Candy cane syrup

A few weeks ago, I came across this post for Candy Cane Syrup by Chica and Jo. We always have plenty of candy canes laying around...

...and leftover ice cream from Thanksgiving - put two and two together and you get an awesomely sweet sugar high.

The directions made it sound like it would take just a couple of minutes, but I used 7 candy canes and it took quite a while for them to entirely melt. So allot yourself some time.

Patriotic cupcakes

To be festive, I took in a plate of these spice cupcakes from SheKnows.com to work. And they were a hit! Yes, they're frosted cupcakes, but surprisingly not overly sweet. And you don't have to make these vegan. Using the original dairy versions should work just fine! Have a happy and safe 4th!

Mother's Day Brunch

Mother's Day has come and gone, but this recipe will suit you anytime a delicious, easy breakfast is in order. Make it for your mom next time you see her!


Adapted from this recipe from Whole Foods.


They say this recipe serves 6, but I beg to differ. Two hungry adults and one toddler took this to town.

Ingredients

1/2 - 3/4 loaf of stale challah bread, sliced thick
blueberries and sliced strawberries (as many as your heart desires)
4 eggs 
1 cup milk (I used soy, but any milk would work)
1 Tbsp maple syrup 
1/4 tsp grated nutmeg 

Method

Preheat oven to 350°F. Line an 8-inch baking pan with bread, overlapping slices; scatter berries over top. Whisk together eggs, milk, syrup and nutmeg and pour over bread. Bake until golden brown and set, 45 to 50 minutes.

Warm Spaghetti Squash Salad

I've never been excited about the idea of spaghetti squash, because, let's be real, if I want spaghetti, that's just not going to cut it. But when my husband sent me this recipe I though that with Passover coming up, we may as well try it. I made one huge change - omitting the olives completely, because olives are gross. Other than that, I followed the recipe closely. I think it would be nice with raw almonds instead of toasted, but it's pretty good with toasted almonds, too. And I tried eating it cold and that was a mistake. Much better warm. We ate it with a side of sauteed collard greens. It would be a nice way to start a light summer meal.

Ingredients: 

• 1 4-pound spaghetti squash, halved lengthwise and seeds scraped

• 1cup(s) sliced almonds, 3 ounces

• 1/2 cup(s) thinly sliced scallions (white & light green parts)

• 1/2 teaspoon(s) finely grated lemon zest

• 3 tablespoon(s) fresh lemon juice

• 1/4 cup(s) plus 2 tablespoons canola oil (If making for Passover, use another light oil, such as cottonseed oil)

• 2 ounce(s) Greek feta, crumbled, 1/4 cup

• Kosher salt and freshly ground white pepper

Directions:

• 1. Preheat the oven to 350°. Bring a large pot of water to a boil. Add the spaghetti squash and cook until it is al dente, about 12 minutes; drain. Place the spaghetti squash halves cut side down on a rack and let cool for 15 minutes.

• 2. Meanwhile, spread the sliced almonds on a cookie sheet and them in the oven for about 7 minutes, until lightly golden (This step is optional). In a mini food processor, combine the chopped olives with the sliced scallions, lemon zest, lemon juice and canola oil and pulse until finely chopped.

• 3. Working over a medium bowl and using a fork, scrape the spaghetti squash into the bowl, separating the strands. Add the dressing along with the crumbled feta and toasted almonds and season with salt and white pepper. Toss the spaghetti squash salad and serve warm.

A Passover-friendly vegetable soup

My daughter eats Vegetable Barley Soup almost every day. And with Passover approaching, I wanted to make a Passover-friendly version.

Ingredients:
4 carrots, chopped
1 onion, finely chopped
6 garlic cloves, finely chopped
3 potatoes, chopped
2 sweet potatoes, chopped
2 zucchini, chopped
4 stalks celery, chopped
1/2 cup quinoa
dill, to taste
parsley, to taste
salt, to taste
pepper, to taste

Directions:
1.  Saute onion, garlic in olive oil.
2. Add the rest of the ingredients and cover with water.
4. Cook for at least 1 1/2 - 2 hours.

