Chocolate peanut butter cake

I found this recipe on Smitten Kitchen via Reddit some time ago. I’m a big fan of any combination of peanut butter and chocolate, so this recipe goes over quite well in my books.

The recipe originally called for a chocolate glaze on top of the icing, but that takes so much time and it’s just way more sugar than I’m willing to indulge in. Shaved dark chocolate on top does fairly well in stead.

Cake

• 2 cups flour (cake or all-purpose will do fine)
• 2½ cups sugar
• ¾ cup cocoa powder, unsweetened
• 2 tsp baking soda
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 cup vegetable oil
• 1 cup “sour cream” (Tofutti’s probably the best option)
• 1½ cups water
• 2 tbsp vinegar
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 2 “eggs” (dry egg replacer works well)

1. Preheat the oven to 350°F
2. Mix the dry items together
3. Add in the wet items in the above order (although I doubt that really matters)
4. Pour into whatever forms you’d like (e.g. cupcake) and bake for until toothpicked (~35 minutes or so)
5. Chill in the fridge for an hour or so before icing

Icing

• 5 oz. “cream cheese” (again, Tofutti does the best job I’ve found)
• 2 oz. margarine
• ⅓ cup peanut butter
• 2 cups icing sugar

1. Mix the wets together until creamy.
2. Slowly add in the icing sugar, being careful to avoid lumps if at all possible.

Pancake/waffle batter

I think I’ve made this recipe at least a hundred times and it’s worked out on every occasion. It’s suitable for both pancakes and waffles, can easily be modified with buckwheat flour or walnuts, and takes only a minute to prepare.

Recipe

• 2 cups flour
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1 tsp ground flax seed (optional)
• 2 cups “milk” (soy will work better than rice or almond)
• ⅓ cup oil
• Spices to taste (e.g. cinnamon, cardamom, cocoa, vanilla extract, almond extract, etc)

Variations

• Banana chocolate checkers
• Food colouring swirls

Beer bread

• 2 cups of some kind of flour (multigrain, rye, whatever)
• 1 cup of all-purpose flour (unbleached preferably)
• 1 can of beer (of the standard 355 ml variety)
• ¼ cup water
• 1 tbsp. baking powder
• 1 tbsp. sugar (I’ve mostly been using brown)
• 1 tsp. salt

That’s really about it. Mix it together, throw it in a 375°F oven for 55 minutes or so and you’re done. The fun part comes when you start playing around with the theme: adding figs and walnuts, raisins and ground cloves, y’know, experimenting. Before you know it, you’ll be saying “I’m quite happy with that maple glaze, but it might go well with some sprinkled oats”.

Carrot and coriander soup

I got this recipe out of Fresh’s first cookbook, Juice For Life. It’s tasty and does well with a dash or two of cayenne. If you can get a hold of it, fresh marjoram will taste a lot better than dried.

Recipe

• 3 tbsp ground coriander
• 2 tbsp vegetable oil
• 2 onions
• 6 cloves garlic
• 2 tbsp marjoram
• 3 carrots
• 1 sweet potato
• 6 cups vegetable stock
• ¼ cup cilantro
• ½ tsp salt

1. Toast the dry coriander in the bottom of the pot on medium heat for about 3 minutes to release the flavour.
2. Toss in the onions and garlic to cook for a bit.
3. Add the carrots and sweet potato and let cook for a bit more.
4. Toss in everything but the cilantro and let simmer.
5. Blend and serve with a little topping of cilantro.

Truffled cauliflower

I got this recipe from my new cookbook, Great Chefs Cook Vegan. It’s full of fancy pictures and provides frequently intricate plating instructions. This cauliflower recipe here is part of a 4-parter, but works well on its own.

Recipe

• 1 head cauliflower
• 3 tbsp olive oil
• 1 cup soy milk
• 2 tbsp truffle oil
• 1 tbsp mirin
• Sprouts of some kind

1. Cut 8 cross sections out of the cauliflower florets. Sear these in olive oil and train on a paper towel.
2. Chop the remaining cauliflower and simmer in salted water until tender. Drain the cauliflower and blend with heated soy milk down to a purée.
3. Mix the vinaigrette by whisking the truffle oil, vinegar and a little salt. Toss the sprouts in this.
4. Spoon the purée into 4 bowls, garnishing first with the cauliflower, then with the sprouts.

