Tag Archives: easy

May 22 2012
6 Comments
Snacks

Maca and Carob Chia Seed Pudding!

I love pudding. I really love pudding. When I saw An Unrefined Vegan’s chia seed pudding I decided that I had to have some. I’m not very good at following instructions so I made my own version of Food Doodle’s pudding.

I combined the following:
4 tbsp chia seeds
2 cups vanilla almond milk (use soy-milk if you’ve got a nut allergy)
a splash of almond extract (optional)
1 tsp maca powder
1 tsp carob powder
a smidge of maple syrup harvested by my cousin (maca is already very sweet and this might not necessarily need to be sweetened)

I’ll take an aside to promote maple syrup farming: this centuries old practice promotes the preservation of old growth forests, typically with a minimally disruptive human intervention. Above is a picture of miles of tubing running through the woods into a pair of collection vats that must be emptied several times during the repeated freezes and thaws of spring. Great care is taken to keep the taps and tubing clean so that the sap doesn’t ferment and the trees stay healthy to produce during the next season. The tubing is put into place after the first snow and removed after the last thaw has passed. I love the smell of maple sap being boiled down. Grade B is my favorite kind of maple syrup. It’s supposed to be lower quality than the grade A “fancy” syrup that looks so lovely in clear glass bottles but I love the intense maple flavor.

I let it sit for half an hour and then ate it. I kind of shared with Brent but not really. I really love pudding. It was delightfully nutty and chocolatey and loaded with antioxidants, calcium, omega fatty acids and other good-for-you stuff. I lé recommend. I’m also realizing that this is a very versatile recipe and can be manipulated with the ingredients you prefer… next I’m thinking mint chocolate chip!

This is Christie, signing off.

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May 20 2012
4 Comments
Snacks

Mango Margarita POPSICLES!

What is this madness, you say? MANGO MADNESS! Mango is in season and it’s making its way into everything I cook… or don’t cook.

This particular variety is called Irwin and is one of the more common varieties. It is very sweet and soft when ripe and is great for drinks and sauces.

Today I’m making mango margarita popsicles. I sliced up a skinned, pitted mango and added 3-4 slices to each popsicle mold along with a few cilantro leaves, a squeeze of lime, and (for the more daring) a splash of tequila. We use Lunazul tequila because it’s vegan. Lime is really important because these mango are VERY sweet. I also like to use a fork (as above) when I squeeze lemon or lime juice into something, wiggling it back and forth to help break the membranes in the fruit. I find it makes it easier to get more juice out of the fruit and reduces the incidence of citrus-to-eye events. I filled the molds the rest of the way with coconut water.

Here are the popsicles right before they went into the freezer. When they come out, give them a light dusting of salt and put them back into the freezer for 10-15 minutes to let the salt set. Licking up the side will give you all the flavors of the cilantro, salt, mango and lime, or sample each flavor nibble by nibble for the deconstructed version of a mango margarita.

This is my daring food model, trying out my mango margarita pop. Doesn’t he just make it look delectable? Maybe I’m alone but suddenly I want a mango margarita.

This is Brent and Christie, signing off!

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May 18 2012
4 Comments
Recipes

Curried Raw Pate with Mango

Raw night strikes again!

Mango is in season so I wanted to make something especially mangoriffic. OMG they’re beautiful!!! Mango are available in Florida starting May well into October and a range of varieties are common in the supermarkets and farmer’s roadside stands. This particular variety is called “Philippine” and have a soft honeyed flavor with a light acid content. Mango are a great source of vitamin C, antioxidant polyphenols, vitamin A and carotein. They’re also rich in prebiotic fiber: that means they can help keep your digestive tract healthy. Mango is the national fruit of India so it’s no mystery that curry is a great flavor element to complement this nutritional powerhouse.

