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XOXO,

Rebecca

Hot Cocoa Ice Cream with Chocolate Shavings

Since it’s too hot to make hot cocoa, put your leftover hot cocoa mix from winter to good use with this recipe.

Hot Cocoa Ice Cream with Chocolate Shavings

Adapted from here.

Ingredients:

• 2 cups unsweetened/unflavored almond milk
• 1/4 cup chocolate chips
• 1/2 cup hot cocoa mix (I used Kalamazoo Coffee Company brand, which has hints of cinnamon and nutmeg.)
• 1 tsp. maple syrup
• 1/4 cup chocolate chips, ground (I used a spice grinder.)
• scant 2 tbsp. arrowroot powder

Directions:

1. Heat almond milk and chocolate chips over medium-low heat, whisking to combine. Add hot cocoa mix, maple syrup and arrowroot and whisk constantly until well-combined and slightly thickened. Remove from heat.
2. Allow mixture to return to room temperature and then chill in the fridge until cold (2-3 hours). Process according to your ice cream maker’s instructions. Store in the freezer.

Yield: About a pint’s size worth of ice cream, perfect for one person. Which means I ate this all by myself in one sitting…

Oh She Glows’ Vegan Macaroni and Cheese

Photo credit: Oh She Glows

Did you notice the formal “macaroni and cheese” up there? My husband has a lot of language-related pet peeves, one of them being the phrase “mac ‘n’ cheese” (another being “onesie”). I decided to humor him this once.

This mac ‘n’ cheese recipe from Oh She Glows is my current favorite. I’ve made a few adaptions, using fewer cashews and adding a tiny bit of nondairy butter.

Vegan Macaroni and Cheese

Adapted from this recipe.

Ingredients:

• 1 small-medium potato, peeled and chopped
• 1 small carrot, peeled and chopped
• 1 small onion, chopped
• 3/4 cup raw cashews
• 1 cup nondairy, unsweetened/unflavored milk
• 4 garlic cloves
• 6 tbsp. fresh squeezed lemon juice
• 3 tsp. salt
• 2 tbsp. nutritional yeast
• black pepper, to taste
• 1 tsp. mustard
• ~300-350 grams dry pasta (shells, elbow macaroni, rotini, rigatoni, penne, etc.)
• 1 slice bread
• 2 tbsp. earth balance, divided

Directions:

1. Place chopped veggies in a saucepan and fill with water until just covered. Bring to a boil, reduce heat to medium-low and simmer for 15 min., uncovered.
2. Process bread in a food processor unti crumb-y. Add 1 tbsp. earth balance and process until combined. Set aside.
3. In same food processor bowl, process cashews until crumb-y. Add remaining ingredients (almond milk, garlic, lemon juice, salt, yeast, pepper, mustard, remaining tbsp. earth balance) until smooth. Add cooked veggies with their water and process until very well-combined. The sauce will seem too thin, but it will thicken in the baking process.
4. Preheat oven to 350. Cook pasta al dente. Drain and rinse with cold water. Return to pot and pour sauce over pasta, stirring to combine. Transfer to casserole dish, sprinkle with breadcrumbs and bake for 30 minutes. Let cool for 10 minutes, and then enjoy!

Note: This makes really good leftovers. Just re-heat on 350 for 15-20 minutes, covered. The sauce will thicken up a tad more after re-heating.

Peanut Butter (and Plain) Cookie Dough Ice Cream (2-in-1)

It’s HOT. I bet it is where you are too. (If not, tell me where you live!) I don’t have air conditioning — just one beloved fan — so I’ve been getting *a lot* of use out of the ice cream maker Dyl got me for my b-day. Earlier this week (yes, I’m doing more than one batch a week), it was a cashew-based chocolate chip cookie dough sweetened with maple syrup (pictured above). More recently, it was the almond milk-based peanut butter cookie dough (no picture yet, but trust me, it’s good). Both turned out delicious but relatively different (for vegan cookie dough ice cream) — different bases and different sweetener. But the beauty of that is I can now share with you *two* ice cream recipes with a variety of ingredients, so hopefully you will find one that appeals to your personal taste. If you do, I’d love to know which one. 🙂

Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Ice Cream

Recipe inspired by jae steele’s “ice creem” recipes in Ripe from Around Here, which results in a rich, creamy ice cream.

