Single-Serving Vegan Rice Pudding

When I woke up this morning, all I could hear was the tapping of rain against my window. I pulled down my blinds to see soggy grey clouds and umbrellas shuffling down the street; it made me immediately fall back into bed and pull the sheets over my head. Cold was already kissing at my cheeks. Schoolwork was already causing a tension headache. It felt like nothing could drag me out of bed. And then it donned on me, the comfiest of southern comforts that could revive even the most weather-worn northerners trapped in the south: RICE PUDDING.

The first time I can recall having rice pudding was about nine years ago. I was in North Carolina for a film festival, and one morning, there was a panel with a buffet trimmed in all the southern standards. I had just gone vegetarian a few months before, so the pickings were slim: drippy bacon over here, messy biscuits'n'gravy over there, home fries flecked with putrid pink ham. What was a vegetarian to do? But there, hidden in the corner, were these fluffy, fragrant dishes of gelatinous rice cozied with juicy little raisins that just called to me. Within one bite, I was hooked. My mouth reveled in the harmonies of flavors and textures, hints of cinnamon and cardamom mixed in a sweet cream delicately punctuated with rice grains. Oh, this was southern comfort, at its finest.

Suffice it to say, southern comfort is what makes me feel better about life down south, so rice pudding was definitely in order today. The best part about rice pudding is, it's extraordinarily easy to make. Even better, it's soooo adaptable. I make mine with brown rice and unsweetened soymilk so it's just as much about nutrition as it is about taste - and suitable for breakfast or dessert. I also make it without sugar. This recipe is single-serving because I've been super into single-serving dishes lately; they mean I don't have to worry about mindlessly snacking on leftovers, but more importantly, I can vary the recipe if I want to make it again. Thus, I offer a short list of variations afterward that I encourage you to experiment with. Get bold and come up with your own flavor combinations. (Then come back and tell me about them...)

Happy cooking!


SINGLE-SERVING VEGAN RICE PUDDING (REGULAR & SUGAR-FREE OPTION)

+ 1/2 c water
+ 1/4 c rice*
+ 1/4 c non-dairy milk
+ 1/2 t cornstarch
+ 1 packet Purevia**
+ 1/2 t vanilla

* I recommend short-grain brown rice. While more toothsome than its white counterpart, it has more starch than long-grain, making it more fluffy and sticky while still maintaining the health benefits of brown rice.
** I happened to have some packets lying around from a restaurant and didn't want to futz with figuring how much Stevia. If you want to use good ol' fashioned sugar - or sucanat or agave or maple syrup or whatever - 2 T should be about right.


01. In a pot on high heat, bring the water to a boil. Add the rice, cover, reduce the heat, and let simmer for about fifteen minutes. After fifteen minutes, there should still be a little bit of water but not much - at least, this is the case with brown rice.

02. Whisk together the soymilk and cornstarch before adding them to the pot of rice. Then add your sweetener and vanilla, raise the heat to about medium, and stir constantly as it comes to its second boil. Reduce the heat and return the lid, keeping a watchful eye and stirring occasionally to prevent any burning or clumping.

03. When your pudding looks ever so slightly thinner than your "ideal" pudding texture, pull it from the stove and switch it to the fridge. (It will thicken as it cools.) Be sure to use a wire shelf/remember to put a pot holder beneath your pot! If you want to enjoy your pudding warm, it only needs to sit in the fridge for maybe three minutes. Otherwise, give it at least an hour before savoring most serenely.



VARIATIONS
coconut rice pudding: substitute coconut milk for your usual "milk." Sprinkle with cinnamon and serve with sliced bananas.

chocolate rice pudding: when adding the milk and cornstarch, throw in a tablespoon of cocoa powder, too. For a richer chocolate experience, add 1/4 - 1/2 t almond extract, and for REALLY decadent rice pudding, toss in 1 - 2 T chocolate chips. To make it seasonal, try peppermint extract instead of almond.

berry rice pudding: in the last five for ten minutes, toss in a handful of your favorite frozen berries and maybe 1/2 t lemon juice. Give 'em a gentle stir, and let their flavors BURST onto every rice grain. This would be an excellent way to start the day.

chai rice pudding: add 1/2 t cinnamon, 1/4 t cardamom, and a splash of ginger, clove, pepper, and nutmeg when adding the milk. You might also try mixing chai concentrate with the milk before adding it or cooking the rice in brewed chai tea instead of water.

pumpkin rice pudding: mix together 1/8 c pumpkin puree with 1/8 c soymilk and omit the cornstarch. Use brown sugar as a sweetener and add 1/2 - 1 t pumpkin pie spice. Perhaps substitute (or add!) almond extract for vanilla.

