Sexy Kalamata & Sundried Tomato Tapenade

This tapenade was having-a-dude-go-down-on-you-without-expecting-you-to-reciprocate good. In other words, IT WILL BLOW YOUR MIND. (And you won't have to blow anything in return. ;)



INGREDIENTS:

• 1 ¼ c. pitted kalamata olives (I also added some big fat green ones and some other greek black ones in as well)


• 9-10 oil-packed sundried tomatoes


• 2 T. capers


• 4 cloves garlic


• Handful of parsley


• 1/2 T. balsamic vinegar


• 1/2 T. oil from your oil-packed sundried tomatoes


• Freshly-ground black pepper, to taste

DIRECTIONS

Blend that shit. Blend it real hard. Oh just like that. Yes yes yes.

Spread on a toasted baguette. Spread it. Mmmmm.

Makes enough for an entire baguette and then some.

(Recipe © Yeah That "Vegan" Shit)

World's Easiest Vegan Cream-Cheezy Veggie Pizza

My mom used to often make the non-vegan version of this pizza for picnics and gatherings when we were little, so it definitely has a nostalgia-value to it. Which is why I was so pleased to realize that it's so easily vegan-izable.

This was the definite crowd-pleaser of the party. It's very rich and filling, so a small slice or two is plenty as a munchie.



INGREDIENTS:

• Two tubes Pillsbury Crescent Rolls


• One 8 oz. tub of vegan cream cheez


• 1/2 c. vegan mayo


• One pack of some sort of ranch/veggie-dip seasoning (I used Veggie Weggie Dip Mix)


• 1/4 c. to 1/2 c. of the following veggies (feel free to add or subtract--musts, in my opinion though, are cauliflower and black olives):
  Black olives, sliced
  Cauliflower, diced small
  Shrooms, sliced
  Broccoli, diced small
  Green peppers, diced or sliced

DIRECTIONS

Preheat oven to 375-F.

Line a large baking sheet with parchment paper.

Unroll your crescent rolls down the pan, trying not to separate at the perforations. Once you've filled the pan length-wise, tear off the extra dough and fill it up width-wise. With two tubes, you should have slightly in excess of a large pan. Once the pan is filled, press down the dough where the perforations are to seal everything together.

Bake for 10 to 15 minutes (or until crust is a golden color on both top and bottom). Remove from oven and let cool.

In the meantime, combine your cream cheez, mayo, and seasoning. Whisk together until combined.

Once crust is cool, spread your cream cheez mix across the top of it until it's all used.

Top with your raw veggies.

Slice and serve.

(Makes about 16 or so small--but rich--slices)





PS. CONTEST-WINNERS WILL BE ANNOUNCED THIS WEEK! I HAVEN'T FORGOTTEN!!! =)

Creamy Spinach-Artichoke Dip

(Please excuse the horrible pic.)

So yay! I made a really good spinach-artichoke dip for the Oscars on Sunday, and it was super-easy but super-decadent. I was inspired by the Don't Eat Off the Sidewalk recipe but ended up fattening it way the hell up ('cause I'm sorry, but that's the nature of spinach-artichoke dip--it ain't TRULY spinach artichoke dip if you don't feel concerned that it could give you a heart attack).

Anyways, it turned out really fricking well. You would never guess that there's a whole can of beans in there, and they do a nice job of balancing out the cream-cheezy flavor so it's not overpowering.

My brother (who loves spinach-artichoke dip) said, and I quote: "Wow. You wouldn't guess this is vegan. It tastes even better than the TGI Friday's spinach-artichoke dip from the grocery store!" Which I THINK was a compliment.

But yeah: I haven't had spinach-artichoke dip in years and years, and I fricking LOVED it. Thankfully I was pretty full from dinner, otherwise I probably could've easily plowed through half of this.

Oh, and I accidentally baked it at 0-degrees for 20 minutes because my mom's stove is confusing. But you may wanna skip that step. ; )

INGREDIENTS:

• 1 small can Great Northern beans, drained


• 1 T. olive oil


• 1 small onion, diced


• 4 cloves garlic, minced


• 4 c. fresh spinach, shredded into small pieces


• 1 14.5-oz can artichoke hearts (quartered or whole is fine), roughly chopped


• 1 tub vegan cream cheez


• 1/4 c. panko bread crumbs


• 1-2 T. nutritional yeast

DIRECTIONS

Preheat oven to 400-F.

Heat the olive oil on medium in a pan. Add onion and cook until nearly translucent. Add garlic and cook one minute more. Toss in your spinach and cook until wilted (2-3 minutes). Remove from heat.

Toss your drained beans into a food processor. Blend until smooth.

Empty the tub of vegan cream cheez into a casserole dish. Add blended beans and mix until well-combined.

Add artichoke hearts, spinach-mix, panko, and nooch.

Cover with lid or foil and cook about 20 minutes.

Remove lid/foil and cook for 10 or 15 minutes more, until a little browned and heated through.

