White Bean and Leek Soup

This a lower-glycemic, higher protein take on the classic potato-leek soup (vichyssoise). I found it very tasty and satisfying. The white beans gave it an excellent texture without any of the glueyness of the potato version. If you've never experimented much with leeks, you should give them a try. They have a unique mild onion flavor.

White Bean and Leek Soup

White Bean and Leek Soup

3 large leeks

2 15 oz cans white beans, rinsed and drained (or 3 cups cooked from scratch)

5 cup water or veggie broth

2 bay leaves

1-2 Tbsp olive oil

1 tsp salt

1 tsp lemon pepper or other salt free seasoning

¾ tsp dill weed

½ tsp dried tarragon

½ tsp dried thyme

3 tsp veggie broth powder or bouillon (omit if using veggie broth instead of water above)

1 Tbsp lemon juice (optional, brightens flavor)

Directions:

Prepping the leeks

Prep the leeks: Cut off a ¼ inch or so of the scraggly root end, wasting as little as possible. Cut off 3-4 inches of the dark tops and set aside. Take the rest of the leek and cut it in half lengthwise, then slice into very thin half-moons. Separate the layers with your fingers, then place in a large bowl. Fill the bowl with water and swish around to clean off any dirt from between the layers. Pour off the water, refill with fresh, and repeat until you are satisfied with the cleanliness of the leeks. Drain thoroughly. 

Sauteing the leeks

Oil the bottom of a large soup pot. Add the leeks and the salt and cook over medium heat until tender (but not necessarily brown). This will take at least 10 minutes, maybe 20.

Making the leek-top broth

Take the leek tops that you set aside and wash them, separating the layers. Place them in a saucepan with the water/veggie broth and bay leaves. Simmer for anywhere from 10-30 minutes, whatever is convenient—I stopped when the other leeks were done. Strain, and discard the leek tops and bay leaves.

Add the white beans and remaining seasonings to the large soup pot. Add the leek-top broth from the saucepan too. Take an immersion blender and partially puree the soup, leaving a few chunks for texture.

Stir in the lemon juice. Let simmer for a few minutes to blend flavors, then taste and adjust for salt and other seasonings.

You can serve the soup hot with crackers or croutons.  This soup would also be very good served in a bread bowl.

White-Bean Leek Soup with crumbled saltine crackers

Easy Lemony Glazed Carrots (Low-Cal)

This is a nice way to make vegetables more interesting without adding a bunch of calories. The tangy, lemony sauce is a good balance for the sweetness of the carrots--a better one, in my opinion, than the super sweet and buttery traditional version of glazed carrots.

I like having cooked vegetable dishes like this in the fridge; I find I’m more likely to eat healthy when it’s convenient and already prepared.

Lemony Glazed Carrots

Easy Lemony Glazed Carrots

Ingredients:

1 lb carrots

Sauce:

½ cup water

1/3 cup lemon juice

1/3 cup sugar or sweetener

1 Tbsp cornstarch

1/8 tsp turmeric

a dash of cinnamon

a dash of ginger

Salt and pepper (optional)

Directions:

If you’re using big carrots, slice them into coins or sticks. If you’re using baby carrots then just leave them whole.

Steam the carrots until tender (about 10 minutes). You can cook the carrots by an alternate method such as roasting, sauteing or microwaving if you prefer.

Lemon Sauce

While the carrots are cooking, whisk together all sauce ingredients. Bring the sauce to a simmer and cook until thickened. You can use either the stovetop or microwave for this.

When the carrots are done, transfer them to a serving bowl and pour the sauce on top. Stir to coat. Season with salt and pepper if you wish; the lemon makes it taste fine with no salt though.

Stirring in the lemon sauce

Note: The sugar free version of this recipe (using a sweetener such as stevia or splenda) is very good, and so low calorie it's virtually equivalent to eating plain vegetables—just tastier.

