Vegan Pulled Pork Sandwiches

When I was growing up, church was three hours. In order to feed our hungry bellies after church in the quickest way possible, my parents would usually have something going in the slow cooker before we left for church. One of the things that I really enjoyed were the BBQ sandwiches. I'm not sure what meat was used (pork? beef?), but it was placed in the cooker and covered in BBQ sauce. When we got home, it was shredded and placed on toasted buns with slices of American cheese and pickles. I loved it. This is my vegan recreation of that.

Serves: 4 sandwiches (with about 1/2 cup leftover)



Inspired by BBQ Pulled Jackfruit Sandwich

Ingredients
1 15 oz can of jackfruit NOT IN SYRUP
1/2 12 oz jar of BBQ sauce (I used Stubb's BBQ Sauce, I think I was feeling particularly nostalgic for Texas the day I bought it.)

1/4 small cabbage
2 T vegan mayo
cumin
chiptole powder
salt
pepper

Bulkie buns
pickles
vegan cheese, optional (a nice vegan cheese sauce might be good here)


Method
Drain and rinse the jackfruit. Place the jackfruit into a 1.5 qt slow cooker, add BBQ sauce and stir until the jackfruit is covered. Cover the cooker and cook on low for 6 - 8 hours. I let it go to 8 hours and that might have been too long. Using a strong fork "shred" the jackfruit.

For the coleslaw, shred the cabbage into "coleslaw" style pieces. Mix in the vegan mayo and spices. Taste and adjust seasoning. This is here to provide some crunchy contrast to the jackfruit.

Toast the rolls, place a portion of the jackfruit on the rolls, add some coleslaw, and top with pickles and optional cheese.

Notes
This was amazingly delicious. I have one more can of jackfruit in my pantry and I think I might have to make this again. We both really really enjoyed it, a lot. Make it, and make it soon.

Dinner Club: Beet Burgers, Curry Fries, Blueberry Cobbler

Tonight we had another dinner club with our friend Trevor. He has mentioned several times that he really enjoys beets, but doesn't eat them enough. When I saw the recipe for beet burgers from the PPK website, I knew I had to make them for him.



The recipe for the beet burgers is from the PPK website. The only deviation I added was about 1 tablespoon of cumin powder. I decided to do the suggested pairing with the baked curry fries, although my curry powder was very sweet and I almost thought I had used cinnamon rather than curry powder on the fries. These were very good, the technique of boiling the potatoes first before baking is involved, but it resulted in a good texture for the fries. I put too many fries on my baking sheet so they did not crisp up enough.

For the cobbler, I looked at the recipe from Fresh from the Vegetarian Slow Cooker for blueberry cobbler and adapted the following to use up our 1.5 pints of fresh blueberries from our food delivery.

Blueberry Cobbler for the Slow Cooker
Ingredients
1.5 pints fresh blueberries
1/4 cup or less sugar
1 T cornstarch

1/2 cup rolled oats
1/2 cup or less sugar
1/4 cup oil or softened butter
1 teaspoon cinnamon

Method
In a 3.5 qt slow cooker (you can also use the same amount in a 1.5 qt slow cooker), add the blueberries, sugar, and cornstarch. Mix to coat. In a bowl mix the oats, sugar, oil, and cinnamon. Spread over the top of the blueberries. Cook on high for about 1.5 hours or until the top is crispy. Serve with Coconut Bliss Ice Cream.




Notes
Everyone agreed, this was one of the best things we have eaten in a while. My husband and Trevor both eat meat and they were very pleased with the tastiness of the patty. I had my husband eat some of the patty dough before he cooked it up and he said that not only does it look like meat, it tasted a bit like ground beef as well. So very tasty. The cobbler was good as well, but the real star was the beet burger.

Tempeh Étouffée

Another one for the Slow Cooker Challenge. I don't think that I ever tried real étouffée before, so I have nothing to compare against.



