Labor Day Breakfast Rhubarb Pie

Ok...it isn't really a breakfast pie exactly. I just named it that so we would have a reason to eat delicious rhubarb goodness for breakfast. And it isn't really a pie in the truest sense of the word. It is baked in a pie plate but is more like a Rhubarb crisp. I guess it seems the title of this post is totally misleading. That being said, if you love rhubarb and would like it for breakfast (or any other time) you won't be disappointed with this breakfastpiecrumblecrisp.



Rhubarb Breakfastpiecrumblecrisp ; )

5 cups rhubarb cut into 1" pieces
1/2 cup sugar
2 T flour
2 t cinnamon
2 T soy creamer
1/4 t salt
1 1/2 cups old fashion oats
3/4 cup flour
1 c brown sugar
1 t vanilla
1/2 c earth balance or other vegan margarine

preheat oven to 350f

Combine first six ingredients and place in a pie plate. In a medium bowl add oats, flour, brown sugar and vanilla. Add margarine and cut in with a pastry cutter or two butter knives. The mixture should look sandy...the margarine the size of peas. Pour the oat mixture on top of rhubarb mixture and cover evenly. Press down a bit with your hands. The entire thing will probably be somewhat mounded. Bake for about 45 minutes. It should be golden and bubbly. Serve warm with ice cream or drizzled with some coconut cream ( as in the picture) or plain and delicious!

A Few New Recipes For You.

The first one is part of the Spring Holidays menu that I posted about earlier in the week, the second is part of our St. Patrick's Day Celebration and third is a sweet little Lemon Cupcake recipe - just because I felt like a sweet little lemon cupcake. I hope you enjoy.




Roasted Asparagus with a Spring Herb Gremolata

A gremolata is a chopped herb condiment added to foods to give a fresh flavor punch. In this recipe I have included dried breadcrumbs, which are not traditional in a gremolata, for a more homey and rustic feel.

1 pound asparagus, trim woody ends
3 T extra virgin olive oil
2 tablespoons minced fresh Italian parsley
4 teaspoons finely grated lemon peel
1 garlic clove, minced
1/2 cup dried bread crumbs
salt and fresh ground black pepper to taste


Mix parsley, lemon peel, garlic, and bread crumbs in small bowl, this is the gremolata. Set aside.

Preheat oven to 450 F.

Cut off woody ends of asparagus and toss with oil. Place on large cookie sheet and season with fresh ground black pepper and salt. Roast until slightly softened and edges are starting to brown slightly, about 20 minutes. Sprinkle with gremolata and roast 5 to 10 minutes more. Serve hot.

Irish Whiskey Cake

Pan
1/4 to1/2 cup chopped pecans or walnuts (optional)

Cake
1 1/3 cups almond milk
2/3 cup oil
1/3 cup Irish whiskey (Jameson works well)
1/3 cup + 2 tablespoons coffee
2-2/3 cups flour
1-1/2 cups sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 tablespoon baking soda

Glaze (optional)
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup Irish whiskey
2 tablespoons vegan margarine
1 teaspoon water

Hard Sauce (optional)
1 1/2 cups powered sugar
1/2 cup vegan margarine
2 tablespoons Irish whiskey

Directions:

You can serve this cake plain, with the glaze, with the hard sauce, or both.

Preheat oven to 325 degrees F. Spray a bundt pan with cooking spray. Sprinkle nuts, if using, onto bottom of pan.

In a medium bowl combine wet cake ingredients: almond milk, oil, Irish whiskey, and coffee. In a larger bowl combine dry cake ingredients: flour, sugar, baking powder, and baking soda. Make a well in the center of dry ingredients and add wet, mix very well. Pour into prepared pan. Bake for 60 minutes.

When done place pan on rack for 10 minutes then remove cake from pan and place on rack. Either proceed to glaze or hard sauce preparation or let cake cool and eat as is.

Glaze: Place all glaze ingredients in a small sauce pan over medium-high heat. Bring to a boil and continue boiling for 2 to 3 minutes. Poke still warm cake all over with a skewer or fork. Then slowly pour glaze over cake. Let cool and enjoy or add a dollop or hard sauce and enjoy.

Hard Sauce: Cream together sugar and margarine until light and fluffy. Add whiskey and beat until blended. Serve a dollop on each slice of plain cake or glazed cake.





Sweet Little Lemon Cupcakes

1 1/4 cups flour
3 T arrowroot
1 t baking powder
1/2 t baking soda
pinch of salt
3/4 cup sugar
2 t lemon zest
1 t vanilla
1/3 cup oil
1 T lemon juice added to a measuring cup and then almond milk to equal 1 cup (set aside to curdle)

Preheat oven to 350f. Either grease cupcake pan or add liners.

Place sugar in a big bowl and add lemon zest. Mix it very well so that all the sugar turns sort of yellowish and smells lemony delicious. Add the rest of the dry ingredients to the sugar and mix well with a fork. Add all liquid ingredients to dry and stir well to incorporate. It mixes together very quickly. Do not over stir. Fill cupcake pan two thirds full and bake for about 20 minutes. Remove from pan and let cool on wire rack. When completely cool dip tops in Lemon glaze and let dry. Garnish with a piece of candied lemon. Yum!

Lemon Glaze

1 cup powered sugar
2 T lemon juice
1/4 - 1/2 t lemon zest
1/2 t vanilla

Combine all ingredients in a small bowl and mix until no lumps remain.

Turkey! Turkey? Who needs turkey?!