Tasty and healthy

Curried Apple and Onion Pan Sauce

A pan sauce is usually a quick sauce that you can whip up in the same pan you cooked your main dish in. Multitasking with two pans is a lot faster if you can manage it, though :)

I served this spooned over Mashed Tofu Cutlets, but other baked or sauteed tofu dishes would work too.

Curried Apple-Onion Sauce

Curried Apple and Onion Pan Sauce

Ingredients:

1 large apple

1 medium onion

1 Tbsp minced garlic

2-3 tsp oil

1 tsp curry powder

1/4-1/2 tsp ground ginger

1/4-1/2 tsp ground cinnamon

salt & pepper

Sauce:

1/4 cup lemon juice

1/4 cup sugar or sweetener

2 tsp cornstarch

6 Tbsp water

1/8 tsp turmeric

Directions:

Sauteing the apples and onions

Slice the apple and onion into 1/4 inch strips, then halve the strips down to a more manageable length. 

Saute the garlic in the oil over medium heat until fragrant and very lightly browned. Add apple and onion and saute until softened and browned. A minute or two before the apple and onions are done, stir in the curry powder, ginger and cinnamon and let them toast but not burn.

Whisk together all the rest of the ingredients (lemon juice through turmeric) in a small bowl, making sure to mash out any clumps in the cornstarch.

When the apples and onions are done, pour in the lemon juice mixture. Stir continuously as it thickens to your liking; this should happen quite quickly (possibly less than a minute). Taste and adjust salt and pepper.

Spoon over tofu or seitan.

Curried Apple-Onion Sauce over a Mashed Tofu Cutlet

 

Variations:

If you'd like a juicier sauce, you could double the lemon juice mixture while keeping the amount of apple and onion the same.

You could dice the apple and onions finely and add a little dried fruit or crystallized ginger for a chutney-like effect.

Other fruits and vegetables could be used in place of or in addition to the onions and apples. I think a red bell pepper would add a nice splash of color.

The sugar free version of this recipe, using stevia or splenda in place of the sugar, works very nicely.

A good sauce can really round out a nice meal

Vegan Chocolate Éclair Cake (with Vegan Vanilla pudding and Chocolate Glaze)

Vegan Chocolate Eclair Cake

If you’ve never heard of a Chocolate Éclair Cake before, I must warn you that it is neither an éclair nor a cake. Instead it is a one of those classic assembled desserts that combine various types of instant pudding, whipped topping and other prepackaged foods to a very tasty if not necessarily nutritious or sophisticated effect. These nostalgic recipes are often somewhat troublesome to veganize because of all those inflexible prepackaged ingredients.

The traditional recipe involves mixing prepared instant vanilla pudding with whipped topping, and then layering the mixture with graham crackers and finally topping the whole thing with an entire jar (!) of melted chocolate frosting and chilling overnight.

To veganize it, I whipped up a quick from scratch vegan vanilla pudding in place of the instant pudding (although you may actually be able to find a vegan brand if you like) and replaced that jar of frosting with a light, not-too-sweet chocolate glaze. For the whipped topping, I actually have a local source for a store-bought vegan whipped topping called Smackin’ Whip, so I used it. However, homemade would have worked okay for that too. For a discussion of homemade vegan cool whip strategies and a recipe, look here. I also replaced the graham crackers, which are sometimes difficult to find honey-free, with gingersnaps. Any other thin, crunchy cookie would work too.

With all these homemade components, there’s the issue of taking a very quick and easy recipe and making it much harder and more involved. I compensated for this by making some of the components (such as the pudding) on different days in larger batches, and then assembling the leftovers into this dessert. The final result was therefore not too time or energy intensive.

Vegan Chocolate Éclair Cake

Ingredients:

2 cups chilled Vegan Vanilla Pudding (recipe follows)

1 ½ cups vegan whipped topping

30-36 gingersnaps (enough to line the pan three times)

1 recipe Chocolate Glaze (see below)

Directions:

1st layer of cookies

Line the bottom of an 8 by 8 inch baking pan with 1/3 of the gingersnaps, breaking some of them if necessary.

