Lion House Rolls

Make these as soon as you can. They are the most pillow-y, soft, tasty rolls I’ve ever made from scratch. I think this will be my new go-to bread recipe!

LION HOUSE DINNER ROLLS
2 TBL yeast
2 cups warm water
1/3 cup sugar
1/3 cup butter, softened
2 tsp salt
2/3 cup nonfat dry milk
1 egg
6 cups flour
Dissolve yeast in water. Add all ingredients except 3-4 cups of flour in a bread mixer. Mix until smooth. Gradually add the remaining flour. Don't knead. (Mix for about 30 seconds after last cup of flour.) Place dough in a greased bowl, cover with a towel or plastic wrap, and let rise until doubled, about an hour.

Punch down dough. Flour a surface and dump dough onto it. Divide dough into three equal sections. Roll each section into a circle (about 12 inches in diameter) and cut each circle into 12 slices (like a pizza). Roll each slice from biggest end to smallest end (like a croissant) and place on a greased cookie sheet (they can all fit on one large cookie sheet). Cover and let rise until doubled.

Bake at 375 degrees for 15 minutes. Top with butter at once.
Serve with honey butter.

*Note: I made the full recipe, but froze half as I do with most of my doughs. Half of it still made a full cookie sheet of rolls (16 rolls). Recipe could easily be halved.

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Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies

It’s that time of year again—pumpkin is acceptable every day of the week, which is fine by me! It should also be noted that although my husband doesn’t really like baked goods, he scarfs these down. He loves pumpkin cookies.

Ingredients:

2 1/2 cups flour
1 tsp salt
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1/2 tsp clove
pinch of ground ginger
1/ 2 cup (1 stick) butter, room temperature
1 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup sugar
1 egg, room temperature
1 cup pumpkin puree
1 tsp vanilla extract
1-2 cups chocolate chips

Incorporate wet ingredients. Mix in combined dry ingredients, then chocolate chips. Bake at 350 for 15-18 minutes.

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BYU Mint Brownies

A layer of brownie, a layer of mint frosting, and a layer of chocolate frosting. At BYU these were hands down my favorite dessert served in the Wilk.

Recipe here: http://dining.byu.edu/mix/classic_byu/mint_brownies.html

I had to give half the pan away they were so good.

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Cinnabon-Clone Cinnamon Rolls

Definitely not vegan or healthy at all. Definitely delicious. As I was making the dough, I realized I’d never made a dough with that much fat in it! Butter and eggs in the dough and 1/2 c. of sugar!

Can you tell we like cinnamon rolls around here? I have several recipes. We also love orange rolls.

Recipe here: http://allrecipes.com/recipe/clone-of-a-cinnabon/detail.aspx

Make them this weekend!

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Blue Velvet Ribbon Cake

Made this for a good friend's shower last month. Red velvet cake recipe with blue dye substituted for red. Also, because I’m getting a little sick of cream cheese frosting, I made a traditional vanilla buttercream. Delicious!

To keep the frosting from overpowering the cake, I alternated buttercream and whipped cream between the layers.

I read some tutorials online to learn how to pipe the ribbon frosting in—surprisingly simple!

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Vegan Quesadillas

One of my favorite meals is still possible vegan-style, thanks to vegan cheese! Veggie Shreds and Rice Shreds are my favorite. I like my quesadillas with cheese, grilled onions, black beans, and avocado.

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Small Lemon Cake

When a friend had a birthday a couple weeks ago, I thought I’d surprise her with a little cake when we got together with some friends at my place.

White cake + lemon buttercream frosting. Not healthy but delicious.

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Boy & Girl Blankets

For recent baby showers for friends. Nothing like a soft baby blanket!

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Rainbow Cake

Last week I finally made a rainbow cake for a friend’s shower… I’ve seen so many around and though they’re pretty easy, hadn’t done it yet.

The verdict? Looks awesome, tastes okay. If I used Ina’s white cake recipe, which I love, it would have been much better… but because I was on a time crunch I used cake mixes. So really, it was a colorful boxed cake ;)

The layers are so thin they cook really quickly. Here’s what I used:

- 2 white cake mixes

- Homemade lemon cream cheese frosting

- Wilton dying gels coloring

Separate the batter. Dye it. Bake two layers at a time for 15-18 minutes each.

Perfect for a party or shower.

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Vegan Veggie Sandwich

Bread, hummus, avocado, veganaise, cucumbers, peppers, tomatoes, spinach. And if you have the time, grilled onions. A staple for lunchtime around here!

