Vegan Calzone!

A big slice of vegan calzone. Hard to beat!

Olives, mushrooms, yellow pepper, tomato and vegan ricotta!

There are three components to this vegan calzone: dough, ricotta and veggies - I used very basic store bought jar of tomato and basil spaghetti sauce, which cut down on the work a lot. You'll need to set aside some time for the dough -  I made the ricotta when I made the dough, and I think it benefited because it had time to marinade. 

The Dough 

Your dough should look like this once risen.

1/2 pack quick-rise yeast

1/2 cup warm water (about 110 degrees)

2 cups flour

1/2 tsp sugar

1/4 tsp salt

2 TBS nutritional yeast

1 TBS oil

Stir yeast into warm water. Let sit about 5 minutes.

Stir together flour, sugar, salt and nutritional yeast.

Stir the yeast/water mixture and the oil into the dough.

Knead on a floured surface for 7-8 minutes.

Dough should be smooth, and not sticking to your hands at all.

 Put in a lightly oiled bowl, cover, and set aside in a warm place for at least an hour.

The Ricotta 

This vegan ricotta benefits from an hour or two in the fridge.

1.5 TBS toasted almond slivers 

12 oz firm tofu

1 large garlic clove

1.5 tsp onion flakes, soaked in an equal amount of water, then drained

1.5 tsp dried oregano

1 TBS nutritional yeast

2 tsp lemon or lime juice

1/2 tsp salt

Pepper to taste

Toast the almonds at 400 until brown, about 5 minutes.

Warning: watch the almonds very carefully, they are super easy to burn!

Mash all the ingredients together in a bowl.

Cover and refrigerate until you're ready to assemble the calzone.

The Veggies

Black olives, white mushrooms, red tomatoes and yellow bell peppers.

1 large roma tomato - seeded and chopped

About 2/3 can of black olives, quartered

1/2 yellow bell pepper, seeded and chopped

About 1 and 1/4 cups crimini mushrooms, chopped

 1/2 tsp oil

 Pinch of salt

Dry saute the mushrooms over medium high heat, with a sprinkle of salt.

(I'm a big mushroom hunter, the best way to cook mushrooms is usually to dry saute them. This means putting them in a hot pan without oil, and just a sprinkle of salt. Stir frequently. After a minute or two, the water starts coming out of the mushrooms and evaporating. Once most of the water is gone, turn down to medium low heat, and, for this recipe, add just a little oil - about 1/2 teaspoon.) 

After you turn down the heat and add the oil, add the peppers.

Cook over medium heat about 2 more minutes.

Drain onto a paper towel, set aside.

Do not saute the olives or tomato. 

Assembling the Calzone

Rolled calzone dough with sauce.

Here's the fun part, it's also easy!

Roll out the dough on a floured surface to about a 16" diameter, or 1/8" thick.

Mix together the ricotta and the veggies. (I left out about 1/2 cup of my ricotta due to preference)

Add the sauce to 1/2 of the dough.

Add the filling to cover the sauce.

Before you crimp it shut, your calzone should look about like this.

Fold over the dough, and crimp it shut.

Put a thin layer of sauce over the closed calzone.

Not my prettiest picture, but you get the idea.

Now, carefully transfer the calzone to a greased cookie sheet.

Bake at 450 until golden brown. About 23 minutes in my oven.

Enjoy!

Week Two! Vegan calzone, cashew chicken, pad thai and other stir fries!

Welcome to week two on Vegan Cheapo!  I'm devoting most of this week to stir fries - some of my favorite dishes, but I'll start with a vegan calzone, which is hard to beat when you're craving something substantial.  Because you can put almost anything in a stir fry, I'll be focusing the blog posts more on sauce recipes.  I'm going to do something akin to pad thai, and another dish along the lines of cashew-chicken, but in my shopping list - I've just deemed those dishes as "stir fries." Also, be prepared for some teriyaki and peanut sauce recipes.

Here's a look at what I bought this week: $49.28. As usual, bold items indicate something I bought too much of, that can go in the pantry for later recipes.

