Chocolate Lovers Delight

When Aaron heads out of town, I do my best to plan little soiree’s so that I get some adult interaction while he’s away. This weekend, I had some lovely friends over and we had Indian food. Some were new dishes, some familiar – three vegan and one non-vegan (I must accommodate for my non-vegan friends).

As usual, the dessert held the most excitement for me. When it is just me, I can’t justify making a fancy dessert, but when there are guests…I can always justify dessert. This dessert wasn’t so fancy, but it sure was DELICIOUS!!

Vegan Chocolate Cake Recipe

1 1/2 cup flour
1/3 cup cocoa powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1 cup cold water (or ice coffee)
2 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 teaspoon vinegar

Directions:

Preheat oven 375.  Use small brownie size pan (no greasing required).  Mix all dry ingredients right in medium size bowl.  Mix all wet ingredients in separate bowl EXCEPT VINEGAR (important!).  Add wet ingredients to dry and stir until all dry ingredients are mixed.  Add vinegar quickly and stir in–immediately put in pan and then place in the oven. Bake for 35-40 min.  Cool before icing.

Vegan Chocolate Frosting

1/2 cup vegan margarine – (I use Earth Balance)
2 cups powdered sugar
1 tablespoon vanilla
2 tablespoon soy milk
1/4 cup cocoa powder (or more)
dash of salt

Directions:

The vegan margarine should be at room temperature when placed in bowl. Blend until mushy, and then add powdered sugar, salt, vanilla, chocolate and soy milk. You can add in more soy milk to make it a bit smoother but not too much. Spread on cake and enjoy.

In addition to the delicious Indian food and dessert, we played the game Wits and Wagers. It was so much fun!! Can’t wait till next time!

A True Crowd Pleaser – Taco Ring

Today has been a bit hectic. Not a bad hectic, but hectic nonetheless. Tonight, I was in need of some serious comfort food.

This is one of my all time favorite recipes and I’ve made it three different ways. Pretty much anyone I’ve ever made it for, has loved it as well. It is SO easy and you can totally impress your friends with this dish.

I’ll share the three different options: Vegan, Vegetarian, and Meat-lovers Edition.

Taco Ring  - Vegan

2 Medium Sweet potatoes

3/4 Can of Black beans

1 pkg. of Taco Seasoning

2 pkg of Crescent Rolls – (I use Pillsbury, just check the ingredients to make sure it’s vegan)

Directions

Peel and cut up sweet potatoes into chunks. Place sweet potatoes in a sauce pan and cover with water. Bring water to a boil and boil sweet potatoes until they are soft and mushy.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees

Put the beans and taco seasoning in a medium size bowl.

Once the potatoes are ready, mash them up in the sauce pan with either a large fork or hand mixer, whatever you prefer.

Add the mashed potatoes to the beans and taco seasoning. Mix it all together.

If you have a baking stone, you will want to use it. If not, you can use a baking sheet.

Take the pillsbury rolls and place them individually on the baking stone or sheet in the form of a sun. It should look like this:

Next, you will take the sweet potato/bean mixture and place on the fat part of the sun. It should look something like this:

Finally, you will fold the triangle part of the crescent rolls over top of the sweet potato/bean mixture. The final product should look similar to this:

Mine is obviously not perfect, but you get the idea.

Place in the pre-heated oven for 25 minutes and this should be the final outcome:

This is so good even the pickiest eater will like it!

You can serve the taco ring with chips and salsa and any of your favorite taco toppings: tomatoes, lettuce, onions, guacamole, etc.

Even my son, who has become a little more particular with his food choices, loves it:

Elijah was cheering for tonight’s meal…completely unprompted of course!

Taco Ring – Vegetarian Option

To make this meal vegetarian. Follow the same ingredients and directions for the vegan meal. The only addition is 1 cup of shredded cheddar cheese in the sweet potato/bean/taco seasoning mixture. Add it into the mixture and then place onto the crescent rolls.

