Tag: recipe

Vegan Banana and Cacao Nib Bread

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Here’s another vegan recipe! I’ve used flax seed meal and water for the egg replacer. Cacao nibs can be hard to find for some people. I got mine from Theo Chocolate. You can find cacao nibs at small specialty stores, some Whole Foods Markets, and other natural food stores. You can omit the nibs, or use something else, like walnuts, to add some texture.

Vegan Banana and Cacao Nib Bread
Makes 16 servings
5 Weight Watchers PointsPlus Values per serving

1 1/2 cups bananas, pureed or smashed
3 Tbsp ground flax seed meal
6 Tbsp water
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 cups sugar
1 cacao nibs
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1/4 tsp ground cinnamon
1/8 tsp ground nutmeg
1/4 tsp table salt

Instructions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Grease the sides and bottom of a regular loaf pan.

An hour ahead of time, in a small dish, mix the flax meal with cold water, and set aside. In a large bowl, mix together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon and nutmeg.

Make a well in the center for the wet ingredients. Combine the flax meal and water mixture with the pureed banana, sugar and oil with the dry mixture. Stir together until all of the mixture is moistened and still a little lumpy. Gently stir in the cacao nibs. Put in the baking pan.

Bake for 55-60 minutes, or until a skewer or toothpick in the center comes out clean. Let the loaves cool and rest .

Vegan Chocolate Pudding Pie

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I’ve had to be dairy-free while attempting to breast-feed my son, as that he’s allergic to milk. This means that I have to kill my sugar cravings with dairy-free foods. I figure, might as well go vegan, since I have vegan friends and like the challenge.

This recipe can be made with a home-made graham cracker crust, or canned vegan whipped topping. I did what was easiest for me to grab at my local grocery store. The assembly is the easy part. The secret is the chocolate “pudding.”

Vegan Chocolate Pudding Pie
6 Weight Watchers PointsPlus Values per serving
Makes 8 servings

1 vegan 9″ graham cracker pie crust
1 pound soft silken tofu (usually, one cold-pack package of tofu)
1 cup vegan semisweet chocolate chips (usually 1/2 a package)
1 tsp vanilla
1 tsp Nutritional Yeast
1/3 cup powdered sugar
1 tsp kosher salt
5 ounces Soyatoo Vegan Whipping Cream

Set the graham cracker crust aside, ready for the filling.

Cut the silken tofu into about 4-6 pieces, and throw in a food processor. Put the chocolate chips in a microwave-safe bowl and microwave on high for 2 minutes. You can also melt the chips in a double boiler. Mix up the chips to make sure that it creates a smooth, melted chocolate mess. Pour in with the tofu. Add the sugar, vanilla, salt and nutritional yeast. Yes, salt and nutritional yeast. This is the secret to its deliciousness. Pulse the food processor, initially, then let it go until the contents are evenly mixed and very smooth. Make sure to stop and scrape the sides with a spatula.

Pour the pudding mixture into the pie crust and smooth in evenly.

Take the soy whipping cream and whip with a hand mixer until it’s light and fluffy. Here you can get creative. You can either pour it/spoon it on top of the chocolate pudding, or you can do what I did (sorry, no pretty pics!), which is use a plastic bag with a 1/4 in hole cut in the corner, fill it with the whipped cream, and pipe it in a circle from the outside to the inside. This is where a can of aerosol whipped topping would come in handy.

Throw in the refrigerator for an hour or so, and serve!

Please let me know if you try this recipe, and if you do, what the results were like!

Chocolate Stout and Raspberry Lambic Cake

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I made this cake for a bake-off at work, this being the boozy-cake challenge. My boozes of choice were Lindeman’s Framboise Lambic, Young’s Double Chocolate Stout, Bushmill’s Irish Whiskey and Chambord. This turned out to be a very moist cake, so chilling the cake before trying to manipulate it is definitely recommended.

Ingredients

Cake
1/2 cup stout
1/2 cup sweet raspberry lambic
1 cup butter
1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa, dutched, for stout cake half only
1/2 cup raspberries, for raspberry lambic cake only
2 cups all-purpose flour
2 cups sugar
2 eggs
2/3 cup sour cream

Ganache:
4 oz semisweet chocolate
1/2 cup heavy whipping cream
1 jigger whiskey

Filling:
1 cup for whipped cream fill
2 Tbsp powdered sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 jigger Chambord
1/2 cup raspberries

