Vegan Cooking & Cookbooks discussion

This is a thread for vegan recipes you have created either completely from scratch or by changing a traditional non-vegan recipe. I have a few "Gundula" creations for vegan "Shipwreck" that are not only good, but in my opinion better than the traditional ones. I'm still trying to figure out the exact ingredients and proportions etc. (unfortunately, I often just throw recipes together), but I will post the recipes once I have figured them out a bit more. However, they are not professional recipes, and usually end up a bit different every time I try them.

Gundula's Vegan Shipwreck (not taste-tested except on myself, just as a word of warning);

1 cup sliced onions
2 large sliced potatoes
1.5 cups of slightly cooked beans or chickpeas, or a mixture thereof
.5 cup of organic pot barley
1 cup diced carrots
1 cup chopped celery
salt and pepper (optional, I usually only use pepper)
paprika
1 cup of reduced sodium vegetable cocktail
1 cup boiling water

Grease a large two-quart casserole dish with olive oil or vegan margarine. Layer with onions, potatoes, beans, barley, carrots and celery. Sprinkle each layer with salt, pepper and paprika. Combine the vegetable cocktail with the boiling water and pour over all. Bake at 300 F for 3 hours, or until the liquid has evaporated.

For a slightly different taste, replace the onions with leeks and the potatoes with sweet potatoes. Use curry powder or pumpkin pie spice instead of the paprika. I've also replaced the boiling water with boiling unsweetened almond milk, but if you do that, keep an eye on the casserole a bit, the liquid tends to evaporate more quickly and additional liquid might have to be added.

I'm taking a bit of a chance posting this recipe, as it is completely my own creation and although I really like it, I have never taste-tested it on others. So if you do try it, let me know what you think, but also, don't get angry, if it ends up not being to your liking.

I love the name of your recipe, Gundula!

Lee wrote: "I love the name of your recipe, Gundula!"

Me too! Thanks for sharing it.

I hope you like it if you try it. I've also made it with different vegetables, turnips are good as well, if you like turnips. The nice thing is that once you put it in the oven, you're basically done, it just takes a while to cook.

Hi chocolate cake lovers,

I hope that I am posting this in the correct place.
I posted this in a thread about a partcular cookbook, (they were discussing a chocolate cake recipe). So here it is in the right palce - I hope.

Here is a chocolate cake recipe that is good and easy. This recipe was given to me years ago by a(non vegan)friend. The recipe came from a non vegan restaurant that she worked at.

Mix together:

3 cups flour
2 cups sugar
2 tsp. salt
2 tsp. baking soda
6 TBS. cocoa

In another bowl mix together
2 cups cold water
1/2 cup oil
2 tsp. vanilla
2.tsp. vinegar
2 tsp. vanilla

Mix it all together; grate in one orange rind.
Grease and flour two 8 or 9 inch round pans. Bake 3o minutes at 350 degrees F.

There was a variation that used melted choclate instead of cocoa powder, but I never made that version and no longer have the recipe.Don't have the frosting recipe any more-it used butter. This could be made gluten free with a substitution of flour.

Haven't made this for a long time as I don't eat this kind of thing much these days, but it's a good recipe to have for times you want a choclate cake.

Thanks, Nettie! I love chocolate and orange together! The orange rind would really add a lot to a chocolate cake recipe, I think.

And butter can easily be substituted with Earth Balance spread, which makes a very delicious 'butter cream" frosting.

Well, just to show how easy it is for this decidedly non-cook to eat vegan:

It’s sort of funny that I wanted to help start and moderate a cookbooks group because I rarely use cookbook recipes, except to get ideas as I read the books for pleasure.

I’ve meant to post about a few things I eat and I’m finally inspired to do so because Friday night I made something brand new that I love.

