Savory Acorn Squash Bread Pudding

Without further ado: Get ready to have your taste buds blown. Yes, this is a fairly simple recipe. But it’s that delicious. I adapted this recipe from a blog with a rad sounding name (Sounding My Barbaric Gulp!), and I think it would be equally as good with say a butternut or other hard squash. Onto the recipe!

Ingredients:

• 6 cups artisan bread, cut into 1-inch cubes
• 2 small acorn squash, seeded, peeled and chopped into 1-inch chunks
• 8 oz. vegan Italian sausage, cut into bite-sized pieces and browned
• 2 medium yellow onions, halved and thinly sliced
• 1 bunch of Lacinato kale, finley chopped
• 3 “eggs” (made from powdered replacer)
• 2 cups plain non-dairy milk (I used a rich brand of almond but soy would work equally well. Just make sure it’s plain, not vanilla.)
• 1 cup shredded vegan cheddar cheese+some for sprinkling (I love Daiya)
• 1 tbsp. dried oregano
• Salt and pepper to taste
• Olive oil (for pans)

Instructions:

1. Roast those squash! Arrange your diced squash on a baking sheet in a single layer. Sprinkle with olive oil. Grind a little salt and pepper on top, toss to coat. Roast for 35 minutes at 400 degrees.

2. Thinly coat the bottom of a large cast iron skillet with olive oil. Warm over medium-low heat. Add sliced onions. Stir occasionally until caramelized – about 25 minutes. Once cooked, remove from oven and set aside.

3. While your onions are cooking, place your bread cubes in as large a bowl as you can find.

4. After your onions have reached a nice dark golden brown, put into a separate bowl to cool.

5. Rewarm skillet over medium heat, add a little more olive oil and add your chopped “sausage.” Cook until browned – about 5-7 minutes. Remove from skillet and add to the bowl with the onions.

6. Re-warm same skillet over medium heat. Add a splash of water and cook kale until wilted – about 5-7 minutes.

7. Turn oven to 350 degrees. Add cooked squash, “sausage,” kale, 1 cup of shredded “cheese”, oregano and s&p to taste to the bread cubes in your large bowl. Stir well to incorporate.

8. Add “egg” mix to non-dairy milk and whisk to combine. Pour into bowl over bread mixture. Stir well to coat (about 2 minutes). Taste and add more salt and pepper if need be.

9. Pour mix into a 9×12 baking pan. Once pudding mix is in the pan, sprinkle with additional “cheddar.”

10. Bake uncovered at 350 degrees for 45 minutes. Let cool slightly and dig in!

Chickpea and Shiitake Mushrooms with Tahini Sauce

I’ve been alone for the past week, as Lucio’s been driving all over the Pacific Northwest with his younger brother, checking out schools. I’ve thankfully only had one job going on during this time, leaving me lots of time to make sure my dog beasts get exercised, and to create good food for myself. I have no problem surviving on popcorn and peas (and believe me, I had it at least twice this week), but on Thursday night I wanted something with a little more substance and nutritional value.

This is one of those “what do I have in the fridge” meals, and I feel could easily be adapted using a different green, type of potato, mushroom or bean. The tahini sauce and mashed potatoes are really what make this meal memorable.

Serves 4

Ingredients

For the meal:

• 1 pound of fingerling potatoes, cut in half
• 1 head of romaine lettuce, washed and chopped
• 1 tbsp. olive oil
• 3 cups of sliced shiitake mushrooms
• 2 cups cooked chickpeas, or one 15 oz. can
• your favorite non-dairy milk, “butter” (I like Earth Balance) and S&P to taste

For the sauce (adapted from La Dolce Vegan):

• 1 small onion, roughly chopped
• 3 garlic cloves, roughly chopped
• 1 tbsp sesame oil
• 1/4 cup lemon juice
• 3 tbsp. tamari or soy sauce
• 1/3 cup tahini
• 1 tbsp. maple syrup
• 3/4 cup vegetable broth
• 1/4 cup water combined with 2 tbsp. cornstarch or arrowroot

