Lentil Curry on Rice

This is the most amazing thing I've eaten in awhile. I've had curries before but this one is the keeper, so I need to blog it before I forget it. lol

Lentil Curry on White Rice

Ingredients

3 small or 1 large onion, chopped
2 carrots (I wanted to put one in but I didn't have one, but next time I will and it will be even better, if that's even possible.
2 tbsp olive oil
4 cloves minced garlic
1 can diced tomatoes
1 tsp cumin
1/4 tsp turmeric
1/4 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp ground coriander
1/4 tsp dry ginger
1/4 tsp red pepper flakes
1/4 tsp black pepper
1 tsp salt
3 cups veggie broth
1 1/2 cups water
1 cup brown lentils
1/2 cup coconut milk
1/2 cup green beans, 1/2" lengths
1 large package of fresh spinach

Directions

1. Cook onions and carrots in oil until soft, not brown. 
2. Add garlic and cook one minute. 
3. Drain the tomatoes then add to veggies and bring to a simmer then add all the spices. 
4. Take 2 cups of this mixture and puree it in a food processor or blender then add it back to the pan. 
5. Add the veggie broth, coconut milk, water and the cup of lentils. 
6. Cover and simmer on a low boil for 35 minutes until lentils are tender but still hold their form. 
7. Add the green beans and spinach and stir until it wilts. 

Serve over your favorite rice.

If you don't love this I don't even know what to tell you. I am looking forward to work tomorrow because I am having it for lunch. THAT'S how good it is. Seriously, make this.

How healthy is this?

First of all look at how healthy one cup of brown lentils is:
 molybdenum 330%
 folate 90%
 fiber 63%
 copper 56%
 phosphorus 51%
 manganese 49%
 iron 37%
 protein 36%
 vitamin B1 28%
 pantothenic acid 25%
 zinc 23%
 vitamin B6 21%
 potassium 21%

Secondly, look at the nutrition in one cup of cooked spinach:
 vitamin K 987%
 vitamin A 105%
 manganese 84%
 folate 66%
 magnesium 39%
 iron 36%
 copper 34%
 vitamin B2 32%
 vitamin B6 26%
 vitamin E 25%
 calcium 24%
 vitamin C 24%
 potassium 24%
 fiber 17%
 vitamin B1 14%
 phosphorus 14%
 zinc 12%
 protein 11%
 choline 8%
 omega-3 fats 7%
 vitamin B3 6%
pantothenic acid 5%

In fact, besides the oil and salt, everything in this recipe is beneficial in some way. I love that I am getting stuff my body needs in such a delicious meal. Not only that, but it came together quickly and was simple to make. You should try making it! :)

French Dips

Laura has made these twice now, and we've decided they're definitely a favorite.

French Dip Sub

Ingredients

about 2 tbsp. olive oil, divided
1 medium onion, sliced into half rings
2 garlic cloves, minced
3 portobello mushroom caps (about 20 oz. total), cleaned and sliced into thin strips
1 cup vegetable broth
1 tbsp. soy sauce
1 tbsp. vegan Worcestershire sauce
1/2 tsp. dried thyme
1/4 tsp. liquid smoke (optional, but highly recommended)
1/4 tsp. black pepper

For Serving

2-6 inch sandwich rolls or baguette sections, sliced open
horseradish mustard
Instructions

Directions

Coat the bottom of a large skillet with 1 tablespoon of oil and place over medium-low heat. Add onion and toss a few times to coat with oil. Allow to cook until caramelized, about 20 minutes, flipping occasionally. Add garlic and cook about 2 minutes more. Transfer onions and garlic to a plate.
Coat skillet with another tablespoon of oil and raise heat to medium. Add mushroom strips. Avoid overcrowding the skillet. A little overlapping is okay, but work in multiple batches if needed (I needed two), adding a bit of oil between batches if needed. Cook until lightly browned, about 5 minutes. Flip and cook 5 minutes more on opposite sides.
Return onions to skillet and add broth, soy sauce, Worchestershire sauce, thyme, liquid smoke and pepper. Bring to a simmer and allow to cook, stirring occasionally, until liquid is reduced by half, about 5 minutes.
Slather the insides of rolls with horseradish mustard. Use a slotted spoon to remove onions and mushrooms from skillet, pressing lightly to squeeze out any excess juice. Divide onions and mushrooms into rolls. Pour cooking liquid into a small bowl and serve with sandwiches, for dipping.

Smashed Potatoes

This has become our new favorite potato recipe. Well, not real new, we've been making them for several months, and I may even have blogged them in the vegetarian days. But, we've been talking them up and now we've promised to share the know-how with whomever hasn't tried them before - and if you haven't, you really should. I know it's more than 2 steps, but these potatoes really are very easy to make!

