HIPSTERFOOD

Here’s a very easy-to-make frosting that comes together in...

Tue, 18 Jun 2013 15:01:00 -0400

Here’s a very easy-to-make frosting that comes together in minutes, using only four ingredients. It’s classic, but not boring - the whole vanilla bean brings so much flavor to even the most basic cake. By making some easy substitutions, like adding in cocoa powder or stirring in rosewater, this turns into a really versatile staple for any budding baker’s repertoire.

Before getting into the recipe, I do want to get into the culture around which we eat sugary foods, like this frosting and the cake it lays on. Since going vegan, we’ve found that we eat much less, but much higher quality baked goods and sweets. We don’t “get” to grab a Snickers bar on the way home from work, but we do make our own candy bars once a month, with the best ingredients, and we enjoy them that much more. Obviously the ability to make desserts from scratch comes down to knowledge, ability, time, and resources - but our job as food bloggers is to make it as easy as possible for you to do so. (We’re working on it!)

Story time: at our charity bake sale last year, we made a ton of these amazing oreos from Isa Chandra Moskowitz’s classic Vegan Cookies Invade Your Cookie Jar. We sold them at $5 for three cookies. You could get an entire slab of “real” Oreos (probably 30 cookies) for less than $3. Why did we sell out of these crazy-amazing high quality cookies, then, within an hour? Because they tasted better than all 30 of those commercial cookies combined, and they were enjoyed longer because they weren’t made of cardboard.

Michael Pollan isn’t perfect, but I love and identify with his Food Rule #45:

“Eat all the junk food you want as long as you cook it yourself.”

We often take the most seemingly-labor-intensive foods and outsource them to major corporations - especially sweets - rather than trying to make them easier to prepare at home. (If you’ve ever tried making some of the worst-for-you-commercial-foods like pop-tarts, french fries, or chips from scratch you’ll understand!) Yes, you can buy a couple of tubs of vanilla frosting. But maybe we would be healthier and savor our food more if we reduced the amount of pre-made products we eat, and only consume the most top-notch stuff instead.

We’ve since adopted this philosophy of quality over quantity in sugary foods whole-heartedly. Buying higher quality ingredients doesn’t cost that much more per serving, and in many cases you know that the source of the ingredients is more sustainable and that the company is ethical. Best of all, you can really taste the difference. It’s so satisfying, especially in comparison to blindly going through a sleeve of cookies while watching TV. (Which I’m totally guilty of every once and a while, don’t get me wrong.)

There’s that old cliche that working for what you want makes the final product taste so much sweeter, and in this case it couldn’t be more true. But you don’t have to work HARD or spend a lot of time on these homemade treats, that’s the most beautiful part about it. This recipe for buttercream below takes less than a few minutes to put together - you can whip it up while your cakes are cooling, even. Try it out as a first step to owning your baked goods once again :)

Ingredients

1 cup margarine or chilled coconut oil - We used to use Earth Balance, but then learned about their practice of including unsustainable palm oil as an ingredient. Palm oil is technically vegan, but the effects of it are noteworthy - learn more here.
4 cups confectioner’s (powdered) sugar - Not all sugars are alike. White sugar is technically not vegan, as it’s whitened through an animal bone char. To learn more about this and see a list of vegan brands, head here. If you’re unsure, go with organic.
1 vanilla bean, scraped - Take a sharp knife and slice the pod down the center. Open it up and scrape out the whole interior. I highly suggest using the bean, rather than the extract, because of the flavor, look, and consistency - but if you want to use the extract, use 1 tsp and be more wary in adding extra milk.
1-2 tbsp unsweetened rice milk - Coconut or almond is also fine, we just like how light the rice milk is. If you use a thicker milk (like coconut, almond, or soy), you may need a bit more milk, more like 3 tbsp.

Instructions

Using a hand mixer or standing mixer, blend the oil/margarine with the sugar and vanilla bean until everything is crumbly and consistent.
Pour in 1 tbsp milk. Blend until emulsified.
Pour in another tbsp milk. Blend well, until it starts looking like, well, frosting. If it’s still too thick, slowly add in milk a little at a time. (Too much liquid and the frosting won’t hold up on a cake! I find that 2-3 tbsp is just enough liquid to keep it together but not become too stiff. Always go on the safe side with less milk, it’s much harder to add in the right amount of butter/sugar than it is to add more milk if needed.)
Frost at room temperature. To store, refrigerate in an airtight container for up to a week.

