Vegan Options at Fuel Pizza and Red Velvet Cupcakes

Last week, I bought a Living Social Deal for Fuel Pizza.  Fuel started out with one store in Charlotte, NC, has since expanded to eight stores in that area.  Recently, they opened two locations in DC, one on K and one on F Street.

The DC locations offer daiya cheese (the NC locations' menus do not appear to have daiya as an option - let me know if you spot it there!) so the DC Fuel locations are an option for vegans.  You won't be able to get pizza by the slice, but you can easily order a custom pie and have leftovers.

On Friday, before seeing a movie, my friend and I visited the K Street location.  I opted for a 12" multigrain crust topped with daiya, spinach, mushrooms and red onions.  While Fuel isn't as generous with the daiya as Pete's, District of Pi, or Fresh Pizzeria are, the sauce was good, the toppings were fresh and I liked the multigrain crust.  Also, the staff were extremely friendly and made us feel very welcome.

My friend was able to order pizza by the slice and enjoyed two vegetarian slices - a spinach-ricotta and a mushroom.  She said that the spinach-ricotta was perfect and that she would get it again, and that the mushroom was good, but could have used more mushrooms.

For those of you who are gluten free, Fuel offers gluten free pizza, and even gluten free beer!  Note that the gluten free pizza is only available in the 12" pie, so no slices and no larger pizzas.  It would be great if more pizza places offered vegan and gluten-free pizza options by the slice.  I know you can get vegan pizza by the slice at Whole Foods and Washington Deli (where they use soy cheese rather than daiya).  Any other leads out there?  In the meantime, let's thank local pizzerias who have vegan options and let them know there is a demand out there for vegan slices.

We had some time to kill before the movie and were craving something sweet, so my friend and I hit Red Velvet, a small cupcake store in Chinatown which I knew would have at least one vegan option on the menu.  Turns out they have two vegan options on the DC menu - the black velvet, which is a chocolate cake with a vegan chocolate "buttercream," and the white velvet, which is vanilla cake with vegan vanilla "buttercream."  The vegan cupcakes are also gluten-free.

I opted for the black velvet and liked it.  The cake on its own doesn't have a strong flavor, but paired with the icing, it was very good.  I prefer my cupcakes not to be overly sweet, and these definitely fit that bill.  If you want to bring vegan cupcakes to your next staff meeting or social gathering, you can special order a dozen for $36.  You can also get vegan cupcakes at Red Velvet's Clarendon location and Reston location.

To make up for the subpar picture I took of the cupcake, I'm sharing a picture of the cute box it came in. 

Happy Rosh Hashanah: Pecan Rugelach

I have a love-hate relationship with rugelach.  I love to eat them, but I hate that they're traditionally made with walnuts.  So, that means if I want them, I'd need to bake them.  Fortunately, I'd like to bake!

Before we get there, you may ask, what is rugelach?   It's a rolled cookie of deliciousness.  Flavors you often see are chocolate, raspberry or apricot.

I've never attempted rugelach, but this Made Just Right Vegan Rugelach recipe inspired me.  It uses Earth Balance, vegan cream cheese and whole-wheat pastry flour for the dough.  The recipe gives the option to make apricot or chocolate rugelach.  When I asked my husband which one he wanted me to make for dinner at his grandmother's, he said both, so that's what I did.  He also said "You're not going to tell my family that they're vegan, right?"   I said "I don't have to . . ." which in me speak may end up being "I will wait until they tell me how delicious they are and then tell them!  Bwahahahaha!" 

The recipe suggests chilling the dough for two hours overnight, so I made the dough in my food processor last night and set my alarm to get up early this morning to bake them.  "You're getting up early, like a professional baker!" said husband.  Somewhere, my mother is reading this and asking "Who are you and what have you done with my hibernating daughter?"  A morning person I am not.  But, rugelach calls!  I even got up happily before the alarm went off. 

This morning, I made the filling, again using my food processor, halving the recipe amounts for each option.  For the apricot versions, I used Clearbrook Farms Apricot Preserves and pecans.  For the chocolate, I used Enjoy Life Semi-Sweet Mini Chocolate Chips, pecans, cinnamon and Truvia, using the handy dandy Truvia conversion chart (Truvia being much sweeter than sugar, you don't need as much).

