A Healthier Way To Bake Part Two

 There are healthier ways to bake mouth watering treats. You can easily switch out refined flour and sugar for better for you nut and rice flours along with all natural sugars like maple syrup and agave. Yet there are other ingredient  conundrums that can more or less be solved.

Vegan or vegetarian baking holds the answers. Many  home bakers want to omit eggs for something healthier or won''t trigger egg allergies. There is Just Egg, an egg yolk substitute that can make everything from omelets to cookies. It's made from mung beans and has the same eggy flavor as the real thing. Three tablespoons equal one egg, yolk and white included.I've baked with it and it did produce  a crisper cookie. There is also Vegg, a powdered egg sub in that's also plant based. They use peas to create the mix, You do have to buy  the Vegg Uncaged version and then add a teaspoon of coconut sugar along with a scant amount of water to get the liquid. again I'v e made brownies with it and they came out chewy and dense. You can reduce the amount of sweetener if you use Vegg's one. Dairy is always another area of concern. For milk the best replacement is soy. It has the same amount of protein as cow's milk and it helps baked goods to brown nicely. This is perfect  for pond cakes and biscuits, recipes that don't require icing. almond milk is the second best bet. as for butter. Melt plant based butter is a good alternative. and it is a good leavening agent. It works perfectly in cookies and creates a lovely brownness to them. Miyoko's also works well as does avocados and applesauce. Nut butters and pumpkin puree can also make for a smooth batter or dough.

The big question is the frosting. Most American buttercreams have at least two to two and a half cups of confectioners sugar in them.  This is way too sweet no matter how tasty they are. Yet what's a cupcake without a big blob of colorful icing on it? There is a way to have healthy and decadent.. One is making your own  sort using  ground coconut sugar and tapioca flour.  If  you can't  get the tapioca flour then just use cornstarch or arrowroot powder.You do need a high powered blender like a Vitamix to grind it into that powdery consistency. It just takes only thirty to sixty minutes and storing it in an airtight container. This is also perfect for making glaze and icing for cakes and cookies too. another frosting idea is taking maple syrup and vegan cream cheese. You will need to use Greek yogurt but only a quarter cup of it along with a dash of vanilla extract. another recipe for a healthy but still creamy topping is a mix of unsweetened apple sauce and coconut oil. Palm oil and tapioca or arrowroot flour round it out to give it both that creamy mouth feel and taste. You could also use cocoa powder for a chocolate frosting. 

Healthy baking can be done. You can even have cupcakes with a big swirl of frosting on top. It's just subbing in the good ingredients for the bad ones>It's just that easy.

A Vegetarian Mother's Day

 Mother's day is full of good homemade meals and treats. Yet what happens when Mom eschews those yummy strips of bacon or that great chicken dish? Not to worry of you have a vegetarian or vegan mother. There are plenty of substitutes that you can use for  tasty and delicious dishes throughout the day.

Nothing beats a Mother's Day breakfast.One of the best sub ins to serve is Morningstar Farms Bacon strips.

This is like the real thing, especially when it's microwaved crisp. It has the same crunch and flavor as the real thing and goes great with any of the Vegg products.

These can be bought on Amazon and both the power scramble - which resembles scrambled eggs when cook and the egg yolk are great. One of my favorite any time meals is bowl of the yolks which are easily cooked in the microwave, and the Morningstar Farm bacon strips. I love dipping the bacon in the "egg' yolk". Make a side of toast buttered fingers also for fun dipping. Add a mimosa and it's a great brunch.

As for lunch and dinner, you cannot go wrong with the Gardein soy meat products. I love their teriyaki chicken strips.

They're a quick fry in the air fryer while the sauce is heated in the oven. Serve with white rice and a Japanese salad with a carrot ginger dressing for a nice dinner in. Gardein also has turkey cutlets with gravy which tastes like the real thing. Serve with steamed asparagus for a lovely Spring dinner for Mom. For a more fun meal, definitely grill up their burgers for an old fashioned barbecue or serve their chicken sliders with air fried French fries.Finish with soy or almond milk shakes in chocolate, vanilla or strawberry.

