Vegan Monster

We’ve Moved!

caron lyn — Wed, 27 Feb 2013 20:37:46 +0000

After contemplating this for some time, I’ve decided to move Vegan Monster to it’s own domain.
The new address is vegan-monster.com.

You’ll be able to view all of the same posts I have on this site, as well as any new one’s I post.
I also plan to turn this new blog into a more elaborate, food, life and travel blog. So please visit the blog at it’s new location, and enjoy!

- Caron

Cornbread (Pancakes)

caron lyn — Sun, 27 Jan 2013 14:44:21 +0000

This weekend I finally bought cornmeal. I found myself with a craving for cornbread last week, and decided to make a batch. So last night I baked vegan cornbread, and this morning, I made vegan cornbread pancakes.

They were delicious!

With both the cornbread recipe and the pancake recipe I added whole wheat flour. I switched half of the white flour for whole wheat in the cornbread recipe, and it came out great. But for a more traditional cornbread taste, you might try adding a bit more white flour.

The Pancake Recipe:
1 cup white flour
1/3 cup whole wheat flour
1/2 cup yellow cornmeal
1 1/2 tbsp sugar
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
a pinch of salt
1 1/2 cup soymilk
1 tsp canola oil

Mix dry ingredients together in a large bowl. Add wet ingredients and mix well.

It was just that simple! The pancakes were very fluffy, tasted wonderfully like sweet, fluffy cornbread, and were delicious topped with a bit of maple syrup.

Eggnog Pancakes

caron lyn — Sat, 03 Nov 2012 22:12:31 +0000

Finally! Finally I’ve made eggnog pancakes. And even though its not even Thanksgiving yet, I think it’s a great way to ring in the holiday season.

Of course this version is vegan. I used Silk Seasonal Nog as a replacement for your typical eggnog. In the past I’ve thought that the Silk version of eggnog didn’t match up to the real thing. I still can’t say its the same exact taste and thickness, but for some reason it just tastes so much better this year! (I think this is a sign I’ve been vegan for too long.) Either way, I really enjoyed these pancakes.

Best, served with a glass of Silk Seasonal Nog.

The Recipe:
1 cup whole wheat flour
1/2 cup white flour
1 tbsp sugar
1/2 tsp salt (slightly less)
1 1/2 tsp baking powder (I used 2 1/2 in my version and it was too much)
1 cup Silk Seasonal Nog (or other dairy-free eggnog of your choice)
2 tbsp vegan butter (I used earth balance), melted
1 egg replacer egg
nutmeg, to taste
cinnamon, to taste
pumpkin pie spice, optional

Mix dry ingredients, then add wet ingredients and mix well.

When I made these pancakes, they were way too thick! I typically love thick pancakes, but these were so thick it was difficult to cook them. So I lowered the amount of baking powder. As you can see from the following photo, I had to start making tiny pancakes in the hopes that they would cook more thoroughly. I just ended up tossing them in the microwave for 30 seconds before I ate them to make sure they were cooked all the way through.

I really enjoyed these pancakes. I’d definitely recommend drinking some (soy) eggnog with them, it really helps to enhance the taste.

Chocolate Coconut Banana Pancakes

caron lyn — Sat, 22 Sep 2012 14:17:10 +0000

I’ve been meaning to update for a while now, and since it took so long, I’m also going to share my newest pancake creation: Chocolate Coconut Banana Pancakes!

As usual, I’ve been extremely busy with school, and life. But these pancakes need to be shared and enjoyed by more than just myself! I was also inspired to get back into blogging by my friend Kathleen who has been baking cupcakes like crazy. Be sure to check out her blog, Cupcakes for Dinner.

The Recipe:
1 1/2 cup flour
3 tbsp cocoa powder
1 tsp baking powder
1 banana mashed
1 tbsp coconut oil
1/4 cup coconut shreds
1 tsp vanilla
1 1/2 cup soymilk
2 tbsp sugar

The order you mix it all together doesn’t really matter, but I usually find it’s best to add dry ingredients, mix those together, and then add the wet ingredients.

