homemade bagels with roasted garlic and herb cream cheez

When I woke up yesterday morning and looked in my fridge, it looked really sad and empty, so I spent my saturday catching up on a lil cooking. We're a lil broke right now, so going to the grocery store and stocking up wasn't really an option. So I cooked a big pot of chickpeas to last the week, I also saw that we're completely out of bread, and we had some silken tofu and roasted garlic to use up. I decided to make some bagels and  make up some cream cheez.

A couple months ago I found --> this recipe on vegweb.com, I've made these bagels three times now. The first time, I used white flour and chopped up sundried tomatoes, they were AWESOME. The second time, I tried to make them healthy, I used whole wheat flour... and well they were kinda torture bagels, sooo dense and chewy and really not enjoyable at all. So this time, I went with white flour again, and they came out chewy and bagely and perfect :) I added some flaxseeds on the top, mostly because I didn't have any other seeds on hand. Great recipe, but I definitely suggest going with white flour.

For the cream cheese, I looked in The Uncheese Cookbook, I didn't really have all the ingredients for the cream cheez listed in the book, so I took the general idea and created my own cheez. Here's what I did:

Herb and Roasted Garlic Cream Cheez

ingredients:
1 c. silken tofu
1/3 c. raw cashews
1/2 head roasted garlic
1 tsp agave nectar
1 tsp salt
1 Tb rice vinegar
1/4 tsp dried rosemary
1/4 tsp dried dillweed
1/4 tsp dried thyme
1 tsp dried parsley
1 Tb nutritional yeast

-blended all up in a food processor, then chill in fridge 

This has a much lighter texture than vegan cream cheese that you can buy at the store, but quite tasty and I thought it tasted great on the bagels :)

diner-style breakfast

I haven't been inspired to blog much lately, mostly because we've been super busy, and posting little blurbs and pics on facebook is much lazier than posting on here :)

Today's breakfast was quite epic, so I thought I'd share with the blogosphere. Yesterday was the hubby's birthday (we were up late celebrating...) so when we woke up, we were in great need of a big satisfying breakfast. In our pre-vegan days, we would be off to Miss Albany diner on mornings like this. But as vegans in Schenectady, NY, we need to fend for ourselves when it comes to diner-y food.

The menu for our diner breakfast: hash browned potatoes, spicy tofu scramble, guacamole and EB slathered toast :) AND COFFEE!

We started the hash browned potatoes first. I used Adirondack Red potatoes from the Greenmarket. They aren't sweet like sweet potatoes, but have pretty red flesh all the way through. They are quite delicious and cook up a cool dark red/brown color.

for the potatoes:
-2 big potatoes (Adirondack Red for us)
-1/2 onion
-peanut oil
-paprika, s&p
-1 clove garlic

-cut up the potatoes REALLY small so that they don't take forever to cook.
-we started with some oil in a cast-iron skillet over med-high heat. cooked the onion a lil, then added the potatoes and spices (to taste).
-don't stir the potatoes around too much, and you'll get a nice crisp on the potatoes. stir every five minutes or so until they start to be nice and brown
-i think ours took around 2o minutes until i was satisfied. once i turned i heat off, i added the clove of garlic (minced or pressed), then stirred it around.

While this was cooking we got our tofu scramble ready. Tofu scramble only usually takes about 10 minutes to cook... so we overlapped our cooking times.

for the scramble:
-1/2 block extra firm tofu
-onion powder
-garlic powder
-turmeric
-s&p
-1/4 onion, chopped
-2 marinated hot peppers, chopped (we used some leftover peppers that were from the bulk olive bar at the grocery store, use whatever is on hand)
-handful cherry tomatoes, chopped
-2 carrots (we used purple carrots), shredded
-nutritional yeast
-vegan cheese

-in a small bowl, crumble tofu and season up with some with onion powder, garlic powder, salt, pepper, and turmeric. i don't really measure, but i am usually pretty conservative with the turmeric (only 1/2 tsp would be enough). stir this mixture around and set to the side.
-in a small frying pan over med heat, add a lil oil, and cook the onion a bit. once onion starts to cook, add in veggies (hot peppers, tomatoes, or anything you want). cook this for a minute then add in tofu mixture, cook this around until bright yellow and it starts to firm up (7-8 min)
-once it looks like firm scrambled eggs, stir in shredded carrot and a handful of nutritional yeast, it should be sticky and almost cheesy.
-we topped ours with some shredded vegan cheese (FYH monterey jack). i put it on top, turned the heat off and put a lid on the pan. the "cheese" was melty in about a minute.

The scramble came out super spicy, so we ate it with some guacamole :) We both gobbled up our breakfast and while we ate, talked about how cool it would be to own a vegan diner of our own some day...

Vegan MOFO day 18- Stuffed French Toast

Today I made breakfast for my friend Kaitlin's birthday. She requested French Toast, but I decided to try to make a vegan version of the MAD Irish Toast from the Miss Albany Diner. We used to love to eat there in our pre-vegan days, but haven't been there in a long time... I can't think of anything vegan on the menu. This French Toast at the Ms. Albany comes stuffed with a walnut cream cheese and topped with Maple Syrup, which I remember having Whiskey in it.

