Lavender Toffee Sauce

 

Oh Boy...Toffee Sauce.  While some call it Toffee Sauce, others call it caramel sauce but I call it Heaven on Earth. Yes, there's nothing better to dip a nice tart apple into, drizzle over your favorite ice cream or eat right off the spoon. This recipe is for two servings but let's be honest, it's really for one. I had good intentions on sharing but once it was made and my family still hadn't made it home, I noticed slowly but surely, it dwindled down until every bit was gone. I don't know why but it just happened this way.  This dairy free option for heavenly goodness is going to make you go back for seconds and then, you'll need to make a second batch for your family and friends to try. Or just make a bunch of this from the get go. You can double the recipe easily. Make this yummy treat right in your microwave in minutes.

Look at those beautiful bits of vanilla bean seeds peeking through this caramel-y goodness. Be still my heart!

 

Lavender Toffee Sauce Recipe

 

(recipe for 2-4, but can be doubled for 4-8)

 

2 Tbs Vegan Butter

1/3 C Brown Sugar

1/3 C Canned Coconut Milk, using the cream on top ( It's best to use a high quality with thick cream on top)

1/4 tsp Vanilla Bean Paste

Pinch Salt

Pinch dried and finely pulverized lavender ( I use a coffee grinder for mine)

 

In a microwave safe bowl, melt vegan butter.  Add brown sugar, coconut milk cream and stir.  Microwave for 2 minutes.  Stir. Microwave for another  1- 1 1/2 minutes depending on your microwave.  Add the vanilla, pinch salt, lavender and stir.  Let sit on the counter for about 5 minutes.  Once it starts to cool, it will thicken.  Add apples, cake, cupcakes...pretty much anything you want to coat in a delicious toffee caramel or just add a spoon. You'll thank me later. 

 

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Chorizo Rice Hash

 

Father's Day...

A day to celebrate the men in our lives. They are the thread of our inner fabric and the reason we came to be. They are our friends, our mentors and our Heroes. Today was the typical father's day breakfast in bed. However, the meal was nothing like our typical meal that the kids used to make with pancakes, bacon (screech, but yes) and potatoes with toast. My kids loved making daddy a manly meal fit for a king. But our king has since joined the ranks of healthy eating, craving great meals instead of portions of meat. Our man loves vegan food, mostly because I strive to make it easy for him to succeed. Let's face it... For some of us that weren't born eating vegan, it's been a tough road. But if you set yourself up for success, a clean pantry, fruits on the counter and skip making your freezer a morgue...then you will succeed. Eating well starts in the home and will follow you anywhere. So after my hubby had this meal, he kept saying how delicious and hearty it was along with it being so satisfying. Father's Day Served!

 

 How about a little bubbly?  A nice cranberry Mimosa to top his meal.  2 parts champagne, 1 part cranberry juice and a floating fresh raspberry or strawberry.

 

What I love about hash is you just throw it in the pan, cook it up and it's done. It's what I call "breakfast simplified!" And pretty much, cook up whatever is leftover in your fridge and you have a hash. For this, I cooked up my leftover sushi rice and zucchinis.

 

Chorizo Rice Hash

 

1 1/2 cups cooked rice

1/2 cup chopped zucchini

5 ounces vegan chorizo

2 green onions sliced

1 tsp garlic

3 ounces soft tofu

1 can refried beans

Salt to taste

 

 

In a hot pan, drizzle a little olive oil and cook the onions and zucchini for 2 minutes on med-high heat. Add the rest of the ingredients and cook for an additional 3- 4 minutes.  The beautiful thing about vegan chorizo...you don't have to worry about cooking it forever to get the "Bugs" out of it. (I know that's gross to put into a recipe but it's true, so grossly true!)

Scoot the hash to one half of the pan and add the can of beans to the other half.  Stir the beans gently until cooked, about 1-2 minutes.  Don't worry if they get mixed a little, but try to keep them separate.  This step is to save time and dishes, and did I mention I hate doing dishes?  Serve with warm tortillas. 

