Maple Glazed Seitan (Not Satan)

Posted by LD in Beginner Recipes, Meatless Monday Family Dinners, QUICKIES! and tagged with green onions, liquid smoke, maple, maple syrup, olive oil, salt, seitan, sticky rice, Upton's naturals, West Soy December 19, 2013

Every time I tell my husband or father I am going to make seitan for dinner they both say “Satan?” It is a running joke with them because they find the name hilarious and I prefer it over “wheat gluten” because everyone thinks that is an allergy not a food these days. I like seitan (say-tan) a great deal. I tried Upton’s Naturals brand this week. It seems comparable to the West Soy one I used before but I think I actually prefer the West Soy one. This bummed me out a little because I always heard Upton’s was amazing. Oh well. Everyone has their own tastes. Moving on a did a simple maple glaze on it and if you add a splash of liquid smoke your meal is forever transformed into a meat like yumminess that needs no side dish. I only wish I had some chopped green onions to garnish it!

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Maple Glazed Seitan

1 box Seitan (in cubed form not strips)
1/8 cup Maple Syrup
Olive oil
Salt
1 tsp liquid smoke

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Cooking:

In a sautee pan heat oil slightly and add rest of ingredients.

Stir until well combined and the liquid reduced caramelizing the seitan.

Enjoy!

Optional: If you must serve to a group or want to get fancy… I would say place it on top of some white sticky rice and garnish with green onions.

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Food is Love.

The Hippie Gypsy

Perfect. Toll-House-Style. Vegan. Chocolate Chip Cookies.

Posted by LD in Beginner Recipes, Holiday Recipes, Meatless Monday Desserts, QUICKIES!, Traveling Vegan and tagged with chocolate, chocolate chip cookies, cookies, costco, dessert, earth balance, Easy, Fast, flax, flax egg, flour, holiday, kirkland vegan, Low Ingredient, low sodium, maple syrup, meatless mondays, Party, potluck, quick, recipe, salt, sugar, toll house, travel, vanilla, Vegan, vegan chocolate chip cookies, vegetarian, what to eat, what vegans eat November 25, 2013

I love chocolate chip cookies. I love chocolate chip cookie dough even more. And in an honest, yet disgusting unveiling of my inner glutton, I love when you cream the butter, vanilla, and sugar together to make chocolate chip cookies. When I was a kid I used to try to steal dollops of the creamed mixture when my mom wasn’t looking. It was so good. I am glad I didn’t know about salmonella poisoning back then or the fat content of whole butter. Luckily with vegan baking, that salmonella is never a problem so yea… eat all the cookie dough you want! Also my brother is coming for Thanksgiving Dessert with his wife and my first and only nephew Baby Nolan and he (my brother) is a cookie monster, so I wanted to be able to make him chocolate chip cookies that I could also eat and so could any of my dairy intolerant family. My brother loves cookies so much I got him a replica cookie jar from our childhood for Christmas last year and it was not easy to find an owl cookie jar either! This will definitely be an experience thanks to my cookies 🙂

That being said here is my chocolate chip cookie recipe that I have been working on for ages. Every time I start I become uninspired by dry cookie dough (which every vegan can relate to due to the lack of eggs) and of course the ones that crumble or the ones that don’t taste quite right. These are not any of those. They are gooey and crunchy on the edges and melt until they are just thin enough but still soft inside. If you love cookies… you will also love me after you make this recipe.

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Perfect Chocolate Chip Cookies

1 cup of earth balance organic buttery spread
2-3 tablespoons of maple syrup
3 flax eggs (3 tablespoons of water and 1 tbsp powdered flax per egg)
2 tablespoons of vanilla extract (I use Penzey’s Mexican)
1 and 1/4 cups of vegan sugar (try half brown sugar if you have it for a richer flavor)
2.5 cups of all purpose unbleached flour
1-2 teaspoons of salt (I use kosher)
1 cup of vegan semisweet chocolate chips (I used Kirkland (Costco brand) this time instead of Whole Foods)

*Optional: 1 cup of walnuts or pecans

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MIXING TIME!

Place all dry ingredients (except chocolate) in a medium to small bowl. Mix until well combined.
Cream butter and sugar together in a larger bowl with a mixer. Then place all wet ingredients into the bowl and mix until well combined.
If you have never made a flax egg all you do is place warm water in a bowl and pulverize flaxseeds in a coffee grinder until powdered and stir. It’s that easy.
Slowly add dry ingredients to wet ingredients and mix until a dough forms. I use my hands but a mixer works well too.
Last toss in chocolate chips and any nuts and knead into the dough. It will be a little oily.

