Granola like

The hubby loves cereal (mainly Nature’s Path Optimum Power) and soymilk in the morning, afternoon, late at night, and whenever he feels like eating something. He doesn’t really miss it when we go weeks without buying any but when it’s there he’ll go thru a box in two days (maybe three). I tried buying in bulk, but it still doesn’t feel like much of a deal. The cheapest organic cereals are plain puffed grains of some sort. I prefer granola, but most of the granola I see at the stores aren’t organic and they are still expensive. A one pound bag of organic rolled oats is moderate in price. To make a bowl of oatmeal you would use less than you would normally consume in a bowl of granola.

So here’s my attempt in trying to solve my cereal dilemma, involving some cheap organic puffed brown rice and organic rolled oats. However, with the added costs of nuts, fruits and other extras, I don’t think I can conclusively calculate it as a real savings. But it’s tasty and makes use of my new glass container.

Granola cereal with almonds, coconut, and raisins

• 2 1/2 – 3 cups rolled oats (I eyeballed it)
• 2 cups puffed rice or kamut
• 1 cup slivered almonds
• 2/3 cup flaked coconut
• 2/3 cup raisins
• 1/4 cup golden syrup or maple syrup/rice bran syrup (more or less according to your taste)
• 1 tsp molasses (optional)
• 1 tbsp of oil or more if needed

Makes about 2 1/2 quarts (roughly)

Preheat oven to 350º. Coat large mixing bowl with the oil. Mix everything except the raisins together in the bowl with the liquids. Pour and spread evenly onto a parchment lined sheet pan. Bake for 20mins (or till golden brown), stirring it half way thru. When cooled mix in raisins, and store in an airtight container if you intend to keep for long. The non-airtight container is ok for a day or two (which is exactly how long it’s gonna last here).

Will be making more soon, but I ran out of raisins, and walnuts might be cheaper.

-L

Martha Stewart’s Cookies

Brandy Snaps curled on a whisk handle.

This past week I’ve been too busy to post (photo edit and write) but I was cooking and baking. I had brought ‘Martha Stewart’s Cookies’ as a gift, but after flipping thru it I decided it’s a keeper. The book breaks down into categories of texture and recipes range from super simple to somewhat advance. Forgive me for not writing out the recipes, it’s too much typing for my liking and I secretly fear Martha would disapprove (legally). The book is huge and it’s 34% off on amazon.com.

Brandy snaps don’t contain any brandy, and also doesn’t contain any eggs. Uses golden syrup and can be made completely vegan.

Cat tongues taste like they are far harder to make than actually is. (I skipped the sifting part, don’t tell Martha.)

Double Chocolate Coconut Cookies, with coconut, walnuts and white chocolate. I didn’t use enough white chocolate or walnuts but it still turned out great.

 

 -Lina

Lemon ginger madeleines

These are my first batch of full sized madeleines. Even though it’s easier to grease and fill (the full sized pans), I think I prefer the minis; they are cuter, easier to eat, and you get more surface area per batch.

This recipe uses the ‘red bean and green tea madeleines’ base with different flavoring. I had only used 1 teaspoon of fresh grated ginger, and the ginger flavor wasn’t strong enough to stand up to the lemon zest. So I think 1 tablespoon of grated ginger would bring it up to the level of the lemon zest. Maybe I should also employ some dry ginger. But then again I still want the lemon at the forefront and ginger as a secondary note.

Lemon Ginger Madeleines

• 1/3 cup organic shortening or butter
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 2 eggs
• 3/4 cup almond flour/meal
• 3/4 flour
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1 tbsp grated fresh ginger (or 1 tsp dry ginger)
• zest of 1 large lemon
• pinch of salt

Cream together sugar and shortening, then incorporate one egg at a time. Mix till completely blended. Add in almond flour, lemon zest, ginger and mix thoroughly. Then add flour and baking powder, mix briefly till smooth. Preheat oven to 350º. Grease pans with shortening or butter. Try to under fill the molds, and you can get make 2 batches of the full sized pans or about 3 batches of minis. Bake for 18-20min (for full sized pans, 13-15 for minis) when the edges just turn golden brown. Cool for 5min before popping them out.

 -Lina

Chocolate madeleines

I had bought some dark chocolate bars that I didn’t like very much. They were too strong at 75% cocoa without any vanilla and scant sugar in it. So I melted them down with some almond milk, sugar, and vanilla into a ganache-like consistency. I was keeping it in the fridge for a while (wasn’t sure what I wanted to do with it). Then I got my mini-madeleine pan just when I ran out of eggs. But I went ahead and made madeleines anyway. So they are vegan now.

Vegan Chocolate (mini) Madeleines

• 11 oz dark chocolate (approximately)
• 1/2 cup almond milk or soy milk
• 1/3-1/2 cup sugar (depending on the sweetness of the chocolate and liquid)
• 1 tbsp vanilla extract
• 1/2 cup flour

Heat liquid and dissolve sugar. Break chocolate into small chucks and melt in liquid over very low heat. Add vanilla, once incorporated, let cool till lukewarm or room temp before stirring in flour.

Preheat oven to 350º. Spray madeleine pan with oil, optional but they will probably come out easier (I didn’t spray my pans and there was minimal sticking). I tried not to over fill the molds. Bake for 15-17 minutes. This made exactly four batches with my mini madeleine pan (I only have one pan that makes 24 at a time).

