Aren’t beverage-themed cupcakes inexplicably delightful? I can’t seem to stop making them. I love chai lattes, so I figured I couldn’t go wrong with this recipe from Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World.

Oh my god, let’s just start with the batter. I could have called it a chai latte and drunk it from a cup. The spices were exactly right and it was so creamy and delicious. (Yeah, I lick the bowl. No salmonella risk, right?) Since I was aiming for a solid version of the drink, though, I restrained myself and put them in the oven.

Actually, I think I might have kept them in the oven a tiny bit too long. They were a little spongier than the other cupcakes I’ve made from VCTOTW, but it was certainly nothing grave. They were still good. The only thing I would change in the future is the frosting, actually; I thought they could have used something moist and creamy on top instead of the sugar and spices they recommend. If you wanted to make it really authentic, you could even top it with vegan whipped cream. Ooh, I should do that next time.

Okay, I must admit that this is a meal of ambiguous origins. The corn pudding is southwestern, the collard greens are southern, and the hot seitan “wings” are…from Buffalo? It’s not really a Buffalo wings kind of sauce, though. One thing I’m sure of: it all came from my kitchen.

The Veganomicon Southwestern Corn Pudding caught my eye when I saw it on Vegan Dad. I just wasn’t sure what to make it with. The pudding looked like a bit of work, so I wanted one salty/filling thing and one green thing to go with it that wouldn’t be too labor-intensive.

I settled on seitan for the salty/filling component and collard greens for the green component (you can only eat so much spinach and kale, after all). The former I marinated in the Hot Sauce from Veganomicon’s Hot Sauce-Glazed Tempeh. (I could have just coated the seitan in Frank’s Red Hot—I practically drink that stuff by the gallon—but I could only find generic! I bought it and it’s just not the same.) Then I coated it in Ener-G Egg Replacer and cornstarch and pan-fried it (a trick I learned from VeganYumYum), topping with more marinade. I used the leftover hot sauce, garlic, and a few drops of liquid smoke to sauté the collards. I’d never cooked collard greens before and I think I could have left them in the pan a little longer. How tender are they supposed to get?

The seitan and the greens were good, but the star of this meal was clearly the corn pudding. It’s not very photogenic, but don’t let that fool you. It’s full of different colors, flavors, and textures. It’s creamy from the coconut milk; it’s crunchy from the corn and red pepper. It’s yellow from the corn (duh), but it’s flecked with red and green from the pepper, scallions, and cilantro. It’s a little sweet and a little salty but mostly just good. Yeah, it’s not the fastest recipe, but I thought it warranted a late dinner. If you like corn—or if you miss summer—make this pudding.

My internet was down for a couple days, so I have some posts to make up. Don’t worry, I’ll keep them brief. I made this soup from VeganYumYum when I wanted vegetable soup that was hearty and filling. We all liked it a lot because it has lentils and soymilk, so it sticks your ribs. All it requires is a slice of crusty bread for sopping up the bowl.

What really makes the soup, though, is the roasted red pepper coulis (forgive the psychedelic pattern). Roasting peppers over a gas stove is so much fun. It might make your kitchen smell weird, but trust me, it’s worth it. The maple syrup and the tahini in the coulis complement each other well, and the sweetness of the whole thing contrasts nicely with the savory soup. I recommend making crazy shapes out of the coulis. Faces would be good.

A couple nights ago a family friend came over for dinner who seemed a bit leery of vegan food. I decided to recycle two of our favorite recipes that I’ve posted about before—no experimenting when doubting omnivores come to dinner. Sure, my dad’s an omnivore, but he’s related to me, so it’s no disaster if I make him something less than dazzling. I made VeganYumYum’s Pan-Fried Tofu, Kale, and Stir-Fried Noodles and Veganomicon’s Tea Poached Pears in Chocolate Sauce for dessert.

