As the title suggests, The New Vegan is geared towards new vegans. In it, Áine shares her own vegan journey and gives reasons why others should consider taking the plunge. She shares helpful tips along with no-nonsense, practical advice. She discusses just about everything a new vegan might need help with, such as what to when eating out, how to discuss your new-found veganism with others, and veganizing your wardrobe.

The New Vegan is full of mouthwatering recipes that will help you answer the question, “Now that I’m vegan, what do I eat?” You won’t miss the meat with dishes like Queso-less Quesadillas, Jerk-marinated Cauliflower Steaks, and Baked Falafel Burgers. The recipes are easy to make, and they use easy to find ingredients. And they’re delicious, too! Since dairy products can often be the most difficult to give up, Áine has included recipes for homemade plant milks, dairy-free creams, and cheeses. There’s even a chapter full of recipes for homemade beauty products, for those who want to make simple cruelty-free skin care scrubs and lotions at home.

The book’s chapters include:

• Good Mornings
• Snacks and Lunches
• Easy Meals
• Special Meals
• Sweet Stuff
• Vegan Beauty

The New Vegan is perfect for anyone who is new to cruelty-free living, those who want to eat more healthfully, or anyone who wants to add a new book of delicious recipes to their libraries.

Roasted Cauliflower Fattoush

 

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Salads don’t have to be dull and boring. All they need is a little tender loving care (and perhaps the odd dash of spice) to really bring them to life. Here, I’m talking “in yer face” roasted cauliflower florets paired with toasted pita pieces and a creamy tahini dressing that will end your limp leaf memories and catapult you into what I’ve dubbed “21st Century Eating.” That’s where we have our cake (or in this case,salad) and eat it… flavor, texture, and freshness combined—there’s very little not to like about this recipe. So much so, I’d happily serve it for lunch, dinner, and even at parties—it never fails to get a bounty of enthusiastic “mmms” and “wows.” Now, when’s the last time you heard that said about a salad?

Author: Áine Carlin

Yield: Serves 2 to 4

Ingredients

• small cauliflower, broken into small florets
• 1 little gem lettuce
• 5 to 6 cherry tomatoes, halved
• 1⁄3 large cucumber, peeled, seeded, and cut into half moons
• 5 to 6 radishes, coarsely chopped
• 2 pitas, toasted
• 2 tablespoons fresh flat-leaf parsley
• 2 tablespoons fresh cilantro
• 1 tablespoon fresh mint
• sea salt and freshly ground black
• pepper

FOR THE CAULIFLOWER MARINADE:

• 1 teaspoon smoked paprika, plus extra to serve
• 1 teaspoon ground cumin
• ½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
• ½ teaspoon chile powder
• ½ teaspoon allspice
• pinch of cayenne pepper
• juice of . lime
• 1 teaspoon agave nectar
• ½ tablespoon olive oil

FOR THE CHILE SALAD DRESSING:

• 1 teaspoon chile paste from a jar (eg. sambal oelek)
• 1 tablespoon red wine vinegar
• 1 teaspoon agave nectar
• juice of ½ lime
• 3 tablespoons olive oil

FOR THE TAHINI DRESSING:

• 3 tablespoons hummus
• 2 tablespoons tahini
• 1 teaspoon agave nectar
• juice of ½ lime

Instructions

1. Preheat the oven to 400°F. Place the cauliflower florets in a baking dish. Whisk the marinade ingredients together, along with some seasoning, to form a smooth paste and pour over the cauliflower florets. Toss together until everything is coated and bake for about 45 minutes or until nicely browned.
2. Put the lettuce, tomatoes, cucumber, and radishes in a large bowl. Whisk the chile dressing ingredients together and pour about one-third over the salad. Mix together.
3. Lightly toast or grill the pitas and cut into triangular bite-sized pieces. Drizzle over about onethird of the chile dressing and add to the salad bowl.
4. Finely chop the parsley, cilantro, and mint together on a clean cutting board and sprinkle two thirds over the salad bowl ingredients. Gently mix.
5. Whisk the tahini sauce ingredients together with ¼ cup water until smooth, adding more water if necessary.
6. Remove the roasted cauliflower from the oven and lightly season with some sea salt. Add to the salad and gently toss. Serve in a bowl, drizzle with the tahini dressing and a smattering of smoked paprika, and garnish with the remaining parsley, cilantro, and mint.

Notes

Recipe from The New Vegan by Aine Carlin. Published by Kyle Books. Photography by Nassima Rothacker.

