á Vegano’s take on Eeny Meeny Chili Beany On Toast from “Vegan á Go-Go!”

Tonight for dinner I made Eeny Meeny Chili Beany On Toast from Vegan á Go-Go! (originally from La Dolce Vegan I believe) but as usual I made my own changes and it is a bit different (different amount of items and included some items not in the recipe). The original can be found online if you do a search but I am not going to post it here.

 
1 15 oz can chili beans (including liquid)
1 15 oz can black beans (including liquid)
1 Tbsp Mexican chili powder
1 Tbsp Brown sugar
1 tsp Onion powder
1 tsp Garlic powder
1 tsp Pepper
1 tsp Paprika
1 tsp Cumin
1/4 tsp Salt
1/2 tsp Crushed red pepper flakes
1/2 Cup ketchup
1 Tbsp Tamari or soy sauce

Serve on toast, 2-2 1/2 pieces per person.

Put all ingredients (except the toast of course) into the pot and stir them together. Bring to a boil and then turn down the heat to let the chili simmer for about 10 minutes.

We like to rip our toast into small pieces and then cover it with the chili, but you can do yours however you like. I like to spread Earth Balance on my toast before I rip it apart.

 
From the back of the book:

This book includes recipes both new and adapted from her previous books; all are a cinch to prepare with easy-to-find ingredients but guaranteed to deliver energy, nutrition, and great flavor. The book also contains information and advice pertinent to Vegan travels, and is small enough to slip into one’s pocket or purse with ease. Full of Sarah’s high-energy with and verve, Vegan á Go-Go! makes life for Vegans on the go-go a lot less stressful and a lot more fun.

 

We highly suggest getting this book as it has a lot recipes that are quick and simple yet filling and delicious.

To Have and To Hold One’s Own Calzone

Calzones have been a favorite of mine since college. I loved ordering up my very own little piece of yummy for a number of reasons. 1) It was cheaper than ordering a whole pie. 2) It was the perfect amount of food after getting home at 2 a.m. when the bars closed. and 3) It was in one cute little package that prevented broke roommates from hovering around and sneaking “just one slice”. Yes, the calzone was perfection to me.

Since going vegan I hadn’t really thought about my beloved calzones too often. Mainly because places didn’t offer a vegan calzone (yes, I know, hold the cheese and there you have it) but it seemed more worth our time perfecting pizza like this instead. I seemed to be just happy in my little calzone-less world…until we moved to Upstate New York about a month ago.

We live just west of Ithaca and people kept telling us about Pizza Aroma and their amazing vegan calzones. Outside of Eugene’s own Pizza Research Institute’s P3 pizza, (which Rahzh blogged about for his veganniversary), I haven’t been all the impressed with the vegan pizzas that are being made out there so really didn’t go running at the first whisper of calzone. I was indeed quite skeptical.

Pizza Aroma is definitely a no frills pizza-on-the-go sort of joint but don’t let that fool you. What was served up for us was a made to order, hot and fresh, honest to goodness, yummy yum yum, worth getting in the car and driving a half hour (40 minutes with a damn detour) for vegan calzone. Made with black olives, spinach, roasted red peppers, eggplant, fresh garlic (ooo the garlic!), roasted garlic sauce, olive oil and Follow Your Heart mozzarella cheese. This, my friends, is something to have and to hold, behold:

And the bonus was they were HUGE! We each ordered one and while Rahzh was so excited and rallied through eating a whole calzone, we could have easily shared one. Mine made for a really great second lunch later in the day. The only critique we had of this dish was that the cheese could have been melted just a little more but outside of that it is definitely worth the hype. NOM.

“Tasty tofu lettuce wraps” or “Move over P.F. Chang’s”

We decided to try making lettuce wraps because of repeatedly having this wonderful concoction at P.F. Chang’s.