Serve with chips or whatever other dippables you like.

Serves 4-ish or so

BBQ Black-Eyed Pea Collard Rolls

                                    from Veganomicon

I've been digging on collards lately, so I felt compelled to whip these up last week for lunches.

This is one of those relaxing recipes--lots of methodical rolling. And the results are wonderfully bright and summery-looking. Oh, and they also taste good. I ate them as leftovers all week, but I'm guessing they would probably be much better to serve immediately, instead of having them sit around in the fridge (which sogs them up a bit).



The Rolls

INGREDIENTS:

• 1 bunch of collard greens, 12 of the leaves set aside for rolling (pick out the biggest, nicest leaves of the bunch)


• 1 t. oil


• 8 oz. cremini mushrooms, sliced thinly (I could not track 8 oz. of these down, so I used a 4-oz. mix of cremini, oyster, and portabellas)


• 4 c. chopped collards


• 1 15-oz. can black-eyed peas, drained and rinsed


• 3 c. Backyard BBQ Sauce, recipe to follow

DIRECTIONS

Slice off the stems of 12 nice collard leaves (run a knife alongside either side of the stem and then cut it out of the leaf). Boil a large pot of water. Submerge the 12 collard leaves into the boiling water and cook for 6 minutes. When done, use tongs to transfer them to a strainer and let cool. Handle with care!

Preheat a large skillet over medium, and cook the mushrooms in the oil for 5 minutes. Add the chopped collards. Cook for 7-10 minutes until the moisture has cooked off. Add the peas and cook through. Pour on 2 cups of the BBQ sauce and cook until the wateriness is gone. (5-10 minutes). Let cool.

Place a collard on a flat work surface with the side that has not been sliced facing you. Place some of the black-eyed peas mixture in the lower third of the collard. (The recipe says to put 2 T. in each roll, but I was able to generously use 1/4 c. in each, with some of the black-eyed pea mix still left over. It'll all depend on the size of your leaves though.) Fold the bottom up over the mixture, then fold in the sides. Roll the collard up, gently but firmly.

Roll all the collards. When ready to serve, spoon extra BBQ sauce over the rolls.




Easy-Peasy Backyard BBQ Sauce

(makes 4 cups)

INGREDIENTS:

• 1 T. canola oil


• 1 medium yellow onion, chopped very finely


• 4 cloves garlic, minced


• 1/4 t. salt


• 1 tsp red pepper flakes


• 1 28-oz. can crushed tomatoes


• 1/3 c. molasses


• 1/3 c. white vinegar


• 1 T. sugar


• 1 T. yellow mustard


• 2 t. liquid smoke (find in the condiments section)

DIRECTIONS

Preheat a saucepan over medium heat. Cook the onions in the oil until browned, about 7 minutes. Add the garlic and cook for another minute. Add all ingredients from salt through sugar, and cook from 30 minutes to an hour, uncovered, stirring occasionally. Lower the heat if the sauce begins to splatter.

Add the mustard and liquid smoke, and taste. Adjust the flavours if you prefer it sweeter or more sour, and cook for another 5 minutes. If you like your BBQ sauce smooth, grab your blender and puree, but it’s still yummy as a chunky sauce.

(from Veganomicon, recipe posted at Fresh Cracked Pepper)

The Day the Grocery-Store Clerk Didn't Get Laid, or "A Tale of a Misguided Conversation, and Also Vincent Price Quesadillas"

Last weekend, I was at the grocery store, getting my groceries rung out. And of course I had a handful of garlic-stuffed olives in my basket (since they are my newest fetish, for those of you who haven't been keeping up). Anyways, the grocery-store clerk ringing me out was a skittish young boy who spent the time trying to flirtatiously chat me up, until he said the following words:

CLERK: Just 5 olives?

ME: Pardon?

CLERK: You're only getting 5 olives?

ME: Yep.

CLERK: Did you know that just ONE olive has all of your salt for the day?

ME: What?

CLERK: Olives. Just one of them provides 100% of your salt for the day.

*A slow tear rolls its way dramatically down my cheek as my love affair with the garlic-stuffed olives is basked in a not-so-forgiving light*

*The clerk awkwardly resumes his bagging*

*A tumbleweed rolls through the grocery-store clerk's sex life*

A moment of silence for the end of my love-affair with garlic-stuffed olives.



In other news, a half-assed, snackalicious recipe...



Cleary, quesadillas aren't real photogenic.

In fact, if I hadn't told you this was a quesadilla, you probably wouldn't know wtf it actually is. It conceivably could be pancakes with a smushy-inner-layer. It could be a really flat sandwich. It could be Vincent Price in hiding. It's really hard to say.



Nonethless, I whipped these up one day when I was studying my ass off and needed a break.

They're nothing particularly magical, mostly a quick-fix when you need something slightly greasy. But I thought they were yum.