Rugelach, pre-baking

The dough is very sticky, so I used lots and lots of flour when rolling it out.  I realized that one of the reasons pie crust has been my nemesis is that I've been skimping on the flour.  So, let me paraphrase my mother, who, when I wrap gifts, often says "Don't skimp on the scotch tape!"  Don't skimp on the flour! (Hi, Mom - you're getting lots of shout outs today!  Want me to overnight you some rugelach?)

The apricot rugelach rolled easily enough, as the preserves acted like a glue.  The chocolate ones were a little more delicate, as the ingredients were entirely dry.  Have your baking sheet right next to your work area to minimize spills.

The recipe called for baking the rugelach for 20 minutes at 350, but our oven, for lack of a better word, sucks, so we went a little longer (three minutes or so).  I put them on a wire rack to cool for 15 minutes or so, and then sliced them and let them cool for longer.  The chocolate sliced more easily than the apricot.

We did a quick taste test - both came out yummy, but I think I prefer the chocolate cinnamon.  We'll see what the family thinks tonight!

Blueberry Rhubarb Pie and Vegan Mashed Potatoes

My final two cooking projects for Thanksgiving were dessert and another side, both vegan!

I did an informal poll of my friends on Facebook to see what pie I should make for Thanksgiving.  My friend Matt suggested blueberry rhubarb, and I thought that sounded great.  I found this Cooks.com recipe to serve as my guide.

For the crust, I used the vegan Buttery Double Crust recipe from the November 2011 issue of Yoga Journal, which comes from Isa Chandra Moskowitz and Terry Hope Romero's Vegan Pie in the Sky.  The recipe isn't currently online, but it calls for flour, salt, sugar, vegan margarine, vegan shortening and cider vinegar.  I used Earth Balance buttery sticks and vegetable shortening.  Both of them contain soy, but I'm hoping that the small amount of pie I'll have won't knock me over allergy wise.  I used my food processor to make the dough for the crust, rather than cutting in the "butter" and shortening by hand.  I did cut the "butter" & shortening into small cubes first, and then put those cubes in the freezer for a bit to firm them back up.

For the filling, I essentially followed the recipe above, except I used the converted amount of truvia, rather than sugar.  I used fresh blueberries, but rhubarb is completely out of season, so I used frozen rhubarb from Stahlbush Island Farms.  I've used their frozen rhubarb before and it turns out quite well.  I also omitted the butter dotting on the filling - I was planning to use Earth Balance, but I completely forgot to add it in before I put the crust on top.

As usual, I had issues getting the crust to roll out properly.  I used the pastry board my parents  got me, and put waxed paper over the dough, but it still took me two tries to get it not to stick.  I'm sure someone has a suggestion they would be happy to share with me (hint hint!).  And, as also usual, I had to piece together the bottom and top crusts after the dough broke.  Thus, I refer to this pie as "Franken-Pie," due to the repair job I did on the top.

I did manage to do cut outs on top of the crust.  I have some small leaf cookie cutters that work well for this purpose.  I then used a knife to score the dough pieces to make them more leaf like.  Finally, I brushed the pie with almond milk to help the pie brown.  I used  my pie shield for the first 35 minutes of baking, and then removed it for the final 15 minutes.

Fluffier than they look - they're crammed in this bowl!

For the vegan mashed potatoes, I took 3.7 pounds (yes, a weird number  - that just happens to be what they weighed out to) of red potatoes, quartered them, and boiled them in our giant seven quart pot for 25 minutes.  In the past, when I've made a huge amount of mashed potatoes, I had to use multiple pots, so it was nice to only have to do them in one.  Once the potatoes were done, I used my yoga cultivated upper body strength to drain the potatoes, and then I mashed them with soy-free Earth Balance, plain almond milk and generous shakes of sea salt and freshly ground black pepper.  Mom tasted them and said the almond milk added a touch of sweetness that she liked, and that they weren't as heavy as mashed potatoes made with a ton of dairy products.  I think I may need to re-season them when I reheat them tomorrow, but I'll play it by ear.

So, that's all of my Thanksgiving cooking!  We'll see what the verdict is when our family gets to taste everything tomorrow.  Until then, have a happy and healthy Thanksgiving!!!

