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- 4 cups all-purpose flour
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1 1/2 teaspoons salt
- 1/2 cup butter
- 1/4 cup all-vegetable shortening (Spectrum)
- 3/4 cup warm milk
- 1 pound ground beef
- 2 Tablespoons olive oil
- 2 onions, chopped (about 2 cups)
- 4 cloves garlic, minced
- 3/4 teaspoon salt
- 1 1/2 teaspoons paprika
- 1 1/2 teaspoons ground cumin
- 1 teaspoon dried oregano
- 3/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
- 3/4 cup water
- 1 Tablespoon arrowroot or cornstarch powder
- 20 medium pitted black olives
- 1/2 cup seedless black raisin, soaked for 5 minutes and drained
- 3 hard-boiled eggs, diced
- In a food processor, put the flour, salt, and baking powder and with a fitted steel blade pulse for 5 seconds.
- Add the shortening and butter and process until the mixture looks like coarse meal, about 15 seconds.
- While the machine is running, pour the milk through the feed tube in a steady stream and process until the dough almost comes together into a ball.
- Remove from bowl and knewad a few times and let rest for 30 minutes. Meanwhile, prepare pino filling.
- Roll dough into a long log and cut dough into 10-12 pieces.
- Heat olive oil in a medium frying pan and saute' onions for 5-7 minutes until transparent.
- Add beef and garlic and cook for 5 more minutes.
- Add seasonings and cook for 3 more minutes.
- Add vegetable broth and simmer until liquid almost evaporates (5 minutes).
- Add arrowroot powder to beef mixture and cook until mixture thickens.
- Take one piece of dough and roll into a 6-inch circle.
- Add 1-1 1/2 Tablespoons of beef filling.
- Add a few raisins and one black olive and a piece of hard-boiled egg.
- Take one side of the dough and bring to the front side of dough to enclose the filling sealing the ends and folding the excess dough and sealing upwards.
- Place on a baking sheet lined with parchment. Repeat with the rest of the dough.
- Use 1 egg and beat well.
- Brush some egg wash over the empanadas.
- Brush over empanadas.
- Bake for 20 minutes and remove from oven and turn each empanada over and baking on the opposite side for 5 minutes.
- This is will brown the tops a little.
Creamy Broccoli and Mushroom Bake
December 13th, 2010
Hello on this snowy day! I love the fact that it is sunny today despite the 5-6 inches of snow. Ryan had a nice 8am final so he had to be out in that mess!
Our weekend was successful busy and full of music. After 2 days of rehearsal with Ryan and the orchestra we proved to be ready to perform 2 back-to-back Christmas programs.
When we headed back home we embraced the snow storm we had heard was coming and arrived home with EVERYTHING covered in snow. It looked like people had not even ventured out of their homes. I do not blame them!
In the next few days I will be focusing on meals I have been preparing in the last 2 weeks. Seeing that I will be traveling soon and not really cooking anything fancy, I feel like that would be the best thing.
As you plan for your holiday meals, I really suggest you try this Creamy Broccoli and Mushroom Bake. When Ryan took a bite he said it reminded him of green rice even though the dish is made with Italian rice, orzo. 🙂 It is amazing how creamy and cheezy this bake almost tastes and it has no dairy!
Eating vegan is not hard it is having to be creative and finding options to warm the tummy. This meal is super easy to prepare and would go perfectly with Christmas dinner.
Amber at Almost Vegan featured the recipe when I ran across it, but I had also seen it in Lauren Ulm’s new cookbook Vegan Yum Yum, which is a pretty fantastic cookbook. It has beautiful pictures and EASY recipes.
Anyway, when I read Amber’s opinion of the combination of ingredients and flavors I knew I had to try it.
I had a bag of colorful orzo from my Farmer’s Market that I had ready to use.
I cut up some broccoli, mushrooms, and onions and garlic and sauteed. If broccoli is not your favorite veggie, try cauliflower or carrots or simply try a different combination.
While the veggies are cooking, the creamy mixture is prepared and then the creamy sauce, orzo, and veggies are mixed together and placed in a 9×9 glass dish.
Breadcrumbs are sprinkled on top along with some paprika and baked for 30 minutes. This is probably the best comfort food I had had in a while! I cannot wait to make it again. You will not be disappointed!
