Tuesday, January 4, 2011

Vegan Crab Cakes with Spicy Remoulade..."Pepperoni" Pasta with Tofu Feta...Chocolate Peanut Muffins...Flatbread...Hot Rolls

My hubby finished up his vacation time yesterday so the past couple of days I have been cooking up a storm, knowing that starting today, my creativity in the kitchen will need to be a bit simpler and less time-consuming since daddy won't constantly be home to help with the kiddos! I have had a blast trying out lots of new recipes (and enjoying several favorites a second time around!
I was going to try out a recipe from Vegan Dad's website but then decided his recipe for Chickpea Cakes didn't look as exciting as I originally did so I set out to make up my own recipe, trying to create a sort of mock crab cake. I was so impressed by how these turned out! They were easy, very flavorful, and low fat into the bargain! I also modified a recipe I found online for remoulade and it was fabulous on the cakes. Very yummy!

Mock Crab Cakes
1 28-oz can chickpeas (I actually used some that I had cooked and frozen)
2 t toasted nori
1/2 t garlic powder
2 t minced dried onions
2 t Old Bay seasoning
1 T flour
1 T cornstarch
2 t olive oil
panko breadcrumbs

Combine all ingredients except panko in food processor and process until smooth - a few lumps are fine. Make mixture into 6 round cakes, squishing together well or the cakes will crumble. Press each cake into a dish of panko crumbs to create a crunchy coating. Place cakes on a baking sheet coated with cooking spray and bake at 425 for 20 min or until golden. Serve with remoulade (see below)

Spicy Remoulade
1/2 cup vegan mayo
1 T ketchup
1 T lemon juice
1/2 t minced dried onion
1/2 t minced dried parsley
1 T capers with brine
1/4 t crushed red pepper
1/2 t paprika
1/4 t garlic powder
1/2 t sea salt
Combine all ingredients until well mixed.

Another made-up recipe! I made a recipe of Seitan O Greatness the other day but I made 2 "logs" (simply dividing the dough, not making a double recipe) and I added the spices recommended for making "pepperoni" in Newman's cookbook Cozy Inside to one of the logs (leaving the other as regular seitan). The flavor of the "pepperoni" log was pretty tasty, even slightly reminscent of pepperoni (notice I did say "slightly"!). I was at loss for something fast and easy for last night's dinner so I made up a pasta toss using some of this "pepperoni" and it turned out pretty tasty.

Vegan Pepperoni (I have combined 2 recipes here to create this one)
3/4 cup vital wheat gluten
1/8 cup nutritional yeast
1/2 t salt
1/2 T plus 1 t paprika
1/8 t cumin
1 T cracked fresh pepper
1 t garlic powder
1/2 T fennel seed

3/8 cup water
2 T tomato paste
1/2 T soy sauce
1 T olive oil
1 T vegan Worcestershire sauce

Combine dry ingredients. Combine wet ingredients. Add wet to dry and mix thoroughly. Knead a few times. Form into a log and wrap tightly in foil. Bake at 325 for 45 min, turning once during cook time.

"Pepperoni" Pasta
1 T olive oil
1 chopped onion
3 cloves minced garlic
1/2 cup black olives
3/4 cup sliced vegan "pepperoni"
1 roma tomato finely chopped
1 lemon
1 t lemon zest
1 T vegan butter
crushed red pepper for sprinkling
Tofu Feta for topping(see recipe below)
3 cups cooked ziti

Heat oil in large skillet. Add garlic and onion and cook until browned - about 10 min. Add olives, pepperoni, and tomato. Heat through. Toss cooked pasta with butter, sprinkle of sea salt, zest and juice of 1 lemon. Divide among 4 small bowls or 2 large bowls. Top each pasta serving with pepperoni mixture. Sprinkle with crushed pepper and a large spoonful of tofu feta.

Tofu Feta (500 Vegan Recipes)
14 oz extra firm tofu, drained and pressed
3 T olive oil
2 T lemon juice
1 T dried basil
2 T capers
Salt and pepper to taste
Crumble tofu into a bowl until it resembles feta. Add remianing ingredients and mix together with your hands.
I tried out a new muffin recipe and really liked it - I chose it primarily for the lower amount of sugar used - I find that most muffin recipes call for far too much sugar.

Chocolate Peanut Muffins
1 1/2 cups flour
1/4 cup sugar
2 t baking powder
1/4 t salt
4 T flax meal
6 T water
1/4 cup canola oil
3/4 cup soy milk
1 t vanilla
1/2 cup chocolate chips
1/2 cup peanuts
Preheat oven to 400. Combine flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt. In separate bowl, mix flax and water. Let sit 2-3 min. To flax mixture add oil, milk and vanilla. Add to dry mixture. Fold in choc chips and peanuts. Divide among 12 muffin cups. Bake 15-20 min or until golden.
These are great for making small pizzas or for wrapping around sandwich fillings. Recipe can be found at Newman's blog http://justthefood.blogspot.com/.

A tad of sweetness and a lot of soft goodness! Makes a ton of rolls - about 40!

Hot Rolls (adapted from Keeping Good Company)
2 packages yeast
1 t sugar
2 cups warm water
2 t salt
4 T sugar
6 T canola oil
6 cups flour
Combine yeast, 1 cup water and 1 t sugar. Let stand 10 min. Add remaining ingredients. Using a dough hook, knead for 3 min. Cover and let rise 1 hr. Pinch off pieces of dough to make about 40 rolls - roll into balls. Place on greased cookie sheets and let rise 1 hr. Bake at 425 for 15-20 min or until golden.