Item/Used For	Quantity	Price/Quantity	49.28
Pasta sauce / calzone	24oz	$0.07/oz	$1.67
Chocolate soy milk / breakfast	64oz	$0.05/oz	$3.49
Super firm tofu x2 / stir fries	24oz	$0.14/oz	$3.38
Firm tofu / calzone	12oz	$0.17/oz	$2.09
Rice noodles / stir fries	16oz	$0.09/oz	$1.39
Chinese stir fry noodles / stir fries	14oz	$0.07/oz	$0.99
Dried shitake mushrooms / stir fries	1oz	$1.69/oz	$1.69
Seasame oil / stir fries	5.5oz	$0.60/oz	$3.29
Canned black olives / calzone	6 oz - dry weight	$0.21/oz	$1.28
Hoisin sauce / stir fries	7 oz	$0.24/oz	$1.69
Bananas / breakfast	36.5oz	$0.04/oz	$1.55
Newman's dairy free cookies / snack	??	??	$2.42
Tamarind paste / stir fries	14oz	$0.29/oz	$4.00
Yeast	3 pack	$0.76/pack	$2.29
Brown sugar / stir fries	16oz	$0.11/oz	$1.79
Limes	4	$0.25/each	$1.00
Bell peppers / stir fries and calzone	2	$0.49/each	$0.98
Roma tomatoes / calzone	9oz	$0.06/oz	$0.55
Almond slivers / stir fries, calzone	2.7oz	$0.39/oz	$1.05
Zucchini / stir fries	10.2oz	$0.06/oz	$0.56
Serrano peppers / stir fries	1.75oz	$0.24/oz	$0.41
Broccoli / stir fries	10.4oz	$0.05/oz	$0.50
Cilantro / stir fries	1 bunch	$0.78/bunch	$0.78
Green onions / stir fries	1 bunch	$0.68/bunch	$0.68
Roasted peanuts / stir fries	5.75oz	$0.20oz	$1.14
Cashews / stir fries	4.5oz	$0.76oz	$3.41
Bean sprouts / stir fries	8oz	$0.06oz	$0.98
Red cabbage / stir fries	15oz	$0.05oz	$0.73
Red onion / stir fries	10oz	$0.04oz	$0.42
White onion / stir fries	10oz	$0.04oz	$0.42
Garlic / stir fries and calzone	2 heads	$0.39/head	$0.78
Ginger / stir fries	2oz	$0.19/oz	$0.38
Baby carrots	16oz	$0.09/oz	$1.50

Sag Aloo

Sag Aloo over Jasmine Rice

The taste of this mild curry is less shocking than its appearance.

This is a traditional Indian curry often served over naan. I'll write a naan post later, I opted for rice because I did not want to make naan. Putting the dish together is pretty simple, but requires a bit of multitasking. If you're up for it, you can be cooking the rice, sauteing the onion and peppers, boiling the potatoes and pureeing the spinach all at the same time. Here's how it goes:

Vegetables for a sag aloo.

4 medium Yukon Gold potatoes, washed and chopped in bite size chunks

1 medium sweet potato (option, I love them), peeled and chopped in bite size chunks

1 small-medium onion, diced

1 spicy pepper (I had a jalapeno from the chili and 1/2 an anaheim from another dish), diced

About 6 or 7 cups of spinach

Boil potatoes in salted water for 8-10 minutes, until edible

Drain, rinse and set aside

Heat 2 TBS oil in a large pan

Add the onion and pepper

Cook over medium heat until softened, about 7 minutes

Sag Aloo contains a garam masala mixture and other spices.

 3 large garlic cloves, minced (I had several little ones)

2 tsp ginger, minced

 1 tsp garam masala

1 tsp cumin

1/2 tsp coriander

1/2 tsp curry powder

1 tsp salt

After the onions and peppers have softened, add the garlic through salt.

Stir constantly for 90 seconds.

 Add the cooked potatoes, lower heat, cover and cook for 10 minutes.

Six generous cups of spinach purees down to about one cup.

Puree spinach with about 1/2 cup of water.

Add an additional 1/2 water to the spinach, stir.

After potatoes have cooked 10 minutes, add the spinach puree.

Cook the mixture over medium heat for about 10 minutes, until it begins to thicken

Squeeze about 1 TBS lemon juice into the mixture.

Salt to taste.

Garnish with additional lemon juice.

Serve over naan or rice.

Vegan Peanut Butter Twigs

Finished Twigs!

The shortbread (bottom) and peanut butter (top) are almost the same color.

