Tofu Cashew Spread

I have never made this myself but I love it and don't want to lose the recipe.

Corned Seitan & Cabbage

I wish I didn't just see this recipe today...I wanted to put it on here so I can find it next year. I've never made it but I do love reubens so maybe I'll try it before next March. (The original post said the leftover make great reubens.)


Corned Seitan and Cabbage
Look for pickling spices in the spice aisle in your supermarket. From Vegan on the Cheap by Robin Robertson © 2010.
Tip: For extra flavor, try replacing 1 to 2 tablespoons of the water in the seitan mixture with 1 to 2 tablespoons of pickle juice (from a jar of dill pickles).

1 sweet yellow onion, coarsely chopped
2 garlic cloves, crushed
1 large carrot, cut into 1/4-inch slices or 1 cup baby carrots, halved lengthwise
1 small head cabbage, sliced, reserving 2 large leaves
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
2 cups vital wheat gluten
1 teaspoon onion powder
1 teaspoon ground coriander
1/2 teaspoon ground allspice
1 1/2 cup water, or more as needed
3 tablespoons soy sauce
3 tablespoons plus 1 teaspoon coarse brown mustard
1 teaspoon apple cider vinegar
3 tablespoons light brown sugar
2 teaspoons pickling spices
1 pound Yukon Gold or small red potatoes, halved or cut into chunks if large
1 cup vegetable broth

1. Lightly oil the insert of a large oval slow cooker or spray it with cooking spray. Arrange the onion, garlic, carrots, and sliced cabbage in the bottom of the slow cooker. Season with salt and pepper, to taste.
2. In a large bowl, combine the vital wheat gluten, onion powder, coriander, allspice, 1/2 teaspoon of salt, and 1/4 teaspoon of pepper. Add the water, soy sauce, 1 teaspoon of the mustard, and vinegar. Mix well, adding a little more water if the mixture is too dry, then knead for 2 minutes until smooth. Shape the seitan to fit inside your cooker.
3. In a small bowl, combine the remaining 3 tablespoons mustard and the sugar until well blended, then spread evenly on top of the seitan. Sprinkle the pickling spices on top, pressing them with your hand to imbed them in the mustard mixture.
4. Carefully place the seitan in the cooker on top of the two reserved cabbage leaves. Arrange the potatoes around the seitan. Pour the broth over the potatoes and season them with salt and pepper. Put the lid on the slow cooker and cook on Low until the seitan and vegetables are cooked, 7 to 8 hours.
5. To serve, remove the vegetables and seitan from the slow cooker. Cut the seitan into slices and arrange them on a serving platter. Surround with the vegetables and spoon the cooking liquid over all. Serve hot.

Note: This is best when made in a larger cooker to accommodate vegetables, but if you have a smaller 4-quart slow cooker, you can still make this recipe—just use half the amount of vegetables so you do not overfill the cooker. Alternatively, you can cook the potatoes and cabbage in the oven or on top of the stove and just use the slow cooker to cook the seitan on top of the onion and cabbage leaves (these give added flavor to the seitan and help hold its share), adding the vegetable broth and garlic.

Red Lentil Artichoke Stew

We made this a few nights ago and even the kids liked it. It was delicious over rice, but would be nice with quinoa or pasta as well. Source: The Vegan Table by Colleen Patrick-Goudreau.

oil or water (for softening onions, etc.)

1.5 cups water

2 med. yellow onions, diced

2-3 lg. garlic cloves, minced

2 tsp. ground cumin

1 tsp. ground coriander

1 cup dry red lentils, rinsed

1 bay leaf

2 Tbsp. lemon juice

1 can (24-28 oz.) chopped tomatoes, undrained

1 15 oz. can quartered artichoke hearts, drained

1/4 tsp. crushed red pepper flakes

salt and pepper to taste

Heat 1 Tbsp. water or oil in a soup pot over med. heat and saute onions until softened.

Add garlic, cumin, and coriander, and cook 2 more minutes, adding more water if necessary. Add remaining 1.5 cups water, lentils, bay leaf, lemon juice, tomatoes with liquid, artichoke hearts, and crushed red pepper, and bring to a boil.

Lower heat, cover, and simmer for 30 min., or until lentils are tender. Add more water if stew becomes too thick.

Discard bay leaf and season with salt and pepper.

This lasted our family of four two nights of dinner plus one lunch serving the third day. Easy and yummy.

Split Pea & Barley Soup

I love this soup. I didn't have barley the first time and made it with wild rice. It was great but I love it more with barley. It's from allrecipes.com but I am adding my modifications. I just throw the garlic, onion and bay in at the same time as the water and I've changed the recipe below to have the carrots and other veggies go in 90 minutes before it's done. not 60. Doubles very easily.

