vegancooking

Hash Brownies?

Fri, 10 Jul 2009 18:46:42 GMT

hi guys, i know this may be a bit odd and i know the moderators are pretty strict so apologies if i'm pissing anyone off with my deviant hippy ways...

but i want to make hash brownies or cookies... i know generally one melts the hash in butter as the fat will bring out the THC... i have a tub of earth balance and am wondering will it have the same effect?

should i just use more?

does anyone have a suggestion?

thanks to all my fellow stoners ;)

Japanese Mayonnaise

Fri, 10 Jul 2009 01:03:52 GMT

I've been lacto-vegetarian my whole life, and am now much closer to vegan (though I occasionally allow myself my slip-ups), so I don't really know what Japanese mayonnaise tastes like. Given how little I like the taste of egg, I'd rather keep it that way. However, I want to try making vegan sushi pizza, for which Japanese mayonnaise must be used. Have any of you experimented with this? Can anyone give me any tips on how I might approximate the flavour?

I use Spectrum brand canola-based eggless mayonnaise, although I wouldn't mind getting one of the tofu-based brands instead.

vegan, wheat-free camp food ideas?

Thu, 09 Jul 2009 13:35:58 GMT

I seem to be allergic to wheat and I've just cut it out of my diet this week. (Me=wheat-free n00b. Who already feels a zillion times better.) Cooking at home isn't hard so far, but I'll be camping twice this summer and I'm trying to come up with meal ideas. Beyond replacing pancakes with oatmeal, I'm drawing a blank. Gluten is fine. It's just wheat.

This is backpack camping, not car camping, so weight is an issue.

Any ideas? Or if you have other advice about living wheat-free, I'll take that, too! I'm going through the tags but I can use all the help I can get.

Ma-Po Tofu

Thu, 09 Jul 2009 06:35:36 GMT

I just made this for dinner and I thought I'd might share it with you all. (and shameless plugging for my new blog)

Ingredients:
2 dried shiitake mushrooms
1 package of soft tofu
1 cup veggie protein crumbles
soy sauce (or soy sauce alternative)
vegetable oil
water at hand
chinese chili hot sauce (optional)
scallions (optional)

1. Soak the dried shiitake mushrooms in hot water until soft.
2. Cut the tofu into cubes. (I used soft tofu in this case.)
3. Cut the scallions. Separate the whites and the greens.
4. Set pot on burner and turn on heat to high. Wait until the pot is dry and hot before adding a bit of oil to coat the bottom of the pan.
5. Add shiitake mushrooms and scallion whites. Stir-fry until mushrooms are lightly burnt. Add protein crumbles.
6. Add 1 spoon of soy-sauce (or 2 spoons of Bragg's). Add a bit of water to prevent the crumbles from drying out and burning. (This is also where you add the hot sauce if desired.) Stir.
7. Add the tofu and stir. Add water if needed to prevent from drying. Turn heat to medium. Close the lid and let it sit for about 30-45 seconds before stirring again.
8. Do a quick taste test. If too salty, add a few pinches of sugar. Stir and pour into bowl.
9. Quickly heat the scallion greens into the pot for about 30 seconds. Garnish the dish.

Recipe here: http://theveganabc.blogspot.com/2009/07/ma-po-tofu.html

Guacamole Salad

Thu, 09 Jul 2009 03:06:15 GMT

There's probably something similar floating around here but my friend's mother made this for me on the 4th. It was my first time having guacamole salad and it was delicious!

Ingredients:

1 pint grape tomatoes, halved
1 yellow bell pepper, seeded and 1/2-inch diced
1 (15-ounce) can black beans, rinsed and drained
1/2 cup small diced red onion
2 tablespoons minced jalapeno peppers, seeded (2 peppers)
1/2 teaspoon freshly grated lime zest
1/4 cup freshly squeezed lime juice (2 limes)
1/4 cup good olive oil
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1/2 teaspoon minced garlic
1/4 teaspoon ground cayenne pepper
2 ripe Hass avocados, seeded, peeled, and 1/2-inch diced

Directions:

Place the tomatoes, yellow pepper, black beans, red onion, jalapeno peppers, and lime zest in a large bowl. Whisk together the lime juice, olive oil, salt, black pepper, garlic, and cayenne pepper and pour over the vegetables. Toss well.

