Vegan Cranberry & Lemon Bread

This month's Secret Recipe Club assignment was awesome. I was given Christina's blog Mele Cotte (Baked Apple in Italian). Christina blogs about a lot of desserts which is right up my alley and her pictures really show off all the beautiful things she makes. I highly suggest you head over to her blog to check out all her awesome stuff. Plus if you want to learn a little Italian she give you all the recipe titles in Italian as well!

I was really excited to cook something from Mele Cotte and after much debate I decided to try this cranberry bread but with my own twist. Christina uses orange and walnuts in her bread but I had a whole bag of Meyer lemons in the fridge and no walnuts. So this became a vegan Cranberry and Lemon bread. It was very delicious and not to sweet. Good alternative to banana bread.

Vegan Cranberry & Lemon Bread
Adapted from Mele Cotte

2 cups all-purpose flour
½ cup sugar
1 Tbsp. baking powder
1 tsp ground ginger
½ tsp. salt
Zest of one lemon
1/2 cup lemon juice (about 4 lemons)
2 Tbsp ground flaxseed mixed with 6 Tbsp of water
½ cup vegetable oil
1/4 cup soy milk
1 ½ cup fresh/frozen cranberries

Preheat oven to 350°F. Prepare a 9 x 5 x 3 inch loaf pan.

In a large bowl whisk the flour with the sugar, baking powder, baking soda, ginger, salt, and zest. Form a well in the center of the flour mixture and add juice, flax seed mixture, oil, and milk . Mix only until combined, being careful not to over mix.

With a wooden spoon, stir in cranberries. Transfer into the prepared pan. Bake for about an hour or until an inserted toothpick comes out almost clean. Cool on a wire rack for 10 minutes before removing the bread from the pan. Allow to cool completely on the wire rack.

Homemade Vegan Artisan Bread

I am not sure if there is anything more satisfying than making your own "staples". These are the things that you would normally buy at the store for convenience sake but when you make them at home I feel a real sense of accomplishment.

I had tried making bread before a few times but it never turned out or rose properly. Finally I threw my old yeast out and got some new stuff. Worked like a charm! I found this recipe on Ethnic Vegan and it turned out pretty well.

Artisan Bread
Via Ethnic Vegan

1 1/2 cups warm water
1 packet yeast (~ 2 1/4 tsp.)
1 tsp. sugar
3 1/4 cups organic, all-purpose unbleached flour (if using whole wheat or bread flour, increase the amount of water by 1/4 cup) plus a bit more for dusting
3/4 Tbs. coarse kosher or sea salt
Olive oil

1. Mix 1/4 cup of the warm water with the yeast and sugar. Let stand for about 8 minutes until yeast is foamy.

2. Add remaining warm water. Mix flour and salt in until well incorporated (try adding the flour 1 cup at a time). Dough will be "wet" or rather sticky. Place dough in lightly oiled bowl, cover with a damp dish towel, and let rise for 2 hours in a warm, draft-free area. (I turn the heat on my oven for a minute or two then turn it off and let it cool a bit while mixing the dough then let the dough rise in the oven which is warm and draft free)

3. After the dough rises, place it on a tabletop lightly dusted with flour. Divide dough into two small rounds if desired, or just make one loaf. Add a little more flour if the dough is sticky and hard to work. Sprinkle flour on top of dough, and tuck sides under to create desired loaf shape(s). Place dough on a lightly oiled cookie sheet. Allow it to rest for approximately 40 minutes.

4. Preheat oven to 450° and bake for approximately 40 minutes or until golden brown.The bread should sound hollow when you tap on the bottom. Enjoy!

Vegan Lemon Curd

I came across this Vegan Lemon Curd recipe on the blog Lunch Box Bunch.  It came together really quickly and was super tasty. P could not stop talking about it and we ate it on some home made bread, on pancakes and just out of the jar. I think mine was a bit firmer and next time I would cook for less time but other than that it turned out great.

Vegan Lemon Curd
Via Lunch Box Bunch
makes 1 1/4 cups

1/2 cup soy milk, plain
1/4 cup water
1 Tbsp corn starch
6 Tbsp sugar
6 Tbsp fresh lemon juice
1 tsp lemon zest
5 Tbsp vegan buttery spread
pinch of salt
optional: 1/8 tsp lemon extract

Directions:
In a soup pan, dissolve the corn starch in the cold soy milk and water.

Turn heat to medium-high and continuously stir the mixture. Add in the buttery spread, lemon juice and sugar and continue to stir until mixture starts to bubble and thicken.

Reduce heat to low and beat with a hand-held beater for about 90 seconds.

Transfer mixture to serving dish and refrigerate until chilled. Store in fridge and eat within 2-3 days.

Vegan Split Pea Soup

This split pea soup is really tasty and super comforting. We are working on a pretty tight budget right now and until our CSA basket starts up again we are trying to use up some pantry ingredients. I had two big jars of split peas in the cupboard so I made my own version of a recipe from the Conscious Cook by Tal Ronnen.

The recipe below has been doubled from the original and should serve 4 for dinner. Also I find this soup needs to cook for a good few hours so usually I make it a day before or start it in the morning.

