News, and Jenn's Roasted Veggie Chili

I have been in a non-vegan purgatory for the last few months, waiting to find out if soy and gluten interfered with a (necessary-to-live) medication I take. During that time, my diet was very limited and I wasn't even sure I'd be able to continue to be vegan.

I am happy to announce that not only does my vegan diet officially totally NOT interfere with my meds, but I have a series of blood tests that demonstrate how much healthier my vegan diet was! So now I'm very excited to get back to experimenting with new and exciting vegan recipes.

Today's recipe was submitted during my November recipe contest.

Jenn's Roasted Veggie Chili

So the veggies come first. I use what ever looks good in the store or at the farmer's market. Some things that you can use are: Japanese eggplant, red or yellow peppers, squash, zucchini, rutabagas, carrots, onions, tomatoes, parsnips...you get the idea.

Cut them in chunks that are about the same size (maybe about 3/4 of an inch) - you want them to cook at about the same speed. I cut up maybe three or four cups of veggies; as much as you can fit in one layer on a big cookie sheet.

Toss the veggies with some (maybe about 1/4 cup) of olive oil; you want them all to have a little, but not be soaking in it. Throw some salt and pepper on as well. I also suggest putting tin foil on the cookie sheet, as the veggies tend to stick and carmelize a little, and it's a pain to get off. Sometimes I throw a little minced garlic in as well, but that is up to you.

These should go into a 425 degree oven for 40 minutes, and halfway through stir them around a little, as the ones on the edges tend to cook faster than the ones in the middle.

Now throw these veggies (without giving yourself a third degree burn - so let them cool for a few minutes) into a pot on the stove. I add 2 cans of beans that I rinsed (I like to use black and kidney, but its up to you) and two cans of tomatoes. Diced stewed tomatoes with garlic are good, and last time I used one can of those, and one can of Rotel brand with jalapenos, and it turned out well. Also add about 2 cups of veggie stock.

Then come the spices...these depend a lot on how spicy you like your chili. You don't need more salt, as the tomatoes and stock has it, as do most of the Tex-Mex spice mixes. I usually add chili powder or some kind of mexican seasoning mix, and last time I used a packet of Goya Sazon, and then I used some Tex-Mex stuff I got in Texas.

Bottom line is: season to taste. Check the labels, as some of these blends will have spicy peppers, and some won't.

Let it simmer with no lid for at least a half hour, but up to an hour. If all the liquid boils off, then add more stock or just some water (I did that last time and it turned out fine.)

Last step is: enjoy your yum yum!

Roasted Pumpkin Salad

Another submission, this time adapted from 101 Cookbooks. In this case, only one small change was needed to make it 100% vegan: the honey in the dressing is replaced with agave nectar. This makes a BEAUTIFUL, healthy, and totally delicious salad. Check out the original here.

3 cups of pumpkin (or other winter squash), peeled and cut into 1-inch cubes (I used Trader Joe's pre-cut butternut squash)
extra-virgin olive oil
fine grain sea salt

12 tiny red onions or shallots, peeled (OR 3 medium red onions peeled and quartered)
2 cups cooked wild rice*

1/3 cup sunflower seeds
1/3 cup olive oil
2 tablespoons lemon juice
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon agave nectar
2 tablespoons warm water
1/2 cup cilantro, finely chopped

Preheat oven to 375.
Toss the pumpkin in a generous splash of olive oil along with a couple pinches of salt, and turn out onto a baking sheet. At the same time, toss the onions with a bit of olive oil, sprinkle with salt, and turn out onto a separate baking sheet. Roast both for about 45 minutes, or until squash is brown and caramelized. The same goes for the onions, they should be deeply colored, caramelized, and soft throughout by the time they are done roasting. You'll need to flip both the squash and onion pieces once or twice along the way - so it's not just one side that is browning.

In the meantime, make the dressing. With a hand blender or food processor puree the sunflower seeds, olive oil, lemon juice, salt, and agave nectar until creamy. You may need to add a few tablespoons of warm water to thin the dressing a bit. Stir in the cilantro, saving just a bit to garnish the final plate later. Taste and adjust seasonings (or flavors) to your liking - I usually need to add a touch more salt with this dressing.

In a large bowl, toss the wild rice with a large dollop of the dressing. Add the onions, gently toss just once or twice. Turn the rice and onions out onto a platter and top with the roasted squash (I'll very gently toss with my hands here to disperse the pumpkin a bit). Finish with another drizzle of dressing and any remaining chopped cilantro.

Serves 4.

*To cook wild rice: Rinse 1 1/2 cups wild rice. In a medium sauce pan bring the rice and 4 1/2 cups salted water to a boil. Reduce to a simmer. Cook for 40 minutes or until rice is tender and splitting open, stirring occasionally. You'll have enough for this recipe and some leftover.

