Sunday, July 31, 2011

Vegan Tex-Mex

Black Bean Enchiladas with Vegan Queso Sauce and Spanish Rice
 


This recipe does require some prep work. I used a one pound bag of dried black beans and made beans my usual way with a little vegetable bouillon, lightly seasoned with chili powder, cumin, garlic, and salt. Then I turned the beans into Chili by draining the liquid, sauteing onion, bell pepper, and garlic. Adding the drained black beans, and tomatoes, green chile peppers and corn. So far that was two meals, but I wanted to stretch it a little further. I diced some fresh zucchini. Put the zucchini in a colander and sprinkle salt over it to drain off the excess liquid. Saute the zucchini with minced onion, garlic, and pepper. Add the chili and you have an excellent enchilada filling.

For a sauce I used the following

2 cups Vegan Mushroom Broth
1/2 cups Water
1 cup So Delicious Unsweetened Coconut Milk
2 Tbsp Soy Sauce
1 tsp Oregano
2 tsp Cumin
1 tsp Chili Powder
1 tsp Garlic Powder
1 tsp Onion Powder
Salt and Pepper to taste
4 Tbsp Earth Balance Margarine (soy free if you are allergic to soy or just double the Olive Oil)
4 Tbsp Olive Oil
1/2 cup Flour
1 cup Red Star Nutritional Yeast

In a large spouted bowl or very large liquid measuring cup combine broth, water, coconut milk, and soy sauce. In a small bowl have oregano, cumin, chili powder, garlic powder, onion powder, salt, and pepper measured and waiting. Have the flour and nutritional yeast measured and separate from everything else.
In a large saucepan heat oil and margarine over medium heat. Add flour and stir continuously to prevent lumps. Let the mixture bubble while stirring for about a minute, then add liquid and spices. Continue stirring until smooth and thickened. Add nutritional yeast continue stirring until mixture is smooth and thickened like a gravy. You can use the sauce immediately or refrigerate for later use.

Making the corn tortillas is very easy as long as you have a tortilla press and a cast iron griddle.

2 cups Masa Harina
1&1/4 cup Warm Water
1/2 tsp Salt

Stir water into the masa and salt. Knead dough with hands for about 2 minutes. Divide dough into 12 balls. Cover with damp towel. Bring griddle up to temperature. If a cool drop of water dances when dropped on the griddle it is ready. Press tortilla and place on griddle. Cook 1 minute on each side and place in a towel lined tortilla warmer. Repeat until all tortillas are waiting in the warmer.

For enchiladas fill tortillas with black bean and zucchini mixture. Top with queso sauce. You can heat on plates or roll all the tortillas with filling topping with queso, cover with foil and bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes or until warm and bubbling. If you are having trouble rolling the enchiladas, you can put a layer of queso on the bottom of a casserole pan, place a single layer of tortillas over the sauce, pour filling over the tortillas, layer remaining tortillas, and finish with a layer of queso sauce. Bake at the same temperature and for the same length of time. As a casserole or as enchiladas it is still delicious. I will post the Spanish Rice recipe later.

Friday, July 29, 2011

Apple Cinnamon Oatmeal

Apple Cinnamon Oatmeal

Sometimes you just need the comfort of a warm bowl of oatmeal. This is made special by the addition of spiced Apple Cider. VegDad makes spiced cider a few times a year and after we are tired of drinking cider, I love to use the leftover for making oatmeal, apple butter, apple cakes, apple pies, etc.

Recipe

2 cups Water
2 cups Spiced Apple Cider
1 cup John McCann's Steel Cut Irish Oatmeal
1 Granny Smith Apple, Diced
1/2 cup pecan or walnut pieces

Pour water and cider into a large saucepan. Bring to a boil. Sprinkle in oats while stirring and lower temperature to medium. Stir in apple and nuts. Cook, stirring occasionally lowering temperature as needed to maintain a simmer, 30-35 minutes. Add a small amount of agave or demerara if desired.

Tuesday, July 26, 2011

Vegan Meat Loaf, known by my kids as veat loaf..

If you are like me, you always have a small amount of beans or chickpeas leftover after your cornbread is gone. It isn't enough to be worth making another batch of cornbread, but you don't want to waste it. This recipe is a good way to get rid of those leftovers while enjoying the nostalgic flavors of meatloaf without the actual meat. Serve with potatoes, vegetables, and gravy, if desired. VegDad likes his loaf served over mashed potatoes, biscuits, corn and green beans with gravy over the top.

