Tag: vegetarian

Recipes, Uncategorized

Pumpkin Donut Holes

veganlivingbydanielle

Happy Fall! Around this time of year, I love apple picking, pumpkin patches, haunted houses…the usual festivities, but I miss those dang fall donuts! It occurred to me, I need to veganize a pumpkin donut recipe! They were so much easier than I expect for making donuts too!

Below, I have shared the ingredients and directions and then some useful tips that I found while cooking below that (substitutions, brand recommendations, etc.)

Ingredients:

Donuts:

  • 1 Tbsp flax meal1
  • 3 Tbsp water
  • 1 3/4 cup sifted flour
  • 2 tsp baking powder
  • 1/2 tsp salt
  • 1 tsp pumpkin spice2
  • 1/2 tsp nutmeg
  • 3/4 cup pumpkin puree (not pie filling)
  • 1/2 cup brown sugar3
  • 1/3 cup vegetable oil
  • 1 tsp vanilla
  • 1/2 cup any non-dairy milk

Topping:

  • 1 stick unsalted vegan butter4
  • 2/3 cup granulated sugar
  • 1 Tbsp cinnamon

Directions:

  1. Preheat your oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Make sure the rack is centered.
  2. Generously grease a 24-cup mini muffin tin or a donut tin with nonstick spray or some vegetable oil with a paper towel.
  3. In a small bowl, whisk together 1 Tbsp flax meal with 3 Tbsp water and let it sit for at least 3 minutes. This allows the mixture to become gelatinous, egg-like.
  4. Sift5 flour into medium mixing bowl. Mix in baking powder, salt, nutmeg and pumpkin pie spice.
  5. Put the pumpkin puree in a separate large mixing bowl and mix in brown sugar. Make sure this bowl is bigger because you’re going to mix the dry ingredients into this bowl!
  6. Mix in the vegetable oil, vanilla extract, and add the flax egg. Pour in milk, and mix until smooth.
  7. Add the dry ingredients to the bowl with the wet ingredients and stir until the dry mixture is completely mixed in, no clumps. Be careful not to overmix the batter.
  8. Scoop the batter into your tin, about ¾ full each. Bake at 350 degrees. About 10-12 minutes for the donut holes, or until a toothpick comes out clean.6 Bake the 4-inch donuts for about 15-20 minutes.
  9. While the donuts are baking, melt the butter in a bowl in the microwave (about 1 minute). Allow the butter to cool before dipping the donuts in the butter. Also, mix the sugar and cinnamon together and pour part of the mixture on a plate or leave in the bowl to get ready to roll the donuts. Last thing before the donuts come out, set up a baking sheet or plate with parchment paper to set the donuts on after coating in sugar.
  10. Remove the donuts from the oven and allow to cool just enough to handle.7
  11. Dip the donut holes in the melted butter or brush the butter on with a basting brush, and roll to coat in cinnamon sugar.
  12. Serve warm if possible. Fall donuts are better warm!8 Enjoy!

Makes about 36 donut holes or about 1 dozen 4-inch donuts

Tips!

  1. Flax meal works best, but flax seed also works! You can also throw flax seed in a blender, bullet, or food processor to get flax meal.
  2. Pumpkin spice sure makes the recipe easier, but if you don’t have pumpkin spice, you can substitute 1/4 tsp of each of the following: cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, and cloves/allspice.
  3. Don’t have brown sugar? In a separate bowl, thoroughly mix 1/2 cup white sugar with 1/2 Tbsp of maple syrup or molasses.
  4. You can buy sticks of butter that are vegan brands like earth balance, but brands like Country Crock and I Can’t Believe It’s Not Butter have vegan butter as well. A quick hack with these brands that aren’t fully vegan, look at the ingredients list to see if it says at the bottom of the list “Contains: Milk.” If it does not say contains milk, you should be good! Milk is an allergen and by law must be clearly labeled.
  5. If you don’t have a sifter, you can use a spaghetti strainer or similar to sift. I have a metal spaghetti strainer that I use when a recipe calls for sifted flour.
  6. If your last batch of donuts does not fill the whole muffin tin, before popping them in the oven, fill the empty spots up about 1/4 of the way with water to ensure even baking of the batter.
  7. After removing the donuts from the oven, I took them out of the tin as soon as I could so they would cool faster and so I didn’t burn my fingers on the pan. I just dumped them out on a clean cookie sheet, but you can also use a spoon to scoop them out onto a plate or pan.
  8. If you have leftover donuts, place the donuts on top of a paper towel in a container put them in the fridge overnight. Try to make sure the donuts aren’t touching if you can.

Recipes, Uncategorized

Meatless Melt

veganlivingbydanielle

I’ve been loving making grilled cheeze lately. However, I’ve been following low carb macros lately for summer prep – as long as summer isn’t cancelled this year! I was wondering how I can add more protein to the meal and thought about the plant based deli slices from Lightlife! Perfect.

