Roasted Red Pepper and Kale Knish

If you have had knish then you know just how delicious they are, and if you haven't, I promise you won't be disappointed. Knish originated as an Eastern European Jewish street food. Traditionally filled with mashed potatoes and minced meat, these days you can them filled with just about anything. Once again, I am southern, so I take every opportunity to smother almost everything in gravy, giving this traditional dish a southern twist. Feel free to omit the gravy! They are just as good without! 

INGREDIENTS:

The filling

• 2 medium potatoes,  peeled and diced
• 1 bunch of washed and trimmed kale, chopped
• 1 small onion, diced
• 1/4 cup copped roasted red peppers
• 1 teaspoon minced garlic
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon dried thyme
• pepper to taste

Knish dough

• 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon table salt
• 1 flax egg
• 1/2 cup oil, I use grapeseed, but you could use vegetable or even coconut oil 
• 1 teaspoon apple cider vinegar
• 1/2 cup water 
• vegan butter for brushing

Brown onion gravy

• 3  cups of water
• 3 tablespoons all purpose flour
• 1 small onion, diced 
• 1 teaspoon minced garlic
• 2 teaspoons reduced sodium Better Than Bouillon
• 1 tablespoon tomato paste
• 2 teaspoons dijon mustard

COOKING INSTRUCTIONS:

Knish Dough

1. First prepare the dough by mixing the dry ingredients together in large bowl.
2. In a smaller bowl mix the oil, water, vinegar and flax egg together, then add to the dry mix.
3. Work the dough with your hands until it is well combined.
4. Kneed the dough for a few minutes, just until smooth.
5. Place dough back into the bowl, and cover with plastic wrap.
6. Pop it in the fridge for one hour to rest.

The Filling

1. Bring potatoes to boil in a large pot, and cook until you can poke a fork through them.
2. Drain potatoes, and set aside in a bowl.
3. Reheat the pot you used to boil the potatoes, adding a teaspoon of oil, begin sauting the onions and garlic. Once they are translucent, add the kale to the pot and allow to cook until wilted, and tender. Remove from the heat.
4. Return the potatoes to the pot with the onions, and kale, and mash with a hand masher, or use an electric hand mixer.
5. Mix in the roasted red pepper, and seasoning to the mash and allow to cool.

Making the Knish and gravy

pre-heat oven to 350 degrees

1. Remove dough from the the fridge and roll it out on a big floured surface (a counter top works best, you need a lot of room) into a large rectangle. The dough should be about a 1/4 inch thick. It's ok if you cannot get it into a perfect rectangle, you can trim up the edges with a sharp knife to even it out. You can save the scrap dough and roll it back out, adding any left over filling you may have to yield a few more knish.
2. Now at the edge of the dough closest to you, form a log 2 inches wide by 1 inch thick (give or take) with your filling, the length of the dough. 
3. Once all of the filling is in place, start rolling the dough (starting on the filling end) trying to get the roll as tight as you can, without having the filling squish out the ends. Before you come to the end, brush some water along the edge  of the dough to help seal the seam.
4. You now have a long log of dough. Starting at either end of the dough, measure in about 3 inches from the end and pinch, then twist the dough. Cut the dough on the twist, and place twist side up on a parchment-paper-lined baking sheet. Take your finger and poke the twist down into the center of the knish. Repeat with the remaining dough. You will get about 8 knish depending on the length of your original dough rectangle , and how big you make each knish. You may have some scrap dough, and extra filling that you can use to make a few more, as well.
5. Brush the tops of the knish with some vegan butter and bake for 30 - 35 minutes. You can brush some more butter on mid bake if you like. This will help the knish brown a little better.
6. As the knish are baking, prepare the gravy by sauteing the onions and garlic in the same pan you used for your filling, with a few teaspoons of vegan butter over medium heat. Once the onions are translucent, sprinkle on the flour and stir, letting it cook for a few minutes. Whisk the water, Better than Bouillon, tomato paste, and mustard together, then add to the pan. Reduce the heat to low, add salt and pepper, and let simmer, stirring regularly, until the gravy begins to thicken.
7. Once knish are done, you can top with the gravy, and garnish with some fresh parsley.

The knish freeze and reheat really well. We often make a double batch, and freeze half. They should be good in the freezer for up to one month. 

Potato and Green Chili Taquitos

INGREDIENTS:

• 4 small/medium russet potatoes

• 1 small can of green chilis

• 1/2 onion, diced

• 1 teaspoon cumin

• 1 teaspoon chili powder

• 1/2-1 teaspoon salt

• 1 teaspoon garlic powder

• 1/4 cup vegan plain yogurt, I like Kite Hill

• 1 tablespoon nutritional yeast (optional)

• 1 pack corn tortillas

• oil for frying

Avocado Cream:

• 1 avocado

• Juice from 1 lime

• 1/3 cup vegan plain yogurt

• 1 teaspoon chili powder

• 1 teaspoon garlic powder

• 1/2-1 teaspoon salt

• 2-3 tablespoons water

INSTRUCTIONS:

1. Peel and dice potatoes. Bring a medium to large pot of water to a boil, and add the potatoes. Boil until potatoes are soft, and you can get a fork through them.

2. Drain potatoes in a colander, and set aside still in the colander.

3. In the pot you boiled the potatoes in, heat 1 teaspoon of oil. Add the onion, can of chilis, and spices. Let cook on medium heat until the onions are soft. Add the potatoes back to the pot and mash the potatoes, onions, and peppers with a hand masher, or an electric mixer. If using nutritional yeast, add it in and stir.

4. Add a few tablespoons of the mashed potato mixture to a tortilla. Spread the mixture evenly over the surface of the tortilla then roll it up. Repeat with remaining filling and tortillas. * Tortilla Trick: I microwave my tortillas with a damp paper towel covering them for about 30 seconds before filling them. This tends to help them get a little more flexible and not crack when rolling!

5. In medium skillet with high sides, heat 1/4 to 1/2 inch of oil on medium heat.

6. Add a few tortillas at a time to the hot oil, SEAM SIDE DOWN. Let the taquitos cook for a few minutes before carefully flipping them. It works best to use a pair of metal tongs to flip them. Allow them to fry on the other side for a few minutes until crisp. Once done, remove from oil and allow to cool on a wire cooling rack, with some paper towels underneath. Repeat with remaining taquitos.

7. To make the Avocado cream, add a peeled and pitted avocado, and the remaining ingredients to a food processor and blend until perfectly smooth. Use 2-3 tablespoons of water depending on how thin you want the cream.

8. Serve taquitos with avocado cream, and some salsa, or pico.

serves 4-6

Crispy Tofu with Roasted Pepper Marinara and Quinoa

Crispy tofu on a bed of savory quinoa, covered in a delicious red pepper marinara makes for a quick and filling weeknight dinner.

You can easily makes this recipe gluten free by using a gf flour blend, and gf panko. You could also use an air fryer to prepare the tofu if you have one, or try baking the tofu pieces if you prefer cooking without oil!

I like that this recipe because it comes together fairly quickly, its super flavorful thanks to the sauce, and can be a nice gluten free option for entertaining!

If you bake or air fry the tofu, it is a super healthy dinner as well. I would air fry by giving the tofu a little spray with oil and fry at 375 for 10-15 minutes or until crispy. If baking, I would bake on a parchment lined cookie sheet at 400, flipping the tofu pieces after 8-10 minutes to crisp up both sides.

No matter how you cook it, I think you will be just as big a fan of this tofu as our family is!

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INGREDIENTS:

The Tofu

• 1 block extra firm tofu

• 1/3 cup all purpose flour

• 1 flax egg

• 1/4 cup plant based milk

• 2 cups panko bread crumbs, regular or gluten free (not all are vegan, be sure and check)

• 1 teaspoon each of salt, paprika, garlic powder, and thyme

• oil for frying

The Marinara

• 1 (14.5 oz) can diced tomatoes

• 1/2 -1/3 cup roasted red peppers

• 1/2 small onion cut in quarters

• 2 teaspoons minced garlic

• 1 teaspoon smoked paprika

• 1 teaspoon salt

• 1 teaspoon dreid thyme

• pepper to taste

The Quinoa

• 1 cup dried quino

• 2 cups water

• 1/2 small onion finely diced

• 2 teaspoons minced garlic

• 1 teaspoon salt

• 1 teaspoon dried time

• 1 teaspoon oil such as grape seed or olive oil

• 2 tablespoons pine nuts (optional)

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INSTRUCTIONS:

1. Remove tofu from package, and wrap in a clean kitchen towel, or a few paper towels. Put a few books on top and let sit for about 15 minutes to remove the excess liquid from the tofu.

