Category Archives: Snack

May22

Vegan Fun Fudgsicles

Posted on 05/22/2013 by Christine

It might be a little early for popsicles, but the weather is warming up and it will be the unofficial start of summer in just a few days. So, I decided to pull out my popsicle kit and start making frozen happiness.

I love fruity popsicles, they’re very refreshing, but chocolate is also one of my favorites. I tried freezing chocolate almond milk last summer and I just ended up with a chocolate icicle – it was just hard and crystal-y. Not at all creamy like I’d hoped for.

Justin’s Chocolate Hazelnut Butter.

On a recent trip to Denver I bought a jar of Justin’s Chocolate Hazelnut Butter and packed it in my suitcase for some California enjoyment. I’ve since found Justin’s stocked at my Berkeley Whole Foods – Yay!! This hazelnut spread is the vegan, not-so-sweet version of Nutella. They also make chocolate almond butter, but I haven’t tried it yet. And so you know, their Dark Chocolate Peanut Butter Cups are amazing! Not all of their products are vegan, so check the labels. Justin’s is a Colorado company from Boulder and I’m oh, so happy to see they’ve spread (no pun intended) to the west coast as well as the east! Well done Justin’s!!!!

Whew, you’d think I owned stock in this company. Anyway, here’s the recipe I came up with for Vegan Fudgsicles:

Blended up!

Vegan Fun Fudgsicles

Ingredients

1 cup non-dairy Milk - I used almond milk
1/3 cup Justin's Chocolate Hazelnut Butter

Instructions

Using a blender (a food processor will probably work here too), dump in the non-dairy Milk and the Chocolate Hazelnut Butter.
Blend for 2-3 minutes to get a nice smooth consistency.
Pour the mixture into popsicle molds - don't forget to leave space at the top of the popsicles for freezing. This filled 4 of my popsicle molds.
Freeze for 6-8 hours.
Enjoy!

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4 Soon-to-Be Popsicles

I haven’t tried it yet, but I wonder if using a non-dairy chocolate milk instead of regular non-dairy milk would make them more chocolatey.

Happy Boy!

Mar12

How to De-Pit Dates and Stuff Them with Goodness

Posted on 03/12/2013 by Christine

How to De-Pit Dates and Stuff Them with Goodness

I like surprises: birthday gifts, parties, weather, babies, and puppies – pretty much any surprise where fun is involved! With food I find it funny when things are stuffed in things. Pickles and pimentos, stuffed peppers, stuffed tomatoes, stuffed shells, even burritos and spring rolls! When I found organic dates in the bulk section the other day I brought some home and wondered what to do with them. After taking out the pit and seeing that perfect hole in the middle I knew I had to stuff them! But with what?

Here’s where I started, inventing a new way (for me anyway) to remove the pit.

Cut!

I cut across one end to remove the top. I could see the top of the pit, but couldn’t grab it with anything and using my teeth would just be a little gross if I were to share these with anyone :)

Find the pit!

I retrieved my tweezers from my bathroom (is that worse than using my teeth) and promptly sanitized them. I stuck the tip of the tweezers into the tip of the date and pulled the pit right out! Easy, peasy! I now have a need for a dedicated pair of tweezers in my kitchen!! Turns out kitchen tweezers have already been invented, but had I seen them over at Bed, Bath, and Whatever before this occasion I would have laughed at the idea!

Slide out the pit!

Stuff

I started with vegan chocolate chips and moved on from there. This was the prefect project for my son to help with – he can eat the chocolate chips that fall on the floor and he’s good at stuffing things in things.

Use a chopstick to push chocolate to the bottom

Stuff more

Squeeze to seal

Of course you can stuff whatever you want in the dates. My next idea was raspberry jam. Then I did raspberry jam AND chocolate chips.

Jam Syringe

I had an old baby feeding syringe in the drawer and spooned some jam into it. This might be a great halloween “bloody syringe” too! You can pick up a free baby feeding syringe at most pharmacies.

Heat through

Place the stuffed dates in a dry pan and heat over medium heat. I flipped them after about 3 minutes – the dates started making a quiet sizzling sound. If the pan gets too hot you can add a tiny bit of water. Then I kept the dates in the pan for another 1-2 minutes.

