Vegan Strawberry Coconut Ice Cream

 

I heard you can use reduced fat coconut milk for this recipe and it still comes out good. The coconut flavor is still pretty strong, but it gives it a fresh, fruity, tropical feel.

2 C coconut milk or coconut cream (see below) = lots of creamy fattiness! Make sure it's refrigerated
3/4 cup sugar (maybe even a little less?)
Handful of frozen strawberries

I used Cuisinart's Ice Cream Maker. Follow those directions, which include freezing inside bowl overnight.

Pour coconut milk, sugar, and strawberries into a blender, and blend until a pleasant pink. Pour into ice cream bowl and let the machine take care of it for 20 minutes, or as directed.

Makes: Approximately 2 pints

Baked Kale Chips

When baked/roasted, kale is light, crisp and tastes like roasted seaweed! I realize this may repulse many people, but I love the brittle crunch. Go easy on the salt because you can always add more later.

1 bunch kale
1/4 tsp salt
1 Tbsp oil

Preheat an oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Line a non insulated cookie sheet with parchment paper.

With a knife or kitchen shears carefully remove the leaves from the thick stems and tear into bite size pieces. Wash and thoroughly dry kale with a salad spinner. Drizzle kale with olive oil and sprinkle with seasoning salt.

Bake until the edges brown but are not burnt, 10 to 15 minutes.

Crabby Enoki Mushrooms

You like seafood? You vegan? Wanna try something interesting? When enoki mushrooms are baked in a toaster oven or regular oven for 30 minutes with olive oil drizzled on it in a little aluminum foil "pan" they magically transform into crab/seafood! It's weird. I don't get it. Vicky says that you usually keep the mushrooms in a bunch with the stalks parallel to each other for good looks. I like.

Quick Mushroom & White Wine Pasta

Quickie meal Vicky and I made using shitake mushrooms (which give it a more Asian twist) we bought from the Milk Pail and ingredients from our pantry.

Olive oil
4 cloves of garlic, minced
5 medium sized mushrooms of your choice
Dry white wine (used a Sauvignon Blanc)
Angel Hair pasta
Salt and pepper to taste

Place a pot on the stove on medium heat and with water according to directions on the package. As it's working its way to boiling, heat about 1 tsp olive oil in a pan and then the garlic. When it softens a bit, add mushrooms. (Is the water boiling yet? Add the pasta and set the timer!)

Cook the mushrooms until softened, then push to the side of the pan. Add about 2 Tbsp of wine. Wait till it's heated then push back the garlic and mushrooms.

When pasta is ready, using a slotted spoon, spoon out the pasta into the pan and toss with more olive oil and salt and pepper to taste.

Serves 2

Filipino Garlic Rice

Mmm!!! Great with those little Filipino sausages. First tasted this at Lumpia Palace (a.k.a. Gemmae Bake Shop). Sooooo flavorful and garlicky! Haleen showed Anna this summer, and Anna showed me. What a treat! I can't believe it's so simple. I can't believe I don't eat garlic rice at every meal. Or even instead of a meal! Thanks, Haleen.

If using regular Asian rice, you can cook it straight out of the rice cooker. If using jasmine or basmati, it's better if you allow it to get cold or if you use it a day old. Maybe it's because they're thinner grains and pan frying would overcook them?

Oil
One whole head of garlic, or 3/4 of it, minced (the more, the better I say)
Cooked rice
Salt to taste
1 Tbsp fish sauce (I haven't tried this but I read it in another recipe)

You basically heat up the oil (a couple of tablespoons at first) and cook the garlic until softened and a little golden. Season with a little salt and fish sauce. Then add the rice. Heat up until the garlic is golden, but not dark brown otherwise you've burned it. But that's ok, it's still good. A little bitter and a little carcinogenic, but still good.

That's right, girl. More garlic.

Golden Vanilla Cupcakes (Vegan)

They say that "canola oil makes never-fail cupcakes with a light texture. Margarine can be a little trickier to work with, but the buttery flavor, golden color and delicate texture it gives the cupcakes are worth the effort." I tried it with the canola oil and it turned out wonderful! Very moist, spongy, fluffy and airy, indeed. So far, the best vegan vanilla cupcake recipe I've ever made! I'm inspired to do all the recipes from the book!

