Quick & Easy Spicy Mustard Salad Dressing!

Hello everyone! So, have you ever wanted a salad, and were out of store bought dressing or tired of just plain old vinegar and oil? I definitely have a quick and delicious solution for you, and of course, it’s vegan!

All you need is:

1/4 Cup Spicy Brown Mustard

3 Tablespoons Grapeseed Oil

2 Tablespoons Soy Sauce

2 Tablespoons Maple Syrup

1/4 Cup Red Wine Vinegar

Whisk together in a small bowl (or an awesome salad dressing diffuser like in the photo) and enjoy over your favorite green salad!!!

10 Ways to Green Your Kitchen Routine

This is an article from Vegetarian Times that I thought I would share. It’s always good to make whatever you do a little bit greener, and since we blog about cooking often, it only makes sense :)

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http://www.vegetariantimes.com/features/823

If “eco-friendly cooking” makes you think solar ovens or a costly kitchen overhaul, then it’s time to revamp the way you think about your cooking routine. Physics, chemistry, and common sense are the main ingredients in good green cuisine. We’ve put together a list of 10 little changes that can go a long way toward saving energy—and money—in the kitchen, plus a handful of recipes that let you test and taste for yourself just how easy Earth-friendly cooking can be.

1. Choose energy-efficient cookware Fast, even heat conduction saves energy and yields tastier results. Cast iron, stainless steel, and copper pans are the best stove-top options, along with time-saving stainless steel pressure cookers. And switch to glass, ceramic, or silicone baking pans and molds, which allow you to reduce oven temperatures by 25°F to 30°F.

2. Downsize to a smaller appliance Got a 9-inch square pan of brownies or just a couple of potatoes to bake? Turn to your toaster oven, which uses up to half as much energy as a conventional oven. A slow cooker is another option that can cut energy use.

3. Multitask in the oven Based on average utility rates, running an electric oven at 350°F costs about 24 cents per hour; natural gas ovens at that temperature run about 9 cents an hour. Make the most of the energy by using both oven racks at the same time to bake, roast,and/or warm foods.

4. Use the right burner A 6-inch pot over an 8-inch burner will waste over 40 percent of the heat generated. “Large burners should be used only for pots big enough to cover the burner, otherwise you’re wasting all the heat that rises up around the pot,” explains Birney Summers, an energy conservation engineer who blogs at energyboomer.typepad.com If you have a late-model oven, read the manual to find out which burner is designed for high heat and which one is for simmering.

5. Spread things out What cook hasn’t tried to warm soup in a small saucepan, only to have soup that’s scorched around the sides and cold in the center? “When you spread food in a thin layer, it heats up faster and more evenly,” advises Summers. This “spread-thin” technique works for baking too: banana bread can take 40 to 50 minutes to bake, but the same batter poured into 12 muffin cups requires only 20 to 25 minutes.

6. Resist the urge to open the oven door Every time you open that door, oven heat drops by 25°F, which forces the appliance to work harder and can affect recipe results. Turn on the light, look through the window, and leave the door shut until you’re ready to remove the food.

7. Take it outside As the weather warms up, you want to keep your kitchen cool so that air-conditioning and ventilation units don’t have to do extra work. In addition to planning meals on the grill, Summers plugs in his slow cooker on the porch, and recommends cooling foods in a protected outdoor area. “It’s the same idea as putting pies on a windowsill to cool—it keeps heat and humidity out of the house,” he says.

8. Finish with residual heat The next time you fix scrambled eggs or tofu, turn off the burner just before your scramble is set. The residual heat of the burner and the pan will finish the cooking, and you’ll save a few minutes of energy use. Michael Leviton, a Boston-area chef, uses residual heat in the oven as well—to finish root vegetables, potatoes, biscuits, and pound cakes.

9. Make more leftovers Double a recipe and save half for a future meal. The larger batch lets you capitalize on heat you’re already using, and reheating the second time around requires just a fraction of the energy needed to start from scratch.

10. Go raw Magdiale Wolmark of Dragonfly neo-v, a vegan restaurant in Columbus, Ohio, suggests raw cuisine techniques that “cook” ingredients to make them more palatable. Marinate mushrooms to soften and season them, and soak sun-dried tomatoes and seaweed to rehydrate them for dishes that have a taste and texture similar to cooked recipes.

