Savory Sweet Potato Corncakes with Maple Cream

Hello. My name is Meredith and I love Brunch.

Sweet potatoes have been done 800 ways (and I am a sucker for every damn one of them). But this also means that every dude on the internet, from Martha Stewart to that Guy who wears his sunglasses upside down, has a recipe for sweet potato latkes. Or something similar.

But they all contain egg. Which is not cool with me. So here's a little something for you eggless types. I like a good savory brunch, and these sweet potato corncakes pair well with a sweet cream or syrup. These are hard to screw up and are easily crafted with a hangover (or a mimosa in hand).

Here's what you'll need (serves 3-4):

2 sweet potatoes (some certain size, peeled and grated)
1 shallot, peeled chopped

2 T all-purpose flour
1 T cornstarch
1 tsp cayenne pepper
1 tsp thyme
1/2 tsp black pepper

1/4 C vegetable oil
2 T almond milk
1 T ground flax meal

olive oil for frying

In a large bowl, combine grated sweet potatoes with those chopped shallots. In a seperate, smaller bowl, whisk to combine your dry ingredients: the flour, cornstarch and spices. Add to the sweet potato mix. Use that same smaller bowl to whisk together your flax/oil/milk mixture, then add that to the large bowl.

Mix all ingredients until well combined. Your mixture should feel sort of sticky but able to be managebly spooned into cohesive lumps. This sentence made me LOL you guys.

Anyways, if things don't feel too right, you may add more flour if your mix is too wet, or more oil if it is too dry.

Heat a non-stick skillet with olive oil on medium-high. Be sure to not let the oil smoke, or else you're screwed and you need to start all over from the beginning (jk guyz). Spoon potato lumps onto the well-heated skillet 2 or 3 at a time. I always like to do the first one all on its lonesome, to test out the heat of the oil. Once that one is finished, you usually can know if your pan is either too hot or not hot enough.

Fry on one side for  2-3 minutes -but if you let yourself get *too* distracted mixing pre-brunch cocktails or checking Instagram, that's ok. Not all is lost. Flip those guys over, smush them flat, and fry another few minutes. Check the side to make sure it's a nice golden brown before setting on a paper towel to drain the oil/dry.

The maple cream I like to serve with these dudes is super easy (read: totally predictable). Just mix the following in a shallow bowl:

1/4 C vegan sour cream
1 T v. cream cheese
1 T pure maple syrup
1/2 tsp brown sugar

I like to drizzle this on top, but according to the Internet, it's more traditional to spoon some sort of sour cream on whatever sort of latkes you end up with.

Smoky Midnight Mac

I know the title of this entry may feel misleading, but this post will in no way involve any scandalous stories about strip clubs or biker bars. At least none that I have planned.

Y'all I gotta say that I LOVE mac 'n' cheese. Macncheese? Man and cheese. Mac n' cheese? Mac n cheese. There are too many terrible ways to spell that and none of them look right. Point is, I love mac n cheese. I used to make the blue box on the daily when I was living at home. I remember having to write an instructional how-to essay for Mrs. Horne in 7th grade, and I of course neglected this elementary assignment on the grounds that I had more important things to do, like jump on the trampoline or read Harry Potter. So the next day in homeroom I whipped out this excellent essay on how to make mac n cheese - FROM MEMORY. Prophetic?

Actually. Considering how often I throw together (hopefully accurate) recipes for my blog from memory, I'd say that particular memory is creepily prophetic.

God I love mac n cheese. Ok let's get started with this one, because it's lovely and simple and delicious, Here's what you'll need (serves 2):

a normal amount of pasta

2 veggie dogs, sliced lengthwise

1.5 Cup chopped kale

1 Tbl olive oil

1 Tbl smoked paprika

1 tsp chili powder

1 tsp black pepper

1 tsp sea salt

2 tsp turmeric

1/2 Cup nutritional yeast flakes

1 Cup soy creamer

1/2 Cup almond milk

Begin with preparing your pasta, because your sauce will be done by the time it's finished. 