These pancakes have a delicious cocoa flavor paired with the always delightful banana and coconut combination. I hope you enjoy them!

The Healthiest Thing I’ve Eaten in a While

caron lyn — Sun, 13 May 2012 23:41:40 +0000

It shouldn’t come as a surprise to anyone that I haven’t been blogging very much lately. That also means that I haven’t been cooking very much lately. For the past couple of months I’ve just been so busy with school and work that I haven’t really had time. But now that summer is here, hopefully I’ll have a little more time to get back to cooking and baking delicious vegan food.

Today I made myself a tofu scramble from a recipe I found at VegWeb.com. I can’t say that I really enjoyed this recipe very much, but I think with a little tweaking it could be good.

1 tbsp olive oil
1/2 block firm tofu
1/2 avocado, chopped into small pieces
1/4 onion, diced
1/2 large tomato, diced
1 large handful sliced baby bella mushrooms
3 heads of garlic, mashed
Salt and pepper, to taste

Chop onion and tofu and saute in olive oil until onions are translucent. Add other ingredients. Cook for about 10-15 minutes on medium heat.

Like I said, this isn’t the most delicious recipe ever. I really think it needs some more spice. Any suggestions?

Losing my Wisdom

caron lyn — Fri, 11 May 2012 13:36:33 +0000

I was lucky enough to have my wisdom teeth removed yesterday afternoon. And although (I guess) I’m glad they were removed, my face still hurts and I still can’t eat solid foods. In preparation for this, I picked up a few vegan friendly childhood favorites at the local health food store. Vegan jello, soy yogurt and organic chocolate pudding, which was veganized by using almond milk instead of cows milk.

While all of these treats turned out deliciously, I quickly grew bored of eating just these three things. I was able to choke down some oatmeal this morning, and just ate a banana with some peanut butter mashed together, but nothing is really satisfactory.

I want to use this post as a place to generate ideas of soft, delicious, vegan foods that can be eaten after wisdom teeth removal, or any sort of procedure where you’re forced to eat soft foods.

Lets start with the obvious things:
- vegan jello
- chocolate pudding
- soy yogurt (also other varieties of vegan yogurt)
- dairy free ice cream
- fruit smoothies
- applesauce
- mashed bananas
- soup
- mashed potatoes (plain or sweet)
- oatmeal (after the first day)
- maybe a tofu scramble (?)

Well, looks like I’m out of ideas.. In that case, I’ll tell you what I ate for my last meal of solid food yesterday morning. This should come as no surprise to anyone who reads this blog with any regularity. I made strawberry and banana pancakes!

Of course, these pancakes were topped with 100% maple syrup, made in Michigan, which I picked up at the Maple Syrup Festival a couple of weekends ago.

Celebrating Maple Syrup

caron lyn — Tue, 01 May 2012 02:44:08 +0000

It’s been about a month since I’ve last updated. I know it’s hard to believe, but I’ve been insanely busy these past few months. Right now I’m smack dab in the middle of finals week, so (hopefully) I’ll have an abundance of free time sometime soon.

In the meantime (since I haven’t really had time to cook/bake anything new) I’ll update you on a wonderful celebration that I went to last weekend. A Maple Syrup Festival! Its basically where an entire town gets together to celebrate the end of maple syrup season and eats pancakes all day long. This celebration had my name written all over it!

I went to the maple syrup fest with my Mom, and we began our day (immediately) with a pancake breakfast. Basically you pay $7 a person to sit at a table with (literally!) the entire town. The pancakes were by no means vegan, but I was at least able to get a serving that didn’t come with a giant (and disgusting) side of sausage.

The pancakes were pretty delicious. I also had a strong desire to try a deep fried oreo (because where else am I going to find one?!) but we were still full from pancakes by the time we left, and to be honest, I’m not sure I was up for the challenge of a deep fried oreo just yet. (But I have confidence that I’ll get there someday.)

Oh, and the maple syrup was delicious!

Its been a while…

caron lyn — Sun, 01 Apr 2012 02:03:59 +0000

Sorry! I know its been ages since I’ve updated! I’ve just been insanely busy with school and work for the past few weeks. I’ve been running around shooting video for two different video projects I’m working on right now, trying to keep up with my school work, finishing editing on one of the documentaries I’m working on, and all sorts of other general busy-ness.