Instructions:

1. Prepare a pot of salted water over high heat. Once boiling, add potatoes and cook until easily pierced with a folk. Drain and return to pot. Mash cooked potatoes with non-dairy milk, Earth Balance and salt and pepper to taste.
2. Meanwhile, make the sauce. Saute onions and garlic on sesame oil in a small sauce pot over medium heat until translucent.
3. Blend onions and garlic in blender with everything from lemon juice through vegetable broth. Blend until smooth.
4. In same small sauce pot, warm blended sauce over medium/low heat. In a small bowl, whisk 1/4 cup water with 2 tbsp. cornstarch. Pour cornstarch mixture into sauce. Stir often, letting sauce thicken, for about 10 minutes.
5. In a skillet, heat olive oil over medium heat. Add mushrooms and cook until soft, 8-10 minutes. Add chickpeas and cook until warm.
6. Divide chopped romaine evenly among 4 bowls. Add some mashed potatoes, add the mushroom/chickpea mixture, and drizzle warm tahini sauce on top.

Miso Soup: Simply

Amid beer and whiskey creeping their way back into my life after finishing my second marathon this month, I knew last night that I wanted to have a light, healthy and comforting dinner. My mom turned me on to this beautiful website 101 Cookbooks (her photography is lovely), and she has over 130 vegan recipes that she’s tried. I’ve been wanting to try out one of these recipes since I discovered the blog, and when I came across the recipe for Miso Soup, I was sold.

I’ve mostly worked with miso paste when making my tried-and-true “sickie” soup Chickpea Noodle Soup (a la Veganomicon), so I was excited for a chance to try a new paste variety. I’ve used and loved brown rice miso in the paste, because it has this fantastic, fermented, almost earthy flavor. I wanted something a little lighter yesterday, and went with organic “mellow” white miso.

For vegetable additions, I went with: carrots, green onion, porcini mushrooms, alfalfa sprouts and spinach. Hearty yet light, and feels like a kick of health straight to the booty.  If you’re feeding more than one person for more than one meal, I recommend doubling the recipe. Enjoy!

Miso Soup

(Recipe courtesy of 101 Cookbooks)

Ingredients:

• 3 ounces dried soba noodles
• 2 – 4 tablespoons miso paste (to taste)
• 2 – 3 ounces firm tofu (2 handfuls), chopped into 1/3-inch cubes
• a handful of watercress or spinach, well washed and stems trimmed
• 2 green onions, tops removed thinly sliced
• a small handful of cilantro
• a pinch of red pepper flakes

Instructions:

1. Cook the soba noodles in salted water, drain, run cold water over the noodles to stop them from cooking, shake off any excess water and set aside.
2. In a medium sauce pan bring 4 cups of water to a boil. Reduce the heat to a gentle simmer and remove from heat. Pour a bit of the hot water into a small bowl and whisk in the miso paste – so it thins out a bit (this step is to avoid clumping). Stir this back into the pot. Taste, and then add more (the same way) a bit at a time until it is to your liking. Also, some miso pastes are less-salty than others, so you may need to add a bit of salt here. Add the tofu, remove from the heat, and let it sit for just a minute or so.
3. Split the noodles between two (or three) bowls, and pour the miso broth and tofu over them. Add some watercress, green onions, cilantro, and red pepper flakes to each bowl and enjoy.

 

Official Recipe Tester!

If you’ve figured out anything about me by now, it’s that I love vegan cooking. I know people who eat meat and dairy can get stumped by the whole “what do vegans eat, anyway?” question so I love working creatively with plant-based ingredients to come up with something that makes people say, simply, “wow.”