1 C soy milk, unsweetened
1 tsp apple cider vinegar
1 1/4 cups flour
2 tablespoons cornstarch (potato starch, OK)
3/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt (increase salt to 1/2 teaspoon if you're using oil instead of margarine)
1/3 cup canola oil or 1/2 C margarine
3/4 cup granulated sugar (I should do it short of 3/4 but not quite 1/2...a little too sweet with frosting on it)
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1/4 teaspoon almond extract

Preheat oven to 350 degrees and line muffin pan with cupcake liners.

Whisk the soy milk and vinegar in a measuring cup, set aside a few minutes to get good and curdled.

If using margarine: sift flour, cornstarch, bp, bs, and salt into a large bowl and mix and in a separate large bowl, cream butter and sugar for 2 minutes until light and fluffy, but don't beat past 2 minutes. Beat in the vanilla and other extract then alternate beating the soy mixture and dry ingredients, stopping to scrape the sides of the bowl a few times.

If using oil: beat together the the soy milk mixture, oil, sugar, vanilla and almond extracts in a large bowl. Sift in the flour, cornstarch, baking powder, baking soda, and salt and mix until no large lumps remain.

Fill cupcake liners two-third full and bake for 20-22 minutes until done. (20 min for me)

Transfer to a cooling rack and let cool completely before frosting.

Makes 1 dozen, from Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World

May’s Date Cookies

May Wang is always coming up with crazy and delicious and healthy desserts. I first tried this one at her own FTTA graduation. "Wait a minute...aren't I supposed to be baking you treats for your graduation??" My roommates and I instantly fell in love. These have a nice chew in the dates and a biscuit like crunch in the crust department.

This was my first attempt at it by myself. I started out halving the recipe, but my crust turned out really wet, so I added more flour. Maybe next time I’ll add more almond meal. Maybe my dates were a little dried out because they had trouble sticking to anything. It made it really easy to roll out and work with, but makes the end result cookie more like paste and a side of crust. I baked it until the dates were slightly darker and bubbling a little. Cutting was also easy because of my oldie dates.

Here's a good brand for the dates that are delicious when properly stored:

2 1/2 cup buckwheat flour, or whole wheat flour (2 C whole wheat flour + ¼ C almond meal)
1/2 cup water (1/4 c)
1/2 cup safflower oil, or any other oil (1/4 C canola oil)
1/2 tsp salt (1/4 tsp)

one block date paste
4 sheets of parchment paper

Preheat oven 350 degrees
Cut open plastic around date block and unwrap; place on some parchment paper and heat in oven to make soft, easier to roll out
(about 5 min-don’t leave in too long or it will get hard on top).

In bowl, mix ingredients together. Knead into dough, may be a little crumbly, it’s okay. Between two parchment papers, roll out dough thinly (less than 1/4 inch thick). Fold parchment over on each side and roll out in order to make dough edges straight.

Slightly oil two more parchment papers and roll out heated date block thinly. Fold parchment paper over on each side to make the edges straight: match the size of the dough. Take off top parchment of date and flip date paste onto dough, match up edges as much as possible--once it touches, it will stick, you get one shot ☺ (←look how cute May is with her little emoticon.) You can cut off the extra material on the sides and piece together the dough and dates to get maximum surface area. With a knife, cut the sheet into squares,
It may help to have a wet towel handy to wipe edges of knife periodically so the dates won’t stick. No need to separate the squares, it will easily break apart after being baked.

Place the parchment paper on cookie sheet and bake 10-15 minutes. Let cool and break into squares.

My version made 16 squares

Peanut Butter Zimbabwe Stew

Soooo good! Smokey, creamy, a tad sweet.

14 oz. package of firm tofu (used 10 oz)
2 T olive oil
1 ½ C chopped green bell peppers (red ones would be nice to look at)
1 ½ C chopped yellow onions (about ¾ of a medium sized one)
1 T minced fresh garlic (about 4-5 cloves)

14.5 oz. can of whole tomatoes (I drained it, which didn’t make quite a stew, but more of a thicker curry)
1/3 C crunchy peanut butter
½ tsp salt
½ tsp chili powder (can be replaced with cayenne or more adobo sauce)
dash cayenne
1 tsp ground red chipotle (I used 2 chipotle peppers that were canned and 2 T of the adobo sauce)

1 ½ C frozen chopped collard greens (used mustard greens)

Drain and rinse the tofu. Pat dry, and cut into ½ to ¾ inch cubes.

