Vegan Quinoa breakfast yumminess

Recently, my family has fallen in love with Quinoa


I've made Tabuleh for my husband (which I will post a recipe for later) that he LOVES, and today I made this little concoction which both my daughter and I adore.


This is basically this recipe for Breakfast Quinoa and this recipe for Vanilla Roasted Walnuts combined into sweet perfection.

I changed the recipe to my liking and this way it's totally vegan.

Ingredients:
2 cups vanilla almond milk
1 cup of quinoa
pinch salt
3 Tablespoons of agave nectar
1 tsp. ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp ground cloves
1/2 tsp vanilla bean
1 cup dried cranberries
1/2 c. Vanilla Roasted Walnuts (recipe for that is in the above link)

Directions:
1. Bring the almond milk to a boil in a small saucepan. The almond milk works just like cow milk so keep an eye on it. It will boil and bubble over if you don't keep a close watch on it. Add the quinoa and salt, and return to a boil. Reduce heat to low, and simmer, covered, until three-quarters of the almond milk has been absorbed.

2. Stir in agave nectar and spices. Cook covered, until most of the almond milk has been absorbed.

3. Stir in cranberries and walnuts and serve. 

Blueberry Cake

blue berry cake



from Smitten Kitchen of course

i just used blue instead of rasp.

light fluffy

low on sugar

high on yummeh.

Earl Grey Apple Sauce with Roasted Vanilla Walnuts

This is a combination of two new recipes I tried over the holidays.

I didn't intend for them to go together, but once I had them both made, combining them sounded good. And I was right. They're great together!

First, I found the applesauce recipe at FoodMayhem a few months ago, but haven't had the chance to make it. It's quick, simple and satisfying. I didn't find the Earl Grey overpowering, either. I'm a big fan of Earl Grey tea, so I would've been OK with it if it did add a strong flavor, but it turned out subtle and tasty.

4 Apples, peeled and chopped into slices
1 cup of water
1/4 cup light brown sugar
1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
1 bag of Earl Grey tea with the tag and string removed.

1. Combine apples, water, sugar and salt in a pot & bring to a boil
2. Submerge the tea bag in the water, stir so that the apples cover it
3. Reduce to a simmer & place lid on pot for about 15 mins or until most of the water has simmered off.
4. Discard tea bag.

At this point, you can mash if you'd like, but I didn't. I left the apple slices whole.


Roasted Vanilla Walnuts

I found this recipe at Elana's Pantry & it's wonderful.

Since we have 2 cars in the shop & the one functioning vehicle we have is tempremental and cranky, we weren't able to give the kind of gifts we really wanted to give this year. we're broke. so I made muffins and cookies for our families. After our daughter opened all of her presents, I was browsing on foodgawker & came across this and it was perfect! I, amazingly, had all of the ingredients in my pantry & whipped these up in 5 mins flat! I added some to each gift bag along with the baked goods & a jar of home made tomato soup.

Ingredients:

2 cups raw walnuts
1 Tablespoon Olive Oil
2 Tablespoons Agave Nectar (honey could probably be substituted for non-vegans)
1/4 teaspoon sea salt
1 -2 vanilla pods, split and scraped, or about 1/2 a teaspoon of the beans
dash of cinnamon

1. pour the olive oil in a skillet & turn on high.
2. add the walnuts & stir so that they are coated
3. when they start to sizzle, turn down the temp to med/low
4. add agave nectar & stir until nuts are coated.
5. let the nuts sizzle slightly for a couple of minutes, then stir in the salt
6. add the vanilla beans and stir until walnuts are coated
7. add dash of cinnamon & stir

transfer to a plate & allow to cool.

I'm so in love with this recipe and I keep thinking of all the ways I could eat these. Mostly, I've just been eating them by the handful, but they're great added to the apple sauce. I'm pretty sure they'd go well with sweet potatoes and oatmeal too.

Peaches

pie
cake
torte?

lets just stick with 'thing'

thing works.

so this is a Peach Thing

that is delish!

i found the recipe here at Whitneyinchicago and modified it a bit.

i've seen this exact recipe on a couple of different sites, and it's one that works for me since it's low on the dairy and high on the simplicity.

Technically it's called Peach Tea Cake.

and it's dang good.

Here's what you'll need:

• 2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 1/2 sticks of butter
• 3 eggs
• 1 tablespoon vanilla extract

In a separate bowl, mix the following or the filling:

• 4 sliced peaches
• 1/2 teaspoon of cinnamon
• 1/4 teaspoon of ginger
• 1/4 teaspoon vanilla bean
• 1/2 teaspoon of brown sugar
• 1/2 cup chopped pecans
  

1. Mix the flour, baking powder, and salt together in a bowl and set aside.
2. Cream the sugar & butter until light and fluffy
3. Add the eggs one at a time, then the vanilla extract
4. While mixing, slowly add the flour mixture and stir just until smooth dough forms.
5. Preheat the oven to 375F and pat a portion of the dough into the bottom of pie or casserolle dish. i sprayed it with butter flavored non-stick spray, but you could use pats of butter instead. The bottom layer of the dough should be about an inch thick & it should go up the side of the dish just a bit.
6. Pour the peaches on top of the dough in the dish & spread it evenly.
7. Use he remainder of the dough in spoonfull size portions & cover the peaches
8. Bake for 30 to 40 minutes, or until lightly golden and firm. Cool for 30 minutes before serving.

