Hortamatic

Jack Daniels Glazed Stuffed Thanksgiving Roast

2011-11-23T13:19:00.000-08:00

As the note suggests: Crazy Jack D's Seitan Stuffed with...Stuffing

This year's Thanksgiving roast was a product of two recipes coming together like Syba to treat, like Syba to dumpster, like soul mates. I took the roast I made last year from here and combined it with this stuffing concept created by Vegan Chick. Next year I might try VC's stand-alone, but this year it was about the Jack D.

I made the stand-alone roast last year. Looks delicious. And it was good....but needed a friend.

If you're looking for something quick, this ain't it. But if you embrace that Thanksgiving is all about waiting, then feasting, you have found your Roast. It's about a 5 hour process total (over half of a work day!)

Let's start with our stuffing -- use your favorite recipe. I adapted this one because I had a bag of cranberries on hand and like the idea of bright red specks throughout (I chopped the cranberries in my Ninja food processor).

A. Stuffing: Make and set aside.

B. Roast

1) Mix these dry ingredients in a medium bowl:

5 cups vital wheat gluten
1 cup chickpea (garbanzo) flour
1/2 cup nutritional yeast
2 teaspoons salt
2 teaspoons garlic

2) Mix these wet ingredients in a blender until smooth:

2 tubs o' tofu (2 lbs)
3 cups cold water
2 Tablespoons 'chicken' flavor broth powder
2 teaspoons salt
1/8 cup olive oil

3) Once blended, mix the dry and wet ingredients together in a large bowl. [Start step 4) before kneading.]

Knead for about 5 minutes, flipping around, punching it, etc. Or put in your bread machine for 10 minutes.
Roll out and stretch out on a flat surface. I found it difficult to roll out, so I also used my pizza "know-how" as Dad would say, and stretched it like pizza dough then rolled. Like so:

Place the stuffing (about 3 cups) in the middle:

Roll up, and pinch the ends together. They will not stay together well - but the cheese cloth will solve that issue.
Wrap with cheese cloth, and tie the end if need be.

Seitan mummy! (Pictured after step 4)

4) Boil the simmering broth. Preheat oven to 300 degrees F. Boil together:

5 cups water
4 'beef' flavored boullion cubes
2 Tablespoons Ketchup
1 Tablespoon olive oil
5 garlic cloves, minced or grated
2 teaspoons paprika
1 Tablespoon poultry seasoning
2 teaspoons salt

Once boiling, remove from heat.

5) Bake it! 300 degrees.

Get a casserole large enough for your huge creature-sized hunk of seitan. Preferably with a lid. Something at least a foot long is a good size.
Place a ladle-full or two of the broth into the baking casserole dish.
Place the seitan hunk on top of the broth, and cover with the remaining broth.

Put the lid on or wrap aluminum foil on the pot, sealing it well.
Cook for 1 hour. (Start making the glaze).
Flip -- no easy task; I used two forks, one for each end -- then cook one more hour.
Flip again, then cook for another hour.
Turn the over off and allow the seitan to sit for another hour.
Let cool before using. Remove twine/ties and cheesecloth.

6) Glaze it! See C. below for the recipe. Then bake at 350 degrees F until the roast is heated through and the glaze looks nice -- usually about one hour.

C. JACK DANIELS GLAZE

I modified this recipe slightly (more JD!)

1) Combine the following into a small sauce pan:

5 cloves of garlic, roasted or fresh, grated
1 Tablespoon olive oil
2/3 cup water
1 Tablespoon tamari
1 cup pineapple juice
1/4 cup teriyaki sauce
1 Tablespoon crushed pineapple
1 1/4 cup brown sugar
3 Tablespoons lemon juice
3 Tablespoons minced onion
2 Tablespoon Jack Daniels
1/4 teaspoon yippie cayenne - a

2) Cook

Bring ingredients to a boil
Reduce to a simmer, then cook for 30-40 minutes or until the sauce reduces by half.
Do not let it burn or boil over.

D. RESULT

Damned fine centerpiece, delivers on taste and texture. Someone said it was so much better than Tofurky, but through the phone chain this somehow got translated into Tofurky starting a class action lawsuit against me for making the roast. Nevertheless, by the end of the night, only a few drops of glaze remained.

Next year I'd like to try stuffing it with something else, perhaps shiitakes and leeks as created here.

More pictures from the 4th Annual Thanksgiving Record Party

Peanut Butter Balls

2010-12-13T18:43:00.000-08:00

PBBs using new rolling technique. Smooth operators.

Intros and Inspirations

Mom used to make this and bring it to family gatherings where she was showered with compliments. A close cousin reminded Mom that she in fact had given her the recipe and made them first (near the time when she invented the peanut butter chocolate combo) but this remains a family favorite, origin feud or no.

History of Dish

They are two great tastes that taste great together. This vegan version has tasters exclaiming, “These are vegan?!” with even more italics than I could muster with this font. These are also similar (or identical) to buckeyes.

Yield

Enough to cost you the equivalent of a month long gym membership, biking to work every day until Easter, or More to Love status forever.

Ingredients

1 cup peanut butter
½ cup non-hydro soy butter (Earth Balance=the best)*
1 t vanilla (optional)
1 – 1 ½ cups powdered sugar
1 bag semi-sweet chocolate chips**
2 T coconut oil or soy butter

Whip together:

Peanut butter, soy butter, & vanilla

Add & whip:

Powdered sugar

*Note: for an even more decadent (but harder to roll into balls) treat, use equal parts peanut butter and soy butter

** Whole Foods semi-sweet and Ghiradelli semi-sweet are vegan last I checked.

Steps

Refrigerate the mixture for about an hour.
Roll into balls.
For best/easiest rolling results, freeze these for another hour.
Once ready to roll, melt the chips & oil/soy butter using the double boiler method.
Your PBB’s will be dipped then placed onto a tray/plate. It’s easiest if you place them onto a plate with waxed or parchment paper.
To dip, use a fork and a slotted wooden spoon (thanks Amanda) and lower each ball into the melted chocolate. Let drip off into pan, then place onto wax paper.

Place into fridge to harden – it should only take 30 minutes or less. Or leave them out if you’re without heat and it’s winter time.

Conclusion

Perfect with a little soy milky, or soy nog.

These are from an experiment I did pouring the chocolate into cupcake cup minies. Makes you feel like Mrs. Reeses!

Purple Power Stock-It-Up Smoothie

2010-12-09T17:38:00.000-08:00

Intros and Inspirations

Lost any blood lately? Whether you scraped your knee, are minus an appendage, or it’s your time of the month, this smoothie’s got you covered.

Iron, calcium, and yum yum: the perfect trio if you’re down a pint.

History of Dish

With origins in Brazil then brought to the US in the 60’s in the awakening health movement, the smoothie has been referred to as a “politically correct shake.”

This might be my own interpretation/historical account, but “Smoothie” rhymes with “hippie” and can be placed in songs together seamlessly. The word also allows one to express their often repressed desire to talk baby talk.

PC or punk rock, the Purple Power Stock-It-Up would be just what your doctor ordered, if you had health insurance.

Yield

Three modest-sized servings, two less modest servings, or one gluttonous purple colored debauchery.

This is how much you will have. 1.75 cups. Is this a pint? Someone from England, help.

Ingredients

Meds

1 cup soy milk (calcium!)
½ cup fresh kale (calcium!)
4-5 frozen strawberries
¼ cup frozen blueberries
2 Tablespoons Black Strap Molasses (calcium! Iron!)
1 Tablespoon almond butter (calcium!)

Blend until smooth.

Conclusion

Did you know that 1 Tablespoon of Black Strap Molasses has 20% of the RDA (recommended daily allowance) of both iron AND calcium? And a heck of a lot of potassium, more than a banana?

Beyond that, it sweetens...making this smoothie a shake, taste-wise.

If you’re having trouble seeing after your injury/blood loss, the 100% RDA of Vitamin A from the Kale should help. Not to mention the off-the-chart (if you were using a chart just now) Vitamin K, there to help your calcium absorb.

For more nutritional info, check out this site.

Now YOU: What's your favorite smoothie combo?

Creamy Spinach Basket Dip

2010-11-24T17:10:00.000-08:00

They were all out of round bread baskets.

Intros and Inspirations

At one point probably already mentioned on this blog I thought it would be a grand idea to make all foods with edible containers. Off the top of my head, this already includes burritos, taco salads, spring rolls, pot pies, pizza, and….spinach dip in bread baskets. I also recall an edible bamboo basket at Seattle’s vegan restaurant Bamboo Garden. Zero waste and 100% filling? It’s very utilitarian.

Utility aside, I love to eat a damned good spinach dip. I’m especially keen on the fact that, as a friend exclaimed, “You can’t even taste the spinach!”

History of Dish

My rule to spend two seconds searching for food item history did not yield results for the origin of spinach dip, so I am going to opine the following:

Spinach is yucky. If you hide it in cream and fat and salt, you will not notice this trait as you eat it and you will absorb a lot of iron.

