Hey, my name is Adrianne, but I like to call myself the Happy Food Ninja! I am excited to share my love of food and cooking with you. My goal is to introduce you to easy ways to make delicious food, no matter what diet you subscribe to.
Happy Memorial Day Weekend everyone! I have just the thing to top those veggie burgers to jazz them up with minimal effort, or to serve as a beautiful side. This delightful cabbage and apple slaw. It is pictured here over a store bought veggie burger (field roast). I used store bought as they hold up better on the grill, at least compared to the homemade burgers I make.
This slaw is easy, beautiful, quick, and can feed a crowd and will please the majority of eaters. My 9 month old loved the cabbage and even my picky toddler tried it.
To make your slaw instagramable rinse it a few times in cold water before mixing with the vinaigrette, and only toss together right before serving. The rinse step is totally useless for taste, but makes it prettier as the cabbage doesn’t bleed its color as much if rinsed.
Red Cabbage and Green Apple Slaw
Ingredients
1 1/2 TBL honey, or agave if vegan
juice from half a lemon, about 1 TBL
1 TBL white vinegar
1 TBL olive oil
2 TBL dijon mustard
salt to taste
1/2 a small head purple cabbage, thinly sliced
1/2 green apple,cut into thin stripes
Instructions
Whisk together the honey, lemon juice, vinegar, oil, mustard, and salt.
Summer decided to stop by this week on the East Coast and it’s been hot! I hope it isn’t a preview of real summer; I’m not someone who enjoys the heat. However, now that that it has calmed down to seasonably warm I am a happy lady. It is perfect outside for picnicking and barbecuing. We just had our first family cookout last night. It was lovely! The girls played and ate a bit and my husband and I both got to sit and eat a leisurely dinner. I made this yummy potato salad and had veggie burgers on the grill.
This potato salad is a riff off of a very classic potato salad. I used J. Kenji López-Alt’s recipe from his cookbook The Food Lab. I amcompletely slightly obsessed with Kenji, or as I call him, my BFF. The idea of using science and the actual scientific process to make better food is my happy place. Not a place I use myself, but one I like to read about. Anyway, I digress. He has some super tricks and I have used them as well as most of his recipe for potato salad. I hope you enjoy.
This doesn’t make a very large batch, a side for maybe 4 people. It is easily doubled or tripled for a crowd.
Vegan Potato Salad
Adapted from The Food Lab cookbook
Ingredients
1 1/2 pounds russet potatoes, peeled and cut into 3/4 inch cubes
Kosher salt
2 tsp sugar
4 tsp white vinegar, divided
1 rib celery, finely diced (about 1/4 cup)
2 TBL finely minced red onion
1 scallions, green parts only, thinly sliced (optional)
2 TBL fresh parsley leaves, washed and minced (optional)
2 tsp whole grain mustard (more or less to taste)
1 tsp dijon mustard
1/3 cup vegenaise or other vegan mayonnaise
Fresh ground black pepper
Instructions
Place cubed potatoes in a large saucepan, cover with water to 1″ above teh potatoes.
Tomorrow is Mother’s Day. there are so many ways to celebrate, but as you would imagine, my favorite way is with food. I’m traveling this weekends so I won’t be cooking, but I hope you are! I was lucky enough to celebrate Mother’s Day with my mom and 2/3 of my brothers a few weeks ago when I was visiting “home.” My brothers and I took my mom out without any of our spouses or children. It was a delightfully relaxed meal:)
If you are cooking a Mother’s Day Brunch I have a few suggestions for you, all that I would be more than happy to receive if someone were cooking for me.
Aquafaba chocolate french toast with bourbon date caramel
I know I just posted yesterday, but this is worth it, I promise. A dark chocolate vegan french toast, topped with buttery bourbon date caramel and crunchy, salted pecans. Oh man, yes you want this. All components are surprisingly easy to make, you know, if you wanted to make someone special a Sunday brunch next weekend…
4 slices bread of choice, I recommend something on the rustic side
Coconut oil for cooking -or other oil
Instructions
Whisk together the aquafaba, milk, maple syrup, and vanilla in a large shallow bowl until frothy.
Add the cocoa powder and whisk until combined.
Heat a large skillet over medium low heat. I use my cast iron, other’s have recommended a non-stick skillet if you don’t have cast iron.
Dip bread into the aquafaba mixture and let it sit for about 30 seconds to soak up some deliciousness.
Add oil and swirl to coat the bottom of the pan.
Transfer bread to the hot pan (I can cook two pieces at a time in my pan), and cook until the first side is firm and starting to brown, about 3-5 minutes. Flip and cook on the second side until it is also starting to brown and has firmed up.
Serve with bourbon date caramel and chopped pecans.