Ingredients:

• 2 cups raw cashews, soaked at least four hours or overnight
• 1 1/3 cups filtered water (1/3 cup set aside)
• 1/2 cup maple syrup
• 2 tsp. vanilla extract
• pinch of salt
• vegan cookie dough (I used this recipe and added about a 1/3 to this recipe — store the rest in your freezer for the next batch or curl up on the couch with a big bowl and a good movie).

Directions:

1. Blend cashews, 1 cup water, maple syrup, vanilla and salt in a blender until very smooth.
2. Add remaining 1/3 cup water and blend again.
3. Freeze per your ice cream maker’s instructions. After mixture has thickened but before storing in the freezer, stir in the cookie dough in small bits using a large spoon (don’t add them to the mixture while it is in the ice cream maker or they will impede the process).
4. Enjoy on a steaming hot summer day!

Peanut Butter Cookie Dough Ice Cream

This is based on a technique I learned on Hannah Kaminsky’s blog, BitterSweet, in which the mixture is thickened on the stove before freezing, which results in a frozen custard-like ice cream.

Ingredients:

• 2 2/3 cups unsweetened almond milk
• 3/4 cup peanut butter (if salted, omit pinch of salt below)
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 3 tablespoons maple syrup
• 2 scant tablespoons arrowroot powder
• 1 tsp. vanilla extract
• pinch of salt
• vegan cookie dough (same recipe as above — found here; use a 1/3 of the dough and store the rest for later, or eat 😉 ).

Directions:

1. Blend all ingredients in a blender until very smooth.
2. Transfer mixture to a saucepan and heat over medium, stirring frequently, until slightly thickened. Chill in the fridge for at least 3 hours, then freeze according to your ice cream maker’s directions. Using a big spoon stir in the cookie dough chunks before placing in the freezer to freeze completely.
3. Enjoy as is, or make into a milkshake by blending with a little more almond milk, Chicago Diner style! They have the best peanut butter cookie dough milkshake (it was the inspiration for this recipe, I must admit).

Strawberry Ice Cream

My 24th birthday was last Wednesday and Dyl got me an ice cream maker! It was perfect timing because it’s turning out to be a really hot weekend. But I’d eat this ice cream in the middle of a snowstorm, too. It’s really, really delicious. Cashew- and coconut-based and sweetened with maple syrup. I followed this recipe from Nathalie of Thora Thinks to a T, and I wouldn’t change a thing.

I bought a ton of strawberries at the farmer’s market earlier this week, taking my excitement over strawberry season a little overboard. I’m going to spend the rest of the day making strawberry fruit leather (Dyl’s favorite snack), freezing a bunch, and trying to find other ways to use them up (what a terrible task! ;)). Do you have any delicious strawberry recipes to share?

Raspberry Lemon Waffles (Gluten-Free)

At my work where I’m employed as an AM Baker (meaning I work the graveyard shift), I bake raspberry lemon muffins. They smell heavenly, but since none of the baked goods I make there are vegan (yet!), I’ve never been able to try them. Using inspiration from these muffins, I decided to turn Allyson Kramer’s (of Manifest Vegan and the brand new Great Gluten-Free Vegan Eats cookbook, which I can’t wait to get my hands on!) Lemon Poppyseed Waffles into Raspberry Lemon Waffles. I was pleased with the results, especially because they smelled just like the raspberry lemon muffins from work!

Tip: These freeze well! To re-heat, bake on 350 for 5-10 minutes, depending on how toasted you like them. Serve with butter (I don’t even need maple syrup when I eat them this way). Yum!

