Banana and Peanut Butter Bread Pudding

What do you do with bananas that are on their way out-the-door and more sourdough bread than you can possibly finish? Banana and Peanut Butter Bread Pudding, of course! If you’re a fan of “dump and bake” kinds of recipes you’re going to love this one. The most time-consuming part is simply cutting up the bread and slicing the bananas!

Now, cards on the table…I don’t particularly love either bananas OR bread pudding but there is just something about this recipe that’s hard to beat! Great for a crowd, this vegan dish, that’s really more like dessert than breakfast is made with dairy free butter, oatmilk, and JustEgg and comes together in under an hour!

What you are going to need to buy:

For the Bread Pudding

• 3-4 cups of crusty bread, cut into cubes

• 3 ripe bananas cut into slices

• 2 cups of oatmilk

• JustEgg to replace 3 large eggs

• 1 tablepoon of cinnamon

• 1 teaspoon of nutmeg

• 1/2 cup brown sugar, more for sprinkling

• 1/2 teaspoon of salt

• Splash of Vanilla

• 1/2 cup of peanut butter

• 1/2 cup of Walnuts

  
  For the Icing

• 1/2 stick Dairy Free Butter, melted

• Powdered Sugar, 1 cup

• Splash of Vanilla

• Pinch of Salt

What you are going to need to do:

1. Layer your cubed bread and banana slices into a baking dish (I used an 8 x 10) sprayed with non-stick spray.

2. Combine the remaining ingredients (minus the nuts and brown sugar for sprinkling) and wisk until well combined. Don’t be too worried if the peanut butter doesn’t completely combine or there are still little pieces. They will melt when baked!

3. Pour mixture over the bread and bananas. Spoon any peanut butter that didn’t totally dissolve evenly over the top.

4. Top with walnuts and sprinkle with brown sugar.

5. Bake at 375 for 40 minutes. You can gently lay a piece of foil over the baking dish to keep the top from burning but keep sides loose and un-crimped. You don’t want your Bread Pudding to “steam” under the foil…it’s just to keep the top from getting too crispy! Remove the foil for the final 15 minutes of baking.

6. While the Bread Pudding is baking mix together 1/2 stick of melted vegan butter with 1 cup of powdered sugar, 1/2 teaspoon of vanilla and a pinch of salt. (Add more or less sugar depending on how thick you like your icing.)

7. At 40 minutes, remove from oven and let stand for 15 minutes before drizzling the top with icing and serving.
   

   A couple of notes about this recipe: I know there are a lot of “egg-replacers” that vegan and non-dairy diets use in baking. I used the product JustEgg and it turned out wonderfully. I can’t guarantee that others will do the same…they may be great but I’ve not tested any others with this particular recipe.

   Love chocolate? You could totally throw in a handful of chocolate chips to this recipe and it would be delicious!

   
   Love, Light, and Lentils, my friends!
   Sarah

Vegan Creamed Eggs on Sourdough Toast (French Scrambled Eggs)

One of my favorite dishes is creamed eggs on toast! In my book, it’s the perfect, wake up late and make brunch on a lazy weekend breakfast! Unlike traditional scrambled eggs, with creamed eggs there are a few tricks to get small enough curds for that perfect creamy texture. And, yes…despite what the photos may look like, this entire recipe is Vegan!

I’ve been plant-based for 20 years at this point, but make no mistake…I love eggs. Sadly, I find that they don’t love me back, and are a huge source of inflammation in my body, which for me means eczema flair-ups but with Just Egg now I can still enjoy my creamed eggs from time to time! If you’re not a vegan and are making this recipe with regular eggs, all the same techniques apply. Another reason why I love the Just Egg product! They really do cook up just like traditional chicken eggs!

Note: I call this creamed eggs, but there is another recipe that involves taking chopped boiled eggs and serving them over toast with a cheesy cream sauce made with a rue. This is NOT that. Good news, it’s just as good and not near as complicated. This recipe might be more closely compared to french scrambled eggs.

What you are going to need to buy:

Just Egg, the liquid. It can typically be found right by the eggs in the cold case at the grocery store. There really isn’t a substitute for this…if you want creamed eggs that actually taste like the real thing, just try Just Egg. You’ll thank me later.

Sour Cream - (I’m a pretty die-hard Tofutti fan, so that’s what I always use!)

Olive Oil

Salt and Pepper, to taste

Optional: Avocado, Tomatoes, Fresh Chives

Bread of choice. I used my homemade sourdough and I like how the thick cut crunchy bread stands up to the softness of the eggs.

What you are going to need to do:

This is not a complex recipe. If it were not for just a couple tricks that I have learned and want to share…I would hesitate to even post it!

