Scraps and Snippets ~ Vegan Thai Coleslaw

Thai Coleslaw

1 16 ounce bag of coleslaw shreds (this is about 5 handfuls if you like to shred your own cabbage)

½ Red pepper thinly sliced and chopped into 2 -3 inch pieces. (So slice pepper lengthwise then chop in half.)

2-3 TBSP finely chopped fresh cilantro

3-4 (use all of it, not just the green part) green onions/scallions, chopped

1 tsp lime zest

1 TBSP lime juice

1 TBSP rice wine vinegar

⅓ Cup Vegan mayo

¼ Cup peanut butter

1 Cup coconut milk (I used canned full fat without chilling)

1 teaspoon garlic powder

1 teaspoon salt

1-2 teaspoons of red pepper flakes (use to taste, I used 2 and it was a nice burn)

Optional:

1 Cup peanuts

1 Cup chopped meatless chicken if desired

Prep, rinse, chop all your veggies.

In a large bowl pour in coconut milk, add peanut butter and mayo and stir until combined. Add salt, garlic powder, pepper flakes, lime juice, vinegar and lime zest. Finally stir in all the vegetables and add-ins and mix until coated.

Scraps and Snippets ~ Pirate Scotcheroos

Argh. I love me some salty with me sweet. These salty bars will knock the parrot right off your shoulder, matey. 

You know the classic Scotcheroo recipe? There are several out there. Here's a new vegan (check your ingredient labels to be sure) sweet and salty version for you. 

Let's just say these are tasty. 

3 Cups krispie or flaky cereal of choice 

2 1/2 Cups chopped/crushed pretzels

1 Cup sugar

1 Cup light corn syrup (I'm thinking brown rice syrup would work as well)

1 1/2 Cup peanut butter

2 Cups chocolate chips (or if you want to spring for dairy free butterscotch you can go 1/2 and 1/2)

1/4 to 1/3 Cup peanut butter

Grease a 9 x 13.

Place sugar and corn syrup in a large sauce pan. Stir until the sugar begins to melt and mixture begins to boil. Add peanut butter, remove from heat and stir well until mixed. Pour in cereal and crushed pretzels and stir until cereal is coated. Pour and press mixture into pan. 

Using a double boiler (or a smaller pan sitting on top of another with water set over a medium flame) place peanut butter in the upper pan and add chips. Stir frequently until melted. Pour and spread over bars. Let sit at least a half hour then cut into squares. 

Scraps and Snippets ~ Leftover Fun

 I had a cup of leftover vegan cheese some leftover enchilada sauce and half a package of Gardein meatless crumbles and a potluck I needed to make food for.  I didn't have enough of any of those to make enchiladas like I did the week before when our church service and potluck got cancelled, so I decided I'd combine em and smear the mixture on tortillas. For the record, the enchiladas were tasty, too. 

Granted, these aren't the prettiest roll-ups in the world. I think if I had smeared more on the tortilla they'd have been plumper and more zaftig. These were EASY and tasty used up some leftovers. 

This vegan cheese is freaky good. Check out the recipe. I'm not sure I'd change it up much, maybe a little garlic powder. It's made from potatoes, carrots, nutritional yeast, oil and lemon juice. The texture is very much like canned nacho cheese. It would be amazing with salsa and/or meatless crumble in one of those little crockpots and served with tortilla chips. 

This is Gladys' opinion, typed by her little paws --- "saq1"--- I think it's positive in nature since she did gladly lick bowls.

Regardless of what the dogs think and the maybe not so beautiful rolling job, these were tasty and disappeared from the table. I love easy tricks. 

