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Monday, February 28, 2011

General Tso's Gardein Chick-un


General Tso's recipe adapted to a vegan recipe!
I love Chinese food but can not handle the MSG. I decided to make my own. I used one bag of Gardein Mandarin Chick-un but did not use the sauce packet that comes with it.
Pan fry the pieces until golden and set aside.
Saute:
1 tbsp fresh minced ginger
1 tbsp fresh minced garlic
2/3 cup veggie stock

Saute these for two minutes until garlic is golden brown,
add:
3/4 cup organic cornstarch
1/4-1/2 cup agave nectar
2 tbsp nama shoyu or tamari
1 tbsp white vinegar
1 tbsp sherry cooking wine
red pepper flakes to taste
3 green onions sliced
1 head steamed broccoli

I put it over fried rice I made earlier and added some sprouts for color. It is fantastic and no bloating afterwards!



Sweet Potato Pancakes with Pecan Butter


Sweet Potato Pancakes with Pecan Butter

Use your favorite pancake recipe and add a mashed sweet potato!!
I use whole wheat flour and Pastry Flour to make these pancakes. Soaked cashews with water make the dairy component and egg whites only for no cholesterol. I also put in cinnamon and nutmeg and a little vanilla bean.
The sauce is Earth Balance, salt, pecans, cinnamon, agave and vanilla seeds. They are my favorite kind of pancakes!

Christina's Coconut Creme Cake

Christina's Coconut Creme Cake ...RAW!!


This cake is made from cashews soaked overnight, raw unprocessed honey, lemon juice, coconut oil, and vanilla bean. The crust is macadamia nuts and dates. It is sinfully delicious without eggs, dairy, or processed sugar...

Friday, February 25, 2011

Gardein Beef-less Tips Stroganoff, Roasted Tomato Soup and Deluxe Salad


Gardein makes a wonderful product called Beef-less Tips, I used them in place of Beef in my Stroganoff recipe.

1 bag of Gardein Beef-less Tips
1/2 tsp Maldon Salt
1/2 tsp white pepper
4 leeks, sliced thin
2-4 garlic cloves, minced
1 lb mushrooms, portabello or white
4 oz Earth Balance


Heat Earth Balance add garlic, saute a few minutes, add beef-less tips, cook 5 minutes medium temperature, add sliced leeks, salt and pepper.

11 oz Vegetable Broth
3-4 tbsp lemon juice
4 tbsp wheat flour
1 tsp mustard
1 tbsp Nama shoyu
1/3 -1/2 c red wine

Heat all ingredients together on medium heat. Add mushrooms and simmer until desired consistency. Add leeks and Beef Tips. Salt to taste, mustard to taste, wine to taste.

1 cup raw cashews, soaked for two hours in spring water

Blend the cashews in the blender with a little lemon juice, this will be your vegan alternative to Sour Cream, but if you need a short cut use Dairy Free Sour Cream, about 1/3-1/2 cup added at the end

Serve with Pasta Rotini or Rice, whatever your preference!



Tomato soup is easy, it is in a previous post on the blog


Salad
I chop all of the lettuce, sprouts, cabbage, etc with scissors. You can eat three times as much salad this way. We all need more greens!!

Monday, February 21, 2011

Pad Thai

Pad Thai

Once I realized how cheap and easy it is to make Pad Thai, I have a hard time paying $15 at a restaurant. Plus I like to make substitutions of course like Organic free-range eggs, organic vegetables, and using agave instead of refined white sugar or palm sugar which is the way it is traditionally sweetened.

Start with rice noodles of your choice, almost every grocery store carries them now. I get mine far less expensively at my Asian store which also has a huge variety of sizes and even square rice noodles:)

Soak noodles in hot filtered water as directed on packaging. Different noodles have different soaking times.

Saute garlic and alittle ginger in peanut oil until golden, add Gardein chick-un or tofu or whatever protein you like, saute, add shredded carrots and celery and lightly saute.

