Recipes

Biscuits and gravy

February 27, 2011 by Sarah Leave a Comment

This is not a healthy recipe. This is for when you’re craving old school biscuits and gravy like you had when you were a kid, but you’d like to make an animal friendly version. I love a good Sunday brunch, and this recipe definitely hits the spot! So here goes- enjoy!

Biscuits

Ingredients:
1 cup AP flour
1 cup whole wheat pastry flour
5 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
3 Tbsp Earth Balance
3 Tbsp Earth Balance Shortening
2/3 cup unsweetened almond milk

Directions:

Preheat oven to 450 F.

In a large bowl mix together flours, baking powder, and salt.

Cut in the shortening and earth balance until it’s crumbly. You can use a fork or a pastry cutter, but it works best if you just use your fingers!

Sir in the milk. Turn out onto a lightly floured surface and roll out to about 1/2 inch thickness. Using a biscuit cutter or a glass cut dough into circles and place on an ungreased baking sheet. Depending on how big you cut them, you should get somewhere around 10 biscuits.

Bake in your 450 F oven for 15 minutes or until nice and brown on top.

Serve with your favorite jam/preserves or top with a nice country gravy!

Country Gravy

Ingredients:
3 Tablespoons Earth Balance shortening
3 Tablespoons AP flour
2 1/2 cup unsweetened almond milk
1/2 cup coconut milk creamer (or soy creamer)
salt and pepper to taste

Directions:
Melt in your shortening in a skillet over medium heat.

Whisk in the flour and let mixture simmer for a couple of minutes.

Whisk in the almond milk and creamer.

Turn up the heat a little (medium high) and let it bubble until it is nice and thick and gravy like. You have to babysit it a little, whisking it occasionally.

Add salt and pepper to your liking. I love mine with lots of pepper!

Pour over your biscuits and devour!

I was going to set it up all pretty and take some pictures but it looked so yummy I just couldn’t wait that long!

Mmmmmmmm!!!!!!!

I. Love. Brunch.

Hope you make this soon and I hope you love it!

Happy snacking!!

Technorati Tags: vegan recipes,Recipes,biscuits,country gravy,biscuits and gravy,Brunch

Filed Under: Uncategorized Tagged With: biscuits, biscuits and gravy, Brunch, country gravy, Recipes, vegan recipes

Slow cooker BBQ tofu

February 24, 2011 by Sarah Leave a Comment

Oh no she didn’t!

Oh yes I did!!

Back when I ate animals I used to make shredded BBQ chicken all the time. It was quite easy. But being a Texas gal I’ve been missing that BBQ flavor lately, so I decided to try something similar with tofu. It turned out great- I was super impressed! Though I loved this and will definitely make it again and again I think I’m going to try it with tempeh next time(that was actually the husbands idea- can you believe it?!), I think it will give it a little more of a meaty “chew”, know what I mean? We’ll see what happens!

Here’s the version with tofu…

Slow cooker BBQ tofu

Ingredients:
1 block of tofu
1-ish jar of your favorite BBQ sauce(I used about 3/4 of the jar)

Directions:
Drain your tofu and press as much water out of it as you can (this can be accomplished in many ways- I just like to put it between kitchen towels and press on it with something heavy)

Cut your tofu into cubes(they don’t have to be perfect) and throw ‘em in your slow cooker.

Pour in your BBQ sauce…

Let it go on low for about 5ish hours, or on high for around 3. Then stir it and kind of chop it up with your stirring utensil until it’s in small chunks and looks like chopped BBQ.

Serve it up on a whole wheat bun with your choice of fixings- I used mustard and pickles.

Serve with your favorite side- I did sweet potato fries, but potato salad would also be awesome!

NOM!!!!!

Happy snacking!

Technorati Tags: vegan recipes,tofu,BBQ,crockpot,slow cooker,Recipes,sweet potato fries

Filed Under: Uncategorized Tagged With: BBQ, crockpot, Recipes, slow cooker, sweet potato fries, tofu, vegan recipes

Banana Oat Breakfast Muffins

February 13, 2011 by Sarah 2 Comments

These are delicious and so very simple to make. Make a lot of them and freeze them ahead of time and heat them up for a super quick super healthy breakfast! These were inspired by Ashley’s buckwheat muffin bake.

P.S. no need to go buy the expensive oat flour at the specialty store- you can make your own by putting some oats in your blender or food processor and grinding them till they look like flour!

Banana Oat Breakfast Muffins (makes 2 good size muffins or several smaller muffins if you’d rather make them in a muffin pan)

(Print this recipe!)

Ingredients:
1/2 cup oat flour
2 Tablespoons rolled oats
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon baking powder
pinch of salt
1 banana, mashed
1/2 cup almond milk
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 flax eggs (2 tablespoons ground flax + 6 tablespoons water)

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 F.

Whisk together flax egg (2 T ground flax + 6 T water) and set aside.

