Vegan Tempeh Sandwich Filling
December 9, 2007 11:32
Last night I was at a loss for what to make for dinner. So it was a happy moment indeed when we had our first bite of the Vegan Tempeh Sandwich Filling I created. I think you'll enjoy it too.
I had defrosted some tempeh the night before, and had a small, odd assortment of veggies (none of which would have been enough to constitute their own side dish).
My first thought was to just whip up some Vegan Tempeh Reubens and call it a day, but cancelled that idea since you've been waiting so patiently for my next blog and I've already shown you the Tempeh Reuben ropes.
What to do?
In searching through the Tempeh Vegan Flavor Matches, the flavors that kept calling to me were salty and pungent. These are the flavors I was in the mood for, and decided to base the recipe around them. Green olives w/pimentos and dijon mustard were definitely going to find their way into this dish, which is when it occurred to me that they'd be great in some sort of sandwich.
And grating the tempeh would be a nice change from the slabs that many tempeh sandwiches call for. The wheels began to turn. ;O)
But before anything else, I had to first cook the tempeh for at least 15 minutes before using it -- it's very important to allow the tempeh to go through this cooking process.
You can use a steamer if you'd like, but I recommend boiling it in a small covered saucepan with 1 cup veggie broth to add a little extra flavor . When your tempeh is cooked, you can then wilt your spinach in the residual broth -- but I'm getting ahead of myself.
When all was said and done, with the Tempeh Vegan Flavor Matches as my guide, my recipe came together like this...
Vegan Tempeh Sandwich Filling
Serves 2
8 oz. tempeh
1 cup veggie broth
2 cups spinach, coarsely chopped if desired
1 teaspoon Bragg's Liquid Aminos (or other soy sauce)
1/2 teaspoon balsamic vinegar
6 large Manzanilla olives (w/pimentos), chopped
1 stalk celery, diced
2 green onions, chopped
2-3 Tablespoons agave nectar
2 Tablespoons vegan mayo (egg-free)
2 Tablespoons Dijon mustard
Salt and freshly ground pepper, to taste
1. Bring veggie broth to a simmer in a small saucepan with a cover. Add tempeh, cover, and cook for 15-20 minutes. Remove to cooling rack to cool slightly, reserving the broth.
2. Place spinach over the broth and cover.
3. Heat until wilted (3 minutes or so). Stir in Bragg's and balsamic vinegar.
4. Grate or crumble slightly cooled tempeh and place in large bowl. Add next 7 ingredients.
5. Spoon tempeh filling onto your favorite bread -- I recommend big, thick slices of multigrain bread, but use your favorite. Remove wilted spinach and place on top of the filling. Serve with organic tortilla chips.
Vegan Tempeh Sandwich Filling
Happy cooking!
Today's spotlight was on Tempeh. By using the information found within the pages of the Vegan Coach website, you too can create quick and easy vegan meals without recipes! Ideas for flavorings in this meal were inspired by the Tempeh Vegan Flavor Matches -- they make cooking a breeze!
Vegan Sticky Millet Stacks
December 10, 2007 17:06
Last night, after taking a peek in the fridge, I realized that there were no leftovers available, and no pre-cooked rice or beans left either. All I had was one lonely head of broccoli sitting in the vegetable drawer.
Now, this might seem like a sad little situtation. But I find it quite challenging to clean out the fridge of as much food as possible before heading to the grocery store. You'd be surprised how many new dishes you can create when you don't have your usual foods ready and available to use in your meals.
So I turned to my freezer, where I keep all my grains. Quinoa? Naw, not tonight. Barley? Not enough to make a meal.
Millet? I have to admit, it isn't always easy to find new and interesting ways to prepare millet. This could prove to be a fun little challenge.
Millet is such a well-known grain in many dry parts of the world. But it hasn't really caught on in the mainstream in these parts, which is really too bad because it's a highly nutritious, gluten-free grain. It's packed with magnesium, which helps those who suffer from asthma and migraines. It also contains a large amount of protein. And like most whole grains, helps to diminish your chances for heart trouble and can lower your cholesterol.
As always, the first step in preparing any dish is to get a GENERAL idea of what flavors you're in the mood for. I began by looking through the Millet Vegan Flavor Matches...
