Sweet Potato Shepherd's Pie

                                       from Bok Choy Bohemia


So apparently the key to making things taste bloody is:

a) Hickory smoke flavoring; and

b) Red wine.

At least I think that combo makes things taste bloody. (And by bloody, I mean steak-like. And by steak-like, I mean meaty. And by meaty, I mean bloody.) It's been a long long LONG time since I've had blood. Or steak. Or meat. Or blood. But let me tell you, some red wine mixed in with hickory-smoke flavoring DEFINITELY lent this shepherd's pie a surprising meatiness.

Granted, when I took a bite and said out loud: Wow, this is surprisingly meaty in flavor! N-A did not in fact chime in. Which means the 12+ years since meat last sat on my tongue has clearly demolished any memory I have of the flavor of meat. However, N-A did say it was damn tasty. So there you go.

If you want bloody, stab your finger and lick. If you want the delusional long-term veg*an memory of blood, then join me in this shepherd's pie, won't you?

(Sidenote: Seriously--I highly recommend trying out this flavor combo out in a seitan recipe or two. I think it'll be brilliant. When you do, get back to me and let me know. Vicarious trial & error: that's what I'm all about.)

Oh, and ps. For once, I'm actually gonna flip my love of the salty-sweet combo on its head and say that--though I loved this recipe--I actually probably would've used regular potatoes in it, as the sweetness doesn't lend much and I think salty-salty would've ROCKED OUT.

PPSS. And if you didn't guess it, my main incentive for making this was to throw N-A into a state of Bac-O confusion since it already HAS Bac-os in it, so I was like, Take that, motherfucker. NOW what you gonna do now that I've taken your Bac-O revolution away?!?! BLAM!

INGREDIENTS

• 4 large yams, peeled and cubed


• 1 c. frozen peas


• 1 medium onion, minced


• 5 large mushrooms, minced


• 1 t. liquid smoke


• 1/4 c. red wine (I think I used a pinot something--"that's what she said!")


• 2 c. TVP


• 2 c. vegetable stock


• 2 T. Bac-Uns


• 3 cloves garlic, minced


• 1 t. garlic salt


• Salt and Pepper

DIRECTIONS

Preheat oven to 400F. Peel yams, cube, and boil until soft. Add Salt and Pepper, and mash.

Combine the stock, wine, and liquid smoke, and stir in TVP to reconstitute.

In a large skillet, add olive oil, garlic, onion, and spices. Cook until onions are just becoming translucent,and add mushrooms. Cook for another 1-2 minutes.

Add the TVP with liquids, and the peas. Simmer until everything has reduced and resembles ground beef.

Grease a large casserole dish. Coat the bottom with the TVP/Vegetable mixture, and layer the mashed sweet potatoes over that.

Bake for 15 minutes.

Serves 4-6.

(Recipe from Bok Choy Bohemia)

Upside-Down Shepherd's Pie

                                       from My Veggie Kitchen


**WE INTERRUPT YOUR REGULARLY-SCHEDULED PROGRAMMING TO BRING YOU THE FOLLOWING LATE-BREAKING NEWS**:

My boyfriend likes to put Bac-Os on everything.
And by everything, I mean EVERYTHING.

I waggled my wtf-eyeball at him when he kept tossing them on some of the pasta dishes I'd made.

But then the one time, he shook them all over my fettucine alfreda, and I was like, Dude, not EVERYTHING needs Bac-Os. Until he convinced me to try it. And I realized that it actually DID taste good with Bac-Os. So I thought, Perhaps he's right after all.

Until this weekend.

This weekend, I made us this upside-down shepherd's pie. And seriously: It was the bomb. It's super-fricking easy, but it's totally yumtastic belly-warming winter food. He took a couple bites, and his eyes lit up. "Holy shit. This is like the best thing ever," he blurted between bites. Then 10 seconds later: the dude is totally shaking Bac-Os all over it.

Now, pasta: I can see. But shepherd's pie? That I tossed a bit of sage into to give it a kind of chicken-pot-pie flavor? AND BAC-OS?!?! I'm sorry, dude: no. That's just gross.

But I think perhaps he's becoming a bad influence. Because the day before, I totally had a hankering for Bac-Os, and I whipped up a quick pasta dish that ended up being delish (some margarine, Bac-Os, flour, veggie broth, nooch, and garlic powder, which tasted strikingly similar to a previous pasta carbonara recipe I've made before and love, but with only half the cooking time):



So: Damn the boy. And damn Bac-Os. I guess that's what I'm trying to say.

