Victoria's Secret Fashion Show Sexy Vegan Petit Fours!

Hello Bombshells!
TODAY is the 2010 Victoria's Secret Fashion Show!  I had wanted to host an online shindig complete with girly petit fours, but was told the idea was too ambitious.  Regardless, Chelsea and I are still super excited, and went ahead and made some!  I'll be watching in PA, and she'll be watching in CA.  And, we'll both be snacking on our "sexy" petit fours that we made for the event!  Here are our recipes incase you want to throw some together for yourself!

My version: (Vegan) Ravishing Red Velvet Petit Fours with Victoria's Secret PINK Frosting!

My idea was to create an edible version of their iconic bag.  You know, the one with the red and pink stripes.  I had every intention to cover them and decorate them, but they looked just so darn cute as is.  Plus, my fondant did NOT come out right, and made the first one look terrible.  So, it really was a win-win to just leave them alone.

Ingredients:

For the Red Velvet Cake:

- 2 1/2 cups AP flour

- 1.5 tablespoons cocoa powder

- 1 1/2 cups sugar (castor if you have it.  If not, grind regular sugar in a food processor)

- ENER-G egg replacer equivalent of 2 eggs

- 1 1/2 tablespoons vegan red food coloring

- 1 cup vegan buttermilk*

- Dash of salt

- 1 teaspoon vanilla

- 1 teaspoon vinegar

- 1/2 cup + 2 tablespoons vegan shortening

- 2 tablespoons vegan butter

- 1 teaspoon baking soda

For the Icing:

I used the Cream Cheese Frosting from Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World, and added two drops of vegan red food coloring to make it pink.  If you do not have this book, a) get it immediately, and/or b) use your favorite simple cream cheese frosting recipe.

* To make vegan buttermilk, just add 1 tablespoon white vinegar or lemon juice to 1 cup soy milk.  Wisk, and let sit for at least 5 minutes.  You can also substitute plain vegan yogurt.

Method:

1. Preheat your oven to 350°F.  Cut a circle that will fit in your cake pan out of wax paper, and place it in your pan.  To do this, simply turn your pan over, place a piece of wax paper, trace, and cut on the line!  Fits perfectly!

2. Sift together your flour, cocoa powder, and salt.  This took forever because my sifter is the biggest piece of crap ever!  Hopefully, you can do this in under 15 minutes.

3. Make your vegan buttermilk and set aside to curdle (yum).

4. Cream together the shortening, butter, and sugar.  Speaking of taking forever, I'd love to have a working electric mixer.  This took me... 20 MINUTES.

5. Add the vanilla.

6. Add the red food coloring to the buttermilk.  Add as much or as little as you like.  I found 1.5 tablespoons to be perfect for the color I wanted to achieve.

7. Add the flour mixture and the buttermilk together in batches.  Don't be scared if it curdles and looks disgusting (I was).  It gets better, I promise.

8. Combine the white vinegar and baking soda, and fold into the batter.  Every recipe I used to build mine (I've never had or made this before!) liked this idea, so I rolled with it.

9. Pour into your cake pan.  

10. Bake for 20-35 minutes, depending on your oven.  My cake took over 30 minutes.  It is ready when you pass the toothpick test (ie. a toothpick inserted into the center of your cake comes out clean).

11. Let cool for a bit before placing in freezer to cool.

12. Make your icing!  Most recipes will have you creaming together all of the ingredients until light and fluffy.  I added two drops of red food coloring to make mine pink!  Place in 'fridge to cool.

13. Cut your cake into layers!  Ice each layer, and stack them back together. Check it out:

14. I cut mine in half, because I wanted to save some of the cake to eat on it's own:

15. Then, I used a ring mold to cut them into bite-sized pieces:

So cute!  And DELICIOUS!  I ate pretty much all of the scraps....

Chelsea's version: (Vegan) Radient Raspberry and Chocolate Petit Fours with a Classic Poured Fondant Finish

Chelsea went for classic petit fours, and absolutely nailed them.  They look delectable!!!