Ingredients

* 1 tablespoon vegetable oil
* 1 onion, chopped
* 1 bay leaf
* 3 cloves garlic, minced (or garlic powder, to taste)
* 2 cups dried split peas
* 1/2 cup barley
* 1 1/2 teaspoons salt
* 8 cups water
* 3 carrots, chopped
* 3 stalks celery, chopped
* 3 potatoes, diced (left them out once, used turnips once, LOVED the latter)
* 1/2 cup chopped parsley (I forgot this the second time)
* 1/2 teaspoon dried basil
* 1/2 teaspoon dried thyme
* 1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper

Directions

1. In a large pot over medium high heat, saute the oil, onion, bay leaf and garlic for 5 minutes, or until onions are translucent. Add the peas, barley, salt and water. Bring to a boil and reduce heat to low. Simmer for 1.5 hours, stirring occasionally.
2. Add the carrots, celery, potatoes, parsley, basil, thyme and ground black pepper. Simmer for another 1.5 hours, or until the peas and vegetables are tender.

Curried Cauliflower

You can use frozen or fresh cauliflower for this recipe.

20 oz. frozen cauliflower florets or 1 small head cauliflower, chopped into florets
1 tsp. curry powder
1/2 tsp. onion powder
1/2 tsp. garlic powder
salt
oil

Steam the cauliflower until its just getting tender. Move it to a saute pan or wok, with a bit of your preferred oil - mine are canola or olive oil. Liberally sprinkle with salt, then the spices. Add more spice if you like. Saute and stir about five minutes until every floret is coated with curry and done to your liking.

Spicy Butternut Ginger Soup

Another Love Soup recipe, but this one is Ben's favorite. He requests it all the time now that it's fall.

2.5 lbs. butternut squash
2 yellow onions (450 g)
yellow or red potatoes (225 g. or 8 oz.)
1 Tbsp. olive oil
1 tsp. salt, plus more to taste
3 cups vegetable broth
3 Tbsp. finely chopped ginger
1/3 cup (20 g) chopped cilantro (we skip this)
2 tsp. rice vinegar (essential)
2 Tbsp. lemon juice, plus more to taste
1-2 Tbsp. honey or agave nectar

Preheat oven to 400.

Peel and seed squash. Chop into 2-inch cubes. Peel onions and cut into large pieces. Scrub potatoes and cut into 1-inch pieces. Toss vegetables with the olive oil and a teaspoon of salt and spread them on baking sheets or casserole dishes. Roast veggies for 30 minutes, stir them and turn them over, lower heat to 375, and roast for another 30 minutes.

Put roasted veggies into soup pot with 2 cups water and the veg broth, fresh ginger, cilantro (if using), and rice vinegar. Simmer together for 30 minutes, then puree soup using immersion blender or in a blender. Bring soup back to a simmer and season with lemon juice and honey/agave. Adjust seasonings as needed - tasting is important here.

Enjoy!

Barley-Tahini Casserole

This recipe is vegan, but Bridget was sure it had cheese in it because the tahini sauce is so creamy. We all really liked this and we'll definitely be making it again. It's from Alicia Silverstone's cookbook The Kind Diet.

serves 6 to 8

2 cups hulled or pearled barley
2 Tbsp. olive oil
1 jumbo (or two medium) onion, sliced
3 garlic cloves, minced
2 carrots, grated or finely diced
2 celery stalks, diced
5 Tbsp. soy sauce
1/4 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. dried basil
1/4 tsp. dried oregano
1/4 tsp. garlic powder
3/4 cup Tahini dressing (recipe follows)

Preheat oven to 350. Bring 3 cups water to boil in a large saucepan and add barley. Cook for about 40 minutes or so, until tender (check it). Drain off any remaining water and set cooked barley aside.

Heat oil in large skillet over med./high heat. Add onion and garlic, and saute until onion is tender, about 5 minutes. Add a little more oil or a bit of water to the pan if the onion starts to stick. Measure out about 1/4 cup of the cooked onion and garlic and reserve it for the tahini dressing. To the remaining onion and garlic in the skillet, add carrots, celery, soy sauce, salt, basil, oregano, and garlic powder and cook for 5 minutes, stirring often, until vegetables are tender. Add barley to skillet, and stir over med. heat for a few minutes. Taste and adjust seasonings if necessary.

Transfer half of barley mixture to a 9 x 13 inch baking dish and drizzle half of tahini dressing over it. Add a second layer of barley mix and then the remainder of the dressing. Bake, uncovered, until heated through, about 35 minutes.

Tahini dressing:

1/4 cup reserved, sauteed onion & garlic
1/2 cup tahini
1 Tbsp. soy sauce
pinch of garlic powder
pinch of paprika
1/8 tsp. dried basil
pinch of dried oregano

Combine onion, garlic, tahini, spices and 1/2 cup water in food processor or blender. Blend for 1 minutes or until creamy.

