betty goes vegan.

it's been a minute. i had a wonderful week in ohio with my fabulous family, including my two adorable nephews (i made them fried rice with a side of garlic green beans; that's the next post!). i made these donuts weeks ago, and am just getting to post them. my bad.

every christmas all my siblings, those who married my siblings, and the spawn of those matrimonies gather at my parent's house to make these delicious treats. this is straight out of betty crocker's recipe for "cake donuts" with the vegan substitutes, and double the nutmeg. dive into these babies.

Donutz

• 3 1/2 cups flour
• 1 cup sugar
• 3/4 cup soy or almond milk
• 2 tablespoons shortening
• 3 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
• 2 bananas
• lemon juice
• vegetable oil for frying
• flour for rolling out

1. your two bananas and lemon juice will be your egg replacers. just like in the cupcakes, mash your bananas with a bit of lemon juice until they are slightly thicker than an egg. mash as many of the chunks out as you can.
2. mix 1 1/2 cup of your flour with the rest of your ingredients. with a table or hand mixer beat for about 30 seconds. this is a thick dough so it might take a tad longer with a hand mixer. mix for another 2 minutes or so on medium speed while occasionally scrapping the sides of the bowl.
3. slowly add in the rest of your flour while continuing to stir.
4. generously flour a clean counter, table or cutting board. roll around to coat with flour then roll out to about 3/8 inch or so.
5. times to cut those babies out. i floured the rim of my favorite drinking glass a.k.a a jam jar to cut out the main chunk of dough. then i used a shot glass to cut out the donut-hole. we also traditionally have "monsters." these are the oddly shaped pieces between the circles.
6. heat 2-3 inches oil up in deep skillet to about 375 degrees.
7. gently place donuts into hot oil. turn over the donuts when they rise. about 1-1 1/2 minutes to get golden brown.
8. remove from oil and place on paper towel or coffee filter covered plate to drain excess oil.

this makes about two dozen donuts. these are not the typical "yeast donuts" you would get at dunkin' donuts. ther are denser, and wonderful. i had some leftover icing from the shark week cupcakes so, i topped a few with that. you can also toss them in a bag or container with powdered sugar. also, i thought making the dough a different color would be fun so, a few of them are purple! the pieces cut out with the shot glass make perfect little donut balls of goodness.

these things are dangerous. get a chilled glass of soy or almond milk, and be prepared to eat your weight in donuts.

Easy Peas-y Mango Soup

My fourteen year-old future stepsister Liddy has a mild obsession with all things mango. During a visit earlier in the summer she posted on her Facebook, "they should make a mango soup!" I didn't know she loved mangoes so much, she didn't know I love a food challenge.

Shortly after, my apprentice and I grabbed a few beautiful mangoes, rolled up our sleeves and started throwing stuff in a blender that we thought would taste good. I'm not much of a fruit fan ("A VEGAN WHO DOESN'T LIKE FRUIT?!" you gasp. What can I say, I like it crunchy and spicy!) so I would've preferred the end result to burn my mouth a little more, but we ended up with a beautiful chilled soup that had a nice, mild kick and was the perfect meal on a summer afternoon. I paired it with a chapati bread, the recipe for which I took from a Hare Krishna recipe book "The Higher Taste" that I bought from a local Indian restaurant. (I tried to find a link, but it seems our Hare-y friends aren't terribly inventive and several of them have distributed drastically different books of the same title.)

Blended Family, Blended Fruit

• 3 mangoes pitted and seeded
• 1 16oz can light coconut milk
  
• 2 cups peas (fresh or frozen; we used frozen)
• 1 bunch chopped scallions
• 1/4 cup minced garlic
• 1 lemon, wedged
  
• Curry powder to taste (I probably used about 4+ TBSP)
• 1 cup almonds
• 1 cup shredded coconut

1. Toast almonds on a cookie sheet at 350 for about ten minutes
2. Combine mango, coconut milk, peas and scallions in blender and puree
3. Add lemon juice, garlic and other seasonings as you see fit! Like I said, I like it spicy and would've added much more curry powder if Liddy were less sensitive to spice.
4. Garnish with almonds and coconut. I even saved a few peas!

