Fig Maple Walnut Scones, Banana Coconut Pepita Muffins, Mushroom and Seitan Stroganoff, Raw Chococlate Coconut Munchkins (This title is too long)

O.K. This is quite a lengthy post so I will not bother giving much of an introduction. Basically, I have been cooking and taking some pictures but not posting. However, now that I am done with spring break and back into the daily grind, I am motivated to post some recipes. So without further adieu I give you several delicious recipes.

Fig Maple Walnut Scones

2 Cups Whole Wheat Flour

2 1/2 tsp Baking Powder

1/2 tsp Salt

1 tsp cinnamon

1/3 Cup Earth Balance Margarine

5 Tbs Maple Syrup

1/2 Cup Soymilk

2 Tbs Lemon Juice

10 Reconstituted Dried Figs

1/2 cup walnuts

Preheat oven to 400º F.

Whisk all the dry ingredients together in a mixing bowl. Mix the wet ingredients together (syrup, soymilk and lemon juice). Using a pastry cutter or a fork, blend the Earth Balance into the dry ingredients until there are no chunks of margarine left and the mixture looks like damp sand as if you were making biscuits. ( You can do this in the food processor).

Pour in the wet ingredients and mix until just combined, adding more flour if the mixture is too wet. Add chopped figs and crushed walnuts in now too. Since this dough will be somewhat wet, I just made drop scones which created a slightly more moist scone than traditional. If you like drier scones add more flour, roll out the dough, and cut into biscuits. Either way, bake for about 20 mins or longer if scones are large, like mine.

Banana Coconut Pepita Muffins

4-5 Ripe bananas
1/2 Cup soymilk
1 tsp apple cider vinegar
1/4 Cup EB, melted
1/4 Cup Maple Syrup
1/4 Cup Brown Rice syrup
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 flax egg ( 1 tbsp ground flax mixed with 2 tbsp warm water)

2 1/2 Cups whole wheat flour
1 tsp baking soda
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt

1/2 to 1 Cup each coconut and pepitas (pumpkin seeds)

Preheat oven to 375º F.

Mix all the dry ingredients in a large bowl with a whisk/fork.

Mix soymilk and vinegar together in a cup.

In another bowl smash your bananas with a fork until mostly mashed, add all the rest of the wet ingredients (soybuttermilk, melted EB, syrups, vanilla and prepared “egg”). Whisk well to incorporate.

Mix the wet into the dry. Try to incorporate all ingredients in as few mixes as possible.

Scoop into oiled muffin tray and bake for about 20-25 minutes.

Mushroom and Seitan Stroganoff

1 lb linguine or any pasta

3 1/2 cups seitan, sliced in thin wide strips

2 tablespoons +1 teaspoon olive oil
1 cup shallots, thinly sliced
1 large onion, quartered and sliced in half moons
3 cloves garlic, minced
2 cups cremini mushrooms, thinly sliced
2 cups oysters, thinly sliced
1 cup burgundy cooking wine
2 tablespoons dried thyme, chopped up
1 tablespoon Hungarian paprika
2 teaspoons salt and pepper
2 tbsp pasta water
2 good spoonfuls nutritional yeast flakes
2 teaspoons Dijon mustard
1/2 cup vegan sour cream
Fresh parsley and dill

Get your pasta water going.

Heat a large pan with some olive oil, just to coat it. Add the seitan and saute over medium heat about 1o minutes, until it is dark brown and crispy on the outside. Transfer to plate. Repeat with mushrooms except season with salt and pepper.
Heat some more olive oil in skillet over med-high heat. Add the shallots and onions, saute for 5 minutes. Sprinkle two tablespoons of flour over the onions. Add garlic and thyme. Saute for 5 more minutes minutes. Now add salt, pepper, wine and paprika. Turn heat up high to reduce the liquid, about 10 minutes.

Lower heat to med-high, add pasta water, stir well and let sauce thicken, about 5 minutes. Add nutritional yeast and mix well until it is dissolved. Add sour cream and mustard and bring heat down to low, be very careful not to let it boil now because it can make the sour cream and mustard bitter. Add half of seitan and pasta and cook for about 2 minutes. stir in fresh herbs off heat and then you can plate it up. Top this with some more seitan and the crispy mushrooms. Enjoy.


Raw Chocolate Coconut Munchkins

1 cup soaked almonds ( soak in water for 2 hours)
1.5 cup dates
5 tbsp raw cocoa powder ( or regular if you don't mind)
2 tbsp water as needed to blend
1 cup coconut flakes for rolling

Process all ingredients except coconut. Roll into little munchkins and then coat in the coconut. Amazing and simple.



Phewww!

