Vegan roasted garlic and tomato hummus!

Ingredients for roasted garlic and tomato hummus - tahini, lemon juice, roasted tomatoes, olive oil, chick peas and roasted garlic.

It took me a long time to create hummus I liked as much the hummus I could buy in the store - which is the opposite of how cooking usually works. One week, however, I heard some tips listening to Lynne Rossetto Kasper on the Splendid Table. She gave three tips that helped me make great hummus: First, use a blender, not a food processor; second, more olive oil doesn't mean smoother hummus; and third, if you really want to go the extra mile - peel your garbanzo beans.

This recipe makes a rather large batch of hummus.  I love to eat a thick layer on veggie-sandwiches.

Complete Ingredient List:

1. 1 c. (uncooked amount) dried chick peas
2. 2 medium tomatoes
3. 1 head garlic
4. 1/4 c. olive oil
5. 2.5 TBS tahini
6. 1 TBS lemon juice
7. 3-5 TBS water
8. Salt
9. Pepper
10. Parsley (dried or fresh) to garnish

First, soak, cook then shell the chick peas.

Chick peas pop right out of their shells once cooked - it's not absolutely necessary, and you likely lose some fiber, but it makes smoother hummus and is a weirdly satisfying task for me.

 Second, roast the tomatoes and garlic.

Slice and seed the tomatoes, place them on a foil covered sheet, brush them with olive oil, salt and pepper and put them in a 425 degree oven for about 20 minutes. (I use a toaster oven). At the same time, cut the top off of a head of garlic, drizzle olive oil in the opening, wrap the whole head in foil and place in the oven along side the tomatoes. I leave the garlic about five minutes more than the tomatoes.

Tomatoes go in the oven like this, brushed with oil, salt and pepper.

Roasting the tomatoes concentrates the flavor.

You can roast garlic right along side the tomatoes, wrap it in foil though. When it's done, allow to cool then squeeze the roasted garlic into a bowl.

Third, use a blender to mix the chick peas, garlic, tomatoes, tahini, olive oil, lemon juice and water. Add salt and pepper to taste.

Fourth, garnish with fresh or dried parsley, if you want. Chill before serving.

Finished roasted garlic and tomato hummus.

Justin's Super Vegan Burgers

Justin's Super Burger with fried mushrooms and onions.

This is another entry about food you can freeze. Putting these together takes some work, but once you're done you can take them straight from the freezer to the frying pan. I like to eat mine with mushrooms and onions, or avocados. Vegenaise or homemade vegan mayonnaise is also a nice touch.

Like usual, the recipe is divided into steps, but keep in mind you can be doing many of the steps simultaneously. For me, the recipe yielded 13 great big burgers, it might make 20 of the store-bought size.

Complete Ingredient List:

1. 2 c. brown rice (uncooked amount)
2. 1/2 c. lentils (uncooked amount)
3. 1/2 c. rolled oats
4. 3 TBS ground flax
5. 2 TBS canola oil 
6. 1 medium sweet onion, minced (about 1 c. minced)
7. 4 cloves garlic, minced
8. 2 TBS soy sauce
9. 1.25 c. broccoli, chopped in small pieces
10. 1.25 c. corn (if frozen, set out to thaw)
11. 1.25 c. carrots, chopped in small pieces (I happened to have baby carrots and I did 1/2 rounds)
12. 2 TBS chili powder
13. 2 tsp. garlic powder
14. 1/2 tsp. salt
15. 3/4 c. minced cilantro 
16. 1/4 c. water
17. 3/4 c. vital wheat gluten

First, cook the brown rice. You can use the package instructions, I used the cool technique found here. The rice turned out perfectly, but one commenter did raise an interesting question about whether you lose nutrition cooking rice this way. I'll do some research, but I continually have problems cooking brown rice, so this might be my new method.

Second, cook the lentils. Gently boil about 20-30 minutes, until tender, but not mushy. Time varies depending on the lentils used.

Third, process the rolled oats and flax. Put the oats in a  food processor, I usually throw the flax in too, even though it's already ground. Set aside, but don't wash the food processor, you'll need it again.


Fourth, saute the onion and garlic. Put 1 TBS of the oil in a pan, heat over medium-high, add the onion only, cook for 5-7 minutes.

N. I had a bit of left over poblano pepper from another recipe which I sauteed at this stage, I didn't include it because it isn't necessary, but I mention it because it would be easy to makes lots of variations on this recipe.

