 3 months it just made sense to go ahead and make it and get that out of the way. So, go on, make your own. You’ll find that creating your own staples is very gratifying.

So. My tofu finally thawed out. I gave them a quick second press to remove more liquid and assembled my ingredients. I used this recipe on Sparkpeople, but I halved the amount of liquid smoke.

If you have ever cooked with liquid smoke then you know a little goes a long way. And two whole teaspoons full in a marinade sounded like overkill. Additionally, I used smoked paprika. Some of you may read this and think that this faux pepperoni needs that liquid smoke flavor to really sell it as pepperoni. But I’ve had vegan pepperoni that relied too heavily on liquid smoke and it was distracting as hell. Any meat eater will tell you that it’s not a strong smokey flavor that makes pepperoni. It’s the salt and spices. I also had to add more olive oil than the recipe called for so that my marinade was less of a thick paste and more of a proper marinade.

And finally… my mother surprised me today by bringing home a mini bundt cake pan. I adore her. Because now I can bake mini cakes that aren’t strictly cupcakes AND I can use this pan to make donuts. I love cooking things that can do double duty. I love this pan so much that I may use it to bake my birthday cake(s) in. ♥

My favorite stock I want to make is from the Veganomicon.  But alternately, a food blogger from Texas named Beth has posted a Homemade Vegetable Stock recipe that is not only REALLY good, but also made with simple(r) ingredients that you probably already have on hand.  I have to give Beth props for writing a recipe full of tips and hints.  So even if you aren’t using her recipe I suggest you give it a good read anyways.

Personally, I have nothing in my pantry at the moment.  And I certainly don’t have enough to make either of these recipes.  I am pantry-poor.  But if you are planning on following along at home and recreating some of the meals I plan on sharing here then you should go ahead and make some stock too.

This recipe was pulled from the Post Punk Kitchen website, the personal website of one of the author’s of my favorite cookbook, the Veganomicon. And it is more or less the same recipe as in the book

Golden Vegetable Broth
prep time: 15 minutes | cooking time: 1 1/2 hours | makes 8 cups
I use this exact to go along with my matzoh ball soup. You can use other veggies such as celery, squash, potatoes or mushrooms, just make sure there is enough water to cover everything. Keep the skins on the onions for added color and flavor. You can also try other herbs like thyme, rosemary, bay leaves and peppercorns for a stronger broth.

Equipment:
Stock pot
Cheese cloth
Knife and cutting board

Ingredients
2 large carrots, peeled and roughly chopped
2 parsnips, peeled and roughly chopped
1 large onion, skin included, roughly chopped
3 whole clove garlic, crushed
2 leeks, cleaned well and roughly chopped
handful (a loosely packed cup) fresh parsley
handful (a loosely packed cup) fresh dill
1 Tablespoon olive oil
9 cups water
1 teaspoon salt

Directions
In a large stockpot, heat the oil. Saute onions for about 5 minutes on medium heat. Add all other ingredients and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and let simmer for an hour and a half, uncovered.

Let broth cool till it’s an ok temperature to handle. Strain into a large bowl with cheese cloth or a very fine mesh strainer. Press the vegetables with a gentle but firm pressure to get all the moisture out.

This will keep in the fridge in a tightly sealed container for up to 3 days, or freeze for up to 3 months.

Ingredients in my burgers vary from batch to batch but in general they include: TVP, Vgn Bouillon, VWG, Rice, & Onion.  I suppose you could add other textural veggies in the mix, but I’ll leave that up to you.

If you are a newbie vegan or a meat eater reading this then you may not know what those initialisms up above mean.  TVP is Textured Vegetable Protein.  It is a soy product that is sold in dry granule (and chuck) form and is used as a substitute for ground meat.  It has a very subtle flavor.  So when you cook with it you  need to add in your own flavor.

VWG is Vital Wheat Gluten and is a very high gluten content (or hard) flour.  It is mostly used in making the faux meat Seitan because the high gluten content makes for a chewier dough.

The Vegan Bouillon that I used was “Edward & Sons” brand bouillon.  At Food4Less here this bouillon comes in “not-beef” and “not-chick’n” flavors.  The beef bouillon will give your burgers a smoky hearty flavor like some of the major brand vgn burgers.  If that is what you like then go for it.  I chose the chicken flavor.  This bouillon is not as good as Frontier brand chicken bouillon, but it does well in a pinch.  If you don’t have a faux meat bouillon then I suggest using vegetable broth to rehydrate your TVP.  Additional flavoring might be necessary.  You can add things like BBQ sauce into the mix later if you like.