This was my vegan take on the peanut butter variety of the famous candy bar. It's actually a pretty simple recipe, making and combining three separate, simple components: Shortbread, peanut butter filling and semi-sweet chocolate.

The Shortbread 

N. I made too much shortbread compared to chocolate and peanut butter.  The recipe here makes 2/3 of what's pictured.  There is sugar in this recipe, you can read about whether sugar is vegan at this informative blog post.  I've chosen not to worry about it.

1/2 cup vegan margarine, softened

1/6 c. sugar

1 and 1/3 c. flour

Cream together margarine and sugar

Work in flour - dough should stick to itself rather than crumble

Roll out the dough on a lightly floured surface.

Dough should be about 3.5" wide and 0.5" thick

Cut dough into strips 0.5" wide

Place on an ungreased cookie sheet.

Bake for about 20 minutes at 350.

Dough should be about 3.5" wide.

Dough should be about 0.5" thick.

 Cut dough into strips about 0.5" wide, place on an ungreased baking sheet.

The recipe included should make about 14 bars - the correct amount for the chocolate and peanut butter.

You can mix up the peanut butter while your shortbread is cooking.

Combine

1/2 cup peanut butter 

3 TBS powdered sugar

1 tsp canola oil

Mix furiously - I used an immersion blender

When your shortbread comes out of the oven, let it cool (it should be brown on the bottom, and crispy all the way through).

Top the shortbread with the peanut butter mixture.

Topping these thin strips of shortbread with sticky peanut butter is a delicate process.

When you're done topping the shortbread, put them in a dish and into the freezer.

Now, heat up 12 oz vegan chocolate in a double boiler.  The most affordable vegan chocolate option at my store were semi-sweet chocolate chips.  Use a double boiler to avoid burning the chocolate.

A double boiler can just be two pans that kinda fit together like this. Heat water in the bottom one.

The chocolate is starting to get melty - and to think, I got challenged when I used "melty" in scrabble the other day!

Time to start dipping, when the chocolate is completely melted.

Take your peanut butter topped shortbread out of the freezer.

Use tongs to dip in the melted chocolate.

As you lift out the bars, use a butter knife to remove excess chocolate.

Put bars on parchment paper on a cookie dish.

When chocolate gets low, use a spoon to cover the bars after you dip them.

Toss the bars back in the freezer until hardened.

Mmmmm!

 

Spicy Vegan Chipoltle Chili

Finished spicy-vegan-chipoltle-chili!

This chili is extra-spicy, but the flavor remains complex. This was my biggest recipe for the week, and I froze 3 or 4 cups in addition to the large amount of leftovers I have.  If you're sensitive to spice, definitely cut down some of the ingredients.  You could make it way less extreme by leaving out the habaneros and cutting down on the chipoltle chilies. I want something really spicy once in awhile, and this was the perfect way to do it.

Preliminary Steps

STEP ONE:  Soak 1.5 cups dried pinto beans for 8 hours.  If you're cooking at night, this usually means starting them when you get up -not when you go to bed.

STEP TWO:  Bring beans to a boil, simmer until done.  Today, mine took about 1:10 - yours might be different.  Don't add salt in the beginning (it'll ruin the cooking process), and there is no need to add salt in the end. Drain, and rinse well.

Chilies

Chilies for spicy vegan chili!

2 poblano Peppers (the big dark green ones)

2 habaneros pepper (the little orange ones)

1 jalapeno pepper (the medium-size, medium-green one)

1 anaheim chilie (the long, light green one)

NOT PICTURED 5-6 canned chipoltle peppers in adobo sauce

Canola Oil

Except for the chipoltle peppers - half and seed the peppers, lightly coating with oil.  

WARNING: Be careful with the habaneros, if you don't have gloves, make sure you don't have cuts on your hands.  Wash your hands a couple times after handling.  Don't pick your nose, don't go to the bathroom and DON'T TOUCH YOUR EYES before washing several times.

Put the anaheim, jalapeno and poblano peppers on a baking sheet.

Bake at 425 for about 20 minutes.

Add the habaneros. Bake for about 5 more minutes.

When they're done - the chilies should look like this:

Roasted peppers - note the peeling skin

Wait about 20 minutes to cool.

Do your best to peel the peppers.

Toss the peels.

