Recipe: Twice Baked Potatoes with Chao Cheese from Field Roast

We're total fans of the new Chao non-dairy cheeses from Field Roast.

We've had some great sandwiches already but last night took it up a bit by adding them to Twice Baked Potatoes.

Ingredients:
2 very large russet potatoes, scrubbed, baked, and cooled
¼ cup unsweetened dairy-free milk alternative, plus more as needed
1 tablespoon Earth balance spread
1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
1/2 cup of minced onion (red or sweet)
⅛ teaspoon sea salt or Himalayan pink salt, plus more as needed
¼ teaspoon smoked paprika
 Freshly ground pepper, to taste

 Prep:
Take cooled potatoes and slice off the top to make a canoe shape. Scoop out the insides and combine in a bowl with the other ingredients. Use this to fill the hollowed out potatoes, cover lightly with foil.
Bake at 375 for 20 min on a baking sheet.

Add slice of Chao on each potato and put under broiler until bubbly but not burnt.

Friends Don't Let Friends: Not Celebrate St. Patrick's Day

Over the past several weeks, the husband and I have been getting together at another couple's house, along with another couple and all our dogs(!!!), for Sunday night dinner, games and The Walking Dead.

Yesterday, being St. Patrick's day, we decided to get all festive and do a full Irish dinner... veganized of course!

Everyone in the group cooks so we've had some great meals - enchiladas, tacos, lasagna, many many varieties of homemade pizza, chili, and more. Last night we had a corned beef-style seitan (made from scratch), colcannon made with kale, red cabbage and apples and Irish soda bread. Everything was amazing!

 I've also used these dinners to bring back what I call "Sunday Night Test Kitchen". I try to make a new recipe each time and we've had tiramisu, chocolate cheesecake, coconut cake and, of course, cupcakes.

Last night's dessert, to be festive, were Chocolate Stout Cupcakes with Irish Whiskey Buttercream Frosting, modified from Chef Chloe's new book.

Ingredients

Chocolate Beer Cupcakes

• 1 ½ cups all-purpose flour (or gluten-free all-purpose flour plus ¾ teaspoon xanthan gum)
• 1 cup packed brown sugar
• 1/3 cup cocoa powder
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• ½ teaspoon salt
• 1 cup stout beer (I used Guinness Extra Stout, which is vegan)
• ½ cup canola oil
• 2 tablespoons white or apple cider vinegar (I used white)
• 1 tablespoon pure vanilla extract

Irish Whiskey Buttercream (note, I made my regular frosting and did not add milk)

• 1 cup non-hydrogenated shortening (I use Spectrum Organics)
• 3 cups powdered sugar
• 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• 2 to 5 tablespoons soy, almond, or rice milk
• 3 to 4 teaspoons Irish whiskey

Caramel

• 1 cup packed brown sugar
• ¼ cup vegan margarine
• 4 teaspoons soy, almond, or rice milk

I opted to ditch the caramel and instead do a festive green ombre frosting with green jimmies.

Here's the process:

Procedure

To make the Chocolate Beer Cupcakes

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Line 2 (12-cup) cupcake pans with 14 cupcake liners. Note, I got 16 cupcakes out of this recipe. 

In a large bowl, whisk together flour, brown sugar, cocoa, baking soda, and salt. In a separate bowl, whisk together stout, oil, vinegar, and vanilla. Pour the wet mixture into the dry mixture and whisk until just combined. Do not over mix.

Fill the cupcake liners about two-thirds full with batter. Bake for 16 to 18 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center of the cupcake comes out clean with a few crumbs clinging to it. Cool the cupcakes completely before frosting.

To make the Irish Whiskey Buttercream

Using a handheld or stand mixer, beat the shortening until smooth. With the mixer running on low, add powdered sugar, vanilla, and 1 tablespoon nondairy milk at a time, as needed, until frosting reaches a spreadable consistency. You may not need to use all of the nondairy milk. Add whiskey, 1 teaspoon at a time, until desired taste. Beat on high for 2 more minutes until light and fluffy.

To make the Caramel

In a small saucepan, over medium heat, heat brown sugar, margarine, and nondairy milk, stirring frequently.  Once mixture comes together, increase heat to medium-high and let cook for one to two more minutes, until it begins to boil and the bubbles move into the center of the caramel. Remove from heat.

To assemble the cupcakes: Frost cooled cupcakes with buttercream and dust with cocoa powder. Drizzle warm caramel over cupcakes using a fork or a squeeze tube. Caramel will be easier to work with while warm.

If you want the ombre frosting, I use gel food coloring and then paint 4 stripes of it in my piping bag before putting in the frosting.  When it comes out, it's swirled!

I hope you enjoyed some craic and... 

