happyfaced eatz!

oh my goodness - i had no idea so much time had passed since the last post. time has been flying by! dan & i are still enjoying lots of our favorites since we're a bit too busy to be creating new recipes, but i can tell ya that we're working on creating a gluten-free pizza dough that makes us most happyfaced. it's a veganized recipe inspired by Carol Fenster's pizza crust & soooooo yum! we had pizza this past wednesday night and i've just got a few more tweaks to make and then we'll be sharing the recipe. w00t!

a few weeks ago i promised dan we'd incorporate more potatoey goodnesses into our lives, so we've been enjoying many oven fries, baked potatoes, wasabi smashed potatoes, and last sunday we went all out and made some stuffed chili potatoes. so very excellent, indeed. our chili was kidney and pinto bean based and we topped our taters with cheeze sauce, tofutti sour cream, 'n scallions (scallions are another one of dan's favs). our cheeze sauce is a slight variation on Susan V.'s easy mac 'n cheese sauce & the recipe for our take on her cheeze sauce is at the end of the post. :) we're not the only ones enjoying some tater goodnesses - Sal's got some chili stuffed potatoes go'n on, Sarah made some rock'n potato, corn 'n leek chowder, and L2baker made the yummiest look'n potato chips. yay!

dan was a super sweetie pea & make us the most gloriously good sushi last week! he made us cream cheeze 'n roasted asparagus rolls, avocado rolls, scallion-cucumber-carrot-pepper-cream cheeze rolls, & sesame-agave-sweet potato rolls. squeeeeeeeeeeeee!

and while i'm all "asqueeeeeeee", this past week i remembered a dish i had tried waaaaaay back in the day when i worked at Ellwood Thompsons (our local natural market) - buddha's jewels. i don't know why it took me so long to remember something i had once over 10 years ago - my mind is kinda funny like that.... so i found the recipe online and we enjoyed the hell outta them one evening. they were just as tasty as i had remembered! the recipe is from one of the moosewood cookbook's & they're scrumptious!

and now for our take on Susan's cheezy sauce......

ingredients:
3/4 cup plain unsweetened almond milk
2 tbsp raw walnuts
1 tbsp raw cashews
10 almonds
1/3 cup nutritional yeast
1 tbsp earth balance margarine
1 heaping tbsp cornstarch
2 tsp raw tahini
1 tsp sriracha
1 tsp fresh lemon juice
1/2 tsp liquid braggs
1/2 tsp mild miso
1/4 tsp chipotle powder
1/4 tsp garlic salt
1/4 tsp onion powder
1/4 tsp dry mustard
1/4 tsp black pepper

what you'll need:
- blender
- small sauce pan

what'cha gotta do:
blend all until smooth, heat in the small sauce pan on medium and stir for a few minutes until it begins to thicken. once thickened, remove from heat and enjoy the cheezy goodness.

oooooh, and in excitedfaced news.... our csa at the local farmer's market starts next weekend and super soon i'll visiting my brother in NY (and ryan & i will be stuffing our faces with lula's ice cream & gluten-free donuts from babycakes). superhappyface!

happy friday, and may you all have a super stellar weekend!

cooking up deliciousnesses...

well hello there! lately we've been having fun working through a bunch of recipes that have been on our "to make" list for a while now. there's just been so much yumminess we've been wanting to try lately and last week we dove right in. :)

last wednesday was a busy one and vegan yumyum's hurry up alfredo fit the bill for a fast 'n tasty dinner. next time we make this sauce we're going to add in a little miso and maybe some walnuts along with the cashews, but it was definitely one yummy dish! creamy and oh-so yum! we served ours with roasted broccoli topped with toasted pine nuts and a little sauteed squash 'n zucchini.