Making sure the chocolate melted

Dessert is ready! Be careful to not eat them immediately and scald yourself with molten chocolate – let cool for a few minutes :)

Speaking of stuffed food, I have a strange respect for the “Turducken,” not for the dead meat, but for the hilarious (except for the dead animals) concept of stuffing a duck inside a chicken inside a turkey. In the UK they have something called the “Royal Roast,” which is a pigeon stuffed with sausage, stuffed into a pheasant, into a chicken, into a turkey, and all put into a goose! Whew. No, I wouldn’t touch it with a 10 foot pole, but it’s creative and unexpected.

What if I stuffed a pimento into an olive and stuffed it into a date? My next thoughts are to create a hilarious vegan style Turducken. Any ideas??

Other ideas I’ve been pondering for these dates: vegan cream cheese would be good, other vegan cheeses, fake bacon, or almonds. What would you stuff dates with?

Feb14

Authentic Garlic Toast

Posted on 02/14/2013 by Christine

Authentic Garlic Toast

What do you eat garlic toast with? I’m not sure there’s nothing garlic toast couldn’t go with. Italian. Soup. Chili. Stew. Curry. Noodles. Cereal? Probably not, but if it’s after 11am I can’t make any promises.

When I was a kid my Mom used to make garlic toast sometimes; she would toast it in the oven, under the broiler, and then put butter and garlic salt on the toast. I do like to toast it in the oven, it’s easier if you’re making more than a couple of pieces and it just seems more romantic that way – something old fashioned about it. But garlic salt? No thank you.

The most important part of my garlic toast is: GARLIC! I use whole garlic on my toast. Garlic salt and garlic powder do not compare to using real garlic! And why wouldn’t you want to use real garlic? I mean, really?

Instead of butter I use Earth Balance. With Earth Balance there is NO reason to ever miss butter. It’s awesome! Yes, I know they have the whole palm oil thing going on, but they are taking measures to ensure they’re not contributing to the killing of orangutans and other endangered animals. Check out my palm oil blog post here.

Authentic Garlic Toast

Ingredients

Bread - as many pieces as you would like
1 clove Garlic - or more if you're making a lot of toast
Earth Balance or other vegan butter substitute

Instructions

Toast your bread in the toaster or under the broiler in the oven
Peel the garlic and cut one end off so there is a small flat surface on one end.
Hold the clove of garlic with the flat cut end against your toast and rub the garlic all over your toast.
Rub as much garlic on your toast as you like - use a little (mild flavor) or a lot (more intense garlic flavor)
Spread on some vegan butter with a knife - again, use as little or as much as you like.
Enjoy your authentic garlic toast!

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Authentic Garlic Toast

This recipe (I’m not sure 3 ingredients constitutes a recipe!) may seem obvious, but having been raised on garlic salt and garlic powder I always enjoy eating eating garlic toast this way.

Feel free to enjoy the garlic toast like this or you can top it with vegan cheese, marmite, brushetta, or other yummy toppings. I also like to make this garlic toast and then create a grilled cheese sandwich with it.

What do you like on your toast? What do you eat garlic toast with??

Nov1

Crisped Rice Treats

Posted on 11/01/2012 by Christine

Crisped Rice Treats

Have I been talking about comfort foods enough lately? If not, here’s another favorite of mine! Believe it or not, I hadn’t seen someone make Rice Crispy Treats until I was 13-years-old while staying at my cousin’s house for the summer. His wife asked me to help her and I was afraid of screwing something up – I’d only assumed it was some laborious process and I was sure to screw it up! I could not believe how incredibly easy it was and why the hell hadn’t my parents been making these for me??

I love it when they’re soft and gooey, better yet, when they’re warm. My mouth is watering just thinking about it!

Yummy Dandies!

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Oct29

Granola for a New Generation

Posted on 10/29/2012 by Christine

Granola for a New Generation

I grew up with homemade granola – for the most part, that’s all I remember for breakfast as a child besides the occasional Saturday with pancakes or waffles. My Mom was way ahead of her time, she made bread, yogurt, she canned vegetables, had a huge garden, and made our granola. Or perhaps she was a little old-fashioned and those things have just now come back into fashion. The thing that sticks out in my mind the most is that she kept it in a big glass pickle jar, one of the gallon jars. It was such a beautiful object on the cupboard and seemed so special to me.

