The post This Vegan Banana Bread Will Rock Your World appeared first on thedancingcucumber.com.
]]>Ingredients:
- 4 bananas
- 1/4 cup vegetable oil
- 1/4 nondairy milk (Choose your favorite. We like oat milk!)
- 1/2 cup brown sufar
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
Instructions:
- Preheat your oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit, ideally using an oven thermometer to confirm the correct temperature.
- Grease a loaf pan with nonstick cooking spray or some vegetable oil.
- Mash your bananas in a bowl. Add brown sugar, oil, vanilla, and almond milk, whisking until combined.
- Now add in the dry ingredients (flour, baking soda, salt, and cinnamon). Stir until combined, being careful not to over stir.
- Transfer the batter to your pan, adding optional toppings like nuts, chocolate chips, or sliced bananas.
- Bake for 45 minutes. Line the top of the pan with foil and bake for 15 more minutes, or until a toothpick comes out of the center of the banana bread clean.
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]]>Want to Eat it Today?
An avocado that is ripe and ready to eat will be forest green. You should be able to easily flick off the avocado’s little nub on its top side. It should feel a bit soft to the touch when you gently squeeze it.
It’s Gone Bad
An avocado has gone bad if the color is going past green into brownish territory and feels slack in your hand. If the skin is falling away from the fruit on its own, the avocado is probably overripe.
Not Ready Yet
If your avocado is lighter green and still firm, it’s not ready to eat yet. While you wait for it to ripen, set it on the counter for three to five days. If you’re really impatient, you can ripen the avocado in a paper bag with a banana. That’ll make it ready to go in just a day or two.
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]]>The post Know These Obscure Pasta Shapes! appeared first on thedancingcucumber.com.
]]>Orecchiette
Orecchiette means “little ears” in Italian, and that’s exactly what this pasta shape looks like. It’s perfectly shaped to hold a thick or robust sauce, which makes for a hearty, flavorful pasta meal.
Gemelli
Like a little two-strand pasta braid, gemelli has all of the same sauce-holding ability of a spiral pasta like rotini or fusilli. It’s a great choice for a pasta dish in which the sauce is the star of the recipe.
Manicotti
Manicotti are basically giant tubes of pasta that are made to be eaten stuffed with a filling—usually ricotta-based. They’re a must-have for baked pasta dishes and a great alternative if you’re bored of lasagna but want to eat something like lasagna.
Anelli
Anelli are little, fluted pasta rings, and they go great in soup dishes. Consider this one for your next chicken noodle soup for a fun change.
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]]>The post Yes, Shepherd’s Pie Can Be Made Vegan appeared first on thedancingcucumber.com.
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(@recipesofholly)Ingredients:
- Potatoes
- Vegan butter
- Salt
- Pepper
- Olive oil
- Onion
- Garlic
- Tomato paste
- Lentils
- Vegetable stock
- Thyme
- Peas
- Carrots
- Green beans
- Corn
- Alternatively, a bag of frozen mixed veggies
Instructions:
- Start by cutting your potatoes into quarters and boiling them in a large pot of salted water. Cook until they’re soft enough to be easily pierced by a fork.
- While the potatoes are cooking, you’ll want to preheat your oven to 425 degrees Fahrenheit and prepare your baking dish by greasing it.
- Additionally, chop your onions and mince your garlic.
- After your potatoes are done cooking, drain them and mash them up in a big bowl. Add vegan butter, season with salt and pepper to taste, and set aside for now.
- Next, you’ll want to heat up some olive oil in a large pan over medium heat.
- Add your garlic and onions, sauteing until they get lightly browned, about five minutes.
- Add tomato paste, salt, and pepper. Stir. Add lentils, vegetable stock, and thyme.
- Stir again and bring the mixture to a low boil. Simmer until the lentils are cooked, which should take about 40 minutes.
- Remove the lid and add peas, carrots, green beans, and corn. Cook for ten more minutes.
- In your baking dish, spread the lentil mixture with a layer of mashed potatoes on top.
- Season with salt and pepper and bake until golden brown, about 10 to 15 minutes.
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]]>The post These Fall Recipes Are Exactly What You Need Right Now appeared first on thedancingcucumber.com.
]]>Sweet Potato Lasagna
Sweet potatoes, one of the greatest gifts known to vegetables, are perfect as an ingredient in so many different dishes. One of our favorite uses of them? Plant-Based on a Budget’s sweet potato lasagna, which uses a mere handful of simple ingredients but offers so much flavor—and nutrition!
