vegancooking

Carrot Ribbons & Sprue Asparagus

happyeatinghl — Tue, 21 Jul 2015 14:51:11 GMT

This vegan, gluten-free and grain-free recipe is totally hassle free and convenient to make when you are tired and don’t really feel like cooking. You only need a big saucepan for steaming the Carrot Ribbons and the Young Asparagus. Steaming will take you less than 5 minutes, just enough time to slice the spring onion and the sun dried tomatoes, and crush a few cashew nuts for the topping. Serve and enjoy!

Ingredients

For 2 persons

* 6 Carrots, sliced lengthwise on a mandolin
* 1 Bundle of Young Asparagus, washed and woody ends trimmed
* 1 Spring Onion, sliced
* 6 Sun-Dried Tomatoes, sliced
* ½ Cup of Cashew Nuts
* Extra virgin Olive Oil, for sprinkling
* Nutritional Yeast, as topping
* Salt and Pepper to taste

Instructions

1) Place the Carrot Ribbons and the Young Asparagus Shoots in your steamer for about 4 minutes, until the vegetables soften, but remain crisp.
2) Serve into 2 plates first the Carrot Ribbons, then the Asparagus. Add the Sun-Dried Tomatoes and the Cashew Nuts.
3) Sprinkle with some Olive Oil and decorate with a few Nutritional Yeast flakes. Enjoy!

nutritional shakes (shaker/blender ball compatible)

raqs_loki — Wed, 03 Jun 2015 17:51:09 GMT

What does everyone like to do for easy protein/nutritional shakes? I'm on a med regimen that messes with my appetite, and I've found shakes useful for times when solid food is not going to happen.

I've been grabbing those Bolthouse Farms shakes at work, but they're 1) expensive and 2) not vegan, and I'd like to start getting closer to vegan again. Those shakes do have a really nice thick creamy texture. They're whey + soy protein, probably some other thickeners to achieve the consistency.

What I sometimes mix up at home is almond milk, Genisoy protein powder (don't believe the weirdos on Amazon who mix this with plain water - it tastes like nothing), and Ovaltine (for vitamins & flavor; but it's ONE ingredient away from vegan, which bugs me). This tastes good, is pretty cheap, and can be made easily with my blender shaker ball thing, it just lacks the thickness and variety of the premade shakes. I've read about chia/flax for thickening beverages - but how do you separate out the solids once they've done their trick?

I'm almost out of Genisoy and ready for new ideas before I buy anything again. I could maybe get an actual electric blender soon, but I'm a last-minute person, often mixing my shakes on the way to my car, so simpler = better.

Peanut butter sesame sauce

rosefox — Wed, 21 Jan 2015 02:54:02 GMT

Hey, remember when people used to post recipes to this community? :)

One batch of sauce will coat 12 oz of noodles, 1 lb of cooked faux-meat nuggets or strips, and probably lots of other things--experiment! It can also be used as a dip for pieces of cucumber, celery, or apple. Sauce + noodles = a very quick, easy meal with minimal cleanup.

Optionally, garnish with pieces of cucumber and/or chopped roasted peanuts.

Ingredients

3 Tbsp sesame oil (pure, not blended)
2 Tbsp soy sauce
1 Tbsp rice vinegar
2 tsp sugar
1 to 3 tsp grated fresh or frozen ginger (to taste)
0.25 c creamy natural peanut butter (contains nothing but peanuts and possibly a bit of salt--DO NOT use Skippy, Jif, etc.)
Chili oil or garlic-chili paste (optional, to taste)
Water

Equipment

Blender, or bowl and whisk
Measuring cups and spoons

Instructions

Combine the ingredients and 3 Tbsp of water. Blend or whisk until smooth, adding more water 1 Tbsp at a time if needed--you want it just thin enough to pour easily. If you accidentally add too much water, heat the sauce in a small pot on the stove until some water evaporates and the sauce thickens.

Pour the sauce over whatever you're saucing. Store leftover sauce in the fridge for up to a week. Reheat before serving, adding water as needed to thin it out.

making your own...

dextra — Mon, 12 Jan 2015 16:36:40 GMT

does anyone have any experience with making their own tempeh, seitan, or gluten? i've been very disappointed with the quality of the tempeh available here (it's only frozen, and falls apart too easily, as opposed to the fresh stuff i was able to purchase in europe), and we can't get seitan or gluten in this end of the world. any fave recipes or tips? thanks!

Vegan vegetable vindaloo.

paradisefraud — Sun, 11 Jan 2015 00:33:25 GMT

Vegan vegetable vindaloo with homemade curry paste.