In a small skillet, toss your sliced veggie dogs in olive oil in medium-high heat until a little crispy. Set aside.

In a sauce pot, heat the olive oil over medium for a half a minute, then toss in your kale. Saute on medium for about 2-3 minutes, or until totally wilted. Add the paprika, chili powder, salt and pepper, turmeric and nutritional yeast and stir until incorporated. Slowly add the creamer, then top off with some almond milk. Whisk until fully mixed. Chop your crispy veggie dogs and toss these into the mix. Toss with pasta and BOOM.

Sausage Egg and Cheese McMuffins and ALSO VEGAN MOFO KICKOFF

Ladies, it's here. The month I always look forward to each year, in my long and storied history of veganism.

Which is nearing two years by the way, so I will now confess to you that only last year I discovered VeganMofo's existence, and THIS year I decided to participate. I figured blogging every day for a month wouldn't be too difficult but clearly I have already blown it by failing to post on the very first day. #theveryfirstday

So getting off to a great start. What is Vegan Mofo, you may ask? Is the the scary-looking, pleather-jacket-wearing biker dude with face tattoos at your neighborhood bar who will slash your tires for eating fried chicken? The name of Isa Chandra's pet bulldog? The newest vegan video game where you ninja-style destroy the owners of confined animal feeding operations and set free herds of cattle into the streets of southside Chicago?

Sorry, those are all good guesses, internet, but Vegan Mofo is the month of the year when we all come together as a vegan blogging community and celebrate our commitment to the lifestyle, our good jokes, our recipes and stories, our collective sass and our individual struggles. Like WHAT IN HELL in an OPML file?

Check out more at VeganMofo.com, where you can get a complete list of all the participating blogs and stare at cool vegetable cartoons and get altogether lost in a world of vegan internetness.

SO let me "start off" by apologizing for the run-on nature of this post. I haven't even started the real recipe yet but I've already started to notice. I attribute this completely to my recent massive intake of John Green videos. He's the sort of person whose vlog style is all about talking and talking and talking and occasionally switching viewpoints but never speeds, really, which I find incredibly endearing and thus I have subconsciously taken up certain mannerisms of his. As you can see.

In a related note, if you aren't familiar with the Vlog Brothers, here's a thing that could possibly change your world.

Speaking of changing your world, on to the McMuffin.

At first I thought that I wouldn't really call this a "recipe post" so much as a "post where there's a pretty picture and I show you how to make a sandwich." But then I decided that the eggish tofu was a big win for me, and let's face it not everyone "knows" how to "make a sandwich."

Also it's worth noting that I enjoyed this sandwich so much that I stole my brunch companion's half-finished sandwich when he was in the bathroom and finished it in 20 seconds.

Here's the stuff to get for this fantastic hangover companion:

English muffins (ALERT. I know we're all adults and we are pretty good at checking labels and reading ingredients, but be aware that English muffins are rarely vegan. It's strange, I know, but most contain whey at the very least.)
a tomato, sliced
cheese  (I used Daiya havarti-style wedge, sliced. Literally yum.)
1/4 block extra firm, pressed tofu
1/4 Cup soy creamer
1/4 Cup nutritional yeast flakes
1 tsp turmeric
salt and pepper to taste
1/2 pack of sausage (I used gimme lean)
2 Tbl pure maple syrup
1 tsp red pepper flakes

See how easy that list is? Nothing scary and foreign, just mostly some good old grocery store corporate vegan food. :)

The assembly is fairly straightforward, right? You've got your cheese. You've got your tomato. The tofu is supposed to be the quote "egg" part and the maple sausage part is, well, the sausage part. Let's talk about the tofu.

First, slice your tofu pretty thin. Next, in a small bowl, whisk together the creamer, nutritional yeast and turmeric. Salt and pepper to taste. Prepare a small skillet with a dabble of vegetable oil, and heat on medium high. Dip your tofu slices in the creamy nooch mixture, then fry on medium high until golden brownish on each side. Voila egg life.

