Engagement Spot

So, I had no idea where I was going to propose at but once we were at The Rock of Dunamase I knew that it was the spot. We didn't realize until after we got back to Connecticut that our engagement spot was in the movie Leap Year. Not a bad movie, but seeing the spot in person made us much more appreciative of the actual area. While you see the video, you will see some Celtic crosses (not there in real life), there is a second level to the strucutre (not really there in real life), a train station (not there at all), and a lake (that's really just countryside fields and not a lake).

Past Months...

It has been a long time since we have posted anything - far too long. We have been cooking and traveling and eating a lot of food... too much food. In the time that it has been since we last posted we celebrated my birthday and Nicole's birthday. Both of which we spent in Rhode Island finding vegan treats along the way. It is definitely not the last time that we will be going there and enjoying tasty food. Another exciting thing that transpired was our trip to Ireland (in April). While there we visited the Rock of Dunamse.

And we got engaged! Up until this point I was not sure where I was going to propose at. I was carrying the ring around with me while we traversed Dublin and took sunrise walk in a cemetery. Once we were here though I knew that it was the right spot. We walked all the way up to the top and saw magnificent views of the countryside. It was a very special and very exciting day. I was glad to have this trip with my future wife and am excited for many more.

Hopefully we will be a little more active in the coming months with posts and news wedding goings on.

Cauliflower Puree and Steaks

 Tonight we decided to put a little more effort into dinner than we usually do. We made cauliflower steaks with a cauliflower puree and purple mashed potatoes. This was a surprisingly filling and delicious dinner. The cauliflower puree wasn't completely smooth but it had a great texture to it. As for the potatoes, who doesn't love naturally colored produce? The potatoes came out a nice deep blueish-purple, and when lemon juice is added to the top it becomes a vibrant pink. (Picture to come).

Ingredients

1 large head of cauliflower

1 teaspoon olive oil

½ cup original almond milk

2 ounces pepper-jack shredded Daiya cheese

2 tablespoons nutritional yeast flakes

1.     Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

2.     Remove any excess lower leaves from the head of the cauliflower and cut in half.

3.     Cut about ¾ of an inch slices of cauliflower from each half of the head. We were able to get two cauliflower steaks out of one head.

4.     In a pan on medium heat add 1 teaspoon of olive oil. Cook each steak for about 3 minutes on each side and place on a baking sheet.

5.      Bake for about 15-20 minutes, or until fork tender, flipping after about 10 minutes.

6.     Cover the top of the steaks with Nutritional Yeast Flake and Avocado sauce and set oven to broil. Leave in oven until the edges of the cauliflower are golden brown.

7.     While the cauliflower is baking, cut the remainder of the head into smaller pieces and boil until tender.

8.     Strain the cauliflower and add to a food processor.

9.     Add ½ cup original almond milk and blend together until smooth.

10.  Transfer to a bowl and stir in 2 ounces of pepper-jack Daiya (or more if you wish) and 2 tablespoons nutritional yeast flakes.

Nutritional Yeast Flake and Avocado Sauce

Ingredients

1 avocado

¼ cup nutritional yeast flakes

2 tablespoons maple barbeque sauce

1 teaspoons hot sauce

1 teaspoons liquid aminos

½ cup water

1.     Slice avocado in half, remove seed and cube the fruit of the avocado.

2.     Add all ingredients to a food processor (if your avocado is ripe enough like ours was you could just use a blender bottle that you would normally make a protein shake in). Blend or shake your mixture until you have a smooth consistency and enjoy.

Purple Mashed Potatoes

1 pound purple fingerling potatoes

2 tablespoons vegan butter

½ cup original almond milk

¼ teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon lemon juice

1.     Boil potatoes until tender.

2.     Drain potatoes and mash with a potato masher.

3.     Add butter and continue mashing while potatoes are still warm.

4.     Stir in almond milk and salt.

5.     This step is optional, but after you have plated your mashed potatoes you can add some lemon juice to the top. This not only adds a surprising flavor, but it also changes the purple color to a vibrant pink.

Vegan cheesy cookies

Vegan cheesy cookies

1 cup white beans
1 cup corn meal
1 cup nutritional yeast
1/2 cup coconut oil
1/2 cup water
1/8 teaspoon cayenne
1/8 teaspoon chipotle
1/4 tsp tumeric
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp baking powder

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Mix all ingredients together.

Roll the mixture into little balls, about half inch balls would be great. Place on to a non-stick cookie sheet, flatten slightly, and bake for 10 minutes. The dough should yield about 36 cookies depending on the size.

Let cool for a few minutes and ten enjoy!

Three Tier Salted Caramel Chocolate Crunch Cake

Thank You Made Just Right! We were one of the Bake-Off Special Prize Winners. Check it out, and here's the recipe:

This cake is a little complicated, but so tasty. This delicious three-tiered vegan cake can cure your salty and sweet cravings at the same time! The caramel sauce is very sugary, and I think that the pretzels are the perfect little extra touch. I love peanut butter so this features a chocolate peanut butter frosting. Enjoy. : ) A note with the ingredients: Apple cider vinegar is the last ingredient for the actual cake batter. The next two ingredients are used to lightly coat the pans. The next five (sugar through coconut milk) are for the caramel mixture. The remaining ingredients, excluding the pretzels, are for the frosting. I chilled my cakes overnight in the fridge, but that's mainly because I made them late at night. You should let them cool about 30-60 min, but they work well when cooled overnight too. There was some extra caramel sauce which you can use on the individual pieces of cake, or you can halve the caramel recipe if you aren't too big on sugar. I used three different sized round pans(9, 6, and 4 inches), but you could always change that if you don't want to do three tiers.


