Though there is quite a bit of coffee in this recipe, it really only has a hint of a mocha flavour but I think the coffee makes the cake a lot richer than the other chocolate cake recipe I have on this website (Flawless Chocolate Cake).  The richness is no doubt partially a result of how much sugar there is in this cake, but boy is it good!

Ingredients:

2 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup organic cane sugar
1/2 cup demerara
2 1/2 tbsp. cocoa powder
1 tbsp. finely ground coffee
2 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt
1 cup cold coffee
1/2 cup canola oil
1 tbsp. vanilla extract
1/3-1/2 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit and line the bottom of an 8×8″ or 11×7″ cake pan with parchment paper.
2. In a medium mixing bowl, sift together flour, cocoa, ground coffee, baking powder, baking soda and salt.  Stir in cane sugar and demerara.
3. In a large measuring cup or small mixing bowl, combine cold coffee, canola oil, and vanilla extract.  Pour these wet ingredients into dry and stir just to combine.  Gently stir in chocolate chips, but do not overmix.
4. Pour into prepared cake pan and bake for 30-35 minutes (you can do a toothpick test, just keep in mind if it doesn’t come out clean, it could just be melted chocolate chips–you can taste it to find out!).  Allow to cool and serve.  This cake is rich enough to serve unfrosted, but I’d like to try it with this chocolate glaze recipe (with ‘optional’ coffee liqueur added) in the future.

This is not a low-fat recipe. Makes 12 servings with approximately 266 calories and 10.3 grams of fat per serving!

Whenever I make a green smoothie that doesn’t make me wanna … ahem, not drink it, I have got to remember save the recipe!

Ingredients:
1 cup freshly squeezed orange juice
1/4 lb. (110 grams) spinach
2 tbsp. vanilla hemp or soy milk
1 banana, frozen in chunks
1/2 cup frozen strawberries

Directions:

1. Place orange juice, milk and spinach in blender and puree on highest setting until smooth.
2. Add frozen banana and strawberries and blend to mix thorougly.  Serve immediately.

Using a non-stick pan of sorts is a must for this recipe.  I use a cast iron pan, but the pancakes do stick and are not quite as nice looking as ones that I used to make with oil.  And, eventually you have to add more oil to the cast-iron pan.  I just serve the oilier pancakes to my other family members who can afford to eat the extra calories. (P.S. I’m back on my Eat to Live kick, and blogging about it.  So subsequent recipes are probably going back to the fatfree variety after all the cakes and goodies that have made up the blog as of late.)

Ingredients:
1 cup whole wheat flour
1 cup spelt flour
2 tbsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. nutmeg
1/2 tsp. cinnamon
1 cup unsweetened soy milk
1 cup water
4 tablespoons unsweetened applesauce
2 tablespoons corn starch or flax meal

Directions:

1. Preheat non-stick skillet to medium-low.
2. Sift and stir together dry ingredients in large measuring cup or small mixing bowl.  In another small bowl, whisk together wet ingredients.  Pour wet into dry and stir, just to combine.
3. Pour desired amount of batter into pan (smaller pancakes are easier to flip, but bigger pancakes are more impressive!) and cook until bubbles are forming throughout pancake and edges are cooked.  Flip and cook for another minute.  Remove from pan and repeat until batter is used.  Serve warm with jam or syrup or other favourite topping!

Makes four servings.  Approximately 282 calories, 2.1 grams of fat and 9.4 grams of protein per serving.

It’s taken me longer than I expected to upload this recipe, but these are the (organic) peanut butter

Handing out vegan cake and cookies at this month's Art Crawl (Hamilton)

cookies I was handing out during the last Art Crawl in Hamilton.

Ingredients:
1 1/2 cups all- purpose flour (organic)
2 tsp baking soda
2 tsp salt
1 cup creamy natural peanut butter (organic)
1/2 cup organic cane sugar
1/2 cup demerara (organic)
1/2 cup silken tofu, pureed (adjusted, because last time dough was too dry)

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.  Line cookie sheet with parchment paper (if necessary/desired).
2. Sift together flour, baking soda and salt in a small mixing bowl.
3. In a large bowl, stir together peanut butter, cane sugar and demerara until thoroughly combined. Add silken tofu and vanilla.
4. Add dry ingredients to wet and knead with floured hands for a minute or two until mixture no longer feels sticky.
5. Scoop dough into 1″ balls and press down on cookie sheet with tines of a fork about 2″ apart.  Bake in preheated oven for between 12 to 14 minutes, be careful not to overbake.

