Okay, first things first: here are two recipes I promised.Pumpkin-Pecan Oatmeal Raisin Pudding
Serves 1
1 cup cooked quick oats
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ginger
1/8 teaspoon nutmeg
1/16 teaspoon ground cloves (1/4 of your 1/4 teaspoon measure)
1/2 teaspoon blackstrap molasses
1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 tablespoons roughly chopped pecans
1/4 cup canned pumpkin
2 tablespoons raisins
1 cup unsweetened soymilk
sweetener to taste (I only used 1 teaspoon agave nectar, but I would have liked the final product to be much sweeter. Next time I'll try 2 teaspoons to 1 tablespoon maple syrup or turbinado sugar.)
Note: If you use sucanat or brown sugar as your sweetener, you may omit the blackstrap molasses! These types of sugars are already molasses-y.To make 1 cup cooked oats, microwave 1 cup water and 1/2 cup quick oats on high for 1 minute and 30 seconds in a microwave safe bowl with all ingredients except pecans and soymilk. Combine cooked mixture with soymilk in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Bring to a boil and then turn down heat. Simmer uncovered – stirring occasionally – for 20 minutes, or until oatmeal reaches desired thickness. Remove pan from heat and sprinkle with pecans.
Note:
If you aren't using unsweetened soymilk, you might want your breakfast to be even sweeter. Listen to your taste buds and sweeten to taste!
Nutty Fig & Banana Oatmeal
Serves 1
1/2 cup quick oats, dry
1/2 cup bananas, sliced
1 tablespoon almond butter or other nut butter
1 dried Turkish fig
1/2 teaspoon blackstrap molasses
1/4 teaspoon pure vanilla extract (not imitation)
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon or dash pumpkin pie spice
Combine quick oats, 1/2 cup water, molasses, vanilla, and cinnamon or pumpkin pie spice in a microwave-safe bowl and heat in microwave for 45 seconds on high power. Use your fingers to tear fig into small chunks, add to bowl, and microwave for another 45 seconds. After cooking, stir in the bananas. Lightly swirl in almond butter or keep all the almond butter on your spoon as you breakfast. (This way the luscious taste will not get lost in the mass of oats! You will have almond-y taste in every bite.) Enjoy this decadent yet nutritious breakfast – the molasses and vanilla really add the depth that a plainer bowl of oatmeal just doesn’t have!
Variations:
I've also tried combining the microwaved oatmeal with 1/2 cup soymilk on the stove. Bring to a boil, and turn down the heat to a simmer until oatmeal reaches the desired consistency. Add your bananas and nut butter afterwards. This version is a lot creamier and more pudding-y!
Test Driving the New Belgian Waffle Maker
For Christmas, I got a Belgian waffle maker! It's been at my aunt's house all semester - until this week. I made waffles the morning after my beloved machine entered my dorm room.
Day one: Pumpkin Waffles from Vegan with a Vengeance rock! I topped the waffles with a drizzle of macadamia nut butter, sliced bananas, and pecans.
After my first bite of banana mixed with waffle, I decided the tastes didn't go together too well, and I proceeded to eat every banana slice before continuing to eat the actual waffle.
Mr. Waffle was much more enjoyable after that. These are so good! Here you can see my macadamia nut butter.
Day two: I have learned my lesson and bananas are not touching my pumpkin waffles, not ever again! Hehe, having pumpkin waffles two mornings in a row is the best! I am the most spoiled college student on campus with this breakfast. I love my Belgian waffle maker...
Any time is the right time for cookies!
I think my Sparkled Ginger Cookies from Vegan with a Vengeance are so dark because I used blackstrap molasses instead of what the recipe called for: plain molasses. I'm used to the taste of blackstrap molasses, and it really packs a punch of calcium and iron, so these cookies were yummy! I didn't roll them out, so they were super thick. Next time, I'll make them flatter so I can have a larger number of thin cookies. More cookies = infinitely better.
VeggieGirl posted a recipe a while back for Almond-Butter-Hemp Cookies. I love almond butter, but I happened to have a brand-new baby jar of macadamia butter ready to be used. So I made Macadamia-Butter-Hemp cookies. Ever since my Valentine's Day treat of a peanut butter cookie from Chicago Diner, I had been in the mood for another nut butter cookie. This time I figured I'd make my own!
