Shredded 'Chicken' Chili

I decided to go with another recipe from The Everything Vegan Slow Cooker Cookbook for dinner tonight. But I didn't think of it until late in the day so instead of sitting in the crock pot on low for 5-6 hours, I just tossed it all in a big pot on the stove for about an hour and a half. The kids LOVED it! My 15 year old said it was the best chili he's ever eaten! In his words, "even better than anything Jayden's mom makes and she cooks for a living". ;) I doubled the recipe in the book and there is not a single drop left. They said I definitely need to make this one again, though I think next time I may have to quadruple it!

Personally I thought it was a little spicy, my boys LOVE spicy though so to them it wasn't hot at all. I guess I just have sensitive taste buds.

I try not to use a lot of canned items, fresh is definitely a million times better. But I've been swamped this week and haven't been able to get to the grocery store yet so this was all about convenience. I always drain/rinse my canned goods to get rid of as much excess salt as possible, I also buy low/no salt wherever I can.

INGREDIENTS:

• 1/2 cup diced bell pepper (I used yellow because it's what I had on hand)
• 1 pkg Gardein Chick'n Strips, shredded by hand
• 4-5 cloves garlic, peeled and minced
• 1 can kidney beans, drained and rinsed
• 1 can black beans, drained and rinsed
• 1 can no-salt added corn, drained
• 1 can fire roasted diced tomatoes
• 1 can Rotel
• 4 cups organic vegetable broth
• 2 tablespoons chili powder
• 1 tablespoon cayenne pepper
• 1/2 tablespoon cumin
• 1 teaspoon thyme
• 1 teaspoon basil
• 2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar
• 1 1/2 teaspoons salt (I used Himalayan pink salt)

DIRECTIONS:

1. Put everything into one large pot, cover and cook on med-low for 1.5 - 2 hours. 

At the end I did mix 3 tablespoons of corn starch with 3 tablespoons of water then dumped it in to thicken things up just a smidge (since I was going for chili and not soup). I served it with Daiya non dairy cheese, Tofutti Sour Supreme and tortilla chips. Super yum!

Crockpot Butternut Squash Soup

I checked a new cookbook out at the library a few days ago and immediately marked a bunch of recipes to try. Tonight I decided to go with this one because I had all the ingredients on hand, including a butternut squash sitting on the counter needing to be used. As always, the peeling/chopping part of making soup with a lot of veggies takes some time, but I've always found the taste to be worth it in the end.

I altered this recipe as it was written just a bit because I wanted a heartier soup, to see the original version snag your own copy of The Everything Vegan Slow Cooker Cookbook.

INGREDIENTS:

• 1 medium butternut squash, peeled and cubed
• 4 small russet potatoes, peeled and cubed
• 3 large carrots, peeled and sliced
• 4 celery stalks, sliced
• 5 cups organic vegetable broth
• 1 bay leaf
• 1/4 teaspoon dried thyme
• 1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
• 1 1/2 teaspoons salt (I used Himalayan pink salt, but regular table salt would be fine)

DIRECTIONS:

1. Add all of the ingredients to a 4 quart slow cooker. Cover and cook on low heat for six hours.

Doesn't get much easier than that! Though there was actually another step... just in case you like your soup pureed you can let this cool, remove the bay leaf, then process in a blender until smooth. I like chunks though so I skipped that. 

                

Now, I've never eaten or prepared a squash, so this was all new to me. I had a heck of a time peeling that sucker (partly due to my arthritis, I just couldn't keep hold of it) but also because I have a crappy knife and that skin is TOUGH! I really need to invest in at least one good knife!

If my oven wasn't broken right now I might have roasted my veggies before throwing them all in the crockpot.

In the end I found the finished soup to be rather bland (which I kind of guessed it might be when I looked at the ingredients list, but I'm not super experienced when it comes to spices just yet so I didn't feel confident enough to experiment). If I were to make it again I'd definitely spice it up quite a bit more. As it was, I added a bit of garlic powder and black pepper to our bowls which helped boost the flavor a little. Though this wasn't my favorite soup ever (probably the least so, actually) the leftovers won't be wasted. I'm considering adding some brown rice and maybe some white beans tomorrow when I eat it for lunch.

I'm also planning another first with this squash, and that's roasting the seeds! I've always wanted to roast pumpkin seeds after we carved out jack-o-lanterns, but I never knew how to do it so I just tossed all those icky gooey innards. This time I looked up the instructions/recipe and I'm all over it (borrowing my sisters oven since mine won't be fixed until later this week).

