Almost Pancakes

Ingredients:
3 fresh Corn Tortillas
4 Strawberries, sliced
2-3 tsp honey

Assembly:
1. Heat tortillas in the oven until soft and pliable
2. Place one tortilla on plate and add 1/3 of the honey, repeat for all.
3. Top with strawberry slices

Verdict:

Was tasty and I was full before I finished. I found myself longing for coolwhip, but you can't beat it with a stick for 200 calories. XD I think hotter and fresher on the tortillas would have made this pretty awesome.

Rainbow Chili

Ingredients:
1 cup vegetable broth
1 can kidney beans
1 can pinto beans
1 can corn of choice
1 can diced tomatoes
1 zucchini, sliced
Dash of garlic powder
2 tsp chili powder
1 tsp Lawry's seasoning salt
1/4th tsp cayenne pepper
2 tsp cornstarch
Pinch of dried basil
Assembly:

1. In a large sauce pot over medium heat, combine rinsed, drained beans, drained corn, vegetable broth (reserving a 1/4 cup for later), drained tomatoes, and sliced zucchini.
2. Add garlic powder, seasoning, chili powder, basil, and cayenne.
3. Bring to a boil, reduce heat and cover. Let simmer for 15-20 minutes.
   
4. Whisk cornstarch and reserved vegetable broth together and add to pot. Stir until fully incorporated.
   

Presentation:

I just served it in bowls along with some multi-grain toast.
I briefly considered sour cream for his, but decided against it without being able to test myself. If I had had onions I would have added them, green peppers too. Jalapenos probably could have been substituted for cayenne, but I like the way cayenne tastes in soups. Potatoes would have been horribly good in this.

Verdict:
I liked it but didn't think it was over the moon good. Was very pretty and filling, but needed something in my opinion. Oil? Something to give it that smack smack, num.
On the plus side...

The Man:
Said it was very good. :D Just what I needed after a couple of so so responses.

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Num Fruit Salad

6 strawberries, diced
1 apple, diced
1 banana, diced
handful of chopped walnuts
1 tsp honey (or agave nectar if you can get it, I know honey isn't vegan by a lot of people's standards, I personally do not object to it and believe most honey harvest practices are humane.)


Cut all ingredients into tiny tidbits, mix together. Add honey and stir till everything is glazed with honey. Keeps in the fridge for a few hours without really browning. I find it's nicer because the juice and the honey make a lovely syrup after 30 minutes or so.

This could make a good snack, but I've eaten it for dinner before. It's a good sized salad.

Vegan Sushi

Shopping List:

Nori sheets, half or full
3 cups Koshihikari rice (yes it matters)
3 1/4 cups water
1 avocado
1 cucumber
1 carrot
3 tbsp sugar
1 tsp salt
1/3 cup rice vinegar (yes it matters)

Assembly:

1. In a mesh strainer, rinse your rice. Rub the rice together while rinsing to polish it. Do this until the water runs clear.
2. Add water and rice to pan or rice cooker and cook according to the directions on your packaging. Do not add salt or oil.
3. On a large cutting board spread your rice out in a thin layer. Traditionally you would do this in a large wooden bowl called sushi-oke..but I do not have one. :D
4. Mix vinegar, salt, and sugar together in a pan and heat on low until sugar dissolves, stirring constantly. Allow to cool.
5. Sprinkle cooled vinegar mixture over rice, turn the rice very gently with a wooden or plastic flat spoon or spatula. NO METAL.
6. Allow to cool completely, you can use a fan or set by an open window.
7. Lay out your nori sheet. The shiny side should be facing down.
8. Wet your hands and take a golf ball sized piece of rice. Spread this evenly over the first 3/4 of your nori. Allow a small quarter inch gap between the edge of the nori and the rice.
9. Cut your cucumber, carrot, and avocado into strips. Try to cut in such a way that the strips will fit perfectly within the width of the roll. So one strip the same lenth as the width of the roll or two that are half the width etc. You do not want an uneven fill.
10. Add the vegetables in a neat stack towards the end of the first quarter of the roll.
11. Wet your hands again if they feel sticky. Roll the sushi from the side closest to you, making a small hill over the vegetables. Then roll the rest tightly, like you are rolling up a carpet. Try to sense when the nori is at it's breaking point and do not go beyond this point.
12. The fresher the nori is, the easier it is to seal, if you have trouble pressing it closed, add some moisture to the outside, like sealing a cigar.
13. Take a flat, VERY sharp knife and wet it with some room temperature water. When you cut the roll you do not want to put any real pressure, the knife should be sharp enough to glide through and not squish.

Presentation:

I cut all my pieces at once and arranged the in a spiral pattern on a black plate. It was kind of like a spiral of spirals. We ate them with soy sauce and wasabi paste. I also served miso soup along with, though it was a prepackaged mix.

The Man:

Greatly approved

Spicy Black Bean Salsa

Shopping List:

1 can black beans
1 can favorite corn (the fiesta or Mexican corn works great)
1 can purple hulled peas (or black eyed peas)
2 cans diced tomatoes (fresh equivalent greatly recommended if you can afford it)
1 jalapeno pepper, chopped
fresh cilantro, as much as you like
1 cup favorite italian dressing
green bell pepper, chopped
minced garlic to taste, I think I did 3 cloves or so
1 small white onion, chopped

This seriously makes a ton of salsa. I chucked it after 3 days of munching because I was not sure about the expiration. It also makes your breath STINKY. If you cut down the onions and garlic it would lose a lot of flavor, but you wouldn't be Lady Stinky Face. DO NOT USE A FOOD PROCESSOR FOR THE ONION. It takes longer to chop it all up in little bits but if you use a food processor the onion becomes very over powering.

