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Vegan and Vegetarian in Nashville & Middle Tennessee

Posts Tagged ‘Food’

Mrs. Nashveggie’s Vegan Coconut Cake

April 10th, 2012

Coconut cake is one of my favorites as is coconut ice cream and coconut candy. I add coconut to many things I cook, sweet potatoes and cornbread being two. Still, coconut cake gets me everytime. Mrs. Nashveggie made a delicious coconut cake this week and after raving about it on Twitter requests came in for a recipe. Many know I’m not a recipe person but Mrs. Nashveggie is. She has quite a few of her own and uses others from time to time. So here’s the recipe for a delicious vegan coconut cake. It’s perfect for a warm evening. This recipe makes a three-layer cake. The image above is a single round layer. I didn’t want to over-indulge.

Mrs. Nashveggie’s Vegan Coconut Cake

1 cup Earth Balance orignal, softened at room temperature
2 TBS egg replacer combined with 1/2 cup of water
1 1/2 cup vegan sugar
2 1/2 TSP vanilla extract
1 cup unsweetened soy milk (you can use almond milk but it may lend an undesirable flavor)
1 TBS vinegar
3 cups all purpose flour
1 1/2 TBS baking powder

1. Preheat oven to 350. Grease, flour three 9″ round pans,
2. Beat earth balance, sugar, vanilla and coconut with a mixer. When combined mix on high until fluffy for about 3 minutes.
3. Combine baking powder and flour in bowl. in a second bowl mix soy milk, vinegar and egg replacer mixture. Add dry ingredients and wet ingredients slowly to mixer bowl a little at a time each, alternating each until all is added. Stop mixer and scrape sides of bowl to be sure all of Earth Balance and ingredients are mixing. Pour batter into pans.
4. Bake for 25 minutes or until toothpick is inserted into middle of cake and comes out clean.
5. Cool in pan on wire cooling rack for 30 minutes. Flip pans to remove cake and cool for an hour.

Buttercream Frosting

1 cup Earth Balance original, softened at room temperature
1 TSP vanilla extract
3 cups confectioners sugar
2 TBS water
2 1/2 cups unsweetened shredded coconut

1. Cream Earth Balance with mixer at high speed until smooth, about 30 seconds.
2. Add water, confectioner’s sugar and vanilla extract and mix again on low for 30 seconds scraping sides of bowl to be sure all is combined. Whip at high for 2 minutes until fluffy.
3. Add 1/3 cup of coconut and mix with spatula to combine.

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Posted in Baking, Food, Recipes

Tags: Baking cake coconut cake dessert Food Recipe Sweets vegan

Butler Soy Curls

January 14th, 2012

If you’ve been to Portland you’ll find plenty vegan food and you’ll also likely experience a thing called soy curls. They’re found everywhere from Homegrown Smoker to Native Bowl. Nothing more than dried soybean protein they have a chewy texture and, like tofu, Butler Soy Curls can take on the flavor properties of whatever you season them with. So when given a few bags of these versatile goodies I brainstormed on what I should prepare first. The obvious choice was a simple barbecue sandwich.

I’m no fan of meat substitutes and I’ve made that clear before. I do, however, realize that fake meats have their place for transitioning vegetarians and the occasional vegan who likes the chance of getting with some junk food. I’ll indulge in junk food from time to time and sometimes one of those fake meats might be what I choose if it’s new or really doesn’t have exact properties of actual meat.

I chose to make saucy barbecue sandwiches using some of the peach BBQ sauce I made and bottled over the summer. Instead of simply soaking the curls for a few minutes as the directions indicated I simmered them in a mixture of broth, seasonings and a little of the peach BBQ sauce for about 15 minutes until most of the liquid had boiled away leaving the soy curls well-flavored before I added them to a saucepan of peach BBQ sauce. I turned them down on low and simmered them again for about 30 minutes. Fresh baked buns awaited great vegan barbecue sandwich.

Butler Soy Curls hydrated. At this point they have a slightly chewy texture and are ready for your recipe.

Butler Soy Curls simmering in homemade Peach BBQ Sauce. Getting ready for a great vegan BBQ sandwich.

Vegan BBQ Sandwich with Butler Soy Curls

The soy curls are slightly chewy and have no flavor on their own so they can be made to fit into most any dish you choose. They’re great for stir fries, sandwiches, fajitas and could be chopped slightly smaller and used in soups or stews.

Butler Soy Curls are available from their website as well as many online retailers.

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Posted in Barbecue, BBQ, Cooking, Fake Meat, Food, Food Cart, Homegrown Smoker, Portland, Reviews, Vegan Products

Tags: Barbecue BBQ Butler Soy Curls Fake Meat Faux Meat Food Reviews Sandwich

Seitanic Dumplings

November 3rd, 2011

When the weather cools down I crave comfort foods. Even better is a one pot comfort food. Nothing is quite as comforting and filling as dumplings. For this recipe I made my own seitan. Making your own seitan is quite easy and you can find plenty of recipes for doing it. I’ll post my seitan recipe later but if you don’t already have a recipe or you’re just not comfortable making it yourself you can always buy it pre-made. You can usually find it beside the tofu in Whole Foods or other grocery stores if you’re so lucky to find one that carries it. It’s very expensive to buy pre-made seitan versus making it yourself so if you start to rely on seitan for much of your cooking you’ll want to get into making it. Your cash flow will thank you.

