By Frederico Maciel de Mello

I’m not a super cook so I like easy recipes. Here is one of my favorites.

Ingredients:

• 4 tablespoons of vegan butter or olive oil (with vegan butter it is much tastier)
• 4 tablespoons of wheat flour
• 500 ml of cashew nut milk (you can use unsweetened milk, but cashew nut milk is great because it has a neutral flavor)
• Salt, black pepper and nutmeg to taste.

Directions:

•  In a heated pan put the butter and let it melt. Add the flour and stir for about 2 minutes with the help of a spoon or spatula
• Add the milk all at once and, with the help of a wire whisk, mix well until it boils
• Put the fire down and let it cook for about 5 minutes, stirring from time to time
• Finally, season generously with nutmeg, salt and black pepper
• Yields approximately 400 grams of sauce
• Add to your favorite pasta and enjoy!

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Kim Sujovolsky is the founder of Brownble.com, an online resource for aspiring or longtime vegans who are looking for guidance and inspiration in the kitchen.

Ready to try a new flavor combination? Give this hardy, flavorful Maple and Mustard Glazed Tempeh a try!

Maple and Mustard Glazed Tempeh

Yields 2-4 servings.

Ingredients

Directions

1. Cut the tempeh into triangles—or any shape you might like, this is just for presentation—and place it in a steamer basket over a pot with boiling water. Cover it with a lid. Let the tempeh steam for 12 minutes.
2. Remove the tempeh and pat it dry with a paper towel if needed. Place it in a bowl.
3. In a separate bowl, combine the maple syrup, grainy mustard, balsamic vinegar, water, minced shallots, and garlic. Whisk until combined. Set aside.
4. Heat a non-stick pan over medium-high heat, and add a drizzle of oil.
5. Place your tempeh pieces in the pan and heat until one side is golden brown. Flip and repeat on the other side.
6. Once the tempeh is golden brown, pour the maple mustard sauce on top, and let it reduce slightly.
7. Remove from the pan and serve the tempeh topped with some of the sauce that’s still in the pan, the chopped pistachios and scallions, and your favorite sides. Enjoy!

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Vegan Richa’s second cookbook, Vegan Richa’s Everyday Kitchen, is a great resource for all who want to eat and entertain, enjoying food in all its delicious glory!

What I love about the book is how it’s built around sauces! Who doesn’t love a good sauce? They’re versatile and can be used as dips, condiments, and marinades. They can be used for complexity in a dish, in soups, and—of course—in curries.

Knowing how to make sauces and the ease of freezing them means you’re always well-prepared to whip up a great dish. To borrow words from my favorite children’s book, “In half a minute less than no time!” Okay, maybe not that fast, but you’ll be pretty close.

Another aspect of the book that I like is how Richa helps the reader understand that making food and enjoying meals are always a shared opportunity for happiness. Moreover, the book is centered around making and enjoying vegan food, which means the happiness is shared with all of Earth’s beings.

To give you a taste of this happiness, Richa has shared her delicious Buffalo Chickpea Tacos recipe. And if you’re hungry for more, you can order a copy of her new book today! Enjoy!

Buffalo Chickpea Tacos

Yields 4 servings.

Ingredients

Directions

1. Combine the hot sauce, sriracha, olive oil, and vinegar (if using) in a medium bowl. Add the chickpeas, tossing to coat them in the sauce, and set aside. In another medium bowl, combine half the celery ranch sauce with the celery. In a third medium bowl, thin the other half of the celery ranch sauce with water if needed.
2. Heat the safflower oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add the green bell pepper, red bell pepper, and ¼ teaspoon of the salt. Cook the bell peppers until they are golden on some sides, 4 to 5 minutes, stirring occasionally. Warm the tortillas if desired.
3. Add some of the baby spinach, roasted bell peppers, and celery to every taco. Divide the remaining ¼ teaspoon salt between all the tacos. Add some buffalo chickpeas and a generous drizzle of the celery ranch sauce to each taco and serve.

Celery Ranch Sauce

Yields about 1 cup.

Ingredients

Directions

1. In a blender, combine the cashews, milk, salt, oil, pepper, garlic powder, onion powder, nutritional yeast, vinegar, parsley, thyme, and dill. Blend until smooth and creamy. Taste and adjust the seasonings. Add the chives (if using) and stir gently to combine.

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This “cheater” panang sauce comes together in a flash and is delicious over Asian noodles or stir-fries with rice. Because it’s so rich, it can just be served with steamed rice and vegetables—it adds so much flavor and depth!

