Vegetarian Brunswick Stew

I have previously posted a Brunswick Stew Recipe, but I made some minor changes to that original, and in keeping with the recent The Veggie Mom is way behind on blogging theme I've got going here lately, I decided to post the updated recipe.  

Brunswick Stew is another Southern recipe which was always a favorite of mine growing up.  My grandmother and mother both made this recipe.  A traditional Brunswick stew is made with various types of meat and way back when, the recipe would actually involve the use of an entire hogs head.  Needless to say, hogs head is not used often today in ANY recipes.  The other main stay of Brunswick Stew is the use of ketchup and vinegar as a flavor element which gives the stew a taste similar to that of a Carolina BBQ sauce.  Add to this a healthy dose of hearty vegetables, like corn, lima beans and potatoes and you have a damn nice stew.  

almost needed a wide angle lens for this one

The Ingredients

1/2 teaspoon olive oil

1/2 onion, diced

1 stalk of celery, diced

8 ounces faux chicken 

10 ounces soy crumbles

4 cups vegetable broth

1 baking potato, peeled and cubed

1/2 pound frozen lime beans

1/2 pound frozen corn (shoe peg corn if you can get it)

1/2 cup ketchup

1/4 cup vegan Worcestershire sauce

1/4 cup white vinegar

1-14.5 ounce can dice tomatoes

dash of liquid smoke

dash or two of hot sauce

The Tools

a really big pot

The Cooking/Stewing

Heat the oil over medium heat in a large stockpot until it shimmers

 Add the onion

 

Add the celery and saute

 Add the faux chicken and stir until it is well coated with the oil and vegetables. 

Add the soy crumbles and stir to combine

Add in the vegetable broth

And the potatoes

and the frozen lima beans and corn

 it looks good, but I am not done yet.

Add the ketchup and stir to incorporate

Add the vegan Worcestershire Sauce

and the vinegar

and the can of tomatoes

a dash of liquid smoke

one, two or maybe even three dashes of hot sauce

mix it all together

Bring to stew to a simmer over a low heat, place the lid half on the pot and allow the it to simmer slowly for 1 to 1 1/2 hours.  

enjoy!

Super Jumbo Red Velvet Cupcakes

The youngest Veggie Son just celebrated his 4th Birthday.  In celebration we held a Polar Express themed party.  We had the usual, cake, juice and pizza.  Unlike many people, I NEVER want left over cake in my house, because leftover cake soon becomes eaten cake.  So, I always buy the smallest cake needed to feed my guest and then any left over pieces are tagged for the kids.  This year, we had very little cake left and none of it made it to his actual birthday.  How sad is that I thought, no cake on ones actual birthday!  I immediately hatched a plan.  I would make him some huge cupcakes.  I have a large muffin tin which makes only 6 very large muffins.  When asked what type of muffin he would like my son instantly said: Red!  What can I say?  The boy has born and raised in California, but his taste buds are clearly Southern.  

I did some hunting through my cookbooks and online, but in the end I went with my mom's recipe for Red Velvet Cake.  Many of the recipes on line left out things I consider integral to success of this type of cake, namely cake flour and buttermilk.  Here is the thing about Red Velvet Cake, it can turn out really good OR really bad.  A bad Red Velvet Cake can range from dry to dense.  What you want, in my opinion, is a combination of moist and light, with a rich flavor.  To get this one needs to use cake flour and buttermilk.  The cake flour allows for a tender texture, and the buttermilk gives that cake that extra leavening. 

And, of course you have to top the whole thing with Cream Cheese Frosting, but EVERYTHING is better with Cream Cheese Frosting.

The Ingredients
1 cup Crisco vegetable shortening
1/2 cup sugar
1 ounce red food coloring
2 eggs
1 cup buttermilk
2 cups cake flour
1 tablespoon cocoa powder
1/2 teaspoon salt

The Ingredients for the Cake, that I Forgot in the First Photo
1 tablespoon white vinegar
1 teaspoon baking soda

The Tools
stand mixer
medium sized bowl
small bowl
spooncula or scrapper spoon
muffin tin liners or parchment paper

The Baking

Preheat the oven to 350° and prepare your muffin tin. Cream the Crisco and the sugar together in a stand mixer (or with a hand held mixer or by hand) with the paddle mixer attachment, until well combined and fluffy. 

STOP the mixer and add the red food coloring. 

Slowly, very slowly begin to mix in the red food coloring.  This is were things begin to look a little like an episode of CSI.

Add the eggs, one at a time, mixing between additions. 

Turn off the mixer and add in the buttermilk. Then, run the mixer for about 5 minutes until the buttermilk is completely incorporated and that the batter is nice and smooth. 

While the buttermilk is mixing into the batter, combine the cocoa and the cake flour together in a medium sized bowl. 

