Thanks to a brilliant idea from Ryan, I turned our Irish Steak and Stout Stew into Shepherd’s Pie last night.  I was going to top the stew with pastry crust and make Colcannon to serve on the side.  After making the stew and mashing the potatoes Ryan asked if it would be crazy to just put them on top of the stew.

Crazy?  Yes.  Crazy awesome.

I was already so tired at that point, so not having to deal with much more cooking was very welcome.  This was much easier than what I’d planned, and even our non-vegetarian friend thought it was really tasty.  I hope you guys had a great holiday!  Did you make any fun Irish-inspired foods?

Looking at the calendar yesterday I realized that we’re a lot further into November than I’d realized.  That means Thanksgiving is just around the corner, and I’d better start figuring out what I’m going to make!

With that in mind, I thought I’d go through past posts that would be appropriate for the holiday.  Let’s start with appetizers!  (Click on the photos for the original post and recipe.)

APPETIZERS

Hot Artichoke Dip

This Hot Artichoke Dip makes a great holiday appetizer.  It’s really easy to make, so you can spend more time on everything else you’ll be cooking.  It’s also a great dish to make for skeptical non-vegans because it’s creamy, decadent and delicious!

Cheezy Crackers

Cheezy Crackers are another great choice for pre-meal snacking.  They take just a little more effort, but you can make them a day or two ahead of time.  And your guests will be so impressed that you made crackers from scratch that it will be totally worth it!

Marinated Cheeze

Another make ahead dish is this Marinated Cheeze.  It’s so tasty on crackers or crusty bread, and you won’t have to worry about any vampire attacks during your meal since you and all your guests will have plenty of garlic breath perfuming the air.

Pepper-Crusted Cashew Goat Cheese

Since we’re talking cheese (creamy and cheesy seem to be a theme with me…), I have to post my favorite vegan cheese!  This Pepper-Crusted Cashew Goat Cheese does require some advance planning, but it’s so worth it.  It’s not difficult to make, though, so don’t be intimidated by the recipe.  I can also guarantee that it’s a safe bet to serve to non-vegans.  Whenever I make this it disappears almost as fast as I can put it out.

Union Square Cafe’s Bar Nuts

And finally, one of my all-time favorite snacks, The Union Square Cafe’s Bar Nuts.  These are incredibly easy to make, can be made ahead of time and reheated, and are so incredibly tasty.  You can use whatever nuts you like best, and the herbs and seasonings are perfect for Thanksgiving.

Okay, so now that we have a few appetizer ideas, let’s move onto to soup.  Normally I don’t serve soup with my Thanksgiving meal, but I’m thinking about doing it this year.  I have my eye on a cranberry and wild rice soup that I’d like to try out, but any of the following would be perfect on your Thanksgiving table.

SOUP

Butternut Squash and Apple Soup

This soup is sweet, savory and really yummy.  The recipe is a little bit more advanced, but the end flavor is worth the time and effort.

Cauliflower Bisque with Buttered Breadcrumbs

Ummmm… bisque.  This Cauliflower Bisque with Buttered Breadcrumbs is so delicious, and as I look at that photo I’m kicking myself for not making this more often.  Again, this is something you can very confidently serve to non-vegans.

Delicata Squash Bisque

Delicata Squash Bisque is incredibly easy, and one of the best soups I’ve ever tasted.  The quality of the vegetable broth you use is important here, so make sure to use a good one!

Okay, time for the main event.  For me, Thanksgiving is about sides (and it was even when I still ate turkey).  The past couple years I’ve also made a nut roast (two different ones last year) so that it feels like there’s a “main dish.”  Here are some of my favorite sides, along with that tasty nut roast.

THE MAIN EVENT

Roasted Brussels Sprouts

Don’t let Roasted Brussels Sprouts scare you.  If you’re afraid of them or have had bad experiences in the past, you have to try cooking them this way, and I promise you’ll feel differently.  These were such a huge hit last year.  They’re another one of those easy dishes that free up your time for the more complicated ones.  And you don’t have to sacrifice any flavor.

Green Bean Casserole

This Green Bean Casserole is one of my favorite dishes.  The recipe is a little more involved, but making this classic dish from scratch is worth it.  I plan to double the recipe this year since it went so quickly last year.

Mashed Potatoes

Of course it wouldn’t be Thanksgiving without Mashed Potatoes, at least for me.  I make a giant pot of these every year, mostly so that there’s enough for me to stuff myself on them.  I mean, let’s just be honest with each other.