But whatever you do, don't damn this shepherd's pie recipe, 'cause it's damn motherf-ing good. No lie. And I don't even like tater tots.

**WE NOW RETURN YOU TO YOUR REGULARLY-SCHEDULED PROGRAMMING**




INGREDIENTS:

• 6 c. mashed potatoes


• 1 lb tater tots (half a bag)


• 3 T. Earth Balance Margarine


• 1 small onion, chopped


• 2 cloves garlic, minced


• 2 c. broccoli florets


• 1/4 lb mushrooms, sliced


• 1/4 c. flour


• 1/2 c. frozen peas


• 1/2 c. frozen corn


• 1 can chickpeas, drained


• 2 c. vegetable broth


• 1/2 c. soy milk


• 2 T. nutritional yeast


• 1/2 t. salt


• 1/4 t. pepper


• A shake or two of sage powder (optional)

DIRECTIONS

Melt margarine in a sauce pan. Add onion and mushrooms and saute until soft. Stir in garlic and broccoli and cook until the garlic is aromatic. Add the flour and cook, stirring constantly for a couple minutes longer. Add the remaining filling ingredients. Bring to a boil, stirring frequently and remove from heat and set aside. The sauce should have thickened a bit.

Spread mashed potatoes in a 9 x 13 casserole, spreading some of the potatoes up the sides. Pour in the gravy and veggies. Spread tater tots over the top. Bake in a preheated oven at 375 degrees for 45-60 minutes, until the tater tots are browned and the gravy is bubbly.

COOK'S TIPS:

This can be made with any combination of veggies that you want and can be as simple as mixing a bag of frozen veggies with gravy and adding a can of beans or seitan strips. Just make sure you have five or six cups of filling. Also, I kept the nutritional yeast to a minimum at my kids' request. I ended up sprinkling some extra over the top for myself. You may just want to add some more.

(Recipe from My Veggie Kitchen)

Leek and Bean Cassoulet with Biscuits

After admitting my lustiness for leeks last week (that was very alliterative), I of course couldn't pass up this recipe from Veganomicon. So I made it. And it was good.

For once, I didn't fuss with or alter anything. (Ok, after writing this out, I realized I just lied: I used dried thyme instead of fresh. Sue me.) The only change I was forced to make was to bake this in two separate casserole dishes (since I don't have an oven-safe skillet, and since I don't have a really BIG casserole dish). I probably should've left the biscuits in to cook longer, but I didn't. So they kind of look like pasty white-boy ass-cheeks that haven't seen the sun in years. But they still tasted good.

The only bad thing about this "cassoulet" is that it doesn't make for the bestest leftovers. Everything congeals, and it ends up being kind of dry.

But that's ok: it'll just give you an excuse to get a few people over to chow down on it with you the first night so that you don't have to deal with pasty-ass leftovers.

INGREDIENTS:

Stew:


• 2 Yukon gold potatoes, cut into 1/2-inch dice


• 3 c. vegetable broth


• 3 T. cornstarch


• 2 T. olive oil


• 2 leeks, washed well and sliced thinly (about 2 c.)


• 1 small onion, cut into medium-size dice


• 1.5 c. carrots, peeled and cut into 1/2-inch dice (I just used 1.5 c. shredded carrots)


• 2 cloves garlic, minced


• 1 heaping Tablespoon chopped fresh thyme, plus extra for garnish (I used 1 t. dried thyme)


• Several pinches of freshly ground black pepper


• 1/2 t. salt (more or less depending on how salty your broth is, so taste it first)


• 3/4 c. frozen peas


• 1 15-oz can navy beans, drained and rinsed


Biscuits:


• 3/4 c. plain soymilk


• 1 t. apple cider vinegar


• 1.5 c. all-purpose flour


• 2 t. baking powder


• 1/4 t. salt


• 1/4 c. nonhydrogenated vegan shortening (like Earth Balance or Spectrum)

DIRECTIONS

Preheat the oven to 425F.

Place the potatoes in a small pot and cover with water. Cover and bring to a boil. Once boiling, let cook for about 10 minutes, until the potatoes are just tender enough to be pierced with a fork. Drain immediately so they do not overcook. While they are boiling, you can prep the rest of the veggies and start preparing the biscuits - the potatoes should definitely be done by the time you are.