This came out really well & my daughter loved it so it's definitely a keeper!

Chocolate Covered Strawberries

On Mothers Day I attempted to make White Chocolate dipped strawberries & failed miserably. I'd never worked with white chocolate before & quickly discovered that it doesn't behave the same way that regular chocolate does.

When I make the peanutbutter cups, I melt the chocolate & then take it to the dining room table where I fill the cups. This cannot be done with white chocolate apparently. The minute I took it off of the burner, it solidified & would not melt again. I tried to microwave it & it still wouldn't melt again. It just burned & filled the house with a disgusting smell.

So in order to salvage the project, I just dipped them into regular chocolate & then melted a new batch of white chocolate & drizzled it over the berries. And that worked out just fine.


However, I was undaunted & wanted to try the white chocolate dipped experiment again. So this weekend, I did it.

Here's what I learned:

Melt the white chocolate in a double boiler.
While the white chocolate is still on the stove, dip the strawberries in & give them a good twist or two to make sure they're totally coated.
Once they're coated, place on wax paper & put them in the fridge.
Once they've cooled & completely solidified, drizzle melted chocolate over the top.

Like the peanutbutter cups, they're pretty easy & make a good impression. And my mom loved them!

Rhubarb and Oatmeal.

Ok, so I know that in the last post, I promised chocolate covered stawberries would be next.

However, I became totally distracted by this Rhubarb and Oatmeal recipe from Omnomicon.

I made it today & it was awesome! I'm in love!

Rhubarb is the bastard love child of an unholy union between a beet and celery.

There's really no other way to describe it.

They're tart, crunchy and cook up BRIGHT RED. They're most commonly used in crisps and pies along with strawberries, but personally, I like their tartness & find the addition of strawberries to be distracting.

So when I came across this recipe I had to make it. NOW. It took about half an hour combined of prep & cook, and as an added bonus, it's pretty to look at.


So here's what I used:

3 medium sized stalks of Rhubarb
1/2 cup of sugar
oatmeal prepared per directions on box
vanilla yogurt.

Cut the rhubarb into small chunks
toss with sugar and place into a pan and cook on medium heat until the chunks become jucy and syrupy

Turn the heat down to low, make oat meal the way you like it.

(I like mine with brown sugar and cinnamon so that's how I made it)

When the oatmeal is done, serve with the rhubarb & yogurt and enjoy.

The three ingredients here are so lovely together I tried to eat this a little bit at a time with the intention of keeping the aestetics intact.

However, it was so delish that I finally gave in & just stirred the whole mess together & devoured.

The Apple Pear Conflict

actually, it's Apple Pear Compote

but every time I said it to my husband, he kept hearing Conflict instead of Compote. So it's officially been named The Apple Pear Conflict.

And it's dang good!

I found this at The Picky Cook
and it's now become a staple in our household.

It also helped that I found vanilla beans on sale & bought up as many as my little cart could hold.

This is the first recipe I've used fresh vanilla beans with & although there isn't a noticeable difference in taste, it does make for a good presentation.

The Ingredients are as follows:

2 cups apple cider
1/4 cup cider vinegar
1 Tbsp brown sugar
2 tsp unsalted butter, divided
3 medium (about 1 lb total) Granny Smith apples, peeled, cored, small diced
3 medium (about 1 1/2 lbs total) pears, peeled, cored, small diced
(Bartlett pears were recommended, but I just red anjou & it came out great)
1 vanilla bean, split in half lengthwise



Combine apple cider, cider vinegar, and brown sugar in medium saucepan. Simmer on medium-high, uncovered, stirring occasionally until reduced for about 10 to 15 mins.

Melt the butter in a pan on medium. Add apples, pears and cook for abotut 5 minutes until softened.

Using a sharp knife, split the vanilla bean pod length wise. Using a butter knife or a spoon, scrape tiny seeds from vanilla bean into fruit mixture. This can get messy & the seeds can stick to your hands, so be careful. When all of the seeds are out, discard the pod.

Stir in the reduced cider glaze and simmer until there's no more liquid in the apples. It should have a sticky, glazed consistency.


Remove from heat & allow it to cool some before serving. I eat this over fat-free vanilla yogurt, but my daughter likes it with vanilla bean ice cream.

The best thing about this, is that it's easy to make & it's really tasty and versetile. You could serve this on cake, ice cream, yogurt, or just eat as is.