These recipes worked before and they didn’t fail me this time, either. I may not have dispelled the idea that vegans subsist on tofu, but I hope I at least demonstrated that we eat good tofu. Our friend seemed to like both components of the meal; he’s not the type to gush, but he did compliment. Good enough for me.

I said I was switching to dinners again—and I have—but one of my best friends just came back from El Salvador last night, so of course we had to see each other immediately. And of course brunch had to be involved. As the vegan brunch pickings are pretty slim in my ten mile radius, it looked like cooking was in the cards.

I wanted to test out the Sour Cream Pancakes recipe again to verify the proportions, but it I was also craving something salty. I love a good tofu scramble and I was feeling rather lazy. My friend and I (well, more she than I) made the Scrambled Tofu from Vegan with a Vengeance and ate it in style—with a tablecloth and everything. We both liked it a lot. (And isn’t that some foxy grated carrot?) It’s nice to have a good tofu scramble in my repertoire.

And for the record—the pancakes were just as good this time around.

No, not Kix. (Though I do love my Kix.) I’m talking about vegan mac and cheese.

I was very pleased with the recipe from FatFree Vegan Kitchen, and while I’ve been meaning to try other recipes, I always just feel like making that one. It’s quick, simple, and so good. So when I promised to make lunch today and realized that the cupboard was rather bare, it seemed a divine signal to see how my parents reacted to cheeseless mac and cheese.

Thumbs up! They both had seconds and my dad almost went for thirds. True, that may have had something to do with how long I kept them waiting for it, but I think they liked it, too.

Tomorrow: back to making actual dinners.

There are two schools of thought when it comes to pancakes. Some prefer sweet batter; some prefer neutral or slightly savory batter. I am a card-carrying member of the Savory Pancake Society, and I can debate passionately about sugarless pancakes’ superiority over their sweetened counterparts. In my book, sweet batter + maple syrup = too sugary. I like the sweet-salty contrast and I like to let the syrup speak for itself. But it’s really just a matter of taste, and no debating can change that. If you share my taste in pancakes, read on. (Or just skip to the recipe and make it immediately.)

What with all the pancakes sprouting up on vegan blogs these days, I could no longer resist making some of my own. I skipped my standard pancake recipe in favor of one I’ve been curious about for a couple years now: the Sour Cream Pancakes in the 1961 New York Times Cook Book. I don’t know why I didn’t make these sooner, but sometimes things need to lie dormant in my mind for a few years before I get around to doing them.

I used Tofutti sour cream for this (I almost got adventurous and used my leftover cilantro sour cream before I realized it has roasted garlic in it—not what I want in my pancakes). Homemade sour cream would probably work too, but I can’t vouch for it. I’ll have to try it out and let you know how it goes. Obviously I veganized this recipe, but I also altered it by adding a significant amount of soy creamer to improve the consistency. I’ll include my version here.

But I’m getting off track. Here’s the verdict: these were great! To return to my sweet vs. savory rant, I loved the slightly salty, slightly sour notes that come from the sour cream. For obvious reasons, these pancakes are also creamier and smoother than most. Their only downside is that the batter is a funny consistency and takes a little bit of coaxing into shape. But that’s really not hard. I made silver dollar pancakes because they’re easier in my pan, but I’m sure bigger ones would work well too.

Sour Cream Pancakes
adapted from the NY Times Cook Book
makes 14 silver dollar pancakes

1 cup flour
½ tsp salt
½ tsp baking soda
1 ¼ cups vegan sour cream (homemade or Tofutti, as long as it doesn’t have things that would be gross in pancakes)
1 Ener-G egg replacement
½ cup + 2 Tbs soy creamer (soymilk also works)

1. In a large mixing bowl, sift or mix together flour, salt, and baking soda.

2. In a small mixing bowl, combine sour cream, Ener-G egg, and soy creamer. Pour into the flour mixture and stir gently until just mixed. Do not beat.

