Tempeh Cutlets Provençal

Oh man, this is a great recipe from the January 2009 Vegetarian Times magazine. Really rich flavors and not hard to make at all, plus it was quite a colorful dish. I made it with a side of orzo and broccoli, but it would be good with rice too. The only change I'm making to the recipe is that I'm doubling the ingredients for the sauce--while there was enough to cover both pieces of tempeh satisfactorily, I found myself wishing I had more sauce to put on the pasta I served it with, and plan to make it with twice as much sauce next time. If you're not making it with a side of rice or pasta, the original amount of sauce should be fine (and in that case, halve all ingredients aside from the tempeh)

Ingredients:
1 8-oz. pkg tempeh, cut widthwise into two cutlets
1 cup white wine
2 tablespoons herbes de provence
2 tablespoons olive oil
4 cloves garlic, crushed
1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
1 large red bell pepper, chopped (1 cup)
1/2 cup smooth tomato sauce
4 tablespoons capers, rinsed and drained
1/4 teaspoon sugar
1/2-1 cup fresh basil, chopped

Instructions:
1. Place tempeh slices in large baking dish. Bring wine, herbes de provence, oil, garlic, and pepper to boil in a small saucepan. Pour over tempeh, cover, and refrigerate four hours or overnight.

2. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Coat baking sheet with cooking spray. Remove tempeh from marinade, and place on baking sheet, reserving the marinade. Spray top of cutlets with cooking spray and bake 15 minutes until golden on edge. The flip, spray the other side, and cook for 15 minutes more.

3. Meanwhile, strain reserved marinade into small saucepan. Bring to boil and add bell pepper. Simmer 5-7 minutes until pepper is softened and most of the liquid is absorbed. Add tomato sauce, capers, sugar, and season with salt and pepper. Simmer over low heat for 10 minutes until thick, then stir in basil.

4. Place tempeh on plates and divide sauce between servings (and, in this case with the sauce amount double what was called for in the original recipe, onto some rice or pasta).

Super delicious and pretty fancy!

Decadant Banana-Walnut Chocolate Chip Cookies

Whoa, I made these a few weeks ago for a party and they are the most decadent, soft, chewy cookies I think I've ever made. I found the recipe in a Martha Stewart magazine, and just substituted as necessary to make it vegan. The addition of a nice ripe banana makes all the difference in the world. I don't bake cookies that often, but I plan to make these for every holiday party I'm attending this year.

Ingredients:
1 cup regular flour
1/2 cup whole-wheat flour
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
3/4 cup (1.5 sticks) vegan margarine
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar
egg substitute for 1 egg
1.5 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 large, mashed ripe banana
1 cup old-fashioned rolled oats
1 package of vegan chocolate chips (or 1 chopped up vegan chocolate bar)
1/2 cup coarsely chopped walnuts

Instructions:
Preheat the oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit. Mix the flours, salt, and baking soda in a bowl and set aside. With an electric mixer, beat the margarine and sugars together until they're fluffy, then add the egg replacer and vanilla and keep beating. Then add in the banana and mix everything together well. It might take a little while to get the banana to fully blend with everything. Add in the flour mixture and mix until combined. Fold in the rest of the ingredients.

Once the cookie dough is all mixed up, drop 1.5" spoonfuls of the dough onto a cookie sheet (I lined mine with tinfoil because I like to avoid doing dishes when possible; you could also use parchment paper). Space them about 2 inches apart so you don't end up with one big cookie. Bake for about 12-13 minutes, until golden brown, and rotate halfway through. They will be a bit soft when you take them out, so let them cool a bit on the cookie sheets before scooping them off onto wire racks to cool completely. Store in airtight containers for up to 2 days, or freeze them if you can't eat all 3 dozen in a day or so (they keep well in the freezer...even though I made these for a party, I made sure to save myself a few [ok more than a few] and kept them in the freezer to enjoy through the week. they are good frozen or thawed out). These are sooo good.

Quick and Easy Tofu Veggie Pot Pie

Today was cooold out, and the wintery temperatures got me in the mood for a nice pot pie. Any excuse to turn the oven on and get some more heat up in this apartment! Anyway, I just sort of made this up with the ingredients I had on hand, but it came out well and didn't take very long. Its not a traditional pastry pot pie, but man is it delightful!

Ingredients:
3/4 cup soy milk
1 tablespoon corn starch
1-2 tablespoons soy sauce
1/2 cup nutritional yeast
2 tablespoons soy sour cream
1/2 block tofu, cut into small (1/2") cubes
1 cup carrots, cut into relatively thin medallions
1 cup broccoli, in bite sized pieces (frozen is fine)
Any other vegetables your heart desires (peas, corn, and potatoes would have been lovely if I had had them on hand; as long as the total quantity of vegetables isn't more than 2-3 cups. don't want to overflow the casserole dish.)
2 cups bisquick
1/2 cup soy milk
egg replacer for 2 eggs.

Instructions:

Combine 3/4 cup soy milk with the corn starch, soy sauce, nutritional yeast and sour cream in a casserole dish. Whisk until well combined. Add in tofu and vegetables, and mix. In a separate bowl, mix the bisquick, 1/2 cup soymilk, and egg replacer until it forms a dough. Cover the vegetable/tofu mix evenly with the dough. Bake at 400 degrees F for 25-30 minutes, uncovered, until the top of the dough is a light golden brown. Enjoy hot!

Jamaican Lentil Stew

So I've been on the hunt for a nice, healthy autumn-y soup...something rich and creamy and perhaps with some pumpkin. I was poking around on recipezaar.com and found this awesome recipe for Jamaican Lentil Stew, which has creamy coconut milk, pumpkin, and lentils. I just finished making a batch of it up and I'm totally blown away--the broth is silky and thick and the ingredients meld wonderfully. I made a few substitutions just based on what I had around, which I put in parentheses.