I call it Neat Loaf. :)

Whatever you decide to call it, I hope you will try this for dinner.


Ingredients:

1/2 cup Cashews
2 Tbsp Olive Oil
1 Onion, diced
1 Large Garlic Clove, minced
1 Large Carrot, peeled and grated
1 Celery Stalk, diced
1 cup Mushrooms, cleaned and chopped
2 cups Mixed Cooked Beans (I used Chickpeas, Black-eyed Peas, and Pinto Beans)
1 cup cooked rice
1/4 to 1/2 cup tomato sauce, as needed
1 heaping Tbsp flax seed meal
1 tsp. Italian seasoning
2 TB nutritional yeast flakes
2 TB ketchup
1 tsp. salt
1/4 cup Marinara Sauce

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 350º. Spray a loaf pan or 8x8 square baking pan with nonstick spray and set aside (an 8x8 pan makes a crisper loaf).

Grind the cashews into a coarse meal using a food processor or spice/coffee grinder. Place in a large mixing bowl and set aside.

Sauté vegetables in the olive oil until tender. Add to the large mixing bowl along with all the remaining ingredients. Mix and mash together well, adding only as much liquid as needed to create a soft, moist loaf that holds together and is not runny (you may not need to add any liquid if the grains and protein are very moist). Add more flax seed meal and rice as needed if the loaf seems too wet.

Press mixture into the prepared pan, spread marinara sauce over loaf, and bake for 1 hour, or until cooked through.

Let the loaf cool in the pan for 10 to 15 minutes, then turn out onto a plate or platter and slice.

Sunday, July 24, 2011

Peanut Butter Ice Cream

Peanut Butter Ice Cream

We had a visitor over the weekend. Jason loves peanut butter, so VegDad suggested I let him try the peanut butter ice cream I had made last month. I got the ingredients together and put the ice cream base in the refrigerator Friday night, so when he arrived on Saturday I would be ready to make the ice cream. He liked the ice cream and asked me to post the recipe, so here it is.


Modified from the Peanut Butter Ice Cream Recipe in Lick it! by Cathe Olson.

Recipe
1 can (14 oz) Full Fat Coconut Milk *
1 cup So Delicious Coconut Milk, Unsweetened
1/3 cup Peanut Butter
1/2 cup Demerara Sugar or Agave Syrup
1 tsp vanilla

Whisk ingredients together until smooth. Cover and refrigerate for at least 2 hours. Pour into your ice cream maker and freeze according to your ice cream maker's instructions.

I prefer making this right before I am going to serve it while the ice cream is still like soft serve. If you have more than you need, put the remainder in a freezer container and freeze. When you pull the ice cream out of the freezer, you will have to let it soften before you can scoop.

* I use Native Forest Unsweetened Organic Coconut Milk Classic

I have used this ice cream as the filling in carob chip cookie ice cream sandwiches. It was delicious. This would also be good with swirls of your favorite vegan fudge or caramel sauce.

Friday, July 22, 2011

Waffles with coconut cream and fresh cherries

Waffles

I like having waffles for breakfast on special occasions. This is a recipe for a double batch of waffles. You can put half or more of these in the freezer, so they are ready and waiting for your next special day. The coconut cream will not last that long, but you can use it to top desserts, vegan sundaes, or coffee. My can of coconut milk didn't separate so I could only whisk it to soft peaks. It was still tasty, even if it wasn't quite as pretty. You can replace half of the oil in this recipe with mashed banana, pureed pumpkin, or applesauce. My kids need the extra fat and calories so I just use the oils most of the time.

Waffles

3/4 cup Warm Water
1/4 cup Flax Meal
2 cups Unbleached All Purpose Flour
1&1/3 cups Spelt Flour
2/3 cup Coconut Flour
8 tsp Baking Powder
1/2 tsp Salt
3&3/4 cups So Delicious Coconut Milk, Unsweetened
1/2 cup Demerara Sugar
1/2 cup Canola Oil
1/2 cup Light Olive Oil
2 tsp vanilla
1/2 cup Unsweetened Shredded Coconut
1/2 cup Pecan Pieces

Stir together the warm water and flax meal and set aside to let gel. In a large mixing bowl combine flours, baking powder, and salt. Add demerara sugar into the flax mixture and stir until combined. Add oils and stir again. Measure coconut milk and add to dry ingredients along with flax mixture and vanilla. Whisk until thoroughly combined. Fold in shredded coconut and pecans. Add dried fruit if desired. Cook on preheated waffle iron according to manufacturers suggestions.

