Veganizing: April 2014

Thursday, April 24, 2014

Mean Vegan Food Review

Last week my husband came home bearing vegan gifts....needless to say, I was thrilled! His boss knew we were a vegan-eating family and gave him a bag-ful1l of vegan tamales and vegan bbq...compliments of Mean Vegan (the owners happen to be part of his family). I love tamales but finding a vegan version is one thing I have never accomplished. I have made my own before but they are so much work that I likely won't make them again! The "Jack Tamales" were amazing! I dressed them up with a little avocado and homemade salsa. Though most tamales are filled with meat, cheese and fat, these delicious vegan parcels are stuffed with full-flavored, perfectly spiced jackfruit and encased in delicate, mouth-watering cakes of masa. At only 2.7 grams of fat, there is no guilt indulging in these tamales!

Today the boys and I tried the BBQ jackfruit. All I had to do was warm it up and I served it on hoagie rolls. Of course we had generous sides of veggies along with the sandwiches for a completely delicious meal.

Though the jackfruit bbq was perfectly delightful, the tamales were my favorite hands down! Either way, I will definitely be buying these again! Fabulous food without a clean list of ingredients! Perfection!

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"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 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 (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.

Pumpkin Bread

The vegan version!

1 1/2 cups flour
1 1/4 t baking soda
1 t salt
1 t cinnamon
1/2 t ground nutmeg
1 cup solid pack pumpkin puree
1 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup soured soymilk (add 1 T vinegar to your half cup measure and fill the rest with soymilk
egg replacement for 1 egg
2 T vegan margarine

Preheat oven to 350. Mix dry ingredients together and set aside. Mix wet ingredients and stir into dry until incorporated. Pour into greased loaf pan and bake 45-1 hr or until toothpick inserted comes out clean.

Whole Wheat Batter Bread

2 1/2 cups warm water
2 packages active dry yeast
1/4 cup honey (or agave)
6 cups whole wheat pastry flour
4 t salt
4 T non-hydrogenated vegetable shortening

Dissolve yeast in water. Add honey, half of flour, salt and shortening. Beat 2 min o med speed of mixer, scraping sides of bowl frequently. Blend in remaining flour until smooth. Scrape sides of bowl. Cover with damp cloth and let rise in warm place until doubled in size - about 30 min. Stir down by beting 25 strokes. Shape nad place in 2 greased 9in loaf pans. Smooth tops with floured hand. Let rise again for about 40 min. Bake in 350 degree oven for 40-45 min or until browned and cooked through.