Gnocchi

Once you have gnocchi you will always crave more – or at least that’s how I felt as soon as I tried it a couple of years ago while studying abroad in Australia.  In fact, my all time favorite meal out happened at a fancy restaurant our last night in Oz.  I ate the most decadent melt in your mouth sweet potato gnocchi pie for dinner followed by chai for dessert.  *sigh*.

Not knowing how to replicate that I felt I should at least take a stab at making some regular gnocchi.  While my natural food store does sell frozen gluten free gnocchi, alas, it is not vegan.  So off to the kitchen…

I found this recipe here on Cupcake Kitteh’s blog and love it!  So does my little sister (a gnocchi convert now;)  The two of us spent a whole afternoon rolling gnocchi.  She even made a little limoncello for the occasion.

Ingredients:

1 lb potatoes
1 egg or egg substitute (I used ground flax seeds with water for a slightly nutty flavor)
1/2 teaspoon xanthan gum
2 tbsp chickpea flour
2 tbsp potato starch
Salt to taste

Bake the potatoes in the oven (if you boil or steam them the gnocchi might get a bit mushy).  Mash the potatoes and add the rest of the ingredients.  Mash/stir until smooth (lumps make the gnocchi taste more like hash browns).  Break off bits of dough and form small balls.  Then press down lightly with a fork for texture.  Alternately, use your thumb

to form a small dimple in the dough.  Or, make up your own gnocchi style!  Then fry in oil and add topping.  Tastes great with marinara or pesto.

Note: gnocchi is normally made by forming a small ball, then rolling the dough out and cutting every inch or half inch to form basic shape.  I had trouble getting my dough to stay together so I didn’t attempt this, but perhaps with egg replacer this would be possible, and certainly would save time.

recipe from: Cupcake Kitteh and Italy Mag UK

photos by: Tessa Bevans

French Toast

This past weekend I headed to RI camping with a friend.  I made some bread for sandwiches, and by the time breakfast came around it was just stale enough to make excellent french toast.  Even though we forgot the spatula (and so all the pieces were a bit smaller than usual)  we were both thoroughly satisfied.

Photo by Jamie Jay

Ingredients:

6 – 8 slices of bread
1 cup of rice milk
2 tablespoons of cornstarch
1/4 cup of chickpea flour
a little vanilla (optional)
a little ground cardamom (optional)
enough canola/vegetable oil or earth balance/margarine you can eat to coat the bottom of a skillet.

combine the rice milk and cornstarch in a relatively wide bowl. mix gently until the cornstarch dissolves. add the vanilla and cardamom, if you choose to add them. whisk in the chickpea flour until there are only a few yellow lumps visible. turn the skillet on medium heat, add oil/margarine.

while the skillet is heating, soak the slices of bread in the ricemilk mixture. they should get saturated, but not soggy. once the skillet heats up enough (you should be able to bounce a water drop on it, and see it sizzle and evaporate), add as many slices of soaked bread as will fit onto the skillet. fry each side of the bread until it’s bright yellow-brown. be careful not to burn it- sometimes once the first batch of slices is done, you have to re-oil the skillet or turn down the heat to make sure you don’t burn the bread.

once the bread is fried, serve with a little bit of maple syrup or drench with vegan yogurt (as seen in picture).  My friend who gave me this recipe likes to eat the toast with powdered sugar, thinly sliced banana, and strawberries.

recipe from: Paaven Thaker

Mark Engelberg’s Gluten-Free, Vegan Bread

I jumped for joy when I found this recipe! As you know, I’ve been searching for a good bread recipe, the kind you can serve to guests, for a little over a year now. Well finally here it is! Just be sure not to undercook it, because then it will come out doughy and not very tasty.  I recommend eating fresh out of the oven with  Earth Balance soy free butter spread.

If you need some more inspiration to make this bread click on the link at the bottom.

Makes 1 loaf

Note: If you are using a mixer that doesn’t have a great engine, you may want to mix it by hand at the end to ensure it’s all mixed. Since there’s no gluten to get tough from overmixing, you can mix until you’re confident.

