lemon

Vegan Blueberry Pancakes with Sweet Lemon Ricotta

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Have I mentioned how much I love summer! It yields all of my favorite fruits, and picking our own makes me feel so much more accomplished!

Every year in May we drive 45 minutes north to a local organic blueberry farm and we pick blueberries until we can no longer stand the heat.

We live in Florida, so by May the temps are easily already into the 90s. This means we maybe can last an hour tops before everyone is melting and miserable. The heat, and bugs are well worth the reward, though.

Affordable, beautiful, organic blueberries, pound and pounds of them. I have 4 kids, so thats a lot of hands for picking!

So instead of just making the obvious but favorite blueberry pancake this weekend, I decided to step up my game, and made these beautiful and delicious vegan lemon blueberry compote pancakes with sweet lemon ricotta! I am always looking for recipes to pile sweet tofu ricotta on top of, and these pancakes were the perfect fit.

They were such a hit that I have a feeling we will be eating these all summer! I mean after all, we have 16 lbs of blueberries to get through!!!

If it happens to not be summer time or you can’t get your hands on fresh blueberries, no worries, frozen will work just as well. Like I said, we picked a ton and there will still be some in my freezer come winter. I really love making recipes like this in the colder months as a bright and happy pick me up.

In the south, winter time is actually citrus season, so finding nice fresh lemons in the winter months should be super easy!! I end up making a lot of citrus themed recipes in the winter, which is perfect for cold and flu season. We need all the vitamin C we can get to fight off all those sniffles!!

INGREDIENTS:

  • 2 1/2 cups all purpose flour

  • 4 tablespoons white sugar (If vegan, not plant based, make sure the brand you use is in fact vegan, not all white sugars are. I use Florida Crystals)

  • 4 teaspoons baking powder

  • 1/2 teaspoon salt

  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

  • 2 1/2 cups plant based milk

  • 2 tablespoons melted vegan butter

  • zest from 1 lemon

  • 3/4 cups fresh or thawed frozen blueberries

Lemon Ricottta:

  • 1 block firm tofu

  • 1/4 cup maple syrup, or a few tablespoons agave

  • Juice from 1 lemon

  • zest from 1 lemon

Blueberry Compote:

  • 1 and 1/2 cups fresh or frozen blueberries

  • 1/2 cups refined sugar

COOKING INSTRUCTIONS:

  1. For the compote: place blueberries and sugar in a medium sauce pan over medium. Mash up the blueberries some using the back of a spoon. Allow the berries to come to a simmer. Let them continue to simmer for about 20 minutes, stirring occasionally and allowing the liquid to reduce. After 20 minutes turn off the stove and let the berries cool in the pot.

  2. For the pancakes: Whisk all dry ingredients in a large bowl.

  3. Add in the melted butter, plant based milk, vanilla, and stir well.

  4. Heat a large skillet on medium heat. Add a teaspoon of vegan butter or spray the pan with cooking oil. Using a 1/4 cup measuring cup, scoop out batter into the skillet, 2 or 3 pancakes at time. Sprinkle 4-5 blueberries on top of each pancakes. This works better than mixing them into the batter because they like to sink to the bottom.

  5. Let pancakes cook until tiny bubbles begin to form and pop, once this happens they are ready to flip. Cook on the other side for another minute or two, until cooked through.

  6. Repeat, adding more butter or oil to the pan as needed, until all batter is used.

  7. For the ricotta: Drain the tofu, and break it into a few pieces. Add it along with the sweetener, lemon juice, and zest to a high speed blender, and blend until creamy and smooth.

  8. To serve, stack 3 or 4 pancakes and top with blueberry compote, lemon tofu ricotta, and extra lemon zest if you like.

Serves 4 - 6.

If you like this recipe, try these:

Vegan Orange Creamsicle Pancakes

Vegan Banana Pudding Pancakes

Vegan Samoa Pancakes

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Vegan Lemon Lavender Cream Cheese Pop-Tarts

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I never grow tired of making pop-tarts.

