easy Archives - Page 16 of 17

Spinach and Mushroom Tarts

December 30, 2010 by epicureanvegan

I was inspired by Veggie Test Kitchen’s Mini Pizza Tarts back in November and bought some 4″ tart pans. Well, I finally got around to making some tart pizzas and they were a huge hit! I love that these are so versatile—you can make pizzas, savory or sweet tarts, or even breakfast quiches. I have some leftover dough, so I think I know what I’ll be making for New Year’s Day breakfast. 🙂 The recipe is for about 9-10 tarts, so feel free to halve the recipe, or freeze the leftovers for future, fabulous tarts!

INGREDIENTS:
Dough:
3 C flour
1-1/2 C Earth Balance margarine
1/2 C ice water

The rest: (optional)
Sliced mushrooms
Potatoes (I nuked 3 small red potatoes, then diced them up)
Pesto
Tomato, diced
Spinach
Almond feta
Vegan mozzarella, shredded
Olives
Artichokes

DIRECTIONS:
Preheat oven to 350. For the dough, place the flour and margarine in a food processor and pulse several times until the dough is crumbly. While the machine is running, pour in the water and combine about 30 seconds until the dough forms. On a lightly floured surface, knead the dough for 2-3 minutes. Divide the dough into about 9 equal pieces and roll out thin. I lightly sprayed the tart pans with cooking spray, then line the inside of the pan with the dough.

Press down along the edges to cut the dough and pull away from the pan.

Stick each crust with a fork a few times, then bake for 8-10 minutes. For mine, I spread on some pesto, spinach, mushrooms, tomatoes, almond feta. The guys added some potatoes and vegan mozzarella to theirs.

Bake for 22-25 minutes and enjoy!

Boca Enchiladas

December 29, 2010 by epicureanvegan

When we first went vegan, the thought of having Mexican (or Italian) food again seemed like a pipe dream, but I think that some of my favorite meals have been just those—thanks to yummy meat and dairy alternatives. Lucky for me, too, because the Husband loves enchiladas and if I didn’t come up with a veg-based one, he wouldn’t be fun to live with. 😉 I’ve also made a seitan version, and these Boca Crumbles ones are pretty darn delish, too. I made a pretty big batch so feel free to halve the recipe for a smaller crowd.

INGREDIENTS:
1 Tbs olive oil
1-12 oz bag Boca Crumbles
1 medium green bell pepper, diced small
1 small onion, diced small
1-4 oz can diced green chilies (I used mild)
3-10 oz cans enchiladas sauce (I used Old El Paso–mild)
20 LaTortilla Factory Hand Made Style Corn Tortillas (Love these!! They’re a cross between a corn and flour tortilla and come in white and yellow corn—see below)
1 pkg Vegan Gourmet Monterrey Jack cheese, shredded + 1/2 C Daiya cheddar, shredded, mixed together
1 C black olives, sliced
1 bunch green onions, sliced (both green and white parts)
Optional garnishes: Tofutti sour cream, cilantro, diced avocados

DIRECTIONS:
Place the rack in the middle of the oven and preheat to 375. In a large skillet heat the olive oil. Add the bell pepper and onions; saute until softened. Add the Boca crumbles and cook until heated through; stir in the green chilies.

I think it helps to steam the tortillas first, but only do a couple at a time, as the bottom ones will stick if there are too many on top. In a 15″ pan (I made the mistake of using a smaller pan, so I had to use 2 pans) pour 1-1/2 cans of the enchiladas sauce on the bottom of the pan. Place 2-3 spoonfuls of the Boca mixture into the steamed tortillas; add some cheese on top.

Tightly roll up the tortillas and place, fold down, into the baking dish.

Once each tortilla is rolled, top with the remaining sauce and cheese. Sprinkle the olives and green onions on top.

Cover with foil and bake for 20 minutes. Uncover and bake another 5 minutes. Serve with a dollop of sour cream and cilantro and/or any of the optional ingredients. 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

Wild Rice-Stuffed Portobellos

November 24, 2010 by epicureanvegan

Vegan MoFo, Day 24

I have been dying to make these for a while now. They did not disappoint. I used about 2 cups of cooked wild rice for five mushrooms, but the recipe makes enough for six. Also, I recommend using vegetable broth when making the rice—keep in mind, the rice will take about 45 minutes to cook. Typically, I steam or slightly saute the mushroom caps before stuffing them, but this time I decided not to—and I’m glad. They came out perfect; not soggy or too soft. When looking for portobellos for this dish, try to pick out ones that are very bowl-shaped. They’ll flatten a little as they bake, so the curvier, the better. (I like that, curves are good)!

