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 Flipping through my Jan/Feb Vegetarian Times, I stopped on user submitted Kung Pao Sliders. I’ve made this so many times now, the magazine stays open to this page. The intent here was to serve the baked tofu squares as “sliders” with the cole slaw on a small bun, but I’ve been putting it in salads or eating the tofu straight as a snack. I tried the slaw dressing that was to go with this and it just didn’t work. Possibly because I thought adding lemon would be a good idea.
Ingredients:
One tub of extra firm tofu, patted dry and cut into 16 pieces (cut legnthwise once, eight cuts across)
4 Tbsp low-sodium soy sauce (I prefer Bragg’s Liquid Amino for its lower sodium content)
2 Tbsp cane sugar (or less)
1 tsp sesame oil
1 tsp corn starch
Directions:
Layer tofu in a shallow pan (I use two 8×8 pans). Whisk together remaining ingredients and pour evenly over the tofu. Flip tofu squares so the they are completely coated. Refrigerate for an hour, flipping tofu once or twice during that time. Preheat oven to 325. Spray a cookie sheet with cooking spray. Lay tofu on sheet and bake 25 minutes. Flip the tofu and cook for another 20-25 minutes.
 Inspiration hit while making zucchini hash. I stirred in some hummus, added some cheese and formed it into little cakes and re-grilled them. Great with some salsa. Yum!
Ingredients:
4 medium zucchini, shredded
1 onion, finely chop
3/4 cup hummus
1/4 cup Daiya mozzarella “cheese”
Directions:
Over medium heat, cook onions for about 5 minutes, add zucchini and cook an additional 5 minutes until it starts to brown. Move this mixture into a bowl and allow to cool. Stir in hummus and cheese. Form into patties and grill in a clean pan that has been prepped with cooking spray. Re-spray between batches. Serve with salsa.
The New York Times can be surprise source every so often for hearty vegan recipes. This black bean soup is super rich and deeply flavorful. They call it “black bean soup wth cumin and tomatoes” but for me, it’s the chipotle that makes this soup a standout.
Ingredients:
1 medium onion, chopped
4 garlic cloves, cut into halves
1 cup dried washed black beans
6 cups water
1 14-ounce can tomatoes
2 teaspoons cumin (or ground toasted cumin seeds if you have them)
1 canned chipotle pepper
Directions:
Spray the bottom of your soup pot with cooking spray. Over medium heat, cook half of the onion about 3-5 minutes. Add the onion and garlic and cook until the onion is translucent, about 5 minutes. Add the water and beans, removing any floaters. Cook for an hour and a half.
Meanwhile… while that is cooking. Blend the tomatoes, chipotle chili, cumin and the rest of the onion. Heat a non-stick skillet and cook this mixture (stirring often) until it thickens so that when you run your wooden spoon down the middle it leaves a little trench (5-10 minutes). Add a cup of the bean liquid and cook another ten minutes, continuing to stir. When the beans are close to done, add this mixture and cook another 15-30 minutes. Add salt to taste. Blend with an immersion blender, or in a blender or however you like to make a smooth soup. Serve with vegan sour cream.
 nom nom... So… file this under “spurge.” Or “what-to-bring-to-a-potluck-to-demonstrate-vegan-doesn’t-just-mean-cardboard-tasting-tofu-and-wheatgrass-smoothies” a.k.a. “vegangelicalism.” These really taste like the real deal! Chef Chloe’s blog, is a must-read, I will be back to sample more recipes, I’m sure! This is simple in nature, but makes SO many cookies it is time consuming (no complaints on that front though!).
Cookie Ingredients:
1 ¼ cup all-purpose flour
1 cup sugar
½ cup cocoa powder
¼ teaspoon salt
¼ tsp baking soda
¾ cup vegan margarine, softened
3 Tbsp soy or almond milk
1 tsp pure vanilla extract
½ tsp pure peppermint extract
Cookie Directions:
In a food processor, pulse together flour, sugar, cocoa powder, salt. Add softened margarine, milk, vanilla and peppermint extract. Pulse a few times until well blended. I had to add about another tablespoon of soy milk. Transfer to a bowl and knead for about a minute. Form into a ball and refrigerate for one hour. Preheat oven to 350. Roll dough into small balls (reallly for the thin mint look they need to be about 1 tsp in size). Space on a cookie sheet about 2″ apart and flatten with fingertips until 1/4″ flat. Bake approximately 11 minutes. Transfer to a cooling rack.
Coating Ingredients:
2 cups vegan semi sweet chocolate chips
1 Tbsp vegan margarine
1/2 tsp peppermint extract
Coating Directions:
Melt ingredients together in a double boiler. Seriously, a double boiler. I tried just over a low heat and it didn’t work. I may have messed up by adding a little soymilk (didn’t seem like it was going to get liquid enough?). I ended up double boiling and adding almost 1/2 C soymilk. When it’s nice and runny, dip in each cookie and scrape off excess. This was a bit of a challenge because it was sort of finger-burny. Frosting top/bottom/sides also worked well. Place each coated cookie on wax paper and place in fridge to cool. Store frozen cookies between wax paper layers.