Heat the oil in a 3-quart saucepan. Add the onions and sauté till softened, then add the garlic and bell peppers. Cook for about 10 minutes. Stir in tomatoes and cut up using the spoon. Add the peanut butter, salt, chili powder, cayenne and chipotle and cook for approximately 10 minutes again.

Add the collard greens and tofu and simmer until greens are tender or until flavors have blended, at least 15 minutes. Season with salt to taste. I salted a little more and then served with lavosh bread.

Serves 4-5

My Favorite Veggies as a Kid

I forget the name of this vegetable, but it's not bitter, the stalks are little thin straws and the top is dark and leafy...Whatever it is, you can buy it in a bunch in all the asian supermarkets. My dad and I washed the whole thing, cut it up in 2" segments. Heat a large pot with a little oil, add the smashed garlic (used 3-4 cloves) and heated until fragrant. Add the stems of the vegetable first to soften until bright green and almost ready to eat (i.e. soft yet with some crunch) and then added the rest of the vegetable. Add a little bit of water (my dad adds a lot to make a soup/sauce). Cover and allow to steam down. Season with salt.

Dad's Pickles

When learning how to cook with family, there always lacks measurements. Everything is to color, to taste, to smell. I will come back to this one day and actually measure out the ingredients for the recipe.

1 cucumber, peeled and halved then sliced
salt
sugar
soy sauce
rice vinegar (optional)

With the cucumbers in a bowl, generously sprinkle salt all over and toss. After allowing it to sit for at least 10 minutes, rinse one cucumber to try. Does it give a little resistance when you bite only to release with a dense crunch? Then it's ready! Rinse the rest and add the other ingredients to taste. My dad likes it slightly sweet with very little saltiness from the soy and just a little acidity. If it's still soft like a raw cucumber, sprinkle more salt and let it set an additional 5-10 minutes.

Easy Roasted Garlic

Honestly, the easiest way to make roasted garlic, yet takes a lot of time. You take the whole head of garlic and place it in a small cake pan. I roasted almost 5 heads a time so if you do just one, you may not have to bake it as long. I then let it sit in a 325 degree oven for almost 2 hours, checking on it to make sure it didn't burn or get too dry. When you have an oven mitt on and squeeze it, it should give and be soft, maybe even a few cloves will fall apart a little. After you let it cool, you can peel each clove and use it in any potato dish, sandwich, salad or spread on toasted bread like above with olive oil drizzled on top. SO GOOD.

Shua’s Broccoli Slaw with Toasted Almonds & Cranberries

Simple, elegant and fresh.

Broccoli slaw (from TJ’s or Fresh & Easy)
Gala apples, chopped
Toasted almonds
Dried cranberries

She mixed together balsamic vinegar, olive oil, sea salt and pepper and then tossed in. An alternative would be a light, sweet poppy seed dressing.

Serves 5-6

Spicy Peanut Sesame Noodles

A recipe from one of those Joy of Cooking desk calendars.

Sauce
1 C peanut butter
1/4 C rice vinegar or white vinegar
2 T soy sauce
1 garlic clove, minced
1 chile pepper, seeded and minced OR 1 tsp cayenne or chile flakes
1 tsp chili oil (optional)
1 1/2 T sugar or honey
1/4 C toasted sesame oil
1/2 C freshly brewed black tea

Noodles & Toppings
1 pound noodles (spaghetti or Chinese egg noodles)
4 C shredded cooked chicken OR julienned firm tofu
Peeled, seeded julienned cucumber
Chopped cilantro
Coarsely chopped peanuts
Julienned carrots
Chopped green onions

Combine the sauce ingredients. If you want it really smooth, you can process it in your food processor or blender.

Boil and drain the noodles. Serve at room temperature.

What's pretty is when you display each topping ingredient in a separate bowl. Serve the noodles and let your guests build their plate. This is how Cristal Chen did it once and it was so yummy and fun and colorful!!

6-8 First-course or 4 main-course servings, adapted from Joy of Cooking

Black Bean & Corn Salad

Francine Hardy would make something like this to complement her Texan brisket and mashed potatoes. Oh! So good!!!!

