Not Vegan But So Good.

I ate out of it. It made me sick because my body doesn't really fuck with dairy anymore but dear God it was good.

This is my go-to when I want to gift someone with a treat that won't take forever to make. It is loved by all.

The recipe is from the NY Times.

 I discovered it on Downtownromantic.com

Time: 20 minutes, plus overnight freezing

48 saltine crackers
1 cup granulated sugar
1/2 pound unsalted butter
1 teaspoon vanilla
3 cups semisweet chocolate chips.

1. Heat oven to 350 degrees. Line a sheet pan or large cookie sheet with sides with heavy-duty aluminum foil. Arrange the crackers side by side in a single layer on the foil. In a small saucepan, melt the sugar and butter, stirring constantly until they bubble, about 2 to 3 minutes. Remove from heat and quickly stir in the vanilla. Pour evenly over the crackers and, using a spatula, spread to cover evenly.
2. Bake immediately. After 7 minutes, remove the pan from the oven and sprinkle the chocolate chips evenly over the crackers. Return to the top rack of the oven and bake for 2 minutes more. Spread the chocolate evenly over the crackers with a clean spatula. Cool for 20 to 30 minutes before transferring the tray to the freezer. The next day, peel off the foil and break the brickle into pieces. Keep frozen or refrigerated. Yield: About 2 pounds.

A version of this recipe appeared in the New York Times print on December 15, 1999

Veganize It: Oatmeal Banana Carrot Muffins

Holy Mary Joseph Baby Jesus Chocolate.

 These were so good. So very good. And so freaking easy. Disgustingly easy.

These muffins don't have added sugar or wheat flour in them. And they were good. I wrote that already, sorry.

The modified recipe is below.

The link to the original recipe is below. Enjoy! http://half-bakedbaker.blogspot.com/2009/01/guilt-and-gulten-free-oatmeal-banana.html?m=1

1 1/2 cups of oats makes 1 cup of oat flour

Bake: in 400ºF oven for 20 minutes

1 1/4 cup rolled oats

1 cup soy milk

1/3 cup oil, sunflower or vegetable oil

6 bananas, medium, ripe, mashed

1 1/2 cup oat flour

1/2 tsp cinnamon

1/2 tsp nutmeg

1/2 tsp salt

2 tsp baking powder

1 tsp baking soda

1/2 cup of shredded carrots

 Instructions:

 In a bowl mix together rolled oats and milk. Let soak for 10 minutes. Mix oat flour, salt, spices, baking powder and baking soda in a bowl. Add mashed banana, and oil to rolled oats mixture. Add carrots. Mix well. Add dry ingredients to the rolled oats mixture. Mix well. Fill greased or paper lined muffin cups 2/3 full. Bake for approximately 20 minutes.

Veganize It: Sugar Cookies

These are from Christmas. I know this post is late. We've already established that I'm a shitty blogger. Don't dwell on it. Let's move on.

These cookies are awesome. They're dare I say it? The best vegan sugar cookies I've ever eaten too many of.

 Where did I find the recipe? I don't know... But I do have the recipe and have no problem stating THIS IS NOT MINE.

If you know who made these, let me know so I can source it.

 The shitty photo is mine.

Here's the recipe:

Mr. Cookie Baker's (Vegan) Cookies

Makes about 3 trays full of cookies

5 cups all-purpose flour
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1 cup earth balance
1 1/2 cups sugar
2 eggs worth of egg replacer or 1/2 cup applesauce
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 tsp maple extract
1/4 cup plus
2 tbsp non-dairy milk

Notes: I used vegetable oil because we don't have Earth Balance in Nigeria. And I used applesauce (homemade applesauce what-what)

1. Mix together 2 cups of the flour, baking powder and salt in a medium bowl.

2. In a large bowl, cream together the earth balance and sugar. Then beat in the egg-replacer, vanilla, maple and non-dairy milk.

3. Stir the dry into the wet and gradually add enough remaining flour until the dough is stiff enough to roll out.

4. Form the dough into a ball, wrap in plastic wrap and chill for at least 1 hour.

5. Preheat the oven to 375º and roll out the dough on a floured surface to about 1/8" thickness.

6. Cut out into pretty shapes, then re-roll and repeat until all the dough is used up!

7. Bake the cookies on an un-greased cookie sheet for about 10 minutes or until lightly browned.

I didn't bother with frosting but just in case you feel like it, here ya go.

Frosting:
2 tbsp earth balance
2 cups powdered sugar
1 tsp vanilla
1/4 cup soy milk

1. Combine all of the ingredients in a food processor and mix on high until smooth and creamy.

2. Divide into separate bowls and mix a couple drops of food coloring into each bowl. Once the cookies are completely cool, decorate them with frosting and sprinkles and place them on parchment paper to let the frosting set.

Veganize It: Milano Cookies

Because I love carbs, my biggest priority since going vegan has been finding recipes for the baked goods I once enjoyed. I've said it before and I'll say it again; I would not survive if I couldn't eat my sweets. Call me a fatty all you want because of it.

My most recent project were Milano Cookies.

 I followed this recipe.

Not bad, right?


I used wheat flour instead and skipped the orange zest because I didn't have oranges around.

So what's my verdict on the Vegan Milano Cookies?

They were shit.