Indian rice pudding: substitute the coconut milk for your usual "milk," and add a handful of raisins in the last five or ten minutes of cooking. Serve with a dash of cardamom and ground pistachios.

lemon rice pudding: add the finely ground zest of one lemon along with the water when cooking the rice. When adding the milk, add 1 - 2 tsp rum/rum extract. To make it a little fruitier, add dried cranberries in the last five or ten minutes of cooking, or serve with fresh raspberries or strawberries.

Italian rice pudding: add a splash of amaretto with the milk (or almond extract and a half t sugar). Then throw in chopped or finely ground hazelnuts (about a handful) five minutes before serving. Enjoy lightly dusted with cocoa and cinnamon with a soy latte on the side.



How do you make your rice pudding?

Wheat-Free, Sugar-Free Vegan Carob Muffins

Note: these are tagged gluten-free but are not actually gluten-free, as they contain spelt. To make them gluten-free, substituting an equivalent amount of gluten-free all-purpose flour would likely suffice.

Don't you just loved fresh baked goods in the morning? Lately, every day's begun with the same protein smoothie, but today, my body hit a wall and demanded something more. It could be the tremendous amount of work I'm doing; last night I stayed up until one thirty working on an illustration for a magazine (!!) that I have to put the finishing touches on today. This morning, I woke up at eight to finish a paper and brainstorm ideas for my next 3D project (we're fusing organic forms with things traditionally worn on the head or neck, and we have to make it out of paper!). Plus, I have a giant, elaborate drawing to do and a short story to write -- all of which need to be finished by early next week! (Except the paper and the magazine drawing; those are due today.) I think muffins entered the scene because I either need the extra fuel, or I need the extra feeling of reward. Either way, I thought they were so worth it that forty minutes of my morning have already disappeared. Yikes!

So, I won't proceed with over-adulating descriptions of what they taste like or how to serve them because I really need to work! Plus, they're just carob muffins. They're high-fiber, and they're sweetened with stevia. There's not much more I can say. HOWEVER, I did design the recipe to be sort of single-serving - as in, it only makes four. If you want more, double or triple the recipe, but for me, four is plenty because I don't want to eat carob muffins clear through next week. (Of course I - or you - could always freeze any extras...) If you're a wizard in the kitchen, I think hiding nut butter in the middle of these - especially peanut or cashew-macademia butter - would be sublime. Anyway, give these a whirl one morning when you need that extra "oompf" in your gut to get you through the day.

WHEAT FREE, SUGAR FREE VEGAN CAROB MUFFINS
+ 1/2 c spelt
+ 1/4 c oat bran
+ 1/8 c carob powder
+ 1 1/2 t baking powder
+ 1/2 t powdered stevia*
+ dash of salt
+ 1 t vanilla
+ 3 T oil (coconut would be amazing!)
+ 1/2 c water

* If you want to use sugar, 1/4 - 1/3 c would probably suffice.

01. Preheat the oven to 350º. Throw the dry ingredients in a bowl, and give them a quick stir with a fork so they're evenly distributed and well combined.

02. Add the wet. Stir! Stir! (With your fork - to prevent lumps. Stop stirring when there are no lumps. Remember, spelt is a cousin of flour, so gluten can still form from over-stirring. These aren't light muffins by any stretch, so don't add to that with vigorous shoulder work.)

03. Grease up or line four of the cups in a muffin tin, then fill them three-quarters of the way full. Shove the muffin tin in the oven and wait 25 - 30 minutes before pulling the muffins, cooling them, and EATING THEM!!!

04. Yes, it's just that simple.



Again - this recipe makes four servings.

Tropical Gluten-Free Muffins

Believe it or not, I've actually been generating a lot of content for this here blog; I just haven't been posting it. Part of it is that, you know, I get ideas but I don't type them. Mostly, though, I've been developing TOP SECRET RECIPES that I think I'll put online and then decide I'd rather preserve for my zine. I know that I win World's Most Unreliable Blogger (what with promising you cookie recipes and then not updating for a month), but believe me, my little darlings, I have not forgotten you.

In fact, I've so far from forgotten you that I thought the best way to kick off the new year would be with a super healthy recipe. Year after year, the number one New Year's Resolution is "lose weight," but I prefer the more health conscious goal of "eat better, get fitter." After all, if you're eating properly and getting regular exercise, your body will naturally settle at a healthy, sustainable weight - no calorie counting required. So with that in mind, I decided to make some improvements in my own lifestyle: no more high-fructose corn syrup; no more hydrogenated oils; and no more artificial sweeteners. Right now, I'm also experimenting with completely wheat- and sugar-free cooking, and though it's only been maybe a week (I'm trying to make it at least month), I'm feeling pretty good. Some improvements I've noticed are my skin being a little clearer, my energy being a little more even, and my focus being a little better. This is all conducive to my ultimate 2010 goal: looking like Linda Hamilton a la Sara Conner in T2. Gotta have priorities, right?

