Tag Archives: peanut butter

Gluten Free Vegan Banana Oat Cake

Posted on February 16, 2012 | 4 comments

I work in a diet-diverse office, mostly omnivores; however, I have one gluten free coworker, a dairy free coworker, a vegan coworker and me, a vegetarian dabbling in the world of veganism.  Every now and again, I find a recipe on  a blog or try to veganize something and can usually hit on most of the dietary restrictions, but this cake hits on ALL!  Even the lady that hates peanut butter, liked this cake, just omitted the “frosting”.  This recipe credit belongs to Oh, She Glows.  Visit her blog for a smattering of vegetarian and vegan deliciousness.

Cake:

  • 2 cups Bob’s Red Mill Gluten Free regular oats, processed into a flour (locally these are available at Harvest Health & Horrocks perhaps even Meijer)
  • 1/2 cup Bob’s Red Mill Gluten Free regular oats (not processed)
  • 1/2 cup brown sugar, packed firmly
  • 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
  • 1/8th tsp ground nutmeg
  • 1/16th tsp ground cloves (optional)
  • 1/16th tsp ground ginger (optional)
  • 2 tbsp cane sugar (or regular white)
  • 1 tsp baking powder
  • 1/2 tsp kosher salt
  • 2 tbsp coconut oil, melted (or other light tasting oil)
  • 2 medium very ripe bananas, peeled
  • 1/3 cup applesauce (I used sweetened and backed down the white sugar above)
  • 1/4 cup almond milk
  • 1 tsp pure vanilla extract
  • Fold in: 1/2 cup dark chocolate chips; 1/4 cup walnuts (optional), chopped; 1 ripe banana, cut into chunk

Preheat oven to 350F and lightly grease a 8 inch (4 cup) casserole dish or 8” cake pan. Take 2 cups of regular oats and process them in a food processor until flour like in consistency.

In a large bowl, whisk together the dry ingredients (processed oats, regular oats, sugars, spices, baking powder, and salt).

In another bowl, mix together the oil, applesauce, almond milk, and vanilla. Add in the two peeled bananas and smash into the wet ingredients until smooth.

Add the wet mixture to the dry and stir until just combined. Now fold in the chips, optional walnuts, and the chopped banana.

Spread into prepared pan and bake for 36 minutes at 350F or until a toothpick comes out clean. The cake must be cooled for at least 15-20 minutes before attempting to remove.

Once fully cooled, slice and top with PB Banana Glaze. Store in the fridge for up to 3 days.  I found that this also freezes beautifully.

Frosting:

  • 1 ripe banana (but not too ripe, you still want it solid!)
  • 2 tbsp peanut butter (I used Koeze’s crunchy)
  • 1/2 cup icing sugar, sifted
  • Pinch of kosher salt, to taste

Mash banana in a bowl until smooth. Add in peanut butter and mash until combined. Sift in the salt and icing sugar and stir until fully combined. Makes about 2/3 cup glaze. Store in fridge in a sealed contained for 1-2 days.

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Posted in Baking, Breakfast, Brunch, Dessert, Gluten Free, Recipes, Vegan, Vegetarian

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Independence Day Holiday Weekend = Food Coma

Posted on July 7, 2011 | 2 comments

Hello summer!  Nothing screams 4th of July holiday like making a ton of high-calorie food and carting it all over the city visiting friends, drinking adult beverages, and watching small children play with matches.

Mr. Wonderful and I started off the July 4th Holiday weekend relatively healthy with Yin and Yang Salad with Peanut Dressing from The Real Food Daily Cookbook as and it sorta went downhill from there.

I know it looks like a lot of ingredients, but it’s really just some ingredients used many times…tricky.  Replication of flavors from ginger, garlic and sesame make this dish seem complex and rich, you don’t need to tell anyone you basically had to shop in two aisles, the “ethnic” and produce aisles.

  • 4 cups shredded napa cabbage
  • 1 sleeve soba noodles, cooked al dente, drained and cooled
  • 2 carrots, peeled and julienned
  • 1 (2 1/2-inch) piece daikon radish, peeled and julienned (I used red radish)
  • 10 green onions (white and green parts), julienned
  • 1 cup Peanut-Sesame Dressing (recipe follows)
  • 4 cups 1/2-inch cubes chilled ginger tofu (recipe follows)
  • 2 tablespoons toasted sesame seeds

Toss the cabbage, carrots, radish, and green onions in a large bowl with enough dressing to coat. Mound the salad into 4 wide, shallow bowls or onto plates. Arrange the tofu around the salad. Sprinkle with the sesame seeds and serve.

Serves 4.

Dressing:

  • 2/3 cup creamy peanut butter
  • 1/3 cup brown rice vinegar
  • 1/4 cup maple syrup
  • 3 tablespoons water
  • 2 tablespoons tamari
  • 1 tablespoon minced peeled fresh ginger
  • 2 cloves garlic
  • 1 1/2 teaspoons toasted sesame oil
  • 1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
  • 1 cup lightly packed fresh cilantro leaves

Ann’s header notes: If you’d like a spicier dressing, just add more crushed red pepper flakes. This thickens up once it’s refrigerated, so you can either add a little water to thin it or leave it thick to use as a sauce on grains and other cooked dishes.

