Countrytime

Let's begin today with a riddle:

What is the one best doughy morning treat that is perfect either savory or sweet?

(and I didn't even mean for that to rhyme!)

Give up??

Biscuits!

Like any normal person, this concoction came out of a late night craving for these delicious fluffy clouds. 

It also happened to be around Easter time, which increased my desire for a carb laden snack.

Backstory: Every Easter and Thanksgiving I will go down to my aunt and grandmother's house in Tennessee. And every morning, my aunt will make homemade biscuits for breakfast and I will always eat probably between 2 - 3 of them because they are just so darn tasty.

Now, you would think if my family are good biscuit makers, I would be able to whip up a batch super quickly.... WRONG! Somehow, I did not inherit the biscuit making gene.

My aunt and grandmother's biscuits had two ingredients: buttermilk and self rising flour. But no matter how many times I've tried, I cannot master that type of biscuit to save my life. So I went in a different direction:

Whole Wheat "Buttermilk" Biscuits

And to my pleasant surprise, they were not hard biscuit rocks! They were nice and fluffy and ready for dousing in butter and honey. Enjoy!

Print this recipe!

Ingredients

• 1/4 cup soy milk
• 1 teaspoon white vinegar
• 1/4 cup whole wheat pastry flour, sifted
• 1/4 cup all purpose flour, sifted
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• dash of salt
• 1 tablespoon butter/ vegan butter
• 1 tablespoon canola oil

Directions

Preheat oven to 425 degrees F.

In a bowl or cup, combine the milk with vinegar and set aside. The vinegar with help to sour the milk and make it taste more like buttermilk (You could always just use buttermilk and omit this step).

In a bowl, combine both flours, baking powder, and salt. Mix to combine.

Next, take the butter and "cut" it into the flour. Basically, take your fingers and crumble the butter up with the flour mixture, until it looks more coarse, and a bit like sand.

Pour the "buttermilk" into the flour and briefly mix until all everything is moistened.

Flour a surface of your counter top, and then dump the biscuit dough onto counter. Dust top of dough with a little more flour. Knead dough 3 - 4 times. It will look like a very soft dough and be semi-sticky.

Cut dough into rounds with a biscuit cutter and place biscuits in the center of a cake pan, having the biscuits touching. Drizzle oil on top of the biscuits, and bake for 9 - 11 minutes or until golden brown.

Bake and Serve Immediately! 

Buttercream

Did you think I would leave you hanging and give you a cupcake recipe with no icing?? Of course not!

Today, we will be making a Chocolate Ganache Filling for our Bourbon Scented Vanilla Cupcakes and topping them with a Bourbon Nut Buttercream.

Get excited, because not only are both equally delicious, they are both VEGAN!! But don't let that discourage you. No one will be able to tell and everyone will just love this icing. I think it has just become my go-to recipe!

Let's start with the ganache. Pretend you've already made the delicious ganache and now you will want to fill your lovely cupcakes with the chocolate (Recipes are at the end of this post).

To assemble your cupcakes, you will need to hollow out the middle of your cupcakes:

I use the bottom of the icing tip to make a shallow hole

Then use a 1/4 teaspoon to hollow out the very middle of the cupcake, making the crater deeper

It should look about this deep

Fill cupcake with your cooled ganache

Finally, you need to top the cupcakes with some rich and creamy Bourbon Nut Buttercream!

Make your icing! It will look like this:

Beautiful

I used a big star tip to make the cupcakes look extra special.

Both the recipes for chocolate ganache and buttercream are below. You will not be disappointed!

I just took the traditional ganache recipe that is usually made with cream, butter, and chocolate chips, but vegan-ized it. It is extremely delicious and would also be perfect for using as a dipping chocolate for strawberries or whatever else you might like.

Print this recipe!

Vegan Chocolate Ganache

Ingredients

• 1/3 cup soy milk
• 4 Tablespoons Earth Balance Vegan Buttery Sticks
• 6 oz. vegan semi-sweet chocolate chips

Directions

In a double boiler, heat butter and soy milk together over medium heat until butter is completely melted. It will take about 10 minutes to completely melt.

