Vegan Pumpkin-Beer Bread

     These past few days have been feeling very fall-like. Between classes back in session and the cool autumn breeze, and even the release of Pumpkin Spice Lattes at Starbucks (not that it's vegan appropriate) I figured I should re-post one of my favourite fall recipes. This Vegan Pumpkin-Beer Bread is one of my all-time favourite fall recipes.

     We made this last night and were very satisfied, once again. This bread is moist but hearty. If you made my chocolate zucchini bread last post, this bread is definitely more of a bread than a cake, I promise this time. This pumpkin bread is just subtlety sweet with pumpkin-pie like aromatics. It makes for a perfect breakfast or a snack for school or work.

     This recipe was inspired my a recipe on Slate. It's not vegan but you can check it out here

Serves: One 9-inch loaf, serves 12

Ingredients

• vegan margarine for greasing the pan
• 1 3/4 cup all-purpose flour,can use a mixture of white and whole-wheat
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• ½ teaspoon baking soda
• 1/8 teaspoon salt
• 2 heaping teaspoons pumpkin pie spice OR
• 1½ teaspoons ground cinnamon
• ½ teaspoon ground ginger
• Pinch ground nutmeg (optional)
• Pinch ground Asian 5-spice (or allspice)
• 3 tablespoons margarine
• 1 cup pumpkin purée (a third of a can)
• 1 cup brown sugar
• 1 cup pumpkin ale, I suggest "St-Ambroise Pumpkin Ale"; alternatively, use mulled apple cider

Preparation

1. Heat the oven to 350°F. With margarine, grease a 9" loaf pan. Combine the flours, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and spices in a large mixing bowl.
2. In a medium sauce pan over low heat melt margarine. Stir in the pumpkin and brown sugar until smooth. Pour the pumpkin ale or cider into the sauce pan and mix until smooth. 
3. Add the wet pumpkin mixture to the dry ingredients and mix until combined, then transfer the batter to the greased loaf pan.
4. Bake at 400°F for 45 minutes to 1 hour. If you can smell the bread from the living room, it's probably done! Otherwise, bake until a toothpick inserted into the center of the loaf comes out clean. Let cool for 10 minutes in the loaf pan, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely. Leftovers should be covered and stored at room temperature for up to 5 days, although I've never seen it last that long....its normally finished in 3 days.

Vegan Baked Banana French Toast (or is it Bread Pudding?)

     Do you know what is better than Saturday brunch? 

     Sunday Brunch. I say brunch because this is usually a dish I eat with Ryan, but seeing as I'm a morning bird, I've already had my morning coffee and a snack/first breakfast and have started doing homework or typing up a blog post (like this morning) before he wakes up. Anyways, I've got the perfect recipe for your Sunday brunch or breakfast: super easy baked banana french toast or bread pudding (really, it's all the same thing). Seriously, there are only a handful of ingredients and you only need to dirty one mixing bowl and of course whatever you are baking this bad boy in. Seeing as we prefer not to eat eggs here at No Empty Fridge, we make our custard base out of bananas, non-dairy milk and cornstarch. It really is that easy. Since we like to get a little extra protein boost in the A.M., I like to add some toasted walnuts to the mix. Turns out great. This baked french toast casserole is rather firm so that you can serve it with a spatula or a large flat spoon but it's still soft and creamy on the inside. If you like it more custardy, take it out of the oven earlier, or leave it in a smidgen longer if you like it firmer.