Scraps and Snippets ~ Pumpkin Pasta Salad

Pumpkin Pasta Salad

16 ounce box of macaroni cooked according to package and rinsed

3 TBSP minced onion

2 TBSP minced celery

1 Cup pureed pumpkin (not pumpkin pie filling with the seasonings)

1 Cup mayonnaise

1 ½ teaspoon garlic powder

1 ½ teaspoon salt

1 ½ teaspoon sage

Mix pumpkin, mayo and spices together with chopped veggies. Toss in pasta and stir well. In addition you could add some of the following. pepitas (toasted pumpkin seeds), diced mushrooms, chopped kale, fresh chiffonade sage instead of the dried (use 3 Tablespoons)

Scribbles and Scrambles ~ Bake-A-Fun

My weekend agenda included an epic baking marathon. 

We made Crack Bars and Vegan Butterfingers and mint meltaways and Gooey Pecan Bars. 

And then we just went off the road and started looking through cookbooks and on line for more recipes to make. Whoopie Pies ended up being perfect. Pecan Brittle ended up becoming Turtle balls dipped in chocolate due to bit too short in the boiling department. The fail I couldn't save was Chocolate Crinkle cookies. See photo. This dough was to chill for 8 hours. Well, we didn't have that so it got 3. 

I held the flattened solid sheet of cookies up and asked & if she wanted an 8 x 11 sheet of cookies for any gifts. Then we laughed like maniacs because we had entered the cookie mania phase and had consumed a few morsels of sugar.  

Scraps and Snippets ~ Vegan Shepherds Pie

I decided to put some vegan leftovers to use and recreate a whole different delivery system. 

Used:  

Mashed Potatoes

Leftover Seitan Roast

Added. Chopped Veggies. 

What and How.

I had a few cups of dirty, garlic mashed potatoes (dirty = skin on) (garlic mash = garlic cloves boiled in the potato water and whipped into the potatoes. I thinned them out a bit with vegetable broth so I could spread them easily. 

I chopped up the seitan roast. There were about 6 meatloaf sized slices and I crumbled them in the bottom of a greased casserole dish. 

I sauteed diced celery (2-3 stalks small dice), carrot (1 small dice) and onion (1 small) until caramelized. 

I placed the veggies over the crumbled seitan and covered that with the potatoes. I added salt and pepper to the top of the casserole along with a few shakes of paprika and dried onion. 

I baked it in a 350 oven for about 30 minutes. Yum. 

Scribbles and Scrambles ~ Full Holiday Weekend

I haven't had such a fun weekend in a long time. I'm tired, and a little shell-shocked by temperature extremes, but, hey, that's not uncommon around these parts. 

Wednesday night Rob put in a new floor in the mud room/aka puppy room. They have a room. :  ) With a nice big back door entrance and lots of easily swept and/wiped up flooring. 

The girls have been alone in their room a few hours at a time with just a couple barricades and plenty of room to roam. So far they are respecting "the crib." This move opened up more room in the living room where the kennel has been resting since May. So we rearranged the living room furniture a little bit and I finished up a functional project I've been working on. 

Thursday was a wonderfully laid back day. We had a simple brunch with & and her little ones and a couple of friends. Thanksgiving was the 5 month anniversary of the little ones moving in with & and it was a cherry on the top of the sundae. The kids have bloomed under her mothering and we all love them. They spent the day and we pulled out all the Christmas items and we decorated and loaded up the Christmas tree. I tipped it over and broke two ornaments. But a good time was had by all. And my house feels festive. & and I cooked all the goodies we were going to be eating later that night. 

We had Thanksgiving dinner at my folks house. Another lovely get together. And of course the food was pretty amazing. & and I made several vegan options (our main dish was mushroom seitan loaf that was perfect but which I will add maybe a bit more garlic to next time I make it.)  and my new sister-in-law and brother made a delish pumpkin cheesecake.  Super delish. 

Friday night found me at &'s helping them decorate their place. The kids had so much fun. The 5 and 3 year olds especially got into decorating little Christmas trees for their rooms. So cute. Pure excitement. 