 

Sammie 2 | Meatless Melt

This is less of a “recipe” and more of an idea and steps to “create” the sandwich.

I used Lightlife “turkey” deli slices, Dave’s Killer Bread (low-carb), Violife Cheddar Cheeze, and Earth Balance butter. You can use mix up the cheeze flavor and the type of plant based deli slices to add some variety. Most bread is vegan. You can use apps like these to double check. Usually dairy and eggs have to be listed as allergens at the bottom of the ingredients list like “Contains: Milk.” You can also look for margarine this same way.

Ingredients for the sandwich

Ingredients:

  • 2 slices of bread
  • 2 slices of cheeze (more or less slices depending on your preference)
  • 4 slices of plant-based deli slices (more or less slices depending on your preference)
  • 2 Tbsp vegan butter
  • mustard, optional
  • vegan mayo, optional
  • sliced tomato, optional

Directions:

  1. Take out a small frying pan and put it on the stove over med-low heat.
  2. Take out 2 slices of bread.
  3. Butter one side of each slice of bread.Buttered Bread | Meatless Melt
  4. Once the pan is warm, put one of the slices of bread, butter side down, on the pan.
  5. Layer the cheeze and deli slices on the bread in the pan. Use as many slices of deli slices and cheeze as desired. I layered 1 cheeze, 2 deli slices, 1 cheeze, 2 deli slices. Layers | Meatless Melt
  6. Add any additional toppings here! I topped with mustard, I would have added vegan mayo if I had it too. Adding a slice of tomato here would also be very yummy!
  7. Place the last slice of bread on top, butter side up.
  8. Let it cook for about 3 minutes and then flip.
  9. Keep cooking and flipping until both sides of the sandwich are golden brown and crispy.
  10. Remove from the pan and cut the sandwich in half, if desired.
  11. Let cool for 1-2 minutes before eating.

Enjoy!

Serving suggestion: with a warm cup of tomato soup! Campbell’s original tomato soup is vegan, just cook it with water or unsweetened original non-dairy milk.

Macros: 38g carbs, 15.5g fat, 20g protein

Layered | Meatless Melt

Recipes, Uncategorized

Tofu Scramble

veganlivingbydanielle

I’ve been loving tofu scramble! I call it tofu scrambie for fun. So good for breakfast and one container of tofu lasts me for about 2-3 breakfasts.

That Tofu Thing

I bought myself a tofu press for Christmas and it’s amazing! I used to squeeze the water out and soak the excess water with paper towels. Very wasteful, but it works…The tofu press squeezes the water out all the way which makes it cook more evenly. It really helps if you grill or fry it up. For this recipe, you don’t have to go too crazy getting the excess liquid out, it just takes a bit longer to cook thoroughly.

Gather spices: turmeric for color, salt or egg salt/black salt, and pepper.

Spices

Plate

Directions:

  1. Drain tofu of liquid and squeeze as dry as possible.
  2. Cut the tofu into cubes.Tofu
  3. Warm frying pan on the stove over medium heat.
  4. Add oil to the pan.
  5. Saute veggies if desired. Some of my favorites are onion, broccoli, mushrooms.
  6. Once warmed, add the tofu to the pan and mash with spoon.

  7. Add a small dash of turmeric for color and mix until all tofu is yellow.
  8. Add a few tablespoons of unsweetened , plain soy milk to keep the tofu from getting too dry.
  9. Add a dash of garlic if desired.
  10. If you have black salt/egg salt, you can use in place of the salt. I recommend about 1/8 to 1/4 tsp and mix.
  11. Add salt and pepper to taste either while it’s still in the pan, or upon serving.
  12. Dress them up like you would scrambled eggs!

Enjoy!!

Recipes, Uncategorized

Chik’n Parm

veganlivingbydanielle

Dress up your Wheat “Meat” recipe and make a chik’n parm dinner!

It’s super simple and very similar to cooking up chicken or eggplant parm, if you’ve ever done that.

You’ll need flax egg, vegan bread crumbs, frying oil, flour (optional), and sprigs of basil (optional for garnish).

Make a flax egg:

  • In a mixing bowl, whisk 1/4 cup flax seed meal with 3/4 cup water.
  • Let stand for 5 minutes for the mixture to become gelatinous.

Prep bread crumbs:

  1. I use 1-2 cups of vegan Italian bread crumbs. I like these bread crumbs from Whole Foods because they’re vegan and already seasoned.
  2. Whatever bread crumbs you use, you can add a bit of flour to the bread crumbs to make them stretch further and last longer.
  3. You can also search through your grocery store’s panko or plain bread crumbs and check the ingredients list that they are free of egg and dairy.
    • You can add Italian seasoning to the plain bread crumbs, 1 tsp Italian seasoning per cup.
    • If you don’t have Italian seasoning, you can use 1/4 tsp of oregano, 1/4 tsp of basil, 1/4 tsp of onion powder, 1/4 tsp of garlic powder.
  4. Put the bread crumbs, whichever option you choose, on a plate.

