Christmas Dinner with Family

Christmas Dinner was at my parents', as usual. Plenty of siblings, spouses, sisters and yummy food (don't know how much shows in the picture, but you sorta get the idea). My family is mostly vegetarian anyway, so we all contribute vegetarian food for large get-togethers such as this. And lucky for me, most everyone brings at least one vegan dish as well, so I'm always well-fed. (Yeah, like that's a problem!!).

This year's spread included stuffed mushrooms, a centerpiece dish of vegan "meatballs" with gravy, a beautiful salad with shredded carrots, jicama and beets as garnish, ranch dressing (made vegan just for me thankyou!) several types of rolls, mashed 'taters, fresh cranberry-tangerine relish, sweet potato gratin, green beans, orange-sauce beets, holiday wild rice pilaf, and a "relish tray" with veggies, assorted pickles and olives and stuff...

Whew! I gained 10 pounds just re-reading that paragraph!

OK, so this Christmas, I collected a couple recipes to share: My Holiday Rice, my Mom's Non-Meat Balls and Mushroom-Wine Gravy, and my sister's Stuffed Mushrooms. All of it yum-a-licious and wonderfully vegan, here you go....

Holiday Rice

1/2 cup uncooked wild rice
3 cups vegetarian un-chicken broth, divided
1 cup apple juice
3/4 cup uncooked jasmine rice (white or brown)
1/2 cup chopped dried apricots
1/2 cup dried cranberries
2 Tablespoons Earth Balance
3/4 cup chopped onion
1/2 cup coarsely chopped pistachios or hazelnuts
2 Tb. minced fresh sage
1 tsp. onion powder
salt and pepper to taste
1/4 cup maple syrup
1 Tb. brown sugar

Rinse wild rice in fine strainer under cold running water. Drain. Combine wild rice, 1-1/2 cups veg-chicken broth and apple juice in 2-quart saucepan. Bring to a boil over medium-high heat. Reduce heat to low; simmer, covered, about 45 minutes or until rice is tender. Drain.
Meanwhile, combine jasmine rice and remaining 1-1/2 cups broth in separate 2-quart saucepan. Bring to a boil over medium-high heat. Reduce heat to low; simmer, covered, 12 to 15 minutes. (I just cook the white rice in my rice-cooker with broth)
Stir apricots and cranberries into white rice; simmer 5 minutes or until rice is tender and fluffy and liquid is absorbed. Remove from heat. Let stand covered 5 minutes or until fruit is tender; set aside.
Melt Earth Balance in large skillet over medium heat. Add onion; cook and stir 5 to 6 minutes until tender. Stir in nuts and sage. Cook and stir 2 minutes.
Add rice mixtures to skillet. Add remaining ingredients; cook and stir over medium heat about 2 minutes or until heated through, taste and adjust seasonings if needed.

Non-Meatballs with Mushroom Gravy

1 cup firm tofu, mashed (not the silken variety found in vacuum-packed cartons)
½ cup wheat germ
¼ cup parsley, chopped
2 Tbsp. water
2 Tbsp. nutritional yeast
½ Tbsp. onion powder
½ tbsp. garlic powder
1 tsp. salt
¼ tsp. black pepper
¼ tsp. each - oregano, garlic powder and sage
2 Tbsp. olive oil
1 Tbsp. soy sauce

Preheat oven to 350°F.
Mix all ingredients together in a medium bowl and roll into small balls. Place on a greased cookie sheet. Spray oil over the top of the balls for a more crispy texture. Bake for 30 minutes until browned. Serve warm.

Gravy

2/3 cup vegetable oil
3 cloves garlic, crushed
¼ cup onions, chopped
2/3 cup flour
½ tsp. ground sage
2 Tbsp. nutritional yeast
4 Tbsp. soy sauce
2 ½ cups water
¼ cup dry red wine
1/3 cup sliced mushrooms, sauteed in margarine until soft
salt and pepper to taste

Heat oil in a medium saucepan and sauté onions and garlic. When onions are tender and translucent, stir in the flour, nutritional yeast and sage to form a paste. Slowly add water, soy sauce and wine, stirring constantly. When gravy starts to thicken, stir in the mushrooms, salt and pepper.
Add more water if necessary to thin the gravy. Pour over "meatballs" and heat in a casserole dish and serve.

