The Jolly Fox
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Brandied Cranberry & “Beef” Stew.
Second day of Vegan Mofo is a go! Just as a note, I really like how Jamie Oliver refers to all of his recipes as “lovely”. I use the word yummy a lot I guess. But I think today I’m bringing you a lovely recipe for Brandied Cranberry & “Beef” Stew.
Cranberries are native to North America and extremely seasonal. They grow in acidic bogs throughout the North, most notably (for us Americans) in the great state of Wisconsin. When cranberries are ready for harvest, beds are flooded, they are removed from the vines and then corralled into a corner and removed. Then they go off to be cleaned, sorted and packaged. 95% of cranberries are made into juice drinks, sauces, jams, sweetened dried berries etc. Only 5% of cranberry harvests are sold fresh in stores. Only 5%!
Cranberries also have some pretty amazing health properties as well as being beautiful and delicious. Cranberries contain certain phytochemicals and flavonoids that are currently being researched for “possible benefits to the cardiovascular system and immune system, and as anti-cancer agents…” Cranberries also have anti-clotting properties and the ability to treat and prevent recurring urinary tract infections, especially in women. Cranberries contain this amazing anti-adhesion property that prevents nasty bacteria from sticking to the walls of your bladder or urethra–oddly enough, they are also known to aid in the prevention of plaque formation on teeth. And here, for you lucky readers, is some TMI: I know firsthand that cranberries are what you want if you even have the tiniest suspicion that you have a UTI. I always have cranberry supplements on hand that I take for preventative measures and have used them to treat UTI’s in the past, without antibiotics*. They always work wonders for me and I love them. I buy freeze dried cranberries in vegetarian gel-tabs, so I know I’m getting straight up cranberry and not a bunch of other junk.
Cranberries also have notable levels of vitamin C, fiber, and manganese as well as lots of other essential nutrients.
But on to what is really important, how delicious cranberries can be!
Cranberries have a very tart taste and flavor, so eating them raw can be a challenge. Here, they are used in this delicious fall stew and while cooked, they are not cooked down nearly as much as they are for something like homemade cranberry sauce or relish–so you will still get a hint of that tartness when you bite into them, but they go perfectly with the richness and warmth of this stew.
Brandied Cranberry & “Beef” Stew
Veganized from Sunset Magazine
Ingredients:
4 packages Gardein Beefless Tips ( I know that is a lot of Gardein, but this recipe makes a ton of stew!–Alternatively, you can make a big batch of beef style seitan to use instead)
3 tbsp safflower oil, divided
3lbs kabocha squash, peeled, seeded, and cut into chunks. To peel and seed a kabocha, I typically cut the squash in half, scoop out the seeds (which you can save, roast and eat if you want) and then I slice the kabocha into wedges. I then use a very sharp knife (be careful!!!) to peel away the skin from each wedge. This is my preferred method, but there are less complicated ways of doing this. You can also heat your kabocha for a few minutes in the microwave to soften it, which makes the skin easier to peel
2 medium yellow onions, finely chopped
1/3 c unbleached all-purpose flour
4 cloves of garlic, minced
3 tbsp dutch processed cocoa
5 c No Beef Broth– I use 2 heaping tsp of Better Than Bouillon’s No Beef Base dissolved in 5 c of hot water. The package indicates to use 1 tsp for every 8 oz of water, but I find that much too salty. I typically always cut the amount I’m using by at least half.
1/2 c brandy
1/2 dried cranberries–use ones that have been sweetened with fruit juice if you can find them
2 tbsp crystallized ginger, minced
1 tbsp orange zest
1 1/2 c fresh cranberries– You can use frozen berries if you can’t find fresh yet. DO NOT use the stuff that comes in a can. For frozen berries, I like Stahlbush Island Farms Sustainable Cranberries
salt & freshly ground pepper to taste
Method
Heat a large skillet over medium-high heat and saute your beefless tips until they start to brown. Remove from heat and set aside.
