I'm with COCO!

I've been obsessed with hot cocoa this winter and consequently, I have also been obsessed with Coco (Conan O'Brien!) this winter too. Last night was his last Tonight Show, and I was on the brink of tears when he spoke about how touched he was at all the outreach and support his fans have shown. What a humble and gracious man! I had a revelation when I realized I was drinking cocoa while watching Coco... : )

I wanted to make my own hot cocoa instead of buying those packages of cocoa with 90 ingredients on the label. Please don't take my word for it, this is BETTER than the package, AND more importantly, EASIER (not to mention cheaper and probably healthier).

Here's the "recipe" - can it really be a recipe with 3 ingredients?

HOT COCO

1 tbsp unsweetened cocoa powder
1 tbsp (to taste) sugar
1 cup soy, rice, or whatever milk you love : )

Add the cocoa and sugar to the cup. Heat the milk on the stovetop (or microwave) and add in half the milk to the cup. Stir till cocoa dissolves then add in the rest and top with marshies (what my kids call marshmallows!)

Enjoy! You'll have to wait till September to drink whilst watching Coco though : (

Just Peachy Cheesecake

I have made this 4 times in the last month.

I will start off warning everyone that this is obviously *not* a "healthy" food. Although it is vegan (no cholesterol, no animal fat or products) it is still high in fat and sugar.

I was extremely shocked at how good this dessert was, and how easy it was to prepare. I made it for the holidays, per my brother's request. He said he had a craving for something with peaches in it, and I simply didn't have time to make an extravagant buche de noel this year.

All of the vegan and non-vegans alike absolutely devoured it and I keep getting requests to make it again! So, in honor or my daughter's third birthday, I made it for the fourth time in the last month!

Just Peach Vegan Cheesecake

2 vegan cream cheese containers

3/4 cup sugar

1 tsp vanilla

Vanilla Wafers (20 - 25 wafers)

1 to 2 cups frozen peaches

2 1/2 tablespoons egg replacer mixed with 1 tbsp water

Combine the cream cheese, sugar, and vanilla and mix well with fork.
Microwave the frozen peaches for 2 minutes, then puree in blender.
Add the pureed peaches to the mixture.
Mix egg replacer with water and add to mixture.

Using a 9 inch Springform pan (you can use a different pan, but the temp and time will change) coat the bottom of the pan with crumbled vanilla wafers so that you can't see the bottom of the pan. Slowly pour the cheese mixture on top of the wafers.

Bake on 350 degrees for about 20-30 minutes. This will vary depending on the type and size of your pan.

It is done when it starts to look slightly brown on top. Refrigerate.
You can make a "topping" mixture by just warming up peaches, adding a little sugar and water on the stove top.

Enjoy!

Vegan Red Kidney Bean Burgers

My family just loves burgers (it's not often that everyone likes one thing). I can't buy them fast enough, and I had to try to make them today because I had the biggest craving. I was aiming to make lunch in 45 minutes, and this whole thing took less than 20 minutes!

Most recipes call for black beans, but since I just made a pot of red kidney beans...

I used those, and they turned out amazing!

Vegan Red Kidney Bean Burgers

2 cups red kidney beans (or one 15 oz can of beans)

1/2 onion diced finely

1/2 green or red pepper

4 tablespoons tomato paste or sauce

1 cup bread crumbs

1/2 cup whole wheat flour

1 tsp salt (omit if you're using the canned beans)

1 tsp black pepper

1 tsp chili powder

2-4 finely chopped mushrooms (optional - I had a couple baby portabellas on hand)

Mix all ingredients in a deep bowl, use your hands! Roll into balls. Shape into patties.

Heat pan (or griddle), and instead of using oil to "fry" them, I used a couple tablespoons of water.

Just let the burger absorb the water.

Flip after 2 minutes and brown the other side.

They don't take long to cook!

Voila!

Apple Pie

I've made apple pie so many times throughout the years, and I've never quite gotten it right. Today, it was as close as it will ever be! I didn't even use a recipe for it, I just used my intuition. It worked =)

Apple Pie

Crust

3 cups All Purpose Flour

1 tsp salt

3/4 cup of vegetable shortening (I used Spectrum)

8 tbsp cold water (more or less)

Filling

4 golden delicious apples (the ones I used were small because they were organic)

4 granny smith apples (the ones I used were small because they were organic)

2-3 tbsp flour

3 tbsp sugar

2 tsp cinnamon

juice from half of a lemon (about 1-2 tsp)

For the crust: Preheat oven to 425 F. Combine the shortening and the flour using your hands in a large bowl. Start adding the water slowly. When it looks like it is forming a solid, put it on your work surface and continue to add water until it is mostly one piece. Make it into a ball. Cut into 2 pieces. Using your rolling pin, roll out the dough into a circle big enough to fit your pie plate. Fit the bottom crust piece on. Bake for 10-15 minutes. Roll out the top as well, and set it aside (preferably on a non-stick surface).

For the filling: Combine all the ingredients together till well mixed. Place mixture on the pie plate and cover with the top crust. Make three slices on top of the pie. You can glaze the top of the crust with rice milk.

