Monday, January 28, 2013

Vegan Enchiladas


Something else I want to try this week! From Josh Smith:

I made these the other day by combining a few recipes I found online.  If you need a hearty dose of Mexican food, these things are amazing.  You can double the recipe too because they are really good on day 2.  I'm only cooking for 2 here, so the regular recipe gave me plenty for leftovers. 

Vegan Enchiladas
Serves 6

6 Flour Tortillas (Wheat or white, whatever you prefer)
2 Cloves garlic minced
1 Jar of Enchilada Sauce (I've made my own, but it's quicker with the jar).
1 Can Black beans (Drained and rinsed)
1 Small can of corn
1 package sliced mushrooms
1 Green Pepper diced
1 medium Onion Diced
1 Small green zucchini 
1/2 cup fresh cilantro and more for serving. 
Olive Oil for sauteing the veg  
1 bottle of beer
2 jalepenos removed from canned green chilies in the Mexican isle at store chopped.  If you want less spice just add 1. 
1/2 pack of taco seasoning.  (I think Ortega is free of Hydro oils and MSG). 

Optional add ons: Black olives
                           Vegan Cheese
                           Green Salsa for Serving
                           Fresh tomatoes
                           Vegan Sour Cream

Preheat oven to 350.  

Add olive oil to bottom of a pan and put at medium heat.  Once oil is heated, add onions.  Saute until fragrant (about 1 minute).  Add mushroom and toss around until coated with oil.  Fry until mushrooms begin releasing liquid.  I usually put the heat a little higher at this point to get a nice crust on the onions and mushrooms.  Reduce head back to medium and add green pepper.  Continuing tossing veg until some of the green begins leaving green peppers. Add Zucchini.  Toss to coat with oil. Add 1/2 cup beer (then consume the rest : ).  Add 1/2 packet of taco seasoning (You can add more if you wish too, but note that it can get very salty quickly). Add jalepenos, garlic, corn and black beans and 1/2 cup fresh cilantro.   Lower heat and stir, then simmer for approx 5 min.  

Grease casserole dish with olive oil or desired oil.  Spoon mixture into tortillas and put in dish seam side down. Pour whole jar of enchilada sauce over enchiladas and smooth with spoon to coat them.  You can add vegan cheese if you wish. Bake for 25-35 minutes until sauce turns a little darker.  

Enjoy. 

Tofu with Soy Sauce, Sesame Oil and Sesame Seeds

This looks good! John L writes:

Here's a favorite of mine:

Tofu with Soy Sauce, Sesame Oil and Sesame Seeds

I use white sesame seeds, and I leave out the cilantro.

And here's his photo:


Thursday, January 17, 2013

Chocolate Covered Katie

This isn't a recipe, it's a link to a blog. A blog you must read. It's called "The Healthy Dessert Blog," and it also happens to be vegan.

It has desserts so healthy that you could conceivably eat them for breakfast or lunch. Conceivably without even cooking them first, if you were the kind of person who liked to eat cookie dough and cake batter.

I've heard of people like that.


Chocolate Covered Katie




Creamy Spinach Pasta Sauce

Wow, this is good! It's not the most high-protein thing in the world, but it's creamy and rich and satisfying, and you can sprinkle toasted almonds on top if you like.

I made this without the nutritional yeast. It was incredibly yummy. I used a bag of frozen spinach, and I think if I did it again I would try two.

Also: this looks like a good recipe blog!


Creamy Spinach Pasta Sauce




Tuesday, January 15, 2013

Iranian Rice with Beans and Dill (Baqala Polo)

This is a bit more involved than my favorite recipes tend to be, but it is so delicious.

The two things you might not be able to find at your regular grocery store are vegan margarine and plain soy yogurt; but plenty of grocery stores do have those.

If yours doesn't: I haven't tried this with olive oil instead of margarine, but it would probably be fine. And I'm pretty sure I made a vegan "buttermilk" in place of the soy yogurt. I'd guess it's much better with the yogurt, but my version worked well enough for me to enjoy it.

To make vegan buttermilk or yogurt substitute (usually for baking, as in buttermilk biscuits), just mix a cup of soy milk with a tablespoon of vinegar. I do recommend getting yogurt for this if you can, though.

This is another recipe in which a combination of simple ingredients makes something amazing happen.

Iranian Rice with Beans and Dill (Baqala Polo)




Coconut Red Lentil Soup

Another recipe from one of my favorite cooking blogs, 101 Cookbooks. Red lentils and yellow split peas give this lots of protein, and coconut milk makes it wonderfully rich.

Coconut Red Lentil Soup




Monday, January 14, 2013

Basic Hummus

Hummus is so easy to make, and when it's homemade it's so delicious! Here's my basic recipe.

You don't have to use chickpeas. This also works with white or black beans, or lentils.

Tahini is a little pricey, but you can find it in any store (might have to look in the health food aisle) and a jar of it lasts a long time.


Hummus

1 can chick peas, drained
1 T tahini
1 T oil
juice of 1 lemon
1 t salt
1 clove garlic


Throw everything in the blender or food processor. Whizz it until it's fairly smooth. Eat with pita bread, on toast, as a dip for carrots . . .




Well, I just found out I can't keep putting recipes on separate pages, as I've reached my limit of twenty.

For now I'll add new recipes as posts, and soon I'll hope to reorganize the blog in some way that makes sense, and makes everything easy to find.

Here's a great recipe that I think I found through someone on the Croton-Cortlandt Moms mailing list, but I can't remember who!

It's easy, but it does have two ingredients that could be considered exotic: edamame beans and soba noodles. I like recipes that don't require going anywhere but your regular grocery store, but I found both of these in mine, and neither are very expensive.

Edamame beans (which are young soy beans) can often be found the frozen section, sometimes with the organic things, but sometimes just sitting next to the frozen limas and that kind of thing in the non-organic section.  They usually come in the pod, and you can't eat that, so, as this recipe says, you should shell them. But that's easy.

Soba noodles are Japanese buckwheat noodles. They're often packaged like regular dry pasta and can be found in the Asian section--near the coconut milk, curry pastes, and that kind of thing.

Keep an eye out for these ingredients next time you're shopping, and if you find them, give this recipe a try! It's good and full of protein.


Cold Soba Noodles



Tuesday, January 8, 2013

Recipes!

Here are some of my favorite vegan recipes. Send me yours! They can be original creations or links to recipes online.

Each one is on a separate page, listed to the right.

I'm an impatient and imprecise cook--I don't measure very exactly, e.g. My favorite dishes are forgiving and hard to mess up; simple, with few ingredients, none too exotic; quick; and good with substitutions (canned tomatoes for fresh, for example), or left-out ingredients. I also like meals that are inexpensive, can be cooked in one pot, and are high in protein. So that's the sort of recipe I'm likely to post. But I welcome all kinds, so send me your own favorites!