Turkey Dinner--IC Friendly

Since bouillon is bothersome, this poses an issue when making gravy.  This dish though, is savory and has a glaze on it so it's very comforting food.  Served with the right side dishes, this may be perfect for the Holidays. 

1 whole bunch of celery with leaves, chopped

3-4 boxes of sliced mushrooms

shredded carrots to taste

seitan/wheat meat (I used Upton Naturals Traditional Seitan)

1 small bunch parsley, chopped, no stems

1 tb marjoram

1 tsp tarragon

1 C plain unsweetened almond milk

1-2 tb cornstarch

olive oil

salt

pepper

Sweat the mushrooms until they're dry-ish, then add oil to fry with the celery.   Make a slurry with the cornstarch and almond milk and chill while cooking.  When the veggies are nice and stir fried, add the seitan, carrots, and herbs. Just before the mixture starts to stick, add the slurry.  Make sure you stir it again before pouring.  Take off the flame and season to taste.

To make this more festive for the holidays, your stuffing ingredients to the mix. I use sage, chopped Fuji apples, sliced black olives, and chopped pecans. You could also add cranberries, chestnuts, squash, fennel, sausage,hazelnuts, whatever tastes homey to you. 

A note to IC people:  If the herbs or spices are bothersome, substitute or omit.  Also, when selecting a seitan, make sure there are no bothersome ingredients.  Aim for plain if you can find it.  

Serves 6-8

Harmony Valley Sausage Patties

The other day I made enough breakfast to feed an army.  I had been to +Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market and saw a new product:  Harmony Valley Sausage mix.  It was less than $3 so I figured I'd give it a shot.  I used to eat Nature's Burger and was expecting something similar, but wow was I surprised.  The patties were relatively easy to work with (keep a bowl of clean water for your hands close) and they had a great texture.  They were not grainy at all and had the same lightness of other vegan sausage patties as well as the familiar flavor.  

The other half of that platter is scrambled tofu.  When I make this dish, I let the tofu drain overnight.  I crumble it with my hands into a hot pan with a tablespoon of oil, and stir until it's crumbly and most of the water that is left cooks off.  Season with salt, pepper, Red Rooster, and ketchup.  Serve these dishes with whole grain toast and plan for an afternoon walk because this is a traditional heavy Sunday breakfast. Serves 4-6

Cherry Cheesecakes

Dessert time!!

You need a graham cracker crust, store bought or homemade, pie size or minis; 1-2 tubs of Tofutti Better Than Cream Cheese; pantry items; and cherry pie filling, canned or homemade.

Let the cream cheese warm up while you preheat your oven to 350 degrees and gather your other ingredients.  Whisk the cream cheese with 1-2 tb of vanilla extract, 1 tsp lemon oil, 1 tsp lemon juice, 1/4-1/2 C sugar, 1 tb pastry flour, 1-2 tb soy/rice/almond milk, and 1-2 tsp oil until smooth.  Taste and add more sugar/vanilla/lemon as needed.  Spoon into your pie crust, top with cherry pie filling (or whatever fruit you like, blueberry works well too) and bake for 25-30 minutes.  Since you're topping with the fruit filling, you don't need a water bath, unless it's really dry where you live.  Chill for a few hours and serve.

Gardein Boeuf Bourguigon

I've been trying red wine these days. I knew I liked some Shiraz and Merlot, but I have recently discovered lightly sweet red table wine and Claret. Of course this Claret seems perfect for Boeuf Bourguignon with mushrooms. I've seen this made with stew vegetables, and always with onions, but I don't get on well with onions, so just mushrooms for me.

If you are comfortable making a roux in the pan with your ingredients, sweat the mushrooms, add the Beefless Tips, make the roux, and add the liquid last. If not, try it this way. 

Sweat sliced Baby Bella and button mushrooms in a soup pot or deep sautée pan while you defrost the Beefless Tips in the micro.  Add the beef and cook until the mixture absorbs most of the mushroom liquid. Set aside the mushroom mixture in your serving dish and make a roux with Earth Balance, olive oil, and whole wheat pastry flour in your pot/pan. When your roux is ready, add the wine, veggie broth, and some dried herbs--your favorites. I like to make my broth by adding boiling water to bouillon cubes and dried herbs. When the liquid comes together, add your mushroom/beef mixture and cook through. Season to taste. Serve with some white starch and a glass of the wine you used to make this. 

1bag of Gardein Beefless Tips

2 boxes of sliced mushrooms

1 C of stock (or more as needed)

1C of red wine

2-4 pats of margarine

2-4 tb olive oil

1-2 tb flour
2 tb herbs (parsley, tarragon, marjoram, whichever are your favorites)
Salt and pepper to taste

In case you were wondering, +Barnivor lists many wines and spirits that are veg*n and which to avoid. +BevMo!  +Whole Foods Market , and +Cost Plus World Market  have a nice selection of these wines at affordable prices. 