Now, prepare everything for the biscuits. You're not going to make them yet, but it's good to have everything ready when it comes time to top the stew. Add the vinegar to the soy milk in a measuring cup and set aside to curdle. Mix the flour, baking powder, and salt in a medium-sized bowl.

Now leave that alone and start the stew. Mix the cornstarch into the vegetable stock until dissolved.

Preheat an oven-safe skillet, preferably cast iron, over medium heat. Saute in the oil the leeks, onions, and carrots until very soft and just beginning to brown, about 10 minutes. Keep the heat moderate so that they don't burn.

Add the garlic, thyme, freshly ground black pepper and salt, and cook for 1 more minute. Add the cooked potatoes and frozen peas, then pour in the vegetable stock mixture. Raise the heat just a bit; it will take a few minutes but the liquid will start simmering. Once it does, lower the heat again. Let it simmer for about 7 minutes, stirring occasionally, but no longer than that. If you need more time for the biscuits, then turn off the heat under the stew.

Back to the biscuits: Add the shortening to the flour in small slivers and work it into the dough with a fork or with your fingers until large crumbs form. You don't want to cream it in; there should be clumps. Drizzle in the soy milk and mix with a fork until everything is moistened (some dry parts are okay).

Wash and dry your hands, then lightly flour them and get them dirty again. Gently knead the dough about ten times right in the bowl, just so that it is holding together and not very sticky. If it seems sticky, as in sticking to your fingers, then gently work in a little more flour. Set that aside and check on your stew.

The stew should be simmering and slightly thickened. Mix in the beans.

At this point, if you're using a casserole dish (or more than one casserole dish), you'll want to transfer the stew from your skillet into your casserole dishes.

Now, let's add the biscuits. Pull off chunks of dough that are about slightly larger than golf balls. Gently roll them into balls and flatten a bit; they do not have to be perfectly round. Add them to the top of the stew, placed an inch or so apart.

Transfer the whole megillah to the preheated oven. If you are worried about spillover, place it on a rimmed baking sheet, but we've never had that problem. Bake for about 15 minutes. The biscuits should be just slightly browned and firm to the touch. (If you use two casserole dishes, you'll probably want to add on a few minutes, until the biscuits are slightly golden.)

Remove from the oven and use a large serving spoon to place some of the stew and a biscuit in each shallow, individual bowl. Sprinkle with a little chopped, fresh thyme.

Serve at last! Especially yummy when you break up your biscuit and mix it in a bit with your stew.

Makes 6 servings.

(Recipe posted at Vegan Chicks Rock, originally from Veganomicon)

"Hamburger" Macaroni Casserole

I wasn't sure how to go about reviewing this recipe while knowing that it very well could've been what made me wake up in the middle of the night feeling like all my vital organs were liquefying and that my heart was going to stop and that I was going to die. All that sort of makes it sound like something you don't really want to recommend that other people put into their bodies.

Then again, a recipe itself is not dangerous--it's the quality of the ingredients that are. So I post this nonetheless, with the warning that most definitely, the combination of ingredients somehow turn this recipe into a ticking flatulence time-bomb. And it actually may have an even more powerful detonator than the infamous Seitan o' Flatulence, one that not only wreaks havoc on the gut by way of gas, but one that also has the ability to make it feel like all your organs have revolted against you and are in the process of disintegrating into a state of ooze and goo. Again, not something you usually want to mention when discussing a recipe, but I almost feel obligated to warn you.

And yet: despite all this, I've craved this casserole every night this week. Sometimes even late at night right before I go to bed.

It's not a fancy recipe. It's the kind of recipe you find on the container of French Onions, or the kind your mom would whip up for you when you were little and she had such a bad hangover that the concentration needed to dice or sautee or bake anything had crawled off to retch into the toilet and so all she could do was whip out a package of preprocessed stuff from the fridge and throw it into the oven. Not that my mom ever did that. But if she did.

Nonetheless, I kind of liked it. Because, again, sometimes it's just fun to eat something trashy that belongs in a cookbook from the 1950s where the second ingredient of every dish is LARD.

