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Buffalo Cauliflower Bites

3/1/2017

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I made cauliflower buffalo wing pizza a couple years ago and since then I've wanted to make cauliflower bites again. We had a potluck at work last week so I thought it was a good opportunity to make it again. I found this recipe from Hot for Food that I used as inspiration. ​We were having a Mexican themed event so I added some chipotle and cinnamon for a little something different. 
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It make look like there are a lot of steps, but it's a pretty simple recipe to put together. The batter and sauce are easy to mix up and the only other thing you need to do is chop up the cauliflower and dip it in each! Since I was taking this to work I did everything except baking the bites for the last time the night before at home. I put the bites back into a bowl with the sauce and let it sit overnight. At work I baked them for the last time in our toaster oven at work. 
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Ingredients:
1 Head of Cauliflower
3/4 Cup Whole Wheat Flour
1/2 Cup Sriracha
1/2 Cup BBQ Sauce
2 Chipotle Pepper
2 teaspoons Cumin
2 teaspoons Cinnamon
1 teaspoon Garlic Powder
​1 teaspoon Paprika
Prep Time: 5 minutes
Cook Time: 90 minutes
Servings: 6-8 as an appetizer
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Instructions:

Preheat oven to 450 degrees. 

Chop cauliflower into bite size pieces. Add all of the dry ingredients into a bowl and mix together. Add in the non-dairy milk and water, stir until all the dry ingredients are mixed in. You want to make sure the batter is thick enough to stay on the cauliflower but not so thick that it doesn't stir easily. 

Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Dip the cauliflower into the batter until it is covered in batter and place on the baking sheet. Make sure you are placing the cauliflower far enough apart so that the batter doesn't blend together or else you will get one big cauliflower bite instead of two separate ones. 

Cook in the oven for 25 minutes. Flip halfway through so that the bites crisp on both ends. 

Once they've cooked, allow them to cool. Blend the sriracha, BBQ sauce, and chipotle peppers together. Put the cauliflower in a bowl and pour the sauce over the bites. Mix well so that they are all covered in the sauce. 

Put back on the baking sheet with the parchment paper and cook for another 25 minutes. 

​Let cool, serve, and enjoy!
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Black Bean Dip

4/8/2015

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Black Bean Dip #vegan #glutenfree #oilfree
This is dip will fill just about any need you have and overrule any excuse you can come up with:
  • Never cooked anything before? Are your store bought trays the laughing stock of every dinner party? Ease yourself into it and surprise everyone with this homemade dish!
  • Forgot you had a dinner party tonight? Did the dish you plan on making turn out terrible? You have time to make this!
  • Do you have what to eat snack food and not feel bad about it? - This is basically just black beans! Protein and fiber all the way!
  • The only vegan going to an event? Want something small that you can eat as an app and a main dish and other people will like? Here you go! 
I made this dish as I was walking out the door on my way to a dinner party - literally. And not in the literally but not actually, I literally had my coat on and was walking out the door, when I decided I needed to bring something else (hence the lack of photos). It was that fast and easy to make. I even had to defrost my beans - that took about half the time!

We were heading over to a friend's place for some tacos and I was the only vegan/vegetarian going. It was a small event, only about 4 or 5 people, so not a huge potluck where everyone was bringing a dish. I wanted to make sure I had something to eat, but didn't want to bring too much. This was perfect. I was able to share it with the party as an app and then I used the dip as the meat of my tacos.

I dumped all the ingredients except the tomatoes into the food processor and blended them until it was smooth and I was happy with the flavor. We were stopping at the convenience store to pick up some chips and guac, so I grabbed some cherry tomatoes as well and added them to the dish once we got to my friend's place.

So next time you're in a pickle and need something quick, easy, delicious and nutritious - think of making  a bean dip! You can use it as a spread on sandwiches, as a filling in tacos, burritos, or enchiladas, or as a dip with chips or fresh veggies! You could really use any kind of bean in this recipe - black, kidney, white, chickpeas, lentils - get creative! Mix it up!
Ingredients:
2 Tablespoons Hot Sauce
1 teaspoon Cumin
1 teaspoon Adobo Seasoning
1 Can Black Beans
2 Teaspoons Dried Cilantro
1 Tablespoon Water
1 Cup Cherry Tomatoes
Prep Time: 1 minute
Cook Time: 5 minutes
Serves: A big party as an app or use as a filling for tacos. You could probably make about 12 tacos with this.
Instructions:
Drain and rinse beans.

