Saturday, October 16, 2010

Baked Chimichangas

These lightly browned parcels of tofu, black beans,and creamy sauce were very tasty. I think next time I would actually leave out the tofu and sub rice, seitan or tempeh instead. For some reason the tofu flavor stood out more than I would have liked. Despite this fact, however, they were quite good. The creamy salsa sauce was fabulous. Keith pre-determined that he didn't like them but as always, he was required to try at least one bite. And what-do-ya-know, that sweet little 4-yr old of mine gobbled his serving, said "Oh you were right. These are so good!", and asked for seconds. I loooove that!!! Oh how that thrills my little vegan mommy's heart ;-) We cleaned our plates before I realized I hadn't taken a picture - thus the picture of the lone chimi on a lid without toppings. Oh well, you get the idea!
Baked Chimichangas

Baked Chimichangas (Source: 500 Vegan Recipes)

For cheesy salsa:
1 T cornstarch
1/4 cup nutritional yeast
1/2 t sea salt
1/2 cup soy creamer
1 T tahini
1 cup salsa (I actually was out of salsa and subbed about 3/4 cup taco sauce and it was delish!)
In medium saucepan, combine cornstarch and nutritional yeast. Slowly whisk in creamer and tahini. Add salt. Cook until thick and smooth. Stir in salsa. Set aside.

For filling:
1 T peanut oil
1 lb extra firm tofu, drained, pressed and torn into small pieces
1/2 t sea salt
1 T nutritional yeast
1 clove minced garlic
1 cup cooked black beans
6 flour tortillas
1 T olive oil for brushing chimis
Hot sauce, sour cream, guacamole for serving
In a large skillet, heat oil. Add tofu. Fry for 5 min. Add salt and yeast. Cook until browned. Stir in cheesy salsa, beans and garlic. Divide filling equally among tortillas. Brush tortillas with oil. Place on baking sheet. Bake 15-18 min in 375 degree oven. Serve with desired toppings.
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1 comment:

  1. Prairie + SkyOctober 18, 2010 at 3:20 PM

    I love that your kids are willing to try so many things. Silas is the hardest one to please. I did get him to like breaded seitan. Aedan is much easier to cook for. I'm hoping they come around eventually! I'm converting them with all my vegan baked treats that vegan food is actually super yummy :) Aedan got the hugest kick out of me making seitan. Both kids were cracking up at me making "mystery meat." It sounds gross when you're kneading it which was much to their delight :) Lol!

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Crispy Herbed Potato Stack

Crispy Herbed Potato Stack
I was going to try a recipe for herbed scalloped potatoes and at last minute decided to do something fast and easy. I made up the recipe and it was yummola! I layered sliced russet potatoes in a baking dish, drizzled with olive oil, and then sprinkled with coarse sea salt, fresh ground pepper, basil, rosemary, paprika, and garlic powder. Then I baked them at 425 fr about 45 minutes. They were crisp and very flavorful!

My thrown-together salad today - after discovering I had no leftovers for lunch!

Tamale Fixings

Tamale Fixings
Plain pintos (for Keith), pintos, corn and onions; corn, jalepenos and Daiya; mushrooms, sun dried tomatoes, and chard

Making these was a bit time-consuming but kinda fun! They didn't turn out as good as I had hoped - the outer tamale part (not the filling) just wasn't as flavorful as tamales I have had in restaurants. I have another recipe I will try for the dough next time. Tamales are one of my favorite foods so I won't give up on this one!

"Buttermilk" Blueberry Pancakes

"Buttermilk" Blueberry Pancakes
I modified one of my favorite pancake recipes to make it vegan and then I added blueberries. Turned out quite yummy. Soymilk sours and thickens well - very similar to buttermilk. I have been really impressed with it's ability to substitute for real buttermilk.