“Poultry” Gravy

There’s only one thing that can possibly make mashed potatoes better and that’s…”Poultry” Gravy!  This stuff is magical.  I make a huge batch in the morning and keep it warm in a crock pot.  You have to have plenty for the meal, and extra for the leftovers!

Holiday Nut Roast

The gravy is also amazing on this Holiday Nut Roast.  This is another recipe that takes a bit more work than the others, but that’s what makes it special.  What seems like a very disparate list of ingredients come together to make a perfectly textured savory and delicious roast.  It’s almost like stuffing and a main dish combined.  Definitely worth the effort.

Sweet Potato Casserole

And to transition us to dessert, here’s my favorite Thanksgiving dish – SusanV’s Sweet Potato Casserole.  This is the best sweet potato casserole I’ve ever tasted.  I love having something sweet and spicy to contrast with all the savory foods on my Thanksgiving plate.  It makes for great left-overs too.

Okay, now for the real desserts!  It’s hard to stray from the classics, which for my family were always pumpkin and apple pie.  I was never a huge pumpkin pie fan (although I bet I’d feel differently now), but pumpkin cheesecake is something I can definitely get behind.

DESSERTS!

Pumpkin Patch Cheesecake

This version is creamy, delicious and perfectly pumpkin-y.  It’s also much easier to make than you’d expect.

Easy Refrigerator Cheesecake

If you’re looking for something even easier, this (almost) no-bake cheesecake has you covered.  You do have to bake the crust of this Easy Refrigerator Cheesecake, but it’s still one of the easiest dessert options out there.  It’s almost like pumpkin mousse, and it will definitely impress your non-vegan guests.

Frangipane Pear Crostata

If you want to skip the pumpkin all-together, you could make this Frangipane Pear Crostata.  It takes just a bit more effort than the cheesecakes, but it’s an elegant dessert that’s not too sweet, making it the perfect finale for a rich Thanksgiving meal.

German Apple Cake

While I’m not a huge apple pie fan, I love apple cake!  If you want to switch things up this year you could make this German Apple Cake in place of the pie.

Chocolate Chip Date Cake

Now, I know it isn’t traditional, but this Chocolate Chip Bundt Cake is one of my all-time favorite desserts.  It’s simply delicious.  The flavor and texture are awesome, and it bridges the gap between Thanksgiving and the winter holiday season to come.  You could even make mini-bundts like Jenn over at Cookin’ Vegan.

Hopefully these recipes will help get you started on your vegan Thanksgiving menu, or maybe if you’re not vegan they’ll give you an idea of something to serve your vegan or vegetarian guests.  Now I just need to figure out what my menu is going to be.  What are you guys planning to make for Thanksgiving this year?

Our friends Shawn and Alix hosted their Fourth Annual Halloween Horror Movie Marathon over the weekend, and I made these spooky Witches’ Finger cookies to bring along.  We were both pretty beat (Ryan spent the entire day painting the nursery, and I’m just generally beat these days), but we were able to stay for one movie.  I always wish we could stay longer though.  Maybe we’ll bring the baby next year and just charge though the whole night!

I originally found this recipe last year but never got around to making it.  I’m so glad I came across it again because these were perfect for the movie marathon – they looked totally gross and spooky, but they were really tasty.  And the movie we watched was also totally gross.  Tons of bugs and squirmy larvae.  Ewwwwwww…

I only made a couple changes to the recipe, which I’ll share below.  These are basically almond flavored sugar cookies, and they reminded me of the spritz cookies my Mom used to make every Christmas that I so love.  They’re also easy to make, and would probably be really fun to make with kids.  Not that I have kids on the mind or anything…

Spooky Witches’ Fingers

6 ounces vegan butter, softened
1 cup vegan confectioners’ sugar, sifted
1 tablespoon ground flax seed mixed with 3 tablespoons hot water, or use egg replacer for 1 egg (I used Ener-G egg replacer)
1 teaspoon almond extract
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 tablespoon unsweetened almond milk
2 2/3 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup whole, blanched almonds

In a small bowl, combine the flour, baking powder and salt.  Set aside.

Cream the butter and sugar together.  Add the egg replacer, extracts and almond milk (or other non-dairy milk). Mix until combined.  Add the dry ingredients and mix until the dough comes together.  If the dough is particularly dry, you can add another tablespoon of non-dairy milk.

Chill the dough for at least 30 minutes.  Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F.

As for shaping the dough, I can’t explain it better than Samantha did, so check our her photo directions.  One thing to keep in mind is that the cookies do puff up a bit when cooked, so roll them thinner than you think they need to be.  I would suggest using an ounce of dough or less per cookie.