In a small bowl mix together oat flour, rolled oats, cinnamon, baking soda, and pinch of salt.

In a bigger bowl whisk together mashed banana, almond milk, and vanilla.

Add dry ingredients into wet and stir until just combined.

Add flax egg to the mixture and stir to combine.

Pour into two ovenproof containers or a muffin pan and bake in a 350 F oven for 35 minutes.

Do try to let them cool a little before you snarf them down!

(I couldn’t decide which of these three pics I liked best, so you have to see all three of them! Smile )

You could totally eat this as is, or take it to go on a rushed morning OR you could top it with some seriously awesome toppings! Like almond butter, peanut butter, coconut butter, walnuts, fruit preserves, or shredded coconut to name a few!

Happy snacking!

Technorati Tags: vegan,vegan recipes,banana oat breakfast muffins,bananas,oatmeal,flax,Recipes

Filed Under: Uncategorized Tagged With: banana oat breakfast muffins, bananas, flax, oatmeal, Recipes, vegan, vegan recipes

What’s for dinner tonight?

February 9, 2011 by Sarah 2 Comments

Last nights dinner was amaaaaaaazing!! So I’ll get right to it, cause you’re gonna want to come right over and give me a big kiss right on the lips!

Eggplant lasagna bake with garlic cheesy biscuits!

Eggplant lasagna bake

Ingredients:
2 eggplants
a big pile of mushrooms (sorry I didn’t measure, haha!)
1 clove garlic
a jar of your fav pasta sauce
your fav vegan mozzarella cheese
vegan parmesan cheese (optional)

Directions:
Slice your shrooms and sauté them with a clove of garlic.

Add your pasta sauce, cover with a lid, and turn it down to low to let it simmer while you work on your eggplant.

Slice a little piece off of your eggplant to give it “feet”- it won’t roll around while you’re trying to slice it, so you won’t have to worry about cutting yourself.

Slice it very thin (you’ll be using these eggplant slices instead of lasagna noodles, so slice them as thinly as you can)

Time to start layering! Start with sauce, then eggplant, more sauce, then a little cheese. Continue until you have used all of the eggplant slices.

The top layer should be sauce, lots of cheese, and a sprinkle of vegan parmesan.

Bake in a 400 F oven for about 30 mins (till the cheese is all melty and brown on top)

We served it with garlic cheesy biscuits(recipe follows) and a kale salad dressed with lemon juice, olive oil, and a little sprinkle of salt and pepper.

And now the garlic cheesy biscuits!

Garlic Cheesy Biscuits

Ingredients:
1 cup AP flour
1 cup whole wheat pastry flour
5 tsp baking powder
1 clove garlic, minced
2 tsp fresh parsley
1 tsp dried rosemary
1/2 tsp salt
3 Tbsp Earth Balance
3 Tbsp Earth Balance Shortening
1 cup almond milk
1 cup Daiya Cheddar Style vegan cheese

Directions:
Preheat oven to 450 F.

In a large bowl mix together flours, baking powder, garlic, parsley, rosemary, and salt.

Cut in the shortening and earth balance until it’s crumbly. You can use a fork or a pastry cutter, but it works best if you just use your fingers!

Stir in the milk and Daiya.

Drop by big spoonfuls onto a sprayed baking sheet or a baking stone.

Bake for 15 minutes until lightly brown on top.

Combine a Tablespoon of earth balance, a clove of minced garlic, and a teaspoon of parsley(you could also use dill for this- it would be amazing as well). Brush over the tops of the biscuits.

And voila! The finished product!

I had to really restrain myself from snarfing the whole batch down! Oh. My. Word. These are amazing!!!

Well, I’ll leave you to it! We’re iced in again today. Sad smile

But mama pea posted a recipe for toffee bars that look freaking amazing so I think I’m going to get my bake on today!

Have a good one!

Technorati Tags: vegan recipes,Recipes,eggplant lasagna bake,garlic cheesy biscuits,snow day,kale,eggplant,Daiya

Filed Under: Uncategorized Tagged With: Daiya, eggplant, eggplant lasagna bake, garlic cheesy biscuits, kale, Recipes, snow day, vegan recipes

I needa fajita!

February 8, 2011 by Sarah Leave a Comment

Well, we survived the snow-a-thon 2011 here in Texas! Only we’re supposed to get another dose of it on Wednesday. Doesn’t good ole jack frost know that I live in Texas so I don’t have to put up with snow?!

Anyhoo- here’s a great veggie fajita recipe that will make you daydream about sitting out on a patio enjoying a margarita. Which I’m hoping to be able to do very soon- hurry spring!!

Veggie Fajitas

Ingredients for marinade:
2 oranges
2 limes
1 jalapeno, diced (with or without seeds- your choice)
1 Tablespoon canola oil
1 teaspoon ground cumin

Ingredients for fajitas:
3-4 portabellas
1 bell pepper, sliced into strips
1 onion, thinly sliced