Ingredients I - Vindaloo Paste

1 small onion, roughly chopped

3 cloves garlic

2 tsp ginger

1 tbsp hot pepper paste*

3/4 tsp ground cumin

3/4 tsp ground turmeric

3/4 tsp ground coriander

1/2 tsp dry mustard poweder

1/2 tsp whole mustard seeds

1/2 tsp whole fenugreek seeds

1/2 tsp white peppercorns**

1/4 tsp, salt (scrap if your pepper paste already has a heap of salt added)

1 tbsp loosely packed brown sugar

1 small dash of cinnamon

Reserved 1/3 cup water

Ingredients II - Fresh produce

5 baby Indian eggplants, quartered

1 carrot, chopped into medallions

1 smal roma tomato, chopped

~10 green beans, roughly chopped

1 tbsp vegan butter

Don't Forget --

Rice, quinoa, couscous, etc to serve alongside your curry

* The hot pepper paste I used, was picked up at Sun Wah, an oriental grocery shop in The Exchange District, Winnipeg. This recipe calls for 1 tbsp and I find it's pretty crucial. A tub of this will set you back about two bucks. Be mindful, each brand yields a different flavour, pick a tub with minimal ingredients. I used:

** White peppercorns can be found at your local bulk store. You don't need heaps, and they're cheap as sin. 1/4 cup of these cost about $0.30 :

First off, get some rice/quinoa/couscous started.

Next, melt the butter in a pan. Add in your fresh produce, and place a lid on top. While that's cooking, make up your paste.

To make the paste, I used a Magic Bullet. Place all ingredients inside and add half of your reserved water. Blend until smooth, scraping down the sides after pulsing. Add the remainder of the water, if needed.

The vegetables take about 10-12 minutes to cook through. Once they're done, pour in your curry paste, mix thoroughly, and serve alongside your grain of choice.

Originally posted to WWW.THEHARDCOREHERBIVORE.COM

Vegan friendly cranberry mushroom seitan roast.

paradisefraud — Sun, 21 Dec 2014 17:46:13 GMT

This reminds me VERY much of Field Roast's apple and sage breakfast links, except I added in pulsed mushrooms, onions and cranberries.

The base of this recipe is vital wheat gluten. It's also referred to as wheat gluten, gluten flour, or vital wheat flour. Bob's Red Mil explains it best, "[...]Vital Wheat Gluten is made from the protein found in the endosperm of the wheat berry, containing 75% to 80% protein. When combined with water it becomes highly elastic and has a taffy-like texture". This is the base of a HEAP of your favourite vegan chinese dishes that contain vegan friendly meats.

..What are we looking at cost-wise, though?

Bob's Red Mill - 632g at Sobey's = $8.99CDN / $1.44CDN per 100g

In Bulk - per 100g at Bulk Barn = $1.20CDN per 100g (being extremely mindful of their $3 of a $10 purchase coupon quite often in full effect.. student and senior's day too)

Because this recipe calls for about 1 1/2 cups, you're looking at about $2. Plus the cost of spices, which isn't heaps. Besides, aren't we paying $3.50 for 8 thin slices of this stuff?

I found this roast, straight out of the oven, to be really spongy and chewy (in a good, sausage-y way), but once I let it set in the fridge overnight, it firmed up and shaved wonderfully. I have MORE than enough to sauté for breakfast sandwiches, or dice up for pizza and kolaches.

Ingredients I

1 1/2 cups vital wheat gluten

1/3 cup nutritional yeast

1 1/2 tsp salt

2 tsp paprika

2 tsp freshly ground pepper

1 tsp cayenne pepper

1 tsp dried oregano

1/2 tsp mustard powder

Ingredients II

3/4 cup cold vegetable stock or 3/4 cup cold water + 2 tsp powdered vegetable broth

4 tsp tomato paste

2 tsp oil

1 tsp minced garlic

1 tsp chopped basil

Ingredients III - Pulse into very small bits and set aside

5 mushrooms

1/2 an onion, equaling about 1/3 cup

5 tbsp fresh cranberries

Heat your oven to 325F. Get a cookie sheet ready with two pieces of tin foil, stacked on top of each other, that are about the size of your cookie sheet (which ought to be at least 9x9")

In a large bowl, whisk together Ingredients I. In a small bowl, whisk together Ingredients II then immediately stir in Ingredients III. Incorporate your wet mixture, into your dry mixture. Begin by mixing in with a fork, then work with your hands until a moist, slightly sticky dough forms. If you need a bit more VWG at this point, add a teaspoon over top your dough ball. Knead for at least 3 minutes to activate the gluten.

Transfer your dough to your tin foil. Shape into a log that's about 8 inches/20cm long. Roll up like a Tootsie Roll and twist the edges, being mindful not to wrap too tightly, as the roast will expand a little upon baking.

