Chocolate-Orange Cupcakes

For the past few months I’ve been on a cookie-making spree, and to be honest, I’ve only actually made one kind of cookie (chocolate chip) because it is the best. However, as good as they are, I’m cookie’d out.  Baking the deliciously cute morsels known as cupcakes have been on my to-do list for a while, and as soon as I thought of chocolate-orange ones I was sold. The cupcake base (from Vegan Cupcakes Take Over The World) includes pure orange extract–3/4 to 1 tsp–in place of the almond. Though almond sounds amazing, too. Anyway. I topped them with some orange tofutti icing, sprinkled them with colored sugar and voila!

VCTOTW Basic Chocolate Cupcakes (with added orange deliciousness)

Makes 12 cupcakes

• 1 cup soy milk
• 1 teaspoon apple cider vinegar
• 3/4 cup sugar
• 1/3 cup canola oil
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1/2 – 3/4 tsp pure orange extract
• 1 cup flour
• 1/3 cup cocoa powder
• 3/4 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1/4 tsp salt

1.Preheat your oven to 350F and line or grease a muffin tin.

2. In  a large bowl, mix the soymilk and apple cider vinegar. Set aside.

2. In another bowl, sift together your dry ingredients.

3. Back to the soymilk mixture: add in the sugar, oil, and extracts and mix well.

4. Add the flour mix to the wet mix in two batches; mix until no large clumps are visible.

5. Bake for 18-20 minutes and let cool entirely before adding any frosting.

Orange Cream Cheeze Frosting

• 1 8 0z package vegan cream cheese, like Tofutti, softened
• 1/2 cup powdered sugar, or more if you like
• 1 tsp pure orange extract

In a large bowl, add all ingredients. Mix with a handheld beater for a minute or two. Scrape down the sides of the bowl with a rubber spatula, add any extra sugar to taste, and mix another 30 seconds. Sprinkle cupcakes with colored sugar, if you like.

Camp food, etc.

The past few weeks have been a blur! In addition to working all the time, my boy and I went to a camping festival a few weekends ago and planning for that was eating up all my internet time, heh. We had a great time though and were able to camp 100% meat and heat free. Not raw, unfortunately, because we didn’t really have adequate storage for fresh produce, but we did alright anyway.

Our camping menu included:

-cooked farfalle pasta and broccoli, later turned into pasta salad w/ vegan italian dressing

-corn/kettle chips, fruit & spicy salsa

-a loaf of pb&j sammiches

-fruit-filled granola bars

-a TON of dried fruit and cashews

I feel like I’m forgetting stuff but that was essentially what we ate on for two days. There were also loads of people there with various camp kitchens set up, so I also got a little bit of gifted food, including herbed beans and sourdough bread…mmm. When we came home though I promptly had some hot burritos, hahaha.

I haven’t been cooking too many new dishes lately, so while it’s all been delicious it’s not particularly exciting. Tonight I’m spinach-potato knishes and chocolate chip brownies. Maybe even chocolate chip black bean brownies if I can find such a recipe!

And finally in non-food news, I’m currently plotting an amazing Princess Peach costume. YAY. I keep trying to upload my costume sketches but neither wordpress nor photobucket will accept the file! Grr. Anyway, I’m supremely excited about making it so hopefully I don’t slack on updating with my progress. Haha.

Roasted Curry Potatoes

Just something quick, easy and deeeelicious. All the spices are easily adjusted to your tastes! I used approximately a 1.5 tablespoons of each spice.

prep it:

-red potatoes, however many you need to feed yourself and possibly others

-olive oil (i used light tasting)
-kosher salt
-black pepper (cracked would be good)
-cayenne pepper
-garlic powder
-onion powder
-curry powder

do it:
-preheat oven to 400, and line a baking sheet with foil
-chop potates into halves lengthwise, then in half lengthwise again, then into 1/2″ half moons (or whatever, just chop them bite-sized)
-toss potatoes in bowl with oil and spices until evenly coated
-arrange potatoes in a single layer on the baking sheet. bake for 30 minutes!

Of Gnocchi, Beans and Potatoes

Last week was my first experiment with homemade gnocchi. I’d tried a storebought version once before, but it was bland and gummy and almost made me swear off gnocchi for good! But, tired of knishes and curried potatoes (but not really), I decided to put my potato obsession to good use in a new way by trying my hand at the potato dumplings. I used the spinach variation from Vegan with a Vengeance, added some dried herbs I ground in my mini chopper (haha), and dressed it with a simple combination of garlic sauteed in olive oil and white wine. So good! I made some of the balls a little too big and those didn’t cook through entirely, but the smaller ones were superb and I ended up with a ton leftover (and freezing!).

I also made some black bean soup last night, which was just alright, I think I added too much water and didn’t let the beans cook long enough. They were just canned organic Kroger-brand black beans, but still. Meh. Certainly edible enough but I just can’t think of what it was missing. Normally I just saute finely chopped onion and garlic in olive oil, add some spices, then add the beans, cook for a long time and mash. This time my onions were very coarsley chopped and I added some chopped tomatoes and black olives, but nothing else was really different. Other than the water. Meh, I say!

I did make something nomworthy today though: boiled and lightly fried, curried red potatoes over spinach sauteed in garlic and olive oil (notice a pattern? haha). That one, I’ll post a recipe for, since my blog seems sparse to me with so few pictures.