A “Thanksliving” Meal Fit for Vegans and Omnis Alike

Hello Everyone! I hope that all of you are having a wonderful day with your friends and families. Although we weren’t able to travel this year and no one was able to travel to us, Scott and I are still making the most of it. I made us a nice breakfast of scrambled tofu, facon, and toast and jam this morning, and then Scott and I began the process of cooking our feast! Also Scott ran to Hannaford for Aluminum Foil because I totally forgot it yesterday!

I decided to go ahead and make our pie last night so that, 1) I could ensure it tasted ok (not that I don’t trust you, Alicia Silverstone. I just like to try things for myself before I serve them to anyone else) and 2) it’s one fewer thing I had to do today. I found the recipe on Alicia Silverstone’s website . Here it is!

Tofu Pumpkin Pie
http://vegweb.com/index.php?topic=6174.0

SERVES 8

INGREDIENTS
1 can (16 ounces) pureed pumpkin
1/2 cup maple syrup OR 1/4 cup sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
1 teaspoon ground allspice, optional
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg, optional
2-3 tablespoons cornstarch to firm up the pie filling
1 package (10-12 ounces) silken/soft tofu
1 9-in unbaked vegan pie shell

STEPS
Preheat oven to 425 F.
Blend the pumpkin and maple syrup or sugar.
Add salt, spices, cornstarch and tofu, mix thoroughly.
Pour mixture into pie shell and bake for 15 minutes. Lower heat to 350 F and bake for another 60 minutes.
Chill and serve.
NOTE: Don’t use the low fat tofu, then the pie tastes like it was made with tofu.

My very first pumpkin pie ever!

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I also made a Vegan Green Bean Casserole. I haven’t made one of these in a long time, and I definitely haven’t made a vegan version. This isn’t your mom and pop canned mushroom soup variety, either. This recipe was found at the FatFree Vegan Kitchen . Enjoy & Thanks SusanV for such a great recipe!

Vegan Green Bean Casserole

http://blog.fatfreevegan.com/2006/11/best-vegan-green-bean-casserole.html

Beans
2 quarts water
1 tablespoon table salt (Alanna says it’s essential)
1 1/2 pounds fresh green beans, trimmed and cut into bite-size pieces

Bring the water to boil in a large pot. While it’s heating, cut up the beans. Add the salt and beans to the boiling water. Cover and cook for 6 minutes. Drain beans in a colander, and then spray for a minute with cold water to stop the cooking. Let them drain in the colander, shaking every now and then to get off all the water.

Sauce

10 ounces mushrooms
3 cloves garlic, minced
generous pinch cayenne pepper (optional)
Salt to taste
Fresh pepper to taste
2 tablespoons flour
3/4 cup vegetable broth
1 tablespoon dry sherry
3/4 cup soy creamer (or try full-fat unsweetened soymilk)

Trim and discard the mushroom stems and chop the mushrooms into pieces. Spray a non-stick pan with canola oil and heat it. Add the mushrooms, garlic, cayenne, salt, and pepper. Cook until mushrooms are very soft and exude their juices. Whisk the flour into the vegetable broth and add to the mushrooms along with the sherry. Simmer, stirring, until mixture thickens. Add the soy creamer and simmer until thick, about 5 to 10 minutes. Adjust the seasonings and stir in the beans.

Topping

1 1/2 slices whole grain bread
1 tablespoon Earth Balance margarine (the best tasting margarine in the world and no trans-fat)
1/8 teaspoon salt
1/16 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1 3-ounce can of French fried onions ( I used a different, zip package type because the store didn’t have the canned version)

Put the bread, margarine, salt, and pepper into a food processor and pulse until crumbly. Pour into a bowl and add the onions. Stir to combine.

To assemble:

Put the green beans into an oiled casserole dish and top with the onion mixture. Bake at 425 F for about 15 minutes. If you are not serving this right away, refrigerate the topping separately; bring to room temperature before sprinkling the topping on the casserole and baking for about 20 minutes or until hot throughout.