Saturday night we headed over again to decorate gingerbread houses with Toad Boy and the Mrs. One more Christmas thing on Sunday night at church rounded out the whole kid centric weekend. But. In exchange for all the work, I got lots of hugs and kisses, and a raging cold. Ha. Ha. I'm good with that. 

Scraps and Snippets ~ Maple Ginger Broccoli Slaw

A little tart, a lot refreshing. 

Maple Ginger Broccoli Slaw

I package of broccoli slaw. (I used Trader Joe's organic. It was probably 4 cups unleashed.)

1 good sized Granny Smith apple matchstick sliced (I left the skin on) 

2 TBSP maple syrup 

2 teaspoons rice vinegar

1 TBSP soy sauce

1 teaspoon ground ginger (or shredded fresh would be great if you've got some and love ginger)

1/2 teaspoon ground pepper

salt to taste

Toss all items together. 

Add dried cranberries to make it extra festive. 

Scraps and Snippets ~ Chocolate Fudge Cake Two Ways.

 This is the chocolate fudge decadent cake I made for my brother and sister-in-laws' wedding in October. It was dense, fudge, moist and delicious. All that was left on the plate was a few smears. 

A week or so later the little kids and I whipped up a batch as cupcakes. Delicious. Even after the near misses that happen when 7, 5 and 3 year olds are involved in a baking process. And even though the batch made enough cupcakes we had some several days out. 

Chocolate Fudge Cake and Cupcakes 

27-32 cupcakes (60ish mini cupcakes) or 3 round or 8 x 8 layers

2 1/2 Cups sugar

1 Cup and 2 TBSP of Earth Balance or coconut oil or mix

3 teaspoons baking powder

1+ teaspoon salt

1 Cup cocoa powder

1 1/2 Cups strong hot coffee

1 1/2 Cups milk of choice (chocolate soy or almond adds a nice punch)

1/2 Cup chocolate chips

3 TBSP apple cider vinegar

2 teaspoons vanilla

In small bowl place milk and vinegar, set aside. In an additional small bowl pour the hot coffee over the chocolate chips and stir on and off until they are melted, add vanilla and set aside. Cream butter substitute and sugar together. Add salt and baking powder and mix well. Add the milk and vinegar mixture and incorporate. Pour in chocolate mixture and mix and finally mix in the flour and stir until the flour is fully mixed in. 

Grease and flour pans or line cupcake pans. 

Preheat oven to 350. Pour the batter into the pans equally or fill the cupcake liners almost 2/3rds full. 

Bake 20-25 minutes testing the cake/cupcakes with a knife that should come out clean for cakes. Cupcakes bake for 15-18 minutes (mini cupcakes 12-14 minutes) 

Remove and let cool

Frosting. 

Ratios because I do something different every stinking time: 

Approximately 1 cup vegan butter, vegan cream cheese or shortening to 3 cups powdered sugar (for fudge frosting use 2/3 or to taste cup of cocoa for powdered sugar). A splash of vanilla (about 1 teaspoon) (if you want wedding frosting taste use a half splash of almond extract, too)  Mix well. Add more powdered sugar or cocoa if wet or if too stiff add a TBSP or so of non-dairy milk (or coffee if you are making fudge and want mocha frosting) until you get the consistency you want. 

When the cake or cupcakes are cooled, frost. For the raspberry wedding cake I had washed and dried 2 cups of raspberries and placed them on the frosted cake. I then melted 1 cup of chocolate chips in a heated 2/3 Cup of non-dairy milk. Then drizzle over the raspberries and cake layers. 

Scraps and Snippets ~ Garlic Rosemary Pumpkin Biscuits

Garlic Rosemary Pumpkin Biscuits

2 Cups flour (with additional for rolling dough - I used whole wheat pastry flour)

3 teaspoons baking powder

1 teaspoon garlic powder (if you use garlic salt skip the salt)

½ teaspoon salt

½ teaspoon chopped dried rosemary (or try sage)

⅓ Cup butter, margarine or shortening

¾ Cup pumpkin (don’t get pumpkin pie filling because that has sweet seasonings)

¼ Cup water or milk

Preheat oven to 450.