Peanut butter chocolate chip cookies

I find that most cookie recipes follow the exact same set of instructions and this one is no different. I suppose that’s why cookies are so common; They’re incredibly easy to make. Well, that and they’re delicious.

Recipe

• ½ cup margarine
• ½ cup peanut butter
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 “egg” (maybe half a banana, but I haven’t tried yet)
• 3 tbsp water
• 2 cups flour
• ¾ tsp baking soda
• ¼ tsp salt

1. Mix the wet ingredients together.
2. Mix the dry ingredients in.
3. Scoop out little discs onto a cookie sheet.
4. Bake at 350°F for about 9 minutes.
5. Let cool (and perhaps sprinkle with cinnamon).

Toasted pumpkin seeds

I suppose this recipe is one of those seasonal things. I tend to over-indulge in these right around Halloween and find myself sick of them within a few days. Still, they’re tasty in moderation and stuffed full of tradition.

Recipe

• 1 batch of pumpkin seeds from a freshly carved pumpkin
• Some olive oil
• Some salt

1. Mix the ingredients in a bowl so that the seeds are well covered.
2. Spread the mix onto a cookie sheet and bake at 375° for 10 minutes.
3. Do your best to flip them over and bake until they’re starting to look dry.
4. Set aside and let cool until you can eat them without hurting yourself.

Cajun sweet potato fries

I got this recipe out of La Dolce Vegan, which is probably one of my favourite cookbooks. It’s part of a series filled with a nice variety of recipes. This one here is simple and tasty. Double the Cajun spice as a single tablespoon is never enough. For convenience, just make a large batch and set it aside for recipes like this.

Recipe

• 1 large sweet potato
• 2 tbsp olive oil
• 1 tbsp cajun spice
  • 24 parts paprika
  • 12 parts thyme
  • 12 parts oregano
  • 4 parts garlic powder
  • 4 parts salt
  • 1 part black pepper
  • 1 part cayenne pepper

1. Cut the sweet potato into wedges and mix with the rest of the ingredients until well coated.
2. Spread out evenly on a baking sheet and bake at 400°F for 10 minutes.
3. Flip the fries and bake for another 10 minutes or until sufficiently crispy.

Simple rice bowl

A while back there was a restaurant in Toronto called Juice For Life. It’s since turned into Fresh, but the recipes are still mostly the same. Well, their first cookbook has a fairly simple recipe in it that’s a decent stand-by when nothing complicated is called for.

Recipe

• 4 cups cooked rice
• 1 batch tahini sauce
• 2 tsp. tamari
• 2 carrots, grated
• 1 bunch parsley, chopped (or red onion)
• 1 lemon, cut in wedges (or any other garnish, like paprika and cayenne)

Just put a couple tablespoons of the tahini sauce on the rice along with the tamari. Garnish as you’d like and eat. Fairly simple and easy to play around with.

Black bean quesadillas with tahini sauce

Okay this one’s a three-parter, but it’s well worth the effort. All told, they’re actually pretty easy to make. Think of them as dinner crêpes with a little less effort.

Black bean filling

• 6 tbsp. olive oil
• 2 medium onions, diced
• 4 cloves garlic, minced
• 2 tsp. cumin
• 1 tsp. cayenne pepper
• 2 tsp. apple cider vinegar
• 2 tsp. lime juice
• 1 tsp. sea salt
• 4 cups canned black beans

1. Cook the onions and garlic in the oil for 5 minutes or so.
2. Add in everything except the black beans and simmer for another 5 minutes.
3. Mash the black beans and add them in.
4. Let it sit for a minutes.

Tahini Sauce

• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• ½ cup chopped parsley (or onion sprouts)
• ½ tsp. sea salt
• 2 tbsp lemon juice
• ⅔ cup water
• ½ cup tahini

1. Chop it all up fine.
2. Mix it all together or blend if you don’t like chunks.

Quesadillas

1. Put a tortilla on a heated frying pan with oil.
2. Spread some black bean filling on half the tortilla.
3. Fold the tortilla in half and fry it until golden crispy on both sides.
4. Cut it into 4 slices and serve with drizzled tahini.