Category: recipe

Burgers, salad and new Earth Balance products

Okay, this is going to be a busy post. There’s a lot goin’ on.

A while back I registered on Earth Balance’s community site for a chance to win Earth Balance for a year. I haven’t really participated at all, but they do occasionally post something I find interesting and then I’ll check it out. A couple of weeks ago they sent out an email to members asking if they’d like coupons to try their new coconut based spread. Oh, heck yeah! So this weekend, a nice package arrived:

Ooo, bonus, I get to try the mayo too! The booklet is full of recipes and then has more coupons for $1 and $2 off the coconut spread. So naturally I got my hind end to Whole Foods to pick up these goodies. At my store, the spread was not next to the regular Earth Balance, but it was in the case with tofu, lunch meats, Veganaise, etc.

We’ll get the coconut spread out of the way first. I picked up a half loaf of french bread to serve as delivery system for the spread.

Coconut haters, yes you can taste the coconut. So this is not for you. You know how regular Earth Balance tastes? It’s like that with a hint of coconut behind it. The coconut taste probably disappears in baking. And you know how anything coconut based is extra creamy? Yeah.

Okay, so now I need a way to use the mayo. It’s time to restock the freezer with burgers. Excellent! This is my favorite recipe and I just alter it depending on what I have on hand. This time I used black beans, added cumin, hot sauce and cilantro.

A double recipe makes 8-9 burgers. Plenty to save for quick meals later. They heat up nicely in a George Foreman or you can microwave them.

Now it’s time to try out that mayo. The texture wasn’t quite as firm as I’d like. But it tasted like…mayo. I failed to do a side by side test with Veganaise. But it seems like it will do the trick.

Nope not done yet. Kevin was out of town, so I made something I would like but he would hate, Shaved Fennel Salad.Instead of arugula I used spinach, almonds for the pine nuts and just skipped substituting the fennel. I’ve had this a couple of times as leftovers and the marinated fennel and zucchini is keeping well in the fridge.

Whew, see? A lot going on.

Easy weeknight dinner

It’s helpful to have a few meals you like that you can easily make out of non-perishable items that are easy to keep on hand and easy to make. This one is a great example. Whole wheat spaghetti, alfredo sauce, frozen turnip greens with diced turnips, and vegan parmesan on top.

Two favorite condiments

Vegan Parmesan

Let’s face it, a pile of spaghetti in red sauce looks pretty naked without some parmesan on top. I’ve never found the prepared versions you can buy to be exactly right. Parma seems to come closest. But there are tons of recipes out there for making your own. Which is always cheaper. After working my way through them, I’ve settled on a favorite: the recipe in Yellow Rose Recipes. Of course, I’m a tease for telling you that because I couldn’t find the recipe posted online. So maybe you should just try to hunt down a copy of the book if you don’t have it already. It’s a good one!

Gomashio

Gomashio can be so simple but adds magic to a variety of dishes. You can buy vegan versions in markets that have Asian goods, just watch the label for bonito (fish). Sometimes they have all kinds of veggies in them in addition to the sesame seed base. But my favorite is this simple recipe from How It All Vegan. If you’re afraid of seaweed, you can leave it out, but the amount in this recipe is not enough to make it fishy tasting. I sprinkle this with a heavy hand on just about any Asian dish I make. It also takes salads to the next level. Try it!

Composed Quinoa Salad Platter

Now here’s a good one for summer. Healthy, light and room temperature or cold. Actually, I’d vote for room temperature on this one. Remember the sources for recipe by email I posted a few days ago? Well, that’s how I found this recipe by Nava Atlas. I browsed the veggie recipes I’d collected for inspiration while making my shopping list. Kevin doesn’t like olives so I didn’t use them. And I substituted almonds for the pumpkin seeds. And the red bell pepper is there, I just chopped it up and tossed it in with the bean salad. This also made great leftovers for lunch the next day. I tossed it with some baby salad greens that needed to be used up. You could make this really pretty to serve like Nava does, or just kind of throw it on a plate like you see here.

Marinated Tofu Salad

You know those delicious $3+ flavored tofu products you can get? Sure, they’re tasty, but kind of pricy. They’re also easy to make. Especially if you have, speaking of pricy, the Tofu Xpress. It’s not an essential kitchen tool, but it does make dealing with tofu a bit easier. Before I would just press tofu between two plates with heavy cans set on top. But the tofu would never press evenly so I’d often end up running to the kitchen after the cans fell off the top plate making a racket. This thing squeezes most of the water out of your tofu so it can then soak up whatever delicious marinade you choose.

Vegan Vittles has a set of five different marinades that are all tasty. Most of them can be made from staples. So what I did was press the tofu overnight in the fridge in the Tofu Xpress. The next day, I pulled the tofu out of the press and sliced it into 8 planks. All the ingredients for the marinade were combined in the Tofu Xpress, then the tofu went back in without the press part, just the lid. That marinated on the counter for about an hour. Then the tofu went in the George Foreman grill. And in a few minutes it was done perfectly. You could also pan fry or bake it. Wait, what do you do with all that extra marinade? Reuse it! I threw some sliced tempeh in it to marinade. Two for the price of one!

The salad itself was just whatever I found in the fridge. I did pick up mixed baby greens with salad in mind. There was some kale I’d already cleaned and chopped. Carrots are always on hand. Half a red bell pepper and a roma tomato were tossed in. I dressed it with the tofu marinade drippings that landed in the drip pan for the George Foreman, rice vinegar and a little olive oil. With gomashio and sliced almonds sprinkled on top and some weird sea weed snax I picked up at the farmer’s market.