Want to turn this frosting into something completely different? This recipe is the most basic version - but you can play with the liquids and powders to come up with just about any variation you’d like.

Go for a chocolate frosting - instead of 4 cups confectioner’s sugar, use 3 1/4 cups confectioner’s sugar and 3/4 cup dutch-processed cocoa powder.
How about a lemon frosting? Replace one tbsp of the milk with 1 tbsp lemon extract, and add in the zest of two lemons.
Peanut butter frosting is easily achieved by subbing out a 1/2 cup of the margarine and 1 tbsp milk for 1/2 cup conventional peanut butter.

Try it out - if you want to add a liquid, replace the milk; if you want to add a powder, replace the sugar; if you want to add a solid, replace the butter/oil. Some would say this is an exact science, but I think it should be more personal than that. We’ve been doing this for years, and with a bit of experimentation, you always end up with something original and tasty! :)

Bonus: Troubleshooting

Before frosting a cake, let the frosting rest for about ten minutes in the bowl. This will tell you, before you ruin your baked good, whether or not you made a great frosting.

→If the frosting looks granular and wet, and it’s not holding together, it means you put too much liquid in the mixture. Add more butter & sugar until it stiffens up a bit.
→If the frosting becomes hard very quickly and cracks/is hard to spread, there’s not enough liquid. Slowly add in a bit more milk, blending per tbsp to get the right consistency.
→The frosting tastes bitter after adding food coloring. Don’t add food coloring to frostings unless you want it to taste terrible. Stick to naturally colored additives - like fruit, chocolate, beets, green tea powder, etc. if you don’t want your frosting to taste like chemicals in a tube.
→It’s not setting up! Make sure you use solid fats in this frosting, or it won’t come together well. Too much liquid, even from melting fats, kills this buttercream.

If you’re looking for good cake recipes, check out the spring issue of Chickpea Mag, our quarterly magazine. We’re currently hosting a HUGE giveaway, where you can win a free spring or summer issue, or a year subscription. Enter here!

chickpea-magazine: Giveaway time!!! Grand prize winner gets a...

Tue, 18 Jun 2013 11:29:00 -0400

chickpea-magazine:

Giveaway time!!!

Grand prize winner gets a year subscription to Chickpea, includes all four 2013 issues.
Tumblr winner gets a spring and summer 2013 issue.

All you have to do to enter is reblog this post in its entirety. One reblog per person.

Want extra entries and a better chance to win?

Get a shot at winning a spring issue and be eligible for the grand prize:
→Retweet this on Twitter
→Repost this photo on your Instagram feed and hashtag #chickpeamag

Rules: Don’t delete any part of this post. One entry counted per person per site. International entries welcome. Grand prize picked out of all site entries. Giveaway ends June 24. Randomly-picked winners will be announced June 26.

Here are eight foods/meals/ideas that we make ALL the time,...

Mon, 17 Jun 2013 10:36:59 -0400

Here are eight foods/meals/ideas that we make ALL the time, especially with warmer weather coming. These take very little prep time, minimal ingredients, and have staying power. I think I consumed at least half of these in the last week! If you want staple food ideas beyond salads & tacos (my mainstays), try a couple of these out this summer :)

almond parmesan, perfect for pasta & salads
balsamic chickpeas
tofu canadian bacon - if you hate tofu or have never tried it, you should start here
simple flatbread, on which we make pizzas with at least once weekly
caramel corn
chocolate peanut butter cream, a fridge staple for me in the summer
pimm’s cups morning noon and night ;P
watermelon ice cubes, a freezer essential in the summer

We want you!

Wed, 12 Jun 2013 18:29:09 -0400

We want you!:

chickpea-magazine:

Want to be a part of the fall 2013 issue of Chickpea Magazine? We need writers, cooks, artists, DIYers, and the rest of yall to make our fall version amazing. Click through above to submit, entries are taken until June 23rd. :)

Hey, work with us! We know a lot of you out there have great talent and ideas :)

chickpea-magazine: Our summer issue is out now! :) We worked...

Sat, 08 Jun 2013 13:30:35 -0400

chickpea-magazine:

Our summer issue is out now! :)

We worked hard on this and we hope you love it!

