Strawberry Midnight Cake-in-Mug (Vegan and Gluten Free)

This recipe came from a midnight (okay it was 10 pm) craving for cake. All the mug cake recipes I've seen have been for chocolate cake and I have to be in the right mood for chocolate cake. Last night was a strawberry cake kind of mood. 

Ingredients

• 10 Tablespoons flour (I used gluten free all purpose flour, but you can use whichever type you would like)
• 4 Tablespoons sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• pinch salt
• 3 Tablespoons vegetable or canola oil
• 6 Tablespoons water
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 4 plump strawberries
• 1 mug :)

Directions

1. Mix the dry ingredients directly in the mug with a fork (no need for extra dishes, it is midnight after all)
2. Stir in oil, vanilla and water and mix thoroughly.
3. Cut up two strawberries into small chunks. Stir into the batter.
4. Microwave on high heat for 2 to 3 minutes, checking every 30 seconds after the one minute mark. You don't want to over-bake.
5. Cut up the remaining two strawberries into slices. Place on top.
6. Enjoy your midnight snack! 

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Red Bell Pepper Tofu

This was an experiment that occurred when I was cutting up a red pepper and it was really juicy. I thought "You know what would be good? Red pepper sauce with my tofu." So this recipe was born.

Ingredients

• 6 ounces medium or firm tofu
• 1/2 red bell pepper, cut into small pieces
• 1 small onion, chopped
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• olive oil for frying
• rice vermicelli

Ingredients for the sauce

• The other half of the red bell pepper (kept whole)
• 1/4 cup water
• 3 tablespoons soy sauce
• 1 tablespoons lemon juice
• 2 tablespoons sugar
• 3 tablespoons ketchup

Directions

1. Put a pot of water on to boil (for the rice noodles). Cook as directed on the package.
2. Heat up a pan on high with about half an inch of oil on the bottom.
3. Drain the tofu and cut it into cubes
4. Once the oil is hot, fry the tofu until golden brown (2 to 4 minutes on each side). Let drain on a paper towel.
5. Pour the oil into a jar and set aside.
6. Saute the bell pepper, onion, and garlic in the same pan. Set aside.
7. In a small pot, boil the other half of the bell pepper. 
8. Once boiling, add the rest of the sauce ingredients and stir until incorporated.
9. Turn the heat back on under the bell peppers and onions. Add the tofu to heat it up (it'll most likely be cold).
10. Once hot, add half of the sauce to the pan.
11. Pour the other half of the sauce onto the vermicelli.
12. Serve with the tofu/veggies on top of the noodles.
13. Enjoy.

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Veganized New Joe's Special (Tofu, Mushrooms, Spinach)

Have you guys ever heard of New Joe's Special? It comes from a restaurant in California called Joe's.  Joe's became New Joe's after it burned down. The special at New Joe's was a dish with lots of spinach and ground beef and egg. My mom figured out the recipe, and made it all the time. I grew up eating it. But ever since I've gone vegan I've craved it. Not in the OH I NEED MEAT kind of way but in the "this is a comforting food from my childhood" kind of way. So I decided to veganize it. Enjoy.

Ingredients

• 16 ounces tofu
• 6 cups of baby spinach
• 1 cup chopped mushrooms
• 2 cloves chopped garlic
• 1-3 tablespoons olive oil
• 1/4 cup nutritional yeast
• 2 tablespoons ground flax seed
• 2 cups water
• Salt and pepper, to taste

Directions

1. Mix the flax seed and 6 tablespoons water in a bowl. Put in the fridge to gel.
2. Drain the tofu by putting it between two paper towels and pressing out the water. 
3. Chop the tofu into cubes. 
4. Fry the tofu in the oil in a large pan on high heat.
5. Once it has browned, add the mushrooms and garlic.
6. Stir until brown. 
7. Add spinach and stir.
8. Take the bowl of flax seed water out of the fridge and add the nutritional yeast. Stir in the rest of the water slowly until the nutritional yeast/flax is dissolved. 
9. Move the spinach/tofu/mushrooms mixture to one side of the pan and add the nutritional yeast to the other side.
10. Slowly incorporate the two sides of the pan. 
11. Stir until the nutritional yeast is no longer sticking to the bottom of the pan. Add salt and pepper and serve!

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Homemade Raspberry Poptarts (Vegan AND Gluten Free!)

I didn't realize how much I missed poptarts until I made these. Oh man.

