Chipotle Black Bean Burger and guacamole

This was on the menu board for Saturday, but I made it Monday night. I tend to make the menu board and not always follow it because either I want something else, or I don't feel like cooking, or any number of things. When I do follow it, it makes life soo much easier. This is adapted from Student's Go Vegan Cookbook.



Ingredients
1 can black beans, drained and rinsed
1/2 onion, chopped
5 cloves garlic, chopped or to as many to taste
1 small carrot, diced
1 chipotle with adobe sauce, chopped
1 t whole grain mustard
1 t soy sauce
2 t chipotle powder
1 t cumin powder
1/4 cup rolled oats
salt and black pepper

Guacamole
1 avocado
1 ear of fresh corn
salt
lemon juice
black pepper

Method
Preheat a cast iron skillet or medium heat. Add a small amount of oil and cook the onions and garlic until softened. Add the carrots, chipotle powder, and cumin. Stir and cook until browned and soft.

Meanwhile, mash the black beans with a potato masher or fork in a large bowl. Add cooked vegetables, chipotle, mustard, and soy sauce. Stir to combine. Add the rolled oats and mix again until mixed. Taste and adjust seasonings as necessary. Allow to sit for about 10 minutes or longer while buns are toasting or grill pan is heating. It will stick together better if this step is not skipped.

In a hot cast iron pan, add a bit of olive oil and swirl around until the pan bottom is covered. Divide the burger mixture into 3 or 4 patties and add to the hot pan. Cook for about 8 minutes on each side, or until browned. Serve topped with pickles, vegan mayo, and guacamole.

Guacamole
Remove the corn from the ear by running a knife down the length of the ear. Add the corn to a bowl. Remove the peal and pit from the avocado and add the meat to the bowl. Mash with a potato masher until your desired smoothness. Add salt, lemon juice, black pepper and any other spices you desire. Stir in with a spoon.


Notes
Hmm, we both really enjoyed these burgers quite a bit. They held together well, and were flavorful. I am excited to make them again.

Vegan MoFo Themez

Vegan MoFo is almost upon us again. I wanted to have a couple of themes to blog about to keep myself motivated for the entire month. I decided that I am going to try to not eat out at all during the month (Taco Tuesday being an exclusion to this rule). I have also decided to try once a month cooking. You cook a bunch of meals at the beginning of the month and freeze them in individual portions to use through out the month. It is fortuitous that the beginning of the month starts on a Saturday in October. My husband and I are going to spend ours cooking up a storm. Once a Month Mom is a website devoted to putting together meal plans for people cooking once a month. They have several different categories including Vegetarian! A lot of the recipes are easily veganizable. The meal plan makes about 6 - 10 breakfasts, 8 lunches, and 14 dinners. I am looking forward to using it as a good back up to the other meals that we are making. My husband is super sensitive to anything musty, so as we get to the end of the month, some of the meals might not be up to his standards, but I hope with enough freezer bags, everything will last just fine!

Biscuits and Tempeh Gravy

I have talked about tempeh gravy previously, on my old blog, but I made some biscuits and gravy this weekend, so I thought I would share.




Ingredients
Drop Biscuits Adapted from Table for Two
1 C flour
2 t baking powder
1/4 t salt
1/2 cup coconut creamer
1.5 T olive oil

Tempeh Crumbles Adapted from Vegan with a Vengeance
4 oz tempeh
1 T soy sauce/tamari
1 t better than boullion paste
1 T maple syrup
1 T olive oil
1 t fennel seeds
1 t coriander seeds
2 t dry sage
2 t dry basil
2 t chipotle powder

Gravy
1 T olive oil
1 T flour
1 C water

Method
Drop Biscuits
Preheat oven to 425F. Mix together the dry ingredients. Separately, mix together the wet ingredients. Add the wet to the dry and mix briefly to just combine. Do not over mix.

On a greased sheet, drop 6 equal portions of biscuits (about 1/4 cup each). Cook for 12 - 15 minutes until brown. Remove from pan and cool on a wire rack.

Tempeh Crumbles
Crumble tempeh in a small sauce pan. Top with all the other ingredients and add enough water to just cover the tempeh. Turn the heat to medium high and allow the mixture to boil. Stir occasionally, so the tempeh doesn't stick to the bottom of the pan. Continue to simmer until the liquid is mostly absorbed by the tempeh. Remove from heat and set aside.

Gravy
Heat the olive oil over medium heat in a sauce pan. When it is hot, add the flour and whisk until the flour has absorbed the oil and it has cooked out some of the raw flour flavor. Slowly, and continue whisking, add the liquid to the pan. Turn the heat up high, whisking continuously, until the mixture begins to thicken. Allow to cook to desired thickness. Add the tempeh crumbles to the gravy and stir to combine.