Vegan Split Pea Soup
Adapted from The Conscious Cook by Tal Ronnen

1 Tbsp olive oil
1-2 onions, coarsely shopped
3 large carrot, coarsely chopped
3 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 a cabbage, coarsely chopped
1 tsp chopped fresh rosemary
1 bay leaf
1 tsp smoked paprika
10 cups vegetable stock
3 cups green/yellow split peas, rinsed (I use half green and half yellow)
Freshly ground black pepper


Place a large stockpot over medium heat. Add oil, onions, carrot, cabbage and garlic and sauté for 5 minutes. Add the rosemary, bay leaf, and paprika and continue cooking for 2 minutes. Add the stock and split peas and season with salt and pepper to taste. Bring to a boil, and then reduce the heat and simmer, uncovered, for 2 - 3 hours, stirring occasionally.

When ready serve with your favorite biscuits or bread.

Vegan Spicy Chocolate Pudding & Iced Chai Tea Latte

This is my Secret Recipe Club post for April. For those of you who don't know the Secret Recipe Club is this great group of bloggers that each month get assigned another food blog from which they must try a recipe and blog about it on reveal day. Anyway it's a lot of fun and this month was no different.

I was assigned the lovely Cooking in Stilettos (Which I have to say is one of my favourite blog names of all time). Aly is super passionate about food and has many awesome looking recipes to try. In fact I couldn't decide this month so I made two recipes from her blog.

I choose two somewhat spicy but cooling recipes both of which turned out great. They were super easy to vegan-ize by just replacing the regular milk with non dairy. Thank Aly for the yummy-ness with your Mexican Chocolate Pudding and Iced Chai Latte.

Vegan Spicy Chocolate Pudding
Via Cooking in Stilettos

1/2 cup organic sugar
1 Tbsp molasses
1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
2 1/2 Tbsp cornstarch
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/8 tsp salt
2 cups non dairy milk
2 Tbsp vegan margarine
1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
Pinch of cayenne pepper

Directions
Whisk together sugar, molasses, cocoa, cornstarch, cinnamon, salt and milk in a heavy medium saucepan. Bring to a boil over medium heat, whisking often, then boil, whisking, 1 minute.

Remove from heat and whisk in butter, vanilla and cayenne pepper.

Pour into serving dishes and cover the surface of the pudding with cling film to prevent a skin from forming. Chill until cold, at least 1 1/2 hours. If you want garnish with some grated dark chocolate and orange peel. Enjoy!

Vegan Iced Chai Tea Latte
Via Cooking in Stilettos

1/4 cup of loose tea or 4 tea bags
2 1/2 cups of water
1 tsp. black peppercorns
3 green whole cardamom pods
1/4 tsp. ground cinnamon
5 whole star anise
1/4 tsp ground ginger
2 cups non dairy milk
2 tbsp. turbinado sugar

Directions:
In a mortar and pestle crush the peppercorns and cardamom pods.

Over medium heat, add water to a medium saucepan and add crushed cardamom pods, peppercorns, cinnamon, star anise, and ginger. Bring to a boil for one minute and then add the tea. Simmer for 5 minutes.

Stir in the milk and return to a simmer. Sweeten with sugar to taste and remove from heat.

Cool chai to room temperature. Once it is cool, pour the liquid through a fine mesh strainer into a pitcher. Discard the tea and spices and refrigerate chai.

To serve, fill glasses with ice and pour the chai over the ice.

Vegan Almond Butter Oatmeal Cookies

I have been making a lot of oatmeal cookies especially with almond butter lately. I think I am craving peanut butter cookies but since P hates peanut butter I don't think that would go over so well. These cookies were super tasty and moist but didn't have the almond butter kick I was looking for...the quest continues. 

 Vegan Almond Butter Oatmeal Cookies
From Alien's Day Out
Makes 24 - 26 cookies

1/3 cup natural, smooth roasted almond butter
1 Tbs non dairy butter
2/3 cup organic sugar
1/3 cup soy milk
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 tsp almond extract
1 cup all purpose flour
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 1/2 cup rolled oats
3/4 cup chocolate chunks

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees and line cookie sheets with parchment paper.
2. In a mixing bowl, whisk together the almond butter, non dairy butter, sugar, milk, and vanilla extract until everything is smooth and creamy. 
3. In another bowl, sift together flour, soda and salt. Add the rolled oats.
4. Combine the wet with the dry, and mix until just incorporated. Add chocolate chunks
5. Drop large spoonfuls of cookie dough onto baking sheet and slightly flatten with your fingers.
6. Bake for 10-12 minutes, or until set. 
7. Remove sheet from oven and let cool on tray for 5 minutes before transferring to a cookie rack.

Vegan Peppermint Brownies

Pretty easy vegan brownie recipe I found here on allrecipes.com. I decided to add some peppermint extract - because why not? I really liked the taste of these. Although they fell apart quite easily they were still dense and pretty gooey.

Vegan Peppermint Brownies
Adapted from allrecipes.com

2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
2 cups organic sugar
3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
1 cup water
1 cup vegetable oil
1 1/2 tsp peppermint extract

In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, sugar, cocoa powder, baking powder and salt. Pour in water, vegetable oil and peppermint and mix until well blended. Spread evenly into a prepared 9x13 inch baking pan. 

Bake in a 350 degree oven for 25 to 30 minutes until the top is no longer shiny. Let cool for at least 10 minutes before cutting into squares.