Yield

One bowl o’ spinach dip enough for bread basket.

Ingredients

Mix together in bowl:

8 cups fresh spinach, chopped
5 stocks celery, chopped/minced
1 leek, minced
½ cup Bac’Uns
½ cup nutritional yeast
2 Tablespoons vegetarian “chicken” broth powder

Blend in mixer/blender:

1 tub Tofutti sour cream
1 cup Vegenaise
3 cloves garlic
1 Tablespoon Liquid Smoke

Add the blended mix to the other mix, and stir together.

Cut out a hole from the top of either a round or regular loaf of bread as pictured. Chop up the cut outs for dipping.

Place spinach dip into the bread hole and you’re finished. Serve with Ritz-style crackers (we buy the generic Whole Foods brand).

Conclusion

This one is a potlucker, meaning it might take the place of my seitan at future parties, for awhile. Delicious, smoky, smooth, creamy, lovely iron.

Layered Pumpkin Spice Cheesecake

2010-11-24T15:48:00.000-08:00

And then, all dressed up

Intros and Inspirations

When I was an eater of cheese, I most certainly did not agree with it being included in the cake family.* So I do not have a long, loving history with this dish. However, back in Seattle as a new vegan I had the most beautiful piece of dessert awesomeness in the form of vegan Kahlua Cheesecake one day.

From then on, I was ready to embrace the flavor marriage. Though the recipe below is rather opposite something Paula ‘heart failure’ Dean would prescribe for your sweet teeth, and adapted from the Fat Free Vegan blog, it in fact is not fat free. Instead, we have a rich, sweet, tangy, and spicy cake wonderment that is sure to make people fall in love with you (all over again).

I decided to serve this at our 3^rd annual Vegan Thanksgiving Record Party.

Cake adapted/reprinted from the Fat Free Vegan Blog.

*Ditto for the chocolate-fruit combo.

History of Dish

As if I needed more encouragement to make this dish every week to celebrate things I make up, it turns out cheesecake is thought to originate in ancient Greece. Better yet, Pythagoras, a vegetarian, was rumored to have baked the first vegan version of this dish.** Unfortunately, it failed since the local Agora was out of Tofutti Cream Cheese.

Democracy and cheesecake follows.

** This was completely fabricated during sugar high experienced by blog poster.

Yield and Preheat

Preheat oven to 350 degrees Farenheit.

Ingredients

Gluten-Free Crust

This one is just from my head. I made it up since one of my guests is gluten free. It just occurred to me she might be soy-free as well. OOPS!

One box of Lucy’s Cinnamon Thins (5.5 oz): Crush it in your blender/food processor, pour into bowl.
1 cup of oatmeal: Crush in your blender/food processor, pour into bowl.
1/8 cup Earth Balance butter, melted, pour into bowl

Mix all three above in the bowl.

Spread into your pie pan.

Like this, except spread your filling up the side of the pan.

1^st layer

Blend the following until silky smooth:

8 ounces (one tub) Tofutti Better Than Cream Cheese

6 ounces (1/2 tub) Tofutti Sour Supreme

6 ounces (1/2 of package) firm silken tofu (or extra-firm)
1/2 cup sugar

2 Tablespoons cornstarch
1 1/2 Tablespoons lemon juice
1/2 teaspoon vanilla

Remove 1 ½ cups of the mixture and pour into your awaiting pie crust.

Double the fun.

2^nd layer

Into the awaiting blender, add the following, then blend until smooth:

1/2 cup pumpkin puree
2 teaspoons rum (optional)
3 tablespoons brown sugar
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon allspice

1/2 teaspoon ginger
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg

Carefully pour on top of the first layer, spreading around by turning/rotating the pie pan.

Layers!

Baking

Bake until the center is almost set, about 60 minutes (or until you become impatient, about 10 minutes). Insert a toothpick into the center -- it should be firm. If not, give it more time.

This pie must cool. Chill for 3 hours at least in your fridge.

Conclusion

Thank you, Fat Free Vegan for creating this wonderful recipe. I'm not a fan of pumpkin, and this tastes a bit pumpkin pie-y to me. But I had to convince Rob to save the rest for our guests.

We at Fat Love Cafe added a little bit o' Soyatoo on top.

Vegan Thanksgiving Record Party

2010-11-24T14:39:00.000-08:00

Stay tuned for recipes from our party...

For now, check out MFA's 30 second vid for Thanksgiving:
http://www.vegan.com/blog/2010/11/24/mfas-30-second-thanksgiving-commercial/

Buena Vista Vegan Club

2010-08-29T14:32:00.000-07:00

Clockwise from delicious: Cabbage salad, Delight Soy 'chicken' savory stew, mango salsa, yellow rice & black beans, fresh avocado, spicy blue cornbread.

Intros and Inspirations

I first became curious about Cuban cuisine during our month-long tour in Florida this past February. When I asked some locals if I might find some vegan-friendly Cuban food, laughter was a common response. It was then I realized that if I were to try the cuisine, I would have to discover it in my own kitchen. While in the back of my mind, I did not make a move until my good friend Bonnie decided to have a Cuban-themed dinner party and I was inspired to make some accompaniments to her delicious roasted yucca, tangy stewed Delight Soy chicken, yellow rice, & beans (see above picture).

Since I'm new to Cuban cooking, I can directly trace the recipes upon which I've based my veganized versions. These are linked at the bottom of each recipe. The three dishes I chose were mango salsa, spicy cornbread, and flan. I changed them up a bit. If they were wearing trousers, they are now in a tutu.

History of Dish

According to Salsa Shack, salsa ("sauce") has been around since 3000 BC and was also made by the Aztecs using chiles, tomatoes, & tomatillos. The salsa included here is based on a version you will find in most Miami Cuban restaurants (minus the mango).

Corn bread (in our version blue corn bread, thanks to a certain purchasing decision by my beloved) can be traced to the Native American culture. When European settlers arrived, they ate bread made of corn out of necessity, and it was considered a sacrifice. Similarly, I remember my father saying that he could not eat corn bread due to having suffered through it as a child in Greece when nothing else was available. We can assure you this version will cause delight, not suffering.

I dislike Flan and flannish gelatinous desserts. I could not resist the challenge, however, of making something that is almost 100% based on eggs and cream, vegan. I must say this was delicious and I'll be making again but adding walnuts and other flavorings. Flan can be traced to Roman times when an excess of eggs made recipes using them popular. This version is salmonella and recall free!

You might wonder, how are these dishes Cuban? Cuban cuisine is a fusion of many different cuisines. That top ramen you're eating right now might be Cuban and you don't even know it.

Yield and Pre-heat

Enough salsa for a dinner party.
Enough corn bread for a dinner party, or 16 squares (who don't like to partay).
Enough flan for a party and leftovers the next day, or 3 large or 6 small flan.

Ingredients

~ 1 ~ :: Mango Salsa ::

1 whole mango
6 cloves of garlic
1/2 cup fresh cilantro leaves
1 T lemon juice
3 T white vinegar
Juice of one lime
2 T white vinegar
1/2 cup olive oil
Salt to taste

Cut mango into small cubes, then the cubes into smaller pieces, and marinade in 2 T of the white vinegar and the lemon juice and stir in a sprinkle or pinch of cayenne pepper. Let sit for an hour or two.

Afterward, toss the garlic, cilantro, 1 T white vinegar, and juice of one lime into the blender. Strain the marinade from the mango into the blender as well. Blend until mixture is green.

Heat up the olive oil in a cast iron or other pan until warm but not smoky. Turn off the heat then stir in the blended mix and mango bits. Serve warm. Or cold. We don't care. It's tangy and delicious. Reminds me of Greek meets Spain meets Thailand. Maybe that's Cuban.

Don't hate me because I'm beautiful.

Based on: http://icuban.com/food/mariquitas_salsa.html

~ 2 ~ : : Spicy Blue Cornbread ::

Dry:

1 cup blue (or yellow) cornmeal
1 cup all-purpose flour
2 T sugar
2 t baking powder
1 t Salt
1/2 t freshly ground black pepper
2 T ground flax
1/4 t cayenne pepper

Wet:

1/4 cup silken tofu
1/4 slice of banana
1 cup soymilk
1/4 cup Oil
1/4 cup Corn kernels (1 ear of corn)
1/4 cup canned mild or hot green peppers

Earth Balance for greasing pan.

Preheat oven to 425F.
In a large mixing bowl, mix together the dry ingredients: cornmeal, flour, sugar, baking powder, salt, pepper, cayenne, and flax.

In a separate bowl, mash the silken tofu and banana together.
Add the soy milk, oil, chiles and corn to the wet mixture. (Scrape/cut the corn from the cob with a knife)
Make a well in the center of the dry mix and stir in the wet mixture.
Pour the batter into a 9-inch greased baking pan and bake 20 minutes or until cornbread separates slightly from the sides of the pan.
Place the pan on a wire rack to cool, then cut the bread into squares and serve warm.