Oh, and I'm not sure why they felt compelled to throw 1/2 cup of corn into the recipe. It's almost like they felt guilty not putting something SOMEWHAT redeemable in there. But 1/2 cup is such a small amount that you won't even notice that it's in there. So if you want to delude yourself into believing it's not just a completely trashy dinner, you may wanna hook yourself up with a bit more corn. "Corn it up!" one might say.

I also just realized that you should feel almost obligated to be listening to Kimya Dawson while cooking this. Because she's such a delightful little "Hamburger" Macaroni Casserole herself. Though not the kind that makes your stomach want to curl up and die.

INGREDIENTS:

• 1.5 c. macaroni


• 1 medium onion, chopped


• 1/4 c. green pepper, chopped


• 1 T. vegetable oil


• 12 oz. faux ground beef-style crumbles


• 1/2 c. whole kernel corn


• 1 small can tomato soup


• 1/4 t. pepper


• 1/2 t. garlic powder


• Dash of cayenne pepper


• 1 small can French-fried onions, ground to crumbs

DIRECTIONS

Cook the macaroni according to the directions on the package. Drain, pour into a large bowl, and set aside.

In a skillet over medium heat, sauté the onion and green pepper in the oil until tender. If you're using frozen corn, it's probably best to toss it in at this point as well. Add the "beef" crumbles and cook until browned.

Preheat the oven to 350°F.

To the drained macaroni, add the onions and green pepper, burger crumbles, corn, soup, salt, pepper, garlic powder, and cayenne pepper. Stir to combine. If the mixture is dry, add just enough water to make it moist. Pour into a 10-inch square baking dish, top with the French-fried onions, and bake for 15 to 30 minutes or until the fried onions are lightly browned and the casserole is heated through.

Makes 6 servings

(Original recipe from VegCooking)

Mock Tuna Casserole

This past week was a very metaphysically quandarous kind of week (that's philosoph-speak, for those of you who ain't hip with your Kierkegaard and Hume). Metaphysically quandiferous. Why, you ask? Well, because not only did I whip up mock tuna salad, I *also* tried whipping up a mock tuna casserole (that's how much I was fricking jonesing about the mock tuna salad, my friends). But again: quandariferosity: This time, I had invented my own recipe for something I've never tasted before. This was some serious philosophical shit.

*AND* I wasn't all that blown away by it, which left me wondering: Was I not blown away by it because MY specific recipe wasn't good? Or was I not blown away by it because if I'd ever had a REAL tuna casserole on a prior occasion, I wouldn't've liked *THAT* either (so essentially, I'd just made a mock-recipe for something that I wouldn't have ever really liked in the first place)? And if a tree falls in the forest, does it not just press its Life Alert button so that the medics come a-racing?

Deep. Deep and deeper and deepest.

So yeah. I made this tuna casserole, and when I had some for dinner, I found myself a bit unimpressed. It was not *bad*, it was just unimpressive and kind of bland. (Then again, a lot of old-school, meat-and-taters, family-cooking in the form of casseroles SEEMS to have that as its goal, so perhaps it *WAS* a stunning tuna casserole rendition after all.)

But I ate the leftovers all last week, and I ended up finding myself a bit addicted to it as a leftover, so perhaps it wasn't as bad as I'd first thought. It's a bit dry, so I added a tad bit of water each time I nuked it. And I sorta wish I would've put in more mushrooms (and cooked all the mushrooms ahead of time--I've altered the recipe to reflect that). But overall, it's decent. Not amazing, but good in a bland-casseroley-goodness kind of way.

And now that I've given you that award-winning recommendation, you are, of course, all barreling out to the grocery store to nab the ingredients. *Snark*

INGREDIENTS:

• 12 oz. yolk-free pasta ribbons (or a fettucine noodle or something will work fine too)


• 12 oz. shrooms, sliced


• 1 onion, diced


• 1 T. margarine


• 1 c. soymilk


• 1 T. flour


• 1 t. garlic powder


• A double-batch of Mock Tuna Salad


• Salt & pepper to taste


• 1 handful of kettle-cut potato chips (optional)

DIRECTIONS

Cook up the pasta al dente according to the directions on the box. Drain and set aside.

Whip up your double-batch of Mock Tuna Salad.

In a small sauce-pan, add the margarine on a low flame and fry up your onions and mushrooms until the shrooms are tender. Mix in 1 T. flour and then gradually add the soymilk while whisking away so it doesn't burn. Once it's all in there, add the garlic powder. Cook for about 5-10 minutes or so, until the base has thickened up a bit.