In a large mixing bowl combine:

3/4 cup millet flour
1/4 cup teff flour
1/2 cup sorghum flour
1/2 cup cornstarch (or double the potato starch if you can’t eat corn)
1/2 cup potato starch
1/2 cup tapioca flour
2 tsp xanthan gum
1/2 Tbsp salt
1/4 cup sugar
1 Tbsp active dry yeast (not rapid rise)

Add:

2 tsp olive oil
11/2 cups + 2 Tbspn warm water (not hot)

Mix with electric mixer–using paddle attachment, NOT regular beaters or bread hook–for two minutes. The bread dough will be more like cake batter than traditional bread dough.

Two options for the rising:

For the best rising: While mixing the bread, create a proofing box from your microwave. Microwave a small mug or ramekin with water until the water boils. Leave the water in the microwave. Pour the bread dough into two nonstick or well-greased pans. Tuck the loaves into the microwave with the water—the container of water should not be touching the pans. (I have to remove the turntable in my microwave to do this.) Allow to rise until batter extends a bit over the top of the pans–generally 30-50 minutes.

Standard method: Pour into two nonstick or well-greased loaf pans, place on a warm surface (such as on top of the pre-heated oven), and cover with a towel. Allow to rise until batter extends a bit over the top of the pan–generally 50-70 minutes. (Batter should take up about half the loaf pan before rising.)

Bake at 400 degrees for 10 minutes. Remove loaf pans from oven and cover with aluminum foil. Return to oven and bake for an additional 35-45 minutes, depending on your oven. (Insert a toothpick or knife into the center to see if it comes out clean or doughy, if you aren’t sure when you pull out the bread.)

As with most breads, it is easiest to slice if you allow it to fully cool. But who can wait that long? I usually let it cool for a little bit, and then remove the loaves from the pans and place them on a rack to cool more while I slice it up. The bread tastes delicious warm, dipped in olive oil and herbs or spread with honey and ghee. It also works well for sandwiches after it has cooled. If you won’t be eating it within 2 days, after it’s cooled, slice it, wrap it in a couple of layers of plastic wrap, and freeze it. Never refrigerate this or other bread—it will get dry and hard if you do. If you leave the bread on the counter (wrapped), it will be good for all purposes for a couple of days. After that, it will be best used for bread pudding, French toast, croutons, etc.

recipe from: http://aprovechar.danandsally.com/?p=228

Oatmeal (Raison) Cookies

I found this recipe online because I needed to make cookies for a picnic.  Little did I know they would turn out to be a family favorite.  My Aunt says these cookies are very close to the real thing, try it and let me know!

Photo by Tessa Bevans

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

Combine in a bowl and beat until smooth and creamy:

2/3 cup Spectrum Organic Shortening or Soy-free Earth Balance
1 1/2 cups organic brown sugar
1/2 cup unsweetened organic applesauce
2 teaspoons bourbon vanilla extract
2 tablespoons agave or honey

In a separate bowl whisk together the dry ingredients:

1/2 cup rice flour or sorghum flour
1/2 cup oat flour [certified gluten-free Lara's Oats]
1/2 cup potato or tapioca starch
1/4 cup vanilla rice protein powder [I used Nutribiotics]
1 teaspoon xanthan gum
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon allspice
1/2 teaspoon fine sea salt

Slowly add the dry ingredients into the creamed mixture, beating to combine.

When the dough is smooth, add in the following, by hand, and mix well:

2 cups rolled oats [certified gluten-free Lara's Oats]

1/2 cup raisins (optional)Use a spoon or ice cream scoop to measure out the dough, and using your palms make 28 to 30 round balls. Place the balls of dough on a cookie sheet about two inches apart. Don’t flatten them.

Bake in the center of a preheated oven for about 12 to 15 minutes, until they are golden. They will be quite soft until they cool.

Using a thin spatula, remove the cookies to a wire rack to cool completely – and share at least one with your Darling while it’s still warm. You’ll score serious points.

I wrapped the completely cooled cookies individually in foil and saved out four for storage in the fridge; and bagged the rest in a freezer bag.

Yum. And yum. And did I mention, yum?