Ingredients:

For the Sponge Cake:

- ENER-G equivalent of 4 eggs
- 1 cup sugar
- 2 cups AP flour
- 2 tsp. baking powder
- 1/2 cup soy milk
- 5 tbsp. vegan butter, melted

- 1 jar raspberry jam filling

For the Chocolate Ganache:

- 1 bar of bittersweet or unsweetened chocolate

For the Poured Fondant:
- 2 1/2 cups sugar
- 1/2 cup water
- 1/4 cup corn syrup

Method:

- Preheat the oven to 350. Grease and flour a 10x15 inch jellyroll pan.

- Put all ingredients in mixer and mix until smooth.

- Spread onto pan.

- Bake for 12-15 mins.

- When done, flip cake onto wire rack and let cool.

- When cooled slice off the crusty edges with a long serrated knife. (save them to eat!)

- Cut the cake in half width wise (horizontally) so you have two evenly sized pieces.

- Spread raspberry filling on top of 1 piece then layer other piece on top. Spreading 1 more layer of raspberry.

- Slice chocolate and put shavings in double boiler, heat until smooth.

- Now pour warm chocolate over the top and spread evenly, coating the raspberry.

- Put in fridge until chocolate has hardened.

- For the fondant:

- Heat sugar, water and corn syrup to the soft-ball stage (when it turns completely clear and starts to evenly make foamy bubbles).

- Pour into food processor directly from pan

- Let sit in food processor undisturbed for 30 mins.

- Add any coloring or flavoring and process for 3 mins.- until the syrup completely converts from a glassy syrup to an opaque paste.

- Pour into microwaveable bowl, in case it hardens before you finish coating all of your petit fours and need to liquify it more.

- Once hardened cut cake evenly into 15 squares- 3 down, 5 across.

- Dip each square into bowl of fondant and coat completely.

- Let sit on wire rack to harden.

- Once hardened you can decorate any way you like.

Enjoy the show!  I'm hoping to catch it from a treadmill...:)

Gossip Worthy Monday: Blair's Famous Pumpkin Pie

If you watch Gossip Girl, you understand that Thanksgiving is quite the big deal on the Upper- East Side.  What's even more important?  Blair's Pumpkin Pie.  I'll spare you the details (because I'm sure you know all about it already), but won't spare you the details for my and Chelsea's take on her masterpiece.

My version: (Vegan) Apple Pumpkin Pie

(yes, I had to be difficult and make something different.  It's what I do best!)

When I was on WholeFoods.com writing down their amazing stuffing recipe, I stumbled upon a recipe for... the pie I thought I was so genius in creating.  I couldn't believe it!  I thought I was so brilliant in combining the two "classic" holiday pies.  As much as I was excited about creating my own recipe, in the interest of time (ie. having none), I decided to veganize theirs.  I changed a few things, and will change more the next time I make it (I'm not thrilled with how it looks, but it tasted great- I WILL be making it again).  After all, if their stuffing was so amazing, why not try out their pie recipe?

From WholeFoods.com****, with changes in bold:

Ingredients:

- 1/3 cup firmly packed light brown sugar 
- 2 tablespoons cornstarch 
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon, divided 
- 1/2 teaspoon salt, divided 
- 1/3 cup water 
- 2 tablespoons (vegan) butter 
- 2 Granny Smith or Fuji apples*, peeled, cored and thinly sliced (about 3 cups) 

* I think one apple would be plenty, less is more 
- 1 egg replacer 
- 1/3 cup granulated sugar 
- 3/4 cup fresh or canned pumpkin purée 
- 1/4 teaspoon ground cloves 
- 1/4 teaspoon ground ginger 
- 3/4 cup evaporated milk**

** I used soy creamer 
- 1 (9-inch) unbaked pie shell (in pie pan)***

*** I made my own crust:

• - 1 1/4 cups AP flour
• - 1/2 cup vegan butter (chilled!)
• - Dash salt
• - 1/4 cup ice water

Method:

- Preheat oven to 425°F. Put brown sugar, cornstarch, 1/2 teaspoon of the cinnamon, 1/4 teaspoon of the salt, water and vegan butter into a medium pot and cook over medium heat, stirring constantly, until mixture comes to a boil. Add apples and cook, tossing to coat in sugar mixture, 3 to 4 minutes more. Remove from heat and set aside. 

