Vegan Superbowl

So happy to report that my cajun empanadas were just the good luck charm that the Saints needed to win the Superbowl yesterday. My (non-vegan)friends and I have a superbowl party each year. They know they can count on me for a few vegan options and this is this years fare. Above are the Geaux Saints Sweet Potato Maque Choux Empanadas (which came with a mango Chimmichuri) I'll give you the recipe below.

Next is the Annual Stadium cake made from My Sweet Vegan's http://www.mysweetvegan.com/ Lemon Lime Sunshine Bundt recipe and my stadium mold.

And this is the grid of guac. It's a whole bunch of big beautiful Haas Avocados, mixed with pico de gallo, lime, salt and pepper and the yardlines measured out in Vegan Cream Cheese

Geaux Saints Empanada Recipe:
1 big ole Sweet Potato
1/2 Onion, diced

1 Stalk celery, diced
1/4 cup diced red bell pepper
1/2 bag frozen corn or one can, drained (about 8 ounces frozen)
2 Tablespoons Canola Oil
1 teaspoon gumbo file
1/2 teaspoon dried oregano leaves
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
1/4 teaspoon white pepper

1/4 teaspoon cracked red pepper
1/2 teaspoon celery seed
2 teaspoons sweet paprika
1/2 teaspoon sea salt

1 Tablespoon Vegan Cream Cheese
Empanada rounds (check the label) Also if you find the ones that say "para horno" that have no beef fat you're in business.

Preheat the oven to 350. Set your Empanada rounds (discos) out to thaw

Cut your sweet potato into cubes and place them in a large bowl. Add all the spices and the oil and toss the potatoes to evenly coat. Put the potatoes on a large sheet pan and toss them in the oven.

Chop your onion, celery and pepper. Drop them in that same bowl that you used for the potatoes and give them a little toss in the residual spice. After 10 minutes pull the potatoes out of the oven and toss the onion mix on top and replace in back in the oven. Cook for another 5 minutes.

When your done return the whole mix to the same big bowl and stir in the frozen corn and the Vegan Cream Cheese. Taste the mix and make sure it's good.

Lay all of your discos out on the table and scoop about two tablespoons full of mixture onto each disc.

Pick up one disc and fold it in half making a semi-circle and matching up the ends so that you have about a half an inch of seal.

Make a small fold or crimp in the empanada and smash it into place. In fact go ahead and make five crimps(or four like the picture).

Place the empandas on a well oiled sheet pan or a well oiled piece of

parchment on a sheetpan and cook for about 15 minutes or until golden bown.




Serve with Chimmichurri or Mango Chimmichuri:

1/4 cup flat leaf parsley

1/4 cup cilantro

1/4 onion

1 clove garlic

1/4 cup olive oil

2 Tablespoons Balsamic Vinegar

1/4 Jalapeno (preferably red)

1/2 Tablespoon red bell pepper

1/4 tablespoon sea salt,

1/4 tablespoon paprika

Blend together in a food processor and serve. Add two tablespoons of fresh or frozen mango for mango salsa.

Watch as Matt takes them home from the party.

Vegan Chocolate Strawberry Cake

I remember looking at someones blog, I can't remember who's. They were complaining that they needed to get their cake layers more even and I was thinking to myself, Blogger dude, you're way too OCD. It looks good to me! Now here I am in the same boat. I want beautiful even layers too. While chocolate ganache covers a lot of mistakes we can improve with a tweek here and there.
I followed Paku Paku's strawberry Kake recipe here ttp://www.pakupaku.info/sweets/strawberrykake.shtml
with a few exceptions. I didn't have any black currant liqueur so I used Acai juice from Bosa Nova (wont' do that again, don't like the color) and I used a heaping cup of frozen blended strawberries instead of jam.
http://www.wabashfeed.com/index.htm
I used a charming cherry butter from the Wabash Feed Store for the layers and I put some in the ganache frosting as well. The frosting is one package of vegan choco-chips with 1/4 cup canola oil, 1/3 cup soy milk, warmed with 1/4 cup cherry butter, and a tablespoon vanilla. Warm up that milk, pour it over the chips, wait a minute and then stir it all together with the oil. When it is at a spreadable temp (slightly above room temp), and the cake is nice and cool you can spread it with a hot dry knife.


Here's the movable feast I took to my chief tester. He said it better be low-fat cause it's going to take him one day to eat it. I think that's a compliment.