Ingredients

Directions

1. Place all of the ingredients in a blender and process until smooth and emulsified.

Recipe Tips and Variations

• Store in an airtight container, refrigerated, for up to two weeks. To serve, simply reheat over low heat until warm.

This recipe is provided by vegan chef Tess Challis and is shared from her cookbook Radiant Health Inner Wealth.

You can find more vegan recipes, cooking classes, and more on Tess’s website. Also be sure to check out her books and cookbooks!

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We’ve been sharing the details of Vegan Outreach’s nation-wide Vegan Mac Down competitions the past few weeks, but now it’s time to dish out the really good details—the winning recipes of each competition!

First up is Vegan Mac Down L.A. winner, Joni Marie Newman. Joni pleased the judges’ with her Buffalo Mac-n-Cheese creation—and I think it’s going to win over your taste buds, too!

Be sure to follow us in the coming weeks as we share the other winning mac and cheese recipes! And in case you’ve missed the Vegan Mac Down excitement, check out these recent editions of our weekly E-news—August 30 and October 4.

Buffalo Mac-n-Cheese

Yields 4-5 servings.

   Pasta

Directions

1. Prepare macaroni according to package instructions. Set aside.
2. Add potatoes to a large pot of water and boil until very tender. Drain and return to the pot.
3. Add remaining cheese sauce ingredients to the pot. Using an immersion blender, puree until silky smooth. Add additional milk a tablespoon at a time to get to your desired consistency. It should be smooth and creamy, not gritty or clumpy.
4. Preheat oven to 425°F.
5. Add cooked macaroni and cauliflower to the pot of cheese sauce. Stir to combine.
6. Spread mixture into a casserole dish.
7. Add crackers, parmesan, and butter to a dry food processor and pulse into crumbs.
8. Sprinkle topping in an even layer all over the top of the mac and cheese. Finish off by topping with crushed potato chips.
9. Bake for 15 to 20 minutes, or until topping is golden brown and crispy. Remove from oven.
10. Drizzle with Blue Cheese and serve with celery sticks, if desired.

Joni Marie Newman is a vegan chef and ten-time published cookbook author. Her work has been featured in VegNews Magazine, Mother Jones, The Oregonian, and many other publications. She is the founder and contributor to JustTheFood.com and can be reached on all of her social media accounts—Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter—@JoniMarieNewman.

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By Toni Okamoto

Avocado Sunflower Seed Pesto is inexpensive to make and really quick to throw together for dinner. It’s incredibly creamy and the combination of fresh basil, garlic, and lemon is the perfect flavor explosion!

It’s also easy to make gluten-free simply by choosing a GF-friendly pasta.

Ingredients:

• 1 lb package of Spaghetti
• 2 ripe avocados
• 1/2 cup fresh basil
• 1 cup unsalted sunflower seeds
• 2 garlic cloves
• 2 tbs lemon juice
• 1/2 cup olive oil
• salt, to taste
• 1/4 cup nutritional yeast (optional)
• 1 cup cherry tomatoes, halved

Directions:

• Cook the spaghetti using package directions.
• In a blender or food processor, add avocados, basil, sunflower seeds, garlic, lemon juice, olive oil, salt, and nutritional yeast and blend on high speed until smooth and creamy.
• Mix the pasta and the pesto evenly.
• Serve with cherry tomatoes to garnish.

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Raising Vegan Kids—Got Beans?

My kids sure love pasta! There are so many different shapes, textures, and whole-grain flours to choose from these days. And now there’s even pasta made from beans and lentils!

My kids also love smooth and creamy pasta sauce, like the recipe I’ve shared below. No one would ever guess it’s packed with beans and sweet potatoes! Beans are loaded with fiber, protein, complex carbs, antioxidants, vitamins, and minerals—and best of all, they are easy to sneak into kids’ favorite dishes!

You can replace some or all of the beans with an equal amount of cashews to make an even richer, creamier sauce. It’s also fun to steam and finely chop kale or broccoli and mix it in with the pasta.

Bean Pasta Sauce

Serves about 4-6.

Ingredients

Directions

1. Cook pasta according to instructions.
2. Chop a small sweet potato (any variety) into similar-sized chunks. Place in a steamer basket and steam until a fork easily pierces the potatoes.
3. Blend sweet potatoes, beans, and pasta sauce until smooth. Add a little water if needed to allow blender to blend smoothly. Start with a few tablespoons and slowly increase.
4. Mix in with pasta and top with oil (flax, hemp, olive, coconut, etc.), nutritional yeast, or vegan cheese.

