Vegan Sugar Plum Cake

When I went shopping on Saturday I had a great find: sugar plums. I had never seen them in America until then. While I grew up with them and missed them (but not enough to go on a big search), it seems they are less popular over here. So I bought them.

Tonight, when I was washing them, prepping them for tomorrow's snack, I got the urge to make a plum cake. Like the one I remember from when I was a kid and my aunt would bake it - she is a great baker! Mmmmh.

My search was successful: on a German site (the link is here in case you want to check it out). I had to quickly change the metric measurements into the American units - with alot of guessing. And it has a special ingredient that I was dying to try out: it's what we call in our house bubbly water, aka seltzer. We drink it every day (it is a very common drink in Germany), but I had never baked with it.

Also, I just bought my first spring form, so I really wanted to use it! ;-)

Let's see how it turns out when I take it out of the oven.

I followed the recipe almost to a T (big surprise):

For the cake mix:
2 cups of flour (I used my regular all purpose flour)
1 cup of sugar (Vegan!) - it seems alot, so I need to taste and see if it could be reduced to half a cup or 3/4
1 tablespoon baking powder
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
1 pinch of salt
1/2 cup of seltzer

For the Streusel (aka crumb topping):
2 cups of all-purpose flour
1 cup of sugar
1/2 tablespoon baking powder
1 pinch of salt
1/2 tablespoon cinnamon
6 tablespoons of vegetable oil

In the middle:
enough sugar plums - according your own liking
I couldn't tell you how much I used - maybe about 15 in total

Making the cake:
* mix all dry ingredients in a bowl
* then mix in the seltzer
* grease the spring form
* put dough into the spring form, raise it a bit on the sides
* wash, clean, and cut the sugar plums
* spread the plums all over the dough, as thick as you like
* make the streusel in a different bowl, mix all dry ingredients together, then add the oil little by little
* you want the crumbs to be wet enough to stick together
*spread those over the plums
* bake at 350 degree Fahrenheit for 30-40 minutes

Guten Appetit! 

 Mmmh, Lecker!

Vegan Chocolate Ice Cream

For my birthday, I got an ice cream maker - a very essential tool for someone that is addicted to ice cream. It's my comfort food, being also refreshing and oh so tasty in so many flavors. With the machine, I ordered a Vegan ice cream recipe book "The Vegan Scoop". Next to having ALOT of ice cream recipes, it also has recipes for baking goods, sauces and such. So it is worth it's money - I think.

My first try was the Vegan peanut butter ice cream, that was good but a bit too peanutty..... I had to make that first, because I needed to find a main ingredient for Vegan ice cream first: arrowroot powder! I finally did and so I tried the basic chocolate ice cream. Very general, but tasty enough... It was made with soy milk and soy creamer, and something was missing.....

Then I remembered that my friend Beth had made it once with coconut milk. Now I needed to find that ingredient, which wasn't easy! I finally did find it in the back of the Asian aisle!!! Yep, not the baking aisle.

So without further ado, I will share HER recipe with you: Double Chocolate Coconut Milk Ice Cream.
With the added chocolate, it makes about 1 1/2 quarts.
 
Ingredients
2/3 c Hershey's Special Dark cocoa powder, sifted (or run through a blender or food processor--however you prefer to get the lumps out). You can use regular cocoa powder, but it won't be as rich of a chocolate flavor.
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/3 cup packed dark brown sugar
pinch salt
2 cans of coconut milk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
4 ounce vegan chocolate (I use 4 squares Baker's semisweet baking chocolate, which is vegan)

Instructions:
1. If you plan ahead far enough, pre-refrigerate the coconut milk.
2. Whisk together the cocoa powder, granulated sugar, brown sugar, and salt.
3. Whisk in the coconut milk and vanilla until the solids are as dissolved as you can get them. Mine wasn't that smooth, but that was okay.
4. Place the mixture in the fridge for at least an hour before freezing/churning it. If you pre-refrigerated the coconut milk, this step is optional.
5. Follow your ice cream maker's instructions to churn/freeze the mixture.
6. While it's churning, cut the chocolate into chunks. Add to the ice cream during the last 3 minutes or so of churning.
6. Eat immediately (soft-serve consistency) or move to another container and freeze. You'll want to remove it from the freezer approximately 15-20 minutes before serving--it gets very hard in the freezer.