Smashed Potatoes and  Asian-style Peas & Carrots

How These Delights are Made

1. Wash 15 or 20 fingerling or small new potatoes. Sometimes they can be pretty dirty!

New Potatoes

2. Cover 2/3 with veg stock - the broth does not completely cover the potatoes - and simmer over low heat until potatoes are tender and broth has simmered away. I don't have a pic of this step but I wish I did. Booo.

3. Smash with a fork! Don't completely mash them, just flatten them down a bit - there should be hash marks from the fork in them.

Smashed & Hashed Potatoes

4. Add 1 tbsp vegan butter and generous amounts of Herbamare and fry until brown.

Browned Smashed Potatoes

Bean & Lentil Salad

I made this bean salad to take with me to Sheephouse Falls tomorrow and it's very good so I wanted to document the recipe so we can make it again. It was inspired by our homegrown green beans along with the fact that we already had the other ingredients on hand.

Bean & Lentil Salad

Bean Mixture

3 cups cooked lentils
1 1/2 cups cooked black turtle beans
1 1/2 cups cooked chickpeas
1 1/2 cups fresh green beans cut in 1" lengths, and cooked until tender
1/2  cup chopped scallions
1/3 cup white onion, chopped fine

Vinaigrette

10 sprigs of fresh parsley, stemmed and chopped
5 tbsp white vinegar
5 tbsp vegetable or olive oil
5 tsp white sugar
2 tsp lemon juice
1/8 tsp black pepper
1 tsp salt or to taste

Mix the vinaigrette in with the bean mixture until everything is coated. Refrigerate overnight.

Protein

You may notice I use lentils in a lot of our dishes. A lot of people ask us where we get our protein and honestly, I get a lot of mine from lentils. We throw them into everything; gravies, sauces, soups, roasted veggies, salads, burgers...pretty much anything. We also eat beans quite a bit, especially in our Mexican food, which we have quite often.

Here is a breakdown of the protein in this salad. Mind you, this in in the entire salad, but even a 1-cup serving would have a substantial amount of protein.

3 cups lentils 54 g
1 1/2 cups black turtle beans 58.5 g
1 1/2 cups chickpeas 58.5 g
1 1/2 cups green beans 3 g

8 cups of food containing 174 g of protein. That amounts to 21.75 g per cup.

How much protein is enough?
They say you should have 0.8 grams of protein per kilogram of body weight daily. That means that most adults would need between 70-100 g of protein per day. Getting 1/5 to 1/4 in just one cup of bean salad is a great start to meeting the requirement.

Stuffed Squash with Brown Butter Sage Sauce

Laura has been harvesting a lot of herbs from the garden so I couldn't resist using some of our yummy sage in a brown butter sage sauce. I particularly love it on squash, although I'm sure it's good on many other things.

Stuffed Squash

Squash Stuffers

I cut a buttercup squash in half and de-seeded and de-pulped it, leaving twin squash bowls, which I placed into the roast pan. I knew I was going to fill those bowls with something but didn't quite know what. I opened the pantry and surveyed our supplies; we keep a lot of grains on hand. I debated between lentils, barley and rice and finally settled on parboiled and wild rice. I cooked about a cup of rice with 2 cups of water uncovered until the water was absorbed, added some dried sage, then spooned it into the squash bowls, filling each about halfway. I then topped them up with water since it was still only half cooked. Finally, I added 4 cups of water to the roast pan and placed it into a 400 degree oven for about an hour. The rice came out perfectly cooked. But! I wasn't done flavoring this dish yet.

Brown Butter Sage Sauce

I added 1/4 cup of vegan butter to a small pot on the stove and cooked on medium until it began to foam. Then I added a couple pinches of dried sage, crumbling it between my fingers. The butter quickly deep-fries the sage until crisp and it only takes a minute. Drizzled over the squash and rice it is sooo amazing.

Rules Be Damned

We served the squash and rice with a couple other veggies, namely potatoes and green beans. I know, I know, so much starch. Who has rice and potatoes? Funny thing is, when you make a diet change as big as going vegan, you tend to throw old conventions out the window. Bye bye old conventions. And good riddance!! Because this was one of the most amazing meals ever.

Squash & Rice, Smashed Potatoes and Green Beans

Best Dinner Ever

Show-Stopping Taters

Oh, and the stuffed squash was probably only the second-most delicious thing on the plate. The green beans were ultra fresh and cooked to perfection, but the potatoes stole the show and deserve their very own blog post. Stay tuned for the Smashed Potatoes blog.

Cabbage Rolls

Since cabbage rolls have always been one of my favorite dishes, I am really happy to discover that I can still enjoy them despite having given up eating meat. My aunt Emeline used to made cabbage rolls; they were kind of her thing. She used to steam the cabbage leaves in the dishwasher! I boiled mine in a big pot of water and they were easy to work with.

