The Hungry Vegan Bear Hits The Road

The Hungry Vegan Bear's Hotdish, up close and personal. 

When I travel sometimes it's a challenge to find vegan friendly restaurants and this week I will be traveling up north, which, normally, is not that big of a deal, but I wanted to save some money, too.  Also, I wanted to know the exact ingredients of what I was going to be consuming.  This week I will be teaching up near the Dublin area and I thought that the best way to avoid dining out the entire week would be to cook a few dishes prior to the trip.  My aim was to create a few simple recipes that would travel well (AKA: no sloshing, oozing, or dripping from the various travel containers) and could hold up over a six hour drive.  Today, I made three dishes: a light afternoon cold lunch salad comprised of black beans, onions, tomatoes, and lime, the second is a quinoa with soy sauce and sage, and, finally, for dinner, a hotdish.  The amazing thing about these recipes is the small amount of time they take to prepare, in fact, one of my flatmates commented that it was like watching "speed cooking," not that I advise chopping at the speed of sound lest a paw get in the way.

Tools
cutting board
knife
potato peeler
2 quart covered sauce pan
plastic spoon
colander

Ingredients Hotdish Fusilli
1/2 bag brown rice fusilli
1 tsp canola oil
1/2 pkg meatless meat
8 black olives
2 Roma tomatoes
1/4 c white onion
6 Crimean mushrooms
1 Tbsp basil
salt to taste
1/4 tsp Ceyanne pepper
3 lemons
3/4 can tomato paste
1/2 c water

I prepared the fusilli first, bringing it to a boil with the canola oil and then draining the noodles under a cold tap.  The brown rice fusilli gets a bit starchy, so I like to use the cold water to wash away that heavy residue.  I'm not a big fan of wheat noodles, but I still like to cook healthy, which is why I chose the brown rice noodles. 

Next, I began to added in the rest of the ingredients, slicing the olives and mushrooms and chopping the tomatoes, and onion.  I used a tomato paste and opted to thin out the mix by using lemon and water. 

Finally, add in the seasonings.

Ingredients A Kick In The Pants Black Bean Salad
1 can black beans
2 Roma tomatoes
1/4 white onion
1 tsp Trader Joe's Taco Seasoning
Ceyanne pepper
pinch of salt
lemon pepper
1 lime
1 Tbsp canola oil

This is a nice cold salad, which is perfect for these warm summer months.  Drain the black beans and wash with cold water adding them to the chopped tomatoes and onion.  Next add in the seasonings, lime, and oil, and you're all set to roll!

Ingredients Quinoa Infused With Sage and Soy Sauce 
1 c quinoa
1/2 white onion
4 stalks celery
2 carrots
1 tsp sage
soy sauce
black pepper

Begin with the quinoa and bring the grain to a boil.  When the simmering process begins, add in the chopped onion, celery, and juilenned carrots.  As the simmering continued, I added in the sage and black pepper.  Lastly, I added the soy sauce to the finished product.  I happen to believe that soy sauce is similar to salt and pepper, so, again, add the sauce to your taste. 

The overall prep time for all three dishes was approximately 30 minutes.

Kale n' Couscous

This was one of those weeks were I wanted something quick and easy to make for lunch and so I decided to go with couscous, which is great when you're working on a tight schedule as the prep time is low.  Also, it goes a long way when you're feeding more than one person.

Tools
cutting board
knife
medium size cooking pot

Ingredients
2 handful's of kale
1/2 c dry wheat couscous
10 sm heirloom tomatoes
1/2 c white onion
1/2 can garbanzo beans
1 tsp margarine
4 sprigs of fresh sage
1 tsp thyme
salt to taste
black pepper to taste

While prepping the water to steam the couscous, I added in the onion and kale.  I threw that in immediately with the margarine, because I wanted the onion and kale to steam a bit longer.  Once the water was boiling, I added the couscous, garbanzo beans, sage, thyme, and other spices.  I turned off the heat and allowed all of the ingredients to steam.

Once a couple minutes passed by, I added the tomatoes.  Again, I detest squishy tomatoes, which is why I saved them for that last.

All total, this recipe takes about 10 minutes, which is great when you have to be out the door in a hurry.  And serves about 4.

