VGF Lemon Cake

I rarely meet my own expectations when it comes to cooking. Sure, the things I make taste good, but they almost never taste exactly as I had imagined. This cake is one of those exceptions. I can't do it justice in words, so you'll just have to try it yourself to see what I mean. This recipe makes two dozen cupcakes or two 10in rounds.

Vegan Gluten-Free Lemon Cake (adapted from Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World)

1 can coconut milk (not light)

2t apple cider vinegar

1c vegan butter (you could also use canola oil)

1 1/2c sugar

1t vanilla

zest of 1 lemon

juice from 1 lemon

3T tapioca starch (you could use cornstarch or potato starch)

1 1/2t baking powder

1t baking soda

/2 t salt

1c oat flour

1c sorghum flour

1/2c white rice flour

water (1/2cish)

Directions:

1) Preheat the oven to 350.

2)Pour the milk into a bowl and add the apple cider vinegar. Mix and let sit for a few minutes.

3) Melt the butter and mix it, the sugar and the vanilla into the coconut milk mixture. Add the lemon zest and juice.

4) Add the dry ingredients and mix. I usually add everything but the flour and mix, then add the flours.

5) Mix in water until the batter is decently thin - I find thinner batter rises better.

6) Bake for 20 minutes (I didn't actually time it) - when it looks done and a toothpick comes out clean, leave it in for a few more minutes. It's a very moist cake, so if you want it drier leave it in longer.

7) Let it cool, then top with lemon glaze (recipe below). Wait for the glaze to set before serving.

Lemon Glaze

2c powdered sugar

1T non-dairy milk

1T lemon juice

2T corn syrup (next time I'll try agave)

Mix all the ingredients together. These measurements are guesses - taste it and see if it needs more of anything. It shouldn't be too runny, but too thick and it's impossible to spread. Just play around with it until it works.

Rainbow Cake Roll

I got the idea for this cake roll here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vBvo7RVSEvk
Unfortunately that roll is extremely not vegan (5 eggs and 3 types of dairy), but I was determined! My biggest worry was that the cake needs to be very sturdy, and vegan, gluten-free things sometimes have difficulty with staying together. Not to worry - chia seeds to the rescue! I actually think I used too many (3tbsp), so this recipe has fewer, but feel free to experiment. Also, be warned, this recipe uses quite a few dishes.

Vegan Gluten-free Rainbow Cake Roll Recipe
2tbsp chia seeds in 1/2c water (I used whole chia seeds, you could also use ground)

3tbsp other egg replacer (I used 1tbsp each of potato starch, arrowroot and tapioca starch) in 6tbsp water

1c vegan butter, room temperature
1 1/2c sugar
1c almond milk plus extra
1tsp vanilla extract
1/4tsp almond extract

1c tapioca flour
1/2c corn flour
1/2c white rice flour
1/2c sorghum flour
2t xanthum gum
salt
1tsp baking powder
1tsp baking soda

Rainbow food coloring

Vegan Cream Cheese Frosting
1/4c vegan cream cheese
1/4c vegan butter, room temperature
1/4tsp vanilla extract
3c powdered sugar (this is a guess, I just add until it's a good consistency

Directions 
Preheat the oven to 375.

Soak the chia seeds in the water. In a food processor, blend the other egg replacer ingredients with water; ideally it should start to look foamy, but it might not. Cream the butter and sugar with a hand mixer. Add the almond milk and extracts and cream some more. Add both the egg replacer mixtures and mix with a spoon. Mix together the flours, xanthum gum, salt and baking powder in a separate bowl, then add them to the batter and mix. You might need to add more almond milk to get a thinner batter; the chia seeds seem to soak up quite a bit of liquid.

Once you have a good consistency, separate the batter into 6 different bowls and color them. Using plastic bags, pipe the colors in order onto a pan lined with parchment paper in rainbow order. You can do straight stripes like in the video, or diagonals like mine. I made a 9x12 cake, and had enough extra batter to make 7 rainbow cupcakes.

Bake at 375 for 15ish minutes, until it looks solid and a toothpick comes out clean. The cake might puff up a lot, but it will shrink a bit while cooling. Flip the cake onto another piece of parchment paper and roll it up while it's still warm, then make the frosting.

Cream together the butter, cream cheese and vanilla with a hand mixer. Add powdered sugar until the frosting is the consistency you want; you can add more cream cheese, butter, or even nondairy milk if necessary.

When the cake is cool, unroll it, then frost the inside, and roll it back up. I cut mine in half so it would more easily fit on a plate. Enjoy!

Easy Mexican Casserole

As you may have guessed from the title, this recipe is very simple. I almost feel bad posting it as a recipe. Almost. It is very yummy however, so you should try it out.

Ingredients:
1 package corn tortillas
2 cans black beans
2 cans corn
1 large jar salsa (or make your own!)
Tortilla chips
Guacamole and vegan sour cream

Directions:
1) Preheat the oven to 350. Spray a 9x13" (or similar sized) glass pan.
2) Make a layer of corn tortillas - feel free to rip them in half or quarters and overlap a bit to get a nice solid bottom layer. Next add a layer of black beans (1/2 a can), then a layer of corn (1/2 can), and finally a layer of salsa. Repeat four times. Top the casserole with crushed chips.
3) Bake the casserole for 30 minutes. Let cool for at least ten minutes. Top with guacamole and vegan sour cream.

Banana-Nut Cookies for Humans and Dogs

This recipe comes from the Vegan Dog Book. I was delighted to find that this recipe, in addition to being both dog and human-safe, is originally gluten-free!

Cody and Chelsea approve this recipe!

