As I have previously shared, we have been doing gardening by way of containers. Each year we grow many of the same things, but we usually try something new. One of this year’s new items is turnips, and I am very surprised that they are growing exceedingly well. I have never attempted to grow turnips before, and I am amazed at how fast they grow as well as how large they are able to get in our containers.

I discovered a year or two ago that mashed potatoes with turnips are totally awesome, and have since been trying to figure out how else I can enjoy turnips. I confess that so far I have had little success. I’ve tried roasting them, but they turn out too sweet – I enjoy turnips for their spice, not their sugar. I tried making a turnip soup, but it was not very good (I took pictures and had every intention of posting the recipe, but after tasting it I decided against it). I found several recipes that said that creamed turnips were quite good, so I decided to try that as well.

Creamed Turnips

• 2 pounds turnip roots, peeled and cubed
• 2 tablespoons vegan butter
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon dried dill

First, if you’ve harvested your very own turnips, wash them then gaze adoringly at them.

Tear the leaves off, peel, then cube the turnips. Put them into a pot of boiling water and let them boil until tender enough to mash (about 15 to 20 minutes).

Drain and rinse the tender turnip cubes under cold water and then put them into a medium sized bowl and mash.

You may need to blend them up in a food processor to make sure that they are fully mashed (I had to).

Once it is mashed add the butter, which should melt if the turnips are still warm from being boiled. Stir in the salt and dill. Taste test to make sure it is at the flavor you want. It may taste a little bland, in which case I’d suggest adding other spices like garlic or onion powder.

Since you can utilize the entire turnip, not just the root, I am including another recipe that incorporates turnip leaves.

Quinoa (say it with me – keen-wah), has a mild and nutty flavor that enjoys the companionship of something like turnip leaves (you can also use collard greens, kale, or probably even spinach). If you’re afraid to use quinoa, it is actually quite easy to use and is cooked in only a matter of minutes. I dare you to make it solely on the basis that it has a funny name that is not pronounced phonetically.

Quinoa with Turnip Greens and Toasted Almonds

• 1 cup quinoa, sorted and rinsed (it is very important to rinse quinoa prior to cooking it otherwise it will taste bitter)
• 2 cups water
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1 onion, chopped
• 1 bunch turnip greens, chopped
• 1/4 cup almonds, toasted and chopped

Rinse your quinoa well, then cook it according to package directions.

As your quinoa is cooking, saute your onion in the olive oil for a few minutes.

After the onion has been sauteing for a few minutes, add the chopped turnip greens and cook until they are wilted.

Once the quinoa is done, drain and rinse, then add to the onions and turnip greens and cook for a few minutes more, but make sure you keep an eye on it because otherwise the quinoa will stick to the bottom of the pan and burn.

Once it is done cooking serve with toasted almonds sprinkled on top. I typically just toast my almonds under the broiler of my toaster oven for about 7 to 10 minutes, then I chop them up into smaller pieces.

The verdict? Well, the creamed turnips were actually pretty good, but I still like my turnips best in mashed potatoes. I’m still on the hunt for a good turnip recipe, so if you know of any fantastic ones let me know.

The quinoa was good. I like greens, so the turnip greens were a nice addition. I think what helps to complete this dish, however, are the toasted almonds. They add extra nuttiness, and I like the contrasting texture with the crunch.

More than anything I find it so incredibly satisfying to use vegetables from my own garden, and I totally love the fact that most of the turnip is used. It’s a feeling of pride, accomplishment, and sustainability. It’s a feeling I’d love to replicate a hundred-fold when we eventually have our own land. Excuse me as I go and daydream for a bit. :)

Back when my husband and I tried the raw food diet for a month we wound up making a lot of food from scratch that we might have normally purchased at a store. One of those things was almond milk. At first making this sort of thing was truly intimidating, but once done we realized how easy it could be. Prep time is minutes, although twiddling your thumbs takes hours.

I was reminded of our foray into non-dairy milk making when I was on VeganYumYum a few weeks ago. She made her own soy milk, which, if you have ever done it, is both labor-intensive and time-consuming. She wasn’t exactly happy with the end results, either.

Inspired by her post, I decided to start making milk again, and am I glad I did. This batch turned out wonderfully. It was creamy, mostly smooth (mostly!), and didn’t even last a full week because we just couldn’t help ourselves.

Raw Homemade Almond Milk

• 1 cup raw almonds
• 7 – 8 cups water
• Agave nectar or another sweetener (optional)

Put your almonds into a good-sized bowl and fill the bowl up with water until they are covered well.

Cover with a towel and let sit in a cool place for about 24 – 48 hours (honestly, you could probably get away with less time, but I haven’t tried it). Rinse the almonds once a day, and if you are soaking for more than one day cover the almonds with water again.

Once they are finished soaking they will have become plump.

