Monday, 30 May 2011

Pancakes!

No reason you should go without pancakes, especially since the egg only helps to fluff them up. I use baking powder as a replacement and these come out really light and fluffy. If you like a bit more dense pancake, use half the amount.

There are countless ways to fill your pancakes once you have the basic recipe, these ones I made today just happen to be strawberry and chocolate. Mmmmmm.

Yields about 6 large pancakes

Ingredients 

1 cup unbleached white flour
1 tablespoon Sugar
2 tbs baking powder
1 pinch of salt
1 cup soymilk
1 tbs vanilla 

Preheat a frying pan to medium high. Add a tbs or so of oil.

Mix everything together along with whatever else you may be adding like, blueberries, strawberries, cinnamon, chocolate chips, bananas, whatever you want in a large bowl.

Pour a small amount of batter at a time onto the hot pan. The batter will be rather thick so don't let your cakes get too high of they will come out raw on the inside. Unlike conventional pancakes, these won't make bubbles on the opposite side as easily, so you should flip them when the edges start to cook just a little bit, about 3 minutes. Cook for another 3 minutes and if they are still raw in the middle, press down with a spatula, they will still come out light and airy.

Top with syrup or fresh fruit and enjoy!

Friday, 13 May 2011

"Beef" Pot Pies with a Cheesy Buiscuit Crust


I didn't have my camera while making these but it's pretty straight forward. The beef can be substituded for more vegetables if you have a gluten allergy.

Yields 5 mini pies or 2 large ones

Ingredients
Crust:
2/3 cup margarine
1/2 cup boiling water
1 tbs flax seed mixed with 1 1/2 tbs water
2 1/2 cups flour
1/2 cup nutritional yeast
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt

Beef
1 cup vital wheat gluten
1/4 tsp onion powder
1/2 tsp thyme
3/4 cups all vegetable beef flavoured stock
1 1/2 tbs soy sauce
1/2 tbs ketchup

Filling
3 1/2 cups vegetables
1 tbs cornstarch
1/4 cup water
2 cups all vegetable beef flavoured stock

First, boil the water. Add to the margarine until melted. Add the flax mixture. Add the remaining crust ingredients and mix until a stiff dough is formed. Knead for a few minutes. Cover and let sit for 1/2 hour.

While the dough is sitting, Combine the wet and dry ingredients for the beef separately at first, and then combine together. It will form a very rubbery dough. Cut into small, bite size chunks and pan fry with a little oil. While the chunks are frying, mix the cornstarch and water and let sit. Slowly heat the vegetable stock on medium heat until almost boiling. Add the cornstarch mixture and it should immediatly thicken. Lower heat. This will be our gravy.

Throw the vegetables into boiling water for about 5 minutes and drain.

Now mix the vegetables, beef and gravy together. Our filling is now complete!

Preheat oven to 350 degrees

I prefer to use tin foil plates for my pies and I like to make the mini ones best. Roll out enough dough to cover the bottom and sides of your pie plate. Fill with filling. Roll out a smaller piece and place on top of pie. Pinch all the edges closed and using a fork, make a few holes in the top of the pie. Repeat until all pies are complete.

Bake for about 15-20 minutes and serve!

Freezing the pies is a great way to make a quick dinner but be warned that they don't bake very well from frozen, even at a very low temperature, so it's best to thaw them out first.