Radish Leaf Pesto

To prove the authenticity of this "vegan country kitchen" blog, my hot gardener brought me these home-grown radishes the other night. Actually, he happens to be my hot hubbie and these radishes are from our gorgeous little country garden. 

While washing the radishes, he mulled that "there must be something we can do with all these radish leaves". This was our first official home garden product, and it seemed a horrifically sad waste to chalk half of it up to being trash. 

While I'm rather adverse to using recipes, I had to admit I was at a loss for how to use these slightly prickly and quite bitter large leaves. I cheated, and visited the Chocolate & Zucchini website and found a killer creative pesto recipe for these babies. 

Drop a couple handfuls of radish leaves (no stems) into your food processor, along with some vegan parmesan cheese (or even any other white vegan cheese). Add a handful or two of cashews or almonds, and a clove or two of fresh garlic. Pour in an ounce or so of lemon juice, and about 3 tablespoons of olive oil. Sprinkle in a rather generous amount of salt and grind in a bunch of black pepper. Pulse in your food processor for a while, turning off to stir as needed. Taste test along the way and add in ingredients as needed. If it's too thick, add extra oil. Serve with several varieties of your favorite crackers! Keeps in the fridge for half a week. 

Country "Sushi"

So this is actually simply a cleverly designed and sliced wrap. 

- Start with your favorite large-sized wrap. I used a spinach wrap. Lay it flat on a plate. 

- Spread vegan cream cheese on the top 2/3 of the wrap. This will be your "stuffing" area. 

- Lay about three slices of faux deli meat (I like oven roasted Tofurky slices) on top of the cream cheese. 

- Next, layer on several large slices of avocado, and then tomato, and then vegan cheese slices. Try to make all "stuffings" cover the cream cheese foundation.

- Finally, place a few spinach leaves on top. Grind on fresh black pepper and sea salt. 

- Start rolling! This is the tricky part. Start rolling on the stuffing side. The "naked" side is rolled up last. Your roll will be pretty fat, so don't freak out. Notice in my picture that my rolls are big, and not completely stuck together. They may look perfect, but I arranged them so that they'd look nice. :) Roll tightly, but not so much that the wrap busts open. 

- After you have the roll, carefully slice into about 1" pieces. I started my slices in the middle of the roll, rather than the ends (so as not to push out the stuffings).

- The pieces wont hold together perfectly, but feel free to eat them with chopsticks if you're a sushi expert! I did, and had a blast. :)

- For my side, I served a can of black olives and created a simple dip: 2 parts vegan mayo to 1 part Grey Poupon (original deli style mustard). 

Parmesan Encrusted Tuscan Tofu

I was feeling especially creative tonight. In the foreground, we ate boiled bi-color corn on the cob with pink Himalayan salt and light Smart Balance. I also served my Iron Skillet Mediterranean Veggies (with the corn) and my famous Summer Chop Salad (on the left). 

But the highlight of the meal was my new and now signature (vegan) Parmesan Encrusted Tuscan Tofu. 

- Start with a block of extra firm tofu. Drain and press out the excess water. Slice into very thin squares. 

- Lightly oil an iron skillet (or frying pan) and drop in a couple cloves of minced garlic, and half a sweet onion (also minced) if desired. Let that sauté for a couple minutes. 

- Place each tofu square into the skillet individually (with the garlic and onion still in there), so each is laying flat. Sprinkle the tofu - while in the pan - generously with pink Himalayan salt, Tuscan (or Italian) seasoning, and vegan parmesan cheese.

- Allow it to sauté for about 5-7 minutes, until brown on the bottom. When brown, flip the squares over. Repeat the seasoning again, on the other side of the tofu that is now facing up. 

- Allow it to sauté again for about 5 minutes. When this other side is brown, flip over for a third and final time, to allow the newly seasoned side to brown with the cheese and seasonings. 

- If desired, after serving, sprinkle additional vegan parmesan and fresh cracked salt to bring out the full flavor. 

- Serve with a side of original Grey Poupon for dipping.

Flourless Peanut Butter Cookies

My husband and best friend both swear these are their favorite peanut butter cookies. And lucky for you, they're one of the simplest things I make, though, I can't really take credit for this recipe. Various versions of it are floating around the internet, I've just added a couple things to make it all the more delicious. 

You'll need: one cup of your favorite peanut butter (smooth or crunchy), one to one and a half cups of your favorite sweetener (I like Sugar in the Raw or Stevia), and egg replacer equaling one egg. Mix it all up, and spoon the now cookie batter onto a non-stick baking sheet. It's your choice whether you make the cookies small and thick, or big and thin. Bake at 350 degrees for about 8-10 minutes, until the cookies just start to brown. 

If you'd like, you can add some dark chocolate squares to each cookie for an antioxidant boost. And a walk down  peanut butter cup memory lane! 

Sunny Power Salad

This is one of my favorite quick salads. It's loaded with protein, fiber, and just the right amount of fat. A great lunch option for a busy day, and will keep you full so you're not searching for a mid-afternoon snack.

Grab a few handfuls of fresh organic spinach and after washing, throw in a large salad bowl. Cube up half a block of extra firm tofu and drop that in next. Tear up a couple slices of vegan cheese slices and layer on top of the tofu. Sprinkle on roasted sunflower seeds. Drizzle on a bit of your favorite light dressing. 

Seven-Layer Taco Cups

Kudos to one of my best friends, for dropping this yummy idea into our laps on a recent visit to their South Carolina home. 

- Find a muffin pan. Press either filo dough or wonton wrappers into each muffin slot. 

- Prep either faux ground beef or extra firm tofu. If tofu, cut into teeny tiny cubes and season with low sodium taco seasoning. If faux ground beef, brown in a frying pan, also with taco seasoning. 

- Plop whatever meat substitute you chose into the bottom of each wonton or filo dough muffin section. 

- Top each with vegan shredded cheese. 

- Bake at about 375 degrees for around 10-12 minutes. 

- On the side, prep fresh pico with chopped tomato, onion, cilantro, lime juice and salt. 

- Also optionally prep fresh guacamole with the same ingredients for pico, plus avocado.

- Once the taco cups are through baking, top each with guacamole, pico, and a dollop of vegan sour cream. Add a whole black olive to the top of each if you'd like. 

Seitan Stir-Fry with White Sauce

The first time I tried seitan, I'd been vegan for about half a year and freaked out, thinking that Whole Foods seriously screwed up when they told me I was buying mock chicken salad. I spit the bite into a napkin and read the ingredient label, only to find Whole Foods indeed was not a no-good, low-down, lying scumbag of a company. In fact, they introduced me to this mysterious seitan (not to be confused with Heaven's arch-nemesis), which actually is simply wheat gluten, prepared in a fancy manner to cook, taste and look just like chicken or beef.  

For this stir-fry, I broke up a package of seitan and threw into a wok. But... DON'T THROW OUT THE SEITAN WATER!!! We'll use it later. Let the seitan fry in the wok (with or without a bit of oil or water to keep it moist). While the seitan is in the wok, cut up and toss in a bunch of asparagus and a head or so of broccoli. Stir it. Fry it. Let it sit there for up to 10 minutes.

While that's cooking, pour the seitan water into a microwavable container. Stir in 2-4 teaspoons of cornstarch. Microwave for about 2 minutes. This mixture will turn into the white sauce gravy. If it's not thick enough, add in another teaspoon or two of cornstarch and microwave again. Once you've reached a thin gravy consistency, pour it into the wok with the seitan and veggies. Stir-fry it all for another few minutes to allow the flavor to soak into the seitan and veggies, and the excess liquid to steam off. Serve alone, or over your rice of choice.