Friday, September 29, 2006

carrot muffins

My daughter won't go anywhere near carrots but she loves these muffins! And as an added bonus, they make the room smell wonderful with the combined mixture of ginger, cinnamon and nutmeg. This recipe makes 6 muffins, so if you'd prefer 12, just double the recipe!

I use a silicone muffin tin for my muffins. Oh how I wish they made glass muffin tins...will somebody please steal my idea and invent such a thing!?

Carrot Muffins

1 cup flour
1/4 cup sugar
1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/4 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. cinnamon
1/4 tsp. ginger
1/4 tsp. nutmeg (or allspice)
1 carrot, grated (or 12 slices of frozen carrots)
6 Tbsp. vanilla "milk"
2 Tbsp. vegetable oil
desired egg replacement (equal to one egg)


Preheat oven to 400 degrees. (If using an aluminum tin, lightly grease or insert muffin liners.)

Combine all dry ingredients. Grate carrot. (I always use frozen carrots, so I place 12 carrot slices into a food processor and grind until they're very finely diced, so they look more "crumbly" than "chunky".) Add carrot to dry mixture and stir. Add wet ingredients and immediately distribute into tins, 1/4 cup of batter into each muffin hole.*

Bake for 15-20 minutes...until a toothpick comes out dry.

*Tip: If you grease a 1/4 cup measuring cup, you will get equal amounts, and the batter will easily slide out of the measuring cup!

RATING: ***

Thursday, September 28, 2006

pineapple creamsicles

This recipe really couldn't be easier. Though extremely simple, the pineapple and vanilla give these creamsicles a very sweet tropical aroma and taste! You will notice something strange happening to the milk when you add the pineapple juice to it. It's similar to what happens when you add lemon juice to milk (it changes the composition of the milk...it starts to separate somehow.) But don't worry about that, it doesn't change the taste or the function of these popsicles. I labeled this as a snack, though it can certainly be considered dessert as well!

Pineapple Creamsicles

pineapple juice
vanilla soy milk*

Combine equal amounts of juice and milk (amount will vary according to size and quantity of your particular molds.) Stir the liquids together and immediately pour into popsicle molds and freeze.

*Though I'm a big fan of Rice Dream rice milk, this particular recipe really calls for the refrigerated (thicker) soy milk such Silk Soy Milk. The boxed rice/soy milk tend to be much thinner, and are less creamy. You can also use plain soy milk, and add a splash of vanilla extract.

RATING: ***

Wednesday, September 27, 2006

open chi-chi sandwich

First I suppose I should explain "chi-chi" to you. This is what we call fake chicken in our home. I can't remember how the term was originated, but I never wanted to call our faux meats by their animal names. I didn't want the kids thinking they were eating "chicken", which to them isn't food, but an animal. So we don't call them "chicken" patties or "fake chicken patties". We call it "chi-chi".

If you're opposed to using the microwave, you can cook the chi-chi on the stovetop or in the oven. If you cook it in a manner that requires you to flip the patty over, wait until you do the flip before adding the spices. Then wait until the patty is done cooking before you add the sauce, then just cook a minute longer.

Open Chi-Chi Sandwich

1 vegan breaded "chicken" patty
1 slice whole wheat bread, toasted
dried oregano
onion powder
garlic powder
cayenne pepper
salt
tomato sauce

Pop the bread in the toaster. Place a chi-chi patty on a microwaveable plate. Sprinkle top with oregano, onion powder, garlic powder, cayenne pepper and salt. Microwave for 1 minute. Pour sauce on top of patty and microwave again for 30 seconds. Remove from microwave and use a fork to lift patty up and sneak the piece of toast underneith.

Let heat escape for a couple minutes before serving to little ones.

Since it is an open sandwich, I usually cut it into pieces for the wee ones who don't yet use knives. (You can of course turn it into an easier-to-eat version with another slice of toast on top...but it won't be as pretty. :)

RATING: ***

Tuesday, September 26, 2006

mint chocolate chocolate chip cookies

The cookie dough for this recipe always comes out the most gorgeous tone of brown! These cookies will be moist and soft...it's definitely not a crunchy-cookie recipe. The recipe makes about 20 cookies, if you can stop yourself from eating the dough. (And if you can manage to do that, please let me know your secret!) If you have a hard time finding vegan mint chocolate chips, you can substitue regular vegan chocolate chips, and add some peppermint extract (1/8-1/4 tsp.) to the dough.