Creamy Broccoli and Mushroom Bake
from Lauren Ulm’s Vegan Yum Yum cookbook
serves 6
For the casserole:
1 cup orzo pasta (dry)
1 large stalk broccoli, stem peeled, stem and florets chopped
1 cup mushrooms (any kind), cleaned
½ medium onion, roughly chopped
2 Tbsp olive oil, divided
¼ cup panko breadcrumbs
¼ tsp paprika (optional)
1/8 tsp sea salt
1/8 tsp black pepper
For the sauce:
1 cup almond or coconut milk, or non-dairy milk
¼ cup nutritional yeast
¼ cup raw cashews, soaked 6 hours ( I did not soak and just used Vitamix)
2 Tbsp arrowroot (or cornstarch)
2 Tbsp Earth Balance margarine
2 Tbsp Coconut Aminos (Bragg Liquid Aminos or soy sauce)
2 Tbsp tahini paste
1 Tbsp lemon juice
2 cloves garlic, peeled
Preheat the oven to 400 degrees and thoroughly grease a 9×9-inch (or similar sized) baking dish. Cook the orzo in boiling water for about 9 minutes, then drain and set aside.
Meanwhile, pulse the broccoli, mushrooms, and onion in a food processor until chopped into small pieces. Heat 1 tablespoon of the olive oil in a large skillet. Add the vegetable mixture and cook, stirring frequently, until softened, about 5-7 minutes. When done, remove from the heat.
While the veggies are cooking, combine all sauce ingredients in a blender and purée until smooth.
Add the drained orzo to the vegetables, then pour on the entire batch of sauce.
Stir thoroughly to combine.
Transfer the mixture to the greased baking dish. Sprinkle the breadcrumbs evenly across the top, then drizzle with the remaining tablespoon of olive oil. Sprinkle with paprika, salt, and pepper as desired.
Cover tightly with foil and bake for 25 minutes, then remove the foil and bake for an additional 5 minutes to brown the top slightly.
Let rest for at least 10 minutes before slicing and serving.
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Chocolate Chip Candy Cane Cookies {Gluten-free}
December 10th, 2010
It is officially cold and snowy and wintery.
Did I say I was excited for winter and snow?
I think I did. And I regret it.
Everytime I step outside, even if I am all bundled up, I still feel the cold wind.
I do not exactly dislike Michigan it is that I thought I was mentally prepared for it. Ha!
I looked at the weather in Texas and realized it is a balmy 75 degrees. Such a change from the 19 degrees here. Yes, I heard you shiver!
Before we packed up for our concert week, I decided to make a new cookie recipe. I had mentioned to some that I had been wanting chocolate peppermint in a cookie form. I wanted them gluten-free too.
I took a chance and started with a base recipe and added ingredients from there.
The end result was a even mix of flavors with a few crunches of candy cane followed by delicious bites of dark chocolate morsels. YUM!
I am definitely liking gluten-free baking. It creates a nice soft cookie and perfect with each bite. This would go great with a cup of hot chocolate or coffee. Enjoy!
Chocolate Chip Candy Cane Cookies {Gluten-free}
print recipe
makes 2 dozen
¾ to 1 cup agave nectar
½ cup Earth Balance margarine, at room temperature
2 flax seed “eggs” ( 2 Tbsp flax seed meal + 6 Tbsp warm water)
1 ½ teaspoons peppermint extract
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
¼ teaspoon salt
2 cups all-purpose gluten-free flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
4 candy canes, semi-grounded in coffee grinder
1 cup dark chocolate chocolate chips
Preheat oven to 375 degrees and line baking sheet with parchment paper.
In a small bowl, mix the flax seed meal and warm water and set aside for 5 minutes.
In a medium bowl add softened Earth Balance and agave nectar and mix well by hand. Add the extracts and the flax seed egg and blend well.
In a separate bowl, mix the flour, baking soda and salt. Mix flour into wet ingredients and blend well until all ingredients have come together.
Add semi-ground candy canes and chocolate chips and mix well.
Add 2 Tbsp of batter onto baking sheet 2 inches apart and bake for 8-10 minutes until golden brown.
Place on a rack to cool for 5 minutes before devouring.
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Persimmon Ginger Smoothie
December 8th, 2010
I said I was not going to make smoothies because of the cold weather.
I lied.
These ripe Hachiya persimmons were calling out to me asking me to use them in another fun way.
Blend me! Puree me! Sqeeze me! —Yes, my fruit calls out to me. 🙂
I am very low on my persimmons and I have to use them before I leave on vacation. Well, I might freeze the freeze the rest for a special occasion.
Fun story. I have a friend who emails me and lets me know that she purchases two beautiful pieces of fruit but is quite unaware of its name and how it is used. She places them on her window sill and looks at them for a few days.