Makes approximately 28 to 30 cookies.

Karina’s Note:

Readers have asked, What does the rice protein powder do? It’s basically adding protein. I think it gives the cookies a nice crunch, but if you don’t have any rice protein powder handy, try subbing brown rice flour or another high protein flour such as millet or buckwheat instead.

from: http://glutenfreegoddess.blogspot.com/2007/08/vegan-oatmeal-raisin-cookies.html#ixzz0IRpFHxQT&D

Monster Salad

Another winner from Fran’s House of Ayurveda, I love this hot version of a summer salad!

Ingredients:

1 bagful of green beans, yellow beans or string beans, ends trimmed
2 red peppers, thinly sliced
1 red onion, thinly sliced in crescents
10-15 new or baby potatoes, halved (or larger potato, cubed)
1 can chickpeas, drained and rinsed
1 small bunch of fresh cilantro, chopped

3 cloves garlic, grated or minced
lemon juice
1/4 cup sunflower oil or any other cooking oil
1 tsp each ground cumin and ground coriander
1 tsp salt
fresh ground pepper to taste

Steam the green beans then the potatoes until tender-crisp, so not quite cooked all the way. Then, in a large pan or wok, heat some oil and saute the raw onion slices (not pre-steamed) until soft. Add the garlic, cumin and coriander and stir a bit, then add the steamed veggies and chickpeas. Season with salt and pepper while sauteing for a few minutes. Serve hot sprinkled with cilantro and a big squeeze of lemon juice!

Click here for the cold version.

Recipe From: Fran’s House of Ayurveda

Quinoa Peanut Butter Cookies

I was so excited to stumble upon this recipe, these cookies are really good.  The original recipe teaches you how to make monster cookies, click on the link at the bottom if you are interested.

Photos by Tessa Bevans

Ingredients

Group 1:
1/3 cup Brown Rice Flour
1/3 cup Sorghum Flour
1/3 cup cornstarch
1 cup quinoa flakes
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt

Group 2:
3/8 cup canola oil
3/8 cups peanut butter
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup vanilla rice milk
1 tsp vanilla extract

Directions Preheat oven to 350 F and spray one cookie sheet with nonstick cooking spray.  Combine dry ingredients (group 1) thoroughly in one medium bowl and mix wet ingredients (group 2) in one large bowl. Add the dry ingredients to the large bowl and mix to form dough. Use 1-2 tablespoon balls of dough. Bake for 8-10 minutes or until they seem to be dry and slightly golden. Let cool on cookie sheet for at least 5 minutes or they will fall apart when you try to take them off the sheet. Use a good metal spatula to get the cookies off the sheet.

recipe from: Book of Yum

Garlic Flatbread/Pizza Crust

Craving some bread I decided to use a pizza crust recipe to make flat bread.  This came out much better than expected, and even past the little sister test!  This pizza crust is also excellent for pizza, and much quicker than the other one I have listed on this blog.

Make Pizza Crust

Place lots of minced garlic in olive oil and blend.  Lather pizza crust with olive oil garlic blend.  Optionally sprinkle with minced cilantro.  Cook until done, about 10min at 350 degrees F.

This also makes a great naan substitute, and I used it to eat my squash daahl.

Squash Dahl

Hello all! sorry to be absent for so long.  I have been traveling in Taiwan for the past three weeks, and haven’t had very much time on the internet.  Now I’m back with a new inspiration to learn how to cook vegan Chinese food! In the meantime however, I have turned to some old comfort food.  I found this recipe on Fran’s House of Ayurveda (one of my favorite blogs) and am eating it now at 4 am while I fail at getting over jet lag.  Enjoy!

Ingredients:

1 cup red lentils, well rinsed
1/2 tsp each turmeric and sea salt
2 1/2 cups water
1 tomato, chopped
1/4 butternut squash, sliced 1/2-inch thick and seeded*
2 handfuls spinach leaves, washed

1 Tbsp oil
1 tsp mustard seeds
1/2 tsp each cumin seeds and coriander seeds, lightly crushed
1/4 tsp chili flakes
1 heaping tsp each minced garlic and minced ginger
1/2 large onion (or one small), chopped
1/4 cup fresh cilantro, chopped
sea salt to taste

basmati rice

Place the lentils, turmeric, salt and water in a medium sized pot and bring to a boil. Stir in half the tomato plus the squash, cover and cook on medium-low until cooked, about half an hour. When done stir in spinach.

