Pepper Beefless Steak

Peppers were taking over my kitchen so I scoured the internet for a pepper stew recipe and came across a Pepper Steak recipe that sounded fast and easy. I replaced the meat with Trader Joe's Beefless strips, replaced yellow pepper with an orange pepper and bumped up the garlic.

Pepper Beeffless Steak

1	Pkg. Beefless Strips (Trader Joe)
3	tablespoons reduced-sodium soy sauce
1	tablespoon cornstarch
1	tablespoon brown sugar
1‑1/2	teaspoons sesame oil
1/4	teaspoon red pepper flakes
3	tablespoons vegetable oil, divided
1	green bell pepper, cut into 1/2-inch strips
1	red bell pepper, cut into 1/2-inch strips
1	orange or yellow bell pepper, cut into 1/2-inch strips
1	red onion, cut into 1-inch pieces
3	cloves garlic, finely chopped
Hot cooked rice

Combine soy sauce, cornstarch, brown sugar, sesame oil and red pepper flakes in medium bowl; stir until smooth. Add beefless strips and toss to coat; set aside.

Heat wok or sauté pan over high heat about 1 minute or until hot. Drizzle 1 tablespoon oil into wok/sauté pan and heat 30 seconds. Add bell pepper strips, stir-fry until crisp-tender. Remove to large bowl. Add 1 tablespoon oil and add beefless mixture to wok/pan and stir fry until browned. Remove strips to bowl with bell peppers.

Add onion to pan and stir fry about 3 minutes or until softened. Add garlic and continue cooking for 30 seconds. Return peppers, beefless strips and juices to pan. Cook until heated through. Spoon rice into serving dish and top with pepper mixture.

Chickpea Cutlets: Veganomicon: The Ultimate Vegan Cookbook

We make this dish several times a year and usually bake the cutlets making them crispy but you can also pan fry. The sauce we made this time around is a mustard gravy (below), but you can top with a lemon/butter/caper sauce or even a red pasta sauce.

Chickpea Cutlets

1 c. Cooked Chickpeas

2 T. Olive Oil

½ c. Vital Wheat Gluten

½ c. Plain Bread Crumbs

¼ c. Vegetable Broth or Water

2 T. Soy Sauce

2 Coves Garlic, Grated

½ t. Lemon Zest

½ t. Dried Thyme

½ t. Hungarian Paprika

¼ t. Dried Rubbed Sage

Olive oil for Panfrying

Mash the chickpeas together with the olive oil until no whole

chickpeas are left. Add remaining ingred. and knead for 3 min.,

until strings of gluten have formed.

Divide cutlet dough into four equal pieces. Knead each piece in

your hand for a few moments and then flatten and stretch each

one into a roughly 6x4 rectangular shape.

Preheat oven to 357 degrees, lightly oil baking sheet. Brush

both sides of each patty with olive oil, place on baking sheet and

bake for 20 minutes. Flip patties and bake another 8-10 min. till firm

and golden- brown.

Mustard Sauce

2 tablespoons cornstarch

3/4 cup vegetable broth

3 cloves garlic, minced

1/2 teaspoon olive oil

1/2 cup sherry cooking wine

1 tablespoon soy sauce

1/4 cup whole-grain Dijon mustard

1 tablespoon lemon juice

2 tablespoon capers

Mix the cornstarch with vegetable broth in a measuring cup and set aside.

In a small saucepan over medium heat, saute the garlic and thyme in the oil for about a minute. Add the white wine cornstarch mixture and soy sauce, and raise the heat to high. Once the mixture is boiling, lower the heat to medium and simmer, to reduce for about 4 minutes. Add the mustard, lemon juice, and capers. Stir often, using a whisk. Once the sauce is bubbling, lower the heat to low and simmer for about 3 minutes. The sauce should be on the thick side. Let cook a bit before serving.

Chocolate-Chocolate Chip Walnut Cookies: Veganomicon: The Ultimate Vegan Cookbook

This recipe is from our favorite cookbook Veganomicon: The Ultimate Vegan Cookbook. If you are looking to buy just one Vegan cookbook, this is our recommendation.