Fluffy, sweet. Tangy, light.

Based on: http://www.bigoven.com/recipe/63630/spicy-cornbread-with-green-chiles

~3~ :: Flan ::

I was unable, with two tries, to make a good caramel. I can only refer you to a recipe and a few tips and hope that you can show me the way. Or, I can share my recipe for "Harder 'n Peanut Brittle." In any case, it worked well enough to create a nice coating on top of this flan.

Caramel:

1 cup sugar.
1/8 cup water

Put sugar and water in a sauce pan and stir to dissolve into a thick, sticky syrup. Then, DO NOT STIR. Only shake the pan. (Stirring makes the sugar crystalize.)

Place it on the stove top over medium-low heat. Holding the edge of the pan with a hot pad, tilt the pan from side to side as the sugar melts and caramelizes.

When all the sugar has melted and become a golden brown liquid, remove the pan from the stove. Pour into the bottom of ramekins. Work fast to ensure it does not harden too much prior to custard step.

For the Custard:

• 2 cups coconut milk
• 1 T agar-agar flakes*
• 1/2 cup extra-firm silken tofu
• 1 1/2 T sugar
• 1 T vanilla extract (or rum extract)
• Pinch of salt

Prepare:

Place the coconut milk in a medium saucepan and sprinkle with the agar flakes. Let sit for 10 minutes. Bring to a boil, then reduce the heat to low and cook, stirring often, for 5 minutes, or until the agar has dissolved.
Put the tofu, sugar, vanilla, salt, and coconut milk mixture in a blender and blend until very smooth.
Pour into the ramekins over the syrup, cover with plastic wrap, and refrigerate for at least 1 1/2 hours. Though I must say mine was ready sooner.
To remove from the ramekins, dip the bottom in hot water for about 15 seconds, then turn over onto a plate.

Can you believe it? The miracle of Agar Agar.

Based on: http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/member/views/VEGAN-FLAN-50073184#ixzz0xMVvJ3O6

* Note: for my version, I used the Agar Agar in powder form pre-mixed with sugar from the Asian store. Therefore, I increased the amount in this recipe to 2 Tablespoons since it was less concentrated Agar Agar. Feel free to experiment for desired firmness. Let me know if you have different results.

Conclusion

Deliciously mild mango salsa is perfect with chips, yucca, or like a blanket marinading your broiled tofu or seitan creations.

The flan is custard-y and holds up with just enough melt like kind words to sad ears. The cornbread is moist and spicy-sweet and I think I'm going to make some more right now.

Bonnie's yucca, stew, & yellow rice/beans were delicious -- a good filling meal with several textures, tastes, and shapes. Feel free to post your Cuban recipe ideas below. Or better yet, bring me a plate.

Plate showcasing Bonnie's roasted yucca.

Vegan Pirate Ship Cake

2010-07-17T09:43:00.001-07:00

Brave little ship about to hit cupcake island.

Intros and Inspirations

This cake was made using my yellow cake recipe. It's moist as a wet hankie and completely delicious. However, the setting, an 18^th century pirate ship? Completely new. I decided to make the ship-themed cake for Rob's birthday after my good friend Bonnie mentioned her employer making a ship cake. Rob also is a huge fan of pirate ships. My model is loosely based on this:

Very loosely.

History of Dish

Pirate ship cakes have been around a long time. Possibly even longer than pirates.

Rob asked, 'Where did you get that plastic pirate?!' To his surprise, the pirate figurine bedecking the cake was carefully researched and based on Jean Lafitte.

Or, it has been sitting on our dining room window sill for the last 3 years (apparently, unnoticed).

Materials Needed

Yellow Cake recipe & frosting
Blue food coloring
Rum extract
Wooden skewers
Fake flags. I used old CD labels bent over.
Optional: decorative icing. I used black glitter style. Bad choice in this case (see conclusion).
Authentic Pirate Figurine©
Blue sparkly sprinkles
Corn holder and candle cannons
Serving platter

Yield and Pre-heat

Since the round cake pans will cook faster than the big rectangle version, you will need to cook them for a shorter period. Ditto for the mini-cupcake islands.

Mixing/Blending

Make two batches of the Yellow Cake recipe.
Place the batter evenly into four pans: a rectangular pan, two round pans, and four small cupcake tins. (I only used one cupcake for this version.)

Baking and Frosting Making

Monitor the baking process. The mini-cupcake islands come out first, followed by the round cake ship hulls. The cake is ready when a finger-press indentation bounces back in the middle (thanks Rob's cousin Melissa).

Meanwhile, make the frosting. Based on 'yo ho ho and a bottle of rum' I decided that it would be necessary to make the sea rum-flavored. I added blue food coloring and some rum extract to one batch of the frosting. The frosting was a simple mix of 3/4 Spectrum non-hydrogenated shortening + 1/4 earth balance spread, organic powdered sugar, and rum extract. (I used imitation since it wasn't a real pirate ship)

For the actual ship, I made chocolate frosting using the same recipe, except eliminated the rum and added about 2 T of rich chocolate cocoa powder.
Place both frostings in the fridge to chill.

Assembling

Let the cakes cool. Once cool, remove from pans carefully (I put pans upside down over plate/platter then tap the pan).
Cut out two rectangular chunks from the middle of your rectangle cake (see picture below). Your ships will be sailing there later. Retain the cutouts as you will need to supplement the ship with part of them and/or you can eat them later.
Cut the round cakes in half. The four halves will eventually become your ship. So they balance better, you can also trim off the round parts, just barely. Though I don't think that was necessary in hindsight.
Place chocolate frosting between two slices, to glue them together. Do the same with the other two.
Coat the outside of the cakes with a thin layer of appropriate frosting color and cover and refrigerate for a couple of hours (I was in a hurry and put them in the freezer). This will ensure your later layers of frosting will adhere better and crumbs will not get in your frosting (thanks for the tip, Shirle). You need only coat those areas you are going to frost (that will show) and any damage areas (where the ship-cake was hit by cannon balls and is coming apart).
Once cooled, frost your rectangle sea first. Sprinkle with blue sparkles.

Rather than do what I did, frost the boats first then place them into the sea.

Add your cupcake island(s) and skewered flags and pirate. Add the corn holder and candle cannons. Don't forget Jean Lafitte.

Eating

Some people preferred the sea whereas others took the chocolate ship.

Photo by James

Thankfully, no one ate or wanted the plastic pirate or corn holders. But everything else was pretty much disapeared.

Optional:

Blueberry cannon balls and vegan wafer walk-the-plank planks.

Conclusion

Though I noticed an unfortunate likeness to a certain oil spill after decorating the ship with a “B” and placing little black frosting drops in the 'sea', little room for comment remained after being distracted by my dead-on skull and crossbones flags that were viciously rumored to be potato heads.

Seitan '10 or 麵筋

2010-07-10T18:16:00.000-07:00

Seitan! (as seen on My Carolina Today.)

Intros and Inspirations

I guess I've been making seitan too long since I had to think about where my homemade seitan process began. I found a recipe online and adapted it. This is for certain: the need arose out of thriftiness. Some might say cheap-skate-ness. It's a heck of a lot more economical to make your own, and quite easy. This recipe will cost you about $4.50 for a couple pounds, or .56 per serving. That's crazy!

Since seitan is made from the protein part of the wheat (gluten) it is extremely high in protein. As with all non-animal products, it's cholesterol free.

Finally, it's tasty as all heck and holds up great whether BBQ'd, skewered, or stir-fried. I believe that we as a culture are just at the tip of the seitanic iceberg and more variations are forthcoming. If you have any, feel free to post them below.

My previous recipe called “Saved by Seitan” featuring Chef Shirle and Phil & Brad of Megafaun is also available at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f-XJjQip44M

This version is not too dissimilar: based on inspiration from this Vegan Sausage recipe I added some friendly Garbanzo Bean (Chickpea) Flour to the mix and reduced the salt.

History of Dish

From Wikipedia:

“Wheat gluten...is believed to have originated in ancient China, as a meat substitute for adherents of Buddhism....One story attributes the invention of imitation meat to chefs who made it for Chinese emperors who, traditionally, observed a week of vegetarianism each year.”

It is the stuff of royalty!

Yield and Pre-heat

Eight 'servings' of about ½ cup each.

Order of preparation: Start your stock, then stir your dry ingredients together while the stock heats.

