6 posts tagged “seeds”

Flavorful fruity pancakes are really nice and I can hardly resist them most of the time, but sometimes all I want is a stack of the old faithful buttermilk pancakes.  They are fluffy and plain but they are so versatile that you can easily eat them together with some scrambled tofu or other savory dishes.  I've been into flaxseeds lately so I added some flaxseeds into my vegan "buttermilk" pancakes to increase the nutritional value.

The batter consists of all-purpose flour, buckwheat flour, flaxseeds, curdled soy "buttermilk" (soy milk with apple cider vinegar), maple syrup, vanilla extract, salt and baking powder.  Buckwheat flour certainly added some subtle and pleasant flavor.

 

I can easily eat these pancakes with some roasted asparagus or garlicky greens.  I'd like to dunk them in some soup too.

 

I have a whole bag of flaxseeds and I didn't want to grind my own flaxmeal this time.  So I ended up with a stack of lemon flax pancakes.  The batter simply consists of self-rising flour, oat flour, 3 tablespoons of flaxseeds, juice of three lemons, maple syrup, vanilla extract, and some unsweetened soy milk.  The result?  The tangy lemony flavor was balanced by the sweet and gentle maple syrup.  With every bite, I got to eat some healthy and flavorful flaxseeds.  What more can I ask for?  Oh, maybe some more maple syrup drizzled on top and a bit of vegan margarine.  And who said that we need eggs to make pancakes?  Now even a super lazy person can make wonderful pancakes.

 

 

Today is the first day of my thing-a-day challenge.  I first saw this interesting challenge on Emily's blog.  The whole theme is to create something every day and share it online in February, which means I will have to create 29 things this month.  It sounds very interesting and challenging.  Unfortunately, my first creative endeavor is a little lame, just a dish I created out of my pantry and fridge, out of necessity.  It was a very yummy and comforting casserole but I had wanted to write something about a favorite book or author, but I was too busy to sit down for a couple of hours organizing my thoughts.  I will have to try harder next time.

 

The Really Everything Casserole
(serves 2-3)

3 Tbsp. olive oil
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 medium yellow onion, diced
2 cups chopped celery
1 Granny Smith apple, diced
1 stale roll with sunflower seeds, cubed
1 small carrot, peeled and diced
1/2 zucchini, chopped
3/4 cup English peas (pea pods), ends discarded and cut into 1/2-inch pieces
1/2 cup quinoa
2/3 (14 ounce) can butter beans
1 tsp. sage
3/4 tsp. rosemary
1/2 tsp. cinnamon
1/2 tsp. freshly ground black pepper
3 1/2 cups vegetable broth
1/2 tsp. salt

1. Over medium-high heat, heat up the olive oil for a minute, then sauté garlic, onion, celery, and apple until everything is lightly caramelized.  Add zucchini and pea pods and sauté for a minute or two.
2. Add bread cubes, sage, rosemary, cinnamon and black pepper.  Cook for 3-4 minutes until bread gets toasty.  Add quinoa and mix well.  You should see most vegetables and bread get coated with quinoa.  Cook for 2 more minutes.
3. Preheat the oven to 350F.
4. Pour in the vegetable broth and stir well.  Bring to a boil and then cover to simmer for 20 minutes.  When the quinoa is mostly cooked, add butter beans.  Cook for 5 more minutes.  Add salt to taste.
5. Bake in a deep casserole dish for 40-45 minutes.  Cool for 5 minutes and serve warm.

If you happen to have some leftover Mexican rice and beans, feel free to mix it with this casserole.  It will be a very nice combo.  My ingenious husband did this and thoroughly enjoyed it.

By the way, you can find my thing-a-day blog here.

I haven't been feeling too well so I wasn't exactly my usual cooking-maniac self.  However, I did finally venture into Sarah Kramer's La Dolce Vegan! and made the Portobello Pot Pie (page 168).  The top pie crust's ingredient measurement is so exact that I had just enough of everything.  I didn't even have to add one iota of extra flour or soy milk.  But the dough was pretty hard to roll out, so you can see "the pot wasn't completely covered by the pie".  I forgot to take an "inside" shot so there is really not much to see.  You know, the mushroom cubes and veggie cubes in a very nice sauce.  I absolutely loved this pot pie though.  The taste was impeccable and it was perfect for a cold winter day.  Even the pie crust, I must admit, was the best I have had so far.  I will definitely use the same recipe for other pot pies.

 

My bananas were finally over-ripe!  I waited for such a long time.  I was able to make the long-coveted Banana-Date Scones (Veganomicon, page 224).  I didn't have walnuts so I subbed roasted pumpkin seeds (shelled obviously).  Grinding my own flaxseeds took the last bit of steam out of me.  But it was all worth it!  The smell and taste were heavenly.  The dates cozily wrapped in the scones gave us some pleasant surprises with each bite we took.  I loved these scones with vegan margarine.

 

I made only half a batch of Chocolate Chunk Spice Cookies (Eat, Drink & Be Vegan, page 184).  Yes, I only make half a batch of everything sweet now, since I will be the only one eating them for the next few days.  The new Swiss dark chocolate bars I bought were really good.  They contain 85% cocoa, which makes them taste quite bitter.  I love bitter chocolate bars.  I guess I will be baking some chocolate cupcakes and chocolate cakes.  OMG, it's almost like everything starts with "choco".  Enough digression.  The spice cookies were GOOD!  I ate two right out of the oven.  The melty chocolate chunks were oozing out.  Ultimate yumminess!  By the way, I used oat flour instead of barley flour (1:1).  You can also use all-purpose flour (less 2 tablespoons).  I will be making more wheat-free baked goods from now on because they taste better and have a better texture somehow.

 

I also made the first vegan Stuffing in my life.  The original recipe is by Veglicious.  I followed it strictly so you will have to check out the blog yourself.  It's really worth your time though.  I found a few great vegan recipes there.

 

This week is turning out to be a VwaV week.  I made another 3 things from this awesome cookbook - Stewed Tofu and Potatoes in Miso Gravy, Sesame Asparagus, and Mexican Chococlate Rice Pudding.

 

For Stewed Tofu and Potatoes in Miso Gravy, I didn't do much different.  I just added fried tofu and sliced button mushrooms in addition to the recipe.  Also, I used an expensive Chardonnay in cooking because I didn't get white cooking wine.  The stew surely turned out fantastic, probably because of the extra Chardonnay I accidentally poured into the stew. :-)

 

Sesame Asparagus was so easy to make too.  However, I didn't have toasted sesame oil, so I sort of just dashed some sesame oil in olive oil and sauteed everything.  I sprinkled black sesame seeds on top in the end, which produced a very striking photo.

 

Finally, let me come to the big flop of the day.  I started making this Mexican Chocolate Rice Pudding full of enthusiasm but I ran out of white rice in the beginning.  I only had less than 1/4 cup.  I was already hard bent on making this pudding though.  So I foolishly started cooking brown basmati rice instead.  The 30-minute fun turned into a 3-hour saga of fighting with the hard-ass basmati rice.  In the end, my husband had to put all the cooked stuff in the blender to get the smoothness.  Amazingly the pudding turned out great!  I was so glad that it wasn't a wasted effort altogether.  Subsequently and naturally I ate too much of the pudding.