Sweet Corn Tamale Cakes

      This is a recipe that I have fallen in love with, reason being, I used to work at The Cheesecake Factory, and since I was a vegetarian, I would order these at least once a week. Once I moved on from that job, I would still make these, but not often, as they were a bit time consuming. 
      The only reason these aren't very time consuming for me now, is because I short-cut it. I almost always have a fresh container of pico de gallo and salsa verde ( salsa verde recipe) in my fridge, and if not there I have a canned jar in my pantry and I always have the raw ingredients on hand.  So the only thing I really have to make is the southwestern sauce and the cakes, which is super easy. You can always use the original recipe which is right here ----->Sweet Corn Tamale Cakes and use the recipe for the pico and salsa verde that is on there as well!

Sweet Corn Tamale Cakes

makes 8 medium sized cakes

1 1/2 sweet corn, fresh or frozen

1/2 c. vegan butter (I use Earth Balance.)

3 Tbsp. vegan sugar (I use coconut sugar.)

1/8 tsp. salt (It's a pinch of salt, if you don't have a 1/8 tsp. I have actually never even seen one.)

1/2 c. GF masa harina (It's just corn flour but could be CC if made in a wheat-processing facility. I haven't had any problems with mine.)

2 Tbsp. GF Flour Mix (I use my own without any gums.)

Preheat oven to 400ºF. Puree 1 c. of corn in food processor and add butter, sugar and salt, combine until smooth. Add masa harina, and GF flour, and mix until smooth. Mix in remaining corn by hand. On a parchment lined pan, measure out 1/4 cup sized patties and make into 2-3 inch patties. Put into oven and bake for 20-25 minutes, or until browned on one side, then flip and bake for another 5-7 minutes until other side is browned. 

Southwestern Sauce

1/2 c. vegan mayo (I use veganaise.)

1 tsp. white vinegar

1 tsp. water

3/4 tsp. vegan sugar or agave (I use coconut sugar.)

1/4 tsp. paprika

1/8 tsp. cayenne pepper

1/8 tsp. onion powder

salt and garlic powder to taste

Mix everything together in a small bowl and chill in fridge.

Optional toppings: Sliced avocado, cilantro.

Enjoy!!!

Sourdough Starter and Pancakes

I love pancakes. There are probably few things in life better than waking up on a Saturday morning and getting breakfast. I love breakfast, actually, no I don't, I love brunch. Anything that happens before I get out of bed at 9am is usually lost on me. I typically don't get my day started, I mean up and ready to get stuff done, until around 10. I realize I am fortunate enough to be able to do this. Anyways, this have given me plenty of time for the perfect GF and Vegan pancake. The thing is, the big secret, is the sourdough starter. It really makes these pancakes special. Honestly, with real maple syrup and butter they are better than donuts, and hot GF donuts are a-maz-ing! Anyways, yes this recipe requires extra work, but believe me, when you eat them, you won't care. You can even make a double batch and freeze the rest, how cool is that?

First things first. Make this Starter recipe on Monday if you want pancakes on Saturday, you will thank me later, as the starter needs to sit for 3 days before you can use it.

Sourdough Starter

1 c. water, needs to be between 110-115ºF

2 1/4 tsp. or 1 packet of yeast

1 1/2 c. rice flour or GF Flour (Do not use a mix that has any gums in it.)

 Mix and store in a 1 quart or larger container. *Do not use a metal bowl or spoon*. Cover loosely with plastic wrap and let stand for 3 days, mixing 2-3 times daily. After day 3, either use, refrigerate, or replenish.

 To replenish, add; 

1 c. warm water, below 115ºF

1 1/2 c. rice flour or GF Flour (Do not use a mix that has any gums in it.)

Let sit someplace warm for 12 hours. Ready to use afterwards, just make sure you leave at least 1 c. of starter for future recipes. 

Sourdough Pancakes

makes 1 dozen regular pancakes

1 1/4 c. sourdough starter (see recipe above)

1 Tbsp. oil

2 Tbsp. vegan sugar (I use coconut sugar.)

3/4 c. non-dairy milk (I use almond milk.)

1 GF Flour Mix (I use my own, but I'm sure Bob's Red Mill or Better Batter would work)

2 1/2 tsp. baking powder

1/2 tsp. baking soda

1/2 tsp. salt

Optional- 1 cup mix-ins (Mix-ins can be blueberries, bananas, chocolate chips, nuts, whatever you want. I used blueberries)

Mix together the wet ingredients; starter, oil, sugar, and milk, together in a large bowl. In a smaller bowl, whisk together dry ingredients; GF Flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Add dry mix to wet mix and stir to combine, should be batter like. Fold in mix-ins, if any. 

Over medium-low heat, oil pan. Pour batter onto the hot pan and cook until brown, then flip. Continue for each pancake, until all batter is used. 