This quick little dish comes together with barely any effort and...

Wed, 15 May 2013 15:33:00 -0400

This quick little dish comes together with barely any effort and both looks and tastes great, especially in the summertime.

Ingredients

10 medium carrots, peeled and chopped into matchsticks
1 tbsp sweet mustard, or 1 tbsp mixture dijon mustard & a little sugar/maple syrup
1 tsp neutral oil (i used safflower)
3-4 drops liquid smoke (found near BBQ sauce in the grocery store)
sprinkle of sea salt
cracked pepper

Instructions

Whisk (or fork) together all ingredients except for the carrots.
Peel the carrots and cut off the ends. Chop the carrots into matchstick pieces, then stir into the mustard mixture to coat.
Enjoy as a sandwich topping, a quick snack, or a side to a bigger meal. Serve cold. Makes about 2 cups.

Spring is finally in full effect, and the farmer’s market...

Fri, 10 May 2013 14:11:00 -0400

Spring is finally in full effect, and the farmer’s market stands sure show it. There were so many great-looking pieces of produce, and I went all purple.

This warm, fresh dish would be great to eat outside, or by an open, breezy window. Full of purple cabbage, purple asparagus, red onion, red radish, and peppered with rich seitan and cashew cheese, it’s sure to fill you up before a long bike ride.

Some notes:

Color isn’t everything - if you can’t find purple asparagus, it’s no big deal. The flavor is very similar, if not the same, if you use different colors!

If you ~totally hate~ cabbage, we beg you to think again. It’s crisp and flavorful and really fills out a plate, and it’s really cheap, too! If you haven’t acclimated yourself to eating cabbage, we suggest making a cole slaw or spring rolls first to test the waters.

The cashew cheese and seitan are essential to making this meal feel full and give it a lot of deep flavor. My suggestion is to make A LOT of it in one day, then have it ready for the next week or two. It saves a lot of time and stress later, trust me! Yesterday I put the seitan on to cook, then made a few juices, pickle relish, and the cashew cheese while it was simmering - it took less than two hours for a week’s worth of food. Worth it!

.

Serves 2

Ingredients

2 tsp coconut or sesame oil
1 medium red onion, chopped into petals
1-2 cup piece of seitan, broken into bite-size pieces
2-3 tsp sesame seeds
10 stalks purple asparagus, ends snapped off
1/2 small head of purple cabbage, shredded
drizzle of soy sauce
1-2 tsp mustard
1-2 dollops cashew cheese
a few radishes, optional

Instructions

Toss the oil, onion, seitan, sesame seeds, and asparagus into a sauté pan on medium heat. Let cook down until the onion is transparent, about ten minutes. Stir every so often to prevent burning.
Whisk together the soy sauce and mustard.
Toss in the cabbage and soy mixture. Cook until the cabbage is soft but still a little crunchy, about 5-10 more minutes.
Serve warm with the cashew cheese swirled in, and if you want garnish with radish peel. Enjoy!

One of the best things that comes with warm weather is the...

Sun, 28 Apr 2013 16:14:00 -0400

One of the best things that comes with warm weather is the ability to cook with the freshest ingredients. There’s nothing better than a really juicy peach straight from the tree, or fragrant basil finally poking its leaves through the ground. (The latter finally happened for us!)

This recipe is all about paying homage to whole ingredients - there are a total of just FIVE in this, but the result is incredibly flavorful and light.

We ate this during a break in tilling our garden space; it was perfection in a bowl. The juice from the roasted corn and tomatoes is sweet and fresh, and the basil gives it just enough fragrance to keep this complex. This is also a great dish to make it look like you’ve done a ton of work, but haven’t really. (Those are my favorite.)

