Cold Gingery Sesame-Peanut Salad

This salad is exactly what you need on a hot summer day! It keeps really well and actually gets better over time, so it's an excellent dish to make ahead for a potluck. All the ratios are pretty flexible, so you can make adjustments easily based on your preferences.

Ingredients

Salad:
1 pound spaghetti
1 tablespoon sesame oil
1/4 teaspoon salt
3 cucumbers (or 2 of those bigger english cucumbers), made into "noodles" ("cucoodles"?)
3 carrots, made into "noodles" ("carroodles"?)
3 green onions, sliced
Sesame seeds (optional)

Sauce:
5 tablespoons tahini
5 tablespoons peanut butter
5 tablespoons soy sauce
4 tablespoons sugar
2 tablespoons rice vinegar
2 teaspoons sriracha
2 tablespoons grated ginger
3 garlic cloves, pressed or minced

Directions

Mix all the sauce ingredients. Add 2-3 tablespoons of water to thin to a consistency that will easily spread over pasta.

Cook spaghetti until al dente. Rinse under cool water until completely cooled. Drain thoroughly.

Mix spaghetti, sesame oil, and salt.

Make your vegetable noodles using a spiralizer or vegetable peeler.

Mix cucumbers, carrots, and green onions with the spaghetti. Pour sauce over salad and combine gently. Taste and adjust if needed (sometimes I want a little extra soy sauce or sriracha). Serve with a sprinkle of sesame seeds and a few extra slices of green onion on top.

Lentil-herder's pie

Super comforting shepherd's pie. Lentils and veggies with cashew gravy, topped with creamy mashed potatoes. Adjust vegetable ratio to your taste, or try some other veggies (mushrooms? kale?).

1.25 cups lentils
2.5 cups broth

.5 T earth balance
1 medium onion, chopped
.75 cup celery, sliced small
1 cup carrots, chopped small
1 cup peas
salt, pepper to taste

1 batch cashew gravy

8 medium potatoes, chopped
3 T earth balance
.75 cup soy milk
1 t salt
.5 t pepper
paprika


Cover lentils with broth and cook until soft, about 40 minutes.

Preheat oven to 350.

Saute onion in earth balance at medium-low heat for five minutes, add celery and carrots, season with salt and pepper, cook for another five minutes, and peas and cook until veggies are almost cooked (still a bit crisp).

Mix veggies and lentils together and put mixture in a casserole dish. Pour gravy over the lentil-veggie mixture and stir to gently mix. You may have a bit more gravy than you need, so save some to serve on the side.

Meanwhile, boil potatoes until soft. Mash potatoes with soy milk, earth balance, salt, and pepper.

Top lentil-veggie mixture with potatoes. Sprinkle a pinch of salt and a little paprika over the top. Bake for 20 minutes.

Green chili frittata

Easy brunch! Serve with salsa and sour cream.

8 eggs
1 cup milk
1 T flour
1/4 t salt
1.5 cups cheddar cheese
6 long green chilis, chopped


Preheat oven to 350. Whisk together eggs, milk, salt, and flour. Stir in 1 cup cheese and the chilis. Pour into a 13x9 baking dish. Sprinkle remaining .5 cup cheese over the casserole. Bake for 25-30 minutes, until the center is set and a knife inserted into the center comes out clean. Cool for five minutes before serving.

Spinach-artichoke pasta bake

Adapted from the amazing thugkitchen.com. This can easily be both vegan and gluten free, and is definitely delicious.

Tofu-artichoke sauce

4 cloves garlic

1/3 cup almonds (slivered will blend best)

1 can (14 oz) water-packed artichoke hearts (not marinated), drained

1 box (12 oz) silken firm tofu, drained

1/4 cup nutritional yeast

1/2 teaspoon salt

2 tablespoons lemon juice

Spinach

2 teaspoons olive oil

1 yellow or sweet onion, diced

4 cloves garlic, minced

12 cups baby spinach

1/8 teaspoon salt

1 tablespoon lemon juice

Pasta

1 pound penne pasta (gluten free if you wish)

1 jar (3 cups) tomato sauce

2 tablespoons nutritional yeast

Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees.