Bake for a total of 90 minutes, flipping the roast to a new side after each 30 minute interval.

I sliced my roast up the following morning and immediately made the saddest sandwich of everyone's youth: meat, earth balance, nayo and mustard. I can't fake sick and watch Price is Right this morning, but that's only because it's Sunday.

Originally posted HERE!

Banana Split Brownie Fail!

pretend_mulling — Sat, 29 Nov 2014 18:05:47 GMT

So I decided to make the Banana Split Brownies from Vegan With a Vengeance as my contribution to my family's Thanksgiving dinner. And... Well, my niece liked them. *blink*

The biggest problem for me was that they were so very banana-y, and I love bananas, so if I'm saying there's too much banana, there might be some truth to that statement. Also, they didn't bake thoroughly, I don't think; they were very gooey, and not in the awesome way; in the "is this a brownie, or slightly underdone fudge?" way.

I'm trying to think of what I might have done wrong, but the oven was the right temp, the ingredients were fine, and I gave them plenty of time to sit and cool. I think it might be the recipe itself.

I dunno. Anybody else ever made the Banana Split Brownies? What did you think of them? If you've tinkered with the recipe, what did you do with it? (I'm more of a cook than a baker, so I'm always hesitant to futz around with baking recipes, lest I make something too unspeakably horrible.)

Help: need a SOY-FREE vegan dairy-style noodle kugel recipe

rosefox — Wed, 10 Sep 2014 05:26:38 GMT

Dear Jewish vegan cooks, help! I'm looking for a vegan noodle kugel recipe that's "dairy-style" (creamy) but soy-free. All the vegan versions I've found rely heavily on tofu, soy yogurt, Tofutti sour cream, etc. I was hoping to use homemade cashew cheese, almond sour cream, and so forth. If I need to I can veganize a recipe but it's always nice when someone else has gotten there first. :) Any links or recipes?

Tomato basil hand pies.

paradisefraud — Wed, 03 Sep 2014 17:28:28 GMT

I'm using tomatoes and basil, both fresh from my garden. Oh, by the way, I garden. Don't get me wrong, the walls were gyrating thanks to DRI this whole while, and I spent a little while in a few dumpsters just last week.. but nothing beats garden fresh herbs and vegetables.

Yields: 5

Ingredients I

2 1/2 cups white flour

3 tsp baking powder

2 tsp white sugar

1 tsp salt

1 tsp oregano

2 tbsp canola oil

~1 cup warm water

Ingredients II

Tomato paste

Basil, roughly chopped or pulled apart

Tomatoes

Olives, pitted and quartered

Himalayan pink salt

Freshly ground pepper

--optional, other fillings of your choice

Preheat oven to 400F.

For the dough, whisk together all dry ingredients, then add in your wet ingredients. Roughly mix with a fork, then get those hands in there. The dough should be a little sticky, but not so much it sticks ruthlessly to your hands. If that's the case, add a little more flour. Add your ball of flour to a lightly floured surface and knead for 3-4 minutes. Ensure the dough remains a little sticky or it won't stick together nicely when you press the edges together.

I Pam'd the press, after learning the tough way it's for the best. Add your ingredients into the press, being mindful of the edges. Add your seasonings on top, the tomato paste doesn't have the high sodium content like premade pizza sauces. The edges best stay clean so the guts don't spew out during pressing and baking. I pressed the edges together, and used my finger to push away the excess dough, which I added back to my dough ball.

Bake at 400F for approximately 12 minutes. The pies are ready when you tap on the tops with a utensil and they sound a little "hollow", and the bottoms will be browned nicely. Let stand for 5 minutes before gorging.

RECIPE POSTED AT- http://www.thehardcoreherbivore.com/2014/08/tomato-basil-hand-pies.html

Pumpkin carob muffins with fresh ginger.

paradisefraud — Wed, 03 Sep 2014 17:27:41 GMT

Caucasian female 20-somethings: REJOICE. Pumpkin spice everything is back in your life. You don't know why salted sweets are a thing but hey, if that's what floating everyone else's top-knot, it must be great. Literally.

Ingredients I

1 1/4 cup flour

2 tsp baking powder

1 tsp cinnamon

2 tsp pumpkin pie spice

1 cup carob chips

Ingredients II

2 tbsp finely chopped ginger

3/4 cup sugar in the raw

1/4 cup light brown sugar, packed

3/4 cup pumpkin purée

1/3 cup coconut oil, melted

1/4 cup almond milk

2 tbsp molasses

1 tbsp vanilla-nut extract

Preheat your oven to 400F

In a small bowl, whisk together Ingredients I. I include the carob chips in my dry mix because in doing so, it'll prevent the chips from sinking to the bottom while baking.

