Ginger Veggie Stir-Fry

A definite favorite at my house...

Ingredients:
1 tablespoon cornstarch
1 1/2 cloves garlic, minced
2 tablespoons, grated, fresh ginger root, divided
1/4 cup sesame oil, divided
1 head broccoli, cut into florets
1/2 cup snow peas
3 mushrooms sliced thin
1/2 red bell pepper, chopped
3/4 cup julienned carrots
2 tablespoons tamari sauce
2 1/2 tablespoons water
1/4 cup chopped onion
1/2 tablespoon salt (or less)

Method:
1. In a large bowl, blend cornstarch, garlic, 1 tablespoon ginger, and 2 tablespoons sesame oil until cornstarch is dissolved. Mix broccoli, snow peas, mushrooms, and carrots tossing to lightly coat.
2. Heat remaining 2 tablespoons oil in a large skillet or wok over medium heat. Cook vegetables in oil for 2 minutes, stirring constantly to prevent burning. Stir in tamari sauce and water. Mix in red pepper, onion, salt and remaining 1 tablespoon ginger. Cook until vegetables are tender but still crisp.
3. Serve over white or brown rice. Use Bragg's Aminos to flavor.

Blueberry Jam

Fantastic! I love the rich taste of this jam - with a tinge of lemon. Yummy. My son grinned and exclaimed, "Delicious!" Delicious - it truly is.

Ingredients
4 C Blueberries, fresh or frozen
1 1/4 C White grape juice (frozen) concentrate
4 TB Cornstarch or tapioca powder
1 tsp Lemon juice (next time I'm going to add the zest of one lemon)

1. In a saucepan, combine juice concentrate, lemon juice and thickener. Stir until dissolved.
2. Bring to boil and simmer until mixture is clear.
3. Pour in blueberries and remove from heat.
4. Refrigerate.

Yield: 5 cups

Vegan Breakfast Sausages/Maple Sausages

These are super easy to make and taste way better that Tofurky Sausages. The texture is so similar to sausage it is scary.! I went crazy with the spicing: fennel, rosemary, sage, thyme, basil, oregano, parsley (and no red pepper flakes). Feel free to throw in whatever you want. I made 6 sausages instead of 4.

INGREDIENTS

- 1/2 cup pinto beans, rinsed and drained
- 1 cup cold vegetable broth
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 2 tablespoons soy sauce (I use Tamari Sauce)
- 2 cloves garlic, grated or very finely minced
- 1 1/4 cups vital wheat gluten
- 1/4 cup nutritional yeast
- 1 1/2 teaspoons fennel seed, crushed
- 1 teaspoon red pepper flakes
- 1 teaspoon sweet paprika
- 1 teaspoon dried oregano
- Several dashes fresh black pepper

METHOD
1. Before mixing your ingredients, get your steaming apparatus ready, bring water to a full boil. The rest of the recipe comes together very quickly. - I use my rice cooker as my steamer.
2. Have ready 6 sheets of tin foil. In a large bowl, mash the pinto beans until no whole ones are left. Throw all the other ingredients together in the order listed and mix with a fork. Divide dough into 6 even parts. Place one part of dough into tin foil and mold into about a 5 inch log. Wrap dough in tin foil, like a tootsie roll. Don’t worry too much about shaping it, it will snap into shape while it’s steaming because this recipe is awesome.
3. Place wrapped sausages in steamer and steam for 40 minutes. (Steam for 20 minutes for 25 small sausages.)
4. OPTIONAL: Place sausages in a frying pan with 2 tbsp of water and 1/4 cup maple syrup. Bring to bubbling and simmer until syrup thickens. Serve.

- To make maple sausage increase maple syrup by replacing 1/4 of the water with maple syrup. Also, add 1/2 tsp maple extract. Makes six large sausages or 25 small.

CREDIT GOES TO: http://vegandad.blogspot.com/2008/03/breakfast-sausages.html

Vegan Caesar Salad

Thanks to Maple Spice's last blog entry, I now have a Vegan Caesar Salad recipe. Its yummy. The weights and measurements are a bit different than here in the USA, so I put the approximate measurements I used.

Serves 2:

150g Romaine lettuce, torn roughly (about half a head of Romaine or 6-8 leaves)

60g hummus (1/2 cup - 2/3 cup)

1 tsp dijon

1/2 tsp vegan Worcestershire sauce

2 tsp olive oil

1 tsp fresh lemon juice

40g garlic and herb croutons - homemade is lovely (we just added what we wanted)

freshly ground black pepper (optional)

Follow Your Heart Mozzarella

Place the lettuce and croutons into a large bowl. In another bowl stir together the hummus and mustard, slowly stir in the oil then add the Worcestershire sauce and lemon juice. Stir well. Pour this over the leaf and toss well (use your hands) Dish it up with a good grating of Follow Your Heart Mozzarella Cheeze on top.