3.5.3226

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Shortly after I started my foray into Instant Pot cooking, Kathy Hester announced that she was working a vegan Instant Pot cookbook, and she said she needed testers. I signed up, because I wanted more recipes to add to my pressure-cooking arsenal.

The Ultimate Vegan Cookbook for Your Instant Pot: 80 Easy and Delicious Plant-Based Recipes That You Can Make in Half the Time by Kathy Hester just hit bookshelves this week, but because I was a recipe tester, I’ve already made quite a lot of the recipes. This book is a must-have for anyone who has an Instant Pot!

For Instant Pot newbies, Kathy starts the book with the ins and outs of pressure-cooking. She explains how to use an Instant Pot, and well as how to care for it, and what all of those buttons on the front actually do. At the back of the book, she also shares some of her favorite accessories along with pressure-cooking resources. The book also contains handy charts for pressure-cooking beans and grains.

The recipes in The Ultimate Vegan Cookbook for Your Instant Pot cover the gamut of everything you could possibly need a day – breakfast, lunch, dinner, dessert, and even DIY staples. You’ll find comforting soups and stews, vegetable side dishes, pasta dishes, tamales, bean burgers, and even cakes. I didn’t know it was possible to make cake in an Instant Pot, but the Zucchini Lemon Spelt Snack Cake cooked up light and fluffy, and it didn’t require turning the oven on, which was a plus in the hot summer weather.

While recipe testing, I became a big fan of Kathy’s layered dinners – meal components layered in the Instant Pot so that everything for your meal is ready at the same time. I had no idea that this was even a possibility! You can just set the Instant Pot, and do something else while dinner cooks. The One-Pot Burrito Bowls, Southern Breakfast, and CSA Layered Indian Dinner were among my favorite recipes from the book.

If you have an Instant Pot you need to add The Ultimate Vegan Cookbook for Your Instant Pot to your cookbook collection!

Winter One-Pot Lentils and Rice

 

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Author: Kathy Hester

Yield: 4 servings

Ingredients

SAUTÉ INGREDIENTS

• 1 tbsp (15 ml) oil (or *dry sauté or add a little water/vegetable broth)
• ½ cup (80 g) chopped onion
• 2 cloves garlic, minced

PRESSURE COOKER INGREDIENTS

• 3½ cups (820 ml) water
• 1½ cups (278 g) brown rice
• 1 cup (192 g) brown lentils
• 1 cup (160 g) peeled and diced rutabaga (or turnip or potato)
• 2" (5-cm) sprig fresh rosemary
• 1 tbsp (2 g) dried marjoram (or thyme)
• Salt and pepper, to taste

Instructions

1. For the sauté, use the sauté setting over normal, or medium heat, and heat the oil or broth. Add the onion and sauté until transparent, 5 minutes. Then add the garlic and sauté a minute more.
2. For the pressure cooker, add the water, brown rice, lentils, rutabaga, rosemary and marjoram to the onion mixture and stir to combine. Put the lid on and make sure that the vent is sealed. Cook on manual setting at high pressure and set for 23 minutes.
3. Let the pressure release naturally. Season with salt and pepper before serving and add more marjoram and ground rosemary as needed.

Notes

From The Ultimate Vegan Cookbook for Your Instant Pot by Kathy Hester. Printed with permission from Page St. Publishing.

3.5.3226

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1. Pressure cooker. There is no better tool out there for the vegan who values convenience! Pressure cookers are the perfect “set it and forget it” gadget to cook up huge (and freezable) batches of beans and grains. Stir fry and chili for DAYS, you guys. If you own a pressure cooker (or will soon), I cannot recommend JL Field’s cookbook Vegan Pressure Cooking highly enough. Risottos, soups, pilafs, tender vegetables… it’s a must-have for healthy, winter comfort foods.

2. Garlic press. This one is a life-changer. When it comes to peeling, mincing, and cleaning up after garlic cloves… just no, thanks. With a garlic press, all you have to do is whack the clove with the side of a knife, peel away most of the papery layer, and plop ’em in the press. Boom. You are cooking with fresh garlic without putting your fingertips at risk of being sliced off. This one from Pampered Chef is a dream, and it even includes a plastic piece to push through the pulp for easy cleaning.