Bourbon Date Caramel
Ingredients
1/2 cup prepared date caramel
2 TBL vegan butter ( I use Earth Balance)
1/4 cup coconut milk (full fat from a can)
1 TBL bourbon
1/2 tsp pure vanilla extract
Instructions
Heat ingredients together in a small pan over low heat stirring frequently.
sweet potato pancake with date caramel and coconut whipped cream
This perfect delightful, refined sugar free, vegan, paleo, and gluten free. This date caramel would be described as; rich, decadent, sweet, satisfying, and is made from very simple ingredients and comes together in a flash. I have been working on a few ways to use it, but highly recommend this as a start to your favorite dish featuring caramel. Pictured here it is served over sweet potato pancakes with coconut whipped cream. A dish to impress.
For my sweet potato pancakes I used this recipe, but substituted sweet potato puree for the pumpkin, and took out the spices. Your favorite pancakes would also be perfect here, or use this recipe for an guide to find your perfect pancake.
Date Carmel
Ingredients
8oz (about 2 cups) dates pitted and halved
Boiling water to cover dates
2 TBL coconut milk (full fat from a can)
2-4 TBL hot water depending on how fresh and juicy your dates are
1 tsp pure vanilla extract
pinch of salt
Instructions
Pour boiling water over dates, just enough to cover them. Let them sit for 10 minutes or so until soft.
Drain dates and reserve the water.
Place drained dates, coconut milk, 2 TBL of the hot water, vanilla, and salt in a food processor or blender.
Puree until smooth adding hot water a tablespoon at a time until it reaches the consistency you desire.
Pour over just about anything for a delicious treat.
Today is my mother-in-laws birthday! Happy Birthday second mom! In fact, all of my in-laws have birthdays in the next week. That’s right, mother, father, sister, brother in law, and even my husband! This recipe is in honor of my brother-in-law. He is a wonderful person who truly loves key lime pie. He is also always willing to eat what I’m making with little concern, judgement, or preconceived notion of what it might taste like based on the ingredients it contains.. Can’t ask for more in a person. I also thought this was good timing with Cinco de Mayo coming up, which is, obviously, a perfect time to eat things that are flavored with lime.
Happy Birthday to all my chosen family!
Vegan Key Lime Cheesecake
Ingredients
1 1/2 cups raw cashews
1/4 cup coconut oil
1/3 cup coconut milk
pinch of salt
2 tsp lime zest
1/2- 2/3 cups key lime juice (from all but 5 limes in a 1lb bag)
1/3 cup agave necter (more if you desire)
1 TBL + 1 tsp pure vanilla extract
For the crust
3/4 cup graham cracker crumbs (1 sleeve of whole graham crackers) I used the blender to grind them into crumbs
1 TBL brown sugar
3 1/2 TBL vegan butter, melted
Instructions
Preheat oven to 325.
Prepare muffin pan with 12 liners.
Mix graham cracker crumbs, brown sugar, and vegan butter in a bowl until combined.
Divide evenly into prepared muffin tin.
Press crumbs down into pan with the bottom of a cup or you fingers.
Bake 6-8 minutes until lightly golden.
Cool completely.
While crust is cooling; place cashews in a small pan and cover with water. Bring to a boil, then drain.
Place the cooked cashews, coconut oil, coconut milk, salt, lime zest, lime juice (start with 1/2 cup), agave, and vanilla in a high powered blender and blend until smooth.
Taste and adjust lime and sweetness ratio to your liking. Just add a little at a time, blend briefly, then taste. I like 2/3 cup lime juice to 1/3 cup agave.
Pour into the muffin pan on top of the cooled graham cracker crust and refrigerate overnight.
You can also freeze these with excellent results, just thaw them on the counter for 15-20 minutes before serving.
It is really feeling like spring might stick around here on the East Coast. I’m pretty happy about it. My littles are loving the park and I am loving the sunshine! For Earth Day we are focusing on treating the Earth with respect. Also an everyday lesson, especially with a two year old! Wolfie is a sweet, emphatic kid, however, she is two. We are constantly working on how our actions affect others, and the world around us. Something we should all probably think about more often.
To celebrate Earth Day we are eating lots of lovely, easy to make, flavorful, and vegetable forward meals. This is one of my old favorites with a few extras to jazz it up. I hope you like to additions.
Vegan Peanut Noodle Salad
Ingredients
1 package Tempeh cut into 1″ cubes
2 TBL olive oil
2 TBL tamari
1 tsp chili powder
8.8 oz dried Udon noodles cooked according to package directions, drained, and cooled to room temperature
1/2 cup water reserved from cooking noodles
1/2 cup peanut butter
2 TBL lime juice
3 TBL brown sugar
2 TBL tamari
2 medium cloves garlic, minced
1/2′ pice of ginger, minced
1/4 tsp red pepper flakes
1 1/2 cups sugar snap peas
1/2 cup julienned red pepper
2 scallions, thinly sliced
1/4 cup minced fresh cilantro
Instructions
Heat a large case iron skillet over medium high heat.
Add oil, swirl to coat the bottom of the pan, and add the tempeh.
Cook, stirring occasionally until golden brown on all sides, 5-7 minutes.
