A Real Day of Labor

Today is Labor Day and really the only significance that bares for me is that I do not have any responsibilities. Even though that I did do some work emailing out to businesses, I did spend the way that I love when I have a free day, which is with exercising, cooking, and eating. This Saturday I received two fruit baskets from my job and so I had literally pounds of apples and oranges. So, I started off the day baking an apple-orange spiced cake with a caramel glaze. Again, it was hard to get a good picture because the lighting in my apartment is so horrible during the night. It just turns everything so brown. This is how it turned out. I didn't want to use any oil and I had some bananas left-over, so I decided to use that as a base for the cake. So, this cake was very low in fat and packed full of fruit too. There is a thin layer of apples sliced in the middle as well as on the top. When a cake is so full of fruit and low in fat, I feel like I want to eat the entire cake at one time. Then I realized that this is pretty high in sugar. Although it was made with brown rice syrup to cut down on the refined sugar, it is till pretty sweet. The weird-looking top is a caramel sauce. This sweet, yet fruity, cake was a perfect ending to my dinner.

My dinner was an original recipe. I thought of it just randomly one day and started writing down my idea. I wanted to make an empanada, but I didn't know what kind of filling I wanted. I wanted something that seemed meaty, but wasn't the fake ground tofu beef. So, of course I thought of my almond meat recipe, but I wanted something more substantial. So, I decided to add crumbled 5 grain tempeh. Then to add some more heartiness, I added some black beans. Then to make it creamy and to bind all of those loose ingredients, I added a can of cream corn. The filling was perfect! Turned out better than I ever imagined. I stuffed the empanada and topped it with a black bean spinach cream sauce and served it with a side of brown rice and quinoa ensalada con pepitas (roasted pumpkin seeds). Here's the recipe:

Empanada Dough

Ingredients:

• 2 1/4 cup whole wheat flour
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/2 cup soy butter
• 1 egg replacer
• 1 tbsp apple cider vinegar
• 1/3 cup water, cold

Instructions:

1. In a large bowl, mix the flour and salt together. Then cut in the butter until dough is crumbly.
2. In a small bowl, mix together the remaining ingredients.
3. Slowly add the liquid into the flour mixture until the dough starts to form. 
4. Once it is together as a dough, break into 6 balls. Roll out into patties. Fill with filling (recipes follows), crimp ends with a fork and cook at 350 for 15 minutes.

Empanada Filling

Ingredients:

• 1 pkg. 5 grain tempeh
• 1/4 cup almonds, ground
• 1/3 cup black beans
• 1 can of creamed corn
• 1 tbsp olive oil
• 1 tbsp ancho chile powder
• 1 tsp cumin powder
• a dash of cayenne pepper
• salt to taste

Instructions:

1. In a food processor, grind up almonds with the tbsp olive oil.
2. In a pan, saute the tempeh and black beans until browned.
3. Add the spices.
4. Add the can of creamed corn.
5. Transfer to a bowl and mix with the almonds.

Quinoa Salad

Ingredients:

• 1 cup brown rice, cooked
• 1 cup red quinoa, cooked
• 1/2 cup each of onion, red, yellow and green bell pepper
• 1/3 cup toasted pumpkin seeds

Instructions:

1. Saute the veggies until browned and cooked through.
2. Throw all the ingredients in the pan and serve.

Black Bean-Spinach Crema

Ingredients:

• 1 cup fresh spinach
• 1 can black beans
• 8 oz tofutti sour cream
• 1 tbsp cumin
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 tsp pepper

Throw it all in a food processor until smooth. Serve.

Okay, that was a lot of recipe-age. I hope that you guys enjoyed. This recipe really satisfied la lengua de un vegan. 

Hasta la otra vez!