Quick Pressure Cooker Meals

Sometimes you just want to throw a bunch of things in a pot and get it on the table in a short amount of time.  A lot of my cooking is like that, but I want flavor, texture and nutrition even for minimal effort.  I do a number of meals in a pressure cooker because it speeds things up, especially rice dishes now that I only use whole grain rice.  Again, when I cook, I make a full pot of food that can last several meals or be frozen, so if you need to cut back on volume, feel free!

Pressure Cooker Beans and Rice

• 2 cups vegetarian broth (you will need more liquid, but some is coming from other canned goods)
• 2 cups long grain brown rice
• 1 15 oz can organic, low sodium black beans with liquid
• 1 15 oz can organic, low sodium dark red kidney beans with liquid
• 1 15 oz cans no salt, diced tomatoes with liquid
• 1 4 oz can chopped green chilies
• 1 7 oz can sliced black olives, drained
• 1 lb frozen corn or 1 15 oz can corn drained
• 2 rounded Tbsp chili powder
• 1 rounded Tbsp ground cumin

Optional: 

• Some re hydrated TVP chunks
• 1 bunch of kale, chopped

Place broth in pressure cooker and crank your burner up to high.  Add rice, beans, tomatoes, chilies, olives, corn and spices.  If using, add TVP.  Lock lid onto pressure cooker and bring up to full pressure.  Once pressure valve pops up, set timer for 30 minutes and reduce heat to low.  When timer goes off, remove from heat and set timer for another 15 minutes.  Remove lid and fluff and stir with a fork.

If adding kale, do not add at beginning.  After first 30 minutes, run cold water on pressure cooker to reduce steam.  When pressure valve drops, remove lid, add chopped kale, replace and lock lid and set timer for 15 minutes.  This will allow the kale to wilt enough without losing too many nutrients.  After 15 minutes, fluff and stir as above and serve!

This makes quite a lot of food and so we had it available for several meals.  Sometimes we just eat it like a casserole, but we had this big bag of whole wheat tortillas, so we made burritos out of it for one meal, and for another (pictured) we served it with some grilled quesadillas made with our whole wheat tortillas and Daiya cheddar shreds.



Beans and rice and quesadillas!  YUM!!

A note about canned foods.  A lot of canned foods have high amounts of sodium in them, which is why you are often better off starting with dry beans, soaking and cooking with limited added salt.  A pressure cooker is great for this!  It can still be time consuming, and you would probably want to prepare those beans on the weekend and use throughout the week.  A lot of supermarkets, however, have organic, low sodium canned items.  They are not always the least expensive, but they are available for your convenience.  Balance things out between your budget and your time, but definitely move toward lower amounts of sodium.

Vegan Cassoulet

So, I was watching Rachel Ray's 30 Minute Meals the other day and got inspired to veganize something.  She was making a quick version of a French country dish called Cassoulet.  The traditional recipes usually include a lot of sausage, pork, duck, duck fat (sounds rich, right?), beans, some veggies and a bread crumb topping.  Her recipe, of course, was the 30 minute time saving version with chicken instead of duck and beans from the can.  I dug around on the Internet a bit and came up with a simple, vegan, one pot version that is fairly quick to throw together but has a very slow cooked taste.  This is ideal for transitional vegans who like to still experience "meat."  There are other recipes on the Internet that leave out meat analogues and countless traditional recipes for inspiration.  My family was quite pleased with this the first time I made it, so I think it's a keeper for us.

Vegan Cassoulet

• 1 package (1 lb) Tofurky Italian Sausage
• 2 cups TVP chunks, re hydrated with 1 cup Pinot Grigio and 1 cup No Chicken Broth
• 1 Large onion, diced
• 3-4 ribs celery diced
• 2-3 medium carrots, diced
• 1 full head of garlic, all cloves minced (this is where the big economy jar of minced garlic comes in handy!  Just use an equivalent amount.)
• 3 15 oz cans Great Northern White or Cannellini Beans (Italian white kidney beans) with liquid
• 1 15 oz can diced tomatoes with liquid
• 1 No Chicken Bouillon Cube
• 2 teaspoons Italian seasoning
• 4 bay leaves
• Black pepper to taste
• 4 slices bread for crumbs (the end slices of the loaf are best for crumbs)
• 1/2 cup dry parsley

