Wednesday, October 13, 2010

The longest post ever!!

A word about the following recipes...
 The Tuna-Less Casserole was strangly reminiscent of tuna casserole with loads of tasty flavors. Lemon-Scented Carrots were incredible and the kale was so-so.
 Creamy Broccoli Mushroom Bake is a new favorite for sure - will be made many times in my kitchen! Oh so delicious and creamy. Wow!! Thanks Amber (@AlmostVegan) for making it first! You inspired me to try it too!
 I was very impressed with these burritos – especially since I made them up! I am getting adventurous! These satisfied my craving for breakfast burritos totally – didn’t even miss real bacon and eggs! Keith (my 4 ½ yr old) even ate his – yay!
 These green beans were delicious! Always looking for new ways with veggies and this is a certain keeper. Yum!
 Sweet potatoes are delicious alone but top them with this creamy spicy-ness and they are fabuloso!
 Ginger scones are a favorite in this family – the recipe comes from my grandma who is a wonderful cook herself! I veganized them and they were just as good as the original. Score!
 I have discovered my love for polenta and I made this recipe up with ingredients I had on hand on a busy Sunday after church. Keith has recently decided he likes onion rings so I whipped up a batch and he loved them!
Enjoy!
Tuna-Less Casserole, Sesame Garlic Wilted Kale, Lemon-scented Carrots

Tuna-Less Casserole (Source: 500 Vegan Recipes)
1 pound pasta, cooked according to package instructions (I used a combo of penne and bowties as I had 2 half-boxes)
sheet toasted nori, crumbled
6oz extra firm tofu, drained, pressed and crumbled
6oz tempeh, crumbled (I simmered mine for 20 min prior to crumbling)
½ cup peas
½ cup corn
½ cup nondairy butter, melted
½ cup unsweetened soy milk
¼ cup nutritional yeast
2 T flour
1 t each garlic powder, onion powder, Old Bay seasoning, paprika
¼ t black pepper
1 cup vegetable broth
½ cup panko bread crumbs mixted with ½ t garlic salt and 1 T canola oil

Preheat oven to 400. In a saucepan, melt butter. Add flour to create a roux. Slowly add soymilk to create smooth mixture. Add yeast and spices. Slowly whisk in vegetable broth until creamy, smooth sauce forms. In a large bowl, combine cooked pasta, tofu, tempeh, corn, peas, nori and creamy sauce. Stir until all ingredients are well mixed. Pour into large casserole dish coated with cooking spray. Sprinkle panko over the top. Bake for 20-25 min or until top is browned.

Sesame Garlic Wilted Kale (Source: 500 Vegan Recipes)
2T olive oil
2 T minced garlic
12 oz kale, stems and ribs removed
2 T sesame seeds
Heat olive oil. Add garlic and cook 2-3 min. Add kale and cook until desired level of doneness is achieved. Sprinkle with sesame seeds.

Lemon-Scented Carrots With Capers and Coriander (Source: Urban Vegan)
4-5 medium carrots, peeled and sliced
1 T olive oil
1 ½ T lemon juice
1 t ground coriander
1 t dried parsley
2 T capers
¼ t cumin
½ t sea salt

Fill a medium saucepan with water and bring to a boil. Add carrots and cook until soft. Drain. Add remaining ingredients and mix well.

Creamy Broccoli Mushroom Bake

Creamy Broccoli Mushroom Bake (Source: Vegan Yum Yum)
Alfredo Sauce
1 cup soy milk
2 T Earth balance
2 T soy sauce
2 T tahini
1 T lemon juice
¼ cup nutritional yeast
¼ cup raw, unsalted cashews
2 T cornstarch
2 t dijon mustard
2-4 cloves garlic

1 cup orzo
1 stalk broccoli
1 cup mushrooms
2-3 T olive oil
½ cup chopped onion
¼-1/2 cup bread crumbs for topping
1 pinch salt
½ t paprika
black pepper

To make alfredo sauce, mix all sauce ingredients (soy milk through garlic) in a blender until smooth and set aside.
Begin boiling water for orzo and add when ready.
Preheat oven to 400.
Separate florets from the stem of the broccoli. Chop stem into smallish pieces and place in the food processor. Pulse a few times to break it down some more, Add florets and pulse until entire mixture is fairly fine though some chunks of broccoli are fine. Remove from processor.
Process mushrooms in processor until uniform, remove from processor and add to broccoli.
Heat a bit of olive oil in a large skillet. Add the onions and saute until softened and beginning to color. Then add broccoli/mushroom mixture and salt and saute until it cooks down slightly and everything has softened, about 5-7 min. Drain pasta when done. Add to the broccoli/mushroom mixture and pour alfredo sauce over it and mix. Scrape mixture into an oiled baking dish. Top with bread crumbs mixed with a bit of olive oil, salt, paprika and pepper. Cover tightly with foil and bake for 25 min. Remove foil and bake for 5 min more.

