Lower Fat Banana Bread

I made this Lower Fat Banana Bread from Veganomicon: The Ultimate Vegan Cookbook

Yummmmmmm.

INGREDIENTS:
2 large or 3 small very ripe bananas (I used only 2 small and it still came out fine)
1/4 c. applesauce
1/4 c. canola oil
1/2 c. sugar
2 T. molasses
2 c. all-purpose flour
3/4 t. baking soda
1 t. ground cinnamon
1/4 t. ground nutmeg
1/2 t. salt

1/2 c. chopped walnuts
1/2 c. Semi-sweet chocolate chips

DIRECTIONS:

Preheat oven to 350F.

Lightly grease a 9x5 loaf pan (or muffin tins)

In a large mixing bowl, mash the bananas really well. Add sugar, applesauce, oil, and molasses, and whisk briskly to incorporate.

Sift in the flour, baking soda, spices, salt. Use a wooden spoon to mix until the wet/dry ingredients are just combined. Fold in chocolate chips/nuts if using.

Transfer batter to prepared pan and bake for 45-50 min. The top should be lightly browned and a knife inserted should be clean.

Remove from oven and invert onto a cooling rack. Flip right side up and cool.

Note: If making muffins, cook for 18 minutes!

Posted on Yeah That Vegan Shit Blog

Beer Battered Chick*n

I made these one night and they came out terrific. The recipe is from Get Sconed.

Even A liked them! Shocking, I know.

Beer Battered Chickn Strips

One batch of Chicken Style Seitan*, cut into ½ inch wide strips (or you can use packaged chickn strips from Trader Joe's or Morningstar Farms)

2 Cups Unbleached white flour (I used about 1 1/2 cups)

12 ounces of vegan beer

½ tablespoon brown sugar

½ tablespoon agave nectar

1 teaspoon dijon mustard

1 teaspoon sea salt

¼ teaspoon dried paprika

Dash of freshly ground pepper

2-3 cups of oil per serving

In a 2 quart saucepan, bring to oil to a medium temperature. Do not boil.

In a medium sized bowl, stir together 1 cup of the flour, agave, mustard, salt, paprika and pepper. Add more flour by the tablespoon full to your desired consistency – it should be similar to a pancake batter.

Dip Chickn strips in batter.

Slightly spacing them out so they don’t stick, put 3-5 seitan strips into the oil. Keep an eye on them, and turn once while frying, about 1-2 minutes per side till a slightly golden color is achieved.

Remove from oil and place on paper towels. Sprinkle with additional sea salt, let cool at least a couple minutes and serve with desired dipping sauce(s).

Wheeler's Frozen Desserts

Well, I was finally able to get to Wheeler's Frozen Desserts storefront yesterday. I have been wanting to try their frozen desserts for awhile and now I have! I forgot to take pictures before we ate though, sorry.

These are the sampled flavors:
Strawberry- fabulous!
Chocolate- good, but not great. Had a bit of a strange texture or something.
Latte- wonderful, wish I had more.
Cream Soda float- amazing.

I really wanted to try the black label alcohol inspired flavors, but I had my kids with me and we were tasting each others flavors, so not a good idea. But one of these days I will get to try them!

Hopefully I will get to visit again soon.

Awesome Oatmeal Cookies

Ok, so the strangest thing is happening. For some reason blogger keeps rotating my photos when I post them. I don't know how to fix this, so for now you will be seeing my pics sideways, sorry.

This cookies are so incredibly good. And they make 3 dozen cookies, so you can share them with your friends. Or you can hog them all, whatever works for ya.

I have made them several times, in several different ways, one time adding about 1 cup of dried cherries, which made them insanely good. Use whatever you fancy, they always seem to come out great. Of course, if you are a traditionalist, you can add raisins, but I didn't want to make it seem too normal, afterall, I am insane. :) OOOO, I bet dried banana chips would be really good, I will have to try that.

