cordon bleu

I have been on a roll lately!

First the Twice-Baked Crispy Gluten, then the Braciole, and now

"Chicken" Cordon Bleu. Cordon Bleu has a thin slice of Prosciutto and Swiss or Gruyere Cheese rolled in a pounded chicken breast, then breaded and pan-fried.

This is very easy to veganize and the result is extravagantly exquisite.

Using the Tender Seitan Recipe (recipe is coming), roll out the gluten and place a slice of Tofurkey and a slice of vegan cheese (I used Daiya and Follow Your Heart) in the middle. To make this soy free, use a recipe from the Uncheese Cookbook by Jo Stepaniak, maybe the Buffalo Mostarella or the Muenster Cheez (use 1 T less fresh lemon juice than the recipe calls for) and skip the Tofurkey unless you have a soy-free cold cut.

Roll the gluten up and sear the packages. If you do not sear it on all sides, the gluten will unravel. Not good. If you want to see a How-To, check out the Braciole How-To Breakdown for the rolling and searing instructions, scroll down to The Seitan part.

After searing each gluten roll, cook them in the simmering liquid from the Tender Seitan Recipe and bake them for two hours, just like the recipe says to do for the whole roast, just use the seared rolls and cut the cooking time to 2 hours.

When they are cooked, cool them and bread them in (1) flour then in (2) cashew cream (soy free!), then in (3) fresh bread crumbs and pan fry them until golden brown. The cashew cream is just as effective as using soy yogurt

or eggs (BAD- never use eggs!!)

to stick the crumbs to the rolls.

Cost Breakdown

gluten: $3

Tofurkey: $3

Cheeses: $5

fresh bread: $1

coconut oil: $1

cashews: $2

bok choy: $3

polenta: $2

Total to feed a family of 7:

$20.00

grilled halloween sandwich

Continuing with the Halloween theme, here is a sandwich not quite so original or banking on the taste buds, although the kids enjoyed them!

The most difficult part was to get the kids to wait long enough for the Daiya to melt properly. Obviously, they couldn't. I'm sure the cheeze would have melted much better. As it is, I hope the idea of a pumpkin form can be discerned. 

Just take a pumpkin cookie cutter and cut out the shape. Then grill the bread to a golden brown and long enough to melt the Daiya. Follow Your Heart might be more difficult to melt here because the bread  might burn before the cheeze melts, unless you melt it first and then spread on the sandwich and lastly toast it under a broiler.

Cost Breakdown:

bread: $2

Daiya: $2

Yves cold cuts: $2

Tofurkey: $2

green pepper pieces for the stem: .$25

Total to make 5 sandwiches:

$8.25

braciole

Food Network Friday Challenge

Tami Noyes, author of American Vegan Kitchen, over at Vegan Appetite blog, challenged us to recreate Anne Burrell's Braciole. Braciole is an American-Italian dish of rolled beef that is stuffed and braised in tomato sauce.

I have seen many variations on this and each time that I do I think - this would be great vegan. Well, here was my chance to make it.

So the obvious question is - where's the beef? Or more to the point, what will replace the beef? While at first I thought a thin slice of seitan would be great, seitan does not bend or roll very easily. The solution of course, is to roll not seitan but gluten (which is raw seitan). I made a gluten using my Firm Seitan recipe. This worked beautifully and the dish turned out super delicious.

The stuffing was rustic bread soaked in rice milk, spinach, pine nuts, onion, garlic and three cheezes - Daiya, Follow Your Heart and Parma! .

The tomato sauce is a simple sauce of onion, garlic, tomatoes, and red wine. During the braising the sauce cooks down to a lovely, rich sauce. My cooking time was 2 hours on 325 degrees, but I think 300 would have been better since there was a slight seitan-y flavor. It was very slight and the tomato sauce covered it well, but a lower temp might help keep the aftertaste even less.

Everyone liked this! I also made a How-To Breakdown of the recipe, so take a gander. 

Cost Breakdown

seitan: $3

spinach, bread, pine nuts: $3

onion, garlic: $2

Daiya, Parma!, Follow Your Heart: $5

kale, orzo: $4

tomatoes: $3.50

Total to feed a family of 6:

$20.50

How-To Breakdown

mom's morning casserole

Brunch

Here is another one from Vegan Brunch by Isa Moskowitz. This is a casserole with a layer of potatoes, a layer of tofu, a layer of tempeh with red peppers, and a layer of Daiya cheeze.

It was very good, but the family was not fond of the tempeh layer. Unfortunately, they found the tempeh too bitter and nutty. In fact, asking me, I would say it was a bit 'fishy,' and no, it was not spoiled. Unless I braise my tempeh in a flavorful liquid or sauce, it seems to come out with this unusual flavor.

Next time. Next time.

Cost Breakdown:

potatoes: $3

tempeh: $2

tofu: $2

pepper, onion, garlic, herb, spices: $2

Daiya: $2

Total to feed a family of 5:

$11.00

cheezy nuggets and potatoes

Mikel cooked today.

