Brownies, Temporary Vegans in the South
My husband and I are vegan about half the time because he's Orthodox Christian. We're in "baby Lent" until Christmas, and I'm dying for some desserts! I'm making chocolate chip cookies tonight and wanted to make brownies later. The one that looked the best requires silken/soft 'fu...
Of course Wal-Marts* and Winn Dixies in the South don't have silken 'fu. The Asian Market (cheapest 'fu in town) only has firm. The organic store stopped stocking it because it wouldn't sell at a rate where they wouldn't have to throw it out. That's pretty much it so silken 'fu isn't on the menu in this town.
Can anyone recommend a brownie recipe? I don't want to just google/search. I need brownies. Now. Now-now-now. Now is not a time for experimentation and failure. Or something comparable. Gimme a recipe you know works.
(btw, using Ghirardelli semi-sweet chips for the cookies. Out of the bag, I'm liking their milk chocolate version better. Husband won't do carab chips.)
Note: Husband is very picky. He won't eat the majority of lentils. I've got him scarfing garbanzos in certain situations, but he can't do black beans, pintos, butter beans(like limas), purple hull peas (like black-eyed), split peas... He'll eat one Indian dish with red lentils because it reminds him of Texas chili.
And of course, what are your favorite recipes for decadence?!
*Our Wal-Mart was just renovated and totally downsized their special needs section. It now includes wonton wraps, firm fu, mushrooms, and... maybe something else, maybe a gluten free something or other. I don't remember it being anything I wanted. They used to have Mamasita's (-ish on the brand name) Vegan white melting cheese (Pizza baby!) and fake hotdogs. The organic store has sausages that the husband will eat, but we're out of fake cheese that he will. His typical fasting diet is five pounds of carrots a week with steel cut oats for breakfast, skipping lunch, baked steak fries (3-5 potatoes) and romaine+tomato+cucumber+bell pepper salad for dinner. I'm nom nom nomming on lotsa soup at the moment-- mostly home-canned tomato, but some pumpkin-- and I also like spicy Thai peanut sauce of frozen broccoli a lot.
I got confused somewhere in your post, but you are wanting a brownie recipe, correct?
These are the best: http://vegweb.com/index.php?topic=23281.0
Make a flax egg with 1 tbs ground flax, and 3 tbs water.
If you don't have flax, some other substitutes are:
A: Egg substitutes vary depending on the type of dish that you are preparing. For scrambled egg dishes, such as breakfast scrambled eggs, quiches, and frittatas, tofu and various seasonings can be used. For baking, several types of egg substitutes can be used, such as:
Commercial egg replacer (Such as Ener-G or Bob's Red Mill) - 1 1/2 T + 2 T water = 1 egg (Or follow directions on package)
Bananas - 1/2 banana blended = 1 egg
Soy yogurt - 1/4 Cup yogurt = 1 egg
Applesauce - 1/4 cup = 1 egg
If you do not have any of these ingredients on hand, you can make a commercial-style egg substitute out of common household ingredients:
1 tsp baking powder + 1/2 tsp baking soda + 2 T flower + 3 T water = 1 egg
I have never tried the brownie recipe with anything other than commercial egg replacer, or flax.
Grease your pan well.
hmm.. it sounds like you just want lent-safe recipes that are very acceptable to picky eaters with easy-to-find ingredients.
my family also does the same as you because they are catholic and like being strict about things. i am always giving them recipe suggestions and i don't think they ever use them *sigh*... but i digress...
for one thing, AC is right about those brownies being the best, they are amazing!
you are already on the right path being on this site, when i first went vegan (when this site was much smaller), I would just type anything I wanted to make into the search and out would come a vegan recipe (basically).
Here are some things that I sent my parents this past year that i thought they might enjoy:
black bean burger- http://vegweb.com/index.php?topic=7653.0
Hannah Espedal August 11 at 6:19pm
black bean burger- http://vegweb.com/index.php?topic=7653.0
Chorizo Sausages -
1/2 C pinto beans, rinsed and drained
1 C vegetable broth
1 T oil
2 T soy sauce
2 T tomato paste
2 t. lemon zest
2 clove garlic, grated.
1.25 C wheat gluten (vital wheat gluten, you might have some left over from me buying some?)
0.25 C nutritional yeast (also something you might have left over from me)
1 T smoked paprika
1 t. crushed red pepper flakes
1 T rubbed sage
1 t. oregano
1/4 t. cayenne (optional, if you want it spicy)
either mash the beans well and mix in everything else well or blend all of the ingredients except for the gluten in a blender or food processor and then transfer to a bowl and mix with gluten.
apparently this recipe makes 4.. I think that might make relatively large sausages. divide into four pieces and wrap in tin foil like a tootsie roll. they are made to be steamed, i don't know if you guys have a steamer, but if you do have a steaming basket put them in that and steam for about 40 minutes. if you don't have a steaming basket, you can improvise something or bake them, the time might need to be different for baking, though.
tempeh bacon
(if you want to make it tofu bacon --cheaper than tempeh-- drain and press the tofu and then cut it into bacon type strips and marinate it in the sauce)
3 T soy sauce
1 T liquid smoke
1 T maple syrup
1 T apple cider vinegar
1 T olive oil
1 T tomato paste
3/4 C vegetable broth
2 cloves garlic
blend everything together and use about 1 package of tempeh or tofu. marinate for an hour or more. pan fry until crispy.
-http://vegweb.com/index.php?topic=5980.0 (enchiladas.. really good! if you can get nutritional yeast)
-http://www.researchgirl.com/parse/archives/966 (tamarind lentils)
-http://www.recipezaar.com/fronch-Toast-173113 (french toast, for a breakfast recipe. so yummy.. I made it once and used just plain nut-milk so you don't need to bother with the creamer)
-http://vegweb.com/index.php?topic=16252.0 (another breakfast one, these are the best pancakes. to replace the egg you could probably just use banana or applesauce (1/4 cup). I always use 1 heaped tablespoon of flax seeds mixed with three table spoons of water ground up -blender- until it becomes a gooey egg-like consistency)
-http://www.recipezaar.com/recipes/vegan (good site to just browse the vegan recipes)
-http://vegandad.blogspot.com/2008/03/homemade-sausages.html
Off topic, but just wanted to say "Hi" and welcome, because we are also Orthodox Christians who are vegan about half the year (I'm vegetarian all year, Spouse is Omni when not "fasting"- but neither of us is very picky).
Hope we'll see you more on here!
If you don't mind shipping costs from time to time, aseptically-packed silken 'fu is shelf-stable, and can be ordered online.