Vegan Recipes and Plant Based Cooking

Let's badger the FDA until they have to do what we want. The government and its plethora of agencies are all pretty useless. I can't believe it's 2011 and vegetarians and vegans still have to wonder what's in their food. Mystery chemical ingedients and presrvatives have many possible origins both animal and vegetable. Naturals flavors can be pretty much anything. Cyanide is a natural flavor. Cheese is the a big issue for vegetarians. 99% of cheeses just list rennet or enzymes with absolutely no indication whether they are derived from plants or mammals. You would think cheese makers would be proud to say their cheese is vegetarian. Are they all dim? It would sell more cheese. Don't they want to sell more cheese? So in protest I've decided to send an email per day to the FDA continually making the same simple request. That food labeling standards be updated to indicated whether animals or animal byproducts were sourced. Now if each vegetarian and vegan does this,...

The other day I tried Nueva Concina Mexican Rice. To it I added some frozen kale, frozen cauliflower and canned pinto beans. I also added some fresh sliced garlic as well. I pretty much add fresh garlic to just about everything I eat. There is no such thing as too much garlic. I really like the product. Mild, but very nice latin flavor. I'm not sure it's really mexican rice. It was peppery and a little bit spicy, but didn't feel mexican per se. I'd call it more of a latin fusion. It's a way better deal than a lot of other pre-flavored rices. The package is much larger for the same or only a little more money. There are a lot of nice big vegetables in it. Whole green peas, big cuts of carrot and celery. Something I"m not accustomed to from other prepared rice mixes. A high quality product to be sure. The flavors with beans seem an even better deal. I've not even them yet, but if the veg in their mexican rice is any indication, there should be a generous p...

I've eaten exactly two brands of pre-made hummus. Sabra and Athenos. The difference between them is astonishing. I used to make my own faux hummus with chick peas, lemon, garlic and white vinegar. Not traditional by any means, but I loved the taste. Just didn't love the effort involved. When I tried Sabra hummus for the first time I was in love. The roasted garlic flavor is literally one of the best foods I've ever eaten. If I had to pick only one food to eat for the rest of my life it would be a toss up between Sabra roasted garlic hummus and Lightlife veggie burgers. If I could live a nutritionally sound life eating only those two foods I would have no complaints at all. So when Athenos hummus was on a big half price sale I grabbed two tubs. How strangely different it is. I can't call it bad, just not quite right. I read the ingredients like three times on both brands and can see very little difference. Athenos uses olive oil where Sabra uses soy bean oil. Olive oil ...

So I made my lentil and barley curry as planned. Well, not exactly as planned, but I did make it and it came out pretty good if I do say so myself. Try some yourself and you be the judge. Considering how bland lentils can be I consider the dish a wild success. It was very easy and had only a few ingredients. Sadly I forgot to buy jalapeno, which I think would've been great. I also eschewed the tomato I originally planned to use. Not because I think it would be bad that way. It'd probably be very good. Just wasn't in a tomato sorta mood. This is a simple, very american style curry. Still, it has a lot of nice flavors and a respectable amount of spice. Best of all it's totally vegan. I did the best I could with the picture. I am a lousy photographer. It looks much tastier in real life. Ingredients 1/2 cup dry pearl barley 1/2 cup dry lentils 1-3 tsps curry powder (I used McCormick because that was all I could find) 5 large cloves roughly sliced garlic Zest and juice fr...

I bought curry powder in the supermarket the other day. Yes, I'm well aware that it's 'wrong' to buy curry powder. That one is supposed to buy the individual spices are combine them in their own tested and preferred preference. But to buy all those spices did not seem practical. Even buying the curry powder didn't really seem practical. It was $3.19 for this little tiny jar. I guesstiamte it's 7-10 uses. But I really love curry and it's cheaper than buy pre-made. Beside that, I"m kind of interested to create my own, even if it's the half ass curry powder kind, I think there are still many details one can add to make it their own. The use of fresh garlic enhances any dish. In my opinion big chunks of lightly cooked garlic are just about the best thing one can possibly put into one's mouth. I kind of plan on borrowing from several pre-made curries I've tasted and adding a few tricks of my own. I don't plan on a entirely authentic Indian cu...

My apologies. I have not been creating new veg dishes lately. Have just been cycling through eating the ones I've already detailed here. I like them, so I revisit often. But new posts that does not make. However, I have been contemplating a new vegan recipe lately. It's a bit time consuming and requires some ingredients I don't currently have on hand. But it's a re-make of something I used to make before I went veg. Back then I was famous (amongst family anyway) for my turkey sausage risotto. They would beg me to make it. Now they don't beg me to make anything cause it won't have meat. sigh. Well, no, that's not entirely true, they really do love my vegetarian lasagna with beans. But having had the good fortune to get a free sample of lightlife smart ground sausage flavor not that long ago and having enjoyed it very much, got me to thinking. It might be a perfect way to recreate the risotto I was once so beloved for without killing any turkeys. I don...

A great little sandwich I made the other day was hummus and lightlife bologna style with some dill pickle. Really simple. I built my sandwich on a thomas' bagel (which has no egg or milk). The important step is to lay down one slice of lightlife then slather that with hummus and cover with another slice. Top with pickle, onion, pepper, or any combo thereof. So easy to make in the morning for breakfast or prepare and wrap for a take to work lunch. Really filling. The hummus and lightlife really pack the protein and iron. The thomas' bagel has a good amount of protein and iron too. Another filling way to eat hummus is just have half a bagel and cover it with hummus and eat with a side of low salt lays potato chips or dry roasted edammame. I find both these meals very filling, satisfying and enduring. My taste buds are satiated and my stomach doesn't nag me for at least 3 or 4 hours after.

The other day I made a really summery flavored rice starting from scratch. It just hit the spot in this hot, hot, hot weather. Full of citrus and garlic in was cooling and fresh. The best part of all, very few ingredients and quick to cook. No box. No flavor packet. I just basically used plain jasmine rice, some garlic and lemon. Ingredients 1 cup jasmine rice 1/2 can vegetable broth 1/2 cup white wine 1/2 cup frozen chopped broccoli 6 cloves sliced garlic 1 lemon 1 tsp olive oil salt, pepper and garlic powder Begin by adding rice and broth to a pot, cover and bring to a boil Once it has come to a boil lower heat and let simmer until most of the liquid is absorbed. Add wine and olive oil. Keep simmering covered again until there is only about a 1/4 cup of the liquid remaining. Add garlic, olive oil, zest and juice from lemon. Simmer uncovered 1-2 minutes more. Taste. Add salt, pepper and garlic powder to taste. A lot of pepper is really good. It plays nicely off the...

Beans make some of the best sandwiches. I have proof. The other day I made the most delicious sandwich. Totally vegan too. And very healthy and nutritionally diverse. My special ingredient was hummus. Lost of people eat hummus. It's nothing new. But I doubt most folks know what a great sandwich it can help to make. I built my sandwich on a kaiser roll. Slathering each side with some roasted garlic hummus. Then added pinto beans. The hummus is great because it helps keep the beans in place. Then added some nutritional yeast and topped with dill pickle slices. I would've never believed it had I not eaten it myself. But the combo of pickle, yeast and hummus really made a superb sandwich. When I think about all the sandwiches I've augmented with cheese I wish I tried using hummus sooner. It has about the same amount of fat as a slice of cheese but so much more flavor. The pickle juice and hummus run together and create this delicious, drippy, gooey ooze. The yeast add t...

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