Vegan Sausage Mcmuffin

I'm back Beezie's!!! And guess what?! I have officially started a business with my vegan food! Wha!? Yes.  I am at a bar called the El Rio in San Francisco slangin sliders, taquitos and cupcakes every friday night from 9-midnightish, come see me if you haven't already! I also started a program in SF called the Women's Initiative which is helping me take my business to the next level!  Rad, I know.  So my vision is to do vegan beezie style brunch at farmers markets either in SF or the East Bay.  Exciting, yes,  I know, I know.  Anyways, I'm playing with recipes for my farmers market stand and you would think this is why I am experimenting with recipes such as these sausage mcmuffins, but...no.  My sister has been talking about making these mcmuffins for weeks and since I stayed home sick I just fricken did it myself.  You can't just be talking about makin mcmuffins and never make them.  That's just effed up.

So they came out amazing:)!  Most amazing part is the homemade gluten-free cheese sauce I whipped up.  Shit was bomb.   The cheese sauce can be used in pretty much anything, mac and cheese, sandwiches, pizza, nachos... whatever you can think of. I am also kind of an expert on eggifying tofu but you can be the judge of that...

Beezie's Cheese Sauce

1/4 vegan butter

1/4 cup garbanzo flour (any flour would probably work)

1/2 cup nutritional yeast

1 cup unsweetened soy milk (or any unsweetened milk alternative)

1/2 teaspoon garlic powder

salt and pepper to taste

Heat a sauce pan to medium heat.  Add the butter and flour and cook until light brown and pastie (3-4 minutes).  Then add the remainder of the ingredients and cook until desired consistency, 2-3 minutes.  If it gets to thick just add more "milk".  

Fried "egg"

1-2 tablespoons of vegetable oil

1 package firm tofu cut into 1/4 slices

1/4 teaspoon garlic powder

nutritional yeast

salt and pepper

Heat large frying pan to medium-high heat.  Place oil in pan and heat, then add tofu.  While tofu is cooking sprinkle the top with garlic powder and nutritional yeast.  Cook for 4-5 or until it just begins to get golden and flip, cook another 4-5 minutes top with salt and pepper and that's it!

Assembly: 

1 recipe Beezie's Cheese Sauce
1 recipe Fried "eggs"
4 vegan breakfast sausage prepared according to package
4 toasted english muffins (I like to toast mine on stove top with olive oil, try it)
hot sauce

Take the toasted english muffin and slather a thick layer (like a really thick layer, trust me) of the cheese sauce on what will be the top of the muffin.  Then place the veggie sausage on top of the cheese and the "egg on top of that, then top with the bun, flip over and give a little squish so the cheeze oozes out the side and viola!

Buttermilk and Bacon Mushroom Chive Vegan Scones

Ok, so I havent blogged in a while, but guess what?  I now have a blog coach.  WTF is a blog coach you ask?!  It's a friend or family member who reminds you what a slacker you've been with your blogging!  Brilliant, no?  So I am back beezies and I have been cooking up a fricken storm! Chicken fried tofu, taco's with homemade tortilla's and for this post I will be sharing the most amazing scones ever!  I'm not joking these shits are bomb.  I love scones and rarely get to enjoy them (I know Peet's carries the fat-free vegan scone... but that shit is more sawdust than scone).  So I made my own.  I veganized a popular foodnetwork recipe and then made a savory version by omiting the sugar and adding a bunch of delicious stuff (i.e. veg bacon, mushrooms and chives).

I served the scones with homemade jam, clotted cream, fruit salad and fresh iced tea and enjoyed it with a dear friend/blogging coach.  The scone recipe is great as a base scone recipe and you can just add what you like to dress it up, you know, maybe some cranberries and orange zest or chocolate and cherries or lemon and raspberries or ginger and figs or or or... the possibilities are endless.  So here you go, I will put the scone recipe first and then modifications, the bacon, clotted cream and fruit salad recipe below.

Buttermilk Scones

3 cups flour
2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/3 cup sugar
3/4 cups vegan butter (i use earthbalance
1 cup soy milk +1 teaspoon of apple cider vinegar to make a vegan buttermilk

Mix dry ingredients in a bowl.  Add the butter and mix with your fingers until a course meal forms. Then add the "buttermilk" and mix just until everything comes together (don't overmix!).  Form mixture into two circles about 3/4 of an inch thick and cut into eighths like a pizza.  Place on a cookie sheet seperated and bake for about 15 minutes.