Serves: 2-4
Time: 15 min + bake 30 min 

Ingredients

• 4-6 pieces of bread, cut into 1" by 2-3" chunks, or left whole
• 1 large ripe banana
• 1 cup non-dairy milk, I use regular soy milk
• 2 Tbsp cornstarch
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• 1/4 tsp vanilla extract
• 2 tsp canola oil
• 1/2 cup chopped walnuts, toasted (optional)
• Margarine

Preparation

1. Preheat oven to 350°F/175°C. 
2. Place your walnuts, if using, in your baking dish (see below), and toast uncovered while your oven is getting up to temp. By the time your oven gets up to temp your walnuts should be toasted (depending on how fast your oven heats up), but if they don't yet seem toasted enough, you can toast them for a couple more minutes at 350°F, checking often to make sure they don't burn.
3. In a large mixing bowl mash banana until creamy, if your banana is really ripe you can do this with a whisk, otherwise use a fork.
4. Whisk in soy milk, cornstarch, cinnamon, vanilla extract and canola oil. Mix in chopped walnuts if using.
5. Coat all of the bread in the mixture. The older your bread is, the longer it will need to sit. Let sit for about 5-15 minutes, stirring every couple of minutes to make sure all of your bread gets coated in and absorbs the banana custard.
6. While soaking up the banana custard, lightly grease a small baking dish, I use a 7"x7" square or a 9" oval  glass or ceramic baking dish.
7. Mix your bread mixture one last time before pouring into your baking dish. Bake uncovered for 25-30 minutes.
8. Remove from oven and let cool for 10 minutes before serving with fresh fruit and a strong coffee.

and ready to bake

Have any favourite vegan breakfast or brunch options? Let me know!

No-Knead Pizza Crust

Do yourself a favor: give homemade pizza another go (using our recipe of course). I know it can be frustrating when your pizzas don't look like those your cool friends got at that fancy Italian pizzeria in Brooklyn, but that's about to change. With this recipe you'll be able to make pizzas that are just as good, and make them vegan if you so choose. This technique makes the whole ordeal so much less of an ordeal that I want to eat the stuff every day! The recipe below is from Jim Lahey's book My Pizza, which along with My Bread is one of our favorite cookbooks. Available at fine bookstores everywhere.

Classic tomato pie

The dough

3 3/4 cups all-purpose or bread flour (whole wheat, white or a mixture)

1/4 teaspoon yeast

1 teaspoon salt (or less)

1 1/2 cups cool water

Preparation

Thoroughly blend all the dry ingredients in a large bowl.

Add the water and mix gently but thoroughly until all the flour is incorporated. If there is some flour left in the bowl, add more water, a few tablespoons at a time, until the dough is sticky to the touch. The dough needs to be fairly wet in order to rise properly.

Cover the bowl with plastic wrap or a damp towel and let it rise for 12-18 hours, until it has doubled in size and looks bubbly on the surface.

Flour your work surface and scrape out the dough; it should look stringy (glutinous) and wet.
You next need to shape the dough. With well-floured hands, fold the edges of the dough in towards the center four times - top, bottom, left, right - in whatever order you like. Then flip the dough over so that the seam side is down, and mould it into a nice round shape. If the mound is sticky, add another sprinkling of flour.

Let the dough rise for 1/2 an hour covered with a tea towel, then use a food chopper or knife to divide the mound into 4 equal parts for use on round pizza pans or stones. If you're using a large rectangular pan, 2 equal parts will fill 2 pans. Flour your hands and shape the parts into balls, then let them rise again for another 1/2 hour, until they have doubled in size. If you can poke the dough and it rebounds immediately, let it rise another 15 minutes. If you poke it and it retains a 1/4 inch depression, it is ready to use.

Cooking with a pizza stone

Things you'll need:

- a pizza stone, the thicker the better

- a pizza peel (those large wooden spatulas professionals use, but with a short handle)

- flour and cornmeal

If you're using a pizza stone (a technique we highly recommend), set the racks in your oven so that the stone is closer to the top than the bottom, but not right at the top. Put the stone in the oven and preheat the oven on bake at the highest temperature it can muster. You should start preheating the oven once you've shaped the dough, or around an hour before you intend to cook the pizzas. Ten minutes before you're ready to cook them, switch the oven to broil; this will super-heat the stone and should give your pizzas a nice crispy crust.

