Vegan Cupcakes: Touchdown!

So, I'm going to be honest here. I'm not exactlyyy your avid football fan. BUT - I love Superbowl Sunday because Game Time is THE perfect excuse for a little pot-luck, friend-gathering fiesta...and what's not to love about that?

Killer nachos? Check. Pigs-in-a-blanket? Check. Seven-layer dip, veggies and hummus, pretzels, chips, wings, bruschetta...yum! My friends and I all contributed a little this-and-that for an über-fun Superbowl party yesterday evening, hosted by non-other than my lovely friend Ashley. Me? I volunteered to bring along some sweet chocolatey treats. Which means bright and early on Sunday morning, I was wide awake in the kitchen, apron donned, mug of coffee by my side, whipping up some tasty from-scratch Vegan Chocolate Cupcakes. The best part? "Vegan," by default, automatically means dairy-free!

I've always thought of cupcakes as being A.) Really cute, and B.) Special-occasion kind of desserts, (move over cookies!). You just don't encounter them every day. Unless you live above Billy's Bakery, but that's another story. So, when you do get your hands on a yummy little cupcake, it truly becomes an "oh-la-la" moment of taste bud bliss.

After Googling the internet for THE perfect Vegan Chocolate Cupcake recipe, I finally found one starred with rave reviews. A winner! This one accomplishes what the quintessential Vegan treat should always strive to do: not taste Vegan. Indeed, if I hadn't made these myself, I would have bet that Paula Dean loaded them up with butter, milk, and heavy cream herself. Quite the contrary. Try this recipe and they'll surely be a game-time winner...even if you are really paying more attention to the commercials.

Vegan Chocolate Cupcakes

Adapted from “Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World,” by Isa Chandra Moskowitz and Terry Hope Romero.

Ingredients:

1 cup soy milk

1 teaspoon apple cider vinegar

3/4 cup granulated sugar

1/3 cup canola oil

1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract

1 cup all-purpose flour

1/3 cup cocoa powder

3/4 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1/4 teaspoon salt

White Frosting Vanilla Glaze:

1/2 package of confectioner's sugar

1/4 cup vegan margarine (softened)

3 tablespoons soy milk

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

Method:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F and line a muffin pan with paper or foil liners.
2. Whisk together the soy milk and vinegar in a large bowl and set aside for a few minutes. It may curdle a little bit; this is OK!
3. Add the sugar, oil, and vanilla extract to the soy milk mixture and beat until foamy. In a separate bowl, sift together the flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, baking powder, and salt. Slowly add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients, pausing a couple times to stir until all the large lumps are gone. A few small lumps are OK.
4. Pour the mixture into the cupcake liners until they are about 2/3 of the way full. Bake 18-20 minutes, until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Cool completely before frosting.
5. Sift confectioner's sugar into a large bowl and add in the soy milk, margarine, and vanilla. Beat until creamy, adding either more sugar or soy milk until desired consistency is reached. Spread on cooled cupcakes and garnish with shredded coconut or topping of choice.

Frozen Turkey? Have No Fear!

The perfect golden turkey. A Martha Stewart-esque color-coordinated table setting with cutesy handmade place cards. A variety of several delicious side dishes, fresh rolls and desserts, all cooked to perfection and ready at precisely the same moment. Everything conjured up from scratch and organic wherever possible...

These were the high standards my sister and I set for ourselves last year in preparation for our family's Thanksgiving feast. Due to circumstances, we happily volunteered to cook and pull together the ENTIRE meal for our family from stuffing to pumpkin pie. We were both excited to tackle the task with gusto! However, my sister is a vegetarian, so it was me flying solo on Turkey duty. (Mind you - I had never once roasted an entire bird, let alone a 12-pound turkey in my life).

All was going smoothly, until I went to grab the turkey out of the fridge at 10:00 a.m. That's when I stared down in utter disbelief and had a minor Thanksgiving meltdown. It was a frozen block of turkey-ice.

So, with this cooking-centric holiday only a few days away, I'm here to share with you what your average cookbook will not: how to actually pull off a successful Thanksgiving turkey dinner, beginning with the first ingredient: one very frozen turkey.

