Pita Quesadillas with Cilantro Hummus

One deck + ice cold cider or beer + good company + these quesadillas = instant good times.

This one is Recipe #2 in the 5 Essentials article from the current issue of Vegetarian Times.   The first one, Chickpea and Feta Salad, was incredibly addictive.   Here is the idea behind the 5 Essentials:

The current issue of Vegetarian Times has this great article called “By special request…”  Basically, a reader wanted a way to shorten her time at the grocery store.  Their response was five recipes that all had the same five essential ingredients in common.   The five ingredients?

1. Diced tomatoes
2. Leeks
3. Chickpeas (dried or canned)
4. Baby spinach
5. Red bell peppers

With these ingredients, plus other basic things that are easy to find or that you may already have, you can make five different recipes.  As a bonus, each one can be made in 30 minutes or fewer!

Like I said in the Chickpea and Feta Salad post--you may be asking yourself if all of the recipes taste the same with the 5 ingredients.  My answer is absolutely not!  They have the same basics, but with the additional ingredients added to each recipe, they’re all very different.

We really loved these!  The hummus needed a little doctoring up, in my opinion, but it’s a great base recipe for you to play around with, if that’s something you like to do.  Not only are they a satisfying, tasty treat, but they’re also vegan!  A bonus!  I’m betting even meat-eaters would enjoy these.

Pita Quesadillas with Cilantro Hummus
Serves 8

Hummus:

1/2 cup cilantro
2 cloves garlic
1 (15 oz) can chickpeas, rinsed and drained
2 tbsp lime juice
2 tbsp olive oil
My additions:
tahini to taste
cumin to taste
pinch of salt

Quesadillas:

4 (7 inch) whole wheat pitas, split
jarred roasted red peppers, sliced
1 1/2 cups baby spinach

Heat oven to 350.
Make the hummus: pulse the cilantro and garlic in a food processor until chopped.
Add the chickpeas, lime juice, and olive oil, and process till completely blended.
Taste and see if you'd like to add cumin, tahini or salt.  I think I also added an extra little splash of lime juice at this point.
Set aside.

Place 4 of the pita halves on a baking sheet lined with foil. 
Spread each with about 1/2 cup of hummus.
Top with the peppers and spinach, then the rest of the pita halves.
Bake until crisp.  They say about 10 minutes, but it took about 15 for ours to get good and crispy.
Cut into wedges and serve with salsa and any other stuff you like.

• These are vegan, but they certainly don’t have to be.  Feta would be amazing in these, but you could try your favorite cheese.
• We had these with Oxford Falls Fried Green Tomato Salsa, which is a tomatillo based salsa.  It’s so freaking good--fresh tasting with just a touch of heat.  You really need to get yourself some!   And while you’re at it, try some of their amazing Bloody Mary Mixes--you won’t be sorry!  
• Same 5 Essentials, but this one tastes completely different, and just as delicious, as the Chickpea and Feta Salad. 
• Too hot to turn on the oven?  Try crisping these babies up on the grill!
• Next up in the 5 recipes is a veggie packed pasta sauce.   That we also loved.  Stay tuned!

Oxford Falls Fried Green Tomato Salsa:

 

Raspberry Chocolate Chip Blondies

Blondies, brownies--brownies, blondies…I’m not fussy, I’ll happily dig into either!  I’m sure many of you would, too.  Right?  Riiiight?   I thought so…but today we’re talking blondies!  Vegan Blondies, to be exact.

My husband bought me this super popular vegan cookbook last weekend.  It’s full of great sounding recipes!  One in particular caught my eye right away.  For--you guessed it--vegan raspberry chocolate chip blondies.  Since I’ve been sick for over a month, yes--over a month, I decided that would be a good and easy place to start cooking again.  My two favorite pastimes while sick were sleeping and doing absolutely nothing on the sofa.  Thankfully I have an understanding family.  I think while I was sick, that the only thing I “cooked” was canned soup.  And tea, haha!  I also completely lost my voice for about two weeks.  I could only whisper, and I wasn’t even supposed to do that.   Do you know how hard it is to yell at kids when you can’t even talk?  It’s very difficult, and they know it.  ;)

But I digress!   The blondies, which, by the way--spellchecker thinks I should capitalize.  But it doesn’t want me to capitalize brownies.  Hmmm, not fair to the brownies, in my opinion.  I’m an equal opportunity capitalizer.   All or none, I say. 