First Recipe Contest Submission! Thanks, Grandmom.

Here's a recipe from my own very dear Grandmom, who lives in Portland, Texas. I think it is very appropriate that to start out assembling a collection of popular vegan recipes, we have something in the "Salads and Appetizers" category. I also like this recipe because it involves no fancy substitutions - it's vegan just because it requires no animal products. Also, it is simple to make.

Here's the recipe:

Celery and Olive Salad

Combine:
2 cups chopped celery
1/2 cup chopped pitted green olives
1 tablespoons olive oil
2 tablespoons white wine vinegar
1 teaspoon dried oregano
1 teaspoon garlic powder
salt and pepper to taste.

Cover and refrigerate for at least 4 hours, or as long as over night.

So, it's essentially a finely chopped salad, like Israeli salad or tapenade. How to serve it? My grandmother suggested that it might go well with pasta (I thought it sounded good for a cold pasta salad), but it might also do well as an option with crackers or flatbread as an appetizer.

So, I'll include this recipe for Gluten Free Crackers, which was adapted from 101 Cookbooks by Lauren Denneson. You can see the original post here, at "Daring to Thrive", a Gluten-Free recipe blog that is quite wonderful. Don't care for Gluten-Free? Check out the Gluten-full recipe here.

Crispy Gluten-free Crackers:

½ cup sorghum flour
¼ cup tapioca flour
¼ cup almond flour
¼ cup ground flax, soaked in ¼ cup warm water for about 5-10 minutes
1 teaspoon coarsely ground sea salt (I used a mortar and pestle to crush the large granules I have on hand)
2 teaspoons grapeseed or olive oil*
1 teaspoon apple cider vinegar
Roughly 2 tablespoons warm water

Mix together the flours and the sea salt, blending well. Add the flax mixture, apple cider vinegar, and the oil and begin mixing.

Mix until a course, pebbled mixture forms.

Add the warm water, a small bit at a time, just until the dough comes together.

Knead the dough in your hands until the dough is even textured and shape into a ball. The dough should be moist, but not sticky. If it is too sticky, add more flour.Place half of the dough on a parchment-paper covered cookie sheet. Flatten the dough with your hands a bit and place another sheet of parchment paper on top.

Using a rolling pin, roll out the dough so that it covers the entire sheet. Roll it out paper thin. And I mean paper thin. Carefully peel off top sheet of parchment paper. Either use a knife to cut the crackers into squares or wait until they are cooked to break them into irregular pieces.

Bake at 400F for about 15 minutes, until the crackers turn golden brown and crispy.

Autumn Recipe Contest

I've been neglecting this blog a lot lately, to such an extent that I actually totally overlooked a wonderful comment (about the Spinach Pie post) for MONTHS. Months! I am a bad blogger. Mea Culpa.

So, to rejuvenate things around here, I am starting up an Autumn/Thanksgiving RECIPE CONTEST. I expect this will end up being a pretty small contest, since, although I have many friends who cook, most of them do not type, and after I inadvertently ignored my one, solitary comment for three months, my prospects for new blog-friends submitting recipes seem pretty slim.

BUT STILL. Here are the rules:

1) Recipe must be vegan*

OK, now that we've reviewed the rules, get cooking! I would prefer original recipes, but if you have a favorite recipe from a cookbook or other blog, send it in, just provide the correct citation. If you've veganized an omnivore recipe, you get all the credit for that.

Since the theme is Autumn and/or Thanksgiving, seasonal recipes are preferred, but if you have something that transcends seasons with its awesomeness, by all means, submit it!

Obviously, if you know me, you can just e-mail me your recipe. If you don't, just paste it into the comments section. The world will be the judge. All viable recipes will be posted for everyone to try. If you submit a recipe, please know that it will posted here, where all three of my regular readers will be able to see it!

I will not be publishing a cookbook, so please do not worry about me stealing your recipe for my own profit. That is not how I roll.

*Vegan: no animal products, at all. No honey, no milk, no eggs, no meat, no dairy by-products. Even sugar can be non-vegan if it is processed with animal bone char. Keep an eye on those labels!

Vegan Mac & Not-Cheese

I've been meaning to post this one for a while. Now that the weather is getting cooler, maybe it's time to think about warm comfort food like this again.

This is the best-tasting vegan version of Mac'n Cheese I have been able to create. It isn't really like traditional Mac'n Cheese. There is only one way to create that particular combination of flavors and textures. And it involves actual cheese.

