Quinoa Stuffed Avocado

I will make any excuse to include avocados to my cooking. In this dish, however, they are the star of the show. Rejoice!

To make the filling: cook quinoa with veggie broth. Sauté chopped mushrooms in olive oil for 5 minutes. Add chopped spinach and grated carrot, and cook another 2 minutes. Add quinoa and mix all together. Voila!

To prepare the avocado, half the avo and scoop out a hefty dent (you can then use this flesh to… I don’t know, snack on? What else would you do with perfectly ripe avocado right in front of you?!). Stuff with quinoa filling, top with sriracha and broil for 5 minutes.

Roasted Red Pepper and Carrot Soup

It’s fall. And red peppers were cheap at the farmer’s market this week. Ergo! Roasted red pepper and carrot soup. Goes well with the sweet potato cornbread shown below. If you’re into that sort of thing. And you are, right? 

First of all. Do yourself a favor and get these peppers local, if you can. They’re like, hella expensive at the store ($1.90 a pop at Krogers [pronounced Krod-jers]), and I got all 4 of these peppers at the Community Farmer’s Market for 2 bucks. Farmer’s market elitism my ear, right?

Other stuffs you’ll need:

4 red bell peppers (ok folks, we’ve been over this already)
2 large carrots, minced finely in your food processor.
half a small onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
3 cups almond milk
1 can whole tomatoes, peeled
1 tsp sea salt
1/2 tsp black pepper
1/2 tbl oregano

You’ll need your food processor plenty for this recipe, so don’t be lazy about cleaning dishes as you go. Seriously. Those carrots are lethal orange.

First, roast your bell peppers. Cut them in slices and toss them in olive oil. Sprinkle with a little sea salt and roast under your broiler for 5 minutes.

While those are cooling, heat some olive oil on medium in a large pot. Add the garlic and chopped onion and C.U.T. (see topless lasagna post below), about 3 minutes. Add the minced carrot and cook for 10 minutes.

While the carrots, onion and garlic are cooking, run your red peppers and tomatoes in a food processor until liquidy. Add this mixture, along with your milk and spices, to the pot. Cover and cook on low for 20 minutes.

The only other anecdotal note I have on this recipe is that it suits one well if preparing for a hangover. Sits in the tummy well. Remember: beer before liquor, makes a man sicker.

Sweet Potato Cornbread

Gracious me, do I love cornbread. I made this sweet potato cornbread to pair with my roasted red pepper soup. It’s easy, it’s divine, it’s autumn in a skillet.

Here’s what you’ll need:

Dry ingredients
2/3 cup flour
1 and 1/4 cup cornmeal
2 tbl sugar
1 tbl baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1 tbl brown sugar

wet ingredients
1 cup almond milk
1 tsp apple cider vinegar
egg replacer equal to 1 egg
2 tbl shortening, heated to liquid

oh and also
1 sweet potato, cubed

First, bring water to a boil in a medium saucepan. Reduce to medium heat and boil your sweet potatoes about 20 minutes, or under tender enough to be mashed. Then…. of course, drain and mash your taters. Set aside. 

(Oh and of course, preheat your oven to 400.)

In a large bowl, whisk together your dry ingredients. In a separate bowl (hope you love doing dishes), curdle your milk with the apple cider vinegar. Whisk till mixed and let sit a few minutes. Then add the remaining wet ingredients. Once mixed, add the wet mixture to your dry ingredients. Finally, add the mashed sweet potato. 

Pour into a cast iron skillet and bake at 400 for 20 minutes.

Orange Glazed Tempeh Pizza with Roasted Red Peppers

As time goes on I am getting less intimidated by making pizza from scratch. A year ago, it was an endeavor that required a few days planning. But now they’re more like, I don’t know, I wouldn’t say a walk in the park, more like a critical essay on the ecological elements at play in an early Shakespearean comedy.

This pizza was a labor of love, but I threw it together in a few hours, on the occasion of phone banking with non-partisan statewide social justice grassroots organizationKentuckians for the Commonwealth, of which I am proud to be a member. 

Here’s what goes into this pie (i.e. - All the steps you’ll need to prepare, and probably in this order):

pizza dough
as mentioned below, check the links for Isa’a recipe

roasted red peppers
1 red bell pepper
1/2 tbl olive oil
sprinkle of sea salt

orange glazed tempeh
1/2 a package of tempeh
1/4 cup orange marmalade
1/4 tsp lemon juice
1/2 tbl balsamic vinegar
1 tbl coconut milk

basil cashew cream sauce
2/3 cup raw cashews
1/2 cup coconut milk
15 leaves of basil, chopped
1 cup chopped spinach
1 tbl minced garlic
1/4 tsp salt

toppings
handful of chopped mushrooms
1/2 a package of Daiya mozzarella shreds

Let’s start with the dough. I have, at times, indulged myself in undertaking Vegan Dad’s dough recipe to make a pizza. But I have found that Isa’s dough is a lot easier to digest (mentally I mean). If you don’t own Vegan With a Vengeance, I suggest getting right with the Lord and putting it on your Christmas list. It is a must.

The dough I use can be found in her book. Also, I’m sure it’s all over the internet by now, so look here or here or here for versions of it. She is a goddess.

First, prepare your dough.

