zuppa toscanan

Zuppa Toscana is an Italian soup made of sausage, potatoes, kale and cream. I made a simple bechamel sauce to replace the cream, which is nothing more than cooking some flour in a little oil and adding the liquid. The flour-based roux thickens the soup and makes it creamy, therefore replacing the need for the cream.

I used ground Tofurkey sausage in this, along with seasoned lentils, but you can use either with equally great results.

I garnished my soup with some leftover Bacon Tofu from Everyday Vegan Eats (page 134) because I made a quadruple batch earlier in the week and I had a little bit leftover. The crisp vegan bacon was quite delicious in this soup and I recommend it highly.

If you have EVE and haven't tried the bacon, I urge you to do so...but go full out and pan-fry it because it gets crispy and crunchy and oh! so tasty.

Zuppa Toscana

Serves 4

3 tablespoons  olive oil, divided

½ medium onion, minced

3 garlic cloves, minced

2 cups ground vegan sausage (such as Tofurkey Italian sausage) OR 2 cups cooked lentils (see note)

3 tablespoons whole wheat pastry flour

1 ½ cups unsweetened plain vegan milk

3 cups vegetable broth

1 bay leaf (if not using seasoned lentils)

1 pound red potatoes, chopped

8 ounces kale, tough stems removed and chopped

Sea salt and black pepper

1 cup chopped prepared vegan bacon (such as Bacon Tofu from Everyday Vegan Eats)

½ cup minced fresh basil

1. Heat 1 tablespoon oil in a large pot over medium high. Add the onion, garlic and sausage, if using. Cook until golden,about 8 to 10 minutes. Remove and set aside.

2. Add the remaining oil and the flour. Cook the flour for 2 minutes and add the milk. Whisk well to prevent lumps. Add the broth, bay leaf, if using, the potatoes and kale. Season with salt and black pepper.  Bring to boil, reduce to simmer and cook until the potatoes are tender, about 15 to 20 minutes.

3. Taste and adjust seasoning. Remove and discard the bay leaf. Serve the soup garnished with  bacon and basil.

Note: Cook the lentils with 1 bay leaf, 1/2 teaspoon fennel seeds and 1/8 teaspoon red chili flakes.

© 2015 Copyright Zsu Dever. All rights reserved.

dump dinner: lentil and kale stew

Since my new book, Vegan Bowls, B&N / Amazon, will be published soon (although not soon enough, if you ask me!), I am no longer really focusing on bowl recipes - which are flavor-packed complete meals in a bowl. Well, that's not really true as bowl foods are simply amazing because they are no-brainers - you don't have to think of something else to make to balance out the meal.

The truth is that I am still making bowls, just not telling the family that they are "bowls." As you can imagine, during recipe development and testing, bowls were at every meal, at least 3 meals, but at times up to 4 or 5 meals!

Thanks to the advice of Tami Noyes, of The Great Vegan Protein cookbook, I am the proud owner of an Instant Pot pressure cooker. If you purchase one, get the coupon code - worth around $50!

This machine is amazing! My favorite aspect of this thing is that the pot is stainless steel. I had an electric pressure cooker in the past which I used only seldom because the pot was nonstick. This is an electric pressure cooker that is also a slow cooker, steamer and yogurt maker. I love it!

Now that Vegan Bowls is almost ready, I can get back to experimenting and cooking with my Instant Pot. Of course, you don't need an Instant Pot in order to cook pressure cooker recipes, but since I have it, I will be using it more often now.

I'd like to start a series of Astonishingly Easy Dinners or Dump Dinners using either a slow cooker or pressure cooker.  I recently saw a commercial for Dump Dinners and looked though the preview and the reviews on Amazon. Just as the commercial indicated, the recipes were based on processed ingredients and were nothing to write home about.

Still, I liked the idea of just dumping food into a pot and letting it go. There are some awesome books on the market now, like Fresh from the Vegan Slow Cooker by Robin Robertson, if you are looking for a great slow cooker book, but I'd like to start a series that is even easier than Robin's. Quite the challenge, I know, because I also want to make everything taste like you really spent a lot of time preparing things.

Dump Dinners is not a new concept, as evidenced by a quick Amazon search:

 

Unfortunately, not only are they not vegan, but the super processed aspect - dumping frozen raviolis and jarred tomato sauce into a pot, for instance - turned me off. I want more scratch-made recipes that are healthy, use less plastic (the plastic that ingredients are packaged in, especially processed ingredients) and are made with more whole foods. My first offering in this new series I'll temporarily dub "Dump Dinners" is French Lentil and Kale Stew.