Instructions

For cake:
Heat oven to 350F. Well butter 2 9″x9″ baking pans. In one heavy saucepan pan, bring 1/2 cup stout and 1/2 cup butter to simmer over medium heat. Add cocoa powder and whisk until mixture is smooth. Cool slightly. In another pan, bring 1/2 cup sweet raspberry lambic and 1/2 cup butter to simmer over medium heat. Cool slightly.
Whisk flour, sugar, baking soda, and 3/4 teaspoon salt in large bowl to blend. Using electric mixer, beat eggs and sour cream in another large bowl to blend. Add stout-chocolate mixture to 1/2 the egg mixture and beat just to combine. Add 1/2 flour mixture and beat briefly on slow speed. In the other bowlm, add lambic mixture to 1/2 the egg mixture and beat just to combine. Add 1/2 cup raspberries. Add 1/2 flour mixture and beat briefly on slow speed. Using rubber spatula, fold respective batters in the separate bowls until completely combined. Marble the two different batters together in 2 9″x9″ baking pan, without muddying them.

Filling the pans 2/3 to 3/4 of the way. Bake cake until tester inserted into center comes out clean, rotating them once front to back if your oven bakes unevenly, about 20 minutes. Cool cakes on a rack completely.

For filling:
Using electric mixer, beat cream, powdered sugar, framboise (if desired), Chambord and vanilla in large bowl until very firm peaks form. Tramsferwhipped cream mixture to small bowl and chill. Fold raspberries into remaining whipped cream mixture. Spread on top of one cake, then put the other cake on top of it. Chill cake and filling, then slice the edges of the cake so they are 90 degree angles.

Ganache:
Heat 1/2 cup whipping cream to steaming, then pour over chocolate chips in a heat safe bowl. Wisk until combined. Add whisckey and whisk again. Put in fridge 1 hour to make more solid, then spread over trimmed cake, so it covers evenly.

Chewy Vegan Banana Nut Muffins

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I am not a vegan, however, I have this fascination with vegan baking. Mostly, it’s a fascination with substitution, and seeing what I can get away with to make something tasty, yet also nearly healthy. My primary goal is to make yummy treats that are lower in refined sugars, higher in fiber and lower in fat than their conventional cousins. Right now, I’m just playing with making my own recipes. Below is a recipe I recently made. The muffins turned out beautiful, though they are on the dense and chewy side. The nuts should help with the chewiness, by offering some texture difference. They also increase the protein, which I often need to balance out any carbs. Please let me know if you try this recipe, and how it works for you!

Chewy Vegan Banana Nut Muffins

  • 1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
  • 1/2 cup wheat germ
  • 1 teaspoon baking powder
  • 1/2 teaspoon coarse kosher salt
  • 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
  • 1 cup almond milk
  • 2 teaspoons vanilla
  • 1/2 cup sugar
  • 2 bananas, pureed
  • 1/4 cup chopped pecans or walnuts (optional)

Preparation

Position rack in center of oven and preheat to 350°F. Oil and flour three mini muffin pans or line with paper liners. Whisk flour and wheat germ, baking powder, 1/2 teaspoon coarse salt, and baking soda in medium bowl. Whisk almond milk and vanilla in small bowl to blend. Using electric mixer, beat sugar and banana puree in large bowl to blend. Beat well after each addition until mixture is evenly mixed, occasionally scraping down sides of bowl. Beat in dry ingredients in 3 additions alternately with almond milk mixture in 2 additions. Mix just until blended. Mix in nuts. Spoon batter into prepared muffin cups by generous tablespoonfuls.

Bake muffins until tester inserted into center comes out clean, 23-25 minutes. Cool in pans 5 minutes. Remove muffins from pans and cool on rack.

Recipe Sunday: Favorite Salad, Tuna and Greens

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Here’s a quick and easy recipe that is just about one of my favorites. It uses Fishing Vessel St. Jude’s Wild Troll Caught Pacific Albacore tuna (which is superior to what you find at most grocery stores due to mercury and sustainability issues). We also use our favorite greens (Wild and Spicy Mix) from Alm Hill (also at the Ballard Farmer’s Market.)

Here’s the basics:

Lemon French Salad Dressing

1/2 cup lemon juice
1 tablespoon sugar
4 teaspoon paprika
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon dry mustard
1 pinch cayenne pepper
3/4 cup Olive Oil

Combine all but the olive oil in a blender or container that you can use with an immersion blender. While the blender is running, slowly add in the olive oil so it emulsifies, about 30-60 seconds, or until well blended. Store in an air tight container in the refrigerator.

The salad:

Take the greens of your choice (I’d say about 2 cups per bowl) and pile them high in a bowl. This is where you can get creative. Some of my favorite toppings include kalamata olives, avocado and tomato. Then there’s my standard 6 oz can of tuna nicely shredded up on top (use anything you like for protein, chicken, nuts, tofu, whatever.) Pour on the dressing, and you have a refreshing, tasty salad. A mainstay of my summer diet. One can of tuna usually equals two portions. Use left over dressing for salads throughout the week!