Dining with the Mouse - Vegan Style!

Huzzah!  It's Vegan Mofo 2014, which means it's time to dust off the blog and get posting again! Last year, I totally freestyled my vegan mofo blogging, but this year I'm going with a theme:  Vegan recipes to accompany favorite Disney movies.  Disney is a big part of our lives, as you'll come to see in the next month.  We go to Disney World every couple of years; we bought our kids OneShare of stock in Disney; we have Disney dishes; we have lots of Disney toys, and lots of Disney movies. 

I'm kicking off my month with the first Disney full-length animated film, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, aka The Zombie Princess. 

Everyone's seen this image by now, haven't they?

I have to admit, I never made the connection until I saw the Macbook stickers.  It just makes her all the more endearing, don't you think? 

We re-watched Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs yesterday, and it's actually better than I remembered.  I found the animation a little strange at times, since the actions of Snow White and the Prince and the beautiful Queen are all based on live actors, and the rest of the characters are total goofballs. But the dwarfs ARE really funny, and the Evil Queen is scary as hell.  What more could you ask for?

Obviously the recipes inspired by this film would have to involve apples. So what did I choose?  Homemade apple butter, accompanied by the most decadent fried bread - my mom's Doughdabs.  I'm guessing most of you have had fried dough of some sort before - there's navajo fry bread, elephant ears, fried biscuits, and so on.  But nothing beats my mom's doughdabs, hands down.  We have these every Christmas for breakfast, and it is a treat my whole family looks forward to.  I've never seen anybody else make them quite like this, either.  My mouth is watering just writing this. 

My daughter, Caileigh, when she was about three years old.  A doughdab lover even then!

Now, I'm going to be sort of a big cheater here, and not really give you a recipe for the Homemade Apple Butter.  Because honestly, it's not like I've developed my own top secret recipe for the stuff.  We just use the Ball Blue Book recipes for most of our preserving, and I recommend them to you.  But here's a fancy recipe for Apple Butter that looks pretty yummy if you really insist that I provide you with one,. I think the real reason homemade anything tastes better is because, duh, you made it yourself.  And apple season is coming up, so do it!

Okay, so on to the REALLY SUPER IMPORTANT RECIPE! 

Mom's Doughdabs 

1 package frozen white bread loaves

Vegetable oil cooking spray

Vegetable oil

Toppings:

Earth Balance

Cinnamon sugar

Jelly

Apple Butter

The night before:  Remove bread loaves from freezer – plan on getting about 4-5 doughdabs per loaf and defrost as many as necessary.  Put loaves in large bowl(s) sprayed with vegetable oil - about two loaves per bowl.  Spray tops of loaves.  Cover with plastic wrap and set in a draft-free place overnight.

The next morning:  Cut each loaf into 4-5 pieces.  Put a piece of dough in one hand and a large two-pronged fork in the other.  Spear the dough with the fork and begin stretching and wrapping the dough around the tines of the fork.

You want to end up with an oval-shaped, rolled-up piece of dough.  Secure the end of the dough to the roll by pinching lightly with your fingers.  Gently slide the roll off the end of the fork and place it on an oil-sprayed piece of aluminum foil.  Continue shaping all the rolls.  

Heat several inches of vegetable oil in a large stockpot over medium to medium-high heat.  You want the oil to be hot enough to cook the doughdabs throughout, without burning the outside before the inside is cooked (If you want to use a thermometer, I would guess that the oil should be between 350 to 375 degrees).  You may have to adjust the heat slightly throughout the cooking process.  Cook about 3-4 doughdabs at a time; turning them in the oil as they brown.   

When the doughdabs are golden brown and puffed up, remove with a slotted spoon to drain on a paper-towel lined plate.  You can keep the doughdabs warm in a low-temperature oven while you continue cooking all of the rolls.  Serve with butter, cinnamon sugar, apple butter and jelly.  You can either unroll the doughdabs or enjoy them whole!