Veg of the Week

...Keeping it simple.

This week was a busy week, and I found myself thankful to have random food options around the house. For example, on a busy morning before work, I threw some spinach and a frozen Morning Star veggie pattie, banana and a cutie clementine, and some oil and vinegar salad dressing into my lunch bag and rushed out the door. All of that was easy stuff to grab. It may not have been the fanciest lunch ever, but it was yummy and satisfying.

Simple, yet filling salad- veggie pattie, as much spinach as you want, and 1-2 tbsp of dressing. I would have liked some veggies in it, but life doesn't always go that smoothly! I ate a bunch of it before I remembered to take a pic...

Then, by the end of the week, I still just had a bunch of random items in the fridge that I had bought for other meals and not used all of. So another opportunity for a salad came about! I get bored with salad sometimes, and like to throw in fun twists for unique flavors. I had some spinach...

Some carrots, red peppers, tomatoes...

Some Gardein brand vegan buffalo "chicken" pieces (which were SOO GOOD MMM!!!)

The directions said to cook them on stove top in one Tbsp of oil, but I just used a little water in the pan. I don't like using oil all the time, it's really not necessary for certain things!

I threw all my ingredients into my just-emptied spinach container, sprinkled a few pinches of Daiya brand vegan cheese on top, and threw in two tbsp of barbecue sauce. This is what I mean by adding unique flavors- the buffalo flavor from the Gardein pieces plus the bbq sauce is so fun and different for a "salad!"

I put the lid on this and shook it all up...

And chowed downnnn...!

Yum. And Veg. Yay.

For dessert...I had this ice cream made with coconut milk in the freezer and had yet to try it. This was the first time I'd ever had it. Dairy free, woohoo! Pomegranate with chocolate chunks has been a favorite of mine in terms of the more popular dairy ice creams...I thought if I wanted to start cutting out dairy from my diet I just wouldn't be able to have it anymore.

I was WRONG!

Oh. M. Geeee. For reals. It really is easy and rewarding to eat vegan food when there are amazing, yummy options that give you such an uplifting positive feeling. Love it.

It was hard not to eat the whole container. But the serving size says 1/2 cup, so I stayed close to that amount...barely. Mmmmmm.

Of course I couldn't help but bake something this week as well... I made another item from the cookbook The Joy of Vegan Baking!

(image found using Google image search)

Soft Pretzels. Again, I don't want to post the exact recipe on here because it is not my right to if the owner has not themselves already posted it online. But you can get it fairly cheap at Amazon, see: http://www.amazon.com/Joy-Vegan-Baking-Compassionate-Traditional/dp/1592332803/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1327887169&sr=8-1

But I can tell you that the ingredients list is very short! And as long as you can get your yeast to rise, the rest is easy easy easy!

You basically just let the yeast rise, mix your ingredients, and you only have to knead the dough for 3 minutes! You wont even break a sweat. Then let it rise for two hours, separate it into 12 balls. Then you roll the balls into long cylinders, make fun shapes, dip in baking soda/water mix, and put in the oven! I was curious to see if the recipe was floating around online anywhere. The first link I found was this one- it's not the recipe, but another person blogging about how easy it was! : http://cadryskitchen.com/2011/07/03/soft-pretzels-from-jovb/

Then I found the recipe posted at another site. So. I can tell you that other people have posted the recipe and it's quite easy to find online.

I cut the recipe in half when I made it...

Cute little dough ball, about to let it rise.

Separated into balls:

Rolled out. It said roll it into 16 in long sections, so I set a measurer out, lol.

Don't mind the dirty oven :/

And yes, there is something else in the oven cooking with the pretzels...you'll have to wait til next week to hear about what it is!

15 minutes, and not a second more, of baking- and PERFECTION!

The "P" is for Pooches For Peace of course :)

They were the perfect texture. A little firm on the outside, and fluffy on the inside. I ate some dipped in mustard, some dipped in hummus...

And some smothered in White Chocolate Wonderful vegan peanut butter. I have an issue with peanut butter in that I'm completely obsessed with it...

What I've been thinking about this week is this- it's so much easier to eat vegan and/or vegetarian food if your house is stocked with options. When I very first started trying to eat more vegetarian meals in 2008, it was easier than I thought because my stepmother is vegetarian, so I had always seen what she ate. Now that I'm working more vegan options into my diet, a big part of making it work is just shopping differently in general and stocking your cupboards with those options. And not doing it all at once probably makes it easy- I just slowly started changing what I bought as I tried different recipes (i.e.- vegan butter instead of dairy butter, vegan cheese instead of dairy cheese..etc). and before I knew it I had all these vegan options in the house.

-Hoping you all have a week full of yummy, ~Anna (&The Pooches)

Veg of the Week

...Desserts.

First and foremost, Shadow would like you to know that her favorite dessert is cupcakes... and if there aren't any of those, a cupcake rug is quite enjoyable too...



She loves the cupcake rugs from Target.



.....



Really. Loves them.

The first dessert I am excited about sharing is a no-bake peanut butter chocolate pie from the cookbook "The Joy of Vegan Baking."