Turn off the heat and drizzle the tamari over the tempeh, stir, and sprinkle the chili powder over the tempeh, stir and set aside.
In a large bowl combine the reserved cooking liquid, peanut butter, lime juice, brown sugar, tamari, and red pepper flakes whisking to combine.
Add the cooked noodles and toss to coat with dressing.
Add sugar snap peas, red pepper, scallions, and cilantro tossing to combine.
Top with tempeh croutons and serve at room temperature or cold.
In the mood for a rich and decadent ice cream, but feel like you should be avoiding dairy, sugar, and really trying to eat better overall? Or, perhaps need a quick dessert for Easter? Well, here you are my friends. A delightful, quick, easy, sugar free, healthy treat that is surprisingly close to ice cream in taste and mouthfeel. It is heavy on the banana flavor, but the chocolate and peanut butter do a lovely job of complementing it and bringing out flavors one would expect.
This is nice cream is basically a smoothie and something I have considered eating for breakfast, maybe stirring it into my oatmeal. So many options for a treat made from real ingredients with no added sugar.
Puree banana, coconut milk, vanilla, salt, and cocoa powder until smooth in a food processor or blender.
Add peanut butter and pulse a few times to combine.
Eat immediately, or store in the freezer for later. If storing in the freezer allow nice cream to thaw at room temperature a few minutes before serving.
Who wants fresh, fragrant cinnamon rolls? Ohh, I do, pretty much every day! For several reasons I try to save them for special occasions, such as Easter. I have tweaked my recipe a bit to make it a little easier and give more consistent results. I also did some experimentation with various sugar free options, but haven’t perfect them yet. I’m happy to give suggestions if you leave a comment with a question, but I need to make a few more batches before I share the results.
These are soft, pillowy, cinnamon filled, sweet nuggets of goodness. Perfect to make the day before and let rise in the refrigerator overnight and bake off in the morning just in time for breakfast.
Because there are a few steps here that are a bit hard to explain I have made a video.
In the bowl of your stand mixer whisk the egg replacer and water until smooth- set aside
In a small saucepan heat together the milk, Earth Balance, sugar and salt until the butter is almost melted.
Remove from heat and stir until butter is melted. Make sure this mixture is warm, not hot or it will kill the yeast.
Add 3 cups of the flour and yeast to the egg replacer/water mixture.
Add the warm milk mixture and mix with the paddle attachment for 2 minutes. If you don’t have a stand mixer you can do this by hand.
Switch to the dough hook and mix, adding flour 1/2 cup at a time until the dough forms a ball and no longer sticks to the sides of the bowl.
Remove the dough hook and drizzle olive oil over the ball of dough, cover with a damp towel and set aside to rise for 1-2 hours.
Once dough has doubled in size, punch it down then allow it to rest for 10 minutes.
While dough is resting combine the filling ingredients and set aside.
Place dough on a lightly floured surface and roll dough into a rectangle about 18″ by 12″.
Spread the filling mixture evenly over the dough, all the way to the edges.
Roll dough into a log and slice into buns, as large as you like. I like mine to be about 1 1/2″ thick.
Place buns on a rimmed baking sheet or pan close enough to almost touch each other. Line the baking sheet with parchment paper (for easier cleanup).
Let the the rolls rise until almost doubled in size, about and hour. Alternately at this point cover the rolls with cling wrap and store in the refrigerator overnight. They will slowly rise there. In the morning set the on the counter as your oven preheats and proceed as usual.
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Bake rolls for 20-30 minutes depending on their size, until golden brown.
While the rolls are cooking combine the confectioners’ sugar, vanilla and milk stirring until smooth.
When rolls are cooked remove from oven and drizzle with icing.
French toast is a lovely, quick breakfast. It is one of my go to breakfasts for my toddler. By using a sprouted grain bread and add a few things I am increasing the nutritional value and converting a quick diner breakfast into a healthy start to you day. I have a few versions, one with pumpkin to continue on my quest for veggies in everything, and this one that just adds a bit more protein and nutrients from the almonds. This french toast is filled with almond goodness and bursting in with flavor. I love to top it with plain yogurt, bananas, and a light drizzle of maple syrup.
Almond French Toast
Ingredients
2 happy eggs
1 TBL milk or nondairy milk
1/3 cup almond meal
1 tsp pure vanilla extract
1/2 tsp pure almond extract
3 slices sprouted grain bread
Coconut oil for cooking
Instructions
Whisk the eggs in a small bowl until uniformly yellow in color.
Add milk, almond meal, vanilla, and almond and whisk to combine.
Heat a large skillet over medium high heat, when hot melt a little coconut oil in the bottom, just enough to coat the pan you are using.
Dip the bread in the egg mixture one slice at a time making sure each slice is completely coated with egg mixture on all sides.
Place egg coated bread in the hot skillet and cook until golden brown on the first side, about 2-3 minutes. Flip and continue to cook until the second side is also golden brown. 2-3 minute more.
Happy Food Ninja 