Chocolate-Covered Almond Tangerine Balls

Chocolate-Covered Almond Tangerine Balls
from Sweet Utopia by Sharon Valencik

4 small tangerines
2 c. sugar
1 lb. raw or lightly toasted slivered almonds
1 c. choc. chips or 6 oz. semisweet choc. (melted)

Squeeze the juice from 1 of the tangerines and strain it through a fine-mesh strainer.  Combine the juice with the sugar in a medium saucepan and bring to a boil on medium heat, stiffing often.  Lower the heat slightly and simmer for 10 minutes.  Let cool.

Rinse and peel the remaining tangerines.  Place the peels in a small saucepan with enough water to cover them completely and bring to a boil.  (Save the fruit to eat at another time.)  Boil the peels for 5 minutes *start timing after the water boils).  Drain and rinse the peels under cold water.  Drain again and pat them dry thoroughly with paper towels so there is minimal moisture on the peels.  Remove any black spots.

Combine the peels and the almonds in a food processor and process until finely ground, stopping to scrape down the sides of the container as necessary.  You may need to process them in 2 batches, depending on the size of your food processor.  Do not let the mixture become a paste.  Transfer to a bowl, add the juice mixture, and stir with a wooden spoon until evenly combined.

Shape into 1-inch balls using wet hands.  Let the balls rest uncovered at room temperature for 8 to 12 hours to dry out a bit.

Dip the balls in the melted chocolate until evenly coated all over.  Arrange the coated balls in a single layer on waxed paper and refrigerate to allow the chocolate to harden.  Store layers of balls between waxed paper in a sealed container in the refrigerator.

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Don't these sound delicious?  The pic. is from the book because I still have yet to try them.  But if any of you do soon, feel free to send me the pic and I'll put it up ;)

More from Sweet Utopia:
Chocolate Chip and Nut Streusel Coffee Cake
Book Review

This weekend I am headed up to Dancing Rabbit Ecovillage with a few girlfriends.  And I'm psyched!  We're staying at the Milkweed Mercantile  and attending a canning seminar.  I will try to take some photos, but sometimes I get a bit carried away and forget to use my camera.  Regardless, you WILL hear about the adventure ;)

Chocolate Chip and Nut Streusel Coffee Cake

Maybe your taste buds are aching to have a go at a recipe from Sweet Utopia after reading my last entry.  Here's the first promised recipe.  Of everything I tasted, this was by far my favorite and I hope that you enjoy it, too!  As I mentioned, you can replace the granulated sugar with date sugar and it tastes great.  Everything else we kept the same.  For the vegan butter substitute I think we used Coconut Oil.  We did not have a springform pan and just used a 9 in. square pan, which worked just fine.  Also, we do not have an electric mixer and did not find it necessary.

Chocolate Chip and Nut Streusel Coffee Cake
from Sweet Utopia by Sharon Valencik

For Coffee Cake:
2 c. AP Flour
2 t. baking powder
1/2 t. baking soda
1/4 t. salt
1 1/4 c. granulated sugar
1 c. soy cream cheese
1/2 c. vegan butter substitute, room temp.
3/4 c. soymilk
2t. white vinegar
1 t. vanilla extract
1 1/4 c. nondairy choc. chips

Streusel Topping:
1/3 c. granulated, brown or turbinado sugar
1 1/2 t. ground cinnammon
1/2 - 2/3c. chopped walnuts or pecans

Preheat oven: 350 degrees.  Oil and flour a 9 in. springform pan.

Combine flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt in a bowl.  In a separate large bowl, combine sugar, cream cheese, and "butter."  Beat with an electric mixer until smooth.  Beat in soymilk, vinegar, and vanilla extract.  Add the flour mixture and stir until just combined.  Fold in chocolate chips.  Pour half of the cake batter evenly into the prepared pan.

To make the streusel topping, combine the sugar and cinnamon.  Add the nutes and toss until evenly mixed.  Sprinkle half of the streusel topping over the batter in the pan.  Pour the remaing batter evenly into the pan and sprinkle with the remaining streusel topping.

Bake for 50 minutes, or until the cake is golden brown on top.  Cool before removing from the pan and slicing.

Thanks to the Book Publishing Company for allowing me to share this wonderful recipe with you!

Sweet Utopia

With a book like this, what's the first thing I do?  Flip through the pages and drool over the pictures.  And oh man, everything looks mouth-watering tasty! And believe me, I wanted to try everything.  (Check out this site for more images and recipes;)  So, I would like to take a moment to thank the Book Publishing Company for tempting me with such delicious things straight out of my mailbox and then giving me the opportunity to share such things with you!

A Little Education

Like many cookbooks on the shelves these days, Sweet Utopia by Sharon Valencik contains a "Stocking the Kitchen" section to inform you of anything you might need for the recipes.  Next, in "Succeed in Vegan Baking," Valencik shares a few tips on particular ingredients, including substitution and conversion charts.  Vegans with an assortment of cookbooks or experience will be able to skip this section, but these things are helpful for those new to vegan baking.  I am disappointed to see Nonvegan Alternatives listed in the substitution chart and, in general, find most of what this chart contains common sense.
 