Marbled Pumpkin Cheesecake

Before I decided to swear off large amounts of dairy for awhile, I signed up to make a pumpkin cheesecake for the office potluck.  In the future, I may experiment with making some soy-free, dairy-free "cheesecake," but in the sake of making sure I had something I knew was tried and true to feed my co-workers, I went with this AllRecipes marbled pumpkin cheesecake, which I've made a few times to positive reviews.

The crust is made of gingersnaps, pecans and melted butter, and is pre-baked for 10 minutes and cooled prior to filling.  The recipe calls for canned pumpkin - not pumpkin pie mix - so read labels carefully.  The marbling effect is achieved by removing 1 cup of the plain batter before adding the pumpkin, cinnamon and nutmeg.

Vegetarian Rosh Hashanah Part I: Jewish Apple Cake

Wow - it's been awhile since my last blog . . . lots of travel and work stuff, so I haven't been doing a lot of cooking or had time in front of a computer.  However, Rosh Hashanah gives me a welcome return to my kitchen and blogging.

For those of you unfamiliar with the Jewish High Holidays, Rosh Hashanah is the start of the Jewish New Year.  In my family, we attended synagogue and then prepared a festive holiday meal.  This year, we'll be hosting my husband's family and I'll be preparing a fully vegetarian dinner. 

Since I'm making multiple dishes, I started cooking right after I got home from shul.  My family always incorporates apples and honey into Rosh Hashanah dinners, a tradition that dates back to medieval times.  Apples and honey symbolize the hope a sweet new year. 

In addition to serving apples and honey before the festival meal, I also like to serve an apple based dessert.  For the past several years, I've made a scratch apple cake.  I use this AllRecipes.com recipe, which calls for apples, orange juice and vanilla.  The recipe calls for using a tube pan, but I use a bundt pan and it always turns out fine.  The recipe has a cooking window of 75 - 90 minutes, but I find I need the full time, if not more.

Enjoying apple picking at Butler's Orchard

It's made with oil, rather than butter, so if you aren't veg, but keep kosher, you can include it in a meat meal.  However, it does contain eggs.  Vegans, I may eventually attempt it with an egg replacement to make it vegan versus lacto-ovo. 

For the apples, I used three apples from the 20 (yes, 20!) pounds of apples we picked at Butler's Orchard last weekend.  The variety I used is called a Jonathan, which is described as "spicy and fragrant, juicy, sweet-tart."   Look for a more apple experiments in future blogs!

Happy Father's Day! Black Bean Burgers & Peach and Berry Pie

This Father's Day, my parents, my fiance & I headed to my soon to be in-laws for a BBQ.  My favorite vegetarian barbeque recipe is my version of the black bean burgers from Tosca Reno's Eat Clean Diet Cookbook.  My tweaks include using one whole egg instead of two egg whites, kale instead of celery leaves and extra sunflower seeds instead of flax seeds.  I also leave out the curry powder, since I don't usually have that in the house.  The recipe is super easy - dump everything in a food processor, mix well and bake. They reheat exceptionally well in an oven or toaster.  Microwaving them might make them a bit soggy.

For dessert, I made a peach, blueberry and raspberry pie based on a peach & blueberry pie recipe in a cookbook we just refer to as "The Book."  "The Book" never fails to produce hit desserts.  It's actual title is Baking, by Martha Day.  The one catch is that all of the amounts are written in ounces, so you either need a kitchen scale or a desire to do a lot of math.  There are also websites that do conversions for you - just remember that there are different conversions for dry and liquid measures.

One different thing I did with this pie versus the previous pies was to make the crust in our brand spanking new 14-cup Cuisinart food processor.  Previously, I've made pie crust by hand using a pastry blender, as well as in our Kitchen-Aid mixer.  Having sampled multiple versions of my pie experiments, my family said the processor made the best crust, and I'd have to agree.  The blades help the butter incorporate much more evenly into the flour, and the ice water mixes in quite nicely as well.

Fresh fruit pies can be super juicy, so if you do make one from scratch, put a cookie sheet under it to help catch drips and spatters.  You also might consider wrapping the edges in foil or using a pie shield to prevent the edges from burning, especially if your pie takes more than a half an hour to bake.