Everyday Vegan
Cooking and Nutrition

Oh, yum. This Vegan Tempeh Burrito w/Creamy Almond Sauce is sooooo fabulous. You're going to love it.

Over the past few years, I've been very busy perfecting the art of creative saucemaking. You may or may not have heard of my new e-book Get Sauced With Sass!, a guide to creating your very own rich and delicious improvisational vegan sauces.

If you love sauces as much as Jeff and I do (and we REALLY love them), then consider purchasing your very own copy of this downloadable e-book. You can learn all about Get Sauced With Sass! here.

But I digress...

This Vegan Tempeh Burrito w/Creamy Almond Sauce was created for brunch last Sunday, and I instantly thought you guys might like it. This burrito would be perfect for lunch or dinner also.

So without further ado, here's the recipe. Enjoy!

Vegan Tempeh Burrito w/Creamy Almond Sauce
Serves 2

Filling:
8 ounces tempeh, cut into large cubes
1 cup veggie broth
1 cup cooked brown rice, or rice of choice
Onion powder, to taste
Tamari soy sauce, to taste
Salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
Sauce:
1/2 cup almonds
1/2 cup water
1 clove garlic
1/4 cup nutritional yeast
1/2 Tablespoon Tamari soy sauce
1/2 Tablespoon lemon juice
Salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
You will also need:
2 large tortillas (I like spelt)
1/2 ripe avocado (optional, but recommended)
Salsa (optional, but recommended)

Step 1: Place veg broth in a saucepan along with the cubed tempeh. Bring to a boil, cover, lower heat, and simmer for 20 minutes to thoroughly cook the tempeh. Add rice to the tempeh along with remaining filling ingredients and stir carefully to combine. Keep warm.

Step 2: While the tempeh cooks, place sauce ingredients in a strong blender, and blend until completely smooth. (I use a Vitamix, which is a very powerful blender. If your blender is not very powerful, you can grind the almonds first, and then add to the blender with the remaining ingredients.)

Step 3: If using a Vitamix, blend on high until warmed. If you're using a regular blender, warm sauce gently in a small saucepan. This step may be skipped - room temperature sauce will work beautifully. The decision is yours.

Step 4: Lightly toast (or warm) tortillas to your liking. Place on a plate. Add 1/2 the filling down the center of tortilla and roll tightly. Pour almond sauce (to taste) over burrito in a zigzag motion. Dollop with salsa and avocado. Repeat with the remaining tortilla. (f you have leftover sauce, refrigerate.)

Here's what it looked like after getting scarfed a bit. It's TASTY. Believe me, it tastes MUCH better than it looks. ;O)

Vegan Tempeh Burrito w/Creamy Almond Sauce

Happy cooking!

xoxo
Sass

December 12, 2008 16:09 - Vegan Pesto Vegetable Soup

After gazing into my fridge for a few minutes, I decided to make this yummy Vegan Pesto Vegetable Soup with the mishmash of ingredients I had on hand. If you ever find yourself with a little of this and a little of that, toss them into a soup. This soup is delish, and helps to keep you warm and cozy.

And it IS soup season, after all.

This soup is chock full of gorgeous chunks of vegetables, which are sooooo important for you to eat on a daily basis. And what a delicious way to get those veggies inside your belly.

Also making an appearance is barley, which is a chewy whole grain that is packed with fiber. Fiber is superbly important for good intestinal health as it helps to move things along, IF you know what I mean. If your tummy is bulging out, you need more fiber!

These ingredients, plus a little onion, garlic, tomato and chunks of seitan are all floating in a pesto-flavored veggie broth. Ooooh, you're going to love this one! It will likely find a place among your go-to soups for the season.

But remember, soups aren't an exact science. If you don't have one ingredient, then just leave it out. Or substitute it with another ingredient you have on hand. You can do no wrong.

Enjoy!

Vegan Pesto Vegetable Soup
Serves 6

6 cups vegetable broth
1 cup barley
4 medium carrots, diced
1 small sweet potato, diced
1 small russet potato (or potato of choice), diced
1/4 - 1/2 onion, coarsely chopped
2 garlic cloves, chopped
1/2 cup seitan, coarsely chopped
1 tomato, seeded and chopped
1/2 cup pesto
1/3 cup nutritional yeast flakes
1-2 Tablespoons Tamari soy sauce (or Bragg's Liquid Aminos)
1 Tablespoon lemon juice
Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste

Bring veggie broth and barley to a boil. Add carrots, sweet potato, russet potato, onion, garlic, seitan and tomato. Cover, and simmer over low heat until barley is tender (it will be chewy, but not hard). This should take about 30-40 minutes. Add remaining ingredients and heat until warmed throughout.

