BLT's

It is interesting how this blog has taken over my menu for the past few months. I found myself not repeating recipes because I wanted to keep things fresh and new. 

The family was getting annoyed with me. So I have acquiesced and will be repeating dishes they enjoy. In a way, I guess it is beneficial to my readers as well since I do make dishes again and again, showing how much we enjoy them. A glance second time around might give someone that extra nudge to make it anyway or to finally get around to making it. 

With that in mind, I made BLT's - a true family favorite and very easy to make, especially if you've made it a few times before and know the method. To make things easier, I also made a How-To Breakdown for the 'Bacon.'

If there is anyone out there who can come with a name for this, I would be grateful. David has been calling it ToBacon for as long as I can remember, but it sounds too much like Toe-Bacon for my taste :)

Cost Breakdown:

tofu: $2

nutritional yeast: $.50

liquid smoke, tamari: $.50

bread: $3

tomato, lettuce: $2

veganaise: $.50

Total to feed a family of 5:

$8.50

"Bacon" Recipe

How-To Breakdown for 'Bacon'

   

Sunday Dinner - Corned Cabbage (October 3)

Family Favorite

Well, this is almost a family favorite, since two of the five don't consider it one, but the other three that do speak very loudly.

This is a super easy to make, very simple meal, but oh so wonderful.

We started making out the entire corned seitan (corned beef) dish, complete with seitan, cabbage and potatoes, but as time went on, we realized we actually like the vegetables. True the seitan makes a great Reuben (see the Corned Setian recipe on the Recipe list page), but the corned seitan can be frozen and it takes more work and we found ourselves eating the cabbage and carrots and potatoes more.

The obvious solution was to skip the seitan and make only the vegetables. Now before you ignore this dish, let me tell you how fantastic it is.

 It is thhhhhiiiiissss good.

 Really.

The horseradish sauce is really what puts it over the top, so no matter what eggless mayo you use, Veganaise, Nayonaise or a homemade one using tofu, this is the sauce that makes the humble cabbage and potatoes an aristocrat.  

To make it all you do is put all of your vegetables, cabbage, carrot, onion and potato in a large pot and add the cooking broth made of pickling spice, balsamic vinegar, ketchup, maple syrup, cloves, garlic and paprika. Simmer until the vegetables are tender and serve with the Horseradish sauce.

Cost Breakdown

carrot, onion, garlic: $2

potato: $2

cabbage: $4

veganaise, horseradish: $1

spices, maple, ketchup, vinegar: $1

Total to feed a family of 6:

$10.00

 

 

Corned Cabbage Recipe

Saturday Lunch - Veg Mac (October 2)

Sing with me:

Two no beef patties

special sauce

lettuce

non-dairy cheese

pickles

onions

on a sesame seed bun.

When I was growing up, we were so poor that we only went to McDonald's on very special occasions. In fact, I can only remember going there a mere four times during my childhood. My favorite thing there was the Big Mac. Unusual, I know.

The good news is, I think my kids have patronized McDonald's about the same amount of times in their lives, and most of those were for a bottle of water because the restrooms aren't free.

It is not unusual to make a Big Mac at home, so if you ever have a hankering for it, make it!

It is pretty simple, really, but up the generic ingredients to romaine lettuce, whole wheat bun (sesame seeds or not), use a veggie patty and veganaise or nayonaise for the base of the 'special sauce', which is really 1,000 Island dressing with a tad more vinegar. Use dill pickle slices, not the bread and butter ones, because it makes your sandwich way too sweet. And to have the whole Big Mac experience at home, wrap your burger in a wax or parchment paper and nuke for 10 seconds to give it that hot-out-of-the-box taste.

The patty is your biggest challenge. Just grab a veg-burger patty, frozen, pan fry or nuke until almost thawed, and slice it in half horizontally. That is the tricky part. Make sure to put your palm on the top and cut with a serrated knife gently. Rotate the patty once you have cut a part way through and keep cutting until you have rotated all the way around and the patty is in two halves. Now add some Daiya and nuke or cover with a lid (one that is concave so the lid doesn't touch the cheeze) in your pan, add a little water (which will instantly turn to steam) and cover the patty. This will melt your cheeze fast and you have a cheeze-patty to put on your Veg Mac.

Order:

top bun

cheeze

burger

pickles -3

lettuce, minced

onion, minced

special sauce

middle bun

 (either another bottom bun or a top bun with the top cut off)

cheeze

burger

pickles- 3

lettuce, minced

onion, minced

special sauce

bottom bun

Cost Breakdown

buns: $4

burgers: $4

lettuce, onion, pickle: $.75

veganaise, ketchup, relish, onion, vinegar: $1.50

Daiya: $1

Total to make 4 Veg Macs:

$10.25

 

Friday Lunch - Halloween Stuffed Biscuits (October 1)

Happy October!

This is my favorite time of the year, the weather is cool, the wind is blowing and the holidays are approaching.

Autumn and Spring as to die for!