1 15 oz. can black beans
1 15 oz. can of corn (no salt)
2 red or orange bell peppers
1/4 C chopped red onions
3 cloves of garlic, minced
a little less than 1/4 C olive oil
3 T red wine vinegar
1/3 C chopped cilantro
1 T lime
1/2 jalapeno, minced (optional)
salt and pepper to taste (but if serving with salty chips, you really should omit)

Combine all in a bowl and let it sit for at least an hour for flavors to develop. Serve with chips or as a side dish.

Serves 6-8

Vegetable Soup

So there are a few options to enhance the flavor of the soup. You can...
1. Make it in advance and let the flavors meld together
2. Use Swanson's chicken broth
3. Throw in a Parmesan rind

2 yellow onions, chopped
6 cloves of garlic, minced
2-4 medium carrots, chopped
1-2 T Italian seasoning, I used Trader Joe's Pasta dried seasoning which is a blend of onion, garlic, basil, lemon peel, fennel, oregano, black pepper, ginger and thyme)

1 medium bell pepper, chopped
14 oz. of washed, chopped collard greens or kale
1 15 oz. can of corn
1 15 oz. can of beans (kidney, garbanzo, cannelloni, or whatever you like really...)

2 15 oz. cans of broth (chicken or vegetable, I used Swanson's low sodium, no msg)

Heat oil in pan until it reaches the smoking point. Add the onions and cook until softened and fragrant, then add the garlic and carrots. Cook until slightly soft and add the seasoning of your choice.

While on the stove, you can prepare the other vegetables and drained the canned corn and beans. Add the bell pepper and collard greens and cook until greens have shrunken down and are a deep green color.

Add the broth and cook on medium high until boiling, then turn down the heat and simmer for at least 15 minutes or till serving. Feel free to add water or salt to adjust to taste.

Serve with parmesan cheese and crusty bread if you'd like.

Vegan Thumbprint Cookies

"This recipe for thumbprint cookies comes from the Tassajara Zen Mountain Center, the legendary Buddhist monastery in California. And I'll say this, those monks make some mean cookies. Actually, since they're vegan, I guess they'd be more properly classified as kind."

The original recipe called for baby rolled oats, but I honestly had no clue where to find that (only saw single grain oatmeal?). Online sources say you can substitute it with equal parts oat bran, but I was too lazy to get that so...food processor to the rescue! Hearty, with a nice flavor. I approve, maybe even the harshest critic too, but next time I'll process the almonds and the oats a little more.

1/2 C unbleached flour
1 C almonds, ground
2 C baby rolled oats/processed oatmeal/oat bran
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 C maple syrup
1/2 C canola oil
1/4 C fruit preserves thinned with 1 tsp water (blueberry & raspberry pictured, but raspberry is my favorite)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a medium bowl, combine the flour, almonds, oats and salt. Add the syrup and oil and stir, mixing well. Let dough stand for 15 minutes before using. If you have a food processor, you can process the almonds, then oatmeal, then flour and salt then the wet ingredients directly in the processor. Let it sit inside the processor for 15 minutes.

Roll or scoop dough into 3/4" balls. (I used my trusty 1.5 T cookie scoop). Place close together on the baking sheets. Make a little dent in the top of each ball with your thumb and fill the holes with the fruit preserve.

Bake for 13 minutes. Do not overbake! Cool on a wire rack. After cooling they got crunchy but strangely, they were softer the next day.

Makes 21 1.5 T cookies, adapted from Care2.com

The Great Adamo Dessert: Graham Crackers, PB & Milk

There is a whole history behind this deceivingly simple and tasty treat, but you'll have to ask one of the Adamo clan to fully explain. All I can offer is my personal experience.

It was a warm New Year's Eve night in Brian and Melody's home. We had just finished a wonderfully classic American dinner of pot roast, potatoes, carrots, salad, fruit salad, broccoli and chicken noodle soup. The boys were in the other room tinkering with their Macs while I watched with longing as Brian assembled his graham cracker sandwich.

Maybe it was lack of solid food from food poisoning recovery, but nothing in my life looked as delicious--smooth, creamy peanut butter and sweet, crumbly, crunchy graham cracker united, then dunked in cool milk. (It's been a dreadful one and half days.)