Stuffed Mushrooms

16 large button mushrooms (or other mushrooms of choice), washed well
3 T. olive oil, divided
8 oz. firm tofu, frozen, and thawed
1/4 cup onion, finely diced
1/4 cup celery, finely diced
1/4 cup green onion, thinly sliced
1 T. garlic, minced
1/2 t. dried thyme
1/3 cup breadcrumbs
2 T. nutritional yeast flakes
2 T. freshly chopped parsley
salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste

Lightly oil (or spray with vegetable oil) a large baking dish and set aside. Remove the stems from the mushrooms, roughly dice the stems, and set aside.
In a non-stick skillet, place 1 T. olive oil and the mushroom caps, and saute for 2 minutes per side. Remove the mushroom caps from the skillet, transfer to a large plate, and set aside.
Using your fingers, crumble the thawed tofu into a small bowl and set aside. In the same non-stick skillet, saute the reserved mushroom stems, onion, celery, and green onion in the remaining olive oil, for 5 minutes to soften.
Add the crumbled tofu, garlic, and thyme, and saute an additional 2-3 minutes or until the vegetables are tender. Remove the skillet from the heat, add the remaining ingredients, stir well to combine, and season to taste with salt and freshly ground black pepper.

Fill the mushroom caps with warm filling, slightly mounding the tops, and place them in the prepared baking dish. Bake at 350 degrees for 10-15 minutes or until the mushroom caps are heated through and slightly browned on top. Transfer to a decorative platter for service and serve immediately. Yum!

Mushroom Potstickers

I made potstickers tonight, (well defrosted some I'd made earlier) for our Christmas Eve supper.
My kids wanted an Asian theme and had grand ideas about all sorts of stuff, but they were out babysitting until late and I was busy until after 5 as well, so I got Hot and Sour Soup as take-out, and then defrosted and fried up these babies (made and frozen a few weeks back) after rushing around with the last of the Christmas Shopping. Everyone was thrilled and declared it our "official" Christmas Eve Supper from now on.
...We'll see about that...

Allow me to go off on a tangent here, but, how is it that every year, I SWEAR I'm finished around the 20th of December, or so, and about 2:PM Christmas Eve I suddenly remember 25364728 little details I forgot?

Grrrr... batteries for the Ipod, and digital camera, and GameBoy; Starbucks Giftcards for the paperboy, the babysitter and anyone else I neglected (sorry if that was you.)

Anyway...these Potstickers are super easy and the recipe is tasty even if you have to play around with ingredients... definitely use fresh ginger and garlic thogh, not those dried imposters!

I'm off to wrap the last of the gifts. Happy Holidays to all of you. Enjoy.

Mushroom Potstickers

3 cups finely shredded green and purple cabbage - sometimes I shred kale as part of the mixture too.

4-5 good sized dried shiiake mushrooms (reconstituted = 1/2 cup diced) -

If you can't get these, just use 1/2 cup more

of the button mushrooms, but the shiitakes

add a depth of flavor that's hard to match.

1 cup minced fresh button mushrooms

1 teaspoon garlic, minced

2 teaspoons finely shredded fresh ginger

4 Tablespoons green onion, diced

1-2 teaspoons rice wine vinegar, to taste

salt and pepper, to taste

24 egg free gyoza (pot sticker/dumpling) wrappers

Saute everything except the ginger, green onion and rice wine vinegar until soft. Remove from heat and mix in the remaining ingredients.

Adjust seasoning to taste.

Set aside to cool.

To fill wrappers:Lay out a gyoza wrapper and place one scant teaspoon-full mounded in the center. run a wet finger around half the outer edge of the wrapper and fold over, pinching the seams together as snugly around the filling as possible. You can crimp the edges like a fluted pie crust if you like.

Set aside and continue with the rest of the dumplings.

When they are all constructed, steam in a rice-cooker, vegetable steamer or bring a pot of water to a boil and place a steamer basket inside.

Grease or pan spray the insert to prevent sticking and lay the dumplings in one at a time so that they do not overlap. Cover and steam for 10 - 15 minutes per batch.

You can store in the fridge or freeze at this point.

To serve: Boil in a clear broth soup or fry in a skillet with a bit of oil to brown on one side IF you want - or just eat them steamed.

Serve with ponzu or the dipping sauce of your choice.

(I usually throw together a sauce made of equal parts rice wine vinegar, soy sauce, a few drops of sesame oil and a squirt of Sriracha, or else use Sweet Chili Sauce - our household standard condiment)

Today we were all in the mood for something very chocolate-y, and since it's the first week of Winter Break, the perfect time to bake some decadence and chocolate. So, I rummaged through some recipes and found this one for Christmas CandyCane Brownies. I'd been in search of a decent vegan brownie recipe for a long time, and no matter what, they all kept coming out soggy or greasy. Gack!
But I'd been playing with this recipe for quite a while, and finally managed to perfect (well, "perfect" being a relative term of course) it last summer (without the candy-cane topping because candy-canes are hard to find in mid-July ) so decided to let the Sprouts try their hand at baking them. The end result was great of course!!