- In a large bowl, whisk together egg replacer, granulated sugar, pumpkin, remaining 1/4 teaspoon salt, remaining 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon, cloves, ginger and soy creamer until well combined. 

- Pour apple mixture into pie shell and spoon pumpkin mixture evenly over the top. Bake for 10 minutes, then reduce temperature to 375°F and bake until filling is just set in the middle, about 40 minutes more. Set aside on a wire rack to let cool completely before cutting into slices.

Note: The only thing I think would be better would be if there was more evenness in the layers.  Cut the apple mixture in half, and I think smaller pieces would've worked better for this.  Also, the pumpkin mixture needs to be a little thicker.  I added a little extra cornstarch, but I think I may add something else next time to thicken it up a bit.

For the crust: Chill the butter in small chunks before mixing with the flour and salt.  If you have a food processor, this would be the time to use it!  I don't at the moment, so I used my hands and "kneaded" it.  You should pulse/knead the butter and flour mixture until it forms a coarse meal.  Then, add the ice water in small bits until the dough forms a ball.  Wrap it in clear wrap and place in your refrigerator for at least one hour.  After an hour, press firmly into a pie dish!

Chelsea's version: A Classic (Vegan) Pumpkin Pie

Ingredients:

For the Crust:

- 1 cup AP flour
- 1/2 tsp. salt
- 1/3 cup vegan butter
- 2 tbsp. ice water

For the Filling:
- 1/2 cup sugar
- 1/2 cup brown sugar
- 1/2 tsp. salt
- 1 tsp. cinnamon
- 1/2 tsp. ginger
- 1/4 tsp. cloves
- 1/4 tsp. nutmeg
- ENER-G equivalent of 2 eggs
- 1 can (15 oz.) pumpkin puree
- 1/2 cup of soy milk

Method:

1. Prepare the crust as I prepared mine in the first recipe.

2. Preheat your oven to 350°F.

3. Prepare the egg replacer and set aside.  Combine the rest of the ingredients in a medium- sized bowl and mix well.  Add the egg replacer and mix.

4. Pour the mixture into the crust, and bake for 45-50 minutes (until the center is set).

****Source: http://www.wholefoodsmarket.com/recipes/896

November's Daring Baker Challenge: Crostata

The hostess for November's Daring Baker's Challenge is Simona from Briciole.  Her challenge for this month was for bakers to create a crostata, which is basically a tart.  She mentioned that her favorite variation of crostata was one that was filled with pastry cream.  I asked Mike what his favorite fruit filling was, and came up with!....

(Vegan) Blackberry Cream Crostata

Ingredients:

I made enough for two 6-inch tarts.  I wanted to make sure I had enough incase I made a mistake.  I went back and forth between deciding if I should post the original amounts or the doubled ones, but because a 6-inch tart is kind of small, I went with the doubled amounts.  Take this into account when making your crust and filling.

For the Crust:

- 1 1/2 cups AP flour

- 2 tablespoons sugar

- Lemon zest from 1/2 a lemon

(I saw Giada do this on her show, thought I'd give it a try!)

- Heaping 1/2 cup vegan butter (chilled!)

- Dash salt

- 2 1/4 tablespoons ice water

For the Blackberry Pastry Cream:

(I made a little too much of this, but it's delicious, so who cares)

- 2 cups almond milk

- 1/2 cup flour

- Dash salt

- Heaping 1/4 cup blackberry puree

- 1/4 cup + 4 heaping tablespoons sugar

- Juice from 1 lemon

- 1/2 teaspoon vanilla

Method:

*Start with your crust, as it will need an hour or more to cool/firm.* 

1. In a large bowl, mix together flour, sugar, salt, and lemon peel.  My food processor is a baby, so I used my hands, but if you have a large one-use it!

