Vegan Monday: Strawberry Rhubarb Cake

I kind of think every once in a while there is a recipe so well constructed that you can do virtually anything to it and it still turns out wonderful. That is the case of Maya*Made's Grandmother's One Bowl Apple Cake. Ever since I first saw the recipe, I have made it every which way, this way being my favorite, and used pretty much every type of fruit I've had on hand. I think old-fashioned recipes such as this one really are gems, and deserve the highest place in the home kitchen. Without ingenious and industrious forebears, we likely wouldn't have pantry staple cakes such as this one, and it is something I am supremely grateful for.

When I unloaded the car yesterday afternoon after being self-bombarded with strawberries and a nice big bag of fresh rhubarb from my Parents' garden, I didn't really figure that I'd be making a vegan cake for myself in the midst of many other projects that brought me deep into the night before calling it a day.

But this cake is so gloriously simple, that you can in fact do it when you have 15 other things going on, and it will turn out. It is moist, reasonably healthy, and studded with fruit that bakes into even sweeter goodness. Since I added nutmeg, I could have sworn that there was pumpkin in the batter - a trick that could flummox even the most experienced foodie palate.

Vegan Strawberry Rhubarb Cake (adapted from Maya*Made's Grandmother's recipe)

• 1 c. diced rhubarb
• 1 c. chopped strawberries
• 1/4 c. agave syrup, light or dark
• 1/4 c. vegetable oil
• 1 flax egg (1 T. flax meal mixed with 3 T. water)
  
• 1 t. vanilla extract
  
• 1 c. whole wheat flour
• 1 t. baking soda
  
• 1/4 t. cinnamon
• 1/4 t. nutmeg, freshly grated if possible
• pinch of salt

Preheat oven to 350. Coat an 8 inch baking tin with cooking spray, or coat lightly with oil.

Stir dry ingredients together in a small bowl. In a larger bowl, stir strawberries, rhubarb, vanilla, flax egg, oil and agave syrup together. Add the dry ingredients to the wet and mix to combine. It is a thick batter, so try to be gentle and not over mix.

Press into the cake tin. You may wish to wet your hands lightly with water and press it in gently this way. Bake for about 30 minutes, until cake tester comes out clean.

Let rest in the pan for 10 minutes before turning out onto a cooling rack and cooling completely.

Since it is a very moist cake, I would suggest storing any leftovers in the refrigerator - even though I am inherently against cake refrigeration...

A bite of cake doesn't seem like a world changing thing, but I love to imagine Maya*Made's Grandmother and how she happened upon this recipe. Each time I make it, I feel some strange connection to another family's traditions, even if I am tweaking it each and every time I make it. It will always be Maya*Made's Grandmother's Cake, and I will always be thankful for it.

Vegan Monday: Almond Almond Granola

This Monday's post isn't flashy and sophisticated, but I accomplished my goal: to use up the almond pulp that is leftover from making almond milk. I have been making and drinking more almond milk since I discovered how easy it is, and it is a versatile and tasty milk alternative, that I find addicting. The only thing bothering me is the leftover almonds, finely ground, which just seem too viable to me to toss away.

I have been thinking that my homemade by-product would work well in granola, and have been waiting until I needed to actually make more to give it a try. In the name of experimentation, this is sometimes hard for me to do, and then I find myself with too much to eat up. It seems like it's been a while, but I finally ran out, and am happy to announce that I found a good and serviceable way to use up almond pulp (you could substitute almond meal, or ground almonds, if you wish), and a way to maybe somewhat satiate my complete addiction to almond extract flavoring.

This recipe could easily be transformed to Raw Vegan Muesli. Instead of baking the ingredients, just combine the ingredients raw (without the oil and maple syrup) and soak them overnight in almond milk before eating. Then I guess it would have to be called Almond Almond Almond Muesli, because of the triple almond punch of extract, milk and pulp. I would probably recommend storing it in the fridge if you make the muesli out of almond pulp, since it has a higher moisture content. Either way you try it, if you are an almond fiend, this is a nice almondy way to get your fix!

Vegan Almond Almond Granola

• 3 c. rolled oats
• 1/2 c. dried, unsweetened coconut
• 3/4 c. almond pulp (or almond meal)
• 1 t. cinnamon
• 2 T. vegetable oil
• 1/4 c. maple syrup
• 1 t. (or more) almond extract

Mix dry ingredients in a large bowl. Lightly beat oil, maple syrup and almond extract in the measuring cup to combine, then add to the dry ingredients and mix well.

