The Vegan Roadie

Eggless Nog Cupcakes (GF)

Egg Nog. My fiancé literally can’t live without it. He also likes to start Christmas after Halloween, I’m more traditional starting the festivities after Thanksgiving but as years pass I’m giving into David’s ways. Christmas is such a happy time, why wait!? And that just means I can make the Eggless Nog Cupcakes sooner too! Nutmeg is at the forefront in this flavor we all know, and most of us love! Oh and by the way, these babies are gluten free so even those with gluten sensitivities can indulge.

For the Cupcakes:

1 ½ cups all purpose gluten free flour

1 cup organic cane sugar

1 ½ teaspoon ground nutmeg

½ teaspoon baking powder

¼ teaspoon sea salt

¾ teaspoon xanthan gum

½ cup vegan sour cream

¼ cup canola oil

1 cup vegan egg nog

For the Frosting:

½ cup vegan butter, room temperature

½ cup non hydrogenated vegetable shortening

½ teaspoon nutmeg

3 cups organic confectioners sugar

1 tablespoon vegan egg nog

To Make the Cupcakes:

Preheat the oven to 350°, lining a 12 cavity muffin tin with cupcake liners.

In a bowl whisk together the flour, sugar, nutmeg, baking powder, salt and xanthan gum until well combined. Add the sour cream, oil and egg nog and whisk gently until a batter forms.

Use ¼ cup measuring scoop to divide the batter evenly among the prepared muffin tin, ¼ cup batter for each cupcake. Bake for 10 minutes, rotate and bake an additional 8 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean.

Cool completed and then use a butter knife, offset spatula or piping bag to frost the cupcakes. Sprinkle with holiday candy décor of choice, if desired.

To Make the Frosting:

Combine the butter and shortening in a bowl, use a hand or stand mixer to cream the shortening and butter together until smooth. Add the nutmeg and mix until well combined. Add the sugar 1 cup at a time until a thick frosting has formed, add the vegan egg nog and whip until a fluffy yet still firm frosting has formed.

Tip:

Xanthan Gum can usually be found in the baking aisle at grocery stores, but if you are out of luck at your local grocer hit up a natural food store or a co-op. Worse comes to worse, good ole internet is only a click away and it can easily be ordered.

Apple Braised Tempeh

Most of us have our favorite Thanksgiving Turkey Alternative. I happen to really enjoy offerings from both Field Roast and Tofurky. However, I dont think we should hold the enjoyment of these flavors off to one day! So this is a super easy tempeh to make to enjoy a taste of T day - any day!

Ingredients:

3 cups vegetable broth

4 garlic cloves

2 teaspoons dried sage

1 teaspoon dried thyme

1 teaspoon sea salt

½ teaspoon black pepper

2 tablespoons maple syrup

Apple slices, 3 apples worth (apple variety of choice)

2 (8-ounce) packages Tempeh

olive oil, optional

Procedure:

Preheat the oven to 475°

Combine the broth, garlic, sage, thyme, salt, pepper, syrup and apples in blender and blend 1-2 minutes until smooth. There still might be bits of apple, thats ok!

Cut the tempeh blocks in half width wise and then cut those halves in half lengthwise, so you have 8 thinner sheets of tempeh. Cut those squares diagonally to create 16 triangles.

Transfer to the tempeh to a baking dish (with a lid if possible) and pour the contents of the blender over the tempeh. Cover (use foil if needed) and bake for 15 minutes, uncover and allow to bake for 15 more minutes. Remove from the oven and flip the tempeh over and bake 15 more minutes uncovered.

Serve as is or heat some oil on an oven top grill or skillet and sear the sides of the tempeh to desired crispiness.

Serve with Stovetop Thanksgiving Rice Stuffing, Kale Sweet Potato Hash and Mellow Mushroom Gravy from The Simply Vegan Cookbook for a complete Thanksgiving bowl! Top the bowl off with your favorite homemade or stir bought cranberry sauce.

Sweet Chili Garlic Cashews

Sweet. Chili. Garlic. These are so simple to make and ridiculously delicious, and also very, very addictive. I highly suggest making them only for gatherings so you can share them, these little nuggets of joy are irresistible!

Ingredients:

¼ cup agave

2 teaspoons huy fong chili garlic sauce

½ teaspoon garlic powder

½ teaspoon sea salt

1 ½ cups raw cashews

Procedure:

Preheat the oven to 350°. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.

Spread the cashews out on baking sheet and bake for 5 minutes, remove from the oven.

In a bowl combine the agave, chili garlic sauce, garlic powder and sea salt until well incorporated. Add the cashews to the mixture and mix until all cashews are coated, transfer the cashews back to the baking sheet and spread out with a spatula.

Bake for 5 minutes, stir with a spatula and bake for an additional 5 minutes. Stir one last time with a spatula and bake for 5 more minutes, remove from the oven and let cool for 10 minutes until sticking the parchment paper. Slowly run a spatula under the bottom of the cashews releasing them from the parchment.

Will keep for two weeks in an air tight container.