"Buttermilk" Blueberry Pancakes

Egg replacement for 1 egg
1 1/4 cups soured soy milk (put 2 T vinegar into a 2 cup glass measuring cup. Add enough soy milk to equal 1 1/4 cups)
2 T canola oil
1 cup flour (I wouldn't recommend whole wheat or whole wheat pastry - it really takes away from the fluffiness of these pancakes)
1 T sugar
2 t baking powder
1/2 t baking soda
1/2 t salt
Blueberries, optional

Mix dry ingredients. Add wet ingredients and stir just until combined. Heat griddle pour about 1/4 cup batter for each pancake. Sprinkle blueberries on pancakes after ladling onto griddle. Cook just until golden on both sides.

Veggie and Seitan Lo Mein

Veggie and Seitan Lo Mein
Overall, this was fabulous! However, I don't think the seitan added much so I would just leave it out next time. The lo mein also needed about double the sauce so I would simply do that next time for added flavor. This was especially spicy and yummy with some Sriracha drizzled on top. I made our favorite veg egg rolls to go with this and it was truly a Chinese treat!!

Veggie Seitan Lo Mein

I really did my own thing for this recipe so I am just going to outline the instructions and include the sauce recipe. I heated oil in a large skillet and added 3 minced cloves of garlic and about 1 cup of half-moon cut onions (I was out of green onions but next time I would use green onions as I like them a lot in Chinese food) and about 1 cup matchstick-cut carrots. After about 5-6 minutes, I added about 1/4 lb of whole green beans. I cooked these veggies until tender. Meanwhile, I cooked a 16oz package of chow mein noodles. Once the veggie mixture was cooked, I poured the sauce on the veggies, heated through and tossed with the noodles. Next time I would double the amount of sauce and have adjusted amounts below to reflect double recipe.

Sauce (Source:Adaptable Feast)
3 T soy sauce
3 T rice wine (I used 3 T rice vinegar and 1 t sugar as I didn't have any rice wine)
3 t sugar
4 T black bean garlic sauce
Mix all ingredients and toss with above mixture.





Chinese Broccoli Wontons in Ginger Soy Broth

Chinese Broccoli Wontons in Ginger Soy Broth
Pretty yummy. I found that steaming the wontons worked much better than the recipe suggestion to boil them. The broth was very mild and a bit too mellow for us. Still pretty yummy though. I added extra veggies to the wontons and scallion to the broth. The seasoning in the wonton filling was quite tasty!

Chinese Broccoli Wontons in Ginger Soy Broth (Source: Vegan Yum Yum)

(As usual, I modified several things so it's not exactly the recipe in Vegan Yum Yum!)

1 cup chopped broccoli
3/4 cup shredded carrot
1/2 cup chopped scallions
1 T oil
1 t fresh ginger, minced
1 clove fresh minced garlic
1/2 t hot chili sauce (such as Sriracha)
1 t hot Chinese mustard
2 T plus 1 t soy sauce
4 cups water ( I think this might have been more flavorful had I used vegetable broth or faux chicken broth???)
6 slices fresh ginger
1 T mirin (I used a splash of cooking wine as I didn't have mirin)
1 1/2 t sugar
2 t rice vinegar
1/2 t salt
1/2 cup chopped scallions
16 wonton skins

For filling: Heat oil in skillet and add broccoli, ginger, garlic, carrot, onion and cook until veggies are crisp tender. Add chili sauce, mustard, 1 t soy sauce and stir to combine. Remove from heat and set aside.

To make wontons, take one skin and place in diamond shape. Fill with 1-2 t filling. Fold in half to make a triangle and moisten edges with water and pinch sides to seal. Set triangle in front of you with point up and take the 2 side points and bring them together in front to cross. Set aside and prepare remaining wontons. When finished, place wontons in a steamer basket and steam over pot of boiling water until translucent.

Meanwhile, in a pot, combine remaining ingredients (except wontons) and simmer 10-15 min.

Place 3-4 wontons in bowl and ladle broth over wontons. Serve.