Tag Archives: easy

Breads & Rolls

Sweet Potato Corn Bread

So, I don’t know if this falls under side dish or dessert, but it is really delicious! Child approved. I was going through my random mix of fruits and veggies that I had gotten from a friend, and there was a single lonely sweet potato. I was thinking about making Patrick his sweet potato muffins again, but instead I decided to go a little bit outside the box on this one. I am really pleased with how this turned out.

What do I need?

  • 1 medium sweet potato, or about 1 lb.
  • 1/2 c of applesauce
  • 1 cup of all purpose flour
  • 1 Tbsp baking powder
  • 1/2 tsp cinnamon
  • 1.5 c cornmeal
  • 1/2 tsp nutmeg
  • 1 tsp salt
  • 1/2 c sugar
  • 2.5 Tbsp veggie oil
  • 3/4 c non dairy milk
  • 1/2 c vegan sour cream

As we get closer and closer to the holidays, I want more cozy smells in my home. Cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger, cloves. They all make me happy. This dish definitely covers all those bases. The hot bread straight out of the oven matches well with the cozy smells.

What do I do now?

  • Stab your sweet potato a bunch of times and put it in the oven for 6 minutes to let him steam on the inside pretty much.
  • Preheat the oven to 425.
  • while you are waiting for your potato to steam, put all of your other ingredients into a food processor and give it a blend.
  • When your sweet potato is finished, carefully because it’s hot as hell, peel off the skin and give the sweet potato a little chop.
  • Add your sweet potato and give it another blend on high until incorporated.
  • Spray a cast iron pan, pour the mixture into it.
  • Put it in the oven for about 22-28 minutes depending on depth of pan.

Once your bread is ready, it should look as beautiful as this.

Send me some ideas for next time. Just remember, anything you can make, I can probably make vegan!

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snacks

Mango Fruit Leather

Too many of any fruit? Fruit leather! (or a fruit roll-up if you want to get all nasty processed with added sugar junk). I had mangoes that were about to not be okay and I knew that we weren’t going to use them in time. I wasn’t in a muffin making kind of mood so I settled on fruit leather.

What do you need:

  • 2 medium mangoes
  • food processor or blender
  • oven
  • Parchment paper

Really, that’s all you need.

Let’s make this!

  • Preheat the oven to the lowest temperature. Mine says “warm” so it’s usually around 170 degrees?
  • Peel and blend your mangoes to a puree
  • Line a baking dish with some parchment paper.
  • Spread your puree across the baking dish in a thin even layer.
  • Bake at the lowest temperature you can in your oven for 2-5 hours. I check mine at 2 hours. If it isn’t solid and has the right texture, leave it in and check every 30 minutes.

When I made mine last night, I had to bake it for 4 hours. After the 4 hours, I turned off the oven and left it in until the morning. When I checked it in the morning, it was the perfect texture and ready to eat.

When your fruit leather is good to go, cut it how you want it and eat. Store in an air tight container for up to 5 days (not that it will last that long). No need to refrigerate.

Tell me what you thought about this recipe if you try it. Just remember until next time, anything you can make, I can probably make vegan!

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Sides

Onion Fritters

Why onion fritters?

For some reason, we go through so many onions in our house. I don’t think there are many recipes that are missing that vital ingredient. So what do you do when you have too many onions? You make the onion the main ingredient! I know, just stay with me here on this, I promise it will be worth it.

My daughter loves fritters of almost every kind, and she loves onions, so we decided to take our zucchini fritter recipe and make onion fritters!

What do you need?

  • 2 1/2-3 cups of onions
  • 3/4 cups of non dairy milk (unflavored and unsweetened)
  • 3/4 cups of all purpose flour
  • 2 tsp baking powder
  • 2 TBSP corn meal (make sure it isn’t corn meal mix because that has sugar added)
  • 1 TBSP sugar
  • 1/2 tsp pink salt (plus more to sprinkle on top)
  • 1/4 cup of chives (fresh or dried)
This might look too wet, but it is actually the perfect consistency!

How to make your fritters!

  • Add vegetable oil to a cast iron pan and heat it to med high (trust me, you will want to replace all your pans once you start using cast iron)
  • Cut up your onions. Start with 2 1/2 cups and add more if you think your mix is too runny
  • In a large bowl mix together all of your ingredients (or use a large plastic drink pitcher because kitchen hacks are epic and awesome. You’ll love this later when you go to pour the mix in the oil)
  • If you want to make the mix a little thicker, add more corn meal instead of flour for better flavor
  • Pour your mix into pancakes in your hot oil (make them as big or as small as you want)
  • Fry your fritters until they are golden brown on both sides
  • When you take them out of the oil, make sure you drain the excess oil off of them so that they don’t get all squishy. (I use a splatter screen or cooling rack over a plate since we don’t use paper towels in our house)
  • While the fritters are still hot, sprinkle them with some more pink salt

What to add to your fritters

I know that some of these are going to sound strange, but give them a chance

  • Applesauce
  • vegan sour cream
  • vegan spicy mayo (1 part sriracha sauce and 3 parts vegan mayo)
  • what we call pepper sauce (1 part hot pepper relish and 2 parts ketchup)

Tell me what you thought about this recipe if you try it. Just remember until next time, anything you can make, I can probably make vegan!

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Breads & Rolls

Olive Oil and Rosemary Bread

You should use a cast iron skillet for the best results. It gives the bread an amazing crunch on top AND on the bottom!

What you’ll need:

  • 2 cups of lukewarm water
  • 2 1/4 tsp of dry active yeast
  • 1/2 tbsp of pink Himalayan salt
  • 4 1/3 cups of all purpose flour
  • olive oil
  • rosemary

How to make it:

  1. Combine water and yeast. I like to use my hand to mix these to make sure that there aren’t any yeast lumps left. Let sit for 1 minute.
  2. Mix in flour, salt, and some rosemary. I say “some” rosemary because I like a LOT of it and you might only like a little.
  3. Once all of your ingredients are mixed together, drizzle extra virgin olive oil into a cast iron skillet (just enough to coat the bottom but not enough to make your dough float).
  4. Put your dough into the pan. At this point I sprinkle a little bit of all purpose flour on top of the bread, then put wax paper on top, then put a dish towel on top of that. It keeps the warmth in the pan and helps the bread rise.
  5. Preheat the oven for 400ºF . I usually place the pan on top of the stove to rise so that the heat from the oven preheating helps it along.
  6. Let rise for 1 hour.
  7. Take the towel and wax paper off of the bread, drizzle with extra virgin olive oil and then sprinkle with more rosemary, pink Himalayan salt, and some cracked black pepper. If you feel fancy, add some fresh parsley or basil leaves to the top. You know what? Just add both! Live on the edge.
  8. Bake 35-40 minutes.

So just eat it?

STOP! NO! Okay, eat it that way if you want. If you want to add some jazz hands to that, try some of these ideas:

  • Roasted garlic to spread on it
  • Extra virgin olive oil mixed with oregano, basil, and some crushed red pepper. Makes a great dipping oil!
  • Hummus (because it’s great on everything, let’s face it.)
  • Dip it in some fresh pasta sauce
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