While macadamia butter is expensive and has less calcium and protein than almond butter, it's very delicious. To me, it tastes like a cross between peanut butter and almond butter. I really, really, really liked these cookies, and these are now designated as my "special treat" cookies - the cookies I will make on those days where I really deserve a cookie. Check out VeggieGirl's recipe, and you'll also see that these cookies contain hempmilk - yum! P.S. These cookies taste amazing dunked in a soy latte (decaf). I don't know how I've been eating cookies for so long without a soy latte by their side!
Yay for sugar, spice, and everything nice! Waffles, cookies, and oatmeal certainly fit this description.
Oatmeal. Yum. More about that later. First, I must tell you about my wonderful ethnic cuisine experiences from today and yesterday!I was really in the mood for chocolate at lunchtime today. So I shuttled my way into town and stopped at a Mediterranean cafe that I'd passed many times with curiosity. I informed the cashier (who I believe was the owner) of my vegan-ness, and immediately he began spouting off all the menu items I could have. But I had chocolate coffee on the brain, and I asked about the Arabian Mocha on the coffee bar menu. The owner said he had soymilk, and the chocolate was dairy-free. Yee-haw! And entree-wise, he pretty much decided what I was going to have. He was just one of those types of managers, really fun and warm but very confident about his food. He said, "I'm making you Baba ghanouj." I was so excited because never before have I tried Baba Ghanouj, an eggplant dip similar to hummus. My much-anticipated mocha was delivered first.
Wow! As soon as I stuck my nose near the glass, I could smell cardamom, and lots of it. I was so proud that I could identify the spice, haha. I really like the idea of putting a hot coffee drink in a heavy-duty clear glass instead of a mug. It looks prettier. But I digress. The mocha was unlike any other I have had before! It had a thick crema on top, but was made with Turkish coffee. It was incredibly strong and concentrated; traditionally mochas are made with espresso, but the menu said it was coffee. I was thankfully that the drink was deeply chocolate-y, but not overly sweet. Dark, dark chocolate is the best! This was a big glass, which excited me because it lasted my entire meal, but four and a half hours later, I still have a few jitters left over from drinking it. 
The verdict? I really like Baba ghanouj! For some reason, the owner decided to include puddles of olive oil on top of the dip, so I just avoided that. I knew there was already oil on the pita triangles and pureed into the dip! By the way, I think this meal encompasses my favorite food combinations: a hot chocolate or mocha paired with dip and pita bread is so comforting and delicious. Ahhh. I didn't go hungry on Valentine's Day. Do you need proof?
There's your proof. My local Whole Foods and Wild Oats stores carry baked goods from Chicago Diner, the famous vegan eatery. This Peanut Butter Cookie was the best cookie I've ever had in my life, vegan or not, and nothing could complement it better than a soy hot chocolate (top right corner; made with Ah-laska dairy-free cocoa mix). I'd also have to say the size of this cookie could rival any other cookie I've had in my life. It was gigantic. Two-thirds of the way through I decided it was so good I had to photograph it for the blog. The cookie was still moist and soft from being baked in Chicago, and I microwaved it for 15 seconds: It tasted just-out-of-the-oven fresh and radiated with cozy warmth. The rest of you may have enjoyed homemade baked goods on V-Day this year, but I so thoroughly enjoyed this cookie that I would not have traded it for any other dessert. It's one of the those foods up there in the running with Isa's Fauxstess Cupcake and Isa and Terry's Chocolate Chip Brownie Waffles, my other two most favorite foods posted about on my blog.Now, let us continue with the ethnic fun!
Sorry for the blurry picture, but I felt obligated to protect the innocent by not including their faces on the blog (and thus I cropped the picture). But that's me on the left, about to enjoy my Ethiopian feast! The awesome thing about dining Ethiopian-style in a group is that you all eat from the same plate! No one uses utensils - you just scoop up the food by tearing off little pieces of injera, a spongy, pancake-like flatbread made from teff flour, and dipping. And the best part was all of our food was vegan, even though no one else at our table of 6 was even vegetarian! Since it was Friday, some people were observing Lent and couldn't eat meat, so we decided to only order vegetarian food. Again, the waitress said everything we ordered was vegan, and before the meal someone made a remark about how they would die without meat. However, I am confident in saying that every person at the table highly enjoyed our Ethiopian experience, which just so happened to also be vegan. Veganism is not deprivation if you do it right!!!Oh, did I tell you some oatmeal was coming up? Well. I tricked you! I didn't mean to, but... This post is entirely too long to include my two new recipes, but they will surely, definitely, most certainly be in the next one. I cross my vegan heart. I'll leave you lovely, loyal, dear readers with this to satiate your anticipation:
It's a raw brownie! It didn't stick together like it was supposed to - it should have plopped right out of the tray. It's my fault. I should have seen the signs: It came out of the blender all crumbly, when it should have been sticky. But I tried it, and it was so fabulous! It had a great flavor. I made a 1/4 batch of this recipe. Sooo good, and quite nutritious too. Can you believe a brownie could only have four ingredients? I'll know better next time, and I'll either soak my raisins to make them plumper and juicier or add some agave nectar to make it more adhesive.
