Sweet Potato and Zucchini Hash

I've been trying to eat more meals that are mostly vegetables, instead of a starch with veggies as an addition. Here's one I've enjoyed as a breakfast, lunch, or dinner side dish. It's great with ketchup (especially as a breakfast) or with salsa. 

This recipe is modified slightly from Moosewood Restaurant Celebrates, in which it's suggest for a New Year's Day brunch. (They also suggest serving a poached egg in the middle, which obviously I omitted!)

This takes about 40 minutes to make, and the full recipe serves approximately 4 people. I halved it, and it made a great side dish for 2. I love how colorful this dish is. It's a beautiful, rewarding, and simple way to eat more vegetable matter. 

SWEET POTATO AND ZUCCHINI HASH 

4 cups peeled and cubed sweet potatoes (2 sweet potatoes cut into 1/2-inch cubes will yield about 4 cups)

1 1/2 tablespoons olive oil

2 cups chopped onions

2 garlic cloves, minced or pressed

1/2 teaspoon salt, more to taste

1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes

1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper

1 teaspoon dried thyme

2 cups cubed zucchini

Bring about 4 cups of water to a boil. Ease in the cubed sweet potatoes and simmer for 5 to 6 minutes, until tender but still firm. Drain and set aside.

Warm the oil in a heavy skillet. Add the onions, garlic, salt, pepper flakes, black pepper, and thyme and sauté on medium heat for 5 minutes. Stir in the zucchini and cook for 5 more minutes. Add the drained sweet potatoes and cook for about 5 minutes, stirring occasionally, until the vegetables are tender. Add more salt to taste.

Serve immediately. It looks pretty brought straight to the table in a cast-iron skillet, if you have one. 

vegan "buttermilk" cornmeal pancakes

I'm picky about my pancakes (in fact, I'm picky about a lot of things – but that's a topic for another post!). I need them to be fluffy, but also be mostly whole wheat flour or cornmeal or another hardy, non-white flour. I prefer taste like they're made with buttermilk, or at least a dash of lemon juice to balance out the oodles of maple syrup I'll be piling on. Blueberries are pretty much the only fruit product I enjoy in my pancakes, though I could maybe accept bananas. (This recipe is wonderful with blueberries. There's a note about them in the ingredients list. I just didn't have any when I made these and photographed them.) And no nuts are allowed in my pancakes at all. 

Since I started working full-time, I've been preparing less elaborate breakfasts, but I love having my very particular pancake fix on the weekends. Especially since the stove in our apartment has an awesome griddle built-in. It's actually really exciting for a rental kitchen.

So here is my "buttermilk" cornmeal recipe, inspired by a buttermilk pancake recipe in The Joy of Cooking. Which obviously did not originally call for soy yogurt.

Makes about a dozen 5-6 inch pancakes, which will please even an arbitrarily picky person (or this arbitrarily picky person, anyway!).

VEGAN BUTTERMILK CORNMEAL PANCAKES

whisk together in a large bowl:

1 1/4 cups yellow cornmeal

3/4 cup all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon salt

combine in another bowl:

1 cup soy milk

2/3 cup soy yogurt

1/2 cup vegan margarine, melted; alternatively, 1/2 cup safflower, canola, or other mild oil

1/2 cup maple syrup / agave / honey

2 cornstarch eggs (4 tablespoons cornstarch mixed separately with 4 tablespoons cold water) 

1/4 to 1/2 cup frozen or fresh blueberries (optional)

vegan margarine for frying up the pancakes

Mix the liquid ingredients quickly into the dry ingredients. Fold in the blueberries. Don't over-mix, or the pancakes will be too tough. It's okay if they're a little lumpy and not completely mixed. Sometimes I get pockets of agave in my finished pancakes! It's a yummy surprise.

Get a large frying pan or griddle hot. Melt a little vegan margarine in the pan. Using a 1/3 cup measure, scoop the batter out and pour into the pan. Cook the pancakes until they're brown on the bottom (you'll be able to see that the edges are brown) and bubbles are forming on top. Time will vary depending on what kind of pan you're using and how hot it's gotten for the first batch, but it should be 3 -5 minutes. Flip pancakes over with a thin spatula. The second side should go much faster; you'll be able to tell both sides are down when the bottoms are a similar golden brown and the whole pancake is somewhat firm to the touch. 