When the stone is ready, flour your pizza peel well and add a generous sprinkling of cornmeal (this is optional, but it makes sliding the dough off the peel much easier). It is important to flour your peel well or else the dough will stick to it and then this becomes an ordeal again. 

Take one ball of dough - add more flour to it if it's sticky - and stretch it. One of the best techniques for stretching dough is called 'knuckling': stretch the dough a bit with your hands until it is flat (be gentle!) then lift it on top of your clenched fists and stretch it gently with your knuckles. You can also stretch the dough by pulling and stretching it with your hands on the floured work surface. Try to stretch the dough immediately before you use it so that it retains its shape and moisture. And try to stretch it as evenly as possible, until it is very thin and about 10-12 inches across. Once the dough is shaped and is well-floured, lay it on the peel - you're ready for toppings!

The toppings are up to you (we'll give you some suggestions later). Once you have your pizza all dressed it's ready to cook. Use some good kitchen gloves to take the pizza stone out of the oven (it will be very hot). You can leave the stone in the oven but it makes this next step harder. Gently jerk the pizza peel forward and backwards to make sure that your pizza can move freely. If it can't, lift the edges of the dough and add more flour. Once you're ready, transfer the pizza with jerking motions onto the hot stone. This step is tricky because once the dough touches the stone it cannot be moved. Replace the stone in the oven and switch the oven to bake again.

The cooking time for your oven will vary depending on if you have a gas or electric appliance, how thick your pizza stone is and a dozen other factors like whether you and your oven have a friendly relationship (or perhaps something more?) Our oven is old, it's electric and it takes a while to heat up, and our pizza stone is about 1/2 thick. We bake our pizza for 7-10 minutes, then switch the oven to broil and cook the pizza until the crust is just this side of charred on top, and the ingredients are bubbling (usually only two or three minutes). Gas ovens often take less time to cook a pizza, so you'll have to do a bit of experimenting. Keep a close eye on, and detailed notes about, your first few pizzas and I'm sure they'll turn out great.

Cooking with a metal pan

Whatever the shape of your pan, start by oiling it generously - until you can trace lines in the oil with your finger, but don't add so much that you fry your pizza. If you're using a round pan, shape the dough as described in the directions for cooking with a pizza stone, above, but instead of placing the dough on the pizza peel, just stretch it and place it on the oiled pan. If you're using a rectangular pan, take one of your two pizza dough balls and stretch it to approximately the length of the pan. Lay it down on the pan, then gently stretch it to fill the pan width-wise. You will likely have to bake the pizza for a bit longer than if you were using a pizza stone, probably 10-15 minutes, then finish it with a couple minutes on broil. You can tell the dough is done when it pulls away from the edges of the pan and looks toasty. 

Meatless-Meatloaf

Finally done all my exams! So it's about time I get to publishing the tasty recipes I've made, and kept to myself over the last few weeks.

I've been wanting to experiment and make vegan meatloaf for some time now. Ryan has never had meatloaf, and my parents rarely ever made it when I was a kid. So it's about time I vegan-ize this meat heavy dish. 

There are two things that all great meatloaves need: soy sauce and ketchup. If you are out of either of these ingredients, go out and pick up some supplies. I'm sure you could make the dish without them, but my loaf needs them.

I knew that I wanted to use TVP, but I also wanted to incorporate lentils. Both are very common in vegetarian meatloaves, and together they give texture and complexity to the base. As for the rest of the goodies, creative freedom is always welcomed. I used some of my favourite seeds, herbs, and of course mushrooms.

Serves about 6

Preheat oven to 375°F.