While your waffles are cooking you can grab a can of coconut milk out of the refrigerator and make a whipped coconut cream topping if you like.

If the Cream has separated to the top of the can carefully spoon the cream into a cool glass bowl. Whisk with vegan powdered sugar and vanilla until soft peak or stiff peaks depending on which you prefer and whether your coconut milk was separated. I used 1/4 cup powdered sugar, and 1 tsp of vanilla. I would not have needed as much if the cream had separated, if you had better luck with that, use half the amount of sugar and taste to see if it needs more.

Top waffle with coconut cream and fresh fruit of choice and savor your special day.

Sunday, July 17, 2011

Chickpea Potato Curry

Chickpea Potato Curry with Rice

Everyone agreed this was better after an addition of raisins. I will try to make it again with raisins and naan bread on the side. VegDad was very impressed with the curry. This recipe might not be as child friendly as my others, my kids were not all that thrilled with the curry experience although, the raisins made it slightly more palatable for them.

Chickpea Potato Curry

1 Tbsp Olive Oil
2 cloves of Garlic
1 Small Onion (diced)
2 cups Chickpeas (cooked & drained)
2 Medium Potatoes (diced)
8 oz. lite coconut milk
1/2 cup sweet peas
1/2 Tbsp Hot Madras Curry Powder
1/4 tsp Cumin
1/8 tsp Chipotle Chili Powder
1/2 tsp Salt
1/4 cup raisins

Saute onions and garlic in olive oil until golden in medium saucepan over medium heat. Add chickpeas, potatoes, coconut milk, peas, and seasonings. Simmer stirring occasionally for 20 minutes. Add raisins and serve over rice or with naan or chapatis.

Thursday, July 14, 2011

Another delicious muffin

Pineapple Pecan Cream Cheese Muffin

I had frozen pineapple, pecan, and partial containers of vegan sour cream and vegan cream cheese. I could not waste these precious ingredients, so the idea for these muffins was born out of my efforts to utilize every scrap of food. I'm okay with that since it can lead to the utter deliciousness that is these muffins. My children devoured their muffins in minutes.

Recipe

1 cup Unbleached All Purpose or White Wheat Flour
2/3 cup Spelt Flour
1/3 cup Coconut Flour
1 Tbsp Baking Powder
3/4 tsp Salt
1/8 cup Sour Cream Substitute or Plain Vegan Yogurt
1/8 cup Cream Cheese Substitute
1/3 cup Demerara Sugar
1 cup + 2 Tbsp So Delicious Coconut Milk
1/4 cup Canola Oil
1 tsp vanilla
1/2 cup Pineapple Chunks cut into small pieces
1/3 cup Pecan Pieces

Grease or spray muffin tin with oil. Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Measure flours, baking powder, and salt into a medium sized mixing bowl. Set aside. Measure sour cream substitute or yogurt and cream cheese into a small bowl and mix thoroughly with a fork. In liquid measuring cup combine coconut milk, sugar, oil, and vanilla.
Pour milk mixture into dry ingredients stir together, then add cream cheese mixture, stir until combined. Stir in pineapple and pecans. Spoon into muffin tin. Bake at 400 degrees for 25 minutes.

Wednesday, July 13, 2011

Tofu strips over fried rice..

Tofu Strips

Now this recipe takes serious commitment and planning.  I wasn't even going to post it.  My husband and children insisted that the effort was totally worth waiting three days for the tofu to be ready.  I know what you are thinking, "She has lost her mind if she thinks I know what we are having three days ahead of time."  Don't worry, it doesn't have to bee that organized.  If you know at some point during the week you are going to want fried rice, you can have the tofu already pressed and in the freezer, or thawing in the refrigerator, or soaking in the marinade.  See, totally uncomplicated.  This tofu is completely worth the effort.

