Vegan French Toast and making tempeh

I used the French Toast recipe from Power Plates by Gena Hamshaw of the Full Helping blog. The toast has a similar texture to egg based French toast by using non-dairy milk, chickpea flour, cornstarch, and nutritional yeast.

My sister bought me the cookbook for my birthday last year and I really really like the recipes in it. Hamshaw is a dietitian and creates well rounded recipes using whole food ingredients. Some of them are a bit involved, but all the recipes that I've tried have been tasty.

For Christmas, my husband bought me a book on fermenting miso, tempeh, natto, and other ferments. We also picked up a bread proofing box for keeping the ferments at the correct temperature (and proofing bread!). We started off with the tempeh recipe. I tried making tempeh in the Instant Pot a few months ago, but it never formed into the cake and I didn't try again. Using 2 cups of soybeans (and laboriously taking off the hulls), we were able to make two tempeh cakes and it is the best tempeh that I have ever had. It is nutty deliciousness and makes me want to actively eat tempeh, rather than "yeah, sure I'll have some tempeh bacon".

We've just been sauteing up slices of the first tempeh cake to taste it without much adornment. For the second one, I'll probably try the tempeh in a Gado Gado salad. When we lived in Philly we loved going to Hardena for Indonesian food and, as expected, they did fantastic things with tempeh that I now want to copy.

Breakfast Board

I started eating what I call breakfast boards when I visited Svalbard, Norway for work a few years ago. At the hotels they had Pickled breakfast buffets - pickled fish, pickled onions, pickled pickles, brown cheese, soft-boiled eggs and I loved making myself a plate with everything I could eat.

The last time my husband and I visited Portland, we went to Broder and I was so happy to have something so similar to my Svalbard memory. Over Christmas, we went to Berlin, Germany and had breakfast at Cafe Marx where they had a delicious vegetarian breakfast board (if a bit salty, but all German food is too salty to me). It was time to make a breakfast board at home.



You can use a variety of vegetables/dips for your board, this is just what I had on hand today.
Ingredients
hummus
pear
avocado
sprouts
bell pepper
carrots
bread and butter pickles
toast points with homemade bread


Notes
I love being able to put together different food bites during my breakfast to get a variety of flavours and textures.

What I ate Wednesday

I thought I would document what I ate today, for funsies.

Breakfast, part 1: Strawberry, banana, raspberry, almond smoothie

After drinking my smoothie, right as I was getting up to school, I could feel my blood sugar drop and I needed something a bit more substantial to eat.

Breakfast, part 2: Everything bagel with hummus and sriracha

Lunch, after eating some dill pickle chips and pumpkin ice cream (not shown)

Carrot sticks, cashews, almonds, hazelnuts, banana chips, pear, chocolate, mini bell peppers stuffed with cashew cheese

Dinner: Rice noodles, broccoli, tofu, peanut sauce

Notes
This is a typical day of food I eat. I also had some Teeccino Chai herbal coffee today and of course a lot of water.

Biscuits and Tempeh Gravy

I have talked about tempeh gravy previously, on my old blog, but I made some biscuits and gravy this weekend, so I thought I would share.




Ingredients
Drop Biscuits Adapted from Table for Two
1 C flour
2 t baking powder
1/4 t salt
1/2 cup coconut creamer
1.5 T olive oil

Tempeh Crumbles Adapted from Vegan with a Vengeance
4 oz tempeh
1 T soy sauce/tamari
1 t better than boullion paste
1 T maple syrup
1 T olive oil
1 t fennel seeds
1 t coriander seeds
2 t dry sage
2 t dry basil
2 t chipotle powder

Gravy
1 T olive oil
1 T flour
1 C water

Method
Drop Biscuits
Preheat oven to 425F. Mix together the dry ingredients. Separately, mix together the wet ingredients. Add the wet to the dry and mix briefly to just combine. Do not over mix.

On a greased sheet, drop 6 equal portions of biscuits (about 1/4 cup each). Cook for 12 - 15 minutes until brown. Remove from pan and cool on a wire rack.

Tempeh Crumbles
Crumble tempeh in a small sauce pan. Top with all the other ingredients and add enough water to just cover the tempeh. Turn the heat to medium high and allow the mixture to boil. Stir occasionally, so the tempeh doesn't stick to the bottom of the pan. Continue to simmer until the liquid is mostly absorbed by the tempeh. Remove from heat and set aside.