BAKE:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Place a silpat or parchment on your baking sheet. These cookies WILL STICK OTHERWISE! This is very important.
Once the oven is completely preheated, place balls of cookie dough on the silpat or parchment lined cookie sheets.
Bake for 20-22minutes.
Remove let sit for 5-10minutes and then transfer to a cookie cooling rack.
Makes 3 dozen. Enjoy!

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FOOD IS LOVE.

The Hippie Gypsy

Apple Cheesecake Vegan Creme Brulee

Posted by LD in Beginner Recipes, Holiday Recipes, Meatless Monday Desserts and tagged with agar, agar agar, apple, apple cheesecake, apple cinnamon, apple pie spice, arrowroot, autumn, brulee, cake, cashew, cheese, cheesecake, cheesecake creme brulee, cinnamon, cream, cream cheese, creme brulee, dessert, Easy, fall, Fast, holiday, low sodium, macintosh, maple, maple syrup, meatless mondays, Party, quick, recipe, thanksgiving dessert, vanilla, Vegan, vegetarian, what to eat, what vegans eat September 10, 2013

The fall weather has officially started here in Coastal Massachusetts. This weekend I started raking, trimming back trees, turned off the Central Air, and opened up all the windows in my house. The cool air made the sheer window coverings sweep the floors from the wind like a chiffon wedding dress. It was a beautiful weekend. I could smell chocolate chip cookies and ocean air from my deck and I even kicked it off with a trip to the Brimfield Antiques Fair which just screams “Welcome Fall”. Together my mother and I picked up a red rocking horse for my nephew Nolan, a few records for my new record player, a set of silverware that completed a set I had inherited which was just dumb luck!, a buddha painted in reds and blues and gold for my side garden to go just underneath the chimes, and a poster from the 1980’s when a friend of mine ran for office which I will make him sign because it was such a fun find! Who doesn’t love a gigantic yard sale? I would be hard pressed to find anyone who doesn’t have a good time at these events. I then went over to my aunt’s to help her pack up her apartment to move to her dream destination. I am so proud of her. I know she appreciates a good dessert. So this weekend I worked on puddings.

Fall is the time for puddings both warm and cold. There are bread puddings (my mom’s favorite) and the more exciting french puddings like the creme brulee and then there are the puddings I would never eat like black pudding. My favorite has always been a vanilla bean creme brulee with a good crunchy crust and a thick custard filling but not to sweet to offset the brulee. My parents would bring us to brunch on Easter and Mother’s day and I would always run over to make sur ethe hotel had the little ramekins of this dessert. So I tried to replicate it now as a vegan with a few fall fun flavors. This is my first of a series of three I will post this week (all tested and approved by the omnivore husband). They are all easy to prepare (35minutes max) but the cooling process (2hrs min.) causes it to be something you have to make in advance. Since everyone in the office was talking about apple picking on Friday we shall start with apple! Enjoy!

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Apple Cinnamon Cheesecake Creme Brulee

Ingredients:

1/2cup raw cashews
(2) Macintosh Apples Cored, Peeled, Diced
1/4cup maple syrup
1/3cup sugar
1tablespoon agar agar powder (this is vegan gelatin powder found in the asian section of the grocery store)
1tablespoon arrowroot powder/starch (don’t use cornstarch due to the high heat, arrowroot is better)
1 1/4cups Soy Creamer
2 heaping tablespoons of Tofutti Better than Cream Cheese
Pinch of Salt
1teaspoon Cinnamon
1 teaspoon-1tablespoon Apple Pie Spice (depends on your pallet, I use a little more)
1/2teaspoon of Vanilla Extract (I use Penzey’s)

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Preparation

Place all ingredients in a high powered blender or food processor and mix until smooth.

If you do not have a high powered mixer soak cashews for at least 4 hours or overnight so that the batter will not be grainy.

Cook

Preheat oven to 375degrees.

Fill a casserole dish with water to go halfway the height of the ramekins or jars you in tend on placing the brulee mixture in. I have used both mason jars and square ramekins before and both come out well.

Pour batter into each ramekin allowing a little space so that they do not spill over as the casserole dish will be heavy with all the water in it. You need to be careful not to allow water into the ramekins.

Cook for at least 30 minutes or until the batter is wiggly but not liquidy and slightly firm on top.

Chill

Take ramekins out of the water with tongs and place on a towel on a drying rack. Let cool 15 minutes and then transfer into the refrigerator for 2-4hours.

Brulee

After the creme is completely firm and chilled through and you are ready to serve. …Take sugar, sprinkle a good layer on each creme top, and brulee with a hand torch until the sugar bubbles, browns, and quickly hardens.