Vegantine’s Day Manicotti for Two

If I haven’t hammered it home how much I think everyone should purchase their own copy of Veganomicon by Isa Chandra Moskowtiz and Terry Hope Romano, here is another plug. The recipes in Vcon have been obviously tested and retested to the point where you are hard pressed to make any improvements on them. That includes their recipe for Cashew Ricotta. It is perfect in every way.

That said, sometimes I don’t have everything on hand and am in a rush or get a wild hair up my tuckus and take liberties with their tried and true recipes. Such was the case this week when I got it into my head at the last minute that I wanted to make some manicotti for my love this past Valentine’s Day. I didn’t need to make a whole batch and had some fresh basil in the house from the brushcetta I had made the day before so I tweaked the sacred recipe and made it my own. It filled 5 manicotti shells. Read on to find out who got the 5th shell since this was…

Vegantine’s Day Manicotti for Two

Ingredients:
5 uncooked manicotti shells
1 1/2 C. (1/2 jar) of your favorite marinara sauce
1/4 C. Daiya Mozzarella Shreds
2 Tbs. nutritional yeast
1 tsp. almond meal
pinch of salt

Tofu Cashew Ricotta
1/4 C. raw cashews
1 clove of garlic
8 oz extra firm tofu (crumbled, not pressed)
Juice from 1/2 a lemon
1 teaspoon olive oil
1/4 C. fresh basil
1/2 teaspoon dried basil
1/2 teaspoon salt
Freshly ground pepper to taste

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350°

In a food processor, blend the 9 ingredients for the ricotta (cashews – pepper) until smooth and creamy. It helps to scrape it down with a spatula once or twice and go back to blending to make sure you get it evenly processed.

Stuff the uncooked manicotti shells with the blended ricotta. Pour a small portion of the marinara sauce in the bottom of a 1 quart casserole, just enough to coat the bottom. Place the filled manicotti shells in the casserole and evenly cover with the remaining sauce. (It might look like too much but the pasta absorbs some of it while baking.)

Toss the Daiya, nutritional yeast, almond meal and pinch of salt together and sprinkle evenly on top of the saucy manicotti. Cover and bake for 40 minutes. Remove from oven, uncover and allow to rest 10 minutes before serving with a big mixed green salad and bread.
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Birbanto lobbied for the 5th shell of manicotti until he realized it didn’t have a bit of animal derived product in it. “People are the strangest cats,” he remarked. He still blocked our way for attention and insisted to be included in the photo shoot. Our romantic Vegantine’s Day dinner for two, plus cats.

B says it should be called ManiCATti.

Charred Onion Soup

Poor Jim got all excited when he heard I was making this soup. He had misunderstood me and thought I had gotten some delectable greens and was making Chard Onion Soup. Oh well, this variation on French Onion Soup is touted to be a bit more classic in the French style according to Mark Bittman’s How to Cook Everything Vegetarian.

I have mentioned before that I hesitate to share recipes in cookbooks that are still in print because the good cooks who have worked hard to put them together need to make money by our buying them, or giving them as gifts (thank you Amy!). What I can share is that the onions I charred (see photos above) were halved and brushed with olive oil. The ones on the left are before broiling and the ones on the right are after 10 minutes under the broiler.

They were getting soft as was the suggested indicator to remove them but I wish they had gotten just a bit more charred. I don’t know that it made all that much difference to the soup.

I followed the recipe to make the Charred Onion Soup vegan and it was pleasing. The one thing I missed in the recipe that I have used in the past is some caraway seed. I just love that flavor in a soup like this and really yearned for it. I was glad our garden has a nice batch of parsley, it was my favorite kind of topper and gave the dense onion flavor of the soup a nice freshness. Maybe next time I will add some chard just for Jim.

Award Winning Pennsyltucky Chili Recipe

Pennsyltucky not only represented, we placed well! I knew it was good and the judges agreed; my Pennsyltucky Vegan Chili garnered second place in the first vegan chili cook off in the mid-atlantic region at yesterday’s Vegtoberfest in Baltimore.

For the many who tasted it and judged – thank you! For those who came by after we ran out (in an HOUR) or took my card for the recipe, this makes a gallon of it!
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Pennsyltucky Vegan Chili
“Pennsyltucky” is the Keystone-shaped heart of Pennsylvania with Philadelphia and Pittsburgh on either side. Packed with Pennsyltucky ingredients like Butter Beans and Hershey’s Cocoa, this award winning chili was created and posted on Bacon is NOT an Herb vegetarian blog.