Gravy
Heat the olive oil over medium heat in a sauce pan. When it is hot, add the flour and whisk until the flour has absorbed the oil and it has cooked out some of the raw flour flavor. Slowly, and continue whisking, add the liquid to the pan. Turn the heat up high, whisking continuously, until the mixture begins to thicken. Allow to cook to desired thickness. Add the tempeh crumbles to the gravy and stir to combine.

Either leave the biscuits whole or crumble them up on your plate and top with gravy. Serve with grapefruit on the side and garnish with fresh rosemary.

Notes
This was delicious. I make it every so often and the gravy came out super duper well this time. When my husband was done eating his share, he licked his plate clean and started eating off of my plate!

Crepes!

My husband made crepes one weekend morning. We even bought a flat round cast iron griddle to use to make crepes.



Ingredients
Crepes
mushroom/onion/garlic mixture
nutella
cherries

Notes
Oh man, these were really filling and super tasty. I would make these again. So great.

Breakfast for dinner

We needed to use up some homemade bread, so I thought French toast would be the perfect dish. We also had some horribly out of season blue berries that were nearing the end of their life as well, I added them to the mix. Then some potatoes and kale called out to me. As well as the nutritional yeast in my pantry. They all got to come to the party in my belly.





Ingredients
bread
almond milk

blueberries
soy yogurt

yukon gold potatoes
kale
onion
garlic

Cheezy Sauce

Method
Put the almond milk in a pie dish and soak the bread in it until it is nearly soggy, but not falling apart. In a cast iron pan over medium heat, cook the French toast until brown on both sides. Keep warm.

Blend the soy yogurt and blueberries together in a blender. Add an sweetener you desire. I thought it was perfect.

In a cast iron pan, saute the onions and garlic until brown. Add the diced potatoes and cook until tender. I added a bit of water and put a lid on the pan to help steam them a bit. Near the end of cooking time, add the kale and mix until it has wilted. Season with salt, pepper, red pepper flakes, basil, more black pepper, and magic.

Warm the cheezy sauce and either pour it over the potatoes or put it in a condiment cup.

Plate it up and eat.

Notes
All of this was great. I liked the cheezy sauce, but there is something about it that makes me want to experiment more and make a better sauce.

The husband thought this was good.

Tofu "Quiche"

This is based on a recipe from Vegan Brunch. I was a little dubious if this would come out edible, but it was great.





Ingredients
Crust(I used a recipe from Whole Foods for the Whole Family)
1 cup white whole wheat flour
1/2 t salt
2 T cold water
1/4 cup oil

Filling
1 - 2 onions
olive oil
1/2 cup cashews (my grocery store does not carry raw cashews, so I used toasted and it worked out fine)
salt
black pepper
sriracha
nutmeg
thyme
1/2 lb extra firm tofu

Method
Crust
Mix the flour and salt together. Add the water and oil using a fork and mix until a dough is formed. It took about 1 minute to properly mix it up. Roll the dough between two sheets of waxed paper until it is a then circle. Place either in a pie pan or tart pan(s). This recipe makes enough for one pie crust or three individual tarts. Prick with a fork and bake at 350F for about ten minutes until slightly brown.

Filling
You are going to caramelize the onions. I usually do this in my crock pot, but I didn't plan it out last night, so I did it on the stove top. A little time consuming and it is worth it.

Place the onions over low heat with enough olive oil to coat and not stick to the pan. Put on a lid and walk away. Come back about every five minutes and stir. They should turn an amber color. This should take 15 - 20 minutes. Now take the lid off and raise the heat to medium. Stir more frequently and let the moisture evaporate. The onions should now turn a dark caramel brown, about 8 more minutes. Taste to make sure they are okay and try to stop eating the whole pan.

In a food processor, place the cashews and process until there are only crumbs left. Pulverize the nuts. Add the seasoning. Whatever you think would be tasty. I will be greatly increasing the seasonings next time. Next add the tofu. Make sure to try to wring out some of the water before adding it to the food processor. Process the mixture until smooth, about 2 minutes. At this point you can add some of the caramelized onions and pulse to chop up into the mixture, then add the rest of the onions and mix to combine.