Mix flour, baking powder, salt, garlic and rosemary together. With a fork cut in the fat until the mixture resembles coarse uniform meal. Mix pumpkin with milk/water in a small bowl. Pour into the flour mixture and stir until mixed and the dough pulls away from the bowl. (This doesn’t take long, basically once the dry disappears it’s ready) Pat the dough into a circle about a ½ inch thick on a flour dusted surface. Use a glass rim or biscuit cutter dipped in flour to cut out circles. Scoop up the remaining dough and flatten and repeat. You’ll get approx 10 biscuits. Bake at 450 for 12 minutes.

Scraps and Snippets ~ Caramel Pumpkin Cake Roll

Next cake on the docket: 

Caramel Pumpkin Cake Roll

I found a recipe that I of course had to modify. Here's the original. I did a trial run and thought it was a little thin and I wanted a little more cake body. So I doubled and tweaked it to this. 

1 1/2 Cups flour (I used whole wheat pastry)
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1 pinch of cardamom   
1 pinch of nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1 1/2 Cup pureed pumpkin
2/3 Cup sugar
2/3 Cup brown sugar
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
6 TBSP oil, melted coconut oil or melted Earth Balance

Preheat oven to 350.

Mix the sugar with the oil, pumpkin, vanilla and spices. Blend well. Add salt and baking powder and stir completely. Blend in flour. 

Preheat oven to 350. Oil a 11 x 15 Jelly Roll pan. Place a piece of parchment paper over the pan. Spread the batter evenly over the parchment paper. Place in the oven and bake for 15-18 minutes. Poke with a knife and when it comes out clean, it's ready. 

Let cool for a few minutes. While cooling spread 1/4 cup of powdered sugar over the top of the cake and then cover the cake with a towel. Turn upside down and peel the parchment paper off the cake. Roll the cake, carefully, into a spiral. The towel is going to be taking the place of the frosting and it's going give the cake shape. 

Let cool on a cake rack (in the towel) for a couple of hours. The filling and frosting are: 

1/2 Cup Vegan cream cheese
1/2 Cup caramel (vegan recipe)
1 teaspoon vanilla
4 Cups powdered sugar
1 Cup flour (or you can use additional powdered sugar but the flour cuts the sweetness a little bit).

Blend together. 

Cinnamon sugar pecans for topping. 

1/2 Cup chopped pecans. 
1/2 TBSP sugar
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

In a frying pan toss the pecans and toast over medium heat. Cook approximately 1 minutes and then add the sugar and stir until the pecans are coated. Add cinnamon and stir. 

Unwrap the cake. There may be some cracks. You will frost it so that doesn't really matter. Remove the towel. Spread frosting over the cake. Reroll. Spread the frosting over the top of the roll. Or pipe a design. Sprinkle with the cinnamon sugar pecans. 

Scraps and Snippets ~ German Chocolate Bundt Cake

I used a favorite chocolate bundt cake recipe from An Everyday Vegan and modified it. I've linked to her recipe and am sharing mine as I made it. Her's is delicious. So was mine. I will make a change next time though. I placed the "filling" on top of the batter thinking it would sink. Next time I'll simply pour in half the batter, add the filling and cover it with more batter. Simple fix. 

2 1/4 cups Whole Wheat pastry flour
1 1/2 cups sugar
1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
3/4 tsp sea salt
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 1/2 tsp vinegar

3/4 cup non-dairy milk

1/4 cup strong cold coffee
1/2 cup unsweetened natural apple sauce

Filling and Topping

1 1/2 cup chocolate chips divided
1 cup toasted coconut (see below)

1 cup chopped pecans

1/2 TBSP sugar

1/2 TBSP cocoa

1 Cup non-dairy milk

Preheat to 350 degrees. 

