epicureanvegan, Author at Epicurean Vegan

Caramelized Onion Dip

December 27, 2010 by epicureanvegan

Love onions? You’ll love this dip. Caramelizing the onions brings out a rich sweetness in them and are ideal for a dip—served hot or cold. Serve with potato chips, veggies or crackers.

INGREDIENTS:
2 lbs yellow onions (about 3 large onions) sliced thin
Salt and pepper, to taste
1 tsp sugar
3 Tbs Earth Balance
1 Tbs olive oil
6 cloves garlic, minced
8-oz Tofutti cream cheese
1/2 C Vegenaise
3/4 C Tofutti sour cream
1/8 tsp nutmeg
1 tsp Worcestershire sauce
2 Tbs fresh thyme, chopped

DIRECTIONS:
Over medium heat, melt the Earth Balance in a large skillet. Add the onions and sprinkle with salt and pepper.

Cover and cook for about 12 minutes, then stir in the sugar and increase the heat. Cover and continue to cook another 20 minutes, or until the onions are browned and caramel-y.

Remove from heat and let cool. Transfer the onions to a large cutting board and chop them up. You can also use a food processor.

In a small saute pan, heat the oil and garlic until the garlic begins to brown, then remove from the heat. In a large bowl, combine the cream cheese, Vegenaise, sour cream, nutmeg, garlic, and Worcestershire sauce. Stir in the onions and thyme. Puree half of the dip, then stir back into the other half.

Cover and chill or put transfer to a baking dish and warm. Enjoy!

Pesto and Almond Feta Pizza

December 26, 2010 by epicureanvegan

After the craziness of the holidays, a quick, easy meal is a welcome reprieve. I usually have homemade pesto in the freezer, so it paired perfectly with the almond feta I made a few days ago. I had one flat bread left and a loaf of French bread which made the perfect pizza “dough.” You’ll love the softness of the cheese and the absence of all grease–this is probably my favorite kind of pizza.

INGREDIENTS: (For 3 pizzas)
3 flat breads or 3/4 of a loaf of French bread
1 C basil pesto
1-1/2 to 2 C almond feta
2-3 tomatoes, diced
1 C black olives, sliced
Shredded vegan mozzarella, optional

DIRECTIONS:
Preheat oven to 400. On each piece bread, layer 1/3 C of the pesto, then equally divide the rest of the ingredients among the pizzas.

Bake for 15 minutes, or until the feta begins to brown. Enjoy!

It’s A Cheeze Extravaganza!

December 25, 2010 by epicureanvegan

Well, first of all, Merry Christmas! I hope everyone has had a wonderful, fabulous holiday full of family, friends and happiness. Even Moe-Dog is having a happiness hangover:

And apparently, he’s a little embarrassed about it:

My mom surprised me with a copy of The Ultimate Uncheese Cookbook and I have had uncheese on the brain since. For Christmas Eve, we typically do drinks and appetizers, games and movies, so I made three different cheezes from the recipe book and one from Vegetarian Times. A few of the cheezes will require a couple days’ worth of time—but rest assured—they’re easy and worth it. You will need to blanch almonds, something I had never attempted before, but found it to be quite an easy process.

First up:

Port Wine Uncheese

This is super simple to throw together. The pinto beans give it that dry cheese taste and texture and even if it doesn’t taste exactly like cheese, it still has excellent flavor. I recommend adding some nutritional yeast–maybe a 1/4 C for more of a cheesy flavor if you feel it needs it. Otherwise, it’s fab on its own. The recipe calls for nonalcoholic red wine, but I went with an actual port.

INGREDIENTS:
2 C (1-15 or 16 oz can) pinto beans
1/4 C nonalcoholic red wine or port wine
3 Tbs sesame tahini
1 Tbs light or chickpea miso (I used light miso)

DIRECTIONS:
Throw it all in a food processor then let it chill several hours or overnight. You could then roll it in roasted walnuts or pecans for extra flavor, if desired.