Vegan Cabbage Rolls

Sub the Meat for Lentils

Obviously there is no ground beef in these cabbage rolls. They're made with lentils instead, and they're actually pretty amazing. I've eaten them for supper twice and for lunch twice and I clean my plate every time.

Recipe Tweaking

Original recipe here
I stayed true to the original recipe with the exception of leaving the raisins out of the sauce. I think I would have liked the raisins, but Laura wasn't feeling it, so we decided to skip them. If I made them again, I would use less black pepper and a tiny bit more allspice.

Other things you could do would be to use other types of spices, or your favorite marinara instead of the sauce in the recipe. You could also use any kind of rice or other grain you want for the filling, or even add some veggies, like chopped spinach or kale.

Cabbage Rolls in Roast Pan

Takes Foreffingever

I have two complaints about making cabbage rolls. The first is that they are friggy and time-consuming. I don't think these can be made in an hour. The cabbage has to be cored, boiled and cooled. The rice and lentils both need to be cooked for the filling. There is chopping for both the sauce and the filling. For this first time, everything was measured. Then there is the wrapping, which can be a bit of an exercise in trial and error, especially at first. Then, finally, there is the cooking, which I think was about 45 minutes to an hour. You can't just come home from work and say, "Let's have cabbage rolls for supper!" and expect to eat before 9:00 pm. Not happening. No, these are a Sunday afternoon endeavor. But, worth it.

Makes a Huge Mess

The very worst part (my second and loudest complaint) about making cabbage rolls is that it creates a lot of dirty dishes - definitely not a one-pot meal. I think I dirtied a mixing bowl, a pot for the rice, a pot for the lentils, a pot for the sauce, 2 baking dishes (because I don't have a large one and had to use the small roast pan and a covered casserole dish), the grater, all the measuring cups and spoons, a wine glass and a big pile of utensils. Besides that, there was sauce splattered all over the stove, and bits of filling all over my work space and torn and shredded pieces of cooked cabbage all over the counter. And dishes everywhere. Not my ideal work environment, since I'm a "clean as you go" kind of kitchen bitch, but that doesn't seem to be entirely possible with these since there are too many things on the go at once. Wish I'd gotten a picture of it.

But again, it's worth it. And makes about 18 rolls.

Garden Vegetable Soup

I love soup so much and when the ingredients are this fresh, I love it even more. So good!

Vegetable Soup

Homegrown Veggies

Most of the ingredients in our soup today were harvested from the garden!

Snow Peas

The peas are growing like crazy out there, and needed to be picked so we are trying to incorporate them into every meal we can. 

Snow Peas

Beans

The beans are just getting started, due to late planting, but there were enough today to throw into the soup. We used a few Royal Burgundy bush beans and some green beans.

Chopped Beans & Peas

Potatoes & Carrots

The carrots aren't big yet either and needed to be thinned out in order to bulk up, so we thinned them out and used the teeny carrots in the soup.

The potatoes are still small too, but we've been harvesting a few of them anyway. We harvested a red potato plant called "Chieftain" for the soup.

Carrots & Red Potatoes

Kale

Kale isn't one of our favorite veggies, but it's great in soup so we made sure to chop a few leaves for it today. 

Kale

Fresh Herbs

The herbs have been growing well all summer and we harvest them as often as needed, and dry as many as we can for winter. Last year's herb harvest lasted all winter and we are still using some of them from 2015 this summer. We harvested parsley, thyme and oregano for the soup.

Parsley, Thyme & Oregano

We still have a bag of store-bought onions so we left the ones we planted in the garden to keep growing while we use what we already have. 

Garden Vegetable Soup Recipe

1 box vegetable soup

2 cups garden vegetable cocktail

4 cups water

1/4 cup rice

1/2 cup red lentils

1/2 cup soup mix (contains barley, lentils & various grains)

Several sprigs of parsley, thyme and oregano

3 tsp salt

1/2 tsp pepper

Whatever vegetables in whatever amounts you want. I used:

• 2 small onions, chopped
• Handful of snow peas, trimmed and chopped
• Handful of green beans, trimmed and chopped
• 1 cup chopped carrots
• 3 cups potatoes
• 1 1/2 cups kale

Directions

I started with sautéing the onion in 1/2 cup water, then added the carrots. Next, I poured the box of vegetable broth in and then added the dried ingredients (rice, barley, etc). From there you can start adding the potatoes, beans & peas, kale and herbs, timed according to what takes longer to cook. I added the vegetable cocktail at the end, then began seasoning with the salt and pepper, tasting with every pinch to make sure it's not over-seasoned.

