Surprise!

I couldn't leave you with that ugly picture of tofu scramble so I'm giving you Surprise Cookies. I'm hardly a fan of Martha Stewart but she has some good recipes and tips. I saw a posting of this one and had to make it, particularly because I wanted to use my Sweet & Sara vanilla marshmallows for something fun before I ate them all. I had to act fast. Without further ado, I give you Surprise Cookies!

A little about marshmallows. I think most people know that they are not vegetarian due to the gelatin in marshmallows. If you want to find out what gelatin is really made of, click the link. Otherwise just take my word for it that they are not vegetarian.

Candy, including marshmallows, are among them most difficult foodstuffs to make. Therefore, I highly recommend using store bought marshmallows. There are two brands that I am aware of. Sweet and Sara marshmallows taste more like big, dense, homemade marshmallows and they are local so they are easier for me to get. Dandies are fantastic marshmallows that taste like the mini-marshmallows that you ate as a kid.

For the Surprise Cookies, I used Sweet and Sara marshmallows. Martha's recipe calls for cutting a large marshmallow in half so I cut the large Sweet and Sara marshmallows in half. If I make these again, I may try for a whole marshmallow because I think you lose that taste a little bit with half. Of course I'll update the post when I do because I know you are all just hanging on the edge of your seat waiting.

Really, these could not be easier to make.

A couple of tips:
*I used direct substitutions for butter, eggs, and milk using Earth Balance, Ener-G Egg Replacer, and Soy Milk.
*Keep the marshmallows at room temperature before baking.
*If your frosting topping is runny, add in more confectioners sugar to stiffen it up.

 

 

Enjoy!

My Food Isn't Pretty

I haven't been posting much because what I've been eating, although healthy and easy to make, isn't necessarily pretty to look at. Case in point...

Tofu Scramble with an Avocado & Sun-dried Tomato Spread
(also store bought veggie sausage which I think I've had twice in my life)

 Also you don't want to see pictures of a salad, that I eat everyday, consisting of lettuce, carrots, tofu chunks, and dried cranberries.

Have no fear, I have a backlog of desserts and fun things to post. Plus, it's fall! My favorite time of the year to cook and bake.

Do You Miss TooToos Too?

I really miss Too Toos. Why did Tofutti stop making them? I finally decided to take matters into my own hands and create some at home vegan ice cream sandwiches. After buying Vice Cream (ages ago) I discovered that you need an ice cream maker to use the book. Both apartment living and the fact that I don't eat ice cream often make purchasing an ice cream machine a luxury I do not need. So, my vegan ice cream sandwiches use store bought vegan ice cream. But the chocolate cookies are my very special recipe that I spent many years perfecting. While you can use store bought cookies I recommend using fresh baked chocolate chip cookies.

Here's one of my favorite chocolate chip cookie recipes:

1/2 cup firmly packed brown sugar
1/3 cup granulated white sugar
1 cup all purpose flour, sifted
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
3 tablespoons water, room temperature
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/3 cup vegetable oil
1 cup semisweet chocolate chips
 
Preheat your oven to 300 degrees F.

Mix all dry ingredients together and create a well in the bowl. Place the wet ingredients in the well and mix. Add in chocolate chips.

Line your baking sheet with parchment paper. Drop cookies on the sheet with at least 1 inch between the cookies. Bake for about 14 minutes depending on the size of your oven. When I make these in my convection oven it only takes about 8 or 9 minutes but in my stove it takes about 14 minutes.

Let the cookies cool completely and add your choice of vegan ice creams between two of the cookies to make a delicious vegan ice cream sandwich.

MIA + Worldwide Vegan Bake Sales

I've been MIA for a while, I started a new job and I'm looking for a new apartment so life has been busy. I hope to be posting about new yummy vegan foods soon. In the time since I last wrote I've converted two people to liking vegan food. They won't become vegan but they've gone for vegan options when we've gone out to dinners.