INGREDIENTS:

• 4 taco-sized tortillas


• 1/2 of a 15-oz can of black beans, drained and mashed with a fork


• 1 ripe avocado, peeled and diced


• Diced fresh tomatoes, 1/3 to 1/2 c.


• Salsa or hot sauce to dip


• Vegetable oil

DIRECTIONS

Smash your avocado into your bean mix until you have a sticky, gluey (but slightly chunky) mixture. Take a tortilla and slather your bean/avocado mix on it thickly, leaving room around the edges to seal it (or not--as you can see, mine aren't sealed real well... the bean/avocado mix is sticky enough to keep them togehter). Smoosh another tortilla over it and seal the edges as much as possible by dampening them with a tiny bit of water and smooshing them together.

Repeat with your second set of tortillas.

Heat up some veggie oil in a skillet until hot. (I used maybe 1 T. since I don't like stuff real greasy.) Toss your quesadilla on it and grill one side until starting to brown. Flip. Remove after second side browns up nicely. Slice into quarters or halves. Repeat.

Chow down with some salsa or hot sauce.

Hushpuppies

As I mentioned the other day, Saturday night was Unfried Fried Foods Night. I made the Hot Wingz de Katie. And I also decided to whip up these hushpuppies on the side.

It's been a long time since I've had a hushpuppy.

My grandma used to be a fan of Long John Silver's when I was a little one, and she used to take us there for dinner once in a while. The only thing I ever really adored eating there was hushpuppies. Nice round greasy hushpuppies.

Well, I'm a grease-wuss now apparently, and when I read directions to a recipe that entail heating a deep layer of oil for 15 minutes so you can fry the shit out of said recipe, my stomach turns.

So I baked these instead.

And granted, they're probably not TRUE hushpuppies if they're baked.

And they probably didn't taste as DELICIOUSLY Long-John-Silvery as they would've had I fried them.

BUT THAT'S MY PREROGATIVE!



I still thought they were tasty (I mixed up some ketchup and nayonnaise and dipped them in that). They were extremely dry however, but I think that is The Nature of the Hushpuppy, truth be told. (Really, the only thing that lends a bit of moisture to a hushpuppy is the thick thick greasy outside sheen anyways.) So if you want hushpuppies that are a bit more moist, fry them. If you don't mind some drier, but healthier, hushpuppies, then oven-toss them. Or maybe just tinker with your moisture-ratios in the initial recipe. Whatever floats your boat.

That's YOUR prerogative.



INGREDIENTS:

• Egg Replacer equivalent of 1 egg


• 2/3 c. plain soy milk


• 1 1/4 c. yellow corn meal


• 1/2 c. unbleached flour


• 3 t. baking powder


• 1 t. sugar


• 1 t. black pepper


• 1/2 c. minced yellow onion


• 1/2 c. whole kernel sweet corn


• 1/4 c. chopped green onion


• 1 jalapeño, seeded and diced (optional)


• 1/2 cup soy cheddar cheese (optional)


• Vegetable oil, for frying

DIRECTIONS

If baking, preheat oven to 400F.

Mix the egg replacer with the soy milk in a large bowl.

Add the yellow corn meal, flour, baking powder, sugar, and pepper to the egg replacer-soy milk mixture. Stir in the onion, corn, green onion, jalapeño, and soy cheese until combined. Form into balls.

If frying:

In a large saucepan, heat the oil over medium-high heat for about 15 minutes, or until it is 375°F.

Add 4 to 6 hushpuppies to the hot oil (you will need to cook them in several small batches). Cook until golden brown and firm.

Cool on a paper towel. Serve warm.

If baking:

Line a baking sheet with foil and grease it with some olive oil. Toss your hushpuppies onto it and roll them around a little bit so they have some oil all over.

Bake for 10 minutes. Flip. Bake for another 5-10 minutes, until cooked through.
Makes 6-8 servings

(Recipe from VegCooking)

Tofu Wingz

I finally *FINALLY* sat my ass down and made the infamous Hot Wingz de Katie this weekend. I was starting to feel like the unpopular kid at vegan school where all the other popular kids are all peer-pressuring me--"If *YOU* do it, you'll be cool too, just like us," "You won't get addicted from just one bite," "Hot Wingz and blowjobs aren't REAL sex"--and so I caved. What can I say? When it comes to vegan food, I'm not real good at standing up in the face of pressure.



Since there was a huge winter storm a-blustering, I settled on using tofu instead of tempeh, you know, so I wouldn't DIE trying to make it to a store just for a stupid block of tempeh. I pressed the tofu for an hour or two, cut it in half width-wise, and then cut each half into triangles. Once they were cut up, I tossed it in the freezer. The next day, I took it out to thaw, and once it was pretty much unfrozen, I pressed it one more time to get out any excess water. From there, I just treated the tofu like tempeh, breading it down the assembly line.