Preheat oven to 500°F. Line a baking sheet with a silpat. Toss or brush your kabocha with a tbsp of safflower oil and place on the lined baking sheet. Roast for about 10-12 min and then turn off the oven.
Heat 2 tbsp safflower oil in a heavy bottomed pot (Le Creuset or cast iron dutch oven would be perfect) over med-high heat. Add onions and about a tsp of salt and cook for about 3 minutes until onions have softened. Add the flour and cook a minute or two more, until the flour starts to turn golden. Stir in the garlic and cocoa and cook for just a minute. Now stir in the broth, brandy, dried cranberries, ginger, orange zest and fresh cranberries. Bring to a boil and cook about 20 minutes. Now stir in your kabocha chunks and beefless tips. Let the stew simmer for an additional 10-15 minutes–you just want your kabocha and beefless tips to absorb some of that warm, delicious fall stew flavor because they were both cooked separately. You also want to make sure that your fresh cranberries have cooked down just a bit, to counteract some of the tartness and bring out a little sweetness. Taste your stew and add freshly cracked salt and pepper to taste. It’s going to be really hot for a bit, so let it cool for a few minutes before serving.
Snuggle up with your doggies, kitties or loved ones and enjoy this stew on cold day. In front of a fire would be nice too. 🙂
Sorry for the crummy picture. It’s a travesty because this stew is awesome. If the picture looks unappetizing, please just trust me that this stew is magnificent!
*I don’t mean for anyone to take my advice over a medical doctor, but sometimes docs forget about things like…well, healthy foods likes fruits, vegetables and whole grains and how those things can be very healing to your body when its sick. While I have been able to cure UTI’s in the past with nothing but cranberries, that doesn’t mean everyone’s body will react the same way as mine. So, if you feel like you may have a UTI that persists longer than a day or two after taking the correct dosage of cranberries, go to your doctor because you may very well need the antibiotics. 🙂
Vegan MoFo is upon us.
This is my first year participating in Vegan MoFo as I just started my blog in July. But boy, am I excited! I didn’t pick an official theme because well, I don’t really know what I’m in for yet? For anyone who doesn’t know about Vegan MoFo, it’s basically an entire month dedicated to vegan food bloggers who will try to post as much as possible within the Vegan MoFo. Some bloggers pick themes….like last year I’m pretty sure someone had a vegan gravy theme, gravy! Isn’t that amazing?
Anyhow, I have some yummy fall recipes and posts lined up that I am excited to tell everyone about. Yay. Here are some of the fall goodies I’ve been cookin’ up so far. 🙂
Inspired by a recipe I found over at Swapmeat.
This is a gluten free recipe from Manifest Vegan. The crust was especially good.
Another galette! Fresh farmer’s market figs and frangipane filling.
Inspired by Oh, Ladycakes.
That’s it for now. I’ll be back with a few delicious recipes for stew and another for pie and even some yummy quesadillas. So be sure to check back here all month long for my crazy mofo posts! 🙂
Vegan Lobster Rolls.
Lobster mushrooms everyone. Aren’t they beautiful? Their beauty comes from some funky parasitic fungus that actually grows on other mushrooms. Fungus on fungus action is what I’m sayin. That’s why they have this gorgeous reddish-orange hue, which matches the color of cooked lobster, hence the name. Unfortunately, most of us know that the most popular way to cook a real lobster is to drop them into boiling water whilst they are still alive. I have always found this disturbing, so I will stick with cruelty free lobster mushrooms thank you very much!
So, I saw some of these really great mushrooms while I was at the farmer’s market over the weekend and I had the idea that I wanted to make a delicious lobster roll, only with mushrooms instead of crustacean. I have never eaten a lobster roll, I’ve only seen other people eat them, so I decided to start with a very un-vegan recipe and veganize it. I decided to go with one by Bobby Flay, who I love to hate. I’ll throwdown with that homeboy any day! The lobster mushroom rolls were grand and I’m pretty sure they would please any lobster lover, even the Flay.