Ingredients
8 oz tempeh
onions
celery
bell pepper
water
thyme
marjoram


Method
In a slow cooker combine chopped onions, celery, and bell pepper. Add enough water to cover and season with your favorite spices. Cook on low for 6 - 8 hours.

Chop the tempeh into 1 inch cubes and brown in a skillet over medium heat. Add to the crock pot for 30 minutes. Serve over rice.

Notes
I still had some rice left over from the Inca Parcels, so I just used that instead of making new rice.

This came out okay. Not amazing. I was very rushed that morning and might not have followed the recipe exactly and maybe that is why it did not come out as good as expected.

My husband has been sick all week, and while I ate this he had some miso soup.

Crockpot Party!

This past Friday, one of the new graduate students had a crock pot party at his apartment. Everyone was bringing over crock pot creations to share. Inspite of my crock potting skillz, my offerings did not turn out as I wanted.


Brownie Pudding Goo


Spinach Artichoke dip


Tatertot casserole

Recipes

Brownie Pudding

Spinach Artichoke Dip

Tatertot Casserole
frozen tater tots or hash browns
cream of mushroom soup (I tried to make my own with coconut creamer, but it did not turn out well)
TVP or frozen Boca crumbles (I prefer the boca crumbles
frozen spinach

Mix together in a crock pot crock. Heat on low for about 3 hours. Stir occasionally. Season to taste, salt, black pepper, chipotle powder, etc.

Notes
Brownie Pudding - I accidentally mixed together the pudding part of the recipe into the brownie part. You are supposed to just put it over top and cover the crock pot. So, it turned out to be brownie goo, instead of brownie pudding. It was still good, just not what I expected. Meh.

Spinach Artichoke Dip - this one is always good. Success!

Tatertot Casserole - I put this together in the crock pot on a whim. I was going to do lentil soup, or falafel, but I thought I would try this. I tried to make my own cream of mushroom soup since I couldn't find a non-dairy version at the store. I sauteed up some diced mushrooms, added coconut creamer, added corn starch, then brought to a boil until thickened. I mixed that with the hashbrowns and reconstituted TVP (the hippy store did not have frozen crumbles) and then cooked for a few hours. I added some frozen spinach at the end to give some color and maybe flavor. This came out being so bland and boring. I even added some maple syrup to bring out a bit of sweetness. My lovely husband took care of throwing away the entire 3 qt pot of this. I would like to try this again, but I think I need to work on the cream of mushroom soup part. FAIL

Lentil soup: lunch edition

The other day, I had the brilliant idea of bringing my slow cooker up to school and making lentil soup in it for lunch. I set up the cooker in my husband's office, and it made everyone in his office jealous that we were eating something that smelled so good. This is also another entry in the Slow Cooker Challenge.



Ingredients
1 cup lentils
2 cups veggie broth
1/2 onion, chopped
2 carrots, chopped
cumin powder
chipotle powder
salt
several handfuls of kale

Method
This was made in a 1.5 qt slow cooker. I put the lentils, onions, carrots, cumin, and chipotle powder in the slow cooker before I left for school. I carried the veggie broth in a mason jar to add when I arrived. Add the broth to the vegetables and cook on high for about 4 hours, or until the lentils are tender. Add the chopped kale, cover and let the kale wilt a bit before devouring with toast, salt, and sriracha sauce.


Notes
This was so good, we are going to buy a slow cooker to keep up at school for days when we want some sort of soup. It made the office smell delicious and our meal was hot and ready when we wanted to take lunch. Both my husband and I gave this the two thumbs up.

Not Your Mama's Pot Roast

I used a combination of Fresh from the Vegetarian Slow Cooker and Table for Two. Well, just the seitan and gravy recipe from Table for Two and the method from the Slow Cooker book.



