Pizza Pizza

Who can turn down a pizza night? Not us. We used premade crust and sauce by Rustic Crust at Sunflower Market. For the cheese we used Vegan Gourmet, and the toppings were by Yves. Not much else to say so it's picture time...

Birthday Treats

I love celebrations! Today is Amy's birthday and she's asked for a layered German chocolate cake. I used two 9inch cake pans for this, although next time I may opt for 8inch to make the cake a bit thicker. I took the safe route and sprayed the pans and also dusted them with flour. I hate making something delicious and having it stick to the pan.

Itook less than 30minutes once in the oven. I let them cool in the pans for about 30minutes as well. Don't forget! Once out of the oven run a spatula or something of the sort around the edge of the pan. I try to do this with most things.

Making the frosting was fun! It's basically almond milk, sugar, cornstarch paste, coconut flakes and pecans. I actually used less coconut and pecans than I saw most recipes calling for. I also imagine you could use coconut milk and it would taste mighty fine.

A lovely ooey-gooey topping. You can bet that I was tasting this along the way. So delicious!!

I found this actually spreads best when it's warm, so don't let it get too cool!

Delivery!

A lovely lady has ordered chocolate chip cookies, Brazilian nut bars and some peanut butter cups for today. I will be bringing them to her work shortly, but thought I'd show you the yummy goodness first.

Trying to save money, as always, I used a different egg substitute than usual. Normally I'm fine with Ener-g egg replacer, but we all know that can be pricey and actually may not always work best for some recipes. For the Brazilian nut bars I used flax meal mixed with water and a little baking powder for the eggs. It did change the color a tad for the second layer, but I think they actually taste better this way!

This was only my second time making the peanut butter cups, but I feel pretty good about them. I switched a few things up on the recipe and preparation. And they didnt even stick to the paper! People usually complain about this but I had no problems, phew! They're definitely a nice, cold treat for hot Arizona days. However, they melt quick so no slow eating here!

The Vegan Oven household

Things are always delicious in this house, and me oh my it always smells like heaven should. Last night was taco night, Eddy actually did all the making so I could put my feet up. I ended up eating 3 tacos, nachos and some rice. When I was a kid we used to have taco night quite often. My mom would set things up pretty much the same as in the picture, buffet style, so everyone could make their taco the way they wanted. I say this should be happening at least once a week? We will see.

After some mighty taco eating we watched one of my all time favorite movies, MONSTER SQUAD! I hope you've seen this movie. I can't even guess how many times I watched it growing up.

We finished the night off with some chocolate chip cookies and soymilk. Then I slept for 12 hours.

Tofu Parmesan

Crispy-coated cutlets, mmm! Straight out of the cookbook "Tofu 1-2-3", these are delicious with some pasta. I never was and still am not big on parmesan, but I have to say these were tasty and a great addition to the meal. Eddy loves parmesan and was a fan, so they must be good!

There is quite a bit of preparation with these. But really, once you get all the bowls set up to dip the tofu in you're good to go! You're supposed to fry the 'cutlets' then bake them, but we skipped the frying and went straight to baking for a healthier option. I think they still turned out great. The recipe yields 12-13 cutlets, so be ready to feed your pals or have some leftover for lunch the next day.

Show your pals what can be done with tofu!! There are 125 recipes that use tofu in this book :)

More Brazilian Goodness

Quibe! Also known as bulgar wheat burgers. These can be made into burger patties or fried up like falafel. Either way, I'm a fan. This is another recipe that I found on fooddownunder.com

There is a bit of preparation for these, but I think it's totally worth it to have a fresh veggie burger. Plus the kitchen smells quite delicious.

Sou vegetariana. Não como carne.

So I'm starting to try my hand at some Brazilian dishes. Starting with desserts we have Brazil nut bars! I found these to be pretty easy to make, and mighty delicious. The recipe I found on fooddownunder.com included: butter, flour, salt, brown sugar, eggs, minced brazil nuts, sweetened coconut flakes, vanilla, semisweet chocolate, corn syrup and water. I always use maltitol sweetener instead of corn syrup, and it worked just fine :)

You bake this treat in layers. The first layer only bakes for 10 minutes, you add the second layer and keep it in the oven for another 30 or so minutes..be sure to keep an eye on it. The third layer is the chocolate/nut/ topping. I used a double boiler to melt the chocolate. You add the syrup, water and nuts and wahlah!




















Next up for Brazilian desserts is Docinho de coco, otherwise known as coconuts truffles!!! Known to be served at every birthday party.