Double Decker French Toast
- Breakfast, Recipes
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01 Apr 2011
This, my friends, is a vegan recipe that I declare is better than the “original” – and this is no April Fool’s joke!
Double Decker French Toast Plate
The Magic Brown Truck Fairy stopped by yesterday and dropped off a new cookbook – Vegan Yum Yum. I’m a fan of the blog, and finally decided to break down and get the book. As I poured through it last night before bed, I had visions of wonderful breakfasts dancing in my head.
I had some surprise good news on the scale this morning – I’ve officially lost 100 pounds since December 2009 – so I had even more reason to make a special breakfast today!
It was a bit of an adventure making this French toast; it was my first time cooking with a cast iron skillet. Needless to say, my first few pieces weren’t pretty! (That won’t stop me from eating them!) I got better at the timing and the flipping as I went along, but it’s still probably a good thing that the French toast is mostly hidden by fruit.
My only complaint about Vegan Yum Yum is that some of the recipes have a lot of things that I try to eat only in moderation – margarine (i.e. Earth Balance), all-purpose flour, etc. So I decided to try to health-up the Stuffed Banana Berry French Toast recipe, and dare I say, it turned out wonderfully!
My modifications from the original recipe were to use almond milk instead of soy milk, agave instead of sugar, half whole wheat flour/half all-purpose flour instead of all all-purpose flour, and to add some ground flax seed. I also used nonstick cooking spray instead of margarine to grease the skillet.
It rolls in around 427 calories (you could lay off the fruit some to drop that number, but this is pretty much my standard breakfast, in the 400-600 calorie range).
One last note: if you’re still soaking your pancakes, waffles, and French toast in fake maple syrup (I’m lookin’ at you, Aunt Jemima!), for the love of whatever you love, stop it! Get yourself a bottle of real, 100% pure maple syrup. It tastes ridiculously better, and is – must I say it – real food, instead of a bottle full of chemicals. And you won’t need to drown your poor breakfast to enjoy it. Just a drizzle will do, because it’s so naturally sweet!
[recipe-show recipe="double-decker-french-toast"]
Posted: April 1, 2011 at 1:59 pm
{Tags: banana, blueberry, bread, Recipes, strawberry, Vegan Yum Yum}
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My Buddy Isa
- Dinner, Recipes, Vegan & Vegetarian
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22 Mar 2011
Isa Chandra Moskowitz is my buddy – at least, in my imagination. I imagine that she’s a pretty cool chick. I know for a fact I can learn tons from her in the kitchen. She could probably school me at being post-punk-rock, too. Isa runs a former cooking show turned web site, The Post Punk Kitchen. She also writes the most awesome cookbooks ever.
Being spring break and all, I’ve been goofing around in the kitchen again. I recently added Isa’s “Appetite for Reduction” cookbook to my arsenal, and have been cooking my way through it this week. (Check it out – if only to see the cover of the book. Total take on the old Guns n’ Roses album of a similar title. How cool is that?!)
Tonight, I made Baked Falafel from Appetite for Reduction. I also made Sanctuary Dressing, a cow-friendly ranch-style affair. The result:
Oh. My. Gawd.Wonderful! Wonderful! Wonderful!
I’m new to the world of falafel. This past December, I was in Las Vegas for a poker tournament with my poker blogger friends. (Wow – never thought my foodie world and poker world would cross!) We were at the Aria poker room, hours and hours into the tournament. I’m not sure I had really expected to last so long in the game, and I was
starvingfamished. On a break between levels, I ran next door to the little food bar to see what I could grab within 10 minutes (as the clock was counting down). The only vegetarian thing on the menu was falafel.“WTF is falafel?” I asked.
“It’s good – you’ll like it!” CA April told me.
(For the record – falafel is a fried ball or patty of spiced chickpeas, usually served with a tahini-based sauce, often in a pita).
I tried it (served exactly as described above), and it was ridiculous-good. YUM. Apparently, I like Egyptian food. Who knew?
I’ve been yearning for falafel ever since! I even bought a boxed falafel mix, but when I paid closer attention to the ingredient list… yuck. So I was pretty excited to see a baked falafel recipe in Isa’s new cookbook.