Serves 3-4

Instructions

Shuck two or three ears of fresh corn. Wrap them in tinfoil and toss in the oven set at 350°F. To scorch the corn, after cooking place them directly on top of your stove’s flame - I did it on the stovetop for about 5 minutes, turning them with tongs when they started to blacken. You can do the same, even easier, on a grill.
Wrap 4 large tomatoes in tinfoil. (Make sure they’re ripe, don’t get rock hard tomatoes!) Toss them in the oven with the corn.
Bake for about 45 minutes. If you have it, you can also do this on a grill. If we had one, we’d use it!
Prep the other ingredients. Open up a can of beans, then strain and rinse - we like chickpeas and black beans. Finely chop a small handful of fresh basil. Put everything in a large serving bowl.
When the tomatoes are really soft and hot, take them out and slice them open over the beans & basil. Get all of the juice out of them, then if you wish you can chop up the flesh and toss them in the bowl. (We set them aside to use tonight in a tomato soup.)
When the corn is cooked and scorched, place each ear (one at a time, obviously) in the serving bowl and, using a sharp knife and holding it at the top, slice off each side so the corn kernels come off. This takes a little practice but the flavor is so worth it!
Drizzle a little balsamic vinegar over top and stir together to coat. Serve warm and enjoy!

This gorgeous meal would work well as a weeknight dinner, or...

Wed, 17 Apr 2013 17:16:00 -0400

This gorgeous meal would work well as a weeknight dinner, or even leftovers throughout the week. The best part is that the only fresh ingredients you need are asparagus and onions, and since it’s spring, you should be grabbing them anyway! So eat up :)

Before I get to the recipe, I just thought I’d mention that there are two days left to vote for us in the Best Food Blog Awards at Saveur - we’re up for Best Original Recipes and would really appreciate your vote!

Okay, back to the good stuff. I really loved this meal because it looks like it would take forever to prep, but in reality it was prepped and cooked in less than 30 minutes. Here’s how!

Serves 4

Ingredients

flat, long pasta like linguine, pappardelle, or fettuccine, enough for 3-4 people
15-20 stalks asparagus*
1 medium red onion
1 can chickpeas (and/or 1 cup frozen peas), drained and rinsed
1 cup unsweetened almond milk (very important - don’t use sweetened!! seriously.)
2 tbsp nutritional yeast (nooch)
1 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp onion powder
salt & pepper

*Instead of chopping the asparagus, you can just rinse them clean, then bend them while holding both ends. They’ll break where they need to naturally, and you won’t have to waste time with the extra prep.

Instructions

Put on some water to boil - when it has, toss in the pasta and cook until chewy. (Not here to talk about how to cook pasta today, so I’ll assume you know how to do that!)
Chop up the onion into bite-sized pieces then toss them in a pan on medium-high heat with a bit of olive oil and fry until translucent.
Whisk (or fork) together the milk, nooch, garlic powder, and onion powder. Pour into the onion pan.
Add into the onion pan the asparagus & chickpeas, then cover and turn the heat to medium-low. Let these steam for 5-10 minutes or until the asparagus is bright green, crisp but cooked through. Sprinkle some salt & pepper on top before serving.
Serve piping hot with some of the sauce on the plate. Enjoy!

Here’s a quick, simple salad that I devoured this morning...

Mon, 15 Apr 2013 13:44:00 -0400

Here’s a quick, simple salad that I devoured this morning for breakfast. It’s got crunchy little white radishes, light soft kale, and crisp pears, and it’s great for any time of the day. Today I got to eat it outside, without having to wear a jacket or anything!

And if that weren’t enough reason to celebrate, we also found out this weekend that we’re nominated for Best Original Recipes in the Saveur Best Food Blog Awards!! We’d be honored if you voted for us, right here, and also be sure to vote for our other favorite vegan bloggers, Oh Ladycakes (for Best Special Diets blog), V.K. Rees (for Best Photography) and Thug Kitchen (for Best New Blog).

Now, onto the recipe :)

This is a really fresh, quick-to-make salad, with a total prep time of under five minutes.

Any small radish will do. I cut mine into bite-size pieces, then put them in a dish filled with a mixture of 1/2 a lemon squeezed, a little drizzle of olive oil, and about 1 tsp balsamic vinegar. I also used the radish greens in this, by slicing them thinly and chopping off the stalks.

We have this really great hydroponic kale, but you could just as easily substitute in some lettuce, spinach, or other light-leafed green. Don’t go for something overly tough here, this is meant to be effortless in both making and eating. Shred the kale (about 1-2 cups) and take the stalks out, then toss into the dish.

Finely mince some green onion until you have enough for a heaping pinch, then sprinkle on the kale & radish. Toss everything together.

Get a pear that’s not completely ripe yet, but also not rock hard. I love eating pears whole when they’re over-ripe and really juicy, but that won’t work to well here. Slice the pear into strips and place on top of everything.