The sausage is easy too. Using your fingers, mash together the maple syrup and pepper flakes with the sausage. Pat these into patties and pan fry like you're supposed to. Like.. medium? In a skillet?

There you have it. Now crack open a PBR and let's get this crazy party month started!!

Philly Cheesesteak Rollups

Sometimes you just want comfort food and you don't want to spend an hour making it. These cheesy, meaty, mushroom yrolls are super delicious, take 20 minutes and totally fill that "I'm slightly hungover and have been doing yard work all morning and all I need is something greasy and filling to pair with this hair-of-the-dog" craving. We all feel it. Don't lie.

Like, have you ever wanted to make taquitos, but needed something a little more... thick? And also you were out of tortillas? Me too, sister. Grab this stuff! It's easy! [Serves 2]

(Also might now be a good time to mention that these taste AWESOME)

7 or 8 slices of bread (it doesn't matter what kind... I used whole wheat?)

a little bit of olive oil for grilling

one package of Daiya mozzarella style cheese

half a pound of store-bought seitan, sliced

5 white mushrooms, diced

1/4 green bell pepper, minced

1 Tbl Braggs liquid aminos 

First, prepare the bread. Cut the crust off the slices (you can save these for croutons!) Using a rolling pin or a relatively flat glass, roll out the bread until they are as thin and flat as you can make them. Set these aside.

In a small pan, heat one tablespoon of olive oil on medium low heat. After about one minute, increase the heat to medium-high and toss in the peppers. Stir for about one minute, then add the mushrooms. Cook for about 2 more minutes, stirring frequently. Remove from heat and place in a bowl to cool.

Return that same pan to heat and add the Braggs liquid aminos. Swirl it around the pan a time or two and add the sliced seitan. Stir fry on medium-high heat for about 2 or 3 minutes. (This might be a good time to prepare the dipping sauce. See below for the recipe!)

Once the seitan is finished, remove from heat and set aside. Now it's time to assemble!

First, grab a big pan and heat some olive oil (enough to coat the pan) over medium heat. One by one, lay out the slices of flattened bread. Spread mozzarella cheese across the slice. Carefully pile the mushroom and pepper mix near the back of the bread. Lay two or three seitan slices across the mushrooms and peppers. Delicately roll the bread up, making sure all the good stuff stays in. This can be tricky, but remember - you are an artist.

Once you roll one up, place it fold-down on the heated pan. Grill for a couple minutes, then flip over and finish the other side. You'll know when they are finished if you've ever been to Taco Bell.

Here's the recipe for the sauce (www.thebomb.com)

1/3 Cup non-dairy sour cream

2 Tbl chili garlic sauce

1 Tbl hot sauce

garnish with black pepper

Hell yeah!

Childhood Nostalgia Stuffed Crust Pizza with Mac & Cheese, Fried Pickles and Ranch Drizzle

WOAH IT'S VEGAN PIZZA DAY MY FAVORITE HOLIDAY.

To celebrate, I literally ate nothing but vegan pizza today. No lie - after work, I went to Mellow Mushroom for lunch (one of the very few vegan friendly spots in Bowling Green) and ordered a small pizza with tempeh, Daiya, kalamata olives and mushrooms. Bomb! Thank you Mellow Mushroom for allowing me to eat vegan pizza ALL DAY.

AND THEN for dinner I prepared the following pit-zuh in celebration of this beautiful, meaningful holiday. If I may, I'd like for you to read this post with your eyes and also with your heart - to get our country back to its roots and to recognize the TRUE meaning of Vegan Pizza Day. It's not about buying the most expensive gift or decorating your house with the biggest light show on the block or throwing the biggest holiday party with A-list guests. It's about... well... GOD BLESS AMERICA.

This pizza is all about nostalgia. It ties together a few of my absolute favorite things from childhood (and let's be real - I can devour these dishes in no time as an adult as well) - macaroni and cheese, fried pickles, ranch, and STUFFED CRUST.