In my blender I combined the following:

1 cup of pumpkin seed pits

1 tbsp of curry powder

t tbsp nutritional yeast

1 tbsp raw tahini

1 tsp chili paste (or to taste)

water as needed

tamari (or salt) and pepper to taste

I blended it until we had a fragrant spread. We added it to a cabbage leaf (yes, I’m still wrapping just about everything up in cabbage leaves in order to facilitate eating it) with some spinach, cilantro and fresh sliced mango. I’m a big fan of how the herbal flavors in cilantro bring out the complex flowery, honey tastes in the mango and how the acid in the mango accentuates the cilantro’s minty and peppery overtones. The myriad of spices in the curry marries everything together for an awesome meal.

It was a perfect storm of flavor in our mouths.

This is Brent and Christie, signing off!

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May 11 2012
10 Comments
Cooking, Recipes

Pumpkin Lentil Lower Carb Burritos!

This is one of the easier things Brent and I have made in a while, all we needed was the following:

1 head of cabbage, raw

1 14.5 oz tin of pumpkin

1 cup of dry lentils

1 cube of veggie bouillon

1 tsp coriander

1 tsp cumin

1 jalapeño (optional)

chili powder or chili paste and salt to taste

Start by cooking the lentils. Combine them with 2 cups of water and your bouillon cubes and microwave at 2 minute intervals until all the liquid is absorbed. You can also cook them on your stove at low heat until the liquid is absorbed.

Now put them into a sauce pan with the pumpkin and spices. Heat until it’s all steamy. Adjust the seasonings as necessary. You can also add a can of diced tomato and a diced onion but this recipe is designed to accommodate a friends with tomato and onion allergies, respectively. It’s delicious and filling just as I’ve written it.

Now carefully remove a cabbage leaf, add a scoop or two of your burrito filling and whatever other things you like (we’re adding cilantro and Daiya cheddar cheese).

Roll them up and insert into your face.You might not even realize you’re eating a cabbage leaf. This is a great way to have a low carb, low calorie wrap for your sandwich or burrito and doesn’t cost a whole lot. I hope you like it!

 

This is Brent and Christie, signing off.

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May 06 2012
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Cooking, Recipes

French Onion Soup Au Gratin, VEGAN style.

French onion soup is caramelized onions in beef broth along with bread (read: eggs, butter and milk) and cheese. Comfort food… are you surprised? This was a favorite of mine as a kid so Brent and I decided to make it ourselves. The only thing you might have to search for is “beef” bouillon and some good vegan cheese. I’m a big fan of Massel bouillon but most any wort will do.

We assembled the following:

4 onions, sliced

2 tbsp olive oil

1 tsp herbes de provence

juice from 1 lime

“beef” bouillon (I used Massel)

1/4 cup of red wine (optional)

salt to taste

You’ll also need bread and some sort of vegan cheese. We used some gluten-free bread we bought at a local market and Follow Your Heart Gourmet mozzarella. We just baked it in the oven on a tinfoil lined sheet for 10 minutes at 350F/175C until the cheese was melty and bubbly and the bread was toasty. The soup is only slightly more complicated.

In a medium put I sauteed the onion in lime juice and olive oil until the onions were lightly caramelized. Don’t stir them too much while waiting for them to caramelize or you’ll end up with a sticky mess.

When you find the amount of caramelization suits your taste, add about 1 liter of water, herbes, the bouillon and the red wine. Simmer 15 minutes, up to 45 if your guests are late… or you want to watch fireworks on your balcony. Salt to taste.

We put the melty cheesy bread into the onion soup and devoured it. This would make a great appetizer for a dinner party, especially if you put the bread into the bowl and bake it in ramekins so the cheese bubbles down the sides like it does in restaurants. For easier clean-up… do what we did. Happy comfort food that’s surprisingly good for you!

This is Christie and Brent, signing off!

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Apr 29 2012
1 Comment
Cooking, Recipes

Sauted Spinach with Garlic and Nuts!

I eat spinach just about every other day and while the iron and vitamin K is important for women, it’s not as important for men. Fortunately, Brent likes spinach too so we added spinach as the third element to our BBQ dinner. We used the following:

3 cups spinach (one package frozen is fine)

1 tbsp sun dried tomato, minced (opitonal)

2 tbsp vegan margarine

6-7 cloves of garlic, minced

1/4 cup nuts or squash seeds, toasted

Melt the butter in a nonstick pan over medium heat. Add the garlic and nuts or seeds and heat until it becomes fragrant.

