the jb show.

Simple Seitan Stew

2009-11-20T23:47:00.000-05:00

Autumn is a great time for those classic comfort foods that we all grew up loving (at least on the East Coast of the US).
Classic beef stew was something most kids were served on a cold evening after raking leaves all afternoon.
Most vegetarians I know spend a lot of time trying to find non-meat versions of classic dishes, many of which are every bit as delicious as the original meal, but without the cruelty and usually healthier.
Replacing the beef with a cubed seitan (either buy some at the store, or try making this one in advance) is a great way to make this as hearty as any stew out there.
You can do this on the stove on low heat, but I prefer to use a crock pot and cook it slowly. This mingles the flavors better and is easier to dump everything in and walk away for a few hours.
Start by skinning chopping up the potatoes, yam and turnip, rough 1x1 inch cubes will do great. I like to boil these for a few minutes just for good measure, but you can skip that step if you're doing the slow cook method.
Dice the onion and pepper. Slice the carrots and celery.
Cube the seitan and don't try to drain all the liquid as you go, this helps add flavor to the stew.
Mix all of these ingredients in the crock pot or a large stock pot on the stove on low heat.
Stir the gravy packets into the water and pour in over the mixture of veggies. Add whatever spices you find interesting, I listed an easy group in the ingredients here, but there is not any standard set if you look at other stew recipes, get creative.
The gravy will thicken while it cooks, so don't worry that it looks watery just now.
Let it cook on low for about 45 minutes on the stove, or for however much time you have in the crock pot. A long, slow cooking time will really blend the flavors well and make it hearty. If you're short on time, put the crock pot on high for 20 minutes, then reduce to low for another 20 and you should be good to go.
This also re-heats very well.
Serve it with a thick, crusty bread for dipping and some hot apple cider.

Ingredients:
4-6 cutlets of seitan
2 potatoes
1 sweet potato or yam
1 turnip
1 onion
1 pepper
2 carrots
2 stalks celery
2 packets of vegetarian brown gravy mix
2-3 cups of water
Seasonings to taste:
salt
pepper
garlic
paprika
crushed red pepper

BBQ jerk-seitan

2009-11-10T09:45:00.000-05:00

Horizon's in Philadelphia makes what might be one of the best appetizers ever, vegan or not.
They have a Jamaican barbecued seitan that is unreal.
Their secret is the seitan.
Ray's Wheat Meat is made by an Allentown, PA company and is available in Whole Foods and other retail outlets in the region that are veg-friendly.
I tried to approximate the joy I found at Horizon's, but for far less money.
A container of Ray's runs about 4 bucks at Whole Foods, and I'll be experimenting with other sauces, but my first attempt was with a bottle of whatever-was-on-sale barbecue sauce.
Lightly coat a frying pan with some olive oil on a medium-high heat.
Break the seitan into rough pieces about bite sized and heat them up until they are hot all the way through. This should only take a couple of minutes.
Coat each one with the sauce and sear them on each side.
Serve them hot and enjoy.
The sauce at Horizon's is better. The smoked chipotle dip they serve with it is unbeatable. But this low end version of the Horizon's classic is easy and satisfying.

Vegan sloppy joes

2009-11-09T21:45:00.000-05:00

This recipe starts with seitan. You can either make you own like this one, or buy some from a store.
You want to start by finely chopping and onion and a green pepper. Mince the garlic unless you're using the wonderful pre-minced jar of garlic.
Heat up a large splash of oil in a heavy skillet (cast iron works great) over a medium-high heat.
saute the onions, garlic and pepper until the onions are clear. and starting to get a little brown.
While the veggies are sauteing, shred the seitan with either a food processor, or just by chopping it finely with a knife.
Once the veggie mix is ready (slightly browning) mix in the shredded seitan.
Let this heat up for a few minutes and then add the barbecue sauce. This is not an exact science, just pour it in from the bottle and mix well. Once everything looks like it is coated, you've put in enough sauce.
I've found that the best flavor for this comes from letting the sauce burn on the bottom of the pan and scraping it into the mix. So let everything cook well and wait a little while between stirs. It will be cooked pretty quickly, but a little bit of burning this will actually add to the flavor, just try not to go overboard.
It is done when it looks like sloppy joe, dark red but still moist and as burnt as you like it to taste.
Put it onto your favorite rolls alone or with some lettuce and sliced tomatoes. Toasting the rolls first makes a nice contrast in textures to the soft, sloppy filling to the sandwich.

