Vegan Red Beans and Rice

Ingredients:

2 tablespoons vegetable oil
1 medium onion, chopped
2 medium bell peppers (any color), chopped
3 stalks celery, chopped
2 teaspoons kosher salt
1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
5 cloves garlic, minced
12 ounces seasoned tempeh, cut into 1-inch pieces, recipe follows
3 bay leaves
1 teaspoon dried thyme
1 teaspoon Louisiana hot sauce (Tabasco or other)
1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper
2 quarts water
1 pound red kidney beans, rinsed and picked of debris

Directions:
Place the vegetable oil in a 7-quart dutch oven on medium-high heat. Add the bell pepper, onion, celery, salt and pepper. Cook, stirring frequently, until the onions and celery are semi-translucent and the bell peppers are tender, about 6 to 8 minutes. Add the garlic and cook for 1 to 2 minutes, stirring constantly. Add the seasoned tempeh, bay leaves, thyme, hot sauce, cayenne pepper, water and beans to the pot and increase the heat to high. Cook, stirring frequently until the mixture comes to a boil, approximately 6 to 8 minutes. Decrease the heat to maintain a simmer, cover and cook for 1-1/2 hours, stirring every 30 minutes. Uncover, increase the heat slightly to maintain a steady simmer and continue to cook for another 30 to 40 minutes or until the beans are tender and the sauce is thickened. Use a potatoe masher to increase the creamie texture to your liking.


Serve the beans over rice (short grain brown rice works well.)

Seasoned Tempeh

Ingredients:
2 tablespoons Braggs liquid aminos or soy sauce
2 tablespoons toasted sesame oil
1/4 cup white or apple cider vinegar
1 teaspoon smoked paprika
12 oz. tempeh

Directions:
Mix all of the ingredients except the tempeh and vegetable oil. Pour the mixture into an 8x8 baking dish. Cut the tempeh into enough strips to cover the bottom of the baking dish. Marinate for at least 1 hour, turning the tempeh strips several times. Remove tempeh strips from marinade (reserve for later) and fry in vegetable oil, turning frequently, until tempeh becomes firm and browned. Pour remaining marinade over tempeh then remove from heat, allowing the tempeh to absorb the marinade. Once tempeh has cooled chop into 1-inch or smaller pieces (the spatula works well for this, you may want to cut it as you are cooking it.)

Vegan BBQ Fried Rice

Yeeeeeee-Haw! This is wild west inspired comfort food. It is a fairly frugal main course - it really stretches a bag of 'steak strips'. And it shouldn't be too scary for the meat and potatoes crowd.


Vegan BBQ Fried Rice
Serves 6

> 3 cloves garlic - chopped
> 1/2 medium onion - minced
> 3 Tbsp vegetable oil
> 3 cups cooked long grain rice - cooked in vegetable stock
> 1 bag Morningstar Farms Veggie Steak Strips
> 15 oz. can kidney beans - rinsed and drained
> 15 oz. can crushed tomatoes
> 1/4 c. KC style barbecue sauce
> salt to taste

1. Fry garlic and onions in oil for about 20 seconds
2. Add 'steak strips' and cook while cutting them into tiny pieces with your spatula.
3. Add rice, beans, and crushed tomatoes and mix thoroughly.
4. Simmer for about 2 minutes
5. Add barbecue sauce and salt and mix thoroughly.

My notes for this recipe...

1. The "KC" in KC style barbecue sauce stands for "Kansas City." It is characterized by a distinct molasses flavor. You can buy "KC Masterpiece" brand sauce for about $3, or look for a "KC style" generic sauce - I got a bottle at Fred Meyer for $.79.

2. Rice that was cooked the day before and has dried out a little bit always works best for fried rice.

3. If the leftovers are too dry you can add a splash of water and re-heat in the microwave in a covered dish.

Idaho Dutch Oven Stew Recipe (vegan)

This stew is a childhood memory. My mom used to make a non-vegan version of it when I was a kid. We both happen to be vegan now. She still had the recipe so I decided to modify it and 'dutch oven' it. A barbecue isn't the only way to cook in the back yard.

If you want to make this while camping you will probably need to make the sauce ahead of time since it requires a blender. My mother-in-law just aquired a hand crank blender. I haven't had a chance to test it yet - maybe it would do the job.

I cooked this on a day when temperatures were in the 50s and there was a moderate wind. You can see from the third photo that I attempted to make a wind shelter with some patio pavers. Even with that precaution my cooking temperature was affected. The weather can have a dramatic effect on temperature when you are dutch oven cooking. You can read up on it over at the dutch oven dude. See my notes following the recipe for temperature advice.