I had recently made a big pot of vegetable stock, so I reserved the cooked veggies from that, pureed them  and added them to the soup to thicken it. If you don't have extra veggies on hand and want the soup thicker, throw a few cups of it in the blender and mix back into the pot.

Strawberry cut out cookies

Happy Valentine's Day!

This year, I took a typical sugar cookie recipe, but I cut the sugar serving in half, and instead of adding milk, , I used about 1/2 fresh pureed strawberries.



I topped off the cooking with this fantastic icing from AllRecipes.com. Here's some words of wisdom though - serve immediately, or refrigerate, because if left in a car or hotel room too long, the icing melts!

Christmas cookies

Diet? What diet?

I spent an afternoon in the kitchen watching Christmas flicks and making a mess. I whipped up double batches of chocolate chip cookies, snickerdoodles, pretzels, Oreo bark, and whiskey balls (not pictured).


Snickerdoodles w/ chips
Using the snickerdoodle recipe from this post, I whipped up a double batch of cookies AND added cinnamon chips to really intrigue the tongue with cinnamon flavor.

Pretzelsticks
I made these quite awhile ago for 4th of July and I decided to give them a Christmasy twist. This time I dipped in both melted dark chocolate AND white chocolate chips and topped with red and green sprinkles.

Oreo bark
So easy to make. On a greased cookie sheet, pour melted white chocolate to cover. Then top with crumbled Oreos. Place in the fridge for about 10 minutes, until the chocolate hardens. With a spatula or fork, lift up the chocolate and break into large pieces.

Thanksgiving potatoes part 2

I saw this recipe for holiday spiced sweet potatoes months ago and new I had to try it for thanksgiving. Here it is, with my adjustments.

5 lbs sweet potatoes
4 Tbsp margarine
6 Tbsp soy milk
2 Tbsp maple syrup
1 1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp vanilla
2 tsp ground cinnamon
1 tsp cardamom
1 tsp nutmeg
sprinkle of ground ginger

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Poke sweet potatoes all over with a fork. Wrap in aluminum foil and roast until fork tender all the way through, about 45-60 minutes. Remove potatoes from the oven and allow to cool before peeling. (The skin should just peel right off with a knife or even your fingers.)

2. Place warm potatoes in a bowl with margarine, soy milk, syrup, salt, vanilla, cinnamon, cardamom, nutmeg and ginger. Mash until desired consistency. (I like these on the smoother side. If you do, too, use as hand blender.) Serve warm!

(I totally stole that picture from the website, because the potatoes got gobbled up before I could get a photo!)

Thanksgiving potatoes part 1

This year, I was in charge of potatoes. My mom never made mashed potatoes for Thanksgiving, but I always think they're the perfect preparation, so I went to town. I followed the basic mashed potatoes recipe in Veganomicon and added a hell of a lot of roasted garlic, plus some chopped chives (both of which are suggestions in the book).

Ingredients:

4 pounds yukon gold potatoes

5 T margarine

1/2 cup unsweetened soy milk

2 t salt (I used 3, but found it to be a bit salty)

a sprinklin' of black pepper

1/2 - 1 clove of roasted garlic (depending on how crazy you are)

a handful of chopped chives

Directions:

Cut potatoes into 1-inch chunks (I peeled them, but it's a personal choice), put in a pot with cold/cool water. Boil for 15-20 minutes, until soft enough to mash. Drain the potatoes, reserving some of the water in case you need it. Put the potatoes back in the pot, add margarine, garlic and chives. Mash well. Add the rest of the ingredients and mash again until everything looks and tastes delicious.

Chocolate-Soled Pumpkin Cookies

I recently threw together a quick, Halloween-inspired variation on a standard sugar cookie.  This could be used for Thanksgiving as well.  Or just use a different shaped mold and enjoy any time of year.