Ingredients:
Seitan (I usually shred about 6 or 7 cutlets, not sure how that equals store-bought, but it's about 2 cups or so after shredding)
1 bottle of barbecue sauce (most brands are vegan if they are not the honey or bacon flavored varieties)
One onion
One green pepper
One clove of garlic, minced (or the jarred stuff works great)
Rolls

Fake Meatloaf

2009-11-08T09:20:00.000-05:00

I found this at VegWeb.com:

Ingredients:
substitute for 2 eggs (mix 1 tablespoon arrowroot powder, 1 tablespoon corn starch, and 4 tablespoons water)
1 tablespoon soy sauce
1 box medium firm silken tofu (350 g)
3/4 cup chopped walnuts
1 packet vegan dried onion soup mix (1.5 oz)
1 teaspoon oil
1 1/2 cups chopped onion
2/4 cup chopped celery
2 cups chopped mushrooms (use portobello mushrooms for a heartier taste)
1 1/2 teaspoon each of oregano and basil
1/2 teaspoon sage
1 1/2 cups bread crumbs (Variations: To make it stick together better, try lowering the bread crumbs to 3/4 cup and adding one of the following: 1 extra box of tofu, 1 cup of instant mashed potato flakes, 1 - 1 1/2 cup of cooked brown rice or 1 cup burger-style crumbles)

Directions:

Mix egg substitute, soy sauce, tofu & onion soup mix together in blender. Add walnuts & blend until smooth.

Saute vegetables until onions are transparent (add other diced veggies if you wish - ie peppers, carrotsetc). Add herbs/spices while vegetables are frying.

Mix blender ingredients, cooked vegetables and bread crumbs together in a large bowl.

Press into a greased loaf pan. (Or, as user giraelei suggests, "Instead of a loaf pan, I usually use a square cake pan and liberally coat the loaf with ketchup so it gets kind of burnt and caramelized. Yum!")

Bake at 350 degrees F. for 1 hour and 15 minutes. Let cool slightly. Turn loaf out and slice.

This has become a standard dish at my parents house when all sorts of eating habits must be catered to. Even the most obstinate meat eaters love it. It is also excellent the next day cold on a sandwich with a bit of mustard.

Interesting bit about health of a vegetarian diet.

2009-11-02T22:35:00.000-05:00

I constantly get the barrage of questions and comments from people about the impact of a vegetarian diet on a human's health.
Our bodies are designed to break down foods from animal and plant sources. People will always argue that it means we should be eating an omnivorous diet.
But a world filled with millions of healthy, happy vegetarians will prove that it is quite possible to live and flourish with a completely vegetarian diet.
http://www.medicinenet.com/vegetarian_and_vegan_diet/page2.htm
MedicineNet.com has a nice piece about the idea of a balanced vegetarian diet providing all of the nutrition that a human needs to survive.
Sure, if you're a vegan who eats nothing but Swedish Fish and Peanut Chews, then of course your body is going to be in terrible condition. But if you're a meat eater who only consumes burgers, you're going to be in a bad place, too.
The key is always having a balance, whether you are vegan, vegetarian, pescatarian, omnivore or carnivore.
Variety is the key.

Baked seitan

2009-10-27T21:35:00.000-04:00

There is a recipe for seitan that is making its way around the food blogs called Seitan O'Greatness, so I figured I had to give it a try as well. I found what I think is the original at Post Punk Kitchen.
It is a little time consuming, but very easy to make. The majority of the time is the 90 minutes it has to bake.
Start by turning your oven on to 325.
You just want to combine the dry ingredients in a large bowl. Combine the wet ingredients in a small bowl. Mix each bowl well separately, then pour the wet into the dry and mix.
Once it forms a dough, knead it for about a minute.
Roll it into a cylinder about six to eight inches long.
Wrap it tightly in foil and twist the ends. Bake this for 90 minutes.
Let it cool and then slice it as you use it.
This can be used in pretty much any recipe where you want chunks of seitan, but is also tasty just sliced and eaten.
I haven't tried it, but many people seem to like it fried and a little hardened on the edges, and then mixed into their favorite recipe.
It has a little spice to it, but a tomato-ish flavor from the tomato paste. So it's pretty good crumbled over pasta.