3. Extra-large cutting board. I have to admit, I wasn’t sold on the extra-large cutting board, at first… When my significant other and I moved in together I had mentally tagged his giant kitchen tool for eventual donation. Yet, as time went on, I found it was perfect for slicing up homemade pizzas, kneading seitan, and chopping up copious amounts of vegetables for roasting or throwing into a soup. Needless to say, the cutting board has a permanent spot in our pantry.

4. Salad spinner. Cooking with greens is something I needed some serious catch-up on as I branched out into independent living. The process of cleaning, chopping, and drying them, though… jeez. It’s exhausting just thinking about it. When I lucked into a salad spinner, that all changed. Just clean the greens, give them a good shake, and plop them into the spinner. This tool was especially helpful during the summer, when we had our CSA and were overflowing with fresh spinach, chard, and kale.

5. Stock pot. Reflecting back on my early apartment days… I’m not sure how I did as much cooking as I did. With one pan and one tiny pot, I managed to cook up some decent meals. But, it wasn’t until I invested in a large stock pot that delicious, homemade soups made their way into my rotation. The tool is great for both creamy and chunky stews, soups, and bisques, but also was perfect for brewing a big enough batch of black tea for home-brewed kombucha!

6. Espresso maker. Oh, man, what a game-changer. Lattes > regular brewed coffee, always. A tiny, stove-top percolator costs only $15 and produces wonderfully fresh, strong shots of espresso for your morning fix. We use this thing nearly every day. It’s easy to use, assemble, and clean and saves a crap-ton of money, when compared to how much it would cost to purchase a latte at a coffee shop (why do they still charge extra for soy milk, anyway?!).

What are your favorite kitchen essentials?

Reposted with permission from The Offbeat Herbivore. Images via Amazon, Pampered Chef, Pexels (1,2,3), Wikimedia

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While I followed along with my fellow bloggers’ aquafaba hits and misses, I quietly sat the frenzy out, sure that I would make a giant bean-flavored mess if I tried to cook with it. But now Zsu Dever has written an entire cookbook devoted to aquafaba, making it easy to cook with the magical liquid, and I no longer have any excuses.

Zsu starts her book, aptly titled Aquafaba, with an aquabafa primer, explaining exactly what it is and how to use it. Aquafaba can be tricky to work with, but Zsu’s tips will help. The recipes in Aquafaba range from basics such as vegan butter and mayonnaise to eggy classics like crepes and quiches. You’ll find recipes for baked goods that usually rely on eggs to give them a little fluff, such as muffins, sugar cookies, pancakes, and waffles. Items that have been difficult for vegans to make until now are included, such as marshmallows, marshmallow fluff, macarons, and meringues are also included. Aquafaba contains both sweet and savory recipes, so if you have a hankering for vegan meatballs or kebabs, Zsu’s got you covered. She’s even included recipes for chickpeas, so that you’re freezer isn’t overflowing with beans after draining off the liquid.

I decided to start my foray into aquafaba cooking with Meringue Cookies, not because Zsu says it’s a good recipe to start with, but because I have such fond memories of Meringue Cookies from my childhood. My mom was never much of a cook. Everything came from a box, bag, or can, including baked goods, but for some reason, she had a yellow plastic file box full of recipe cards. I think it was from Betty Crocker, and I’m guessing it was a gift. Every month, more cards came, and they were filed in the box. I would spend hours looking through the cards, picking out dishes that I wanted to try in the future. I don’t think any of there recipes were ever made, with the exception of the Meringue Cookies. I had so much fun making them, and I remember how they had a soft crunch on the outside but were light and fluffy on the inside. It’s possible we only made them once, but they left a big impression on me. I don’t think I’ve had a Meringue Cookie since I was very small. Until now. Thanks to the magic of aquafaba, vegan meringue isn’t too difficult to achieve.

I wasn’t sure what would happen when I started making Meringue Cookies. I’ve heard people say that aquafaba can be fickle, and that they had difficulties making meringue – it never formed peaks, it melted, etc. I added the aquafaba and cream of tartar, which acts as a stabilizer, to the bowl of my stand mixer and followed Zsu’s directions. I was amazed to see that it started forming peaks exactly when she said it would. Within minutes, bean liquid had turned to a white pillowy fluff. I had visions of perfectly piping Meringue Cookies into pretty shapes, but I had difficulty with the piping bag, simply because the meringue was so fluffy. So I spooned blobs of it onto the baking sheet instead.

