Virtual Vegan Potluck May 11, 2013!

What a fantastic honour to be hosting for the third time – just a lot of fun. Thank you everyone for making this year amazing. Big thanks go to the lady who thought this all up – Annie! Equal shout outs to Somer and Jason. Gold stars for everyone.

If you don’t know – this is a linked post where every blogger has linked the blog ahead and behind thus forming a chain. You can go from appetizers all the way to dessert! Do make sure to comment, everyone loves to hear what people visiting have on their mind.

Ladies and gentlemen, it is my privilege to start you on your journey to the third Virtual Vegan Potluck! I am your host Lidia, author of Air Eater and host of Vegan Bloggers Unite! The goal of Vegan Bloggers Unite! is to literally have a place for all vegan bloggers to feel at home, see what others are doing and of course share thoughts. Virtual Vegan Potluck allows for that and more. Please feast your eyes and prepare to be amazed for the posts ahead. Luck for you all the very talented Alex of In Vegetables we trust is leading the way.

Please click below to the first link to start your potluck. Get your plates ready! Enjoy!

APPETIZERS
In Vegetables We Trust
United Kingdom

Fried Dandelions
United States

Vegan Richa
United States

Saving the World One Bite at a Time
United States

That Was Vegan?
United States

Vegan Sparkles
Australia

Vedged Out
United States

The Singin’ Vegan
United States

Oh My Potluck!
Canada

Sunday Morning Banana Pancakes
United States

Earthgiven Kitchen
Canada

Anne Sture Tucker – Balanced Living
Canada

A Week from Thursday
United States

86 Lemons
United States

The Little Red Journal
United States

Delicious Knowledge
United States

Better Bites
United States

EatPrayBake
Canada

Lemongrass and Ginger
Australia

The Vegan Cookbook Aficionado
Canada

Holistic Health Vegan
United States

My Kitchen Apothecary
United States

Juicy Dishes
Denmark

BEVERAGES
Veggie4AYear
United States

Veganosaurus
India

Gazing In
United States

Gormandize (with A-dizzle & K-bobo)
Australia

Almost Raw Vegan
Canada

We Go Authentic
United States

Fitful Focus
United States

Turning Veganese
United States

BREAD
Spontaneous Tomato
United States

My Good Clean Food
United States

Pass the Veggies
United States

Bankrupt Vegan
United States

The Misfit Baker
Canada

Bite Me (I’m Vegan)
United States

SALAD
Farmer’s Market Vegan
United States

Luminous Vegans
United States

The Vegan Gypsy
United States

Barefoot Essence
United States

Emmy Cooks
United States

Yum for Tum
United States

Veg Bon Vivant
United States

Mojo Central
United States

In Pursuit of More
Canada

The Veg Bar
United States

The Veg Coach
United States

uberdish
Canada

Canned Time
United States

Gaia’s Creations
United States

SIDES
Cauldrons and Cupcakes
Australia

An Unrefined Vegan
United States

Chop Serve Eat
United States

Too Cheap For Pine Nuts
United States

Quinoa, Kale and Exhale
United States

Vegan Fling
United States

Glue and Glitter
United States

willow & thyme
United States

Veggie Queen Adventures
United States

Veganishy
United States

SOUPS
Lorna’s Tearoom Delights
United Kingdom

sweetveg
United States

Fitting into Vegan
United States

Eat. Breathe. Balance
Canada

Soup and Such
United States

House Vegan.
United States

Karate Rice
Japan

MAIN DISHES
On the Path to Zen
United States

My Plant-based Family
United States

Veghotpot
United Kingdom

Rachel in Veganland
United States

Agent Minty
Canada

Veggisima
United States

Made of Stars
Australia

Poppy’s Patisserie
United Kingdom

The Cruelty-free Review
United States

The Road to Serendipity
Australia

Mermaid Café
Canada

http://thymeandlove.com
United States

http://forealslife.com/
United States

Jason & the Veganauts