INGREDIENTS:
6 portobello mushrooms, stemmed and de-gilled
2 C wild rice, cooked
1 red bell pepper, diced small
3 large green onion, diced
1/2 a can of artichoke hearts, diced small
1 Tbs Earth Balance
2 tsp garlic, minced
1 C vegan mozzarella, shredded
1 Tbs fresh rosemary, chopped
Salt and pepper, to taste

DIRECTIONS:
Preheat oven to 350 and line a baking sheet with foil; set aside. In a large skillet, heat the margarine and garlic until hot. Add bell pepper, green onions, and artichokes. Saute 3-5 minutes and add rosemary, salt and pepper.

Saute another 5-7 minutes and transfer to a bowl. Add the cooked rice to the bowl and combine the two mixtures.

Place the portobello caps on the baking sheet—upside down. Sprinkle some vegan mozzarella inside the caps, then spoon the rice mixture into each cap evenly.You can season with some more salt and pepper, if you’d like.

Top with remaining cheese and bake, uncovered, for 10-12 minutes. Enjoy!

Seitan Enchiladas with Green Chili Sauce (and a Field Roast Sausage Thrown In)

November 9, 2010 by epicureanvegan

Vegan MoFo, Day 9

That’s right, I had to throw in a Field Roast Mexican Chipotle sausage link—I had a lonely one in the fridge, and these are enchiladas, after all. It was the piece de resistance. This recipe is based on one my sister used to make all the time, but with *gasp* chicken and *gasp* again, half-and-half, so I was determined to veganize it. If you’re not big on seitan, try some other filling options: ground meatless crumbles and refries, portobellos and onions, or bell peppers and zucchini. Either way, I think you’re love the creaminess and cheezyness of this classic dish.

INGREDIENTS:
2 pkgs. seitan, beef or chicken style, chopped into 1″ pieces (or other filling of choice)
1 Field Roast sausage link, Mexican Chipotle flavor, crumbled
1-4oz can diced green chilies
1 C Tofutti sour cream
1/8 C almond milk
1 C fresh cilantro
1 C black olives, sliced
3 green onions, sliced (white and greens parts)
1-1/2 C vegan cheddar and/or vegan Monterrey Jack cheese, shredded, divided
2-16oz jars of 505 Green Chili sauce, choose your level of hotness
11 flour tortillas (I know, I tried to make it an even number, but it just didn’t happen)

DIRECTIONS:
Preheat oven to 350. In a medium bowl, combine seitan, Field Roast, chilies, cilantro, sour cream, almond milk, and 1/2 C of the cheese. Pour 1/2 of on jar of the green chili sauce on the bottom of a 15″ baking pan. Spread evenly. Fill each tortilla with about 3-4 tablespoons of the seitan mixture and fold over to make a burrito.

Lay folded side down.

Sprinkle a little cheese on the enchiladas, then layer rest of green chili sauce on top–spread evenly. Sprinkle rest of cheese on top, then layer on green onions and olives.

Cover and bake for 30 minutes, then enjoy!

Mushroom Garlic Bisque

October 24, 2010 by epicureanvegan

I had a feeling I was going to like this mauve-colored soup because it not only has mushrooms, but wine as well. Yep, I love it. This comes from a cookbook that I’ve recently rediscovered—I’ve had it for years. Beyond the Moon Cookbook is all vegetarian, so I had to veganize the soup, which was no problem. Served with some rustic bread, this soup was ideal for a chilly fall evening.

INGREDIENTS:
2 C dry red wine
1-1/2 lbs mushrooms, quartered (about 6 cups)
1 Tbs Earth Balance margarine
1-1/2 C onions, chopped
10 large garlic cloves, minced
1/2 tsp dried thyme
1-1/2 C fresh bread crumbs (I used an olive loaf and chopped up about 1/2 of it)
1 C Tofutti sour cream
2-1/2 C almond milk
2 Tbs tamari
1 tsp salt
2 Tbs fresh basil, chopped
Dash of black pepper

DIRECTIONS:
In a large soup pot, heat 1-1/2 cups of the wine and add the mushrooms .

Simmer, partially covered, until the mushrooms have absorbed all wine, about 20-25 minutes. Meanwhile, melt the butter in a skillet and add the onions, garlic, and thyme until the onions are soft, about 5 minutes.

Puree the onions in a food processor.

Add the bread crumbs, sour cream, and three-quarters of the cooked mushrooms.