There are no real rules for making soup, but for it to taste good, seasonings are key. Salt is usually desired, but if you need to go low-sodium, go heavy on herbs, pepper, etc.

Pot of Soup

Mock Tuna Salad Sandwich

We've had this a few times now, so I guess you could call it a favorite. I mean, tuna salad, come on. Only not tuna! It doesn't really taste the same as tuna either, but it has a similar texture and flavor. You could always add nori to make it taste fishier, but the chickpeas already have a somewhat briny taste.

Mock tuna sandwich

Chickpeas Roasted & Whizzed

The lovely lady who tipped us off about the existence of this delightful sandwich also recommended we roast the chickpeas, although the recipe doesn't say to do that. It gives them a chewier texture. Another thing I do with the chickpeas is toss them into the food processor an pulse it a couple times after they've been roasted and whiz them up a little so they don't roll out of your sandwich.

Mock Tuna Salad Recipe

Original recipe
1 can of chickpeas, drained and roasted (350 for 15 mins)
2 tbsp vegenaise
2 tsp dijon
1 tbsp relish
2 green onions
Salt & pepper

We like to serve it on a bed of lettuce on a toasted bun.

Make it Your Own

You can also tweak the recipe to your own taste or according to what's on hand. For instance, we didn't have relish so we diced a garlic dill. We snipped a pile of chives instead of using green onions. And, we've also added fresh dill weed and diced Granny Smith apple.

Vegan Sausages

Vegan sausage with fries

How Yummy Were They?

I was doubtful about the sausages but man, these things are way better than any store-bought kinds we've tried. I LOVED them! But then, I'm not a fan of soy-based food, so the ones at the store generally stay right there on the shelves for the most part. We had them a couple times but they don't hold a candle to these.

This was our second meal of them and Missy happened to stop by so she got to try them as well. She also really enjoyed them. Definitely worth keeping the recipe - and sharing it for any of you who want to try. You'd be surprised how much you might enjoy them!

Sausages and onions frying

The sausages are boiled first then cooled, then fried. They puffed up a lot during the steaming and we found them to be pretty thick so we sliced them in half before frying, and found that they made a more manageable meal.

Vegan Sausage Recipe

Original recipe here.
Modifications to original recipe include:

• Added 2 tsp ground fennel 
• Added an extra tsp smoked paprika
• Didn't have chick peas; substituted 1/2 cup chick pea flour and 1/3 cup water
• Didn't have veg broth; substituted vegetable cocktail (like V8)
• Omitted the oil
• We're not sure the flour was gluten as the bag was unmarked

Ingredients:
½ cup chickpeas, rinsed and drained
1 cup cold vegetable broth
1 TBSP olive oil
2 TBSP soy sauce
1¼ cups vital wheat gluten
¼ cup nutritional yeast
1 tsp thyme
1½ tsp garlic powder
1 tsp onion powder
2 bay leaves, finely crumbled
1 tsp red pepper flakes
1 tbsp smoked paprika
1 tsp sage
1 tsp sugar
1 tsp salt
1 tsp freshly ground pepper

Directions:
Mix wet and dry ingredients separately, then combine. Roll into sausage shapes. Wrap in parchment paper and twist the ends to shape them. Steam for 40 minutes. Ready to freeze or refrigerate, then you can take them out and fry them or throw them on the barbeque.

Rolling sausages

We think they will be fantastic on the barbeque with some of my yummy homemade BBQ sauce.

Steamed sausages

My BBQ Sauce

1/2 cup ketchup
1/4 cup balsamic vinegar
2-3 tbsp brown sugar
1-2 cloves garlic, pressed through a garlic press
1/2 tbsp dijon mustard
1/2 tsp onion powder
Pinch of hot chili pepper

Vegetable Rice & Barley Soup

I made this soup today because I crave soup sometimes. It was inspired by spotting the aging carrots in the fridge which reminded me they needed to be used soon. After some debate about whether to use turnip and potato and turn it into a stew, I decided to keep it as a soup and use white onions, mushrooms, rice, lentils and barley. After serving it twice, I was told by Laura and Missy that the recipe needed to be documented for future reference.

Vegetable Rice & Barley Soup

Recipe

1 white onion, chopped

4 carrots, chopped

4 oz mushroom, sliced

1 tbsp sunflower oil

1 tsp sea salt

1 tbsp dried rosemary

1/2 tsp dried sage

1/2 cup long grain rice

1 cup red lentils

1/4 cup pearl barley

900 ml box of vegetable broth

2 cups garden vegetable cocktail (like V8)

2 cups water

2 vegetable boullion cubes

3 or 4 sprigs fresh thyme

4 sprigs fresh parsley

Sauté the onion, carrot and mushrooms in the oil then add the dried herbs. Add the grains, boullion and liquids, give it a stir and let simmer for 40 minutes until rice is cooked. The lentils will dissolve into the broth and the rice and barley will absorb most of the liquid. Keep an eye on it in case more liquid is needed and then add as necessary water, vegetable broth or vegetable cocktail, whichever you prefer. I prefer to add vegetable broth so as not to dilute the flavors. Add the fresh herbs near the end of cooking. Taste while cooking and season accordingly with more salt or herbs you like.