P.S. If you're one of the possibly three clueless people in the universe who knows nothing about butternut squash like me, I found this link extremely helpful: All About Butternut Squash via The Shiksa in the Kitchen

Sweet Potato, Carrot, Lentil and Apple soup

I was a little nervous about this recipe in the beginning for a couple reasons. First, I've never tried lentils before. I know. Seriously! I have an excuse though! I grew up in a single mom household where my sister and I were often on our own for dinner because our mom was a waitress who worked the night shift. That means we ate A LOT of Kraft mac & cheese, Hot Pockets, chicken pot pies and salisbury steak! And even though I've always loved fruit and even some veggies, it's taken me a long time to venture away from those processed foods and to start eating a larger variety of REAL foods! 

So back to the soup (still obsessed with tasty tasty soups)! I've never tried lentils and I've never had something sweet like apple, in a dinner type recipe. As far as I've ever known, apples are for dessert... and horses! ;) BUT I've learned something new today! I really liked the little bit of sweetness that the apple gave this soup. It was perfectly at home mingled in amongst the other flavors in this dish!

As always I made a few changes to the original recipe and added some extra things so it would be a super hearty, filling soup. I was not disappointed!

INGREDIENTS:

• 1/4 cup Earth Balance buttery spread
• 2 large sweet potatoes, peeled and cubed
• 2 medium russet potatoes, peeled and cubed
• 3 large carrots, peeled and sliced
• 1 apple, peeled cored and chopped (I used honeycrisp because it's what I had)
• 1/2 cup green lentils
• 1 can corn (no salt added)
• 1 can white beans, drained and rinsed
• 1/4 teaspoon ground ginger
• 1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon chili powder
• 1/2 teaspoon paprika
• 5 cups organic vegetable broth

DIRECTIONS:

1. Melt the Earth Balance in a large pot over medium-high heat. Add sweet potatoes, russet potatoes, carrots and apple , cook and stir approximately 10 minutes. 
2. Stir the lentils, beans, corn, ginger, pepper, salt, cumin, chili powder, paprika and vegetable broth into the pot with the vegetable mixture. Bring the soup to a boil over high heat, then reduce the heat to medium low, cover and simmer until lentils and vegetables are soft, about 45 minutes.
3. The original recipe calls for you to puree the soup in batches now, but I'm a chunky soup kinda gal, so I skipped this. I did however remove the lid and bump up the heat a smidge to let the broth thicken a bit. 

That's it! Easy-peasy and very tasty if you ask me! My fellow soup loving 13 year old wasn't wild about this one, though he did eat a whole bowl. My 15 year old liked the taste of the soup, and said he was full after finishing his big bowl, but has issues with the texture of beans... and apparently lentils as well. -_- My 17  year old didn't really like it either. Oh well! More leftovers for me I say!

Christmas glitches...

and a delicious meal anyway!

I posted recently about my plan for Christmas dinner. While I was MOSTLY on track with the things I needed to get done in advance, a tiny glitch in the process {my oven broke on Christmas Eve in the middle of my cooking spree} threw things out of whack and some of my dishes had to be sacrificed in the end. :( Here is what I ended up making, and my thoughts on the finished products:

APPETIZERS:

• veggie tray
• black & white bean dip w/chips {it's been WAY too long since I made this tasty dip. I need to remember to make it again soon!}
• hummus w/pita {disappeared in the blink of an eye. multiple people at our get together hadn't even heard of hummus before, let alone tried it. But it was a huge hit!}

MAIN DISHES:

• lasagna
• mac & cheese  {I chose these as my two main dishes because I thought they were basic enough that my picky nieces and nephew would at least try them (and hopefully like them)! I was mostly correct. Almost everyone ate and loved both of these dishes. My oldest son most of all. He went on and on about how much he loved them and he devoured pretty much all the left overs single-handedly in the days following Christmas. I will say, I wasn't totally wild about the lasagna filling, but I think with one small change it will be better so I will probably try it again. The mac & cheese was AMAZING when it was fresh, but by the time everything else was finished cooking it was not nearly as creamy and dreamy. Still good, but not great. I WILL make it again for sure, and we'll eat it right away next time!}

SIDES:

• garlic mashed potatoes with gravy {a big hit with pretty much everyone. I'm not usually a fan of lumpy potatoes myself, but these weren't bad}
• brussel sprouts {I've never eaten them before and since my BIL asked for them I gave it a go. I've discovered I'm not a fan. But said BIL and others loved them}
• garlic mushrooms {HOLY GARLIC BATMAN were these mushrooms garlicky! Very, very good... but powerful!}
• cranberry sauce {delicious and SO super simple to make}

