Trying Veganism

exploring the world of vegan cooking

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Peanut Butter Invasion

First off here’s a pic I meant to post in the beginning of March, but totally forgot in the mess that is my images folder ;)
Anyway, I pretty much had the same breakfast today: a pear, Blueberry Raspberry Pancakes with applesauce, blueberry sauce and maple syrup.

And now onto the birthday baking. I apologize because we were in a hurry and when we arrived at his place I honestly just didn’t think of taking more food pictures although there was A LOT of food. His mom made many turkish dishes. I had the vegetarian ones: couscous and hummus. And even though her hummus was perfectly prepared I still don’t get why so many seem to go nuts over it.

But now I present you the best chocolate cookies! I am not kidding. If you’re into the combination of banana, peanut butter and chocolate you will love these! If you’re not into the banana taste simply use another egg-replacer.

They were actually supposed to have a PB core inside, but we were out of peanut butter and made only the chocolate cookies. I’ll post the full recipe though, they are totally worth it!

Vegan Peanut Butter Chocolate Munchies

Ingredients (makes 32 cookies)

Chocolate Cookies
1 1/2 cups flour
1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/2 cup vegan margarine, softened
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1/4 cup peanut butter (I used crunchy)
1/2 banana, mashed (or egg-replacer for 1 egg of choice)
1 Tbsp. soy milk
1 tsp. vanilla

1. stir together flour, cocoa, and baking soda, set aside
2. in a separate bowl, mix margarine, sugar, brown sugar, and peanut butter
3. add mashed banana, soy milk, and vanilla, beating well
4. beat in as much flour mixture as possible using a mixer, stir in the remaining flour mixture
5. form into 32 balls, about 1 & 1/4 inches in diameter, set aside

Peanut Butter Filling
3/4 cup powdered sugar
1/2 cup peanut butter
2 Tbsp.s granulated sugar

1. beat together powdered sugar and peanut butter until smooth (knead by hand if necessary) and shape into 32 balls
2. preheat oven to 350°
3. slightly flatten a chocolate dough ball and top with a peanut butter filling ball, shape the chocolate dough completely around the peanut butter dough, roll into a ball and repeat with remaining dough
4. place cookies 2 inches apart on an ungreased baking pan
5. bake for about 8 minutes or just until set

The cookie surfaces should be slightly cracked. Cool on pan for about a minute. Transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.
Can be frozen for up to 3 months!

Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cake.
You were right Jennifer, this crunchy but soft cake was fantastic!

Peanut Butter Chocolate Rice Crispy Bars from Have Cake, Will Travel!

The Peanut Butter Cinnamon Rolls which my friend liked the most.
They looked pretty much like those, but we didn’t have time left for icing but had already mixed powdered sugar, cinnamon and vanilla sugar together and just put that on top which lead to the picture – lots of sugar, but where are the rolls?

And not very photogenic, but damn tasty! Crunchy, sweet and perfect with the raspberry jam in the middle: Peanut Butter Cupcakes from VwaV. We just added jam and 71% chocolate pieces.

All in all this was a huge success, everything was very well recieved and I was called the MacGyver of baking because everyone was like „I’ll call you when I want to bake and am missing an egg so you can tell me what to use instead!“ Ha ha =p

I wanted to make a pie with silken tofu, too. But the stores were closed on Friday and when I wanted to buy it on Saturday I looked at the recipe again to read that it was supposed to cool in the fridge overnight. So no pie, but there was wayyy to much food anyway.
Talking about way too much food, I just came back from my best friend who’s polish and her mom made Pierogies & Borscht, roasted rosemary potatoes, red beet salad and lamb’s lettucce with oranges… SUCH a filling and wonderful dinner!

Classic Breakfast Food

Of course I’m talking about oatmeal ;)

Mhhh, this one was so good. The pear was perfectly ripe and the whole combination was highly satisfying!

Ingredients
1/4 cup oats
2/4 cups + 2-3 Tbsp. soy milk
1 Tbsp. sugar (or sweetener of choice)
1-2 Tbsp. flax seeds
dash cinnamon
1 pear, chopped

I let half the pear cook with the oats and added the other half when it was done. and sprinkled it with almond slices.

This one’s a little more fancy. Or let’s say it just included more ingredients than the Pear Oatmeal.

Ingredients
1/4 cup oats
2/4 cups soy milk
1/2 mashed ripe banana
1 Tbsp. sugar (or sweetener of choice, I’m out of agave atm)
dash cinnamon
1 apple, chopped
walnuts
toasted almonds

Luckily I still had some Blueberry Sauce from VwaV that went perfectly well with this breakfast!

I’m off to enjoy the beautiful weather now! The sun is shining and I can’t wait to cruise on my bike again!

It’s Waffle Time!

I made VwaV’s Lemon Corn Waffles with blueberry sauce yesterday for breakfast and I can only reccomend them to anyone who likes lemon and corn meal. They were lemoney, crunchy and overall delicious! I didn’t take a picture though because my batteries were empty.

