Makes about 12-14 regular-sized muffins or 8 large muffins.

What you need:

1 1/2 cups AP flour

3/4 cups sugar

1/2 teaspoon salt

2 heaping teaspoons baking powder

1/2 cup apple sauce

Egg replacer equivalent to 1 egg

1/3 cup soy milk

1 cup blueberries

zest of 1 large lemon

First, preheat oven to 400 F.  Then, sift together the flour, sugar, salt, and baking powder.  In a small bowl, prepare the “egg” and set aside.  Add the apple sauce and soy milk to the dry ingredients.  Add the “egg” and the stir all ingredients together until well mixed.  Finally, add the zest and blueberries and stir once more.

Grease a muffin pan with flour and vegan butter or vegan pan spray.  If you wish, you can also use paper cupcake liners.  Fill the muffin cups 2/3 full and bake for about 15 to 20 minutes or until golden brown on top.  Test doneness with a toothpick if necessary.

Enjoy!

What you need:

1/2 pint strawberries (rinsed and trimmed)

1/4 cup sugar

3 Tablespoons vegan butter

4 cups powdered sugar

You will need to macerate your strawberries the night before or at least a couple hours before you do any baking.  That basically means, chop them up, sprinkle the granulated sugar over them and place in the fridge.  This will bring out the natural sweetness of your berries and make them a little softer and mushy for crushing.

Next, remove the strawberries from the fridge and drain any excess liquid.  Using a blender, hand blender, or a potato masher, crush the strawberries into a pile of mush.  Then, using a mixer, whip the butter until smooth and begin adding the powdered sugar, all while continuing to mix.  As you being to run out of sugar, you will see that your frosting is beginning to take shape.  Then, add the mashed berries and mix thoroughly.

And there you have it, an amazing vegan recipe for Vegan Strawberry Smash Frosting!

First, preheat the oven to 375. Then you’ll want to pre-bake your bottom crust. I make my own pastry crust from the MyVeganPlanet recipe, found here.  Once you’re ready to use your pastry dough, pull it out of the fridge and roll it out to 1/4 inch thickness on a floured surface. Cut the dough to your liking to create a bottom crust for each pie and a top crust. If you’re really ambitious, you can make a lattice top for the pot pies by cutting strips of dough and “weaving” them together to form a tic-tac-toe board type of topping. It looks cute and will make old ladies go “awwwwwww, how precious!”. Spray your pie pans or dishes with a little baking spray. Place your bottom crusts in the pie dishes and bake until they are golden. Remove from the oven and set aside.

*Note* The bottom crust thing is totally optional. Personally, I like a lot of crust in my pot pie, which is why I have a top and bottom. Also, if you don’t feel like making your own pastry dough, you can use ready-made puff pastry, which works just as well and tastes pretty damn good. Again, this is all up to you and how much time you have.

Here is the recipe for the filling:

-2 potatoes, cut into small cubes and boiled until tender, but not mushy (you should be able to stab them with a fork without them turning to mush)
-olive oil
-3 or 4 carrots, small diced
-1 yellow or white onion, minced
-about 1 cup of frozen peas (or more, or less, depending on how much pea you can handle…you can also add fresh or frozen green beans, just make sure they are chopped to 1in. in length…if you use fresh, steam them a little first to soften them up)
-1/3 cup vegan butter
-AP flour (about 1 cup)
-1 quart soy cream and soy milk mix (half and half)
-salt and pepper
-veggie bouillon powder (optional)
-extra vegan butter (optional)

To start, add about 2 teaspoons of oil to a frying pan and begin cooking your onion and carrot. Once they about halfway done, add the frozen peas and green beans and cook until everything is soft and tender. I add a little knob of butter about halfway through this for extra flavor, but not enough to really add extra liquid. Once this is done, add the potatoes. Cover the sauté mix with a lid and set aside.

In a medium saucepan on medium/high heat, melt your butter. Once its melted, start whisking in the flour until you get the consistency of peanut butter, but not quite as dark as a roux. Then, turn the heat down to low/medium and start whisking in the vegan half and half slowly. What you’re looking for here is a thick white liquid about the consistency of thick potato soup, almost too thick to be soup. This is the step where I add the  bouillon powder just for a little extra kick. Its totally optional, but highly recommended. Just keep in mind that most seasonings like this contain salt, so remember that when you’re doing the final seasoning at the end.

Start pouring your cream sauce into the veg mixture. (If your sauté pan isn’t big enough, you can transfer this step into a large mixing bowl.) Stir it as you pour and keep an eye on your cream sauce/veg ratio. You don’t want it to be too goopy, but a good amount of saucy goodness is delicious. If you have any filling left over, you can freeze it for future use. Taste your filling for correct seasoning and add a little salt and pepper accordingly.

