Tag: vegetarian

Food, Recipes, Vegetarian/Vegan

Spacerdoodles

September 5, 2019 By No Comments

Spacerdoodles! The Afternoon Delight’s favorite cookie. They appear in a few episodes and as the name suggests are reminiscent of Earth snickerdoodles. Much like their real life counterparts, spacerdoodles are a soft buttery, vanilla cookie coated in a spiced sugar mix. Whereas snickerdoodles are cinnamon-sugar, spacerdoodles are rolled in a mix of cinnamon, nutmeg, clove, and sugar. It’s the something extra that makes them special.

A cookie with a bite taken out on a paper towel. In the background is a plate with a cloth napkin with more cookies piled on it.
Some delicious pillows of sugar and spice.

All the ingredients laid out on a counter.
Getting everything together.

First we mix sugar-spice mixture together in a small bowl and set aside.

Then cream the butter and sugars together in the bowl of a stand mixer or with a hand-held mixer. The little bit of brown sugar helps make the cookies extra moist.

Add the eggs one at a time, mixing well. Then the vanilla. The add the flour, cream of tartar, baking soda, and salt. Make sure to scrape the bottom of the mixer bowl (if you’re using a stand mixer). You want to make sure all that butter is combined.

A rolled ball of dough in a container with the sugar-spice mix.
Getting in the good sugar mix.

A rolled ball of dough in a container with the sugar-spice mix, now coated in the mix.
Roll those bad boys up.

Roll 2 tablespoon scoops of dough into balls. Then roll each ball in the sugar-spice mixture until well coated. These cookies won’t spread that much, so 2 inches in between the dough balls should be enough.

Balls of dough coated in sugar mix on a baking sheet.
Getting ready for that oven!

Bake about 10 minutes, until edges are set and slightly golden; the middle may seem a tiny bit underbaked. That’s okay! The middle will continue to cook for another minute or two from the residual heat in the cookie. It’s better for this cookie to be underbaked than overdone.

A cookie with a bite taken out on a paper towel. In the background is a plate with a cloth napkin with more cookies piled on it.
Go share some with your own crew.

Spacerdoodle Cookies [makes about 16 cookies]

  Cookie Dough
1 cup butter, softened
 1cup granulated sugar
 1/4 cup brown sugar
 2 eggs
 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
 2 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
 1 teaspoons cream of tartar
 1 teaspoon baking soda
 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt

Sugar-Spice Mixture
 1/4 cup granulated sugar
 1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.  Line baking sheets with parchment paper or a silpat mat.  Mix sugar-spice mixture together in a small bowl and set aside.

Cream the butter and sugars together in the bowl of a stand mixer or with a hand-held mixer, about 3 minutes or until light and fluffy.

Add the eggs one at a time, mixing well. Then the vanilla, and mix until combined.

Add the flour, cream of tartar, baking soda, and salt, mixing until just combined. 

Roll 2 tablespoon scoops of dough into balls. Then roll each ball in the sugar-spice mixture until well coated. Place the balls 2 inches apart on the cookie sheets.

Bake about 10 minutes, until edges are set and slightly golden; the middle may seem underbaked. Transfer the cookies to a wire rack to cool completely.

Food, Recipes, Vegetarian/Vegan

Xianna’s Creamy Caf Popsicles

July 25, 2019 By No Comments

For part two of our popsicle series we have Xianna’s Creamy Caf Popsicles! These popsicles have never been directly referenced on the show, but they are heavily influenced by Xianna’s well known love of caf (with and without added whiskey). This caffeine-filled treat has a creamy vanilla layer and a rich chocolate and cold brew layer.

All the ingredients

For the creamy layer we have half-and-half or creamer (we’re using an almond milk creamer), sugar, vanilla bean paste, and a small pinch of salt.

For the mocha layer we have sugar, cornstarch, cocoa powder, chocolate, cold brew coffee, milk or dairy alternative, vanilla extract, and a pinch of salt. We used homemade cold brew and unsweetened almond milk, but store-bought cold brew works great and any dairy or dairy alternative should be fine.

Creamy layer mix

Mocha layer mix

Everything for the creamy layer gets mixed together and then distributed evenly amongst the popsicles molds. Place the mold in the freezer for them to set.