Crack some pepper over the top and eat up! This salad serves one person well.

Over the winter I’ve been falling in love with sour foods....

Mon, 08 Apr 2013 13:22:44 -0400

Over the winter I’ve been falling in love with sour foods. Citrus are the easiest to identify: lemons, limes, grapefruit - but also cranberries, vinegars, and fermented and pickled foods. I’ve always eaten too much sugar and soda, so when I wanted to stop consuming (at times) 10 or 20 times the recommended amount of sugar every day, I went sour. What I found wasn’t unpleasant, as you would normally think these foods are, it was a whole new sense that I had never explored, and I’m so glad I did.

The biggest way I consumed sugar in the past was in very unnoticeable ways - too much fruit at breakfast, a soda at lunch, too much chocolate at dinner, and adding sugar to each meal I had throughout the day. Even without added sugar, fruit has a ton of sugar already in it. But fruit is the ‘best’ way to eat sugar, it’s got infinitely more vitamins and nutrients than any candy bar or packet of ‘healthy’ sugar. So I wanted to keep with it, without having to add any sugar at all.

I did it through slowly lowering the amount of sugar in each drink every day until there was nothing left. At first I drank soda. Then I drank a juiced grapefruit, a packet of sugar, and some carbonated water. Now I drink some version of this photographed drink (recipe below) most mornings. Then if I want something really sweet I’ll add an orange, pear, apple, or a couple of dates to whatever I’m eating/drinking.

Now, instead of vegan processed mayo, I add curried sauerkraut or minced sour pickles to my sandwiches. Instead of sugar & sweet garlic in my pasta sauce, I add balsamic vinegar and a little salt. This still doesn’t account for late-night chocolate binging, which I’ve done throughout my whole life, but it does remove a ton of sugar for the rest of my day, and I call that a success.

Not only does all of that make me feel better physically every day, but it also tastes great. Working in the sour foods over time especially helped me learn to love their unique and bold flavors.

This drink is something I make almost every day. To make this quick and cost-effective I buy a big bottle of unsweetened, plain cranberry juice once every month or so (Trader Joe’s has it for $5 a bottle!) and then juice a bunch of grapefruits for the week and store it in an old glass iced tea bottle.

Make sure, if you use any store-bought juice, that you get just a pure juice or juice concentrate. ‘Juice cocktails’ usually have a ton of unnecessary ingredients and added sugar. I love cranberry juice because it’s really good for you and it gives all the drinks I make a great, bright pink color. If you want something less sour but unsweetened, go for blueberry juice.

For this drink:

1 large ruby red grapefruit, juiced
2 tbsp unsweetened cranberry juice
ice
(to help you transition, try adding 1 medium orange, juiced, for more sweetness)

Juicing is really easy with the right equipment. I use a simple, large glass citrus juicer, a small funnel, and a mesh strainer. The funnel and strainer can be used for a ton of different things, including making tea.

Pour the cranberry juice into your glass. Cut the grapefruit in half and juice it. Put the funnel in your glass (if you need it) then the strainer over top. Pour the juice into the strainer and let it pour into the glass. Use a small spoon to stir the pulp around to get all the juice out. Top the drink with lots of ice and sip up!

This drink goes really well with a hot, understated dish, like cashew cheese stuffed shells or balsamic chickpeas.

In this issue of Chickpea, we also featured 5 drinks that incorporate whole lemons, ginger, cranberry, and much more, to expand your tastes. You can get it right here!

This is a warm weather classic, even a staple, here. As we gear...

Mon, 01 Apr 2013 17:56:52 -0400

This is a warm weather classic, even a staple, here. As we gear up for spring we start getting nostalgic for cookouts and long hot afternoons on the beach. This cold pasta salad will probably end up gracing your picnic tables, too.

I don’t know about your moms, but my mom made this pasta salad for every big family event any time of the year, but mostly during hot days. It’s very basic in its construction and it’s not hard to veganize, which is even better.