Ingredients

Broth

8 cups water
½ cup Bragg's Liquid Aminos or soy sauce
2 T olive oil
Add to broth: fresh sage, garlic, onion...or whatever spices float your gluten boat

Dry

2 cups vital wheat gluten (I use Bob's Redmill – available in the health sections of most stores)
½ cup chickpea/garbanzo bean flour
¼ nutritional yeast flakes
1 T ground pepper

Mixing/Blending

Put all the “broth” ingredients in a large pot (I use a cast-iron cauldren) and set heat to medium-high to begin heating.
Meanwhile, mix all the dry ingredients with a fork.
Once almost boiling, reduce heat to simmer/low.
Scoop out 11/2 to 2 cups broth and add to the dry mixture and stir with your fork as the broth might be too hot (It will be hard to handle with a fork and you will need to switch to clean-hand kneading in a moment.)
Knead by pulling the dough almost apart and together, folding in on itself (see the video if needed). You can also punch it. The idea is to get it very elastic and firm, or as Phil said, “brain-like.” Most recipes call for 5 minutes kneading, but I usually knead for 2-3 minutes only until the desired firmness is achieved and the dough is a big ball.
Once consistency is reached, tear the ball in half. Carefully drop each half into the now-hot broth.
Make sure the heat is turned to low so it just simmers.
Cover and simmer for 30 minutes, then flip. Cover and simmer another 30 minutes.

Eating

Since it's summertime, lately I've been going the easy route with these suckers. Once boiled, let it cool and drip-dry in a sieve. Then, cut the seitan ball into small shishkabob pieces, and marinade in your favorite BBQ sauce. Skewer, then place in aluminum foil to BBQ. Right before it's ready, seer on the grill for those pretty lines. This way it won't dry out. Or you can baste them and not use the foil as a random 4th of July party-goer suggested.

Another favorite is to coat them in a mixture of oat flour, garlic powder, and nutritional yeast, then lightly fry in a cast-iron pan. Delicious coating almost like Shake-n-Bake. Which should be the standard of excellence for all foods.

Conclusion

I interrupted Rob's practice to ask him to pose for these seitan shots.

With the flash on:

And off:

Another happy customer.

Rob post-bite and prior to throwing seitan chunks across the room after one too many takes of this pose.

Also brought this new version out at parties, and it's a hit. Whether or not the praise is statistically significant is a debate for another blog....or up to you. I'd love to hear your variations. Post them below if you'd like. I want to figure out a way to make seitan have fatty pockets. Any discoveries of how to do this would be worth 1,000 drachmas.

Better'n Chicken Salad Tangy Wraps

2010-04-25T13:39:00.000-07:00

The picture does not convey the yumness. This is because I made 240 of these and photography was not a strong point by 10 pm when I finished all the chopping, mixing, and wrapping.

From the Delight Soy site.

Intros and Inspirations

The Earth Day Festival, Durham, NC. Chickens. Connection between diet & planet. The Delight Soy “I cannot believe it's not chicken” patties (pictured above) owned/distributed by nice folks (pictured below) from Morrisville.

The owners of Delight Soy of Morrisville. They are like celebrities. Or, as I mentioned to them, drug dealers (if drugs are Delight Soy patties).

History of Dish

I had never made Chicken Salad, vegan or otherwise, ever. But I kind of had a feeling that anything you do with the delicious Delight Soy patties could not go wrong. Except maybe making soy sundaes with them.

After a few searches on the web, I did not find any recipes that looked good to me, but did get the gist of what goes into Chicken Salad, and used these ideas to create this version.

I made about 240 to give away for free at the Earth Day Festival. Huge thanks to VegFund for sponsoring the giveaway, which included literature from Vegan Outreach and Compassion Over Killing as well.

"Free samples?"

I actually stood during most of the event from 12-5. Martyr points, check.

I've reduced the recipe here for normal household use.

Yield

About 15 burrito-size wraps, or 60 bite-sized, depending on amount of filling placed in the wrap and the size of the wrap. And how much you eat while you're making this delicious mix.

Ingredients / Mixing/Blending

Chop finely:

4 cups Soy Delight brand “chicken” patties*
5 green onions (scallions)
6 stalks celery
½ cup red bell pepper
1 Tablespoon fresh dill

Mix together:

½ cup sweet relish
1 Tablespoon yellow mustard
1 cup Vegenaise* (add another 1/2 cup if you prefer very creamy)
½ teaspoon ground black pepper
1/8 cup lemon juice
1 Tablespoon Kosher salt

Combine the chopped ingredients with the above mix. Spread on bread for a sandwich, or wrap up in a tortilla.

* Both Soy Delight patties and Vegenaise are available at the Whole Foods Market.

Eating

Festival goers enjoying the wraps. Even the kids loved them.

I could not believe how well these were received. Many people found us after others had told them how good they were. Folks could not believe they were not actually chicken. Most wanted the recipe, which is another reason I'm posting it here.

Special note to Durham restaurants: carry this product!

Optional:

Several versions online contained scary things like raisins. Add at your own peril! Spicy chipotle powder would be a delicious addition.

Conclusion

Best summarized by one attendee, who said: “If this ain't chicken, then what's in my mouth?”

Rob Beloved with his tray and soy chicken wrap love.

Special thanks to those who helped hand out literature as well, and to everyone who tried a sample.

Petite BABS Muffins

2010-04-02T06:23:00.000-07:00

Intros and Inspirations

These banana-apple-blueberry-strawberry muffins are so fruity they belong in a basket.

With all the touring and new-website making there has not been a lot of time for documenting food creations. Know that food has been created, enjoyed, eaten, and stored as body fat -- all undocumented except for the latter.

Rob's a sucker for a good muffin, and after several hints (“Mmmmuffins!” or the classic, “I love muffins!”) I gave in. In the past, I might have used Agave nectar to sweeten these bad'ns, but though they are brave little muffins, they cannot be mingled with the devil himself.

History of Dish

Muffins can be traced back to 10^th century England, but the American variety popular today arrived later, adding the moulds since the batter mixture was unable to stand alone like dough. Weak!

Potash was used to make them rise until baking powder was created around 1857. Muffins were promoted as healthier than doughnuts (kind of like cigarettes are better than crack?) but to ensure long shelf-life, additional fats and sugars were added and we were back to square one, or cupcake impersonations.

Yield and Pre-heat

Preheat the oven to 350 (or 375 if your oven runs colder than mine).

Makes 10 smaller muffins, or 8 larger.

Ingredients

Wet:

½ apple, shredded with grater
1 cup soy milk
1 t apple cider vinegar
1 crushed banana
¼ cup blue berries
¼ cup chopped strawberries
¼ cup canola oil
1 t vanilla

Dry:

1 ¼ cup flour (whole wheat pastry or all purpose)
2 T ground flaxseed
½ cup powdered sugar
1 t cinnamon
½ t nutmeg
2 t baking powder
½ t salt

Mixing/Blending

Mix the wet ingredients in one bowl, the dry in another. Fold the dry into the wet, stirring slowly with a wooden spoon, just enough to mix, lumps are OK. Overstirring causes flat, dense, depressed muffins. Nobody wants that.

Baking

Scoop batter into cups – lined or not. Using paper cups will not give you a crust on the outside, so choose according to preference.

Bake at 350 for 20-22 minutes.

Eating

Let cool first. Do I need to say this?

Optional:

Add walnuts to make them BAWBS.

Conclusion

Rob was happy.

History Sources:

http://ezinearticles.com/?The-Sweet-History-of-Muffins&id=145416

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Muffin

Snow Soup

2010-01-30T11:04:00.000-08:00

Snow soup!

I took the opportunity of our first real snow (heaviest in 10-20 years as I understand) to make something sweet out of it. Mom first introduced snow soup to me as a kid in Seattle, and I was a fan immediately. Anything you can turn into a dessert is a winner nominated by my tooth, the sweet one, unless the creation causes suffering indirectly or directly to another...then it's a bummer.

Fortunately for my tooth, this snow caused no harm, at least the part in my yard. I can't speak to the street part. For this recipe, I carefully hand-picked the snow from our front yard on the side our dog Syba hadn't peed on earlier.

Ta da!

Bowl of snow (fresh)
1/2 - 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 teaspoon sugar
4 T almond or soy milk
Stir.

Tastes just like ... snow soup.

This is part snow soup story, part cautionary tale. In an alarming moment, I discovered an unidentifiable particle in my bowl:

Speck, to the right of spoon. Piece of dirt, tree bark, or....other?

Be careful during the selection process.

Cashew Crumble Cheesecake

2010-01-24T18:37:00.000-08:00

Caramel-y Cashew Cake

Intros and Inspirations

If cashews could sit, they would sit in thrones. Due to their rounded shape, I'm thinking it's possible, except they wouldn't sit long due to their wide range of culinary applications. Cashew Technology struck again when I realized I could probably make cheesecake out of these. My originality was also struck (down) when a search revealed this has been tried (many times) by (several) others before me.

There are raw cashew cheesecake recipes, cooked, caramel, and many other varieties. The version I put forth to you today is cooked. Whether or not this reminds you of a cheesecake is irrelevant after tasting little triple C – the Tofutti Cream Cheese version is much closer to actual cheesecake – but this recipe has a cheesecake tang as well as a nice balance of taste and texture I think you'll enjoy.

Due to my enthusiastic cashewing these past weeks, I thought I should make sure there are no adverse side effects. Luckily, true to its royal cashewiness, we are delivered nothing but nutrients and heart benefits. In fact, cashews even reportedly have weight LOSS properties.