Lobster Mushroom Roll
Ingredients
1/4 lb to 1/2 lb lobster mushrooms, chopped into chunks–or thereabouts. I can’t remember how much I had exactly, but at least 2-3 handfuls.
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 yellow onion, sliced
2 tbsp Earth Balance
3-4 ribs celery, diced
1/4 c red onion, diced
1/4 c cilantro, chopped
3/4 scant cup Vegenaise (I like the reduced fat variety)
2 tbsp freshly squeezed lemon juice
salt and freshly cracked black pepper to taste
1 long french baguette, sliced into 3 rolls
Method:
Heat a saute pan or skillet over medium heat. Melt your Earthy B and add the onions. Saute for a couple of minutes and then add the garlic. Saute for no longer than a minute, as we don’t want to garlic to burn. Add the mushrooms. If your pan is looking the slightest but dry, add another tbsp or so of Earthy B. Saute your mushrooms, onions and garlic until tender and until the mushrooms have a released some liquid. Remove pan from the heat and set aside to cool.
Next mix your Vegenaise, with the remaining ingredients in a medium sized mixing bowl. If you like a lot of Vegenaise, feel free to add more. If you want less, just use 1/2 c or so. Season with salt and pepper to taste. After your mushrooms, onions and garlic have cooled a bit, add them to your Vegenaise mixture. It’s okay if they’re still a little warm. Now, you can toast your rolls with olive oil or more Earthy B, or just scoop in the filling and have them untoasted. Your preference of course!
A Post For Tiffany.
A lovely and dear friend of mine, the Tiffany, asked me a while back to do a blog post with some panini ideas. So, Tiffmeow, this one is for you. Here are some of the past paninis I have made and nommed upon in glorious nommage. May they inspire you to make delicious paninis for every meal. 🙂
Just as a note, I use a stovetop panini pan, but you can use two skillets, a George Foreman Grill, or an electric panini press or griddle thing.
Sometimes, I am feeling a “ham” & cheeze sandwich….the fancy way. I use this recipe for spreadable baked “brie” and this recipe for ham style seitan. This batch turned out a little purple nurple sort of. If you play with the beet powder and natural red coloring you can get it to look more pink. You can also pick up some brown and yellow mustard seeds to make your own mustard at home. You can add anything you want like beer or fresh herbs. You let the seeds soak with vinegar and some other goodies for a few days and then blend. Then, you have amazing, gourmet homemade mustard. I used part vinegar and cognac to make this mustard I used for this sandwich. Top with some arugula or mesclun. I always make sure to spread a good layer of Earth Balance on my bread for the most delicious panini, or brush some oil on it….although I prefer the Earthy B method.
Tiffany and her husband Eric often times have made their own bread in the past. This is always a good idea when you want the most delicious panini.
I made some Tomato Bread with bits of sun-dried tomato baked in. I can’t find the recipe, but you can just add tomato paste and bits of sun dried tomato to another bread recipe you have on hand to come up with something pretty similar. I then used that bread to make an avocado panini, with onions, spinach, vegan cheeze and a layer of homemade hummus.
There was an issue of Vegetarian Times a few months back that had some panini ideas. One of them was for a panini made with chickpea salad, golden beets and apples among other goodies. I loved it so much that I felt compelled to share it on the Vegetarian Times facebook page and guess what? They printed my comment in the following magazine. Yay. So, basically, this probably has to be my signature panini from now on and I will make it for whoever wants to try it 🙂 UPDATE: VT Posted the panini recipe here.
I realize it looks like a regular sandwich and not a panini, but I did grill it. The ciabatta I used was really hard to press down on though.
Paninis don’t always have to be savory either. You can wake up with a deliciously sweet panini breakfast sandwich. Color Me Vegan has a really yum recipe for a Nectarine-Agave Panini. I made one using cinnamon raisin bread. If you’re feeling a savory breakfast panini, make up some fresh waffles and load them with vegan sausage, vegan cheddar and maybe some tofu scramble and make that into a crazy panini waffle breakfast sandwich!
