Thursday, March 21, 2013

BBQ pizza

mmmmmmm!
It all started innocently enough. Yesterday, at Fresh and Easy, the focaccia dough was on sale. 

If you don't have an F+E near you, then you might not know about their sale bins. They're filled with expiring, or near expiring produce, and lunch-to-go things - oftentimes reduced at more than half the price. It's worth it if you're like me, and you shop everyday (or nearly everyday). Then you find focaccia dough on sale and decide at that moment that you will have vegan pizza tomorrow. 

I've made some pretty failed vegan pizzas so far. I keep thinking they need to be like conventional pizza - with gooey cheese and one topping. I keep trying to replace that with vegan cheeses and sauce - but it hasn't worked. In fact, I can't really stand the smell or taste of the vegan cheeses. 

So I decided I would own this pizza. No cheese, no apologies.

I started with the rosemary focaccia dough. Added to it a tablespoon or so of tomato paste (I probably would have preferred tomato sauce if I had it). Added to that a tablespoon or so of BBQ sauce (Trader Joe's carries our favorite - called Bullseye). On top of that, I added a cup or so of chopped and sautéed tofu. (I cooked the tofu beforehand, just to brown the edges, with a little bit of garlic powder and onion powder). Added to that all the veggies. Red onions, green onions, broccoli (on my side), bell pepper. Then I added just a couple of chopped cashews (for a crunch), and one more drizzle of BBQ sauce. Baked the pizza at 400 for about 20 minutes, and then sprinkled fresh chopped cilantro on top.

Jefferson gave it a thumbs up, and so did I.

Vegan pizza, you are mine!

Tracy

Tuesday, March 5, 2013

GF / Vegan chocolate chip cookies



1/2 cup vegan butter (I used earth balance)
1/2 cup unfiltered cane sugar (or raw sugar, although I might have used less if it was raw sugar)
1 tbsp ground flax seed mixed with 3 tbsp water
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 tsp almond extract

mix mix mix

1 1/2 cup oatmeal + 3/4 cup walnuts ground together in food processor or blender (should look like chunky flour)
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt

mix mix mix

let sit for 15-20 minutes so the oat/nut flour can soak up the liquid (should look drier after the wait)

1/2-3/4 cup vegan chocolate chips (ghirardelli brand, or soy chocolate chips)

mix mix mix

note: if your batter still looks too wet to be cookies, add a tbsp at a time of gf flour (or reg flour, but then they won't be gf) until it looks like normal cookie dough (I had to add a tbsp).

scoop out onto greased cookie sheets and bake at 350 for 10-13 minutes.

eat. and enjoy. note: cookies will firm up after cooling, so it's okay if they don't quite look done yet when you pull them out of the oven.

thanks jessica giffen for the mix mix mix inspiration.

Sunday, March 3, 2013

february obsessions

1) my ashford sample-it loom. I got this for my birthday, and painted it orange. I've woven a few scarves so far, and it's so much easier to maneuver than my 25in schacht one is. it just sits in my lap, and I can weave away. I can't wait to get a few different sized reeds so that I can play with yarn weights.

2) steve carell's twitter feed. doesn't tweet much, but hilarious when it pops up in your feed. worth a follow.

3) trader joe's coconut milk chocolate ice cream. vegan. tastes like a wendy's frosty.

4) random stripe generator. infinite possibilities. right now I'm working on a randomly striped knitted sweater.