Savory Watermelon, 4 Ways

Image: Kirti Poddar, licensed under Creative Commons

We hosted my cousins in Seattle the week before we moved. One of the nights they were with us, we sat around the coffee table in our living room (picnic-style, if you will), and started our meal with a Watermelon and Heirloom Tomato Salad, from Kim Barnouin’s latest, Ultimate Everyday Cookbook.

I had chosen the recipe for its simplicity, because it would let the flavors of crisp, sweet watermelon, and the ripe heirlooms blend and satisfy – particularly after a day of summer sight-seeing. Drizzled with a touch of balsamic reduction, it was perfect.

Before that night, I had only prepared watermelon as a snack or healthy dessert – I cubed it, chilled it, and served it on its own. Kim’s recipe introduced me to a world where watermelon can be a part of fuller, more savory courses; part of a summer meal.

For this time of year, as we just want to savor the flavors of summer in their plainest glory, over meals that take little time to prepare, but can be enjoyed over the joyfully long stretch of evening, here are four more ways to prepare watermelon in your main course:

Watermelon Strawberry Gazpacho, Delicious Days

(Veganize by omitting the goat cheese.)

Watermelon and Tomato Salad, The Minimalist

(Veganize by substituting crumbled tofu for the feta.)

Seared Watermelon, Herbivoracious

Radish, Watermelon, and Bulgur Wheat Salad, Marcus Samuelsson

Recipes: Vegan Sushi

Yesterday, Stephanie shared her visit to Organic Lives cafe with us. Today, I'm excited to share her recipes for homemade sushi with you.

Now, I'm still a bit intimidated by the idea of rolling my own sushi. I just have visions of it not coming together, or falling apart as soon as I think it's actually holding. But, these recipes are inspiring me to try - and, if you've got suggestions on rolling sushi, please share a comment below!

Photo credit: Stephanie Falcos

Stephanie's Homemade Vegan Sushi

Makes four rolls

Ingredients:

7 medium mushrooms

⅔ medium cucumber (seeded)

2 medium carrots

½ cup alfalfa sprouts

1 red bell pepper

1 small avocado

8 dried seaweed sheets

Handful, organic greens

Organic stone-ground mustard

Organic tamari sauce

Kelp powder *optional

Agave nectar *optional

Roll #1:

1. Chop 3 mushrooms and toss in food processor with 1 tsp tamari sauce and a touch of agave. Process until the mix has a grain- like texture.

2. Roll on 1 seaweed sheet with alfalfa, carrots, red pepper, and cucumber. Wait several minutes, and roll in another sheet of seaweed. (I do this because if not eaten right away, the mushroom makes the sushi wet, and hard to cut.)

3. Top with mustard.

Rolls #2 and #3:

1. Slice 4 mushrooms and marinate in tamari and agave for 20 minutes. Roll with carrot-beet pate (see below), alfalfa, and additional carrots.

2. Wait several minutes, and roll in another sheet of seaweed to make it easier to cut.

Click here for the Carrot-Beet Pate recipe.

Roll #4:

1. Slice avocado, and roll with cucumber, red pepper, and lettuce. (I topped mine with kelp powder.)

2. You may not have to roll this one twice. Test how moist it is, and cut away!

How to Make Going Veg a No-Brainer

Welcome Vegan Consultant Readers!

Thanks for reading my interview with Kelly, and welcome to my blog! In my interview, I advised those considering a vegan lifestyle to choose a set of core recipes to help the transition. Here are some more thoughts on that:

To many ears, “going vegan” sounds difficult and limiting.

“How do you stay the course?” people wonder.

To this question, many will tell you about animal rights, climate change, and your health. Given the facts, how can we not be vegan? And, I agree with all of this.  

But, you may still be thinking, "How do I give up brie cheese and chocolate chip cookies? Practically, in my day-to-day life, it’s too hard to be vegan."

To you, I offer the secret to making it easy.

Recipes: Falafel, 5 Ways

With summer around the corner, many of us are thinking about picnics and barbeques - grilled pizzas, vegetable kebabs, and potato salad.

But truly, my favorite summer sandwich is the falafel.