Chop your roasted peppers, seed (the best you can) and chop the chipoltles.

Combine and set aside

The Veggies and Spices

Veggies for spicy-vegan-chili.

2 TBS Oil

1 large yellow onion, chopped

5 cloves garlic, minced

3 TBS chipoltle chili powder

1 TBS cumin

1 TBS brown sugar

2 tsp oregano

1 tsp thyme

1 tsp coriander

5 large roma tomatoes, seeded and chopped

4 large vine-rip tomatoes, seeded and chopped

2 cups store bought vegetable stock (concentrated is fine)

2 cups water

The Macaroni

Cook 2 cups dried macaroni noodles until just al dente

Strain and rinse well, set aside

To Assemble the Chili

Saute onion in oil until soft, it's okay to brown it a bit

Add garlic through coriander, stir constantly for 90 seconds

Add tomatoes, stock, water, chilies and all but 1/4 cup beans

Bring to a boil, simmer 1 hour

Add the macaroni noodles

Puree 1/4 cup leftover beans with 1/4 cup liquid from chili, stir into chili

There it is! You're done!

Again, cut down the peppers if you don't like a lot of heat - this is a very spicy recipe!

Vegan Manicotti

Vegan Manicotti with homemade marinara sauce.

I loved the manicotti my mom made growing up.  When I started cooking it on my own, I discovered one of her secrets was ultra-simple spaghetti sauce - she used the powdered packet and didn't deviate from the instructions. Today, I planned to get use a simple pre-made sauce because they don't sell the packets at my grocery store. Instead, tomatoes were on a great sale, and I decided to improvise a sauce.  Bottom-line - the sauce was tasty, but I didn't make enough, and the amount of work involved didn't pay off.  I'll include the sauce recipe, (x1.5 because I think that would be about right), but you might just want to use a jar, or can - or, even better, a packet of mystery powder. For the filling, I have to pay respects to Veganomicon - an awesome vegan cookbook.  Although I modified, cheapified and combined some of its recipes - it held the inspiration for my fake ricotta.

The Sauce

1 TBS oil

3/4 c. yellow onion, diced

2 garlic cloves, diced

4 TBS carrot, grated

3/4 tsp oregano

3/4 tsp thyme

1/2 tsp basil

1 tsp brown sugar 

3 large vine ripe tomatoes, seeded and chopped

3 large roma tomatoes, seeded and chopped

 3/4 cup water

Salt

Pepper

Saute onion in oil for 5 minutes over medium heat.

Add ingredients from garlic to sugar - stir constantly for 90 seconds.

Add tomatoes and water.

Bring to a near boil, partially cover, reduce heat, simmer for 20 minutes.

Puree using an immersion blender or other device.

Salt and pepper to taste.

Reheat, simmer for ten more minutes, allowing flavors to mix.

The Filling (for 8 noodles or two people)

 3 generous cups of spinach

12 oz firm or x-firm tofu

1/4 cup roasted sunflower seeds

1/4 cup nutritional yeast

1 garlic clove, minced

1 TBS lemon juice

Salt

Pepper

Nuke the spinach in a covered bowl for 2-3 minutes, depending on microwave.

Squeeze out spinach in a paper towel or clean dish towel.  Chop.

Mash chopped spinach and all other ingredients in a bowl, adding salt and pepper to taste. 

  

To make the manicotti:

Spread a thin layer of sauce in the bottom of a 9x9 pan.

Stuff the manicotti noodles with the filling.

Arrange on the bottom of the pan.

Cover with sauce.

Cover the pan tightly with aluminum foil.

Bake at 350 for 1 hour.

Week One: Chipoltle Chili, Sag Aloo, Juan Burritos and Manicotti

This post is about what I bought and plan to make over the next week or so. I'll post more detailed recipes as I make them. The idea is to use several ingredients multiple times - this cuts down on costs. The challenge is not feeling like I'm eating the same thing every night.

