Guest Blogger: Poppy’s Patisserie – Smoked Tofu Carbonara Pasta

So many new vegan bloggers to welcome into the fold! One such blogger is Poppy. Here she is in her own words,”I’m Poppy and I write Poppy’s Patisserie which is now fully vegan. I was a vegetarian since the age of six and have now been a vegan for almost two years. I am a University student studying Animal Management based in Kent, UK. I love food and especially love experimenting with new ways to eat plant based foods, full of goodness and flavour. I also love animals. I have two lovely sibling cats, ten bunnies, three chickens and five degu’s. They are great fun. Below is a post I’d love to share for a vegan carbonara style spaghetti using smoked tofu. It’s a real favourite of mine, comfort food full of goodness.” Follow Poppy on Twitter – welcome Poppy!

SMOKED TOFU CARBONARA PASTA

I’ve never eaten a real carbonara with bacon but have always been a sucker for creamy pastas. I remember once making a veggie version with veggie bacon and cream; it tasted delicious but I felt sick from the heaviness of the cream. I tried again with a traditional egg sauce but was so frightened of eating raw egg that I ended up cooking it to almost scrambled egg coated pasta. Yummy. Not.

So when it came to having a go, now vegan, I had no idea how it would turn out. Of course, any Italian pasta purist would shoot me for even describing this as a carbonara, but then again, so would they of my cream abundant version or even my version using the traditional ingredients which led to a spaghetti omelette. Hey ho.

It’s rich yet not too heavy, tastes smoky and creamy and is low in calories. What could be wrong with that?

For one serving: 652 calories

• 100g dried spaghetti or pasta of choice
• 10g soya or sunflower spread
• 10g plain flour
• 200ml unsweetened almond milk (or any other milk you prefer)
• 1 banana shallot, finely chopped
• 1tsp porcini mushroom powder (or add in a handful of sliced mushrooms instead)
• 100g smoked tofu (I use Taifun’s sesame and almond smoked tofu), sliced into lardons or cubed
• fresh chives to serve

1. Put a pan of salted water on to boil. Once boiling, add the pasta.
2. Spray or add a drop of oil to a pan and add the shallot over a low heat to soften. If using mushrooms, add now also. Once softened, remove and set aside. Set the heat to high and add the tofu. Fry until fragrant and starting to crisp and go golden. This should only take a minute or so.
3. Meanwhile, melt the spread in a small pan over a medium heat then stir in the flour. Cook the roux, stirring, for about a minute.
4. Gradually whisk in the milk until all is incorporated and smooth. Add in the mushroom powder (if using) and allow the sauce to thicken, stirring often. Season to taste. Stir in the shallot (and mushrooms, if using) and tofu.
5. Toss the sauce with the drained pasta and serve sprinkled with finely chopped chives.

Guest Blogger: On the path to zen… – Chick’n Fried Tofu

There are vegans in Texas! One is Kerry, she writes a blog called On the path to zen…. Here she is in her own words, “I am a vegan working always on finding her zen. Not easy these days, but the journey is well worth it! I am a Master Gardener and a Reiki Master/Teacher, and these combine very nicely with living the life of zen.” Join On the path to zen… on Facebook too! Welcome Kerry!

Growing up in Texas, there are two dishes you can find served at a restaurant within a stone’s throw, no matter where you are. Barbecue and chicken fried steak.

And if you are in Texas, never, ever, ever, refer to chicken fried steak and country fried steak. Trust me on this.

As I have tried to explain to many meat eaters, I bet nine times out of ten it is not the meat they like so much as it is the flavors of the food. To that end I like to make dishes that even I-will-never-be-vegan folks will eat and proclaim it delicious.

Chicken Fried Tofu

One package extra firm tofu, frozen, thawed, pressed, sliced into 1/4″ slices

3 T. nutritional yeast

2 T. panko breadcrumbs

2 T. soy sauce

Old Bay seasoning

Salt

In one shallow bowl, combine the nutritional yeast and breadcrumbs and mix well. In another shallow bowl, pour in the soy sauce. Dip the tofu slices in the soy sauce and place in the breadcrumbs mixture, coat well on both sides. Place coated pieces on a sprayed baking pan. Sprinkle on some Old Bay and salt. Bake for 15 minutes, turn over, season and bake for another 15 minutes until golden brown. Serve. Enjoy!