History of Dish

Once again, ladies and gentleman, I present to you...the Greeks! In summary, a form of cheesecake was served to the Olympian athletes, then spread further by the Romans.

Yield and Pre-heat

Makes one thin cake. Double the recipe to creat a tall version (thicker crust and taller cake). The thinner version has the advantage of feeling good about eating a lot less, even if you ate half of the cake. It's also good when you don't have enough cashews for a full cake, or a Springform pan.

Preparation alert: Soak the cashews overnight or at least 10 hours.

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees Farenheit.

Ingredients & Steps

The “Rob forgot to get me graham crackers” Crust

Ironically, when I just asked Rob if any improvements were needed before posting this recipe, he told me I could “experiment with the crust a bit more.” Try using a graham cracker crust, but if you liked a toasted almond flavor this crust is for you.

Blend in a food processor or blender:

¼ cup unsalted uncooked almonds
¼ cup walnuts
¼ cup canola oil
1 Tablespoon coconut fat

Coconut fat! Also used to make whipping cream for the topping.

Scrape out into bowl then stir in:

¼ cup brown sugar
2 Tablespoon ground flax seed
½ cup oat flour

Spread resulting mixture into pie tin or glass pie dish.

Filling

Cook the following over medium-low heat for two minutes, stirring frequently:

¼ cup Earth Balance
¼ cup + 2 Tablespoons coconut fat (use the solid part of coconut milk from Thai brand coconut milk cans, chilled)
¼ cup white sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Add above ingredients to cleaned blender or food processor. To this, add:

1/8 cup lemon juice
1 teaspoon salt
2 Tablespoons agave nectar or maple syrup
1 cup of pre-soaked cashews (drained)

Blend until creamy.

Compiling and Baking

Two options:

Spread your filling into the crust. Bake at 325 for 20 minutes. This will produce some brown crispiness atop your filling. If you do not want this, see option two. (I made option 2.)
Bake filling in separate dish for 10 minutes. Stir well, then spread into crust. Bake for another 10 minutes.

Remove from oven and let cool. Chill in refrigerator overnight, or if you're inpatient, throw it in the freezer for 30 minutes, then eat.

Eating

If I had the ingredients, I would top this sucker with some homemade coconut whipped cream: http://www.everydaydish.tv/index.php?page=recipe&recipe=157

Optional:

Experiment and let me know if you find a different version to try. I will try adding a ½ up of creamy peanut butter to the filling next time then drizzling chocolate on top. And of course using graham cracker crust, if Rob buys the crackers.

Feel free to email me at hortamatic@gmail.com with pictures of your versions for posting.

Since this was my first ever attempt at cashew cheesecake, I will certainly post alternate versions of my own as well in the future.

Conclusion

A fourth “C” should be added to this recipe: Caramel. Due to the mingling of Earth Balance and sugar, there is a slight caramel-y overtone. The walnuts and almonds give the crust a toasted flavor, similar to candied nuts.

Vegan Buttermilk Biscuits

2010-01-23T12:40:00.000-08:00

Intros and Inspirations

When I lived in Seattle, there was this wonderful vegan restaurant called The Globe. The food might have been even more delicious due to the long delay that typically preceded it; I remember sometimes waiting up to an hour as my breakfast became brunch.

It was at The Globe that I first began my appreciation of biscuits* in the form of their deliciously popular Biscuits & Gravy dish I'd wait for every weekend. When something is this delicious, why not try and make it at home? (The following recipe is only biscuits: Biscuits & Gravy will be a separate post someday.)

* It was also at the Globe where I learned that not all poetry should be read aloud. Or shared, in general.

History of Dish

According to foodreference.com, the first biscuits were cooked twice (“bis” = twice and “cuit” = cooked in French). They were very hard and called “stone bread” during the time of Louis XIV. Soldiers and sailors at biscuits, then used them as weapons. OK, I made up that very last bit. Britannia has a slight different take on their origins, tracing biscuits to Roman times, claiming the name to be Latin-derived. The same soldiers and sailors ate them, as they would last for many days onboard ships without spoiling.

Yield and Pre-heat

12 biscuits. Pre-heat to 425 degrees farenheit.

Ingredients

2 cups all purpose flour (optional: use whole wheat pastry flour)
½ teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking powder
½ teaspoon baking soda
½ cup non-hydrogenated shortening (see below)
¾ cup soy milk + 1 teaspoon apple cider vinegar

Mixing/Blending

Place the soy milk and vinegar together in a small bowl and set aside.
Stir all the dry ingredients together with a fork.
Cut in the shortening with a fork, pastry cutter, and/or your fingers, until the mixture is grainy and most of the larger lumps of shortening are gone. Some small lumps remain, which make nice pockets of fat for you later!
Add the soy milk mixture and stir in with a fork, then knead together with your hands to make a sticky ball of dough. You should still be able to handle the dough.
Flatten 1/3 of a section onto a lightly floured plate, to about ½ inch thick.
Cut out biscuit shapes, and place on baking sheet (I used stoneware). For these biscuits, I used my star, flower, and roundish cookie cutters.

Baking

Bake at 425 degrees for 8 minutes.

Pre-baked biscuits in fun shapes so you eat more of them.

Eating

These are just begging for some Earth Balance melted on top of them.

Mrs. Pac-man biscuit with a bite

Optional:

Depending on what they are accompanying, you can also make sweet or savory biscuits. To make sweet, add a Tablespoon of sugar and some cinnamon. For savory, add your favorite spices such as oregano or sage.

Conclusion

Fluffy, melty, just-right-crumbly biscuits for any occasion. Especially with greens if you are in the South like I am.

Jalapeno Poppers

2010-01-08T09:02:00.001-08:00

Intros and Inspirations

Denny's, circa 1980's. Besides ordering these on the night menu of Denny's, I had no idea how to make a popper, let alone a vegan version. Therefore, I used Cashew Cheese Technology¹ along with a traditional popper recipe² and was beyond satisfied with the results. (All that remains from the traditional recipe cited is the breading method and addition of “bacon” bits.)

History of Dish

According to Wikipedia, the origins are unclear but poppers are thought to be 2^nd cousins with chile rellenos. Apparently there was a family feud in the 70's and they parted. There is also a note about the label “poppers” being trademarked, so if you see me rename this post to, say, 'pops' or 'moppers' this would be the reason.

Yield:

Makes 32 poppers.

Ingredients

Advanced preparation alert: Cover the cashews and almonds in ¾ cup water overnight or at least 4 hours. The water will be used in the recipe.

Filling:

¾ cup raw cashews & ¼ cup raw almonds + remaining water from soaking (initially ¾ cup)
½ cup firm tofu (not silken)
2 T lemon juice
½ T agave or other sweetener
1 T tahini
¼ cup canola oil
¼ cup onion
3 garlic cloves
¼ t tumeric
1 T salt
1 T nutritional yeast
Optional: smoked chipotle powder to taste

Added Later!

2-3 T Bacuns (link: http://www.veganessentials.com/catalog/organic-bacuns-bacon-bits-alternative.htm )
Chopped jalapeno pieces (from surrounding stem)

Main feature:

16 jalapenos, sliced and seeded (see below)

Batter / Breading:

1 cup unsweetened soy milk or almond milk
1.5 cups white unbleached flour + 1 t paprika
1.5 cups crushed “Ritz” style crackers³ + 1.5 T garlic granules + ½ t salt (Optional: substitute crackers with actual breadcrumbs)

Blending and Baking Filling

The baking process will make the filling spreadable for slathering on the jalapeno halves. Once the filling is baking, you may proceed to the jalapeno preparation step.

Place “Filling” ingredients in blender and blend until smooth. Transfer to a Corningware or similar dish for baking.
Bake uncovered for about 25 minutes at 250-300 degrees fahrenheit until thick like cream cheese. Stir well every 10 minutes during this process to circulate the resulting thick portions and crisped browned parts of the mixture.

Example of filling consistency. This recipe makes more filling than pictured above.

Preparing while Waiting for Filling to Bake

Jalapenos:

Cut off top part of jalapeno stem first (about 1/8”). Retain for use in filling.
Slice in half lengthwise.
Scrape out seeds with small spoon. (Discard or retain for other recipes.)
Careful not to squirt juice in your eyeball like I did.
Slice up the small bits of jalapeno connected to the stem (but NOT the stem itself) then add to the baked filling.

Artistic display of spoon and knife

Prepare the breading next:

Place the flour mixture in a small bowl.
Place the soy milk in a separate small bowl.
Crush the crackers into fine pieces then stir in garlic granules and salt in another bowl.

Filling and Breading

Once the filling has been baked and removed from the oven, adjust the oven temperature to 300 degrees F.
Stir in Bac'uns and previously added chopped-up jalapeno tops to baked filling.
Spread filling into jalapeno halves, so that the filling is slightly heaping over and lightly coating the side edges of jalapeno.

Dip each jalapeno half into soy milk, then roll into flour mixture. Place on plate or sheet.

