I still haven’t found a vegan cheese I love. Daiya is pretty good, but the taste is strong and a little odd. I wasn’t sure non-vegans would like it. I opted to leave the cheese out altogether and just concentrate on a flavorful filling. I considered using Gardien veggie ground, which is quite good, but I also wanted to make something that was more whole foods based and healthy. I wanted to show non-vegans that plant-based food can be incredibly flavorful, nutritious, and delicious without resorting to fake meats.

I have seen a few recipes pairing black beans with sweet potatoes, both in enchiladas and tamales. I considered making tamales, but it’s an all day event and not that fun by yourself. Enchiladas are much easier and a bit healthier without all the added fat. I did use store bought enchilada sauce (Hatch brand) and tortillas (Trader Joe’s De Mi Abuela Corn), but all the rest was from scratch. You could use canned beans, but I make a big batch most weekends, so I already had that on hand. For the sweet potatoes, I peeled and cubed several potatoes and added some chopped onion, tossed with a little olive oil and salt and roasted in the oven. This is quite good on its own, so make more and enjoy later. I also used a trick I learned from Cook’s Illustrated to soften tortillas for enchiladas. You spray both sides of a tortilla and warm in the oven for 5 minutes. This allows you to get the authentic method of lightly frying tortillas without the added fat or mess.

Experiment with the marinade to find a combination you like. This one is kind of smoky with a hint of sweetness.

So far, I have found two vegan recipes that are both just as good, if not better. The first uses some ingenious, albeit expensive ingredients. The second is a more refined and adult favorite. No, it doesn’t contain alcohol, but espresso. Not to say that kids don’t like coffee, but the caffeine kick along with the sugar may be a monster in the making.

Vegan Homestyle Chocolate Chip Cookies

I found this recipe doing a Google search for vegan recipes. There is even a YouTube video demonstrating how to make them. It’s from a cookbook called “Vive le Vegan“! Dreena Burton, the cookbook author, generously posts the recipe so you can try it yourself.

I like this recipe for many reasons. First of all, it is easy to mix with a bowl and a wooden spoon. I don’t need to use a mixer, which can be a big plus for someone who has a small kitchen or doesn’t bake enough to justify the expense. The cookies also keep well for a few days. Generally, chocolate chip cookies are not my favorite unless they come right out of the oven. These stay moist and delicious for a few days (if they last that long). I even store a few extras in the freezer and pop them in the toaster oven when I need a  cookie fix.

The only downside to these cookies is the expense of pure maple syrup. We always buy organic and I usually double the recipe, so it can get a bit pricey. However, the maple syrup is what gives it that buttery flavor without the butter. The last time I made them I sprinkled a bit of sea salt on the tops to offset the sweet.

Espresso-cinnamon Chocolate Chip Cookies

I made these cookies for the first time this week. The recipe comes from Chloe Coscarelli a.k.a. Chef Chloe. She’s the young, bubbly chef who was the first vegan to win Cupcake Wars. I’ve made her macaroni and cheese and her gravy at Thanksgiving. Both recipes are quite good. She recently came out with her first cookbook, “Chloe’s Kitchen“. It’s a beautiful book with some tantalizing recipes.

She has a recipe for a espresso-cinnamon chocolate chip cookie I wanted to try. The mixing method is more traditional in creaming the fat with the sugar. However, she uses powdered sugar instead of granulated. The recipe also calls for powdered espresso, which luckily I had in the pantry from another baking experiment.

I have to say that I think this version is my all time favorite. The espresso pairs very well with the semi-sweet chocolate chips. The cinnamon also adds a nice note without being overpowering. I also find that one cookie satisfies me. It’s similar to how a really good piece of dark chocolate is more satisfying than an inexpensive mass-market milk chocolate.

My only complaint was that they spread too much in the oven. She notes that the dough can be made ahead of time and refrigerated or frozen. I’ll try that next time. I’ve had the same issue with oatmeal cookies and have found that by chilling the dough ahead of time, I alleviate that problem.

Unfortunately, Chef Chloe doesn’t have this recipe available online at this time. She does have many others that you can try, including many desserts. The book should be available in many bookstores or online. I would recommend giving it a try. The recipes are easy to follow and do not have a lot of exotic ingredients. They may not be the healthiest “plant strong” recipes, but they are delicious and a good way to introduce non-vegans to the rich and delicious world of plant-based eating.

My husband suggested finding a local vegan restaurant to add to the day’s festivities. I used an iPhone App called “VegOut” that helps you find vegetarian, vegan, or vegetarian-friendly restaurants locally. There are reviews to help you find something you’ll enjoy. It’s kind of like Yelp for vegetarians powered by HappyCow.net.

Hunk of Burning Love from Real Food Daily

We decided to go a little out of our way and head into Santa Monica first to Real Food Daily. We arrived a little before they opened, but were pleasantly surprised to find a lovely library right across the street. We were able to visit the library, use the restroom and spend a little time before Real Food Daily opened.