Lá Fhéile Pádraig Sona Daoibh

VeganMoFo: Dinner and Breakfast in a Snap

I've been kind of slack about keeping up with my Vegan Month of Food posts, but here are two quick meal ideas that are perfect for when you want something comforting. 

Hopefully you are making stock, so when you want some good warming soup, you can defrost a few containers, saute up some veggies and throw in the pasta.  Here I diced up carrots, onions, leeks and tomatoes.  I then cooked them until soft in a bit of oil, salt and pepper, as well as a bit of Braggs.  I then added enough stock to cover the veggies well (make it as soupy or chunky as you like, you can always add some water) and about a cup of pasta.  Cook until the pasta is soft and you are done.

Breakfast can be a pain too. Of course, I love cereal, but on the weekends, I like a hot breakfast.  We always have oatmeal in the house so that's easy to whip up, but I ran out of my favorite topping of chopped dates.  So I added a more seasonal ingredient - apples and walnuts!

I sauteed the chopped and peeled apples and chopped walnuts in a bit of EarthBalance, ground cinnamon, brown sugar and maple syrup until the apples are soft.  Add the hot apple and sugar mixture to your cooked oatmeal and you have a delicious warm and filling breakfast.  Plus you can make extra and microwave individual portions for a fast breakfast.  Don't buy instant!

There you go!

This recipe is a part of:

Friends Don't Let Friends: Stress Over Dinner for Guests

I think at some point and time, we realize that we have to invite people over for dinner.  Maybe for a slightly fancier dinner than just grabbing a pizza or layout out some chips and salsa.  We want to impress but we don't want to stress ourselves out so much that we miss out on the whole point of having our friends over... we want to enjoy their company.

I'm going to let you in on my favorite "company" dinner. Risotto.

Risotto is the perfect meal for when you are having guests over.  You can easily make a large batch.  It's easy to make and you can flavor it in a number of different ways.  You can prepare it bit ahead and keep it warm on the stove.  And by pairing it up with a steamed or grilled vegetable and maybe a salad, you have a beautifully presented meal.

Risotto even sounds a bit fussy and fancy but, here's a secret... it's just rice!  Okay, it's really creamy tasting and amazing rice but it's not very complicated and you can't really mess it up.  Plus it can be very inexpensive to make, which let's you have friends over more often.  

Depending on how many people you are planning to have over and what you are pairing with it, this recipe will easily serve 4 - 6 dinner portions. 

What you need is Risotto rice, a medium yellow onion, stock (homemade!!!), about 2 Tbls of olive oil, white wine and salt and pepper.  You can add any combination of other ingredients such as saffron, mushrooms, peas, asparagus whatever you want, really.

Risotto takes a bit of time but it's not complicated.  The slow cooking and slow additions of the broth are what creates the creamy texture with almost zero fat.  You don't need to add anything such as butter or cheese to accomplish the richness that risotto is known for.

Begin by chopping the onion into small, not quite minced pieces.   In a wide and deep pan, saute this in the olive oil about 7 minutes until the onions are soft.  Add 2 Cups of the risotto rice to the pan and cook that until the rice is a bit translucent with a white dot in the center, about another 5 or so minutes.  Add a 1/2 Cup of white wine to the rice and the onions and let it absorb into the rice.

While your onions are cooking have the stock warming over low heat in another pot.  I like to have about 8 cups on hand. You are going to be adding the stock to the rice about a 1/2 cup (or a good ladle-ful) at a time, slowing letting the rice absorb the liquid each time before adding more.  Stir the rice a bit after each addition and make sure to scrape along the bottom of the pan.

Once the rice has absorbed all of the stock and is completely soft, usually this takes about 30 - 40 minutes, add in any additions.  If you are adding in mushrooms or a vegetable I would recommend cooking them separately and stirring them into the cooked risotto.

And that's it!  Plate and serve.  Here is our dinner from the other night - risotto and steamed broccoli.

And here is a fancy dinner out - mushroom risotto served with grilled asparagus.

Even if you are not having people over, make the same amount. Risotto stores well and is even better the next day.   You can reheat it or you can even form the chilled risotto into small discs and fry them to serve on the top of or on the side of some tender raw or cooked greens.

Enjoy!

Friends Don't Let Friends: Eat Canned Soup

Canned soup, while handy, is loaded with salt and other yucky stuff. There are some fresher options but still they aren't as good as homemade. And please... don't eat those horrible packages of ramen noodles.

Here are two easy soup recipes that don't take too much time to make, are easy to freeze in individual portions and can then be reheated when you need an easy lunch or dinner. The hubby would like to say that reheating is as easy as popping it in the microwave or in a pan over medium-low heat to defrost while you are relaxing with a beer or glass of wine watching tv.

