Light and Fluffy Vegan Lemon Pancakes

I have been meaning to post this recipe for some time now. I am a pancake junkie. I threw a two hour tantrum once because we could not find an IHOP on our way home from vacation. Once of the first things I looked into when I became vegan was pancake recipes. I was delighted to find that there were countless variations and my Saturday morning pancake ritual continued without a hitch. However, I quickly learned that vegan pancakes are dense and sometimes funky tasting. I tried different binders since I couldn't use eggs.... I tried adding more liquid than called for.....I tried drowning them in pure maple syrup...nothing really helped. Then, I found this recipe and all is right with the world again. These pancakes float and have a light lovely lemon taste. I was worried that the lemon might interfere with some toppings but so far I have found it to complement about anything. Try it with homemade blueberry sauce or strawberries. I love it with sliced bananas and agave nectar. Hope you like these as much as I do.

You will need:

Wet ingredients
1 cup of soy or almond milk
1/4 tsp vanilla extract
2 tsp oil
1 Tbsp lemon juice AND 1 tsp fresh zest

Dry Ingredients
1 cup PLUS 1 Tbsp Flour (I use half white/half whole wheat pastry flour)
4 tsp baking powder
2 tsp sugar
1/4 tsp salt
dash of cinnamon

Egg replacers: 1 mashed banana OR 1/4 cup applesauce OR 1 tsp flax seeds (I used flax seeds)
For pan: Additional oil



 Directions:

Add flour, baking powder, sugar, salt and cinnamon to a medium to large size bowl. Stir together.

Add soy or almond milk, vanilla extract, and oil to dry ingredients. Fold well.

 Add lemon juice and zest, as well as egg replacer.

 

 Heat up your pan on the stove. While it is heating, whip the batter as it becomes fluffy from the acid combining with the baking powder.
 

 Add a small slash of oil to the pan and then add a 1/2 cup or so of batter and allow it to spread. Allow the pancake to slowly cook. When the edges are obviously formed, flip the pancake.

Let it cook on this side for about another minute or two. Most of the cooking is done before you flip the first time. 

Lather, er, I mean apply butter (I use Earth Balance) and whatever topping you can dream up.

Let me know if any of you try this recipe! Tell me what you think!

Bruschetta

My garden is looking a bit sad. There are still plenty of tomatoes on the vine and the basil looks pretty robust but you can tell it is also nearing the end. I decided to do one last harvest of tomatoes before getting the garden ready for winter. Anytime I have a basket full of tomatoes and basil, I think of two things: Margherita pizza or bruschetta. I was feeling a bit lazy and nothing is easier than bruschetta, so that is what I made. I am always trying different variations of this recipe but it almost seems the simpler you make, the better it is. The only thing I would change in the following adaptation is the amount of balsamic vinegar I put in….it was a bit too vinegary for my taste. 

    Compile all of the ingredients beforehand. You will need:
- salt and pepper
- pint of cherry tomatoes
- 1 Tbsp of Balsamic vinegar
- butter
- olive oil
- Garlic, 4 cloves
- Basil (preferably fresh) about 15 leaves.
- Bread (I usually use a French loaf but I had this sesame seed bread on hand)

 Add 1 Tbsp of olive oil to a small pan

      Add 4 cloves of minced garlic to the oil and sauté for approximately one minute, until golden brown. Once brown, place the oil and garlic in a bowl to cool.

       Slice all of the cherry tomatoes in half. Instead of cutting them one by one, I found a tip online that instructs you to grab two lids (as shown in picture above), place a handful of cherry tomatoes on one lid and set the second lid on top of the cherry tomatoes. Using gentle pressure on the top lid, slice through the cherry tomatoes (See picture below). Continue with this until you are finished slicing tomatoes.

      Place all the tomatoes in a large bowl. Add up to 1 Tbsp of balsamic vinegar. 

      Chiffonade the basil leaves and add to the bowl.   Add salt and pepper to taste.

    Add cooled olive oil and garlic to bowl. Set aside to marinate while you prepare the bread.

      Heat a skillet or griddle up on the stove.   Butter both sides of a piece of bread. Place bread on heated pan and flip when browned.

      When the bread is finished, place it on a plate and top with generous helping of tomato/basil mixture.

     Serve immediately.

