Seasoned Tofu and Veggie Wontons

During the month of November, Hubbs and I had the amazing opportunity of running a pop-up organic, vegan cafe inside of an amazing bar called The Little Fleet in downtown Traverse City, Michigan.  It was called Koko's Cafe Pop-Up.  I worked for the owner of the bar during the summer season, running his food truck, and he decided to bring his food truck inside during the winter to be able to serve his customers delicious food and allow entrepreneurs to test the market with their new products.  We had an amazing month and feel very blessed to have been able to do that.  We had many great customers - a lot of whom cannot wait until we open our physical location.  And neither can we!  We are shooting for late spring to early summer.

At the end of the month we made a delicious homemade wonton soup stuffed with tofu, veggies and some awesome seasonings.  It sold very well and people were raving about how tasty it was.  It's something I have been making for a couple years at home.  I'm so glad people loved it the same way I do.

I can't give out the recipe since it will be used for our business, but I can say what the ingredients were (all being organic): tofu, green local cabbage, scallions, bok choy, carrots, tamari, toasted sesame oil, black pepper).  Check out the process below

One batch of many of the tasty wontons.

Close-up of the delicious filling.  Yum!

The finished wontons, before freezing

Koko

Sesame Seitan Using Homemade Seitan

I love trying to replicate recipes.  Especially those that I really miss being able to order since moving away from NY.  I used to get this awesome sesame vegan chicken recipe from a place called Zen Palate which would deliver directly to my apartment on my days off or whenever I felt too tired to make dinner.  Since coming back to Michigan, the ability to purchase vegan "meats" isn't as easy, so whenever I get the chance, I stock up.  I've also been making several batches of seitan and freezing small portions of them so I can prepare a quick, tasty meal.  This meal came together very fast thanks to that prepared seitan.  Yum!

 

 



Tasty, Crispy Yummy Sesame Seitan


2-3 Servings of seitan, homemade or store bought
Canola or refined coconut oil for shallow frying

Broccoli or other veggies to have on the side, steamed

White or brown rice to serve.

Sauce:
1/2 cup filtered water
1 cup unchicken broth
2-4 tablespoons rice vinegar (I used 3)
1 tablespoon tapioca starch
1/2 cup organic sugar or agave
2 tablespoons tamari
2 tablespoons sesame oil (un-toasted)
1 teaspoon chili paste
1 garlic clove, minced
2 tablespoons sesame seeds, plus additional to garnish
1/4 teaspoon onion powder
1/8 teaspoon garlic powder


1.  Prepare the sauce: in a medium sauce pan add all of the ingredients.  Whisk together well. 
2.  Turn the heat on medium and cook until the sugar dissolves and the sauce thickens considerably.  Set aside to cool slightly until ready to use.
3.  Cut the seitan into small pieces, dry well.  Briefly pan fry in a small amount of canola or refined coconut oil until crispy.  Place on a paper towel lined plate to drain.
4.  Once all of the seitan is cooked, place in a bowl with a generous amount of the sesame sauce.  Toss well.
5.  To serve, place a portion of the rice on the plate, followed by a serving of the sesame seitan and the steamed vegetable.  Top the seitan with additional sesame seeds.  That's it!

A close-up of the deliciousness.

Enjoy!

Koko

Some Things I've Been Baking Lately

Here are lots of vegan baked goods I have been baking over the past several months. When I was compiling this collage of photos and took a step back to look at them, I was very proud of myself. I know I have been working hard on all of these goodies, it's just great to really see it all come together. And this is really why I am so obsessed with taking pictures of everything I cook or bake. It is such a great feeling to come back and look at it and say, wow I did a great job! Most of these baked goods were made at my job - a few were made at home. All of them were made with lots of love and excitement! They really make me feel happy and confident that many of them would look great in a display case of my own! Take a few minutes to look at the pictures. Let me know what you think.

 

 

 

 



Maple Syrup Sweetened Chocolate Chip Cookies
Notice one Missing?

 

 



Close-Up of Apple Crisp Cupcakes with
Salted Caramel Frosting, Drizzled with Caramel Sauce



The tray of Baked Apple Crisp Cupcakes



These are so beautiful!



Finished Tray of Cupcakes.  Gorgeous!

 

Toasted Coconut-Almond Cake with Coconut Frosting



Basket of tasty baked goods: Coconut Chocolate Chip
Cookies & GF Coconut Macaroons

 

 



Crispy Double Chocolate Cookie



Nutella Mousse Filled Cupcakes with Chocolate Ganache Topping



Nutella Mousse Cupcakes topped with Toasted Hazelnuts



Snickers Bundt Cake

 

 



Gluten Free Cherry Crumb Bars



A Close-Up of the Delicious Bars!



Mocha Cake with Coffee Frosting



Double Chocolate Mocha Brownies



Vegan Tiramisu Cupcakes



I mean seriously - how beautiful are these guys?



