Gingerbread PIGS

Aren't they CUTE?!?!

Happy Holidays Internet!!

'Tis the season to make vegan Christmas cookies. In the spirit of the holidays I whipped up a batch of vegan gingerbread pigs! They came out adorable and tasted great! (a little spicy though, so if you aren't a fan of GINGER in your gingerbread, watch out!) I didn't frost them because I have issues with vegan frosting coming out runny, aka not good for decorating. These cookies are chewy and crunchy in all the right places.

Gingerbread Cookies (Recipe Courtesy of www.vegnews.com)
Makes 24 Cookies

What You Need:

• 2-3/4 cups pastry flour
• 1-1/2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 tablespoon ground ginger
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 3/4 cup vegan margarine, softened
• 3/4 cup molasses
• 1-1/2 cups light brown sugar, packed
• 2 tablespoons soymilk
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla

What You Do:

1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees and grease a cookie sheet. In a large bowl, combine flour, baking powder, ginger, cloves, cinnamon, and salt. In a large bowl, whisk together margarine, molasses, and brown sugar together until smooth. Add soy milk and vanilla and whisk thoroughly.

2. Add dry ingredients to wet and mix with spatula to form a dough. Cover and refrigerate for at least two hours.

3. Roll out dough onto a floured board, 1/8- to 1/4-inch thick, depending on desired texture (thinner cookies will be crispier, thicker cookies will be chewier). Cut into shapes with cookie cutters and place on prepared cookie sheet. Bake for 10 to 12 minutes, depending on thickness.

The Soy Sow Visits New York!

I know this blog is all recipes, but I HAD to tell you about a few amazing vegan places I tried on a recent trip to New York City! As usual, I dragged anyone I visited to every vegan place I could find.

First stop: Candle Cafe.

I knew of this restaurant because I buy their frozen dinners at Whole Foods. There restaurant blows those frozen meals out of the water. I went to Candle Cafe with my sister and cousin, so we got to try a lot of things on the menu. After trying everyone's I think I liked my sister's entree best, the "Cajun Seitan Sandwich."

My cousin had the "Tuscan Seitan Parmesan Sandwich": (sorry for the blurry photo!)

My sister had the "Cajun Seitan Sandwich":


Last, I had the "BBQ Tempeh Sweet Potato Sandwich": (sideways, my bad.)

After Candle Cafe, we headed to Lula's Sweet Apothecary.

Vegan ice cream sundae anyone?? This was the best sundae I have EVER had since being a vegan and my family had to pry me out of that place because it was AMAZING. My sister and cousin had milkshakes and they were impressed as well. Not to mention it is extremely cute in that little ice cream parlor!

To end my trip I headed over to Sprinkles Cupcakes.

The perfect afternoon snack is their "Vegan Red Velvet Cupcake." It.was.GOOD. As a vegan, I think I say after every meal "You wouldn't know it was vegan unless I told you, right?!?!" If I hadn't overused this phrase too many times before, it would be the perfect sentiment for this cupcake.

Overall, New York had some pretty amazing vegan food..does it compare with Chicago's vegan restaurants like Chicago Diner, Karyn's Cooked and more? No way.

Mexican Stuffed Peppers

I thought the orange peppers were a nice fall touch!

I am usually not a fan of bell peppers- between the waxy texture and the lack of flavor, they just aren't my thing...but these peppers blew me away. They reminded me of a healthy chili rellenos. The cream cheese makes them extra creamy, the bread crumbs are a super buttery crunch and the jalapenos give it just the right amount of kick.

MEXICAN STUFFED PEPPERS (Serves 8)
Ingredients:

• 5 bell peppers, cut in half lengthwise and gutted;
• 1 yellow onion, chopped;
• 1 bunch green onion, chopped (only the green);
  
• 1 box soy "ground beef" crumbles;
• 1/2 cup tofutti sour cream;
• 2 cloves garlic, minced;
• 2 tsp beef boullion (I use this brand- certified vegan, NO ACTUAL BEEF IN IT)
• 1 tsp garlic salt;
• 1 tsp pepper;
• 1 jar salsa ( I used Frontera tomato & garlic)
• Half container (about 1/2 cup) of tofutti cream cheese;
• 1/2 cup brown rice;
• 1/2 cup bread crumbs mixed with 1/4 cup butter and garlic salt, to taste.
• 1/4 cup diced jalapeno peppers (the kind for nachos)

How to Make:

1. Pre-heat your oven to 350 degrees.
   
2. Start your rice first, rice takes way too long to make.
3. While your rice is cooking, saute your onion with the garlic and bouillon and spices until the onion is translucent.
4. Once the onion is done, add the "beef" to the pan along with the sour cream, 1/2 of the jar of salsa, green onion, and the jalapenos (your pan may be getting really full so once everything is warmed you can transfer to a bowl to mix better).
5. If you haven't yet, move everything in the pan into a large mixing bowl and add the rice and cream cheese- mix your filling thoroughly.
6. Pour the remaining salsa in the bottom of a casserole dish and then arrange your pepper shells in the dish.
7. Fill each pepper with the filling to the brim.
8. Top each pepper off with the bread crumb mixture.
9. Cover with aluminum foil and bake for 20-30 minutes.

