Tag: Recipes

Vegan Recipes

Non-Dairy Veganish Quiche

Crystal Fleming

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K and I had a hankering for quiche the other day and decided to experiment with using non-dairy products. We swapped out cow’s milk and cheese for almond milk & daiya. We also tried our luck with vegan pie shells from Whole Foods.

We modified this recipe and ended up with this gorgeous masterpiece:

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Now, granted, we still used eggs & pancetta, but the end result was a mostly vegan & totally dairy free, ahhhmazingly delicious quiche.

Ingredients:

– 1 prepared vegan pie shell
– 5 eggs
– 1 cup daiya cheddar
– 1 and 1/4 cup almond milk
– 1 small container of pancetta or chopped ham (optional)
– 1 cup of frozen spinach
– 1/2 chopped onion
– minced garlic
– sea salt
– black pepper
– garlic powder
– parsley
– hot sauce (optional)

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350.

2. In a large bowl, whip 5 eggs and combine with almond milk, daiya cheese and spices.

3. Cook pancetta along with chopped onion in a small pan. Drain and set aside.

4. Cook spinach with garlic.

5. Stir spinach, pancetta & onion into the egg / milk / cheese mixture.

6. Pour everything into the pie crust, sprinkle with another handful of cheese and bake for 25 minutes.

7. Increase temperature to 375 and cook for another 15 minutes (check frequently to prevent over-cooking).

We found that we had to cook this longer and at a higher temp than in the original recipe. Frankly, I was surprised with how good this was. It was right up there with the quiche I had at Café Un Deux Trois last week. In particular, I was impressed with the vegan pie shell. A little Louisiana hot sauce really set it off, too.

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Enjoy! Let me know if you try this out!

Academic Musings, Food, Vegan Recipes

BBQ Brussels Sprouts & Baked Yam with Calvados

Crystal Fleming

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One of those nights where I’m too tired to cook anything complicated. Still in the final throes of grading. Craving ribs due to some tweet I saw about BBQ joints on Long Island but couldn’t actually work up the desire to eat meat, though. Had just enough energy to make this simple, delicious and vegan meal instead. The Calvados – a gift from my lady – transformed the simple yam into a sophisticated accompaniment / dessert / nightcap in one fell swoop.

BBQ Brussels Sprouts & Baked Yam

Serves 1

Ingredients

BBQ sauce

1/4 cup ketchup or tomato paste
1/4 cup chopped bell pepper
1 tablespoon EVOO
sea salt
black pepper
1/4 cup apple cider vinegar or balsamic vinegar
5 dashes worcester sauce

Baked Yam

1 yam
nutmeg
cinnamon
sea salt
coconut sugar
Optional: Calvados

Directions:

Preheat oven to 400. Wash yam. Poke with fork. Bake for 40 minutes.

Meanwhile, boil Brussels sprouts until tender. Set aside.

Combine all ingredients for the BBQ sauce in a small sauce pan. Cook for about 8 minutes. Turn off the heat.

Toss the Brussels sprouts in the sauce. Cut the baked yam down the middle and garnish with spices and, if you’re adventurous, a bit if Calvados or brandy.

Yummmmmmmmm.

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Vegan Recipes

Kale, Tofu & Pinenuts in Tomato Basil Peanut Sauce (V)

Crystal Fleming

I haven’t really been in the cooking mood lately.  In fact, my vegan-ish eating experiment took an unexpected turn about a month ago when I decided to start eating a little bit of meat again, after a 120 day hiatus.  I will blog about that decision another time, but for now I will simply note that my experiment taught me that I feel much more aligned and balanced with a plant-based lifestyle, which is why I am still about 90% vegan, despite the occasional foray into meat and dairy.

That said, for the past few weeks, I haven’t had it in my to spend much time cooking.  I had a big conference in Amsterdam at the end of June and focused my energy on work, writing, household projects and exploring New York City.  In the interim, I started doing something very unusual — eating at restaurants and ordering takeout!

Anyway, today I finally got back in the kitchen and whipped up this fab meal up for lunch.

Anatomy of a dish: basil, roma tomato, red onion, lemon, garlic, pinenuts, kale, almond milk, sea salt, peanut sauce. Wine for the cook.
Anatomy of a dish: basil, roma tomato, red onion, lemon, garlic, pinenuts, kale, almond milk, sea salt, peanut sauce. Wine for the cook.