Transfer to plates (or into a slightly warmed oven to keep them hot while you make the rest or prepare any other breakfast foods). Repeat with remaining batter.

tender, instant-gratification cinnamon rolls (cinnamon buns?)

I really love cinnamon. And cinnamon rolls! (Or buns? What's the difference?) I have a recipe I really like, but it takes a little over 5 hours, because of all of the rising and baking time. Even with all that rising time, it can still come out not quite tender enough, or a little too yeasty for me. I made some for a brunch once, and it was exhausting.

Which brings me to these tender, sweet, no-rise cinnamon rolls. I've made this recipe so frequently, I can have fresh, warm, gooey cinnamon rolls not 30 minutes from cracking open my bag of flour.

I've modified this recipe heavily based on a recipe at fine cooking, which I read about on the kitchn. That recipe boasts that it's even quicker if you use a food processor. Well, I tried this with my new food processor, and it did not save me any time at all. In fact, I think I lost about 1/4 of my dough to all of the different parts of my food processor! As much as it can be a pain beating vegan cream cheese straight out of the fridge with sugar and melted earth balance, in my opinion it's a faster, lower-clean-up option.

Also check out the forming cinnamon rolls guide on allrecipes.

THE BEST AND FASTEST AND TENDEREST VEGAN CINNAMON ROLLS EVER

For the dough:
1/2 cup vegan cream cheese
1/2 cup soy yogurt 
1/2 cup soy milk 
1/4 cup granulated sugar 
6 tbsp earth balance, melted 
1 tsp. pure vanilla extract 
3 cups unbleached all-purpose flour, 1/2-1 cups more for rolling 
1 tbsp baking powder 
1/2 tsp table salt 
1/4 tsp baking soda 

For the filling:
3 tbsp earth balance, melted 
2/3 cup packed brown sugar 
1 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
a pinch each of cardamom and/or nutmeg

For the glaze:
2/3 cup confectioners' sugar 
2 to 3 tbsp cold soy milk 
1 tsp pure vanilla extract 

Heat the oven to 400 F. Grease the inside of a pie pan, or a springform pan if you have one.

To make the dough: Combine the cream cheese, soy yogurt, soy milk, sugar, melted earth balance, and vanilla. Mix until smooth. Add the flour, baking powder, salt, and baking soda and mix until the dough clumps together. The dough will be soft and moist. If it's too sticky, add flour a 1/4 cup or so at a time. The dough should easily leave the mixing bowl in one piece.

Scrape the dough out onto a lightly floured surface and knead it with floured hands 4 or 5 times, adding flour as needed, until smooth. With a rolling pin, roll the dough into a 12"x15" rectangle.

To make the filling: spread the melted earth balance on the dough, leaving a 1/2 inch border at one long edge free of earth balance. In a medium bowl, combine the brown sugar and cinnamon. Sprinkle the mixture over the buttered area of the dough and pat gently into the surface. Starting at the long edge opposite the unbuttered edge, roll the dough. Pinch the seam to seal, and leave the ends open.

With a sharp knife, cut the roll into 12 equal pieces. Set the pieces, cut side up, in the prepared pan; they should mostly fill the pan and touch slightly, but don't worry if there are gaps.

Bake until golden brown and firm to the touch, 20 to 28 minutes. Let the pan cool for 5 minutes. Remove if using a springform pan and transfer to a serving dish, when I use a pie pan I usually don't bother.

To make the glaze: In a small bowl, whisk the confectioners' sugar, soy milk, and vanilla to make a smooth glaze. It should have a thick but pourable consistency, so add up to 1 tbsp more milk if necessary. Drizzle the glaze over the rolls. Let stand a few minutes and serve.

baked vegan french toast

I had some silken tofu leftover from my zucchini skillet pie, which isn't something I usually have around, so I tried some french toast batter with my cardamom bread. I've tried a number of versions (with and without silken tofu) and it never worked, exactly (disclaimer: I have a lot of trouble with this, apparently, and also never tried a batter with lots of flour in it). The batter would flow around everywhere and not ever quite solidify and toast up properly. In defense of my frying-things skills, when I still ate eggs and dairy, I didn't have trouble making regular, egg-laden french toast, and I'm pretty sure the last time I tried to do that I was 14 years old. 

