ChocoBerry Cake

Like I wasn't enough of a glutton for desserts before, now I live with my sister-in-law who begs me to make cake practically every weekend. So sometimes I do. Like this:

Ingredients:

• 1 1/4 cups Earth Balance Margarine
• 1 cup water
• 3/4 cups sugar
• 1/4 cup cocoa powder
• 6 oz. semi-sweet chocolate, broken into chunks
• 1 3/4 cups flour
• 1 tsp. baking soda
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1 tsp salt
• 2 tsp vanilla extract

Step One: Chocolatize. In a double boiler over medium (or saucepan over low) heat, combine the butter and water, stir until the butter melts. Add the sugar and the cocoa and cook, stirring constantly, until they both dissolve. (About 10-15 minutes over boiling water.) Add the chocolate chunks and stir until melted, then remove from heat and let cool to room temperature.

Step Two: Batter up. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees Farenheit, make sure the oven rack is in the middle of the oven. In a medium-large bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt. Slowly stir in the chocolate mixture and stir until the batter is smooth. Add vanilla extract.

Step Three: Completely baked. Butter and flour an 8-inch cake pan and line the bottom with a circle of wax paper. Using a circle of wax paper on the bottom of the cake pan is an irreplaceable step. It rocks. I sprinkled a little brown sugar down there, too, for funnsies. Pour in batter and tap the pan a few times against the counter to break up any air bubbles and make sure the batter distributes evenly. Bake at 375 for about 30 minutes or until a knife inserted in the center comes out clean.

Top your cake however you like. Here's what I did:

Strawberry Frosting
Ingredients:

• 1 1/2 tbsp. Earth Balance margarine
• One cup frozen strawberries
• 1 1/2 cup powdered sugar

Step One: Strawberry. Thaw out the strawberries (I ran them under hot water) until mushy. Squeeze out strawberry juice using a cheesecloth. Add strawberry juice to butter.

Step Two: Frosting. Add powdered sugar to the strawberry butter mixture until you reach desired consistency.

Then I sliced a bunch of strawberries and arranged them on top. I had fresh blueberries lying around so I tossed some of them on there. It made for a messy but very yummy cake.


No cake for puppies.

Vegan Sausages

Here it is, my recipe for bulgur wheat sausages! Making your own vegan sausages is definitely cheaper than buying the frozen ones —and it's very, very yummy. Play with the spices how you like, this combo has been working for me.

Ingredients:

• 1 1/2 cups bulgur wheat
• 2 cups water
• 1 cup vegetable broth
• 1 1/2 tsp crushed red pepper
• 1/8 tsp paprika
• 1/2 tsp dried basil
• 1/2 tsp dried oregano
• 1/4 cup nutritional yeast
• 1/4 cup gluten
• 2 tbsp soy sauce
• 2-4 tbsp. olive oil
  

This recipe makes about 14 sausages, they can be kept in the freezer and reheated at your convenience. To reheat, just microwave for one minute per sausage.

Step One: Cook the bulgur. Combine the raw bulgur wheat, water and vegetable broth in a saucepan. Bring it to a boil over medium-high heat, put a lid on it and lower it to a simmer for 20 minutes. Remove from heat but keep the lid on the pot for another 10 minutes.

Step Two: Mix it all together. Fluff your bulgur with a fork. You'll need to shape the patties with your hands so let it cool down to about room temperature. Add the spices, nutritional yeast, gluten and soy sauce and stir well. Like other recipes using gluten, stirring it impacts the consistency. Using a good wooden spoon or your hands, mix it well for a few minutes.

Step Three: Fry. Coat a flat skillet in olive oil and put over medium-high heat. Scoop up the bulgur mixture with a 1/4 cup scoop and press them into smooth patties with your hands. Fry for about 3-5 minutes on each side.

Step Four: Enjoy. To keep in the freezer, layer the patties in between sheets of wax paper in plastic bags or containers. Let them cool before you slip them in the freezer, mine get stuck together otherwise.

And, I realize my seitan post was sans Charlie, so here's an extra-cute picture of our little man:

Hail seitan!

One of the weirdest questions I get as a vegan is: what do you eat?
...
Well, lots of things. People seem to think that a meal can't possibly be satisfying if it doesn't have some sort of "meat-like" centerpiece. That's ridiculous.
There's also a school of vegetarians and vegans who insist you're not truly vegetarian (or vegan) unless you really eat only vegetables. And meat and dairy substitutes are cheating or something.
Well, welcome to the 21st Century, folks. I frequently tell disbelievers: anything you can make, I can make vegan —deliciously. And it's true.So it came to be that I found seitan. A more safe-sounding name: wheatmeat. Seitan is made from vital wheat gluten. It's very high-protein and low in everything else. Since gluten itself is essentially flavorless, you can flavor it like anything. So be creative with your seasonings. I've added fresh herbs and replaced some of my veggie broth/soy sauce mix with tomato sauce with great success. Just make sure your proportions are right. Today I'm boiling my seitan, it makes a nice, soft wheatmeat that slices like chicken and fits perfectly into stir-fries, soups, pretty much anything you can imagine.

Ingredients:

• 1 1/4 cup vital wheat gluten
• 1/4 cup nutritional yeast
• 1 tsp crushed red pepper
• 1/2 tsp paprika
• 1/2 tsp celery salt
• 1 tsp garlic powder
• 2 tbsp soy sauce (I recently got a big bottle of dark soy sauce, so my seitan might look a little darker than yours.)
  
• 1 cup veggie broth

Preemptive step: Put a big pot of water on to boil. The seitan will increase in volume, so make sure it's a nice big pot. You can season this with soy sauce, veggie broth, herbs, ginger —whatever you like to add more flavor (carrots and celery work well, even just the "throw away" parts).
Step One: Mix your dry ingredients. In a bowl, mix together the gluten with your nutritional yeast and spices or herbs.
Step Two: Add wet ingredients. Heat the soy sauce and veggie broth just a little, get them warm but not hot. Add the veggie broth mix to the gluten mix and stir it up. You may have to use your hands as it gets rather doughy.
Step Three: Knead and rest. Knead the mixture for 10-15 minutes. Seitan shapes up faster than most bread, so as you knead you can tell the consistency is becoming more cohesive and smooth. After kneading, the seitan should become a nice smooth ball. Divide your seitan into several pieces (use a bread knife to slice it if it's difficult to tear) and let it rest for about 15 minutes.
Step Four: Boil. The water should be close to boiling by now so slip your seitan pieces in and let the water come to a boil. Boil the seitan over medium-high heat for about 1 1/2 hours. When it's ready, the seitan will float on the surface of the water and be doubled in size. Store it in water + a splash of soy sauce in a plastic container —it keeps for about a week in the fridge. Use it however you like.