2. While tofu is pressing, prepare quinoa by bringing 2 cups of water to a boil in a medium sized pot, then add the quinoa. Reduce heat to a simmer and put a lid on the pot. Let quinoa simmer, stirring occasionally until all of the liquid is absorbed.

3. While the quinoa is simmering, heat a teaspoon of oil in a small skillet. Add the diced onion, and minced garlic, cooking until onions are translucent. Add in the pine nuts and cook just a few minutes. Pine nuts burn very quickly, so keep moving them around the pan until just until they are toasted, then remove from the heat. Once the quinoa is done cooking, mix in the onion, pine nut mixture, and seasoning. Put the lid back on and set aside.

4. Drain the liquid from the tomatoes, and add them along with all of the other sauce ingredients to a blender or food processor. Blend for a few minutes, until the onion, peppers, and tomatoes are broken down. Heat the sauce in a medium sized pot on simmer while you prepare the tofu.

5. Cut pressed tofu into 1/2 inch pieces, cutting from the ends of the tofu block. You will get around 8 or 9 pieces.

6. In a shallow dish, mix 1 flax egg, and 1/4 cup of non dairy milk. Add flour to another shallow dish or plate. Then mix the panko in another dish, or plate with the seasonings.

7. First coat each piece of tofu with flour, next the flax egg wash, and lastly the panko. Make sure to evenly, and fully coat the tofu with the flour, and flax egg wash. The panko will stick best if you press it into the tofu pieces, flipping the tofu to make sure both sides are covered.

8. In a large skillet, heat about 1/4 to 1/2 inch of oil. You just need enough to fry each side of tofu, you do not need to cover the tofu in oil.

9. Once oil is good and hot reduce heat to medium, add the coated tofu pieces and fry each side for 3 - 5 minutes. You want each side crispy and golden brown. Once tofu is finished frying, place on a wire cooling rack with some paper towels underneath for a few minutes.

10. To serve, add a scoop of quinoa to each plate, top with 1 or 2 pieces of tofu, and a few spoonfuls of sauce.

Serves 4 - 6.

Bruschetta with Roasted Vegetables and Tofu Ricotta

In the summer months I am not always in the mood for a big dinner.

Often I just want a salad and some bread on the side.

But if I am feeling a little extra, I whip up a batch of easy tofu ricotta, roast up some of my favorite veggies, and top some crusty bread.

This recipes also is great for entertaining, pot lucks, and get togethers.

Even at room temp these roasted veggies are just a delicious.

I used tomatoes, Brussels sprouts, and mushrooms. I think its a perfect combo, but you can easily eliminate any of those veggies you don’t like, or roast some that you do. Easy Peasy.

Carbs, vegan cheese, roasted veggies…is all you need.

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INGREDIENTS:

• 1 loaf of french bread (make sure the bread you choose does not contain milk or eggs)

• 1/2 batch tofu ricotta

• 2 cups sliced mushrooms

• 2 cups quartered brussel sprouts

• 1 cup halved cherry tomatoes

• 2 teaspoons minced garlic

• 1/2 teaspoon salt

• 1 teaspoon dried thyme

• pepper to taste

• 1 tablespoon olive or grape seed oil

• 2 tablespoons fresh chopped parsley (for garnish)

COOKING INSTRUCTIONS:

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

1. Add all vegetables, oil, garlic, and seasoning to a large bowl and toss, making sure the oil coats all of the vegetables.

2. Pour vegetables out on a parchment-paper-lined cookie sheet. Make sure they are spread out in a single layer, and not over crowded.

3. Place pan in the preheated oven for 20 - 25 minutes to roast. You want the vegetables to be crisp around the edges, and brown but not burned. If they are not very crispy or browning after 25 minutes, leave them in for a few more minutes. Remove from oven and let cool a bit.

4. Cut bread into 1 inch pieces and place on a cookie sheet, Put bread into the 400 degree oven, and allow to toast for just a few minutes. It will toast up quickly.

5. Let bread cool, then spread a tablespoon of ricotta on each piece.

6. Top each piece with a spoonful of roasted vegetables.

7. Garnish with some fresh chopped parsley and serve.

Muffin Cup Vegan Lasagna

If you have been looking for the perfect, cheesy, gooey, saucy, vegan lasagna, look no further! Layers of noodles, tofu ricotta, homemade marinara, and the perfect vegan mozzarella sauce make this lasagna the best vegan lasagna I have had, hands down!

It’s my go to dish to bake up for all of our non vegan friends and family, because no one ever even knows its vegan! We are house divided where lasagna is concerned, some preferring veggie lasagna, and others a classic “meaty” lasagna. So I have given instruction on making this lasagna 2 ways! Because two kinds of lasagna are always better than one!! Right?!?!?

You can always bake a lasagna in a 9x13 pan BUT how much cuter is it to make it in am muffin pan?! Everyone gets a little individual lasagna of their own. I love it! These also work great for pot lucks and parties since they are single serving. AND they freeze well for meal prep! Hooray for meal prep!!

I am telling you, you will never want to use store bought shredded mozzarella again after using this perfect cheese sauce. It’s super easy to whip up, and gets ooey gooey, bubbly, and browns. Its magic and it is staple in our house for so many recipes! Sometimes, like right now with this vegan lasagna, the secret is in the sauce!

So bake up a muffin tin for yourself, and one for a neighbor or friend. They will be so thankful for a night off from cooking and so impressed that this lasagna is actually vegan! I always say the way to convince someone that vegan food is just a delicious, if not more, than the non vegan version is by sharing it!! 

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INGREDIENTS:

CHEESE SAUCE:

• 1 cup of cashews (soaked in hot water a few hours, or microwaved in water for 3 mintues)

• 2 cups of water

• 2 teaspoons minced garlic

• 1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar

• 1 teaspoon salt

• 5 tablespoons arrowroot or tapioca starch

• 2 tablespoons nutritional yeast

COOKING INSTRUCTIONS:

1. Drain cashews.

2. Put all ingredients into a high speed blender, or food processor, and blend for several minutes until completely liquified. Totally Smooooooth!

3. Heat on stove in a medium sauce pan, on medium heat, stirring with a whisk until it begins to thicken. It will thicken quickly so do not stop stirring! Once it thickens, remove from the heat!

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SAUCE:

• 1 large can crushed tomatoes

• 1 small can diced tomatoes drained

• 1 carrot diced

• 1 onion diced

• 1 cup diced mushrooms (optional)

• 1-2 teaspoons crushed garlic

• 1 teaspoon dried thyme

• 1 teaspoon dried oregano

• 1 teaspoon salt

• pepper to taste

• splash of red wine (optional)

“Meaty” option:

If you would rather have a "meaty” sauce, you could omit the carrot, pepper, and mushroom, and add a bag of meatless crumbles, or even use 2 Beyond Beef brand burgers. Simply thaw them, and cook as you would ground meat before adding to the sauce.

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COOKING INSTRUCTIONS:

1. In a large sauce pan, saute all of the veggies and garlic in a few teaspoons of oil until tender. If using meatless crumbles or Beyond Burgers, heat the faux meat, garlic, and diced onion together in a pan until cooked through.

2. Add wine and let cook for a minute.

3. Add both cans of tomatoes, and spices, and let the sauce simmer for 15 - 20 minutes.

 

Lasagna

INGREDIENTS:

• 1 box lasagna noodles, regular or gluten free

• 1 batch tofu ricotta

• White cheese sauce

• Homemade veggie marinara, or you can use a jar of store bought to save time

COOKING INSTRUCTIONS:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

1. Boil lasagna noodles according to package instructions.

2. Once noodles are drained, and cooled, cut each noodle into 4 pieces.

3. Once marinara, ricotta, white cheese sauce, and noodles are ready, you can begin building your lasagna cups.

4. Prepare muffin tin by spraying with some oil.

5. Start building the lasagna cups by first placing a piece of noodle into the bottom of the tins.

6. Next add a tablespoon or so of ricotta, then marinara, then white cheese sauce. Repeat until cups are full. You should be able to fit 3 layers, ending with white cheese sauce.

