Big Thank You to Alex who took this photo. Note my arm, my roomate’s shakeweight and her trippy bow-tied potato head. (Our fridge says “Gurl your butt is asstronomical, just so you know)

1 tbsp olive oil

Sautee

3 cloves chopped garlic

2 tbsp breadcrumbs

½ small red pepper diced

1 tbsp Hungarian paprikash

Add:

1 ½ cup weak broth

bring to a boil then shut off and puree, then return to cookin’ pot.

add pinches basil and parsley

add a can of chickpeas (If you have time, this sauce is really great over chickpea cutlets from veganomicon)

simmer down until the sauce is nice and think

¼ tsp of nooch

turn off

stir in ¼ cup plain  soy yogurt or vegan sour cream if you have it

Fantastic over rice or a pasta which the sauce can really ‘cling’ to (Think shells of something spiraled). Because I grew up loving chicken paprikash at the restaurant I grew up in, my vegan versions often call for a side of a cheap restaurant vegetable like carrots or green beans (squash in the summer) steamed then covered in garlic and lemon juice.

(My apologies for the blurry pictures. I was shaking with anticipation of a blood sugar spike and deliciousness. (Please don’t eat the whole thing. Please share it with friends over the course of many days. Stay safe.)

Here’s what we’re looking at:

Graham Cracker crust:

8 graham crackers (usually one of the mini-packages in the box)

½ cup of sugar

pulsepulspulse into a fine crumb

add 3 tbsp of your favorite nondairy, non-hydrogenated margarine one  at a time

Bake the crust 350 for 15 minutes Let cool.

Filling

melt ½ cup chocolate chips in 1 tbsp chocolate milk of some sort

Put in a food processor/blender with

nasoya dark chocolate silken tofu

1 tsp cornstarch

blend/process

top with some sort of vegan fluff. (I piped “Rice mellow” in some sad attempt at a lattice.) and graham cracker crumbles.

If you are able, I’d definitely suggest trying some blow torch option on the ricemellow. But I am not so fancy and even if I were, I’m sure my RA would look down upon open flames.

Put in the freezer for an hour, or the fridge overnight.

DELICIOUS.

Here’s my friend Alex who’s bugging out because his two favorite things are:

-Pie

-Smores

And even I have to admit, I don’t usually care for chocolate pies. But I loved this one.

Mhmm, this is my comfort zone, a spicy, hearty soup with homemade pita and roasted cauliflower on the side. The recipe is after the jump, if you don’t mind my verbal meanderings about the power of food after wards.

First, let’s get out ingredients in order!

Sauté 3 cloves garlic and 1/2 tsp grated ginger in a little water or oil

add and lightly toast

½ tbsp cumin

½ tsp saffron or turmeric

Your kitchen is going to be rul aromatic at this point.

Then you add 2 cups pre-soaked red lentils (I covered them with water in a bowl in the morning, they drink up water pretty quickly)

6 cups water

2 vegan bouillon cubes

A few turns of your pepper mill

Cover and turn up the heat until it all starts boiling, a stir or two will do and you can bring the temperature down to low, letting the lentils cook and all the lovely flavors meld together. When serving top off each bowl with a little squeeze of lemon and a few droplets of olive oil.

I made this pita recipe (With 1/2 cup of water instead of a full cup) and it turned out really good! Most of them even formed pockets!

And now onto less-delicious matters at hand:

The recent cycle of stress eating (stress/feel awful, eat, feel worse, think “oh well maybe eating will make me feel better”, lie face-down on the ground for a while, feeling guilty, etc.) I’ve been going through is, I’m sure familiar to many- food is celebratory as well as nourishing and everyone has memories tied to food. I know, I do, I was strapped into a back-holster fit for a baby before I could talk and brought into a restaurant kitchen on the regular) Though this relation to food is beautiful, and gives us thousands of ways to express the basic instinct of “I love you- let me take care of you”, it has many people, including myself, turning to food in the hope that it will bring a celebration with it. This subconscious causality confusion can be painful, especially halfway through that bag of chocolate chips. It’s a chain of emotion that often leaves us hurt and confused about what’s meant to nourish us. I gained back ten of the fifteen pound I’d worked so hard to loose the past few months, but more than that- low energy levels and mood swings just compound the stress and make it difficult to pull yourself up and dust yourself off. But it has to be done. Have you ever had difficulties with your relationship with food? What helped you normalize it?

I’m curious to hear other people’s stories. And I would like to make a pledge to myself and well being-

I will work to stop relying on salt,sugar and fat as an emotional crutch and work towards healing with a refocusing on whole, unprocessed foods, exercise and de-stressing activities. I cannot let others control my emotions, I cannot let my emotions control what I eat and I cannot let what I eat control me. I will treat my body like the beautiful machine it is and I will treat myself with the respect I deserve.

What pledges have you made to yourself? How do you work to achieve them?

