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Seitan Ham (Sham)

I’m going to be writing a lot of text here. I know a lot of you will skip right to the recipe, but typically I use this space to explain some things about the recipe. So if you’re still scratching your head after you scroll all the way down or have any questions, have a scroll back up here and have a little read. If you’re still intimidated, I have another seitan ham recipe that is much less labor intensive. This one is better though, and I finally wrote it down in the hopes that you could make it for Easter. I’ve been tinkering with it for years, with lots of variations, so I just want to make it clear that this is very forgiving. You can add some tomato paste, regular paprika, use different oils, etc. Get creative with it! If you make it, tag me (@avocadosandales) and use the hashtag #sham.

There’s also going to be quite a few specialty ingredients and devices in this recipe. Don’t. Get. Intimidated. Most of them are easily found online or can be adapted to your kitchen. For example, if you don’t have a Vitamix, use whatever blender or food processor you have, and strain the liquid portion if you need it more smooth. If you don’t have a stand mixer, use a food processor or knead by hand for as long as your arms will allow. This recipe doesn’t require as much kneading as something like my chickwheat recipe, since we’re not intending to shred it.

I used Outstanding Foods for seasoning, because I love the flavor (not sponsored, just like it!) If you want to use something that you are more likely have on hand, just add the same amount of liquid smoke to the recipe. You can use any other reddish colored beans instead of kidney beans (cranberry, christmas lima, etc). If you’d like to use dried beans just use 1 and 3/4 cups of beans and about 1/2 cup of the liquid from cooking the beans. Red yeast rice is used for color in this recipe. It will still be reddish without it, but if you really want the ham color to shine, its a worthwhile investment. I also use it in “steaks” and any other recipe that needs a bit of color. Shout out to Lisa Myaf for this tip-she makes amazing seitan and has a beautiful IG, which you can find here. I also need to give a shoutout to Julian Guy from the Seitan Appreciation Society for this recipe for the fat. You can find his amazing Detroit style pizzas here.

Without further ado, here it is folks.

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Tags: avocados and ales, cruelty free, easter, food, ham, ham recipe, meatless monday, plant based, recipe, seitan, seitan recipe, Sham, Veg, vegan, vegan food, Vegan ham, veganuary, Vital wheat gluten, what vegans eat

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Categories american, breakfast, vegan

Tofu Omelet

8 Aug

Every time I’m at a hotel, I wish there was a totally vegan breakfast buffet. Does this exist somewhere? My favorite thing is the folded omelets in the steamer trays. Something about the perfectly sized bits of yellow is so enticing. I’ve been spending a lot of time cooking up breakfasts on weekends and these omelets have become one of my favorites, since it’s so quick to throw together and very little clean up!

I’ve been obsessed with the recipe for tofu eggs from Post Punk Kitchen, which is what inspired this omelet recipe. This is such an easy breakfast with some pantry ingredients-you can absolutely put anything you want in it. My favorite options include spinach, tomatoes, peppers, black beans, any variety of vegan cheeses, or zucchini.

This recipe starts with blending all the “egg” ingredients in the blender. As I said in my previous post, I’m particular about how my pantry is stocked, but one thing I always have is a case of Mori-Nu Tofu. Not only is it shelf stable, I can use it in multiple dishes, like mapo tofu, baked tofu, or in place of the chickpeas in my popular chickwheat shreds. You first need to drain the Mori-Nu Silken Tofu Extra Firm.

Add all the rest of the ingredients and blend until completely smooth. It will seem like a pale yellow, but it brightens up a lot once cooked!

The next step is to preheat the oven and grease two pie pans. You could also use cast iron skillets or metal cake pans. Any shallow bakeware will work, but glass seems to let the omelets release the easiest.

After they’re in the oven, prepare the inner ingredients. Since they won’t spend much time in the oven, they will need to be heated thoroughly beforehand. I chose chicken of the woods mushrooms for these, because I happened to come across them while foraging, but any store bought mushroom will do.

You’ll be able to tell that the omelets are done after the tops firm up. The color will be much more yellow and vibrant.

After topping with cheese, veggies, and whatever else you’d like, you should put it back in the oven to melt the cheese. I highly recommend serving these with everything you would find at a breakfast buffet-hashbrowns, waffles, toast, bagels, vegan sausages, and lots of orange juice.

