Yummy Bento Friendly Vegan and Vegetarian Recipes!
Avocado Truffles!
Ingredients
- 3 large avocados
- 3/4 C. unsweetened coco
powder (more for a more
concentrated chocolate taste)
- 2/3 C. Chocolate milk of choice
(I like soy or almond)
- 1 Tbs. Vanilla extract
- 3/4 C. sugar
- 1 8oz package semi sweet chocolate
chips
Cooking Instructions
1. Add sugar to milk in pan and heat until sugar
dissolves stirring constantly.
2. Peel at pit avocados and put in food
processor or blender (or emulsion
blender)
3. Add sugar and soymilk solution to
food processor
4. Add coco and vanilla
5. Blend until smooth
6. Store in airtight container in the
refrigerator for 1 hour while it sets
7. Roll avocado ganache into finger tip
sized balls with a 3/8 oz melon baller
and freeze for an hour
8. In a double boiler slowly melt chocolate
chips. Keep at a low temperature
9. Dip ganache balls into melted chocolate
and then roll onto extra coco or topping of
choice
10. Let harden for about 5 minutes
11. Store in airtight contain in refrigerator
for up to 5 days or freeze again for
later use
- 3 large avocados
- 3/4 C. unsweetened coco
powder (more for a more
concentrated chocolate taste)
- 2/3 C. Chocolate milk of choice
(I like soy or almond)
- 1 Tbs. Vanilla extract
- 3/4 C. sugar
- 1 8oz package semi sweet chocolate
chips
Cooking Instructions
1. Add sugar to milk in pan and heat until sugar
dissolves stirring constantly.
2. Peel at pit avocados and put in food
processor or blender (or emulsion
blender)
3. Add sugar and soymilk solution to
food processor
4. Add coco and vanilla
5. Blend until smooth
6. Store in airtight container in the
refrigerator for 1 hour while it sets
7. Roll avocado ganache into finger tip
sized balls with a 3/8 oz melon baller
and freeze for an hour
8. In a double boiler slowly melt chocolate
chips. Keep at a low temperature
9. Dip ganache balls into melted chocolate
and then roll onto extra coco or topping of
choice
10. Let harden for about 5 minutes
11. Store in airtight contain in refrigerator
for up to 5 days or freeze again for
later use
Wheat Seitan!
All Hail Seitan! I love tofu but in the vegetarian world one can only eat so much of it. Wheat meat is a great alternative that sometimes (when prepared properly) even comes a little too close to meaty flavors!
Makes about 1 LB
Recipe modified from the Veganomicon
Seitan ingredients:
· 1 C. Vital Wheat Gluten Flour
· 3 Tbs. nutritional Yeast
· ½ C. cold vegetable broth
· 1/4 C. soy sauce
· 1 Tbs Olive Oil or oil of choice (sesame is good for Asian dishes)
· 2 Tsp seasoning (optional)
Optional Seasoning: Always use ground not leaf if possible
· Asian: ground ginger, powdered onion, curry powder, chili flakes,
· Italian: thyme, oregano, marjoram, rosemary, basil, VERY LITTLE fennel seed
· Mexican: cilantro, chili powder, coriander
Broth
Cooking instructions
Seitan
Makes about 1 LB
Recipe modified from the Veganomicon
Seitan ingredients:
· 1 C. Vital Wheat Gluten Flour
· 3 Tbs. nutritional Yeast
· ½ C. cold vegetable broth
· 1/4 C. soy sauce
· 1 Tbs Olive Oil or oil of choice (sesame is good for Asian dishes)
· 2 Tsp seasoning (optional)
Optional Seasoning: Always use ground not leaf if possible
· Asian: ground ginger, powdered onion, curry powder, chili flakes,
· Italian: thyme, oregano, marjoram, rosemary, basil, VERY LITTLE fennel seed
· Mexican: cilantro, chili powder, coriander
Broth
- 8 C. cold water plus 3 large veggie broth cubes or 4 C. broth plus 4 C. water
- ¼ C. soy sauce
Cooking instructions
Seitan
- Place a Large stock pot with the broth/water on to boil
- Mix together the dry ingredients very thoroughly in a large mixing bowl.
- Mix the liquids together in a smaller mixing bowl
- Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and mix QUICKLY with a wooden spoon until most of the moisture has been absorbed. The dough will look clumpy and crumbly.
- Knead the mixture for about 3 minutes until the dough is elastic DO NOT OVER KNEAD
- Divide into desired size and simmer in the in broth for one hour with the lid mostly on
- After an hour remove the lid and let stand 15 minutes
Kerby Lane's Tomato Pie
Before my recent trip to Austin I have never heard of tomato pie. My palette had not yet been dazzled by the sweet and savory blend of freshly baked tomatoes, buttery crisp crust, basil, feta cheese, and kalmenta olives. My boyfriend and I were walking down on Guadelupe St. when I saw the Kerby Lane sign proclaiming tomato pie. I insisted that we go latter that day to taste the pie. It was amazing. Since my return from Austin last week I have made 3 tomato pies. I don't really use recipes so it took a couple tries to get it perfect.