Place coconut shreds on a pan. Place in oven and bake for 8 minutes. Stir and bake another 2, check for golden color. Remove from oven. Separate 1/4 cup for topping. Dump the remainder in a small bowl for filling. Add 3/4 cup chocolate chips. Set aside. Prepare pecans. In a frying pan over med to high heat toss pecans. Stir as you heat them and when aromatic (about a minute or so, add the sugar and cocoa and stir until sugar melts and nuts are coated, about a minute or two.) Let the nuts cool for 5 mins then separate 3/4 cup into the filling bowl and 1/4 (approx) with the remaining coconut for the topping. Prepare your bundt pan with oil/margarine etc, then flour. If your bundt pan is silicone a thin layer of grease should be plenty. 

Mix the vinegar with the milk in a large bowl. Let sit for a few minutes. Add the cooled coffee, sugar, oil and cocoa powder and stir well. Pour in the baking powder, salt and applesauce and incorporate. Add vanilla and stir. Completely mix in the flour. 

Pour the one half of the batter into the prepared bundt cake pan. Using a spoon scoop the chocolate chip/coconut/pecan mixture into the center trying to stay away from the sides. Cover with the remaining batter.  Bake for 40 minutes in the middle of the oven. Remove from oven and let cool in the pan for at least 20 minutes. Turn the pan over onto a plate.

Heat the cup of non-dairy milk in a saucepan. Remove from the heat, pour in the remaining chocolate chips (1/2 cup) and stir until melted. Let sit for 10 minutes or so. Pour over the cooled cake and top with the remaining pecan/toasted coconut mixture.  

Scraps and Snippets ~ Lemon Blueberry Bundt Cake

 A co-worker brought a yogurt strawberry bundt cake into the office a few weeks ago. I tasted it and decided I needed a recipe so I could veganize it and make it my own. I wanted to serve it at my brother's wedding. Why would I use a cake I'd never made for an occasion like that? Good question. Insanity? But the lemon and blueberry marriage just sounded heavenly. And I uber increased the lemon so I knew it'd be off the charts. I don't know the origin of the original recipe but if you google Strawberry Yogurt Cake you'll find lots of options. 

Now onto my Lemon Blueberry Bundt Cake of deliciousness. 

1 Cup of room temperature Earth Balance

2 Cups of sugar

3 TBSP egg substitute (just the dry portion, the wet is coming up) ( I used homemade EnerG. and her recipe says rounded 1/2 TBSP to 2 TBSP liquid I go 1 full and 3 respectively for my subs, generally)

8 ounces non-dairy yogurt. The containers I buy are 6 oz. I used a full vanilla and 2 ounces from a blueberry.

1/3 Cup Non dairy milk (pretty much anything but chocolate)

1/3 Cup lemon juice

zest from 1 lemon

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

2 1/2 Cups whole wheat pastry flour (set aside 1/4 cup)

1 and 1/2 to 2 Cups fresh blueberries

Preheat over to 350. Grease and flour a bundt pan unless you have silicone then a light greasing is good enough. 

Mix milk and lemon juice together in a separate bowl and let sit for a couple minutes. In a separate bowl combine Earth Balance and sugar, add in lemon zest, salt and baking powder and mix well. Add the yogurt to the lemon juice/milk blend and stir well. Add the egg substitute powder and when incorporated pour the liquid into the sugar/Earth Balance bowl and stir very well. Add the flour (remember to set aside 1/4 cup) and blend. Then toss your blueberries with the reserved flour and pop them into the batter. Stir and pour into the bundt pan. Bake for 50 minutes to an hour. A knife should come out clean.  

Glaze. Approx 2 TBSP lemon juice to 1 Cup powdered sugar. But. You have to mess around with that to get it to the consistency you want. The cake is very moist. In hindsight I would have added another 1/2 Cup or so of sugar (or flour) to give it more body. 

