Tuesday, February 1, 2011

Raw Flaxseed Crackers, Veggie Wrap...Keith's Cookies...Smoky Joes Tweaked

I have been relying on some old favorites the last couple of days and thus haven't had much to post. Keith has of course been whipping up creations almost daily and has taken some pictures of his works of art! He made a cookbook for me the other day with recipes he made up (and daddy wrote dow for him!) and he really wanted to try one today. I found one that was at least a possible success - his recipe was a combination of flour, coconut flour, salt, suga and milk and was called Yummie Yum Yum Yum. Though I tweaked the measurements a bit, this was pretty much his recipe. He made cookies out of it! Too cute - a bit odd but really not bad and the boys both like them!


I have been so into wraps lately so that's what I made again for lunch today! I roasted some potatoes and onions sprinkled with sea salt and a bit of oil at 430 for about 20 min. Then I thickly sliced some mushrooms and threw them on top of the potatoes and onions and cooked 10 min. Then I tossed some sliced green peppers on top of that and cooked an additional 7 min (I like my peppers still crisp and bright green when cooked). I used this as filling in a tortilla along with some sliced jalepenos and tomatoes. Delightful!!


Amber over at Almostvegan is a raw food chef and has sparked my interest in raw food. I checked out a couple books at the library to see if any recipes would be doable with my pantry items! I decided to try these flaxseed crackers. They are quite tasty - perhaps a bit strong and I had to adjust the recipe a bit as the mixture was way too runny but overall they turned out great. Braedon loves them (thus the adorable picture of him with one in hand!).


Flaxseed Crackers (adapted from Raw Food for Real People)
1 ¾ cups flaxseeds
½ cup chopped cauliflower
4 one-inch pieces of ginger
3cloves minced garlic
½ t cayenne
½ cup soy sauce
dash of curry powder and cumin
3 T cold pressed olive oil
1 bunch fresh cilantro
4 cups water
Put 1 cup flaxseeds in a bowl. Put remaining ingredients in blender. Blend well. Add blended mixture into flax. Let sit 10 min or until thick and spreadable. Transfer 2 cups mixture to Paraflex sheet of dehydrator. Repeat with remaining mixture and sheets. You want mixture to be about ¼ in thick on each sheet. Put trays in dehydrator for 3-4 hours or until tops are dried. Flip crackers over and dry additional 6-8 hours or until crisp.

Several months ago I made a recipe called Smoky Joes - kinds of a spicy take on sloppy joes made with crumbled seitan. It was so good. I didn't have any seitan made so I made the same recipe with black beans last night - very yummy! I tweaked the recipe a tad from the first time I made it. This would also be great with pintos. I debated about posting this picture as it is an especially bad picture (I forgot to take a pic before we ate so this was the bowl of leftovers!) but I figure a picture is always nice with a recipe - so I am sorry it's so bad but here it is!

Smoky Joes (adapted from Vegan on the Cheap)
1 1/2 cups black beans
1 T olive oil
2 T dried minced onion
1 t garlic powder
1 T soy sauce
1/2 cup ketchup
1 T tomato paste
1/4 cup water
1 chipotle chile in adobo sauce, chopped
1 t brown mustard
1 T chili powder
1/2 t smoked paprika
1/2 t liquid smoke
1/2 t salt
1/4 t black pepper
tortillas
In a large saucepan, heat oil and add the onion and garlic. Cook until tender, about 10 min. Add the seitan and brown. Stir in remaining ingredients and turn heat to low. Simmer 10 min to allow flavors to blend. Serve in tortillas.

2 comments:

  1. Aw, I'm happy and honored that I've inspired you! :) What book was the cracker recipe out of?

    ReplyDelete

Crispy Herbed Potato Stack

Crispy Herbed Potato Stack
I was going to try a recipe for herbed scalloped potatoes and at last minute decided to do something fast and easy. I made up the recipe and it was yummola! I layered sliced russet potatoes in a baking dish, drizzled with olive oil, and then sprinkled with coarse sea salt, fresh ground pepper, basil, rosemary, paprika, and garlic powder. Then I baked them at 425 fr about 45 minutes. They were crisp and very flavorful!

My thrown-together salad today - after discovering I had no leftovers for lunch!

Tamale Fixings

Tamale Fixings
Plain pintos (for Keith), pintos, corn and onions; corn, jalepenos and Daiya; mushrooms, sun dried tomatoes, and chard

Making these was a bit time-consuming but kinda fun! They didn't turn out as good as I had hoped - the outer tamale part (not the filling) just wasn't as flavorful as tamales I have had in restaurants. I have another recipe I will try for the dough next time. Tamales are one of my favorite foods so I won't give up on this one!

