Cheesy Artichoke Stuffed Shells with Lemon Béchamel

Having company soon? Here’s the recipe. Trust me – this was so good.

Here’s what you need:

3 large cans quartered artichoke hearts, packed in water, not oil

2 lemons, remove the rind carefully with a sharp knife, then juice them

1 box large shell pasta, cooked *almost* al dente, set aside

1 C almond cheese (see recipe below)

½ C dairy mozzarella

Salt and pepper

3 C non-dairy milk

4 T butter

4 T flour

Here’s what you do:

Mince the artichoke hearts and mix them with the two cheeses.

(Amazing Almond Cheese = 1 C raw, unpeeled almonds, ¾ C water, 3 T lemon juice, 2 T olive oil, 1 clove garlic, salt, high speed blender. IT IS THE BEST!)

Simmer a large slice or two of the lemon rind in the milk and remove after a few minutes.

Melt the butter in a sauce pan and then sprinkle the flour over the butter. Whisk thoroughly and cook the flour well. Add the warm milk a bit at a time, whisking all the while. Add the lemon juice when the mixture is nice and creamy and thick. Salt and pepper to taste.

Stuff the cooked shells with the artichoke and cheese mixture. Place in greased casserole. Smother with lemon béchamel. Bake, covered, 400 degrees until bubbly. Garnish with parsley.

Serve with something non-acidic to counter the fabulous lemon flavor.....a green salad with a creamy dressing, garlic toast, broccoli, green beans, asparagus. There's plenty of bechamel to drizzle all over the plate. 

Black Bean Brownies (from Veganuary)

This is the kind of recipe that you avoid for many months. You may see it cross your Facebook page, or you may read about it on a strange vegetarian blog (like this one), or you may even see it at your workplace coffee station. But you avoid. You can’t quite seem to bring the dreaded black bean concoction to your lips.

Because I was the brave one in the room and tried these, you may follow my lead and tamp down your fear! What’s it gonna cost you? A can of beans.

Warning: these brownies are not very sweet, which in my opinion is a bonus.

Warning: these brownies are totally and completely chocolatey

Warning: these brownies are moist, chewy, dense, rich, satisfying, ‘healthy’, and cheap to make

Warning: these brownies could become your new favorite thing

Here’s what you need:

1 can black beans, drained and rinsed

½ avocado

1 C brown sugar

3 T cocoa powder

½ C walnuts – divided

1 t baking soda

1 t vanilla

1 T coconut oil (plus more for greasing the muffin tin)

Large pinch of salt

2/3 C dark chocolate chips (plus more for garnish)

Here’s what you do:

Prepare a muffin tin by greasing it with coconut oil. This will help the brownies come out perfectly.

Place beans, avocado, sugar, cocoa, half the walnuts (1/4 C), baking soda, vanilla, coconut oil, and salt in a food processor and mix very well.

Melt the 2/3 C chocolate chips in a double boiler until soft (don’t scorch them) and add the chocolate to the bean mixture.  Mix well.

Evenly distribute the batter into prepared muffin tins.

Garnish with more chocolate and the remaining ¼ C walnuts.

Bake 350 degrees for about 25 minutes. Cool them completely in the fridge before removing. Remove them carefully because they are soft in the middle.

Delicious!

Vegan Jalapeno Poppers

My best poppers to date! Lots of jalapenos, split and cleaned of seeds and most veins. 1 tub Tofutti cream cheese. 6 slices vegan bacon, cooked and chopped in tiny pieces (I recommend Lifelight brand). 1/3 C vegan nacho cheese (mine came from the freezer....probably Isa Chandra's recipe).

Stuff. Roll in panko bread crumbs and nutritional yeast. Bake for about 20-30 minutes.

I love them!

Cauliflower Cashew Soup

I learned a new technique for increasing the flavor profile of vegetables. I really didn’t think it would make much difference in the end product, after all, how much flavor can you squeeze out of a cauliflower? But amazingly, it actually did increase the depth of flavor.

The trick is allowing the veg to steam in their own juice in a covered pot before adding the broth. They must not get brown at all, so a tempered heat is required. The technique is called ‘a l’etoufffee’ which means ‘braised ‘in French.

Remember when we all started roasting our veggies and now we wouldn’t be caught dead boiling them? Well, this is the new ‘roasting.’

This recipe comes from bonappetit.com.

Here’s what you need:

¼ C olive oil

4 large shallots, thinly sliced

2 garlic cloves, thinly sliced

2 bay leaves

1 t dried thyme

Salt, pepper

½ C dry white wine

1 large head cauliflower, cut in small florets

¼ t cayenne pepper

¾ C raw cashews

6 C light colored vegetable stock

Lemon juice to garnish

Here’s what you do:

Warm the oil in a large soup pot. Add the shallots, garlic, bay leaves and cook on medium low heat. Don’t allow anything to brown. Add the wine and allow to simmer a bit. Add the cauliflower, cayenne, cashews, salt and pepper. Cover pot and cook tenderly until all the veg is soft….maybe about 20-25 minutes. Reduce heat if things are browning up at all.