I bought the few things I needed for the recipe, and then looked it up online.  I wanted to see if the author had posted it already, so I could just link back to it instead of posting the whole thing.  I didn’t find that.  What I did find, though, were mixed reviews.  Sigh.  Some said too cakey, which as you know, for the perfect blondies or brownies, isn’t right.  You want chewy and gooey.  Some said the cooking times were wrong, too.  I didn’t want to risk it and waste ingredients, so I decided to find another recipe for blondies and dress them up with the raspberry and chocolate myself.

I went right to King Arthur Flour.  I feel like their stuff is tried and true.  They never steer me wrong!   I used this recipe and veganized it--very easy to do.   Then I added the raspberry and chocolate to it.  You don’t have to make them vegan if you don’t want--just use eggs and butter.   My egg substitute of choice this time was 1/4 cup of coconut milk in place of each egg.  

Raspberry Chocolate Chip Blondies

2/3 cup Earth Balance Sticks, melted
scant 2 cups brown sugar, light or dark
scant 1/4 cup granulated sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon white vinegar
3/4 cups coconut milk
2 teaspoons vanilla
2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
2 3/4 cups King Arthur Unbleached All-Purpose Flour
3/4 cups chocolate chips (divided into 1/2 and 1/4 cups)
1 cup seedless raspberry preserves
kosher salt, for sprinkling over the top
pecan halves, optional

Preheat the oven to 350°F. Lightly grease a 9" x 13" pan.

Combine the melted Earth Balance, sugars, salt, and vinegar, and stir well.
Add the coconut milk, vanilla, and baking powder, mix well again. Stir in the flour, mixing thoroughly, then the 1/2 cup chocolate chips.
Set aside 1 cup of the batter.
Spread the rest of the batter into the greased pan--a rubber spatula makes this easier, or slightly wet hands. 
You can soften the preserves in the  microwave for a few seconds if you wish, but I didn't see the need to.  Just drop it in dollops around the pan and carefully spread to within an inch or so of the edges.
Take the 1 cup of batter you've set aside, and drop that in dollops, about a tbsp at a time, around the pan.  Don't spread it out, you're going for a cobbler-ish type look.
Sprinkle the remaining 1/4 cup chocolate chips over the top, and if you're using the pecans, gently press those in over the top. 
Sprinkle the entire pan with a bit of kosher salt--this helps offset the sweetness.
Bake for about 38 minutes.  The top should be golden brown and sort of shiny, and the center just barely cooked through.  A knife inserted in the center (in a spot where you've got a dollop of blondie batter) should be damp but not raw.  
Resist the urge to over bake, or you'll have dry, rock hard blondies--and oh, what a waste that would be!  You want them still sort of chewy and gooey in the center. 

Will I make these again?

• Hell, yes!  They’re everything I want in a blondie.  Chewy, gooey, a bit of chocolate and salt, and some crunchy nuts on top, too.
• They’re even better the next day.  Of course, a warm blondie straight out of the pan is great, too--but the flavors really developed overnight.

Sorry about my absence and lack of posting lately!  I’m feeling better everyday and actually have recipes in a queue to get posted here--just a few yet, but still, a step in the right direction.  Thanks for sticking with me! 

Stacks of blondie goodness…

    

Vegan Bean Burgers--We’ve Bean Enjoying You

So--this was my first attempt at making vegan burgers.  We really enjoy the vegan burgers that we get at the grocery store, but I’ve “bean” thinking of making some.  (Totally cheap pun, I know.)

My inspiration came from Eating Well…Living Thin.  Check it out--her photos are gorgeous!  The photos of her bean burgers completely drew me in.  I wanted them.  STAT.

Using that recipe as a base and method, I set to work.   I decided to totally change up the seasonings and use the flavors from these Argentine Style Burgers I’d made a while back.   We loved those!  The flavors all came together beautifully and the bean burgers were packed with flavor.  The only issue we had was getting them to feel “set” inside the center.

We originally added 2 TB quinoa flour and let it sit in the fridge, but after 20 minutes or so, the mixture was still pretty soft.  We decided to add 2 TB of vital wheat gluten--and this seemed to do the trick--they mixture set up nicely.  When it came time to cook them, though, we still couldn’t get them to completely set up on the inside.  The outsides got nice and crispy, but stayed a bit soft in the centers.   Also?  The original recipe from Eating Well…Living Thin uses one egg white.  Since we were aiming for vegan here, we used 1 tsp of tahini stirred into 1/4 cup of almond milk.  Maybe I’ll try another vegan egg substitute next time.

Maybe partially cooking them on the stovetop, then tossing them in the oven to finish would help?  I’m not entirely sure, but we will try this next time.  Also, I found this recipe at jugalbandi that uses oats in the recipe--this may do the trick, so we’ll also see if that helps.