French Lentil and Kale Stew

Serves 4

Prep Time: 8 minutes of chopping

Cook Time: 35 minutes

4 medium carrots, chopped

3 spring onions, or 1 large yellow or red onion, chopped

4 garlic cloves, chopped

1 jalapeno pepper, chopped

2 tablespoons vegetable broth or 1 tablespoon olive oil

2 bay leaves

1 teaspoon cumin seeds

1 cup French lentils, rinsed and picked over

1 pound kale, tough stems removed and chopped

6 cups vegetable broth

Sea salt and black pepper

1. Heat a large pot over medium heat or set the Instant Pot to saute. Add the carrots, onions, garlic and jalapeno to the pot. Add splashes of vegetable broth as needed to keep the vegetables from burning. Stir in the bay leaves and cumin seeds. Stir and cook for 5 minutes.

2. Add the lentils, kale and broth. Cover and cook over medium heat until the lentils and kale are tender, about 30 minutes. Alternatively, using a pressure cooker, cook the stew for 20 minutes under High Pressure.

3. Season the soup with salt and black pepper, as needed. Serve with whole grain bread and/or cayenne pepper.

Quick Tip: Chop near the stove or the pressure cooker. If using oil, add the oil to the pot first. Add the vegetables as they are chopped. If using vegetable broth to saute, add splashes of the broth as needed.

© 2015 Copyright Zsu Dever. All rights reserved.

colcannon with corned sausage

Colcannon with Corned Sausage Recipe

I believe we all have some Irish in us and it is just a matter of tapping into our elusive ancestors. St. Patrick's Day is a reminder of this, for whether we are religious or not, most of us will wear green, drink beer, or eat Irish food in celebration of the holiday. "Party" is the term I believe most accurately describes how we Americans like to remember this day, whether with food or spirits.

There are numerous Irish dishes, such as Corned Cabbage, which we love at our house, made with cabbage, potatoes, carrots, onions and smothered with horseradish sauce, or the famous Sheppard's Pie, easily made vegetarian or vegan and spinning off various adaptations itself.

This Patty's Day, I chose to make Colcannon. Regardless of what you have heard that this dish is all about the potato or cabbage, it isn't. It is all about the butter. Authentically, around three pounds of potatoes and a head of cabbage would call for two sticks, or one cup, of butter. It's as if Paula Dean had a direct channel to the Irish. 

Traditional Colcannon contains potatoes, cabbage or kale, ham, green onions and butter. I decided to stick with tradition as much as possible, therefore, be warned, this is not a low-calorie recipe and if you choose to minimize the vegan butter, you do so at your discretion. This dish is amazing with all the called for butter, and while half would still be pretty good, indulging once a year is not going to hurt. Too badly.

I decided not to ignore the ham. I have read that it adds a lot of subtle flavor. I made Corned Sausage to replace it. I used Tofurkey Kielbasa as the sausage and cooked it in a corned sauce for a few minutes. Did the trick! You know something is done pretty well when your teenagers return for seconds of a dish full of kale. 

Or maybe, just maybe, it was the butter.

Cost Breakdown

potatoes: $3

cabbage, kale: $5

green onions: $1

sausage: $4

spices, butter, milk: $2

Total to make 6 servings

$15.00

chickpeas and couscous with lemon-caper sauce

Chickpeas and Couscous with Lemon-Caper Sauce Recipe

Very simple and easy weeknight dish! This meal is ready almost as soon as your couscous is  done cooking. It is also very versatile - you can add whatever vegetables you'd like to - be they steamed, roasted or sauteed. The lemon is just enough to add a twang to the dish, but certainly another squeeze can be added by the diner at the table.

I used chickpeas in this because you need a firm enough legume to give some body to the dish. I also added kale as my choice of vegetable, because, well, how can you go wrong? 

And that's it.. couscous  kale, chickpeas, capers and lemon are the main components, with some white wine and vegan butter to round things out.

I had dinner on the table in 15 minutes. Nothing fancy, just a delicious, simple, easy to make meal when you are tired and hungry.

Cost Breakdown:

couscous: $.75
chickpeas: $2
kale, parsley, capers: $3
lemon, butter, stock, wine: $1.50

Total to make 4 servings:
$7.25

greek chopped salad + pickled onions and creamy dressing

GREEK CHOPPED SALAD PRINTER-FRIENDLY RECIPE

Creamy Greek Dressing Recipe

The beauty of a chopped salad is that you get to have everything that is in the salad in every single bite. And the joy of a chopped salad is that you personally prepare every single of those bites as you dice all of the ingredients. 

