Vegan Tahini Brownies

Since giving up meat and dairy entirely (again!) I've started thinking about my food a lot more creatively. The title of these should really be Tahini Rum Orange Brownies, but that sounds weird and clunky. I found this recipes at weheartfood. Here they be.

 

1 Bar of cooking chocolate, such as 60 or 70% bittersweet, 100 g
1/2 cup, plus one tablespoon of tahini
1 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1 heaping tsp baking powder
1 cup powdered sugar
2/3 cup combination of rum and orange juice

1. Oven at 350 F.
2. Melt the chocolate in a double boiler. Or, like I do, just carefully in a regular pot. Careful being the operative word. Once the chocolate is melted add the powdered sugar.
3. Mix the tahini, rum and orange juice together. I used Captain Morgan's Spiced Rum which complemented the dark chocolate and tahini really well. Then add this to the chocolate mixture.
4. Mix the dry ingredients together and add to the wet ingredients.
5. Line an 8" baking sheet with parchment paper and spread the brownie batter evenly in the pan.
6. Bake for 15 to 20 minutes until crispy outside and gooey inside.

When eating these, keep in mind that they are vegan. Also, in spite of this, the texture is amazing.
For fun you can add chopped walnuts or chocolate chips to the batter at the last step. I chose walnuts. Enjoy.

Vegan Tacos

I was feeling quite lazy the other day when I whipped these little guys up. They are definitely nothing special, aside from the fact that they're made with chickpeas instead of ground meat. I'm sharing this because people don't often think to make their tacos with anything other than ground beef or fake ground beef. Legumes are such a great idea! All you have to do is get some taco seasoning (always check the ingredients label first, of course), your favorite toppings, maybe some soy cheese and chickpeas. Cook the chickpeas with the taco seasoning in place of the ground beef and you get these:

Sweet Pea and Garlic Soup

 I found the most amazing, flavorful and simple recipe on Food~Fitness~FreshAir the other day. As soon as I saw it I knew I had to try it out. I didn't even feel the need to adjust it and make my own Frankenstein version as I normally do with most foods. The best thing about this recipe? It's so simple it practically makes itself! Oh, and it's VEGAN! Hoorah. Here she be:

Sweet Pea and Garlic Soup
1/4 cup sliced garlic (10-15 cloves)
-4 cups peas
-2 cups low-sodium vegetable broth
-1/2 tsp. salt
-1/4 tsp. pepper
-2 Tbsp. chives, finely chopped
2 Tbsp. extra virgin olive oil

1. Saute minced garlic in olive oil until garlic is nice and brown. Add peas, salt, pepper and broth. Simmer for about 20 minutes, or until peas are tender. Remove from heat.
2. Put one cup aside and puree the rest however you please. I used a blender and in my infinite wisdom and patience I tried to do it all in one batch. Yes, it did look like Regan was in my kitchen when I was through. So, foo', don't do it all in one batch if you're using a blender.
3. Add puree and whole peas together back in the pan. Serve however your sassy little ass wants. This is your world. (thanks Bob Ross)

Anniversary Pancakes

So, yes I am a bad blogger. But whatever. Behold these tasty morsels of delicious deliciousness. It was my and B's anniversary and I thought to myself, what do I do well that B also really likes. You perverts, the answer is cook food! So, on Sunday so I got up early and made these babies:

Banana pancakes with a scoop of vanilla ice cream, candied pecans, and peaches poached in ice wine. Now, I don't really have a recipe for this, as I kinda just threw it together, groggily, in the morning. I believe the pancakes go something like:

1 1/2 cups of flour
1 tbsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
2/3 cup sugar
2 mashed bananas
1 egg
1 cup of milk (or soy milk, like I had on hand)
Mix the dry ingredients together and then add the wet ingredients. Cook away to your heart's content. I find that the best time to flip your pancakes is when the edges start to look cook and bubbles form in the center.

Peaches:
1 1/2 cups frozen peaches (fresh would have been preferable, if they had any)
2 tbsp ice wine
Pinch of cinnamon
Throw these two things in a pot and reduce until the liquid in the pot has reached the consistency of a syrup. You don't need to add anything else because there is so much sugar in the ice wine that it will thicken on it's own.

Pecans:
1 cup pecan halves
2 tbsp brown sugar
I actually had no idea how to candy nuts so I also just tossed them in a pan together and stirred them until the sugar had melted and coated the nuts nicely. You do have to watch them though, as they can burn quite easily due to the sugar.

Now, just throw it all together and blamo. Bliss. In your mouth.