Classic Waffle Recipe

CLASSIC WAFFLES
11/2 cups all-purpose flour
ener-G for 3 eggs
1 /2 cup cornstarch
2 tbsp. granulated sugar
2 tbsp. cornmeal (optional)
1 3/4 cups milk
1 tbsp. baking powder
1 tsp. pure vanilla extract
1 tsp. salt
1/2 cup (1 stick) margarine, melted
In large bowl, sift or whisk together flour, cornstarch, cornmeal, baking powder
and salt to blend thoroughly; set aside. In mixer bowl, beat egg whites until soft
peaks form. Add sugar; continue beating just until stiff peaks form; set aside.
Whisk together egg yolks, milk and vanilla. Using rubber spatula, stir milk mixture
into flour mixture, blending just until dry ingredients are moistened. (There should
still be small lumps; do not over mix). Stir in melted butter. Fold in beaten egg
whites until combined. Pour batter onto hot, greased waffle maker and bake.
Makes about 5 1/2 cups batter

Waffle Tip: Cornstarch makes the waffles crisper. If you don’t have cornstarch,
you could still make great waffles by omitting cornstarch and increasing flour to
2 cups. Bake as directed.

I got a slew of brussel sprouts and decided to pair them with some Ray's Seitan for sandwiches.

Grilled the seitan:



Steamed the brussel sprouts in a Pyrex bowl in the microwave for 4 minutes, then sauteed in olive oil for 3 minutes until browned:



Roasted sunflower seed bread and cheezy sauce completed the sandwich:

Vegan Waffles

I've been making Belgian waffles with my new waffle-maker. I think I perfected the recipe, they're pretty delicious.

In the waffle iron:



Since I can only make one at a time in my waffle maker, I put them on the racks of my oven, set to 200 degrees to keep them warm and crisp until dinner:



Earth Balance and Maple Syrup, yum!



Recipe
Waffles

Dry Ingredients
1.5 cups flour
1/2 cup corn starch
2 Tbs Corn meal
1 Tbs baking powder
1 tsp salt
2 Tbs sugar

Wet Ingredients
1 2/3 cup soymilk
1/2 cup margarine, melted
Egg Replacer for 3 eggs
1 tsp vanilla

Mix dry ingredients, add wet ingredients, scoop into waffle iron in 1/2 cup increments. Makes 4-6 waffles.

Sponge Candy

When I ordered the Vege Dog from Vegan Essentials, I also got some "Golden Crunch Sponge Candy." I had never heard of it before, but it was chocolate so I figured it must be delicious...

From the outside, it looked like a chocolaet square:

Inside was a crunchy sweet toffee-like filling:

I was right, it was great! I definitely recommend it!!

Toaster Struedel

I'm experimenting with how to make Vegan Toaster Struedel:

Mr. Nick

Mr. Nick is so funny, this is what he does all day, he sits in this same spot and only really gets up if someone drops some food.




He is cute though!

Vegan Treats on Twitter

So I'm ghost-writing the Vegan Treats Twitter account at Danielle's (owner of Vegan Treats) request. I hope that it's interesting, I've been posting some vegan-related links/info as well as updates about what is currently available at the shop.

Follow us!!

http://www.twitter.com/vegantreats

George is ever-wishful

Gian and Matt snack on Vegan Treats doughnuts as George waits ever-so patiently:



He's unlikely to catch any crumbs from these two though.

Check out Matt's blog here: No Whip

Pizza!

Matt,ever the nutritionist, made one pizza 'healthy' by adding some chopped veggies:


The other is just sauce and Follow Your Heart 'Cheese':


We used freshly made dough for the crust, it was perfectly soft and crisp.

Shorty's

We went to Shorty's in Seattle for some veggie dogs and pinball.

It's such an ingenious combination, I wish someone on the East Coast would open one up! The décor was inspired by Coney Island - adding more irony to it's unique Seattle location!

Easy Sides

Sauteed squash:


Broccoli with Follow Your Heart 'Cheddar Cheese':

I wrote an article on 10 easy ways to be more green. You can check it here.

Random Meal

I love cucumbers.

