sriracha artichoke rolls

Seafood rolls are very popular on the Northeastern coast of the US and I want folks to have some great alternatives for the sandwich that lots of people see as quintessentially coastal.

And if we throw in some sriracha, then it can only be better!

This sandwich is featured on my Prep Ahead Week 3 menu: HERE.

This sandwich features roasted artichokes, chickpeas and vegetables. The dressing can be either vegan mayo or vegan yogurt. I opted for the yogurt since it is just as creamy as mayo and the tang is welcome.

The sandwich is laced with cilantro and shredded carrots and perfect served in whole wheat hot dog rolls.

As the easy green accompaniment, I served it with a simple vinaigrette on a green salad. Easy and satisfying.

Sriracha Artichoke Rolls
Makes 4 servings

1 teaspoon olive oil or oil spray
1 (14-ounce) can artichokes, squeezed of excess water and chopped
2 cups cooked or 1 (15-ounce) can chickpeas, rinsed and drained 
3 garlic cloves, minced 

3 celery ribs, sliced thin
2 medium carrots, shredded
1/4 cup cilantro, chopped
1/2 cup unsweetened plain nondairy yogurt
1 tablespoon fresh lime juice (from 1 lime)
1 tablespoon sriracha

4 to 6 hot dog buns

1. Heat the oil in a medium skillet over medium heat. Add the artichokes and chickpeas. Cook until golden, without stirring much. Add the garlic and cook until golden. Season with salt and pepper. Set aside to cool while you chop the vegetables.
2. Add the celery, carrots, cilantro, yogurt, lime juice and sriracha to a large bowl. Add the roasted beans and artichoke. Mix well. Taste and adjust seasoning.
3. Toast the buns. Serve the salad in the buns. Serve with a green salad. 



© 2016 Copyright Zsu Dever. All rights reserved.

cream of celery soup with spinach and crispy onion

I'm relatively sure we are all experiencing quite a hot summer, regardless of where we are individually located. While the weather is so scorching, soup might seem to be the last meal on your mind to make, but this Cream of Celery Soup with Spinach and Crispy Onion is light and delicate.

I chose celery as the base of this soup because celery automatically brings to mind a level of coolness and it is easy on the budget.

Since celery is very stringy (in fact, I like to peel my celery before I dip the stalks in any dip) it is imperative that the soup be strained through a fine mesh strainer, otherwise instead of enjoying a delicious soup, you'll find your mouth full of celery fiber.

This is not as difficult as it sounds, and the straining can be accomplished in around five minutes. Transfer your soup to the strainer set over a clean pot and use the back of a ladle to swirl the soup around in the strainer. This motion will effectively push the soup through the strainer without back-aching strain.

There was a comedian on Last Comic Standing a few weeks ago who joked that since celery is about 10 calories, the digestive process requires more energy than the celery provides, therefore you can kill yourself eating celery.

To avoid this calamity, I've added thin ribbons of spinach to increase the nutrition.

The soup is garnished with crispy fried onions, which adds another layer of flavor, and minced celery leaves, which increases the celery flavor.

There is a little bit of vegan cream cheese in the soup and some might be tempted to omit it, however, doing so is the difference between a creamy potato soup with celery and cream of celery soup.

CREAM OF CELERY SOUP WITH SPINACH AND CRISPY ONIONS 

PRINTER-FRIENDLY RECIPE

Cream of Celery Soup with Spinach and Crispy Onions  

Serves 2 as a meal, 4 as an appetizer

1 tablespoon neutral oil

1 bunch celery, trimmed and chopped, leaves reserved

1 medium onion, chopped

2 medium (9 ounces) waxy potatoes, peeled and chopped

pinch cayenne

2 cups vegetable broth

2 cups water

Sea salt and ground white pepper

2 tablespoons vegan cream cheese

1 cup thinly sliced spinach, tough stems removed

1 teaspoon fresh lemon juice

Crispy Onions, recipe below

1. Heat the oil in a large pot over medium heat. Stir in the celery and onion. Cook for 2 minutes to soften the vegetables. Add the potato and cayenne. Stir and cook for 2 more minutes. Stir in the vegetable broth and water. Season with salt and white pepper. Bring to boil, reduce to simmer and cook until the potatoes are very tender, about 15 minutes.