Just before you're ready to serve the salad, fold the avocados into the salad. Check the seasoning and serve at room temperature.

From http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/ina-garten/guacamole-salad-recipe/index.html Theres a picture there!

She made it without the cayenne and it still was tasty.

Creme Fraiche Substitute

Thu, 09 Jul 2009 02:28:48 GMT

Hi everyone!!

I found this recipe for peach pie and I'd really love to try it but Im not sure what the vegan equivalent of creme fraiche is since Ive never tried it before. Ive found a few substitutions online but I don't know how they'd hold up in terms of this recipe.
I have tofutti better than cream cheese and some blueberry soy delicious coconut yogurt, if either of those would be useful...

anyways here's the recipe for the pie, from http://delicioushouse.blogspot.com/2009/07/peach-pie-perfection-fresh-peach-pie.html
For the Filling
2 lbs (5-6 medium) yellow peaches, ripe (but not over-ripe) and in season
2 tablespoons sugar
pinch of salt
5 tablspoons créme fraiche (or sour cream in a pinch)

For the Streusal
1/4 cup powdered sugar
3 tablespoons quinoa flour (or all-purpose flour)
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
pinch of salt
1/4 cup cold butter, cut into pieces

1. Prepare your crust. Set aside. Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

2, Makes the streusal. Mix together powdered sugar, quinoa flour, baking powder, and salt. Using a fork, a pastry cutter, or your fingers, work cold butter into flour until pea sized chunks form. Store in fridge until ready for use.

3. Prepare peaches: pit and slice peaches. Toss in a medium bowl with sugar and salt.

4. Assemble the pie

Spread 2 tablespoons créme fraiche on the bottom of the crust. Sprinkle with 1/3 of the streusal.

Top with peaches (you can arrange them neatly or toss them in higledy piggledy. They'll taste good either way. Really. I promise.) Top with the other 3 tablespoons of créme fraiche...
and sprinkle with the remaining streusal.

5. Cook the pie in preheated oven for about 50 minutes, until the streusal is golden brown and the creme fraiche is bubbly. Let cool before serving, if you can wait.

Here is a possible sub I found:
1 cup Tofutti Cream Cheese (or other Vegan Cream Cheese)
2½ tbs almond, rice or soymilk
1 tsp of lemon or lime juice

OR
in a blender
3/4 cup vanilla (or unsweetened) soy milk
1 tablespoon lemon juice
blend for a minute and a half on high
mix well 1 cup of sunflower oil (or 1/4 almond and 3/4 sunflower oil) with 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract and a tablespoon maple syrup...add this mixture very slowly, in one thin stream, while still blending on high, and keep blending until it gets really thick. (it should get thick as you get to the end of the oil)

soy chai latteeeeeeeee cup-a-cakes!

Wed, 08 Jul 2009 17:41:56 GMT

WOW! is all i have to say. these were/are un-fucken-believable. the chai addiction gains strength, like some kind of careening juggernaut! NOM. repeat, nom.

this is liz my housemate expressing her distress at the disappearance of her cupcake & having to get up to replenish her plate. we are both home sick today & tea + cupcakes was just what the doctor ordered!

i got the recipe from post punk kitchen here but adjusted it a wee bit, as follows -->

Ingredients
1 cup vanilla soy milk
1/4 cup canola oil
2/3 cup silken tofu
3/4 cup brown sugar
1-1/3 cups wholegrain flour
1/3 cup chai latte powder [i plundered a bunch of this righteous stuff from the cafe i work in, as our stuff is vegan whereas a lot of the supermarket ones seem not to be... oh my goodnesss it is amazing]
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
pinch of ground white or black pepper

For topping:
chai latte powder
cinnamon
nuttelex [or other vegan marg]
water
[can't give zegact amounts, i really just mushed everything together til it looked/tasted good]

Directions
Preheat oven to approx 200 degrees celsius. Line cupcake dish with pattypans if you have a muffin dish thingo, or, if you are pov like me, put pattypans on a flat baking tray :)

In a large bowl wisk together oil, tofu, sugar & soy milk until all lumps disappear. Sift flour, baking powder, salt, cinnamon, chai powder and pepper into wet ingredients. Mix until large lumps disappear; some small lumps are okay. Fill tins full and bake about 20 to 22 minutes until a sharp knife inserted comes out clean.

