What you need:

about 3 lbs Yukon Gold potatoes

1 large bag frozen peas (about 4 cups)

1 1/2 cups fresh cilantro leaves

1 bunch green onions

soy butter

soy cream or thick soy milk

curry powder, to taste

cumin, to taste

salt, to taste

1 teaspoon ground ginger

First, bring a large pot of salted water to a boil.  Then, add the potatoes to the water after they have been chopped into 1 inch cubes.  When the potatoes are very tender and thoroughly cooked, use a colander to strain them from the water.  Place the potatoes back in the empty pot and add 3-5 Tablespoons vegan butter and about 1/4 cup of the soy cream.  Then, start by adding about 3 teaspoons of curry powder, 1 teaspoon cumin, ground ginger, and salt to taste.

I prefer to use a whisk to mash my potatoes, but if you have an electric mixer, this works well, too.  Just remember, the faster the speed, the more starchy your potatoes will be.  I have found that I have a lot more control when mashing them myself.  This part is entirely up to you.

Adjust your seasonings to taste.  If you want a little extra kick, add a pinch of dried red pepper flakes.

Finally, once the potatoes are seasoned to your liking, add the cilantro, thinly sliced green onions, and frozen peas.  They will thaw in minutes and add a nice bit of texture.

To jazz this up pretty severely, add a big dollop of vegan sour cream to the potatoes before serving.  Fold in, garnish with a few sprigs of cilantro and a lime wedge.  Enjoy!

*Note*  This recipe can be gluten free, all you need to do is use gluten free breadcrumbs!

What you need:

8 portobell0 mushrooms, stems pulled off and gills removed (you can scoop that part out with a spoon easily)

6 garlic cloves, minced

1 cup vegan butter, melted

2 Tablespoons lemon juice (fresh)

1 1/4 cup walnut pieces

about 3 cups breadcrumbs (any kind is fine)

2 packages Cheezly brand white cheddar “cheese”, shredded (you don’t have to use this brand, but I recommend it)

chopped parsley for garnishing

salt and fresh black pepper

First and foremost, preheat your oven to 400 F or 200 C.  In a large casserole dish, place the mushrooms bottom side up and toss half of the garlic in the little scooped out areas.  Lightly drizzle about 1/3 cup of the melted butter over the ‘shrooms and do the same with the lemon juice.   Bake for about 15 minutes to soften and then set aside.  Leave the oven on.

In a large mixing bowl, toss in your vegan cheese and mix with the walnuts and about 1/4 cup of the breadcrumbs.  Equally divide the mixture among the mushrooms and set aside once more.

Now, with the leftover garlic, melted butter, and breadcrumbs – mix together and add the parsley.  Mix again.  Season with salt and pepper, taste, and adjust seasonings however you prefer.  Cover the stuffed mushrooms with the breadcrumb mixture and place back in the oven for about 10 minutes.  Serve hot!

1 1/2  cups AP flour

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 1/4 cup cold vegan butter

1 T cold water

Sift the flour and salt into a large mixing bowl and add the cold vegan butter in chunks.  Mix with your hands and in the middle of it, add the cold water.  Once you have a big ball of dough, you’re ready.  Wrap it in plastic and refrigerate for about an hour before using.  You can do this up to 24 hours in advance, too.

When you’re ready to pull it out and use the pie crust, just sprinkle a little flour on your surface and remove the ball of dough from the fridge.  Knead it a few times with your hands to get some of the flour on it and then roll it out with a rolling pin to fit the pie pan that you are using.  Or, if you are making small pastries or empanadas, this would be your cue to cut it into the shapes you will be needing.

Happy Cooking!

What you need:

2 packages small brown or chestnut mushrooms

vegan worcestershire

juice of 1 lemon

olive oil

1/3 package firm tofu, drained and patted dry

1 Tablespoon chopped fresh sage

1 teaspoon chopped fresh thyme

1 teaspoon veggie bouillon powder

pinch of dried herb mix (I use an Italian blend because its what I have on-hand)

salt

First, you’ll want to heat your oven to 350 and drizzle the lemon juice and a little olive oil over the cleaned mushrooms (stems removed).  Bake in a small dish until they are soft and drain the excess liquid.

