Chow Vegan

Graham Cracker Gingerbread House

December 20, 2014 By chow 7 Comments

As I’m not much of a baker, I always feel a bit left out of all the baking and cookie making going on at this time of year. I don’t want to be a Grinch nor do I want to subject innocent, unsuspecting people to my novice baking. Thankfully, there’s no baking involved in making a graham cracker gingerbread house.

While most store-bought graham crackers contain honey, Nabisco Original Graham Crackers (in the red box) are vegan. For the frosting glue, you can use caramelized sugar or vegan royal icing. I went with the royal icing, that stuff works just like cement.

Using a sharp serrated knife, gently saw off the top corners of two graham cracker sheets for the gable sides. Saw two more sheets in half for the square sides and roof. Have plenty of extra graham crackers handy in case of breakage.

Pipe icing onto the bottom and side of a square piece. Place on a piece of cardboard or an upside-down paper plate. Use a small jar to prop it up while gluing down the next piece. Pipe icing onto the bottom of a gable piece and attach to the square piece.

Remove the small jar and attach the other sides with icing. Make sure the gable pieces are directly across from each other.

For the roof shingles, split a mini oreo, and scrape off the filling. Attach it with icing to a square graham cracker. Repeat in a tile patten and let the pieces dry before attaching to the rest of the house with icing.

To make a door, cut a sheet in half and then in half again and attach with icing. Add other assorted decorative candy as desired. I used a strip of seaweed for the walkway and sprinkled shredded coconut around for the snow. Lastly, dust with powdered sugar over the top of the house for an extra festive look.

Vegan Royal Icing
1 cup confectioner’s sugar
2 teaspoons water
2 teaspoons light corn syrup

Stir together the sugar and water until smooth. Add the corn syrup and stir until the icing is smooth and glossy. If icing is too thick, add more syrup. To use, fill a resealable plastic bag and snip off a tiny bit of a corner.

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Tyler Florence Inside the Test Kitchen

December 10, 2014 By chow 6 Comments

Apparently, I’m not much of a traditionalist. I always seem to be trying out a new something or other for my holiday meal. This year is no different, with focus shifting away from a main dish and landing squarely on a side dish. And not just any ol’ side dish, but the best mashed potatoes and gravy ever.

Drawn in by the notebook style/theme of Tyler Florence’s latest cookbook, Inside the Test Kitchen, I came across the Vegetarian Thanksgiving Sauce (page 81).

Delighted to see a meat-free version, I knew I was making this sauce when I saw the recipe doesn’t include flour or cornstarch. It’s made from pureed vegetables (see ingredients photo above). You’re now free to smother your entire plate with gravy without having any guilt whatsoever.

Naturally, I had to make the Extra Potato-y Mashed Potatoes (page 192) to go with the gravy. They really are the best mashed potatoes ever. The recipe calls for the potatoes to be cooked in heavy cream instead of water, to retain more of the potato flavor. I subbed in full fat coconut milk instead and vegan butter.

For you mashed potatoes purists, no worries, it doesn’t taste like coconut, the predominant flavor is that of buttery potatoes. Soft, oh-so-fluffy, buttery potatoes. You can see the recipe here.

I also made the Fig-Hazelnut Fruit “Salami” (page 54) as part of a cheese plate. Easy to make out of just hazelnuts and dried Mission figs, it’s sweet and figgy.

There’s a few more recipes I’m excited to try like the Kale Waldorf Chicken Salad (page 74) and the Creamed Kale (page 155), all veganized of course. One already vegan is the Black-Eyed Pea and Charred Vegetable Chili (page 238). But the vast majority of the recipes are for omnivores (if looking at meaty things bothers you, it’s probably best to look away or quickly flip past those pages).

Inside the Test Kitchen is very nicely put together with its notebook design complete with rounded corners and elastic stretchy band/bookmarker on the outside. Inside, the theme continues in the page layouts and the content. The success and failures of various experiments by Tyler and his team, like the stretchy cheese test (I would love to see someone do a vegan cheese version).