So with these new(ish?) lifestyle efforts in mind, I conjured this recipe for gluten-free tropical bran muffins. I made some similar to these before I came back to school two weeks ago, and while those were just pineapple, they were amazing - amazing! Unfortunately, I didn't write down the recipe, and they were full of a little bit of sugar and a lot of wheat. Obviously, these babies have none of those things - just lots of good-for-you fats, fiber, and protein. They've got a little added sweetness from a scant half cup of maple syrup, but most of it comes from the tropical fruits, sweet flours, and coconut oil. These muffins get a nice, crisp exterior with a dense but fluffy interior. Plus, their tropical flavors warm your mouth on cool winter days, teasing you with daydreams of summer. Enjoy with some cold juice or an aromatic tea.


GLUTEN-FREE TROPICAL BRAN MUFFINS
+ 1 c oat bran
+ 1/2 c coconut flour
+ 1/4 c sorghum flour
+ 1/4 c brown rice flour
+ 1 tsp xantham or guar gum
+ 2 tsp baking powder
+ 1 tsp baking soda
+ salt
+ cinnamon
+ cardamom

+ 1/2 c coconut oil
+ 1 1/2 c "milk" or water
+ 1/2 c maple syrup or agave
+ 1 tsp vanilla

+ 1 - 1 1/2 c fresh or frozen tropical fruit

01. Preheat the oven to 350º, and sift together the dry ingredients (bran through cardamom). Sifting can produce a lighter, fluffier baked good, but it can also make the ingredients more evenly distributed, which yields more uniform and delicious baked goods. If you don't want folks fighting for the bigger muffin or biting into a nugget of baking soda, sift your ingredients.

02. Cut in the coconut oil with a fork until you have a bowl of crumbles, then add the rest of the wet ingredients. Stir until well combined. Your batter should look like a medium between cupcake and biscuit batter - maybe somewhere in the scone neighborhood but, you know, not like your typical muffin batter. Now, the cool thing about gluten-free baking is that you can stir and stir without much concern with how all that stirring will affect the texture. The fact is, it won't, really, because no gluten is forming! So add that fruit, then stir some more.

03. Grease or line a muffin tin, and then plop that batter in there. Feel free to fill the containers almost completely full because these babies don't get a lot of rise. Then throw them in the oven for twenty to twenty-five minutes, rotating them 180º halfway through the baking process. A fork or toothpick won't necessarily come out clean when these are ready, but the tops will look firm and maybe even a little brown on the edges. (Pull them before they get too brown!) Your oven will also RADIATE with the smell of these wonderful (and wonderfully healthy!) treats.

04. Let the muffins cool completely before enjoying. This is important because, while I'm with you on enjoying certain things all hot from the oven, these can still seem a little wet when they're fresh from the oven - kind of in the same way cookies are still all soft when you pull them. That cooling part's important. You can let them cool in their tray for five or ten minutes, then pop them out and transfer them to a cooling rack or even a plate. (Obviously, cooling rack gets preference.) Give them maybe a half hour, then grab some tea and a good book and dig in.



Makes twelve to fifteen muffins.

Going Sweet for Potatoes: Sweet Potato Pie

I think it's every food blogger (especially every vegan food blogger)'s duty to contribute something when a food-focused holiday is on the horizon. And while this year, the only physical contribution I'm making to my Thanksgiving table is a green bean casserole, I wanted to share something with a little more... bite, shall we say, here on xvx party. In the last two years, I've adopted two Thanksgiving staples: the stuffed tofu roast from La Dolce Vegan and an all-pumpkin offshoot of Fat-Free Vegan's double-layer cheesecake. (By the way, the soy-seitan turkey she mentions - also amazing.) Unfortunately, I have to give them the pass; there's not much demand for a tofu loaf where I'm spending Thanksgiving, and making a pumpkin cheesecake would totally step on my best friend's toes, whose very identity is rooted in her delicious (albeit non-vegan) pumpkin pie. Still, to me, Thanksgiving without a pie is like Christmas without a tree: it's not like it ruins the holiday or anything, but c'mon, that little absence of motif echoes. So when another friend announced she'd be rolling through town this weekend, I decided this was a resounding excuse for a proto-pie of the non-pumpkin variety appropriate for Thanksgiving. And what better pie to tackle than sweet potato pie.