2. Blend the soup until smooth using an immersion blender or use a standard blender, taking care not to overfill the blender jar. Strain the soup through a fine mesh strainer into a clean pot. Use the back of a ladle, swirling the soup in the strainer, to move the soup through the strainer and into the pot.

3. Return the soup to a simmer, add the spinach and cook gently until the spinach is tender. Stir in the cream cheese, using a wooden spoon to stir until smooth. Stir in the lemon juice, taste and adjust seasoning.

4. Mince the reserved celery leaves and serve the soup garnished with the Crispy Onions and celery leaves.

Crispy Onions

½ medium red onion, thinly sliced

1 tablespoon arrowroot starch or cornstarch

1 tablespoon neutral onion

1. Toss the onion and arrowroot. Season with salt and black pepper.

2. Heat the oil over medium heat in a medium skillet. Add the onions, stir with the oil and cook until crispy, stirring occasionally.

© 2014 Copyright Zsu Dever. All rights reserved.

I am linking to these recipe parties: Healthy Vegan Fridays, What I Ate Wednesday, Gluten-Free Fridays and Virtual Vegan Linky Potluck. 

 

    

healin' noodle soup

RECIPE UPDATE: this soup has been tested and revised and will be featured in the upcoming cookbook "Everyday Vegan Eats," by Zsu Dever.

Tis the season! Flu season! One of my little ones has come down with a bug. When this happens, my first reaction is to make this soup. Other people might reach for the big brand soup in the can, but for us vegans, we tend to insist on something more wholesome than what comes out of such a container, let alone try our damnedest to avoid what goes into it in the first place. 

In fact, over the years, my kids have come to expect this soup when they are feeling under the weather. It takes about 20 minutes to make, including prep time, but it tastes like you've had on the back burner all morning. 

The soup contains about the same simple ingredients as the canned stuff (if you don't include all the unpronounceable ingredients, that is): just carrots, celery, onions, noodles and seasonings. 

Bookmark this page for the next time you need a little pick-me-up. 

Cost Breakdown

pasta: $1

vegetables: $1

seasoning: $.75

Total to make 6 servings:

$2.75

chicken and dumplings

I know that I have posted of making Chicken and Dumplings before, but I haven't actually given a recipe. That is about to change! Even if the recipe will only be utilized by my kids after they leave home, that in itself is reason enough to write it out.

This is a much requested dish at our home and one that is very versatile. The 'Chicken' can be seitan, tofu, beans or extra vegetables. The biscuit mix is a variation of Simply Heavenly's Biscuit Mix. 

The broth in this 'stew' uses my VA Chicken-Style Broth Mix and water. 

Really a very simple and easy recipe (maybe because I've made it so often), the only heads-up would be to take care to have enough broth before you add the biscuit mix - it can be deceptive; you think there is too much broth, but by the time the biscuits are done they have soaked up a lot of it. 

Oh, and we LOVE the biscuit part of the dish, so this recipe has enough to satisfy any biscuit-lover.  

Cost Breakdown

oil, celery, onion, carrot, garlic: $2

seitan: $2

broth mix, spices and herbs: $.50

biscuit mix: $2

milk: $1

Total to make 5 servings:

$7.50

osso buco

Part of the goal of this blog is to reinvent 'traditional' recipes, renew conventional ideas and let people see that the omnivore rut that they have been stuck in is easy to get out of.

This traditional Milanese recipe of braised veal shanks, Osso Buco, is literally translated to mean 'Bone with a Hole." Not really sure how accurate the name is in this vegan context, but for the sake of tradition we'll keep it as is. 

This is what I mean about altering conventional thinking; normally 'Bone with a Hole' has no right to be in cooking distance of a vegan kitchen, but since the recipe itself means both the dish and the cut of animal, I couldn't really call it "Seitan Buco" or "Osso Seitan," could I? Maybe "Seitan Osso Buco," but I try to keep as close to the original name as possible, for simplicity sake. It is difficult to know what someone will name a veganized version of a dish - it is much easier to search for the omni version of a name (and hence the one most recognized) than to try to guess what an author chooses to call something. As much as I would like to rename dishes to reflect a more vegan world, I try to stay as true to the original as possible.

I made "veal" seitan cutlets, thick-cut, and braised them with carrots, celery, onion, herbs and wine. This dish is usually served over a risotto, but Catt has been asking for mashed potatoes. She must be getting kick-backs from the potato board, and since I knew this dish would have some great sauce for the requested spuds, mashed it turned out to be. 