A not-quite clockwise presentation of the first dipping process.

Let jalapenos dry for about 10 minutes.
In the meantime, prepare a baking sheet by spreading about ¼ cup of olive oil on the sheet for baking (in lieu of deep frying).

After the 10 minutes when dry, dip each half in soy milk again, then dredge in "Ritz" breadcrumb mixture. It's OK if some green jalapeno is showing.
Set on greased baking sheet, starting filling side up, rolling once to ensure olive oil is lightly coating entire half. Alternative to rolling: use stainless steel spritzer to spray tops of poppers. Place filling side up.

Baking

Your oven should already be preheated to 300 degrees F. The 'traditional' recipe calls for deep frying these suckers. Instead, these are baked for 20 minutes, turned once. As with other fried goods, the pops are equally good, and lower in fat, baked with a spritzola of olive oil.

Place in preheated oven, then bake for 10 minutes.
Remove and flip with tongs carefully.
Bake for remaining 10 minutes until golden brown.

Eating

This is the best part, except you have to wait first until the poppers cool to move them to a plate (or your mouth). Otherwise they will unpop all over the pan.

Optional:

Feel free to change up the filling by chopping and adding pimentos, olive bits, or other types of peppers.

I also made the filling without the tofu and Agave and it was still good, but not quite as tasty.

Instead of white flour, I used whole wheat the last time I made these = BLECHHHH.

Conclusion

Delicious and addictive: no need for a trip to Denny's. Reports from non-vegans: “I cannot tell this is vegan.” –Non-vegan who is not my mom

Sources/citations:

¹http://rockinthestove.com/2009/07/13/three-vegan-cheezes-gone-nuts/

²http://allrecipes.com/recipe/best-ever-jalapeno-poppers/detail.aspx

3 The Whole Foods brand of rounds is good, cheap, and vegan (GCV).

Prostate-'Porosis Protectin' Pancakes

2010-01-04T08:28:00.000-08:00

Intros and Inspirations

Besides the title that invokes warm delicious food, what might be the inspiration for these protective pancakes? My background in alliteration? Certainly this was not a challenge submitted from any of our readership (hi mom).

Welp, I love pancakes made with Oat Flour, but this morning I realized I was all out. I further love to protect prostates and bones. Did I mention I am not a doctor, nutritionist, naturopath, acupuncturist, or psychic? Read onward, if you dare. Or go here for a more traditional pancake.

History of Dish

1/4/2010. Though I know others have taken blade to oat before me.

Yield

About five or six medium protector pancakes. Enough for two people if you are Rob and I.

Ingredients

2/3 cup whole rolled oats (not instant)
1/3 cup whole 'raw' almonds
1/3 cup whole raw pumpkin seeds (the green kind in bulk sections)
2 whole cloves

2 T Canola oil + 1 t baking powder + ½ t baking soda
2/3 cup almond or soy milk
1 bananna, mashed

Mixing/Blending

Blend the oats, almonds, seeds, and cloves until mealy.

In a small dish, stir the Canola and baking powder and soda together with a fork.
In a medium-sized mixing bowl, dump in the blended 'flour' mixture.
Mix in the Canola mixture.
Add the liquid (almond or soy) then stir in the mashed banana.

The mixture will seem very watery initially, but will be soaked up by the flour within a few minutes.

Cooking

It occurred to me that you could have a very nice raw foodist's breakfast if you just simply eat the mixture without cooking it. Or, as a compromise, you could gently warm it in your sauce pan and add some black strap mollases for a power-punch of iron, calcium, and potassium. But this is Hortamatic, so we'll fry these suckers up, pancake-style.

Heat your cast iron or non-stick pan over medium-low heat and add 2 T olive oil.
When ready (sizzles with drop of water) add about 1/3 cup of the batter for each pancake.
Cook on each side till lightly browned, about 3 minutes.

Eating

We added ground up flax seed for extra omega 3s and slathered these with strawberry jam.

Optional: Add some berries or fruit to the mix, or ground walnuts. Adjust liquids/flours.

Conclusion

Bon appetite, prostate and bone density! These are also tasty, and full of protein, so they should be a good start to your day.

Vasilopita

2010-01-02T09:27:00.001-08:00

In what has certainly become a tradition, I failed to capture an adequate photo of my little new year's Vasilopita.

Instead, above, a photo taken by someone who was on her second theme drink (that is, second THEME, not second drink) the Soy Nog White Russian (I capitalize out of respect, not grammatical appropriateness).

The first theme drink was even more classy: Cheer Wine and Whiskey (thank you Laura and Tofu Mama, respectively).

I previously posted the Vasilopita recipe and backstory at my travel and vegan cupcake-searching blog, Binge Cafe, back in '07. You can find it in its entirety here:

http://bingecafe.blogspot.com/2007/01/vegan-vasilopita-drinko-happy-new-year.html

The only changes I made to the Vasilopita pictured above was to reduce the orange juice by half and use ground almonds rather than sliced due to not wanting to step into a supermarket to get them on NYE.

Again, due to the themed drinks, there were not a lot of pictures, but I did want to share with you three appetizers brought by guests. The third, a delicious German potato salad (thanks Jana) was not photographed. The fourth, which I'll be posting soon, is a recipe I created for Jalapeno Poppers. Stay tuned!

Bonnie's Spanikopita:

Delicious little nuggets with smoked tofu and creamed Tofutti cheese.

Chef Shirle's Fauxmage almond feta and cashew goat, available at the Wine Authorities!

Happy 2010 everyone.

Cinnamon Rolls

2009-12-27T18:45:00.000-08:00

Intros and Inspirations

For Christmas 2002, the artist Susan Tabor (otherwise known as Rob's mom) gave her family a collection of recipes she had compiled through the years. It is from this cookbook that I first adapted the vegan version of Cinnamon Rolls back in February 2006 while Susan was visiting. The resulting rolls were Susan-approved, meaning she ate them approvingly.

This recipe combines her “Sweet Roll Dough” and “Cinnamon Rolls” recipes, as well as a glaze based on several online versions. The changes I made include addition of walnuts, use of brown rather than white sugar for the filling, removal of eggs, and substitution of soy milk instead of cow's.

History of Cinnamon and Rolls: A love story

Cinnamon is native to Sri Lanka, and was referenced in Chinese writings as early as 2800 BC. The spice was used in ancient Egypt as an embalming agent, and, later, relatedly, to keep rotten meat from smelling. ^1,2

Cinnamon became more glamorous years following, finding a less socially awkward role by combining forces with sweet bread (like chocolate and peanut butter). By the 18^th century the Cinnamon Roll was in use, but it was not until 1910, the year my maternal grandfather was born (Papa), the first known recipe for Cinnamon Rolls was published.²

Sweden even designated a day for this roll, "Kanelbullens dag" (Cinnamon roll day).³ After tasting them (plural) fresh from the oven, I can get behind this holiday. So don't expect me to work on October 4^th, unless the work is making fresh kanelbullens.

Yield and Preparation Tips

These rolls take longer to get outta bed and dressed in the morning than I do -- there is a lot of risin' and waitin' -- but they are worth it. However, if you have guests and want to present them with some hot rolls for breakfast before they pass out from hunger, you can always prepare unbaked rolls the night before.

This recipe makes about 9-10 rolls.

Ingredients

Dough:

1 package active dry yeast dissolved in ½ cup warm water (to activate)
1/3 cup white sugar
1 t baking powder + ½ t baking soda + 2 T flour + 3 T water (whisked together)
½ cup lukewarm soy or almond milk
1/3 cup shortening or Earth Balance
1 tsp salt
3 ½ cups flour

Filling:

¼ cup brown sugar
2 T slightly melted Earth Balance
2 tsp ground cinnamon
¼ cup tiny tiny walnut pieces

Glaze:

3/4 cup powdered sugar
1 tablespoon melted Earth Balance
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 T warm water

Mixing/Blending

In a medium mixing bowl, dissolve the yeast into the warm water to activate.
Stir in the rest of the ingredients except the flour. Then pour the flour in slowly until the dough can be handled easily.
Knead the dough for about 5 minutes until smooth and elastic.
Place the round dough in the bowl, covered with a damp cloth on top. Let this rise for 1.5 hours in a warm location.

Rolling, Rolling, and Rising

The dough is ready to roll once it has displayed its propensity to rise. Usually this means about double in size from when you left it 90 minutes ago.

On a lightly floured surface, use a rolling pin to roll out the dough to about 20” wide and 10” tall.
Mix the Filling together, then spread evenly onto the body of the dough.

Begin to roll from the 20” wide side, tightly.

Once rolled, cut into about 9 or 10 rolls.

Place rolls on a greased baking sheet, with some distance apart.

Rob made the premie-buns to the far left and right. Just kidding. These are the ends (still tasty and good for dieting).

Allow to rise for 40 minutes.

Baking

Bake at 350 degrees Fahrenheit for about 15-20 minutes (depending on your oven).
Remove and let cool.

