Apple Spice Cupcakes with Carmel Fudge Icing

I've already told you about the apple glut, so you'll understand when I say that I've been scanning every cookbook in sight for apple-based delights. It tuns out apples are very versatile! This recipe came straight from page 252 of Isa and Terry's Veganomicon. My mum makes a delicious apple cake that I've been missing out on since I went vegan so I was glad to see this recipe. Her apple dapple cake is baked in a tube-pan then covered in walnuts and a brown sugar glaze. The apples make for a very moist and flavorful cake. The frosting here is a penuche icing, a candy-like fudge so delicious and old-fashioned that you'll want to really load it on.

Aprons on, ladies and gents!
NRG

Missouri-Style Applesauce

In true Midwest spirit,  LP and I went apple picking last weekend. We drove her empire-red Volvo north, escaping the city via the George Washington Bridge. New York can feel so grey these days (when you begin and end your days underground and the light grows short) but it was perfect along the Hudson , trees golden and red. Surprised by the expense of the half bushel we purchased, LP and I were determined to get our money's worth! We stretched the plastic bag and stuffed it so completely with Golden Delicious, Macintosh, Empire, and Red Rome that we had to fashion a device to help waddle the load to the car.

Those 60-some apples are now our burden and are sneaking their way into every dish in our shared and dimly lit kitchen. They have also taken center stage in this delicious applesauce stuffed into crepes made by LP (Kansas City's finest!) last Sunday. I'm convinced that you can throw anything into applesauce and it will turn out deliciously, but here's an idea for a recipe for those of us who never have cinnamon sticks around!

4 lbs cooking apples (cored, diced, with peels)
2 strips lemon peel
1/4-1/2 cup brown or white sugar (or a mix of both)
2-3 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp nutmeg
1 cup water
pinch of salt

Combine all ingredients in a large soup pot. Cover and bring to boil. Reduce heat to low and let simmer, covered, stirring occasionally for 25-30 minutes. Remove any lemon peels or cinnamon sticks and mash with a fork or potato masher.

Enjoy!
NRG

The Veganette Turns One: A Year of Eating Together

This month the veganette celebrated one year of existence through recipes, photographs, and stories. It has taken me through two states and six apartments! I am thankful to have this project to share ideas about vegan food and be unabashedly mushy-gushy about how great my friends are. Eating together is so meaningful and when we do it we are learning to love one another better and to share and to be thankful. There I go again with the cheesiness, but I'm just a doting caretaker, proud to see this project complete a year of existence in its own right. Thank you for your part, for reading and eating and sharing and cooking and feeding your neighbors and wives and friends. Here are some photos for you from this past year of food. Many of them are by my quichemasterflex roommate, and creative genius, KM, who deserves a heap of credit for many of the good things that happen here.

Many plates were filled.

In many different homes.

Many plates were emptied.

Many condiments were applied.

We ate outside.

In Texas. And in New Mexico. And in California.

We shared.

We set tables.

Keep eating, making mistakes, making art, making music, and being patient with yourself. I'll try to do the same.

Y'all are the best.

NRG

Cinnamon Carob Chip Cookies

I've never been fond of carob chips and have treated the product as a long lost cousin of chocolate, lingering on the far corner of the bodega shelf only to be bought in the rare and appalling occasion that there are no vegan chips available and you cannot handle the idea of breaking up a $4.50 bar of Green & Blacks. Regardless, I put aside my prejudices and recently bought a health-nut  super-vegan bag of  carob chips.Of course, I was pleasantly surprised! The nutty bitterness of carob complimented the few earthy scoops of cinnamon I added in and the chips melted into crispy corners on each soft cookie round. Perfect with a glass of unsweetened nut milk.

Use Isa's recipe here from Post Punk Kitchen. Add 1 tsp or more cinnamon and sub Ener-g if you don't have Tapioca flour. Add walnuts and carob as desired!

Enjoy,
NRG

Syrup Storm, Black and Blue Pancakes

I have been trying to find uses for maple syrup ever since hurricane day, when my dear roommate purchased a jug of genuine tree nectar the "size of a toddler". I'm finding the liquid gold can be substituted for any sweet ingredient- sugar, honey, agave, etc. -and with some surprising results. For times that don't call for experimentation, there's always pancakes. These blackberry/ blueberry flapjacks were crowned with the season's last peaches and drenched in a pool of syrup. Surely, there's no better way to wake up.

Check out Isa's perfect pancake recipe in Vegan Brunch to make these for yourself (and your friends)!

Good Morning to you all,
NRG

Ethiopian Festival 2011

Ok, so we may not be the classiest of folks, but we sure know how to throw a dinner party. It was with great joy that KM, MW, and I embarked on this feast, slicing piles of red onions, coring green chiles, rinsing lentils, grating ginger, juicing lemons, and rolling injera. Ethiopian cuisine is wonderfully vegan-friendly and inexpensive to make! All four burners were roaring when our hungry friends  filtered into our too-warm and spice-filled kitchen on this side of Brooklyn.

On the menu:
Injera (bought from the local Ethiopian restaurant, Ghenet)
Miser (red lentils and burbere, recipe courtesy of EA)
Gomen (collard greens with spices and red onion)
Kik (split peas with red onions, ginger, and garlic)
Ethiopian Salad (tomatoes, lettuce, garlic, ginger, lemon, and vinegar)
Burbere Paste
Alecha (potatoes, carrots, cabbage, ginger, green chiles, garlic, and spices)

As always, many thanks to the cooks and tasters and to Little Africa and Salam Store for showing us all what's up.
NRG