I made a quick sandwich with sliced cukes and hummus on a whole-wheat pita:


I counteracted the light and healthy sandwich with a Vegan Treats pecan pie for dessert:

Tofurky Dumplings

You know those dumplings that come with the Tofurky meal box? They're kind of gross.

Here's what I do:

Lightly boil the dumplings until they are warm (do not overcook them in this first step!).

Heat a frying pan with 1 Tbs margarine. When the margarine melts, add the dumplings (be careful to thoroughly drain them first to avoid the margarine splashing). Sauté the dumplings, turning often until they are crispy on all sides. Sprinkle with sea salt and serve.

Misconceptions about Veganism

I wrote an article on my 5 biggest pet-peeves regarding misconceptions on veganism here.

George is so bad...

Though I think Gian is worse considering he obviously allowed this to occur!

Random Tofu

We ordered General Tsao's Tofu at a random Chinese restaurant and got this deliciousness:

I *heart* NYC

We went into NYC to see my friend Nate's show at Speigel World on the South Street Seaport, it was so much fun!

Jane Gooddall Interviewed on Salon.com

I don't think anyone can argue the tremendous impact Jane Gooddall has had on primates, the environment, and scientific research. Check out her latest interview with Salon.com here.

George.

George loves to sleep right next to the food container - just in case!

Fast Food List

I follow the "Veganism Twitter" and today they posted a link to a list of vegan options at most any popular fast-food restaurant (you can find it here). The list seems pretty up-to-date, noting Burger King's recent change to non-vegan Morning Star burgers from their previous use of Vegan Boca Burgers and other updates.

While I am not necessarily a proponent of financially supporting places that are responsible for so much enviornmental damage sometimes when you're on the road or need something to eat late at night, it's nice to know what options are available.

Oh, and check out the URL for the Fast Food List, clearly the list must be infallible.

Hmmmm

Somehow I took a screen capture on my iPhone. I wish I could figure out how to do it again.



Items of note: LOL Catz App, Blog Writer App, Spanish App, and Currency App (I think I was in Costa Rica when I did this.)

Doughnuts

Vegan Treats has doughnuts at their retail store in Bethlehem and I am addicted.

Glazed, Jelly, and Boston Cream:


Jelly (I heard a rumor that they use the same raspberry filling brand that Dunkin' Donuts uses):


Chocolate (Glazed and Chocolate Glazed):

Tom P of Slingshot Dakota fame has an almost equally famous recipe for vegan Mac N Cheese.



People get really excited about it.

Obama Dog

I just had to add my two cents:

I wrote an opinion piece here.

I mean, seriously. What a missed opportunity.

I've been writing for Randomn3ss - the latest post is an argument against plastic water bottles. Check it here.

Come on Summer....

I came across this photo today which made me nostalgic for fresh tomatoes straight from the garden. I can hardly wait!!

I Can Haz?

I have an impossibly small passageway between my garage, where I keep my lawnmower, and my front lawn. Also, I HATE that my lawnmower uses so much gas and is so dirty! I feel like this would suit my needs very well. It's eco-friendly, light (17 pounds) never needs sharpening, doesn't have emissions, is quiet, and apparently works very well.

Brill Razorcut Mower

Cholesterol & Eating a Plant-Based Diet

I recently wrote an article with tips on how to eat less cholesterol over on
Randomn3ss.

You can read it here.

Plane Food

On a recent trip to Portland, Oregon, it struck me that by the time my plane landed I was starving due to the lack of vegan food I had brought with me. On the way home I made sure that wouldn't happen again and came prepared with a sammie from Food Fight Grocery. I wish I had written down the brand, sorry!!

Also, sorry the photo is so blurry, I think I took it with my phone. Note the iPod Touch in the background playing The Happening. Movies on planes = bliss.

Product Review: Mamba Candy

These Mamba Bars are available online from Food Fight Grocery.




As you can see, they look like Starburst, but are vegan. They are seriously the most Starburst-like vegan candy I have ever had. I don't even know how else to describe them except by saying they taste like Starburst. Get yourself a couple packs!