DESSERT:

• double chocolate cookies {I am not a huge fan of chocolate, but I chose these cookies in particular because I figured kids would love them. apparently I know nothing. and the world has flipped upside down because most of the kids DIDN'T like these, but I LOVED THEM! I probably ate far more than my fair share... and multiple kids fair shares as well! The feedback I received was that they were not sweet enough, but frankly I think thats why I liked them. Because I'm not a huge fan of candy or sweets in any form. They were definitely chocolatey, and plenty sweet if you ask me. Pretty easy too so I could definitely make these again if I needed cookies for some grown ups who don't mind a slightly less sweet treat.}
• raspberry bars {so this is what I had JUST put together and popped in the oven when it decided to die on me. :( Unfortunately, because it was 1am at the time I couldn't run them over to put them in my sister's oven. I decided to try and salvage the dish, because what did I have to lose at this point. I covered them and took them to my sister's house the next morning. they definitely didn't turn out right, then bottom was too soft and the top was too crumbly, and somehow they still disappeared. I didn't try any myself, but my dad (who asked for them specifically) said they still tasted good, even with the texture being a bit off.}

Sadly I wasn't able to make any of my pies, the peanut butter cookies, the sweet potatoes or the dinner rolls (but I plan to try them all at a later date). I didn't get to my sister's house the next day until 2pm (because she had another commitment in the morning, which is why we were doing everything at my house to begin with) and I was cooking non stop from 2 until we ate at around 6 or 7 I think. In fact I was SO busy cooking, even with my mothers help all afternoon, I never had a break and I managed to not take a single photo all day of anything! :( Not the food I slaved over, not the kids opening presents, nothing! :( I'm pretty bummed about it. But I suppose there's nothing that can be done now. That's just the way it goes.

The food was great though, 100% completely meat and dairy free! And everyone had a great time.

I'm looking forward to our next vegan holiday!

Cranberry Orange bread

So when my sister announced an impromptu game night at her place last night I was in need of something edible to bring and share. Last year when we did this I brought marshmallows on a stick, hand dipped in dark chocolate then rolled in a variety of toppings (toffee, mini chocolate chips, rainbow sprinkles, crushed candy cane). They were a HUGE hit with everyone so I knew I needed to bring something great again this year. But with no time to hit the store and little time to get creating, I set out on a frantic internet search.

Fast forward through many recipes that just weren't right... or would take too long to make... or I didn't have all the ingredients! UGH! Then I found the cranberry orange bread recipe. I am utterly in love with the cranberry-orange combo. It's so bright and tart and incredible!! I want to eat it every day. And yet somehow I have never actually made it for myself! But I had most of the ingredients, with suitable substitutes for the things I didn't have... so cranberry orange bread it is! YAY!

I did alter this recipe to make it vegan, and of course it was still totally delicious! I may or may not have eaten half the finished batch of bread all by myself...

maybe. 

ok, so I did. -_-

Anyway, here's the recipe as I made it:

INGREDIENTS:

• 2 3/4 cups all purpose flour
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 1/4 cups raw cane sugar
• 1/2 cup Earth Balance buttery spread, melted
• 1 cup mandarin orange segments, drained
• 3 cups cranberries, roughly chopped
• Ener-G egg replacement (equal to two eggs)
• 3/4 cup orange juice
• 3/4 cup non dairy plain yogurt
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

DIRECTIONS:

1. Preheat the oven to 350. Grease two 8x4 inch loaf pans.
2. In a large bowl stir together flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt and sugar. Mix in melted Earth Balance until the mixture looks crumbly. Stir in cranberries and oranges. In a separate bowl mix together egg replacement, yogurt, orange juice and vanilla extract. Pour the liquid ingredients into the bowl with the dry ingredients and stir just until blended. Divide the batter evenly between the prepared pans.
3. Bake in preheated oven until toothpick inserted into the crown comes out clean, about 40 minutes. Cool in the pans for a while, then remove from pans and place on wire rack to cool completely.

I URGE YOU to follow that last bit in the instructions there. I was eager to taste the bread when it came out of the oven. In addition to burning off three layers of tongue flesh and the roof of my mouth with the *hotter than molten lava* cranberries, the bread tastes a MILLION times better once it's cooled. I don't know why, I just know that it does. When it was still hot from the oven I could taste a less than pleasant flour-y taste. But once the loaf cooled, and I guess the flavors had time to mix and mingle and chill together, you don't taste that at all. You just taste the bright, delicious cranberry orange flavor of the yummy bread you just slaved over!