Vegan Green Bean Casserole

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And of course it wouldn’t be Thanksliving in my house without a sweet potato casserole…but I don’t have a recipe for it…I just put it together and season it to taste. I can tell you what’s in it though, lol. This year, Scott helped me make it.

First, peel and cut up several sweet potatoes and boil them until tender. Drain by pouring into a colander.

Next, mash sweet potatoes with potato masher (or I just use my kitchen aid mixer) adding vegan butter, brown sugar, and cinnamon to taste (Obviously it depends on how many sweet potatoes you cooked as to how much of these things you need to add. Add a little at a time so that you don’t overdo it. You can always add more, but you can’t take it away after it’s mixed in.)

Spread this mixture into a casserole dish and top it with this delicious topping (I hate marshmallows unless they are the burnt kind you put on smores and I can’t eat them anyway because they are made with gelatin):

Mix about a cup of brown sugar…maybe an eighth of a cup or so of flour, about a 1/2 Tbsp of baking powder, and 3-4 tablespoons of melted vegan butter until you have a nice crumbly mix. Adjust accordingly until you get there. Sprinkle this evenly on your sweet potato mixture and add some chopped pecans and a sprinkle of cinnamon to the top (if you like nuts).

Bake at 400 for about 15 minutes or until the topping looks nice and raised and crispy good. Check on it often, you don’t want your nuts to burn!

Sweet potato casserole

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And of course there is stuffing/dressing. Since it’s just me and Scott this year, I didn’t make it from scratch. I just bought a handy box of Stovetop Cornbread stuffing! Woot!

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And for the big new thing this year, I made seitan turkey loaf!  I got this recipe from this Bryanna Clark Grogan’s website and it is was absolutely delicious! I can’t wait to make a sandwich with it tomorrow!

I’m not going to post the recipe here because it is VERY long, but you can go to the link above and see for yourself

Seitan "turkey" loaf with mushroom gravy

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So that was our Thanksliving meal! Or at least our non-turkey vegan feasting and drinking day meal! I hope all of you had a wonderful day filled with food and family and friends!

“Auntie Bonnie’s Lively Lentil Stew”

Hey, y’all! Seems I haven’t posted in awhile! So sorry about that! I’ve been busy with a new job at a vet hospital and I also just had my tonsils out and a bit of sinus surgery. I’m currently still home recovering from said surgery, but I should be able to go back to work on Monday. I’ve been a bit stir crazy today as I’ve been cooped up in the house all week. I’ve also been watching Food Network all week, so I’ve really been in the mood to cook. Thing is, I can’t really eat a whole hell of a lot right now because my throat is still mega sore. However, I was flipping through this awesome new recipe book Scott bought for us the other day called How it All Vegan by Tanya Barnard & Sarah Kramer and noticed I pretty much had everything I needed to make this awesome sounding stew. So Without further ado, I present you with the recipe. I did have to alter it just a bit because I didn’t have EXACTLY what the recipe called for. We surely enjoyed it and we hope you do too! Thanks Tanya & Sarah for a wonderful stew. It’s just what this rainy evening called for!

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“Auntie Bonnie’s Lively Lentil Stew” from How It All Vegan by Tanya Barnard & Sarah Kramer

You Will Need:

1 Large onion, chopped

2 stalks celery, diced

2 medium carrots, chopped

(2 cloves of garlic, chopped – I added this)

1 tbsp olive oil

1 cup dry green lentils

3 cups vegetable stock OR water

1 28-oz can diced tomatoes OR 5-8 fresh tomatoes, diced + 1/4 cup water

2 tbsp tomato paste

1 small potato, diced

1/2 tsp red pepper flakes

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 tsp pepper

1/2 cup spinach, chopped ( I only had frozen spinach, so I used the entire small package because I didn’t want to waste it…it was a  little over 1 cup)

3 tbsp fresh parsley, chopped

- In a large soup pot, saute the onions, celery, and carrots (and garlic, if you want to add it) in the olive oil on medium heat until onions are translucent.

- Add the lentils, stock, tomatoes, tomato paste, potatoes, red pepper flakes, salt, and pepper.