The end result: delish. The breading is an award-winning combo: the thyme gives it a bit of that ol' school chicken-y type flavor. And the sauce is just delectable. (Next time I may add even MORE hot sauce, because mine was surprisingly unspicy, despite what I had thought was a rather large quantity of hot sauce.) Because I was in a weird pseudo-frying mood (cooking junkier food that normally one would fry but choosing NOT to fry it), I also ate these with a side of homemade vegan hushpuppies (recipe forthcoming). It was nice night of little nibbly-foods, and I found myself craving more wingz as I sat and watched a horror movie later on that evening.

BUT I REFRAINED! I REFRAINED! (And then I just cowed down on them the next day instead.)

INGREDIENTS:

• 1 8-oz package of tempeh (or 1 14-oz cube of extra-firm tofu, pressed, cut into triangles, frozen, thawed, and pressed again)


• 1/3 c. rice/soy milk


• 1/3 c. flour


• 1/2 t. salt


• 2 t. thyme


• 1 t. paprika


• fresh ground pepper, to taste


• 1/2 t. garlic powder


• 2/3 c. panko (or just regular breadcrumbs)


Sauce:


• 4 T. margarine, melted


• 2 1/2 T. hot sauce


• 4 T. ketchup


• 2 T. agave nectar

DIRECTIONS

If you are using tempeh, in a small saucepan, boil about three cups of water. Cut the tempeh into four equal blocks, then cut those blocks into triangles, and carefully slice the triangles in half lengthwise. Put the tempeh in the boiling water and cover, for about fifteen mintes or until tempeh is softened. Pour the pan into a colander and rise with cold water. Allow the tempeh to cool enough that you can handle it.

If you are using the tofu, just make sure you press it, cut it into triangles, and freeze it at least a day prior (I think the longer you freeze it, the more dense and chewy the consistency will be--which is what you're aiming for). Remove it earlier in the day and let it thaw out completely and then press once more.

Make the sauce. In a large pot, combine all of the sauce ingredients and set aside.

Preheat your oven to 400 degrees.

Make your assembly line for the wingz. Put your soymilk in the first bowl, your flour and spices in the second, and your panko in the third. At the end of the line, have a greased baking sheet (or a baking sheet lined with parchment paper) waiting.

If you're using tempeh, hopefully by now it's cool enough to handle. Take a triangle of your tempeh or tofu, and dip it in the milk, then coat in flour. Then another quick dip in the milk before thoroughly coating it in the bread crumbs and placing it on the baking sheet. Repeat with the rest of the tempeh/tofu.

Spray the tops of the wings with cooking spray, and bake in the oven for ten minutes. Remove, flip over, and bake for ten more.

Just before you take the wings out of the oven, heat the sauce over a medium heat until just warm - there’s no need to boil it, we’re just trying to make sure the sauce isn’t cold.

When you take the wings out, immediately transfer them to the pot and coat in the sauce. Serve immediately.

(Original recipe from Don't Eat Off the Sidewalk)

When They Were Bad They Were Very Very Bad, But When They Were Good They Were Awesome

So I feel a TEENY bit bad giving Veganomicon such a hard time yesterday. I don't hate the cookbook, and I don't want it to come across as such. Granted, I've had a couple major flops. And they flopped hard. But I've also had some damn good experiences as well. And I don't want the bad to eclipse the good here (speaking of eclipse: you catch the lunar one last night? fricking bad-ass awesome).

So today, I'm lacing up my boxing gloves, putting in one of them mouthguard thingies, and hopping around in the ring ready to take on the chickpea-cutlet dissers because, good god, peeps, I loves these things.

Yesterday, my mom had an appointment for a colonoscopy and endoscopy, which I took her to. (I'm sure she'll be EVER so pleased that I'm talking about her asshole for everyone around the globe to read.) Anyways, she was starving since she had to fast all day. So I decided to cook her dinner. And I decided that I'd whip up the chickpea cutlets again, this time in nugget form.

And seriously peeps: I know that tastes vary. So I'ma chalk up the haters to that fact. (I hate brussel sprouts, but I know many of you who would happily use them as anal beads, you love them that much. All a matter of taste, you brussel sprout pervs...) But *tightening the lacing on my boxing gloves* I'll totally rope-a-dope those of you who argue that the recipe itself stinks, because even after forming them into nuggets, I still had absolutely no problem with it, and they came out delightful (albeit, looking a little bit like poo-logs; but once you get around that, they're damn tasty, and I recommend the nugget form for those of you trying to feed kids). In nugget form, these would make an AWESOME finger-food for parties (with a few sides of dipping sauces) or an easy way to please an omnivore.


Seriously: poo or chickpea nugget?
Hard to tell...

For those of you interested in trying them out this way, you'll just want to form them into about 12-15 nuggety shapes (see pics) evenly spaced on your pan and flip them over every once in a while until they are firm enough that you can pick them up (I think I only ended up reducing the cooking time on the original recipe by about 5 minutes to make them in nugget form).

I also made the lemony roasted potatoes for dinner as well, and mother of god, these things were good. They left my house smelling wonderfully aromatic, like Thanksgiving day had made an unexpected layover in Cleveland. Despite the fact that I am the worst cutter-upper of potatoes, they turned out delicious, the perfect hint of delicate lemon flavoring.