Recipe
14 oz Block of Firm Tofu (Not Silken)

Marinade
1/8 cup Toasted Sesame Oil
1/8 cup Soy Sauce
1/8 cup Lemon Juice
2 tsp. Chili Garlic Sauce

First, you press all the liquid out of the tofu with a tofu press.  Leave tofu in the press in your refrigerator for one day.  Pour off the liquid and move tofu into a freezer bag.  Place in freezer for at least one day, but should be fine for up to a week.  Thaw in refrigerator for one day.  Press again for two hours, pour off liquid.  Pour marinade ingredients over tofu and allow to marinate for four hours in the refrigerator.  When ready to cook pour excess marinade into a bowl to use when sauteing vegetables and rice.  Cut tofu into strips.  Bake at 375 degrees for 15 minutes flip all the strips and bake for another 15 minutes.  Serve over veggies and rice.

Monday, July 11, 2011

Paula Deen's Cheese Biscuits (Vegan style)

Vegan Cheddar Biscuits

Before I was vegan I was loved cheddar biscuits, I finally decided to try Daiya Shreds Cheddar Style Vegan Cheese. My family and I loved the results.  These biscuits would go nicely with the potato crusted frittata or with mashed potatoes, gravy, and what my kids call veat loaf.  http://www.veganlunchbox.com/loaf_studio.html

I skipped the drenching the biscuits in butter/Earth Balance.  In my opinion, they are tasty enough without the extra fat.  If you like yours buttery, by all means melt a tablespoon or two of Earth Balance margarine to brush over them.

Vegan Cheddar Biscuits

1 cup Unbleached All Purpose or White Wheat Flour
1 cup Spelt Flour
2 tsp. Baking Powder
1 tsp. Salt
1 tsp. Demerara Sugar
A Few Grinds of Fresh Black Pepper
1/3 cup Non-Hydrogenated Shortening
1/2 cup Daiya Shreds Cheddar Style
1 Tbsp. Lime Juice
1 cup So Delicious Coconut Milk or Non Dairy Milk of Choice

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Lightly oil a medium sized cookie sheet and set aside.  In a glass measuring cup, stir together lime juice and coconut milk.  In a large mixing bowl combine flours, baking powder, salt, sugar, and pepper.  Cut in shortening with fork or pastry blender.  When the flour and shortening mixture resembles the texture of bread crumbs.  Stir in cheddar shreds, then stir in coconut milk until thoroughly moistened.  Spoon biscuits onto the cookie sheet.  Brush with margarine if desired.  Bake for 15-20 minutes.  Makes 8 biscuits.

Saturday, July 9, 2011

Muffins, again. :)

Naturally Orange flavored Coconut Pecan Muffins

I don't know what it is exactly, but the last few days recipes have just been popping into my brain. I have been coming up with something new every day.

It has been so hot here that I have been doing most, if not all of my baking at night. These muffins were the result of a 1 AM brainstorm.  My family loves them and has deemed this recipe blog worthy.  High praise, indeed.  I hope that you will like them as much as we do.

Orange flavored Coconut Pecan Muffins

3/8 cup Warm Water mixed with 1/8 cup of Flax Meal
1/3 cup Demerara Sugar
1 cup So Delicious Coconut Milk Unsweetened (or Non Dairy Milk of Choice)
1/3 cup Orange Juice
1/4 cup Extra Light Olive Oil (or Canola Oil)
1 cup Unbleached All Purpose Flour (or White Wheat)
2/3 cup Spelt Flour
1/3 cup Coconut Flour
1 Tbsp. Baking Powder
1 tsp. Salt
1/2 cup Unsweetened Shredded Coconut
1/2 cup Pecan Pieces

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.  Whisk together the warm water and flax meal and allow to gel while you gather the other ingredients.  Stir in demerara, then coconut milk, orange juice, and oil.  Set aside, and measure flours, baking powder, salt, coconut, and pecans into a medium sized mixing bowl.  Add wet ingredients to dry and stir until well combined.  Spoon into lightly oiled muffin tins.  Bake for 18-20 minutes or until muffins are nicely browned and set in the middle.  Transfer muffins to wire rack to cool, then eat or store in an airtight container.  This recipe should make 12 normal sized muffins.