I am also an editor by nature, and I like picking things apart to see what’s not working. Combine that with cooking and you get being a recipe tester! I’m very excited to have been chosen to assist Denise Balcavage, author of “Urban Vegan“, with her up-coming cookbook (along with some other folks) and test her delicious new recipes. I’m averaging about 2-4 recipes per week, and am shooting to get at least 25 tested by the time her deadlines rolls around. Frustratingly, my nice camera’s USB card reader is broken, and until I get a new one, the pictures I’m shooting will remain on my chip 😦 But, I’m hopeful the comments I’m gathering and providing are proving useful and informative.

I’d love to write a cookbook of my own someday. It’s interesting to look at the vegan cookbook market and see what’s been done already. To me, it doesn’t seem that there are many family-friendly vegan cookbooks out there currently, and I wonder how many of those available focus on locality and seasonality. I’m no saint in this department by any means, but I really try and focus on working with local, seasonal produce. Anyway…maybe L and I will put our heads together someday and pitch an awesome family vegan cookbook to a great publisher.

For now, I’m enjoying contributing to the success of someone else’s cookbook! Thus far, I’ve tested:

Clementine-Sweet Potato Halwah

I was excited about this one, because I had a ton of sweet potatoes on hand. Unfortunately, my smaller food processor was being a huge pain in the arse and wouldn’t grate the sweet potatoes, so I ended up doing it by hand with what’s really meant to be a microplane grater. Whew. A huge undertaking. I was also making this while creating some Portuguese soup recipe of my own, so it felt like it took forever. I wouldn’t attempt to make it again without a properly functioning food processor or at least a huge box grater and some Popeye arms. The actual recipe, grating aside, was pretty simple, but my clementines were also being lame, and they simply did not want to yield their grated peel. Jerks. Where I wish I’d done things differently was the nutritional yeast on top (though it’s called for). The majority of flavors in this dish are very sweet and spicy (in the way that cloves are spicy), and the nutritional yeast and maple syrup on top brought out a lot of contrasting flavors, and not in a good way. I’ve come around to like the dish ok (especially topped with some homemade mango chutney) but I would make it again sans nut yeast on top.

Enlightened Guacamole

I loved this recipe, and as I noted on Facebook, making it with frozen peas reminded me of how much I love peas. I cook mine and then dump generous hot sauce and nutritional yeast on them. Heaven. But I digress. This was a really easy twist on traditional , avocado based guacamole, and I thought it was a great recipe. With a few clarifications in the recipe, this is an ideal dip or spread for any occasion. Not to mention healthy and delicious. And did I already say it had peas in it? Peas. Yum.

Tanzanian Curried Chickpea Banana Soup

I’m a huge soup person. When I’m stumped about what to make for dinner, I just look at what I have on hand and imagine it simmering in some veggie broth with spices and BOOM! there’s my new recipe/dinner concoction. Ask L: Soup’s just my go-to thing, and I’m not ashamed to admit it. I’ve tried soups of all shapes and sizes, and even tried one with plantains, but never one with bananas. I wasn’t skeptical-I was intrigued. And I wasn’t disappointed. The flavors are wonderful, and the bananas are a sweet contrast to the curry and red pepper flakes. I would love to see it bulked up a little bit (I also admit that I tend toward liking more stew-y and thick soups) by adding another can of chickpeas. Lucio baked up some easy flatbread, which he makes with pizza dough, and with the bread and a porter, the meal was lovely.

Baklava

I can’t officially speak to this one yet, because a-I literally had nothing to do with it and b-I’ve only seen how beautifully it came out of the oven. It’s still cooling. My ambitious and bake-loving boo made his own filo dough, so the recipe took awhile, and he ended up putting the filo in diamonds on top of the baklava. That combined with the pistachios in three lines across the dish made for beautiful presentation. Smelling it smells more strongly of rose water than I remember in past baklavas, but I can’t wait to have a taste. (checks watch impatiently). *note: I tasted it. And omg. Just as delicious as it is beautiful. You can definitely taste the rose water, but it’s not overpowering. The nutty goodness makes me want to make sure we give plenty away to coworkers so it all doesn’t end up padding my already-round belly.*

I look forward to putting more test recipes under my belt and into my belly this week!