Spoon the filling into the pie dishes, on top of the bottom crusts. Make sure each pie is equal and then place your unbaked pot pie crusts on the tops. If you chose to use a cut-out instead of lattice, poke it a few times in a cute pattern with a knife so that air can pass through. If you made a lattice, air will pass through ok on its own.

Bake for about 15-20 minutes or until the tops are golden brown and the filling is all bubbly around the edges. Cool for about 20 minutes and serve!

Happy Cooking, Folks!

What you need:

1 nine inch pie crust (you can use our recipe or buy it from the store, just make sure to read the ingredients)

olive oil

1 yellow onion, minced

1 Tablespoon minced garlic (about 3 cloves)

about 3 cups broccoli, finely chopped (seriously, chop it up small and don’t worry about it falling apart)

1 teaspoon tumeric

1 teaspoon salt

fresh black pepper

pinch of dried thyme

1 1/2 regular packages firm tofu (extra firm is okay, too)

1 teaspoon dijon mustard

2/3 cup crumbled or shredded white vegan cheese (see note)

thin tomato slices or halved cherry tomatoes for decorating the top

*Note* I prefer to use Cheezly White Cheddar when making this recipe, however, you can use any vegan cheese product you like.  The point is to find a cheese that works for you!  I like the white cheddar version because it doesn’t add any extra yellow to the color of my quiche and it melts nicely to add that creamy texture that wouldn’t otherwise be there.  If you aren’t into the fake cheese thing, you can substitute 2/3 cup ground cashews, which will also give it that creamy feeling.  Just make sure they are ground as fine as possible.

First, you’ll want to preheat your oven to 350F.  Start out by pre-baking your pie crust.  If you’re using a store-bought one, just poke a few holes in it and pop it in the oven for about 15 minutes.  If you’re using your own, roll out the chilled dough and fit it properly into the pie pan.  Again, poke a few holes with a fork and bake it for about 15 minutes.  Set aside.

In a large frying pan and with a little olive oil, sauté your onion and garlic until its tender.  Then, add the broccoli, tumeric, thyme, salt and pepper.  Continue cooking until everything is soft.  In the mean time, use a few paper towels to get rid of any excess water from the tofu and place into a food processor and pulse until its all a big pile of mush.  If you don’t have a food processor, you can use a potato masher and do it in a large mixing bowl.  About halfway through, add the mustard.  When finished, add your vegan cheese (this is where you non-cheesers would add the cashews) and mix well.  Then, add the broccoli sauté mixture and stir well.  Taste and adjust seasonings if you like.

Using a big spoon or spatula, transfer everything into your pie crust and mash it down so that it has a flat surface.  Then, using your tomatoes, decorate the top of the quiche.  (I like to layer the thin tomato slices in a circle around the edge of the quiche, but you can do your own artsy-fartsy thing here.)

Bake for about 45 minutes and let cool for about another half hour before you eat it.  OM NOM NOM.

P.S.  Its good cold, too.  :)

1 1/2  cups AP flour

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 1/4 cup cold vegan butter

1 T cold water

Sift the flour and salt into a large mixing bowl and add the cold vegan butter in chunks.  Mix with your hands and in the middle of it, add the cold water.  Once you have a big ball of dough, you’re ready.  Wrap it in plastic and refrigerate for about an hour before using.  You can do this up to 24 hours in advance, too.

When you’re ready to pull it out and use the pie crust, just sprinkle a little flour on your surface and remove the ball of dough from the fridge.  Knead it a few times with your hands to get some of the flour on it and then roll it out with a rolling pin to fit the pie pan that you are using.  Or, if you are making small pastries or empanadas, this would be your cue to cut it into the shapes you will be needing.

Happy Cooking!

What you need:

1 loaf gluten free bread (any kind is ok, but I use “wheat” gluten free sandwich bread)

1 bunch of celery, chopped as small as possible without crushing

1 Tablespoon garlic, minced

2 smallish red onions, minced

3 Tablespoons finely chopped fresh sage

2 Tablespoons finely chopped fresh rosemary

2 Tablespoons fresh thyme leaves

4 cups warm veggie stock

1 cup vegetable or olive oil

First, slice the bread and lay the slices on baking trays and leave overnight in the oven, turned off.  This will dry them out and make them slightly stale.

The next day, heat the oven to 400 F.  In a large saute pan, saute the celery, onion, and garlic in a little of the oil.  Add the herbs.  Cook until translucent and tender and then set aside.

Cut the bread into 1 inch cubes and crumble a few of the cubes to keep everything from being too uniform.  Pour in the saute mix and toss with your hands.  Pour in the remaining oil and some of the veggie stock until the bread has soaked up all of the liquid.  Season the stuffing with salt and pepper to taste and then put your stuffing in a glass baking dish.  Cover with foil and bake about half and hour.  Remove the foil and bake another 20 minutes.  Serve hot!  Enjoy!

