I was feeling peckish and didn’t know what to make. I found some currants, chocolate peanutbutter and some corn tortillas. I threw them into the pan and got it all hot and toasty.
I made this: the chocolate ummm…. what do I call it!? It was worth sharing. Next time I might include strawberry jam and chopped pecans. Enjoy!
This is Christie, signing off!
Three bean vegan chili is nothing to sneeze at when we make it. Before I talk about chili though, I’m going to tell you about Muir Glen – I’ve been using their organic canned tomatoes for years.
I grew up farming and tomatoes have a special place in my heart. In fact I’m a tomato snob. I usually turn my nose up at tomatoes in the supermarket and in restaurants because they’ve lost their flavor through refrigeration, artificial ripening techniques, and through selective breeding for other traits like improved shelf life. Subsequently I turn to canned varieties unless I can get good ones from my garden or from my farmer’s market. Muir Glen has a range of organic tomato products including their roasted diced tomatoes, tomato paste and regular diced tomatoes. Whatever they’re doing over there definitely makes a difference and this is a giveaway so you can see for yourself without spending your hard earned cash.
Back to chili. Tomatoes are important for chili recipes. I can’t imagine chili without them: they provide a crisp base and a source of important nutrients like lycopene and vitamin C. To begin we assembled the following:
1 onion, diced
1 jalapeño, minced
1 cube vegetable bouillon
1 tsp cumin
1 tbsp coriander
1 15oz. tin of pinto beans
1 15oz. tin of kidney beans
1 15oz. tin of black beans
1 15oz. tin of diced tomatoes
1 15oz. tin roasted diced tomatoes
1 cup TVP (use a 15oz. tin of pumpkin puree if you’re sensitive to soy or both if you want a mellower chili)
1 tsp flake red pepper (more if you like spicy food)
salt to taste
1 tsp olive oil
We sauteed the onion, jalapeño and spices and sauteed it in olive oil until the mixture was fragrant and steamy.
Then we added the tomatoes and heated them until it started to bubble.
Then I added the rest of the ingredients (don’t drain the liquid from the beans or tomatoes). I added both TVP and pumpkin. That’s just how I roll. After it was nice and hot, I adjusted the spices and served up topped with Daiya and some home made bread.
This is a flavorful chili that will fool a lot of meat eaters with how hearty it is. The roasted tomatoes add an additional depth of flavor that you can’t get just by adding liquid smoke. The textured vegetable protein will confuse a lot of vegans because it’s so meaty. It’s cholesterol-free, high in fiber and low in fat.
So now on to the giveaway. This is a promo by Muir Glen: they’re going to send you a 14.5 oz can Reserve Harvest Sunset Organic Fire Roasted Diced Tomatoes, a 14.5 oz can Reserve Harvest Sunset Organic Diced Tomatoes, a 14.5 oz can Muir Glen Organic Fire Roasted Diced Tomatoes with Green Chilies, a 14.5 oz can Muir Glen Organic No-Salt Added Diced Tomatoes and recipe booklet featuring a variety of recipes created by award-winning chefs from around the country. Of course you’ll only need the recipe book for using the other cans of tomatoes because you’ll want 2 of them for my recipe.
In order for me to select winners, all you have to do is the following:
1. like and follow our blog
3. comment below on what you use tinned tomatoes for most often in your kitchen
Then I’ll ask each of the randomly selected winners (5 in total) to email us their mailing address before midnight Sunday, October 14. I’m excited to pass on some free products that I’ve been enjoying for years so that I can be sure I’m not crazy for liking Muir Glen.
This is Christie, signing off.
I’m going to start this post by thanking 2 bloggers who have inspired me to take a stab at vegan baking. Somer of Vedged Out and recently featured on Forks over Knives and an Unrefined Vegan who has organized Virtual Vegan Potlucks have tickled my eyes, nose, mind and mouth in the best kind of way. They are two bloggers who seem to bake effortlessly. Vegan baking is certainly a nuanced thing but if any of you are experienced with baking gluten-free know that these recipes require lots and lots of eggs. So what’s a girl to do when she wants bread without gluten or eggs?
For baking bread today I’m using ground flax seeds. Flax is full of omega fatty acids and other important nutrients but practically speaking they’re also loaded with long chain polysaccharides that make it a great binding agent. With chicken eggs, protein forms the binding agent along with lots of cholesterol and recent studies bolster the claim that eggs are worse for your body than smoking. I don’t want that in my body so flax it is! Combine your ground flax seeds with water half an hour before baking (mix well) and you’ll notice the gelatinous texture that will help hold your bread together forming in your container. To start, we assembled the following ingredients
1 3/4 cups gluten-free all purpose flour (I’m using Bob’s Red Mill)
1/8 cup oats
1/8 cup quinoa flakes
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tbsp agar agar or suitable vegan gelling agent
1/4 cup lightly packed coconut sugar
5 tbsp flax meal in 1/2 cup of water (mix well and allow to sit for 20-30 minutes)
1/8 cup vegetable oil
1-1/2 cups plus 2 tablespoons almond milk or other vegan alternative
1 tbsp active dry yeast (no need to put it in water first, seriously)
First, Brent combined all the dry ingredients in a large bowl including the yeast.
