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RECIPE: Blueberry Muffin Bread Pudding
A little belated, last month’s Veggie Supper Club in Eugene had the theme of “Animated Flavor.” We were to pick a cartoon and design a dish that represented it in some manner. I made a Chester the Cheetah Cheetos-crust Mushroom Quiche (recipe here), and something I’d call “Gargamel’s Wish” – as in… he finally caught the Smurfs. I used blueberries and one lone strawberry (aka “Papa Smurf“)…
Blueberry Muffin Bread Pudding
…
Makes 10-12 servings
Ingredients:
- 10 blueberry muffins (your favorite recipe or box mix)
- 1 cup fresh or thawed frozen blueberries
- 2 cups soy/rice/almond milk
- 1/2 cup sugar
- 4 eggs or vegan egg replacer
- 2 teaspoons cinnamon
- 1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- optional: whipped cream and fresh berries
Steps:
- Crumble ½ of the muffins into a buttered baking dish.
- Add 1 cup blueberries in a layer.
- Crumble remaining ½ of the muffins over the top.
- Beat together milk, eggs, sugar, cinnamon and vanilla.
- Pour mixture over crumbled muffins.
- Bake for 40 minutes at 350 degrees until pudding puffs and forms a crust.
- Spoon warm pudding into individual serving dishes and top with whipped cream and fresh blueberries.
This is a mainly music-based blog. If you stumbled in on a recipe search, check out my other recipes at THIS LINK.
~Dan – Chali 2Na – Fish Outta Water
RECIPE: Easy Pumpkin Cheesecake
A little belated, but for the Gonzalo Bergara Quartet house concert, there was a potluck element, and I brought…
Pumpkin Cheesecake
…
Makes 6-8 servings
Ingredients:
- 2 (8 ounce) cream cheese containers
there are good vegan options, like Tofutti Better than Cream Cheese - 3/4 cup sugar
- 1 small pie pumpkin (roasted) or 1 (15 ounce) can pumpkin puree
- 2 teaspoons pumpkin pie spice (cinnamon, ginger, all-spice, nutmeg mixture)
- 1 graham cracker crust – prepared or homemade
- optional: whipped topping
Steps: prep time ~10 minutes, cook/cool time varies
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
- Beat cream cheese until soft. Add in sugar, and continue mixing.
- Add in pumpkin and pumpkin pie spice.
- Pour into prepared crust, and bake for 35-40 minutes until soft but still set in the center.
- Let cool for 1 hour, then refrigerate for 3+ hours.
Since the above recipe is fairly remedial ( but still delicious), if you want to “fancy” it up… here’s a great, more complicated recipe with a ginger-pecan crust and sugared pumpkin seeds! Hat-tip to Panda le Chef for passing on that fancier recipe (I’ll have to try it soon).
This is a mainly music-based blog. If you stumbled in on a recipe search, check out my other recipes at THIS LINK.
~Dan – Peter Mulvey & David Goodrich – Nine Days Wonder
RECIPE: Jalapeño-Brie Poppers with Blueberry Dipping Sauce
For this month’s Eugene Veggie Supper Club…
Jalapeño-Brie Poppers
…
Recipe below is for 8 peppers, but it’s easily scalable
Ingredients:
- 8 medium sized jalapeño peppers
- 2 tubes of crescent rolls
- 1-8oz. wheel of brie or other soft cheese
- optional: blueberry dipping sauce (from this recipe)
Preheat oven to 375°
Steps: super easy
- Wash, halve & de-seed the jalapeño peppers.
- Cut brie wheel into 16 approximately half-ounce pieces.
- Open crescent roll packages.
- Place 1/2 oz. wedge of brie into jalapeño half and roll up in one crescent roll. Make sure to ensure cheese is fully covered, or you’ll have a higher risk of significant cheese leakage. Note: I made these with one whole jalapeño for each crescent roll, and it was too much to fit... they still turned out OK, but I think they’d be better with a half pepper per roll. Experiment with what you think works best.
- Place on baking pan (greased or lined with parchment paper) and bake for 16-20 minutes, or until browned.
- Serve warm and enjoy!