Do you want my biased opinion? this stuff is G-O-O-D, even if it doesn't bring back childhood memories for you. My kids thought it was great. Their favorite part was the little corn on the cobs.

Idaho Dutch Oven Stew

Serves 6

>1/4 cup vegetable oil
> 16oz Morningstar Farms Veggie Steak Strips
> 2 medium potatoes, cut into 6 pieces
> 2 large carrots, cut into 6 pieces
> 2 large ears of corn, quartered

sauce ingredients...

> 28 oz. canned tomatoes
> 1 small red onion, chopped
> 2 garlic clove,minced
> 4 oz. canned green chili peppers, drained, halved, and seeded
> 1 Tbsp. sesame seeds
> 1 tsp coriander
> 1/2 tsp. salt
> 1/2 tsp. black pepper
> 1/2 tsp. chili powder
> 1/2 tsp. ground cumin

1.) First make the sauce. Put all the ingredients into a blender and blend until smooth.

2.) Heat the oil in a Dutch oven. Add the veggie steak strips and fry until browned.

3.) Stir in the sauce and bring to a boil, then cover and simmer gently for 35 - 45 minutes.

4.) Stir in the potatoes, carrots, and corn. Cover again and continue simmering gently for 1 hour or until vegetables are tender. Adjust the seasoning before serving.

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My notes for this recipe:

1. Keep in mind that a batch of briquettes will typically stay good and hot for about 35 - 45 minutes. You probably need two or three batches to get this stew cooked.

2. I was stewing in a 12" dutch oven, shooting for 325 degrees F. According to the dutch oven dude's calculator that requires 21 briquettes. It was too cold of a day - I should have used extra. It took more than 1 hour for the vegetables to get tender.

3. You could get it to cook faster if you cut the vegetables smaller, but there goes the coolness factor.

4. This is best served on a plate with a fork - so you can smash the large chunks of vegetables before eating.

See Also...

Vegan Dutch Oven Pot Pie Recipe

vegan pepperoni pizza recipe

This is a great pizza recipe that I adapted from a non-vegan cookbook. I don't feel like giving free publicity to a cookbook that is full of meat and cheese recipes so I won't mention the title. But trust me - this is probably the most adaptable recipe in the whole book because it does not depend on pounds of cheese for the flavor.

I have never been a big fan of vegan pizza that uses a lot of vegan cheese - it has never tasted "really good" to me, more like "almost pizza." I also get tired of the typical tomato sauce and veggies. If you do end up with the tomato sauce and veggie pizza it is a lot better if you put your favorite salad dressing on it. I like that better than melted vegan cheese.

This is one of the pizza recipes I plan to feature on this website. It is unique and very tasty. Here is a bit of trivia to go along with this pizza. You can be the Cliff Claven of your pizza party with this: The Italian word for bell peppers is peperoni.

vegan pepperoni pizza

makes one pizza

> 2 large red bell peppers, cut into strips

> 1 medium sweet onion, chopped

> 3 cloves garlic, chopped

> 1 Tbsp extra-virgin olive oil

> 1/2 tsp dried oregano

> 1 cup canned diced tomatoes

> 1/4 tsp salt

> 2 oz. (or more if you like) sliced vegan pepperoni, coated in oil

> 1 Tbsp. vegan parmesan cheese substitute

1. Combine the peppers, onions, garlic, oil, oregano, and 1/4 cup water in a large skilled. Cover and cook, stirring occasionally, until the vegetables are tender crisp, about 15 minutes.

2. Add the tomatoes and cook until most of the liquid has evaporated and the vegetables are tender. Add salt and let cool.

3. Spoon the vegetable mixture over a prepared pizza dough (recipe follows.)

4. Arrange the pepperoni evenly on top of the vegetable mixture, pushing the pepperoni in a little bit.

5. Bake in a pre-heated 500 degree oven, 6 or 7 minutes, or until the crust is golden brown and crisp.

pizza dough

makes one 12-inch crust

> 1 cup + 2 Tbsp warm water
> 1/2 tsp active dry yeast
> 1 Tbsp oil
> 1-3/4 cup all-purpose flour
> 3/4 tsp salt
> cornmeal + extra flour

1. Combine the water, yeast, oil, flour, and salt. Knead on a floured surface until smooth and elastic, about 6 minutes (or about 4 minutes in a standing mixer.)

