Recipes

CSA: Celeriac Mash

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We did not eat the cat!

We did not eat the cat!

Last night marked the beginning of week two for our CSA “Winter Food Basket”. Every two weeks we get a basket full of assorted winter/fall veggies from many different local farms. As we began the second week, we had mostly root vegetables and squash left as greens and other veggies obviously don’t last as long.

So, last night was a fairly quick and easy dinner made (mostly) out of our CSA items. We roasted up some delicata squash rings (although, these delicata are different than ones we’ve had in the past. more stringy like spaghetti squash) and a Celeriac and Potato Mash. We were originally thinking celeriac soup, but were more in the mood for a quick meal. So, Lindsay whipped this up while I did some dishes.

In addition to the veggies, we had some “light life ginger teriyaki tempehtations”. I found them to be quite dull. The flavor was weak and the tempeh was dried out and definitely of a lower grade than we are used to.

Below, is the recipe for the mash:

Celeriac Potato Mash

2 medium sized celeriac (celery root), peeled and diced
2 large potatoes, peeled and diced
¼ cup sour supreme
¼ cup nondairy milk
2 tablespoons vegan margarine
2 heading tablespoons nutritional yeast
Salt and Pepper to taste

1.Boil the potatoes and celeriac until fork tender.
2.Drain the potatoes and celeriac and add back to the pot.
3.Mash in the sour supreme, nondairy milk, margarine and nutritional yeast. Mash together- I like to keep it a little more chunky but if you like it whipped you’d like.
4.Season with salt and pepper to taste.

Recipe: Pulled Mushroom Sandwich

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The other night for dinner my husband asked if we could have Pulled Mushroom Sandwiches.  Now these are a play off of a pulled pork sandwich and are delicious!  We received a bunch of shiitake mushrooms in our CSA this week and I had some left over cremini mushrooms as well so it was a prefect time to make these yummy sandwiches. I served them with a side of sweet potato fries and steamed brussels sprouts. 

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Pulled Mushroom Sandwiches with Quick Napa Slaw and Spicy Agave Mustard Dipping Sauce (for the sweet potato)

Makes 4 Servings

Pulled Mushrooms:

  •  
    • 8 oz cremini mushrooms, sliced
    • 8 oz shiitake mushrooms, sliced 
    • 1 lg onion, thinly, sliced
    • 6 cloves of garlic, minced
    • 1/2 T safflower oil 
    • 2 T garlic A-1 steak sauce
    • 2 T BBQ sauce
    • 1 T dijion mustard
    • salt and pepper to taste
  1. Heat the oil in a cast-iron pan over medium high heat and add the mushrooms and onions.  Sauté for 2 minutes.
  2. Turn the heat down to medium low and stir in the garlic. Cook for 20-25 minutes until the mushrooms and onions have caramelized, making sure to stir occasionally. 
  3. While the mushrooms and onions are cooking in a small bowl mix together the steak sauce, bbq sauce and dijion mustard.
  4. When the mushrooms and onions have caramelized add the steak sauce mixture and stir together. Turn to low and let simmer while you prepare the slaw.

 

Quick Napa Slaw

  •  
    • 1 cup shredded napa cabbage
    • 1 T reduced fat vegenaise
    • 1 T Drew’s Smoked Tomato Dressing
    • Salt and Pepper to taste
  1. Toss everything together.

To assemble the sandwich:

Take 2 rolls and place 1/4 of the slaw on the bottom.  Top with 1/4 of the mushroom mixture.

 

Spicy Agave Mustard Sauce- this goes great with the sweet potato and brussels

  •  
    • 1/4 cup of Dijion mustard
    • 1 T agave
    • 1 t chipotle chili powder
  1. Mix together.

The 30 Minute Vegan

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The 30 Minute Vegan is filled with a variety of great easy, quick, and delicious recipes that are (mostly) under 30 minutes. I received this book to review and had the most difficult time choosing recipes to try from it, not because I couldn’t find any but rather because I want to make everything.  That was my first indication that it had the potential to be a great cookbook.  However, the true test would be to see if any of these great sounding recipes actually turned out to be as good as they sounded.

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After hours (yes hours) of flipping through this cookbook I finally decided that I would make the Batter Baked Tempura with the Spicy Mustard Sauce, We Will Rock You Three Layer Nachos and Eggless Egg Salad.  The Batter Baked Tempura was delicious especially with the mustard sauce, however I am not sure if it totally resembled tempura but rather it was more like baked onion rings/veggies.  Nevertheless it was amazingly delicious and unfortunately was the only item I ended up taking the time to photograph.