(image found using Google image search)

I don't think I can really post the recipe on here since it's from a book that is supposed to earn profit from the recipes. But I can tell you that the pie consists of chocolate chips...tofu...peanut butter...non dairy milk.... all tossed into a food processor! Pretty cool and easy. And you just make your own crust, which is also in the cookbook. You can buy the book on Amazon here: http://www.amazon.com/Joy-Vegan-Baking-Compassionate-Traditional/dp/1592332803

It's worth buying for sure, especially for the used price! I haven't made a dessert from it that I didn't like.

The crust has graham cracker crumbs, sugar, and non dairy butter in it. I think I could eat graham cracker crust plain!

I will say, be careful not to overcook your crust. I cooked it a little longer than i should have. It wasn't burned at all, just a little harder than I like it. I overcooked it because I was afraid it wouldn't be solid/firm enough....then it ended up being too firm. Not a big deal, but, lesson learned!

After the crust is ready, you just put in the filling, top it with what you want, and chill for 2 hours!

My chocolate chip peace sign does not have straight lines, it's bugging me now!

After chilling, enjoy the thick, smooth, peanut buttery chocolate taste of this amazing treat!

Mmmmm.

Now that your mouth is watering, click on the Amazon link and get yourself a great cookbook!

The second dessert I enjoyed this week was Strawberry Oat Squares/ granola bars. The first ones I made were Strawberry, from Oh She Glows. Recipe is here: http://ohsheglows.com/recipage/?recipe_id=6001725

You make some homemade strawberry jam as part of the recipe...

And then do all the other stuff that the recipe tells you to at that link above and eat something that looks amazing, like this!:

Chad really liked them, but didn't eat the top part because he's just not a fan of strawberries. He requested that I should figure out a way to make something similar but with a cinnamon-coffee cake feel to it. We brainstormed for a bit, and then I researched a few different possibilities. The results were amazing. I ended up with what can only be described as:

Cinnamon Roll Granola Bars!

Here's what you do. Make the oat square batter from the OhSheGlows.com recipe link above. I made this batter, but with some minor adjustments to cut out a few calories :) Here's Oh She Glows batter recipe, but with my changes:

1.5 cups regular oats
1/2 cup gluten free all purpose flour + 1/2 cup whole wheat flour
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp sea salt
1/2 cup Splenda Brown Sugar blend (in grocery baking isle. or use regular brown sugar)
1 chia egg (1 tbsp chia seeds+ 4 tbsp warm water, mixed)

5 tbsp earth balance + 5 tbsp applesauce
1/4 cup lite maple syrup (not sugar free)
2 tbsp almond milk (unflavored)

+

Don't forget to Preheat your oven!: 350 degrees. Line a 9x9 pan with parchment paper and lightly oil. (I had to use a round 9inch diameter pan because I didn't have a square one, ha!).

Mix the chia egg and set aside.

Mix the oats, flour, brown sugar, baking soda, and salt. Then take out 1/2 cup of this dry ingredients mixture and throw away or do something else with it (the original recipe sprinkles this on top but I have a cinnamon mixture to sprinkle on top).

In a separate bowl, you will mix the wet ingredients: Melt the earth balance and mix it with the applesauce before you add it to your "wet ingredients" bowl. Add in the maple syrup, almond milk, and chia egg. Stir until combined.

Combine your wet and dry ingredients. Try not to eat the batter before you're finished making this :)

Then, put about half of the batter in the pan, so that there is a solid bottom layer:

Then, in a small bowl, mix together the "cinnamon roll filling." Mix:

1/2 tbsp melted earth balance

2 tbsp applesauce

1/2 cup Splenda Brown Sugar blend (or regular brown sugar)

1/4 cup pecans chopped finely in food processor

1 tsp cinnamon

Spread over top of your batter bottom. I added dried cranberries over half of mine too, because I was craving them whereas Chad was not! Should look something like this:

Then take the remaining batter and spread over top. Then grab a small bowl and mix together your topping. Mix:

1/2-1 tsp cinnamon, to taste

1 1/4 tablespoon Splenda Brown sugar blend (or reg brown sugar)

A pinch of regular oats, to taste. Again, I also added a few dried cranberries on top so I would remember which half had cranberries! Should look something like this:

Then place in your preheated oven. The batter recipe from Oh She Glows that inspired this says to bake it for about 30 minutes, but, in my oven at least, I had to bake it for closer to 45 minutes. Just keep an eye on it ;)

When it's done, the edges are firm and golden-looking, and the cinnamon sugar topping is crispy and sweet. Yum! :

Let it cool for about 45 minutes. Then cut into squares. (Store extra in fridge).

The cinnamon roll type filling explodes with flavor and is seriously irresistible. I am a novice baker, so I am very excited that I created this adaption in my head! It's inspiring to read cook books and recipe blogs. The above pic of the square is the one with the cranberries, but I actually liked the ones without the cranberries better, ha!

The best part of everything in this Veg of the Week- it's all VEGAN! YEA!

I hope you all check out "The Joy of Vegan Baking," "Oh She Glows," and try these recipes. I especially hope you try the one that me and Chad got to express our own creativity in!

~Enjoying Veg of the Week Desserts, -Anna (& The Pooches)