Vegan Lemon Meringue Slab Pie

Vegan  Lemon Meringue Slab Pie

I saw some fruit pies online that were baked in a half sheet pan - easier to serve a crowd. The term (who knew?) is slab pie. So I made a lemon "meringue" version. It was fantastic! 

Here is the crust rolled and ready to bake

After baking -nice and golden brown

a double batch of lemon filling (from Vcon lemon bars)

"meringue" through chemistry! 

Pie anyone?

 

 

 

 

 

 Just look at those "waves" - I even used the mini blowtorch to brown the tips! I would make this kind of pie again for sure - slab pie- what a great idea.

Mini Pumpkin Cheesecakes

This is a combination of recipes - gingersnap crust, pumpkin and cream cheese filling with ginger, cinnamon, cloves and vanilla with a pecan oatmeal streusel topping.

Even though I'm not a big pumpkin fan, these are pretty good. My niece was upset when I said I hadn't planned on making them this year. She loves these! So Jules, these are for you.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Sriracha Bars ~ V-created!

 Really? Oh yeah!

I've had these bookmarked for a while and finally just had to cave in and make them: Kogi's Sriracha Bar Clone 

Pretty darned amazing! But I would add a little more sriracha to the ganache. These were very sweet and a bit more heat would balance it out. 

No need to veganize the bottom layer- rice cereal and Enjoy Life chocolate. I used the caramel sauce from the samoa cupcake recipe: Cara's Caramel  and the coconut cream fudge from The Blooming Platter: Oatmeal Fudge Bars.

There are a few tweaks I'd make next time. While the caramel and fudge topping are both super delicious - I think together they were too coconutty. (If that is really possible - but I wanted the chocolate and heat to take center stage). I would use regular vegan ganache with soy creamer so it would be shinier and not quite as thick.  And add more sriracha the ganache. But even without the changes, these disappeared in a flash!

New Blog

There is more to life than just bakery.
 And I can't believe I really just said that! 
I will continue posting here when I've baked up something delish ~ but since I've pretty much stopped eating sugar and flour I decided salads and stuff shouldn't be on a bakery blog. 

So if you just want to see cookies and cakes - I will be creating recipes using alternative "flours" such as almond flour or polenta. And they will be posted here.

If you want a "fresh" perspective - then check out the new blog : 
VibrantleaVegan

Vegan Chopped!

Roasted Beet Tart with Mango Coconut Sorbet

This is my entry for the PPK's vegan Chopped contest!  The ingredients were beets, mango, rice cereal and unsweetened coconut. 

I used the rice cereal, coconut, a few dates and a squirt of agave in the food processor to make the tart crust. Baked for 15 minutes. I had roasted the beets earlier in the day and they were sliced as thinly as possible and layered onto the tart crust. The glaze that covers the beets is equal parts pomegranate molasses and agave with a few chia seeds to thicken. 

The sorbet is a fresh mango, 1/2 a frozen banana and a splash of coconut extract. Buzzed together in the Vitamix and stuck in the freezer while the tart was being assembled. 

 

Grilled Guacamole!

When I saw this the other day I just had to make it ASAP!

 

 Then I googled it and there are several versions - so all you have to do is use your usual guacamole recipe - then grill the ingredients. (Leave the skin on the avocado or it will be mushy.)  Grill until you get some great grill marks but veggies are not too soft. Let cool and then chop/mash into bowl. Eat immediately or chill if you prefer. You can even freeze for later if you make too much :)

I freeze in 1/2 cup containers. Fill as much as possible so the air doesn't get in there and turn it brown. Defrost in the refrigerator.

 

 It looks a little brighter than "raw" guac does. And my limited camera skills make it even greener!

Vegan Eats in May

Just a few things I've been noshing on this month:

Jeweled Salad - I love the colors in this one!

Field roast and homemade sausages. (The omni's liked the homemade better- yay!)

Quick lunch

Zucchini Panini

Tester recipe for Robin Robertson's One Dish cookbook

Another test recipe

Grilled Vegetable Salad adapted from oh she glows

Garlic fried chickpeas, wine glazed tofu, and olives

 

Quick Fix Vegan

This is one of my top five "go to" cookbooks! I don't know why I thought I had written about this already.... or why I didn't. Maybe because the pics were dark and blurry? These were all taken with my old camera and it was usually a hit or miss deal. I didn't even include them all. But I just wanted to say- if you don't have this book yet- GO GET IT! 

These pictures were taken a while ago when I was recipe testing for the book. 

 Cream of Mushroom Soup

 Shortcut Mushroom Artichoke Risotto

 Sicilian Style Orzo Salad with Walnuts and Raisins

 Coconut Pistachio Cookies

 Catalan Style Creme Brulee

 Orecchiette with Puttanesca Pesto!!!

Don't let this bad photo fool you. This is the best pesto I've ever had.

 Chocolate Cheesecake Squares*

 Super Nachos

 Two Tomato Pastry Purses

*Obviously I didn't make these as squares. This cheesecake was wonderfully decadent! The recipe didn't call for pretzels and balsamic glaze either but Robin graciously suggested you could do as I did and top it that way. How cool is that?!

Mini Mushroom Quiches

This recipe came from Vegangela: here .  I made them in regular sized cupcake pans with the puff pastry. These were seriously delish! Made about 22 of this size. Later I saw a comment that they could be made crustless, but didn't think that would work as well for minis. Next time I'm thinking of using a hash brown crust and then fill with the mushroom mixture. I know I saw a recipe in Cook's Illustrated for a potato crust. Does anyone have a recipe like that? 

Thank you Cara!

Wow- these were seriously delicious! Thanks to Cara of Fork and Beans 
for this wonderful recipe!

Lots of steps- but my new cupcake corer here made it much easier!

 

Easter Desserts

Everday Eats

Just a few things I've been whipping up lately...

 Not just any old hummus- it's regular hummus mixed with a little of this amazing stuff: 

 What a great combination this turned out to be!

 

 Nacho Baked Potato- daiya cheddar, sour cream, black olives and cilantro.

Raw zucchini "pasta" with warmed marinara.

 

Fruit with PB2 powdered peanut butter

The Big Salad - greens, chickpeas, avocado, kalamata olives, orange pepper, hemp seeds.

Is there anything not made better with olives?