During the winter when fresh fruit become a problem, it’s always nice to turn to citrus. Lemon pudding cake had been a favorite when I was growing up. Using many eggs, it becomes a light chiffon with a creamy sauce. But this delicious vegan version is even better. It tastes great, has a lovely texture and is compassionate. It is very easy to make and when enjoyed warm, on a cold winter’s day, one could not wish for more.

Serving Size: 4

Ingredients:

• 1 organic lemon
• 1 pkg. (about 175 grams) tempeh
• 1 cup orange juice
• 6-8 sprigs thyme
• 1 Tbs. sesame oil
• 2 Tbs. oil
• 1 Tbs. soy sauce
• 1 tsp. vegetable bouillon powder

Directions:

1. Slice the tempeh in thin slices.
2. Make a marinade form the orange juice, sesame oil, the juice from 1/2 of the lemon and vegetable bouillon.
3. Marinate the tempeh slices for 1/2 hour-4 hours.
4. Heat the 2 tablespoons of oil in a frying pan.
5. Strip the leaves from the time into the pan. (Leave 1 spring as garnish).
6. Braze the tempeh so that both sides are golden brown.
7. Season to taste with a pinch of salt, and freshly ground pepper.
8. Slice the other half of the lemon and place in the frying pan to lightly saute for 1-2 minutes.
9. Place the tempeh Schnitzels on a serving platter, and pour the marinade into the hot frying pan.
10. Allow the marinade to reduce, then pour over the Schnitzels or serve in a gravy boat on the side.
11. Garnish with the cooked lemon and thyme sprig.

Serving Size: 4

Ingredients:

• 500 grams fresh green beans
• 1 lemon, zest and juice
• 2 Tbs. olive oil
• 3 cloves fresh garlic, sliced thinly
• salt and pepper to taste

Directions:

1. If the green beans are young, you can leave them whole, and just trim of the stem edge.
2. I prefer to steam then, only until they are al dente.
3. Meanwhile, slice the garlic very thinly.
4. In a small sauce pan, heat the oil.
5. When the oil is hot, drop the garlic in and stir until the garlic becomes golden. Be careful to watch the garlic, as it only takes a couple of minutes, and you don’t want to brown it.
6. Zest the lemon and after zesting, juice it.
7. Mix the lemon juice with the olive oil.
8. Add salt and pepper and lemon zest (reserving a bit as garnish) pour over the green beans and mix well.
9. Serve warm.

Serving Size: 4

Ingredients:

• 1 cup peas
• 1 cup soy cream
• 1/4 teaspoon dried hot red-pepper flakes
• 1 clove, garlic minced
• 3 cups (packed) fresh spinach (3 ounces)
• 1 teaspoon lemon zest
• 1& 1/2 teaspoons fresh lemon juice
• 1 lb. gnocchi
• 1/4 cup nutritional yeast

Directions:

1. Simmer peas with soy cream, red-pepper flakes, garlic, and 1/4 teaspoon salt, until tender, about 5 minutes.
2. Add spinach and cook over medium-low heat, uncovered, stirring, until wilted.
3. Remove from heat and stir in lemon zest and juice.
4. Meanwhile, cook gnocchi in a pasta pot of boiling salted water until al dente.
5. Drain gnocchi.
6. Add the nutritional yeast to the sauce and stir.
7. Serve the gnocchi with the sauce poured over and optionally more nutritional yeast or vegan Parmesan cheese on top.

Notes:

I used fresh peas from the garden, however frozen would also be fine.
If using frozen peas, do not thaw first, add them to the soy cream frozen.

adapted from http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/(…)

Yield: 12 raviolis

Ingredients:

for the raviolis:

• 1 cup semolina flour
• 2 tsp. olive oil
• 1/2 cup water
• salt

for the filling:

• 500 grams fresh asparagus, washed, cut in small pices
• 1 clove garlic
• 2 Tbs. olive oil
• 100 grams soy cheese, grated
• salt and pepper to taste

for the sauce:

• 1 & 1/2 cup soy milk (plain)
• 1 vegetable bouillon cube
• 2 tsp. corn starch
• 20 + fresh sage leaves, minced
• 1 lemon, juice and zest

Directions:

To make the ravioli:

1. In a bowl, combine the pasta dough ingredients to make a dough.
2. Wrap in a towel and let sit for 30 minutes.

To make the filling:

1. Slice the end of the asparagus stalk off, as it is usually old, dried and hard.
2. Slice the asparagus in very small circles.
3. Reserve a few asparagus tips as garnish.
4. Heat the oil in a frying pan.
5. Add the minced garlic.
6. Add the asparagus pieces and gently saute until al dente.
7. When the asparagus is ready, grate the soy cheese over and mix well.
8. Remove from the heat and reserve.
9. Fry of boil the asparagus tips that you wish to use as garnish.

