strawberry mint sorbet

2 pounds (or cartons) fresh strawberries, rinsed & hulled
1.5 cup sugar or to taste
1 teaspoon lime juice
a pinch of salt
4 tablespoons fresh mint, chopped fine

directions: slice/hull all strawberries and mix in sugar. stir well until the sugar starts to dissolve. cover and let stand in the refrigerator for upto an hour or over night. occasionally stir the strawberries and their liquid; at any point you can add the fresh mint. in a food processor add lime and the pinch of salt and puree until it's a thick liquid. move to a freezer safe container and once it's frozen it's ready to eat!

about the recipe: when life gives you strawberries and mint - make sorbet! my job often has perks and sometimes those perks are getting 2 free cartons of strawberries and 2 free bunches of fresh mint! i immediately knew what i had to do and on my break did a quick google search for strawberry mint sorbet. i came across this recipe and it didn't look to difficult. i quickly devoured this batch and made a much larger batch since - and now i'm all out of mint! perfect for all this blasted heat minnesota keeps shooting our way.

mushroom gravy

 

1/2 onion, minced
10 mushrooms, sliced
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 cups vegetable broth
1/2 teaspoon thyme
1/4 teaspoon rubbed sage
1 tablespoon nutritional yeast1 tablespoon soy sauce
2 tablespoons unbleached flour

1/4 cup plain soymilk
salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste

directions:
In a medium-sized non-stick saucepan, saute the onion until light brown, about 10 minutes. Add the mushrooms and 1 tablespoon of water, and cook for another 3 minutes. Add the garlic, and cook, stirring, for another minute.


Add the vegetable broth, herbs, nutritional yeast, sherry, and soy sauce. In a bowl, whisk or blend (with a hand blender) the soymilk and flour together until smooth. Add it to the saucepan and stir well. Simmer, stirring occasionally, for 15 minutes. Season with salt and pepper to taste and serve.

quoted from Fat Free Vegan

about the recipe: this is my go-to vegan mushroom gravy recipe. i first tried it over craftsgiving with the meatless loaf and i've probably made it 15 times since then. last night i picked up a handful of free rosemary & fig scones and today in the cull bin at work there was mushrooms. i immediately thought of putting this delicious gravy over the scones for lunch! super easy to make and it makes a lot. i have a maple pepper that i picked up when i was back home that i like to use with it.

click through for more pretty pictures -->

purple potato gnocchi

2 purple potatoes (or 1/2lb)

1 cup bread flour

directions: 

Bake the potatoes. As soon as the potatoes come out of the oven, remove the foil and then peel them. Put the hot potatoes through a ricer as soon as you can. The hotter the potatoes are during this step, the better the gnocchi will be. Rice them over a wide, flat surface to maximize contact with the air to help them dry out better. You can also grate them or shred them with a fork.

Let the potatoes cool/dry for 10-15 minutes. During this time, make sure you have everything in place you’ll need for shaping, cooking, dressing, and plating the gnocchi.

Gather your cooled potatoes into a flat disc and sprinkle 1/2 of the flour over it. Work the dough with your hands, adding more flour if needed. You probably won’t need the whole cup of flour. I had about three tablespoons leftover. If in doubt, use less as opposed to more.
Work your dough until just combined. Do not overwork it! It should be soft, not sticky or crumbly. You’re not even going to really knead it, just mix it together. You must shape the dough immediately.

Roll some of the dough out into a long snake, about as thick as your tumb. Cut the snake into little “pillows” and dust them with flour. To shape, simply roll one of the pillows down a ridged gnocchi board (or the tines of a fork!).

Gently place the gnocchi in to salted, boiling water. After a minute or two, the gnocchi will float to the surface. About 30 seconds after they begin floating, use a slotted spoon to remove them from the water, draining them well.

paraphrased from vegan yum yum

about the recipe: the gnocchi looks so good right? i mean i followed the directions to the best of my ability and they looked scrumptious! unfortunately when i put them in the pot the same thing happened to me that had previously happened to my roommate... they turned to mush. pretty much liquified in the pan of water! not appetizing to say the least. i had baked the potatoes à la lazy microwave style, maybe that had something to do with it. had i conventionally baked them in the oven they would've been dryer... maybe? 

i did manage to salvage some of them. my other roommate suggested that i bake the rest and then i covered them in my favorite mushroom gravy. next time i get some free potatoes from work i'm going to conquer this recipe!

have you ever made your gnocchi?

how did it go? any helpful suggestions?

if you try this recipe out, let me know how it goes!

gra-nola-ola-ola

3c. rolled oats
3 tablespoons brown sugar
1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/3c. sweetener (molasses or agave or honey)
1/4c. canola oil
1 teaspoon vanilla
+ extras (almonds, coconut flakes, etc)

directions: Pre-heat oven to 300 degreees. First mix your dry goods: oats, brown sugar, salt & cinnamon. In a separate bowl mix your wet goods: sweetener, canola oil, and vanilla. Combine thoroughly, use your hands if necessary. Make sure the oats are evenly covered. Then spread the granola mix thinly on a baking sheet and place on the center rack. Bake, stirring everything 15 minutes, until the granola is golden brown. Anywhere from 20-30 minutes. cool the granola, stirring occasionally so it doesn't stick. then add your extras!


about the recipe: this is the second time i've used this recipe to make granola. the first time i made it, i used agave nectar and this time i used molasses. i added almonds and coconut flakes to the mixture about halfway through baking so that they'd be toasted. i also used a tablespoon of vanilla because i wanted very vanilla flavored granola. i think next time i'll try maple syrup instead of molasses.