Ingredients:

1 1/2 cups of flour
1 teaspoon of baking soda
1 1/2 teaspoons of cinnamon
1/2 of a teaspoon of salt
1 cup of brown sugar
1/2 cup of regular sugar
1/4 of a cup plus 1 teaspoon oil
1 mashed banana
2 teaspoons of vanilla extract
2 1/4 cups oats
3 TBLSP of water
3/4 cup chocolate chips (optional)
1/2 cup chopped walnuts (optional)

Directions:

Mix together flour, baking soda, cinnamon, and salt.
In a separate bowl, mix the vegan brown sugar, vegan sugar, oil, and water.
Add the mashed banana and vanilla.
Mix in the flour mixture.
Stir in the oats. This batter should be lumpy and dry, if it is too thin, let stand a bit so the oats can absorb the excess liquid, if it is so dry it is impossible to stir, add a tiny bit of water.
Drop cookies by Tablespoon onto cookie sheet
Bake at 350 degrees Fahrenheit for 13 minutes.
Let them cool on the cookie sheet for 5 minutes before transferring to a cooling rack.

Quesadillas

For some reason, I didn't take a picture of the finished product, all nice and cut up. Hmmm, I don't know why I didn't. And unfortunately, these pics suck. I am still trying to figure out the new camera. G forbid I actually read the manual.

Easy, just take 2 tortillas, shove whatever you want on one, top with salsa and either Teese, Tofutti, or whatever vegan cheese you like, then the other tortilla and stick in the frying pan or in the oven and bake. Turn over after a few minutes. I know, totally lame post. Sorry. I have a raging headache. Day 3.

Garricks Thin Bakery Style Chocolate Chip Cookies

These are sooo good! Mine did not come out very thin or flat like they are supposed to, but they still were delicious. Maybe next time, I will flatten them out a bit before baking.

■ 2 1/4 cup unsifted all purpose flour

■ 1 cup softened (not melted) vegan margarine

■ 3/4 cup sugar

■ 3/4 cup brown sugar

■ 2 T applesauce

■ 1 teaspoon baking soda

■ 1 teaspoon salt

■ 1-2 teaspoon vanilla extract

■ 9 oz. of vegan chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 375F.

In a small bowl mix together flour, baking soda, and salt.

In a large bowl, cream together brown sugar, sugar, vanilla, applesauce and margarine until it has a somewhat smooth texture. Slowly add flour mixture in and mix until smooth and thick. Stir in chocolate chips.

Scoop out dough with a tablespoon and place onto lined baking sheets. The dough should be more like thick batter.

Bake for around 7 minutes. They should still look kind of doughy in the center when you take them out, only mind the edges.

IMPORTANT! Make SURE the edges are a golden-brown and look sort of crispy. Otherwise you will not get the delightful toffee-like caramel-chew-esque texture.] As you let them cool the middle will solidify more into a toffee-like crispy/chewy texture.

posted previously on Yeah, That Vegan Shit and Don't Eat off the Sidewalk blogs.

Potato Gnocchi

I saw this recipe for Gnocchi with Thyme Vinaigrette and Lemon Cashew Cream posted on Vegan YumYum blog and had to try it. M had been asking for gnocchi, so this sounded perfect.

Of course, her pictures are much nicer.

M did love this and everyone except A really enjoyed it. I highly recommend it.

Her site includes pictures to go along with the instructions, so I highly suggest you check out her site for the recipe as it is a bit complicated and I think the pictures will help.

Black Bean Brownies

I found this recipe for black bean brownies and had to try them. I think they came out more like a fudge than a brownie, but not as fudgy as fudge.

Anyway, I did not love them as I do not like fudge. I know, I am a chocolate addict, but not for fudge. M devoured them! He absolutely loved them. I got great reviews on them from family and friends who all really liked them and agreed they were quite fudgy, but were very suprised to learn they were made from black beans.

I served them dusted with a small amount of confectioners sugar for looks.


Vegan Black Bean Brownies

1 (15 oz.) can black beans, drained and rinsed
3 tablespoons vegetable oil
4 tablespoons cocoa1 teaspoon vanilla
3/4 cup vegan sugar
2 bananas
1/4 cup applesauce

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Blend all ingredients in a blender until smooth.
Pour into a lightly greased 8×8 pan. Bake for 30 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. Enjoy!