Image via: Chow Vegan

Heartier than a summer salad, but lighter than a veggie burger off the grill, to me, falafel is pure balance - textured, spicy, cool, creamy, complex, crunchy, bright, comforting, zesty.

Recipe: Lauren's General Tsao's Tofu

Yesterday, Lauren told us how she went veg in junior high, how she approaches cooking, and how she handles Thanksgiving with her non-veg extended family. 

On cooking at home for herself and her non-vegetarian husband, she said: 

"I try to make things that he likes that are vegetarian. He likes to order General Tsao’s chicken at Chinese restaurants, and so over the years, I’ve perfected my General Tsao’s tofu recipe, which he loves.

It’s a good challenge for me to find things I can cook for us both, so that he doesn’t feel like he’s missing out. I personally never feel like I’m missing out, like, “Oh, I wish I could go eat a hamburger.” So, I don’t want him to feel that way, either."

Today, she shares that recipe. 

Recipes: Potato Salad, Six Ways

Image via: Faith Durand, the kitchn

When I was growing up, I ate potato salad at school picnics, my friends' pool parties, and the end-of-the-season family BBQs for my brothers' baseball teams. I (admittedly) remember liking it - though what I was eating really tasted like mayonnaise and eggs, with potato-like lumps in between.

Having grown up, (in both age and palate), and become vegan, I hadn't eaten potato salad in a long time - until a couple years ago, when I was craving something starchy to pair with a green salad. French fries would be too, well - fried. I did not want a sandwich - too heavy. And, then I found Lolo's recipes for potato salad - two ways.

Image via: Lauren Ulm, Vegan Yum Yum 

It was one of those joyous moments for young vegans - "Hey, I CAN eat [insert any food you missed from your previous life, but now know you don't have to sacrifice]!"

Since that time, I've been delighted to discover a series of varied, innovative, simple yet sophisticated, recipes for potato salad - all of which taste contain ingredients that taste like their real selves, and impressively, only one of which calls for (vegan) mayonnaise.

With Memorial Day on the horizon, without further ado, I present to you my six favorite recipes for potato salad...

Potato Salad, Two Ways, Vegan Yum Yum

Grilled Potato Salad, 101 Cookbooks

Samosa Potato Salad, Bittersweet

Red Potato Salad with Scallions and Radishes, the kitchn

Mustard Roasted New Potatoes, Joy the Baker

...and challenge you to make them for your non-vegan friends at your next get-together.

Tell me what you (and they) think!


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Recipe: Soft Peanut Butter Cookies

I was craving something sweet after dinner tonight.

I knew I didn't have chocolate chips. But, I saw something else on the counter that could be made into a sweet treat: peanut butter.

I Googled "vegan peanut butter cookie recipe," and found this absolutely perfect one:

Auntie Angie's Soft Peanut Butter Cookies

I loved that the cookies in this recipe are sweetened with maple syrup. And, I had all of the required ingredients to create soft, moist morsels of peanut butter goodness.

So, I set out to create the dough,

break off chunks, roll them into balls, and flatten them with a fork.

Just as I was getting ready to pop these in the oven, I thought, "PB&J...wouldn't these be delicious with a dollop of jam?"

So, I used my pinky to create a small dent in a few of the cookies, before popping them into the oven.

Eleven minutes later, I had these:

And, with a tiny spoonful of jam, here's dessert:

Want these now? Get the recipe here.

Want more great recipes like this one? For a weekly round-up of the best veg news, recipes, tips, and stories from around the web, subscribe to The Veg Post e-newsletter here. (Hurry, the next issue comes out on Thursday!)

Veganized Recipe: Roasted Asparagus Soup (Six ingredients, five minutes)

Inspired by a series of asparagus-related tweets, I was moved to do something with the lovely spring asparagus in my fridge today.

I've made one-pot, multi-step, asparagus soup recipes before. But, these recipes have long time gaps between sauteeing the onions and adding the asparagus, leaving me standing in kitchen, filling my time by rearranging my oils and adding dishes to the dishwasher, one by one.

So, I was delighted when I found this incredibly simple asparagus soup recipe today - it basically boils down to chop, roast, and blend - and adapted it to be vegan.