Split Pea Soup - Vegan

The kids read a book that features split pea soup and have been asking me to make it, but I used to feel sick to my stomach when my mother would make this soup with the ham bone in it. That bone and meat boiling away just smelled so bad! So I found this ham-free version in Love Soup. We tried and it was better each night. It made a ton of soup. I can't believe I liked this soup, but I would make it again.

1 lb. dried green split peas
3 stalks celery chopped (200g)
3-4 medium carrots, chopped (225 g)
1 large yellow onion, chopped (300 g)
1 bay leaf
2 tsp. chopped fresh thyme OR 1 tsp. dried thyme
hot paprika (I used crushed red pepper and regular paprika)
1 - 1 1/2 tsp. salt
1/4 cup chopped fresh parsley (I used 1 Tbsp. dried parsley)
2 -3 cups vegetable broth
ground black pepper

Combine the rinsed split peas in a large soup pot with 8 cups water and the chopped celery, onion and carrots, the bay leaf, thyme, and pinch of paprika. Bring to boil and cook briskly for 20 minutes. Lower heat, add 1 tsp. salt, parsley, and vegetable broth, and simmer, covered, for about 40 minutes. The peas should be completely soft.

Remove bay leaf. Taste and add salt if needed. Grind in black pepper. Add more veg broth or water if it's too thick, then puree in blender or with immersion blender.

This soup will thicken up as it cools and then becomes more liquid when it's reheated. But each time it's reheated it will lose water through evaporation, so reheat it with the lid on. Enjoy!

Cabbage Soup

From the cookbook, Love Soup, with minor variations:

green cabbage, 1 lb.
olive oil
onion, 8 oz.
1 1/2 cups sliced leeks, white part, about 5 oz.
2 medium carrots, 4 oz.
2 medium stalks celery, 4 oz.
1 medium russet potato, 8 oz.
5 - 6 cups vegetable broth
1 Tbsp. dried dill (or 2-3 Tbsp. fresh)
salt & pepper as needed

Preheat oven to 375. Cut cabbage in wedges, remove core, and slice wedges crosswise. Toss with 1 Tbsp. olive oil and 1 tsp. salt and spread on baking sheet(s). Roast cabbage for 30 to 40 minutes, stirring every 10 minutes or so.

Chop onion medium fine. While cabbage roasts, saute onion and leeks with 2 Tbsp. olive oil on medium heat until they are golden brown, about 20 minutes.

Meanwhile, finely dice carrots, celery and potato. Combine these veggies with broth in a big pot and simmer, covered, for 20 minutes. Then add the cabbage, leeks, and onions to the pot and simmer, covered, for another 20 minutes. Stir in dill and season with salt and pepper. (Optional at this point: stir in 1 cup whole milk. We skipped this.)

Everyone loved this. We had this with fresh sourdough bread and it was very filling and delicious.

It's hard to find a cabbage that is as small as 1 lb., so I roasted a 3 lb. one and we had roasted cabbage as a side dish the first night and we had the soup the second and third nights.

Sesame Noodles

We found this recipe in a children's book about Chinese and Japanese cooking. Ben wanted to try it, so we made it tonight with a few minor changes, and it was so good.

Here's how we made it:

Ingredients:

one box angel hair pasta (12-16 oz.)
1/2 cup water
1/3 cup low sodium soy sauce
1/4 cup sesame oil
2 Tbsp. brown sugar
2 Tbsp. rice vinegar
4 cloves garlic, minced
some ground black pepper
4 scallions (green onions), sliced thinly
1 red pepper, diced

Cook pasta in salted water according to box directions. Angel hair pasta cooks quickly! Meanwhile, in a medium bowl whisk together the water, soy sauce, sesame oil, brown sugar, rice vinegar, minced garlic, and ground black pepper. Heat up your wok or large saute pan. Drain the pasta. Stir fry the red pepper in the soy sauce mixture for about one or two minutes, then add in the pasta and scallions. Stir fry for about two more minutes and serve.

An optional add-in from the recipe book was some toasted sesame seeds as a garnish.

Vegan Chocolate Cake

This is the recipe that won me over to www.allrecipes.com 7 years ago. I was looking for a cake for Colin's brother, Pat. At the time, he wasn't eating eggs. I thought I would dedicate this recipe to Bridget on her birthday and her dad who can't eat eggs (even though he can eat them baked in things). I like this recipe because it's all normal ingredients - no egg replacer or anything like that.

Ingredients:
• 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 cup white sugar
• 1/4 cup cocoa powder
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/3 cup vegetable oil
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 teaspoon distilled white vinegar
• 1 cup water

Directions:
• Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Lightly grease one 9x5 inch loaf pan.
• Sift together the flour, sugar, cocoa, baking soda and salt. Add the oil, vanilla, vinegar and water. Mix together until smooth.
• Pour into prepared pan and bake at 350 degrees F (175 degrees C) for 45 minutes. Remove from oven and allow to cool.