Entree: Sausage with Pasta and Vegetable

A yummy, fairly quick, one-dish meal. This is vegan. There is an alternative version available here.

Ingredients:
4 Field Roast sausage (your preferred flavor)
12 oz pasta of your choice (we used tri-color rotini)
1/2 pound or so of vegetable of your choice (asparagus and broccoli both work well)
dash of vegan parmesan or nutritional yeast (optional)

Directions:

1. Steam the vegetables. 
2. Cook pasta according to directions. 
3. Fry sausage in a pan until nice and brown. 
4. Combine cooked pasta, meat, vegetables and the nutritional yeast to the pan. Heat over medium until heated through.

Notes:

Williams Sonoma Buttermilk Waffles

Waffles are the best! We have several waffle recipes on this blog. This one is a slightly more difficult recipe because you have to whip egg whites to stiff peaks. You'll want to google that if you don't know how first. I'm not able to explain that here.

The waffles are naked in this picture because I wasn't sure you wanted to see the peanut butter, syrup, and Cool Whip concoction they became. However, those are great toppings, alone or together, for waffles. Berries are a nice touch, too.

Ingredients:
2 eggs, separated
1 cup buttermilk
5 Tbsp unsalted butter, melted
1/4 tsp vanilla extract
1 cup all-purpose flour (or 1/2 cup wheat to 1/2 cup cake flour)
1 tsp baking powder
3/4 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
2 Tbsp sugar

Directions:

1. Preheat a waffle iron according to the manufacturer's instructions.
2. In a large bowl, whisk the egg yolks. Whisk in the buttermilk, butter, and vanilla until blended. 
3. On a sheet of waxed paper, sift together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and sugar.
4. Add the flour mixture to the yolk mixture and whisk until smooth.
5. In another bowl, whisk the egg whites until stiff peaks form. 
6. Using a rubber spatula, fold 1/2 cup of the egg whites into the batter, then carefully fold in the remaining whites.
7. Cook in the waffle maker according to manufacturer directions and your preferred crispness.
8. Keep warm in an oven at 200 degrees until serving, or serve immediately with toppings!

Surprise Muffins! (vegan)

These are the surprise muffins from four years ago - only now vegan! Super yummy, everyone in the house ate them.


Ingredients:
6 Tbsp. Earth Balance or Nucoa
¾ cup (vegan) sugar
2 flax eggs - 1 Tbsp ground flax mixed with 3 Tbsp water each, mixed and set aside
½ cup almond milk
2.5 cups strawberries or blueberries, fresh or frozen (defrosted)
Food coloring, optional
2 cups all-purpose flour
¼ tsp. salt
1 Tbsp. baking powder
strawberry or blueberry jam or vegan kisses/hugs/chocolate


Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. In a large bowl, cream the butter and sugar. Mix in the flax eggs, one at a time, and add the milk.
2. Rinse the berries and cut off the green stem. Mash the berries with a potato masher or puree in a blender. Then stir the berries into the butter and milk mixture. TIP: For muffins with a more pink color, add a few drops of red liquid food coloring.
3. In a separate bowl, sift the flour, salt and baking powder. Stir well. Add the flour mixture to the berry mixture. Use a wooden spoon to stir until all the white disappears.
4. Line the muffin tin with paper liners. Drop the batter from a tablespoon to fill the cups halfway.
5. Add a surprise: an small amount of chocolate or ½ teaspoon of jam. Then spoon more batter to fill almost to the top.
6. Bake until the muffins begin to brown and a toothpick inserted near the center (but not in the Kiss) comes out clean, about 20-25 minutes.
7. Remove the muffins from the tin and cool. 

Other Details:

• Makes 12 muffins. 
• These were originally supposed to be Valentine's Surprise Muffins. You can make these more Halloween-friendly by using a different berry (perhaps blueberries) and/or using food coloring to your preference. 

Vegan Cinnamon Waffles

We love waffles at our house! We've had several waffle-irons over the years, square, round, Belgian, 1950s-style. Obviously, whatever type of waffle iron you have will dictate what your waffles look like. And you can cook them to your spec - soft, crispy, however. These are a modification of the Minimalist Baker's 7 Ingredient Vegan Gluten Free waffles.

The image is of plain waffles, because it also depends on what you want to put on them. I wanted to eat mine, so I took the photo before I got them dressed.

Ingredients:
1 1/4 cup unsweetened almond milk + 1 tsp white or apple cider vinegar
1/4 cup canola oil
1/4 cup agave nectar
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 cup (heaping) rolled oats
1 3/4 cup all-purpose flour
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp cinnamon
pinch kosher salt

Directions:

1. Combine almond milk and vinegar in a small mixing bowl and set for a few minutes to curdle. Then add oil, agave nectar, and vanilla extract and whisk together. Set aside.
2. Add dry ingredients to a large mixing bowl and whisk until well combined.
3. Add wet ingredients to dry and mix until well incorporated. Test batter for sweetness and flavor. Add more agave or vanilla extract if desired.
4. Preheat your waffle iron.
5. Once heated, coat waffle iron with non-stick spray, and fill waffle iron with as much batter as necessary (start with 1/2 cup). Cook according to your waffle makers instructions to your preferred soft/crispness.
6. Remove from waffle iron, and place on a baking rack in a 200 degree oven to keep warm, if necessary. Keep waffles in a single layer to prevent sogginess.
7. Serve immediately with desired toppings, such as berries, maple syrup, peanut butter, or jam. 

Notes:

• You can freeze these, and reheat in the toaster or a 400 degree oven. Best within a couple weeks, they will keep for up to a couple months.
• Prep time: 15 minutes
• Cook time: 15 minutes
• Total time: 30 minutes

Dessert: Soft & Chewy Chocolate Drops

These cookies are not hard to make. They are easy to mix up, make the drops, make the glaze and glaze them. Just be sure to plan for the hour in the refrigerator.

Ingredients:
Cookies:
4 squares (4 oz) unsweetened baking chocolate
¾ cup (1-1/2 sticks) butter
2 cups sugar
3 eggs
1 tsp. vanilla
2-1/2 cups flour
Glaze:
1 tub (8 oz) frozen cool whip whipped topping
6 squares (6 oz) semi-sweet baking chocolate


Directions:
Cookies: 

1. Preheat oven to 350ºF. Microwave unsweetened chocolate and butter in large microwaveable bowl on HIGH 2 minutes or until butter is melted. Stir until chocolate is completely melted. 
2. Add sugar; mix well. 
3. Blend in eggs and vanilla. Add flour; mix well. 
4. Cover and refrigerate 1 hour or until dough is easy to handle.
5. Shape dough into 1-inch balls; place 2 inches apart, on greased baking sheets.
6. Bake 8 min or just until set. (Do not overbake.) 
7. Let stand on baking sheet 1 min; transfer to wire racks. 
8. Cool completely.

Glaze: 

1. Place frozen whipped topping and semi-sweet chocolate in microwaveable bowl. Microwave on HIGH 1-1/2 minutes or until chocolate is completely melted and mixture is shiny and smooth, stirring after 1 min. 
2. Let stand 15 minute to thicken. 
3. Spread over cookies. 
4. Let stand until glaze is set.

Notes:

• Makes 5 dozen or 30 servings, 2 cookies each.
• Prep: 20 min Total: 1 hour 20 min (incl. refrigerating)