Cheesy Tomatokra Soup

25 Tuesday Mar 2014

Posted by whatahipster in Uncategorized

Tags

cheese stew, cheesy stew, okra, tomato, tomatoes and okra, vegan, vegan cheese, vegan stew, veganism

Beloved vegans and nons, I come to you with this hodgepodge of ingredients from my refrigerator and pantry. This is what happens when you are in between grocery trips but are in the mood for a warm meal. The formula for this recipe is similar to my dear friend Emily’s vegan stew! Recipe here. She threw together a few cans in her pantry and it turned into one of the most hearty, delicious stews I have ever had! For times like this, I keep vegan cheese sauce at the ready most of the time, except when my cat spills all of my cashews that had been soaking for 8 hours onto the floor, ruining any plans for mac and cheese. This happened. I was furious. Going back to the recipe, prepare the cheese sauce according to the blog post.

Ingredients:

1 batch cheese sauce ($3.00)
2 cans tomatoes and okra ($0.99)
1 can black beans, drained ($0.59)

Preparation:

Throw it all in a large pot and heat until warmed through. For less than $4.50, you have a wonderful stew that could also serve well as a party dip! Try it with corn chips, carrot sticks, or just straight up with a spoon!

Cheesy stew!

Spinach Artichoke Dip

21 Friday Mar 2014

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artichoke dip, Casserole, healthy lifestyle, healthy snack, party, party dip, spinach artichoke dip, spinach dip, vegan, vegan party dip, vegan spinach artichoke dip, veganism, vegetarian, vegetarian party dip

I actually had never really experienced spinach artichoke dip until I dined at Brixx Wood Fired Pizza. Sure, I tasted it at Super Bowl parties and family reunions but it was never really something that I saw as an exquisite dish or appetizer. Spinach Artichoke dip at Brixx is the most savory, warm, salty dip served with either pita bread or blue corn chips for the gluten-free. It completely opened my eyes to how amazing this dip can be. Since turning vegan, I have tried many imitations of cheese, cream, dairy, and meat. Other than when I made Vegan New England Clam Chowder, I feel like this recipe replicates the creamy, cheesy, gooeyness of non-vegan food the best!

Ingredients:

3 slices whole grain bread ($0.16)
3 tbsp. vegan butter ($0.24)
1 medium onion, diced ($0.24)
1 tbsp. olive oil ($0.02)
2 cans white beans, drained, rinsed ($1.10)
6 tbsp. nutritional yeast ($1.60)
½ cup vegetable broth ($0.35)
2 tsp. sea salt ($0.02)
¼ tsp. dried basil ($0.04)
2 tsp. red pepper flakes ($0.06)
6 cloves of garlic, minced ($0.99)
8 cups of spinach, chopped ($1.60)
2 cans artichoke hearts, drained ($0.99)
1 cup vegan mozzarella cheese ($2.35)
1 can french fried onions ($0.99)

Preparation:

Preheat the oven to 400°F. Place the bread and butter in a blender or food processor and blend to create a dough like consistency. Set aside. Insert the white beans, nutritional yeast, vegetable broth, salt, basil, and red pepper flakes in the same food processor and blend until smooth. Set aside. Sauté the onions in the olive oil on medium heat until translucent. Toss the garlic in and cook for 2 minutes. Add the artichoke hearts and stir until warmed. Slowly throw some of the spinach in a few handfuls at a time. Wilt the spinach and then add some more. This will take some time but will yield a healthy, hearty dip! Turn the heat off and add the white bean mixture and half of the mozzarella cheese. Stir until warmed through. Place in a casserole pan and spread the dough mixture over the top of the dip. Add the rest of the cheese on top and place a layer of aluminum foil over the dish. Bake for 20 minutes; remove the foil and add the french fried onions. Bake for an additional 15 minutes; you should have an irresistibly savory spinach and artichoke dip!