Mushroom Bread Pudding

Once upon a time, a young girl grew up hating mushrooms with all of her heart and soul. She thought their texture was rubbery and creepy, and that they tasted like they smelled-like farts. Fast forward some odd years, and at the age of 28, this same woman now has a much greater love and appreciation for these fungal friends.

Mushroom hunting, specifically for the highly sought-after chanterelles, is very popular up here on the North Coast. A friend of a friend was kind enough to share some of his chanterelle haul, so we wanted to make the best of the gift and create a delicious masterpiece. That said, this meal would probably be a little more costly if we weren’t working with some free mushrooms. While I loved having the chanterelles in the recipe, they did get a little lost among the other mushrooms, so this recipe could easily be as delicious with just two varieties of more affordable fungi, like cremini and shitake.

I am supremely spoiled and did get to use a loaf of Lucio’s freshly baked sourdough bread, but I’m sure any bread would be great here.

Mushroom Bread Pudding

Adapted from Kitchen Konfidence

Ingredients:

• 4 cups fresh bread cubes (1 inch cubes)
• 1/2 pound fresh chanterelle mushrooms
• ¼ pound fresh cremini mushrooms, stems trimmed
• ¼ pound fresh shiitake mushrooms, stems trimmed
• ½ cup finely chopped shallot
• 2 tablespoons Earth Balance
• Kosher salt
• Freshly ground black pepper
• ½ cup finely chopped Italian flat-leaf parsley
• 3 garlic gloves, finely chopped
• 1 1/4 cups vegan creamer
• 1 cup silken tofu
• 1/4 cup homemade vegan Parmesan cheese (recipe below)+extra to sprinkle on top
• Whole Italian flat-leaf parsley leaves, for garnish

Preheat oven to 350°F.  Place a rack in the middle of the oven.

Spread bread cubes in an even layer on a rimmed baking sheet.  Bake until golden-brown (about 20 minutes).

Chop cremini and shiitake mushrooms into ¼ inch thick pieces.  Tear the chanterelle mushrooms into similar sized pieces.

Warm butter in a 12-inch heavy skillet over medium heat.  Add shallot and cook, stirring occasionally, until they start to soften (about 3 minutes). Add mushrooms, ½ teaspoon kosher salt and ¼ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper.  The mushrooms will give off a lot of liquid.  Cook the mixture until all of the liquid has evaporated (about 15 – 17 minutes).  Add parsley and garlic and continue cooking for an additional 2 minutes, stirring occasionally (don’t let the mushrooms start sticking to the bottom).  Remove from the heat.

Meanwhile, while the mushrooms are cooking, make your “cheese.” In a food processor, combine 1 cup Brazil nuts, 1 teaspoon of chopped garlic and 1/2 teaspoon of salt. Process until fluffy. Recipe courtesy of Cafe Gratitude’s book “I Am Grateful.”

Preheat oven to 350, if you turned it off earlier. In a large bowl, whisk the tofu until smooth. Add in vegan creamer, 1/4 cup Brazil nut cheese  salt and 1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper and whisk until combined. Stir in the mushroom mixture and bread cubes.  Fold gently until the bread cubes are well coated.  Let stand for 10 minutes.

While waiting, lightly butter (aka Earth Balance) a 9 x 13 baking dish.

Spread the mushroom-bread mixture evenly into the buttered baking dish and bake until firm and golden brown (about 45 minutes).

Spoon a serving into a small bowl and garnish with parsley leaves.

Makes 8 servings.

Dig in and enjoy!

If you’re curious, we served this with a simple arugula salad. The dressing was just olive oil, lemon juice and salt. It was the perfect accompaniment to the bread pudding.

Also, if you’re curious about Lucio’s sourdough recipe, he usually uses this one.

Big ups to the best cooking buddy ever.

