Smörgåsbord of recipes - Part 2

As I said the other day I wanted to do a "Spring clean" of my recipes. I have far too many stragglers that I just want to see out of my photo library, so with that being said I am going to continue my "Smörgåsbord of recipes".

Kitchen-sink Juice

Recipe by me

The first recipe, which I unfortunately deleted the pictures of was dor this amazing, amaziiiiiiing "lemonade". Really it wasn't a lemonade since there was only one lemon, so we'll call it Kitchen-sink Juice. I literally just threw in random fruits that I had laying around my kitchen, and the result was one delicious juice. I don't drink store-bought juice ever, nor do I own a juicer, so I never really "experience" juice other than when I drink my breakfast smoothies. This was such a treat. Surprisingly it lasted three or four days, which honestly came as a shock at how good it was (but it was only Jenna and I drinking it) so perhaps that is why. Here is what I did.

For starters, in the bowl of my food processor I threw in one cup of strawberries. Then through a sieve they went to get rid of the seeds. I then threw in the food processor 1 banana + the strawberry juice.

In my juice jug went 2 cups of coconut water + 3 cups of water + 2 blood oranges + 1 tangerine + juice of one lemon + strawberry mash (with the banana) - stirred that together. At the end I threw in 1/4 cup of maple syrup for additional sweetness.

This was not overly sweet, surprisingly with all those fresh fruits + the maple syrup. It was the perfect amount of sweetness, and it was incredibly refreshing. This would be beyond perfect with the upcoming hot water! I cannot wait to make this again with other random fruits I have lying around the house!

Corn in Chile Coconut Milk

Recipe taken from here

Since the last recipe had coconut, let's do a follow up with the coconut. Whenever I eat corn in the summer it is usually the same, quick and easy... boiled on the stove for seven minutes. I love it just like that, no butter, no salt or pepper, just as is. It's the perfect amount of time for me, not too hard, nor too soft. I love it, especially when you get an extremely sweet corn, ah! However, I saw a recipe for corn that included coconut milk, say what? Yes coconut milk. I never ever ever would of thought of putting corn + coconut milk (and did I mentioned chile powder)? together, yes it seriously was perfect. I made this last week, and even though corn may not be at it's peak of the season it didn't matter, this made the corn stand out. It was sweet with a little zing here and there, it was creamy and it was decadent. Not only that, it was so darn pretty to look at with the little specks of spices! Eeeh, I can't wait for the corn to really hit it's peak of sweetness so I can make this and get the complete impact that those simple ingredients create when mixed together! ...oh boy, imagine this with lime juice freshly squeezed on top just before you're about to take a bite, oh goly jee I think I may have to try that!

Ingredients:

• 1 - 14 ounce can coconut milk
• 1 tsp chile powder
• Dash or more of red pepper flakes
• 1/2 tsp sea or kosher salt
• 1/8 tsp fresh black pepper
• 3 ears of fresh, husked corn

Directions:

Whisk the coconut milk, chile powder, red pepper, salt and pepper together in a greased 8x8 casserole pan. Place the corn in it, breaking the cobs in half if necessary to make them fit. It's okay if the milk doesn't totally cover the cobs.

If possible do this a few hours ahead of time and allow to marinate in the refrigerator, turning the cobs every few hours to make sure all sides are marinated. Preheat oven to 425 degrees F. Bake for 30 minutes, rotating the cobs half way through.

Carefully remove the cobs from the pan lifting out with tongs and a spatula (if you drop them into the hot milk there is a danger of being burned). Serve with sauce drizzled over top. The sauce is also good on chicken and seafood.

Coco-nana Vegan Fudge

Recipe taken from here

Now, I have never been one for fudge. Every Christmas my mom used to make fudge because well everyone loved her fudge, I mean love is an understatement. People would try that fudge and stand around it like it was a new baby, I don't know why. The only time I could ever eat it is when she was testing to see if it was ready and she would dunk it in water, that's it. Other than that the fudge in my opinion was far, far too sweet. When I found a recipe for vegan "fudge" that didn't have crazy ingredients similar to traditional fudge, but ingredients like coconut and banana I knew I was in for a treat. I made this the night after I found the recipe and boy was I in trouble. It was delicious, it is nothing like your traditional fudge (at least mine wasn't in texture/consistency) but I didn't care, they were cut into little squares, looked cute, and definitely satisfied and hit the spot of any sweet craving. This is just another of many recipes that are so versatile to your taste buds alone, since it was the first time in me making this I decided to follow the recipe, but next time I'll definitely be sprucing it up with whatever taste I am craving that day!

Ingredients:

• 4 tbsp melted Artisana coconut butter (or homemade)
• 1/2 a large, very-ripe banana
• 1/8 to 1/4 tsp cinnamon
• Scant 1/16th tsp salt

Directions:

Make up a batch of coconut banana butter. Then smooth it into a container. (Plastic containers work well, because you can pop the fudge right out.)

Place in the fridge for a few hours, or freeze for a few minutes if you’re an impatient mamacita. You can freeze it for longer periods of time, but just be sure to thaw for at least 20 minutes prior to eating.

Pumpkin Spice Bagels

Recipe taken from here

As I mentioned a few posts ago, before Jordan left for Korea he was insanely sweet and wanted to be an amazing boyfriend and make cookies with me. He didn't only stop there, no he even made bagels with me! Yes, my heart seriously felt like it was going to explode because I was so overcome with joy. It really was nice to make them with him, because 98% of the time has all the patience int he world. I rolled my bagels, had holes, but they just looked, lifeless. Jordan's on the other hand, were perfect circular bagels, with the perfect sized hole in the middle. Needless to say, I mixed the ingredients, divided the dough and his job was to shape those bad boys.