Bread and Butter

Gooey butter dough

Bean Batter

Blended bean batter

Just onions…

DELICIOUS GARLIC ONIONS

ALL THE SPINACH

Starting to look like artichoke dip

REMEMBER THE BATCHES
ADDING ALL THE SPINACH AT ONCE WILL MAKE A MESS

Wet, wilted, wonderful spinach

Even more gooey than you ever thought possible

Dollops of dough

This is Daiya brand mozzarella but Trader Joe’s has a nice version

Are you excited yet??

You do not have to add the whole jar
I LOVE FRIED ONIONS
The cheese is also optional but who does not love CHEESE??

Crunchy, creamy spinach dip

Layers of luscious dip

Another amazing artichoke entrée

Look at that oozing artichoke casserole!

Soooo….we ate the entire casserole in one sitting
It is seriously that DELICIOUS

Devilishly delicious dough makes a great addition to this dip

Look at my new kitchen! It is so much bigger than I am used to
I have room to take display food photos!
I still have a lot to learn so if you guys have any advice on
cooking OR photography, please let me know!

Alright, alright… this casserole dip concoction is a tiny bit more expansive than the recipes I usually post; if you do not eat it in one night it will save very well and actually evens out in price versus quantity of food. BUT WE ARE COWS AND VEGANS NEED MORE FOOD. Anyway, I just thought I would send a shout out to One Green Planet for providing the base for this amazing resskippee (how my boyfriend pronounces recipe, isn’t he cute?!) and another should out to my coworkers for being the guinea pigs for this recipe. Except that would involve animal testing. And I am vegan. And I am against animal testing. So never mind about the guinea pigs; I just want to thank them for being so supportive and eating the delicious food that I make. That is all.

Happy Saint Patrick’s Day (Vegan Reuben)

16 Sunday Mar 2014

Posted by whatahipster in Uncategorized

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irish, luck of the irish, reuben sandwich, saint patrick's day, saint patty's day, st. patrick's day, vegan, vegan reuben sandwich

Happy Saint Patrick’s Day! Time for green beer, shamrocks, and dancing leprechauns. Instead of going to the store and buying pre-packaged, over priced, imitation meat product, I decided to get creative and try to work out a Reuben sandwich without the meat! My favorite part was creating the vegan Thousand Island dressing! It is a great vegan version if I do say so myself. Here is what I came up with:

For the Thousand Island:

1 cup vegan mayonaise ($0.26)
⅓ cup ketchup ($0.12)
1 dill pickle, diced ($0.05)
⅓ cup Annie’s Goddess ($0.65)
1 tbsp. dijon mustard ($0.18)

Blend all ingredients in a blender until smooth and you will be in shock of how similar this tastes to real Thousand Island dressing! Also, $1.26 is not too shabby for a homemade dressing.

For the Sandwich:

1 slice of pumpernickel rye bread ($0.22)
3 tbsp. vegan Thousand Island ($0.16)
1 large mushroom, sliced ($0.15)
1 tbsp. beau monde seasoning ($0.18)
3 tbsp. sauerkraut ($0.08)
1 tbsp. vegan butter ($0.12)
1 cup vegetable broth ($0.15)

Slice the mushroom and soak it in the vegetable broth and beau monde seasoning for about 15 minutes. This is a good time to make the Thousand Island dressing. Cut the slice of bread in half. Toast the bread, then apply half of the thousand island to both sides of the bread. Save the other half for later. Sauté the mushrooms in the vegetable broth on medium until soft. Scoop the mushrooms out and set aside. Add the sauerkraut to the broth and lower the heat to low until warmed. Layer the mushrooms and the sauerkraut on the bread and add the remaining dressing. Melt some butter in a small saucepan and fry both sides of the bread. Bia blásta! (or Irish for ‘tasty food’, like saying bon appetit) (($1.06 per sandwich))

I prefer Vegenaise but NayoWhipped was all I had in my fridge
I am curious as to how this would have turned out
using Vegenaise because it was so great the first time

