Things I've cooked lately: July 4th edition
Just as a disclaimer, even though this is the July 4th edition, none of the following foods are especially patriotic. It just happens to be July 4th.
Becoming a vegan has really forced me to expand my culinary horizons. I have tried more new vegetables and grains in the last few weeks than I have my entire (almost) 30 years of life so far. I'm pretty proud of the food I've been making lately, and Josh has been giving the food rave reviews. I will try to be better about taking photos and posting recipes of my favorites in case any readers are interested in trying any of them out.
Recently I purchased the book, "The Joy of Vegan Baking" by Colleen Patrick-Goudreau and last night finally took the plunge into vegan baking. Josh absolutely LOVES chocolate chip cookies and has been getting them every time we walk past Sticky Fingers Bakery in Columbia Heights, so obviously I had to make a batch for my first baking experience.
The only real differences from non-vegan (which basically means egg and dairy-free) chocolate chip cookies are three main ingredients: Earth Balance butter (which I use anyway in tubs and comes in easy to measure stick form) and some sort of egg replacer. Lots of people are allergic to eggs so it's actually quite easy to find. We found it in our local natural foods store for only about $5 and it's the equivalent of more than 180 eggs and is in powder form and lasts about a year. Awesome! For this recipe I used EnerG egg replacer, though the cookbook also says you can grind whole flax seeds (which I also happen to have) with water in a food processor and it adds a similar consistency that eggs does and is needed for baking. The last difference is the bittersweet chocolate chip cookies. Real bittersweet chocolate shouldn't be made with cowsmilk, but some of the lower end products are. I bought semisweet chips that are dairy free (but a disclaimer on the package says they may be made on machinery that is shared with dairy products) so it's probably not 100% vegan and it may be a problem for people with allergies, but it's good enough for me for now. I've found chips on amazon by the case for like $50, so if I ever decide to become a super crazy baker I may invest in those.
I must add here that the cookies are really amazing YUMMY! You can't even taste the difference! The only problem is that we have all these tasty cookies in our house, so we're going to have to share them or else gain about five pounds each :)
This morning I made a yummy breakfast with Josh's help: tofu scramble with kale and mushrooms (seasoned with turmeric, adobo seasoning and garlic powder), field sausage ("chicken" apple-- thanks for the recommendation, Becky!), guacamole and Vermont Maple Wheat toast. This combined with coffee with almond milk made for an awesome breakfast/lunch after a lazy holiday morning :)
Becoming a vegan has really forced me to expand my culinary horizons. I have tried more new vegetables and grains in the last few weeks than I have my entire (almost) 30 years of life so far. I'm pretty proud of the food I've been making lately, and Josh has been giving the food rave reviews. I will try to be better about taking photos and posting recipes of my favorites in case any readers are interested in trying any of them out.
Recently I purchased the book, "The Joy of Vegan Baking" by Colleen Patrick-Goudreau and last night finally took the plunge into vegan baking. Josh absolutely LOVES chocolate chip cookies and has been getting them every time we walk past Sticky Fingers Bakery in Columbia Heights, so obviously I had to make a batch for my first baking experience.
The only real differences from non-vegan (which basically means egg and dairy-free) chocolate chip cookies are three main ingredients: Earth Balance butter (which I use anyway in tubs and comes in easy to measure stick form) and some sort of egg replacer. Lots of people are allergic to eggs so it's actually quite easy to find. We found it in our local natural foods store for only about $5 and it's the equivalent of more than 180 eggs and is in powder form and lasts about a year. Awesome! For this recipe I used EnerG egg replacer, though the cookbook also says you can grind whole flax seeds (which I also happen to have) with water in a food processor and it adds a similar consistency that eggs does and is needed for baking. The last difference is the bittersweet chocolate chip cookies. Real bittersweet chocolate shouldn't be made with cowsmilk, but some of the lower end products are. I bought semisweet chips that are dairy free (but a disclaimer on the package says they may be made on machinery that is shared with dairy products) so it's probably not 100% vegan and it may be a problem for people with allergies, but it's good enough for me for now. I've found chips on amazon by the case for like $50, so if I ever decide to become a super crazy baker I may invest in those.
I must add here that the cookies are really amazing YUMMY! You can't even taste the difference! The only problem is that we have all these tasty cookies in our house, so we're going to have to share them or else gain about five pounds each :)
This morning I made a yummy breakfast with Josh's help: tofu scramble with kale and mushrooms (seasoned with turmeric, adobo seasoning and garlic powder), field sausage ("chicken" apple-- thanks for the recommendation, Becky!), guacamole and Vermont Maple Wheat toast. This combined with coffee with almond milk made for an awesome breakfast/lunch after a lazy holiday morning :)
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