I found out that I didn’t have to clean out the pan after each batch. Let it cool for 5min, and pop them out. Just refill pan when it’s cooled to the touch even if there’s a crumb layer stuck on. It pops out about the same each time. They have a fudgy brownie texture. After 15min of baking they are very moist, another minute or two will dry them more and give them a crispier edge.

 -L

also check out red bean and green tea madeleines 

mini baked donuts

This recipe is courtesy of veganyumyum. I tweaked things as always, but my brother showed me this recipe the other day and asked if I would help him make it, and I said yes, of course. Here’s a story though. We went to two grocery stores and a target before we finally found some silicone bundt cake things. We almost gave up on this, but luckily we found some that we could use for the donut shape.

Mini Baked Donuts :

Dry Ingredients:

• 1 c. all purpose flour
• 1/2 c. sugar
• 1.5 tsp. baking powder
• 1/4 tsp. salt
• 1/4 tsp. ground nutmeg
• pinch of ground cinnamon

Wet Ingredients:

• 1 /2 c. soymilk (we used a vanilla light soymilk)
• 1/2 tsp. apple cider vinegar
• 1/2 tsp. pure vanilla extract
• 1/4 c. egg beaters (or any other egg substitute) or 1 egg, whichever you prefer
• 4 tbs. butter (or earth balance, which is some organic butter substitute)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a large bowl, mix all the dry ingredients together and set aside. In a small sauce pan, place butter, milk, vinegar and vanilla and heat on low to med heat until butter is halfway melted. THEN, bring heat to low and add egg. I suggest adding the egg last. See, I had to throw away my first batch because I put the heat too high and the egg started to cook. It looked like scrambled eggs.  The mixture should be warm enough to touch, but not hot or else it’ll be too hot for the dough. Be sure to continously mix the wet ingredients while butter is melting. Once butter is melted, take wet mixture and slowly add to bowl of dry ingredients and mix together until you get a soft dough. I think our dough was a little softer and not as clumpy looking, but it still turned out well. Fill bundt pans about 1/2 way. Bake in oven for 15-20 minutes. Use toothpick test to make sure they’re done.

Before glazing and adding all sorts of toppings, allow donuts to completely cool. To make chocolate glaze, get one bag of milk chocolate choco chips and melt in a double boiler. To make a sugar glaze, use 1/2 c. confectioners sugar and mix with 1.5 tsp. soymilk. Whisk together and you should have a nice glaze for your donuts. Add any toppings you like and enjoy.

We tried not to eat them all tonight, but failed miserably. They’re all gone now. Also, the other recipe says it yields 20 mini donuts, but we barely managed to get 10, so I’m thinking it all has to do with the pan used. See, I can make semi healthy things too! hahaha ^__^ Till next time!

P.S. These were REALLY good. I’m so not the healthy one on this blog, but the nutmeg and cinnamon add great flavor and the texture of the donut was just so melt in your mouth yums.

–Chelle

Chocolate memories

I won’t be receiving my Valentine’s chocolate till this weekend, so I decided to make a little something to hold me over. This is the first time I’ve made this since I was a Girl Scout, oh the memories. My Girl Scout leader would buy solid chocolate bunnies during the post-Easter sale. Then we would melt them and pour over mini marshmallows, nuts, and coconut; rolled in plastic wrap, cool till solid then sliced up to share. I basically followed the same principles but with dark chocolate and vegan marshmallows.

Marshmallow Chocolate Bar

• 7oz of chocolate (dark or milk)
• 3/4 cup of mini marshmallows or cut up larger marshmallows
• 1/3 cup of toasted slivered almonds (or any nuts you have, chopped)
• 1/4 cup unsweetened shredded coconut (optional)

Melt your chocolate, either by stove or microwave. To toast up your nuts (if they aren’t toasted), heat up a dry pan on medium high for a minute or two, add in nuts, gently stir for a 2mins or when they start to turn brown. Pour out the nuts and then toast your coconut in hot pan for a minute, stirring, till you start to smell it (doesn’t have to turn colors). Mix everything together, and then add chocolate. Place piece of plastic wrap in a bowl (or large butter dish, would work better) you may need to divide into two logs, spread out mixture along the length of the wrap. Carefully pinch the ends of the plastic wrap, folding over itself and forming a log (might not really be log shaped), twisting the end close, leave in bowl or container and cool in fridge or freezer till solid.

 

Crepes to go

Cecel Cafe Crepe, 135 1st Ave (btw 9th ST and St. Mark’s Pl), is a cute little place with only a bench and a small counter for eating in. It’s open late (midnight) all week, and till 2am Fridays and Saturdays. The kitchen is right behind the register, wide open so you can see them make and fill each crepe with meticulous precision. The menu has variety of sweet and savory crepes with familiar fruit and dessert flavors and Japanese twists including red beans in sweet combinations, tofu and hijiki (seaweed) for savory creations. The crepes themselves only took a minute or so to cook on the grill, and then they take their time trying to perfectly replicate the filling from the photos on the menu before rolling it all up.

 

I ordered a small Double Mango; fresh mango, sponge cake, mango sauce and thick tasty pastry cream. I love the filling and the soft crepe; but I think I could do without the sponge cake getting in the way of my mango and cream. The hubby ordered a Banana Strawberry minus the custard and chocolate sauce (went with a caramel sauce instead) then proceeded to finish it without offering me any.

We were a bit surprised to see the guy actually slicing and skinning fruit per order, wasn’t pre-cut in containers. It was nearly 10pm and there were only two other customers we saw going in. Makes me wonder what the place looks like during peak hours.

 -L