vegan | What's Annie Making?

Betcha’ didn’t know brussels sprouts could taste like this…

29 December, 2012 Leave a Comment

Hi friends. I hope you all had a very happy holiday season! Around here we’ve been extremely blessed to be able to enjoy time with both of our families. Time that involved presents, playing, puppies and lots and lots of food.

Any time we go home, Charlie has such a blast playing with my parent’s two Cairn terriers, Lexie and Rosie. The minute we walk in the door, they are off and running. All you see is a big ball of blonde fur.

Also a given at home, is a smorgasbord of Christmas sweets. This year, my treats from Cookies Day were also included in the mix so there was more than enough to go around. That’s okay though, more options to choose from.

When we got home though it was time for a long nap (Charlie slept for a day straight), drink buckets of water, and eat some green things.

My body was craving a healthy meal badly. I had some brussels sprouts in the crisper begging to be used. In an effort to keep things a little festive I decided to forego roasting them, and decided to shred them instead.

I followed this recipe from 101 Cookbooks exactly, and it turned out great! Shredding and sautéing the sprouts with just a little brown sugar in them really helps get rid of the bitterness. I would venture a guess that this recipe may turn the biggest brussels sprouts hater into a lover (or at least a tolerator).

I started by pressing my tofu (Trader Joe’s Sprouted Extra Firm) by putting in between paper towels and under 30 pounds of plates.

They make fancy tofu-presses for this purpose. My kitchen doesn’t need any more 1-job tools. Plates work just fine for me. Then I sautéed the tofu in a cast iron skillet to get it nice and crispy. I did everything else as specified. Served with a side of brown rice.

Yumm!!!! Who ever thought that it would be hard to stop eating tofu and brussels sprouts? I already have plans to make this again in a few days. It was that good!

And I need to give my soux chef credit…

Filed Under: dinner, puppy, quick, vegan, vegetarian

Portobello Black Bean Chili

21 August, 2012 Leave a Comment

Oh hayyyyy!!! I’m back from an inadvertent week long blogging hiatus. It actually was more like a week without my computer because our internet was completely broken and stupid cable company couldn’t come and fix it until now. Oh yeah, and I had to move around my schedule today so I could be home for the 5 hour window that they might show up in… Lame sauce.

As much as it was inconvenient to not have immediate access to the internet (what did we ever do without it???) it was also kind of nice to disconnect for a little while. Between school, work and blogging it’s really easy for me to just sit behind my computer for hours and hours each day without even stepping outside. Today before they came I worked out, mowed the lawn (yeah I know!) scrubbed my floor, and read a book. It was wonderful! I need to remember to disconnect every now and again, even though I have full access to technology.

Okay, over that. I made this chili almost 2 weeks ago now. It was the season opener for the Packers and I had a chili craving. Forget that it was the middle of the summer. Football=chili and cornbread, and brownies. Period.

The thing is, I don’t really like beef in my chili. I can handle it every once in a while, if it’s in very small amounts, but I would just rather leave the cow out of the picture.

So I used mushrooms instead. Portobellos to be exact. And it was amazing! I loved the meaty texture and flavor that the mushrooms gave this standard veggie chili. Button mushrooms would be fine too, but I had ports, so that’s what I used.

And the secret ingredients besides the mushrooms, brown sugar and cocoa powder. They give such a great flavor balance and depth the chili. Don’t worry, it doesn’t taste like chocolate at all. Promise.

I made this alongside my all-time favorite cornbread and we had the perfect football season meal.

If you don’t have time to simmer all of these ingredients on the stove, I’m sure you could throw everything in the crock pot on low and let it cook all day while you’re at work. In fact, I’m pretty sure I will be doing that exact thing several more times this year. And so should you!

Period.

Portobello Black Bean Chili

by Annie S

Prep Time: 5 minutes

Cook Time: 2 hours

Keywords: saute entree soup/stew vegetarian

Ingredients (8 cups)

1 14 oz can black beans
1 14 oz can garbanzo beans
1 T extra-virgin olive oil
2 T chili powder
1 1/2 t cumin
1 yellow onion, chopped
1 lb mini portobello mushrooms (or button mushrooms), diced
1 1/2 t sea salt
1 jalapeño, finely minced
1 14 oz can diced tomatoes
2 c water
2 vegetable bouillon cubes
2 T tomato paste
1/8 c brown sugar
3 T unsweetened cocoa powder
shredded cheddar cheese
cilantro
plain greek yogurt, or sour cream

Instructions

Heat oil in a large dutch oven or soup pot over medium-high heat

Saute chopped onion in oil until it starts to sweat (edges should be translucent)

Add chopped mushrooms, peppers and salt, saute 8-10 minutes until mushrooms start to cook down

Add canned tomatoes, chili powder, cumin, beans, water, bouillon, and tomato paste

Bring to a boil

Reduce heat to low, cover, cook 1-2 hours

Stir in brown sugar and cocoa powder

Cook 30 more minutes

Serve, top with cheese, cilantro and yogurt

Filed Under: dinner, man friendly, soup, vegan, vegetarian

Knockoff Black Bean Burgers

10 July, 2012 Leave a Comment

Have you guys tried these?

