Chickpea Noodle Soup Recipe

Ingredients

1 tablespoon olive oil

1 medium onion, diced

5 carrots, sliced

4 stalks of celery, sliced

3 cloves of garlic, minced

2 tablespoons of fresh sage

2 teaspoons of fresh thyme

2 tablespoons of fresh parsley

2 quarts of water (or vegetable stock)

1 cup of peas

2 cans of chickpeas

Salt and Pepper, to taste

½ package noodles

Directions

Heat olive oil in stock pan.  Add diced onion and allow to sweat for a few minutes until slightly browned and translucent.

Add carrots, celery, and garlic and sauté for 5 minutes.  Add herbs, vegetable stock, peas, and chickpeas.  Add salt and pepper to taste.

Simmer for 40 minutes.

Add noodles and cook until the noodles are fully cooked (follow the directions on the noodle package).

Serve hot.

Vegan "Buttermilk" Biscuits

 

Ingredients

1 cup soy milk (or almond milk), chilled

1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar

2 cups flour

4 teaspoons baking powder

1/4 teaspoon baking soda

3/4 teaspoon salt

4 tablespoons vegan margarine, chilled

Directions

Preheat oven to 425 degrees.

In a small bowl, combine soy milk and apple cider vinegar and allow to sit for five minutes.  The soy milk will separate and begin to clump.  It actually ends up looking and tasting a bit like buttermilk.

In a large mixing bowl, sift together flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt.  Using a spoon or your fingers, quickly rub margarine into the dry ingredients until the mixture begins to look like crumbs.  (The faster the better, you don't want the fats to melt.)  Pour in the soy milk/vinegar mixture.  Stir just until the dough comes together. The dough will be very sticky.

Dump dough on to a heavily floured surface and dust the top of the dough with flour.  Gently fold the dough over itself five or six times.  Roll out to about ¾” - 1” thick.  Cut dough into 2” circles using a cutter (or the lip of a water glass).

Place biscuits on a greased of lined baking sheet so that they just touch.

Reform scrap dough, working it as little as possible and continue cutting. Biscuits from the second batch may be a little malformed after they’re baked, but they’ll still taste good.

Bake until biscuits are light gold on top, about 15 to 20 minutes. 

The recipe makes 9-12 biscuits.

This recipe is based on Alton Brown's Southern Biscuit Recipe from http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/alton-brown/southern-biscuits-recipe/index.html

Gluten-free, Vegan Strawberry Preserve Filled Banana Cupcake Recipe

My vegan strawberry preserve filled banana cupcake recipe was so popular that I decided to make a gluten-free version.  For a first attempt at gluten-free baking, this turned out splendidly. 

Ingredients

4 ripe bananas

1/3 cup coconut oil, warmed until liquid

3/4 cup demerara or raw sugar

1/4 cup rice milk

1 teaspoon apple cider vinegar

2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract

1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 1/2 cup quinoa flour*

Approximately 1/3 cup of strawberry preserves

Preparation

Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit and line a muffin pan with 12 paper baking cups

Toss the bananas into a mixing bowl and mash them with a mixer.  Add the sugar and oil and mix well. Incorporate the rice milk, apple cider vinegar, and vanilla extract.

Add the baking powder, baking soda, and salt.  Mix well.  Add flour, taking care not to overmix.

Portion out the batter into the pre-lined muffin pan, filling each cup only one-quarter of the way full.

Scoop a spoonful of strawberry preserves into the center of each cupcake and fill the cups with the remaining batter.

Bake for 22-24 minutes or until a skewer inserted in the center of a cupcake comes out (relatively) clean.

I topped these delicious cupcakes with my own peanut butter frosting.  The recipe can be found here.




*Quinoa flour is an interesting beast.  It has a distinctly grassy flavor.  I have read that baking it at a low temperature for a couple of hours will help to get rid of the grassy taste.  Since this was my first time using quinoa flour, I decided not to bake it so I could see what it tastes like.  The taste didn't bother me for this recipe, but I can see how it might be unpleasant in other recipes.  I'll continue to experiment and keep you updated.


