Kung Pao Veggies and Tofu

I made this recipe from Andrew Weil a few months ago. I really liked it, but I forgot about it somehow. I was looking through my food photos on Facebook a few days ago and saw the picture I took of it. I was reminded of how delicious it was, so I ran into the kitchen to make it again. I changed the recipe to suit the contents of my fridge. If you don't have all of the ingredients, you can adjust accordingly. 

Kung Pao Vegetables and Tofu

Ingredients:

1 container of tofu, drained and cut into small pieces

1 bunch of broccoli, cut into small pieces

1 cup red onion, chopped

1 cup crimini mushrooms, chopped

1 cup unsalted peanuts

4 tablespoons peanut oil

1 teaspoon garlic chili paste

Sauce Ingredients:

1 cup vegetable broth

1 tablespoon soy sauce

2 tablespoons mirin (sweet rice wine)

2 tablespoons rice vinegar

1 teaspoon toasted sesame oil

1 tablespoon vegan Worcestershire sauce

1 1/2 tablespoons cornstarch

Directions:

Stir the sauce ingredients together in a bowl and set aside.

Cook the tofu pieces in two tablespoons of peanut oil on high heat. Flip occasionally and cook until they are golden brown. Remove from pan and set aside.

In the same pan, heat the remaining oil and add the onions. Cook for about 5 minutes, until they are translucent. Add the broccoli, mushrooms and peanuts and cook for a few more minutes. Then add the garlic chili paste, tofu and sauce. Stir continuously until the sauce thickens, about 5 minutes. Serve with brown rice or rice noodles. 

This dish is so delicious that you will completely forget how good for you it is. Broccoli, mushrooms and onions all contain powerful anti-cancer properties. Tofu is known to fight high cholesterol and heart disease, and peanuts are known to prevent hypertension. 

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Snowday Stew

In case you didn't hear the news, had a big snowstorm here on the east coast Sunday into Monday. We had lots of food in the house, so I wasn't one of those crazy people who ran out to the store to buy soy milk and bread. I didn't have any plans for meals though, so I took inventory of the fridge and decided to make eggplant and peanut stew. Like I said yesterday, I'm a huge fan of spicy peanut sauce, so I've made this dish a few times since my original post.  I didn't have all of the ingredients called for in the recipe, so I improvised. Never be afraid to improvise if you don't have all of the ingredients a recipe calls for. It's pretty impossible to "break" something like this. Here's what I did:

Eggplant Peanut Stew
Ingredients:
2 tablespoon peanut oil
1 cup red onion, diced

Small piece of fresh ginger, minced

4 cloves garlic, minced

1 large eggplant, diced
2 tomatoes, diced
1/2 bag frozen okra
1/3 cup natural peanut butter
1 cup vegetable broth
1 cup coconut oil
2 tablespoons maple syrup
sea salt
cayenne pepper
red pepper flakes
dried basil

Directions:
In a large pot over medium heat, saute the onions, garlic and ginger in 1 tablespoon of peanut oil for a few minutes, until the onion turns translucent. Add the eggplant and tomatoes and cook for about 5 more minutes. While that's cooking fry the okra on high in the other tablespoon of oil until the okra slime dissipates. Add the okra to the pot along with the broth, coconut milk, peanut butter and maple syrup. Add a pinch of salt, a little basil and the cayenne pepper and red pepper flakes to taste. Let simmer for about 15 minutes, until the eggplant is soft. Enjoy!

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Pad Thai

Pad Thai is a favorite of mine. You could really cover just about anything with spicy peanut sauce and I would gobble it down, but the mixed veggies and rice noodles in this dish are what make it really delicious.

First I cubed a block of drained tofu, and I cooked it in a little peanut oil, soy sauce and  rice wine vinegar until it was crispy on all sides. I removed it from the pan and set it aside. Then I added a little more peanut oil to the pan and sautéed shittake mushrooms, broccoli, a chopped bell pepper and snow peas. I added some dried spicy Thai peppers mainly to add a little flavor to the vegetables - they're too hot to eat! After they veggies were tender, I added chopped bok choy and returned the tofu to the pan and let it all cook together for another minute or two. I then added peanut sauce and mung bean sprouts and stirred everything together until it was heated throughout. I served the dish over rice noodles and topped it with chopped peanuts and scallions.