Tip # 1: Cook on Medium/Low! I’m serious, we are not frying these eggs! Low and slow is THE trick, in my book to a nice silky texture.

In a medium skillet, on medium/low, warm about a teaspoon of olive oil, until it coats the bottom of the pan.

Pour in your liquid eggs.

Place 2-5 dolops of sour cream (about 1 teaspoon each), depending on how many “eggs” you are making into the pan, ontop of the eggs.

With a small silicone spatula or whisk, begin to stir the eggs and sour cream in small circles right away.

Continue to stir for the entire time that the eggs are on the heat.

It’s going to look like nothing is happening but be patient. Eventually your eggs will begin to tighten and thicken up. The constant stirring is what will give you those small delicate curds and keep your eggs creamy.

Add a pinch of salt and pepper, to taste, and continue to stir until your eggs become the texture of thick tapioca. Always remove from the heat earlier than you think you need to…as they will continue to cook off the heat.

Remove from heat and continue to stir for 1 minute.

Serve over toast and garnish with avocado with a squeeze of lime, tomatoes, and fresh chives.

Leftover Alert: Mashed Potato Cakes with Creamy Dill Sour Cream Sauce

Looking for a way to use up those Thanksgiving Mashed Potatoes? These oven-baked mashed potato cakes with sauteed onions and vegan chorizo from No Evil turned out to be everything you love about mashed potatoes and crispy hash browns all in one dish. Topped with a rich and creamy vegan dill sour cream sauce...they are the perfect Holiday Weekend brunch food! Believe me, you won't be able to eat just one.

Let’s face it! Not all plant-based recipes are always healthy but sometimes you just need some old-fashioned comfort food and these Twice Baked Potato Cakes with Creamy Dill Sour Cream Sauce are just that. A great dish for your weekend brunch or to use up the leftover mashed potatoes. The magic of this recipe is, for sure, the Creamy Dill Sour Cream Sauce…so don’t skip on that part of this delicious dish!

What you are going to need to buy:

Left Over Mashed Potatoes (about 1/2 cup per Potato Cake you want to make!)

Chorizo - (We used the vegan chorizo from No Evil) Sweet Onion

Butter - (I love this plant-based butter from Earth Balance)

Oatmilk - (We used THIS ONE from Rise Brewing)

Minced Garlic - (the best is from Spice World!)  

Fresh Chives

Just Egg, Egg Replacer (just a tablespoon or so for each serving/cake)

Fresh Dill

Sour Cream ( We used this vegan sour cream from our friends over at Tofutti)

Veggie Stock or Bullion Base

Flour

Salt & Pepper, to taste

What you are going to need to do:

Preheat your oven to 400 degrees.

In a small saucepan, saute’ your diced onions in olive oil or vegan butter with garlic until onions are translucent.

Incorporate the sauteed onions and garlic, along with pea-sized pieces of the plant-based chorizo. stir well to combine plus flour and a little egg replacer.

Add your chopped chives, salt and pepper, and additional garlic, to taste. If the mixture is too dry add some vegan cream or your preferred plant-based milk and/or butter.

If the mixture is still too thin, add some more flour.

You need the texture to be dry enough to hold together in cake form while baking. Think cookie dough consistency!

Using a ring mold or cookie cutter form your potato cakes. If you are not too terribly concerned about the looks or shape of the cakes, you can forgo the molds and use a large spoon and mound mixture onto a non-stick baking sheet.

Bake cakes at 400 degrees for about 20 minutes. You want to watch to make sure that they are not browning too quickly. If they do…simply spray a piece on tin foil with non stick cooking spray and gently lay over the top of the cakes!

While the cakes are baking you can make the Creamy Dill Sour Cream Sauce.

Making the Creamy Dill Sour Cream Sauce.

In the pot that you used to saute’ the onions add 2-3 tablespoons of butter and heat on medium/low until melted.

Sprinkle 2 tablespoons of white flour over the butter and whisk to make a roux. Let rue cook for 2-3 minutes. Slowly add 1/2 cup of veggie stock and 1/2 cup of Oat Milk and whisk constantly until the rue is dissolved into the stock. Let the mixture come to back up to a boil and allow to boil for 1 minute to thicken. If the mixture gets too thick you can add a bit more stock.

Remove from heat and let cool for 2-3 minutes. Stir into mixture 4 ounces of sour cream along with 1 tablespoon of chopped, fresh dill, and salt and pepper to taste. The sour cream will help to thin the mixture out but if it’s still too thick you can always add a bit of milk and/or butter. Additionally, you can melt your favorite vegan parmesan cheese into the sauce or even sprinkle in a bit of nutritional yeast if desired.

Check on the potatoes. They should be getting a crisp outer shell that is turning golden brown. Feel free to switch your oven to broil for the last 5 minutes that the cakes are in the oven to assist in browning but keep a close eye on them so they do not burn.