Oh... one more tip. If, like me, you moved to another state last year and your new kitchen is SO TINY that you haven't unpacked all of your pans and whatnot... just know, should you try to make this bread in a single 8x8 pan instead of the two 8x4 pans called for... it will take A LOT longer for your bread to cook all the way. I don't even know how much longer, but it was pretty much forever! So definitely go for the two separate pans if you can!

I will definitely be making this again, soon! What came home from game night was quickly devoured by my 15 year old who LOVED it! Maybe next time we'll share with everyone else! ;)

Black Bean Vegetable soup

I am OBSESSED with soup right now. Until last year I'd never made soup from scratch. What?! Never?! That's right, never! The first soup I tackled was a tasty copycat black bean soup because I'd really like to eat at Panera every single day but my money tree seems to have picked up root and left the state. It's definitely in our regular rotation now and 2 out of 3 boys love it (though the third will also eat his share as long as I provide lots of bread for scooping).

For the last month or so though I have pinned loads of new soup recipes and there are just not enough days to try them all! Today I looked through my soup folder on All Recipes (what?? you don't have a soup folder?!) for something I could fix fast since I spent all day running errands. I found a recipe for a black bean veggie soup that sounded simple, so I decided to give it a go. As always, I made a few changes so this is the altered recipe as I made it.

Ingredients:

• 1 teaspoon vegetable oil
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 2 carrots, sliced
• 2 teaspoons chili powder
• 2 teaspoons ground cumin
• 4 cups organic vegetable broth
• 2 (15 oz) cans black beans, rinsed and drained
• 1 (15 oz) can white beans, rinsed and drained
• 1 can corn (no salt added)
• 1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
• 1 can diced fire roasted tomatoes
• 1 cup uncooked brown (minute) rice

Directions:

1. In large saucepan heat oil over medium heat, cook garlic and carrots, stirring occasionally, for 5 minutes. Add chili powder and cumin, cook, stirring for 1 minute. Add broth, white beans, 1 can of black beans, pepper and corn. Bring to boil.
2. Meanwhile, in blender, puree together tomatoes and remaining can of black beans, add to pot. Reduce heat, cover and simmer for about 45 minutes. (longer if the soup is still too watery for your taste, it will cook down and become thicker the longer it simmers)
3. Add 1 cup uncooked brown rice during the last 10 minutes of cook time.

I enjoyed this soup. I can't say it was my favorite, truthfully it could use a bit more seasoning, but I would make it again and just add a bit more spiciness next time. I served this with Tofutti Sour Supreme, Daiya cheddar style shreds and some crushed tortilla chips. Had the leftovers for dinner tonight and it was just as good as last night, maybe even a little better because it really thickened in the fridge and was almost like a stew today. YUM!

Christmas Dinner 2012

I'm SOOO excited about Christmas dinner this year! I will be cooking my first 100% vegan holiday meal, completely from scratch, for my (extended) family. I tried to get them to go vegan for Thanksgiving, sadly to no avail, but in the interest of compromise they let me have Christmas dinner to go crazy. Thanksfully I've cooked for them plenty of times before so they are pretty confident my meal won't kill anyone! I'm very much looking forward to being able to eat every single thing on the table that day instead of just the veggie tray! :)

I planned my menu out almost a month ago now and tonight I have been finalizing, making my grocery list and planning out when to start each dish. As of right now, here is my 2012 Vegan Christmas menu...

APPETIZERS:

• veggie tray and dip
• black & white bean dip w/chips
• hummus w/pita

MAIN DISHES:

• lasagna
• mac & cheese  --I chose these as my two main dishes because I thought they were basic enough that my picky nieces and nephew would at least try them (and hopefully like them)!

SIDES:

• garlic mashed potatoes with gravy --a request from my oldest son
• brussel sprouts --a request from my brother in law
• garlic mushrooms
• sweet potatoes stuffed with apples, cranberries and pecans
• cranberry sauce
• dinner rolls

DESSERT:

• cherry pie
• banana cream pie
• apple cranberry pie
• double chocolate cookies
• peanut butter reindeer cookies
• raspberry bars --a request from my father

I cannot even begin to tell you how thankful I am for vegan bloggers and the Pinterest obsessed cooks who pin them! ;) I've got a three day game plan in order to get everything baked, cooked, prepped and ready... hopefully saving as little as possible for the actual day of. I can't wait to take pictures and then EAT everything!!!

Happy Holidays everyone!