Whole Wheat Boule, Agave Cookies, and A Nice Dinner

First off I would like to discuss the ease and pleasure of making your own bread. There is very few things that I find at the store or at a restaurant that I don't think I can replicate quite well. But bread is one of those things that takes a bit of care and knowledge to make a decent loaf. With that said I stand by the ease of preparation and method of baking your own bread, and not only that, I find it quite therapeutic and manly. More manly than sports at least, because you know, I like to knead instead of play football. So, anyways, with a very simple recipe you will find you can save some money and gain a sense of self sufficiency.

What you need

BIGA
1 3/4 C WW flour
2 tsp yeast
3/4 C warm water

SOAKER
1 3/4 C WW flour
2 tsp salt
3/4 C water or soymilk

FINAL DOUGH
6 Tbsp WW flour
2 tsp yeast
1 Tbsp Liquid sweetener (agave nectar preferably)

What You Do
Mix together biga ingredients, knead for 10 mins, then let rise in warm area for as little as 4 hrs, and as much as 3 days in the fridge.
Mix together soaker ingredients, knead for 10 mins, then let rest in warm place for a few hours or as long as the biga takes.
Once this resting/proofing/rising stage is done, cut up your doughs into 1" squares. Add the final dough ingredients, and knead for about 10 mins. Let rise for about 45 mins in a warm place (your oven, not on, with a tray of warm water for humidity). After this, shape dough into desired shape, you see a boule above, and let rise covered on a floured cutting board or work surface for easy slippage into your preheated oven. Bake at 425 F for about 30-40 mins or until dough temperature reaches about 190 F. Let cool for at least a half hour when done.

Now the agave cookies, used this recipe adapted to be vegan (sub eggs). So good.




















Last but not least (well probably least when compared to these darlings) the pretty dish I created. Its a garlic mashed potato, sauteed shiitakes and creminis with dried chantrelles and parsley, tamari baked tofu, and a arugula salad with bacon bit- grain mustard- vinaigrette.

Pizza and Professionalism all in a single post

So I hope to become more professional in the coming months with maintaining my blog and taking better pictures. I did not realize how much time it takes to get a good picture or prepare a background, but I can't really imagine myself ever setting up a background so we will see if my pictures can improve otherwise.

Anyways this is a vegan food blog, and I intend to show you some pictures of a few meals I had this week with my darling.

And as a precursor for the upcoming food of choice a little useless movie quote from some dudes who might like pizza as much as I do......

				Raphael:	A Jose Canseco bat? Tell me, you didn't pay money for this.
				Leonardo:	Awesome!
				Michaelangelo:	Righteous!
				Donatello:	Bossa nova!
				Michaelangelo:	Bossa nova?
				Donatello:	Chevy Nova?
				Michelangelo:	Wise man say, "forgiveness is divine, but never pay full price for late pizza."

PIZZA!!!!!!!!!

Ingredients

3 cups flour
1 1/2 cups warm water (95-100 F)
2 tsp yeast
2 tsp salt

2 tbsp olive oil
1/2 - 1 cup flour
cornmeal for dusting

Method

1. Mix together the first set of ingredients together in a non-reactive bowl (i.e. not metal). You just made a poolish. Let sit for at least 2 hours to ferment, or overnight in the fridge for best flavor.

2. Let poolish come back to room temp or work with it if it is already warm. Add flour to work surface and oil to dough. Knead in 1/2-1 cup flour until a slightly stiffer, yet still elastic and moist dough forms. You want it so that it does not stick to the board when no flour is on the board, but you want to maintain a high moisture content in your dough. This allows for really good bubbles to form.

3. After Kneading for about ten minutes form into a ball and let rise at room temp or in warm spot for an hour to an hour and a half. Mean while prepare your pizza toppings.

You may top your pizza with whatever vegan ingredients you can think of.....so many options...may i suggest Follow Your Heart Monterrey Jack, wild mushrooms, roasted red pepper walnut pesto, marinara, and zucchini. Good combo.

Anyways, you should have your ingredients ready for step 4.

4. Once dough has risen to about double in volume, punch down and begin to roll out into a pizza round while forming a crust. You can make this as thick or thin as you like, you will just have to adjust the baking time. I went for the pizza hut pan size thickness, not to thin, not to thick. Your oven should be preheated to 450-475 F by the way with a preheated pizza stone or baking tray. This give you the best crust texture.

5. Now you can sprinkle some cornmeal onto your pizza peel ( 0r cutting board in my case), place the pizza dough round onto the board, and top with ingredients. Make sure your pizza can slide on the board, which is why the cornmeal is there, so you can slip it off the peel/board and onto the hot cooking surface in your oven. It takes about 10 mins, or longer, then about 2 or 3 min in the broiler for proper vegan cheese melting.

Slice and enjoy.