I also really like the recipe for Leek-Pesto etc crostini in The Kind Diet. Although, instead of using the recipe for crostini, I make it into a panini. It involves a really good artichoke spread, sauteed leeks and mushrooms, plus homemade pesto. Up above is pre-grilling, but this sammie is super good. The Kind Diet is a great book for some lower calorie, healthier options. There are some really good recipes in there!
Sorry for the blurry picture. This sandwich did not want to cooperate for photos because it wanted to jump into my mouth and just wasn’t being patient. And….I know I am going to sound like a commercial for vegan cookbooks, but this really….reeeaallllyyy good sandwich recipe is from Viva Vegan. It’s called the Vegano Cubano Sandwich and it is awe-some. It consists of homemade seitan, plus vegan ham, plus bread and butter pickles and everything good in the world. It’s one of the most delicious paninis I’ve ever eaten fo sho. Fo. Sho.
And, you know….there is always the classic grilled cheeze (Daiya is my homeboy), which you are always free to shove full of juicy tomatoes and basil pesto 😉
Apple-Cheddar Scones. Because Apples + Cheeze = WIN.
Hello glorious blog! Just letting you know I almost typed bog instead of blog and that wouldn’t be nearly as glorious.
So. Apples are in season and have been inspiring me everywhere I go. I am going to take an apple-picking trip sometime soon to pick my own, but until then I have been buying all sorts of apples and going bananas over them. Ha. See what I did there? Okay, I’ll stop. 😉
There is a lot of information out there about this delicious fruit, as apples are pretty famous, a-listers of fruit so-to-speak. But, I won’t bore you with that just yet. I’m saving that for the future apple posts to come. For now, please just enjoy this recipe for Apple-Cheddar Scones. I love the combination of savory and sweet, as well as fresh herbs and vegan cheeze with fruit. Pears, peaches and apples are among those that go especially well with vegan cheezes.
Apple Cheddar Scones
Ingredients:
1 to 1 1/2 tart apples, peeled or not–cored, sliced and diced. I use Granny Smith because I love them!
1 1/2 c unbleached all-purpose flour, plus additional for work surface
1/4 c unbleached cane sugar
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
6 tbsp Earth Balance, chilled and cut into 1/2 inch cubes or separated into tbsps
1/2 heaping cup Daiya Cheddar, shredded
1/4 c coconut creamer— I love So Delicious brand
1 tbsp ground flax seed
3 tbsp water
Method:
Preheat to 350°F. Line a baking sheet with silpat or parchment paper.
Mix the flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt in a medium to large mixing bowl. Add the Earth Balance to the flour mixture and use a pastry whisk to cut in the Earthy B until it starts to look something like wet sand. Combine your flax seed and water in small cup or small bowl and whisk to make a flax egg. Now toss that flax egg in with the flour and Earthy B and add the coconut creamer now as well. Lastly add the apples and cheddar and work your mixture into a dough.
Flour a work surface and roll your dough out to about 1 1/4 inch thick. I like to roll my dough into a circle and cut pie shaped wedges out for these scones, but you can use a biscuit cutter to do round ones if you please. Bake for about 25-30 min. Let the scones cool for a few minutes after removing them from the oven, but these are best enjoyed warm. They do reheat wonderfully in the oven, so if they can’t be eaten all at once, seal them in a container and refrigerate until you can enjoy the rest of them. 🙂
Update: Apple Pie with Honey & Thyme Recipe
This post https://thejollyfox.wordpress.com/2011/09/09/apple-pie-w-honey-thyme/ has been updated to include the recipe. 🙂 Hope you enjoy.
Eats of Late & Other Vegan Bloggers Rule.
I just got back from a trip to Ohio. To be honest, I still feel a little out of it. I did buy some yummy local goodies in Ohio and mailed them to myself before I left. Sigh, when will there be a “fly-at-your-own-risk” airline that just lets us bring jam on the plane?!? Jam, I say!