Mi amor cocinar

Vegan Thanksgiving Tips

Stuffed Seitan Roast

It’s almost that magical time of year again, when family and friends gather together to honor a bunch of white folks and Wampanoag Indians getting together and devouring bountiful food. Just like is still customary today, the original Thanksgiving attendees were noshing on a whole bunch of meat: venison and wild fowl to name a few. When you’re vegan, obviously meat isn’t a part of the game plan.

I have had the great fortune of being a part of an all vegetarian/vegan Thanksgiving, and I’ve also been to a few non-vegan Thanksgivings over the past few years as well. In either situation, some thoughtful planning and action is required to make a Thanksgiving meal that doesn’t revolve around a giant hulking bird carcass. Many thanks to my Twitter friend @veganyogini who inspired this post of vegan Thanksgiving tips!

When Attending a Traditional (aka non-vegan) Thanksgiving

1. Communicate with your host. Don’t expect them to make something special for you, but get in touch with them, let them know you’re vegan and ask if they minded if you contributed a dish or two.
2. Try and bring at least two dishes, seriously. They might be the only things you can eat.
3. At dinner, if things look like they might not contain animal products, don’t be shy about asking who made the dish. Most cooks love talking about what they made, so find out why made that gorgeous salad and get the scoop on its ingredients.
4. Be mentally prepared for lots of questions. If you’re eating with a familiar group, they might not give your half naked plate a second glance, but folks who aren’t familiar with your eating choices might start peppering you with the all-too-familiar questions for vegans. “So what DO you eat?” This might be annoying, but be gracious. You might just open up some minds.
5. Bring your own booze. Wines and beers may seem harmless, but many are cask conditioned (read: fish oil) or contain other non-vegan ingredients. I highly recommend checking out Barnivore-they have a very extensive list of vegan and non-vegan beers and wine, including their communications with the various companies.

Planning Your Own Vegan Thanksgiving

1. Do your homework! There are countless vegan Thanksgiving recipes out there. Start planning your recipes now. You can browse vegan recipes sites and build your own menu, or you can work from some of the set menus out there. For example, I cooked mainly from Robin Robertson’s Thanksgiving menu last year, and this year I’m really excited about picking up a Vegetarian Times to read Bryant Terry’s recipes from last year. If you Google “vegan Thanksgiving recipes,” there is a smorgasboard of information out there.
2. Collaborate. My rad friend Sarah hosted our all vegan/vegetarian Thanksgiving a couple of years ago (miss you terribly!), and she and I were in communication right up to before I left the house and who was making and brining what. We still had a few blips, but knowing what the other was up to was key.
3. Delegate. If you’re hosting, don’t by shy about putting people to work when they arrive. You can’t expect to pull of a big Thanksgiving meal all by yourself. Well, you probably can, but it might be a lot of work and unnecessary stress.
4. Poll your guests. Even though you’re creating a vegan meal, you might have people coming who have gluten or wheat allergies. Ask ahead of time, and try and make dishes to accommodate their special needs. Any time I’ve gone somewhere and a host has gone out of their way to prepare something vegan for me, it really means a lot. Pass on that simple kindness.
5. Footnote. I’ve had people ask me so many times “Oh, where did you get that recipe from?” and the I have to remember to go back in find it in my e-mail, look it up online again somewhere, or something else equally tedious. It might be helpful to have a little list of all your URL’s, books, articles, etc. that helped make the meal, and just have it out so your guests can see it and write down the source themselves.

Enjoy this wonderful time of year. For those who love to cook and eat, it’s a wonderful time to share a meal with your friends and family and have a blast making the kitchen a total disaster zone. I have awesome memories from last year’s night-before-Thanksgiving, staying up until 3 am with L, prepping all the vegan dishes we were going to take to our Thanksgiving meals.

Bon appetite!