My first attempt at Meringue Cookies didn’t turn out to well. They were flat, brown, and hollow. My oven tends to bake just about everything faster than the recipe says it will, despite the thermometer I placed inside that says it’s always the correct temperature. I decided to give it another try, whipping the aquafaba longer and baking for a shorter period of time. The resulting cookies were a little more beige in color than I was expecting, but they were light, pillowy, and delicious. Success! Since they say that the third time is a charm, I decided to try again. This time I was able to get it the merge into a pipping bag, and the cookies baked up into little cloud-like puffs of perfection. These are the cookies I remember from my childhood.

My second foray into cooking with aqufaba wasn’t as tricky as the first. After baking Vegan Meringues, I made Lemon Poppy Seed muffins, which were light and fluffy, and oh-so-tasty. I made mini muffins thinking they’d last longer than their full-sized counterpart, but that only works if you don’t eat three at a time!

Since I was starting to get the hang of this aqufaba thing, I decided to make the Sun-Dried Tomato and Artichoke Quiche. This was slightly tricky, because the aquafaba needs to be whipped into stiff peaks, and then folded in to the quiche mixture until it deflates. By this point I felt like an aquafaba pro, and I didn’t have any problems with it. It baked up light,  fluffy and delicious.

Because I’m a sucker for homemade cheese recipes, I also made the Country-Style Aged Sharp Cheese. This recipe is a breeze to make, but it takes some time to “age” in a dehydrator. Rather than making Zsu’s aquafaba yogurt, I used store-bought, which I think slowed the aging process even further. Once it was finally firm and ready to eat, it was indeed sharp and cheesy – and pretty tasty, too!

If you want to enjoy some of the eggy dishes from your pre-vegan days or if you just want to experiment with a new ingredient, Aquafaba is the book for you!

Lemon Poppy Seed Muffins

Makes 12 muffins

The lemon is subtle if you use only the zest, so if you love it with more of a lemon punch, add the optional extract.

Ingredients

• 2 2/3 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
• 2 tablespoons poppy seeds
• 2 3/4 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon sea salt
• 1/3 cup aquafaba (see Note)
• 1/3 cup canola or other neutral oil
• 3/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons granulated organic sugar
• 1 cup nondairy milk
• 1 1/2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
• 3/4 teaspoon pure lemon extract, optional
• 1 tablespoon lemon zest (from approximately 2 lemons)
• 3 tablespoons coarse or raw sugar

Preparation

1. Preheat the oven to 375°F. Line a 12-well regular-size muffin tin with paper cups or spray the wells with oil. Set the tin aside.
2. Combine the flour, poppy seeds, baking powder, and salt in a medium bowl. Mix well and set aside.
3. Place a separate medium bowl on a folded kitchen towel. Add the aquafaba and, using a large whisk, whisk it until it is frothy, about 1 minute. Add the oil slowly while whisking to emulsify. Add the sugar in the same way. Add the milk, vanilla, lemon extract (if using), and zest and whisk well.
4. Add the flour mixture to the milk mixture and, using a wooden spoon, mix the batter until almost no more flour is visible. Lumps are fine; do not overmix.
5. Fill the wells about three-quarters full with the batter and sprinkle the coarse sugar on top. Bake the muffins until a toothpick inserted into the muffin in the middle well comes out clean, 17 to 20 minutes.
6. Cool the muffins on a cooling rack for 15 minutes before removing them from the tin. Cool the muffins completely before storing in airtight containers, where they will keep for a few days.

Note: Although aquafaba is best if homemade using the recipe provided in the book, you can use aquafaba from canned chickpeas. Use the organic, low-sodium, canned chickpeas and strain off the liquid into a measuring cup using a fine mesh strainer. Note the amount of liquid you acquired, then add it to a medium saucepan and bring to a boil. Reduce to a simmer and cook until the liquid reduces by 1/3. Cool the aquafaba completely before using.

Recipe from Aquafaba, copyright © 2016 by Zsu Dever. Used by permission.

Review reprinted with permission from Dianne’s Vegan Kitchen.

We have a copy of Aquafaba for one lucky winner. Follow the instructions below to enter. U.S. residents only, please. Contest ends at midnight on October 31st. Good luck! 

a Rafflecopter giveaway

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Sure there are new vegan mayonnaises on the market, but have you seen the price tags on them? I knew there was a better way. I tried and tried to make it myself, and I finally came up with the solution — artichokes!

Artichoke-naise gives you all the thick, smooth mayo  umami goodness in a much healthier incarnation. Here is how you, too, can have a healthified version of what is traditionally a very unhealthy (but oohh so tasty) food.

