speedvegan

The restaurant, originally uploaded by cloudmonkey.

I organized a small event for the Veg Group this weekend at Gourmet Greenhouse, a cute little vegan/raw restaurant in Hollywood. The food was great and everyone seemed to enjoy themselves. Geoffrey and I shared the soup sampler and I had the Hungarian Style Stuffed Potatoes which I was able to mash. Everything was really yummy and the staff was incredibly nice. I look forward to having another event there in the future.

Friday – 35 min run
Saturday – rest
Sunday – 54 min run
Monday – 1.5 hr beach bootcamp class
Tuesday – 50 min spin class
Wednesday – 55 min spin class
Thursday – 29 min run

Lemony French Cupcakes, originally uploaded by cloudmonkey.

I made these last night using a variation of the Lemony French Cake recipe at the delicious have cake, will travel! blog.

Banana Bread, originally uploaded by cloudmonkey.

I love banana bread. Back in my B.V. (before vegan) days, I wasn’t the baker I’ve become. The thought of putting eggs and milk in sweets was, at best, repulsive. Now that my eyes have been opened to the wonderful world of vegan baking, I can finally enjoy making those things I used to hate to love.

This is a modified version of the banana bread recipe found in the May 2007 issue of Runner’s World.

1 2/3 cups all-purpose flour
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp salt
1 cup + 2 tbsp sugar
egg replacer for 2 eggs *
3 1/2 bananas, very ripe, mashed
2 tbsp vegan sour cream
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1 cup vegan chocolate chips

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

2. In a medium bowl, sift together flour, baking soda, cinnamon, salt and one cup sugar.

3. In a separate (large) bowl, whisk remaining 2 tbsp sugar and egg replacer until light and fluffy.

4. Add mashed bananas, sour cream, and vanilla to egg replacer mixture. Drizzle in oil and mix well.

5. Fold in flour mixture and chocolate chips.

6. Pour batter into a greased 9″ x 4″ loaf pan and bake for 45 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.

To make a lower-fat version: reduce oil to 1/4 cup and add 1/4 cup unsweetened applesauce.

* Ener-g egg replacer works best.

Enjoy this delicious bread for breakfast or as the finishing touch to a light meal.

Chickpea Patties with Pesto Polenta, originally uploaded by speedvegan.

Chickpea Patties:

1 (14oz) can chickpeas, drained
1 medium carrot, grated
1 tbsp tomato paste
2 tsp ground cumin
1 tsp ground coriander
3 tbsp breadcrumbs
salt and pepper (to taste)
enough flour for coating
1 tbsp olive oil

1. Mash chickpeas in a large bowl. Add the next 6 ingredients. Mix well.

2. Make patties out of mixture, about 3 inches in diameter. Coat each patty with flour.

3. Heat olive oil in a large pan over medium heat. Cook each patty until golden on each side.

4. Serve patties on bread with desired fixings, in a salad or by themselves.

Pesto Polenta:

1 cup water
1/3 cup coarse yellow cornmeal
3/4 tsp salt
1 tbsp olive oil
1 tbsp pesto sauce

1. Boil water in a medium saucepan. Add cornmeal, salt and olive oil. Bring down to a simmer and cook for about 5 minutes or until all liquid is absorbed.

2. Stir in the pesto and cook for another minute or two. Serve warm.

While we were in New Zealand earlier this year, Geoff and I ate at a veg-friendly cafe in Greymouth. We were ecstatic to find this place because Greymouth is a town literally the size of my neighborhood. The possibility of finding something other than lettuce leaves with olive oil and vinegar seemed remote. Therefore, we were over the moon when we found Frank’s. There were so many different vegetarian and vegan options. In the end, I think we decided it was probably one of the best meals we had on the road. As a starter, our waitress brought us a mixture of nuts and spices with bread and olive oil for dipping. We later found out the delicious mixture is called Dukkah, a middle eastern “dip” and seasoning. We looked up several recipes and made it for Geoff’s family one night.

1/4 cup almonds
1/4 cup pistachios
1/4 cup pumpkin seeds
1/4 cup sunflower seeds
1/4 cup sesame seeds
1 tbsp coriander seeds
1 tbsp cumin seeds
1 tbsp cracked pepper
1 tbsp salt
olive oil
bread

1. Roast almonds and pistachios in the oven. Remove and place them in a food processor. Pulse until nuts are chopped roughly the size of the remaining seeds.

2. Toast the seeds together in a pan until golden brown. Blend with the nuts until coarse, but not ground.

3. Place in a small serving dish. Stir in the cracked pepper and salt. Serve with a side of warm olive oil and bread for dipping. Dip bread in olive oil, then dukkah.

Happy as a pig !, originally uploaded by speedvegan.

Geoff gave me this card with a bottle of sparkling lemonade to make me feel better about the whole “brace” situation. He’s so wonderful !!

Pesto Tofu Scramble, originally uploaded by cloudmonkey.

I also made a “solid” version of last night’s scramble for Geoff.

2 tsp onion powder
1 tsp garlic powder
1/2 tsp turmeric
1/4 tsp fresh ground pepper
1/4 tsp salt
1 tsp tarragon
1 tbsp olive oil
10 cremini mushrooms, chopped
16 oz firm tofu, crumbled
1/2 cup vegan cheese
2 tbsp pesto sauce

1. Mix all spices in a small bowl. Set aside.

2. Saute mushrooms in olive oil over medium heat for 2 minutes. Add crumbled tofu and cook for another 2 minutes, stirring occasionally.

3. Stir in the spices and the vegan cheese, making sure to mix in the spices thoroughly. Cook for another minute.

4. Stir in the pesto sauce. Cook until desired consistency. Serve warm.

Friday – 45 min run (and Cure concert – yippee !!!)
Saturday – strength training: upper body, abs
Sunday – 2 hr bike ride
Monday – 1.5 hr beach bootcamp class
Tuesday – 50 min spin class, 30 min run
Wednesday – rest
Thursday – 50 min spin class

Chocolate cupcakes, originally uploaded by cloudmonkey.

Geoffrey found this recipe and asked me to make a vegan version. Fortunately, I didn’t have to modify much. The original recipe makes 24 cupcakes, so I halved it. The following recipe will yield 12 cupcakes, but you will have left over filling so feel free to modify that as you wish.

I finally made these for Geoffrey who got stuck at a far away airport for many, many hours today. I’m going to take some with me when I pick him up later. He’ll be over the moon happy ! Wish I could have some too !! I had plenty of batter though…

1 1/2 cups flour
1/4 cup cocoa powder
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 cup sugar
1 cup cold water
1 tsp apple cider vinegar
1/3 cup canola oil
1 tsp vanilla extract

Filling:
8 oz vegan cream cheese, softened
1/3 cup sugar
1/4 cup plain soy yogurt
1/2 cup vegan chocolate chips

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

2. In a large bowl, sift together flour, cocoa powder, baking soda and salt. Stir in the sugar.

3. Combine the wet ingredients (water, vinegar, oil and vanilla extract) and add to the dry mixture. Stir gently until JUST combined.

4. To make the filling, combine cream cheese, sugar and soy yogurt until creamy. Fold in the chocolate chips.

5. Fill cupcake tins about half full of batter and drop a spoonful of the cream cheese mixture into each one.

6. Bake for 15-20 minute or until toothpick inserted in the cake part comes out clean. Allow to cool before digging in.