I served mine with some peppered cream gravy, garlic mashed potatoes and green beans. Delish!

What I like most about this recipe is it is baked, not deep fried. Yummy, healthy AND cruelty-free!

Guest Blogger – Rachel in Veganland: Tahini chickpeas

After her wildly successful first post on VBU!, Rachel in Veganland – Not Skinny how could I not have her back? This time Rachel is back to share her take on tahini chickpeas. You can follow Rachel’s posts through email, and find her on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and Pinterest. Welcome back Rachel!

Living in this house in Carrboro has been a throw back to my first few days at college when I was cooking vegan for the first time in the communal kitchen of my dorm. There were 2 things I always had in my food box in those days: garbanzo beans and tofu. As the garbanzo is my favorite legume, I would eat them quite often, and in a variety of ways.

I would often sauté them up with some fresh onions and garlic, add in a few seasonings to suit my mood, then a sauce to tie it all together. This past week I’ve revisited that dish, as again garbanzos and tofu were readily available. This time, instead of the goddess dressing I would often use to tie all of the ingredients together, I used some tahini.

The result was caramelized fried-like glory with no breading, mess, or actual frying. What a fantastic and flavorful shortcut! The flavor was similar to fried chicken-like tofu but the garbanzos added a rich nuttiness to the dish that was only amplified by the tahini. Served atop a bed of fresh spinach, and it was heaven on a plate.

Tahini Fried Chickpeas and Tofu

1 can garbanzo beans, drained and rinsed thoroughly

1/2 block extra firm tofu

1 Tablespoon olive oil

2 Tablespoons soy sauce or tamari

1 clove garlic, minced

1/2 cup chopped onions

dash dried basil

1/2 cup tahini

Over medium heat, sauté garlic and onions until the onions begin to brown and get all caramelized. Then pop in your tofu, cut into nice sized chunks and allow it to brown slightly too. Add those chick peas and let it all mesh together for a couple of minutes, then add in your tamari. At the very end, add the tahini and remove from heat, stirring to incorporate thoroughly. Serve immediately over a bed of fresh, raw greens and eat your heart out.

Now that we’re back in Carrboro, we’ve of course been frequenting our favorite taco truck again, huzzah! This means the world’s most decadent and fantastic sauces. I always get an extra 2 oz. container to keep and smother on EVERYTHING I can. These chick peas were no exception.

Guest Blogger: In Vegetables We Trust – Panko and coconut fried seitan and mushrooms

The very charming Alex has been kind enough to contribute a post from his lovely blog called In Vegetables We Trust. You can catch Alex on Facebook, or Twitter and be prepared to be impressed. Welcome back Alex!

If you ever wanted some photos of seitan looking freakishly like meat, there’s one just sitting on this page, if that freaks you out (it does me a little) then use homemade seitan, it doesn’t look half as realistic as commercially produced stuff and its still super tasty. For a gluten-free option dice up tempeh and steam, then use as the seitan in this recipe and either use all desiccated coconut or use gluten-free bread crumbs instead of panko.

Ingredients:
Enough vegetable oil to fill a pan about 2 inches up the sides.

1 tin of mock duck/seitan, cut into generous chunks
1 cup button mushrooms
5 tbsp tamari
1/4 tsp red pepper flakes
1 stalk lemongrass, ends chopped off, bruised with rolling-pin, outer layers removed and then finely chopped
2 tsp fresh finely grated ginger

For the dry dredge:
1/3 cup corn flour seasoned with salt, pepper, a pinch cayenne pepper and 1/4 tsp garlic powder.