I double the sauce in all of my thai favorites because I like it less dry, up to you. I use Nama Shoyu instead of soy sauce but you can use light soy sauce, tamari or fish sauce, agave nectar and lemon juice or if you want more authentic flavor, try tamarind pulp. Add of course, chilis or chili paste according to your desired heat level...I put all these in the blender and blend on high to make it nice and emulsion like.

Add sauce and noodles and stir fry until noodles are soft but make sure not to overcook them or else they turn to mush.

I add sliced napa cabbage, green onions and mung bean sprouts raw and toss in the heated mixture so they barely get cooked, just warmed.

You can stir fry some eggs and put in if you like, some times I put in raw cashews, mushrooms, basically any vegetable you like is good. The more the better. A touch of salt and white pepper, cayenne is so inclined. Enjoy.

Wednesday, February 16, 2011

Vegetable Frittata Almost

Egg Whites cooked with turmeric, portobellos, spinach and left over hericot verts from last night. Atop Shredded organic potato hash with garlic and onions...



Shred your poatos and cook in oil, add vidalia onions and garlic that has been pre-sauted in oil or Earth Balance. Make a nice pancake out of this for the bottom. I then sauteed more onions, garlic, mushrooms and spinach and cilantro. Added Organic egg whites with some turmeric for color and placed that on the top of potato pancake. To finish I added some Maldon salt, halved grape tomatoes and some fresh avocado. I like a slice of Ezekial on the side with some Earth Balance and tomato rub and coffee!! Drinking Whole Foods Organic No buzz Blend with fresh hemp seed and cashew milk I make in the blender fresh every morning...

Black-eyed Peas, Hericot Vert and Curry Emulsion


Fresh Black-eyed Peas with Hericot Vert and Curry Emulsion


If you find fresh peas, they are best, I used dried beans and soaked them overnight and then boiled them in 2 TBSp Earth Balance and four cloves of garlic. This is a little labour intensive so if you are short ontime Winn Dixie and Publix have Organic canned black eyed peas, just wash them because they put a ton of sodium in them for preservatives.

Heat the peas with Earth Balance and Garlic. Steam Hericot Verts very lightly, and add cilantro or parsley.

The curry emulsion is 1/2 cup of vegetable broth, 3 tbsp fresh squeezed ornage juice and 4 TBSP Eart Balance. Add 1/8 tsp cayenne, 1/2 tsp salt, 1/2 teaspoon paprika, 2 teaspoons turmeric and 2 tsp of curry powder. Whisk together until its saucy.


I would like to use pea shoots here with this but they are so hard to find so once again I relied on arugula and spinach to green it up a bit. Lastly I toasted black sesame seeds slightly and added to garnish. Pretty easy dish especially if you use canned peas...

Roasted Portobellas on Polenta with wilted Greens and Pomegranate and Balsamic Reduction


Polenta with Roasted Portobellas, Wilted Arugula and Spinach with a Pomegranate and 10 year old Balsamic Reduction

Adapted from a Charlie Trotter recipe that included veal stock which you know I would never use in a million years, this dish with a few convenient modifications is pretty quick to make.

The most difficult part is finding Pomegranates. I went to Fresh Market first and then found them at Publix. You need two of them and you need to de-seed them yourself, this is the most difficult part of the dish. Halve the Pomegranates and take out the seeds, blend in the Vita-Mix for 15 seconds and then strain through mesh sieve. Simmer the juice until it thickens and sticks to your spoon. After that s=add 2 tsp of the 10 year Balsamic Vinegar, (yes 10 year old is more expensive but so much finer and thicker), whisk in 1/2 cup olive oil and that is your sauce.

I cheated a little for time and sanity and chose to use the rolls of organic polenta that are readily available most grocery stores. I cut them into rounds and then pan fried them in Earth Balance. I threw the mushrooms after I sliced them in a little more Earth Balance and cooked them lightly then added a handful of Arugula and Spinach to wilt a little.

Done. Take a few pomegranate seeds you had left over and garnish. Easy easy easy and really good...

Raw Caprese Cheese Salad with Dried Tomtoes and Spinach


Raw Macadamia Cheese rolled in herbs with oven dried grape tomatoes, spinach salad, and 10 year old Balsamic Vinegar

Ok, friends trying to lose weight or cut cholesterol or become more vegan....