Tomato-Basil Soup

10-12 medium sized roma tomatoes

1 medium onion sliced

1 large bunch of basil or two small containers

Oregano

Salt/pepper

Chili flake

2 cloves of garlic

4c of veggie broth

2c of water

2-3tbsp olive oil (not extra virgin, if you don’t have regular then use canola)

Preparation:

I don’t mind the skins, but if you don’t know the source of your tomatoes you should remove their skin. So start by getting a pot of water boiling, then put in the tomatoes, and be sure to cut off the stem end. Leave them in there for about 1-3 minutes. If you are going to skin them, take them out and drop them in ice water, the skins should come off easy. Otherwise just drain them, remove from pot and set aside.

Add oil to pot, then sauté the onion for about 10 min or so, and then add the tomatoes. Let them sauté for 10 min or so, mashing them when you can, then add the broth, water, spices (not the basil yet). Get it to a boil then reduce the heat to simmer for about an hour. Stir about every 15 minutes or so. Then add the chopped basil. Leave it on the heat for about 20 min or so. I then use a stick blender to puree the soup, which is how I like it. You could let it cool, and then put it in a blender. After that you can eat it, freeze it for later.



Potato-Leek Soup

6 medium potatoes, chopped, peeled

3 medium leeks or 2 large leeks

1 2inch piece of ginger

Fresh rosemary

Salt/pepper

4c of veggie broth

2c of water

2-3tbsp olive oil (not extra virgin, if you don’t have regular then use canola)

Preparation:

NOTE: Leeks are grown in sandy soil and get dirt and grit caught in them. So slice the leek lengthwise and put it in a bowl of cold water. Spreading the layers and shaking them to get the grit out. If they seem really dirty you might have to do with a couple of times.

Get your pot with some oil going, and then add the leek and sauté for 5-6 min then add the chopped potato. Let them sauté for 10 min or so, mashing the potatoes when you can, then add the broth, water, spices, rosemary. Get it to a boil then reduce the heat to simmer for about an hour. Stir about every 15 minutes or so. Leave it on the heat for about 20 min or so. I then use a stick blender to puree the soup, which is how I like it. You could let it cool, then put it in a blender. After that you can eat it, freeze it for later. It will occasionally get yellowy foam on top; this is from the oil, just stir. This recipe uses no cream; I don’t think you need it. The potatoes make it creamy enough.


Serve with a nice roll or crusty bread for dunking.

Friends Don't Let Friends: Eat Crummy Stir-fry

We eat a stir-fry at least once a week. It's veggie-filled, tasty and pretty quick. Faster and healthier and much more delicious than any kind of strip mall take-out.



Here's the hubby's simple stir-fry and sauce recipe. You can add what ever veggies you like... that's what makes it so versatile!

Serve over steamed rice.


Sauce -

1 bunch of scallions, greens only, essentially what you have left over from the veggie list.

1-3 small thin chilies (more or less for how spicy you want it)

1 1/2C water

1-2 in. piece of ginger

3 cloves of garlic

1-2 tsp of toasted sesame oil

1 Tbps soy sauce or tamari

Optional: 1-2 Tbsp of chili-garlic paste or sauce.



Veggies -

1 small broccoli head

1 Napa Cabbage

3 bunches of baby bock choy

1 med-large carrot

1 zucchini

1 bunch of scallions, whites only



For the sauce put it all in a blender and blend, if you want it to all be liquid, if you have bits of chili that is okay but you don't want chunks. You might have to blend for a minute, let it sit for a minute then blend again. It should be a pale green looking sauce.

Cut all the veggies up, leave broccoli florets mostly whole, but you can split them. Slice cabbage in thin strips, same with the bock Choy. For the carrot use a shredding peeler, you can get them at any kitchen store for about $5 it looks like a peeler with teeth. Basically you want thin shreds of carrots. Peel the zucchini and cut into 1/2in to 1inch pieces.

Then stir fry, when it comes to stir frying speed is everything. So have all stir fry ingredients standing by, heat oil in a high side pan. I use Tea Oil, available at Whole Foods, the advantage is you can heat it up really hot and it doesn't smoke. You can use the oil you want but avoid olive oils and don't use anything dairy based. When the oil is hot dump the broccoli, carrots and zucchini in and start stirring, keep stirring for 4-5 minutes, then put in the cabbage and bock Choy, keep stirring for another 4-5 minutes.

I then put in the sauce, keep in mind this doesn't make a thick sauce, the advantage is it is light tasting and very fresh tasting. I put on the sauce then cover for about 2 minutes to give it a little steaming, then plate over rice. You can garnish with sprouts, fresh cucumber or some more of the scallions. Remember whatever you are going to use have it sitting when you are cooking.

Enjoy!