Artichoke-naise

What You’ll Need:

• A tall Ball Jar with lid  (it holds a bit more than 2 cups)
• An immersion blender
• A bowl
• Tablespoon
• Teaspoon
• 1 can of artichoke hearts
• 1 cup of olive oil, divided (broken out into a 1/4 cup and a 3/4 cup portion)
• 2 tablespoons of cider vinegar
• 1 tablespoon brown rice miso
• dash liquid smoke
• 1 teaspoon lecithin
•  2 tablespoons flax seed mixed with approx 4 tablespoons water to make a “flax egg” (You can also use chia seeds to make “chia egg” replacement.)

This goes really fast, so make sure that you have all your ingredients ready and within in arms reach.

How You’ll Do It:
1. Open and drain the can of artichoke hearts, and dump the artichokes into the jar. Add the 1/4 cup of olive oil.

2. Hold onto the jar securely and put the immersion blender into the jar with the artichokes and oil. PULSE, PULSE, PULSE until it starts to  blend and begins to emulsify. Once it starts to become smooth, let the immersion blender run for approximately 30 seconds, bringing the immersion blender up and down in the jar to thoroughly blend the artichokes and oil together. Remove the immersion blender from the jar carefully and place it in an empty bowl.

3. Now add the “flax egg”, lecithin, vinegar, miso, and 3/4 cup olive oil to the jar.

4. Hold the jar securely and place the immersion blender carefully all the way down into the mix (which at this point honestly will not look too good but have faith!). Again PULSE, PULSE, PULSE until things start to come together. Once it begins to start looking like “mayo” then let it run, bringing the immersion blender up and down in the ball jar to make sure that everything is well incorporated.

Once you are happy with the consistency and that it is “mayo-like” you have a choice – you can either stop here or you can add some flavoring components and blend a bit more.

How You Can Flavor- Up Your Artichoke-naise:
Use your Artichoke-naise just like mayo to make salad dressings, sauces, faux tuna or faux egg salads, etc.
Take your big 2+ cup batch and use a few tablespoons to mix up different flavored mini-batches.
Here are a few ideas on spices you can add:

• Mustard/dill
• Siracha/hot sauce  for a “hot wing” type mayo
• Curry powder
• Basil and rosemary
• Ketchup or tomato paste, relish, mustard to make Russian dressing
• A dash of soy sauce and sesame oil for a more Asian style dressing
• The possibilities are really endless!

A few notes: Using olive oil gives you a very “olive oily” flavor. If you want a more neutral taste you can use avocado oil or safflower oil.  The flax will be visible, but hey, think of all that flax goodness you are getting! Enjoy!

The post How to Stop Missing Mayo with Artichoke-naise! appeared first on Chic Vegan.

Peace & Parsnips: Adventurous Vegan Cooking for Everyone: 200 Plant-Based Recipes Bursting with Vitality & Flavor, Inspired by Love & Travel is a gorgeous hard cover book that’s packed with mouthwatering photos and 200 delicious recipes. The dishes are inspired by Lee’s travels, so there’s an ethnic flare to them. Lee’s enthusiasm for cooking vegan food shines through, and he shows you just how easy and fun it is to make plant-based meals. I love his casual approach to cooking, with recipes calling for a handful of this, a generous pinch of that, or a glug of something. That’s how I tend to cook when I’m cooking a casual meal – I rarely reach for measuring cups and spoons.

If you’re new to vegan cooking, you’ll find everything you need to know in the book’s first chapter. Lee explains the benefits of eating vegan, and he busts many of the food myths around veganism. There’s a comprehensive guide to stocking your pantry and run-down on spices that are helpful to have on hand. There are also tips for cooking vegetables as well as simple recipes for homemade dairy-free milks.

The recipes in Peace & Parsnips cover just about every type of food you could have a hankering for. The twelve chapters cover everything from breakfast and lunch to dinner and dessert, and everything else in between. There’s an entire chapter devoted to burgers and sandwiches, and another that’s dedicated to sauces, dressings, and other toppings. With so much variety, you could cook from Peace & Parsnips for months and never get tired of the food.

