Pampered Chef Vegan Cooking Show

Here's Marliece setting up the party in my home. I met her through a vegan meet-up group (click here to find/start a group), we got to talking, and I became interested in hosting one of her cooking shows.



We decided on a veganized version of the 'Chipotle Ck*n Cornbread Cups'




1 c. grated vegan cheddar cheese
1 c. cornmeal
1 tbsp. sugar
1 1/4 c. Tofutti sour cream
1/4 c. all-purpose flour
2 tbsp Chipotle Rub (PC item)
1 small red bell pepper, finely diced
1-2 green onions, thinly sliced
1 1/2 c. finely diced cooked ck*n (Morning Star Meal Starters Chik'n Strips)


1. Preheat *350. Combine cheez, cornmeal, sugar, 1 c. sour cream, flour and 1 tbsp. of the rub to form a thick batter.

2. Spray mini-muffin pan with nonstick spray. Divide batter evenly among the cups, and bake 15 minutes until golden brown.

3. Saute bell pepper. Add ck*n and remaining rub and heat through. Combine ck*n mixture, green onions, 1/4 c. sour cream in a small bowl.


4. Remove muffins from oven and quickly press tops to form cups. Cool. Divide ck*n mixture evenly among cups. Top with additional sour cream and sprinkle with cilantro if desired.


The party was fun, the food yummy, conversation casual, and check out this kitchen booty I received. . .



Mini Muffin Pan
Mini Tart Shaper
Season's Best Recipe Book
Prep Bowl Set
Food Chopper
Mini Loaf Stoneware Pan
Sweet Cinnamon & Chipotle Rub

all this for $28, which is less than the price of the chopper alone! Not bad, eh? :)

Sifting

I've been getting my money's worth out of this flour sifter I found at a garage sale.

It's a simple, fun, and helpful task that gets the girls involved.

Following is a look at what's been the result of all that sifting....





'Berry Oat Squares' from La Dolce Vegan!

I used some of my apricot-pineapple jam along with frozen blueberries for the filling, which was a tasty combo.
I guess this looked too healthy for my girls, and they wouldn't even try one, so I ate them all myself! I don't suggest this. Instead, make them when there's others to partake because you just can't stop 'til they're gone.



'Banana Bread' from The Damn tasty Vegan Baking Guide!

I added a handful of chocolate chips because it draws interest from the girls. This was good and we enjoyed it warm from the oven, though it seemed too moist to enjoy later that day. I used a silicone non-stick and perhaps that's the reason? Or maybe it just needed a bit more time to cook? Or, I over-filled the pan? Who knows! :)


'Banana Chocolate Chip Muffins' from The Joy of Vegan Baking.

Can you tell I like this flavor combo? This recipe is perfect for using up ripe bananas, taking four. I had 3 large bananas, and instead of mashing them, I pureed for a consistent texture. These muffins were perfectly delicious, and the whole family enjoyed them. I'll be making these again soon.



'Chocolate and Vanilla Marble Cupcakes' from Vegan Cupcakes Take Over The World.

These were fun to make, and a bit messy. I'm a competitior, and read the text, "Add both to the cupcake liner at the same time, side by side. Some people may not have the hand-eye coordination to do this (as easy as it sounds)...." to be a challenge! lol! Here is my handywork before clean-up. :)



'Chocolate Mousse Topping' from VCTOTW crowns them.

Silken tofu makes for the most luscious & light topping, along with providing a nice shot of protein from an unsuspected source.
I made them for Art's birthday last month. We both thought they were good enough, but nobody took the last one, and I probably won't make them again unless I need some coordination training. :)


I had a cookie recipe in mind, so first I needed to prepare the cookie sheets.

I like to alternate stacking cookie sheets and parchment paper. The top cookie sheet serves as a guide to trim excess paper, and also weighs down and conforms the papers so they don't slip as easily.





'Oatmeal Raisin Cookies' from The Joy of Vegan Baking are a delectable classic.

I didn't have oat bran, so added more of the rolled oats which worked out well for me. The rest of the recipe was by the book, and I used our favorite golden raisins. It yielded 3 dozen cookies using my medium scoop, and I shared a couple dozen with my neighbors. I enclosed lists of the ingredients, and I wonder if they'll notice there's no dairy?

To tally it up, that's 4 recipes tried, and 4 outstanding successes from this cookbook. With that track record, I feel comfortable trying recipes out on guests! Anybody else experiencing the Joy? :)

It's Cherry Season!

The G'parents were visiting from California over the Father's Day weekend, and we decided to go pick cherries. This was the first time picking fruit from trees (other than the backyard variety) for my city in-laws, but this brought back fond childhood memories for me. I would hang-out at the top of the ladder, picking & eating all my tummy could hold as a youth in my uncle's orchards. My mother would fill the bathtub with our bounty waiting to be canned, frozen, or dried.



I was only able to get two lame photos before my battery died, which I'll include just because they remind me of the experience. This is when we first arrived, eventually Cliff grabbed a bucket and filled it up, as did Art and myself. Some of the trees were so heavy with fruit the branches hung low enough for the girls to pick, which produced some red faces, hands, and shirts. None of us could resist snacking on the cherries! As one of the few fruits with true seasonality, the cherry's fleeting presence makes it all the more sweet to eat. So don't let cherry season pass you by.