Raspberry Lemon Waffles (Gluten-Free)

Adapted from Manifest Vegan

Ingredients:

• 1 cup (135g) sorghum flour
• 1/2 cup (85g) brown rice flour
• 1/4 cup (30g) potato starch
• 1/4 cup (30g) tapioca starch
• 1 tsp xanthum gum
• 4 tsp baking powder
• 3/4 tsp salt
• 2 tbsp lemon juice
• 4 tbsp agave nectar (or maple syrup or sugar)
• 5 tbsp olive oil
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 2 cups almond milk
• 1 cup frozen or fresh raspberries

Directions:

1. Preheat waffle iron and spray with oil (repeat in between batches).
2. Sift together dry ingredients.
3. Make a well in the center and add wet ingredients. Mix with a fork until no (or very few) lumps remain. Fold in raspberries and quickly proceed to the next step so they don’t bleed into the batter too much.
4. Cook waffles according to the manufacturer’s directions. I used a scant cup of waffle batter per waffle (tip: spray cup with oil so the batter doesn’t stick).

Yield: 4 big waffles

Gluten-Free Fluffy Diner Pancakes

I’m back! I took a little unintentional hiatus from the blog, but I’ve returned with a gluten-free pancake recipe that will knock your gluten-free socks off.

I recently started experimenting with gf baking, starting with the famous BabyCakes cookbook, but I didn’t like the taste of the Bob’s Red Mill Gluten-Free All-Purpose Flour in the chocolate chip cookies and cornbread I’ve made from the book so far, so I’m going to set that flour aside to use in these dog biscuits.

After some searching online, I discovered the Cinnamon Quill blog, showcasing recipes using a combination of gf flours instead of a pre-made mix. That fact and the beautiful pictures on the blog motivated me to keep going with the gf baking and ditch pre-made gf mixes for the time being.

And I’m glad I did! These pancakes from Cinnamon Quill are like fluffy, diner pancakes and taste delicious drenched in maple syrup. I adapted the recipe to suit the flours I currently have in my kitchen. If you’re new to gf baking (or even if you’re not), try these out!

Gluten-Free Fluffy Diner Pancakes

Adapted from this recipe by Cinnamon Quill

• 1 1/4 cup nondairy milk (I used almond.)
• 1 teaspoon apple cider vinegar
• 1/4 cup unsweetened applesauce
• 1/4 cup canola oil, plus more for the pan
• 2-4 tablespoons agave nectar (or maple syrup or sugar)
• 1-2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 1/2 cup brown rice flour
• 1/2 cup sorghum flour
• 3/4 cup tapioca flour
• 3/4 teaspoon xanthum gum
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 3/4 scant teaspoon baking soda
• 1/4 tsp. salt
• Pinch of cinnamon

Preheat skillet over medium-low heat and spray with a light coating of oil.

In a medium bowl, combine dry ingredients. In a separate bowl, whisk together wet ingredients. Add dry to wet, and stir until combined. Add a tablespoon or two of nondairy milk to thin batter, if desired.

Spray a 1/4 measuring cup with oil and use to ladle batter onto preheated skillet, flattening the pancakes a bit on the skillet. Let cook until edges look firm, flip and cook for another 1-2 minutes. Re-spray the skillet in between batches. Top with nondairy butter, maple syrup and fresh strawberries.

Yield: 8-10 small pancakes

I’m really excited to try more gluten-free recipes! If you have any you particularly like, send them my way. 🙂

Chocolate Mousse with Raspberry Sauce

I had this for dessert last night at four in the morning after falling asleep around eleven, and it was definitely worth waking back up for. Bonus: It’s extremely easy and quick to make and will only dirty one saucepan and your food processor (plus a few measuring cups/spoons, a spatula and a spoon).

Chocolate Mousse

GF, WF. Recipe from The Joy of Vegan Baking.