But Veggie Mac is delicious and healthy, lower in fat and sodium, cruelty-free, and flavorful! This recipe provides some of the creaminess of the original, with a subtle and complex taste, pleasant texture, and cozy comfort-food feeling. So, here it is:

Vegan Mac’n Not-Cheese

You’ll need:

Elbow Pasta
1 block of Vegan Rella (cheddar flavor)
1 c. soy creamer or soy milk
4 tbsp Earth Balance margarine
½ cup nutritional yeast
¼ cup Rice Wine (Mirin)
2 tbsp Brewer’s Yeast

1 cup of chopped leeks
2 tbsp olive oil
½ bag of frozen broccoli, thawed

2 tsp black pepper
1 tsp nutmeg
2 tsp sea salt
1 tbsp soy sauce, nama shoyu, or tamari
2 tsp onion powder
2 tsp mustard (Grey Poupon or other Dijon mustard)
1 tsp garlic

Bread crumbs or crushed whole wheat crackers sufficient for topping.

Preparation:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees

Thaw the frozen broccoli and boil the elbow pasta according to instructions on box. Drain excess water from both. Set aside in large bowl or pan; add 1 tbsp of margarine to keep pasta from getting sticky.

Saute the leeks in the olive oil over medium-low heat until they are soft. In a small dish, mix garlic, mustard, and soy sauce. Stir the mustard mixture into the warm leeks and remove from heat.

In a saucepan, melt the remaining margarine over low heat. Cut the Vegan Rella block into smaller cubes, and add it to the margarine. As it begins to melt, slowly pour the soy creamer into the mixture.

Whisk the melted cheese mixture until the “cheese” is mostly melted. Stir in the nutritional yeast and whisk until smooth. Add the Brewer’s yeast and the rice wine and blend until smooth. Remove from heat and add onion powder, sea salt, nutmeg and pepper.

Combine all ingredients in an 8 x 8 casserole dish, stirring until the "cheese" mixture is well-blended. Top with bread crumbs or crackers, and bake at 350 for about 30 minutes.

Enjoy!

My Favorite Lemon Cake

Vegan Lemon Sour Cream Cake

INGREDIENTS:

* 2 cups all-purpose flour
* 2 teaspoons baking powder
* 1 teaspoon salt
* 1 cup soy margarine, room temperature
* 2 cups granulated sugar
* Equivalent of 3 eggs (powdered egg substitute works well for this recipe)
* grated zest of 1 large lemon
* 1 cup vegan sour cream

* Lemon Glaze:
* 2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
* 2 cups sifted confectioners' sugar

PREPARATION:
Preheat oven to 325°. Generously butter and flour a 10-inch bundt pan.

Into a bowl, sift together the flour, baking powder and salt; set aside.

In a mixing bowl with hand-held electric mixer, cream 1 cup soy margarine and granulated sugar; beat at high speed until mixture is very light and fluffy, about 5 minutes.

Beat in egg substitute. Blend in lemon zest. Add flour mixture to the creamed mixture alternately with sour cream, adding each in 3 additions. Scrape sides of bowl frequently.

Pour batter into prepared cake pan; bake in the preheated oven for 55 to 65 minutes, or until a cake tester or wooden pick inserted near the center of cake comes out clean. Cool in pan 10 minutes.

Meanwhile, combine lemon glaze ingredients in a bowl, blending until smooth. Carefully turn cake out onto a platter; drizzle evenly with glaze.

Serves 12 or more, depending on size of servings.

LisaBars

In today's troubled economic times, who can afford $2.00 bars? But who wants to eat substandard bars with 46 non-food ingredients? If you have access to a store with a bulk foods section, perhaps this simple recipe for delicious bars (like LaraBars or ClifNectar bars) can save you some bucks while maintaining your high standards for optimal nourishment.

Here are several combinations. Each recipe will yield 2 bars:

Cherry: 1/4 c. dates, 1/4 c. dried cherries, 1/3 c. whole pecans, almonds, or walnuts, 1/8 tsp. cinnamon

Cashew Cookie: 1/3 c. dates, 1/2 c. raw cashews

Chocolate Chip Cookie: 1/3 c. dates, 1/2 c. raw cashews, 1/2 tsp. vanilla extract, pinch of cinnamon, 1/2 oz. finely chopped semisweet chocolate

Blueberry: 1/4 c. dried blueberries, 1/4 c. dates, 1/3 c. almonds, 1/2 tsp. finely grated lemon zest, 1 drop almond extract

Pulse the dried fruit in a food processor until it has a paste-like texture, and transfer to a medium bowl. Chop the nuts very finely (by hand or use the food processor). Add them to the fruit paste. Add remaining ingredients and mix thoroughly (you might have to get in there with your hands and squish everything around).

Transfer mixture to waxed paper or plastic wrap. You can divide the mixture into two blobs and wrap each in plastic, then form into a bar shape and refridgerate to firm it up a bit, or just use a spatula to spread the entire mixture over a piece of waxed paper on a baking sheet. Refridgerate, and once it's firm, cut the resulting "megabar" into smaller pieces.

It's easy to think of other great combinations. I'm planning to try cranberry-apple, chocolate-coconut-almond, golden-raisin-pecan, and several others!