Taco Ring – Meat-Lovers Edition

Ingredients:

1/2 ground beef

1 cup shredded cheddar cheese

1 pkg taco seasoning

1 Tbsp water

Directions:

Cook the ground beef until brown on the stove top. In the meantime, mix cheese and taco seasoning in a medium bowl. Once the ground beef is cooked, drain the grease off and add the beef to the cheese and taco seasoning. Add the 1 Tablespoon of water. Mix it all together. Then follow the same steps as the vegan option with the crescent rolls and placing the mixture on the crescent rolls. Cook for 25 minutes and Enjoy!

Chocolate Peanut Butter Silken Pie

Cheese….that’s what I’m missing the most. Especially today! I made my son a quesadilla for lunch today and it smelled SO good. I just wanted a taste…but I stayed strong. I’d like to say I prayed, but I didn’t. I totally relied on willpower….I’m still working on the fasting-praying combination. I’ve still got 39 days or so to work on that (yes, there are more than 40 days in Lent).

Instead of dwelling on the lack of cheese in my life, I’m resorting to chocolate! Tonight we had guests for dinner. Since they are very special people, I was worried about what I should make that would also go along with my diet. I decided to keep the menu very simple…. Salad, Spaghetti with marinara sauce, Chicken Parmesan (for my husband and guests), French bread, and Dessert.

But this is not just any dessert!! It’s Chocolate Peanut Butter Silken Pie….and it’s vegan. My guests LOVED it! I even warned them that it was vegan. They couldn’t believe it.

Before I share the recipe there are a couple of things I want to mention first.

Brace yourself…it has tofu in it! I know, it totally grossed me out when I first thought about it too. But, I have to say it’s really good. If I didn’t tell you (and the recipe wasn’t listed below) you would never know. But you have to buy Silken tofu to make it work. Here’s the box that my silken tofu came in:

I had to use one and a half boxes for this recipe.

The second thing is that you need to get a pie crust. You can make your own vegan crust, but you can also just go out and buy a ready made Graham Cracker Crust. Just make sure butter is not in the list of ingredients. Here’s the one I selected:

Now for the recipe

Chocolate Peanut Butter Silken Pie

4 squares of unsweetened bakers chocolate
2/3 cup peanut butter
16oz silken tofu
1  1/4 Cup sugar
4-6 tablespoon soy milk

Directions

Melt the chocolate in a sauce pan over low heat. Use a mixer to blend the chocolate with the tofu, peanut butter, and sugar, adding soy milk to the desired texture (I’ve found some silken tofus to be more silken than others). I added about 5 Tablespoons of soy milk. You can also vary the sugar to taste. Pour into the pie crust and refrigerate for at least an hour. That’s it. Super easy!

Here’s the finished product.

The pie is a little bit rich, so you may want to cut smaller pieces…that just means more pie for later!

Spice it up a bit

Only recently did I acquire a taste for beans. For years the consistency of beans really wigged me out. I finally got over it. Now that the door to the bean world has been opened, the possibilities are endless.

Chili is always good on a cold winter day. My pre-vegan chili didn’t even have beans in it…it was completely meat based. Similar to Cincinnati Chili.

This chili (vegan friendly of course) is so flavorful that you don’t even miss the meat. My husband even liked it…and he’s been struggling with my Vegan for Lent challenge.

Chunky Vegetarian Chili

• 1  tablespoon  vegetable oil
• 2  cups  chopped onion
• 1/2  cup  chopped yellow bell pepper
• 1/2  cup  chopped green bell pepper
• 2  garlic cloves, minced
• 1  tablespoon  brown sugar
• 1 1/2  tablespoons  chili powder
• 1  teaspoon  ground cumin
• 1  teaspoon  dried oregano
• 1/2  teaspoon  salt
• 1/2  teaspoon  black pepper
• 2  (15-ounce) cans diced tomatoes, undrained
• 2  (15-ounce) cans black beans, rinsed and drained
• 1  (15-ounce) can kidney beans, rinsed and drained

Heat the oil in a Dutch oven over medium-high heat. Add onion, bell peppers, and garlic; sauté 5 minutes or until tender. Add brown sugar and remaining ingredients, and bring to a boil. Reduce heat, and simmer 30-45 minutes.

