Buffalo Tofu Salad

Genius, right? How did I not think of this before?

You just take all your ingredients for a great chikin wing dinner–tangy Buffalo drenched tofu, ranch dressing, onions, carrots & celery, and toss them over some romaine lettuce. Seriously! Easy and awesome! And no fear of double dipping!

I borrowed here and there from some recipes to come up with my own ranch that’s easy and light and creamy!

Veggie Ranch Dressing (makes about 1 cup):

• 1/2 cup Mori-Nu firm silken tofu
• 1/4 cup unmilk
• 2 T water
• 1 T lemon juice
• 1 tsp apple cider vinegar
• 2 tsp dijon mustard
• 1 tsp agave nectar
• 2 T fresh parsley
• 2 T fresh dill
• 2 T dehydrated onion flakes
• 1 tsp granulated garlic powder
• salt & pepper to taste

Just throw that whole mess in your food processor or blender and pulse until smooth. It shouldn’t take very long. Adjust the flavors if you need to (I needed to add more salt than I thought). The next time I make this, I’m going to toss in a little miso and see if something magical doesn’t happen. Also, this would be GREAT with about 2 T of green onion mixed in, too. Dang, now I want to make more!

Cinnamon Swirl Pancakes Veganized!

In my earlier pancake post, reader kat suggested that I try out the Cinnamon Swirl Pancakes from her blog, she cooks, he eats. Since the original recipe wasn’t vegan, and contained more butterfat than you could shake a stick at, I knew I needed work some magic on it.

Ta-da!

I used the Happy Herbivore basic pancake recipe, since it already has a dose of cinnamon in it. I do doctor that a little by adding vanilla, and usually a touch more almond milk–I think my flour is a little thirstier, and it makes the pancakes too thick. Since the cinnamon swirl mix makes more than you need for this pancake recipe, you can double your pancakes, or half the swirl.

Then, I altered the cinnamon swirl recipe, so I didn’t have to pipe it at all. I hate piping!

Cinnamon Swirl (easily makes enough for 12 pancakes):

• 1/4 cup non-hydrogenated margarine or shortening (make sure it has some buttery flavor)
• 1/2 cup brown sugar (light or dark)
• 1/4 cup almond milk (or whatever unmilk you like)
• 2 tsp cinnamon
• 2 tsp flour

Using a pyrex measuring cup, I melted the margarine in the microwave (it took about 20 seconds). Then I stirred in the sugar, cinnamon, and flour to make a thick paste. Add the almond milk in slowly, as you may not need all of it to make a pourable syrup. When you have it at a workable consistency, you’re done!

Now you get to make pancakes! Pour about 1/4 cup of the batter into a pan warmed over medium-low heat. Get your cinnamon mixture and decorate your flapjack. I totally abandoned the swirl idea, since when you flip the pancake over, the pattern is basically lost anyway. So I went with drips and drops, though you could make hearts, happy faces, whatever. Just get about a tablespoon of it on every pancake.

Flip the pancakes when they are dry on the edges and bubbly in the center. Watch out! Your swirl mixture is basically hot caramel at this point, and tends to spread. I noticed that it would ball back up nicely and re-stick itself back on the pancake if you had any run-off. Nice!

This is a recipe I would absolutely make again, but it is a little time consuming. In the future, I think I would also make some vegan bacon bits and mix them with a little earth balance and maple syrup to make a delicious spread to go on top. Doesn’t that sound awesome?

Thanks, kat!

Baked Chimichangas!

Mmm…mmm…chimichangas! It’s fun to say. And fun to eat!

I love me some baked burrito. I love how it makes the outside all crispy, the bottom all mushy, and you can eat it with a fork! And a knife! And put pretty three colored sauces on top! I filled this one with brown rice, black beans, anasazi beans, tomatillo salsa and vegan chorizo. That recipe is so awesome, and makes TONS. I don’t even know what to do with the rest of it! Maybe some bowls, since I’m all out of tortillas now.