Marinated Balsalmic Onions

I love A Chef's Table on NPR. Most of the time I have to veganize the recipes that sound good, but this one was inherently vegan.

It's a traditional onion dish from the Balsamic Region of Italy.



Recipe
Balsamic Roasted Onions
8 small red onions, halved and not peeled
1/2 cup Balsamic vinegar
2 Tbs olive oil
1/4 tsp sea salt (or to taste)

Place onions cut-side up in lightly oiled roasting pan. Combine oil, vinegar, and salt. Pour over onions. Bake at 450 for 20-40 minutes until onions are soft and outsides are crispy.

I ate them plain and topped a salad with them.

The Cosmic Cup is a little coffee shop near the campus of Lafayette College.

They have soymilk and vegan cream cheese for your bagels, yum!!



Also, their coffee is fair trade.

A Tisket

I made an 'Easter' basket for Los with Vegan Treats goodies:

The candies from Vegan Treats included nonpareils, white choclate eggs, 'milk' chocolate eggs, and chocolate covered pretzels.
A close up of the chocolate coated pretzel - look at the little birds, eggs, and bunnies on the chocolate!
I also included a bag of pistachios and a peanut chew.

Red Bamboo

I pretty much visit Red Bamboo every time I am in NYC.

Their menu is extensive (and entirely vegan), but honestly, I always oscillate between Soup of the Day with BBQ Wings or "Crab" Cakes with Mango Salsa. Always finished off with a milkshake.

This trip, Crab Cakes (with BBQ wings):

Discerning Brute: Concrete Catwalk

This is amazing.

Nerding Out

I need to make these vegan!!

Cowboy Cookies

Traditional cowboy cookies contain shredded coconut, something I despise. I made mine without the coconut. I wasn't sure if they would retain their chewy-caramel-crispy-on-the-outside goodness, but they did!

Miso Mayo (pronounced the same as Full Metal Jacket...or not...)

I LOVE Miso Mayo. It's impossible to find in my area, so while I was at Food Fight I picked up a jar and checked it on my return flight. I could hardly wait to get home to snack on it!



Nomm, nomm, nomm.



edit: LOL, I didn't realize it would be a mirror image - the Miso Mayo jar is backwards!

Food Fight Rules!

These Pineapple Tiger gummy candies are amazing. I didn't even realize that I wanted them until I tried one - it hooked me and I ate 3 bags since Friday. Amazing.

You can get your own bag from http://www.foodfightgrocery.com
I think they were $2. Totally worth it.

Too funny

These are flowers fresh from the rainforest.

Avacado and tomato sandwich

In Costa Rica...

Hola a Costs Rica!

Kitchen Creature

He just lounges around all day!

Seriously?!

How ironic that my car was the only one on the whole block to be hit!

This Week's Brunch...

Pancakes

Another repeat, I know, but again, such a classic brunch!

These are plain pancakes with Earth Balance margarine and the little dog carafe is filled with syrup.



These are carob-chip pancakes drizzled with chocolate fudge sauce and topped with soy whipped cream.

Los's Banging Pasta with Beans

Los makes this delicious pasta it's so simple but so good!

He uses spinach penne, cannellini beans, and Yves 'chicken' strips.

Vegan Jello

I got some vegan fruit gel from Food Fight Grocery:

I got the cherry flavor - I mixed it up with 2 cups boiling water in a measuring cup:
I poured it into small glasses to 'set' and then topped with soy whipped topping when serving.
The gel had a light texture with a nice cherry flavor. I think I would prefer strawberry flavor with perhaps some chopped strawberries in it, but Food Fight only carries cherry and unflavored!

Dogs

We always keep blankets on our couch, and here's why:



These dogs just love to lounge out on it!



They barely moved all day!!

Peppers and 'Eggs'

This is such a simple dinner or brunch, before cooking your tofu scramble, sautee onions and red peppers in a frying pan - add the tofu scramble and cook as usual - put on toasted bread with some Vegan Rella and Veganaise.

