Stromboli!

Well hello, blog world! It's been a long time! As you can probably guess I've been extremely busy with my PhD program and I haven't made the time to do any blogging (or even really a lot of cooking!) these past few months. I assure you, I'm not giving up on the blog. Just needed a break to get used to being back in school. Also, for an awkward amount of time I was only making recipes from Oh She Glows and I didn't want you guys to get sick of recipes from the same place (even though they are delicious and you should all try them anyways).

I have a  new cookbook and I'm kind of obsessed with it. It is a little on the hippier side of the hippy spectrum but by that I mean it has a lot of wonderful, whole grain and whole food "healthier" recipes. Do not let this deter you from purchasing a copy. It is a fabulous cookbook and everything I've made out of it so far has been delicious. The cookbook is Dreena Burton's "Let them eat vegan!". Really, just go out and buy it. It's one of the few cookbooks I would recommend with no hesitation. For those of you who are gluten free, nut free, and/or soy free she has a lot of recipes in the book that are friendly for you! Also, she gives a proper substitutes that would make the non-gluten/nut/soy free recipes that way. Before getting on with today's recipe, here is a list of what I've made in her cookbook: "Steel-Cut Oats in an Instant!", "Whole-Grain Chia Pancakes", "Cocoa Almond Jumbles", "Spinach Cashew Pizza Cheese Spread", "Beans 'n' Greens Soup", "Peanut Thai Vegetable Stew", "Corn Chowder Quinoa Casserole", "Festive Chickpea Tart", "Sugar-Free Chocolate Cake", "Chai Peanut Butter Ice Cream", "Chocolate Hazelnut Ice Cream" and maybe a few others I can't remember. I respect this cookbook because it has a substantial dessert section. Anyways, if you have any questions about it just shoot me a comment!


So the stromboli recipe doesn't come from this cookbook, but part of it does, which is why I mentioned the cookbook. I actually made this one up and I'm pretty proud of it. Sometimes, on a Friday evening, after a long week of classes, right before vacation, magic can happen in the kitchen.

I was planning on making a pizza and using up the leftover red pepper we had from something else and I thought that maybe I should do something a little more exciting. I remembered the "Spinach Cashew Pizza Cheese Spread" from Dreena Burton's cookbook and thought that it would be a good base for the pizza. Then I thought, why stop at pizza when you could make STROMBOLI?? So I did a little research and found an easy pizza dough recipe* (I wanted a dough that had to rise just to test out a new recipe, sorry mom) and a how-to stromboli recipe.

OK, here we go:

Spinach Cashew Pizza Cheese Spread recipe (from "Let them eat vegan!")
I halved the original recipe and added a few things so this is not the original recipe, just my version of it.

Ingredients:

- 1/2 cup soaked raw cashews plus 1/4 cup soaked raw almonds, drained (soak for about an hour, that's fine)
- 1 Tbs freshly squeezed lemon juice
- 2 cloves garlic
- 1/4 tsp sea salt
- 1 cup (packed) spinach leaves
- 1 Tbs olive oil
- 1/2 - 1 tsp oregano
- 1/8 tsp onion powder
- Freshly ground black pepper, to taste
- 1-2 Tbs nutritional yeast (optional)
- a few spoons of tomato sauce of your choice. (I used my mom's homemade tomato sauce that was in our freezer from her last visit an we used the rest of the frozen batch for stromboli dipping)

In a food processor, blend all the ingredients until smooth. This will take a minute or two of processing, stopping to scrape down the sides of the processor a few times throughout. Once smooth, use immediately or refrigerate in an airtight container for 3 to 5 days. With the almonds, it has almost a ricotta texture.

Stromboli recipe:

1. Get your dough ready. I made the recipe posted above and added some garlic powder, dried basil and oregano, just for extra flavor.

Dough, right before punching it down.

Estes got flour on her face awwww

2. Since the dough has to rise for an hour, get your other ingredients ready, make the spinach cashew spread and hang out until the dough is ready.

I chose caramelized onions and diced red peppers (and olives - not pictured)

The spinach cashew spread - it's not the prettiest green color but it tastes wonderful, so trust it!

3. When the dough is ready, put your pizza stone** in the oven and preheat oven to 450ºF.

4. On a floured surface, roll out/stretch the dough into a rectangle.

5. Spread the spinach cashew spread on the base, leaving a little room around the top edge. Then add your other toppings (again, we used caramelized onions, red peppers and diced olives).

