Cauliflower Wings

I’ll admit it: for some time now, I’ve been very intrigued by recipes that suggest that by a clever combination of breading, baking, and BBQ sauce application, cauliflower florets can be substituted for chicken wings.  I haven’t actually believed it, but I wanted to try it.

I have looked at dozens of recipes for this, and ultimately, I invented my own.  Plus I have a secret weapon: Akabanga sauce from Rwanda.

I bought several small bottles of this sauce when I was in Rwanda in the summer of 2014.  I don’t use it as often as I should.

This beautiful head of cauliflower was my inspiration!

Ingredients

I large head of cauliflower
2 cups of the flour of your choice - regular flower, whole wheat flour, gluten-free - it’s up  to you!
2 cups of soy milk or the non-dairly milk of your choice
a pinch of salt
black pepper - as much or as little as you like
2 cups of your favourite vegan BBQ sauce
1/2 cup of unsweetened apple sauce
2 tablespoons of canola oil
your favourite hot sauce, if you are looking for hot wings - if you don’t like hot wings, you can omit the hot sauce


Directions

You will need to pre-heat your oven to 450 degrees

Cut up the head of cauliflower into florets.  Don’t make the florets too small.

Combine the flour, the soy milk (or other non-dairy milk) the salt and pepper in a large bowl and whisk until well combined.

Coat the cauliflower florets in this mixture and place them in an oven-proof pan.  I used a 9 x 13 inch pan and a 5 x 9 inch pan.  My cauliflower was so big I could not fit all the florets in one pan.

You can coat the florets by dipping them one by one in the flour mixture if you like, but I dumped all of the florets into the bowl and gently stirred with a wooden spoon, and then I used the spoon to lift the florets out of the bowl and into the ovenproof pans.

Put your pans in the oven and set the timer for 22 minutes.

While the cauliflower is baking, you can make your sauce.  Combine the BBQ sauce, the apple sauce, the canola oil and about two drops of hot sauce.  Stir until they are will combined.  I used a 4 Cup size measuring cup to do this so that it would be easier to pour the sauce onto the florets.

When the timer goes off, carefully remove your pans from the oven and place them onto  robust hot pads or trivets.

Pour the BBQ sauce mixture over the florets as evenly as possible.  The pans will be very hot and almost immediately you will begin to notice the aroma of carmelizing BBQ sauce.

Put your pans back into the oven for another 8 to 10 minutes.

Serve the florets more or less immediately.  They would go very nicely with a good vegan potato salad or with vegan ranch dressing.   I liked them plain, actually, and  I can  absolutely see them becoming a backyard dinner staple.

The question remains, however, do they taste like chicken wings?  The answer is no, they do not.  And I’m happy that they do not.

Banana Oatmeal Cookies

I was feeling a bit remiss about not having made a post to my blog recently.  I know that I am unlikely to attract new followers if there is not some dandy new content showing up frequently.

We had a Christmas cookie exchange at the school where I work.  There are actually two schools in my school building, and staff (teachers and support staff) from both schools participated.   Two of my good friends from my school brought vegan cookies because they didn’t think it would be sporting to bring cookies that I would not eat.  I have been thinking a great deal about their kindness to me, and about their cookies too! I resolved to try to make these cookies on the March Break, which I am enjoying right now.

I’m starting with these simple cookies, made by one of the teachers at my school.  She had never baked cookies in her entire life, so she was looking for something both vegan and simple - and these cookies hit the mark on both counts.  We car-pool home most nights, and earlier this week I asked her about the recipe.  She said she had looked on-line, and the recipe was so simple I would not have to write it down.   I found I had to tweak it a little bit, but the cookies came out as delicious as I remembered them.

Ingredients

2 very ripe bananas 

2 cups of quick-cooking rolled oats

Directions

Pre-heat your oven to 350 degrees.  Put some parchment paper on a cookie sheet.  If you prefer spraying a bit of oil on your cookie sheet, go ahead!

1. Mash the bananas until they are good and mashed, but still have some lumps.
2. Add the oats and stir to combine.
3. Drop by the teaspoon onto your cookie sheet, and bake in the oven for about 12 minutes.  When you give them a gentle poke and they don’t fall apart but rather, feel a little firm, they are done.

If you can believe it, these are the only two ingredients.  If you are the kind of baker who likes to experiment, you can also add any extra ingredients of your choice: I added 

1/4 teaspoon each of cinnamon and nutmeg to the bowl, and then divided the batter into thirds.  I left one third just as it was, in the second third I stirred 1/3 Cup of slivered almonds and 1/3 cup of dried cranberries, and in the third third, I stirred in 2 heaping tablespoons of unsweetened coconut flakes and 1/3 cup of cranberries.

I was able to fit all of the cookies onto one cookie sheet.  The aroma in my kitchen was quite beautiful.  These are the kind of cookies that you don’t have to feel guilty about eating.