2. Add the chilled butter, and knead until you get a coarse meal.  Add the ice water little by little as you knead, until you can form a ball with the dough.

3. Wrap in plastic and place in 'fridge to cool (for at least one hour).

4. Now you can make the pastry cream.  Warm the almond milk, sugar, and salt over medium- heat in a saucepan.  Once warmed, add the flour and wisk together to thicken.  You're going to have to wisk continuously, or it will stick.

5. Once it begins to resemble a custard, throw in the rest of the ingredients.  Cook for another minute or so.

6. Cover with wax paper (right on top of the cream, or it may grow a film- gross!), and refrigerate.

7. After everything has had time to cool, you can preheat your oven to 375ºF.

8. Roll out the dough to be a little bigger than your tart pan.  You'll want to reserve a little for the lattice on top if you're opting to make it cute.  You can roll it out by powdering a counter, or this trick that I read on the Daring Baker blog: but the dough between two pieces of clear wrap and roll it out!  No sticking, and no floury mess!  Love it!

9. Press into your tart pan.

10. Fill with pastry cream!  Don't go all of the way to the top- save a little room for the lattice!  Plus, you don't want any ooze!

11. Roll out the rest of the dough, and cut with a pastry cutter for fun edges.  Place in a lattice pattern on the top of the tart.

12. Bake for about 30 minutes.  Start at 25 and move up- you're looking for a golden brown crust.

Pre-Oven:

Pre-Berries:

I didn't even need to make the second one- the first one turned out lovely!  I mean, I'm totally going to make another one so I can eat it...:)

Thanksgiving Classics

If it's not super obvious by my recent posts, I have had absolutely no free time as of late.  Never a bad thing, unless Thanksgiving is fast approaching.  Luckily, Thanksgiving is one of those holidays that can be super simple... and perfect.  I made this list at work, haha:

On the menu:

- A Tofurkey!  With tons of veggies and a baste that my boyfriend* made up:).

- Green Bean Casserole!  Mike's favorite.  If I could have only put one thing on the table, it would be a green bean casserole.

- Sweet Potato Casserole with Dandies!  My favorite.

- Mashed Potatoes!  Like, the most basic ones ever.

- Stuffing!  I used a recipe that was on the main page of WholeFoods.com for a Cornbread and "Sausage" Stuffing.  It wasn't vegan, but it was easy to veganize.

- Mushroom Gravy.  Totally just bought some.

- An Apple Pumpkin Pie.  Yes, to save time (and to cope with the fact that I only have one pie dish.. and it's my Dad's..), I combined them.  You have to do what you have to do.  And it was AMAZING.

As rushed and as last- minute as my Thanksgiving was, it was amazing.  On the morning of the 24th, I went grocery shopping.  Mike is awesome and grabbed a Tofurkey a few days before, so I didn't have to freak out with the other customers in front of the "sold out" sign on the freezer.  I didn't have a list yet, so I just bought a ton of stuff that I thought would be important.  Then, I went to work (at both jobs).  I made my list on one of my breaks, and biked to a late-night grocery store afterwards to pick up anything I hadn't bought that morning.  And then I cooked until 3am.  I made a list of "chores" for Mike who, thank goodness, had Thanksgiving off.  I made it in book form, and entitled it "A Guide to Our Thanksgiving."  Yay!  

The next morning, I had to be work at 6:30am.  I biked home on breaks to help out, but Mike had it under control.  I planned my day so I would have a two-hour break from 3-5pm.  Just enough time to help with the finishing touches, set the table, eat, and crash with an episode of Law and Order before heading back out!  It was perfect.

Here are the dishes!  Again, they're meant to be as simple and time efficient (and tasty!) as possible.

The Tofurkey

Well, we prepared this according to the directions on the box, so I won't bore you.  We surrounded it with a bunch of carrots, potatoes, celery, and onions.  My boyfriend made up his own baste, which was some combination of orange juice, soy sauce, olive oil, spices, annnnd some other stuff.  I don't know.  It was good, though!