She decides to visit my blog after not having been by for several months, and what does she see? Recipes for persimmons and for her mystery fruit. She now knows how she can use them! I thought it was a wonderful story.
Don’y be afraid to buy a new fruit or vegetable at the store. Someone out there has created something with it already.
This morning, back to the fruit calling me, I combined my very ripe Hachiya persimmons and blended it with coconut milk to make this creamy thick smoothie.
I already have someone who has made it too! Try it soon, try it NOW, make it.
makes two servings or 1 large 12 ounce smoothie
print recipe
2 very ripe Hachiya persimmons, seeded and peel discarded
3/4 cup So Delicious Coconut Milk
1/4 cup water
1/2 cup ice
2 inches of fresh ginger, peeled
1 teaspoon cinnamon, ground
1 Tbsp agave nectar, or to taste
1 Tablespoon flax seed oil (optional)
1 scoop protein powder (optional)
2 cups fresh spinach (option) for a green smoothie
Slowly scoop out persimmon flesh from fruit into a bowl. Using your hands, remove the black seeds from the fruit if you see any. DOES NOT taste good, even with a high-powered blender.
Place fruit in blender and add the rest of the ingredients. Blend well and sip slowly. Very creamy and smooth.
Enjoy!
Please visit my Facebook Discussions Page and add your favorite vegan cookie recipe. I would like to try other people’s favorites.
If not on Facebook, please leave me a link with your fav recipe. Thanks!
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Empanadas al Horno (Chilean Turnovers or Meat Pies)
December 7th, 2010
I should be making soups.
It is a nippy 23-27 degrees cold here. Can you believe I am still getting up at 6am for my morning workouts? Yes, since it has started getting busy in the evenings I need my morning workouts most of all.
You know what I have not been able to do? Green Smoothies have fallen short in my kitchen. I have all the good intention of making them but then I think of something warm going down so I make a regular breakfast. Ryan enjoys oatmeal and I have my protein breakfast with tofu scrambles or omelettes, I just need to make sure to add sauteed veggies.
I notice that one of the hardest things to do during the winter is to eat well. Even though I have produce at home, baking and cooking my normal fare has not been as consistent. I look forward to January where the pace has calmed down a bit.
How are you doing eating healthy during the winter evenings?
Last night I spent making pumpkin sauce / butter from leftover pumpkins so that I could give them as Christmas gifts. Yes, how much more time do I have? Not much. I knew for a fact that baking cookies this year was going to be out of the question but I at least wanted to get something done.
It was wonderful smelling the blend of pumpkin with brown sugar, cinnamon, cloves, oranges, and more wafting through the house. I went to bed happy. In fact I think the smell lulled me to sleep. 🙂
One of my favorite meals I used to eat at my Chilean grandmother’s home were Empanadas, or otherwise known as savory meat pies. These were such a special meal served and was usually prepared during the holidays or for special occasions. This is similar to the Mexican tradition when dealing with tamales.
Empanadas are usually the ideal comfort food. It is a flaky buttery crust with a savory and delicious filling. It is ideal Latin comfort food.
The key to the flavors for this Chilean empanadas is the pino, which is a seasoned filling with added fillings like raisins, hard-boiled eggs and black olives. What an interesting combination but SO delicious!
Another important factor is the dough. The dough has to be flaky, becasue with each bite you have a perfectly baked crust with some seasoned beef and raisins and black olives. Obviously I was going to have to leave out the hard-boiled eggs, but I knew that the lack of the eggs would not alter the flavors of the empanadas.
Ryan thought the flake crust was perfect and the filling flavorful. The recipe is a keeper and it will be something I will pass onto our future kids.
What recipes were made often by your mother or grandmother but NEVER taught to you? Have you recreated it?
adapted from The South American Table
Ingredients
Instructions
Eat slightly warm and serve with Pebre or my grandma’s secret chimichurri sauce. Enjoy!!
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Persimmon Ginger Crumb Coffee Cake
December 6th, 2010
I am so sad to see this weekend fly away so fast! Luckily I finished more than half our Christmas cards and placed thm in the mail! When I started looking at our calandar I realized that I barely have much time before I head to Texas to visit my family.
The next 10 days are filled with recitals and concerts for the holiday season. This not only means being busy but it also means being away from home too! I took advantage of cooking so nice warm meals this weekend knowing that leftovers were probably going to be the best thing for our busy schedules.
What about workouts? Well, I went to Zumba on Saturday despite the fact that my favorite instructor was going to be gone. I am sorry but once I get used to an instructor it is hard to have others teach you especially if they are not better than your own instructor. It seems like everyone is wanting to become a Zumba instructor but that means instructors having previously taught aerobics or other technique THINK that this is what Zumba is about.
