I'm making a huge batch of vegan chili to feed dozens of people. I know some of them can't have soy and of course mushrooms are a common allergen, so I'm looking for a recipe that has lots of beans for protein. A white chili (not tomato-based) would be amazing; there will also be non-vegan chili at the event and I want it to be easy for people to tell them apart. Many thanks for your suggestions!

Tags: ethnic food-mexican-chili, main dishes-chili
Current Mood: hopeful

anyone have a good recipe for a creamy "chicken" and wild rice soup? or a chicken and dumpling? things that are kinda healthy are a plus. i do have a chix n dumpling soup recipe but it calls for 8 tablespoons of magarine! (it does feed a lot, but still, that seems gratuitous).

im getting bored with tofu noodle soup and like thicker soups in the winter.

Tags: soups-creamy, soups-meat analogue

I need your helpful suggestions to veganize a recipe that I'm dying to try. :)

( Super long recipe this way! )

* Recipe from the book Blueberry Muffin Murder by Joanne Fluke. :)

Tags: -adapting recipes, breakfast foods-muffins, substitutes-eggs-for muffins
Current Mood: curious

Anyone have a recipe for rum cake?

Tags: desserts-cakes-alcoholic

I'm absolutely in love with citrus and recently picked up some limes for jerk seitan. I was so excited about having these limes, that I went ahead and ate one raw (sans juice for the marinade). It made my mouth happy with its intense sourness, but my stomach was less than pleased. Let me get to my question:

Is there a way to prepare a lime that makes it a little more palatable but leaves it still as close to a fresh lime as possible?

I want to try and sugar it or soak it in something, but I have no idea where to start.

Thank you!

Tags: desserts-fruits, fruits-limes

Help me, lovely ladies and gentlemen of vegancooking--you're my only hope! ;D

This is my first Yule as a vegan (I went from vegetarian to vegan in April), and so far, it's been a marvelous, wonderful ride. This little blip doesn't necessarily make it any less marvelous or wonderful, but just a wee bit frustrating. ;D I've got lovely vegan recipes for sugar cookies and gingerbread, so I'm all set there...but my utter favorite cookie is peanut butter blossoms, and no matter how much Google-fu I use, I can't find a good vegan recipe for them. I suppose I could try and veganize the recipe myself (I've had good luck thus far, just using old family recipes and substituting this for that), but the part that's killing me is the chocolate blossoms! Traditionally, they're Hershey's kisses, which aren't vegan...what could I use as a substitute?

Any and all advice on this would make me ridiculously happy~ :) Thank you so much!!

( Recipe I'm trying to veganize below the cut! :D )

Tags: desserts-chocolates, desserts-cookies-peanut/other nut butter

An absolutely delicious dip. It's very versatile, and you can change the amounts to suit your tastes. I brought it to a family dinner tonight and it was quickly devoured. My niece barely ate her dinner after she ate half the plate of this dip.

1 can black olives, drained and chopped
1 can black beans
1/4 cup onions
1 garlic clove, finely chopped (I used three)
2 tbsp olive oil
2 tbsp lime juice
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp crushed red pepper
1/4 tsp ground cumin
1/8 tsp black pepper
1 pkg "cream cheese", softened
2 green onions, chopped.

1. In medium bowl, mix all but cream cheese and green onions
2. Cover and refrigerate for at least 2 hours
3. Whip up cream cheese with a little "sour cream" or "milk" to thin and spread on plate (I used soy milk and just whipped it up with a fork)
4. Spoon semi-drained bean mixture over "cream cheese"
5. Sprinkle with green onions.

Serve with tortilla chips or crackers, etc. I used quotes to denote your substitute of choice.

Current Location: Winnipeg, Canada
Current Mood: full

Hey, friends & neighbors. Couple quick questions for you fine folks, if you don't mind.

Question the first: I have a recipe that calls for 1.5 Tbs of Agar Agar flakes, but I only have it in powdered form. Do I need to adjust the measurements to compensate for the difference between the two, or will it be OK? I've never used Agar before, so I'm in totally new territory here and not quite sure what to expect.

And somewhat of a follow-up to that question - I found the powder at our local natural market this afternoon, for almost $7 per ounce! That's a little rich for my budget - I wonder if that's a ridiculous price, or if this stuff is just that spendy?

Question the second: I'm trying to make more meals that we can just stick in the freezer and then grab-and-go as necessary, and one of the ideas I had was to make some sort of empanada-y thing. I have the dough handled, but I'm at a loss as to what to fill them with. All of us here love mexican food, but any sort of filling ideas (cheaper the better, of course, but anything will work) are appreciated.

Thanks!

Tags: agar-agar, ethnic food-mexican, quick-meals

I recently found an awesome deal on oranges (which I looooove) and ended up with about 20 more oranges than I know what to do with lol.

When looking for recipes, I keep finding orange zest instead of using the whole oranges.

So besides eating for a snack or just making orange juice, what are your favorite recipes that use whole oranges?

