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Nov 23

Thanksgiving Family Traditions

Article by: Megan Stremick

Thanksgiving has always been a highly anticipated holiday in our house.  I used to wake up in the morning to the delicious smells coming from the kitchen. My mom wasted no time in getting the days feast started first thing in the morning. The turkey was already slow cooking in the oven and you could almost taste the air. It’s always thick with the smell of all the ingredients for the stuffing, the gravy, the sweet potato pie and the fresh baked rolls. I wasted no time in turning the TV on to watch every moment of the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade and rolling up the sleeves on my flannel pj’s to get started on my tasty contribution—Chex Mix.

By noon all the boys were in the family room watching football and munching on Chex Mix while the girls were sipping hot totties and taking turns basting the bird in the oven. My sister and I would collaborate on setting the table while my mom tried to convince us that it would be a nice touch to have name cards. We would catch my dad at least a dozen times opening the oven and pulling off pieces of turkey meat as my mom yelled “don’t touch that bird, it’s not ready yet”.

Then, it was time to gather around the table to share what we were grateful for. A wonderful family and true friends was tops on the list for everyone, followed with a special prayer for all of those less fortunate, that they find love and peace in their lives. The feast would begin, the wine would flow, and the laughter would ensue. We always polished our full bellies off with a fresh baked pie and spent the rest of the night playing games.

As the family grew with each one of us getting married and having children of our own, there are new routines for each individual family but the tradition of coming together, sharing love, laughter, gratitude and plenty of good food and wine is still the same.

Share your Thanksgiving Family Traditions with us on Facebook and on Twitter.

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Oct 15

Vampire Bitten Vegan Red Velvet Cupcakes

What are two of the best things ever?!? If you said dressing up in costumes and cupcakes then you win! Every year I try to make something delicious with a Halloween theme to take to my annual family Halloween party. This year, I figured I would make a vegan treat. And just to try it out, I handed some of these devilishly delicious cupcakes to my neighbor and didn’t tell them they were vegan until afterwards.

“Vegan?!? No way! But… they are good.”

That’s the best compliment you can get after preparing a vegan dish.

This week’s Create Something Saturday is a recipe instead of a craft. I had seen this idea and adjusted the recipes to make it vegan. I present to you: Vampire Bitten Vegan Red Velvet Cupcakes.

Vegan Red Velvet Cupcakes

Ingredients:

2 cups Vanilla 8th Continent Soymilk
2 teaspoons apple cider vinegar
2 ½ cups all-purpose flour
2 cups sugar
4 tablespoons cocoa powder
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
2/3 cup vegetable oil
2 ounces red food coloring (make sure it is vegan red food coloring, not all coloring is created equal.)
4 teaspoons vanilla extract

Directions:

  • Add vinegar to soymilk, and set aside to curdle.
  • Sift flour, sugar, cocoa powder, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in a large bowl.
  • Add vegetable oil, food coloring, and vanilla extract to the curdled soy milk, and mix.
  • Pour liquid ingredients into the dry ingredients, and mix.
  • Fill cupcake liners ¾ full.
  • Bake in a preheated 350° oven for 20 minutes or until done.

Frosting

Ingredients:

½ cup margarine, room temperature
½ cup Tofutti Better Than Cream Cheese, room temperature
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
4 cups confectioners sugar

Directions:

  • Cream margarine, cream cheese, and vanilla extract.
  • Slowly mix the confectioner’s sugar into the creamed sugar, and then beat until smooth and fluffy.
  • Frost cooled cupcakes.

Ideally, always decorate your cakes with ingredients that complement their flavor. These cream-cheese frosted red velvet cupcakes are topped with “blood” made from pulped black cherries and dotted with pomegranate seeds or redcurrants.

