Peanut Butter Bread with Chocolate Chips

Yum yum! Since I found this recipe a few months ago, I have made this many many times. It has become quite the household favorite.  This is a really easy snack or dessert to make; you can have this ready to go by the time your oven comes to temp. Plus it’s relatively healthy too. This uses whole wheat flour and has no added oil! Yet it is wonderfully moist. The original recipe comes from Chocolate Covered Katie. If you are looking for healthy desserts that actually taste good, Katie is your lady! So take some time to check out her wonderful blog!

Normally you should let quick breads like this cool completely before cutting, but for a special treat, slice when still warm and slather with some Earth Balance. When still warm, the crust is still a bit crispy, and the inside is soft and warm. Heaven!

Peanut Butter Bread with Chocolate Chips

Adapted from Chocolate Covered Katie

Ingredients:

2 cups whole wheat pastry flour
¾ cup white sugar
1 tbsp baking powder
¾ tsp ground cinnamon
¾ tsp salt
1 ½ cups soy milk
2 tbsp soy yogurt (or applesauce)
½ cup peanut butter
2 tsp vanilla
Large handful non-dairy chocolate chips

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Lightly grease an 8x4 inch loaf pan.

In a large bowl, mix dry ingredients until well combined. In a smaller bowl, whisk together wet. Pour wet into dry and mix well. Stir in chocolate chips.

Pour into prepared pan and bake for 40-45 minutes. Let cool for 10 minutes in the pan, then turn loaf out onto a cooling rack to cool completely.

Sloppy Jenns

This is my take on Sloppy Joes, made with tempeh. This is just fun food! Plus it’s super easy to make and well suited for hot summer days when you want to spend minimal time over that hot stove. Serve this up with a salad and you’ve got a nutritious and satisfying meal. I served this with the Southwest Slaw from Sexy Vegan Cookbook.

Sloppy Jenns

Makes 4-5 sandwiches

Ingredients:

2 tsp canola oil
1 medium onion, diced small
1 green bell pepper, diced small
2 cloves garlic, pressed
8 oz package tempeh, crumbled
15 oz can tomato sauce, minus ¼ cup
¼ cup barbeque sauce
2 tsp chili powder
½ tsp ground paprika
½ tsp ground cumin
1 ½ tbsp vegan Worcestershire sauce
Few drops liquid smoke
Hot sauce, to taste
Salt & pepper, to taste

Directions:

In a medium saucepan, sauté onion, bell pepper, and garlic in the oil for about 5 minutes.  Add crumbled tempeh and sauté for 5 more minutes. Add remaining ingredients and stir well. Bring to a simmer. Heat  on medium-low heat for 20 minutes (or more), stirring occasionally to prevent sticking.  Serve in bread or buns.

Music in the Meadow at Animal Place

We interrupt this shamefully long blogging break to bring you news of a wonderful upcoming event! The Animal Place Farm Sanctuary in Grass Valley, CA is having its second annual Music in the Meadow event! I was lucky enough to attend this last year and had an amazing time. It was lovely to spend the day having a picnic lunch and socializing with all the wonderful animals! It had been a long time since I had been so close to animals like pigs, cows, and goats (my personal favorite!) and I was kind of childishly excited about it. I can’t wait to go again this year!

The event will also feature vegan food and craft vendors selling their awesome wares, plus live music, a free vegan goodie bag, and lots of happy animals. So let me tempt you with pictures of some of these cuties while you consider signing up for this fundraiser that supports all the important work that the dedicated folks at Animal Place do for our animal friends.

Childish excitement

What:

Music in the Meadow

Where:

Animal Place

17314 McCourtney Rd

Grass Valley, Ca

When:

Saturday, September 22, 2012  11 am to 5 pm

Buy your tickets here!

P.S. Stay tuned for a new recipe post later this week!

Creamy White Soup with Sausage & Kale

This soup is inspired by the Zuppa Toscana served at Olive Garden. I haven’t tried their version in many years but I remembered it was a good combo: Potatoes, sausage and kale. I upped the ante by using leeks instead of plain old onions. I also added white beans to make this even more white and hearty. I loved how this turned out and I am always happy to have a new way to use my new favorite veggie sausage: Field Roast. Of course you can use your own fav sausage if you like.

 Creamy White Soup with Sausage & Kale

Ingredients:

2 tsp olive oil
3 medium leeks, sliced
4 cloves garlic, minced
3 russet potatoes, peeled and diced
4 cups vegetable broth
1 bay leaf
1 cup soy milk or soy creamer
1 package Field Roast Italian Sausage, chopped
1 bunch curly kale, chopped
15 oz can navy beans, rinsed and drained
¼ tsp ground black pepper
Salt to taste

Directions:

Heat olive oil in a soup pot over medium heat. Add leeks and sauté for about 10 minutes. Add garlic and sauté for 1 minute more. Add potatoes, vegetable broth, and bay leaf. Bring to a boil. Lower heat to medium, cover, and simmer for 15 minutes.

Meanwhile, in a small skillet, brown sausage in a little bit of oil on medium heat for 5-10 minutes, breaking it up into smaller pieces as you cook it. Remove from heat and set aside.

Back to the soup: remove bay leaf and turn off heat. Add soy milk or creamer. Using an emersion blender, puree until smooth.

Add sausage, kale, navy beans, and black pepper. Simmer gently on low heat for 10 minutes. Remove from heat and add salt to taste. Serve with extra black pepper at the table.

Sriracha Peanut Butter Fudge + Variation

Yes, you read that right. I put sriracha in fudge. Why not? Sriracha is an asian hot sauce, and peanut butter is often used in asian recipes. Makes sense to me. So how was it? Pretty awesome, if you ask me. When you first take a bite, you mostly just taste super sweet peanut buttery goodness. But as the silky fudge melts into your tongue, the heat starts to make itself known. Then your mouth and throat is pleasantly warm and tingly. It’s fun!