2. Put the dough into an oiled bowl and cover with a damp towel. Let rise until almost doubled in size, about an hour.

3. Roll the dough out to about 12-inches diameter on a pizza peel or other flat surface that has been lightly sprinkled with cornmeal and flour.
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my notes for this recipe:

1. If you have a bread machine it probably has a pizza dough cycle. This will take care of steps 1 and 2 for you.

2. The dough can be refrigerated in an airtight container or wrapped in plastic overnight, or it can be frozen.

3. Coating the pepperoni in oil is important to keep it from burning while the pizza cooks. I add extra oil to most meat substitutes because they tend to be dry otherwise.

4. I have never tried making my own pepperoni but I found out from Vegan Dad that it can be done. I am putting this on my list of things to try. Update July, 2008: I tried the recipe from Vegan Dad and it was just as good as the stuff you can buy. I might add some red food coloring to it next time.

5. I have also never tried making my own vegan parmesan cheese substitute. I will have to give that a try too.

Vegan "Meatballs" Recipe

This is an easy, great tasting recipe that I developed based on similar recipes that Chef Deb has posted on her discussion forum. These are great to serve at parties. I have seen non-vegetarians scarfing these down at my house.

In the past I have made a huge batch of these and frozen them. They tend to fall apart more after they have been thawed. But the taste and texture are not affected.


This recipe does rely heavily on pre-packaged meat substitutes. These always drive the cost of a recipe up. But they are very convenient and taste good. I have experimented with trying to make vegan "meats" at home but have had mixed results. I will post some of the recipes I have had the most luck with in the near future. If anyone knows of any vegan "meat" recipes that turn out as good as what you can buy, feel free to leave a link or copy of the recipe in the comments.

VEGAN "MEATBALLS"
> 1 package Gimme Lean (Sausage or "Beef" Flavor)
> 6 oz vegan burger crumbles
> 1/2 cup cracker crumbs (saltines)
> 1/2 tsp onion powder
> 1/2 tsp garlic powder
> 1/2 tsp dried oregano
> 1/4 tsp basil
> 1/4 tsp salt
> dash of pepper
> 2 Tbsp olive oil
> additional vegetable oil for cooking

Combine all ingredients in a bowl or electric mixer. Form into any size balls you like. Brown on all sides in oil. Continue heating until hot throughout.
My notes for this recipe:
1. I typically use burger crumbles from Morningstar Farms.

2. These would probably work great in a deep fryer if you are going for maximum juiciness.
3. I have made these with both the "beef" and sausage flavor Gimme Lean. I like both, but I get the most positive feedback with the sausage flavor.
4. I have served these with pasta and marinara, with toothpicks covered with marinara, and with marinara fondue.
5. This recipe has me thinking about the meatball subs I used to get from Subway when I was (not vegan) in college. Maybe meatball subs will be on the menu next week.

Vegan Planet Review and Sample Recipes

Vegan Planet by Robin Robertson is a great cookbook - one of the ones I use the most. It has over 400 recipes covering....everything. With over 70 reviews and a 4-1/2 star rating at Amazon.com how can you go wrong? These are the recipes that I have tried and recommend:

- Thai-Style Leaf-Wrapped Appetizer Bites
- Baked Sweet Potato and Green Pea Samosas
- Quinoa Tabbouleh
- Spicy Peanut Dipping Sauce
- Balsamic Vinaigrette with Garlic and Sun-Dried Tomatoes
- Three-Fruit Chutney
- Chickpea and Green Bean Tagine (double the garlic, cinnamon, turmeric, and allspice)
- Three-Bean Dal (I use a hand blender to partially blend this - I like it best when it is creamy)
- Red Bean Cakes with Creamy Coconut Sauce
- Irish Soda Bread

Here are two sample recipes from the book that go well together and that I make all the time:












EAST COAST CHILI

> 1 Tbsp olive oil
> 1 large yellow onion, chopped
> 2 Tbsp chili powder, or to your taste
> 1/2 tsp dried oregano
> 1/2 tsp cayenne
> one 28-ounce can crushed tomatoes
> one 6-ounce can tomato paste
> 2 cups water
> 2 cups vegetarian burger crumbles
> 3 cups cooked or 2 15-ounce cans kidney beans, drained and rinsed
> salt and freshly ground black pepper

1. Heat the olive oil in a large pot over medium heat. Add the onion, cover, and cook until softened, about 5 minutes. Stir in the chili powder, oregano, cayenne, tomatoes, tomato paste, and water. Bring to a boil, reduce the heat to low, cover, and simmer for 15 minutes.