The difference is pretty amazing.

Pour off the water from the almonds and rinse well. Place the rinsed almonds into a blender (we use a VitaMix, but any blender should work fine), add the 7 – 8 cups of water, and blend for a few minutes or until well blended. At this stage you can add a sweetener if you want, but I left it out myself. Since the milk can potentially be used in a variety of ways it seems that you may want to leave the sweetener out.

When it is done blending it will look something like this…

…and it will have a lot of froth on top.

Strain the almond milk through a bag strainer (probably best), or through a fine sieve into your original bowl or another large container. We used to have a bag strainer, but found it hard to clean, so I used our small sieve.

If I am going to be making this on a regular basis I need to get a good sized sieve.

As you are straining it you will be getting a lot of almond meal. It is up to you if you want to conserve this or throw it out. You can do a variety of things with it – i.e. dehydrate it, turn it into a flour, mix it into some bread, etc.

After you have finished straining it, strain it again into your final pitcher or container. This will ensure that it is as smooth as possible. You can strain even further, but it is up to you.

The final result – about a half gallon of good and easy almond milk. Store in the refrigerator and try to use within a week. You will need to stir the almond milk every time you bring it out of the refrigerator to use since it does settle.

In thinking about making your own milk there are a couple of things to consider. Firstly, it amazes me how many ingredients are in commercial vegan milks. There’s usually a lot of sugar, not many ingredients I even recognize, and some are just plain unnecessary.

Secondly, the actual price of the product in the store compared to the price of making it at home is definitely less (of course this depends on how much you pay for almonds). If you pay $3.99 for 64 ounces of Silk Soymilk, then it is about $0.49/cup. If you pay $1.59 for rice milk, then it is about $0.40/cup. If you pay $5.79/pound for almonds, and of that use one cup of almonds to make eight cups of almond milk, then your price will come to about $0.27/cup or $1.09 for 4 cups (32 ounces) or $2.17 for eight cups (64 ounces).

Bottom line, it’s worth it.

If you are allergic to tree nuts you can make other milks in similar ways, like sunflower seed milk. I made that this past weekend and it wasn’t quite as good as the almond milk, but it still turned out fine. Difference was the soaking time (about four hours).

Overall, this is a very easy, cost effective, and delicious way to get homemade vegan milk.

As an average baker, it was a little overwhelming to see The Daring Bakers‘ latest challenge. As a vegan, it was absolutely frightening. Two words: Opera Cake. Don’t know what an Opera Cake is? Well, essentially it is a lot of layers of cake and cream and sugar topped off with a glaze. If you’re lucky it will take approximately four hours to construct, and if you’re good it will look perfect when cut.

And why was this frightening for me as a vegan? Well, aside from the necessary endurance factor, it had around 14 eggs in the original recipe (six of those are egg whites, so if you want to get really technical…). It was pretty clear that this cake depends heavily upon our fine feathered friends. But what is a challenge if it is not challenging?!

First, a disclaimer. My vegan version was quite tasty, but not very cake-like. If you follow my recipe, then keep in mind that I did what I thought would work. So, you may want to experiment with my recipe and not follow it exactly.

The final cake is comprised of four recipes. So follow along. :)

Vegan Opera Cake

Joconde
Note that you can make the joconde with other nuts/seeds if you don’t want to use almonds.

What you’ll need:

• 2 12 1/2 x 15 1/2-inch jelly-roll pans
• A few tablespoons melted vegan butter
• Parchment paper
• Mixing bowl

Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup water or almond milk (I used more than this, but soon regretted it because the batter wound up too runny. You may want to add 1/4 cup at a time until the batter is at a good thickness.)
• 2 Tbsp. granulated sugar
• 2 cups ground blanched almonds (I blanched these myself. Here’s a good post on how to blanch almonds)
• 2 cups powdered sugar
• Vegan substitute for two eggs (I used Ener-G egg replacer)
• 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
• 2 Tbsp. vegan butter, melted and cooled

Divide the oven into thirds by positioning a rack in the upper third of the oven and the lower third of the oven.

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees Fahrenheit.

Line two jelly-roll pans with parchment paper and brush with melted vegan butter.

Mix all the ingredients together except for the butter and egg replacer, then add the egg replacer last.

Divide the batter between the pans and spread it evenly to cover the entire surface of each pan.

Place one pan in the middle of the oven and the other in the bottom third of the oven. Bake the cake layers until they are lightly browned and just springy to the touch. This could take anywhere from five to 15 or 20 minutes (I think it took mine longer because it was more liquidy).

Take the pans out of the oven and run a sharp knife along the edges of the cake to loosen it from the pan. Cover each with a sheet of parchment or wax paper, then turn the pans over and unmold.