Cook pasta according to its package directions.

In a food processor or strong blender, blend the tofu-artichoke sauce ingredients until smooth (a few little chunks of almonds might stick around, but that's ok). This will take a while. You can add some water, one tablespoon at a time, if it won't blend.

Cook onion in olive oil until translucent. Add garlic, cook for one minute. Add spinach and salt. Cover with a big lid, and cook (stirring often) until spinach is wilted. Stir in lemon juice and take spinach mix off the heat.

In a large mixing bowl, combine pasta, spinach mix, and tofu-artichoke sauce and stir until totally mixed.

Line the bottom of an 8x8 (or bigger) baking dish with one cup of tomato sauce. Pour pasta mixture over the sauce. Pour remaining two cups of tomato sauce on top of pasta and spread it around with a spoon or spatula until evenly distributed across the top of the pasta. Sprinkle last two tablespoons of nutritional yeast over the top of the dish.

Cover your baking dish and bake for 25 minutes. Uncover the dish and bake for 10 more minutes. Let it cool for a few minutes before serving.

Lentil Soup

Super flexible, try different veggie combinations depending on what you have on hand, add some fresh herbs if you have any. The parmesan rind adds a pretty awesome depth of flavor, but this is great without it.

1 T olive oil
2 medium onions, diced
1 c celery, sliced
1 c carrots, sliced
2 c mushrooms, sliced
4 c kale, torn
9 c vegetable broth (or water and bouillon)
optional: one parmesan rind or .25 cup nutritional yeast
1 28 oz can diced tomatoes
4 oz tomato paste
2.5 c brown lentils
2 heads garlic, diced
a drizzle of your best olive oil and balsamic vinegar

Heat oil in a large pot. Saute onions in oil until almost translucent. Add celery, carrots, mushrooms, and kale, saute for five minutes. Add broth, diced tomatoes, the tomato paste, the parmesan rind if you're using it, and the lentils. Bring to a boil and simmer until lentils are almost done, about 30 minutes. Add garlic for the last 10 minutes of cooking (add it earlier if you want a less intense garlic flavor). Remove the parmesan rind. Serve bowls of soup with a drizzle of olive oil and vinegar.

Apple Crumble

Filling:
6 c apples, peeled and very thinly sliced
1 T flour (add a little extra if apples are very juicy)
1 T cane sugar
1/4 t cinnamon
1/8 t cloves
dash dried ginger

Topping:
1/4 C margarine, melted
1/3 C brown sugar
3/4 C pastry flour
1 C quick-cooking oats
1/4 t salt
1/8 t each allspice and cinnamon

Preheat oven to 325F.
Toss apples with remaining filling ingredients until coated.
Place apple mixture in a pie pan.
Combine margarine and sugar. Add remaining topping ingredients and mix until an even, but still coarse, texture is reached.
Spread topping evenly over apples.
Bake for 45 minutes, or until crumble is lightly browned on top and apples are cooked through.

Extra-Carroty Carrot Cake

Here's a more healthy more organic vegan version of this carrot cake recipe.

It's still tasty, though. A good balance between density and fluffyness for carrot cake. The original recipe is more like a fruit cake with pineapple and raisins. I cut down the cinnamon a lot, reduced the sweetness a little, and changed a couple other things.

5 cups grated carrots
1 cup brown sugar
1 cup unsweetened apple sauce
1 cup unbleached sugar
1 cup Canola oil
1/2 t vanilla extract
2 cups whole wheat all-purpose flour
1 cup unbleached white all-purpose flour
1.5 t baking soda
1/2 t salt
1 t cinnamon

Preheat oven to 350F (175C). Grease the bottoms (but not the sides) of two round 8-9" cake pans or a 13x9" rectangular one.

Mix grated carrots and brown sugar, then let sit. Mix wet and dry ingredients separately, then gently combine. Fold in carrots, put in pans, bake. Mine took 40 minutes.

Rack to cool, then frost with vegan buttercream or cream cheese style frosting. Or you could glaze it for a drippy effect, like we did. Enjoy!

