Vegan Rice Cheese!!

Ordering it soon for sure! The soy vegan cheese by this company is gross so I'm skeptical, but I'll post a review as soon as I try it. Has anyone sampled it yet?

Chickpea Miso Soy Sauce Susbstitute

Finally, I found a good substitute for soy sauce. South River Miso offers a few soy-free miso products that resemble the taste of soy sauce. I just got the chickpea barley miso and its pretty tasty, surprisingly close to its soy based cousin. Turn it into a sauce with a bit of water, or just smear it on vegetables, sushi, etc. Definitely expensive (I paid $11 for my jar!) but I figure it will last awhile since the flavor is potent.

Wooo!

Vegan Coconut Banana Berry Buckwheat Muffins

Bomb buckwheat muffins! Buckwheat is a very healthy grain. I cut down on the fat in this recipe by using light coconut milk and replacing some of the oil with applesauce. Also, I tend to add a shake of clove and nutmeg to recipes that call for cinnamon. I think it rounds out the taste, try it!

0.5 cups ground oats (I ground it mortar and pestle style with a whisk, not efficient but it works)
1 cup all purpose flour
0.75 cup buckwheat flour
1.5 teaspoons baking powder
1.5 teaspoon baking soda
1.5 teaspoons cinnamon
3 mashed ripe bananas
1 cup sugar
0.5 cup canola oil
0.5 cup applesauce
0.25 cup coconut milk
0.75 cup sweetened shredded coconut
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Egg replacer equivalent to 2 eggs (I use Ener-G)
1 cup-ish of your favorite berries, I used a frozen mix

Mix the wet ingredients plus sugar, then mix the dry ingredients in a separate bowl. Combine until just mixed, then add the berries. Fill a greased muffin tin with the batter, leaving about 1 cm at the top. These don't poof up much. Bake at 350F for 20 minutes or so. Check them regularly, they're done when the sides start looking nice and brown and the top of each muffin is firm to the touch.

Unique and awesome muffins!

Soft Peanut Butter Banana Cookies!

I adapted a more traditional peanut butter cookie recipe, and they came out all fluffy, soft and delicious! However, the dough was a lot stickier so that made it difficult to make those cute fork lines in the cookies. Try adding more flour if you have problems with this.

2 cups flour
0.5 t baking powder
1 t baking soda
0.5 cups maple syrup
0.25 cups brown sugar
1 mashed ripe banana
3/4 cup peanut butter (Maranatha is the BEST)
1 t vanilla
1 t cinnamon

Mix wet and dry ingredients in separate containers. Combine and mix until just blended. Don't over mix as this affects the proteins in the flour (maybe I'm a biochemist, what of it?? hehe) and can make the cookies overly chewy. Make balls of dough approx. 1 inch diameter and place on a lightly greased or non-stick cookie sheet. Silicon sheets work great! Make little fork marks in them and add toppings, if you'd like. Bake at 350F until lightly browned on the edges. I don't like to list bake times because ovens are so varied, but check them after 7 minutes or so.

Try these tasty adornments:

• add chocolate chips, the texture of these cookies is perfect for them!
• or drizzle chocolate on top after the cookies have cooled
• roll the balls of dough in sugar
  
• put some shredded coconut on top
  

These went fast, especially the coconut ones!!! Enjoy.

Macaroni and chReese

...also known as Mac & Chreese, is a staple of my diet. Its a soy free, vegan macaroni and cheese alternative that's actually pretty tasty, if you make it right. It's nutritional yeast and flour based, so Mac & Chreese is fairly healthy as well. Its sold in typical macaroni and cheese package format, but to save money I buy the chreese product in bulk. I always make it with whole wheat pasta, or this high protein 7-grain pasta.

To prepare, I generally follow the instructions. I'd advise adding a swig of good olive oil and extra milk product to make it creamier, a more realistic macaroni and cheese texture. I prefer almond milk, but rice milk works as well. Be aware that these milk products are very sweet, and this will affect the taste of the mac & chreese. Add salt, garlic, and/or more chreese powder to compensate if it gets too sweet. Try both the mozzarella and the cheddar!

Spreadable Oil

I read somewhere that olive oil will solidify if you leave it in the fridge for a bit. So, I put a bit of first cold pressed oil into the refrigerator, and voila out came spreadable olive oil. Its not quite the same as margarine, but with a little bit of salt it could be adequate.

Make sure the oil you use says "first cold pressed" on the bottle. The oil is darker and greener than the cheaper stuff commonly used in cooking. First pressed oil comes from the initial pressing of the olives so has a great deal more flavor. This won't make any difference as far as solidifying is concerned, but the taste is so much better!

Pancakes

mmmmmm pancakes.

1.5 cups all-purpose flour, I like white whole wheat flour best
3.5 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon unrefined white sugar
1.25 cups milk product (I prefer almond)
1 mashed ripe banana
2 tablespoons canola oil
pinch of cinnamon

Mix the wet and dry ingredients separately. Add the wet to the dry and mix until just combined. You may want to add more milk to thin out the batter. Heat the griddle on medium to medium-high, oil it up, and add pancake batter. About 0.25 cups batter per pancake works well. Makes moderate servings for 3-4 people.