Make sure cupcakes are completely cooled before adding topping. Moosh topping together & uh, top! Add nuts [i used walnuts] or any other things you have lying around as decoration. Enjoy!!

Sticky Date Pudding

Wed, 08 Jul 2009 08:34:28 GMT

Does anyone have a recipe for Sticky Date Pudding?

I haven't had it in years, and someone suggested I cook it this weekend. Hopefully it turns out wonderfully (and photogenic).

soy free earth balance

Tue, 07 Jul 2009 20:04:38 GMT

Anyone know where I might be able to find this in Canada? I'm in BC for what it's worth. I can't eat soy so the regular earth balance is out. Luckily this is not a staple in my diet but every once in awhile I need it for something.

Thank you.

Chickpeas? Black Beans?

Tue, 07 Jul 2009 20:04:26 GMT

Hey guys,

I have a BUNCH of cans of chickpeas, some "fresh" tomatoes that are almost going bad, onions, garlic, left over whole wheat buns and some quinoa and wheat meat. (A la seitan o greatness). I also have some cans of black beans and red kidney beans.

I have NO IDEA what to make for dinner tonight using those ingredients. Can anyone give me any ideas. Even if I didn't mention a specific ingredient (BBQ sauce? Tomato sauce?) please feel free to give me any recipes that you've used!

I was hoping to make the PPK's snobby joe's but I don't have any lentils. Could black beans be substituted do you think?

Thanks!

Pancakes please :)

Tue, 07 Jul 2009 11:15:20 GMT

Hi - I am a new vegan and am simultaneously trying to feed three children (who are mostly veggie) and a meat eating husband.

I need a pancake recipe, I use rice milk and we have no wheat allergies, but a plain pancake but also an oaty pancake recipe would be very much appreciated.

Thank you

Cookie Sandwich filling

Tue, 07 Jul 2009 05:09:28 GMT

I'm planning on making cookie sandwiches for my friend's birthday. I'm going to make the sparkled ginger cookies from VWAV, but I'm at a loss as to what I should put on the inside. Any ideas/recipes? I've got something thick and a little tacky in mind, something white, with a flavor that would compliment the ginger and other spices of the cookies. I feel like regular frosting would be too thin and whispy. Thanks!

Hors d'oeuvre ideas

Mon, 06 Jul 2009 10:55:06 GMT

I am throwing a bday party this weekend for my roommate and I need some hors d'oeuvre ideas. I haven't got a big budget and the crowd will be mostly omni (including the birthday boy), with a few vegans and vegetarians. I want to make sure there are plenty of veg options that our omni friends will eat too. The last thing i need are a ton of leftovers!
I need recipes that are cheap, simple, and classiness is a definite plus.
any ideas?

cheesecake?

Mon, 06 Jul 2009 06:28:45 GMT

You guys always have the best recipes. Do any of you have a cheesecake recipe that even omni cheesecake lovers will enjoy?

I asked someone to pick up some tofu for me and he bought a ton of mori nu silken tofus. i need to do something with all these. Everyone here wants cheesecake so HELP PLEASE. :)

Vegan Barbeque

Mon, 06 Jul 2009 00:51:03 GMT

I am cleaning out my mother's refrigerator and in the process looking for some vegan friendly staples to help in my cooking while I am here. For some reason, she has a God awful amount of BBQ sauce. I'm talking, five or six bottles. She's not veg, but is totally down with anything I cook. My question is... What can I whip up with some BBQ sauce?? Any ideas will be helpful, since someones gotta use this stuff up. Thanks so much in advance.

Nutritional Yeast

Mon, 06 Jul 2009 00:50:10 GMT

Hi everyone,

I live in Paris at the moment and was wondering whether anyone here would happen to know the french word for nutritional yeast? I think it's silly to wait till I'm in London each time just because I don't know the word to look out for in shops here :)

cheers..