Anywho, right before I left I found this crazy awesome blog, Swapmeat. There was some crazy, delicious looking recipe for a Cheddar and Beer Soup that lead me there. Upon arriving, I saw there were some other amazing recipes with excellent photos waiting to be made and eaten. Yay! So, I left a comment under one of the recipes and to my surprise, this awesome blogger ended up helping me fix my header. Doesn’t it look awesome? I love it and think it’s a great improvement. I am so grateful to not only found a great blog with yummy food, but to know that an amazing and kind person writes said blog. I was so frustrated trying to fix that header, that I am soooo happy someone helped me fix it. So if you’re reading this blog, you should also go to Swapmeat and check it out too. 🙂
So, I only got to cook for realz once while in Ohio, but got to also eat out a couple of times at some yummy places. I will share that when I’ve got my wits about me again. For now, here are some photos of what I was making and eating before I left.
Probably the best batch of seitan I’ve ever made, or close to.
Made with precious, precious Cheeszly White Cheddar! So. Good.
Made with the lovely Galen of OMGosh I’m Vegan 🙂
Saw these in Vegetarian Times and thought I’d make them. Are they really tartlets? I don’t know…
Served the Tomato Tartlets on top on this salad.
Well, there you have it. A lot of the recipes are from my favorite cookbook, Veganize This! Others are edited/adapted or my own. I’ll post something yummy with a real recipe soon. 🙂
Apple Pie with Honey & Thyme
I had the opportunity to stay at a beautiful house in Pasadena the past few days to watch some really lovely doggies. I’m a dogwalker and petsitter extraordinaire! So being at this lovely house with these sweet doggies inspired me to make something sweet. Apple Pie with Honey & Thyme. I really love the taste of fresh savory ingredients in desserts. My favorites are using vegan cheeze and fresh herbs in desserts and sweets.
On Saturday, I had planned to make a Rosemary Apple Pie with my friend Galen. We ended up having so much fun making some Hatch Chile Chik’n Cacciatore that, unfortunately, we didn’t have thyme time for pie. Ha….see what I did there? I was still in the mood to bake a pie, so I decided on an apple pie made with a combination of Granny Smith and Golden Delicious Apples. I decided to add some local cactus honey that I tasted a while back at an awesome “Honey Tasting” held by an awesome little lady. The same friend also suggested that I enter a pie contest that’s approaching and I just might. I also decided that the addition of thyme would send this pie over the delicious edge.
Apple Pie with Local Honey and Fresh Thyme
Ingredients:
2 pie crusts. Use your favorite recipe–I used homemade whole wheat crusts for this pie.
3 Golden Delicious apples, cored and sliced–peeling optional
4 Granny Smith apples, cored and sliced–peeling optional
1/2 c local honey, divided–I used a combination of cactus honey and wildflower
6 branches fresh thyme, plus some extra leaves to add into the pie
2 tbsp instant tapioca–I used Let’s Do… Organic Brand
1/3 c golden brown mascobado sugar
1/2 tsp ground ginger
1/4 tsp salt
4 tbsp Earth Balance, divided in half
Method:
Preheat oven to 425°F.
If you have a giant skillet, you can do this in one batch. If not, you will have to do two batches–which is why certain ingredients up top have instruction to be divided. So, in one giant skillet or in two medium skillets, heat honey and bring to a boil. If using one skillet, use all of the honey, if using two, add a 1/4 c into each. Add 3 thyme branches to each skillet and then add your apples. Try not to overcrowd. I hate to dirty two pans, but the pie is worth if you have to. After you add your apples, go ahead and add two tbsp of Earthy B to each skillet. Cook the apples around 10 minutes. You’re not looking to cook them completely, just infuse some of that honey and thyme flavor. Pour both apple mixtures into a big ol’ mixing bowl, discarding your thyme branches along the way. Add your instant tapioca and reserve thyme leaves–how much you want to put in there is up to you. I put in at least a tsp or two to get more of that delicious thyme flavor with my apples and honey. Add your remaining ingredients, sugar, ginger and salt and stir every thing around real nice. Now is the time to roll out your bottom crust and stick that fella in your pie plate. How you want to do the top portion of the crust is up to you. You can see from my pictures that I decided to cut out little squares and rectangles and just layer them over the top of the pie. You can also do traditional lattice, or use cookie cutters to cover your pie in let’s say….foxes?!? Bake your pie for 15 minutes and then reduce the heat to 350°F and continue to bake about 40 minutes. Let your pie cool for a minimum or 30 minutes before serving. Add some yummy So Delicious coconut milk ice cream if you please! The only thing left to do now is to snuggle up somewhere and enjoy your pie.