Today, The Vegan Roadie Season 3: Ciao Italia was released! I’m so excited. My only regret with this season is that I didn’t get to cover everything I wanted to in Rome. We had some schedule mishaps, and these things happen - I’m very proud of the episode we turned out for Rome. But I wanted to at least give a nod to a few places I wish could have been showcased. Rifugio Romano is run by a husband and wife team, they took over the restaurant from their family and have been slowly veganizing the menu — and the vegan options were plentiful and DELICIOUS! One of the most memorable was the fried gnocchi, as I’m obsessed with my new air fryer and Vio Life Cheese, I gave my own version a go! Of course, if you dont have an air fryer you can fry these up in a pan, I’ll give a note on that at the bottom. Buon Appetito!

Ingredients:

2 medium gold Yukon potatoes, about 16oz after peeled

1 ¼ cup all purpose flour

¾ teaspoon sea salt

¼ teaspoon ground nutmeg

¼ teaspoon black pepper

1 cup marinara of choice (I use Magnificent Marinara Recipe from The Simply Vegan Cookbook)

cooking spray or canola oil (see note)

shredded vegan mozzarella (I use Vio Life)

vegan parmesan, optional (I use Vio Life)

crushed red pepper, optional

Procedure:

In a sauce pot, submerge the potatoes in water, cover with a lid and bring to a boil for about 8-10 minutes until fork tender. Drain and mash the potatoes, set aside in a bowl in the refrigerator to cool completely.

Add the flour, salt, nutmeg and pepper to the mashed potatoes and mix until well combined. It helps to get hands on here, roll up those sleeves and mash everything together with your hands.

In 4-6 batches, roll the dough into ropes on a floured surface, about 1 inch in diameter. With a sharp knife, cut each rope into 1 inch pieces. That’s your gnocchi! Now let’s our fry or pan fry… your choice…

Air Fryer:

Spray your air fryer basket with cooking spray, add in half of the gnocchi and set it to 390° for 7 minutes. Shake the gnocchi around and let it fry for an additional 7 minutes at 390°

Pan Fry:

In a deep skillet add 1 inch of canola oil, let the oil reach 350°. To test it, tear off a small piece of dough from a gnocchi and gently drop into the oil, if it starts to bubble and rise to the top, your oil is ready! Pan fry the gnocchi in batches, about 10 at a time, and remove with a slotted spoon when golden brown. Transfer to paper towel lined plate to soak up any access oil.

Add the Cheese:

Turn your oven setting to broil. If you have a cast iron skillet, toss all of the gnocchi in it and top with 1 cup marinara followed by desired amount of vegan mozzarella cheese shreds. Place in the broiler for 4-6 minutes, all broilers have different intensity levels, the idea here is just to have the cheese melt, not brown it, so keep a close watch!

Carefully remove from the broiler and sprinkle with parmesan and crushed red pepper.

Serve family style with a large serving spoon.

PB & Cookies S’mores Milkshake

When life kicks you down there are always marshmallow’s, peanut butter and oreos… and ice cream… and MILKSHAKES!!! GAH! And you can always put them together, because that…THAT… is what dreams are made of. When life hands you lemons make a PB & Oreo S’mores Milkshake. Obvi.

Serves 1

Ingredients:

1 cup vegan vanilla ice cream (or Ben and Jerry’s PB & Cookies, see note)

6 Oreo or Newman O’s Cookies

1 ½ cup unsweetened non dairy milk

2-4 tablespoons peanut butter, depends on your personal preference

8 Vegan Marshmallows, (I am a devoted Dandies fan)

vegan chocolate sauce, optional

vegan graham crackers crumbled, optional

Procedure:

In a blender combine ice cream, Oreos, milk and peanut butter. Blend until smooth enough to get through a straw! You will have cookie bits, but try and get them all blended up small enough to suck through straw with all of the goodness.

If desired, coat the rim of the glass with a generous amount of chocolate syrup and dip the rim in crumbled up graham cracker. Oreo’s can be tricky to get on a skewer, as pictured, but if you are good at crafts I encourage you to go for it! If not, just toss some on top with the marshmallows and by the time you get to the end you will have cookies and milk!

If desired, drizzle the marshmallows with chocolate sauce and sprinkle with more crumbled graham crackers.

Note:

I like to toast my marshmallows on a skewer with a culinary torch but if you only have access to the open flame of your oven that will do the trick! Just be careful and quick, the catch fire and toast up quick and easy.

Ben and Jerry’s Dairy Free PB & Cookies is the perfect option to whip this up super quick, simply use 1 cup of it blended with 1 ½ cups milk, omit the cookies and peanut butter from the recipe.

Hi Dustin! My name is Peyton Becker, stage manager in NYC. I actually know a friend of yours I think, MK Flynt who has given me a lovely vegan roadie hat which I love. Anyway I wanted to contact you because I'm heading out on a crazy tour for the next six months and need a little guidance. I would love to email you to chat a bit but I know you're very busy. Let me know if you have a moment.