Comfort vegan food: Tomato Pie.

I know, I know, it’s been a long time. I’ve been busy (no, I haven’t,I’ve just been lazy and slacking). My next couple of posts are going to be about meals that are vegan, healthy, and comforting. Growing up my mom (who I like to call Jill) used to buy the most amazing garlic Parmesan baguette from a bakery in Chestnut Hill called Baker Street. Sometimes, Jill would make mini pizzas with the bread. She would make the sauce from scratch and let us put whatever toppings we wanted on our pizzas. I always went for the simple mozzarella. Although I’m a vegan now and cheese is no longer an option, I still set out to try and recreate that comforting flavor.

The Bread

Ingredients:
2 cups of Bread flour.
2 cups of All purpose flour.
2 teaspoons of Sugar.
2 (.25 ounce) packages of Dry active yeast.
1 1/2 cups of Water (105 F-110 F) or (40.5 C-43 C).

A tablespoon of Dried thyme, basil, granulated garlic, crushed red pepper, and salt.

1/2 cup or more of Olive oil.

Directions:

1. Coat a large bowl with a teaspoon of olive oil ad set aside

2. Mix water, sugar, and yeast together and let sit until mixture foams.

3. Put 1 1/2 cups of bread flour and 1 1/2 cups of all purpose flour into a bowl and mix together with salt dried thyme, basil, crushed red pepper, and salt.

4. Put 1/2 cup of bread flour and 1/2 cup of all purpose flour on a clean work surface.

5. Pour yeast mixture into the bowl of flour and combine.

6. Place dough onto floured surface.

7. Knead the dough and work in the cup of flour mixture. Knead until dough forms a nice ball.

8. Put the dough ball into the pre oiled bowl. Cover and let rest for 30 mins in a warm place. At the and of 30 mins the dough should double in size.

9. Preheat oven to 425 degrees F or 218 degrees C. Place dough onto a floured surface and roll out to the size of a 13×8 baking sheet.

10. Pour a good amount of olive oil onto the baking sheet and place this dough on top.

11. Allow to bake for 15 mins until edges are golden brown.

For the sauce:
4 medium white onions.
12 cloves of garlic.
20 fresh basil leaves.
4 cans of good quality crushed
tomatoes e.g. San Marzano.
2 small cans of tomato paste.
1/4 cup of olive oil.
Salt and pepper to taste.

1. Heat a large sauce pan to medium heat.

2. Chop the 4 onions and 12 cloves of garlic and set aside. Chiffon the basil leaves and set aside as well.

3.. Pour 1/4 cup of olive oil into pan and allow oil to heat up.

3. Place the onions into the pan and stir. Add a small amount of salt and pepper and allow to cook until onions turn translucent.

4. Add the garlic cloves and stir.

5. Add basil leaves and tomato paste. Turn heat down to low.

6. Add the cans of crushed tomatoes and allow to cook for ten minutes.

7. Allow for sauce to cool in the refrigerator before putting on bread.

Pancakes three ways.

Breakfast is hands down my favorite meal of the day. It also happens to be the most important! Lately, every Thursday, a couple of girls from the team have been getting. Together to make different types of pancakes. We make gluten free, snicker doodle, coconut flour, and vegan pancakes. It took me a couple of weeks to figure out a good vegan recipe but I finally came up with one. I’ve also made a paleo version as well as a version for vegetarians!

Vegan Pecan Pancakes

Ingredients:
All purpose flour
Granulated sugar
Baking powder
Salt
Fresh vanilla beans
Ground flax seeds or an egg replacer
Coconut milk
Vegan margarine
Pecans

Directions:
1. Heat large frying pan or skillet on stove over medium-high heat. Preheat oven to 200 degrees.
2. Mix 1 cup of all purpose flour, 2 tablespoons of granulated sugar, 2 teaspoon of baking powder, 1/2 teaspoon of salt, and 1 teaspoon of vanilla beans into a mixing bowl.
3. In a separate bowl pour one cup of coconut milk, 1 tablespoon of flax seed mixed with 3 tablespoons of warm water stir together until it makes a gelatinous mixture. Add mixture in with coconut milk. Melt two tablespoons of vegan margarine and add into bowl with coconut milk and flax seed mixture. Mix all ingredients together.
4. Add liquid mixture to dry mixture making sure not to over mix just until everything is incorporated well.
5. Crush whole pecans into small pieces.
6. Once pan is hot place 2 tablespoons of vegan margarine into pan. Place a large spoonful of pancake batter into pan. Depending on how big your pan is you can place around 3 or 4 per pan. Place pieces of pecans on top of pancakes. Once you see bubbles form at the top flip the pancakes about 1-2 mins. Remove pancakes from pan and place onto a baking sheet and put into oven to keep warm.
7. Serve with maple syrup, cinnamon, fruit, or other assorted toppings.

