Vegan Sloppy Joe Recipe

Sloppy Janes

Much better than the Sloppy Joe's that the lunchlady tries to slap on your tray!

1/2 pound tempeh
1 chopped onion
1 chopped green pepper
2 cloves garlic
2 cups vegan tomato sauce
1 or 2 tsp chili powder
1/2 tsp salt
buns (I like the 100% whole wheat kind)

Steam the tempeh for 20 minutes and cut into 1/4 inch cubes

Simmer the onion, green pepper and garlic in 1/4 cup water until the vegetables are soft. Stir in the tempeh, sauce, chili powder, and salt and simmer until heated through.

Warm up the buns in a toaster oven, just for a minute or two. Scoop & serve with a side of baby carrots for a yummy lunch!

Recipe courtesy of GoToHealth.com

Really Easy Vegan "Chicken" Salad Recipe

Penny passed along this recipe - I find it a little disturbing because it's supposed to taste just like ME (why does everything taste "just like" me?), but it's actually pretty good.

Vegetarian "Chicken" Salad Recipe

INGREDIENTS:

• 1 carrot
• 1 celery stalk
• 1 green onion, finely sliced
• 1 tbsp relish
• 1/4 tsp dill
• 1/4 cup mayonnaise (use vegan mayonnaise for a vegan version)
• approx 6 oz mock chicken or 10-12 mock chicken deli slices

PREPARATION:

Using a food processor or a grater, finely dice the carrot and celery.

Slice mock chicken into approximately 1 cm square pieces.

Combine all ingredients in a large bowl until well mixed.

Serve over lettuce or on bread for a vegetarian "chicken" salad sandwich.

I like to heat up some vegan whole-wheat bread in the toaster oven and then scoop this on, mmm, mmm!

You might also want to try adding a few jalepeno peppers on top if you like things a little spicy! ;> ;> :>

Recipe courtesy of About.com

Recipe: Vegan Spicy Sweet Potato-Bean Burrito

Hello, my fellow vegans! Want something a little spicy for dinner tonight? Try some of these burritos - they just make my BEAK water!

Spicy Sweet Potato-Bean Burrito

Ingredients (use vegan versions):

1 teaspoon olive, canola oil
1 large onion,finely chopped
3 or 4 cloves garlic, minced
6 cups cooked beans (kidney or garbanzo)
2 cups water or bean-cooking liquid
2 to 3 tablespoon chili powder
2 to 4 teaspoon prepared yellow mustard
2 teaspoon ground cumin
2 to 3 tablespoon soy sauce
8 10 soft whole-wheat tortillas
4 cups mashed cooked sweet potatoes
3 green onions, finely chopped
thinly sliced avocado
salsa to garnish

Directions:

1. Heat oil in a 4-quart saucepan over medium heat. Saute onion in oil until transparent. Add garlic and stir. Add beans, water, chili powder, mustard cumin.

2. Bring mixture to a boil over medium-high heat. Cover. Reduce heat to low. Simmer until beans are very very soft, about 10 to 15 minutes. Stir in soy sauce.

3. Mash beans in the pot with a potato masher or large slotted spoon. Simmer, uncovered, over medium-low heat to cook away any excess liquid, about 25 minutes. Taste and add more seasoning if desired.

4. Preheat oven to 375. spread about 2/3 cups bean mixture down the middle of a tortilla and top with 1/2 cup mashed sweet potato. Sprinkle with 1/8 green onions. Roll up burrito, folding edges in from two sides to cover filling.

5. Repeat with remaining tortillas, bean mixture, sweet potato and onions. Place burritos seam side down on a baking sheet that has been sprayed with vegetable cooking spray. Bake for 10 to 15 minutes or until burritos are crisp.

6. Sprinkle burritos with avocado, salsa as desired.

Serves: 8

Preparation time: 45 minutes

Recipe courtsey of Wiccan Chicken & VegWeb.com

Casu Marzu – An Unusual Delicacy

Penny for Your Thoughts:
Casu Marzu – An Unusual Delicacy
By Pagan "Penny" Penguin

Casu marzu (a.k.a. rotten cheese, maggot cheese, worm cheese, casu modde, casu cundhídu, or formaggio marcio) is a type of pecorino cheese infested with thousands of wriggling maggots. And believe it or not, it's sold for about three times the price of normal percorino! Don't believe me? Check Wikipedia - they know all about it!

This special cheese goes beyond typical fermentation to a stage most would consider decay. The cheese ages in open air, which allows the "cheese flies" (Piophila casei) to lay their eggs into it. Once eggs hatch, translucent white worms, about 8 mm (1/3 inch) long promote additional fermentation and break down the cheese's fats. Eventually, the cheese becomes very soft, pungent, and full of liquid (called lagrima, from the Sardinian for "tears").

As long as the maggots are still alive (and believe me, you'll know – you can hear them rustling from the package!), the cheese is fresh and good to eat. But buyer beware: if the maggots are dead, the cheese has become toxic. The cheese is typically eaten on crackers or bread, with the larvae still inside of it. Most foreigners try to remove the larvae or "eat around them," which is quite a difficult feat – the larvae can jump up to six inches if disturbed! And if you are adventurous like me, you should accompany your casu marzu with some "worm wine," made from the dreaded caterpillars commonly called army worms. I'll get into that in my next article – I think I hear my cheese crawling off the table.