Serves 6

Ingredients

Fresh vegetables (1 cucumber, 1 bell pepper, 2 medium carrots, 4 plum tomatoes, 1 stalk celery, etc.)
6 cups spiral pasta
3 tbsp olive oil
1 tbsp vinegar (red wine or apple cider)
Fresh herbs, minced (dill, basil, oregano, thyme, lemon zest, etc.)
Salt
1/2 block pressed tofu & 1/4 cup crushed almonds (or just a faux block cheese)

Instructions

Cook the pasta.
While the pasta’s cooking, whisk together the olive oil, vinegar, minced herbs, and salt.
Chop up all the vegetables to your preference. (We like sliced cucumber and diced tomato but you might be the opposite!) Toss the veg into the bowl with the liquid, stirring to coat. Let this marinate while everything else gets prepped.
Break/chop the tofu into small bits and shake in a bag with the almonds and a bit more salt. The tofu should be coated.
Once the pasta’s ready, strain and rinse with cold water. Once cold, mix into the vegetables and sprinkle the tofu bits in. Chill and serve!

Has spring arrived in your town yet? We’ve been seeing a...

Fri, 29 Mar 2013 14:06:00 -0400

Has spring arrived in your town yet? We’ve been seeing a lot of sun and the temperature has slowly been rising (almost up to 40°!) and all of us are eager to eat fresh, raw foods on a daily basis. Spring rolls are the perfect food to get you feeling like warmer days are already here.

I love spring rolls, but I’ve always been too intimidated to try making them. The wrappers seem so finicky and fragile, and I already know I’m terrible at wrapping based on my burrito experience. On top of that, all of the recipes I found online seemed overly complicated for something so unassuming. After a little practice, I’ve found a great method of making them, even on a day when I don’t feel like cooking.

There are so many benefits to making spring rolls.

First off, they’re super cheap to make. Just grab a few fresh veggies, like carrots, mushrooms, broccoli, sprouts, or cucumber. Toss a small head of cabbage in your cart and you’re good. If you want to add tofu, I would suggest super-firm, high-protein tofu that doesn’t need to be drained/pressed. (You can find this at Trader Joe’s for cheap!) You can use leftover veg & tofu in your fridge, even.

The only “specialty” item you’ll need to get is the rice paper wrappers - I got mine in the international aisle of the grocery store by the “Asian” section. If you’ve ever had rice noodles, they’re basically the same thing but in a sheet. Once hydrated they’re soft and chewy but not heavy.

Other great things about these:

They’re really filling, despite the salad-like composition.
They’re easy to make for a party, like pizza or tacos or sushi. They invite customization and participation!
We rarely tout this, but they’re pretty healthy for you, too, depending on what you put in them.

So, how do you make them? This is how WE make spring rolls, but there are many ways to do it - I just found this to be the easiest way.

Prep all of your fillings. Thinly slice the harder vegetables (like carrots & cucumber), crumble the broccoli & sprouts, shred the cabbage, slice up some super-firm (high protein) tofu.
Put a wide pot or pan of water on medium-high heat - make sure it’s wider than the sheets of rice wrapper.
Lay out something non-stick on the counter to keep the wrappers from sticking & breaking. I like to use the un-used outer leaves of the cabbage, but you can also use a sushi mat or a damp cutting board.
When the water is hot, not boiling, gently place the wrapper in the water. Get it submerged fully and then immediately take it out again, transferring it to the counter.
Gently lay the wrapper flat out. It will probably stick to itself, but when it’s still wet you can carefully pull it apart. Then, like a burrito, put your fillings on, being careful not to over-fill.
Fold the top and bottom of the wrapper over the filling, then carefully roll and tighten it as you go, until the whole thing is closed. This may take some practice, but I would just suggest taking your time. If the wrapper starts tearing, you might be tightening the roll too much. (Luckily the paper packages usually come with a lot of wrappers!)

Make the rolls until you have enough for however many people you’re serving. Usually 2-3 rolls are enough for even very hungry people.

Now’s the time to mix together your dipping sauce. To me, spring rolls are made amazing by their relationship to their sauce. You can make it by whisking together 2 tbsp vegan mayo, 1 tsp sriracha, and 1/4 tsp wasabi. Another good sauce option is 1/4 cup soy sauce, 2 cloves minced garlic, 1 tsp sriracha, and some liquid smoke.

We hope you guys enjoy making spring rolls as much as we do, and enjoy them as spring finally comes back!

Want waffles available to you at any time of the week? Fire up...

Tue, 26 Feb 2013 13:22:30 -0500

Want waffles available to you at any time of the week? Fire up your waffle maker and try these guys out.