The Tofurky sausage has some oil in it, so I do not add any other oil or fat to this and it works out great.  On medium heat, saute the sausage in a Dutch oven, then add onions and garlic (reserve about 3 cloves worth of garlic for topping), celery and carrots and continue to saute, stirring frequently enough to avoid sticking to the bottom.  Add the re hydrated TVP chunks along with any additional liquid which will help to deglaze the pan a bit as you stir.  Add beans and tomatoes, and nestle the bouillon cube down near the bottom of the pan.  Add seasonings and bay leaves, stir so all is uniformly combined, then cover and simmer on low heat for about 15 minutes.  Process the bread into crumbs and add remaining garlic and dried parsley.  Most recipes would have you use some butter or olive oil in the crumb topping, and you could certainly add some melted Earth Balance vegan margarine if you want, but I found that the added fat was unnecessary.  Pour bread crumb topping on top and pop the Dutch oven (without lid) in a 350 degree oven for about 45 minutes until crumb topping is crunchy and golden.

Once the liquids reduce, flavors are concentrated and savory.

This is hearty peasant food without all of the animal cruelty and health risks!  Carnivores will swear it's full of meat (and it is, just not meat from animals!)  This will serve 8-10 people easily and is great with a nice spinach or kale salad served on the side. 

Eat Your Greens

Day 16 since I caught the nasty virus and it is pretty much gone--finally!  Wow!  What ever happened to a week to ten days?  Why has it stretched to fourteen plus!!???  My wife still has the hacking cough and is on day 11.  She is feeling better, but it won't be gone for another several days.  Oh well, we were virtually trapped inside for nearly a week with heavier snowfall than is normal for our area, so at least we weren't missing out on a lot of planned activities.  We drove through the slush yesterday to do our weekly shopping and went out to lunch as well, so we're not quite as stir crazy today.  On to today's topic...

My family is not tremendously picky when it comes to eating veggies.  If I make it, we will all eat it, even if it's not the most creative dish.  That makes it easy on me in one respect, but I hate making several things for one meal on a regular basis.  I am the king of one pot, one casserole meals.  And I know a lot of families have members who are somewhat picky about veggies, so I have a strategy to slip them in more regularly and make things easier on you, the chef of the house!

In my last blog, I had made a nice vegan Irish stew and mentioned at the end that sometimes I make colcannon to go along with it.  Colcannon is an Irish version of mashed potatoes that puts greens right into the potatoes to get young'ns to eat more greens with minimal effort.  They often put cabbage and green onions in colcannon; I used kale, green onions and parsley the other night when we had some leftover stew to eat and wanted a slightly different experience.

Kale Colcannon

• 3 lbs Yukon gold potatoes or red potatoes, scrubbed with skins on and cut into 1 inch dice
• 1 bunch kale, washed and rinsed well, finely chopped
• 1 bunch green onions (6-8), washed and diced
• 1 bunch flat leaf parsley, washed and chopped
• A few tablespoons Earth Balance vegan margarine
• Some So Delicious Coconut Milk Drink
• A few cloves freshly minced garlic
• Salt and pepper to taste

Boil the potatoes until tender but still firm (15 minutes or so depending on your dice size).  Chop other veggies while the potatoes boil.  Saute the onions in a nonstick skillet and then add garlic, parsley and kale continuing to saute until all are heated through and wilted, but still brilliantly green.  Drain potatoes and mash adding margarine and coconut milk until you get the consistency you want.  Add greens to potatoes and mix well to incorporate all together.  Salt and pepper to taste.  Serve any time you would normally serve mashed potatoes but this is especially wonderful with a ladle full of Irish Stew over the nice mound of potatoes and greens!

Spinach is also a big staple in our house.  Though I am a fan of fresh spinach and spinach salads, I am more a fan of the value of chopped, frozen spinach.  Do you know how much fresh spinach you would have to cook to yield one pound of chopped, cooked spinach?  A LOT!  The chopped, frozen stuff is an incredible value when you think about all the nutrition you get from just one reasonably priced bag of veggies.  In any event, I add spinach to a lot of casseroles and pastas and just call it Florentine!  One of our meals this week was our vegan mac 'n cheeze and I Florentined it (notice how I verbed that?!) to make it a more balanced meal since I did not feel like making side dishes.  Throw a pound of spinach into any pasta or rice dish and see what you think!