The Galette Strikes Back.
I promised I would come back with another galette post plus a recipe. I was hoping to have a gorgeous, picturesque, classic French looking galette, but alas, this galette has my usual “homemade” look. Yes, homemade looking sounds much better than crappy looking. Le sigh. Some day, I hope to create desserts that are both delicious AND presentable. Ay, I feel like such an amateur.
Well, on a more positive note, this galette is reaaaalllly delicious. I veganized this recipe from one of the greatest baking blogs ever, Eat the Love. Most of the recipes on the blog are not vegan, but I enjoy seeing what success I can have adapting the wonderful Irvin’s recipes into vegan creations.
Irvin made an additional rum-caramel sauce to top the galette, which sounded very yummy, but after going over the ingredients for the filling and crust, I deemed it sweet enough to go without the sauce. If you’re looking for an extra kick of rum or sweetness, head on over to Eat the Love and make up a batch. If you’re a strict vegan, just sub out the honey for brown rice syrup.
So, without further ado, please enjoy this yummy pineapple galette recipe.
Pineapple Galette
Ingredients:
Crust:
1 c unbleached all-purpose flour
1/2 c whole wheat flour
2 tbsp arrowroot powder
1 tbsp golden brown mascobado sugar
1 tbsp golden flaxseed, finely ground
1/4 tsp salt
2 tbsp cold dark rum
5 tbsp Earth Balance
4 tbsp Earth Balance Coconut Spread
*2-3 tbsp cold water on reserve in the fridge, if needed
Make sure all of your ingredients are cold. This pastry recipe is slightly altered from the original recipe I used–my original dough was rather soft and delicate because it got warm very fast due to me making it on a hot day. If your dough becomes soft, you can stick it back in the fridge for a few minutes.
Mix both flours, arrowroot, flax, salt and sugar in medium mixing bowl. Whisk them until thoroughly mixed. Add both types of Earth Balance in tablespoons, cubes or small chunks. Cut it in with a pastry whisk, and mix until you have mixture starting to resemble damp sand. Add the cold rum to the mixture and mix until a dough starts to come together. If your mixture is too dry, add some of the cold water you put in the fridge earlier. Add a little bit at a time. If for some reason you have dough that’s too wet, just add a bit more flour. Flatten your dough into a disk, wrap it up in plastic wrap, and refrigerate it for a minimum of one hour or overnight.
Filling Ingredients:
2lbs of pineapple, fresh and cut into spears. After you grill it and let it cool, you will slice it up into smaller pieces.
1/4 c MimicCreme
2 tbsp arrowroot
1/2 c unbleached cane sugar
1 1/2 tsp Ener-G Egg Replacer
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp salt
1 vanilla bean, split and beans scraped from both sides
Preheat oven to 400°F. Line a baking sheet with a silpat.
Preheat your grill or a grill pan. If you’re using a grill pan, make sure to put some oil on it. I used my recently purchased Le Creuset grill pan and used coconut oil. Grill the pineapple for about 2-3 minutes of each side. Put the pineapple on a plate to cool. After the pineapple has cooled, go ahead and slice it up into small pieces.