*To make savory scones omit the sugar and add what you would like.  Just note that if you add wet ingredients it may effect the outcome of the scone.  

Bacon Mushroom Chive Scone

1 recipe savory buttermilk scones
1 cup of tofu bacon cut into small peices
1 cup sauted mushrooms chopped
3 tablespoons chives chopped

Add the bacon, mushroom and chives to scones and mix just intil incorporated and proceed with directions above.

Tofu Bacon

1 package firm or extra firm tofu sliced as thin as you can get it
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
2 tablespoons nutritional yeast
2 tablespoons soy sauce
1 teaspoon liquid smoke

Fry the tofu in the oil slowly on medium-low heat until all peices are nice and crisp, about 8 minutes each side.  Then add the rest of the ingredients in the pan and cook until all liquid is evaporated.

Recipe compliments of: http://www.food.com/recipe/vegan-bacon-148899

Clotted Cream

1/4 cup vegan cream cheese
1/4 cup butter
2 tablespoons powder sugar

Mix all ingredients thouroughly until combined.

Recipe compliments of http://veganyumyum.com/2008/03/lemon-maple-scones-with-vegan-clotted-cream/

My Mom's Cheap Ass Fruit Salad

2 chopped apples
1 cup grapes
1 orange with the segments seperated and cut into 1 inch peices
1 banana sliced (optional)
1 cup vanilla vegan yogurt

Put all ingredients in a bowl and mix.

Vegan Beezie's Foodcart!

What the feezie?! Vegan Beezie's getting her euntrapaneur on with a food cart?! Yup yup:) Finally took the leap and made it happen.  After years of fantasizing about my own guerrilla food venture I finally did it, and guess what?  I did it all on the back of my bike! see...

Pretty cool, I know!  And guess what is even cooler?  The venture was a success even with a few setbacks:)  Let me take you through the story of what became my first official day of glory.

So it all began a couple of weeks ago when I finally decided on a product, vegan taquitos. I then started shopping around for items needed for my cart (bike trailer, tables, serving supplies etc...)  Besides the serving supplies my whole cart set up is made up of upcycled items, even the elegent cardboard menu sign.  Then after obsessing over possible spots for my first set-up I decided on a location on Stanford campus near the sarorities.   A risky move? yes, but where the freak else am I going to to set up a guerrilla vegan food cart operation in San Mateo County?  If you gots any ideas i'm all ears.

So I set a date that I would make myself get out there and I did just that.  I spent about 4 hours preparing about 60 taquitos and loading my trailer then I hit the streets.  Just so happened I picked the coldest night of the year!  Ughhhh, what can you do? As my friend Elyse puts it "You got what you got".  So I blasted my Reggae and hit the road.  It took about an hour to get there and guess what?! I went on finals week aka "dead week" where free food is provided in dorms round the clock.  Ughhhh!  I almost turned my sad ass around to mope my way home but I sucked it up and set up my cart in the midst of stanford ghost town.  Then guess what happened? I had customers within seconds:)  The stanford students were warm and welcoming and I can't wait to go back and feed them.  I packed up around 11:30 with 1 taquito left and biked my freezing buns home.  Next time I think I might make some home made chili and jalapeno cornbread... yum!

A special thanks to Arne for the awesome photos.  I met Arne on campus and was nice enough to give me a photo shoot and email me the pics.

What's in the future for Vegan Beezie you ask.  Well... I will be back at Stanford when Spring Semester begins with my bike cart.  I also have plans to sell tamales at the bars in downtown Palo Alto and do special orders for them as well as cupcakes.  I will try to do most of this on the back of my bike but we'll see as things blossom what my humble bike trailer can handle.

Stalk me on my twitter at #beezieskitchen.

Cardamom Sprouted Wheat Pancakes with Sauted Maple Apples

Bomb, healthy, weekend breakfast, enough said.

