Top That, Stop That

Savory Cashew Cream Sauce

1. Why did they stop showing Teen Witch at Halloween?
2. I don't know if this is a cop out post but I'm doing it anyway.

3. I like counting.

In my opinion cashew cream sauce is a common sauce used in vegan cooking and usually one of the first that a new vegan learns to cook. It's crazy easy to make.

For this recipe you need a coffee grinder. A word on coffee grinders...this is one of those appliances that's totally worth having in your house, even if you're not a coffee drinker. They're cheap and small and make a world of difference when it comes to making fresh foods. Use one to grind spices, nuts, seeds, etc. into a fine powder for sauces and other recipes that might call for finely ground items.

Ingredients
1/2 cup of unsweetened soy milk
1/2 cup of water
2 tbsp nutritional yeast
1/4 cup of ground cashews (grind into a powder in your coffee grinder)
A pinch of salt and pepper

In a small pot bring the soy milk, water, and nutritional yeast to a boil. Whisk in the ground cashews and add the salt and pepper.

Boil down until it is at a slightly more liquid state than you would like it. Take the pot off the heat and when the sauce cools it will thicken.

I used it to top off one of the pecan crusted cutlets that I made yesterday. Yum!

Go Nuts

(just be glad I didn't make a Peas in a Can joke)

Pecan Crusted Chick'n Cutlets

The first time I had pecan crusted tofu was at Blossom in NYC. It was served with a cashew cream sauce and it was so good I didn't know what to do with myself. The skies opened up, sunbeams shone through the clouds onto the plate and angels began to sing (or whatever it is that angels do). So I ate the whole thing.

Ever since then I have been obsessed with pecan crusted tofu which just so happens to be a staple at health food stores, in my experience anyway. I buy it on occasion but this is the first time I made it myself and it tasted much better than the stores but not quite at Blossom level (although that could be due to the lack of cream sauce).

It sounds complicated but really the whole thing took about 10-15 minutes excluding defrosting time.

Here's how I did it...

Ingredients
2 defrosted chick'n cutlets (I used Gardein, I would imagine you could use seitan or tofu as well)
1/3 cup of unbleached-all purpose flour
1/4 cup of soy milk (I used Lite Silk)
          (Option: egg replacer or flax powder mixed in water should work as well)
1/4 cup of pecans
1/4 cup of panko bread crumbs (I would think any unseasoned bread crumbs would work)
Dash of nutmeg (optional)
Pinch of salt and pepper
1-2 Tbsp olive oil for pan frying (next time I make this I'm going to try baking it)

• Crush the pecans finely. I crushed them by hand in a mortar and pestal but a coffee/spice grinder will work too.

• Then I laid out one plate and two shallow bowls/dishes.
• Spread the unbleached-all purpose flour on the plate.
• Pour the soy milk one of the shallow bowls/dishes.
• In the last bowl/dish, mix the crushed pecans, breadcrumbs, nutmeg, salt and pepper until well incorporated.
• Take your cutlets and dredge in the flour until it is fully covered. Then dip in the soy milk until the whole cutlet is covered in both the flour and soy milk. Finally press the cutlets into the pecan/bread crumbs mixture, ensuring that the entire cutlet is fully covered in the mixture.
• Heat your oil in a pan and place the cutlets in the pan.
• Flip after a few minutes when each side is browned.

Serve up this nutty goodness on a special occasion or as a well deserved treat.

Enjoy!

Bring me my Ranch Dressing hose

Vegan Ranch Dressing

I am a huge Simpsons nerd. Which has nothing to do with ranch dressing except for the line that, while in a carbon monoxide induced speech in Flanders' car during a snow storm, Homer spouts, "bring me my ranch dressing hose". The end.

I have been working for some time on figuring out how to make a great vegan ranch dressing. I have some other tricks up my sleeve that I want to try but it's pretty good and I'm not sure I'm going to do any better. Here is my best effort to date.

2/3 cup vegan “Sour Cream”

1 tsp onion powder

1 tsp garlic powder

½ tsp dill

1 tbsp parsley

1 tbsp red wine or balsamic vinegar

salt & pepper to taste

2-4 tbsp unsweetened soy milk (amount depends on how thick/thin you like your dressing)

Mix all ingredients together except for the soy milk. Once all ingredients are mixed, add soy milk until the dressing reaches the desired consistency. Here's an important part. Refrigerate for a minimum of 1 hour before you eat it. Something happens when the dressing cools and settles in the fridge.