Source: The Ultimate Uncheese Cookbook

Incredible Almond Creme Cheez

This one has a fluffy, lemony flavor that pairs really well with herbed crackers. The taste is very mild, so herbed crackers work great with this one. You will need to blanch the almonds for this, which is very easy: place almonds in a saucepan with enough water to cover them. Bring to a boil for 1-2 minutes, then drain and allow to cool. Pinch the skins between your finger and the skins will slide right off. Dry them off well.

INGREDIENTS:
1/4 C blanched almonds
1/2 C hot water
1/2 C cold water
2 Tbs lemon juice
2 Tbs kuzu, arrowroot, or cornstarch (I used cornstarch)
1/2 tsp nutritional yeast
1/2 tsp salt

DIRECTIONS:
Grind the almonds to a fine powder. Transfer to a blender (I did as the recipe said, but I’m sure just using the food processor is fine) and add the hot water; process until thick and creamy. Add the cold water and remaining ingredients; blend until smooth and creamy. Pour into a saucepan and bring to a boil, stirring constantly. Once it thickens, reduce the heat to medium and cook, stirring constantly for another minute. Let it cool. Fluff with a fork or whisk and transfer to a storage container.

Chill for a few hours. Before serving, beat again with a fork or whisk.

Source: The Ultimate Uncheese Cookbook

Onion, Dill and Horseradish Cheez

If you like cheese with a kick, you’ll love this one. The horseradish is perfect in this and makes for a great sliced cheese. I’m not crazy about dill, so next time I will go easy on it and not add the full two teaspoons, but aside from that, it’s a great addition to any cheese platter.

INGREDIENTS:
1-1/2 C water
5 Tbs agar flakes
1/2 C chopped raw cashews
1/4 C nutritional yeast
3 Tbs lemon juice
2 Tbs tahini
2 Tbs white horseradish (not creamed)
2 tsp Dijon mustard
1 tsp salt
1 tsp onion powder
1/4 tsp garlic powder
1/4 tsp dried onion flakes
2 tsp dried dillweed

DIRECTIONS:
Lightly oil a 3-cup plastic (I used glass) container and set aside. Combine the water and agar flakes in a saucepan and boil.

Reduce the heat and simmer, stirring frequently 5-10 minutes, or until flakes are dissolved. Transfer to a blender and add the cashews, nutritional yeast, tahini, horseradish, mustard, salt, onion powder, and garlic powder.

Process until smooth. By hand, add the onion flakes and dillweed. Pour into the prepared container and cool uncovered in the fridge. Once it is completely cooled, cover and chill several hours to overnight. Before serving, slice thin.

Source: The Ultimate Uncheese Cookbook

Almond Cheese: Spreadable and Feta-Style

(Spreadable)

(Feta-Style)

Now this is probably my favorite. This one comes from Vegetarian Times and despite the time and effort, I’ll be making it over and over again. I doubled the recipe because it can be made into a spreadable version and a feta-style. The only difference is that the feta-style requires baking—a very simple step.

INGREDIENTS: (undoubled)
1 C blanched almonds
1/4 C lemon juice
3 Tbs olive oil
1 clove garlic, peeled (I used minced)
1-1/4 tsp salt
Cheesecloth

DIRECTIONS:
Place almonds in a medium bowl and cover with 3″ of water; soak for 24 hours. Drain and rinse twice with running water.

Puree the almonds, lemon juice, 3 Tbs olive oil, garlic, salt and 1/2 C of cold water in a food processor until smooth. Place a fine mesh strainer over a bowl and line the strainer with a triple layer of cheesecloth. Spoon mixture into cheesecloth.

Bring the corners and sides of the cheesecloth together and twist around the cheese, squeezing out any excess moisture. Secure with a rubber band.

Chill 12 hours or overnight. Discard any excess liquid—I squeezed a little more out. One half I left in the fridge and for the feta-style: Preheat oven to 200. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and unwrap cheese and transfer it from the cheesecloth to the baking sheet. Flatten to a 6″ round with a 3/4″ in thickness on the sheet.

Bake for 40 minutes. Let cool. I then transferred it to a bowl and used a fork to break it up into feta-like chunks. Place in a storage container and refrigerate for several hours. Add to salads or soups—you’ll love it! Enjoy!

I’m sure Moe will recover from his Christmas overload soon . . .