If you’re vegan, you can also try it with commercially available vegan cheese, or try to make you own vegan brie. I haven’t tried this yet, but this vegan brie cheese recipe may work out for you. Also, you’ll want to find a suitable vegan crescent roll (Pillsbury crescent dinner rolls are vegan if you don’t get the “butter flake” variety).
This is a mainly music-based blog. If you stumbled in on a recipe search, check out my other recipes at THIS LINK.
~Dan – np: Chromeo – Business Casual
jalapeno
RECIPE: Taco Scones
I had been thinking of making this for a while. I had never seen “taco scones.” I quick search on google & food.com‘s recipes came up with nothing outside of something called a Navajo Scone, which looked like taco stuff on navajo bread. Mexican scones came up, but were usually chocolate/cinnamon or apple-somethings. Anyway, I’m considering this a fairly novel concept, but I don’t know why. They’re super easy, all of the ingredients are pretty basic, and it’s a classic combination of flavors. For a Memorial Day / birthday party, I made…
Taco Scones
photo by emobiephotography
Makes 8-12 large scones
Ingredients:
- 3 cups all-purpose unbleached flour
- 1 Tbl baking powder
- 1 tsp salt
- ½ Tbl black pepper
- 1 Tbl taco seasoning (plus add’l to top scones – I buy in the bulk section)
- 1 stick chilled unsalted butter (or Earth Balance, etc), cut into cubes
freeze butter for 15 minutes for “chilled” butter - 1 ½ cups grated medium/sharp cheddar cheese (or vegan substitute)
- 1 red bell pepper, diced small
- 2 jalapeno peppers, diced small
- 1 small can of sliced olives
- 1 lb soy crumbles, warmed & sautéed with taco seasoning
- ¾ to 1 cups buttermilk (or soy creamer / coconut milk / vegan buttermilk)
- ¼ to ½ cup cheddar cheese to top scones (or vegan substitute)
- 1 large egg for top glaze (optional)
- 2 tsp water for top glaze (optional)
- salsa, sour cream, guacamole (for dipping)
Preheat oven to 400°
Steps:
- Using a mixer fitted with a paddle attachment (or do by hand), combine flour, baking powder, salt, black pepper & taco seasoning in a large bowl on low speed.
- With mixer running, gradually add cubes of butter until the mixture is crumbly and studded with flour – butter bits about the size of small peas.
- Add 1 ½ cups grated cheese and mix just until blended.
- Add peppers, soy crumbles, olives and 3/4 cup buttermilk to flour and cheese mixture. Mix by hand just until all ingredients are incorporated. If dough is too dry to hold together, use remaining buttermilk, adding 1 tablespoon at a time, until dough is pliable and can be formed into a ball. Stir as lightly and as little as possible to ensure a lighter-textured scone.
- Remove dough from bowl and place it on a lightly floured flat surface. Pat dough into a ball. Using a well-floured rolling pin, flatten dough into a circle about 8 inches wide and 1/2 inch thick. Cut dough into 8 to 10 equal wedges, depending on size scone you prefer.
- Whisk egg and water in a small mixing bowl to combine. Brush each wedge with egg wash. Top with taco seasoning and the remaining ¼ to ½ cup cheddar cheese.
- Place scones on a lined baking sheet and bake for 18 to 22 minutes or until golden brown and no longer sticky in the middle. Serve warm with salsa, sour cream and/or guacamole for dipping.
This will definitely be a repeat recipe! Taco scones, “Mexiscones,” or whatever you want to call them – these savory scones are delicious.
This is a mainly music-based blog. If you stumbled in on a recipe search, check out my other recipes at THIS LINK.
~Dan – np: David Bazan – Strange Negotiations 
RECIPE: PB&J Cocktail with Grilled Mac & Cheese Sandwiches
For this month’s vegetarian supper club in Eugene, we were the hosts and the theme was PAIRINGS. I wanted to make something that was a kids’ staple food item, but with an adult twist. So, I went for…
Peanut Butter & Jelly Cocktail
…
750mL batch
Ingredients:
- 750 mL vodka, unflavored (don’t go cheap, but don’t go all out… a $10-15 bottle is fine)
- 1 cup of peanuts, unsalted
- up to 375 mL raspberry liqueur (Chambord, etc)
- air-tight jar
Steps: super easy
- Add peanuts and vodka in an air-tight jar. Place in cool, dark place for 1-2 weeks.