The Green Bean Casserole

Ingredients:

- 2 cups green beans

- 2 cups vegetable broth

- 1/2 cup mushrooms, chopped if you bought them whole

- 1/2 cup onion (About one medium-sized onion, chopped)

- 2 cloves garlic, minced

- 2 tablespoons vegan butter 

- 2 tablespoons Extra Virgin Olive Oil

- 2 tablespoons AP flour

- 3/4 cup soy creamer

- 1 container French Fried Onions

- 1 tsp garlic salt

- Salt and pepper to taste

Method:

1. Preheat your oven to 350°F.

2. Grab a medium-sized saucepan and bring the vegetable broth to a boil.  Boil the green beans for 10-15 minutes.  Set aside.

3. Melt the butter in a large skillet.  Saute the mushrooms, onions, and garlic over medium- heat for about 5 minutes, or until the onions appear translucent. 

4. Steal about half of the vegetable broth from the green beans, and wisk in the flour.  Add to the skillet (you know, the one with the mushrooms and such) and stir.  Add the spices!  Keep stirring!

5. Add the soy creamer to the skillet.  Continue to cook (and stir) for about 5 minutes, or until it thickens.  

6. Add those green beans and stir some more!  Add salt and pepper (and garlic salt for whatever reason) to taste.

7. Throw it all into an oiled casserole dish, and bake for 20 minutes.

8. Grab it out of the oven, top with the French Fried Onions, and bake for another 10 minutes.  

If you want to take it a step further, break up 2 pieces of bread and mix together with a dollop (1 tablespoon maybe?) of vegan butter.  Toss this with the onions for less.. onions.  This is Mike's favorite part, so I left it as-is.  Kind of lazy, but it's his Thanksgiving, too!

The Sweet Potato Casserole.. with Dandies

Ingredients:

- 3 large sweet potatoes

- 1/4 cup vegan butter

- 1/2 cup light brown sugar

- 3 1/2 tablespoons orange juice

- A few shakes of cinnamon

- One package of Dandies Vegan Marshmallows

Method:

1. Preheat your oven to 350°F.

2. Wash, peel, and chop the sweet potatoes.  Boil in a large pot for a "good amount of time" until soft.  I'd say about 10 minutes?  20?  I didn't actually time it...

3. Drain potatoes and mash.  Throw in the rest of the ingredients, and mix well.

4. Pour into casserole dish, and top with the entire package of Dandies.  There's, like, just enough to cover it, sooo only eat 2.

5. Bake for 30 minutes, but pay attention to the tops of the marshmallows.  They should be browned.

The Mashed Potatoes

Ingredients:

- 3 large potatoes

- Soy milk (approx. 1/4 cup)

- Vegan Butter (approx. 4 tablespoons)

- Salt and pepper to taste

Method:

There really isn't too much of a method to these....

1. Wash, peel, chop, and boil the potatoes in large pot for... you guessed it, a "good amount of time."  We "overboil" to make whipped potatoes.

2. Drain and mash!  

3. Add soy milk and vegan butter to taste.  I had Mike do this, and he just kind of did it.  I'm going to assume the amounts I mentioned in the ingredients, but everyone is different, so do it your own way!

4. Throw in the salt and pepper to taste!  Told you there wasn't a method... these are meant to be easy!

Cornbread and "Sausage" Stuffing

From WholeFoods.com: http://www.wholefoodsmarket.com/recipes/1378 , but wait!  Before you click!:

Substitutions:

- 1/3 a package of GimmeLean vegan sausage for "1/2 pound sweet pork sausage, casings removed"

- Uhh, ONE clove of garlic?  Slackers.  Make it AT LEAST two.

- 1 cup vegetable broth for that chicken junk!

... and the pie?!!

Well, you'll have to wait until Monday.  Good things come to those who wait.. for Gossip Girl!

Happy Thanksgiving!!