I hope you are all taking care,

Taylor

First off, I’d like to apologize for that unplanned-extended hiatus. The stress level in my life became unmanageable and not only was I unable to attend to this overgrown-yet-sparse blog, but I couldn’t even get myself to eat right (No one probably wants to come to a recipe blog just to see a post for “Pasta and a box of Joe-joes”). I made these originally for a post (planned for the 15th) about March 17th sans corned beef, but really you can make ‘em any time you feel particularly hedonistic. After all, what’s more sinful then a moist, dense chocolate cupcake topped with a frosting made of Jack Daniels, soft caramel and tofutti cream cheese? I think that description encompassed four of the deadly sins already!

Recipe!

For the Cupcakes!

Cream together:

½ cup earth balance

1 cup brown sugar

Then!:

scald ½ cup of soy milk and  mostly-melt in ¼ cup chocolate chips (should look like chocolate milk and slightly clumpy fudge (appetizing sounding, eh?)

whisk the chocolaty concoction into butter and sugar until smooth

Add 1 cup of chocolate stout (Be sure to check if it’s vegan!)

and 1 tsp of vanilla

mix it all up!

Then we add the dry:

2 cups flour

½ cup cocoa powder

1 tsp baking soda

¼ tsp salt

Bake!

300 degrees for 30 minutes

And for the frosting, put this all in a little pan!

1 tbsp earth balance  (I like soy-free best, but I’m not sure why)

1 cup brown sugar

¼ cup soymilk

let cook and bubble

¼ cup whiskey

take off heat and let cool

Cream together

1/2 cup toffuti better than cream cheese (be sure to use the kind without unholy amounts of transfats)

1 tbsp earth balence

½ cup powdered sugar

Add the whiskey-caramel mixture.

Let the cupcakes cool, let the frosting cool in the fridge. Then frost the cupcakes. (Still good without cooling if you’re in a rush or, like me, can’t wait.

Hope to be back with more regular posts, and a new fitness on healthy food to help me get my butt (and mind) whipped into shape. I’m going to need to stay strong for this seminar paper.

Take care!

Also I wasn’t sure what to call this. I think I settled on an okay title though.

2 cups vegetable broth

Bring it to a boil

1 cup brown rice

1/3rd cup wild rice.

Once most of the stock is absorbed, add two more cups of broth.

Once the rices are fully cooked, pop into your food processor:

1 tbsp chopped garlic

and 1/3rd cup of grated carrots

1 tbsp Dijon mustard

add the rice and pulse until it’s all incorporated

Add 1 cup bread crumbs (I used whole wheat panko) and process for another 10 seconds.

Then you shape them into mini patties, and pan fry in a little oil on both sides, Tah-dah!

Oof, well I’m sure you all know that you’re not going to get along with everyone. So when I started cooking and some of my suitemate’s boyfriend’s friends knocked on the door and looked at me like a human stain when I answered I figured I’d have to get crafty or go hungry. So as soon as they all retreated into her room to do dude-stuff I got to work.

I quickly boiled some udon noodles and made a quick stir-fry sauce.

1/8th cup rice vinegar

1/8th cup low sodium soy sauce

1 tsp orange juice

1/8th cup water

1 No-beef bouillon cube.

Bring to a boil and then whisk in a slurry of 1 tsp of cornstarch and 1/2 cup water.

Red pepper flakes, garlic powder and sesame seeds to taste.

Then it was the perfect time to break out my electric wok I got for christmas. The dream was to tempura zuchini and sweet potatoes without leaving my bed but that didn’t work out. Grabbing my knife, cutting board, broccoli and seitan, I plugged in the wok and started cutting.

Popped in 1 tsp of sesame oil

then 1 cup broccoli florets (Cut them little because I’m impatient)

When the broccoli was nicely cooked I added

and 2 ounces of seitan, sliced in little strips.

If I had the luxury of the stove, I would have gotten all fancy with getting a crisp browned crust on the seitan, and deglazing with the sauce. But mostly, I was just praying that I wouldn’t set off the fire alarm.

Served over the still-warm udon noodles and nommed away.

The title is a lie, it’s more three mini cinnamon rolls, upon a moist, chewy pedestal.But I think the title sounds a little healthier.

I started off my making the dough from “Don’t Eat off the Sidewalk’s!” recipe for pumpkin cinnamon rolls. Something I’ve always wanted to try, but I never had my fat pants ready before. I halved the recipe for the dough because, well, I didn’t want extra cinnamon rolls laying around the dorm.

While those were rising I made the muffins:

½ cup pumpkin

¼ cup unsweetened apple sauce

1/8^th cup almond milk + 1 tbsp

½ cup brown sugar

Mix then add

½ cup all purpose flour

½ cup whole wheat

cinnamon and ginger to taste

1/8^th tsp of salt and baking soda

Then mix again!

Then I put a little bit in each muffin slot, about half an inch.

Then I made the filling for the rolls (I made the whole recipe because I love cinnamon bun filling.

Roll out the dough thin, slather it with filling then roll it up into mini rolls (I only rolled em once or twice before cutting off the roll from the rest of the dough. Then I sliced them pretty thin. You’ll want 36.