This falafel was awesome – and way healthier than the fried variety. Spicy and substantial and yummy. And super easy to make. The recipe claims to make 12 falafel, but it seems my idea of a golf-ball size must be off, because I only got 9 falafel out of mine (3 servings instead of 4). That’s OK – there’s only one of me, anyway. Here’s the nutrition breakdown (based on 3 servings in the entire recipe):
Not bad, eh?I ate mine over a bed of organic spring greens, about 1/4 of a cucumber, and a handful of sundried tomatoes – smothered in Isa’s Sanctuary ranch-like dressing (which, I am happy to report, is the first homemade dressing I’ve ever made that I actually really liked! And, only 40 calories per 1/4 cup… because really, who uses only 2 tablespoons of dressing?). That’s what I like about Isa. She’s a realist.
While I’m bragging about Isa’s food-smarts, I might as well add that I finally got around to trying her Chickpea Cutlet recipe from Veganomicon. It too was a smashing success, served over some whole wheat penne with her Mom’s Marinara recipe from Appetite for Reduction. The marinara was so simple and so delicious that I can’t figure out why anybody eats the junk from the jars! OK, jarred sauces are convenient – but it took practically no time at all to make this marinara, and it was infinitely more delicious. Real food ftw, again.
My tummy is happy this week!
Posted: March 22, 2011 at 6:32 pm
{Tags: Appetite for Reduction, chickpeas, cucumber, falafel, tomato}
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Too Good Not to Share
- Recipes
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01 Feb 2011
This whole wheat pizza crust recipe is too good not to share! Those that know me know that I’ve eaten a lot of pizza in my day. It’s still one of my favorite foods – just that these days, I make my own healthier version. Believe me, though – it’s just as decadent, if not more so! And at just 64 calories per slice (plus your toppings, of course), you can have a few pieces
[recipe-show recipe="whole-wheat-pizza-crust"]
Posted: February 1, 2011 at 7:28 pm
{Tags: pizza, Recipes}
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New Obsessions
- Recipes
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10 Jan 2011
It’s no secret that I’m a little bit obsessive-compulsive. Poor asparagus was the most recent victim of my OC ways. (I ate more asparagus soup in late 2010 than I care to recall. Hopefully I will recover by spring when those gorgeous little stalks poke out from the earth anew). This year, I’m off to a bang of a start, with two new food obsessions: kiwi and crumbled tempeh.
Let’s start with my new friend, the kiwi fruit. I’d never eaten kiwi before because – well, it’s furry. Furry food? Ew. But if I learned anything last year, it’s that you can’t judge a food by its cover. So I consulted the premier source for culinary training (YouTube), and investigated how to peel a kiwi. Enter: Pimp That Food.
Gordon taught me how to peel a perfect kiwi fruit. It’s actually very easy – and so pretty! I’ve had a kiwi a day ever since.
Here’s my new friend kiwi hanging out in a bowl of Fancy Oatmeal.
And then, there’s tempeh. I like tempeh. I learned about tempeh when I first started cooking vegetarian and vegan dishes. It’s a soy based food, but a lot different from tofu. It has a substantial texture to it – almost meaty, like a veggie burger. It also has its own flavor, unlike tofu. It tastes a bit nutty. It’s high in protein, iron, and calcium. What I’ve had a shortage of is ideas on what to do with tempeh.
Enter: crispy crumbled tempeh. My new obsession. Suddenly, my salads become dinner salads! My wraps become meals! So simple, and so yummy. Make up a batch of crispy crumbled tempeh and toss it on top of everything!
My latest salad/wrap combo: mixed greens, diced roasted red pepper, julienne-cut sundried tomatoes, pickles, some homemade cucumber dill dressing, and the now-infamous crispy crumbled tempeh. Sometimes, I cannot resist adding a drizzle of ranch; it goes so well with the tempeh!
(Does anybody else put pickles in salad? It’s so freakin’ good! But I feel like a weirdo).
Don’t forget to have a big bowl of greens every day!