- Bring to a boil and simmer gently for 30-45 minutes, stirring frequently until lentils are tender.

- Stir in spinach and parsley and simmer for 5 minutes more.

- Makes 4-6 Servings.

Delicious Lentil Stew!!

Black Bean Chili Pot Pie

Scott and I made this tonight sans the cocoa powder because I forgot to pick some up. It was still super good and I’ve got a nice full tummy! Sorry I forgot to take pictures. We were hungry and were just trying to get it made.

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A recipe from Vegetarian Times Issue: January 1, 2001

“The vegan cornbread topping on this spicy bean chili gives it just the right touch and may be used in other recipes. Serve with guacamole and thinly sliced romaine lettuce dressed with a lime vinaigrette. ”

Ingredients: Serves 8

1 tsp unsweetened cocoa powder

1/2 tsp salt

2 (19 oz) cans cooked black beans, rinsed and drained

1 1/2 cups frozen corn

1 1/4 cups vegetable broth

1 cup canned crushed tomatoes

1 Tbs tomato paste

1 tsp dried oregano

1 tsp sugar

1 1/2 tsp dried coriander

2 Tbs vegetable oil

1 large onion, chopped ( 1 1/2 cups)

1 large green bell pepper, diced (1 3/4 cups)

2 cloves garlic, minced

1 Tbs cumin

1 Tbs chili powder

Cornbread Topping

2/3 cup unbleached all-purpose flour

1/2 cup fine yellow cornmeal

1 1/2 Tbs sugar

2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

3/4 cup water

2 Tbs vegetable oil

Directions

1. In 4-quart Dutch oven or flameproof casserole, heat 1 1/2 Tbs oil over medium heat. Add onion and pepper and cook, stirring often, until softened, about 8 minutes. Add garlic and cook, stirring, 1 minute. In small bowl, mix cumin, chili powder, coriander, cocoa, and salt to taste

2. Add remaining 1/2 Tbs oil and spice mixture to pot; stir 1 minute over medium heat. Add remaining ingredients; gradually bring mixture toa  boil, stirring occasionally. Reduce heat and simmer 7 to 8 minutes, stirring occasionally, adding more salt if necessary. Remove pan from heat.

3. Preheat oven to 440F. Make topping: In a medium bowl, mix flour, cornmeal, sugar, baking powder, and salt. Make a well in center of dry ingredients. Add water and oil to well and stir until blended. Let batter stand 2 minutes. Pour batter over chili and spread evenly (it will be thin).

4. Bake until topping is cooked through and chili is bubbly, 25-30 minutes. Let stand at least 10 minutes before serving.

Nutritional Information

Calories: 383, Protein: 16g, Total fat: 8g, Saturated fat: 1 g, Carbs: 62 g, Cholesterol: 0 mg, Sodium: 366 mg, Fiber: 15 g, Sugars: ?g

Too funny not to share…

I was just browsing the internet today and thought this was too funny not to share. It’s so true

Scrambled Tofu!

I don’t know about you, but I sure do miss having eggs for breakfast sometimes…which lead me to look for good alternatives. I found this recipe on a fellow vegan blog and really enjoyed it, so I thought I’d share with everyone. Here is the recipe for a simple scrambled tofu, suitable for those of you with picky children. Enjoy!

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INGREDIENTS

- 1 pkg firm tofu

- 2 tbsp oil

- 1 tsp onion powder

- 1 tbsp Dijon mustard

- 1/2 tsp tumeric

- 1/2 tsp salt

- freshly ground white pepper

- 1 tbsp nutritional yeast

- 1 tbsp soy creamer

METHOD

1. Heat oil in a non-stick frying pan over medium heat. Drain water off the tofu

and crumble into the pan.Cook for 3-4 mins, until tofu begins releasing its water.

2. Add the rest of the ingredients except the creamer and mix well. Cook for about 10 mins, stirring regularly, lowering the heat if the tofu begins to stick. The idea here is to let the water evaporate and the tofu firm up. You want to keep the heat high enough to facilitate this evaporation.

3. Add creamer and mix well. Allow some of the liquid to evaporate, then remove from heat. Serve.

Yummmm! ENJOY!