Paleo pancakes

Ingredients:
Coconut flour
Vanilla beans
Baking powder
Salt
Eggs
Honey
Coconut milk
Coconut oil

Directions:
1. Heat large frying pan or skillet on stove over medium-high heat. Preheat oven to 200 degrees.
2. Put 1/2 cup of coconut flour, 1 teaspoon of baking powder, 1/2 teaspoon of salt, 1/2 teaspoons of vanilla beans into a mixing bowl and mix well together.
3. In a separate mixing bowl place 1 cup of coconut milk, 4 eggs, and a tablespoon of honey and mix together well.
4. Combine wet ingredients with dry ingredients and mix until everything is incorporated.
5. Add two tablespoons of coconut oil into hot pan.
6. Using a large spoon place spoonfuls of batter into pan. Wait until bubbles form on the top of the pancakes to flip them. 1-2 mins each side. Once both sides are cooked transfer onto a baking sheet and place into oven to keep warm.
7. Serve with cinnamon, fruit or other assorted paleo toppings.

<img src="https://gkmlm.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/20120929-130433.jpg" alt="20120929-130433.jpg" class="alignnone size-full"

Vegetarian pancakes

Ingredients:
All purpose flour
Baking powder
Salt
Granulated sugar
Vanilla beans
Eggs
Coconut milk
Butter

Directions:
1. Heat large frying pan or skillet on stove over medium-high heat. Preheat oven to 200 degrees.
2. Mix 1 cup of all purpose flour, 2 tablespoons of granulated sugar, 2 teaspoon of baking powder, 1/2 teaspoon of salt, and 1 teaspoon of vanilla beans into a mixing bowl.
3. In a separate bowl pour 1 cup of coconut milk, 1egg, melt two tablespoons of butter and add into bowl with coconut milk and egg mixture. Mix all ingredients together.
4. Add liquid mixture to dry mixture making sure not to over mix just until everything is incorporated well.
5. Add two tablespoons of butter into hot pan.
6. Using a large spoon place spoonfuls of batter into pan. Wait until bubbles form on the top of the pancakes to flip them. 1-2 mins each side. Once both sides are cooked transfer onto a baking sheet and place into oven to keep warm.
7. Serve with maple syrup, cinnamon, fruit, or other assorted toppings.

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“I want pancakes!! You people understand every language except English! Yo quiero pancakes! Donnez-moi pancakes! Click-click-bloody-click pancakes!!!”
-Stewie Griffin

Thor’s tomato sauce.

About a month ago myself and a couple of my teammates were asked to help clean the garden for an older adult who could no longer do so. We walk up to the house and we meet Thor, a 92 year old man who was born and raised in Åland but who spoke perfect English. He looks as if he’s seen and done everything a person could do in life. He explains to us the meaning of his name. “My name is Thor and he was the God of thunder in Swedish mythology” he said. He kept saying that he was an old man who, “slept all day” but, we were there for 6 hours and he spent most of that time on his computer surfing the web. Honestly he was one of the wisest older adults I have ever met. About a week ago his neighbor gave us some beautiful tomatoes that he grew in his garden, and I decided to make tomato sauce with them.

For THOR 🙂

Ingredients:
12 fresh tomatoes
Carton of yellow or red cherry tomatoes
Tomato paste
Yellow Onion
Garlic
Fresh Basil
Fresh Thyme
Fresh Oregano
Salt
Black Pepper
Olive oil

Recipe:
1. Put 3 tablespoons of olive oil into a pot and and heat over low-medium heat. Chop one large yellow onion and 5 cloves of garlic. Place garlic and onions in pot and let simmer for 5-10 minutes until onions are translucent. Add about 1/4 teaspoon of salt. Roughly chop a handful of basil, a tablespoon of thyme, and 1 tablespoon of oregano and place into pot. Add 1/4 teaspoon of black pepper and let cook for 5-10 minutes.

