Sass-Squash Pizza

Don’t you love that feeling when a recipe born out of improvisation becomes a super hit? That’s what happened with this squash pizza. I made it a few weeks ago with ingredients I had on hand, and while it was delicious I just knew there was one element that was missing. That element? Roasted garlic, of course. So when I made it the next time for a family pizza party, I spread the roasted garlic over the crust like a paste before adding the sauce or toppings. It was perfect.

Ingredients

• 3 cloves roasted garlic
• ¼ cup tomato or pizza sauce
• ½ butternut squash, chopped
• 1 tsp. olive oil
• ½ diced red onion, diced
• 2 tbsp. green onion, diced
• 1/2 red pepper, diced
  
• Vegan cheese, shredded

To Make

1. Prepare your own pizza dough, or purchase a premade dough. While I didn’t in this photograph, I usually modify this recipe by using half whole wheat flour and half bread flour. I also pour dried herbs and spices into the dry ingredients for extra zip.
2. Preheat your oven to 400 degrees.
3. Cook and season your squash as desired. A little salt and parsley can go far. You could rub the squash in olive oil and bake in a 400 degree oven until soft. For a quick fix, place the chopped squash on a plate and cover lightly with water. Microwave for 5-7 minutes. Mash up the squash with a fork.
4. Spread the garlic and tomato sauce over the dough. Top with the squash, onion and red pepper. Sprinkle as little or as much vegan mozzarella cheese to make it as gooey as you want it.
5. Bake the pizza for 15-20 minutes.

Bulgur Wheat is Delicious

I visited my hometown not long ago and got to see family and friends. One of my friends, who is an excellent cook, made delicious food for me and gave me this recipe. It's so simple, so cheap, and so good! (Thank you, Lee!!) Here in Gainesville, bulgur can be bought in bulk at Mother Earth Market (at an absurdly cheap 69 cents a pound), and whatever your local whole foods store is will probably carry it as well. There are different ways to cook it than the soaking method I use, so if you have another preferred method, go for it.

Bulgur Wheat
Ingredients:
1 Cup bulgur wheat
3 Cups boiling water
olive oil
lemon juice
(optional) 1 tomato
(optional) capers (if you use very small capers, add some salt as well)
(optional) non-dairy feta (Sunergia Soy Foods makes a wonderful soy feta that I like very much. I get it at Mother Earth.)
(optional) pine nuts

Preparation:
In a large bowl, combine the bulgur wheat and the boiling water. Cover, and let sit for about 40 minutes or until fluffy and well-rehydrated. Drain the excess water. Add a couple tablespoons of olive oil and a few splashes of lemon juice. Add any other ingredient you want, maybe a tablespoon or two of each. Stir it up, and enjoy!

You can also experiment with other ingredients as they strike your fancy. Anything you'd like in couscous, for example, should work well with bulgur wheat. Good luck!

Garlic Biscuits

I posted this recipe on my personal blog Zombie Cats Eating Plants and thought why not share the love over here as well. The inspiration came from the garlic biscuit I had at this years Central Florida Veg Fest. This was my first experience roasting garlic in the oven, but it won't be my last.

Roasted Garlic Biscuits

Ingredients

2 medium heads of garlic

olive oil

1 2/3 cups of all purpose flour

1 tbsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

2/3 cup non dairy milk of your choice

1/3 cup canola oil or melted non dairy butter

Dry Italian seasoning to sprinkle on top (Optional)

To Prepare

First roast the garlic bulbs and set aside to cool.

How to Roast Garlic

Peel off the outer white covering of the garlic bulb, leaving the individual coverings on the cloves and leaving the cloves attached to the bottom of the root. Cut the tops off of the cloves to expose the inside of each clove. Place the head of garlic on a piece of tin foil. Drizzle a little bit of olive oil over the garlic bulb. Wrap the garlic bulb tight with the foil. Place on a baking sheet or set inside the cup of a muffin pan. Bake at 350 degrees for about 30-35 minutes, until garlic is soft. Remove from oven and let cool.

After you have roasted the garlic, preheat your oven to 450 degrees. Lightly grease or add parchment paper to a large baking sheet.

In a large bowl, mix together the flour, baking powder, and salt with a fork until combined. Add the milk and oil and stir just until the dry ingredients are moistened. The batter will be sticky. Remove the soft inner garlic cloves from the bulb. Add the soft garlic to the batter and mix in with your hands. Don't over mix or the biscuits will be tough. Scoop batter out in about 1/4 cup amounts and roll slightly in hands. Place on the baking sheet. This recipe makes 9 medium sized biscuits.

Bake until the bottoms are golden brown, about 8 minutes.

Enjoy, but resist the urge to kiss loved ones for the rest of the night. :)

Enjoy! ~Amber

Fall Favorites: Vegan Caramel Corn

Tonight some friends and I are getting together to see a scary movie at the drive-in. Despite the decidedly not-autumn weather here, I figured I would try to get in the spirit. This recipe for vegan caramel corn is easy to follow and takes only minutes to complete. It is guaranteed to help you get in the mood for fall festivities.



Ingredients

1/2 cup brown sugar
4 tbsp. cold water
1 tbsp. non-dairy butter
1 tbsp. dark corn syrup
1 tsp. vanilla extract
1 bag popcorn

To Make

Pop your popcorn in the microwave per box directions. Let cool and pour into a large bowl. Separate out any kernels and discard.