Carefully peel away the parchment, then turn the parchment over and use it to cover the cakes. Let the cakes cool to room temperature.

Syrup
Note that the syrup can be made up to one week in advance and kept covered in the refrigerator.

Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup water
• 1/3 cup granulated sugar
• 1 to 2 Tbsp. of the flavoring of your choice (I used vanilla)

Stir all the syrup ingredients together in the saucepan and bring to a boil.

Remove from the heat and let cool to room temperature.

Buttercream
Note that the buttercream can be made up to one month in advance and packed in an airtight container. If made way in advance, you can freeze the buttercream. Alternatively you can refrigerate it for up to four days after making it. To use the buttercream, simply bring it to room temperature and then beat it briefly to restore its consistency.

What you’ll need:

• A small saucepan
• A candy or instant-read thermometer
• A stand mixer or handheld mixer (I used our food processor)
• A bowl and whisk attachment
• A rubber spatula

Ingredients:

• 14 Tbsp. or 3/4 cup plus 2 Tbsp. vegan butter
• 1 pkg. Tofutti cream cheese
• 1 cup granulated sugar
• 1/4 cup water
• 1 Tbsp. vanilla extract or powder

Beat the vegan butter and Tofutti cream cheese together in your mixer or food processor until well combined.

Combine the sugar, water, and vanilla in a small saucepan and warm over medium heat just until the sugar dissolves. Continue to cook, without stirring, until the syrup reaches 225 degrees Fahrenheit.

When the syrup reaches the correct temperature and you remove it from the heat, turn on the mixer or food processor to a low speed. Begin pouring the syrup down the side of the bowl very slowly and being careful not to splatter the syrup into the path of the whisk attachment or blade. Make sure it mixes well with the vegan butter and Tofutti cream cheese.

If you want to do a flavored buttercream, add it now. Some people have done fruit flavorings or rum or just plain vanilla.

Put your buttercream in the refrigerator, and it should thicken over the span of about 20 minutes to an hour (I found longer was better). Stir it a few times while it is setting.

Glaze
Note that it is best to make this right when you’re ready to finish the cake.

Ingredients:

• 1 1/2 cups powdered sugar
• 2 1/2 tsp. almond milk or another vegan milk
• 1/8 tsp. salt
• 1/4 tsp. vanilla extract or powder
• 1 tsp. vegan butter

Melt the vegan butter and add to the rest of the ingredients. Mix until creamy.

Let it cool for 10 minutes and then pour over the chilled cake or cakes if you are doing several smaller cakes.

Now, the original directions said to create one large cake, but I decided to go with individual round servings of cake. It was likely more involved, but at the same time I think that they turned out pretty well.

I would suggest letting the buttercream sit in the refrigerator for about 20 minutes to an hour before you begin to assemble, otherwise it will be too runny. You’ll see I was too impatient in just a moment.

First, I used a cookie/biscuit cutter to cut round pieces out of the joconde.

Then I decided to experiment. I used the same cookie cutter and placed it on my pan (now covered in foil as you can see).

I placed the first round piece of joconde into the cookie cutter.

Then I added a little syrup to the top of that first layer. I will say that my cake wasn’t very absorbent, so it may have been just as well to leave the syrup out of the recipe.

Now I added a layer of buttercream.

Finally I add the next round piece of joconde on top of this.

Repeat this process again, then add a final layer of buttercream to the top. You should have the following:

-Buttercream (Top)
-Syrup
-Joconde
-Buttercream
-Syrup
-Joconde (Bottom)

As you can see, I was a bit anxious to get started on assembling, so it kind of looks like a creamy puddle of sugary blobs.

I got my act together, though, and the rest were beginning to look like cake! Finally, when they were all assembled I added the final layer of glaze.

First off, let me say that while this was challenging, I do think that the end product was truly a lovely indulgence.

I will give a couple of observations, however.

1. This was way too sugary. I like sweet, but my palate enjoys a subtler sweet. Even my husband, who doesn’t mind really sweet things thought that this was way too sweet. I discovered that if I took off the glaze, it tasted much better.

2. The original recipe says to serve this cake slightly chilled, but I found that it tasted better after sitting in the refrigerator overnight.

Overall I’d say that this cake was pretty amazing. Definitely my joconde was not cake-like, but the taste was still quite good – especially so since I blanched the almonds myself.

A quick word on the vanilla. I was in Whole Foods a few weeks ago in their spice aisle and saw some jars of powdered vanilla. I had never seen vanilla in this form, so decided to grab it – and it was approximately the same price as the extract that they had on the shelf, so I thought, why not?

It seems to work comparably to vanilla extract, however it is better mixed with other dry ingredients. It tends to clump if you add it to wet ingredients.

I also just want to say congratulations to all my fellow Daring Bakers. I was peaking at your blogs today, and my – what beautiful cakes you all have made!