Tomatoes caught my eye, and although I didn't have any fresh tomatoes, I did have a jar of sun-dried tomatoes sitting in my fridge. Raisins? That might be interesting and add a sweet little surprise to the dish. And how about some orange juice to add a bit of a sour taste? Veggie broth would provide a tasty salty flavor. With all these bold flavors rolling around I needed a fairly mellow herb, and thyme would fit the bill because it adds a subtle savory flavor without overpowering the dish. Finally, to balance things off some black pepper would find it's way in there somewhere and add a bitter element.
Millet is a delicious, nutty-tasting grain that can be made dry and fluffy or VERY moist like a creamy polenta. Although I didn't want to end up with a dry, fluffy millet, I also didn't want a completely creamy version either. Hmmmm, this was getting more interesting by the minute.
When all was said and done, with the Millet Vegan Flavor Matches as my guide, here's how my recipe came together...
Vegan Sticky Millet Stacks
Serves 2
1 cup millet
2 cups veggie broth (w/salt)
1/3 cup raisins
1/4 cup sun-dried tomatoes, chopped
2 Tablespoons orange juice
1/2 teaspoon dried thyme (use fresh if you have it), plus more for garnish
Black pepper, to taste
1. Add millet to a medium saucepan and toast, stirring often, until fragrant (5-10 minutes). Toasting will bring more flavor out of your grain.
2. Add veggie broth, cover, and cook until all the water has been absorbed. Do not stir while cooking. When all the water has been absorbed, leave cover on the pot and remove from heat. Let sit while you prepare the other ingredients.
3. Place raisins in a bowl and cover with boiling water. Let sit for 5-10 minutes to soften. Drain.
4. While the raisins are soaking, chop sun-dried tomatoes.
5. Remove cover from millet. DO NOT FLUFF WITH A FORK. Your millet should remain on the sticky side. Add all the ingredients to the millet and stir with a small spatula, incorporating the ingredients well.
6. Grease a 3/4 cup measuring cup with olive oil (I like the spray kind). Scoop one-half of the mixture into the measuring cup. Be sure it's firmly packed. Turn out onto serving plate. Garnish with additional thyme (although I didn't have any on hand, a whole thyme sprig would make for a beautiful presentation).
Serve Vegan Sticky Millet Stacks with a big side of lightly steamed broccoli and a thick piece of whole grain toast slathered with chunky peanut butter -- the tastes match perfectly.
Vegan Sticky Millet Stacks
Happy cooking!
Today's spotlight was on Millet. By using the information found within the pages of the Vegan Coach website, you too can create quick and easy vegan meals without recipes! Ideas for flavorings in this meal were inspired by the Millet Vegan Flavor Matches -- they make cooking a breeze! :O)
Vegan Peanut Butter Vegetable Soup
December 14, 2007 22:16
Okay, this soup is so good that the two of us completely devoured the whole batch in one 24-hour period. I'm calling it Peanut Butter Vegetable Soup, because these are just some of the ingredients that make it so scrumptious.
I would have used Next Day Soup, but it didn't have the same ring. Why would I call it this? Because this is one of those soups that is SO SO SO much better the next day. And even better the day after that as the flavors begin to really meld into each other, growing more complex with time.
Soup is generally a super easy dish to make, and it's nearly impossible to get it wrong.
I began with a base of the vegetables I had on hand, which included carrots, leeks, celery and garlic, and simmered them in veggie broth. And here's where the fun began as I added a little of this, and a little of that until the soup was perfectly balanced.
With a vegetable soup such as this, where you have many different veggies involved, you're not relying on the Vegan Flavor Matches found throughout the VeganCoach.com website. Instead, your main goal is to balance the flavors; sweet, salty, bitter (pungent), and sour. Let your tastes be your guide and think outside of the box in terms of what ingredients you'll add to achieve this balance, as you slowly but surely create a winning soup recipe.
For instance, sweet doesn't mean just sweetener, it can mean raisins, dates, brown rice syrup, and molasses.
Salty can include salt, miso, Bragg's Liquid Aminos, and capers.
Bitter/Pungent? Think garlic, black pepper, cocoa powder and beer.