* his name is Mike:).

Mexican Doggies!

My absolute favorite place to eat in Philadelphia is Dos Segundos.  It's this fun Mexican restaurant that has an amazing margarita list and an extensive vegan menu.  My personal favs on the food menu are the vegan beef tacos with guacamole, the bbq tempeh burrito (that was a special ONCE a long time ago, and I am dying for it to return...), and their vegan french toast.  Oh, and they even have vegan desserts.  And lots of chips and homemade salsas to munch on. And so many yummy drinks.  I wish I was there.....

Anyway, one of their specials that is definitely NOT vegan is their Mexican Hot Dog.  It's a dog wrapped in bacon, and topped with mayo, cheese, and jalopenos.  Everyone raves about it, and it's only $3.  I'm sick of hearing how great and cheap it is, so......

(Vegan) Mexican Hot Dogs!

Ingredients:

- Vegan jumbo hot dogs

- Hot dog buns
- One package vegan bacon 

Pico De Gallo:

- 2 medium tomatoes

- 1/3 medium red onion

- 1/2 jalopeno (or a whole one if you like it hot!)

- 2 cloves garlic

- Juice of 2 limes

- Handful of cilantro

- Salt and pepper to taste

Simple Sriracha Mayo:

(because I really don't like plain mayo...)

- 1/4 cup vegan mayonnaise

- 1 tablespoon sriracha

- Pinch of salt, pepper, and sugar

Method:

These are pretty simple and can really be done in any order, so don't feel as though you have to follow this step-by-step!

1. For the pico: Dice the tomatoes, onion, and jalopeno.  Mince your garlic, and chop your cilantro.  

2.  Throw all of the ingredients in a bowl, and add the lime juice, salt, and pepper.  Done!

3. For the sriracha mayo: wisk ingredients together.  The salt, pepper, and sugar are to taste, so play around with them.  Feel free to add more sriracha if you're feeling crazy.  Set aside.

4. There are a few ways to go about making the dogs:

    1) Roll 4 pieces of "bacon" around each hot dog.  Secure with toothpicks or a kebob stick if you're able to line them up that well (I was not).  Heat oil in a skillet over medium heat, and saute the hotdog to desired state.  It will get nice and crispy!  Just be careful not to burn it!

    2) Cook the bacon and hot dogs separately.  Be sure not to cook the bacon for long, as it will harden. Once cooled enough to touch, wrap the hot dog in bacon (you can also bake the bacon with the same result).

    3) A George Forman grill would be KEY for this.  Or any grill, really.  Follow directions in Step #1.

5. Assembly: Toast your buns and spread with sriracha mayo.  Throw a bacon-wrapped dog on there, top with pico, and throw on some thinly sliced jalopenos for a lovely garnish.  Feel free to add avocado or other condiments, and serve with vegan baked beans!

Another fun, simple, and delicious breakfast!

'Tis the season for Peppermint Mochas, Gingerbread Lattes, and other amazing barista specialties.  That cost $5 for a GRANDE.  When you can get an entire carton of soy milk for a little over $3, you need to take matters into your own hands.

(Vegan) Coconut Oatmeal with a Perfect Peppermint Mocha

Ingredients:

For the Coconut Oatmeal:

- 1 cup water

- 1/2 cup oats (plus another 2 tablespoons)

- 2 tablespoons coconut milk

- 1/4 cup shredded, sweetened coconut

- 1/2 cup soy milk

For the Peppermint Mocha:

(for a super yummy coconut variation, sub coconut syrup for the peppermint syrup and use 1/4 cup soy milk and 1/4 cup coconut milk!)

- 1/4 cup coffee or espresso, prepared

- 1/2 cup soy milk, warmed

- 3 tablespoons cocoa powder 

(you can also use mocha or chocolate syrup)

- 1 3/4 tablespoons peppermint syrup

- frothed soy creamer

Method:

1. Start with the oatmeal.  Bring the water to a boil, and stir in the oats.  Lower to medium heat and cook until thickened.  Stir occasionally.