Breakfast Burritos

Breakfast Burritos
7oz extra firm tofu, drained, pressed and crumbled
½ t garlic salt
½ t turmeric
½ t ground pepper
2 t canola oil
½ cup seitan bacon crumbles (see recipe below)
2 potatoes, peeled and diced
2-3 T canola oil
Flour tortillas, salsa, jalepenos, to serve

In a skillet heat 2t canola oil. Add tofu and cook until it starts to brown. Add garlic salt, turmeric, and pepper. Cook 2-3 additional minutes. Meanwhile, in another skillet., heat 2-3 T canola oil and add diced potatoes. Season with salt and pepper as desired. Cook until browned and crispy. Heat tortillas (use as many as you would like, depending on how full you want your burritos to be). Layer tofu, potatoes and bacon crumbles into each tortilla. Top with salsa and jalepenos.

Seitan Bacon Crumbles (Source: 500 Vegan Recipes)
½ cup vital wheat gluten
2 T nutritional yeast
1 t pure maple syrup
2 T soy sauce
1 t liquid smoke
1 t ketchup
1 T peanut oil
2 T water
Combine dry ingredients. In separate bowl, combine wet ingredients. Add wet to dry until crumbly dough forms. Heat skillet and add a bit of canola oil to coat the pan. Fry crumbled mixture until browned.

Haricots Verts Et Tomates and Spicy Sweet Potatoes

Haricots Verts Et Tomates (Source: Urban Vegan)
2 pounds green beans washed and trimmed
3 T olive oil
1 large onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 large tomatoes, chopped
2 t dried basil
1 t dried thyme
1 bay leaf
1 t sugar
Salt and pepper to taste
In a large skillet, heat 2 T olive oil. Add onion and garlic. Cook 4-5 min. Add green beans. Cook additional 3-4 min. Add remaining ingredients. Cook until beans are tender.

Sweet and Spicy Sweet Potato Topper
1 cup vegan sour cream
2 T sorghum (or agave)
2 T chopped pickled jalepenos
Mix all ingredients and use to top sweet potatoes with .

Ginger Scones

Ginger Scones
2 ¼ cups flour
1/3 cup sugar
1 T baking powder
¼ t grated lemon zest
11 T chilled Earth Balance
½ cup plain soy creamer
¼ cup plain almond milk
2/3 cup diced crystallized ginger

In a food processor, blend flour, sugar, baking powder and zest. Add butter and pulse until crumbed mixture appears. Slowly add milk and creamer and pulse until tacky dough forms. Add ginger and pulse to incorporate. On floured cutting board, shape dough into 10-in circle. Cut circle as you would a pie into 8 pieces. Spray cooking sheet with cooking spray. Bake in 400 degree oven for 12-15 min or until lightly browned.

Polenta With Sauteed Veggies, Onion Rings and Roasted Carrots

Polenta With Sauteed Veggies
1 cup fine cornmeal
4 cups vegetable broth
2 zucchini, sliced
1 large onion, sliced
1 T olive oil
2 t fennel seed
1 t sea salt
1 t black pepper
1 t crushed red pepper

Bring veg broth to a boil. Slowly pour in cornmeal. Stir until thick and smooth. Polenta is done when it starts to pull away from the sides of the pan. In a skillet, heat oil. Add onion. Cook 6 min. Add zucchini and remaining ingredients. Cook additional 4-5 min or until zucchini is tender but not mushy. Serve veggies over polenta.

Onion Rings
1 large onion sliced into thick rings
¾ cup cornmeal
1 ½ t garlic salt
1 t black pepper
½ cup almond milk
Combine onions and milk – toss to coat and set aside. Combine cornmeal and spices. Pour onion mixture into dry ingredients. Press as much coating as possible onto onions. Heat cast iron skillet filled with about ½ in oil. Drop “blobs” of onion-cornmeal mixture into skillet. Cook until browned on both sides, flipping as needed.

Roasted Carrots
5 large carrots, peeled and cut into sticks
2 T olive oil
1 t cumin
1 ½ t coarse sea salt

Toss all ingredients together. Line baking sheet with foil and spray with cooking spray. Spread carrots over sheet. Bake at 425 for about 15 min or until carrots are nicely browned.

2 comments:

  1. Is that second pic the broccoli mushroom bake? If not, it looks like it!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Yes! I accidentally posted these pics without descriptions! I am so glad you encouraged me to try it - it was soooo good! Just fabulous!

    ReplyDelete

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.