THIS. Just THIS. If you have not tried this dressing,
stop reading and go to Kroger and BUY IT!
To me, it tastes like a vegan caesar dressing
To my boyfriend, a blue cheese dressing
Either way it is absolutely delicious and I feel like it is
the secret ingredient to this Thousand Island

Add caption

DO NOT TRY AT HOME, KIDS
I love taking danger shots of blenders with the lid off

Little shot of dressing
I could almost drink this stuff straight
Almost

Beau Monde means beautiful world and it certainly lives up to the name

This looks so nasty and actually smells so nasty
although it does taste great
DO NOT BE DECEIVED BY OUTWARD APPEARANCE

Broccoli Cheddar Rice Casserole

08 Saturday Mar 2014

Posted by whatahipster in Uncategorized

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broccoli cheddar, broccoli cheddar casserole, broccoli cheese, broccoli cheese casserole, vegan, vegan casserole, vegan cheese, veganism

Everybody loves the flavor combination of Broccoli and Cheddar. That may or may not be because cheese makes everything better and cheddar is one of the best cheeses. I admit it; I am a vegan who still discusses how amazing some cheeses are! I love cheese. I will always love cheese. I have come to terms with the facts and cheese is bad for animals and the human body, but otherwise, I would literally consume cheese with every meal. With cheddar, the sharper the better! I want to feel the bit from the cheddar on my whole tongue. Anyway, getting back to the recipe… I created this casserole when we needed a hearty, wintery meal that involved cheese (vegan, obviously). Easy, inexpensive and delightfully tasteful, this vegan broccoli cheese casserole kills zero animals and contains zero cholesterol!

Ingredients:

2 heads broccoli ($0.99)
2 cloves garlic, minced ($0.25)
1 cup brown rice ($0.20)
1 cup mushrooms, sliced ($0.99)
4 tbsp. soy sauce ($0.15)
1 cup vegetable broth ($0.30)
2 tbsp. corn starch ($0.10)
1 cup vegan cheddar cheese ($2.99)

Preparation:

Cook the rice according to your preferred method of cooking. I use a wonderful Japanese rice cooker that smart senses when the rice is cooked; it takes about two hours but cooking on the stove is completely acceptable. Steam the broccoli for 15 minutes. Feel free to drink one glass of red wine while the broccoli cooks. Mince the garlic and slice the mushrooms. Sauté the mushrooms and garlic for approximately 6 minutes or until the mushrooms soften. Mix in a bowl the soy sauce, broth, and corn starch. Add this to the mushrooms and garlic. This should create a broth-like “cream of mushroom soup” consistency. Turn the heat off. Add the broccoli. Stir well. Place into a casserole pan and top with the vegan cheddar cheese. Daiya makes two types of vegan cheddar cheese. The cheddar-style shreds are oily when heated, but the cheddar-style wedge melts marvelously for a great topping to this casserole. I recommend the block of cheddar, which yields a more crunchy topping; the shreds will yield a very fine stringy, cheesy, gooey, melty casserole. Preference is important. At this point, you should probably consume one more glass of red wine (make sure it is vegan). Bake in the oven for 20 mins on 350°F. TADA! Broccoli and cheese have come together perfectly in this vegan casserole!

Try not to overcook the broccoli
It will continue to cook in the casserole

Rice cookers do an amazing job of producing fluffy rice
Stove cooked rice will do just fine

Beet Hummus! from Healing Tomato

26 Wednesday Feb 2014

Posted by whatahipster in Uncategorized

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Tags

beet hummus, beet recipe, beet root, healthy lifestyle, healthy living, hummus, vegan, vegan beet recipe, vegan snack, vegetarian