Chili Ingredients:
2 large Onions chopped
1/4 C Olive Oil (divided for the 2 sautes)
4 Garlic cloves minced
4 ears of Sweet Corn, cut off the cob
2 Tablespoons powdered Cumin
1 teaspoon Fennel Seed crushed
1 LightLife Gimme Lean® Sausage package
1 large Green Bell Pepper coarsely chopped
3/4 C water
1 Lime juiced
1 Cup of Peanut Butter & Co. The Heat is On
3/4 C Campbells Tomato Soup concentrate
62 oz (4 cans) cooked Black Beans
62 oz (4 cans) cooked Butter Beans
56 oz canned Crushed Tomatoes
1/3 C Hershey’s Cocoa

Instructions:
Break the Gimme Lean® Sausage into 1″ hunks and saute it with half of the olive oil (1/8 C). Do this in a large cast iron skillet over medium high heat until the hunks start to get just a little color then add the onion, garlic and fennel. Finish cooking in the same manner until the hunks have a nice firm texture and the onions are starting to brown. Remove from heat and set aside.

Heat the remaining olive oil in a deep pot that can house a gallon of chili. Saute the corn for a few minutes than add the green bell pepper and cumin. When the green pepper is just getting tender, deglaze the pot with the water and lime juice.

Add the Peanut Butter & Co. The Heat is On and Tomato Soup concentrate and stir until completely blended. Add remaining ingredients and lower heat.

Bring the pot of chili to just before it wants to boil and add in the reserved Gimme Lean® Sausage mixture. Heat through and serve (or let it mellow 2 days in the fridge and reheat) with the below 3 toppings.

Toppings

Roasted Soy Beans
Ingredients:
1 C unsalted dry roasted Soy Beans
1 teaspoon Olive Oil
1/4 teaspoon Hickory Smoke
1 teaspoon Chili Powder
1/2 teaspoon of fine Salt

Instructions:
Mix all ingredients until soy beans are well coated. Toast in a 350° for 10 minutes, stirring every 2 minutes. Be careful they don’t burn. Remove, cool and crush into small pieces (I used a rolling-pin on the cooled beans that were secured between 2 sheets of waxed paper).

Cream
Blend a container of Toffuti Sour Supreme with the juice of 1/2 a Lime.

Top a bowl of the warm the chili with a sprig of fresh Cilantro, a dollop of Cream and a sprinkle of the Roasted Soy Beans.
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It’s a little complicated but really worth the trouble. My biggest regret was not getting to eat any myself and I plan on making a half batch soon!

Hot & Sour Soup

Here comes Autumn and I want to share this Hot & Sour Soup recipe with you before the cold sets in. It’s great hot out of the pot or reheated over the next couple of days.

A bowl of this soup and a bowl of white rice on the side is my favorite meal in colder months.

Ingredients:
2 carrots cut into fine 1” sticks
1 block of Extra-Firm tofu cut into 1” cubes
1/3 Cup thinly sliced Cabbage or Bok Choi
1 can of Straw Mushrooms
1 can of Baby Corn
1 Egg beaten (omit to make vegan)
4 cups of water
3 Veggie Bouillon Cubes
Soy Sauce
Cayenne pepper & Rice Wine vinegar (or vinegar from hot pickled peppers!!)
1/2 t Sesame Oil
1 T Canola Oil
3-4 Tablespoons of corn starch dissolved in 1/4 cup cold water
1 Cup Sugar Snap Peas

Directions:
Allow the bouillon cubes to dissolve in the 4 C of water (I do it in the measuring cup). In a soup pot, lightly stir fry the carrots, tofu and cabbage in the oils. Add the canned veggies and stir. Add the bouillon/water and allow it to slowly come to a boil. While waiting for it to boil, I add the soy sauce, vinegar and cayenne to taste. After it is boiling, add the corn starch water while stirring. Continue to stir while it boils for a couple of minutes. Remove from heat and gently stir while adding the beaten egg (omit if vegan). Allow it to sit for a minute, add the sugar snap peas and cover for another minute.

Hot & Sweet Pickles

I decided to make another crock of Grammy’s 14 Day Pickles and picked up a peck of cukes when the family went to the Belleville Farmer’s Market. I would love to take so many photos of that great market but don’t ever want to accidentally take a photo of any Amish folks. I usually snap some of the horses but then I feel bad for them when I see them acting out behaviors and habits that show how bored they are.

This batch of pickles I decided to tweak the spicing just a bit by adding crushed red pepper to the spice bags. It did color the syrup a bit orange as they released their oils over the last few boils but it never really picked up much heat. Thanks to Mom & Dad – I added some cayenne peppers right when I canned them. My hope is that they will pick up a little heat that way.

Inspired by a little hot pepper Arron drew earlier this week, I am making some labels or the jars with a couple of veggie characters. They make me smile and I hope that they come out a little hot.