Serve with tortilla chips…and if you’re not following a vegan, then you can mix in a little shredded cheddar cheese and sour cream!

Gotta get my praise on!

January 2006 in New Orleans, LA, that was the last time that I woke up with out any pain….until TODAY!!! Most nights I wake up in the middle of the night because I hear my son Elijah, or sirens from the city streets, or even our neighbors arguing on the block. When I do wake up, I am usually in so much physical pain all over my body that it makes it difficult to return to sleep. Last night (this morning) was different. Around 4:45am I woke up because I heard sirens racing down the street to tend to the emergency they were called to and I noticed something…I did not have pain in my shoulders!!! I did not have pain in my shoulders or in any other part of my body. I was so shocked that it took me forever to go back to sleep because I was praising God (silently as to not wake Aaron). I couldn’t believe that I was not in pain. I kept going over in my mind what I may have done differently that took away my pain….only two things came to mind.

1. I’m obviously following the Vegan diet and have been on it now for a full week (yes, I started a little before Lent).

2. I had two glasses of wine (more than normal) with dinner last night…and I also took two Advil before bed.

Those are the only two things that were different yesterday. Even as I write this blog, I’m amazed that I do not have pain!!

Since today is Sunday, our family went to church. I was so overcome with praise and gratitude for my pain-free day, that during worship there was a fountain flowing from my eyes!! It was the kind of crying where your face is just a little distorted because your emotions just take over. I was lifting my hands, and couldn’t get them up high enough, to praise my heavenly Father. No matter what I did differently, I know ultimately He is the one who took the pain away. I lifted my pain-free hands to the Lord this morning!

Now, the pain might return tomorrow, I have no idea. And, you know what, if it does return, I will still be praising God for my first pain-free day in four years! Thank you Jesus!

Cheesy Bean and Cheese Enchiladas!!

That’s right ladies and Gentlemen, these delicious enchiladas are vegan!

Before I share the recipe (which also came from a great friend), I want to give you an update on how being vegan has been so far.

Like I mentioned in an earlier post, I started on Sunday, a few days before Ash Wednesday, mainly because I didn’t want to go cold turkey (no pun intended).

I think Thursday was hardest day so far. It is really difficult to make food for my son, who is NOT going vegan during Lent, while I continue to eat a vegan diet. When he doesn’t eat any of his chicken during lunch, it would be easy for me to just eat it instead of saving it or throwing it out. Basically, I have to be much more conscience of what I eat. It was also on Thursday when Aaron and I had a breakfast meeting at a cafeteria. The menu: Eggs, Bacon, Sausage, and Hasbrowns. The Hashbrowns saved me!! I ended up with Hashbrowns and Fruit, not so bad.

Spiritually, this journey is interesting. I’ve been coupling this diet with reading through the one-year Bible. It actually starts with Job instead of Genesis. Reading through Job has opened my eyes to many things, but in relation to Lent and my Vegan diet, it reminds me that we often must be striped of many things (or everything in Job’s case) to test our true faith.

On to the recipe:

The only strange ingredient in the recipe is nutritional yeast. It is responsible for making the yummy “cheese” sauce. You may be able to find it at a Whole Foods or you can certainly order it online http://tinyurl.com/yew26cz.

If you live in D.C., Sticky Fingers Bakery carries it. This is how it comes at Sticky Fingers:

Cheesy Bean and Cheese Enchiladas

1/2 cup flour

1/2 cup nutritional yeast

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon garlic powder

2 cups water

1 teaspoon mustard

4 tablespoons Earth Balance Butter or non-dairy margarine

10 tortillas (I recommend large size)

2 small cans enchilada sauce

2 cans black beans drained

1 medium onions, chopped

1/4 cup chopped cilantro

1/2 cup salsa (optional)
Directions:

In medium-large saucepan, combine flour, nutritional yeast, salt and garlic powder.  Add water and mix thoroughly.  Heat on medium heat until bubbling and thick.  Remove from heat and add mustard and margarine.  Set aside 1/2 cup of cheese sauce in separate container.  Add onion, beans, cilantro and salsa to the sauce that’s left in the pan. Mix it up.

Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Spray the bottom of a 9×13 pan with cooking spray. Pour a 1/2 cup of enchilada sauce in the bottom the pan. Place a tortilla in pan and cover in enchilada sauce. Spoon in filling. Roll up like a burrito and push to one end of pan.  Continue until all tortillas filled.  Pour the rest of the enchilada sauce on top and then spread reserved cheese sauce on as last step.  Bake at 350 for 35-40 minutes.

***I ended up using two pans because I couldn’t get all of my enchiladas into one pan. You’ll just have to see how big your enchiladas end up being.***

Makes: 6 servings, Preparation time: 20-25 minutes, Cooking time: 30-45 minutes

Here’s one of the Enchiladas. It is DELICIOUS!! And quite filling.

ENJOY!!

And so, it officially begins!!

My Lenten vegan journey officially begins…today. Although, since I’ve been easing into it, I’ve been eating completely vegan since Sunday. So far, so good.

Tonight I made a delicious dish that even your brother could make…well, maybe not MY brother, but (just kidding Paul). It’s an Indian curry dish that a friend shared with me and it’s SO easy and very tasty. This dish can also be made with Chicken or Pork if you are not vegetarian or vegan.

Now, because it is Indian AND Vegan, there are a few ingredients that may be outside your normal grocery store run. So, I’ll walk you through it.

The first “potentially difficult item to find” is Tofu (Extra Firm). In our mainstream grocery store, Giant, you can find Tofu in the produce section. There is a refrigerator section near the bananas that I had actually never noticed, and it holds lots of vegetarian and vegan items. If you can’t find the tofu in your store, just ask. For this dish, you will need Extra Firm Tofu. This is what my tofu container looks like:

Once you open the tofu, you will want to drain the juice off. It will most likely come in a spongey block.

For this recipe, you’ll want to cut the tofu into small cubes.

The second “potentially difficult to find” ingredient for this recipe is Patak’s Curry Paste – Mild.

This item can be found in the international food aisle, near the Asian food. Again, your local store may carry a different brand, but you want to look for Curry Paste. This is the brand that our local store carries.

The final “potentially difficult to find” ingredient is Coconut Milk.

Again, you can most likely find this item in the international food aisle, near the Asian food. If not there, then check out the Natural Food Aisle. There are lots of different brands, and any of them will work.

Now for the recipe!

Indian Curry

1 Medium size Onion – chopped

2 TBSP Canola Oil

1 Package of Tofu (Extra Firm) – cut into small cubes

2 medium size Yukon Gold potatoes – peeled and cubed

1 Sweet Potato – peeled and cubed

1.5 cups of Broccoli

1 cup of Chopped Mushrooms

3 1/2 Cups Water

3 1/2 TBSP Patak’s Curry Paste

2 tsp Ground Ginger

1 tsp Minced Garlic

2 tsp Soy Sauce

2 tsp Salt

1 Can Coconut Milk

**You can use other vegetables (i.e. peas, carrots, red peppers, green beans, etc.) in place of the potatoes, broccoli, & mushrooms, those are just the ones I prefer.**

Step 1 – In a dutch oven or large sauce pan, heat the oil over medium heat. Saute the onions and tofu for 10 minutes. Stirring occasionally.

Step 2 – While the tofu and onions are sauteing, peel and cut up the potatoes into cubes.

Step 3 – Add all of the ingredients in with the tofu and onions. Let simmer for at least 30 minutes. Stir occasionally.

I serve this dish over white Jasmine rice. It’s my favorite because it reminds me of being in Thailand. I also think it tastes the best and smells divine! However, if you are going for SUPER healthy, then you’ll want to serve the dish over Whole Grain Brown Rice.

Even if you’re not on a vegan diet, this dish is AWESOME!

This dish serves at least 4-6 people and freezes very well.

Now, go and get your Vegan on!!

Fat Tuesday

The time has finally come! It is the day before Lent begins and I’m ready for the vegan challenge…I think.