Pre-glazed rolls

Glaze

Stir the Glaze ingredients together with a fork until smooth. Add more water if thinner glaze is desired. Pour over the rolls. Like so:

I kept this picture despite the 'black eye' suffered by the roll on the left.

Eating

Together, we ate 7 rolls in less than 30 minutes. This is not recommended.

Conclusion

Delicious. Soft, puffy, warm, sweet, cinnamon butter meltiness.

Optional:

You can gross us out and add raisins. Just don't invite us over for breakfast. Pecans would be a nice addition.

Citations

¹^{http://homecooking.about.com/od/foodhistory/a/cinnamonhistory.htm}

^{2 http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/1092443/cinnamon_rolls_the_sweet_sappy_truth.html?cat=37}

³ ^{http://www.kanelbullensdag.se/}

Avgolemono, or Lemono

2009-12-19T16:21:00.000-08:00

Intros and Inspirations

This really is the perfect wintery soup, though I first tasted it in the summertime. My Yaya (grandmother in Greek) was the first person who made Avgolemono for me. My brother and I called it “chicken-rice soup,” but Avgolemono literally means, “egg-lemon,” and was a playa in my eventual transition to veganism.

When I was around 12, we all went to the market and picked up some chickens for the soup. The chickens were tied together by their feet and thrown in the trunk. Afterward, they remained tied together, awaiting their soup-fate under the balcony. I remember somehow passing them up and then returning when I noticed how frightened they looked, all tied together and forgotten on the cement like that. Then, 'chop!' and my Yaya made the soup.

That day, I refused to eat it. This would be a great story of a heroic young Vegan of Arc except the next day I remembered a burrito I couldn't give up at Taco Time, and continued to eat animals. (Taco Time!) But it was this experience, along with many others, that would pave the way for my future as vegan-cupcake-maker and eater. And presently, as avgo-less Avgolemono soup maker.

History of Dish

It's Greek. Homer ate it.

Making

In our first installment of not re-inventing the vegan wheel, Hortamatic presents to you a recipe created elsewhere by another vegan, in this case, One Chubby Vegan. The recipe in entirety can be found here, awaiting your lemons:

http://onechubbyvegan.bravejournal.com/entry/27027

For the version I made (pictured here), I made the following changes:

No tamari or nutritional yeast
I added 1 teaspoon salt
Rather than at the end, I added a chopped Delight Soy chicken patty in the beginning with the broth, to better seep into the soup

Eating

And here he is, Hortamatic's biggest fan, while talking to his sister and enjoying the fire from our wood stove:

Optional:

Next time I would omit the fresh parsley. Yuck. Feel free to keep if you're not a parsley hater. Cilantro would be a nice addition though anti-Greek.

Conclusion

Delicious....creamy, zesty, filling...as I remembered it, without worrying about the chickens under the balcony.

The Salisbury Steak Challenge

2009-12-16T15:37:00.000-08:00

Syba says, "Where're the Greens?

Intros and Inspirations

Full disclosure: I cannot remember what a salisbury steak tasted like, apart from a hazy memory of a tv dinner I did not much like. However, Hortamatic has been challenged by food critic Joe (we'll call him Joe H.) to make salisbury steak, and thus, to defend her honor, accepted the challenge!

To discover what this steak was I reviewed several meat recipes, most of which included some form of gravy, ketchup, and oats. Bon appetite!

History of Dish

It appears that Salisbury Steak has had a bit of an identity problem throughout the ages, being insultingly called 'hamburger with gravy,' and so-on. The dish itself was created by Doctor Salisbury, who foreshadowed the loopy Adkins diet with his recommendation to eat his steak and less vegetables.¹ Dr. Salisbury was also convinced that “Diarrhea suffered by the troops could be controlled with a diet of coffee and lean chopped beefsteak.”² We honor him here today eating our salisbury without any greens and a double shot of espresso.

Yield

This recipe will make you about seven steaks. This is enough for two people if you are Rob and I, or three people if you eat normal, healthy portions.

Making the Steak

In a medium saucepan, boil 4 cups of water with 6 T soy sauce and 3 bay leaves
In a mixing bowl, measure out 1 cup of vital wheat gluten.
To this, add and stir together: 1 T garlic powder, 1 t fresh ground pepper, 1/8 t tumeric, 2 heaping T nutritional yeast flakes, 1 T ketchup, and 2 T oil (canola or olive)
Take 1/3 cup of the warm broth and stir it into the above mix.
Knead the resulting ball until firm (about 2 minutes).

Flatten the ball and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Place it in a pre-heated frying pan and sear on both sides for about 2 minutes each until brown and crispy.³

Remove seitan from frying pan and slowly plop into the awaiting broth.
Cook at a low simmer for 30 minutes, then flip and cook another 30 minutes.
During the last 10 minutes, add ¼ cup red lentils.⁴
When finished, strain out the lentils and retain the broth for your gravy.

Making the Gravy

In the meantime, don't just sit there and eat the biscotti you made for another post, start making your gravy.

In 2 T Earth Balance, saute ½ of a chopped onion and 1 cup chopped portobello (about 1 mushroom)
Add 1 T soy sauce, ¼ t thyme powder, and ¼ t sage powder. Stir well.
Once mushrooms are tender, about 5 minutes, add mixture of ¼ cup flour and ¼ cup corn starch and let cook for about a minute.
Slowly whisk in the strained broth to the mushroom mixture, keeping heat medium.
Cook and whisk for another 5 minutes, until gravy is bubbly and thick.

Putting the Salisbury Into the Steak

Now we're getting down to business. Into what Dr. Salisbury intended all those years ago. Get ready to kiss those runs goodbye.

Into your blender, put: 2 T ketchup (ew!), 2 T canola, and the reserved (shy) lentils.
Squeeze out your straining seitan, and add to blender.
Pulse the mixture several times until well blended like so. Pulse rather than blend because you want it to be like ground beef, not like a smoothie.

Vegan brains!

Scrape mixture into the mixing bowl you used earlier.
Add ¼ cup of oat flour and mix will. Now you are ready to form your patties.

Frying

Some bake, some fry. Tomayto, tomahto. I added about 2 T oil to my cast iron fry pan, shaped these into patties, then fried them for about 4 minutes each side.

Eating

All done! Serve with mashed potatoes, as we did (“Please don't add soymilk to me!” – Potatoes) or broccoli, green beans, and coffee. Both out of respect for Dr. Salisbury, and for Joe H., we omitted any greens even though it is the holiday season.

Conclusion

Whether or not this actually tastes like salisbury steak is up to you to decide, but Rob reports it did taste like the dish he remembers, only missing the green beans (and cardboard box).

Citations:

¹http://www.foodreference.com/html/artsalisburystk.html

²http://www.case.edu/artsci/dittrick/cemetery/stop9.htm

³ The searing seitan idea inspired by Vegan Lunchbox's Potroast recipe.

⁴Inspired by this wonderful site: http://www.myvegancookbook.com/recipes/recipe.php?id=50 . While you're at it, try his recipe! I have not, but it looks delicious.

Kale-a-kopita

2009-12-13T13:01:00.000-08:00

Kale-a-kopita is spanikopita's calcified cousin from Asia Minor. Kale grows like weeds here in Durham, NC, and when we had it in our garden I'd make this all of the time. Traditionally, spanikopita contains spinach and feta and is made with phyllo dough by my aunt Katie.

This version uses spring roll wrappers instead of phyllo dough, and an almond olive blend for the feta. Originally I used kalamata olives and crumbled tofu for the feta. Here I retained the olive/tofu mixture but also included inspiration from my friend's almond feta post.

Yield: Makes about 16 kale-a-kopitas.
Estimated Cost: $6 - $8 (about .38 - .50 cents per roll)

Preheat oven to 300 degrees F.

BLEND

First make your new and improved 'feta.' In your blender or food processor, deposit the following ingredients, then blend until smooth (there will still be tiny almond granules, that's OK).

½ cup almonds
½ cup water
1 T lemon juice
1 T tahini
¼ cup firm tofu (not silken)
¼ cup olive oil
2 t salt
¼ cup kalamata (preferred) or green olives
2 cloves garlic (or as you prefer)

Transfer the blend to a large mixing bowl, big enough to fit your chopped kale.

CHOP & ADD

To the above mix, add:

1 t oregano from the village mountains of your Greek father's home town (or store bought)
½ cup chopped leek (preferred) or onion
1 bunch kale, washed, drained, and chopped*
Optional: add 1 t dill weed

MIX & COAT

Now that your 'feta' is all cozy in the big bowl with the other ingredients, mix them all in using tongs. You will need to remix as you make the wraps to keep the liquid from remaining at the bottom of the bowl.

To coat your wraps, get a plate (a big serving plate works well) and place about ¼ cup of olive or canola oil on the plate, then:

Place one wrap on the oil, moosh it around, then flip it.
Take another wrap, and place it on top of this one to coat one side.
To coat the other side, flip this new wrap.
Then, take both wraps and flip them together upside down.
Repeat with about 5 wraps until the oil runs out. Now you are ready to stuff the first 5.