United States

The Vegan Green
United Kingdom

The Vegan’s Husband
United States

The Little Foxes
United States

VeggieGirl
United States

Blue-Eyed Bookworm
Canada

Eat, Live, Burp
United States

The Savvy Sister
United States

The Beach House Kitchen
United Kingdom

V is for Vegetables
United States

vegan miam
United States

Move Eat Create
United States

Honk If You’re Vegan
United States

Veggie Next Door
United States

Veggie V’s Vegan Adventure
United States

Healthy Hypocrite
United States

The Vegan Pact
United States

The Split Plate
United States

The Essential Vegan
Canada

The Joyful Pantry
United States

DESSERT
Sugar Coated Vegan
United States

Afro Vegan Chick
United States

Vegan 404 [filet not found]
United Kingdom

SpinachRevolution
South Africa

The Food Duo
United States

An Ode to Mung Beans
United Kingdom

http://tinykitchenstories.com/
United States

Happy to be a Table of Two
United States

Sift, Stir and Savour
Canada

The Veggie Nook
Canada

The Little Green House
Australia

Sensual Appeal
United States

Mama et de Bebe Hawk
United States

The Vegan Kat
United States

Deerly Beloved Bakery
United Kingdom

Cake Maker to the Stars
United StatesThe Hungry Lifetarian

Sophie’s Foodie Files
Belgium

Keepin’ It Kind
United States

The Soulicious Life
United States

Gypsy Roller’s Veggie Kitchen
Canada

Lucy’s Friendly Foods
United Kingdom

Healthy Slow Cooking
United States

Cheerfully Vegan
United States

Kelli’s Vegan Kitchen
United States

The Healthy Flavor
United States

The Almost Vegan
United States

Herbivore Triathlete
United States

Herbivorous Geek
Australia

Blissful Britt
United States

Being Vegan
United States

Carrie on Vegan
United States

Self Health Web
United States

It’s a Good Thing I Like Hummus
United States

In Fine Balance
Canada

Queens of the Wild Frontier
United Kingdom

Baking Backwards
Canada

Broccoli Addict
Poland

vixbakes
United Kingdom

The Hearty Herbivore
United States

foodiEcology
United States

Cocina de Nihacc
Spain

Juice, Jam & Joy
United States

Guest Blogger: Fried Dandelions – Pineapple Curry Fried Quinoa

Looking for a quick easy recipe? Sarah from Fried Dandelions has you covered. Have you searched her previous contributions to VBU!? Her first post was a delicious recipe for Spiced Chocolate Pudding. For her second post she shared a recipe for Hot Tamales. Do visit Sarah’s blog, and Facebook page. Welcome back Sarah!

Here’s a quick dinner that your kids will love, and will be on the table in less time than it takes to pick up take out! This dish is packed with good-for-you foods like pineapple, veggies, and protein rich quinoa in place of rice. You can serve this with Pan Seared Tofu or even do something quick like Gardein Mandarin Orange Nuggets (our choice tonight!)! David (almost 2) ate 2 bowls of this tonight—yum!

Pineapple Curry Fried Quinoa, inspired by Chef Chloe
2 c dry quinoa
3 ½ c water
1 tsp salt
1 onion, sliced thinly
1 T canola oil
3 cloves garlic, minced
½ tsp curry powder
1 tsp coriander
1 tsp garlic chili sauce (like sriracha)
¾ c raisins
2 c fresh pineapple (about half of a pineapple, or you can use canned)
2 c frozen vegetables (I used a pea/carrot/corn/green bean mix)
¼ c cashews or peanuts to garnish, optional
cilantro to garnish

Rinse quinoa well. Place in pot with 3 ½ c water and bring to a boil. Once boiling, add salt and cover, reducing heat to low. Let cook for about 20 minutes, or until al dente soft. Fluff with fork and set aside.

While the quinoa is cooking slice the pineapple (if using fresh) and onion. When the quinoa is nearly done, heat oil in a wok over high heat. Place onion in wok and stir until starting to brown. Sprinkle with salt and add garlic, coriander, curry powder and garlic chili sauce, stirring quickly.