Sweet Potato Tots with Dipping Sauce

       I LOVE tots, actually I'm pretty sure any person in my generation loves tater-tots, and if they don't, they might be an alien. There is something about those warm, crisp, golden nuggets of potato that will always, ALWAYS, make me feel better. Bad day? Have some tots! Not feeling well? Have some tots! Seriously, if you knew the amount of time that I have spent on trying to find tots/eating tots/talking about tots, you would think I have a problem. A hot-tot problem. And well.... I kind of do. I already knew how to make tots with regular potatoes, but a bit ago I went to a restaurant and they had sweet potato tots. Wow, you can imagine the emotions went through me at that point. I love sweet potatoes, and now you are telling me that they make tater-tots out of them? Why wasn't I informed? Who kept this secret from me? Anyways, it was love at first bite, and I knew at that moment I needed to make my own.
      So my main thing that I try to do, cooking-wise, at least, is take a regular recipe and make it into a GF/Vegan recipe. That's what I did here. This is the original recipe -----------> Sweet Potato and Bacon Tots with Creamy Mustard Sauce. Obviously, me being GF and Vegan, I couldn't keep the recipe the way it was, so I changed it, and it turned out amazing! It's a bit time consuming, but so worth it. I also suggest that if you make it, double the recipe and flash fry/freeze half to put into the freezer and then you can bake them just like you would with store bought bagged ones.

Sweet Potato and Coconut Bacon Tots 

2 large sweet potatoes

3 Tbsp. coconut bacon (aka Facon)

1/2 tsp. salt

3 heaping tsp. gluten-free flour

1 tsp. flax meal

3 C. oil

Boil sweet potatoes for 15 minutes, then pulse in food processor until chopped finely. Or shred on box grater. Put sweet potatoes into a clean and dry dishtowel and wring out water from potatoes. 

Add the coconut bacon, salt, flour and flax meal and mix well to combine.

Roll into a small log and cut into tater-tot sized pieces.

Heat oil to 300 degrees F. Working in batches, fry tots until golden brown in color. About 2-3 minutes. 

Sprinkle with salt while still hot. Serve with sauce (recipe below) or sometimes I wait for them to cool down some more and sprinkle some powdered sugar and cinnamon on top of them. Totally turns it into carnival fried junk status but with less guilt, because it's still a sweet potato.

Creamy Vegan Mustard Sauce 

3 Tbsp. vegan mayo

2 Tbsp. maple syrup (honey works too, if you eat honey)

2 Tbsp. Dijon mustard 

salt and pepper to taste

Mix together ingredients until smooth and keep in fridge until ready to eat.

GF/Vegan Chex Mix

      I have been absent, but I have been active. I have been working on jewelry, purses, and still cooking, all while trying to get into the spirit of spring cleaning. We finally have nice weather here and the sun is out and frankly, I am so happy to just spend time outside I have been neglecting my blog. Recently, I've been making a lot of snacks to keep me going and this is another one of them. I'm actually kind of obsessed with this stuff, seeing as Chex Mix was one of my favorite snack foods pre-GF. This satisfies my cravings for salt and I believe it is healthier because instead of butter I use an Earth Balance/Coconut Oil mix. Keep in mind, this is a snack food, meant to be snacked on, not made a meal of. Keep that in mind, I know that it can be difficulty, especially with this stuff, but just because it is GF and Vegan doesn't mean it is automatically 100% good for you.

 Gluten-Free and Vegan Chex Mix

Makes 10 cups

 

1/4 C. coconut oil

1/4 C.  Earth Balance buttery spread
2 Tbsp Bragg's liquid aminos or GF/Vegan Worcestershire Sauce

1 tsp. seasoning salt

1/4 tsp. garlic powder or 1 clove garlic, minced

1/4 tsp. onion powder

3 C. Rice Chex

3 C. Corn Chex

2 C. popped popcorn or more Chex

1 C. mixed nuts

1 C. GF pretzels or I used my homemade GF/Vegan Cheese crackers

      Pre-heat oven to 250 and melt coconut oil and Earth Balance in a roaster pan. Mix together all the spices and add to the oil mixture. Add all Chex, popcorn, nuts, and crackers into a bowl and mix together and add to roaster pan with spices and coconut oil. Stir to coat Chex mixture, bake at 250 for 45min-1hr, stirring every 15-20 minutes. Let cool, on paper towels to absorb excess oil, then store in airtight container. 

Will keep for about 2 weeks before going stale, if you can keep it around that long. Enjoy!!

Simple Cucumber Salad

      This is another one of "those" recipes that I have been eating since I was little. It's a staple in my household because; a)it takes like no time to make, b)the ingredients are always on hand, c)it's really good. There is actually a container of it in my fridge at all times, just in case the grandma gets hungry and feels the need to eat something. It's not going to fill you up, it's a side dish, not a meal, so it also works well as a snack. It's 3 ingredients, 5 if you include the salt and pepper, which, pssh, I don't. The part that takes the longest is peeling and grating the cucumber. If you don't think that's easy then you should probably just hire a personal chef at this point, no offense. 

Simple Cucumber Salad

serves 4

1 cucumber, peeled and grated

4 Tbsp. vegan sour cream

4 Tbsp. vinegar (I usually use white or apple cider, they seem to work the best.)

salt and pepper to taste

Mix grated cucumber, vegan sour cream, vinegar. Salt and pepper to taste. 