 That’s right. Vegan pumpkin scones. There is no way better to crawl back into bed on a sleepy Saturday morning than with a plateful of these guys with a little covering of molasses. Super easy, delicous dough, done start to finish in about a half an hour. Perfect! I made a half of the original recipe which covers one cookie sheet nicely. I also appreciated the comment on the original to use about half margarine/half vegan sour cream.
Ingredients:
1/4 cup sugar
1 3/4 cups flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp baking soda
3 tsp spices: I like to mix ginger powder, ground cloves, cinnamon
1/4 c mix of vegan margarine/vegan sour cream to your taste. I go heavy on the sour cream
1 cup pureed pumpkin
Directions:
Preheat oven to 425. In a large bowl whisk together dry ingredients (flour, baking powder, baking soda, spices). Cut in margarine/”sour cream” mix – use a knife until pieces are quite small. Stir in pumpkin puree until well mixed. You can use your hands to form it into a ball and incorporate all the last little dry bits. On a floured surface, knead and flatten into a circle that is bout 3/4 inch thick. I had poor results cutting into pieces like a pizza. Ripping into rustic shapes worked. Place on a cooking spray prepped cookie sheet. Bake 12-15 minutes. Serve with a whisper of veg margarine and a drizzle of molasses. Soy latte? Yes, please.
Kind of like a creamy pesto dip. I’ve made this a few times, a bit different each time but always yummy! Great with fresh veggies for dipping – cucumbers, sliced red/orange peppers, carrots, or blue corn tortilla chips.
Blend the following until smoth:
The leaves of one bunch of basil – rinsed and dried
3/4 of the small container of silken tofu (8 oz)
One clove of garlic, pressed
Juice of half a lemon
1 Tablespoon vegan mayonnaise
Kale is apparently a super super-food. Check this out, Kale scores highest (tied with Collards) on Dr. Fuhrman’s Nutrient Density Index (ANDI). 1,000 points to walnut’s 34! This is an easy way to prepare them, and it’s so delicious I can eat an entire bunch (head?) with dinner.
Soak and then rinse every nook and cranny of a bunch of kale (nothing is worse than gritty kale)
Trim out coarse center vein in each leaf of kale, roughly chopping the remainder of each leaf
In a soup pot or good sized pan, spray cooking spray and sizzle one or two cloves garlic (diced) for a few minutes until they start to brown
Optional: also add diced fresh ginger (an inch or so)
Add kale to pot
Splash with a good amount of white wine (1/2 cup?), a few shakes of soy sauce and juice of one lemon
Cover and cook over medium heat until well done… 10-15 minutes.
If you are not serving right away, hold off on adding the lemon – as it will cause the kale to turn it a little brown.
 Delicious, even if not necessarily photogenic. Eating this right now with sliced cucumber. Aaaahhh….
Blend the following until you reach a hummus-like consistency. Serve with sliced vegetables – cucumbers, red peppers, etc.
1 can black beans, drained and rinsed or 1 1/2 cup cooked black beans
1 Tbs peanut butter
1 clove of garlic, pressed
Juice of 1 lime
a little hot water if it’s not getting to hummus consistency
A variation on trail mix bars. With a deep chocolate flavor this time.
In a small saucepan, heat 1/2 cup rice syrup, 1/4 cup almond butter, 1/4 cup chocolate chips and 3 Tablespoons cocoa powder. Stir over medium/low heat until smooth. Remove from heat and stir in 1 teaspoon vanilla. Pour 3 1/2 cup puffed cereal (I found puffed kamut at my Safeway) into a large bowl and mix with syrup/chocolate mixture. Add more cereal as needed to make a good bar consistency. Spray a 8 inch square pan with cooking spray. Press bar mixture into pan and let cool before cutting into 9 squares.
I moved to California from Austin almost six years ago and still long for the Tex-Mex breakfast and brunch options from places like Trudy’s or the former Las Manitas. The closest I’ve found in these parts is Papalote. Their salsa is excellent and they have great grilled veggie tacos (zucchini/eggplant) or seasoned tofu tacos. When I was there last weekend, I bought a jar of their salsa and that has me fired up to use it as often as possible. Here’s what I put together to approximate their offerings.
Caramelize an onion by slicing into thin half moons and heating in a skillet over high heat for about 10-15 minutes, lower heat and continue to cook for another 30 minutes or longer until very well done. Set aside. Chop up 4 small zucchinis and cook in the skillet until brown. Combine with the onions. Season and bake some tofu from this recipe here. Heat some refried black beans, and serve with onion/zucchini mixture. Add sliced avocado and salsa if you’ve got it! You can also serve with corn or flour tortillas or I enjoyed this with blue corn tortilla chips.
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Flipping through my Jan/Feb Vegetarian Times, I stopped on user submitted Kung Pao Sliders. I’ve made this so many times now, the magazine stays open to this page. The intent here was to serve the baked tofu squares as “sliders” with the cole slaw on a small bun, but I’ve been putting it in salads or eating the tofu straight as a snack. I tried the slaw dressing that was to go with this and it just didn’t work. Possibly because I thought adding lemon would be a good idea.