"Buttermilk" Blueberry Pancakes

"Buttermilk" Blueberry Pancakes
I modified one of my favorite pancake recipes to make it vegan and then I added blueberries. Turned out quite yummy. Soymilk sours and thickens well - very similar to buttermilk. I have been really impressed with it's ability to substitute for real buttermilk.

"Buttermilk" Blueberry Pancakes

Egg replacement for 1 egg
1 1/4 cups soured soy milk (put 2 T vinegar into a 2 cup glass measuring cup. Add enough soy milk to equal 1 1/4 cups)
2 T canola oil
1 cup flour (I wouldn't recommend whole wheat or whole wheat pastry - it really takes away from the fluffiness of these pancakes)
1 T sugar
2 t baking powder
1/2 t baking soda
1/2 t salt
Blueberries, optional

Mix dry ingredients. Add wet ingredients and stir just until combined. Heat griddle pour about 1/4 cup batter for each pancake. Sprinkle blueberries on pancakes after ladling onto griddle. Cook just until golden on both sides.

Veggie and Seitan Lo Mein

Veggie and Seitan Lo Mein
Overall, this was fabulous! However, I don't think the seitan added much so I would just leave it out next time. The lo mein also needed about double the sauce so I would simply do that next time for added flavor. This was especially spicy and yummy with some Sriracha drizzled on top. I made our favorite veg egg rolls to go with this and it was truly a Chinese treat!!

Veggie Seitan Lo Mein

I really did my own thing for this recipe so I am just going to outline the instructions and include the sauce recipe. I heated oil in a large skillet and added 3 minced cloves of garlic and about 1 cup of half-moon cut onions (I was out of green onions but next time I would use green onions as I like them a lot in Chinese food) and about 1 cup matchstick-cut carrots. After about 5-6 minutes, I added about 1/4 lb of whole green beans. I cooked these veggies until tender. Meanwhile, I cooked a 16oz package of chow mein noodles. Once the veggie mixture was cooked, I poured the sauce on the veggies, heated through and tossed with the noodles. Next time I would double the amount of sauce and have adjusted amounts below to reflect double recipe.

Sauce (Source:Adaptable Feast)
3 T soy sauce
3 T rice wine (I used 3 T rice vinegar and 1 t sugar as I didn't have any rice wine)
3 t sugar
4 T black bean garlic sauce
Mix all ingredients and toss with above mixture.





Chinese Broccoli Wontons in Ginger Soy Broth

Chinese Broccoli Wontons in Ginger Soy Broth
Pretty yummy. I found that steaming the wontons worked much better than the recipe suggestion to boil them. The broth was very mild and a bit too mellow for us. Still pretty yummy though. I added extra veggies to the wontons and scallion to the broth. The seasoning in the wonton filling was quite tasty!

Chinese Broccoli Wontons in Ginger Soy Broth (Source: Vegan Yum Yum)

(As usual, I modified several things so it's not exactly the recipe in Vegan Yum Yum!)

1 cup chopped broccoli
3/4 cup shredded carrot
1/2 cup chopped scallions
1 T oil
1 t fresh ginger, minced
1 clove fresh minced garlic
1/2 t hot chili sauce (such as Sriracha)
1 t hot Chinese mustard
2 T plus 1 t soy sauce
4 cups water ( I think this might have been more flavorful had I used vegetable broth or faux chicken broth???)
6 slices fresh ginger
1 T mirin (I used a splash of cooking wine as I didn't have mirin)
1 1/2 t sugar
2 t rice vinegar
1/2 t salt
1/2 cup chopped scallions
16 wonton skins

For filling: Heat oil in skillet and add broccoli, ginger, garlic, carrot, onion and cook until veggies are crisp tender. Add chili sauce, mustard, 1 t soy sauce and stir to combine. Remove from heat and set aside.

To make wontons, take one skin and place in diamond shape. Fill with 1-2 t filling. Fold in half to make a triangle and moisten edges with water and pinch sides to seal. Set triangle in front of you with point up and take the 2 side points and bring them together in front to cross. Set aside and prepare remaining wontons. When finished, place wontons in a steamer basket and steam over pot of boiling water until translucent.

Meanwhile, in a pot, combine remaining ingredients (except wontons) and simmer 10-15 min.

Place 3-4 wontons in bowl and ladle broth over wontons. Serve.