Add the spinach and stir until it wilts.

Butter and garlic make anything delicious. Fortunately spinach is delicious all by itself. We served it up with tangy BBQ butternut squash ribs, savory mushroom wild rice and it was a great meal.

This is Christie and Brent, signing off!

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Apr 23 2012
7 Comments
Lazy Vegan

The Lazy (and lucky) Vegan: Gardein and Surprises

Have I mentioned yet that I love love love Gardein products? I had heard of them long before I turned veganese because one of my favorite hangouts, The Yard House, serves their products. They have a Thai Chicken (or rather, Gardein) Noodle Salad and I fell in love with the ‘chicken.’ It was almost unbelievable how much it seemed like real chicken. Also great is their Firecracker Gardein ‘wings,’ which could probably fool a lot of carnivores.

The best part about Gardein is that I can find a variety of their products in just about any grocery store. WIN! At any given moment, I am sure to have Gardein something or other in my freezer. It’s perfect to have on a day like today when I don’t have any leftovers, I’m too lazy too cook, I’m low on ingredients, and I am too exhausted to stop anywhere after work. Gardein to the rescue!

These crispy tenders are AWESOME. I had three left in the bag, so I threw them in my toaster oven to cook.

 

Meanwhile, I chopped some tomato, cucumber, and green onion to make a salad. To spice it up, I finely chopped a pickled chili pepper. I finished off the salad with about a tablespoon of olive oil and some salt.

Then, my bro showed up with some Korean food. The spiced up cucumber is my favorite, but it is unfortunately not pictured because it went right into my belly. But I still had oh-so-yummy soy bean sprouts, a spiced up pepper, brocolli, and shredded asparagus, all seasoned very deliciously. Thanks, bro! You made my pathetic dinner super duper awesome!

Here’s an closeup of the Gardein crispy tenders. It’s also a closeup of my bright orange fingernail. I am in dire need of a manicure. What do you think of that color? I was trying it on so it’s only on my thumb. I’m thinking it’s a little too crazy for me. Oh, wait. Wrong blog. Sorry. Ahem.

Gardein products contain soy and gluten, which really sucks because some of my favorite people won’t be able to tolerate it. It is such amazing stuff that has saved me a couple times when I almost cracked under the pressure of a chicken wing craving.

Happy Monday Evening! And remember… Turning Veganese loves you. –Melissa

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Apr 22 2012
2 Comments
Cooking, Main Dishes, Recipes

Who needs beef stroganoff? Not this girl.

This sauce is really my interpretation of beef stroganoff. Stroganoff is a Russian dish of sauteed beef served with sour cream. I’m not a fan of beef and dairy and nor is my digestive tract so I’m using mushrooms and tofu for a light version that’s loaded with protein and flavor. I particularly like this recipe with sweet potato or squash gnocchi, but it’s great with regular pasta or over a burger for a new twist on sandwich time. You’ll need the following:

2 tablespoons olive oil
4-6 scallions, chopped
2 cups chopped mushrooms (any kind will do)
1 tablespoon herbes de provence
1/2 tsp cumin
1/2 tsp coriander
1/4 tsp black pepper
1/3 cup white wine (recommended)
1 tofu sausage, chopped (optional)
1 tbsp nutritional yeast (optional)
1 box of Mori-nu soft silken tofu
soy milk

Put the tofu into a blender and blend it until it’s smooth, scraping down the sides as necessary.

Put the olive oil into a large fry-pan. Add the scallion, wine and herbs; saute for 7-8 minutes until the onion is soft.

Add the mushrooms. We actually used dried mushrooms because they were around: reconstituting them with distilled water in the microwave.

Add the sausage [if you’re using it.I actually find it boring against the other flavors… and that’s saying something] and the blended tofu. Add soy milk to adjust the texture.

While I was doing that, Brent was making the rice pasta. I imagine serving this over braised seitan would be fabulous!