(fresh bread crumbs)
Process until smooth.

Stir the puree into the soup pot with the left over mushrooms. Whisk in the milk, tamari, salt, basil, pepper, remaining 1/2 cup red wine, and 2-1/2 cups of water. Heat until warmed through, stirring often. Ladle into soup bowls and enjoy!

Stuffed Bell Peppers

October 19, 2010 by epicureanvegan

Okay, I wasn’t kidding when I said I was going to make stuffed peppers. We happened to get a TON of green bell peppers from our CSA yesterday:

This is just a third of what we received–the rest went to my 2 other neighbor who share in the CSA with us.

I guarantee you will LOVE these stuffed peppers. I debated on what to put in them, but when it came down to it, I wanted to make them as simple as possible. As the Sixth Grader said,”These are cooked perfectly; they cut like butter!”

INGREDIENTS:
11 small bell peppers, or 6-7 large peppers
1/2 C Arborio rice (risotto)
3/4 C water
1-1/2 tsp Earth Balance margarine
4 C fresh spinach, chopped small
1 large tomato, diced
6 -oz Tofutti cream cheese
1 tsp cumin
1 Tbs dried minced onion
1/2 C Tofutti sour cream
1/4 C fresh cilantro, finely chopped
1 Tbs lime juice
1/8 tsp garlic salt

DIRECTIONS:
In a small saucepan combine water, rice, and butter. Bring to a boil, stir, and cover for 15-20 minutes. Preheat oven to 375. Wash the peppers and cut the tops off. Clean out the insides of seeds and other innards.

Combine cream cheese with cooked rice (in the same pan) and blend thoroughly. Since the rice is warm, it’ll make it easier to to blend. Stir in cumin and minced onion. Add spinach and tomatoes and combine well.

Fill each pepper with the rice mixture. You can pack in quite a bit of the rice mixture, just press down with a spoon—pretend you’re stuffing a sleeping bag into its stuff sack. Place in a 8″ square pan.

I had about 3/4 C of left over rice mixture, but if using larger peppers, you can probably squeeze it all into those.

Bake covered for 40 minutes. Uncover and bake another 5 minutes. While these are baking, combine sour cream, lime juice, cilantro and garlic salt in a small bowl.

Add a few dollops of the sour cream mixture on top of the pepper servings and enjoy!

Hard Cashew Cheese

September 11, 2010 by epicureanvegan

When I made this block of cheese, I was wondering what in the world am I going to do with that much cheese?! It wasn’t hard to figure that out once I tasted it. Eat it! The recipe is from The Vegan Table and her Creamy Macaroni and Cashew Cheese recipe, but with just one alteration: agar flakes. You can find these flakes in the Asian section of most grocery stores, but be prepared to spend a little. One 1-ounce package (you’ll need 1-1/2 packages) is about $8. But, it does make one big block of cheese. I’m sure halving the recipe would be fine.

I think this recipe is an excellent base for a block of cashew cheese, but we found that it just needed a little extra punch. Next time I will add some vegan Worcestershire sauce and perhaps some minced onion. It needed just a bit more saltiness. It’s a delicious mild cheese and easy to slice and would be fantastic on sandwiches or even on nachos. Really, anything you can think of needing some cheese, melted or not, this would work—even shredded.

INGREDIENTS:
1-1/4 C raw cashews
1/2 C nutritional yeast
2 tsp onion powder
1 to 2 tsp salt, to taste
1 tsp garlic powder
1/8 tsp white pepper|
3-1/2 C nondairy milk
1 C agar flakes
1/2 C canola oil
1/4 C light (yellow or white) miso
2 Tbs lemon juice

DIRECTIONS:
Place cashews in a large-sized bowl of the food processor and finely grind–just don’t let the cashews turn to a paste. Add nutritional yeast, onion powder, salt, garlic powder, and white pepper. Pulse three more times to blend in spices.

In a heavy saucepan, combine milk, agar flakes and oil. Bring to a simmer over high heat. Decrease heat to low-medium, cover and simmer, stirring occasionally for 10 minutes, or until the sauce thickens.

With the food processor running, gradually add milk mixture to cashew mixture. Blend for 2 minutes or until smooth and creamy. Next blend in miso and lemon juice. It won’t take long for the sauce to start thickening up. Transfer to a mold. I used a glass bowl, but plastic would be fine, too. In fact, it may work better.

Let it harden in the refrigerator for a few hours—after 3 hours, it still wasn’t quite ready, so I left it over night.