The sauces on the top are a little more tomatillo salsa (just from a jar, I KNOW), some quick salsa (no onion), and some onion cashew crema that I made up myself! Actually, out of desperation, since I totally messed up the cashew sour cream recipe from Vegan Brunch. Oops!

Onion Cashew Crema:

• 1/4 cup raw cashews, soaked for an hour at least
• 1/2 cup water
• 2 tsp mild vinegar
• 1/2 of a small sweet onion
• 2 T dehydrated onion flakes

Now, put all ingredients in a blender and whip them up! Try to get most of the bits of cashew all ground up–this isn’t easy, so give it some time. When it’s done, just pop in the fridge to cool down. Makes a ton–at least a cup. I only used about 1 T to top these burritos–er–chimis, so now I don’t know what to do with the rest of it. The cashews make it a little bit diet unfriendly, but it’s worth it. I mean, you’re probably only putting about two or three extra grams of fat on there. Don’t sweat it! You need to eat fat to live! TO LIVE.

So, yay! Thanks again for the awesome dinner, Happy Herbivore!

Baked Mac & Cheese

I’ll admit it. I’ve been totally spoiled by the VegNews Mac & Cheese. That stuff is out of this world! But it’s also pretty stinkin’ fatty, and I’m not always in the mood for the greasy food. Plus, it’s kind of a bear to cook–lots of boiling of various veggies, etc. And I do sometimes like a nutritional yeast-based mac, since it’ll provide me with tons of B12 vitamins! Go B12!

I turned to the Baked Mac & Cheese from, you guessed it, Happy Herbivore. I’d been interested in making an unmilk based cheesy sauce, too, since I’ve made the Appetite for Reduction one about a million times. And while it’s good, I often crave something creamier. Bring on the Mori-Nu and almond milk, baby!

And this was good–it falls somewhere in between my favorite macs, since it’s creamy and baked just like VegNews, but noochy, like AFR. I will say that it seemed to be missing something–I’m guessing either a pinch of nutmeg, or a dash of hot sauce. I put a bit of tabasco on it, and that helped round out the flavor a little. Lemon juice in the cheese sauce, perhaps? I’ll think of something.

You’ll notice that I paired this with some rockin’ Jerk Asparagus, also from AFR. That stuff can do NO WRONG. And you’ll think it’s going to come out all weird, and it doesn’t, it’s so easy and magical. I wish I made it more, but asparagus is sooooo expensive. I blame the man for that one.

Applesauce Chocolate Chip Cookies

I’m new to the whole applesauce baked goods phenomenon. I’ve never really been a “dieter,” and if I was going to have something–like cookies–that was “bad” for me, I’d just go for it. Same with soda. I hardly ever drink it, but when I do, I want the real stuff.

But, I trust the Happy Herbivore, and I really wanted to try these. One, because I went totally overboard with that brownie bonanza, and two, I wanted to know if it worked. The results?

Well, it sorta worked. My two-year-old was a HUGE fan of these. But I found the texture to be almost gummy, which was a real negative. I don’t like crunchy cookies, so it’s not like I was creeped out by their softness. There was just something weird about them. So, long story short, I think I’ll make applesauce cookies again, but I’ll probably add in one tablespoon of canola oil, and subtract a tablespoon of sauce. It should only add about one gram of fat per cookie, but maybe it’ll give me more of the texture that I’m looking for.

Have you tried these? What do you think?

Banana Ice Cream

Yep. That’s just a frozen banana, some almond milk, vanilla, and cinnamon. You can find the actual recipe at Happy Herbivore, but it’s so easy, you could probably just figure it out yourself!