Risotto Cakes with Daikon, Carrot, and Broccoli Slaw and Aioli Dressing

Took me long enough! Yeesh. I was fortunate enough to take part in this great offer that Chicago Soy Dairy was offering; they would send me some Teese cheese for free and all I had to do was create a recipe with it and blog about it! Here I am, almost 3 weeks later, finally posting the recipe. Sorry for the delay. Teese is a great vegan cheese-I was thrilled with how it melted in this recipe, and the mozzarella creaminess really brought all of the flavors of the dish together. This dish seems like a lot of work, but I promise you that it’s worth it. I’d suggest making the risotto the day before, so it will come together more quickly. Without further ado, I present the first of two Teese recipes I cooked (with help from a couple awesome loved ones):

Risotto Cakes with Daikon, Carrot, and Broccoli Slaw and Aioli Dressing

Risotto

Ingredients:

• t tablespoons of olive oil, divided
• 1 medium yellow onion, diced
• 3 cloves of garlic, mined
• 2 medium zucchini, cubed
• 5 cups of baby spinach, washed
• 1/2 teaspoon each of dried: marjoram, thyme and basil
• 1 tablespoon vegan margarine
• 2 cups of arborio rice
• 7 cups of vegetable broth (sub 1 cup of broth with white wine, if you have it)

Risotto is a blast, if you haven’t made it before. I just learned how, thanks to the visit of my longtime best friend J:

1. Heat 1 tablespoon olive oil in a large pot over medium heat.
2. Add onions and garlic; cook until onion is translucent.
3. Add zucchini and spinach and cook for 5-7 minutes, until zucchini is tender. After vegetables are cooked, remove from pot and set aside.
4. Keep pot over medium high heat, and add margarine and remaining olive oil. Once margarine has melted, add the arborio rice. Cook rice until translucent-this helps release some of the starches to make the risotto creamier.
5. Add 1 cup of brother (or wine) to the rice. Cook until all liquid is absorbed, stirring frequently. Add another 1 cup of brother, cooking until all liquid is absorbed, stirring frequently. repeat until all 7 cups of broth have been used (this can take anywhere from 30-45 minutes)
6. Once rice is cooked and creamy, add vegetables back to pot and stir to combine.
7. Take 2 cups of risotto, spread it on a plate and let cool in the refrigerator, either overnight or until completely cold. Save the rest of the risotto for another meal on its own.

Preparing the Risotto Balls:

Put 1 1/2 cups of panko breadcrumbs on a plate.

Dice 1/2 of a log of Teese mozzarella into cubes about 1/2 inch in size.

Using a generous 2 tablespoons of cold risotto for each, shape approximately 24 risotto balls. You may have more or less, depending on how big you make them.

After you’ve shaped the balls and let them sit on some plates, push a cube of Teese into each ball, and then reshape the risotto around to cover the Teese.

Dredge the balls in panko and then press them down to make them a wee bit flatter.

Heat 1 large tablespoon of olive oil in a large non-stick skillet over medium high heat. Cook 12 risotto balls at a time, covered. Cook first side until golden brown, about 5 minutes. Cook uncovered until crisp on the other wide, about 3 minutes.

Make the aioli:

Combine 2 tablespoons of olive oil, 2 tablespoons vegan mayonnaise (I highly recommend Wildwood’s Garlic Aioli), 2 teaspoons lemon juice and 1 minced garlic clove.

Dakion, Carrot and Broccoli Slaw

(recipe courtsey of Bon Appetit)

Ingredients:

8 ounces daikon (Japanese white radish),* peeled, cut into 1-inch pieces (about 1/2 large)

6 ounces peeled baby carrots

6 ounces broccoli stems, cut into 1-inch pieces

1 cup chopped green onions

1/3 cup seasoned rice vinegar

2 1/2 tablespoons minced peeled fresh ginger

1 1/2 tablespoons Asian sesame oil

1 1/2 teaspoons chili-garlic sauce

Fit processor with large-hole grating disk. Working with a few pieces at a time, push daikon, carrots, and broccoli stems through feed tube until all vegetables are grated. Transfer vegetables to medium bowl. Add green onions. Whisk vinegar, ginger, oil, and chili-garlic sauce in small bowl to blend; pour over vegetables and toss to coat.