Aloha BBQ Pizza

While chatting with one of my flatmates the other evening, I came up with the idea of merging a Hawaiian Pizza with a BBQ Chicken Pizza, which is how the name Aloha BBQ Pizza was created and since an ex-flatmate was stopping in for dinner I thought it would the perfect opportunity to try out this new creation with my very own taste tester, little did she know what she was walking into with The Hungry Vegan Bear.

The first step was to mix up a batch of THVB's Badass BBQ Sauce.  Many of you might recall this recipe from my Vegan 4th of July Extravaganza.  I really wanted to break out this sauce again and the Aloha BBQ Pizza was the perfect opportunity to whip up some sauce.  Since this is a small batch of sauce, I used a mug and a fork for the mixing/stirring process. I added a bit more J.D. this time around, but I thought it wouldn't matter too much since the pizza would be cooked and I didn't plan on driving.  This sauce creates about a cup, so once you have the sauce spread over the dough you will have to refrigerate the leftovers.  I'm guesstimating that the sauce will last for about a week as long as it stays cold.

Tools
cutting board
knife
cheese grater
cup
fork
18 inch pizza pan or stone

As for the dough, I used Trader Joe's wheat pizza dough.  I thought the sweetness of the wheat dough would be very complimentary to the smoky flavor of the BBQ sauce without becoming sickeningly sweet, which, turns out, was correct.  I used about a teaspoon of margarine on my pizza pan to prevent the dough from sticking on the pan. 

The Hungry Vegan Bear's Badass BBQ Sauce Ingredients

The Hungry Vegan Bear loves this BBQ sauce almost as much as she
loves pawing through a strawberry patch.

5/8 tsp black pepper medley

1/8 tsp Cayenne pepper

3/4 tsp liquid smoke

1/2 tsp chili powder
3oz tomato paste

1 Tbsp Jack Daniels

1 Tbsp brown sugar

1 tsp olive oil

1 1/2 tsp vinegar

1 tsp molasses

2 dashes hot sauce

2 dashes salt

1 clove garlic

1/4 water

1/2 tsp pepper flakes

1/3 crushed sweet onion

Once the sauce was prepared, I used more than a half a cup of sauce over the dough.  I like a lot of sauce on my pizza, but, if you're not a fan, then you can opt to use only half a cup. 

Aloha BBQ Pizza Toppings

1/2 c white onion
2 vegan chicken patties
3 slices vegan Canadian bacon
1/2 green pepper
1/2 can pineapple
1/2 block mozzarella vegan cheese

Grate the mozzarella over the sauce and dough.  Next, I chose to cut the vegan Canadian bacon into thin strips.  It's not necessary, but I didn't want the vegan chicken or bacon to over power all the other flavors on the pizza, so I cut both items up prior to placing them on the pizza.  Then dice the onion and slice the green pepper into strips.  As you can note from the photos, I forgot to add the green pepper.  Please don't hold this against The Hungry Vegan Bear, her paws are full, lately.

This is THVB's Aloha BBQ Pizza with green peppers,
but not the pineapple.  One of my flatmates is not very fond of pineapple, so I altered the recipe upon her request. 

Tasty Tangy Lemon Spinach

This is, by far, one of the quickest and easiest recipes for a side dish.  When I visit an Italian restaurant I always look for this simple dish on the menu.  It's light and perfect for the summer months when there are ample amounts of fresh spinach in the stores and at farmer's markets.  Also, spinach is a great antioxidant, a good source of folic acid, and vitamins, and whether you are a vegan or not it's an important nutritional source. 

Tools
skillet pan
hand juicer
garlic press

Ingredients
3/4 bag fresh spinach
1 1/2 small lemons
4 garlic cloves
1 Tbsp olive oil
pinch of salt
black pepper medley

The trick with fresh spinach is: do not allow the spinach to sit idle in the pan, move it around, and don't leave it over the heat too long. 

Often I rely on practicality in the kitchen, so if you find yourself without a juicer, don't sweat it!  I don't own a juicer of any sort, which has neither stopped me from cooking nor extracting the bejesus out of citrus fruits. 

Over the sink, pop the seeds out of the lemons and then proceed to squeeze the juice into the pan-creates a lovely sizzle.  Next, add the garlic, salt, and pepper. 

This dish, fully prepped, serves about 2. 

Spinach doesn't go a long way, so if you are making this side for a group you might need several bunches of spinach from the market to do the job properly.