Soup and roll

We had this with rolls spread with vegan butter and it was fantastic!

Oatmeal Date Cookies

Any recipe that involves dates, I'm down with. This recipe turned out great and I'm sure I will want to make them again, so committing the recipe to the blog.

Oatmeal Date Cookies

Original Recipe

Here is the original recipe I went by.

I made the following modifications.

• Instead of oats I used a mixture of oats, spelt and rye flakes.
• I substituted the 3 eggs for 3 tbsp flax and 9 tbsp water.
• I omitted the walnuts as we didn't have any on hand.

My Adapted Recipe

Mix:
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt

In small bowl mix:
3 tbsp ground flax
9 tbsp water
Let sit 15 minutes to gel.

In mixer on medium speed cream together:
1 cup packed brown sugar
1 cup shortening
1/2 cup sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Slowly add in flax mixture. Continue mixing.

Add flour mixture to creamed mixture until combined. Then add:
2 cups mixed quick cooking oats, spelt & flour
1 cup dates, pitted and chopped
1/2 cup chopped walnuts (optional)

Drop by teaspoons onto baking sheet and bake 8 minutes at 375 degrees F.

Cookies cooling on a rack

This recipe got a seal of approval from both Laura and Missy. Worth noting that Laura said the ones that were cooked 9 minutes instead of 8 were better, crispier. The recipe made about 6 1/2 dozen cookies.

Carrot Cake

So, I am blogging this carrot cake because I made it and it tasted amazing and had a great texture. Since I don't want to lose the recipe, I shall blog it.

Vegan Carrot Cake

I followed this recipe but made some modifications. I didn't get a good pic of it because I didn't think to blog it until there was just this one tiny piece of it left. I used Laura's phone camera, which I'm not good at using.

Carrot Cake 

Wet Ingredients
2 tbsp ground flax
2 tbsp chia seeds
1/2 cup water
1 1/4 cups vegetable oil
2 cups sugar
2 tsp vanilla extract

Dry Ingredients
2 cups of flour
2 tsp baking soda
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
2 tsp cinnamon
3 cups grated carrot
1 cup chopped walnuts

Directions:
Combine the ground flax and chia seeds together with 1/2 cup of water and let set for 10 or 15 minutes until gelled and the texture of eggs. This is the egg replacement.

Mix wet ingredients in a bowl. Mix dry ingredients in a bowl. Mix wet and dry ingredients together. If it's too dry add water a couple tbsp at a time until it's the consistency you want, like cake batter. Mine was very thick and chunky, but pour-able.

Pour into greased and floured 9 x 13" pan and bake 1 hour at 350 degrees F. Let sit for about 15 minutes then transfer to a baking rack to cool. Transfer to a cake plate and frost when completely cool.

Icing

1/2 cup non-dairy butter, softened
8 oz non-dairy cream cheese, softened
4 cups icing sugar
1 tsp vanilla
1/2 cup candied walnuts

Mix butter, cream cheese, icing sugar and vanilla with beaters or mixer until fluffy. Spread of cooled cake and top with walnuts.

Reviews

Two people besides Laura and I tried this cake and they both loved it. One said she would not have known the cream cheese was non-dairy. She asked for the recipe and also said I needed to make it again...and again. The other one was my sister, who is allergic to eggs, so she would appreciate that they were replaced with something else. There was no frosting on her piece because of her soy intolerance so no review on the frosting, but she did post this on my FB timeline:

Roast "Beef" Sandwich

I think I gave up beef about 5 years ago. I have not had a roast beef sandwich in a very long time. Now, it may be the case that I don't really remember what one is supposed to taste like, but I don't think that is the case. At all. In fact, I had a couple other people try this sandwich and they both agreed it was pretty darn close if not just like the real deal. Only again, no beasts were harmed.

Roast "Beef" Sandwich

Seitan Mushroom Roast

Laura made the seitan roast for Easter dinner. It was good although it didn't have an exact roast beef taste or texture. But, it was comparable.

Mushroom Seitan Roast recipe here.

Seitan Loaf

The next day, I had the idea to slice it thinly and use it to make a sandwich. And wow. It was the most amazing thing! The texture was very believable, the taste, with the mustard, was crazily similar to real beef, and I was in heaven to find another of my old favorites revamped to be enjoyed as a vegan meal.