Add pineapple, raisins, frozen veggies and stir well again. Remove from heat and garnish with nuts and cilantro. Enjoy!

One more thing before you go—I’m participating in another blog contest—this time for the Top 25 Vegan and Vegetarian Mom Blogs. Please consider voting for me once a day, every day, until February 7th. Voting is simple—there’s no sign up or log in, just find my name and click (I’ll be under the pending approval tab for a day or so)! Every vote counts—this fall I won by a matter of votes! Spread the word to your friends—thanks for your support.

Guest Blogger: Gormandize with A-dizzle and K-bobo – Vegan Bean and Mushroom Jambalaya

Our friend Keely from the blog Gormandize with A-dizzle and K-bobo. Keely has contributed before with a recipe for Chai Banana Loaf. You can follow her Blog, Twitter, Facebook and Pinterest account. Welcome back Keely!

A month of American food wouldn’t be complete without my favourite American dish – jambalaya, a Louisiana speciality. Discovering this delicious dish essentially made me want to go to Louisiana! This jambalaya uses field mushrooms and vegetarian sausages instead of the traditional meat. Traditional jambalaya is also laden with green capsicum, however, I’ve left this out because it makes me sick – but if you are partial to a bit of green capsicum feel free to add it in, although I don’t think it needs it!!

I’ve also made this recipe using brown rice instead of white, it was also fantastic. You just need to increase the amount of water by about 2 cups and increase the cooking time by at least 20 minutes.

Ingredients

5 tbsp olive oil

1 onion, roughly chopped

2 field mushrooms, washed and chopped in large chunks

3 vegetarian sausages, chopped

1 celery stick, chopped

1/2 cup dry sherry

4 tbsp tomato paste

2 cups basmati rice

6 cups vegetable broth

1 tin diced tomatoes

2 bay leaves

4-5 sprigs of fresh thyme

2 tbsp fresh oregano, chopped

2 tsp dried marjoram

1 tsp sweet paprika

1/4 tsp cayenne pepper

Salt and pepper to taste

1 tin cannelini beans, drained and rinsed

1 tin Kidney beans, drained and rinsed

(More hot water, as required)

To Make

1. Heat the olive oil in a large saucepan or soup pot. Sauté the onions and celery for 2-3 mins. Add the mushrooms and veggie sausages and sauté until the veggies are cooked.

2. At this stage you’ll notice the bottom of the pan is getting all brownish from frying the veggies. So – deglaze the pan by adding the sherry (you’ll notice all the browny bits come right off the bottom and make your dish a lovely rich colour). Add the tomato paste as well and heat through.

3. Add the uncooked rice and cook, stirring constantly, for about 3-4 minutes. Add the vegetable stock, tinned tomatoes, bay leaves and all herbs and spices. Bring to a simmer and cook, stirring very frequently for about 30 minutes, or until the rice is cooked through, you may need to add more water as you are going to stop the rice sticking onto the bottom depending on how thirsty your rice is.

4. When the rice is almost cooked stir the tinned beans through. When the rice is fully cooked serve.

Serves 4.

This month I’m featuring lots of delicious food from
Southern USA!

Check out my other recipe posts:

Mint Julep

Peach and Bourbon
Cobbler

Vegan Chili Pone (Chili
Cornbread Casserole)

Succotash

Pecan & Molasses Pie with Spiced Pumpkin Whipped
Cream

Candied
Sweet Potatoes

 

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: RedGlitterX – Easy Chocolate Ice-cream – Vegan (recipe)

Always lovely to have people come back to the VBU! family. One such bloggers is RedGlitterX. From Australia, here she is in her own words, “With degree in theology and feminism, am also a Ordained Clergy Person, I have a strong social justice and civil rights ethic. The fight for animal rights is one of the more important, how we treat animals is a reflection on ourselves.” Her first post with VBU! was about the different names we give foods around the world. Her second post was a Decadent Triple Chocolate Cake recipe and her third, a dinner menu from the last trip of the Titanic, her fourth, post was about what Veganism is. For her latest post she is back with a lovely dessert recipe. Find her blog here: Vegan Animal Liberation Alliance. Follow her on Twitter as well. Welcome back Red Glitter X!