I need to vent folks. If someone does not know how to move their hips or what a specific dance is, DON”T pretend to KNOW it. You look silly. I was embarassed for the last instructor only because Zumba was being taught like it was NOT Zumba. So there. This is the end of my venting. Looks like I am going to have to get my dose of REAL Zumba while I am in Houston.
This past weekend I worked on a fantastic recipe. I recently partnered with Specialty Produce which is a company that supplies fresh produce. The lovely folks sent me some wonderful produce to try out and to create recipes. How fun is that? I received some great apples I have not tasted before and some kaffir limes. I immediately decided to use my persimmons because I have been on that kick.
Specialty Produce has added my Tropical Persimmon Muffins to their persimmon page of info and it is wonderful to see people coming to visit your site when a certain fruit is in-season. People left and right are trying to figure out what to do with these beauties. Before this year, I hardly knew what to do with them.
Tomorrow I will feature a Persimmon Smoothie, so stay tuned!
On Friday evening I set my heart on making a crumb coffeecake. I checked out different recipes online and made sure mine was unique especially since it had to be vegan.
I decided to combine candied ginger with Fuyu persimmons, so I chopped these items up and cooked them in some Earth Balance and added some lemon and orange juice along with some spices.
Now I know that normally one would use all-purpose flour for a crumb coffeecake but I wanted mine to be healthy so I used whole wheat / white flour. I was happy that I did because the flavors were perfect.
This Persimmon Ginger Crumb Coffeecake is very moist and wonderful. I gave most of it away to folks at the gym or to friends from church and the feedback was wonderful. They all agreed that while the cake was moist, that it was a very delicious and unique cake. Score!
Persimmon Ginger Crumb Coffee Cake
veganized and adapted from Emeril Lagasse’s recipe
print recipe
12-14 servings (using a 9×13 pan)
Buttermilk
1 1/2 cups So Delicious coconut milk
3 teaspoons apple cider vinegar
Butter / sugar mixture
1 cup coconut crystals, maple sugar, date sugar, or agave nectar
1/2 cup maple syrup
1 stick (1/2 cup) Earth Balance, softened
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
3 flax eggs (3 Tbsp flaxseed meal + 9 Tbsp warm water) (set aside for 5 minutes)
Dry ingredients
3 1/2 cups whole wheat / white flour (I use Bob’s Red Mill)
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon ginger powder
1 teaspoon cinnamon, ground
Wet ingredients
3 cups Fuyu persimmons (about 6) peeled and chopped in 1/2 inch cubes
1/4 cup candied ginger, minced and chopped
2 Tablespoons Earth Balance
2 Tablespoons lemon juice
2 Tablespoons orange juice
1/2 teaspoon dried orange peel
1/8 teaspoon nutmeg, ground
1/4 cup maple syrup
Crumble
1/2 cup whole wheat / white flour
1/2 stick (1/4 cup) Earth Balance, cut in 1/2 inch pieces
1/4 cup candied ginger, minced and chopped
1 cup walnuts, chopped
1/4 teaspoon ginger powder
1/2 cup brown sugar (or coconut crystals or maple sugar)
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Grease a 13 by 9 by 2-inch rectangle pan. 
In a medium-size saucepan, melt 2 tablespoons of the butter on medium heat. Add all the wet ingredients to the pan. Saute’ the mixture for 5 minutes, or until softened. Remove from the heat and let cool completely.
In a large mixing bowl, cream the 1 stick of Earth Balance, the coconut sugar, and maple syrup with an electric mixer. (from the butter / sugar mixture). Add the vanilla extract. Add the flax eggs and beat well.
Into a medium-size mixing bowl, sift all the dry ingredients. Add the flour mixture, buttermilk, and vanilla to the butter mixture and beat with the electric mixer until everything is incorporated.
Crumble
In another medium-size mixing bowl, combine the crumble ingredients (except the minced ginger and walnuts) and using a pastry cutter process until it resemble wet sand. You can also use the food processor too. Add the minced ginger and walnuts and mix well)
Assembly
Spread half of the batter in the prepared pan. Spread the persimmon mixture over the batter. 
Drop heaping spoonfuls of the remaining batter over the persimmon mixture, about 1-inch apart. Sprinkle the crumb mixture evenly over the surface. Put the cake pan on a baking sheet and bake until golden brown, about 35 minutes. Remove from the oven and let cool slightly. 
Cut into slices and serve warm. Great at room temperature too!