The We Will Rock You Three Layer Nachos were next on my list of items to make and they were so good.  I made both the tempeh bean mixture and nacho cheese sauce which I put over baked blue corn chips and baked then topped with salsa, pickled jalapeno and avocado.  The recipe made so much sauce I only used half of bean mixture and nacho cheese for the nachos and saved the remainder to make a Tex-Mex Mac and Cheese the following night with mushrooms, onions and cherry tomatoes.

My husband’s favorite recipe that I made was the Eggless Egg Salad and it was certainly one of the best recipes for it that I have tried.  I served the Eggless Egg Salad in whole wheat pita halves.  The great part about this recipe is that it made enough for 2 days worth of lunches!

Overall I love this book and find that although not all of the recipes are 30 minutes with prep time and cooking they are still quick, fast, healthy and fun. You can order your own copy of The 30 Minute Vegan on Amazon. 

30minYou can also check out other reviews of The 30 Minute Vegan on the following sites:

Happy Herbivore

Basil & Spice

Vegan Guinea Pig

Chow Vegan where you can find reviews & recipes for Mango Gazpacho& Baked Tempura

Vegan Fusion – The authors blog

Vegan Crunk

Zeppoles

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For a really fun dessert (and super easy) I’d try Italian Donuts (Zeppoles).
This is a recipe from Giada De Laurentiis (I love to veganize her recipes however this one just happens to be vegan!)
Italian Doughnuts
Recipe courtesy Giada De Laurentiis
Prep Time:15 min
Cook Time:15 min
Level:Easy
Serves:18 doughnuts
Ingredients
1 pound prepared pizza dough
3/4 cup sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
Vegetable oil, for deep-frying
Olive oil, for deep-frying
Directions
Roll out the dough on a lightly floured surface to 1/2-inch thickness. Using a floured 2-inch cookie cutter, cut out doughnut rounds. Using a floured 1-inch cookie cutter, cut out a hole in the center of each doughnut. Gather the dough scraps and reroll. Cut out more doughnuts.
Whisk the sugar and cinnamon in a medium bowl to blend. Set the cinnamon-sugar aside.
Pour equal parts of vegetable oil and olive oil into a large frying pan to reach a depth of 2 inches. Heat the oil over medium heat until a deep-fry thermometer registers 375 degrees F. Working in batches, fry the doughnuts until they puff but are still pale, about 45 seconds per side. Using a slotted spoon, transfer the doughnuts to paper towels to drain. Cool slightly. While the doughnuts are still warm, generously coat each 2 times with the cinnamon-sugar. Serve warm.
Alternately, cool the fried doughnuts to room temperature. Stir 3 ounces of milk (dark) chocolate and 1/4 cup of whipping (soy creamer) cream in a heavy small saucepan over medium-low heat until the chocolate melts. Set aside until the chocolate sauce comes to room temperature but does not set. Dip 1 side of each doughnut into the chocolate mixture. Sprinkle with finely chopped toasted almonds or crushed espresso beans and set aside until the chocolate is set.

 These are also great if you serve them traditionally in a brown paper bag because they are tradtional street food in Italy and then have chocolate and raspberry dipping sauces on the side.  This is one of my favorite (fun impressive and interactive desserts to make for guest).  It’s easy and who doesn’t love a doughnut…..especially a vegan one!

 

@gomelissago is making these tonight and serving them with a lemon basil sauce! sounds great doesn’t it?

Vegan Mofo #25- Double Garlic Broccoli & Asparagus 2 Ways

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One of my husband and my favorite places to dine in Burlington is A Single Pebble this amazing family style authentic Chinese Restaurant that has a great number of vegan options.   Our favorite dish, well one of them we have so many, is Double Garlic Broccoli  which is broccoli, garlic, cashews and chili flakes and this delicious soy based sauce.

I was rummaging through my fridge last night trying to decide what to make for dinner based on which produce needed to be used first and I remembered I had bought some broccoli at the Saturday farmers market that I hadn’t used yet. As well I had a huge bunch of Asparagus that was in need of being cooked up,  I decided I would make my version of Double Garlic Broccoli and cook the asparagus 2 ways.