This morning I made Vegan Dad’s waffles and Jennas Banana-Walnut Waffles.
Since I made the regular waffle batch first I was left with 1/4 cup too little flour, added some corn meal but the mixture was still runny. Anyway, I had to scratch it out of my waffle iron, but the taste was still wonderful! Thanks so much for providing the recipe Jenna, I’ll definitely give them another try once I have flour in the house again =)

My messy breakfast table after breakfast(as you can see I made too many regular waffles, there were more left over than the picture shows): green tea, some pear slices, berries, waffles, blueberry sauce, powdered sugar…

I’m on my way to meet some friends now, but I’ll definitely comment on your blogs tomorrow. I’ve been checking out your new posts, but haven’t had the time to comment yet. But as always I gotta say: your dishes are awesome!!!

Asian Stir-Fry, Brussels Sprouts and 2 Minute Chocolate Cake

Yesterday I had some Asian Stir-Fry my mom made for Dinner.

And I had Paulinas Chocolate Cake for Dessert.

I added crushed cashews to the batter and had 3 layers of sliced banana. I was out of oil and my applesauce had gone bad so I used apple apricot sauce instead. Not a good decision because it tasted pretty much just like that and maple syrup. And I think using carob powder didn’t help to save anything either.
I’ll try it again with the right ingredients the next time, because honestly – who doesn’t dream of cake that can be devoured after 2 minutes in the microwave?

And here’s a picture of Brussels Sprouts with nutmeg and some mustard for dipping from few days ago. I borrowed my dads fisheye lense as you can see =p

Oatmeal-Carob Pudding for Dinner

I am so full! This is the first time I had oatmeal pudding and it is so filling, I couldn’t even finish the whole bowl. I tried, because it’s yumm. But I just couldn’t swallow any more, I look like 4 months pregnant already =p

I made Ruby Red Vegans Oatmeal-Carob Pudding. I got to use the carob powder I bought a few weeks ago for the first time, yay! Although when I opened the box I was like „Puh…“, because it smelled exactly like the stuff my sister used to feed her bunny back when we were kids. But it tasted nothing like it smelled, I really like it.

I topped it with 1/2 mashed banana (+ 1 tsp. agave syrup) and sliced the other half along with a strawberry.
Thumbs up, Ruby & Katie!

What I learned? That oatmeal probably really is the perfect breakfast, because it’s filling, it’s healthy and one can add nuts, seeds or fruit to make it even healthier.

Pancakes for Breakfast & Tortellinis with Broccoli and Cauliflower in Mustard Sauce

I just finished my huge, but fantastic breakfast.

VwaVs Banana Pecan Pancakes. In my case: Banana Pear Cashew and Banana Blueberry Cashew Pancakes. Yumm!

With some fresh pear slices and maple syrup & my jam for dipping. Perfect combination!

I cut the recipe for 9 small pancakes in half and guess how many small pancakes I got out? Nine.
Mhh… what does small mean to Americans? =p

And here’s what I had for dinner last night.
I bought spelt tortellinis with a vegetable stuffing a few days ago. And since I’m on a mustard-trip right now and Jennifer sent me a recipe I was able to whip me up with a very filling dinner. And yeah, I’m very much into cauliflower at the moment, too.

Here’s my adapted version of the Mustard Sauce:
Ingredients

1 clove of garlic, minced
1 Tbsp. Sherry
2 Tbsp. Dijon
1/2 – 1 Tbsp. veggie broth (I used 1 heaped Tbsp. and it was definitely too much/salty)
1 Tbsp. cornstarch
1-2 cups soy milk
pepper, to taste

1. in a bowl mix the veggetable broth with cornstarch and set aside
2. sautee the garlic in a little bit of olive oil, for about 2 minutes
3. add the Sherry and mustard and under stirring add the veggie broth cornstarch mix
4. on medium heat let simmer for about 1-2 minutes, add the soy milk (start with 1 cup)
5. on low-medium heat let simmer for about 5 minutes, add more soy milk to reach desired consistence
6. add a little pepper to taste

Sadly I didn’t cook the tortellinis long enough so the stuffing was still a bit dry, but they were fine soaked in mustard sauce and paired with broccoli, cauliflower and sunflower seeds.

Banana Split Pudding Brownies & Caramel filled Golden Vanilla Cupcakes

Okay, there is no denying: this is the best brownie ever!

I gave my omni friend the last small piece and she rationed it and was like „I’m sorry I’m not giving you a bite of this, but oh my this is so good!“ Ha ha, I was like „Never mind, enjoy it! I ate almost the whole batch myself last night.“

When I ate a piece while it was still warm, I swear it felt like velvet melting in your mouth! After refrigerating for a day the consistence was fudgy. Different, but just as good! And they were so rich in chocolate, because I used Lindt’s 85% cocoa chocolate!

Believe me, I wanted to slap myself for cutting the recipe in half. I will definitely make these again, soon.
My friend wants to bake them with me!

And here are the cupcakes I gave her for her birthday.

I filled them with the Caramel glaze from the Dulche Sin Leche Cupcakes. She loved the chocolate ganache! And I was surprised that you can create such a fudgy topping by only using soy milk, chocolate and a Tbsp. of maple syrup. Go vegan recipes!
These were good, but the brownies were better!!!