Baked Beans

For this week's Vegaloca Weekly Vegan Cooking Challenge, I decided to try the simple Baked Beans recipe from The Peaceful Palate.  I have decided that I really must start making more photogenic dishes because these looked simply dreadful in the photos so I am not posting them!  You have all seen baked beans before, I'm sure--not super attractive.  But, boy, they do taste good!

Other than the aesthetics, I was so happy with the results of this dish.  I rushed the cook time a little bit since I made these late at night and had to turn off the stove when I went to bed (I think they cooked about an hour with all the ingredients; note that the beans and onions cook by themselves for a long while first).  But, the flavors blended together nicely in the fridge overnight.  I love the sweetness and the creamy goodness!  This recipe makes a lot and it only tastes good a few days as left-overs, so unless you have a big family I'd suggest halving the recipe.  I'm also thinking this could be tasty with some cut-up veggie sausage for a nice vegan "franks n' beans" dish :-)

Black Bean Chili

On this chilly, foggy evening I was eager for something hearty, comforting and warm and found just the recipe in my wonderful new Peaceful Palate cookbook:  Black Bean Chili

I made this pretty much as the recipe specified, except I didn't have fresh cilantro (and refuse to use dried cilantro--it tastes awful to me!) and I skipped the green onions on this serving in favor of some sliced avocado (which was delicious but the photo made it look like some slimy green blobs were taking over the dish, hence the photo sans avocado).  I thought the avocado added a wonderful flavor and nice creamy texture to the chili.  I also added a bit of crushed red pepper flakes to give it a little more kick.

All in all, a dish that is very easy to prepare (you just have to remember to soak the beans the night before), hearty and delicious.  I'm looking forward to more recipes from Peaceful Palate as I continue the Vegaloca Weekly Vegan Cooking Challenge!

Happy New Year and Applesauce Cake

Happy New Year!  I'm looking forward to entering into a whole calendar year with "the kind diet" on my mind and in my heart.  I'm off to a great start thanks to some wonderful Christmas gifts courtesy of my awesome husband and mom.  My very own copy of Veganomicon; now I can stop hogging the copy from my local library and actually make some notes in the margins :-)   And The Peaceful Palate which is full of many delicious-looking, easy-to-make recipes with "normal" ingredients (aka, not requiring me to make trips to the specialty grocery store or spend loads of money on new herbs and spices or other unusual pantry items).   I anticipate making lots of recipes from both books this year as I continue to participate in Lee's wonderful Weekly Vegan Cooking Challenge.

My first recipe from Jennifer Raymond's Peaceful Palate is the Applesauce Cake.  This was so easy to make and quite tasty!  I cut the sugar to 1/2 cup and also omitted the nuts and raisins since I was making it for company and wasn't sure if everyone liked them.  Whether due to my changes or simply the nature of recipe itself, the result had a slightly chewy consistency that I wasn't sure I liked, but the flavor was wonderful--gently spicy, a little sweet (like a breakfast bread kind, not really dessert-like) and low on guilt ;-p  I think it would be very nice with raisins or Craisins and would like to try the suggested white frosting next time (I didn't have powdered sugar at the time so couldn't make it).  

Wishing you all a happy, healthy and delicious New Year!!!

Kathryn

Vegan Stuffing

Stuffing is one of my favorite holiday dishes so I was very happy to find some vegan versions online.  This recipe is a fairly common one with slight variations to my own tastes.

Vegan Stuffing

6 cups of bread, diced (I used French and just kind of tore it into pieces)

2 TBSP vegan margarine (I used Earth Balance)

1 medium onion, diced

2 stalks celery, sliced (more if you love celery; I don't especially)

2 large carrots, sliced thin

1/4 tsp thyme

1/4 tsp sage

1/4 cup fresh parsley, chopped

small-medium apple, chopped

1/4 cup walnuts

1 1/2 cups vegetable broth

salt and pepper to taste

Preheat oven to 350 degrees  Place the diced bread in a baking pan and place in the over for 15 minutes until it's toasted.  Meanwhile, melt the margarine in a saucepan and saute the onion, celery and carrots until tender (onion should be translucent). 

Remove bread from the oven and add veggie mixture and all the herbs, apple, nuts (you can also add pecans and raisins if you like) and mix well.  Drizzle with vegetable broth and toss gently. 

Bake uncovered 20-30 minutes.  

Serves 6-8

While this didn't quite meet the standards of my mom's fabulous stuffing (alas, non-vegan) I still enjoyed it.  My husband liked it, too.  I'd definitely make it again but there are so many other vegan stuffing recipes out there I'd like to explore when I have more time.  Meanwhile, I wanted to share this with everyone at the Vegaloca Weekly Vegan Cooking Challenge

Vegan Pumpkin Pie

It was a pleasure celebrating my first almost-vegan Thanksgiving.  Everything I prepared was vegan and I enjoyed exploring new recipes without completely sacrificing traditional favorite dishes; and, while they didn't taste *quite* the same as the old recipes, they were still delicious.

I think my favorite was the Vegan Pumpkin Pie courtesy of VegetarianTimes.com.

My variations on the recipes were:

1) use completely all-purpose flour (as I didn't have pastry flour)

2) use all granulated sugar

3) use all rice milk

4) instead of the spice combination they used, I just used 2 tsp of Trader Joe's Pumpkin Pie Spice Mix, which I love!

I was really happy with the resulting recipe and enthusiastic to share it for the Vegaloca Weekly Vegan Cooking Challenge.  The left-over pumpkin filling "batter" was yummy enough to eat by itself, without being cooked (I know most of you will probably find that gross, but I loved it!) and the finished pie was so tasty. Not as creamy as the traditional pie with milk and all, but still very nice flavor and my sister really enjoyed it, too.  

Stay tuned next week for my vegan "stuffing" results :-)

French Lentil Soup with Tarragon and Thyme

Mmm!  Few things make me feel more cozy and culinary-content than hearty soup on a cold day.  And I happen to love lentils.  So, as I was looking for a new recipe to try for the Vegaloca Weekly Vegan Cooking Challenge, I was excited to find the French Lentil Soup with Tarragon and Thyme recipe in Veganomicon by Moskowitz and Romero.  It was so easy to make and quite delicious!  I enjoyed the variety of herbs and the carrots and tomatoes added nicely to the dish without being overpowering.  I'll definitely turn to this recipe again when I'm in the mood for something easy, hearty and deliciously warm this season.

Cauliflower Poppers

Last night, I made Lee's Cauliflower Poppers.  I've seen so many tempting recipes thanks to participating in Lee's Vegaloca Weekly Cooking Challenge but this is the first one I've actually tried making myself.  It was really tasty!

I added a little less chili powder as I wasn't sure how hot it would be, but it ended up being quite mild and I think I will add the full amount last time.  This was also my first experience with nutritional yeast; I know it is great for vegans so I plan to cook with it more often.

I will definitely try this recipe again and am already thinking of ways to modify it for summer (it gets so horribly hot where we live that I try never to turn on the oven from mid-May to mid-October)  such as steaming the cauliflower and then mashing them and adding the sauce as a sort of "gravy" seasoning.

Thanks, Lee, for the great recipe! :-)