In a small saucepan, melt sugar, water, butter and corn syrup. Stir vigorously with a wooden spoon until it is well combined. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat to low and let simmer for 3 minutes. Remove the mixture from heat and add your vanilla. Continue to stir until the sauce thickens slightly.

Pour your sugar mixture over the popcorn and mix well. Once your popcorn is evenly coated, let chill for at least 30 minutes before serving.

Baked Grits Stuffed Squash

I'm finally back in New Orleans after several months away on the road. I've been anxious to return to our kitchen and get to work. Unfortunately, the cupboards were pretty bare so we had to be inventive for tonight's meal. We ended up going to the store to buy a butternut squash as the main ingredient ('tis the season for gourds of all kind) and improvised from there. We had a jar of grits still stored in the pantry, as well as gluten to make homemade vegan sausages. The result was a very hearty autumnal meal that is easy to share with your omni friends.

Baked Grits Stuffed Squash

1 large butternut squash
1 tbsp. olive oil
1 cup instant grits
1 tbsp. non-dairy butter
1 3/4 cup water
Handful of fresh spinach, chopped
Vegan sausages, homemade or store-bought
Spices such as salt, pepper, cumin, cayenne and garlic

To Make

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Slice your squash in half lengthwise and scoop out the pulp and seeds (you can reserve these for toasting, pies, whatever your imagination allows). Place the squash cut side down on a plate. Pour 1/4 inch of water onto the plate and cook in a microwave for 5-10 minutes.

Prepare your instant grits according to instructions. Because some moisture will be absorbed as it bakes in the oven, you might need to add more water until it reaches a soupier texture. Mix in your chopped sausage, spinach, non-dairy butter and favorite seasonings.

Once your squash is fork tender and the rind turns slightly clear, your squash is ready. Place the squash cut side up in a greased cake pan or baking sheet. Spread the oil over the top of the squash and into the cavity. Sprinkle your desired seasonings over the top of your squash. Stuff your squash with the grits mixture and bake for 20 minutes. When your squash is ready, both the squash and grits will develop a slight toughness--think pudding skin. Let it cool before serving and dig in!

Stuffed Mushrooms

So I am very proud of this one! I usually at least loosely follow a recipe when trying new things but today I struck out on my own and it turned out great! So here it is guys. Ethical Eats take on Stuffed Mushrooms, with pesto and "feta". If you try it let me know how it goes.!

It started with the realization that my herbs growing outside would soon be killed by frost. So I said "Carpe Herbum" and decided to use a bunch of my garden's fresh herbs!

Ingredients

Package of large white mushrooms There were about 6 or 7 I think)

• 2 teaspoons of olive oil
• basil
• parsley
• chives
• cilantro
• 1 table spoon flax seed
• 1 or 2 cloves garlic
• 2 table spoons of medium tofu (Well one package actually)
  
• 2 tables spoons of veganaise
• 1/4 tea spoon of raw sugar
• 1 table spoon of nutritional yeast

Combine all ingredients but mushrooms into a food processor or blender.... Play around with the flavor. I used what I had around the house and it was fantastic. Lemon juice, pine nuts, cashews etc would be awesome in there as well as jalapenos.

meanwhile....

Making "Feta"

crumble tofu onto cutting board and sprinkle tofu with salt and cover with paper towels to dry out.

Saute tofu in earth balance or (veg. Oil) with a table spoon of nutritonal Yeast and flax seed on med-high until golden and crispy.

Lemon juice would be good. I did not have any.

Cut out the stems to hollow out the mushrooms and preheat the oven to 350.

mix your pesto and “feta” together. I only used about 3 table spoons because I then blended the stems with some almond milk and remaining pesto and made a pesto cream for pasta

Dollop your mixture into your caps, and bake for about 15 mins! ( my oven is tiny and old may be shorter if you have a spiffy new oven)

mmmmhmmmhmmmhmhmhm good!

Yum....

Egyptian Lentils and Rice

Let me start this post by geeking out about the Vegan Recipe Search Engine. A coworker of mine who isn't even vegan told me about it, and it is wonderful! You can look up recipes you get a hankerin' for, or do what I often do and search based on a main ingredient you have if you want to do something with it and need ideas. That was how I found this recipe, which I've modified here some for this post. The combination of cumin with cinnamon is intriguing and delicious.

Egyptian Lentils and Rice

Ingredients:
4 1/2 teaspoons olive oil
1 onion, chopped
1 Cup brown lentils
1/2 Cup brown rice
3/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1 tablespoon ground cumin
5 Cups water or vegetable broth

Preparation:
Pour the olive oil into the bottom of a Crock Pot or slow cooker and set it to high. Chop the onions small, then add them to the slow cooker and let cook for 15 minutes. Add the lentils, rice, spices, and broth or water. Cook on high for about 3 hours or until the rice and lentils are soft.

You'll notice that there is much more broth than necessary, and the dish seems more like a soup. Strain the dish to serve, and keep the extra broth. You can add a couple tablespoons of cornstarch to it to make a savory gravy! Or, if you'd rather not, just use about 3 cups instead of 5 to begin with - I've never experimented to find the right volume since I love having the extra broth to use gravified with soysauge and biscuits, or bread.

No pictures since I'm an awful photographer. The link to the original recipe though has some pix.