Scraps and Snippets ~ Cinnamon Roll Monkey Bread. Yes. Seriously. OVER THE TOP

Uh. This is pretty easy. And stinking decadent. I mean. It rocks in the worst way, as in it is a sugar slap upside the head and the little cinnamon crunch balls slide down oh so easy. 

Good Morning Sunshine Super Cinnamon Roll Monkey Bread (realistically serves 6-10) (If it’s all you are making plan on 6.)

2 Cans of vegan friendly (TJ's) cinnamon rolls (12+ ounces). (You could try homemade rolls with similar results I'm guessing.)

½ Cup melted earth balance or coconut oil

1 Cup sugar

3 teaspoons cinnamon

Mix sugar and cinnamon together in one bowl. In another melt the Earth Balance or coconut oil.

Prepare a bundt pan with a good greasing. Preheat the oven to 350. Remove the cinnamon rolls. Set the frosting packets aside. Place the cinnamon roll sections on a cutting board. Slice each roll into four segments. Basically cut in half and then in half the other way. Don’t worry. They will start to fall apart a bit. Take each fourth and dip in melted "butter" then sugar and cinnamon mixture and drop into bundt pan. If the sections fall apart that’s okay. When it bakes they will all come together. Keep going until the rolls are all coated and stuck in the pan. If there is butter sub or sugar/cinnamon left just pour over the rolls. Place in oven and bake for 30-33 minutes. If you want, pull out a small piece from the middle after 28 or so minutes. You don’t want overdone but doughy is nasty. You should see bubbling caramelly deliciousness and smell cinnamon sugar. When baked remove from oven and allow to sit 10 minutes. Place plate over pan and flip so the bundt cake slides out onto the plate.

Cool another 5 min then drizzle (cut the tip off or puncture and squeeze) one frosting packet over the top of the monkey bread. Cut the tip off or puncture the second frosting packet and set aside for those who want more frosting.

Scraps and Snippets ~ Red, White and Blue Vegan Sundae...

 We didn't get a garden in this year. Part of me is super bummed because I LOVE fresh, organic produce. But we were lazy, we were tardy, we got puppies. 

HOWEVER!!! Got to love gathering the fruit of previous labor. We have harvested a couple gallons (blessedly slow) black and red raspberries. After dinner last night we wanted something sweet. 

Trader Joe's soy vanilla (delicious BTW)

Fresh picked raspberries

1/4 Cup dark chocolate chips 

1-2 teaspoons coconut oil

Rinse and dry the berries.

Melt coconut oil and chocolate chips. 

Scoop ice cream into bowls. Pour the chocolate over the ice cream (turns into magic shell) and toss on the berries. 

Yum. 

Scraps and Snippets ~ Berry Coconut Cupcakes and Frosting ~ So Delicious

 I'm entering this recipe into the So Delicious Spring Fling Recipe Contest. 

Berry Coconut Cup Cakes (makes 18)

1 egg substitute (1 TBSP ground chia or egg replacer)

1/2 TBSP baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

3/4 Cup So Delicious coconut milk (at room temperature)

1/4 Cup jam (I used organic strawberry all fruit)

1/2 Cup of coconut oil (melted)

1 1/4 Cup sugar

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

2 1/4 Cup flour

Put milk and egg replacer powder together in a bowl and set aside. Cream coconut oil and sugar together. Add salt and baking powder, mix until incorporated. Pour half the milk and the extracts in and mix. Pour in half the flour and mix well, add the rest of the milk, stir then the additional flour and mix for two more minutes.

Fill cupcake liners 1/2-2/3 full. 

Bake at 350 for 15-17 minutes or until knife comes out clean. If you want vanilla, use 1 Cup of So Delicious and no jam.

Berry Frosting

3 TBSP berry jam

3 TBSP Earth Balance or coconut oil

1/2 tsp of vanilla

2 Cups powdered sugar

If too thick add just a splash of coconut milk, if still too wet add a little more powdered sugar.