Crossposted in ukvegans

gluten free banana bread

Sun, 05 Jul 2009 17:38:03 GMT

Thanks to everyone who helped me with my breakfast issue : ) I ended up finding some gluten free flour in my pantry and made this:

Banana Bread with almost nothing in it

1/4 peanut butter
1/2 cup sugar
2 mashed banana
1/4 water
1 1/4 cup gluten free flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda

Preheat oven to 350. Cream together the sugar and peanut butter. Add the mashed banana and water. Add flour, soda, and baking powder. Pour into oiled muffin pans or a glass loaf pan. I baked the muffins for 20 minutes and the bread for a little longer. The recipe made six small muffins with some batter left, so I put that in a bread pan.

It turned out OK, and most importantly Aiden liked it : ) But it was a bit crumbly, like lots of gluten free food.

Campfire corn

Sun, 05 Jul 2009 04:08:12 GMT

It's really easy to cook corn over a campfire, if you have a fire pit with metal grating. Wait until the flames aren't quite reaching the grating, put corn (with husk still on) on grating, turn a few times as the husks start to scorch. The corn inside is cooked and super yummy even without margarine or salt.

Help! Gluten free, soy free, dairy free breakfast...

Sun, 05 Jul 2009 00:55:27 GMT

I have company coming over for breakfast. I just ran out to the store to pick up a few things and forgot they were closing early. One of the kids coming over can't have gluten, dairy or soy. I was planning on picking up a mix and making him banana bread or something. Everyone else is having pancakes, fresh berries and whipped cream. I don't want him to feel left out, but I am so stuck. I only have normal ingredients in my pantry. I could make him scrambled eggs and potatoes, but I really want to make him something fun. Help!

Vegan on the road article?

Sat, 04 Jul 2009 22:47:30 GMT

Hi everybody, I'm looking for a fellow vegan or vegans to write a short (could be very very short!) article style thing on vegan travel food. Safe dishes you can order in mainstream restaurants, stuff to pack, tips, anything. Road trips/biking/trains/planes/how-to/recipes. I am putting together a zine with the theme of "transportation" and I want to get some vegan perspective in there, too. I am already going to do a bit on the Vegan Bus as well.

Anyone interested, please comment here or e-mail leannleake@gmail.com
All contributors get two copies of the zine. If you made a post on this topic previously a reprint would be cool also.

Broccoli Cream Soup and Chocolate Sweet Potato Pie recipes

Thu, 02 Jul 2009 17:15:27 GMT

Hello All,

I just joined the community, and just restarted the vegan lifestyle. I was last summer, then utterly wasn't, then vegetarian (but eating fish), then I went to China and, my god, there was no paradigm, and now I'm back to vegan. Anyway, I wanted to share with you what I've been cooking, since I just improvise, and if it turns out well, I try to repeat the results.

Chopped garlic (I used minced garlic I have in a jar)
Olive oil (1-2 tablespoons... I didn't measure... well, anything)
One leek, chopped
Three Yukon gold potatoes, cut into about 1/2 inch chunks
About 3 tbsp nutritional yeast (optional - but I think it rounds out a cheesy/creamy flavor)
One zucchini, sliced/chopped in some fashion
One head of broccoli
About 8 cups of water or so (depends on how big your soup pot is and how thick you want it - mine turned out pretty darn close to what I wanted)
One vegetable bullion
Salt, pepper, and seasoning to taste

Okay, the process

In the soup pot heat some olive oil
When it's good and warm, thrown in about 1-2 tablespoons of garlic and the leek pieces. Sweat them, not sautee. If you hear sizzling, it's too hot!
After they've sweated, and the leeks seem more transparent, and there's a good aroma, go ahead and add water and your bullion.
I added enough water to come up about 2/3 of the pot, and I can't tell you what volume the pot is because I'm not a fan of measuring. But, remember, it can't be full because potatoes take up room!
After the water heats up, and when you get a low boil, add the chopped potatoes, and this is when I added the nutritional yeast, if you want to do it.
After the water comes back up to a low boil let it sit a bit, til the potatoes are getting soft, but not falling apart yet. Then add the zucchini, and let it come back to a boil.
Chop up the head of broccoli however you want to - nothing needs to be pretty because it's all gonna get stick-blender-ed anyway.
When the zucchini gets softer, and at this point, the potatoes should be at falling apart level, add the broccoli, and let that cook until it gets soft enough to be tender. For me, this is just after the broccoli transitions from "bright green" to "muted green"
Once you're at that level, turn the heat off or low and make sure it's not at a boil. Then, take your stick blender and start getting everything all kinds of chopped up. The broccoli was a bit of a pain to blend because it had this nasty habit of floating, but then it was all good.
At this point, I added a bit of salt (didn't need to add too much due to the bullion), some fresh ground pepper, and some salt-free herb blend, to taste. You can add these at any point, I suppose, but I wanted to test the flavor after all the veggies were blended.