2. Once thickened, lower the heat to low and add the coconut milk.  Continue to stir.

3. Add the shredded coconut and stir well.  If you can handle sweet stuff in the morning, feel free to add some agave.  I chose not to.

4.  Set aside and start your mocha!  Combine the prepared coffee and warmed soy milk in your favorite mug.

5. Stir in the cocoa powder and peppermint syrup.

6. To finish the oatmeal, just put it in a bowl and add the soy milk (kind of like cereal- my boyfriend does this and I think it's so fun).  For the mocha, top with the frothed soy creamer.

Enjoy!:)

Gossip Worthy Monday (on Tuesday as usual): Pink Strawberry Lemonade Bars!

OMG that episode last night!!!!! I planned to post on Monday.  Really, I did, but I had a final due at midnight that I had to work on. Sorry:(.  Chelsea and I wanted to make a dessert this week, and she so brilliantly suggested lemon bars. I had some pink lemonade packets lying around from when my roommate and I made snowcones, and I really wanted a reason to use them. If anything is better than lemonade, it's PINK lemonade.

My version: (Vegan) Pink Strawberry Lemonade Bars

Look at those swirls of color!

  Ingredients: 

For the crust:

- 2 cups AP flour 

- 3/4 cup vegan butter 

- 1/4 cup brown sugar  

- 1/4 cup sugar 

- Dash of salt  

For the filling: 

 - ENER-G Egg Replacer: 3 egg equivalent

- Juice of 2 lemons  

 - 3/4 tablespoon lemon zest

 - 1/2 packet pink lemonade mix (NOT the kind with added sugar.  If that's all you have or can find, do not add as much sugar in the next step- use about half as much) 

- 1/2 cup sugar 

- 8-10 strawberries

 - 2 tablespoons AP flour 

- 1 tablespoon cornstarch 

- 1 teaspoon vanilla

- 1/2 teaspoon baking powder 

- Dash of salt 

Method: 

- Preheat your oven to 350°F.  Grease a brownie or casserole pan!

- Prepare your crust.  It's super easy!  Just throw all of the crust ingredients in a bowl and combine.  You may want to use your hands for this one!  It helps if your butter is at room temperature and you cut chunks into your mix.

- Once you have what resembles a dough, press firmly into the bottom of your pan.  Throw into the 'fridge to cool until your oven is preheated.

- Bake your crust for about 15 minutes.  Let cool.

- At this point you can start your filling!   Cut a bunch of strawberries into teeny, tiny pieces, or pulse them down in a food processor.  My original idea was to have a layer of strawberries under the filling, but they're just going to float around, so yeah, that didn't exactly work out.  Just use as many or little as you would like for flavor and/or color.  Set aside.

- Prepare the egg replacer as per the directions on the package.  Wisk to foamy.  Add the rest of your filling ingredients, and mix well.  Add the strawberries.

- Pour the filling onto your cooled crust.  

- Bake for another 25 minutes, or until the filling is firm(er).  (It's done when the filling doesn't move around).

- Let cool.  Place is the 'fridge to settle for at least one hour.

- Once ready, sprinkle on some powdered sugar, and you're good to go! 

Chelsea's Version: (Vegan) Classic Lemon Bars

Chelsea is still perfecting her recipe.  For now, follow the above instructions and simply omit the pink lemonade packet and the strawberries.  Or, check out Isa's amazing recipe for lemon bars in her amazing cookbook Vegan Cookies Invade Your Cookie Jar.  That book is A-maze-zing (Rachel Zoe, anyone?). 

Veganism is sexy.

The Victoria's Secret Fashion show is November 30th.  I don't know about you, but I'm so excited!  I usually do one of two things to watch it: make tons of fun bite-size snacks and watch it with friends, or go to the gym and kick my ass on the treadmill while watching it.  I really don't know which I prefer:).  My best friend is coming to visit me for my birthday this year, but will be getting here a few days after the show.  I was super bummed because I planned to do both with her... but then thought, why can't I?

