Bread Pudding, Cupcakes and Cookies

Here are a few favorite desserts made within the past few months, all packed into one delicious post.

Banana Chocolate Chip Bread Pudding from Veganomicon. I made this to take to a brunch and became a fan of bread pudding for the first time in my life.

Chocolate Cupcakes from Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World. I opted for a sprinkle of powdered sugar instead of frosting.

Vanilla cupcakes from Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World topped with strawberry jam, a strawberry, and a drizzle of powdered sugar icing (powdered sugar and oat milk).

Dark Chocolate Chunk Marzipan Cookies from the blog 'seitan is my motor'. 

Tofu scramble and Banana Bread

The thought of catching up has been so overwhelming, so I have neglected this blog far too long. I have loads of pictures and recipes that I am slowly but surely going to get posted...

...starting with breakfast this morning! We were asked to join a group from John's office to hike in a National Park here in Denmark today. To get us started I made a tofu scramble and some banana bread - that also became a nice snack on the hike.

The tofu scramble was a modified version of this recipe. I have a huge batch of sesame Parmesan - that I have literally been eating with a spoon - so I added a huge sprinkle of that, along with dijon mustard, turmeric, salt, pepper, and oat milk.

The veggies were sauteed in olive oil with a sprinkle of dried tomato flakes, basil, fennel, salt and pepper.

And the banana bread...so good! I added walnuts, sunflower seeds, dark chocolate chips, and coconut. I sprinkled oatmeal on top. Note: I am not the "Courtney" as mentioned in the recipe. Sheer coincidence.

Pumpkin Soup, Salad, Veggies and Cobbler

Pumpkin Soup
Even though fall is over and spring is finally here, I can't stop buying the little organic pumpkins that I keep finding in little shops around town.  I made a few alterations to this recipe including: carrot instead of apple/pear and oat milk instead of soy/almond. We sprinkled spicy paprika and cilantro on top. The soup went really well with these Bread Sticks. They are quick, versatile, and have a great texture.

From the Vegan Italiano cookbook,  I also made Asparagus with Tomato Vinaigrette. It sat in the fridge overnight and was very marinated by the time we ate it. It was served at room temp.

I am really in love with this recipe for Roasted Eggplant. It is so fast and tastes really good!

I have made this salad before. In my opinion, it is the perfect combo of flavors: pasta, white beans, sundried tomatoes, fennel, olives, and more. Trattoria Pasta Salad with White Beans.

And, for dessert. Pear Berry Cobbler. This recipe is officially in my permanent mix now! 

Chocolate Chip Chai Spice Shortbread

The flavor of these cookies was great but they did not turn out as well as I had expected. I did not have vegan shortening, so I substituted extra vegan margarine instead. The dough was extremely soft and I had to add extra flour. This caused the dough to taste too much like flour! So, I added more powdered sugar. All in all, they turned out fine. But, my chocolate spread out a lot while baking and the shape of the cookies is not as neat as it should have been.

The recipe is from Vegan Cookies Invade Your Cookie Jar. 

Welcome 2011!

John, me, Sarah, Thea, Morten

We celebrated New Year's Eve with our neighbors, Thea and Morten. Thea made the BEST vegan meal! Her and Morten are not vegan so it was incredibly thoughtful and considerate that she made everything vegan! Not to mention, delicious! 

 For dessert, vegan Cream Cheese brownies and Baked Apples. Happy New Year!!!

Vegan MoFo: Y is for Yogurt Cake

I have to be honest...I had zero energy to cook and/or bake tonight! But, with 2 letters and 2 days remaining in November, I decided not to push it. So, I found this recipe but did not have the lemon zest. Instead, I had fresh oranges that supplied orange zest and juice. I thought the addition of semolina was interesting. And it is no lie that this cake smells terrific while baking!

The texture of the cake was really nice. There was a thin, crisp layer to the top and edges, while the inside was extremely moist, fluffy and a bit grainy but in a very appealing way! I enjoyed the orange flavor (I also used walnuts instead of almonds) but I will also try it again with lemon someday.

Thanksgiving Dinner

 We had a fantastic Thanksgiving with delicious food, fun friends, and lots of wine.