Easy Chocolate Ice-cream – Vegan (recipe)
Easy to make and even easier to eat. This chocolate ice-cream is a good substitute for those who miss it, or just want something that they can make at home to avoid the commercial products (which require a science degree to understand the ingredients list).

This recipe does not require an ice-cream machine. All measurements are rough-guides, adjust for taste.

This chocolate ice-cream stays smooth when frozen, does not form ice-crystals, and if left in a serving bowl too long melts into a tasty chocolate milk drink

Equipment:
Medium sized saucepan
Tablespoon – for measuring
Spoon – for stirring
Freezer-safe container with a lid
Grater (optional)
Measuring jug (optional)

Ingredients:
4 heaped tablespoons of cocoa powder
3 heaped tablespoons of brown sugar (or char free sugar of choice)
2 heaped tablespoons of corn flour
pinch of salt
pinch of spice, eg. cinnamon, nutmeg
100 grams of grated chocolate (chocolate bar style chocolate)
conversion: 100 grams = 3.5274 ounces
about 3/4 of a litre / quart Milk of your choice (eg, almond, soy, rice)
conversion: 1 litre = 1.05669 US quart

Method:
Add some of the milk to the saucepan, heat over a very low heat

In the same bowl that ice-cream will be made in, mix the cocoa powder, brown sugar, corn flour, salt, spice

Add cocoa mixture to the slowly heating milk, mix well to remove any lumps

Chocolate milk mixture will start to thicken, stir well so it does not burn on the bottom

Add rest of the milk

Add the chocolate, grated or choc-chip sized to the milk, keep stirring. Do Not let the chocolate burn

When chocolate is melted, transfer to a freezable container.

Freeze, this will take a few hours

Variations:
add cherries to give it a hint at Black Forest flavour
add alcohol-soaked raisins for a more adult variety
add chopped banana and flaked almonds
grated chocolate for choc-chip chocolate ice-cream

Guest Blogger: The Vegan Green – Nut Roast

Always love when new contributors join the VBU! family. Our newest member is Nicole, author of The Vegan Green, a recipe based blog from Devon, UK. As the measuring system is a little different in the UK, you’ll notice Nicole’s measurements are different. I found a converter website, click here to check out the measurement differences.  Follow Nicole on her vegan journey through her: blog, Facebook and Twitter account. Please welcome Nicole!

I thought it a good time to update the nut roast recipe that I use regularly. It is a fantastic recipe, but the method could do with some simplification!

These are the ingredients you will need:

225g cashew nuts chopped/ground
170g breadcrumbs
1/2 teaspoon dried basil
1 teaspoon dried thyme
Pinch black pepper
3 tablespoons vegetable oil
2 large onions finely chopped
1 clove garlic crushed
85g plain wholemeal flour
215ml hot water
1 dessertspoon soy sauce
1 dessertspoon tomato purée
1 dessertspoon yeast extract

Combine all the dry ingredients in a large bowl, mixing well. Place all wet ingredients in a jug and stir until dissolved. Add wet ingredients to dry ingredients and really give it a good mix.

Tip into a tin of your choice. I use a cake tin because it has a removable base which makes it easier to take out and place on a plate.

Cook in the oven at 190-200C for 45-60 minutes.

Guest Blogger: Carrie on Vegan – Photo Food Journal & Vegan Delish Giveaway

Our newest VBU! contributor is Carrie Forrest, author of Carrie on Vegan. Here she is in her own words,”I am a graduate student in public health nutrition and I write about my recipes and adventures in healthy, plant-based living. I recently released an app for iPhones and iPads called Vegan Delish that features 60 simple, vegan recipes with all kinds of cool features like a digital shopping list and social media sharing options.” Carrie is the first contributor to have an app – how cool is that? Love how everyone is so creative and inventive. Keep in touch with Carrie on Vegan through: Facebook, Twitter, and RSS feed. Also check out Carrie’s app Vegan Delish: iTunes Preview page, website, and Facebook page. Please welcome Carrie!