This recipe is one I made from my little of this, little of that method and worked it to the right spot. I posted this recipe a few years ago but have tweaked it since and I think it’s worth posting again. Try this one on a cold, damp day.

Seitanic Dumplings

4 cups vegetable stock
4 cups water
1/3 cup Earth Balance
1/3 cup flour
16 oz seitan torn into small pieces
1 small onion finely diced
2 medium carrots peeled and diced into small cubes
2 medium potatoes peeled and diced into small cubes
1 TSP salt
1/2 TSP black pepper
2 TSP marjoram

Melt Earth Balance in large stock pot over medium heat. Add onion and saute until tender. Remove onion and set aside. Add flour to the melted Earth Balance remaining in the pot and create a roux. Add water and stock gradually stir or whisking to remove any clumps. Add all other ingredients. Cover and simmer over medium-low heat for 30 minutes stirring occasionally.

For the Dumplings:

1 1/2 cup all purpose flour
2 TBS shortening or Earth Balance
1 TSP baking powder
1/2 TSP salt
1 cup unsweetened soy milk
1 TBS lemon juice OR 1 TBS apple cider vinegar

Add vinegar or lemon juice to the soy milk and set aside. Sift dry ingredients into a large bowl. Using a fork cut in the shortening or Earth Balance and mix until only small clumps remain. Add the soy milk. Mix with a spatula or fork until a large wet dough ball forms. You’re needing a sticky mass not a dry clump. If your dough is too dry add a little more milk. Roll out dough on a floured board until about 1/4 inch thick. Cut rolled dough into 1 inch wide strips and cut strips into smaller lengths, about 2-3 inches long. Place dumplings on top of soup and let cook covered on medium-low heat undisturbed for 15 minutes. After cooking stir dumplings into soup and cooked covered for another 30 minutes on medium-low heat stirring occasionally.

Makes 6-8 servings.

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Posted in Cooking, Earth Balance, Recipes, Seitan

Tags: Comfort Food Dumplings Food Recipes Seitan Seitanic Dumplings Soup vegan

Vegan in Coolsprings – Brixx: Wood Fired Pizza

August 31st, 2011

A new vegan option has cropped up in the Coolsprings area. Brixx:Wood Fired Pizza has opened on McEwen Drive next to Whole Foods and behind Bricktops. I managed to get a pre-opening invite to enjoy dinner while they practiced their daily motions thanks to Coolsprings.com.

The website and menu clearly states many of their items can be made vegan and that they offer vegan cheese as a substitute for regular cheese at no extra charge which is uncommon as there is typically an extra cost for this which most restaurants adopt. Brixx uses Follow Your Heart mozzarella so you’ll be getting a quality vegan cheese and it’s truly vegan so no worries about whether it contains casein.

Our complimentary dinner included one appetizer, a salad, two pizzas, a sandwich and a pasta dish.

We chose the Wood Fired Pita Chips and Three Dips as our appetizer. It was served on a large plate with three small scoops of hummus: black bean hummus, roasted red pepper hummus and traditional hummus. The hummus was served on a bed of greens and topped with roasted red peppers and cumin. Pita triangles, the equivalent of about three pitas, that had been toasted in the pizza oven were served around the perimeter of the plate. The hummus was very thick which made dipping a bit hard but flavorful and at $5.95 was a good appetizer though I would like a little more hummus. I didn’t get to eat much of this one as the kid really enjoyed it and decided to take it for her own. That’s a positive vote for the hummus.

Brixx Salad - No Cheese

Our salad was a modified Brixx Salad. We modified this one by simply leaving off the goat cheese. The salad is a spring mix topped with croutons and pistachios and served with a balsamic vinaigrette. It’s served with a large piece of focaccia which looked to have cheese toasted onto it so we just ignored the bread. I’ll be sure to inquire next time about it as it did look very inviting sitting on the edge of the plate. Another $5.95 selection and worth it. I would consider it a big salad. It’s enough to share if you’re having an entree as well.

We chose two pizzas, the Artichoke which is served with a basil pesto instead of red sauce. We asked our server if the pesto contained cheese and she quickly ran back to the kitchen to ask. She returned to tell us it did and we substituted red sauce instead. Substituting seems to be welcome at Brixx and didn’t throw any confusion into the process so have at it if need be. The Artichoke pizza is topped with artichokes, roasted red peppers and sun-dried tomatoes. This pizza could be named the 80′s pizza. Anything with sun-dried tomatoes belongs in the 80′s. Not that I’m complaining about sun-dried tomatoes, I love them. Then again I love the 80′s, so there. Of course, we also substituted the mozzarella for Follow Your Heart cheese. Our second pizza was the Wood-Roasted Vegetable. This was more of a typical veggie pizza with mushrooms I couldn’t tell which type exactly, broccoli, bell peppers and onion. Substituting Follow Your Heart cheese this was also a very good pizza but I think I pick the Artichoke pizza as my favorite of the two. I just really like artichokes on a pizza and then there’s that 80′s thing. The kid got her own kid-sized pizza with red sauce and vegan cheese. She devoured the entire pizza, a good mark as this kid is a very picky eater.