White Chocolate Raspberry Cheesecake

This one is from Vegan Treats, it's an old-stand-by -- it's become one of their top sellers and I can understand why - the sweetness of the cheesecake is paired with a tart fresh raspberries and swirled together with rich white chocolate before being baked into the cheesecake. It's a perfect dessert.

Heirloom Tomatoes

I got a few heirloom tomatoes from my parents' garden. I let them ripen on my windowsill - they looked so delicious!

This Week's Brunch...

French Toast Bake (again)...

I love this recipe so much I tend to make it frequently.



This time I topped it with sweetened condensed 'milk'. It was perfectly sweet and savory, as usual!

Ginger Molasses Cookies

This cookies is paired with Temptation Vanilla Ice Cream an soy whipped topping.


It tasted like a shoo-fly pie a la mode!

I am not a paper cup...

This is the best purchase I've made in a while -- it's DCI's I'm not a paper cup porcelain coffee travel mug.

It looks like those paper cups you can get a coffee shop but is 100% reusable -- the cup itself is made of insulated porcelain and the top is silicon. It's microwave and dishwasher safe. The biggest drawback is that it only holds about 6 ounces - I prefer a little more tea than that, but the tradeoff of not using an actual paper cup makes the lost ounces worth it.

I got it at Myxyplyxyk in NYC but their website is temporarily down. They also had them at Exit 9 and a few other "gift shops."

A Journey into Vegan Cream Puffs

I randomly remembered how much I liked cream puffs with pineapple cream filling - I recreated the pineapple filling perfectly (a mixture of Toffuti cream cheese, soy whipped topping, and crushed pineapple)


But was not so successful with the puff part -- the first round, I used a standard cream puff recipe with disasterous results. These were little round rocks, the term 'hockey pucks' came to mind several times.



I did a little more research and found a more promising recipe on Yahoo! answers:
1 cup all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons sugar
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon cream of tartar (or baking powder)
2 tablespoons margarine (such as Spectrum)
equivalent of 4 eggs (2 tablespoon Ener-G Egg Replacer whipped until stiff with 1/3 cup water)
1 cup soy milk

Directions:

Pre-heat oven to 400 degrees. Prepare baking sheet--either parchment paper or a non-stick pan. Prepare egg-replacer. Stir together flour, vegan sugar, salt, cream of tartar. In a sauce pan (non-stick works well), bring the soymilk and margarine to a boil, stirring constantly. Add the flour all at once, and reduce heat to low. Stir constantly until the dough forms a ball that pulls away from the pan and the spoon and is glossy and smooth. Working quickly, remove from heat and add the Ener-G Egg Replacer, about a third at a time, beating well after each addition until the dough is glossy, smooth, and pulls away from the pan.

Shape the puffs as desired--I made mini-puffs about a rounded teaspoon each. Bake at 400 degrees for 10 minutes, then lower heat to 350 for another 10 minutes, then turn off oven and allow to cool, with door slightly cracked for another 20 minutes, then cool completely on wire racks before serving or filling.







The result? Not bad!
Definitely not as light and airy as a 'regular' cream puff, but not totally gross!
Surprisingly 'puffy'!
Stuffed with pineapple cream it was a pretty good stand-in.
Next time I'll use a lighter flour to try to refine it a little more...

BBQ Ribs

I really like Gardenburger BBQ Riblets
. They're super-easy to prepare, you just take them out of the freezer and stick them in the microwave for about 3 minutes. You can serve them with mashed potatoes, corn, and collard greens or on a sandwich, here is my version on a sandwich:



I used rosemary toast and Veganaise as a condiment and stuck a pickle on the side, delicious!

Tomato Basil Sandwich for Lunch

I don't often take pictures of my lunch as it's usually left-overs from the night before or something uninteresting. I took a picture of this because it's a really delicious meal!



Sliced tomato with chopped basil on rosemary olive oil bread with chocolate cream cookies for 'dessert'!


That's my fun pink Sigg bottle next to it. I don't usually use Saran wrap, but I was out of clean tupperware for the bread.

Pizzas

This time I decided to make my own crusts.