We made these while I was going through my crazy pumpkin faze. Seriously though, pumpkin bagels are fantastic, especially considering pumpkin is crazy flavourful and low in fat, what better thing to put in a bready bagel than that? Perhaps, some fresh cranberries with the pumpkin, oh no, maybe I will have to make these again =\... not that that's a bad thing of course. These were incredibly tasty, and sadly I finished my last one on the weekend :(. I was saving it, yes, weirdo that I am because of the memories that went into them, but it's food, it doesn't last forever and it's meant to be enjoyed gosh darn it! So I enjoyed it, oh I did!

So here is the recipe for these bad boys. They are incredibly simple to make, especially if you have a cute boy helping you shape your bagels :)!

Ingredients:

• 3 1/4 cups whole wheat bread flour
• 3/4 cup freshly squeezed orange juice, warmed slightly in the microwave
• 1/3 cup packed light brown sugar (I used 1 tbsp)
  
• 1/2 cup pumpkin puree
• 1 tbsp active dry yeast
• 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp ground ginger
• 1/2 tsp ground allspice
• 1/2 tsp freshly grated nutmeg
  

Directions:

Place all the ingredients in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the dough hook and mix on low until it forms a shaggy ball, about 4 minutes. Increase the speed to medium and knead for another 5-7 minutes until the dough is smooth. Transfer the dough to a lightly floured surface and shape into a ball. Place the dough in a large bowl that has been lightly coated with non-stick cooking spray. Cover with plastic wrap and place in a draft free area and let it rise for 90 minutes.

Gently remove the dough from the bowl onto a lightly floured surface and press lightly to degas. Shape the dough into a ball and divide it into 8 equal pieces. Roll each piece into a ball. Using a floured finger, poke a whole through the middle and gently stretch the dough using 2 fingers so the whole is about 1/3 the diameter of the bagel. Place on a baking sheet that is lightly greased or lined with parchment paper. Cover and let rest for 20 minutes.

Preheat the oven to 425º and bring a stockpot of water to a rolling boil. Place bagels 2-3 at a time in the boiling water and cook for 1 1/2 minutes on each side. Using a slotted spoon remove the bagels and return to the baking sheet. Continue with remaining bagels. Bake for 20-25 minutes or until golden brown. Remove to a wire rack to cool completely before serving.

Cherry Amaretto Kissed Almond Butter

Recipe by me

Okay, I admit these may not be the prettiest pictures, honestly, even after taking two photography classes in high school I still really suck. I was alright at the time, but it seems as though my skills have unfortunately went down. With that being said, don't judge my bagel picture by it's "picture", because they seriously are delicious, and the almond butter that is slabbed on it was insanely delicious as well! I decided to make this a special almond butter, and let me tell you, special it was. It was... ah, I just loved it, I can't even think of words to describe this nut butter.

Here is what I did. I took this recipe and completely changed it just so that I would have a base on cooking times and measurements.

Ingredients:

• 2 cups almonds
• 2 tbsp amaretto agave nectar
• 1/2 tsp vanilla
• 1/4 cup dried cherries - chopped
• Zest of a handful of carob chips
• 2 tbsp canola oil
• 1/4 tsp sea salt

Directions:

Pre-heat the oven to 350 degrees F and prepare a large baking sheet with parchment paper.

In a medium-large bowl, whisk together the agave, oil, cherries, vanilla, carob zest, and salt. Stir in almonds and continue stirring to almonds are evenly coated. Pour almonds onto prepared baking dish and spread to an even layer.

Bake almonds for 12-15 minutes, stirring occasionally, until almonds are golden-brown and glaze has darkened slightly. Once done, set almonds aside to cool to room temperature.

Once almonds are cool, pour them into a food processor bowl and process for 12-14 minutes, or until almond butter has reached your desired texture. Stop the processing occasionally to scrape the sides of the bowl down with a spatula. Voila, mine took about 8-10 minutes to be completely "butter-esk" consistency!

Cherry Amaretto Cookies of Love

Recipe by me

March 25th is the day my brother was born. This year, it was his 19th birthday, woooo go him! For his birthday, my mom, her boyfriend and I went out to the casino to celebrate. We had a fantastic dinner, and then we took Anthony to the floor (he had his first taste of the casino the night before with my dad), but my mom wanted to take him to the restaurant since it seriously is amazing, and so we went and no one complained, especially me when dessert came, oh my goodness. I was in heaven... and it wasn't even my birthday, oops.

The night before I had really, really bad insomnia, so what did I do just like every other night I have insomnia? Bake of course! This time I had very good reason to as well since it was Antoine's birthday. I decided to make cake-box cookies and spruce them up. Well honestly, these were to die for. I'm not even kidding, I changed up the recipe to veganize it (even though the mix itself contains milk powder) but everything else got veganized. I left a couple of these at our house, and well, they didn't last, they were scooped up like there hadn't been food in the house for months, months I tell ya. These really were just that good.

Ingredients:

• 1 package of cherry cake mix, any flavor
• 2 tbsp ground flaxseed
  
• 6 tbsp water
  
• 1/3 cup canola oil
• 1 tsp almond extract
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1/4 cup ground almonds
• 1 1/2 cups chocolate fudge chipits + semi-sweet chocolate chips
  
• Sprinkles until your hearts content
• Red food colouring just to add a little bit of love

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Mix your flaxseed and water together, and set aside for a couple minutes until a paste forms. When your egg is ready mix everything together. Form into one inch balls on ungreased cookie sheet or baking pan.

Bake for approximately 7 minutes or until slightly browned, being careful not to overcook.

dksjf;sldj, and that is it for this huge recipe kerfuffle, and it sure feels good to get rid of many recipes that have gone astray. Now, if I can just keep up with my recipes this time around so I won't have to do another one of those for quite some time!