Blend the peanut butter, vinegar, maple syrup, water, tamari, ginger, garlic, sesame oil, and crushed red pepper in a food processor until smooth and creamy. Add the cilantro and blend just until it’s finely chopped The dressing will keep for 2 days, covered and refrigerated.

Makes abaut 1 1/4 cups.

Gingered Tofu

  • 2 (12-ounce) containers water-packed extra-flrm tofu
  • 2/3 cup tamari
  • 1/4 cup brown rice vinegar
  • 1/4 cup toasted sesame oil
  • 1 tablespoon minced garlic
  • I tablespoon minced peeled fresh ginger
  • I tablespoon canola oil

Drain the tofu and save the containers. Cut into 1-inch wide strips, and pat dry with paper towels. Cover a large baking sheet with more dry paper towels. Place the tofu in a single layer over the towels on the baking sheet and let drain for 2 hours, changing the paper towels after 1 hour.

Whisk the tamari, vinegar, sesame oil, garlic, and ginger in a bowl to blend. Pour half of the marinade into the reserved tofu containers. Return the tofu slices to the containers, and pour the remaining marinade over. Cover and refrigerate at least 4 hours and up to 1 day.

Preheat the oven to 400’F. Oil a heavy, rimmcd baking sheet with the canola oil. Drain the tofu and place it on the prepared baking sheet. Bake for 10 minutes on each side until golden brown and heated through. Serve warm or cold, or at room temperature. The tofu will keep for 1 day, covered and refrigerated.

Serves 4 to 6.

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Posted in Fridge Finds, Make Ahead, Meat Substitutes, Recipes, Salad, Vegetarian

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An Inspired Chocolate Cake

Posted on May 23, 2011 | Leave a comment

Chocolate Stout Cake with Peanut ButterCream Frosting

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Adapted from Donna Hay

#author’s note: you will need a small scale to measure some of these items, I converted to US measure where possible.

Cake:

  • 1 C Guinness or any other stout beer
  • 225g butter, chopped into small pieces
  • ¾ C cocoa, sifted
  • 2 eggs at room temp
  • 2/3 C sour cream, light is okay
  • 2 C plain, all-purpose flour sifted
  • 1 ½ tsp baking soda, sifted
  • 2 C superfine sugar

Peanut ButterCream Frosting:

  • 1 C confectioner’s sugar
  • 1 C smooth peanut butter
  • 80g butter, softened
  • 1 tsp vanilla extract
  • 1/3 C heavy whipping cream

Instructions:

Preheat oven to 325. Place the stout and butter in a saucepan over medium heat and stir to dissolve butter.  Remove from heat and whisk in cocoa.  Set aside.

Whisk together the eggs and sour cream.  Add to the stout mixture with the flour, soda, sugar and whisk to combine.  Pour into a lightly greased loaf pan lined with non stick baking or parchment paper.  Bake for 1 hour 20 minutes or until cooked when tested with a skewer.  Allow to cool in the tin for 10 minutes, then turn out onto a wire rack to cool completely.

To make the peanut butter frosting, place the sugar, peanut butter, butter and vanilla in an electric mixer and beat for 6 minutes or until light and fluffy.  Add the cream and beat for a further 2 minutes.  Spread the peanut butter frosting over the cake and then serve.

You can also make these as cupcakes.  Cook for approximately 20-30 minutes until toothpick comes out clean.

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Posted in Baking, Recipes, Vegetarian

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Clean Out the Fridge Sweet Potato Hash

Posted on April 18, 2011 | 2 comments

I consider it a personal challenge when I have a few stray veggies in the fridge and a container of eggs.  It’s not really a food emergency or worth going to the store unless I am out of half and half for the coffee.  With the eggs, I could make an omelet (how predictable), or I could bust out some spices and a piece of stale naan bread from the freezer and make the following:

Curried Sweet Potato Hash with Egg Over Easy and Grilled Naan

This is a toss it all together recipe, so I didn’t measure.  Do the best you can with what you have on hand.  In these photos:

  • 1 small onion diced
  • 1 jalapeno pepper diced
  • ½ green pepper diced
  • 1 handful edemame from the freezer
  • 1 medium sweet potato diced
  • 1 egg, over easy
  • 1 piece of Naan bread, grilled
  • 1 tsp hot curry powder
  • 1 tsp salt
  • 1 tsp black pepper

Dice up the veggies, approximately the same size.  In a sauté pan or whatever is clean frankly, spray a little oil and add the sweet potato dice first, it will take a little longer to cook, when that becomes a bit soft, add all the rest of the veggies.  Cook until just tender.  Sprinkle mixture with curry, pinch of salt and pinch of pepper.  While the hash is cooking, push to once side of the pan and fry the egg over easy.  Over an open flame or in the oven warm up the naan bread.  To assemble.  Naan on the bottom, hash, fried egg.

Feelin’ really crazy?  Butter your naan bread with peanut butter and slice up a banana on top of it before adding the hash and egg…this is called a Tickle.

For lunch this same day, I took the leftover hash, put it in a sauce pan, with a can of coconut milk, a can of water and some additional curry powder.  Soup.  🙂

Crazy for Cumin?  Try this one from Pinch my Salt, one of my fave food blogs.

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Posted in Leftovers, Recipes, Vegetarian

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