White Chili and Brownies

I'd never had white chili as an omnivore, but the basic concept is a chicken-ish base, green chilis, and white beans. You may want to ease up on the green onions- I am an addict! It's personal preference.
Also, this turned out like a soup instead of an actual "chili". Please note the "***"




White Chili
You Will Need:
1 Tbsp olive oil or oil/margarine mixture
2 small/1 med or lg carrot, diced
1 onion, diced
2 cloves garlic, diced or minced
1 tsp cumin
1 tsp oregano
1/2 tsp cayenne pepper
4-6 c vegan "chicken"/vegetable broth of choice***
1 tsp green Tabasco (opt)
3/4 (approx) corn- cut from the ear, canned, or frozen
1 4oz. can green chiles (keep juice)
2 cans white beans (or about 3 cups if you cook your own)
3-4 stalks green onions (white and green parts), cut up into rings
cilantro for garnish
1 package Morningstar Farms "Chickn" strips, 1 1/2 c "chicken" seitan, or protein of choice
vegan sour cream and/or vegan white cheese, for garnish (opt)

*Heat a stock pan and add oil on MED.
*Saute onions, carrots, and garlic until carrots are softened.
*In a separate pan, cook Chikn strips until crisp in a bit of oil. Set aside and chop roughly.
*Add cumin, oregano, and cayenne to onion mixture and saute 1 min more (spices will become fragrant
*Add stock and bring to a boil
*Reduce heat and add chiles, beans, Tabasco & corn and cover. Cook 10 min
*Add chikn strips and cover, cook 10 min more, adding green onions at the 5 min mark.
*Garnish with desired toppings and enjoy. You can add tortilla chips to the soup, or leave plain.

***4 cups for a thicker soup, 5-6 for a thinner one. I went with 6 cups, but it's up to you.


Brownies! I wish I could say this is my recipe, but alas!
Chunky Monkey Brownies by Beverly Lynn Bennet
Originally published in the May + June 2008 issue of Veg News, found on PPK from Love Like A Vegan. I left out the banana chips and subbed pecans for the cashews. I also served these as work to unsuspecting omnis. Score +2 for veganism (evil laugh). Also, I used cornstarch and it worked as well as the arrowroot (made 2 batches).

3/4 cup sugar
1/3 cup safflower oil [I used canola]
1/4 cup water
1 tsp vanilla
2/3 cup whole-wheat pastry flour
2/3 cup cocoa powder
4 tsp arrowroot (I used corn starch)
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp sea salt
1/3 cup dried banana chips, coarsely chopped (I omitted and these were still great!)
1/3 cup chocolate chips, coarsely chopped
2 tbs dried coconut, shredded
1/4 cup cashews, coarsely chopped (I used pecans)

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Lightly oil a 9-inch square pan [I used an 8 inch) and set aside.

2. In a medium bowl, stir together sugar, oil, water and vanilla. Sift in flour, cocoa powder, arrowroot, baking powder and salt. Stir well to combine.

3. Pour batter into prepared pan. Evenly scatter banana chips, chocolate chips, cashews and coconut over top and press gently with hands into the batter.

4. Bake for 25 to 30 minutes or until set in the centre. Allow brownies to cool completely before cutting into nine squares.

Quiche, Spicy Stuffed Mushrooms, and Chinese "Beef" 2 Ways

The Quiche is from Isa over at Post Punk Kitchen. It was really good and held together well. I had no cashews on hand and it still came out great.

Quiche with Spicy Sausage-Cornbread Stuffed Mushrooms (recipe below)






Bryanna Clark Grogan is invited to my house any day! I have 2 of her books: Nonna's Italian Kitchen and Authentic Chinese Cooking. While I will admit that I enjoy the virtues of a 30-minute meal (or coming home to a meal, hint hint) as much as the next gal, there's nothing wrong with a recipe within a recipe.
Many of Grogan's recipes have a smaller recipe in them and that's fine. She does offer an alternative as well for most of them if you don't have the time. Take the time!
Here is homemade "Beef" seitan from the Chinese Cookbook. I made the Beef and Broccoli (added mushrooms and green onions), had some "beef" left over, and just stir-fried it with some Black Bean Sauce, mushrooms and green onions. Truth be told, this recipe didn't take long at all. Did I also tell you I want to marry green onions? I put them in anything that's not dessert.





Spicy Sausage-Cornbread Stuffed Mushrooms
15-20 mushrooms (I had small)
1/4 pack Gimme Lean Sausage Style
1/4 tsp crushed red pepper flakes
1/4 tsp fennel seeds
about 1 C cornbread-style stuffing
about 3/4-1 C light vegetarian broth of choice
1 Tb earth balance margarine or olive oil

Clean mushrooms. Pop stem out of each mushroom and dice small.
In a large skillet/pan, heat earth balance and place mushrooms in stem side up, browning, and flipping over. Moisture will come out of the caps when flipped over and that's fine.

When mushrooms are evenly browned on both sides (but still firm), remove from pan and place stem side up in a baking pan.

Add sausage, fennel, red pepper, and mushroom stems to the cooking pan. Brown sausage and chop while cooking. Add Earth Balance if necessary.

Ad stuffing and broth, and remove and let cool down to handling temperature.

Stuff each mushroom by grabbing a small handful of stuffing, squeezing it to compact it, and placing in mushroom caps. Bake all mushrooms at 350 for about 10-15 minutes. I served them with Campbell's Mushroom Gravy

Avocado Pie-Sicles and Some Soup

You know when you are looking around in some shops and you're like "man, I wish I could have that chocolate covered cheesecake". Well, that's what I was trying to recreate. Portions are reasonable instead of huge and it's so good!

The avocado pie is being re-worked on veganexplosion. Avocado pie might sound a bit unusual, but it's so good. It has a tart citrus flavor balanced with the creaminess of cream "cheese". You can taste the avocado, but I promise it's great! I had setting issues but her avocado pie made a great frozen pie. so it didn't really matter at all. I decided to cut the pieces and make chocolate covered pops! There aren't enough dunked food on sticks. Vegan, anyway.

Cut pie into pieces and place in pop sticks (I used Wilton brand. You can use wooden sticks or omit altogether. The sticks make it easier to cover, though!) Place back in freezer while you heat the chocolate.


This is a makeshift double broiler. I used about 1/2 bag of chocolate chips and 1 Tbsp. vegan creamer. Melt to a smooth even melted consistency.



Dunk, spoon over, whatever you wish. I like leaving some green!


Place back in freezer until chocolate is totally set


ENJOY!


SOUP!
Like most of my recipes, you use what you have. This is what I had on hand!



1 Package Chik'n Strips (Morningstar Farms)
1 med. onion, chopped
2 stalks celery, chopped
2 large or 4 small carrots, chopped
2 pieces yellow squash
2 ears of corn, cut
4 stalks green onion, chopped
8-10 cups vegetable of vegan "chicken" stock
poultry seasoning
handful of pasta
frozen peas.

Saute onion, carrot, and celery until softened and add squash and cook until squash is softened. Season with poultry seasoning and salt.

Meanwhile, prepare your broth and cook your pasta. (I use pasta water in the broth. It makes the soup a tad thicker). Also, saute chik'n strips and chop.

Add broth to cooked vegetables and add pasta. Add corn and green onions right before serving. Add a handful of frozen peas to each bowl and top with fresh ground pepper.

Simple and hearty.