Ingredients

• 2 cups flour
• pinch of salt
• 2/3 cup vegan butter or margarine
• 4 tablespoons cold water
• 1 and 1/2 cup frozen raspberries (filling)
• 2 tablespoons water (filling)
• 3 tablespoons sugar (filling)
• 2 cups powdered sugar (icing)
• Raspberry water (from filling, used for icing)

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 375F
2. Prepare baking sheet by covering with parchment paper.
3. For the filling, place raspberries in a small saucepan over medium heat. Add a few tablespoons of water. 
4. Once the berries have melted and broken apart, add the sugar and mix well. 
5. Drain the excess raspberry juice/water into a bowl (this will be used for the icing). Set both saucepan and bowl aside.
6. For the crust, mix flour and salt in a large bowl. Using a pastry cutter, cut in butter until well incorperated and crumbly. (I didn't have a pastry cutter so I used a hand-held potato masher and that worked just as well).
7. Add four tablespoons of water and mix until dough is forms a ball.
8. On a lightly floured countertop, roll out dough using a rolling pin until it is only about a centimeter thick. 
9. Using a butter knife or pizza cutter, cut dough into evenly-sized rectangles (not sure of dimensions, but you know how big poptarts are, right? Also, clearly mine are not evenly sized. Oh well.)
10. Place half of the rectangles on the baking sheet. 
11. Spoon filling onto the center of the rectangles. 
12. Cover the filling with the other half of the dough rectangles. Pinch sides together to seal.
13. Poke about six holes in the top of each poptart with a toothpick or small skewer.
14. Spread a thin layer of butter over each poptart
15. Bake for 20 minutes or until golden-brown
16. Mix leftover raspberry juice with powdered sugar for the icing/glaze. You made need more sugar, depending on how much juice there was.
17. Glaze poptarts once they are cool.

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Chinese-Style Tofu Noodle Soup

This was ridiculously simple to make. It only took a few minutes. And Kate, my six-year-old cousin (who is rebelling against me by refusing all vegan food all the time) loved it. She kept going "Christy this is so good. Can you teach me how to make it? It's so good! Put it on your blog!" 

Ingredients:

• 4 cups vegetable stock
• 2 cups water
• 16 ounces firm or extra firm tofu
• 8 ounces rice vermicelli
• 3 cups broccoli, cut into small pieces
• 1/4 cup soy sauce
• 1 tablespoon rice vinegar 
• 2 cloves garlic
• 1 tablespoon grated ginger
• Olive oil

Procedure:

1. Drain tofu and press between two paper towels to eliminate water.
2. Fry over high heat in a little bit of olive oil until gold brown.
3. Add garlic and ginger to the tofu. Set aside.
4. In a medium sized pot, combine broth, water, soy sauce, and vinegar.
5. Add tofu/garlic/ginger, broccoli and vermicelli to the pot.
6. Cook on high heat until vermicelli is soft, and broccoli is cooked. 

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Vegan Gluten Free Chocolate Raspberry Cake

Its time for the first recipe! This cake is to die for. It's so chocolate-y. It's pretty much just layers and layers of chocolate. Not even kidding.

Ingredients for the cake:

• 1 and a half cups of gluten free all-purpose flour (or normal wheat flour, if desired)
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 cup brown sugar
• 1 cup cocoa (more or less according to taste)
• 1 tbs apple cider vinegar
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 6 tbs oil (canola or sunflower)
• 1 cup water

Ingredients for the icing: 

• 4 tbs coconut oil
• 1 cup cocoa
• 1/2 cup agave
• 2 cups frozen or fresh raspberries
• 2 tbs corn starch/corn flour
• 1/2 tbs water
• 1/4 cup almond or soy milk

Procedure for the cake:

1. Preheat oven to 325F.
2. Sift together flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt, brown sugar, and cocoa. Mix well.
3. In a separate bowl, mix vinegar, vanilla, oil, and water.
4. Add wet ingredients to the dry. Mix well.
5. Prepare two circular cake pans by coating bottom and sides with a little bit of oil or vegan butter. 
6. Pour batter evenly into pans
7. Bake for 30-45 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. 
8. Set aside to cool while preparing the icing

Procedure for the icing:

1. In a saucepan, melt coconut oil, cocoa and agave over medium heat until smooth. Stir often. Set aside.
2. In a separate saucepan, heat raspberries, water, and corn starch until thick, like a jam. 
3. Once cakes are cool, remove one from its pan onto the serving plate or platter. 
4. Spread a thin later of chocolate icing on the cake (use about 1/4 of what you have).
5. Spread a thin layer of raspberry jam over the icing.
6. Remove second cake from its pan and place on top of the other one (the raspberries will probably seep out. It's okay.
7. Spread a thin layer of chocolate icing (about 1/4 of the original amount) and raspberry jam on top. 
8. You should have half the amount of chocolate icing that you started with. 
9. Put the chocolate icing back on the stove over medium heat. Slowly stir in almond milk until the color has turned from almost black, to brown. 
10. Pour evenly over entire cake, making sure it coats the sides. It will most likely cover the plate as well. 
11. Cool in the fridge until dessert!

I, and my omnivore relatives, love this recipe. It isn't perfect, so if you feel like you need to change something, feel free, and let me know in the comments! I hope you like it!

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