So, three things I make that are easy and use a bit of convenience foods:

One thing I eat regularly is whole wheat pasta (usually Eden vegetable 100% whole grain kumut spirals or Whole Foods whole wheat spaghetti or whole wheat shells or some other shape pasta) and broccoli or some other green vegetable served with a sauce made from Eden canned crushed tomatoes (contains only organic Roma tomatoes) (1/2 of a 15 oz. can per serving; I like a LOT of sauce) and various mushrooms, garlic cloves halved and crushed garlic, and sometimes I put in ground oregano or other Italian spices, and sometimes sprinkle with nutritional yeast flakes and/or black, white, green pepper. And, if I haven’t had much other fat that day, at the end of cooking/heating I add a bit of my favorite olive oil into the tomato sauce: McEvoy’s organic extra virgin olive oil, which has more of a peppery than fruity taste. The whole process takes less than 30 minutes.

A second thing I make frequently is my version of a curry. I start with a can (get 2 very large servings from this) of Amy’s low in sodium lentil soup, and cook in broccoili, crimini mushrooms, white mushrooms, garlic, a Roma tomato, red onion, garlic, a sliced jalapeno pepper (I’ll use crushed red pepper if I don’t have one), and an already baked garnet sweet potato, then curry powder, and sometimes garam masala, cumin, extra turmeric, and I serve it with quinoa and usually 5 to 10 roasted unsalted pistachios. Except for baking the sweet potoato, which can always be done ahead of time, the whole process takes less than 30 minutes.

The third (new for me!) thing that I want to make again, also taking less than 30 minutes, not including baking the sweet potato, is a dish with a spicy peanut sauce. I steamed some tofu (in this case Wildwood high protein super firm – my favorite is their Royal Thai baked tofu but I needed a plain tofu for this) and broccoli and mushrooms and halved garlic cloves, and then when cooked/heated I drained all that in a colander. I then took some of the water from steaming, which seemed to be mostly mushroom water and stirred in some Trader Joe’s creamy organic unsalted peanut butter (the only ingredient being organic dry roasted unblanched Valencia peanuts), a bit of lime juice, a bit of Bragg’s liquid aminos, a lot of crushed red pepper, and made the peanut sauce in about a minute. And then stirred the tofu and veggies, and a baked and sliced into chunks garnet sweet potato too, into it to mix it. And served that with whole wheat cous cous. It was delicious. Next time I’d add some fresh ginger, or ground ginger if I didn’t have any fresh, into the peanut sauce, and maybe some other things too if anyone has any suggestions. I’ve never made a peanut sauce before. Most call for oil but this definitely didn’t need any oil.

I don’t really feel comfortable cooking for others because I think my taste is often so different from many people, but I love these 3 dishes and they’re all easy to make, and easy to make 1 or 2 servings at a time, or more. But, even though I’m not much of a cook, I thoroughly enjoy my food, and appreciate it when I don’t have to measure and when dishes are quickly and easily put together. I realize that there are lots of repeat ingredients in these 3 dishes and I do get into patterns, but I do try to eat a variety of foods too.

Edited to add: The dish with quinoa with work with whole wheat cous cous and vice versa, and either dish would work well with brown rice too, and I've made the curry and had it with brown rice instead of quinoa.

Yum! Thanks for these ideas, Lisa! I'm always looking for more quick meal ideas. As much as I love cooking through cookbooks, some days I need a break. I plan on stocking my pantry/fridge for quick meals like the examples you gave, so I can have dinner at a moment's notice.

PS - I love Eden brand foods.

Lindsey, I like Eden brand foods too. Their no salt added black brans are a staple at my place, even though I learned from Ginny that canned beans are higher on the glycemic index than dried cooked from scratch beans. They're still good for us! And delicious! Their canned crushed tomatoes are usually the base for my marinara sauces.

I've got more examples of quick meal ideas. It's usually how I eat.

I have a goal to eventually cook one meal a week from a cookbook, with some creativity allowed, but using some of my many cookbooks. Some of the recipes are also easy, of course; some are more complex.

Wow, I did not know that about the GI of canned beans. I wonder if it's a very large difference. One more reason for me to get with the program and start using dried beans!

