Sassy Ginger Whoopie Pies with Lemon Icing

Level of Difficulty: really easy and so worth it
Pots/Pans Used: 2



So I made these cookies from my roommate's blog (try the cobbler, it's fantastic!). I had tried these cookies when she made them and thought they were awesome. Plus, I wanted to use up my left over lemon frosting from my Lemon Poppy seed Cupcakes. I figured the lemon would pair really nicely with the ginger. I'm going to experiment with making these green tea cookies cause my other roommate just got some matcha green tea powder in the mail that I've been itching to get a hold of (with her permission of course!...). Anyways Blake mentions in the recipe that the dough is very sticky, in fact when I made them, the dough resembled more of a cake batter. So I changed the recipe slightly. Here is the original recipe. My only adjustments were that I used half margarine/half canola oil and added 1 cup white flour. Oh! And I didn't sift anything because I never sift anything.... :/ too lazy. Damn, they were SO good. If I ever open my dream bakery, there is NO way these babies aren't going on the menu! My cookies resemble more of a whoopie pie as they are more cakey and dense where as Blake's original recipe produces thinner, softer & chewier cookies. Just depends on your preference. Either way, MAKE THESE! They are so yummmmyyyyy!!!!!!! And yes, it is sugar rolled in sugar and then filled with sugar! It's no wonder they're so good!!!

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Blogger Meet Up...

Hey all,

So just to make this easier, would everyone that is interested in doing a Tampa, FL blogger lunch meet up (or something to that effect), either leave a comment below with your email address or send me an email at veganpandamonium@aol.com. That way when I start coordinating something, I can just do it through email rather than blog posting. I'm thinking mid/late Julyish. I don't know... we'll figure something out!

And because this post looks too boring without a picture, I HAD to include this. This is my friend's little kitten, May, that I had the pleasure of babysitting. Yes, she is adorable and itty bitty... just look at those tiny whiskers!



And so Oliver doesn't feel left out...

WHATTABUM! It's as if he's trying to look pathetic



And i'll leave on that note.

Thanks!

Sammi

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Cupcake Contest - Lemon Poppy seed Cupcakes

On June 18th, Etsy invited people to throw their own Etsy craft parties all over the globe to celebrate their birthday. Tampa just so happened to be having the third largest Etsy party. Did anyone else attend Etsy craft parties??? Etsy's cute invite pictured below:



One of the events at the party was a cupcake decorating contest and I brought these babies. That's right, Super Mini Gulp Vegan Lemon Poppy Seed Cupcakes. Yeah, that's a mouth full... har har. bad joke.



Anyways, when I arrived I found out the contest had been canceled which was kind of a bummer. BUT I had a lot of fun making them and now I can just pretend I won. If you're interested in making these cupcakes all you need is crystal sprinkles in various colors, Redvines for straws (I found Redvines at Target, because Twislers aren't vegan), and 5 oz white kitchen cups (I made the little labels in Photoshop).

Not only were the cupcakes cute, but they tasted pretty spectacular so I thought I would include the recipe for you guys.

Lemon Poppy seed Cupcakes


Level of Difficulty: pretty easy
Pots/Pans Used: 2-3ish

Ingredients

2/3 cup almond milk
1/2 tsp apple cider vinegar
2/3 light agave nectar
1/3 cup canola oil
1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 tsp lemon extract
1 1/3 cups flour
3/4 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
1 TBL poppy seeds

Frosting

3 cups powdered sugar
3/4 cups vegan margarine
1/8 cup almond milk
1/4 tsp lemon extract

I really wanted to make sugar-free cupcakes, and although the actual cupcake batter is sweetened with agave, the frosting obviously calls for powdered sugar. Almost every recipe I found for agave-sweetened frosting required soy milk powder which I haven't been able to find, or some other kind of specialty ingredient. Anyone have a good sugar-free frosting recipe? This frosting is a little more like an icing. I recommend letting it set up in the refrigerator because it's a little runny. This recipe only made about 9 cupcakes, so I if you want more I recommend doubling it.



Okay! Start out by preheating your oven to 325. Mix almond milk with apple cider vinegar and let it sit for five minutes, until it begins to bubble. Whisk in the agave, oil, vanilla, and lemon extract. Mix in flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt and poppy seeds. Whisk until smooth. Fill your cupcake liners 2/3 of the way full. Bake 22 minutes. Meanwhile, you can start on the frosting. Just blend all ingredients together with an electric mixer, adding the powdered sugar gradually. Fini!

*Just a side note: If you're avoiding sugar, they make great muffins without the frosting!

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Broiled Stuffed Mushrooms

Level of Difficulty: really easy and quick
Pots/Pans Used: uno

Ingredients

1/2 cup carrots, minced/ish
1 small onions, minced/ish
2 garlic cloves, minced no ish
1/2 block of extra firm tofu, drained
1 TBL sesame oil
1 TBL soy sauce
1/2 tsp fresh minced fresh rosemary
1/4 cup breadcrumbs
2 TBL olive oil
14-16 large cremini mushroom caps
miso mayo!!!