So, I made some French Toast from a recipe I found on vegweb.com, and served two slices with some walnut maple "cream cheese." Here's the original recipe --->here. I didn't quite stick to it. Here's what I did..

ingredients for the french toast:
1/3 c. Vegenaise
1/2 c. unsweetened almond milk
1 tsp pure vanilla extract
1 T nutritional yeast
cinnamon- a couple dashes
nutmeg- i grated some in, maybe 1/4 tsp
8 big slices nice white bread- i used Heidelberg French Peasant Bread
earth balance for the pan

ingredients for the stuffing:
1 tub Tofutti cream cheese
dash cinnamon
1-2 T maple syrup
3 T - 1/4 c chopped walnuts
(stir this all together, works good with room temperature cream cheese)

for the french toast: combine vegenaise, almond milk, nooch, vanilla, cinnamon and nutmeg , i find this works best with a fork, it becomes a thick mixture, almost a egg-like consistency

dip the slices of bread in the batter, and fry in a skillet. i fried over med heat. i kept the cooked slices warm in the toaster oven, as i cooked all the slices (on the "keep warm" setting)

i took two slices, and spread some of the cream cheese in the middle. then poured a lil maple syrup on the top. we ate these with some tempeh bacon on the side

Vegan MOFO day 13- Cinnamon Buns!

So I decided to try the Cinnamon bun recipe from "The Joy of Vegan Baking," and holy crap, these were amazing. I had one for breakfast this morning, and I still am on a sugar high. We don't usually eat all that much sugar, and these were LOADED with sugar. I guess all the earth balance, sugar and white flour is why they tasted so darn decadent.

I have to say that "The Joy of Vegan Baking" has not let me down once, everything I've made has come out fantastic. These were definitely a little bit of work, I made the rolls last night, and baked them in the morning. I made the dough, let it rise, then rolled it out, made the filling, rolled it up, then sliced them, and let them hang out in the fridge over night. I woke up early this morning, let them do a 2nd rise, and baked them. Then of course, I topped them with the optional icing... which made them ridiculously tasty!

I don't consider myself a baker, I usually like to cook more than bake, but these were well worth the effort, and definitely within my skill set.

what the buns looked like before i stuck them in the fridge for the overnight

Vegan MOFO day 6- Tempeh bacon and avocado breakfast sammy

A delicious, warm, hearty breakfast sandwich on a brisk fall day. Threw some frozen sesame bagels (just make sure your bagel is vegan) in the toaster oven, spread some Earth Balance, and stuffed with tempeh bacon and sliced avocado. Super tasty and filling!

tofu scramble

With these gloomy fall mornings, we've been craving substantial breakfasts. Today I decided to make the hubby a tofu scramble. There are so many different versions of this recipe online, I always just do my own thing with whatever I have on hand. Here's what I did today:

ingredients:
3/4 block extra firm tofu
2 T nutritional yeast
dash garlic powder
dash onion powder
dash turmeric
dash Spike seasoning
1 T peanut oil
1/2 small red onion, chopped
1 carrot, grated
salt, fresh ground pepper and hot sauce to taste

-crumble the tofu in a bowl and stir together with nooch, garlic powder, onion powder and turmeric. your mixture should be a little yellow and slightly fragrant
-in castiron skillet, cook up the onion with a lil oil, when the oil starts to get soft, add the tofu mixture in
-season with spike, salt and pepper
-cook until the mixture isn't so moist, maybe 10-15 minutes
-stir in grated carrot, top with a lil hot sauce

This recipe would work with a whole bunch of different veggies tossed in, and with lots of different spices. I was thinking this morning that it would be good with some curry powder in it. Very filling and satisfying breakfast :)

lemon poppy blueberry muffins

I wanted to make some goodies for my employees at work, so I asked what they wanted. The request was for lemon poppy muffins with a sugar glaze, and another request for blueberry muffins... When I got home from work I looked in The Joy of Vegan Baking. I found a recipe for lemon blueberry muffins, so I added poppy seeds and thought it was a perfect compromise :) I made a lil glaze of lemon juice and powdered sugar for the top. Came out super yummy :) That Joy of Vegan Baking is an awesome cookbook!

maple walnut 'cream cheese'

This cream cheese was my contribution to Father's Day brunch :) This is my version of a recipe I've seen many variations of. The cheese base is raw cashews and tofu. Tasted really good on toast and bagels

ingredients:
1 package firm tofu -water squeezed out
1/2 raw cashews
1 Tb extra virgin olive oil
1/2 tsp salt
1/8-1/4 cup maple syrup
good dash cinnamon
fresh grated nutmeg
1/4 c. raisins
1/3 c. walnuts

-Using food processor, process tofu, cashews and olive oil until really smooth (this takes several minutes). The consistency should be really creamy and fluffy almost.
-Add in salt and spices, add maple syrup to taste/sweetness level
-Add in the raisins and walnuts, pulse several times until chunks are small, but still there.

I've made a similar cream cheese with added garlic, onion, herbs and veggies. yum yum!

breakfast muffin sandwiches!!!!

I made some sausages with the Vegan with a Vengeance. Tempeh-Bean sausages, yum yum yum. Right when they were done cooking, I added a drizzle of maple syrup. We ate them on 12 grain english muffins with some avocado! Good breakfast!

tempeh bacon! yum yum!

1) Cut 1 block of tempeh in half, then slice into thin strips

2) Marinate tempeh strips in smoky-maple marinade

ingredients:
4 Tb Bragg's liquid aminos
1 clove garlic- pressed
1 Tb maple syrup
1/4 tsp liquid smoke
2 tsp tomato paste

(whisk ingredients together, and add tempeh, marinate for a couple hours, or leave in fridge for a couple days)

3) Fry marinated tempeh strips in a castiron skillet :)


Bacony breakfast sandwich :) Whole wheat bread with lots of EB :) :)