Even though they were a little softer in the center than we’d have liked, they were absolutely delicious!  I can’t wait to make these again--and I’ll try the things I mentioned above, then report back here.  Don’t let the slightly soft centers stop you from trying these if you’re looking for a good vegan burger.  The flavors in these are wonderful together.

 

Topping off the burgers is this amazing Chimichurri from Zen Chef.   We love this recipe and make it often.  It’s great on so many things, so don’t feel limited to the rib eye steaks in that post.  Though, we made those, too, way back, and they’re outstanding!  Since then, we’ve used the chimichurri on so many things, from chicken to pork chops to burgers, and on smashed potatoes and sandwiches, etc.  It’s insanely easy to make, but it’s packed with flavor.  This time, my husband had a genius idea.  While we were making the sauce, he thought it would a great idea to add an avocado to it.  He was right!  It made the sauce nice and creamy--it was a perfect addition!

The  homemade buns are simply the Artisan Bread in 5 Minutes a Day Master Recipe, shaped into smallish buns and baked. 

Vegan Bean Burgers
(makes about 4-5 patties)

1 (15 oz) can kidney beans, rinsed and drained
1/4 cup chopped pecans
1/4 cup finely diced onion
3 minced garlic cloves
1 small jalapeno, diced
2 TB flour (I used quinoa flour)
2 TB Vital Wheat Gluten, or more flour
1 tsp cumin
1/2 tsp adobo seasoning (I use Goya Adobo Light All
Purpose Seasoning)
1 tsp tahini, stirred into 1/4 cup almond milk (use the milk you like)
3 TB fresh cilantro, minced
salt and pepper to taste

Mash the beans (we pulsed them in the food processor), then add the pecans, set aside.
Heat a bit of oil in a small sauté pan.  Sauté the onion, garlic and jalapeno until soft, about 3 minutes or so.  This is so you don’t have harsh tasting crunchy raw bits in your burgers.
Add this mixture to the beans and pecans.
Add remaining ingredients, mix well, then chill in the fridge for about 15 minutes.
After the chill time, form into patties.  I found it easier with wet hands, and we got 5 patties total.
Heat some oil in a pan on medium high, and cook the patties for 3-4  minutes on one side, then 3-5 on the second side.
If you notice them getting too dark after you flip them, turn the heat down.

Top with your favorites--here we've used fresh spinach, sliced tomato and the avocado-chimichurri sauce.

Vegan Oatmeal Cherry Chocolate Chip Cookies

Yeah, baby!  They’re vegan and they’re freaking delicious, if I do say so  myself.  And my kids like them, so that’s got to count for something, right?  And by all means, make them non-vegan if you like, with the eggs and butter.  I won’t judge!  Eggs and butter make awesome cookies, too! 

I’d almost given up on vegan baking because I found I didn’t like the chemical taste that an egg replacer left behind.  But in the latest (Nov/Dec) issue of Vegetarian Times, there’s a short interview with Tanya Petrovna, founder of Native Foods Vegan Cafes.  You have no idea how much I wish we had a cafe like that in my area!  The menus look amazing!  Trying to find good vegan food in NH is like saying no one’s ever heard of the Twilight Saga.   Anyway, Vegetarian Times asked Tanya about egg-free holiday baking, and she had some incredible ideas to share.   Which I will now pass on to you, because these are great substitutes!   (Renee, you’ll love these!)

• Substitute 1/4 cup coconut milk per egg.  It has it’s own natural fat content, so it makes up for the missing egg fat.  Be careful though, as the coconut flavor can overwhelm your recipe.
• Puree 1 tbsp raw flaxseed and 1/4 cup water in a blender to equal one egg.  This makes it gooey like an egg.  Use in recipes that will go along with the flaxseed’s nutty flavor.
• Stir 1 tsp sunflower or canola oil, cashew or almond butter, or tahini into soymilk--1/4 cup per egg.  (I used tahini mixed into almond milk.)  She recommends this one for cookies.
• Blend silken tofu--1/4 cup per egg--in a blender with your recipe’s liquid ingredients.  This is best for baked goods with a denser texture, like chocolate or carrot cake.  For a creamier texture, use equal parts silken tofu and vegan cream cheese.
• Add dried fruit, like apricots or plums, to a saucepan with an equal amount of water.  Simmer for 10-15 minutes and then puree.  Substitute 1/4 cup puree per egg.

Aren’t those great ideas?  And new to me, for sure.  I also love that I have all of these things on hand all the time. 

I’ve had the idea to make these cookies for a couple of weeks now, but just got around to it yesterday.  My mom used to make the Quaker Oat’s Oatmeal Chocolate Chip cookies--good stuff.  But I couldn’t find that simple recipe on their site.  They seriously need search engine help!  So Google it was.