This dish is so versatile that you can use any veggies you like. The spicy peanut sauce will work with just about any vegetable, and it has such a great flavor that you don't need to use anything else to season the veggies.

Spicy Peanut Sauce
Ingredients:
1/2 cup natural smooth peanut butter
2 tablespoons tamari sauce or Braggs Liquid Aminos
1 tablespoon fresh ginger, peeled
2 garlic cloves
1/2 teaspoon sea salt
4 tablespoons lime juice
1 tablespoon toasted sesame oil or peanut oil
1 teaspoon chili garlic sauce (less if you're sensitive to spicy foods, more if you like your food really spicy)
1 cup coconut milk

Directions:
Mix all ingredients together in a food processor or blender. Easy peasy!

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Tempeh Piccata

A few weeks ago, my friend Jenna was talking about the chickpea cutlets piccata that she had made, and I realized that I have never had anything piccata. So it was time to piccata something! Instead of chickpea cutlets, I opted to make tempeh. I Googled "tempeh piccata" and the first thing that came up was a recipe from Vegetarian Times, so I used it. It was easy to make and extremely delicious. It left me wondering "how have I lived without piccata for so long?" I served it with quinoa and kale to make the meal super delicious and nutritious. 

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Spinach Mushroom Lasagna

I've had a hankering for lasagna for a few weeks now, so I finally headed into the kitchen and set about making one. I had a few recipes, but in the end, I just threw a bunch of stuff together and did my own thing. The ricotta recipe is based on the cashew ricotta recipe in Veganomicon. 

Here's what I did:

Ingredients:

1 package of no-cook lasagna noodles (I used rice pasta)

28 ounce can of tomato sauce (or you can make your own, of course)

5 ounce container of spinach

10 ounce package of mushrooms, chopped

1 small onion, chopped

2 tablespoons olive oil

14 ounce package of firm tofu

1/2 cup raw cashews

1/4 cup lemon juice

1/2 cup nutritional yeast

2 tablespoons vegetable broth

2 cloves garlic

1 teaspoon dried basil

1 teaspoon salt

1 cup Daiya cheese (or more, to your liking)

salt and pepper to taste

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350. 

Sauté the spinach in 1 tablespoon of olive oil. Set aside.

In a food processor, blend together the cashews, lemon juice, olive oil, garlic, broth and nutritional yeast. Crumble the tofu and add it to the food processor. Blend until the mixture is thick and looks like ricotta cheese. Add more vegetable broth if the mixture is too thick. Add the cooked spinach and pulse until it's mixed in.

Sauté the onion in the remaining tablespoon of olive oil until translucent. Add the mushrooms and cook until they're soft.

Spoon a quarter of the tomato sauce over the bottom of a casserole dish. Layer a third of the noodles over the sauce. Spoon another quarter of the tomato sauce over the noodles, followed by half the ricotta and half of the mushrooms. Cover with a third of the noodles. Then spread another quarter of the tomato sauce over the noodles, followed by the rest of the ricotta and mushrooms. Cover with the rest of the noodles and spread the rest of the sauce over the top. Cover with foil and cook for 30 minutes. Remove the foil and sprinkle the Daiya cheese over the top. Bake for another 15 minutes. Enjoy! This tastes even better reheated the next day!

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Skillet Macaroni with Broccoli, Mushrooms and Cheese

Well's Vegetarian Thanksgiving interactive recipe post from the New York Times was making the rounds on Facebook last week, and the skillet mac and cheese caught my eye because I really love mushrooms, broccoli and cheese together. I didn't have an oven safe skillet, but there were a few recipes I wanted to try that called for one, so Dennis bought me one. Most girls like their guys to buy them expensive jewelry and things, but I prefer kitchen stuff!