A bowl of love. 

The roasted pepper here is freshly roasted. I love the aroma the house assumes as a fresh pepper is being charred. And really, it is so easy. This recipe calls for a roasted red pepper. You can use jarred, but the time it takes from stove-top burner to bowl is just enough time to cook the pepper yourself.

 Roast the pepper on your burner, turning it a few times until it is charred, throw it into a bowl, cover the bowl with a plastic wrap and allow it to steam for 15 minutes. Remove wrap, place pepper on wrap and, using your hands, peel and seed. Place pepper in the now empty bowl. Head to the sink to wash your hands (not the pepper!), return to the plastic wrap, fold it over a few times and toss. Chop pepper.

 See how simple? 

That gorgeous pink-ish red onion on top of the salad is quickly pickled, thereby removing the "bite" of a raw onion, and is ready by the time your salad and pepper is also done, around 30 minutes.

The dressing here is a cross between creamy-style and a vinaigrette --- really the best of both kinds of dressings.

The "feta" is homemade. It is turning out better and better each time I make it, so look for the recipe real soon. Incidentally, it is raw, using the same technique that rejuvelac-inspired raw cheeses are based on, so just use one of those raw cheeses (or any creamy cheese - diced Daiya Wedges would be great!) as your feta replacement.

The salad is packed with protein, including beans and kale, in addition to cucumbers, olives, tomatoes, romaine and carrots.

We loved this salad!

Cost Breakdown

lettuce, kale: $3

cuke, tomato, onion, carrot: $3

dressing: $1

beans: $2

olives: $.50

Total to make 6 servings:

$9.50

creamy italian polenta pie

This Creamy Italian Polenta Pie is easy to make and really delicious. I made mine very creamy - to the point that it had a little difficulty setting up when cold; if you make this with the intention of having firm polenta, you can use less liquid, about 2/3 c less milk. The added liquid from the diced tomatoes gives the polenta the decidedly un-traditional hue of pink and adds the extra liquid which makes it so creamy. 

In addition to the polenta (cornmeal) and tomatoes, this 'pie' has kidney beans, baby spinach, baby kale, cauliflower, onions and a healthy dose of garlic layered on top.

You can make this, let it sit up and add add cheese and bake it until warmed through and the cheese melts. This is a wholly unnecessary, but delicious, alternative. Otherwise, just serve this as soon as it is assembled. 

Cost Breakdown

polenta, oil, seasonings: $1

milk, tomatoes, beans: $5

cauliflower, onions, baby greens, garlic: $3

Total to make 6 servings:

$9.00

pasta primavera

The first day of Spring was yesterday. We really enjoy celebrating the equinoxes and solstices at our house. What better way to ring in the spring (besides that annoying daylight savings time deal) than with Pasta Primavera, for which the dish is named after. 

Way back when I fell in love with this dish, my brother was the executive chef of a waterside restaurant. By that time I was already vegetarian. After a long day's work, he would make for me this dish - pasta with creamy sauce and lots of spring and summer vegetables. There are two ways to make Pasta Primavera: one is made using olive oil and garlic and the other is made using butter, cream and Parmesan cheese, essentially a la Alfredo.

Although there is no way to exactly mimic the flavor of butter and cream (at least none that I have come across), the creaminess of the original dish remains and the stars of the meal -the vegetables- still take center stage. 

My brother limited the pasta to summer squashes and cauliflower, but I kind of went overboard and added anything at all that looked good. When I presented my offering to the kids and went into the details of the name, my kids immediately piped up... "tomatoes aren't a spring plant"..."neither are summer squashes"... yeah, yeah. I loaded tons of spring (and summer) veggies and fruits onto this pasta plate, but you are welcome to be as finicky as my kids tend to be, omitting any at will. 

Cost Breakdown

pasta: $3

onion, garlic, carrot, peppers: $3

flour, milk: $1

cauliflower, asparagus, squash, mushrooms, kale: $9

Total to make 6 servings:

 $16.00

FNF - scampi with linguine

 I was the one who picked this Food Network Friday recipe, originally by Tyler Florence, and I am the last to post about it. It almost seems as though I am cheating by looking at Tami's Vegan Appetite post before actually making the dish. Although I feel bad that I didn't made the recipe much sooner, life at our house for the past month has revolved around our annual homeschool conference. This year I volunteered to be the sign maker for the conference and all I have been seeing, doing, printing, designing and breathing are signs. I'm a little sign-burned-out, to the point that after washing the dishes tonight, I realized that I had only cooked one meal all week, not including this one. How do I know that, you must be asking? 

