Tag Archives: ice cream

Broiled or Grilled Peaches with Caramel Sauce

Posted by LD in Beginner Recipes, Meatless Monday Desserts, QUICKIES! and tagged with , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

In the summer there are a few fruits that just beg me to eat them. Peaches are definitely one of them. The thing about peaches however is that other than eating them raw, putting them in iced tea, or making a galette I was always afraid to do much else with them. I mean they are soft and super juicy and I feared that any sort of cooking would reduce them to a sticky mess. Well the other night I proved my own fears wrong.

peaches

I invited a few of my guy friends over to have a cookout at my home with my husband and I. I made spiced vanilla cupcakes from the box (Organics brand using egg replacer and a dash of Penzey’s Cake spice then finished them off with a vanilla sugar). Then I took fresh peaches from my local Whole Foods in Swampscott and sliced them in half cut out the pit and put the oven on. The grill was off limits since my husband had been grilling steaks on there for the guys and I was not putting my peaches on that mess. Yuck.

The result was a softened warm juicy half peach enrobed in a quick stovetop caramel drizzle next to a slice of delicate vanilla spice cake. It was heaven and it was quick. Even the guys sighed when they ate them.

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Here is how I did it:

3 peaches
Coconut Spray Oil (like Pam but with Coconut Oil, I use Spectra brand)
1 Earth Balance Buttery Stick
1 cup brown sugar
1/3 cup Soy Creamer

  1. Preheat oven at 400degrees.
  2. Wash peaches to slightly de-fuzz them.
  3. Slice peaches in half and remove the pit.
  4. Spray a cookie sheet with Coconut Oil.
  5. Melt 2tbsp of earth balance in a teacup in the microwave and baste the inside and outside of the peaches until well covered.                                                                                                                          peach preperation
  6. Place peaches flesh side down on cookie sheet with fuzzy side up.                                        peaches baking
  7. Bake until they appear to be bubbling juices out about 15-20minutes.
  8. Then turn the broiler on to HI, move the peaches to the top rack, and broil until brown and black spots appear on the top of the peaches about 3minutes. This simulates the grill marks you would get if you grilled them instead. If you were to grill them you would do something similar with keeping them on the top shelf until then were cooked and soft and then bring them down to the lower grill grate to get the grill marks on them.                                          peaches broiled
  9. In a medium sauce pan mix brown sugar, remaining butter, and soy creamer over medium until melted and combined. Be careful it does not burn and stir often.
  10. Once caramel is reduced remove from heat.
  11. Drizzle peaches with caramel and serve with your favorite cakes or ice cream!

SERVES 6.

(WW Points for just Broiled Peach – 3pts for 2 halves)

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Enjoy!

XOXOX, The Hippie Gypsy

Happy Birthday Cake Recipes

Posted by LD in Beginner Recipes, Holiday Recipes, Meatless Monday Desserts, Menus, QUICKIES!, Traveling Vegan and tagged with , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

So Monday will be my birthday. This weekend I will be removing wallpaper from my new house. As you can see I am a party animal. I cannot wait to make a birthday cake for myself however. Cakes are very important in my family. A few reasons have dictated this importance. 1.) My mother never got birthday cakes as a child due to a mixture of it being an extravagance to a single mom with six kids and also the fact that my mom was born on the second anniversary of her sister’s death. 2.) My birthday is the same week as 4 other family members. My cousin was born the 22nd, my grandmother the 24th, I on the 25th, my aunt on the 26th, and my great-grandfather on the 27th. So that week was pretty party ridden. 3.) My birthday tends to fall during blizzards. So we always had to prepare in advance for the cake in case we could not leave the house for ingredients. In High School once, I discovered that I loved cooking when caught in a blizzard on my birthday. I not only figured out how to get myself Chinese food but I also made myself an apple caramel drizzle cake out of things in the pantry and a very weathered version of the Joy of Cooking and a church cookbook were analyzed and ingredients were questioned like “is baking soda and powder different and is there a substitute for canola oil?”

So this year I am going to give you my favorite low ingredient birthday cake recipe that my husband adores despite it being vegan. I will also post links to some of the most delicious looking cakes out there and tell you where I would buy my cake if I wasn’t going to make it this year.

Enjoy my birthday cake extravaganza!

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My Favorite Birthday Cake Recipe:

Mexican Hot Chocolate Cake with Guava Filling

CAKE:
1 Box of Dark Chocolate Cake Mix (most mixes are vegan just look)
3/4 bag of vegan chocolate chips
1 can of pumpkin
Cinnamon
Earth Balance to butter the cake pans
Parchment to line the bottom of the cake pans

Filling:
1/4 bag of vegan chocolate chips
1 thin large can of guava paste (I like Goya)
Cinnamon
Vanilla Sugar (I like Penzey’s)

Topping:
Chocolate Frosting (You can make it or buy it, I like to make a ganache style frosting)
Vanilla Sugar
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Take all cake ingredients place in a large mixing bowl. Mix until combined. Add Cinnamon to taste. I always add 1-3 tbsp so that I can taste the cinnamon over the chocolate flavor. I test as I add it. Place in two round cake pans evenly lining the bottoms with parchment and buttering them with Earth Balance Buttery Sticks.