While that layer freezes we’ll make the mocha layer. Heat the sugar, cornstarch, cocoa, chocolate, coffee and milk in a saucepan over medium heat, stirring constantly until until the mixture thickens. Remove it from the heat and whisk in the vanilla extract and salt.

Both layers in the mold

Once the mocha mixture has cooled down fill in the molds. Place the popsicle sticks and put the mold back in the freezer until fully set.

Xianna’s Creamy Caf Popsicles [makes 8-12 popsicles, depending on mold size]

1 cup creamer or half-and-half
3 tablespoons sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla bean paste
Pinch salt

1/2 cup sugar
2 tablespoons cornstarch
3 tablespoons cocoa powder
3 tablespoons chopped chocolate
1 1/2 cups cold brew coffee
1 cup milk or dairy alternative
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Pinch salt

In a large measuring cup or bowl, whisk together the half and half, sugar, vanilla bean paste, and salt. Fill up the popsicle molds with about 1 to 2 ounces of cream mixture. Place the pops in the freezer to let this layer firm up for 30 to 60 minutes.

Heat the sugar, cornstarch, cocoa, chocolate, coffee and milk in a saucepan over medium heat, stirring constantly until until the mixture thickens. Remove it from the heat and whisk in the vanilla extract and salt. Let the mixture cool to room temperature.

Once cooled, remove the molds from the freezer and finish filling each mold with the cold brew mixture. Freeze the pops for 4 to 6 hours.

Food, Recipes, Vegetarian/Vegan

Nerftown Breakfast: Pancakes

May 2, 2019 By No Comments

We’ve reached the final installment of our Nerftown breakfast series: pancakes! And not just any pancakes, but buttermilk buckwheat pancakes. These pancakes are hearty, nutty, and just a little tangy. Perfect for mornings out on the range.

A stack of pancakes with butter and maple syrup.
Nerftown Buckwheat Pancakes

Ingredients of the pancakes laid out in bowls.
All the ingredients.

Buckwheat flour gives these pancakes a delicious nutty taste and hearty texture, but regular all-purpose flour keeps these light and fluffy. The brown sugar will help bump up that wonderful rich flavor of the buckwheat flour. And buttermilk will give a little tang to the batter, but will also help activate the baking powder to give these pancakes more rise.

The flours, sugar, salt, baking soda and powder combined in a bowl.
The flours, sugar, salt, baking soda and powder.

Combine the flours, sugar, salt, baking powder, and baking soda in a large bowl. You’ll want to make sure there are no large clumps of flour left.

Melted butter and eggs added to the dry ingredients.
The eggs are under all that butter! We promise.

Add the melted butter and eggs. Stir until just combined.

The buttermilk being poured into the batter.
Pour that good, good buttermilk in.

Pour in the buttermilk and stir. You don’t want to over mix the batter or else the pancakes will come out dense and chewy from the extra gluten formation.

Whisk held above the bowl of batter to show the batter dripping into the bowl.
Texture of the batter.

Batter should be thick, but still pourable.

A pat of butter melting in a cast iron pan.
This is probably too much butter. Learn from our mistakes.

Heat a nonstick pan or heavy cast iron over medium-low heat. Place a small pat of butter on the pan. Once the butter has melted pour batter using a 1/4 cup scoop onto the surface.

Pancake cooking in the pan.
Some bubbles beginning to form.

When bubbles begin to form on the edges of the batter and the edges start to look matte, flip the pancake. Cook until deep golden brown.

Serve with butter and good maple syrup.

Pancakes stacked on a plate. Scones and sausages are in the background.
The full spread.

Nerftown Buckwheat Pancakes

1 cup (120g) buckwheat flour
1 cup (128g)all-purpose flour
4 tablespoons brown sugar
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1-1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
4 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
2 eggs
2 cups buttermilk
Additional butter; for pan

Combine the flours, sugar, salt, baking powder, and baking soda in a large bowl. Add the melted butter and eggs. Stir until just combined. Pour in the buttermilk and stir. Batter should be thick, but still pourable.

Heat a nonstick pan or heavy cast iron over medium-low heat. Place a small pat of butter on the pan. Once the butter has melted pour batter using a 1/4 cup scoop onto the surface. When bubbles begin to form on the edges of the batter, flip the pancake. Cook until deep golden brown.