7. I like to place my muffin tin on a large cookie sheet while baking just in case any sauce bubbles over.

8. Bake at 350 degrees for 25 - 30 minutes.

9. Allow to cool some then sprinkle with fresh chopped basil and serve.

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This recipes will yield around 12 lasagna cups. We typically serve 2 per adult, and 1 per child. They will freeze and reheat really well, so we normally just make a full batch and pop the leftovers into the freezer in an air tight container for up to one month. 

You can optionally cut this recipe in half pretty easily and make 6 - 8 cups. When halving the recipe I still make a full batch of marinara, and ricotta, then freeze half for next time. You can easily cut the cheese sauce recipes in half. I do not suggest making a full batch as the cheese does not freeze well. 

Soft Vegan Challah Pretzels with Vegan Cheese Sauce

Bread, in any an all forms is my favorite food.

I had to do a brief stint gluten free when our last daughter was born and we were trying to sort out her allergies. I actually had to give up dairy, wheat, and soy and it was giving up bread that did me in. I never touched dairy again, but bread, she’s my love language.

So obviously I needed to sort out an easy and delicious vegan soft pretzels recipe pretty quickly because soft pretzels are in my top 5 favorite breads. I mean come on, they are buttery, salty, soft, warm perfection.

I decided our vegan challah dough would work perfectly for creating the perfect vegan soft pretzel and I wasn’t wrong.

Don’t be intimidated by the aquafaba. It’s just bean cooking liquid and if you whip it up it acts like egg whites, which works really well in place of eggs in baked good!! I typically just use a can of chickpea liquid but any canned bean liquid will work!

And the cheese sauce!! Don’t forget the cheese sauce! There are only two suitable pretzel dips as far as I am concerned, spicy mustard or cheese sauce. Period. No further discussion on the matter. So I have added a recipe for a really quick and easy vegan cheddar cheese sauce in case you are not in a mustard mood! You are welcome.

So go make some soft pretzels! I promise your friends or family will be happy to help you eat them, or you can hoard them for yourself. I won’t judge you!

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INGREDIENTS:

• 4 cups all purpose flour

• 1 1/4 cup whipped aquafaba (measure the whipped product, not the bean liquid)

• 1/3 cup sugar

• 1/2 cup oil (I use grape seed but you can use any neutral oil you like)

• 4 1/2 teaspoons dry active yeast

• 1 tablespoon sugar

• 1 tablespoon salt

• 1 cup hot water. I just use hot water from the tap, you don't want it too hot or the yeast will die, and it will not activate

• 2 tablespoons baking soda ( This is for the water you dip the pretzels dough in before baking)

Cheese Sauce:

• 1/2 cup cashews

• 1 cup water

• 2 tablespoons nutritional yeast

• 1/2 teapsoon tumeric

• 1/2 teaspoon smoked paprkia

• 1 teapsoon dijon mustard

• 2 1/2 tablespoons tapioca starch

• 1 teaspoons light miso paste

• 2 teaspoons apple cider vinegar

COOKING INSTRUCTIONS:

1. In a large glass bowl mix hot water, yeast, and 1 tablespoon sugar.

2. Let the that sit for 10 minutes to activate, or until the mixture is super foamy at the top.

3. In a stand mixer add the yeast mixture, aquafaba, sugar, oil, salt, and 2 cups of flour. (you can mix by hand, just mix the above, and add remaining flour slowly. You will need to knead it for the same amount of time. It's a good workout though!

4. Mix until all of the ingredients are incorporated, then add in the remaining flour. I typically will hand mix the first 2 cups of flour in, or use my paddle attachment and replace with the dough hook when I add the remaining flour.

5. The dough should come together and not be sticky, if it seems sticky you can add 1/4 more flour a little at at time until the dough comes together. Your goal is smooth, and elastic-y dough, not sticky.

6. Let the dough kneed in the mixer on low/medium speed for 10 minutes. The dough should be smooth at this point and have a sort of bounce back if you poke it.

7. Form dough into a nice ball, and place in a lightly greased glass bowl. Cover the bowl with a damp kitchen towel, and place inside your oven turned off, OR on the bread proof setting if your oven has one.

8. Bring a small pot of water to a boil and place in the bottom of the oven. The heat and steam from the water will help the dough to rise.

9. Let dough rise about an hour, or until the dough has doubled in size.

10. Remove dough from bowl and split in half. Next, evenly divide each half into 8 equal pieces.

11. Rolling the dough pieces between both hands, form ropes that are about 12 inches long with each piece of dough.

12. Take each rope and make a U shape. Take the tops of the U, cross then twist them once. Now bring the crossed dough over the bottom of the U. ( the pictures will help if this is confusing.)

13. Allow pretzels to rest for about 15 mintues. While this is happening bring a large pot of water to a boil. Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Once pretzels are done resting, add 2 tablespoons of baking soda to the water.

14. Add pretzels 2-3 at a time into the water for about 30 seconds. You will need to flip them half way through. Just use a slotted spoon and gently turn them over in the water. Return them to a parchment lined cookie sheet once they come out of the water.

15. Brush pretzels with leftover aquafaba, and sprinkle with some corse sea salt before putting in the oven.

16. Bake pretzels for 15- 20 minutes. I normally move my top rack to the highest position for this. That way they get nice a brown. You will need to keep a close eye on them, and if they brown really quickly, move them to a lower rack for the remainder of the bake time.

17. Once done allow to cool on pan while you prepare the cheese sauce.

Cheese sauce:

1. Place cashews in microwave safe container and cover with water. Microwave for 3 minutes.

2. Drain water from cashews, then add all ingredients to a high speed blender or food processor.

3. Blend until completely smooth.

4. Pour mixture into a pot, and cook on medium heat, stirring the WHOLE time with a whisk.

5. As soon as the cheese starts to thicken remove from heat. If it gets to thick, add a little more water and it will thin back out.

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Cheese sauce will last about a week in the fridge, pretzels can be stored in airtight container at room temperature.

Yields 16 pretzels 

Vegan Mozzarella Cheese Sticks

Who doesn’t miss cheese sticks?! Half of my kids had never even had one, so I knew I needed to try and create a vegan cheese stick recipe so I could share this snack joy with them!.

These dairy free, vegan mozzarella cheese sticks are super simple to whip together.

They are made with coconut milk, making them more allergen friendly for kids to pack in their school lunches, because the last thing we want to do is exclude anyone with a nut allergy from this tasty treat!!!

They are also made with a vegan/plant based gelatin called agar agar powder. You can find agar at Asian markets or online at amazon. I prefer Living Jin brand but use whatever brand you can find or like.

Agar is activated when heated and will solidify pretty quickly once it begins to cool. So the result is a quick set vegan cheese. It only takes minutes for the mixture to come together, and a few hours for your cheese to set.

I am often asked if the oil can be left out, and in this recipe it can not. Agar solidifies and tends to have a gelatinous texture on its own. The filtered coconut oil helps get you a firmer cheese with a more palatable and cheese like texture. There are recipes out there for agar cheese without coconut oil, but they include extra starches and typically xanthan gum to help thicken and set the cheese.

If you are not into cheese sticks, you can mold this cheese in some small bowls and slice it for sandwiches or shred it for pizza.

So don’t be afraid to try and make your own vegan cheese at home. Its super easy, and really affordable. You know every ingredient that is going into it and can feel good about what you or your family is eating!

Happy cheese snacking, y'all!

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INGREDIENTS:

• 1 1/2 cups of full fat coconut milk or cream in a can (make sure it's at room temp, and shake the can very well first. You need the liquid as well as the creamy part, and since they tend to separate, a good shake will help mix it back up)

• 1/3 cup vegan plain yogurt

• 2 tablespoon of lemon juice

• 2 teaspoons miso paste

• 1 teaspoons of salt

• 1/4 cup nutritional yeast

• 1/4 melted cup triple refined coconut oil

• 2 tablespoons agar powder

• 1 teaspoon onion powder

• 3 tablespoons tapioca starch

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COOKING INSTRUCTIONS:

1. In a food processor or high speed blender, add all of the ingredients EXCEPT the milk, and agar.

2. Pulse a few times to mix it all up.

3. Now add the milk, and agar to a medium sauce pan and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer until mixture thickens to the constancy of a thin pudding.

4. Add the milk mixture to the ingredients in the food processor, and mix for about a minute. The mixture will quickly begin to thicken as agar begins to solidify at room temperature.

5. Transfer the mixture to an 8x8 pan.

6. Allow the cheese to harden in the refrigerator uncovered for about 2 hours.

7. Once the cheese is set, remove from the pan and cut into sticks. Store in an air tight container for up to week.

*You can also pour the mixture into small bowls to mold if you just want a shreddable, sliceable mozzarella that will melt!