2. Stir in the burger crumbles, beans, and salt and pepper to taste. Simmer for about 30 minutes to blend the flavors. Serve hot.

serves 6

Notes for this recipe: This is GOOD, rich, flavorful chili. Some of the vegan chili recipes I have tried in the past have been watery enough that I would argue that I was eating bean soup. And others taste too much like green peppers, or onions, or something else that is not CHILI. I typically use burger crumbles from Morningstar Farms. I have tried TVP but it does not work as well. I serve it with Fritos and guacamole but it tastes perfectly good on its own. Another good addition is chipotle flavored Tobasco sauce.


SKILLET CORNBREAD WITH SMOKED CHILES

> 1-1/4 cups yellow cornmeal
> 1 cup unbleached all-purpose flour
> 2-1/2 tsp baking powder
> 1 tsp salt
> 1 cup soy milk or other dairy-free milk
> 3 Tbsp pure maple syrup
> 1 cup fresh, canned, or frozen corn kernels, cooked and drained
> 1/4 cup corn oil
> 2 Tbsp finely chopped canned chipotle chiles in adobo sauce

1. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.

2. In a large bowl, combine the cornmeal, flour, baking powder, and salt and set aside.

3. In a medium size bowl, combine the soy milk, maple syrup, corn kernels, corn oil, and chiles and set aside.

4. Heat a well-oiled cast-iron skillet over medium heat until hot. While the skillet is heating, add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and mix well with a few quick strokes. Transfer the batter to the hot skillet and bake on the center oven rack until golden brown and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean, 25 to 30 minutes. Serve hot or warm.

makes 1 loaf

Notes for this recipe: The chipotle chiles give this a great smokey flavor. I have made it without chiles and it turned out fine too. I have also made it with green chiles. The green chiles didn't add much flavor. Most of the time I substitute corn syrup for maple syrup and it doesn't seem to affect the flavor much. Whatever you do, do not use artificially flavored maple syrup. Your corn bread will taste like pancakes. I have always used an 8x8 glass baking dish instead of a cast iron skillet. This would be a good recipe to try in the dutch oven.

Vegan Dutch Oven Pot Pie Recipe

This recipe takes a lot of preparation but it is worth it. It is adapted from the "Tofu Pot Pie" recipe in Tofu Cookery. The number of briquettes is based on a 12-inch dutch oven during calm, warm weather. You can adjust the number of briquettes for your oven and weather conditions by following the advice of the Dutch Oven Dude:

http://www.dutchovendude.com/campfire-cooking.shtml

DUTCH OVEN POT PIE
serves 12-16

Use a minimum 5 quart dutch oven. I used a 12-inch Lodge oven which holds 8 quarts. There was more than enough room for this recipe.

Have ready:

> approx. 2 lb firm tofu (not silken) frozen, thawed, squeezed dry, and cut into 1/2-inch cubes.
> 2 cups potatoes, cut into 1/2" cubes and parboiled for 10 minutes
> 2 cup carrots, sliced or cut into 1/2" cubes and parboiled for 10 minutes
> 2 cups frozen peas

> 4 cloves garlic, minced

Top Crust...

> 2 cups flour
> 1 cup vegetable shortening
> 1 teaspoon salt
> 1/2 cup water

Mix flour and salt with a fork. Cut shortening into flour/salt mixture with fork until dough appears crumbly. Add water a little at a time, until the dough can form a ball. Roll out dough on a floured surface to the diameter of the dutch oven. Cover with a damp towel while preparing the gravy and filling.


Gravy...

Heat about 24 briquettes. Place about 12 briquettes under the oven and allow it to preheat. To prepare the gravy, bubble together over low heat for about one minute:

> 6 Tbsp oil
> 6 Tbsp flour
> 6 Tbsp nutritional yeast

Whisk in:

> 3 cups water
> 3 cups soymilk
> 2 tsp salt
> 2 tsp sage
> 1 tsp thyme
> 1 tsp garlic powder
> 1 tsp black pepper
> 1 tsp paprika

Heat and stir with the whisk until boiling and thickened. Pour the gravy into a pan or metal bowl and wipe oven clean with a paper towel.


Putting it all together...

Saute together:

> 2 Tbsp oil
> 1 medium onion, finely chopped
> 1 tsp salt

When the onions are soft, add the garlic, tofu cubes, parboiled vegetables and peas, and simmer for about 2 minutes, mixing frequently. Mix in the gravy and cover with the pie crust. Put the lid on and arrange briquettes to bake at 350 degrees (about 18 on the lid, 6 underneath). Bake for 30-40 minutes or until the crust is golden.