Pomander Balls or Chocolate Orange Truffle Cookies for the Holidays

Chocolate Orange Truffle Cookies, enlightened a bit

When I was a child one of the Christmas cookies my Mom would make each year was something she called, "Pomander Balls", a no-bake cookie made from crushed Nilla Wafers and melted chocolate chips together with sugar and orange extract.  The recipe has since been a favorite of most of our extended family and especially of my husband and daughter.

This is my version of Pomander Balls, which I respectfully re-name "Chocolate Orange Truffle Cookies" since they aren't exactly the same.

In a food processor combine all the ingredients:

1/2 cup cocoa powder

1/2 cup superfine sugar

1/4 cup agave syrup

2 tbsp orange juice

1/4 cup Grand Marnier

1/4 tsp orange extract

1 cup ground walnuts
2 tbsp ground flaxseed meal

1 box cookies such as Nilla Wafers
1 cup vegan dark chocolate chips, melted

Blend everything together and shape into balls about the size of a walnut or about 3/4" diameter.  Roll in crumbs such as cookie crumbs or nuts.

Store for up to 4 weeks in airtight container in refrigerator.  If they seem dry, occasionally sprinkle with more Grand Marnier as they mature.

Good luck having any at Christmas unless you hide them.

Note:  The goal is to have a crumb mixture that holds together when squeezed so you may have to bump up the moisture by adding more of any or all of the wet ingredients.  Today I had to add a lot more moisture because the air is so dry. Makes about 32 cookies.  (Hard to tell since someone kept snitching as I was making.)

Jewell's Rum Christmas Fruitcake

Christmas Fruitcake made without eggs and butter!

Jewell's Rum Christmas Fruitcake
First, place all fruit into large bowl and cover with alcohol such as rum or bourban, or use one cup of rum and toss every so often.  Let soak for several hours or overnight. Keep in mind you can use whatever dried fruits and nuts you prefer.  This is what I am using this year: 2 cups dried bing cherries 5 oz. sweetened dried cranberries 6 oz. sliced dried apples 6 oz. dried papaya, cut into 1/2" chunks 3/4 cup dried dates coarsely chopped 3/4 cup dried pineapple cut into 1/2" chunks 1 cup pecans coarsely chopped 1 cup macadamia nuts coarsely chopped 1 cup raw cashews coarsely chopped 1 cup unsweetened coconut flakes 1 cup rum or bourban Fruit and nuts soaking in rum For batter:
3/4 cup	granulated sugar	CREAM
3/4cup	brown sugar	TOGETHER
1/2 cup	vegan butter
1/4 cup	flaxseed meal
8	eggs substitute  (VeganEgg works well)
1 cup	applesauce
1/2 cup	plain soy yogurt or vegan s. cream	WET
1/2 cup	pineapple juice or orange juice	INGREDIENTS
1 tsp 2 tsp 1 tsp	almond extract vanilla extract balsamic vinegar
4 cups	cake flour
2 cups	unbleached flour (not bread flour)
2 tsp	baking powder
2 tsp	baking soda
1 1/4 tsp	salt	DRY
2 tsp	cinnamon	INGREDIENTS
3/4 tsp	cloves
2 tsp	mace
1 tsp	nutmeg
Makes 6 or 7 small to medium loaves, bake 1 hour at 325° or convection 300°.
Line 7 medium size loaf pans with heavy brown paper or parchment, grease and flour.  Set aside. Alternate method:  use spray oil and flour on non-stick pans.
In large measuring cup, combine applesauce, pineapple juice, almond extract, yogurt and any rum that can be drained off fruit. Set aside.
In large bowl combine all dry ingredients. Set aside.
In larger mixing bowl beat vegan butter until soft and add sugars, continue beating for 1 minute.  Add egg substitute (dry powder and water mixed according to package directions) and continue beating for 30 seconds. Add small amounts of wet and dry ingredients alternating until all flour mixture and applesauce mixture has been combined with butter/sugar mixture.
Fold all fruit and nuts into batter.  Spoon gently into prepared loaf pans. Bake at 325° for 1 hours. Loaves should be golden brown and have pulled away from sides of pans. Keep cooled cakes wrapped in cheesecloth or cotton flour sack towel soaked in your favorite rum or brandy for a few weeks before Christmas. Once you have a good base recipe for the cake part, you can use whatever dried fruit and nuts you prefer. Just don't use candied fruit—I think that is what gives fruitcake such a bad reputation.

