Happy St. Patrick's Day Pancakes

As you can see, we are celebrating with green pancakes. I loved doing stuff like this as a kid, and my eldest little boy thought these were the coolest thing ever.

Here is the recipe I used, inspired by the original pancake recipe from The Joy of Cooking.

First, make the soy buttermilk. Combine 1 1/2 cups soy milk with about 1 1/2 tsp apple cider vinegar. Stir and set aside to thicken.

Mix together in a large bowl:
2 cups flour (1 cup whole wheat, 1 cup all purpose)
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
2 tablespoons sugar (you can leave this out if you don't want your pancakes to be so sweet)

In another bowl, mix well:
1 ripe banana, mashed
1 tablespoon flax seed mixed with 1/4 cup very hot to boiling water
3 tablespoons canola, or other mild oil
1 tsp vanilla
soy buttermilk you just made
up to 1 tsp green food coloring--depends on how green you want your pancakes =)
2/3 cup water

Heat either a well seasoned cast iron skillet or a heavy bottomed nonstick skillet over medium heat. You will know that the pan is ready to use when water sprinkled on the pan dances across the surface. Make a well in the dry ingredients and pour in the wet. Stir until just combined, taking care not to over stir. At this time, if the batter seems too thick, add a little extra water. (Alternatively, use your first pancake, what we call a "test" pancake in my house, to determine if your batter is so thick that it isn't raising well or cooking through before getting too dark on bottom.) Spray hot pan lightly with oil. Drop 1/4 cup of batter into pan. You can cook multiple pancakes at a time if you skillet is large enough, but don't crowd the pan or nothing will cook well. When bubbles begin to rise to the surface around the edges of the pancake, flip. When you can no longer see raw batter around the edges of the pancake and it is fluffy in the center, it is done.
Serve with maple syrup, or, as we did, with apple butter. You can freeze the leftovers to toast later.

Waste Not Want Not Wednesday: Very Veggie Fried Rice

When I made this for lunch recently, Jonathan, my 2 year old son said, "Like this meal." That's great news for me. This lunch dish was composed primarily out of leftover ingredients I wanted to use up when I cleaned out my refrigerator.

You could make this for lunch, as we did, as a side dish at dinner, or keep some in the refrigerator for a nourishing snack. It reheats well, though I think it's yummiest fresh from the pan.

Very Veggie Fried Rice
serves 4-6, depending on appetite!
1 cup frozen peas

1 large carrot (or 2 small), diced fine
1 large celery stalk, diced fine
(alternatively, use up to 2 cups of leftover veggies. You may need to adjust the seasoning if you choose to do this)

2 cups leftover cold cooked brown rice
1/2 cup green onions, white and green parts, minced
2 tablespoons hoisin sauce
1 tsp five spice powder
1/2 block tofu, or, leftover tofu from another meal
1 tablespoon grated ginger
3 large cloves garlic, chopped
2 tsp low sodium soy sauce
low sodium soy sauce or Bragg's Liquid Aminos to taste
chopped peanuts, chopped cilantro, and Sriracha (optional) to garnish
1-3 tablespoons oil, for the pan

To keep this lower in fat, use a large non-stick skillet or wok. That will significantly reduce the amount of oil necessary to "fry" your rice.

Squeeze the excess moisture from your tofu and break into medium chunks on a plate. Sprinkle tofu crumbles with five spice powder and soy sauce. If you are using leftover tofu, skip this step, and add the five spice powder when you add the garlic and ginger.
Heat 1 tablespoon of oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium high heat. Add the chopped garlic and ginger. Saute for about 30 seconds, just until cooked. Be careful not to burn! Add the chopped celery and carrot and cook until softened, about 4-5 minutes. Add the tofu and cook until heated through, about 2 minutes. At this point, add more oil to the pan, if necessary. Add the cold brown rice and cook until hot, stirring often. Stir in the hoisin sauce and green onions. Check the seasoning. Add Bragg's if it needs more salt.
Serve in bowls, garnished with chopped peanuts and cilantro. For those who (like me) like it spicy, drizzle with Sriracha. This would probably be great with a wedge of lime, too!