AND FINALLY…

Arrange daikon slaw on plate. Top with 3 risotto balls. Drizzle with aioli. Enjoy heavenly bites of yummy, melty. crunchy, Teese-y goodness.

Thanks for letting me participate, Chicago Soy Dairy! I ❤ you guys.

Vegan Haggis with Bashed Neeps and Tatties in Red Berry Sauce

It’s here! I haven’t been this excited by a a blog post in a long time, both because it was a fun meal to make and because we have a fancy new (used) camera so there was some great photo documentation going on. I have to give credit to two recipes for this post, because combining them is what made my meal so dang special. I got the haggis recipe here from Bonzai Aphrodite and the sauce recipe here from the Telegraph UK. Thank you internet, for providing such great inspiration!

L had asked I make haggis, because we have some excellent Scotch whiskies sitting in our cabinet and it’s always fun to pair foods with booze. The ingredients are fairly simple, and most are things I tend to have on hand. I would highly recommend you get some quality Scotch to drink with this dinner, because it really brings out the flavors in the haggis. We went with our McCallan 12 year to have a dram of with dinner, and I used Talisker 10 year in the Red Berry Sauce. What transpired was a fantastic meal with fantastic Scotch and lovely company:

Haggis, whisky and Red Berry Sauce

Vegan Haggis

Ingredients*:

• 1/2 cup steel cut oats
• 2/3 cup lentils (any color)
• 1 large onion, finely chopped
• 3 carrots, finely diced
• 2 stalks celery, finely diced
• canola oil cooking spray or 1 tbsp. canola oil
• 1/4 tsp. ground ginger
• 1/8 tsp. ground cloves
• 1/4 tsp. nutmeg
• 1/4 tsp. cayenne
• 1/8 tsp. cardamom
• 1 tbsp. soy sauce
• 1 can of Cannellini beans, drained and rinsed
• 2 cloves of garlic, minced
• salt and pepper to taste

Red Berry Sauce:

• 5 oz. of cranberry jelly
• 1 tbsp. of whiskey
• 3 sprigs of thyme

Bashed Neeps and Tatties

• Potatoes (Russet, Yukon Gold, whatever you like!)
• Turnips
• Vegan margarine
• Soy/almond/rice milk

*Although we’re a family of two, I doubled the ingredients for everything, because I love leftovers. And all of the haggis still fit inside a traditional 8×13 casserole dish. All of the above quantities and the instructions below are for a normal recipe.

Instructions:

When you’re ready to begin cooking, place the steel cut oats in a bowl and cover with boiling water and let it for for at least an hour.

Bring 4 cups of water to boil in a large stockpot. Add the lentils and let them boil for 20 minutes.

While your lentils are boiling, chop yourself some onions, carrots and celery.

Once your lentils are cooked, drain them and set them aside. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees.

In the same pot you just emptied the lentils from, cook your chopped veggies in either a hefty spray or two of cooking spray or canola oil until they are soft. Add in the spices, soy sauce, cooked lentils and about 1/4 of the Canellini beans.

Blend the rest of the beans in a food processor or by hand to form a thick paste (add liquid if you need t0). Fold the bean puree into the lentils mixture, along with the steel cut oats.

Mix well and add salt and pepper to taste. I tasted it at this point and it tasted seriously spicy, like the cayenne was taking center stage. Let me assure you that this does cook off, so I wouldn’t necessarily encourage you to reduce the amount of cayenne called for in the recipe.

Plop your haggis into a casserole dish, pop it in the oven and bake, uncovered, for 30-40 minutes.

While the haggis is baking, bash yourself some neeps and tatties! I think we all know how to make a mashed potato or root veggie, but if not: Peel the potatoes, bring a couple pots of water to a boil (this recipe calls for keeping the potatoes and turnips separate), cut the veggies into chunks, boil said veggies until soft, and either mash by hand or food process with with margarine and milk, to taste.