 

 

Here is a deliciously hearty meal in less than ten minutes if it's all prepped beforehand.  Enjoy on Father's day or heck...why not make this everyday and celebrate that too!

 

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Pasta with Lemon Asparagus Sauce

 

Don't think I'm carb crazy.  Know that I'm carb crazy.  Not all the time do I crave a big bowl of pasta but there is always this transition from Winter to Spring and Spring to Summer, that it's all I want.  I don't really crave the traditional red sauce but the vegetable laden white saucy type, hot or cold, is what I crave.  So jump in, stay awhile and enjoy my Pasta with Lemon Asparagus Sugo (sauce) recipe and enjoy your summer even better!  This is lemony, healthy, creamy and outright delicious! So if you like lemon...Jump on board.

 

Lemon Asparagus Sauce recipe

 6 Tbs vegan butter

1 lemon, zested and juiced

9 oz soft tofu

1 Tbs nutritional yeast

1 bunch asparagus (15-20 spears) cleaned and sliced into 2 inch pieces.

1 C sliced cherry tomatoes

2 green onions sliced

1 Tbs capers

1 tsp salt or more to taste

1 tsp dried rosemary

olive oil

 

12 ounces pasta.  Cook and set aside.

 

Place 1/2 of the asparagus in a shallow baking dish drizzled with a little olive oil.  Sprinkle with a pinch of salt and bake at 425 degrees for 20 minutes.  Set aside.

 

For sauce, in a food processor, add remaining uncooked asparagus, lemon juice, zest, nutritional yeast, rosemary and 1 tsp salt.  Food process until fine.  Add tofu and food process until smooth. In a large shallow pan, melt vegan butter on medium-high heat on stove, add sauce mixture and cook until bubbly. Remove from heat.

 

 

Add cooked pasta, tomatoes, cooked asparagus, onions and capers.   Toss gently and serve.  Enjoy this creamy, saucy and lemony pasta, that's sure to tickle the tummy.  

I even enjoyed this delicacy the next day...Chilled.  It was a beautiful summer salad too.

Sushi Rolls

 

 

In my town, we really only have three restaurant choices if we want something Vegan.  And trust me, they are not vegan restaurants. At the Pizza Factory in Phelan, we get Pizza with the veggies, no cheese and the new Gluten free, soy free, and dairy free crust.  At the Mexican place, we get meat free fajitas, double beans with no cheese and salsa and chips. Then, at the Sushi place, we get vegetable rolls or their vegetable pad thai.  At the sushi place, a meal can really set you back but there are days I simply crave sushi with wasabi and soy sauce.  Of course, if I'm at home and I make it myself...

I save a fortune! And when I make it, I always love to experiment with whatever veggies are in my refrigerator.

 

Today's menu~ Zucchini Sushi (since someone juiced my cucumber already!)

 

Below is my recipe and I encourage you to check out a Youtube video on the sushi making technique.  It's really simple when you get the hang of it. I learned the paper towel way when we hosted a student from Japan over 20 years ago.  It's all I had (paper towels) since I'd never even had Japanese food before.  I have photos below showing you the roll I made with a simple paper towel and one with a place mat.  Both easy, both turned out the same and you don't need a fancy roll machine to make it.

 

Sushi Roll Recipe

 

2 cups cooked sushi rice

1/2 cup Sesame seed dressing (sesame seed oil, vinegar and sugar)

Roasted seaweed sheets

Thin sliced Vegetables

Condiments:  Wasabi, chili sauce or hot mustard

 

Add 1/2 cup sesame dressing to just cooked and slightly cooled rice. Stir and let it sit while it cools down just enough to be handled.  Spoon on a few spoonfuls of rice and spread it out almost to the edges of the seaweed sheet (Make sure the smooth side is down)  that's laying on a paper towel. Add a few vegetables to the end closest to you. 

 

With two hands, grasp the edge of the paper towel and start to roll, just once, pushing down slightly to make the rice stick to the seaweed.