STUFF

Place about ½ cup of the mix onto the mid-corner of the wrap.

Flip the bottom corner over the wrap, then flip the left and right sides over the stuffing.

Roll it up, tucking the wrap as you go along under the rolled stuffing.

Place each roll on an ungreased non-stick sheet (you can grease if you'd like).

Keep going until the filling runs out. You will need to add more oil to the plate and repeat the coating step above once or twice.

BAKE

I like to sprinkle the finished wraps with garlic powder. You might not like that.

Place the finished sheet of wraps into your preheated oven and bake about 15 minutes until lightly brown and crispy at the top.

Remove and let cool for about 5 minutes.

* You can use spinach if you want. Also, I chop up the stems and add these to the mix. If you're serving more 'sensitive' (picky) guests, you might not want to use the base stems and retain those for other uses (such as throwing them at picky guests).

EAT

So good the bowl can fly.

Healthy or just hortamatastic?

Both. With both almonds and kale as a main ingredient, then adding tofu and tahini, you're getting a good dose of calcium. Tasty, too. By the end of this post, Rob and I had eaten them all.

Basic Pancakes

2009-12-12T10:00:00.000-08:00

Basic pancakes are simple. If you want something a little fancier and more interesting, there are some suggestions below. This recipe makes about eight small-medium sized pancakes.

Ingredients & Mixing

In your mixing bowl, mash up one banana (preferably ripe).
To this, mix in:

½ t salt
½ t baking soda & 2 t baking powder
2 T melted Earth Balance or canola oil
(Optional: add ¼ t ground cloves and ½ t cinnamon)

3. Add to the mix:

1 cup all purpose flour (you can substitute whole wheat pastry flour)
1 cup orange juice*, soy milk, or almond milk
1/8 cup water (omit for thicker pancakes)

4. Stir slightly until mixed.

5. Stir in ¼ - ½ cup walnuts, chopped.

* I have made these with water ONLY and they're still good. Fruit juice is best. You can also use other fruit juices. Any orange-ish blend such as peach juice will do. I have not used apple juice, but try it and let me know how it works. If it works well, gimme some of that pancake.

Cooking

Preheat a non-stick (I use cast iron) frying pan over medium-low heat and add ~2 T olive oil.
Once oil sizzles when you add a drop of batter, the pan is ready.
Add about ¼ cup of the batter to make each little medium pancake. My pan fits about four:

4. Cook for about 2-3 minutes, until bubbly, then flip for another 2 minutes or until it is cooked as you like it.

Now you will have very lonely, sad, and naked pancakes.

Meanwhile – Hats for your Pancake

Baseball Cap

Certainly you can go the traditional route and pour some of that real or pretend maple syrup on top of these guys. I prefer to cut up some fresh or frozen strawberries and heat them on low with agave nectar or maple syrup.

Top Hat

Spread them with Earth Balance if you'd like, though they are already oiled up nicely from the frying process.

French Beret

You can also grind up almonds, then lightly cook them with agave and earth balance for a most delicious and healthful calcium-y topping.

If I Were You Pancakes

Which I'm not. But if you want to try some other variations, this is for you. My typical pancake includes chopped apples and blueberries.

Try adding to the batter some of the following:

chopped apple (with skin is great I think)
blueberries
peaches
mangoes
orange or lemon zest
chocolate chips
cocoa powder
pecans
black strap molasses (full of iron, calcium, and potassium!)

Yellow Cake

2009-12-10T15:59:00.001-08:00

Today Hortamatic is taking on CAKE. How to veganize it properly?

Arguably, vegan bakery has greatly improved over the last five years. One of the challenges I initially experienced, however, was locating a piece of cake that did not crumble in dry bits upon meeting my fork.

The other challenge was finding a good vegan yellow cake recipe. It seemed that both bakeries and individuals had contracts with the cocoa growers to exclusively manufacture chocolate cake. I love chocolate as much as the next vegan, but give me a little yellow cake love, please.

A few years ago, while searching for Vasilopita recipes for a New Year’s party, I accidentally stumbled upon a cake recipe that required about 14 eggs. Not one to give up easily, I decided to take it on, Vegomagic-style. The resulting recipe can be adapted in various ways noted below so that you can eat more of it by celebrating virtually everything (holidays, birthdays, Thursdays, etc.).

The cake is moist, sweet, and undetectably vegan.

Enjoy!

HortaMatic Yellow Cake

Ingredients:

1 cup earth balance or other vegan margarine
2 cups white sugar
3 cups all purpose white flour
1 cup warm soymilk
1 Tablespoon fresh lemon juice
½ t salt
Fluffy stuff #1: 3 t baking powder, 1.5 t baking soda, 1/4 cup + 2 T flour, 1/2 cup + 4 T water
Fluffy stuff #2: 1/2 cup soy vanilla yogurt OR 1/2 cup orange juice; 1/4 cup coconut milk

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease a 10 inch round cake pan.

Mixing:

In a large bowl, cream the earth balance & sugar with a beater.
Stir in the flour & salt and mix until the mixture is mealy.
In a separate bowl, whisk the fluffy stuff #1 ingredients together until fluffy. The mixture will foam up like a rabid egg. Slowly mix this into the margarine/sugar mix.
Mix together then add the fluffy stuff #2 to the margarine/sugar mix.
Warm the soymilk, add the lemon to it, then fold this into the margarine/sugar mix.

Baking:

Pour the mixture into the greased pan. Bake for 45-50 minutes. Cool on the rack for 10 minutes before putting onto a plate.

Dressin’ ‘Er Up

Frost when cool. Optional: put a mixture in the middle of two cakes, such as Tofutti cream cheese and strawberries. Or a coconut cream mixture.

Frost with:

3 sticks of Earth Balance shortening & spread (2 sticks shortening to 1 stick spread is nice)
1 bag or box of confectioners’ sugar
1 t vanilla OR ½ t almond extract and 2 T cocoa powder
1-2 T of Coconut Milk fat (for added fluffyness)

Variations:

For a White Russian style cake, 1/2 replace the OJ or soy yogurt with Kaluha. Add 1 T vodka to t frosting.
For cupcake minis (see picture below) decrease baking time to 18 minutes.
To make chocolate minis, add 2 T cocoa powder to the mix.

Pantry or Cranky

2009-12-10T15:42:00.000-08:00

I get very cranky if my pantry is empty or missing critical players.

Baking

The question to ask is: if you were stranded on a dessert island, yes, dessert, what would you have on hand to keep the island bountiful with your favorite treats?

Earth Balance in all of its spreadable goodness

1) Earth Balance Spread = Butter

Sorry butter! See you later Crisco! Earth Balance sticks and tubs are all I need for good baking … cookies, biscuits, cakes.

I am baking powder.

2) Baking Soda & Powder = Eggs

Sorry egg! A simple substitution of powders readily available in all pantries has voted you off our island. Thanks to Dilip for this chemically natural wonder.

Here is the most simple way to replace an egg in baked goods:

One Egg: With a fork, whisk together:

1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
2 Tablespoons flour
3 Tablespoons water

TIP! For moist baked goods such as cakes or muffins, use the substitution above for 1/2 of the eggs in your recipe, then for the other half use soy yogurt, orange juice, coconut cream, bananas, or applesauce (depending on how subtle you want the flavoring to be — soy yogurt is the most subtle).

3) Coconut Milk

The fat from the can of Thai brand coconut milk can be used to make whip cream!

Fat! (Tip: You don't have to buy a 12-pack)

Not Baking

Following are a host of products that you will find useful and referred to throughout Hortamatic.

: Hi! I’m Bragg’s! I like hats!

Think dignified but kooky soy sauce. I use this for soups, gravies, and all sorts of stir fries. In fact, here is a quick gravy recipe:

1/2 onion
1/2 portobello or other mushroom
The rest as below.

Saute these in about 1 Tablespoon of Earth Balance until the onion is a little translucent.
Add about 3 Tablespoons of Bragg’s, to taste (more can be added later) and saute for 3 – 5 minutes, stirring often.
Sprinkle with about 1/4 cup flour. Stir all around.
Add about 1/8 cup corn starch to 1/2 cup water. Mix, then add to pan.
Add another cup or two or three of water until desired thickness. Whisk until thick.

I am totally guessing at the measurements here, folks, but the basic idea is here and I think you’ll make a fine gravy. If you don’t, send me pictures of your failed experiments.

2) Nutritional Yeast Flakes or Powder

: Friendly flakes.

Usually, when talking nutritional yeast (NY) you know, at parties and such, the first thing mentioned is their nutrition. What a way to kill the conversation! So for you, I am going to first exploit the other point about NY: it’s delicious when used responsibly. I’m talking creamy scrambles, potatoes au gratin, omelets, dips, and more. It’s cheesy and tangy.

And now for the soy whip cream on top: some, but not all, nutritional yeast contain B12.

And lastly, Why replace?