So yeah: Veganomicon has disappointed me a couple times. But I'm hoping that the two incidents I mentioned yesterday were just isolated events and that the good moments (like the chickpea cutlets and lemony roasted potatoes) will engulf the bad moments, chew them up, and spit them out, as I try out more and more recipes from this book. *Fingers crossed* since I intend to whip up that eggplanty curry recipe this weekend along with the tomatoey-rice soup recipe.

Those are the technical names, obviously.

LEMONY ROASTED POTATOES



INGREDIENTS:

• 2.5 pounds Russet potatoes (medium to small potatoes work best)


• 1/3 c. olive oil


• 6 cloves garlic, chopped finely


• 1/2 c. freshly squeezed lemon juice


• 1 c. vegetable broth


• 2 t. dried oregano


• salt to taste


• 1 t. tomato paste (or I used steak sauce)


• Freshly ground black pepper


• Chopped fresh parsley or dried oregano (optional)

DIRECTIONS

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Peel the potatoes, slice in half lengthwise, and slice each half into wedges no more then 3/4″ thick.

In a large, deep baking pan or casserole dish (at least 10 17-inches or bigger), combine the olive oil, garlic, lemon juice, vegetable broth, oregano, salt, and tomato paste. Add the peeled, sliced potatoes. Sprinkle with freshly ground pepper and toss the potatoes to cover with the sauce. Cover the pan tightly with foil (or use lid of casserole dish), place in the oven, and bake for 30-35 minutes until the potatoes are almost done. Several times during the baking process, remove the pan from the oven, uncover, stir the potatoes, place the cover back, and return the pan to the oven.

Uncover the pan one last time, stir the potatoes again, and bake, uncovered, for an additional 15-20 minutes, until most of the sauce has evaporated and some of the potatoes have just started to brown on their edges. Sprinkle with chopped fresh parsley and/or more dried oregano before serving.

serves 4-6

(Posted at The PepperTree, originally from Veganomicon)

Why My Mom Rocks Harder Than Your Mom (Unless Your Mom Is, Say, Joan Jett, or Some Other Rocker-By-Title, But Even Then Maybe Still)

Oh, look at that. One blog-entry ago, you thought I was a liar. You thought to yourself, That bitch, Lindy Loo. She tells us on Monday to stay tuned for vegan T-day recipes later in the week AND THEN SHE NEVER ACTUALLY POSTS THEM. That's exactly why I hate her and want to rub orange oily feces all over her and her cats.

Well, touché, friends. Touché.

Because my mom TYPED UP AND EMAILED ME EVERY SINGLE ONE OF HER VEGANIZED THANKSGIVING RECIPES TODAY, so rather than spread them out over four days, I am just gonna blow your mind with them ALL IN THE SAME POST.

In yo' face, 4-times over!!!!!

(And seriously--isn't she a goddess??)

VEGAN GREEN BEAN CASSEROLE




INGREDIENTS:

• 16 oz green beans cooked or steamed then drained


instead of one can cream of mushroom soup:


• 8 0z container of tofutti, and


• 1/2-3/4 c. soy milk




• 1 T. of hummus (or more to your taste )


• (if mix is too runny you can add a tsp of flour to thicken slightly)


• Salt/pepper to taste


• Large can of Durkees french fried onions

DIRECTIONS:

Scoop cream cheez into a bowl and add 1/2 to 3/4 cup soy milk to it gradually, stirring each time to avoid it lumping.

Combine all ingredients but 1/2 can of the onions in a 2-quart baking dish.

Bake uncovered at 350 degrees..25-30 minutes..

Add rest of the onions as topping & continue baking 5 more minutes.

Bon appetit!





VEGAN STUFFED SHROOMS



INGREDIENTS:

• 16 large mushrooms


• 1 T. olive oil


• 3 T. dry sherry or white wine


• 1/4 c. finely chopped parsley if desired


• 1 T. vegan parmesan


• 1 T. unseasoned bread crumbs


• 1 clove finely minced garlic


• 1/4 t. dried thyme


• 1/4 t. oregano


• salt & pepper (or my mom used equivalent of Mrs Dash & seasoned to taste)

DIRECTIONS:

375 degrees..15-20 minutes.. 13 x 9 pan..cooking spray

Finely chop stems. Set caps aside.

Combine oil with wine. Reserve 2 T. of oil/wine mixture. Pour 2 T. of oil/wine mixture into 8" skillet & warm over low-medium heat. Saute stems six minutes until mix is dry. Add finely chopped parsley, cheese, crumbs & seasonings. Remove from heat. Stir in wine.

Spoon mix into caps using teaspoon.

Spray a 13x9 baking pan, and place a single layer of mushrooms inside.

Bake 15-20 minutes.

Halfway thru baking, brush caps w/remaining oil/wine mixture.