Apologies for those of you who know I say this just about every time I cook with wine: I often see people using ‘spoiled’ wine for cooking. Those flavors will end up in your food so I can’t recommend cooking with wine you wouldn’t drink: buy a fresh bottle and try it to see if you like it. If you’re not much for wine, this recipe is definitely delicious with just a mushroom herb sauce but I do love the flavors it brings out in the herbs and mushrooms. If you do leave out the wine, I’d add a medium diced onion and 3-4 minced cloves of garlic.

This recipe is a decadent creamy high protein sauce that’s great over vegetables, pasta, on bread or whatever. We like it because it takes so little time to prepare for how delicious it is. Brent even licked the spoon. We hope you get to try it and love it as much as we do.

This is Christie and Brent, signing off.

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Apr 20 2012
1 Comment
Cooking, Main Dishes, Recipes

SunDried Tomato Mac & Cheese

This is a similar dish to the nacho mac and cheese that Brent and I concocted not long ago. This is sundried tomato mac. You’ll need the following:
1 14.5 ounce can of chickpeas, drained or 1 cup dry chickpeas, soaked
1 lemon
1 pinch chili powder
1/4 cup sundried tomato, minced
olive oil
1 medium onion, diced
1 tbsp Italian seasoning
1 tsp oregano
1/4 cup chopped basil (optional)
8 ounces of vegan cheese (we used Ste. Martaen colby)

I started by sauteing the chickpeas with olive oil, lemon juice and chili powder. When the chickpeas started to steam and soften I added the onion, and dry herbs and stirred until the onions became translucent.

Add the cheese and tomato, then stir until it’s melty. When the pasta is ready, stir in the sauce and basil. It’s an incredibly simple meal and delicious.

The tomato gives this dish a richer color than it would have otherwise and it’s flavor is made to match. We love easy, quick decadent dishes like this one after an intense exercise session.

This is Brent and Christie, signing off.

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Apr 16 2012
4 Comments
Cooking, Main Dishes

Cuban Inspired Shepherdless Pie

After working with plantains more often, I wanted to try a vegan shepherdless pie using ingredients popular in cuisine from our island neighbor to the South. Cuban food commonly has a lot of interesting vegan elements: plantains, yuca, beans, rice and bananas. I’m a big fan of those things so this dish made sense. This is what we started with for the mashed plantains:
8 plantains (8 fist sized potatoes would work too)
1/4 cup of Diaya cheese
1/2 cup of soy milk (any non-dairy milk will work, almond if you’ve got a soy allergy)
2 tbsp vegan margarine

I peeled the plantains and put them into water to boil. Plantains and potato have similar nutritional profiles except that plantains have a significant amount of vitamin A, where potato has none. They’re both starchy, provide vitamin C, and are free of fat and cholesterol. Getting back to business, while that was happening I prepared the filling with the following ingredients:
1 white onion, diced
1 jalapeño, minced
6 garlic cloves, minced
1 cup of black beans, soaked overnight or 1 can of beans, partially drained
1 can of diced tomato
10 okra, ends removed and sliced into 1/2 inch pieces
1/2 lb. frozen corn kernels
1 bunch of cilantro, chopped
1/2 tsp cumin
salt and chili powder to taste

I browned the onion, garlic and jalapeño along with the cumin until the onion became translucent. Then we added the okra, tomato, beans, corn and cilantro and stirred until everything was steamy and sticky from the okra.

Brent took the plantains and combined them with the milk, cheese and margarine and mashed them until they were gloriously creamy. They were really dry so you might need to add more soy milk depending on your plantains (or potatoes).Check out that radical dedicated mooshing face.

He also prepared a base layer in our baking dish of tortillas and daiya to aid in scooping but it’s not necessary.

He spread the mashed plantains over the hot veggies and we put it into the oven for 20 minutes at 350C/175F until it was bubbly and delightful.

It was a hearty filling meal, loaded with vegetables and flavors. It made even better leftovers after everything had a night to marinade in it’s own juice.

Next time I might tweak the seasoning but overall it was a success. We ate half the tray and the rest is disappearing fast.

This is Brent and Christie, signing off.

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