Matt Cooking Stuff, Recipes

Dairy Free Banana Pancakes

2013_03_01aI make pancakes with soy milk all the time. We rarely have cows milk in the house anymore. We made the switch a few years ago. We like the soy milk taste a lot better. And when Ellie stopped nursing, she had cow’s milk for a little bit, but then she stopped drinking it. Now she likes soy milk much better instead. But I’ve never made pancakes with no eggs.

After I did a quick search for recipes I noticed they all seemed roughly the same as regular pancakes recipes, just leaving out the egg. I noticed this one from Milk Free Mom had a mashed banana in place of the egg. Her pictures looked really good too, so I opted to try this one.

While I was making these I was a little iffy on them. They felt different, and sounded different when I flipped them. [thud] I thought maybe they’d be too dry and hard. But when we ate them, they were moist and fluffy with just a hint of banana flavor. There was a slight  difference in texture to “normal” pancakes, but not in a negative way. It didn’t diminish my pancake eating experience at all and I didn’t feel like I was compromising. Ellie couldn’t tell the difference and just gobbled them up. I wonder if the same recipe would work using apple sauce or pumkpin puree instead of the banana? Maybe I’ll give those a try.

RECIPES:

Dairy Free Banana Pancakes

Changes I made:

I used 1/2 cup all purpose floor, and 1/2 cup whole wheat flour. And instead of 2/3 cup soy milk, I used 1 full cup.

 

Matt Cooking Stuff, Recipes

Best Ever Vegan Mac & Cheese

2013_02_28bWell, I can’t say if this is the “best ever vegan mac & cheese” or not, because this is the only vegan mac and cheese I’ve ever had.

I really wanted to stay away from these types of recipes this week. I just figured if I were a vegan, I wouldn’t eat things like mac & cheese. But after reading that the “cheese” is made with cashews and almond milk, it sounded nutty enough that I wanted to try it.

This dish also involved a new ingredient I’d never heard of or had before: nutritional yeast, or nooch, as it is sometimes called. It’s a deactivated yeast that’s supposed to be packed with megatons of nutrients. I think it provides a lot of the “cheese” flavor in this sauce too.

So, how was this vegan mac and cheese? Well, if you’re comparing this to regular mac and cheese, I’d give it a zero. It’s that whole mac & cheese expectation in my head. It’s hard to ignore. However, if this was called cashew cream noodle dish, my rating goes up to a 5 out of 10. I didn’t love, I didn’t hate it. It wasn’t gross. It was good. It was just different, and I think better suited as a side dish.

Based on this dish, if I were vegan I think I would avoid mac & cheese altogether. There are so many other great vegan recipes out there I think I’d better off eating those instead. But after not having cheese for awhile, maybe this satisfies the cheese craving?

Ellie devoured this, and Aya really like it too. She agreed though that if you didn’t compare it to mac & cheese it would be better.

The sauce was very smooth and creamy. It was not chunky, crunchy, or nutty. I was definitely glad we tried it.

RECIPES:

Best Ever Vegan Mac & Cheese

 

Matt Cooking Stuff, Recipes

Apple Pie Chia Pudding

2013_02_28aOne ingredient I’ve heard a lot about lately is chia seed. Supposedly they are one of those superfoods packed with tons of nutrients. We’ve put them in smoothies and oatmeal before, but never a pudding. I found this recipe from a great site called Vegan Yack Attack.

What I like about this recipe is that there is no added sugar. The sweetness only comes from the apple juice and a 1/2 tsp of maple syrup. The chia seeds soak up the moisture from the apple juice and become a pudding/gelatine texture.

This was a great sweet treat to end our meal. It’s no apple pie, but it was light, refreshing, and absolutely satisfied my after dinner sweet tooth.

I found a couple other chia seed puddings I plan on trying in the coming weeks as well.

RECIPES:

Apple Chia Seed Pudding (I made 2.5x the recipe and it made enough for 4 servings)

Pumpkin Pie Chia Pudding

Banana Chia Pudding

Matt Cooking Stuff, Recipes

Thai Red Curry with Asparagus and Tofu

2013_02_27aI totally ran out of red curry paste while making this, so ours was a little weak. But everything still had great flavor. Ellie gobbled this up. Tofu, asparagus, and the rice. “More sauce please!”

I’m sure you could use whatever vegetables you wanted to if you’re not a fan of asparagus.

Out of everything I’ve made for vegan week so far, this probably took the longest, and it didn’t really take all that long.

RECIPES:

Thai Red Curry with Asparagus and Tofu

Matt Cooking Stuff, Recipes

Vegan Cupcakes

2013_02_26cMy friend Karen came over for lunch and decided to contribute to this week’s Vegan Week by making her own cupcakes. She said she made many varieties and then tweeked them to come up with this.

Now when I hear vegan cupcakes, I don’t get excited. I think of a dry, hard, crumbly, unsweetened blob of something resembling cake. But then you think vegan cupcakes are just dairy free. And that doesn’t sound nearly as scary. A lot of people eat dairy free cakes and such and a lot are really good. The recipe Karen used here was not resembling a chocolate cupcake, it was a chocolate cupcake.

Aya came home and gobbled one up and said, “What’s vegan about these? These are awesome!”

We loved them. I’ve had four today and have my eye on another one.

RECIPES:

Vegan Cupcakes

The dry:
1 1/2c flour
1/2c cocoa
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp soda

The wet:
1 c sugar
1/2 c oil
1 c almond milk (vanilla)
1/4 c choc syrup (hersheys dark)
2 tsp vanilla

The activator:
2 Tbsp apple cider vinegar (do not sub regular vinegar)

375 oven
Prep pans/cupcake cups
Sift the dry
Whisk the wet
Slowly whisk the dry into the wet until thoroughly mixed
Mix in the activator
Bake immediately for best rising

Frosting:
Natural peanut butter
Vanilla
Powdered sugar
Almond milk
Dark chocolate chips, melted (Ghirardelli)