Miso Ramen

I do not at all claim to be knowledgeable about the subtle art of Japanese cuisine.  This soup is my Asian inspired version of American comfort food.  Miso Ramen at a proper Japanese restaurant will be made with dashi, miso, and good noodles.  I don't eat seafood so I made my own broth:  bouillon cubes, ginger, soy sauce, sesame, white pepper, sometimes I use lemongrass too.  Usually I prefer white miso for this because it's sweet and mellow.  Your toppings can be anything you like, here I used LightLife Smart Bacon, greens, and peas.

If you use dry noodles, soak them in cool water to rehydrate them and remove some of the sodium and starch.  Make sure to separate the noodles so that they can absorb as much as possible and change the water if it gets cloudy.  If you use fresh noodles, they should probably be blanched before adding to the soup, but follow whatever instructions come on the package.

Make your broth and bring to a boil.  Add miso and stir to dissolve.  Add the noodles and warm them through.  Serve the noodles in a bowl and pour broth on top.  Add warmed toppings and slurp away the cold weather.

What I Did With a Package of Corn Tortillas

There are so many things you can do with corn tortillas:  tortilla soup, nachos, chilaquiles, enchiladas, but my favorite of course is tacos.  Being a veg, I don't get to hit the taco truck very often (unless you want to help me chase the Kogi truck) so I make mine at home.  The rad thing about tacos is that you can make them however you want.  I usually stick to the basics when I make tacos and just put whatever I'm eating into a warm corn tortilla.

This week, I wanted tacos dorados, or golden delicious fried crunchy tacos.  To reduce the calories, you can bake your tacos on a cookie sheet lined with foil or silpat and a little cooking spray.  Your filling can be anything you want.  I use mushrooms, potatoes, refried beans, greens, Daiya, Soyrizo, tofu, +gardein Tofurkey, Yves, +Lightlife or whatever you have around the house. These guys are mushroom tacos. If you choose to fry your tacos, make sure your filling is relatively dry so the oil won't splatter out of the pan.














I sweated 2 boxes of sliced button and baby bella mushrooms until they dried out a little and seasoned them with salt, pepper, dried parsley, dried cilantro, powdered chile de arbol, and powdered chile new mexico.  If you don't like heat, pick something mild like paprika or pasilla.  I let the mushrooms cool a bit while I steamed my tortillas in the micro.  This is how you can tell my mom is not Mexican.  Yes, I wrapped the tortillas in cling film and zapped them until they were soft and fluffy, about 30 seconds per pair of tortillas. Be careful taking them out of the microwave if you do this--steam burns suck.  2 boxes of mushrooms makes about 18 tacos.

Lay out your tortillas and top sparingly with the filling, fold, and fry in a good amount of oil that is already hot and has a sprinkle of salt in it to help with splatter.  The first side takes a while to cook (like grilled cheese) so check before you flip.  The tortilla may start to curl and shrink when the tacos are close to golden, but they will continue to cook after you take them out of the oil.  Be careful with the hot oil and use a fork/spatula combo if you don't have tongs.  I burn myself making tacos all the time.















Okay now these guys!!  Taquitos!!  These are great for appetizers and pretty easy to make.  Again with the micro steamed tortillas.  I laid them out and added a single slice of Tofurkey for the filling.  You can use a strip of tofu, or zucchini, or anything that will let the tortilla roll around it in crunchy goodness.  If you use sliced veggie meat, pull the slice a little bit outside the edge of the tortilla and keep some tension on it  If the slice hangs out past the tortilla, it may burn.  Fold if you need to.  Pin each roll by inserting a toothpick diagonally through the length of each taquito.  That will keep them from unrolling in the pan.

I topped mine with avocado sauce.  Some people like fresh or store bought salsa, taco sauce, sour cream, or regular guacamole.  I make my avocado sauce with ripe avocados.  Slice in half, retain the pits, dice in the skin and scoop out into a bowl.  Add a lot of lime juice, salt and pepper, then mash the chunks with a fork and whip the sauce until it's smooth.  I also like to add olive oil and or Vegenaise.  Sometimes I add garlic or chopped serranos, add whatever tastes good.  Keep the pits in the sauce and cover with cling film so that the sauce stays green

Okay, go eat now.


WARM CORN TORTILLA I suggest you get the really thick ones made by hand using yellow corn. They're fragrant and have a lovely texture, but if you can't, the tortillas at your local grocery store will work fine.  If you don't normally eat corn tortillas, FYI the ones at the ends usually fall apart.

RIPE AVOCADOS are hard to find.  Just because they're soft or have a sticker that says ripe, does not mean they are ready or suitable for your purposes.  Often the soft avocados will have dents in them from the weight of being stacked.  These are likely to be black inside.  If the avocados are soft, but seem to have air between the flesh and skin, those are bad too.  Rock hard avocados are hit and miss sometimes.  They may go bad by the time they soften and the ripening could take days.  A good avocado will have a tiny bit of give with just the slightest pressure and will be mostly firm with a continuous curve-no dents or creases.

Pigs in a Blanket

Roll up the veggie dogs in crescent dough and bake according to the package. I suggest warming the dogs before baking so that the dough on the inside cooks through and baking on the middle-top rack.