Don't worry about cooking your vegan or vegetarian mom a meal. There are so many ways and so many products to give her memorable meals. She can have brunch , lunch  and dinner with a whole host of meatless products.

Potato Croquettes - Celebrating Mardi Gras

 Today is Mardi Gras, a different one from years past. We can still celebrate  - at home with fun foods. For me it's potato puffs or  croquettes. I used last week's homemade mash potatoes to make a family favorite.

My recipe is a hybrid of two , one from Airfry Guide and the other from Fork To Spoon. Fork To Spoon suggests first rolling the croquettes in flour then egg and breadcrumbs. I nixed the first and just had the vegan egg mix Vegg and regular breadcrumbs. I used about two tablespoons of the egg mix and a cup of water to get it to the desired yolk thickness.  The recipe calls for a cup of breadcrumbs. As for the potatoes , use anywhere from two to three cups (I used the last because the croquettes are popular in my house)

It was a quick dunk, then roll in these.   They look like cauliflower florets.

 They were fried for five minutes at 400 degrees F in the air fryer. 

They were then taken out  flipped and air fried for five minutes more at 400 degrees F.

  These were a tasty bite, with a crunchy exterior and a tender interior. I added some parsley and salt to the breadcrumbs for more flavor.

                                   The whole batch was around sixteen croquettes but they were quickly gobbled up. That's how good they are. You can vary the recipe by adding ham or cheese in the middle. Add a dash of garlic or onion powder to the bread crumbs along with oregano.

This is a fun Mardi gras dish. It's a lots of messy work but worth it. Celebrate any event with homemade potato croquettes.

Chicken And Waffles Vegan Style!!!

 One of the most popular dishes right now is chicken and waffles. This Amish Sunday dinner and famed Black dish is being made throughout the US.I thought I'd jump on the bandwagon and make it. The only problem? It has to be vegan.

The vegan chicken part was easy.It was simply air frying Gardein's chicken tenders in the air fryer.

This was the easy as pie part. It was just air frying the tenders at first 400 degrees F for eight minutes, then  turning. They were finished at 360 degrees F for five minutes.

The next part was hard.

I used Bisquik's gluten free mix which gives the finished product s dense texture. 

To make the waffles vegan it was adding two cups of almond milk which produced a creamier batter (the recipe called for a cup and a half but that was a mistake. The batter looked like wallpaper paste). The recipe called for three tablespoons of vegetable oil along with one egg. I used Vegg's Uncaged egg baking mix for the egg substitute. One teaspoon of the mix is mixed with half a teaspoon of granulated sugar and a quarter of a cup of milk. This is thoroughly mixed before added to the batter.

I chilled it for half an hour, simply because I needed time to prep the waffle iron and air fryer.

I used my batter distributor to evenly pour the batter onto the iron after spraying the plates with cooking spray (I used Stop and Shop's butter flavored one).

This is the batter precooked.It looks like gooey toast.

This was the first batch which was sorely disappointing. 

They were half cooked and stuck to the plates.

I didn't cook them long enough. Bisquick recommends cooking the waffles for five minutes.

 Depending on your waffle iron I'd say ten minutes should do it. This was the third batch.

They're not deeply golden but they are perfectly formed. Both were served with maple syrup which is an interesting add on (but not one I particularly like. There has to be another sauce to put on both)

Would I try this again? Maybe. I may  add soy cheese to the waffles to make them more savory and nix the maple syrup.Maybe a barbecue sauce????)

Chicken and waffles are the latest thing right now. I will try them again, - maybe less sweet and more sandwich like for the chicken. The best part is that it was all vegan, 

A Vegan Breakfast For Dinner

 One of the most favorite - and one of my favorite's is breakfast for dinner. It's  kind of hard when you're cooking for a vegetarian household though. Yet there are a lot of subs you can use to create more or less the same as what meat and egg lovers have.

I was able to get Lightife Smart Bacon  a mix of soy and wheat gluten. I haven't cooked this before so this was interesting to fry up.

It's clumped together in a plastic bag  .