When the onion has softened, turn down the heat to medium low, wait for the pan to reduce head a bit, add the garlic and cook about 90 seconds.

Add 1 TBS soy sauce, continue to cook 90 seconds more. Remove from heat, set aside.


Fifth, steam the vegetables. I combine all the veggies into a steamer (I use a colander over a boiling pot of water) and cook for about 6 minutes. I don't know if the term al dente applies to vegetables, but that's how you want to cook them - so them still have some crunch, but aren't raw.

N. A good rule of thumb for the chopping the veggies is that all the pieces should be about the size of the corn kernels, or a bit bigger.

Sixth, mix the spices, oil and soy sauce. Mix up the chili powder, garlic powder, salt, 1 TBS canola oil and 1 TBS soy sauce in a small bowl.

N. Use whatever spices you want.

Seventh, mince the cilantro.

Eight, mix together what you've done so far. Using a great big bowl, stir together the rice, lentils, rolled oats with flax, onion and garlic mix, veggies, the spice mixture and the cilantro.

Initially, your mix should look about like this.

Ninth, process 2.5 c. of the mixture with 1/4 c. water. Using a food processor, blend 2.5 cups of the mixture, with about 1/4 c. water. Stir the processed mix back into the un-processed mixture.

Tenth, add the vital wheat gluten. Knead the mixture for about 3 minutes, or until strings begin to form.

Things get a bit ugly once you blend part of the mixture, but it helps everything stick together.

Eleventh, refrigerate the mixture. I did mine overnight, but I'm sure a couple hours would be fine.

Twelfth, prepare the burgers for freezing. Set wax paper on a cookie sheet. Drop the burger mixture on the sheets (for great big burgers, I use a heaping 1/2 c. measuring cup). Shape into round burgers, (I use the back of a large spoon). Cover with another sheet of way paper and freeze for about 8 hours.

Justin's Super Vegan Burgers, ready for freezing.

Peel off of the wax paper and freeze in freezer bags, or whatever method you prefer. When pre-frozen on wax paper, the bags remain entirely clean, and reusable.

To cook:

Heat about 1 TBS oil in a skillet over medium heat. Cook directly from the freezer for 5-6 minutes per side. Serve with buns and whatever garnishes you'd like.

Vegan Twice Baked Potatoes with Smoked Paprika

The ingredients for twice baked potatoes - I forgot to include nutritional yeast.

Another quick entry here - a simple conversion of an old favorite recipe made with butter, cheese and milk. I threw the potatoes in the oven when I had it on for another recipe. I threw the baked potatoes in the fridge and made them the next day.

Two baking potatoes

Small head of broccoli, finely chopped

1/3 soy milk (plain, unsweetened)

1/4 cup margarine, softened

1 tsp garlic salt
2-3 TBS Nutritional Yeast

Smoked paprika

Bake your potatoes. (Poke several fork holes, put in the oven unwrapped and bake for about 1hr at 375 - time varies depending on size)
Allow the potatoes to cool enough to handle.

Boil broccoli for about 90 seconds, drain, rinse.

Cut potatoes in half, carefully scoop the filling out of the potato skin, put in a large bowl.

Add the broccoli, milk, margarine, garlic salt and nutritional yeast to the potatoes.

Mix well with a wooden spoon or an electric mixer.

Spoon mixture back into the potato shells. (I like to overstuff mine, and only filled three of the four potato skins)

Sprinkle with smoked paprika.

Place on a baking sheet and cook at 375 for an additional 20 minutes.

These potatoes are filled, sprinkled with smoked paprika, and ready for a second baking.

Finished! Serve to hearty up your favorite meal.

Vegan Fire Roasted Tomatoes

Roma tomatoes, brushed with olive oil, ready to go in the oven at 425.

This is a simple recipe - and I'm not 100 percent convinced that it's worth it. I'd like to hear other opinions. I made a second round of chili, using the same recipe I made awhile back, but with less chilies.

This time I "fire-roasted" my tomatoes, which really just means I halved and seeded them, brushed them with olive oil and roasted them along side my peppers at 425 for 25 minutes.

They came out looking like this:

Roma tomatoes after 25 minutes at 425.

I peeled them and used them in my chili. I did a taste test, and they are much more flavorful than raw tomatoes. The question I was left with is whether the flavor would concentrate in the same way if I put them in the chili uncooked.  IDK. Thoughts?

Vegan Frozen Burritos!