Cherry sauce

Ingredients:
1 cup black cherries, very ripe and de-stoned or canned
1⁄4 cup superfine sugar
1⁄2 cup water or juice from the canned cherries, if using
1⁄2 teaspoon lime juice
1 tablespoon cornstarch (cornflour) or arrowroot

Directions:

  • Blend the cherries in a bowl using an electric hand blender
  • Place in a medium-sized heavy-based pan with the sugar, water, lime juice, and cornstarch or arrowroot.
  • Heat on medium until the cherries begin to release their liquid, and then slowly bring to a boil, stirring constantly.
  • Reduce to a simmer and heat until the cherry mixture has thickened to the desired consistency (runny enough to pipe but thick enough to prevent bleeding into the frosting).
  • Allow to cool.

Now bite into your Vampire Bitten Vegan Red Velvet Cupcakes and enjoy!

What is your favorite recipe for Halloween? Let us know on our Twitter or Facebook!

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Apr 2

Happy Easter!

This Sunday is April and some of us have plans to decorate eggs or hide baskets. My plan is to make Easter Bunny Bread that I got from our friends over at Vegweb.com!

Ingredients (use vegan versions):

  • 3/4 cup 8th Continent soymilk
  • 2 1/2 teaspoons active dry yeast
  • 3 1/4 – 3 1/2 cups flour
  • 1/3 cup maple syrup or agave nectar
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 1/4 cup vegan margarine
  • 1/4 cup warm water
  • 1 cup quick or old fashioned oats, uncooked
  • 2 1/2 teaspoon flax meal mixed with 3 Tablespoons water
  • 1 teaspoon cinnamon
  • 1 1/2 cups vegan powdered sugar
  • 2 tablespoons soy milk

Directions:

Mix flax meal and water and let sit while moving on to the next step.

Heat 8th Continent soymilk and margarine in small saucepan over medium heat, stirring occasionally until margarine is melted; cool to lukewarm.

Dissolve yeast in 1/4 cup water.

In large bowl combine margarine/milk mixture, dissolved yeast, 1 cup flour, oats, sweetener, flax mixture, salt and cinnamon; mix well. Add enough additional flour to make soft dough.  Knead on lightly floured surface 8-10 minutes or until smooth and elastic.

Shape to form ball. Place in greased large bowl, turning once to coat surface of dough. Cover; let rise in warm place about 1 hour or until double in size.  Punch dough down. Cover; let rest 10 minutes.

Divide dough in half. For bunny body, shape 1/2 to form a 36″ long rope.  Loosely roll up rope spiral fashion; pinch dough to seal end tightly. Place about 3″ from bottom of greased large cookie sheet; press down slightly.

Divide remaining dough in half. For bunny head, shape one half to form a 25″ rope. Loosely roll up rope spiral fashion; seal end tightly.

Attach to top of body on cooked sheet by pinching dough together. Divide remaining dough into thirds. For tail, shape on third to form a 15″ long rope.  Loosely roll up like others; pinch to seal end. Attach to side of body on cookie sheet by pinching dough together.

Shape remaining dough to form two 3 1/2 long bunny ears. Attach to head by pinching dough together. Let rise about 1 hour or until nearly double in size.  Heat oven to 350 degrees.

Bake 30-35 minutes or until golden brown. Cool on wire cooling rack.

For icing, remaining soy milk and powdered sugar, mix until smooth.  Drizzle over cooled bread.

Serves: 1 bunny shaped loaf

Make sure to let us know what you are doing for your Easter! You can check us out on Facebook or let us know on Twitter!

From the 8th Continent Soymilk family we wish you and yours a very happy holiday! Oh and by the way- have you drawn your sun yet???

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Mar 16

Vegan Irish Chocolate Cupcakes!

Once a year we take time to sit back, appreciate the rainbows and imagine the pot of gold at the end of them. You may not find gold, but this is a perfect recipe for you and your kids to make together on St. Patty’s Day!

My friends over at CHOW provide an amazing recipe for Vegan Chocolate Cupcakes with Vegan Green Buttercream Frosting!

INGREDIENTS (Green Frosting)

  • 1/2 cup nonhydrogenated shortening
  • 1/2 cup nonhydrogenated margarine
  • 3 1/2 cups powdered sugar, sifted if clumpy
  • 1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
  • 1/4 cup 8th Continent Soymilk
  • A couple drops of Green Food Coloring

INSTRUCTIONS

  1. Beat the shortening and margarine together until well combined and fluffy. Add the sugar and beat for about 3 more minutes.
  2. Add the vanilla and soy milk, and beat for another 5 to 7 minutes until fluffy. Softly fold in a few drops of green food coloring until you have reached your preferred color.

