This was one of the exciting things Alex and I decided to make for our roommates during the snowstorm. They were so grateful to us for making it for them and boy did they enjoy it.
This is simply just the cookie recipe that I used for the Christmas cookies, but baked in a cast-iron! We put chocolate chunks in it because what else do you want in a giant skillet cookie? I had some mini vegan marshmallows that I want to get rid of and outlining the cookie with it was a great decision in my opinion.
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Alex and I made this together on Valentine’s Day and it turned out so good. We basically used a traditional biscuit dough recipe and added some pieces of American cheese and jalapeños. We use impossible meat to make the sausages that went with it and added some maple syrup and seasoning to make it more breakfast sausage style.
This is a great and easy recipe to impress anyone if you have the time. After an exhausting day of rock climbing and running Alex and I decided that we would have a scrumptious dinner but we couldn’t decide on what. Looking through his kitchen and pantry we were very determined to use the Portabella mushrooms that he just got from the store the other day. Stuffed mushrooms seem like a fantastic idea, but we weren’t sure what to stuff them with. We both did some research and were pretty adamant on using lentils and obviously the mushrooms themselves. We couldn’t decide on if we wanted to use impossible meat or not. I was more in favor of using it being that I’m not the biggest fan of mushroom flavor or texture, but he didn’t want the impossible meat to overpower the flavor. I agree that it would probably overpower the flavor, even though that would’ve been favorable considering my opinion of mushrooms - but boy am I glad that we didn’t.
We stuffed the mushrooms with garbanzo beans corn and our mushroom mix. When I see mushroom mix I’m referring to the part of the mushrooms that we didn’t keep on the, so the stem and the inside. We put that in a blender to get it into a crumbly texture we sautéed it with some diced onions, garlic, lemon pepper breadcrumbs and some soy sauce. It was almost crazy how much that mixture tasted like impossible meat. Like, I know it’s been a while since I had real meat but I think anyone would’ve been fooled. We mix this make sure with the corn, garbanzo beans, and lentils, and stuffed the mushrooms. I almost forgot to mention that we put ideas in the nutritional yeast in the mixture as well as on top. We stuffed the mushroom and then baked it in the oven at 390°F for 20 minutes. After we took it out of the oven we sprinkled it with some nutritional yeast and for some reason I decided to put a piece of artichoke on top. Guys, this was so freaking delicious. I’m not a fan of mushrooms but I enjoyed this so much. We also experiment to try it with a bunch of different sauces and that was fun because it was just a great meal to eat a bunch of different sauces with. I felt so healthy and hearty after eating this protein filled meal that was made of nothing other than fresh ingredients. I’m so glad I listen Alex because he is just such a good cook and his intuitions always impress me! I was so set on starting my year with some homemade vegan chicken and waffles, and I managed to do exactly that. Before deciding on making seitan, I trialed with tofu vegan fried chicken. I did the whole process where you freeze, defrost, freeze again, defrost again, press, dry, batter, then fry. It was a whole process, and it came out great, just not what I wanted. I wanted to replicate the seitan based chicken and waffles that Alex and I got from this restaurant in College Station, TX. The place was called Mess Waffles I believe, a breakfast restaurant that was very omnivore based, but surprisingly had a vegan option of seitan chicken and waffles. To our surprise, it ended up being some of the bets we ever had. We still talk about going back all the time. After reminiscing on this, I decided to make homemade seitan. Blessed with the presence of a Kitchen Aid mixer, I knew I could get it done. I got all my ingredients from Kroger and prepped the the seitan the day before new years eve. I left it in the fridge and the first morning of 2021 we battered it up and fried it, or Alex did actually. I simply worked on the waffles while he did all the frying. I think he is the better cook anyway, and he definitely knows how to batter and fry. The waffles were unfortunately soft, oops, but the seitan was so good. It was so flavorful, juicy, and crispy. The only criticism was it being formed to thick because of its density. I remade seitan the following day to take with me to Austin. I had the kitchen mixer in Houston and knew that the seitan would last up to 2 weeks in the fridge or frozen for over a month, so I opted to prep as much as a could for later. I will definitely be taking this on our road trip. I was super nice to eat a vegan/plant-based meat alternative that was satisfying and made from scratch. I do like the processed options out there, but transitioning to more home made and basic ingredients is obviously preferred. I will list the recipe down below! Recipe:
- Mix 0.5 cups of water with 1.5 teaspoons of vegetable stock concentrate and mix until dissolved - Add 1 cup of cold (ice cold) water to have in total 1.5 cup of cold vegetable both *You can use broth, concentrate, or bouillon. You can also use vegan chicken broth instead of vegetable broth which I presume would make it taste more chicken like, but I used vegetable broth and it worked wonderfully - Add 2.5 tablespoons of olive oil and stir well - In separate bowl, mix together 1.5 cups of vital wheat gluten flour, a 1/4 cup of chickpea flour, 1/3 cup of nutritional yeast, 1 teaspoon garlic powder, 1.5 teaspoons of poultry seasoning, 1/2 teaspoon on paprika, 1/2 teaspoon of cumin, 1/2 teaspoon of onion powder, and 3/4 tablespoon of salt - Whisk together try ingredients until well combined - Create a well in your bowl of dry ingredients, add in the broth mixture, and combine ingredients with a rubber spatula until a dough starts to form - Knead the dough for 5 minutes or use an electric mixer (I found the mixer to make the process much less of a hand workout) * My first batch came out a little dense so I added a tiny extra amount of water/oil, you want it to be a firm dough but not too dry or too sticky - Let sit for 10 minutes once the dough is formed and then give it another knead for about 2 minutes - Move to cutting board and form dough to but cut, then cut into desired pieces * I would recommend making it not too thick like in my last picture. I formed it into a block and cut it into four piece because this recipe is good for 4 servings, but can be formed in whatever fashion you desire! - Place formed pieces on to separate pieces of aluminum foil and fold the sides to enclose it, but not too tightly, leaving space for expansion - Steam for 30 minutes in steamer, or by placing a colander into a pot of 1 inch of boiling water and putting the lid on the colander. You can stack the portions on one another, but rearrange about half way through. Make sure the colander is all metal and that there is no water that will touch the colander. The lid needs to cover all of the colander with no holes exposed. - Remove and let rest for 30 minutes, then transfer to the fridge and let it rest for 1 hour. - BOOM! Homemade Seitan :D The recipe here is just for the seitan, the waffles can be made however you like, as well as the batter/breading for the chicken-style method. You can also use this seitan in sandwiches, pasta, or really whatever you like. This recipe is easily one of my favorites of the holidays season because of how delicious and easy it was to make. This was a classic dessert growing up and I would always grab it whenever I could get the chance. This Persian dish is so amazingly delicious, decedant, and refreshing at the same time. If you ever want to e=impress your friends with something classic but unique, try this one out. Recipe:
- Add a pinch of saffron to a tablespoon of boiling water and mix well until the saffron mostly dissolves so the water can absorb all the flavor and color. Let sit for 5 minutes - Add 3 tablespoons of rosewater to this. You can add more or less depending on how much of the rosewater flavor you like. If your ice cream that you are using is already really sweet, I would not suggest adding more - Crush half a cup of pistachios, unsalted and ideally raw. Unfortunately I did not have any that were unsalted, so instead I opted for slivered almonds - Add a quart of vanilla dairy-free ice cream to blender or mixer. Let the ice cream sit out for 5-10 minutes for an easier mixing process. Add all the ingredients and mix together well - Put back into ice cream container or another sealable container and refreeze - Serve after at least 1 hour in the freezer, and enjoy! This Christmas I was at home with my family and took advantage of the spacious kitchen and expensive gadgets I had in my parents homes. My goal was to make a ridiculous amount of cookies, and have a variety of types, and give them out to my friends and family. I was inspired by this cookie recipe given to me by Alex, that came from his mom. Thanks so much Mrs. Raterink! I will explain the recipe for the cookie dough below, but to make different types I just added different things to the plain dough. The chocolate chip just had chocolate chips. I made red velvet white chocolate chip macadamia cookies, a mouthful, literally. For these I added red food coloring, macadamia nuts, and white chocolate chips. I was most excited for these because I found out that Walmart sells white chocolate chips that are accidentally vegan, and also delicious and affordable! I made green star sugar cookies with green food coloring and simply put a white chocolate chip in the middle. The peanut butter cookies just had some extra peanut butter mixed into the better. I had strawberry jam filled cookies, as well as Oreo cookies that just had crushed Oreos mixed in. The snickerdoodle cookies were actually my favorite. I just added a little cinnamon to the dough and then rolled them into balls that I coated with cinnamon sugar. Lastly, I made some walnut chocolate cookies with white chocolate chips, which were just done by added a little cocoa powder, chopped walnuts, and white chocolate chips. These were such a hit! I gave these out to my family, friends, and boyfriend, and I hoped they enjoyed them as much as I did! Recipe:
- Preheat oven to 350 F degrees - Prepare 2 flax eggs, so add 2 tablespoons of ground flax and 6 tablespoons of water to a bowl and mix, sit for 5 minutes to let thicken - Add 2 sticks of butter melted - Add 1 cup of brown sugar as well as 1 cup of white sugar and mix together ingredients - Add 1 teaspoon of vanilla extract, 1 teaspoon of baking soda, 3 cups of flour, and a dash of salt, mix well until a dough forms - Add desired mix ins - Form dough into ball and place two inches a part on parchment paper, bake for about 12 minutes (depending on pan and oven) - Let rest for 10 minutes after taking it out of oven for the perfect cookie experience, best enjoyed with a cold glass of oat milk!
Was super good. This is the recipe I used: https://champagne-tastes.com/vegan-baklava/
Made more but replaced the filling with ground up pecans and vegan chocolate chips, and let me tell you - they were a hit! |
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