Serve hot.




VEGAN APPLE CRISP



INGREDIENTS:

• 4 apples cored/pared cut into cubes


• 3/4 t. lemon juice


• 1/2 c. granulated or 1/4 c. brown sugar


• dash cinnamon


• 1/4 c. water


dry ingredients:


• 1/4 c. + 2 T. flour


• 1/4 t. cinnamon


• 3 T. butter (Earth Balance)

DIRECTIONS:

Preheat oven to 350F.

Mix apple cubes with lemon juice.

Add half of the sugar, dash of cinnamon and water.

Place in lightly greased 1 quart baking dish.

Mix dry ingredients cutting in butter with whisk or fork.

Sprinkle over top of apples.

Bake 30 minutes.





VEGAN SWEET POTATO CAKE



INGREDIENTS:

• 1 c. butter (Earth Balance)


• 2 c. granulated sugar


• substitute for 4 large eggs (for each egg, my mom used 1/4 cup well mashed tofu + 1/4-1/2 tsp baking powder--so I guess that would be 1 c. well-mashed tofu and 1-2 t. baking powder)


• 2-1/2 c. cooked mashed sweet potatoes


dry ingredients:


• 3 c. all-purpose flour


• 2 t. baking powder


• 1 t. baking soda


• 1 t. ground cinnamon


• 1/4 t. ground nutmeg


• 1/4 t. salt


• 1 T. vanilla extract



• 1 cup chopped pecans or walnuts

DIRECTIONS:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Cream vegan margarine and sugars in a large bowl. Add tofu and baking powder gradually, mixing well to minimize lumps. Add cooked well mashed lump-free sweet potatoes.

In a medium bowl, mix dry ingredients.

Combine dry ingredients with sweet potato mixture, stirring into a stiff batter.

You may add pecans at this point.

Pour into a well-greased baking pan (13 x 9 or loaf pan).

Bake for one hour if 13 x9.

If using loaf pan check after one hour using toothpick to make sure center done.

Sprinkle top w/chopped nuts if desired during the last 5-10 mins baking.

Cooking times may vary slightly.

Let cool. Sprinkle with powdered sugar or top with a vegan cream cheez frosting if desired. (I used leftover vegan cream cheez frosting with some of the leftovers, and it was DELISH!)

Cerberus, The Three-Headed Dip

So I'm back in black, babies!

Campy horror movie night was a success and a blast and a gorefest and a laughfest, all rolled into one. And man do I have recipes out the ass. Prepare yourselves.

We ended up laughing our way through two different horror flicks, Bloodlust, which features the dad from The Brady Bunch, and The Killer Shrews which is no doubt one of my all-time favorite campy horror flicks. It features dogs with added fur cloaked over their backs to look like "killer shrews." It features an unbelievable amount of alcohol consumption--my friend Mo pointed out, quite brilliantly, that this would make an awesome horror flick for a drinking game... If you drank one shot or a few gulps of beer every time someone in the movie did, you'd be quite lit very very quickly... please note this suggestion. ; ) And it features some of the funniest (and unintentional) one-liners ever ("I don't believe in asking questions, it's against my principles" and "I'll take a dull, alive woman any day"). Much too much fun.

I decked out my apartment to the brim with Halloween decorations (I love Halloween and I've built up a good collection, but I did venture out to the Halloween store for more over the weekend, including a sweet skeleton-hand punch ladle--woot woot).

I also couldn't resist the fake-blood at the store (especially when I checked the ingredients and realized that--apparently--it was vegan), so I of course had to zombify myself for the evening, grossing people out with the blood smeared all around my mouth and in my hair.

And the goodies were plentiful and enjoyed by everyone. As I mentioned last week, I whipped up everything from various dips to veganized witch's finger cookies (which were a success, folks!) to black punch complete with a frozen ice cube hand, so expect lots of recipe gems this week.

To start us off, I shall share with you the Cerberus of chip-dips I made for the party, from the boring to the sublime.

On the boring end of the range was the spicy peanut dip from The Garden of Vegan. I even added extra peanut-butter to the dip, and it still did nothing for me, which was a bit disappointing. It just tasted potently tofu-ish. And clearly other folks felt the same, seeing as it was relatively untouched at the end of the night. I'd stear clear--I'm sure there are plenty of other good dips in that recipe book to make use of instead.



For my second dip, I tried out Courtney's Smoky Chipotle and Black Bean Dip from Fat-free Vegan and it was quite quite good. I consumed way too much of the leftovers while zombied out (no pun intended) in my pjs in front of a movie yesterday in a post-party stupor. I made no variations to the recipe, but it DID end up inspiring me to make my own black bean salsa (whose recipe I'll post in a moment).