It did not stick to the sides of the mold at all, but there was a tiny bit of liquid on the bottom acting as a suction and the cheese wasn’t budging. I inserted a straw in the middle of the cheese, took it out, creating a hole and then turned it upside down over a cutting board. It came right out. With a plastic mold, you could probably squeeze the sides enough to loosen it enough. Enjoy!

Chocolate Chip Cookies

August 28, 2010 by epicureanvegan

These cookies are delicious—just like Mom’s. The recipe is from The Joy of Vegan Baking and doesn’t disappoint! It called for 1 cup of nuts, but I left them out since we’re kind of opposed to nuts in cookies and brownies, with the exception of macadamia nut cookies. . .anyway. . .these are yummy. The recipe calls for brown sugar and I have found that storing it in the freezer is the way to go–it only takes about 20 minutes to thaw and once it does, it’s always soft. Just remember to pull it out of the freezer to thaw before using it.

INGREDIENTS:
4-1/2 tsp Ener-G Egg Replacer
6 Tbs water
1 C Earth Balance margarine
3/4 C granulated sugar
3/4 C firmly packed light or dark brown sugar
2 tsp vanilla
2-1/4 C flour
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
1-2 C nondairy semisweet chocolate chips (Ghirardelli is great)
1 C chopped nuts (optional)

DIRECTIONS:
Preheat oven to 375. In a food processor or blender, whip the egg replacer and water together until its thick and creamy. The recipe recommends this for better consistency that what you’d get by doing it by hand. In a large bowl, cream the butter, granulated sugar, brown sugar, and vanilla. Add the egg replacer mixture to this wet mixture and thoroughly combine. In a separate bowl, combine the flour, baking soda, and salt. Gradually beat the flour mixture into the wet mixture until it begins to form a dough. When it is almost thoroughly combined, stir in the chips and nuts, if using.

Scoop out 1-2 tablespoons of batter onto a nonstick baking sheet (or lined with parchment paper) and bake 8-10 minutes, or until golden brown. Cool on a wire rack. The recipe says it makes 1 dozen, but they must have been BIG cookies because I got 35. Enjoy!

Vegan Doughnuts

July 16, 2010 by epicureanvegan

Yes, they’re as yummy as they look. Plus, they were very easy to make. The recipe, from Vegan Yum Yum, says to place plastic wrap over them as they cool in the pan so that they remain soft and fluffy. They will definitely be more cakey and cookie-like otherwise—which is still great. The recipe also says to use an ungreased petite doughnut pan, but let me tell you. . .I found out the hard way that the pan should be greased! Don’t let this happen to your doughnuts. . .only one made it out unscathed from the first batch:

INGREDIENTS:
Petite doughnut pan (I borrowed one—Thanks, Kristin!) I’ll be buying one for sure.
1 C all purpose flour
1/2 C sugar
1-1/2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp nutmeg
1 tiny pinch cinnamon (both my non-vegan friend and I who had these, agreed that there should be more–maybe 1/2 a teaspoon)
1/2 C soy milk
1/2 tsp apple cider vinegar
1/2 tsp pure vanilla extract
Egg substitute for 1 egg
4 Tbs Earth Balance margarine

DIRECTIONS:
Preheat oven to 350. In a large bowl, combine the flour, sugar, baking powder, salt, nutmeg, and cinnamon with a whisk and mix thoroughly.

Combine soy milk, apple cider vinegar, vanilla, egg substitute, and margarine in a small saucepan over medium-low heat and mix well until margarine is melted. It shouldn’t get too hot, just slightly warm.

Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and mix until well combined. It should form a very soft dough or thick batter.

Using a tablespoon measure, scoop out the dough into the greased, nonstick mini-doughnut pan Smooth out the top of the doughnuts with your finger, clearing off the post in the middle of each one.

Bake for 12 minutes until the doughnuts are almost browned on top and a toothpick comes out clean. Invert the pan over a cutting board or cooling rack to release the doughnuts. Allow to cool completely before decorating (unless you’re making powdered sugar ones; see below) Makes about 20-22 doughnuts.

(A much better second batch)!

Chocolate-dipped doughnuts (the ones I made): Melt 1 bar of your favorite dark chocolate in the microwave. (I melted some carob chips in a saucepan over low heat and added some soy milk to reach a good consistency). Dip the pretty top side of the doughnut in the chocolate and place on a rack. Top with sprinkles.

Powdered Sugar doughnuts: While doughnuts are still warm from the oven, roll them in a bowl of powdered sugar.

You can also whisk some powdered sugar and soy milk together to reach a desired consistency and glaze the doughnuts. Enjoy!