EDIT: I made a recipe for Orange Tea Bread from VWaV.. YUM! That only used about 3 though so I'll be using some of the other ideas. Thanks guys!

Tags: fruits-oranges

Hi all

I was just hoping for some recommendations. My and my partner's lives are currently very high stress, so energy and motivation to cook is hard to find. Does anyone have good quick and cheap meals for two? We've been eating way too much rice noodles, tofu and peanut sauce...(yummy... but need some variety!) more veggies would be good and it has to be wheat free.

Thank you for any help!

Tags: -allergies-gluten/wheat, grains(uncategorized), quick-meals, vegetables(uncategorized)
Current Mood: overwhelmed!

A close friend's parent is having brain surgery very soon. I was planning on making "mom and dad" something hearty and comforting and bringing it over before surgery, but it sounds like after will be more helpful to them.

SO I'm looking for tried and true, easy on the stomach, healthful, omni-friendly, freezable/thaw-able, one pot meal that I can deliver with love and "no brainer" instructions (ie: set to 350, 30 minutes).
Thanks!

Tags: comfort food, main dishes-casseroles, main dishes-stews

Sorry for another post so soon, folks!

Last year my holiday party was a Holiday/Snakes on a Plane Party. I cut tips off of toothpicks and inserted them into (vegan) gummi worms to make gummi snakes. It was pretty awesome. I want to do something similarly cool this year... this year's bad movie to go with the holidays is Cannibal the Musical. Does anyone have any amazing ideas of some kind of food product that would embody my party theme? If vegan marshmallows weren't so damned expensive I'd make little marshmallow snowmen... I don't want to make must snowmen shaped cookies, I'm thinking something a little more... 3-D. Doesn't have to be snowman related, I just enjoy that song. I thought about some sort of interactive making your own snowman thing, but I learned at my (vegan) sushi party that my friends are less interested in interactive food than I think they will be. :-P

Somewhat unrelated, but if you are interested, these are the things I'm baking/making so far:
Sugar Cookies
Pumpkin Oatmeal Cookies
Chocolate Dipped-Shortbread Stars
Almond Crescent Cookies
Ginger Snaps (with maple frosting, I think?)
Peppermint Patties

Also, I know that we are supposed to use informative subject lines, but I really couldn't think of one. If someone has a better idea for the subject line of this post I will gladly edit.

Tags: holiday food-christmas, holiday food-passover/jewish holidays, party foods &/or potlucks, theme parties

This will make about 7-10 sandwiches, depending on how much you use on one! Modified and improved from an old non-vegan recipe.

( Recipe here! )

Tags: -appliances-crockpot, beans-lentils, beans-split peas, sandwiches-not for packed lunches

Hey, all!

I'm getting ready for a holiday party next weekend and am desperately searching for a vegan sugar cookie recipe. The thing is, I know I HAVE one in this big pile of vegan cookbooks that I have, but I can't find it! I've for sure made some from a cookbook in the past, but my index seraching skillz are failing me. Anyone have any recommendations for sugar cookie recipes that are in a cookbook? I had myself convinced that the recipe I'm looking for is in Vegan with a Vengeance, but unless I'm really failing at book-operating tonight, it sure is not. :-P

I checked the tags, but most of the posts recommend recipes from the internets. There was one recipe from The Joy of Vegan Baking, but I don't have that book, and I found a bunch of reviews saying that the dough is too dry and crumbly anyway.

Of course if you have any recipes you think are amazing that aren't in a cookbook I'll accept them as well. :-)

Thanks!

Edited to add: Have any of you tried the Pumpkin Oatmeal Cookie recipe in Vegan with a Vengeance? I just came across it and am tempted by pumpkiny goodness...

Tags: desserts-cookies-oatmeal, desserts-cookies-pumpkin, desserts-cookies-sugar

I can't believe I didn't take pictures of last nights dinner. I think I perfected roast potatoes last night! (I made a whole roast dinner but the potatoes and the parsnips and the cranberry and port sauce were high points).

Roast potatoes have never been that appealing to me but last night I cut them smaller, perhaps 3 cm squared and boiled them in salted water for five minutes. After they were drained I shook them about in the sieve to *really* rough up the edges and covered them in olive oil, S&P and roasted them in a tray with thyme and garlic for an hour. The parsnips were also loads better because I blanched them until they were tender (and them in sunflower oil in stead of olive oil) and they went in with the potatoes. The roughing the edges of the potatoes made them so crispy. The cranberry sauce was:

450 g fresh cranberries
rind and juice 1 large orange
1 heaped teaspoon freshly grated root ginger or ½ level teaspoon ground ginger
75 g caster sugar
2-3 tablespoons port
and a cinnamon stick and cloves that I took out before serving. This was a Delia.

We had sage and onion stuffing balls, bread sauce (lovely, lovely bread sauce), broccoli, peas, carrots and onion gravy. Only thing that could have made it better would've been yorkshires.

Omni housemates really enjoyed it, I love it when the house eats together.