Wood-Roasted Vegetable Pizza with Follow Your Heart Mozzarella

All of Brixx’s pizzas are on a thin, crisp crust and baked in a wood oven. The crust is available in original white flour or whole wheat and both contain nothing animal-derived right down to the turbinado sugar used. These are 100% vegan pizzas when ordered with Follow Your Heart vegan cheese. Brixx also serves pizzas with a gluten-free crust option at a $2 upcharge giving the gluten-challenged a pizza beacon that some may have missed for some time. Prices for the pizzas range from $8.95 to $11.95 though a pizza without all of the animal accoutrements will be in the $8.95-$9.95 range. These are 10-inch pizzas, six slices per pizza and with a good dose of toppings. Another note to keep in mind, after 10pm all pizzas and appetizers are 2-for-1. Get your late-night munchies on!

Artichoke Pizza with Follow Your Heart vegan cheese

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The Kid's pizza selection: A Vegan Cheese Pizza

We also ordered a Wild Mushroom Wrap. I expected the typical wrap: fillings in a run-of-the-mill tortilla. I don’t know why I expected that but that’s the typical wrap these days. That’s not what we got. We were served a mix of portobello, shitake and white mushrooms, spinach and Follow Your Heart cheese wrapped in a slightly toasted pizza crust. One of the franchisees came to our table and explained that they put the pizza crust in the oven for two minutes and then wrap the fillings in it. This is a great wrap. The pizza crust made this wrap superb not to mention the fresh, tasty fillings. If you’re ordering this as a vegan be sure to leave off the sun-dried tomato (80′s) aioli and substitute the Gorgonzola cheese. $7.95 for the Wild Mushroom Wrap. All sandwiches and wraps are served with a choice of pasta salad, bean salad, fresh fruit or chips.

Brixx Wild Mushroom Wrap with Follow Your Heart cheese and no sun-dried tomato aioli

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Brixx Wild Mushroom Wrap with Follow Your Heart cheese and no sun-dried tomato aioli

We didn’t get a pasta as we were already feeling like pigs. There are vegan options on the pasta menu and whole wheat pastas are available as well.

Brixx also has a wide range of beers on tap including Abita Root Beer for the sugar-fiends. With the 2-for-1 pizza deal and array of brews look for Brixx to be busy late nights and with the delicious food they should keep a good crowd at all other times. I’m proud to have a new vegan option in Coolsprings.

(Brixx also has a location in Hendersonville at 300 North Indian Lake Boulevard.)

Brixx: Wood Fired Pizza
1550 West McEwen Drive Suite 10
Franklin, Tennessee 37067
(615) 771-7797

Hours: Monday – Saturday 11am-1am, Sunday 11am-11pm

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Posted in Cheese, Coolsprings, Dining Out, Food, Franklin, Local, McEwen, Nashville, Pizza, Restaurants

Tags: Coolsprings Dining Out Follow Your Heart Food Nashville Pizza Restaurants Salads

Blackberry Picking Time

July 1st, 2011

Prime blackberry picking area somewhere in southern Middle Tennessee

One of my favorite things about Summer is the availability of fresh berries and fresh blackberries are my favorite. I’m not talking about those large tame blackberries you get from CSAs and grocery stores. Those fakers are so light on flavor that it’s not worth the hassle of making anything with them. You may have to wade through tall grass, repel chiggers and keep an eye out for a napping rattlesnake but I can assure you it will be worth it in the end. Those tame blackberries may look huge and juicy but they lack the flavor and the fun of the hunt.

Late June is prime blackberry season. You have to be sure to get them before the birds, June bugs and Japanese beetles get to them. As they ripen all three will take these tasty morsels from you before you can reach them. The best course of action is to find a good spot with plenty of bushes and keep an eye on the berries and plan to pick the moment the ripen. This may mean walking a good distance through tall grass and brush to check on them daily as it gets later in the month but you’ll be glad you did. Those pesky birds know how good these things are, too.

After scouring our regular spot for picking these delights we came away with nearly a gallon of small delicious berries. I already had in mind what I wanted to create, a blackberry cobbler, the perfect blackberry concoction. All of that changed when we picked up a few peaches and blackberry peach pie was as good as in the oven. With enough blackberries left over after the pie there was blackberry ice cream, vegan of course, churning to go with the pie. Still this used less than half of our berries. I’m sure to get that cobbler over the weekend and maybe even some blackberry jam.

If you have the opportunity to pick wild blackberries do so and taste what a blackberry is meant to taste like.

Watch the thorns and grab one of the best things you'll ever taste.

A basket of delicious.

Vegan Blackberry Peach Pie

Vegan Blackberry Peach Pie with Vegan Blackberry Ice Cream