Mac 'n Cheeze Florentine

• 12-16 oz whole wheat pasta (elbows, corkscrews, etc.)
• 1 recipe Cheesy Sauce (from January 4, 2012 blog)
• Extra So Delicious Coconut Milk Drink
• 1 lb frozen chopped spinach, thawed in the microwave, squeezed dry

Put your pasta to boil and cook about 10-12 minutes while you make the cheesy sauce.  One the sauce is made, thin with some coconut milk to get the consistency you want, then add the thawed spinach that has been squeezed as dry as possible.  Mix sauce and spinach with pasta and serve or bake in casserole with breadcrumb topping--your choice.  This is also delicious with vegan Parmesan sprinkled on top.

Vegan Parmesan

• 1 cup walnuts
• 1/4 c small nutritional yeast flakes (1/2 cup large flakes)
• 1/2 tsp salt

Process nuts in small food processor until ground, add yeast flakes and salt and process again until uniformly mixed.  Store in refrigerator and sprinkle on soups, salads, pastas, and, of course, on vegan Mac 'n Cheeze!

Vegan Irish Stew and Home Made Bread

This should be my last catch up blog from my family's sick week.  I still have a bit of a hacking cough on day 11 of our mini plague, but I have felt considerably better the last few days and I was feeling ambitious enough yesterday to make some bread from scratch along with a huge pot of Irish Stew.  Outside is covered in a blanket of snow and inside is less germy by the day.  I have to say, our cats must like it when we are ill because we nap and rest more and that is right up their alley!  Snow, cold season, snuggling, purring cats--it is time for some vegan comfort food!

Homemade Vegan Challah (Not pronounced the way Michele Bachmann would pronounce it)

• 1 cup warm water (115 degrees)
• 1 packet (2-1/4 tsp) quick acting yeast
• 1/4 cup agave
• 1/4 cup canola oil
• 1/4 cup vegan sour cream or pureed tofu
• 1-1/2 tsp salt
• 1 Tbl Bob's Red Mill Egg Replacer powder
• 2 cups unbleached white flour
• 2-1/4 cups white whole wheat flour

I use a bread machine on the dough cycle only to make this dough, then I divide the dough in quarters and weave to make a traditional braided loaf.

Place water, agave and yeast in the bread machine pan and let sit a few minutes until yeast begins to foam.  Add oil, vegan sour cream and salt, then add egg replacer powder and flours and set machine for dough only cycle.  My bread machine will mix and knead the dough for 30 minutes and then let rise for 1 hour.  The dough will have doubled in that hour.  I then reset the machine to the dough only cycle again and let it mix and knead for 15 minutes, then I shut off the machine and work by hand.  Divide dough into 3 or 4 equal pieces, roll into ropes and braid.  Here's a handy guide to braiding Challah if you have never done so:  Braiding Challah.  Line a baking sheet with foil and spray with canola spray.  Place braided loaf on baking sheet, spray loaf with canola spray and cover with plastic wrap.  Let rise 60-90 minutes until at least doubled.  Remove plastic wrap and bake in preheated 375 degree oven for 25-35 minutes until golden brown.  OK, so you caught me using unbleached white flour, but you could use all white whole wheat flour or half white whole wheat and half whole wheat pastry flour if you would like.  If you use all whole wheat, keep the dough moist and allow a little longer for dough to rise.

OK, so the loaf was bigger before we had dinner last night!

Vegan Irish Stew

• 2 cups dry TVP re hydrated with 1 cup Merlot and 1 cup No Beef Bouillon broth
• 1 large onion, chopped
• 4-5 ribs celery, chopped
• 3-4 medium carrots, thick sliced
• 1/2 cup whole wheat flour
• 1 cup red lentils
• 3-4 medium Russet or Yukon Gold potatoes, diced
• 1 cup mushrooms, sliced
• 8 cups No Beef Bouillon broth
• 1 cup chopped fresh parsley
• 1 tsp each rosemary, thyme, marjoram
• 3 bay leaves
• Black pepper to taste

Microwave the Merlot and 1 cup broth until boiling and add TVP chunks to absorb hot liquid.  Saute onions in Dutch oven in a little water or broth, add celery and carrots and continue to saute.  Add a bit more cool broth to the vegetables and then the flour and stir constantly to avoid lumps, add rest of broth, lentils, potatoes, mushrooms and heat on medium high heat stirring frequently until boiling.  Once boiling, reduce heat to low, add re hydrated TVP, parsley, spices and seasoning.  Simmer on low for 30 minutes until potatoes and carrots are tender, stirring occasionally to avoid sticking on the bottom of the pan.



