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.