Vegan MOFO: Wicked Wednesday

 Vegan Twizt Tempuna Salad

Yikes, I've just been wicked for not posting for a few days! Life got sooo busy and will remain so for another week at least! The perfectionist in my tells me I have to have an original recipe every day with original photos, but I know I could just write something about a vegan topic!

So, here's a compromise today! It will be original artwork (mine) but someone else's food!

I do some pro-bono work for a local (San Francisco Bay Area) family-run vegan start-up called Vegan Twizt. They make amazing fresh vegan meals and either deliver to your door or sell at local farmers markets. Please take a look at their website if you live in the area and give them a call! Or, look in your area for someone who is doing the same thing!

Support a local vegan businessperson by buying their food!

Vegan Twizt Key Lime Pie/Cheesecake

My full disclosure: I do get paid in food!

Vegan MOFO: Wicked Wednesday Not-So-Wicked Carrot Cake

Fall is here and it's time for some fall spices to fill your kitchen with the "fallness" of it all.

A friend gave me this recipe out of his Moosewood Restaurant Book of Desserts  years ago. This has been a real winner whenever I have made it. Moist and tasty and almost good for you! I've adapted it here for a gluten-free cake.

This is a fat-free recipe (unless you use my glaze and walnuts), so it's not so wicked after all. But it tastes that way! (OK, there's plenty of sugar...)

Not-So-Wicked Carrot Cake

2 cups grated carrots
1 1/2 cups brown sugar
1 3/4 cups water (add another 1/4 cup if using gluten-free flours)
1 cup raisins or other dried fruit (I used dried cranberries.)
1 tsp vanilla extract

3 cups flour (or 3 cups JP's Gluten-free Flour Mix)
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp cloves
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1/2 tsp ground ginger
1 tsp salt
1 tsp baking soda
2 tsp baking powder

Preheat oven to 300º. Prepare a bundt pan with oil and flour.

Put first 5 ingredients in a pot or pan. Stir and bring it to a boil. Let simmer 5 minutes. Then let it sit at least an hour, or overnight.
 
Whisk dry ingredients together in a large bowl.

Stir the cooled carrot mixture into the flour mixture. Stir only until mixed.

Optional: 1 cup chopped walnuts and/or ½ cup shredded coconut.

Serving suggestions: Confectioner’s Glaze, Lemon Glaze or Cream Cheese Frosting or my own concoction of Lemon Cream Cheese Glaze

Lemon Cream Cheese Glaze

3 Tbs Vegan Cream Cheese

2 Tbs Lemon Juice

1 Cup powdered sugar, sifted

Grated lemon peel from one lemon 

Heat the cream cheese just so it's softened a bit (about 10-20 seconds in the microwave). Mix it with lemon juice very well. If you have a latte frother, this will help to mix it. Add powdered sugar 1/3 cup at a time, mixing well each time. Add grated lemon peel, stir. Top on the cooled cake or serve on the side to let your guests top their slice.

JP's Gluten-free Flour Mix

JP's GF Flour Mix

2 cups Rice Flour
2/3 cup Potato Starch
1/3 cup Tapioca Flour

2 tsp Xanthum Gum

 

Mix and store this in an air-tight container. 

Vegan MOFO: Love Me Tender Taco Tuesday–CocoBacoAvoDilla

 

Este no es su mama la quesadilla!

(This is not your mama's quesadilla!)

It's kind of like a quesadilla, kind of like a BLT. It's good with just the cheese, better with the bacon, and best with the avocado. Avocado makes everything right, doesn't it? Do yourself a favor and order some Coconut Bacon from Phoney Baloney. Keep it in the pantry, but not in really easy reach, 'cause they are too easy to eat as a snack. Top shelf. The one you need a stool for. Because you want to save them for stuff like this...or anything else you suddenly think of that "bacon" might taste good on. No I haven't tried it on ice cream yet...but hey, thanks for the idea!

CocoBacoAvoDilla
Makes 1 serving

1 tortilla (flour or Gluten-free*)
1 Tbs  Phoney Baloney Coconut Bacon
1/4 cup shredded Non-dairy Cheese (I like Daiya or Trader Joe's Mozzerella)
1/4- 1/2 avocado, cut in slices

Hot sauce optional.

Directions:
Place cheese shreds on half the tortilla. Cover with coconut bacon. Place in microwave or toaster oven unfolded. Cook until cheese melts (about 1 minute in micro, about 5-7 minutes in toaster oven toast setting). Before folding, place avocado on the cheese/bacon. Fold in half, cut into four triangles.

 (These are shown made with the wheat flour tortilla.)

Be sure to check out Phoney Baloney's website/blog and Facebook page since there are nice photos and great ideas about how to use this product. Can anyone say "vegan bacon donut"?

*Today I used Engine 2 Plant Strong Brown Rice Tortillas as well as regular white wheat flour tortillas. The brown rice tortillas are OK, not great. I haven't found a nice, soft vegan, gluten-free tortilla anywhere. (Planning on making my own--maybe that's next week's post!). I guess am getting used to the harder rice tortilla and and it's not bad for a quesadilla, just a bit chewy. Found at Whole Foods.

 

Vegan MOFO: Monday Mash-up–JL's Soy Curls Salad

 I met JL Fields at the first ever Vida Vegan Bloggers Con in Portland in 2011, lounging by the pool (although she had her laptop with her, so I'm not convinced she was doing much lounging).

Since then she has really taken off with veganism not only as her lifestyle, but her life's work. Please visit her blog...she has co-authored a book, writes daily about food and for Vegan MOFO 2013, is video-blogging nearly every day. (JL Goes Vegan: Food and Fitness with a Side of Kale)

Last week I watched her prepare Soy Curls Salad, and was inspired to make it since I had all the ingredients in the fridge and pantry, and I always take that as a I sign I should make the recipe!

Please visit her post to see the recipe and watch her make this very easy and (for some) comfort food salad.

My experience:
JL's Soy Curl salad couldn't be easier to prepare! Simple chopping or pulsing in a food processor gets your main ingredients chopped nicely (rehydrated soy curls, grapes and nuts.)

I substituted walnuts for her pecans since that's what I had on hand.

"Chicken" salad was never big in my family, so I didn't have any kind of family recipe to fall back on, or even a memory. I did remember that in my 20s (when still eating chicken), I had made a chopped chicken dish with curry....so I added about 1/2 tsp curry to this after I added the mayo and I really liked the added zing.

You can serve this on a bed of greens, in a sandwich or wrap as JL demonstrates or just eat plain.

I enjoyed this use of Soy Curls. I was also introduced to them in Portland at the same time as JL. They are a simple product (non-GMO) full of protein that you can put your own touch on in a number of ways.

Visit Butler Foods to discover where you can buy them in your area or online. I still like to order mine from Food Fight Grocery in Portland.