Chapati Bread (via The Higher Taste)

• 1-1/2 cups whole wheat flour
• 1/2 cup all purpose flour
• 1 tsp. salt
• 1 Tbsp. vegetable oil
• 1/2 to 3/4 cup warm water

1. Combine flour, salt, oil and water in a large bowl
2. Knead dough for about 10 minutes
3. Cover dough with a smaller bowl for 1/2 hour
4. Re-knead dough
   
5. Form into 12 balls
6. Preheat ungreased skillet or griddle on medium heat
7. Roll each ball into a 6" round and heat on skillet until golden brown bubbles and a pocket start to form
8. (This next step is an optional after thought and is only do-able if you have a gas oven!) On a neighboring range over medium heat, use tongs to hold about 6" above flame. The bread will fluff up even more!

*Note: You'll see a spinachy chapati-esque experiment in the picture. Liddy wanted a bread with a little more flavor so we fooled around with garlic and spinach chiapati. It was messy and difficult and, while edible, not a "recipe" I would try to pawn off on you fine folk.

jawesome!!!

it's shark week!!! i don't even have cable, and i'm excited! so excited that i made shark week cupcakes. i don't think these needs much more of an explanation. on to the shark week sweets.

Shark Week Cupcakes

• one box dairy egg free cake mix (i used duncan hines classic yellow)
• 3 small bananas or 2 large
• juice of one lemon
• water
• oil
• cupcake liners
• icing (you can make this or buy in a can. i used duncan hines classic vanilla)
• food coloring
• swedish fish

1. follow instructions on box for water and oil amounts. mine called for 3 eggs, and this is where the bananas and lemon come in. one banana is equal to one egg as far as replacers go. mine were fairly large so i used just 2 bananas. chop them up then squeeze the juice of one lemon of them and mash. they should turn to about the consistency of an egg...there's your binder!
2. i divided my batter in two leaving half yellow, and the coloring the other to a sea-foam green. then put equal parts of each into the cups, and used a knife tip to marbleize them.
3. bake according to box. i actually had to leave mind in a tad longer. just use a toothpick or knife to poke the center of a cupcake; if it comes out clean they are finished! let cool.
4. while those are cooling mix some of your white icing with blue food coloring for the water, but be sure to leave some white for the splash.
5. after cupcakes are cool cover top with blue icing then add a dollop white in the center for a splash. the final touch: swedish fish! these vegan no meat treats will serve as our veracious jaws!

keep in fridge until serving or icing will melt! making these with kids would be a blast. these are so good good that my new un-named cat pulled one of the counter into the sink and ate almost the entire thing. i hope you do too!

Presto!!!! pesto in a wink!

one of the amazing mothers i sit for sent me a recipe for cilantro lime pesto that was a Tejas Texas Grill recipe in Bon Appetit. i adjusted it a bit to my liking, and think it's pretty spot on.

i had the recipe saved in my email for weeks before i got to it, and when i did...boy was i glad. i thought of it as i was walking through the green market in union square smelling the fresh veggies, and herbs. of course the cilantro hit me, and i knew it was time. i swooped up jalapeños (10 cents), cilantro ($1.50), garlic (30 cents), red pepper (85 cents), and a white onion (75 cents) at the market. since there are just a few ingredients i would recommend getting the freshest possible, hence the reason i hit up the farmers market. on my way home i grabbed the limes for six for a dollar...holla. the pasta i had at my house. wOOtwOOt, let's make magic.

Cilantro Lime Pesto

• 2 cups cilantro
• 3/4 cups green onion (scallions)
• 1/4 cup white onion
• 4 cloves garlic
• 1 jalapeño
• juice of 3 limes
• 1/2 cup olive oil
• salt
• pepper

1. chop cilantro, white onions, scallions, garlic,& jalapeño (and seeded). toss in blender with limes juice, and olive oil. blend until smooth. salt and pepper to taste. it's just that easy. if you don't have a garlic press just chop 'em. a good way to get the skins off the garlic is hit the width of your blade with heal of your palm.

toss this with cooked spaghetti. i fired a red pepper on my gas stove, sliced, and used as a topping for the dish. so good, friends. so good.

i really love your peaches, wanna shake your trees.

my mama has been talking about grilling peaches for days and days. every time she brought it up i would start to drool. so, today i braved the heat (and just missed a downpour) to grab the few ingredients i would need.

i also wanted something to top these with. something light, because in this heat anything too heavy is just too much. i decided to try a strawberry syrup. while i had imagined it being thick, like bottled maple syrup, mine came out sans any viscosity. yet the flavor was spot on, and i actually enjoyed the lighter syrup.