It is high time for a guest recipe! I have been following the Healing Tomato blog for a couple months now and have been fascinated by all of her recipes. It is a vegetarian blog but it would be very easy to turn her recipes vegan either by omission or vegan substitutions. When she posted this recipe for beet hummus, I just knew we were meant to be friends. I LOVE BEETS! I grew up on beets. My mom fed me beets like candy and I developed a taste for healthy vegetables. She used to put beets on cottage cheese and it was one of the best meals in the whole world. I have been meaning to look up some vegan cottage cheese to bring this memory back to me in vegan form. Anyway, back to the Healing Tomato. I do not even know her name but she is fabulous and the blog is a great read! Check her blog for the recipe for beet hummus! She is on Google+ as well. I will be making this as soon as I get a free moment. Working two jobs and being a full time student is very difficult, especially when trying to move across town during the middle of mid-term week! All this work will pay off in the long run. Who knows? Maybe this blog will transform from the Impoverished Vegan to the Almost-Above-Poverty-Line Vegan! Just one step closer to being the Rich Bitch Vegan that I have been dreaming of becoming.

Try it on apple slices, carrot sticks, pita bread, or triscuits!
The options are endless.

Spaghetti? How about Spaghetti aglio, olio e peperoncino

12 Wednesday Feb 2014

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light meal, light snack, light spaghetti, pasta, spaghetti, traditional spaghetti, vegan, vegan spaghetti, veganism, vegetarian, vegetarianism

I get a lot of my love for cooking from my mother. She was always creating tasty and exciting ways to get me to eat vegetables; she would sneak shredded zucchini and squash into spaghetti sauce. Almost every Friday she would cook up here spaghetti in a huge batch and it would last the whole week! It was usually served with carrot sticks with ranch dip and garlic toast. We would eat it for breakfast, lunch, and dinner! Her spaghetti is one of my absolute favorite meals even to this day! I had always associated tomato sauce with spaghetti and spaghetti with tomato sauce. That is how it was. That was spaghetti. I recently was referred to a recipe that claimed to be the traditional way spaghetti was prepared, except it did not use a tomato base for the sauce! Furthermore, there was not even really a sauce on it! It turned out to be extremely satisfying and light! If you need to avoid tomatoes or have frequent heart burn, try this type of spaghetti!

Ingredients:

1 serving pasta ($0.45)
1 tbsp. minced garlic ($0.15)
2 tbsp. olive oil ($0.15)
2 tbsp. chopped parsley ($0.07)
½ tbsp. red pepper flakes ($0.09)
1 tbsp. fresh lemon juice ($0.04)

Preparation:

Cook the pasta according to the directions on the box. Drain and set aside. Heat the oil on medium heat and throw in the garlic once it has warmed. Sauté for one minute and throw in the pasta. Keep sautéing, stirring constantly and add the chopped parsley, red pepper flakes, and lemon juice. After 2 minutes remove from heat. You are done. That is it. Simple, savory spaghetti in less than 15 minutes! I cooked some mushrooms and asparagus in some garlic and oil for a side dish. For the salad, I used spinach, black olives, red onions, and balsamic vinaigrette. Any pasta dish can be cheezed up with Go Veggie! vegan grated parmesan cheese! Enjoy!

Stuffed Mac & Cheese Casserole!

27 Monday Jan 2014

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Casserole, mac and cheese, mac and cheese casserole, stuffing, stuffing casserole, vegan, vegan casserole, vegan cheese, vegan mac and cheese, veganism, vegetarian, vegetarian casserole, vegetarianism

I was waiting to write this recipe until I had posted the Mac & Cheeze blog because it uses the same cheese sauce. This is seriously one of the best casseroles I have ever consumed! And I made up the crazy recipe on accident! After Thanksgiving, I had a bunch of stuffing leftover and did not want it to spoil. I also happen to have leftover Mac & Cheeze. It was a divine intervention! I thought, “Why not combine two of my most favorite things into a casserole!” And perfection was born. I do not want to know how many calories are in it; being vegan, it does not really matter! Make this cheesy casserole the next time you need to warm up!

Ingredients:

1 unit Mac & Cheeze – recipe here ($4.03)

1 box vegan stuffing ($0.99)

1 jar french fried onions ($0.75)

Preparation:

Make the Mac & Cheeze according to the recipe. Prepare the stuffing according to the directions on the package. Place a layer of the stuffing on the bottom of a casserole dish. Put a layer of Mac & Cheeze on the stuffing. Add another layer of stuffing and the last of the Mac & Cheeze. Top with the fried onions and bake for 20 minutes on 350°F. Crunch and munch and then relish the deliciousness of cheesy stuffing casserole!