Mixing the pudding and whipped topping

Fold the vanilla pudding and whipped topping together.





Spread half of the resulting mixture in an even layer over the gingersnaps. Lay a second layer of cookies over the pudding. Pour on the second half of the pudding mixture.
Arrange the final layer of cookies on top, then pour on the chocolate glaze and smooth with a spatula. The top can be decorated with sprinkles or toasted coconut if you like.

Covered with glaze and ready to chill

Chill overnight and cut into squares to serve.

Vegan Vanilla Pudding:

Vegan Vanilla Pudding

2 cups vanilla or plain soymilk

1/3 cup sugar or sweetener

2 ½ Tbsp cornstarch

1/8 tsp salt

1 ½ tsp vanilla

2 tsp oil (margarine would be okay too)

Directions:

Mix together sugar/sweetener, cornstarch and salt in a saucepan. Add about ¼ cup of soymilk and stir into a smooth paste, mashing any clumps. Whisk in the rest of the soymilk and bring to a simmer over medium heat (or medium low if your stove runs hot). Stir constantly. Simmer 3-5 minutes, until thickened with large bubbles forming. The pudding should be a little thinner than you like because it will continue to thicken as it cools

Simmering away

Take it off the heat and stir in the vanilla and oil. Transfer to a bowl and chill for at least a few hours.

Variations:

The flavors, such as spices and extracts could be varied as much as you want. Ground cinnamon or coconut extract would be particularly nice.

The amount or type of thickener can be changed as well if you prefer a different texture or have a corn allergy. Potato starch or arrowroot can be substituted for the cornstarch 1 for 1.

Chocolate Glaze:

1 cup water

½ cup sugar or sweetener

¼ cup cocoa or carob powder

2 Tbsp cornstarch 

pinch of salt

½ tsp vanilla

1-2 Tbsp vegan chocolate or carob chips (more if you like)

Vegan Chocolate Glaze

Directions:

Whisk together sugar/sweetener, cornstarch, salt and water. Bring to a boil over medium heat, stirring continually. Simmer about 2 minutes, or until thickened. Pull off the heat and stir in vanilla and chocolate chips. Stir until chocolate melts, then pour on top of the éclair dessert.

This recipe can also be used as a cake glaze, or a hot fudge sauce.

I like this Chocolate Eclair Cake quite a bit. It was creamy and refreshing on a hot day, and convenient to make ahead. 

Chocolate Eclair Cake

Vegan Whole Wheat English Muffin Bread

This is an interesting bread. Containing both yeast and baking soda, it’s sort of a cross between a quick bread and regular bread. It is intended to a have a somewhat craggy, holey texture reminiscent of an English muffin, and to toast very well. Apparently similar recipes have been around a long time owing to the fact that many people find homemade English muffins to be an upgrade on basic toast taste-wise but not labor-wise. Enter an easy hybrid.

I would say that I don’t actually think it’s an identical approximation of an English muffin, just a rather interesting and nicely textured bread in its own right. Although, to be fair I did modify the original recipe to be whole-wheat and dairy-free; perhaps the original is a closer facsimile.

It’s a fairly fast and easy bread, with short rising and baking times and no kneading. I’ll definitely be making it again for that reason alone.

As a recipe designed for toasting applications, this recipe makes excellent croutons, such as in this Caesar Salad recipe.

Whole Wheat English Muffin Bread

Whole Wheat English Muffin Bread

2 ½ cups whole wheat bread flour

2 ¼ tsp rapid rise yeast

½ tsp baking soda

1 ½ tsp sugar

¾ tsp salt

1 2/3 cup warm water (115-120 degrees F)

Directions:

Mix together all dry ingredients. Heat water to the appropriate temperature (If it is too hot, you may kill your yeast, which would result in total recipe failure. If it is too cold, your dough may not rise adequately in the time allotted.) Stir water into rest of ingredients until completely incorporated (you do not need to knead). Cover mixing bowl with greased plastic wrap and let rise in a warmish place for half an hour.

