Tuesday, June 28, 2011

Vegan Salad Nicoise...Apple Fritters...Tofu Fingers...Leek and White Bean Spaghetti

Just a note: I also made the Veg Vindaloo this week but it was not good!! Don't know why?? Very disappointing and I am not posting the recipe :-( Oh well!

Salad Nicoise has always been a favorite in our family - I haven't made it since the vegan switch (it traditionally has tuna in it). I made it yesterday for the first time as a veganized version. It was fabulous! My husband LOVED it and asked me to make it more frequently - this coming from my hubby who prefers to have something other than main-dish salads for his meals most of the time! I was out of several veggies - I used canned green beans instead of fresh (not ideal but it worked)and I had no tomatoes. Next time I would also like to try some tofu mixed with black salt to use in place of hard boiled eggs but I was out of tofu yesterday too - imagine, a vegan household with no tofu! Terrible :-)

Salad Nicoise
2 cups steamed green beans
2 cups cooked diced potatoes
2 tomatoes, chopped
1 cup black olives
4 cups lettuce, chopped
2 cups cooked chickpeas
Nicoise dressing (recipe below)

Dressing:
1/2 cup oil
1 T dried parsley
3 T red wine vinegar
1 t salt
1 t dijon mustard
1/2 t garlic powder
cracked black pepper to taste
1/2 t dried tarragon
Combine all ingredients and mix well.

Place chickpeas, potatoes, and green beans in 3 separate bowls. Drizzle dressing over each bowl of items and marinate for at least an hour, stirring every so often to make sure pieces are coated well. Divide lettuce among 6 bowls (or 4 for heartier salad servings). Divide chickpeas, tomatoes, potatoes, green beans and olives amongst bowls. Drizzle with additional dressing. Serve.

Yesterday marked 3 years since we moved into our house - of course I had to do something special for this momentous day :-) LOL! I made apple fritters as a special treat - recipe is from a few months back. You can find it by doing a search.Yum! Always looking for a way to celebrate!!

Pretty tasty pasta - I was out of walnuts (can you tell it's month-end and I am out of a lot of groceries?!). I used toasted almonds instead which worked well.I didn't have any vegan feta so didn't use that either. A very simple and filling dish.

Spaghetti With Sauteed Leeks, White Beans and Walnuts
1 T olive oil
3 medium leeks, white and pale green parts only, washed and sliced
¼ t red pepper flakes
1 15oz can cannellini beans, rinsed and drained
1 cup veg broth
3 cloves minced garlic
12 oz spaghetti
3 oz crumbled vegan feta, optional
1/3 cup chopped and toasted walnuts

Heat oil in saucepan. Add leeks and red pepper flakes. Cook 10 min. Stir in beans, broth and garlic. Simmer 5 min. Season with salt and pepper. Cook spaghetti according to package instructions. Drain. Spoon sauce over pasta. Top with feta and walnuts.


I have made a version of these tofu fingers before but I made them again, this time closer to the original recipe(find the recipe on vegandad.com under golden crispy tofu - he doesn't like his recipes posted on other blogs. I baked mine instead of frying). They are quite yummy. Served them with bbq sauce for dipping, crispy onion rings (http://www.theppk.com/?s=omg+onion+rings&r=1), sweet potatoes, and green beans. Delicious meal!
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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.