I'm bad folks, I know. It's been a while since I've updated, however, I haven't had time to sit down and do the art for the recipes. However, we've decided it might be best if I just post the recipes and do the art when I can. Therefore, I should be fully able to continue posting consistantly once more!

 

This week's recipe is a Vegan Peanut Butter Cup Sheet. Simplified. My husband used to love Reeces, and because they contain milk, they obviously aren't suitable for us. Finally I got around to appeasing his craving by creating this recipe. He loved it, and now I keep it on hand all the time to have something sweet to eat - a little goes a long way with this treat!

 

Vegan Peanut Butter Cup Sheet 

 

Ingredients:

1 16 oz. bag of semi-sweet vegan chocolate chips or chunks

1 small jar of peanut butter

1/3 cup pure cane sugar

1 tablespoon of vanilla 

2 disposable pie plates and a medium/small pot

 

Directions: 

Boil half a pot of water and set a pie plate on top. Pour half the bag of chocolate chips on top and stir until fully melted. Pour that into your second pie plate, then set it in the freezer to chill for 5-10 minutes.

Mix peanut butter, sugar and vanilla together and melt in the same fashion. Pour this over the chilled chocolate, then chill again. This time it might take longer because peanut butter takes longer to firm.

 

Repeat the chocolate process again, spread over the top and chill once more. This time, you can wait as little as 30 minutes, or as long as overnight. Keep in the freezer until you're ready to eat it. I like to cut pieces and eat a little every now and again; this keeps well for long periods of time.

 

Servings: 9

 

Cheers and Happy Eating!

Amber Finch 

I have been a busy body for the past two weekends! You have my apologies for lack of updates, but I got married! However, this does give me the opportunity to spotlight a certain recipe that I have been thinking about since the day I tried it, and give a few cooking hints, tips and tricks. 

As usual, my husband and I were perusing through the store scoping out vegan samples. About one out of five are vegan. This day we happened across something called Raspberry Chipotle Black Bean Salsa. Naturally, I was completely turned off by the idea of something spicy and sweet. Unless it’s Chinese food, I don’t really care for it, or so I thought. I was surprised! The taste was like a tiny little explosion of delicious in my mouth and so refreshing. I snatched the available recipe and I’m bringing it to you today in hopes that you give it a shot! 

 

 

 

 

Ingredients: 

   1 container of Pico de Gallo

   1/3 Cup Roasted Raspberry Chipotle Sauce

   1 can of Corn, drained

   1 can Black Beans, drained 
 

Directions: 

Mix all ingredients together and serve with your favorite chips. For a twist, add a can of Mandarin Orange slices, drained and chopped. 
 

That’s it! Sounds easy, doesn’t it? Now, I have really been wanting to share a few cooking tips with you all. Just some little things that either I learned myself, online, or my grandmother or mother taught me. 

Garlic: Are you ever tired of peeling those tasty cloves? Peal no more! Simply place the clove you want peeled on the countertop or a cutting board. Next, take your knife, wooden spoon or rolling pin and set it on top (flat end up with knifes!). With the palm of your hand, SMACK the knife, wooden spoon or rolling pin down against the garlic. What is left is a split garlic peeling that is easily separated from your smashed clove – and smashing the cloves is how you bring the best flavor out of your garlic. 

Did you over-garlic something? Don’t fret, it can still be saved (most likely). Add some dried Cilantro to the dish and it will take down the garlic flavor. This requires a lot but it is worth it at times to salvage a dinner. 
 

Pastries: Don’t have a pastry cutter? Ever heard the term “cut shortening into flour”? Two butterknives moving in opposite directions of each other will do the trick! Take one in each hand and face them toward each other. Press down into the bowl, then pull them away from each other in opposite directions. Repeat as necessary. 

When rolling out pastry crust, place it between two floured sheets of wax paper before rolling. This will make it easy to place the crust into the pan and you won’t have to get it warm with your hands, which is detrimental to pastry crust.

 

“Cheese”-like flavors: Trying to acquire a cheesy flavor in a certain dish? If you’re thinking about cheddar-cheese, just remember that it has a bite to it. Often times mustard, nutritional yeast and lemon juice can manipulate your taste buds into thinking something tastes like cheddar.

