Jack Daniel’s Sauce

I really like the famous Jack Daniel’s sauce at Friday’s. But I dont like Fridays. All the food on the menu has meat in it! Even the salads besides like, one. And they dont offer vegetarian options. So I had to find the recipe of the sauce to make it at home and use it however I want. I did some researched on the net, and all the copy cat recipes I found didnt have all the ingredients I had in mind to use. And reading the reviews I got confused. Some said about the recipes that they were amazing, exactly the same thing, whereas others said they sucked and had nothing in common with the original sauce.

I decided to take a risk and trust my taste buds, and picked from every recipe I found the ingredients I though would do. The basic thing for thing sauce, that you cant make it without, is Jack Daniel’s and dark brown sugar. Here is my version, which I think is very similar with the original! Use it on seitan, tofu or other meat alternatives, or as a dipping sauce for anything you feel like!

For 1 cup :

-1 or 1/2 onion

-2 cloves garlic

-1/4 cup Jack Daniels

-2 Tbsp blackstrap molasses

-1/2 cup dark brown sugar

-3 Tbsp organic unsweetened pineapple juice. [ pure ]

-2 Tbsp teryaki sauce

-1/2to1tsp tabasco sauce [ depending your spicy-ness tolerance]

-1/4 tsp minced ginger

-1 Tbsp olive oil

First place onion and garlic cloves in food processor. Blend so that your have tiny onion pieces. Add in a saucepan olive oil, and saute onion mix in it. Then add Jack and brown sugar and strir. Bring to boil. Add the rest of the ingredients, lower heat and simmer for approximately 20 minutes, stirring often. When it cools down it thickens quite a lot and becomes like chutney due to the high sugar content, but if you want to use it as a dip you can thin it when you heat it up with some water. Serve however you want!

Sour Cream Jacket Potato

This is a fantastic recipe, one that you cant tell its veganized! I did a research on jackets potatoes and collected all the tricks that makes them crispy on the outside and nicely soft evenly baked on the inside. If you are a fan of buttery flavor you can just eat the potato plain with some vegan margarine, but I have to admit that I never liked butter flavor. The perfect topping for a jacket potato in my opinion is something creamy but light.

Now I had tried cooking with real sour cream only once and I have to say that it tastes almost exactly like plain Greek yogurt but creamier-heavier. I checked the nutritional yeast cookbook that has 2 recipes for vegan sour cream, but both use tofu, and I dont understand why. I think soy yogurt is more appropriate so I tried it. The outcome? Amazing!! Everyone loves it and dont even understand its made with soy yogurt. I am not ashamed to say if one of my recipes is not that good. This one is perfect, so if you are looking for a sour cream dressing its right here!

For the sour cream dressing you need :

-3/4 cup natural unsweetened soy yogurt

-1 tsp garlic powder

-1 tsp nutritional yeast

-1 tsp salt

-2 to 3 tsp lemon juice

-1 tsp apple cider vinegar

-1/4 tsp light agave syrup

-2 tbsp fresh finely chopped dill

-1 tsp olive oil

Mix in all the ingredients well and chill in the fridge.

For the jacket potato you need:

-3 good sized potatoes

-2 tsp olive oil

-2 tsp salt

Preheat oven at 200C. Wash potatoes with a sponge and water to take off all the dirt ( since you are going to eat the skin. Trust me, you will eat it.!)Now with a towel dry the potatoes completely. With a fork prick them in several places, so that they bake to perfection. Now brush them with olive oil and rub salt on them ( this makes the tastiest, crispiest potato skin I have ever taste). Place in the oven without a baking dish on the rack in the middle of your oven. Now depending on you oven bake from 1hour20min to 1hour45min. Check on one potato if its all they way baked. Serve STRAIGHT out of the oven cutting the potato on the top from side to side to place 2 tablespoons of the sour cream ( or more!) on top. You can also top this with grilled vegan/vegetarian bacon if you have any lying around! I know it takes a lot of time for the potatoes to bake, but its worth it. Just make sure to serve immediately out of the oven because the potato skin will get soggy. Enjoy!

[serving suggestion]

Chili Lemon Hummus

This is not hummus as you know it! I used the hummus base [chickpeas and tahini] and added a lot of spice and flavor to it! First of all I dont use water to thin it, but lemon! And I like my hummus thick. So if you like to thin it add more lemon or water. Up to you. The CCL in the title stands for chili, lemon, and cumin, which are the leading actors in this!

You need:

1 can 15oz drained chickpeas

1 or 2 tbsp brown (wholegrain) tahini
1/3 cup+2tbsp squeezed lemon

2 cloves of garlic (crushed)

1/2 tsp salt [or to taste]

1/2 tsp veggie seasoning

1tsp scant cumin

1/2tsp chilli flakes [or to taste]
Place chickpeas in your food processor and blend them. Add the rest of the ingredients and blend again, until smooth. Adjust thickness to your tastes.Now serve it in a nice bowl and you can start dipping anything you want in it!
Suggestions : carrots, wholewheat pita, cucumber

Strawberries with cashew dip

okaaaaaaay me and my boyfriend love eating strawberries with cashews..we think that these two flavours go perfect together! so i came up with this vegan dip, which is an alternative for the classic strawberries and cream!

You will need :

10 fresh big strrawberries

1/2 cup raw cashews

1/2 cup plain soymilk (or vanilla for a sweeter taste)

Place the cashews inside a bowl with the soy milk and leave in for about 15 minutes ( if you want a smoother texture you should leave it longer). Cut the top of the strawberries, then cut the strawberries in quarters strips. Put the cashews and only half of the soymilk (1/4 cup) in a food processor and blend until smooth. Place strawberries and dip on a plate, sprinkle the dip with cinnamon if you wish and serve immediately!