[recipe-show recipe="crispy-crumbled-tempeh"]
Posted: January 10, 2011 at 12:53 pm
{Tags: kiwi, Recipes, tempeh}
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Vegan Dessert Recipes
- Recipes, Vegan & Vegetarian
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17 Nov 2010
The blog Kiss Me, I’ve Vegan! has published an awesome vegan cookbook review of…
Dessert recipes!!
Even better, my test of the vegan chocolate pudding is included in the reviews! (I’m the one that was inhaling the cocoa).
Check it out: Just In Time For The Holidays: A Dessert Cookbook Review Extravaganza!
Yummy
And while we’re at it – my fave food blogger Emily posted a vegan White Chocolate Chip Peanut Butter Cookie recipe. *dies*
Posted: November 17, 2010 at 6:11 pm
{Tags: dessert, Recipes}
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A Twist on Baked Beans
- Recipes, Vegan & Vegetarian
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23 Jun 2010
It’s grilling season! What’s the one thing you always find at a summertime cookout? Baked beans.
I just tried baked beans for the first time this summer. I know – all these years, you’d think they’d have been one of my favorite foods – so sweet and smoky. But no. I thought they looked weird. Strange color. Mushy. So I never tried them. But when I finally did (since this is the Year of Trying New Foods), whaddya know – I loved ‘em. Doggone it.
So last night when I dug through my produce drawers in the fridge to see what had to be used up, imagine my glee when I found a couple corn on the cob! (Corns on the cob? Corn on the cobs? Whatever!) I’ll take any excuse these days to throw veggies on the grill.
What goes great with grilled corn on the cob? A grilled veggie burger or veggie dog, of course! (I went veggie burger, to have an excuse to try out a new jar of pickles I got at the Lockport Farmers’ Market – a spicy dill pickle). And… baked beans!
I was feeling creative as I dug through the pantry, so instead of whipping up traditional baked beans, I went with a new twist on an old favorite: BBQ baked lentils.
These took a little while to prepare, as the lentils take a half hour to cook, and then the baking process takes another hour – but really, I only spent 5 minutes or so actually tending to the prep. The rest of the time was unattended cook time. So, they’re easy! If you plan ahead just a bit to fit them into your schedule, they’re well worth the wait.
Lentils are a great source of plant-based protein (third highest behind soybeans and hemp). When not going with the traditional cookout meal, I could see having these lentils on top of a salad or in a wrap (hmmm that may have to be my lunch today!) They’d even be good mixed with some brown rice and a side of greens for a complete protein and some vitamin C to help with the absorption of all that good iron in the lentils.
Behold: a typical summertime meal!
[recipe-show recipe=bbq-baked-lentils]
Posted: June 23, 2010 at 12:28 pm
{Tags: bbq, grill, lentils, Recipes}
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Grilled Banana Sandwich
- Breakfast, Recipes, Vegan & Vegetarian
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15 Jun 2010
Oh, you sweet, decadent thing, you. You naughty, naughty thing… or maybe not so naughty! A naughty imposter.
Behold: the grilled banana sandwich.
Or, the bottom half of the grilled banana sandwich.Sweet, delicious goodness. This brunch sandwich was inspired by Caitlin’s Grilled Banana Sandwich over at Healthy Tipping Point. The only real difference is that I vegan-ized mine to avoid using eggs and dairy. This thing is like french toast and bananas all wrapped up in a sandwich!
I figured this would make a good post-run meal, as it’s got a good amount of carbs (and readily-available sugars via the bananas), and a little bit of protein. (I actually pumped mine up a little by adding a tablespoon of hemp protein powder to the liquid mixture, but didn’t add that to the recipe as it was pretty specific to my workout recovery goals – but for the record, it worked just fine!)