For the stuffing, I melted vegan butter in some water

Once boiling, I removed it from heat and covered for 5 minutes

The stuffing is made!

Herbes de Provence makes for a delightfully tasty stuffing

Cheesy goodness! The excess sauce drips down
and saturates the stuffing in cheeeeeeese!

For added texture, add a layer of fried onions in between
each layer of stuffing and cheese

ALL THE CARBS but it is so delicious and so vegan
that you do not have to feel any guilt at all!

Roasted Red Pepper Mac & Cheese

20 Monday Jan 2014

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cashew cream, cheese, healthy lifestyle, healthy living, mac and cheese, vegan, vegan cheese, vegan mac and cheese, veganism, vegetarian, vegetarianism

Mmm*Mac & Cheese! Everybody loves it. It seems everyone I talk to says, “Yeah, I could not be a vegan because I would miss cheese too much!” Let me be the first to say I thought the same thing! I loved eating cheese. I had cheese with every meal. Cheese was a meal. Mac & Cheese was my favorite meal to eat when it was cold outside. My mother would always make me homemade cheese sauce over spaghetti noodles. I would request it every morning and it was my absolute favorite breakfast. Vegan cheese recipes can be super simple simulations of ooey-gooey cheese.

Ingredients:

3/4 cup raw cashews (soaked) ($0.95)
2 tsp. olive oil ($0.01)
1 onion, diced ($0.18)
2 cloves garlic, minced ($0.38)
2 cups vegetable broth ($0.65)
1 1/2 tbsp. corn starch ($0.05)
1 1/2 tbsp. nutritional yeast ($0.18)
1 roasted red pepper ($0.45)
1 tbsp. tomato paste ($0.12)
1 tsp. salt ($0.01)
1 tsp. ground mustard ($0.03)
1/2 tsp. turmeric ($0.03)
1 box of pasta ($0.99)

Preparation:

Cook the pasta according to the directions on the package. Sauté the onions in olive oil until they become translucent. It should not take more than 5 minutes. Add the garlic and sauté 30 seconds. You do not want to overcook the garlic and lose the flavor. Add this mixture to a blender or food processor. Add the drained cashews, vegetable broth, corn starch, nutritional yeast, red pepper, tomato paste, salt, ground mustard, and turmeric. Blend until smooth. Smoothness is important. If you have read my previous blogs involving cashews, you will understand that it is very important to have a smooth sauce. The texture is gritty, rough, and crunchy. Transfer the sauce to the pan used to sauté the onions. Heat on medium-low for 10 minutes or until it starts to thicken. Once thick, add the pasta until the whole mixture is warmed through. SERVE and MUNCH!

Sautéing the garlic for only 30 seconds will keep the flavor
of the garlic at the optimal level

At first it was weird to add hot onions and garlic to a blender
but the flavors of these are key to creating a cheesy flavor!

The sauce will slowly thicken. KEEP STIRRING!
The first time I made this, I slightly burned the bottom
of the cheese sauce; it burns very easily so keep stirring

I used Lumaconi pasta instead of shell pasta or macaroni
because they look way cooler and they were
significantly less expensive at Aldi

There you have it. Delicious mac and cheese!

Since it has been so long since I have had actual dairy cheese, the vegan mind will almost forget what actual cheese tastes like and this faux cheese will totally satisfy all of your cheese cravings! I will challenge any cheese-eater to try this cheese sauce and tell me that it does not imitate mac and cheese extremely closely. I am still working on a few more cheese blogs so get hype! I hope to publish them very soon! For now, enjoy this delightful take on the American staple using cashews instead of dairy!

This is a modification of Isa Chandra’s Pizza Mac & Cheese recipe from Post Punk Kitchen. I love her work and she is the most exceptional vegan chef! Check out her blog at the Post Punk Kitchen!