One, I haven't been doing any dishes this week. And two, I haven't needed to do any since I haven't actually done any cooking that resulted in dishes needing to be done. Vicious, pathetic and yet intriguing happenstance of events. Sort of like a backhanded complement. Is it good or just in the disguise of being good?

Tyler Florence's Shrimp Scampi with Linguine was ultimately picked by my youngest from a choice of three dishes. She hates the idea of shrimp anything (Arthropods are not an ideal meal choice for her, and frankly I myself wonder at the fact that people actually choose to put bugs on their plates instead of having them accidentally be dropped into a dish by some unsanitary restaurant personnel.) I even purchased veggie shrimp to try out once (later having found out that it contained milk - read your labels! - even if you think the company is vegan) and she was put off by the texture and flavor. I found the fake shrimp quite real tasting and so did David. 

We were one of those shrimp-loving nut jobs in our pre-veg days, as ignorant of the whole bug-thing as we were, no excuses! I was a HUGE scampi lover, one not for the love of shrimp, but because I really enjoyed the garlic, olive oil and lemon combination. This still hold true and I've made Scampi more than once and even made Olive Garden's Chicken Scampi. So, for me, this was a great dish to make. But what, oh! what to use instead of the shrimp? Tofu, seitan (sea seitan would have been great here), vegetables? 

To understand the end I need to justify the means. David has been to the doctor for a well-visit and whenever that happens and blood is drawn and analyzed, our family is hit by a reality check and we always wind up reevaluating our diet. The healthiest plate of food to create contains Power Greens, Smart Protein and Super Carbs. This means that anytime you make a plate of food you should have dark leafy greens (not just salad greens), a protein choice (tofu, legumes, seitan, tree nuts) and appropriate carbohydrates (whole grains, winter squash, sweet potatoes, corn, root veggies). With this in mind, I was formulating a plan for the Scampi dish, threatening the family at every turn that I was going to make Kale and Carrot Scampi. Yum, I thought, but hubby says that if I announce the meal's name over a period of days, but not actually make it, I am threatening not cooking. Hmmm... 

Result? Kale, Carrots, Garlic, Lemon and Olive Oil are a match not yet dreamed up in heaven, but certainly should be. I used Meyer lemon and cut the fat in half. It could have been cut by another tablespoon without any problem (down to 3 from 8). I also tripled the garlic and doubled the lemon juice, but that is all according to taste. We loved it and it wasn't a difficult meal to prepare at all. 

A special shout-out to Tami for being so super patient and waiting for me and my blog post! Thank you!!  

mexican-inspired black bean and kale soup

It is when I have to come up with a name for a recipe that I find how much I lack in creativity! It's a shame. I'll ask the kids next time, but for now, this soup is a Mexican-inspired Black Bean and Kale Soup. Since we are trying to incorporate as much greens into our diet as we can, the kale seemed an ideal choice in this recipe. Sweet potatoes and black beans are a natural with some smoky cumin and green chilies.

This soup got better with age; David took it for lunch the next day and raved about it. It's also a very easy one to pull together and is packed with protein and calcium. Kale and black beans are both high in both. Add some vegan sour cream, avocado, cilantro and/or tortilla chips and you have the making of a delicious soup.

Use either an excellent vegetable broth or a vegetable concentrate for the soup base. 

  

Cost Breakdown

celery, carrot, garlic, onion: $1.50

sweet potato, red pepper: $2

can green chilies, tomato paste, veg broth: $2

black beans: $2

spices, lime: $.50

kale: $2

Total to make 6 servings:

$10.00

Mexican-inspired Black Bean and Kale Soup Recipe

udon noodles in shiitaki broth

Asian Night

Japanese udon or soba noodles are frequently eaten with a seaweed or mushroom flavored broth. Tonight I made a shiitaki broth after having tried to make a seaweed broth which I scrapped (the broth was too strong of seaweed and I knew the family would not enjoy it). A piece of kombu is the traditional way to flavor the broth, but I only had arame and apparently I used too much of it.

No matter; I started again and simmered some water with shiitaki stems, onion, garlic, tamari and mirin. After about 15 minutes I strained it and used this as the broth.

For toppings I steamed some kale, sauteed the shiitaki caps and diced celery root, and julienned some white turnips. I used the turnips raw since they were young and crunchy and delicious. Some slivers of raw onion and green pepper added some more dimension and dinner was complete.