Sandwich & Potato Salad

Was so good served with a scoop of potato salad!

Eggless Potato Salad

You might not think an egg-free potato salad would be as good, but you'd be surprised. I don't let many people try it because it's really too good to share, but any who have tried it absolutely loved it and three of them have asked for the recipe. And, since it's my favorite potato salad recipe now too, I thought I'd put it here.

Potato Salad

The Making of the Perfect Potato Salad

In this potato salad recipe you omit the eggs and use an egg-free mayonnaise, like vegenaise, which I love, love, love.

This recipe makes a pretty small salad. You may want to double it.

Mix in a large bowl:
8 potatoes, peeled and boiled
1 small onion, minced
1/4 cup minced red pepper
1 tbsp capers or minced green olives (optional, but not really)

Mix in a small bowl:
1 cup Vegenaise or Hellman's vegan mayonnaise
1/3 cup vinegar
2 or 3 tbsp sugar
1 tbsp dijon
1 tbsp yellow mustard
Sea salt and black pepper to taste

Add small bowl mixture to large bowl mixture - don't add it all at once, just add it until your salad is the consistency you like.  You know how potatoes come in many sizes. Combine well.

Top the salad with something to make it look pretty, or interesting, like pepper, paprika, or some extra capers or olives. Maybe a sprig of parsley.

Chill.

Potato Salad

Potato Salad

You are welcome.

Lemon "Chicken"

I made a big batch of cauliflower "chicken" today (178 pieces) using 2 heads of cauliflower, which was on sale at Atlantic SuperStore for $2.49/head. I did all the breading and baked them, then Laura used about 18 of them to make Lemon "Chicken". So amazing!

Lemon Cauliflower 

We served the cauliflower with basmati rice and green beans. It was truly delicious, and really does have a boneless wing or popcorn chicken sort of texture, without the need to devour any animals.

Lemon Sauce recipe

Here is the process:

Prepare the Cauliflower
1. Cut cauliflower into bit-sized pieces.
2. Soak in 10 parts water to 3 parts vinegar for 15 - 20 minutes to clean it well. Any insects that were missed in the cutting step will come out as well.
3. Dry the pieces on paper towel.

Coat the Cauliflower
(this is the time-consuming part of the process if you're doing a lot of them at once)
4. Mix equal parts flour and water in an enormous bowl. I used 5 cups of each since I made a huge amount. Like I said, 178 pieces.
5. Place about 15 pieces of cauliflower in the bowl and stir to coat each piece completely with the batter.
6. Dump a bag of panko bread crumbs into another large bowl.
7. One piece at a time, remove the cauliflower from the batter, shake off excess batter and place into the crumbs. Roll around until completely coated.
8. Place a sheet of parchment on a baking sheet.
9. Place each piece of breaded cauliflower on the parchment, spaced so they don't touch each other.

Bake the Cauliflower
10. Bake 15 minutes on 400 degrees F.
11. Turn over.
12. Bake another 15 minutes on 400 degrees F.

Lentil Salad

Lentil Salad

Ingredients

1 1/2 cup green, brown or black lentils
3 cups water
4 or 5 green onions
1 lemon
6 tbsp olive oil (psst: sometimes I only use 2 - 3)
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 tsp dried thyme
sea salt

Garlic, scallions, lentils, lemon

Directions

Cook lentils in the water about 20 minutes, then drain. Set aside to cool. Add the green onions and garlic and stir.

Squeeze the lemon. Mix the lemon, oil and thyme and add to lentil mixture. Salt with the sea salt to taste.

Cold plate featuring lentil salad

General Tso’s Vegan Chik’n

The fajitas were the best thing I ate all year...until this. This beats the hell out of anything I've eaten this year. Or last year. Or maybe every year. I've seen recipes for "cauliflower mock chicken wings" as they circulate around the internet, and have been curious to try them, and I guess this recipe is pretty much the same thing.

General Tso’s Vegan Chik’n

General Tso’s Vegan Chik’n

Cauliflower replaces chicken in this recipe and it does a pretty darn good job of it. It's amazing! It's served with rice, green beans and red peppers and we topped it with more of the General Tso sauce, sesame seeds and raw cashews. A bit high in sodium, but not all that unhealthy. The cauliflower is baked, not fried, so there is no oil at all in the recipe. You just wash, dry and bread bite-sized cauliflower florets then bake them. Then add the sauce.

