Vegan Green Tea Cupcakes

click on the pic to go to one of the many recipes posted on the www for these green tea cupcakes

***note: when Heather and I baked these beauties, we used regular light yogurt–vanilla– instead of soy (because I couldn’t find it the day I needed it), we used pre sweetened matcha powder because that’s what we “found,”  and we substituted 1/4 of the flour with rice flour as the book suggested…turned out great…very nice crumb.  But of course, wasn’t vegan anymore because of our yogurt substitution.

Pecan Mudslide Cookies (as made famous by J. Torres)

This past weekend I was visited by two ghost…ok…not ghost…friends really…very good friends, who I never see enough of and enjoy thoroughly … We shopped, rocked out on Rock Band, watched Zombies get slaughtered, ridiculed the worst movie ever made (The Room), and baked….well, Heather and I baked…our husbands devoured.

We baked vegan green tea cupcakes from Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World and a most delicious dark chocolaty batch of pecan mudslide cookies (which Heather generously labored over chopping what seemed like two tons of chocolate into chunks). I think these are my favorite cookies of all time.

Here’s a pic of the cookie.  Tomorrow I’ll post the green tea cupcakes.

click the pic to go to the recipe

“Chicken” Pot Pie

picture taken before I baked it. Was too eager to eat it to get one after...

This is one of my favorite vegetarian meals. I find making my own crust actually does improve the overall taste but I’ve used the Pilsbury premade kind and it’s not bad…The recipe this is based on, called for seitan. I tried it that way and it was delicious…BUT, it was even BETTER if you can get a Quorn Turkey Roast and cut it into cubes. Taste just like chicken

What you’ll need for the filling:

1 large potato (I prefer Yukon gold), peeled and diced

1 large carrot, chopped

1 parsnip, peeled and chopped

1 1/4 cups veggie stock

2 tablespoons soy sauce

1 tablepsoon cornstarch (dissolved in 2 tablespoons of water)

1 tablespoon olive oil 1 medium sized yellow onion, chopped

12 ounces seitan, coursley chopped (or one whole Quorn Turkey Roast)

1/2 cup frozen peas, thawed

1/2 cup frozen corn, thawed (optional)

Crust:

Either buy a premade pie crust that you can roll out OR make your own. You can use any pie crust recipe you like (herb flavored ones might be nice) …and it’s very simple to do in a food processor. The recipe I use calls for 1 1/2 cups unbleached all purpose flour, 1/4 teaspoon of salt, 1/3 cup corn oil, and 2 tablespoons ice water. Pulse the flour and salt together. Add the oil and process until crumbly. Then slowly add the water until the mixture forms a ball. Put it on a lightly floured surface and roll it out larger than the dish you are using. You’ll place this crust over the mixture and crimp the edges.

PREHEAT the oven to 350 degrees. Lightly oil a 2 quart casserole dish (or larger depending on how you add to the recipe)

Step One: Filling. There are several quick and easy parts to making the filling using one pot. Part 1: veggies. Bring a pot of salted water to a boil. Add the potato, carrot, and parnsip and cook until tender (probably around 10 minutes). Drain, rinse, and set aside. Part 2: Onions. Assuming that your veggies are now sitting aside in a strainer, take the pot you used to boil the veggies (why dirty another pot?) and add the olive oil over medium heat. Add the onions. Cover. Cook about 5 minutes or until soft (though it might also be interesting to try cooking them until they are very carmalized). Put the onions in the lightly oiled 2 quart casserole dish. Part 3: “meat.” Using the same pot again, reheat it (add a little more oil if it needs it) and add the seitan or Quorn turkey roast. Season with some salt and pepper to taste (or get creative and add other spices as well), cook and stir for about 5 minutes to brown the “meat.” Transfer this to the casserole dish.

Step Two: Add. Put the peas, corn, and carrot/potato mixture into the casserole dish.