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Tags: american, breakfast, food, Morinupartner, Morinutofu, Shelfstable, tofu, vegan, vegan egg, veganuary, vegetarian, what vegans eat

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Categories american, breakfast, gluten-free, vegan

Chickwheat Cordon Bleu

8 Feb

It’s a blustery winter day here and my oven is begging to be used. It’s actually been in and out of functional use all week, but today it thankfully decided to cooperate. With Valentine’s day quickly approaching, it’s nice to be able to serve something a little more upscale for a nice candlelit meal. We have two kids now, so we won’t be having a candlelit meal, but the thought is nice I guess. We prefer to snuggle in bed and enjoy a pizza and movie together, with maybe a strong drink. We’ve been doing this for years now and it’s still something I look forward to.

This recipe requires a bit of preparation ahead of time, but it’s relatively intuitive. Chicken cordon bleu was never something I had prior to going vegan 8 years ago, but I feel like this is a pretty close replication. Please click through the links for my recommendations for alternatives and for prior recipes!

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Tags: american, cheese, cooking, diy, food, vegan, vegan cheese, vegetarian, vegetarian food, what vegans eat

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Categories american, casseroles, grains, meat alternative, vegan

Pulled Phauxrk

6 Feb

Move over jackfruit, there’s a new vegan pulled pork in town and it’s pronounced like fork.

This recipe is bean based, like my previous Chickwheat Shreds and like Blackbeet Beef it calls for cooked mushrooms for flavor. You can either roast or pan fry them, either will cook off the extra liquid and make them more flavorful. Use any white beans you can find navy beans, great Northern beans, it shouldn’t impact the end result.

Kneading in the food processor is what gives it the characteristic shredded texture, so be sure not to skip this step or cut it short. If you don’t have a dough hook, you can use your regular blade to knead. If you don’t have an instant pot, this can also be steamed in a conventional steamer for the same amount of time.

I prefer to weigh the ingredients in this recipe, as I think it yields the most consistent results, but I have included volume measurements for most of the ingredients if you don’t have a kitchen scale.

If you make this recipe, please use the tag #phauxrk on Instagram or public Facebook posts! I’d love to see your creations!!

Many thanks to Somer at Vedged Out and Chloe at Vegan or Not for assisting in the recipe testing!

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Tags: american, beans, cooking, cruelty free, dinner, easy, gluten, lunch, meal, meat alternatives, meat substitute, meatless, seitan, snack, soy, testing recipes, traditional american recipes, vegetarian, vegetarian food, what vegans eat, wheat

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Categories american, meat alternative, vegan

Faux King Crab

24 Jan

I could tell a pretty embarrassing story about crab here. I’ll spare you the details and just share this recipe for faux King crab instead. If you say it three times fast, you’ll laugh just as much as you would have at my embarrassing story.

Algal oil is pretty essential for the ocean flavor of this recipe. I don’t really recommend skipping it and it will give you a good DHA boost for the day, but in a pinch you could use a similar amount of kelp powder. It can be found in the Amazon link below or at your local natural food store in the supplement section as vegan DHA or Omega-3. Please see my notes below the recipe regarding tofu/agar.

If you don’t have an Instant Pot, I recommend steaming on the stove or in a conventional steamer for the same amount of time. A stove top pressure cooker could also be used.

If you make this recipe, be sure to use the hashtag #fauxkingcrab on Instagram or Facebook, I would love to see your results!

Many, many thanks to Somer McGowan of Vedged Out for assisting in recipe testing for this recipe.

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Tags: american, asian, cooking, copycat recipe, cruelty free, dairy free, dinner, homemade, instant pot, meat alternative, meat substitute, meatless, plant based diet, plant based recipe, plant-based, recipe, seitan, sushi, tofu, vegan, veganuary, vegetarian, vegetarian food, what vegans eat

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Categories asian, meat alternative, vegan

Vegan Calamari

18 Jan

A few months ago I made the Vegan Oxtail recipe by Korenn’s Vegan World of Food and was very impressed by the texture of the oyster mushrooms. Oyster mushrooms are kind of an old card in the vegan world, they work excellent as scallops or pulled barbecue on sandwiches. I thought it would be fun to use their shreddy texture for vegan calamari, and I was not disappointed. The mushrooms take a little oceany flavor on during a bit of marinating time, and get battered in a simple flour mixture. Feel free to use a more advanced batter recipe if you prefer. You can usually find large oyster mushrooms at bigger grocers and international markets. If you can’t find large ones, smaller ones will work just as well, but the calamari rings will be smaller.

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Tags: appetizer, cruelty free, dairy free, dinner, easy, finger food, food, fried food, italian, meat alternative, meatless, mushroom, plant based recipe, plant-based, recipe, vegan, veganuary, vegetarian, vegetarian food, what vegans eat

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Categories greek, Italian, meat alternative, vegan

Tomato Tuna

10 Jan

Last year I read about Tomato Sushi and attempted my own version over the summer. I read online that it was simply skinned tomatoes in a marinade, cooked sous vide. My attempt was ok, but the flavor was mostly soy sauce and nori.