Place the cocoa/flour mixture into a sifter

and sift it together

Your end product will be a light, airier and better combined mixture.

Gradually and slowly add the flour into the batter until it is well incorporated and the batter is smooth. 

Once the batter is done mixing and is smooth it is time to add the baking soda and vinegar.  Remove the bowl form the mixing stand and have a spooncula at the ready.  In a small bowl, combine the baking soda and vinegar.  It will bubble immediately, and the second the two items are completely combine, fold the mixture into the waiting batter.  You want those bubble to add their lightness the cake. 

Gentle spoon the batter into the prepared muffin tins.  I could not find liners to fit my large muffin tin, so I used parchment paper.  Next time I will look harder for the liners.  I was not a big fan of the parchment paper.  Bake the cupcakes on 350° for 25 to 30 minutes.  If you are using smaller muffin tins, reduce your time to 20 minutes. 

 Allow the baked cupcakes to set on the counter until completely cooled before icing.  Also wait until the oven it cooled down as well. Nothing is sadder then dippy frosting. 

While the cupcakes cool, make the frosting. 

The Frosting Ingredients
8 ounces light cream cheese (at room temp)
1 stick unsalted butter (at room temp)
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
16 ounces powdered sugar

 The Tools
a stand mixer
zip loc bag
icing tip of choice

The Making of the Icing!

 Thoroughly cream together the butter and cream cheese

Add in the vanilla extract one teaspoon at a time, mixing in between additions

Add the powdered sugar to the cheese mixture 1/4 or 1/2 cup full at a time.  This takes a while, but it avoids lumps.  Mix until well combined. 

Place the frosting into a zip loc bag with its tip cut off and a icing tip in place.  Use this bag to pipe the frosting onto the cupcakes. 

Pumpernickel Bread

 I have long desired to try my hand at baking bread and over the last year or so I have been able to do so.  Really, it is not all that hard; although having a stand mixer makes this possible.  I made this recipe to accompany my Butternut Squash Soup.  It worked perfectly with the soup, and it was a big hit with kids and adults alike. 

It is probably no shocker to my regular readers, but this recipe if from King Arthur.  While I followed the recipe very closely I did not give myself enough time to purchase the called for flour from the King Arthur website.  Next time I will plan ahead and I will let you know if there was a difference between the flour I had to use and the flour King Arthur makes.  The recipe calls for pumpernickel flour and I was unable to find it anywhere other than on the King Arthur site, so in the end I used a dark rye flour.

The Ingredients
1 1/2 cups water
1/2 cup cornmeal
1/4 cup molasses
1 tablespoon unsalted butter
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
2 teaspoons sugar
2 teaspoons caraway seeds
1 tablespoon unsweetened cocoa powder
1 tablespoon active dry yeast (or 2 1/2 teaspoon instant yeast)
3 cups dark rye flour
1 cup white flour
1 cup mashed potatoes

The Tools
 small saucepan
stand mixer
large oven safe bowl
plastic wrap
8 1/2 x 4 inch loaf pan

The Cooking, or rather The Baking

Combine 1 cup of water with the cornmeal in a saucepan, and cook over low heat until thick.  Be sure to stir often. Pre-heat the oven to 200°, and once the oven comes up to that temp, turn if off.  This will leave with a nice warm place to allow your dough to rise.

Remove the pan from the heat and add the molasses, unsalted butter, salt, sugar, caraway seeds, and cocoa powder.  Stir to combine.

In the bowl of your stand mixer, combine the active dry yeast and the remaining 1/2 cup of water.  Allow to proof for 10 minutes. If you are using the instant yeast, you can skip the proofing time. 

Add the molasses mixture, the mashed potatoes(not shown above~sorry), the white flour and the dark rye flour to the proofed yeast mixture. 

Using the paddle attachment, slowly combine the ingredients  until a shaggy dough is formed.

Switch to the dough hook and kneed for about 10 minutes or until the dough begins to form a ball.

Be aware that this type of dough will be sticky.  DO NOT PANIC, this is okay and you should not add any more flour. Grease or flour your hands and remove the dough from the mixture and place it in a greased oven proof bowl. Dust the top of the dough with flour and cover the bowl with plastic wrap.  Place the bowl in the turned off, yet warm oven and allow it to rise for 1-2 hours or until it has doubled in volume. 

Once the dough has risen once, remove if its bowl and place it in the load pan, allow the dough to rise a second time in the loaf pan, for 30 minutes. I generally do this second rise on my counter top.  While the second rise is occurring, pre-heat the oven to 375°.  If you do use the oven for your second rise, make sure that the dough it out before you pre-heat the oven (this is why I always do my second rise OUT of the oven).

Cook the bread for 50 to 60 minutes.  Allow it to cool for about 10 minutes before removing it from the pan. 


Recipe Source: King Arthur Flour