I cooked my rice ahead of time.  I used Calrose rice because it is substantial and won’t get lost, texture wise, in the patties.  Why rice?  I like a little more body to my burgers than a traditional TVP burger provides.

While my rice was cooking I cooked up  some chopped Onion until super tender.  Some people might add uncooked diced onion to their burgers but, as I have mentioned before, I don’t like the texture of onions.

I combined the rehydrated TVP, rice & onion and then slowly added the VWG.  The goal was to make a mixture that could be shaped into a patty without falling apart.  I add more VWG than most recipes call for, but that is because I like the consistency.

rough estimate of ingredients:

• 1 cup dry tvp
• 1 cup vgn bouillon
• 1/2 cup cooked rice
• 1/4 onion, diced and cooked in a little vgn margarine
• 1/2 to 1 cup VWG (depending on consistency)

Another way my burgers diverge from the traditional TVP burger is in the cooking method.  Since I use more VWG in my patties they can be a bit gummy if cooked like a regular patty in a pan.  So I precook them with steam.  That’s right.  I steam them.

In a large pot I use water, a dash of soy sauce and a couple tiny drops of liquid smoke.  Why?  The steam can be used to impart additional flavor to the burgers as they cook.  Soy sauce is usually a good choice.  And the liquid smoke is to give it that hint of grilled flavor.  A little liquid smoke goes a VERY LONG WAY.  So be careful when choosing to cook with it.

I place the patties on a steam basket and steam them for 30 minutes minimum on both sides.  Yes, an hour of cooking time instead of just a few minutes in the pan.   Obviously, this is not an “I’m hungry now” kind of burger.  But the resulting patty is fully cooked, firm and well flavored.  And if you use a lot of VWG then you have more of a chicken patty than a beef patty.  So keep that in mind.

The fully cooked steamed patty can be served as is or cooked as you like.  I usually fry them up a little because I can.  But the solid shape would lend itself well to breading and frying like a wonderfully southern dish.  Because in the South we fried everything.

I have no burger buns in the house and refused to take a picture of my ghetto burger made with two slices of bread. So imagine some delicious awesomeness that didn’t last long on the plate.

well, I have some cleaning up to do.
Much love.

Okay, so I woke up this morning and went straight to my finally cold fresh soymilk that I made last night and poured myself a big disgustingly bad for me bowl of generic chocolate cereal.  And you know what?  It was De.li.cious.

I love making my own soymilk and I can’t thank Peter enough for buying a soymilk maker for me.  By making my own soymilk I am avoiding additives and tetrapack cartons that can’t be recycled.  Plus, I have unsweetened soymilk on hand for things like gravy.  As a girl who spent her formative years in the South I cannot stress how important gravy is to me.  I could use it as a condiment the way crazy people use Ranch dressing.  *retch*

After downing far too much sugary cereal goodness I set about making some Mac (shells) & Cheese.  See?  You thought I’d never get to my point, didn’t you?

This isn’t really so much a recipe because there’s nothing to it.  But I’ll explain what went into making this delicious golden concoction of comfort.  I sautéed a handful of onions in some vegan margarine until they were tender.  I then tossed in a bunch of shredded Vegan Gourmet cheddar cheese and a dash of soymilk and stirred until melted and smooth.  I then poured it over the freshly cooked pasta and dished it.

The onion adds a good deal of flavor to this that I heartily recommend.   I don’t like the consistency of onions, but I like the flavor.  That’s why I cook them until they practically fall apart.  This way their texture blends in with the mac & cheese.  Also, when the cheese cools it begins to solidify, much like regular cheese does.  But I’ve yet to find a component to add to my cheese sauce to keep it from doing so.  So if you use Vegan Gourmet cheese in your mac & cheese I would recommend dishing it up in an already warm bowl and eating it quickly.  But doesn’t it look good fresh?  Go ahead and scroll back up.  I’ll be here waiting for you.

On the Vegan Cheese Front, I just learned what many of you probably already knew.  Daiya is now available at the retail level without having to special order it from a website who bought it through food service channels.

