Snow day roast vegetables

I’m not sure how many inches of snow we’ve gotten so far; snow tends to melt away quickly in Colorado.  At least a foot of it.  This is Bella, showing you.  (Yes, she wanted to be out there…although briefly.)

I decided it was a weekend to roast vegetables.  So I, along with the other 152,000 people that knew it was going to snow big this weekend stocked up on food Friday night.

vegan, gluten –

• 6 beets
• a lot of carrots, peeled
• 3 sweet potatoes
• more handfuls than you think of brussel sprouts
• a head of cauliflower
• oregano
• cumin
• salt & pepper
• several glugs of olive oil

Chop carrots, cauliflower and brussel sprouts into bite-size pieces.  Toss with oil, oregano, salt & pepper.  Roast those veggies on trays lined with aluminum foil (because I am lazy and have a hard time with blackened pans; I reuse the foil, though).  Roast beets and sweet potatoes in their own pockets of foil.  Don’t bother washing.  When tender, take out of oven, let cool, and remove skins under water.  Chop beets and toss in with other veg.

Crush cumin, toss in with potatoes and mash.

Serve roast veggies on potato mash.

Holy cow, it’s awesome.  I couldn’t wait to eat them to cool, I kept popping them into my mouth.  Not a fan of any of those above veggies?  Roast them; you will be.

Red Chile Sauce

I made this a few days in advance of making the Red Chile Seitan Tamales.  (I will post those later…)

• 3 – 4 ounces dried chiles (there’s five ounces in a large bag of anchos)
• 2 tbsp peanut or corn oil
• 2 cloves garlic, chopped
• 1 small yellow onion, diced
• 1 tsp dried oregano
• 1/2 tsp dried cumin
• 1 15 oz can diced tomatoes
• 2 c vegetable broth
• 1/2 tsp salt

Italian meatloaf, vegan

I now have an actual nursing job in which I don’t work weekends (or Mondays right now).  I do four 10s.  So…I’m making not just dinner for us, but enough for lunches for the week and to give a few meals to my mother-in-law, who isn’t cooking so much anymore.  This was another vegan experiment today.  The single recipe serves four, so I doubled it.  I think for us, that’s the best way to do this recipe.

Source:  Chloe’s Vegan Italian Kitchen by Chloe Coscarelli

vegan

•  2 tbsp olive oil
• 1 onion, finely chopped
• 1 small eggplant, diced into 1/2 inch cubes *
• 4 garlic cloves, minced
• 1 can white beans, rinsed and drained
• 1 cup cooked brown rice
• 1 tomato (or two romas)
• 1/2 cup Italian bread crumbs (I used panko)
• 1/4 c vegetable broth
• 1 1/2 tsp sea salt *
• 1 tsp freshly ground black pepper
• 1 tsp dried basil
• 1 8oz can tomato sauce
• 2 tbsp brown sugar

* I actually didn’t add the 1 1/2 tsp of salt because I cubed and then salted the eggplant to remove the bitterness.  (I didn’t measure the salt.)  The recipe doesn’t do this, but I like eggplant better salted a bit before I prepare it.

Preheat the oven to 350 deg.  Brush (or spray) an 8 inch square pan with oil.  Heat oil in a medium-high heat in a large skillet and saute onion and eggplant until soft and lightly browned and veggies have reduced in size.  If veggies begin to stick, add a little water to the skillet.  Stir in garlic and let cook for 1 minute, until fragrant.  Transfer to a large bowl and add beans, rice, tomato, bread crumbs, broth, salt pepper and basil.  Mix and mash the mixture with a large spoon (or your hands) until the mixture holds together.  Adjust seasoning to taste.

Transfer mixture into the prepared pan and pack it down very firmly using the back of a large spoon.  It is important to pack it firmly so that it holds together while baking.  In a small bowl or measuring cup, mix tomato sauce and brown sugar.  Pour the tomato sauce on top of the meatloaf and cover the top of the loaf pan with foil.

Bake for 40 minutes, covered, then remove foil, and bake for an additional 20 minutes.  Remove from oven and let rest for 10 minutes before serving.

I haven’t had an entire serving, just a bite, but I loved this.  It’s more flavorful than expected, brighter (which doesn’t make much sense).  I think it’s going to be filling, too, with the beans and rice.  I think it will also be nice to toss a little parmesan on top, but it may not need it, either.

Baked Tempeh in Mushroom Cream Sauce

So I’ve been cooking every week, mostly vegan, since the first of the year.  Back to adventuring in food, I suppose.

Source:  Chloe’s Vegan Italian Kitchen by Chloe Coscarelli

vegan, gluten free

• 1 tbsp olive oil
• 1 (8oz) pckg of tempeh, sliced in half
• 1 c raw cashews
• 3 garlic cloves
• 2 tsp sea salt
• 2 tsp fresh thyme
• 2 scallions, trimmed and thinly sliced
• 8 oz mushrooms sliced (I actually used about 4 oz)
• paprika for garnish

In a large nonstick skillet, heat oil over med-high heat and arrange tempeh pieces in the skillet.  Using tongs or a spatula to flip the pieces, brown tempeh on each side, about 5 minutes.  Transfer to a plate.

Preheat the oven to 350 deg.  Lightly grease (or spray) a 9 x 13 pan.

In a blender, puree cashews, water, garlic and salt.  Transfer to a lg bowl.  Add thyme and scallions to the cashew cream and mix with a spoon.

In the prepared pan, arrange mushrooms and tempeh, and pour the cashew cream on top.  Dust the top with paprika and cover the pan with foil.  Bake for about 30 minutes, or until mushrooms are soft.  Garnish with fresh thyme before serving and adjust salt to taste.

What impressed me with this recipe is how fast this meal came together.  It’s filling, and good, and fairly fuss-free.

You want to know if it’s really creamy, and it’s creamy-like.  I don’t take a bite and say, “Gosh, I wish this was cream of mushroom soup.”  I’m actually sort of indifferent to cream of mushroom soup, because mostly, I think it tastes like salt.  (Probably because I’ve never had homemade.)