Punch down between 1st and 2nd rises

Spray a 9 by 5 inch loaf pan with cooking spray and sprinkle with cornmeal. When the 30 minutes rising are up, briefly stir dough to punch down and then scrape the dough into the loaf pan. Cover with greased plastic wrap and let rise again for another 20-30 minutes, until dough rises to top of pan.

Before Second Rise

After Second Rise

Fresh out of the oven

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F a few minutes before rising is done. Remove plastic wrap and bake loaf for 25-30 minutes, until nicely browned. Using oven mitts, flip out of the pan to cool. Let cool at least 45 minutes.

Cooling

Slice and enjoy!

Vegan Whole Wheat English Muffin Bread, sliced and made into Cinnamon Toast

Fancy Vegan Caesar Salad

My family is very patient when it comes to all the exotic cuisines, strange flavor combinations, ingredients they’ve never heard of and just plain excessive, gratuitous unconventionality I bring to the dinner table. A reasonable amount of the time they even like the results. But nothing quite brings out their enthusiasm like familiar, long-loved favorites that have been successfully re-imagined—going from rare comfort food indulgences into healthy foods you can eat on a regular basis.

And this particular salad received a level of raves that is normally reserved for dishes involving copious amounts of gravy.

It would certainly be more creative to invent a new salad with all kinds of unusual ingredients and methods (and I often do). But some combos are classics for a reason, and this made for one of the nicest, most  restaurant-quality salads that I’ve had in some time.

This dressing was quite a satisfying facsimile—the capers, which I have seen in some other recipes, do indeed make a very good substitute for the traditional anchovies. The tofu lends creaminess and a neutral enough background for the traditional lemon and garlic flavors to shine through, and the other seasonings round out the flavors without requiring too much salt or fat. Which means you don’t have to be too stingy with the dressing—always a good thing.
 

The homemade croutons were easier than I though they would be. And with whole grain bread, they’re not too bad for you either.

Vegan Caesar Salad with faux chicken and homemade croutons

Fancy Vegan Caesar Salad

Dressing:

1 12 oz package soft silken tofu

2 Tbsp lemon juice

2 tsp capers, drained

2 tsp minced garlic

¼-½  tsp soy sauce

½ tsp Italian seasoning

½ tsp mustard powder

¼ tsp garlic powder

¼ tsp onion powder

¼ tsp lemon pepper seasoning

1/8 tsp salt

2-3 tsp olive oil (optional)

1-2 tsp sugar or sweetener

Croutons:

3-4 thick slices of whole grain bread

1-2 tsp olive oil

1 tsp Italian seasoning

½ tsp garlic powder

½ tsp lemon pepper seasoning (or salt & pep)

Vegan parmesan substitute (can use store bought if you want):

3 Tbsp nutritional yeast

3 tbsp sesame seed, slivered almonds or cashews

¼ tsp lemon pepper

Vegan faux chicken strips OR baked tofu or seitan, 4 servings worth

1 14 oz can artichoke hearts, drained and coarsely chopped

Enough greens for 4 salads (8-12 cups), romaine would be traditional but iceberg, spinach, kale, mixed greens, etc would work too

Directions:

Tossing bread cubes with spices

First make the croutons: Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Slice bread slices into 1 inch squares, and toss with oil and seasonings. Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper and spread bread out in a single layer. Bake about 12 minutes, stirring and flipping halfway through. Let cool.

Croutons, hot out of the oven

Vegan parmesan sub

Next, make the faux parmesan: place nutritional yeast in blender with lemon pepper and sesame seeds or nuts. Grind until powdery. Scrape out into a bowl.

