Olive Bread

The bread is good with or without the olives so if for some crazy reason you don't like olives its ok to leave them out, not advised but still ok, the olives make it awesome! Here's what you need:

5 cups whole wheat flour
2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
1 1/2 Tbs yeast
1 Tbs salt
1/4 c. vital wheat gluten
3 1/2 c. warm water
1/2 c. olive oil
1 c. black olives, diced

Place all ingredients in a kitchen aid and mix until combined with paddle attachment.

Place in a non airtight container and allow dough to rest 2 hours at room temperature until it rises and collapses, approximately 2 hours.

The dough can be used right away. Makes 3 loaves. If you don't want to make all 3 loaves refrigerate leftover dough for up to a week.

If using refrigerated dough let rise 2 hours on a cornmeal covered pizza peel before baking 30 minutes in a 450 degree oven. Place a baking sheet with water under the stone the bread is baking on in the oven for the first 20 minutes of baking. Remove pan for last 10 minutes of baking. Enjoy!

You can also make with 7 cups of whole wheat flour. Pictures is all wheat flour.

Potato, Leek and Mushroom Soup

I also made this soup for last weeks potluck. Here is what you need:

2 leeks sliced and washed
5 potatoes, peeled, diced and cooked
8 oz sliced mushrooms
2 Tbs olive oil
1 clove garlic
2 Not-Chik'n Bouillon Cubes
1 cup non-dairy milk

Sauté the leeks and mushrooms in the olive oil. Once tender stir in the rest of the ingredients and simmer 10-15 minutes. Add salt and pepper to taste and enjoy!
Check the next post for the bread pictured.

Turtle Brownies

I made these last week for the single adult potluck they were great! Nobody even guessed that they were flourless or that they were made from beans. Here is a link to the main recipe for the brownies since it isn't mine but Chocolate Covered Katie's. http://chocolatecoveredkatie.com/2012/09/06/no-flour-black-bean-brownies/
Before baking I swirled in some chopped pecans and a batch of the caramel sauce from the caramel apple bars
http://wholesoulvegan.blogspot.com/2012/09/kelly-peloza-caramel-apple-bars.html?m=1
Bake 17 minutes in 350 degree oven. Enjoy!

Deconstructed Cabbage Rolls

Growing up I loved it when my mother would make cabbage rolls. Rice, ground meat, onions and tomatoes stuffed inside steamed cabbage leaves swimming in tomato sauce. What's not to love? Oh right I don't eat meat anymore, no worries this version is just as good and not so time consuming best of all you don't have to wait for them to bake! Here's what you need:

1 small head of cabbage, chopped
2 cans diced tomatoes
1 onion diced
1 pkg tempeh, cubed
1 pkg mushrooms, diced

Cook all ingredients until cabbage is cooked and everything else heated through. Serve over cooked rice. Enjoy.

Just as a side note, cabbage rolls bake for 30 minutes, but you could have this meal on the table in under 30 minutes.

Kelly Peloza's Caramel Apple Bars

So I didn't have the canola oil that it called for and I used 1/2 more applesauce than it called for because I didn't want to use a cup of grapeseed oil. I used half whole wheat pastry flour and half unbleached all purpose flour for the base dough it was amazing! I could have eaten it as is. I cut back a little on the sugar too. Here is the altered recipe.

Base ingredients:

5 c. Flour * see above
1/2 c. Grapeseed oil
1/2c plus 4 Tbs Applesauce
3 Tbs Maple Syrup
1 tsp Honey
2 tsp vanilla extract
2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 c brown sugar

Stir together the oil, sugar, honey, Maple syrup, applesauce and vanilla. Add the flour, baking soda, and salt and stir until combined. Press dough into a greased 9 x 13 baking pan.

Apple layer:

3 medium apples, peeled and chopped
1 Tbs cornstarch
1/3 c. Brown sugar
3 Tbs almond milk
1 tsp vanilla extract

Place all ingredients in a small sauce pan and cook over medium heat until the cornstarch and sugar dissolves. Cook until mixture thickens and apples are soft, then remove from heat and let cool. Pour over top of bass player and bake at 350° oven for 20 minutes.

Caramel Sauce ( make while bars are baking):

1/3 c. Almond Milk
1/4 c. Earth Balance
3/4 c. Brown sugar
1 tsp vanilla
2 Tbs flour

In a medium saucepan, sir together the Almondmilk, Earth Balance, brown sugar, vanilla and flour. Cook over medium high heat until soft ball stage stirring frequently. Drizzle over bars. Enjoy!

September Food Swap

I got stood up in August so there was no food swap post. This month my box came from Rachel Pantos. If you want you can learn more about the swap here http://www.theverdantlife.com/p/vegan-food-swap.html

I got some things this month I haven't seen in the stores here. There were some vegan cookies and I was excited to see one was molasses. There was some granola and something called volcano rice I can't wait to try. All in all a good month.

Fig salad

Yum! All you need is some spring mix, a couple of figs and some balsamic vinegar. I also added some sweet onion, mushrooms and Follow your Heart brand vegan Mozzerella cheese.