Make a batch of your favorite sugar cookie recipe and add orange food coloring.  Put the dough in a pumpkin-shaped silicone mold, but leave plenty of room for the chocolate.  Bake the cookies and allow them to cool.  Leave them in the mold.

Melt a bag of chocolate chips in a sauce pot over the stove, being careful not to sear.  Drip the melted chocolate onto the cookies in the mold.  Allow to cool.  Refrigerate if necessary to solidify the chocolate.  Use green or brown icing to represent the stem of the pumpkin.

The result is a very rich, filling dessert.  Enjoy!

Chocolate heart cakes

Happy post-Valentine's Day!

We celebrated with by dining in, and enjoyed a dessert from Care2.com - Chocolate beet cake.



I followed the recipe from the website pretty closely (but veganized to cut the fat/cholesterol). Someone mentioned in the comments on the site to use 4 beets instead of 3. I would agree. I used 3, and as the cake was baking, the aroma of beets filled the house. But once cooled, there wasn't much of a beet taste.

I poured the batter into a 9" x 13" baking dish and made it only about and inch deep. Since this was shallower than the recipe called for, I only had to bake it for about 25 minutes to prevent burning.

Once pulled from the oven and cooled, I used a large heart-shaped cookie cutter to cut cake hearts from the dish, and placed them on wax paper. I then poured melted chocolate chips over the cakes and tried to spread it evenly (I'm not too good at that). Topped it off with some Valentine sprinkles and set in the refrigerator to harden. Happy Valentine's Day to us!

Here We Come A-wassailing

Wassail (wos-uhl, -eyl, was-, wo-seyl), n.
1. a salutation wishing health to a person, used in England in early times when presenting a cup of drink or when drinking to the person;
2. a festivity or revel with drinking of healths;
3. liquor for drinking and wishing health to others on festive occasions, esp. spiced ale, as on Christmas Eve and Twelfth-night;
4. Archaic . a song sung in wassailing

On my trip to wine country earlier this year, I sampled a spiced merlot at a place called Sort This Out Cellars, heated and steeped with mulling spices. I knew I'd have to have it again come the holidays.

Some day, I might feel adventurous enough to make my own mulling spices (this looks like a good recipe), but this year I figured I'd just buy a pre-made bag from Sort This Out.

Their bags come ready-to-go, with a recommendation to add water and brown sugar. The cork attached to the bag is for flotation, which is a nice touch.

As per their instructions, I added 12 ounces of water, 1/4 cup brown sugar, and heated the mixture in a crock pot for an hour. That mix was a little bitter, so I added another four ounces of water and an inexact amount of brown sugar (I was in "flavor-to-taste mode" at that point).

After a little bit of trial-and-error, it came out great. I'd gone with a cheap wine; next time, I'm not skimping out in that department. It might be a good idea to sample wines beforehand, and go with one that's already a little juicy and sweet to begin with (although a dessert wine like moscato, concord, or riesling would probably be overdoing it).

This is a fantastic holiday treat to keep the adults warm on a winter night.

Thankful for Martha

Right before Thanksgiving, I had rewatched an old Martha Stewart clip show special of some of her Thanksgiving tidbits. One that made me rush for a pen and paper was her turkey basting. Sure, this is a little late for Thanksgiving, but if you're like my family, this is just in time for your Christmas turkey.

1. In a small pot, bring 3 sticks of butter and 1 bottle of dry wine to a small boil.
2. After cleaning, stuffing, and prepping your turkey, cover it with 4 layers of 100% cotton cheesecloth.
   
3. With a baster, pour some of the butter/wine mix over the turkey. Bake at 450 degrees for 30 minutes.
   
4. Baste again, and change the temperature to 350 degrees. Baste every 30 minutes.
   
5. About 1 hour before the turkey reaches 180 degrees, remove the cheesecloth and baste one last time. (This was a bit annoying, but well worth it!)

