The Best Chocolate Syrup of Your Life.

... for your never-ending chocolate craving.

3/4 cup cocoa
1 cup water
1/8 tsp salt
2 cups sugar
1/2 tsp. vanilla


Whisk together the water, salt, and cocoa powder in a small saucepan and heat over low to medium heat. Add sugar and stir to dissolve. Boil for three minutes and stir frequently. Be sure to watch the temperature - if it looks like it is about to boil over, it probably will boil over. (Totally not speaking from experience on that one..) Mix in the vanilla and let cool for 5 minutes. Pour into a clean glass jar and refrigerate.

This syrup will last for several months, and is the most delicious chocolate syrup ever. 1570902x better than Hershey's. You also did not hear from me that I am awfully biased against Hershey's cop-out chocolate products.

Ehem.


........



So. I have been slacking on getting my scans together, but I wanted to share what I have been working on as far as screen printing goes. My second project after the polar bear portrait was six monotypes about "Absurdities in Life." These revolved around my experiences in Bloomington so far.  At some points, I wanted to take back all the wonderful things I said about the place previously, but I won't.  I had a really silly time with the series, and it definitely shows with the final prints.

I am currently exploring poster art and am in the middle of an 8 layer print.

'Sexy molasses lady' is all I can say about that.

Better Chocolate Chip Cookies.

1/2 cup Earth Balance
3/4 cup cane sugar
1 Tbsp molasses
egg replacer equivalent of 1 egg (I used half a banana this time.)
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 1/2 cups flour
1/4 tsp cinnamon (optional, but it's delicious)
1/2 - 3/4 cup chocolate chips


Preheat oven to 350° F. Beat Earth Balance and sugar until fluffy.  Add the molasses, banana (or other egg replacer) and vanilla extract. Mix well.

Sift together dry ingredients and add to wet ingredients. Fold in the chocolate chips.

Drop by rounded tablespoons onto a cookie sheet. Bake for 10-13 minutes and move to a cooling rack.


...


I was craving chocolate chip cookies this week like you wouldn't believe. And I didn't want to make that one recipe that never ever turns out the same for me again. I also didn't have ener-g egg replacer or flax seeds on hand that I found suggested in other recipes - thus the banana and my first(ish) own cookie recipe!

They good. Real good.




On a side note, I had an awfully silly week.  What was better about today? Putting sweet fenders on my bike (aka no more wet butt), getting my hands in some flour, actually finishing homework, drinking too much coffee, and finally listening to In the Face of War again.

Potato Soup with Broccoli and Kale.

My love for kale-containing soup started quite a few years ago when I tried Olive Garden's zuppa toscana soup. If you eat sausage you should totally try it. This soup reminds me of that with the kale, potatoes and spices, but it is not trying to mimic it by any means.

I made this and chocolate muffins for dinner last night.. You could definitely say 'food baby.'


6-8 baking potatoes, baked and cooled
2 Tbsp olive oil
1 large onion
3 garlic cloves, minced
1 tsp fennel seeds, crushed,
1 tsp dried thyme
1/2 tsp rubbed sage
1/2 tsp dried tarragon
Freshly ground black pepper, to taste
Cayenne pepper to taste
1 tsp salt
8 cups vegetable broth
6 kale leaves, torn into bite-size pieces, rough stems removed
1/2 cup plain soymilk


Saute sliced onions in olive oil until they appear transparent. Slice the potatoes into 3/4 inch chunks. Add garlic and spices to the onions, and cook for another two minutes or until fragrant. Add some of the vegetable broth to deglaze the pan, then add the potatoes and bring to a slow boil. Add broccoli and kale during the last 10-15 minutes of cooking. Use an immersion blender to blend about 1/3 of the soup, but keep it chunky. Stir in the soymilk, and let the soup sit for a few minutes to let the flavors meld.

Serve with your favorite muffin recipe, and enjoy!

Vegan Banana Bread.

Did you know you can make your own brown sugar? When it is homemade, it is way more fluffy and delicious than the stuff you can buy. Simply follow the ratio,

1 Tablespoon Molasses per 1 Cup Granulated Sugar.

Less molasses gives you lighter brown sugar, more molasses is darker!





I have always loved bread. Artisan bread, poppy seed bread, zucchini bread - you name it. My mother tells me it runs in [at least and primarily the female side of] the family. The problem, however, is that all the recipes I grew up loving usually have dairy or eggs in them. Here is a necessary vegan intervention, telling you that you CAN bake without eggs.

One thing that irritates me about a lot of vegan recipes is that many I have come across include tofu. You will probably never see me post a baked / dessert recipe with tofu in it. Just because it's vegan does not mean tofu is a mandatory ingredient. I mention this because it was difficult to find suggested vegan banana bread recipes without tofu incorporated. I mean, they taste good. But ew.