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Crispy Herbed Potato Stack

Crispy Herbed Potato Stack
I was going to try a recipe for herbed scalloped potatoes and at last minute decided to do something fast and easy. I made up the recipe and it was yummola! I layered sliced russet potatoes in a baking dish, drizzled with olive oil, and then sprinkled with coarse sea salt, fresh ground pepper, basil, rosemary, paprika, and garlic powder. Then I baked them at 425 fr about 45 minutes. They were crisp and very flavorful!

My thrown-together salad today - after discovering I had no leftovers for lunch!

Tamale Fixings

Tamale Fixings
Plain pintos (for Keith), pintos, corn and onions; corn, jalepenos and Daiya; mushrooms, sun dried tomatoes, and chard

Making these was a bit time-consuming but kinda fun! They didn't turn out as good as I had hoped - the outer tamale part (not the filling) just wasn't as flavorful as tamales I have had in restaurants. I have another recipe I will try for the dough next time. Tamales are one of my favorite foods so I won't give up on this one!

"Buttermilk" Blueberry Pancakes

"Buttermilk" Blueberry Pancakes
I modified one of my favorite pancake recipes to make it vegan and then I added blueberries. Turned out quite yummy. Soymilk sours and thickens well - very similar to buttermilk. I have been really impressed with it's ability to substitute for real buttermilk.

"Buttermilk" Blueberry Pancakes

Egg replacement for 1 egg
1 1/4 cups soured soy milk (put 2 T vinegar into a 2 cup glass measuring cup. Add enough soy milk to equal 1 1/4 cups)
2 T canola oil
1 cup flour (I wouldn't recommend whole wheat or whole wheat pastry - it really takes away from the fluffiness of these pancakes)
1 T sugar
2 t baking powder
1/2 t baking soda
1/2 t salt
Blueberries, optional

Mix dry ingredients. Add wet ingredients and stir just until combined. Heat griddle pour about 1/4 cup batter for each pancake. Sprinkle blueberries on pancakes after ladling onto griddle. Cook just until golden on both sides.

Veggie and Seitan Lo Mein

Veggie and Seitan Lo Mein
Overall, this was fabulous! However, I don't think the seitan added much so I would just leave it out next time. The lo mein also needed about double the sauce so I would simply do that next time for added flavor. This was especially spicy and yummy with some Sriracha drizzled on top. I made our favorite veg egg rolls to go with this and it was truly a Chinese treat!!

Veggie Seitan Lo Mein

I really did my own thing for this recipe so I am just going to outline the instructions and include the sauce recipe. I heated oil in a large skillet and added 3 minced cloves of garlic and about 1 cup of half-moon cut onions (I was out of green onions but next time I would use green onions as I like them a lot in Chinese food) and about 1 cup matchstick-cut carrots. After about 5-6 minutes, I added about 1/4 lb of whole green beans. I cooked these veggies until tender. Meanwhile, I cooked a 16oz package of chow mein noodles. Once the veggie mixture was cooked, I poured the sauce on the veggies, heated through and tossed with the noodles. Next time I would double the amount of sauce and have adjusted amounts below to reflect double recipe.

Sauce (Source:Adaptable Feast)
3 T soy sauce
3 T rice wine (I used 3 T rice vinegar and 1 t sugar as I didn't have any rice wine)
3 t sugar
4 T black bean garlic sauce
Mix all ingredients and toss with above mixture.





Chinese Broccoli Wontons in Ginger Soy Broth

Chinese Broccoli Wontons in Ginger Soy Broth
Pretty yummy. I found that steaming the wontons worked much better than the recipe suggestion to boil them. The broth was very mild and a bit too mellow for us. Still pretty yummy though. I added extra veggies to the wontons and scallion to the broth. The seasoning in the wonton filling was quite tasty!

Chinese Broccoli Wontons in Ginger Soy Broth (Source: Vegan Yum Yum)

(As usual, I modified several things so it's not exactly the recipe in Vegan Yum Yum!)

1 cup chopped broccoli
3/4 cup shredded carrot
1/2 cup chopped scallions
1 T oil
1 t fresh ginger, minced
1 clove fresh minced garlic
1/2 t hot chili sauce (such as Sriracha)
1 t hot Chinese mustard
2 T plus 1 t soy sauce
4 cups water ( I think this might have been more flavorful had I used vegetable broth or faux chicken broth???)
6 slices fresh ginger
1 T mirin (I used a splash of cooking wine as I didn't have mirin)
1 1/2 t sugar
2 t rice vinegar
1/2 t salt
1/2 cup chopped scallions
16 wonton skins

For filling: Heat oil in skillet and add broccoli, ginger, garlic, carrot, onion and cook until veggies are crisp tender. Add chili sauce, mustard, 1 t soy sauce and stir to combine. Remove from heat and set aside.

To make wontons, take one skin and place in diamond shape. Fill with 1-2 t filling. Fold in half to make a triangle and moisten edges with water and pinch sides to seal. Set triangle in front of you with point up and take the 2 side points and bring them together in front to cross. Set aside and prepare remaining wontons. When finished, place wontons in a steamer basket and steam over pot of boiling water until translucent.

Meanwhile, in a pot, combine remaining ingredients (except wontons) and simmer 10-15 min.

Place 3-4 wontons in bowl and ladle broth over wontons. Serve.