This is the world’s best grilled cheese sandwich ever! Seriously! It isn’t just the best VEGAN grilled cheese sandwich, it is the best grilled cheese sandwich period. I love these things, can you tell?
Crispy, salty on the outside and creamy and spicy and CHEEZY on the inside!
Ingredients (makes 4 sandwiches)
1 yellow onion diced
3 cloves garlic diced
2 Tbsp vegan butter
2 Tbsp flour
1 cup hot water
2 Tbsp lemon juice
1 Tbsp miso paste
1 Tbsp spicy mustard
1 Tbsp soy sauce
1/4 cup pickled jalapenos chopped
1/2 cup nutritional yeast
pinch of salt and pepper
1/2 tsp cumin
8 slices of bread
butter to spread on the bread
-Saute the chopped onions on medium high heat for 8 minutes, until they are soft
-Add the chopped garlic and continue cooking for another 2 minutes
-Lower the heat to low and add the 2 Tbsp of vegan butter and stir until completely melted
-Add the 2 Tbsp of flour and stir for a minute till the flour is completely combined with the butter, garlic and onion
-Slowly add in the 1 cup of hot water, stirring continually until the flour and butter break down and form a thick creamy consistency with the water
* At this point the mixture will look a bit liquidy and not gooey enough to form a good grilled cheese sammy, have no fear! Once you add the nutritional yeast later on it will thicken up into a thick, cheesy consistency.
-Add the salt, pepper, cumin and jalapenos
-Add the lemon juice, miso paste, soy sauce and mustard
-Slowly stir in the 1/2 cup of nutritional yeast and stir and cook for another minute
-Remove cheese sauce from the heat and allow to come to room temperature while you spread butter on the outside of each piece of bread
-Spoon some of the filling onto a piece of bread NOT on the buttered side, then top with another piece of bread
-On medium high heat in a drizzle of olive oil cook the sandwiches buttered side down until they are brown and crispy. Top with a sprinkle of sea salt and enjoy!
Yes, I know February is over… all the Valentine’s Day flowers have shriveled and died, the last few half eaten truffles have been forgotten in the heart-shaped box, and all the card companies have moved on to the next commercialized holiday (I guess that would be Easter?). But I still thought I would blog about an amazing dinner and everyone’s favorite on Valentine’s, boxes of chocolates.
For dinner, I made seitan piccata and stuffed mushrooms, both from the Candle Cafe cookbook along with roasted beets sprinkled with celtic gray sea salt and a dribble of balsamic glace. I had to use my heart cookie cutters on the beets, because honestly, when else can you use them if not on Valentine’s day?
After seeing a post on the always fabulous Girlie Girl Army about the delicious treats from Allison’s Gourmet, I decided to splurge and buy myself a box of truffles (thinking there was no way that John would figure out a way to get vegan chocolates). The box included three types of truffles (hazelnut, mocha, and almond) and three types of caramels (pecan, peanut, and chocolate) Next year I will be ordering a box full of the caramels (pecan was my favorite)! Not that I didn’t like the truffles as well, but I had plenty of those to choose from….
Because to my surprise, John did a little online searching on his own and ordered me a box of truffles from Rose City Chocolatier. I was seriously impressed with his effort. This one had all kinds of flavors (hazelnut, vanilla, mandarin, coconut, pistachio, strawberry to name a few). Quality-wise they weren’t quite up to the standard of Allison’s truffles, but it was kind of fun to eat a box of chocolate the way I used to… take a bite and if it was a less than stellar flavor (the mandarin), I just put the uneaten half back in the box!
And as if I didn’t have enough chocolate… I made chocolate covered strawberries drizzled with the last of my white chocolate chip stash. What the strawberries lacked in ripeness, the chocolate more than made up for in sweetness. The strawberries, chocolates, a bottle of champagne, and the Lush sex bomb bath bomb made for quite a relaxing evening.