I’ve tried three recipes from Peace & Parsnips and I know I’ll be making more soon. The Asparagus Club Sandwiches with Rainbow Chard and Pine Nut Cream were absolutely delicious, and there were large enough to be a meal on their own. I was glad to have leftovers of the fillings to make more sandwiches for lunch the next day. The Pappardelle with Artichoke & Almond Sauce, Purple Kale & White Asparagus (I could only find green asparagus) was a nice change of pace from our usual pasta meals, and I loved the creamy green sauce made from almonds, artichokes, and watercress. My favorite recipe so far has been the Leek & Wild Mushroom–Stuffed Potato Skins with Lemon & Chive Yogurt. These flavorful spuds are stuffed with veggies and are a perfect light meal or side dish.

It’s only mid-year, but Peace & Parsnips may be my favorite cookbook of 2016. Packed with creatively flavorful vegan recipes, this book will renew your love of food and revive your enthusiasm for cooking.

Asparagus Club Sandwiches with Rainbow Chard & Pine Nut Cream

The Trump Tower of sandwich construction, the Empire State Building of munch, the Shard of…you get the idea. This one is quite tall. Incredibly green and healthy, with a touch of chard technicolor among the layers, it’s a light and quick sandwich to whip up and stack. Three tiers of tofu and panfried asparagus goodness here, with a smooth pine nut cream. Delicious served with homemade vegetable chips. And try it with tomato, ginger and orange chutney. The trick here is to try to slice your bread as thinly as possible.

Makes 2 sandwiches (enough for 4 to share)

The Bits

• 11½ ounces (325g) firm tofu, pressed, or tempeh, cut widthwise into 3 x ¾-inch (8 x 2cm) slices
• 1 tablespoon unbleached all-purpose flour
• sea salt and freshly cracked black pepper
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 6 scallions, trimmed and halved lengthwise
• 6 asparagus spears, halved lengthwise
• 1 teaspoon fennel seeds
• 2 cloves of garlic, peeled and crushed
• 6 large leaves of rainbow chard, cut into ¾-inch (2cm) ribbons
• ¼ cup (50ml) dry vermouth or dry sherry
• a handful of basil leaves

For the pine nut cream

• ¾ cup (100g) toasted pine nuts (hazelnuts would also be delicious)
• 4½ ounces (125g) silken tofu
• 1 small clove of garlic, peeled and crushed
• ½ tablespoon lemon juice
• a large pinch of sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

To serve

• 6 thin slices of sourdough bread
• olive oil, for brushing
• 1 large ripe tomato, thinly sliced

Do It

To make the pine nut cream, put the pine nuts into a food processor with the rest of the ingredients and blitz until smooth and creamy. Check the seasoning and set aside.

Pat the pressed tofu dry. Season the flour with sea salt and cracked pepper and place on a plate. Dust the tofu slices with the seasoned flour – they have to be very dry to crisp up nicely.

Heat 1½ tablespoons of oil in a large heavy-bottomed frying pan on medium heat. Add the scallions and sear for 5 minutes, until tender. Remove and keep warm, then add the tofu slices in the center of the pan, arranging the asparagus around the edges. Fry the tofu and asparagus until nicely golden – this will only take 2 minutes on each side for both. The asparagus may need turning more than the tofu, but see how they get on. Remove everything from the pan and keep warm.

Add ½ tablespoon of oil to the same pan on medium heat and add the fennel seeds and garlic. Heat through for a minute, then drop in the chard. Stir and sauté for 3 minutes. Drizzle in the vermouth and let it steam for a moment, then add the basil leaves, season, and cover tightly with a lid. Turn the heat down to low and allow to steam for 5 minutes.

Brush your sourdough bread with olive oil and lightly toast on both sides. Time to build your triple-decker! Grab two pieces of toasted bread, spread them with a thick layer of the pine nut cream, then top each one with a couple of slices of tomato and two pieces each of tofu, asparagus and scallion. Top with a second slice of bread and repeat for the next layer, but this time spoon some of the chard and basil on top instead of the asparagus and onion. Press down firmly, then cut the sandwiches in half.

Recipe from Peace & Parsnips: Adventurous Vegan Cooking For Everyone © Lee Watson, 2016. Reprinted by permission of the publisher, The Experiment. Available wherever books are sold. theexperimentpublishing.com

Review reposted with permission from Dianne’s Vegan Kitchen.

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Sous vide is French for “under vacuum.” The cooking method was first used by physicist Sir Benjamin Thompson in 1799, although he used air rather than water. The technique didn’t become popular until the mid 1960s, when engineers began to use it as a method of food preservation. Indeed, I have cooked sous vide in the past, sort of, without knowing it. Back in the early 1980s, before we had a microwave, I “cooked” many a vacuum-sealed frozen dinner in hot water on the stovetop, although the water temperate wasn’t as controlled as it would be in traditional sous vide cooking.