As we all know, by now, homemade pizza dough is a labor of love. I have nothing significant to add to Isa Chandra's dough recipe so I will let you find that on your own. Spoiler alert! - the thesis of dough recipes is usually this - dough making/stretching/mixing is an art. It's simple enough - mix some yeast and sugar and water with some flour, cover it in oil, let it rest, stretch it out, kneed it out, let it rest some more, kneed it some more. But it is all about the feeling. Any seasoned pro (i.e. someone who has made dough more than once) can tell you - it's about your technique.

While your dough is resting (as there is plenty of this involved - believe me), first prepare your fried pickles. The biggest challenge in making these is abstaining from eating each one as you pull them out of the fryer. For one, this will burn you. Also, you won't have any fried pickles left to top your pizza. How embarrassing!!!! 

For this you will need:

However many pickles you want to fry - I use the hamburger dill kind 

1 1/2 Cup all purpose flour

2 Tbl cornstarch

1 tsp black pepper

1 tsp egg replacer powder

1 tsp paprika

1 Cup almond milk (or your preferred non-dairy milk of choice)

Whisk together all the dry ingredients in a small bowl. Pour the almond milk in another small bowl.

Fill a heavy cast iron skillet or other high-heat pan with vegetable oil about halfway, or about 2 inches below the top of the pan. Heat the oil on medium-high heat and wait a bit.

To prepare the pickles, simply dip them in the milk, then the flour mixture and set aside. As a general frying rule of thumb, always toss in a small piece of batter as a test before frying your main dish. If the small bit begins frying immediately, then your oil is hot enough. If not, wait a little longer.

Fry your pickles in small batches of four or five to avoid them clumping together. Remove with a fork or other slotted utensil and place on a paper towel to dry. These can sit and relax until you are ready for your pizza. If, of course, you resist temptation. Again, let me emphasize that this is THE most difficult part of assembling the nostalgia pizza.

Oh look at that - you still have some resting time for your dough?????!! How shall we pass the time? Watch a few Friends episodes? Read a Billy Collins poem? Walk to your corner bar for a pint of the good stuff? Consider overpopulation? Or perhaps we could, oh I don't know, make some MAC N CHEESE.

Now the easy option here would be to purchase some store bought mac n cheese. This will work in a pinch, of course. When I am feeling lazy/hungover/crampy I indulge in Amy's gluten free mac n cheeze, which beats any store bought product I've personally encountered. The problem with using store bought mac and cheese with this pizza, though, is that you have little to no control over the amount of sauce, which will become crucial in the baking stage.

SO, put on your big girl panties because it doesn't take THAT much effort to prepare your own sauce. Plus it's VEGAN PIZZA DAY so like I said earlier, don't lose sight of the Reason for the Season.

Here's what you'll need:

macaroni elbows
4 Cups vegetable broth
2 Tbl lemon juice
1 Tbl Earth Balance
2 Tbl olive oil
1/2 Cup flour
1 tsp salt
1 tsp garlic powder
2 tsp black pepper
a couple pinches of dried thyme, crumbled in your fingers
1 tsp turmeric
1 1/2 -2 Cups nutritional yeast
1 Tbl yellow mustard

Prepare the mararoni according to the directions on the package if you're a dummy or if you're not a dummy prepare the macaroni according to how normal humans prepare pasta. There's no crucial time frame for this so you can cook your pasta while gathering sauce ingredients, or mixing a cooking cocktail or finding the perfect Pandora station to cook to. When it's done, drain and set aside.

In a medium saucepan, heat your veggie stock over medium heat until it comes to an easy boil. Add the lemon juice, olive oil and Earth Balance and reduce to medium-low heat. Gently stir in the flour, salt, garlic powder, pepper, thyme and turmeric and cook for a 2 minutes, stirring frequently. Now add the nutritional yeast about a half cup at a time, stirring constantly to incorporate.

At this point, the sauce may bubble up on you. Watch out! Cover your face! Wear safety goggles! Or some hip Ray Bans or something.

Either way, once your nooch is all in, reduce the sauce to low heat and stir in the mustard - the crown jewel of any American dish. Stir a few more minutes until your heart is satisfied and remove from heat.