• 1 cup nondairy semisweet chocolate chips
• 12 oz. soft or firm silken tofu (the vacuum-packed kind)
• 1/2 cup nondairy milk
• 1/2 tsp. vanilla extract

1. Melt the chocolate chips in a make-shift double boiler — put the chips in a small pot inside a bigger pot filled with a few inches of water. Boil the water and stir the chips with a spatula until melted. (You can also melt them in a bowl in the microwave, if you prefer.) Transfer the chips to the bowl of a food processor using a spatula to make sure you get it all. Add tofu, milk and vanilla extract and process until completely smooth, using the spatula to scrape down the sides of the bowl from time to time.
2. Transfer mixture to a glass bowl with a lid (or individual serving bowls) and chill in the fridge for at least one hour. Serve cold with raspberry sauce (recipe below).

Yield: 6 servings

Raspberry Sauce

• 2 cups frozen raspberries
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 1 tbsp. water (more, if needed)

Combine all ingredients in a small saucepan over medium heat. Stir constantly, breaking up the berries, for up to ten minutes until a fairly uniform sauce forms. Remove from heat and store in the refrigerator.

Yield: About 2 cups

By the way, I made a delicious pizza last night with homemade crust and sauce! The sauce was surprisingly really good, nice and crispy (I say surprisingly because my homemade pizza crusts up to this point have been pretty soggy and unsatisfying). The recipe is from How to Cook Everything Vegetarian (which my friend Ryan refers to as “The Green Bible”). I will post about the pizza (including the recipe and the specific steps I took) soon!

Chocolate-Covered Granola with Walnuts

This granola is the perfect decadent (yet quick) breakfast for a weekend morning.

• 1 cup rolled oats
• 1/4 cup + 1 tbsp. spelt flour
• 1/2 cup chopped walnuts
• 1 tbsp. sesame seeds
• 1/4 tsp. salt
• 1/4 tsp. cinnamon
• 2 tbsp. canola oil
• 1 tbsp. molasses
• 1/4 cup maple syrup
• 1/2 tsp. vanilla extract
• 1/4 cup chocolate chips

1. Preheat oven to 350 and grease a rectangular baking sheet.
2. Combine dry ingredients (except for chocolate chips) in a medium-size bowl. Add liquid ingredients, and stir well. Transfer to greased baking sheet, and bake for 10 minutes. Remove from oven, stir well and bake for 10 more minutes.
3. After removing from oven, while granola is still warm, stir in chocolate chips. Let cool completely, and store in a glass jar with a lid. Enjoy with your favorite nondairy milk.

Yield: 3 cups

I don’t have a picture of the granola (because it disappeared a few hours later!), but here’s a pic of my new (and third) puppy, Svetlana, with Hank (left) and Pavel (right) in the background.

Millet Latkes

Passover’s coming up, which means latkes! Switch things up a bit and make these millet pancakes. They will remind you of the good old-fashioned potato latkes your mom used to make but baked instead of fried and with my new friend, millet. They are super easy to make, too. (I’ve been promising that so much latey, have you stopped believing me?)

Millet Latkes — adapted from Clean Food

• 1 cup dry millet, rinsed and drained
• 2 1/4 cups water
• 1/2 cup shredded carrots (I processed them in my food processor but with a regular blade not the shredder blade — worked out fine)
• 1 yellow onion, finely chopped
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1/4 cup oat flour (any flour will do here)
• 1 teaspoon salt
• freshly ground black pepper, to taste

1. Prepare millet by combining with water in a medium pot. Bring to a boil, cover and reduce heat. Let simmer on low for about 25 minutes, until liquid is absorbed.
2. Meanwhile, saute onion and carrot in olive oil over medium heat for 8 minutes, until soft. Remove from heat.
3. Add cooked millet to onion mixture and stir to combine. Add salt and pepper, to taste, and then add flour, a little at a time, until mixture comes together. Let cool a bit.
4. Preheat oven to 350 and lightly grease two baking sheets. Use an ice cream scoop to scoop mixture onto baking sheets and flatten with your hands to make pancakes. Bake for 10 minutes, carefully flip using a spatula, and bake for 10 minutes more. Enjoy warm with applesauce or maple syrup.

Yield: About 10 latkes