The Sweets

What comes next?  What do you think?!  The good stuff, that's what.  All of the sweet treats are divided into five tasty chapters:  Decadent Cakes, Scrumptious Cookies, Creamy Cheesecakes and Pies, Velvety Mousses, Puddings and Cremes, AND Luscious Treats.  Most of the titles are pretty descriptive in their offerings, but let me clue you on what you can find in the last chapter.  Luscious Treats includes coconut tiramisu, chocolate-covered almond tangerine balls (I'm still dying to try these!), chocolate-rose halvah balls and more!  Over at Vegan Family Style, Debra has collected the whole contents page if you would like to check it out.

Sweet Tastes

We tried the Chocolate Chip and Nut Streusel Coffee Cake, Very Berry Corn Muffins, Tahini-Coconut-Oatmeal Cookies, and the Cocoa-Berry Cake with Berry Cream Frosting :)  For the Tahini Cookies I basically followed the recipe and even with regular raw sugar these were subtly sweet, which suited them fine.  For the other three we used alternative sweeteners, date sugar for the most part.  The Very Berry Corn Muffins were about what you would expect and were a pleasant afternoon snack.  The Cocoa-Berry Cake was interesting.  I don't think that ours turned out very well because perhaps other changes needed to be made to accommodate the sweetener change.  I did, however, enjoy the texture of the cake, though the flavor wasn't exactly what I was hoping for.  Now, the Coffee Cake?!  This was my favorite!  It was amazing.  We used date sugar in the cake and in the streusel topping and this worked out just fine.  The texture and flavor were both quite desirable and it looked quite nice, too.  With a cup of the coffee on the side, well, what do you think?  AMAZING!

Overall

I think this is a worthy purchase.  Valencik has created some interesting, new spins on old favorites and made some gourmet-style treats seem quite obtainable from your home kitchen.  You may have to pick up some new ingredients that you wouldn't normally have on hand and put aside some extra time in the kitchen.  But I think you will find it all quite worth your while :)

***Stay tuned for a couple of sample recipes.  I will feature one that I made and one that I am dying to try.  You can also expect more cookbook reviews with a GIVEAWAY at the end.***

Rawish Chocolate

So, just maybe you've heard of Averie over at Love Veggies and Yoga.  Well, she makes some pretty inspiring raw treats.  Recently we've been going crazy over Coconut Oil Chocolate.  This stuff is tasty!  We have been trying different variations: chocolate and walnuts, peanut butter chocolate, and chocolate with blueberries (I do not recommend using frozen).  Besides Agave, we have found that it is also delicious with Brown Rice Syrup or Barley Malt Syrup.

Below I have posted the ingredient amounts we used for the Peanut Butter Chocolate.  Check out the original recipe and see more pics on Averie's site.
Here are some images of our trials with chocolate and walnuts:

For one large bar of Coconut Oil Peanut Butter Chocolate I used:
3 T.   Coconut Oil
4 T.   Agave or Brown Rice Syrup (agave will be sweeter, so accommodate your tastes)
2 t.    Vanilla
5 T.   Cocoa Powder
1  1/2 T. Peanut Butter

Heat oil and sweetener in microwave until coconut oil is melted.  Stir in Vanilla, then cocoa and lastly peanut butter.  Freeze until hard.  That's it!

So what are you waiting for?  This stuff is quick, easy, and delicious!

Creamy "Crab" Pasta and Orange Agave Chocolate Chip Cookies

Creamy "Crab" Pasta

Last night we tried Match Meat "Crab". We haven't eaten crab for three years, so our memories may be a little hazy. It wasn't worth the $12 spent. The texture was decent and it had a fishy flavor, but it didn't really seem like crab specifically. So if you feel like splurging to try something new, feel free, but I didn't find it to be worth the dough. We are however interested in trying another flavor sometime, like chicken for this "Chicken Picatta" or perhaps one of the great looking recipes I've seen on Vegan Thyme recently: Country Fried "Steak" and Moroccan Crab-less Curry. So who knows we may give the "crab" another try someday.

For the pasta sauce I used this Creamy Basil Pasta Sauce found at About.com:Dairy Free Cooking. After following the directions (before adding noodles) I added the "crab" (which had previously been fried in olive oil), some fresh spinach and freshly ground pepper. Then we tossed in fettuccine noodles.

At Mama Jeans that night Adam found some wine from Kaiken on sale to go with dinner. Last summer we were on a Cabernet Sauvignon kick, so naturally he gravitated toward it. We haven't picked up wine for awhile. This one wasn't quite dry enough for me. It was slightly sweet and tart. I am no wine expert, so that's the best description you're going to get!