Now that my tummy is better, I am finally able to eat one myself! It reminds me of Girl Scouts' Peanut Butter Sandwiches (or Do-si-dos as they call it here). Nay. Correction: those pathetic Girls Scout cookies are not worthy to walk in the shadow of this superior treat!

I'm sure every Adamo has a preference, but I like to smooth the peanut butter (creamy, not crunchy) super thin across the surface of 2 squares of graham cracker and then press another 2 on top. I'm still not drinking dairy at this point so I dunked mine in a ginger tea. I'm sure it will taste much much better with milk, but I must be slow and patient with my tum tum even though it's killing me to wait. *Pats it affectionately*

Food Processor Salsa

This was my first time using the food processor for salsa. Sure, it was less time chopping, but the cleanup was definitely more. I can see if I were to make tons of this stuff how wonderful the food processor would be time-wise. Fun-wise, it was excellent as always.

5 roma tomatoes
1/2 white onion
1/2 medium jalapeno, seeded and ribbed for less spice
1/4 C cilantro
1 t lime juice
1/2 t sugar to taste
salt to taste

Process the onion first in pulses until chopped finely and then scrape into a bowl. Do the same with the jalapenos alone, and then add the cilantro. Finally pulse the tomatoes. Add the salt, sugar and lime to taste.

Chopped Veggies, Rice and Bean Salad with Lemon Dressing

When May Wang lived with me, we totally went on a Macrobiotic, vegan health food kick. Now, I'm down from a kick to a toe nudge--at this point in my life, I cannot live without animal products, but I do love to eat and play with tasty vegetable based meals.

At that time, we volunteered for a friend who owned a Macrobiotic catering service and even listened to Neal D. Barnard speak about changing eating habits to control and even cure diabetes and other diseases. That's where we got this recipe.

Salad
1 15 oz. can of drained black eyed peas, or black beans
1/2 C or 3 stalks of green onions, finely sliced
2 celery stalks
1 medium tomato, diced
2 T finely chopped cilantro (or parsley)
1 1/2 C cooked brown rice, cooled (1/2 C uncooked)

Dressing
1/4 C lemon juice
1 T olive oil
1/4 t salt
1-3 cloves of garlic, crushed (I like to eat garlic until it's seeping out of my pores so 3 or more is best)

Combine all the salad ingredients except for the brown rice in a strainer. When all the liquids have dripped away, put into a large mixing bowl.

In a smaller bowl, whisk the dressing ingredients and pour over salad. Toss gently. Chill 1 to 2 hours if time permits.

Great as a side dish to compliment something sweet since this is so acidic. Or, you can stuff this inside a tortilla. Anna and I dipped this burrito into a sweet chili hot sauce.

Makes about 5 C, adapted from Neal Barnard's Seminar

Tangy Twice-Cooked Eggplant with Red Peppers

First made by Cristal and then passed on to Susanne. So flavorful, fresh and delicious!

1 1/2 pounds large Italian eggplants, peeled and cut crosswise into 1-inch-thick rounds Kosher salt
2/3 cup vegetable oil
2 large red peppers, thinly sliced
1 large Spanish onion, thinly sliced
3 garlic cloves, thinly sliced
1 tablespoon sweet smoked paprika
1/4 cup sherry vinegar
1/2 cup chopped parsley
2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice

Line a large rimmed baking sheet with paper towels. Arrange the eggplant slices in a single layer on the paper towels and sprinkle them with salt. Let stand for 1 hour. Pat the eggplant dry with paper towels.

In a large skillet, heat 1/3 cup of the vegetable oil until shimmering. Add half of the eggplant and cook over moderately high heat, turning once, until browned and tender, about 8 minutes. Using a slotted spoon, transfer the eggplant to fresh paper towels to drain. Repeat with the remaining 1/3 cup of vegetable oil and eggplant.

Add the peppers, onion and garlic to the skillet and cook over moderate heat, stirring occasionally, until softened, about 10 minutes. Stir in the paprika and cook until fragrant, about 1 minute.

Return the eggplant to the skillet, stir gently to coat and cook for 5 minutes. Stir in the sherry vinegar and simmer for 1 minute. Remove from the heat. Stir in the parsley and lemon juice and season with salt. Let cool to room temperature, then refrigerate until lightly chilled, about 20 minutes, before serving.