We were in Jeff’s mom’s basement trying to get the MP3 player we bought his stepdad for fathers’ day to work, when I noticed this book on top of a stack of books in a cardboard box.  I said Jeff’s mom, “Why do you have a vegan cookbook here?” while picking it up, to uncover a second vegan cookbook beneath.  She said that she had bought them for Jeff years ago, and when she asked him what he wanted her to do with them (now that he doesn’t live with her and she is trying to get rid of 18 years of his stuff), he said he didn’t want them!  I was shocked and appalled, of course, that he did not even think that I might want them.  But, needless to say, I got them.  The first book that I have leafed through is Vegan Vittles by Joanne Stepaniak.  It might very well be one of the best vegan cookbooks I now own (and yes, I have Veganomicon).  I like it so much, it solidified a fleeting thought I had a couple weeks ago about doing recipe reviews in addition to adding the recipes I create.

I had never made seitan at home before, though I’ve had it at restaurants and thought it was delicious.  For some reason, it seemed like it would be hard to make. But it really isn’t at all.  On pg. 37 of Vegan Vittles is a recipe for making three huge chunks of seitan.  When it was finished, I sliced one up to use for the vegan gyros, put one chunk in the fridge for next week, and another in the freezer (quite the stash!)

Making the gyros was really easy (recipe pg. 109).  All I had to do was sautee the sliced seitan in a simple sauce, make a cucumber tofu dressing, and top it all off with some chopped veggies over a pita.

The only thing a bit odd is that the directions for grilling the seitan strips say to bring the 2 1/2 or so tablespoons of pre-mixed soy sauce, water and spices to a “boil.” Obviously it is pretty difficult to boil 2 1/2 tbsp of anything in a hot pan, so I just did my best to get an even amount of sauce on each strip and tossed them quickly.

As I suspected after reading the ingredients for the cucumber sauce, it turned out to be somewhat bland.  I bought some dried dill, thinking that it would be in the sauce, but it was not called for.  Next time I would add a couple pinches of dill.

When we were eating, Jeff pointed out that he had never had a gyro, so had nothing to compare it to.  Personally, I haven’t had one in years and also do not remember what it was supposed to taste like.  (Though I find with a lot of vegan fakes, it’s probably best if you don’t remember what the real thing tastes like!) In any case, it was pretty tasty and would’ve been better with a tangier sauce and fresher pita bread. (Though my supermarket’s lack of fresh pita is hardly the recipe author’s problem. Maybe next time I’ll have to make pita from scratch!)

Easy to make, tasted good, and the grilled seitan strips were even enjoyed by my 13-month old daughter.

In one of my zine cookbooks there was a really basic recipe for dahl.  I knew it wouldn’t taste like real dahl, so I consulted my vegetarian Indian cookbook.  Well, unfortunately the dahl recipe in it had a lot of ingredients (namely, tomatoes) that I didn’t have.  So here’s a simple dahl that’s not too simple, but easy to make with ingredients on hand.

Ingredients:

3 tbsp. olive oil
1 yellow onion, diced
4 cloves garlic, minced
1 1/2 cups soy milk
1 1/2 cups water
1 tbsp. curry powder
1 tsp. garam masala
4 tbsp. organic ketchup*(see note) or tomato paste
1 cup lentils
pinch chili peppers
pinch black pepper
pinch salt

Directions:

1. In a small pot over medium heat, sautee onions and garlic in olive oil for a minute.  Add spices, curry powder, garam masala, chili peppers, salt and pepper, and continue sauteeing for several more minutes.
2. Stir in water, soy milk and ketchup until evenly combined. *(Note: organic ketchup tends to be thicker [less vinegar] than Heinz or other brands, if you don’t have organic ketchup, tomato paste would also work here).
3. Add lentils and cover.  If your pot lid does not have holes for ventilation, leave a corner of the lid off to allow some steam to escape.  Cook, stirring occasionally to prevent sticking, for approximately 30-40 minutes (depending on the size of the lentils) until lentils are thoroughly cooked and sauce has thickened.

This recipe came to me in this week’s e-mail from the farm we get our CSA share from.  According to that e-mail it was originally from cooks.com, but I’ve veganized it.  I’m not a big fan of parsley, and so I think it would’ve tasted a lot better (to me) had I just skipped adding the parsley at the end or maybe added less.  Rather than measuring, I estimated with the parsley, and probably added too much.  If you’re not a big parsley fan either, you might wanna leave it out.  Otherwise, this reminded me a lot of scalloped potatoes.

Ingredients:
1 cup finely chopped onions
1 lb. (about 3-4) peeled kohlrabi cut into sticks 1/4″ thick
4 tbsp. Earth Balance
1/2 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. black pepper
1 cup soy milk
1/3 cup finely chopped parsley
1 tbsp. flour

Directions:

1. Sautee onions and kohlrabi in Earth Balance in a large heavy-bottomed saucepan until well coated with margarine.  Add salt and pepper.  Cover and cook, stirring occasionally, until kohlrabi is tender (about 25 minutes).
2. Sprinkle with flour and turn to mix.  Add soy milk and cook, stirring, until mix thickens.  Adjust seasoning adding additional salt and pepper if desired.  Stir in parsley.