Here they are, my first dorm kitchen pancakes! I wasn't sure how well they would work using a pan from a different kitchen, but the non-stick pan never fails me in the world of pancakes. (P.S. That's the secret to awesome pancakes!!) These were so good! With the deep flavor of blackstrap molasses, these subtly sweet pancakes tasted kind of like luscious, healthy gingerbread cookies! Would you like your own serving size of these Nutty Fig Molasses Pancakes? Well, you're in luck:
Nutty Fig Molasses Pancakes
Adapted from Vegan with a VengeanceServes 1 (yields 3 pancakes)4 tablespoons whole wheat pastry flour
1 tablespoon quick oats
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
pinch salt
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 tablespoon canola oil
4 teaspoons water
1/4 cup + 1 tablespoon soymilk
1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 tablespoon blackstrap molasses
1 dried Turkish fig
1 tablespoon walnuts, roughly choppedMist a big non-stick pan with cooking spray and preheat on medium-high for a couple minutes.Combine whole wheat pastry flour (I do it in tablespoons to avoid clumping instead of with a 1/4 cup measure [then you don't have to sift the flour]), oats, salt, baking powder, and cinnamon in a cereal-size bowl. In a teacup-sized bowl or mug, combine oil, soymilk, water, vanilla, and molasses. Add the wet ingredients to the dry, mixing lightly to combine. Do not overmix. Tear the fig into smallish pieces with your fingers and throw it into the batter along with the chopped walnuts.At this point, I turn the heat down to just below medium. Using a 1/4 cup measure, ladle out batter onto the pan. You should have just enough batter to fit all three pancakes into the pan - perfect! Cook pancakes until browned (and slightly dry) around the edges and bubbles appear on top. Just before you flip each pancake, lightly mist the pan surface underneath with cooking spray. Cook other side until bottoms are browned and surface begins to firm. Relocate to serving plate. Top with yumminess of your choice! (I heated a mixture of 1/4 cup mashed bananas and 1/2 teaspoon agave nectar in the microwave for my topping.)
Moving on... I eat at the cafe where I work for lunch four days out of the school week. This is by no means a vegan cafe, so I wanted to show you how I manage to feed myself at lunchtime. This particular day was one of those days I got really lucky!
Our menu changes daily, and I saw that we had a creamy butternut squash and sweet potato soup coming up. I asked the chef if he would save a little soup for me before he added the butter and cream. He makes vegetarian soups every day, but often (as in 99% of the time) will add butter or cream to vegetarian dishes so that they are inedible for poor little vegans. Every once in a while, though, he'll surprise me and say, "I made something vegan today!" So, he made the huge batch of soup the day before it was to be served - without adding any butter or cream - and he also tried it himself. He kept exclaiming how good it was without the cream and dairy, and about how pleased he was with how it turned out! But by the next day, the soup appeared in the cafe all creamed and dairy-ed up. I still thoroughly enjoyed the vegan portion he had saved and set aside for me: it was thick with orange vegetable goodness!
I also lucked out with some vegan meatloaf that day. I believe it was made by Match Foods. It was my first time to have "meatloaf" (and I've never had the meat version, either). I have to say I was quite frightened when I first bit into it! The texture and taste were so similar to real meat that I was afraid that I had gotten the real thing by mistake! (But it was vegan, no worries.) It was super delish dipped in some nummy to my tummy vegan tomato gravy, and I had steamed carrots and organic, crusty French bread on the side. Mmm! I worked on the hot line that day and convinced a lot of people to try the meatless "meatloaf" - and they liked it!
