I just had my four widsom teeth ripped out of their sockets. Needless to say, my mouth is feeling a bit distressed and can only handle the softest of soft food and things that do not require chewing.

I have been on a diet of smoothies, soup, and homemade icecream.
I'm looking for some good suggestions on what else to make.

I've got lots of fruit, nuts, seeds, veggies. I just made almond milk, and watermelon juice.

So give me your ideas!!

thanks,

nadien

ps, some infamous smoothie recipes i really love right now that give me immesurable amounts of energy:

Green Tea Smoothie
2 tsp matcha
1/4 cup hot water
3/4 cup water
1-2 tbsp sweetener
1 cup almond milk
a few ice cubes (i use frozen mango cubes and melon cubes for flavor)

mix matcha with hot water first, stir up. throw all ingredients in blender. enjoy!

Chocolate Smoothie
1 frozen banana
2-3 tbsp raw cocoa powder
1 cup rice/almond milk
a drizzle of sweetener

blend. enjoy.

Avocado Wake up
1 ripe banana (frozen optional)
1 ripe baby avocado
some almond milk
sweetener
1 tbsp ground flax
4-6 ice cubes

mix ingredients, add more or less to suit taste buds. blend. enjoy!

Here's two curry recipes, one is chana masala (spicy chickpeas) and the other is creamy coconut and peanut spinach. I make these often as they are cheap, tasty, and reasonably healthy. The spinach curry is mild, while the chana is hot, they go nicely together with some rice and lime pickle for those who like their food really hot.

I don't have photos of the end result as last time I made this it was devoured in seconds.

Both these recipes make... uh... lots. Feed 5 easily, with leftovers.
( recipes )

Tags: beans-chickpeas/garbanzo-beans, ethnic food-indian, ethnic food-indian-curries, greens-spinach, main dishes-curries

Alright, so I know the rules to baking...measurements matter! But I have a dilemma. I'm trying to make pumpkin cheesecake. I have all the ingredients, but the vital 8 oz of "cream cheese" is not 8 oz. Someone used a bit of it to my dismay, and now I think I'm at around 7-6oz. D: Will I totally ruin the dessert if it's not exactly 8oz? Is there a way to make up for that ounce or 2 without ruining it? I feel like it would be okay, but I over worry things and if someone told me it's alright I'd feel better. lol I was going to buy another container, but the store I bought it from is sold out and there is nothing withing a 25 mile radius that would have it in supply (yeah, I checked).

Tags: desserts-cheesecakes

Have any of you seen the new Nasoya Silken Creations tofu? It comes in vanilla, chocolate, and strawberry flavor!

Anyway, so I bought a thing of the chocolate silken tofu since it was on sale for $2, but now I don't know what to do with it. The recipe on the back was for chocolate silk pie but I was hoping for something a little more creative. Other than smoothies, any thoughts on a tasty recipe?

ETA: I did see there was a post about the mori-nu kind back in June but it seems no one had really seen the stuff then. Fail. Recipes still welcome though!

Tags: desserts(uncategorized), desserts-puddings, tofu-silken

Hi all,

I've invited some friends over to watch the new Star Trek movie and generally geek out. In keeping with the theme, I've offered to serve futuristic food, like the kind you'd eat in Star Trek land. Finger foods or plated items are fine, makes no difference. Any ideas for futuristic / science-fictiony food I could serve, or cool ways to present "regular" food? Of course, in the future all food is vegan, but beyond that, what would you suggest? :)

Thanks in advance for your ideas!

Tags: -theme parties, party foods &/or potlucks

I just found out my grandparents are coming for Thanksgiving and my mom has asked me to make a dessert that my grandmother can eat since she has diabetes. It's my first time doing Thanksgiving for my family and it's going to be entirely vegan, so I really want to impress. I have a list of amazing desserts lined up that don't use refined sugar, but my mom told me that my grandmother can only have nutrasweet or other chemical sweeteners like that. I do not want to use a chemical sweetener so I would rather skip the sugar all together.

So.. anyone have any dessert recipes that do not use sugar or chemical sweetener? I know they exist since I've eaten them before, but finding a recipe is another story :(

Thanks in advance!

Edit:
Thanks for all the great comments. They all helped a lot. My friend ended up sending me her own recipe that has no added sugar: http://transmog.com.au/vegan_recipes/freier_zucker_karotte_kuchen
It uses dates as a sweetener, which should be fine since normally my mom normally makes some kind of fruit dessert.

Also- when I was in Japan, I had lots of macrobiotic desserts that had no sugar or sweeteners in them at all. I am determined to find recipes for these eventually and I want to post them on here when I do. I just didn't have the time today to try searching for Japanese recipes.