Kale, Tofu & Pinenuts in Tomato Basil Peanut Sauce

Serves 2 hungry people

Ingredients

  • EVOO
  • Coconut oil
  • 1/2 cup of tofu – chopped
  • 1/4 sliced red onion
  • 1 lemon
  • 2 cloves of garlic – sliced
  • a handful of pinenuts
  • 2-3 cups chopped kale
  • 1/4 cup almond milk
  • 1/4 cup vinegar
  • sea salt
  • herbes de provence
  • Braggs’ aminos
  • Peanut sauce
  • 2 cups Jasmine rice
  • falafel (optional)

Directions:

Cook jasmine rice according to instructions. Set aside.

In a large sauce pan, warm EVOO on medium heat. Add onions, garlic and a squeeze of lemon.  After a few minutes, pour in about 1/4 bottle of peanut sauce. Add a little filtered water and vinegar.   Add pinenuts, tomato, tofu and a touch of almond milk.  Layer on the basil and sprinkle sea salt and herbes de provence to taste.  Stir continuously and reduce heat.

Simmering.
Simmering.

While the sauce is cooking up, chop and rinse the kale.  Pour 2 tablespoons of coconut oil in a medium sauce pan and add the kale.  Squeeze with lemon juice and add a little sea salt.  Add the kale to the sauce, then add the sauce to the rice.

I complemented this with Trader Joe’s vegan falafel – which really made the dish amazing.

Yummo

 

 

Food, Vegan Recipes

Split Pea & Cilantro Soup w/ Herbes de Provence Tortilla

Crystal Fleming

Split Pea Soup

I’ve never thought of myself as a soup person, but my veganish experiment has afforded me ample opportunities to step up my soup game and find combinations of flavors that tickle my fancy.  Sadly, I don’t remember exactly how I made this masterpiece, but it was amazing.  What I know for sure is that it involved cooking up some split peas the old fashioned way — in a pot — then blending it down in the Vitamix with cilantro and some liquid (maybe almond milk? water? I have no idea).  Next, I poured the mixture back into a pot and stirred in black beans, marinated tomatoes, apple cider vinegar and an assortment of spices. Grilled a spelt tortilla in EVOO and nutritional yeast, then sprinkled with herbes de provence.

Yeah. Fucking amazing.

Photos, Vegan Recipes

Pan Seared Pineapple Curry & Split Pea Mash

Crystal Fleming

 

Last week, I ordered some kind of pineapple/chili dish served with tofu, grilled cashews and steamed vegetables.  As I noshed, I wondered: “Why don’t I ever cook with pineapples?”  Rectified this gross culinary negligence by whipping this up tonight.  The base of the curry is an almond butter sauce I made, along with carrots, garlic, grilled peanuts, almond milk and coconut butter.  Seared the pineapple in coconut oil along with red onions. Served over brown rice, red rice & black barley, with a side of split pea mash.  Incredibly delicious. Not low fat. At all.

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Food, Vegan Recipes

Bok Choy, “Beef” and Rice in Thai Almond Butter Sauce

Crystal Fleming

Finished product

One of my Twitter followers recently humble-bragged about making her own peanut sauce from scratch.  I was mystified, but she made it sound easy.  So, without looking up a recipe, I decided to try my hand at something similar and even more exotic  — almond butter sauce.  

I’ve never been a huge fan of peanut butter, but I fell in love with almond butter when I began my veganish journey three months ago.  Not only is it packed full of protein, but it also has a lovely, mild taste. Anyway, this was the first time I used it in a cooked dish — usually I add it to my lettuce wraps.

Anatomy of a Dish: Almond butter, EVOO, Trader Joe's "Beefless" strips (seitan), cilantro, almond butter, red onion, garlic, lemon, vinaiger and Braggs amino acids
Anatomy of a Dish: Almond butter, EVOO, Trader Joe’s “Beefless” strips (seitan), cilantro, red onion, garlic, lemon, vinegar and Braggs amino acids

This dish – which, if I say so myself, belongs in the pantheon of vegan masterpieces – turned out to be absolutely divine. Right up there with the amazing mushroom risotto in cashew/dijon cream sauce, sprinkled with sweet potatoes and leeks that I had at Blossom yesterday.  I had a lot of fun making it and even more fun eating it.

So, here’s the low down:

Ingredients

*note, these measurements and directions are approximations. I generally do not follow recipies when I cook.. I simply intuit – and taste – as I go along. So use this as a template but do your own thing.

  • 1 baby bok choy
  • 1 package of Trader Joe’s “Beefless” strips (seitan)
  • 1 package of Trader Joe’s Brown Rice, Red Rice & Black Barley Medley
  • 3 cloves of garlic
  • 1/2 lemon
  • 1/4 handful of cilantro
  • 1/4 cup of apple cider vinegar
  • 1/2 cup of water
  • 1/2 red onion
  • 2-3 table spoons of almond butter
  • 1/4 cup cocnut milk
  • Braggs’ aminos
  • sea salt
  • EVOO

Chop up the garlic and toss it into a large sauce pan primed with 3 tablespoons of EVOO over medium heat. Chop the red onion and cilantro and add both to the garlic.  When that gets going, throw in the seitan and spray the whole lot with copious amounts of Braggs aminos.  Sprinkle in some sea salt.  Stir frequently and add more EVOO as neccessary.