In a large bowl, thoroughly whisk together remaining ingredients. Stir in your dry mix until evenly incorporated. The batter will be a quite thick.

Spray your muffin tins (either two mini muffin tins, or one 12x muffin tin) and, with a spring-loaded ice cream scoop, fill your tins up to the top.

For mini muffins, bake for 10-12 minutes.

For muffins, bake for 18-20 minutes.

RECIPE POSTED AT- http://www.thehardcoreherbivore.com/2014/08/pumpkin-carob-muffins-with-fresh-ginger.html

Help in finding a substitute for condensed milk in a popsicle recipe please

harvestl — Sun, 20 Jul 2014 22:51:12 GMT

Hello! I'm looking to make these cheesecake popsicles (http://blog.hostthetoast.com/boozy-red-white-and-blueberry-cheesecake-popsicles/) for an upcoming Pioneer Days bbq, and I'm quite stuck. I like frozen cheesecake, so I suppose it might taste alright, but rumchata is dairy based and I have no idea what to replace it with. Or the condensed milk. Or anything from the white layer really. I hate rum, but like pretty much anything else.

Can I get some help please on how to improve these? I'm fine with completely changing up the white layer, or turning it into a proper cheesecake, I'm just very stuck as to what to do!

For the Simple Syrup:
½ cup sugar
½ cup water
For the Strawberry Layer:
1¼ cups strawberries, hulled and chopped
¼ cup simple syrup
2 tablespoons Rumchata (or Bailey's, or milk)
For the Blueberry Layer:
1¼ cups blueberries
¼ cup simple syrup
2 tablespoons Rumchata (or Bailey's, or milk)
For the Cheesecake Layer:
6 oz cream cheese, softened
¾ cup sweetened condensed milk
⅓ cup Rumchata (or Bailey's, or milk
4 graham crackers, crushed into crumbs

Substituting Tofutti Sour Supreme for Vegan Vanilla Yogurt?

dragonbat2006 — Mon, 02 Jun 2014 23:11:43 GMT

The health food store near me ran out of vegan vanilla yogurt and I'm hoping that with a little tweaking, I can use vegan sour cream instead. The recipe is for Cherry Clafoutis.

It's a pancake-type batter poured over cherries and then baked.

The batter ingredients are as follows:

1 c. vegan vanilla yogurt
3/4 c. plain or vanilla soymilk (I have vanilla soymilk)
1/2 c. sugar
2 tbsp maple syrup
1 tsp vanilla extract
pinch salt
1 c. all-purpose flour
2 tsp baking powder

1. The Sour Supreme is a bit thicker than the yogurt I generally get
2. I know I should probably add more vanilla, either soymilk, extract, or both

Any thoughts on how I can adjust the proportions so that the batter is of the right consistency?

ETA: Thanks all for your help! It's in the oven now. I went with ACV in vanilla soymilk and the batter seemed right, so we shall see...

westcoastred — Fri, 07 Mar 2014 06:07:02 GMT

Hey all! Made some delicious Thai(ish) cabbage rolls, and wanted to share. Pretty simple. Innards were mashed sweet potatoes (boiled in curried water) with coconut creamer and Earth Balance, peanut butter, tamari, toasted sesame oil, caramelized red onions, zest of an orange, chopped green onions, chopped cilantro, Tofutti cream cheese, and hot sauce (used some of the green stuff from the mediterranean deli I went to earlier).

Stuffed and rolled six cabbage leaves, poured sauce made with everything except the mashed sweet potatoes with an addition of the juice from the zested orange over it all, and baked for 45 minutes at 350. Turned out so delicious. I may, however, add some gf flour and cornstarch to the innards next time. It would make the texture a bit firmer, but other than that, it was quite lovely.

Vegan Gluten free Valentine Food

neverfinding — Sun, 02 Mar 2014 23:41:16 GMT

I made a lot of delicious food for Valentine's Day!

spring rolls: http://www.earthyfeast.com/recipe/winter-summer-rolls-orange-ginger-cashew-dip/ but without cabbage and with peanut butter/rice vinegar/soy sauce/sugar dipping sauce instead. I, like, can’t even explain how tasty these were. Next time I might use shredded lettuce instead of shredded brussels sprouts for a milder flavor but these were still pretty much a transcendent symphony of flavor. Not overtly Valentine's Day- like but I think finger food is romantic and these spring rolls definitely taste like special occasion restaurant food.

shredded browned brussels sprouts and gluten free penne with vodka sauce. yum!