And finally sour includes ingredients like lemon/orange/lime/pineapple juices, apple cider vinegar, brown rice vinegar, and sauerkraut and/or it's juice.
Comb through your cupboards, fridge and freezer to explore the many flavorful ingredients you have available just waiting to be played with. ;O)
But before we begin...do you know how to clean a leek? I avoided buying leeks for many years because a) I had no idea what they were and b) I had no idea how to wash them properly. Turns out, it's not difficult at all, but it IS important to understand that leeks (a type of onion with a mild and delicate flavor) have rings, sort of like a tree, and there can often be dirt hiding between these rings.
Here's how I clean my leeks:
1. Rinse the outside of the leek. Cut off the base of the leek just above the root. The crazy and kooky top of the leek CAN be eaten, but I didn't want to include it in my soup. So cut it basically where the white part ends and the green part begins. (If you'd like to use the green part, simply remove the leaves and discard any that are dried or yellow. Rinse and thinly slice the remaining healthy-looking greens.)
2. Slice the leek lengthwise.
3. Place leek under running water, holding firmly onto the leek as you fan out the right side. Switch hands and clean the left side. You should be left with a clean leek free of any dirt. :O)
When all was said and done, here's how my soup recipe came together...
Vegan Peanut Butter Vegetable Soup
Serves 6-8
6 cups veggie broth (or 6 cups water and 3 veggie bouillon cubes or equivalent veggie broth powder)
6 carrots, sliced
2 leeks, sliced
6 stalks celery, sliced
2 garlic cloves, chopped
3 large handfuls raisins
1 cup COOKED adzuki beans, or any bean you have on hand
2 heaping Tablespoons peanut butter (creamy or chunky)
1/2 cup cashews
1 Tablespoon Bragg's Liquid Aminos (or other soy sauce)
1-2 Tablespoons agave nectar
3-4 Tablespoons nutritional yeast
1/2 Tablespoon miso
Sea salt and black pepper, to taste
1. Bring veggie broth to a boil. Add carrots, leeks, celery, garlic and raisins. Bring back to a boil, then turn heat down and simmer, covered, until carrots are tender.
2. Add beans, peanut butter, cashews, Bragg's, agave, and nutritional yeast. Bring back to a simmer. Turn off heat and stir in miso (never boil miso). Salt and pepper, to taste.
Peanut Butter Vegetable Soup
So there you have it. Just one idea for a soup that will keep you warm during the cold winter months. Have fun creating your very own soup recipes from scratch. :O)
Happy cooking!
The Great Amaranth Experiment
December 27, 2007 20:54
Have you ever heard of amaranth? It's a teeny tiny little grain, that's even smaller than quinoa, and just packed with nutrients. After a year or two of hearing this grain mentioned, I figured it was finally time for me to break down and give this cute little grain a try.
Since it looks like just a small version of quinoa, I was sort of expecting amaranth to taste like quinoa (which I adore). I was very surprised to find that it tastes NOTHING like quinoa. So today's blog will attempt to convey my experience to you.
I became interested in amaranth after reading about all the fabulous nutritional benefits. Here are just a few facts you might find helpful:
- Amaranth contains 15-18% protein
- Amaranth is high in fiber, containing three times that of wheat
- Amaranth is high in iron, containing five times that of wheat
- Amaranth contains double the calcium found in cow's milk
- Amaranth can help lower your cholesterol
So as you can see, the nutritional profile of amaranth is very impressive.
I simply had to try it for myself.
So, I turned to the QUEEN of grains, Lorna Sass, to be my guide. By the way, I highly recommend her fabulous book Recipes From An Ecological Kitchen, although anything from Ms. Sass is amazing -- plus, she has a fabulous name. ;O)
First of all, unlike quinoa which has to be rinsed first, amaranth is simply too tiny to rinse -- there aren't many colanders that would hold onto the grain without it washing away with the water. But since most amaranth is apparently pretty clean around these parts, there's really no need to rinse first.
To cook my amaranth, I used my trusty pressure cooker, but I'll share the instructions for cooking with both a pressure cooker and just a regular pot on the stovetop.
The first thing I learned is that you don't want to attempt to eat amaranth on its own without some sort of flavoring. It's simply too bland. But using salt can prevent the amaranth from cooking thoroughly. So feel free to use veggie stock as long as it's salt-free or contains very little salt.
