Chickpea-artichoke "tuna" salad

I have been making chickpea salad for many years, but I recently came across this brilliant idea to add artichokes and I am converted! The artichokes lighten up the texture and add a very pleasant subtle flavor. I found the idea on this blog https://www.blissfulbasil.com/vegan-mediterranean-un-tuna-salad/, and then simplified and adapted the recipe.. This is excellent on a sandwich, on crackers, or dolloped on top of salads!

1 can chickpeas
1 can artichokes (the kind packed in water, not marinated)
3 tablespoons Vegenaise
Salt and pepper to taste
Optional great additions: fresh parsley, green onions, capers, diced celery, or even a little curry powder with grapes and pecans.

Use a food processor to chop the chickpeas, but don't blend them into hummus consistency. This took about 15 pulses on my food processor.

Set the chickpeas aside. Squeeze the artichokes to remove as much water as possible, then chop them in the food processor until they are small flakes (about 10-15 pulses).

Mix chickpeas, artichokes, and Vegenaise. Add salt and pepper to taste. Stir in any additions.

German Chocolate Cake V 2.0

German Chocolate Cake is an annual tradition for Branden's birthday. I've slowly been making little tweaks to our previously posted recipe over the years, so it's time for an update!

Chocolate Crazy Cake

2 1/3 cups soymilk
2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar
3 cups flour
2 cups sugar
12 tablespoons cocoa powder
2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup vegetable oil
2 teaspoons vanilla


Preheat your oven to 350 degrees. Grease two 9" cake pans.

To make soy "buttermilk": whisk together soymilk and vinegar, let sit for a few minutes while you do the rest of the steps.

Mix the dry ingredients. Stir in all wet ingredients. Mix gently until smooth. 

Pour into the cake pans and bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes.


Coconut-pecan frosting

This is borrowed and adapted from Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World (which you should all own a copy of!).

1/4 cup soymilk
2 tablespoons cornstarch
pinch of salt
2/3 cup brown sugar
3 tablespoons maple syrup
3/4 cup coconut milk (the fatty kind in a can)
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 1/2 cups shredded, unsweetened coconut
1/2 cup pecans, chopped

Whisk together soymilk, cornstarch, and salt. Set aside for now.

Add sugar, maple syrup, and coconut milk to a medium pot. Cook, stirring occasionally, on med-low heat until it comes to a slow boil. Turn heat down to low and cook for five more minutes.

Give that soymilk mixture another whisking for good measure, then slowly whisk it into the coconut mixture in the pot. Cook, stirring constantly, for 2-5 minutes until the mixture is very thick.

Remove from heat. Stir in vanilla, coconut, and pecans. Cool to room temperature before frosting.

Chocolate Buttercream Frosting

1/2 cup Earth Balance, softened
2 cups powdered sugar
1/3 cup cocoa powder
2-4 tablespoons soy milk (or coconut milk if you're in a really coconutty mood)
1 tablespoon vanilla
pinch of salt

Cream all the ingredients together, using only as much milk as is needed to make it spreadable.

Once the cakes and coconut frosting are cool, frost the top of the bottom cake layer with the chocolate frosting, then stack the second layer on top and cover its top with the coconut frosting.

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.