Vegan No-Meatballs

These are great in pasta, in a sandwich, just with sauce!  I love love love these no-meatballs so much, I usually make a big batch and freeze what I do not want to use right away.  They keep well in the fridge for up to a week too.  I think freezing is a better way to go because they naturally will thaw and warm in a sauce cooking on the stove.

Ingredients:

• 1 package (14 oz) of "Gimme Lean" Ground Sausage Style Meat Alternative by Lightlife

• 3/4 cup gluten flour

• 1/2 cup water

• 2 tbsp "Frenche's" French Fried Onions

• 1 medium onion chopped

• 1/3 cup bread crumbs

• 2 tbsp fresh basil chopped fine (dried is also usable but fresh has a better flavor)

• 1 tbsp dried oregano 

• 1/2 tsp pepper

• 1/2 tsp salt

one big no-meatball!

Directions:

Combine Gimme Lean and onion and mash, I use my hands to get the mixture mixed.  It will be sticky so if you want put a bit of gluten flour on your hands so they don't get to much stuck on them.  Next add the gluten flower and water, the dough will become gummy in places where the gluten flower and water are not mixed with the rest, keep mixing until no gummy parts exist.  Add bread crumbs and the French Fried Onions keep mixing finally add the spices, and combine into one large ball.  Refrigerate for 30 minutes or longer (the refrigeration is used to stiffen the dough to make it easier to form into balls, in a pinch I won't refrigerate but have a harder time forming the balls).  Next form into smaller balls between 2 and 3 inches in diameter.  Bake at 350 for 12 minutes flip and bake for another 12 minutes.  Then enjoy!

just out of the oven

Vegan Chocolate Chip Scones

These tasty tidbits were made for a friends birthday and they were much enjoyed!  The original recipe came from "The Joy of Vegan Baking" by Colleen Patrick-Goudreau.  Which is a must have for any vegan baker!  I have modified the recipe for a little bit of a different taste then straight out of the book, my modifications are a darker chocolate chip and some cinnamon in the dough along with a bit less sugar and vegan butter. 

the dough ready to be rolled and cut!

Ingredients:

• 1 1/2 tsp Ener-G Egg Replacer

• 2 tbsp water

dissolve the replacer in the water and set aside 

• 2 3/4 cups unbleached flour

• 4 tsp baking powder

• 1 tsp cinnamon

• 1/4 cup sugar

• 1/4 tsp salt

• 1/2 cup vegan butter

• 1 1/2 cups dark chocolate chips (the darker the better!)

• 1/2 cup soy milk

• 1 tsp vanilla 

• extra cinnamon and sugar and soy milk to brush the tops

almost ready for the oven

Directions:

Take the dry ingredients (flower, sugar, cinnamon, baking powder and salt) and mix well.  Add butter a little bit at a time, keep mixing until no butter pieces are larger than peas. Add the milk and the egg replacer mixture, until it resembles a bread dough.  Don't over mix the scones will get tough!  Then add the chocolate chips.  Gather dough into a ball and place on a flowered surface, roll dough to about 1/2' thick. Then cut into desired shape, I usually do triangles.  Place on baking sheet and brush the tops with the soy milk, sugar and cinnamon mixture. Bake at 400 for 12 to 15 minutes!

cooling after out of the oven!

All Olive Tapenade

All olive tapenade is a great condiment for sandwiches good on pasta or even with crackers.  Most olive tapenade is made from Kalamata olives, but I enjoy a mix of olives.  For this particular patch I am using spanish also known as manzanilla with pimientos, picholine, kalamata, and ponentine olives.  The long part of this process is pitting the olives.  Having a food processor or an immersion blender helps a lot too!

Ingredients:

• 20 to 25 olives depending of size

• 2 tsp capers

• 1 tbsp lemon juice

• 1 tbsp olive oil

Directions:

Pit all olives and toss in the food processor chop until they are small pieces.  Then put the rest of the ingredients into the food processor and chop again until fine.  Place in an air proof container, it will keep for up to a week!  Super easy and tastes great!

just olives everything (after the olives are chopped)

Vegan Apple Brown Betty

This is a vegan variation on the Apple Brown Betty I enjoyed as a kid.  It is probably a bit less sweet then what my Mom makes.  It's a super easy and tasty dessert, served straight out of the oven or cooled!  The trick here is get a firm apple, I enjoy using macintosh for this recipe, but have thought about doing a granny smith and maybe putting a touch of maple syrup in the mix.  But that is for another post this is just straight up Vegan Apple Brown Betty!

apples prepared

Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup quick oats

• 1/2 cup brown sugar (packed)

• 1/2 cup unbleached flour

• 1 tbsp cinnamon

• 1/3 cup vegan butter (I enjoy "Earth Balance Original Whipped")

• dash of salt

• about 6 to 7 cups of firm apples, pealed, cored and sliced (I cut into quarters and then cut each quarter in a half vertically and horizontally)

topping mixed

Directions:

Combine oatmeal, sugar, flour, cinnamon, and salt, mix lightly. Cut in the butter until the mixture is crumbly, I use my hands to mix this up well, you want it to be crumbly but yet still flaky. After its mixed set it aside. Place apples in a square baking dish (8 by 8 or 9 by 9), and sprinkle the mixture over the top. Bake at 350 for about 40 minutes or until the apples are soft. 

ready for the oven!

