Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Flapjacks With a maple vanilla cinnamon cream

Flapjacks are good. So are pumpkins. Why not put the two together? With some chocolate chips. Sounds good right? A nice breakfast item, but also sweet enough to be a nice dessert!

Makes about 8 medium flapjacks.


Ingredients:
2 Cups All-purpose flour
2 Cups Almond Milk
1/4 Cup melted margarine
1 Tsp. Baking powder
1 Tsp. Salt
1/4 Cup sugar
1/3 Cup Chocolate Chips
1 Cup Pumpkin puree 

For the Cream:
1/2 Cup almond milk
1/4 Cup maple syrup
1/4 Tsp. Cinnamon
2 Tsp. Arrowroot power
1/2 Tsp. Fair trade Vanilla extract


Sift all the dry ingredients together in a large mixing bowl. Mix the pumpkin, margarine, almond milk, together in another small mixing bowl, and whisk. Add the pumpkin mixture to the dry and mix together.
On a medium heat pre-heated skillet, spray or oil it and add about 1/3 cup into the form of a pancake and cook When bubbles appear on the otherside, its ready to be flipped! Repeat for as many pancakes as you'd like.

For the cream, in a small mixing bowl, add the almond milk, syrup, cinnamon and extract and whisk together. In a small saucepan, bring to a boil. In a very small heat proof bowl combine about 1/8 cup of the cream mixture with the arrowroot and mix. Return to the saucepan and whisk. The mixture should thicken. Top these delicious flapjacks with the cream and enjoy.

Chana Masala!

We get cravings for Indian food quite often, and we talk about going out and getting some. Then we realize that we're broke. This is our delicious version of Chana Masala!

Ingredients:
2 Servings of basmati rice (about 1 cup dry)
2 Tbsp. Margarine
1-15 oz. Can of chick peas, drained and rinsed
1 Small roma tomato, diced
1/2 Red onion, diced
1 Clove of garlic, minced
1/2 Cup water
1/2 Tbsp. Coriander
1 Tsp. Cumin powder
1/4 Tsp. Cayenne powder
1/2 Tsp. Turmeric
1 Tsp. Paprika
1/2 Tsp. Garam Masala
1/2 Tsp. Salt
1 Tsp. Ginger
Squeeze of Lemon juice

Instructions:
Get the rice going in the rice cooker, or your preferred method.
Melt the margarine in a nice deep sauce pan over medium heat. Once the margarine is melted, add the diced onion and begin to saute until they start to brown, about 4-5 minutes. Next, add the garlic and cook it up for about another minute.
Mix all the spices together in a small bowl, and add them to the onions and garlic, along with the diced tomato. The mixture will get a little thick, saute for about 3 minutes, and add the 1/2 cup of water with the chickpeas.
Bring the mixture to a boil. Once it hits a boil, hit it with some lemon juice, reduce the heat, and cover and simmer for about 10 minutes.
Once it's been 10 minutes, uncover and it should have gotten thicker.
Serve over a nice hot bed of rice and enjoy!
Its nice and tasty but not too spicy!

Chocolate Cake With Carmel Drizzle!

Got a sweet tooth? We do.

Ingredients:

For the cake:
2 Cups soy milk or almond milk
2 Tsp. white vinegar
1 1/2 Cups sugar
2/3 Cup Canola oil
2 Tsp. vanilla extract
1 Tsp. almond extract
2 Cups all-purpose flour
2/3 Cup fair trade cocoa powder
1 1/2 Tsp. baking soda
1 Tsp. baking powder
1/2 Tsp. Salt

Frosting:
1/4 Cup soy creamer (french vanilla works great!)
3 1/2 Cup powdered sugar
1/2 Cup non-hydrogenated vegetable shortening
1/2 Cup non-hydrogenated margarine
1 Tsp. Vanilla extract

Carmel Drizzle:
2 Cups brown sugar
1/2 Cup Margerine (earth ballance)
3/4 cup Soy creamer
2 Tbsp. Arrowroot powder

For the cake:
Preheat the oven to 350 F
Combine the white vinegar and the soymilk in a small bowl and allow to curdle for a few minutes. Meanwhile, sift all of you dry ingredients together in a large bowl. After you have done this, add the canola oil, vanilla extract, and almond extract to the milk mixture.
Add the liquids to your sifted flour mixture and whisk! You can do this the old fasion way and build some nice muscle, or you can use electric beaters.
Spray two 9 inch cake pans and divide the mixture evenly. Pop them in the oven for about 25 minuets and check with tooth picks to make sure they come out clean.
Cool them untill they are cool to the touch.

Frosting:
Add the shortening and margarine to a large bowl and cream together with electric beaters.
Once the mixture is smooth, add the rest of the ingredients and cream together untill the mixture starts getting nice and fluffy, taste it to make sure its delicious! Once the cake is done cooling, put one cake patty on a nice, presentable plate, and frost it! add the carmel drizzle in between layers and on top once your done frosting! Decorate how ever you would like!

Carmel Drizzle:
Add the arrowroot powder and 1/4 cup of the creamer together and set aside
Add the margarine to a sauce pan and melt. Then add the brown sugar, and remaining soymilk and bring to a boil, stirring constantly for about 5 minuets.
Remove from heat and add the arrowroot soymilk mixture and it will thicken up.
Add this to the cake while its still hot for easy drizzlidge!

Tex-Mex Chili!

Mmmmmm! Chili time. We all need something delicious and warm to make us feel like were at a beach in the Gulf of Mexico this time of year in Syracuse! Hopefully this does the trick! It does for us!

Ingredients:
2 Tbsp. olive oil
1 Medium sized red onion, diced
1 Carrot, diced
3 Stalks celery, diced
3 Cloves Garlic Minced
1 Green and Red Pepper, chopped
2 Large or 3 Medium tomatos, chopped
1 28 oz. Can crushed tomato
1 14 oz. Can kidney beans with liquid
1 14 oz. Can corn with liquid
1/2 14 oz. Can blackbeans
1 Cup Textured vegetable protein (I use Bob's Red Mill)
7/8 Cup Veggie or Un-chicken broth
3 Tbsp. Red Pepper flakes
1 Tbsp. Chili powder
1 Tbsp. Cumin powder
1 Tbsp. Paprika
2 Tsp. salt
A nice crack of black pepper

Optional Garnishes:
Vegan sour cream
Vegan Cheese (We used Daiya)
Scallions
Avocado slices (If your feeling adventurous!)

       First things first, place your olive oil in a deep soup pot on medium-high heat. Add the garlic and onions. Sauté until tender and translucent.
       Next add the celery, carrot, green and red peppers. Sauté for about 5-7 minutes. While the veggies are sautéing, soak your TVP in the broth.
       While the TVP is soaking and after the veggies have sauteed for 5-7 minutes, add the crushed tomato, kidney beans with liquid, black beans, and corn with liquid to the chili. Stir it up, and add the spices! After all the spices are stirred in, add your soaked TVP (it should have doubled in size and absorbed all the liquid) and stir.
       Lower the heat to a low-medium, and simmer for at least an hour before serving. The longer it simmers, the more flavor! Stir every half hour.
       Garnish with your favorite toppings and enjoy!