BLT of AWESOMENESS (that it is vegan should be understood by all, since it is AWESOME)
More than the weekend, I played with the very first of the numerous analogs I picked up at MT Marketplace, the vegan “smoky pork belly”. I need to say, very first of all, that although I utilized to adore bacon, and I’ve frequently heard of it as “the gateway back to meat”, I do not truly miss it, and I do not like most of the bacon analogs I’ve tried. Most bacon analogs possess a truly intense liquid smoke flavour, or if the flavour is okay, the texture is as well a lot like a cracker. I’m NOT a fan of liquid smoke. When I want a flavour as smoky, salty and complicated as bacon, I generally add alder wooden smoked cigarettes sea salt along with a dash of olive oil or toasted sesame oil. If I want some thing which is comparable to bacon in each flavour and texture, I like to make use of either pan-fried dulse, tempeh which is been simmered inside a marinade of shoyu, alder wooden smoked cigarettes sea salt, drinking water and occasionally garlic, smoked cigarettes paprika, or black pepper, or, for the most fatty bacon texture, fresh shiitake mushrooms pan-fried in olive oil till slightly browned and seasoned with alder wooden smoked cigarettes sea salt along with a dash of shoyu. As you are able to tell, in my home, we’re large fans of alder wooden smoked cigarettes sea salt–JD utilizes it anytime he can, and usually pleads for me to place it in the greens-blanching- drinking water.
In the package, the vegan pork stomach looked like a thick piece of black pepper cured, unsliced bacon. I toyed close to having a couple of suggestions, like utilizing it as the pork inside a batch of green chile, but in the end, I made the decision to attempt a little of it merely pan-fried with a number of the stunning Asian greens I experienced, to ensure that we could truly tastes the flavour, and get a really feel for the texture. I reduce about 1/4 cup of the vegan pork stomach into 1/4″ dice and as I diced I was a small impressed with the way the “meat” and “fat” experienced various textures, and I wondered if they would tastes various, as well. If I experienced been utilizing real bacon or pork stomach, I would not have required any salt or oil, but because the white component of the vegan pork stomach wasn’t truly solid body fat, I figured I’d require a little of oil. I heated about a teaspoon of safflower oil inside a cast iron pan, then additional the diced vegan pork stomach. I utilized safflower oil simply because I desired a flavor-neutral oil, to ensure that we could tastes all the flavour nuances of the pork stomach. Following the pork stomach started to brown, I additional the thick, sliced stalks of the Chinese broccoli, but did not include any salt, simply because I believed the vegan pork stomach would have lots of salt. At this point, I made the decision that a small garlic and some chili flakes would include a truly great flavour, so I additional a pinch of crushed red chili flakes, and about 1/2 teaspoon of garlic powder (usually, I’d use fresh crushed garlic, but because my pan was currently hot, and there was some liquid in the pan, I knew the garlic powder wouldn’t burn). Following about two minutes, I additional the gorgeous, super-tiny heads of mystery greens, which I just washed and reduce in half. I sautéed these for about 1 much more minute, then additional the leafy tops of the Chinese broccoli and sautéed for about two much more minutes. Because the dish experienced a definite Asian bend, I believed some toasted sesame seeds will be a great garnish.
General, the dish was truly quite, and the taste was great, even though it would happen to be difficult to screw up individuals lovely greens. The vegan pork stomach was type of neat and enjoyable, but in this dish, it did not truly provide something new. JD like it sufficient, but did not rush back for seconds, and as I told JD, it did not truly add something that tempeh as well as smoked or fried tofu couldn’t. The big pieces of black pepper additional a truly great taste, and the smoke taste was moderate sufficient to become pleasant without having tasting overpoweringly artificial, however it was nearly as well moderate, actually, I discovered myself wishing I experienced additional a little bit of smoked salt although cooking. The “meat” and “fat” component of the pork stomach did have slightly various tastes and textures, which was novel, but following this dish, I wasn’t impressed sufficient with this element to picture heading away from my method to purchase it once again.