We’ve sung the praises of making food in bulk before, but this one is a necessity. There’s nothing like hot waffles & maple syrup, and to have them ready in under a few minutes is perfection.

These are soft, hearty, and a little crispy on the edges, thanks mostly to the flax seed. These are like those Eggo’s you had as a kid, but grown up. They can be put in a toaster or microwave and you could really even eat them hand-held without syrup. What about a tofu-scramble breakfast sandwich with waffle bread? The sky’s the limit.

Make sure you use a standard waffle maker here, not a thick belgian maker. We haven’t tried belgian waffles with this recipe, and I can’t vouch for how well belgian waffles work in the toaster.

Whisk together vigorously 3 tbsp ground flaxseed*, 1/2 cup water, 6 tbsp melted non-dairy butter, and 1 1/2 cups non-dairy milk. (We use unsweetened almond milk.)
In a separate bowl, mix together 1 3/4 cups flour, 1 tbsp baking powder, 1 tbsp sugar, and a pinch of salt.
Pour the wet mixture into the dry and stir until just combined. We added in a handful or two of chopped frozen blueberries** at this point.
Cook the waffles on your iron according to the machine’s specifications. We have to spray the griddle first with cooking spray, then they cook for about 10 minutes each.

*The flaxseed must be ground to make this recipe work, as the flax is used for binding, instead of using egg. We use a coffee grinder we found for cheap at a thrift shop.
**Freezing the blueberries helps them stay together while mixing/chopping and keeps the waffles from turning purple. If you like that color change, feel free to not freeze!

We quadrupled this recipe which made a huge stack that we later froze for the week’s breakfasts. One batch will make enough for 2-4 servings.

Marionberry Pancakes After watching the latest season of...

Sun, 20 Jan 2013 16:04:00 -0500

Marionberry Pancakes

After watching the latest season of Portlandia on Netflix, I really, really wanted to make some marionberry pancakes. We don’t live in Oregon, though, so I settled for some blackberry pancakes. Perfect for a late Sunday breakfast right?

I would highly suggest serving these piping hot with the warm blackberry sauce, and walnuts and cold fresh berries on the side. Add pure maple syrup if you want extra sugar. Drink some chilled peachy tea along with it. Any way we ate them, everyone in our household loved them!

Pancake ingredients:

1 cup flour
1 tbsp baking powder
a heaping pinch of salt
1 cup non dairy milk (we like almond or coconut, but soy will also work)
2 tbsp canola (or vegetable) oil
1 tbsp agave nectar (or any other sweet liquid, apple cider would be good with this recipe)
1/3 cup finely chopped walnutss
1 tsp vanilla extract

How to make the pancakes:

Mix the dry and wet ingredients separately, then mix them together in the same bowl - lumps are okay. (Don’t overmix or you’ll get really flat pancakes.) Gently fold in the walnuts.
Grease a flat pan (we use non-dairy margarine) and turn the heat to medium high. Pour on the pancake batter and let cook until bubbles start to form in the center of each pancake. Flip and let cook on the other side until golden brown. This recipe makes enough for about 10-12 pancakes.

How to make the blackberry sauce:

Toss 3 cups blackberries into a food processor or blender and blend them until they’re a consistent liquid.
Pour the blackberry sauce into a pan, and set the heat to medium. Add in the juice of half a lemon and half a grapefruit if you dig extra flavor. Also add in 2 tbsp sugar (we use turbinado sugar.)
Heat until it’s combined and warm, but not burning hot. Serve warm.

quick dinner: sticky sweet smoky maple-mustard seitan &...

Mon, 14 Jan 2013 19:00:00 -0500

quick dinner: sticky sweet smoky maple-mustard seitan & brussels

loosely chop up 1 small onion, 1 small bell pepper, 1-2 cups seitan, and mince two medium cloves of garlic. cut off the hard ends of 1-2 cups brussels sprouts, cut the sprouts in half if you have big ones. i suggest making the seitan in bulk on a sunday afternoon - it saves a ton of time over the week!
toss the ingredients in a sautee pan on high heat with 1 tbsp olive oil for about five minutes, stirring occasionally. let the veg cook down & crisp on the edges. once a bit browned, give it a couple squeezes of lemon, a dusting of garlic & onion powder, and stir in 2 tbsp maple mustard. you can either buy this mustard, usually at farms/farmer’s markets, or just mix together pure maple syrup and a tart mustard at a ratio of 1:3. WARNING - do not use yellow mustard in this, go for a milder mustard with a kick of tartness at the end, like a nice dijon.
after about 5-7 more minutes of cooking, splash on a few drops of liquid smoke and sprinkle on a heaping pinch of sea salt & freshly ground pepper. the brussels should be just a bit crunchy, but soft. stir in a heaping teaspoon of the mustard, to coat. serve hot to 1-2 people.