Sweet potato pie was never a staple in my household, and certainly, it never made any Thanksgiving cameos. Sure, sweet potatoes appeared on my family's table in other ways: mashed, candied, casseroled - but never pied. The only time I recall even eating sweet potato pie is when I'd go over to this friend's house around Christmas time. Because at Christmas time, her grandma would send her family a giiiiiiiant box of single-serving sweet potato pies, and they'd have so many, they'd unload a bunch onto my family. I have very vivid memories of gorging on these things: popping them out of their little foil tins, then sinking my teeth into their waxy tops for a full-mouth experience that can only be classified as rich. I have no recipe that recalls this kind of pie - only a detailed memory of this luscious and flavorful treat that will probably outlive all my holiday memories combined - so you can imagine my hesitance at going vegan with it. Just because I've been hesitant to try doesn't mean I haven't wanted to, though.

Now, truth be told, I probably won't end up taking this to Thanksgiving, but I had more motiving this pie than just tradition. For starters, I wanted to make it soy-free - one, because the friend I was making it for is a little soy sensitive; and two, because sometimes omnis can detect the soy in creamy desserts like pumpkin pie so I needed a soy-free technique. Another thing I've been hankering to try is this new So Delicious coconut kefir that just came out. Hannah Kaminsky used it in a no-bake coconut cheesecake, and I thought, "Hmm, I bet the fat from those coconuts plus the tang of the probiotics would be the perfect foundation for a custard-y dessert." I also wanted to try coconut oil instead of shortening in a pie crust. And thus, my sweet potato pie concept was born.

I can't say this pie tastes like its inspiration. This pie is smooth and rich but in a completely different way than those pies of yore. In the future, I might increase the sweet potato to increase its potato punch and try to harness that authenticity, but for now, I think it's a damn good pie - even if it's not the pie I remember. Serve it with a little coconut whipped cream and some hot cider for a truly autumn treat.

SWEET POTATO PIE
+ 9" pie crust

+ 1 c raw cashews
+ 1/4 c maple syrup *
+ 1/2 c coconut kefir**
+ 15 oz sweet potato puree
+ 1 t vanilla
+ cinnamon
+ nutmeg
+ ginger


* I used this much kefir and syrup in the original, which was not very sweet. Some people liked it this way, but some did not. If I were going to make it again, I would probably try 1/4 c kefir and 1/2 c maple syrup. I only used so little syrup because I ran out! ha!
** You could also substitute any "milk," plus maybe a tablespoon or two of cornstarch.

01. Soak the cashews in just enough water to cover them, then let them stand for at least three hours (but preferably overnight). When they're finished, drain the water, and throw the cashews in a blender or food processor with the kefir and syrup. Puree until completely smooth. Add the sweet potato and spices and mix until completely incorporated.

02. Preheat the oven to 350º. Roll out your pie dough, then transfer it to your pie dish and make it all purdy. Pour your pie filling into the pie shell, and give it a good shake to smooth out ripples in the filling. Any marks you leave on the surface when putting the pie into the oven, are marks that will likely still be there when you take it out.

03. Let your pie bake for fifty to sixty minutes until the center is set. When you insert a toothpick, it should come out fairly clean - and if it doesn't, it's not set yet! Then take it out of the oven, and let it cool completely before putting it in the fridge to really firm up. Enjoy with your closest family and friends.





Speaking of food for the holidays...

xveganxparty from Ben Dudley on Vimeo.

Chocolate Cake of Wonder and Excitement

I haven't had time to sit down and post a real update, but I really wanted to get this cake recipe up before it was irrelevant. (Wait, can cake ever be irrelevant..?)

Unless you've been sitting under a rock all week, you know that Sunday was Father's Day. My dad is pre-diabetic, so if/when I make him treats, they have to stay low-glycemic. Cue: THIS AMAZING CHOCOLATE CAKE! This thing is both gluten- and sugar-free, but it's so rich and flavorful, nobody cares. My secret is almond meal. Almond pairs well with chocolate, making the cake's flavor bolder, deeper, and the fat from the almonds help give the cake some body. I made a single-layer nine-inch round (topped with Ricki's delicious sweet potato frosting), and between my dad, my grandpa, my sister, a family friend, and me - the cake didn't last even twenty-four hours. It was gone so fast, I almost didn't get a chance to snap a picture.