I also never grown tired of thinking of new flavors to fill them with! I love all things lemon lavender and these pop-tarts are no exception

. Filled with an easy, tangy sweet lemon curd, and cream cheese, and topped with a sweet lemon lavender glaze, these pop-tarts are hands down my favorite flavor!

This pie dough is super quick and simple, as is the recipe for the curd!

If you have never had lavender in a baked good, especially paired with lemon, I think you will love it! If you don’t, then I am terribly sorry and honestly confused, because it is delicious!

Look for dried culinary lavender In your grocery stores bulk spice section. If you do not have luck finding it in larger grocery stores, look at you local health food market or farmers market.

So if you have missed pop-tarts since going vegan, rest assured you can easily make your own at home and they are far more delicious than any store bought pop-tart you could ever eat! I promise!!

INGREDIENTS:

1 cup whole wheat flour

1 cup all purpose flour

3/4 cup vegan butter

a pinch of salt

3 - 4 tablespoons ice water

1/3 cup vegan lemon curd

1/3 cup vegan cream cheese

1/2 cup powdered sugar

2 teaspoons dreid culinary lavender

2-3 teaspoon lemon juice

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Preheat oven to 350.

  1. Add both cups of flour, butter, and salt to a food processor and pulse until well combined.

  2. Add in the water, one tablespoon at a time until a soft dough has formed.

  3. Roll the dough out on a flour dusted, smooth surface to a 1/8 of an inch thick rectangle. You can trim up the edges with a sharp knife and save the scrap dough.

  4. Once the dough is trimmed and even, cut 3 inch by 5 inch rectangles from the dough, give or take. Be sure when you are calculating how many you can cut, to have a even number. Each pop tart needs 2 rectangles. Roll out any scrap dough and repeat the process.

  5. Scoop a heaping teaspoon each of lemon curd and cream cheese onto a rectangle, and smear it around a bit in the middle, carefully to not get too close to the edges.

  6. Top the lemon curd and cream cheese covered piece of dough with another rectangle of dough, and use a fork to press, and seal the edges. (for step by step pictures of the process, check out our Strawberry Pop-Tart recipe)

  7. Place pop tarts on a parchment lined baking sheet, or lightly spray one with cooking oil and bake for 20 - 25 minutes.

  8. While pop tarts are baking, mix together the powdered sugar with lemon juice. Add dried lavender and stir. If it is too thin, you can add a little more powdered sugar to thicken it back up. You want a spreadable consistency.

  9. Once pop tarts have cooled a bit, spread the icing and serve.

Yields 8 pop tarts.

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If you like this recipes, try these:

Vegan Lemon Curd

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This vegan lemon curd is quick, straightforward, and can be used in all kinds of recipes.

The base of this vegan lemon curd is coconut cream and is thickened with coconut oil and starch. The curd will thicken up during cooking and more when it cools.

I love all things lemon and can think of a million and ten ways to use this curd!

We use it in our lemon lavender pop-tarts, but it would be delicious on pancakes, waffles, inside cakes or pie, filling of cupcakes or just by the spoonful. No shame!! I will not judge you one bit.

This curd should stay good in the fridge for about 10 days, but it has never lasted that long in our house!

So go make this vegan lemon curd, put it on all the things, and regret nothing!

Ingredients:

  • 1 cup coconut cream, divided ( heavy coconut cream in the can, shaken well)

  • 2 tablespoons coconut oil

  • 1/3 cup lemon juice

  • 1/2 cup white sugar

  • 1/4 cup corn or tapioca starch. Tapioca will yield a more stretchy curd.

  • pinch of salt

  • Optional: 2 teaspoons lemon zest for extra lemon flavor

Instructions:

  1. In a medium sauce pan, whisk together 1/2 cup coconut cream and remaining ingredients over medium/low heat until the mixture thickens (about 5 minutes.) The curd will continue to thicken as it cools.

  2. Remove from heat and stir in the remaining 1/2 cup coconut cream.

  3. Allow curd to cool. Store in the fridge in an air tight container for up to 10 days.

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Seitan Lemon Piccata with Mashed Potatoes

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The first seitan I ever leaned to make was a basic, simmered seitan.