Preheat oven to 400. Spray a large casserole dish (mine is a roundy one, and I'm not sure the precise size, but it should comfortably hold all your pasta). In a large mixing bowl, mix together your noodles and mock tuna salad. Slowly stir in your mushroomy mixture. Salt and pepper (and add in any other spices you think you might like--I think this definitely could've used a bit more spicing up).

Pour into casserole dish. Crush up a handful of kettle chips and sprinkle on top. (Many of the ACTUAL tuna casserole recipes recommended this, but I found that it didn't add much either which way, especially when the chips just got mushy as leftovers, so you could just as easily leave this out.)

Cook for 30-45 minutes (until casserole is heated all the way through).

Eat. Marvel at its delighful blandness.

MARVEL!

(Makes anywhere from 6-10 servings)

Savory Asparagus Mushroom Bread Pudding

Oh, man. It's been quite crazy on this end lately, which has led to quite the backlog in recipes. Mea culpa.

I tried this recipe out LOOOOONG LOOOONG ago (after veganizing the original, of course), and I had slightly mixed feelings about the results.

The mixed feelings, however, were not from the fact that the original recipe is a lousy suckfest (I'd bet my left nipple that it's not). Neither were they from the fact that veganizing it made it suck pootie (because it didn't). I think it mostly was because *couIUSEDVANILLASOYYOGURTINSTEADOFPLAINBECAUSEIAMADUMBSHITLIKETHATSOMETIMESgh*.
Laugh if you will. But I'm sure most of you out there have found yourself at the grocery store thinking "Should I spend money on this very LARGE tub of [insert accurate ingredient here] or should I buy this smaller, less expensive [insert slightly INaccurate ingredient here] since all I really need is, like, 2 T. and I don't typically EAT [insert accurate ingredient here], so the rest will just end up sitting in my refrigerator for like 2 months until I finally give in to the fact that it's turned into something resembling purple mold."

Don't deny it.

*Clearing throat*

I also had a bit of a mishap (as I do about once a month or so) with measuring. This time it was with egg-replacer. For some reason all of the sudden I thought 2 t. was 2 T., and I was like, Damn, I don't remember ever having made ANYTHING that requires *this* much egg-replacer. Unfortunately I realized the mistake RIGHT AS the water was poised mid-air in its downward fall towards the egg-replacer, and since I am not Superman and do not have the ability to make time stand still by flying around the earth really fast (he DID do that at some point or another, right?) splat. I salvaged a little, but nonetheless: suckfestery.

But anyways. The *only* other thing I did to fuck with (and thankfully not fuck *up*) this dish was to leave out the dill. Ever since I threw up swedish meatballs down the carpeted stairs of my house when I was in 6th-grade, we've not been real big fans of one another ('cept in pickles). So. Yes. No dill.

Despite all that, it *still* was pretty good. Which I think says something about the recipe, seeing as it still tasted okay despite being slightly vanilla-flavored.

Next time, however: PLAIN yogurt. (I'm not vouching for this recipe until I know for certain that it doesn't taste weirdly sweet with the PLAIN yogurt as well. So if you try it, and it doesn't taste weirdly-vanilla-ish, please do let me know.) And next time, I will definitely use more 'shrooms and asparagus. Oh, and for the record, you can use ANY type of vegan cheez, but I recommend cheddar (mostly because I used mozzarella myself and the whole time kept fantasizing about how I wished I'd had the foresight to have thought of cheddar as it would've been so much beddar... GET IT!
But seriously: cheddar).

INGREDIENTS:

• One 1-pound loaf sourdough or other crusty bread


• 2 1/4 c. soy milk


• 3/4 c. soy yogurt (PLAIN!!!!)


• 1 c. vegetable broth


• Egg substitute for 3 large eggs


• 1 t. salt


• 1/2 t. freshly ground black pepper


• 1/2 tsp dried dill (optional)


• 1/2 t. fresh thyme


• 1/2 t. fresh oregano


• 1 lb. asparagus


• 3 - 4 oz. mushrooms (I used baby 'bellas)


• 1 c. shredded vegan cheez (I used mozzarella, but next time it's TOTALLY gonna be cheddar--I think it'll improve the dish by leaps and bounds)

DIRECTIONS

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Spray a 9x13-inch baking pan or casserole with nonstick cooking spray.
Using a serrated knife, cut the bread into 3/4-inch slices, then stack 4 or 5 slices of bread. Cut them into 3/4-inch cubes. Repeat with the remaining bread and put all of the cubes in a large bowl.