- Strain vodka (remove peanuts). You’ll end up with slightly less than 750mL. I did about a bottle and a half (1.125 mL / 4.75 cups) and my yield was almost exactly 4 cups of finished vodka (~85%). Sidenote: don’t eat the spent peanuts… they’re icky…
- The Cocktail: 2 parts peanut vodka, 1 part raspberry liqueur. Serve chilled or on the rocks. Since it’s all booze… a small pour is usually enough.
Variation: use other jelly-type flavors (grape, strawberry, peach), chocolate liqueur, bailey’s, or make a peanut white russian…
Update 4/10/12: About 16 months later, there’s now an actual PB&J vodka. I beat ’em to it, though… More info here at Van Gogh Vodka (and web coverage here & here).
I paired it with…
Grilled Mac & Cheese Sandwiches
…
makes 4 large sandwiches
Ingredients:
- 1-2 cups dried pasta (macaroni, rotini, etc)
- boiling water
- 1 Tbl butter (or vegan substitute)
- 1/4 cup almond milk (soy, rice or cow milk also fine)
- 2 cups grated cheese (mix it up, be creative with flavors)
you could also try vegan cheese… not sure on meltability - 8 slices of bread, buttered on one side
Steps:
- Cook pasta in boiling water until tender (time depends on the pasta). Drain water.
- Add butter, milk, and cheese. Stir until pasta is equally covered in cheesiness.
- Butter side down, add bread to grill or pan. Add about 1/4 to 1/2 cup of cheesy pasta. Add second piece of bread, butter side up.
- Once one side is lightly browned, flip the sandwich… or use a George Foreman grill, panini press or something easy like that. I mean, come on, it’s making a grilled cheese… I shouldn’t need to explain.
- Cut and serve!
This is a mainly music-based blog. If you stumbled in on a recipe search, check out my other recipes at THIS LINK.
~Dan – np: Ghost of a Saber Tooth Tiger – Acoustic Sessions
RECIPE: “Go Ducks” Guacamole
So, I’m not a sports guy (understatement). My main thing is music (as if I really need to tell you that)…
Well, I’m in Eugene, Oregon, and regardless of my general sports indifference, I still support the Ducks! I went to the University of Oregon for a stint (I’m a PhD dropout if you’re keeping score at home). I’m going to a BCS National Championship Game party tonight, and I’ll be supporting the Ducks against the Auburn Whatstheirfaces…
I really don’t know what the Ducks’ chances are… football is the one played with the parabolic ball, right? Anyway… what I’m bringing to the party is a super easy recipe…
“Go Ducks” Guacamole
serves 179 chips, give or take
Ingredients:
- oil for sautéing
- 1 medium onion
- 2 yellow peppers (you know, for the yellow)
- 4 cloves garlic
- 1 Tbl taco seasoning (or to taste)
- 1 medium tomato
- 4-5 medium/large avocados
- 3/4 tsp chili powder
- 1/2 teaspoon salt (or to taste)
- juice of 2 limes (2-4 Tbls or so?)
Steps:
- Cut up onion, pepper & garlic. Saute in 1-2 Tbl of oil until soft, slightly browned. Add taco seasoning, stir.
- Cut up avocados, add to large mixing bowl. Mash avocados with a fork or large wooden spoon.
- Add onion, pepper & garlic mixture. Dice and add tomatoes. Add chili powder and salt (to taste). Add lime juice (to preserve).
This is meant to be enjoyed immediately (or as close to it as possible)! Do not make it “well in advance”…
Worst case… the Ducks lose. Well, there will still be music to get us through (just hopefully not more from Sebastian Bach).
This is a mainly music-based blog. If you stumbled in on a recipe search, check out my other recipes at THIS LINK.
Update: this would also work really well for the Green Bay Packers in the Super Bowl XLV. :)
~Dan – np: Reptet – Chicken or Beef?