I've had coworkers swear this was actual beef stew!

You can use parsnips, turnips, rutabaga or other root vegetables according to your taste.  Sometimes I make the stew without potatoes and then serve over Colcannon Potatoes (mashed potatoes with cabbage, green onions, parsley and/or other greens mixed right in with the potatoes---YUM!).

Another Quick Casserole Night

During this past week of coughing, Robitussin and gallons of hot tea to keep us hydrated, meals have had to be simple to prepare and have been made in large quantities.  In case you had not noticed, all of my recipes thus far are enough to feed ten to twelve people.  My wife and I do not mind leftovers, and if I am going to bother to take the time to make something incredibly delicious and healthful, then I make it in mass quantities and freeze two thirds of it for future use!  Here is another one of my quick casseroles that can be put together in about 20-30 minutes and then popped in the oven for 30-45 minutes.  It fed us for three meals and allowed me to rest more during our sick week!

Cheesy Potato, Broccoli and Chick'n Casserole

• 3-4 medium Yukon Gold potatoes
• 1 16 oz bag of frozen broccoli florets
• 2 cups TVP chunks re hydrated like chick'n
• 1 recipe Cheesy Sauce (from January 4, 2012 blog)
• 1 cup So Delicious Coconut Milk drink

I start with 1 cup of Pinot Grigio and 1 cup of No Chicken Broth in the microwave until boiling and then add the 2 cups of TVP chunks to that hot liquid.  Let sit for 10 minutes.  Pierce your potatoes and pop them in the microwave until they are nearly cooked like baked potatoes.  Cut potatoes into three quarter inch dice while thawing broccoli in the microwave.  Combine potatoes, broccoli and re hydrated TVP chunks in casserole dish.  Mix 1 cup of coconut milk drink into cheesy sauce and pour over casserole ingredients.  Cover with foil and bake in 350 degree oven for about 45 minutes until well heated through.  (The closer your broccoli is to completely thawed and your potatoes are to completely baked, the less time the casserole has to spend in the oven.)

Kick it up with spice!  If you find the Cheesy Sauce bland to your taste, you could add more salt, but if you are trying to reduce your over all sodium consumption, try adding some curry powder or Cajun spice or spicy brown mustard to the sauce to give it more flavor without sodium.

Turmeric 'N More

So sorry for the week long silence.  You know that virus my daughter started with last Friday?  We all got it, and for my wife and me it turned into the worst week of lethargy and coughing--yuk!  I am now on day 11, and I think it's just about run its course; my wife is on about day 6.  The doctor said it was not flu, and to just take lots of decongestant, push fluids and get rest.  Robitussin is our friend!  We dragged ourselves out for a movie and dinner this past Friday for my birthday, then collapsed for the weekend once we got home.  It was just as well to stay in the rest of the weekend since we got a snow storm here in the Seattle area and it's nice to stay off the roads!

Last weekend, when I was on about day 3 of our mini plague, we had ordered Indian food from a local place here called Turmeric 'n More.  It's not a restaurant that you can go to, but a food service that has a rotating weekly menu.  You order by the end of Tuesday and they deliver the following Sunday.  We love Indian food, and before we went vegan, we had two favorite restaurants in Colorado Springs that served awesome Indian and Nepalese dishes and had incredible lunch buffets with lots of vegetarian options.  Since we went vegan again, I have greatly missed any kind of spread with such variety.  Oh sure, I make the occasional vegan curry, but to have a large spread of vegan options would be a dream come true!  Turmeric 'n More is the next best thing for us since they are the first Indian/Pakistani food service I have found that has a whole host of vegan options on their menu!  They do not use ghee or cream in any of their dishes; they cook a much healthier fare and have many items that are specifically vegan, free of any dairy or other animal products.