For the batter:
3/4 cup full fat coconut milk
1/2 cup cornflour
1 tsp baking soda

For the crumb layer:
1/2 cup panko bread crumbs
1/2 cup desiccated coconut

Method:
Place the seitan and mushrooms in a bowl and toss through the tamari, red pepper flakes, lemon grass and ginger, cover with cling film and allow to marinate for about an hour. Mix together the ingredients for the dry dredge in a shallow dish, and whisk the batter ingredients together in a bowl. On another dish sprinkle the panko and desiccated coconut. Preheat the oil in a pan to a medium high heat and test the oil by tearing of a small square of bread and dropping it in, it should bubble steadily, not vigorously. If the oil is to hot bring the heat down and allow it to cool a bit. You are gonna want to start a mini production line, so line up your ingredients. It should go seitan, dredge, batter, breadcrumb mix – Line the components up in this order to make it easy on your self. Pick up a piece of seitan or a mushroom and dip in the dredge coating well to help the batter stick, dip in the batter then roll gently in the crumb mixture and drop gently in the oil. Fry off a 3-4 prices at a time – depending how much space you have in your pan – until a dark golden brown. Drain off some of the excess oil by placing the fried lil’ nuggets on kitchen paper. Serve with a sweet chili dipping sauce or just ketchup.

Guest Blogger: Spice Box of Earth – Quesadillas with Mexican Lentil Salad

Always nice to see vegan bloggers from around the world – one such blogger is Jenny, the author of Spice Box of Earth. You can friend Jenny on FB, catch her on Twitter, and Flickr.  Here she is in her own words, “I am Jenny, a vegan baker and blogger from Manchester, UK. I share recipes, reviews, lifestyle & shopping tips and all sorts of vegan goodness. Lots and lots of pie!” Please welcome Jenny!

My vegan friends, it’s a time for resolutions, and I was so torn about whether to eat healthy or not last night, that I ended up creating a half healthy/half naughty dinner. I haven’t had quesadillas in a while and had some luck last time using potatoes in the filling. I suppose it’s healthier than wodges of grated vegan cheese, so it ain’t all bad! This lovely lot should feed about 4 people.

To Make the Salad: Cook the red lentils in water along with the fajita spice. The lentils should be dolloped on top of the salad when cooked. Layer the lettuce, chopped red cabbage and spring onion. Drizzle the lime juice over the top and sprinkle a little salt to taste. Add the drained lentils when serving.

To Make the Quesadillas: Boil the potatoes until soft, then drain completely. In a small food processor, thoroughly blend the soya milk, garlic cloves, nutritional yeast and margarine. Mix this with the potatoes and mash until completely smooth. Mix in the grated cheese.

Place a tortilla in a dry, non stick frying pan. Spoon the potato mixture onto the tortilla, top with the 2nd tortilla and cook for a few minutes over a high heat. Flip the quesadilla over after a few minutes. You want the tortillas to be slightly crispy at the edges!

Serve with salsa and/or guacamole!

Guest Blogger: In Vegetables We Trust – Buckwheat Bolognaise Garlic Bread bake, with Basic White Bread Recipe

The very talented Alexander, author of In Vegetables We Trust, is back with a lovely new recipe. Alex’s first recipe Slow Cooker Chili, Roasted Butternut Squash and Fennel Flatbreads won everyone over during Virtual Vegan Potluck and it’s not hard to see why. His second post Portabello Stew also did not disappoint. Follow In Vegetables We Trust on Facebook. Alex does not believe in Twitter, perhaps we can goad him into starting an account? Please welcome back Alex!

It’s new years eve and I’m already getting started on my new years resolution, to get back into baking my own bread, I baked a couple of basic white baguette shaped loaves. The house smells amazing, I probably look a bit like a weirdo sitting at my laptop smelling a piece of bread, but there is nothing like the smell of freshly baked bread. One of the best memories of my childhood was baking cottage loaves with my dad, even if the bread doesn’t turn out fantastic its a lovely experience to bake it yourself, and even stodgy loafs, when fresh out the oven smell divine!

Ingredients:
1 tbsp olive oil
2 Small yellow onions, finely diced
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 cup of finely diced chestnut mushrooms
1 tin chopped tomato’s
1 tbsp Italian herb mix
1 cup buck wheat, rinsed
2 cups passata
1/4 cup tomato puree

1 half-sized baguette
1/2 cup fresh flat leaf parsley
2 big cloves of garlic
2 shallots
a good glug of olive oil

Method:
Pre heat the olive oil in a pan on a medium high heat, fry off the onion until softened and add the garlic, fry for a few seconds, then add the mushrooms. Give a good stir round before adding the tinned tomatoes, stock, buckwheat, herb mix and salt. Bring to the boil then reduce to a simmer, cook for 15-20 minutes, until the buckwheat is softened. Stir through the passata and tomato puree, poor the mix into and oven proof dish. Pulse the garlic, shallots and parsley with the olive oil in a food processor, then slice the baguette into 3/4 inch slices and spread on side with the parsley mix and place spread side up on top of the buckwheat tomato sauce, then pop under the grill to toast up. Spoon into bowls and enjoy!