Repeat with remaining batter.

Food, Recipes, Vegetarian/Vegan

Faux Bug-Monkey Meatballs

May 17, 2018 By No Comments

Ah yes, the bug-monkey meatballs again. Or is it monkey-bug? For a creature we made up ourselves we sure don’t know anything about it. This week we’re bringing you another version of these little cocktail appetizers. This time they’re made out of mushrooms and lentils. And before you even say “but I don’t like mushrooms” know that once they’re minced, fried, and mixed in you can’t tell they’re there. We promise! A few of our squad mates down right hate mushrooms, but love these.

Faux Bug-Monkey Meatballs

 

These little meat-less balls are similar to our original Bug-Monkey Meatballs, with a few differences. The biggest is a base of lentils and mushrooms instead of pork and fish. Since the lentils and mushrooms are on the softer side there’s also less soy sauce with more cornstarch and breadcrumbs to help them bind together. Because the mixture is a bit softer they are also baked instead of pan fried. The sauce is almost the same with the exception of the removal of the fish sauce and extra soy sauce to compensate for it.

 

Ingredients. Piled artistically. Because we could.

 

The lentils are first cooked in vegetable stock and liquid smoke to give them some extra flavor. Once they’re soft and all the liquid has been absorbed three-fourths get pureed in a food processor. Pureeing some of the lentils creates a base that is easy to form and binds well, while keeping some of the lentils whole gives the “meat”balls more texture so they don’t end up mushy.

 

Then mushrooms are cooked in a mixture of vegetable oil and coconut oil. The coconut oil will firm up while the mixture rests in the fridge and make these easier to roll into balls, but will melt when cooked and help keep things “juicy”. Once all the moisture from the mushrooms has cooked out and they become crispy we add the garlic and ginger for a minute to release their flavor.

 

“Meat”ball mixture

 

Everything is then mixed together and put in the fridge for an hour. This rest time lets the coconut oil solidify. Towards the end of the rest time preheat the oven. We tried pan frying these, like the original Bug-Monkey Meatballs, and it did not work well. The softer mix didn’t hold up and they fell apart. If you are set on pan frying these and are fine with them not being vegan you can add an egg to help create a tighter bind.

 

“Meat”balls on the baking tray.

Use about a tablespoon of filling and roll into little balls. Make sure you line your baking sheet with either parchment paper or a silicone mat. Don’t use tin foil. These little suckers will stick to the foil.  Bake for 30 minutes, flipping them around every 10 minutes.

 

While they bake, make the sauce. It’s almost exactly the same as the sauce from the original recipe, except you’ll use the pan the mushrooms were cooked in and extra soy sauce instead of fish sauce.

 

Once the sauce is done and the balls are baked combine them, place in a bowl (We understand if your bowl isn’t square and fuzzy. We ourselves could only get a square bowl), garnish with green onions, and serve!

 

Faux-Bug-Monkey Meatballs with toothpicks!

 

Faux Bug-Monkey Meatballs

1 cup green or brown lentils
2 cups vegetable stock
1/4 teaspoon liquid smoke (optional)
3 tablespoons vegetable oil; divided use
3 tablespoons coconut oil; divided use
8 ounces cremini mushrooms; minced
4 cloves finely minced garlic
1 tablespoon minced or grated ginger
4 tablespoons Chinese garlic chives, finely chopped (or a mix of the green part of scallions and regular chives)
1/2 teaspoon ground Sichuan peppercorns
1 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon sugar
2 teaspoons sesame oil
2 tablespoons soy sauce
3 tablespoons cornstarch
1/2 cup breadcrumbs

Prepare lentils by rinsing them and adding to a pot with the vegetable stock and liquid smoke. Bring to a boil, then reduce the heat down and simmer covered until all the liquid is absorbed and lentils are tender (about 15-20 minutes).

Heat 2 tablespoons vegetable oil and 2 tablespoons coconut oil over medium heat in a medium sauté pan. Add the mushrooms and cook, stirring frequently, until the mushrooms have lost all moisture and have become crispy. Add the garlic and ginger and cook until fragrant, about 1 minute. Remove from the heat.