Enjoy!

I’ll Have Some Carbs With That

Mashed Potato Pizza (Personal Size)

Preface Part 1: New Haven’s Apizza 

Recently I finished my Masters degree in New Haven which is a small city in Connecticut. If you know anything about New Haven you know it is famous for its pizza. Student food habits in grad school are, well, not so different from those of students in college.  With all of that information you now know that grad students in New Haven eat LOTS of pizza. Why am I telling you all of this? 

As a vegan I clearly didn’t eat pizza with my cohorts but I did listen to them talk about eating pizza quite a bit. Apparently in one New Haven apizza you can order something called Mashed Potato Pizza. I have never seen it but I pictured it in my head many a time.

Preface Part 2: MoFo Iron Chef

I have been following Vegan MoFo around the web and came across a game that some of the bloggers are playing which is a take-off on the Iron Chef television series. Of course I’ve heard of Iron Chef but I’ve never seen it so I looked it up. Basically the person running the game/program gives the chefs an ingredient and the chefs need to come up with the best dish utilizing that ingredient. Vegan MoFo Iron Chef’s week 1 ingredient is Mashed Potatoes. 

I think I’ve only ever made mashed potatoes once in my life.  Don’t get me wrong, I love potatoes in any format but, like many people, I love starches so I try to cut back in easy/obvious places. Potatoes are one of those places. Having little experience with mashed potatoes was what made me take the leap into joining in on the Iron Chef fun.

Preface Part 3: Put it all together and what do you get?

I made Vegan Mashed Potato Pizza. Adoi

______________________________________________

Recipe Part 1:  The Crust 

I made vegan Pizza in my first post and I used the same crust for this recipe.

 

1/4 tsp yeast
2 Tbsp warm water
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp granulated vegan sugar
1 Tbsp warm water
1 tsp olive oil
1/2 c flour
(optional: corn meal…cause I’m from NY)

In a big bowl mix the yeast with the 2 tbsp warm water. Set aside for a few minutes. In a small bowl mix the salt, sugar, and 1 tbsp warm water. Add the salt/sugar mixture and olive oil into the big bowl. Stir to combine as well as possible. Add in flour and knead. If all of the flour isn't sticking you may need to add more water. A little water goes a long way. Cover the bowl with a wet dish towel or piece of saran wrap. Let stand for about an hour.

When you’re ready to assemble the pizza, toss a little corn meal on your rolling surface to keep the dough from sticking to it. Roll out the crust and roll the edges to make the crust. Brush a little olive oil on the pizza crust.

Recipe Part 2: Mashed Potatoes

3-4 Baby Red Potatoes (or similar size baking potato)

¼ tsp pressed garlic

1 tbsp vegan margarine (I used Earth Balance)

1 tbsp vegan sour cream (I used Tofutti)

¼ tsp rosemary

¼ tsp salt

¼ tsp onion powder

Very small dash of Dill (optional)

Peel and cut the potatoes into large chunks. Boil the potatoes in water for 15-20 minutes and drain. Place the potatoes back in the pot and mash with a potato masher or fork. Add the rest of the ingredients and mix thoroughly. Refrigerate to cool potatoes down before adding to the pizza.

Recipe Part 3: The Final Steps

Preheat your oven to 400°F. Once you have your crust rolled out, spread a layer of the mashed potatoes on the pizza.

Sprinkle your favorite vegan cheese on top.

 

Place the pizza on your stone or cookie sheet and place in the oven for about 20 minutes. Keep in mind each oven is different so start checking back on your pizza after 15 minutes.

Slice and Enjoy!








P.S. I wanted to wait until I was done to find out what the New Haven Apizza version of Mashed Potato pizza is. You know, the one my friends ate all the time.  I couldn't find any info online so I'll have to call a friend up to get the info. Will post back when I know more. Can't wait to see how it compares to my creation!

Remember Those Weird California Cow Commercials?

Veggie Burger

The easiest meal and a staple in any busy vegetarian's diet is the veggie burger. Add a side salad or side vegetable dish and you have yourself a nice quick and easy meal.

