Category: recipe

Mac & Cheese

Apparently I can’t stop with the Daiya. I swear they aren’t paying me. Or even sending me free cheese. I’m not opposed to that though. 😀

How is it that there are so many styles of vegan mac & cheese that are so freakin’ good? You have ones based on nutritional yeast, cashews, whatever magic Soul Vegetarian puts in theirs, etc. So I had to see how Daiya would do. And the answer is, quite well thank you very much. Because I’m lazy, I used this recipe. I still had some lunch meat log so I chopped that up in place of the veggie ham. I also made a half batch so I wouldn’t be eating nothing but mac & cheese for two weeks, not that there’s anything wrong with that. When making it, I went with the lower amount of soy milk and I think I would like it saucier so next time I’ll try the higher amount at least. The taste was spot on though. I say this as someone that hasn’t eaten cheese in years, but I have been through a ton of vegan mac & cheeses and this one seems to hit closest to the blue box kind. I’d love to get the opinion of an omni or vegetarian on Daiya.

Seriously, how 70s does this plate look?

On my food to do list

Jeni’s comment on my previous post about her to do list gave me an idea for a VeganMoFo post. First of all, how do you guys keep track of the food inspiration you get from other blogs and websites? I keep up with blogs using Google Reader to subscribe to their posts. So when I see something I want to make, I just star it. Then I can go back and look at my starred items later for inspiration. If it is something on a website, but not blogged, I’ll bookmark it. Eventually, I try to put all of those into MacGourmet recipe software. Try.

So that brings me to the post idea. What is languishing in my starred items list in Google Reader? No, I’m not going to post them all. But let’s see what kind of things are hanging out in there:

Sweet Potato Falafel with Yogurt-Tahini Sauce: Sweet potatoes are so tasty, cheap and healthy that I’m always looking for new ways to use them. These would probably freeze up well for quick meal options.

Chilli Tofu with Beans and Bok Choy: This doesn’t look like your average stir-fry. That little bit of tamarind is going to give it a nice sour note.

Samosa Soup: It’s officially soup season and this one sounds amazing. Who can’t use another potato soup variation?

Seitan Chorizo Crumbles:  If you don’t have a local source for veggie chorizo or you just want to save a few bucks, make your own!

Sweet Potato Pugliese Bread: Have you got a bit of leftover sweet potato? Make some bread!

Tunisian Spicy Breads (Touarits):  Wouldn’t these make an amazing appetizer? Just replace the egg with your favorite egg substitute and it’s vegan.

Frosted Orange Cream Cupcakes: It’s always a good idea to have gluten free recipes on hand should you need them.

African Peanut Soup with Red Beans:  I love a whole meal in a bowl. This soup has got you covered nutritionally.

That’s a good start. I probably could have had a long post just on sweet potato recipes I’d saved. Maybe I’ll do one of these a week with everything I’ve got saved up.

Spicy Black Bean Chili

A slow cooker is one of those fairly inexpensive kitchen appliances that can make life so much easier. If you’re the busy sort that doesn’t want to resort to pre-packaged foods, you want one. If you endure hot summers and don’t want to turn on your stove or oven, you want one. If you like cooking up batches of dried beans, you want one.

Here’s how easy it is. I decided I was going to make the Spicy Black Bean Chili from Fresh From the Vegetarian Slow Cooker by Robin Robertson. So one evening I put the beans on to soak. Next morning, I tossed them in the slow cooker, covered them with water, added a piece of kombu (I always do this with beans. It’s supposed to make them, uh, more butt friendly.) While I was at work, they cooked up perfectly. That evening, I did the minimal prep work, filled the cooker crock with the ingredients, and tossed it in the fridge overnight. Next morning, it came out of the fridge, cooked on low all day, and then became dinner that night. Helpful hint: putting it in the fridge is a good way to buy you another hour or so if you’re going to be gone longer than the maximum cook time.

I like this recipe but it is fairly mildly flavored. I usually just start tossing some extra stuff in there. It’s different every time. This time I think I just used cumin and cayenne. Sometimes I use chipotle powder or even a bit of chipotle in adobo.  What makes this even better is melting some Daiya vegan cheese on top and sprinkling on chunks of avocado.

Now, if you want to get really crazy, you can make the polenta fries from Eat, Drink & Be Vegan by Dreena Burton. Thanks to the 50% polenta tubes we found a few weeks back. Instead of cutting them in planks as the recipe calls for, I cut them in cubes. Also, instead of rosemary I seasoned them with a little chili powder. Oh, and I don’t bother peeling the polenta tube. That seems…unnecessary. If you’re wondering what I’m talking about, you’ll know if you see the recipe. Now that I’ve actually made polenta, I need to just make and use my own. Okay, so it isn’t corn bread, but it’s similar, right? This had to work…and it did! Tell me you don’t want to eat this:

Fake Meat Log

If you are vegan, vital wheat gluten is your friend. In these times, it’s good to know that you can make your own seitan and vegan lunch meat way cheaper than buying it pre-packaged. Plus, you control the ingredients.

Recently, Vegan Dad posted this recipe for a lunch meat that uses white beans. I knew I had almost exactly the amount called for taking up room in my freezer. And since I’ve been busy baking breads lately, I needed some lunch meat. Sometimes you need a change from peanut butter & jelly.

I did make a couple of changes to the recipe. I did not use the fennel seed because Kevin hates it. Also, instead of steaming then baking, I just baked it longer, about an hour and a half or so. This turns out to be a nice mild lunch meat. There are plenty of recipes out there for something spicier if that’s what you want. This made two good sized logs for me. Great for a family, but I would probably half the recipe for myself in the future. Although I can toss one in the freezer for future use or just keep baking bread and I’m sure it’ll disappear soon enough. 🙂

A Southern Dinner

Friday night I made Kevin really happy by cooking something that was fried. I had starred this recipe for Country Fried Seitan Steak in Google Reader and planned to cook it some time this week. I already had the seitan, so just need to bread it, fry it and make the gravy. Oh, and make the collards and cook sweet potatoes to mash. It was a whole stove kind of meal.

I wouldn’t change anything about the seitan steaks. The breading was lovely. Seasoned nicely. The gravy seemed a bit bland to me so I added two tablespoons of nutritional yeast. Perfect! The sweet potatoes I steamed in the pressure cooker. It all came together really well but isn’t the kind of meal I would make on a standard week night. Too much work and too many dirty dishes. To add to the chaos, I was also baking off a whole wheat sandwich bread that turned out to be just cool enough to slice and eat with dinner.