Once melted, add in the chocolate chips and continuously stir until the mixture is shiny and smooth. About another 5 minutes.

Remove from heat and set aside to let cool to pudding like consistency. It will take about 2 - 3 hours to cool to this stage. Stir mixture every 15 - 30 minutes during the cooling process.

Shiny and Smooth!

NOTE: Do NOT let any drop of water get into the mixture while heating, otherwise bad things will happen.

Print this recipe!

Bourbon Nut Buttercream

Adapted from Eat, Live, Run

Ingredients

• 2 sticks earth balance buttery spread, softened
• 5 cups powdered sugar
• 2 Tablespoons soy milk
• 4 Tablespoons bourbon
• 1/4 cup finely chopped walnuts

Directions

First things first, if you do not have your walnuts finely chopped, chop them up in a food processor until very fine and meal-like.

In a large bowl, beat butter on medium high speed for 4 - 5 minutes or until light and fluffy.


Add in the powdered sugar (carefully), soy milk, and bourbon. Beat on low - medium speed until everything is combined.


Finely, beat in the finely chopped walnuts until evenly incorporated.


You are now ready to top your favorite baked good with this delicious concoction!

Dessert for Breakfast

Breakfast is my favorite meal of the day. Why?

Because anything goes! If you want pancakes, have pancakes. If you want cake, eat cake. If you want a steak, because breakfast isn't your thing...well by all means go ahead.

Which brings me to my most favorite breakfast dish I have ever created...

Apple Pie Oatmeal 

Seriously, it tastes exactly like a big slice of apple pie, but for breakfast!! BONUS: it's super healthy too! (and super simple to make)

Print this recipe!

First you need an apple! 

Peel and core apple, and chop the flesh into bite sized pieces

And you'll need some oats! About 1/2 cup

 

Put the apple and oats into a small sauce pan. Add 3/4 of a cup of unsweetened almond milk + 1/2 cup of water to the pot.

In goes 1 teaspoon of ground cinnamon next!

 You will also need three heaping teaspoons of brown sugar...it makes it tasty

Make sure everyone is in the pool!

 Cook in a small saucepan over medium heat. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat to medium-low for 10 - 15 minutes or until apples and oats are tender.

Sprinkle with chopped walnuts and serve.

Eat and be happy you made a healthy choice for breakfast!

Unexpected Celebrations

I love Leap Year!

[source]

Why do I love Leap Year so much? Because it is an extra day in February in the same year as the Summer Olympics and the Presidential Election. Did you remember it was February 29th and NOT March 1st today?!? I bet you that a multitude of people forget about leap year because they are so consumed by their hectic life and busy schedule.

But this day only comes once every four years, so really it should be a date of celebration, relaxation, and trying new things!

So I challenge YOU to try some tempeh today!! It is so versatile because it will absorb any flavor you want!

This recipe is asian inspired, with a touch of sweetness and spice! Go take a leap and try it today!

You first need to break open your block of tempeh... it will look like this:

Next you need to cut your block into triangles like so...

The results triangles are really thick, so you need to cut the slices in half, so they turn out like so...

See? The slices are THICK

Cut so the slices are not super thick anymore

We will now turn out attention to the marinade. In a shallow dish combine the following...

• 2 Tablespoons low sodium soy sauce
• 2 Tablespoons maple syrup
• 1 Tablespoon white vinegar
• 1 clove garlic, finely minced
• 1/2 teaspoon chili powder, more or less depending on taste preference
• 1/4 teaspoon pepper

Your shallow dish should now resemble this...

Now put everyone in the pool!

Marinate for 10 - 15 minutes on one side

Then flip over and marinate for another 10 - 15 minutes

Time for the cooking it! In a skillet on medium heat, put 1.5 teaspoons of olive oil and wait until everything is hot. Then add the marinated tempeh and cook on each side for about 3 - 4 minutes or until its nice and golden like so...

 Once its done, serve with a side of brown rice and vegetables for a well rounded dinner!

The best thing about cooking with tempeh? Unlike meat, chicken, or fish, you can save the extra marinade as a dipping sauce!

yum