Applesauce Cake

2 cups flour
1 cup light brown sugar
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 cup unsweetened applesauce
1/4 cup canola oil
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 cup chopped walnuts
Heat oven to 350 degrees.
Measure dry ingredients into a mixing bowl & stir together.  Add the rest of the ingredients and
stir together until moistened. Spread in 9" square greased pan. Bake 30 minutes or until toothpick
comes out clean.
I added raisins and baked in a loaf pan. It takes about 1 hour

Cornbread Muffins

Yum! Quick, easy, tasty, savory cornbread muffins to go with chili or gallo pinto or black bean soup or on their own with just a little agave nectar on top.

Dry ingredients:
3/4 c whole wheat pastry flour
3/4 c medium ground (i.e. not coarse, not masa harina) cornmeal
1/2 c coarse ground cornmeal
1/4 c sugar
1 t baking soda
1/2 t salt

Wet ingredients:
1 c soy milk
1 T apple cider vinegar
1/2 c apple sauce
1/4 c canola oil

Preheat oven to 400 F. Whisk soy milk and vinegar together, let sit for 10 minutes to make soy "buttermilk". Mix dry ingredients, add wet ingredients, stir gently to combine. Put batter into 12 muffin cups. Bake for 15-20 minutes, until golden-brown on top.

Cashew-Tofu Spread for Lasagna

I have been playing around with variations on the theme of a tofu and cashew based spread, having been inspired by various vegan ricotta and cream cheese recipes that rely on these ingredients. I have quickly come to wonder how I ever lived without a recipe like this. Adding cashews to the tofu makes it wonderfully creamy and rich without being oily, and it has a nice little tang from the garlic and lemon juice. The first version I made worked wonderfully on a pizza, and the leftovers were great on a tomato sandwich. This particular version was used in a transcendental batch of vegetable lasagna. I'll post other variants as I continue to experiment.

4 T olive oil
3 T soy milk
2 T lemon juice
2 T rice vinegar
2 t salt
3/4 c cashews
3 cloves garlic, pressed or minced
1.5 lbs tofu firm tofu, crumbled
1 T nutritional yeast
1 t dried basil

Blend liquids, salt, and cashews on low speed in a food processor until they form a thick, mostly smooth, paste.
Add tofu to food processor, blend on high speed until tofu is creamy and mostly smooth (it can still be a little grainy, but you don't want any big lumps). It may be best to add the tofu 1/3 at a time if your food processor can't handle all of it at once.
Add nutritional yeast and basil, blend until totally mixed.

Tempeh Stir Fry with Gingery Black Bean Sauce

Black bean paste is a Chinese condiment made from fermented soy beans. It is salty and quite pungent. This recipe results in a somewhat mild black bean sauce, not as strong as some I've had at restaurants. I think broccoli or green beans would be an excellent addition to this stir fry if you have some on hand.

Stir fry:
Canola oil
1 T sesame oil
3 red Chinese chilies, 2 whole and 1 crushed
1 large yellow onion, sliced into thin quarter-moons
1 package tempeh (12 oz), cut into thin slices or cubes
1 carrot, thinly sliced
1 green bell pepper, chopped
2 stalks celery, sliced med-thick
2 T ginger, grated
4 cloves garlic, pressed or minced
2 green onions, sliced into long diagonal pieces
1 more green onion, thinly sliced, for garnish

Sauce:
1 c water
1 T cornstarch
3 T black bean paste
2 T soy sauce
1 T rice vinegar, preferably Chinese black vinegar
1 T sugar

Whisk all sauce ingredients together. Heat a little canola oil in a large skillet. Add chilies, cook over med-high heat for 1 minute. Add onions, cook until they begin to become transparent. Add sesame oil, tempeh, and carrots, stir fry until tempeh starts to brown and carrots are just starting to soften, about 5 minutes. Add bell pepper and celery, stir fry until vegetables are just barely done. Add garlic and ginger, stir fry for 2 minutes. Add sauce and green onions, cook, stirring constantly, until sauce thickens. Serve over brown rice with extra green onions as garnish.

Freedom Toast Three Ways

Here are my three favorite recipes for eggless french toast.