Coconut Chocolate Chip Cookies before baking

 

 



Chocolate Cake, Chocolate Frosting & Raspberry Filling




Chocolate Dipped Strawberries.  So beautiful!



Beet Velvet Cupcakes

 

 



Raw Keylime Pie Mousse Cups



Pumpkin Roll Cake with Vegan
Cream Cheese Frosting



Beautiful swirls made of vegan cream cheese frosting



Pretty, pretty!



Chai Cupcakes with Spiced Frosting

 

 



Almond Joy Bundt Cake

 

 



Gluten Free, Soy Free, Raw Keylime Pie

 

Vegan birthday cake for my dad!  (Carrot Pineapple!)



Vegan Tiramisu Cups



Coconut Lime Cupcakes with Zesty Lime Frosting

 

 



So Zesty!



Gluten Free Chocolate Cookie Dough Truffles made with Chickpeas!



After portioning and freezing.






Smoothing out.



A blurry inside view of the truffle.

 

 



Vanilla Bean Cupcakes with Nutella Frosting



Topped with toasted hazelnuts



Close-up of the yummy cupcake



Gluten Free Peanut Butter Cream Pie in a Cookie Crust

 

 



Mocha Cookies with Coffee Icing

 

 



Kitchen Sink Cookie with Pretzels, Chocolate Chips, Peanut Butter
Chips and Kettle Chips

I hope you enjoyed these pretty pictures of tasty vegan baked goods!


Koko

Savory Chickpea Pancake

I found this beautiful looking recipe from the OhSheGlows blog.  It looked so interesting, and I am always trying to find different kinds of recipes to make for breakfast to keep things interesting.  When I tried this the first time, I was surprised by how different it was, but in a good way.  Tasty.  It definitely needed some more spices, and when I made it a second time, it came out great!  This was from the second time I made it - one for Hubbs and one for myself.  Sometimes he is really good about allowing me to take pictures the food I make and sometimes he is pretty impatient and just wants to dig right in.  This was one of those days.  And most of the time I give him the prettier of the dishes.  So his of course was beautiful and I was left to take a picture of the funky looking one. ;(  It was equally delicious though!  Take a look at the one Angela makes on her blog and see what is should really look like!

The cooked chickpea pancake.  Sad looking, but so delicious!

One side cooked, waiting to flip!

Savory Chickpea Pancake

Serves: 1

1/2 cup chickpea flour
1 tablespoon nutritional yeast
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
1/8 teaspoon black pepper
pinch red pepper flakes
1/2 cup filtered water
1/2 teaspoon unchicken boullion
1 green onion, sliced
1/4 cup red pepper, small diced
1/4 cup roma tomato, small diced


1.  Place the chickpea flour, nutritional yeast, baking powder, garlic powder, black pepper and red pepper flakes in a medium bowl and whisk to combine. 
2.  Add the filtered water and the unchicken boullion and whisk together for several seconds.
3.  Add the veggies and unchicken/water mixture to the dry ingredients.  Whisk together until a medium-thick batter forms.
4.  Place a medium sized saute pan over medium-low heat and allow the pan to heat.  Spray pan with nonstick spray and pour the batter into the pan.  Cook for 4-5 minutes, or until the top dries out and is able to be flipped over.
5. Flip pancake over and cook an additional 3-4 minutes.

Garnish with hummus, avocado and sriracha.


Enjoy!

Koko

Vegan Breakfast Sandwich: Tofu Egg Hollandaise

It is definitely no secret now that my Hubby and I plan to open our own vegan cafe here in Michigan.  We are working hard on it everyday it seems like.  In theory it doesn't seem so hard or involved - people open restaurants and other food businesses everyday.  But do they do it well?  Do they open simply because they like to eat?  Or because they see themselves as good cooks?  It definitely takes more than that to open a food establishment!  I have known since I was a teenager that I wanted to open up my own place.  It has certainly evolved over the years in regards to the theme.  I didn't always want to open up something vegan.  But I definitely know what I want now and have been working so hard over the last 10+ years to build experience and make it happen. 

 

 

I test recipes pretty much everyday.  Some days that means baking and decorating like 6 whole cakes, 10 different kinds of cookies, 5 different sandwiches, etc.  Some days that means only testing a smoothie or soup recipe.  Some are very involved, some are pretty simple and straightforward.  This is a recipe I tested recently.  As simple as it may look, it took quite a bit of time because each component was homemade.  And it was very tasty.  Hubbs and I had our own critiques, but both thought it was a great idea and definitely warranted further testing.  After I finish this post, it's time to work on the business some more.  Phew!  A lot of work, but it is going to be so worth it once we are open!  Can't wait!!

 

 





Crazy delicious!  And awesomely messy!
On a fresh baked vegan biscuit.



Fresh Baked Biscuit - it ended up being a bit too big for the sandwich.



Biscuit cut in half  - it looks so fresh!
And a juicy sliced tomato.



Tofu Egg cooking.



Almost done - just needs the sauce!  So pretty!

Hope you enjoyed the pics of the tasty sandwich!

Koko