Cardamom Sprouted Wheat Pancakes

• 1 1/4 Sprouted Wheat flour
  2 tablespoons sugar
  2 teaspoons baking powder
  1/2 teaspoon salt 
  1/2 teaspoon cardomon
  1 tablespoon oil                 1 1/2 cups water

Sauted  Maple Apples

2 cups thinly sliced apples
1 tablespoon vegan butter
1/4 cup maple syrup
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
salt

A sprinkling of nuts is optional, I used pecans (yum:)

1.  To begin get all ingredients for the apples ready so when your pancakes are cooking you can just throw everything on and everything will be ready at once.  Once you are prepped, start the pancakes by mixing all of the dry ingredients.  Then add the oil and water to the dry mixture and mix just until blended, don't over mix!  Cook the pancakes on a non-stick griddle on medium-high heat.  Pour about 1/4 cup of mixture on the pan per pancake, cook on one side until bubbles start to form on the top and then flip.

2.  While the pancakes are cooking start the apples.  Begin by heating a medium sauce pan.  Add butter and apples and saute for 3-5 minutes just until apples begin to soften.  Add the remaing ingredients to the apples and cook another 5 minutes just until apples are softened.

3.  Finish cooking all pancakes.  You can pile pancakes in an oven at 225 degrees to keep warm while other pancakes are cooking if you would like.  When all pancakes are done place 2-3 on a plate and top with the apple mixture and nuts.  In my opinion this recipe does not need any added butter or syrup since it is in the apples but it is up to you.  Yum yum!

Roasted Chickpea and Wild Rice Salad with Tahini Dressing

Alright my fancy foodie followers, this ones for you.  It''s a suped up fancy pants salad.  This might actually be the only salad you ever see on my blog because not only do I hate making salads I actually suck at it.  Yup, I, Vegan Beezie, suck at making salads.  I have a really bad habit of throwing everything and the kitchen sink in and it just ends up being weird.  I also think it is just a lot of effing chopping and when you go to eat it it's a lot of effing chewing.  And I don't know about you foolios but I gots a heavy duty appetite.  I'm no fresh juice for breakfast, fruit for lunch, lettuce for dinner kind of vegan.  This recipe is a great recipe to make for non-vegans, it's hip, kind of fancy, healthy and filling.  Here you go...




Chickpea Croutons
1 can rinsed chickpeas
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 tablespoon braggs
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder

Dressing

1/4 cup tahini

1/4 cup olive oil

1/4-1/2 cup water

1 tablespoon red wine vinegar

juice of 1 lemon

1 clove garlic

1 inch peice of ginger peeled and minced

splash of braggs

pepper

Salad
2 cups cooked wild rice at room temperature
spinach
tomatoes
cucumber

1.  To start this recipe make sure that your rice is cooking and going to be cooled before you decide to plate.  Wild rice takes about 45 minutes to cook fully.  Next start the chickpea croutons by pre-heating the oven to 350 degrees.  Mix ingredients on a baking sheet and bake for 30-40 minutes.  Yes, you can mix the ingredients directly on the baking sheet, why dirty another dish? The chickpeas should be crunchy but still a little soft on the inside.

2.  While the chickpeas are baking you can make the dressing.  This dressing is bomb and hellsa easy.  Just throw everything into the blender and blend.  Salt and pepper to your liking (I used braggs for the salt in mine).  Taste and make sure the dressing suites your liking.  Start with 1/4 cup water and add more until the dressing is your desired consistency.

3. Once chickpeas are done, rice is cooked and cooled and dressing is prepared you are ready for assemlbling! I put a layer of spinach, topped with wild rice, then chickpeas, tomatoes and cucumbers and drizzled the dressing on top for what is pictured.  I also just mixed the leftovers all together for later and it still looked beautiful:) Enjoy!

Heart Healthy Vegan Dark Chocolate Mini Banana Muffins...damn that's a long ass title!

I fucking love to bake.  I have indescribable urges to measure flour, stir in the wets with the drys and of course... lick the bowl.  This is all fine and dandy until the delecitable little warm treats come out of the oven and I want to devour the whole effing batch.  So I bake only when it is for others and I can quickly get rid of the goods.  This being said, I am constantly on the lookout for opportunities to get my fix for mixing the wet with the drys in.  So when my wonderful new boyfriends poor dad ended up in the hospital with heart problems I seized the opportunity and whipped up these heart healthy bad boys.  I used a basic recipe for banana bread I found online and veganized, heart healthified them and added dark chocolate:).  I was super pleased with the results, moist, sweet but not too sweet and a nice nutty texture from the walnuts.   So here is the recipe...