Ingredients
Seitan
1 1/2 cup vital wheat gluten
1/4 cup nutritional yeast
chipotle powder
cumin
salt
black pepper
chili powder
red pepper flakes
1 cup water
2 T soy sauce
2 T olive oil

Rest of the pot roast
onion
carrots
potatoes
~3/4 cup water/broth
thyme

Gravy
2 T nutritional yeast
2 T flour
3/4 cup water/broth (cooking liquid from the roast)
1 T olive oil
chopped mushrooms
roasted garlic (you can wrap a head of garlic in foil and place in the crock pot when you put in everything else and it should be roasted by the end of cooking time)
black pepper
salt

Method
Seitan
Mix the dry ingredients in medium bowl until mixed. Add the liquid ingredients and knead until gluten strings develop, about 3 minutes. Place in the slow cooker.

Rest of the pot roast
Chop the vegetables and place on top of the gluten roast. Add the water until the seitan is covered. Top with thyme to taste.

Cook on low for about 8 hours or until the roast is cooked through. Slice the roast and serve with the vegetables and a gravy made from the cooking liquid.

Gravy
In a small saucepan, over medium heat, toast the yeast and flour for a few minutes until warm and yummy smelling. Whisk in the liquid ingredients, stirring constantly over medium heat until the mixture thickens. Add the mushrooms and roasted garlic (mash into a paste before adding) and any seasonings and warm until everything is cooked through. Serve over everything else.

Notes
I really enjoyed this. My husband thought the seitan was a bit rubbery. I can't seem to get my seitan to not be rubbery if I boil or steam seitan. I have had good luck with baking it and having a good texture, but I don't want to bake it every time.

The gravy was super awesome. And I could eat roasted vegetables for every meal for the rest of my days and not get tired of them. When I was little, we would have pot roast from the slow cooker every Sunday for lunch after church and the meat was soooo dry. I would mostly eat the vegetables and not the meat. Maybe that is where my love of the roasted vegetables comes from.

Vegetable Vindaloo

This is a compilation of the recipes from The Indian Slow Cooker and Fresh from the Vegetarian Slow Cooker. The Indian Slow Cooker recipe is for chicken, so I used the spices in there and the vegetables/beans called for in the Vegetarian cook book.



Ingredients
olive oil
onions
white wine vinegar
2 inch fresh ginger
7 garlic cloves
6 hot chilies
turmeric
garam masala
cinnamon
coriander seed
black peppercorn
coarse salt
mustard seeds
carrots
broccoli
cabbage
red kidney beans
1/4 cup water


Method
Caramelize the onions with the olive oil in a cast iron pot add a few tablespoons of vinegar at the end of cooking. When done, pulse in a food processor until it is a paste. Place in the slow cooker.

In a food processor, grind the chopped, peeled ginger, garlic, chilies, turmeric, garam masala, and cinnamon until it is a paste. Place in the slow cooker.

In a mortar and pestle grind the coriander, peppercorns, mustard seeds, and salt until it is mostly a powder. Add to the slow cooker.

Add the chopped vegetables and beans. Stir until well mixed. Add the water. Cook on low for about 6 hours. Serve with rice.




Notes
My husband thought this tasted a bit like potpourri. It was a bit fruity and the fantastic smell it gave off while it was cooking did not permeate the food after cooking for several hours. I am almost of the persuasion that Indian should not be cooked in the slow cooker. All the flavor seems to disappear. I am going to try this recipe on the stove top because both of the pastes I made were so fantastic that I think they would benefit from a quicker cooking time.

Aloo Palak

One of my favorite thing to order at Indian restaurants used to be Palak Paneer. Since I have given up dairy, I have found that Aloo Palak is an adequate replacement. It is my favorite variety of Tasty Bite. Speaking of Tasty Bites, they have some delicious easy food. The ingredients are always good and many of their meals are dairy free. You can see my previous blog post about the Tasty Bite Aloo Palak here.



This is adapted for my 1.5 qt slow cooker. It is another recipe from the Indian Slow Cooker.