 This is half of the original recipe, and still made probably two hundred small treats (for training), so scale appropriately. Also be careful with ingredients for dogs - the book has a whole section on what you should and should not feed you dogs, and I wouldn't add anything to these without making absolutely sure that your dog can eat it.

Ingredients:
2 small bananas, very ripe
1/4 c natural peanut butter (make sure there is NOTHING but peanuts and peanut oil if you plan on feeding these to dogs - no added sugar or salt or anything)
1/8 c canola oil
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 tsp baking powder
2 1/2 c oat flour
Apple (optional)

Directions:
1)Preheat the oven to 325. Line two cookie sheets with parchment paper.
2) Mash the bananas well with a fork. Add the peanut butter, oil and vanilla and mix well.
3) Add the baking powder and oat flour to the banana mixture and combine well.
4) Take small pieces of dough (I used maybe 1/4 to 1/2 tsp for training treats) and put them on a cookie sheet. Alternatively you can roll out the dough and cut them into fun shapes with cookie cutters - I suggest larger cookies for people.
5) Bake the cookies  for 8-10 minutes. I topped the people cookies with chocolate.
6) Store the cookies in the fridge for up to 7 days. You can also store them in the freezer if you know you won't use that many treats in 7 days.

Cornbread

I have no idea where my mom got this corn bread recipe, but it's been my favorite since I first tried it. It's very simple, but I must commend whoever first thought to use maple syrup as the sweetener. Enjoy!

Ingredients:
2/3 c maple syrup (my mom likes less, so 1/2 c)
1/3 c canola oil
1 c nondairy milk
1 c flour (I'd recommend sorghum or oat flour; you could add some rice or quinoa flour too)
1 c fine cornmeal
1 tbsp baking powder
1 tsp salt

Directions:
1) Preheat the oven to 350. Spray a 9x9" glass pan.
2) Mix the wet ingredients in a bowl. Add the dry ingredients and combine.
3) Pour the batter into the pan and bake for 30 minutes. When it passes the toothpick test it's probably still a bit moist, so you might leave it in a bit longer if you want it drier.

Peanut Butter Chocolate Pretzels

Last Christmas my family and I drove from Chicago to Florida. We stopped at a grocery store in Georgia and I was shocked to find a whole vegan/gluten free/natural foods section, and it was at this store that I discovered Glutino pretzels. Vegan, gluten-free, and totally delicious! And when I recently found the same pretzels at Whole Foods, I decided to make a vegan version of their chocolate-covered pretzels, but better, because they have peanut butter!

Ingredients: 

2-4 c. chocolate chips (depending on how many you use)

1 bag Glutino pretzels

1/2 c peanut butter

2 tbsp powdered sugar

1 tbsp coconut oil

Directions:

1) Pick out the whole pretzels out of the bag. You won't use all of them, but it's good to have a bowl of whole ones. Line a cookie sheet with parchment or wax paper. You'll want a little assembly line of pretzels to chocolate to cookie sheet.

2) Melt a cup of chocolate chips in a double boiler - get a metal bowl that fits nicely in a saucepan, fill the saucepan partly with water and set the whole contraption on the stove and heat it. Mix the chocolate occasionally as it's melting.

3) Drop the pretzels one at a time into the chocolate. Move them around with a fork to get them coated in the chocolate. I usually lift the coated pretzel up and shake it to get the extra chocolate off, then put the pretzel on the cookie sheet.

 4) Once you have all of your chocolate pretzels, put the peanut butter and coconut oil in a small bowl and melt it in the microwave. Stir, and add in the powdered sugar. Drizzle the mixture over the pretzels while still warm, using either a fork or a ziplock bag with a small hole cut in the corner.

So pretty! Each pretzel is about 40 calories, give or take a few depending on how thick your chocolate coating is. And now that you know how to make chocolate-covered things, you might want to try peanut butter patties or peppermint patties.

Hummus - the secret!

Every time I tried to make hummus, it never met my expectations. So I plugged into The Google and came up with some very simple advice that really works! It's not the ingredients so much as the process that give you the perfect consistency. So here is my new recipe for amazing hummus!

Hummus
2 cans chickpeas

1/4 c lemon juice*
1/2 c tahini*
1/4 c water
1 1/2t extra virgin olive oil
1t garlic

*These ingredients are tricky, because they make the taste of the hummus. Fresh lemon juice is best, but bottled is fine in a pinch. The tahini is also super important - some tahini is better than others, but the best advice I can give is to try several brands until you find one you like.

Directions:

1) Drain and rinse the two cans of chickpeas. Put them in a microwave-safe container (you could also do this on the stove) and cover them with water.
2) Microwave the chickpeas for 3 minutes, until they're nice and hot.
3) Drain the chickpeas again. Put them back in the same container, this time with ice water. Let them sit for a few minutes.
4) While watching TV or listening to music, even better if you have a friend to help, carefully pinch the skins of each chickpea. It's a pain in the but, but totally worth it for smooth, delicious hummus.
5) In a  decent blender or food processor, blend the tahini, lemon juice, and water until they form a tahini cream. This is the key - the difference between hummus and chickpea mash is that you make a tahini cream and add the chickpeas to that, not adding tahini to mashed chickpeas.
6) Add the olive oil to the tahini cream and blend to mix.
7) Add the chickpeas one small handful at a time until you get the right taste, adding water if the hummus is too thick. The hummus should be pale, not yellow (unless you like more chickpeas, in which case go for it!)
8) Blend in the garlic. Keep blending the hummus, adding water if needed, for several minutes in order to get the perfect, smooth consistency.
9) I'd recommend refrigerating the hummus overnight, but knowing how addictive it is, you may end up digging in. You may want to mix in extra flavorings, such as roasted garlic or roasted red pepper, but plain hummus is also amazing.