chickpea salad sandwich

ingredients:

1-15oz can chickpeas, rinsed and drained
1 tsp onion powder
3 tbsp vegan mayonaise
1 tbsp apple cider vinegar
1 tbsp sweet relish
1/2 tsp yellow mustard
dash black pepper

good hearty bread for sandwiches
lettuce, tomato, other fixins

directions:

mash the chickpeas with a potato masher until no whole beans remain. add the rest of the ingredients (through black pepper) and mix with a fork until well blended. (feel free to season more to taste, too.)

smother on bread with lettuce and tomato, or whatever makes you happy.

brownies

this was an attempt at rescuing a broken recipe a friend tried to use. i had a sweet tooth and it was a good excuse to attempt vegan brownies. pre-vegan days, i was not a cake brownie fan, but preferred them fudgey and gooey and practically oozing into your mouth from your hands. i'm still hoping to find that someday in a vegan treat, but in the meantime, these aren't too bad. they're cakey but extremely moist. they'd probably do well drizzled with a raspberry or strawberry sauce, peanut butter frosting, or turned into a cake or torte. however, in the interest of simplicity at 2am, i just sprinkled a little powdered sugar on top and left them on the counter as a treat for my hard-working fiance when he gets home.

ingredients:

1/2 a 12oz aseptic package tofu (about 1 cup)
1/2 cup soymilk
1/3 cup canola oil
2 tsp vanilla
1 1/2 cups sugar
2/3 cup cocoa powder
1 cup flour
1 tsp baking powder

directions:

preheat oven to 350f. grease an 8x8 pan and dust the bottom with cocoa.

in a blender, puree the tofu with the soymilk until smooth. if you have a really great blender, throw in all the other ingredients and go to town. if your blender isn't that brave, scrape out the tofu mixture into a large mixing bowl, add the other ingredients, and mix well. it'll be pretty thick. pour into the prepared pan and bake for 30-35 minutes. a toothpick inserted will not come out clean, but it'll be obvious when the center isn't batter any longer.

cool on a wire rack, and remove from pan before cutting, or cut away. i actually don't seem to own an 8x8 brownie pan that's sufficient for brownies, so i used one of my good cake rounds, and wasn't going to carve it up with a knife-- hence the wire rack. you do what makes you happy :)

alm-ella

this is my almondy version of the popular chocolate hazelnut spread. another photo-less post, simply because, well, i'm lazy. and you can imagine what a bowl of melty chocolate looks like. i will say that my only complaint about how this recipe turned out was that the almonds did not turn to a paste or almond butter consistency like i wanted it to, but i am not sure if that's the fault (or nature) of the almonds, or my failing food processor, because it was making some terrible noises!

this was my test recipe for a "how stuff works" project for my teaching physical science class. if it came out more like that commercial spread, i'd likely have used it, but it was kind of gritty. tasty, but gritty. so i'll just make hummus for my physics class. :)


ingredients:

1 cup skinned almonds
1 1/2 tsp almond extract
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
3/4 cup confectioners sugar
1/4 cup cocoa powder
10 tbsp almond oil

directions:

grind up the almonds in a food processor until pasty (or at least powdery). add the extracts, sugar, and cocoa, and about half the oil, and puree until pasty and chocolatey. use a spatula to scrape the sides occasionally. add the rest of the oil a little at a time (you may not need to add it all), until you've reached a consistency you like.

serve with graham crackers! i'm sure this would also be great warmed as a fondue for fruits and pound cake and other delicious things.

tofu scramble

i don't have any photos of this, but it's probably my favorite breakfast food, along with a good waffle and some sausage. it's a great weekend breakfast, and the leftover scramble is awesome when reheated for breakfast the next day. it's great in tortillas too for breakfast wraps. there's a ton of variations, so i'll post some at the bottom. here's the bare bones recipe:

ingredients:
one block drained and sorta pressed firm/extra firm tofu
1 clove garlic, minced
1 tbsp olive oil
1 tbsp olive juice
2-3 tbsp nutritional yeast

spice mix:
1 tsp cumin
1 tsp thyme
1 tsp paprika (i like hungarian best)
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp turmeric
dash of pepper

directions:

over medium heat in a large skillet, sautee the garlic for about a minute, then add the spice mix stirring well for about a minute. crumble the tofu into the skillet (i prefer larger chunks, they'll break as you're cooking anyway, but do what you wish). try not to mash the tofu up, but give it a good toss and stir to coat it all with the spices, garlic, and oil. depending on how much water was left in your tofu, you'll need to cook it for 10-15 minutes, stirring occasionally. if it looks really dry or sticks too much, add a splash of water to deglaze the pan a bit.

once cooked, add the lemon juice, and nutritional yeast.

i'm from new england, so i prefer my tofu scramble smothered with ketchup. feel free to do something classier, like salsa, or minimalist, and eat it plain.

variations:

i hate onions. you probably don't. add half a chopped onion to the garlic, and caramelize the heck out of it. alternately, you could add onion powder to the spice mix.

i love peppers. add half a washed, seeded, and diced bell pepper of your favorite color to the garlic, and continue as usual. live dangerously and use more pepper if you're into it.

i love mushrooms, too. add three or four good sized chopped white or crimini mushrooms to the garlic and sautee until they release their juices.

carrots rock. if you're not as lazy as i am, grate a large one or handful of baby ones in a food processor and throw it in towards the end.

if you have some vegan sausage on hand, crumble it in with the tofu, and make breakfast goulash. (i'm sorry i lack witty names for these things.)

serve it with tater tots-- or just cook some tater tots and throw them in with the sausage and toss it all together. this combo, along with peppers and mushrooms, is my personal favorite. with ketchup, of course.