Take 2 cups of raw macadamias, I noticed Publix has a bulk section in some stores now which is very convenient since raw macadamias are not always easy to find...

Soak the macadamias in filtered water for 12 hours in the fridge or if your house is cold like mine that's fine too. After 12 hours put them in your blender. I added a little water to try to make it smoother, this is a good time to invest in a Vita-Mix blender. They are expensive but blend ice likes it is nothing and makes pastes and purees your Oster can only dream of achieving. Add 1 teaspoon of probiotics, available at all health food stores, I get loose powdered ones so I am not throwing away all of those capsules every time... Wrap this in a cheesecloth, put in a mesh container and put a jug of water on top for 16 hours. This ferments the cheese and makes it nice and tangy. After 16 hours, add 2 tbsp Nutritional Yeast (full of b12) 1 tsp onion powder, garlic powder and salt. Stir and then take wax paper and roll it into a log. Meanwhile, have your sous chef (haha) cut up fresh tarragon and fresh chives with some fresh ground pepper. Roll the log in the herbs and set aside.

The grape tomatoes are my favorite because they are always full of taste. I usually get them at the Farmer's Market but Publix has organic ones there usually. cut them in thirds long wise and bake at 100-200 depending on your time. Also sprinkle cajun seasoning and a little salt on them before they go in. It usually takes about 20 minutes for them to get nice and crispy but soft in the middle.

I then cut up about a cup of fresh organic baby spinach, cutting it up in small pieces so you can eat triple the amount because they aren't whole leaves that are difficult to eat. I then sprinkled Portugese Extra Virgin Olive oil on top and tossed.

Cut three circles of cheese per serving, top with the tomatoes, a little Maldon salt, smoked if you have it, and then place a few drops of 10 year old Balsamic Vinegar around the plate.

It is a little time consuming but not as much as you think, more waiting and thinking ahead. No cholesterol, no unhealthy fats... And excellent on the palate:)

Wednesday, February 9, 2011

Today's Lunch

Jerusalem Artichokes with Rosemary, Spanish-style Tomatoes in Saffron Oil,
Wine Braised Leeks and Catalan Style Bread



Sunchokes, also known as Jerusalem Artichokes are neither from Isreal or artichokes. They are actually the tuber from a sunflower! I got them at Publix in the produce section. They actually look alot like ginger but they taste nothing like it. I can not believe I have never seen any menus with this delightful food included in it. Braised with white wine and fresh rosemary, 10 minutes of cooking and viola a gourmet delight.

The leeks are easy, just put two tablespoons of Earth Balance to melt in pan and then cut up leeks, cook for a few minutes and add white wine, reduce to a glaze, salt and pepper and some thyme and they are ready to go.

The tomatoes are the most complicated. You need a pinch of saffron, smoked paprika and thyme. I get smoked paprika at the Colombian Gift Shoppe on St. George Street. Here I heated 1/2 c extra virgin olive oil with a pinch of saffron, added two pints of farmer's market tomatoes and four slivered garlics, cooked two minutes in oil and then transferred to an earthen ware dish added 1/2 tsp smoked paprika, a pinch of red pepper flakes, two sprigs of thyme, salt and pepper and one small bay leaf, stirred and baked at 400 degrees for 20 minutes.

Catalan style bread is just your choice of toast with a fresh tomato smeared all over it with a pinch of salt and some oil. It is so delicious.

Tuesday, February 8, 2011

Gardein Chiken Salad Vegan!!

Gardein Chicken-ish product available at Publix and Whole Foods

For two people or one if you are really hungry

Saute' Gardein Unchicken Pieces in Skillet in a little olive oil.
Mix 1/2 cup Vegannaise with 1 tsp Rice Wine Vinegar, 1/2 lime juiced, 1 tbsp Agave Nectar and cut up celery, champagne grapes or currants and salt and pepper.
I used Malaysian style bread for the wrap because they are amazing, available at Indian Food Stores. Add sald greens to the bottom and avacado to the top. Salt and Pepper and eat!!