5-minute microwave brownies

I've been totally out of commission with a terrible HORRIBLE INSANE cold!!! I've either not been cooking or been cooking only soups, which isn't that exciting to put up all in a row.

However, now that i have my sense of taste back, i was really craving something chocolatey and warm. When it started raining, and Evan was out of the house, i knew it was time to whip something up. This is a recipe inspired by one i found on veg web, with some unique twists and scaled down to be a sweet treat for 2 people, or sinful decadence for one person.

5-minute Microwave Brownies
1/4 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup + 2 tbsp flour
2 tbsp cocoa powder
1-2 tbsp blackstrap molasses
2 tbsp oil (i used canola, olive is a bit too strong for this)
4 tbsp soymilk (vanilla or plain)
1/2 tbsp vanilla extract
handful chocolate chips to your taste
sprinkle of powdered sugar (for the end)

1) Mix the sugar, flour, and cocoa powder till even in color.
2) Add the molasses and oil and mix well. You should have little crumbles in a very dry batter.
3) Add the vanilla extract and soymilk, wisking or mixing till to get a smooth consistency similar to that of a cake batter. Add more soymilk if batter is too thick.
4) Mix in the chocolate chips to your liking.
5) Pour mixture into a microwave safe bowl, with some room to rise, left uncovered.
6) Microwave on "high" for about 3 minutes, depending on your microwave power. When brownie gives slightly to pressure in the center and comes back, it's ready.
7) Sprinkle with powdered sugar and serve warm.

This is great for someone who's been watching those singe serving microwave brownie commercials. The molasses in the brown sugar and the extra added molasses in the batter gives it a rich, dark chocolate, smoky taste which i love.

Notes:
- If you choose to omit the molasses, be sure to add some moisture in, like substituting mashed banana or 2 tbsp of applesauce.
- Coming out of the microwave, it will be HOT!!! So please use hotpads and let it cool a little before handling or if you're around children.

Cream of Broccoli Soup

Now that it's been getting cold here, i've been busting out my winter recipes. This involves a lot of soups and kassroles. This is one of my favs, and adaption of Omni Evan's mom's recipe.

Cream of Broccoli Soup
1 medium onion, chopped
1 cloves garlic, minced
2 cups chopped broccoli
2 tsp olive oil
3 cups broth
2 tbsp earth balance (optional)
1 cup soymilk
1/2 tsp of thyme
dash of black pepper

1) Fry onion and garlic in olive oil until onion is translucent and garlic is fragrant.
2) Add broth, spices, and broccoli and bring to a simmer.
3) Reserve 1/2 - 3/4 cup of the soup, getting as many broccoli pieces as you can in the cup. (this will determine how chunky the end resulting soup is)
4) Add soymilk and heat through.
5) Blend the soup with a hand blender or in a blender till smooth in consistency.
6) Add back to pot, and stir in the cup of reserved soup and broccoli chunks.
7) On low heat, melt the EB and serve immediately with crusty bread.

MmmMmm Gravy

So this is the gravy that i use in basically everything that will taste good with gravy on it. It takes a few minutes, but i make a lot at one time and freeze it in ice cube trays to use later, and believe me, it's well worth it. (Just be sure to let your guests know what it is before they get some ice for their drinks...)

MmmMmm Gravy
1/2 cup vegetable oil
3-6 cloves of garlic minced very well
2-3 slices of yellow onion, chopped
1/2 cup all-purpose white flour
4 tsp nutritional yeast
4 tbsp soy sauce
2 cup water
1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
1/2 teaspoon salt
5 or 6 white mushrooms, sliced (optional)
extra flour or cornstarch (optional)

1) Cook onion and garlic in oil on med heat till onion is translucent and garlic is fragrant
2) Add flour, yeast, and soy sauce to make a paste, stirring to combine
3) Slowly wisk in the water, bring to a boil
4) Lower to a simmer and add mushrooms if you like, and spices
5) Pour over everything!!!

Tips:
-After you take the gravy off the heat, wisk in 1-2 tbsp of Earth Balance for richness and a glossy sheen.
-When you add your flour, be sure to cook it for a few minutes to get that powdery taste out of the way.
-The longer you cook your flour, the darker the gravy, just be sure to keep stirring!
-When making "white" gravy, like for 'chick'n fried steak" or biscuits, substitute the soy sauce for some vegan broth. You'll get a lightly colored gravy with a simple rich flavor.

Creamcheese Frosting

This is a great frosting, soft, sweet, and tangy like real cream cheese! Be sure to cool your cakes and brownies before frosting, cause this stuff will melt when warm.

Creamcheese Frosting
1 tub Toffutti Better Than Cream Cheese
3 cups powdered sugar

1) Beat the cream cheese and the powdered sugar together on low or medium speed. You can actually do it by hand, just add the sugar in increments and incorporate before adding more.
Notes:
- You can add a few spashes of soymilk if it's too thick or too hard to work with.

