Snow Pizza

(It's not made of snow.)

Four roommates and a boyfriend are snowed in (24+ inches). Shrooms and Kels were wondering if Dominoes was open. They're not. So I decided to make pizza.

Now, I've tried making pizza dough from scratch a few times, but it always seems to turn out crumby or chewy and it sucks. But this recipe, adapted from something I found on allrecipes.com, turned out great. The crust is a bit crunchy on the outside, but fluffy on the inside.

(Also, pizza dough is supposed to be vegan, so this isn't anything special.)

Pizza Dough

1 packet of yeast (about 2 1/2 tsp)
1 tsp brown sugar
1 1/2 c warm water
1 tsp salt
2 Tbsp olive oil
4 cups flour

Dissolve yeast and sugar in the warm water in a large bowl. Let sit for about 10 minutes.
Mix in salt and olive oil.
Add flour (about 3 cups) until it forms a dough that you can work with. Use a bit of what is left over to flour your counter (this is where you'll knead the dough a little, so make sure the counter doesn't have a bunch of moldy crap all over it).
Knead add flour in until the dough isn't sticky anymore.
Put the dough in a slightly oiled bowl, cover, and put in a warm place.
Watch an episode of Mad Men. Or two episodes of Bridezillas. Your choice.
Go back to your dough. It should be a lot bigger than the ball you put in the bowl an hour ago. Feel free to show the risen dough to your friends; it's awesome.
Now punch the dough a few times. Yeah, it's kind of sad to see it get small again, but you have to do it if you want pizza.
Roll it up in a ball and let sit for a minute.
Flour your counter again and roll out your dough. If you're making pan pizza, roll the dough into two circles and use two 9 inch pans. Or just roll one big circle and throw it on a cookie sheet. Let the dough rise about 10 minutes.
Put pizza sauce, vegan cheese and whatever veggies you have in your fridge on top.

Creamy Tomato Basil

Creamy Tomato Basil

1 medium to large sweet onion, chopped
2 Tbsp olive oil (maybe more, maybe less)
2 garlic cloves, mashed
4 ripe tomatoes, diced (maybe plum, roma, it doesn't really matter, as long as they're red)
2 big cans of crushed tomatoes, or something like crushed
1 small can tomato paste
some tomato juice
some basil leaves, about 10
1 package silken tofu
1 cup almond milk
salt & pepper to taste

Ok. So, heat some olive oil in a large pot. You really just need enough to saute the garlic and onions, so it doesn't burn and shit.
Throw the garlic and onions in the olive oil, cook until the onions start to turn clearish, then put the tomatoes in. Cook for about 4 minutes on medium.
Put the crushed tomatoes in. And the basil too, because it's delicious.
Alright, so, here is where you need to make a judgment call. The tomato paste and the tomato juice are to get your tomato concoction to the right soupy consistency. Based on your past knowledge of tomato soup, add tomato paste and tomato juice until it seems right to you. Your fault if you fuck it up in this step. My hands are clean.
Now, get out your roommate's food processor. Put the silken tofu and the almond milk in it. Lid on. Turn on. Keep on until the consistency is like cream.
Put your creamy tofu mix into your tomato mix. Mix it all up. Now you can let it sit and brew for a bit, or you can move on.
Take out the basil leaves, and, in whatever way you deem best, process the soup so all the little tomato and onion bits aren't bits anymore (this is where an immersion blender is handy, but who the fuck has an immersion blender?).
Eat!

Also, why are onions chopped and tomatoes diced? They end up in the relatively same shape.

Sloppy Seconds

This cake is pretty sloppy, but very good (hence making you want to go back for seconds).
Hooray for puns!
Really though. It's very rich, extremely chocolatey, and my roommates had no idea it was vegan.

Sloppy Seconds Chocolate Cake

2c white sugar
1 3/4 c flour
3/4 c unsweetened cocoa powder
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1 1/2 tsp baking soda
1tsp salt
2 egg replacers (I used Ener-G)
1 c almond milk
1/2 c canola or vegetable oil
2 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 c hot coffee
1/2 c boiling water

Pre-heat oven to 350F. Grease and flour two 9in round pans (don't settle for just spraying the pan - the cake will stick if you don't use flour).
Mix together dry ingredients.
Add egg replacers, almond milk, oil and extract. Beat with mixer for at least 2 minutes.
Stir in coffee and boiling water by hand.
Pour into pans and bake for 35-40 minutes.
Let cool completely before removing from pan.


Chocolate "Buttercream" Frosting

1/2 c EarthBalance vegan butter
3/4 c unsweetend cocoa powder
3 1/3 c confectioner's sugar
1/4 c almond milk
1/4 c soymilk creamer
(you can use 1/2 c almond milk or 1/2 c soymilk creamer if you don't have both)

Beat softened butter with mixer to break it up. Add everything else and beat until you have frosting. You can add more or less confectioner's sugar to make your desired consistency.

Water Cake

This morning, Shrooms put a slice of cake in the microwave for a minute. The goopy mess resulted in a discussion of the meaning of cake.
Shrooms insisted her edible was still cake; K-Mar did not agree.
"If you take ice cubes, crush them up, then melt them, they will no longer be ice cubes; they will be water."
"My cake is still a cake!"
"How about 'water cake'?"
They both liked this conclusion, so now mashed/melted cake will be known in our house as Water Cake.

Water Cake.