Butternut Squash Soup
Creamy, savory, and orange, butternut squash soup is one of those meals that just screams fall. Eating Bird Food’s recipe is full of flavor with ingredients like carrot, apple, ginger, and sage adding a dimensional and delicious quality that keeps things interesting. Plus, it’s rather simple to make!
Apple Pie
Is there a recipe more fall than apple pie? Apples are at their absolute best in autumn, and this crumbly pie recipe from the Hellenic Odyssey uses that “grandma’s favorite” quality to be special and delicious. It’s simple but makes a big impression.
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]]>The post Never Heard of Cawl? Try This Recipe appeared first on thedancingcucumber.com.
]]>Ingredients
- A kilo of lamb, beef, or ham hock
- 1 onion
- 6 potatoes
- 3 carrots
- 1 rutabaga
- 2 leeks
- Parsley
- Vegetable stock
- Salt
- Pepper
Instructions
- Start the day before you plan to serve your cawl by putting your meat in a large saucepan, covering it with water, and bringing it to a boil.
- Simmer for two to three hours on low heat, and then leave overnight to cool. In the morning, skim off any fat that’s risen to the surface.
- Cut the meat off the bone and return it to the pot, adding chopped potatoes, carrots, and rutabaga. Simmer until the vegetables are cooked through, adding more vegetable stock if necessary. Season with salt and pepper to your liking.
- Before you serve, add shredded leeks and chopped parsley. You can also make your cawl thicker by adding a slurry of flour and water.
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]]>The post You’ve Got to Try This Comfort Food from Luxembourg appeared first on thedancingcucumber.com.
]]>Ingredients
- 3 cups flour
- 3 eggs
- 1 cup milk
- 1 teaspoon salt
- Bacon
- Butter
Instructions
In a large bowl, combine your salt and flour. In the middle of the mixture, make a well and crack your eggs into it. Beat until it forms into a shaggy dough. Add the milk and mix until the dough smooths out.
Boil generously salted water in a large pot. Use a spoon to form the dough into a dumpling, placing it carefully into the boiling water. (Don’t worry, it doesn’t have to look perfect!) Wait until the dumplings float to the surface and cook for an additional 30 seconds before removing and draining.
In a frying pan, cook diced bacon until brown and crispy. Add the butter and combine. Add the drained dumplings, tossing to coat, and served. Traditionally, kniddelen is served with applesauce or apple compote.
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]]>The post A Guide to Blooming Spices appeared first on thedancingcucumber.com.
]]>A Deep Dive
You may have heard this process called chhonk, tadka, vaghar, or tempering—depending on where you heard about it. It works because most flavor compounds in spices are fat-soluble and fat coats your tongue, so blooming spices in fat lets those flavors stay in contact with your taste buds for longer.
How to Do It
Blooming spices is simple. Just heat a couple tablespoons of oil or ghee over medium-low heat. Add ground or whole spices as well as other aromatics (garlic, bay leaves, etc.). Cook until you can smell it, which should only take a couple of minutes. And there you go! From there, you can make your lentils, vegetables, or sauce all the more flavorful.
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]]>The post Making Sushi at Home is Easier Than You Think appeared first on thedancingcucumber.com.
]]>Seaweed for Sushi
The seaweed sheets you need for sushi will be thicker and sturdier than the ones for snacking. Make sure to read the package before you buy.
Sushi Rice
Yep, the rice—one of the main components of sushi—you buy will have to be special sushi rice. Don’t worry, it’s pretty easy to find.
Raw Grade Fish
If you’re using fish in your sushi, make sure it’s rated for eating raw. We don’t want any food poisoning here!
Bamboo Mat
This is the one specialized kitchen item you really need for making sushi. But don’t worry, it doesn’t take up much drawer space, and you can get them pretty cheap.
Soy Sauce, Pickled Ginger, and Wasabi
Sure, these aren’t a must, but to complete the sushi experience, you’ll definitely want to have these garnishes available.
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]]>The post Here’s Why You Need to Keep Your Pasta Water appeared first on thedancingcucumber.com.
]]>Surprisingly Helpful
Pasta water is basically that starchy, cloud-y, salty water that is created when you cook pasta. And it’s worth its weight in gold. Well, it isn’t, but you really shouldn’t throw it out.
The best and most obvious use for pasta water is for stirring into your pasta sauce. This will make it cling better to the pasta and get the sauce all smooth and creamy, just like in a restaurant.
Practical Uses
But that’s not the only thing you can do with your pasta water. In addition to using it in pasta dishes, you can also use it for making homemade bread (it helps the bread rise), in soup recipes as a replacement for vegetable broth, and to cook beans in. Some even suggest to water your plants with it. So think twice next time you’re about to pick up that colander!
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