Bake the cookies for about 20 minutes, or until they’re barely golden, turning the tray halfway through the cooking time.  Let the cookies cool and if you’re feeling particularly evil, remove the almonds and put some jam or red decorator gel under the “nails” before replacing the almonds.  You could also try dusting these with cocoa powder to make them extra yucky looking.

Hope you guys have a Happy Halloween!

Fourth of July weekend brings back so many great memories of spending time with friends and family, hanging out in the pool and stuffing myself silly on my Mom’s amazing lemon bars (although of course now I make a vegan version).

My sister and I used to make cakes frosted with whipped topping and decorated with a flag of strawberries and blueberries.  This year I’m doing a variation of that classic patriotic dessert – this time in the from of a cookie pizza!

This recipe is very adaptable – for example, if you have a sugar cookie recipe that you love, use that instead of the crust recipe (which is a variation of the shortbread crust from My Favorite Peach Tart).  You could also use buttercream instead of the cream cheese topping, and you can adjust the amount of sugar based on the fruits you use.  Since strawberries or peaches are sweeter than blueberries and raspberries, for example, you might not need as sweet of a topping.

Patriotic Cookie Pizza

for the crust

2 ounces non-hydrogenated vegetable shortening
2.5 ounces non-dairy non-hydrogenated margarine
2/3 cup organic evaporated cane juice
1 tablespoon EnerG egg replacer powder
1/4 cup warm water
1 3/4 cups organic all-purpose flour

for the topping

1 8-ounce container non-dairy cream cheese
1 cup organic powdered sugar, sifted
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 pint blueberries
1 pint raspberries

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.  Grease an 8-, 9- or 10-inch cake pan, and line with parchment.  (The smaller your pan, the thicker your cookie base will be.  I used an 8-inch cake pan.)

To make the crust, cream the shortening on its own with a hand mixer, or in the bowl of a stand mixer.  Add the margarine, and blend the two together.  Scrape the sides of the bowl, and add the sugar.  Cream the mixture.

Add the warm water to the egg replacer, and mix well.  Add this to the creamed sugar and fats.  Mix until everything is well incorporated, scraping the sides as you go.

Add the flour to the mixing bowl, and mix on low until almost all of the flour is incorporated.  Scrape the sides of the bowl again, and mix in the rest of the flour by hand.

Dump the dough into your prepared pan, and spread it out with damp hands.  Use an offset spatula to smooth and even out the top of the dough.

Bake for about 20-30 minutes or until the cookie is set and the edges are barely beginning to brown.  Let cool completely, and remove from pan.

To make the filling, beat the cream cheese, sugar and vanilla together until smooth.  Spread the mixture over the cookie base, and decorate with the berries (or your fruit of choice).  Store the pizza cookie in the refrigerator.  Enjoy!

Notes: You could also use a spring-form pan, or a tart pan to bake the base.  Depending on the size of your base, you may have extra toppings (both fruit and cream cheese mixture).  The extra sweetened cream cheese makes a great fruit dip!

Happy 4th of July!  Hope you all have a great holiday weekend!

I have fond Easter memories of pastel “grass”-packed baskets brimming with yummy sweet treats, hours of playing with my cousins (some of the time spent swapping said treats), and a huge meal with the whole family to cap the day off.  Since Ryan and I don’t have any family here in LA, Easter isn’t what it used to be.  And even though it’s been a long time since I’ve had an Easter basket, I still love my sweets!

Peanut Butter Cups are one of my all-time favorite candies, but I rarely make them.  Part of the reason for that is the fact that they’re a little time-consuming, and – I’ll be honest – kind of a pain in the butt.  Usually I’m telling you about how much I love easy recipes, and while these aren’t necessarily hard to make, they’re definitely a little bit fussy.  So I can’t tell you guys that these are ready in no time at all, but I can tell you that they’re so worth the time it takes to make them!

I looked for recipes online for inspiration, and then I kind of made this up as I went.  Depending on the chocolate that you use, you may find that you need to add a bit more sugar to the filling.  Also, I used too much cocoa butter when I made these, so even though the chocolate was really silky and creamy in the finished cups, it was a little harder to work with while it was melted because it was so fluid.

I didn’t have quite enough PB filling for this amount of chocolate, but I also filled my cups pretty high.  (I’d recommend leaving the top of your paper cup uncovered so that it’s easier to remove the candy from the lining.)  And if you find that you don’t have enough filling, you can always double the recipe.

Since I still have some of these leftover in the freezer, I probably won’t be making them anytime soon.  When I do get around to it, I’ll make sure to update the recipe for you guys.  In the meantime, here’s the recipe I used this time around, but with the cocoa butter adjusted so that the chocolate will hopefully be easier for you to work with.  And if you don’t have cocoa butter, you can just omit it all together.