Next, roast your red peppers. I used probably 1 full red bell pepper for this pizza. Cut them into slices, toss them in olive oil, sprinkle a little sea salt on top and roast them under the broiler for 5 minutes.

Next, start working on your tempeh. It’s best for the slices to soak for a bit before tossing them on your pizza, so you can do this while the peppers or roasting, or while the oven is preheating for the pizza. Mix all ingredients together in a large bowl. Cut tempeh into thin slices, then toss in your marmalade mixture. Let sit until you’re ready to top your pizza.

Once your peppers are done roasting, turn off the broiler and preheat your oven to 500. This crap needs to get hot. It’s time to prepare your sauce.

In a food processor, chop the raw cashews until fine, almost powdery. Add the basil, spinach, salt and garlic, and little bit of the coconut milk. Process until mixed. Add the rest of the coconut milk slowly, processing until the green in your sauce is rather uniform.

As soon as the oven is preheated, dress your pizza and stick her in. I’ve read countless blogs that preach about the necessity of a baking stone or what have you when baking a pizza, but listen - I am poor, so I used a cookie sheet. Ergo, my pizzas will always be rectangular. And they still taste fine.

So bake for — gosh this is the part where I forget how I made this and so I just make something up — 20 minutes? Enjoy with an amber ale!

Sweet Potato Pumpkin Chocolate Cups

Harry Potter Night part 2!

My paleo roommate was especially delighted with these, which are paleo AND vegan. Not too tricky to figure out, but take plenty of coconut oil to make so they’re pretty pricey. I got the chocolate recipe from Chocolate Covered Katie.

So make this chocolate (though you’ll definitely need more than it calls for - I doubled it). Lay out paper cupcake liners. (This recipe made about…. well… as many as you see on the plate there.) Fill the liners with only as much chocolate as will cover the bottoms. Then stick them in the freezer for 20 minutes or so.

Meanwhile, prepare the filling. Here’s what you’ll need:

1/2 cup cooked, mashed pumpkin
1/2 cup cooked, mashed sweet potato
1 tbl maple almond butter
1/4 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp nutmeg

Mix it all together and BAM you have your filling.

Now you may remove those dudes from the freezer and fill them with your sweet potato pumpkin mash. Spoon just a teeny bit onto the frozen bottom of those cupcake liners. Then pour enough chocolate to cover the filling. Freeze again.

20 minutes later, remove from the freezer and serve to your roommates. Unless you’re a GEE DEE Slytherin. Then you keep them in the freezer without your roommates knowing, and remove them only when someone offers to refill your glass with spiked butterbeer. Keep them close though. Don’t get too generous.

Thankfully I’m a Hufflepuff so I say CHOCOLATE FOR ALL.

Butterbeer

Harry Potter Night part 1!

We hosted a Harry Potter evening this past weekend. No particular significance in the timing of it all — my roommates have salary jobs and we do live in Bowling Green, after all. Since Toad in the Hole and Eccles cakes were already claimed by my non-vegan roommates, I figured butterbeer would be easy enough to pull off. This recipe, modified from Vegan Dad’s, got rave reviews from the girls. It’s tricky in that it requires mixing each individual drink, but I hardly think many folks will want a second round. It packs a punch.

Oh! And I spiked ours. Of course. This is totally optional, obviously, but spiced rum really balances the sweetness well.

1 cup brown sugar
2 tbl water
6 tbl Earth Balance, melted
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp apple cider vinegar
3 tbl coconut milk
1/2 tsp rum extract
as much spiced rum as you please
1 liter bottle of cream soda

Heat brown sugar and water in a small saucepan, on medium, until it starts to bubble. Immediately remove from heat. Stir in the Earth Balance,salt, vinegar, and coconut milk. Transfer to a jar and place in fridge to cool, though I suppose you could also just leave it on the counter if you’re feeling really zen and you’re not in any hurry. Once your jar of sugary syrupy brown goo is cool, mix in the rum extract.

To serve, you’ll need to mix in 2 tablespoons or so of the syrup with as much cream soda as you wish. Mix well, add one shot of spiced rum, and top with more cream soda if you want to impress your guests with its fizziness. Which feels impressive to me, for reasons unknown.

We only got through 3 movies on HP movie marathon night, and I only made it through one of these cocktails. This is adult life as a Hufflepuff, y’all.

Spinach and Mushroom Enchiladas with Tomato Cashew Sauce

It was “OMG Mexican” night. Lots going on here but it’s pretty basic once you gather all the ingredients.

Enchilada filling: sauté onions in OO with garlic. Add mushrooms, along with taco seasoning (but I used cumin/paprika), and stir for 5 minutes. Add chopped spinach and cook on low another 10 minutes.

Sauce: In a food processor, prepare cashew cream: 1c raw cashews and 1c water. Heat in a saucepan with 1c tomato sauce. Simmer on low and season with hot sauce, cumin, nutritional yeast, and salt and pepper.

Stuff tortilla with filling, cover with sauce and bake at 350 for 15 minutes. And it goes without saying that everything is better when topped with avocado.

Southwest kale chips: separate kale leaves from stems and toss in a bowl with olive oil, nutritional yeast, salt/pepper and chili powder. Spread out on a pan and bake at 350 for 13 minutes.

Fresh corn salsa: combine fresh corn, diced red pepper, diced diced red onion, edamame, lime and lemon juice.

For best results, serve with a well-spiked tequila sunrise. Because you know.