#1: Cashew Freedom Toast
1 c soy milk
.5 c cashew butter
.5 t cinnamon
.5 t vanilla
1.5 T sugar (optional)

#2: Banana Freedom Toast
1 c soy milk
2 med-large bananas
.5 t cinnamon
.5 t vanilla
a pinch of salt

#3: Banana-Cashew's Love Child
1 c soy milk
.25 c cashew butter
1 med-large banana
.5 t cinnamon
.5 t vanilla

6 slices bread
Margarine
Maple syrup

Blend everything but the bread until completely smooth and mixed.

Pour liquid into a pie plate or similar shallow container. Dip bread into liquid, allowing each slice of bread to soak for a minute or so.

Fry bread in a little margarine over med-low heat, flipping once, until golden on both sides.

Serve with maple syrup!

Tofu-Vegetable Pot Pie with Miso Gravy

This dish needs no introduction. Pot pie! Miso gravy! Yes!

Veggies:
1.5 c onion, chopped (about 1 med)
1.5 c potatoes, chopped (about 2 small)
1.5 c turnips, chopped (about 2 small)
1.5 c carrots, chopped (about 2 med)
1 c celery, chopped (2 stalks)
2 cloves garlic, pressed or minced
3 c broth
1 c peas
1 lb tofu, cut into small cubes

Gravy:
2 T red miso
4 T nutritional yeast
2 T Braggs
2 T cornstarch
1 T dried parsley
1/4 t pepper
salt to taste

A single pastry crust

Pre-heat oven to 350 F. Fry onions in a little margarine for 5 minutes. Add potatoes, turnips, carrots, celery, and garlic. Cook, stirring constantly, for 1 minute. Add broth, simmer until vegetables are just barely soft. Remove 1 c of the broth from the pot and whisk it together with the gravy ingredients in a separate container. Mix gravy mixture back into vegetables. Stir in tofu and peas. Bring mixture back to a boil and cook, stirring frequently, until the gravy thickens. Taste to adjust salt, and add more broth if the gravy is too thick or more cornstarch if it is too thin. Put vegetable mixture in a deep pie plate, top with crust, slice a few vents into the crust and make cute little patterns around the edge of the crust with a fork. Bake until crust is lightly browned, 30-40 minutes.

A Wild Mushroom Stroganoff

After discovering that mushroom hunting is the best way to spend a Sunday afternoon, we made our mushroom stroganoff recipe (without seitan) and topped it with our wildcrafted violet cort, fluted elfin saddle, angels wing (aka osyter mushrooms), belly button hedgehog, chanterelle, pigs ear, shrimp rusula, and winter chanterelle mushrooms. Despite what it sounds like, no animals, elves, or angels were harmed in the making of this eight-mushroom stroganoff.

Kung Pao Tofu (updated!)

Soft tofu in a spicy, sweet sauce with crunchy peanuts. This is so good it's become almost a weekly feature in our kitchen. Don't be scared by the number of chilies, the ones you leave whole add more flavor than spice, just be sure to avoid eating the whole chilies unless you're really tough! This is best served over rice with a simple side of stir fried leafy greens such as bok choy or napa cabbage.

Sauce:
4 T brown sugar
1.5 T cornstarch
5 T soy sauce
1 T rice vinegar
3 T balsamic vinegar
2 T water (or sake)

Marinade:
1.5 T soy sauce
1 T rice vinegar
2 T cornstarch
1/4 t salt

Everything else:
1 lb firm tofu, cut into small cubes
1.5 T canola oil
10 whole dried red chilies (the kind sold as Chinese or Thai chilies)
1-2 crushed dried red chilies (vary the amount to suit your desired spice level)
1 green bell pepper, roughly chopped
2 medium carrots, sliced into thin circles
6 cloves garlic, diced
2 T fresh ginger, grated
1 bunch green onions, roughly chopped
1 generous handful peanuts

Whisk together marinade ingredients and pour over tofu cubes in a small bowl. Allow to marinate while you prepare the vegetables and sauce.

Whisk all sauce ingredients together.