In medium bowl, whish together the soy milk, broth, egg-substitute, salt, pepper, dill (if you're using it), thyme, and oregano until combined. Pour the mixture over the bread (in the bowl).

Snap off the tough ends of the asparagus and cut the spears into 1-inch pieces. Add them to the bread along with the mushrooms. Fold everything together well to combine the ingredients. Spoon them into the prepared pan and pat down the top to compact the ingredients. Sprinkle the cheese evenly ever the top.

Bake the pudding for 45 to 80 minutes (I think mine was closer towards the 80-minute mark--it had too much liquid still in the middle, and it made me unhappy--but judge for yourself), or until the top is browned and crisp and there is no liquid in the center. Let sit for 10 minutes before cutting into portions.

(Original recipe at Cupcake Punk)

A Not-So-Julian-Casablancas Black-Bean Casserole

So you know how there's foods that perhaps don't send you barrelling into an alternate universe of a explosive orgasms and million-dollar lotto-wins and a veganized America and endless Julian-Casablancas-involved orgies, but do offer up a solid, simple, relatively healthy meal that (I suspect) even kids would dig? Well, this is one of those recipes.

A couple weeks ago, a friend of mine came up to me and said, I made this really good black-bean casserole last week for me and my boyfriend, and it calls for sausage, but you totally couldn't taste the sausage at all anyways, so I think you could probably easily veganize it. And the next week she brought it in for me.

I know not from whence it came, but I *DO* know that the photocopy has it listed in a chapter called "Family-Approved Meat Dishes" which for some reason makes me feel a bit blorfy. But yes, the damn thing is so basic, so easy, and requires so few ingredients that it was a cinch to veganize.

Next time around, I'm gonna try adding this little thing called "spices" that the meat-filled cookbook apparently has never heard of, but rest assured--the fake-sausage adds enough muscle in the way of flavor that you won't be lacking even if you DON'T add anything extra.

It makes an assload too, which is nice if you have a big family. Or if you can use it for dinners all week. Or if you like to fill your bathtub up with strange casseroles and lay around in them.

INGREDIENTS:

• One tube of Gimme Lean (Fake) Sausage


• Two 14.5-oz. cans of Mexican-style stewed tomatoes, undrained
  (you can alternately use plain and spice them up some with--what who where--spices, or you can use them ones with the basil and oregano in them, which I think is what I accidentally ended up using myself)


• 2 c. cooked brown rice (or white rice)


• Two 15-oz. cans black beans, rinsed and drained


• 1 medium green pepper, coarsely chopped


• 1/2 c. shredded vegan cheddar cheez


• Vegan sour cream (optional)

DIRECTIONS

In a large skillet, cook the sausage until brown and a bit crispier (this is important because mine was not-so-crisp and it sogged up in the oven quite a bit). Stir in the tomatoes, cooked rice, black beans, and sweet pepper. Mix, and spoon into a large baking dish (around 3-quarts or so).

Bake, covered, in a 350-degree oven for 40-45 minutes or until heated through. Remove from oven and sprinkle with cheez. Place the casserole dish uncovered in the broiler for a few minutes, until the cheez has begun to bubble and melt.

Let stand five minutes before serving. Top with vegan sour cream, if you so choose.

Makes 8 servings.

Down-Home Vegan Green Bean Casserole

So what can I say--like almost every other American on the face of this planet, I'm a sucker for the uber-simple, uber-traditional green bean casserole that someone in my family whips up every single Thanksgiving or Christmas. When I went vegan, however, I figured that would be the end of the matter. But then I stumbled across someone or another discussing the existence of Imagine brand Creamy Portobello Mushroom Soup which is, if you haven't figured it out at this point, vegan! Not to mention the fact that I couldn't believe that French's French Fried Onions are actually vegan as well. I about pooped with excitement.

Now granted, it's not like there's not about 1500 really damn tasty-sounding vegan green bean casserole recipes floating around out theere on the internet. I mean, Fat-Free Vegan has one that sounds absolutely delish, and VegWeb does as well.

