Category Archives: Recipes

Burger Buns

I just realized that my vegan buns are getting quite a good review on VegWeb that I had better post the recipe here as well!

This recipe is somewhat derived from a milk-and-yeast burger recipe. I know it took a few tries to get it right. I served these a few summers ago with homemade veggie burgers and homemade vegan mayo – the buns especially were a big hit. And reading the reviews on VegWeb, it seems the recipe is as well!

Vegan Burger Buns

  • 2 cups soy milk (best if warmed up)
  • 1/4 cup vegetable oil
  • 1/4 cup warm water
  • 3 tablespoon yeast
  • 1/4 cup sugar
  • 2 teaspoon salt
  • 5 – 6 cups flour (as needed)

If you have a bread machine… combine everything in the correct order and make the dough (steps 1 – 3).

  1. Dissolve yeast in warm water and soy milk. Let sit 10 minutes.
  2. Add sugar and oil to yeast mixture. Mix well. Add salt and gradually add the flour until the dough is thick enough to knead, but not too stiff.
  3. Knead for 8-10 minutes, until dough reaches and elastic consistency.
  4. Let rise 15 minutes.
  5. Separate dough into 12 balls. (If you want smaller buns, make about 20). Knead/form each ball well, and place on a baking sheet about 1.5″ apart.
  6. Cover with a damp dish cloth and place in a warm spot. (An oven that was heated but has cooled quite a bit works well). Let rise 20-30 minutes, or until the edges of the buns are about 1/4” apart.
  7. Bake at 400ºF for 15-20 minutes, until brown on the top. Best served warm; store in a plastic bag to keep in the moisture if keeping overnight.

Serves: 12 – 20

Artichoke Dip

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The Food Co-op is having a potluck tomorrow evening, so today I’m working on pre-preparing stuff to bring, and also working on new recipes. (I’m also cleaning the house and putting off my “real work”).

This artichoke dip has always been a favorite of mine – but I rarely make it because it’s kind of expensive (raw almonds, pine nuts, artichokes)…. I made up a double-batch and froze a good chunk of it, so we’ll have it on hand in case I crave it!

Artichoke Dip

Ingredients:

  • 1 1/2 cup raw almonds, soaked
  • 6 Tbsp. pine nuts
  • 1/4 cup. water
  • 2 Tbsp. lemon juice
  • 2 cloves garlic
  • 1/2 tsp. salt
  • 1 1/2 cans artichoke hearts
  • 1 cup spinach (more or less to taste)

Directions:
In a food processor, combine almonds, pine nuts, water, lemon juice, garlic, and salt. Process until smooth, scraping the sides once to work in chunks. Add half the artichoke hearts and spinach, process well. Add the remaining artichoke hearts and pulse until they are just incorporated. Chill and serve.

Makes 4 cups.

I also made “imitation wheat thins” which turned out well, but are way too sweet. I’ll be modifying this recipe a bit, and hopefully be able to bring them with the dip to the potluck!

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Vegetable Split Pea Soup

Here’s a split pea soup, heavy on the vegetables. We had this for dinner last night.

This makes A LOT… usually enough for leftovers for a few days! I like being able to heat up soup for lunch in the fall. Also, the veggies usually break down quite a bit, so if you want large chunks of vegetables in your soup, you can add them after you add the peas and water. But I think it’s better when everything turns to mush.

Split Pea Soup

Ingredients:

  • 3 Tbsp. oil
  • Two vegetable bouillon cubes
  • One Large Onion
  • 3 carrot
  • 3 leeks (optional)
  • 4 large potatoes
  • Any and all root vegetables you may have that need to be used up (er – probably not beets, though)
  • 4 cups split peas
  • 8 cups water

Instructions:
Put a large pot over medium heat, add the oil and boiullon. Dice onions, put into the pot. Chop up the rest of the veggies one at a time, and add them to the pot, giving it a good stir after each addition.

When you’re done chopping, stir it up really well and reduce heat to low. Put the lid on the pot and go get something done for 10 minutes. (Here’s a good time to fold your laundry!).

Return to the kitchen and add 4 cups of split peas and 8 cups of water. Stir well, turn heat up to medium, cover and leave the room for another 10 minutes. Check on the soup periodically and stir… it takes about an hour to cook.

Homemade Pretzels

Homemade Pretzels

I’ve been craving pretzels since I was at the McCarran National Airport in Vegas waiting for my flight home from Utah. There was an Auntie Anne’s pretzel booth. I always thought that pretzels were one of those “naturally vegan” foods, but I still asked if they had an ingredient list. They didn’t, but they said that all of their pretzels contain dairy ingredients. I sat down at a nearby table and pulled up their website, but couldn’t find any ingredient information online – only nutritional facts, which aren’t worth a can of beans.