RECIPE: Easy Beer Cheese Dip
I made an adjustment on an already adjusted recipe. It’s really simple, involves no cooking/heating, and it’s really versatile (choose your beer, cheese, hot sauce). Behold…
Beer Cheese Dip
Credits: Old Rainier Brewer Beer Cheese Dip in Northwest Brewing News (via Antsaint’s blog)
makes about 4 cups
Ingredients:
- 1 lb cheese, grated (4 cups)
- 4 cloves garlic, mashed
- 2 tsp minced onion (or 1/2 tsp onion powder)
- 1 tsp dry Chinese-style mustard (or 1 ½ Tbl Dijon mustard)
- 2-3 tsp hot sauce (tabasco, etc)
- 2 tsp shoyu, soy sauce, or vegetarian Worcestershire sauce (if you can find it)
- 1 Tbl butter (or butter substitute)
- 8 oz. beer
Steps:
- Warm all ingredients to room temperature.
- Grate or grind the cheese.
- Place all the ingredients, except beer, in mixer bowl.
- Gradually add beer and beat until smooth and fluffy. This is where a food processor is handy.
- Store in covered container in refrigerator for at least one day (not mandatory, but preferred).
- Serve at room temperature with chips, crackers or dark bread.
Again, the use of a food processor to blend the ingredients isn’t mandatory, but it makes it oh-so-easy. I made it for a Christmas dinner tonight, and it is bound to be a hit. My cheese: sharp cheddar. My beer: Deschutes Black Butte. My hot sauce: Frank’s RedHot Aged Cayenne.
This is a mainly music-based blog. If you stumbled in on a recipe search, check out my other recipes, like vegan biscuits & gravy, spiced biscotti, vegan cactus chili, vegan bananas foster, mushroom dumpling stew, strawberry cornbread muffins, fruit spring rolls, grilled coconut-rum pineapple, vegetarian s’mores pouches, pumpkin-infused vodka cocktail, creamy vegan chocolate pudding, cute olive penguins, raw blueberry cheesecake, Jónsi & Alex’s raw vegan pies, and Framboise cranberry relish at THIS LINK.
Happy Festivus! Oh, and yeah, this would make a kick ass Super Bowl snack recipe. Super easy and quite delish!
~Dan – np: Various Artists – Nigeria 70: Lagos Jump
merry Christmas, Kwanzaa, EID, Diwali, Hanukkah , too…
RECIPE: Creamy Vegan Chocolate Pudding
Vegan Chocolate Pudding
…
(photo courtesy of foodgawker)
This weekend will be a double-whammy recipe post (cute olive penguins this evening). Yesterday I made homemade vegan chocolate pudding for today’s Vegetarian Supper Club in Eugene, OR. It wasn’t too hard… and my taste test last night was delicious. It is adapted from the January 2007 issue of Vegetarian Times. (They also used instant decaf coffee as an ingredient).
Ingredients:
makes four 6 oz. servings
- 2 cups plain soy milk/rice milk/coconut milk, divided
- 2 Tbl cornstarch
- 1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
- 1/4 cup vegan semisweet chocolate chips (or regular chocolate chips if not strictly vegan)
- 3 Tbl sugar
- pinch ground nutmeg
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
Steps:
- Whisk together 1/2 cup soymilk and cornstarch in a small bowl. Set aside.
- Combine remaining 1.5 cups soymilk, cocoa, chocolate chips, sugar, and nutmeg into a large saucepan. Warm over medium heat until chocolate chips have melted.
- Whisk in cornstarch mixture and cook for 10 minutes over medium-low heat or until pudding thickens* and begins to boil.
- Remove from heat and stir in vanilla.
- Divide pudding among 4 custard cups and chill well before serving.
- Enjoy!
*NOTE: If you double the recipe (or quadruple, like I did), you need to heat it longer… it took mine about 40 minutes instead of the above prescribed 10 minutes… you don’t want to apply extra heat to do it quicker… it may not thicken properly/consistently.
Info for the dieters… each serving is approximately 150 calories, 5 grams of protein, 5 grams fat, and 25 grams carbs. I kept my version to 5 ingredients (for a challenge imposed by the dinner theme) and used sweetened dark chocolate chips and didn’t add the extra sugar, not much different outcome in flavor or consistency.
