Vegan Recipes and Plant Based Cooking

Black bean and corn salad. Not a new concept by any means. But this is streamlined and simplified and 100% vegan. I also added some rice to bulk it up. Veggies are great, but rice costs less. This salad still contains plenty of crisp and crunchy produce. The rice adds filing bulk, saves money and layers on another texture. Ingredients 1 can black beans well rinsed 1 cup frozen corn niblets 2/3 cups frozen red/green bell peppers 12 cloves fresh garlic 1 cup jasmine rice 1 3/4 cups water 1 lime olive oil hot sauce chili powder, onion powder, paprika, garlic powder, salt and pepper Cook rice in water. When rice is done cooking add garlic, frozen corn and frozen peppers. Return still hot pot to still warm, but turned off burner on stove, cover and let sit about 5 minutes. When frozen veg are thawed, remove from stove and pour pot contents into a heat/fridge safe storage container. Add zest from lime and all the juice you can squeeze from it. Add a drizzle of olive oi...

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...