Cherry Oranges

I got this from Yogurt Land a couple of years ago. It's fun party food. If you're not a delicate person, this might be hard for you. You can freeze a few for a different texture.
People get confused thinking they are orange wedges but upon closed inspection they aren't.

Orange Agar Oranges:
3 Oranges, plus juice
1 1/2 teaspoon agar powder
1/3 sugar
1 extra cup of liquid (try cashew milk for an orange creme sickle, or more orange juice.)

Cut the oranges in half and juice them.
Pull the extra stuff out. This is the hard part. Be gentle with the skins and set aside.
Put the juice in a pot, along with the extra 1 cup of liquid.
Bring the liquid to a boil, along with 1/3 cup suagr and 1 1/2 tsp. agar-agar powder.
Put the hollowed out skin in muffin tins.
Pour the juice into the orange rinds and let cool in the tins to keep them up right.
Once they have firmed up, cut them in half and serve.

Cheese and Crackers

Vegan Vittles was one of my first vegan cookbooks. There are many recipes I love in this cookbook but I tried a new one recently and it was a big hit - Classic White Uncheese.
Unfortunately Joanne Stepaniak does not like her recipes to be spread across the web so I cannot repost the recipe. But I can encourage you to buy the book because there are many great recipes in the book like: Muffins that Taste Like Dounuts, Sticky Buns, Ribs, Black Bean Soup, Uncheeses and more.

I probably had to spread cheese on about 15 crackers to take this picture with just a few. I kept putting them on the plate and they would keep disappearing. Mr. Bolsh would come in and take a few handfuls, like he didn't think I noticed. He called it Fake Cheese Wiz because it kind of tasted like cheese wiz without the gross flavor.

New Farm Crackers

These were great, though I only had a couple fresh out of the oven. I went away for a half hour and came back and they had disappeared! I hear these are LOVED by kids.

New Farm Cookboook's Cheezy Crackers:
1 cup flour
1 cup whole wheat flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
1 teaspoon chili powder
1/2 cup nutritional yeast flakes
2 Tablespoons oil
2/3 cup soymilk or water

Mix the dry ingredients, then add the oil and milk. Knead into a smooth ball. Preheat oven to 425 F and oil two cookie sheets. Divide dough in half and roll out each layer on a cookie sheet. Sprinkle top with caraway seeds or sesame seeds, if desired and toll in lightly. Cut into squares. Bake 7 to 10 minutes until golden brown.


Things I learned about these with a tip from Michelle.
When you roll them out, roll very thin, brush with a light oil or melted earth balance, fold the dough over and roll over again lightly. This is create flaky layers like gold fish crackers.
These are fun to cut out with cookie cutters. and have dino crackers!
I used half chickpea flour to mix up the flavor a bit.

Lunch Swap

My friend had a birthday party last Sunday with an interesting theme - a lunch swap. Half the people made lunch for two and the others just showed up. All the lunches were wrapped and placed on the table. When eating time came those who didn't come with lunch drew numbers. The first person got to pick a lunch, unwrap it and wait. The second person could steal the first person's unwrapped lunch or pick a wrapped lunch on the table and unwrap it. It goes on until everyone has picked a lunch. The chef of the lunches are then exposed and you have a little picnic with them.


The inspiration for my lunch came from my awesome, new dinosaur cookie cutters. I made Flax crackers from How it All Vegan, and a black bean "tar pit" dip. I didn't know how to continue making a meal with a dinosaur theme, so it stopped there.

The Flax crackers from How it All Vegan were great. I added some crushed, sliced almonds, and extra spices and they are great. I often skipped over this cookbook when I learned to cook, but it does have some good recipes in it. These will be made again with various spices.
For an appetizer I also included garlic stuff green olives and large capers.

Next dish was a simple potato salad. Apparently mustard and relish is not common to some peoples' experience in potato salad. Potatoes, vegenaise, mustard, chopped onions, fresh dill, fresh tarragon, vinegar, celery, salt and a tad of relish.

Tofurky Kielbasas satueed with onions and zucchini and put on skewers for easy eating. These were really easy and went over well because they can look impressive.

Fruit put on skewers. Another simple way to make fruit more fun and easy to transport by placing it in a pink glass.

Last was dessert, of course. Chocolate pear cookies with a strawberry filling.


The party was really fun but it took a lot more energy to make a full lunch/dinner for someone than making one dish I'd normally make for a potluck party. I later found out that others didn't put as much energy into their lunches.
The history from this idea came from a 50's dating and fund raising idea. Women would make lunches, men would then place auctions on the lunches. When they won the auction, they would then have lunch with the woman who made it. Very cute.

Snacks!

I've been thinking of some of the snacks I've made in the past and I've been thinking of making Bluepeas and Chickberies again. Since many people probably didn't read my previous food blog I thought I'd post some old snack recipes here.

Curry-Flowers:
These will disappear!

cauliflower
curry powder
olive oil
sugar
your favorite spices.

Heat oven to 400F
Chop the cauliflower into bite sized pieces. Place in a bowl, drizzle with some olive oil and spices. Add a few pinches of sugar and toss.
Spread out on cookie sheet and cook until slightly browned, about 10-15 minutes.


Orange Gel:
Idea from Yogurt Land.
This is a great way to use up oranges. Blood oranges make a beautiful presentation.

Juice the oranges. Carefully pull the extra stuff out. Bring the juice to a boil, along with 1/3 cup suagr and 1 1/2 tsp. agar-agar powder.
Then pour the juice into the orange rinds and let cool in muffin tins to keep them up right.


Bluepeas and Chickberries:
1 cup frozen blueberries
1 1/2 cup chickpeas
2 Tbl. sugar
2 Tbl. olive oil
1 tsp. salt
1 tsp. dried dill

Boil blueberries, cooked chickpeas and sugar until all water is absorbed and the chick peas turn blue, about 15 min.
Coat with oil, salt and dill and bake at 425F for about 30 min, tossing often.
Mix with non-blueberry treated roasted chickpeas and coat with a sprinkling of salt and sugar before serving as a snack.

These were wonderfully salty and sweet, just the way I like my snacks. They were crunchy, but not tooth breaking.


Chocolate Coconut Blueberries:
Inspired by Jess's sister.
Blueberries coated in melted chocolate ad rolled in coconut before freezing.

Pumpkin Muffins and Snacks

Pumpkin Muffins
From Vegan with a VengaenceThese are the best pumpkin muffins I've ever had.

Yesterday I went to Herbivore to be one of the first to get my copy of Jennifer McCann's new cookboook: Vegan Lunchbox. I wasn't sure if I wanted it or not, but after thumbing through it and thinking of all the food I had seen on her blog and wanted to make but never did - I bought it.

Buying a new cookbook right before leaving town is annoying. I want to make so many things but I just don't have the time. I decided to make some of the more snack-like foods for my up coming trip to Green Build in Denver.

Perfect Pepitas

I'm not sure if is okay posting her recipes on the web, other than her own blog, so I am leaving it out. But basically it's cayenne pepper, liquid smoke and Braggs.
I made another batch with garlic powder. YUM! I did have an asthma attack after adding the cayenne pepper, so I'll have to alter this in the future.

Roasted Chickpeas

These were so yummy before baking them that I barely had any left by the time the oven warmed up! Just simple chickpeas with nut. yeast and salt. The nut. yeast was really subtle when they were done so I tossed with more when they got out of the oven.

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Side Note:
If you're in Portland and wondering where to eat out, I have some photos to help. In my photo gallery I have one set aside for Portland Food. I also post these photos on my other blog, if you're interested.