One of the problems with being so busy is that I don’t have time to cook! So I’ve been buying a lot of my meals for dinner for the past few weeks. And even when I do have time to cook, I haven’t been following a recipe, so most of what I do cook is pretty repulsive. However, this weekend I’ve been doing a lot of sleeping and recuperating, which means I’ve been doing some baking and cooking as well. Here’s what I came up with:

Today I made a tofu, broccoli, bell pepper stir-fy type thing. I marinated the tofu in lemon juice, brown sugar, honey, etc. Then I slapped everything together in a delicious stir-fry. This was delicious on its own, but I also added a peanut butter, soy sauce and honey “dip” on the side, and it was even better.

A lot of the dinner meals I make for myself I don’t really use or write a recipe. This used to work out really well for me when I first started cooking, however my cooking experiments have been less successful lately. To be honest, after I went to Morocco last summer I kind of forgot how to cook without using a recipe. For weeks I was forgetting to add spices to my meals and was left wondering why everything came out so bland! But, hopefully, things are taking a turn for the better.

I also baked some “healthy” cookies today.

One of my friends from work sent me a recipe that he wanted me to make. The recipe was already vegan, but I still changed a few things to suit the ingredients I had on hand.

These cookies are pretty good for having no added sugar! …but its probably all the chocolate chips I added…

2 bananas, mashed
1/4 cup applesauce
1/2 cup peanut butter, creamy, natural
1/4 cup coconut oil
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 cups old fashioned oats
1/3 cup shredded coconut
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp salt
1 cup chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350 F. In separate bowls, mix together wet ingredients and mix together dry ingredients. Mix all ingredients together. Bake on cookie sheet for 12 minutes.

Green Velvet Cupcakes

caron lyn — Tue, 13 Mar 2012 14:38:48 +0000

If these cupcakes seem eerily similar to a recipe I posted last month, you’re right. Last month, for Valentine’s Day, I posted a recipe for vegan red velvet cupcakes. This is basically the same recipe, except these are Green Velvet Cupcakes.

The Recipe:
1 1/4 cup + 2 tbsp flour
1 cup sugar
2 tbsp unsweetened cocoa powder
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 cup + 2 tbsp soy milk
1/2 cup canola oil
1 tbsp vanilla extract
1 tbsp white vinegar
2 tbsp red food coloring

Mix together dry ingredients. Add soy milk, oil, food coloring and vanilla. Mix well. Add the vinegar until just blended.
Bake at 350 F for 13-20 minutes.

My Review:
These cupcakes turned out great. They tasted better than my original batch of red velvet cupcakes, because I baked them for the appropriate time. However, they didn’t come out quite as vibrantly green as I was hoping for, but no one complained about the color. And I’m sure if you use more food coloring (I only used 1 tbsp) that it will work out better for you.

Tempeh Sloppy Joes

caron lyn — Sun, 04 Mar 2012 14:44:14 +0000

This is a recipe that my Mother has made several times, and I always enjoy it. My Mom has a stockpile of tempeh, so she’s always trying to find new ways to use it. The last time I went home, she sent me back with two packages of tempeh, and this recipe, so I thought I’d share.

I served my tempeh sloppy joes with a side of vegetarian baked beans. The entire meal was absolutely delicious, and definitely worth the effort I put into cleaning up the dishes afterwards.

The Recipe:
1 package tempeh
1 tbsp olive oil
1 small onion, chopped
1 red bell pepper
1 can tomato sauce, 15. oz
1 tbsp chili powder
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp ground pepper
barbeque sauce, to taste

Steam the tempeh in for 2-4 minutes. Place in a bowl with a small amount of water in it and microwave until steamed. In a large sauce pan, saute onion and olive oil until onions are translucent. Add chopped red peppers and crumbled and steamed tempeh, cook for a few minutes. Add tomato sauce, spices and bbq sauce. (Basically, add all this stuff until you get a taste you like.)