Tags: -health-diabetes, desserts-low sugar

Heyyy I picked up this grilled chipotle tofu on the hot bar... wondering if I can slap some breadcrumbs on it and deep fry it. Watcha think?

Tags: fried stuff

i have an allergy to garlic in any form, and to onion if its raw..... and being VERY new to Vegan cooking its sometimes hard for me to know when i can leave it out, what to substitute, etc.....
so
imagine my absolute delight when i found out that all the recipes in vegan Yum Yum, the book, or the blog, can have the garlic omitted without a second thought! Garlic is purely optional in all her Recipes.
just figured i would pass it on for anyone else who needed to know.

I picked up some of this Indian Coconut Curry fresh simmer sauce at Whole Foods and tonight made it into a tasty dish:

1 medium onion, sliced
1 Tbsp. canola oil
8 oz. tempeh
about 1/2 lb. cubed butternut squash
1 container simmer sauce plus 1 container water
about 1 lb. cubed yukon gold potatoes, cooked and drained

In a good-sized Dutch oven or other heavy pot, saute the onions in the oil until lightly brown. Add the cubed tempeh and saute until somewhat brown around the edges. Add the squash, sauce and water, using the water to rinse the last of the sauce out of the cup. Cover and simmer 20 minutes or until the squash is done. Add the potatoes at the last minute, stir gently to combine, and serve as is or over rice.

( Ugly picture here )

The sauce isn't cheap (I think it was $6.99), but it does make a good amount of food and goes well with ingredients that are cheap, and it's really delicious. A couple of their other flavors are vegan, and now I want to try them, also. This one says it's "medium" spicy, but I'd call it mild. There's really just a trace of heat in there, and I'm kind of a wuss when it comes to spice.

Tags: -product reviews(uncategorized), condiments-curry paste/chili paste, ethnic food-indian-curries, main dishes-curries, tempeh, vegetables-potatoes, vegetables-squash

I have skins from a butternut squash that I just peeled (raw) and am wondering whether they'd be a good addition to a homemade vegetable broth that would otherwise involve mushrooms, onion and celery. Anyone done it? Good idea/bad idea?

Tags: soups-broth, vegetables-squash

I've been reading a lot of recipes here including nutritional yeast. I don't really have these things here (I live in Israel) or at least, no product calling itself this. How important are nutritional yeast for a vegan diet/flavoring in recipes? Can I use other kinds of yeast when cooking?

Tags: -location-middle east, nutritional yeast

I'm after some help, suggestions & ideas. It's my first christmas as vegan, and since it's only my mother and I for xmas this year she's down with having a vegan spread. I'm just at a loss for ideas, I'm from Australia and it's summer so anything that doesn't require hours of baking would be amazing. I'm also after a baked cheese cake recipe that you would recommend I'm after something citrus or fruity. (I know I just contradicted myself but I prefer baked cheesecakes) thanks in advance :)

Tags: holiday food-christmas, seasonal recipes-summer
Current Mood: sick
Current Music: mest

My mom wants a cherry cobbler for Thanksgiving, and I need some help. I refuse to use the cherry pie filling stuff, cause it's got all kinds of ickies in it, and the rest of the meal is from scratch, so the cobbler should be too. So can I use frozen cherries, or jar cherries, or what? I tried looking online, but couldn't find any sites that I trusted. Do any of you have good recipes for me?


And on a helpful note, I made a really good stir-fry last night! I was at the supermarket, trying to figure out what I wanted, and the only thing in the entire store that sounded good was green peppers (excellent since I absolutely hated them before I went vegan). So I grabbed a couple, and then walked around to see what else was there. I saw some stir-fry noodles and it sounded perfect! So I grabbed some sugar snap peas, mini carrots, canned pineapple and some frozen broccoli and headed home! After doing some research on this lovely site, and I decided to do a coconut-peanut sauce. So I sauteed all the vegetables and for the sauce I mixed some heaping spoonfuls of peanut butter with some So Delicious coconut milk and some soy sauce (heated on the stove to melt the peanut butter). And the I served it over the noodles. It was delicious!!!

Tags: desserts-cobblers/crumbles, fruits-cherries, stir-fry

Hi everyone. My children and I are mostly vegetarian (I say "mostly" because my mom insists on feeding them meat when they're over her house. She thinks I'm harming them by not giving them any. Nothing I say helps.) I'm making the transition to raw vegan (been trying to do this for a while. I'm just so addicted to cooked foods!). I would like the kids to eventually be vegan too, though they don't have to be raw if they don't want to.

Mostly they're eating the same thing they were eating when we were an omni family with the exception of meat. I would like to make their diet more vegan if possible. Whole foods definitely a plus.