Next, after the mushrooms have cooled, chop them into small pieces.  Then place all of your other ingredients except the vegan worcestershire into a bowl and blend.  I do this with a hand blender in the bowl, but you can use a food processor if you have the means.  In which case, you would simply place all of the ingredients into the food processor and puree everything.  Once everything is totally mixed, the consistency will be light and fluffy, almost like a mushroom mousse.  Then, add a few drops of the vegan worcestershire and taste.  Season with salt and taste again.  Once your seasonings are adjusted to your liking, zap the mix again one more time with the blender or processor.  Spoon your paté into a serving dish (I put mine on a small platter and mold it into a rectangle) and chill.  Serve cold with crackers or bread.

This is also an AMAZING spread on sandwiches!

Enjoy!

What you need:

1 loaf gluten free bread (any kind is ok, but I use “wheat” gluten free sandwich bread)

1 bunch of celery, chopped as small as possible without crushing

1 Tablespoon garlic, minced

2 smallish red onions, minced

3 Tablespoons finely chopped fresh sage

2 Tablespoons finely chopped fresh rosemary

2 Tablespoons fresh thyme leaves

4 cups warm veggie stock

1 cup vegetable or olive oil

First, slice the bread and lay the slices on baking trays and leave overnight in the oven, turned off.  This will dry them out and make them slightly stale.

The next day, heat the oven to 400 F.  In a large saute pan, saute the celery, onion, and garlic in a little of the oil.  Add the herbs.  Cook until translucent and tender and then set aside.

Cut the bread into 1 inch cubes and crumble a few of the cubes to keep everything from being too uniform.  Pour in the saute mix and toss with your hands.  Pour in the remaining oil and some of the veggie stock until the bread has soaked up all of the liquid.  Season the stuffing with salt and pepper to taste and then put your stuffing in a glass baking dish.  Cover with foil and bake about half and hour.  Remove the foil and bake another 20 minutes.  Serve hot!  Enjoy!

*Note* You don’t have to use gluten free bread.  Any bread is fine.  Also, you can add other things to your stuffing if you like.  This recipe is really basic, but don’t be afraid to add things to the saute mix, such as pecans, cranberries, bits of seitan, etc.  Be creative!

Makes 2 9×9 inch pans.

What you need:

8 cups powdered sugar

1 cup cocoa powder

1 cup soy cream

4 Tablespoons vegan margarine

3 teaspoons vanilla

1 cup vegan chocolate chips

1 cup crushed peppermint flavored candy canes

Spray the 9×9 baking dishes with nonstick spray.  You can also use individual foil baking cups if you like, just make sure whatever you use is well sprayed.

Sift the powdered sugar and cocoa powder together in a large bowl, add the chocolate chips and set aside for later.

In a saucepan, heat the soy cream and soy butter to a boil, stirring often to avoid burning.  When the milk is boiling steadily, pour it over the powdered sugar mixture and stir well with a spoon to make sure that the milk has melted the chocolate and that everything is well mixed together.  Add the vanilla and then stir in 1/2 of the crushed candy cane.  Pour into the dish and refrigerate for about 24 hours.  After about 4 hours of refrigeration, sprinkle the rest of the candy cane on the top of the fudge.

After its hardened up a bit, its ready to serve! Try not to eat all at once!

What you need:

2 pounds Brussels sprouts

1 heaping spoonful of vegan butter, plus a little extra

1 cup coarsely chopped chestnuts (you can buy chestnuts in a jar at this time of year that are already cooked and ready to chop)

1/2 teaspoon salt

freshly ground black pepper

First, bring a large pot of heavily salted water to a rapid boil.  Toss in the trimmed sprouts and blanch (meaning you boil them for about 60 seconds and then take them out and immediate submerge them in an ice bath to cool them instantly).

After they have completely cooled, remove the sprouts from the water and pat dry with a paper towel.  Cut each sprout in half and place in a bowl with the chestnuts.