You may have seen my "Gossip Worthy Monday" feature, where Chelsea and I make yummy food and "watch Gossip Girl together" on Mondays.  We're doing the same thing with the Victoria's Secret Fashion Show, and making fun, sexy petit fours.  I thought it'd be fun to extend the invitation to other bloggers out there.  So, you're invited!:)

What: " .. and it's vegan"'s Victoria's Secret Fashion Show Blogging Party
When: Tuesday, November 30th (submissions due Monday, November 29th by 10pm EST)
Why: To show the world that veganism is sexy (and delicious)!
How: Create fun, girly, vegan* petit fours that scream "sexy."  You're welcome to also submit a drink recipe, or other party foods (cupcakes, cookies, etc) that fit the theme if you're so inspired.  With your submission, tell me what makes you feel sexy (this will accompany your photo and recipe). Please include your recipe and a photo of the finished product with submission.
RSVP: Let me know if you're interested!  Leave a comment or email me at AnditsAmandah@gmail.com .  All submissions MUST be emailed to me (with a photo and recipe) by 10pm EST on Monday, November 29th.  I will post all of the submissions late night on the 29th/early morning on the 30th so everyone can make their favorites for the show!  If nobody is interested, Chelsea and I will have ours up for you to make for the show!

* You do not have to be vegan, have a vegan food blog, or even have a food blog to participate, but submissions must be completely vegan.  Challenge yourself to tackle a fun, vegan dessert.  You'll be surprised at how simple and delicious this can be!

The (Vegan ) Gobbler!

Sorry for the lack of posting this week, MoFo-ers.  It's been a crazy work week, and I highly doubt anyone would want to read about how to make an almond butter and apple sandwich, or how to open a Lara bar.  I did make dinner (if you can call a 11:30pm meal dinner...) one night this week, though, and it was as delicious as it was simple.  Literally, all you need is four ingredients:

Okay, technically I also used some potatoes.  So five.  Are you ready for the amazingness that I am about to bestow upon you?

(Vegan) Gobblers

Pre- Gravy

Post- Gravy

 Ingredients:

- One French baguette 

- 2 cloves garlic

- One Tofurkey Roast

- 1/4 cup Extra Virgin Olive Oil + extra for the roll

- 1/4 cup soy sauce

- 2 tablespoons sage 

- One can jellied cranberry sauce

- One container wild mushroom gravy

Method: 

- Prepare the Tofurkey according to directions on package.  *PLAN AHEAD.*  If frozen, you're looking at over 3 hours of roasting.  If thawed, you're looking at an hour and a half.  The EVOO, soy sauce, and sage are for the baste.  Feel free to use the other basting option (on package, includes orange juice), and to use more or less to taste.  I chopped two potatoes for a yummy (but mainly lazy) side dish and threw them in with the roast.

- When the Tofurkey is going back into the oven for it's last 10 minutes, prepare the rest of the ingredients.

- For the rolls, we decided to be super healthy and layer on the Extra Virgin Olive Oil and garlic.  We used a tablespoon for each roll, and a whole clove for each.  We love garlic, so you'll probably want to use less.  If you want to be like us, just mince the garlic and spread it on the roll with the oil.  You're making a super lazy garlic bread, by the way.  We also threw on a little sesame oil, but again, that's not really "normal" so it's cool to not do that.

- Heat the gravy in a saucepan over low-medium heat.  Remember to stir!  To be healthier, we added salt.

- Open the cranberry sauce and put it in a bowl....

- When the Tofurkey is done and has cooled for just a few minutes, cut it in half and remove the stuffing.  All of it.  

- Chop half of the tofurkey up cheesesteak style.  Save the rest for tomorrow's lunch.  It'll make you feel better about spending $13 on it in the first place.

- Throw it all on the roll!  We did: cranberry sauce on bottom, followed by a ton of chopped tofurkey, stuffing, more cranberry sauce, and an insane amount of gravy. 

Thanksgiving on a roll!  Enjoy and get ready to be way too full (and happy!)!