2 cups whole wheat pastry flour (or any flour you would like) 

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 2/3 mashed banana (preferrably the super ripe variety)

1/2 cup apple sauce

2 egg substitutes (I used ground flax, 1 tablespoon flax to two parts water and let it set and viola, fucking eggs!)

6 tablespoons olive oil

1/2 cup brown sugar

3/4 cup dark chocolate chunks

3/4 cup chopped walnuts

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Mix the flour, baking soda and salt in a large mixing bowl.

2.  In a seperate mixing bowl mix the banana, applesauce, egg substitute, olive oil and sugar.

3.  My favorite part... wait for it... mix the wet with the dry.  Don't go getting mix happy either!  You know better!  That shit makes some funky ass tough muffins.  Mix just until combined then add the nuts and dark chocolate.  

4.  Then spoon the mixture into the muffin tins carefully, the little muffin tins fill quickly.  I filled them just to the top.  Bake for about 15 minutes.

Note:  You can bake this in whatever shape you would like but just factor in that different shapes will take different amounts of time (i.e. a loaf pan might take like 50 minutish apposed to 15 minutes for mini muffins).  I don't time my baked treats because I am so at one with my baked goods that I intuitively know when they are done, no joke.  But if you are a normal person that needs to use a timer then I would say for the mini muffins about 15 minutes should do it.  If you need to check with a toothpick please do so, nobody wants raw insides, yucko!

Gluten-fucking-free Crustless Pumpkin Pie

So I took off for a month doing some crazy soul searching and guess what?  I came back the same crazy bitch.  Don't get me wrong it was life changing and I will never look at things the same way... but I am who I am and that just happens to be a crazy bitch.  Wait, I know what you are thinking, "that sucks, what was the point of taking off like that?".  It's actually an amazingly beautiful and transformational thing to be a crazy bitch and fully accept it... to love it... to radically accept yourself... crazy bitch and all.  To learn what it means to trully be in the moment both with yourself and the world around you... its easy when things are going good but the real transformation comes with sitting with the ugly and like I said earlier, radically accepting it.  So, show your inner crazy some love, maybe a little cuddle sesh with your demons or plung into the ugly and swim for a bit and see what you find, you might be suprised what a little acceptance can do.  Ok, enough Buddha talk, now on to what we're all here for, the food!

So I am finally back home and in the kitchen and does it feel fucking amazing.  My first big cooking adventure since I have been back was cooking tamales with my best vegan cooking buddy Emily.  It was epic.  I grew up making tamales... there is just something about spreading the masa in the corn husk just warms my heart:)  Anyways, I got way ahead of myself that day.  We made three kinds, two with homemade sauces.  Yeah, it was a shit load of cooking.  I could write the most beautiful heartfelt book about this glorious day but guess what?  My dumbass didnt document anything, no recipes, no pictures, no nothing... which means no blog for you beezies, sorry:(  But, I did roast a pumpkin on that very same day and had the vision of this beautiful crustless pumpkin pie.  It is actually hella better than regular pumpkin pie and guess what?  Gluten-fucking-free! Yes, so for all you wheat adversed beezies this one is for you:)

Pie Filling

1 3/4 cups or 15 oz can pumpkin

3/4 cup sugar

1/2 block firm silken tofu

1 teaspoon cinnamon

1/4 teaspoon nutmeg

1/4 teaspoon ginger
1/4 teaspoon clove
1/4 teaspoon salt

2 tablespoons cornstarch

Topping

3/4 cup oats
1/4 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup chopped nuts (I used pecans and walnuts but you don't have to be as fancy as me)
2 tablespoons gluten free flour of your choice
2 tablespoons vegan butter
1/4 teaspoon salt

1.  Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Mix all the ingredients for the filling in a blender or food processor and pour into a greased 8 inch pie pan.

2.  For the topping measure everything into a bowl and use the back of a fork to mix the butter in.  It will take a minute if the butter is good and cold.  Then pour over the pie and place in the oven for about 45 minutes.