Meanwhile, heat oil or ghee in a large, deep pan and add spices (mustard seeds, cumin, coriander, chili). When mustard seeds start to pop, stir in garlic, ginger and onion. Stirfry a few minutes, until onions are cooked. Add a bit of sea salt if desired, plus half the chopped cilantro. Pour cooked dahl mixture into the onion pan, stirring in a bit more water if you like it a little soupier.

Serve with rice and top with reserved tomato and cilantro, plus any sides you like. Serves 3-4.

*squash: (no need to peel butternut squash, as the skin will soften) I used slices of squash that I had roasted in the oven with olive oil and salt a few nights before, which had a really nice flavour — if you do this, just stir in the roasted squash at the end of cooking the dahl, along with the spinach

recipe adapted from: http://franlife.blogspot.com/search/label/Vegan

Maharagwe

Serves 6.  20 minutes.  Serving tips:  Serve over hot rice or alone with flatbread.

Ingredients:
2 Tbs. olive oil
1 med. yellow onion chopped
1 green bell pepper, chopped
2 15-ounce cans red kidney beans, rinsed and drained
1 15-ounce can chopped tomatoes, drained
1 15-ounce can coconut milk
4 cloves garlic, minced
1 medium Thai chile pepper, seeded and minced
1/4 tsp ground cumin
1/4 tsp ground cardamom
1 tsp curry powder
1/4 tsp turmeric
1/2 cup chopped fresh cilantro
2 tsp agave nectar
1/4 tsp white pepper

In a large soup pot, heat olive oil and saute onion and bell pepper until just tender.

Stir in kidney beans, coconut milk, tomatoes, garlic, chile pepper, cumin, cardamom, curry, and turmeric. Bring to a boil, reduce heat, cover, and simmer, stirring frequently for 10-15 minutes, until flavors blend.

Stir in cilantro and agave nectar, and season with salt and white pepper. Serve hot.

recipe from: Delicious Living December 2008

Spicy Fall Stew Baked in a Pumpkin

We baked ours in several small kabucha squashes from the garden.  Also, I coudn’t find hominy, so I substituted chick peas instead.  I’ll list the veganized form of the original recipe here.

Ingredients:
2 Tbs. olive oil divided
1 med. onion, diced
1 red bell pepper, cut into 1-inch dice
2 cloves garlic, minced
1tsp. chili powder
1 tsp ground cumin
1/2 tsp dried oregano
1/2 lb. tomatillos, husked and quartered (I couldn’t find these and used regular tomatoes instead)
1 15-oz can hominy, rinsed and drained
1/4 tsp salt
1 3-to4-lb pumpkin, either sugar pie, cheese, red kuri, kabocha, or buttercup squash

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Heat 1 Tbs. oil in pot over medium heat. Add onion, bell pepper, and garlic. Saute 7 minutes, or until softened. Stir in chili powder, cumin, and oregano, and cook 3 minutes more, or until spices darken.

Add tomatillos, hominy, 1/2 cup water, and salt. Cover, and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to medium-low, and simmer, partially covered, 10 to 12 minutes, or until tomatillos are softened. Uncover, and cook 5 minutes more to thicken stew, if necessary.

Meanwhile, cut top of pumpkin around stem to make lid. Scoop out pumpkin seeds and strings. Rub inside of pumpkin with remaining 1 Tbs. oil, and sprinkle generously with salt.

Fill pumpkin with stew, then top with pumpkin lid. Place on parchment covered baking sheet and bake 1 1/2 to 2 hours, or until pumpkin flesh is fork-tender. Remove from oven; let stand 5 minutes. Scoop stew, includng pumpkin, into bowls and serve hot.

I love to eat this with a bed of spinach.

recipe adapted from: Vegetarian Times October 2008