Japanese Style Ginger Lime Dressing

You know the ginger dressing that you get at sushi restaurants? Well, this is that dressing vegan-ified.  It isn't as creamy as what you often find - obviously - but packs all the same punch! I serve it over Bibb or Butter lettuce with some julienned carrots, radishes, cherry tomato halves, thinly sliced red onion, and maybe even raw corn.  As always, season to taste before serving and adjust. 

¼ cup fresh lime juice

1 TBSP soy sauce

1 TSBP rice vinegar

1 TBSP finely diced shallot

1 TBSP grated fresh ginger

2-3 teaspoons sugar

2 TBSP peanut oil

Salt and freshly ground pepper

Whisk ingredients together in a small bowl.  Season with salt and pepper to taste, and let it stand for at least 10 minutes before serving!

Apple Pecan Waffles

Take these up a notch by serving my cooked apples cinnamon compote on top..mmmmm...

1 cup soy milk

1/2 cup melted Earth Balance

1 TBSP vanilla

Equivalent egg substitute for 3 eggs

One apple, peeled and shredded

2 cups flour

1/2 tsp salt

1 TBSP baking powder

5 tsp sugar

1 tsp cinnamon

1 cup toasted pecans, ground to a powder

Apple Cinnamon Compote, recipe follows

Tools needed: Waffle maker and food processor

Preheat oven to 375º and toast the pecans about 8-10 minutes or until fragrant and a darker shade of brown. Place toasted pecans in the food processor and whiz until they become a powder consistency.

Mix the egg substitute so that it is in it's liquid state. To that, add soy milk, melted Earth Balance, vanilla, pecans, and apple. In a separate bowl, combine dry ingredients: flour, baking powder, cinnamon, salt, and sugar. SIFT into the wet mixture and mix well. I generally put exactly 3/4 cup into my waffle maker and cook for 5-6 minutes on medium high.

Apple Cinnamon Compote

2 cups water

1/3 cup sugar

1 TBSP good vanilla

1 tablespoon Calvados or brandy

1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/8 teaspoon ground cloves

1/8 teaspoon ground nutmeg

Pinch salt

8 large Golden Delicious apples, peeled, cored, and cubed

Directions

In a large saucepan, combine the water, sugar, vanilla, Calvados, cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg, and salt and bring to a boil. Boil gently until the sugar is dissolved and the mixture thickens slightly, about 5 minutes. Add the apples and return to a boil. Lower the heat and simmer, stirring occasionally, until the apples are very tender and the mixture thickens, about 20 minute. Remove from the heat and let cool to room temperature before serving.

Teriyaki Mushroom and Green Bean DE-Lite

Eat the mushrooms alone or complemented with the green beans...either way is YUMMY..  I could imagine that if I ate steak, this would be a perfect side dish.  You CAN make it with only white button mushrooms, but even better would be a mixture of oyster, crimini, and white mushrooms..especially if you eat the mushrooms straight.  And I know that it seems odd to use STEAK seasoning, but it is only a mixture of red pepper, garlic powder, and black pepper).

2 lb mushrooms, coarsely chopped

1/4 teriyaki sauce (I strongly suggest Veri, Veri Teriyaki) plus 1/8 cup more sauce

2 TSBP olive oil plus 1 TBSP more

1 bunch of scallions, chopped in 2 inch pieces 

2 TSBP steak grill seasoning

1 lb trimmed green beans

2 tsp garlic, minced

Salt and Pepper to taste

Put a large pot on the stove for your green beans with water to boil.  

Preheat the oven to 450 degrees. In a bowl, mix the 1/4 cup teriyaki sauce with the mushrooms.  Pour the mixture onto an edged cookie sheet, and toss in scallions, vegetable oil, and steak seasoning.  Toss this all together to coat well.  Put this in the oven for 20 minutes.

Once the water is at a rolling boil, liberally salt the water and add the green beans.  Blanch the beans for 4-5 minutes, or until they are crisp to taste.  In a separate pan, saute the oil and garlic until fragrant, 30 seconds or so.  Add the green beans the MOMENT that you remove them from the boiling water.  To this, add an additional 1/8 cup of the teriyaki sauce and salt and pepper to taste.  Once it tastes yummy, add the cooked mushrooms.  Don't be alarmed...it is a lot of mushrooms to green beans, but it is supposed to be like this! Mix and serve!

Frosting Crack

So.... I am the gal who likes the corner piece with the roses on the birthday cake....and the left over icing off of other people's cakes that they can't stomach. Yes, I am THAT girl. Needless to say I was over the moon with this mixture came together!

1/4 cup Earth Balance buttery stick
1/4 cup vanilla soy creamer
2 cups confectioner's sugar

Cream together buttery stick and soy milk. Slowly add sugar and beat until thick (2 minutes or so).

Refrigerate and let set.

King Cake a Month Late

Being that I am from New Orleans, it is rough to go through Mardi Gras without a taste of delicious king cake. Luckily, thanks to Pakupaku - the Vegan Cake Maker to the Stars - we never have to go without again.

1 cup whole wheat bread flour or whole wheat pastry flour
1 1/4 teaspoons active dry yeast
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup unbleached granulated sugar
1/4 cup (four tablespoons) Earth Balance
1/4 cup unsweetened non-dairy milk
1/4 cup tepid water
1/2 cup soy yogurt (regular would work too)
1 tablespoon Ener-G egg replacer (dry--don't mix with liquid)
2 teaspoons organic orange zest, divided
1 1/2-2 cups unbleached white flour
1-1 1/2 cups powdered sugar and more non-dairy milk for glaze.