Spread onto a parchment lined baking sheet, and bake at 300 degrees for 40-50 minutes, stirring every 10 minutes until it is as brown as you like it. I think mine took longer than usual, since I used the leftover almond pulp, and it isn't as dry as an almond meal would be.

Feel free to add additional nuts or seeds prior to baking, or chopped dried fruit(s) after to change the flavors up a bit. It isn't the most complicated granola, and is better served as a cereal instead of eating out of hand, but I love it's soft and gentle flavor. So many granolas I experiment with are full of fruits and crunchy nuts, which I love, but this one is kind of the polar opposite. I like something a little basic for breakfast once in a while, and this is the perfect, basic, nutritious breakfast in my book, since it has no refined sweetener, a good amount of protein, and is full of my favorite almond flavor.

Happy Vegan Monday to you, and hopefully you will find this an easy granola (or muesli) to slip into your breakfasting!

To Borrow a Phrase: Greek Hippie Salad

I consider the humble wheat berry. It is wholesome, toothsome, versatile, and completely underused in my kitchen due to it's incredibly long cooking nature. I never remember in advance that it should soak for 8 hours prior to it's 1 hour stove-top simmer, and frankly, since I don't know what I'm going to eat from day to day, planning for such ingredient usage is usually out the window unless a dinner party is involved. I do usually have a quart jar stashed under my cupboard, just in case inspiration and planning strike me.

In the past week, I have taken note of 3 separate salads: one with wheat berries, one with crunchy radish and lettuce leaves, and the last one a genre of salads given a great name - Hippie Salads. Starting in reverse order, Marisa at Food in Jars noted somewhere (and I don't remember which post) that her husband isn't always so fond of her hippie salads, salads that are comprised of whole grain and leftover and miscellaneous healthy things. I'd have to say, that my Husband is even pickier than hers, so the concept of Hippie Salad at my house is usually tailored just to suit me for lunches, light dinners, and snacks. I rather like this arrangement, since I determined a while back to no longer make enough salad to feed Guam, and successfully scaled down to accommodate only myself.

As for the crunchy radish and lettuce leaves? Just look here at the beauty that is Veggie Le Crunch! Sprouted Kitchen is really a beautiful, photo driven food blog, but she has some killer recipes as well. I actually fully intended to make a generally the same version of this salad (since I truly am incapable of following proportion and direction), but veered from my course when I stopped by the Outpost today. They had beautiful red and green romaine lettuces on sale, and I for some reason I just had to have a Greek style salad right then and there. I got a cucumber (knowing the leftovers will be tossed in some homemade sour cream that I just made and need to use), and some imported French sheep's milk feta. The bones were laid.

Mid week, Boy-O and I visited R1's place, and I was perusing a magazine and saw the picture for this salad on an olive oil advertisement. I perceived the edamame to be bright green peas, and thought immediately of a pea type version of a wheat berry salad that would be worthy of the new innBrooklyn Virtual Veg of the Month Club. This month's selection is peas and/or pea shoots, and while I haven't scored any fresh from the Wisconsin earth peas yet, the hippie salad I concocted used a healthy amount of the frozen variety.

A couple of thinly sliced and quartered radishes that I had to buy earlier in the week after drooling over Sprouted Kitchen's Veggie Le Crunch.

When I have inspiration, it's easy to concoct, but I still had the pesky problem of the soaking and cooking of the wheat berries. I didn't remember last night that I wanted to cook some today, but I did know that I did around noon. I figured since I love my pressure cooker for pinto beans (and had used it yesterday and still had beans leftover), I would use it for the wheat berries. Thanks to this site, I found charts for pressure cooking everything! I soaked a half cup of rock hard berries in 3 times their water, and went to a birthday party across the street. When we got home around 4, I put them in the pressure pot with plenty of water to cover them by at least 2 inches, and cooked them on medium for 30 minutes. I quick-released the pressure by running the pot under cool water, and was rewarded by perfect, fat berries ready for a Greek Hippie Salad!

