Donuts

So I am going to come right out and admit that I didn't use my mixer to make these, but that is only because I was at my best friend Deborah's house for Christmas. I would have used my mixer, had i been at home. I stayed with her since there was nowhere for me to stay with family. I decided to make her donuts for breakfast one morning with my new donut maker I had purchased, but yet to use. She ate like 10-15 of them, even said these are good and then I told her that I used tofu as a substitute for eggs, you would have thought I said that there was cow manure in them the way she acted. I told her that she had to have known that they would be vegan if I was making them, she just shrugged and ate a few more. Here is what you need, and they really are good. The recipe makes about 30 mini donuts.

1/2 cup of tofu or 2 eggs if not vegan
1 1/2 c. flour ( I prefer unbleached, but all she had was self-rising so I guess it doesn't matter what kind all that much.)
1/3 c cocoa
1/2 c. cane sugar
1/2 c. chocolate milk ( I used Silk dark chocolate almond milk)
a pinch of salt
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 tbs melted Earth Balance ( you can use butter if you desire)

blend tofu, sugar and vanilla until smooth. Add milk and melted butter, next add in the rest of the ingredients and blend until smooth.

Spoon into pre-heated donut maker. Cook according to donut maker directions. If you don't have a donut maker you can Grease a muffin tin and fill 2/3 full. Bake at 325 degrees for 8 minutes. Enjoy. You can do a glaze, but I personally don't think that you need the added sugar. This is of course where my mother and I would differ if you want a glaze mix together 1 cup of confectioners (powdered) sugar with 2 tbs of hot water. Drizzle glaze over each donut. Enjoy.

Easy Dark Chocolate Peanut Butter Fudge

So I am going to apologize for not posting in a while and when I finally do, not having a photo. I think I may have taken one, but I can't find my camera, so it is a mystery. It is pretty good and was super easy to veganize since the frosting is accidentally vegan :) Here is what you need:

1 container of Pillsbury Dark Chocolate frosting
2 tbs butter (I used earth balance)
1 cup chocolate chips (I used vegan choco chips)
1 cup of peanut butter
1/2 tsp vanilla extract

LINE 8x8-inch pan with foil, extending foil up to top edge of pan.
PLACE chocolate chips and butter in large microwave-safe bowl. Microwave on HIGH 1 minute. Stir until smooth. Blend in frosting and peanut butter until combined. Microwave on HIGH 90 seconds. Stir in almond extract. Pour evenly into prepared pan.
CHILL 1 hour or until firm. Lift fudge with edges of foil to remove from pan. Cut into bite-sized pieces. Store in refrigerator.

Garlic Rosemary Bread

Ok so earlier in the week, I made rolls and they were fantastic, so yesterday I decided to make breadsticks to go along with my spaghetti. I have to say the rolls were better. You could also make sandwich rolls, hamburger buns or a loaf, depending on how you shape it. Here is what you need:


3 c. unbleached flour
1 tbs sugar
2 tsp instant yeast
1 tsp fine sea salt
1 c. warm water
1tbs olive oil
2 tsp finely chopped fresh rosemary
3 cloves of garlic finely minced
1tbs agave nectar

Place flour, sugar, yeast and salt in the bowl of a mixer and mix with the paddle attachment. Add in the rest of the ingredients and mix with paddle attachment until dough is formed. Change to the bread hook and mix 5 minutes more. Move to an oiled bowl, cover with plastic wrap and let rise until doubled in size. I prefer to let it rise about 4 hours, the dough is much lighter.

preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

Shape the bread into the form that you are using. Makes about 10-12 dinner rolls, 6 hamburger rolls, 12 breadsticks or one loaf. Breadsticks bake 15 minutes. Dinner rolls bake 15-20 minutes. Hamburger buns bake 20-30 minutes and a loaf 30-45 minutes. Enjoy.

Carrot Mashed Potatoes

I want to start with an apology, it has been a super long time since I have posted anything. There are a few reasons for his. One being that I got a little burnt out on blogging. The second reason being that I went Vegan and was having a hard time transitioning into my new diet/lifestyle. But I want to let you know that I am still going to be posting here as I find new things to make in my Kitchen Aid, just keep in mind that All recipes will be Vegan, meaning no animal products or bi-products. Of course there are alternatives and if you are interested in what I am eating you can check out my other blog. Enjoy!