Calzone Amore

Sometimes, but not very often, The Hungry Vegan Bear becomes restless with her pizza recipes.  This past weekend, for a bit of inspiration, I turned on some Dean Martin (yup, I went old, old school for this) and suddenly "That's Amore" motivated me to stop thinking about pizza and start thinking about calzone's, which was how Calzone Amore came about.

 

When I was a ski school instructor (pre-vegan days) I remember consuming a few calzone's at a local restaurant in Dillon, CO, but I was never really crazy for their calzone's.  There was too much cheese-hard to believe such a thing coming from a Wisconsinite.  And, now, as a vegan, I've tried several variations on the calzone and, again, too much vegan cheese.  Most vegan calzone's are too sticky, too bland, and too gummy.  These are calzone's not bears!

In my humble opinion, it's fun to play with Calzone recipes, so I created a meatless cheese calzone and a potato and jalapeno recipe granting some variety for my taste testers.

Tools

baking sheet

knife

cutting board

garlic press

bowl

spoon

cheese grater

gloves (might need them for the jalapeno)

If you have time, I suggest making your own pizza dough, but if you don't have time, no worries.  Once again, I used Trader Joe's pizza dough.

Calzone Sauce for the Meatless Calzone

This is the meatless cheese calzone fresh from the oven.

3 oz tomato paste

1/4 c water

1 tsp olive oil

3 lg garlic cloves

1 Tbsp oregano

1 tsp basil
dash of Cayenne pepper
2 dashes of hot sauce
1/4 crushed red pepper

1 Tbsp vegan Parmesan cheese

12 minced lg black olives

1 tsp brown sugar (optional)

I created the sauce separate from the stuffing and once I had this prepared I mixed it with the stuffing.  I decided to keep them separate in the beginning, because I did not want to squash the living daylights out of the fresh veggies, because that would be vegetable abuse and that would just be wrong.

Meatless Calzone Stuffing

1/2 Roma tomato

2 mushrooms

1/2 handful of fresh spinach

1/2 c yellow onion
1/4 c vegan mozzarella cheese
1/4 c meatless meat crumbles

Add the sauce to the stuffing and mix together until the veggies and meatless meat is coated. 

Once the calzone's are cooking in the oven for about 6 minutes, slice about three holes in the top of the dough.

Creates 1 large and 4 medium size calzone's.

Cook at 450 for 12-15 minutes or until golden brown.



These potato calzone's were surprisingly light.



Potato and Jalapeno Calzone Stuffing

1/2 Roma tomato

1 lg Russet potato

1/4 c yellow onion

1 1/2 Tbsp fresh chives

1/2 jalapeno

salt to taste

black pepper

1 lg garlic clove

1/2 lemon

1 Tbsp vegan cream cheese

The potato was leftover from my potato salad on the 4th of July and it was already boiled and sitting in the refrigerator just waiting to be used.  I peeled the potato and then grated the potato into a glass bowl.  Then I chopped the tomato, onion, and jalapeno.  Once you have the stuffing fully prepped in the bowl, mix everything together until it blends together.

Again, cut about three holes in the top of the calzone's about 8 minutes into the cooking process.  The potato calzone's take a bit longer to cook, but are very much worth the extra effort. 

Creates 1 small and 1 medium sized calzone.

Cook at 450 for about 15 minutes or until golden brown.

Veganpendance Day Extravaganza!

 Frozen Vanilla Soy Dessert Topped With Toasted Coconut Doused In Cognac And Drizzled With Warm Chocolate

The Hungry Vegan Bear couldn't help but
have seconds of this cool tasty treat.

Ingredients

1/2 bag of coconut

frozen soy dessert

1/2 bar of dark chocolate

I toasted a half a bag of coconut in the oven on broil, stirring the coconut until it was golden brown.  Once the coconut was ready I added it to a skillet on a medium high setting on the burner.  Next, take the cognac and add in enough to cover the coconut.  Make sure that you are not standing directly over the skillet as a high flame will shoot up once the cognac hits the pan. 

Remove the skillet and coconut from the burner.  The flame will die out once the pan is off the heat.  Top the cognac doused coconut to the frozen soy dessert.  I used a dark chocolate and warmed it over the stove top.

This recipe will serves three, of course, all of us had seconds.