Mint Chocolate Chocolate Chip Cookies

3/4 cup flour
1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
3/4 cup sugar
1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/4 tsp. salt
1/2 cup vegan mint chocolate chips
1 Tbsp. cornstarch + 2 Tbsp. water
1/2 cup margarine
1 tsp. vanilla

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Lightly grease a cookie sheet.*

Combine all dry ingredients. In a tiny bowl or coffee mug, stir together the cornstarch and water until smooth (no lumps). Add the cornstarch water, margarine and vanilla to the dry ingredients and mix until dough forms. (I usually have to do this with my hands.)

Bake for 12 minutes. Let cool on cookie sheet before removing, or they may fall apart on you.

*I like to line a cookie pan with aluminum foil and then grease that with margarine. That way, the cookies don't stick, and there's no clean up afterwards!


RATING: ***

Monday, September 25, 2006

vegan substitutions

Your child's favorite chocolate chip cookie recipe can taste every bit as delicious without using animal products. Use the following substitution ideas to make your everyday recipes healthier and cruelty-free!

Eggs (Each substitution below is the equivalent of one egg. Adjust amounts according to eggs needed in recipe.)
  • Cornstarch: 1 Tbsp. cornstarch + 2 Tbsp. water. (Stir until smooth (no lumps) and add to recipe.)
  • Banana: ½ banana, pureed or mashed thoroughly. (I like to use a small food processor to make sure the banana is really smooth and pureed.)
  • Applesauce: 3 Tbsp. unsweetened applesauce.
  • Flax Seed Powder: 2 Tbsp. flax seed powder + 3Tbsp. water. (Stir together and let sit for a few minutes before adding to recipe.)
  • Egg Replacement Powder: Follow directions on box.
  • Silken Tofu: ¼ cup soft or silken tofu, pureed in a food processor.

Butter
  • Vegan margarine: Smart Balance has a new, organic vegan margarine that’s available in major grocery stores.
  • Nut butter: Any type of natural nut butter, peanut, cashew, almond

Sugar (Refined white sugar is in itself vegan, but is processed with animal bone filters.) Substitutions below each equal one cup of white sugar.
  • Raw (turbinado) sugar - 1 cup
  • Stevia (1 tsp. - add 1/8 cup liquid in recipe)
  • Unrefined cane juice powder - 3/4 cup
  • Molasses - 1/2 cup
  • Maple granules - 1 cup
  • Pure maple syrup - 3/4 cup (reduce liquid in recipe by 1/8 cup)
  • Fruit juice concentrate - 3/4 cup (reduce liquid by 1/8 cup)
  • Barley malt or rice syrup - 1 1/2 cups (slightly reduce liquid)

Milk
  • Rice milk
  • Soy milk
  • Almond milk
  • Coconut milk

Buttermilk
  • Add 1 tsp. vinegar to 1 cup soy/rice milk.

Chocolate Chips
  • Vegan chocolate chips: Available in health food stores.
  • Vegan chocolate bar: Chop up a chocolate bar and have chocolate chunks instead of chips!

Sunday, September 24, 2006

kids are vegan too!

The Mama
As a mom to three young children who have been vegan since birth, I have found it necessary to sometimes tweak vegan recipes to make them more likeable to young tastes. I will be sharing recipes here that my kids have tested and liked enough to want me to make them again!

The Blog
The hardest part about creating this blog will probably be remembering to take photos of the food before my kids devour it. I'm not used to photographing our snacks and meals! So I will have to try to remember to do that, since a visual is nice to have.

The Basics
I will frequently be using terms like margarine, "milk", and sugar. Since this is a vegan blog, I'm assuming it goes without saying that I mean vegan margarine, soy/rice/nut milk, and raw sugar or sugar substitutes. Please refer to the vegan substitutions page for a nice list of vegan replacements.

The Rating System
The rating system I'm going to use for each recipe will be different than most. The number of stars will not be based upon how much a recipe is liked (ie: 1 star being blah, 5 stars being excellent.) Instead, I will give a recipe a star for each of my children who liked it. I have three children, so the highest star a recipe can have is 3 stars. If only two of my kids liked it, it will have 2 stars, and so on. I will use "NR" (Not Rated) for those recipes submitted by readers that I haven't yet had a chance to make for my kids yet. I don't really see a need to rate it by degrees of like or dislike. My kids either like it, eat it, and ask me to make it again, or they say it's disgusting and ask me never to make it again. Kids are cool like that.

The Submissions
If you would like to submit a vegan recipe that you think kids would like, please email it to me at kidsarevegantoo(at)gmail.com . If you have an accompanying photo, that would be great!

The Requests
If you would like to see a particular vegan recipe posted on this site, please let me know and I'll do my best to try and accomodate you!