Deliciously Wonderful Baked Stuffed Pumpkin

This picture was taken very quickly before it was gobbled up. Imagine how beautiful it would look on a pretty platter surrounded by beautiful roasted veggies and all the normal holiday sides.

Turkey? Who needs turkey?!


Baked Stuffed Pumpkin

preheat oven to 350f

1 good size pie pumpkin (about the size of a normal sized head) Cut off top and clean out stringy insides and seeds. Oil the outside.

5 or 6 cups prepared stuffing, either homemade or packaged.

I used Arrowhead Mills organic stuffing (work night and didn't have time for homemade)

Saute 1 chopped onion with 2 stalks chopped celery in a couple of tablespoons earth balance(vegan margarine). Add 1 1/2 cups water and the contents of stuffing package. Toss well and spoon into prepared pumpkin, packing tightly.

Place pumpkin on oiled baking sheet and bake for 1 1/2 hours or until tender - exact time will depend on the size of your pumpkin. Cut in wedges to serve.





Perfect main dish for your holiday feast.

Great recipe for your holiday feast

Mondays are one of my days off and today I am forgoing errands to clean and bake. I enjoy the latter so much more than the former, but the two tend to go hand and hand unfortunately. I have had this recipe in the back of my head for a while and finally decided to give it a try this morning. I use to make baked apples for my boys when they were young as an after school snack every fall and they were always gobbled up in record time. The fig sauce classes them up a bit and also adds a bit of elegance, perfect for a holiday dessert.




Baked Stuffed Apples with Caramel Fig Sauce

Baked Apples

6 medium Granny Smith (or other tart variety of apple)
1/4 c brown sugar
1 t cinnamon
1 T Earth Balance (or your favorite vegan margarine)
1/4 cups pecans (chopped)
1/4 cup raisins
6 pecan halves

Preheat oven to 375f

Wash and core apples leaving bottom intact so that filling does not leak out. Cut a small (1/8 in) bit off top to make apple flat (here is a good video if you don't know how to core an apple)

For filling mix all remaining ingredients (except pecan halves.) Spoon filling carefully into apples placing a pecan half on top. Place in a 8" or 9" baking pan, pour a bit of boiling water in the bottom of the pan and bake for 30 to 45 minutes depending on the size of the apples. To test for doneness a wooden pick should be able to pierce the apple easily with just a little resistance. Overcooking will lead to the fruit losing its shape and becoming mushy.

Caramel Fig Sauce

6 to 8 figs (Dried or fresh may be used. 6 for fresh, 8 for dried)
2 T Earth Balance
1/2 brown sugar
1/2 soy creamer or very rich non-dairy milk
1/4 t cinnamon

Chop figs very well and mush a bit with the back of a spoon. Place all ingredients in a small saucepan and bring to a boil over med-hi heat stirring constantly. Reduce heat to a simmer and stir constantly until the figs break down and sauce is thick, dark and caramelly -yes, that is a word ; ) about 3 or 4 minutes. Serve over baked apples, ice cream or anything else you so desire!

Fun times with the oral surgeon...

Not! I have not made any posts for a few days because I had to have my wisdom teeth pulled. Oh what fun. In actuality, it has not been bad at all, mostly just inconvenient. But now I am ready to get back to cooking and posting. : ) Over the holiday weekend I was a cooking/baking fool and with the exception of a Strawberry "Ricotta" Cake Roll that certainly was not beautiful everything came out very delicious. I love my family for being such willing test subjects, ; )

First recipe, Hot Cross Buns. I cannot take complete credit for these because I basically just veganized an existing recipe that I found online. Preparing the dough in the bread machine is a life saver when you have a million other things to do. They came out delicious and the texture makes me think they would work marvelously turned into bagels. If anyone tries this before I get a chance please let me know your results.

Hot Cross Buns

dough
3/4 c almond milk
1/4 cup canola oil
1 1/2 t ener-g egg sub. mixed with 2 T water (I am going to try it without egg subs as well.)
1 T yeast (scant)
3 1/2 cup flour
1/4 cup sugar
1 t cinnamon
1/2 t nutmeg
pinch of cloves and allspice
1/2 t salt
1/2 cup currants

glaze
2 T sugar
2 T water

icing
1/2 cup powered sugar
2 t water

To prepare dough in a bread machine;

Place all ingredients for the dough, except the currants, in the bread machine pan in the order recommended for your machine. Set on the dough cycle. Add the currants when the machine signals. Remove from machine at the end of the dough cycle and cut into 12 pieces. Let rest for a few minutes. Shape into balls and place on lightly greased baking pan about 3" apart. Cover with a damp tea towel or a piece of plastic wrap sprayed with cooking spray, place in a warm draft free place and let rise for 45 to 60 minutes. Bake in a preheated 375f degree oven for 15 to 18 minutes or until golden brown. Place entire pan on a rack to cool. Mix the sugar and water for glaze and brush on still warm buns. Let cool completely. When buns have cooled mix powered sugar and water for icing, adjusting the water amount if necessary to have a good piping consistency. Pipe or spoon a cross on each bun.

Irish Whiskey Cake

I made this cake for St. Patrick's Day. It was huge hit...to say the least. But you don't have to wait for a special occasion to try it of course. It is wonderful with a cup of coffee or tea for breakfast, lunch or dinner, lol...just kidding, sort of. I posted it on VegWeb so here is the linky

Thinking about something fun to serve for Easter morning or maybe next year to add to your Ostara celebration?

Well this Bunny Bread couldn't be any funner! It has sort of the same flavor and texture as a cinnamon roll. Delicious. I posted this recipe on VegWeb a couple of years back so here is the link.