Vegan Recipes and Plant Based Cooking

The secret to making everyday cooking easy is timing. Whenever possible make protein, starch and veg all in one pot. The trick is not to overcook them in the process. Combining foods with contrasting colors is always nice too. It can be quite appetizing and even enhance the psychological taste of the food. A simple example is in the photo. It's garlic mashed potatoes with peas and carrots. the red dust is paprika. A attractive and delicious garnish in this case. Frozen peas are really easy. Just add them after your food is done cooking. Add them to the hot pot of food. Gently stir in. Cover pot and return it to the warm burner. Let sit at least 3 minutes. Green peas are so small it doesn't take much to defrost and warm them through. Frozen carrots, broccoli, cauliflower... items of that density take much longer to cook. Generally about 5 minutes of strong heat to thaw and heat up. In the case of instant mashed potatoes you can add them to the water from the get go. Bring...

10 quick and delicious vegan/vegetarian sandwiches Simple, tasty and inexpensive sandwiches that make healthy and satisfying meat-free meals.

This is a summery salad style dish that works equally well cold as it does warm. While it's not actually risotto, I call it risotto because it mimics the texture and creamy sauciness of real risotto. Just give it a try. You'll see what I mean. It also happens to be super cheap and very easy to make. Ingredients 1/3 cup dry lentils 1/3 cup dry pearl barley 1/4 cup dry white wine (cheap is fine $8-12 per bottle) 1 can petite cut diced tomatoes 1/2 cup frozen mustard greens 5 cloves roughly chopped garlic 3 tbl smart balance light with olive oil 2 tsp montreal chicken seasoning 1 tsp cornstarch 1-1 1/2 cups water I like to begin by cooking my barley. I like to cook it a little longer than I do my lentils. Bring barley and water to a boil and then simmer covered for 3 minutes. Add lentils and 1 tsp montreal seasoning. Continue to simmer until only a little water remains. Add mustard greens and wine. Cook until that has gone. Add tomato. Continue cooking uncovered for 3 more minute...

Panko breadcrumbs were on sale for $1 last week so I decided to try panko crusted fried tofu. The 4C brand was not vegan. It has milk in it. Even the plain. The A&P america's choice brand plain panko does not contain milk. Yay. Why milk in panko? Just because the milk industry is powerful and sneaks it into many foods where it does not belong. All the major brands of pretty much everything seem to have milk as an ingredient 98% of the time. I begin by draining, then marinating my tofu. To drain tofu wrap in a few paper or clean cloth towels and weight with a heavy object like a can of beans. After it has drained on the counter for 15-20 minutes remove from towelling and marinate it in the fridge for 2-4 hours in 3-4 tbls soy sauce, 3 cloves fresh sliced garlic and some black pepper. Then dry fry your vegetables. In my case I used some broccoli and carrots. I just cooked the frozen veg in a large fry pan. Nothing else. No oil. No salt. No water. Just stirring ocassinally an...

This easy sandwich makes a filling and tasty lunch or dinner. I tend to eat it for breakfast, but I am strange and you probably aren't. Every couple of weeks or so I make myself some hormel vegetarian chili with rice or pasta. hormel vegetarian chili is in fact vegan. With pasta it's more of a bowl and fork kinda meal. But with some rice and veg it's also a super sandwich with spice, crunch and texture. For this batch of chili I used jasmine rice. It's similar to white rice, but a firmer texture. I first cook the rice. When it has cooked ten minutes I add my frozen kale. Kale tastes and chews similar to spinach, but is slightly sweeter. Then when the rice is nearly, but not quite done I add the chili, diced garlic and a pinch of cumin and a splash of balsamic vinegar and continue cooking uncovered for about 5 more minutes. Until the chili is heated through and its sauce has thickened a little bit. When I'm satisfied my chili is hot and its viscosity is good I turn ...

Update: my mistake. vigo rice contains dehydrated chicken. don't know how i missed that the first time around. but i found a carolina yellow saffron rice that was animal and dairy free. the spicy yellow is not vegetarian. but the saffron yellow is vegetarian/vegan. i also learned mahamtma rice is the same as carolina rice. different branding depending on your location. visit their website for more detailed info on ingredients. you can quickly look up the nutritional info and ingredients of any of their products. http://www.carolinarice.com/en-us/products/categories/15/RiceMixes.aspx also go to the mahatma site. http://www.mahatmarice.com/en-us/products/categories/2/RiceMixes.aspx notice how it is the same as the carolina one. one brand for the east coast, the other for the west i would guess. The other day I was browsing amazon for vegan food. Rice mixes in particular because I love flavored rice, but do not love buying lots of expensive spices. What I was really cravi...

Dear People @ Stride Gum, Your gum really doesn't seem to last all that long. Perhaps I'm chewing it incorrectly. Please advise. P.S. I like the added vitamin B12. I was going to buy trident, but then I noticed your stride gum package stated it was fortified with vitamins B6 and B12. So I bought your gum instead even though it was 30 cents more for the three pack. P.P.S. I'm curious what made you decide to add those two vitamins in particular. Why not C or E. People seem to like those a lot. Were you consciously targetting vegetarians and vegans or was it just a happy accident? P.P.P.S. Where's the goat? I've been waiting for the goat. I like goats.

This is a simple pasta dish that's great both hot and cold. Pasta in garlicky olive oil with lots of crispy vegetables and some beans and nuts. Instead of cooking your pasta in a big pot of water make your life simpler by using a really big non stick frying pan with high sides. Some people call them chicken fryer pans. They're about 14-16 inches and have extra tall edges. Fill that half way with water and bring to a boil. Once it's come to a boil add hafl a box of pasta and 1 tsp of salt. Ingredients 1/2 box pasta 1 red or green bell pepper diced 6 cloves garlic diced 1/2 cup frozen corn 1/2 cup frozen cauliflower 1/2 cup frozen crinkle cut carrots 1/2 cup dry white wine or zest and juice from one lemon 1 cup rinsed canned black beans 3-4 tsp olive oil 3 tbl smart balance light buttery spread salt, black pepper, onion powder and garlic powder to taste I like to use a mix of fresh and frozen produce. It helps keep the cost down and the flavors bright. I a...

As is evidenced by my many posts on them, I love sandwiches. A lot. Pretty much everything tastes better when in sandwich format. Don't believe me... try it. Take any food and stick it on a roll and I guarantee it will satisfy you better and taste great. It's also easier to eat. Hand-held is the way to go. Here is a pictorial run down of some of great vegan sandwiches. They use uncommon sandwich ingredients, but taste way better than the typical meat and cheese kind. Lightlife bologna style on a bagel. Two slices of the lightlife with pickle and roasted garlic hummus between. Curry lentils and barley on a kaiser roll. Roll is buttered with hummus. Mix of lentils, barley, cauliflower, garlic and mustard greens fill out the sandwich. Recipe for curry lentils Mexican rice on whole wheat bread. It's not much to look at. Kinda beige, but don't let that fool you. The flavors are plenty colorful. Bread is buttered with hummus before adding the rice mix. Recipe for...