Quick, Easy, Delicious Vegan Brownies!

Hey Everyone! It’s been about a week since our last post, and I thought, “Wow, isn’t it about time for a new recipe?” And of course, since I’ve been on a baking hiatus for the past two weeks, my sweet tooth has been building up. Perfect solution? Brownies. But what’s that you say? Brownies have eggs and sometimes milk in them? Pish posh. These brownies taste just as good as any I’ve ever eaten, and there are absolutely no animal products included (unless you count the rogue cat hair or two…it’s inevitable around this place). So here’s the recipe, photos included. I think this one is perfect for when you need to bake, but don’t have a lot of time. Prep time was maybe 7 minutes, and that’s because I’m moving slow today. Be aware that the texture of the wet mixture is going to be different than “normal” brownies. Don’t let that freak you out though. They come out nice and moist and delicious! So, here’s to baking my friends! Look for more recipes coming soon!

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Vegan Brownies    From Allrecipes.com , submitted by SANDYWIFEY31S

Ingredients:

2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour

2 cups white sugar (I used organic…which isn’t excatly white, but it worked)

3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder

1 teaspoon baking powder

1 teaspoon salt

1 cup water

1 cup vegetable oil

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C) and lightly grease a 9×13 inch baking pan.

2. In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, sugar, cocoa powder, baking powder, and salt.

3. Pour water, vegetable oil, and vanilla into dry mixture and mix until well blended.

4. Spread evenly in your lightly greased 9×13 inch baking pan.

5. Bake for 25- 30 minutes in your preheated oven until the top of the brownies is no longer shiny. Let cool for at least 10 minutes before cutting and serving.

Chicken Fried Seitan Hotwings!!

Scott and I have both been craving hotwings for awhile now, especially since we’ve been finding ourselves in bars more often and there are always people eating delicious looking hotwings in bars. So, I decided there must be some vegan alternative and that I was going to find it and make it.

I stumbled across a fellow vegan’s version of chicken fried seitan that she had turned into hotwings and thought they looked delicious. So, I gave it a shot! Here is her recipe along with the photos I took along the way. Enjoy!

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Ingredients

-1 and ½ cups of vital wheat gluten
- 3 Tbsp nutritional yeast
- ¼ Tbsp cumin
- ½ tsp salt
-1 tsp garlic powder
- ½ tsp lemon pepper
- ½ tsp chili powder
- ½ Tbsp vegan Worcestershire sauce
- 2 Tbsp soy sauce
- 2 Tbsp soy milk
- ¾ Cup cold water

- Combine the above ingredients quickly and knead for just a minute or two. If you knead for too long the seitan will be a little tough.

seitan dough

-Separate the dough into cutlets and drop into the lightly simmering broth.

Broth

Cutlets in the broth

Broth

- 5 Cups water
- 1 tsp cumin
- ½ tsp salt
- ½ tsp pepper
-2 Tbsp soy sauce
- 2 Tbsp vegan Worcestershire sauce

-Simmer, covered, for 15 – 20 minutes, flipping the cutlets once.

-Once you remove the cutlets from the lightly simmering broth, TA DA, you have made seitan! Now you can proceed as you wish. You can chop it up and throw it into a stir fry (delicious), you can roast it in the oven (heavenly), you can chop it up and throw it into a taco salad (yum), the options are endless. But….you could make the world’s most perfect chicken fried seitan. You like that idea? Please…continue:

-Keep the cutlets in the broth but remove from heat and allow to come to room temperature while you prepare the dredging mixtures.

-In a large frying pan heat a ½ inch or so of peanut oil on medium high heat.