Directions:

  1. Take one slightly cooled piece of Wheat “Meat” and dunk it in the flax egg until it’s evenly coated on both sides.
  2. Take the piece that’s coated in the flax egg and cover in the bread crumbs on both sides.
  3. Put the coated piece on a clean plate.
  4. Repeat until all pieces are coated in flax egg and bread crumbs.
  5. Set frying pan on medium-high heat and add frying oil.
  6. When the pan is warm, put the Wheat “Meat” pieces in the pan.
  7. Cook until one side of the piece is golden brown and flip to cook on the other side. Add more oil if needed.
  8. Cook until golden brown on both sides.
  9. Remove from pan.
  10. Top with warmed red pasta sauce and vegan cheese if desired. I prefer Violife mozzarella and parmesan.
  11. If you are using “meat” that is completely cooled, I recommend baking for 15-20 minutes. You can also bake for 5-10 minutes to melt the cheese.
  12. Top with a sprig of basil for garnish.

Enjoy!

CH

 

 

Recipes, Uncategorized

Wheat “Meat”

veganlivingbydanielle

My friend and chef, Steve, was kind enough to share this recipe with me and let me share it on my blog here! Thanks Steve! I made some very slight adjustments to the recipe he gave me as he works at ION Restaurant (in Middletown, CT, USA) and designed his recipe to serve the masses!

For this recipe, you need:

  • KitchenAid mixer or something similar with a dough hook (you can also combine by hand in a bowl and knead it if you don’t have a dough hook with a mixer)
  • medium to large saucepan
  • cooking tongs or skimmer
  • rolling pin (I used a cup or my hands before I had a rolling pin, you can improvise!)
  • parchment paper or dough mat
Dough Hook

This recipe is protein rich (20g of protein per 50g wheat “meat” serving, 7g carbs and 6g fat). The first way I made it was as chik’n parm! You could also marinade with vegan BBQ sauce (most are vegan if they don’t have honey) and grill it up! I will expand on directions for prepping the Wheat “Meat” in future posts. I posted the finished product because it’s not very pretty before it’s prepped.

Meal Prep Tips: Freeze unused cutlets either individually or separated into meal-sized portions for the meals you intend to use them for. (The cutlets freeze together and are nearly impossible to separate without breaking or defrosting and you want to avoid refreezing after thawing.) Cool the cutlets you intend to freeze on a baker’s rack or something similar so they cool completely and don’t carry extra moisture/broth. You can package the cutlets individually or in a large freezer safe Tupperware separated by parchment paper. 

High Protein Meal Prep Tips: Double the recipe if you can so you get more out of your time spent on this recipe. Also, consider increasing your portion size to 75g cutlets and the protein becomes 28g per serving (10g carbs and 10g fat). Use a scale to measure your serving size, especially if you track your protein intake.

Prep time: 30-45 minutes; Cook time: 45 minutes

Dough Ingredients:

  • 1 cup vital wheat gluten flour
  • 2/3 cup vegetable broth
  • 2 Tbsp sesame tahini or smooth peanut butter
  • 2 Tbsp soy sauce
  • 1 1/2 Tbsp nutritional yeast
  • 1 tsp onion powder
  • 1 tsp salt

Broth Ingredients:

  • 1 tsp seasoned salt
  • 1/2 tsp cayenne pepper
  • 1/2 tsp chili powder

Directions:

  1. Combine dough ingredients in the bowl of the mixer.
  2. Mix on speed 2 with dough hook attachment for about 5 minutes or until dough has formed into a ball. Stop the mixer and scrape the sides of the bowl as needed. If you don’t have a mixer, knead by hand until all the dough is mixed thoroughly. A wooden spoon may be useful for this as well. Don’t over knead the dough or it’s harder for the “cutlets” to stay in shape when you’re forming and cooking!
  3. Once the dough is well mixed, shape into smaller pieces.
  4. On a dough mat or parchment paper, roll the pieces out to about 1/2 – 1 inch thickness.
  5. Put water on the stove in the pot on high. Add broth ingredients to the water. Bring water to a boil.
  6. Place the “meat” pieces into the boiling water using the tongs or skimmer. Boil for at least 40-45 minutes. The “meat” will start to flake apart slightly. You can tell if it’s cooked all the way by cutting into it. The middle section looks thicker/ there’s no texture or air bubbles, if it’s not fully cooked. The texture should be consistent throughout.
  7. Remove the “meat” pieces from the water.
  8. Allow them to cool slightly and prep as desired.

Enjoy!