Ingredients
5 oz fresh spinach, washed, but not dried
onion
1 tomato
ginger
7 garlic cloves (The original recipe called for 20 in a 5 qt slow cooker)
3 hot chilies
1 T ground cumin
1 T chili powder
1 t garam masala
1/2 t turmeric
salt
1/2 yukon gold potato


Method
Put everything except the salt and potato in a slow cooker. You might need to shove and push. Really you don't need any water. The spinach cooks by steaming in the liquid adhering to the leaves. Cook on high for 3 hours.





Using an immersion blender, blend the mixture until all the chunks have disappeared. Add the potato and salt. Cook on low for 2 hours, or until the potato is cooked.

Serve with rice.

Notes
Again, the fantastic immersion blender to the rescue. I was really surprised that everything was able to cook without any added water. I didn't have any problems at all with spinach sticking to the side or things not getting cooked through.

I really enjoyed this recipe a bit. I still had to up the spices before serving to make sure it would be enjoyable.

My husband thought this was good, but he missed the paneer.

EDIT: I had the leftovers for breakfast a few days ago, and the flavor was fantastic. I will be making this again for sure. It was really good!

Simple Split Chickpea Curry

For my birthday this year my sister added to my cooking obsession by buying me a cast-iron wok and a cookbook. The cookbook is The Indian Slow Cooker and it is pretty fantastic. It is mostly vegetarian with only seven out of the fifty recipes containing meat. I looked at a few of those recipes and they are easily veganizable. Well, everything in here is easy to make without the dairy. I have a slight criticism of this cookbook and it is some of the recipes are really similar. For example, are two recipes called "Split Green Lentil and Rice Porridge" and "Whole Green Lentil and Brown Rice Porridge" really necessary? Overall, I am pleased with the book, though, because I love Indian food.





This is adapted for my 1.5 qt slow cooker.

Ingredients
1 cup dried chana dal, cleaned and rinsed
onion
1/2 tomato
fresh ginger
garlic
hot chili pepper
1 t cumin seeds
1/4 t turmeric
1 t chili powder
salt
3 cup water

Method
Put the chana dal, tomato, chili, garlic, water, and half of the rest of the spices in a slow cooker. Cook on low for about 8 hours. Add the rest of the spices and stir to combine. Using an immersion blender, pulse the soup until there is still some texture left.

Notes
I have decided that cooking Indian spices for a long period of time does not make them intensify, it only makes them mellow and disappear. My husband had the great idea of only adding half the spices at the beginning and then the rest right before serving. Such a great idea. I did have to add just a bit of sriracha because my grocery store only had mild chilies and not any hot ones.

This was the first dish I used with our immersion blender. Oh my goodness, how did I get by before without one? It worked so well (maybe a bit too well, there is not much texture left, but that is really because I was playing around with it) and so quickly. I was amazed. No more hot liquids in the blender for me!

I am going to increase the spice level for sure next time.

Why yes, I did eat this with a toasted whole wheat hot dog bun.

Golden Glow Stuffed Squash

I love all the squashes and root vegetables available in the winter time. I love their earthiness, stoutness, and deliciousness. I love them roasted, stuffed, pureed, and mashed. So I was happy when I saw this recipe in Fresh from the Vegetarian Slow Cooker because how could I not like stuffed squash?





Ingredients
winter squash, cut in half, seeds removed (I used an acorn squash)
cooked rice
onions
garlic
carrot
thyme
rosemary
sriracha sauce


Method:
Cook the filling vegetables over a medium heat (onions, garlic, carrot) until softened. Add the spices and rice and stir until everything is coated. Fill the squash cavity.

In a slow cooker, add some water in the bottom, then place the squash inside. Cover and cook on low for 6 hours.

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I think this was overcooked. It was bland and boring. The filling in the morning was really tasty and flavorful. Somewhere over the course of the day, all the seasoning melted away. In order to eat the squash, I covered it sriracha sauce. I seem to do that with everything. Really, I do use other flavors.

My husband took a few bites and then threw out his half.