Allow the cakes to cool on the stove-top for 1-2 minutes before plating. Serve potato cakes topped with the
Creamy Dill Sour Cream Sauce and garnished with additional chopped chives.
Enjoy!

Better Than Canned, Vegan Crescent Cinnamon Rolls with Cream Cheese Frosting!

If you grew up as an 80’s kid like I did, canned cinnamon rolls were a Saturday morning tradition. Probably the best thing you can really say about canned rolls, as an adult, is that they are quick and easy, crack open the can, plop them into a dish and bake. But would you believe that in the time it takes to preheat your oven you can up your cinnamon roll game by using another canned doughy staple from your childhood? That’s right…we’re talking crescent rolls!

Ever since I realized that canned crescent rolls are are #accidentallyvegan I have been thinking about using them to make some dairy free cinnamon rolls! And...WOW am I glad that I did because these bad boys turned out absolutely amazing. These quick and easy rolls are everything you love about cinnamon rolls and everything you love about crescent rolls all in one bite!

What you are going to need to buy:

Canned crescent rolls. (The Pillsbury brand is vegan!)

Non Stick Cooking Spray

1 cup of White Sugar

3 Tablespoons of Ground Cinnamon

Dairy Free Cream Cheese

Powdered Sugar

Vanilla or Maple Extract

What you are going to need to do:

Preheat your oven to 350.
Yes, the back of the can will tell you to bake at a higher temperature…don’t do it! We are going to bake these rolls at a lower temperature for longer than what you would bake traditional crescent rolls.

Crack open your crescent rolls and carefully unroll them onto a piece of parchment paper.
Do not break apart along the perforated edged into individual pieces. The goal is to get one rectangle of dough.

Take your fingers and gently press the perforated seams that you would normally use to separate into individual crescent rolls back together.

Spray the dough rectangle with the non-stick cooking spray. This is going to give the cinnamon sugar something to stick to.

Combine your cinnamon sugar and sprinkle a liberal amount onto the entire rectangle, leaving a one inch seam on one of the short ends. This is where you will close your rolls and you want the dough to stick to itself after rolled up!

Begin at the opposite end from where you left your sugarless seam and roll the dough onto itself until you get a log. Go slow and try to make sure that the whole log stays together. You can use the parchment to help you roll.

With a very sharp, serrated knife, cut the roll in half, then in half again and one final time so that you have 8 equal pieces.

Lightly spray the pan you are going to bake the rolls in.

Note: I like to bake mine in a round pan but if you want to use a 9 by 9 pan that is fine too but you will want to cut your rolls into 9 pieces so that they fit nicely into 3 rows of three!

Place the rolls onto the center rack of a hot oven and bake for 15 minutes with a piece of tin foil draped over the top of the baking dish. This doesn’t need to be sealed on the edges, just lay flat onto the top. The crescent dough will brown faster than it cooks so you want to guard aganist the tops of your rolls getting too brown, too quick!

After 15 minutes remove the foil and bake for another 10 to 15 minutes until light golden brown and fluffy!

I like to frost these rolls with cream cheese that I have added just a pinch of powdered sugar and vanilla extract. Personally, I don’t like my frosting to be too sweet because there is so much sugar in the rolls. The tang of the cream cheese is the perfect balance to all the sweetness and butter inside the rolls!

Let sit for 1-2 minutes after baking before frosting.
Enjoy!

Knock Off Starbucks Egg Bites with JustEgg (Vegan)

I have been intrigued with the egg bites from a (ahem) certain national coffee chain for quite some time and this past weekend I finally got around to trying my hand at making a vegan version of this cult-classic breakfast on the go! Bonus: My at home version didn’t cost $5 for only two…and I didn’t need to get out of my PJ’s. Win, win.

Full disclosure: I have never has the st*rbucks version but I can't imagine that they could be any better than this! These have mushroom, tomato, and feta (yes, leftover from the kebobs from last night...) But I think that;s part of what makes this recipe so great! You can customize it for your own tastes, or even make a couple of versions! So quick and easy and the texture was perfect!

What you are going to need to buy:

Just Egg, the liquid. It can typically be found right by the eggs in the cold case at the grocery store. There really isn’t a substitute for this…if you want “eggs” that actually taste like the real thing, just try Just Egg. You’ll thank me later.

Sour Cream - (I’m a pretty die-hard Tofutti fan, so that’s what I always use!)

Salt and Pepper, to taste

Optional Add Ins: For this recipe I used mushrooms, Roasted Tomatoes, Vegan Feta and some leftover pesto.

That’s it! Crazy, I know!

What you are going to need to do:

Preheat oven to 350.