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Vegan Gingerbread Cupcake Recipe

 

Mmmmmm.... gingery....

 

Fat-free, low-sugar, moist and delicious, these cupcakes are a great holiday treat.

 

 

Ingredients

½ cup molasses

4 ripe bananas, mashed

¼ teaspoon vanilla

1 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice mix

½ teaspoon cinnamon

4 teaspoons ground ginger

2 tablespoons fresh ginger, grated

¼ cup candied ginger, finely diced

¾ cup coconut or rice milk

zest of one orange

juice of one orange

2 teaspoon baking powder

1 teaspoon baking soda

2 cups all-purpose flour

1 cup raisins (optional)

Preparation

Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit and line a muffin pan with 12 paper baking cups

Toss the bananas into a mixing bowl and mash them with a mixer.  Add the molasses, vanilla, and spices and mix well. Incorporate the coconut/rice milk, orange zest, and orange juice.

Add the baking powder and baking soda. Mix well. Add the flour, taking care not to overmix.

Stir in the raisins.

Portion out the batter into the pre-lined muffin pan. They don't rise very much, so you can fill the cups the whole way.

Bake for 25-30 minutes or until a skewer inserted in the center of a cupcake comes out clean.

What I've Been Doing

Soooooo....

I haven't been baking much over the last few days.  I have been a bit too busy to bake.  I have been making these:

Tetris Quilt, Front

Tetris Quilt, Back

Poodle Quilt

Ms. Pac-Man Quilt

Yeah, I'm a bit of a geek.


  

Candied Pecan Recipe

A few years ago, my internet Secret Santa gave me homemade candied pecans. From that day I hated my Secret Santa for introducing me to the most wonderful concoction known to man and then dropping out of my life as if this exchange meant nothing to him.

I finally tried to make my own.

Ingredients

1 egg white

1 Tbsp water

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

2 cups of pecans

1/2 cup sugar

1 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice

1 teaspoon cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon salt

Preparation

Preheat oven to 300 degrees Fahrenheit.

Put the sugar, cinnamon, pumpkin pie spice, and salt into a resealable plastic bag. Shake to combine.

Put the egg, water, and vanilla into a bowl and beat until slightly foamy. Add the pecans and stir to coat.

Lift the pecans out of the bowl with a fork or slotted spoon and shake to remove the excess egg white mixture.

Add the pecans to the bag with the sugar and spices. Shake the pecans in the bag until they are well coated.

Bake the pecans for 30 minutes on a baking pan that has been lined with a silpat, parchment paper, or lightly buttered/greased aluminum foil. (For God's sake: Do not forget to line you pan or you will regret it.) Stir halfway through baking.

Let cool completely before serving.

  

Gloopy Vegan Chocolate Mint Cupcake Recipe

Some might call these a lava cupcake, but I prefer the word gloopy.  Gloopy, but delicious. 

Filling/Frosting Ingredients

1/2 cup vegan margarine
2/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
2 cups powdered sugar
1/4 cup rice milk (or an appropriate analogue)
1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

1 1/2 teaspoon peppermint extract

Melt the margarine. Mix in the cocoa. Alternately add powdered sugar and milk, while beating. Stir in vanilla and peppermint extracts.

Once you have completed the filling/frosting, put it in a container and stash it in the fridge to chill.  

Cupcake Ingredients

3/4 cup demerara sugar
1/3 cup coconut oil

1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar
1 cup rice milk
2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/3 cup cocoa powder
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit and line a muffin pan with 9 paper baking cups.

Beat together the coconut oil and sugar. Mix in the rice milk, cider vinegar, and vanilla extract.

Mix in the cocoa powder.  Add the baking soda, baking powder, and salt. Combine well.  Slowly incorporate the flour taking care not to over mix.

Portion out the batter into the pre-lined muffin pan, filling each cup only one-quarter of the way full.

Scoop a spoonful of the filling/frosting into the center of each cupcake and fill the cups with the remaining batter.

Bake for 18-22 minutes or until the cupcakes implode.  You'll see what I mean.

Makes 9 cupcakes.

They may be either eaten hot or cooled and frosted with the remaining filling/frosting.