My prayer is that this journey will bring me closer to God as I struggle with the absence of certain foods in my life. Giving up meat, cheese, sour cream, butter, milk, etc., will certainly be a challenge, but the bigger challenge is to turn my attention and focus to Christ when I do struggle. Often times when we take something away from our lives, we just replace it with something else.

The first year that I practiced Lent I gave up chocolate. It was a HUGE challenge for me. However, I noticed that I just ended up “replacing” chocolate in my life with other sweets. I ate powdered sugar doughnuts, vanilla ice cream, caramel, etc. I did miss chocolate and, believe it or not, the absence of it in my life did cause me to pray, but I didn’t like how my focus shifted to finding other ways to fill the void.

This year with the Vegan challenge, I am hoping that the energy and time I put into cooking and eating more creatively, will force me to spend more time in prayer and conversation with God. As with all disciplines, I will have to be intentional about focusing my time. It would be very easy to just get caught up in going vegan and forgetting the real purpose behind why I’m choosing to do it.

For those who choose to give up something or add something to your life during Lent, my challenge to you is to be intentional. You will get so much more out of this journey if you choose to be intentional.

Feeling the chicken and cheese

Today I had the opportunity to go to one of my favorite D.C. restaurants, Chopt. It’s like Cold Stone Creamery meets creative Salads! It’s awesome! However, since Ash Wednesday is less than a week away, I decided to enjoy some chicken and cheese in my salad while I still have the chance. Well….THAT was a mistake!! I haven’t been eating meat for the last week and I’ve been limiting my dairy intake too….all in preparation for going vegan. My stomach has been churning for the last hour and (TMI Alert!) let’s just say I’ve made more than one trip to the bathroom in the last thirty minutes.

I totally could have gone vegan at Chopt, they have lots of awesome options, but I thought I needed to take advantage of the opportunity to still have chicken and cheese. Now I know that was a HUGE mistake.

I just find it very interesting. I’ve been eating chicken and cheese my whole life, and never really noticed any issues. Besides, it was GRILLED chicken!! Cheese has had an affect on me in the past, but not like this….

Looks like my “Fat Tuesday” may have just become “Fat Thursday!!” We’ll see….I was hoping to have a Five Guys cheeseburger one last time, but I’m not sure it’s worth it!!!

Lent Preparation Continues- Tofu Tortilla Soup

Tofu is usually a staple in Asian food or Indian food, but if I’m going to get my Mexican food kick during Lent, my tofu is going to Mexico!! As I continue to prepare for Lent, I’m trying a variety of recipes and modifying some of my favorites to see if I can make them vegan so that I will have many to choose from.

Last night I made Tofu Tortilla Soup. I usually put shredded chicken in this soup, but I wanted to try it with tofu. It was different, but still really good.

Here’s the recipe.

Tofu Tortilla Soup:

Ingredients

1. 1 onion, chopped
2. 2 Tbsp minced garlic
3. 1 tablespoon olive oil
4. 1/2 a package of  extra firm tofu – cut up into small cubes
5. 2 teaspoons chili powder
6. 1 teaspoon dried oregano
7. 1/2 teaspoon cumin
8. 1 (28 ounce) can crushed tomatoes
9. 3 Cups Vegetable Broth
10. 1 1/2 cups whole corn kernels, frozen
11. 1 (4 ounce) can chopped green chile peppers – (I didn’t have this so I didn’t include it.)
12. 1 (15 ounce) can black beans, rinsed and drained
13. 1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro
14. crushed tortilla chips
15. chopped green onions

Directions

1. In a medium stock pot, heat oil over medium heat. Saute onion, garlic and tofu in oil for 8 minutes. Stir in chili powder, oregano, cumin, tomatoes, and vegetable broth. Bring to a boil, and simmer for 5 to 10 minutes.
2. Stir in corn, chiles, beans, and cilantro. Simmer for 10 minutes.
3. Ladle soup into individual serving bowls, and top with crushed tortilla chips and chopped green onion.

I made some guacamole and salsa as “side dishes” to go with the tortillas. I’ll share my salsa and guac. recipe another time!!