Good morning and happy “What I Ate Wednesday“! Today I’ll be showing a picture of everything that I ate yesterday. It is always an interesting exercise to document everything I eat in a day, plus I hope you find it helpful in some way.

Breakfast was some leftover green smoothie with some buckwheat groats and almonds on top:

I went for a hike in Palm Springs around 9 a.m. Despite cloudy skies, I thought the mountains were so pretty:

Alan and I hiked further than we have ever gone before:

We then went to Costco to try and beat the holiday rush, but it was still craziness. I stocked up on all kinds of fresh fruit, frozen fruit, frozen edamame, etc. It was a huge load:

After all of that, lunch was much appreciated. I make a big romaine and vegetable salad with my Wild Blueberry Zinger Dressing, edamame and mandarin oranges for dessert:

Here’s a closer view of the salad:

Yesterday afternoon was spent catching up on work and doing a few errands. I decided to try using the pressure cooker again after my successful experience last Saturday night. This time, I just used brussels sprouts, collard greens, mushrooms, onions and water:

I checked with Jill Nussinow’s fantastic book, The New Fast Food, for the cooking times on the sprouts and the greens (don’t forget to enter to win a free copy of the ebook here!). I settled on a cooking time of two minutes for everything and I estimated about a cup of water. I added it all to the pot:

The chopped collards went on top:

I locked on the lid, set the timer to two minutes on high pressure, and sat back and hoped it would turn out okay. I figured the worst that could happen would that the sprouts would be undercooked:

While I waited, I also made a really easy cream sauce for the veggies. After all, who wants to eat plain steamed greens? To make my typical cashew cream sauce less fattening, I substituted garbanzo beans for half the nuts in this recipe. I was so pleased with the results, the sauce was still very, very creamy and flavorful:

Here’s the recipe:

[print_this]

Cashew & Bean Sauce

6 servings

Ingredients:

1/2 cup raw, unsalted cashews

1 cup cooked garbanzo beans, rinsed and drained

1/4 cup nutritional yeast

2 teaspoons dried onion flakes

1/2 teaspoon garlic powder

1/4 teaspoon turmeric

1/4 teaspoon dried mustard

1/4 teaspoon red chili flakes

1/2 cup unsweetened soy milk

1/2 cup white wine vinegar

Directions:

Combine ingredients in a high-speed blender and process until smooth.

[/print_this]

I used the quick-release setting on the PC when it was done and here’s what it looked like:

I was so happy that everything was cooked to perfection! It’s not exactly a beautiful dish, but here’s what the final product looked like:

I’m telling you, this was a hit and I’ll be making the same exact thing tonight for dinner.

For dessert last night, I made a version of my Chocolate Cherry Bomb that I’ll be posting in ice cream form on Friday. It was so decadent and yummy:

That’s it! I hope you enjoyed this photo food journal.

To wrap up today’s post, I’m doing another giveaway of my recipe app Vegan Delish! I received 50 promo codes from Apple when we did our last update and I want to share them with you. If you already own Vegan Delish, you can still enter and you can give the code to one of your friends or family members. So, I’m giving the code to 50 readers selected at random who leave a comment on this post and who do any of the following things:

1. Tweet this message to your followers on Twitter “Check out Vegan Delish, the healthy #vegan recipe app for iPhones and iPads: http://bit.ly/TNOWnc.”

2. If you already own the app, leave a review on iTunes. Note: if you downloaded the app using a promo code, then Apple won’t let you leave a review.

3. Do something else to help me promote Vegan Delish, like tell your co-workers about it. Tell me what you did. I trust you.

You can do any or all of these things, just leave a separate comment telling me what you did. You have until Sunday, December 23rd, to enter.

