Vegan Chickenless Seitan Cubes

Here is an easy recipe for seitan that can is versatile for use in many different recipes. The first time I made these, I used them in vegan quesadillas, which are pictured below. Since then, I've used them in a few other recipes, like pasta bakes, soups, etc. What's nice about making your own seitan is it doesn't take much time to mix all the ingredients together, and if you plan on sauteeing it, dinner can be ready in under 30 minutes. If you are planning on making larger pieces of seitan mixed with tofu and beans, then usually, pre-steaming is in order before frying or baking, but this recipe goes straight into the iron cast skillet. One of the spices I used is Trader Joe's Vegan Chickenless Seasoning Salt, but if you don't have it, feel free to sub a combination of sea salt, onion powder, turmeric, and garlic powder. Enjoy!

Preparing the seitan

One use for the seitan is in delicious seitan quesadillas!

Vegan Chicklenless Seitan Cubes

Ingredients:

2 cups gluten flour

1 and 1/2 cups water

1 tsp liquid smoke

1/4 cup soy sauce

2 Tbs Trader Joe's Vegan Chickenless Seasoning Salt

2 tsp garlic salt

1 Tbs onion powder

1 tsp. black pepper

 

Olive oil for frying

Directions:

In a medium bowl, mix together all the ingredients, except the oil. You want to mix until the ingredients are just incorporated; you may have to use your hands. Once incorporated, don't mix further or else the dough may toughen. Heat a tablespoon of olive oil over medium heat in a cast iron skillet or a pan of your choice. While oil is heating, dice the dough into one-inch chunks or smaller. Add about a quarter of the chunks at a time to the pan and stir frequently. Once browned, about three to five minutes, put in a bowl lined with paper towels, and add another batch to the pan. Repeat until all the chunks have been cooked. You can continue to customize the seitan in different recipes,either by adding spices before mixing the dough, or by sprinkling them with additional spices as they cook. Delicious! Feeds at least five hungry vegans.

 

 

Sweet Yam and Marshmallow Casserole and Thanksgiving and Christmas meals, 2015

Before 2015 completely came to a close, ushering in 2016, I thought I'd sneak in a final post of the year, highlighting our recent holiday meals.

The family, as usual, picked the various eclectic dishes to create our Thanksgiving feast, some traditional, some not so much.  G picked a sweet potato casserole, and I hunted up a classic recipe with marshmallows that I veganized and slightly tweaked.  It came out deliciously well.  The recipe will be posted at the bottom of the page.

Here's the breakdown of our Thanksgiving celebration:

JK picked Soy Chicken and Steamed Rice
GR picked Hot and Sour Soup and Sushi
SR picked Takis and Cranberry Sauce
G picked the casserole and the Tofurky meal, which included the roast, gravy, wishbone, and brownies
I added roasted potatoes and veggies to the Tofurky and made my Pumpkin Cream Cheese Roll to go with the brownies
Sparkling apple cider to drink.

See below for some yummy close-ups.



Sweet Yam and Marshmallow Casserole

My Thanksgiving plate.

 



Thanksgiving Dessert plate

Christmas was a much simpler affair this year.  I only made one type of cookies, and our breakfast was modest.  Below I show you our morning meal and the dishes I brought to the larger family gathering at dinner.

Christmas breakfast: Tofu Scramble, Fried Potatoes, and Chorizo.

The cookies I made: Chocolate Tops

I brought three things for the evening gathering.

Number One: Gardein Beefless tips, to which I added Teriyaki sauce.



Number Two: A big, beautiful salad chock full of goodies.

Number Three: I also realized I've never made my Pumpkin Cream Cheese Roll, so I made that again and brought it to share.

How were your holidays?  Did you have wonderful food?  Any new dishes?

Sweet Yam and Marshmallow Casserole

Ingredients:

Five Yams (Purple skinned, with orange flesh)
Water to cover
1/4 cup vegan margarine
1/2 cup brown sugar, packed
3 Tbs. orange juice
1 Tbs. Cinnamon
Non-stick spray
2 and 1/2 - 10oz. bags of Dandies large marshmallows

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.  Peel the yams, chop into large chunks and place in a large pot.  Cover with water and turn heat on high.  Bring to a boil, and boil for fifteen minutes.  Drain the water and leave yams in the pot.  Add the margarine, brown sugar, orange juice, and cinnamon.  Use an electric hand mixer to completely blend ingredients.  Spray a 9x13 inch dish with non-stick spray.  Spread the yam mixture evenly in the pan.  Top with the marshmallows.  Bake for 30 minutes. The marshmallows will brown and be super soft, and the yams are sweetly delicious.  This was definitely a hit.  The only challenge was when eating the leftovers, finding that several smaller hands had picked parts of the casserole bare of the marshmallows.  Feeds five hungry vegans for a few days.

