Recipe | Winter White Sangria

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Okay, I know I'm bad at keeping promises when it comes to this blog (*cough* fotd friday *cough*)... so here's a sangria recipe to help you get over it.

1.5 liter of Moscato, or your favorite white wine
1 Granny Smith, or any other tart apple, sliced
the juice of one orange
another orange, sliced
about 2 cups of fresh cherries
1 pear, sliced
1/4 cup grenadine
juice of half a lime, the other half sliced
1/4-1/2 cup honey whiskey
optional - club soda to top off the glasses once served.

Combine all of the fruits, whiskey, and juices with the wine in a large pitcher or punch bowl. You can make it a sparkling sangria by adding the club soda to the pitcher, or you can just use it to top off each glass of sangria served. This step is also totally optional as the sangria will taste just fine without the bubbly.

Let the sangria sit and chill for at least an hour before you plan on serving it!

Enjoy :)

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Recipe | Vegan Pumpkin Maple Walnut Scones

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This recipe was loosely based on this pumpkin scone I found here. I had never made scones before, let alone vegan ones, and needed something to base my measurements off of.

Makes 10 scones.

1 cup raw walnuts
2 cups brown rice flour (or any flour you have on hand, really)
1/4 cup coconut sugar (or brown sugar)
1 tbsp baking powder
1 tsp pumpkin pie spice
1 tsp cinnamon
1/4 cup solid coconut oil
1/2 cup pumpkin puree
1/4 cup pure maple syrup
1/4 cup unsweetened almond milk
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
a pinch of salt

Preheat your oven to 400° Fahrenheit

Spread your walnuts in a single layer on a baking sheet. Toast them for 3-5 minutes in your preheated oven. Remove them and chop them into tiny pieces.

In a large mixing bowl, combine the flour, sugar, cinnamon, pumpkin pie spice, baking powder, and walnuts.

In a separate bowl, mix together the pumpkin puree, maple syrup, almond milk, and vanilla extract.

Cut the solid coconut oil into the flour mixture until it becomes crumbly and lumpy. You can do this with a fork or if you're fancy, with a pastry cutter. The you can introduce the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients.

Mix until the dough starts to come together.

Remove from the bowl and onto a lightly floured clean surface. Form the dough into a about a 1 inch thick circle.

Use a circular cookie cutter, a cup, mug, or some sort of small circular object to cut your scones into rounds. You could also cut them into triangles, but I'm partial to the round scone... I think it's because Ireland really only had round ones when I was there.

Place your scones on a lightly greased, or lined with parchment paper, baking sheet.

Bake for about 12-15 minutes, depending on your oven, or until lightly golden brown.

And there you go! A delicious addition to your morning coffee routine, afternoon snack, or just an anytime treat.

Enjoy! :)

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Recipe | Chana Masala (non-traditional)

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Before I get any hate from hard core Indian food snobs about this not being a traditional Chana Masala recipe - I AM NOT CLAIMING IT IS. I understand that some key ingredients are left out ( It's not exactly easy to obtain an ingredient like amchoor powder for me). I am also aware that I introduced some new ingredients (I like zucchini, so what?). I was just working with what I had on hand and catering the recipe to what I like. I wanted this to be relatively easy and equally as tasty. I hope you can look past these minor details and try this recipe out for yourself. It's quite good, if I do say so myself, even if it isn't traditional. One day I'll try my hand at a traditional recipe, but for now this is a great alternative.

1 large white onion, chopped
1 bell pepper, any color, chopped
2-3 small potatoes, chopped
1 small zucchini, chopped
1 15 oz. can of chickpeas, drained and rinsed
1 cup low sodium vegetable stock
1 tbsp tomato paste
3 heaping tbsp mango-ginger chutney
1 tsp chili-garlic sauce
2 tsp ground cumin
1 tsp ground coriander
2 tsp turmeric powder
1/4 tsp crushed red pepper flakes
a couple tbsp extra virgin olive oil
Salt and pepper to taste

Set a large skillet to medium heat with some olive oil. Start off by sauteing the potatoes because they'll take the longest to soften up. After about 5-7 minutes, add in the other vegetables. Saute together with some salt and pepper for another 5-7 minutes.

Introduce the drained and rinsed chickpeas to the veggie mix. Then add the cumin, coriander, red pepper flakes, and turmeric to the pan to wake them up a bit. Stir to coat all the veggies with the spices.

Now you can stir in the tomato paste. When the tomato paste becomes fragrant, add the mango-ginger chutney and the chili-garlic sauce. Stir to combine everything.

Add in the vegetable stock and simmer until the liquid reduces by about half (15 minutes or so) Season with more salt and pepper if necessary. 

(what it should look like BEFORE it has reduced)

Serve over jasmine rice or just eat on its own.

Enjoy! :)

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