Add all ingredients except the tomatoes to a food processor and blend until smooth. Adjust spiciness and seasonings to taste. Transfer the dip to a bowl.

Dice the tomatoes and them to the bowl, stirring everything together. Serve and enjoy!
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Spicy BBQ Carrot Sticks with Tofu Ranch Dip

1/28/2015

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I mentioned in my post last week on the Spicy BBQ Chik'n Bites that I only ended up using about half of the batter and sauce I made, based off of Kristy Turner's Buffalo Cauliflower Wing Pizza. I wasn't sure how long it would last, so I wanted to use it up as quickly as possible. I've been getting a lot of carrots in my vegetable deliveries so I thought this would be a new fun way to use them up - kinda like breaded zucchini sticks. They were a big hit and super simple to make!
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I was a little nervous as to how they would turn out since I've never had anything like them, but they were great and Jay loved them - here are a couple of his best quotes:
  • "Wow, these are amazing!"
  • "These are the best carrots ever!"
Individually, the carrot stick is spicier than one of the bites I made since they don't have the extra breading or the tofu baked in. They turn out a little bit soft, but still sturdy. These are a great healthy way to add some vegetables to your normal snacking routine, plus you can dip them as much as you want! The tofu dipping sauce is naturally low in fat and calories but high in protein and calcium. I love guilt free snacking!
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Ingredients:
About 5 Carrots
1/2 Batter Recipe
1/2 Spicy BBQ Sauce Recipe

Tofu Ranch Dipping Sauce:
1/2 Block Tofu
3 teaspoons Apple Cider Vinegar or Lemon Juice
1 Tablespoon dried Dill
1 teaspoon Onion Powder
1 teaspoon Garlic Powder

Prep Time:
15 minutes

Cook Time: 30 minutes

Servings: About 40 carrot sticks
Instructions:
Preheat oven to 450 degrees. Slice carrots in half and then into quarters so that you get 8 sticks out of each carrot. Dip the carrot sticks in the batter and then place on a parchment paper lined cookie sheet. Bake for 20 minutes.

Once cooled to the touch, dip the carrot sticks in the Spicy BBQ Sauce and then place back on the parchment lined cookie sheet. Cook for another 5-8 minutes.

While the carrots are cooking, make the ranch dipping sauce. Combine all the ingredients in a food processor and blend until smooth. The proportions I used make a thick dip, so if you want it creamier, add more liquid.

Serve and Enjoy!
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Spicy BBQ Chik'n Bites

1/22/2015

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This is a great party/sports game recipe! I made it last week for watch the AFC Championship game with our friends - aka 5 to 10 carnivorous, buffalo-chicken loving boys. As you know if you've seen my earlier posts, I've been working my way through a package of Beyond Meat chicken strips so I thought this would be a great way to finish it off! I made this Buffalo Cauliflower Wing Pizza recipe last year from Kristy Turner over at Keepin It Kind. Jay liked the taste of it alot, but didn't like the consistency of cauliflower, since he seems to hate all things cauliflower. So what happens when you combine that recipe with Beyond Meat chicken? Near perfection!
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Everyone at the party loved the bites and were surprised to find out that they were vegan. I even duped a couple of the guys and didn't tell them it was vegan until after they had already had some and told me it was delicious! All of them were eaten and I was the only vegan there! Being a group of buffalo-chicken connoisseurs, the general consensus was that the flavor was more BBQ than buffalo, so I decided to change the name to Spicy BBQ.  I'll have to try another version making a more traditional buffalo sauce!
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If you don't have a mini cupcake pan you can roll your bites up like you would with pigs in a blanket, but you may not be able to fit as many ingredients in. That was my original plan, but I didn't have enough dough. With the cupcake pan I could keep the bites together without needing any crust on top to keep everything together.
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I only ended up using about half of the breading and sauce mix that I made so I saved each one and used them again to create this recipe: Spicy BBQ Carrot Sticks with Tofu Ranch Dip.
Ingredients:
1 Package crescent roll dough or other dough of your choice
1/2 Package Beyond Meat chicken strips
Breading:
1 Cup Almond Milk
1 Cup Chickpea flour (I'm not sure how it would work with other flour since this is the only one I tried)
Garlic Powder
Paprika
Spicy BBQ Sauce:
1/4 Cup Sriracha
3/4 Cup BBQ Sauce
1 Tablespoon starch - corn starch, arrowroot powder, etc.
Salt
Pepper
Tofu Blue Cheese:
1/2 block tofu
3 tablespoons Nutritional Yeast
Juice of Lemon Half
1 teaspoon Miso
1/2 teaspoon Tahini
1 teaspoon Marjoram
1 teaspoon Oregano
1 teaspoon Garlic Powder
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Prep Time: 15 minutes
Cook Time: 40 minutes
Servings: 24 bites
Instructions:
Preheat oven to 450 degrees. Combine all the breading ingredients in a shallow bowl and mix together well. Slice the chicken strips into about 24 bite size pieces and coat in the batter. Place in a casserole dish or cookie sheet with parchment paper. Make sure that the batter doesn't run together (like mine did...) or else it will be hard to keep the batter on the chicken when you pick it up. Bake for 20 minutes.