It has been a few years since I've made this, but it was just as great as the first time. It is garnished with gremolata, a condiment of parsley, garlic and lemon zest. The garnish gives it a nice punch that cuts through the richness of the sauce and seitan. I wouldn't skip it if I were you.

Cost Breakdown

seitan: $3

carrot, celery, onion, garlic: $2

spices, herbs, tomato paste, wine, broth: $3

potatoes: $3

gremolata: $2

Total to make 6 servings:

$13.00

OSSO BUCO PRINTER-FRIENDLY-RECIPE

cream of mushroom soup

Cream of Mushroom Soup, from the can, used to be my hubby's favorite...well, everything! He'd have it as a soup and, it seems the company did their PR well, he'd 'cook' Green Bean Casserole, pork chops and a sundry of other casseroles with it.

 He has been asking me for the longest time to try to replicate this and I'd always fall short. Or tall? Depending on how you look at it; it is difficult to compete with a canned, condensed version - mine was always too fresh.

Logistically, part of the problem had been to chop the 'shrooms finely enough to be 'worthy' of the can. I think I've finally managed to get close enough to the original, while not sacrificing flavor.

If you are looking to have it more like the canned version after being reconstituted, add enough milk to thin it out to the consistency you like, but be sure to re-season it with salt.

Cost Breakdown

mushrooms: $3

vegan butter, flour: $.75

VA Chicken-Style Broth Mix, vegan milk: $2

onion, celery: $1

Total to make 6 cups:

$6.75

brewpub tater-tot pie

Rounding off the PPK week of American Vegan Kitchen we nod a bit to homeschoolers - I made Tami's Brewpub Tater-Tot Pie, a variation of which the Duggars are famous for.

When we first started homeschooling, we were enthralled by a show - 14 Kids and Pregnant - or some such title. It was about a homeschooling family (which is what appealed to me). This was shown on TLC and since then the family has had 5 more kids and acquired a TV series, 19 Kids and Counting. Since then I have lost all respect for TLC (hint: Palin, the Wolf-killer). As for the Duggars, their contribution to our family was limited to their Tater-Tot Casserole - a concoction of ground meat, condensed canned mushroom soup and fried, molded potatoes. Surprisingly, they endorse a cookbook titled, Two Sisters Cookbook - a vegan cookbook.

I know I need not say this, but Tami's version dwarfs the Duggars'. In fact, Tami's version is more a play on Sheppard's Pie with tater-tots than a Duggar's version of cheap food.

No offense meant.

I changed up the tots - Tami calls for one pound of tots, cut in half. I used two pounds, whole. I think she specified this in her book to lower the calorie and fat content, but I know my kids and they thought I was being skimpy with the tots as it was.

No surprise there.

So, to warp up the book, Tami's is a must have, something I have stated before; while I have not been tempted by most cookbooks, this one, to my benefit, I was tempted by.

Yum. Period.

Cost Breakdown

tater-tots: $4

TVP, spices: $2

carrot, onion, celery: $1.50

tomato paste, broth: $1

Total to make 6 servings:

$8.50

mama's bean soup

I made this soup with 'Picnic' in mind. Since I have taken this soup in a thermos before, I know this would have been great. As it was, the hike was cancelled, but the soup was still made.

This is one of my mom's legacies. She used to make this for us all of the time, and luckily, this was one dish I actually paid attention to while she was making it. Have I mentioned that I resisted cooking until my youngest daughter was born, or more precisely, until we became vegan? Sad, but true. Now I have to dig really deep into the recesses of my memories to recall how most of my favorite recipes were made by my parents.

Traditionally this soup has sausage in it, but I don't miss it - not even a substitute - because the soup holds up so well on its own. It has subtle hints of garlic, which is brought by the roux, which also makes this kidney bean soup so creamy. This is where dry beans are a bonus since you flavor the beans with carrots, onions, and celery during their cooking.  A swirl of a  nondairy sour cream completes this hearty, warming soup.

As Ellen says, it is the season of Autter (not quite Summer or Autumn, but a blend of the two), and this soup is just right for it.

Cost Breakdown:

beans: $2

carrots, onion, celery: $2

garlic, Earth Balance, flour: $1

spices, herbs, paprika: $.50

sour 'cream': $1

Total to feed a family of 6:

$6.50