I'm back!!

Wow, it's been a long time since I last posted something. I guess I am sorry, but some things in my life were more important than blogging here. Well, I'm back and firstly here's a little résumé of what I've been up to the past few weeks:

> enjoying the last warm and wonderful autumn days, taking many pictures
> trying out some new recipes as well as creating my own
> sadly not taking a lot of pictures of food


Please read on after the jump....

Vegan MoFo VII / Carrot Cake

Lately I've been studying a lot... I guess I'm getting somewhere with all this information! To take my mind off things, I like to bake! And what's a better excuse than Vegan MoFo!? The whole thing is a bit overwhelming, how the hell am I supposed to get through 200-300 blog posts everyday?? So I'm just picking out the really good stuff and the ones with beautiful pictures... lots of inspiration there!

Vegan Carrot Cake

with Lemon icing and candied nuts

yields a 8×8″ cake

Ingredients:

1 cup + 2 Tbsp. spelt flour

1/2 tsp. baking powder

3/4 tsp. baking soda

1/2 tsp. cinnamon

1/4 tsp. nutmeg

1/4 tsp. ground cloves

1/4 tsp. salt

3 Tbsp. ground flax seed

90 ml warm water

3/4 cup sugar

1/2 cup canola oil

1/2 tsp. vanilla extract

1 cup shredded carrots

1 c pecans, chopped

Directions:

Preheat oven to 180°C (350F). Line your pan with parchment paper or grease it. In a large bowl mix together ground flax seed and water, let stand for a few minutes. Sift together dry ingredients in an other small bowl. Add sugar and oil to the flax seed mixture and beat. Add vanilla extract and carrots and mix until combined. Now add the dry and stir until well incorporated. Fold in pecans and pour into your pan. Bake for about 20 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean. Let it cool in the pan for 10 minutes.

Lemon Icing

100 gr powdered sugar

3 Tbsp. lemon juice

1 Tbsp. hot water

Sift powderer sugar in a bowl and add lemon juice and hot water, mix until well incorporated. I used it as a filling as well as a frosting.

Candied nuts

1/2 cup pecans

1 Tbsp. vegan butter

2 Tbsp.  sugar

Melt vegan butter on medium heat in a pan, add nuts and sprinkle in sugar. Stir + watch well, until the sugar has melted, the nuts are roasted and caramel has formed. Let cool and sprinkle on the icing! 

 Enjoy, 

Florence

Vegan MoFo VI / Sweet Potato & Leftover Gratin

For Sunday night dinner, I had some leftover risotto with different vegetables. I decided to spice it up a bit, and in my mind I had the recipe for a shepherd's pie with sweet potatoes, so that's my take on that!

Sweet Potato Top-Layer:
2 sweet potatoes, peeled
1-2 tsp. sugar
1 tsp. salt
2 tsp. vegan butter
pepper, herbs, paprika, curry

Cut the sweet potatoes in small pieces. Heat some olive oil in a pan and sauté the sweet potatoe pieces for a few minutes, and sprinkle with sugar and salt. Add some water, just until the pieces are covered. Now cook until tender. Drain the sweet potatoes, and mash with vegan butter. Add spices if desired.

At first, I mixed my vegetable risotto with about 2 Tbsp. of nutritional yeast, and added some mushrooms, that I simply roasted for a few minutes and added some spices. I spread the risotto-mixture in a greased baking dish and on top I added some caramelized onions and lastly I spread the mashed sweet potatoes and some chopped walnuts. Bake with 160°C for about 25 minutes and let sit for 5 minutes before serving!

Notes:
You can use almost any leftovers as a filling. If it is too dry, add some vegetable broth, mixed with some soy sauce.

Trust me, if I say so, this was utterly delicious!! I couldn't get enough! The balance between sweet and salty is perfect, and makes this improvised dish very special!

Vegan MoFo II / Vegan Pumpkin Syrup

 I feel like I'm doing good with this whole Vegan MoFo regular blogging. Days have been good lately, I was busy renovating and dressing up for an elegant (vegan) french dinner. It was a friend's birthay gift, and as we cooked at my place, it was all vegan. There was ratatouille, vegan soy-chicken, tarte aux pommes, some amuse bouche, and lots of wine! It was really nice to have such a nice distraction from studying. 

 

But on to the next recipe. Vegan Pumpkin Spice Syrup! I had some leftover pumpkin puree, and that was a very good use for it. This syrup is spicy and sweet, perfect for Pumpkin Spice Lattes, mixing it into smoothies or frostings and poured over delicious Pumpkin Cinnamon Rolls. 

I also used it as a filling for a Pumpkin Gingerbread Cake I made last week. It was amazing!

 Vegan Pumpkin Spice Syrup

Ingredients:

3/4 cup granulated sugar
3/4 cup water
3 whole cinnamon sticks
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 tsp ground cloves
1/4 tsp ground nutmeg
1/4 tsp ground ginger
2 Tbsp pumpkin puree
1 tsp vanilla  (or 1 whole vanilla bean, split lengthwise)

Directions:

Combine all ingredients in a small saucepan and place over medium heat.
Stirring occasionally, allow the mixture to come to a boil.
Reduce the heat to low, and simmer for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally.
Remove from the heat and allow the syrup to cool to room temperature.
When the syrup is cool, strain into a clean jar through a fine mesh sieve.
If you store it in the fridge, this syrup will keep for up to 2 months.