Ingredients

1 2/3 TVP (textured vegetable protein, granules)

1/2 cup dry red lentils, triple rinsed

1 cup boiling water

1 cup hot vegetable broth

1/2 cup ketchup

2 tbsp soy sauce

1/2 cup quick oats

1/2 cup panko or bread crumbs

1/4 cup ground flaxseed

1/4 cup sunflower seeds or chopped walnuts (optional)

2 tbsp nutritional yeast

1/2 medium onion, minced

4-6 medium crimini mushrooms, chopped

1 tsp garlic powder

1/2 tsp onion powder

1 tsp  basil

1 tsp oregano

1 tsp chopped chives

BBQ sauce: use your favoutite or combine 1/3 cup ketchup, 1 tbsp soy sauce and several dashes of chipotle smoky hot sauce and make your own BBQ sauce

Preparation

Preheat the oven to 375°F. 

Grease a 9x5 loaf pan.

In a medium bowl, combine the TVP and the lentils with the water, broth, soy sauce and ketchup. Mix to combine and let sit for 10-20 minutes.

Once all the liquid is absorbed, add remaining ingredients and mix well.

Pack the meatloaf mixture into a loaf pan and press down firmly on mix.

Bake for 30 minutes.

Remove from oven and lather on the BBQ sauce.

Bake for an additional 10 minutes.

Let cool a minimum of 10 minutes before cutting into the loaf.

Vegetable Lasagna

Wow! Am I ever stuffed. This is the best lasagna. There is something very appealing about having a lasagna that is not dripping with cheesy grease, yuck. This was my first time making a vegan lasagna, although I've made many non-vegan lasagnas with my family as well as vegan cannelloni. I was actually planning on doing manicotti with a zucchini wrapper, but Ryan wanted lasagna, so here we are! 
This lasagna has a great structure. I was surprised when I picked it up with the spatula and it didn't fall to pieces like so many lasagnas do. The reason it's so sturdy is most likely because we used both lasagna pasta and strips of zucchini, which we laid perpendicular to one another. Because we only added cheese on top, there were also no greasy layers for the pasta to slip off of. This is definitely a healthy lasagna. Layered with vegetables and tofu, it's lower in saturated fats, as well as calories and sodium, although it's probably more filling than other (non-vegan) lasagnas.

If you are not vegan and want to make this cheesier, you would be able to replace half the tofu with ricotta, just mix it in after the kale has wilted down or you could replace the Daiya on top with a nice goat cheese (which complements the flavours of the lasagna well) or with one of your favourite cheeses.

Serves: 8
Bake at: 375°F

Ingredients

13-15 sheets oven-ready lasagna noodles (less than a full box)
1 zucchini, cut lengthwise thinly with a mandolin
~2/3 cup Daiya vegan cheese
1 large portabello mushroom, 1/4" slices (optional)

1 brick of tofu, rinsed
1-2 cloves minced garlic
olive oil for frying
1 Tbsp soy sauce
1/2 a bunch of kale (or 1 bag of baby spinach)
2/3 cup of water
1/2 tsp dried oregano
1 tsp dried thyme
1 tsp dried basil
Salt and pepper to taste

1 large onion, medium dice
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 medium red pepper, large dice
6 crimini mushrooms, sliced 
1 16 oz can tomato chunks, in juice
1 jar (650ml, just less that 3 cups) of your favourite spaghetti sauce
salt and pepper to taste

Preparation

In a shallow frying pan, simmer garlic on medium-low heat in olive oil until fragrant. 
Crumble tofu into frying pan so that it resembles ricotta cheese, and season with soy sauce and herbs.
Stir as needed to not overly brown the tofu.

Meanwhile in a large sauce pan on medium heat, sautée onions in olive oil for 2 minutes, then add mushrooms and garlic, then sautée until the mushrooms begin to brown.
Next add diced red pepper and let sautée for an additional 5 minutes before adding the tomatoes and tomato sauce.
Bring to a boil then reduce heat and simmer for 10-20 minutes.
Taste and add pepper and salt if needed.

De-stem and wash kale, then dice. Add kale to tofu filling with about 2/3 of a cup of warm water. Cover and let steam. 
The water at this step is needed to help cook the oven-ready pasta noodles. Don't worry, the end product will not be watery.
When the kale is ready, uncover, and take off heat.