Roasted Tofu and Red Potatoes with Paprika and Rosemary

I veganized this recipe recently, and my family could hardly wait to dig into it because of the aroma that had permeated our home from the oven.  I've made tofu and potatoes together before, but this particular way of preparing them was new for me.  The result was an appealing combination of textures and spices that made for a fulfilling dinner.  Served with a side of vegetables, this would make a complete meal.

Roasted Tofu and Red Potatoes with Rosemary

Ingredients:

3 pounds of red potatoes, chopped into bite-sized pieces
2 - 14oz. pkgs. of extra-firm tofu, water-packed, drained, chopped into 1/2" cubes
1/2 cup olive oil, divided
2 Tbs. paprika divided
1 Tbs. rosemary leaves, divided
2 tsp. salt, divided
1 tsp. pepper, divided
2 tsp. garlic powder, divided

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees.  In a large pot, cover the chopped potatoes with water and bring to a boil.   Boil for seven minutes.  Take the pot's lid, slightly cover the top of the pot, and drain the water into the sink  In the meantime, while the potatoes are boiling, get the spice mixture ready for tossing the potatoes and tofu.  In a large bowl, add half of the olive oil, paprika, rosemary, salt, pepper and garlic powder. Whisk well.  Add the potatoes and toss, until all the potatoes are coated.  Pour onto a large baking sheet.  Prepare the rest of the seasonings in the same bowl and whisk again.  Add the tofu cubes and gently toss to make sure they are coated as well.  The tofu is more delicate than the potatoes, so use a gentle hand.  Pour either next to or over the potatoes.  Bake for one hour, turning twice in that time.  Eventually the potatoes and tofu will be well mixed together, so just toss gently as to not mash the tofu.  When done, pour into a lovely serving platter, serve hot with a side of your favorite veggies, and enjoy your dinner.  Serves five hungry vegans.

Green Salad with Beyond Meat Strips and Easter, 2015

Easter this year was, as usual, a wonderful holiday to celebrate with family and delicious food.  Our gathering was smaller than usual; for dinner I brought a large green salad topped with chopped Beyond Meat chicken-style strips.  It went over really well, and one of the reasons was that I put a lot of goodies in the salad.  See below for our cuisine of the night.  I hope everyone else had a good holiday, too.

Green Salad with Beyond Meat Strips

My dinner plate: We had vegan stuffed shells, broccoli, garlic bread, olives, and homemade pickles with garlic, and my salad.

For dessert, everyone brought vegan desserts!  Is that awesome or what?  From the left we have: Cranberry Almond bars, Almond Cookies, Gingerbread, and my Chocolate Chip Pecan Bars .

Green Salad with Beyond Meat Strips

Ingredients:

2 heads of hearts of Romaine or one large Romaine head
6 large button mushrooms, halved and sliced
1/2 red onion, sliced
1 carrot, halved lengthwise and sliced thinly
2 stalks of celery, sliced thinly
1 cup of parsley, chopped small
1 - 15oz. can garbanzos, drained
2 cups of broccoli florets, chopped
2 tomatoes, chopped
1 pkg. Beyond Meat chicken-style strips
1 Tbs. olive oil

Favorite vegan salad dressing

Directions:

In a large bowl, put all of the ingredients from Romaine through tomatoes.  In a medium pan, heat the olive oil over medium heat.  Chop the strips into thirds.  When the oil is hot, add the strips, and cook until browned, about five minutes or so.  Drain from the pan, and pat dry, if necessary.  Add to the salad.  Serve and top with your favorite dressing.  Very good and filling.  Feeds five hungry vegans and several of their relatives.

Garlicky Fried Rice with Asparagus and Mushrooms

The poor lighting in this photo does not do this dish any sort of justice.  Garlicky Fried Rice with Asparagus and Mushrooms was so good, I couldn't stop eating it.  Only putting the leftovers away saved my stomach from exploding.  This was easy to prepare and even easier to eat.  I'm sure your taste buds would agree.