Dal, Rice, and Samosas

I love Indian food. I would eat it happily every day. I was browsing around on Amazon the other day and found an Indian Slow Cooker Cookbok. Oh my goodness, how awesome is that. The reviews said that most recipes were vegetarian, or could be made vegetarian easily.





So to honor my love if Indian food, I made "What a dal" from the Vegetarian Slow Cooker book.

Ingredients:
brown lentils
onion
garlic
ginger
coriander seeds
cumin
salt
black pepper
broth

Method:
Put everything in the slow cooker and cook on low for 6 - 8 hours. Blend up part of it to give a creamy consistency.

---
Honestly, this smelled wonderful while it was cooking, but was so boring when we went to eat it. It had lost all of its flavor. I doused it in sriracha to make it palatable. Maybe I let it cook too long.

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Samosas, or Empanadas depending

This is the recipe from Vegan with a Vengeance. I hadn't tried it before, but I am glad that I did.

You can find the recipe on Google Books if you search for it.

The dough was a bit bland and boring and maybe it was the baking that didn't make it puff and flake all nicely like a samosa should.

The filling, on the other hand, was amazing! We had mustard seeds and coriander seeds popping, potatoes boiling, garlic browning, edamame defrosting - mix it all together and you have deliciousness. We ate the remaining portion of the filling straight out of the pan while the samosas baked. So good.

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Overall this meal was okay, not the most amazing, but it was good to eat while we watched an episode of Deep Space Nine

Breakfast Bread Pudding

I was looking through the breakfast section of Fresh from the Vegetarian Slow Cooker, trying to find something that could cook over night. I decided to try this bread pudding and I am really glad that I did.

I wanted to make my own sausage, but the grocery store didn't have vital wheat gluten, so I'll have to wait until I can go to the hippy store to procure some more.

For a 1.5 qt slow cooker

Ingredients:
2 cup bread cut into cubes
1 apple, chopped into cubes
cinnamon
2 T brown sugar
dash of salt
1 cup non dairy milk
2 T maple syrup
6 oz sausage, crumbled

Lightly oil the insert of the slow cooker. Then put half of the bread in the bottom. Mix together the apples, cinnamon, sugar, salt, milk, and maple syrup. Pour half over the bread, add half the sausages. Layer the bread, apple mixture, and sausage again. Make sure that all the bread is covered in the milk mixture.

Cover and cook on low for about 6 hours.

I turned this on about 2330 and turned it off about 0700. It looked a bit soupy, I think, I was still sleepy. I went back to bed for another couple of hours. When I went to go and eat some around 0930, it wasn't warm, but it was really good. My husband loved this and I hope that I can make it with the sausages next time.

This is another one of those dishes that is best left unphotographed, but is super duper good.

French White Bean and cabbage Soup

I still love my slow cooker. A lot. I might be getting a bit burned out on it though. A soup I made last week, didn't get eaten and most mornings I haven't wanted to put anything together. Hopefully, that won't last too long, because it is really nice to be able to come home and have dinner done.





Ingredients:
White beans (I used navy beans cooked in my other slow cooker while the soup was simmering)
cabbage, shredded (I used a coleslaw mix I had hanging around from the Wontons)
potatoes
carrots
onions
garlic
veggie broth
thyme
rosemary
salt
black pepper
parsley

Method:
Put in a slow cooker and cook for 6 -8 hours. Garnish with fresh parsley. I served with delicious sourdough herb toast.

This was very good. All the rosemary had floated to the top when I arrived home, which made the soup look a little strange until I stirred it all together.

Tamale Pie

Another crockpot creation.

The cookbook calls this Cornbread-topped Southwestern Potpie. Quite a mouthful. When I was growing up, my parents would make a savory pie with cornmeal as the crust and meat/potatoes/veggies as the filling. This recipe reminded me of that.





