What's Cookin': Breads and Snacks!

Even though I haven't been posting recipes lately, I've definitely still been making them!  I have several delicious recipes to share with you today.  Plus more to come tomorrow :)


First on the list are two snack recipes: No-Bake Almond-Oat Energy Bites and Chewy Granola Bars.  I made these to have something handy around the house I could eat between meals.  Both these recipes are also great for wrapping up and carrying on-the-go in case you get hungry when you're out and about.  They are both from vegetariantimes.com, are super easy to make, and incorporate delicious earthy-tasting almond butter.  While they are high in calories for a serving size, they're definitely very tasty and filling, making them the perfect between-meals snack.  The only drawback to the energy bites is the necessity for a grinder or food processor.  Neither are vegan or gluten-free, but I'm sure substitutions could be made.  I give both recipes 4 stars.


Next on the list are several breads.  All were very easy to make and delicious! I found this Pita Bread recipe on Food Network's website and I liked it so much, I've made it twice in the last 2 weeks.  It takes several hours, but all the steps are really easy.  I was skeptical about the pitas "ballooning" but sure enough, they did!  It was awesome to see and it has to be the best pita bread I've ever tasted in my life.  I will never buy pita at the store again.  Definitely 5-stars!

I planned a dinner party to celebrate Imbolc and decided on this recipe for Honey Wheat Braided Bread to use during the dinner.  I had a lot of fun making this bread because you get to actually braid it!  While the recipe called for the braided loaves to be wrapped around themselves, I thought they looked great flat.  I also only had black sesame seeds on hand instead of regular ones, but I have to say, I think the finished bread looks marvelous with the black ones.

We've been making homemade pizza for awhile now.  Usually, we buy pre-made pizza dough already rolled out and ready to decorate.  But we decided to seek out a whole-wheat dough option we could make in the bread maker.  I searched the nets and found Bread Machine Pizza Dough with Whole Wheat Flour.  Very easy to make, just dump the ingredients in your bread machine, push the dough cycle, and 2 hours later, you're ready to make yummy pizza!  We opted for cheese pizza with garlic tomato sauce.  The crust came out crunchy on the outside and chewy in the center.  Just perfect :)


No-Bake Almond-Oat Energy Bites ★★★★
Chewy Granola Bars ★★★★
Pita Bread (V) ★★★★★
Honey Wheat Braided Bread ★★★★
Bread Machine Pizza Dough with Whole Wheat Flour (V)★★★★★
V = Vegan, GF = Gluten-free

Sweet Potatoes, Apples and Avocado. Who knew it would taste so good?

Well, according to Elwood J. Blues, "Just about every Tex-Mex chef in the world, ever?"  And he's probably right!  But this is the first recipe I've ever made, let alone tasted that combined sweet potatoes, apples, avocados, lime juice, corn, onion, toasted pumpkin seeds, olive oil and cilantro.  I snagged this recipe from Vegetarian Times and it was delicious.  The flavors mixed really well together, a combination of sweet and tangy.  And the apple and pumpkin seeds gave it a very nice crunchy texture.  The dish was very easy to make and took less than 20 minutes total.  I put a scoop of it over some mixed baby greens and had some homemade pumpernickel on the side.  While I ate it as a main dish, it would probably serve best as a side dish, since it wasn't very filling.  It's also gluten-free and vegan.  I give it 4 out of 5 spoons.

What's Cookin: Yo Cheese, Vegetarian Gumbo and "Chicken" Salad

This past week was quite an adventure in cooking up new things.  I made three new recipes and all were delightfully good for various reasons.  Plus, I'm now 3 new recipes closer to my goal of 24 for the year for a total of 4 so far.  And it's only been 11 days!


Yo Cheese

Yo? Cheese? You ask?  It's actually not cheese, but yogurt without the whey.   It's quite easy to make and it's great for a cream cheese substitute or diluting down mayonnaise in recipes to reduce the calorie count.  All you need to make it is the following:

• 32 oz. container Non-Fat Plain Yogurt (I used Stonyfield Farms Plain Organic Fat-Free Yogurt)
• Cheesecloth¹
• Strainer
• Bowl large enough to hold strainer

Directions:

• Line your strainer with the a double-layer of cheesecloth
• Pour your yogurt in the middle of the strainer and place in a large bowl
• Place the bowl in the fridge for 24-36 hours, pouring away the whey every so often (before it touches the bottom of the strainer)
• Put Yo Cheese in a container and enjoy!

The texture of the Yo Cheese is thick and creamy and it's virtually calorie-less!  I even used it my "Chicken" Salad recipe featured below.  I give this recipe 5 out 5 spoons!

¹Walmart does not sell cheesecloth as I found out one day after asking 4 employees there.  Not one of them even knew what cheesecloth was.  I also wouldn't get it at Target since they sell it for around $10 a package.  You can get it at any health food store for less than $3-4 a package.


Vegetarian Gumbo

I was searching the recipe archives at vegetariantimes.com for a vegetable stew I could make that would use up all the random veggies I had in my fridge.  I happened across their Vegetarian Gumbo and thought it would be perfect.  I've never had gumbo before and since you can pretty much put whatever you want in it, it was a good choice for this week.  The recipe calls for parsnips, but I used zucchini instead.   The directions asked you to cook the roux (flour and oil mixture) on high for 10 minutes until a dark caramel color.  However, I found after about 2 minutes on high heat, it turned fairly dark.  I ended up turning it down to a little over medium and only cooked it for 5 minutes before I started the next step.  I believe I got the roux too dark, but the dish still tasted great.  And it was even better the next day as most stews are.  I also stewed it in the crockpot for about 8 hours rather than on the stove.  The picture definitely doesn't do the gumbo justice, but I included it anyway.  I give this recipe 4 out 5 spoons.


Quorn "Chicken" Salad

I might be vegetarian, but I still love chicken salad sandwiches.  I look for ways to replace the chicken with something that's not only good, but has a good texture.  The perfect substitute are Quorn Chik'n Tenders.  Quorn products are soy-free meat substitutes made out of mycoprotein.  They have a great taste and texture.  So this week, I made "chicken" salad for the first time and used the Chik'n tenders.  I adapted a recipe out of Cooking Light's 5-Star Recipes and made the best vegetarian "chicken" salad I've ever had.  I give this recipe 5 out of 5 spoons and I've included it below:

• 1/3 cup diced celery
• 1/4 cup finely chopped green onions
• 2 Tbsp mayonnaise
• 1/4 cup Yo Cheese (see above)
• 1 Tbsp fresh lemon juice
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp dried basil
• 2 cups Quorn Chik'n Tenders (cooked according to package)

Mix all the ingredients together and chill!  Yields 3-4 1/2c servings.