Buffalo Soy Curl Hot Pockets

So the one week I decided to take off from the Cookbook Challenge has now gone into a second week. I have been beyond lazy lately, but I am back. Still kind of lazy but actually making an effort. Since it is now  halfway through the week I am going to wait until Sunday or Monday to get back on the Challenge Wagon. Just because I haven't actually been cooking anything worth writing about doesn't mean I haven't  been coming up with lots of awesome ideas though. Last night's Hot Pockets were one of them

Yes, Hot Pockets. I decided on this idea on the train after work earlier tonight. Last night I made Buffalo Soy Curl Pizza(the photos came out horrible so there will be no official post on that) and still had a bunch of leftover Buffalo Soy Curls, some Vegan Blue Cheese(see below for recipe) that I made, vegan cheese and pizza sauce. The only thing I didn't have already was dough. I didn't use a yeast based dough last night or tonight but only because I lacked the time and motivation to make one. Last night I used a basic yeast free pizza dough recipe, nothing special. Tonight I decided to change things up a little. To my basic pizza dough recipe I added a tablespoon of Vital Wheat Gluten just for shits and giggles. It actually produced a dough that when cooked was a cross between basic pizza dough and basic pastry crust.

After I divided and rolled out the dough and shredded the cheese it was time to assemble. I used a block of Cheddar from Galaxy Nutritional Foods. Normally for something like this I would use Daiya but I was all out. For the first time that I can remember actually using the Galaxy brand I was surprised at how much I like it. Don't eat it raw though, not good.

 I spread a thin layer of sauce on one side of each piece of dough(I don't like a lot of sauce), sprinkled that with some cheese, topped that with some buffalo soy curls with a few extra dashes of Frank's Red Hot and topped that with a little more cheese. Then it was time to fold, bake and consume!

The dough "rectangles" came out pretty rustic looking so when they were folded over they looked more like empanadas or mini calzones but I don't care, I am still calling them Hot Pockets!

They weren't very big but they were pretty damn filling. Delicious too! Vegan Blue Cheese is the perfect companion for these little guys. If you were a blue cheese dressing lover in your pregan days, you will love the recipe, I promise.

Hot Pocket Dough

1 1/2 cup flour

1 tblspn Vital Wheat Gluten

1 tblspn baking powder

1/2 tspn salt

2 tblspns olive oil

1/2 cup water. A few extra tblspns if needed

*Preheat 450*

1. Mix all dry ingredients in bowl and make a well in the center. 

2. Add remaining ingredients. 

3. Mix until combined into a dough

4. Knead 5-7 minutes until elastic. 

***You can be lazy like me and do steps 3 and 4 right in your stand mixer***

5. Dump dough onto floured surface and knead another minute or two, with your hands this time, to gauge if the dough needs more liquid or flour. 

6. Divide dough into 4 equal portions and roll each out into about an 8x6 rectangle. Don't worry if you can't get a perfect rectangle, mine didn't come close. 

7. Add toppings(whatever you would like) to one side of the dough, fold over, crimp shut with a fork and poke a few holes in the top to allow steam to escape. 

8. Bake about 15 minutes until they start turning golden brown.

Vegan Blue Cheese

1/2 cup crumbled firm tofu

 1 cup Veganaise or other vegan mayo
1/4 tsp tahini

dash of garlic powder

dash of lemon juice(literally just a dash)

dash of apple cider vinegar

1. Mix Veganaise, tahini, lemon juice, apple cider vinegar and garlic powder until smooth. 

2. Mix in crumbled tofu. 

3. Serve with your favorite spicy buffalo foods and enjoy!

Cookbook Challenge. Week 1. AFR-Buffalo Tempeh and Mac & Trees with Easy Breezy Cheezy Sauce

We are only a day into the Cookbook Challenge and I have already seen so many great meals cooked by other PPKers. There is not a menu in the Table of Contents that I am not interested in cooking. I may or may not have already said this, but if you don't own this book, buy it!

On the menu for tonight was Buffalo Tempeh and Mac and Trees with Easy Breezy Cheezy Sauce. The second meal I made from Appetite for Reduction was another winner. I made a few minor modifications out of necessity but it wasn't anything that would make a difference in the way the recipe turned out.

The Buffalo Tempeh was made according to the recipe with the exception that I used fresh garlic and onion instead of the granules because I didn't have them. I cooked them down in a little EB before adding cayenne sauce, veg broth and oregano. I would have never thought to add oregano to hot sauce before, especially because I think hot sauce is good on its own but the flavor it brought was great. I usually don't steam tempeh before I cook it but I really do feel it helped it to absorb the marinade and made the texture better.

I have read the Mac and Trees recipe a few times while flipping through the book and again while making my shopping list, I'm not gonna lie, it took me until I actually bought the broccoli to get the "Trees" part. I should have gotten it sooner because growing up my dad always pretended like broccoli was a little tree with little tiny birdies living in it. Now, thinking back, I'm surprised I even ate broccoli that I though contained little baby birdies. Anyways, the Mac and Trees was simple to make, I subbed rotini for macaroni because for some reason the pasta aisle at Whole Foods tonight was barren, maybe due to the impending snow storm we are supposed to get in the Northeast tomorrow night/Wednesday. I think rotini holds sauce better anyways so I wasn't completely devastated.

The Cheezy Sauce was a nooch based sauce which was awesome, but to be honest, I can't really ever tell a difference in any of the nooch based sauces I've made in my vegan life. They all have different ingredients but they always taste very much the same. Again, not complaining, I love a nooch sauce as much as any vegan. After the tempeh was done cooking and the nooch sauce was all mixed in with the pasta I drizzled some of the leftover buffalo sauce over my plate of pasta . As an omni I never actually had buffalo mac, but if I did, I would have to say the vegan version is better. Not only is it better for you, it just tastes awesome.

This was a really hearty meal that left me feeling full after a small bowl and knowing that it was relatively good for me made it taste even better. Just like the lettuce wraps and fried rice I made last night, this is absolutely going to become a staple in my recipe repertoire.