Chronological steps to take, upon realizing your turkey is frozen solid on Thanksgiving morning:

1. Panic. This will probably occur naturally.
2. Place phone call to culinary-talented boyfriend (or friend or family member) hyperventilating, eyes welling up in tears. "Please help me, what do I do?!"
3. Deep breaths. "You will not ruin Thanksgiving dinner," they say. Take this person's reassuring and sound advice, and begin defrosting the turkey in a clean kitchen sink under running lukewarm tap water.
4. Be patient. For the next 1 ½ hours, (I suggest wearing an apron and popping in a good CD), slowly massage the turkey to defrost. Make sure water pours into the cavity and that it stays lukewarm. Hot water will start cooking the turkey, which is bad.
5. Slowly work open the cavity.
6. Have vegetarian sibling, who is in charge of cooking side dishes, take photograph of you in utter horror. Brace yourself. You’re about to remove the neck and giblets from inside the turkey cavity.
7. Scream and shriek together when you remove the turkey neck from the cavity. Do a “that was so icky” dance around the kitchen.
8. Follow Ina Garten’s recipe for the perfect roasted turkey (below). She's a miracle worker in the kitchen and I find that her recipes are always straight-forward and give you amazingly precise results.

Perfect Roast Turkey

Courtesy of Ina Garten's cookbook, Barefoot Contessa, Parties!

Ingredients:

1 stick unsalted butter

1 lemon, zested and juiced

1 teaspoon chopped fresh thyme leaves

1 fresh turkey (10-12 pounds)

Kosher salt

Freshly ground black pepper

1 large bunch fresh thyme

1 whole lemon, halved

1 Spanish onion, quartered

1 head garlic, halved crosswise

Method:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
2. Melt the butter in a small saucepan. Add the zest and juice of the lemon and 1 teaspoon of thyme leaves to the butter mixture. Set aside.
3. Take the giblets out of the turkey and wash the turkey inside and out. Remove any leftover fat and leftover pinfeathers and pat the outside dry.
4. Place the turkey in a large roasting pan. Liberally salt and pepper the inside of the turkey cavity. Stuff the cavity with the bunch of thyme, halved lemon, quartered onion, and the garlic.
5. Brush the outside of the turkey with the butter mixture and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Tie the legs together with string and tuck the wing tips under the body of the turkey.
6. Roast the turkey about 2 ½ hours, or until the juices run clear when you cut between the leg and thigh. Remove the turkey to a cutting board and cover with aluminum foil; let rest for 20 minutes.
7. Slice that turkey and serve!

In the meantime, while the turkey is roasting and you are preparing succulent side dishes, set the table. Click here for the official Martha Stewart "How to Set a Formal Dinner Table" guide. Light candles for added ambiance. This is what our final dining room table 'scape looked like last year.

Have faith! I PROMISE that you do, in fact, have the culinary ability to cook a delicious Thanksgiving turkey, (though I highly recommend NOT starting with a frozen bird). Turn to the defrosting steps above only as your emergency contingency plan. You can also be reassured that the Barefoot Contessa's "Perfect Roast Turkey" recipe is quite tasty (frozen turkey or not) - we received rave reviews all around even before the pumpkin pie.

Best wishes for a happy holiday, and good luck with your culinary adventures!

Shallot Risotto

Oh, how I do enjoy a well-prepared risotto. Arborio rice has a naturally creamy texture, and it can be crafted into a very healthful and well-rounded meal. Risotto leftovers also reheat wonderfully for lunch the next day! This week, my culinary goal is to tackle this new risotto recipe. It's adapted from a fabulous cookbook calledFarm Food by Chef Daniel Orr, which I purchased after dining in his delectable restaurant Farm Bloomington, in Bloomington, IN.

In anticipation, I've typed up the recipe below and will post a photo of the completed dish later this week, (let's keep our fingers crossed!). This recipe is dairy-free. Note: while I can tolerate goat cheese, (it's a different protein than dairy), be sure to omit it if you can not.

Happy feasting!

Caramelized Shallot Risotto with Toasted Walnuts, Goat Cheese, and Pears.

Ingredients:

1 cup uncooked arborio rice

2 tablespoons olive oil

1/2 cup finely chopped yellow onion

3 cups low-sodium chicken broth

salt and pepper to taste

2 caramelized shallots, roughly chopped

1 pinch lemon zest

2 tablespoons toasted walnuts

Garnishes: sautéed pears, black pepper, goat cheese

Method:

1. Sauté onions in olive oil until they are translucent, but not colored, over medium heat.
2. Add the arborio rice and toast; stir with a wooden spoon, so all the rice gets toasted.
3. Stir in 1 cup of broth. Continue cooking and stirring until all the liquid is absorbed.
4. Gradually stir in remaining broth 1 cup at a time, cooking and stirring until liquid is absorbed before adding the next cup.
5. Fold in the sautéed shallots, zest, and walnuts and season with salt and pepper.
6. Spoon into a bowl and garnish with some sautéed pears, black pepper, and large crumbles of goat cheese.

...and voilà! The finished risotto as per this past Saturday night. It was really quite yummy: walnuts, goat cheese, and pears are a perfect match made in heaven. Plus...plenty of leftovers for lunch the following day.