As with all hippie salads, you can omit, add or augment however you see fit. My half cup of raw wheat berries yielded a bit more than a cup of cooked berries. All told, my salad was a bit over 2 1/2 cups. Instantly veganize your salad by omitting the feta.

Greek Hippie Wheatberry Salad (inspired by the sources above)

• 1/2 raw wheat berries, cooked using whatever method you prefer
• 2/3 c. frozen peas, cooked in boiling water until done - 3 to 4 minutes
• 1/2 cooked beans, I used pinto
• 1/3 cucumber, peeled, seeded and finely chopped
• 2-3 radishes, thinly sliced and quartered
• 1 1/2 oz feta cheese, imported sheep's milk is strongest
• 2-3 T. chopped red onion
  
• 1/2 lemon, juiced (about 1 1/2 T.)
• 2 T. extra virgin olive oil
• 1/2-1 clove garlic, minced or grated on a microplane
  
• 1/4 t. oregano
• salt and pepper to taste
• romaine lettuce leaves for serving
  

In a small bowl, combine lemon juice, olive oil, garlic, oregano and a little salt and pepper. Whisk to emulsify into a dressing. In a larger bowl, combine all other ingredients and toss gently with dressing. That's it! Serve it on the lettuce and add a little more black pepper if you like.

I tasted it and loved it, of course, since I made it to suit exactly what I had a taste for. I didn't originally add red onion, because I didn't think I had one - but luckily I found one that was in desperate need of using, so I added it after the photos. It was the the missing link. I then thought I could have gone and added red and green pepper, and even some other colorful and hotter peppers, but I'll save that for next time.

The missing component.

Hippie salad, or not, my Husband thought he'd even try a bite, though he hasn't yet. I ate mine rolled up in a lettuce leaf like a taco, and then had to have another big scoop on the side. I'd bet the avocado dressing that Sprouted Kitchen made would be good as a wheat berry salad dressing... but then I'd bet that each and every reader could add or subtract one thing that would improve upon the Greek foundation that I was craving this chilly June day.

How many salads have you seen that just call your name and have to be made? I know I'm not alone, when it is a numberless amount for me. They are probably one of my favorite things to make and eat, which is a lucky predicament to be in indeed. I find, that any kind of salad of this nature, stuffed into a tortilla (homemade of beans or corn masa), garnished with cheese and hot sauce is pretty much foolproof.

Not sure how this Greek version would fare in my my old standby, but I have a feeling I'll be making some flat breads after church tomorrow...

Beet Gnocchi. Enough Said.

This is only the second time I have ever made gnocchi. Or eaten gnocchi. A few years ago, I was watching Mario Batali make it on the Fine Living Network, and I had a revelation. He made it look so easy! Like I should just be able to do it tonight, while conversing with friends over a glass of wine. I also discovered during that Molto Mario episode, that I personally owned a gnocchi paddle. My Mom had given me a bunch of kitchen tools, probably from an auction or rummage, and among them was this paddle. When I had limited wooden utensils, I tried using it to stir and couldn't fathom why it would have grooves. It seemed like the worst idea ever for a kitchen implement. It spent a long, lonely decade in the bottom of a drawer before, fortuitously, Mario showed me it's intended use, and thanks to his enthusiasm, I went right from the couch to the kitchen and made my batch. After all, if I had this neglected piece of kitchen software, I may as well put it immediately to good use.

InnBrooklyn's Veg of the Month Club selection this month is beets, and I felt a particular inclination to outdo myself, since it was my beet pasta experiment that first attracted them to CakeWalk as readers and now to me personally as "froggers" (friends+bloggers). I actually was acquainted with them first through a connection at flickr, and ever since I feel like I'm chatting with old friends when we write (or now Skype) on a fairly regular basis. I feel renewed in my creativity since joining forces with them for LIFEyear, our 365 photography project, and am really happy that I was able to forge such a meaningful connection with people so far away, that I would never have met if it weren't for the Internet!

I also personally wanted to try making gnocchi again; my first attempt with plain russet potato was alright, but far from perfect. Since I really had no way of knowing, I made the dumplings, and then let them sit covered at room temperature for several hours until I boiled them. I've learned since, that if you don't intend to boil them right away, you should freeze them in a single layer on a sheet pan, and then pull them directly from the freezer and introduce them to the boiling water when needed. I'd say I'm still a ways off from perfect gnocchi, but at least I'm having fun and gleaning a bit of extra nutrition along the way.