6. Carefully roll up, pinching the seams and folding the sides under.

7. Place on a cornmeal-dusted pizza board (or pan if using) and brush with olive oil.

8. Pop in the oven and turn down the temperature to 400˚F.

9. Keep a close eye on the stromboli. It's done when lightly browned on top. This took us about 25 minutes. Let it cool for a few minutes then cut with a serrated knife and serve with tomato sauce for dipping.

I was worried it would be too dry in the middle but it was so perfect. I promise you won't miss the cheese in this. Michael said that next to his favorite stromboli from Gettysburg High School (don't ask), this is a strong second. I'll take it.

Have a wonderful weekend, everyone!

*I used 2.5 cups white all-purpose flour and 1/2 cup whole wheat flour.
**I used a pizza stone, but you can use a regular baking pan- adjust the baking temperature and time as needed. If you have a pizza stone, definitely use that because it makes the crust nice and crispy on the outside but soft in the middle. Plus, your entire house will smell like a pizzeria and who doesn't want that!?

Testing testing

1 2 3! Just trying out a blog post from my new smart phone! I have finally evolved with technology and jumped on the smart phone bandwagon:)

Quesadilla sans queso

We don't have much food in our house. It was a busy week. But, sometimes when the fridge and cupboards are almost bare, something magical happens in the kitchen...

Today I give you: quesadillas sans queso! Starring- leftover veggie refried black beans, a small avocado that fell through the cracks and a few other magical ingredients.

Here's what I used but feel free to play with the ingredients and get creative. Salsa would be great, as would some sliced olives or chopped cilantro (none of which we had). You can clean out your fridge too!

Ingredients (for 1 quesadilla)

2 whole wheat flour tortillas
a few spoons of vegetarian refried black beans
1 small avocado (or half a medium-large avocado), thinly sliced
hot sauce
lime juice
garlic powder

1. Spoon on and spread the refried beans, covering one of the tortillas. Place the sliced avocados on top and then sprinkle these with hot sauce, lime juice and garlic powder.

Before adding the avocado, lime juice and garlic powder (apparently I can't follow the order of my own instructions).

2. Microwave for about 20-30 seconds, until heated through.

3. Enjoy!

I hope everyone out there has a fantastic weekend. We are busy preparing for a stream of August visitors and I'm starting a PhD program in 2 weeks so things are getting a bit hectic here! Keep your eye out for some new posts here though- I have a few in the works:)

Banana soft serve

My friend Emily has been telling me about banana soft serve for months and I hadn't tried it until about a week or so ago. Let me tell you- it will change your life. Think: creamy, decadent, delicious soft serve ice cream. Made only from bananas. I didn't believe it until I tried it!! I really should listen to Emily more often.

There are so many ways you can eat this- just plain, or with cocoa powder and peanut butter, with vanilla, spices, etc. So many choices! You can also do some add-ins like chocolate chips, coconut, peanuts, fresh raspberries- the sky's the limit.

Oh She Glows (yes I know I talk about this blog all the time) has some excellent blizzard posts with cookie dough and brownie add-ins. I've made both and they are so delicious. I think I prefer the cookie dough but the brownie bites are also lovely- I just polished off a few this morning :p 

I love healthier dessert options because you can enjoy a decadent dessert without feeling guilty or disgusting afterwards. Sorry there aren't any pictures in this post- I ate the ice cream before I could take a picture.

Ingredients:

bananas, peeled, broken into bite-sized pieces and frozen

splash of almond milk (if needed)

nut butter (optional)

vanilla (optional)

other add-ins as desired

Place the frozen bananas in a food processor and process until smooth and creaming, scraping down the sides as needed. If the bananas aren't breaking down add a splash of almond milk. Add whatever mix-ins you like and continue processing.

July 4th cupcakes

I made these last year for the 4th of July and thought I'd post a picture for this year! You can make them with any kind of cupcakes but I used the lemony variation on the vanilla cupcakes in Vegan Cupcakes Take over the World. For frosting, I just did a basic vegan frosting but added vanilla extract. You can google recipes for these or just use any of the recipes in Vegan Cupcakes.