Heat oil, add whole and crushed chilies and cook on med-high heat, stirring frequently, until chilies are a little blackened and very fragrant.

Reduce heat to medium and add tofu. Cook, stirring frequently, for 3 minutes.

Add carrots, stir fry for 2 minutes.

Add bell pepper, garlic, and ginger, and stir fry until carrots are cooked but still crunchy, about 3 minutes.

Add green onions, cook for 1 minute more.

Add sauce, cook, stirring constantly, until sauce is thickened, about 2 minutes.

Remove from heat and stir in peanuts. Served garnished with a few extra slices of green onion.

Butternut squash - red lentil dal

This is a perfect soup for cold January evenings. The butternut squash is blended to create a thick, slightly sweet broth with just a hint of curry and the red lentils give it a hearty and creamy texture. It is good over rice or served with garlic bread.

1 large (3 to 3.5 pounds) butternut squash, peeled and roughly chopped
1 large onion, roughly chopped (about 2 cups)
8 cloves garlic, diced or put through a garlic press
1 T fresh ginger, grated
4 c water
4 c broth
1 T Indian curry powder
2 c red lentils
salt to taste
cilantro or parsley to garnish (optional)

Combine butternut squash, onion, garlic, ginger, water and broth and simmer until squash is very soft. Transfer to a blender or food processor, or use an immersion blender, and puree until smooth. Return to pot, add curry powder and red lentils. Simmer until red lentils are soft, about 20 minutes. Add salt to taste and serve garnished with finely chopped cilantro or parsley.

Variation: increase curry powder to 2 T, add .5 c roughly chopped cashews during last 10 minutes of cooking, and serve with a generous garnish of finely chopped cilantro.

Dal Chawal (Indian lentils and rice)

Traditional Dal Chawal (Indian lentils and rice)
Makes enough for a 3
Active time: 20 minutes.
Start to finish (including soaking): 1.5 hours

For the lentils

½ cup masoor dal, tiny split "red" lentils (really the color of orange soda)
5 cups water
1 teaspoon salt (for dal)
5 tablespoons vegetable oil
1 teaspoon black mustard seeds
1 teaspoon whole cumin seeds
7 cloves garlic, cut slightly smaller than pea-size
Dash of asafetida (also called hing)
6 (or to taste) mean hot chilies, short and green, halved lengthwise
½ teaspoon turmeric powder
½ teaspoon salt (for spice mix)
½ cup chopped cilantro (about ¼ bunch, stems partially removed)


1.Soak the dal in cold water for 45 minutes to an hour. "You soak the dal to get rid of the starch, or it'll be sticky," Seema says, scrunching her face in displeasure. Now would be a good time to get your rice washed and soaking (see below).

2.Drain the dal, give it a quick rinse, and bring it to a boil with the 5 cups water and the 1 teaspoon salt. Skim the foam off the top if you want. (I do out of habit, Seema doesn't. It doesn't taste like much.) Turn it down to a moderate bubble and cover, leaving a crack for evaporation. (The amount of water doesn't actually matter, Seema says, because if it's too loose for you, you can always just uncover it and let it reduce, and if it's too thick, you can just add more water.) Take a peek once in a while to make sure it's not bubbling violently, but pretty much you can just hang out for about 40 minutes, uncovering it for the last 10. Give your mom a call. She misses you.

3.Check on the dal, which by now will have lost its Sunkist sparkle and be a mustardy yellow. If most of the lentils have dissolved and you're looking at a loose soup roughly the texture of a thin batter, get ready to make your entire house smell amazing.

4.In a heavy-bottom pan, get the oil hot enough over medium-high heat so that it just barely shimmers and flows as quickly as water. Add the black mustard seeds. When you start hearing them pop, add the cumin. As it sizzles, add the garlic and swirl the pan to coat it in the oil. Seema says, "I like it when the garlic cooks slow," which toasts it evenly, bringing out its sweet notes without burning it. She does this by lifting her pan half a foot above her flame and swirls it, but you can just turn your heat down a little and stir, until the hissing turns into a slow sizzle. Cook it until it turns even golden brown, and you begin to wonder if you're going to smell like this food for the rest of your life.