Cactus On The Grill

Ingredients

1 lb cactus

salt

black pepper medley

Ceyanne pepper

First, use a knife or peeler to strip the cactus of all the needles.  I managed to stab myself in the paw with one of these buggers, which lodged itself under my skin, but was quickly popped out like a splinter with a tweezers.  I don't recommend getting one of these prickly spears in your paw, so be carefull as you are working on these nifty plants.

I used a pound of cactus and boiled it on the stove for about a half hour.  Once the cactus is boiled, handle the cactus to ensure that all of the needles have been extracted from the plant.  After the cactus was tender and ready to serve, I squeezed lime over the top of the cactus and then added salt, black pepper medley, and Ceyanne pepper to the cactus while it was on the grill. 

Veganpendance Day!

When the 4th of July comes around I'm always excited.  And this year I'm especially happy, because I've created a few menu items to celebrate our independence in style.  This is part one of my 4th of July Vegan Extravaganza on The Hungry Vegan Bear.

The Menu

The Hungry Vegan Bear's badass barbecued steak skewers

potato salad with a violet kiss

cactus on the grill

corn on the cob

watermelon
frozen vanilla soy dessert topped with toasted coconut doused in cognac and drizzled with warm chocolate

I love the 4th of July, because it brings with it so many great family memories, celebrating at the cottage, dad blowing up the fireworks...dad blowing up the grill.   My father, who passed away in March, was a kid when the 4th rolled around each year.  He would always get the work out of the way first, mowing the lawn, dumping and grating gravel down Kuehlman Lane, and sometimes tinkering on some quirk or another on the fishing boat.  Then at some point, he'd light his pipe, and grab a Miller from the refrigerator.  Once he did this we all knew that he was about to start the grill.  We used charcoal and dad had an affinity for using an obscene amount of lighter fluid.  But, you have to give him credit, he only ever had to use one match.  This style of grilling he most certainly past down to me as I still find myself using charcoal and an over abundance of lighter fluid, of course, using only one match.

In honor of my father I came up with this menu for the 4th of July, which I think he would have appreciated.

Happy 4th of July!

-The Hungry Vegan Bear

All right, not everyone has time to make barbecue sauce, but I had some free time and I'll admit it when I have a beer or six I tend to get my ass in some trouble.  During this trouble makin' time I conjured up a little recipe for a badass spicy BBQ sauce that I think my dad would be proud of as he had a deep appreciation for bbq sauce.

Once the sauce is complete you can brush it over the skewers or, if you so desire, over your corn on the cob.  The recipe below makes about a cup of sauce.

Badass BBQ Sauce Ingredients
5/8 tsp black pepper medley
1/8 tsp Cayenne pepper
3/4 tsp liquid smoke
1/2 tsp chili powder
3oz tomato paste
1 Tbsp Jack Daniels
1 Tbsp brown sugar
1 tsp olive oil
1 1/2 tsp vinegar
1 tsp molasses
2 dashes hot sauce
2 dashes salt
1 clove garlic
1/4 water
1/2 tsp pepper flakes
1/3 crushed sweet onion


The Hungry Vegan Bear had her paws full with these vegan delights.


I've tasted a lot of different vegan potato salad recipes, but I've always longed for one that was traditional and closer to my mom's potato salad.  This year I opted to combine the traditional with a new twist using purple sweet potatoes.

Potato Salad With A Violet Kiss
3 Russet potatoes
2 sweet purple potatoes
3 lg celery stalks
1/4 lg white onion
3 Tbsp white vinegar
1/2 c Vegenaise
1 tsp mustard
1 tsp sugar
couple dashes of salt
1 tsp black pepper medley
1/2 tsp Cayenne pepper
1 1/2 handful's of fresh dill minced
1 handful of fresh chives finely chopped

Boil the potatoes for about a half hour and then refrigerate prior to peeling the potatoes.  Cube the potatoes and toss into a bowl with the chopped onion and celery.  Once the potatoes and veggies are chopped and in a plastic bowl, begin the preparation on the dressing.  Begin with the Vegenaise and vinegar and then proceed to add the dry and fresh spices.  Coat the potatoes and veggies with the dressing and then stir together.  Refrigerate prior to serving.  This is a great recipe for potlucks and can serve about 10 to 12 people.