Vegan Nutty Cinnamon Coffee Cake Rolls withOUT Nuts!

My oldest child could survive on carbs alone, bread, tortillas, rolls, breadsticks, pizza, pasta, pancakes, waffles if it's a simple carb he LOVES it.  His FAVORITE of all though is cinnamon rolls.  I don't often make them though because I'm not a fabulous yeast baker and we are all about the instant gratification here... waiting HOURS for something to rise before you can dig in doesn't really appeal to us.  Also for us the BEST cinnamon rolls are ones with little bits of candied pecans or walnuts strewn within, but the middle man here (my 7 year old) is allergic to both of those nuts so no nutty rolls for us.  Until now!  How can a creative mama come up with a way to make something crunchy and nutty without actually having nuts in it?  Say hello to Grape Nuts!  Yes, you know that gravely cereal that we buy but never actually eat... yep... I'm talking to YOU lol Now just a little disclaimer here, there is some debate about the source of the vitamins B and D in Grape Nuts and whether they are vegan or not.  For me since I already had a HUGE unopened box of the stuff in the pantry it wasn't a deal breaker, I already had them and I was SUPER excited to have a nutty crunchy roll that my son with allergies could enjoy.  You can even make them into "candied nuts" if you were so inclined!  Now after this massive box in my pantry is gone and if I ever decide to purchase another box I will do more digging into the source of the vitamins and see if there is a more natural option to traditional Grape Nuts.  If anyone out there knows of an natural healthy version of Grape Nuts please pass on the info!!

This recipe is adapted from the fabulous Kathy over at The Lunch Box Bunch head on over there to check out her original recipe! I was so excited to see that these had no yeast and as such no rise time!

For the dough you will need:
 4 cups unbleached flour 
1 Tbsp baking powder
3 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
8 tbsp melted earth balance
1 cup almond milk
1/3 cup orange juice (you can use lemon instead and sub lemon in the glaze for lemony rolls!)
1 tsp vanilla extract
flour for kneading

For the filling you will need:
1 cup brown sugar
3 Tbsp melted earth balance
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1 1/2 cups Grape Nuts cereal

For the topping you will need:
2-3 Tbsp Grape Nuts cereal
2-3 Tbsp melted earth balance
3 Tbsp brown sugar
1 tsp pure maple syrup

For the glaze you will need:
2 TBSP melted earth balance
1/2 tsp vanilla
1 1/2 - 2 cups powdered sugar
3 to 4 Tbsp orange juice
finely grated zest of 1 orange

Preheat your oven to 375

In a med bowl mix all the ingredients for the filling EXCEPT THE MELTED BUTTER, use your hands to really get it all incorporated. Set aside

In a small bowl do the same with the ingredients for the topping. Set aside

In a large bowl combine all the dry ingredients for the dough and then add in the wet.  The dough should not be sticky and should come together in a nice ball.  Add a drop or two more milk or flour as needed to get it just right.

On a floured surface roll out the dough into a 1 in thick rectangle.  

Brush the melted butter from the topping on to the rectangle of dough and then cover with the filling, spread it all out evenly.

Roll the dough on the short end into a tight log and then slice into 8 even pieces.

Place into a greased baking dish.

Add the topping.

Bake at 375 for 30 mins

While they are baking whip up your glaze.  The original recipe is for a thick yummy looking cream cheese frosting but I didn't have any cream cheese on hand :( so I made this glaze instead.  It was very yummy!  Keep in mind mine makes more of a runny glaze vs an actual frosting.

When the rolls come out let them cool for a few minutes and then pour the glaze over the top.  










 

Mc Mama's Vegan Breakfast Sammies!

Time to share my favorite yummy breakfast sammies!!  


Making these for my husband helped him kick his Mcdonalds breakfast mcmuffin addiction.  This is the typical artery clogging breakfast he would have from McDonalds several times a week:  http://www.mcdonalds.com/us/en/food/full_menu/breakfast/sausage_mcMuffin_egg.html  These sammies require some prep work, so I usually make them in batches that last about a week so that everything is in the fridge and ready to go.  Once it's all prepped and marinated it's so easy to whip them up!

