French Toast

We love French toast at our house. When I went out to eat at a place that had French toast, I always ordered it. I went looking for a vegan version that was straight-forward and tasty. I found one from Minimalist Baker. 

Ingredients:
1 Tbsp ground chia seeds
1/2 Tbsp agave syrup
1 cup unsweetened vanilla almond milk
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
dash nutmeg
1/2 tsp vanilla extract 
vegan butter for greasing pan
4-6 slices of French bread, sliced 1/2 - 1 inch thick

Directions:

1. Use a whisk to mix the ground chia seeds, agave syrup, milk, cinnamon, nutmeg, and vanilla together. Place in the refrigerator for 15 minutes.
2. Slice the bread (if you haven't already.)
3. Preheat a griddle over medium heat, and melt butter.
4. Place the slices of bread into the milk mixture for about 30 seconds per side.
5. Transfer to the warm and buttered griddle. Cook each side until golden brown (on griddle side), a couple minutes per side.
6. Top with desired topping, I have granola and maple syrup in this picture.

Notes:

Other toppings we enjoy are whipped topping, peanut butter, and fruit.

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)

Hot Naked Pasta

This recipe came out of a book I had long ago. We used to serve it as one of our meatless meals.

Ingredients:
1 lb angel hair pasta (you can use 1 lb any kind of pasta you like)
2 Tbsp basil
2 tsp sea salt
1 Tbsp olive oil
Parmesan cheese to taste (optional)

Directions:

1. Cook pasta according to package directions.
2. Once drained and rinsed, toss with olive oil, sea salt, and basil.

Notes:

• As is, it is vegan. However, you can cook up some chicken and serve with chicken.

Curried Turkey Burger Sliders with Cucumber Yogurt Sauce

We got this recipe when we subscribed to Clean Eating Magazine. 

Ingredients:
1 egg white
1/3 cup coarsely grated apple, left unpeeled
1/4 cup minced or coarsely grated red onion
3 tbsp ground flaxseed
1 tbsp curry paste or powder
2 tsp minced fresh ginger
Sea salt and fresh ground black pepper, to taste
2 tsp lemon juice, divided
1 tsp ground coriander, divided
1 lb lean ground turkey (or lean ground chicken)
1/2 cup nonfat plain Greek yogurt
1/2 cup peeled and grated cucumber, drained
Olive oil cooking spray
8 oz whole-wheat naan bread, cut into 24 2-inch squares or rounds

Directions:

1. In a large bowl, combine egg white, apple, onion, flaxseed, curry, ginger, salt, pepper, 1 tsp lemon juice and 1/2 tsp coriander. Mix in turkey and shape into 12 1/2-inch-thick mini burger patties.
2. In a small bowl, combine yogurt, cucumber, salt, pepper and remaining 1 tsp lemon juice and 1/2 tsp coriander. Set aside.
3. Heat a nonstick grill pan or large nonstick skillet on medium-high and mist with cooking spray. Cook patties, turning once, until meat is no longer pink in center, about 5 minutes. 
4. Top patties with cucumber yogurt, dividing evenly, and sandwich between 2 squares naan bread.

Notes:

• We actually cook them in olive oil rather than the cooking spray, which I'm sure brings the flavor down by a whole bunch.
• You can also grill them, which we've done as well. However, if you grill them be careful that they do not stick to the grill or slide through the grates.
• As a meal, serves 4.

Alton's Crepes

We have a couple crepe recipes. This one is Alton Brown's of the Food Network. I like our other recipe better. This one is a little harder to work with in the actual cooking of the crepe process.

Ingredients
2 large eggs
3/4 cup milk
1/2 cup water
1 cup flour
3 tablespoons melted butter
Butter, for coating the pan

Savory Variation: 

1/4 teaspoon salt  

1/4 cup chopped fresh herbs, spinach or sun-dried tomatoes

Sweet Variation: 

21/2 tablespoons sugar 

1 teaspoon vanilla extract 

2 tablespoons of your favorite liqueur 

Directions:
In a blender, combine all of the ingredients and pulse for 10 seconds. Place the crepe batter in the refrigerator for 1 hour. This allows the bubbles to subside so the crepes will be less likely to tear during cooking. The batter will keep for up to 48 hours.

Heat a small non-stick pan. Add butter to coat. Pour 1 ounce of batter into the center of the pan and swirl to spread evenly. Cook for 30 seconds and flip. Cook for another 10 seconds and remove to the cutting board. Lay them out flat so they can cool. Continue until all batter is gone. After they have cooled you can stack them and store in sealable plastic bags in the refrigerator for several days or in the freezer for up to two months. When using frozen crepes, thaw on a rack before gently peeling apart.


Notes:

• For your filling, you can do an egg and sausage or a sweet with berries and sugar. Try your own flavor combinations.

Super Easy Roast Chicken

This is truly super easy. What you need is the ability to put the chicken into the oven a couple hours before dinner. 

Ingredients:
~ 5 pound chicken
olive oil or butter
garlic salt
pepper
thyme
sage

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 325o F.
2. Rinse chicken and remove giblets package.
3. Rub olive oil or soft butter, then garlic salt, pepper, thyme, and sage on chicken.
4. Place additional butter or oil on bottom of roasting dish, then place chicken in dish.
5. Cover with foil. 
6. Cook 2 - 2 1/2 hours or so until internal temperature reaches 165o F.
7. Remove the foil for the last 20 minutes to brown the chicken.
8. When the chicken is done, remove from oven and let sit 5-10 minutes before carving.

Beef Hash

We used to make this all the time after having a beef roast. When the kids were small, we never finished a whole roast, and hash is a great use of leftovers, whether you had a corned beef roast, crockpot chuck roast, or plain old potroast. 

Ingredients:
leftover beef roast, shredded
1 can whole kernal corn, drained
1/2 - 1 onion
frozen cubed hash brown potatoes
vegetable or canola oil

Directions:

1. Brown the frozen hash browns according to instructions.
2. Meanwhile, dice onion, and brown in oil. Once soft, transfer to a bowl and set aside.
3. In the same pan as the onions, start to heat the shredded beef and corn. Add the onions. When the hash browns are done, add them to the pot. Heat through.

Notes:

• This can be done vegan just by substituting beefless vegan meat for the shredded roast. I skipped the beef when this was made for the vegan.

Cream Scones

Originally called "Cream Biscuits," these are more scone-like. Actually quite easy to make.

Ingredients:

3 cups all-purpose flour

2 Tbsp. Sugar

1 tsp. Baking powder

¼ tsp. Salt

2 cups heavy (whipping) cream

extra cream or milk, for brushing (optional)

grated cheese, fresh or frozen berries, chocolate chunks (optional)

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 400ºF.
2. In a medium bowl, stir together the flour, sugar, baking powder and salt. If you like, add a handful of grated sharp cheese, some fresh or frozen berries, chocolate chunks or other additions. Add the cream and stir just until the dough comes together. 
3. On a lightly floured surface, knead the dough a few times, then pat into a circule about an inch thick.
4. Cut into wedges and transfer onto a parchment-lined baking sheet; if you like, brush the tops with milk or extra cream and sprinkle with coarse sugar. 
5. Bake for 15-20 minutes, or until golden. Serve warm.

Notes:

• Makes 8-10 biscuits.