There are many benefits of sous vide cooking. Foods keep the juices and nutrients that might otherwise be cooked off in the oven or on a stove-top. Spices and marinades transfer to the food easily, making their flavor more intense. It allows for a cooked meal on a hot day when the last thing you want to do is turn on the oven. Cooking experience isn’t really needed to prepare food sous vide, since all you need to do is chop, season, and seal food in order to “cook” it. Clean-up after cooking sous vide is a breeze, because there are no pots and pans to wash.

The temperatures used in sous vide cooking are lower than they are in stove-top cooking, so dinner might take a while, but it will be worth the wait. Raw foodists can enjoy sous vide cooking, because the water can be heated to exactly 118° F. Food can easily be hot and raw at the same time, without being depleted of nutrients.

I will admit that since it’s totally new to me, I was a little nervous about cooking sous vide, but the Tribest Sousvant is super easy to use, taking all of the guess-work out of it. You just fill it with water, add your pouches of food, and set the temperature. It has a powerful 1000 watt, built-in circulation system to rapidly heat water to the desired cooking temperature within 0.1° F. Its digital, user-friendly display is fool-proof and allows for the same, perfect results, every time you cook with it. The Sousvant has extra-large, three gallon capacity and can handle large cooking jobs without taking up much counter space. In my research of sous vide cooking, I found YouTube videos my many people who had rigged sous vide cookers with slow cookers and temperature gauges, but with the Sousvant, no rigging is needed, since this one appliance does everything for you.

While looking for recipes, I found many meat dishes, but vegan recipes were scarce, despite the fact that vegetables really benefit from being cooked this way. The one dish that kept coming up in my searching was a cauliflower steak originally posted on What the Hell Do Vegans Eat Anyway? To make it, I brushed sliced cauliflower with lemon juice and then sprinkled the “steaks” with red pepper flakes, garam masala, turmeric, and sea salt. I don’t have a vacuum sealer, so I placed the cauliflower steaks, along with a few sprigs of cilantro, in ziplock bags, doing my best to squeeze all of the water out. I cooked the cauliflower in the Sousvant for 90 minutes at 185°. Afterward, I pan-seared them for a few minutes on each side, to brown them a bit. They were tender, juicy, and extremely flavorful. I also cooked kale sous vide by tossing it with a little olive oil and cooking it for 7 minutes at 194° F. It was firm, yet chewy and delicious.

I recommend the Tribest Sousvant for raw foodists, new cooks, and anyone who wants to make dinner without heating up the kitchen.

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Jazzy Vegetarian

To celebrate season five’s premier on CREATE, Laura is sharing her recipe for Maple-Raisin Date Truffles with us today. You can see Laura make these truffles on the first episode of season five this Wednesday!

Maple-Raisin-Date Truffles

Makes 10 to 12 Truffles / Ease Factor 1 

These tasty truffles are pretty too, making an excellent healthy dessert or snack to satisfy your sweet tooth. Bonus: Impressive to serve for a dinner party too!

Ingredients

• 9 large Medjool dates, pitted
• 1/3 cup raisins
• 1/4 cup raw unsweetened shredded dried coconut
• 1 tablespoon maple syrup
• 2 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder

Preparation

Line a small baking sheet with unbleached parchment paper.

Put the dates, raisins, coconut and maple syrup in a high-performance blending appliance and process to the consistency of soft dough. Transfer the date mixture to a medium-sized bowl. Using a cookie scoop, spoon out a heaping tablespoon of the date mixture, and roll it into a ball. Continue in this manner to form 10 to 12 truffle balls.

Put the cocoa powder in a small bowl. Roll the truffles in the cocoa powder until coated and place on the prepared baking sheet. Refrigerate 1 hour. Stored in an airtight container in the refrigerator, truffles will keep up to 3 days.

Amount per serving, based on 12 servings/truffles: 100 Calories; 3g Fat; 3g Saturated fat; 1g Protein; 3mg Sodium; 20g Total Carbohydrate; 16g Sugars; 3g Fiber

Recipe from Laura Theodore’s Vegan-Ease: An Easy Guide to Enjoying a Plant-Based Diet © Laura Theodore (Jazzy Vegetarian, LLC 2015), reprinted by permission. Photo by David Kaplan.