Step One: Making the egg substitute.

You need:

• 1 block of extra firm tofu.  Frozen, thawed and then pressed or squeezed until all the water is out. 
• Apple cider vinegar (about a cup)
• Nutritional yeast (about a cup)
• Dijon mustard (about 3-4 tablespoons)
• Tumeric (about a tablespoon)
• and about 1 teaspoon each garlic powder, onion powder, sea salt and pepper

In a resealable container mix apple cider vinegar, yeast and mustard.  Play around with the measurements until you have something that resembles mayo in texture and consistency.  Add the other spices and mix well.



Slice the tofu into about 1/4-1/2 slabs and dip in mixture to coat them really well and then line them up in the container cover and refrigerate overnight.



Step Two:  Making the "bacon"
I use the recipe from Vegan with a Vengeance for fakin' bac'n.  I don't always have what I need on hand so I just go with what I have. This time around I didn't have tomato paste so I just skipped it and I was out of fresh garlic so I just put in a dash of garlic salt instead.



You will need:

• 3 tablespoons braggs, or tamari, or soy sauce
• 1/3 cup apple cider
• 1 teaspoon tomato paste
• 1/4 teaspoon liquid smoke
• 1 8 oz package tempeh
• 2 cloves of crushed garlic
• 2 tablespoons peanut or vegetable oil

Slice the tempeh into thin strips.  Mix all the remaining ingredients in a resealable container and add tempeh.  Cover and let marinate at least an hour or two overnight is best.



The tofu and the tempeh will keep for about 5-6 days in the fridge.


Step 3:  Cooking and assembly

You need a few more ingredients for the final product:

• English muffins or sourdough bread
• Veganaise
• Tomato slices
• Avocado slices
• Soy cheese slice (I was out of cheese today so mine are sans cheese)
• Olive oil for cooking

Heat some olive oil in a large skillet and then brown your tofu slabs and bac'n until they are nice and crispy on both sides (about 3-5 mins per side).


While they are cooking slice your veggies, and spread a thin layer of mayo on your bread of choice.

After the tofu and bac'n are done remove from pan and set aside, I like to brown the bread in the oil and if you assemble the sammie and try to do it then you will have a mess on your hands when you try to flip it :)  So I learned to brown the two sides of the bread BEFORE assembly, I guess you could toast them in a toaster but doing it this way you get a kind of deli grilled sammie feel.

Ok so bread toasted, start stacking it on

 
and the last step is: TO DIG IN AND ENJOY!!

Tofu Scramble for Miniature Vegans aka a Tofu Scramble Your Kids Will Actually Eat

Ahhh tofu scramble... nothing screams breakfast more to me these days than a delish tofu scramble served with breakfast potatoes and a slice of toast.  However, my kids and I have VERY different ideas about what is delish... see to me this:


is a FABULOUS tofu scramble, but to my kids it is reason to run away from the table screaming.  "Ahhhh mom... what are all those bits!?"  "What are the yellow ones?"  "What are the red ones!?"  "Tomatoes, mom you know I hate tomatoes unless it's ketchup!"  "Mom you know avocado makes me barf!"  "Spinach!  Mom WHO eats spinach for breakfast!"


Sigh... so I decided to make a tofu scramble just for them with no "bits" of anything, no "barfy" stuff lol, no spinach... just a tofu scramble that in my opinion is scarily close to real scrambled eggs. 

It was super easy to throw together, only a handful of ingredients and the kids ate it all for breakfast this morning and asked for more!

Tofu Scramble Your Kids Will Eat 

• 1 Block of extra firm tofu
• 1/2 tsp tumeric 
• 1/2 tsp BLACK salt black salt is the key in making these actually taste like eggs!  It is sulfury and tastes like egg yolks!  I buy it in the bulk section of my local health food store. 
• 1tsp onion powder because the kids like the taste of food cooked in onions but not the oniony bits!
• 1 tsp ground mustard
• 1 tbsp nutritional yeast
• Some fresh cracked black pepper to taste  If your kids get wigged out by the little black bits from pepper in their food you can try white pepper which adds the same flavors but is sneaky invisible! 
  