Please feel free to add more meal ideas whenever you'd like to, Lisa!

Lindsey wrote: "Wow, I did not know that about the GI of canned beans. I wonder if it's a very large difference. One more reason for me to get with the program and start using dried beans!

Please feel free to add..."

The only problem with using dried beans is that you have to remember to actually soak them for about eight hours (overnight) before using them. Which is fine if you know what you are going to make ahead of time (or if you don't forget to soak them). I wonder if rinsing the canned beans has any affect on the GI index (I always rinse canned beans if I use them, although if I remember, I do really prefer using presoaked dried beans, they do taste much better, I find).

When Ginny gets back in here she'll let us know. (Maybe I'll eventually message her about it and ask her to post.) Personally, compared to what most people eat, I think eating beans in any form has to be healthy. I eat mostly canned and the kind found in cup of soups.

Lentils and split peas are easier to make from dry than many others kinds of beans.

Gundula wrote: "The only problem with using dried beans is that you have to remember to actually soak them for about eight hours (overnight) before using them."

I've seen in a few recipe books where there is a quicker method, like boiling them for thirty minutes then letting them soak for two hours (don't quote me on that, I don't have the book here) but still you do need to do some prep and it's not a throw-it-together-at-the-last-minute meal sort of thing. Still, I almost never use canned beans and if I do buy the no-salt/preservatives kind just to have on hand in a pinch.

I do always use the organic and no salt added kind.

Kathryn wrote: "Gundula wrote: "The only problem with using dried beans is that you have to remember to actually soak them for about eight hours (overnight) before using them."

I've seen in a few recipe books whe..."

I tried the quicker method and I don't know if I did something wrong, but the beans were so hard that I ended up throwing them out. I use both canned and dried beans (if you get the no salt added ones, they are pretty good), but I do prefer the dried beans. And I do love lentils, because you don't really need to presoak them, although some recipes tell you to do that.

Gundula wrote: "The only problem with using dried beans is that you have to remember to actually soak them for about eight hours (overnight) before using them. Which is fine if you know what you are going to make ahead of time (or if you don't forget to soak them)."

Yeah, I definitely would want to make large batches ahead of time and the store them for the week in the refrigerator or for months ahead in the freezer.

Do you know if you're supposed to refrigerate the beans while soaking them? Or do you just leave them out on the counter?

Lindsey wrote: "Do you know if you're supposed to refrigerate the beans while soaking them? Or do you just leave them out on the counter? "

I've always done it at room temperature and it's worked out fine.

Good to know. Thanks, Lisa :)

Lisa wrote: "Lindsey wrote: "Do you know if you're supposed to refrigerate the beans while soaking them? Or do you just leave them out on the counter? "

I've always done it at room temperature and it's worked out fine."

Me, too.

Lisa wrote: "Lindsey wrote: "Do you know if you're supposed to refrigerate the beans while soaking them? Or do you just leave them out on the counter? "

I've always done it at room temperature and it's worked ..."

They always say to use the fridge, but I actually like the texture of the beans better if they don't get too cold. Like Lisa said, room temperature is fine, and if you have a basement room that is a bit cooler, that works even better. Last summer, I was working on my computer in the basement (the only cool room in my house, I don't have AC) and had a big bowl of beans was soaking beside me :-)

Gundula, Thanks. I didn't know the fridge was recommended.

Lisa wrote: "Gundula, Thanks. I didn't know the fridge was recommended."

My German vegetarian cookbooks recommend using the fridge, but I have never done that.

Thanks for your input Kathryn and Gundula!

Haha, I love that, Gundula. I actually live in a basement right now (at my parents')! I do all my cooking in the kitchen down there, and I have a couple shelves in a nice, cool closet that I use for my "pantry". So I should be able to make some room for a bowl of soaking beans.

Lindsey wrote: "Thanks for your input Kathryn and Gundula!