The whole thing clocks in around 300 calories, and makes for a pretty darn huge breakfast! You could even eat it like french toast – though I don’t think any syrup would be required, as the warm grilled bananas offer plenty of gooey delicious topping. I have visions of tossing warm blueberries on top next time. This one is definitely entering the regular rotation
[recipe-show recipe=grilled-banana-sandwich]
Posted: June 15, 2010 at 1:33 pm
{Tags: banana, bread, Recipes}
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Italian Eggplant over Pasta
- Recipes, Vegan & Vegetarian
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13 Jun 2010
This week’s trip out to Whole Foods Market yielded a beautiful purple organic eggplant! I’ve never cooked with fresh eggplant – only with pre-prepared, frozen varieties. I was excited to get to work with the real thing!
I knew I was going to go Italian with this beauty (thanks to Armando for the suggestion!). I wanted to try grilling it, but rain (like Niemi) said NO! Enter: the ol’ George Foreman grill. There’s got to be a way to make eggplant on the George, right?!
Indeed! So I whipped up a simple cornmeal breading with oregano, garlic salt, and a little chili powder. Then I sliced up that eggplant and rubbed each slice with a light coating of garlic-infused olive oil. I dredged the slices through the cornmeal breading, patted them down, and tossed them onto the George Foreman grill. 5 minutes later, they smelled wonderful! I transferred the eggplant rounds to a baking dish, topped with a jar of organic basil marinara and some Daiya dairy-free mozzarella, and baked for 15 minutes until the cheese melted.
I served the eggplant and marinara over some whole-wheat pasta, and decided I could eat that dish ALL DAY LONG. Mwah! SO good!
Fresh eggplant is SO much more delicious than the frozen varieties! It tasted so fresh, but was so easy to make. And, regarding non-dairy cheese – I’ve tried quite a few brands, all of which have disappointed me. But this Daiya brand – I have found a winner! It feels a bit more moist than typical shredded cheese, but melted and stretched just like dairy cheese, and tasted wonderful! It almost had more of a parmesan taste to it, but that was fine with me. Daiya vegan cheeses are casein-free, dairy-free, have no cholesterol or trans-fats, all natural, and free of common allergens like soy, gluten, lactose, and others. Thumbs up!
I was drooling as everything came together with this meal and as such, didn’t take the time to get a picture – but this meal is definitely going into my weekly rotation!
[recipe-show recipe=italian-eggplant-over-pasta]
Posted: June 13, 2010 at 6:47 pm
{Tags: eggplant, marinara, pasta, Recipes}
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Chocolate Cherry Green Smoothie
- Recipes, Smoothies
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08 Jun 2010
Here’s my first attempt at a green smoothie with workout recovery benefits
[recipe-show recipe="chocolate-cherry-green-smoothie"]
Posted: June 8, 2010 at 10:39 am
{Tags: cherry, chocolate, Recipes, Smoothies, spinach, tomato}
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Grilled Asparagus
- Recipes
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02 Jun 2010
Another Frankfort farmers’ market find this week was boatloads of fresh asparagus! I’ve been on a roasting kick with asparagus, but with the official kick-off of summer last weekend, I decided to get with the season and fire up the grill!
(Of course, that meant first I had to *clean* the grill…)
Grilled asparagus is so easy to make and so delicious that I have a feeling I’m going to be firing up the grill a lot more often this summer! Go figure – I will likely use my grill more as a vegetarian than I ever did as a meat eater. Oh, the irony!
First, marinate the asparagus in a ziplock bag full of yumm (I used garlic-infused olive oil, a dash of balsamic vinegar, some Garlic Gold garlic sea salt nuggets, and a pinch of pepper).
Then, pop the asparagus on the grill. I’ve read suggestions including the use of a small wooden skewer to make it easier to handle the asparagus and prevent it from falling through the grill grates, but I didn’t have any trouble with mine (and I also didn’t have any skewers handy).
I threw a veggie burger on the grill as well. I found some great veggie burger recipes, but this is just your run of the mill out-of-a-box frozen variety. Sometimes, convenience beats nutrition.
I let the asparagus cook a tiny bit too long, and some of the smaller pieces charred, but overall, it turned out wonderfully delicious!
I will definitely be making asparagus on the grill again![recipe-show recipe=grilled-asparagus]
Posted: June 2, 2010 at 3:15 pm
{Tags: asparagus, grill}
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