Vegan Feast (Gluten-Free, too!)

My sister came to visit this past week.  She and I spent a few hours cooking vegan treats and recipes we'd been wanting to try.  Here is our spread...

After waiting a couple hours to become hungry again (the best thing about making vegan cookies is the ability to eat the raw batter), we feasted with Nick.  During our post-meal lethargy, we reviewed all of the recipes and rated them.  Here is what we came up with...

In the sweets department:

1st Place:  Veganomicon's Orange Chocolate Chocolate Chip Cookies: Slightly crunchy outside, gooey inside.  The chocolate and orange flavors really complimented each other. 

2nd Place: Oh She Glow's Coconut Macaroon Thumbprints with Raspberry Chia Seed Jam:  Sweet, salty and crunchy.  Reminded me of Samoa Girl Scout cookies. 

3rd Place: Veganomicon's Jelly Doughnut Cupcake: Last only because something had to be last... Kira loved this but I was only so-so... I am not a cupcake person nor am I a huge jam person.

In the non-sweets department:

1st Place: Chef Chloe's Black Bean Sliders: This vegan "burger" turned Kira into a veggie burger person.  And that's a big deal!  It has all the flavor of traditional Mexican food but in a burger form.  

2nd Place: Roasted Chickpeas: I had heard of this as a healthy snack and decided to try it.  I think they needed to roast a bit longer and I will do that next time.  But they were a good snack while we made the rest of the food. 

3rd Place: Edible Perspective's Cauliflower Chickpea Puree: This spread was like a light hummus.  I thought it was a bit underseasoned... Next time I'll use less cauliflower. 

And here's the recipes!  We tweaked them a bit, so I will write in what we actually used.

Orange Chocolate Chocolate Chip Cookies 

2 cups all-purpose gluten-free flour (We used Trader Joe's)

2/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
2/3 cup coconut oil
1 cups sugar
4 teaspoons ground flaxseeds
1/2 cup almond milk
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
3 teaspoons finely grated orange zest
3/4 cup vegan chocolate chips

Instructions

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and coat two baking sheets with coconut oil.
2. Combine all dry ingredients into a large bowl, and mix with a fork to combine.
3. Add the sugar and coconut oil into another large bowl, and stir with a fork until combined. Add the almond milk, vanilla extract, flaxseed, and orange zest. Mix well with a fork.
4. Add the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients, stirring with a fork to combine after each addition. If it gets too dry, use your hands. Once all the ingredients are combined, fold in the chocolate chips.
5. Use a tablespoon to drop it onto the baking sheets, leaving one inch between each cookie because they'll spread.
6. Bake for 10 minutes. 

Coconut Macaroon Thumbprints with Raspberry Chia Seed Jam

1.5 cups shredded coconut
1 cup almond meal/flour

1/2 tsp fine grain sea salt

1/4 cup agave

1/4 cup coconutoil, softened

1 tsp pure vanilla extract

For the chia seed jam (we cheated)

1/2 cup raspberry jam

1 tbsp chia seeds

Instructions:

1. For the chia seed jam: Combine raspberry jam and chia seeds and let sit for a few minutes.
2. Preheat oven to 275 and coat a baking sheet with coconut oil.
3. In a large bowl, combine the coconut, almond flour (or meal), and salt.
4. Melt the coconut oil over a very low heat.
5. Add agave, coconut oil, and vanilla into the dry mixture and stir very well until combined. The dough will be very wet and sticky, but this is normal.
6. Grab a couple tablespoons of dough at a time with your hands and drop it onto the baking sheet. With a wet finger, press a well into the middle and lightly shape the outsides if necessary. Repeat for the rest. Fill each well with jam. The macaroons don’t spread out so there’s no need to space them far apart.
7. Bake at 275 for 20 minutes. Rotate the pan and bake for another 10-20 minutes (We baked for 40 minutes total) until the bottoms are lightly golden and browned, but not burned. They burn easily, so keep them on the top rack and maybe even reduce the oven heat a bit.