This made for a very savory and beautifully browned bird.

Besides the turkey, we had a plethora of side dishes:

Green beans, covered with the basting mix and slivered almonds

Sweet potato casserole

Butternut squash and sweet potato soup

Harvest salad (mixed greens, chopped apples, dried cranberries, pecans, crumbled gorgonzola, and raspberry vinaigrette)

Mashed potatoes

Glazed carrots

Harvest stuffing (stuffing mix, chopped apples, walnuts)

Fresh bread rolls from the farmer's market

And, of course, a tofurkey for me!

Halloween Bark

Similar to the Cranberry almond bark I made last Christmas, I created this Halloween treat:



Melted white chocolate topped with peanuts, crushed pretzels, M&Ms, and candy corn. Not for the health-conscious but oh so yummy.

Spider Cookies

So I haven't actually made these, (cause I just saw them on one of the artist blogs I follow) but they look ADORABLE!

You need to click through to see the full image/instructions

Pretzel Sparklers

I've recently become addicted to Martha Stewart's website. While browsing one day, I came across her 4th of July ideas and just had to do this one!

And it's so easy to make!

Melt some chocolate chips.
Cover the end of pretzel rods with chocolate. (Not too thick though b/c gravity will take it's toll!)
Roll in festive sprinkles.
Refrigerate for about 5-10 minutes standing up until chocolate hardens. I stood them up in mugs, but made sure they weren't touching each other so they didn't harden together.

Have a happy 4th!

New York Coffee Cake

When Vegan Brunch came out, I was really excited to try out every single recipe. Then, morning sickness hit and I pretty much stopped cooking. Then I moved across the country and lived in my parents' basement for several months. We've finally moved into our own little slice of heaven in New York City proper, so it only seemed fitting that the first recipe I tried from the book be the New York Coffee Cake. I was skeptical that my cake would come out like the Entemann's cakes I ate growing up, but oh my word this cake was great. I brought it over to our Mother's Day celebration and barely got home with this one extra slice to photograph.

Happy Passover!

Just a reminder, all this week I'm blogging at Vegan Pesach. Check it out!

Shameless self-promotion

I haven't been cooking much this week, but next week I'll be cooking up a storm and blogging about it at Vegan Pesach. That's right, Passover is a-coming, so put away your yeast and levened bread and get out your matzoh balls and afiokman!

Happy Purim!

This Sunday is Purim, a Jewish holiday celebrating the Jews not getting exterminated by Haman, all thanks to Queen Esther. It's a fun holiday where kids dress up in costumes, carnivals are held, and adults are encouraged to drink in excess. There's noisemakers and merriment and, most importantly, cookies. These special Purim cookies, called Hamantaschen, are tri-cornered cookies filled with goodies. Poppyseed and apricot seem to be the traditional flavors, but I'm all about raspberry jam. My mom is partial to chocolate chips.

I got this recipe online years ago, but the website sure doesn't want to work now. Oh well.

HAMANTASCHEN X

Mix well until fluffy:

* 2 sticks of margarine, softened (I use Earth Balance)
* 2 cups of granulated sugar (this was very thick for me- i used and
electric mixer)

Blend in well:

* 1/2 orange juice
* 2 teaspoons of vanilla

In separate bowl, mix together:

* 4 teaspoons of baking powder
* 1 teaspoon of salt
* 4 cups of flour

Spoon in flour mixture gradually until mixed well. Refrigerate for a few
hours until very firm. When ready cut into four balls and set aside. Roll
out dough to 1/4 of an inch thickness.

Cut 3-4 inch circles ( We use punch cups.) Place desired filling in center.
( about 1/2 teaspoon) and mold in to triangles.

Pinch the corners. Place on a baking sheet and cook at 400 degrees for 10
minutes or until lightly brown.

Do not over cook. These cookies are not to be crispy but flaky.