Mini Peanut Butter Cups

2 cups chopped bittersweet chocolate
2 tablespoons cocoa butter
1 cup all-natural peanut butter
1/2 cup + 2 tablespoons organic powdered sugar, sifted
2 teaspoons vanilla

Melt the chocolate and cocoa butter together in a metal pan set on top of a pot of simmering water (or in a double boiler).

While the chocolate is melting, prepare the filling by mixing together the peanut butter, powdered sugar and vanilla extract.

Once the chocolate is melted, spread a small amount in a mini paper muffin liner, and spread it up the sides with a small spoon.  Chill the coated cups until the chocolate is set.

Once the chocolate has hardened, put about a teaspoon of filling into each cup, and smooth it out a bit with the back of a spoon or your finger.  Top the peanut butter filling with melted chocolate, and chill the cups again until the chocolate is set.

You can store these in the fridge or freezer so they’ll last longer, but that’s if you can manage to not eat them all at once!

I couldn’t get eggs and asparagus out of my head when I was thinking about what to make for Easter this year, so I decided to bring both together in these tasty little Easter-inspired Tofu Egg Salad Crescent Cups.

What really sets these apart is an ingredient that I learned about from vegan goddess Isa Chandra Moskowitz in her book, Vegan Brunch.  She uses Indian Black Salt, also known as Kala Namak, to impart an “eggy” flavor to tofu-based faux-egg dishes.  The salt has a sulfuric flavor that’s reminiscent of a hard-boiled egg yolk, and it’s fantastic in vegan “egg” dishes.

I actually used Isa’s recipe for “Tofu Dill Salad Sammiches” from Vegan With A Vengeance for these Crescent Cups (it’s one of my favorites), but with a couple of very minor changes.  I only had dried dill on hand, so I used that instead of fresh.  I also subbed yellow mustard for Dijon, and of course I used black salt in place of regular salt.  If you don’t have Vegan With A Vengeance, I can’t recommend it enough!

To prep the asparagus I brought a small pot of water to a boil (though you could steam them if you prefer), and added just the tips of a small bunch of spears to the salted water until they turned bright green.  It only takes a couple minutes, so be sure to watch them.  You definitely don’t want to overcook these!

I was thinking of serving everything up in some kind of puff pastry concoction, but then I got the idea for making Crescent cups off the Pillsbury website.  (Pillsbury Crescent Rolls are “accidentally vegan”, though they have so many different kinds now that you’ll want to make sure to check the ingredient list.)  You just roll the crescent dough out, cut small squares, and bake them in a greased mini-muffin tin according to the package directions.  If you’d rather not use crescent rolls you could just serve these up as little tea sandwiches instead.

Don’t save these yummy bites just for the holiday, as they’d be perfect on any Spring brunch table.  If tofu egg salad isn’t your thing you could just swap it out for another filling.  Oooo, now I’m thinking about Pizza Crescent Cups.  Might have to get on that…

It’s been a long, long time since I’ve had a McDonald’s shamrock shake (or McDonald’s for that matter…), so I should write a disclaimer that this shake won’t taste exactly like the fast food version – it’s better!  Adding some booze makes it an “adult” shake, and a perfect treat for the holiday.

This shake is really easy to make, and you can adjust the amounts of all the ingredients to your liking.  I just added a bit of this and a bit of that as I went along, so this recipe makes a lot – probably enough for two pint glasses worth.  When I recover from this batch I’ll make it again so that I can write out some more exact measurements for you guys.

“Adult” Shamrock Shake

about 5 scoops Mint Marble Fudge non-dairy ice cream (see Notes)
1 1/2 – 2 cups ice cubes
1/2 cup vanilla soy milk
1/4 cup Creme de Cacao
1/4 + 1 – 2 tablespoons Creme de Menthe

Add all the ingredients to the blender and turn that sucker on!  Blend it up, and serve immediately.

Notes: If you can only get a hold of vanilla non-dairy ice cream, just add a bit of chocolate syrup to taste, and a bit of mint extract if the Creme de Menthe doesn’t provide enough mint flavor on its own.

It’s probably not surprising to hear that I loved Bailey’s Irish Cream in my non-vegan days.  I’ve seen recipes for vegan Bailey’s online now and then, and with St. Patrick’s day almost here I finally had the perfect excuse to whip some up.  Once I did I was kind of kicking myself, because it was so ridiculously easy to make.