A few weeks ago I purchased Earth Balance with added omega 3. I was put off by the strong fish smell from the algal oil, but I was determined to find a good use for it, as I hate food waste. I saw a post on Instagram that was of the real tomato sushi and thought, “well, there’s a use for that stinky fish butter. Unfortunately, Earth Balance is no longer making this butter since this post, but you can use algal oil for the same effect!

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Tags: asian, dinner, fish, japanese, lunch, meat alternative, recipe, sushi, tomato, tuna, vegan, vegetarian food, what vegans eat

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Categories asian, meat alternative, vegan

Galaxy Cake

24 Sep

On a similar theme as my galaxy macarons, I wanted to create a galaxy cake. The cake portion is simply a no egg, no dairy chocolate cake. The recipe is available in the Vegan Meringue Facebook group recipe files: it’s the chocolate midnight cake by Rebecca August.

The frosting is a vegan buttercream. I originally made about 2.5 cups, but realized with the petal technique I was going to need quite a bit more. I made another 1.5 cups of icing and it ended up being just enough. I highly recommend using Earth Balance butter for frosting recipes. We normally wouldn’t eat a lot of artificial color like this; I usually pawn most of my baking off on coworkers and friends!

I topped the cake with these galaxy meringues, which were made with 1/3 cup reduced aquafaba and 1/2 cup sugar. I dripped gel color down the inside of the piping bag to achieve the galaxy effect. I also crumbled one of the meringues, sprinkled on a little powdered sugar, and used pearl sprinkles for the stars and moons.

The petal technique is extremely easy. Pipe a blob of frosting with a piping bag fitted with a round tip, and spread it to the right with a spoon or spatula. Continue piping and spreading all the way around.

The cake itself is moist and delicious and we’ve been slowly enjoying it over the past few days.

Hope you enjoyed the photos!

Tags: aquafaba, cake, chocolate, dessert, galaxy, recipe, space, vegan, vegetarian, what vegans eat

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Categories desserts, vegan

Mozzarella Aquafaba Cheese

24 Aug

If you don’t know, I’m pretty excited about this. Every vegan I’ve ever met in real life has said the hardest thing to give up was cheese and every non vegan has told me that they would never be able to give up cheese. Fortunately, due to amazing chefs like Miyoko Schinner, Jay Astafa, Somer McGowan, and Skye Michael Conroy, we are able to enjoy cheese-like products, without the cruelty. I’ve made several forays into the world of vegan cheese and learned a lot of different techniques from many different recipes. The particular recipe that I drew inspiration from for this is the cashew mozzarella developed by Jay Astafa. You can watch the YouTube video here. I noticed he uses soy lecithin as an emulsifier, which aquafaba has been shown to do in recipes like Nina’s butter and Peanut Butter and Vegan’s mayo. This inspired me to make this cashew mozzarella using aquafaba as the emulsifier. It also makes this recipe soy free, conveniently, for those who are intolerant.

Vegan cheese doesn’t create casein protein strands like dairy cheeses do, which is why we use tapioca starch to create that stretchy texture. Some places may have it labeled at tapioca flour, but they should be interchangeable. I find mine at an international market for a cheaper price. You can also add a bit of xantham gum to increase the stretchiness. If you don’t have any, feel free to omit it, the cheese will still be delicious! I use vegan lactic acid powder to create that dairy-like tang in this recipe. It’s definitely worth the purchase, but if you cannot buy it, substitute a tablespoon of lemon juice instead. Nutritional yeast also adds to this cheesy flavor. Refined coconut oil helps with firmness upon refrigeration and improves the mouthfeel and melt. Please use coconut oil that is solid at room temperature. Cashews can possibly be subbed for raw sunflower seeds for those with allergies.

Most vegan cheeses use either agar or kappa carrageenan as a binder to be sliceable and shreddable. I choose to use kappa carrageenan, as I prefer the melt and mouthfeel it imparts. I am well aware that many people choose not to consume it and I completely respect that; this recipe may be possible with agar powder, but I have not tested it. If you do test it, please contact me with your results!

Edited to add: Several people have tried with equal amounts of agar and have had a hard time getting it to set. I would suggest doubling the amount of agar powder (use 1 tablespoon and 1 tsp). Xanthan gum will not replace the carrageenan, it’s not a firm binder like carrageenan is, just a thickener.