Thank you for all of your support!!! I hope you have a great rest of your week and I’ll see you back here on Friday.

Guest Blogger: In Vegetables We Trust – Portabello Stew

Please welcome back Alex of In Vegetables We Trust. This young man has a lovely blog and a very creative mind, I would highly suggest you keep an eye on his blog as I predict we are witnessing a rising star in the making. You can read his first submission HERE: Slow cooker chili, roasted butternut squash and fennel flatbreads. Follow In Vegetables We Trust‘s blog and Facebook account. Welcome back Alex!

Portabello stew:

Ingredients:
1 packet of dried Portobello mushrooms
4 carrots, sliced
2 big waxy potatoes, diced
1 red onion, diced
1 clove of garlic, thinly sliced
2 cups of mushroom stock (from the rehydrated portobellos)
1 tin of chopped tomatoes
1/2 cup or red lentils, rinsed
2 teaspoons fresh thyme leaves
2 tablespoons tomato paste
1 tablespoon cornflour
2 tablespoons mushroom ketchup (optional)
1 tablespoon barley miso
1 teaspoon yeast extract
a dash of tamari/soy

Method:
re hydrate your mushrooms according to packet instructions using plenty of boiling water, whilst they’re rehydrating you can chop all your vegetables. once the mushrooms are rehydrated, pick them out of the liquid with a slotted spoon and put them on a plate ready to be added into the stew later and strain off two cups of the liquid to remove any small bits, use this as your stock.fry of the onion till translucent, then add the garlic and fry a little more. Add the carrots and potatoes next, followed by the lentils stock and tomato sauce. Bring to the boil and then pop the lid on and let simmer for about 20 minutes till the lentil are all cooked and the vegetables are nice and soft. Add the thyme and mix the rest of the ingredients in a measuring cup with a little water and add to the pot, cook till thickened up a bit. Serve in a deep bowl with fresh thyme.

And stuffed flat breads:

Flatbread dough recipe:

1 1/2 cups of strong white bread flour plus extra for dusting your surface when rolling, extra points for unbleached organic
1/2 teaspoon fine sea salt
1/3 teaspoon of dried yeast
3/4 cup of tepid water
1 tablespoon of olive oil, plus extra for greasing your baking tray and brushing over you flat bread parcels

Filling ingredients:

1 tin of mock duck, liquid drained
1 teaspoon of freshly crushed cloves
1 teaspoon ground cumin
olive oil for frying
Method:

Place the flour and salt in a mixing bowl and whisk together with a fork. in a cup dissolve your yeast in the tepid water and then pour your oil in the water. Add the liquids into the flour/salt mix gradually whilst mixing with your hands, squeeze out any lumps as they form, if the dough’s a bit wet add a touch more flour- too dry? No problem a tad more tepid water. Turn your dough out onto a floured surface and knead till it is slightly tacky, but still nice and soft. Then leave on the side in a bowl covered by a tea towel for about 45 mins. Now prepare your filling, nice and simple, rub the mock duck in the cloves and cumin, a little salt and cracked black pepper and fry up till nice and browned. When your dough is ready pop the oven onto 230c/450f and split the dough into four little balls and roll into circles on a floured surface till 3-5mm thick, place 1/4 of the filling slightly off centre and fold the dough over sealing the edges with water, place on an oiled baking tray and brush with oil. Bake for about 10-15 mins till crisp. And enjoy! Serve with pistachio sauce and lemon and red onion kale sauté to make a meal, or pop them in your lunch box cold.

Guest Blogger: V is for Vegetables – Lentils and Basmati Rice with Caramelized Onions and Spiced Pita

Please welcome back Vanessa, author of V is for Vegetables. You can read her previous post here a recipe for Zucchini Boats. Check V is for Vegetables on Twitter as well. Please welcome back Vanessa!