As soon as I got my hands on that skillet, I ran to the kitchen and set about veganizing the recipe. It was pretty good and I'll definitely make it again. Next time I will probably add more nutritional yeast and a little less milk, but here's what I did when I made it the first time:

Ingredients

4 ounces Daiya cheddar (about half a bag)

2 ounces Daiya mozzarella (about a quarter of a bag)

1 tablespoon Earth Balance

1 small yellow onion, chopped

6 ounces cremini or white button mushrooms, sliced

3 tablespoons unbleached all-purpose flour (I used Bob's Red Mill all purpose gluten-free flour)

1/4 cup nutritional yeast

3 cups unsweetened, unflavored non-dairy milk

1 tablespoon Dijon mustard

2 teaspoons dried tarragon

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

8 ounces small pasta shells, cooked and drained according to the package instructions (I used rice pasta) 

4 cups small broccoli florets, cooked in boiling water for 1 minute (broccoli can be added to the pasta during the last minute of cooking, then drained with the pasta in a colander)

Preparation

1. Mix the cheeses in a medium bowl. Set aside.

2. Melt the Earth Balance in a large, high-sided, oven-safe skillet. Add the onion and cook, stirring often, until softened, about 3 minutes.

3. Add the mushrooms and cook until they release their liquid and it comes to a simmer, and then reduces by about two-thirds, about 5 minutes.

4. Sprinkle the flour over the vegetables in the skillet. Stir well to coat.

5. Whisk in the milk in a steady, thin stream until creamy. Then whisk in the nutritional yeast, mustard, tarragon, salt and pepper. Continue whisking until the mixture starts to bubble and the liquid thickens, about 3 minutes.

6. Remove the skillet from the heat. Stir in the cooked pasta and broccoli. 

Then add half of the mixed cheeses and give it a quick mix. 

7. Preheat the broiler after setting the rack 4 to 6 inches from the heat source. Sprinkle the remaining cheese over the ingredients in the skillet. Set the skillet on the rack and broil until the cheese melts, about five minutes. (If your skillet has a plastic or wooden handle, make sure it sticks outside the oven, out from under the broiler, so the handle doesn’t melt.) 

Yield: Makes four servings.

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More Recipe Testing

I've tried out the remaining recipes on the list of things that I'm testing for Robin Robertson's upcoming book. They've all been super tasty so I know it's going to be a great book! Here's what I've made: 

Zucchini Frittata

Vegetable Fritters

 Freeburgers

Provencal Stuffed Mushrooms

Sloppy Portobellos

Sadly, today is the last day of Vegan Month of Food. I do hope you continue to visit my blog. Sometime in January this blog will be moving over to my website Veggiegirl.com. Veggiegirl has been up and running for about 8 years now and it's past due for a revamp!

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Tempeh Scallopini

Growing up, my diet wasn't very varied. I my meals were usually things that came out of bags, boxes and cans. Dinners were usually tacos, hamburgers and fries, chicken cutlets with Rice-A-Roni, spaghetti, macaroni and cheese or pizza. The only fresh vegetables I remember eating was iceberg lettuce, which was always smothered in French dressing. I was still living at home when I went vegetarian, and I pretty much had to teach myself how to cook so I wouldn't starve. So when I was younger I never had any kind of adventurous or "exotic" food and when I was older, I never cooked any kind of meat. I certainly never ate or cooked anything scallopini. I didn't even know what kind of food is usually made scallopini, so I had to look it up. (It's usually chicken.) But none the less, tempeh scallopini looked really appealing to me. 

This recipe is from the Candle Cafe cookbook. It was given to me for my birthday in June and I haven't made anything out of it yet, so it was time to try something. The recipe calls for two blocks of tempeh, which was too much for just Dennis and I, so I only used one block but I cut the pieces smaller than the recipe said. I still made the amount of mushrooms and shallots, because I wanted dinner to be veggie heavy. The tempeh was cut up and then baked in a marinade for half an hour. The shallots and mushrooms were sautéed together and then set aside. After the temepeh was baked, it was dredged in flour (I used brown rice flour) and then fried in the leftover marinade. Then the mushrooms are cooked again in a red wine and lemon juice and served over the temeph. I served the dish with a side of sautéed kale. This dinner was really, really good and I know I'll make it again. It's quite a huge change from the food I grew up on, and now I know that I like scallopini!