Drink More Wassail

04 Saturday Jan 2014

Posted by whatahipster in Uncategorized

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apple cider, England, happy new year, holidays, New Year, vegan, veganism, Wassail

Even though holidays are officially over, the holiday spirit does not have to be! Celebrate the New Year with Wassail, a traditional hot mulled cider drank during the holidays to ensure a good harvest and promote happiness. Read more about it later. Here is a great Wassail recipe:

Ingredients:

8 cinnamon sticks
14 whole cloves
2 quarts apple cider
2 cups orange juice
1 cup pineapple juice
dash of cinnamon powder
dash of nutmeg powder

Preparation:

In a large pot, combine all ingredients and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to medium low and continue to simmer for at least one hour, depending on how flavorful you want it. Keeping the wassail simmering will intensify the cinnamon and clove in the drink.

Enjoy this wonderfully wintery, warm wassail!

Happy Holidays!

Did you know?

Ever heard the holiday song, “Here we come a-wassailing”? If not, familiarize yourself with the culture of olde England and click here. Traditionally, there were two types of wassailing. The first, House-Visiting wassail, was a group of carolers traveling door to door singing songs of joy and prosperity. The second, Orchard-Visiting wassail, was a group of people visiting orchards to recite incantations and sing to the trees for a good harvest season. Wassail was consumed during both events. Some examples of songs they would sing are:

“Wassaile the trees, that they may beare / You many a Plum and many a Peare: / For more or lesse fruits they will bring, / As you do give them Wassailing.”

“Here’s to thee, old apple tree, That blooms well, bears well. Hats full, caps full, Three bushel bags full, An’ all under one tree. Hurrah! Hurrah!”

“Apple tree, apple tree, we all come to wassail thee, Bear this year and next year to bloom and to blow, Hat fulls, cap fulls, three cornered sack fills, Hip, Hip, Hip, hurrah, Holler biys, holler hurrah.”

May this New Year bring success and happiness!

Black Eyed Pea Hummus, Happy New Year!

03 Friday Jan 2014

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Black-eyed pea, black-eyed pea hummus, Garlic, happy new year, hummus, New Year Day, new year's, Tahini, vegan, veganism, vegetarian, vegetarianism

Happy New Year! As is tradition, black-eyed peas are served to bring good fortune, prosperity, and all those nice things we like say we are going to resolve to do but never make it through the whole year. Pork products are usually used to garnish or marinate, but seeing as this is a vegan blog, I thought it best to refrain from the meat and meat substitutes. Try this awesome hummus made from black eyed peas instead of chick peas!

Ingredients:

3 cups cooked black-eyed peas ($0.46)
4 tsp. minced garlic ($0.32)
6 tbsp. fresh squeezed lemon juice ($0.12)
2 tsp. salt
2 tbsp. olive oil
1 tsp. garlic powder
1 tsp. onion powder
4 tbsp. tahini ($0.95)

Preparation:

Soak the black-eyed peas for at least 6 hours, or overnight. Drain and place them in a large sauce pot filled with water. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat to medium low and simmer for 90 minutes. Drain them thoroughly. Add them to a blender or food processor. Add the garlic, lemon juice, salt, olive oil, garlic powder, onion powder, and tahini and blend until very smooth. Once it is smooth, blend it again until it is very, very smooth. The hummus should be very smooth. Place in a serving bowl and garnish paprika and a drizzle of olive oil. You can use canned black-eyed peas for quicker preparation. I made a salad to go with the hummus. Baby spinach leaves, diced yellow peppers, and chunks of Daiya havarti cheese with an aged balsamic vinaigrette dressing.

Save the water from draining the beans
It can be used as a broth or a base for a soup or stew!
It contains some leftover nutrition from boiling the beans

I got new adjustable measuring spoons for christmas!
They are a great, space saving tool for my tiny 500 sq-ft apartment

An easy way to prevent lemon seeds from getting into your food
is to slice a lemon and hold it up to the light
You can use a knife to poke the seeds out