Smoky Chipotle and Black Bean Dip

INGREDIENTS:

• 1/3 c. green onion, thinly sliced


• 2 t. garlic, minced


• 2 t. cumin


• 1 - 15 oz. can black beans, drained and rinsed


• 1/2 c. water


• 1/4 c. freshly chopped cilantro


• 2 T. lime juice


• 1 T. freshly chopped oregano


• 1 t. chipotle chiles in adobo, pureed


• 1/4 t. salt

DIRECTIONS:

In a small non-stick skillet, sauté the green onions and garlic for 3-4 minutes or until softened. Add the cumin, sauté 3 additional minutes or until fragrant, remove from heat, and set aside. In a food processor or blender, combine the green onion mixture and the remaining ingredients, and puree until smooth. Taste and adjust seasonings as needed, you can also add more chipotle puree if you like spicy flavors. Serve with tortilla chips, crackers, or veggies.

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For the final of the three dips (and my favorite), I whipped up a black-bean salsa of sorts. It turned out SO fricking tasty that it even surprised me, and my friend Joe fiendishly consumed most of it during the course of the night and lavished it with compliments, so I suspect I wasn't the only one who thought so.

Black Bean and Corn Salsa

INGREDIENTS:

• One 15 oz. can of black beans, drained


• 1/2 a can of corn


• About 1/2 a 28 oz. can of diced tomatoes (or a 15 oz. can would work just as well, obviously)


• 3 cloves garlic, minced


• 1/4 c. chopped cilantro


• Juice of one lime

DIRECTIONS:
Mix all the ingredients together. Let sit for at least an hour so the flavors mingle. Serve.

This final recipe is so fricking simple that you'll be amazed out how good it tastes.

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As for the rest of the week's recipes, I promise to post the finger-cookies recipe sooner rather than later as I suspect some of you may very well be throwing your own Halloween galas this upcoming weekend. So stay-tuned for tomorrow's post.

Orange-Rosemary Olives

Recipe from Fresh and Fast Vegan Pleasures.

I am a bit more worrisome than most about posting recipes from cookbooks on-line (even if I *do* give them credit) because I think it's only right for folks to be able to own the shit they do. But my new recipe-posting theory is this: if it's a simple enough recipe that I can still remember all the ingredients and their quantities a few days after making it and/or I can track down several very similar recipes on-line (case in point: Rosemary Orange Olives at wineskinny.com), then it's fair game for posting. Especially when it's a recipe as simple (though damn good) as this one.

I shall still give credit where credit is due of course, but I shall post them until someone objects--in which case, I shall challenge said objector to a vegan-pudding wrestling match! *Hut hut!*

You can woo mates with these olives, you can raise the dead, and you can curl the toes of those who like when orange and rosemary bed together. They's yummy and sexy. And they're simple to boot. So yay for olives!

INGREDIENTS:

• 1.5-2 c. mixed kalamata and green olives


• 2-4 sprigs fresh rosemary


• 2-4 thick pieces of orange zest


• A handful of fresh parsely, finely cut


• Olive oil

DIRECTIONS:

Place all of these together in a container and allow to marinate. I used 3 T. olive oil, but your olives may already have a large amount of oil on them, so the amount you use is up to you. Let sit at least a couple hours, preferably UNrefrigerated (the olives gunk up and absorb all the oil, looking ooey gooey and goopy if you refrigerate them)--if you refrigerate overnight or something, make sure they sit out at least an hour or so before serving. Eat around the rosemary sprigs and orange-bits (the recipe says to remove them before serving, but I think they're too pretty of a garnish to remove).

Sweet-Potato Dip

One of my favorite things that I made for the wine-tasting on Saturday was a variation on the Maple Potato Spread from the PCRM recipe database. I made quite a few variations to the recipe though, so I'ma repost it here...

(Makes about 2 cups)

INGREDIENTS:

• 1 large sweet potato, peeled and quartered


• 1 small onion, sliced


• 1 tablespoon tahini


• 1 T+ vegan brown sugar


• 2 dried figs, finely chopped (the recipe calls for 3, so you may wanna use this instead, I just accidentally got the wrong amount)


• Soy milk

DIRECTIONS:
Steam sweet potato until soft. Toss the onion into a pot and caramelize it (cook it in a bit of oil until it's soft and starting to brown, toss in about 1 t. of vegan sugar and mix around, continue to cook until it is a rich caramel color and then remove from heat). Place all your ingredients into a blender and blend until mixture is thick and smooth. Very gradually add soy milk until the thickness is to your liking. The amount of brown sugar you use may vary as well--more if you want it sweet sweet and less if the sweet potato's doing all the work for ya. Let cool before serving (tastes best after having sat in the fridge overnight and eaten cold). Serve with original (non-honey-ed) Nabisco graham crackers.

Black Bean Romaine Wraps

Inspired by the romaine wraps my friend dorklepork posted ever so long ago, I reached into my hat on Thursday night and quickly whipped up some of my own. This is a nice and very quick nibblin' of a recipe, nothing gourmet, but it'll make your gullet smile. (Realizing that I'm not technically sure what a gullet actually is--ah well.)