Put three on each muffin

325 for 25 minutes.

Let sit for 10 minutes

Then top with the icing

Makes 12 muffins. One of which I downed immediately with unsweetened almond milk and a banana. The perfect lazy-day breakfast if you promise to eat healthy for the rest of the day.

Time to hit the gym.

If oreos are “Milk’s Favorite Cookie” then I reckon homemade vegan oreos are “Almond Milk’s Favorite Cookie”. While not exactly health food, these babies are free of, well whatever’s in an oreo that makes them so unsettling. Also they are adorable and show people that you care.

Here’s what’s in em.

cream 1 cup margarine

stir in 1 scant cup of powdered sugar

then ¾ cup dutch cocoa

beat in 1 tsp vanilla

then add 1 1/3^rd cup whole wheat flour

with a dash of salt

and 1/8^th tsp baking soda

I like it when homemade versions of mass produced goods look a little rustic (I really wanted to say doofy, but maybe it’s just because that’s one of my favorite words), so I scooped the dough in level tablespoons then rolled it in a ball in my hands and flattened it like I was working with mini pizza dough. (Your hands will get too sticky after a while so regular washing is advised. But for a more polished look, you can roll the dough out on a floured of cocoa-ed surface and cut in whatever shape you desire.

Then we pop them on a greased baking sheet and put them in a 325 degree oven for 10 minutes Then take them out and flatten them a bit if needed and put them back in for another 5. Let cool for another 10 before putting them on a rack where you should let them cool completely.

While the cookies are cooling, it’s time to make the creamy filling.

1/3^rd cup margarine

1 tbsp coconut oil (You can skip this and sub a bit more margarine, but I like the flavor-dimension it adds

2 scant cups powdered sugar

1 tsp vanilla

Cream together the fats, then stir in the powdered sugar. When it’s not incredibly dusty, add the vanilla and start beating it until it’s a lovely smooth frosting texture.

I piped the frosting on to feel fancy.

And smooshed the cookies together

Omnomnom. These will be a bit “oreo-cakester-like” for the first day. Not that I’m complaining. Or as my friend, Alex said, “They’re better than oreos because they’re a little soft, and they’re better than cakesters because they’re a little bit crunchy. And they don’t have crack like Nabisco products so they’re healthy!”

I’m not usually a big fan of so much margarine and sugar, but you can’t argue with results. My theory is if you eat something low fat, minimally processed and healthy meals 9 times out of 10, that 10^th meal can be something like this. Maybe I should move it to once every 10 days but…. well, I’ll do it later c:

Makes a dozen big cookies. A lot more of little ones.

Great as an ice cream topper, dipped in yo’ favorite milk, slathered in peanut butter and, well, I’m sure you get the point. These are gosh darn delicious.

Burned out from classes? Been eating captain crunch with chocolate soy milk? Amy’s microwaved burritos? Well here’s a quick, simple alternative.

Boil some sweet potato (I used 1/4 of one for one (big) serving), until their easily pierceable with a fork. Drain and toss with 1/2 a teaspoon of olive oil, 1 teaspoon of water, 1/4 tsp of cumin, 2 cloves of garlic, 1/8 tsp of basil and a dash of pepper. Pop in the oven at 325 for 20 minutes then turn it to broil for about 5 minutes until they begin to blacken. Top with a squeeze of lime.

Also, I’m not sure what’s up with me and limes lately. I’ll straight up eat slices.

(Me at the supermarket)

I ate these with some leftover sauteed collards, and dipped in the sweet chili sauce (A highly recommended combination).

Wednesday’s my day off, so I’ll be giving you some mini cinnamon rolls. (Well a post at least, I cannot hand deliver unfortunately.)

Alas, I am very far away right now. Here’s my attempt at recreating a grain-green-soy-sauce meal like the ones I love so much at Bela’s.

First you’ll want to cut and press your tofu.I made 1/2 a block for 2 servings. (Big servings.)

Then put in in a baking- device with a bit of oil and soy sauce. Tahini up the top and put in the oven at 325 for an hour.

Then you got your greens. For 2 servings I used 7 large lovely leaves. Cut out the stems then chiffonade. To make up for the fat in the tahini, I like to steam ‘em, shock ‘em and sautee em’ in a tablespoon of broth with chopped garlic.

The sauce is simple too. Mix 1/4 cup of sriracha with 2 tbsp of light agave syrup and a cup of water. Heat it up, let it start bubbling then add a slurry of 1 tsp cornstarch with a little bit of cold water. Keep it bubbling until it starts to thicken, then turn it off and stir in the juice of a lime.

NOTE: This makes A LOT of sauce. And it’s spicy. You’ll only need about 1 tbsp for each serving. Save the rest to use as a spicy salad dressing or a sauce for anything.

I like this with a big hunk of brown rice to match to pile of greens in my bowl. Top the greens with the tofu then top it all with your sauce