2. Cut fresh tomatoes into quarters and cut cherry tomatoes in half and add into pot. Add one tube of tomato paste (small can). Salt and pepper to taste. Sometimes the sauce can to be too acidic. If this happens you might want to try to add a pinch of raw sugar to cut the acidity.

3. Turn heat down to low and let cook for 2-3 hours.

Finished product!

“I have no plans to die today.”
-Thor

Vegan Chili

Fall is by far my favorite season. The weather is not too hot and not too cold. It’s perfect. Since the temperature finally dropped, I decided that it was time to make a batch of chili!

Ingredients:
Olive oil
Onion
Garlic
Carrots
Black beans
Kidney beans
Cannellini beans
Fresh or frozen corn
Zuchinni
Jalapeño
Fresh Tomatoes
Can of crushed tomatoes
Salt
Black Pepper
Crushed red pepper
Chili powder
Dried oregano

Recipe:
1. Turn heat onto low-medium heat and heat 3 tablespoons of olive oil.
2. Chop one large yellow onion and 5 cloves of garlic. Put onions into the pot. Add 1/2 teaspoon of salt and allow to cook for five minutes. Put garlic and cook for another ten minutes until onions are translucent. Peel four medium sized carrots and grate them. Add carrots to pot and let cook for 10 minutes. If you don’t want to grate carrots you can always buy a bag of matchstick carrots. Add about a cup and a half to the pot.

3. Add 1 teaspoon of salt, 1/2 teaspoon of black pepper, 1 teaspoon of chili powder, 1 teaspoon of dried oregano, and 1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper. Cut jalapeño in bald length wise and remove the seeds. Chop jalapeño into small pieces and put into the pot. I only duded half the jalapeño but if you’re comfortable with spicy food then by all means add the entire pepper!

4. Turn heat down to it’s lowest setting and add the black, kidney, and cannellini beans. Cut zucchini in half and cut into smaller pieces. Add zucchini to pot. Cut five fresh tomatoes into quarters and add into pot. Add can of crushed tomatoes. Salt to taste.

5. Let chili simmer for 2 hours on low. Add about a cup of corn to the chili 20 minutes before the chili is finished.

Season to taste!!

“The aroma of good chili should generate rapture akin to a lover’s kiss.”
-unknown

Vegan travel food: Dark chocolate peanut butter granola.

I have officially been a vegan for 10 days! It hasn’t been as difficult as I thought it would be. That being said, my biggest challenge has come when we have to travel for away games. While I’m home I can cook for myself and plan out my meals accordingly. Needless to say, there aren’t many vegan options while you’re on the road in Finland. So, after experimenting with a bunch of different granola recipes, I came up with this dark chocolate and peanut butter one.

Ingredients:

Creamy peanut butter
Old fashioned oatmeal
Dark chocolate bar
Unsalted peanuts
Wheat germ
Whole Flaxseeds
Unsweetened coconut flakes
Agave nectar
Cane syrup
Coconut oil
Vanilla extract
Kosher salt
Cinnamon

Recipe:
1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit (175 degrees Celsius).
2. In a baking tray pour 2 cups of oatmeal, 1/4 cup of wheat germ, 1/2 cup of peanuts, and 3 tablespoons of flaxseeds. Keep in the oven for 15 minutes and stirring every 5 minutes.

3. While the oat mixture is in the oven, put 1 tablespoon of coconut oil, 1/4 cup of agave nectar, 2 tablespoons of cane syrup, 1/2 cup of peanut butter, 1 teaspoon of vanilla extract, and half a bar of dark chocolate into a sauce pan.

4. Allow for the mixture to bubble for a couple of minutes while stirring constantly.
5. Remove the oat mixture from the oven and place it in a mixing bowl. Remove the peanut butter chocolate mixture from the heat and mix it together with the oats in the bowl. At this time you should add 1/3 cup of coconut flakes, 1 teaspoon of cinnamon, and 1 teaspoon of kosher salt.

6. Place the mixture baking on the baking tray and bake for another 20 mins.
7. Take the mixture out and allow to cool thoroughly before braking it into pieces.