Classic Vegan Cranberry Scone

I love to bake, but my 12 year old daughter love to bake more. One of our favorite things to do together is veganize our favorite old treats.

These scones are super simple to whip up. So simple that our daughter did the baking on these beauties.

We mixed in dried cranberries but you could mix in any dry fruit, nut, or even chocolate chips. You could also leave out fruit or nuts and add some almond or vanilla extract for a simple yet still delicious vegan scone.

If a 12 year old can bake up a perfect batch of these cranberry scones, so can you!

Ingredients:

• 2 cups of all purpose flour

• 8 tablespoons vegan butter

• 1/3 cup sugar plus 1 teaspoon

• 1/2 cup plain vegan yogurt, I used Kite Hill plain almond yogurt

• 1 flax egg

• 1 teaspoon baking powder

• 1/4 teaspoon baking soda

• 1/2 teaspoon salt

• 1/2 cup dried cranberries

Optional Icing:

• 1/3 cup powdered sugar

• 1 tablespoon diary free milk

• 1/8 teaspoon vanilla extract

Instructions:

Preheat oven to 400 degrees

1. In a medium bowl, combine 1/3 cup of sugar, flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt. Mix well.

2. Add the butter, and using your hands, work in the butter until the mixture seem coarse and sort of crumbly. Add the cranberries to the mix.

3. In a small bowl whisk the yogurt and flax egg.

4. Add yogurt mixture to the dry mixture, and stir unitl combined. Knead until a smooth dough comes together. It will seem dry and crumbly at first, but it will come together as you keep kneading.

5. Once it has come together, form a disk with the dough about 7-8 inches wide, and 3/4 of an inch thick. Sprinkle 1 teaspoon of sugar on the dough, then cut the circle into 8 triangles.

6. Place scones onto a parchment paper lined baking sheet, and bake for 15-20 minutes. You can brush them with a little plant based milk before popping them into the oven to help them brown. We used oat milk, as it browns nicely, but you can use what you have. They are done once they are light brown on top, and firm in the middle.

7. Allow scones to cool. You can optionally top them with an icing drizzle once cooled. Just whisk the sugar and milk and drizzle over the tops of the scones.

8. Store in an airtight container at room temperature.

yields 8 scones 

Tofu Japchae (korean sweet potato noodles)

Japchae is a savory Korean noodle dish, made with sweet potato starch noodles. You can easily find these noodles at your local Asian market or online. This dish is pretty quick, and easy, making it a great week night dinner!

INGREDIENTS:

• 1 package Japchae (sweet potato) noodles, available at asian markets.

• 1 package extra firm organic tofu

• 1 can straw mushrooms, or you can use a few cups of any fresh mushroom you like. I just love straw mushrooms.

• 1 zucchini

• 1 carrot

• 4 cups baby spinach leaves

• 1 small white onion

• 3 green onions

• 2 tablespoons sesame seeds

• 3 tablespoons coconut aminos or soy sauce

• 1 teaspoon minced garlic

• A few teaspoons sesame oil cooking

The sauce

• 1 teaspoon minced garlic

• 1/4 cup coconut aminos or soy sauce

• 2 tablespoons sugar

• 1 teaspoon sesame oil

• 3 tablespoons hot water

INSTRUCTIONS:

1. Fill a 9x13 baking dish with hot tap water. Soak the noodles in the water for 20 - 30 minutes.

2. Wrap the tofu in a clean kitchen towel or a few paper towels, and stack a few books on top for 15 - 20 minutes to remove the excess water.

3. Once tofu is done being pressed, cut into 1 inch by 1 inch cubes.

4. Cut all the vegetables, except the green onions into small matchstick sized cuts, including the mushrooms.

5. Bring a large pot of water to a boil. Add all of the spinach and allow to cook just until wilted. Once wilted, move spinach to a colander and run cold water over it for a minute. Wrap the rinsed spinach in a clean kitchen towel then squeeze until no more liquid comes out. Remove the now ball of spinach from the towel and chop it up. Set aside.

6. In a wok, or large skillet, heat a teaspoon of sesame seed oil and add the tofu, 3 tablespoons aminos, and a teaspoon of garlic. Cook until the tofu begins to brown. Remove from pan and place on a plate.

7. In a small bowl whisk the ingredients for the sauce, first adding the sugar, then the hot water to help dissolve it, then the remaining ingredients.

8. Drain the noodles, and with a clean pair of kitchen scissors, cut the noodles in half. They are very long and much easier to work with if cut.

9. Add another teaspoon of sesame oil to the pan or wok you cooked the tofu in, along with all the vegetables except the spinach and green onions. Cook the vegetables for about 5 minutes over medium heat.

10. Once the vegetables begin to soften, add the noodles and half of the sauce. Allow to cook for about 5 - 7 minutes, using tongs to move the noodles around the pan to avoid having them stick. Check the noodles after 5 minutes to make sure they are done. After the noodles seem done, add the tofu back in along with the chopped spinach, and remaining sauce. Heat for a few more minutes, just long enough to rewarm the tofu.

11. Sprinkle with chopped green onions and sesame seed to serve.

Serves 4 - 6.

Vegan Lasagna Stuffed Peppers

 

I love lasagna. Since I was a kid it was one of my top 5 favorite foods.

Cheese, sauce, veggie or “meat,” I will always gladly eat lasagna!

Not to talk myself up, but I make a pretty mean lasagna. I use our all purpose vegan cheese sauce in place of shredded mozzarella and it is truly amazing. Its gooey and extra cheesy, and creamy and perfect!

Depending on my mood, I alternate between craving a veggie or vegan meat lasagna. I give the option for both in this recipe in case you are the same way.

I typically make homemade sauce because it is easy, and I normally have the staple items to make it in my pantry. I often find jar sauce too sweet, or get annoyed at how many of them actually contain dairy (its weird to me the things they throw dairy in for no apparent reason) so it has become my habit to just make my own. You can always double the batch and freeze half for a quick weeknight dinner down the road as well.

Now how did we happen upon stuffing lasagna into a pepper you may ask?!?!? Well one day of of my kids told me they saw lasagna stuffed into peppers online and I got super excited!! Thank goodness my kids love food as much as I do and often find recipe ideas I have yet to stumble upon. So as quickly as she suggested it, I had them made and in the oven!

These stuffed peppers are really simple to make! Don't let the steps below discourage you. It is just as easy as making a big lasagna, you are just building it into a pepper!

These lasagna stuffed peppers are great for entertaining as well because they actually turn out really pretty. I used green peppers but you can use any variety of bell pepper you prefer!

So if you are a fan of lasagna but want to change it up a bit, give these a try! They are delicious, pretty and a fun spin on an original classic!

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Lasagna:

• 4 - 6 bell peppers

• 1/2 box lasagna noodles, regular or gluten free

• 1 batch tofu ricotta

• White cheese sauce (recipe below)

• Homemade veggie marinara (recipe below) or you can use a jar of store bought, you can also add cooked vagan sausage, ground “beef”, or seitan to the sauce if you like

White Cheese Sauce:

• 1/2 cup of cashews (soaked in hot water a few hours, or microwaved in water for 3 mintues)

• 1 cups of water

• 1 teaspoons minced garlic

• 1/2 tablespoon apple cider vinegar

• 1/2 teaspoon salt

• 2 and 1/2 tablespoons arrowroot or tapioca starch

• 1 tablespoons nutritional yeast

Instructions:

1. Drain cashews

2. Put all ingredients into a high speed blender, or food processor and blend for several minutes until completely liquified. Totally Smooooooth!

3. Heat on stove in a medium sauce pan, on medium heat, stirring with a whisk until it begins to thicken. It will thicken quickly so do not stop stirring! Once it thickens, remove from the heat!

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The Sauce:

• 1 large can crushed tomatoes

• 1 small can diced tomatoes drained

• 1 carrot diced

• 1 onion diced

• 1 cup diced mushrooms (optional)

• 1-2 teaspoons crushed garlic

• 1 teaspoon dried thyme

• 1 teaspoon dried oregano

• 1 teaspoon salt

• pepper to taste

• splash of red wine (optional)

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This sauce will make more than you need. I often just freeze the other half and use the next time I am making this recipe, or need a marinara sauce.

“Meaty” option:

If you would rather have a "meaty” sauce, you could omit the carrot, pepper, and mushroom, and add a bag of meatless crumbles, or even use 2 Beyond Beef brand burgers. Simply thaw them, and cook as you would ground meat before adding to the sauce.