Next to my all-time favorite veggie masala burgers from trader joe’s, these are my favorite pre-made burgers. I love the fact that I can throw one (or two) of these on the grill, skillet, or microwave and have a quick meal. They are also really great crumbled on top of a salad.

What I don’t like, paying over $4.00 for 6 of these little pups. Cray-zay!!!!!

Luckily, I figured out that I can make my own at home on the cheap. I actually made these for my 4th of July guests last week rather than grilling up meat. I didn’t hear a single complaint. When you give people enough flavor, a good texture, and tons of sauces to top them with, there’s not much to complain about.

Oh, and instead of paying big $$$ for frozen burgers, or meat, I bought 3 cans of black beans for $1.80 and called it a day. (sorry friends, you’re worth more than that to me, but we are in grad school after all…)

So here they are, my version of these great black bean burgers. They are similar to these veggie burgers, but simpler to make

Knockoff Spicy Black Bean Burgers

by Annie S

Prep Time: 5 minutes

Cook Time: 20 minutes

Keywords: bake blender grill entree vegetarian

Ingredients

1/2 c rolled oats
1 carrot
1/3 jalapeño pepper, with seeds
1 can black beans, rinsed and drained
1/4 c corn kernels (fresh or frozen)
1 t cumin
1 t hot chili powder
1 t garlic powder
1/3 c fresh cilantro leaves

Toppings

cheese
avocado
ketchup
bbq sauce
buffalo sauce
pickles!

Instructions

Preheat oven to 375 degrees

Spray a baking sheet with cooking spray

Add oats to the bowl of a food processor, pulse several times to chop a little bit

Add carrot and jalapeño, pulse until finely chopped

Add black beans, corn, spices, and cilantro

Process 10-20 seconds until the mixture comes together into a “dough”, but is still roughly chopped

Use wet hands to form patties

Place on baking sheet

Bake in oven 12-15 minutes

(Note: I baked mine 10 minutes, removed them from the oven, then finished cooking them on the grill later that night)

Filed Under: dinner, grilled, man friendly, oats, quick, vegan, vegetarian

s’mores cupcakes

20 June, 2012 2 Comments

This week we had a huge cumulative exam over all of the classes we’ve taken in the first year of grad school. The stakes were high, and so were the nerves. My classmates and I have been nervous wrecks for the past few weeks. We didn’t know what to expect since this is the first time we’ve had to do something like this. I felt like I was studying for finals x 100. If you do bad on a final, your grade goes down. If you do bad on comps, you could get kicked out of the program. Yikes!

Luckily we got our results pretty soon after taking it, and we all passed! All of that studying, sleep deprivation and stress was worth it. Then it was time to celebrate - with cupcakes.

I can’t think of a better way to celebrate than with these cupcakes. The cake itself is made using graham cracker crumbs and has chocolate shavings in it. The frosting is super light and fluffy, it tastes almost just like marshmallow fluff. And then the crumbs and chocolate on the top just tie everything together.

Oh, and did I mention they’re vegan? Don’t be scared, nobody will ever know. It can be our little secret. The recipe is adapted from one of my favorite cookbooks ever, Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World. The authors of the this cookbook really know what they’re doing and make baking vegan cupcakes easy and super tasty. I highly recommend this cookbook to anyone who likes to bake.

S’mores cupcakes

by Annie S

Prep Time: 15 minutes

Cook Time: 20 minutes

Keywords: bake dessert vegan cake

Ingredients (12 cupcakes)

for the cupcakes

3/4 c light brown sugar
1/2 c canola oil
2 T molasses
1/4 c soy yogurt (or applesauce)
1 1/4 c almond milk
1 t vanilla extract
1 c whole wheat pastry flour
1 t baking powder
1/2 t baking soda
1/2 t cinnamon
1/4 t salt
1/2 c graham crack crumbs
1/3 c finely chopped dark chocolate

for the frosting

1/2 c margarine (I like Earth Balance)
1/2 c non-hydrogenated shortening
2 1/2 c powdered sugar
1/4 c almond milk
1 t vanilla extract

Instructions

for the cupcakes

Preheat oven to 350 degrees

Line muffin tin with cupcake liners

Mix brown sugar, oil, molasses, milk, yogurt and vanilla in a large bowl using a whisk or hand mixer (make sure this is well blended)

Combine flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, salt, and graham cracker crumbs in another bowl

Add dry to wet and mix well – there should be no lumps

Stir in chocolate

Fill cupcake liners almost all the way full

Bake 20-25 minutes until a toothpick tester comes out clean

Remove from oven and place onto cooling rack

for the frosting

Combine margarine and shortening in the bowl of a stand mixer (both should be room temp)

Beat until they are whipped together

Stir in powdered sugar

Mix on high with the whisk attachment for 3-4 minutes

Add milk and vanilla

Whip 3-4 minutes, until light and fluffy

assembly

Frost cooled cupcakes

Sprinkle with extra graham cracker crumbs and chocolate shavings

Make friends!

Filed Under: baking, cake, cupcakes, dessert, vegan

Betcha’ didn’t know brussels sprouts could taste like this…

Portobello Black Bean Chili

Knockoff Black Bean Burgers

s’mores cupcakes

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