Vegan Banana Dumplings!

Recipe: OURS! Makes approximately 6 dumplings.
Ingredients:
-1 banana
-sugar
-powdered sugar
-vegan chocolate chips
-vegan margarine
-dumpling skins
-water
Instructions:
1. Mash up banana in a bowl with sugar to taste.
2. Add chocolate chips.
3. Make a little bowl of sugar water.
4. Put a spoonful of filling in each dumpling skin, using sugar water to close them.
5. With the stove top on medium heat, put some margarine in a pan.
6. Lay the dumplings on their sides until brown.
7. Pour in some water, just enough so that it steams instantly, and cover. Repeat until dumplings are slightly transparent.
8.Flip them over, cook until brown.
9. Melt chocolate chips in microwave to create melted chocolate.
10. Dust finished dumplings with powdered sugar.
11. Drizzle melted chocolate over them.
12. ENJOY!
Inspiration: Late night munchies, the stack of leftover dumpling skins and various Asian restaurants' usage of bananas in dessert spring rolls.
Notes:
-You can do this with any fruit, we think.
-You could also omit the chocolate, although we don't see why you would.
Result: Possibly Bump's new favorite dessert. It definitely cemented banana in her top favorite fruits!

Vegan Chinese Dumplings!

Recipe: [to be added later, Lo found it!]
Inspiration: Bump's utter dumpling failure. She has been taught to cook them no less than twice by professors for Chinese or Theatre class functions and failed miserably. But our philosophy around here is getting back on the horse (samosas- watch out!) so giddy-yap we did.
Notes:
-We used dumpling sauce from Trader Joe's, but straight up traditional dumpling sauce is also really easy to make and delicious.
-The cooking method in the recipe will make dumplings soggy if you add all the water at once. We experimented and discovered that the trick to this is to add the water in small portions at a time, so that it steams quickly instead of filling up the pan.
-Vegan margarine = way better/quicker than oil in terms of frying.
Result: A little crumbly, but delicious! SUCCESS! We even had leftovers and they were still good cold!

Vegan Samosas and Chickpea Curry!

Recipes: http://www.manjulaskitchen.com/2007/04/19/samosa/ and http://www.manjulaskitchen.com/2007/01/28/chola-chana-masala/ @ Manjula's Kitchen! Side note: We love Manjula, who has craptons of fantastic vegetarian dishes, and wish she was our grandmother.
Inspiration: Who doesn't love samosas? We also thought we should branch out into main courses so we'd have more complete meals (psychic inspiration?! stay tuned!!)
Notes:
-Bump did something crazy with the dough during the preparation that caused a minor crisis we tried to fix.
-We bought tomato paste because we don't have a food processor or a blender. In order to make it puree-like, we used 1/5 of the can and mixed it with water to appropriate consistency.
-Green peppers: they are like chipotles, so take caution with open wounds and practice good hygeine afterwards! They also come in a can, if you weren't sure what they were (we weren't, and had to call Bump!mama)
-Keep adding water if the curry gets chunky on the stove- it will fix the consistancy and boost the amount of curry.
-We served them with rice!
Result: Samosas = massive falling apart fail, especially in the dough department. We were left with a resolve to try again! The curry was very good, though, and we have since made it again, adding garlic and onion, which we think was an improvement (by our taste standards).

Bon appetit!

Vegan Empanadas!

Recipe: http://vegweb.com/index.php?topic=17881.0
Inspiration: Lo likes spicy food, the next logical step is spicy pocketfoods! Bump likes chipotle, so we found this awesome recipe for vegan empanadas.
Notes:
-We used Trader Joe's ready-made pizza dough for empanada crust because we are lazy. Sue us.
-We added potatoes to use up the ones we bought for the pierogies, and also we like them. We prepared them in the same way, mashing with soy milk and margarine, and added them to the rest of the fillings.
-Chipotle will burn if you have open wounds on your hands- wear gloves if this is the case! Also, wash hands thoroughly afterwards!
-We had a lot of leftover filling which made excellent burrito guts later!
Result: We were worried at first because they were a bit...hard when they came out of the oven. They bounced when dropped. HOWEVER, at first delightfully crunchy bite it was revealed that they were totally amazing and spicy and delicious. We were glad to have added the potatoes. We ate them with guacamole, also from Trader Joe's.

Vegan Pierogies! Genesis of Pocketmania

Recipe: http://www.vegan-food.net/recipe/182/Pierogies/
Inspiration: Bump loves pierogies and Lo had never had them! Travesty! This is the start of the pocket food obsession. This is also why there are no photos for the first few posts!
Notes:
-We omitted the parsley flakes because we didn't have any.
-The dough comes out pretty well although has a tendency to dry and crack while waiting for the pan- so we'd recommend covering with a damp cloth to prevent this. They freeze well and Lo says taste even better afterwards!
-We think vegan margarine is better for frying than olive oil.
Result: Delicious! Bump is an unrepentant omnivore and did not taste a difference; Lo realized she has been missing out. They were eaten with ketchup! Bump notes that they are also fabulous with sour cream for the non-vegans out there.