Instructions:

1. In a large sauce pan, saute all of the veggies and garlic in a few teaspoons of oil until tender. If using meatless crumbles or Beyond Burgers, Heat the faux meat, garlic, and diced onion together in in a pan until cooked through.

2. Add wine and let cook for a minute.

3. Add both cans of tomatoes, and spices, and let the sauce simmer for 15 - 20 minutes.

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COOKING INSTRUCTIONS:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees 

1. Cut tops from bell peppers and hallow out the insides. Place peppers on a parchment lined cookie sheet turned upside down, and bake at 350 for about 15 minutes. Turning them upside down will allow the liquid in the peppers to drain out while cooking.

2. While peppers are cooking, boil lasagna noodles according to package instructions.

3. Once noodles are drained, and cooled, cut each noodle into 4 pieces.

4. Begin stuffing the peppers by first adding 1 or 2 tablespoons of marinara to the bottom. Next add a piece of lasagna noodle, ricotta, marinara, cheese sauce, and repeat until the pepper is filled. Repeat with remaining peppers.

5. Place stuffed peppers back on the cookie sheet you used to cook them the first time, and bake at 350 degrees for 25 minutes.

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Serves 4 - 6.

Vegan Glazed Yeast Donuts

Who doesn’t love a donut, am I right?

I mean I guess maybe you could dislike donuts, but I am really going to need you to explain, because I am confused!

I grew up eating Krispy Kreme in a small town where every weekend someone would stand at a stop light selling Krispy Kremes as a band, camp, church, footballs, whatever fundraiser! You could always get boxes of red light intersection donuts. Does anyone else know what I am talking about? It was a thing, and I didn't hate it! My parents were far more willing to buy us a box of donuts if it benefited our high school marching band.

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So after going vegan my heart was broken to never again get to pull up to a Krispy Kreme when the HOT sign was lit. I could never again dress my kids up for Krispy Kreme’s Pirate day and get a free donut. I was SAD.

Now don’t lecture me about how they are not good for you. I am perfectly aware. But they are delicious and sometimes it’s ok to eat a bad for you thing. It’s not like I am only eating donuts and hate vegetables.

But no matter what, I could not live in a donut-less world. I would not!

So I set out to make a perfectly glazed vegan yeast donut that would make me no longer miss Krispy Kreme every time I drove by and saw the HOT light shinning and taunting me.

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And I did! These donuts are the best vegan yeast donuts I have had. Not to toot my own horn, but it’s the truth. If you don’t believe me, then make a batch and see for yourself! Are there better glazed vegan donuts out there somewhere? Maybe, I have not found them where I live. I am always on the hunt for vegan donuts where we travel. I want all the donuts, all the time. But, seriously there is no need to search the internet high and low for a better recipe if you want to make them on your own. This one is perfect.

You can glaze them, dip them in chocolate, cover them in powdered sugar, dip them in coconut. Whatever your little donut loving heart desires. We have even covered them in vegan maple bacon, and filled them with jelly for Hanukkah.

So, may all you vegan donut dreams come true, now! Mine sure have. And we no longer have to be sad when passing a school fundraiser at an intersection selling boxes of Krispy Kreme. I still might hand them a 5 and pass on the donuts. After all they are just trying to go band camp.

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INGREDIENTS:

The Donuts

• 4 cups all purpose flour

• 3/4 cups aquafaba (we are using and measuring the whipped product, not the liquid, follow link for instructions)

• 1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoons melted vegan butter

• 1/4 cup sugar

• 2 and 1/4 teaspoon dry active yeast

• 1 cup plus 2 tablespoons plant based milk

• 1/2 teaspoon salt

• 2-3 cups of oil for frying, I use grapeseed but you could use whatever oil you normally fry with

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The Glaze

• 3 cups powdered sugar

• 1/4 cup melted vegan butter

• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

• 1/2 cup plant based milk, give or take

COOKING INSTRUCTIONS: 

1. Heat milk in microwave for 30 - 45 seconds. You want it warm, but not boiling hot.

2. Add the warm milk, yeast, and sugar to the bowl of your stand mixer. If you do not have a stand mixer, add the contents to a large bowl. Let sit for 5 minutes to activate the yeast.

3. After 5 minutes add the aquafaba, and melted butter to the mix. Next add the flour, and salt, and mix for 5 minutes on medium speed if using the stand mixer. If not using a stand mixer, then mix the ingredients together well in a bowl, then transfer to a floured counter top, and kneed the dough by hand for 5 minutes. The consistency of the dough should be soft, but not sticky.

4. After the dough has been kneaded, place it in a lightly greased bowl and cover with plastic wrap. Pop it in the oven. You are NOT turning the oven on, just leaving it there to rise. If your oven has a dough proof setting you can turn that on. Leave dough to rise for one hour, or until it has doubled in size.

5. Once the dough has finished rising, transfer to a lightly floured countertop. I like to divide the dough in half and work it in two batches. It makes it easier to roll out. Roll out one half of the dough to about 1/4 inch thick. Using a 3 inch circle biscuit or cookie cutter (or donut cutter if you have one) begin cutting circles. You will need to find something small to cut the center out with. We used the lid to our vanilla extract. Roll back out the scrap dough and continue cutting. Repeat with other half of dough. You should have a total of 2 dozen donuts.

6. Place donuts on cookies sheets, and let rest for about 15 - 20 minutes. They will become bigger as they rest.

7. While they are resting, heat 2 - 3 inches of oil in a deep skillet or medium sized pot.

8. Once oil is hot, begin adding the donuts to the oil, 2 or 3 at a time. Fry the donuts for about one minute on each side. If you don't have enough oil in the pan, and they are hitting the bottom, they will easily burn. So make sure to use enough oil!

9. Allow donuts to cool on a wire cooling rack, placed on top of a paper-towel-lined cookie sheet.

10. Once all donuts are done frying, mix all of the ingredients for the glaze. If you find the glaze too thick, you can always thin it with some more milk.

11. Dip one side of the donut in the glaze and place back on the wire rack to allow the excess glaze to drip off.

12. It will only take a few minutes for the glaze to set, and for you to be stuffing your face with delicious glazed donut perfection!

Yields two dozen donuts.

Vegan Coconut Milk Dill Havarti

When we first became vegan it was out of necessity for our youngest daughters food allergies. We had been vegetarian for years but cheese was the thing I 100% swore I would never give up. I loved cheese despite it not loving my back. My husband went vegan before I did and I refused, becauseI was a dairy addict and could not imagine a world without cheese and crackers.

When our daughter first started showing signs of food allergies I prayed it was wheat. Bread Is possibly my second favorite food, but I could give it up far more easily than cheese. At the time we did not have nearly the amount of store bought dairy alternatives easily available at regular grocery store or restaurants. What I had tried was super gross and expensive . But, because I love my kids more than food, I had to give dairy up ,and it did not take long for me to realized how awful dairy had been making me feel for more than 30 years.

I quickly had to scramble for a solution because I still missed cheese and found my recipe ideas limited if I could not include some kind of convincing dairy. That is when I learned about agar agar powder and how EASY it is to make cheese at home. Not only easy, but CHEAP. Vegan dairy product tend to be pricey, bu you can very affordably make a variety of vegan cheeses using a few simple ingredients like canned coconut milk, vegan gelatin, and coconut oil! Y’all, sooooo easy, and quick too! This vegan cheese will slice, shred, and melt! It’s nearly magic as far as I am concerned! For around $5 you will get 3xs the vegan cheese you could buy in the store, and it’s delicious.

Also. don’t be intimidated by agar agar. You can buy it online on amazon or in many Asian markets. It’s just a gelatin made from seaweed that helps the cheese solidify! The agar coupled with coconut oil makes for a perfect cheese texture that slices, shreds and melts beautifully! I am also often asked if the cheese taste like coconut. It really doesn't! I use refined or filtered coconut oil to cut back on some of the coconut flavor, and all the other ingredients like the nutritional yeast and spices help mask the flavor.

So, don’t be scared to try making your own vegan cheese at home! It’s so quick, easy and affordable. You will also likely impress friends and family with your new vegan kitchen skills! But most of all you will be able to enjoy cheese again!! Because I don’t want to live in a world where I can not eat some kind of cheese!! And now, nobody has to!