In another bowl, I combined the vegan milk, oil and flax “eggs”. It looked kind of gross.
I added the liquid ingredients to the dry ingredients. Beat the batter until smooth. This can be done with a stand or hand mixer, but I like to use my Brent for this; his muscles are amazing. The batter should be thick but not doughy.
I sprayed a non-stick pan with olive oil. Then I poured the batter into the bread pan and sprinkled the top of the batter with sunflower seeds and buckwheat groats. You can also sprinkle with sesame or poppy seeds.
We set it aside to rise for about 50 minutes or until the batter was peeking above the rim of the pan.
We baked it in a 375°F pre-heated oven for 50 minutes; until a toothpick comes out clean. We let it cool for 15 minutes. Then we removed from the pan and cool thoroughly on a rack. A glass pan might be better for next time.
As a first effort to bake gluten-free and vegan in about a year and a half, I’m pleased. The texture of the bread was good, lightly crispy outside and fluffy inside. I have had problems in the past with vegan gluten-free breads being far too dense for my taste.
The taste was lightly sweet and nutty but nothing special. Next time I plan to add some nutritional yeast or carob and maca powder and Braag’s aminos to bring out more of the flavors in all those grains and seeds. Quinoa, flax, sunflower seeds, buckwheat groats, rice, sorghum, oats and almonds make for awesome bread.
This is Christie and Brent, signing off!
Hey gang! Back again for the third installment of our vegan beer vlog posts, we sample New Planet’s Tread Lightly Ale. New Planet is another awesome company who found their niche in making gluten-free beers. Be sure to check them out.
As always, check to see if your booze is vegan at Barnivore, like the awesome vegan you are / want to be!
From Brent and Christie, peace out, my vegans!
I got these guys on impulse because they’ve got my dog whistle on them: gluten-free, vegan, organic. I can’t ignore those words. Five Star Foodies artichoke burgers are made primarily from rice, cashews and artichoke and have a great flavor all by themselves.
They keep indefinitely (barring the recommendation on the label) in the freezer and for weeks in the refrigerator. They cook quickly and easily and go well with fries or a tofu scramble. They cost me about $1.75 per burger and 4 come in a bag for a total of $7. Each burger contains 16 grams of fat, more sugar than fiber and 330 milligrams of sodium so those of you who are watching your weight or your salt might want to steer free of these babies in favor of something home-made. All in all it was one of the better gluten-free veggie burgers I’ve ever had. The texture was nice: they melted in my mouth without falling apart during cooking. Still, these haven’t converted me; I’ll probably stick to home-made burgers and trying new ones.
We served them up with a tofu scramble as though they were a breakfast sausage. This is probably not what these burgers were intended for but it allowed us to really taste the burger and not the bun and condiments. If you get to try them, let us know what you think!
This is Brent and Christie, signing off!
I made a spinach artichoke dip a while ago that’s based on soy which is my favorite source of creaminess. In this particular recipe I’m using white beans for the people that I love who cannot eat soy. The nutritional profile is similar: iron, fiber, no cholesterol, low fat, rich in protein, vitamins and minerals and the flavor is just as awesome. We started with the following:
1 tin of white beans, drained OR 1 cup of white beans, soaked and [pressure] cooked
1 tin or jar of artichoke hearts, drained and chopped
1 10 ounce package of frozen spinach
1 small onion, diced
6 cloves of garlic, minced (more if you love garlic as much as I do)
1 tbsp onion powder
1 tbsp garlic powder
2 tbsp nutritional yeast
2 tbsp vegan parmesan (optional)
1 cube of veggie bouillon (we used Rapunzel)
1 tsp of flaked red pepper
1 dash of cayenne
1/2 tsp of paprika
juice from 1/4 of a lemon
2 tbsp vegan mayonnaise
1/4 cup of Daiya (optional)
Okay, so that seems like a lot of ingredients. It was really simple to make. Preheat your oven to 350F/175C… this won’t take long.
I put all of the ingredients into a bowl while my expert moosher went to work mooshing everything into oblivion. If you’re interested in something that’s creamier, I’d recommend putting the white beans into your blender or food processer first and blending until smooth but I like a little texture and Brent’s muscles are a sight to see mooshing those beans. We had to microwave it a few times to thaw the spinach.
Once it was all mixed I put everything into a loaf shaped baking tin and put it into my oven for 25 minutes. It came out smelling divine and tasting even better. I burned my mouth being so enthused about getting some of our creation into our mouths.
The Daiya and parmesan do make this richer but it wasn’t missing anything when we made it with one or the other or neither. It was still creamy, rich, delightful spinach artichoke dip, perfect for parties or snacking.
This is Brent and Christie, signing off.