Pretty bok choy

When the seitan is cooked thoroughly, add the almond butter,coconut milk, apple cider vinegar and 1/4 cup of the water. Stir and reduce to a low heat. While that’s simmering, chop of the baby bok choy and grill it separately in EVOO over medium heat.  Squeeze the lemon over the bok choy and spice with sea salt.  I like my bok choy nicely grilled, so I let it go for about 10 minutes.  Stir frequently.  Add the remaining water to the almond butter sauce and reduce to low heat.

Microwave the rice medley according to the box instructions.  Layer it with the sauce, seitan and bok choy. Savor. And thank me later.

Yum

Vegan Recipes

Vegetable Lovers’ Vegan Alfredo

Crystal Fleming

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Whipped this up the other night. The combination of mushrooms, artichokes, spinach & sun dried tomatoes in cheesy, vegan yumminess was so good, I almost shed a tear. Oh, and it’s gluten free, too.

For the alfredo, I brought about a cup of almond milk to boil, then returned to simmer. Added copious amounts of nutritional yeast, sea salt, garlic and a few spoons of marinated sun dried tomatoes. Used a little NO EGG to make the sauce thick and creamy. While this was heating up, I cooked some gluten free (corn) spaghetti in a saucepan.

In a large skillet, I grilled organic mushrooms in coconut oil, then added them to the alfredo. God, it would have been incredible if I had just stopped at this point. But no, I continued..

Next, I grilled the artichoke hearts (frozen, from Trader Joe’s) and spinach, separately. I stirred some of the veggies into the sauce, but set aside the rest.

When the pasta was done, I spiced it up with lemon juice, sea salt and black pepper before unceremoniously dumping it into the mushroom alfredo. Topped with the veggies and served with prosecco..

Divine.

Vegan Recipes

Carrot apple tomato soup w/ vegetable focaccia croutons

Crystal Fleming

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In the Vitamix: a bunch of organic carrots, 1 apple, 1 tomato, fresh ginger, sea salt, nutmeg, nutritional yeast, a dash of Braggs ACV, a tablespoon of NO EGG, 1/4 cup of coconut milk and about a cup of water. Blend on high for a few minutes.

In a small pan: grill chopped red onions in EVOO. Spice with sea salt, a squeeze of lemon of Braggs amino acids. Set aside.

In a pot: cook one can of organic kidney beans. Add the blended soup to the beans and simmer for 15-20 minutes. Stir in the onions. Add whatever else you like. I threw in some rice I had left over from Indian takeout.

For the croutons, I got a lovely focaccia vegetable board from the organic market and cut up a bunch of pieces that I grilled in EVOO. Garnish with freshly ground lack pepper. And voila: a hearty, nutritious soup for weekday noshing.

Food, Vegan Recipes

Chia Seed “Crunch” Raw Chocolate

Crystal Fleming

A week ago, I picked up a bag of organic chia seeds from Trader Joe’s.  I believe chia seeds first entered my consciousness when I saw a pic dream hampton posted on twitter a while ago.  It was a glass of water filled with weird looking gelatinous balls.  My knee jerk reaction was “yuck.. what the hell is that?”  But my curiosity was piqued. And I dig dream, so I figured there must be something good about these odd looking critters.

Anyway, I finally tried them myself and began doing a little research.  Apparently, chia seeds are the latest “superfood” , eaten by the Aztecs and renown for its protein, antioxidants and fiber.  There is some debate over whether their omega 3’s are actually beneficial.  Regardless, people seem to think that chia has all kinds of magical powers.  It’s supposed to provide an energy boost, assist with weight loss and soothe the body with its antioxidant properties.  And since the seeds expand into little balls of gel with a crunchy center, they can be used to thicken drinks or to make pudding. I now add chia seeds to my water and smoothies.  Tonight, I tried my hand at chia chocolate.
chia seed raw chocolate

As with all of my previous batches of raw chocolate, I’m using a basic recipe from the Rawtarian.  I was concerned that the chia seeds would begin to gel and expand in the chocolate, as they do in liquid.  But they remained hard and crunchy – probably because I put the batch in the freezer immediately after making it.  I must say, it turned out to be pretty fantastic.

And so it is that I’ve made the ultimate super food snack: coconut oil, raw cacao AND chia seeds.  Organic, vegan AND gluten free. I just might start speaking in tongues any minute now. Hallelujerr!

chia seed raw chocolate