INGREDIENTS:

• 1 can of full fat coconut milk or cream

• 2 tablespoon of lemon juice

• 2 teaspoons miso paste

• 1 teaspoons of salt

• 1/4 cup nutritional yeast

• 1/4 melted cup triple refined coconut oil

• 2 tablespoons agar powder

• 3 tablespoons arrow root or tapioca starch

• 2 teaspoons dried dill

COOKING INSTRUCTIONS:

1. In a food processor or high speed blender, add all of the ingredients EXCEPT the milk, and agar.

2. Pulse a few times to mix it all up.

3. Now add the milk, and agar to a medium sauce pan and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer until mixture thickens to the constancy of a thin pudding.

4. Add the milk mixture to the ingredients in the food processor, and mix for about a minute. The mixture will quickly begin to thicken as agar begins to solidify at room temperature.

5. Transfer to the mixture to a few ramekins or small bowls. You should be able to fill 2 or 3 small bowls.

6. Allow the cheese to harden in the refrigerator uncovered for about several hours.

7. Once the cheese is set, store in an airtight container in the fridge for about a week.

Vegan Strawberry Pop-Tarts

I LOVE pop tarts! Love them. Over the years I have tried several variations of dough and filling.

I settled on this dough because the little bit of extra butter gives them a nice flakey crust, somewhere between a pop tart, and a toaster strudel.

If you don't like strawberries then I'm baffled, but its your pop tart, so fill it with any flavor jam you like. You can fill them with nut butter, maple butter, sweet vegan cream cheese....anything you want!

Just know that however you deiced to make them, they are surprising easy to make, and so good that you will probably want to just go ahead and make a double batch!

We have a family of 6 so these do not last!!! They keep well and will reheat nicely, too.

So if you have never made a homemade vegan pop-tart before, nows the time!

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INGREDIENTS:

• 1 cup whole wheat flour

• 1 cup all purpose flour

• 3/4 cup vegan butter

• a pinch of salt

• 3 - 4 tablespoons ice water

• 3 tablespoons Strawberry jam

• 1/4 cup powdered sugar

COOKING INSTRUCTIONS: 

1. Preheat oven to 350.

2. Add both cups of flour, butter, and salt to a food processor and pulse until well combined.

3. Add in the water, one tablespoon at a time until a soft dough has formed.

4. Roll the dough out on a flour dusted, smooth surface to a 1/8 of an inch thick rectangle. You can trim up the edges with a sharp knife, and save the scrap dough.

5. Once the dough is trimmed and even, cut 3 inch by 5 inch rectangles from the dough, give or take. Be sure when you are calculating how many you can cut, to have a even number. Each pop tart needs 2 rectangles. Roll out any scrap dough and repeat the process.

6. Scoop a teaspoon of strawberry jam onto a rectangle, and smear it around a bit in the middle, carefully to not get too close to the edges. ( this is where you are allowed to laugh at my careless smearing in the above picture..and notice in the next picture how that jam oozed out the sides when I pressed the edges of dough together....the whole do as I say, not as I do thing absolutely applies here)

7. Top the jam covered piece of dough with another rectangle of dough, and use a fork to press, and seal the edges.

8. Place pop tarts on a parchment lined baking sheet, or lightly spray one with cooking oil and bake for 20-25 minutes.

9. While pop tarts are baking, mix together the powdered sugar with 1 teaspoon of jam and 1/2 teaspoon of water. If it is too thin you can add a little more powdered sugar to thicken it back up. You want a spreadable consistency.

10. Once pop tarts have cooled a bit, spread the icing and serve.

Yields 8 pop tarts.

Layered Vegan Breakfast Pie with Quinoa Crust

This delicious and beautiful breakfast pie, combines layers of tofu quiche, with roasted tomatoes, and potatoes, all nestled in savory quinoa crust.

INGREDIENTS:

Quinoa crust

• 1 cup dry quinoa

• 1/4 cup vegan cream cheese

• 1/2 teaspoon thyme

• 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder

Pie filling

• 1 block firm or extra firm tofu

• 1/4 cup plain plant based milk

• 2 large tomatos

• 2 medium sized russet potatoes

• 3 green onions chopped

• 3 tablespoons nutritional yeast

• 1 teaspoon garlic powder

• 1 1/4 teaspoons tumeric

• 1 teaspoon onion powder

• 1 teaspoon thyme

• 1 teaspoon salt

• pepper to taste

• fresh basil for garnish

COOKING INSTRUCTIONS:

1. Wash potatoes, and leave the skin on. With a kitchen mandoline, thinly slice both potatoes. If you do not have a mandoline, you can VERY thinly slice them with a knife.

2. Thinly slice the tomatoes.

3. On 2 parchment-lined baking sheets, spread out the potatoes and tomatoes in a single layer. Lightly spray both pans of vegetables with some cooking oil, and sprinkle with a little salt. Bake at 400 degrees for 15 - 20 minutes.

4. Cook quinoa according to package instructions.

5. Once quinoa is cooled, mix in vegan cream cheese, 1/2 teaspoon garlic, and 1/2 teaspoon thyme.

6. Press the quinoa mixture evenly into a lightly oiled pie pan, and set aside.

7. Add drained tofu (no need to press it,) milk, nutritional yeast, garlic, and remaining seasonings to a high speed blender or food processor. Blend until mixture is completely smooth.

8. Once the veggies are done, remove from oven and allow to cooled. Turn oven down to 350 degrees.

9. Begin layering the pie by scooping 1/3 of the tofu mixture into the bottom of the quinoa crust. Next add half of the tomatoes in a single layer. Evenly spread another 1/3 of the tofu on top of the tomatoes. Now add all of the potatoes in an even layers, and sprinkle the green onions over them. Top potatoes with the remaining 1/3 of the tofu mixture and spread evenly. Evenly arrange the remaining tomatoes on top.

10. Place pie in the the 350 degree oven and bake for 30 mintues.

11. Allow pie cool a bit before adding some fresh basil leaves on top and serving.

Chocolate, Peanut Butter, Banana "Nice cream"

Banana "nice cream" is a pretty popular frozen treat these days. As it should be. It could not be easier to whip a batch of this yummy, and healthy frozen treat! I like to freeze our over-ripe bananas so that I always have some on hand when I get an ice cream craving. You can easily omit the chocolate and nut butter, and add some fresh strawberries or other fruit to the mix!

INGREDIENTS:

• 5 - 6  sliced, frozen bananas
• 1/4 cup plant based milk
• 1/4 cup cocoa powder
• 1/4  cup nut butter
• vegan chocolate chips or coconut for sprinkling (optional)

INSTRUCTIONS:

1. Place all ingredients into a high speed blender or food processor, and blend until completely creamy. You will likely have to pause blending to scrape sides, or move the mixture around a little with a spoon to get it to fully blend. If it still seems too thick, you can add a tiny bit more milk. Just don't add too much, because you want the mixture thick.
2. Seve right away with whatever toppings you like.

Serves about 4.

Beyond Meatball Stuffed Challah

 The only thing better than vegan challah may just be stuffed vegan challah! And the only thing better than a meatball sub may just be a whole loaf of soft, delicious bread ,stuffed with cheesy, saucy, meatballs.

You read that correctly! Soft, fluffy, perfect vegan challah, stuffed with vegan meatballs, marinara, mozzarella.

It’s saucy, “meaty”, gooey, vegan cheesy magic, all wrapped into a warm fluffy challah bread.

It’s a meatball sandwich you can eat without worrying about the meatballs falling out the back and into your lap, and that will feed a whole family ( or maybe still just you if you are extra hungry!) This recipe actually makes 2 loaves so you can be stingy and there will still be one to share!

I promise vegan challah is easier than it may seem, and I also promise stuffing it with vegan meatballs (or anything else for the matter) is not that hard either!

We used Beyond Brand Meat for the meatballs because it is my favorite brand to use. You can use whatever is handy or easy to find. You can also use pre-made vegan meatballs if that is easier for you. I like Trader Joes brand if going that route!

For the cheese you can use store bought vegan mozzarella or fry your hand at making your own. We have serval mozzarella recipes on the the site. This vegan mozzarella cheese stick recipe can be molded in a bowl then easily shredded for this recipe. It shreds, slices, and melts really well!

This recipe hands down my favorite stuffed challah to make and eat! If you love challah and you love meatball subs, then this is gonna be your favorite too. I have zero doubts!

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Challah

Follow the recipe for my basic Challah Y'all, Vegan Challah. You will follow the instructions through the first rise, then follow the below instructions for stuffing and braiding.