Lift up the edge of the towel and roll again once, putting pressure to make the filling snug in the sheet.

Lift towel up again and repeat rolling, making sure not to roll the paper towel up in the roll.  Repeat until rolled up completely.  It can take a few times to get the hang of it and have a tight roll. (Trying to get it too tight will bust your roll.)

 

 Paper towel roll below.

 

 Place mat roll below. Both pretty much look the same.

 

Using a serrated knife, gently cut rolls into rounds and serve.

Extra rice will keep in your refrigerator to make fresh rolls the next day too.

Citrus Scones

 

If you haven't noticed by now that the majority of my blog entries are some sort of sweet, they are because I'm still a kid at heart.  I remember growing up, I would always search the house for dessert and once ended up with 6 brownies in my lunch box for school.  My mom still tells the story of me robbing the pantry of all sweets and leaving none for my siblings.  When I'd get in trouble for this act of tyranny, I'd tell myself that when I got older, I'd make all the desserts I want!  Well today I do bake like a crazy woman, feeding my inner child, but because of that middle aged decrease in metabolism I have slowed down a bit on my consumption of these goodies... ( and of course I do feel sorry for my childhood gluttony!)

 

 

Today I made scones for our lazy Sunday.  I wanted a nice treat to follow up with my nice spot of tea.  I wanted to use the lemons and grapefruit that I had on my counter especially since I'm in love with citrus.  And because lately I've been having a bit of issue with gluten, I wanted to make these gluten free too.

 So here we go...

Me in my bake happy state is hoping you enjoy this tasty breakfast treat.

 

Citrus Scones Recipe

 

1 16oz box (2 3/4 cup)of Gluten Free Flour mix  (tip* reserve about 2 Tbs of mix for flouring your counter and baking pan if you don't have any more to use)
1/3 cup Granulated sugar
1 Tbs baking powder
3/4 tsp salt
1/2 cup vegan butter
3 tsp ener-g egg powder
1 tsp chia seeds
3/4 tsp vanilla bean paste or extract
1/2 tsp cornstarch
3 ounces tofu (soft)
1/2 cup- 3/4 cup Coconut milk ( I use canned coconut milk that has cream on the top. I make sure to mostly use the creamy part for this recipe...Do NOT use cream of coconut.)
lemon zest
grapefruit zest
juice from the grapefruit and lemon

1 tsp course granulated sugar for sprinkling

Glaze
Remaining juices, remaining zest
1 1/3 cup powdered sugar

Mix all dry ingredients, flour, sugar, baking powder, salt, egg powder, chia seeds, cornstarch in a bowl. Add butter and mix until butter is the size of small peas. Do not over mix and make sure butter is very cold. Stir in 3/4 of the zest from the grapefruit and lemon (reserving 1/4 of the zest for the glaze.) Mix in another bowl, 1/2 cup milk, 2 tsp of the grapefruit juice and 1 tsp of the lemon juice (reserving all the rest of the juice for the glaze) and tofu . Add wet to dry stirring just until incorporated. Should slightly resemble a pie crust dough. If dough doesn't stick together, add a bit more coconut milk, a little at a time, until it holds together.
On floured counter, divide into two halves and make into the shape of disks about 1- 1 1/2 inch high.  Use a little remainder of the coconut milk to brush the tops of disks and sprinkle with a pinch of granulated sugar. Cut each disk to make 6 pieces. Place pieces onto a cookie sheet, slightly apart to give room for baking all sides.  Bake in preheated oven set at 400 degrees for 20-25 minutes. These should be slightly brown.

 

 



 

Allow to cool a bit while making Glaze. In a bowl, mix juice and zest and add 1/3 cup of powdered sugar at a time, mixing well using a whisk.  You want this to have a nice semi thick consistency that will slowly drizzle over the warm scones. *(use a cookie cooling rack to keep the scones from sitting in the syrup.)  Once the glaze is almost dry, your scone is ready to devour.... enjoy!