I have finally tried Miso Mayo and dayuuuuummmmmmm! It really makes the dish in my opinion. I say that for anyone who was wondering if they could leave it out of the recipe. It's not super cheap, was like $4 and change. But by all means, if you can't get a hold of Miso Mayo and still wanna try out the recipe, go for it. You might even be able to come up with your own fancy topping. I was so hungry, I forgot to actually try one without the mayo on top so I really don't know how they are without it. I'm no expert, but I think this recipe is fairly macrobiotic friendly. I feel so accomplished! I'm totally prepared for someone to shatter my reality in the comments section... but I'll just have my moment for now :D Oh! and I don't think I mentioned how damn delicious these are!!!!!

Turn the oven to broil. In a large skillet, heat olive oil over medium heat. Add garlic and onion. Saute for a couple minutes, until translucent. Add carrots and saute another 5 or so minutes. With a fork, mash the tofu as if you were making a scramble then add it to the veggies. Add the sesame oil and soy sauce. Saute about 10 minutes so that the tofu gets a chance to brown a bit. Toss in the rosemary and saute another 30 seconds. Spoon the mixture into the mushrooms caps and then place the mushrooms on a baking sheet. Top the caps with breadcrumbs. Broil the mushrooms about 10 minutes or until the breadcrumbs begin to brown. Mine actually looked almost burnt but it didn't effect the flavor. Finally, top with a generous drop of miso mayo. You now have the perfect appetizer or light meal! Lemme know what you think...

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The Loving Hut!

I've been wanting to start doing restaurant review posts occasionally and I'm finally doing it. Don't worry, this will remain a recipe blog, just with a very sporadic veg eating out post every once in a blue moon. Where is our first veg place? The Loving Hut



Have any of you heard of them before? Apparently, they are an international vegan chain! I'm so glad that even exists. Well, the only one I can really vouch for is the one they JUST opened in Tampa (located at: 1905 East Fletcher Avenue Tampa, FL 33612). Most of the food is Asian, but they also offer some non-traditional dishes like Spaghetti with Meatballs, a Philly Sub, Seafood Fettuccine Alfredo (yes they have vegan shrimp and I can't wait to try it) and Tofu Scramble.

It's only been open about two weeks and they are still working on their menu. I've already gone twice since Saturday. It's seriously inexpensive and the staff is so nice! They even had us try a recipe they are thinking about putting on the menu and were open to our feedback. I took some pics of the yummy food with my camera phone, so please excuse the poor quality.

Okay so what I ate...

Actually, let's talk about what I drank, an Iced Rose Cappuccino. First, it's beautiful and second, it was delicious and a flavor combo I've never had before!



We got the Golden Nuggets as a starter (YUM!)



My boyfriend got the Energy Wrap, which was a pretty standard veggie wrap, but had a nice helping of avocado which gave it a great creamy texture. Wasn't dry like wraps can often be.



I was also able to try the Philly Sub, which if you're vegan is quite out of the norm. It had a really good creamy sauce, carrots, "steak" and cilantro. That was DELICIOUS! It was pretty spicy though so beware. Usually I think I can handle spice, but this might have been a little too much for me. However, someone else I was with wasn't too bothered by the spice so... maybe I'm just a wimp



Next there was the Sweet and Sour Joy. The sauce was really nice and the "pork" was really good, I just wished there was even more of it. It was also served with peppers, pineapple and a side of white rice.



Finally... the Scrambled Tofu with potatoes, peppers and onions. You have NO IDEA how happy I am that there is FINALLY a vegan breakfast option in Tampa! I love love love love love going out for breakfast and am always jealous of my Gainesvillian friends who get to eat tempeh scramble to their hearts desire at Bagels Unlimited whenever they please. Regardless of how happy I was to have a breakfast option, it was actually pretty fantastic! The potatoes were just like home fries and the scramble had so much more flavor than I expected. Granted it's the only breakfast option and they don't actually open until 11am but I'm not complaining!



They are still planning for their grand opening, so look out for it! By the way, I would love to meet some of you. All us Tampa people should plan a big meet up for lunch or something :) Feel free to email me if you're interested in doing something like that.

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THE Carrot Dill Soup

Level of Difficulty: minimal effort
Pots/Pans Used: two

Ingredients

2 lb. carrots, sliced (about 5 cups)

1 large onion, chopped (1 cup)

1/4 cup vegan margarine

2 49-oz. cans vegetable broth

1 cup uncooked long grain white rice

1/4 cup snipped fresh dill

s&p to taste

My mom found this recipe from recipe.com and made it for one of my birthday parties a while back. My guest's reactions to it were pretty strong. One of my friends, Kyle, felt the need to hug her after taking his first sip. After that, I had friends calling her and asking me for the recipe constantly. What I'm getting at is... this soup is kind of a celebrity.

