Watermelon Granita (aka Slushy!)

When your husband says, “Hey maybe we should use the blender,” you may want to listen.

I did not.

And I made one HELL of a mess.  For some reason I thought this would be better made in the food processor.  What the heck was I thinking?  So I whirred away, and next thing I know there’s watermelon juice coming out of spots in my food processor that I didn’t even know were open!  Yes.

It even seeped out from UNDER the processor bowl.  You know how?  Somehow, SOMEHOW, I managed to get watermelon up and UNDER the blade-mabob-thingy.  And if that wasn’t enough, it spun so high, it started leaking out from under the lid.   I ALMOST took photos.  Almost.

Thankfully my husband didn’t laugh, point,  and say, “I told you so!”  Although, he could have rightfully done so.  He just handed me a paper towel.  I’ll bet he was laughing in his head though!

The second batch (yes, I made a second one after the first one turned out so great I knew I had to share it with all my friends) was made using the blender – where all things fruity should be chopped up.

Next is strawberries…  Thanks to 365 Scoops for the inspiration!

Choppa choppa
Some seedless watermelon (let your blender be your guide – fill-her-up!)

Into a small saucepan, pour out a small amount of the mixture (about 1/2 a cup or so, no need to measure) and combine
1/4-1/2 cup sugar (or equivelent substitutes) depending on the sweetness of your watermelon (and don’t EVEN tell me you didn’t taste it)

When the sugar is completely dissolved, add sugar/watermelon mixture back into the blender along with
1-2 Tbsp Vodka (optional – you can’t taste it – or more if you want some fun, it helps keep it from freezing solid)
2-3 Tbsp Lime juice

Blendy, blendy  for a few seconds to mix it all up then pour mixture into a large glass baking dish or rimmed baking sheet / jelly roll pan.  Cover with plastic wrap and throw in the freezer.

Depending on your freezer (ours took hours to even start freezing, it sucks!), you’ll either need to start the scraping process when it’s frozen a little bit.  With a spoon or fork to scrape away at the top layer.  Uh…. just see the pictures. Yeah.

Then keep freezing it, and scrape the rest of it!  If you don’t know what to do from here on out, there’s just no help for you.

Noms.

Is it a pancake or is it a cobbler?

Whatever it is, it’s delicious and it’s filled with blueberries.  What’s not to love?    We whipped it up in less than 5 minutes.  It reminded us of a blueberry pancake.  It was slightly sweet, but not overpowering.  He topped his with a little bit of maple syrup to make it sweeter, but I liked it just the way it was.

This is supposed to be made in a cake or pie pan, something where the batter has a chance to spread out, but I didn’t have either, so I used a bread pan and it came out just fine.  It doesn’t look so pretty but it was delicious.  It really reminded me a blueberry pancake, but with lots more blueberries!

My picture does this NO justice.  Next time we have company for brunch, I will definitely be making this.  I have yet to have any real luck with making vegan pancakes, so this is a perfect solution… especially since I always top them with blueberries anyway.

We decided that this recipe would be equally appropriate for a breakfast or dessert.  And it really is in just the right place of sweetness that it could be appealing to anyone.   When we made it, we used “lite” syrup, but clearly it would taste even better with the real thing.

My recipe is a adaptation of the original which you can find at the Happy Herbivore.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

In a bowl, mix together
     2/3 cup whole wheat flour
     1 1/2 tsp baking powder
     1/8 tsp salt
     2 tsp ground cinnamon

In a separate bowl (Or I just use my Pyrex measuring cup) combine
     2 tsp melted vegan margarine(or some apple sauce – this is optional but it will be dry otherwise)
     1/3 cup maple syrup (I used lite)
     2/3 cup non-dairy milk
     1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract 

Mix the wet team and dry team together and pour into a greased pie plate, 8×8 cake pan, etc…

Top with
     2 cups frozen blueberries

Bake for 35-45 minutes, or until top is golden brown.  Allow to cool for a few minutes, then serve as is, or topped with a sprinkle of powdered sugar or maple syrup.

I was really happy with how this turned out and really look forward to making it again.  My omnivore husband happily gobbled down half the recipe because it was so scrumptious, and I clearly never feed the poor guy!

Reese’s fail :(

So yesterday, I set about to make Peanut Butter Cups.  I really thought that these would be epic and life changing, and here’s why.

I love. love. love. love Reese’s cups.  I’m not particularly a sweets person, but from time to time I want a Reese’s, and there’s nothing vegan about a Reese’s.  So since becoming a vegan, the closest I’ve come to tasting a Reese’s peanut butter cup is on the lips of my husband after he eats one.  For shame!

Now about this…

First, let me say that the filling was scrum-dilly-umptious.  Seriously.   The recipe can be found here.

So here’s the deal.  Vegan chocolate chips are semi-sweet.  Semi-sweet + Peanut butter es no bueno to me.  My husband still seems to like them, but I’m going to have to figure out a way to make milder chocolate before I try again.  I learned that though, so I guess it’s not totally a fail.  It’s just a step closer to the goal.

Oh, and also – I also learned something else.  Peanut Butter Panda Puffs are the bomb!

Vegan no-bake Sweet Treat (super easy)

Very rarely do I crave sweets, and even less so since becoming a vegan – but there’s one candy in particular that I miss that I’m on a mission to reproduce.

You will have to come back tomorrow for the finished product and recipe.  For now, feel free to guess what it is.

Warning: This is NOT a healthy food.

 

Yum!

Well, I don’t know for sure yet, it’s setting.  We shall find out tomorrow!