When I got home Thursday, I was craving beans. I realized I'd picked up a can of lime refried black beans at the grocery store last week (I'd been eyeing them for months and finally caved), so I figured I'd try them babies out. I also had a few ears of corn left over from Ye Old Vegan BBQ, so I figured I should probably try to use those up as well. After I mixed all the filling stuff together, I found myself desperately craving some sort of crunch to the mix. Normally, I am unhealthy and toss in Fritos, but I had none around and didn't feel like dragging my ass down to the corner store.

And then, like an angel from the heavens, it came to me: why not use the crunchy romaine lettuce slowly rotting away in my fridge! And voila, black bean lettuce wraps--fantastic on crunch and flavor and only a fraction of the calories!

INGREDIENTS:

1 jalapeno, deseeded and diced
2 ears of fresh corn, sliced off the cob (or 1-2 cups)
1/2 can refried black beans
Romaine lettuce
Finely diced tomatoes
Salsa
Vegan cream cheese

DIRECTIONS:

Fry up the jalapeno and corn in a pot until the corn is a bit scorched. Add in the black beans and worry about the fact that it looks like a giant blob of baby poo. Stir and stir until everything's heated through. Rinse and dry 2-4 pieces of intact romaine lettuce. Scoop the bean mixture into each piece of romaine, taking care not to fill them up *too* much otherwise you won't be able to easily pick them up and eat them. Top with finely diced tomatoes and plain salsa *or* a fantabulous mix of salsa and vegan cream cheese (which gives the salsa a kind of sweet creamy flavor).

Chow.

Speedy Roasted Red Pepper Hummus and Cornmeal Chips

Yesterday, inspired by the Shiny Happy Hummus recipe over at Fat-Free Vegan and struck by the notion of an oil-free hummus (which pleased me since I like my hummus thick and chunky anyways) and upon receiving an email recipe from my friend D for a Turbo Hummus that also sounded quite good, I decided to try whipping up something of my own (with some homemade cornmeal chips to dip).

This is the fastest recipe I've made in a while. It was so fast I almost wet myself. But I didn't. But then I almost did again when I got giddy at the fact that I got it all done in the amount of time it took for my laundry to swish its way through the wash-cycle. But then I didn't. And then I stopped for a moment and thought perhaps all the near-accidents might be a result of a bladder-infection and not just excitement and that perhaps I should go see my doctor. But then I didn't. Instead I just went and used the potty.

SPEEDY ROASTED RED-PEPPER HUMMUS INGREDIENTS

1 small can (10.5 oz or so) of chickpeas (drained, liquid reserved)
1 small roasted red pepper
3 cloves of roasted garlic
1 t. natural peanut butter
Dried basil
Cayenne pepper
Salt
Pepper

Place chickpeas and garlic into a food processor. Pulse until it's a bit too dry and trying to escape the blades. Toss in your peanut butter and gradually add half of your reserved chickpea liquid. Continue to pulse until creamy. Add Dried basil, cayenne pepper, salt, and pepper to taste. Slice up your red pepper and add about half to the mix. Pulse until it's blended well enough (but with a few tiny chunks still floating around). Add to taste (I only added about 1/2 the red pepper. Voila. Oil-free hummus.

While my cats wrestled inside my heater-box, I whipped up the cornmeal chips...

Cornmeal Chips Recipe: HERE (by the way, this recipe only yields about 20 of these chips, despite alleging it makes 30)

Apparently this was an aphasia-recipe for me, because I kept f-ing everything up: I grabbed the wrong measuring cup when adding the cornmeal into the water and had to wing it (after trying to quickly do mathematical conversions and figure out how much more needed to be added if the recipe called for 2/3 cup and I had accidentally added 1/2 and if Sue was on a train coming from Phillie that left at 5 pm and Roger was headed from Brooklyn on a train that left at 2pm what time they would meet up and how much cornmeal would they tell me to put in the goddamn rest of the recipe--and then giving up and remembering that I no like math). Then I somehow decided the recipe called for the oven temperature to be at 350 rather than 375 and couldn't quite figure out why they were taking so goddamn long to bake. I only realized this retrospectively.

Anyways, all in all, making everything in both of these recipes took me about 40 minutes. And I think I even managed to do the dishes before the timer went off for my laundry. So this is a nice, simple recipe if you wanna whip up something last minute for visitors, say. The chips did not come out as chiply as I had hoped, but I think this was probably because of my oven-temperature aphasia--they still taste pretty good but some are a bit moist and chewy in the middle. But hey, they're homemade. And the hummus is nice and roasted red peppery and doesn't give you that greasy-slick feeling that oily hummuses do. I still think it needs something more to give it a bit more oomph, but we'll see how it is at lunch today and whether the flavors have mingled and danced and screwed into one big copulative pleasure-overload of flavorfulness last night. Will keep you posted...

UPDATE: Chips have gotten chewy overnight. They are incredibly flavorful, but they have the chewy consistency of jerky. Meh!

VERDICT: Hummus--B, Chips--B