 

Egg Replacers: Don’t forget that you can always go by an omni recipe, and simply substitute what isn’t vegan for what is! Where most vegans get hung up is egg replacers. Here are some foods that are equivalent to one egg when put in recipes that require baking:  

1/3 cup potato starch or potato flakes

1 heaping tablespoon of unsweetened applesauce

1/2 banana, mashed

1 tablespoon of mashed flax seeds plus 3 tablespoons of water

1/4 cup blended silken tofu

1/4 cup soy yogurt 

Don’t go and mix all of these together: Each one is it’s own egg replacer. It is equal to one egg. 

Cleaning: Baking soda and water will clean anything and everything. Boil to get stains out of your cooking ware. For ovens and stovetops, sprinkle baking soda and sea salt. Spritz with warm water over as long as you deem necessary. When you feel it is time, wipe away with a rag. This even works for heavy-duty oven messes. Believe me, I know!

 

I hope that these tips will help you in the future, but for now, get on that salsa!

 

Cheers & Happy Eating!

Amber Finch

 

I have something to confess, readers. As a cook, I get highly annoyed when I see so many vegans rely on soy sauce, tamari, teriyaki and other salty oriental-flavored ingredients to flavor every single dish. Nothing but the greatest respect is what I have for those who can create new meals, mix and match recipes, and for those vegan pioneers who always try to make some old favorite completely cruelty-free. However, when it comes to something down-home and Southern like chicken fried “steak”, “ham”burgers, and tofu “turkeys”... leave the soy sauce in the fridge.

I am here to break your soy sauce chains.

On an episode of The Food Network’s Top 5 regarding the Top Five Things That Taste Like Chicken, you might be surprised to know Tofurkey ranked number two.

Forget that. It doesn’t.

Tofurkey does not taste like chicken. It does not taste like turkey. Chicken and turkey taste awful, and I praise the Gods and Goddesses that no matter how hard you plead with a lump of tofu, it’s not going to taste like dead animal. The spices are what make the flavor. This dish is going to rely on Sage and Thyme, primarily. As for the stuffing, I do have a wonderful stuffing recipe I want to share with you, but today is not that day. Instead, I suggest you use Pepperidge Farm cubed, herb seasoned stuffing or some other kind that you may be partial to. The Tofurkey is work enough without making home-made stuffing to go along with it, and you’ll only need a little bit. The PF brand does have High Fructose Corn Syrup in it, so if you are trying to avoid that at all costs then I’d suggest going with something else. In our house we try to avoid HFCS because it has been known to cause diabetes when eaten every day as most people do; but one dinner with it won’t hurt you. At the very least, you can trust that it’s vegan!

For this recipe you are going to need cheesecloth. If you don’t have cheesecloth, you can substitute it with an old, extremely thin, loosely woven pillowcase that has been washed thoroughly, or an old sheet of the same type. It needs to be at the very least, two foot by two foot. I would go with 3x3 to have ample coverage for the tofu.

The goal of any Tofurkey should not be to take the place of a dead bird. Instead, the goal is to make a delicious Southern dish that can remind you of the scent and flavor of the holidays, and make a wonderful main course for just such an occasion. Are you ready? Here we go.

Stuffed Tofurkey Loaf 

Tofurkey:

    3 blocks of firm tofu
    2 tablespoons sage
    2 tablespoons thyme
    1 tablespoon poultry seasoning
    1 teaspoon garlic powder
    1 teaspoon cumin
    1/2 cup good quality vegetable broth

Stuffing:

    1 small onion, chopped fine
    3 stalks celery, diced
    1 cup mushrooms, finely chopped
    3 to 4 cloves garlic, minced
    2 teaspoons sage
    2 teaspoons oregano
    2 teaspoons thyme
    salt and pepper to taste
    3 cups Pepperidge Farm Herb Stuffing
    olive oil or margarine for sauteing.

Recommended Option:
Vegan brown gravy. You can usually find this in the organic section of your supermarket. If you can’t find any, here is a good recipe for it.

Supplies:
Colander, large mixing bowl, cheesecloth, knife, cutting board, loaf pan, aluminum foil, wooden spoon.