I will say that there are two issues I have with this: 1. It’s super hard to get the peels off the frozen bananas. Did anyone else think of peeling them before tossing them in the freezer? I have like 50 bananas in there (no joke). I solved that problem by just using my regular potato peeler. You lose a little bit of banana, but you get them still really, really frozen. 2. It wasn’t sweet enough. I’ve heard that can be an issue with ice cream, too, that’s why it has so much sugar–the coldness numbs the sweet receptors on your tongue. Or did I just make that up? I added a little maple syrup to mine, and it was pretty good.

Still, I’d love some more mix-in ideas. I love banana with peanut butter, so I might toss in a teaspoonful, and see if that works. Or stir in some chocolate chips. Or throw in a few strawberries. Or some agave nectar. Or…I don’t know! The world is your oyster. And this is too easy to make and too good to pass up.

Don’t Keep This…Under Wraps…

 

When I bust out the puns, you know I’ve been reading a lot of Cake Wrecks.

This BBQ wrap is so much win. I don’t actually know what that phrase means, and I don’t actually like the term “wrap” for what is obviously a burrito, but I digress. The BBQ Chop Wrap from Happy Herbivore will change your life. I could eat this thing practically every day and not get bored with it. For one, BBQ sauce, ya’ll. But without all the UGH heaviness that usually comes from eating BBQ’ed food. You know? It’s all light and airy and full of beans and magic.

MAKE THIS FOOD.

 

Gingerbread Muffins

Basically, this is the Happy Herbivore Apple Muffin recipe, but with a twist. Is that twist a good one? We haven’t decided yet. It does taste just like gingerbread, if that gives you any clues.

What happened is this: I didn’t have apples, so I just doubled up the applesauce. And I didn’t have brown sugar, so I doubled the regular sugar and added a little molasses. And then, what the hell, I threw in some vegan bacon bits I had hanging around. I thought maybe they would apple bacon cinnamon muffins of wonder and delight.

Mostly, they were just…weird. And I’m not sure if it’s all my subs, or the fact that fat-free and low-fat baking gives you much different results than it’s fattier cousins. I think we’re going to have a muffin round two on this, without all the substitutions!

 

Pad Thai…Sigh

That sigh? Contentment. Not only is this Cheater Pad Thai from the Happy Herbivore totally delicious, it is unbelievably easy to make. On a scale of 1 to 10 in dinner easiness (with 10 being homemade vegan lemon merangue pie), this is a 1. A ONE.

I can’t believe how easy it was–I didn’t have to cut anything but the lime! That’s it! And Pad Thai noodles (while strangely hard to find) are the easiest noodle in the world to cook. So, stir, saute a bag of frozen veggies, boil some water. Bam! You’re done! And unlike other sauces that don’t coat well, this coated the veggies and noodles like magic.

I’m going to make this constantly. I love love love Pad Thai, and this was absolutely perfect. I haven’t made anything from this cookbook that was less than astounding. I don’t know how she does it!

 

Southern Home Cookin’

My husband thought this dinner tasted just like something your granny would make. But I guess she’d have to be your kick-ass vegan granny, which would be amazing. Of all the vegans I read about, senior vegans are the best. They went vegan in 1922, you dang whippersnapper!

Are you listening? I have two words for you. VEGAN. BACON. And BITS. Which makes it three, but you get the idea. Yeah. Happy Herbivore strikes again! I love these bacon bits. They were incredibly easy to make, totally fat free, and look and taste just like bacon. My clothes and hair even smell like bacon just like the (bad) old days!

So I smothered those bits all over some green beans. And made her baked beans (which seemed to be missing something, though I don’t know what), and hybridized the corn pudding/cornbread recipe. You see, I DID have silken tofu–yesterday. And then I went on some sort of crazed double-batch brownie extravaganza. Delicious,  unnecessary, and it stole my ingredients for corn pudding!

What I did was make half a batch of cornbread, added the full amount of jalapeño, corn, onion and turmeric, and baked it at 350 for 30 mins. That way both it and the beans were done at the same time. It turned out fairly well, if a little dense. I’ll try to get it right next time!