Glazed Chocolate-Avocado Cupcakes

December 22, 2010 by epicureanvegan

Avocado and chocolate? Absolutely! You can’t taste the avocado, but it takes the place of eggs, as well as some of the oil. These cupcakes are so rich, moist, fluffy and decadent. Even the Husband said, “Oh man, these are dangerous.”

INGREDIENTS:
Cupcakes:
1-1/2 C flour
3/4 C unsweetened cocoa powder
1 tsp baking powder
3/4 tsp baking soda
3/4 tsp salt
1 avocado, pitted and peeled
1 C pure maple syrup (I used light pancake syrup)
3/4 C plain soy milk (I used almond milk)
1/3 C canola oil
2 tsp vanilla

Glaze:
1/4 block soft silken tofu (from a 14-oz container), drained and patted dry
3 Tbs pure maple syrup (again, I used light pancake syrup)
1/2 tsp vanilla
1/8 tsp salt
4 oz semisweet chocolate chips, melted

DIRECTIONS:
To make the cupcakes, preheat oven to 350. Line a 12-cup muffin pan with paper liners. In a large bowl, whisk the flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Puree the avocado in a food processor until smooth. Add the maple syrup, almond milk, oil, and vanilla; blend until creamy. Whisk into flour mixture.

Spoon the mixture evenly into the muffin cups. I wasn’t sure how much to fill them because you never know with muffins, but as long as you evenly divide the batter among the cups, you’ll be fine.

Bake for 25 minutes.

To make the glaze, blend the tofu, maple syrup, vanilla, and salt in the food processor. Add the melted chocolate and blend thoroughly.

Transfer to a bowl.

Dip the tops of the cupcakes into the glaze, pulling up straight to form peaks. Enjoy!

Recipe: Vegetarian Times

Swirled Mint Cookies

December 22, 2010 by epicureanvegan

These cookies were always a classic Christmas treat growing up—they seriously date back to 1987. They’re from an old school Better Homes and Gardens cookie cookbook.

I just had to veganize the recipe by using Earth Balance and egg replacer. They remind me of my childhood and are now a fav with the Sixth Grader.

INGREDIENTS:
2 C flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
1 C Earth Balance margarine
1 C sugar + plus some for sprinkling
1-1/2 tsp Ener-G Egg replacer + 2 Tbs water
1 tsp vanilla
1/2 tsp peppermint extract
10 drops red food coloring
10 drops green food coloring

DIRECTIONS:
Whisk together the egg replacer powder and water; set aside. In a large bowl, cream together margarine until softened. Add the sugar and beat until fluffy. Add “egg,” vanilla, and peppermint extract and beat well. In a medium bowl, combine the flour and baking powder, then mix it into the butter mixture. Divide the dough into thirds. Stir red food coloring into one third, green in another third, and leave the last third.

Cover each and chill about an hour.

Preheat oven to 375. Divide each dough into fourths. Roll out each fourth into a 1/2″ diameter rope. You’ll need just a tad of flour–mostly just for your hands.

Place each one side by side and twist together. Pour some extra sugar into a bowl and set nearby.

Slice into each rope:

You can carefully roll into balls, or just place the cut pieces 2″ apart on a cookie sheet.

Using a flat-bottomed glass dipped in the sugar, flatten the dough to a 1/4″ thickness.

Bake for 7-8 minutes, then remove to a wire rack to cool. Makes about 72 cookies. Enjoy!

Swedish Tea Cookies

December 19, 2010 by epicureanvegan

These treats are also called Mexican Wedding Cookies, but growing up, they were known as Christmas cookies around my house. I suppose since I’m also a fraction Swedish, I’ll go with the Scandinavian title. The recipe is my mom’s and all I had to do to veganize them was to use Earth Balance.

INGREDIENTS:
1 C Earth Balance Margarine
2 C Confectioner’s sugar, divided
1 tsp vanilla
1 tsp almond extract
2 C flour
1/4 tsp salt
1 C almonds, chopped

DIRECTIONS:
Place the oven rack in the middle—maybe a bit higher, otherwise the bottom of the cookies will get too brown. Preheat oven to 400. Cream together butter, 1 cup of the Confectioner’s sugar, vanilla, and almond extract. In a small bowl, combine flour, salt and nuts; add to the butter mixture. Combine well until the dough holds together.