To make the sauce:

1. Place the soy milk in a sauce pan.
2. Add the bouillon cube and corn starch.
3. Gently bring the mixture to a simmer to thicken.
4. Add the minced sage and lemon zest and juice.
5. Season to taste with salt and pepper.
6. Optionally, you may want to add bit of mustard, and or nutmeg as seasonings.

To make the ravioli:

1. Bring a large pot of salted water to boil.
2. Divide the dough in fourths and roll out each portion on a floured work space, allowing the first sheet of pasta to sit while rolling out the second.
3. One of the tricks to the pasta is to make sure you’ve rolled the dough out very thin.
4. Cut out your ravioli shapes and fill with the filling.
5. Place the top part of the ravioli over the filling and close with a fork.
6. If you have a form or press, then of course that saves time you merely place 1 sheet of dough on one side, put the filling on the dough and then lay the 2nd sheet of dough on top.
7. Close the form to seal and cut off the extra using a knife.
8. When the ravioli have all been made.
9. Put them in the boiling water and cook for a few minutes or until they are floating.
10. Serve the ravioli with the sauce, garnished with a few whole fresh sage leaves and a few asparagus tips.

Notes:

Adapted from Vegatarisch Fit No. 11

Ingredients:

For the cake:

• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 cup soy margarine, soften at room temperature, but not liquid
• 1 1/4 cups white sugar
• 3 egg replacer (powdered for the most “white cake” result)
• 1 teaspoon lemon flavoring
• 1 cup soy creamer (soy milk would suffice, but make sure it is white, not light yellow)

For the filling:

• You can use raspberry jam ( about 1/2-3/4 cup)
  Alternatively, if you have fresh or frozen raspberries, you can cook approx. 2 cups of raspberries with 1/4 cup water and 2 tablespoons sugar. Puree the raspberry mixture, then if you wish, press through a sieve to remove the seeds or leave the seeds in. Return to the sauce pan. Add 2 teaspoons of corn starch to a bit of water to become liquid. Add the corn starch mixture to the raspberry mixture and heat until the raspberry mixture become thick. Remove from the heat and allow to cool.

For the frosting:

• 4 cups powdered sugar
• 1/4 cup soy margarine, softened to room temperature
• 1/4 cup shortening (I use coconut oil)
• 2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
• 2 tablespoons soy milk (optionally if more liquid is needed)
• 1/2 cup coconut

Directions:

For the cake:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F,
2. Grease and flour an 8″ round pan.
3. In a large bowl, cream together soy margarine and sugar until light and fluffy (about 5 minutes) beat in the egg replacer, and the lemon flavoring.
4. Beat in flour, baking powder and salt.
5. Beat in the soy cream until just incorporated.
6. Pour batter into prepared pan.
7. Bake in the preheated oven for 35 minutes, or until a tooth pick inserted comes out clean.
8. Cool on wire rack in pan for 10 minutes, and then invert onto wire rack to cool completely.

To make the frosting.

1. Be sure the soy margarine and coconut oil are soft at room temperature, but not liquid.
2. Beat them together until light and fluffy. This will be quite a long time of beating.
3. Slowly add the powdered sugar and some of the lemon juice.
4. Continue beating until all the powdered sugar has been used.

To assemble the cake:

1. Slice the cake in half.
2. Put a generous layer of raspberry filling on the bottom half.
3. Be careful not to go all the way to the edge of the cake with the raspberry filling, as when you put the top half of the cake on it will spread to the edge. If it is at the edge, then it will run over the edge giving a pink side.
4. Put a generous amount of the frosting on the raspberry filling. Be careful while spreading it not to mix them together, or push any too close to the edge.
5. Put the top half of the cake on and begin frosting. Be very careful to clean your frosting knife in case some of the raspberry filling gets on it.
6. Sprinkle the coconut on top of the white frosting and decorate with a few fresh raspberries.

Notes:

This was not as white white as I had wanted. One could have used the coconut oil in the cake also perhaps. Or if possible, find a non creamy colored soy margarine. It was delicious and the affect was right – it was just that I wanted it white white. I would also use more lemon juice in the cake. If you want the slices of cake to come out “clean” without “smearing” the filling, then you should place the cake in the refrigerator to harden the frosting a bit.