Double Garlic Broccoli

Makes 4 large servings, can easily be cut in half

 Ingredients:

  • 4 Cups broccoli florets
  • 1 Tbl vegetable oil
  • 8 cloves of garlic, thinly sliced
  • 1 tsp chili flakes, more or less based on how hot you like things
  • ¼ Cup of  water
  • 2 Tbls soy sauce
  • ½ Cup raw cashews
  • ½ tsp toasted sesame oil

Directions:

  1. Heat the vegetable oil in a walk over high heat.
  2. Add the garlic and chili flakes and let cook for 30 seconds then add the broccoli and toss together.
  3. Turn down the heat to medium-high and add the water, for 4-7 minutes until the broccoli has softened.
  4. Add the soy sauce, cashews and sesame oil.
  5. Serve as a side dish or as a main over brown rice.

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Cheezy Asparagus

Makes 4 small side servings

 Ingredients:

  • 15 spears of asparagus
  • 1 Tbl olive oil
  • 2 Tbl nutritional yeast
  • ½ Tbl goya adobo (if you don’t have this use salt& pepper & a pinch of garlic powder)

 Directions:

  1. 1.Heat oven to 375F. Place the asparagus in a baking dish.
  2. Toss the asparagus with the oil, nutritional yeast and adobo.
  3. Place dish in the oven and bake for 15min
  4. Plate and garnish with chopped scallions.

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Garlicky Asparagus

Makes 4 small side servings

Ingredients:

  • 15 spears of asparagus
  • 5 cloves of garlic, minced
  • 1 Tbl olive oil
  • S+P

 Directions:

  1. Heat oven to 375F. Place the asparagus in a baking dish.
  2. Mix together the oil, garlic, S+P and pour over the asparagus
  3. Place dish in the oven and bake for 15min
  4. Plate and garnish with the garlic that has been left at the bottom of the pan.

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Vegan Mofo#17: Creamless Potato Leek Soup

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I picked up some beautiful baby leeks at the market on saturday along with some red potatoes.  I was going to roasted them up together and then my husband said “would it be okay to potato leek soup” and of course I jumped at the chance to make soup especially when it was my husband requesting it (he isn’t so hot on soups usually).  So tonight after an amazing dinner of roasted butternut squash and braised collards I decided to whip up batch of Creamless Potato Leek Soup.

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You can get the recipe here.

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Vegan Mofo #16: Canadian Thanksgiving

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As many of you know my husband is Canadian so this year I decided that I would cook up a Canadian Thanksgiving, kind of a test run for the “real” Thanksgiving.  However, last week my husband was really sick so I have been postponing making dinner.  Finally last night everyone felt fine and I had everything I needed to put together our Canadian Thanksgiving dinner. 

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For dinner I made a Thanksgiving Tart, Roasted Brussels Sprouts, Roasted Japanese Yam and Roasted Noochie Purple Cauliflower. The best part of this meal (besides eating it) was how easy it was to make.  I turned my oven on to preheat to 400F and put everything together. 

IMG_4866For the Thanksgiving Tart:

(I adapted from this recipe)

Serves 4

What You Need:

1 tablespoon olive oil

1 cup onion, diced

3/4 cup celery, diced

5 cloves garlic, minced

1/2 teaspoon sea salt

1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

1 14-ounce can white kidney beans, rinsed (reserving 1/4 cup)

3/4 cup walnuts

2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice

2 teaspoons shoyu

1-1/4 cups frozen chopped spinach

3-1/2 tablespoons apple juice sweetened dried cranberries

1 teaspoon dried thyme

1 9-inch prepared spelt pie shell, thawed

1/2 tablespoon olive oil (for brushing)

1 teaspoon shoyu (for brushing)

 

What You Do:

  1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Heat oil in a skillet over medium heat. Add onion, celery, garlic, salt, and pepper, and cook for 7 to 9 minutes until onions soften and begin to caramelize. Set aside.
  2. In a food processor, add white beans (except 1/4 reserved cup), walnuts, lemon juice, and shoyu, and pulse to lightly chop (do not purée). Remove half of chopped mixture from food processor and transfer to a large bowl.
  3. Transfer sautéed onions to the remaining mixture in food processor. Purée until smooth, scraping down sides of bowl as needed.
  4. Transfer purée to bowl with lightly chopped beans and walnut mixture. Add spinach, cranberries, thyme, and cup of reserved beans. Stir to combine and transfer to prepared pie shell, spreading evenly.
  5. Combine oil and tamari, and brush on top of pie and crust.  Bake for 35 minutes until lightly browned. 

 

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This weekend I also made Happy Herbivore’s Low Fat Chocolate Glazed Doughnuts.

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Don’t forget to sign up to participate in the Vegan Care Package Swap Here

Also there is a great Wild Garden Hummus Giveaway going on as well- Find out how you can win HERE