Basic White Bread:

Ingredients:
1 tsp active dried yeast
1 tsp sugar
1 1/2 cups tepid water
4 cups strong white bread flour
2 1/2 tsp salt
extra flour for dusting

Method:
Dissolve the yeast and sugar in the tepid water, and set aside for a few minutes, it should froth up slightly, If it doesn’t the yeast isn’t active. Mix the salt into the flour, then add the yeast-sugar-water mix a bit at a time, mixing it in with your hands. Knead on a floured surface for 8-10 minutes, until springy and elastic. Place the dough in a lightly oiled bowl and toss around in the oil so the dough it coated, cover with cling film and leave to rise in a warm place for 1 1/2- 2 hours. Once the dough has doubled in size, slice in half and form into two half baguette sizes and place on a baking tray lined with baking parchment. Leave to rise uncovered for anouther 30 miuntes, then brush with cool water, before baking in a preheated oven at 200c/390f for 30 minutes. Allow to cool on wire rack, before slicing.

Guest Blogger: Vegan Monologue – Gnocchi in Velvety “Cream” Sauce with Arugul

Vegan Monologue is not a stranger to VBU!, in this post she’s coming back to charm us with another lovely recipe. Read her first contribution to VBU! HERE, a recipe for Fruit and Nut Muffins. Recently relocated to Portland, OR to be closer to nature and better vegan food, VM is a twenty-something Florida native who strives to serve up budget-friendly vegan food that feels comfortable and familiar. She strives to make her recipes easy to follow and delicious. Her creamy gnocchi recipe is her favorite dish from 2012, and is guaranteed to be quick and impressive. Follow VM on her blog. Welcome back Vegan Monologue!

 

This entree blew my mind. It is the perfect blend of creamy, cheesy, spicy, salty, sweet and bitter. It speaks to every taste sensor in your mouth. It. Is. AMAZING. I wasn’t expecting much when I made this because I adapted it from a recipe I found in Southern Living magazine, of all places. (I had to tweak the sauce to make it thicker.) In fact, the only reason I made it is because we had some gnocchi laying around and had to use it up. My husband raved about it, and he is not even a fan of arugula.

Sweet corn has been cheap lately, and I got a bunch of arugula for a song. Gnocchi is pretty economical as well.

$2.50 per serving

Serves 4

• 12 oz ready-to-boil gnocchi
• 2 small ears fresh sweet corn, kernels cut off and set aside
• 1 cup soymilk
• a few Tbs flour, plus a little more, just in case
• 3 oz. vegan cream cheese
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp garlic powder
• 1/4 tsp black pepper
• 3 cups torn arugula
• a few shakes of crushed red pepper
• handful of minced fresh basil

1. Cook gnocchi according to package, reserve 1/2 cup pasta water. Don’t rinse gnocchi, just drain.

2. Meanwhile, make cream sauce – combine soymilk, cream cheese, salt, garlic powder, pepper in medium saucepan

3. Cook sauce ingredients over medium heat for 10 minutes or longer until cream cheese is dissolved. Stir frequently with fork.

4. Add reserved pasta water and flour to sauce, stir until thickened. You can add more flour until desired thickness is achieved

5. Pour cream sauce over gnocchi, stir in arugula, sprinkle red pepper flakes. Sauce will thicken more as it cools.

This is my top favorite new recipe of the year-hands down!

Vegan Bloggers Unite! ConFest Planning

Hello everyone! As you know, Mat and I are working on the ConFest, (October 12-13, 2013 in Toronto, Ontario – SAVE THE DATE) we’re going to update the VBU! site, plus we’re location scouting, it’s amazing how hard it is to find venues that won’t allow food to be brought in.

Speaking of food – we’re trying to get an idea of what people would like to eat. If you could comment below this would help us out greatly.

Thank you!