Christmas Candy Cane Brownies

1 1/4 cup white flour

1 cup whole wheat pastry flour

1 Tb. egg replacer powder powder

1 cup water

1 cup white sugar

1 cup brown sugar

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

3/4 cup unsweetened baking cocoa powder

1/2 cup oil

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 cup vegan chocolate chips

Mix dry ingredients (flour, sugar, salt, cocoa, baking powder, egg replacer powder) You can sift if you want but not necessary.

Then mix the wet ingredients (water, oil, vanilla).

Mix wet into dry together, 50 strokes, or until well blended.

Fold in chocolate chips.

Spread mixture into a greased 13x9" pan.

Bake at 350 for 25- 30 minutes, or until a knife comes out clean.

When cool, we frosted with the white frosting from 'Vegan Cupcakes Take Over The World' (to which we added some Peppermint Extract) then topped the brownies liberally with crushed candy canes. As you can see, SOMEONE (not mentioning any names here*cough*starts-with-an-O*cough*) couldn't wait to try them, even before I'd gotten a picture!

Baby Cabbages

So I've had some of those Tofurky Sausages sitting in the fridge, and had been thinking about doing something with them; some fried cabbage and "sausage" sort-of-thing. Since I didn't have cabbage, I used some golf-ball-sized brussel sprouts that were still hanging around my garden - I figure brussel sprouts are just baby cabbages, right?

I shredded them thin on the mandoline cutter, threw 'em in a pan with the "sausage", carrot and part of an onion. It turned out SO incredibly yummy! A great winter lunch. You need to go get yourself some brussel sprouts and try this!

I don't have a recipe exactly, but here's a couple pictures and the basic idea:

12 large brussel sprouts, or so, sliced thin on a shredder/slicer

1 carrot, coarsely grated or thinly sliced

1 link (or more) Tofurky "sausage" sliced

1/4 white onion, sliced thin

Saute with a tsp. or two of olive oil, a splash of red wine vinegar and salt to taste - until vegetables wilt and are tender crisp to your preference.

Some red peppers would be nice here too, they go great with the "sausage".

Winter Storms and Simple Vegan Pancakes

So this is our third day with no power. The excitement has worn off for The Sprouts. But the downed trees (see pic!!) have been removed from the nearby roads, so we ventured out to the local Tully's Coffee which actually has power - AND free Internet (as well as the best coffee in the WORLD in my opinion) but I digress...

So we're sitting here with our laptops crackling, our cellphones charging (borrowing yet another outlet from the kind Tully's folk) and soy Peppermint Mochas (cocoa for Little Sprout of course) warming us.

We're also lucky in so many other ways - no trees fell on our house, (that's a big thing, since I'm surrounded by huge evergreens - see above pic) and since we use gas for cooking and hot water, even with no lights or heat, we can still cook and bathe - I figure with warm meals and showers we can weather just about anything a little longer.

Nothing clever as far as recipes today. Here's the pancakes I made for breakfast - sorry the picture isn't at all glamorous. Probably the simplest vegan pancake recipe out there and pretty much fool-proof. I'm posting it here (with permission) just as it's written by my friend, Froggy, from my fave website Veggieboards.com .

Easy Basic Vegan Pancakes

Dry Ingredients:
1 cup whole wheat pastry flour or 1/2 whole wheat and 1/2 white
1 tablespoon baking powder (aluminum-free recommended)
1/2 teaspoon salt
Liquids:
3/4 cup milk (rice or soy milk should work just fine -- almond milk works well)
1/4 cup applesauce

Instructions:
Combine dry ingredients well in a bowl. In another container, combine the applesauce and milk. Pour the liquids into the dry ingredients and combine till all the flour is a very moist btter consistancy but still a little lumpy.
Heat up a pan -- I recommend an iron skillet with some spray oil on it -- and get it good and hot. Have a plate ready to catch completed pancakes.

Take a 1/4 cup measure (like the one you used for the applesauce) and scoop up some batter and pour into the pan. You should hear it sizzle. (Don't pour any more in!) Wait until the pancake becomes bubbly and the bubbles look like they might want to stay, then turn the pancake over. Cook the other side for 30-45 seconds.

Put the completed pancake onto the plate and repeat the great batter pouring process until you run out of batter.

Christmas Goodies: Rum Balls ;)

Another Christmas get-together and another excuse to make something totally vegan but so wicked-rich and yummy.

These are not healthy by any means, but since when have Christmas parties been "healthy"? (Yeah, I know, a nice thought...).

Not a recipe I share with The Sprouts either, since it does contain a bit of rum.... such a party-pooper I am.