Preheat the oven to 375°F.

In a 9x13" pyrex dish, ladle in 1/2-1 cup sauce to cover bottom.
Layer in the first set of pasta noodles, make sure to not overlap them. 
Next add a layer of sliced zucchini, overlapping slightly. Lay the zucchini slices in the opposite direction of the pasta noodles, perpendicular to them. 
Ladle on a substantial amount of pasta sauce, about half of what is left, so that there is a thick layer of sauce.
Next, layer the second set of pasta noodles. 
On top of the noodles, add the entire tofu filling, evening it out.
Then add a second layer of zucchini slices, in the same manner as the first.
Add the third and final layer of pasta noodles.
If you have enough room, you can add another layer of zucchini here, if not skip this step.
Ladle on the rest of the sauce to cover the noodles or the zucchini.
Sprinkle on the cheese, adding more or less as desired.
Distribute the portabello slices on top of the cheeses (this will stop most of the cheese from sticking to the aluminum foil).
Cover the dish with aluminum foil, puncture a hole in the middle with a fork and form a tent in the foil.
Bake at 375°F for 40 minutes.
Remove foil, then bake for an additional 20-30 minutes.
Remove from oven and test pasta with a fork.
Let cool for 10 minutes before cutting and serving.
Serve with Ryan's No-Knead Bread.

Hope you enjoy! We did!

No-Knead Bread

This is hands-down the best bread I've ever had. The recipe here is adapted from Jim Lahey's excellent book My Bread. His technique works so well that we never buy bread anymore - we just bake it! There are two versions of this bread, depending on how long you're willing to let it rise. The slow rise version uses less yeast, and takes 12-16 hours to rise, but the added fermentation time makes the bread taste more complex. The quick version only takes four hours to rise, but it uses a heck of a lot more yeast. 
Note: We have modified the bread recipe for a smaller loaf with less salt. No-Knead Bread 2.0 is healthier and doesn't end up moldy before you can eat all of it. We've also improved the techniques below.

Ingredients

No-Knead Bread 2.0
3 3/4 cups all-purpose or bread flour
1 tsp salt (or less)
1/4 tsp yeast
1 3/4 cups cool water

No-Knead Bread: Slow rise

6 cups all-purpose or bread flour 

2 1/2 tsp. salt 

1 tsp. yeast

3 cups water

Quick rise

6 cups all-purpose or bread flour

1 tbs. salt

1 1/2 tbsp. yeast

3 cups water

Preparation

1. Mix all dry ingredients together in a large bowl. You can use white or whole wheat flour, or a combination depending on how you like it. The quantity of salt you add affects the crispiness of the crust, but you can use less.

2. Add the water and mix until all of the flour is absorbed. You don't need to knead the bread, just mix and let it be. If there is extra flour in the bowl, add more water a few tablespoons at a time until the loaf is sticky.

3. If you're attempting the slow rise dough, cover your bowl with plastic wrap to keep it from drying out. Let the dough rest for 12-16 hours, or until it has doubled in volume. For the quick rise, do the same but let it rest for 4 hours.

4. Once the dough has risen, scrape it out of the bowl onto a well-floured surface, like a silicone mat or parchment paper. At this point you can either divide the loaf into two, form it into a neat shape (like baguettes, buns, pretzels), or keep it as one large boule. These instructions are for an undivided loaf:
With well-floured hands, shape the dough by folding the edges in towards the center four times (top, bottom, left, right or some variation thereof). Next, flip the loaf over so that the seam you've created is on the bottom, and shape the dough into a round ball with your hands. If the dough is sticky, sprinkle a bit more flour on it. Cover the dough with a tea towel and let it rest for 1 to 2 hours, until it has doubled in volume. If, when you poke the dough, it springs back immediately, let it rest another 15 minutes. If your finger leaves a 1/4" deep indent, the dough is ready to bake.
Note: If you would like your bread to have something interesting on the outside like wheat bran, cornmeal, flax, poppy seeds  sesame seeds etc., you can either sprinkle those ingredients on now (after you have shaped the loaf), gently lifting it and sprinkling underneath, or you can wait 30 minutes (my approach) until the bread has moistened again and then add them. 