A minimum of, I couldn’t picture heading away from my to purchase it once again till I experienced The BLT of AWESOMENESS. As I was placing away the remaining unused vegan pork stomach, I believed I ought to truly attempt slicing it and utilizing it like bacon. I made the decision that a BLT will be the method to go, partially simply because I experienced most of the elements on hand. I frequently make Dulse, Lettuce and Tomato sandwiches having a slice of avocado, and I adore these simply because they’re fast, simple and scrumptious. I figured the vegan pork stomach might be an fascinating addition, but I no concept..<br>.
I started by heating a little quantity of safflower oil in my cast iron pan, then adding the sliced vegan pork stomach, along with a small little bit of smoked sea salt to enhance the smokiness. Although that was browning, I reduce my ciabatta into a sandwich-size square, and sliced it in 50 %. I spread FYH vegan mayonnaise on the best 50 %, then topped that with two layers of thinly-sliced tomato–you could use 1 layer of thick-cut tomato for much less mess, but arrive on, sloppy is much more scrumptious! At about this point, the very first side of vegan pork stomach slices experienced browned, so I flipped then, and positioned slices from 50 % a little avocado on the bottom 50 % of the ciabatta, sprinkled it with sea salt, and place a great bed of baby red and green romaine leaves more than the avocado. By now, the vegan pork stomach was nicely browned, so I positioned it more than the lettuce, place the best 50 % of ciabatta on, and sliced it.
It had been gorgeous. Thinly sliced layer upon layer, mayonnaise coating tomatoes and leading to them to gently slide down the baby lettuce, although the vegan bacon glistens and the avocado all but hides below the lettuce. I nearly did not wish to consume it. Nearly. It had been certainly 1 of the best 5 sandwiches I’ve actually had in my existence. I believe it’d most likely even be the second greatest, only behind a tempeh reuben created with fresh, homemade sourdough rye.
Although I had been constructing my sandwich, JD observed I had been in the kitchen, and came to determine what I had been producing. He made the decision he also desired a sandwich with the vegan pork belly (despite the fact that he had lunch meat and smoked salmon in the fridge), so he sliced up and fried the remainder. Because he doesn’t like avocado, lettuce, raw tomato, or mayo in any form (JD picky?? Nah!), he just had a vegan pork belly sandwich, so apparently it was much more than tasty sufficient to satisfy even a omnivore, even when meat choices are obtainable. Simply because of its stellar participation in The BLT of AWESOMENESS, I need to say I would certainly purchase vegan “smoky pork belly” once again, but most likely only for use in sandwiches.
I had a bunch of random thoughts concerning dinner final evening. 1 – it is fall, I am craving soup. Two – I wish to arrive house from swimming and have dinner instantly simply because all of us will probably be cold and hungry. 3 – I’ve a 4 lb bag of chana dal in the cupboard. Four – It has to become some thing wholesome simply because I am attempting to shed a couple of pounds to create running simpler. Following scouring the interwebs to discover the ideal recipe, I gave up and morphed a number of the much better types into 1 to fit the elements that I had and the degree of blandness that was needed (following producing 1 rather surprisingly volcanic Tofu Vindaloo this week, I needed to redeem myself). The outcomes had been tasty, really wholesome and created sufficient for the entire street (or to freeze for long term fast Friday evening meals).
Pardon the photo, but I was halfway through my bowl before I realized I might want a pic.
Golden Crockpot Split Chickpea Soup
2 tblsp olive oil
1 onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 celery ribs, chopped
2 large carrots, chopped
1 sweet potato, peeled and diced
1 lb chana dal (split chickpeas), rinsed
4 cups veggie broth (I used a 1L asceptic package that I bought on sale for $1.99)
4 cups water
2/3 cup Thai red rice (could substitute brown rice)
sea salt and pepper to taste
THE NIGHT BEFORE
Chop the veggies
THE MORNING OF
Saute the onions in olive oil until soft. Add the other veggies and saute for a few minutes. Add to the crockpot along with the dal. Add the veggie broth and water. Turn on low and cook for around four hours.
AT LUNCH/WHENEVER YOU CAN
Add the rice. Cook for another 2-4 hours. Add more water if it looks thick. I ended up adding more 2 cups.
AT DINNER
Stir and serve. Add salt and pepper to taste.
Vege Island