This is a mainly music-based blog. If you stumbled in on a recipe search, check out my other recipes, like vegan biscuits & gravy, spiced biscotti, vegan cactus chili, vegan bananas foster, mushroom dumpling stew, strawberry cornbread muffins, fruit spring rolls, grilled coconut-rum pineapple, vegetarian s’mores pouches, and pumpkin-infused vodka cocktail at THIS LINK.
~Dan – np: David Gould – Adonai in Dub
RECIPE: Easy S’mores Pouches
…
Easy S’mores Pouches
…
So, as many vegetarians know, marshmallows are not vegetarian due to the use of gelatin. Well, for this month’s Vegetarian Supper Club in Eugene, OR, I attempted to make homemade vegetarian marshmallows. I used a recipe (that shan’t be linked to), followed it to the letter… and failed. I mean, it tasted like marshmallows, but it never solidified and was basically unusable sugar-goop. Oh well. However, I had a backup plan for my s’mores pouches: marshmallow fluff…
Ingredients:
serves however many (i.e.- it’s easily scalable)
- puff pastry shells, phyllo dough… or crescent rolls (i.e.- the easy route that I took due to expediency, 1 canister of crescent rolls = 4 pouches)
- chocolate chips (any variety you like… 20 chips / pouch)
- marshmallow fluff (the standard 7 oz. jar = 8 pouches)
- graham crackers (any variety you like, 1 large cracker = 4 pouches)
- cookware: a muffin pan… or two.
Directions (see assembly pictures below):
- Preheat oven to 375° F.
- Combine two (2) crescent roll triangles into one ball, roll out into a flat floured area. Place inside greased muffin pan (I made about 8 in each 12-slotted muffin pan).
- Add crumbled up 1/4 graham cracker
- Add roughly 20 chocolate chips per pouch.
- Add 2-3 Tbl of marshmallow fluff per pouch and close up / twist them off at the top.
- Cook for 15-17 minutes or until brown (a little bit more than the crescent roll recipe to ensure cooking throughout). If you use puff pastry shells or phyllo dough, your cooking time and temperature will likely vary.
- The pouches tend to open up exposing the marshmallow. If you don’t want this to happen, figure something out for step 5… I didn’t mind them opening up a little bit.
- Let cool… and enjoy!
For a variation, if you have a crème brûlée torch, you could toast the marshmallow fluff a bit after cooking in the oven… yum!
For the calorie counters… it’s about 400 calories, 15g fat, 60g carbs, and 4g protein. Um… it’s a dessert; so, yeah… hit the elliptical for 40 minutes to offset it completely. :)
This is a mainly music-based blog. If you stumbled in on a recipe search, check out my other recipes, like vegan biscuits & gravy, spiced biscotti, vegan cactus chili, vegan bananas foster, mushroom dumpling stew, strawberry cornbread muffins, fruit spring rolls, and grilled coconut-rum pineapple at THIS LINK.
~Dan – np: Sufjan Stevens – The BQE
creme brulee
RECIPE: Coconut Rum Grilled Pineapple
On Sunday, we hosted July’s Veggie Supper Club in Eugene and set the theme to a BBQ. I made amazing bbq sauce’d tofu & tempeh, brie/craisin/pistachio quesodillas, and the shockingly easy coconut-rum soaked grilled pineapple…
pina colada on a stick
Coconut-rum Grilled Pineapple
serves 4
Ingredients:
- 1 pineapple, cored and sliced
- 1/2 cup coconut rum
- 1/2 cup dark brown sugar
- 1 Tbl lime juice
- also needed: grill or cast iron pan
- also needed: wooden or metal skewers
Directions:
- Cut pineapple into long slices.
- Mix rum, sugar and lime juice together, slightly warming (60-90 seconds in microwave) to allow sugar to dissolve.
- Soak in mixture for 1 to 4 hours.
- Skewer up and put on grill. Rotate and cook all sides. Enjoy!
We are totally making these again. Soooo easy, and sooo delicious… it’s like a piña colada on a stick.
This is a mainly music-based blog. If you stumbled in on a recipe search, check out my other recipes, like vegan biscuits & gravy, spiced biscotti, vegan cactus chili, vegan bananas foster, mushroom dumpling stew, strawberry cornbread muffins, and fruit spring rolls at THIS LINK.