Now, wasn't that easy? ;O)

Vegan Pesto Vegetable Soup

Happy cooking!

xoxo
Sass
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December 19, 2008 12:09 - Vegan Quinoa and Kale Burrito with Creamy Sesame Sauce

This Vegan Quinoa and Kale Burrito with Creamy Sesame Sauce makes the perfect vegan breakfast, vegan lunch, or vegan dinner. I mean, when can you NOT have a burrito? Especially when it's this delicious, AND satisfying.

The main ingredients are quinoa and kale, with a yummy and creamy sesame seed sauce poured over the top.

Quinoa is one of my favorite foods. And it's perfect in a burrito. High in protein, it's usually called a grain, but in all actuality is a seed. Look closely at the quinoa, and you'll notice a teeny tiny hole, which is where it used to be attached to the stalk.

Interesting quinoa fact: No need to turn to cow's milk or soybeans for your protein, because quinoa comes closer to meeting the genuine protein requirements of the human body. Eat your quinoa!!!

Kale is known for its bitter flavor, but that doesn't mean we should skip this extremely healthy green leafy veggie. The trick is to make it palatable.

How do you do that?

With the handy dandy Kale "Vegan Flavor Matches". These flavors match kale perfectly, and you can feel free to use any one or a combination of these ingredients to flavor your kale.

But you can take it even further. When making a sauce to match your dish, you can focus on one of the main ingredients -- in this case, kale.

One glance at the Vegan Flavor Matches for kale and you'll discover that tahini is a great match. And since tahini is made with sesame seeds, and I had some on hand, this formed the base for my vegan sauce.

If you haven't yet discovered how important vegan sauces are to success with a vegan diet, then you need to listen up! A sauce can add sooooooo much to a dish.

The trick is to create HEALTHY sauces so you can feel good about what you're eating. You can accomplish this by making sauces with whole foods. And all of this is done, easily I might add, while not adding to your waistline -- try to find THAT in a conventionally-made sauce based on animal products.

Vegan sauces help you to enjoy the creamy good flavors that a sauce imparts, while providing the fiber and nutrients we need. You can learn to create your own vegan sauces from scratch with my new instant-access, downloadable e-book Get Sauced With Sass!.

Now, let's get back to the recipe.

Vegan Quinoa and Kale Burrito with Creamy Sesame Sauce
Serves 3

Filling:
1 teaspoon extra-virgin olive oil
1/4-1/2 cup onion, chopped
1 1/2 cups quinoa, rinsed
2-3 cups chopped kale
2 3/4 cups vegetable broth
Sesame Sauce:
1/2 cup sesame seeds
1/4 cup pumpkin seeds
1/4 cup nutritional yeast
1 clove garlic
1 Tablespoon pure maple syrup
1 teaspoon balsamic vinegar
1 teaspoon lemon juice
1 teaspoon Bragg's Liquid Aminos
Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
Water, to desired consistency

3 tortillas (I like spelt)

Step 1: Heat oil in a large pan (with a cover) over medium heat. Add onion, and cook until transluscent. Add quinoa, veggie broth and kale. Cover, lower heat, and simmer until quinoa is tender yet firm (about 15 minutes). Add more veggie broth (or water) if needed to complete cooking.

Flavor your quinoa/kale combo in your favorite way. I used a little Bragg's Liquid Aminos, nutritional yeast, lemon juice, garlic, sea salt and freshly ground black pepper.

Step 2: In the meantime, make the sauce. If you own a Vitamix, place all ingredients in the blender and process until completely smooth. If you own a regular blender, you may have to grind the seeds first before blending with the additional ingredients.

Step 3: Place filling down the center of the torillas, roll up. (Optional step: Place on a baking sheet. Broil in an oven or toaster oven for a few minutes until the top is crisped. If you skip this step, I recommend you warm the tortillas before stuffing.)

Step 4: Plate burritos. Drizzle with Creamy Sesame Sauce.

Yummy!

Vegan Quinoa and Kale Burrito with
Creamy Sesame Sauce

Happy cooking!

xoxo