-Dredge the cutlets first in the wet mix:

-1/4 cup water
-1/4 cup soymilk
-3 Tbsp stone-ground spicy mustard
-1/2 tsp garlic powder
-dash of lemon pepper
-2 Tbsp all purpose flour
-1 Tbsp nutritional yeast (you can replace with AP flour, but if you do make sure to up the spices a bit)
-1/2 tsp cumin

-Then dredge the cutlets in the dry mix:

-1 and ¼ cup all purpose flour
-1/2 tsp salt
-1/2 tsp pepper
-1 tsp cumin
-1 tsp garlic powder
-4 Tbsp nutritional yeast (omit if you must, replacing with AP flour, but up the spices)
-1 tsp paprika
-3 tsp baking powder

Dredging mixtures

-Fry the dredged cutlets in the peanut oil on medium high heat until they are golden brown and crispy all over. Serve on a hamburger bun with vegan mayo and mustard, pickles, lettuce and tomatoes. Or slather with hot sauce for hot wings! Or come up with your own winning combination!!! YAY!

Frying up the cutlets

Chicken fried seitan!

Now, the Voracious Vegan has an awesome recipe for hotwing sauce, but we opted to just buy the kind you can get in the jar, just because we (I) didn’t want to make it last night. We also found some yummy vegan ranch dressing to dip them in! Total success in our vegan kitchen! We highly recommend you try this recipe. You definitely won’t be disappointed! We even challenge you to serve them to your omni friends…they might not even know the difference!

Hotwings!

Thanks, Tasha, for such a great recipe!!!

Alex & Scott’s 1st Recipe Redo Contest!

Hello Readers! I know I mentioned something about this last night, and here it is. Welcome to the first Adventures in Veganism Recipe Redo Contest! I made a beautiful acorn squash recipe last night, and it didn’t turn out quite as I’d hoped. It was very visually appealing, but the flavor just didn’t do it for me. I feel like it was too bland. Scott enjoyed it but thought that it was missing something as well.  Because it was so beautiful to look at and I loved the acorn squash, I don’t want to give up on this one just yet. This is where our readers come in! Get ready!

We want YOU to suggest changes we can make to this recipe to make it more palateable.  Winners will have their new altered recipe posted here AND will have the opportunity to write a feature guest post for our blog. All submissions can be sent to adventuresinveganism@gmail.com Please remember that all suggestions must be vegan. We can’t wait to see what you all suggest!

Before I post the recipe and photos, I want to say that 1) I really, really disliked the flavor of the chard, but loved the colors. 2) More seasoning!! 3) Probably more rice? ….I don’t know. It needs some work! Here it is. Get to revamping it!!

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Emeril’s Brown Rice Stuffed Acorn Squash

Recipe courtesy Emeril Lagasse, copyright Martha Stewart Omnimedia, Inc

Ingredients:
2 acorn squash, split in half, seeds removed
2 tablespoons grapeseed oil
1 orange pepper, finely chopped
1/2 white onion, finely chopped
Salt and pepper, to taste
1 bunch Swiss or rainbow chard, ribs removed and diced, leaves chopped
4 cloves garlic, chopped
2 cups cooked brown rice
2 teaspoons chopped parsley
1 cup shredded Monterey Jack cheese (Obviously we omitted this ingredient since we are vegan)

Method:
Place the squash, cut side down, onto a microwave safe dish.

Flip these puppies over before you microwave them

Microwave on high for 12 minutes or until then flesh is soft. Set aside. (Alternatively, you can roast the squash in a 400 degree oven for 30 minutes.) Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.

In a large sauté pan over medium high heat, add the grapeseed oil. After a minute, add the orange pepper and onion and season with salt and pepper.

Onions and Orange Peppers

Once the vegetables begin to soften, add the chard ribs.

With rainbow chard ribs added

Continue to cook another 2 minutes or so, and add the garlic. Stir to combine and cook only until the garlic becomes fragrant.

With garlic added

Turn off the heat and stir in the brown rice, chopped chard leaves and parsley.

with chard leaves, parsley, and rice added

Place the acorn squash halves in a baking dish and fill each with 3/4 cup of the mixture. Sprinkle each stuffed squash with about 1/4 cup of the Monterey Jack cheese and place in the oven for 15 5-10 minutes or until the cheese begins to melt.

Everything stuffed into the squash

Serve warm with red pepper hummus or a side salad.

Yield: 4 servings

P.S. I roasted the seeds from the squash just as one would roast pumpkin seeds, boiling them first for 10 minutes followed by a nice tossing in olive oil and garlic salt to roast at 400* for about 15 minues. They turned out amazing!!

Roasted Squash Seeds