White cake inspired by http://community.livejournal.com/vegancooking/434218.html

Serving Size: 4

Ingredients:

• 4 ounces soy tempeh, cut into 1/4-inch cubes
• 2 cups vegetable bouillon
• 1 1/2 tablespoons soy margarine
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1/3 cup shallots, finely chopped
• 1 cup Arborio rice
• 1/2 cup dry white wine
• 2 teaspoons lemon zest
• 1/2 cup fresh flat-leaf parsley, chopped
• 2 tablespoons lemon juice
• 1/4 cup thinly sliced green onions

Directions:

1. Heat a medium nonstick skillet coated with cooking spray over medium-high heat.
2. Add tempeh and saute 4 minutes or until golden brown.
3. Remove from pan and cool slightly.
4. Bring vegetable bouillon to a simmer in a medium saucepan.
5. Heat soy margarine and oil in a large saucepan over medium-high heat.
6. Add shallots; sauté 2 minutes or until tender.
7. Add rice; cook 1 minute, stirring constantly.
8. Add wine; cook 1 minute or until liquid is nearly absorbed, stirring constantly.
9. Stir in rind.
10. Add broth, 1/2 cup at a time, stirring constantly until each portion is absorbed before adding the next (about 20 minutes total).
11. Stir in the tempeh pieces.
12. Add the lemon juice.
13. Shortly before serving add the chipped parsley and mix well.
14. Season to taste with salt and white pepper.
15. Serve garnished with the chopped spring onion and possibly a slice of lemon.

Notes:

adapted from Dana Jacobi , Cooking Light, AUGUST 2003

The cake had the right moisture, was very rich in texture, lemony tasting and easy to make. I did change the recipe just a bit – all cooks have to make it their own, right? We like it lemony, so I used the zest of 2 lemons, and 3 teaspoons of the lemon extract. Otherwise I did follow Celine’s instructions. I did wait an hour before removing it from the cake tin, and yet longer to frost it.

We had a tasty afternoon thanks to Celine’s Lemony French Cake, especially nice on a chilly rainy November day.

Yield: 9 big muffins

Ingredients:

• 1 & 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 3/4 cup white sugar
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon grated lemon zest
• 1/2 cup plain soy yogurt
• 3 tbs. vegetable oil
• 1 tbs. lemon juice
• 2 egg replacements
• 1/2 teaspoon lemon extract (optional)
• 1 cup raspberries (fresh are best, otherwise frozen)
• 2 tbs. white sugar for decoration (optional)

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C).
2. Grease a 12 cup muffin tin, or line with paper liners.
3. In a large bowl, mix together the soy yogurt, oil, lemon juice, egg replacements, and, if using, lemon extract.
4. In a separate bowl, stir together the flour, 3/4 cup sugar, baking powder, salt, and lemon zest.
5. Add the wet ingredients to the dry, and mix until just blended.
6. Gently stir in the raspberries.
7. Spoon batter evenly into the prepared muffin cups.
8. Sprinkle remaining sugar over the tops for decoration, if desired.
9. Bake for 15 to 20 minutes in the preheated oven, or until the top springs back when lightly touched.
10. Cool muffins in the tin on a wire rack.

Notes:

Adapted from http://recipes.kaboose.com/raspberry-lemon-muffins.html

Yield: 12 muffins

Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup plain soy yogurt
• 3 tablespoons vegetable oil
• 1/4 cup lemon juice
• 1 egg replacer
• 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 3/4 cup white sugar
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• grated zest of 2 lemons
• for the tops:
• 1/4 lemon juice
• 1/4 cup melted vegan margarine
• 1 cup sugar

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
2. Line a cupcake tin with paper liners, spray the papers with a spray baking oil.
3. In a large bowl, mix together the soy yogurt, oil, lemon juice and egg replacer.
4. In a separate bowl, stir together the flour, 3/4 cup sugar, baking powder, salt, and lemon zest.
5. Add the wet ingredients to the dry, and mix until just blended.
6. Spoon the batter evenly into the prepared muffin cups.
7. Bake for 15 to 17 minutes in the preheated oven, or until the top springs back when lightly touched.
8. Cool muffins in the tin on a wire rack.

Dipping the Tops:
When the muffins are cool, dip each muffin in the lemon juice, then the vegan margarine followed by the sugar sugar.
Let set.

Notes:

adapted from All Recipes