Directions:

Day 1:
The night before you plan to eat your Tofurkey, take out a large mixing bowl, a colander, a dinner plate and something very heavy. You will also need the cheesecloth, tofu, and the 1/2 cup veggie broth.

Set the colander into the bowl and lay out your cheesecloth so that it overlaps the edges but covers it all completely. Crumble the tofu well and place it in the cloth. Pour the veggie broth over the tofu, wrap the cheesecloth over it, set the dinner plate on top of that with your heavy object. The purpose of the dinner plate is to keep the heavy object from actually coming into contact with the tofu, so it can be anything. Luckily, when I made this dish it was very cold outside, and we had an outside room that had no heat - I simply set the entire pressed tofu out in the cold until the next day! You may not have such a place though, so make sure you have room in your fridge, and leave it there overnight.


Day 2: (Note: If you are not using brown gravy, then just put all of the mushrooms and onions below instead of 3/4.)

Saute the 3/4 of the onion you had set aside with the celery in a little olive oil or vegan margarine, in a medium saucepan. Add garlic and 3/4 of the mushrooms you set aside, taking care not to burn them. Follow the instructions on the stuffing bag, adding the spices set aside for the stuffing to the water as it heats up.

If you are using brown gravy, prepare it now, and preheat your oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit.

It’s time for the tofu. Take it out of the fridge and get it all unwrapped, dump it into a bowl and toss out the excess liquid that strained through. Mix in your spices well with a wooden spoon, if you feel it needs more then feel free to add it. It is very hard to over spice this dish. In a loaf pan, make a ‘shell’ of tofu, about one to two inches thick on all sides, packing it tightly and leaving the top open. Basically, it’s going to look like a thick crust. Spoon in stuffing until it almost reaches the top of the tofu, and here I like to put just about three tablespoons of gravy or so over the stuffing. If you made it, do the same.

 

 

Now cover the top with tofu and smooth it out so it looks like a nice, solid loaf. At this point, you’re going to pour some of the gravy over the top, smothering it. Cover it completely with foil and bake for around one hour, depending on individual oven temperatures.

If you made gravy, now is the time to sauté your extra onions and mushrooms. Add them into what’s left of the gravy.

Once the turkey is done, paste individual slices with the gravy and serve with any extra stuffing and cranberry sauce!

Servings: 4

The holidays left me with little time to do complete drawings for you all, I hope that some digital sketches will suffice!

Also I must give lots of thanks to my guy who took the time to transfer what seems like over a hundred of my recipes from my old PC to my iBook. Vegan guys are the sweetest. ;)

Cheers and Happy Eating!
Amber Finch

(The following was meant for last weekend, unfortunately the site was down for a while and I was unable to post. Sorry this is late, and Happy Holidays everyone!)

This weekend I will be heading out for a few days, unfortunately I don’t have time to bring you guys a brand new recipe this time. However, I did stumble upon one that I think you might like.

While my spouse and I were grocery shopping, there was a couple of happy looking gals by a piano that played itself – I know, fancy smancy! They were giving out free samples of what appeared to be wine and champagne. Come to find out, they were alcohol free! So I, like many people… passed them up. After a while, the fresh fruits and herbs being cut into the wines were too much to resist, so we stopped by and asked a few questions. It turns out the poor girls had hardly given out any samples. Most people (like us) were not interested in taste testing alcohol free wines. They gave us as much as we wanted, because they were leaving soon, and all of it was going to go to waste. I have to say, this particular wine concoction was simply delicious!

The company that posted this recipe is called Fre, and I am pretty sure that their wine is Vegan; however, you may feel more comfortable using a wine that you’re more familiar with. What I liked about this alcohol free wine was that the delicious flavor of the grapes were not drowned out by the sharp flavor of alcohol, and the fruit just made this luscious aroma drift about the area.


I urge you to try this with your favorite non-alcoholic wine, or even a nice organic grape juice. Enjoy!