Anyway, I love to make pretzels and haven’t made them for a while. So today’s project was to satisfy my craving. Here’s the recipe:

Homemade Pretzels

  • 1 1/3 cups warm water
  • 1 1/2 Tbsp. sugar
  • 2 1/2 tsp. yeast
  • 2 Tbsp. olive oil
  • 4 cups flour (half and half white/whole wheat)
  • 1 tsp. salt

  • 2 cups water
  • 1 Tbsp. baking soda

Combine water, sugar, and yeast. Let rest ten minutes. Add oil, flour, salt, and knead for 10 minutes (or put in a bread machine).

Divide and roll into long ropes; shape into a pretzels. Place on a baking sheet (preferably covered in parchment paper) until doubled in size. The recipe says 45 minutes, but it only took about 20 today in 80ºF weather.

Preheat oven to 450ºF. Bring water and baking soda to a boil. Liberally brush hot water/soda onto each pretzel and sprinkle with kosher salt (or poppy seeds, sesame seeds, etc). Bake at 450ºF for 12-15 minutes, flipping baking racks half way through if you have two sheets.

Yield: 6-8 giant pretzels. Or 12 smaller pretzels for pot lucks and house guests.

Nothing beats fresh, hot pretzels. Serve with vegan cheese sauce… I’ll post a recipe for this some day.

Oh yeah, Niko enjoyed the pretzels too.

Seitan

We’ve been buying a lot of mock duck recently. For a while we were making food for Niko with it (she can’t get enough), but then it sort of became a staple. It’s simlar to – but not exactly the same as – seitan, which is incredibly easy to make.

The canned stuff is imported from Taiwan – I don’t know too much about the brand (Companion). Our Food Co-op sells it for $2.79/can (10 oz.). White Wave makes some packaged seitan. But, beware: White Wave is a subsidary of Dean Foods, a distributor of Horizon Organic and Hershey’s!

Rather than spend $2.79 for a 10-ounce a can (or supporting Corporate America), you can make a couple of pounds of seitan for about $5. If you have a food processor, preparation time is less than 2 minutes.

Seitan

Combine in a food processor:

  • 2 cups wheat gluten
  • 2 Tbsp. nutritional yeast (optional)
  • 2 tsp. salt
  • (optional) spices and flavorings to taste. Cumin, coriander, garlic powder, onion powder, sage, rosemary, thyme, and chili powder are some ideas.

Blend quickly until everything is mixed. Then mix together:

  • 1 cup water
  • 1/2 cup soy sauce
  • 1/4 cup oil

Have another cup of water on hand.

Start the food processor and slowly pour in the mixed liquid. The gluten should form a blob… you may need to add a bit more water, but the ball of gluten should completely absorb the liquid. It should look a bit moist, but should not be juicy. Process for 1 – 2 minutes. (You food processor will wobble like crazy).

Seitan Loaf

Take out the loaf and shape it into a log. It should be really stretchy and tough to tear apart. Let it sit for about 15 minutes.

Uncooked Seitan

Cut seitan into manageable pieces. You’ll need a sharp serated knife (a steak knife works well). It’s a bit hard to cut, so I usually cut it into about 8 large chunks.

Boiled Seitan

Bring a large pot of water to a boil. Drop in the seitan pieces (one at a time so they don’t stick together), bring back to a boil, reduce heat and simmer for about 10 minutes. Drain (reserve the liquid – it makes a good stock), cool, and cut into desired shapes.

If the seitan cooked through (depending on how thick your slices are), you can eat them as-is. It’s much better after it’s been fried up with some onions.

Kombucha

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Inspired by GT’s Organic Raw Kombucha, a fermented sweetened tea drink, I started researching how to make Kombuch a few weeks ago. I got a culture, made some sweet tea, and set it to rest for a couple of weeks. Then there were two cultures (as the “mother” creates a “baby” during the fermenting process). Then, two weeks later, there were four.

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There’s one of the newest additions to the family – and just a week old! I’ll be giving the cultures away to interested locals, and soon the whole town of Morris will be kombucha-brewing fanatics. It’s a delightful carbonated drink, in my opinion, though many may think it’s too reminiscent of vinegar. It gets better after bottling with time (and we’ve collected enough GT’s Kombucha bottles). Now I’m in search of more gallon-sized jars. They come with pickles for $5 at the grocery store but… how could we possibly use that many pickles?