This time, I added a bit too much DARK cocoa powder, so it is extra dark..... but still tasty for me to eat it right now while typing this. The little chocolate pieces are a nice extra - at first, I was not sure if I wanted them in there.... The coconut goes so well with the chocolate, I think I will always make it this way rather than with soy milk. I wonder if rice milk would work?

Vegan Potato-Leek Soup

I have been in the mood for real food, lately. What I mean is food that I cook myself that is full of healthy stuff and no preservatives! With a baby, it is so easy, and sometimes necessary, to eat stuff that is made and ready to eat. But I am at the point where I am so done with it.

The last two nights, I put the kids to bed, and started cooking in my kitchen. You know, taking all my time to chop the veggies, not having to be afraid someone burns their fingers on the stove (thankfully, this has never happened, yet!), or listening to music or watching a TV show while cooking.

Tonight, I prepared my ingredients for my ice cream that I am making tomorrow. It's in the fridge and freezer and will be made tomorrow, and consumed on Thursday(wonder why?)!

Then I pulled out my leek and made this delicious potato-leek soup. It took me all together about an hour and a half - not too bad when I was able to watch my favorite show while washing and chopping and mixing and stirring. I tasted the soup and it is super delicious, so I decided I needed to share the recipe. Now if you know me, I have a problem with following recipes, so I used this one, but changed it. Here is what I (!) did:

Ingredients:
3 leeks, all edible parts washed and cut into slices of your choice (it will be blended later, so I felt it didn't matter how big they were)
1 whole yellow onion, chopped
2 big yellow potatoes, peeled, cubed into small pieces
4 cups vegetable stock
1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
1/2 teaspoon salt
3 teaspoons garlic
hand-full of parsley
hand-full of cilantro

1.) In a pot, heat up the oil.
2.) Add the leeks, onion, and salt; and saute for about five minutes.
3.) Add the garlic and stir well.
4.) Add the potatoes and vegetable stock, cover, and bring to a boil. Then let it simmer for about 20 minutes.
5.) Add the parsley and cilantro right before blending the soup. 
6.) Turn off the stove, and use a blender to blend the soup. I did this directly in the pot (it was big enough). (The recipe described to do it cup by cup in a separate dish - I just didn't see the point, and saved in doing an extra dish.) 

The soup is ready and waiting for me to be eaten at lunch time! I tasted it and I can't wait.

And tomorrow, I will make my ice cream - and I will share the recipe then. 

Back To Weirdness

Okay, I have a confession to make. Someone who just visits my blog today or tomorrow might get the idea that I am a 'hardcore' Vegan. And I was.... for a while.

But I have to confess that since the baby was born... not so much anymore.

And here is why: 

I became a Vegan about five years ago, after going through cancer. It was for health reasons only. Nothing more deep than that. Just for my body which had to fight one of the most terrible diseases here on earth. I wanted to treat this vessel of mine a little nicer than I had in the past. And I loved it.

So why change something that worked so well?

Over the time, I missed certain things. Things that I loved from my childhood or that I was simply craving. So when I was facing having a newborn again, I thought it would be a good time to make a few changes - for a short period of time. I felt I needed more energy, hence my intake of protein had to go waayyy up.

I became a Vegetarian again, something that I had been for a very looong time before cancer and Veganism entered my brain. So I enjoyed come cheese! On a cheese pizza, some cheese sandwiches, and grilled cheese. Yummy. I also dove into real ice cream. Yeah. It was so good. I enjoyed a nice Carvel ice cream cake for my birthday. And I am looking forward to eat some regular cupcakes for my birthday party. I ate raviolis and tortellinis. Okay, okay, before you get too hungry while reading, I'll stop - I am sure you get the idea....