Ingredients:
onion, chopped
carrot, chopped
garlic, minced
frozen corn
2 oz canned green chilies
cooked, drained pinto beans
Sriracha sauce

Place everything in a slow cooker and add just enough water/broth to barely cover the veggies. Cook on low for about 6 hours.

1/2 cup cornmeal
1 t baking powder
1/4 t baking soda
1 T oil
1 T maple syrup
1/4 cup non dairy milk

Mix all the topping ingredients together until a soft dough is formed. Spread over the top of the veggies in the slow cooker. Cover and cook on high for about 1 hour until the corn bread is cooked through.

This was incredibly tasty. The recipe called for it to be cooked for 5 hours and then add the cornbread topping. I was at school for about 8 hours and while the veggies were super duper soft, nothing was ruined. The slow cooker is pretty good like that.

Spinach Artichoke Dip

Another win for the slow cooker tonight. My friend was having a game night over at her house and I had decided to bring something snacky to share. She is trying out veganism for a month and every potluck dish was vegan, which is pretty awesome.

I have no picture, because it was devoured and it doesn't look that appetizing.

Total cooktime: about 2 hours

Ingredients:
8 oz marinated artichoke hearts
10 oz frozen spinach
8 oz vegan cream cheese
juice from 1/2 a lemon
Sriracha sauce
salt and black pepper

Cook spinach according to package directions. Chop up the artichoke hearts to bite sized pieces. Add everything to the slow cooker and mix well. Cook on low for a few hours. I think we started to eat it after about an hour and it was heated through.

Served with some water crackers, it was delicious.

Black Bean Chili

Oh my goodness, this chili was fantastic. My husband refused to call it a chili until it had actual chilies in it. In the evening on my way home, I picked up a habanero and some random green chili at the grocery store to make it a proper chili.





In the morning I put the following in my 1.5 qt slow cooker:
black beans
onions
carrots
chili powder
cumin
garlic powder
water, just to cover

Cook on low for 6-8 hours. I came back and it had reduced to a very thick chili.

While I was making corn bread, I added frozen corn, above mentioned chilies, and adjusted the seasoning. To serve, garnish with cilantro.

This had my husband sweating a bit from the heat of the chili, but I thought it was perfect. I love spicy foods.

No Hurry Vegetable Curry

Tonight's dinner was pretty good. It was much too watery, so much so that I did not add the coconut milk called for because it would add too much to the liquid. Next time, much less water.





Into my slow cooker went:
potatoes, diced
celery, diced (I would have also added carrots, had I not just run out)
red chili
garlic
ginger
curry powder
coriander seeds, crushed
cayenne powder
Better than Bouillon Broth paste
Water

It cooked on low for about 8 hours.

I had chickpeas cooking in my other slow cooker and when I arrived home, I added about a cup to the curry. I also added a couple of hand fulls of kale and turned the curry up to high while the rice was cooking. I added a bit of cornstarch in the hopes it would thicken up the sauce, but it never got hot enough for that to happen. I need to start making a roux in the morning because my soups have not been very thick.



Dual slow cooker mania!


Our food lately has been really meh. Maybe I'll remake the hot and sour soup due to it being one of the best things I have made lately.

Mushroom Barley Soup

Another one from the slow cooker.

I was excited when I put this soup together this morning, but by the time I got home, I was less than thrilled to be eating it. I didn't take a picture of it, because it was not very photogenic. I am in awe of people that can take pictures of risotto or other grains and make them look appetizing.

This soup was good, not fantastic and I probably wouldn't make it again. It fulfilled my nutritional needs for the evening.

Mushroom Barley Soup
Adapted from Fresh from the Vegetarian Slow Cooker

onions, chopped
carrots, chopped
celery, chopped
mushrooms, chopped
barley, rinsed (I added about 1/2 cup for my 1.5 qt slow cooker)
veggie broth
thyme
rosemary
hot pepper
hot sauce

Put everything in the slow cooker and cook on low for 6 - 8 hours.