this soup http://www.wholefoodsmarket.com/recipe/vegetarian-tuscan-kale-and-white-bean-soup with heart shaped carrots. this soup was deceptively delicious.

socca (thin crispy chickpea flour crepe) with spinach and italian herbs

Vegan lemon linzer cookies

paradisefraud — Sun, 02 Mar 2014 23:11:56 GMT

Saturday night, I did what any other arsehole would do. I wrote letters to my correspondences, blared my latest mixtape, and watched Bake With Anna Olsen. I tuned into a stellar cookie episode. Lemon Linzer cookies were a part of my childhood. Yeah, so were eggs, and mullets. Those days are now behind me, though I often mullet over. I spent a good while veganizing this recipe and am happy to report they turned out stellar. Plus, what better way to utilize my lovely new CuisinArt mixer?

Believe it or not, the Rudimentary Peni & Suicidal Tendencies stickers
did NOT come with the mixer. We live in a harsh world.

A word on sugar, powdered and otherwise. I refer to veganproducts.org for cruelty-free brands. VivaLaVegan also has this super helpful bit of info!

Ingredients I

3/4 cup white flour

1 1/4 cups almond flour (almond meal)

1/4 cup powdered sugar

1/2 cup vegan butter, cubed and chilled -- I used Earth Balance

Ingredients II

2 tbsp agave nectar

2 tbsp cold water

1 1/2 tsp egg replacer -- I used Ener-G

Zest of 1 lemon

Almond extract

Vanilla

Ingredients III

~1 cup filling -- I have half a cup each of lemon curd and blueberry pie filling

Powdered sugar for dusting.

In a large bowl, mix together dry ingredients in Ingredients I. Add in your butter. Beat with an electric mixer or your mixer. The mixture will be dry and crumbly.

In a small bowl, combine all of Ingredients II. Lightly whisk until well-combined. Pour into your large bowl and mix until just combined.

Your dough will be soft and quite pliable.

Too pliable. So, we ought to chill it.

Remove from bowl and form into a disc shape on cling wrap.

Chill the dough for at least one hour in the fridge. Once that hour is up, preheat your oven to 350F. Line two light-coloured baking sheets with parchment paper.

Halve your dough. Dust some flour on your surface and on your rolling pin. Roll out your chilled dough to be about 1/4 inch // 6.35mm thick. Using a cookie/biscuit cutter, cut out 12. Repeat with your other half. Using a smaller cookie cutter, cut out the centres. I used circles, and scored these little darlins from the Dollar store in town. You'll now have 12 bottoms and 12 tops. I had some extra dough left, so I made 1-inch scalloped circles to make a few mini-sandwiched cookies.

Bake your full cookies for 5-6 minutes or until edges are lightly browned. Bake your holey cookies for 4-5 minutes, same deal. Cookies with hard edges or holes will brown faster, eff why eye.

Once baked, keep them on the cookie sheet for 3-4 minutes, then transfer to a cooling rack.

Dust powdered sugar on the holey cookies - make sure they're fully cooled er you're in trouble.

Take the flat side of the full-cookies and spread a light layer of your filling on it with a small offset spatula or butterknife, about 1/8 inch away from the edges. Add an extra dollop to the centre. Press your cookie toppers on.

Originally posted to my blog HERE!

Gluten-Free Red Velvet Waffles with Coconut Cashew Cream

_melodic_ — Fri, 14 Feb 2014 15:23:48 GMT

Happy Valentines Day friends!! It's been a while since I've posted here (though I have continued to update my blog) but I couldn't resist coming back with a themed breakfast to celebrate the day of love. Whether you are spending today with a significant other, loved one, family, friend, or with yourself this breakfast will be sure to start your day off right!

Ingredients:

2 cups of gluten free flour (I use Bob Mills GF all purpose flour)
3 teaspoons of baking powder
1 tablespoon of cocoa powder
1/4 teaspoon of salt
1 teaspoon of ground flax meal
2 tablespoons of water
1 cup of non-dairy milk (I used vanilla soy milk)
1/4 cup of apple sauce
1 teaspoon of vanilla extract
1 tablespoon of beet juice (or a natural red food dye)

Begin by heating your waffle iron. Mix together ground flax meal and water and set aside to thicken. Mix together all dry ingredients and then add the wet ones, including your flax meal mix. Stir to combine throughly. Spray your waffle iron with non-stick spray and pour half of the batter onto the iron. Allow to cook for 5 minutes or so and then place in oven to keep warm while the second batch cooks.

Coconut Cashew Cream:

1/2 cup of cashews (soaked overnight or at least four hours)
1/3 cup of coconut milk
2 tablespoons of lemon juice
1 tablespoon of agave
1/2 teaspoon of vanilla extract
Pinch of salt

While your waffles are cooking, prepare your cashew cream. Place all ingredients in high speed blender and process until very smooth. Taste and adjust sweetness accordingly. Place in fridge until ready to serve.