It was a hike day today and I wanted to introduce the kids to October in fashion. I made this Jack-O-Lantern biscuit to honor the upcoming fest and stuffed it with a simple Boca crumble mixture. I just sauteed the crumbles with onions and garlic and added a little mustard and ketchup to give it some binding. It was truly simple, but that is probably why the kids loved it.

The biscuit is a very easy recipe and they were puffed and flaky and crispy. I rolled it out, cut 2 circles (about 4-inches in diameter) for each Jack-O-Lantern, put about 1/4 cup filling on the bottom one, cut the eyes and nose (don't forget the nose like I did!) and a mouth, placed it on the filling and sealed the edges. Cut some stems from scraps and bake the scraps too, for a snack.

To make the filling, saute a package of soy grounds with 1/2 cup of onion and 2 minced garlic. When the grounds are browned, add 1 tablespoon ketchup, 1 tablespoon yellow mustard and salt and pepper to taste.

Make the biscuit dough recipe below and cut the dough into 12 (4-inch diameter) circles. Make eyes, nose and mouth on 6 of them. Put about 1/2 cup of the filing on the other six circles, top with the cut-out circles, seal the edges and spray with a little oil or brush with a little milk.
Bake.

So successful!

Cost Breakdown:

flours: $1.50

Earth Balance, baking powder: $.50

almond milk: $1

Boca crumbles: $4

mustard, ketchup, onion, garlic: $1

Total to make 6 Stuffed Biscuits:

$8.00

Biscuit, Flaky and Rolled Recipe

Thursday Dinner - Braciole (September 30)

Food Network Friday Challenge

Tami Noyes, author of American Vegan Kitchen, over at Vegan Appetite blog, challenged us to recreate Anne Burrell's Braciole. Braciole is an American-Italian dish of rolled beef that is stuffed and braised in tomato sauce.

I have seen many variations on this and each time that I do I think - this would be great vegan. Well, here was my chance to make it.

So the obvious question is - where's the beef? Or more to the point, what will replace the beef? While at first I thought a thin slice of seitan would be great, seitan does not bend or roll very easily. The solution of course, is to roll not seitan but gluten (which is raw seitan). I made a gluten using my Firm Seitan recipe. This worked beautifully and the dish turned out super delicious.

The stuffing was rustic bread soaked in rice milk, spinach, pine nuts, onion, garlic and three cheezes - Daiya, Follow Your Heart and Parma! .

The tomato sauce is a simple sauce of onion, garlic, tomatoes, and red wine. During the braising the sauce cooks down to a lovely, rich sauce. My cooking time was 2 hours on 325 degrees, but I think 300 would have been better since there was a slight seitan-y flavor. It was very slight and the tomato sauce covered it well, but a lower temp might help keep the aftertaste even less.

Everyone liked this! I also made a How-To Breakdown of the recipe, so take a gander. 

Cost Breakdown

seitan: $3

spinach, bread, pine nuts: $3

onion, garlic: $2

Daiya, Parma!, Follow Your Heart: $5

kale, orzo: $4

tomatoes: $3.50

Total to feed a family of 6:

$20.50

How-To Breakdown

Thursday Lunch - Brussels Sprouts Saute (September 30)

My hubby and I picked up a stalk of Brussels sprouts at Whole Foods this week to show the kids how they grow. I don't have them in the garden, so this was second best.

After all of the amazement settled down, it was time to cook them.

I made a very simple Brussels sprouts saute with orange bell peppers and pinto beans. I love slightly caramelized sprouts with just a dash of salt. So utterly delicious!

The versatility of sauteed vegetables is enormous. They can be eaten plain - what I did - or tossed with a pasta or rice or any grain. Adding a little water at the end of the sauteing cooks the sprouts to perfection and leaves a little broth to moisten the pasta or grain. A few cloves of minced garlic and a pinch or two of crushed chili flakes elevates this dish to completion.

Cost Breakdown:

Brussels: $3

beans: $2

pepper, onion, garlic: $1.50

spices: $.25

pasta: $2

Total to feed a family of five:

$8.75

 

Wednesday Dinner - Soft Polenta with Lentil Ragu (September 29)

Italian Night

We haven't had polenta for a little while, so we did tonight. It was a quick, simple meal to make.

The polenta I cooked in almond milk to give it richness. The ragu is made with tomatoes, lentils, carrots, onions, garlic and parsley. Lentils cook very fast, in about 30 minutes, and are very tasty and healthy. No brainer there.

I served this meal with a broccoli 'salad' with garlic and red chili flakes. Salad because I cooled it to room temp after I steamed them and added a clove of minced garlic. The garlic 'cooks' while the broccoli is still hot and the color is still vibrant because I cooked the broccoli just until tender crisp and removed them from the heat promptly.

Cost Breakdown:
lentils: $1
tomatoes: $2
onions, garlic, carrots: $1.50
parsley, broccoli: $3
polenta, almond milk: $2
Total to feed a family of 6:
$9.50