1 heaping tablespoon of diced strawberries
1 tablespoon torn basil
1 ounce simple syrup*
1/4 ounce freshly squeezed lemon juice
4 ounces Vegan White Zinfandel alcohol-removed wine

Muddle strawberries, basil and simple syrup in the bottom of a tall glass. Add ice. Fill with Vegan White Zinfandel.

* Bring 1 cup of water, 2 cups of Vegan sugar to a boil, then reduce temperature and simmer for 5 minutes. Cool, and refrigerate.

 

 

When I first became a Vegan, one of my major concerns was that I would never again taste a hamburger. My initial experience with veggie burgers was when I was probably around 12; my step-mother, sister-in-law and I were at a semi-popular diner in Corpus Christi, Texas. My sister-in-law was a vegetarian and hadn’t finished her dinner, so being the little glutton for food that I am, I asked for her leftovers. Oh boy! I didn’t realize just how bad veggie burgers could be! To this day I can see why so many meat-eaters have snubbed their nose at veggie burgers, if they grew up seeing vegetarians eat things like that.

In this house we’ve eaten many kinds of frozen veggie burgers: Morningstar Farms, Boca, Gardenburger. All of these, while great when you’re in a pinch and need food quickly, leave a kind of soy-heartburn aftertaste. I don’t know what it is about these frozen patties, but I’m aware of at least a handful of people who can’t- or won’t- eat them because of this. If you were trying to introduce a meat-eater to vegetarian cuisine, I would definitely not recommend the frozen burger patties.

Since then I have dabbled in quite a few recipes. Some called for many ingredients, some called for only a few. I have tried tofu, seitan, and corn-based burgers, and yes, even a few black bean. I’d almost given up hope, and while the actual flavor of meat disgusts me, I’d wondered; would I forever be lost to the taste and texture of a hamburger? It suddenly occurred to me the one thing that I hadn’t tried yet – creating my own recipe. After a few days of researching what seemed to be the best recipes on the internet for Vegan burgers, a base was chosen – black beans. In the pictures and from what I read of people’s comments on them, they had the best color and texture for the job. Presentation is everything in some dishes. I wouldn’t want to eat a yellow hamburger, after all. Some recipes were toyed with, altered, and all around violated until I found the right combination of ingredients for what I will shamelessly proclaim to be the BEST Vegan Black Bean Burger recipe in the world.

Yes. The WORLD.

Well, perhaps not the world, but I know you will be pleased; I have yet to hear a complaint on these scrumptious patties.

Some black bean factoids I thought I might share: Did you know that if you combine black beans with rice, you achieve a complete protein source, including all essential amino acids? They are very high in cholesterol-lowering fiber, and although most Vegans don’t seem to have to worry about their cholesterol or heart attacks, fiber is something all of us could get a little more of in our diets. They are an excellent source of Iron, Magnesium, Phosphorous, and Folate, and a good source of Zinc, Thiamine and Niacin. They prevent blood sugar levels from rising too rapidly after meals, which make it a good choice for diabetics and those with insulin resistance. They are often proclaimed to be one of the world’s healthiest foods.

I could go on and on about black beans, if you do a little research you will see, it would take me pages and pages to tell you everything there is to know about them, but, I know we’re all hungry – tonight I’ll be making these myself – so let’s get to the recipe!

 

Ingredients:

*3 16 oz. cans of black beans, rinsed and drained
*1 1/2 cups uncooked regular oats
*2 jalapeno peppers, seeded, washed and chopped finely    
*2 cloves of garlic, minced
*1/4 cup dried cilantro
*3/4 cup salsa (medium or hot)
*1/4 cup unsweetened applesauce
*1 teaspoon salt
*1/3 cup flour
*1/3 cup cornmeal
*1 cup Japanese breadcrumbs
*vegetable oil for frying
*A few dashes of each: Chili powder, onion powder, cumin, oregano, pepper, poultry seasoning. I normally generously season the mixture with these before making patties. This is optional, but recommended.


Supplies:
*Skillet
*Cutting Board
*Knife, Spatula, Wooden Spoon
*Large Mixing Bowl, Plate, Paper Towels


Directions:

With your hands, mash and squeeze beans in a large mixing bowl until they resemble mush, but are still coarse. Combine the rest of the ingredients with the beans and mix thoroughly. Here is where I like to add all of those ‘optional’ spices. They really give to the flavor and scent of this food, but if you don’t want to, they taste fine without it. If your mixture is too wet, add a little more flour and cornmeal. If too dry, add more salsa.

