Cheesy Tomatokra Soup

Beloved vegans and nons, I come to you with this hodgepodge of ingredients from my refrigerator and pantry. This is what happens when you are in between grocery trips but are in the mood for a warm meal. The formula for this recipe is similar to my dear friend Emily's vegan stew! Recipe here. She threw together a few cans in her pantry and it turned into one of the most hearty, delicious stews I have ever had! For times like this, I keep vegan cheese sauce at the ready most of the time, except when my cat spills all of my cashews that had been soaking for 8 hours onto the floor, ruining any plans for mac and cheese. This happened. I was furious. Going back to the recipe, prepare the cheese sauce according to the blog post. 

Ingredients:

• 1 batch cheese sauce           ($3.00)
• 2 cans tomatoes and okra     ($0.99)
• 1 can black beans, drained   ($0.59)

Preparation:

Throw it all in a large pot and heat until warmed through. For less than $4.50, you have a wonderful stew that could also serve well as a party dip! Try it with corn chips, carrot sticks, or just straight up with a spoon! 

Cheesy stew!

Spinach Artichoke Dip

I actually had never really experienced spinach artichoke dip until I dined at Brixx Wood Fired Pizza. Sure, I tasted it at Super Bowl parties and family reunions but it was never really something that I saw as an exquisite dish or appetizer. Spinach Artichoke dip at Brixx is the most savory, warm, salty dip served with either pita bread or blue corn chips for the gluten-free. It completely opened my eyes to how amazing this dip can be. Since turning vegan, I have tried many imitations of cheese, cream, dairy, and meat. Other than when I made Vegan New England Clam Chowder, I feel like this recipe replicates the creamy, cheesy, gooeyness of non-vegan food the best! 

Ingredients:

• 3 slices whole grain bread                      ($0.16)
• 3 tbsp. vegan butter                                ($0.24)
• 1 medium onion, diced                           ($0.24)
• 1 tbsp. olive oil                                        ($0.02)
• 2 cans white beans, drained, rinsed      ($1.10)
• 6 tbsp. nutritional yeast                          ($1.60)
• ½ cup vegetable broth                           ($0.35)
• 2 tsp. sea salt                                         ($0.02)
• ¼ tsp. dried basil                                    ($0.04)
• 2 tsp. red pepper flakes                         ($0.06)
• 6 cloves of garlic, minced                      ($0.99)
• 8 cups of spinach, chopped                  ($1.60)
• 2 cans artichoke hearts, drained           ($0.99)
• 1 cup vegan mozzarella cheese            ($2.35)
• 1 can french fried onions                       ($0.99)

Preparation:

Preheat the oven to 400°F. Place the bread and butter in a blender or food processor and blend to create a dough like consistency. Set aside. Insert the white beans, nutritional yeast, vegetable broth, salt, basil, and red pepper flakes in the same food processor and blend until smooth. Set aside. Sauté the onions in the olive oil on medium heat until translucent. Toss the garlic in and cook for 2 minutes. Add the artichoke hearts and stir until warmed. Slowly throw some of the spinach in a few handfuls at a time. Wilt the spinach and then add some more. This will take some time but will yield a healthy, hearty dip! Turn the heat off and add the white bean mixture and half of the mozzarella cheese. Stir until warmed through. Place in a casserole pan and spread the dough mixture over the top of the dip. Add the rest of the cheese on top and place a layer of aluminum foil over the dish. Bake for 20 minutes; remove the foil and add the french fried onions. Bake for an additional 15 minutes; you should have an irresistibly savory spinach and artichoke dip! 

Bread and Butter

Gooey butter dough

Bean Batter

Blended bean batter

Just onions... 

DELICIOUS GARLIC ONIONS

ALL THE SPINACH

Starting to look like artichoke dip

REMEMBER THE BATCHES
ADDING ALL THE SPINACH AT ONCE WILL MAKE A MESS

Wet, wilted, wonderful spinach

Even more gooey than you ever thought possible

Dollops of dough

This is Daiya brand mozzarella but Trader Joe's has a nice version

Are you excited yet??

You do not have to add the whole jar
I LOVE FRIED ONIONS
The cheese is also optional but who does not love CHEESE??

Crunchy, creamy spinach dip

Layers of luscious dip

Another amazing artichoke entrée

Look at that oozing artichoke casserole!

Soooo....we ate the entire casserole in one sitting
It is seriously that DELICIOUS

Devilishly delicious dough makes a great addition to this dip

Look at my new kitchen! It is so much bigger than I am used to
I have room to take display food photos!
I still have a lot to learn so if you guys have any advice on
cooking OR photography, please let me know!

Alright, alright... this casserole dip concoction is a tiny bit more expansive than the recipes I usually post; if you do not eat it in one night it will save very well and actually evens out in price versus quantity of food. BUT WE ARE COWS AND VEGANS NEED MORE FOOD. Anyway, I just thought I would send a shout out to One Green Planet for providing the base for this amazing resskippee (how my boyfriend pronounces recipe, isn't he cute?!) and another should out to my coworkers for being the guinea pigs for this recipe. Except that would involve animal testing. And I am vegan. And I am against animal testing. So never mind about the guinea pigs; I just want to thank them for being so supportive and eating the delicious food that I make. That is all.