Guest Blogger: OMGosh I’m Vegan – Vegano Cubano Sandwich

Happy Monday everyone! Hope you’re starting off the week great. Here’s a post from one of the Virtual Vegan Potluck contributors – Galen of OMGosh I’m Vegan. Here’s Galen in her own words, “My name is Galen and I’m AHmazing! Haha, but really — I love to cook, bake, and share your treats with friends, coworkers and loved ones. I also enjoy taking vegan cooking classes and going on adventures!” Visit OMGosh I’m Vegan via blog and follow Galen on Twitter. Welcome Galen!

Just when you think I’ll zig I zag.  Oh so tricky.  I decided to make the real deal and have a proper Cubano Vegano!  Thanks again to Mandee of Cupcake Kitteh for the inspiration.  The cubano vegano sandwich is from Viva Vegan!.

Ready to eat

I made white seitan and while it tasted great I think something went wrong.  It didn’t really expand much from the original size. Next time I’ll boil it instead of steaming as that sounds like it works for this recipe too.  After the seitan was done and cool down I sliced it into thin pieces.  Then put it in this amazing citrus marinade.  Wow to die for!  And baked it in the oven for a bit.

Ready to grill

This just kicked the seitan up a notch.  What remained of the marinade was put on my sandwich with lots of other goodies.  A few minutes in the panini press and I was good to go.  I don’t know that I have the words to properly describe this sandwich.  It is easily my favorite sandwich now!

What have you made from Viva Vegan?  Favorite recipe?  Is it sad that as I look at these pictures I’m drooling just a little and wishing I had another sandwich?  Don’t judge!
Happy MoFoing!

Guest Blogger: Vegan4Life – Loving Hut- East Victoria Park, Perth

It seems that VBU! is big in Australia, have to love international blogs, it gives me great hope that there are vegans spreading the good word everywhere. Our newest VBU! blogger is Xanthi, author of the blog Vegan4Life. Here she is in her own words, “Born into a Greek family, I was a reluctant meat eater throughout childhood. I disliked animal product on the whole, yet was forced to consume them. As an adult, I learned about the horrors of factory farming and about animal sentience. Thankfully, I was able to go my own way and finally become a vegetarian. In the last few years, I flirted with veganism…until I found out the nitty gritty of what actually goes on in the dairy industry. From then on, it has been veganism, all the way for me and eventually, for my partner. With this blog, I hope to offer useful information specific to people living in Perth, Australia – be they vegans, vegetarians, people with egg, gluten or dairy allergies, etc. And although the focus is on Perth, I am sure there is plenty of content here that will be of interest to people living elsewhere.” Please follow Xanthi by checking out her blog and Twitter. Welcome Xanthi!

After having lunch at Loving Hut in Victoria Park, my partner, a friend, and I had to check out the sister restaurant in East Victoria Park.
Again, the decor was light and pleasing, and the staff were friendly.
We had a hard time to choose what we wanted for entree and mains, as there was so much choice.
Between us, we had the spring rolls, the steamed dumplings and samosas.

All were delicious and gone rather quickly between us. I don’t tend to drink while I eat, but my partner ordered a drink which I tasted and enjoyed. it was the ‘Golden Sunlight’ which is mixture of pineapple juice and coconut cream, with a scoop of vegan vanilla icecream on the top. It was heavenly!

For the main meal, I opted for the Special Fried Clear Noodles which consisted of cabbage, shitake mushrooms, carrot, tofu and noodles. They were tasty and presented beautifully. My partner ordered the Spaghetti Carbonara which I eyed off enviously, given its creamy sauce and mushrooms. This dish also came with a salad on the side. Our friend chose the Satay Tofu which had capsicum, cauliflower, broccoli, and carrot in a peanut sauce, with steamed rice on the side. She said it was enjoyable.

Having polished off our mains, we found that we were too full to fit in dessert but the cakes at the front counter just looked soooo good! It was lucky for us that they did takeaway, so we asked for a slice of the vegan tiramisu, to take home. That cake was a slice of heaven! It was big enough for my partner and I to share and enjoyed it to the last crumb! Sadly, I was so intent on trying it, that I forgot to take a photo of it! But here are some photos of the mains we had…

Loving Hut, East Victoria Park are situated on 64A Etwell Street and are open Wednesdays through to Sundays, 5-9pm.

Again, my only gripe about this place is that it is too far from my home but I have to admit, they are worth the trip.