We ordered Aloo Lobia Masala (potatoes and black eyed peas with onions, tomatoes and spices), Palak Mung ki Dal (split mung beans with spinach and spices), Diwani Handi (five assorted vegetables with onions, tomatoes and spices), and of course, some Naan bread.  You can order basmati rice, but we were more interested in ordering the tasty dishes and so I whipped up some turmeric brown basmati rice in the pressure cooker and let them do the tough stuff.  You can choose your spice level on each dish tailoring your meal or even individual dishes to your family, friends and guests.  We sat down Sunday evening to a nice spread of wonderful Indian dishes that would help to fortify us for the upcoming week of viral rampage!

The food was excellent and it was nice to have a variety of spicy, vegan, Indian dishes with little effort on my part.  We also found that the food was a good value and paid what you would expect to pay ordering in from a restaurant.  (If each dish had come automatically with a side of rice, like with many Chinese restaurants, it would have been a great value!)  All in all, we had a good experience with Turmeric 'n More and I highly recommend anyone in the Seattle area give them a try some time.  Here is a hyperlink to their web site and menu: Turmeric 'n More.  They are located in Kenmore, WA which is about ten minutes southwest of where we live in Bothell, but they deliver into Seattle and all along the northeast suburbs of King and Snohomish counties. 

Soup du Jour

Chowders, gumbos, chilies, stews.  There's something about a hearty soup or stew that just says, "You can relax now."  They are satisfying, tasty, chock full of nutrition, and make a great starter or a great main course.  At the Vegan Inn, my menu would always have Irish Stew, Three Bean Chili, and various chowders and soups of the day.  My daughter woke up Friday morning with a sore throat (curse you cold and flu season!), and I had just bought some fresh broccoli, so I thought I would make something appealing to her.  She is still a cheesaholic, so I thought a nice cheesy broccoli soup was in order.  I often make this killer garlic and kale soup when we are sick (it's waaaayyyy better for you than chicken soup, and it has the added benefit of warding off vampires), but it's a thin soup, and my family prefers the thicker, creamier soups and chowders.  So I invented this one as I went along and it turned out darn well, so here is the recipe!

Nate's Broccoli Cheddar Soup

• 1 onion, finely diced
• 3 ribs of celery, finely diced
• 2 medium carrots, finely diced
• 3 medium potatoes, finely diced
• 1crown of broccoli, finely diced
• 2 4 oz cans green chilies
• 4 cups low sodium vegetable stock
• 4 cups coconut milk (not the canned kind, the milk substitute drink from So Delicious)
• 1 recipe cheesy sauce (from 01/04/2012 blog, Welcome to the Vegan Inn)
• 1/4 cup oat flour
• Ground black pepper to taste (salt is optional)

I have three favorite cooking vessels: my large casserole dish, my pressure cooker, and my cast iron Dutch oven.  Pull out the heavy dutch oven and saute the onions, celery and carrots in some of the vegetable stock.  Add the potatoes, broccoli and green chilies, 3 of the 4 cups of vegetable stock, all of the coconut milk and bring to a boil.  Cover and reduce heat to low and simmer for 20 minutes.  In the last cup of vegetable stock, which should be at room temperature, whisk in the 1/4 cup oat flour.  Add the cheesy sauce and the oat flour mixture to the soup and continue to stir over low heat uncovered until soup thickens.  Add pepper to taste, and salt if you really must (although the green chilies in this recipe give it lots of flavor and slight kick in order to reduce the need for additional sodium).



The Cheesy Sauce really gives it the look and flavor of cheddar!



My family deemed this worthy of any Denny's or Village Inn type restaurants, and this version is much healthier for you than the traditional salty, gummy, orangish stuff with a few flecks of broccoli greens.  It's another one pot meal (unless you have to make the cheesy sauce the same night), that won't disappoint, and the large pot I made will easily serve twelve people (which meant leftovers for us and it was a good thing because the next day I came down with a cold and did not feel like cooking anything new!).  Give me your feedback and recipe tweaks if you try some of these dishes out at home!

Meat Analogues and A New Food Pyramid

As I said before, I use meat analogues.  I also use dairy analogues, oils and vegan margarine.  Again, these are all vegan, but some are just as processed as the animal based items they mimic.  For transitional vegans, analogues might be an important bridge to the new world of a plant based diet.  Sometimes, we just need great comfort food and that might come in the form of a (or several) delicious vegan chocolate chip cookie(s), some awesome coconut ice cream, or a trip to Mighty-O Donuts here in Seattle where they serve nothing but vegan donuts and fritters--yes, vegan apple fritters!