CHOCOLATE CAKE OF WONDER AND EXCITEMENT
+ 1 c water
+ 1/3 c oil
+ 2/3 c agave nectar
+ 2 t vanilla
+ 2 T flax meal
+ 1/2 c cocoa powder
+ 1/2 c brown rice flour
+ 1/4 c quinoa flour
+ 1/3 c almonds
+ 1 t baking powder
+ 1/2 t baking soda
+ salt

01. Preheat your oven to 350˚. In a mixing bowl, combine the water, oil, agave, and vanilla. Stir vigorously until well-combined. Add the flax. If you don't have flax meal (and it's preferable that you don't, really, because flax's nutritional profile is stronger when you start from seeds and turn them to meal) - if you don't have flax meal, take two tablespoons of flax seeds and grind them into a fine powder with your coffee grinder/blender. Then add the cocoa powder, brown rice flour, and quinoa flour.

02. Using your blender/food processor, grind up the almonds much like the flax seeds until you get a fine meal. If you have pre-ground almond meal, that would likely work, but doing it this way gave me a personal sense of satisfaction and also let me nibble the occasional little almond bit in my cake. Plus, I suspect the almond flavor is stronger this way since it's fresh; it hasn't been sitting in a bag all ground up and losing its zeal, y'know?

03. Add the almond meal to the rest of your baking concoction along with the baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Then blend blend blend! Since there's no gluten in the flour, you can blend to your heart's content! - and likely should: no one wants a hidden lump of baking soda in their cake, and I didn't tell you to sift that shit.

04. Grease up a cake pan. (Again, I used a nine-inch round.) Pour in your batter. As an aside, most gluten-free batters are really thick and maintain whatever shape they were poured as, but this batter is syrupy and forgiving like normal cake batter - another reason this cake is AWESOME. Anyway, pop that sucker in the oven for twenty to thirty minutes - essentially, until you can insert a toothpick and it comes out clean. Then remove it from the oven, let it cool, and frost it. (Don't forget about another low-GI frosting option brought to you by xvx party: coconut whipped cream.) Dig in with your favorite family members.






This cake does not serve that many people because it's too good to share. But theoretically, um, maybe it serves eight.


Oh, and as long as we're talking about a Diet, Desserts, and Dogs recipe, there's another My Sweet Freedom give away! Check out the awesome blog Musings from the Fishbowl for your chance to win.

Hot Weather Treats

This is actually what was originally the second half of the last post, which was quite a doozy. I guess I got carried away with having REAL TIME to update. Now, I was really stoked on the last post because some of the party plans were rad and the popsicle recipes ruled, so I decided to split it into two posts. If you missed it, the last post is about summer fun (edited to reflect less on my plans and include more tips for your own plans, BY THE WAY), and this one is about popsicles.

POPSICLES!

Doing all these fun things in all this hot weather requires some serious fuel. Cue: popsicles. I picked up some molds at Bed, Bath, and Beyond, but they're sold just about everywhere in the summertime. The cheapest I've found them are at Ikea, but you can make your own using cups and popsicle sticks or even tableware. (Pro tip: if you're making DIY molds, putting tinfoil with holes poked for the sticks helps keep the sticks straight while the popsicles set.) I'm really stoked on the molds I chose because they've got this little built-in straw at the bottom, so once the popsicles get melty, I can just slurp up the juice without fear of it encasing my hands. I don't know where my life was before I made my own popsicles.

When I make popsicles, I use a fatty base like coconut milk or nut cream (cashews or macademias pureed in water), then add all sorts of pureed fruit. A fatty base gives the popsicles a super creamy texture and prevents them from being total ice blocks that aren't remotely edible until they've been outside the freezer for at least twenty minutes. I really want to try putting pureed frozen bananas and soymilk in my popsicle molds. Then you could remove it from the mold, dip it in chocolate, and re-freeze it on a wax-papered cookie sheet. (It might also be possible to re-insert it in the mold but I suspect that would be very messy.) My hunch is that this is a more decadent update to chocolate-dippled bananas, so it's something I need to try. I did a google search and found these inventive (though yet un-tried) popsicle recipes, which make me really excited and inspired for summer popsicle experiments:


FIZZ POPS
from Mormom Chic

+ 12 oz can fruit nectar (strawberry and peach work great!)
+ 12 oz tropical Sprite
+ 1 cup crushed or shaved ice

01. Mix well, pour into molds and freeze. The crushed ice seems to help the pop retain its “sparkle.”



RED BEAN POPSICLES
from Hub Pages

+ 1 c red beans
+ 2 c coconut milk
+ 1 - 2 c evaporate organic cane juice or brown sugar
+ crushed pineapple (optional)

01. Wash and sorts the beans and then soak them for several hours in 5 cups of cold water. This step is essential. Soaking wakes up the beans, increases their nutrient content, and removes the enzyme inhibitors that make them hard to digest. Discard any beans that rise to the top of the water during the soaking process.