Spoon the mixture over the crust and smooth the top. Depending on your vessel will determine the amount of time it will take to cook. The full pie should be about 40 minutes, the individual tarts about 20 minutes. It should be browned on top and on the crust.





Notes
As mentioned above, this tasted really good, it just needs more seasoning. I'll add a bit more thyme and oregano as well as black pepper. This is also open to different fillings: spinach, mushrooms, sun-dried tomatoes, olives.

My husband, who is a pie crust snob was incredulous when I told him I was making a vegan crust for the quiche. He is of the school where butter rules all. After this came out of the oven super flaky and good, he said he might use it with his pies. Dairy free crust for the win!

Breakfast Sandwich

I have previously written about breakfast sandwiches, but since I eat them so much, I thought they deserved another mention.

My husband and I have these about twice a week and after we eat them, we fantasize about opening up a sandwich cart and only serving the best sandwiches.

The toppings tend to change based on what we have in the house but below is a favorite combination:
sourdough toasted bread
vegan mayo
sriracha
pickles
avocado
kale
smoked tofu
sautéed onions

Other optional ingredients:
cucumber
mushroom
fried egg - I do that for my husband
olive tapenade
pretty much anything that is tasty on a sandwich should go on here.

I love these so much and I would make them every morning if avocados didn't cost so much and I need a bit more variety in my diet.

Breakfast Bread Pudding

I was looking through the breakfast section of Fresh from the Vegetarian Slow Cooker, trying to find something that could cook over night. I decided to try this bread pudding and I am really glad that I did.

I wanted to make my own sausage, but the grocery store didn't have vital wheat gluten, so I'll have to wait until I can go to the hippy store to procure some more.

For a 1.5 qt slow cooker

Ingredients:
2 cup bread cut into cubes
1 apple, chopped into cubes
cinnamon
2 T brown sugar
dash of salt
1 cup non dairy milk
2 T maple syrup
6 oz sausage, crumbled

Lightly oil the insert of the slow cooker. Then put half of the bread in the bottom. Mix together the apples, cinnamon, sugar, salt, milk, and maple syrup. Pour half over the bread, add half the sausages. Layer the bread, apple mixture, and sausage again. Make sure that all the bread is covered in the milk mixture.

Cover and cook on low for about 6 hours.

I turned this on about 2330 and turned it off about 0700. It looked a bit soupy, I think, I was still sleepy. I went back to bed for another couple of hours. When I went to go and eat some around 0930, it wasn't warm, but it was really good. My husband loved this and I hope that I can make it with the sausages next time.

This is another one of those dishes that is best left unphotographed, but is super duper good.

Granola

I adapted this recipe from Robin Robertson's cookbook Fresh from the Vegetarian Slow Cooker. Most of the recipes in the book are for much bigger slow cookers than my 1.5qt, but I adjust the proportions and things usually turn out nicely.



Before cooking


This is more of a guideline than hard and fast recipe. Feel free to experiment with flavor combinations, ingredients, sweeteners, etc.

Total time: 3.5 hours

For the 1.5 qt I used

2 cups rolled oats
1/2 cup slivered almonds
1/4 cup sesame seeds
some random dried cranberries I had in the pantry

1/4 cup maple syrup
2 T vegetable oil

Combine everything in a lightly oiled slow cooker. Cook on high, uncovered for 1.5 hours. Stir every 20 - 30 minutes.

Reduce the heat to low and cook, uncovered for 2 hours. Again, stir every 20 - 30 minutes. Cook until the oats are nice and toasty. This will not clump up like some granola. It is also very very dry. I want to try different fruits, nuts, and sweeteners. I saw a blog the other day that made PB&J granola - that might be my next project.



After toasting


Spread the granola on a baking sheet to cool completely. I lined mine with foil for easy clean up. Store in an airtight container, if you have any left.



Who can resist a macro shot, not I.


While this was cooking, both my husband or I would stir and eat a bit. At first, the taste was a bit off, but as it was toasting, the flavored mellowed and became really delicious. I am serving this tomorrow for breakfast (if we will stop eating it) with yogurt that is in my other slow cooker.



The yogurt, yogurtizing. I'll report back if it worked or if I'll chalk it up as a failure.