Mix the MimicCreme, arrowroot, sugar, egg replacer, cinnamon, and salt. Use a sharp knife and split the vanilla bean lengthwise. Use the back or your knife or something flat and scrape out the vanilla beans. Add the vanilla beans to the mixture and reserve your vanilla bean pod for homemade vanilla extract or homemade vanilla sugar. Or, if you make the aforementioned rum caramel sauce, you can use it for that. Stir the mixture until the arrowroot is dissolved and everything is thoroughly mixed.
Roll out your dough on a well floured work surface. I made my galette circular in shape, but feel free to make a rectangle or other shape. Place the dough on the baking sheet with silpat. Add the sliced pineapple in whatever pattern you please. Pour the cream, sugar, arrowroot mixture over the pineapple, very slowly. Don’t make a puddle. It’s okay to stop pouring, even if you have a lot left in your bowl. Start to fold up the sides of the galette. Once completely folded, pour the remainder or the cream mixture over the exposed pieces of pineapple. Place in the hot oven and bake about 40-45 min or until the edges of your galette start to turn golden and the fruit inside is bubbling.
If you want to make the caramel sauce, now is the time to head to Irvin’s awesome blog and start making it!
Now slice up that galette and serve. Maybe with some vanilla coconut milk ice cream. 🙂
World’s Best Grilled Cheeze.
Meet the best grilled cheeze ever. I’m pretty sure Paula Deen is the one responsible for this recipe idea. Yes, you read right. I said Paula Deen! Haha, she’s like the anti-vegan, but some of her outrageously decadent butter-fest food is easily veganizable and instantly made that much better.
And I have to say, this grilled cheeze is the best I’ve ever eaten. Once I took the first bite, I nearly died of a mouthgasm and knew that I would be making many more of these in the future. I wish I had gotten some better pictures, but these will have to do and you’ll just have to trust me 🙂
World’s Best Grilled Cheeze w/ “Bacon”, Apples and Roasted Red Onion Veganaise
Ingredients:
Earth Balance
Bread (your choice, but I used Rudi’s Rocky Mountain Sourdough for this sammich)
Granny Smith Apple, unpeeled and sliced thinly
Tempeh Bacon (homemade, or lightlife brand. You can give it a quick saute, or toast it, or just leave it as is)
Daiya, Cheddar Style (if possible, try to get it in a block so you can slice it yourself. Or, some Whole Foods sell Daiya by the pound behind the cheese counter. You can custom order how much you want by weight and the cheese guy will slice it up for you if you want. They do the same behind the deli counter at Figueroa Produce Market)
Roasted Red Onion Vegeanise (recipe follows)
Method:
Preheat a a panini pan over medium heat or fire up your panini press. If you don’t have either, just heat two skillets and make your panini the old fashioned way. Spread some Earthy B on the outside of both slices of bread. Spread some roasted red onion Vegenaise on your bread and layer your Daiya, tempeh bacon and apples. Take your panini (I use tongs) and place it in your panini pan, on your press or in your first skillet. Then grill the panini. If you’re using two skillets, just take the second heated skillet, and place it inside/on top on the other skillet with the sandwich in it. Use a very good oven mitt or glove so you are able to press the skillet down with some pressure, be careful not to burn yourself. In a preheated press, pan or skillet, it only takes a minute to make. Remove as soon as your bread is toasty and the Daiya is melted.
Roasted Red Onion Vegenaise
Ingredients:
1 medium red onion, chopped
2 tsp safflower oil
1 c Vegenaise (you can use your favorite, I like the reduced fat type)
unbleached sea salt and freshly cracked black pepper
Method:
Preheat oven to 375°F. Toss the onion pieces in the oil, salt & pepper and spread them out on a rimmed baking sheet lined with a silpat. Bake about 25 minutes, tossing the onions around once or twice. Remove the onions from the oven and let them cool. Then combine your onion pieces in a food processor with your Vegenaise. You can either blend it up until completely smooth or leave some chunky bits of onion. This recipe makes more than enough for one sandwich, so make a bunch for you and some friends or family or store it in jar and keep it in the fridge to use on sandwiches throughout the week.
Happy Labor Day everyone!
The Jolly Fox 