Orange Agave Chocolate Chip Cookies from VCIYCJ
These were pretty tasty. The only thing I substituted was coconut oil for canola oil because we already had it on hand. I generally like soft cookies, but these were a little cushier than I would have liked. That is, until they cooled. A few hours later I discovered that they had developed a nice crispness on bottom while retaining a softer interior. Delightful :)
I still have yet to taste a perfect sugarless chocolate chip cookie, but someday!
I'm so please that this book offers several recipes with alternatives to sugar. If you do not yet own VCIYCJ, be sure to check out the PPK for a sneak preview ;)

More to come: Sushi, zines and a nomination...

Want a free cookbook? (and more)

This could be yours:

To get your copy head over to Vegan Family Style! Even if you have a copy of this book this blog is worth a visit. I just stopped by in the midst of my hitting familiar and new blogs adventure and am very glad I did! Recent entries include: raw desert, orange pudding cupcakes and green smoothies.

It's wild. I've been to so many blogs the last couple of years and sampled many recipes, but I just didn't really interact. Crossing that line still feels a little strange. But believe me, I'm quite anxious to get involved in the online vegan world. I haven't had many vegan friends and it seems wonderful to have this whole community available.

So, next up my first hat! I'm pretty psyched because I'm not great about finish projects unless it is some sort of assignment, like for work, school or perhaps a gift. I started knitting recently (actually this was a second go at knitting) and I finally completed something! Now I'm ready to begin a new project or two.

Eats and Drink of the day:

Banana Oatmeal Breakfast cookies (VCIVCJ)

First attempt from VCIYCJ! I'm very excited about this book. Just flipping through, every pic is absolutely amazing. Today I had to try something. We had a couple of very ripe bananas, so that was a start. I chose the recipe for Banana Oatmeal Breakfast cookies. Going
with the things we already had: I substituted pecans for walnuts. I didn't have quite enough oats, but threw in some pumpkin seeds. We didn't have dried cranberries, but I look forward to trying it with these next time! Despite the changes they still seemed wonderful and I'm excited to try the rest! This recipe already uses brown rice syrup and agave, so there was no need for a sugar substitute.

Falafel Reubens

With toppings minus thousand island.










After toasting with mixed green salad.







Chickpea Cutlets (VWAV) and gravy, roasted brussel sprouts and roasted potatoes

A tasty dinner with Chickpea cutlets covered in shiitake gravy, roasted brussel sprouts and potatoes. The brussel sprouts were seasoned with oil, garlic and salt. The potatoes were seasoned with oil, garlic, salt, pepper, paprika, thyme, rosemary, coriander, oregano and lemon juice. Thanks to the lemon juice and coriander combo these were slightly tangy and delicious!

Brews in Review

Well, Adam has been working at a local liquor store for the past 6 months or so. He just recently got a job at the library and will no longer be there, so we are taking advantage of the discount while we still can :) Tonight he brought home a 6 pack of Tripple (New Belguim) and one tall pint plus 6 oz. of Deep Enders Dark Porter (Anderson Valley).

Tripple wasn't bad. I don't really have a lot to say about this one, it was decent. I will say that New Belguim Brewing Co. is known to be a very sustainable crew, so that's a good thing. Not to mention they put out a fine line of beers.

Now the Deep Enders Dark Porter. Oh, this was wonderful. This beer had a wonderful clean, smooth dark malty taste. The maltiness was not overwhelming, but just enough to add a little sweet tang. Another great thing about these guys? Solar powered! I highly recommend this beer! Lucky for us, Adam will be able to get a 12 pack of these babies for $22 :) Those will definitely last us awhile!

Perhaps the best Pumpkin Muffins

Yesterday morning was a perfect day for brunch :) A cold, snowy day with no work or need to leave the house. I decided to make a breakfast casserole and muffins. There was a partial can of pumpkin in the fridge and chocolate chips. Adam was in charge of rummaging through cookbooks for muffin ideas while I worked on the casserole. He discovered The Best Pumpkin Muffins recipe from VWAV, which had somehow slipped by me previously. What a great discovery! We prefer to use sugar alternatives (though I often make an exception for vegan chocolate...), so I made a few changes.

Substitutions:
Original ---> Sub.
Sugar ---> Date Sugar
Molasses ---> Brown Rice Syrup
Veg. Oil ---> Apple Sauce

Other Changes: No ground cloves (I'm not a fan with pumpkin) and about a cup of chocolate chips. (Click for full recipe)

Mmm...these were delicious and a new household favorite!


For the Scrambled Tofu Casserole I split 6 buckwheat biscuits in half and spread across the bottom of a 9" x 13" dish. On top of the biscuits I spread scrambled tofu and seitan mixed with a cheezy sauce. And then spread a thin layer of the rest of the cheezy sauce on top. (No pic of this one.)

A great sweet and savory combo!


I'd like to get to know those who stumble across this blog. So, here are two questions:
What is your current favorite cookbook?
What new (or new to you) cookbook are you most excited about?