Happy Veggie Garden (寬心園)

Another restaurant discovery! This restaurant is in a Chinese shopping plaza, right next to 99 Ranch Market. The Chinese food is pretty authentic and decent.

Happy Veggie Garden (寬心園)

1015 S. Nogales St., Suite 127A
Rowland Heights, CA 91748

(626) 810-2298

Open 7 days a week
11:00am - 9:00pm (Sun - Thur)
11:00am - 9:20 pm (Fri - Sat)

Note: Their afternoon break is Monday through Thursday, 3:15pm to 4:30pm

Yeast White Bread

I'm pretty sure this is the last post of the day, since I haven't been trying out that many new recipes. I also haven't had the time and energy to make new posts, too, if it wasn't a holiday today.

This is my first attempt to make anything out of yeast, and it turned out really successful! I have gotten this recipe from a local vegetarian potluck gathering by the beach. The lady who brought the bread also brought printed recipes to share :) Wish I still remember her name though.

I know, I know...This is a simple white bread recipe, but it goes a long way. Feel free to experiment with whole grain flour, etc.

PREPARATION TIME: 2-4 hours
BAKING TIME: 20 minutes
YIELDS: 2 medium sized round loaves of bread

1 tablespoon sugar
2 tablespoons (1 packet) yeast
1 teaspoon salt
2 cups warm water (if it burns your finger, it's too hot)
5 1/2 cups white flour (experiment with whatever types and combination you like. The lady has mostly white wheat, with some added oat bran and wheat germ for interest.)

1. Add sugar and yeast to warm water and let dissolve.
2. Gradually add salt and flour to liquid and mix thoroughly until dough pulls from sides of bowl.
3. Turn onto floured surface and knead for approximately 5 minutes
4. Let dough rest in bowl for a few minutes (I let it sit for 10 minutes) then knead again for about 3 more minutes. The dough should be bouncy and smooth.
5. Put dough in lightly oiled bowl and turn over once to grease the top
6. Cover with towel and let rise until double in bulk, which would take about 1 to 3 hours (mine took a bit under 2 hours)
7. Punch dough down, knead briefly then shape into 2 rounds
8. Place on cookie sheet or baking stone and let rise about another hour
9. Preheat oven to 450 degrees F for 15 minutes.
10. Pour 2-3 cups boiling water into a shallow roasting pan and position on oven bottom. (I skipped this step)
    
11. Put the cookie sheet or baking stone with bread on top on the rack above water and bake for 20 minutes
12. Turn off and allow bread to remain for 5 more minutes
13. Remove and let it cool.
    

Blueberry Oatmeal Scone

Wow, two posts in one day, after months of no posts? This is too good to be true! Somebody pinch me!

I got this recipe from a vegan website. It was one of those recipes that were submitted to postpunkkitchen.com (or theppk.com) by the vegan community. I happened to have some blueberries, thus the blueberry oatmeal scones...

The following is the way I made it because of the ingredients I had available at the time. If you would like to see the original recipe, please take a look here (originally submitted to ppk.com by Kirsten Holliday).

I strongly recommend to use organic dairy product if you do use them. Believe it or not, the dairy cows actually suffer from filthy environment and usually would be abused quite a lot just because we want their milk. Organic dairy farms are usually family-run, and their way of raising the cows are more humane. Plus, organic milk is more healthy for you! Who knows what the dairy cows have been injected with...

PREPARATION TIME: 20 minutes
BAKING TIME: 15 minutes
YIELD: 8 big scones

2 1/2 cups white whole wheat flour
2 tablespoons natural cane sugar
2 tablespoons brown sugar
4 teaspoons baking powder (preferably aluminum-free)
1/4 teaspoon sea salt
1/3 cups vegan butter substitute, such as Earth Balance or even non-dairy margarine. It's important to use a butter sub rather than oil for texture. (I have used organic dairy butter)
1/2 cup organic plain yogurt
1/2 cup blueberries
3/4 cup plain Silk soy milk
3/4 cup rolled oats
some extra cane sugar

1. Combine the flour, sugar, brown sugar, baking powder, and salt. add in your butter / butter substitution, softened but not melted. Mix until the texture resembles coarse crumbs.
2. Combine the yogurt, blueberries, and soy milk and mix well. Add all these at once to dry mixture we made at step 1.
3. Add the oats and stir the whole thing till just moistened.
4. Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface and pat into a circle about 10 or so inches in diameter. Cut into 8 triangles (like you're cutting a pizza). If you are not trying to make the scones into any particular shape, just roughly divide the dough into 8 pieces and skip to the next step.
   
5. Place the scones onto a lightly greased baking sheet. Sprinkle generously with the extra cane sugar.
6. Bake in a 400 degree F oven for 15 minutes.

Source: theppk.com

Sweet Corn Bread

I was lucky to have found this recipe. It was my first try in making corn bread! It turned surprisingly well. I have shared with some of my friends and they really like it! Here it is with some modification -

PREPARATION TIME: 10 minutes
BAKING TIME: 35 minutes
YIELDS: about 12 servings

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
2/3 cup sugar
1/2 cup yellow corn meal (I have used whole grain yellow corn meal)
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 1/4 cups milk
2 units of Ener-G Egg Replacer (3 teaspoons of egg replacer powder + 4 table spoons warm water, mix thoroughly)
1/3 cup vegetable oil (I used canola oil)
3 tablespoons butter or vegan butter (I used butter)

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Grease an 9x13" or 8-inch square baking pan with some extra vegetable/canola oil. Skipping greasing the baking pan if you are using a non-stick pan
2. Combine and mix all the dry ingredients (flour, sugar, cornmeal, baking powder and salt) in a medium bowl.
3. Make sure you have mixed the 2 units of egg replacer before you proceed to the next step.
   
4. Combine milk, egg replacer, vegetable oil/canola oil, and butter in a small bowl. Mix well.
5. Add the content of the small bowl to the flour mixture. Stir just until blended.
6. Pour the blended mixture into the prepared baking pan.
7. Bake for 35 minutes or until a wooden tooth pick inserted in center comes out clean.

Source: VeryBestBaking.com