tamale bake.

I made this tamale bake tonight, and it was great. I topped it with some guacamole! I love this recipe – i will definitely make this sauce again and play around with different fillings. I think adding some seitan chorizo would be great!

• Enchilada Sauce
• 1 can (14.5 oz) Diced Tomatoes
• 1 chipotle pepper in adobo
• 2 cloves garlic
• handful of cilantro, washed
• 2 tbsp. lime juice
• 1 tbsp. honey or agave
• 1 tsp. unsweetened chocolate powder
• 1/4 tsp. kosher salt
• Filling
• 2 c. butternut squash, cubed and roasted ahead of time
• 3 stalks of kale
• 1 can (15 oz.) black beans, drained and rinsed
• 2 tbsp. oil, separated
• salt to taste
• 1/4 c. shredded daiya cheddar cheese
• Topping
• 1 c. P.A.N. pre-cooked white or yellow corn meal  ( i found mine at a mexican grocer)
• 1 1/4 c. warm water
• 3/4 tsp. kosher salt
• Garnish
• avocados
• cilantro

INSTRUCTIONS

1. Make enchilada sauce. In a high-powered blender or food processor, add all enchilada ingredients. Blitz until smooth. Set aside.
2. Make the filling. . De-stem the kale and chop into small, edible pieces. Drain and rinse black beans. Preheat oven to 375°. Into a skillet warmed on medium heat, add 1 tablespoon of oil. Add in the butternut squash and sauté for 5 minutes, stirring occasionally. Salt to taste. Add in 1/3 cup of the enchilada sauce. Cover and cook for an additional 2-3 minutes until just barely ready. Just warm it up. Add in the kale, black beans, and additional tablespoon of oil. Cook for another 3 minutes. Salt to taste. Remove from heat. Stir in 2/3 cup more of enchilada sauce with 1/4 cup of cheese (more if you like things cheesy). Use the skillet as your baking pan, or place in an 8″ x 10″ pan (or something similar in size).
3. Make the topping. Add the pre-cooked white or yellow corn meal to a bowl. Stir in the warm water a kosher salt. Crumble evenly over the pan and press out until flat. Top with remaining enchilada sauce. Bake for 25-30 minutes. Garnish with cilantro and avocados. Serve.

butternut squash mac & cheese.

When fall comes I always find myself buying a butternut squash, then scrambling to find something to make with it before it goes bad. Why not sneak it into some mac and cheese? I made it for my son and his friend and they gobbled it up. Didn’t even phase them!  This would make a great thanskgiving side dish too if you are looking for one.

I found the recipe here.  My modification is below.

• 1/2 butternut squash, peeled and chopped (yields: 3.5 cups raw)
• 1/2 cup raw cashews
• 1 cup unsweetened non-dairy milk
• 3-4 garlic cloves
• 2 tsp kosher salt, or to taste
• 6-7 tbsp Nutritional yeast
• 2 T Miso Paste
• 1 tspn onion powder
• Freshly ground black pepper, to taste
• 1/4-1/2 tsp Paprika + more to season
• Your pasta of choice

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350F and line a baking sheet.  In a bowl, season chopped squash with some oil (~1 tsp) and kosher salt (couple pinches) and stir. Add to baking sheet and roast in oven for 40 minutes, flipping once half way through baking.

2. Add roasted squash, cashews, non-dairy milk, garlic, , salt, nutritional yeast, pepper, miso, seasonings) to vitamix type of blender and process until smooth

4. Cook your pasta according to package directions. When squash is finished roasting, add it to the food processor and blend it with the cheese sauce until smooth. Adjust to taste. The sauce will thicken up with time. If at any point the sauce becomes too thick, you can add a bit of milk to thin it out.

5. Drain and rinse pasta with cold water. Now add the pasta back into the same pot and add your desired amount of cheese sauce on top. Stir well. Add in any desired mix-ins like peas or broccoli. You can either heat this up in the pot, or pour it into a casserole dish (I used a 4 cup dish), sprinkle on breadcrumbs + paprika, and bake it at 350 for about 20-25 minutes.

chocolate coconut granola.

This granola comes together in no time and is absolutely delicious. Its low in oil and no processed sugar and when served with some almond milk gives you delicious chocolate cereal milk.  Will be FOR SURE Keeping this rotation!

2 cup rolled oats
2 cup crispy brown rice cereal or Kashi 7 grain puffs
1 cup steel cut oats
1/2 cup cocoa powder
½ cup maple syrup
1/2 cup unsweetened coconut flakes
1/4 cup liquid coconut oil

Instructions

1. Preheat the oven to 375F.
2. Combine the rolled oats, steel cut oats, rice cereal, cocoa powder, and salt in a large bowl. Stir to combine.
3. Add the maple syrup and coconut oil. Mix to evenly coat.
4. Stir in the coconut.
5. Spread onto a baking sheet; spread out evenly on pan.
6. Bake for 8-10 minutes at 375F.
7. Let it cool for at least 30 minutes before breaking apart for the most clusters.
8. Transfer to an airtight jar. It will keep for 1-2 weeks.original recipe found here

fried chick’n sandwich.

I found a recipe to make this vegan chick’n sandwich which is supposed to be a copycat Chick-fil-a.  I never had a chick-fil-a sandwich, but having recently bought an airfryer, this appealed to me. Turned out to be pretty delicious! I modified the recipe a bit and made it twice in one week! I made the seitan ahead of time and then bread it when im ready to make some for dinner.  They reheat well too!

Chick’n Seitan:

• 1 cup vital wheat gluten
• 2 tbsp nutritional yeast
• 1 tsp onion powder
• ½ tsp salt
• 1/4 tsp poultry seasoning
• ¾ cup vegetable broth
• 2 tbsp tahini
• 3-4 cups of vegetable broth (enough to cover), for cooking

Binder

• ¾ cup plain, unsweetened almond milk

Breading

• 1 cup  white unbleached flour
• 3 tsp paprika
• 2 tsp cracked black pepper
• 1 tsp chili powder
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1 tsp garlic powder

Topping ideas

• Burger buns, I used pretzel buns
• Vegan Ranch or vegan mayo
• avocado
• vegan cheese
• pickles

To make the seitan:

1. In a mixing bowl, mix together wheat gluten, salt, nutritional yeast, onion powder and poultry seasoning.
2. In a larger bowl, combine ¾ broth and tahini and whisk until smooth.
3. Mix the dry ingredients with the wet and stir until well combined.
4. Knead the dough until it is elastic but not dry. Sprinkle some additional gluten flour if you find you have made your dough too sticky.
5. Divide the dough into small little burgers. Keep in mind they will grow to about twice their size, so make then smaller then you would normally. Place in a casserole dish, covering them completely with vegetable broth.
6. Cook burgers in broth for 1 hour at 350 degrees, flipping at 45 minutes. Allow to cool.

Breading

1. Combine the flour, paprika, black pepper, chili powder, salt, baking powder, and garlic powder in a medium-sized mixing bowl. Set aside.
2. Toss the seitan “chicken” cutlet into the dry mixtured and coat completely, then toss it into the wet, again coating evenly on all sides. Toss into the flour mixture again and coat generously. Repeat with the remaining cutlets and set aside.
3. Place cutlets in the airfryer and bake at 370 for about 12 minutes. Flip occasionally to ensure even cooking. If you dont have an air fryer, im sure you can bake in the over, deep fry!