8. Store in an airtight container and enjoy!

“If wishes and buts were clusters of nuts, we’d all have a bowl of granola.”
-Geoffrey Jellineck

Veganism

Its been too long. So long that I’m now a vegan. You will soon be able to view all of my yummy vegan creations. Scouts honor 🙂

Challah…

God bless the dough cycle on my bread maker. No, really. Like my Crock Pot, it deserves a parade. Never in a million years did I think I would be able to make Challah in my own house. So, bored one day, I looked on the Internet and found an extremely easy recipe that used the dough cycle of my bread maker.

I grew up eating lots of bread but I remember loving Challah in particular. Its the perfect bread for any type of sandwich. Peanut butter and jelly, turkey, or even burgers. The only downside to this recipe is it takes about four hours from start to finish to make. If you wanted to prepare it ahead of time just let it rise and wrap the dough in plastic wrap for up to 2 days in the refrigerator.

What you’ll need:

1. Bread maker

2. 1 cup of warm water

3. 1/2 cup white sugar

4. 1/2 cup canola oil

5. 2 1/2 teaspoons of salt

6. 2 eggs room temperature

7. 4 cups of bread flour (I use King Arthur)

8. 2 1/4 teaspoons of yeast

For the eggwash:

1. One egg

2. One tablespoon of water

Place warm water, sugar, honey, vegetable oil, salt, 2 eggs, flour and yeast in the pan of the bread machine in the order recommended by the manufacturer. Select Dough cycle; press Start.

The dough should look like this after going through the dough cycle.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

2. After the machine is done, take the dough out, and place it on a very lightly floured board, punch the dough down, and let rest for 5 minutes.

3. Divide the dough in half. Then divide into 3 equal pieces, roll into ropes about 12 to 14 inches, and braid into a loaf. Do the same with the remaining other half. Gently put the loaves on a greased cookie sheet, mist with water, cover loosely with plastic wrap, and let rise for 1 to 1 1/2 hours in a warm, draft free place, until double in size.

Dough braided and spread out on greased pan ready to rise.

The dough has risen and is ready for the eggwash and baking.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). In a small bowl, beat together 1 egg and 1 tablespoon water.

Dough has been eggwashed and is ready for baking!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Brush risen loaves with egg mixture. Bake in preheated oven for about 20 to 25 minutes. If it begins to brown too soon, cover with foil.

There just aren't words 🙂

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Below is a link where you can read the history of Challah.

http://bit.ly/RhUyN

 

 

 

“For about 15 minutes, Doug Flutie was the toast of New York-not just the toast but the challah and the pita and the croissants too.”

-George Vecsey

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year everybody! I just wanted to let everyone know that I will be adding some new features to my blog. I felt that I could spice up my blog a little bit by adding video to my posts. So look out for the new video features upcoming in my Linguine and Clams recipe.

 

“A good video can make all the difference.”

-Brian May

The Best Pumpkin Pie EVER…

I must admit that growing up I didn’t eat a lot of pumpkin pie. My grandmother makes the best sweet potato pie I have ever tasted. Except for that one time she mistook paprika for cinnamon (don’t even get me started I’m still trying to get over that). After making the pumpkin spice pie I still had a pretty good amount of canned pumpkin left so I was trying to figure out what else I could make with it. Pumpkin pie seemed like a good idea so I went searching for a good recipe and came across Bobby Flay’s Throwdown winning pumpkin pie recipe. For those who are not familiar with the show, Throwdown with Bobby Flay is a show where Bobby Flay surprises people who are famous for making certain dishes. He challenges them to a SHOWDOWN! On this particular show he beat the guy who was famous for his pumpkin pie. So I figured there couldn’t be a better recipe to try out.

What You’ll Need:

All purpose flour

Quick Oats

Light and dark Muscovado sugar

Unsalted Butter

10 inch graham cracker crust

1 15oz can of pumpkin

6 eggs

Granulated sugar

Molasses

Ground Cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, and cloves

Heavy cream

Whole milk

1 Vanilla bean

Grade B maple syrup

Bourbon

To Make the Cinnamon crunch:

1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 cup quick-cooking rolled oats
1/2 cup light muscovado sugar
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
7 tablespoons unsalted butter, cut into small cubes, cold

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Combine the flour, oats, muscovado sugar, and cinnamon in a food processor, and process a few times to combine. Add the butter and pulse until combined. Pat the mixture evenly into a 4-inch square on a parchment-lined baking sheet. Bake until golden brown and crisp, about 15 minutes. Remove and let cool. Transfer to a cutting board and chop into small pieces. Keep the oven on.