While your potatoes are boiling, get your Red Berry sauce simmering. Combine the jelly with 5 tbsp. of water in a small saucepan. Slowly simmer until it’s heated, add the whiskey and thyme, and simmer on low until the pungent smell of whiskey has cooked off a bit. I cooked my sauce for 15-20 minutes.

Once the haggis is out of the oven, serve on top of side by side neeps and tatties, topped with Red Berry Sauce:

Pour yourself a dram and ENJOY!

Haggis; not just for meat eaters anymore.

The Chef hard at work

Haggis right out of the oven.

Whisky, an essential haggis accompaniment.

Slainte. Here's tae ye!

Indian Spiced Adzuki Beans

The past couple of weeks, I have been working the 6 am-3 pm schedule at work. While I love having the couple extra hours of daylight after work, it means waking up at 4:45 am. Ooof. We live about 25 minutes from my work, so I need time in the morning to wake up, make coffee and cereal, pack my lunch and try to not look like a zombie. I normally make my lunch the night before, but was out at a dinner party. I was pilfering the last of some leftover soup, and wanted to leave some food for L to take to work with him. We had leftover adzuki beans in the fridge, and I’d seen a tasty looking recipe in a vegan Indian cookbook the other day. This recipe is great when you’re short on time and fresh ingredients, and would probably be fantastic with some naan and rice. I love these quick and easy recipes that come together in a flash. I cooked up some quinoa to go alongside.

Ingredients:

• 3 cups cooked adzuki beans
• 1 can diced tomatoes (I used fire roasted)
• 1 tsp each of: sea salt, ground coriander, ground ginger, turmeric, cumin and garlic granules

Instructions:

1. Combine ingredients and heat in sauce pot until heated through. Serve with your favorite grain or bread and enjoy.

See? Easy as pie. This would be a great recipe if you had time to cook up some diced onion, garlic and fresh ginger before adding the rest of the ingredients. If you did this, omit the garlic powder and ground ginger.

Macaroni and Cheese: A Classic

When I was growing up, one of my favorite mom-cooked meals was her version of Mac and Cheese. I don’t think she made up the recipe herself but I would ask for it every birthday, Christmas and whenever I got to make the call on what we had for dinner. I didn’t grow up vegan, so this baby was loaded with cottage cheese, grated cheddar and who knows what else. It was baked with cooked elbow macaroni and I always ate every last bite.

Although I didn’t try and recreate the recipe very many times in adulthood, I’ve always remembered it fondly. After I had been vegan for a few months, I realized I hadn’t had mac and cheese in years, and was curious to see if I could find a vegan recipe that would really satisfy that craving for that cheesy comfort. I’d discovered The Post Punk Kitchen by this point, so I surfed on over and did a simple search and came up with the following recipe. It wasn’t posted on the site by its creator (Isa Chandra Moskowitz, who’s a vegan cooking goddess, in my humble opinion), but it’s amazing all the same. This is a very kid friendly recipe, because I don’t know many kids who would turn up their nose as some gooey mac and cheese.  This recipe tastes as good as the stuff in a box, better, without a lot of the nasty processed+ness. Onto the Mac, and you can find the original recipe here .

Macaroni and “Cheese”

Ingredients

• 1 box elbow macaroni
• 2 cloves garlic
• half a fairly large sized onion
• 1 cup nutritional yeast
• 1 cup soymilk
• 2 tbsp. margarine
• 4 tbsp. tomato sauce
• 1 tsp wet mustard
• 2 pinch chopped basil
• 1 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp pepper
• olive oil

Directions
Throw the elbow macaroni into boiling water, following directions on the box. i like using quinoa noodles, for some extra health value. Dice the onion and garlic. Lightly cover the bottom of a small pot with oil and fry the diced onion and garlic at medium-low until onion is transparent. At this point, pour the nutritional yeast and soymilk into the pot. Add the rest of the ingredients, somewhat in the order listed above, while mixing the contents at low heat. Continue heating the sauce for a couple minutes, stirring every so often. The macaroni should be done, so strain it. Pour sauce over macaroni in a bowl. Enjoy!