Ingredients for Frozen Vegan Burritos

Broccoli, cilantro, homemade refried beans, black beans, brown rice, baked sweet potato, baked yukon golds, roasted red pepper, cilantro lime tempeh, spicy tempeh, arrow root and water, 30 tortillas.

I used to love those cheap, frozen bean and cheese burritos - but they're not vegan. There are some frozen vegan burritos on the market - but I have found them expensive and bland. This recipe is for making 30 of your own vegan burritos for freezing.

You can use the recipe exactly, or as a loose guide - you can basically put whatever you want in your burritos. I made each one a bit different, and it's great - each burrito is a surprise.

This recipe requires a bit of prep - but it made for super easy hot lunches at work - and I was glad I put in the work.

First, 8 or 10 hours before you make the burritos - soak your beans.

1 cup dried pinto beans

2/3 cup dried black beans

Second, cook your beans and rice.

1.5 cups uncooked brown rice

Soaked beans

Water
Salt

Gently simmer the beans in new boiling water.
Add salt only during the last ten minutes of cooking.
Note: Although it may be tempting to cook the beans in one pot, they will likely have different cooking times - so simmer them in separate pots.
Cook the rice according to package instructions.
Set all ingredients aside.

Third, bake your sweet potatoes and yukon golds.

2 medium sweet potatoes

4-5 medium yukon gold potatoes

Wash, then bake the potatoes at 350 for about 1 hour.

Chop, the yukon golds.

Remove the skins and mash the sweet potatoes.

Set aside.

Fourth, marinade your tempeh.

Spicy chili tempeh.

Cilantro lime tempeh

1 package standard tempeh

Spicy Chili Tempeh

1/8 cup soy sauce (tamari)

2 tsp lemon juice

1 tsp chili powder

1/4 tsp cayenne 

1/8 tsp MSG

1/2 tsp garlic powder

1 TBS canola oil

Scant 1/4 water

Cilantro Lime Tempeh

1/8 cup soy sauce (tamari)

2 TBS minced cilantro
1 TBS lime juice

1/4 tsp cayenne

1 TBS canola oil

1/2 tsp mustard

Scant 1/4 cup water

Stir together marinades in two separate bowls.

Cut tempeh into strips slightly thinner than 1/4 inch.

Simmer tempeh in boiling water for 7 or 8 minutes.

Use tongs to remove the tempeh, and drop directly into the marinades.

Cover and refrigerate until ready to use.

Fifth, prepare the refried beans.

3 cups cooked pinto beans (what you already cooked)

3 TBS canola oil

1/2 cup minced onion

3-5 canned chipolte peppers in adobo sauce, seeded to the best of your ability

2 cloves garlic, minced

Salt

Puree about 1/2 cup of the beans with 1 TBS oil.

Mash the rest of the beans.

Soften the onion in the remaining oil, for about 5 minutes over medium heat.

Add garlic, cooking for 2 more minutes.

Add the squashed beans and bean puree.

Cover, simmer about 10 minutes until desired consistency is reached. You might have to add some water, if they start to get too thick.

Add salt to taste.

Set aside.

Sixth, prepare the rest of your vegetables.

1 large head broccoli

1 large or 2 medium red peppers

Olive oil

1 bunch cilantro, diced.

Quickly boil the broccoli, drain, and set aside.

Roast the red pepper in the olive oil (about 20 minutes at 425)

Dice the cilantro

Set aside.

Seventh, mix your arrow root.

N. This may not be totally necessary - and you might be able to use a similar cornstarch mixture. The idea is to seal closed the burritos.

2 tsp arrow root

1.5 TBS warm water

Mix together, and set aside. (N. you will continually have to remix this as you use it)

Eight, assemble your burritos

Be careful not to overfill your burritos - this is about the max you can stuff into one.

30 pack medium flour tortillas (be sure not to get tortillas with lard)

Get out all your ingredients in one place.

Put whatever you want into each burrito. (All mine had brown rice, one of the beans and one of the tempehs, everything else I just combined how I wanted.)

Wrap your burritos and seal with the arrowroot mixture - there's a bit of a trick to folding the burrito correctly - visit here to see step by step pictures if you're not sure.

Vegan Burritos - filled, wrapped and ready to freeze.

Wrap burritos in foil (I made two packs) and freeze. I also put the foil in freezer bags because I had them around, and they come out of the freezer just like new.

You're done!