Either leave the biscuits whole or crumble them up on your plate and top with gravy. Serve with grapefruit on the side and garnish with fresh rosemary.

Notes
This was delicious. I make it every so often and the gravy came out super duper well this time. When my husband was done eating his share, he licked his plate clean and started eating off of my plate!

Menu Planning Sunday

On Sundays I like to plan the meals for the week. I like to be able to look at the board, know that I have all the ingredients for everything on there and be able to put food together easily. When we moved into our new apartment, there was a perfect nook for a chalkboard in the kitchen. Everyone that comes over comments on it. So, it must be awesome, yes?


If you can't read the picture it is transcribed below. The top row is breakfast, middle lunch, and bottom dinner. The CP in a box means that the meal is made in the crock pot.

Monday: Beans on toast, tasty sandwich, fajitas

Tuesday: Steel cut oats, lentil soup, taco Tuesday!

Wednesday: breakfast sandwich, chili, tater tot casserole

Thursday: bagels, Amy's Soup, curry with rice

As you can see, I spend a lot of eating foods that I have made before and I know are good in the interest of time. I love cooking. A lot. With the semester in full swing I have less time to spend there. Speaking of time and not having enough but doing more things anyway, I signed up to participate in Veganmofo again this year! I hope that I will be full of inspiration for meals to make in October.

Hummus Crostini

My amazing husband made this for me when I was in the throes of studying for my comprehensive exam. He is has a fantastic ability of whipping up something out of random ingredients around the kitchen and making it beautiful.




Ingredients
Baguette bread cut into rounds
homemade garlic hummus
roasted red pepper spread
diced yellow onions
arugula, chopped
nectarine

Method
Toast the bread, in a toaster oven, until golden brown. Spread each slice with hummus, top with a bit of the spread, sprinkle with the onions and arugula. Top with salt and freshly ground black pepper. Serve with a ripe, delicious nectarine on the side.


Notes
Oh my goodness, this was fantastic. I needed to eat something, but I didn't want to take time away from studying and my husband came to the rescue with this amazing dish.

Peanut Butter Sandwich: Lunchbox

This post is not really to show a recipe, but to show off the lunchbox again. I really love this lunchbox. I eat much better because I try to fill all the compartments, and it is displayed well. I know it is expensive, but I think it is very much worth it. Buy a Planetbox!





Ingredients
Peanut butter and jelly sandwich on sourdough bread
salted, roasted corn nuts
carrot sticks
super garlic hummus
cucumbers
kiwi
celery (located under the kiwi)
ginger snap cookies
coconut bar (on the side)

Notes
This is just an easy lunch I put together last week. We both enjoyed it.

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.

Tasty sandwich

My amazing husband made me this sandwich yesterday while I was studying for my comprehensive exam. He is the best.



Ingredients
toasted baguette bread
Vegan mayo
olive tapenade
sautéed cremini mushrooms and onions
thinly sliced raw onions
thinly sliced cucumbers
red bell peppers
arugula
sriracha


Method
In that order, place onto the toasted bread. Devour with Kettle TIAS Salsa Picante chips and Orton Brothers Cookie Buttons in the ginger flavor.

Notes
We love to make tasty sandwiches. Other things to add are smoked tofu, avocado slices, and fresh basil.

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

Vegan mac and cheese

I was coming home from a Burlesque show in Saturday night and decided that I really wanted to have some mac and cheese. I quickly came up with, has to be, the best vegan mac and cheese ever. I need to work a bit more on the recipe, but the taste of it is fantastic.



Ingredients
1/2 cup coconut original creamer
1/4 cup nutritional yeast
1 t tomato paste
2 t soy sauce
2 t white miso paste
chipotle powder
dried basil
black pepper
green onions, for garnish
3/4 cup macaroni or other pasta

Method
This feeds approximately 1.

In a medium sauce pan, bring water to boil and cook the pasta until your desired firmness. Drain and set aside.

Meanwhile, in a small sauce pan over low heat, add the creamer, nutritional yeast, tomato paste, soy sauce, and miso paste. Using a whisk, stir constantly to full blend together. Add any herbs and seasonings you desire, to taste. *Bring to a low simmer, and allow to reduce in volume until it is the desired thickness. Mix together with the pasta and top with chopped green onions and freshly ground black pepper.

*This is what I should have done.


Notes
This is freakin' fantastic. The taste of it is amazing. My husband also agrees. I failed to thicken up the sauce before adding it to my pasta because I was hungry. I am going to be making this again this week to tweak the recipe and make it more awesome. My husband said he wasn't hungry and then he kept chowing down on my pasta!