3. Heat a griddle or skillet (do yourself a favor and use non-stick if you have it), grease lightly if necessary, and drop the batter by ¼ cupfuls onto it, spreading carefully into ¼ inch-thick circles. When bubbles break on top of the pancakes, check the underside with a spatula. If it’s golden brown, flip and cook on the other side until that’s golden brown as well.

Ever since I got Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World back all I want to do is bake hand-held desserts by the dozen. After the green tea cupcakes, the apple mango crisp, and the almond scones, the time was ripe for something chocolatey.

I’ve made the Basic Chocolate Cupcake from VCTOTW a handful of times, so I was looking for something new. Why not continue the Cupcakes Baked With Beverages theme and make something with chocolate and beer? Now there’s a winning combination. No Guinness in these stout cupcakes, though—Guinness is refined with isinglass, from fish swimbladders. I used Samuel Smith Oatmeal Stout, but there are a number of other vegan stouts.  [Edit: I should clarify that these do come from a recipe in VCTOTW.]

Despite my absentminded errors—I accidentally added the beer to the dry ingredients instead of the wet, I forgot to top the cupcakes with the chocolate crumble till they’d been in the oven eight minutes—these came out quite well. I like them better than the Basic Chocolate Cupcake; the stout makes them richer and even more chocolatey-tasting somehow. They’re a little on the muffiny side (although that might be due to my bungling the directions), but that doesn’t diminish them for me at all. How can twelve cupcakes seem like so few?

Oh, the elusive mango lassi. As I mentioned in my last post about it, mango lassi is one of the few things I really miss from my pre-vegan days. The obvious solution to my craving is to concoct a vegan version, but I have yet to find the perfect recipe. My last attempt was too yogurty; this one was closer, but still not flawless.

Part of the reason this recipe is hard to pin down is that I’m using fresh (and therefore unpredictable) mangos. This mango was less sweet and flavorful than the last, so it caught me off guard. Even though this time I used only half the yogurt I did last time, because of the mango’s inferior flavor, it was still slightly too yogurty. I also had to increase the sugar. I may try using mango pulp, but I’d really prefer to use fresh fruit if I can. And maybe changing soy yogurt brands would help—I like WholeSoy better than Silk anyway.

This recipe is better than the last one, but if you decide to use it you may need to adjust the sugar based on your mango and your taste. I dusted this one with cardamom, which I don’t think is standard but is definitely scrumptious.

Better Mango Lassi
makes a scant two

medium mango
3/4 cup plain soy yogurt (or less)
4 large ice cubes
1 - 1 1/2 teaspoons sugar
1/2 teaspoon rosewater
cardamom, optional

Peel, pit, and dice the mango. Blend all ingredient in a blender (food processor is also fine). Dust with cardamom and garnish with mint if desired.

Well, yes. This is part of dinner. This is also the bottom of a celeriac, or celery root.

Lolo’s post about celeriac and Celery Rémoulade on VeganYumYum intrigued me, but I had forgotten about making it until I stumbled upon this beauty sitting next to the broccoli. Lolo tells you everything you might want to know about celeriac and I don’t have much to add. I’ll just tell you how my attempt to make this French side dish went.

It tasted good, but it didn’t come out quite right. We lost the shredding attachment for our blender, so the texture was a bit off, for one thing. But the main problem was the dressing-to-celeriac ratio. I don’t know if it was that the celery was diced too small or that I had a particularly small celeriac, but my rémoulade resembled rice pudding (as you can see). It was fine over baby greens—and even better on Swedish crisp bread—but it would have been too saucy on its own.

Part 2 of dinner was similarly tasty-but-imperfect. I tried to make the Samosa Stuffed Baked Potatoes from Veganomicon; in my rush to get dinner on the table, however (I had two hungry parents sniffing around the kitchen), I broke the potato skins. So they became inelegant (but certainly not inedible) Samosa Mashed Potatoes. Kind of an odd combination, my slightly mangled French and Indian dishes, but I enjoyed them both anyway.