vegancooking

On Sundays, my husband and I cook our meals for the week. We usually cook one-pot wonders, casseroles and/or soups/stews. We have also done burritos in bulk and freezed them and this has worked pretty well. We try to do more than one a week so that we have some variety. A lot of our meals end up being tomato-based which is usually not a problem. However, I was recently on some medication that really did a number on a my stomach and now its sensitive to acidic foods.* Now, I could have a ginger candy after having an acidic meal and usually I am ok but sometimes this hasn't been the most successful. I am turning to you all for some suggestions on what we should cook for the week. Requirements: being one of the type of dishes listed above, not be too acidic (so tomato-based is pretty much out), and must freeze well. I have several cookbooks, so if you know a recipe from one of those that would be awesome and I'll list what we have made from them because 1) hopefully that will give you an idea of what we like and 2) just in case someone wants to know what we have made from these books and what recipes have been good and not so good. Also, neither of us are a fan of meat replacements like seitan or anything processed. My husband is also not a fan of fake cheese. Also, if its low fat or fat free, bonus points! Thanks!

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Sorry for the longwinded review of my small library of cookbooks but hopefully someone will find it helpful and you'll help me out with what to make tonight.  Thanks again!

*I stopped taking the medication and talked to my NP about it and she said it was the right thing to do. I am going for a follow-up appointment related to the initial injury the medication was suppose to be helping out on Tuesday.

For 12 peanut butter cups

• 12 mini cupcake liners
• 3/4 cup semi sweet Chocolate chips
• 1/2 cup of peanut butter
• 1/4 cup powdered sugar
• 1/2 t pure vanilla extract
• pinch fine sea salt [if your PB is already salted, it’s optional to add more]

Directions

1. Melt the chocolate chips in the microwave in 30 second intervals until smooth. Add 2 generous tablespoons of peanut butter and stir to incorporate. Let cool for 5 minutes.
2. Line a mini cupcake pan with mini liners. Place a heaping teaspoon of melted chocolate in each mini cupcake liner, coating the insides with chocolate using the back of your spoon. repeat with all 12 liners.
3. Place the cupcake tin into your freezer and allow the chocolate to harden.
4. Meanwhile, stir together peanut butter, vanilla, salt, and sugar to form a paste. Make sure you knead in all the ingredients.
5. Divide peanut butter paste into all 12 liners, pressing down gently.
6. Top with a teaspoon of chocolate [melt it again if needed], spreading carefully so that none of the PB paste can be seen.
7. Chill in fridge/freezer for at least one hour.

before it went into the oven

•  3 tsp No-Egg Organ egg replacer
• 1 3/4 C flour
• 1/4 tsp baking soda
• 3/4 tsp salt
• 7 Tbsp cocoa
• 1 1/2 C sugar
• 6 Tbsp margarine
• 1 1/2 tsp vanilla essence
• 50g dark chocolate
• 1/4 C boiling water
• 1 tsp instant coffee
• 1/2 C frozen raspberries

1. Preheat over to 135 degrees Celsius.
2. Mix the No-Egg with water (as per instructions on box).
3. Sift flour, baking soda, salt and cocoa together then set aside.
4. Beat together sugar and margarine until creamy, then add the vanilla. Add creamy sugar mixture to the No-Egg.
5. Cut chocolate into small pieces and add to dry ingredients. Dissolve coffee in hot water before combining everything together and spooning into a 20cm greased dish. Decorate with raspberries on top before baking for 35 minutes on the lowest rack in the oven.

Hi all, first time posting. I moved to Portugal six months ago, and am trying to adapt some of their more traditional recipes into vegetarian and vegan-friendly versions.

Cataplana is a Portuguese traditional dish that originates from the Algarve region, introduced by the Moors during their occupation of said region from the 8th-13th c. A cataplana is a large, clamshell-like hammered copper dish, and it usually contains a thick bouillabaisse-like fish stew.

I'm told that the real secret is to cook everything separately, then to put it all into the cataplana with the topping and let it steam for five minutes to let the flavours work with each other. If you don't have a cataplana, I'm sure that any lidded container would make do!

This version of the cataplana recipe manages to capture the richness of the stock (the miso helps) and a hint of the sea (nori). Feedback very welcome, btw! I'm not that experienced with the differing types of seaweeds out there, so definitely would be interested in alternate suggestions on that front (keeping in mind that it's difficult to find many organic or odd ingredients in Portugal!)


2 tbsp olive oil
1 cup diced onion (I prefer Spanish, but yellow is fine)
2 cups carrots in bite-size chunks about an inch long
3 cloves chopped garlic

Fry the onions and carrots in the olive oil over medium flame in a large stewpot. When the onions start to soften up and yellow, add the garlic. Fry an additional five minutes. Then add your liquid:

2 cans crushed tomatoes
1 cup tomato sauce
½ cup white wine
2 cups vegetable stock*

Stir in

1 tbsp red miso paste

Then

2 sheets of roasted nori, cut into bite-size pieces
6 potatoes, washed and prettied up (eyes and blemishes removed), cut into large pieces (bigger than bite-size- you should need to cut 'em to eat 'em)
Oregano, basil, salt*, freshly-ground pepper

Feel free to throw in a cup or two of chopped kale or spinach if you have any lying around, too. It adds great colour and richness to the broth.

Let it simmer on medium-low flame, stirring frequently, for about half an hour to forty-five minutes or until the potatoes are cooked. You don't want to let it go too long or you'll end up with tomato mashed potatoes, though.

Put into your cataplana, sprinkle generously with about 2 tbsp of fresh cilantro leaves. Cover. Let sit for five minutes, serve.


*I'm a diabetic with high blood pressure, so make my own, cuz the store-bought stuff is too salty. Adjust your salt quantities accordingly.