I made half of this recipe with sriracha, and the other half I left plain and then topped with melted chocolate and coarse sea salt. If you try this, don’t leave off the salt! It really pulls the whole thing together.

I should admit here that I had a problem with this setting up properly (still tasted great!), but I know what I did wrong and the directions below should get you the right result. You can always refer to the original recipe (linked below) to make sure.

Peanut Butter Fudge Two Ways

Adapted from Allrecipes

Ingredients:

½ cup Coconut Earth Balance (or other vegan margarine)
2 cups brown sugar
½ cup non-dairy milk
1 cup smooth peanut butter
1 tsp vanilla extract
3 cups powdered sugar

3-4 tsp sriracha

1 ½ oz non-dairy chocolate chips
Coarse sea salt

Directions:

Melt margarine in a medium saucepan on medium heat. Add brown sugar and non-dairy milk. Keeping heat on medium, bring to a boil. Boil for two minutes, stirring frequently. Remove from heat and stir in vanilla and peanut butter.

Place powdered sugar in a large mixing bowl. Pour peanut mixture over the top. Beat until smooth with an electric mixer.

Line two 8x4 inch pans with parchment or plastic wrap.

Pour half of batter into one pan.

Add sriracha to remaining batter and beat until well mixed. Pour into second pan.

Melt chocolate chips in the microwave in 30 second intervals. Spoon melted chocolate on top of plain fudge and spread evenly. Sprinkle with sea salt.

Refrigerate fudge for at least an hour. Cut while still cold.

Black Pepper Fettuccine with Chardonnay Sauce

When I saw this recipe in the Jan/Feb issue of Vegetarian Times, I knew I had to make it. First of all, I have been to  the Ravens restaurant and the food was amazing. Secondly, I have recently discovered a great appreciation of all things black pepper. (My favorite potato chip is Kettle’s Salt & Black Pepper). Thirdly, the BF loves cream sauces so I knew it would be a winner (it was).

I simplified the veggie prep a bit by leaving off the spinach and red pepper called for. Instead of grilling my asparagus, I roasted it. I also used quite a bit more pasta than the original recipe; I had a feeling the sauce was too much for the measly 3 oz of pasta called for.  Lastly, I soaked my cashews in water for an hour beforehand so that they would blend up extra creamy.

This meal was absolutely delicious – the cashews gave the chardonnay sauce a wonderful silky creamy texture and made it pretty filling too.

Black Pepper Fettuccine with Chardonnay Sauce and Roasted Asparagus

Adapted from Vegetarian Times

Ingredients:

Sauce:
1 cup cashews
½ cup water
½ cup soy milk, or other non-dairy milk
1 cup Chardonnay wine
1 tbsp nutritional yeast
1 tbsp lemon juice
2 ½ tsp ground black pepper

Pasta:

12 oz linguini (or fettuccine)
1 bunch asparagus, woody ends removed

Directions:

Cook pasta according to package directions.

To make sauce: Soak cashews in water for an hour or so. Drain, then add to blender with ½ cup water and soy milk. Blend until very smooth. This may take several minutes.

In a small saucepan, heat Chardonnay over medium heat for about 10 minutes, or until liquid is reduced to about 1/3 cup.  Stir in cashew mixture and remaining sauce ingredients. Keep warm on low heat.

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Place asparagus on a baking sheet. Drizzle with olive oil and season with salt and pepper. Roast for 15-20 minutes, or until tender.

When pasta is done, toss with sauce. Serve with asparagus on top.

Tahini Veggie Stir-Fry with Sriracha Tempeh

Yum! Last night I threw together this easy stir-fry with the veggies I had hanging out in the fridge.  For the protein I made tempeh marinated in a tamari and sriracha sauce and then broiled it for some nice browning. I tied it all together with an asian-inspired tamari-tahini sauce. Served it all over brown rice garnished with green onions and extra sriracha. I liked how this turned out and the BF was pretty ecstatic about it. Success! I can actually cook without recipes. Awesome.

The instructions look kind of complicated but it all comes together pretty quickly. To save time, you could start your tempeh the night before. Enjoy!

Tahini Veggie Stir-Fry with Sriracha Tempeh

Ingredients:

Tempeh:
8 oz package tempeh
¼ cup tamari
2 tbsp water
1 tsp roasted sesame oil
2-3 tsp sriracha
1 tsp minced fresh ginger
2 garlic cloves, minced

Stir-Fry:

1 tbsp peanut oil
1 large onion, diced large
2 carrots, sliced
2 cups sliced shiitake mushrooms
1 head romanesco, chopped (or broccoli)
½ head green cabbage, sliced
2-3 green onions, sliced (for garnish)

Sauce:

3 tbsp tahini
3 tbsp tamari
1 tbsp sugar
2 tbsp rice vinegar
3 tbsp water

Directions:

Tempeh:
Slice tempeh into four pieces. Combine all marinade ingredients in a shallow dish. Toss tempeh with marinade and let sit for at least one hour, or overnight.

Place marinated tempeh on baking sheet. Pour a little extra marinade on top. Broil for five minutes, then flip, adding more marinade. Broil for another 5 minutes.

Stir Fry:

Chop all veggies ahead of time. Heat oil in large skillet on medium-high heat. Add onions and carrots and sauté for 3 minutes. Add mushrooms and sauté for 2 minutes. Add romesco and sauté for 5 minutes. Add cabbage and sauté for a few more minutes, or until veggies are tender crisp.

Mix all sauce ingredients in a small bowl. Add to skillet, along with the tempeh. Heat for a few more minutes, or until sauce is thickened.

Garnish with green onions and serve with extra sriracha at the table.