If you don’t know, then seitan is basically wheat meat made from vital wheat gluten. And as long as you do not have a gluten intolerance, its an excellent source of vegan protein! It is also really inexpensive so an added bonus for sure!

Noting fussy, just make the dough, divide it, simmer it, and its ready to go.

This seitan works well for all kinds of recipes like this piccata. It is pretty versatile and we use it in fajitas, cheese steaks, fry it up to make wings, stir fry, all kinds of things.

The beauty of it is how easy it is, and how well it freezes! If you have ever made dough of any kind, you can make seitan. There are so many methods for making faux meats but this basic method is still my go to.

I often make 2 batches and toss them in the freezer. I quarter each batch so I can thaw smaller portions quickly for fast weeknight dinners.

If you are feeling like make a more traditional vegan chicken piccata you can try making my easy vegan chicken breast. It really is easy, and although you do bake it verses simmering it, it is a very convincing chicken seitan. And it is very, very simple and easy to make. It does contain soy, so if you are soy free the easy basic seitan is probably a better choice.

This piccata is so flavorful and the seitan gets so nice and crispy on the outside. The buttery, lemony, garlicky sauce is perfection and who doesn’t love a glorious creamy pile of mashed potatoes.

So if you have been looking for the perfect vegan piccata, look no further. And I can not encourage you enough to just make a double batch of the seitan so recipes like this are twice as easy and quick when you are ready to make them!

INGREDIENTS:

  • 1 batch seitan (all 4 pieces) or 4 easy vegan chicken breast cut in half length wise for 8 thin breasts.

  • 2 lemons

  • 3 tablespoons capers

  • 2 tablespoons vegan butter, like Earth Balance

  • 3 tablespoons to 1/4 cup olive or grape seed oil (this amount depends on the size of the pan you are using to fry the seitan )

  • 1 cup vegetable broth

  • 3 tablespoons chopped flat leaf parsley

  • 2 teaspoons minced garlic

  • 1/3 cup four

  • 1/3 cup organic corn starch

  • salt and pepper to taste

  • 1/4 cup white wine (optional)

Mashed Potatoes

  • 6 medium russet potatoes

  • 2 tablespoons vegan butter

  • 1/4 cup vegan cream cheese or vegan sour cream

  • 1/4 cup plant based milk (give or take)

  • salt and pepper to taste

COOKING INSTRUCTIONS:

  1. With a very sharp knife, carefully slice all 4 pieces of seitan into cutlets. You should be able to get about 3 cutlets from each piece.

  2. Mix flour and corn starch in a shallow dish, and dredge the cutlets in the mixture. Make sure you fully coat each piece.

  3. Heat oil in a med/large skillet on medium heat. You may need more or less oil depending on the size of your pan. You need just enough oil in the bottom of your pan to quickly fry each side the seitan cutlets.

  4. Once the pan is good and hot, add the cutlets and cook each side a few minutes, or until they begin to brown and get crispy.

  5. Place finished cutlets on a paper-towel-lined plate.

Mashed Potatoes

  1. Peel, dice, and boil potatoes in a large pot while preparing the piccata sauce.

  2. Once potatoes and soft enough to pierce with a fork, drain the water, and return potatoes to the pot you boiled them in.

  3. Mix in cream cheese or sour cream, and butter. Mash with a hand masher, or use an electric hand mixer.

  4. Add enough milk to get the potatoes to the consistency you prefer using 1/4 cup of plant based milk, give or take.

  5. Add salt and pepper to taste.

Piccata sauce

  1. Wipe out the pan you just used for the seitan.

  2. Reheat the pan on medium heat, and add the 2 tablespoons of vegan butter.

  3. Add the garlic, and wine if using. Let the alcohol cook out of the wine for a few minutes, then add the juice from 1 and 1/2 lemons, vegetable broth, capers, half of the parsley, and salt and pepper to taste.

  4. Let sauce simmer for about 5 minutes on low heat.

Prepare you plates by adding mashed potatoes, topping with a few cutlets, and drizzling the piccata sauce over each plate. Garnish with the remaining parsley and a thin lemon slice (using your remaining half a lemon)

Serves 4 - 6.