Tags: holiday food-christmas, sauces/gravies, vegetables-parsnips, vegetables-potatoes

I'm usually not someone who doesn't know what to make, but I'm kind of stuck and searching for ideas!

My yoga teacher training group is meeting at my house next week for study group and it's right after our advanced class so I'm going to have a bunch of hungry yogis on hand.

Many are veg, some are omni, I'm the only vegan.

Since we're doing this right after class (not to mention work!) I need something that can either be heat up quickly, made all day in our slow cooker, or something that is good cold.

I need something that is both healthy and totally totally delicious to show off veganism. Something colorful using seasonal produce (Washington, DC) would be great. It doesn't need to be easy, and could really be with any ingredient! I'm requesting that anyone coming bring a vegan dish if they're thinking of bringing a dish (they should all be practicing ahimsa (non-harming) anyway, sheesh!), but since I can't guarantee if any of those will be tasty, filling, or even existent, I want to make sure I have the bases covered just in case!

Thanks!

Tags: party foods &/or potlucks

I'm planning on using the Trader Joe's Soy Chorizo in a dish tonight, specifically a cheddar-squash bread pudding. Now, the end-result is NOT a vegan dish, but I figured if anyone knew how best to pre-cook the chorizo, it would be you guys.

I'm wondering if I should just saute it the way I do Lightlife's Gimme Lean stuff, or if there is a better way to make this into a more cooked bulk sausage texture, before I add it to the rest of my recipe.

Thanks so much guys!

What are your absolute favorite appetizers or hand-held foods? Bonus points if it's something I can make without a bunch of processed stuff.

Tags: appetizers, finger foods, hors d'ouvres
Current Mood: curious
Current Music: House Of Cards - Hurt

anyone have a good, fluffy, vanilla buttercream icing recipe? I've only made the one from vctow.. I used to like it but for some reason I don't like it as much anymore.

Tags: desserts-cakes-frostings

I made a rice/fresh salsa/black bean salad and I added too much lime juice. It is still edible, but is there anything I can add that will cut the lime tanginess?

If anyone is curious, here is the recipe (I just winged it):

Brown Rice
Black beans
Fresh Salsa (4 tomatoes, 1 green pepper, 1 jalepeno, 3 cloves garlic, 1 red onion, lime juice, cilantro, salt)

( recipe and strangely glare-y pic )

Tags: nuts-nut butters, stir-fry

For the past few days I haven't been able to eat any solid food without getting seriously nauseated. I came up with this soup to get some nourishment and it turned out so delicious, it's hard to keep from eating too much so I don't get sick!

Easy Smooth Root Vegetable & Lentil Soup

All measurements are approximate, because I never learn and write things down when I'm experimenting.

1 large or 2 small to medium russet potatoes (I suppose any kind will do, really)
1 medium onion
2 carrots
1 cup dry lentils
1/2 tsp dried basil
1/2 tsp dried marjoram
1/2 tsp dried thyme
1/2 to 1 tsp salt
1 quart (approx.) water

-Start water heating
-Rinse lentils, clean and dice vegetables (I left the skin on the potatoes)
-Add everything to water, bring to boil
-Reduce heat and simmer until vegetables are very tender
-Remove from heat and blend with an immersion blender, or in food processor/blender, until smooth
-Add salt/pepper to taste and enjoy!

Makes 6-8 servings, and is excellent reheated.

Tags: soups-lentil, soups-root vegetable

Hannukah is coming up and I just found out my husband’s aunt’s amazing latke recipe had not only butter in them but eggs as well. She originally assured me they were just potatoes and some spices so they were vegan but I think something got lost in the ‘vegan’ translation. So I feel kinda poisoned right now as I ate them the last two Hannukahs unknowingly.
So I wanted to try to bring my own vegan version this year. I was wondering if I could just use an egg replacer like Ener-G in her original recipe (obviously the butters easily replaced) and if anyones made latkes successfully like this or if I should just use one of the already vegan recipes out there. Hers were extremely tasty (unfortunately) so I’d like to stick as close to her original recipe as possible although if anyone else has any recipe recommendations that turned out great, I’d love them too! Thanks!

Tags: ethnic food-jewish, holiday food-passover/jewish holidays, substitutes-eggs-for pancakes/waffles

have you made any of the cookies from this book? i just got it (finally) and don't know where to start!

Hello, everyone!

Okay, so, this seems super simple, so I am sorry if there's been a similar entry in the past that I'm missing. What I need is easy meal ideas.

Now... there are tons of excellent easy recipes here, but even many of those are too complicated. The thing is, I'm sick (long story, but the important fact here is that it's constant and long-lasting), which is presenting a challenge; I need healthy meals, but preparing them is often too much. Every now and then I'll have enough energy to make a really good meal with lots of ingredients and cooking, but MOST of the time, anything that takes more than a few minutes and involves work like lots of slicing and dicing and preperation is... usually asking a lot.

SO.

I need help thinking up ideas! Another downside of being sick: brain fail!

Thanks in advance, guys. <3

Tags: -health-colds/flu, easy-recipes
Current Mood: exhausted