The post Jazzy Vegetarian Season Five is Coming to Create TV! appeared first on Chic Vegan.

Quorn is sold in the frozen section of major supermarkets like Kroger, Albertsons, Whole Foods and Target. The Chik’n can be defrosted in the refrigerator if you want to marinate it before cooking, or you can prepare it from frozen. Simply cook the tenders on the stove top until thoroughly heated. 

I used the tenders to make tacos. I heated a little oil in a non-stick skillet, then added the Chik’n and some chili powder, cumin, oregano, and salt. I added the cubes of protein to some corn tortillas and topped with lettuce, tomato, and hot sauce, and dinner was served in under 15 minutes!

The Chik’n tenders would also work well in a stew, curry or stir-fry. They are very convenient to have on hand for a quick weeknight meal. They are high in protein and fiber, making for a hearty, satisfying meal. They do contain wheat, so they are not suitable for those on a gluten-free diet.

Check out the Quorn website for product information, recipes, and coupons.

The post Quorn Vegan Chik’n Tenders appeared first on Chic Vegan.

Garbanzo beans are the star in this hearty and comforting stew. Garbanzo Bean Stew with Spicy Rice, is a delicious dish that has a spicy kick, giving it real jazzy-pizazz! The vegan sausage (optional) adds classic texture and the Jazzy Sazón provides an authentic taste. This stew is wonderful served over Spicy Rice
 with a green salad on the side to make a truly satiating meal.

Vegan Garbanzo Stew with Spicy Rice

Makes 6 servings

Ingredients

• 1 medium sweet onion, chopped
• 1 tablespoon Jazzy Sazón (see recipe below)
• 2 teaspoons extra-virgin olive oil
• ½ cup filtered or spring water
• 2 cups vegetable broth
• 2 cups peeled and cubed red or white potatoes
• 1 large sweet red or yellow pepper, seeded and chopped
• 1 small green bell pepper, seeded and chopped
• 2 large cloves garlic, minced
• 2 cans garbanzo beans, drained and rinsed
• 14 ounces vegan sausage, sliced (see note)
• 10 green queen olives with pimentos, diced
• 1 can (28 ounces) diced tomatoes with juice
• 1/8 teaspoon cayenne pepper (optional)
• Sea salt, to taste

Preparation

Put the onion, 1 teaspoon sazón, 1 teaspoon olive oil and ½ cup water in a large skillet or soup pot. Cover and let cook 7 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add 1 cup vegetable broth, potatoes, red or yellow sweet pepper, green bell pepper, garlic, 1 teaspoon sazón and 1 teaspoon olive oil. Cover and let cook 15 minutes, stirring occasionally. Stir in the garbanzo beans, vegan sausage and olives. Add the diced tomatoes, 1 cup vegetable broth, 1 teaspoon sazón and 1/8 teaspoon cayenne pepper (optional) and stir to combine. Cover and cook 35 to 45 minutes, or until vegetables are soft. Season with salt, to taste. Serve over Spicy Rice (recipe below) with green salad on the side.

Note: If you prefer to not use the vegan sausage, substitute 1 additional cup cubed potatoes (add when the potatoes are added) and 1 additional cup garbanzo beans (add when the garbanzo beans are added)

Jazzy Sazón


Makes 2 ¾ tablespoons

This jazzylicious seasoning blend enhances soups, stews, casseroles, roasted or grilled vegetables and so much more!

Ingredients

• 2 teaspoons ground coriander
• 2 teaspoons ground cumin
• 2 teaspoons smoked paprika
• 1 teaspoon garlic powder
• 1 teaspoon sea salt
• 1/2 teaspoon oregano
• 1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper

Preparation

Put all of the ingredients into a small bowl Stir to combine. Store in a tightly covered container away from light.

Spicy Rice

Makes 6 servings

The perfect compliment to any savory meal, this rice has just the right amount of spicy flavor to serve with a stew, steamed vegetables or any entrée.

Ingredients

• 4 ½ cups filtered or spring water
• 2 cups long grain brown rice
• 1 teaspoon Jazzy Sazón

Preparation 

Put all of the ingredients in a medium sauce pan. Cover and cook over medium heat for 40 to 45 minutes or until almost all of the water is absorbed. Fluff with a fork. Cover and let stand for 10 minutes before serving.

The post Laura Theodore’s Vegan Garbanzo Stew with Spicy Rice appeared first on Chic Vegan.