Ingredients:

15 cupcakes
white frosting
blueberries
strawberries
toothpicks

1. Prepare the cupcakes and let them cool entirely before frosting. Place the cupcakes in a 9x13 inch baking pan.

2. Cut the strawberries in half. Using toothpicks (broken in half) gently pierce the fruit on one side and then put the other end in to the cupcakes, forming an American flag pattern. It takes some patience and the result is an abstract American flag but people will get what it's supposed to be. Be sure to warn unsuspecting eaters about the toothpicks!

Happy Fourth of July, everyone!

Date night

We had a date night last weekend and it was so much fun. Our date night happened for a few reasons: reason the first- things have been pretty crazy around here since we got our little puppy Estes. It's been much more challenging for us to get out of the house for a date or even just to spend time alone without her. Don't get me wrong, I love hanging out with our puppy but it's still important that Michael and I get some alone time!

Reason the second: I'm going back to school in the fall to work on my PhD and my schedule is going to be so crazy. We realized that I do most of the cooking (because I love to!) and I won't have that kind of time in the fall. So Michael is going to have to do more cooking which is great but not as fun for him to plan by himself so we decided to start trying out new recipes together.

So this post doesn't include any recipes but I thought I'd share some pictures of the food we made. By the way- whether you're in a couple or not a date night is something you should try. It would be fun with one of your friends or even just by yourself. The point is to try something you haven't made before and to take your time and enjoy the cooking process. We definitely took our time and enjoyed the process. It took us about 2 or 3 hours with all the prep and cooking but the meal was well worth it and it was enjoyable to spend the time together making something special we both could enjoy.

Our menu:

Potato kale enchiladas with mole sauce
Mexican millet
Strawberry plum crisp (all from Veganomicon)
Vanilla ice cream (from Chloe's Kitchen)

This took such a long time to make because I don't know if you've ever made it before but mole sauce takes some planning. It's easy to make and definitely something worth trying but I think next time we'd make it the day before or earlier on in the day so the meal could come together with less dirty dishes.

I'll leave you with some pictures:

Michael, prepping the mole sauce

Spice mix for the mole sauce

Millet on the left, potato/kale enchilada mixture on the right.

Finished enchiladas! They don't look delicious but they were.

Finished Mexican millet.

Michael, posing with our food.

Yummmmm

Don't forget about dessert!!

W.O.L.F. Sanctuary

Michael and I stumbled across a neat organization on the Front Range called "W.O.L.F. Sanctuary". It's a nonprofit that helps wolves and wolf dogs. We came across this group from a random email I received from a Fort Collins vegan group asking for meals via Meal Train to give to volunteers from W.O.L.F. Sanctuary who were helping relocate and take care of the wolves displaced by the High Park wildfire. (As many of you know, since it made national news, there's a giant wildfire burning near Fort Collins. We're OK where we are- but we can see smoke from our bedroom window at night!) 

So anyways. I got this email asking for food for the volunteers and I thought YES! Food! I can help! I didn't know anything about the organization but I thought it'd be a great way to help with the wildfire in some way. We've recently been devouring the "Best Garlic Bread in the World" from Chloe's Kitchen (amazing- just Earth Balance buttery spread, nutritional yeast, minced garlic- our new "go-to" bread) and I decided to bring that with Chloe's "Ooh-la-la Lasagna". I hadn't made the lasagna yet so Michael and I made a double batch to try it out so we could have one too. Ooh la la! It was fabulous. The cremini mushrooms added a toothsome bite which was a nice addition. So glad we brought those helpful volunteers some yummy food.

Before going in the oven!

A really bad picture of a really delicious lasagna!

When we brought the food up to the people helping with the wolves one of the kind volunteers offered to give us a tour and meet some of the wolves! (!!) Michael and I actually got to get up really close to them and they licked Michael's hand! A lot of these guys were actually wolf dogs and we only got to see the calm and friendly ones (of course) but it was still so cool. They are huge and their paws are gigantic. It's so sad the fire got to where they live but from the sound of it they will get to go back once the fire has cleared. And apparently the fire is leaving some grassy patches.

So no recipes with this post but really, go buy Chloe's Kitchen- I haven't met a recipe in it I haven't liked! Also- check out the W.O.L.F. Sanctuary site. Also- they are having a fundraiser the end of the month that looks like fun. Check it out!