You would think that veggie burger producers would make their veggie burgers vegan but most aren't. So, read those ingredients carefully. Generally with veggie burgers you just have to watch out for milk and egg ingredients.

But I digress...for one of my favorite veggie burger combos, cook your personal favorite veggie burger as indicated on the package.  Toast up a whole wheat bun. Top your burger with a little vegan cheese and some avocado for a fresh tasting veggie burger. Other options would be to add lettuce, alfalfa sprouts, and a condiment such as an awesome vegan ranch dressing that you will be seeing a recipe on very soon...

Happy Vegan MoFo

I have been so busy I almost completely forgot about Vegan MoFo. For those of you unfamiliar with the granddaddy of all vegan forums, Post Punk Kitchen, you should check it out. It has long been one of my favorite sites. PPK started MoFo. Pieces snipped from the MoFo blog, here is the description of what Vegan MoFo is all about...

The idea is to write as much as you can all month, about vegan food. The blog entries can be about anything food related – your love of tongs, your top secret tofu pressing techniques, the first time your mom cooked vegan for you, vegan options in Timbuktu – you get the idea, right?

There aren’t strict guidelines for how often to write, but the idea is to shoot for every weekday, or about 20 times in the month.

As the world catches on that vegan food really is the best choice for animals (suck it, humane meat!), the planet (bite me, melting ice caps!) and people (piss off, heart disease!) let’s show them what vegan eating is all about.

Healthy Chick'n and Rice

This is one of my staple dishes. It's low fat, high protein, and the right kind of carbs.  Pair it with your favorite steamed veggies and you have a great, healthy meal that cooks up in just minutes.  The recipe below is for one serving, you can easily multiply it by the number of servings that you need.

For each serving:

1/8 cup wild rice DRY (approximately 80 calories)

     - Of course you can use brown rice but I would stay away from white rice because it has little (if any) good nutritional value.

     - Cook the rice according to the directions on the package. I tend to start this as soon as I get home from work because in general, the longer it takes to cook the rice as stated on the package, the better the rice is for you.

Ingredients:

1 Chick’n cutlet of your brand of choice 
    - (I use Gardein chick’n scallopini – 90 calories, 2g fat, 14 g protein)

¼ vegetable bouillon cube or approximately 1/3-1/2 cup of vegetable stock

1 tsp vegan margarine (I use Earth Balance)

    - This adds about 3 grams of fat to the dish. In my opinion it is well worth it but you can leave it out if that is a major concern for you.

Splash of lemon juice

Dash of garlic powder

Optional: Lightly flour the chick’n cutlet.  Fry in a pan with about a tablespoon of oil. Of course it is tasty but I usually leave this part out when watching my waist-line. It’s a nice option if you’re cooking a special dinner for people.

Take the chick’n cutlet and place in a nonstick pan, flipping to heat each side. If you want you can add some olive oil to the pan to cook the cutlet in. When cooked through, set the cutlet aside on a plate.

Use the same pan and pour in your vegetable stock – or – ¼ bouillon cube + ¼ cup of water.  Boil the stock/cube down until the water has mostly disappeared and you’re left with a thicker brown “sauce”.

Turn the heat down to low. Add in your margarine, dash of garlic powder and a splash of lemon juice.

-        A note on garlic powder: most people are appalled that I use garlic powder instead of fresh garlic. Aside from it being easier…no cutting, no extra knives and dishes to wash, etc…garlic burns so easily. It tastes nice if it’s sautéed in oil but that’s just extra fat and calories, and of course extra effort!  So it’s not the worst thing in the world if you get home from work and want to use powder,  instead of fresh, that requires no effort, really, it’s not.

In a few seconds the margarine will be melted. Mix everything in the pan so that it is all incorporated well. Put your cutlet back in the pan and let it sit on each side for a little bit (maybe 30-60 seconds) to get some flavor into the cutlet.

This whole process (aside from the rice) takes about 10 minutes.

Take your fully cooked rice and place it on your plate. Take the cutlet and place it on top of the rice. Pour the remainder of your sauce over the chick’n and rice to let the rest of the sauce absorb a little bit into the rice.

Eat and enjoy!