I had to run to Williams-Sonoma to get a cherry pitter to help with the task. It's a handy (& necessary) tool that cost $12 -- well worth it, and it also works on olives. One by one I extracted the pit from 20 pounds of cherries! (they only cost $22)

I froze 10 bags with 3 cups of cherries each, and still had some fresh cherries to use in recipes and just eat plain.



For breakfast, I made 'Mocha Chip Muffins' from Vegan with a Vengeance (p. 51) and simply added about a half cup chopped cherries.

I raised the "chocolate bar" by using Zen Soy chocolate pudding and chocolate Silk.

These muffins were enjoyed by all, and I really love the combo of sweet juicy cherries and semi-sweet chocolate.



I wish you could smell this aroma, which was even more fragrant than the orchard from which they came. I wanted to make something that featured cherries, used few ingredients, and was easy to make. This is the beginning of my
'Cherry Pie Filling'
4 c. fresh pitted Cherries
1/2 C. Water
1/2 C. Sugar
2 Tbsp. Arrowroot Powder

In a saucepan, bring the cherries and water to boil. In a separate bowl, mix the sugar and arrowroot powder, add that to boiling cherries until thickened. Cool in the fridge.

I put one tablespoon of the cherry filling in puff pastry squares, folded them over, sealed with water and a fork pinch, & then baked for about 12 minutes.

G'pa enjoyed his Father's Day dessert with a scoop of So Delicious vanilla.






The girls painted t-shirts for dad & g'pa, who wore them to the antique car show downtown.

This weekend, Art's CA band, The Scumbagz, will be in town playing a fundraiser for Boise Community Radio and the ACLU of Idaho. Several other local bands will also be performing and Art will be DJing as well. I plan to prepare some food for the band (one is vegetarian and the others are open minded) and I hope they like it. I'd love to hear your "band munchies" suggestions! and, I have some left-over, frozen cherry filling -- Any ideas? I hope you have a fabulous weekend, and I think I'll have some time to blog hop to your place while the band records in Art's home studio. Until then, keep cooking & sharing vegan food! Happy Summer Solstice! (The first day of summer & longest day of the year)

Spelt Biscuits

I had planned on making 'Spelt Biscuits' from Vegan Lunch Box (pg.80) for Thanksgiving, but simply ran out of time. The thought of them lingered, so I made them for lunch the next day to serve with another round of left-overs. We used the donut & (my favorite) little heart cookie cutter.









A rolling pin & cookie cutters are Liv's favorite kitchen gadgets -- this was a fun activity for her.
Jennifer McCann is totally right - these biscuits come together in a flash in the food processor. Her recipe calls for "white spelt flour" as well as "whole wheat spelt flour" -- I've never seen the distinction before, have you? At our Co-op, it's just "spelt flour." So I only used that & it worked just fine. We'll be making these easy & tasty biscuits again.




I wanted to share a photo of our Little Drummer Girl. With a Daddy like Art, Liv & Abi are constantly around music & instruments -- so when we go to The Guitar Center, it's fun to see folks gather around to watch the girls demo their instruments! :o)

Creamy Hummus

There are some dishes I can make without a recipe -- one is guacamole and another is hummus. I've made hummus countless times and enjoy experimenting with different flavors. Recently, I bought Tahini for the first time and decided to follow Dreena's recipe from Vive le Vegan! for hummus since I had all the supplies on hand.







I didn't have as much lemon as I would have liked, so I substituted Lemon Essence Perrier for the water and think that the bubbly made it light & fluffy.

The hummus was super delicious! The whole family liked it. The next day, it was even more tasty, so I put some hummus on black bread and used my new Cut-N-Seal to make little pocket sandwiches.

Pampered Chef

My friend had a pampered chef party recently, and I received my order last night. Each item comes with a "use and care/recipe cards" insert which I'll highlight:

1. Pastry Blender -- Includes a "perfect pie crust" recipe. Says it's also handy for mixing streusel toppings and mashing avocados for guacamole. Will not rust & is dishwasher safe.

2. Flour/Sugar Shaker -- Includes recipes for simple shortbread buttons, powdered sunshine kisses, and cinnamon tostada chips. Also gives 3 simple shaker toppers (cinnamon sugar, Mexican cinnamon sugar, & crazy colored sugar). Uses for the shaker include: celery salt, colored sugar, flour, unsweetened cocoa powder, coffee drink mixes, etc.

3. Cut-N-Seal -- Hot or cold pocket sandwiches, appetizers, pastries and tarts. This tool cuts, seals and crimps the filling between two layers of bread, pastry or other type of dough. Recipes include: Petite Pizza Puffs, Apple Cranberry Tarts, Cherry Turnovers, & Sandwiches. Cold filling ideas: Peanut butter & jelly, Spinach dip, Veggie Meat. Hot filling ideas: Pizza, broccoli & cheese, pie filling, smart ground.

4. Medium Scoop -- This heavy duty scoop is the right size for portioning muffin batter into mini-muffin cups, creating falafel balls, mellon balls, or scooping perfect size cookies. They include a recipe for Chocolate Chip Peanut Butter Cookies.

5. Twixit! Clip Combo Pack -- These clips provide a sure seal for all types of bags and are safe in the freezer, microwave or "boil in" bags. There are 10 multicolored clips in the package - 2 giant, 4 large, & 4 small. Creative uses: clip strings of tea bags together for brewing large amounts, launder delicates in a pillowcase closed with a clip, help squeeze toothpaste out of the tube, fill a damp cloth with ice and close with a clip to create an ice pack, and seal bread, frozen vegetables, chips, etc.