Bread 2.0: smothered in wheat bran!

5. Preheat your oven to 475 degrees, 40 minutes before the end of the dough's second rise. If you're baking the bread in a French or Dutch oven (the best method), put your vessel in the oven now, with the lid on (make sure the handle is heat-proof), so that it can preheat. If you don't do this now, you might crack your vessel by putting it into the already-hot oven. If you're using bread pans or a baking sheet (use parchment paper underneath), you can put a shallow heat-proof container of water into the oven now, to rest underneath your bread. This will create steam when the bread is cooking, which will condense on the surface of the cold dough, ultimately helping the crust not to burn, but keeping it crispy. Cooking your bread in a French oven accomplishes a similar thing, but keeps the steam contained in the vessel, and results in a better bread.

6. Once the oven is preheated and the dough has rested, remove your cooking vessel from the oven. Make sure the dough is well-floured and is not stuck to the surface it's resting on.  Once you're ready, flip the dough over and into your cooking vessel (gently!). Be careful because that sucker will be hot. Replace the lid and put the vessel back in the oven.

7. Bake your bread for 30 minutes with the lid on. Then take the lid off and bake it for another 25-30 minutes. Removing the lid part way is essential for getting a nice crust. 

8. Once it's cooked, tip the bread out of the pot and onto a cooling rack. You should hear crackling noises at this point (called 'singing'), which means the bread is cooling. You should leave the bread for around an hour to cool. If you cut the loaf too soon, you'll halt the last stage of the cooking process and you can ruin the consistency of your baby.

9. Enjoy! Store your bread in a container, or in the (cooled) French oven itself, just not in the fridge or it will go stale faster. 

Vegan Banana Bread

Waking up to the smell of banana bread is absolutely wonderful. Unfortunately, I was the one in the kitchen, not the one leisurely waking up. :)
This is hands down the best vegan banana bread I've had to date.  It has the components of every good bread that doesn't know if it should be eaten for breakfast or for dessert. Well, if you are fortunate enough to have any left after breakfast, you might just be able to indulge after dinner too.

Serves: 6-12
Bake at 350°F for 1 hour

Ingredients

2 ripe and frozen bananas/ 1 cup mashed
1/3 cup vegetable oil
1/4 cup water
1 cup brown sugar, lightly packed
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp vanilla extract

1 1/2 cup flour
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 cup chopped walnuts or pecans

Granola, optional

Preparation

Preheat oven to 350°F.
Remove bananas from freezer, cut off ends and cut in half, place in a microwave safe bowl and microwave on high until defrosted, about 1 minute, 30 seconds. 
When dethawed, squeeze banana out of peel, and mash in medium mixing bowl. 
Add wet ingredients, brown sugar, salt and vanilla and mix well.
Mix dry ingredients and add to wet. Mix well.
Pour batter into greased bread pan.
Top with granola.
Bake at 350°F for approximately 1 hour.
Test with a knife/chopstick/cake tester before removing.
Remove, let cool 5-10 minutes before removing from bread pan. Let cool an additional 10 minutes (minimum) before cutting.

butter it up and enjoy!

A Side of Rustic Roots

Man, the aroma of this dish in the oven is amazing! These fall/ winter vegetables are perfect baked in a duch oven, but I've also baked them in a Pyrex dish for more caramelized roots.
Did I mention that all you have to do is cut a few vegetables, toss with olive oil and spice and cook? One of those dishes that you can throw in the oven while you work on something else, in my case it was studying for nutrition class.