To start, I made Pumpkin Hummus and toasted pita bread. The hummus was my attempt to make the version I had in Thailand earlier this year. It included: chickpeas, pumpkin, tahini, salt, garlic, toasted sesame seeds, and green onions.  I chopped up pita bread that I made earlier this week and toasted it in the oven for a few minutes. The hummus has potential but I think I will experiment a bit more before I call it a success.

Next, I made Onion Soup Gratinéed with Cream-Truffle Mashed Potatoes.

I also made a Kibbeh with Apples, Walnuts, and Fake Feta cheese. The recipe is in a magazine from a grocery store I used to shop at in Eugene, Oregon. It is vegetarian but easily made vegan. For the feta, I followed this recipe.

Joy made two salads that were fantastic. One consisted of couscous, apples, raisins, and almonds. The other was kale and shredded beets. If we are lucky, maybe she will post the recipes in the comments section for all of us to enjoy :-)

And finally, for dessert! Hannes made a yummie Apple Crisp and I made Sweet Potato Blondies.

And, here are the place mats and napkins that I made to decorate the table. I found nice quality fabric remnants at IKEA and put them to use.

Vegan MoFo: J is for Jelly Donut Cupcake

I had such high hopes for this recipe, but I was sadly disappointed. First, as you can see in the picture, my jelly did not "sink to the center" of the cupcakes. Second, I was not impressed with the flavor of strawberry jelly I bought. And third, although the cupcake was really delicious, I just didn't taste jelly donut.

At any rate, here is the recipe.

My lovely husband did comment that even my worst cupcake is delicious. :-)

Here is a picture before they were baked.

Vegan MoFo: G is for Gas Station Pies

I have always loved the idea of this recipe! It is a vegan (and actually good!) version of Hostess Fruit Pies. 

 

 The recipe is in the cookbook The 100 Best Vegan Baking Recipes. It calls for apples but I chose to used mixed berries instead. The crust was so delicate and buttery, but not at all greasy. I did not have a brush to apply the glazing so I ended up using the back of a spoon. Not as smooth and pretty, but these pies were eaten so quickly, no one noticed! Heaven.

Vegan MoFo: D is for Devil's Food Cupcakes

 Today is John's birthday so I used my letter d to make him birthday cupcakes. I followed this recipe but did not make the filling part. I made cream cheese frosting from this recipe.

We are leaving tomorrow for Hamburg, Germany to spend a long weekend shopping and relaxing with friends and then we will see Jamie Lidell perform Monday night! So, I will have to pick back up with my alphabet postings when I return.

Vegan MoFo: B is for Bagel Sandwiches

I have always wanted to make the bagels from Vegan Brunch but never found the perfect excuse...until today! I didn't worry too much about the shape because I was so nervous about the dough. But, they came out so good and tasted exactly like bagels! I was worried they would just taste like round rolls of bread with a hole in the middle. Fortunately, that was not the case.

I roasted some tomato flavored tofu and added lettuce, fresh tomato, and dijon mustard to make bagel sandwiches. 

I also made some pumpkin, quinoa and veggie soup. I followed this recipe from the Fat Free Vegan blog. I did not add the lentils though. For the veggies, I included the fresh version of the following: carrot, celery, brussels sprouts, mushrooms, spinach, and green onions.

Vegan MoFo: A is for Apple-Peanut Butter-Caramel Bars

My peanut butter mixture did not "drizzle" the way the recipe describes that it should. But seriously, who cares! These bars are fantastic.

Chickpea and Potato Soup

So simple but so much flavor! Here is the recipe.

On the side, Poppin' Popovers from The 100 Best Vegan Baking Recipes.

Cholent

Yet another excuse to use my newly acquired TVP, this recipe is from Veganomicon. Great flavor and extremely filing. Also, lots of leftovers.

I made a batch of homemade crackers seasoned with nutritional yeast and topped with poppy seeds. It was a perfect addition to the meal.

Cauliflower and Mushroom Potpie with Black Olive Crust

Good cook, bad blogger. I have been busy with work lately and making a lot of old favorites. This was a new one though from Veganomicon. John's first reaction, nicely done. We then proceeded to eat the entire casserole in one sitting! Here is the recipe.