Haha, I love that, Gundula. I actually live in a basement right now (at my parents')! I do all my cooking in the kitchen down there, and I have a couple ..."

Just don't forget about them. I have a terrible short term memory and if I put beans to soak in closet and closed the door, I would likely forget they were in there (I even forget which books I have on my bookshelves).

Hi all,

The only reason that canned beans have a higher glycemic index is because they are more thoroughly cooked. Theoretically, when people cook beans from scratch, they are cooked quite so thoroughly and therefore have a lower GI.

But generally, the GI of beans is always pretty good. Beans are so good for you that I wouldn't worry about this issue too much. If using canned beans makes it easier for you to eat them more often, I would go for it. I eat a *lot* of canned beans.

And yes, when I do the quick soak, I leave the beans at room temperature after bringing them to a boil.

I cook un-soaked beans in my slow cooker for about 8 to 10 hours on low. I have no knowledge about the GI index, so forgive me if that doesn't work in this situation.

This works great when I'm heading out to work in the morning. When I come home they are ready for me to use for dinner.

Sometimes I just cook 1 cup dried beans and 3 cups water in a 1 1/2 quart slow cooker if I only want a small amount with no leftovers.

Ginny wrote: "The only reason that canned beans have a higher glycemic index is because they are more thoroughly cooked."

Ginny, That's interesting. I've heard that about pasta too: that al dente pasta is lower on the glycemic index than too well cooked pasta.

And, thanks. I eat A LOT of beans, and canned unsalted organic does make it much easier for me.

Kathy wrote: "in my slow cooker "

Kathy, How many of your meals do you estimate you cook using your slow cooker? Regarding percentage or number per day?

I also use canned beans for convenience. But I always keep dried lentils,(I like the little orange colored ones)and split peas in the house and cook these without soaking. I believe that black eyed peas also don't require pre-soaking.

I created something for lunch today that I am thinking of entering into this year's lab week food contest. This year the theme is vegetarian dishes. (Guess who suggested that?;D I was surprised that it actually won the vote!!)

So beware, this is a brand new creation, only tested on myself. I do plan to reduce the curry, though as the result was kinda spicy. I did not cook it vegan, though it can be vegan with very little substitution, which I have noted.

Terri's Curried Mushroom Noodles

ingredients:
8 oz. pkg of sliced mushrooms
1 Knorr's vegetarian boullion cube
3/4 cup boiling water
1 large onion
2 tbs Earth Balance
10-12 oz of noodles or pasta
2 tsp to 2TBS curry powder (dep. on preferences)
onion powder to taste
garlic salt to taste (better yet fresh garlic)
freshly ground black pepper
corn starch or other thickener

Directions:
1. Start teapot of water to boil.
2. Place a large skillet on med to med high and put in about 2TBS of butter/Earth balance to melt.
3. Peel and dice onion into small to large bits, depending on your preference
4. Add the sliced mushrooms and diced onion into the skillet (Add fresh garlic here if you use it) and saute until onion begins to become translucent.
5. Meanwhile, place boullion cube in measuring cup and add boiling water. Then place a pot of water on to boil on the same burner.
6. Once boullion cube is liquefied (will have to stir with spoon to speed it up, as this is a concentrated version) pour on the mushroom/onion mixture.
7. Add curry powder (I used 2TBS since I love curry), onion powder (I just added a few shakes-about 1/2 tsp), garlic salt (I just shook lightly, as the boullion is pretty salty already), and give a black pepper grinder a few turns over the mixture.
8. Mix well with the mushrooms/onion mixture. Add a rounded tsp of cornstarch to the measuring cup and add a TBS or two of hot water to mix. Pour into mushrooms and mix well.
9. Put noodles/pasta in boiling water and cook until al dente. (Still very slightly firm)Drain and return to pot.
10. By the time the noodles are cooked, the mushrooms should have reduced until the broth is not too runny.
11. Pour over noodles and mix thouroughly.
12. Eat up!!