Add the stock and bring to a boil. Reduce to a simmer and cook for another 20-25 minutes or until the cauliflower is falling apart. Discard bay leaves. Cool. Whirl in a high speed blender. Serve with lemons or add lemon juice at the end.

Cauliflower Meat Crumbles

I must truly be vegan because I am posting another recipe for cauliflower meat crumbles. And I don't even care.

This is a great recipe and these little crumbles can be used in the same way you would use meat from cows. Spaghetti sauce, sloppy joes, pizza toppings, and Mexican. I used half of the crumbles recently in tacos and the rest went in the freezer. Take your time and bake them nice and long and slow. You really want to dry them out so they separate and get a little chewy. The house smelled fantastic when this was baking.

Good luck! Go vegan! Eat your crumbles! Leave the cows alone! :)

Cauliflower Meat Crumbles
Here's what you need:
1 head of cauliflower, trimmed, washed, cut in florets
2 C raw walnuts
1 medium tomato, chopped
2 T olive oil
3 garlic cloves
1/2 t liquid chipotle sauce
1/2 t chili powder
1 t liquid smoke
1/2 t salt
2 T soy sauce

Here's what you do:
Crunch the walnuts and cauliflower in a food processor till pretty small. Add the remaining ingredients and blend. Plop it in a bowl and continue mixing with your hands if you need to.

When you first see it, you can't imagine that it turns into 'meat'....but it does! 

Cook it on a parchment lined cookie sheet at 350 degrees, for about 60-75 minutes. Stir after 30 minutes and every 15 minutes after that. The crumbles should be brown and dry. Use as you please! The crumbles do not need to be seasoned in any way .... use them as is. Delicious!

Amazing, but True -- Chicken Style Seasoning

How to create a chicken flavor without harming chickens.

Blend until very fine. Use in all kinds of stuff.

1 C nutritional yeast

2 heaping T onion powder

1 T salt (or more to taste)

2 T dried basil

2 heaping T dried parsley

1 T sugar

4 t T garlic powder

½ t celery seed

½ t cayenne powder

Amazing, but True -- Vegan Cream of Chicken Soup

1 pound firm tofu

2 t vegan chicken base / seasoning
2-3 t curry
1 ½ t onion powder
1 ½ t garlic powder
½ t turmeric
¼ C milk or water

Middle Eastern Rice and Lentils

This has happened to me more than once: I make a great vegan meal and decide to take it to a church potluck, you know, with the idea of impressing everyone and glowing in the aftermath of a whole slew of folks turning from their meat-eating-ways.

My Lentil Bolognese (HERE is the recipe) is worthy of a gold star and accolades from all camps, yet it does not translate well to a crock pot full of cooked rigatoni. There is no oil or fat in it, so it really doesn’t stay nice and loose and hearty. At that potluck, my crockpot was filled with a blob of sticky pasta with a strange scattering of lentils. Seriously embarrassing.

For another potluck I made the Forks Over Knives “Smoky Little Devils” (HERE is that recipe) which are tiny red potatoes, filled with a spicy hummus: reminiscent of deviled eggs. That potluck found my offering to be way too heavy on the turmeric (which can be bitter if you’re not used to it).  One friend asked me, “Is that turmeric in there?” ….meaning, “My GOSH, that’s a lot of turmeric!” Alas, my platter of little devils sat basically untouched….except by me. (I do recall everyone else eating buckets full of chickens' legs and I believe there were also pork ribs there too ….. sigh….. a poorly made smoky devil stands no chance against those….)

Last week, I brought a crockpot full of this terrific rice dish, sure that I’d be the talk of the luncheon…..but I was too lazy to leave the house for brown rice and I used white rice instead….. which simply created a weird crockpot full of rice and lentils. Blah.

You will have to trust me when I say that I am a great cook and I can tell a cruddy recipe from a good one. This one’s good…. I just HIGHLY recommend that you use brown rice!

Here’s what you need:

½ onion, chopped

1 T veg oil

1 C uncooked BROWN rice

2 T tomato paste

2 ½ C water

¼ t cinnamon

¼ C dry brown lentils

1 t salt

½ C golden raisins

½ C slivered almonds, toasted

Here’s what you do:

Saute the onion in the oil.  Add the rice and stir a bit in the oil. Mix the tomato paste in the water and smooth it out. Add it to the rice along with the cinnamon and lentils. Bring to boil, lower to simmer, cover and cook about 20 minutes.

Stir in the salt, raisins, and almonds. May add a bit more water if it seems dry. Pour into a greased casserole. The mixture should be a bit watery.  Cover and bake 350 degrees for about 20 minutes.