To make dressing: Without washing the blender after making the faux parmesan, puree all dressing ingredients together until completely smooth. Taste and adjust salt, lemon and sweetener to your taste. Can be thinned with water or soymilk if desired.

To assemble: Place a pile of greens on each plate. Drizzle with a little dressing. Arrange

artichokes, faux chicken or tofu and croutons on top. Drizzle with a little more dressing,

then sprinkle with vegan parmesan sub. Enjoy!

Serves four (with leftover dressing & parmesan sub)

Vegan Caesar Salad

Variations:

Any fresh vegetable that you like on similar salads could be added, such as tomatoes, cucumbers, zucchini, onions, peppers, radishes, sprouts etc. Fruits such as pears might be interesting as well.

Olives, wholes capers, sun-dried tomatoes, roasted red peppers and sautéed mushrooms would all make highly flavorful add-ins as well.

Cooked sliced potatoes might create an interesting, nicoise-like effect, particularly if combined with green beans and olives.

Toasted or spiced nuts could be sprinkled on top for flavor and crunch. So could toasted nori.

Making the croutons with homemade bread, as I did using this recipe, is a nice touch. And the leftover bread can be served at the table with the salad.

Piled onto a whole wheat tortilla

This recipe is also very nice in wrap form. Just arrange all the components, sans croutons, on your favorite flatbread and roll up.

Caesar Salad in wrap form

Double Cucumber Hummus Wraps

This is a nice warm weather meal for those days when you don’t want to be slaving away in a hot kitchen. These wraps are both refreshing and filling. The lemony marinated cucumbers add a particularly nice zing.

Note: I needed about 1 ½ large cucumbers to produce the 2 cup chopped and ½ cup sliced cucumbers called for in the recipe.

Double cucumber hummus wrap

Cucumber-Hummus Wraps

Lemony Marinated Cucumbers:

½ cup cucumbers, sliced 1/8 inch thick

1 ½ Tbsp lemon juice

2 Tbsp water

1/8 tsp salt

1/8 tsp pepper

Cucumber-tofu sauce:

1 12 oz package firm silken tofu

1 Tbsp lemon juice

2 cups cucumber, chopped into ½ inch dice

¼ tsp garlic powder

¼ tsp onion powder

salt and pepper to taste

4 whole grain flatbreads

About ½ cup hummus, homemade or store-bought

Fresh greens such as spinach, kale, lettuce, etc.

Directions:

Marinated cucumber slices

Whisk together lemon juice, water, salt and pepper. Add cucumber slices. Let marinate while you prepare

the rest of the ingredients, tossing occasionally.

Cucumber Tofu Sauce

To make the cucumber-tofu sauce: puree tofu with lemon juice, seasonings, and 1 cup of the chopped cucumbers until completely smooth. Pour into a bowl and stir in remaining cup of chopped cucumbers. Taste and adjust salt and pepper.

To assemble: Spread 1-2 tablespoons of hummus in an even layer over each flatbread. Place a layer of marinated cucumber slices on top (shake off any excess marinade). Lay a strip of greens down the middle, and top with a few spoonfuls of cucumber-tofu sauce. 

Flatbread spread w/ hummus

A layer of marinated cucumbers

Greens in the middle

Ready to roll up

Fold up the sides and enjoy!

Makes 4 wraps with plenty of sauce leftover.

Rolled up and ready to eat

Variations:

Fresh vegetables such as tomatoes, zucchini, or peppers can be added to the marinated cucumber mixture.

Different kinds of olives, capers, or artichoke hearts would make flavorful additions as well.

Fresh herbs such as parsley, chives, tarragon and/or dill could be blended into the cucumber sauce for a Green Goddess effect.

A different bean spread, such as a white bean-herb puree, could be substituted for the hummus.

Hummus-Cucumber sandwich

This wrap can be made in regular sandwich form, as well.

Note: The cucumber tofu sauce from this recipe also makes a good substitute for both tzatziki in falafel or gyro sandwiches and for raita in Indian meals.

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