I used Mario Batali's recipe for gnocchi, but used 1 part beet to 2 parts russet potato. I also opted for roasting the beets and potatoes, to preserve the color in the beets - boiling tends to wash them out.

To roast the beets and potatoes, preheat oven to 375, lightly coat them (unpeeled) with olive oil, and let them stay in there until a piercing knife yields very little resistance. The beets will likely take longer, so start them 20 minutes before adding the potatoes. When they are done, cool them just enough so that you don't burn yourself when handling them, and then scrape off the skins. You'll want to rice them (or finely shred them) when they are still warm, but more on that below.

Beet Gnocchi (adapted from Mario Batali) with Brown Butter and Crispy Lemon Thyme

makes 4 main courses or 8 side portions, but I suspect this will vary with your state of hunger.

• 1 lb. beets, roasted
• 2 lbs. russet potato, roasted
• 2 cups, AP flour (plus additional for rolling)
  
• 1 egg
• pinch of salt

When potatoes are roasted and peeled, use a ricer to finely grate them onto a clean sheet pan. (I have no ricer, but one is now on my list! I rub them through a fine stainless sieve which works well.) If you have a ricer, it may be strong enough to rice the beets, but since I don't, I cut them into large chunks and processed them finely in my food pro. Then, I added them on top of the potatoes, and let them cool slightly.

Mound the beets and potatoes together to make a brilliant pink mass, sprinkle liberally with about a cup of the flour and a pinch of salt, then make a well in the center. Crack in the egg, and beat well, adding more of the flour to the egg and then mixing it in well with the egg. When you have a dough forming, knead it by hand gently into a ball, continuing to add flour as needed, until you have a relatively smooth ball that isn't too sticky.

Have two sheet pans lined with wax paper or parchment paper ready. Cut off small portions, and roll into long "snakes" a little larger than the diameter of your thumb. Use plenty of flour (I found that I actually kneaded more flour into the small portions prior to rolling them out into snakes), to keep them from sticking. Using a sharp knife, cut them into 1 inch portions.

When you have a "snake's" worth of dumplings, roll them across the gnocchi paddle or the tines of a fork. (A good explanation of how to do this: here.) Dust the resting gnocchi with flour if they are sticky, and keep them in a single layer. If you are making them for later, freeze in a single layer, then transfer them to a jar or zip top bag and store in the freezer.

Bring a kettle of water to a boil, and add a bit of salt - as if you were cooking pasta. When the water is at a rolling boil, add gnocchi. (Mario has a bowl of ice water standing nearby to stop them from cooking as you remove them. I will remember to do this step next time! Mine were a touch sticky since I didn't.) When gnocchi floats to the top, remove them from the boiling water using a slotted spoon and plunge them into the ice bath. Let them sit there for a minute, and then drain. Mario tosses them with oil to hold them, but I did not since I made browned butter.

Browned Butter with Lemon Thyme

• 3 T. unsalted butter
• 3 or 4 sprigs of lemon thyme
  

In a small saucepan, heat butter over medium heat until it begins to foam. Add thyme (it will crackle and spit at you), and continue to heat until the butter turns brown. Watch it carefully or it will burn. Spoon the butter over the finished gnocchi, and garnish with crispy thyme.

I wasn't sure what to expect when I took the first bite of hot beet gnocchi. Since I had neglected to do an ice bath, they were a bit sticky... Happily, they tasted terrific with a deep, beet-y flavor, and a very dumpling-esque texture. I had a gnocchi expert for dinner, since Sasa grew up eating it, and she told me that the texture was good, so I'm taking her word on it. I really don't think I have ever eaten gnocchi anywhere, so I have some more homework and experimentation to do. If anyone has a good recommend of any Milwaukee area restaurants making exceptional gnocchi, please let me know so I can go and eat it! I feel like I should have added more flour to my dough, but found myself likening it to egg pasta dough, which definitely can not be an accurate comparison.

Since I heeded Ina Garten's advice of never cooking anything you have never cooked before when you are having company for dinner, I had a fresh loaf of bread and a big slow cooker full of shredded Italian Beef ready before I even brought my kettle to a boil... and Sasa told me that in Croatia, they always had gnocchi with a beef sauce kind of like a goulash.