Vegan Walnut Beet Burgers

I made this recipe for lunch today. It made 2 hearty patties that were really flavorful. They retained their heat through the very last bite. I served them on big rolls with Daiya cheddar style shreds, thin slices of fresh fennel instead of onion, avocado wedges, greens and regular ol’ burger condiments.

Jim liked that they had some spiciness to them, didn’t fall apart without being rubbery like soy and stayed warm until the last bite. I like that I could used my Ninja food processor again and how the outside of the patties browned up in the pan when I fried them in olive oil.

To a vegetarian, they are a little spooky pink/red meat color before frying and have a suspicious “rare burger” look about them even after being cooked but they are delicious!

Ingredients:
1 Roasted Beet (see tin foil beets)
1 Cup Walnut pieces
1 Tbs. Vegan Ponzu sauce
1 Tbs. Dried Minced Onion
1 Tbs. olive Oil (plus another for frying)
1/2 tsp. cayenne pepper

Process:
Pulse all ingredients in a food processor until a coarse wet meal that holds together when pressed into a small test patty. Divide mixture in half and press each into two, 1/2″ thick, patties. Allow them to sit for 15 minutes so the dried onions hydrate a bit and the patties become even more firm.

Heat second tablespoon of olive oil in a hot pan. Fry patties on medium heat carefully. Turn until each side is nicely browned. Top with Daiya cheddar style shreds and serve immediately on a roll with your favorite burger toppings.

Prepared Horseradish

I needed a couple of tablespoons of horseradish for a second batch of Grammy’s 14 Day Pickles I am making. I was left with a lot of horseradish and wanted to make it into the kind to use in other recipes.

Grating it by hand was just going to take too long so I peeled it, cut it into cubes and used my handy Ninja kitchen gadget.

Ingredients

1 Cup peeled and cubed horseradish root
3/4 Cup white vinegar
2 teaspoons sugar
1/4 teaspoon salt

Directions

In an electric food processor or blender like my Ninja, process horseradish root, vinegar, sugar and salt. Be careful when you remove the cover of the processor or blender, and keep your face away from the container. Cover and store the horseradish in the refrigerator.

Roasted Beet & Fennel Salad with Grapefruit Dressing

I can’t help but order any Beet Salad if it’s on the menu of a restaurant I visit. The only reason I didn’t at V-Note in NYC was because Amy did and was generous in sharing it with me. That salad even had the delicately textured yellow beets in it – such a nice touch!

My favorite salad with beets is the one I get at Elk Creek Cafe that has thin slices of fennel and a mellow grapefruit dressing. I did my best to make it for lunch and started of by roasting the beets, Post Punk Kitchen style, in tin foil.

Jim found the PPK recipe quite a while ago and posted it on his very first blog that accidentally got deleted. That was the one link that got our family hooked on beets last year and I made sure to post the link again on Jim’s new blog since it was our “go to” link for perfect beets. Thanks PPK for being a wonderful resource for our family.

One modification I made was to stand the tin foil wrapped beets upright in a cupcake tin. I think I tipped a beet over once and the juices started seeping out so I learned to secure them. Six is a good number for roasting beets I think, eat some now and refrigerate some for later.

I cut up half a bulb of fennel into really thin slices and split it between our two salads which were a base of field greens. I also added some of my Red Pickled Onyums since the salad I was trying to replicate had red onions on it too.

The most challenging part for me was the grapefruit dressing. Jim said I got it just right so I will share exactly how I made it.

Grapefruit Dressing

Ingredients:
1 Ruby Red Grapefruit
1 Tablespoon Extra Virgin Olive Oil
1/2 teaspoon Organic Sugar
1/2 teaspoon crushed Fennel Seeds
1/4 teaspoon Caraway Seeds

Prepare:
(prep time 1 1/2 hours while you roast the beets)
Zest the grapefruit and juice half of it (reserve the other have in a container for any other use). Combine the zest with the olive oil and crushed fennel seeds and allow to sit at room temperature for at least an hour. After the zest and fennel have infused their flavors into the oil, pour in the juice and strain it all through a very finely meshed sieve. Add the sugar and caraway seeds then allow the dressing to sit for at least another 1/2 hour.

I used a small funnel and put it into a little St. Germain’s bottle to shake it up to pour over the salads and even have a bit left over for later.

Vegan Creole & Quinoa Salad

The best meal of the entire summer was a collaborative effort between Amy, Arron, Jim and myself.

We decided to have a meal out by the fire ring and Vegan Creole was what Jim and I had to contribute. The recipe is as follows and I normally serve it with rice.

