Vegan Peanut Butter Truffles

In addition to the previous Chocolate Cashew Cream Truffles I also made my husband peanut butter truffles for Valentine's Day. Boy did he get a lot of truffles, which I will gladly help him finish of course. These are just as simple to make as the cashew cream truffles and I can't decide which ones I like better. They are both so good!

Ingredients

1/2 cup soy milk

1/2 cup peanut butter

1/2 cup semisweet chocolate chips

2 tablespoons maple syrup

1 teaspoon vanilla

Whatever toppings you so desire: Cocoa powder, crushed nuts, sprinkles, melted chocolate, etc.

Directions

Heat the soy milk in a saucepan and bring to a boil. Once at a boil mix in the peanut butter and then remove from the heat. Immediately stir in the chocolate. Once the chocolate is melted and the mixture is well blended stir in the maple syrup and vanilla. Pour the mixture into a flat pan and place in the fridge for 1.5 to 3 hours. The mixture should be firm like fudge. Before you start forming truffles make sure your toppings are ready to be rolled in. I used cocoa powder and placed it in a bowl.  Now it's time to get messy! Use a teaspoon or melon baller to scoop a small amount of the mixture out. Roll between your hands to form a ball and roll in whatever topping(s) you want. Place in a small muffin liner or whatever else you may have. Enjoy! Be sure to store in the fridge.

Vegan Chocolate Cashew Cream Truffles

This post is a few days past Valentine's Day but for good reason. I made these for my husband and since he reads my blog I couldn't post them until after he got them. These are the first of two different truffles I made. They were so simple and easy to make. And they look pretty! Truffles usually require cream but a healthier and vegan option is to make a cream out of cashews. You may say, 'But I just want chocolate truffles, no nutty flavor!' and I assure you that these taste nothing more than pure chocolate. Fudgy balls of goodness! 

Ingredients

1/2 cup raw cashews

1/2 cup water

12 oz semisweet chocolate chips 

3 tablespoons maple syrup

Anything you want to coat the truffles in: cocoa powder, sprinkles, crushed nuts, powdered sugar, crushed cookies, melted chocolate, etc.

Directions

The first step is to make a cream out of your cashews and water. Blend the two in a food processor for about 4 minutes, until you have what looks like cream. 

Next you want to melt your chocolate. You can do this in a double broiler or in the microwave like I did. If you do it in the microwave, make sure to stir it every 30 seconds or so. Once the chocolate is melted stir in the maple syrup and the cashew cream. 

The mixture now needs to firm up before you can form the truffles. You can just put the bowl in the fridge but it might take awhile. I transferred the mixture to a square pan so that it was more spread out and would firm up quicker. It will take anywhere from 1.5 to 3 hours in the fridge to get firm enough, depending on you refrigerator temperature. 

Once the mixture is firm it is time to shape the truffles. This will get a little messy because you are rolling chocolate in your hands. Make sure anything that you are rolling your truffles in is ready to go. Since I rolled some of my truffles in pink sugar and some in cocoa powder I put each of those things in their own bowl. Now for the messy part! With a teaspoon or melon baller scoop a small amount of the truffle mixture out and roll between your hands to form a ball. You can then roll the truffle in whatever coating you choose. Place the finished truffle in a mini muffin liner or anything else of your choosing. Store the truffles in the fridge and try not to eat them all at once! 

Stay tuned for the next post on the other truffle I made...Peanut butter truffles! Mmmm....

Ginger and Garlic Cashew Stir-Fry

When I decided to make this stir-fry I had no idea it would end up with such flavor in the end. I was just trying to find a use for the rest of our green beans, cashews, and red pepper. The combination of fresh ginger, garlic, sesame oil, and scallions really brought an exciting flavor. Little did I know I would stumble upon something that I am actually craving again at the moment! 

Ingredients

2 carrots

3 scallions

1 small red pepper

1/2 cup of green beans

1/2 cup of cashews

2 teaspoons grated ginger

3 cloves of garlic

1 tablespoon canola oil

1 tablespoon sesame oil

1 tablespoon soy sauce

1 cup of short-grain brown rice

Directions

 Start cooking your rice before doing anything else since the rice is going to take the longest. While the rice is cooking you can prepare the stir-fry.

Chop up the carrots, green beans, red pepper, and scallions. You want to make sure the carrots are not too thick or else they might not cook all of the way through. Grate the ginger and press or mince the garlic. Heat up your pan on high with the canola oil. The next part is fairly easy. Throw in your green beans, carrots, scallions, red pepper, ginger, garlic, cashews, sesame oil, and soy sauce all at once! In other words, throw in everything! Keep stirring it all around for 10-15 minutes, or until your carrots are tender. Serve over your cooked rice and enjoy!

Cookies 'N' Cream Cupcakes

I was anxious to try another recipe from Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the Worldand decided to go for the cookies 'n' cream cupcakes. I made the basic chocolate cupcake batter and mixed in a cup of Hint O' Mint Newman-O's that were crushed in the food processor. I then made half of the recipe of the fluffy buttercream frosting and mixed in 1/4 cup of the crushed cookies. Mmmm....

Vegetable Alphabet Soup

Soup is one of those things that I always thought would be difficult to make before I actually made it. It's great for a chilly day or when you're fighting off a cold. If my husband and I want to make a no fuss soup that doesn't require a food processor or different pots and pans we usually go for a vegetable soup. And the last couple of times we made it we decided to throw in alphabet pasta.  Because it's cool. And it works well in soup because the letters are small. There really isn't a recipe we follow but I kept track of everything we used this time for the sake of writing out a recipe. The vegetables and seasonings can all be changed to your liking but this is the gist:

Ingredients

3 medium potatoes 

3 carrots

2 stalks of celery

1 zucchini

1 shallot

3 cloves of garlic

1 tablespoon olive oil

salt and pepper to taste

1 tablespoon tomato paste

5-6 cups of vegetable stock

5 oz alphabet pasta (Again, this doesn't need to be exact but I just used half of a 10 oz box)

Directions

The first step is to chop up all of the vegetables. Cube the potatoes, carrots, celery, and zucchini. 

Mince the shallot and garlic. Heat the olive oil in a large pot. Throw in the potatoes, carrots, celery, zucchini, shallots, and garlic at once. 

Cook over medium high heat for about 10 minutes, stirring once in a while. Stir in the stock, tomato paste, salt, and pepper. If it looks like the stock is not covering your vegetables, just add more. 

Bring the soup to a boil. Once it is at a boil add the pasta and cook for 20 minutes. Stir frequently as the pasta tends to stick to the bottom. Enjoy with some warm bread. We like sourdough! 

Helpful Hints:

-The alphabet pasta we use has a cooking time of 20 minutes so if your pasta has a different cooking time adjust when you put the pasta in. 

-If you didn't add enough stock your soup probably looks like condensed soup at the end. Don't panic, this is easy to fix. Just add some more stock or water.

-Remember that this is just an approximate recipe and you can put in as many or as little vegetables as you want. You just need to adjust the amount of liquid you use.