INGREDIENTS (Cupcakes)

  • 1 cup 8th Continent Soymilk
  • 1 teaspoon apple cider vinegar
  • 3/4 cup granulated sugar
  • 1/3 cup canola oil
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 1/2 teaspoon almond extract, chocolate extract, or more vanilla extract
  • 1 cup all-purpose flour
  • 1/3 cup cocoa powder, Dutch-processed or regular
  • 3/4 teaspoon baking soda
  • 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
  • 1/4 teaspoon salt

INSTRUCTIONS

  1. Preheat oven to 350°F and line a muffin pan with paper or foil liners.
  2. Whisk together the 8th Continent Soymilk and vinegar in a large bowl, and set aside for a few minutes to curdle. Add the sugar, oil, vanilla extract, and other extract, if using, to the Soymilk mixture and beat until foamy. In a separate bowl, sift together the flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, baking powder, and salt. Add in two batches to wet ingredients and beat until no large lumps remain (a few tiny lumps are OK).
  3. Pour into liners, filling 3/4 of the way. Bake 18 to 20 minutes, until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Transfer to a cooling rack and let cool completely.

Have any other recipes for St. Patty’s Day? Let us know! You can either leave a comment, hit us up on Twitter or post a recipe on our Facebook Page!

Also make sure to check out these Vegan Recipes:

And make sure to have a fun and safe St. Patty’s Day!

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Mar 12

Vegan Colcannon Potatoes and Cabbage

I have to admit it, I have been so caught up in training for the L.A. Marathon that I almost forgot that this coming Wednesday is St. Patty’s Day! YAY!

And we all know what that means right? That’s right- we can finally make some of our favorite dishes! ;0)

Here is a great vegan recipe for Colcannon Potatoes and Cabbage from About.com!

Colcannon is a traditional Irish side dish. Try making this recipe for St. Patrick’s Day, or any day that you are longing for a wee taste of Ireland.

Ingredients:

  • water for boiling
  • 5 large potatoes
  • 1 head green cabbage, chopped
  • 3 leeks, sliced
  • 1 cup 8th Continent Original Soy Milk
  • 1/4 tsp nutmeg (optional)
  • salt and pepper to taste

Preparation:

Place potatoes in a large pot and add enough water to cover the potatoes. Bring to a boil and cook for at least 20 minutes, or until potatoes are tender.

In a separate pot, boil the cabbage in water for 15 minutes. Drain and set aside.

In another pot or skillet, cook leeks in soy milk until tender, about 15 minutes.

When potatoes are done cooking, mash them together with leeks, soy milk, nutmeg, salt and pepper. Add cabbage and stir to combine. Add more salt and pepper to taste and enjoy!

Do you have any other great recipes for St. Patty’s Day or any other traditions? Let us know in either the comment section below, or you can find us on Twitter and Facebook!

Have a great holiday!

OK, now back to marathon training.

See also: More vegetarian and vegan Irish recipes

Or check out the other Vegan recipes I have posted!

Recipes

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Feb 16

Vegan Jewish Apple Cake! Nomlicious.

I was fortunate enough to link up with Savvy from the Savvy Soybean- an up and coming blogger who has amazing recipes and a personality to match!

Check out this awesome Vegan Jewish Apple Cake that is easy to make and impossible to resist! Ms. Savvy- take it away!

Vegan Jewish Apple Cake

Hey there! Savvy Soybean here, veggie food-lover and digester of all things yummy in NYC. I love baking vegan, so when dairy-free extraordinaire Lopez asked me to whip up my favorite recipe with 8th Continent Soy Milk, I knew just the thing.

You see, I’ve been a bit overzealous in my fruit purchases lately. Crates of tangerines, bunches of bananas, bogs of cranberries… I like to think it’s motivation. I also like to think I can eat it all. But 99% of the time I wait too long and end up with something even better: bananas mushy for banana bread, plums soft for muffins, and apples just a day too ripe for anything but Vegan Jewish Apple Cake.