7 medium size fruitcakes cooling on wire rack

At the last minute before baking we decided to top them off with maraschino cherries

Soak towel in rum and store in airtight container or gallon ziplock bag until Christmas/New Years.

Test piece, guess who sacrificed himself as general taster?

Vegan Cornbread, Wild Rice and (not) Sausage Stuffing Recipe, or Plant-based with no added fat

On Thanksgiving, I can forego everything but the stuffing.  We began eating a plant based diet just a few weeks before Thanksgiving the year we started this and what a holiday to not be able to sit down and eat the traditional meal.  So it was essential for me to find a way to have a stuffing that tasted as close as possible to my recipe of cornbread stuffing with wild rice and sausage, the recipe for stuffing that became our standard after working on it for years.

The new plant based version is very similar, a combination of the stuffing I grew up with, cornbread stuffing, and the stuffing my husband likes--wild rice and sausage.  This version leaves out the diced boiled eggs, diced gizzard, heart and turkey broth and meat from the neck that I used to boil and include.

You know what?  I actually like this version better.

Cornbread Stuffing

Recipe:
1 batch cornbread from a plant-based, no added fat recipe prepared and cooled (can be made a day ahead, I always do it the night before--it's a tradition)
2 cups long grain and wild rice mix such as Rice a Roni Nature's Way prepared without oil but do use the seasoning packet
2 cups vegan sausage substitute like textured soy, as low fat as possible (or see recipe below)
4 stalks celery, diced
1 cup soy curls, rehydrated with 3/4 cup hot not-chicken bouillon and diced into 1/2" pieces
1/3 cup walnuts (toasted) and chopped coarsely
2 cloves garlic finely diced
1 can sliced water chestnuts drained and chopped very coarsely
2 tsp. dried rubbed sage or poultry seasoning
1/2 cup fresh parsley
2 cups broth (mushroom, vegetable or not-chicken bouillon stock)

Cut cornbread into 1/2" cubes and set aside.
Sauté celery and garlic in nonstick skillet,
add broth and cook until garlic is tender.
Toss all ingredients in large bowl.  You may need to add more broth to make sure stuffing is moist but not saturated, then transfer to baking dish, 9x13 or similar.  Cover with foil or casserole lid and bake at 325 degrees farenheit for 60 minutes.

Sausage recipe:
1 cup TVP (textured vegetable protein, unflavored) 
1 cup vegetable broth, hot
1/4 tsp dry powdered ginger
1/8 tsp anise, crushed fine
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp sage
1/4 tsp cayenne pepper
1 tsp black pepper
1/4 tsp rosemary, crushed
Stir all seasonings and broth into TVP and let sit for 10 minutes.
(Stir in 1/2 cup vital wheat gluten if pressing into patties such as for breakfast.)

Stuffing is even better the second day!  Serving suggestion: sprinkle dried cranberries over the top of  each serving.
This is ideal stuffed into large mushroom caps and baked until mushrooms are tender in a covered casserole with a little vegetable broth.

Dutch Baby Style Pancakes for the plant based diet

Puff Pancake. Take out of the oven at 35 minutes and dust with powdered sugar and lemon zest.

Dutch Babies are a unique pancake that celebrates the egg and what it can do under the right circumstances.  Normally it puffs up to several times the size of the batter in a hot oven.
We used to make them a lot when our daughter was young and loved the taste and the show of them. After we stopped eating things with a face or a mother I never even tried to make one but it is one of the breakfast items I have missed.  The new egg replace product, "VeganEgg" is so different that I just had to try and make Dutch Babies again—but I was skeptical that it would work.
Fortunately, it turned out surprisingly well.