I plan to make this the day of the food contest, then take it in a crockpot to keep warm while the contest is on. I hope it will keep well. It tastes very good when eaten fresh! This is very fast and easy to make--I made it in 25-35 minutes from beginning to end. Hope y'all like my creation! I'll let you know if I win with it.

Sounds delicious Terri! Thanks for posting your recipe. I make similar quick noodle dishes for weeknight suppers all the time and it's great to have another variation to try.

I hope you do well in the contest.

Terri, It looks delicious. I'd do the fresh garlic and the full amount of curry. Hooray for the lab choosing vegetarian! You can eat! Nothing is as creative as the kitty litter cake you made, and that would also be easy to make vegan. ;-)

Kitty litter cake? That sounds um, kind of strange....

Lee wrote: "Kitty litter cake? That sounds um, kind of strange...."

;-) The kitty litter cake: Not vegan, but actually tasty and creative. I'll let Terri describe it, sans description any non-vegan ingredients. (It could easily be made vegan!!!)

My mother also was creative. Made a non-vegan (but it would be so easy to make vegan) flowerpot plants for my birthday one year. Real (clean, never used) flowerpots filled with (vegan) chocolate ice cream for dirt and (vegan) gum drop and other candies for flowers, etc. (I like to play with my food! ;-) ) One kid at my party wouldn't eat it; the rest of us found them fun & delicious.

That sounds like a lot of fun Lisa!

I actually baked an original chocolate banana cake recipe tonight. It was a bit chaotic when I was making it so I'm not sure I wrote down all the ingredients accurately but the cake turned out amazingly well and so moist.

Lee, chocolate and banana together is a tasty combination! I hope you can make it again and have it taste as good.

Me too! :-)

Well, Sorry, this isn't gluten free and at this point if I baked I'd definitely prefer whole wheat pastry flour, and it's not original. I think this recipe is based on the chocolate cake in Jennifer Raymond's The Peaceful Palate: Fine Vegetarian Cuisine, but maybe with more cocoa, a stronger chocolate flavor. But, this recipe was created by a vegan friend of mine, and for many years was the perennial birthday cake we used for our vegan birthday gatherings of a few of us vegans who got together. It would be a good potluck dish also:


DELICIOUS VEGAN CHOCOLATE CAKE


Makes two 9-inch pans or one 9x12 inch pan.

3 cups unbleached flour
1 ½ cups sugar
1 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons baking soda
½ cup unsweetened cocoa powder
2 teaspoons vanilla
2/3 cup vegetable oil
2 tablespoons vinegar
2 cups cold water

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease and flour pans.
Combine flour, sugar, salt, baking soda and cocoa in a large mixing bowl and stir until mixed. Make a well in the center and add the vanilla, oil, vinegar and water. Stir with a large mixing spoon until well mixed. Pour into prepared pan.

Bake for 35 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool for about 15 minutes, then invert onto a serving dish and frost.


CHOCOLATE FUDGE FROSTING

½ cup Earth Balance Spread or one cube soybean margarine
½ cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1 1-pound box or bag of sifted confectioners powdered sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
¼ cup vanilla or chocolate soymilk

Combine powdered sugar and cocoa powder together.
Beat margarine until creamy and soft, and gradually add powdered sugar and cocoa mixture, adding a little soymilk at a time
Add vanilla
Beat frosting until it is smooth and satiny. If it seems too dry, add a few more drops of soymilk until the consistency is right to frost the cake.


It's not healthy, but it's delicious. If you make it, ENJOY!

Lisa wrote: "Lee wrote: "Kitty litter cake? That sounds um, kind of strange...."

;-) The kitty litter cake: Not vegan, but actually tasty and creative. I'll let Terri describe it, sans description any non-veg..."