• 2 tbsp almond milk, added in at the end I'm sure any non dairy milk will work, I just had almond on hand today

So I want to tell you first; DON'T freak out about pressing your tofu for this dish!  Somethings like tofu steaks and patties etc... yes you need to press out the water to cut it and maintain the tofu's shape, but with a scramble you are mashing the hell out of it anyway so it really doesn't matter.  The trick is to cook off the water!  So open your tofu, drain and hand squeeze what water you can out of it.  Then crumble it into your pan.  You want to heat it over a med high heat and you will start to see the water coming out of the tofu like in the photo below.

Once you start to see the water releasing you want to keep cooking it, stirring occasionally until all the water cooks off (about 3-5 minutes).  Then it should look like this:

Add the rest of your ingredients and cook for about 5 more minutes.  

It all looked a little dry to me so I added a splash of almond milk and stirred that around and cooked for like a minute or two more.  The result was this:

 A tofu scramble my kids actually ate!  And tell me that does not look just like scrambled eggs!? 

Plated with some breakfast potatoes, fruit and toast I was very pleased with what we put in their bellies this morning!

Baked Oatmeal - Veganized

I have been seeing all these awesome pins for baked oatmeal all over Pinterest, but have not seen many vegan ones.  So I decided to adapt one that looked especially yummy.

 Adapted from original recipe here

I loved the individual serving sizes and using the mini mason jars.  I just love mason jars!

Making the conversions to veganize the recipe was very simple.  I can't wait to make other versions of these, with apples and walnuts or chocolate and peanuts!  The options are limitless!

Fresh Fruit Bottom:

• 2 cups fresh fruit, plus extra for garnish.
  I used a cup of blueberries and 1 cup of peaches and made 3 servings of blueberry and 3 servings of peach.

Dry Ingredients:

• 2 cups old fashioned oats
• 1 tsp. cinnamon
• 1 tsp. aluminum free baking powder
• 1/2 tsp. salt

Wet Ingredients:

• 2 cups non dairy milk - I used soy, almond would probably be really yummy too
• 1 1/2 tbsp. melted earth balance or other vegan butter
• 1/2 cup brown rice syrup or agave
• 2 tsp. vanilla extract

Topping:

• 1 cup chopped almonds, walnuts, pecans whatever kind of nuts you fancy... I used almonds
• Vegan sugar for sprinkling on top about 1 tsp on each (you can leave this off and these will be sugar free)

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
2. Using six small (8 oz) jars divide your fruit up among your jars evenly.  
3. Mix all the dry ingredients together in a large bowl and then divide evenly into your jars about 1/3 cup into each.
4. Mix all the wet ingredients together in a bowl and then pour about a 1/2 cup over the oat mixture in each jar letting it seep all down and around the oats and fruit.  
5. Top each jar with a tsp of vegan sugar, chopped nuts and a few pieces of fruit.
6. Place the jars into a baking dish and heat bake for about 30 minutes.

Eat them warm and gooey from the oven or let them cool, put the lids on and refrigerate for later.


These were super easy to make, tasty and make for quick EASY breakfasts.   The kids had some of them for breakfast this morning and loved them and the rest are sitting in the fridge waiting to either be eaten cold or warmed up a bit and thoroughly enjoyed either for after school snacks or breakfast tomorrow.

**TIP** If you are making these to be eaten later in the week as I did under cook them a bit (25 mins) and then when you warm them back up they will be perfect!

To warm them back up you can do: 1 min in the microwave,  or you can put them into an inch or two of boiling water for a couple minutes if you don't do microwaves, or pop em back in the pre-warmed oven for 5 minutes or so

 

Chop fruits

Divide up between your jars

Combine dry ingredients

Layer over fruit

Combine wet ingredients and layer over dry in the jars

Add toppings and place jars in baking dish

Ooey  Gooey Warm Vegan Goodness!!