Your Vegan Mom

Vegan Diner and Julie Hasson's Barbecue Sauce

I really like Julie Hasson's new cookbook, Vegan Diner: Classic Comfort Food for the Body and Soul.  The recipes are practical and homey.  The photography and design are lovely.  And everything that I've made has seriously panned out.  

We loved the blueberry loaf cake with lemon glaze.  When Desmond saw the empty plate he said, "Oh no!  We need to make another lemon cake!"  When I told Paul, he said, "You guys finished the cake!?!"  (It did happen over a pretty short span of time with very little help from Paul.  I'm totally with Desmond on this one though.  I wish, like the (not-vegan) diner down the street there was always a lemon cake on our counter.  Maybe we should do that.)

There are some great burger recipes here, and all sorts of sandwiches that I've been meaning to try.  You know that Ms. Hasson knows her way around seitan, so the Rockin Reubens with homemade vegan pastrami are high on my list as are the Philly Seitan Sliders.  

And the barbecue sauce is everything that I've always wanted from homemade barbecue sauce - namely, worth it.  About a year ago, after trying many recipes, I decided to leave this condiment to the experts and just buy it from the bottle.  So, I'm not sure what possessed me to try this recipe, but I think it was the note at the top.  Here's what the author says about it:

For years I found myself buying barbecue sauces, not only because it's so easy to find at the store, but also because I just hadn't found a recipe that I loved.  Well, it all changed when I created this sweet and sticky barbecue sauce, and I can't imagine buying another one again.  You'll be surprised at how easy this sauce is to make.

I can relate.  And I concur.  You should double it.  And then buy the book.

Rough Rider Barbecue Sauce
From Vegan Diner: Classic Comfort Food for the Body & Soul by Julie Hasson
Makes about 1 cup

• 1 cup ketchup
• 1/4 cup agave nectar
• 1/4 cup light molasses
• 2 tablespoons cider vinegar
• 2 teaspoons soy sauce
• 2 teaspoons liquid smoke
• 3/4 teaspoon fresh ground black pepper
• 1/2 teaspoon granulated onion or onion powder

In a medium saucepan, whisk together all the ingredients plus 1/4 cup water, whisking until smooth.

Over medium heat, bring mixture to a simmer.  Reduce the heat to low and simmer uncovered, stirring frequently for 30 minutes.  For a really thick sauce, simmer an additional 15 minutes.

Let the sauce cool completely and refrigerate until ready to use. 

(Reprinted with permission from Vegan Diner: Classic Comfort Food for the Body & Soul by Julie Hasson, copyright 2011.  Published by Running Press Book Publishers.)

S'more Pie

 

On the topic of picnics, I thought we really ought to discuss this pie.  A couple years ago, I developed this recipe for a guest post on Veggie Meal Plans.  The site appears to be undergoing some maintenance right now, and the recipe is not currently available, and what with it being summer and this pie being crazy delicious, I thought it was perhaps time to share this twist on a classic summer campout treat, in pie form.   

S'more Pie

Makes 1 9-inch pie and two bonus pudding cups for the cook

• 1 graham cracker crust (I used Arrowhead Mills.)
• 1 carton Suzanne's Ricemellow Creme (Mine came from Whole Foods.)
• 1 recipe chocolate pudding (This part I actually made.)

Chocolate Pudding:

• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1/4 cup corn starch
• 8 ounces bittersweet chocolate
• 2 2/3 cups soy milk (I'm partial to the refrigerated Trader Joe's organic.)
• 1/4 cup extra-firm silken tofu
• 2 tablespoons non-dairy butter
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla

Blend together tofu and 2/3 cup of soy milk until very smooth.  (I like to use an immersion blender for this.  A regular blender will work, but if the mixture gets very frothy, let it calm down a bit before continuing.  Otherwise the extra air can give your pudding a moussier texture, rather than the dense silkiness of good chocolate pudding.)

In a heavy-bottomed sauce pan, whisk together sugar and cornstarch.  Chop up chocolate and add it to the pan.

Add the remaining soy milk as well as the tofu mixture to the pan.  Whisk continuously over medium heat.  Once the mixture begins to bubble, continue whisking for one minute.

Remove from the heat and stir in the butter and vanilla.

Pour into the prepared crust and chill until set, in the freezer for two hours, or the refrigerator for at least four or overnight.

Once the pudding has set up, top with the ricemellow creme.