      No seriously, that's it. Enjoy!!

Cabbage with Facon and Noodles

      First off, I am a big fan of noodles. I love carbs, (I think I have said this before..), pasta, bread, cookies, cake, potatoes, you name it, I will most likely eat it. I'm Czech, so, I think that has a bit to do with it. Mmmm, dumplings!! This is dish is probably one of my top 10 favorite things to eat of all time. To me it is comfort food, and with the wind howling outside and the lack of sunshine, I'm in need of some comfort. (Spring? Where are you?) It is like 5 ingredients, which makes it really easy to make. You know I love easy! My grandma would make this with bacon, egg noodles and sour cream instead of the coconut bacon, GF shells, and vegan sour cream, so you can go that route if that's what suites you. So without further ado, I give you Cabbage with Facon and Noodles! *coconut bacon is now called facon for all general purposes because that's what my friend Stephanie calls it and she said I can't call it bacon. I will not argue with her, she will probabaly beat me up, just kidding, I hope.*

Cabbage with Facon and Noodles

serves a lot, at least 4, I make a quarter of this recipe and it is a VERY generous portion

1 head cabbage (shredded or diced)

1 medium onion (diced)

1 Cup facon (fake bacon, I use my coconut bacon)

1 lb  gf noodles (I use whatever GF noodles I have on hand, today it was shells)

1 container of vegan sour cream (I have also used vegan, unsweetened yogurt with good results.)

1 Cup water (optional)

salt and pepper to taste

Boil noodles according to directions on the packaging. Drain and set aside.

In a large saucepan, add some olive oil and saute cabbage and onions until wilted and very tender. When cabbage/onion mixture is done, add noodles, facon, and sour cream. *If you do not have enough sour cream you can add water to get to the consistency you want, heck, use veggie broth.  I have never had this problem but I see how it could happen* Salt and pepper, and heat until sauce is constancy you like and everything is heated through. 

Enjoy!

Coconut Bacon, my new obsession

      I have a slight obsession with all things bacon, well let me rephrase that, I *USED* to have an obsession with bacon. This seems to be a very American thing to be obsessed with, as proof from bacon chocolate, bacon doughnuts, bacon candy, bacon scented candles and so on and so forth. I am vegan, so bacon is a no-go, even vegan bacon is a no-go as usually it's made from seitan, which *insert sad face here* is my enemy. So I thought bacon or anything bacon tasting was going to be a relic of my past, and when I smelled it, it would bring back memories of nostalgia and days gone by. *sigh*

      Well, not anymore. Some time last week, someone posted something about coconut bacon and then provided this link. Coconut Bacon-The Vegan Project. I immediately saw it and tried it but meh, it lacked the flavor I was looking for. Two things I noticed, 1) It did taste like bacon but there wasn't enough coating to go around and 2) The flavor didn't seem to stick to the coconut flakes. So I played around with the ratios and I actually don't have tamari in my house because I stopped using soy sauce a long time ago. Instead, I use Bragg's liquid aminos, and it worked out well, well enough that I am posting the recipe to you folks. So here it is Coconut Bacon, YUMMMMMM!!

Coconut Bacon!

I don't know how many it serves, because I eat it by the handful. Sorry, I'm not sorry.

2 C. large unsweetened coconut flakes 

2 Tbsp. liquid smoke (hickory flavor worked out great!)

4 Tbsp. Bragg's liquid aminos

2 Tbsp. water

4 Tbsp. maple syrup (the real stuff, not the fake stuff, it won't taste right otherwise)

       In a large Tupperware container combine all ingredients minus the coconut, put the lid on and shake to mix them together. Then add in the coconut and shake again to coat the coconut. Leave to marinade for at least 30 minutes. This helps the coconut absorb the flavor, which is what you want! 

After 30 minutes, preheat oven to 300 degrees and line two pans with parchment (I ran out of parchment yesterday so I didn't use it, but I still highly recommend it.)

     Spread coconut on the two pans, making sure you try to spread them out as evenly as possible so the flakes don't stick together. Bake for about 15-20 minutes, and check on it every 5 minutes or so, you want a light brown color, and the coconut will continue to crisp for a little bit even after you pull it out of the oven. This stuff even smells like bacon!

 Twice baked vegan smashed potatoes with Teese Cheese and Coconut Bacon! Yum!

      So, I got some of the studs I ordered in the mail, and I decided the play around with them and created this. It is FAR from perfect *has a couple of little tears and some of the studs are off centered*, although it is vintage, so the tears are kinda expected. My bad studding is me learning how to work the studs with are more complicated then my usual prong studs. So meh, I might use this as a giveaway or something, I dunno yet. I am not sure if it is vegan, I think it is because if it is real leather it is really thin, and I try not to buy real leather things to stud. Even though it's upcycled, I still prefer the things I buy to be vegan, but I'm not going to hate myself over it. and hope no one else does either.