We have cut out refined white flour from our diet for the most part, and when I make sweet treats I use organic sugar or other organic sweeteners, but my family is prone to type 2 diabetes, and if I'm going to be vegan, I may as well seriously reduce my sugar and simple carbohydrate intake so that I can drop some weight and avoid the family curse.  So far, my blood sugar has been fine at my annual physicals, and my wife and I have been walking regularly, but I could still stand to drop about sixty pounds.  There is certainly room for me to reduce simple carbohydrates, fats, and processed vegan foods from my diet, so I guess that 2012 will involve even more transition.

The following link is to a blog by a plant based dietitian and includes a plant based food guide pyrimid.  It very much mirrors the RAVE diet (RAVE stands for no Refined foods, no Amimal foods, no Vegetable oils, no Exceptions and Exercise).  Plant Based Diet Food Pyramid   A Plant Based Diet is a very radical way to eat when compared to our typical western diet, but the western diet has deteriorated into processed and fast foods, empty and overly abundant calories, and an abnormally obese population fraught with cardiovascular disease, diabetes and cancers of all kinds.  Now, we all need fat in our diets, but rather than using refined oils to cook with or dress our greens, the goal on a plant based diet is to get that fat from nuts, seeds, avacados and olives as whole foods, in moderation.  This is one of the reasons that I started making the cheesy sauce made primarily from oats, nutritional yeast, sesame seeds and pimientos.  It's made from whole foods rather than refined ingredients and so is a better choice than even Daiya Vegan Shreds.

Meat analogues are often rather processed and may contain high levels of sodium for flavor.  I make a great vegan club sandwich from Dave's Killer 21 Seed Bread, Smoked Tofurky Slices, Smart Bacon, romaine lettuce, tomatoes and Vegannaise. But, it's an occasional special treat rather than a frequent menu item in our house.  My meat analogue of choice is TVP (Textured Vegetable Protein) which is also used in many processed meat analogues.  Dehyrated TVP granules and chunks, however, are made solely from defatted soy flour and have the following macronutritional value:

• One quarter cup of dry TVP, which is equivalent to about 24 grams, contains 80 calories, 12 grams of protein, 3 grams of sugar and 7 grams of total carbohydrates. It also contains 4 grams of fiber, which is equivalent to 16 percent of the U.S. recommended daily allowance of fiber.

I reconstitute TVP with vegan Merlot and Better Than Bouillon No Beef Base to mimic beef chunks, vegan Pinot Grigio and Better Than Bouillion No Chicken Base to mimic chicken chunks, and a combination of the two to mimic pork.  TVP is considered a processed food, but it's made from soy beans, so I really am eating legumes!  You can certainly make great whole food stews, chilis, curries and soups without anything that mimics meat, but I still need the meaty chunks in these dishes to round out the gastric experience.  Eating a hearty, vegan Irish stew is more pleasurable to me knowing that no creature had to sacrifice it's life for me to enjoy the experience.

Original Vegan Boca Burgers are processed, but some times my family and I are just in the mood for a burger, or a patty melt.  I will be working on my own whole foods burger recipe soon, so I will post the results when I have hit the right mix of ingredients. In the mean time, if you have created or found the recipe for a great whole foods burger patty, please share with me!

Quick, Easy Fusion Food--Naan Pizza

We have a Central Market near our home and it carries many organic, vegetarian and vegan options for shoppers.  They have a packaged Indian naan bread that also comes in whole wheat and is to die for!  When we gave up dairy and eggs, we also switched to whole grains as much as possible.  We rarely eat foods made with only white flour, so this naan was a great find for us.  Not only is it a perfect accompaniment to a nice vegan curry (future blog focus for sure!), but it is the best pizza crust if you do not have time to make your own dough.

Last night was one of those nights after most of the day slipped away and I came up short on both time and motivation for meal preparation.  My wife and I had made a late afternoon grocery run and we had picked up some of that wonderful whole wheat naan.  My daughter would be getting home from class after 6:00 p.m. and we were wanting to watch results from the Iowa caucuses, so something quick and easy was in order.  Last night became pizza night!