Form dough into 1″ balls and place on a baking sheet. Once you get down to the last 1/2 dozen, the dough will be crumbly, but just squeeze it together—works great.

Bake 10 minutes.

Once the cookies are cooled, roll them in the remaining cup of Confectioner’s sugar and enjoy!

Makes 3 dozen

Field Roast-Stuffed Bell Peppers

December 16, 2010 by epicureanvegan

These are one of my favorite things to make, especially since the the filling can be changed to suit your tastes and what you have lying around the kitchen. I used Field Roast’s Chipotle flavored sausages which has great flavor and seasonings, that there was no need to add any spices. These were creamy, spicy and filling. The recipe is for 4 bell peppers, but I had 3—luckily, the stuffing makes a great breakfast burrito filling.

INGREDIENTS:
4 bell peppers, any variety
1/2 C arborio rice
1 C vegetable broth
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 Tbs olive oil
2 Field Roast sausages, chipotle-flavor, crumbled
1 medium onion, diced
1-1/2 C mushrooms, diced
2 small tomatoes, diced
1 C vegan cheddar, shredded
1/4 C Tofutti sour cream

DIRECTIONS:
Preheat oven to 375. In a small saucepan, combine the vegetable broth and arborio rice; bring to a boil. Cover and simmer on low for 10-15 minutes, or until all the liquid is absorbed. Slice the very tops off of the bell peppers and clean out the innards; set aside.

In a large skillet, heat the olive oil and garlic. Add the onions and Field Roast and saute until the onions start to soften and brown, then add the mushrooms and tomatoes. In a small bowl, combine the cheese and sour cream and then stir it into the Field Roast mixture.

Spoon the Field Roast mixture into the peppers—firmly pack it in. Place into a 8″ baking dish.

Cover with foil and bake for 35 minutes. Uncover and bake another 5 minutes and enjoy!

Product Review: Tofurky Vegan Cheese Pizza

December 15, 2010 by epicureanvegan

For the Sixth Grader, finding a tasty vegan pizza is a must. Pizza parties are a thing of the past for him, so I think it’s important for him to have this treat every now and again.

Tofurky claims that this is the “1st Non-Dairy Cheese That Really Melts”. Well, they use Daiya cheese, just like Amy’s Mac and Cheeze so that is promising! The 12-oz frozen pizza will cost you $6.79 at Vitamin Cottage Grocers, but $8.99 at Whole Foods (gee . . .big surprise). I certainly don’t think that’s right to pay that much for a frozen pizza. Unfortunately, I think that’s one of the reasons why vegan food gets a bad rap as being more expensive. But I think the more people eat vegan, the cheaper the products will become. (The Sixth Grader, of course has no problem with the price . . . 😉 )

You bake it at 420 for 11-12 minutes (10 was perfect). It was quite good! They don’t skimp on the cheese and like they claim, it melts beautifully. Very impressive.

A third of the pizza contains 240 calories, 2 grams of saturated fat, NO CHOLESTEROL, and less sodium than regular cheese pizza.

Overall, this is a great choice for a vegan pizza, if you don’t mind the price tag.

Creamy Veggie Bake (Made possible by Green Buffalo Food Co.)

December 13, 2010 by epicureanvegan

When one door closes, another one opens. In this case, when one CSA ends, another comes! We had our last week of our CSA this last Monday, and luckily, I met another food delivery company in my area, at an event for our Writers Association. Green Buffalo Food Company delivers organic, locally-grown/raised food right to your door. I was very enticed by the fact that they don’t require a contract–just weekly or bi-weekly delivery and we can tell them what we don’t want in our delivery. I have 3 butternut squashes on my counter, so I can wait on getting more. Oh, and fruit! It includes fruit!

We received our first delivery today and let me tell you . . .I get excited over home-delivered organic vegetables! Christmas came early.