Friday, July 8, 2011

Potato Crusted Frittata

Potato Crusted Frittata


Last night I decided to alter my tofu scramble slightly and add a shredded potato crust to make a frittata.  I loved the results as did my husband, the children were only slightly less receptive due to the visible chunks of vegetables.  They did both enjoy the flavor after overcoming their initial reluctance to try it.

This is definitely a recipe that would work equally well with a salad for a light dinner or with fruit for a satisfying breakfast.  I hope you will enjoy it as much as we have.  Without further ado here is the recipe.

Crust Recipe

2 Medium Potatoes
1/2 tsp Kosher Salt
1 Tbsp Light Olive Oil
Salt and Pepper to taste

Heat oven to 450 degrees.  Prepare an 8x8 casserole dish with Light Olive Oil.  Thoroughly wash potatoes.  Shred potatoes.  Place shredded potatoes into a colander in the sink.  Sprinkle with Kosher Salt.  After a few minutes squeeze liquid from the shredded potatoes and rinse.  Squeeze again and move shreds into prepared pan.  Salt and pepper to taste and gently turn the shreds until all are seasoned and lightly coated with oil.  Press shreds into pan to form a crust.  Bake 20-30 minutes until crust starts to turn brown around the edges.  Set aside to cool while you saute the vegetables and puree the filling.  Lower oven temperature to 350 degrees.

Frittata Filling

1 Block of Firm Silken Tofu (Well drained)
1/3 cup So Delicious Coconut Milk
4 Tbsp. Corn Starch
2 Tbsp. Nutritional Yeast
1/2 tsp. Tumeric
1/4 tsp. Cumin
1/4 tsp. Garlic Powder
Salt and Pepper to taste
2 Tbsp. Light Olive Oil
3 Carrots (peeled and chopped
2 Garlic Cloves (chopped)
1 Small Onion (diced)
1/4 of a Large Bell Pepper (diced)
1/3 cup Black Olives (sliced)
1 cup leftover rice

The carrots, garlic and 1/3 of the chopped onion will need to be sauteed separately from the bell pepper and remaining 2/3 onion that you will be layering on to the crust.

Add 2 Tablespoons of Light Olive Oil into a large skillet over medium heat.  Let the oil warm up before adding the diced bell pepper and 2/3 of the diced onion.  Saute until veggies soften slightly, then remove the bell pepper and onion to the casserole dish on top of the potato crust.  Sprinkle the slices of black olive over that.

Saute carrots, garlic, and remaining onion until soft.  Allow to cool slightly before placing in food processor or blender with tofu,  coconut milk, corn starch, nutritional yeast and seasonings.  Pulse until smooth add rice and pulse briefly to incorporate.  Pour into waiting casserole dish.  Bake at 350 degrees for 45 minutes or until set in the middle.  Allow to cool 10 minutes before slicing.

Thursday, July 7, 2011

Cool, Creamy, and Delicious

Vegan Cherry Cream Cheese Pie

My husband has been craving the Cherry Cream Cheese Pie he remembers from the summers before we went vegan. Our kids are less picky just wanted something sweet and cool. Today, I realized I was up to the task with a little help from Mama Pea with a vegan version of sweetened condensed milk. It looks like the old pie, it smells like the old pie, and yes, it tastes like the old pie. You can't see it, but I am definitely doing a victory dance here. As always, my non-dairy milk of choice for the sweetened condensed is So Delicious Coconut Milk. You are lucky I was able to get a camera shot of this it is disappearing fast.

Next time, I might try adding another 4 oz of Cream Cheese substitute or using full fat canned coconut milk instead of So Delicious for the non dairy sweetened condensed milk to try for a thicker consistency, but the taste was awesome, as is.  Seriously, you should try it right now.

Vegan Cherry Cream Cheese Pie

1 pkg. Extra Firm Silken Tofu (well-drained)
1 c. Vegan Cream Cheese (highly recommend Gentle Chef's cashew cream cheese recipe)
1 can Nature's Charm Sweetened Condensed Coconut Milk
1/2 c. Lemon Juice
1 tsp. Vanilla Extract
1 Graham Cracker Pie Crust (9 oz)
1 can Low Sugar Cherry Pie Filling

Combine first 5 ingredients in food processor and pulse until smooth. Pour into crust. Chill for 3 hours. Top with pie filling. Chill until set.