Happy Saint Patrick's Day (Vegan Reuben)

Happy Saint Patrick's Day! Time for green beer, shamrocks, and dancing leprechauns. Instead of going to the store and buying pre-packaged, over priced, imitation meat product, I decided to get creative and try to work out a Reuben sandwich without the meat! My favorite part was creating the vegan Thousand Island dressing! It is a great vegan version if I do say so myself. Here is what I came up with:

For the Thousand Island:

• 1 cup vegan mayonaise       ($0.26)
• ⅓ cup ketchup                       ($0.12)
• 1 dill pickle, diced                 ($0.05)
• ⅓ cup Annie's Goddess       ($0.65)
• 1 tbsp. dijon mustard            ($0.18)

Blend all ingredients in a blender until smooth and you will be in shock of how similar this tastes to real Thousand Island dressing! Also, $1.26 is not too shabby for a homemade dressing.

For the Sandwich:

• 1 slice of pumpernickel rye bread         ($0.22)
• 3 tbsp. vegan Thousand Island               ($0.16)
• 1 large mushroom, sliced                       ($0.15)
• 1 tbsp. beau monde seasoning             ($0.18)
• 3 tbsp. sauerkraut                                    ($0.08)
• 1 tbsp. vegan butter                                ($0.12)
• 1 cup vegetable broth                             ($0.15)

Slice the mushroom and soak it in the vegetable broth and beau monde seasoning for about 15 minutes. This is a good time to make the Thousand Island dressing. Cut the slice of bread in half. Toast the bread, then apply half of the thousand island to both sides of the bread. Save the other half for later. Sauté the mushrooms in the vegetable broth on medium until soft. Scoop the mushrooms out and set aside. Add the sauerkraut to the broth and lower the heat to low until warmed. Layer the mushrooms and the sauerkraut on the bread and add the remaining dressing. Melt some butter in a small saucepan and fry both sides of the bread. Bia blásta! (or Irish for 'tasty food', like saying bon appetit) (($1.06 per sandwich))

I prefer Vegenaise but NayoWhipped was all I had in my fridge
I am curious as to how this would have turned out
using Vegenaise because it was so great the first time 

THIS. Just THIS. If you have not tried this dressing,
stop reading and go to Kroger and BUY IT!
To me, it tastes like a vegan caesar dressing
To my boyfriend, a blue cheese dressing
Either way it is absolutely delicious and I feel like it is
the secret ingredient to this Thousand Island

Add caption

DO NOT TRY AT HOME, KIDS
I love taking danger shots of blenders with the lid off

Little shot of dressing
I could almost drink this stuff straight
Almost

Beau Monde means beautiful world and it certainly lives up to the name

This looks so nasty and actually smells so nasty
although it does taste great
DO NOT BE DECEIVED BY OUTWARD APPEARANCE

Broccoli Cheddar Rice Casserole

Everybody loves the flavor combination of Broccoli and Cheddar. That may or may not be because cheese makes everything better and cheddar is one of the best cheeses. I admit it; I am a vegan who still discusses how amazing some cheeses are! I love cheese. I will always love cheese. I have come to terms with the facts and cheese is bad for animals and the human body, but otherwise, I would literally consume cheese with every meal. With cheddar, the sharper the better! I want to feel the bit from the cheddar on my whole tongue. Anyway, getting back to the recipe... I created this casserole when we needed a hearty, wintery meal that involved cheese (vegan, obviously). Easy, inexpensive and delightfully tasteful, this vegan broccoli cheese casserole kills zero animals and contains zero cholesterol! 

Ingredients:

• 2 heads broccoli                                ($0.99)
• 2 cloves garlic, minced                      ($0.25)
• 1 cup brown rice                                ($0.20)
• 1 cup mushrooms, sliced                  ($0.99)
• 4 tbsp. soy sauce                             ($0.15)
• 1 cup vegetable broth                       ($0.30)
• 2 tbsp. corn starch                             ($0.10)
• 1 cup vegan cheddar cheese           ($2.99)

Preparation:

Cook the rice according to your preferred method of cooking. I use a wonderful Japanese rice cooker that smart senses when the rice is cooked; it takes about two hours but cooking on the stove is completely acceptable. Steam the broccoli for 15 minutes. Feel free to drink one glass of red wine while the broccoli cooks. Mince the garlic and slice the mushrooms. Sauté the mushrooms and garlic for approximately 6 minutes or until the mushrooms soften. Mix in a bowl the soy sauce, broth, and corn starch. Add this to the mushrooms and garlic. This should create a broth-like "cream of mushroom soup" consistency. Turn the heat off. Add the broccoli. Stir well. Place into a casserole pan and top with the vegan cheddar cheese. Daiya makes two types of vegan cheddar cheese. The cheddar-style shreds are oily when heated, but the cheddar-style wedge melts marvelously for a great topping to this casserole. I recommend the block of cheddar, which yields  a more crunchy topping; the shreds will yield a very fine stringy, cheesy, gooey, melty casserole. Preference is important. At this point, you should probably consume one more glass of red wine (make sure it is vegan). Bake in the oven for 20 mins on 350°F. TADA! Broccoli and cheese have come together perfectly in this vegan casserole!

Try not to overcook the broccoli
It will continue to cook in the casserole

Rice cookers do an amazing job of producing fluffy rice
Stove cooked rice will do just fine