Step Three: Sauce. Use the same pot you used for boiling the veggies, cooking the onion, and cooking the seitan. This time, put the veggie stock and soy sauce in. Bring it to a boil over medium-high heat. Reduce the heat to low and whisk in the cornstarch mixture. Simmer and continue stirring until this thickens into a gravy, 2-3 minutes. Pour over the filling in the casserole dish. IF you aren’t strict about vegetarianism and you wanna quick side step, just get a jar (or powdered mix) of brown gravy–or mushroom gravy– and use that instead of making this basic brown sauce. But for those of you vegetarians out there, this is a wonderful sauce to use, instead of gravy, on rice, Tofurkey, potatoes….you name it.

Step Four: Crust. Roll out your crust (either store bought or homemade) until it is slightly larger than the 2 quart casserole dish. Place it over the dish and crimp the edges.

Step Five: Bake. Bake until the filling is hot and bubbly and the crust is browned, about 45 minutes. Let it rest 5 minutes before serving so it doesn’t burn your lips off.

In theory it serves 6. In reality it serves four if you like a big bowl. And I do.

Stuffed Poblano Peppers

roast 8 poblano peppers under the broiler...keep flipping to blacken each side...can also do this over gas burner or grill

Put peppers into a paper bag. Close. Let sit 10 minutes.

Peel the skin from the peppers. Cut a small slit in the center of each pepper, being careful to leave the ends closed. Carefully scoop out seeds. FREEZE the peppers for 15 minutes.

In a bowl, mix together your ingredients to stuff the peppers. You can try all sorts of flavors. I followed a recipe in High Flavor, Low Fat Vegetarian Cooking by Steven Raichlen. Called for 1 1/2 cups of corn, 4 scallions (minced), 2 cloves garlic (minced), 1/4 cup toasted pine nuts, 2 -4 oz goat cheese (or sharp cheddar...grated), 1 tablespoon fresh cilantro. Mix it all together.

Remove peppers from freezer. Stuff each with mixture. Roll each pepper in flour, then egg whites, then cornmeal. Put on baking sheet. Drizzle each with olive oil.

Bake at 400 degrees for 20 minutes or until crusty and golden brown. I drizzled hot sauce and garlic sauce on mine...

Garlic Sauce:

Put 10 cloves of garlic in a pot with 1 cup vegetable stock. Simmer over medium heat about ten minutes or until garlic is soft. Stock will evaporate down. You'll want to have at least 1/2 cup stock left. Add more if too much dissappears.

Stir in 1/2 cup sour cream (I used plain greek yogurt), 1/4 teaspoon ground cumin, salt and pepper. PUREE with an immersion blender or pour into a blender and puree. Correct seasonings as needed.

Grit Casserole

Not all Southerners are fans of grits.  I personally hated them for many years.  But.  Now.  I’m converted.  I just love a bowl of warm creamy grits loaded with butter.  Add cheese and eggs then bake—oooooo—ahhhhhhh…..

You’ll Need:

A small bag of grits goes a long way.  You only need 1 1/3 cup

5 1/3 cups of water

1/4 cup butter

salt

cheese (can leave it out if you’re weird)…I used Cheddar but would be good with smoked gouda or other bold cheeses…you can use as much or as little as you like.  I used about 2 ounces

4 eggs, beaten

Step One: Boil water.  Not a difficult first step.  Put your 5 1/3 cups of water in a pot and bring to a boil.

Step Two: Add the Grits and salt. Stir the 1 1/3 cups of grits and about a teaspoon of salt into the boiling water.  Turn heat down to low/med. low, put a lid on the pot, and cook for about 7 minutes.

Step Three: Beat it. While the grits are cooking, beat the four eggs in a bowl.  Get out your glass (works best) or ceramic casserole dish. Butter it.

Step Four: Mix. When the grits are done, remove them from the heat.  Stir in the cheese.  Then stir in all but 2 tablespoons of your remaining butter.  Now stir in the the eggs.  Mix it all up and pour it into the casserole dish.  Put little dollops of the remaining butter on top.

Step Five: Bake. 350 degrees for 30 minutes.  But keep an eye on it.  If your dish is large and the casserole shallow, it won’t take as long.  I think you’d have to try really hard to mess this dish up.

Enjoy!