Chocolate-Chocolate Chip-Walnut Cookies:

2 cups all-purpose flour

2/3 cup unsweetened Dutch-processed cocoa powder

1 teaspoon baking soda

½ teaspoon salt

2/3 cup canola oil

1 ½ cups sugar

4 teaspoons ground flaxseeds

½ cup soy milk

2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract

½ teaspoons almond extract

¾ cup vegan chocolate chips

¾ cup walnuts, chopped small

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees

In a large bowl, sift together the flour, cocoa, baking soda, and salt.

In a separate large bowl, mix together the oil and sugar. Add the flaxseeds, soy milk, and vanilla, and mix well.

Fold in the dry ingredients in batches. When the batter starts to get too stiff to mix with a fork, use hands until a ball of dough forms. Add the chocolate chips and walnuts, and mix with your hands again. A bit messy, but worth it.

Line two baking sheets with parchment paper. Roll the dough into 1-inch balls and flatten into disks about 1 ½ inches in diameter. Place about an inch apart on cookie sheets.

Bake for 10 minutes. Remove from oven and let cool for 5 minutes, then transfer to wire rack to cool completely.

Vegetarian Lettuce Wraps

Kevin and I are always craving PF Chang’s Vegetarian Lettuce Wraps, so I started searching the internet to see if anyone had discovered the recipe. I found the following recipe from Courier-Journal.com. The only adjustments I made were omitting the Oyster sauce and replacing the Tofu with Tempeh. Oh, I forgot, I couldn’t find Cellophane noodles so I used crunchy rice noodles instead.

P.F. CHANG'S VEGETARIAN LETTUCE WRAPS (copycat recipe) (4 servings)

The cooking sauce is from the meat recipe but is enough for two batches of the veggie version so go ahead and make the full recipe and reserve half for another batch. Save in a jar and store in the fridge until needed. **I used all the sauce for one block of Tempeh.

FOR THE COOKING SAUCE:

1 tablespoon hoisin sauce

1 tablespoon soy sauce

1 tablespoon dry sherry

2 tablespoon oyster sauce

2 tablespoon. water

1 teaspoon sesame oil

1 teaspoon sugar

2 teaspoon cornstarch

FOR THE MARINADE:

1 teaspoon cornstarch

2 teaspoon dry sherry

2 teaspoon soy sauce

2 teaspoon water

FOR THE TOFU OR TEMPEH MIXTURE:

1 cup baked tofu, diced

2 tablespoon peanut oil plus 1 Tbsp. sesame oil, mixed

1 teaspoon fresh minced garlic

1 Tbsp. Chinese chili sauce

2 cloves garlic, minced

2 green onions, minced

1/2 small or 1/4 large red onion, minced

1/2 can bamboo shoots, diced (buy the canned strips)

1/2 can water chestnuts, diced

TO SERVE:

Cellophane noodles, prepared according to package directions

Iceberg or green leaf lettuce

SPICY SAUCE (optional)

1 teaspoon rice vinegar

1 teaspoon soy sauce

1 teaspoon dry mustard (e.g., Coleman's)

1 tablespoon water

1 teaspoon Chinese chili sauce

In small dish, mix the dry mustard and water until smooth. Add remaining ingredients and mix well. Set aside.

--------------------------

TO MAKE THE COOKING SAUCE: Mix the cooking sauce in a bowl and set aside.

TO MAKE THE MARINADE: In medium bowl, combine sherry, soy sauce, chili sauce, sesame oil, cornstarch, and water. Mix well.

TO PREPARE THE TOFU/TEMPEH: Stir tofu into the marinade. Allow to marinate for 15 minutes. Tempeh: Chop into small pieces then marinate.

Heat wok or skillet over medium-high heat. Add the mixed oil and stir fry tofu for 2-3 minutes. Set aside.

Add the ginger, garlic and onion; stir-fry for about a minute.

Add bamboo shoots and water chestnuts; stir-fry for another 2 minutes.

Return tofu to wok/skillet. Add cooking sauce and cook until thickened (about 2 minutes).