More Pictures and Recipes: http://basilbakery.blogspot.com/2014/02/gluten-free-red-velvet-waffles-with.html

Potato Skins

vegantravels — Mon, 27 Jan 2014 19:15:47 GMT

Here's my version of this super simple and super delicious appetizer:

Ingredients:

5 large baking potatoes

1 package button mushrooms (or any other mushroom you desire)

1/4 large yellow onion

1 large garlic clove

1/2 tsp italian seasoning

salt & black pepper to taste

some sweet red pepper (optional)

2 tsp nutritional yeast

cold pressed olive oil

daiya cheese (I used shredded Cheddar, imho the best out of all daiya cheeses)

parsley, avocado, tomatoes to garnish

These would be easily enough for 4 people.

Instructions:

Preheat the oven to 210 Celsius (about 400 Fahrenheit). Wash and scrub the potatoes, dry them, pierce with a fork couple times each one, then place potatoes right on the top rack in the oven, bake for about 30-40 minutes, depends on the potatoes you have.

In the meantime slice up your onion, garlic, mushrooms, sweet red peppers, salt&pepper&italian seasoning and sautee on low setting.

Once potatoes are ready, take them out of the oven, slice in halves, scoop out the insides - mash this pulp and add the "cheesy" nutritional yeast.

Coat each potato skin with some oil and sprinkle with some salt & black pepper.

Now, start filling up your potato skins - add some "cheesy" mashed potato, then sauteed mushrooms and the on top sprinkle daiya cheese.

Spray cooking tray with some olive oil organize potato skins on it. Cook at same temperature (210 Celsius) again for about 10 minutes or until cheese melts. Take out, garnish with small pieces of tomato, some parsley, avocado, or anything else your heart desires!

Stuffed Tomatoes

vegantravels — Thu, 23 Jan 2014 22:28:59 GMT

I usually make these along with cabbage rolls, but when I decided to make them I had absolutely no cabbage at home, so just ended up making tomatoes, which are always my favourites anyway. The recipe is actually pretty simple, the whole preparation takes about 10min plus about 25 min cooking. And the result is of course delicious :)

So I used the following ingredients:

12 average tomatoes

1 cup white rice (~~but I'm sure brown would work great~~ brown rice would not work, because it requires significantly longer cooking, and that would make tomatoes fall apart...unless you pre-cook it before stuffing tomatoes)

1 sweet green pepper

1 large carrot, peeled

a generous bunch of parsley

1 package of fresh oyster mushrooms (button mushrooms would work fine as well)

1 cup red lentils

1/2 large yellow onion

2 large garlic cloves

salt and black pepper to taste

4 tbsp olive oil

bay leaf

Instructions:

Carefully slice off the top of the tomatoes, then empty the tomatoes, leaving only empty shells and caps.

Put tomato pulp into a large bowl, add rice, then all other ingredients (chopped - I used food processor), mix very well.

In a large skillet pour oil, then stuff every tomato shell with the mix and place into the skillet.

After all of the tomatoes are nicely organized in the skillet, cover each one with a cap.

Add bay leaf and about 1/2 cup of water. Cook on low setting for about 20-25 minutes until rice is ready. Cover with lid, cool and enjoy!

* Note: optionally, you could lightly sautee the mushrooms, garlic and onion before adding to the mix, and then add in rice to coat it with oil (that would make everything even more yum), but I went with a healthier (and lazier!) way this time.

The tomatoes ended up a bit shapeless due to too much water added, but although not as attractive as I meant them to be, were still extremely tasty :)

Chocolate-dipped sea-salt apricots- awesome easy, fancy and tasty holiday gift

neverfinding — Mon, 23 Dec 2013 04:03:33 GMT

I made these today and they so easy and so delicious I felt the need to share! It's awesome that they're vegan, gluten-free and not too unhealthy, yet still taste totally decadent and look beautiful! perfect holiday gift.

You will need:

vegan semisweet chocolate chips
apricots
sea salt

1. heat up an inch of water in a saucepan. put a metal bowl on top of the saucepan and melt the chocolate chips in it. (my preferred method of melting chocolate chips. because they are melted by steam, there is no danger of the chocolate burning. but you can also melt the chocolate chips in the microwave if you prefer.)
2. cover a baking sheet with parchment paper or foil. one by one, dip apricots in the melted chocolate, then sprinkle with a pinch of sea salt. you may need to heat the chocolate up one more time halfway through.
3. let them cool at room temperature until the chocolate has hardened.
enjoy!