TIID’s Curried Breakfast Potatoes over Spinach!

This made enough for two large servings or three smaller ones.

-2 large red potatoes (or, you know, whatever potato you like/have)

-3 large handfuls fresh spinach (or about one pack frozen)

-2 TB minced garlic

-4 TB olive oil, halved

-White wine (I used cheap cooking wine)

-1/2 tsp each (or to taste) cayenne pepper, cumin

-1 tsp each (or to taste) turmeric, black pepper, curry powder

Start by chopping the potatoes into quarters and then half inch slices. Place in a pot, cover with cold water, and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to medium and cook for 15-20 minutes, or until tender. Drain in a colander and set aside.

Next, get out a skillet (the bigger, the better) and pour in 2 tb of the olive oil. Heat over medium low and add garlic. Saute the garlic for a few minutes until light brown and very fragrant. Then add the spinach (you might want to do it in batches if you have a smaller skillet) and cook for two minutes. Deglaze the pan with a splash of the wine, and then add the rest of the spinach and cook to your desired wiltiness. Don’t forget to mix it all around so you get the garlicky-wine goodness all over!

Now to fry the potatoes. I used the same pan as the spinach, but feel free to use a new one or set aside the spinach as it can burn easily if you don’t keep a sharp eye on it. Add the rest of the olive oil, the spices, heat on medium for a little less than a minute, and add the potatoes. Cook them just long enough to get a thin, browned skin or crispy edges. The spices in the oil should turn the potatoes very yellow! Serve over the spinach if you set it aside, and salt to taste.

Kitchen Cupboard Vegan Alfredo Sauce

I’ve been making this so often- It’s so good. I posted the basic recipe before but now I’ve mastered it and made it 1000x better.

You need!

2-4 tbsp flour, sifted into a dry skillet

2.5 tbsp earth balance

garlic powder (or [pressed garlic)

onion powder (or finely chopped white/yellow onions)

1 tsp white pepper

fresh black pepper, to taste

unsweetened soy/rice milk

and noodles of your preference, I use spirals.

optional:
broccoli crowns
sliced portabella mushroom

start:
start boiling water for pasta.

if you’re adding in the veggies: in a skillet over medium heat, pour in a bit of olive oil and just a smidge of butter. dump in mushrooms and broccoli and stir-fry until cooked through.  Once cooked, drain the liquid set aside. You could also steam the broccoli instead of sauteing.

Start cooking pasta.

Okay, now- the newish sauce, modified from a recipe I found online at IVU:

sift the flour into a dry skillet and heat over a medium-high stove. toast the flour until it is light brown (be careful not to let it get any darker), then briefly remove from heat and add the butter. You can melt the butter beforehand if you want, but if not, let the butter melt in with the flour. Return pan to low heat and add the garlic, onion, white and black pepper, and then slowly add in the milk and stir. Keep stirring until your desired consistency is reached and there are no flour lumps. You’ll definitely need to add salt if you used plain (not unsweetened) milk.

Drain the pasta, add the sauce and veggies and voila! Quite delicious. Even my roommate likes it. The photo below is without veggies, obviously, but they are a fabulous addition.

ps: yes, those are batman pajama pants.

Purple Potatoes

Last week I bought some purple potatoes, pretty much just because I had never seen them at Kroger before. I’ve been trying to cook actual dishes at home more often, and today I tackled the potatoes (right after I made a small batch of broccoli-zucchini-tofu scramble for breakfast burritos! mm).

Anywho, I intended to make some herbed roasted potatoes but forgot that I don’t have any cookware beyond one skillet and one pot, and since my skillet was already in use- mashed potatoes seemed like the perfect answer. Well, almost the perfect answer…I know you’re supposed to use unsweetened soymilk but all I had was enriched (and sweetened) rice milk, haha. Enough garlic and pepper covered up any sweet taste left by the milk, and these were entirely satisfying and simple.

Though I’m not sure it looks tantalizing, IT WAS SO FUCKING GOOD. Yay!

Blackened Tofu Sandwiches

I’m making blackened tofu sandwiches for lunch. I have a ton of tofu (it was on sale- I mean on serious sale!) so for the next few cooking adventures I imagine I will be rife with soybean curd.

Anyway! The recipe I found seems ridiculously simple- I modified the spice mix levels quite a bit and it turned out freakin’ delicious!

makes 4 sandwiches

half a block of extra firm tofu (press all the water out and cut into four 1/4″-ish slices)
olive oil
one ripe tomato, unrefrigerated if possible
enough vegan bread
one avocado or vegan guacamole
1 1/2 tb garlic powder
1 tb onion powder
1/4 tsp salt, plus some to taste
1 tbsp black pepper
a couple dashes of ground cumin
1/4  tsp cayenne pepper (or more, if you like your mouth en fuego)
any lettuce, sprouts, green sammich toppings

Just brush the tofu with the olive oil, dip in the spice mixture and pan-fry. I toasted my bread and ate it with fresh spouts and chunky salsa (due to my lack of tomato or avocado). I also brushed off most of the spice coating after i cooked it because i think i used way too much for one slice of tofu, but after the excess was gone it was freaking DELICIOUS.

Also, I was worried the texture of the tofu would be kinda gross since I didn’t freeze and thaw it beforehand but the extra firm was fine once drained and pressed.