Zuppa Toscana

So, i'll be the first to admit that there's not anything really Tuscan about this recipe. However, i was trying to recreate Olive Garden's Toscana soup, so i thought since i changed most of the ingredients, i might as well keep some of the name. Although, there's not much Tuscany in their recipe either. In any case, it turned out great, i highly recommend this dish for those dark cold nights of winter.

Zuppa Toscana
2 tbsp olive oil
1 onion, chopped
3 cloves of garlic, minced or pressed
2-3 small white potatoes, cubed
2 tofurkey italian spiced sausages, small cubed or crumbled (or whatever you like for a sausage substitute)
1/2 tsp red pepper flakes, or more if you like it spicy
1 pinch kosher salt
5 cups of water + boullion or 5 cups of stock
1 cup soymilk
2 tbsp earth balance
4 large bunches of kale, sliced relatively thin

1) Cook chopped onion, garlic, and cubed italian sausage over medium heat in the olive oil with the red pepper flakes and salt till onion is translucent and garlic is fragrant.
1) Add diced potatoes and stir, cooking for 2 minutes.
3) Add the water and boullion, or 5 cups of broth, whichever you are using.
4) Bring mixture to a boil, reduce to a simmer and coook for 20 minutes.
5) Add in the soymilk and earth balance and heat through.
6) Toss in the chopped kale and cook for 2-3 minutes, stirring.
-Serve immediately in big bowls with some crusty bread-

Notes:
- I find that the italian tofurkey sausage has enough spices, but if you don't want spicy, leave the peppers out. Be sure to add the salt though, even just a pinch makes a world of difference.
- Sometimes 6 cups of liquid is too much, so you can just simmer the soup on low to reduce some of the liquid to your tastes.
- Usually this soup isn't as great the next day since the kale gets all greenish/brown from the breaking down of cell walls, so i suggest cooking a large pot of it to share with family, or halving the recipe for a smaller amount.

Pineapple Upside-Down Cake

Our BBQ a few weeks ago was a blast, and i've had the idea for a pineapple upside down cake with buttercream frosting rolling around in my head. What a great vegan treat to top the non-vegan meats (my friends are omnis). I won't tease anymore, so the recipe follows below!

Pineapple Upside-Down Cake

1 1/4 cups flour (i used 1 cup white and 1/4 whole wheat)
1/2 cup vegan sugar (i used turbinado)
3 tbsp brown sugar
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 bottle of maraschino cherries or 6-8 real cherries (pitted)
1 20 oz can pineapple slices in unsweetened pineapple juice
1 cup pineapple juice reserved from can of slices
1/3 cup unsweetened applesauce
1 tbsp white vinegar
1 spring-form pan or angel food cake pan
non-stick spray (or whatever you use)

1) Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2) Mix together flour, sugar, baking soda, salt, and set aside.
3) In separate bowl, mix pineapple juice, applesauce, and vinegar.
4) Take pan and spray with non-stick spray all the way up the sides too.
5) Lay pineapple rounds in a design on the bottom of the pan (this will be the top, so make it look pretty! Cut pineapple slices into chunks and arrange around whole slices for extra pineapple-ocity.
6) Take cherries and arrange in pineapple holes and evenly through the top so every slice gets some.
7) Sprinkle pineapple and cherries evenly with brown sugar.
8) Quickly mix the wet ingredients with the dry. Batter will foam up nicely.
9) Pour into pan immediately and bake for about 30-35 minutes or till center is firm.

And yes, my cake is in a frying pan, i forgot that i hadn't a platter large enough to serve it. Ghetto vegan AWAY!

Sheppie Pie

Everyone has their own recipe for sheppie pie. I love to make this in a ceramic dish and toss it in the toaster oven at 350 degrees for an hour, and not heat up that whole damn oven.
Untopped:

Ready for cooking:

Shepherd's Pie

3 lg russet potatoes
1/2-3/4 cup soymilk
2 tbsp Earth Balance
1 pkg Good Grounds (or other soy grounds)
1 onion chopped
3-4 cloves garlic minced
1 cup frozen corn (loosely packed)
1 cup frozen peas (loosely packed)
1 cup gravy (Recipe located HERE)
Salt and Pepper
Shallow ceramic/glass baking dish
Foil (yeah, i know...)

1) Boil potatoes till tender, drain, mash with the soymilk, Earth Balance, and a dash of salt and pepper.
2) Prepare gravy. (recipe to follow soon!)
3) Sweat the onions (or carmelize if you have the time) in a large skillet)
4) Crumble good grounds over onions and stir to combine, turn heat to low/medium low.
5) Add frozen corn and peas, heat through.
6) Pour gravy into the skillet, stir, make sure there's gravy throughout ground and veggies.
7) When heated, pour ground mixture into shallow ceramic/glass baking dish.
8) Spread mashed potatoes on top, making sure they're even and everything is covered.
9) Cover with foil and bake in toaster oven at 450 for 1 hr or regular oven at 350 for 45-60 minutes.