Ingredients:
1.5 cups vital wheat gluten
1/4 cup nutritional yeast
1 tsp salt
2 tsp paprika
1/4 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp cumin
1-2 tsp pepper (I use 2 tsp)
1/4 tsp cayenne pepper (you can use 1/8 tsp if you like it less spicy)
1/8 tsp allspice
2 tsp garlic powder

3/4 cups water
4 tbsp tomato paste
1 tbsp tamari
2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
2 tbsp vegetarian Worcestershire sauce

Vegan Worcestershire sauce

2009-10-25T15:18:00.000-04:00

There are a lot of recipes that call for a tablespoon or two of Worcestershire sauce. This is a problem for vegetarians, since there is usually anchovies or anchovy paste in the brands you buy in the store.

There are a couple of them out there without, but they are hard to find.

I found this recipe on CookingWithRockStars.com and just tried it.

You just take all of the ingredients and mix them in a sauce pan. Let it boil while stirring constantly.

Simmer it for another minute and then let it cool.

The recipe doesn't yield a whole lot, but it's not like we're using it to marinate a steak, so it is perfect when you need a little bit for a recipe, then store the rest in the fridge for another recipe.

Ingredients:
1/2 cup apple cider vinegar
2 tablespoons soy sauce
2 tablespoons water
1 tablespoon brown sugar
1/4 teaspoon ground ginger
1/4 teaspoon dry mustard
1/4 teaspoon onion powder
1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
1/8 teaspoon cinnamon
1/8 teaspoon pepper

Pasta with some spice

2009-10-24T18:07:00.000-04:00

I found this recipe for arribiata sauce over at Epicurean.com and decided it looked easy enough to try.

Making homemade tomato sauces seems like such a daunting task that I've never even attempted it before. This sauce calls for canned tomatoes and some fresh spices, so it seemed like something I could handle.
The first step is to chop the parsley and crush the garlic.
Heat up the olive oil in a large saucepan over a med-low heat. Once hot, cook the parsley and garlic in it for about five minutes, stirring frequently.
Stir in the chopped onions and mix this several times during ten minutes over this heat.
Next you'll want to dump in the oregano, red pepper flakess, basil, salt and pepper.
Then put in the tomato paste. Stir this mixture constantly for about two minutes.
Break up the tomatoes as you stir them into the saucepan and mix in both cans of tomatoes and the juice they come in.
Let this simmer, still over the medium-low heat for about 45 minutes uncovered.
Stir the sauce frequently and don't over cook it, or the tomatoes will become kind of bitter.
This makes a pretty large batch of sauce, so you'll have enough for a few different meals. You can separate this into one quart containers and freeze it until you're read to use each batch.
Dump the frozen sauce into a pan and stir in some cooked pasta for a quick and easy meal down the line.

Ingredients:
1/4 cup packed fresh parsley
1/4 cup olive oil
4 crushed garlic cloves
4 onions, coarsley chopped
5 1/2 oz. can tomato paste
2 tsp. dried basil
1 tsp. oregano
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp. freshly ground pepper
1/2 tsp. crushed red pepper flakes
2 - 28 oz cans whole tomatoes w/ sauce

Zucchini Parm: lets make something healthy into something bad for you!

2009-10-22T12:40:00.000-04:00

I love zucchini parmigiana.
My mom used to make it for my siblings and I in a probably attempt to just sneak some vegetables into our stomachs.
The recipe is pretty simple, but takes a little time. You can make it a bit quicker if you deep fry the zucchini, but it's slightly healthier to bake it.
It's not vegan friendly, but you can probably sub in an egg replacement in the breading step and some vegan mozzarella in the final part and do just as well as the non-vegan way.
Preheat your oven to about 350.
The first step is to select a nice big zucchini. This also works with eggplant, but my favorite is zucchini.
Slice the zucchini on a slant to create longer slices, so you have more surface to bread.
Coat a baking dish (the one I use is 9x13 Corningware) with butter or margarine (Earth Balance will make this step vegan) and set it aside.
Crack the eggs into one bowl, and stir with a whisk or fork. Fill another bowl with bread crumbs and a little Old Bay, stir and set the two bowls next to each other.
Dip the slices into the bread crumbs, then into the egg, then bread crumbs again.
Place them in the baking dish. I used a couple of baking dishes for the first bake so that all of the slices can bake evenly, then layer them when I add the sauce and cheese.
Once all of the slices are neatly arranged in the dish, put a generous amount of the butter or margarine throughout the dish and bake it for about ten minutes.
Take out the dish and flip them over. If it looks a little dry, add some more margarine.
Once both sides are golden brown, take it out and get the cheese and sauce.
Cover the zucchini with sauce and cheese leaving a nice layer of cheese on the top. Mix in your favorite Italian seasonings to the sauce just to liven it up a little.
Bake this again until the cheese is toasted nicely.
You can eat it just like this or serve it over spaghetti for an easy dinner. The leftovers re-heat well, too, so just sprinkle some shredded cheese on each serving and pop it in the microwave later in the week.