*Note* You don’t have to use gluten free bread.  Any bread is fine.  Also, you can add other things to your stuffing if you like.  This recipe is really basic, but don’t be afraid to add things to the saute mix, such as pecans, cranberries, bits of seitan, etc.  Be creative!

What you need:

Cookie cutters!  I use “people” shaped cutters, but you can also use stars or whatever you like!

1/2 Cup vegan butter

1 cup brown sugar (light or dark, I prefer light)

2 teaspoons baking soda

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon ground ginger

1 1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1 teaspoon allspice

2/3 cup apple juice

1 1/3 Cups molasses (dark molasses)

7 1/2 Cups flour

You don’t have to worry about preheating the oven, because you are going to be refrigerating this dough for a few hours before rolling it out and cutting the cookies.  Keep this in mind in your planning!  The dough can be left overnight, but I think about 4 hours is enough.

In a mixing bowl, cream together the vegan butter, baking soda, salt, sugar, and spices.  Whisk in the molasses and the apple juice.  Once everything is well mixed, add the flour until you form a stiff dough.  For this step, I use my electric mixer with the paddle attachment.  Once you have a big, firm ball of dough, wrap it in plastic and chill it for about 4 hours.  During this time, you can make your frosting and prepare your decorating ingredients.  You can use the frosting recipe at www.myveganplanet.com, or you can use your own!  I prefer the vegan cream cheese frosting at maximum stiffness because it tastes delicious and holds its shape well.

When the dough is ready, cut it into sections and roll each section out to about 1/3 inch thick.  Cut with the cookie cutters and place them on baking sheets either lined with parchment paper or lightly greased.

When ready to bake, bake at 350 F for about 12 minutes.  Cool on a wire rack before decorating.

Enjoy!

Makes 2 9×9 inch pans.

What you need:

8 cups powdered sugar

1 cup cocoa powder

1 cup soy cream

4 Tablespoons vegan margarine

3 teaspoons vanilla

1 cup vegan chocolate chips

1 cup crushed peppermint flavored candy canes

Spray the 9×9 baking dishes with nonstick spray.  You can also use individual foil baking cups if you like, just make sure whatever you use is well sprayed.

Sift the powdered sugar and cocoa powder together in a large bowl, add the chocolate chips and set aside for later.

In a saucepan, heat the soy cream and soy butter to a boil, stirring often to avoid burning.  When the milk is boiling steadily, pour it over the powdered sugar mixture and stir well with a spoon to make sure that the milk has melted the chocolate and that everything is well mixed together.  Add the vanilla and then stir in 1/2 of the crushed candy cane.  Pour into the dish and refrigerate for about 24 hours.  After about 4 hours of refrigeration, sprinkle the rest of the candy cane on the top of the fudge.

After its hardened up a bit, its ready to serve! Try not to eat all at once!

What you need:

2 pounds Brussels sprouts

1 heaping spoonful of vegan butter, plus a little extra

1 cup coarsely chopped chestnuts (you can buy chestnuts in a jar at this time of year that are already cooked and ready to chop)

1/2 teaspoon salt

freshly ground black pepper

First, bring a large pot of heavily salted water to a rapid boil.  Toss in the trimmed sprouts and blanch (meaning you boil them for about 60 seconds and then take them out and immediate submerge them in an ice bath to cool them instantly).

After they have completely cooled, remove the sprouts from the water and pat dry with a paper towel.  Cut each sprout in half and place in a bowl with the chestnuts.

In a large saute pan, melt the butter and add the sprouts and chestnuts.  Saute until lightly browned and very hot.  Season with salt and pepper and serve!

*Note* You can do the last step (saute) right before serving the rest of the meal.  The blanched sprouts will hold overnight in the fridge, too!

What you need:

1 red onion, minced

2 Tablespoons olive oil

2 Tablespoons plain flour

1 Tablespoon crushed garlic

2 Cups concentrated veggie stock (I start with 4 cups and reduce it to 2)

1 teaspoon corn starch or corn flour

1 1/2 Tablespoons Tamari or Soy Sauce

Salt and Black pepper to taste (check your veggie stock before seasoning.  When its concentrated, its usually pretty salty already)

In a medium sauce pan, heat your oil on medium heat and start sweating the onion and garlic.  DO NOT BURN!!!  Basically, you want to caramelize the onion and garlic until they are brown and thoroughly cooked, but not burned.  Then, add your stock and bring to a boil.  As the gravy is boiling, whisk in your flour and then add then corn starch.  Whisk.  Reduce the heat as the gravy thickens.  Continue to let it thicken just a *little* too thick, and then add the soy sauce or tamari to thin it back out.  After that, remove from the heat and serve!

Enjoy!