Dark Chocolate Truffles!

I was looking for some new recipes to try and I found myself at http://www.yummly.com/.  When I first entered the word vegan, one of the first recipes to come up was chocolate truffles.  With only four ingredients, this just seemed far too interesting to ignore. 

I'm already thinking of tinkering with this.. a different coating... adding mint extract to it or possibly even something more potent.

Ingredients:
3/4 cup raw cashews
3/4 cup cold water
1 lb semisweet chocolate
cocoa powder

Melt the chocolate in a double boiler. 
While that is happening, place the cashews and water in a blender and blend on high for two minutes.  Stop the blender, scrape it down and then blend again for another minute.  This will result in a heavy cream like liquid.

Once the chocolate is melted, remove from heat and let it cool a bit.  While still stirrable, gently mix in the cashew cream.

Once it is all combined, chill for at least two hours.

Using a spoon, scoop out some of the chocolate mixture, roll into a ball and drop into a bowl with cocoa powder.  Roll around in the powder and then plate.  Keep chilled once made.

Decadent and yummy!

Refriend beans

No picture on this one (see the Empanada recipe). 

Ingredients:
1 yellow onion (diced)
1 29oz can Pinto beans (drained)
1/2 tsp garlic powder
1/2 tsp chili powder
1 Tbsp olive oil
1/2 cup or more of water

Heat olive oil over medium heat and cook onions until lighly golden.
Add the pintos and use a masher to mash them (I still had some chunks in mine).  Add the water and seasonings

Continue to cook over medium heat stirring.  I used my stainless pan which allows me to use the stainless spatula and scrape the pan.  If it starts to dry out, just add extra water. 

These were far superior to what you can find already made in a can.

Empanadas

I've been sleeping fitfully recently and so I was up quite early yesterday.  There was nothing on the television and I ended up on Planet Green watching an episode of Emeril Green.  What hooked me was that he was cooking vegetarian.  So I watched, took some notes and then veganized his recipe along with my own twist.  So I present to you, my take on Emeril's vegetarian empanadas.  I served this with garlic green beans and home made refried beans.  I'll post the refried beans on their own recipe.

The salsa:
1 mango peeled and diced
3/4 of a seedless cucumber, peeled and diced
1 red onion finely diced
juice of one lime
1/8 tsp Hawaiian red salt
Mix all of these in a bowl and place in the fridge and let chill for 24 hours.

The dough:
You're going to need two 8oz containers of vegan cream cheese, 12 tbsp of Earth Balance, 2 1/2 cups of flour and 1/2 tsp of salt.

Have the cream cheese and Earth Balance at room temperature and using the paddle blade of a stand mixer combine at medium high speed until well blended.  Then reduce to slow speed and slowly add the flour and salt.  Once the four ingredients are combined, divide in half and turn each half out onto a lightly floured surface.  Knead gently and then flatten each into a disc and wrap individually in plastic wrap.  Chill for at least 3 hours.

The filling:
1 pound of shitake mushrooms with the stems removed
1 vidalia onion sliced
1 serrano pepper, seeds removed
1/4 cup golden raisens
1/2 bottle of stuffed green olives
1 Tbsp drained capers
1 8oz can of tomato sauce
3 Tbsp orange juice
1/2 teaspoon ground cumin

1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

Put all of these ingredients into a food processor and pulse until well minced.  This may take two or three batches.  While doing this, heat some olive oil in a large skillet.  Once heated, add all of the filling and cook for 15 minutes or so, stirring occasionally, making sure to scrape the bottom of the pan.

Remove from heat and let cool.

Take the dough from the fridge after it has chilled 3+ hours, flour a surface and roll out to a 1/8" thickness.  Then cut circles from the dough (I used a margarita glass).  Place a spoonful of filling in the middle of each circle, use some olive oil to moisten half the circle and then fold in half, keeping the filling inside.  Press the edges together and then use a fork to press the edge together.  Transfer to a baking sheet and continue until all of the dough has been rolled out and filled.  (I ended up with a little extra filling).