In a 6-8 quart dutch oven, cook the carrots and onion in the hot margarine until they're tender. Next add in the broth and the rice. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat and simmer covered for 45 minutes. Let it cool a little to that you can start transferring it in batches to a blender. Blend until smooth. Stir in dill and season with salt and pepper to taste. That's it!

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Sesame Lime Udon

Level of Difficulty: super simple
Pots/Pans Used: one!

Ingredients

2 packages of Udon noodles (7.22 oz each)
2 tsp garlic, minced
1 tsp fresh ginger, thinly slices
1/4 cup soy sauce
1 TBL sesame oil
1 tsp mustard
the juice of half a lime (about 1 TBL)
1/4 tsp hot sauce
1 1/2 TBL sesame seeds
olive oil

Told ya you would see some savory! I make this all the time for lunch... usually with a Gardein cutlet on the side. Although, I usually just saute the udon noodles with sesame seeds and some soy sauce. I decided to jazz it up a bit and this is what I came up with. Takes only minutes to make and ends up being a reasonably filling and healthy meal.

In a skillet, saute garlic in olive oil over medium-low heat for a few minutes. Turn up the heat and add the udon noodles, so that they can brown a little. Meanwhile, in a small bowl, combine ingredients ginger thru hot sauce and stir well. Now that the noodles have some color, pour this sauce on top of the noodles and saute for 1-2 minutes. Finally, add the sesame seeds. Serve hot or even cold! Makes 2-3 servings.

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Quick Mini CINNABUNS!

Level of Difficulty: Easier than it looks!
Pots/Pans Used: one

Ingredients

1 cup white flour
1 cup whole wheat flour
4 TBL vegan margarine
1 tsp salt
1 TBL baking powder
3/4 cup vanilla almond milk
3/4 cup brown sugar
1 TBL cinnamon
2 tsp melted margarine

Icing:
powdered sugar
vanilla almond milk

So I decided to post this a little early cause I can think of a few of my friends that have been a little blue lately and might be in need of a comforting treat. If you haven't noticed, VP has been on a pretty frequent dessert kick recently. Don't know what that's all about... Believe it or not, I haven't been eating only sweets for breakfast, lunch and dinner. Trust me, I've already got plenty of savory dishes lined up! I had a printmaking critique this morning and wanted to whip up some food for my fellow classmates. Of course, a cream cheese frosting would have been ideal in this recipe, but I didn't want to fall too off the nutritional deep end. But by all means, go for the gold!

Preheat oven to 450. In a large bowl, combine flour, salt and baking powder. Cut in the margarine and using your fingers, kind of massage the butter into the dry ingredients. Next, pour in the milk until the dough gets thick and soft. I find it's easiest to work the dough with my hands. Ball the dough up and set it on a floured surface. Roll the dough into a long rectangular shape. Brush the top with melted margarine and sprinkle the brown sugar and cinnamon on top.

From the long side, tightly roll it up. Then cut into 1 inch rolls (this recipe makes about 15 buns). Place the rolls in a greased baking dish. I found that a glass pie dish was the perfect size for me. Bake for 12-13 minutes, until puffy and golden. Meanwhile, you can start your icing. Feel free to just eyeball the icing. Start with 1/4 cup of powdered sugar and add the milk a TBL at a time until you reach your desired thickness. I prefer a thicker icing so that it really stands out. The first icing I made was too thin and you could barely tell it was there.

Before

After (bubbly goodness)


Enjoy!


 

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Chocolate Chai Cheesecake

Level of Difficulty: really easy
Pots/Pans Used: one blender!

Ingredients

2 80z containers of Tofutti Better Than Cream Cheese
1/4 block of extra firm tofu
2/3 cup agave syrup
2 tsp vanilla
2 TBL cornstarch
1/4 cup and 1 TBL chai concentrate
1 9" precooked pie crust
chocolate chips

This is another recipe from my LOST finale dinner. Someone expressed interested in me reworking my cheesecake recipe so that I could substitute the sugar. In this case, my sub is agave nectar. This cheesecake is not sugar-free because there is sugar in the cream cheese ingredients and of course chocolate chips. However, If you're looking to cut back a little this is a good recipe. Plus, you can always leave out the chocolate chips and it will still be yummy. Cheesecakes can be really fun to make because you can get creative... oreo cheesecake... tiramisu cheesecake... pumpkin cheesecake... blueberry cheesecake... I'm sure some of those are bound to be in VP's future.

Preheat oven to 350. In a blender, combine cream cheese, tofu, agave, vanilla and chai concentrate. Next, blend in the cornstarch. Make a layer of chocolate chips on the bottom of your pie crust. Then pour the blended mixture into the pie crust, on top of the chocolate chips. Bake for 45 minutes until the top is nice and golden. For best results, refrigerate it for a few hours so it can firm up. But if you can't contain yourself, give it an hour at the very least. Enjoy!

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