Shape into patties, keeping in mind that these burgers don’t shrink like meat. I like to put a ball of it into my hand, flatten it out and take off whatever falls outside the range of my palm. If your mixture is too wet, you can add a little more flour and/or cornmeal to keep it together.

Fry patties in a little vegetable oil on medium heat, flipping once. You can use an iron or non-stick skillet, either has worked for me, but I have never cooked them on stainless steel. Drain on a paper towel.

These are great with Vegan whole grain wheat bread and Vegenaise.

Serves: 6 to 8

Cheers and Happy Eating!
Amber Finch

 

 

 

That’s right, Vegan Noodle Dumplings, a twist on an old favorite (Chicken and Dumplings) that even meat-eaters will love! Don’t confuse the title with noodles and dumplings, this soft-yet-firm pasta is somewhere in between the two; and I think you’ll be pleasantly surprised by this tasty little dish.

(Bare with my oblong artwork, I have a broken finger that’s on the mend!)

Noodles have been around for ages, and the origins of the noodle is still up for debate. However, recent evidence suggests that the Chinese might have been the first to chow down on a bowl of hot pasta. One thing is for sure, many connoisseurs religiously believe that every good noodle absolutely must contain egg – and this is simply not true! In the coming months I will show you many pasta recipes that do not require egg; in fact, the addition of egg would ruin it, not to mention your health.

Almost everyone knows what a dumpling is. What some Westerners might be surprised to learn is that the Chinese may also be responsible for creating these beloved dough balls (pdf). They can be used in many ways, such as fried, stuffed and stewed. My personal favorite for dumplings is savory; I love for them to soak up the flavor of what they are being cooked with, and gently co-exist with it, bringing a nice meaty texture to the whole ensemble.

Vegan Noodle Dumplings

 

 

Ingredients:

*3 cups of Unbleached White Flour
*16 oz. Vegetable Broth
*4 tbsp. Unsweetened Applesauce (no additives)
*1/2 cup Vegan Margarine
*Heaping teaspoon of organic, unbleached sugar
*Thyme, garlic, salt, pepper, onion powder on hand.
*Extra flour for rolling dough

Supplies:

*Large bowl
*Wooden spoon (I like wooden for dough; you can use metal if you desire.)
*Measuring cup
*Rolling pin, broom handle or something similar
*Strainer
*Large pot

Personally, I prefer Smart Balance Light as the vegan butter. It has a wonderful flavor, soft texture, and is available in most grocery stores in several countries.


Dough Preparation:

Don’t be frightened! Roll up those sleeves – we are making these pasta-dumplings from scratch! You’re even going to learn to ‘wing it’, that’s the way my grandmother taught me and that’s what makes a good cook: the ability to judge without relying too heavily on measuring cups and spoons.

 

Take your flour and pour it into the bowl, adding a dash of salt and sugar (about a teaspoon each.) Make a well in the center. In that well, drop the applesauce and mix around with the spoon. Once that’s done, you’re going to take some of the vegetable broth and wet the flour, working it with your hands. You only want it wet enough to make a nice, stiff dough that isn’t too sticky, so be sparing with it. If you get it too wet, don’t fret! Just add a dash more flour until you get the stickiness out.

(The next part is for rolling and slicing the dough into pasta – if you have a pasta machine, you may use that instead and skip down to boiling and sauce prep.)

 

Once you have the dough ball formed, place it on a lightly floured surface. You’re going to want to flour up your rolling pin too, and it might be easier for you to tear the ball into smaller balls and roll them out as flat as you can – you have to really work it! If you think it’s flat enough, flatten it more.

 

To make the pasta strands, you’re going to want to roll up the dough (think “Pumpkin Roll” or “Cinnamon Bun”, or even the way you might roll a newspaper – see image above). Take a sharp knife and cut across the roll, slicing thinly, and once you’ve cut it in slices all the way down, unroll your pasta – voila! You have strands of pasta ready for drying or cooking.