Garlicky Fried Rice with Asparagus and Mushrooms

Ingredients:

1 Tbs. Coconut Oil
2 Carrots, chopped small
8 to 10 Asparagus spears, ends trimmed, and chopped small
1 cup of sliced mushrooms
1 head of garlic, sliced thin
2 cups of leftover, cooked brown rice
1/4 cup of soy sauce
2 tsp. ground ginger
1/2 cup of coarsely chopped peanuts

Directions:

Heat oil in a large pan over medium heat.  When oil is melted, add the carrots, asparagus and mushrooms.  Stir-fry for five or so minutes, until just fork-tender.  Add the garlic and cook for a minute longer.  Add the rice, soy sauce and ginger.  Cook another five minutes, until heated through.  Add the peanuts and stir.  Serve immediately.  So, so good.  Feeds five hungry vegans.

Merit Vegetarian Restaurant- Sunnyvale, CA

I've told all of my children that when they were teenagers, I would take them on a special weekend trip, just the two of us, anywhere they wanted to go in California.  The exception being Disneyland: if I was able to afford Disneyland, I wanted to take all the children.  SR for the last couple of years has been mulling over Death Valley, but whenever she decided upon it, it was not the right season.  Apparently the temps are better in the Spring, and there are certain flowers that blossom during that time as well.  But something even better than Death Valley came up for her last June.  One of her favorite artists was performing a rare American tour, and one of her stops would be in Mountain View, a mere couple of hours from our home.  When I offered that to SR as her special weekend, she jumped at the chance.  So, off we went to the Emilie Autumn Asylum Experience.  Now, this music is not for everyone, not even me, but it wasn't about me.  It was about giving SR a special weekend. So, we left on Friday night, spent the night in a hotel, spent all day at the Experience, stayed over again, and had lunch the next day before returning home.  I researched restaurants before we left home and found Merit Vegetarian online.  It was open on Sundays, so I thought we'd give it a shot.  See my review below along with a a few shots of our trip.

 This is a funny shot of the hotel's room service menu.  If you look on the left side of the page, it lists appetizers and sides.  Then the right side of the page lists more appetizers and sides.  Notice how they are completely identical.  I wonder whom they are trying to fool?  

Okay, here's a pic of SR with others talking with someone who does daguerreotypes at the Experience.  Just so you know, SR has an unusual style in clothing.  She likes layers, gloves, employs a Goth influence along with some Victoria era influence, and adds her own unique touch.  I completely support her expressing herself with her attire.  Here, for once, she found others that dressed in a similar way.  She completely fit in and had made a few friends that will last a lifetime.  I'm the one that stood out with my baseball cap and camera and pants.  Oh, by the way, she's the one in the striped tights and dress.  Don't you see her?

Here she is locked up with other prisoners in one of several cages at the Experience.  You can see how utterly miserable everyone is.  Okay, okay, she's the one on the right with black hair, black dress and black and white striped tights.

 Here is Emilie Autumn and a couple of other permanent patients performing.

SR had a fabulous time, and that made it a great weekend for me too.  I love you, SR!

Here is Merit Vegetarian.  They are in a nondescript strip mall down a busy street.  Their info is: meritvegetarian.com, ph: 408-245-8988, 548 Lawrence Expressway. Sunnyvale, CA 94085.

SR and I started off with Drumsticks and a sweet sauce.  They were very good.

 Then we went for their Orange Nuggets.  Great glaze, very tasty.

SR had one of their freshly made Mango Smoothies.  She let me have a sip, and it was delicious.

I ordered their Noble Broccoli.  It was a beef and broccoli style dish.  Very good, I liked the sauce it came with, too.  Lots of broccoli, which is one of my favorite veggies.

SR ordered the Spicy Noodle Soup.  She didn't realize it had mushrooms, which she despises, but she worked around it, and liked it in the end.  It had a tangy taste to it and was good.

 We ended our meal - and our stay - with desserts.  SR ordered the Caramel Flan and completely loved it.  I tasted it, and it was light and sweet, very good.  But...

 I had a penchant for chocolate, so I ordered their Mocha Chocolate Cake.  The cake itself was a little too dense for me.  I like light cakes and cupcakes.  But, the frosting made up for it.  So light, so creamy, it was in a word, delightful.  

All in all, I highly recommend Merit Vegetarian. The prices were reasonable, and if you're a vegan, looking for an open place to eat on a Sunday, this one will definitely work.  If you're in Sunnyvale, look them up.