When we go to P.F. Chang’s we never actually order any entrées and just stick to the “starters”. And for the most part we only get the lettuce wraps. We both get ourselves an order of the vegetarian lettuce wraps and sometimes we get some rice to go along with it. We make a meal out of what P.F. Chang’s considers to be an appetizer. For us it has all a meal needs; lettuce, tofu, mushrooms, water chestnuts, and some sauces and spices.

To us these taste better than the wraps at P.F. Chang’s. So good in fact that we not only had them for dinner but we also had them the next morning for breakfast/brunch

cooked rice (amount and type is up to you,but we suggest around 4 servings)
head of lettuce
1 pound extra firm tofu, sometimes we even do 1 1/2 pounds if we have the extra tofu (drained)
2 3/4 cups chopped mushrooms (your choice,but preferably shitake)
4 tablespoons chopped garlic (fresh)
2 tablespoons chopped ginger (fresh)
4 oz chopped water chestnuts (drained)
red pepper flakes
soy sauce
pepper
onion powder
Earth Balance (or Vegan margarine/oil of choice)

Chop your the tofu into tiny squares. Then spread out the tofu on pan/cookie sheet ( We like to VERY lightly oil/”butter” the pan with EB so that the tofu doesn’t stick). Top with pepper, red pepper flakes, and soy sauce (to taste for the most part,but don’t over do it). Also top with just a little bit of onion powder. Bake on 375 degrees for about 35-40 minutes.

At this time you can also start cooking the rice. Follow the brand/package directions for the amount of rice you are wanting.

When the tofu is almost done, melt some EB in a wok or frying pan and throw in the chopped up garlic and ginger. Saute for around 5 minutes or so until they are softer. Add in the mushrooms. At this time you can add soy sauce, usually about 4 shakes (depending on your palette). Also if you want to at this point it would be a good time to add some more pepper, pepper flakes, and/or onion powder.

Cook for about another 10 minutes or so [add the water chestnuts at this point], then add the tofu to the wok or frying pan and finish up the cooking – not long, just around 3 minutes.

Wash and dry the lettuce and pull off pieces about the size of your palm (some times we are bad and skip this step, but usually because it is organic lettuce).

Spoon the mixture and some rice onto the lettuce and roll it up and enjoy these tasty tofu lettuce wraps.

Huckleberry Potatoes

Is the first month of the year almost over? Already?? Well, we’ve still been hungry veganos but we’ve been doing our favorite standbys of pizza, lazy tostadas, pasta and winter soups. We haven’t done a whole lot of new stuff in the kitchen and were taken off guard one night as I was making my version of shepherd’s pie ala Sarah Kramer. I won’t be modest in the fact that I make some of the best damn mashed potatoes on this planet and was intrigued when Huckleberry Potatoes arrived in our weekly food co-op order.

Here they are in their purple splendor just before boiling:

I really wasn’t sure about them or how they were going to mash/taste, but since they were all we had and no one was going to step outside into the crazy cold weather we were having at the time, these were simply going to have to do.

I’m glad we gave it a try because 1) it gave some really beautiful color to this dish:

(I really need a better camera for these food pics!)

And 2) They gave a slightly sweet taste to this that we just loved!

Huckleberry potatoes aren’t new to the scene but they are new to us. I’ve said it time and time again that we eat WAY more interesting foods now that we are vegan than we ever did when we were omnis. And purple potatoes are just the beginning.

NOM.

Scrambling Yummy

Sunday mornings are made for sleeping in, big cups of tea, and of course, breakfast. This is one of our weekend favorites. Tofu scrambles are so fun because you can really throw in whatever you fancy to personalize the tasty. This is our basic recipe but we sometimes throw in a bell pepper or some corn tortillas to make vegan migas:

1 Tablespoon Earth Balance (or oil of choice)
1/2 Medium yellow onion, chopped
3 Cups sliced mushrooms
5 Cloves garlic, finely chopped
1 Pound firm tofu, drained
3/4 Cup nutritional yeast
1 1/2 Tablespoon lemon juice
1/4 Cup of water

Spices (to taste):
Cumin
Paprika
Salt
Pepper
Garlic powder
Onion powder
Oregano

Melt the Earth Balance in a pan on medium heat and saute the onions and garlic for around3 minutes then add the mushrooms and saute for another 5 minutes. Add the spices and mix for about 15 seconds. Use the water to deglaze the pan . Crumble in the tofu with your hands and mix well with the rest of the ingredients. Continue to stir every so often. Finally add the lemon juice and nutritional yeast.