And there you have it, a Mexican fiesta in your mouth that you can eat and not feel like you just ate 2000 calories (unless you get carried away and eat all the peppers at once, which I won't judge you if you do.)

1960's Tater Tot Casserole

I used my 1960's camera filter- do you like?

As a vegan, I generally eat pretty healthy. Mostly because a lot of foods that are un-healthy are not vegan. But this recipe is definitely not healthy. Although it is filled with veggies, everything else in it pretty much cancels that fact out.

Tater Tot Casserole:
Modified from Snarky Vegan, see her recipe HERE.

Ingredients:

• 1 bag tater tots;
• 1 bag frozen mixed veggies;
• 2 cups soy milk;
• 1 container soy "ground beef" crumbles;
• 1 onion, diced;
  
• 2 tablespoons of flour;
• 7 tablespoons Earth Balance margarine;
• 1 bag Diaya Cheddar Cheese;
• Salt & Pepper; to taste;
• Garlic Salt to; taste.

How to Make:

1. First, to make the sauce: create a roux with the flour and 3 tablespoons of margarine.
2. Once that is browned, remove from heat and slowly add soy milk.
3. Once the soy milk is all added- place back on medium heat and stir constantly until thickened.
4. In a large casserole dish pour in: frozen veggies, beef crumbles, onion cheddar cheese and spices.
5. Pour your white sauce over the top of the casserole.
6. Then add 4 tablespoons of margarine in each corner of the casserole.
7. Arrange your tots on top to cover the dish.
8. Cook at 375 for one hour.

By the time this beast emerges from the oven you will most likely burn the roof of your mouth off because you can no longer wait to eat it. We doused our casserole in Siracha and ketchup as well.

Black Bean Dip

Side view so you can see all the gooey-goodness inside!

You would think Paula Deen would be the anti-Christ when it comes to vegan food, but this weekend, when looking for a perfect game day snack, Ms. Deen's recipe came to the rescue. A few vegan modifications and it was just as delicious as any butter-laden recipe she has!

Black-Bean Dip
You can find Paula's recipe HERE.

Here is how I made it:
Ingredients:

• 2 cans black refried beans;
• 1 tomato, diced;
• 1 can of black olives, diced;
• 1/2 an onion, diced;
• 1 small can diced peppers (you can choose how hot you want these)
  
• 1 packet spicy taco seasoning;
• garlic salt, to taste;
• cayenne pepper to taste;
• 1 tub Tofutti cream cheese;
• 1 bag Daiya vegan cheddar cheese.

How to Make it:

1. Mix your beans, tomato, black olives, onion, 1/2 bag of Daiya cheese, taco seasoning and spices in a bowl;
2. In a casserole dish, cover the bottom with cream cheese (Paula says to grease the dish with butter- but this step is unnecessary!);
3. Next, layer on the black bean mixture.
4. Sprinkle remaining cheese on top.
5. Bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes- until bubbling.
6. Serve hot.

You can make this without the vegan shredded Daiya too- just put some tin foil on top to protect the beans. Sure to appease even the most macho football fan!

Chocolate Pumpkin Muffins

Perfect for a fall brunch!

I usually hate fall and winter but every once and a while you will get a sunny, warm day that feels just like summer with the added bonus of beautiful fall foliage that makes me semi-somewhat-kinda like fall. Those days just call for a fall treat.

Chocolate Pumpkin Muffins:
I adapted this recipe from Isa Chandra-Moskowitz's recipe HERE.

The changes I made included:

• Instead of a loaf pan I used a muffin tin (the kind that makes MEGA size muffins- it made 6)
  
• Instead of: 1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg, 1/4 teaspoon ground ginger and 1/8 teaspoon ground cloves = I just added pumpkin pie spice to the same ratio.
• I added a 1/4 cup more sugar because I like my chocolate SWEET!
• I added a few more chocolate chips because you can never have too many of those!
• I used vegetable oil- not canola or coconut.
  
• The muffins take about 20 minutes- a lot less time than the loaf recipe, so watch the clock!

These muffins are SO MOIST. They literally melt in your mouth. And the semi-melted, gooey chocolate chips are amazing. Don't expect a chocolatey-cupcake type flavor though, the chocolate is much more subdued so you can taste the pumpkin.

The Black and White Cookie

Thank God I gave some of these away or I may have not been able to button my pants on Monday.

Almost every other weekend I make homemade cookies to snack on during the week. This weekend, I was missing my sister in New York so I decided to make Isa Chandra Moskowicz's vegan black and white cookie. This was completely her recipe, so I can't claim it as my own- you will just have to drool over the picture or buy her cookbook: "Vegan Cookies Invade Your Cookie Jar."

For as fancy as they look though, I will tell you- they are easy to make!