Ingredients:
1 large zucchini or multiple smaller ones
3-4 eggs
bread crumbs
about 1-2 sticks of margarine (depending on taste and how unhealthy you are willing to make this)
1 jar of marinara sauce (i like to use a tomato and basil sauce for this to add some flavor or sometimes arribiata sauce to make it nice and spicy)
Mozzarella cheese, shredded or sliced

Banana Muffins

2009-10-19T21:08:00.000-04:00

Another recipe that is rarely made with any type of meat, but this one plays right into the lazy aspect of my recipe collection.
I'm not much of a baker, even though I love to cook, so baking from scratch has to be an easy recipe for me to even give it a shot. Cooking is an art, while baking is a science
These banana muffins are really easy to make if you have a few bananas that are starting to get too brown for eating.
The recipe is from allrecipes.com and I made these for the first time the other day to rave reviews.
Preheat the oven to 375 and ready your muffin pans (light grease or papers, whichever you usually use).
Combine the flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt in one bowl and mix them together a little.
In another bowl, mash the bananas and add the plain sugar, egg and melted butter until it looks evenly mixed.
Combine the two bowls into one just until the flour is moist, then spoon it into the muffin pan.
Mix the brown sugar, 2 Tbs of flour and the 1/8 tsp of cinnamon with 1 Tbs of butter (I used a little more butter and brown sugar to make a little more topping) then sprinkle this mixture over the muffins.
Bake for 18 minutes and check them with a toothpick in the center.
These are great cut in half and then quickly grilled and served with some butter. If you top them with some cream cheese icing, they become banana cupcakes.

Ingredients:
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
3 bananas, mashed
3/4 cup white sugar
1 egg, lightly beaten
1/3 cup butter, melted
1/3 cup packed brown sugar
2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1/8 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 tablespoon butter

French fries are always vegetarian...

2009-10-15T17:22:00.000-04:00

I'm aware that there are very few ways to make fries that are not vegan, or at least vegetarian, but there is an art to making really good french fries from scratch.
It seems pretty simple, but the easy way out makes good fries. The more complicated way make amazing fries.
You start with potatoes. Clean them. Peel them if you want, or leave the skin on if that's what you want. Cut them into fries. Keeping them kind of thick makes for a nice texture or soft potato inside a crunchy exterior.
The complicated way:
Put the sliced fries into a large bowl and cover them with cold water. Leave them in the fridge for at least an hour, up to 12 hours.
After the soaking, drain the fries and pat them dry with a clean cloth or paper towels.
Heat up some vegetable or peanut oil in a heavy pot (dutch ovens work best, or any heavy bottomed pot) over a med-high heat.
Heat small batches of fries for about five minutes. This is step one, so the fries will not be heated all the way, just drain them and set them aside.
After they are all heated the first time, raise the temp of the oil to high.
Put the fries back in the fryer for 5-10 minutes until the outsides are golden brown.
Drain on paper towels and add salt and pepper to taste. A coarse sea-salt is always my favorite for fries.
The easy way:
Skip the soaking and the first round of cooking. Just cook each batch until they are golden brown on the outside and enjoy.
The more complicated way will give you a better flavor and texture to the fries, but the easy method will also deliver fries that are way better than the bags you buy in your freezer section.