1. In the bowl of a mixer with a dough hook, combine the whole wheat flour, yeast, salt, and 1/4 cup of the granulated sugar.
   
2. Heat the Earth Balance and non-dairy milk over medium low heat, until the Earth Balance is melted. Remove from heat and add the warm water. Bring the temperature to 110F.
3. Add the warm liquid to the flour and and beat to combine. Add the yogurt, Ener-G and zest and continue to beat until well blended.
4. Add in 1/2 cup of white flour and mix to combine. Continue to add the white flour in 1/2 cup increments until the dough is soft and firm, but still a bit tacky (mine only needed 1 1/2 cups).
5. Knead for ten minutes by hand or five with a dough hook, until the dough is smooth and elastic (it will be slightly tacky to the touch).
6. Gather the dough into a ball and let rise in a large bowl covered with a tea towel in a warm area, until doubled in size about 2 hours. (I put mine in the oven with the pilot light lit).
7. Once the dough has risen, punch it down, preheat the oven to 350F.
   
8. Lightly flour your counter and rol lthe dough out into a long rectangle about 26"X20" (keep the wide end facing you). The dough should be about 1/4" thin.
   
9. Once the dough is rolled out, it's time to fill it. Spread your choice of filling over the whole thing, but leave a 1" margin at the top and sides to help prevent the filling (see below) from squirting out when you roll it.
   
10. Starting at the bottom edge, carefully roll up the dough, jelly style--don't forger to hide a tiny baby in the cake somewhere (you can use a dry bean, too). Pinch the seam really well, and connect the ends to form an elliptical ring. The sides will need to be pinched extremely well too, because they often leak.
11. Carefully transfer to the dough to a parchment covered cookie sheet and bake until brown about 35-45 minutes.
12. Let cool ten minutes and then transfer to a wire rack to cool more.
    
13. While the dough cools, make the sugar glaze. Sift the sugar in a bowl, and add just a tiny bit of milk-teaspoon by teaspoon- until it's a thick but pourable consistency. Pour over the mostly cooled cake and decorate with purple, gold and green sugar**.
    

*Fillings
I usually make one of the following (or a combination), the cake shown in the pictures above is half blueberry and half cinnamon sugar. Usually if I make a cream cheeze cake, I sprinkle cinnamon sugar over the top. See the picture below.

1. Tofutti Better Than Cream Cheese
   
2. Granulated sugar mixed with ground cinnamon
3. Preserves

Coconut Belgian Waffles

I just got a waffle maker...actually I gave it as a birthday gift to my boyfriend in exchange for the random gifting of waffles. I am still tinkering with this recipe to get that light and fluffy texture, but even as they are they are delicious enough that I have found myself falling asleep to coconut waffle dreams!

2 cups flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons sugar
1 cup coconut milk
3/4 cup soy milk
2 teaspoons vanilla extract (can sub coconut, if you have it)
1 banana
1 tablespoon canola oil
1/2 cup shredded coconut

Serve with fresh strawberries and maple syrup

Directions:

In a large bowl, mix together dry ingredients (except coconut). In a separate bowl, mash banana very well and add remaining wet ingredients to it. Add wet to dry and stir until just mixed. Fold in the coconut.

Let sit for at least 10 minutes, or it will be too runny! I often put mine in the fridge overnight. The consistency of the batter may change depending on the size of your banana, so add a little flour if it seems too loose or add more milk if it seems too stiff.

Pour batter into waffle maker and cook for roughly 5 minutes on the medium to high setting. The waffle will be ready when a steady stream of steam ceases to escape. Slather on some vegan margarine, cut up fresh strawberries, and REAL maple syrup and enjoy!

Serves: 3-4 belgian waffles

Artichoke Puttanseca with Angel Hair Crowd Pleaser

From what I understand, Puttanseca sauce was named for the ladies of the night in the Italian brothels. They would lure the men in from the smell of the sauce and serve it to them after their "workout". I have subbed capers in for the traditional anchioves for a delicious spin on the classic. I love this one because it is spicy, fast, and easy (sorry ladies)...

Ingredients
2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
4 to 6 cloves garlic, chopped
2 jars marinated artichoke hearts
1-3 TBSP crushed red pepper flakes (or less if you prefer less spicy)
20 oil-cured black olives, cracked away from pit and coarsely chopped (from bulk bin)
1 6oz jar capers
1 (28-ounce) can chunky style crushed tomatoes
1 (14.5-ounce) can diced tomatoes, drained (I prefer hot spiced such as Chipolte)
A few grinds black pepper
1/4 cup (a couple of handfuls) flat leaf parsley, chopped
2/3 - 3/4 pound angel hair, cooked to al dente or whole wheat
1 TBSP oregano
1 bay leaf

Directions

Heat a large skillet over medium heat and add oil, garlic, oregano, bay leaf, and crushed pepper. Saute mixture until garlic is tender, about 3 minutes: your kitchen never smelled so good!
Lower heat to a simmer and add olives, capers, tomatoes, artichoke hearts, black pepper, and parsley.
Bring sauce to a bubble, reduce heat, and simmer 10-15 minutes. While sauce is simmering, cook pasta.
Add s+p to taste – careful with the salt since the capers already make it salty. Toss sauce with cooked pasta.