VeganYumYum

Count Down Cupcakes

Count Down Cupcakes

I know what you’re thinking.

What the hell are those?!

Well, you see, I had an idea. Some of my ideas are great. And then there are ideas like this one. It starts off promising, and then, well, smoosh.

So let me explain this cupcake misadventure.

I thought, hey New Year’s! Times Square… ball dropping… Count Down Cupcakes! The idea was to have a sugar crystal frosting ball suspended over chocolate cupcakes. You unwrap the cupcake, pull the stem through the bottom and voila! Your crystal ball descends and rings in the new year. You can see this to the left.

But oh, what a smooshy new year it is.

The frosting balls were really heavy, wobbling on their sticks and making larger and larger holes in the cupcakes. As they warmed they slid down their little sticks, ringing in 2007 on their own around 5:30 pm. Something had to be done, and fast.

I settled on removing the sticks and squashing the frosting balls, to make what resemble brightly colored cartoon mushroom caps sitting on top of the cucpakes. Here they are in all their.. glory…

Ah well! Happy New Year! VeganYumYum wishes you good tidings and strange little cupcakes throughout the 2007!

4 comments December 31st, 2006

Baked Tempeh with Dijon Sauce and Roasted Veggies

Baked Tempeh with Dijon Sauce and Roasted Veggies

I had planned on making tempeh for dinner, but I wanted to try a new recipe. LA Kitchen’s Roasted Tempeh and Creamy Dijon Sauce not only looked great, but came highly recommended from some peeps over on PPK Forums.

The tempeh itself was great. The dijon sauce was way too acidic for me, even after I tried to mellow it out with earth balance and some kosher salt. Next time I think I’ll use less cider vinegar, or even omit it, and add more earth balance.

We served it with some organic baby carrots and fingerling potatoes that Stewart roasted with olive oil, salt, rosemary, thyme, oregano, and herbs de provence.

On the side, we had some of Celine’s Beer bread which turned out really well and was SO easy to make. I’ll think I’ll try it again with some different kinds of beer in the future to see how the taste varies. Thanks for the recipe, Celine!

1 comment December 30th, 2006

Stewart My Sweet Potato Soup

Sweet Potato Soup

Stewart and I had the food tasting for our wedding on Valentine’s day. We took the train to an industrial kitchen on the other side of Boston and met our caterer. She had set up a little table, complete with white table cloth and candles, just outside the stainless steel double doors that led into the kitchen. It ended up being pretty romantic; it felt like we were eating at our own private gourmet restaurant, and we didn’t even have to pay for it. (The bill, of course, came several months later– with about a hundred people added to the tab.)

She served us a sweet potato soup that we decided to have at the wedding. It was so good, I couldn’t get it out of my head. I went home and feverishly tried to recreate it. These are my results. When I had the soup again at our wedding, I realized that either it wasn’t as good as I had remembered, or I had unknowingly created something even better (and much cheaper!). Here’s the recipe:

Stewart My Sweet Potato Soup

3+ Cups (575 g) Sweet Potatoes, peeled and chopped
1 Can Coconut Milk (not the low fat stuff!)
1 Cup Vegetable Stock or Water
1 Vegetable Bullion Cube
1 tsp Celery Salt
1/4 tsp Nutmeg
1/4 tsp Allspice
1/4 tsp Cinnamon
1/4 tsp Cardamom (optional)
2 tsp Apple Cider Vinegar
1 1/2 Tbs Maple Syrup
1 Tbs Olive Oil

In a large heavy bottomed stock pot or cast-iron dutch oven, heat the olive oil. Add sweet potatoes and caramelize the chunks on all sides over medium-high heat. Deglaze the pan with the vegetable stock or water, scraping the bits from the bottom, then add the coconut milk and bullion cube. Simmer covered until potatoes are soft and can be mushed with a spoon, about 20 minutes.

Transfer soup to a food processor or blender and blend until smooth. Please be careful during this step! If you’re not positive your machine can fit all the soup in one go, blend it in batches. No one wants boiling soup exploding all over them! Unfortunately I speak from experience here.

When the soup is blended, transfer back into your pot and add the spices, vinegar and syrup. Simmer for 5 minutes more and serve.

Garnish with maple syrup and fresh cracked pepper. It would also be great with a little cranberry sauce!

Serves 2-3 main courses, 3-4 sides

Add comment December 30th, 2006

Homemade Pasta Sauce

Pasta in Homemade Sauce

When you have pasta, do you make your own tomato sauce?

Growing up I was addicted to Ragu, and then Prego. Sometime in highschool I became increasingly bored with jarred sauces. I was lucky enough to take a trip to the south of France and came home with a large bag full of herbs de provence. One afternoon I decided to experiment with the herbs and fresh cherry tomatoes, and since then I haven’t bought a single jar of the pre-made stuff.

Making your own sauce is not only easy, but quick. It’s always finished before the pasta is, so don’t think you need to simmer the stuff all day to get a worthwhile result. Here’s my basic recipe for an herbed marinara sauce.

Simple Herbed Marinara Sauce
Serves 2

1 Tbs Earth Balance or Olive Oil
1 tsp Dried Basil
1 tsp Dried Oregano
1 tsp Marjoram
1 Can Organic Stewed Tomatoes (13.5 ounces)
1/2 Vegetable Bullion Cube or 1/2 tsp+ salt

Heat the Earth Balance or oil in a large saute pan over medium heat. Add the dried herbs and saute for 1 minute, until aromatic and slightly bubbly. Take care not to burn the herbs.

Add the tomatoes. I blend the chunks out before this step, but it’s not necessary. Add the bullion cube and let the sauce simmer on low, covered, until the pasta is done. If you don’t have a bullion cube, add 1/4 tsp of salt or more to taste. If the sauce tastes sort of bland, or a bit too salty, try adding a light sprinkle of balsamic vinegar.

Once the pasta is al dente, drain and toss it in the pan with the sauce and mix to coat. The sauce should be very flavorful, so the deceptively thin coating on the pasta will pack a punch. The starches from the pasta will thicken up the sauce and help it cling to the pasta.

Additional/Alternative Ingredients:
Fresh herbs instead of dried, especially Basil
Red Wine/White Wine, 1+ tbs
Nutritional Yeast, 1 Tbs
Fresh tomatoes instead of canned (Roma or Cherry are nice)
Onions, finely chopped - add before herbs and brown slightly
Garlic to taste, roasted or raw
Sundried tomatoes
Fresh Spinach (I like baby spinach added last)
Sliced mushrooms, added before the herbs

You don’t need a complicated recipe to make a tasty sauce. If you’ve been buying pre-made sauces, I think you’ll be surprised how easy it is to make a high quality sauce yourself, with all your favorite ingredients. Try it!

5 comments December 29th, 2006

Candied Lemon Peel

Candied Lemon Peel

Here is the first batch of candied lemon peel - my test group. The simple syrup I used began to caramelize at the end of the candying process, causing the little stars to be gummier than they needed to be, and perhaps ruining their shape a bit. I’m almost ready to do batch #2, hopefully I’ll avoid that problem next time!

Add comment December 29th, 2006