02. Once the beans are soaked, drain the water and place them in a heavy bottomed saucepan on the stovetop. Add two cups of water and bring to a boil. Once the water has boiled turn the heat down to low and stir in one cup of sugar. Allow them to simmer for an hour, stirring occasionally. You may need to add more water before the end but be careful not to add too much, we want to have most of the water absorbed by the beans and very little liquid left over. When the beans are very soft remove them from the heat.

03. Let them cool little bit. You can mash them up a bit with a fork if you like. Once they are cooled somewhat you can pour them into the blender and add the milk. Blend it all together until smooth. Taste it so see if it’s sweet enough for your liking remembering that sweetness is harder to taste in frozen foods. It should be just a bit sweeter than you want it to be. If using pineapple, fold it in the mixture. Then pour it into the popsicle molds and freeze.



SALAD POPS
from Tree Hugging Family
+ half a cantaloupe
+ handful of cherry tomatoes
+ 1/4 c chopped mint, basil, or lemon balm
+ 1 - 2 c plain vegan yogurt

01. Blend cantaloup and tomatoes until just chunky. Stir in the herbs and yogurt, pour into the molds, and freeze.



CHERRY LEMONADE POPSICLES
from Recipe Goldmine
+ 10 oz jar maraschino cherries
+ 12 oz can frozen lemonade concentrate, partially thawed
+ 1/4 c water

01. Put a colander or strainer in a bowl. Pour cherries into the strainer, saving the juice in the bowl. With a sharp knife, carefully cut the cherries into little pieces. Put half of them plus the lemonade, water, and leftover juice into a blender and puree. Stir in the reserved cherry bits, then pour into the popsicle molds and freeze.

Rainy Day Eats

I'm doing really well in school, but nothing else seems to be going my way. I'm trying not to dwell, but my moods get diluted like watercolors in these thick rains we've been suffering. Yesterday, I was driving home from an errand, and though it'd only been raining for about ten minutes, the roads had already flooded three or four inches. It was like driving through gauze with lots of swerving, so I pretty much wrote off the rest of the day and curled up with a lot of oatmeal and movies. When it rains in Savannah, it POURS, and that about sums up my life.

Suffice it to say, chik'n and dumpling soup has been a recurring theme for me lately. It warms me when I'm fresh from the cold, and it's easy to manage when watching all those films. It's also wickedly easy to make, and I've been doing it gluten-free. I'm beginning to suspect chik'n and dumpling soup is the height of vegan culinary greatness, but that might be the rain's influence. Either way, it's been super delicious and one highlight of these otherwise soggy times.


GLUTEN-FREE CHIK'N & DUMPLINGS
+ 2 T olive oil
+ 2 carrots, diced
+ 2 celery stalks, diced
+ 1 - 3 cloves of garlic, minced
+ 8 oz mushrooms, sliced
+ 1/2 c frozen spinach
+ 1/4 - 1/2 c TVP*
+ 4 c veggie broth
+ 1/2 c chik'n broth powder
+ 1/2 c nutritional yeast
+ salt'n'peppa

+ 1/2 c brown rice flour
+ 1/4 c sorghum flour
+ 1/4 c potato starch
+ 1 t baking powder
+ 1/2 t guar gum
+ salt
+ 2 1/2 T Earth Balance
+ 1/4 - 1/2 c water

01. In a large pot, heat up your oil over medium heat. When the pan is warm, toss in the carrots, celery, and garlic, and sautee for three to five minutes or until the celery and garlic take on a sort of translucent quality. Add the mushrooms, and let them brown a little before adding the spinach, TVP, broth, powder, and yeast. Season with salt and pepper and bring to a boil.

02. While waiting for the soup to boil, assemble your biscuit dough. Mix all the dry ingredients together with a sifter or fork, then cut in the Earth Balance with a fork, knife, or pastry cutter. You're looking for a course, crumble-y texture that's somewhat uniform in its meal-y quality. Slowly add the water, mixing as you go, until the mixture is JUST combined. Since it's gluten free, you can mix it as much as you want without it getting dense or chewy, so it's okay to hold back a little and stir a lot to gauge the moisture of your dough. When you make the balls, the dough should stick to your fingers a little bit but it shouldn't be sticky. After I was finished, I had hardly any dough residue left in the bowl, and that's what you're shooting for.

03. Take little wads of dough - about a tablespoon's worth - and roll them in your hands until they're smooth little spheres of gluten-free goodness. Then toss them in your boiling soup, bring down the heat to a simmer, and put a lid on top. Let the soup continuing cooking for fifteen to twenty minutes. As tempting as it is to check on your dumplings, don't! The steam is what cooks them, and if you break the seal created by the lid, that lets out the steam, and your dumplings won't cook properly. It's a lot like resisting the urge to open the oven door when baking cupcakes or muffins.