What are some of your favorite meals for kids? My children love peas, corn, carrots, celery, cucumber, and green beans. My daughter loves to try new things (she's 4) and she sometimes will eat the raw dishes I make. She also loves spinach, collard greens, and kale when they're in a salad. Sometimes she'll also eat yellow squash. My son won't touch most of the raw dishes though he is starting to like more veggies in his diet (he's 8). He seems addicted to bread and sugary foods and I worry about canidida with him. Sometimes they won't eat the veggies but usually they will. They also love pasta but I'm trying to move towards more whole foods, as I said. They both love nearly every type of fruit I've brought into the house (though neither is a big fan of kiwi or blackberries).

They eat fruits and veggies for snacks. This was in place even when we were omni.

This has been hard because neither really likes change much. That's why I haven't change their diet much, with the exception of eliminating meat. I'm looking to introducing one new meal a week to them and start from there.

Tags: -kid approved meals

I started off with this recipe, but tailored it to my needs a bit. It was amazing.

Ingredients

* 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
* 2 onions, minced
* 2 cloves garlic, minced
* 2 teaspoons fresh ginger root, finely chopped
* 6 whole cloves (I used 1.5tsp of ground clove instead)
* 2 (2 inch) sticks cinnamon, crushed (I used 2tsp ground cinnamon instead)
* 1 teaspoon ground cumin
* 1 teaspoon ground coriander
* salt
* 1 teaspoon cayenne pepper
* 1 teaspoon ground turmeric
* 2 (15 ounce) cans chickpeas
* 1 small can tomato paste
* 1/2 cup coconut milk
* 1 cup chopped fresh cilantro

Directions

Heat oil in a large frying pan or pot over medium heat, and fry onions until tender.

Stir in garlic, ginger, cloves, cinnamon, cumin, coriander, salt, cayenne, and turmeric. Cook for 1 minute over medium heat, stirring constantly.

Mix in chickpeas and their liquid.

Combine tomato paste and coconut milk in a bowl and add to pot.

Cook on medium-high heat, stirring til mixed. Put a lid on it and let it simmer for as long as you want. The longer, the better. Make sure to stir it regularly.

Stir in cilantro just before serving, reserving 1 tablespoon for garnish. I served this also with coconut chutney, toasted coconut, and sesame seeds.

Eat with rice or naan.

Tags: beans-chickpeas/garbanzo-beans, ethnic food-indian, ethnic food-indian-curries

Has anyone tried to make these before? Along with eggs, ingredients also originally call for deer antler.

Tags: desserts-cookies/biscuits, ethnic food-german, ethnic food-norwegian/scandinavian

Tomorrow, some friends and I are getting together for a Thanksgiving potluck (we get together once a week for dinner). I decided to make a 'magical loaf' and gravy. I wanted to make the gravy tonight since it takes almost two hours to make and I just don't have the time tomorrow. I got this recipe from Crescent Dragonwagon's Passionate Vegetarian and veganized it. I have to say, it smells disturbingly like the real thing which kinda weirded me out. Anyway, it tastes really good and I can't wait to put it over my loaf and other Thanksgiving fixins.

Tags: condiments-gravy

For Thanksgiving, my family asked me to make this cake they found in the paper. The recipe looks fine, but I want to veganize it so I can also enjoy some. I'm not exactly sure how to do that, since I've never really veganized anything before. I've always just followed a vegan recipe.



 

[I wasn't sure about tags. If you need to change them, please do.]

Tags: desserts-cakes-fruit, desserts-cakes-pumpkin, fruits-cranberry, holiday food-thanksgiving, substitutes-eggs-for cakes
Current Mood: curious

I was inspired by an earlier post about squash ravioli. I basically just threw together some things I had on hand and create this totally yummy squash dish.

The plate looks a little messy because I took a picture after I had already had my first helping. :-)

Tags: ethnic food-italian-pasta, vegetables-squash

Every year in the fall, the women in my family all get together on a Saturday to make tamales. Our "tamale day" is this upcoming Saturday, and rather than the usual cheese & chili variety, I was wondering if anyone knows of any other vegetarian or vegan friendly fillings. Cheese is ok but not necessary. Bonus if they are traditional fillings/recipes.

Thanks in advance!

I've been through the tags, and am considering making zaftigvegan's Happy Chicken Kiev, assuming I can find all the ingredients (not so easy in the rural south, let me tell ya).

I've never made seitan. In an urgent buying trip last month, I bought Vegan Planet as it was the cookbook most conducive to my reading style (what good is a book you won't read?). Money's tight, so I'll not be buying any books I can't gift until after the first of the year. VP has a basic seitan recipe that involves a lot of rinsing.

Seitan veterans, I ask you, would you recommend I try making plain seitan first to get a feel for it or should I jump head first into my goal recipe? Somewhere in the middle?