Added bonus - this recipe calls for roasting the asparagus. I love how roasting adds depth to my butternut squash soup, and a soulful quality to my red pepper hummus. Here, it adds an earthiness that layers beautifully with the lightness of the asparagus.

Recipe: Roasted Asparagus Soup
Adapted from Pictures and Pancakes

4 cups, coarsely chopped asparagus
3 cloves garlic, smashed
1 small onion, chopped
1 tbsp., olive oil
1 1/2 cups, vegetable stock
1/2 cup, soy milk
salt & pepper


Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.
Mix the asparagus, garlic, onion, and olive oil in a bowl. Season with salt and pepper, to taste.
Spread the mixture onto a baking sheet.
Roast for 20 minutes.
Transfer the roasted mixture to a blender.
Add the stock and soy milk.
Puree until smooth.
Add salt and pepper, if necessary.
Serve and enjoy!

Veganizing Cake Pops (Even Non-Bakers Can Make Them!)

Cake pops have become something of an obsession for me.



I like eating cupcakes. But, the craze doesn't really drive me to make them all the time.


Cake pops - chocolate-dipped, just-right bites of moist cake, sitting on the tops of lollipop sticks, inspiring the child inside of you - however, are a different story.


I love to cook, but I am not a baker. When I saw the kitchn's recipe for cake pops, however, I had to veganize them. I ordered a sifter, cake pan, and lollipop sticks from Amazon, and got to work on my plan. The timing couldn't have been more perfect - Seattle's Bake Sale for Japan was right around the corner.


Now, I'll let you in on a little secret - I backed out of all the precise measuring, sifting, etc., that baking requires, and used a box mix for the cake portion. But, if you've ever tried Cherrybrook Kitchen's vegan cake mixes, you would wholeheartedly support my decision. Especially, if you're more of a cook than baker - this mix will make you look good.


And here's how it went:


I started by baking the chocolate cake, according to the box directions. If you're braver than I am, you can use your favorite chocolate cake recipe, in place of my shortcut.


I let the cake cool completely. Then, came the fun part. In a large bowl, I broke the entire cake down into crumbs, with my hands. You know, like how one-year-olds are expected to do with their birthday cakes?
In a separate bowl, I whipped together:

• 8 ounces of Tofutti cream cheese, softened
• 2 cups of confectioner's sugar
• 4 tablespoons of Earth Balance vegan butter, at room temperature
• 1 tablespoon of soy milk (and perhaps a little more when necessary)

Then, I mixed this creamy mixture into the cake crumbs (again, with my fingers!), until the two were completely combined, and I was left with this moist cake mixture (the last of which, you can see here):



I covered the mixture and refrigerated it for an hour, to firm it up. But, you can keep it refrigerated for a couple of days, also.
Time to start making the balls. I used a spoon to help me measure out equal portions of the cake mixture. I rolled each spoonful into a ball, and placed it on a baking sheet, covered with parchment paper.



I stuck the lollipop sticks in. And, then I stuck the tray in the freezer for 10 minutes, while I prepared the dipping chocolate and toppings.


To me, this was an important step - one of the issues with cake pops is that the cake ball can easily come off the lollipop stick. Freezing these for a few minutes helped me keep them together during the dipping.





I melted 12 oz. of vegan chocolate chips in a double boiler on the stove. I stirred the chocolate to keep it smooth, and then one at a time, dipped each cake pop in, until covered. Pulling it out, I covered each cake pop in coconut flakes or vegan sprinkles, (you can use any topping really - nuts, mini M&Ms, mini-marshmallows, colored sugar, etc.), and then returned the cake pop to the parchment paper to harden.





You'll eventually have a beautiful assortment, like such:





The first time you make them, not all of the cake pops will be perfect. (See below.) However, because I couldn't sell this, it was just for me. :)


 


And, then, I packged them, and took them off to Cake Spy in Seattle, where we raised $3,100 for the earthquake and tsunami relief efforts!











(Can you see my cake pops? They're on the right, over the blue card...!)


LET US KNOW: Have you tried making vegan cake pops? How did yours turn out? Any suggestions you'd offer?

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