When I got home, the barley had expanded more than I had expected and had soaked up most of the liquid. The texture of the barley was, as my husband put it, slimy. I wasn't expecting it to be, not exactly gooey, so creamy. Once we added more hot sauce, the soup became much more palatable, but everything tastes better with hot sauce.

Savory Stuffed Wheat-Meat Roast

Another entry in the slow cooker challenge

This one sounded like it would be delicious. Overall, it was pretty good, but there are things I would change if I were to make it again.



Braaaaiinns, after marinating all night long


I made the seitan last night and allowed it to marinate over night. The recipe called for it to just marinate in soy sauce, but I used about half of the soy sauce called for, added some olive oil, and filled the rest with water. The resulting roast was very very salty. I might eliminate the soy sauce completely or at least limit it drastically next time I make it.




Gluten rolled out, stuffing and rolled up with stuffing


The gluten was a pain to roll out. I enlisted the help of my husband who has more upper body strength than I do. I wish we had rolled it thinner because the ends were a bit too thick.

The stuffing part was delicious. While it cooked, the stuffing seemed to have melted into the gluten.

I had some left over stuffing, so I cooked it in my other crock pot for about three hours.



Stuffing before and after cooking


Finally, the roast. It was much much too salty. The water drizzled over top of the roast had soy sauce in it as well. Next time, much much less soy sauce.




Before cooking, after cooking, Im gunna eat choo!, inside the roast.


Verdict? It was good and I am looking forward to eating the roast this week with a bit of gravy. My husband didn't like the chewy texture of the roast and compared the appearance to haggis, but I thought it tasted fine. I loved how brown the roast became cooking in the slow cooker. The stuffing really is the best part about this dish.

Baked Potato

Here is another recipe from Fresh from the Vegetarian Slow Cooker.

I had wanted to make the "Savory Stuffed Wheat Meat Roast", but I didn't start early enough to get it done by dinner, so I was flipping through the book trying to find something else that I could make with the ingredients in my apartment. Baked Potatoes! Perfect, I have a whole bag of potatoes I just bought.

Ingredients:
Potatoes (I used yukon gold because they are my favorite)

Scrub the potatoes and remove any eyes or weird spots. Rub the potatoes with butter like substitute and sprinkle with salt. Take a fork and stab the potato all over to allow steam to vent. Wrap in foil and place in the slow cooker. Cook on low for 6 - 8 hours. Mine took just about 6 hours. They were tender and delicious.



Hmm, really roasted garlic


While perusing the Vegetarian Slow Cooker blog a few weeks ago I had found the post about roasted garlic in the slow cooker. When I decided on putting in the potatoes, I thought now would be the perfect time to try roasting garlic as well. I only had about 1/2 head of garlic, but it still came out roasty and fantastic. Next time, I am going to make two heads so that my husband and I can each have our own. I mushed the garlic into a paste and used it as a spread on the potatoes.

Next, came the chili. I didn't know quite what to put on top of the potatoes and I wanted to just use things in my pantry. I came up with this concoction.

1/2 cup TVP
1 15oz can pinto beans
1/4 cup tomato pasta sauce
1/2 cup water
chili powder
cumin
chipotle powder
habanero hot sauce
salt and pepper

I put everything into a small saucepan and simmered until about half of the liquid had evaporated. Not the best chili I have made, but it worked really well to get dinner to the table quick like.



Baked Potato with roasted garlic, chili, tofutti cream cheese, and green onions


We both gave this recipe two thumbs up. The potatoes were tender and everything else was fine. I am looking forward to making the potatoes more during the coming semester because they were crazy easy to do.

I made the seitan tonight for the Savory Stuffed Wheat Meat Roast and it is currently looking like a brain and marinating in my fridge.





I am really excited about this recipe. It is marinated seitan (I used the recipe from Vegan with a Vengeance) rolled into a rectangle, topped with stuffing, rolled up like a swiss roll and cooked in the slow cooker for 6 - 8 hours. I hope it will be good!