Wegmans hits Upper Providence/Collegeville

2009-10-12T04:20:00.009-04:00

The supermarket chain that has made adoring followers of so many is now in our side of Montgomery County, with two more locations come soon.
Their Collegeville store opened Sunday to an epic draw of bargain hunters, curiosity seekers and already loyal Wegmans customers.
I've been hearing good things about Wegmans for years as far as the selection of vegetarian items and variety of organic foods, but I've never had a chance to shop at one.
The new location, while I didn't shop since I was there covering it for work, seems to be fulfilling all of those promises.
As I made my way through packed aisles and dodged errant children and shopping carts, I did notice that there were several sections on the shelves that had a wide variety of vegetarian staples that most supermarkets carry these days, but also an expanded selection of each familiar brand. Like many stores have a few Taste Of India entrees (they have a lot of veg-friendly meals in boxes) I noticed a whole shelf section. And most carry Morningstar Farms, Wegmans had a whole freezer door filled with those green boxes.
I might not want to deal with the crowds that were there Sunday, but after it calms down to normal grocery store busy I definitely will be going back there to stock up. They have a good variety and their prices are mostly lower than the bigger chains who treat vegetarian items as luxury pieces and charge more just because they think they can.

New stuff from Morningstar Farms

2009-10-11T14:35:00.000-04:00

Morningstar Farms has a fairly new product out: Chik'n Patties.

They are basically a breadless version of their breaded Chik'n patties. They taste good and work well on sandwiches. Also work well heated up and chopped over a salad, or just diced and mixed with some rice and smart balance with salt and pepper.

I will always recommend the pan prep over the microwave prep because it takes a couple more minutes, but yields far better results.

Vegan gravy

2009-10-07T21:24:00.000-04:00

This recipe is from manyveggierecipes.com and is simple and quick. It does call for a lot of ingredients, but the result is worthwhile. Once you have all of these odds and ends, you can make this quickly at any time.

Ingredients:

3/4 cups Water
2 tbsp Unbleached flour
1 tbsp Tahini
1/4 cup Soy milk
2 tbsp Vegan margarine
1 tsp Italian seasoning
1/2 tsp Garlic salt
1 Vegetable bouillon cube or 1 tbsp vegan broth powder
1/4 tsp Ground coriander
1 tbsp Nutritional yeast

Instructions:

Combine the water, flour and tahini in a small jar. Shake the contents until the tahini dissolves.
Pour the mixture into small sauce pan and add the remaining ingredients.
Heat, stirring constantly, until gravy thickens. Do not let it boil.

Mock-Tuna salad sandwich

2009-10-06T09:48:00.001-04:00

This recipe comes from AllRecipes.com originally, but I added a couple of minor adjustments.

It helps to use a potato masher to crush the beans. If you use a brand of chick peas that is a bit softer, that's better to make the consistency a little softer. Harder beans make either a chunkier salad or more time spent mashing.

After you crush the beans, stir in the other ingredients and mix until everything is blended. Keep covered in the refrigerator until time to use.

My favorite way is to toast the bread first, then put a little extra mayo on with the cheese and lettuce and tomato.

Ingredients: "tuna" salad
1 (19 ounce) can garbanzo beans, drained
and mashed
2 tablespoons mayonnaise or vegan mayo
2 teaspoons spicy brown mustard
1 tablespoon sweet pickle relish
2 green onions, chopped
1 stalk of celery, chopped
Chili powder, sprinkle
salt and pepper to taste

sandwich parts:
wheat bread
slice of cheese
sliced tomatoes
romaine lettuce

Vegan red-skinned potato salad

2009-10-05T23:48:00.000-04:00

This is just a vegan replacement of an easy potato salad recipe. It's simple to make as is, but it's also easy to add some unique touches to make it your own. If you're not vegan, use real mayo and add some chopped hard-boiled eggs. Vegans can add some peas or shredded carrots. Bacos are an interesting touch. Make it your own and have fun.

Boil potatoes until soft, drain and let cool.

Cut the potatoes and leave the skin on. Toss in a large bowl with enough room to stir in all the ingredients.
Dump in the mayo, mustard, onions, celery and seasonings.
Stir.
Cover and put in the fridge for at least an hour to allow the flavors to mingle and set in to the potatoes.

Ingredients:
5 pounds clean, scrubbed new red potatoes
1 onion, finely chopped
3 stalks celery, finely chopped
4 cups vegan mayo
salt and pepper to taste
Mustard to taste
Cajun seasoning or Old Bay

Accidentally Vegan

2009-10-02T18:44:00.000-04:00

Peta.org has a great list of items available commercially that are vegan, whether they were designed that way or not, they are.
Accidentally Vegan is an informative site with all types of interesting stuff.
Some of the odd ones were Baco's brand bacon bits, Shake and Bake, Manwich sauce and Hershey's Syrup. All vegan.
Also, you'll all be glad to know that Red Bull is actually vegan. That puts to rest the rumors that taurine is made from bull semen.