Ingredients:

1 medium onion, minced

2 garlic cloves, pressed

1 inch piece gingerroot, grated

2 tablespoons vegetable oil

2 teaspoons ground coriander (I didn't have coriander [I know I should!] so I used tangine spices, which included cinnamon, cumin and some other spices I'm forgetting)

1-2 teaspoon ground cumin (adjust according to taste)

1 (13 ounce) can coconut milk (I used lite coconut milk because I am trying to watch my figure, which is to say, I didn't want to feel like I couldn't eat cookies because the coconut milk in my soup was fattening)

4 cups vegetable stock

4 ounces split red lentils, washed and drained (I actually used 8 ounces, or a full cup, because this didnt seem like nearly enough lentils. I also had to use green lentils because thats all the Kroger has)

1 small sweet potato, cut into 1/2 inch chunks

1 (15 ounce) can pumpkin puree

1/2-1 teaspoon Thai red curry paste (optional)

black pepper, to taste

Instructions:

Make a thick paste by mashing the ginger and garlic together with a pestle and mortar or a small bowl and the heel of a wooden spoon (I actually just used the garlic press to press the garlic and the ginger since I have neither mortar nor pestle to my name and it worked fine). Saute the onions in the vegetable oil until theyre transparent, then add the garlic ginger paste and saute for another 2 minutes or so; lower heat and stir constantly to avoid burning the paste. Add the spices and saute for a minute more. Stir in the coconut milk, stock, lentils, sweet potato and pumpkin puree. Simmer over medium-low heat for 40-50 minutes or until sweet potato is soft and almost melting into the stew, stirring occasionally. Before serving, stir in the red curry paste if you are using it or adjust seasoning with black pepper. I'm totally sold on this soup, and I'm looking forward to eating it this week for my lunches.

Veganomicon's Chickpea Cutlets

Now that I've settled in a little bit in my new home down south, I've had to start cooking more for myself. When I lived in NY, I cooked often enough--I made dinner at least 4-5 nights a week, but since I was tired from commuting and work, it was more likely than not to be a lazy girl dinner--taco night or veggie burgers with a plethora of vegetables as a side so that I could feel like I was being somewhat healthy. Since that would get boring 7 nights a week, which is how often I'll be cooking now that I'm a phd student, I am now cooking from my cookbooks more often. This recipe for chickpea cutlets from the newly published Veganomicon is spectacular. It was easy, came out well and tasted pretty awesome. Delightful! And now I'll have dinner for tonight, tomorrow and monday even :0) so I can still kind of have lazy girl dinner until Taco Tuesday comes.

Ingredients:
1 cup cooked chickpeas
2 tablespoons olive oil
1/2 cup vital wheat gluten
1/2 cup plain bread crumbs (I used panko bread crumbs because they were the only vegan breadcrumbs I could find)
1/4 cup vegetable broth
2 tablespoons soy sauce
2 cloves garlic, pressed or finely grated
1/2 teaspoon lemon zest
1/4 teaspoon thyme
1/4 teaspoon paprika
1/4 teaspoon sage
oil for frying

Instructions:
Mash the chickpeas and olive oil until there are no whole chickpeas left. Add remaining ingredients and knead for about 3 minutes until gluten is stringy. Heat frying oil in a heavy skillet over medium heat. Divide the chickpea dough into 4 even sections. Knead each section in your hand then shape into a patty or cutlet, about 4" x 6" or so. Fry for about 6-7 minutes per side until golden brown, then drain/pat excess oil off. They say you can also bake these at 375 degrees F for 20 minutes which might be a bit healthier...I think when I reheat these tomorrow night I'll probably do it by baking them so they come out just as crispy as they were when I fried them. So good! I love this cookbook!

More recipes to come soon, I promise!

I swear I have not abandoned my blog :0)

I am in the process of moving, and the craziness of the past few months (getting into grad school, finding a new apartment, quitting a job I loved, and starting to pack) has kept me from doing much cooking or experimenting with new recipes. Once I am moved into my new apartment at the end of the month I'm going to start posting more regularly.

In the meantime, I highly recommend the cookbook Veganomicon. My office purchased a copy for me as a going away gift and it is amazing. I made apple spice cupcakes with caramel penuche frosting this morning and my sister made me the incredible chocolate mousse pie with a peanut butter/caramel topping sprinkled with candied pecans. True to form, I went straight for the dessert recipes, but the entrees and sides look great as well. It should definitely inspire me once I have time for cooking and baking again!

Strawberry Shortcake

My market had a sale on strawberries today and I just could not resist--they looked so perfect and sweet and summery! I briefly considered making a strawberry rhubarb pie, but then remembered I had some of that soyatoo soy whip and decided on strawberry shortcake instead. This is one the easiest desserts ever given the Bisquick and pretty much embodies summer BBQs and outdoor eating for me.

Ingredients:
1 pound strawberries, sliced
1/4 cup sugar
2 1/3 cups Bisquick
1/2 cup soymilk
3 tablespoons sugar
3 tablespoons melted vegan margarine
soyatoo soy whip

Instructions:
Mix the sliced strawberries with about 1/4 cup of sugar. You can use more or less sugar depending on your personal preference; I don't like my strawberries too sweet so I actually used a little less. Set these aside so they get nice and juicy. Preheat the oven to 425 degrees F. Mix the Bisquick, soymilk, sugar and margarine into a dough. Divide the dough into six parts and then drop onto a cookie sheet or into a baking pan. Bake until golden brown on top (about 10 minutes or so). Allow to cool slightly, then split each shortcake and fill and top each generously with strawberries. Squirt on some of that delightful soy whip and serve! Seriously, so good.