Recipe:
Place 4 individual ramekins (4 inch diameter each) in oven and set temperature to 425 degrees fahrenheit


Wet ingredients to be placed in Vitamix or other really good blender:

2 cups non-dairy milk (I used cold coconut milk or almond milk from a carton—not the canned variety)  Why? less fat
2 ounces soft silken tofu (or regular tofu blended with some of the non-dairy milk from this recipe in a microblender such as a Magic Bullet)
1 teaspoon almond extract--don't skip, important flavor
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Then sprinkle in the dry ingredients and blend immediately:

1/4 cup VeganEgg powder
1/2 cup flour such as Bob's 10 grain or coconut flour, or your favorite type
2 tablespoons Low Fat Bisquik
3/4 teaspoon salt

After batter is ready, remove ramekins or pull out oven rack to where you can pour the batter into them. Place 1 tablespoon vegan butter in each ramekin right before pouring in the batter along with a quick spray from your can of spray canola or other oil to coat the inside of each ramekin. Let melt--it should only take seconds.
Pour 1/4 of the batter into each hot ramekin as quick as you can after placing the vegan butter and a bit of spray oil in each.  Bake for 20 minutes and then turn the heat down to 375 and continue baking for another 15 to 20 minutes.

Remove from oven. Dust with powdered sugar and a squirt of lemon juice.

Alternate Recipe without Bisquik:

Dutch Baby Pancake for One 

1/2 cup non-dairy milk
1 tablespoon soft tofu
1/4 teaspoon each—vanilla and almond extract

Blend in Magic Bullet (mini blender), then add dry ingredients all at once and blend again:

1 tablespoon VeganEgg dry powder
3 tablespoons whole wheat pastry flour, or your favorite flour
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
pinch salt.

Cook same as above.

Batter will be thick like cake batter.

After cooking for 12 minutes

This is as tall as it ever achieved, but taking it out of the oven too soon results in a raw and doughy center.  It will deflate a little as it continues cooking.  Too bad.

20 minutes

Plant based Dutch Baby—I should have photographed them right when they came out of the oven.  This is about 10 minutes later.

Serve with real maple syrup, or your favorite.

Vegan Almond Chicken

Soy curls made to taste like Almond Chicken on a bed of steamed kale

 We used to like to go to this very typical American-Chinese restaurant in Spokane that served Chinese food the way we liked it, the tackier the better.  Sticky, bright red sweet and sour sauce, bright yellow lemon chicken, you get the idea.  My favorite item on their menu was Almond Chicken.  It was something I never figured out how to make at home (and probably would have cringed at how unhealthy it was anyway).  I found myself wondering how to re-create the essence of what I liked about this dish without re-creating the bad stuff—the animal protein and the greasy gravy.

God Bless Soy Curls.  