Set aside 1 cup of the sauce. Stir the rest in with your macaroni elbows and marvel at the beauty of humanity. If your mac and cheese is a little saucy - don't panic. This will be helpful to you in the end due to the wizardly habits of ovens and their tendency to dry things out.

Now is it time to assemble the pizza??? Yes. It is that time now. First! Heat your oven mega hot. (I do mine at 500. 475 or 450 is also acceptable.)

Let's prepare the crust. Toss your dough and make it work for you (I suggest turning on some Ru Paul for this piece). To make a stuffed crust, it works exactly as you think it will - stretch it out a little past the pan to have a little excess for rolling over. Line the edges with mozzorella Daiya cheese and fold the excess dough over.

Now, take that one cup of cheese sauce and spread it evenly over your pizza. Next, pile on the mac and cheese. Top with fried pickles. Brush the crust with melted Earth Balance and stick that guy in the oven for 18-20 minutes, checking back occasionally via the oven light but NOT via opening the door and gazing at your creation like a dumbass letting all the heat out for 20 seconds.

While your pizza is baking, prepare the easy peasy ranch sauce. Vegan ranch is no secret, nor is it too difficult to assemble. Here's a recipe I found on about.com that seems to work well for me:

1 Cup veganaise
1/4 Cup soymilk
1 tsp garlic powder
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp onion powder
1/4 tsp black pepper
2 tsp parsley
1 tsp apple cider vinegar
1/4 tsp dried dill

Whisk all ingredients together and THE END. I like the store mine in a squirt bottle for easy garnishing. It keeps about a week or two if you're brave. #upthepunx

When your pizza is done, remove from the oven, let cool, drizzle with ranch and enjoy with a PBR to celebrate your adulthood and remember this magical holiday that only comes once a year.

Just a Reminder That We are Allowed to Eat Whatever We Want

Just because you are vegan doesn't mean you can't miss out on Cheesy Kale Hot Dog Sammich Time.

Just a reminder. And a poem (that's not really a poem at all but actually just an excerpt from "Pilgrim at Tinker Creek" by the beautiful Annie Dillard) to commemorate.

Thomas Merton wrote, "there is always temptation to diddle around in the contemplative life, making itsy-bitsy statues." There is always an enormous temptation in all of life to diddle around by making itsy-bitsy friends and meals and journeys for years on end. It is all so self-conscious, so apparently moral, to step aside from the gaps where the creeks and the winds pour down, saying, I never merited this grace, quite rightly, and then to sulk along the rest of your days on the edge of rage.

I won't have it. The world is wilder than that in all directions, more dangerous and bitter, more extravagant and bright. We are making hay when we should be making whoopee; we are raising tomatoes when we should be raising Cain, or Lazarus.

...served with sweet and spicy brown mustard. Duh :)

Pumpkin Seed Corn Fritters with Mushroom Gravy

"It's kind of like biscuits and gravy?"

I like this brunch alternative to biscuits and gravy because it's teeny bit more nutritional than the traditional biscuit and also because MUSHROOMS. <3

Also they are pretty easy. People have doubts, naturally, about vegan gravy but I say it is a) delicious and b) simple. I happened to have some seasoned vegetable oil leftover from making fried sweet potato fritters, so that works perfect if you have some sitting around. If not, just use regular vegetable oil.

Here's how the gravy goes down (make this first):

1 Cup chopped mushrooms
1/2 Tbl soy sauce
2 Cups almond milk (or your preferred nondairy milk)
1/2 Cup all-purpose flour (plus more to taste)
1 tsp ground thyme
1 1/2 Tbl black pepper
1 Tbl salt
1 tsp cayenne pepper
1 Tbl seasoned vegetable oil

Heat the soy sauce in a medium saucepan over medium heat for about one minute. Then toss in the mushrooms, along with the thyme, pepper, salt and cayenne and satueé for 2 minutes, stirring constantly. Add the vegetable oil and sauteé for another 3 minutes.