That’s right, I just called vegan apple cake “Jewish.” My grandmother would patsch me over the head. Butter, bread, brisket: that’s Jewish cooking in a nutshell. But as Bob Dylan once sang, “the times, they are a-changin’,” and we need to smarten up about what we scarf down. I found this super healthy recipe on Vegan Verve, an animal rights blog, and toyed with it to my liking. I pulled back the sugar, cut the cinnamon in half (a little goes a long way) and, of course, used the delicious 8th Continent Soy Milk as my dairy-free alternative.

Ingredients

  • 2 Tbsp flax meal
  • 6 Tbsp water
  • 3 medium red apples
  • 1 1/3 cup sugar (I use the raw stuff)
  • ½ cup unsweetened applesauce
  • ¾ cup canola oil
  • ¼ cup 8th Continent Soy Milk
  • 2 Tbsp vanilla
  • 2 Tbsp cinnamon
  • 2 cups unbleached flour
  • 2 tsp baking powder

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 Degrees F.

Whisk together flax meal and water. This’ll act as our nutritionally packed egg substitute.

Combine flax mixture, applesauce, soy milk, sugar, oil, and vanilla.

In a separate bowl, mix the dry ingredients: cinnamon, flour, and baking powder.

Peel and slice 3 medium sweet apples. Slicing them now will save you from preserving them in lemon juice to prevent from browning, but that’s also an option if you’d like to get it out of the way first.

Combine wet and dry ingredients. Add the apple slices. Mix until the apple slices are evenly distributed.

Pour mixture into a generously greased loaf/ bundt/ cake pan and place in preheated oven.

Cooking time varies depending on the depth of your pan. I baked mine in a deep oven-safe casserole dish, so the baking time was 1 hr 10 min. Check at about 40 minutes and do that toothpick test. This recipe generally takes 50 minutes to bake, and approximately 3 minutes to eat.

The two beneficiaries of my baking, my roommate and boyfriend, exclaimed the highest praise I could receive: “It doesn’t taste vegan!” They loved the moist, cinnamon-y cake and chunks of warm apple. They were also delighted to hear the recipe wasn’t all that unhealthy. And you know what? If my Jewish grandma had a bite, she’d go mashugana… in a good way.

About Ms. Savvy and The Savvy Soybean

Savvy moved to New York in the summer of 2007 and she, just like most new New Yorkers was intimidated by the Big City.

In the winter of 2007, Savvy decided to take the plunge into vegetarianism. Her blog is a wit-filled fun-loving site about places you can eat veggie in the Big City- without going broke! She also posts some amazing recipes like the one above. Check her out! The Savvy Soybean has been one of my favorite blogs I have come across to date!

And as you all know- you can keep in touch with me, Lopez and 8th Continent Soymilk on Twitter and Facebook as well!

Happy eating you beautiful people you.

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Feb 11

Cupid’s 8th Continent 12 Days of Valentines- Day 3

Only three days away until the big day! That’s right- Valentine’s Day.

Still haven’t figured out the perfect sweet dish to make your sweetheart? Thanks to Amy over at VegWeb we are able to provide you with this awesome vegan recipe for a Peanut Butter, Banana, Chocolate Chip Bread. Now you can’t even try to tell me that doesn’t sound decadent!

Ingredients

  • 2 ripe mashed bananas
  • 2 1/2 cups flour
  • 1/2 cup white sugar
  • 1/2 cup brown sugar
  • 1 cup 8th Continent soy milk
  • 1/3 cup applesauce
  • 1 tablespoon baking powder
  • 3/4 cup peanut butter
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla
  • 1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
  • 3 tablespoon cooking oil
  • 1 cup chocolate chips

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 Fahrenheit

2. Stir together flour, sugars, baking powder and cinnamon.

3. In another bowl combine bananas, soy milk, peanut butter, oil, vanilla, and applesauce.  Add to flour, stir until combined.