Any "how-to" or "how-not-to" suggestions also welcome.

Tags: seitan

Here's a Japanese-ish menu I made for a couple of pescatarian friends (one of whom is a professional chef) over the weekend. I had two menu options, one a more European one featuring a centerpiece of mushroom-potato cabbage rolls, but my friend requested soba so here is what I served.

• Nori Crisps
  
• Miso-glazed Sweet Potatoes with Toasted Black Sesame (recipe follows)
  
• Soba with Mushroom Dashi (from Mark Bittman's How to Cook Everything Vegetarian) and Scallions, topped with Parsnip and Broccoli Tempura
  
• Silken Peanut Butter-Chocolate Pie (or whatever it's called) from VwaV [This seems like an anomaly, but since it's tofu-based and actually tastes a lot like the black sesame ice cream I ate once at a Japanese restaurant I figured it would fit in. Plus it's a delicious vegan dessert and that's good enough for me. My guests had no complaints.]

They're not drinkers so we just stuck to sparkling water. If I'd had more time I would have gotten some green plum juice to go with it. Also, if I'd had more time I would have added a simple salad after the noodles. As it was the chopped scallions on the soba were the only fresh vegetable on the menu.

My friend the chef had good things to say about the miso sauce on the sweet potatoes and asked how I made it. Here's what I did (all measurements are approximate, as I was basically flying by the seat of my pants):

1. Boil 3 sweet potatoes (1-2 inch diameter) in their skins for 15-20 minutes. You should just be able to stick a fork into the center when they're done.
   
2. While they're cooking, toast about 2 tablespoons of black sesame seeds in a dry skillet for about 5 minutes, shaking often, until they start to smell good. Remove from heat and set aside. Then make the sauce: measure out 1/4 cup red miso into a medium bowl, thin with 1/4-1/3 cup boiling water, stir until smooth. Add approx. 2 tablespoons mirin and a teaspoon or two rice wine vinegar.
   
3. When sweet potatoes are finished cooking, drain and peel as soon as they are cool enough to handle, then cut into 1-inch chunks. Add miso sauce, mix gently (no need to be too thorough). Sprinkle generously with toasted black sesame seeds. Serve.

Tags: -menus, ethnic food-asian, ethnic food-japanese, vegetables-sweet potatoes/yams

I've been craving butternut squash ravioli, and I've decided to make some myself. I've been looking for a recipe for a savory butternut squash ravioli dish, but, honestly, I can't tell if a recipe is going to be good or not. If you could recommend your favorite butternut squash ravioli and sauce recipes, I would truly appreciate it!

I guess while I'm at it, recommendations for a cabbage dish?

Tags: ethnic food-italian-pasta, vegetables-cabbage

So here's a question: I always buy flours from bulk bins at Whole Foods or the local co-op... and I have recently discovered when I cleaned the pantry that I have a couple bags of flour that I can't identify. I oh-so-brilliantly labeled them with some kind of bin number rather than with what they are. I have reason to suspect at least one of these is vital wheat gluten....but it's possible both are, or maybe one is bread flour, or oat flour, or who knows what. I was dating a gluten-free fella so who knows what random flours I may have purchased during that time... it could also be chickpea flour.

Is there any way to tell these apart?? I thought maybe vital wheat gluten would be more... sticky or have that weird texture if I moistened a bit of it, but when I did that it didn't seem all that different than when I added a bit of water to some (clearly labeled) regular white flour. Maybe that means it's just plain old bread flour and not vital wheat gluten?

I hate to make a recipe of sausages or something assuming this is vital wheat gluten and then have it all not turn out... and if I try to make pizza crust with it and it turns out to be vital wheat gluten...gah. I just don't want to waste it. And they are rather large bags.

Ideas? How can I tell flours apart?

Tags: -buying in bulk, flours

I cannot express how good this recipe for Spicy Italian Sausages is. And adaptable - I'm thinking tomato and garlic, apple and sage, leek and faux cheese, etc. So incredibly easy (measure ingredients, chuck 'em in, stir for about a minute, make into links or patties). And when they've been refrigerated, the texture's just brilliant. Other Half just cycled in from work, tried one straight from the fridge and said, "Hey, this means we never have to buy sausages again!" And the recipe says it makes 8, but it makes 18 fair sized sausages. Prep time... under 10 minutes; cooking time 30 minutes steaming.

I am so impressed. Full (vegan) English breakfast tomorrow morning.

Recipe under the cut, my comments in italics:

( Go on, you know you want to look... )

Tags: -favorite-recipes, -health-high protein recipes, comfort food, seitan, substitutes-meat-burgers, substitutes-meat-sausage