Next, add the almond milk and give it a good stir. Gradually add the flour, roughly 1 tablespoon at a time, and it will slowly thicken. Continue to add as needed until you reach desired consistency.

Meanwhile (or shortly thereafter), prepare your corn cakes. I've been doing a lot of corn cakes lately so if you haven't caught on yet, here's the recipe for the pumpkin seed version:

1 cup cornmeal
1/2 cup flour1 tsp baking powder1/2 tsp salt1 cup chopped pumpkin seeds1/2 tsp black pepper1/2 Tbl white sugar
1 Tbl apple cider vinegar1/4 Cup almond milk or soy milk1 Tbl canola oil


In a cast iron skillet, heat the pumpkin seeds on medium heat for about 3 minutes, stirring constantly. This will give them a good toasting. Remove from heat and set aside.

In a medium mixing bowl, whisk together your flour, cornmeal, baking powder, salt, pumpkin seeds, pepper and sugar. In a separate bowl, curdle the almond milk with the apple cider vinegar and let sit for about one minute. Then add the milk/AC vinegar mixture to the dry mix, along with the canola oil. Mix until thoroughly combined.

Spoon drops of the batter into a heated cast iron skillet with about 1/4" canola oil in it. Fry these on medium heat, flipping every couple minutes, until a nice toasty brown.

The great thing about gravy is that it can always be reheated on the stove, stirred and served up warm. So if your timing isn't perfect, heat that stuff up, give it a good stir and call it a day. Serve the fritters warm with gravy poured on top.

Serve with beer on the porch. 

Cauliflower Mushroom Pasta with Roasted Brussels Sprouts

I have been mega into Brussels sprouts lately, which is a novel thing for me because I have never been able to claim being "really into" Brussels sprouts before. But they are super simple and SO CUTE! Right?

This pasta hit the spot for a carb-loading long run day for me. It was the product of me needing to get rid of some cauliflower (which is a GREAT problem to have - cauliflower is so versatile and fabulous!), but it turned out great so I think I'll keep it around.

For starters, here's a short tutorial on roasting Brussels sprouts. I guess everyone does it differently, but here's how I prepared them for this dish (and also, how I normally prepare them unless I'm really trying to avoid oil and fat but WHY would I ever do that????).

First, preheat your oven to 400, and go ahead and stick a cast iron skillet in there to warm up with your oven. It's always best to heat your skillet with your oven when roasting, to better balance your temperature dynamics. Next, slice your sweet little sprouts in half, lengthwise, so you can see all those crazy layers that just look so darling and aesthetically satisfying. Once your oven is heated, lay those sprouts face down in your skillet, along with a teeny bit of olive oil -- just enough to coat the bottom of the pan.

Let these roast for 20 minutes, then remove them from the oven -- MAKE SURE to use an oven mitt, even if someone comes into the kitchen and distracts you with lovely conversation of poetry and beer and good things. Even if this person is good looking, they will not change the fact that this pan is HOT, and you will have a burn mark on your palm for weeks at least. Be careful.

So remove the pan and drop a dollop of Earth Balance onto the side of the pan. It will melt and run around the base of the pan, and make your sprouts hella good. Then season with salt and pepper, and return to the oven for another 20 minutes.

So let's get to the sauce. This sauce is hella easy and relatively simple. Here's what you'll need:

1 cup chopped mushrooms
1/2 cup chopped cauliflower
1 T coconut oil
2 T Braggs
1 tsp cayenne pepper
1 tsp salt
1 tsp pepper
1/4 tsp cumin

So throw those mushrooms and cauliflowerz into a hot skillet, and cook with the coconut oil over medium for about 5 minutes, stirring occasionally. Then add the Braggs and spices and cook another 2 minutes. Remove from heat and let cool.

Once your shrooms and etc aren't so steamy, throw it all into a food processor and puree until creamy. Return to a pot for a quick heat-up once you have pasta ready. By this time, your sprouts should be nice and toasty and VOILA, you have an awesome post-workout [or mid-hangover] lunch!