Snickerdoodles.... :)

Snickerdoodles

What you will  need:

All purpose flour, baking soda, cream of tartar, 

sugar, cinnamon sugar, egg replacer, vegan butter

Mix together your butter, sugar, and vanilla  (and meanwhile mix together your egg-replacer till it becomes frothy, see picture)

Blend in the egg-replacer to the creamed butter/sugar

VEGAN Fruity Pebbles Treats (oh yea)

YYYYYYYYYYYYYUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUMMMMMMMMMMM

K here's the deal, who in the entire universe doesn't like fruity pebbles.  So I wanted to up it a notch and make marshmallow treats.  The key thing here is to make sure that your ingredients are VEGAN.  Marshmallows are made with gelatin which -eh just look it up- isn't VEGAN. (I used Dandies, which taste amazing)

Ingredients: Fruity Pebbles, Vegan marshmallows, and soy margarine

(You make these just as you would rice krispies treats)

Melt the margarine and then add the marshmallows.  Keep stirring until all is melted together and add your cereal.

I lightly greased a piece of wax paper and poured out the mixture. Spread out until it is a little less than an inch thick.  You can always make then thicker but I wanted to make them into shapes for Christmas treats.

Wild Mushroom Puff (Beggars Purse)

Wild Mushroom Puff Pastry

Ingredients: Sauteed (plain) wild mushrooms, puff pastry, minced garlic, fresh thyme, soy margarine

This is super simple to make, that's why I heart puff pastry, you can just keep it in your freezer, thaw it out whenever and stuff it with either sweet or savory ingredients.

Thanks to leftover sauteed wild mushrooms from work that I so forgot about until I opened my fridge looking for something to throw together for lunch I had a quick beggars purse.

Thaw out pastry dough and stretch a bit, fill with the mushrooms that have been just sauteed plain, and top with fresh thyme.  Add minced garlic and that's it for the ingredients.

Cracker Crusted Eggplant

Cracker Crusted Eggplant

Last night was relax/movie/wine night for me after a long day, and I was STARVING, so in true fashion I started cooking before I even got my work shoes off.  

All I could scrap up was half of an eggplant, and a togo box with pretty basic crackers (like the kind they serve on a cracker and cheese tray.)  All I did was crunch up the crackers and added some flour, then seasoned with cajun seasoning.  For the dipping liquid I mixed soy milk with dijon mustard and made it kind-of thick so it would adhere to the eggplant.  Slice the eggplant semi-thin and dip in sauce.  Heat up a sautee pan (I used canola oil), just dip and coat with the cracker mixture then sautee (or fry lol depending what makes you feel better) until golden brown.

(I apologize for the lack of pictures, I think I was so hungry I didn't even think until after to take some pics)

SAUCE: As mentioned in an earlier post, I love to doctor basic jarred sauces because it saves you so much time, and you can save the jar for storing just about anything.

So, I microwaved some basic jarred marinara sauce with basil and thyme from my porch garden, soy margarine, minced garlic, dash of onion salt, and crushed red pepper flakes.

Buffalo Tofu

EASY Buffalo Tofu (literally takes minutes)

Ingredients: Vegan (Soy) Margarine,

 Favorite Hot Sauce, Extra Firm Tofu,

garlic powder (optional), Vegetable Oil

This is seriously super easy when you want that buffalo fix (I actually need those).  Simply sautee your tofu in a pan until just a bit browned, sprinkle with a little garlic powder.

Meanwhile, melt soy margarine in microwave, then mix with your hot sauce, add more or less depending on how spicy you like your food.

Toss with tofu and enjoy!

Yummy Baked Sweet Potato Fries

Sweet Potato Fries with a Maple Glaze

Ingredients: Sweet Potatoes, 

Cayenne Pepper, Dijon Mustard, 

Vegetable Oil (or EVOO),

 & Maple Syrup

Clean (scrub) your sweet potatoes (you can skin them if you like but I 

kinda like them with the skin on.)  Cut into 1/4-1/2 inch strips.

Turn on oven to 375 degrees, and  have an oiled baking sheet ready...

In a bowl mix maple syrup with Dijon mustard then toss so to evenly coat the fries.  Spread out fries on baking sheet and sprinkle with Cayenne pepper.  BAKE :)

ENJOY:)

Roasted Tomato Soup with Basil Dumplings

Whether it's hot or cold outside, bundling up with a bowl of tomato soup is an all time favorite. 

 I didn't have any bread for that crusty slice of french bread that is pretty much a mandatory side to the soup- so I got a bit creative...AND...being that I have been cooking so much the fresh Sweet Basil I grow-my garden is a bit spare, so I needed some added basil  flavor.  Ta-da- Basil Dumplings (using the dried basil in my pantry).

You'll NEED: can small diced tomatoes, garlic, all purpose flour, dried basil, fresh basil, vegetable broth, olive oil, vegan butter, soymilk, salt and pepper. (I think thats all)

Drain your can of diced tomatoes and keep the juice for the soup later...spread out on a cooking sheet and season w/salf and pepper, drizzle some EVOO, and roast at 450 for 15-20 minutes.

MEANWHILE, make the basil dumplings...

I literally just threw together some flour with enough water, a pinch of salt, and a good bit of dried basil.  Until I formed a dough ball, roll it out into tubes the width you want, and simply cut in pieces (kinda looks like gnocchi).  TIP: If you are not ready to cook the dumplings (see below), wrap in plastic wrap and let sit in fridge:)

TIME FOR THE SOUP...mmmmmmmnnn

Spicy Rasberry Cream Cheese Dip

Great dip for any occasion... 

All you need is: 8 oz vegan cream cheese, rasberry jam, spicy salsa/chipolte salsa

SUPER EASY:

Just put the cream cheese in a small serving dish, mix 1/2 cup or the salsa with 1/2 cup jam and top the cream cheese.  

Goes PERFECT with Fritos :) happy Holidays*.*

**Peach Pie**

So I heart the taste of warm peach cobbler (just as much as the gooey center of home-made banana bread), and the Peach Pie I made as one of my (vegan) contributions this Thanksgiving came out about 100x than expected!

Getting Started: Peaches (if you do use store bought canned peaches, make sure that you let them drain out on a paper towel so that most of the syrup/juice is gone,) unbleached flour, cornstarch, brown sugar, granulated sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg, vegan butter (Earth Balance,) and 2 pie shells (check ingredients:) )

MEANWHILE...preheat oven to 375 and warm up what will be your bottom pie shell so that it gets just a hint of golden brown.  Let the other shell thaw enough so that you can lay in flat and eventually cut it into strips for the lattice.

Mix the dry ingredients with your vegan butter until it resembles large breadcrumbs...

"AND THEN......."