By Kirsten Anderberg (www.kirstenanderberg.com)
Written Feb. 21, 2007
We have all eaten horrific vegan food. It is inevitable. But over time, I have collected truly delicious vegan recipes and thought I would share a few with you in this article. Vegan food does not have to suck! (Vegan foods, for those of you who are not sure what I am talking about, are foods with no dairy, eggs, or meat products in them). When I was a lacto-vegetarian mom (I used dairy and eggs but not meat), I would use these recipes at the end of the month, as they did not require eggs, butter, milk, etc., things I rarely could afford. And I know many a vegan hippie household that became vegans not due to desire, but economic necessity. Vegan foods are generally cheaper to make than dairy and meat product foods. Vegan ingredients are often easier to store, many not requiring refrigeration, etc., as well. And vegan foods are a good antidote to the fat-laden American diet that is so conveniently at our fingertips nowadays. The following recipes are easy to make, kids love them, they are healthy foods, and they actually taste great!
PEANUT BUTTER CASSEROLE
The rice, carrots, snow peas, and peanut butter make this a really sweet and filling meal. It is fast and easy to make and kids love it!
Mix together in a bowl:
2 c. cooked rice, 2 c. grated carrots, 1/2 c peanut butter, 1 onion (chopped), 1/2 c. water with dash of tamari or soy sauce, 1 clove garlic (minced), 2 bay leaves
(broken in 1/2), 1/4 t. salt, 1/2 c. snow peas (broken in half), 1-2 fresh tomatoes (chopped)
Press into an oiled casserole pan. Bake at 350 degrees for 30 min covered, then 15 more minutes uncovered. Yum!
THE BEST BURRITO/TACO FILLING
This stuff is great as a dip with tortilla chips, or as burrito or taco filling.
Boil 1 & 1/3 cups water. Take pot off stove and add 1 1/2 cups Texturized Vegetable Protein (TVP) which can be found at most health food stores, such as Whole Foods. Let
soak for 10 minutes. After 10 min., put 5 T. oil in a pan, and saute the soaked TVP with one chopped medium onion. Add a little salt and pepper, a dash of chili powder, a little garlic and some soy sauce. Set aside.
Simmer together:
2 cups tomato sauce, salt to taste, 1 t. chili powder, 1/4 t. pepper, 4 cloves or 2 t. garlic powder, 1 T. sugar.
Make Spanish rice from any cookbook, or you can use a boxed mix, like Bearitos Spanish rice. (I just throw boxed rice dishes like that in my rice cooker to cook!)
Now, mix together in a big pot on the stove: The TVP/onion saute, the simmered tomato sauce, the cooked Spanish rice, one 16 oz. can of spicy Bearitos Refried Beans,
and one 16 oz. can of diced tomatoes. Enjoy! We never can keep this around. It gets eaten quickly.
One of the things many miss most on a vegan diet are good treats/sweets. I have found several recipes for vegan desserts that actually taste like the real deal.
GINGERBREAD
1 cup molasses * 1/2 cup vegan/soy margarine (melted) or oil * 2 t. ginger * 2 cups flour * 1 t. salt * 1 t. soda * 1 cup hot water
Mix together the molasses and oil/margarine, then add the ginger, flour, and salt. In a cup, add the baking soda to the hot water, and dissolve, stirring. Then add this, about 1/3 at a time, to the mix until it is all blended and smooth. Bake in an oiled pan at 350 degrees for 35-40 minutes.
DRIED APRICOT SHORTBREAD
2/3 cup honey * 1/2 cup vegan/soy margarine * 1/2 t. vanilla * 1 T. lemon juice * 1 1/2 cup rolled oats * 1 3/4 cup unbleached flour * 1 1/2 cup chopped dried apricots
Beat together the honey, margarine, vanilla and lemon juice. In another bowl, mix the oats and flour. Then pour the liquids into the dry ingredients and mix. Add apricots. You can mix it with your hands if you need to. Press the mix into an oiled square baking pan and bake at 350 degrees for 15-20 minutes. Cut into squares when cool.
VEGAN CHOCOLATE CHIP COOKIES
You can find vegan chocolate chips at most health food stores such as Whole Foods...non-dairy chocolate chips have been easy to find for a decade or more now. You can even get vegan mint-chocolate chips! These cookies get rave reviews every time I bring them to a potluck. (Especially popular with anarchists! LOL!)
2 1/2 c. flour * 1 1/2 t. baking powder * 1/2 t. salt * 1/2 c. brown sugar * 1/2 c. white sugar * 1/2 c. oil * 1/4 c. water * 1 t. vanilla * 1 c. vegan chocolate chips
Sift together the flour, baking powder and salt. In another bowl, mix the sugars together and then stir the oil into the sugars. Add the water and vanilla and mix until blended then add dry ingredients and mix well. Next add the chocolate chips. (you can add some chopped nuts at this point too, if you want.) Drop spoonfuls onto oiled cookie sheets, bake at 350 degrees for 15 minutes or until done. Cool, and eat!
BROWNIES
I have several friends who need to eat medicinal marijuana as part of their cancer treatment/therapy, and this recipe is good for vegan Green Cross members to make medicinal brownies. It is also just a great vegan brownie recipe that anyone would like, without the meds. It is hard to find a good vegan brownie, let me tell you, I know. This, my friends, is a *good* vegan brownie!
Mix 1/3 c. flour with 1 c. water in a saucepan. Cook this mixture, stirring, over medium heat, simmering, until it is thick, then cool completely.
Melt 1/2 c. vegan/soy margarine in a saucepan and add 2/3 c. cocoa powder and stir until well blended. Cool.
To the cooled flour mixture, add 2 c. sugar, 1/2 t. salt, and 1 t. vanilla, then add the cocoa mixture to this. You can add chopped nuts at this point if you wish, as well. Pour batter into an oiled oblong (9x13) pan and bake at 350 degrees for about 20-25 minutes.
Scientists are just now catching up to what many of us knew about diet decades ago. I have known since the 1970's that there are serious health benefits to many alternative diets, such as veganism, eating mostly or all raw foods, macrobiotics, and vegetarianism.
Kirsten Anderberg. All rights reserved. For permission to reprint/publish, please contact Kirsten at kirstena@resist.ca.