Cocoa Rum Balls

3 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder

1 cup confectioners' sugar (Florida Crystals makes organic, non-bone-char powdered sugar, as do a couple other companies)

3 cups vanilla wafers (or any vegan crisp-biscuit-type cookie), crushed or ground in food processor

4 tablespoons dark corn syrup (or maple syrup or agave nectar, which will give it a milder flavor)

1/2 cup dark rum - I use Capt'n Morgan's (more or less, depending on personal tastes - bwa-ha-ha-ha)

extra cocoa, powdered sugar or ground chocolate, to roll the rum balls in

In a large bowl, sift together the cocoa and confectioners' sugar. In a food processor or blender crush/crumble the vanilla wafers or cookies. Add the crushed cookies to the sugar mixture and combine. Add the remaining ingredients. Form the mixture into 1 inch balls with your hands.

The balls should hold together easily and retain their shape.

If the mixture is too dry to hold together or too wet to form balls, you can easily adjust the consistency by adding rum/sugar accordingly.

Sprinkle the powdered sugar, extra cocoa or ground chocolate on a plate and roll the balls in to coat. Store in a sealed container. Best if allowed to "age" for a week or so, if you can stand it.

Oliva-Tofu-Pecan Dip

First Christmas Party of the season tonight:

Didn't have a whole lot of time last night and wanted something that I could mix up ahead of time, so I brought this super-mega-easy-yummy dip, and some rather generic crackers. My mom actually gave me the recipe a few years back - Good stuff!!

No one asked or cared if it was vegan and the bowl was cleaned out when I left so I guess that's a good sign. Seriously, this is my stand-by when I need a 'spread' sort of thing and have to impress omnis. It's good with celery and carrots or in a sourdough bread bowl too.

Olive-Tofu-Pecan Spread

1 cup firm tofu, mashed fine with a fork

1/3 cup pecans, ground fine but not totally into powder, in food processor or blender

2/3 cup black olives, chopped (you can use a couple Tbsp. kalamata olives if you want extra tang and saltiness, but it's good with standard old black olives too).

1/2 cup finely chopped celery

1/4 finely chopped onion (or chop celery and onion in food processor)

1 1/4 tsp onion powder

1/4 tsp. garlic powder

1/2 tsp. seasoning salt

1/2 cup Vegannaise (or equal parts Tofutti Sour 'Cream' and vegan mayo)

Mix ingredients well. Enjoy! That's it!

Tofu Thoughts

FRESH TOFU

Woo-hoo! Jackpot!

Went to my favorite Asian grocer tonight, and they had just filled the bulk buckets in the cooler with fresh tofu.
Their fresh (not the stuff in the little plastic box) tofu sells out within a couple HOURS, so I rarely manage to get my hands on any. You just grab a chunk out of the water with the tongs, put it in a plastic bag. Tonight I stocked up - it keeps for quite a while if I put it in a Tupperware and change the water daily - and it freezes great!

If you've never had fresh (I mean REALLY amazingly fresh) tofu from a bulk bin or tub, I suggest you try it - it's SOOOOO good! Trina, my Vietnamese friend, told me about this particular market - said they're known for having the best tofu in town. I have to agree, and now I'm spoiled - this is the only way I'll buy the stuff.

OK, so what to do with it?















Not that I have ANY trouble findng a use for tofu, but Littlest Sprout wanted "Chicken Tofu Sticks" (with barbeque sauce of course!!) and since it's so quick and simple and we were running late - well, we basically made a meal of fried tofu and salad. Maybe not the most healthy supper on the planet, but I can think of worse.

I'm not really sure where this recipe came from or if it ever WAS a recipe, but I've been fiddling with it for years (like most of my recipes); since my oldest still likes real (*gasp*) chicken when out with her Dad once in a while, I've tried to season these sorta the way she likes. Go with less cayenne or lemon pepper if you prefer. Cold, the next day, these things are very scarily chicken-like...

"Fried Tofu Chik'n-Style"

6 Tbsp. cornstarch
3 Tbsp. Nutritional yeast
1/2 cup finely ground dry bread crumbs
1 teaspoon dry vegetarian "chik'n" bullion/broth powder
1/2 tsp. sage
1 tsp. garlic powder
Dash of cayenne pepper
lemon pepper to taste

1/2 cup soymilk
1/4 cup Vegenaise or other vegan mayo. of your choice
2 Tb. nutritional yeast
peanut oil for frying
1 pounds firm, fresh tofu, drained, blotted dry and cut into "sticks".

In a small bowl, whisk the Vegenaise, soymilk and 2 Tb. nutritional yeast; in a separate dish, toss the cornstarch, breadcrumbs and nutritional yeast with the salt and spices.

Heat 1/2 inch of oil in a cast-iron or non-stick pan. (I know, I know!!)

Dip each tofu stick in the soymilk mixture to coat, then roll in the breadcrumb mixture, pressing the mixture on. Carefully lower into the hot oil and cook for 2 minutes. Turn with tongs and continue cooking until they are golden brown. Drain on paper towels and serve immediately with dipping sauce.