Pasta with Chorizo and Sweet Potato Sauce

This was another recipe inspired from Deceptively Delicious, which I renamed, veganized, changed ingredients up, the usual.  Still, the idea behind the original recipe was good: pureeing sweet potatoes for the sauce to get the kiddos to each more veggies. This also has chopped up celery and carrots, as well, so it's nice and healthy. This came out tasty, and the fam liked it, so all is good.  I puree my veggies ahead of time, bag and freeze them, and then thaw them out for recipes.  So, my sweet potatoes were already boiled, peeled and pureed for this recipe. This makes a lot of sauce, plenty for leftovers. Give this one a go, and let me know how it works for you.

Pasta with Chorizo and Sweet Potato Sauce

Ingredients:

1 pound pasta (we used penne)
2 Tbs. olive oil
4 onions, chopped small
4 cloves garlic, minced
12 carrots, chopped small
4 stalks celery, chopped small
2 - 10 oz. pkgs. soy chorizo
1 tsp. salt
1 tsp. black pepper
4 - 29 oz. cans crushed tomatoes
1 - 14.5 oz. can Del Monte petite cut tomatoes with chipotle chilies
1 - 32 oz. box Imagine No-Chicken Broth
1 Tbs. vegan sugar
2 cups prepared sweet potato puree (boiled first)

Directions:

Prepare pasta according to package directions midway through making the sauce.  For the sauce, heat the oil in a large pot over medium heat.  When oil is hot, add the onions, garlic, carrots and celery, and cook for ten minutes, stirring occasionally.  Add the chorizo and salt and pepper, and cook for another five minutes.  Add the tomatoes, broth and sugar.  Lower heat to medium low and cook for at least 45 minutes, stirring occasionally.  Add in the sweet potato puree, and stir well.  Continue to cook until heated through, about ten minutes.  Serve over pasta.  This makes a bunch!  I froze about half the sauce for a later meal.  Feeds five hungry vegans and then some.  Very good.

Pasta with Artichokes and Broccoli

This is a quick, easy and delicious dinner I made the other night.  G usually just gulps down what I make with nary a comment, unless he really doesn't like or really does like something.  This one earned a comment for the latter, so I knew it had to be blog-worthy.  The ingredients are few, and the simple seasonings brought out their wonderful tastes.  Hopefully, you'll enjoy it, too.  What is your favorite thing to toss in a pasta sauce?

Pasta with Artichokes and Broccoli

Ingredients:

1 pound of thin spaghetti
1 Tbs. of olive oil
2 cups of broccoli florets, coarsely chopped small
3 carrots, halved lengthwise and sliced thin diagonally
2 - 14.5 oz cans of Del Monte diced tomatoes with rosemary and oregano
1 and 1/2 cups of marinated artichoke hearts, sliced in half lengthwise
1 Tbs. sesame oil
Salt and pepper to taste

Directions:

Cook the spaghetti according to package directions.  While pasta is cooking, heat the olive oil in a large pan over medium heat.  When the oil is hot, add the broccoli and carrots and cook for five minutes, stirring frequently.  Add the tomatoes and artichoke hearts and cook for another three minutes, until heated through.  Add the sesame oil and salt and pepper, stir and let simmer on medium low for five minutes.  Top pasta with sauce and enjoy.  Feeds five hungry vegans.

Holiday Classics...Mostly - 2014

Hello, Everyone!  It is so good to be back on here.  I will not bore you all with what's been going on - it's been a lot, and I've been challenged in my personal life in more ways than I ever thought I would.  The challenges continue on, but it has been on my mind for so long to put up a post that I'm making a point now to do so.  This blog is a way for me to express myself with just the pleasures of my life, a bit of me that I get to share and to make friends in the process.  I will never abandon this blog without informing you first.  I don't know how many have or will stick around, but for those who are reading this, thank you.  I can't promise you timely posts in the new year, but it is my hope to be consistent.  I have posts that I still want to write from this year, so even though they will be out of date, I hope that I can still put them up.  Anyhoooowww, on with the food.

I am combining Thanksgiving and Christmas into one post, so this will have food galore.  I hope everyone's holidays have been good and that this new year brings you blessings.  I pray that 2015 brings peace and harmony into my life, as well.  And good eats!

Okay, I'm just going to show the pics, provide links, and tell you what we ate.  What did you guys eat this year for the holidays?

My Thanksgiving dinner plate.  The bowl is holding hot and sour soup, and on the plate clockwise is: roasted asparagus, soy chicken and tofu, tofurky and roasted veggies with gravy.  

