Archives for January 2011

Pizza Pie

Saturday was national vegan pizza day!  We celebrated a day early because we had other plans on Saturday.  I do believe that this may be the most perfect pizza dough you’ve ever had.  And of course, you’re welcome! 😉

Perfect pizza crust (makes two pizzas)

Ingredients:
2 cups Unbleached All Purpose Flour
1 1/2 cups Whole Wheat Pastry Flour (you can use regular whole wheat flour but it won’t be as fluffy and light… go for the pastry flour!)
1 Tablespoon Canola or EVOO
1 packet yeast
1 1/3 cup warm water
1 teaspoon salt
pinch of sugar

Directions:
(I use my food processor with the bread blade for this.  Or you could use a stand mixer.  Or you can even mix by hand if you want.)

Dissolve yeast in warm water with a pinch of sugar.  Let it dissolve until it starts getting foamy.  (if it doesn’t foam your yeast are most likely dead) 

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Add your flours and salt.

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Let ‘er rip!

As its going, stream in your oil.

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Let it go until it comes together and looks like dough.  If it’s really sticky you may have to add a little more flour.

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Form it into a ball and put it in a bowl.  Let it rest covered in a warm place for an hour.  It will be all nice and puffy like this.

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Divide it in two.  I like to freeze one for later.

Roll your dough out.  Be careful not to over work it or it will be tough.

Top with your fav toppings.  We did ours margherita style.  A little sauce, Daiya Cheese, torn basil leaves, and slices of Roma tomatoes.

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Bake at 425 F until the crust is a nice golden brown and the cheese is melty.

NOM!

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Enjoy!

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Sundays are for pancakes!

Happy Sunday!  I love having brunch on a Sunday, it’s like one of the best things in the world to me.  My favorite veg restaurant (Spiral Diner) has an awesome Sunday brunch that we hit up after church sometimes.  But we are on quite a tight budget, so there’s not always room in the budget for brunch out.  So it’s always good to have a great pancake recipe in your arsenal.  Here’s mine.  I think they’re maybe the best pancakes ever(even better than Spiral!), but I might be a bit biased! 😉

Blueberry pancakes

Ingredients:
1 cup AP flour
1/2 cup oat flour (you can use all AP flour, but I think that the oat flour adds that magical little something that makes these better than everyone else’s pancakes!)
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon cinnamon
2 Tablespoons canola oil
1/3 cup water
1 cup almond milk
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 Tablespoons agave nectar (optional but oh so tasty!)
1-1 1/2 cups fresh blueberries

Directions:
Stir together dry ingredients- flours, baking powder, salt, and cinnamon.

Whisk together wet ingredients- oil, water, milk, vanilla, and agave nectar.

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Then add wet ingredients to the dry ingredients.  Mix until just combined.  (don’t over mix- lumps are our friend in pancakes)

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Gently fold in blueberries.  If your batter is a little too thick for your liking, add a little more milk.

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Pour onto a hot pan or griddle (use a little nonstick spray if you need to) and cook till you see little bubbles around the edges.

Flip pancake and cook until nice and brown on the other side.

Keep cranking them out till you have used all of the batter.  This makes about 10 pancakes (depending on how big you make them).

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I’m a purist when it comes to my pancakes.  No fancy toppings.  Just a little Earth Balance and REAL maple syrup (grade A only.  yes, I’m a syrup snob!)

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Served up with a nice cup of Guatemala Antigua from my french press! 

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Now that’s BRUNCH!

Have a great Sunday!

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The best sweet potato fries

This may be controversial, but I’m going to go on record saying that the best sweet potato fries are actually cut into rounds and not fry shape.  *gasp*

I know that this news will probably rock your world, but it’s the truth.  And sometimes the truth hurts.  I just tell it like it is folks!

Have you ever noticed that when you cut a sweet potato into fry shape it doesn’t really get crispy?  Try it my way and you’ll never look back.  Plus it gets really cool cheetah-like spots when you cut them into rounds and who doesn’t like that?!

The best sweet potato fries

Cut your sweet potatoes into rounds.

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Place onto a foil lined baking sheet that’s been spritzed with a little cooking spray (or olive oil)

Bring on the Tony’s!!

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I usually use it quite generously, but it can be a bit spicy when you use a lot of it.  Just warning you!

 

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Bake in a 475 F oven and flip when the bottom starts to brown up (10-15 minutes).

Bake until they reach the desired spottiness and devour with ketchup or whatever condiments you like!

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They’re cheetah-licious!  I’d eat these things all day every day if I wouldn’t turn orange!

Enjoy your fries!

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This one’s for you Jack!

Did you hear that Jack LeLanne died yesterday?  Do a quick google search if you have no idea who I’m talking about and you’ll find an amazing story of an amazing guy!

I’m sure everyone knows who that is- the famous Jack LeLanne Juicer?  We’ve all heard of that right?

Well since I’m sitting here sipping my favorite green juice right now (made with my Jack LeLanne juicer of course!) I thought I’d just share some of my fav juice combos!

I have the Jack LeLanne Deluxe juicer ($150 retail, but I got it for $89 at Costco!!)

juice!

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Here are some of my fav combos of fruits/veg…

My number one fav is spinach(or kale), celery, cucumber, and an apple (red or green depending on the mood I’m in)

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Sometimes I will have just one in the morning, but most of the time I like to take one to drink on the way to school or work, then have another one hanging out in my lunch box (kept cold with ice packs) for a little pick me up in the afternoon.  You would be amazed at the amount of energy one of these babies will give you.

 

I also like to add beets and carrots to the mix sometimes…

This one’s kale, carrot, and apple.

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This one’s carrot, beet, apple, and ginger.  The ginger adds a really nice warmth to the juice and the beet makes it such a pretty color! 

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Those are just a few ideas.  We’ve also just juiced one type of fruit- clementines (yummy but SO sweet), honeycrisp apples, grapes and blueberries, etc…  I haven’t had a bad one yet!

Pretty much I always do an apple to cut down on the greeny flavor a bit.  I also always do something green- either kale or spinach. 

I notice a huge increase in energy when I drink my green juice.  Not sure on the science of this one, looks like I’ll have to do a little research to find out why! 

 

Anyway, here’s to you Jack…cheers!

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Speaking of peanut butter…

Hey speaking of peanut butter, I made my own!  I was really surprised how easy it was!!  I made almond butter over Christmas break (which I’m now almost out of so next time I make some more I’ll post the recipe) and that was pretty easy but quite a bit more involved than the peanut butter I just made.  And it’s so so good!

So here’s what I did…

Last time I was at Whole Foods I got some peanuts.  Roasted, unsalted. (you could probably roast them yourself, but why would you want to when you can get them already roasted? 😉 )

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Then I threw them in the food processor with a couple of pinches of salt.

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Then you start grinding!

At first they’ll look all mealy like this…

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Keep grinding!

 

Then they’ll form a big chunk in your food processor. 

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It’s OK.  Just be patient and eventually it will smooth out.  Keep grinding till it reaches the consistency you like.  I like mine a little bit runny.

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I always have a million mason jars hanging around so I put mine in one of those.

 

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Delicious!  Hope you give it a try- it’s so easy and everything tastes better home made!

 

Have a great evening- catch ya on the flip side!

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