Ingredients:

1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup Earth Balance, room temperature
3 very ripe bananas, mashed
2 cups flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 cup soy milk
1 tsp apple cider vinegar
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp allspice
1/2 tsp salt

Preheat oven to 350 F. Spray 8x4 bread ban with non-stick spray, or lightly coat with margarine.

Combine soy milk and apple cider vinegar in a small bowl to let curdle. Cream together Earth Balance and sugars. Add bananas, soy milk mixture and vanilla.

Sift together flour, baking soda, salt and spices.

Add wet ingredients to dry, and mix well. Pour batter into pan. Bake for an hour to an hour and ten minutes.



Enjoy!

Vegan Pumpkin Muffins.

It's FALL, and you know what that means about Pumpkin. This is, by far, one of my favorite recipes to bake.

... Okay, I mean 'eat.'

1 3/4 cups flour
1 1/4 cups sugar
1 Tbsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1/2 tsp ginger
1/2 tsp allspice
1/8 tsp cloves
1 cup pureed pumpkin
1/2 cup soy milk
1/2 cup vegetable oil
2 Tbsp molasses

Sift together all the dry ingredients and set aside.. In another bowl, whisk together the remaining wet ingredients. Pour wet mixture into dry and combine with a fork until just mixed. Do not over mix the batter, or your muffins will suffer in texture. Pour batter into muffin cups about 2/3 full and bake at 350 F for 20-25 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean. (I have never actually figured out the exact time these take.. it is usually longer than I expect.) The muffins are chewy when they are hot, so allow them to cool completely before eating.

Side note, I added chocolate chips this time, which is not necessary. But hey, chocolate in anything is okay by me. Also, this recipe always leaves extra batter at the end for you to do with what you please. (No eggs, no salmonella. Just saying.)

Meatless Manicotti, amongst other things.

I adapted this recipe from my mother's Meatless Manicotti that we used to eat growing up. Her version includes cheddar and cottage cheese with sloppy joe seasoning mix and tomato paste. I made tofu ricotta in place of the cheese and good ol' veggie marinara for the sauce.

Manicotti:
1 package manicotti shells
3 cups diced zucchini
Tofu ricotta
1 jar of your favorite marinara sauce


Parboil manicotti shells for 6 minutes at a rolling boil. When done, shells will be slightly hard and hold their shape. Make sure shells are not touching while they cool. (Using the plastic trays they come in works as a perfect holder until you are ready to stuff them.)


Tofu Ricotta (basically double of Isa Chandra Moskowitz's recipe):
2 blocks extra firm tofu, crumbled
1 Tbsp. lemon juice
2 garlic cloves, minced
1/2 tsp. salt
Black pepper to taste
Handful of fresh basil, chopped finely
4 tsp. olive oil
1/2 cup nutritional yeast

Mash all ingredients together with a fork (or your hands if you want to get messy).


Mix together the zucchini with the tofu ricotta. Use a spoon to stuff each shell with the mixture and place them in a single layer in a baking dish. Pour marinara sauce over the stuffed shells.

(This would be great with Pine Nut Cream on top. That recipe can be found in Isa's Veganomicon, however I did not make it with it this time. Pee ess, sorry I didn't take a picture. I completely forgot.)

Bake covered at 375°F for 30 minutes, uncover and bake for another 10 minutes.


...


I just sent my 'thank you / goodbye' letter to my teachers. My stomach sank right after I finished it. I am REALLY sad. But excited. Hopefully this give and take thing works out for the best.. I think it will.

I am also *this* close to renting my apartment. Thank you, craigslist. (PLEASE SOMEBODY TAKE MY LEASE.) I am looking forward to catching my breath. But this house is really becoming more of a home lately, however obvious it is in its ephemerality.

I hung up this clothes line yesterday. So freaking cute. And it's outside of my house.





Peace out, faithful readers.

Vegan Zucchini Bread.

At the coffee shop this morning I saw they had zucchini bread slices with the bakery. I realized that's what I have been missing! I totally forgot about putting zukes in bread, it's mostly just been stir fries all summer. Silly me. So now I have two loaves cooling on my kitchen counter. One for the house and one as a friend's housewarming treat.



Ingredients:

- 2 cups grated zucchini
- Egg replacer, equivalent 3 eggs
- 1 cup vegetable oil
- 2 cups sugar
- 1 tsp vanilla
- 3 cups flour
- 1 tsp salt
- 1 Tbsp baking soda
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 1 tsp cinnamon
- 2 tsp nutmeg

Preheat oven to 350. Lightly grease 2 bread pans - which I totally forgot, but they slipped out fine... Stir together the zucchini, egg replacer, oil, sugar and vanilla. Add remaining dry ingredients and stir well.

Pour batter into pans and bake for 50-60 minutes.


On a side note, I freaked out for a minute because I don't have a grater to grate the zucchini. And then I thought, "I wonder if I could just run it through the food processor." And THEN I remembered that my food processor is SO AWESOME that it has a shredding blade! Oh, Hamilton Beach, you treat me well.


It's good. You should make this.