Dessert: SR picked vanilla ice cream with strawberry sauce, GR picked Black Tie Cheesecake, and JK picked chocolate chip cookies.  I'll get a recipe out for those cookies.

Christmas breakfast included: Breakfast Potato Skillet ...

 Tofu Scramble...

Loaded Cinnamon Rolls ...

  and this year's Christmas cookies and Happy Birthday, Jesus Cake, which was a Costco apple pie.  The cookies are Gingerbread Bears, Tiger Stripes, and Pecan Pie Cookie Cups.  Recipes for the first two cookies will be forthcoming, if you are interested.

JK delivered our annual Christmas cookies to the firemen.

For Christmas dinner, I brought Tofu, Brussels Sprouts and Peanut Stir-fry to share and

Buttermilk Chocolate Chips Chocolate Cupcakes for dessert.

A lot of my family provided vegan dishes for us this year.  On my plate clockwise is: fried cabbage, cold green bean salad, a Gardein roast with gravy that I bought for my family, my mom's rendition of Aunt Versey's baked beans (an annual offering), my stir-fry, fruit salad and olives.  This was the fullest plate we've ever had at a family gathering.

The fun carried through dessert.  My aunt made my grandma's recipe for boysenberry cobbler.  See the yellow triangle in the corner?  Read in the pic below what it says.

A vegan corner just for us.  The glaze had butter in it; other than that, the whole cobbler was vegan.

My dessert plate: the cupcakes I brought, my mom's pineapple dump cake and her fruitcake, and my aunt's/grandma's boysenberry cobbler.

It was an awesome food season.  I hope yours was just as tasty.  Hopefully, I'll put up a post by next week and start to catch up.  Until then, Happy New Year.

Green Salad with Golden Beets and Raw Pumpkin Seeds

This salad is perfect for a hot summer day.  I got the beets at the Farmer's Market, and they were deeeelicoius!

Green Salad with Golden Beets and Raw Pumpkin Seeds

Ingredients:

1 head Romaine lettuce, chopped
8 small or 4 medium to large golden beets
1 - 15oz. can garbanzo beans, drained
2 green onions, sliced
1/2 cup raw pumpkin seeds

Directions:

Peel and quarter the beets, and boil for ten minutes.  Rinse under cold water, and slice into bite-sized pieces.  Add the lettuce, beets and rest of the ingredients into a large serving bowl.  Add your favorite vegan salad dressing.  Feeds five hungry vegans.  Simple and scrumptious!

Review: Organic Matcha from Kiss Me Organics

The good people at Kiss Me Organics sent me a code, so I could receive a free bag of their Organic Matcha off of Amazon, a value of $25.  For those of you who don't know what Matcha is, I didn't either.  It is powdered green tea, although the ingredients listed on the bag says "100% Organic Matcha."  So, now I've got to say this: I'm comin' atcha with Matcha!  Like that?  Then keep on reading for the review...

The Matcha is packaged in a sturdy, resealable bag and has four ounces of product.  The front of the bag boasts all the known benefits of consuming green tea, including energy, boosted metabolism, focus, skin health, and antioxidants.

  The back of the bag lists those benefits again with more detail.  They have the recommended daily dose as 1/2 to 1 teaspoon.  Since I'm not a big tea drinker, this powered form would work better for me.  They also suggest using it in lattes, smoothies and baking.  I don't drink lattes, but I do bake, and I do drink smoothies, so we are well on our way to ingesting some of this beneficial powder!

Here's what a spoonful of it looks like.  I dabbed my finger in and tasted it dry, and it tastes like...tea! 

First tester recipe up: Green tea cornbread muffins (recipe below), adjusting my Sweet Cornbread Muffins recipe.  Since I haven't seen any Matcha recipes, I wasn't sure how much of it to add to the recipe.  I made a dozen muffins, so I put in one tablespoon.  That worked out pretty well.  The texture of the muffins didn't change for the worse, and there was a slight tea taste to them.  There was just a slight green hue to them, but nothing adverse that would turn kiddos off to the idea of eating them, although JK did have to be assured I didn't sneak spinach into these like some recent Hidden-Veggies Brownies .  These are muffins I could see me making again. 

So, I made a goof when I decided to add Matcha to my Loaded Cinnamon Rolls recipe.  Since one tablespoon worked so well with the cornbread muffins, surely three tablespoons would work even better here, right?  Wrong!  Too much Matcha did not mix well into the flour mixture.  I would definitely keep it to one tablespoon.  Also, I was out of powdered sugar, so I couldn't do my regular glaze. Instead, I mixed equal parts raw sugar with cinnamon and sprinkled it on top of the rolls.  That was okay but not as good as the glaze.  I'll recreate the recipe below with the adjusted Matcha amount, and have both toppings as options.  As far as taste, again the flavor changed the rolls some, but not in a bad way. 