Although I guess it’s good that I’m just finding out now, because if I’d known all these years that some vegan Bailey’s was just a mix and a shake away, I’d have been guzzling a lot more than the daily recommended amount.  (And nutritionally speaking, I’m sure the recommended amount is zero.)

I have fond memories of drinking Bailey’s on the rocks at theatres back when I was studying in London. Almost all the theatres there had incredibly cheap day-of tickets for students, so we tried to take advantage of those tickets as often as possible.  Every now and then I would treat myself to a Bailey’s on the rocks, and I would enjoy every last drop of that sweet, creamy booze!  Side note – In addition to full bars in most of the theatres, including movie theatres, they also sold ice cream treats during intermission (or at least they used to when I lived there).  It was awesome.

Okay, enough reminiscing… you guys need to get your vegan Irish Cream on!  I found this recipe on VegWeb, but halved it so that I could save some of the hazelnut creamer for another recipe.  I thought the whiskey was just a touch strong (which isn’t a bad thing, but it just didn’t taste as much like the Bailey’s I remembered), so I reduced it just a tiny bit.  Feel free to add more or less to taste.

Vegan Irish Cream

1 cup hazelnut soy creamer
1/4 cup plus 1 tablespoon Irish whiskey (I used Bushmills, but you could also use Jameson)
1 1/2 tablespoons chocolate syrup

In a clean jar or bottle, combine ingredients together and shake until everything is mixed.  You can store this in the refrigerator, but you’ll need to shake it each time before pouring.

Notes: If you can’t find hazelnut soy creamer, don’t despair!  You can use plain or vanilla flavored creamer and just add some hazelnut flavored syrup or extract.  And though I haven’t tried it, I’m sure this would also be great without the hazelnut flavor.  You could try adding some vanilla extract instead.

Let’s start with some vegan Irish sausages, soda bread and colcannon that I made for St. Patrick’s day a couple years ago.  It was my first time making homemade vegan sausages and soda bread, and both were actually much easier to make than I’d anticipated.  The sausages might seem complicated, but don’t be intimidated – they’re definitely worth the effort!

Colcannon is something I make pretty often – it’s one of my favorite dishes and one that I don’t just reserve for St. Paddy’s day.  It’s also a great way to get vege-phobes to eat some greens, because mashed potatoes make everything taste great!

Last year I made this Irish “Steak” and Stout Stew, and I’ve made it many times since last St. Patrick’s day.  I’ve served it to meat eaters on more than one occasion, to rave reviews.  It’s a really tasty all-purpose “beef” stew.  You could serve this with soda bread, in puff pastry (as shown) or with a nice loaf of crusty bread.

This Irish Whiskey Cake may look plain, but it’s deceptively delicious.  Just seeing the picture makes me salivate…  I really need to make this more often!

I’m more of a cake than frosting girl, so I like this one as is, but you could get fancy and layer this with some vanilla or Irish Creme-flavored frosting.  It’s also perfect with a simple dusting of powdered sugar, and it couldn’t be easier to make.

What’s on your St. Patrick’s Day menu this year?

In honor of the holiday I wanted to post these heart-shaped linzer sandwich cookies that I made for the Animal Acres Valentine’s Bake Sale yesterday.  I’ve been wanting to test this recipe out for a while now, and the bake sale gave me the perfect excuse to try them out.

These were really tasty – just the right amount of sweetness from the raspberry jam and powdered sugar.  They also had a light spiciness and great flavor from the almond meal.  I’m going to wait to post the recipe until I can tweak it just a bit though, so stay tuned.  I just want to streamline it so that it reads more clearly for you guys.

Ryan’s parents were in town over the weekend, and since they’re animal lovers and were also loving the amazing weather we had over the weekend, we headed up to Acton to soak up some sunshine and hang out with the farm animals.  We weren’t the only ones enjoying the beautiful day, as you can see in the photo above.

Looks pretty heavenly to me.  Check out the smiles on those faces!  We were also able to pet the cows, turkeys, chickens, goats and burros.  Here’s a shot of Ryan’s dad petting the burros – I think this one is Pinto?

It was a really fun day, and I think that Ryan’s parents enjoyed interacting with all of the animals.  As hard as it can be to hear what some of these animals have been through (which of course reminds you of what animals just like them endure), it’s wonderful to see them happily interacting with visitors and just enjoying life.

While Ryan and I aren’t very into Valentine’s Day (though I do love a good excuse to cook and bake, of course), we were both so grateful to be able to spend the weekend with loved ones.  We don’t get to see our families as often as we’d like to, so any time we get with them is really special to us.  I hope you all have a great Valentine’s Day and are able to spend some quality time with the people you love!