Serves: 4-8

Ingredients

3 medium large carrots, scrubbed clean and chunked
20 fingerling or baby potatoes, scrubbed clean
10 crimini or button mushrooms, washed
1 large onion, chopped into large wedges or 5 peeled shallots
1 head of garlic, whole cloves crushed
Olive oil to coat
3 tsp French herbes, or a blend of your favourite
1/4 tsp cumin
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp fresh ground pepper

Preparation

Place all vegetables in your ditch oven, coat with olive oil and add seasoning. Mix until well combined.
Place lid on Dutch oven and place in oven.
Turn oven on to 400 deg.F.
Bake for about 40 minutes.
Like I said, you're going to smell it.

Vegan Chocolate Cake

     Its chocolate cake! need I say more? Well, Grandma passed this recipe down to us. Apparently, this is an old war time recipe, frequently used for its lack of expensive and perishable goods, such as butter, milk and eggs. Who needs animal products anyway? ("Not I!" said the vegan!) 

This recipe is very simple and very chocolaty. Delicious with Vegan butter cream, this recipe makes excellent birthday cakes or even cupcakes. 

Please note how the majority of the cake was
eaten before we could take the picture :)
Shown here with a chocolate frosting
(melted chocolate with a bit of margarine,
soy milk and sugar)

Serves: 6-10 (or 20-24 cupcakes)
Time: 5 minutes prep, cook for 40-45 minutes (or 20 minutes for cupcakes)

Ingredients

• 2 1/4 cups flour
• 1/2 cup cocoa
• 1 2/3 cup white sugar
• 1 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 cup light vegetable oil
• 1 1/2 cups warm water
• 2 tsp vanilla
• 1 1/2 tsp white vinegar

Preparations

1. Preheat oven to 350°F.
2. Grease bunt pan or muffin pan with oil or margarine, or use muffin cups.
3. Mix dry ingredients in a large bowl. Combine wet ingredients in a separate container.
4. Add wet ingredients to dry bowl and mix well.
5. Pour into pan. (if using a muffin pan, fill each compartment 3/4 of the way.)
6. Place in preheated oven and bake cake for 40-45 minutes, or cupcakes for about 20 minutes.
7. When you can smell the cake, its normally done. 
8. Remove from oven and test with a tooth pick or chopstick.
9. Let cool slightly before removing completely from pan to let cool entirely.
10. If icing the cake, the cake must be at room temperature.

Kinda wishing I had some cake left now...

Oven Fried Rice

My family has been making this recipe for years, not sure why my dad calls it fried rice when its baked but either way, its tasty. An easy version of fried rice, without all the hassle of actually frying the rice. 

This dish is great for potluck. An easy crowd pleaser.

Serves 6-10

Ingredients

1 package onion soup mix
2 finely chopped celery stalks
2 small or 1 large chopped onion
1/2 diced green bell pepper (optional)
1 can mushrooms with liquid
3 tbsp soy sauce
2 cups long grain rice
1 tbsp vegetable oil
3 1/4 cups boiling water

Preparation

Mix all ingredients in a roaster pan, adding liquids last. 
Mix, cover and cook for 1 hour at 350 deg. F.
No need to stir while baking. Remove after an hour, let cool a couple of minutes and serve.
Told you this was easy.

Happy New Year!

Marinated Baked Tofu

So tasty.  Making these for our new year's
dinner tonight at my aunts.
Got to feed the herbivores too.

Cooking time: 1 hour
Preheat Oven to 350 deg F

Ingredients

1 package firm tofu
3-4 tbsp soy sauce
2 cloves minced garlic
1 tsp minced ginger or 1 tsp ginger powder
1 tbsp sesame oil
1 tbsp rice wine vinegar
2 tsp honey

1 tbsp olive oil (for greasing pan)

If you are going to flip the tofu 
while marinating, make sure 
you've got a good air tight container

Preparation

Cut tofu into chunks and mix all ingredients. Add marinade to tofu in an air tight container.
Shake to mix and marinate over night, or for as long as possible, flipping halfway.
Grease baking pan and spread tofu out on pan. Make sure not to over crowd the tofu.
Bake at 350F for one hour or until crispy.