Finally, I made a shake and added the Matcha.  Here, I think the Matcha shined best.  My family's not used to expecting a green tea flavor in their baked goods, but they know that anything can happen in shakes, smoothies, and juices so they were the most accepting of this option.  The shake was excellent, and we felt even healthier drinking it.  I added one tablespoon (I learned my lesson!) to the blender, which made enough for five servings.  I'll include the recipe below.

Final thoughts: It feels good to add one  more healthy choice to our diets, and this is an easy way to do so.  Since I'm not such a big tea drinker, I can see me personally enjoying Matcha in our drinks.  Both SR and GR love tea, however, so they could drink regular green tea or have Matcha in their smoothies, too.  I think this powder is a good option to have in your pantry.  No complaints here.  See below for the recipes.

Green Tea Cornbread Muffins

Ingredients:

Non-stick spray
1 and 1/2 cups flour
2/3 cups vegan sugar
1/2 cup corn meal
1 Tbs. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
1 Tbs. Matcha or green tea powder
1 and 1/4 cups almond milk
1/3 cup canola oil
3 Tbs. vegan margarine, melted

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray a cupcake pan with non-stick spray. In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, sugar, corn meal, baking powder, salt and green tea powder. Add the remaining ingredients and stir until well blended. Divide batter into the muffin wells. Bake for 20 minutes. Cool on wire rack. Makes about a dozen muffins. Feeds five hungry vegans. 

Green Tea Cinnamon Rolls

Ingredients:

Dough:

2 pkgs. or 1 and 1/2 Tbs. of active dry yeast
2 cups of warm water
4 cups of flour
1 and 1/2 Tbs. olive oil
2 tsp. salt
1 and 1/2 Tbs. vegan or raw sugar
1 Tbs. Matcha or green tea powder
Flour for rolling
 Non-stick spray 

Filling:
 5 Tbs. vegan margarine, melted and divided
1/4 cup vegan or raw sugar, divided
2 Tbs. ground cinnamon, divided

 Icing:
2 Tbs. ground cinnamon
2 Tbs. raw sugar
 OR
 2 cups powdered sugar
3 Tbs. and 1 tsp.soy milk

Directions:

For the Dough:  In a large bowl, dissolve the yeast in the water.  Let rest for ten minutes.  Combine the remaining dough ingredients in with the yeast/water mixture and mix well.  Cover bowl with a damp towel, and let rise for 30 minutes.  Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray two large baking sheets with non-stick spray and set aside.  Dip your fist in some flour and punch down the dough.  Divide the dough into two large balls.  On a large, lightly floured area, put one of the dough balls, and sprinkle the top of it with flour.  Roll out to a large rectangle, roughly eight to nine inches wide and at least twelve inches long. 

For the Filling:  Spread half of the melted margarine on the first rolled out dough with a pastry brush.  Sprinkle half of the sugar over the margarine.  Top with one tablespoon of the cinnamon.  Make sure you spread and sprinkle as evenly as possible.  We want these to be yummy with every bite.  Starting at the short end, roll up the dough.  Cut into seven to eight pieces.  Lay them cut side down on one of the baking sheets.  Repeat with second ball of dough.  Bake for 25 minutes.  Set pans on baking rack to cool for about ten minutes before icing the rolls.

For the Icing:  For a non-traditional topping, you can whisk together the cinnamon with the sugar and sprinkle it on warm cinnamon rolls.  OR for a more traditional topping, you can make the icing.  Mix the sugar and soy milk together in a small bowl. With a spoon drizzle the icing over the rolls, making sure to cover them thoroughly.  Eat immediately.  You can freeze these as well; just don't put the icing on first. Reheat in oven, then ice them.  Makes fourteen to sixteen rolls.  Feeds five hungry, happy vegans.

Green Tea Mango Blueberry Ice Cream Shake

Ingredients:

3 and 1/4 hemp milk
1 cup frozen blueberries
1 cup frozen mango chunks
1 cup vegan vanilla ice cream
1 Tbs. Matcha or green tea powder

Directions:

Combine all ingredients in a blender, and blend until smooth.  Makes about five and a half cups, enough to quench five thirsty vegans.  Delicious!