In other news, worldwide vegan bake sales are in full swing. Today is the Long Island vegan bake sale at 3 Brothers in RVC and on May 1st you can find the NYC vegan bake sale at MooShoes. There are a few others around NYC and you can find that info, along with info on other world wide vegan bake sales, at http://www.veganbakesale.org/veganbakesale/vbs-where.html

Enjoy!

Sweet Dreams

Peanut Butter Chocolate Pillows

Link to Recipe & Instructions

I have been seeing these all over the place lately so I decided it was time to make them now. I followed the recipe almost exactly except that I cut the recipe in half and baked them at 315 degrees Fahrenheit for 12 minutes. They're a little bit time consuming but you really can't mess them up. It took me about a half hour from the start until I put them in the oven. One tip to make note of is that if you keep the dough at room temperature or slightly warm before you bake them there will be fewer cracks in the cookie when they're finished baking. 

Step 1 - Mix the chocolate cookie dough

Step 2 - Mix the peanut butter cookie dough

Step 3 - Roll the dough into a ball

 Step 4 - Bake and let cool before eating

Raw Option - I came up with 13 cookies so I tried the last one raw. It was quite good and would be an excellent option for raw dessert.

The only problem with these is that now I want to eat them ALL!

The entire batch is 60 WW points, or about 5 a piece. "Pricey" but well worth it.

Enjoy!

Savory Casserole

Tonight I just experimented in making a casserole, not measuring terribly carefully, and it turned out to be tremendous. I was not expecting that. So I will give you my approximations for measurements but I don't think it matters all that much. Aren't casseroles really just about throwing things you like, that go together, in a dish and baking it?  Also, in case you haven't noticed I really love mushrooms and onions. Like, a lot.
P.S. I'm noticing a pattern in my foods looking not so attractive but they taste so good.

Chopped Onions - approx 1/3 cup
Portobello Mushroom Slices - approx 1 cup
Tofu - approx 1/4 block
Nutritional Yeast - as much as you'd like, I used probably about 2 Tbsp
Vegan Cheddar Cheese - I used approx 1.5 oz Daiya
Dash of Salt for flavor
Seasoned Packaged Tofu Meat substitute - I used Field Roast Tomato Flavor slices (2) but it would work well with any "deli" slices, fakin bacon, or soysage just for a little flavor.

In frying pan with either nonstick spray or oil, saute the onions. After a few minutes add in the mushrooms and saute for a few more minutes. Crumble the tofu and toss into the pan along with the nutritional yeast, salt, and meat substitute. Saute for another minute or two. Toss in the vegan cheese, stir in quickly and move it right to the casserole dish. Sprinkle some vegan cheese on top if you like. Bake at 400 degrees Fahrenheit for about 15 minutes.

Easy Apps

These weren't plated well, I fully admit it, but they tasted delicious. They're incredibly quick and easy to make.

Lightlife Smart Strips with Thai Kitchen Peanut Satay Sauce

The chik'n strips can be grilled in a nonstick pan or baked in an oven. I heated up the peanut satay sauce but I don't think it's necessary.  (Total 2 points) One thing to watch for in Asian sauces is "fish sauce". It is always listed in one form or another in packaged sauces. In restaurants you should ask your server if they can make the dish without fish sauce. That's a trap that I fell into quite a bit when I first switched to a vegan diet.


Gardein Chipolte Lime Crispy Fingers with Mock-A-Mole

Pictured is two crispy fingers cut up into bite size pieces and mock-a-mole that browned a bit while I was working on all of this. I started with Bethenny Frankel's Mock-A-Mole recipe and pared it down for simplicity. I used equal parts avocado and cup(s) of canned peas and then threw in some of my favorite seasonings (onion powder, garlic powder, lime juice, paprika, and salt). Of course if you have the time or the ingredients in your house use fresh ingredients, if not then packaged works just fine. (5 points-the crispy fingers are two points a piece but a small amount of mock-a-mole is just one point.)

Enjoy!