5.Once the garlic is ready, add a few dashes of asafetida. Note that the name of this spice contains the word "fetid." That's not a mistake. It stinks like brimstone. But when you cook it in hot oil, the funk disappears and leaves a mellow, oniony flavor that accents the garlic and undergirds all the spices. So use it! Just bear with it for a second. Then add the chilies until they wilt, the turmeric, the ½ teaspoon salt and cilantro.

6.When the cilantro is wilted, dump everything in the pan into the dal. Seema likes to make sure it all gets in there by actually dunking her pan into the pot, but unless your pans are scrupulously clean on the bottom, maybe just use your spoon. "Now turn up the heat and boil it together so it looks like one," she says, pointing toward the slicks of oil floating to the top. I gear up in my head an explanation about emulsification, the starch helping to bind the oil and water as the oil slicks start to disappear, but then she says, "See, it thickens it a bit, too." And I realize there's nothing more that need be said about that.

For the rice


1 cup basmati rice
2¼ cups water for cooking
½ teaspoon whole cumin seeds
1 teaspoon ghee or butter
½ teaspoon salt

1.Wash the rice by soaking it in a big bowl of cold water and swirling it with your hands. The water will cloud with starch. Pour it off and repeat until the water is clear, around five or six times. Now drain the rice well -- using a strainer -- and soak it in the cooking water for at least 30 minutes and up to 2 hours.

2.Pour the rice soaking water into the rice cooker and turn on. When it's boiling, add the rice, salt, and ghee or butter. Put cumin seeds into the palm of your hand, and with the heel of the other, crush them into the rice lightly, as if wringing your hands with worry. But don't worry. This is going to be great. Cover and let the rice cooker do its magic.

3.If you don't have a rice cooker, reduce the water to 1¾ cups. Boil the water in a heavy oven-safe pot with a tight-fitting lid. Add the rice, salt, ghee and cumin as above, and bring back to a boil. Cover and pop into a 300-degree oven for 10 minutes, then take out and fluff lightly. (By the way, for Luddites and other rice-cooker-free folk, cooking rice in the oven really is the way to go. For more on that, look here.)

To serve

Mound the rice into a bowl or plate, and spoon the dal over it. Have enough dal to sauce the rice but still be dry enough to eat with the hands, which you do by holding your fingertips together to form a beak, pulling your thumb back toward the palm. With a twist-and-scoop motion, pick up a bite with the fingertips, the rice resting now on your upturned fingers, and use your thumb to push it into your mouth. Some people can do this with utmost grace. I usually resort to a spoon halfway through dinner.

Chinese Chili-Orange Stirfry Sauce

Simple ingredients, scrumptiously complex flavour.

Ingredients:
3 T orange marmalade
2 T soy sauce
2 T sake
2 T water or orange juice
2-3 t Chinese chili paste
2 t cornstarch

Whisk all ingredients together with a fork. Pour over an almost-done stir-fry and cook, stirring frequently for five minutes, or until sauce has thickened. Serve over rice.

I made this tonight to go on a stir-fry composed of:
1 small onion, sliced in half moons
1 garnet yam, sliced in matchsticks
2 ~8 oz packages seitan
3 stalks celery, sliced medium-thick
6 cloves garlic, diced
1/2 bag frozen (shelled) edamame

Cook the onion in a little canola or sesame oil until just soft;
add the seitan and sweet potato, cook on high med-high heat until the seitan is lightly browned;
add the celery and garlic, cook for 2 minutes;
add edamame, cook until edamame is heated through;
add orange sauce, cook five minutes.

The Superior Pancake

Try adding ground ginger and cinnamon, fresh grated nutmeg, fresh orange zest and vanilla to your reg. pancake batter. Viva la difference!

Bunny Cake.

For the icing:
2 packages Tofutti cream cheesey goodness.
1 teaspoon vanilla extract.
2 teaspoons orange zest.
5-6 tablespoons Agave sweetener.

Mix all the ingredients together. I heated the tofutti in the microwave for 35 seconds to help it melt.
Then stir in ¼ cup melted chocolate, to taste.