This pizza is the Yeast-Free Crust from How it All Vegan:



This one is from cooks.com

2 c. flour
1 tsp. salt
2 tsp. baking powder
2/3 c. water
1/4 c. vegetable oil
Mix flour, salt, baking powder and water. Knead on floured counter just until workable and spreadable, about 2 minutes. Refrigerate for 20 minutes before spreading on pan.



Both were very good!

Cooks.com slice:


A side view of the crust from HIAV, the crust is flaky and VERY flavorful!



We topped both with marinara sauce, Follow Your Heart Cheese, and Yves Veggie Pepperoni, yum!

Apple-Spice Ice Cream with Caramel

This is a dish of soft-serve apple spice soy-ice-cream drizzled with warm caramel from Vegan Treats. Yum!!

This Week's Brunch...

French Toast Sticks

Before becoming vegan I REALLY REALLY liked French Toast Sticks. I make my own French Toast pretty frequently, but there is just something about the crispy, sweet goodness of French Toast Sticks that I have not been able to replicate.

I found these in the gluten-free freezer section of Wegman's:



Here they are all cooked up and on a plate with a small monkey cup of syrup.


The verdict?

Well, for gluten-free French Toast Sticks I guess they were good. They tasted more like lightly battered bread sticks than traditional crispy, well- battered French Toast. In fact, they were shaped like sliced bread cut into strips, crust and all - not really what I was hoping for.

All-in-all a let down.

Green Ramen

Unlike the 'fancy' ramen I had a few weeks ago, this is my own simple concoction, ramen noodles, green beans, peas, and fresh basil seasoned with a little Bragg's...

It's fresh-tasting and delicious!

BLTs

Using Tofu-Bacon, of course!
I marinated the tofu in maple syrup, Braggs, and liquid smoke, then fried them up, using the marinade as a sauce.

With lettuce, tomato, and Veganaise on toasted rosemary-olive oil bread, it was bangin'!
The whole meal with cut from the cob sweet corn, tomato and cucumber salad, and lupini beans, delish!

Temptation Shakes

If you've ever been to the Chicago Diner, you know that they make the best vegan chocolate milkshake in the world. They use Temptation Ice Cream which is amazing on it's own, but uber-amazing as a shake. We finally got distribution for Temptation where I live, so we've been recreating the Diner's famous shakes:



Los's was plain, mine was topped with some soy whipped topping.


Not quite as good as Chicago Diner, but definitely a close runner-up!

OMG! It's finally back!

Try-It-Out Tuesdays: Product Review: Kim & Scott's Chocolate Pretzels

This is more a product review than a sample I'm 'trying out' but nonetheless, enjoy!

Kim & Scott's Gourmet Chocolate Pretzels are sold in the frozen food aisle and are billed at 'healthy' because they don't contain trans fat; however, they're still pretty calorie-laden. Regardless, they're rich and delicious.




I thought that microwaving them would cause them to become gummy or chewy, but they were cake-like with a gooey chocolatey center.

Recipe: Cole Slaw

This is so easy to prepare and has a great flavor:



1 bag pre-cut cole slaw
vinegar, sugar, celery salt, sea salt - mix together to taste and refrigerate overnight before serving.

Trial

I recently got a Blogger application for my iPhone so I thought I'd try it out with this funny picture of preppy George!

I hope it works!

Some Troubles

Check http://www.livingvegan.blogspot.com or http://livingveganblog.com for updates, I'm working out a few kinks....

Soya Too!

I've had several people ask about the whipped cream in the Trifle I made last week -
It's a box of whipped Soya Too, available via mail order from Food Fight Grocery!

It's SOOOOO easy to make, you just whip it with a stand mixer for about 20 minutes on medium (or 4 if you have a Kitchen Aid). You can add some confectioner's sugar or Splenda to make it a little sweeter, but I usually don't do that unless I'm using it for something like a Trifle.

Grilled Sheese

I love Food Fight. I seriously don't know what I would do without their mail-order business...If you haven't been to their site lately (or heaven-forbid haven't been there at all!) you HAVE to check it out, they have everything under the sun including Sheese, the best fake cheese available.