It’s a bright and cheery restaurant. We were seated upstairs overlooking the counter and dining area below. It was a little loud when they were running the steamer and juicer, but the lovely scent of cinnamon and freshly juiced carrots made up for it.

Total Rueben from Real Food Daily

I ordered the Hunk of Burning Love special, which was a kung pao tempeh fried rice with pineapples and cashews. Dave ordered the Total Rueben which was baked marinated tempeh on toasted rye bread with tofu cheese spread, thousand-island dressing and tangy sauerkraut. He got a Cesar salad as his side dish.

So how was it? It was good. Not great. I’m not sure if we are spoiled by having a Native Foods and FreeSoulCaffe so close by, but our standards for vegan food are pretty high. Both meals were good enough, but not something I would go out of my way for again. I’m not sure if it is because it is LA, but the prices were much higher, too. The place was crowded however, so people must like it. Maybe it’s the location since it is in a nice part of town. Most of the patrons seemed well off.

So if you are in Santa Monica, should you go? Sure. It’s good enough to be worth a try, especially to support a vegan business. I think I’m just spoiled by Tanya Petrovna’s exquisite cuisine at Native Foods. If only she would open a nice sit down restaurant, I’d be in heaven.

Oh, and the surrealist show at LACMA? Go see it! It was wonderful. I even found a new women surrealist painter to admire named, Sylvia Fein.

Not wanting to end in failure, I used a tested vegan recipe from “Vegan Cookies Invade Your Cookie Jar”.  These ladies have never let me down, and once again they came through with an amazing marriage of chocolate and coffee in a gooey, rich package.

I highly recommend this book. If you are new to vegan baking, make sure to read the beginning to see what ingredients you may not have in your pantry. There are some tricks to getting traditional favorites to work without the use of dairy and eggs.

The Espresso Fudge Brownies were a good choice because I had everything on hand including some good dark chocolate, the Callebaut cocoa powder and some espresso powder. The mix came easily together in one bowl, which is also a big plus. Less clean up makes me a happy baker. I feel like I’m always cleaning up after I make a huge mess in the kitchen. I’m thinking of training the cats as sous chefs. I’m not sure sous chefs do actual clean up, or just prep work. I’m also pretty sure they would just get cat hair in everything. I may have to rethink that plan.

The brownies did turn out very well.  I don’t have permission to post the recipe, but it is available in the book. You can preview some of the recipes using the “Look Inside” feature on Amazon.com or Google Books. Isa Chandra Moskowitz is a lovely person who shares many of her recipes on the Post Punk Kitchen. Check out her site and buy her book. It’s well worth it to support such an awesome asset to the vegan world.

One of my favorite dishes, which I still love, is macaroni and cheese. I’ve moved on from the ubiquitous box of Kraft with it’s neon-orange powdered cheese. (My favorite was actually the Kraft Deluxe with the pouch of orange cheesy goodness, but it was more expensive.)

Over the years, I enjoyed homemade macaroni and cheese more than the boxed type. It’s not a very healthy food, so the extra effort was a good thing, ensuring I didn’t eat it as often as I wanted to. Now, that I’m giving up dairy, I needed to find a vegan way of getting my fix. I tried using Daiya and it was pretty good, but I’m not actually a huge fan of Daiya and it upsets my husband’s stomach.

I did some research online and came across Chloe Coscarelli’s version of Mac N Cheese. It got rave reviews, had ingredients I had in the house including my favorite nutritional yeast, so I gave it a shot. I omitted a couple of ingredients (lemon juice and agave syrup) because I didn’t have them, but it turned out great anyway. I also used cashew milk because I had some. I think that helped make it really creamy and delicious. The second time I made it I cut way back on the garlic powder. It’s good, but a little overpowering.

Overall, it’s a great recipe and forgiving. Use any pasta and feel free to make some adjustments. The last time I made it I used some high-fiber penne from Trader Joe’s that worked quite nicely. I’m still trying to not eat it as often as I’d like, for although it’s healthier I wouldn’t call it healthy.

I saw this recipe for Dilly Stew with Rosemary Dumplings on the Post Punk Kitchen blog and knew I had to try it. I’ve been wanting to try a veganized version of chicken and dumplings and this looked too delicious to pass up. I followed the recipe pretty closely. The only modifications I tried was omitting the beans and adding Gardien chick’n instead to try to get closer to a chicken and dumplings dish. I also used Better Than Bouillon’s No Chicken broth.

I have to say that this dish was pretty easy and really tasty. One thing to note, when making the dumplings, you may have to add more soy milk. It’s been really dry here, so that may have been a factor. If the dough seems to dry, try adding in more soy milk a tablespoon at a time until you get a soft, moist consistency.

Scouring the web, I found a recipe at AllRecipes.com that got rave reviews and had common ingredients that I had in the pantry. I did adjust it slightly to use almond milk instead of just water and added some cinnamon for kicks. I also used some frozen blueberries for a delicious anti-oxidant boost.

If you have leftover pancakes, they heat nicely in a toaster oven.