My Mom’s granola recipe contains: Oats, Coconut Flakes, Walnuts, Cooking Oil, Honey, Cinnamon, and — (drum roll please!) — Chocolate Chips! Not just chocolate chips, but 12 ounces of chocolate chips :) Oh, how we loved her granola! Since having my son I’ve been making homemade granola, but I went with a recipe from The Kind Diet by Alicia Silverstone – it’s awesome, though it doesn’t contain chocolate, as my Mom’s does. But the great part is that I have my own huge pickle jars to keep granola in – that alone makes me feel like a great mother!

It’s time for breakfast!

The recipe below is my interpretation of Alicia’s recipe that she calls Mom’s Granola on page 201 of her book. I’ve edited it slightly to work for my preferences.

Stirring up the ingredients…

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Oct27

Roasted Grapes and Thyme

Posted on 10/27/2012 by Christine

Roasted Grapes and Thyme

What place do grapes have in cooking? Usually they’re purchased for snacking and that’s just about it. They’re great as a snack, I have no complaints about that – but couldn’t their sweet taste go further?

Roasted grapes sound like a crazy, ridiculous idea, but you’ll love eating them. I made these for my son’s 2nd birthday party last December and no one could believe I’d decided to cook the grapes…then they couldn’t believe how yummy they were!

Prepped for roasting

If you’re looking for a new creative way to get grapes in your diet or all the vitamin C and vitamin K they contain – try this recipe!

Roasted Grapes and Thyme

Ingredients

1 bag of organic Red Grapes
1 - 1 1/2 tsp Olive Oil - depending on how many grapes came in your bag
3+ large stems of fresh Thyme
1 pinch Salt
2 pinches Black Pepper

Instructions

Break up the grape stems into serving size bunches.
On a rimmed cookie sheet covered with parchment paper, set the grapes down and pour on the olive oil. Stir and flip the grapes to spread the oil around. It's good to have oil on the grapes, but they don't need to be covered in oil.
Sprinkle on the salt and pepper.
Break up the thyme stems a little and set them in among the grapes.
Stir again to combine the ingredients.
Place in oven at 450 degrees for 20-25 minutes or until the grapes start to split and shrivel.
Place on serving dish and begin to devour.

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Oct23

Freestyle Edamame Dip

Posted on 10/23/2012 by Christine

Freestyle Edamame Dip

I just love it when I can open the cupboard or the fridge and “whip something up.” I’ll pull out this, this, and that and make something off the top of my head. This time it was an emergency – I needed dip to go with my crackers, stat! I had a few ingredients for my favorite dip (The BEST Bean Dip), but not nearly enough to fake it.

I pulled out a bag of frozen organic edamame and let it defrost a little and then pulled out a number of my favorite condiments and that was it: A star was born!

Edible Edamame

Freestyle Edamame Dip

Ingredients

1 12 ounce bag Organic Edamame - frozen (but defrosted) and shelled (read: de-shelled)
3 Tbsp Veganaise
4 Tbsp Salsa
4 dashes Hot Sauce
1 dash Salt
1 tsp Garlic Powder

Instructions

Everything into the food processor!
Process until smooth.

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I think it’s a light, delicate flavor – my Mom said it reminded her of fish. That was a weird take on it, but sort of true. You know when you’ve been eating something all your life and then someone says it tastes like something gross…then that’s all you taste? I used to eat Snapea Crisps, then out of the blue I put one in my mouth and it tasted like blood – or a penny in my mouth. That was IT, party’s over! I only mention this, because this dip could be a desirable experience. It’s NOT fish, but it might remind you, hopefully of a good way, of something you used to eat. Or maybe our taste buds were off a bit that day :) If you try this, please let me know if you liked it!!

Dip, dip, dip

I also thought this dip was good on sandwiches and wraps.

Oct8

(vegan)BLT in the T

Posted on 10/08/2012 by Christine

(vegan)BLT in the T

The term “BLT” isn’t vegan, but you must know there is fake bacon (fakon) and fake mayo (Veganaise, etc.) and these things must have come from heaven. Thank the gods that I can eat a BLT and do it with a smile.

Trying to cut down on my massive bread consumption I wondered how I could have a BLT without the bread. I thought about wrapping a little tomato in the bacon with some Veganaise, but cooked fakon doesn’t bend well. Then I laid a piece of fakon in a leaf of lettuce, put some sliced tomato on that and spread on some Veganaise, but that didn’t really do it either. I decided, in the spirit of stuffed peppers and stuffed tomatoes, to stuff it into a tomato! Voila! Heaven!!!