When the cupcakes are cool frost each cupcake.  

Scraps and Snippets ~ Quinoa Muffuletta...Fun with Quinoa Part Two

Quinoa and Easter.

I took this cold quinoa muffuletta salad to one location and the ring to the other.

Follow the directions below for the basic quinoa to make either dish. The amount of cooked quinoa will be slightly over 2 cups.
1 Cup quinoa
1/4 Cup dried mushrooms
1/4 Cup diced onion
2 Cloves garlic minced
2 Cups veggie broth

Toss all in a pan and bring to a boil. Turn down to simmer and cover and let simmer about 15 minutes.

The ring recipe is here. 

Cold Quinoa Muffuletta Salad

Dressing: 

3 TBSP lemon juice

2 TBSP olive oil

1/2 teaspoon garlic powder

1/2 teaspoon dried oregano

1/2 teaspoon of agave or maple syrup

1/2 teaspoon of yellow or brown spicy mustard

dash salt

Mix well. 

Add the following:

1/2 Cup chopped mushrooms

1/4 to 1/2 Cup chopped green olives

1/4 to 1/2 Cup chopped kalamata olives

1/2 Cup shredded kale

The dressing 
The cooked quinoa mixture

Mix well. 

Scraps and Snippets ~ Quinoa Ring...Fun with Quinoa Part 1

First prep the quinoa to make enough for two separate dishes. This amount makes a quinoa ring and a medium sized side salad. I'd definitely cut it in half if you only want to make one or the other. The amount of cooked quinoa will be slightly over 3 cups. If you want to make just the ring follow the directions in the parentheses and this will make approx a cup.

1 1/2 Cup quinoa (1/2 Cup)

1/3 Cup dried mushrooms (2 TBSP)

1/3 Cup diced onion (2 TBSP)

3 Cloves garlic minced (1 clove)

3 Cups veggie broth (1 Cup)

Bring to a boil, turn down to simmer and cover and let simmer about 15 minutes.

Split the cooked amount into thirds into two separate bowls (one of them can be the pan) 1/3 for ring, 2/3 for salad. The salad recipe is here. 

To make the Quinoa Ring you also need the following. 

1/4 of a container of vegan cream cheese (2 oz or 2 TBSPish)

1/4 Cup chopped mushrooms

3/4 teaspoons garlic powder

1/2 TBSP finely chopped onion

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 1/2 TBSP nutritional yeast

Add all these to the smaller amount bowl full of the quinoa and mix all together very well.

Crescent rolls (1 can, make sure it's vegan) You could also use your favorite pizza dough and make this a pocket or calzone. 

To make a crescent roll ring separate the 8 triangles of dough. Lay each of the  longest pointiest ends over the rim of a large pie plate or round baker. The shorter two point ends will overlap each other and there will be a hole in the center. It's going to look kind of like a stick drawing of a sun. Press the overlapped edges in the pan together. 

Scoop the quinoa filling onto the flat inner circle of dough. Then take each outside point and pull it over the mixture and tuck it slightly under the inner ring of dough. 

Bake at the temperature called for on the can (or in your pizza dough recipe) Bake approximately 4 - 6 minutes longer to make sure everything is done. You want it golden and cooked through. 

Serves 8 slices.   

Scraps and Snippets ~ Carrot Cake Truffles

Carrot Cake Truffles

3 small carrots (remove the ends, peel and chop)

1 1/2 Cup nuts (I used pecans)

1/2 tsp cinnamon

12 Medjool dates (pits removed, of course) 

1 tsp vanilla

Dash salt

flaked coconut or powdered/crumbed nuts

Place carrots in food processor, add nuts and dates and process. While running add cinnamon, salt and vanilla.  Process until mixture is uniform and sticky. 

Roll into balls and roll in coconut, nuts or both. 

Chill a couple hours before serving and keep in fridge. Makes about 20.