Sometimes our pizza night features Papa Murphy's Gourmet Vegetarian.  We have them use olive oil and garlic only as the sauce; it comes with lots of  fresh spinach, artichoke hearts, red onions, tomatoes and mushrooms.  Unfortunately, they do not have a whole wheat crust option.  We have them leave off the cheese and then we add a bag of Daiya Mozzerella Shreds at home before baking.  But tonight was naan pizza night, and we would get our whole wheat crust!

The size of the naan bread is perfect for individual pizzas, I use either olive oil and garlic for the sauce or sometimes hummus.  I add fresh or frozen spinach, artichoke hearts, tomatoes, black olives, and may or may not top it off with vegan cheese shreds.  We always keep cans of olives and artichoke hearts in the pantry and frozen spinach in the freezer to have this great combination of Mediterranean flavors close at hand.  Naan pizzas take 10 minutes to throw together and I bake them at 400 degrees for 12-15 minutes.  Keep the veggie content high and the oil and cheese content low and they are filling and nutritious.

OK, so I forgot to take a picture of dinner again!  LOL  I have to get used to pulling out my cell phone and snapping pictures during meal prep in case I need to post them.  I'll even try to add some pictures to these first few posts once we have those meals again, which should be soon because they are some of our weekly favorites!

Welcome to the Vegan Inn

For years I have often thought it would be great fun to run a Bed & Breakfast Inn.  My wife and daughter and I have been vegetarian for more than fifteen years and would name our place The Veg Inn.  Our slogan would invite guests to come and relax and "veg out at the Veg Inn."  The Inn would have accommodations, spa and massage services, warm pools and vegan cuisine for a healthy getaway.  Perhaps one day my wife and I will have the capital to make this a reality, but for now this blog will be my Virtual Vegan Inn!  As it would be difficult to offer guests a virtual overnight stay or a virtual massage, I'm going to focus this blog on the vegan cuisine.

Our family decided to stop eating meat for a number of reasons, and then our reasons evolved, and then we gave up dairy and eggs for a while, and then we went back to eating dairy and eggs, and then I got cancer (which was surgically cured), and then we saw an informative program on PBS, and then we decided to be vegan again.  I will never go back to consuming animal products and at this point in my life, it is as much about cruelty issues as it is about my own health.  Our western meaty diet is not only cruel to animals, but cruel to our environment and to the rest of humanity.  We could produce so much more wholesome, organic vegan foods for our world population than we could produce cheap, toxic animal protein.  I'll get off of my cruelty soap box for now, but I will on occasion provide links to articles and web sites that better explain the science behind why a plant based diet is better for humanity.  Just remember one thing about eating animal flesh and eggs and dairy--cholesterol is their way of killing us back!

I am the primary cook in our household and I will definitely post recipes on this blog, but I also expect that there will be an evolution to my cuisine.  Eating vegan does not necessarily mean eating healthy.  There are plenty of foods that are technically vegan but provide little nutritional value and can contribute to an unbalanced diet.  Some of these are processed foods that contain high levels of sodium or fat, some are foods that many of us vegans make from scratch.  Again, I will at times provide links to articles and web sites that give better guidelines for proper vegan nutrition.  I will also include some commentary within any recipes to provoke your thoughts about what you are trying to achieve through your own diet.

So, on to the first recipe and it will contain quite a bit of commentary.  I do need to mention that I currently specialize in vegan transitional food, that is, food that helps pre vegans become vegans because it has familiar tastes and textures (yes, I use meat analogues).  Some vegans shun meat analogues, so my recipes are versatile enough for anyone to adapt to their own personal taste.  Many of my recipes are also convenient one pot, one pressure cooker, or one casserole meals, because cooking should not be complicated just because you don't eat meat and potatoes!

Nate's Mexcellent Casserole (so named because my wife said, "This Mexican Casserole is excellent!")

Ingredients (original recipe)

• 1 15 oz can black beans with liquid (organic and low sodium)
• 1 15 oz can diced tomatoes with liquid (organic, low or no added sodium)
• 1 6 or 8 oz can sliced black olives, drained
• 1 4 oz can mild diced green chilies with liquid
• 1 15 oz can corn, drained, or 1 lb frozen corn
• 2 heaping Tbsp chili powder
• 1 heaping Tbsp cumin
• 1 12 oz package corn tortillas, quartered
• 1 8 oz package Daiya vegan cheddar style shreds (or one recipe cheesy sauce, below)*

Additional optional ingredients

• 1 bunch of kale, finely chopped
• 1 medium onion, finely chopped
• 1-2 cups dried TVP (textured vegetable protein) chunks, re hydrated (recipe below)**

Preheat oven to 350 degrees



In a large mixing bowl, combine beans, tomatoes, chilies, olives, corn, chili powder and cumin (and, if using, kale, onions and re hydrated TVP chunks).  The liquid from the vegetables along with the spices will make a nice, enchilada like sauce as the casserole bakes. 