The easiest garlic bread

2009-10-01T21:23:00.000-04:00

I know garlic bread is near impossible to make non-vegetarian, but this is one of the easiest recipes ever.
The most important thing is that you need good bread.
A big loaf of Italian bread from your local supermarket will be great, but you can do this with hoagie rolls or something along those lines.
Cut the loaf lengthwise, but make sure to keep it in one piece so you can close it back up.
Butter both sides of the loaf with your favorite butter, margarine or vegan butter (Smart Balance light is vegan and works well for this).
Sprinkle generously with garlic powder. Don't use garlic salt, you'll regret it. I learned that the hard way a long time ago.
A little bit of Parmesan cheese adds a nice bit of flavor to this, but it's good without it too.
Wrap it in foil and bake at 375 for ten or fifteen minutes.
Slice it while it is still hot. Serve and enjoy.

Vegetarian Day

2009-09-30T15:29:00.000-04:00

World Vegetarian Day is October first. This kicks off vegetarian awareness month. I'm not really sure why there needs to be an awareness month though, since mostly everyone knows vegetarians exist and awareness months are usually for cancers and autism.

In spite of there being no lack of awareness of us, Vegetarian Day is still kind of fun. Wear your vegetarian-related t-shirts and make something tasty for your co-workers, and of course for yourself, and spread everything that is positive in your lifestyle.

All of you out there who aren't vegetarians, spend the day exploring meat-free meals and find out a little about your herbivore friends.

I'm not trying to convert anyone here, but try it for a day and get a glimpse into the meat-free world around us. You might see how fun and healthy it is to live a more compassionate lifestyle.

Horizons

2009-09-29T11:35:00.000-04:00

There once was a fantastic restaurant in Willow Grove that served some of the best vegan cuisine that ever hit the suburbs.
They moved to Philadelphia a couple of years ago and still serve amazing food, but it's just a little less convenient for those of us who live in the burbs.
Horizons Philadelphia is a more upscale experience than the Horizon's Cafe of yesteryear, but the owners and chefs maintain the same quality of their menu and dining experience on South 7th street in Philly.

I recommend the seitan dishes, but the desserts have always been worth saving room for.

Baked Mac-and-Cheese

2009-09-26T00:24:00.000-04:00

This is an old (well, from when I was a kid) family recipe and I'll apologize up front for not knowing quite what quantities to tell you, but it's easy to judge as you go and my first cooking lessons were from my mom, who almost never made the same dish the same way twice, but somehow always made it taste good.
Making baked macaroni and cheese is kind of an art.
It's a simple dish that can be made as fancy as you want to spend the time making it.
This is an easy method that isn't fancy, but tastes great.
Start by cooking your macaroni. You can use any shape of pasta, but the purist in me like to use the good old elbow macaroni. Drain it well and set aside.
Pre-heat your oven to 325 or 350.
Spread some butter on the bottom of a glass baking dish, I generally use a 9X13 corning ware dish.
Toss the pasta, cubed or sliced Velveeta and can of stewed tomatoes in and mix them up to evenly distribute everything. Mix in some milk to give the cheese sauce a creamier consistency.
Top with slices of cheese and a few pats of butter.
Bake until the top gets lightly browned. (about 20-25 minutes)
Serve with some peas and you have the meal eaten in the Berry household several times a month when I was young.

Baked macaroni and cheese:
1 box of pasta, elbow macaroni or shells work best
1 box of Velveeta cheese
about 3/4 cup of milk
1 can of stewed tomatoes, drained of most liquid, but still moist
butter or margarine

Beans and Rice

2009-09-24T17:52:00.002-04:00

One of the easiest things that can be a staple in the vegetarian's diet is beans and rice. You can combine these two mainstays in any number of ways, some fancy and some simple.

As simple as possible is a quick casserole with a couple types of beans and a bit of cheese.

Cook two cups of rice in a rice cooker or on the stove. A rice cooker is the greatest thing in the world for a lazy vegetarian, since all you have to do is measure, pour and hit one button.

Just heat the oven up to 350 and prep a two quart casserole dish with a light coat of cooking spray or vegetable oil.