It strayed a tad from tradition, but it was very flavorful and had a lot of umami (Japanese deliciousness).

Cost Breakdown:

shiitaki: $4

udon: $2

vegetables: $3

tamari, mirin: $1

Total to make 6 servings:

$10.00

ginger seitan

Asian Night

Cat is Japanese at heart - yeah, big surprise - she's a teenager. I think most teenagers these days are wanna-be Japanese, especially in this age of video games, anime and manga.

When Asian Night comes up, she always requests something that is Japanese. Which is fine by me; otherwise I wouldn't even know some of the dishes that exist.

She wanted me to make Shogayaki. Shoga means ginger and yaki means grill or fry. And that is your five cent language lesson for the week. Shogayaki is pieces of pork stir-fried, sometimes with onions, with a ginger sauce. It is served with shredded cabbage.

This is high on the Simple and Quick List as long as you have seitan. You can also use well-soaked TVP pieces. I defrosted and sliced my Tender Cutlets into thin (1/8 - 1/4 inch) strips, coated them with arrowroot (or cornstarch or flour) and stir fried them with sliced onions.

Then I poured on my ginger sauce - garlic, ginger (lots!), sugar, tamari, toasted sesame oil, mirin and sake (I used white wine) - and let it thicken and coat the seitan.

I served this with the traditional shredded cabbage and not-so-traditional sauteed garlic kale. Really good stuff.

Cost Breakdown

seitan, onions: $3.50

arrowroot, oil: $1

sauce, garlic: $2

cabbage: $2

kale: $2

rice: $.50

Total to make 6 servings:

$11.00

GINGER SEITAN PRINTER FRIENDLY RECIPE

butternut squash and quinoa

Has everyone been inundated with winter squash in their CSA, yet? I have. There is only so much squash soup one can enjoy, and there are only so many kinds of squash soup that are enjoyable. At least for my family.

What to do? I felt like the Sorting Hat when it was trying to decide what house to put Harry in.

To add difficulty to hardship, cookbooks don't exactly burst with winter squash recipes.

Here is my take on my Squash of the Week. Incorporating kale, another cold-weather produce item, I roasted the squash and then mashed it up with a little plant milk. Whipping it into a thick puree, I simply seasoned it with a little salt and pepper.

I topped that with steamed kale, sauteed with a little minced garlic and crushed red pepper. For the protein punch, I cooked some quinoa (1 c quinoa, 2 c water, cook 20 minutes) with a little smoked paprika and salt and pepper. I also pan-seared some tofu slices, just simply seasoning them again with salt and pepper, but this is totally optional since the quinoa is a complete protein. Lastly, since butternut squash is sweet, I accented the sweetness with some caramelized onions.

The squash bakes, the quinoa cooks and the onions caramelize in about the same time, 20 minutes, so this is a quick meal. The last thing to do is steam or pan-sear the kale and the tofu, if using it.

Cost Breakdown:

quinoa: $1

kale: $2

tofu: $2

squash: $2

garlic, spices, onion: $1

Total to make 4 servings:

$8.00

malai kofta

Indian Night

An awesome Indian dish is Malai Kofta. Kofta means "balls" (as in meatballs) and Malai means "cream." Neither of these would lend themselves to veganism and I haven't found a vegan version anywhere.

The kofta can be made with meat or vegetables or beans or cheese. The kofta in Malai Kofta uses paneer, a homemade cheese.

So, let's veganize it!

The sauce is a tomato based gravy with a little cream and some spices, but nothing all that complicated.  In  order to achieve the creaminess that cream brings to the Malai party, I used cashew cream and cashew butter and a few Tablespoons of Earth Balance to up the richness of the sauce.

I made the koftas using chickpeas and fresh herbs. I pan fried them a little and then finished them in the oven.

Although this meal was very successful in terms of flavor, it does not have quite the flavor that cream lends to the original. While there are some dishes that I truly try to achieve authenticity with, this particular one tasted so good that I am not bummed by not hitting the target exactly. It most certainly resembles Malai Kofta, but since I am not using dairy cream, the taste is slightly different. So, if you are not expecting exact replication, this is a total knockout.

For the greens I made the Spinach and Kale Bhaji out of Flavors of India.

Cost Breakdown

cashew: $2

tomato: $3

spices: $1

chickpeas: $2 

herbs: $2

kale, spinach: $4

garlic, onion: $1

Total to feed a family of 6:

$15.00

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