But there's just something about a recipe that comes on a can of fried onions, that only has four real ingredients, and that doesn't require much more than a can-opener and a casserole dish to whip up. So obviously, I was very nerded up when I stumbled across Imagine's cream of mushroom soup at Wild Oats. This wonderful vegan mushroom soup made veganizing this traditional dish work bee-oo-tifully.

INGREDIENTS:

• One 16-oz. carton of Imagine brand Creamy Portobello Mushroom Soup


• 1/8 tsp. black pepper


• A tiny bit of flour if it becomes necessary to thicken up the soup


• 2 pkgs. (9 oz. each) frozen cut green beans, thawed (Or 2 cans (14 1/2 oz. each) cut green beans, drained)


• 1 1/3 cups French's® Original French Fried Onions

DIRECTIONS
1. Combine soup and pepper in a 1 1/2 qt. baking dish; stir until blended. Stir in beans and 2/3 cup French's French Fried Onions.

2. Cover and bake at 350ºF for 30 minutes or until hot. (Make sure you've thawed the frozen green beans out sufficiently if you're using them--otherwise expect a longer baking time.) Check the casserole and see if the soup's thickened up enough--if not, add a couple teaspoons of flour and mix in. Stir.

3. Sprinkle with remaining 2/3 cup French Fried Onions. Bake 5 minutes or until onions are golden.

Fluffy Sweet Potatoes from the Magical Banana Forest!

As mentioned yesterday, the other dish I made for my mom's Thanksgiving gathering was a sweet potato dish. It was inspired by a recipe I saw in the Vegetarian Times Complete Cookbook, but I varied it so much that it isn't even worth crediting, to be honest.

I was a bit concerned initially because once I'd mixed all the ingredients, the mixture was actually quite soupy. When you're trying to get a mashed-potato consistency and it ends up watery, it's hard not to be a little bit worried that things just aren't gonna turn out right. But thankfully, after the 50 minute baking time, they were firmed right up. Quite honestly, they firmed up so nicely that next time I make them, I actually think I probably would tinker with them a bit more by adding some more liquids, now that I know it all gets absorbed in the oven.

All in all, they were pretty damn tasty. My brother kept saying that they actually tasted like pumpkin pie, and I do agree. In fact, I suspect that these would make a good filling for a sweet potato pie. I've never actually *HAD* sweet potato pie though, so I can't be certain. But they taste like what I'd *IMAGINE* sweet potato pie to taste like, in the land of magical fairies and giant lollipops, where I've actually *TRIED* sweet potato pie. =)

INGREDIENTS

• 4 lbs. sweet potatoes


• 4 ripe bananas, mashed


• 1 c. soymilk


• 1/2 c. apple cider


• 3 T. agave nectar


• 1 t. allspice


• 1/2 t. cinnamon


• 1/4 t. ground cloves


• 3 T. or so of candied ginger, minced


• Toasted pine nuts

DIRECTIONS
Cook the sweet potatoes in boiling water until soft--about 40 minutes or so. Transfer to a colander and then remove the skins while running the potatoes under cold water. Transfer skinless potatoes to a large metal bowl. Mash with a fork or masher. Add the bananas. Mix well. Add the soymilk and apple cider. Whip with a whisk until fairly smooth. Add everything else but the candied ginger and pinenuts.

Preheat oven to 375. Transfer the sweet potatoes to an 8x8 casserole dish that has been sprayed with nonstick spray. Bake in the oven, uncovered, for about 50 minutes or so. Remove from oven and sprinkle the candied ginger and pinenuts on top.

Serves a whole buttload.

Thanksgiving and the Three Sisters Casserole

I have little doubt that most of you managed to gorge your stomachs out on vegan feastie goodies this past week, and the same was, of course, true for me as well. My mom had Thanksgiving at her place this year, and since she's been eating vegetarian for the past two months (*giving her a much-deserved round of applause*), the only meat-related item in the house was my brother's obligatory stuffing. And I must thank her heartily as she went out of her way to deck us out with some yummy vegan grub as well--a glorious fruit salad, an elaborate greens salad, and an apple crisp for dessert.

You go, girl!

As for me, I decided to whip up a couple items to take over there myself. I originally intended to bring dessert as well, but seeing as I've apparently become the spokesperson as to why us vegans need to go out and buy the Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World cookbook (every time I even attempt them, it turns into some elaborate Three-Stooges-esque baking ordeal), that didn't end up panning out.