TO SERVE: Place prepared cellophane noodles onto a platter. Pour tofu mixture over them and serve with lettuce and Spicy Sauce.

Scalloped Potatoes

Mom’s Scalloped Potatoes

4 cups potatoes, medium sliced

1 teaspoons salt

¼ teaspoons pepper

2-3 Tablespoons flour

2 Tablespoons onion (minced)

2 Tablespoons butter (in pieces)

1 ½ cup almond or soy milk

Preheat oven 350 degrees.

Spray or oil bottom of casserole dish. Slice potatoes and assemble one layer of potatoes on bottom. Sprinkle with ½ the salt, pepper, flour, onion, butter pieces and milk.

Add final layer of potatoes along with the rest of the salt, pepper, flour, onion, butter and milk.

Note: I originally used 2 T. flour and 2 cups milk and it was too much liquid. If you use more milk -- add more flour. Less milk, less flour. 

Bake 30-45 minutes, doing a fork test at 30 minutes to see if potatoes are soft -- but not turning mushy.

Stuffed Portobello Mushrooms

This should make enough filling for 4 Portobello Mushroom caps. The dressing is from Alex Guarnaschelli (food Network). She grilled Portobello Mushrooms then poured the dressing over top. Since I served the mushrooms as a entree not a side, I added the stuffing and topped with the dressing.

Stuffed Portobello Mushrooms

olive oil

1 cup cooked quinoa

1 clove garlic, minced

1 small onion, minced

1 zucchini, chopped

¾ cup button mushrooms, chopped

¾ teaspoon thyme

½ teaspoon salt

pinch red pepper flakes

¼ cup raw pumpkin seeds or pine nuts

Rub dressing on Portabella mushrooms and drizzle on the inside. Let marinade while cooking stuffing.

Cook quinoa as directed, set aside. Heat olive oil in a medium sauté pan. Add minced onion and sauté until soft, add garlic, zucchini, mushrooms and spices.

Saute for 5-8 min. Add quinoa and seeds.

Stuff mushroom tops with filling, cook in preheated 350 degree oven for 10-15 minutes or until heated through.

Top with dressing.

Dressing:

6 cloves garlic, unpeeled

3/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil (+ 2 T. oil for roasting garlic)

salt

1/3 cup balsamic vinegar

1 Tablespoon Dijon mustard

In a small bowl, toss the garlic cloves with 2 tablespoons of olive oil and salt. Wrap the garlic cloves in tinfoil and place on the tray in the center of the oven. Cook until tender when pierced with the tip of a knife, 20-25 minutes in a 350 degrees oven.

In a medium bowl, whisk together the balsamic with the ¾ cup olive oil and mustard. Remove the garlic from oven. Squeeze the garlic pulp out from skins and whisk it vigorously into the dressing.

Berry Crisp

Frozen blueberries and cranberries were getting a little too comfortable hanging out in our freezer, so we thought it was about time to put them to good use. Since the sugar content is pretty low in this dessert, Vanilla soy ice cream works as a good topper. **We found "Purely Decadent-Dairy Free" to be our favorite brand -- found at Whole Foods , Food Patch in Ferndale and Nutra Foods in Royal Oak.

Berry Crisp

1 cup blueberries (or 2 blueberries/2 cranberries)

3 cups cranberries

½ Tablespoon cornstarch

¼ cup evaporated cane sugar

pinch of salt

Topping

½ cup whole wheat flour

½ cup quick oats

¼ cup brown sugar

¼ teaspoon cinnamon

¼ teaspoon nutmeg

pinch dried ginger (optional)

¾ chopped walnuts or pecans

½ stick soy butter, cubed

drizzle of Agave for top

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

Toss berries, cornstarch, sugar and a pinch of salt together.

In separate bowl, combine flour, oats, brown sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger and nuts. Add butter and mix by hand into crumbles/chunks. Mix until it is crumbly.

Add the berry mixture into 2-quart baking dish. Top with crumb mixture. Drizzle with Agave (optional). Bake for 40 minutes.