Simple ingredients and spices in the
convenient economy size!









Use a large (GINORMOUS) mixing bowl when adding kale.



 Spray a large casserole dish with non stick cooking spray (I use canola or olive oil spray).  Put about a cup of the mixture on the bottom of the casserole, then one layer of the quartered corn tortillas, then another 1-2 cups of the mixture over the tortillas, then about a third of the Daiya shreds (or spread a third of the cheesy sauce). Repeat mixture, tortillas, shreds/cheesy sauce another two times ending with the shreds/cheesy sauce on top and cover the casserole with foil.  Bake at 350 degrees for 45 minutes to one hour (depending on how thick your casserole is and whether you used frozen corn and raw onions).  The original recipe will serve six hungry people (or our family of three twice), and I would serve with sides of kale and green salad.  If you add the kale to the casserole, then maybe just serve with a green salad.  My original recipe tasted amazingly like a combination of Amy's Cheese Enchiladas and Amy's Black Bean Enchiladas.


 

  

Kale adds volume so use a huge casserole.









 



  







With raw onions and kale, I baked this for 75-90 minutes.

   
My family loves Daiya non dairy cheese, and although vegan, it does have a considerable amount of oil and sodium. (Note that there was no salt added to the above recipe.  The spices give it so much good flavor there is no need for salt other than what's already in the ingredients.)  For vegans who would like a more nutritious, whole foods cheesy sauce, use the following recipe.  It might add time to your cooking, but if you really like it, you can make several batches on the weekend to use during the week.

*Cheesy Sauce

Ingredients

• 1 cup water
• 1/4 cup oat flour (or 1/2 cup oatmeal)
• 1/4 cup large nutritional yeast flakes (or 2 rounded Tbsp fine nutritional yeast flakes)
• 1 tsp onion powder
• 1/2 tsp garlic powder
• 1/4 cup tahini
• 1 4 oz jar pimientos
• salt to taste (either none or up to a tsp depending on whether you are controlling your sodium)

Place water, out flour, nutritional yeast, onion and garlic powder in sauce pan and whisk together as you bring the mixture to a simmer on medium heat.  It will begin to get very thick at which point you can remove from heat and add tahini and pimientos.  Blend with an immersion blender until smooth; add salt (if using) while blending.  If too thick, add a little more water or non dairy milk and blend some more. If too thin, sprinkle in a little more oat flour and return to low heat to thicken while blending.  The pimientos along with the yellow nutritional yeast give this sauce a nice cheddar color.  The nutritional yeast and the tahini give it a nice, sharp cheesy flavor.

**Reconstituting TVP chunks (I buy mine online since I cannot find them at Whole Foods or other natural markets in our area)

Ingredients

• 1 cup vegan red wine (I use Merlot)
• 1 cup water
• 2 tsp Better than Bouillon No Beef Base (they are just coming out with half sodium products!)
• 2 cups TVP Chunks

In a 4 cup Pyrex measuring cup heat wine, water and bouillon in microwave just until boiling (about 6-8 minutes).  Add TVP chunks and let stand for 10 minutes (it helps to put a small plate inside the measuring cup on top of the chunks, weighing it down with a large can of food or other weight).  The red wine gives the TVP chunks a very beefy look and the bouillon gives them a very beefy flavor.

Note that my recipes often include convenience options--canned beans, canned tomatoes, canned corn, packaged vegan cheese.  If you are on a budget or would otherwise prefer to start your recipes with dry beans, by all means do so.  You can plan your meals ahead for the week and cook a larger pot of beans then, along with multiple batches of cheesy sauce, etc.  I use a pressure cooker any time I want to cook brown rice or brown basmati rice or dry beans or lentils.  You can also use completely fresh ingredients, and make your own vegan corn tortillas.  It all depends on how much time you want to spend in creation mode!

Live long and prosper! (except the V  I am now forming with my hand, stands for vegan rather than Vulcan!  LOL