Finished and ready to eat!

Egyptian Chickpea Soup

The time for soup is almost over soon I will be favoring lighter foods, but I had to put this recipe up before soup season is done.  It is more of a hardy stew full of great veggies and plenty of protein from the Chickpeas, and there are a lot of them!

chopped veggies and garlic

Ingredients:

• 2 T oil

• 1 T butter

• 1 T cumin

• 1/4 C flour

• half a head of garlic (more to taste)

• 1 small onion (I enjoy a bunch of scallions)

• 1/2 of a bunch of celery

• 1/2 of a bunch of carrots

• 8 cups vegetable broth (you might need more if the soup is to dense)

• 28 oz. diced tomatoes (can be canned, I use the tomatoes I canned from the previous season)

• 56 oz. of chickpeas (this is four cans or if you are using dried that you will rehydrate its about four cups dried)

salt and pepper for taste

• 1/2 C raw rice

lemon wedges

grated parmesan (optional)

ingredients in large pot

Directions:

Fine chop of garlic, onion, celery and carrot. Saute in oil and butter until onions are wilted. Sprinkle with cumin and flour, coating evenly. Add broth, stirring with a whisk. Then add chickpeas and tomatoes. Stir until liquid comes to a boil then cover and simmer two hours.

At two hour mark add rice and simmer 20 minutes or until rice is cooked. Use an immersion blender to puree part of the soup making sure to leave some big chunks and whole chickpeas (do as much as you like!). Serve with chopped parsley, cheese and lemon wedges as garnishes.

Yum time!

Baked Tofu Nibbles

This tofu recipe is great as a side dish in a pita or as a snack after a run!  I like making a larger batch to have some in the fridge for another meal of snack.  The only trick here is to make sure the tofu is baked just long enough, to short it doesn't have the correct texture outside to long and it gets rubbery.

Ingredients:

• 1 brick tofu (extra firm works best)

• 1/4 cup soy sauce

• 1/2 cup water (you might need a bit more depending on size of pan used)

• 1/4 tsp pepper

• 2 cloves garlic minced

• 1 tsp braggs liquid amino

• 1 tsp kelp powder (optional)

Directions:

Cut the tofu brick into three sections as seen below

Brick ready to be cut

three slices ready to be diced

diced tofu about three sections per long slice

15 pieces per long slice

after tofu is prepped put all ingredients into a bowl to marinade for about an hour with top on bowl in fridge.  Place in 8' by 8' pan (single layer) and place in a preheated oven at 375 for about 25 to 30 minutes, then turn pieces over and bake for another 25 to 30 minutes.  Tofu should be golden brown and and have a solid texture. Enjoy!

tofu marinade

tofu in pan ready for oven

served as a side over rice with TVP lettuce wraps

Zucchini Date Bread

The recipe below is my standard sweet bread recipe, if I am not using a sweet ingredient like dates, then I would add 1/3 cup of brown sugar, but the dates are sweet enough to subtract the sugar.  Some good modifications on this recipe are using 4 ripe bananas  and a cup of zucchini, or the bananas and raisins, with or without walnuts.  This will be a moist bread if baked for the correct amount of time, if over-baked it will be dry, so watch your timing.  This particular batch was for a friends birthday, she enjoyed it very much!

dates being chopped, a good

trick here is to wet them down

first i find pitting them easier

that way.

Ingredients:

• 2 cups flower

•1 tsp baking soda

•1 tsp baking powder

• 1 tsp salt

• 3 tsp egg replacer

• 4 tbsp water (mix with egg replacer and let sit)

• 1 tsp vanilla

•1 tsp cinnamon 

• 12 dates pitted and chopped 

• 2 1/2 cups zucchini 

• 1/3 cup pecans chopped (optional)

mix in pans

Directions:

Mix everything except the dates, zucchini and pecans in stand alone mixer or by hand, first adding the dry ingredients then adding the wet, and mix well, next add the zucchini and dates, mix again, finally add the pecans and lightly mix.  Place in two loaf pans that have been sprayed with cooking spray to prevent sticking.  Bake at 350 for about an hour.

loaf cooling... yum!