(vegan) BLT in the T

Ingredients

1-2 pints Cherry Tomatoes - rinsed and seeded/cored
2/3 cup Veganaise or similar
8 Lettuce or Spinach Leaves - washed and chopped
1 package (6oz) Smoky Tempeh Strips or fake bacon of choice
1/2 tsp Salt
1/2 tsp Black Pepper - fresh ground

Instructions

To seed and core the tomatoes, I used a small ceramic knife and the handle of a baby spoon. It's a small space - use whatever you can to get in there to get the seeds out! It's slippery business so be careful not to lose any down the drain
Cook the fakon according to package instructions. It's not important to keep the fakon in perfect strips, in fact, I usually scramble them up.
Place the Veganaise, fakon, salt, and pepper into a food processor, process until it's combined, but still chunky.
Place the lettuce leaves in the food processor, process until it's combined.
Refrigerate the fakon spread for about 20 minutes.
With a small spoon or frosting/pastry bag put a dollop of the fakon sauce into each tomato.
Do your best to not eat them as you're making them!

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Oct6

The BEST Bean Dip

Posted on 10/06/2012 by Christine

The BEST Bean Dip

You know I love crackers, right? I could easily eat a box of crackers every day or at least in two days! Eating so many crackers has made me a connoisseur of dips. I love dip on my crackers and I don’t put up with mediocre dips for a moment.

Shortly after having my son (he’s almost 3-years-old now) I decided to raise him vegan and in doing nutrition research I purchased a book called Raising Vegetarian Children. It has lots of great information and recipes, but the one recipe I use the most – like twice a week! – is the one they call Gee Whiz Spread on page 273, which was adapted from The Uncheese Cookbook by Joanne Stepaniak. So, I’m adapting an adaptation here :)

A hilarious and ironic dip platter that I cherish

The BEST Bean Dip

Ingredients

1 15oz can Cannellini Beans - drained and rinsed
1/3 cup Nutritional Yeast Flakes
1/4 cup Lemon Juice - freshly squeezed (about 2 lemons)
3 Tbsp Tahini
1 tsp Paprika
1 tsp Garlic Powder
1/2 tsp Prepared yellow Mustard
1/2 tsp Salt

Instructions

Dump all ingredients into a food processor and blend until smooth.
Have you ever done anything easier in your life?

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If I’m out of or short on lemon juice, I’ve also replaced it with orange juice or lime juice. It only changes the flavor slightly and it makes for a nice change. Surprisingly, orange juice doesn’t make it taste orangey, it’s just the citrus zip that comes through.

Delicious Dip!

Oct5

Authentic Tofu Feta Cheese

Posted on 10/05/2012 by Christine

Authentic Tofu Feta Cheese

You wouldn’t believe me if I told you – it is really delicious and feta-like. You just have to try it for yourself. You must try this if you like(d) feta. I did, I loved it on salads and sandwiches. I loved it on a spoon or a fork. I loved it in my frige and on the couch. Feta was one of “my cheeses.” Until I kicked that dairy crap to the curb.

You know that feta is made from sheep and/or goat’s milk? I didn’t even know they milked sheep! I did know about goats, but the image of that in my head is too disturbing to think about for very long. Oh! Something I learned this year: Buffalo mozzarella…comes from the milk of a water buffalo! Are you freaking kidding me? I thought the term buffalo here just meant that it was a big block of mozzarella, not that it came from a buffalo. Who thinks these things up?! I mean, really?

Anyway, this version of feta cheese is made from a soybean. What a relief. I cannot take credit for this recipe, regrettably. I found it in the May/June 2012 issue of VegNews. It’s totally easy and doesn’t involve any of that (disastrous) fermenting I’ve had such bad luck with.

Simmering

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Colorado Vegan

Living Deliciously While Saving the Planet

Category Archives: Snack

Vegan Fun Fudgsicles

How to De-Pit Dates and Stuff Them with Goodness

Authentic Garlic Toast

Crisped Rice Treats

Granola for a New Generation

Roasted Grapes and Thyme

Freestyle Edamame Dip

(vegan)BLT in the T

The BEST Bean Dip

Authentic Tofu Feta Cheese