Assembly:

1. Drain and rinse all the beans/peas, try to remove as much moisture/goop as possible. Add to bowl.
2. Drain tomatoes and try to remove as much moisture from them, squeeze them a little even. Add to bowl.
3. Drain corn and add.
4. Add all other ingredients, aside from dressing. Mix.
5. If you still have a lot of liquid accumulation, push ingredients to one side of the bowl and drain liquid from the other.
6. Add dressing a little at a time till it looks right...it should look like salsa but not like soup.
7. Cover and put in the fridge overnight, or 6+ hours

Presentation:

Serve with chips or celery pieces (It's carby enough, right?) or you can just eat it with a fork like a bean salad...or put on top of salad...

Verdict:

I thought it totally rocked. It was mega addictive and fresh and nice. I did get annoyed with being stinky, but I'm not used to eating raw onions ever ever ever. I swear I could not brush or rinse the smell away. I feel like if I had listened and NOT food processed the onion..it would have been cool. I've made it since with no onion, no green pepper, and no corn...was still good, the corn was sorely missed however (I just forgot it)...removal of onion did hurt the flavor...removal of the green pepper was somewhat successful. It was pretty overpowering in the original dish, maybe better to half it, not remove it.

The Man:

He had some the first day, said it was good in the form of a "thumbs up" however he didn't have any more ever. Probably not a success on his side.

As always let me know if you see any non-vegan items in a recipe

Vegan Enchiladas

Shopping List:

8 Corn Tortillas
1 medium can Enchilada Sauce
1 Jar Tomato Sauce
1 Zucchini, diced
1 Baking Potato
1 can chopped black olives
3 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 an onion, sliced
1 tsp honey
2 tbs Olive oil
1 dash oregano
1 can pinto beans
few shakes Lawry's Seasoning Salt

*I also made the Spanish Rice again which didn't do well. I take back everything I said about simply adding more broth. Yes add more broth then only use a spoonful or two of the paste, or fresh tomatoes. More broth plus all the paste made it very saucy and was like rice in very thick, very sharp tomato sauce. It needs less tomato for sure. *

Assembly:

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees

2. Boil potato in salted water until it's just cooked, not overly soft. Peel while hot (of course you could peel before). Cube cooked potato and set aside.

3. Put a small amount of olive oil in your pan, add honey. When it's hot and the honey is melted in, add the onion slices. Think fajita onions. Add the garlic and let onions caramelize. (I hate onions and these were the best part) Add Lawry's Salt.

4. Add your diced zucchini and some of the olives. The whole can was WAY too much..maybe just a tablespoon or two. Stir continually getting all ingredients hot and well mixed.

5. Remove from heat, mix in potato cubes.

6. Heat your tortillas. (You're supposed to add a very small touch of oil to a skillet and heat each tortilla for a few seconds per side..but I am currently skilletless so i put them in the oven on a baking sheet for a few seconds per side. Probably didn't properly activate the tortillas, but made them soft enough to roll properly. I totally recommend the correct way.)

7. Get a small casserole dish and coat the bottom in olive oil. Sprinkle oregano on top of this.

8. Fill tortillas with potato/zucchini/onion/garlic/olive mixture and roll as tightly as possible (you could dip each tortilla in enchilada sauce first to add a more even flavor, I however was too lazy for this). My pan fit 8, but the filling would have gone a lot further had I wanted to make more. Roll all your enchilada, squishing them neatly in a row in the pan, then put however many will fit on the side. You want a complete layer of them.

9. Cover these with enchilada sauce. Cover the enchilada sauce with drained, rinsed pinto beans. Cover the pinto beans with tomato sauce (not a ton, just enough to put a thin layer over all beans). Cover the whole mess with foil and a lid too if you have one.

10. Bake for about 45 minutes.

* This is the time to make Spanish rice if you're going to. *

Presentation:

Once it's done baking, scoop the tomato saucy beans off the top and onto the plate, do not mix them in with the enchiladas. They actually have a totally different taste and I was very pleased how this turned out. A little bit of the tomato sauce seeps into the enchilada sauce, enhancing the flavor, and it could be a full meal using only two dishes. (one pan and one baking dish)
Once the beans are removed (or at least the beans in one area), scoop out the enchiladas. I just kind of got a big spoonful out, not individual enchiladas, it might have been possible, but since there's no real binding element, tasted just the same mixed up. So spoonful of beans, spoonful of enchilada, spoonful of rice (if applicable)
I kind of separated the spoonfuls and added mixed salad greens in the middle, it was pretty. :D I also added sour cream to his enchiladas, I don't really know how this affected them as I didn't taste it, but it seemed like the right thing to do.

Verdict:

I undercooked my potatoes and that really affected the dish. I thought they would be easier to cut if they were slightly firm and that they would cook the rest of the way in the oven...they did not.
The flavor I thought was really awesome. I liked it a lot. I would do this again for a big, filling, vegan meal.


The Man:

did not seem overly impressed. He said good, and ate it all, which was a lot...but I do not think it would be a favorite for him.

As always point out anything that clearly AIN'T VEGAN