Daiya is, in my opinion, the absolute BEST vegan cheese on the market.  And if Food4Less carried it my life would be complete.  At the moment, the only retailer in my area that does carry Daiya is the Ashland Food Coop.  It’s a bit of a drive but worth it in my book.  However, since driving is not something that I do, I have to rely on the understanding of my mother to make the trip to Ashland.  I’m hoping to convince Food4Less to carry Daiya.  They’ve done an excellent job so far of stocking more vegan foods than I ever though I’d find in The Valley.

Well, I have things to do.  So I guess that’s all for now.  Oh, and don’t worry.  I still plan on making that tofu pepperoni and blogging about it.  But I still haven’t been shopping.

Much love

I recently picked up a used copy of the now out of print ‘The Now & Zen Epicure’ which has many many wonderful recipes in it. And it also has instructions for making your own gluten-y dough in place of that made with Vital Wheat Gluten. I’m sure you can find this elsewhere, but here, poorly transcribed for the lazy is the Homemade Gluten recipe:

3 lbs (or more) high gluten whole wheat flour
3 cups (or more) water

The author notes that regular whole wheat flour will not work and tells you to ask for a good bread making flour.? I learned from Alton Brown that bread machine flour? is very high in gluten.

This “recipe” calls for 3lbs of flour, but if your bowl will hold more then add more.? The gist is that it takes the same amount of work so you might as well do as much as you can while you’re at it.

Place all your flour in your large bowl and mix in your water to form a very firm dough and allow it to rest for at least an hour.? Then move your bowl to your sink.? You’ll probably be here for a while.

Fill your bowl with water and start massaging your dough.? As the water washes out the starch it will begin to turn white.? Discard this water and replace, repeating this process over and over again.? THe author suggests 10-15 minutes.? Your dough should start to shrink as the bran and starch wash away and at some point it may seem to be falling apart.? Don’t fear, that part is expected.

“When it looks like you have a giant wad of well-chewed bubble gum, you have transformed flour into raw gluten.”

this will yield a rather bland gluten dough which will be dependent upon your cooking method for adding flavor.? And this book has several cooking suggestions that I will share in the future as I try them.? For now, that’s all you get.

Bhajia Karhi is listed as “lentil fritters in buttermilk curry” on the recipe, but considering that the recipe called for chickpea flour I thought that it was a bit off. Now, I actually have chickpea flour. I bought it because Isa uses it in a vegan french toast recipe and I honestly thought I’d never have another use for it. Go figure. I bought Chickpea Flour at the Butte Creek Mill in Eagle Point, Oregon. I’m not certain where you might get it yourself elsewhere. Check dry bulk bins and ethnic (middle eastern) stores if you have any.

The recipe is not vegan in that it calls for buttermilk, but you can make vegan buttermilk with your own milk substitute such as soy milk. Simply add 1 tsp souring agent such as lemon juice or vinegar to each cup of milk. Let your new “buttermilk” set for 10 minutes prior to use. And for this recipe I would recommend vinegar, as the lemon flavor might be too strong in this recipe.

Bhajia Karhi
fritters/dumpling:
1 C Chickpea Flour
salt to taste
1/4 tsp turmeric
2 Onions, chopped small
oil for frying

Combine the flour, salt, turmeric, chopped onion (and enough water) to make a stiff batter. Heat the oil and drop in spoonfuls of batter. fry until puffy and light brown then set to drain excess oil.

curry:
3 C vegan buttermilk
salt to taste
1/4 tsp turmeric
1/2 tsp fresh grated ginger (or 1/4 tsp ground ginger)
1 fresh or canned green chili pepper, sliced and seeded
1/2 tsp ground Coriander
1/4 tsp ground cumin
2 tsp flour

In a large pot/pan combine all the ingredients. Bring to a boil then lower heat and simmer uncovered for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add the fritters to the curry and simmer for an additional 5 minutes. Serve immediately.

I served this on a bed of couscous since my father is diabetic and is supposed to stare clear of white rice. (and I’m not hugely on board with brown rice. It’s too nutty)

I’ll post the picture I took (mid-meal) when I can find the cable for that damn camera.

Since going completely vegan on the 1st of October my nails have become stronger. I’ve always had frail brittle nails. I’ve also lost a few pounds. I haven’t made any other changes. I have not added any physical activity. In fact, I may be even less active. If I manage to start getting off my ass I might see some substantial loss.