Thursday, February 16, 2012

Vegan Apricot Bread

Prep Time: 10 minutes

Cook Time: 30 minutes

Total Time: 40 minutes

Yield: 3 mini loaves

Ingredients:

3 T. ground flax seeds, also known as flax meal
1/4 cup warm water
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup finely ground cashews
1 t. baking powder
1/2 t. baking soda
1 t. salt
1/3 cup plain soy milk
1/2 cup lemon juice
1/4 cup canola oil
1 1/2 cups chopped fresh apricots

Preparation:

1. Preheat the oven to 350 F. Combine the ground flax seeds and water in a small cup, mixing until well combined and goopy. Lightly oil 3 mini loaf pans and set aside.

2. In a large mixing bowl, combine the flour, sugar, ground cashews, baking powder, baking soda and salt. In another mixing bowl, whisk together the soy milk, lemon juice and oil until well combined. Add the wet ingredients and the flax seed mixture to the dry ingredients, mixing until just combined. Fold in the chopped apricots until evenly distributed.

3. Portion the batter into the prepared loaf pans and bake for 25-35 minutes, or until the loaves are golden brown and a toothpick inserted into the center of a loaf emerges clean. Allow bread to cool in the pans on a wire cooling rack. Serve warm, at room temperature, or cold

Addictive Kale and Vegan Italian Sausages

Ingredients:

2 vegan sausage links (Tofurky Italian recommended)
1 onion
1 large head of kale
sea salt (to taste)
red pepper flakes (to taste, I like it spicy)
1 tablespoon olive oil

Directions:

Heat a large pot on medium with olive oil. Slice onion in half to root then thinly slice it. Put in pot with small amount of water. Cover while cooking.

Slice Sausage and toss that in with the onion.

Rinse kale and pull leaves off of the tough stem. Onion and sausage should be cooking good by now. Put all the kale on top of the sausage and onion. Sprinkle salt and red pepper. Cover again. Cook until kale is cooked through to taste. yummy

Serves: 2 (or one big one)

Preparation time: 20 min


Source of recipe: http://vegweb.com/index.php?topic=8445.0

Vegan Red Risotto with Baby Greens

Ingredients:

2 1/4 cups of cooked white rice
10 oz. of favorite tomato/pasta Sauce + 1 oz. of water
1 green pepper
3 garlic cloves
2 portabello mushrooms
1 tablespoon of olive oil
1/4 cup of chopped onion
1 cup of white cooking wine
salt and pepper to taste
1 bag of spring mix baby salad greens
oregano

Directions:

Heat oil in a large skillet--burner should be on medium. Mince garlic; chop green pepper, onion, and mushrooms into bite size pieces. Combine veggies and garlic; place mixture into pan with heated oil in 1/4 amount increments. After all of mixture is in pan, let saute for roughly 3 minutes, stirring occasionally. Pour in vegan wine and stir. Cover with a pan lid and let simmer for about 5 minutes, or until peppers are tender. Spoon in cooked rice and mix together. Pour in tomato sauce, mixing well with rice. Season with salt and pepper. Continue to heat and stir mixture until creamy--if you need to add a little water or oil to reach a tasty consistency, please do!

Arrange baby greens on a plate and top with thoroughly heated risotto. Shake on some oregano onto plate and meal for presentation and a dash of flavor.

This is great with garlic vegan bread!

Serves: 4

Preparation time: 30-45 minutes

Source of recipe: http://vegweb.com/index.php?topic=9091.0

Sunday, February 12, 2012

Sesame UnChicken Fingers with Spicy Mustard Dip

Ingredients:

2 packages chicken style or regular seitan
1/2 cup canola or vegetable oil for frying
1/3 cup whole wheat flour
2 teaspoon sesame seeds
1/4 cup dry mustard
2 tablespoon sugar
1/8 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup cider vinegar
1 tablespoon arrowroot dissolved in 1 tablespoon water
1/2 cup vegan mayonnaise (I use Spectrum)

Directions:

Spicy Mustard dip:

In a saucepan, combine the mustard, vegan sugar, and salt. Add the vinegar and dissolved arrowroot, blending well (its very important that you dissolve the arrowroot in the water *before* adding it. Otherwise, the mixture will get lumpy). Cook 2-3 minutes on low, stirring constantly with a whisk or fork, until the mixture thickens. Remove to a small mixing bowl, and refrigerate 10-15 minutes, then stir in vegan mayonnaise, mixing thoroughly with a whisk or fork. Store in refrigerator. Should keep for several days, if not longer. Note: you can use less mayo or more mustard if you like the sauce spicier.

Sesame Seitan:

Slice the seitan into narrow strips or fingers. The thinner and smaller the pieces, the crispier they will get, but I haven't had a problem burning or undercooking them, so you don't need to worry too much about precision here. Combine the flour and sesame seeds (which you can toast lightly, if you like) in a shallow bowl, and dredge the seitan until coated. I find that packaged seitan holds the coating well without additional liquid, but if its not sticking, you can dredge the seitan in a little plain soymilk first, and then coat it in the flour mixture.

Meanwhile, heat the oil in a frying pan. Depending on the depth of your pan, you might need more or less oil; the important thing is that the seitan can be submerged so that all sides brown evenly. When the oil is super hot, carefully place a few of the coated strips at a time in the oil and fry until golden brown (about 5-7 minutes). (To test the oil for hotness, I usually just drop in a teeny broken off piece of the coated seitan and see what happens. The oil should bubble up all around it, but it won't splatter if you use pure oil and a clean pan.) Again, fry to your own taste, but I find that the longer you leave the strips in, the crispier they get. Remove the fried strips from the oil with a metal spatula or slotted metal spoon, and place on paper towels to absorb the extra oil. (You can blot gently, as well.) Repeat until all the seitan is fried. Serve with the mustard dip. You can eat the strips hot, or you can let them cool to room temperature.


Serves: 2-4

Preparation time: 30 min.