~Dan – np: John Zorn – O’o [with the Dreamers, Electric Masada, The Gift crew of musicians]
no free download or torrent here. support indie music.
RECIPE: Vegan Bananas Foster with Coconut Vanilla Bean vice cream
(photo: Food Network)
Vegan Bananas Foster
I made some vegan Bananas Foster and Coconut Vanilla Bean vice cream* for Veggie Supper Club tonight. Our theme was “Cajun”… so what better than a classic New Orleans flambé dessert? Both recipes below are super easy, and super delicious. And, to be fair, making Bananas Foster into a “vegan recipe” is easy – you just swap out the butter for a vegan spread. This recipe paired with the vegan coconut vanilla bean vice cream is stupendous.
*– vice cream = vegan ice cream (Jeff Rogers’ Vice Cream at Amazon)
There were different recipes for Bananas Foster available online, and the first one I tried was waaaaaay too saucy… it made for a lot of leftover juice and didn’t seem to have the consistency I’ve known in Bananas Foster. Here’s the recipe I ended up going with (a modification of several online recipes):
Ingredients:
serves 4
- 1/4 cup vegan spread, butter substitute (aka 4 tbsp or 1/2 stick)
- 1 cup dark brown sugar
- 3-4 bananas, peeled and sliced lengthwise or into coins
- 1/3 cup dark rum (Myers, Whalers, etc)
- 2 tbsp banana liqueur (DeKuypers, etc)
- ground cinnamon
- a bbq lighter or other fire source
Steps:
- Melt the vegan spread (butter) and dark sugar in a pan until smooth, creamy paste. I used a big wok, as I was making a large batch and wanted room for the flames, too.
- Add cut bananas and sautee for 2-3 minutes over medium-high heat.
- Combine rum & liqueur into a microwave safe dish and warm in a microwave slightly (30 seconds).
- Add rum & liqueur to bananas and light on fire, stir to stoke the flames… **
- Sprinkle cinnamon while flames are present for a small fireworks display.
- Serve over ice cream and enjoy!
**– The “showy” way to do this is to light a shotglass on fire, or if using a gas stove light a metal ladel full of the rum mixture and pour into the bananas. We had a small accident with a ceramic dish when testing this out at home prior to the Veggie Supper Club; so we opted for the safer way. Add the rum mixture directly to the pan and light with a long bbq lighter. Use precautions, have a friend handy with water or a fire extinguisher. I’d recommend not doing this over a gas oven if you’re tentative. Seriously folks, be careful. :) It’s all fun and games until someone lights their kitchen on fire.
Vegan Coconut Vanilla Bean Ice Cream
This recipe comes from Jeff Rogers’ Vice Cream recipe book. I modified it slightly as the measurements weren’t realistic (size of coconut milk can) and the texture (not using the bean skin). I made a double batch, and again, it worked great with the Bananas Foster…
Ingredients:
makes 1 quart
- 2 cans of coconut milk (14 oz each), use regular not “light”
- 1 cup pitted, diced medjool dates (used as a sweetener)
- 3 vanilla beans
- Note: You will need an ice cream maker
Steps:
- Add 2 cans of coconut milk to a food processor or blender. For ice creams, you want a high fat content; so refrain from using the light (or “lite”) variety of coconut milk.
- Add 1 cup of pitted, diced medjool dates to the coconut milk. If you can find these prepared in the stores, good luck. I just bought some in the bulk section and pitted and diced them myself. Medjool dates are a great natural sweetener, and they also help to solidify the vice cream.
- Cut the very tips (on either end) and slice vanilla beans length-wise. Use the knife (or a small spoon) and scrape out the vanilla bean seeds from the pod and add to the mixture. The seeds are where the flavor is held. For an example of how to do this, check out this informative YouTube video from Dyann Bakes. The seed yield you’ll get is more than what she got…
- Blend the mixture until smooth, approximately 1 minute.
- Chill for a few hours in the fridge.
- Add to ice cream maker and follow instructions included with your ice cream maker.
This is a mainly music-based blog. If you stumbled in on a recipe search, check out my other recipes, like vegan biscuits & gravy, spiced biscotti, and vegan cactus chili at THIS LINK.
~Dan – np: Wussy – Wussy
-Eyvind Kang
-Frank Zappa
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