In a medium glass bowl whisk together one cup of JustEgg and 1/4 cup of Tofutti Sour Cream.

Add a pinch of salt and pepper, to taste, and add in your favorite breakfast add ins. Try to get as much moisture from the add ins as you can so that your egg bites don’t become soggy. I pressed my tomatoes and mushrooms between paper towels before adding them.

Spray a medium muffin tin with a cooking spray and fill each section half-full with the batter. Don’t over-fill.

You can also use a mini-muffin tin but your cooking time may decrease.

Bake for 15-17 minutes or until center is set. Let cool in the tin for 1-2 minutes.

Serve garnished with fresh herbs, like chives!

This recipe should make 6-7 medium Egg Bites.

Twice Baked Potato Cakes with Creamy Dill Sour Cream Sauce

Sometimes I even surprise myself at how well a recipe turns out. These oven-baked mashed potato cakes with sauteed onions and vegan chorizo from No Evil turned out to be everything you love about mashed potatoes and crispy hashbrowns all in one dish. Topped with a rich and creamy vegan dill sour cream sauce...believe me, you won't be able to eat just one.

Let’s face it! Not all plant-based recipes are always healthy but sometimes you just need some old-fashioned comfort food and these Twice Baked Potato Cakes with Creamy Dill Sour Cream Sauce are just that. A great dish for your weekend brunch or to use up the leftover baked potatoes from last nigh’s dinner. The magic of this recipe is, for sure, the Creamy Dill Sour Cream Sauce…so don’t skip on that part of this delicious dish!

What you are going to need to buy:

Medium Yukon Gold Potatoes - (Budget 1 medium potato per person you want to serve)

Chorizo - (We used the vegan chorizo from No Evil) Sweet Onion

Butter - (I love this plant-based butter from Earth Balance)

Milk or Cream - (We used this coconut and almond blend from Califa Farms)

Minced Garlic - (the best is from Spice World!)  

Fresh Chives

Fresh Dill

Sour Cream ( We used this vegan sour cream from our friends over at Tofutti)

Veggie Stock or Bullion Cubes - (we like the “Not Chicken Bouillon” by Edward and Sons)

Flour

Salt & Pepper, to taste

What you are going to need to do:

Preheat your oven to 400 degrees.

This recipe starts by peeling and cubing your potatoes and bringing them to a rolling boil in salted water until they are fork-tender.

While the potatoes are boiling, in a small saucepan, saute’ your diced onions in olive oil or vegan butter with garlic until onions are translucent.

Once the potatoes are tender drain them well and then using a potato masher or the tines of a large fork begin to mash the potatoes. Continue to mash and incorporate the sauteed onions and garlic, along with pea-sized pieces of the plant-based chorizo. stir well to combine. This mixture will still be a bit lumpy and that’s okay…you don’t need it to be smooth like actual mashed potatoes, just break down the big potato chunks. Add your chopped chives, salt and pepper, and additional garlic, to taste. If the mixture is too dry add some vegan cream or your preferred plant-based milk and/or butter. You need the texture to be dry enough to hold together in cake form while baking.

Using a ring mold or cookie cutter form your potato cakes. If you are not too terribly concerned about the looks or shape of the cakes, you can forgo the molds and use a large spoon and mound mixture onto a non-stick baking sheet.

Bake cakes at 400 degrees for about 20 minutes. Watch to make sure that they are not browning too quickly.

While the cakes are baking you can make the Creamy Dill Sour Cream Sauce.

Making the Creamy Dill Sour Cream Sauce.

In the pot that you used to saute’ the onions add 2-3 tablespoons of butter and heat on medium/low until melted.

Sprinkle 2 tablespoons of white flour over the butter and whisk to make a roux. Let rue cook for 2-3 minutes. Slowly add 1 cup of veggie stock and whisk constantly until the rue is dissolved into the stock. Let the mixture come to back up to a boil and allow to boil for 1 minute to thicken. If the mixture gets too thick you can add a bit more stock.

Remove from heat and let cool for 2-3 minutes. Stir into mixture 4 ounces of sour cream along with 1 tablespoon of chopped, fresh dill, and salt and pepper to taste. The sour cream will help to thin the mixture out but if it’s still too thick you can always add a bit of milk and/or butter. Additionally, you can melt your favorite vegan parmesan cheese into the sauce or even sprinkle in a bit of nutritional yeast if desired.

Check on the potatoes. They should be getting a crisp outer shell that is turning golden brown. Feel free to switch your oven to broil for the last 5 minutes that the cakes are in the oven to assist in browning but keep a close eye on them so they do not burn.

Allow the cakes to cool on the stove-top for 1-2 minutes before plating. Serve potato cakes topped with the
Creamy Dill Sour Cream Sauce and garnished with additional chopped chives.
Enjoy!