She easily convinced me to experiment with a portion of plain, un-butter-sauced gnocchi. We heated a pan over medium heat and added a tablespoon or so of leftover browned butter. Then, I made a roux by adding an equal amount of flour and stirring it for about a minute. I added maybe a half of a cup, all told, of warm water, and continued stirring with Sasa adding salt, aleppo pepper and finally, a good amount of sweet smoked Spanish paprika. Lastly we stirred in a heavy cupful of shredded beef and let it turn into a sauce:

I grabbed my camera, and she told me that maybe it wasn't the most photogenic thing. I agreed, but was it tasty! We all mixed everything together as we ate, grating Parmesan cheese over our whole plates, and devouring all but about 11 little gnocchi. It was suspiciously quiet during dinner, so I know that it is certainly a meal that I would make again, and hopefully soon, since I only cooked half the amount of beet gnocchi that I froze.

I may be hesitant to join more organized groups, but I have to say I really like participating on a whim to "round-ups" such as the Veg of the Month Club, and Buttermilk Party Cake's Elevenses sweets. I do think that it forces me to be creative in my kitchen, if for no one else, then for myself. My Husband detests beets, and they are one of my favorite things, so I was very happy to have fellow beet lovers to enjoy my hard work with. If you love beets and have a beet recipe you want to share with others, consider submitting it to innBrooklyn before May 9, 2010. I know I'll be eagerly searching their results on the 10th for my next beet adventure!

Homemade: Raw Almond Milk

Yesterday, I got it in my head to make almond milk. I know I have serious problems with experimentation when a mere mention in a conversation with my Mom had me thinking that I could make it at home. In fact, most of today was consumed with kitchen experiments, some of which will have to wait until another day to be told.

It all began bright an early, or kind of dark and stormy, at 6:30, since that is what time my self has decided to wake up every single day regardless of what time I go to bed. Before bed I soaked my raw almonds, in filtered water under refrigeration, so I didn't even need my first cup of coffee fully ingested before beginning this project.

Almond milk is of course raw vegan, and really is another thing so easy to make that you will wonder why you would ever buy it again. One cup of almonds and 4 cups of water will produce nearly a quart, so very little effort produces a stellar result, and not to mention a more economical (and environmental, since you have no packaging) choice, and you can use a 1:4 ratio to make as much or as little as you like. I also like that I have complete control over the sweetness. I used a base recipe from Choosing Raw, but a number of others that Google turned up were similar if not exactly the same. You can also use just about any nut you feel like, if almonds are really your thing.

My very scientific looking soaking almonds.

Vanilla Almond Milk (from Choosing Raw)

1 cup raw almonds, soaked in cool water overnight (8 hours) under refrigeration
4 cups spring or filtered water
6 dates
1 t. vanilla (the extract I used technically renders this un-raw I think, but you can use vanilla pod seeds, scraped out as flavoring if you like)

Drain the almonds, and then in a blender (or a VitaMix for you lucky owners), blend all ingredients until finely blended. I saved out the extract until the milk was done, but you can add it in right away if you like. I drained it through several layers of cheesecloth (see picture below), and when enough of the liquid seeped through, I twisted the cheesecloth into a bag-like shape and squeezed out as much liquid as I could. I added a sieve underneath to catch any stray particulate, but it probably would not have been necessary. I saved the almond "pulp" for another experiment, below. Milk will keep 3 days or a little more according to Choosing Raw, but I have a feeling it will be long gone by then.

I should take a moment to lament my lack of a "Real" blender. The blender I currently have, I bought when I was still in high school. Why I decided to buy a blender one day like 15 years ago, when I had no real use for a blender I'm not sure, but the thing just will not die. I wish it would, so I would have an excuse to buy a new one, but it is still hanging on. Tenacious as it may be, it is not very strong. The only thing it really has going for it is a glass pitcher. If the mixture I am trying to blend has the slightest semblance of a thick sauce, I use my food pro instead to save myself the frustration, but I know if I had tried to make this in a food processor, I would have had an even bigger frustration. Trust me, I know from experience. I really am considering a VitaMix savings fund to be placed on my counter in a Mason Jar. Maybe I'll do that today, and each time I am frustrated by lack of horsepower, I'll add some dough to the jar. Sounds like a good plan to me.

Real blender or not, my nut milk turned out perfect.