He baked Cheezy Soy Nuggets and Potatoes with Parma!, a vegan parm-sub that is made with walnuts (high in Omega-3 fatty acids) and nutritional yeast (high in B12). This is one of the recipes the kids are cooking for their 'Domestic Arts' class, and although it isn't chock full o' vegetables, it is baked not fried and uses wholesome ingredients. Except for the Daiya, which Mikel chose to add.

No surprise, all the kids loved it and there was not a single potato or crumb from the nuggets left.

The TVP is chiken cutlets that have been reconstituted in Bryanna's chicken-style broth (see recipe page) and allowed to sit in the broth for a few hours. This is very important in order to reconstitute the cutlets properly. Then they were dredged in a fresh bread crumb and Parma! mixture and baked.

Cost Breakdown:

cutlets: $4

potatoes: $3

Parma! and Daiya: $3

bread, parsley: $1

Total to feed a family of 4:

$11.00



grilled pizza

The weather has been so lovely here, in the seventies, no humidity, thinking-about-wearing-a-sweater-in-the-morning type of weather, that I am fearing it is the end of summer and we haven't grilled a pizza, yet! Yikes!

So, tonight, in honor of the ebbing summer days, we grilled pizza. Pizza night is always a cause for great rejoicing in our home, and tonight was no exception.

Grilling pizza is so easy! It is actually easier than baking them in the oven and can even be done indoor on a grill without having to heat up the house. Just because summer is ebbing does not mean it has ebbed.

The key to grilling pizza is to grill one side first, flip and then add your toppings. To help melt our non-dairy cheese, I inverted a metal bowl over the pizza to keep the heat in.

The kids had their usual toppings - pepper-NOT!-i and Daiya cheese-sub, but I wanted something with a little heat.

I made a quick (really) tomato sauce using Bionaturae Organic Strained Tomatoes in a glass bottle because I found out that while Eden Foods does not add BPA to the lining of their beans, there is trace amounts in the lining of tomatoes. I added chipotle peppers to the sauce because I have such an affinity for those smoked little jalapenos. My pizza sang with the melody of sweetness, spiciness, crunch and the grill. Music to my mouth.

Cost Breakdown:

dough: $3

Daiya: $5

tomato: $2

Yves Pepperoni: $3

onion, garlic: $1

herbs, spices, chipotle: $1

Total to make 6 pizzas:

$15.00

cubano vegano sandwich

Continuing with the Viva Vegan! cook-athon, I made the Cuban sandwich. Kick-butt! The family absolutely loved it and great appreciation was given to Terry Hope Romero.

A very authentic version of the famous Cuban sandwich of mustard, thick bread, sweet pickles and 'pork' (I used soy curls rehydrated in 'checken' like broth, liquid smoke, lime juice, garlic and Whorchestire Sauce because I forgot all about the seitan). Great sandwich!

Cost Breakdown:

bread: $3

soy curls: $3

condiments: $2

Daiya: $2

Total to make 5 sandwiches:

$10.00

welsh/hungarian rarebit

Brunch

I had this pegged for brunch last week, but because Kate made the baked potatoes with the cheese sauce, I thought it might be overkill.

Welsh Rarebit has an interesting lore, and one that needs to taken with a grain of salt. Since the poor of Wales would hunt rabbit as their main meat, lacking bigger game, such as deer, rabbits were a poor man's food. Cheese was also considered to be a staple of the poor. As an insult then, a bread topped with cheese sauce, earned the term Welsh Rabbit:

Over time Rabbit morphed into Rarebit by virtue of pronunciation.

There you have a semi-factual, but totally-assumed history of the Welsh Rarebit.

Back to the food; Rarebit has also been recreated into British Rarebit, Irish Rarebit, etc. There is no precise recipe for this since the liquid can be anything from water or cream to wine or ale. It usually has some cheese, some mustard, and occasionally onion.

Totally up for interpretation.

The cheese sauce is then spread on toasted bread and then broiled.

I used whole grain English muffin, toasted, spread my cheese sauce - made with a little wine and a lot of cashew milk to thicken, a little Daiya and a bit of Hot Hungarian Paprika - and broiled it.

I grilled a tomato and some green beans to accompany my Welsh Rarebit, but I dare say, mine is a Hungarian Rarebit. It's about time, too - the Hungarians have been missing out.

(I think; I'm not actually sure whether or not we have a Rarebit to call our own, but it is certain that if we didn't before, we do now!)

Cost Breakdown:

cashew: $1

Daiya: $2.50

English Muffin: $4

tomato and green beans: $3

spices and wine: $.50

Total to feed a family of 5:

$11.00

Rarebit Recipe

buffalo baked potatoes

Kate wanted to make baked potatoes for her lunch.

 Yes, the second potato dish in as many days. You know how we like to double up on the good things! Well, I couldn't say no, but I did ask her to make something with it. She chose to steam broccoli and make a cheese sauce.

She baked some huge potatoes in the toasted oven (less hot than the big oven) and steamed some of the florets.

She made a killer cheese sauce using a simple bechamel sauce that she seasoned and put about a cup of Daiya cheddar in. To make it special she added diced tomatoes and Frank's Hot Sauce - the original Buffalo Sauce , uh, sauce.