Ingredients

• 4 cups Flour (I used whole wheat, but feel free to use all-purpose)

• 4 teaspoons baking powder

• 2 teaspoons baking soda

• 1 1/2 cups cocoa powder

• 1 teaspoon cinnamon

• 1/4 teaspoon cardamom

• 1 teaspoon salt

• 1/2 cup olive oil

• 1/2 cup Melted Earth Balance Buttery stick

• 1/2 cup maple syrup

• 2 1/2 cups sugar

• 4 teaspoons vanilla extract

• 1 1/4 cups water

• 1 cup Earth Balance soy milk

• 1 teaspoon flaxseeds

• 2 teaspoons Apple cider vinegar

• 1 dash Cooking spray

• 3 pinches Flour for dusting the pans

• 2 cups sugar

• 1/3 cup water

• 5 teaspoons vanilla extract

• 6 tablespoons Earth Balance buttery stick

• 2/3 cup coconut milk

• 3 teaspoons vanilla extract

• 3 tablespoons coconut milk

• 1/2 cup Earth Balance soy milk

• 1 1/2 cups fresh ground chocolate peanut butter

• 1/4 cup Earth Balance buttery stick

• 1 1/2 tablespoons Earth Balance shortening

• 2 cups powdered sugar

• 2 dozen pretzels

Directions

1. To prepare the cake, 1. In a large mixing bowl add the dry ingredients (4 cups flour, 4 teaspoons baking powder, 2 teaspoons baking soda, 1 ½ cup cocoa powder, 1 teaspoon cinnamon, ¼ teaspoon cardamom, and1 teaspoon salt) and stir to combine.
2. In a second mixing bowl add the wet ingredients (½ cup olive oil, ½ cup melted Earth, Balance Buttery Stick, ½ cup maple syrup, 2 ½ cups sugar, 4 teaspoons vanilla extract, 1 ¼ cups water, 1 cup Earth Balance Soy Milk, 1 teaspoon ground flax seeds, 2 teaspoons apple cider vinegar) together and mix well with a spatula until they are combined.
3. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and then add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and stir together.
4. Spray cooking pans with cooking spray and flour pans (we used three sizes: one 9 inch, one 6 inch pan and one 4 inch.
5. Add batter to pans so each pan is about half to two thirds full.
6. Bake at 350 degrees. The 4 inch cake will take 24 minutes. The 6 inch cake will take 30 minutes. The 9 inch cake will take 35. You can always check your cakes before these times, and they will be done when you can stick a fork or knife through and there is no uncooked batter.
7. Let the cakes cool completely before assembling.
8. Now for the caramel sauce: Heat a heavy sauce pan on medium heat.
9. Add 2 cups of sugar, 1/3 cup water and 5 teaspoons of vanilla extract to pan and stir continuously with a whisk.
10. Once the sugar has melted and has begun to boil, stir vigorously for about 2 minutes.
11. Add 6 tablespoons Earth Balance Buttery Stick and continue to stir vigorously until melted.
12. Allow mixture to return to a boil stirring occasionally, then stir vigorously for two minutes while the mixture is boiling.
13. Add 1/3 cup coconut milk to mixture while stirring.
14. Continue stirring until mixture returns to a boil and add the second 1/3 cup.
15. Stir for 5 minutes while mixture boils and then remove from heat.
16. Transfer mixture into a glass or metal pan and refrigerate for 20 minutes. **Wash all cooking utensils immediately**
17. After you've washed your pan and utensils that you cooked the caramel in, it is time to start the frosting. Cream the 1/4 cup Earth Balance buttery stick and 1 1/2 tbs shortening together with a hand mixer or standing mixer on medium speed.
18. Add 1 1/2 cup chocolate peanut butter and thoroughly mix with shortening and butter. Add 3 teaspoons vanilla and mix for about 20 seconds.
19. Add the powdered sugar and mix until combined, about 3-5 minutes.
20. Add the 1/2 cup Earth Balance soy milk and 3 tablespoons coconut milk and mix until combined, about 3 minutes,
21. Crush pretzels and set aside.
22. Now comes the time to assemble the cake! Make sure that the cakes are cool enough to work with. Place the 9-inch cake on a plate, top down. Add a scoop of caramel in the middle of the cake. Place the 6-inch cake on top of the caramel. Add a scoop of caramel to the middle of the new layer. Place the 4-inch cake on top of the caramel.
23. Frost the outside of the cake once to seal in the crumbs. Refrigerate for 5 minutes and frost again.
24. Add the crushed pretzels to the cake.
25. Drizzle caramel on top and sides of the cake – there will be extra caramel which you can serve to your guests just in case they don’t have enough caramel on their piece, before serving microwave the caramel just until melted).
26. Place two pretzels on top of cake for decoration. Serve and enjoy!