Wednesday, February 19, 2014

Vegan Lo Mein

My sister came up with this delicious recipe for lo mein and I took it and veganized it. Turned out delicious!

Kind of a funny recipe but it will guide you through the cooking process!




Vegan Lo Mein

Dice and onion. Cook it in some oil with 3 cloves of minced garlic and a 1 inch piece of fresh ginger, minced. Cook until soft. Add 2 cups chopped vegan chicken (I used Trader Joes brand). Cook until browned (about 5 minutes). Add in 2-3 carrots, peeled and cut into thin sticks and 2 cups of cut green beans. Cook for about 5 minutes. Meanwhile, cook 1/2 package of spaghetti noodles according to package instructions. In a bowl combine 1/3 cup soy sauce, 1 T rice vinegar, 1 t sesame oil, and 1 T sugar. Mix. Add veggies to noodles and toss with sauce. Serve and enjoy!




Sunday, February 16, 2014

Smoky Split Pea Soup

I recently tried the recipe for Smoky Split Pea Soup from Appetite for Reduction and fell in love with it! Such a delicious and flavorful soup!!


Smoky Split Pea Soup
From Appetite for Reduction
  • 1 teaspoon olive oil
  • 1 medium onion, diced small
  • 4 cloves garlic, minced
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • A few twists of the pepper grinder
  • 4 teaspoons smoked paprika
  • 2 teaspoons dried thyme
  • 1 1/2 cups diced carrots
  • 1 1/4 cups dry split peas
  • 4-6 cups vegetable broth
  • 1 tablespoon freshly squeezed lemon juice
Preheat a large soup pot over medium-high heat. Saute the onions in the oil until translucent, about 4 minutes. Add the garlic, pepper, and salt, and saute for another minute. Add the paprika and thyme, and stir continuously for about 15 seconds to toast the spices a bit.
Add the carrots, split peas, and broth. Cover the pot and bring to a boil, the lower the heat to a simmer and cook for about 40 minutes, until the peas are creamy. Stir occasionally to prevent the soup from burning at the bottom. If necessary, thin the soup with water. Add the lemon juice and taste for salt and seasonings.

Friday, February 14, 2014

Valentine's Day breakfast!

I made a simple but yummy Valentine's Day breakfast this morning for my sweet little fam - heart-shaped biscuits and fruit. Yum!

Crisp Crust Biscuits

2 cups flour
1 T baking powder
1 t salt
1/2 cup canola oil
1/2 cup almond milk

Mix flour, baking powder, and salt. Add canola oil and milk until well mixed. Pat out into a circle about 3/4 in high. Use a biscuit cutter to cut into biscuits or a heart cookie cutter in this case! Place biscuits on cookie sheet and bake in a 400 degree preheated oven for 15 min or until lightly browned.

Wednesday, February 12, 2014

Vegan Eggs Benedict

In my pre-vegan days, one of my favorite breakfasts was eggs Benedict. I have come up with several vegan versions that have been yummy but I recently found an ingredient that makes a delicious difference in my vegan "eggs" - smoked salt. Typically I would use black salt on my tofu to give it that sulfur taste of eggs but I was out so I tried smoked salt. Since I didn't really follow a recipe, here's the overall way I prepared this breakfast: I sliced a block of drained, pressed tofu into 1/4 inch slices. Then I sprinkled all the slices with some broth powder (recipe from the Happy Herbivore is my fav), some smoked salt and some fresh cracked pepper and baked at 400 degrees for about 20 minutes. Top toasted English muffins with the tofu and some vegan hollandaise (I usually just mix some vegan mayo with a squeeze of lemon juice and a tad of mustard). Delish!



Sunday, February 9, 2014

Vegan Superbowl!

Ok so it's a little late to be posting this but I wanted to share our little Superbowl party treats. My hubby had to work so it was just the boys and me. They were so excited about watching the game! I made vegan "little smokies" (basically small vegan hot dogs tossed in bbq sauce), Daiya quesadillas, chips and queso, carrot sticks and clementines. Everything was a hit! I sampled a bit of each thing but then resorted to my nightly salad as we watched the game.  A perfect evening with my sweet buddies!


Warm Chili Con Queso Dip (adapted from 500 Vegan Recipes)
1 cup tomato sauce
1 1/2 cups cooked pinto beans drained and rinsed if using canned
1 cup veg broth
2 T minced dried onions
1 T garlic powder
1 T onion powder
1 T chili powder
1 t cumin
1 cup soy creamer
1/4 cup nutritional yeast
1 cup TVP

Combine all ingredients except beans and crumbles. Stir until smooth. Add beans. Cook on low 5-6 hours or high 3-4 hours. Add crumbles during last hour of cook time or if you will not be available to add them at this time, just add them at the beginning.

Precious little cooks!

PhotoThe other night, as a result of my recent cold, I was starting to lose my voice. I was running especially low on voice after reading stories to the boys and playing a couple rounds of Go Fish! Keith and Braedon started whispering to each other and devised the plan that they were going to make dinner for the 3 of us to be helpful and sweet to Mom. They both have such tender hearts!
Photo
Braedon was the salad master and made beautifully colorful delights (he made one for himself and I worked alongside and made mine) and Keith crafted a delicious vegan soup that turned out quite yummy indeed. It made my heart smile to have my sweet little helpers in the kitchen with me and sit down to a dinner they were extremely proud of! I am so blessed!!!




Keith's Vegan Soup

2 cups veggie broth
1 large potato, peeled and diced
2 carrots, peeled and sliced
1/3  cup orzo
1/2 cup frozen peas
Dash of the following spices - tarragon, Italian Seasoning, thyme, pepper

Bring broth to a boil - add potato and carrots. Cook about 10 minutes. Add orzo, cook about 15 minutes or until veggies are tender and orzo is done. Add peas and spices. Cook until heated through.

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.