Claryn of Hell Yeah It's Vegan posted a rock'n recipe for rancho beans that i had almost forgotten about. as i was putting together the dish dan admitted he was a bit unsure about the combination of beans, tomatoes (we used fresh tomatoes that we had roasted up), bbq sauce, and cheeze - i promised him Claryn's recipe was gonna be most glorious, and sure enough it was!!! we both went back for seconds and fought over the leftovers, too. ;) when my parents stopped over for the night my momma tried a spoonful of 'em and gave them two thumbs waaaaaaay. Claryn's rancho beans kick ass and if you haven't tried them you should totally make them as soon as you can! we used cooked kidney and white beans & our own bbq sauce (red onion, garlic salt, bourbon, maple syrup, molasses, brown sugar, ketchup, balsamic vinegar, and lots of black pepper). rancho beans = super yum, inexpensive, and easy to make. i believe that calls for a triplew00t!

next up in fastasticalness, Jes's southwestern sweet potato shepherd's pie! we made Jes' dish for my mom & dad when they stopped over last week. we used kidney beans instead of black beans (my momma likes black beans, but they don't agree with her too much) and added in a bell pepper that was starting to look a little sad. everyone loved Jes' sweet potato shepherd's pie and the leftovers were even more magical (we ate 'em up the next day with blue corn chips)! the chipotle flavor was most excellent and the sweet potatoes brought it all home. mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm!

last but certainly not least we've got Bianca's bad ass bbq black-eyed pea burgers. ooooh, wow! not only is Bianca's bbq sauce recipe amazing - these burgers are the best! infused with bbq awesomeness and lots of tasties that make your tummy most happyfaced! we didn't have as many black-eyed peas as i thought we did so we cooked up some kidney beans to go along with 'em. the texture is perfect, the flavors are spot on, and i can't wait for Bianca's cookbook to come out so that everyone can enjoy them just as much as we did!

mucho mas carrot cake goodness..... gluten-free carrot cake cuppins cakes!

dan and i loooove ourselves some carrot cake yumminesses. walnuts, raisins, carrots, and deeeeeeelicious cream cheeze frosting......what's not to super puffy heart the mostest? friday we whipped up some gluten-free carrot cake cuppins cakes as a treat for my parents who were stopping by on their way to new york to visit my brother. these were gobbled up and given the thumbs up by all. superw00t! if you're looking for some cuppins cakes that rock the carrot cake yumminesses please give them a whirl!

gluten-free carrot cake cuppins cakes

ingredients:
1/2 cup sorghum flour
1/4 cup buckwheat flour
1/4 cup tapioca flour
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp sea salt
1 tbsp baking powder
1/3 cup brown sugar
1/3 cup granulated sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/4 cup canola oil
1/4 cup almond milk
2 flax “eggs” (2 tbsp ground flax seeds mixed with 6 tbsp warm water)
1 cup finely grated carrots (we left ours unpeeled)
1/2 cup raisins
1/2 cup sweetened shredded coconut
1/4 cup walnuts, well chopped
1/4 cup crystalized ginger, very finely minced

what'cha need:
- cupcake tin
- baking cups (optional. you can always use a little oil cooking spray)
- large mixing bowl
- small mixing bowl

what'cha gotta do:
preheat 350º & line a cupcake tin with 12 baking cups.

mix together oil, sugars, almond milk, vanilla extract and flax eggs in the large bowl. combine the flours, tapioca, cinnamon, sea salt, and baking powder in the small bowl and then add the flour mixture to the wet mixture. fold in the minced ginger, carrots, coconut, walnuts, and raisins until they're incorporated.

spoon batter into baking cup lined cupcake tins & bake for 23 minutes (or until they pass the toothpick test). allow the cuppins cakes to cool for about 10 minutes until ya gently remove them from the tin.

p.s. - for the cream cheeze frosting: combine 1/2 an 8oz tub of toffuti cream cheeze with 1/2 a stick (4) tbsp of vegan margarine (we used earth balance) in a large mixing bowl with beaters. whip until smooth then add in 1 tsp of vanilla extract and a cup or so of powdered sugar. whip until you've got a consistency that rocks (and add in more powdered sugar if needed). just make sure ya wait until the cuppins cakes are completely cool before frosting 'em.