Sorry to see this post so late, but I'm not on GR very often. The kitty litter cake actually won the creative cakes contest during lab week a few years ago. I used a real (New-of course!) litter pan and scoop, had a stuffed toy cat placed strategically getting in the box. The litter was mostly yellow/white cake mix crumbles mixed with ground up cookies, with the turds replicated with warmed and shaped chocolate chewy candies. You could even use colored sugar to replicate the odor granules found in some kitty litter. It could easily be replicated--and it is fun to let your imagination try to figure out tasty ways to make it look realistic. The turds could easily be made with peanut butter/cocoa shaped logs instead of the candies, perhaps.

Most people found it disgusting, all were intrigued. Some of my votes came from people who could not bring themselves to taste it!

Lisa wrote: "Well, Sorry, this isn't gluten free and at this point if I baked I'd definitely prefer whole wheat pastry flour, and it's not original. I think this recipe is based on the chocolate cake in [author..."

I think that this was the cake that I made for my 50th birthday party, was it not? If so, it definitely was delicious!

Lisa wrote: "Well, just to show how easy it is for this decidedly non-cook to eat vegan:

It’s sort of funny that I wanted to help start and moderate a cookbooks group because I rarely use cookbook recipes, exc..."

Lisa, I love the recipe for peanut sauce! I could even make a raw vegan version!

Sfdreams wrote: "Lisa, I love the recipe for peanut sauce! I could even make a raw vegan version!"

Yes, it could be made raw.

Sfdreams wrote: "I think that this was the cake that I made for my 50th birthday party, was it not? If so, it definitely was delicious!"

I don't remember. I remember I was able to to eat one of the two cakes and it was really good, but for some reason I thought it was another recipe, but it might have been this one. Anyway, this one, as is, is my favorite homemade cake thus far.

It was a cake that your friend emailed to me, one that you had had at a gathering and really liked.

Terry, your kitty litter cake sounds incredibly creative! I would have loved to see that!

Sfdreams wrote: "It was a cake that your friend emailed to me, one that you had had at a gathering and really liked."

Terri, Okay, then, yes, it's the chocolate cake with frosting that I posted here. And I've never met a chocolate lover vegan, lacto-ovo vegetarian, or omnivore that hasn't loved that cake.

Lee wrote: "Terry, your kitty litter cake sounds incredibly creative! I would have loved to see that!"

I saw photos! ;-)

It's grilling season! Here's what I made for dinner last night.

Grilled Tempeh and Mushrooms
Serves 2-3

8 oz package of tempeh
8 shitake or cremini mushrooms, cleaned and stems trimmed

Marinade
1/2 cup peanut oil
1/4 cup shoyu
1/4 cup Heinz Chili Sauce
1 tablespoon lemon juice
3 cloves of garlic, peeled
several sprigs of parsley, stems removed

Remove tempeh from packaging and steam it. I put it in a covered casserole with 1/4 cup of water and microwave it on high for 4-5 minutes. You could also steam it on the stovetop for 15 or 20 minutes. Remove it from the casserole or steamer and cut it into one-inch cubes.

While the tempeh is steaming, put all of the marinade ingredients into a blender and puree.

Place the tempeh cubes and mushrooms in a dish or storage container and pour the marinade over them to cover. Cover the container and refrigerate until ready to cook.

When the grill is ready, skewer the tempeh and mushrooms. Grill, turning occasionally, over medium coals or heat until the tempeh is lightly browned and the mushrooms are cooked. Depending upon the grill, this takes about 10-15 minutes.

Lisa wrote: "Well, Sorry, this isn't gluten free and at this point if I baked I'd definitely prefer whole wheat pastry flour, and it's not original. I think this recipe is based on the chocolate cake in [author..."

Ohh this looks like such a great recipe! I am having my family over on Sunday to introduce them to a complete vegan meal. My mother seems very confused as to what vegans eat. She keeps thinking it will be boring. SO I have a whole menu planned and this cake will be the perfect dessert! Thanks :)

Farrah, It's a great cake, and how fun to prepare a vegan meal with several different tasty foods. Obviously, as we know, about as far from boring as things can get!!!