CREDIT GOES TO: http://www.maplespice.com/2010/07/vegan-caesar-salad.html

Queso Dip with Raw Cashews

I can't find the link to the blog I got this recipe from - but thanks to some blog in cyberspace I have a new yummy dip to serve at parties, gatherings and just for fun. My son claims it is his "favorite" and loves to dip tortilla chips in it. It is amazing!

Makes approximately 7 ½ – ½ cup servings

Ingredients:

½ cup raw cashews, soaked and drained
½ cup oatmeal, ground into flour
1 ½ cups water
2 teaspoon onion flakes, dried
½ teaspoon turmeric powder
1 clove garlic, peeled
14 ounces diced tomatoes or about two cups salsa if you like heat (Pace, Mild is great)
1 teaspoon paprika
1 crushed red peppers to taste (optional)
½ teaspoon chili powder
1 dash cayenne
1 teaspoon real sea salt

Directions:

Combine the cashews, oatmeal, water, onion flakes, turmeric, and garlic in your blender. Puree until the mixture is smooth. Pour the mixture into a heavy bottom saucepan and cook over low heat, stirring often to keep it from sticking. Add the canned diced tomatoes with their liquid (or salsa if using), paprika hot crushed peppers, chili powder and cayenne and stir to combine. Taste the mixture and add salt and pepper, as you desire. Cook the mixture (continuing to stir) until it is hot and the texture you want. You can add more liquid if it gets too thick.

Nutritional Information:

Amount Per Serving
Calories - 65.95
Calories From Fat (39%) - 25.78

Total Fat - 3.08g
Saturated Fat - 0.55g
Cholesterol - 0mg
Sodium - 5.32mg
Potassium - 209.9mg
Total Carbohydrates - 8.69g
Fiber - 1.68g
Sugar - 2.01g
Protein - 2.35g

Comments:

This dip is thick and rich and tastes much more decadent than it actually is. We like to eat it with corn chips, but more often it shows up on a baked potato stuffed with broccoli.

Each serving of the queso dip contains 600IU of vitamin A, and 70mg of phosphorus.

Vegan Aebleskiver

I converted Maple Spice's metric recipe to American measurements...

Makes 2 pans of aebleskiver (14 balls):

2/3 cup flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/4 heaped tsp baking soda
1/8 heaped tsp sea salt
4 tsp turbinado
2/3 cup plain, unsweetened soy yogurt
1/2 cup soy or almond milk - use a little less than 1/2 cup (can be sweetened or unsweetened)
1/3 cup melted vegan margarine - Earth Balance
1/4 tsp vanilla extract

Mix the dry ingredients together. Whisk the yogurt, milk and vanilla together then slowly whisk in the melted margarine until fully incorporated. Pour this into the dry ingredients the fold in with a rubber spatula until no more flour shows. The batter will be very thick and lumpy, it may even look slightly curdled if using soy milk - that's ok. Heat your aebleskiver pan till hot then turn down to the lowest heat. Brush the holes with leftover melted Earth Balance then spoon in the batter till level with the top. Turn with a toothpick. Cook until golden all over and a toothpick comes out clean. Keep warm in the oven while you make the next pan.

Serve with Earth Balance and warmed maple syrup over top, and of course the applesauce and sugar!!

** May also use this recipe to make blueberry pancakes. Increase the milk to a full 1/2 cup, butter the frying pan, spoon on some batter, you'll have to spread it out a bit. Dot the top of the pancake with blueberries (don't add the blueberries to the batter), cook till golden underneath then flip over. Serve with Earth Balance and warmed maple syrup.**

CREDIT GOES TO: http://www.maplespice.com/2009/01/vegan-aebleskiver.html

Banana Coconut Bread

Melts in your mouth! Mmmmmm. My favorite version is with flax meal because the bread is super moist and soft. If you like bananas and coconut you will not be disappointed! I actually make this in four little loaf pans and cook it only for about 45 minutes or until an inserted toothpick comes out perfectly clean.

Ingredients:

• 3/4 cup Earth Balance (healthy butter OR use 1/4 cup applesauce + 1/2 cup Earth Balance)
• 2/3 cup agave nectar
  
• 1 1/2 cups mashed super-ripe bananas (about 3)
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 2 egg replacer equivalent - Ener-G Egg Replacer and Flax meal (1 heaping Tbsp. flax meal with 2 Tablespoons warm water - let sit for 5 minutes) both work well
  
• 1/2 cup soy milk (Silk brand)
  
• 1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar (I like Bragg brand)
• 1 cup unsweetened coconut flakes or coconut flour (I used coconut flour)
  
• 1 cup spelt flour
• 1 cup all-purpose flour - I want to try whole wheat or brown rice flour
  
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 3/4 tsp sea salt
• 3/4 cup chopped nuts (almonds or walnuts)

Combine soy milk and cider vinegar and set aside. In a mixer, cream the butter, agave nectar, and bananas. Add egg replacer and vanilla. Add all dry ingredients. THEN add soy milk/apple cider vinegar mixture. Mix well. Pour into loaf pans (makes 2 loaves) and bake at 325 for 1 1/4 hours.