In a large saute pan, melt the butter and add the sprouts and chestnuts.  Saute until lightly browned and very hot.  Season with salt and pepper and serve!

*Note* You can do the last step (saute) right before serving the rest of the meal.  The blanched sprouts will hold overnight in the fridge, too!

What you need:

2 large sweet potatoes, peeled and cut into 1 inch cubes

2 leeks (just the light green and white parts) sliced into 1/2 inch thick rings

1 crushed clove of garlic

3 cups (24 ounces) veggie stock or broth

salt and black pepper

olive oil

This recipe is super easy, just involves a little wait time.  Heat your oven to 200 C or 375 F and toss your sweet potato cubes with the leek rings and garlic in a little olive oil until everything is well coated.  Pour the veggies into a roasting pan and cover with foil.  Roast for about an hour or until everything is really mushy and beginning to caramelize.  Remove from the oven and pour everything into a large saucepan on low heat.

Add 2/3 of the stock and blend with an immersion blender.  If you don’t have one of these, you can use a regular blender, but do the blending in sections so that you don’t end up wearing sweet potato puree, as over-filling a blender can be a little messy.

Once everything is pureed smooth, add the rest of the stock if necessary.  This is entirely based on how thick you like your soup.  Just remember, the more stock you add, the thinner the soup gets.   As the soup continues to heat, season with salt and pepper to taste.

Once the vegan soup is heated to your liking, pour it into bowls and serve with a little chopped spring onion or a few coriander leaves.  Enjoy!

What you need:

3 regular (16oz) sized cans of whole tomatoes, with the juice

1 1/2 Cups (12 ounces) veggie stock or broth

1/2 Cup vegan soy cream or unsweetened, regular soy milk

1 bundle of fresh basil, finely chopped

salt and fresh black pepper

In a large saucepan, empty two of the cans of tomatoes with the juice, and only put in the tomatoes from the last can.  You can save the extra juice to use for another recipe or just throw it out.  Cook on medium heat until it starts to boil.  The tomato juice will be all splattery and bubbly and when that happens, you’re ready to add 1 cup of the veggie stock and the soy cream/milk.  Turn the heat down to low and stir.

Now, for this step, I have found that the absolute easiest way of blending this soup is by using an immersion blender so that you don’t have to deal with the mess of pouring hot soup into a blender, but if you don’t have an immersion, the old fashioned blender will do just fine.  Just be careful when pouring the mixture from the hot soup pot to the blender, and you will probably have to do it in batches.  Basically, you want everything to be totally pureed and smooth.  Once you have done this, return the soup back to the original pot and bring the heat back up to medium.  Add the basil and cook for about 5 minutes, adding the rest of the stock slowly.

After about 10 minutes, you basil should be incorporated into the soup.  Normally, this is where I would whizz the soup again with the immersion blender to chop up any larger-than-wanted pieces of basil, but if you are using a regular blender, just make sure you chop the basil as finely as possible when you start.

Season your soup with salt and pepper to taste and serve hot!  Nothing goes better with tomato basil soup that a toasty grilled cheese (vegan cheese!) sandwich, but plain ole toast and butter will do, too!

Make sure to eat immediately after cooking.  They don’t make very nice left overs!

What you need:

6 whole apples, peeled, cored, and cut into rings 1/3 inch thick

2 cups gram flour

1 can or bottle of light beer (you can use cider if you like, I prefer it)

oil for frying

1 cup powdered sugar sifted with 1 T cinnamon, for dusting

First, make your batter by whisking the cold beer or cider into the gram flour.  Make sure your liquid is cold, that makes a thicker batter.  Set your apple rings near the batter and line a plate with paper towels.  Set plate near your pan with frying oil.  Heat the oil on med/high heat until its ready for deep frying.  Using tongs, dip one of the apple rings into the batter and place in the oil.  Cook until the batter has turned golden brown on all sides and then place on the plate with the paper towels.  Do this again until all of the apple slices are used up.

When ready to serve, garnish by dusting the beignets with the cinnamon sugar.  Serve with lemon wedges.  Enjoy!