INGREDIENTS:
• 1 tablespoon vegetable oil
• 1 medium onion, chopped
• 1 dash cayenne pepper (or more to taste)
• 1 pinch thyme leaves, crumbled
• 2 bay leaves
• 6 to 8 green onions, chopped
• 1 can (14.5 ounces) tomatoes, undrained
• 1 cup chopped celery
• 3 ounces tomato paste (about 6 tablespoons)
• 2 chipotles in adobo sauce, chopped
• 1 green bell pepper, thinly sliced
• 1 red bell pepper, thinly sliced
• 1 pound extra firm tofu, cubed 3/4″
• 1 8 oz. package of seitan
• 2 cloves garlic, chopped

PREPARATION:
Heat oil in a heavy skillet; sauté onions, celery, peppers, garlic, thyme, cayenne pepper and bay leaves for a few minutes, or until vegetables are just tender. Add tomatoes, chipotles and tomato paste; simmer 15 minutes. Add tofu and seitan; simmer 10 minutes.
Serves 6 to 8 (this is with rice).

The rice wasn’t missed at all because of the Quinoa Salad and Mint Dressing A&A made:

Salad
1 cup quinoa (soaked for 15 minutes and rinsed a few times, cooked for 15 minutes in 1.5 cups of water and cooled to room temperature)
1/4 cup raisins and chopped, dried apricots (soaked for 5 minutes in hot water)
“Handful” of chopped cashews and walnuts
1 Avocado, pitted and diced
Salt added to taste

Gently toss ingredients together in a bowl

Dressing
1/4 cup (packed) fresh mint
1 T dried parsley flakes
8 oz. plain yogurt (we used ~2% greek yogurt, but thought using non-greek yogurt in the future might yield a better texture)
Juice of 1 lime
1 clove of garlic mashed with 1/4 tsp. sea salt
(Spoonful of almond butter, and squeeze of honey to taste–to make it closer to the mint dressing served at Hummus Kitchen, which we believe has tahini in it)

Blend ingredients together in food processor

Serve at room temperature or slightly chilled

With the bottle of Seven Mountains Wine Cellars‘ Merlot, we feasted around the fire pit and wound up our summer with the very best of friends, flavors and foods.

Pennsyltucky Pies

As a send off for Arron & Amy, we decided on a feel-good home cooked meal. We baked up a tri-layered Shepherd’s Pie as the main dish and a batch of Pennsyltucky Half-Moon Pies for dessert.

The Shepherd’s Pie is based on my Mom’s recipe that used hamburger on the bottom. We happily substitute MorningStar Farms Ground Meatless because it won every category in our taste test, The Ground Meat(less) to Beat. I like adding a 1/4 teaspoon of garlic powder to that and spread it all evenly on the bottom of a casserole dish.

The second and middle layer is corn. We like to sauté the kernels from about 4 ears of fresh corn with a cayenne pepper to taste. That gets spread just as evenly over the bottom layer of ground meatless.

The final and top layer is mashed potatoes. We cut up and boil about 4 large potatoes (skins on) until they are soft and drain them. We then mash them with some buttermilk (vegan buttermilk option is rice milk with a tiny splash of apple cider vinegar) and spread them evenly to make the top layer. The whole thing gets baked at 350° for 30 minutes and a last minute or so in the broiler to give the top some character (thanks Mom!)

I try to make it with as much love as my Mom always did for me and my sister (we loved this dish) and my Dad (who always tried to separate out the 3 layers to eat them individually).

Pennsyltucky Half-Moon Pies

I had been waiting for a reason to make these and Amy & Arron’s farewell was the occasion. They donated the first main ingredient from their stores of Central PA goodies that they were packing up to go back to the big city. Does NYC even have…

Apple Schnitz! These dried little slices of apple are what make this a real Pennsyltucky Half-Moon Pie. We get them in bulk at many of the local Amish stores and if you are lucky you have a grandmother who ships them to you in the big city.

2 Cups Apple Schnitz
2 cups Water
pinch of Salt
2 Cups Sugar
2 Tablespoons Grated Orange Rind
Juice from above Orange
1 Tablespoon Cinnamon
1 teaspoon Apple Cider Vinegar
1 Double Pie Crust (your favorite pastry recipe, instill the ice water with liquid smoke)

Cook the apple schnitz in a pan with water and the salt. When apples are really soft pulp them up with an immmersion blender. Add the sugar, orange stuffs, vingear and cinnamon. Carefully simmer until the water is cooked away and mixture is blorping happily. Divide the pastry into 6 pieces (keep them in the fridge until you need them) and roll them into 7″ circles. Place healthy portions of the filling on half of the rounds; fold the crust pastry over, pinch the edges together tightly and then press edge with fork. Transfer pies to a baking sheet and carefully score 3 holes in the top of each pie. Bake in 450° oven for 10 minutes. Reduce heat to 350° and bake about 40 minutes longer or until they are golden brown.

I didn’t use the traditional fork closing texture since I thought they looked more like Jack Pumpkinhead or Jack Skellington without. It pleased my good family and that’s what it’s all about.