Lightly brush each empanada with olive oil and bake at 450 for 15 minutes

Plate 2 or 3 at a time and place a dollop of salsa across them.

I ended up with about 35 empanadas and they were delicious!

Pad Kao Saparod - Thai Pineapple Fried Rice

This recipe originally came from Yummly.com via Facebook.  I took the recipe and modified it a bit.  No picture unfortunately as I had to rush to get it to the table.

4 Tbsp vegetable oil
2 onions chopped (small)
12 baby carrots cut into small rounds
1 block of firm tofu drained and cut into 1/2" cubes
1 cup frozen green beans cut into 3rds
1 can chunk pineapple drained
3-4 cups cooked rice
1 tsp salt
12 chives finely minced
soy sauce as needed

Heat the vegetable oil in a stainless steel skillet over high heat.  Add the onions and garlic and cook until golden brown.
Add the carrots and green beans, stirring often until cooked.
Add the tofu and cook another 7-8 minutes.
Add the pineapple, salt,  and rice, stirring often for 8-10 minutes
Add a splash or two of soy sauce and stir together before serving
Garnish each serving with a sprinkle of chives

No Bake Chocolate Peanut Butter Oatmeal cookies

A friend of a friend mentioned "no-bake cookies" in a recent Facebook comment.

After asking about them, I got a recipe which turned out to be amazingly easy to veganize.

This recipe made 21 fairly large sized cookies.

Ingredients:
2 cups of sugar
1/2 cup chocolate soy milk
1/4 cup vegan butter
a pinch of salt
3 Tbsp baking cocoa
3 cups oats
1 tsp vanilla
1/2 cup creamy peanut butter.

Place the sugar, soy milk, butter, salt and cocoa all in a pot, still well and bring to a boil.

After a minute, remove from heat, stir in the peanut butter until melted.  Then add the vanilla and oats.  Stir to combine and then drop by spoonfuls onto baking sheets lined with parchment paper or aluminum foil.

Once cool, enjoy.

Fish Fingers

I'm a big fan of the television show "Doctor Who".  The new season started tonight and so I knew that dinner had to be special for the kids.  When this version of the Doctor started off last season he ate Fish Fingers (sticks) and custard.  I'm not quite that crazy but I wanted the Fish Fingers.  I knew that I needed a starch as well, so why not bake some "Daleks" (one of the arch-enemies of the Doctor) and the peas, well those are "Slitheen eggs".

I found a recipe on good baker.com and then modified it

You will need the following:
3/4 cup of plain soymilk
1 block of firm tofu, drained but not pressed
1/4 cup hemp seeds, ground (I used a mortar and pestle)
1/2 cup panko
1/4 cup nutritional yeast
1/8 cup dulce flakes (seaweed - if you don't have dulce, grind up some nori)
1 tbsp corn starch

Heat the oven to 400

Mix the corn starch into the soy milk in a bowl.
Place the tofu largest side down, then cut 1/2" slices in the "short" direction.  Once those are all cut, put them on their large side and cut them in half. 

Soak the tofu in the soymilk/corn starch mixture.

Mix all of the other ingredients in a pie plate.

Line a baking pan with parchment paper

Dredge each piece of tofu in the mixture and place on the parchment.  Once they are all dredged, bake for a total of 20 minutes, flip them over around 10 minutes.

If you want some tartar sauce as well, mix in the following ratio: 1 Tbsp relish to 2 Tbsp vegannaise with  1/2 tsp onion powder.

Potato Latkes

So I'm not quite sure what happened, but I thought hmmmm maybe I should make some latkes.  So I did a search, found a recipe, and then did what I always do, which is to take it and then modify it in my own way.

So, here you go.  This recipe turned out 12 latkes of roughly palm sized.

2 lbs of potatoes peeled and grated
1 medium onion grated
1 1/2 tsp Adobo
1 tsp freshly grated pepper
1 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp baking powder
1 /4 cup flour

Peel the potatoes and grate them into a bowl.  Squeeze the liquid out of the potatoes with your hand and move the potatoes to a different container.  Add the onion, Adobo, pepper, garlic powder, baking powder and flour. 