4. Stir in chocolate chips.

5. Pour into two greased 8x4x2 loaf pans.  Bake 50 to 55 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean.

Frost with Peanut Butter Frosting:

-Melt 3 tbs peanut butter with 2 tbs margarine in a saucepan.

-stir in one cup powdered sugar and 1 tsp vanilla.

-add 1 tbs soy milk or more until it is of spreading consistency

Serves: 12-15

Preparation time: 15 minutes

Let me know what you think of the recipe!

If you still need gift ideas  make sure to check out the posts I have been writing every day to count down to Valentine’s Day!

Day 12- Make a pop-up Valentine’s Day card!

Day 11- Make a heart-shaped Vegan Chocolate Cake!

Day 10- A DIY project to make “U Complete Me” Pillow set!

Day 9- My music picks- both a pro-love and anti-love playlist!

Day 8- The Perfect Valentine’s Day presents from Etsy!

Day 7- Perfect Vegan recipe for Penna alla Vodka!

Day 6- Forget the material things! Do something sweet with your Valentine!

Day 5- Easy and Tasty recipe for Vegan Chocolate “Ice Cream”!

Day 4- Some dorky AND romantic things that are perfect to write inside your Valentine’s Day card!

Need any other suggestions? Or do you have the perfect idea? Make sure to let me know on Twitter or on Facebook!

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Dec 15

Vegan German Chocolate Cake!

For the Holiday season I am making a few videos to help the lactose intolerant people, the vegans and the vegetarians get their cake and eat it too!

So check it out! Vegan German Chocolate Cake! It comes out very rich, delicious, and no one will know it is vegan- unless you want them to of course!

Recipes Sara Lopez

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Jun 30

How to Make a Berry Naughty Smoothie with 8th Continent Soy Milk!

Recipes Sara Lopez

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Jun 22

YUM! Healthy Banana Cream Pie!

This is going to be perfect for later today. A nice afternoon snack that won’t upset my stomach later.

New-Fashioned Banana Cream Pie!

Prep Time:

25 min

Start to Finish:

55 min

Number of Servings:

4 servings

Ingredients:

1/4 cup cornstarch
1/3 cup sugar
2 cups 8th Continent® vanilla soymilk
2 egg yolks
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 tablespoon butter or trans-fat-free margarine
1 ripe medium banana, thinly sliced
1 cup frozen fat-free whipped topping, thawed
8 squares cinnamon- or chocolate-flavored graham cracker crumbs, crushed (1/2 cup)
Caramel or chocolate fat-free topping, if desired

Instructions:

1. In 2-quart stainless steel or nonstick saucepan (do not use aluminum because pudding will discolor), stir together cornstarch and sugar. Gradually stir in soymilk and egg yolks with wire whisk. Heat to boiling over medium heat, stirring constantly. Boil 1 minute, stirring constantly; remove from heat. Stir in vanilla and butter. Cover surface of pudding with plastic wrap to prevent skin from forming. Refrigerate about 30 minutes or until cool.
2. Stir pudding mixture. Sprinkle 1 1/2 teaspoons crumbs over bottom of 4 small shallow individual serving bowls. Spoon 1/4 cup pudding mixture over crumbs; top with 1/4 of the banana slices. Spoon 1/4 cup pudding mixture over banana slices; top with 1/4 cup whipped topping and 1 1/2 teaspoons graham cracker crumbs. Drizzle with topping.

High Altitude (3500-6500 ft):
Decrease cornstarch to 2 tablespoons.

Nutritional Information:

1 Serving: Calories 310 (Calories from Fat 80); Total Fat 8g (Saturated Fat 3 1/2g Trans Fat 0g); Cholesterol 110mg; Sodium 190mg; Total Carbohydrate 53g; (Dietary Fiber 1g, Sugars 34g); Protein 6g Percent Daily Value*: Vitamin A 10% Vitamin C 2% Calcium 15% Iron 6% Exchanges: 1 Starch 2 Other Carbohydrate 1/2 Low-Fat Milk 1 Fat Carbohydrate Choices: 3 1/2
*Percent Daily Values are based on a 2,000 calorie diet.

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