Now for toasting your marshmallows:

Heat up the broiler.  Wet a dish cloth in cold water.  Ring out the excess water and use the wet cloth to line a rimmed baking sheet.  Place the pie on the towel and surround it with ice cubes to keep the pie chilled while you toast the topping.

Put it under the broiler and watch it while the marshmallow toasts.  This will take a matter of seconds, so don't go off and do anything else.  

Picnic!

It's that time of year.  We have packed up our dinner, or breakfast, or lunch at least twice a week since the beginning of July.  What is your hands down favorite vegan picnic dish?  I'm going to say a perfect picnic should have fried chicken (but you know, not really chicken), succotash salad, and peach hand-pies for dessert (I've never actually had a fresh peach hand pie, but don't you bet it's the best picnic dessert in the world?  In the absence of fresh peach hand pies, I'll take a brownie).  Oh and you need snacks too. What should we take for snacks?  And a portable cocktail.  And a big jar of iced tea or lemonade.  What else?  What will you bring?  

 

Here's some more picnic-friendly recipes if you're looking for ideas:

• potato salad
• brownies
• peanut butter rice crispy treats
• oatmeal chocolate chip cookie
• cashew-yogurt cheese (nice spread for crackers, also, unlike many homemade "cheeses" this one is crazy easy)
• lentil salad
• berry lemonade
• pan bagnat

Your Tuesday Tip: Coffee ice cubes

 

I've been freezing leftover coffee and using it to make afternoon milk and cookies that much more delicious (and caffeinated).  This afternoon I'm going to put my caffeinated ice cubes in the blender with some soy milk and agave nectar to make a coffee slushie.    

Update: 4 coffee cubes + 1 cup soy milk + a quick swirl of agave nectar blends into a nice coffee slushie, but my favorite use of the cubes has been iced coffee to go - coffee cubes, soy milk, (unbleached) sugar in a (clean, repurposed) jam jar, stuck in my bag to take to the park with the boys.  An hour later, when the cubes and the sugar are fairly melty, and I give it some vigorous shaking, and open up my frothy, sweet, cold coffee drink, I am so much more cheerful about pushing Felix on the swing or helping Desmond make decorations (again) for Rocketjohn's (new imaginary friend) birthday party (again). 

Blueberry Upside Down Breakfast Cake

 
(Hey!  This picture is totally not representative.  I'm going to fix it asap.  Your fruit will sit on top like a traditional upside down cake.)

On our first day of vacation, early in the day, before I had bought groceries, or even finished my first cup of coffee, I foraged through our borrowed kitchen looking for something I could whip up for breakfast.  There were some basics.  I found cornmeal and a small sack of flour and some baking powder that expired in 1993.  Delving deeper I found a relatively fresh canister that was somewhat more reasonably dated 2008.  This could get us cornbread.

But I also had a beautiful pint of blueberries that had joined us somewhere along the journey.  And I had a feeling that those berries could turn that simple cornbread into vacation breakfast - an easy to prepare treat worthy of a sunny porch and cool salty air and freedom from responsibility (and a really good cup of coffee). 

Blueberry Upside Down Breakfast Cake

• 2 cups blueberries or mixed berries
• 1/3 cup brown sugar
• 3 tablespoons non-dairy butter
• 1 tablespoon flax meal
  
• 3 tablespoons water
• 2 tablespoon lemon juice
• 1 teaspoon lemon zest
• 1 cup, minus 2 tablespoons non-dairy milk
• 1 cup white whole wheat flour (or all-purpose if you don't have it)
• 1 cup cornmeal
• 1/2 cup unbleached sugar
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/3 cup canola oil (or other mild cooking oil)

1. Cream together butter and sugar and spread evenly over the bottom of a 9-inch round cake pan.
2. Arrange berries over butter and sugar.
3. In a small bowl, mix together flax meal and water.  Set aside to thicken. 
4. Place lemon juice and zest into a glass measuring cup.  Add soy milk to make 1 cup.  This lemony soy milk will curdle and thicken.  Leave it to do its thing, but stir before adding to the dry ingredients. 
5. Position a rack in the middle of the oven and heat to 400.  
6. In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, cornmeal, sugar, salt, baking powder, and baking soda.
7. Make a well in the center and add the flax mixture, oil, and lemony milk.
8. Stir to combine. 
9. Pour into the prepared pan and bake for 20 - 25 minutes, until a toothpick inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean, and the top is a rich golden hue with cracked edges.  
10. Immediately invert onto a plate before cooling.