 

 

Sloppy Joes

Here's a super quick, no fuss, easy dinner recipe. Bring a bib because this can get messy good, but dripping with deliciousness.
15 ounce can sloppy joe mix
12 oz box helen's kitchen organic veggie ground
1/2 cup mushrooms (sliced)
1/4 cup onions (diced)
1/3 cup quick oats
Buns

Brown mushrooms and onions in a hot pan.  Add sloppy joe mix, veggie ground and quick oats. Cook for about 5 minutes with a lid on the pan. Remove lid and stir a few minutes more until thick.
Spoon on bun...eat.
It's that simple!

Lemon Chia Ricotta & Berry Crepes

So help me, when I crave something, it drives me crazy.  Crazy to the point of obsession is realistically what happens when I really really want something.  A few weeks ago, the hubby and I, along with my grand baby, went to the mall.  Inside the mall is a cute little french bistro type crepe place with a window to watch the crepe making process.  Hubby and I ordered a delicious coffee while I dreamed about making a crepe someday soon.  Well after much pondering and a failed attempt at the first couple, here is my recipe...Chia seeds included!

 

At first I made my beautiful food, took photos and went on to eat these yummies. This is the first time I had taken photos and not checked them before I ate the goods.  I guess I was too excited and missed the part that white crepes in indirect sunlight do not show up...at all. The screen was all white with a nice outline of something that resembled a crepe! 

Well, to my horror, and my tummies delight, fortunately I had some left overs to recreate my photos.  And as for my tummy...seconds of this lovely lemony delight with fresh bursts of flavor and fruity ricotta cheesy goodness along with a little crunch from the chia seeds was perfect.

 

I was happy! And full!

 



 Lemon Chia Ricotta & Berry Crepes

Filling~

1/2 c sliced strawberries
1/2 c black or boysenberries
pinch of sugar
a drip of vanilla
1 c vegan ricotta cheese
1 Tbs sugar
1 Tbs coconut milk or your favorite type.

In a hot pan, slightly cook berries with a pinch of sugar and vanilla.  You just want the flavors to start coming out, about a minute or two on high heat and then set aside to cool.
In a bowl, mix ricotta cheese, sugar and milk.  Set aside while making crepes.

Crepes~

1 Tbs egg replacer
1 Tbs Chia seeds
1 C water
2 Tbs canola oil
2 1/2 C coconut milk (unsweetened)
Lemon zest and 1/2 tsp lemon juice.
2 C cake flour
pinch salt
Powdered sugar for sprinkling and Maple syrup for drizzling.

In a blender, mix egg replacer, chia seeds and water for a minute on high.  Add oil, zest, lemon juice and coconut milk and blend another minute.  Add cake flour, 1/2 cup at a time and blend on high.  Scrape down sides, add salt and mix another few seconds.  Spray a little cooking spray evenly over hot pan.  Wipe of excess and pour a little batter into the center of the pan.  Kind of like you'd make an omelet, using your wrist, lift the pan and slowly swirl the mixture to the outside of the pan in circular motions.  You want this batter to be really thin in the pan.  Cook about a minute until you see the edges lift.  I was able to grab the edge and flip the crepe by hand to cook the other side but feel free to use a spatula. Cook evenly on both sides and stack crepes on a plate as they've cooked.

 

To assemble, spread on a bit of ricotta mixture, a few berries and roll up.

 

 Sprinkle with Powdered sugar and Eat.  Or just look at them, and then eat them.  Yes, they're that pretty. And also drizzle with Maple syrup for another level of tastiness.

 

Dessert Crepe~

(or breakfast too)

 

Lay crepe flat on a plate.  Drizzle with a little lemon juice.  Sprinkle with a little granulated sugar.  Fold in half and in half again. Drizzle with melted vegan butter and sprinkle with a little more granulated sugar.  Okay now eat...your life is now complete! (At least mine was!) 

 

Like Crepes?  Share what you like to fill yours with and inspire us all.

 

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