And now that I have done so for the over three months, I am ready to go back to my more healthy eating habits again. I got an ice cream maker for my birthday, and a book for Vegan ice creams, so I am very much looking forward to make lots of those!!! This will be MUCH cheaper than buying Vegan ice cream in the store. And it's less limited. Around 200 delicious recipes for all kinds of ice creams. The peanut butter kind is chillin' while I am typing this - and I will share it tomorrow with friends.

Also before the holidays start, I would like to slim my waist line again (much needed!). I have not set a particular date, but I know I want to start with the Daniel's diet.
As a matter of fact, that is how I started five years ago. It felt so good. If you would like to know more about it, please click the following link: Daniel's Diet. It is so cleansing. And when I did this for the first time, I figured Veganism is not that bad.....

And yes, this also means that I will start running again. Baby is sleeping through the night and it will get cooler again in the morning. I am ready....

Cheers to a new start of being UN-normal once again!

Blessing someone else

This blog is about me and my family and our journey together and our many blessings in this life. In a children song that we often play in the car, it says something like 'stand still and count your blessings, you'll be surprised at how many they are'. Very deep for a kid's song. Yet so true. I am constantly writing about how blessed I feel and we truly are!

So I want to share once again how blessed I feel but this time to bless someone else. My neighbor just had a baby - I wrote a birth story on it! So when I asked her what I can do for her, her requests were to cook for her. I thought I don't hear right - me, cooking? Have you not heard me when I said I don't like cooking? Have you not read my story on 'Daily struggle with dinner'?
So I told her I will see what I can do. I mean I can do errands for you, I can take the older kid and watch them for you, I can even clean the house for you if necessary. But cook?

When I got home, I thought to myself that she needs me for this particular thing, so I better get my act together. And after all, this does not involve any meat cooking. I can do Vegan, right? SO when I shopped for us, I shopped a little more than usual. And I started cooking. Vegan. The first day, I came with a small dish of lentil soup, not knowing what she would think of it. She liked it. Okay, I can do this. The second day, I came with a dish of mushrooms and couscous. She liked it even better. OKay, I think by now I was on a roll and I actually enjoyed it. First of all, someone needs me, so I better get to it, and second of all, she likes my cooking. One-dish-meals are the best and I eat them for myself all the time! Just the hubby and my son don't like it much.... I have to train them better, I guess....

To make a long story short, I provided five meals for her for the entire last week. I even baked a cake. I went shopping twice. And I took her daughter out one day, so she gets out of the house. And you know what - it felt soooo good! Just to be needed and to be there. For an honor to help. I loved it and I even loved the cooking. I am still getting my glass containers back, one at a time, and each time it reminds me of someone actually liking my food. How cool?

Now I have more confidence in cooking. Actually, I even have figured out how to make it every day with much less struggle. I talk to the Hubby and ask him what he wants. This is what I had been waiting for. So we are planning together! Yippy. Then I prepare everything possible when Peanut is taking her nap. Coqui is good at playing by himself for a while, though he will interrupt me occasionally. But it seems to work. SO either, I just have to warm it up for dinner, or I cook it then quickly on the grill when we come home from our afternoon activity.

Thank you, neighbor!

Mud Pie – Vegan Chocolate Cake

(I would call it Brownies)

My aunt recently asked me for a brownie recipe. She has tried multiple ones that are all too dry - she doesn't like it. So she wants a wet Brownie recipe. I can help with that. And it is even healthier than the regular mixes. So here is a Vegan recipe that I found and tried out and edited a little to my liking. Yummy....

Ingredients

• 1 ½ cups flour
• 1 cup sugar
• ½ cup cocoa powder, unsweetened
• 1 tsp. baking soda
• ½ tsp. salt
• ⅓ cup oil (= 5 Tbsp. oil)--> I prefer using 3 T applesauce + 2 T oil (!)
  
• 1 cup water
• 1 tbsp. vinegar
• 1 tsp. vanilla extract

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 F
2. Put all ingredients in one bowl and mix it all together until smooth
3. Pour mixture into greased 9” cake pan
4. Bake for 10-12 min.
5. Let cool, cut into 15 pieces

Three Bean Salad - Vegan of course

A friend of mine has asked me for this recipe for a while, so here it is:

I created this on my own. because when I looked at other bean salads, or Mexican salads, I always missed something or didn't like some ingredients. So my own creation is really combining a couple of those recipes into one that I like. Also because I go nuts for edamame. It adds great protein value and color. It tastes delicious.