The cookies were way too hard; I almost broke a tooth eating one. I try to use wheat flour for all of my recipes but this is one that really needs white flour in my opinion. I think I used too much dough for each cookie because they weren't thin at all. So yeah, these were one giant disappointment. But...

I'mma try again.

Veganize It

There is nothing I miss more than cheese now that I'm vegan. There is nothing on the market that comes close to getting the flavor right and it sucks.

But that never stops me from trying the faux stuff.

These pics are from a while back when my sister and I made a vegan pizza with dough we made from scratch (check Food.com for great recipes), mushrooms, Follow Your Heart Vegan Cheese in Mozzarella and Yves Meatless Pepperoni.

The pizza came out tasting decent but I'm going to focus on making a pizza that tastes good without the fake stuff.

Stay tuned : )

Veganize It: Nutella

It's been a long long time since I did a "Veganize It" post. The funny thing is, I've been documenting my attempts at veganizing meals I used to enjoy for years. I have so many pictures I need to upload and I promise I eventually will.

Anyway, I was in a shitty mood a few days ago so I decided to bake. Since, I didn't have anything of my own to bake, I took my roomie's gluten free cake mix and got busy.

By the way, Amber is totally fine with me taking her stuff and baking. She's not a baker, I'm a baker. She doesn't have to do the work but still gets to enjoy the fruits of my labor and I get to bake. It's a win-win.

So the cake was criminally easy to make and it came out perfectly ( I also made cinnamon raisin bread that was gangsta). The only thing I switched was apple spice for vanilla extract. Neither of us had frosting so she brought out her unopened jar of Nutella, a hazelnut spread. I have never tried Nutella before so I took a lick.

And then I had an orgasm.

Kidding!

But seriously guys, holy shit! I had no idea something that yummy existed and now I feel like the first 25 years of my life meant nothing. Nutella is AWESOME!!!

It's also not vegan. Dairy really does make me sick so I needed to find a non-dairy version of Nutella pronto.

When I googled "vegan nutella recipes" and a bunch of links popped up, I wasn't surprised. Of course I'm not the first person desperately trying to find a way to enjoy this decadent spread without breaking out like a teenage boy.

There are a lot of recipes to choose from and I plan on trying every last one of them. In the mean time, I needed a recipe that was super simple. I didn't have the money to go out and buy hazelnuts so I had to make do with what I did have: peanut butter, vegan chocolate bars and sugar.
Desperate times people.

This peanut butter can be purchased at Target. I could have done without the flax seeds but what are ya gonna do?
The NibMor chocolate was purchased at the Union Square farmer's market. I ended up adding honey to sweeten the spread after I realized (too late) that the sugar wasn't melting and it was making the consistency grainy. The honey was a great addition to this chocolate peanut-butter spread.

And there you have it people It doesn't have the hazelnut taste I love but it definitely satisfied my cravings. Here's the recipe I used as a guideline. I didn't use soy powder because I didn't have it but I think this came out well without it.

Veganize It: Mac and Cheese

About two years ago, I decided to give up animal products. I went this route for a lot of reasons and I haven’t regretted it once. I’m healthier, I sleep better, I don’t get migraines and I’ve lost weight.

I NEVER lose weight.

Anyway, veganism has been good to me. There are plenty alternatives to my must haves and what I can’t easily find in the stores, I find recipes for online. It’s now a hobby of mine to veganize meals. I like to play around in the kitchen and try to perfect an animal product free alternative to some of my favorite foods.

So far, I’ve had BLT sandwiches to die for, yummy cupcakes (you all know I went to work perfecting that recipe asap), burritos, pad thai, and some other good stuff.

Anyone who knows me knows how much I miss cheese. I literally dream about gruyere at night. And I don’t care what anyone says: most vegan cheeses taste like a donkey’s ass unless it’s cooked in something.

Since I can’t put it on a cracker, I decided to use my block of Follow Your Heart Vegan Gourmet Cheese Substitute to make macaroni and cheese.

Check it out : )

Ingredients
1 block of Follow Your Heart Vegan Gourmet Cheese Substitute in Cheddar
16 oz of fresh or frozen chopped spinach (I chose frozen)
16oz of rotini or pasta of your choice
Olive oil
Salt to taste
Pepper to taste

The Process
I’m not exactly a star in the kitchen so I like to keep things simple. I boiled the pasta and drained it and added the spinach which was defrosting a bit while the pasta was boiling.

I like adding spinach to my mac and cheese because I like the way it tastes, it’s healthy and I think the green and yellow looks pretty… Obviously you can omit it.

Anyway, after adding the spinach, I added olive oil. I did this mostly to prevent the pasta from sticking to the pot.

I added the cheese after coating the pasta with olive oil, stirring the pasta until the cheese melted.

The last thing I did was add salt and pepper to taste.

Bon appétit!

Note: In the future, I think I’m going to grate the cheese because it took forever to melt.

Double note: I only used one block of cheese but if you want cheesier macaroni, use two blocks.

Verdict
It’s not bad. I ate my mac and cheese with tofu on the side (see first or last picture) and I actually really enjoyed it but will probably tweak it in the future. A friend told me nutritional yeast macaroni is AMAZING.

That is all. Let me know what you think of my recipe if you’re brave enough to try it : )