Thankfully, both the casserole (which I felt almost obligated to pick because it was named the "Three Sisters casserole" and there are three of us sisters (even though one of us was in NYC for the holiday)) and the mashed sweet potatoes I decided to make came out poifect though.

Today the casserole recipe, tomorrow the sweet potatoes.




I snagged the Three Sisters Casserole recipe from the Nov./Dec. 2006 issue of the Vegetarian Times, and I must admit, it is a good one. I recommend their preparation techniques for the polenta in any instance when you're trying to make a good batch of polenta--it is quite a clever one and the polenta comes out perfect and unlumpy. I ended up baking the casserole in a larger pan (maybe 9 x 13 or somewhere thereabouts) which made the top layer of polenta a bit more difficult to deal with, but it still came out really quite tasty. Plus, I think the quantity of veggies the recipe makes seems ridiculously large for a smaller casserole, though perhaps that's just me. Anyways, if you end up wanting to feed larger armies of people, I'd say you can definitely get away with using the larger pan (I've also included a couple other slight variations). Otherwise, just follow the directions. Deviant.

INGREDIENTS:

Polenta Topping

• 1.5 c. yellow cornmeal


• 1 T. chili powder


• 1/2 t. salt


• 4.5 c. water

Filling

• 3 T. olive oil


• 1 sm. onion, chopped


• 2 jalapeno peppers, deseeded and diced


• 1 large red or yellow bell pepper (cut into 1-inch dice)


• 1 lb. squash (I used butternut--they called for kobacha), peeled and cut into 1-inch cubes


• 1 15 oz-can diced tomatoes


• 2 cloves garlic, minced


• 1 t. ground coriander


• 1 t. ground cumin


• 1/2 c. water


• 1/2 t. salt


• 1 15-oz can pinto beans, drained and rinsed


• 1 c. frozen corn kernels, thawed

DIRECTIONS

For the polenta topping
Whisk together the polenta ingredients in either a double boiler or (as I did) in a large metal bowl over barely simmering water. Cook 40 minutes or until polenta is thick and stiff, stirring 3 or 4 times. Remove from heat.

For the filling
Preheat oven to 375. Heat 2 T. of the oil in a large saucepan over medium heat. Add onion, and cook 7 minutes or so, until softened, stirring frequently. Add the bell pepper and cook another 5. Stir in the squash, tomatoes, garlic, coriander, and cumin. Cook 5 more. (Continue to stir frequently throughout.) Add the water and salt. Bring mixture to a boil. Reduce heat to medium-low and simmer, partially covered, for about 10-15 minutes (or until squash is tender). Stir in the beans and corn and cook 5 more minutes (or until slightly-thickened--I ended up having to just drain out some of the excess tomatoey-water at the end).

Coat an 8x11-inch (or 9x13-inch) pan/baking dish with nonstick spray. Spread 2 cups of polenta over the bottom of the dish. (This is kinda tricky as it does not spread too well. My suggestion is to run a little water over your spatula to keep it from sticking and to moreso mash or pat the polenta into shape instead of trying to actually spread it over the bottom. It works much better.) Spoon your squash mixture over the polenta (making sure to drain some of the excess water and whatnot to avoid sogging it up). Smooth the remaining polenta over the top. (If you use the larger pan, it won't cover up your middle layer in its entirety, but that's ok. It still tastes good. Just try to spread it out as much as possible.)

Brush the top of the casserole with the remaining T. of olive oil. Bake 30 minutes or until heated through and top is lightly brown.

Serves 6-10, depending.

(Original recipe from the Nov./Dec. 2006 issue of the Vegetarian Times, p. 60)

"Cheesy" Potato Casserole

(Worst picture ever--*sigh*)
Recipe: HERE

As for the taters, the cooking time was *way* off in this recipe--supposedly these took only 1 hour total time. But they were in my oven for at least and hour and a half, and the taters were STILL hard. Despite that complaint, the cheesy sauce did not taste too different from your standard scalloped potato cheesiness despite being vegan (perhaps a tad bit more bitter)--I was impressed in that regard. And these were *fantastique* upon microwaving (because it finally cooked the hard potatoes all the way through). My recommendation: plan on at *least* an hour and a half of cooking time.

Verdict: B (Leftovers: A)