Food Curiousities

I came across a list of food items that I have been meaning to try now for the past year or two. Not sure why it has taken me so long to get through the list of 50 things but at last count I had tried only 14. Probably because food is so darn expensive and who wants to spend 5.99 on something called Seitan if it tastes like a mix of bologna and hominy. So, here it is! Let me know if any of you have tried something on this list and found it to be inedible.

Broccoli Rabe
Fennel
Leeks
Parsnips
Bulgur
Kasha
Millet
Farro
Spelt
Daiya Cheese
Vegan Parmesan
Hemp Milk
NOW Nutritional Yeast Flakes - (Boy that just sounds so appetizing - WHO are their marketing people?)
Fava Beans
Glenny's Brown Rice Marshmallow Treats
Tofurky Cheese Pizza
Brown Rice Syrup

Some of the things I had tried on the list were:

Eggplant - eh.
Plantain - eh.
Pine Nuts - piney.
Vegenaise - This was alright but it went moldy REAL fast.
Nosaya Tofu - good.
Coconut milk ice cream - eh. AND EXPENSIVE
Ginger Chews - These were spicy and I wanted sweet. Boo.
Van's Waffles - eh.

Happy Weekend to all of you! Hope you have great plans as the summer winds down!

Vegan Chocolate Mousse

This recipe is divine! I am not sure where I found it so I am afraid I cannot give credit where credit is due but I sending out awesome vibes to the one who whipped this up first.

Chocolate Mousse
Yield: 6 servings

1 c. semisweet or nondairy chocolate chips (I used Ghiradelli)
12 ounces silken tofu (soft or firm)
1/2 c. nondairy milk
1/2 tsp vanilla

Place the chocolate chips in a microwave-safe bowl and microwave for 1 minute. Give the chips a stir and heat for another minute. They should be melted at this point.

Lick the spoon. For real. It is mandatory.

Pour the tofu into a blender or food processor. Add the melted chocolate, nondairy milk, and vanilla.

Process until completely smooth. Scrape down the sides, if necessary.

Chill the mixture in serving bowls for at least one hour before serving.

Delicious!

Basil Overload

I have just recently started using herbs. I mean, sure I would add a tad of oregano or cinnamon when a recipe called for it, but if said recipe asked for thyme or curry.....I would just skip it. Surely it couldn't be that important, right? Yeah. I know. I wonder about myself sometimes too.

Now since I actually like my food to have a bit of flavor, I decided to plant some basil in my garden this year. I have learned two things. 1.) Basil is really easy to grow. 2) One basil plant is enough to feed three families.

I have more basil than I know what to do with. I started adding it to almost every recipe since I "thought" it would go unnoticed but after adding it to some meatloaf, Jake caught on. "Why does this taste like salad?", he asked. Salad? For the record, it DID NOT taste like salad but then again, I can count the number of times my man has eaten a salad on one hand. So, maybe to him it did. Anyway, I digress.

I have decided to just freeze some of this basil for future use. After reading a few tutorials online, I found it is super easy to do.

Step 1. Gather up some basil leaves. I have used around 20-25 leaves here.





Step 2. After rinsing them off, stack them into a pile. Using a large chef's knife, chop the basil finely.







Step 3. Place the basil in a bowl. Add 1 tsp of olive oil to the herb and mix well.

 Step 4. Place the oil and herb mix into a freezer bag and spread out the herb so it will lay flat in the freezer.

 

Whenever you need some fresh basil, break off however much you will need and re-freeze the rest.

Easy Peasy!

P.S. - Please bear with me as I learn to take better blog pictures. Thanks!

Avoid Eating the Mini Mart Hotdog!

We are traveling to Michigan next week and I have been trying to think of healthy and easily transported snacks to take with us. While we all love a little candy and chips now and then, I do not want to be stuck in a car with two teens, a 10 year old boy, and a semi-aggressive 4 year old on sugar highs. So I have come up with a list of tasty and healthy fare!

Homemade Energy Bars - I am a huge fan of Larabar and these remind me of that delish treat!

Cut-up carrots and celery with travel sized peanut butter

Fresh Fruit

Ziploc bags of cereal, like Multigrain Cheerios or Muesli

Hummus and veggies and/or pita

Healthy Blueberry Muffins - Not so healthy when you eat three, but I am working on that.

Popcorn - I love Popcorn, Indiana brand!

Organic/low sugar Fruit Snacks

Nuts/Seeds

Pretzels

Cheese Sticks


What are some of your favorite travel foods??