INGREDIENTS:

• 4 thawed Beyond Meat Burgers or 1 lb of vegan ground mince

• 1/4 cup panko bread crumbs

• 1 teaspoon minced garlic

• 1 teaspoon Italian seasoning (a mix of thyme, sage, basil, marjoram, rosemary, and oregano) if you do not have Italian seasoning feel free to add a combo of any of the listed spices

• 1 teaspoon tomato paste

• 1 flax egg

• 1 bag vegan mozzarella shreds, like Follow Your Heart brand

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Sauce

• 1 onion, diced

• 1 carrot, diced

• 1 28 ounce can crushed tomatoes

• 1/3 cup red wine (optional)

• 2 teaspoons crushed garlic

• 1 teaspoon salt

• 2 teaspoons Italian seasoning

COOKING INSTRUCTIONS:

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Meatballs

1. Mix thawed burgers, panko bread crumbs, garlic, spices, and flax egg together in a bowl.

2. Once well combined, form meatballs with a small scoop, or spoon, and place them on a baking pan. You can line the pan with parchment paper for easier clean up.

3. Bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes.

Sauce

1. Sauté onions and carrots in 1 teaspoon of oil until onions are translucent with 1 teaspoon of salt in a large pot for 5 minutes.

2. Add the wine, and let it cook for 2 minutes.

3. Add the remaining ingredients, and let the sauce simmer for 30 minutes.

4. Add the cooked meatballs, and let simmer in the sauce for 15 minutes.

Stuffing the Challah

1. Once Challah has completed its first rise, remove from oven and separate dough in half. This recipe will yield 2 stuffed challah loaves.

2. Cut each half into thirds. (each loaf will have three pieces of dough. Work with one loaf at a time, leaving the other three pieces of dough covered in a bowl until you are ready to use them)

3. Take one piece of dough in you hand and begin to stretch it both length wise, and width wise and the same, time, letting gravity help with the length. You want the dough to be about 12 inches long, and maybe 4 inches wide. Once you have it stretched length wise, you can put it on a floured counter top and press it to get it the width stretched.

4. Once your dough is the correct size, begin adding the meatballs in a row, it works best if you cut them in half. You can add a LITTLE sauce, but if the dough becomes wet on the edges, it WILL NOT seal together when pinched. So do not over fill. Sprinkle with vegan cheese shreds. Save the extra sauce for dipping, later.

5. Once stuffed, bring the outside edges together, and pinch to seal.

6. Repeat with the other two strands.

7. Once all three strands are stuffed, and formed, carefully braid the three pieces together. If the seams begin to open, pinch them back and continue braiding. Tuck both ends of the loaf under when done braiding. Once again I will refer you to Tori Avey's challah braiding guide if you are unfamiliar with braiding challah! She does a fantastic job showing all the different ways to braid your bread, plus she has some really great recipes on her site.

8. Repeat with the second loaf, and place both stuffed loaves on a baking sheet, and back in the oven to rise again for about 45 mintues. Once they have risen, remove from oven and pre-heat to 350.

9. Brush tops of challah with some vegan butter.

10. Bake both loaves for about 35 - 45 minutes. You can tap the tops to see if they sound a little hallow. It is hard to tell when stuffed challahs are done when there are wet ingredients inside, so if they do not seem cooked through after 35 minutes, let them keep cooking for 5 - 10 more minutes.

11. Remove challah from the oven, and allow to cool some before cutting. Serve with reserved sauce for dipping.

Vegan Chocolate Chip Cannoli

Holy Cannoli! It’s vegan cannoli!

I mean if you didn’t know this is a thing, it’s totally a thing! And they are so flipping delicious.

It was actually our 13 year old daughter who decided she wanted to make vegan cannoli. Ya’ll, she is 13! So if she can do it, you can too!

The shells take a little time but are worth it! So worth it! We don’t have a cannoli tube/maker, so made one out of foil. If you plan on making them often, I suggest investing in the the tube. But making your own totally works!

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We also used tofu for the filling. We made it into a sweet tofu ricotta and it is super delicious! I love using tofu to make sweet and savory ricottas. The texture is creamy perfection and the chocolate chips add just the right bite.

You could dip your finished cannoli in chocolate, sprinkles, pistachios, whatever. We just wanted to give you the basic recipe and beyond that, get as creative as you want.

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Just remember to fill the shells when you are ready to eat them. They tend to get a little soggy if you fill them and let them sit for extended period of time.

So, go forth and make cannoli! Just because you are vegan does not mean you cant’t enjoy the same treats as everyone else. Cannoli included!!

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The Dough:

• 2 cups all purpose flour

• 1 tablespoon sugar

• 1/4 teaspoon salt

• 2 tablespoons plus 2 teaspoons vegan butter, like Earth Balance

• 1 egg replacement , we used store bought powdered egg replacement for this recipe

• 1/2 cup dry white wine

• enough oil for frying.

The Filling:

• 1 package firm organic tofu (drained)

• 1/2 cup powdered sugar

• Juice from one lemon

• 1 teaspoon cinnamon

• 1/4 teaspoon salt

• 1 teaspoon vanilla

• 1/4 cup mini vegan chocolate chips

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Instructions for the Dough:

1. In a medium sized bowl, mix dry ingredients.

2. Add in the cold vegan butter to the dry ingredients. Using your hands, mix the butter in until you have a rice like, crumble.

3. Add the flax egg, and wine, and work mixture with your hands until a soft dough has formed. If it seems too dry, add another teaspoon or two of wine until it comes together.

4. Flatten dough into a disk, and wrap in plastic wrap. Pop the dough in the fridge to rest while you make the filling.

Instructions for Filling:

1. Add all of the filling ingredients EXCEPT the chocolate chips to a high speed blender, or food processor. Mix on high until filling becomes completely smooth.

2. Once smooth, fold in the chocolate chips with a spoon. Place in fridge until ready to use.

Making the Cannoli:

1. Remove dough from the fridge, and roll it out to about 1/8 of of an inch thick. You want the dough very thin.

2. Cut 3-4 inch circles from the dough with a circle cookie cutter, or the rim of a drinking glass.

3. You should be able to get about 20 circles from the dough.

4. You will need a cannoli mold, OR you can make some with some aluminum foil (pictured above.) Take 4 sheets of foil, you want tear the foil at about 4 inches. So your sheets will be 4x12 inches. Start rolling the first sheet at the short end into a tight tube. Begin rolling that tube into another sheet, and so on, until all sheets of foil have been used up. Now you have a foil tube. You can make 3 or 4 tubes to make frying a little faster. The tubes get very hot so you will have to wait for them to cool each time before you start another batch.

5. Heat a deep skillet (I just used a small/medium cast iron skillet) with an inch or two oil on medium heat.

6. Take a circle of dough and wrap it around your mold. Brush the dough with a tiny bit of water at the seams to help seal them. Use your fingers to flare out the edges just a tiny bit.

7. Take some metal tongs, and place the cannoli into the hot oil. Let cook for 15 to 20 seconds on one side, then turn it. It will begin to brown instantly. You only need to cook each one for a minute or less. Be carful because the foil tubes will hold oil. When you pick the cannoli up out of the pan, hold it vertically above the pan with your tongs, and allow the extra oil to come out before placing on a wire cooling rack.

8. After a minute or so, allowing the cannoli to cool, grab the tube with the tongs in one hand, use a paper towel in the the other hand to help you carefully pull the cannoli off the tube. I like to place the still hot foil tubes on a plate, and stick them in the freezer for a few mintues to let them cool enough to handle before starting the next batch of cannoli shells.

9. Repeat this process until you have fried all of the dough.

10. Once all of the cannoli shells are done and cooled, fill a piping bag, or large zip lock with the filling. If using a zip lock, snip a corner with some scissors. Pipe the filling into the shells, and dust with some powdered sugar.

 The shells will store well at room temperature, so if not serving immediately, wait to fill the shells until ready to serve. 

Meaty Vegan Potato Knish

If you have had knish then you know just how delicious they are, and if you haven't, I promise you won't be disappointed.

Knish originated as an Eastern European Jewish street food. Traditionally filled with mashed potatoes and minced meat, these days you can them filled with just about anything.

We often fill them with meat and potatoes, or sautéed veggies and cheesy potatoes. The dough is actually really easy to make. The rolling and cutting of the dough is also easy once you understand the process, so we have added step by step pics to help!

Don’t worry if your first batch or two are not super pretty! They will still taste delicious. I think this is just one of those recipes that practice makes perfect. And once you make them once, ou will likely want to make them all the time. So you will be a knish pro before you even know what happened.