That said, I tried to take the almond pulp and process it into a raw nut butter. Besides making a crumbly mess for me to clean up, I learned that this, my friends, is a task that I don't think can be done in a food pro. It just does not have the horsepower to emulsify nuts into creaminess. That's okay, since I decided to alter a recipe from Dreena Burton's book Eat, Drink and Be Vegan.

When I was with my Mom last week, we stopped in at the Viroqua Food Co-Op, a cousin to our Outpost here in Milwaukee. I usually am not in the habit of buying sweets when I shop... but when I'm with my Mom we like to try things just for fun. I saw this cookie, which happened to be gluten-free, and we had to try it.

It was kind of the same feeling I had when I first had Outpost's Little Oatie sandwich cookie. I NEED to find a way to make this now! Our Wisconsin food co-ops are on to something not always providing a recipe (I did find the Midnight Madness cookies, another complete addiction, on the Outpost website one time, but last I checked, it was no longer there.) If I had the access to a recipe like this I'd probably never leave the home and become a complete hermit in the ways of new foodstuffs. Not having something exact to follow, I figured I could at least come close using Dreena's recipe and my new almond pulp...

And, I did pretty well. Well, maybe better than well, since I couldn't stop eating them. I think this is a work in progress, since they didn't taste exactly like the Viroqua Food Co-Op's, but maybe that's a good thing. They would probably all be gone if they did.

Since these had additional moisture from the almond pulp, I had to add quite a bit of extra grain. Next time, I will most likely try using less oil. I still have another portion of almond pulp leftover, so I will be sure to update the recipe at the end of this post when I try again.

Jam Thumbprint Cookies (adapted from Dreena Burton)

• 1/3 c. oat flour (rolled oats blended in a spice mill works great)
• 2/3 c. steel cut oats
• 3/4 c. barley flour
• 1/2 c. almond pulp, leftover from making almond milk
• 3 T. brown sugar
• 1 t. baking powder
• 1/4 t. cinnamon
• 1/4 t. salt
• 1/4 c. maple syrup
• 2 T. brown rice syrup
• 1 t. vanilla extract
• 1/2 t. almond extract
• 1/4 c. veg oil (or olive oil)
• jam - to fill centers

Preheat oven to 350 degrees f. In a large bowl, combine flours, oats, almond pulp, sugar, baking powder, cinnamon, and salt and stir until combined. In a separate smaller bowl, combine maple syrup, brown rice syrup, extracts, and oil and stir well to combine. Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and blend until just combined. (I used a hand mixer. Remember that if you let it sit for a few minutes, the oats will naturally absorb some of the moisture. If it still seems too moist, add a little additional oat flour - and if it is too dry, add a bit of oil.)

Using a small scoop or a spoon, scoop little mounds out onto a parchment lined sheet. Using a wooden spoon handle (or like me, my rolling pin handle) dipped in flour, make an indentation in the center. (Dreena spoons the jam into the indentations here prior to baking, but I cooked them 3/4 of the way and then removed them from the oven and added the jam. Since I had to increase the baking time quite a bit due to my extra moisture, I'm glad I did it this way!) Bake for 14-20 minutes, until the edges begin to turn brown. Let them cool on the sheets for a minute or two before moving them to a rack to cool completely.

Marisa at Food in Jars is having a give-away for a Ball Blue Book and asked her participants to note what jam is their favorite. I love pretty much any type of jam, jelly, preserve, conserve or marmalade... but, hands down, my favorite is her recipe for Sour Cherry Jam. I have 3 little jars left on my shelf that I've been saving, why I do that I don't know! Cherry season will be here before I know it, so I cracked one open to fill my cookies, and I'm so glad I did. If you are a jam-maker, Marisa has great recipes for you to try, and top on your list should be this Sour Cherry one. Sour Cherry Jam may even make it's way into a vanilla almond milk smoothie of some sort...

If you are a kitchen experimenter like I am, and make this cookie recipe, please let me know how it turns out for you! I'll be playing around with it, since I am beguiled by it's toothsome earthiness, and I don't feel guilty eating a half dozen of them, either. I also know that if you are a nut milk drinker, you will be hooked on the simplicity of making it yourself. The only bad news is that it takes longer to clean up the kitchen afterward than it does to concoct. But, you can enjoy a glass of milk when you're doing it.