I also managed to do a lot of cooking this weekend. I tried a recipe for Caramelized Tofu with Pecans and Brussels Sprouts, which I served over a bed of nutty quinoa. This was sooo good! The recipe came from 101cookbooks.com.
I didn't have any brown sugar, so I did the great swap-a-roo of turbinado sugar plus blackstrap molasses. I think this made it even yummier than it would have been with brown sugar! The molasses formed a crunchy, mildly sweet layer around the tofu, and it added a great dimension to the taste of the crushed pecans, too. Wow-ee wow wow! This dinner made me very happy. You should try it. :)
I've been making a lot of new and exciting combinations for oatmeal breakfasts. Coming up soon, I shall share! I promise not too stay away from blogging for too long this time though, hehe.
Guess who didn't have school on Friday?That's right! Me! My university was shut down on Friday for a snow day, which meant I didn't have to work, either. So I had Friday and all weekend to relax. You'd think I would be very happy then, right? Well, for some reason I'm still feeling down, and I just can't shake it.
This guy helped. But only a little.Now, a preface:I have always hated cupcakes. As in, gross gross, ick ick. Sure, I've seen some pretty pictures of cupcakes on many blogs, but I never got around to trying a vegan cupcake or even making one myself. But after I had my first bite of this guy, my mind was forever changed. I realized, I don't hate cupcakes because they're gross. I hate cupcakes because I've never had a good one before! The cupcake pictured is none other than Isa Chandra Moskowitz's Fauxstess Cupcake, her classic take on the famous Hostess cupcake. I bought the cupcake from a vegetarian restaurant that's really far away from my school, and I don't go very often for that reason. It's quite the haul to get there. But the funny thing is that the restaurant passes off this cupcake as "their" specialty. Too bad I suspected it came from Vegan with a Vengeance as soon as I saw it, and I knew as soon as I tasted it. This is a kick-ass cupcake, and now I won't have to go back to the restaurant to get it because I already have the recipe! The batch had just come out of the oven and the ganache was still warm when they served it to me. Isa's recipe says to let the ganache set by cooling the cake in the refrigerator, but I'm not going to do that, ever, because it tasted so good warm. Sigh. I have a new favorite dessert. Le Fauxstess Cupcake... This tops cheesecake (yes, even dairy cheesecake).
I made Kristen's Heavenly Cookies yesterday! They're the first raw dessert I've ever made, and they are fabulous. No, heavenly. Her title is pretty accurate, I'd say. Sign up for her newsletter if you want the recipe - they're her little secret and are not posted on her blog. I made three cookies by quartering the recipe. What's also great about these cookies is that they made me like coconut! I hated it before, possibly because it was too sweet. Well, unsweetened coconut solves that problem!
When JD posted a recipe for Oatmeal Raisin Cookie Oatmeal, I knew it would only be a matter of time before I tried it. Today was that day. An aerial view:
I adjusted some of the quantities in the recipe and made it into a pudding, since that's my favorite way to have oatmeal these days. I also sprinkled some hemp granola on top, which I wish I hadn't done because it was distracting. But otherwise... Yum, I'm making this again! I might edit this post and include my recipe later.
I cannot thank Katie enough for inventing oatmeal pudding! Thank you, thank you, a million times thank you!I was craving Indian food so that's what I had today.
I got this Aloo Gobi from a restaurant, as I've never before attempted to cook Indian food myself. "Aloo" means potatoes, and "gobi" means cauliflower. Logically, this was a cauliflower-potato dish seasoned with herbs and spices. I had to get some naan, too. I love that stuff.
So, all of the food I've shown you so far looked pretty decent, right? It doesn't look like I'm doing too shabby. ...Until you see this:
Of all the free time I had this week, this is all I came up with for dinner. Sooo pathetic. I'm ashamed. A can of Campbell's tomato soup made with unsweetened soymilk. I bought the baguette (at least it's a 100% whole grain one). But I'm poor right now - the only groceries I got were ingredients for baking cookies and muffins, which I paid for with the remainder of a Whole Foods gift card. I had two extremely expensive meals out this weekend (think $13 to $16 for one person!), so being extravagant pretty much exhasted my already-dwindling bank account. But, not even considering that...
I'm still feeling just crappy in general about myself... Food may nourish the soul, but only temporarily. Even the best cupcake in the world can't solve the deeper problems. So wish me luck. I'll need it to face a whole 'nother week of school.