This was phenomenal! I added some sliced red cabbage onto mine, some extra hot sauce and there was no need for any wings to be involved except when the flavors took to flight.

Fabulous, Kate. So glad you made baked potatoes.

Cost Breakdown:

6 huge Russets: $4.50

broccoli: $3

Daiya: $2

Almond milk: $1

tomato, cabbage and Frank's: $1.50

Total to feed 6 people:

$12.00

BUFFALO BAKED POTATO PRINTER-FRIENDLY RECIPE

Cheese Sauce Recipe

breakfast burritos

Mikel is the cook for lunch. He chose Breakfast Burritos. Super simple to make: soft tofu, pan sauteed with some onions, and then simmer, covered, (important! makes it taste better) with turmeric (color), nutritional yeast (flavor and B12), black salt (flavor), and some ground pepper. To accompany the burritos, some refried beans and Daiya on whole wheat, regular or chile tortillas.

Easy, quick, nutritious and flavorful. Have some salsa handy or guacamole to make it even tastier.

Cost breakdown:

tofu: $2

beans: $2

tortilla: $2

Daiya: $2

onions, garlic, nutritional yeast, spices: $2

Total to make 9 burritos:

$10.00

enchiladas

It was Mikel's day to cook and he made enchiladas. It seems he is very fond of Mexican food! He did a kick-butt job! He cooked the beans and onion and some chilies. He added some Daiya and Follow Your Heart, made some chili sauce and baked it like a casserole.

I made some wonderful greens with yellow squash, fennel and grape tomatoes to accompany the dish.

Cost Breakdown:

beans: $2

tortillas: $2

cheese: $2

rice: $1

vegetables: $3

Total to feed a family of 5:

$10.00

italian stuffed pita

Kate made today's lunch. And boy did she make a great lunch! She sauteed some onions, peppers, garlic and tomatoes. She added red beans and olives and seasoned it with marjoram and basil. She wanted to add some Daiya, so she put about 3 T of it in the mix as well. It was stuffed into small pita pockets and backed for 15 minutes. She also made some Ranch dressing to dip her carrot sticks in. The pockets were creamy with a delightful crispness afforded by baking the pita.

Cost breakdown:

pita: $.50

beans: $2

Daiya: $.75

onion, tomato, garlic, pepper: $2

olives: $.50

carrots: $1

Total for 5 sandwiches:

$6.75

schlotzkys-style sandwich

We are originally from Texas, where Schlozkys was founded. In fact, my husband came with the love of this fast food joint. They are famous for their sourdough sandwich bread, reminiscent of a sourdough English muffin. We are no longer in Texas, and no longer omnivorous either, for that matter, but we still love this sandwich! While I was making the sausage yesterday, I also made Bryanna Clark-Grogan's salami - an ingredient on the Original Schlotzkys Sandwich. Of course we all liked it, as before when I've made this, but this time I used all whole wheat flour, and although still tasting great, it was a little crumbly. I also used hemp milk, which shouldn't affect it, but more experimentation is required.

Poor, unfortunate family.

Cost breakdown:
Homemade bread: $1.50
Seitan: $1
Tofurkey: $2
Tomato, lettuce, olives, onion, pickles: $3
Vegenaise and Daiya: $2.50
Total for 5 large sandwiches:
$10.00

chicago deep dish pizza

Visions of Uno's and Lou Malnati's Pizza has been dancing in my head.

And now on my palate as well.

American Vegan Kitchen by Tamasin Noyen has a pretty authentic recipe (minus the spinach), complete with the sausage (also in the cookbook, and also an easy recipe),  tomato sauce (can it really be called that, it just being drained, seasoned tomatoes?), and dough. The dough, which I popped into my bread machine and forgot about it until it was ready, turned out golden brown and crunchy - no soggy dough here! 

I'll stop raving now, but I do admit pizza is one of my old-time faves.

Suffice it to say everyone loved it.

Ahh.

Cost Breakdown:
1/2 Daiya, 1/2 Follow Your Heart: $5
Can of Eden tomato: $2.50
Homemade crust and seasonings: $1
Homemade seitan: $1
Salad: $3
Total to feed a family of 5:
$12.50

A FIVE Star Dish!

roasted eggplant and leek on cornbread

Another Mikel pick. This is blue cornbread, with melted Daiya and Follow Your Heart, with roasted eggplant and leeks. Basil is the final touch. The cornbread is a wonderful touch - we baked them in a cast iron muffin pan. You have to foodsit (like babysit) the leeks while they are cooking, otherwise, this is a no-brainer, easy, tasty meal. This dish is practically out of Follow Your Heart cookbook by Janice Right.

cheeze and spinach enchiladas

This was an absolute hit! With everyone, except my oldest daughter, who does not care for enchiladas or spinach, which removes this dish from the running for her. The rest of us were okay with that, though; more for us! I used half Daiya Cheddar and half Follow Your Heart Mozzarella, shredded, and melted them on the stove, adding the spinach and grilled onions, and a little chili powder. Not only did it melt well, but it tasted creamy and divine. This is a very high 5 stars, only lowered because Daughter Number One doesn't like anything, it seems.