Bake according to the box directions. Take out when you can remove a toothpick cleanly.

Next in a medium mixing bowl warm your guava paste so you can spread it in between the cake layers. On top of the cake you will sprinkle cinnamon, spread the guava paste, and then sprinkle chocolate chips and vanilla sugar. Top with warm second cake layer.

Next, warm the frosting so you can drizzle it over the top of the cake. Wait until the cake is cooled. THen drizzle the frosting over the top. Sprinkle liberally with vanilla sugar.

Serve with homemade ice cream.

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LINKS TO DELICIOUS LOOKING CAKE RECIPES FOR BIRTHDAYS!

Banana Split Cake: This looks and sounds amazing.

Lemon Birthday Cake: THis sounds so light and delicious. I would even use this cake as a base for my July 4th Trifle!

Chocolate Chip Banana Cake: Chef Chloe is always a no brainer when it comes to cooking. Her cookbook also has a birthday cake recipe that looks divine! I had a banana cake layer at my wedding by Red Velvet Cafe in Las Vegas, NV and I am a convert!

Strawberry Vanilla Cake: This recipe has quite a few ingredients but I have all of them in my home so I figure so will most vegans. This looks and sounds fresh and delicious and looks amazing like a giant strawberry shortcake. Yum!

Raw Chocolate Hazelnut Cheesecake: Something more decadent and raw for my raw fans! This looks so sinful I can feel a toothache coming on and the drool pooling on the side of my mouth!

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Top Places to buy a Vegan Cake in New England:

1. Veggie Planet in Cambridge, MA: I cannot say enough about the restaurant or the all vegan bakery. It is amazing. Get the cheesecake with strawberries or the Coconut Lemon Passionfruit Layer Cake. I live for these two cakes and served the Coconut at my Bridal Shower last February.

2. Cafe Indigo in Concord, NH and MA Whole Foods: You can get their cakes onsite or at local Whole Foods throughout Massachusetts. The Carrot Cake changes lives. You will never want another carrot cake ever again. I served that cake at my engagement party and I buy slices of it at Whole Foods more than I probably should. My omni husband does as well and sometimes eats mine.

3. Moo-Cluck Corp. : You can buy these at various whole foods and natural foods stores in the cold section. I have bought all of their items at some point but truly love the vanilla strawberry cake when I need to buy something to run to a party in a pinch. It is yummy and the strawberries are fresh and not just some syrup.

Recipe Update: Chocolate Peanut Butter Swirl Ice Cream

Posted by LD in Beginner Recipes, Meatless Monday Desserts and tagged with , , , , , , ,

So last night I decided to add a little twist to my Vegan Chocolate Ice Cream Recipe. I added an additional tbsp of chocolate powder and as it was spinning in the ice cream maker I drizzled in melted peanut butter. Please try this. Even my husband snuck some from teh freezer around midnight and that’s a compliment from an Omnivore!

Beginner’s Guide to Vegan Ice Cream with TWO Recipes!

Posted by LD in Beginner Recipes, Meatless Monday Desserts and tagged with , , , , , , ,

I love ice cream but now when I am away I have to sacrifice this frozen treat because it has milk. I have two problems with milk. One is before I was vegan I was lactose intolerant and those pills did not help. Second is my post vegan life where I still am not allowed to have it. So I either have to choose a dairy free sorbet at the ice cream stand or I have to forego the frozen treat with dismay. However, when I am home I can go get some Tofutti Marry Me Bars (which I adore) or I can grab some So Delicious Coconut Ice Cream (which is my fave!).

However I wanted to mimic my old favorite ice cream one day so I looked around for ice cream recipes in hopes to discover how to remake a key lime pie gelato from Ciao Bella that I still cannot live without.

Here is how it went. I bought soymilk from the refrigerated section, coconut milk from the refrigerated section in vanilla, key lime juice off the shelf, and then had the sugar and corn starch on hand. Note: Do not follow this recipe as it does not end well. I mixed all these ingredients into a pot and boiled it placing it in the ice cream maker still warm and set it for 30 minutes. It started to separate and then wouldn’t cream up cold. I then placed it in the freezer for 24 hours where it became a solid block of italian-like ice that tasted on point but could not be unfrozen from the ice cream freezer bucket. Lesson? Don’t get too fancy until you can make vanilla.

So here is my vanilla recipe and chocolate recipe with only a few ingredients! PS My step kids love making it!

2 cans coconut milk

1 cup sugar

1 tbsp vanilla extract (Only 1/2 tbsp for Chocolate Ice Cream Recipe)

1 pinch of salt

(2tbsp Full Fat Dutch Cocoa Powder for Chocolate Ice Cream Recipe)

Take all ingrdients and dump into a bowl. Whisk until all items are blended and dissolved. Place in ice cream maker bowl that has been in freezer for at least 24hrs.

Then put on the icre cream machine to blend for at least 15minutes or as much as 30 minutes.

Chocolate ice cream will take longer to stiffen.

Place extra back in the freezer for up to 5 days (if it lasts!).

This is good with a piece of pie or topped with just about anything.

If you want to add mix ins. I suggest doing it after the fact in a seperate container. I added sliced raw almonds and sugared toasted coconut to the chocolate one day and it was heaven!