Isn’t it a gorgeous box of produce?! (potatoes are in the bag). Organic is of course wonderful, but it isn’t always the prettiest—or the very large, so I was very impressed with what we got. And everything is packed so carefully and sweetly (which is fitting because Ali and Ryan, who own GBF, are incredibly lovely people). (sorry, that’s a lot of adverbs). I was giddy with vegan excitement as I perused through the box, wondering what to make for dinner. I had to refrain from using everything—reminding myself that it needed to last the week. I opted for a vegetable bake that didn’t use up everything and certainly didn’t disappoint.

INGREDIENTS:
1 Tbs olive oil
2 tsp garlic
1 large zucchini, sliced, then quartered
2 C mushrooms, quartered
1/2 large onion, chopped
1 green bell pepper, chopped
1-8oz pkg. tempeh, cubed (small)
2 small broccoli heads, florets only
1/2 C almond milk
1 pkg Silken tofu
1/2 C nutritional yeast
1 tsp garlic salt
1/2 tsp black pepper
1 C vegan cheddar (I used a combo of cheddar and mozzarella)
1/2 C bread crumbs

DIRECTIONS:

Preheat oven to 375. In a large skillet heat olive oil and garlic. Add the zucchini, broccoli, bell pepper, onion, and tempeh. Saute on medium heat until they just barely begin to soften. Add mushroom and saute another 5 minutes. Meanwhile, combine the tofu, nutritional yeast, almond milk, garlic salt, and pepper in a food processor. You can also just whisk it in a bowl; stir in the cheese.

Lightly grease a 9×13″ baking dish and layer half of the sauce on bottom. Add the vegetable mixture, then top with the rest of the sauce. Stir around to combine everything.

Cover and bake 40 minutes. Sprinkle the breadcrumbs on top and bake another 10 minutes.

Let sit for about 5-8 minutes before serving. Enjoy!

Spinach and Mushroom Ravioli

December 11, 2010 by epicureanvegan

I lost my pasta maker. You’re probably wondering, how on earth do you lose a twenty-five pound kitchen appliance? Well, if I knew that, it wouldn’t be lost, right? 😉 Somehow, it didn’t make the one mile move to our new house a year ago—and we didn’t use movers; just us. Apparently, the pasta maker in question ran away with my Chantal soup pot because it’s missing as well. Not sure what kitchen conspiracy happened, but I’m hopeful that someday, both (and whatever else was in the box) turns up. So I don’t recommend making ravioli without a pasta maker, otherwise, the process is a lot harder than it needs to be. The taste however, was well-worth the work. There’s nothing like fresh pasta.

INGREDIENTS:
Pasta Dough:
1/3 C nutritional yeast
2 C flour
1 Tbs olive oil
Dash or two of salt
1/2 to 3/4 C water

The rest:
1-1/2 C sliced mushrooms
1-1/2 C chopped spinach
1 C vegan mozzarella, shredded
1 jar marinara sauce

Yummy, gluten-free sauce.
In a food processor with the sharp S blade, pulse the nutritional yeast a few times to make a fine powder. Then switch to the plastic dough/bread blade.

Add the flour and salt and pulse to combine. While the machine is running, add olive oil and water to form an elastic-y dough.

Roll out small pieces of dough at a time into a long rectangle. I used a pizza cutter to slice into squares. Place some spinach, 2-3 mushroom slices and a pinch or two of cheese.

I then folded over one side and pinched the edges.

To seal the edges, I used the pizza cutter to the three sides.

I ended up with 18 pretty ugly raviolis that I placed on floured waxed paper, otherwise, if they sit too long, they will stick to the surface and it would be a terrible mess.

I boiled about 3-4 raviolis at a time, then transferred to an oiled, glass dish. Be sure to turn the ravioli once to cook the tops and bottoms—about 1 minute per side.

Brush the tops with olive oil as well. Ladle sauce over individual servings and top with any remaining vegan mozzarella. Enjoy!

Caramelized Onion Dip

Pesto and Almond Feta Pizza

It’s A Cheeze Extravaganza!

Glazed Chocolate-Avocado Cupcakes

Swirled Mint Cookies

Swedish Tea Cookies

Field Roast-Stuffed Bell Peppers

Product Review: Tofurky Vegan Cheese Pizza

Creamy Veggie Bake (Made possible by Green Buffalo Food Co.)

Spinach and Mushroom Ravioli

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