The end result:

If you like hotness like we do, garnish with your favorite hot sauce. This also goes fine fine fine with a tall glass of OJ and a bagel smothered in Tofutti’s Better Than Cream Cheese.

Thanksgiving – Part Deux

Although the last pumpkin shortbread cookie has been munched, it has not been forgotten. They were a delicious way to end a perfect Thanksgiving dinner. We sure worked up an appetite for it by getting out and about (you can read more about that on Wozzie’s blog).

And as promised, here is a picture of our yum yum yummeroo Thanksgiving din din:

It’s funny that we make so much food on the holidays and have the notion that we have double the stomach capacity of say, a normal Thursday, but thank goodness for the leftovers! Above was some of the tastiest cooking this side of Sarah Kramer. Okay, okay, so most of it was already made and we just had to heat and serve, but Wozzie’s mashed potatoes were homemade and TO DIE FOR and let’s not forget the delish pumpkin shortbread cookies (more on those in a few). We can honestly say that we didn’t miss the turkey one bit and rather enjoyed our very first Celebration Roast. It was also really great the next day on Dave’s Killer Bread with some Vegenaise (for Wozzie) and mustard (for Rahzh).

The pumpkin shortbread cookies may not look like anything to write home about but trust us, they were dee-vine:

What’s interesting is the next day they were more orange and pumpkiny so while we recommend eating one fresh out of the oven for good measure, waiting until the next day really brings the flavor out of these little numbers. Try them out for yourselves:

3 1/3 cups all-purpose flour

1/2 cup canned pumpkin

1 cup Earth Balance at room temperature

½ cup powdered sugar

1 1/2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract

cinnamon and nutmeg to taste

You can place all the ingredients in a food processor, and pulse until combined (or be like us and use your hands…it’s like Play Dough!). Put the dough onto a sheet of wax paper and make it into a log, roll it up in the wax paper, and refrigerate for around 40 minutes.

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees a few minutes before pulling the dough from the refrigerator.

Slice the dough into evenly sized cookies, and place on an ungreased cookie sheet. Bake until brown and crisp, about 11 minutes. And voila! NOM.

Big and Busy Broccoli Soup

This tasty number came to us from the Vegetarian Menu Mailer ala the Dinner Diva. I love the simplicity (and affordability) of the recipes offered by the Dinner Diva. We got an entire 12 weeks of dinner recipes for under $10 and although they aren’t all vegan, the majority of them can easily be veganized (which we had to do to this one and provide for you below).

Tonight we tried the Big and Busy Broccoli Soup and it was not only insanely easy to make but also insanely delicious.

Ingredients:

1 1/2 bunches broccoli washed and cut into florets

1 large carrot shredded

14.5 oz. vegetable broth

3 Tablespoons flour

1/3 cup cold water

1 1/2 cups soy milk (instead of the half and half the recipe originally suggested)

Salt and pepper to taste

In a saucepan over medium high heat, place the broccoli, carrot, salt, pepper and vegetable broth to a boil, then reduce the heat enough to keep it at a simmer. Cover and cook for 6-8 minutes or until the broccoli is fork tender. Mix the flour and water in a small bowl and whisk until the flour is totally dissolved. (We put ours in an old Earth Balance container and shook the ever lovin’ life out of it). Pour this gradually into the broccoli mixture, stirring constantly while pouring. Heat to boiling over high heat, stirring constantly for about a minute and it should be nice and thick. Stir in the soy milk. Cook, stirring occasionally; you want it hot NOT boiling. As soon as it looks ready to boil, it’s done!

How easy is that?