In case you missed it, here’s our super yummy bean-packed Cookie Dough Pudding.

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One of the most fun culinary hacks I’ve discovered since going vegan is all of the different ways nuts and seeds can be used. Gone are the days of simply grabbing a handful of almonds or sunflower seeds for a quick snack—even though that’s still a great way to enjoy them. I mean, just think about it. Nuts and seeds can be made into a variety of different oils, flours, butters, milks, sauces, and more!

Lucky for us nut and seed lovers, Celine Steen and Joni Marie Newman put together a beautiful cookbook all about, you guessed it, nuts and seeds!

Their book is titled Vegans Go Nuts, and I highly recommend it to anyone who keeps nuts and seeds as staple food items in their kitchen. It really doesn’t matter what kind you keep on hand—I can guarantee there’ll be at least a few recipes in this book that utilize whatever kind of nut or seed you have in your pantry.

For me personally, there are two main reasons why I liked the book. First, the authors offer helpful tips, like how many hours each type of nut or seed should be soaked if a recipe calls for a soaked batch.

Second, you don’t have to be a master chef or have a bunch of extra time on your hands to use this cookbook. Sure, it would be great if you could make your own nut butter, flour, or milk every time a recipe calls for it, but let’s be real—neither you nor I want to do that.

With this book, you have the luxury of having that information, but you can also just sub out store bought ingredients and still get fantastic results!

It took me quite a while to decide what I wanted to make and share, but I finally opted for this Cheesy Almond Gravy recipe. It’s a vegan spin-off of a non-vegan dish called poutine. I opted to pour it over roasted acorn, cauliflower, and broccolini instead. The results were great, however, I highly recommend cutting the recipe in half if you won’t be sharing it with anybody else. This recipe makes A LOT of gravy!

Enjoy!

Cheesy Almond Gravy

Yields about 4-5 servings (2 ½ cups).

Ingredients

Directions

1. Heat the oil over medium-high heat. Add in the garlic and sauté for 2 to 3 minutes, until fragrant. Whisk in the flour. Continue to cook and stir until a golden paste forms, about 2 to 3 minutes.
2. Slowly whisk in the almond milk, vegetable broth, almond meal, nutritional yeast, and pepper. Continue to cook and stir until thickened and no lumps remain, about 5 to 7 minutes (if you prefer silky smooth gravy, blend with an immersion blender or transfer to a blender and mix until it reaches the desired consistency).
3. Remove from the heat and stir in the miso.

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Quorn, a readily available vegetarian meat substitute is now offering vegan versions of their popular meat-free products!

Having tried my share of vegan meats, I can easily say Quorn’s measure up! The texture is spot on—not too chewy, not too tough, and so flavorful. It would please vegans and meat-eaters alike!

The only issue I had with these vegan meats was deciding how I wanted to cook them and what I wanted to enjoy them with.

I whipped up some gravy to pair with the Vegan Breaded Chicken/Chik’n Cutlets. I added a side of slaw I had leftover in my fridge, and it was a great, filling meal! These cutlets are the perfect main dish, especially for meat-eaters incorporating more vegan food into their diets.

And with Quorn’s Vegan Chicken/Chik’n Tenders, I put together a delicious, cheesy breakfast hash.

Your stomach is growling now, right? No problem! My tasty hash recipe is listed below.

Before you run out to get yourself these vegan meats, check out the store locator on the Quorn website. You can specify which products you want and locate the stores closest to you that are carrying them.

Cheesy Breakfast Hash

Serves about 2.

Ingredients

Directions

1. Preheat oven and heat tater tots according to instructions on bag.
2. While the tots are cooking, heat oil in a large skillet. Add Quorn Vegan Chicken/Chik’n Tenders, vegan sausage, broccoli, and edamame. Cook over medium heat.
3. When heated through, add cashews and lower heat.
4. Meanwhile, for the cheese sauce, combine milk and flour in a small saucepan over medium heat and mix thoroughly.
5. When sauce begins to simmer, reduce heat to low and add nutritional yeast, garlic powder, onion powder, and salt.
6. When tater tots are finished cooking, carefully add them and the cheese sauce to the skillet and mix well. Serve hot and enjoy!