The Test Kitchen is a real, actual place, located in Mill Valley, California. It’s where the recipes for the cookbook were created, written and shot entirely on an iPad by Tyler. The cookbook was such a fun read, I’m inspired to be like Tyler and try my own kitchen experiments.

This post contains Amazon links, I get a few coins tossed my way if you click on any of the links and make a purchase of anything.

Barnana, Bar None

November 23, 2014 By chow 7 Comments

With a bit of assistance in the review department today, I’m reviewing Barnana, the super potassium snack. They’re dehydrated organic banana pieces with a sweet and chewy bite.

I received all four flavors from the company to try out. I shared them with a couple of little omnivore foodies in the family, ages eight and ten.

Their number one favorite is the Organic Chocolate Chewy Banana Bites. Covered in dark chocolate, it’s like eating a piece of candy. The banana bites look like candy too. Sadly, they are not vegan as the glaze has an ingredient that’s similar to honey in it. But it is vegetarian.

Raw and vegan, the Organic Original Chewy Banana Bites was also singled out as being a favorite. The natural brown color didn’t fazed the mini taste testers one bit although they did ask about the white powder which is just organic banana powder (not sugar as one tester guessed).

Another flavor that’s vegetarian instead of vegan is the Organic Peanut Butter Chewy Banana Bites. I had a few of those as well as the chocolate bites before I discovered they weren’t vegan. It’s not labelled on the package but it is on the Barnana website.

I don’t usually make a big deal out of accidentally eating something that’s vegetarian instead of vegan, it’s not like a vegan angel loses its wings or anything. I had just assumed all the flavors were vegan. It’s my own fault for assuming instead of checking.

The peanut butter was our least favorite flavor, the eight year old didn’t even try as he’s not a peanut butter fan and the ten year old was unenthusiastic. I thought it was another one that’s very candy-like but with peanut butter.

We all liked the last flavor, Organic Coconut Chewy Banana Bites (raw and vegan). It’s very similar to the original bites but with coconut. The smaller, square shape were also noted.

Overall, the kids really like trying out the various flavors. It’s a great, healthy, portable snack. They liked them so much, they were running around chanting “Barnana, Barnana, Barnana…”

Later in the day, they also enjoyed eating Barnana quietly while watching a movie.

As I had an extra bag of the coconut Barnana, I used it in the crust for mini cheesecakes. Based on my mini raw mixed berries cheesecake recipe, I replaced the dates and coconut with Barnana and used up the last of the fresh strawberries from the farmer’s market.

Dessert instead of a snack. Given its mini size, it’s more like a snacky dessert.

Mini Raw Strawberry Cheesecake
Makes 4 mini cheesecakes

Crust
1/2 cup raw almonds
One 3.5 ounce bag of Barnana Organic Coconut Chewy Banana Bites
Pinch of salt

Place almonds in a food processor and pulse until crumbly. Add the Barnana bites and salt, continue to pulse the mixture into fine crumbs.

Coat the pans with raw coconut oil. Press the mixture into the bottom of four 4-inch diameter mini pans, packing it well into the pans. Set aside.

Filling
1/2 cup raw cashews, soaked overnight
1 cup strawberries, sliced
2 tablespoons agave nectar
1/2 tablespoon freshly-squeezed lemon juice
Pinch of salt
1 tablespoon raw coconut oil, melted

Pulse the cashews in a food processor until crumbly. Add the rest of the ingredients except the coconut oil and pulse until smooth.

While pulsing the food processor, slowly add the coconut oil until blended in. Spoon the filling into the prepared crusts. Gently wiggle the pan around until the filling smooths out.

Place in the freezer until firm. To serve, defrost in the refrigerator for about an hour. Top with additional strawberries.

Disclosure: I received the products free of charge from the company to review. The opinions and experience with the product expressed herein are my own. There was no pay to say.

This post also contains Amazon links, I get a few coins tossed my way if you click on any of the links and make a purchase of anything.

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