And you get this:

We served this up with a nice leafy green salad and a baguette. This made enough for leftover lunchables. All we have to say is NOM.

Empanadas: A Twist on a Childhood Favorite

Woz is no stranger to empanadas. Growing up she adored these treats, mainly during the winter holiday season, as she loved the fruity goodness with which they were filled. By far her favorite is her Grams’ pumpkin empanadas but she was intrigued at the idea of making them a main course rather than a dessert as seemed to be perfected here.

The Little Kitchen that Could gave the Flavor Vegan recipe a whirl with a few changes according to Rahzh:

“In the shell I substituted 1/4 cup melted Earth Balance for the oil and I added some garlic powder. In the filling I used 6 cloves of garlic, 1 green bell pepper, 2 cups of mushrooms, and used Earth Balance instead of oil. I also splashed a few dashes of Cholula Hot Sauce in for some extra flavor.”

Pictures of the empanada adventure:

And the final creation:

Woz loves her Cholula so opted to add more before munching on this new tasty version of a childhood favorite. We both loved it and it made enough for lunch for the next two days. Woz even got comments from office colleagues about how good they looked. (Too bad she didn’t have any to share. They had suffer through the eating of a paltry Hot Pocket instead).

Thank you Flavor Vegan for introducing us to this delicious recipe! It’s definitely going to be in rotation in the Little Kitchen that Could!

Scrumptious Pizza Made Simple

When both of us became vegan we got pretty used to eating pizza without cheese but after a trip to Seattle and indulging in one made at Juliano’s we decided it was worth another try to recreate the pie we know and love. We’ve tried different doughs (we know we can make it but we are going for really super easy here), different “cheeses” (after much debate Follow Your Heart Vegan Gourmet is by far our favorite!), and even different sauces. After a good amount of trial and error, we share another comfort food with you that has become the Sunday night favorite straight out of the Little Kitchen That Could.

Ingredients:

16 oz pizza dough (we like Eugene’s very own New Day best)
3/4 block Vegan Gourmet Cheese Alternative grated (Vegan Gourmet is the best we have tried, but if you prefer another brand of Vegan cheese use it.)
16 oz pizza sauce (we use 16 oz canned tomato sauce and add spices such as Garlic Powder, Oregano, Basil, Onion Powder, Red Pepper flakes, Black Pepper to taste)
1 Tbl Earth Balance (or oil of choice)
1 1/2 – 2 cups sliced mushrooms (we also like to use Tofurky Italian Sausage, LightLife Smart Bacon, or LightLife Smart Deli Pepperoni)

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Spread the dough on a standard cookie sheet (you can use whatever type of stone or pan that you prefer). Next, evenly cover the dough with grated Vegan Gourmet (Monterey Jack is our favorite). Next, spread the pizza sauce on top of the Vegan Gourmet. We have found this to be the KEY to a nice melted cheese. Bake for 15 minutes. While the pizza is cooking saute the mushrooms in Earth Balance. Take out the pizza and cover with the mushrooms and then put back into the oven for 5-7 minutes. What comes out is pure tasty!

Saucy Shells

Looking for comfort food? Look no further than this recipe and enjoy the deliciousness that is known as “Saucy Shells” in the Little Kitchen that Could. If you need something relatively fast and easy we got ya covered with this one:

Here’s what you need to make this tastiness appear in your kitchen too:

1 1/2 cup water

1 cups plain soy milk

1/2 cup soy sauce

1 3/4 cup nutritional yeast

1 Tbs paprika

1 Tbs pepper

1 Tbs garlic powder

1 tsp onion powder

1/2 pound firm tofu

1/2 cup canola oil (or vegetable)

1 1/2 lbs pasta (preferably shells!)

1 dollop mustard

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Boil pasta. Blend all remaining ingredients in a blender. Once pasta is done put in a large baking pan and pour cheezi sauce over it. Bake about 15 minutes and ta da! You are having some good eats.

This makes a TON of saucy shells. If it’s just you or you and someone else, you may want to consider halving this recipe or you’ll have enough food until next October.