While that is cooking, prepare the Spicy BBQ sauce by mixing all of those ingredients together in a shallow bowl.

Add all of the Tofu Blue Cheese ingredients to a food processor and blend them together. Add more marjoram to taste - it's what adds the most of the blue cheese flavor.

When the battered chicken strips have cooled, dip them in the Spicy BBQ sauce and put them back in the oven for another 5-8 minutes.

While that is cooking, roll out your dough and cut it into about 2x2 inch pieces. Divide the tofu blue cheese evenly among each of the bites. Once the chicken strips have cooled, divide them evenly among the bites. Put back in the oven for about 10 minutes.

Serve and enjoy!!

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I submitted this recipe to the Virtual Vegan Linky Potluck
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Loaded Nachos

1/22/2015

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The other night Jay and I were starving and running errands after work at Target. I knew when I got home I would want to eat as quickly as possible and I didn't want to put too much effort into it, but I didn't know what I wanted to make. Then I saw a bag of tortillas and thought - Bam - that's it! I had a block of Teese vegan nacho cheese that I accidentally opened (I thought it was the mozzarella...) and needed to use. One of the best decisions ever. Jay loved both the cheese and sour cream substitutes. The cheese was buried under a lot of stuff so I'll have to make another recipe that allows you to taste the cheese more.
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If you saw my post about Champ's Diner from last week then you know that I don't each nachos very frequently. I guess I was on a kick from my nachos last month and wanted some more! As usual, I went a little overboard on the portions and toppings and made a humongous amount of nachos. This recipe is great for sharing or for a night when you are beyond hungry (I do not recommend trying to eat this all by yourself... in one sitting). There is so much great protein in here! Beans! Quinoa! Tofu! Plus avocado - this one healthy (well except for the chips...) and filling pile of nachos!
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Jay and I ate just about half of it for dinner. We were skeptical about how good leftover nachos could be but I couldn't part with my amazing creation, so into the fridge it went. I actually portions of heated it back up in the broiler and it was great!
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Ingredients:
About 7oz. of Chips
1 15oz Can Black Beans
1 Block Teese Nacho Cheese
1 15 oz Jar Salsa
1/2 Cup Cooked Quinoa
1 Avocado
1/2 Block Tofu
1 Tablespoon Apple Cider Vinegar or Lemon Juice

Prep Time: 10 minutes


Cook Time: 5 minutes


Servings: 4 as a meal
Instructions:

Preheat oven to 450 degrees. Spread chips out on a cookie sheet. Break apart the Teese nacho cheese and spread/sprinkle over the chips. Put in the oven for about 5 minutes. It just needs to be in long enough for the cheese to melt.

Drain and rinse beans. Add beans and quinoa to pan over medium heat and stir together so that the beans break down a bit and look kinda like re-fried beans.

Combine tofu and apple cider vinegar in a blender or food processor until smooth. Slice the avocado.

Layer the chips and melted cheese with the beans and quinoa mixture, tofu sour cream, salsa, and avocado.
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    This blog is about my adventures adhering to a plant-based diet in a meat-based world and incorporating vegan practices into more parts of my life. As many of my friends and family aren't vegan, and the best part of cooking is sharing your food with others, I try to make recipes that can be enjoyed by vegans and meat-eaters alike. 

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