Amazing, spicy collards

This recipe is adapted from Veganomicon, all because I looked at the wrong page when trying to make it initially- turned out great!

2 bunches collards, pulled off the stem in ribbons
4 cloves garlic, minced/pressed
olive oil
vegetable broth

Marinade:
1/2 cup white wine
1/4 cup hot sauce
2 T olive oil
2 T soy sauce
3 T lemon juice
2 cloves garlic, pressed/minced
1 tsp cumin
1/2 tsp oregano
1-2 tsp BBQ spice (I use the Milwaukee Iron Spice blend from the Spice House)

Mix up all your marinade ingredients (I make a double or triple batch and just keep it in the fridge until I need it and then dilute it with a little veggie broth) and stir together.

Saute the garlic in the olive oil for about a minute, and then add your collard pieces. Get them mixed up with the garlic and oil, you may need to add a little more oil so everything is slightly coated. Add 1 batch of the marinade (or however much you want) and about the same amount of veggie broth and let the collards simmer on high heat for about 10 minutes, or until the collards are tender and deep green. High heat is great for these.

Serve with broth and enjoy!

Flourless Spicy Chocolate Cake - Dairy Free & Corn Free

Dairy Free Flourless Chocolate Cake, a photo by zombie amelia on Flickr.

For my husband's 42nd birthday, I made a delicious spicy flourless chocolate cake with a chocolate glaze frosting :)

The recipes are adapted from the Joy of Cooking.

Cake:
1 pound Enjoy Life semisweet chocolate chunks (no vanilla/corn alcohol, no milk)
10 tablespoons Spectrum palm oil shortening
5 large egg yolks
5 large egg whites
1/4 cream of tartar
1 tablespoon sugar
1/2 tsp cayenne pepper

Have all ingredients at room temperature. Grease a 9 inch round springform pan and line bottom with wax or parchment paper. Preheat oven to 325 F.

In a large, heatproof bowl, combine the chocolate & shortening. Set the bowl in a large skillet of barely simmering water and stir often until the chocolate and shortening are warm, melted, and smooth. Remove from heat and whisk in the egg yolks and pepper.


In another large bowl, beat egg whites and cream of tartar on medium speed until soft peaks form.

Gradually add sugar, beating on high speed. Beat until the whites are stiff, but not dry (they should have a shiny, glossy look to them and look thick and rich but not choppy).

Use a rubber spatula to fold 1/4 of the egg whites into the chocolate mixture, then fold in the remaining whites. Scrape the batter into the pan and spread evenly. Bake for 40-45 minutes. The top should have a thin crust and the interior will still be gooey.

Set the cake pan on a rack to cool completely, then refrigerate until chilled, or overnight. To unmold, run a thin bladed knife around the interior edge of the cake pan, set a plate on top, and invert. Peel off the paper, and then reinvert the cake onto another plate.

Then, make chocolate glaze and pour over cold cake. refrigerate atleast until set, about one hour.


Chocolate Glaze

3/4 c. soy milk (Westsoy unsweetend is corn-free)
8 oz. Enjoy Life semi-sweet chocolate chips or chunks

Heat soymilk in saucepan until almost boiling (boiling soymilk causes a film to form on top, you don't want that.) Stir in chocolate chips and stir until smooth. Let stand 20 minutes at room temperature, and use.

Just the right amount of spicy!

Sweet Potato Tortilla Stew

This is a new version of a tortilla soup recipe I posted a while ago... but this version is a) more delicious and b) corn free (since that's our new issue around here.)

You do need to make your own enchilada sauce, which I do ahead of time and freeze. Depending on your allergy issues, you can use a can of some sauce that works for you, or make your own. (But it's a really good recipe and freezes well.)

Enchilada Sauce recipe:

If you can get your hands on tomatillos, then peel, dice and throw those in the blender or food processor (about 2-3 cups worth)

If you can't, I've been using a jar of this per batch of tomatillo salsa. (these are larger batches of sauce, to allow for freezing some)

Ok, so either a jar of tomatillo salsa or blended tomatillos.