Grilled Peaches

• peaches
• cinnamon (optional)
• nutmeg (optional)
• brown sugar (optional)

1. peel, pit, and slice your peaches. i peeled mine, but leaving the skin is just peachy keen. i would recommend slices on the thicker side. if they are too thin they will cook really fast and turn to mush.
2. if you choose to top your slices you can use any of the above mentioned or whatever pleases you. i just used brown sugar, which remember will start to caramelize and can make a heck of mess on a grill (foil could help here).
3. place on grill, i highly recommend the use of foil here for easy clean up. grill on each side until grill marks on visible. only a few mintues on each side. today since firing up my little outdoor grill was too daunting in this heat i used my george foreman.

Strawberry Syrup

• one carton strawberries
• 2 cups water
• 1 1/8 cup sugar
• zest of half a lime
• juice of whole lime

1. slice strawberries and toss in a pot. add 3/4 cup water. bring to a boil then lower to simmer. let simmer for 15 minutes. i used a potato masher to smash my strawberries a few times throughout the simmering. they should break down till it just a pulp. you can strain the pulp out or leave it in your syrup.
2. remove strawberries from heat, and in pot combine rest of water (1 1/4 cup), sugar, lime zest, and juice. bring to boil. left this boil for about 10 minutes. if you have a thermometer it should be around 220 degrees. but really just let it boil until sugar and water start to thicken.
3. combine sugar water mix with strawberry blend and bring to boil again for about a minute.
4. remove from heat and let cool.

plate your peaches, and top with syrup! my syrup was still warm when i plated this and with the warm peaches it was pretty great. a chilled syrup might be better in the hot sun at a grill out. also, you can replace the strawberries without fruit sounds good; raspberries, blueberries, anything! so, thanks mom! i did it, and it was delicious!!!

104 heat index, and i want french toast.

whew, baby. nyc is in the middle of a heatwave, and not the fun dancey sing songy kind. if you tried to dance now you would die of dhydration/heat exhaustion on your way up from your first "drop it like it's hot."

standing next to a stove to cook sounded like torture, but i still had one thing on my mind: french toast. sure, i had all the fixings for a nice cool summer roll, but i had to go for the fired up bread. of course.

French Toast

• bread
• 1 cup soy milk
• cinnamon
• 1 1/2-2 bananas
• vanilla

1. in a blender combine soy milk, cinnamon, bananas, and vanilla then pulse until smooth. the amount of cinnamon and vanilla is up to you, and what you like. since there aren't any raw eggs in the batter feel free to test it, and season to your liking. when i use banana as egg replacer in recipes such as cookies and pancakes i will first mash them separately with just a tad of lemon juice to get them at the right consistency. since i was tossing everything in the blender i knew it would get mixed properly, if you don't have a blender or food processor i would use the lemon method. these came out with a strong banana flavor; if that is something you want to avoid use the lesser amount.
2. on a stove heat large non-stick pan with oil or oil spray. or if you are lucky enough to have a griddle get that baby going.
3. dip bread into batter coating both sides. i used french bread, but you can use whatever suits your fancy. anything from sliced white bread to a thick whole wheat loaf.
4. cook on each side until they are brown and start to crisp on each side. try to flip as least amount of times as possible.
5. top with powder sugar, butter, syrup, fruit, nuts, apple sauce or nothing at all!

you can always add in whatever other spices and flavors to the mix. some coconut or pumpkin pie spice would be really yummy!!! i had to cook these with a fan pointed directly at me, but it was so worth it. make them after the sun goes down as part of a breakfast for dinner evening. enjoy!

when in doubt go for the hot sauce.

a few weekends ago i was at a bbq celebrating my friend cristin's graduation from her UCB improve class, and it was a blast. i did have some tequila leftover from a solstice festival i was at the prior day. i also had some orange juice so my first thought was "tequila sunrise!!!!" alas, no grenadine. as i was scouring the fridge for some other mix in my friend pointed out the hot sauce and i never looked back.

Flaming Mary/Cholula Sunrise

• tequila
• orange juice
• hot sauce

1. mix your poisons together to your liking. that's it.

Don't use louisiana style hot sauce with this. we tried some, and the vinegar flavor was way too overpowering. i would stick with cholula, valentina, or other south of the border sauces. now i love spicy things, but i definitely had to add more hot sauce than i thought i was going to. i think this would also be amazingly yummy with mango juice instead of orange. sip on this all summer.