Kettle & Kale

Tiny kitchen. Big, plant-based flavor.

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Mel

The Best Vegan Carrot Cake

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Though I did not start eating carrot cake until adulthood (blame the picky-eater-phase that lasted for nearly twenty years), I have been hearing about carrot cake for as long as I can remember. It is my mother’s favorite cake, and it was the wedding cake that…wasn’t. For years and years I was told stories of how my mother desperately wanted carrot cake, her absolute favorite, at her and my father’s wedding but that it was not an option amongst the catering hall packages. Her dream died a second time when my now-husband and I chose vanilla funfetti cake over carrot. Sorry Mom! But here I make it up to her with my own take on a vegan carrot cake with tangy buttercream.

Frontal shot of a slice of delectable vegan carrot cake topped with vegan cream cheese icing.

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Simple, Satisfying, and Budget-Friendly Greens and Beans

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Need a quick, cheap dinner to throw on the table that will also use up those frozen veggies you stocked up on last March? Look no further. I’ve got your back with these simple, budget-friendly greens and beans, an adaptation of a traditional Italian recipe that is quick, simple, and sure to please.

Overhead image of bowl of greens and beans, with a silver spoon resting on a striped napkin. At the top of the image is sourdough bread in an enamel bowl on a blue background.

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Peanut Butter Sourdough Cookies: Quick, Simple, & A Surprisingly Good Combo!

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When one dives into the world of sourdough baking and bakes with any regularity, we will inevitably wind up with jars and jars of sourdough discard. I see a lot of recipes all across the internet for what to do with the leftover starter that does not make it into beautiful, aerated loaves. More often than not, the discarded results lean savory (I’m guilty of this myself!) So for this week, I wanted to try something different. Something sweet. And when you are like me and order peanut butter by the five-pound bucket, you make oatmeal peanut butter sourdough cookies.

Overhead shot of peanut butter sourdough discard cookies.

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The Best, Fastest, Garlic and Rosemary Focaccia Bread

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Well, it’s been a hot minute! The month of August was probably the most intense of 2020. Physically, emotionally, extracurricularly, work-wise, just…everything. I have hardly spent any time in the kitchen, let alone had time to test recipes and take photos. Until last week, when my body (nay, my heart, and soul) started craving focaccia bread after I saw someone bake it on the Food Network. Suddenly, all I wanted was to create some of it for myself and shove it in my face. What a great side dish, I thought to myself! This will go great with dinner! Well, my friends, this garlic and rosemary focaccia bread actually became dinner. And that is absolutely okay because sometimes we need food that fuels our hearts and souls, not just our bodies.

Overhead shot of a slice of roasted garlic and rosemary focaccia bread on a marble cutting board.

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Simple, Homemade Whole Wheat Crackers

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Every so often, I’ll go through a phase where I want to subsist on nothing but my favorite vegan cheese and crackers. This week has brought on one of those phases. I love a plain sea salt cracker that can stand on its own in terms of flavor, but also does not compete with whatever I am dipping into. That’s where these homemade whole wheat crackers come in. One day a few weeks ago when I was really crawling up my house’s walls, I was desperate for cheese and crackers but not quite desperate enough to brave the grocery store. Using what I already had in my cabinets, these crackers were the solution.

A bowl full of freshly baked, whole wheat crackers on a blue background

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Vegan French Toast Casserole (with challah bread!)

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I’m leaning into my millennial tendencies today when I proclaim to the Internet that I love brunch. Perhaps it is partly a millennial thing, partly a “I -was-raised-in-NJ-diner-capital-of-the-universe” thing, but I truly love nothing more than a cup of black (gross) coffee coupled with a stack of fluffy pancakes or French toast. But here’s the thing I have long struggled with in plant-based cooking: vegan French toast is difficult! Every time I attempt to make it, it sticks to the pan and creates a bready, goopy mess. Earlier this spring, I published a recipe for vegan challah bread (which I also subsequently turned into challah cinnamon rolls) and no matter how many attempts I made, I could not turn it into successful French toast. But digging back into my Christmas morning memory banks, a recipe came to me: Vegan French Toast Casserole.

overhead shot of vegan challah French toast casserole

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Bell Pepper and Onion Bruschetta

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There has been a definite theme on the blog lately: I have not felt like cooking much. During a heat wave like the one I am currently experiencing here in one of the northernmost parts of the south, this is pretty normal. The sticky humidity saps everybody’s energy. At this very moment the dog’s tongue is practically on the floor and it feels as though there isn’t enough water on the planet to keep either of us hydrated. When the weather gets like this, I tend towards one-pot meals that require minimal effort. Because in tiny kitchen, turning on the stove for even a brief period of time heats up the entire house! This bell pepper and onion bruschetta is what I like to call a low and slow recipe: it comes together quickly and the heat on the stove does not get turned up too high. You get a quick, delicious, and filling meal without having to sacrifice all of the effort your HVAC is putting in!

A closeup shot of bell pepper and onion bruschetta on a marble cutting board.

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Simple, Fluffy, Vegan Sandwich Rolls

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For those of you that have been around the blog for a hot minute, you know that I have an interest in making my own pantry staples. But aside from challah bread, I have not ventured much into enriched loaves. Until now! I always thought you needed milk and butter to make light and fluffy sandwich rolls. I had tried making them with aquafaba (a la my challah recipe), without much success. But since making these fluffy, vegan sandwich rolls, I do not think I could ever go back to the store bought version.

Vegan sandwich rolls

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Peanut Butter Banana Bread (with optional mix-ins!)

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So, during this quarantine my husband has developed a weird, fringe benefit at his workplace: almost limitless bananas…? I know, I know. It’s pretty weird, but when he goes to work, more often than not he comes home with a large bunch of bananas. Sometimes they are perfectly ripe, sometimes still green, and sometimes starting to go brown and spotty. If the bananas don’t get taken home, he says, they go in the trash, regardless of their state of ripeness. A total crime, right!? As a result, I have piles of bananas at my disposal: smoothies, banana chips, and chocolate covered frozen banana slices abound! But what about when those bananas go too brown? Well, peanut butter banana bread. Duh.

An overhead shot of peanut butter banana bread on a silver, baking pan.

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