1 cup raw green pumpkin seeds

4 cups veggie stock

1 medium yellow onion

6 cloves garlic, pressed or minced

2 T chili powder

2 tsp coriander

2 tsp brown rice syrup

1/2 tsp salt

pepper to taste

Saute the onions & garlic together with the spices in a stock pot. Pour in the broth and the salsa/tomatillo puree and bring to a boil over medium heat. Reduce the heat to medium-low and cook for about 15 minutes.

veggie oil

1 onion, minced

1 package Upton's Chorizo-style seitan (corn free!)

3-4 cloves garlic, pressed or minced 

1 1/2 cups enchilada sauce

2 cups veggie stock

1/4 teaspoon chili powder

1/4 teaspoon ground cumin

salt and pepper to taste

2-3 sweet potatoes, pre-baked

1 diced tomato

1 T tomato paste

4 (6 inch) tortillas, cut into strips and cooked on a griddle

You can either microwave the sweet potatoes until they are soft, or bake them in the oven. I do one or the other, depending on how much prep time I have. I bake them with the skins on, and once they're soft and cooked, soak them in a large bowl of cold water. This wrinkles the skin and makes it really easy to remove, as well as cooling the exterior so you can actually touch and remove the skin. Once you've removed the skin of the sweet potatoes, dice them.

In a large pot, sauté the onions and the garlic in the veggie oil. Once the onions are cooked well, add the seitan and saute for a few minutes. Add the seasoning and diced tomatoes, and saute a few more minutes. 

Once the tomatoes and seasoning have cooked a little, add the sweet potatoes, stock, enchilada sauce, and tomato paste. Cook for about 10 minutes. At the end of the cooking time, cook your tortillas on a griddle, slice, and add to the stew. Simmer for a few more minutes and serve!

In a separate bowl, mix the enchilada sauce and stock. Add the chile powder, cumin, salt and/or pepper. Add this mixture to the pot with the onions and Quorn, bring to a boil, then reduce heat to low. Mix in the beans and tomatoes. Cook the tortillas on a griddle until cooked enough for tacos, and then slice into strips and add to stew. Simmer until heated through. 

General Tsao’s Sauce (from scratch) with Tofu

This is my husband's recipe, he developed it after looking at a ton of General Tsao's sauce recipes online, most bragging about being completely from scratch... and having ingredients like hoisin sauce or something. Yes, this one does use soy sauce and chili oil, those are pre-made.
We used to buy General Tsao's sauce from Trader Joe's (it's very good) but with his corn allergy, we had to come up with our own version. Use lots of broccoli with this one :) 

If you're not familiar with using arrowroot as a corn starch substitute, it's a thickener that works very well with sauces. It's also a lower temperature thickener, so keep your sauce at a lower temperature when you add it. It's easiest to add to a sauce if it's already liquid, and mixes really well in cold water- so add a little cold water to your measured out arrowroot, stir, and then add the liquid to your sauce. Arrowroot also thickens quickly.


Ingredients:

5 Tbsp rice vinegar
6½ Tbsp. rice wine
½ cup soy sauce
2 Tbsp. toasted sesame oil
1½ or 2 tsp. chili oil
2 Tbsp. tomato paste
½ cup sugar
3 tsp. minced garlic
1½ tsp. minced ginger
4 or 5 teaspoons arrowroot, for sauce (pre-mixed in a little bit of cool water)

½ cup oil (for frying)
One container of Extra Firm fresh tofu.
1 cup (ish) onions
4 Cups broccoli (approx)

Sauce Instructions: 
Mix Rice Vinegar, Rice Wine, Soy Sauce, Sesame Oil, Chili Oil and Tomato Paste. Add 1/2 cup sugar, then whisk it together.

In a large sauce pan lightly sauté the garlic and ginger in a small amount of oil, then add the mixture and bring to low boil over medium heat. Reduce heat and cook, and add arrowroot while whisking. It should be thick when done. Then remove from heat and set aside.

Stir Fry Instructions: 
Take tofu out of liquid it came in and chop into 1 inch cubes, press these between two towels to take out the moisture and dry them. Heat 1/2 cup oil in a large frying pan over medium heat. Then place in the tofu, turn it during cooking so that each side gets browned. When all sides are browned, place the tofu on a paper towel to get rid of excess oil. Sauté the onions, add broccoli and cook until tender. (add water if necessary) Then add the tofu and then the sauce and heat over low for until everything is heated through.