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What a Vegan Thanksgiving Looks Like

As I mentioned yesterday, years ago I dumped the Thanksgiving thing with my omnivorous family and I now have a big vegan potluck with my friends. The day is filled with food and fun and it's something I look forward to every year. I was looking back at old photos, and years ago we had a small dinner of mashed potatoes, tofu turkey (from Veggie Heaven), stuffing, stuffed mushrooms and roasted veggies, with cobbler, pie and cupcakes for desserts. I have no idea how it turned into the huge food fest it is now, but I'm not complaining. We always have leftovers for days afterward, so the tastes of Thanksgiving linger on through the weekend.  What am I thankful for? Amazing friends who are great cooks!

It started innocently enough with hummus and veggies.

 The calm before the storm.

 The menu board is missing quite a few dishes. There just wasn't enough room!

The spread.

 I made roasted potatoes.

 Jessica and Greg brought mac and cheese.

 Rachel and Brett brought a Field Roast.

Keith made stuffing.

 My first time making cranberry sauce.

 Rachel and Brett made sweet potatoes.

 And they also made green beans.

 I made maple glazed roasted brussels sprouts. 

 Vann and Joyce made a lasagna.

 "Turkeys" from Veggie Heaven.

 I made stuffed mushrooms. 

Photos of rescued turkeys are the only birds on this table!

Dessert time!

 Jessica made pumpkin pie

 Keith made fruit cobbler.

 Joyce's black rice pudding.

 Rachel made lemon pumpkin cheesecake.

 I made chocolate pecan dream pie.

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Stuffed Portobellos

This is a Thanksgiving Recipe from Chef Chloe's blog. The photo isn't quite as pretty as hers, but that's okay because it was super delicious. I didn't have cooked rice and I didn't really have the time to cook some up, so I made quinoa instead. And I didn't have a can of lentils and didn't feel like cooking any, so I used a can of black beans instead. I didn't really matter that I made substitutions because it still tasted really good. This is the type of recipe that can't really be "broken". You can make substitutions and it will still taste good. These mushrooms were really filling and they make a great main course. 

I had thought about making these for tomorrow's Thanksgiving potluck feast with my friends, but there will be 9 of us, and that's a lot of portobellos! Instead I'm going to make stuffed criminis. If you still don't know what to make for Thanksgiving tomorrow, I highly recommend these - vegans and omnivores alike will love them!


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Vegan Thanksgiving: Mashed Potatoes

I've actually only made mashed potatoes one other time in my life. Unless you count those boxes of instant potato flakes. Just like everything else I've written about this week, I never really liked mashed potatoes. Unless they were covered in gravy and butter, of course. It always seemed a little like eating paste. Maybe I didn't like them because growing up they were always made with those boxes of processed potato flakes, and that stuff is rather paste like. Anyway, as you can tell by previous posts this week, my tastes have changed a great deal since I was young and I do like mashed potatoes now. I didn't realize just how much my taste buds have changed until I did this week's posts. It's funny how that happens, but once you start eating whole, unprocessed foods you can really appreciate how things taste.

The first time I made mashed potatoes from actually potatoes it was with a kit from Trader Joe's. I can't remember what was in the kit other than potatoes. (Really, what could have been in it? Herbs? Garlic? All you really need is potatoes.) Mashed potatoes are super easy to make, so I really don't know why I never made them. Simply cut potatoes up into little cubes, place in a pot, cover with water and boil for about 15 minutes, until they are fork tender. Then just mash them up with non-dairy milk, olive oil and salt and pepper to taste. I also used some Earth Balance and garlic powder.

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Vegan Thanksgiving: Stuffing

Just like most of the other dishes I like to make on Thanksgiving, stuffing is something I never liked growing up. It always came from a box and had added sausage. Dennis didn't think he liked stuffing either, but I made it for our first Thanksgiving together and added things like mushrooms and onions, and we both really liked it. It's super easy to make. Just sauté together some veggies, mix them with cubed bread or stuffing mix and broth, add some spices and then bake for about half an hour. You can add cooked rice, veggie sausage, cranberries, raisins and nuts  - whatever you like really. The ingredients are just a matter of personal taste, but if you like bread, you'll like stuffing.

For this dish, I used prepared cornbread stuffing, onions, mushrooms and tempeh (in place of sausage) and pecans to half of the mix, since Dennis doesn't like them. It was quite tasty and I think I'll make it again in the upcoming weeks and experiment with different ingredients.

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