To Make the Filling:

3 large eggs
3 large egg yolks
3/4 cup dark muscovado sugar
1/4 cup granulated sugar
2 tablespoons molasses
11/2 cups canned pumpkin puree
11/4 teaspoons ground cinnamon, plus more for the top
1 teaspoon ground ginger
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
1/2 teaspoon fine salt
1 cup heavy cream
1/2 cup whole milk
1/2 vanilla bean, split lengthwise, seeds scraped out and reserved, or 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
3 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted

Reduce the oven temperature to 300 degrees. To make the filling, whisk the eggs, egg yolks, both sugars, and the molasses together in a medium bowl. Mix in the pumpkin puree, cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, cloves, and salt. Whisk in the heavy cream, milk, and vanilla seeds or extract. Strain the mixture through a coarse strainer into a bowl. Whisk in the butter. Place the pie plate on a baking sheet, pour the pumpkin mixture into the shell, and sprinkle additional cinnamon over the top. Bake until the filling is set around edges but the center still jiggles slightly when shaken, 45 to 60 minutes. Transfer to a wire rack and cool to room temperature, about 2 hours.

To Make the Bourbon Maple Whip Cream:

1 1/4 cups heavy cream, very cold
1/2 vanilla bean, split lengthwise, seeds scraped out and reserved
2 tablespoons Grade B maple syrup
1 to 2 tablespoons bourbon, to taste

Combine the cream, vanilla seeds, maple syrup, and bourbon in a large chilled bowl, and whip until soft peaks form.

The picture speaks for itself 🙂

“This is restaurant style mal oh my GOD!”

-My mom

Chicken Two Ways…

This post is dedicated to the people who leave Philly for an extended period of time come back and go on a chicken cheese steak, pizza, and tastykake binge for two weeks. After those two weeks you remember that this is NOT normal and you should probably start eating like a normal human being again.

What You’ll Need:

Herb Crusted Baked Chicken Legs:

5 chicken legs

Salt & Pepper

Garlic powder

Onion powder

French onion seasoning

Paprika

Garlic infused oil

Fresh Rosemary, Thyme, and Basil (minced)

What You’ll Need:

Asian Peanut Sesame Chicken:

2 pounds of boneless skinless chicken

Salt & Pepper

Garlic powder

Onion powder

Fresh red pepper flakes

Organic gluten free peanut sauce

Sesame seed oil

White sesame seeds

Sesame seed oil and Peanut sauce...

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Herb crusted chicken legs:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Rub the chicken with Garlic infused oil then season with salt, pepper, onion and garlic powder to taste. Rub 2 teaspoons of paprika on all the pieces of chicken. Add an even amount of the french onion seasoning over the chicken.  Grab a handful of Rosemary, Basil, and Thyme finely chop each of them and sprinkle them over top of the chicken.

Chicken before

 

 

 

 

 

 

Place chicken into over for 35-45 mins or until the meat separates from the leg.

After 🙂 notice how the meat separates...

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Asian Peanut Sesame Chicken:

 

 

 

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Clean and split 2 lbs of boneless skinless chicken breasts. Rub two tablespoons of sesame seed oil over all the chicken. Season the chicken evenly with the salt, pepper, garlic and onion powder. Sprinkle red pepper flakes to taste you can add more or less depending on your heat tolerance. Pour two tablespoons of the peanut sauce over the chicken. Sprinkle 1 tablespoon of sesame seeds over the chicken. Cover with aluminum foil and place in the refrigerator for no less than 30 mins to marinate.

LET IT MARINATE!!

 

 

 

 

 

 

Place chicken in over for 35 minutes until cooked through.

ohhh a little burnt haha I DIDNT MAKE IT MEGAN DID! 🙂

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

*Don’t worry it wasn’t extremely burnt…just a little crispy… the chicken was still very good!… Scouts honor…

 

“Am I eating chicken or tuna?”

– Jessica Simpson