Monday, May 12, 2014

Gluten Free Double Chocolate Brownies

I have recently been blessed with a second job.  I am so happy about it!  Time to start saving my money and continue working on the business hardcore!  I went from working about 16 hours per week to about 60-70.  Believe me I am definitely not going to complain.  Very thankful to have this going on.  The people that I am working for have great hearts and really want to help me out - really just great people that you genuinely want to be around.  Thank goodness for that!!

I have also been doing a lot of baking.  Including these crazy delicious gf brownies.  I found the recipe on Oh She Glows of course and after a bit of tweaking, they came out perfect (they were pretty close to perfect in the first place).  I brought them to a vegan meeting and I think they were well received.  I also had hubby take them to his job for his coworkers to sample - there are several gluten free people that work with him. They loved them!


Giant pan of Gluten Free Brownies!


Oh She Glow's Recipe

Changes I made:

-  used 2 tablespoons of ground flax
- used sorghum flour instead of brown rice flour
- used ground walnuts instead of ground almonds - it was all I had on hand
- added 1 teaspoon xanthan gum
 - didn't add the additional 1/4 cup chocolate chips
 - baked the brownies in a 9x13" baking pan so they weren't so thick


That's it!  Very good base recipe.  I love Angela Liddon's recipes and creativity.




Cut into small pieces for samples!


Koko

Sunday, May 4, 2014

Country Fried Seitan Sandwich with Coconut Cheddar Cheese & Organic Baked Fries

I started a new job about two weeks ago.  It is a very interesting and fun job!  I am working at a food truck downtown and having a great time with it.  It is something I have really missed about NY - working for a place that doesn't have a ton of structure and allows me to do what I need to do, but without a ton of supervision and demands.  It's a pretty cool gig.  I am still working part time as a vegan pastry chef, which is good, but doesn't include a lot of hours.  This past week I definitely made my hours, which was great.  

The place is called Ez Cheesy, which is basically a gourmet grilled cheese sandwich truck.  Pretty cool and different menu.  Obviously it is not all vegan, but all but one of the sandwiches are vegetarian and the rest can be made vegan with the inclusion of daiya.  I love that!  This is part of the menu this year:


Tampopo: Ramen Noodles mixed with Kimchee, topped with Brussel Sprouts and Cheddar/Daiya

Old Mission Torta: Smashed Beans, Avocado, Queso/Daiya, Pickled Jalapeno Peppers, Shaved Radish, Spicy Mayo

City Middle: Local Made Donut with Goat Cheese and Fig Jam (would be great with vegan cream cheese)

Sweet Caroline: Shaved Carrot, Goat Cheese, Walnuts & Honey


There are more items on the menu, but I thought I would put a couple so you could see how different and cool this place is!

Making sandwiches all week, you would think I would get tired of them, but it actually inspired me to work more on the menu for our upcoming cafe and make a couple different sandwiches at home.  I made this tasty one as well as a couple veggie paninis.  Yum!  I found a really interesting recipe for vegan cheddar cheese, using coconut milk as the base.  It's very meltable and cheesy in texture, but I really didn't care for the flavor.  I definitely think it is something that warrants more testing and playing around with.  How cool would it be if it were actually that easy to make a meltable vegan cheese?!




This was Hubby's plate.  So Good!

To make the Sandwich:

Country Fried Seitan

 - Fresh Baguette, sliced into portions and cut in half, toasted

 - Veganaise or other topping

 - Sliced Veggies: tomato, green pepper, red onion

 - Coconut Milk Cheddar Cheese or other vegan cheese

 - Baked Fries or side of choice


1.  Toast baguette.  Slather veganaise on both sides of the bread.  Place veggies on the bottom, followed by the seitan.  Layer the cheese in there somewhere.  (I should have put it next to the seitan so it could have melted slightly.)
2.  Add fries or other side and eat!


You can barely see the vegan cheddar peeking out from underneath the veggies!


Enjoy!

Koko