Here are our Grilled Sheese sandwiches, we used Mild Cheddar:



In the background are some vegan Dorritos, though when this bag is done I think we'll be 'over' it, I thought I missed the processed goodness of Dorritos, but I didn't...eating them again is just kind of gross...we've had the same bag for weeks now, I think we're used to eating so much healthier that eating Dorritos just seems weird!

Kitchens

I like the colors of this kitchen. Los isn't that into it, but something about it appeals to me!

Local Finds

There are farms all over my area, the grocery stores also carry tons of local produce, and there's a weekend Farmer's Market nearby where you can score some delicious goodies.

Unfortunately, there are not a lot of organic farms. That said, below is my most recent score - the cucumbers are from my dad's garden, they're organic (and awesome!), the cherry tomatoes and corn are from a local farm, the tomatoes are the sweetest I've had in a very long time.

The strawberry-rhubarb jam is from another local farm, she makes an amazing array of home-canned items such as pickles, jams, 'salads' (like 3-bean salads), etc. She had a lot of delicious sounding varieties such as peach-thyme, melon-mint, cantelope, jalepeno, etc.

I could not resist making a tomato-cucumber salad - I added 1.5 Tbs olive oil, 1 Tbs 3-leaf balsamic vinegar, 2 tsp sea salt, and a large handful of fresh chopped basil.

Yum!!

The best part about shopping local is that you know the ingredients are fresh. When I bought the corn, the farmer actually went out to the field and picked a dozen ears for me, he then told me to eat them within 8 hours as he said that around 8 hours after being picked, the sugars would begin to break down. How cool is that! We ate the corn within about 4 hours, and he was right, it was incredible sweet and crispy!

Lace Cookies

I whipped up a batch of lace cookies, they tasted amazing but fell apart almost instantly, I lined the pan with parchment paper for the second batch and that worked a little better, but they were still extremely brittle, I'll post the recipe once I perfect it...For now I'll just say the secret ingredient is lemon zest!

Restaurant Review: Cali Burrito

Cali Burrito is a California-style burrito joint. It's fresh fast food. They have smoked tofu, which is awesome. They also have tofu scrambler burritos and SOMETIMES have smoked seitan as well.

I opted for the taco salad with smoked tofu.


You have to bring your own Tofutti Sour Supreme which is kind of a bummer since otherwise they're pretty vegan-friendly.

Cali Burrito
3104 Hamilton Blvd. (across from Dorney Park)
Allentown, PA
610-351-1791

Woohoo!!!!

My awesome friend Dave totally hooked me up -- you can now see my blog at it's new address

http://www.livingveganblog.com

Add it to your RSS readers, yo!

Try It Out Tuesdays: Raw Revolution Bars

I tried the Chocolate and Cashew Raw Revolution Bar.

I'm into the packaging and the name:


It says 'with sprouted flax seeds' so I thought, this bar is going to be gross, I couldn't imagine the texture of a sprouted seed in a bar - I was skeptical to say the least!

When I opened it, my hopes were raised, it looks like a chocolate bar!

Overall I was very impressed. It is definitely more tasty than Larabars and while there were some 'bits' in it, the texture was really good, the cashews were slightly crispy and the chocolate was very flavorful.

My only complaint was that I would have liked it to be just a tad sweeter, but I guess that really isn't what they are going for.

Overall I would purchase this item and try other flavors as well!


*If you have a product you would like me to review, please send an email to j88nny@hotmail.com.

Hot Chocolate

I know it's summer, but hot chocolate is just so comforting!

Mine is topped with Marshmallow Cream and shaved chocolate:


Los' is topped with whipped cream and cocoa powder:

This Week's Brunch...

Carob-Chip Pancakes!

The carob chips in these pancakes are the perfect sweetness - sometimes I think chocolate chips are too sweet for brunch...

They are topped with some homemade mocha syrup and soya whipped topping!

Biscoff Biscuits

If you've flown Delta lately you've probably been served delicious Biscoff biscuits. They are vegan (woohoo!) and deliciously light, crispy cookies with caramel after-tones. They're available for purchase from their own website (which is often not working) and from Amazon.com.