Vegan Spinach Pesto Stuffed Shells

These were *amazing*

Start with homemade tomato sauce w/ vegan Italian sausage:

• 1 package Upton's Naturals Italian Sausage style seitan
• 1/2 cup minced onion
• 2 cloves garlic, crushed
• 1 (28 ounce) can crushed tomatoes
• 2 (6 ounce) cans tomato paste
• 1 (15 ounce) can canned tomato sauce
• 1/2 cup water
• 2 tablespoons white sugar
• 1 1/2 teaspoons dried basil leaves
• 1/2 teaspoon fennel seeds
• 1 teaspoon Italian seasoning
• 1 tablespoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
• 4 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley

I saute the seitan with the onions & garlic, browning the seitan a bit. The rest of the ingredients- the crushed tomatoes, tomato paste, tomato sauce, water, sugar, seasonings, salt, pepper, and parsley (if you have it) go in the crock pot. When the seitan/onions/garlic is done, add that to the crock pot and turn on low for 6-8 hours (while you're at work.)

Corn-free note- I've been using Eden Organics for canned tomatoes and beans because their canned stuff is completely free of citric acid, which may or may not be corn.

OK, so once your sauce is done, make the spinach pesto ricotta filling (adapted from the Veganomicon):

• 1 lb extra firm or firm tofu
• 2 tsp lemon juice
• 2-4 cloves garlic, pressed or minced
• 1/4 tsp salt
• ground pepper
• 1/2 cup minced basil leaves
• 1/4 cup pinenuts
• 2 T olive oil
• 2-3 cups baby spinach

I used my Cuisinart, and simply blended everything together, putting in the spinach last. Set aside (you can even make ahead of time and refrigerate it.

Cook up some pasta shells- the ones I used were actually brown rice shells, and I used them because the other brands at the store had lots of potential corn ingredients- various vitamin additives to the flour that are completely unnecessary. These were very good, tasted just like regular pasta. And the packaging promises you can't overcook them. But, they take about 20 minutes to cook.

After you cook your shells, spread a layer of sauce on the bottom of your pan, stuff each one with ricotta filling, and then pour more sauce on top of the shells (I think I used about 2/3 of the sauce.) Bake for 30 minutes at 350F.

Enjoy!!

Thanksgiving Dinner, Take 2 (final version)

Finally getting around to posting this...

The winner was the Baked Thanksgiving Risotto from the Vegan Holiday Kitchen, minus the corn. Not only was it delicious, it was the easiest risotto I've ever made. Seriously. I used delicata squash for the squash, since that's what I had, and the sweet flavor of the delicata complimented the red beans and spinach wonderfully.

So, there was the risotto, the sweet potato biscuits, and the carrot cranberry cake, all from Vegan Holiday Kitchen: More than 200 Delicious, Festive Recipes for Special Occasions.

It was delicious.

Thanksgiving Dinner, Take 1

So, since our beloved Tofurkey is out (big surprise, it has corn ingredients in it) I've been trying to come up with something else to bring to Thanksgiving dinner next week. Last night was dry run #1.

Recipes tried were:
Sweet Potato Biscuits from Vegan Holiday Kitchen: More than 200 Delicious, Festive Recipes for Special Occasions
Pumpkin Baked Ziti with Caramelized Onions and Sage Crumb Topping from Veganomicon: The Ultimate Vegan Cookbook

The Sweet Potato Biscuits were delicious. I thought that the prep was a little weird, since you make the dough in the food processor, and I'm not used to doing that, but it was easy, and the taste was very good. These will be made next week.

The Pumpkin Ziti was eh. A little on the glue-y side, and pretty bland. I fear that this is the kind of vegan dish that non-vegans hate, and with good reason. It didn't have a lot of flavor, which was weird, because the cashew ricotta tasted good and the breadcrumbs and the onions were delicious individually. Put it all together and it's not a winner, which is surprising, since everything else I've made from Veganomicon has been delicious. Oh well, you can't win every time. This will not be made next week.

Friday I will be making the Baked Thanksgiving Risotto from the Vegan Holiday Kitchen, minus the corn. Fingers crossed!!