Take your cooked rice and make a layer on the bottom of the dish. Follow that with a thin layer of salsa, then a layer of beans (mixed together and rinsed, unless you buy seasoned beans, then just drain excess liquid), then a layer of cheese.

Repeat these layers until you have filled most of the dish. Top with cheese and a few pats of butter or a vegan margarine that is good for baking. If you're feeling fancy, throw some bread crumbs on top of it all and then sprinkle with Cajun seasoning or old bay.

Bake for 20 minutes or so, or until the cheese is melted and a little brown. If you just cooked the rice and it's still hot, you can get away with higher temp and less time.

Bean and rice casserole:
2 cups rice
2 cans of beans (I like to mix black and pinto, but whatever you have will do)
1 jar of salsa (you won't use the whole jar for this, but chips and salsa are a nice snack with this)
1 cup of shredded cheese or vegan substitute
butter or margarine
bread crumbs (optional)
Cajun seasoning (optional)

Philly's best vegan chinese food.

2009-09-23T07:38:00.000-04:00

Now, this is clearly a subjective matter and I know people love each of the handful of vegetarian Chinese restaurants in Philadelphia, but I also know that I'm right and New Harmony is the best of them all.

Located on Ninth St between Arch and Race Sts (135 N 9th st, to be exact), New Harmony was once owned by the same folks who had rival vegan Chinese restaurant, Kingdom of Vegetarians but is no longer associated with them.

Their menu has the full array of dishes you'll find at any Chinese restaurant from beef lo-mien to dragon and phoenix to barbecue spare ribs. The only difference is that all of these meats are vegan meat substitutes.

The portions are all generous and the prices are all reasonable. More importantly, all of the food is delicious. Many of the omnivores I know have eaten there and liked it as much as their favorite non-veg Chinese places.

If you're feeling really hungry and/or gluttonous, take a couple of friends and get the all-you-can-eat dim sum. For around 12 bucks each, the servers will keep dropping plates of a variety of appetizers from their menu. You can choose from the list on the dim sum page or just have the cooks give you a variety of their choosing.
Your first time there, you should do the variety and then you can request repeats of the ones you like.
Big party coming up? Groups of ten or more can get their banquet room downstairs complete with large-screen tv and dvd player or karaoke.
Check them out next time you're in the Chinatown section of Philadelphia.

Quick and dirty vegetarian stuffing

2009-09-22T17:47:00.004-04:00

This recipe is not really so much a recipe as a combining store-bought easily prepared items to make something even better from them.

Buy any type of bagged stuffing to prepare. Most of these are vegetarian and basically look like a large bag of croutons with some seasoning mixed in. That's probably because that's all they really are.
Stove-Top and those type's of stuffing mix are not vegetarian and should be avoided.

Most of the bags call for a chicken stock and some celery and some butter. The easy way to make that vegetarian is to used vegetable stock instead, and to make it vegan, use any dairy-free butter spread such as Smart Balance's Light spread or Earth Balance. (no relation)

Also get a tube of Light Life sausage. This stuff might be the best tasting meat substitute on the market.

Crumble and brown the sausage while you're heating the water or vegetable stock for the stuffing mix.
Preheat the oven to about 375.
Set the sausage aside and finish preparing the stuffing as directed on the package.
Mix the sausage into the stuffing and stir in some brown sugar, a few heaping spoonfuls will do. It really depends on taste for this one.
Put this all into a baking dish and sprinkle some more brown sugar lightly on top. Scatter a few dabs of butter or vegan butter sub and leave it in the oven until the tops is a little toasty, or very toasty if you like it crunchy. A tip for those who like it crunchy though, turn up the heat and bake for less time so that the rest of it doesn't dry out.

Serve it with your favorite fake chicken or tofurkey or just eat it on it's own. It's that good.

Dirty Vegetarian stuffing:
Any variety of instant stuffing mix that is vegetarian
One pack of GimmeLean or similar brand of vegetarian sausage
Butter
Brown sugar

Wearing your heart on your sleeve

2009-09-20T09:41:00.000-04:00

There are tons of clothing websites out there that represent every cause and style imaginable.

One of my favorite vegetarian/vegan designers of graphic tees and other various items is herbivoreclothing.com.

They have a pretty good variety of designs, but carry books, accessories and home decor items as well.

The prices are reasonable and the styles are varied, so they have something for every herbivore out there.