This made a HUGE pot, and I had a serving last night, have one at work today, and have 6 more in my freezer!

1 pre-made vegan pie crust from the freezer section, or make your own if you are ambitious. I am not.
1 packaged soft silken tofu - drain liquid off, and press a little more out of it if you want. I set it between towels with a bag of coffee on top for about 5 minutes to wick off a bit more of the liquid, but it'd be fine without doing that, too.
1 cup chilled/cool baked sweet potato (I guess they're technically yams if they're orange, but either way - to bake it, just wrap it in foil and set it in a baking dish until it's done.. about an hour? I put them in a dish because they leak sometimes)
About 1-2 tablespoons of brown sugar
About 1 teaspoon of vanilla extract (I don't measure)
[note - I am out of vanilla extract, so I used some vanilla-flavored syrup and cut back on how much sugar I would have used]
Roughly 3 tablespoons of cocoa powder (I think I used too much, at about 4-5, and it turned out SUPER cocoa-y)

In your food processor, dump in your sweet potato (not the skin), the cocoa, etc, etc, etc, essentially everything except the pie crust. I put the cocoa in before most other stuff so it wouldn't create a dust cloud when I started to process it.
Blend it until smooth and you can't distinguish any bits of sweet potato or tofu. About 1-2 minutes. It was the consistency of chocolate pudding, and actually, just like that, it would have been a GREAT pudding (I know I licked the spoon when I was done!)
Transfer contents of food processor to pie crust and bake about 45-60 minutes at 350. When it was done for me, the crust had browned nicely, and the filling had "set" somewhat - it looked darker, and a couple cracks had appeared in it. It could have spent more or less time in and been just fine.

I let it cool on the stove for about an hour, and then chill for two in the fridge. It made a really nice consistency in the end, and was like a rich chocolate mousse. I was a bit disappointed I couldn't taste more of the sweet potato, but I think that's because I overdid it on the cocoa.

I'd be happy to post more recipes that I create/augment - I'm a big fan of experimentation, and I love reading all the ideas you all have posted so far.

Thanks!

seitan o greatness and Vegan Vittles

Thu, 02 Jul 2009 15:38:11 GMT

Anyone else notice that the seitan o greatness recipe that is floating around is almost exactly the same as the Vegan Vittles recipe? I couldn't get to my computer (the kids were hogging it), so I started flipping through books for a recipe, and they were the same.

Anyway, I made seitan with Penzey's Breakfast Sausage seasoning. Let you all know how it comes out : )

Mod Post

Wed, 01 Jul 2009 02:19:21 GMT

Hi everyone.

This is just a friendly reminder to all of you to please tag your entries. I know it may be a little difficult to tag at the time of posting, but once it's up, you can edit the tags. And anyone can do this, so if you see a post that you think needs a certain tag, please add it.

The mods have been trying to do this, but it would be great if we could get a little help from you guys.

We want the entries to be easily found.

Also, please remember to check the tags before posting. We've got a gazillion entries in here, which can often solve your queries.

Thanks guys.

Oh, and please don't use more than 4 tags on a post. :)

raw buckwheat groats...what to do with them?

Tue, 30 Jun 2009 14:11:29 GMT

Hi guys! So, I have some miscellaneous ingredients lying around that I got who-knows-when, and I don't know what to do with them. One is raw buckwheat groats. All of the recipes I've found call for roasted ones or kasha (which is roasted, right?) Is there anything I can do with the raw ones? How do you cook them? And if they DO have to be roasted, is roasting something I can do myself in the oven?

I also have a jar of coconut oil. Any ideas for that? I'm always unsure about cooking with it since it will probably make things taste...coconutty.

aioli!

Mon, 29 Jun 2009 00:49:59 GMT

I have a jar of vegan aioli--which is kinda like a garlicky mayonnaise.

Besides dipping raw veggies in it or using it as dressing, any ideas of what to do with it?