want to see more quick meals, behind-the-scenes, and what we eat on an everyday basis? follow along on instagram! we hope you’re having a great new year - we’ve got lots of diy posts planned (and some in the works currently) for 2013!

how do you vegans get enough protein though?

Thu, 10 Jan 2013 12:24:00 -0500

eating food, duh? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tc8TrchWeO0
(but in all seriousness, here)

Day two of our food gifting week: salted caramel...

Tue, 18 Dec 2012 14:37:00 -0500

Day two of our food gifting week: salted caramel corn!

Supplies

corn kernels
2 tsp oil
1 1/2 cup white sugar (beet sugar) or light brown sugar
3 tbsp earth balance (vegan butter)
1 tsp vanilla extract
coarse sea salt

Instructions

Cover the bottom of a medium pot with the corn kernels, then coat in the oil. Shaking every minute or so, heat the pot until all the corn is popped. (Wait until there’s a couple of seconds between pops.)
Transfer the popped corn into a big bowl. Wipe out the pot and pour in the sugar, butter, and vanilla.
Let it all heat, and do NOT touch it, don’t even stir it, until everything has combined and liquefied. If you stir it too often, sugar crystals will form and you’ll be left with a grainy sugar mixture. When it’s ready, it’ll be consistently liquid and light amber in color. The longer you leave it on the heat, the harder the caramel will be. NOTE: Don’t lick or touch the mixture, even if it’s “cooled” on the spoon - the sugar is dangerously hot.
Pour the caramel over the popcorn, folding it in as you go. Quickly sprinkle a couple of heaping pinches of sea salt over top and fold it in. The caramel will harden pretty quickly, so make sure to evenly coat the popcorn before it does! Be careful to not touch the caramel right after it comes out of the pan - it’s still really hot!

To give as a gift, break it into small chunks and package in a small paper bag, taped over with festive washi tape.

All this week we’ll be coming up with easy food gifts that...

Mon, 17 Dec 2012 15:09:00 -0500

All this week we’ll be coming up with easy food gifts that you don’t have to make with your oven. The first one up is this super simple peppermint chocolate bark. Click through to read how to put it all together!

As always, check labels (or company websites) to make sure the ingredients you use are vegan.

Bark Supplies

a 24 oz. bag of semi-sweet chocolate chips
1 tsp mint extract
4-5 candy canes
parchment or wax paper

Bark Instructions

Line a rimmed flat baking sheet with the parchment/wax paper.
In a double boiler (or, if you’re unequipped like me, a small pot inside a large pot filled 1/4 with water) melt your bag of chocolate chips with the mint extract, until it’s consistently smooth and creamy. Be careful to stir slowly - if you do it too fast the chocolate will seize up and become hard. (Not that I’ve ever done that or anything….)
Meanwhile, crush the candy canes with a hammer or in a food processor/blender.
When the chocolate’s melted, pour it into the baking sheet. Spread it out carefully until the whole pan is filled. Sprinkle the top with the crushed candy cane. If you want to keep the top very flat, lay another piece of parchment/wax paper on top and roll it with a rolling pin.
Freeze for a few hours, at least one hour.

How I packaged these bark pieces:

Break the bark into small pieces.
Wrap in tissue paper, then tie it up with twine.
Get some small gift boxes - I got mine from a craft store in the baking aisle. Before assembling, write your message on the box - I carved “to” and “from” stamps myself, but you could just as easily draw/write it out.
Put the bark in the box, then tape it shut with some washi or decorative tape.

Make sure to keep the bark in the freezer until you plan to give it away. Hope you like this little project, and find it easy enough to make! :)

the winter issue of chickpea is finally done! preview it online...

Mon, 10 Dec 2012 03:04:41 -0500

the winter issue of chickpea is finally done! preview it online here or support us and order a print copy (or subscription). we hope you like it as much as we like the almond cookies we got to make from it :)