Use your hands to combine all of this together.

Heat the oven to 275 and heat a large fry pan over medium heat.  Add some vegetable oil to create a light layer.

Create 3-4 palm sized pancakes from the bowl and place them into the heated oil.  Turn once it starts to turn golden brown.  Once both sides are browned, move to a plate in the oven (on paper towels to drain the oil). 

Add additional oil as needed.

Serve with apple sauce and/or "sour cream"

Paella!

Today I was going to a party and needed a dish to bring.  Along with a batch of the "Angelic Potatoes" (see August 2010), I wanted something a little more substantial.  So... after some looking I found a recipe in "Vegetarian Recipes" by Better Homes and Gardens and made a couple of changes to it. This is my version of the recipe.

Ingredients:

2 Green Bell Peppers - largely diced

1 Red Bell Pepper - largely diced

1 Yellow Bell Pepper - largely diced

2 medium yellow onions - diced

1 large red onion - diced

8 cloves of garlic - finely diced

4 stalks of celery diced

1 cup dry red lentils

1 cup dry brown lentils

2 cans diced tomatoes - drained

1 can whole black olives drained

1 jar pimento stuffed green olives - drained and sliced

4 cups veggie stock

3 tsp olive oil

1 tsp turmeric

Heat olive oil in a large stock pot and then add the peppers, onions, garlic, and celery and cook until tender. 

Add turmeric and stir to mix in.

Add the lentils and veggie stock, bring to a boil, cover, reduce to a simmer and let cook for 30 minutes or until the lentils are tender (add more stock if needed).

Add the tomatoes, olives, and peas and cook for another 10-15 minutes. 

You can serve this over rice or by itself - people really enjoyed it.

Seitan Bourgogne

Traditionally this is a beef dish, but hey, I'm not eating meat. This recipe came to me from the fine people at http://www.meatoutmondays.com/.

This recipe calls for 6 medallions of seitan. If you already have these, you're ready to start on the next part, if not, you're going to need to make a batch of seitan and for that I suggest following this recipe.
Ingredients:
6 Medallions of seitan
6 medium sized carrots sliced
2 medium onions largely diced
2 cups from a bottle of dry red wine (I used a cabernet sauvignon)
3 cups vegetable broth
3 garlic cloves finely diced
2 bay leaves
2 Tbsp corn starch
salt and freshly ground pepper to taste

Sautee the seitan medallions in a little bit of oil over medium high heat, until golden brown on each side (2-3 minutes per side). Remove the seitan and set aside
Add the garlic to the pan and sautee for two minutes
Add the wine, broth, onions, carrots, and bay leaves to the pan and bring  a boil. Reduce to a simmer and cook partially covered for 30 minutes, reducing by 1/3.
Add the seitan, some salt and pepper, cover and cook for 30 minutes.
Remove the seitan from the pan. Remove 1/2 cup of the liquid from the pan, add the corn starch and stir until smooth. Add this liquid back into the pan and stir to combine and cook until slightly thickened.
Serve over rice, mashed potatoes or noodles.

Seitan - the other non-meat

Seitan is one of the staples of the vegan world. It replicates the shape and texture of meat. Easy to make and very versatile. I made my most recent batch to use in dinner.

Ingredients:
2 Cups of Vital Wheat Gluten
1 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp onion powder
1/2 tsp thyme
1 1/4 cups water or veggie stock
3 Tbsp Braggs Liquid Aminos

Mix the dry ingredients together. In a separate bowl mix the wet ingredients, then add the wet to the dry. Mix vigorously. When it forms a stiff dough, kneed 10 - 15 times.

Let the dough rest for five minutes and then kneed again a couple more times. Let rest for another 15 minutes.

In a pot combine four cups water and 1/4 cup tamari and bring to a boil.

Cut the seitan into cutlets and slowly place them into the broth. Reduce the broth from a boil down to a simmer, cover and simmer for 45 minutes.

Remove the seitan from the broth and drain (I place mine on cooling racks in a baking sheet.

Once cool place in a container and store in the fridge.