Once again, I am southern, so I take every opportunity to smother almost everything in gravy, giving this traditional dish a southern twist. Feel free to omit the gravy! They are just as good without!

Knish also freeze really well, making them a great meal prep item. We normally double our batch and freeze half. Just thaw and reheat in the oven. Cook once, eat twice is my favorite!

Finally, if you are not a fan of faux meat, feel free to replace it in this recipe wth some minced and sautéed mushrooms, or walnut meat. Both would be just as tasty!

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INGREDIENTS:

The Filling

• 2 Thawed Beyond Meat burgers, or half a bag of meatless crumbles, or 1 cup minced seitan flank steak

• 2 medium sized potatoes

• 1/2 onion

• 1/3 cup vegan cream cheese

• 1 teaspoon of thyme

• 1/2 teaspoons salt

• pepper to taste

• 2 teaspoons cooking oil

Knish dough

• 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

• 1 teaspoon baking powder

• 1/2 teaspoon salt

• 1 flax egg

• 1/2 cup oil, I use grapeseed, but you could use vegetable or even coconut if you want

• 1 teaspoon apple cider vinegar

• 1/2 cup water

• vegan butter for brushing

Brown onion gravy

• 3 cups of water

• 3 tablespoons all purpose flour

• 1 small onion, diced

• 1 teaspoon minced garlic

• 2 teaspoons reduced sodium Better Than Bouillon

• 1 tablespoon tomato paste

• 2 teaspoons dijon mustard

• salt and pepper to taste

COOKING INSTRUCTIONS:

Knish Dough:

1. First prepare the dough by mixing the dry ingredients together in large bowl.

2. In a smaller bowl mix the oil, water, vinegar and flax egg together, then add to the dry mix.

3. Work the dough with your hands until it is well combined.

4. Kneed the dough for a few minutes, just until smooth.

5. Place dough back into the bowl, and cover with plastic wrap.

6. Pop it in the fridge for one hour to rest.

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The Filling:

1. Begin preparing the filling by peelinig, and dicing the potatoes to a very fine dice.

2. Dice onion to a very fine dice as well.

3. In a large skillet on medium heat, add a teaspoon or two of oil, onions, and potatoes. Cook the veggies until the potatoes are cooked through. It wont take too long since they are cut so small.

4. Now add the thawed burgers (breaking them up with a spatula,) or meatless crumbles, and seasonings to the pan with the potatoes. Continue cooking until the "meat" is cooked through.

5. Transfer mixture to a medium sized bowl, and let cool for 5 minutes. Mix in the cream cheese until well combined. Set pan aside to use later for the gravy. Don't wash the pan.

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Making the Knish

pre-heat oven to 350 degrees

1. Remove dough from the the fridge and roll it out on a big floured surface (a counter top works best, you need a lot of room) into a large rectangle. The dough should be about a 1/4 inch thick. It's ok if you cannot get it into a perfect rectangle, you can trim up the edges with a sharp knife to even it out. You can save the scrap dough and roll it back out, adding any left over filling you may have to yield a few more knish.

2. Now at the edge of the dough closest to you, form a log 2 inches wide by 1 inch thick (give or take) with your filling, the length of the dough.

3. Once all of the filling is in place, start rolling the dough (starting on the filling end) trying to get the roll as tight as you can, without having the filling squish out the ends. Before you come to the end, brush some water along the edge of the dough to help seal the seam.

4. You now have a long log of dough. Starting at either end of the dough, measure in about 3 inches from the end and pinch, then twist the dough. Cut the dough on the twist, and place twist side up on a parchment-paper-lined baking sheet. Take your finger and poke the twist down into the center of the knish. Repeat with the remaining dough. You will get about 8 knish depending on the length of your original dough rectangle , and how big you make each knish. You may have some scrap dough, and extra filling that you can use to make a few more, as well.

5. Brush the tops of the knish with some vegan butter and bake for 30 - 35 minutes. You can brush some more butter on mid bake if you like. This will help the knish brown a little better.

6. As the knish are baking, prepare the gravy by sauteing the onions and garlic in the same pan you used for your filling, with a few teaspoons of vegan butter over medium heat. Once the onions are translucent, sprinkle on the flour and stir, letting it cook for a few minutes. Whisk the water, Better than Bouillon, tomato paste, and mustard together, then add to the pan. Reduce the heat to low, add salt and pepper, and let simmer, stirring regularly, until the gravy begins to thicken.

7. Once knish are done, you can top with the gravy, and garnish with some fresh parsley.

The knish freeze, and reheat really well. We often make a double batch, and freeze half. They should be good in the freezer for up to one month. 

Easy Tofu Quiche Cups

Tofu, it’s magic, am I right?!?!?

You can sauté it, fry it, bake it, turn it into cheese, and even use it as a really convincing egg substitute.

Did you know you can blend it right up with a few more ingredients and get an amazing and healthy quiche?

And for all of you that are gluten free, just skip the crust and bake your tofu vegan quiche right in a muffin pan. Aren’t they cute??

You can add any veggies you like to the recipe, whatever you have on hand, vegan sausage, bacon, or cheese The sky, errrrr, the muffin pan is the limit. What I meant to say is just don’t overfill the cup or you will have a mess on your hands.

These little beauties reheat like a dream and that makes them perfect for meal prep and an easy grab and go breakfast or lunch!

So for all of y’all that think tofu is gross or boring or you just don’t know what to do with it, here is a solid idea for breakfast, lunch, or dinner. It’s easy, healthy, and super delicious! So really these are a no brainer!

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INGREDIENTS:

• 1 package extra firm tofu

• 1/4 cup plant based milk

• 2 tablespoons nutritional yeast

• 1 teaspoon turmeric

• 1 teaspoon powder garlic

• 1 teaspoon salt

• 1/2 teaspoon pepper

• 2 cups chopped brocoli

• 1/2 medium onion diced

• 1/4 bell pepper

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COOKING INSTRUCTIONS:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

2. In a medium sized skillet, spray a little cooking oil and add the veggies. Sauté until the onions become translucent, then remove from heat.

3. Add the remaining ingredients to a food processor, or a high speed blender, and blend until the mixture is completely smooth.

4. Dump the veggies into the tofu mix, and pulse just a few times to mix them up.

5. Spray a muffin tin with some spray oil, and divide the mixture evenly. The mixture will yield 6 - 8 cups depending on how full you fill the muffin cups.

6. Bake the quiche cups for 25 - 30 minutes. They are done once they begin to brown, and you can pull them away from the side of the pan easily.

7. Store leftovers in the fridge.

Vegan Spanakopita Triangles

INGREDIENTS: 

• 1 package phyllo dough 
• 1 pound baby spinach, roughly chopped
• 3 green onions, chopped
• 1 cup vegan feta
• 1/3 tofu ricotta
• 1 tablespoon minced garlic (or 2 cloves garlic minced)
• Juice from half a lemon
• 2 tablespoons fresh dill
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon pepper

COOKING INSTRUCTIONS:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees

1. Following phyllo package instructions for thawing the dough. Normally the package says to thaw in the fridge over night. If you did not do that, you can leave it on the counter, and allow to thaw for 2 hours, still in the box. 
2. Heat a large skillet on medium heat, add a few teaspoons of oil, and saute the onions and garlic for a few minutes.
3. Begin adding the spinach in batches to the pan, allowing it to cook down before adding more. Continue until all of the spinach has been added, and it has just wilted. 
4. Crumble up the feta a bit in a large bowl, then mix in the ricotta, lemon, dill, salt and pepper. 
5. Add the spinach mixture to the bowl and stir.
6. Carefully remove the thawed phyllo from the package, and lay it out flat.
7. You want 4 sheets stacked together, so carefully remove one sheet at a time, lay flat, and spray or brush with some cooking oil. Repeat until you have 4 pieces stacked. Be sure to also spray or brush the top sheet. Repeat this process with the remaining sheets of phyllo dough.
8. Using a pizza cutter, or a sharp knife, divide and cut each stack of dough into 4 - 6 equal strips, the strips should be about 3 - 4 inches across each.
9. Take about 2 tablespoons of filling, and place at one end of a dough strip. Form the filling into a triangle shape, and start folding the dough over, from one side to the other, until you reach the end.
10. Repeat with remaining strips, and place triangles on a parchment paper lined baking sheet.
11. Bake for 30 - 35 minutes.
12. Serve with Lemon tahini dip.

Yields about 2 dozen triangles.