HOW TO COOK AMARANTH...
Pressure Cooker Amaranth
1 cup amaranth
1 small garlic cloved, peeled and finely chopped
1 medium onion, peeled and finely chopped
1 1/2 cups water, or low sodium veggie stock (use 1 3/4 cups liquid with jiggle-top cookers)
1 Tablespoon olive oil (to control foaming)
1. Combine the amaranth, garlic, onion, stock or water, and oil in the cooker.
2. Lock the lid in place and over high heat bring to high pressure. Lower the heat just enough to maintain high pressure and cook for 4 minutes. Allow the pressure to come down naturally, about 10 minutes. Carefully remove the lid.
3. Stir well. If the mixture is too thin or the amaranth isn't quite tender (it should be crunchy, but not gritty or hard), boil gently while stirring constantly until thickened (about 30 seconds).
4. Flavor with salt, Tamari or Bragg's Liquid Aminos to taste. Garnish with chopped tomatoes, if you have them on hand.
Standard Stovetop Amaranth
In a heavy 2-quart saucepan, follow step 1, using 3 cups of liquid and omitting the oil. Return to the boil, then reduce the heat and simmer, covered, until most of the liquid has been absorbed, about 20-25 minutes. Follow steps 3 and 4.
Both of these cooking techniques will yield enough amaranth for 2 medium to large servings. But because it's so nutritionally dense (and tastes as such) you may be able to eek 3-4 smaller servings out of the cooked grain.
Okay, so here's what my cooked amaranth looked like after cooking:
Amaranth
So, did we like it?
Well....
Let's put it this way. I found the flavor to be a little bland for my tastes, although I used water -- if I had some veg stock on hand it might have tasted a little more exciting.
But what really got me is that amaranth, to me, seems more like a breakfast grain than a dinner grain. It just tasted more like a breakfast porridge than anything that should have onions and garlic mixed in.
So next time? I'll try my amaranth as a hot breakfast cereal complete with syrup, cinnamon, the works.
Give it a try and see what you think.
Happy cooking!
Vegan Scalloped Potatoes
December 28, 2007 10:57
Scalloped potatoes are perhaps my most all-time favorite side dish EV-ER. So I just HAD to take the time to convert an old dairy-filled recipe of mine and voila! -- Vegan Scalloped Potatoes was born. They're just so yummy and comforting and delectable, and reserved for the cooler months when you just want to hunker down with some warm deliciousness.
Of course, you won't want to have a steady diet of them since they're created with white potatoes -- not the healthiest option due to their ability to raise your blood sugar more quickly than their healthier counterparts sweet potatoes.
On the upside, white potatoes contain lots of potassium which actually helps to lower your risk of high blood pressure. Plus, as a carbohydrate they raise your seratonin levels which make you happy -- no wonder they're called a comfort food. :O)
So enjoy Vegan Scalloped Potatoes as a fun occasional treat.
Click here to open the "Sassy's Vegan Scalloped Potatoes" recipe. (Right click to open in a new window so you can follow along.)
This recipe is easy and always turns out well.
The most important thing to know is to choose Golden Potatoes for this recipe because they cook up light. Russet potatoes will leave you with a very heavy cooked potato -- the end result will be thick and cloying and not very fun to eat.
1. Begin by preheating your oven to 350F. Rub the garlic around the inside of your casserole dish and let it dry, and set aside the remaining garlic. Spray Olive Oil (or other cooking spray) around the inside of the baking dish.
2. Combine the garlic, Earth Balance, potatoes, onions, non-dairy creamer, salt and pepper, to taste.
3. Bring to a boil, lower the heat to medium-high, and cook, stirring until the mixture has thickened, about 5 minutes.
4. Transfer the mixture to the prepared baking dish. Add about 3/4 of the potato mixture to the dish, sprinkle with the grated cheese, and then cover the cheese with the rest of the potato mixture. Shake the pan so the potatoes are distributed evenly.
5. Cook until browned and bubbly. It should take about 1 hour. Be sure to fork test the potatoes for tenderness.
Vegan Scalloped Potatoes
A delectably delicious little plate of heaven. ;O)
Happy cooking!
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