To reheat, either cook unwrapped in the oven or toaster over at 350 for 20-25 minutes, or microwave on high for about 2:30 for two burritos.

Vegan Triple Nut Lasagna!

Vegan Triple Nut Lasagna

I use a simple store bought spaghetti sauce for this triple nut vegan lasagna.

This high protein lasagna combines a spinach pesto made with peanuts, tofu ricotta with sunflower seeds and almesan - an almond based parmesan replacement from Veganomicon. The recipe is divided into it's component parts - which are combined at the end of the recipe.

First, make a package of lasagna according to the instructions. 

Drain, rinse well and set aside.

Second, make the spinach pesto,

Spinach pesto forms one layer in vegan triple nut lasagna.

1/4 cup roasted or blanched unsalted peanuts

2 TBS olive oil

 1 bunch spinach, washed and stems removed

1 package firm tofu

1/2 tsp salt

Pepper to taste

Use a food processor to blend all the ingredients. 

If your processor is not sharp like mine, then do the peanuts first, then add the spinach and oil, then process the rest.

Set aside.

Third, make the sunflower seed ricotta,

Olives and sunflower seeds give rich flavor to this tofu ricotta.

1 package extra firm tofu

1/4 cup sunflower seeds

2 TBS nutritional yeast

1.5 TBS olive oil

1 TSB lemon juice

1/2 teaspoon salt

pepper

1 cup sliced olives.

Mash all the ingredients together except the olives. 

Stir in the olives.

Set aside.

Fourth, make the almesan.

Who knew - almonds can replace parmesan cheese.

 1/4 cup almonds

1 TBS toasted sesame seeds

1/8 tsp salt

1/2 tsp lemon zest

Blend all the ingredients in a food processor. 

Set aside.

Like I said, this recipe is from Veganonicon, which I really need to encourage you to buy - it's full of great recipes! Must have for the vegan cook.

Fifth, prepare the mushrooms and garlic

2.5 cups sliced mushrooms

1/4 tsp salt

4.5 garlic cloves, sliced thin

2 teaspoons olive oil

Dry saute the mushrooms. (Put them in a pan over medium high heat without oil. Sprinkle with salt. Cook, stirring frequently until water comes out of the mushrooms and evaporates.)

When most of the water is gone, turn heat to medium low, add the olive oil and garlic, saute for 3 to 4 minutes. (Tip - really make sure the pan is cool enough before you add the garlic - i usually set mine on an unused burner for a minute after I turn down the heat).

Set aside.

Sixth - Combine your lasagna in a 13 x 9 glass pan.

Put a thin layer of sauce on the bottom of the pan.

Add a layer of noodles.

Add spinach pesto, tofu ricotta, sauce and mushrooms.

Repeat.

On the top layer of noodles, cover with sauce and almesan. 

Bake covered at 350 for 40 minutes, then uncovered for 20 minutes.

Not my best picture - but you get the idea.

You're done!

Vegan Vegetable Stock (Making and Freezing)

Vegan Vegetable Stock

Vegetables for Stock - Everything is pictured except the cauliflower.

Vegetable stock is great to have around. I use it in stir fry sauce, pasta dishes of course, soups. It's pretty simple to make - just cut up the vegetables, soften some of them, and throw them in a pot with water. I made this recipe in the morning, and used a crock pot on low to cook it all day.

1.5 TBS Olive Oil

3 medium carrots, chopped

3 medium onions, chopped (I used a red, yellow and sweet onion)

1 head garlic, chopped

3 celery stalks, chopped

1 bunch green onions, chopped

2 medium tomatoes, chopped

Medium head cauliflower, chopped

1 bunch parsley, chopped

3 bay leaves

2 tsp salt

1/2 tsp black pepper

14 cups water

First, chop your vegetables.

Chopped vegetables for vegan vegetable stock.

Second, soften carrots through green onion over medium high heat in the olive oil.

Vegetables softening for vegan vegetable stock.

Third, combine the softened veggies and the rest of the ingredients in a slow cooker, and cook on low for 8 to 10 hours. If you don't have a slow cooker, just simmer everything over very low heat in a large pot on the stove.

Fourth, strain the mixture and refrigerate to cool.

Fifth, you're done and the stock is ready to use - but, if you want, you can freeze the stock.

A muffin tin is one way to freeze vegetable stock for later use. This created almost exactly 1/3 cup portions.

Sixth, remove the frozen stock from the muffin tins, and place into freezer bags. Freeze.