I used a vegan spelt crust (I still haven't mastered making my own pie crust), tomatoes basil and parsley from my garden, and some store bought olives. I did not anticipate how juicy the tomatoes were nor that they would sweat even more while baking. The pie was still very good but the flavors were not as concentrated as I wanted them to be. I have recently been experimenting with veganism and I chose to leave off the feta cheese- though it was an amazing addition to the original.
In my next pie I squeezed the juice out of the tomatoes. This really helped. I then dehydrated the tomato innards for a soup later on. I baked the tomatoes to dry them out even more. My last pie had not been as dense as I wanted and it did not really stick together all that well so I added some soy "cheese." This also helped but I didn't like deviating from the original Kerby Lane pie. It stuck together much better.
It was my third pie that turned out just right. I did decide to deviate from the original recipe and added crumbled home made tofu to the pie, hoping to make it denser and stick together without the soy "cheese." I love the way this turned out. After squeezing the tomato juice out and roasting them I mixed the tomatoes up with the tofu, some dried tomatoes and basil from the garden, along with some dried onions. This really added the intense tomato flavor I was looking for. For the most part the dried tomatoes were not chewy because they absorbed the moisture from the fresh tomatoes.
Here is my ad-hock recipe so far:
1 pie crust: preferably made from unbleached overly refined flours
1-2 lbs of tomatoes (I like mixing up nice big red ones with orange cherry tomatoes)
3 Tb. dried basil
1/2 C. dried tomatoes or a small amount of tomato paste
1/3 C. Crumbled Tofu
Salt and Pepper to taste
Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F
Squeeze the juice and seeds of the tomatoes into a bowl (save for later!)
Cut the tomatoes as thinly as possible for a more evenly dense pie
Bake the tomatoes for 10 minutes
After the tomatoes have baked squeeze more of the moisture out of them
Sprinkle salt,fresh ground pepper and basil onto the tomatoes
Mix the tofu in with the baked tomatoes
In the pie crust layer 1/2 the dried tomatoes on the bottom to soak up the mositure
Next put a layer of the baked tomatoes and tofu
Use the rest of the dried tomatoes in the 3rd layer
Finish off with rest of baked tomatoes
Before I put the pie in the oven I gently pressed the pie mixture down and glazed the pie crust with olive oil
Bake the pie for 30 minutes
At the end you may add feta cheese and let it brown.
Add sliced and drained olives to taste
I used a vegan spelt crust (I still haven't mastered making my own pie crust), tomatoes basil and parsley from my garden, and some store bought olives. I did not anticipate how juicy the tomatoes were nor that they would sweat even more while baking. The pie was still very good but the flavors were not as concentrated as I wanted them to be. I have recently been experimenting with veganism and I chose to leave off the feta cheese- though it was an amazing addition to the original.
In my next pie I squeezed the juice out of the tomatoes. This really helped. I then dehydrated the tomato innards for a soup later on. I baked the tomatoes to dry them out even more. My last pie had not been as dense as I wanted and it did not really stick together all that well so I added some soy "cheese." This also helped but I didn't like deviating from the original Kerby Lane pie. It stuck together much better.
It was my third pie that turned out just right. I did decide to deviate from the original recipe and added crumbled home made tofu to the pie, hoping to make it denser and stick together without the soy "cheese." I love the way this turned out. After squeezing the tomato juice out and roasting them I mixed the tomatoes up with the tofu, some dried tomatoes and basil from the garden, along with some dried onions. This really added the intense tomato flavor I was looking for. For the most part the dried tomatoes were not chewy because they absorbed the moisture from the fresh tomatoes.
Here is my ad-hock recipe so far:
1 pie crust: preferably made from unbleached overly refined flours
1-2 lbs of tomatoes (I like mixing up nice big red ones with orange cherry tomatoes)
3 Tb. dried basil
1/2 C. dried tomatoes or a small amount of tomato paste
1/3 C. Crumbled Tofu
Salt and Pepper to taste
Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F
Squeeze the juice and seeds of the tomatoes into a bowl (save for later!)
Cut the tomatoes as thinly as possible for a more evenly dense pie
Bake the tomatoes for 10 minutes
After the tomatoes have baked squeeze more of the moisture out of them
Sprinkle salt,fresh ground pepper and basil onto the tomatoes
Mix the tofu in with the baked tomatoes
In the pie crust layer 1/2 the dried tomatoes on the bottom to soak up the mositure
Next put a layer of the baked tomatoes and tofu
Use the rest of the dried tomatoes in the 3rd layer
Finish off with rest of baked tomatoes
Before I put the pie in the oven I gently pressed the pie mixture down and glazed the pie crust with olive oil
Bake the pie for 30 minutes
At the end you may add feta cheese and let it brown.
Add sliced and drained olives to taste