Tips
If you're feeling special, sprinkle some shredded "cheese" on top for the last 10 mins of baking...

Noodle Casserole

I make this with Tuno brand mock tuna and it's so tasty, but you can also leave it out (esp if you're scared of it) and it's still quite nice. We had an unusually cold day and this dish was perfect for it. With toasted breadcrumbs on top, it's time to crank up the ac in LA and pretend it's January.

Noodle Casserole
1 can Tuno (you can omit if you want)
1/2 cup frozen peas
1/4-1/2 cup sliced pitted black olives
Rotini or penne pasta, enough for 2 large or 4 small servings
2 cups soymilk
2-3 tbsp Earth Balance or margarine
1-2 tbsp flour
1 cup shredded vegan cheese OR 1/2 cup nutritional yeast + 2 tbsp arrowroot powder
breadcrumbs or crushed croutons
salt and pepper

1) Boil pasta.
2) Heat milk and butter in saucepan, gently bubble for 10 minutes to reduce liquid.
3) Slowly add cheese (or yeast) till melted.
4) Wisk and sprinkle in flour to desired thickness, add a dash of salt and pepper.
5) Combine drained pasta with cheese mixture.
6) Stir in drained tuno, peas, and olives.
7) Dump everything into a casserole dish and cover with breadcrumbs.
8) Bake at 350 till warm and bubbly (about 20-30 minutes).

Notes:
DON'T BURN THE MILK! If you do, wash it out and start over.
Sprinkle the flour as you wisk, don't dump it in at once, you'll end up with a huge lump of blesh. (that's a technical term)
Cook the flour after you wisk it to get rid of the powdery taste. Just a few minutes of stirring over the heat will do it.
I toss the casserole dish in the toaster oven when i don't feel like heating up the big oven and go for a bike ride. 20 min on 350, and it's perfect.

Thick & Hearty Cornbread

Saturdays are reserved for Omni Evan and i to spend time with each other. This means of course, that we sleep late, roll out of bed around 11 and feel too lazy to cook up a storm. So i pulled out our cast iron pan (unused from the days of bacon) and whipped up this thick and hearty cornbread recipe. It sticks the ribs, isn't exceptionally sweet, and satisfies the tummy all day long.

The Dry
1 cup flour
3/4 cup cornmeal (yellow or even blue!)
2-3 tbsp sugar
2 1/2 tsp baking powder
good pinch of salt

The Wet
2 tbsp ground flax
2 tbsp water
1-1 1/4 cup milk
1 tbsp maple syrup
1 4 oz container of unsweeted applesauce

also:
1 Tbsp Earth Balance
1/3 cup frozen or canned corn kernels

1) Preheat oven to 400 degrees
2) Put Earth Balance in skillet, pan, or whatever you'll be baking in
3) Place skillet in oven to heat
4) Mix The Dry
5) Separately mix The Wet
6) Combine the two, stirring till moist and combined (batter will be thick)
7) Fold in the corn kernels and mix evenly
8) Carefully take skillet out of oven, use pastry brush or paper towel to spread melted EB up the sides
9) Pour in batter, cook for 17-20 minutes

CAUTION: SKILLET WILL BE EXTREMELY HOT!!!

I love serving this warm with some Earth Balance on top. It could work well as a dessert too, warmed up with some "ice cream" on top or with maple syrup. I packed some up for our hike later that day and it kep exceptionally well. Be sure to cut it like a pie so everyone gets a piece of the crust!

Rice Puddin'

This puddin' is amazing as a chilled summer treat, or warmed and eaten by fireside. If you can't find sweet rice, regular white rice is just fine (make sure it is cooked through). You can add raisins, whipped "cream", or a sophisticated drizzle of rum.

2 cups dry sweet Vietnamese white rice
2 1/2 cups H20
3 cups soymilk (vanilla if you have it)
extra soymilk
1 Tbsp Earth Balance "butter" (or whatever you use)
3-4 Tbsp pure cane sugar
1 Tbsp vanilla extract (1 1/2 Tbsp if using plain soymilk)
3/4 tsp nutmeg
1 tsp cinnamon

NOTE: DO NOT WASH RICE!!! (you need it gelatinous)
1) Add water to rice and cook in rice maker or on the stove.
2) Heat soymilk on low in a medium pot. Don't burn or let boil!
3) Add warm cooked rice to milk, stir thoroughly.
4) Add sugar and vanilla extract, stir thoroughly.
5) Continue adding soymilk and stirring until desired consistency.
6) Turn off heat and add nutmeg, cinnamon, and butter.
7) Serve warm, or chilled, or whenever!
Makes 6 servings, depending on how much you eat in the process!

Tips:
-Soymilk can, and will, burn. Keep a close eye!
-Add the spices last, after you've turned the heat off so they don't cook or burn.
-If you nix the butter, be sure to add a pinch of salt for the palate.
-The rice will absorb a lot of liquid, so if you want really liquidy puddin', cut rice down to 1 dry cup.