We’ve received “garlic scapes” in our CSA shares the past couple weeks, and though the accompanying e-mail from the farm suggested using them as you would green beans, I was nervous about trying them.  Finally, tonight, I decided to try something really simple with them to see what they are like.  I sautéed the scapes with some onions and steamed potatoes, then served the dish with leftover Chickpea Cutlets from Veganomicon.

Ingredients:
8 white potatoes, peeled (if desired) and quartered
12 garlic scapes, ends chopped off and discarded, chopped into 1.5-2″ lengths
1 yellow cooking onion, diced
3 tbsp. olive (or other vegetable) oil
dash salt
dash black pepper

Directions:

1. Steam or boil potatoes for about 15 minutes or until easily pierced with a fork.
2. In a non-stick pan over medium heat, sautée onion and garlic scapes in 1 tbsp. olive oil for 7-10 minutes, turning frequently.
3. Add in potatoes, remaining olive oil, salt, pepper, and any other desired seasonings and sautée for a further 7-10 minutes, until potatoes become golden.  Serve immediately.

I love strawberries.  Strawberry-rhubarb pie, strawberries and ice cream, strawberry shortcake… but, these summer treats are not particularly compatible with another fun part of summer–swimming (and thus, swimsuits).  So, I have formulated a few low-fat, low-cal strawberry frozen treats to enjoy.

Strawberry-Lemon Smoothie

Ingredients:

10 strawberries, frozen
1/4 cup lemon juice
6 ice cubes
1 cup water

Directions:

Blend ingredients together.

Makes 2 servings (or one large serving) with about 27 calories and 0.1 grams of fat each.

Strawberry Smoothie

Ingredients:

10 strawberries, frozen
1/4 cup soy milk
6 ice cubes
1 cup water

Directions:
Blend ingredients together.  This smoothie tastes even better if you increase the soy milk to 1/2 cup and decrease water to 3/4 cup, but, of course, that adds calories.

Makes 2 servings (or 1 large serving) with about 36 calories and 0.7 grams of fat each.

The lemon juice (or soy milk) can be substituted with other flavours of juice i.e. orange or cranberry.

Sugar Free Frozen Strawberry Daquiri

Ingredients:

10 strawberries, frozen
1/4 cup lime juice
6 ice cubes
1/4 cup (2 oz.) white rum
3/4 cup water

Directions:
Combine ingredients in blender and blend until smooth.

Makes 2 servings with about 91 calories and 0.2 grams of fat each.

This cake has the spicy flavour and heavier density of a gingerbread cookie, while still being soft and moist like a cake. Vanilla (soy) yogurt frosting is a lower-fat replacement for the (soy) cream cheese frosting typically found on (vegan) carrot cakes.

Ingredients

3 cups shredded carrot
2 cups all-purpose white flour
1 cup white sugar
1 cup cold water
1 single-serving applesauce cup (about 1/2 cup applesauce)
1/4 cup molasses
1/4 cup canola oil
3 tbsp corn starch
1/2 cup brown sugar
2 tsp cinnamon
2 tsp ginger
1/2-1 tsp allspice (or “pumpkin pie spice”)
1 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt

1 serving-size vanilla soy yogurt (about 1/2 cup)
4 cups icing sugar

1. Lightly oil and line with parchment a 13 x 9″ cake pan.  Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
2. In a large bowl, sift together dry ingredients except corn starch: flour, white sugar, brown sugar, cinnamon, ginger, allspice, baking powder, salt.
3. In a medium bowl, stir together wet ingredients and corn starch: water, applesauce, molasses, canola oil, corn starch.
4. Make a depression in the dry ingredients, pour in wet and stir just until combined.  Stir in shredded carrots.
5. Pour batter into prepared cake pan and bake for 40 minutes or until a toothpick comes out dry.
6. While cake is baking, prepare frosting by stirring icing sugar into soy yogurt 1 cup at a time.  Depending on the consistency of your yogurt, the frosting may still be runny by the time the last cup of icing sugar is stirred in.  Place the icing, uncovered, in the refrigerator until you are ready to use it.  This will keep it from going bad (because of the yogurt) and also should dry it out some.  Re-whip the frosting before using it on the cake.  Cake must be stored in the refrigerator.

Edit: So, the icing didn’t thicken up in the fridge as much as I hoped it would.  But really, this cake is so sweet you hardly need it.  But e-mail me any tips you might have to get this icing to be less runny.

The next time I make this cake, I would try adding an additional 1 tsp. of baking soda to the dry ingredients and two tablespoons of white vinegar to the wet ingredients to encourage it to rise more.