Vegan Recipes and Plant Based Cooking

In the throes of my new blender obsession I toyed with yet another saucy concoction. This time I purchased some fresh dill and a lemon in addition to my usual arsenal of garlic and onion. The sauce is pictured here atop a bed of fresh chopped kale and spanish onion. That is then topped with extra runny, garlic mashed potatoes with jalapeno, corn and green peas. Over that are some black beans. The dill sauce is the crowning touch. It's food like this that really reinforces my love for vegetarian eating. There are just so many tastes and textures to experience. Here's how I made the dill sauce... 4 handfuls fresh dill 5 cloves garlic 1/4 cup sliced sweet onion Zest and juice from one lemon 1/4 cup dill pickle juice 1 small jalapeno 1/4 cup kale 1/4 cup water 1 tbl olive oil 1 tbl plain cream cheese Fresh ground black pepper, Ground cumin and Paprika to taste Buzz it all up until pretty smooth. Let chill in fridge for at least 2 hours before using. Use on everything. S...

Zest and juice from 1 lime 2 small chipotles with 1/4 cup of the sauce 3 large cloves of garlic roughly chopped 1/2 cup yellow onion, sliced 1/4 cup dill pickle juice 1/3 cup rinsed canned black beans and 2 tsps of their liquid (not the original can liquid, but the liquid that remains after rinsing and storing) 1/4 cup fresh kale, well chopped 1 tbl cream cheese 1/4 tsp turmeric 1/2 tsp paprika fresh ground black pepper to taste Buzz all ingredients in a blender until thoroughly combined. There can be a few pieces/chunks, but it should be 95% liquid. Transfer to a storage container. Let sit at least 3 hours in fridge before using. Use as a salad dressing, on beans, rice, potatoes, pasta, sandwiches. It also makes a great gazpacho starter or soup starter.

I decided to try using chipotle as an ingredient. I've had it in hummus. I love chipotle hummus. So I got myself some goya chipotle. I also got some cilantro. I was thinking a more latin styled chimichuri was something fun to attempt. I added the cilantro, some of the chipotle and its sauce, garlic, ginger, a little olive oil. Gave it all a buzz. When I tasted it I was surprised... it wasn't all that flavorful. So in went more chipotle. More cilantro. More of everything. I tasted again and was pretty pleased... knowing the flavors tend to intensfiy after they've had a chance to sit and mingle. I saved it in the fridge intending to return to it the next day. Which I did. It was pretty intense. It went from quite mild to very strong. I put some on my salad and I was sweating bullets. Let me just say, I'm no stranger to heat, but Goya means business with their chipotles in adobo sauce. That is some intense stuff. I don't know if it's just me, but I ta...

I got a blender for christmas. I had been wanting one for a long time. I watch the food network show "Chopped" religiously. On Chopped the chefs are constantly utilizing the blender to make all manner of purees and sauces. I found myself very much wanting to be able to do similarly creative things. On the inaugural run of my new blender I made a classic chimichuri. This was simply because I had leftover parsley from christmas dinner. It was good and I quickly devoured it. It took me a while to get around to the second try. Not for lack of desire, but simply because the food store was very hectic every time I went there. There was New Year's and then there was a big, big blizzard. There was no real opportunity to browse for blender ingredients. Finally the moment presented itself. I had pickles, celery, garlic and jalapeno, hot sauce. I was excited to really get busy with my new blender. I added all my ingredients to the machine, plus some pickle juice and some water and ...

A flavorful broth is essential when preparing dried lentils and/or barley. Cooking without meat is a trial in creativity. Extracting flavor from hidden sources. I love using onion broth as a base, for which I've already posted the recipe. Sometimes however, I don't have onion scraps. The horror! So finding myself without the ingredients to make an onion broth I tried making a garlic broth instead. In which I later cooked my lentils and barley. It was quite successful in my opinion. A step a lot of people skip, which they shouldn't, is tasting the broth. I taste broth during the cooking process and adjust the seasons as needed. Garlic Broth 6 cloves garlic, partially cut into a few times The shells from those garlic cloves, not the outer paper 3-5 Ribs with seed clumps attached from jalapeno peppers 1/2 cup dry white wine 1 tsp olive oil 1-3 tsps hot sauce 2 tsps red robin spice blend salt and pepper to taste Simmer everything in at least 2 cups water for a minimum of 20 min...