Jelly Doughnut Cupcakes

1 cup almond milk 1 teaspoon apple cider vinegar 2 tablespoons potato starch 1 1/2 cups gluten-free all-purpose flour 3/4 teaspoon baking powder 1/2 teaspoon baking soda 1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg 1/2 teaspoon salt 1/3 cup coconut oil 2/3 cup granulated sugar 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract About 1/3 cup raspberry jam

Instructions:

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
2. Pour the almond milk, vinegar and potato starch into a measuring cup and set aside.
3. If using a muffin pan, line it with paper liners (we used silicone cupcake molds)
4. In a large mixing bowl, combine the flour, baking powder, baking soda, nutmeg and salt. Create a well in the center if the flour to pour your wet ingredients into.
5. Stir the almond milk mixture with a fork to dissolve the cornstarch, then pour into the flour mixture. Add the oil, sugar, and vanilla. Stir until well combined.
6. Fill the cupcake liners about 3/4 full with batter. Place a heaping teaspoonful of jam on the center of each cupcake. You don’t need to press down in the jam or do anything else; the baking will take care of all of that and it will sink in.
7. Bake for 21 to 23 minutes. The tops should be firm.
8. Remove from the oven and let cool completely on wire racks

Black Bean Burgers

4 tablespoons olive oil, divided 1 onion, finely chopped 1 (15-ounce) can black beans, rinsed and drained 1 small carrot, peeled and finely diced or shredded (about ½ cup) ½ cup frozen corn kernals ½ cup cornmeal ½ cup breadcrumbs 1 tablespoon chili powder 1 teaspoon sea salt ½ cup chopped fresh cilantro ¼ cup water

Instructions:

1. In a large nonstick skillet, heat 2 tablespoons oil over medium heat. Add onions and let cook until tender and slightly caramelized, about 20 minutes. Transfer onions to a large bowl. Reserve skillet for later use.
2. Add beans, carrots, cornmeal, breadcrumbs, chili powder, salt, cilantro, and water to the bowl of onions. Use a large spoon or your hands to mash it all together. If the mixture is too dry to hold together, add more water, 1 tablespoon at a time.
3. Using your hands, form the bean mixture into patties, to match the size of your slider buns. In the reserved nonstick skillet, heat remaining 2 tablespoons oil over medium-high heat, and pan-fry patties about 3 minutes on each side, until lightly browned and crisp. Add more oil to the skillet as needed. Drain patties on paper towels.
4. After this, I baked mine in the oven for 10 minutes because I found the insides of the burgers to be a bit too moist

Roasted Chickpeas

1 (15 ounce) can of chickpeas

2 tablespoons olive oil

2 tablespoons nutritional yeast

1 teaspoon garlic powder

½ teaspoon of salt

½ teaspoon of pepper

1 pinch of cayenne pepper

Instructions:

1. Preheat oven to 375F
2. Drain and rinse chickpeas
3. In a bowl, combine chickpeas with all other ingredients
4. Spread out on pan and bake for 15-20 minutes

Cauliflower Chickpea Puree

1 head cauliflower, core removed + chopped 1 can cooked chickpeas 1/2 cup unsweetened almond milk 1 tablespoon Earth Balance buttery spread 1/2 tablespoon dried oregano 1 teaspoon dried basil 3/4 teaspoon salt 1/2 teaspoon black pepper 3 cloves garlic, pressed

1 pinch of cayenne pepper

2 tablespoons lemon juice

Instructions:

1. Steam the cauliflower until very tender (15 minutes or so).
2. Place in a blender or food processor with all other ingredients, starting with 1/2 cup milk.
3. Blend or process until smooth.
4. Taste and add more salt/pepper/spices if desired and blend again

Enjoy!

Small Steps

“Little by little, one travels far.”

- J.R.R. Tolkien  

Cheese

I have been on and off vegan for the past two and a half years.  Most of 2011 I was "on" and a good portion of last year was "off".   I was doing it for health reasons.  Honestly, I never thought about animal cruelty until 5 years ago.  Having been raised vegetarian, I turned a blind eye to PETA and other animal rights organizations because I thought I was already doing the right thing.  