Add 3/4 of the lentils to a food processor and pulse until a thick paste forms. Pour into a large bowl, along with the reserved lentils, the cooked mushroom mix, chives, peppercorns, salt, sugar, sesame oil, soy sauce, cornstarch, breadcrumbs, and the remaining vegetable oil and coconut oil. Stir thoroughly to combine.

Cover with plastic wrap, and place in the refrigerator for an hour.

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.

Form into small meatballs, about 1 tablespoon each. Place the meatballs on a parchment or sil-pat lined baking sheet. Bake for 30 minutes, rotating the balls every 10 minutes.

 

For the sauce:

1 clove minced garlic
1/4-1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes
1/4-1 teaspoon ground Sichuan peppercorns
3/4 cup vegetable stock or water
3 tablespoons Shaoxing wine
2 tablespoons soy sauce
2 tablespoons Chinkiang vinegar
1 tablespoon sugar
Cornstarch slurry (2 teaspoons cornstarch dissolved into 1 tablespoon water)

To the skillet the mushrooms were cooked in, add the garlic, red peppers flakes, and Sichuan peppercorns. Stir for about 30 seconds, until the garlic is fragrant.

Add the vegetable stock, Shaoxing wine, soy sauce, vinegar, and sugar. Stir to combine, making sure to scrape up any browned bits on the bottom of the skillet left from the meatballs. Bring to a simmer.

Add the cornstarch slurry and continue to simmer for about 2 minutes, whisking constantly, until the sauce has thickened. Add the meatballs to the sauce, and stir to coat them.

Garnish with sliced green onions and serve with toothpicks.

 

Food, Recipes, Vegetarian/Vegan

Coruscant Street Noodles

May 3, 2018 By No Comments

The opening scene of our recent Jedi Adventures arc features the Jedi eating noodles at a street vendor on Coruscant. For these noodles we wanted a fast and easy recipe, since these would have needed to be dished out quickly as people ordered them. The sauce requires no cooking and can be made while the water for the noodles are boiling.

Noodles, with extra sambal oelek for serving

 

These noodles are seriously delicious and so easy. They’re great for weeknight dinners when you want something fast with as little effort as possible. They are also quite tasty cold, making them wonderful to pack for lunch.

 

Noodles!

 

The sauce is rich, creamy, and just a little spicy. It starts with sesame paste (sometimes called tahini) and peanut butter. Together these create the rich, luscious base of the sauce. Soy sauce and rice vinegar are added for flavor, sugar for a touch of sweetness, and sambal oelek for just a bit of heat. Then hot vegetable broth is added to thin out the sauce.

 

 

Tabletop One’s Tips:

  • Almost any type of round, Asian noodles work for this dish.
    • At normal grocery stores, look for fresh noodles in the Asian section. They will often have vacuum-sealed packets of noodles.
    • If buying dried noodles, look for “white noodles”; noodles made with white flour instead of semolina. Italian pasta is made with semolina wheat flour, which gives it its distinctive yellow color, but imparts a flavor that is not ideal for this dish.
  • Tahini can be found either with the other nut butters, or the “international” aisle, specifically the Greek or Mediterranean section.
  • Sambal oelek is a Southeast Asian chili paste and can usually be found where ever your store sells sriracha (probably the most famous maker of sriracha, Huy Fong, also makes a sambal oelek. It also has a rooster on the jar.)
  • This recipe is easily scaled up to make more than one serving.

 

Coruscant Street Noodles [serves 1]

6 ounces fresh wheat noodles (or 3 ounces of dried noodles)
1 tablespoon sesame paste/tahini
2 tablespoons peanut butter
1 tablespoon soy sauce
2 teaspoons rice vinegar
1 teaspoon sambal oelek chili paste, or more to taste
1/2 teaspoon sugar
1/4 cup hot vegetable broth
1 tablespoon chopped green onions

Cook the noodles according to the instructions on the package.

While the noodles are cooking, make the sauce by combining the remaining ingredients, except the green onions. Stir until it forms a smooth, even sauce.

When the noodles are cooked, drain them and toss with the sauce, and place into a bowl.

Top with the chopped green onions and serve immediately.

 

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