It looks like the real thing however it's harder to separate than real bacon.

I cooked it for three minutes on each side on my mini griddle. I brushed vegetable oil on the griddle first and placed the pieces.

As you can see the slices crisped up like real bacon.

Of course with bacon comes egg. I had the Vegg fake egg yolk. This was an easy make, with three teaspoons of the powder mixed with half a cup of cold water.It's then blended with an immersion blender and cooked for two minutes in the microwave.

It has a nice yolk consistency , thick and runny at the same time.

Of course you have to have bread with this and I has an artisinal rye from Stop & Shop. This was a great dinner. The bacon and egg tasted like the real thing, made even more perfect with dipping the bread in the yolk. The bacon was crispy and flavorful, while the yolk was the perfect texture and very eggy tasting. It was filling and best of all easy to make. You can also create variations with Vegg;s power scramble and Lightlife's sausage patties and links.

A vegan breakfast for dinner is easy to make. All you need is the Vegg egg substitute and Lightlife Smart Bacon. Add a thick hunk of bread to toast to finish off this great meal.

Fried Eggplant A Summer Favorite Redone

One of summer's favorites is fried eggplant. There's nothing like eating "poor man's oysters" as it was once called. I decided to update and veganize it a bit.

First it's slicing and salting or debittering it. This takes out the bitter flavor and sometimes itchy feeling after eating it.

This is just slicing it and sprinkling the slices with salt (I used sea salt). Brown liquid will come out after half an hour. This is just the moisture and that bitterness coming out. Also doing this gets rid of that sponginess sliced eggplant has. (I watched Chef Tony on You Tube for all this info. He's a great chef with must watch videos).

Usually breading it involves egg, flour and breadcrumbs. I went vegan with Vegg , the faux yolk mix. I used two teaspoons mixed with  half a cup of water. 

This was microwaved for two minutes and whisked.

The eggplant was dipped in it. with both sides completely soaked.

The slices were then breaded on both sides. I kept the skins on which I may not do the next time. 

I used Stop & Shop's plain breadcrumbs but you can use ones with Italian flavoring. You can also add vegan Parmesan cheese, oregano, parsley and garlic salt if you want a more flavorful breading.

I piled these  because my air fryer only takes two at a time. It's spraying the basket with cooking spray and cook both sides at 400 degrees F for six minutes each side.

This is the end result.

The slices were crunchy and tasty. They were a bit salty and I think I should have added some oregano and garlic salt to the breading. I will definitely make these again though. It was served with a simple tomato salad.

This is the recipe for those wanting a new twist on fried eggplant. The slices taste the same  - maybe even  better - than the original recipe. Try it and see how good this summer classic is updated with Vegg and fried in the air fryer.

Veganizing A Classic

 Zuppa di pompeist or breadcrumb soup has nourished my Piedmontese side of the family  for centuries. It's just three ingredients: chicken broth , beaten eggs and bread crumbs. It's hard to reckon with these though in a vegan household. Yet , there is a way around it and a pretty delicious one too.

I recently discovered Not Chick'n Bouillon Cubes. These taste like the real thing which got me thinking upon first tasting them. I can make pompeist with this. I have Vegg :The Plant based egg yolk powder. Combine these two with bread crumbs and I have the family classic.

It's just taking two of the bouillon cubes, and dropping them in two to three cups of boiling water.

They're were mushy to begin with and had to be thoroughly broken up with a fork. 

Then I added two teaspoons of the Vegg and stirred vigorously. Next time I 'll use a whisk which I think will give the soup a smoother consistency.

Then about a cup of breadcrumbs (I used Stop & Shop's brand).

Stir or whisk these in as the soup simmers. Serve.

It looks and tastes exactly like the pompeists I've made and my Mom has made in the past. The flavor is exactly the same as the ones with real eggs and real chicken broth. I intend on making this a lot , especially as we go into fall. 

If you want a cup of comforting vegan goodness, then try this no meat no egg pompeist recipe. It is just as soothing and delicious as the real thing. It will also make you feel good ,knowing no animals were harmed in making it as too.