As I was searching for recipes to try, I came across a couple baked french toast recipes. Mostly they weren't vegan though, and those that were didn't use the kinds of ingredients I had on hand or wanted to use. One recipe I saw in the comments of someone else's recipe was pretty much only almond butter and nondairy milk, which sounded awesome, especially with my almond-sliver-topped bread. This is the result of combining that with all the other things I thought would make tasty french toast. I tried just baking it once, and it didn't turn out the way I'd hoped, so I broiled my toast the next time, to much more satisfactory results. 

BAKED VEGAN FRENCH TOAST 

Batter Ingredients: 

1 cup silken tofu 

1 cup soy milk 

1/4 cup maple syrup, honey, or agave nectar

1 tbsp almond butter 

1 tbsp cornstarch

cinnamon 

(makes batter for about 8 thick slices of bread)

Topping ingredients (optional): 

slivered almonds

blueberries 

maple syrup

Blend the ingredients together. Pour into a shallow dish and add all the bread slices that will fit (but still getting soaked with batter). Let the bread soak in the batter for several minutes on each side. Repeat with as many slices of bread as you're making. 

Place on a baking sheet and broil (on medium or normal, if you can set your broiler to anything) for about 3 minutes on the first side and about 2 minutes on the other, until golden and crispy. 

Serve with a smidge of maple syrup (there's sweetener in the batter, after all!), toasted slivered almonds, and blueberries.

simple & easy vegan banana bread

I've been making some variation on the Tassajara Bread Book's banana bread since I was a young child. It's fun and easy. (The only reason I don't say "quick" is that it has to bake for about 45 minutes.) I tried mixing this up in my food processor, and I had my dough ready before my oven was done preheating! It's the perfect way to use bananas that are turning inedibly ripe. Mine were practically liquified when I dumped them in my work bowl. Also, this is the easiest not-usually-vegan recipe ever to vegan-ize. Bananas are an egg substitute, so you just leave out the egg.

Okay, one more thing. I've got to toot my own horn for a second. This banana bread is so awesome, people who don't like bananas like it. Not all people who dislike bananas (I'm looking at you, Deborah). But others (hi Bridget!) have at least been kind enough to tell me that they enjoy my banana bread.

SIMPLE & EASY VEGAN BANANA BREAD

Ingredients:

1  cup white flour 

1 cup wheat germ

1/2 cup canola oil, or other flavorless oil 

1/4 - 1/2 cup sugar (if your bananas are as ripe as mine, that is, about to start rotting in a few minutes, go toward the 1/4 cup!) 

about 2 cups ripe banana pulp (I used 3 bananas) 

1/4 tsp salt 

Preheat oven to 350F.

Mash the bananas a little, then add everything else and mix it together until combined pretty evenly. Place in a greased loaf pan. Bake for 40-45 minutes, until fork or toothpick in center comes out dry.

vegan blueberry spice crumb bars

(VEGAN) BLUEBERRY SPICE CRUMB BARS

This recipe is every-so-slightly modified from Vegan Cookings Invade Your Cookie Jar; their recipe calls for spelt flour, only vegetable shortening, and not quite as much of the spices. I'm sure their version is great, this is just what I had on hand, and I like lots of spices, and I'm in no way claiming their recipe as my own. I baked these bars Tuesday afternoon and now I get to enjoy them for breakfast with my morning tea.

For the crust and topping:
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup whole wheat flour
1 cup sugar
1 teaspoon baking powder
4 teaspoons ground cinnamon
4 teaspoons ground ginger
1 teaspoon ground allspice
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup vegetable shortening at room temperature
1/2 cup vegan margarine at room temperature
3 to 4 tablespoons nondairy milk

For the blueberry filling:
16 oz frozen blueberries
3/4 cup sugar
4 teaspoons cornstarch
2 tablespoons cold water
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

preheat oven to 350F. lightly grease a 9 x 13 inch baking pan.

in a medium-size mixing bowl, stir together the flour, sugar, baking powder, spices, and salt. add the shortening by the spoonful, cutting it into the flour with a pastry cutter or two knives held together. once the dough becomes crumbly, add the nondairy milk by the tablespoon. use your fingers to stir the milk in after each addition until pea-size crumbs form.

in a separate bowl, stir together the blueberries, sugar, cornstarch, water, and vanilla.

scoop 3 cups of the dough into the prepared baking pan. firmly press it in to form the base of the bars. spread the blueberry mixture over the base and then sprinkle the rest of the crumbly dough over the blueberries.

bake for about 45 minutes. when ready, the blueberries should be nice and bubbly. cool completely before cutting into bars and eating.