Main ingredients this week include:

1. Tomatoes 
2. Spicy Chilies
3. Pinto Beans

I could also probably add onion and garlic to this list, but those occur in so many of my recipes, they don't seem special enough to list.  Main entries for this week include:

1. Sag Aloo (a curry dish with spinach and new potatoes)
2. Chipoltle Chili
3. Juan Burritos (probably not the technical term - growing up, these were burritos with rice, beans, ground beef, guacamole and cheese)
4. Manicotti

Tomatoes are going in the chili, the sauce for manicotti and the guacamole for the burritos.
Spicy chilies go in the chili and the Sag Aloo
Pinto beans go in the chili, as well as re-fried beans for the burritos  

$43.07 this week.  Here's a more complete look at my shopping list and prices:

Item/Used For	Quantity	Price/Quantity	Total Price
Grape Nuts Knockoff / Breakfast	24oz	$0.13/oz	$3.18
Crunchy Peanut Butter / Vegan PB Twix	18oz	$0.17/oz	$2.99
Semi-Sweet Chocolate Chips / Twix	12oz	$0.32/oz	$3.78
Organic X-Firm Tofu / Manicotti	12oz	$0.17/oz	$2.09
Canned Chipoltle Peppers / Chili	7oz	$0.33/oz	$2.29
Elbow Macaroni / Chili	32oz	$0.07/oz	$2.39
Poblano Peppers / Chili	0.67lbs	$2.08/lb	$1.39
Anaheim Chile / Chili	0.22lbs	$2.08/lb	$0.45
Jalapeno Peppers / Chili	0.23lbs	$0.98/lb	$0.22
Habanero Peppers / Chili	0.04lbs	$8.98/lb	$0.35
Large bag of Spinach / Aloo/Manicotti	?	?	$2.18
Yukon Gold Potatoes / Aloo	1.85lbs	$0.78/lb	$1.44
Bananas / Breakfast	1.71lbs	$0.68/lb	$1.16
Vegan margarine / Twix	1lb	$1.77/lb	$1.77
Avocados / Burritos	2 Small	$0.50/each	$1.00
Roma Tomatoes / Chili/Manicotti	2.42lbs	$0.68/lb	$1.64
One the Vine Tomatoes / Chili/Manicotti	2.49lbs	$0.99/lb	$2.46
Chipoltle Chili Powder / Chili	0.07lbs`	$16.99/lb	$1.18
Dried Pinto Beans / Chili/Burritos	32oz	$0.11/oz	$3.49
Small Lemons / Aloo/Manicotti	3	$0.20/each	$0.60
Sweet Onions / Aloo/Chili/Burritos	1.62lbs	$0.88/lb	$1.42
Garam Masala / Aloo	0.04lbs	$20.69/lb	$0.82
Garlic / Aloo/Manicotti/Chili/Burritos	2 cloves	$0.39/clove	$0.78
Ginger root / Aloo	0.09lbs	$2.98/lb	$0.26
Sunflower Seeds / Manicotti	0.38lbs	$3.99/lb	$1.51
Dried Pineapple Rings / Snack food	0.59lbs	$3.79/lb	$2.23

Bold items indicate something that I bought more of than I needed. Those items can be put in the pantry and used for later recipes.

Notes: It's hard to make shopping and spending a science.  This week I'll be using some tortillas I need to get rid of - I don't know how much they cost and they're not on the list. I'll also be using spices, flour and other pantry style ingredients. Finally, I purchased some items that I won't use this week, and they're not on the list.  I'm keeping track though, and a vegan-pantry post is coming.

About Vegan Cheapo

Hello Readers,

This blog is about cooking and eating vegan meals without spending a fortune.  The focus will be on weekly diet planning, making sure you can utilize all the ingredients you buy, to create healthy, balanced meals.  Further, I will try to avoid sending you to health food stores for odd and typically expensive ingredients like kelp powder or arrowroot, but some speciality ingredients may be required.

A quick note on eating organic: I encourage it, but I understand organic ingredients are budget stretchers.  If you're worried about pesticide load, you can check here for a list of common produce from worst to best.  Buy the worst offenders organic, but don't worry about the rest.  

A quick note on eating local: I encourage this too, but again, local ingredients can be very expensive.  Every area will vary - I suggest going to your local farmers market and doing some comparisons against grocery prices.  Buy local ingredients that thrive in your climate and are in season.  They may even cost less than at the grocery store.

Finally, splurge on food sometimes! Enjoying what you eat is very important, especially in maintaining a vegan diet. Make meals you think you will love or that you're at least excited to try.  If you hate lentils, don't make dal - being vegan should not be a masochistic endeavor.