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Blanket for Baby Girl

The first of several I’ve been making for baby girl! Girl stuff is definitely more fun (and cute) than boy baby items.

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Vegan Chocolate Chip Cookies

So delicious and chewy! I adapted them from my traditional chocolate chip cookie recipe.

Here’s the recipe:

- 3/4 c. Earth Balance

- 3/4 c. brown sugar

- 1/2 c. raw cane sugar

- 1/4 c. applesauce

- 3/4 tsp. vanilla

- 2 c. flour

- 3/4 tsp. baking soda

- 1/2 tsp. salt

- 2 c. vegan chocolate chips

Cream Earth Balance and sugars. Add applesauce and vanilla and blend until smooth. Separately mix dry ingredients and add to wet mixture. One incorporated, add chocolate chips.

Bake at 370 for 9-11 minutes. And enjoy for as long as you can keep them in your house.

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Pesto Panini

Last week after getting my blood tested at my 29 week appointment, my doctor told me my iron is a little low (I thought, that sounds about right seeing as I’ve had meat only 2-3 times in the past 3 months!). However, I was a little frustrated because I eat a lot of spinach which has a high amount of iron. She said low iron won’t hurt the baby, just my energy level.

I do feel great being vegan, but am going to start taking an iron supplement and having meat once a week while I’m pregnant/nursing. This weekend I made us a ham and pesto panini (adapted from Martha Stewart’s prosciutto pesto panini).

Here’s how I made it:

The original recipe called for ciabatta bread, which I didn’t have, so I made some individual loaves. (Yes, I love bread and used a mini-loaf for each sandwich. They were very filling!)

Then I sliced open the loaves and slathered pesto inside:

Then I layered with thin ham, spinach, tomatoes, and cheese. You can use yummy vegan rice cheese if you’d like, or the good old real cheese my husband prefers ;)

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Vegan Banana Bread

I liked this so much I honestly thought it was better than my traditional “Sour Cream Banana Bread” with eggs, butter, and of course lots of sour cream. I adapted this from a vegan carrot cake recipe.

• 1/3 c. Earth Balance, softened
• 1/2 c. packed organic brown sugar
• 2/3 c. organic raw cane sugar
• 1/3 c. unsweetened applesauce
• 1/3 c. unsweetened almond or soy milk (vanilla or plain)
• 1/2 t. vanilla extract
• 1 1/2 c. mashed banana
• 1 1/4 c. whole wheat flour
• 1 t. baking powder
• 1/2 t. baking soda
• 1/2 t. salt
• 1 1/2 t. cinnamon
• 1/2 t. nutmeg

Cream Earth Balance and sugar. Add remaining wet ingredients. In a separate bowl combine dry ingredients and slowly add to wet mixture. Pour into greased bread pan and cook at 350 degrees for 50 minutes.

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Vegan Black Bean Burgers

This has become a new staple in our house—so easy, delicious, and full of protein. Here is the recipe:

• 1/2 onion, diced
• 1 can black beans, well drained
• 1/2 cup flour
• 2 slices bread, crumbled
• 1/2 cup salsa
• 1 tsp garlic powder
• 1 tsp onion powder
• 1/2 tsp seasoned salt
• salt and pepper to taste
• oil for frying

Sautee the onions till soft, about 3-5 minutes.

In a large bowl, mash the beans until almost smooth. Add sauteed onions and the rest of the ingredients, except the oil, adding the flour a few tablespoons at a time to combine well. Mixture will be thick.

Form bean mixture into patties, approximately ½ inch thick and fry patties in a small amount of oil until slightly firm.

I make homemade rolls for buns (using my peasant bread recipe below), slather guacamole on top, and then serve with lettuce and tomato. Great served with salad and/or sweet potato fries.

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Homemade Tomato Sauce

One of my favorite quick meals is homemade tomato sauce with pasta. Whenever I have extra tomatoes that are starting to go soft, I quarter them, throw them all on a baking sheet, drizzle with olive oil, basil, and salt & pepper. Then I roast them under high heat (450) for about 15 minutes, then puree them in my VitaMix. You can also add a little cream, but with or without he cream there are not words to describe how delicious fresh tomato sauce tastes compared to jarred sauce. Mitch and I cannot get enough of this meal. Next time you have some extra over-ripe tomatoes , try it!
Here’s a recap of how to do it; chop and roast tomatoes:
I use my VitaMix instead of my Cuisinart to process because it’s quicker for me, but I’m sure either would do. Pulse quickly so it doesn’t get too pureed and add extra salt to taste.
Pour over pasta and enjoy.

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