I’m calling this the mean green sandwich because it’s full of raw, good-for-you awesomesauce and they’re open face because I like to look my meal in the eye. Fortunately these don’t have any eyes because I have issues with that. The first thing I did was make a basil garlic spread using the following:
1 very large handful of basil leaves
5-6 peeled garlic cloves
1/4 cup of pumpkin pits
1/4 cup shelled hemp seeds
2 tbsp nutritional yeast
2 tsp Meyer lemon olive oil
2 tbsp veganaise
1/2 tsp flake red pepper
1/2 cup of water (you might not use all of it)
I blended all of that up, adding water as needed to form a spreadable texture. We spread it on sliced, toasted gluten-free bread and topped it with spinach and avocado.
I added a lot of extra flake red pepper because I’m just that kind of girl. This was a fast and delicious meal. The buttery avocado was a great contrast to the spicy basil and pesto. The nuttiness of the bread and hemp reminded me I was getting a heaping dose of omega fatty acids and protein to go with my antioxidants and iron. It would have been great in a nori wrap with sprouts too for a real raw meal! Maybe we’ll do that next time and until then, nom on!
This is Christie, signing off!
Even “hint of lime” chips often contain sour cream or whey for flavoring and this makes me SO angry. Being limited to greasy potato chips or plain corn chips gets a little old so we’re trying out some alternatives to let you know what’s in the bag.
Plentils come in 4 flavors (sorry, the other 2 aren’t in the picture because we ate them already): sea salt, dill and sour cream, margherita pizza and garlic parmesan. They’re light and airy and the flavors are outstanding. I particularly liked the margherita pizza and Brent liked the garlic parmesan. We’d buy these again. They’ve got a decent amount of protein, fiber and iron in each serving and aren’t terribly greasy or heavy. They’re $3.99 per bag and the bag is pretty big but it’s mostly air. If you’re sensitive to gluten, these are a great alternative to health chips that often contain wheat ingredients.
Nacho, sea salt and pepper and pico de gallo are the thee flavors we tried from Beanfield’s . The nutrition data is pretty good, there’s a reasonable amount of iron, fiber, protein and calcium. They’re $3.49 per bag and there’s a lot more than in Plentils. The texture is light and crispy and the flavors are awesome. These are both great alterniatives for people who can’t have corn chips but want to enjoy their salsa!
This is Christie and Brent, signing off!
I grew up eating processed meats. I would happily eat hot dogs or bologna for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Gross, I know, but my Mom was a food chemist at a meat company and bringing home the product was a benefit of the job. She also analyzed vegan hot dogs and sausages, but would never bring that weird stuff home. She recently mentioned how annoying it was to test vegan “meats” because there was no cholesterol. I could sort of explain why, but she’s the chemist and my layperson translation doesn’t quite make sense to even me right now.
I have been really hesitant to try vegan hot dogs. I’m sure part of it is the annoyance that my mother displayed whenever she had to analyze them. Other than that, I guess I’ve been worried that they won’t taste like the real thing. I decided to take a chance when I saw Field Roast frankfurters at the store.
I’ll admit that I was attracted to Field Roast based solely on the packaging. The hot dogs are individually cased so you get a link of sausages; none of this smushing 8 or 10 links into one space. They also have a variety of interesting flavors like Mexican Chipotle and Smoked Apple Sage. The Frankfurter style look like hot dogs, they smell like hot dogs, they’re easy to cook, and they taste like hot dogs… mostly. They’re spiced really well with a good smoky flavor but a bit too salty for my taste. I wouldn’t say that they taste vegan so much as that they taste like a fancier brand of hot dog (a classy hot dog, if there is such a thing). They have a very solid texture, not chewy or grainy or crumbly.They go really well with ketchup. I tried them with mustard as well, but I found that the saltiness didn’t mix well with the mustard.They are not gluten-free, but they are soy-free.
You can prepare the sausages by boiling or grilling or browning: I opted to brown them since the instructions for boiling called for them to remain in their casing and I wasn’t comfortable boiling the product in its plasticky casing.
Hey, check these guys out! I cut up a handful of these tomatoes from the garden and mixed them with some onion to go with my hot dogs.
The verdict: these frankfurters are good. Not quite wicked good, but good. They’re definitely a great substitute if you find yourself craving a hot dog. I do want to try the other products that Field Roast has to offer, but I came to a conclusion after this meal: I don’t miss hot dogs!
Stay tuned… I have a whole package of this stuff and I am planning to use the rest of it to recreate a couple of my favorite hot dog dishes! –Melissa
Bacon in macaroni and cheese is something that would never have happened in my house growing up… now that I think about it, mac and cheese wasn’t something that happened in my house growing up… so this was a treat. All we did was grab a bag of Leahey Gardens gluten-free Mac and Cheese (a personal favorite because it’s easy, delicious and low calorie) and prepare the pasta as instructed.
Once that was done we mixed in a diced tomato to keep the pasta from sticking. Meanwhile I started the sauce with some unsweetened plain almond milk, a generous sprinkle of cayenne, a dash of flake red pepper and a cup of frozen peas.
Brent browned some tempeh bacon to perfection!
The peas and mac looked perfectly appetizing to me but we had to take it one step further and add bacon.
I did find it to be a remarkably pleasant adddition: the smoke of the bacon with the salty cheesy sauce and sweet peas was exactly the kind of comfort food we needed that particular evening. Enjoy!
This is Brent and Christie, signing off!
Turning Veganese 