Ingredients:
1 cup red kidney beans, rinsed and drained
1 cup black beans, rinsed and drained
1 cup edamame, thawed and rinsed and drained
1/2 cup water
1 medium tomato, chopped
1 medium onion (red), chopped
1/2 green (and/or red and yellow) pepper, chopped
2 tablespoons minced fresh basil, or a tablespoon dried basil
2 tablespoons minced fresh parsley, or 1 tablespoon dried parsley
2 teaspoons lemon juice
2 teaspoons olive oil
1 teaspoon balsamic vinegar
1 clove crushed garlic
1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper

Directions:
Combine all above ingredients in a large bowl, stir, cover and refrigerate for about four hours. It is not a must, but having it soak up the sauce/dressing for a little while is a good idea, just for a better taste.

How and why I became a Free-gan

Well, I am sure, first of all you might wonder what a free-gan is. I heard the term a while ago and it is really what I am, rather than the Vegan that I called myself. I goggled the word and found quite alot of definitions AND they have nothing to do with what I heard and would think I AM ABOUT..... The word's meaning comes simply from being a Vegan with a more free attitude to the food that I consume. Which is mostly from the Vegan diet, but occasionally I am 'cheating' - but I don't like the bad taste of the word cheating. I chose to become Vegan exclusively for my own health, not for animals rights or something. I mean, don't get me wrong, I don't like animals to suffer and the thoughts of animals being used for testing kind of irritates me, but I am not saying they are not suppose to be killed for consumption. I do believe that God gave us the animals for that reason.

So what am I saying after all this? I am a Vegan that eats mostly Vegan food. But after trying to follow it strictly, I decided that I want to add some stuff that I enjoy. For instance, I am eating fish. I started loving fish when I became a vegetarian. The reason for that was simply health reasons (after the cancer) and my taste. I just don't like meats. So I was a pesci-vegetarian.

The definition for Veganism (also known as strict vegetarianism or pure vegetarianism), as defined by the Vegan Society, is "a philosophy and way of living which seeks to exclude — as far as is possible and practical — all forms of exploitation of, and cruelty to, animals for food, clothing, or any other purpose." So for those possible and practical reasons, I reintroduced some foods that I find beneficial for my health. Including fish. The fat is so healthy and it makes me feel good when I eat it. SO I figured why not? It was my personal choice in the first place, so I am free to chose what I do with it on the long-run.
Then there are those times when I crave something, like from my childhood, and why should I not satisfy my hunger for it? I try to limit it as much as possible. But life is supposed to be enjoyed, also with food.

Finally a Vegan cake recipe that I like

... and it's so easy! Where has it been so long?
I've tried a number of cookie recipe but they all came out flat and way too crisp. So I had given up on baking for a little while. But because we had to celebrate so many half-birthdays this month, I had to bake. Usually I make a box cake - because Coqui can help me. You know, just add the water, the oil and the eggs and mix....

Well, so I asked my neighbor, who is Vegan, if she had some easy recipes. And there is a story to it too. She just told me that the original recipe was called 'goofy cake' and comes from the depression times when things like milk and eggs where expensive. So they had to improvise with things that were available to them at the time. As so happens, all those things are Vegan....

Here is the recipe:

(bake for 350*F for 30-35 min.)

1 1/2 cup flour (1 cup white + 1/2 cup whole wheat)
1 cup dehydrated sugar cane juice AKA sugar (preferably the healthiest you have)
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon sea salt

combine separately, then add to above mixture:
1 cup warm water
5 tablespoon oil (subbing with apple sauce!!! - but makes it rubbery)
so the best: 2 T oil + 3 T apple sauce
1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar (but any vinegar works)
1/2 teaspoon almond or vanilla extract

pour batter into an 8x8 glass baking dish
bake for 30-35 min. (check if toothpick pulls clean)

You can add anything you want! Really. I tried nuts, fruits, apples, even raisins or whatever you like....