"Buttermilk" Biscuits

Vegan food is not inherently healthy. This recipe definitely proves that. Ever since I started toeing the water of veganism, I have been on a quest for a decent biscuit recipe. It's been pretty difficult to find one that I liked. Usually, the biscuit ends up tasting like Earth Balance or soy. Not my favorite flavors. This is my favorite recipe (well, for now, anyway). It's based on the buttermilk biscuits from the 2006 edition of The Joy of Cooking. I veganized the recipe in a way that would minimize the soy flavors. You could use almond milk in this recipe, but I did not want my biscuits to taste like almond. I want them to taste like biscuits. If you do not have coconut oil, you could try using a non-hydrogenated shortening. These are good the next day, best if rewarmed in a hot oven. 

"Buttermilk" Biscuits (adapted from The Joy of Cooking, 2006 edition)

makes about 9 massive biscuits; for smaller biscuits, adjust cooking time

2 cups all purpose flour, or whole wheat combination

1 tablespoon baking powder

1/2 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

2 tablespoons cold Earth Balance

2-3 tablespoons cold coconut oil

3/4 cup cold Rice milk

1/4 cup cold soy milk

1 tablespoon vinegar

Mix the milks and vinegar and set aside while you prep the other ingredients.

Preheat the oven to 450. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. 

Mix the dry ingredients in a large bowl. Cut in the fats using your fingers or a biscuit cutter. The mix should resemble peas. Make a well in the center and pour in the milk mixture. Stir together. Knead the dough about ten times in the bowl, until the dough comes together. Dump out onto a well floured board and knead a few more times. With your hands, flatten dough out to about 1/2" . Cut biscuits out and place on baking sheet. Knead scraps together and keep cutting until you run out of dough. Group the biscuits close together on the baking sheet. This helps them get super tall and fluffy. 

Bake for 10-13 minutes, until golden brown. 

I recommend eating them with hot out of the oven with a smear of jam, but that is just my preference :)

House Balsamic Vinaigrette

I have a confession to make. I generally hate salad. At least, I did, until I began to experiment with the classic sherry vinaigrette on page 56 in the French Farmhouse Cookbook by Susan Loomis. I discovered that I don't like sherry vinegar, and that I am a wimp about mustard, so I tweaked and tweaked until I came up with a recipe that I really did enjoy*. Now I like salad :) In fact, one of my absolute favorites is a simple salad of baby greens and grape tomatoes tossed with a little of this vinaigrette.

This recipe forms the base for all of my homemade salad dressings, with few exceptions. It's very easy, can be made by hand, in a blender, or in a food processor, and tastes infinitely better than bottled dressings. Homemade salad dressing seems so fancy (from this bumpkin's perspective, anyway), but really, they are the easiest thing in the world. Mine probably aren't cheaper than the store bought bottles of, say, Kraft, or whatever, but that's because I use quality--often organic--ingredients, not cheap soybean oil and vinegar.

A note for those worried about the amount of fat in this:
First of all, eat real food in moderation and enjoy life :)
Second, I dress an entire bowl of salad for my family with about 2 tablespoons of this, no joke. A serving size for any fat is 1 tablespoon, I believe. This dressing is flavorful and sticks well to salad leaves because it is a thick emulsion. It just takes a little while to get it gently tossed in the leaves. Also, I don't like very vinegary dressings. So if you want to add less fat, do it. I don't care. You'll probably end up needing way more salad dressing for the same amount of leaves.
Third, this the only salad dressing that my little two and a half year old always eats. Back when we ate dairy, he wouldn't even reliably eat ranch. It's also one of the only dressings that I like.

House Balsamic Vinaigrette
makes just over 3/4 cup
1/3 cup good quality balsamic vinegar
1/2 tsp dijon mustard
1/4 tsp black pepper
salt to taste
1 clove garlic, finely minced
1/2 cup good quality olive oil

Mix everything but the oil in a small mixing bowl, food processor, or blender. Slowly add the olive oil, whisking or blending all the while, until the olive oil is fully incorporated, creating a thick emulsion.

*But it all came about because of that original recipe by Susan Loomis, so a big fat thanks to her!