I was intrigued by this recipe at Baking Sheet.   It also had great reviews in the comments!  I just altered it to make it vegan.  Simple changes, really.  I used Earth Balance sticks instead of butter, used 2 tsp of tahini, stirred into 1/2 cup almond milk--to replace the 2 eggs, and used coconut milk in place of the 2 tbsp of regular milk.  Oh--I used vegan chocolate chips, too.  I also used half white and half white whole wheat flour.  I reduced the sugar by a bit--not quite one whole cup of each, but next time, I think I’ll try reducing that even more.  Finally, I added some almond extract, dried cherries, and walnuts. 

Vegan Oatmeal Cherry Chocolate Chip Cookies
Adapted from bakingsheet.com, originally from The Frog Commissary Cookbook
(makes about 4 dozen large cookies or a lot more smaller ones!)

1 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup white whole wheat flour
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
1 cup Earth Balance Sticks, room temperature
scant 1 cup sugar
scant 1 cup brown sugar
2 tsp tahini, stirred into 1/2 cup almond milk
2 tbsp coconut milk
1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 tsp almond extract (use all vanilla, if you like)
2 1/2 cups rolled or quick oats
2 cups vegan chocolate chips (about 12-oz.)
1 1/2 dried cherries
1 1/2 cups chopped walnuts

Preheat the oven to 350F.
In a medium bowl, whisk together the flours, baking soda and powder, and the salt.  Set aside.
In a large bowl, beat the Earth Balance and the sugars until creamy.
Add the tahini/almond milk mixture, then the coconut milk and the extracts.  Mix well.
With your mixer in low speed, add in half the flour mixture, mix well, then mix in the rest of the flour.
Stir in the oats, chocolate chips, cherries and nuts.
Line your baking sheets with parchment paper.
I used a 2 inch cookie scoop to make large cookies--9 per sheet, baked for 18 minutes.
You can also drop by teaspoon on the sheet and bake for about 13 minutes.
You want them golden brown on the edges, so they stay chewy in the center.
Cool on baking sheet for at least 1-2 minutes before transferring to a cooling rack.

We really love these!  They’re a hearty, chewy and satisfying cookie.  They are a little sweeter than I wanted, so like I said, I’d most likely cut the sugar by a bit more next time.  But if I can get two out of four kids to knowingly eat a vegan cookie, with nuts and wheat flour?  I’m happy. 

 

Today’s Raw Food: Cinnamon Rolls

Yes, you read that right!  Noooo, not raw puffy, squishy, dough rolls,  because those would be very hard to eat and even harder to swallow.   “Raw” in the sense that the ingredients are raw and still full of the good nutrients that nature gave them. 

I adore cinnamon rolls, so when we decided to introduce raw foods into our diet, I specifically searched for a recipe for them.  I was shocked, to say the least--that I actually found one.   How in the  hell can you make RAW cinnamon rolls?  (Yeah, I know you were thinking that, too--don’t deny it.  I know, because I said the same thing.)

The real base for these is almond meal and ground flax seed.  The powerhouse in binding these together is soft dates.  Not the hard little pellets mostly found in the grocery store, but the velvety, squishy* ones that you can find in natural or organic foods stores.   If you decide to make these, get those dates!  Or you’ll be all “WTF, Elle said these were good, and easy to make!  But it looks (and sounds) like I ran nuts and bolts through my food processor!” 

And they are extremely good, and so, so easy to make.  If yeast dough makes you shake where you stand, then these will be perfect for you.  And the raw icing?  Dear God, it’s so good.  It’s light, creamy and so fresh tasting, and I wanted to dip all kinds of things in it.  Fruit, chocolate, muffins…all sorts of stuff.

Just slice and ice. mmm!     

Like I said, these are easy to make.  I didn’t bother to dehydrate them--just kept them in the fridge.  How do they taste?  Warmly spiced from the cinnamon, and nutty from the almond meal and chopped nuts that you add.   They feel rich and creamy on your tongue, especially with the cashew orange icing.  Think Lara Bars, made at home!  And don’t even think of cutting back on the 1 1/2 tbsp of cinnamon.  Leave it all in there or I’ll track you down and…well, I don’t know what I’ll do, but I’ll think of something.  Make you wash my truck while wearing a pink tutu, maybe.  Jeff came thisclose to having to do it.  He still might, because we have a Patriots/Colts bet set for November. 

You can find the recipes for the cinnamon rolls and the icing here, at Wasabimon.com:

Click me for the recipes!

I hope you give them a try!

 

*That makes two times that I’ve said “squishy” in this post.  If you’re counting.  Obviously, I am.