Bake on lower rack at 425 F for 30-45 minutes, depending on your oven. Pie is ready when it lightly browns the crust. Enjoy!

Roasted Tomato Soup

I've been doing some research on trying to eat local homegrown food and I am really lucky to live so close to farm areas! When I go to the grocery store, I've been noticing that most of our fruit is exported from South America. Unfortunately, it's actually less expensive to buy than fruit grown locally. Less than a couple miles from my home is Creme de la Crop, which is a Community Supported Agriculture Farm. It has been certified organic, which means that they do not use chemical pesticides.

I am headed to visit their farm this afternoon, but this morning, I needed to make lunch. Luckily, my supermarket had locally grown organic tomatoes and I bought a bunch!

I completely made this recipe off the top of my head. I've done that before, but it has NEVER come out this good. I think when the ingredients are top-notch, it's hard to mess up =)

Roasted Tomato Soup

6 large on-the-vine tomatoes (Roma or Plum are okay, just make sure you double the qty)

1 red bell pepper

5 cloves of garlic

2 tsp salt

1 tsp black pepper

olive oil spray

1 large onion chopped

2 small stalks of celery chopped (optional)

1 tsp dried basil

2 cups vegetable broth

Turn the broiler on your stove to "High". Slice the tomatoes and red bell pepper. Add all of the garlic, sprinkle with the salt and black pepper. Arrange on a large flat pan and put into oven/broiler. They will be there for about 5 - 10 minutes, depending on your oven. They need to be turned over once.

While that is in the oven, put your chopped onion and chopped celery (optional) into a large stockpot and spray lightly with olive oil. When they are cooked, add the 2 cups of vegetable stock. If you like the soup a bit thicker, add 1/4 cup of bread crumbs. If you like it more watery, add half a cup of water. I personally like mine more watery, so I added the water at this point.

When the tomatoes are ready, add them to the stockpot and use an immersion blender to puree the mixture. You can transfer the soup to a blender if you don't have an immersion blender, it's just a little messier (but totally worth it, trust me!)

Bring the pureed mixture back to a boil and then simmer for one minute. Let it cool... enjoy.

P. S. Pictures coming soon!

Bread!

It's been too long since I've posted, but I have made this bread several times this summer, and I gotta admit: I have such a huge weakness for bread! Like mother, like daughter though. I just adore the smell of any yeast bread, and my body doesn't seem to get enough of it. I usually make some kind of hot watery soup to go along with the bread (yes, even in the summer).

This bread is so ridiculously easy to make too. The upside is... that I've tried using part whole wheat fluor, and it turns out just as good.

I'll post the recipe soon!

Tatiana's Amazing Pizza!

Although I've made plenty of my own creations, I have never named anything after myself, and I must admit, I'm blushing a little. I would put my name on this pizza any day though. It is literally the most amazing thing I've ever tasted. I am a big pizza-lover.

There are a LOT of pictures in this recipe because I wanted to give you lucky people a "step-by-step" through pics. I am a very visual person and I refuse to make any recipe (online or in a book) if it doesn't have a photo. I know, I should probably loosen that rule up since I'm trying like a bajillion recipes for this blog. In the future, I'd really like to make a video recipe...

Tatiana's Amazing Pizza (makes 2 pizzas, only one is pictured in examples)

1 cup warm (almost hot) tap water
1 tbsp active dry yeast

2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cup all-purpose flour for kneading and rolling the dough
1 tbsp salt
1 tsbp sugar

Step 1: Combine the warm/hot water and the active dry yeast. Stir a little, but let it sit for 10 to 15 min. After it sits, it should look like so:

Step 2: Combine your flour, sugar, and salt. Make a "hole" in the middle of the bowl for the yeast mixture. Add the mixture and stir gently with a spoon.

Step 3: Combine them and then get ready to knead the dough a little. BEFORE you do, have your 1/2 cup flour "ready". Sometimes, if I the dough is really sticky, I ask my little helper (my 9 year old son) to pour 1 tbsp of oil onto my hands while I'm kneading. Also, a big thanks to my son for taking some of these pictures since my hands were all doughy. It should look kinda like a blob at this point:

Step 4: After the dough starts to come together and it's not super sticky anymore, put it back into the bowl and let it rest for ONE HOUR. Cover with a dark hand towel.

Step 5: After it sits, pre-heat your oven to 400. Important: Cut the dough in HALF. This recipe makes two pizzas. I made a cheese which is below, and a veggie, which is at the beginning. Use a rolling pin to roll out the dough into the right shape. Also, poke holes in it with a fork so that the air bubbles don't distort the pizza.

Step 6: Cook the crust at 400 degrees for about 10 minutes.

Step 7: Take it out, add the ingredients and put back into the oven. I usually raise the temp to 450 when I put it back in so it cooks faster. It takes 10-15 minutes to cook depending on how many toppings you have and what type of cheese you use.

Voila. Done.
Last picture is a shout out to the vegan cheese that I use. It's really awesome! Cheese was probably the only thing I felt really sad to give up as a vegan, but this has more than made up for it. It's delicious, and it's much healthier. Loves it!