chocolate-coconut squares

1 1/2 cups graham cracker crumbs
1/2 cup firmly packed brown sugar
1/3 cup flour
1/2 cup melted butter (earth balance)
1 (14 ounce) can coconut milk
1 cup. package flaked coconut
1 (12 ounce) package chocolate (or carob) chips
2 tablespoons peanut butter
chopped peanuts (to garnish)

directions: Preheat oven to 350. Prepare an ungreased 13x9" baking pan. Combine graham cracker crumbs, brown sugar, flour and melted 'butter' and then press into ungreased baking dish. Bake for 10 minutes. Combine coconut flakes and coconut milk, mix, and spread over baked crust. Bake for another 10-12 minutes. Combine chocolate chips and peanut butter in a small saucepan. Cook, over low heat, stirring constantly until melted. Spread over coconut layer and garnish with chopped peanuts. Let cool and cut into bars.

about the recipe: the original recipe calls for sweetened condensed milk, and i thought, "hey! i bet you i could just replace that with equal amounts coconut milk!" i was half right, while it tastes amazing, it didn't solidify making the bars a hard-coated chocolate coconut goo-mess, but they are goddamn delicious if i say so myself, and my roommates agree.

potato coconut corn chowder

potato coconut corn chowder

1 T olive oil
1/2 red onion, diced
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 red pepper, diced
1 stalk celery, diced
3 small potatoes, cubed
1 t cumin (heaping)
1 vegetable bullion cube
3 c water (or enough to cover vegetables)
1 tiny (5.6 oz) can of coconut milk
1/2 t dried rosemary
1/2 c frozen corn
5 leaves fresh basil
freshly ground pepper & salt to taste
oystermushrooms

directions: In a medium sized pot, heat oil and add in diced onion, red pepper, celery and garlic. Saute until soft and stir in the cumin. Add in potatoes, bullion cube and water. Cover and bring to a boil. Lower heat and simmer until potatoes are done, about 15 minutes. Add in coconut milk and rosemary and use a potato masher to mash down the potatoes and vegetables. Add in corn and fresh basil and grind in some pepper and add salt to taste (if necessary). Serve in 2 large bowls.

about this recipe: holy shit! i thought i would never be able to find a good vegan chowder. most always call for an absurd amount of heavy cream to get it chowdah'd. so when i found this recipe online a few months ago, i was a little hesitant. i put it in the archives to wait for a cold fall day to try it out. fast forward to today and a coconut craving that cannot be suppressed and i thought, "hey why not give this a shot". glad i did! the only downside to this recipe was that it doesn't leave much for leftovers so i'll have to double, if not triple, this recipe in the future! the original recipe does not call for mushrooms, but i added these in anyway, and if you do the same you won't be disappointed!

recipe & image courtesy of everybodylikessandwiches.com

in other exciting news!

my kitchen is getting a new counter space this weekend. this in turn means more dabbling in the baking arena... i'm thinking mini-apple pies (ha!), possibly pear as well, along with a new take on the vegan donut! 

what's more american than donuts?

directions: here!

about the recipe: when i saw this recipe on the Dainty Squid blog, i knew that i had to try baking once more! and what better time than as a celebration of our great nation. the most exciting part for me was that i used natural means for the food coloring! i used red cabbage for the blue & beets for the red, isn't that fun?

unfortunately, as you can tell... the beet-coloring was the only one to stick. the middle was supposed to be the blue (from cabbage).

directions for the food coloring: i used a bunch of beets (beet bunch) for coloring, but you can also use a can of beets. i cut up the stems, removing the leafy green, and cut up a few of the beets. i filled the pot with water until the beets were covered. then boiled them and waited for the water to become very red. after about a half hour i strained the juice into a cup and composted the remainder. i then added a tablespoon of vinegar as it's supposed to help the color set. oh that reminds me! ha: when making the donuts, i didn't add any vinegar as i was mixing the beet coloring in and didn't want extra vinegar in the recipe. they turned out great!

overall great. would bake again! next time i'm going to try to make a coconut glaze. oh the donuted possiblities!

chocochipcookiesss.

(makes two dozen two inch cookies.)

1/2 c. brown sugar
1/4 c. sugar
1/2 c. canola oil
1/4 c. nondairy milk
1 tablespoon tapioca flour
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 1/2 c. all purpose flower
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teapsoon salt
3/4 c. chocolate chips (i used carob chips)

directions: 

Preheat oven to 350 F. Lightly grease two large light metal baking sheets.

Mix together sugars, oil, 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 flour. Fold in the chocolate chips.

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 13 minutes 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.

NOM THOSE FUCKERS.


fun fact: i'm horrible at baking. so when i found this recipe on tumblr my first thought was "hey i'm a horrible conventional baker, maybe i'll be a great vegan baker." turns out that this is only half true. i'm an alright vegan baker. the cookies were good, but a little greasy (i think next time i'll add more flour / less oil) and flat as pancakes. i don't blame the last part on the recipe, but on my absolute failure as a baker. this might be coming from cookie jealousy as my grandma makes the best most beautiful deliciously plump cookies on the planet. i was hoping that her skills would have skipped a generation, as my mom is no good at baking too, but alas i've seemed to have inherited my mothers bad baking genes instead. i think the next time i try these i'll either a) use an egg replacer combo vs. canola oil or b) change the oil/flour ratio and use self rising flour or my final option is to c) marry a baker.


p.s. anyone out there know a good cookie recipe? i'm open for suggestions.