A plant based version of the standard American Chinese Restaurant "Almond Chicken"
Ingredients:
1 cup              soy curls 1 cup              boiling water 1 teaspoon Better Than Bouillon, No Chicken Base 2 tablespoons Sliced almonds 1/4 cup almond flour (or grind up your whole almonds with a food processor) 1/4 cup flaxseed meal 1/4 cup bread crumbs (whole grain, dry) 1 cup water 1/2 cup almond flour 1/2 cup almond milk, lowfat 1 tablespoon soy sauce 2 tablespoons garbanzo bean flour 1/2 teaspoon Better Than Bouillon, No Chicken Base 1/8 teaspoon almond extract (optional) 1 tablespoon Miso paste 1 bunch steamed kale  1.  Dissolve 1 teaspoon of bouillon in 1 cup of boiling water and pour over soy curls to dehydrate.  Let sit for 15 min. or longer while you prepare the other ingredients. 2.  Toast sliced almonds in small skillet until golden brown, set aside to use as topping. 3.  Toast 1/4 cup almond flour (ground almonds), then combine with flaxseed meal and bread crumbs. 4.  Drain broth from soy curls and reserve.  Dredge soy curls in almond flour mixture. 5.  Toast coated soy curls in medium-hot skillet until browned on all sides.  Set aside in warm oven. 6.  Combine sauce ingredients (1 cup water, 1/2 cup almond flour, 1/2 cup almond milk, 1 tablespoon soy sauce, garbanzo bean flour and 1/2 teaspoon bouillon) in blender or Magic Bullet. 7.  Pour sauce ingredients into skillet and bring to simmer, cook until thickened.  Remove from heat and add almond extract and miso paste, stir to combine. 8.  Place 1 cup of steamed kale or brown rice and 1/4 of the soy curls on each plate, cover with the almond sauce and sprinkle toasted sliced almonds over the top.
8.  Remember to close your eyes with each bite, sigh and be happy and grateful to be alive.  Bless the cook.  Don't bother wiping the grin off your face.

x

Shells n' Cheese with Peas, PBNAF

Our standard household favorite to eat while the big cheese is away is Mac n' Cheese because he does not share our enthusiasm for the dish.  Did I mention my daughter, my Mac n' Cheese partner, is away at college?  It's just me and the dogs.  It's just me and the dogs and the parakeets.  It's just me and the dogs, the parakeets and the fish. It's quiet anyway.

But now that I don't eat real cheese not having a favorite go-to recipe has become a problem because he is away, a lot.  Okay, not a lot but these occasions demand a little comfort food like Mac n' Cheese so it is about time I found a recipe worth blogging about.  I have tried a couple of the vegan versions but none have seemed truly great without a little tweaking to my tastes.  No onion powder please.  No turmeric either.

Shells n' Cheesy Sauce with peas

This is adapted from "Soy-Free Mac n' Cheese Recipe" by Lindsay Nixon.

Ingredients:
1 1/2 cups vegetable pasta shells or whole grain pasta of your choice
1 3/4 cups rice milk, low fat unsweetened
1/2 cup nutritional yeast (or slightly less)
2 tablespoons cornstarch
1 teaspoon garlic powder
1 teaspoon Vegan Parmesan
1/2 teaspoon paprika (not smoked)
1/4 teaspoon Bragg 24 Herb Seasoning
1/4 teaspoon Not-Chicken Bouillon
1/4 cup non-dairy cheddar shreds
1/2 cup frozen peas
1 1/2 tablespoons miso paste (most common available is made from soy which works for me)
1/2 teaspoon dry parsley flakes
2 pinches smoked paprika
flaxseed meal for topping

Put the water on to boil for the pasta and add it when the water is at a rolling boil.  Let the pasta simmer while you make the sauce.
Sauce:
Pour milk into a large skillet, add the yeast, cornstarch, garlic powder, vegan parmesan, paprika, herb seasoning, parsley and bouillon.  Simmer until thickened, add cheddar shreds.  Remove sauce from heat and add miso paste, parsley and paprika.  Set aside.
By now the pasta should almost be done.  Add the frozen peas to the boiling water and continue cooking until the peas are hot and bright green and the pasta is done.  Drain or scoop out of the water with a strainer and combine with the sauce.  Top with flaxseed meal.

You are done.  Except for the best part which is eating it.  :)

Notes:

• Never rinse your pasta with cold water because then the starches wash away that help the sauce stick to it.  (Probably something I learned watching the chefs on Food Network...who knows?)
• Never add miso until the end of cooking because the heat destroys the good stuff in it.
• "Government Cheese" by Keb Mo is the only song I have with the word "Cheese" in the title.  Somehow it is not festive enough for this occasion so "Wouldn't it be Nice" by the Beach Boys is my recommendation tonight.

Penne pasta made from brown rice, topping is
raw shelled hemp seeds instead of flax for a wild evening.