Bars and Squares

Two days till christmas, if I don't do my christmas baking now, I'll never get it done in time for the big day. I've been making this recipe for years, super easy and a real crowd pleaser. 

Brownies

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 and 1/2 cups flour
• 1 cup water
• 1 cup brown sugar
• 1 cup white sugar
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 3/4 cup baking cocoa
• 1/2 cup vegetable oil
• 1/2-1 cup chopped walnuts (optional, amount depends on how nutty you like it)
• 1/2 chocolate chips (optional)

Preparation

1. Preheat oven to 350°F. 
2. Boil water with 1/2 cup flour over low heat, stirring constantly until it reaches a thin, glue like consistency. Remove from heat and let cool completely.
3. Mix sugar, salt, vanilla, cocoa and oil. Add the cooled flour-water mixture and mix well.
4. Add the remaining 1 1/2 cup flour, baking powder, nuts and chocolate chips and mix well.
5. Spread mixture into greased 11 x 7 glass pyrex pan.
6. Bake at 350°F for around 25 minutes, or until a knife comes out clean.

Pretzels

These pretzels are soft on the inside and crispy on the outside. It's a good thing that this recipe is so easy to make because these pretzels are quite addicting! This recipe is diverse and can be used to make bread sticks or twists and can be stuffed with garlic, herbs or cheese.

Makes approximately 24 medium pretzels
Preheat oven to 425F

Tasty goodness

Ingredients

1 tbsp instant yeast
1 tsp salt
1 tbsp sugar
4 cups flour
1 1/2 cups hot tap water
olive oil and course sea salt

Preparation

In a large mixing bowl, mix together all dry ingredients.
Add hot water and knead well, will take about 5 minutes.
Stretch, roll and sculpt into desired shapes.
Place on greased baking sheet or baking sheet with parchment paper or silicone mat.
Brush olive oil on top of the pretzels and grind or sprinkle with sea salt.
Bake for 12-15 minutes at 425F

Enjoy guys!

Oven-Baked Onion Rings

Crunchy, delicious and oil-free. We made these onion rings were with the largest red onions we could find and are they are absolutely scrumptious. All the goodness without the grease.  An added plus, the batter stays on these onions! (unlike restaurant onion rings where, after one bight, you are left with no onion and a whole lot of breading). The breading process, like any, can get quite messy, but the end result is worth it. Best served fresh, these tasty morsels won't last long.

They look crunchy, don't they? Makes most restaurant onion rings look tiny in comparison.

Ingredients

1 large red onion

5/8 cup or 1/2 cup + 2 whole wheat flour
2 tbsp cornstarch
1 cup cold unsweetened soy milk
1 tbsp apple cider

2 cups panko bread crumbs
1/2 cup nutritional yeast
1/2 tsp salt
1 1/2 tsp garlic powder

Preparation

Tried to take the picture of my set up before my hands got too battered. I'm no the cleanest cook in the kitchen :)

Preheat oven to 450F and line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
Slice red onion into 3/4" slices, reserve large and medium rings, saving smaller segments for later use.
In a shallow dish or bowl combine flour, cornstarch and liquids and mix well, removing all clumps.
In another bowl, mix coating ingredients: breadcrumbs, yeast, salt and garlic powder.
With a fork, coat onion ring in batter, coating evenly, and let excess drip off.
Transfer to bowl with coating and coat completely.
Place onion ring on prepared baking sheet and repeat.
Bake for 18 minutes, flipping after 9 minutes. Check doneness before removing (I suggest nibbling on one).
Best served immediately.

Want an easy dipping sauce? I mixed about 1/4 cup vegan mayo with a tsp wasabi, a tsp ketchup, 2 tsp Dijon mustard,1/2 tsp garlic powder, 1/2 tsp oregano and salt and pepper to taste. Chilled it for 10 minutes to let the garlic powder work its magic. Delicious.

Enjoy guys!