I used 2 bags of apricots and 1 1/4 bags of chocolate chips and it yielded about 120 of these bad boys.

Gluten-Free Pumpkin Oat Chocolate Chip Cookies

_melodic_ — Fri, 13 Dec 2013 14:44:40 GMT

It's been so long but I am back just in time for the holidays and a yummy cookie recipe to go along with it. Hope you guys enjoy!

Ingredients:
2 1/4 cup of oats
1 1/2 cup of gluten free all purpose flour
1 teaspoon of baking soda
2 teaspoons of cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon of nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon of salt
1/2 cup of raw sugar
1/2 cup of brown sugar
1 tablespoon of ground flax mixed with 3 tablespoons of water
1/2 cup of pumpkin puree
1/4 cup of apple sauce (or 1/4 cup of oil for less cake-like cookies)
1/3 cup of water
1 teaspoon of vanilla extract
3/4 cup of chocolate chips

Makes 24 cookies

Preheat your oven to 350. Mix together your ground flax seed and water and set aside. Now mix together all your dry ingredients. In a separate bowl, mix together all your wet ingredients. Fold in the chocolate chips. Using about a flat tablespoon per cookie place them with room in between on two baking sheets lined with parchment paper. Bake for about 12-14 minutes (depending on size of cookie) and remove from oven to cool. Cookies may seem softer in center after 14 minutes but they will harden once they begin to cool. Enjoy!

More pictures and recipes: http://basilbakery.blogspot.com/2013/12/gluten-free-pumpkin-oatmeal-chocolate.html

Cheap Grocery List Help!

deathschoice — Sat, 07 Dec 2013 19:47:01 GMT

If you had $50 to feed 3 people for almost two weeks, what would you buy and what would you make with what you bought?

I really need some grocery advice for cheap but still filling and healthy meals for the next week or two and I'm having a lot of trouble. I live in the east coast USA and here things seem to be moderately priced. I have access to a pretty decent grocery store (Stop and Shop). Any help is much appreciated, especially specific meals! Thanks so much in advance!

Vegan fruitcake.

paradisefraud — Fri, 29 Nov 2013 20:56:26 GMT

Being vegan around the holidays has certainly gotten easier over the years, though I certainly missed my grandmother's fruitcake. All 20 pounds of that wee loaf was something to write home about. Because I don't drink, I had to come up with a spiced something to soak my fruit and nut mix in.. I went with pineapple juice and a big chunk of ginger. It softens the mix and adds a badass kick to everything.

This is a 4-part recipe, which may seem a little terrifying - but in actuality, it's easy peasy, lemon squeezy.

Ingredients I

3/4 cup pineapple juice

1 1-inch chunk of fresh ginger, peeled

Ingredients II

1/2 cup Medjool dates, chopped

1/2 cup glace cherries, chopped

1/2 cup Calimyrna figs, chopped

1/2 cup dried apricots, chopped

1/2 cup dried candied citrus peel, chopped

1 cup nuts -- I used pecans, walnuts, and slivered almonds

Ingredients III

2 tbsp maple syrup or agave

1 cup almond milk

Vanilla -- I used 1 tbsp vanilla paste

Ingredients IV

2 1/4 cups white flour

2 1/2 tbsp. baking powder

2 "eggs" -- I used No Egg*

3/4 cup white sugar

1/4 tsp salt

Preheat your oven to 325F. Grease up a large bundt pan, 8x mini loaf pan, 1x 9" springform, or 2x 5" loaf pans.

Combine Ingredients I and let sit for 15+ minutes. In a large bowl, mix together all of Ingredients II and pour 1/2 cup of your pineapple-ginger mix in. Cover and let sit for an hour. This'll soften up everything and get it tasting real nice. Give it a mix half an hour in.

In a small bowl, mix together your Ingredients III and set aside.

In the same massive fruit-and-nut bowl, begin sifting your Ingredients IV over top, and give it a good mix. Everything should be coated nicely in the dry mix. If you're wondering why this is a thing, it's so that your fruit/nuts won't stick together and fall to the bottom whilst baking.

*If you're using an egg alt that isn't a dry mix, or requires liquid, shove the liquids in your Ingredients III bowl.

Finally, pour Ingredients III over everything and give it a good mix. Your batter's to be thick, and well mixed.

Place batter in your pan(s). A bit over 3/4 full will do. For smaller loafs, 30 minutes will do. Larger pans will take a bit longer. Do the toothpick test! Your toothpick will come out dry, and the tops will be lightly browned.

Once fresh out the oven, brush your cake tops with your remaining pineapple juice. Let sit in the pans for another 15 minutes, brush again, and let sit 'til cool. Pop'um out, and wrap them up so they don't get gross.