So I wanted to make Mashed Potatoes to go with my Vegan Dumplings tonight for dinner, but I only grabbed a few potatoes last night at Native Sun, so I decided to add my favorite veggie, carrots. I did 2 carrots and 2 red potatoes. I diced them up and added them to a pot and covered them with water. I boiled them for about 20 minutes, while cooking the dumplings. I drained the cooked potatoes and carrots and added them to the mixer with a little of Earth Balance butter and Unsweetened Almond Milk. Using the paddle attachment I mixed it up until smooth. Add Salt and Pepper to taste. These were fantastic.

Changes

I have made a decision to go Vegan. That being said I have created a new blog for that and I am not sure how often this one will be updated. I am in no way abandoning it, but all recipes posted from here on out will be Vegan. I will still be getting plenty of use from my mixer, and whatever recipes that I come up with I will share either here or on the Vegan blog if you would like to follow it you can find it at http://wholesoulvegan.blogspot.com.

A lot of people that I have talked to about it think that I am crazy to be making this change. I just know that it is the right thing for me to do at this time in my life. I am really looking forward to looking and feeling my best and believe that this new way of life will help me to do that. I have no intentions of becoming a junk food vegan. I will still be cooking and preparing my meals like before the only difference is the butter, cheeses and protiens will be different. I hope you will come along on this new adventure with me.

Pistachio Pesto with Italian Chicken and Tomatoes

Ok so I know that this blog is devoted to my mixer, but this was too good not to share. And while this recipe doesn't require a mixer, it does require a food processor. I have had this massive basil plant for weeks and the last time my friend Danielle was over she said, you should make pesto.

She was supposed to come for dinner tonight, so I decided to go for it. Of course I had never made pesto before so I did some online research. Most of the sites I read said that pesto was about using what you have on hand. I didn't have pine nuts or walnuts, but i did have pistachios. So I thought why not give it a try. I also didn't have fresh cheese to grate, but I did have some parmesan ramano shaker cheese.

I thought it was fantastic, too bad Danielle didn't make it for dinner I think she would have enjoyed it too. Here is the recipe

Ingredients:

2 cups basil

3 cloves of garlic

1/3 cup pistachio nuts

1/2 cup parmesan ramano shaker cheese

1/2 cup olive oil

salt and pepper to taste

Shell pistachios and pulse in the processor a few times to chop the nuts, add the basil and continue to pulse it. Next in goes the garlic, salt and pepper pulse it some more and then turn it to on, slowly add the olive oil. Once you have a smooth mixture add in the cheese. I mixed into the pesto some mini bowtie pasta and chicken that I cooked with some salt, pepper and italian seasoning. I stirred it all together and thought it needed some color so I added some fresh cherry tomatoes from my garden sliced in half. This was so good. I am excited for lunch tomorrow.

White Chocolate Macadamia Nut Cookies with Blueberries

ingredients:

1 stick of butter, softened
1/2 c. granulated sugar
1/3 c. brown sugar
1 teaspoon of vanilla
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 egg
1 1/4 c. flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
6oz White Chocolate chunks
1/2 c. macadamia nuts, chopped
1 1/2 c. blueberries

I love white chocolate macadamia nut cookies, but I have never before tried to make them. This is definetly a recipe that I will make again with or without the blueberries. First things first I bought a box of Baker's White Chocolate squares and chunked them up.

Directions: Heat oven to 375 degrees.

Place butter, sugar, salt , and vanilla in mixer bowl with the paddle blade and mix until smooth, add egg and continue mixing. In a seperate bowl mix together flour and baking soda, add flour mixture into the mixer bowl a little at a time until incorporated. Mix in the white chocolate and the nut. Fold in blueberries. Spoon on to cookie sheets. Bake for 10-12 minutes for a large cookie 8-10 minutes for smaller cookies.Enjoy. This was a half batch for the original recipe just double the amounts on the ingredients.