Chocolate Frosting

Made this for the chocolate Guinness cake I made for my birthday; am putting it on same for the company party tonight. Delicious. From the VV.

• 1.25 C water
  
• 1 T agar powder or 4 T agar flakes (I just used 4 T cornstarch, and it worked just fine)
  
• 1/2 C cocoa powder
  
• 1.5 C pure maple syrup
  
• pinch of salt
  
• 2 T arrowroot powder (I omitted this -- figured it was just another coagulent, and umbrellaed it under the cornstarch above)
  
• 1/4 C soy milk
  
• 1 t vanilla extract
  
• 1 C chocolate chips
  

In a small saucepan, combine the water and [cornstarch]. Cook over medium heat, uncovered, stirring occasionally, until the water starts to boil. Reduce heat and ... yadda yadda. I just put boiling water with the cornstarch.

Add the cocoa powder, maple syrup, and salt, stirring occasionally to dissolve the cocoa powder.

In a small bowl, dissolve the arrowroot [uhh ... rest of cornstarch?] in the soy milk to make a slurry [whatever that is]. Whet the cocoa liquid starts to boil, add the arrowroot slurry, stirring constantly (stopping every so often only long enough to see if it's bubbling), until you see bubbles starting to form. The mixture will thicken and lose its couldy look whet the liquid starts to bubble.

Turn off the heat. (Sieve if agar flakes.) Add the vanilla and chocolate chips. Let the chocolate chips sit in the liquid for a couple of minutes to heat. Then, whisk until smooth. Pour into a shallow pan and refrigerate for about 45 minutes, or until hardened [I probably didn't do this at all.] Scoop the frosting into the food processor and whip until smooth [this woman likes to ditry as many dishes as I do!] Return the frosting to the refrigerator for about 10 minutes to let the frosting firm up a bit.

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Note from NH: What the fuck. I mean, this cookbook is awesome, and so's this frosting, but it seems that if you read over these directions once, and then kind of whisk it all together, it'll just come out fine. I think this woman just likes to hear her own voice in print.

Note also that this makes enough for two cakes -- which is good, because that's how many cakes I'm making tonight.

Pumpkin Pie

This is the recipe I've been promising for a million years. From The Voluptuous Vegan.

Ingredients (topping):

• 1.5 C pecan halves
  
• 1 T molasses
  
• 1/4 C maple syrup
  
• 1 t arrowroot powder (i think i used cornstarch last time, and it was fine)
  

Ingredients (filling):

• 3 C cooked pumpkin (so, 2 cans' worth)
  
• 1/2 C maple syrup
  
• 1/2 C soy milk
  
• 4 t canola oil
  
• 3/4 t ground cinnamon
  
• 3/4 t ground ginger
  
• 1/4 t grated nutmeg
  
• 1/2 t salt
  
• 2 T arrowroot powder (or cornstarch)
  
• 1 t agar powder (again, i probably used cornstarch. not sure how good of a substitution that is, but it worked well.)
  

Make the pecan topping:

Chop the pecans coarsely. Toss in a bowl with the molasses, maple syrup, and arrowroot. Set aside.

Make the pumpkin filling:

To a food processer fitted with a metal blade (I think I used my blender last time), add the pumpkin flesh, maple syrup, soy milk, canola oil, cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, and salt. Process until smooth. Taste and adjust the sweetness by adding a touch more sweetener if necessary [she thinks you'll be using pumpkin from a pumpkin, not from a can -- ha!] Add the arrowroot and agar powder and process to mix them in completely -- basically dump everything in a blender and blend.

She's then really verbose about telling you how to fill the pie shell, but basically, you just dump the pie filling in the pie shell you've made (or bought from Whole Foods or something) and bake at 350 F for 50 minutes ("the filling should look firm at this point"). Then "remove the piefrom the oven and ... evenly distribute the reserved pecans over the top of the pie. Bake, uncovered, for another 20 moinutes. Remove the pie and let it cool a couple of hours before cutting."

Couple of hours?! Whom does she think she's kidding? Since the turkey will be in the oven until the last minute (grumble grumble carnivores grumble), this will be an eleventh-hour pie

Yum!

Best salad EVER

Throwing together a salad last night, and veggie-starved, I ended up concocting this:

• Mix of greens from Whole Foods -- probably arugula, spinach, something reddish. Yum.
  
• Sprouts -- a handful or so. I was leery about this until I saw them on top of the salad -- holy crap, good idea!
  
• One carrot, sliced pretty thin.
  
• One chopped scallion (mm, spicy!)
  
• One slab of tofu, a bit pressed, and cubed
  
• Pine nuts.
  
• Flax seeds.
  

I think that was it ... then, I topped it all off with Annie's Shiitake-Sesame Dressing, which I buy by the hugest bottle available, because I adore it. Jesus H. Christ, what a salad!

And then I had a second course. Heh. Yes, I was hungry.

Help! Thanksgiving?

I'm about to go back home for Thanksgiving, and my dad, the ever-clueless, needs full shopping lists and recipes to feed a vegan. I'm doing the pumpkin pie I promised him (which I haven't yet posted here -- soon!), but I need main dish ideas that aren't just repeats of previous years, which probably contained lots of cheese anyhow. Help?

Lunch?

Laura, did you ever get any awesome ideas about lunch from your original LJ post that spawned this blog? I've been succumbing to the amazing burrito cart down the street just a bit too often ...

I'm especially in the market for sandwiches, which are a source of constant flux for me. My current one is pretty awesome, but I've run out of the bread:

• 2 slices of Big Sky whole-grain bread (dark and grainy; lots of yummy seeds)
  
• hummus on one of them
  
• whatever's yummy and spreadable and in your fridge on the other -- miso works well; curry paste; salad dressings on the more solid side
  
• 2 slices tofu, pressed
  
• carrot shavings (make with a peeler; less to clean than a grater) on top of that. Grated daikon also works really well, and adds kick.
  
• Something green to finish. Optimally, sprouts, but they go bad in the fridge so fast; spinach or something leafy is a pretty good second. I love arugula and/or basil, but it's expensive; I've been going with the grassy daikon greens Branen left in my fridge a week ago.
  

Good, but after a month or so of the same sandwich, I get bored.

Ideas?