My new iPhone finally arrived in the mail. Can you believe the camera on it? I love how many different uses the iPhone has and the camera might be my favorite part on the new one. The camera has facial recognition technology on it which is nothing new but I loved how it kept finding faces in the rice. Do you see a man’s face to the left of the center onion ring? I didn’t see it at first until I realized my phone was trying to tag him as a person. The phone is almost too smart.

This Middle Eastern dish is often called Mujadarah which is a fancy way of saying “rice, lentils and onion.” I adapted this dish from Veganomicon, the excellent cookbook by Isa Chandra Moskowitz and Terry Hope Romero. The one downfall of this cookbook is the lack of pictures. When I first made this dish, I thought, “No wonder there are no pictures… This looks like kitty litter.” With a little garnish, this dish ends up looking as delicious as it tastes.

Ingredients for rice, lentils and onion:

• 3 large red onions, peeled and sliced into thin rings
• 3/4 cup olive oil
• 1 cup long-grain basmati rice (brown or white), rinsed
• 1 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp ground allspice
• 1/2 tsp ground cumin
• 1 cup red lentils, rinsed
• Basil leaves for garnish

Directions for rice, lentils and onion:

1. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.

2. Lay the onion rings flat and separated in a large roasting pan. Toss in olive oil. Roast for 25-30 minutes, stirring every 5-10 minutes until translucent and slightly burnt.

3. Bring 4 cups of water to a boil. Add rice, cinnamon, allspice, and cumin. Return to a boil then reduce heat, cover, and simmer for 15 minutes.

4. Uncover and gently stir in the lentils. Bring to a boil again then lower heat, cover and simmer. Cook until all water is absorbed. For me, this takes 12-15 minutes. Allow the dish to cool for 10 minutes then fluff with a fork.

5. Fold in the caramelized onions, garnish with basil leaves and serve with pita bread.

Ingredients for spiced pita:

• 4 whole wheat pitas
• 4 Tbsp olive oil for brushing
• 2 tsp paprika
• 2 tsp pepper
• 1 tsp salt

Directions for spiced pita:

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

2. Slice the pita bread into 1/8ths like a pizza.

3. Combine olive oil with the seasonings. Brush the mixture onto the insides of each pita crisp.

4. Spread the pita crisps out on a baking sheet and bake for 8-10 minutes until light brown.

Serves 4-6

Slightly adapted from: Veganomicon: The Ultimate Vegan Cookbook

Guest Bloggers: In Vegetables We Trust – Slow Cooker Chili, Roasted Butternut Squash and Fennel Flatbreads

I absolutely love when I see young people embracing veganism and making it a central part of their lives. One such amazing man is Alexander Harvey. He is our newest blogger to join the VBU! family. Alexander is the author of the blog In Vegetables We Trust. He has been vegan for three years and has worked for Hillside Animal Sanctuary in the shop and vegan cafe. He was raised by a baker and since becoming vegan has started his own culinary adventure. Please join In Vegetables We Trust through the blog and Facebook account. Welcome Alexander!

Fennel Flat Breads.
Roasted mini butternut squash

Slow cooker chilli

Ingredients:

1 tbsp chipotle oil
1 onion, sliced into thin half moons
2 carrots, peeled and diced
1 stalk of celery, diced
1 green bell pepper, diced
2 sliced birds eye chilli
1 tbsp paprika
1 tsp cumin
1/4 tsp of salt
1/4 tsp black pepper

1 tin of chopped tomatoes
1 cup of vegetable stock
1/2 tin of kidney beans
1 tsp garlic poweder
red and black pepper to taste

1 tsp cocoa powder

Method:

set your slow cooker and heat a saute pan with the oil to a medium heat, saute the onion, bell pepper, celery, chillis and carrots untill the onion is translucent and the bell peppers softened, add the paprika, cumin, pepper and salt followed by the tomato paste and stir through. Add this to the crock with the tinned tomatoes, veg stock, kindney beans, garlic and red and black pepper. cook on low for 8 hours or high for 4 hours, stir through cocoa powder shortly before serving, serve over roasted squash or sweet potato mash or however you want!