04. But when the time IS up, you can take off the lid, let the soup cool, dish it up, and then sit down to watch a really good movie. Here are some of the movies I've been watching lately:

Knocked Up: bumbling goof with curly hair gets foxy blonde pregnant; comedy and romance ensue; nine months later, there's a baby. From the Einsteins behind Superbad, Forgetting Sarah Marshall, Pineapple Express, and Forty Year Old Virgin. (Should I admit I love their movies?)
Annie Hall: what happens when neurosis dates neurosis; sometimes, it's just not meant to be.
The Way We Were: the dramatic version of Annie Hall, ca. forty years earlier; sometimes, it's just not meant to be.
An Affair to Remember: witty and attractive man and woman have fling on boat, then agree to meet at the Empire State Building six months later to resume the affair. Will they? Won't they? Why are there musical moments?
Wristcutters: boy kills himself over girl; finds himself in world even more depressing than life; discovers girl has also killed herself and is somewhere in this new world; goes on a road trip with Gogol Bordello in search of girl. Romance, nonsense, shenanigans, Tom Waits. (I fucking love this movie.)
Harold and Maude: quirky boy falls in love with old woman. Romance, nonsense, shenanigans, no Tom Waits. (I also fucking love this movie.)
Terms of Endearment: Shirley McClaine as a controlling old woman that owns a Renoire; Jack Nicholson as an aging alcoholic astronaut; Jeff Daniels pre-Dumb and Dumber; some lady I didn't recognize who gets breast cancer. An exploration of unconditional love.
Taxi Driver: young Robert DeNiro going crazy with misanthropy. Amazing cinematography and mostly A-list actors. Find yourself asking, "How did Cybil Shepard go from this to Cybil to The L Word?" Strangely identify with DeNiro's commitment to discipline and healthy living. (So good.)
Get Smart: middle-aged cutie becomes secret agent in classic underdog romantic comedy. Anne Hathaway finally plays a role that doesn't involve being confused and/or helpless 90% of the time, and a glimpse of Steve Carell's naked backside.
Good Will Hunting: cutie with a booty and a high IQ struggles to overcome inhibitions about intimacy. Some classic lines and Ben Affleck actually doing a good job.
American Psycho: sociopath on Wallstreet obsessed with appearance and status; extreme misanthropy; includes a scene of dropping a chain saw on a woman three stories down. Christian Bale post-Velvet Goldmine but pre-Machinist and especially pre-Dark Knight. (I point this out because look at how much his body successively changed for each role! INSANE!)



By the way, this recipe serves four.

So, what are some of the movies you've been watching lately?

* TVP is not technically gluten-free, but I think ya'll are clever enough to omit or even substitute for this if you're actually a celiac. And frankly, nothing in the soup portion has to be absolute. Soup - especially broth-based soups - are such a good way to use whatever's lying around in your fridge, especially the produce drawer, so just throw in whatever you want plus some broth and add the dumplings. So simple!

Coconut Whipped Cream... the Redux! (Plus Noodles)

It's been a week without updates, and what do I do the next time I log in but revisit coconut whipped cream. Yesterday was my dad's birthday, and he's pre-diabetic so I made a special cake with this in mind. It was free of just about everything a traditional cake might entail: gluten, eggs, dairy, sugar, nuts... You'd think it'd be pretty lackluster, but I've certainly had worse cakes. I think the recipe could use some tweaking, so I'm not prepared to share it yet, but I do want to discuss the frosting because it was just my coconut whipped cream. This time, though, I introduced the concept of a hand mixer and extra Whip It, and oh, what a difference they made!

I prepared the frosting much per my previous instructions (cans in the fridge, separating the cream, etc. etc.), but instead of doing a 1:1 ratio of coconut cream to Whip It, I did about a 1:1.5 ratio. So in total, I used three cans of coconut milk and four packets of Whip It. I also omitted the powdered sugar (because this was a sugar-free dessert!) and substituted agave nectar (maybe a tablespoon or two?). Combining everything with the hand mixer made it really light and fluffy like whipped cream, but the Whip It held it together nicely. It was thick and full-bodied, and the vanilla over-rode much of the coconut flavor. Really, it was quite the vegan forgery.

Now, I didn't make enough whipped cream for piping (besides which, I didn't have my piping tools), so I can't say how well it'd hold up for decorating. (I speculate it would be fine, but anyone with high decorating aspirations that doesn't want to chance it should try Diet, Dessert, and Dogs' Whipped Cream.) However, as a frosting, it was spectacular - easy to apply, simple to smooth. I don't have an offset spatula or cake... spinny... thing, and I didn't do a crumb coat or an ace job of leveling my cake top, either. Still, when one of my roommates saw the cake sitting on the counter, she said, "Wow, that's a smooth cake!" Frankly, without the aid of fancy tools, I'd say this is the most forgiving frosting I've ever worked with - and it's pretty effin' good for you as far as frostings go. Plus, as our last entry established, you don't have to use it for just frosting because, duh, it's really whipped cream. Be glad I revisited this one.