Cauliflower Discected

General Tso’s Vegan Chik’n recipe here

Like Chicken, But Better

The roasted breaded cauliflower gets re-baked in the General Tso sauce and the result is very similar to boneless chicken wings. It doesn't have a chicken flavor, but the sauce provides the flavors you're looking for and the cauliflower has a great texture. When you bite into one of them it's very much the same as having boneless chicken. You know when you bite into a chicken wing and you sometimes get a mouthful of chicken fat? Some might enjoy it, but I used to spit it out and pretend it never happened while trying to continue to enjoy my meal. Well, with the cauliflower, you never get a bite like that! You can sink your teeth in and know there is no fat, vein, gristle, bone or cartilage to impede your chewing pleasure. S'all good, and that's a quality about eating veg that I really appreciate. So, when I say this is better than eating real chicken wings, or real chicken balls, I mean that wholeheartedly! They taste as good, they have a better texture and there is no mental "I'm eating an animal" barrier preventing me from 100% enjoyment.

General Tso’s Vegan Chik’n on Basmati Rice

General Tso Sauce

3 garlic cloves, minced
1" ginger, minced
1/2 cup Hoisin sauce
1/4 cup rice vinegar
3 tbsp soy sauce
4 tbsp brown sugar
1 tsp red pepper flakes
1 tsp sriracha

Until Next Time

I'm not even kidding, both times we've had these I've eaten until stuffed and still kept going. Ugh! But, they're so good! Missy, who was here for dinner, agreed they would be good with any sauce you would serve on chicken: barbeque, orange or lemon sauce, sweet & sour, teriyaki, honey garlic, etc. We don't rate our meals anymore, because these are pretty much all favorites, but Missy gave it a 9. I say 10, personally.

We made a double batch and froze the other half for another meal. Hmmm....Lemon Chicken, maybe?

Dairy Substitutes

Vegans don't eat dairy, but finding recipes that don't require dairy is often unrealistic, so there is sometimes a need to find a substitute. Lactose-intolerant people, same thing. I am both. I do not tolerate milk or milk-based products well. The point is, there are plenty of options for people who choose not to or aren't able to tolerate dairy. And, some of them are fantastic! Wine and cheese anyone?

Cheeseball with French Bread

Erin's Opinion

I've said I'd give my honest opinion about the dairy substitutes I've tried, so I will. I won't be glossing over anything to make it sound better, or more viable or less disgusting than I think it really is. However, remember that these are only my opinions, and you very well may not agree. After all, I don't even like bananas, which is weird, right? Also worth noting, that Laura and I don't agree on many of these products either.

Nay

Yay!

Almond Milk

As soon as I have milk in my mouth, my throat and ears begin to itch. I also get gastro effects from it, which can make me ill enough to spoil my day. So, even before I thought of becoming vegetarian or vegan, I was replacing dairy milk with almond milk for my cereals and beverages. Almond milk, to me, even tastes way better than dairy milk with the added benefit of not having to block out any knowledge associated with milk production. I won't get into that here. Almond milk has a nuttier flavor (go figure) than dairy milk, but is otherwise very similar in both taste and texture, especially the unsweetened ones. I think all almond milk is better than dairy, and my favorite brand is Earth's Own. I especially love almond milk on porridge and cereal, but it's fine to use for cooking as a milk substitute for most recipes, and I even use it to make cream soups, etc. I also use cashew milk sometimes, which is a bit richer and thicker. We've made both almond and cashew milk here at home as well, but with the price of nuts, you're not saving money, just wasting time, really. It's the same as the store kind.

Earth's Own Almond Milk

Earth's Own almond milk is about $.50 to $.75 more than regular milk. Silk has a cheaper version, but Laura doesn't like it as well. I think Silk's is fine, but I do prefer Earth's Own. There are also a lot of other brands available now, especially in comparison to just 5 years ago, when they only carried Earth's Own and would be out of stock more than they we in stock. I'm thankful for all the options they have now, including various flavors like vanilla, sweetened, unsweetened and chocolate.

Earth's Own Almond Milk $4.69

Earth Island Vegenaise

This stuff here is a godsend. I started using it a few months before going vegan, just to test the waters and was amazed that it was actually delicious. It's a bit lighter in texture than mayonnaise or salad dressing, but the texture is okay and it tastes really, really good. I love it on cucumber or tomato sandwiches and it makes for fantastic potato salad. I love a vegan product that doesn't contain soy. Downside is that it's pricey at 7.99 a jar...a small jar, at that. So, we go a little easier on the "mayo" than we used to, but this is probably the 5th jar I've bought.

Earth Island Vegenaise

There are different types of vegenaise, but we've only tried the grapeseed one. We like it, so I'm hesitant to try other kinds, even though they're cheaper ($5.99).

Grapeseed Vegenaise 7.99

Hellman's Vegan Mayo

So, Hellman's has finally decided to tap into the vegan market and has come up with a product I like even better than the Vegenaise grapeseed product. I've used it for potato salads, tomato sandwiches and cucumber sandwiches and it's delish!