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Reviewed By Toni Okamoto

First of all, the author of this book, Matt Ruscigno, is amazing! When the tour promoting Superfoods for Life: Cacao came through our area, I went with VO Executive Director Jack Norris to see him speak at Timeless in Oakland. He was extremely knowledgeable and entertaining.  He’s heavily involved in activism for both animals and humans, he is a super athlete who rides thousands of miles on his bike, he’s a well-known vegan Registered Dietitian, and is a generally nice guy! In addition to co-authoring this fantastic book with Joshua Ploeg, he also has co-authored books with big-time chefs like Isa Moskowitz.

But if that isn’t enough to make you want to go out and buy this book, the recipes will definitely help you make up your mind! The master chef behind the food portion of Superfoods For Life: Cacao is Joshua Ploeg, occasional fellow Sacramentan and 100%-of-the-time talented cook. He’s exceptionally creative with pairing ingredients, and has you mixing amazing spice blends you would have never thought of on your own.

My favorite thing about this book is the diverse range of recipes. It caters to different levels of cooking, different comfort ranges in your palette, and has many options for varying budgets. Below are the recipes I chose to try, and both were amazing!

Tasty Cocoa Jerk Tofu

If you like spicy, this recipe is for you! You could probably skip the hot sauce if you don’t, but it is REALLY good. Since Josh is a friend of mine, I messaged him and asked what veggies I should pair this dish with and he recommended spicy broccoli and carrots. I just steamed them and added some red chili flakes and they were delicious.

Ingredients:

For the sauce:

• 2 teaspoons curry powder
• 1 teaspoon chili powder
• 1/2 teaspoon each black pepper, cinnamon, and all spice
• 2 tablespoons hot sauce
• 1/3 cup cocoa powder
• 1/4 cup tamari
• 1/3 cup vegetable broth
• 2-3 crushed garlic cloves
• 1 tablespoon agave nectar
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 tablespoon lemon juice or balsamic vinegar
• 2 tablespoons hoisin, or tamarind, or plum sauce
• 1/2 teaspoon salt, or to taste
• 1/2 teaspoon ground oregano

For the tofu:

• 16 oz firm tofu
• 1 onion, sliced
• 1 red and 1 green bell pepper, each sliced

Directions for the sauce:

• Blend together the sauce ingredients in a blender and set aside.

Directions for the tofu:

• Cut the tofu block into 4 sections and then cut each of these into 4 strips. Mix the tofu with the vegetables and sauce in a casserole dish or other flat-bottomed vessel and allow to sit for an hour.
• Add the tofu and bake, turning once, for 30 minutes, adding a bit more liquid if you need or want this dish to be saucier. Increase the heat to broil and broil for 5 to 7 minutes to finish.

Suggestions:

• Serve this dish with seasoned black beans and rice. Some fried plantains would work well, too! Garnish with grated chocolate and scallions, if desired.

Cocoa Potato Tacos

These tacos were very inexpensive to make and the cocoa powder added a complexity that basic potato tacos usually miss. I wish I had dressed them up with more veggies (I’d add tomatoes and lettuce), but they were still tasty paired with black beans and Mexican Rice.

Ingredients:

• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon chili powder
• 1 tablespoon cocoa powder
• 2 teaspoons olive or canola oil
• 2 teaspoons lime juice
• 2 cups cooked mashed potatoes
• 2 minced garlic cloves
• 1/2 cup sliced onions
• 2 tablespoons grated bittersweet chocolate, more to taste
• 2 to 3 tablespoons minced fresh cilantro
• 8 to 10 corn tortillas
• Olive oil, for brushing and sauteing
• Lime wedges for serving

Directions:

• Stir the salt, chili powder, cocoa powder, oil, and lime into the mashed potatoes in a medium mixing bowl. Set aside.
• Saute the garlic and onions in a little oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat for 2 minutes. Add the mashed potatoes, lower the heat to medium, and cook, flipping until browned in places (this will take around 4 minutes per “side”). Scoop into the tortillas (about 1/3 cup per tortilla), sprinkle with grated chocolate, cilantro, a little lime juice, and chile sauce and fold over. Cook in very light oil in a skillet over medium heat, turning once, until crispy on both sides (around 2 to 3 minutes per side). Or alternately brush with oil and bake at 400 degrees, turning once, for 7 to 10 minutes or until the shells are browned. You can also not bother with the oil if you don’t wish to.

Suggestions: The One-Hour Mole or the Enchilada Sauce variation if the Chocolate Marinara from this book go very well with these tacos, as does salsa or avocado. For a spicy kick, add 2 tablespoons chopped sliced jalapenos to the saute.

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