Until I read this article, I was only vegan due to my natural aversion to milk and eggs, as well as my hereditary high cholesterol   After reading this article, I decided to research the dairy, wool, down, silk and leather industries.  What I have discovered is shocking and horrifying.

I don't want to tell anybody what to do.  Instead, I am just going to spread the information that has opened my eyes and changed my diet for good. 

--

I Couldn’t Give Up Cheese, So I Gave Up Animal Cruelty Instead

POSTED ON FEBRUARY 17, 2012 BY JO

I used to think I could never give up cheese. After all, it was my very favorite food. When my husband and I would eat out at fancy restaurants, I wouldn’t even look at the entrées or desserts; I’d just order the cheese plate. Brie, havarti, gouda, goat, stilton, gorgonzola, feta…I loved them all. I remember one time (before I knew the truth about animal agriculture) I went to a local bookstore and was flipping through a copy of Joel Fuhrman’s Eat To Live.  I was reading along, nodding in agreement as he described a diet which contained no meat, no fish, no eggs, no oil…and then I saw it: no cheese. Huh? Say again? What kind of joyless doctrine of abstention is this?  Fuuuhggit about it.

I quickly slammed the book shut and returned it to the shelf.

But then, soon after, three things happened:

#1 I learned that the dairy industry drives the veal industry. Just like humans, female cows need to give birth in order to produce milk. So the dairy industry is, by necessity, a baby-making industry. But only female calves are useful to dairy farmers. The males are considered unwanted byproducts, and are typically killed on site or sold at auction to veal producers. The mothers mourn and bellow for their stolen babies. I’ve seen footage of terrified, days-old calves with wobbly knees and their umbilical cords still attached being dragged by their ears onto the auction floor and it’s something I’ll never forget.

Once sold, they are confined to tiny crates designed to restrict their movement and fed an intentionally iron deficient diet of artificial milk supplements so their muscles won’t develop and their flesh will retain the pale, soft quality preferred by “gourmands.”  For a basic (non-graphic) overview of veal farming, click here.

At first, I believed this must only happen on large factory farms. My initial thought was that I might be able to avoid these cruel practices by buying “local” or “organic.” I did lots of research and even spoke in person with a couple dairy farmers in my community (hoping for reassurance). One told me that yes, they sold the calves for veal and acknowledged that it “upsets a lot of people.” Another told me she couldn’t bear to do it, so she bought an extra lot to allow the calves to just live there. I asked her how long she thought she’d be able to financially support those calves, since they consume a lot of resources and she would keep adding new calves every year.  And since cows can live for 20 years or more, I wondered how many “extra lots” was she prepared to buy in order to provide space for them all? She had no answers, and it was clear that her “solution” to this problem was unviable and unrealistic.

A friend in a more rural part of the country even told me about ads for “free calves” posted by local dairy farmers on craigslist. That’s what it’s come to. I’ve learned that there’s just no getting around it: when we’ve “got milk,” we’ve got dead baby cows. And dead mothers, too… eventually.

#2  I discovered that many cheeses are not even vegetarian since they contain rennet. Rennet is extracted from the stomach chambers of slaughtered young, unweaned calves. Ironically, the stomachs are a by-product of the veal industry.  (Although there are vegetarian forms of rennet, it is more commonly sourced from animals.)  So basically, cheese is made by mixing mothers’ milk with pieces of their dead babies’ stomachs.  If that’s not enough to turn someone off cheese, I don’t know what is.

#3 I learned how dairy cows are impregnated, and what happens to them once they’re “spent.” Their bodies are often so ravaged by the time they are slaughtered that their meat is only “good enough” for dog food, cheap tv dinners and stews. Many are lame with illness and disease, and have to be dragged or pushed to slaughter with forklifts. These animals are known as downers.

I recognize that cheese is addictive and for many people, giving it up can be difficult. If you find yourself craving animal cheese, remember that it’s just temporary and it will pass. In time, you’ll likely find that you don’t miss it in the least. For me, what ultimately helped was changing my way of thinking. I didn’t think of “giving up cheese,” rather, I thought of “giving up animal cruelty.” And that made all the difference.

If a former certifiable cheese-junkie like me can go vegan, there’s hope for you, too.

Source

Into the Wild