Boiling and Sauce Preparation:

Set out your pot and fill it with water, let the water come to a rolling boil. Put the pasta in and allow it to cook on medium heat for 8 to 15 minutes. Once they are al dente, you’re going to want to strain and rinse them with lukewarm water.

Take the large pot now, and fill it with the remaining vegetable stock. Let it come to a simmer, and add the vegan margarine. Once that’s all melted together, you’re going to want to add the spices. To me, Thyme and Pepper make this dish. Add about a tablespoon of Thyme, and one to two Tablespoons of pepper. Also put in a few dashes of salt, garlic powder, and onion powder – even garlic salt and oregano, if you have it on hand. Allow it to simmer for another thirty seconds, stirring it all up, and then pour in your drained and rinsed noodle-dumplings.

Stir thoroughly and serve! As you get a feel for this dish, you may choose to make more sauce, some people may like it to be more like a soup, while others more like a pasta.

 

Serves: 3 to 4


Every weekend I’ll present you with a new dish, complete with custom illustrations – I hope you’ll join me and learn how to make wonderful, simple vegan meals. Most of my recipes use very basic ingredients, ones you can usually find at any grocer – vegan cooking needs a little simplicity!


Cheers & Happy Eating,
Amber Finch

VEGANlSM DEFINED
(The Vegetarian World Forum
No.1 Vol.5 - SPRING 1951 pp.6-7)

Recently the Vegan Society adopted revised and extended rules which among other things clarify the goal towards which the movement aspires.

The Society's object and meaning of the word "veganism", have until now been matters of inference and personal predilection, are now defined as follows:

'The object of the Society shall be to end the exploitation of animals by man"; and 'The word veganism shall mean the doctrine that man should live without exploiting animals."

The Society pledges itself 'in pursuance of its object" to 'seek to end the use of animals by man for food, commodities, work, hunting, vivisection and all other uses involving exploitation of animal life by man.

Membership [in] the Society is available to all who wish to see the object achieved and who undertake to live as closely to the ideal as personal circumstances permit. An Associate makes no promise as to behaviour but declares himself in agreement with the object. The door is thus widely opened, and the Society welcomes all who feel able to support it. Direction and management of the Society's work, however, rest with the members.

The effect of this development is to make veganism unique among movements concerned with animal welfare. For it has crystallised as a whole and not, as are all other such movements, as an abstraction. Where every other movement deals with a segment - and therefore deals directly with practices rather than with principles - veganism is itself a principle, from which certain practices logically flow.

If, for example, the vegan principle is applied to diet, it can at once be seen why it must be vegetarian in the strictest sense and why it cannot contain any foods derived from animals. One may become a vegetarian for a variety of reasons - humanitarian, health, or mere preference for such a diet; The principle is a matter of personal feeling, and varies accordingly. Veganism, however, is a principle - that man has no right to exploit the creatures for his own ends - and no variation occurs. Vegan diet is therefore derived entirely from "fruits, nuts, vegetables, grains and other wholesome non-animal products," and excludes "flesh, fish, fowl, eggs, honey and animal milk and its derivatives.''

In a vegan world the creatures would be reintegrated within the balance and sanity of nature as she is in herself. A great and historic wrong, whose effect upon the course of evolution must have been stupendous, would be righted. The idea that his fellow creatures might be used by man for self-interested purposes would be so alien to human thought as to be almost unthinkable. In this light, veganism is not so much welfare as liberation, for the creatures and for the mind and heart of man; not so much an effort to [make] the present relationship bearable, as an uncompromising recognition that because it is in the main one of master and slave, it has to be abolished before something better and finer can be built.

Veganism is in truth an affirmation that where love is, exploitation vanishes. It possesses historical continuity with the movement that set free the human slaves. Were it put into effect, every basic wrong done to animals by man would automatically disappear. At its heart is the healing power of compassion, the highest expression of love of which man is capable. For it is a giving without hope of a getting. And yet, because he would free himself from many of the demands made by his own lower nature, the benefit to man himself would be incalculable.

Leslie Cross, (Vice-President,Vegan Soc.)
39, Willow Crescent East, Uxbridge, Middx.