Hellman's Vegan Mayonaisse

Earth Balance Margarine

This  is good too, for margarine. I can't say it tastes better than butter, but it's as good as any margarine. Plus, it has a soy free version and also comes in sticks or blocks for cooking.

Earth Balance Margarine

Again, the downside is the price. It's like paying butter prices for margarine. However, to vegans, the price is worth paying and if it's not affordable, then it's used as a treat, when not having butter for toast is just not an option.

Earth Balance Margarine $5.49

Tofutti Better Than Sour Cream

Like I've mentioned before, it's better than no sour cream, but not as good as dairy sour cream. Sometimes you just want a fajita, you know? Or a baked potato. And you want it the way you've always had it, with a dollop of sour cream and chives.

Tofutti Better Than Sour Cream

This sour cream substitute costs about $1.30 more than regular brand name sour cream and about $2.00 more than the no names. We don't care because we're using it less; we're really not spending that much money on sour cream anymore in the grand scope of things. I'll tell you where we're spending a lot of money: produce. And boy, has the price of produce gone up. But I digress.

Tofutti Better Than Sour Cream $4.29

Tofutti Better Than Cream Cheese

Nope. It's not.

Tofutti Better Than Cream Cheese

Tofutti's products aren't all soy-based, but most are. Some are better than others, but they went astray while flavoring this cream cheese somehow.

Daiya Cheese

The Daiya cream cheese is even worse than the Tofutti stuff. Mind you, we have not tried the plain kind yet, only the chive & onion and strawberry kinds. Ate most of the chive & onion kind on bagels. Not inedible, but not delightful, either.

The provolone was used for oven subs and it was okay, but suffers in comparison to actual provolone. Overall, we're not big fans of Daiya.

Daiya Cheese Substitutes

Daiya cream cheese subs are a bit more expensive than Philadelphia cream cheese, too, by about $1.50.

Daiya Cream Cheese Substitutes $5.99

***UPDATE ON DAIYA CHEESE***
Ohhh, how things change. I am a big believer in that if you try a food enough times you will begin to like it. Now I like Daiya cheese slices, especially on grilled cheese sandwiches. So good! We haven't tried some of the other products again yet. but we've gone through several packages of this sliced "cheddar" stuff. So there you have it. Daiya isn't all bad. :)

Daiya Pizza

We don't enjoy Daiya cheese substitutes, but still thought this frozen pizza looked like a viable option for dinner one night. It really wasn't. Neither of us finished it and it was a waste of $8.99.

Don't get me wrong; I don't hate the brand, in fact, I really appreciate that they make dairy substitutes available. I know of people who like their products and a couple people who love them. I read some reviews from people who really love them. Just not a huge fan of them myself.

Daiya Pizza

Daiya Frozen Pizza

Homemade Vegan Parmesan

There is still hope for pizza! This vegan parm substitute is one of the best things I've ever had. It just takes a couple minutes to whiz some up and the recipe only calls for a few simple, easily-obtained ingredients: raw almonds, nutritional yeast, garlic powder and sea salt.

Recipe here!

Almond Parmesan on Pizza

I can't say enough about this stuff. We love it soooooo much. We put it very liberally on pizza, pasta, garlic bread, and whatever else we think it would be good on. We've let some friends sample it and some of them are hooked as well. Honestly, even if real parmesan wasn't animal-based, I don't know that I would go back to it in place of the almond parm. The best part is, of course, the taste, but it's also completely nutritious. How do you overdo it on almonds, garlic and nootch?? You don't! That's the beauty. And, it's actually NOT more expensive than real parm.

Cheeseball

The cheeseball in the top pic was amazing. Laura made it on the weekend and I love, love, love. I ate way more of it than she did. She didn't like the coconut undertone, but I did, I thought it was perfect. It was rolled in these amazing organic cranberries that I bought at Boyce Farmer's Market in Fredericton a few weeks ago.

Here is the recipe!

Tofutti Frozen Treats

We've tried a number of frozen treats by Tofutti and they're all pretty awesome. They are by far my favorite Tofutti product so far.

Tofutti "Marry Me" Bar

Tofutti "Marry Me" Bar in Deep Freezer

I think these were $6.99. We definitely don't get them very often, maybe once every month or two we'll get a box. Sometimes you feel like having a treat, though, so these are available, along with a lot of other kinds, like Cuties which are "ice cream" sandwiches and Black Gold, a soy fudgsicle.

Cuties

Black Gold

Stay Tuned

Check back sometime down the road for updates. I plan to keep adding to this blog post as we try new products and recipes. I'll probably also come back and elaborate on the existing ones.