Okay, so if you've been making as much whipped cream as I have, you've got all these half-used cans of coconut milk in your fridge. I've been making Thai peanut noodles to get rid of them. Please note these measurements aren't exact because I do everything to taste. It says to do the pepper to taste since everyone's so picky about their spice level, but really, do everything to taste. These were guestimations:


THAI PEANUT NOODLES
+ 12 oz spaghetti
+ 1 red bell pepper, diced
+ 3 cloves garlic, minced
+ 1 c mushrooms, sliced
+ 13.5 oz coconut milk (or roughly two leftover cans)
+ 1/2 c peanut butter*
+ 4 T soy sauce
+ 1 T apple cider vinegar
+ 1 1/2 t ginger
+ cayenne pepper, to taste
+ red pepper flakes, to taste

01. Prepare your pasta per package instructions. Before draining, be sure to set aside just a little bit of pasta water. Later, you're going to add about a tablespoon or so to the sauce because it'll help the sauce gel with the noodles.

02. Oil up a large fry pan, and put it on the stove over medium heat. Once warm, toss in the pepper and garlic, and sautee until a little glossy. Add the mushrooms, and continue cooking until the mushrooms are gently browned.

03. Turn up the heat to medium-high. Pour in the coconut milk, soy sauce, peanut butter, vinegar, and spices. Gently stir to combine and bring to a boil.

04. Once boiling, bring the heat back to medium (maybe even medium low!), and continue cooking until some of the liquid cooks off and a thin skin begins to form on the surface. Stir periodically.

05. Once the sauce has significantly thickened, add that pasta water, cook a little more, and then add all the pasta. Turn off the heat, and toss the pasta to coat. Serve hot or cold.




This recipe feeds two to four and tastes even better the second day.

* If your peanut butter does not come sweetened, consider adding about a tablespoon of sweetener. Sugar is always a component of Thai cooking, and I think it adds to this dish.

Coconut Whipped Cream: A Variation on an Old Theme

After eating about seven scones and nearly a quart of chik'n noodle soup yesterday, I was feeling pretty guilty when I woke up this morning. Today would require modesty and balance, I decided. The day had been going pretty well, and making fruit salad for dinner made me feel like a good little vegan. But then my demon sweet tooth kicked in and said, "How about a little whipped cream on that salad?" I think it goes without saying that whipped cream is to fruit salad what Ranch is to vegetable salad.

However, I had recently read about Vegan Dad using coconut cream as, essentially, whipped cream. I'm pretty sure he's not the first vegan to do this, but actually looking at it on some of his delicious treats, I thought, "What an inspired idea!" When I was grocery shopping Sunday night, I bought a can of coconut milk for this express purpose, and since coconuts are pretty good for you in moderation, I reasoned it was okay to include them in my fruit salad.

Also in the "international" aisle Sunday night, I noticed a German product called Whip It, which advertised itself as a stabilizer for whipped cream. At the time, I thought of using it for custard-y/mousse-y type things, but when I sat down to make my whipped cream tonight, it occurred to me that perhaps this would help it achieve a texture closer to the one I remember. Having also purchased some rose water in the international aisle (seriously, best spot in the grocery store, especially if you're vegan), I decided to make a vanilla version and a rose water version. They were both successful (not that I had many doubts), and I will definitely be using Whip It in other confections.


WHIPPED CREAM
+ 1 can coconut milk
+ 4 tbsp confectioner's sugar
+ 1 packet of Whip It
+ 1+ tsp flavor of your fancy

01. Keep the coconut milk in the fridge until you're ready to use it. When it's time, the water and cream will have separated, and you can just scoop the cream off the top. Put that in a bowl, and add to it the confectioner's sugar, Whip It, and flavoring.

02. According to the Whip It packet, it needs some vigorous action to get it going, so stir with enthusiasm to combine these ingredients. I did mine for a minute or two, but you can go however long you need to, hot shot. After all, the longer you go, the more beautiful your xveganx muscles will be.

03. Serve immediately or return to the fridge so the whipped cream can set. To illustrate my point, the first picture in this entry immediately followed making the whipped cream, but after about an hour in the fridge, I ran a fork through my cream and it left a fork print. Texturally, I preferred the latter, but it doesn't make a big difference either way. Enjoy!