A few days in these will taste best, but it's perfectly well and fine to dig in early.

Find more recipes like this at
TheHardcoreHerbivore.com!

Squash, kale & bean soup

paradisefraud — Sun, 27 Oct 2013 18:04:52 GMT

Serves 8

Ingredients I

2 butternut squash, cubed

1 small bag baby carrots (or 2 cups), chopped

1 large onion, chopped

1 head of garlic

Olive oil for drizzling

Salt and pepper to taste

Ingredients II

1 - 14oz can of diced tomatoes

10 cups of water or vegetable broth

1 bay leaf

Ingredients III

1 - 14oz can of white kidney beans, thoroughly rinsed

1 bunch kale, chopped into bite size pieces

Method

Place your chopped batch of Ingredients I on a baking sheet, and drizzle with olive oil and seasonings. Bake at 425F for 40 minutes, stirring about half way through.

Remove garlic from bulb. For more on roasting your own garlic, head here.

Toward the tail end of roasting, put all of Ingredients II -except the bay leaf- in a large pot, and blend with your handheld immersion blender. Then, bring to a boil. Don't season this just yet - your roasted vegetables will add all sorts of flavour once added to your broth. Right, now add your bay leaf.

Add your roasted vegetables to your new broth. Then, add in all of Ingredients III. Continue to boil for ten minutes, then let simmer for at least 15 minutes (or until your kale and beans are soft enough for you)

Now that your soup is done, give'r a taste a see if you'd need to add any seasonings! By now, the flavours have started blending nicely together. It's just up and up from here.

Originally posted to my blog, here

Vegan Chili

vegantravels — Fri, 25 Oct 2013 14:25:45 GMT

With all the cold weather outside, I love to make this vegan chili to warm up:

Ingredients:

2 cups mixed beans&peas (mine has split peas, black beans, black-eyed peas, lentils, and all other happy bean goodness)

1 yellow onion chopped

¼ - ½ cup olive oil

2 large tomatoes, chopped really finely (I used food processor)

1 huge carrot – peeled and cut coarseley

4-5 large potatoes (I used Yukon Gold), cut into smaller squares

2 stalks celery

1 large red or green pepper (not one of those “street lights” ones, I’m talking about long sweet peppers)

2-3 cloves garlic

¼ - ½ crushed red pepper (if you like it real spicy – add some extra jalapenos etc)

1-2 tbsp ground cumin

1/2-1 tbsp turmeric

1-2 tbsp italian seasoning / dried oregano

2-3 bay leaves

Loads of fresh parsley

Any other veggies you have in your fridge – i.e. I would also add some broccoli/cauliflower/mushrooms/ etc chopped up into small pieces

Preparation:

Easy! Just combine all ingredients together in a large pot, add enough water to generously cover up everything. Bring to boil, then keep cooking on medium low for 1 hour.
Note – keep adding water to the chili from time to time, as the beans will absorb it really fast. Otherwise you can soak the beans&peas overnight – this way you won’t need to keep adding water as the beans will already be saturated by the time you start cooking.
Once ready, I like to serve it garnished with some more fresh parsley, or otherwise – with some daiya cheese, this way it feels more authentic J

Gluten-Free Carrot Cake Pancakes

_melodic_ — Fri, 25 Oct 2013 13:30:47 GMT

Lately, I've been eating a gluten-free diet. I don't kid myself that I have a gluten allergy or intolerance but I will say I have liked the results of this new diet. I have more energy, less stomach aches, and overall feel better after a meal when avoiding gluten. That being said, I was fearful I'd have to say goodbye to my occasional pancake treat while eating gluten-free, however it turns out my fears were for naught. Today I have a recipe of a lovely set of carrot cake pancakes that are tasty and gluten free!

Ingredients:

1 1/4 of gluten free flour mix (I used Bobs Red Mill Biscuit and Baking mix)
2 teaspoons of baking powder
2 tablespoons of sugar
1/4 teaspoon of salt
1/2 teaspoon of cinnamon
2 flax eggs (2 teaspoons of ground flax mixed with 4 tablespoons of water)
3/4 cup of almond milk
1/2 cup of shredded carrot
1/4 cup of shredded coconut

Mix together ground flax seed and water and set aside. Mix all dry ingredients in large mixing bowl. Add flax eggs and almond milk. Fold in shredded carrot and coconut. Heat non-stick skillet while you allow batter to rest for a minute or two. Cook 1/3 cup of batter at a time until golden brown on each side. Top with a little extra shredded carrot and enjoy!

More Pictures and Recipes: http://basilbakery.blogspot.com/2013/10/gluten-free-carrot-cake-pancakes.html