Slow cooker Recipe series- Ratatouille February 24, 2011

 

This is my third installment for my Slow Cooker Recipe Series. If you missed the first two, I made:

 

Slow Cooker Beefless Stew

 

Slow Cooker Jambalaya

 

As a vegan who tries to eat mostly whole, unprocessed, all natural foods, I always make sure my kitchen is stocked with fresh vegetables. I usually go to the farmer’s market and grocery store once or twice a week to stock up. Sometimes, I can overdue it a bit, and I find myself with a lot of vegetables that are about to go bad before I will have time to eat them. Although rare, when this does happen I usually do one of two things: make soup or make ratatouille. Today I am going to share my recipe for ratatouille, which is so good mixed with pasta, on top of polenta, or even just by itself. It also freezes really well so I usually make a large batch and freeze half.

 

The vegetables I use in the recipe below are just suggestions. I usually use whatever I have in the fridge so feel free to substitute whatever vegetables you want!

 

 

  Slow Cooker Ratatouille

Makes 4-6 servings

Printable Recipe

 

Note: Feel free to use any combination of veggies in this recipe. Some good ones to use include green beans, yellow squash, kale or other dark leafy green vegetable, broccoli, leek, almost anything, get creative!

 

Ingredients:

 

1 red bell pepper, cut into 1” dice

1 green bell pepper, cut into 1” dice

2 zucchinis, cut into 1” dice

1 package sliced mushrooms, any type

1 eggplant, cut into 1” dice

1 onion, roughly chopped

4 cloves garlic, minced

1 15oz. can diced tomatoes

1/2 6oz can tomato puree

2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar

2 tablespoons Italian Seasoning

Handful Fresh basil (optional)

1 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes

 

Directions:

 

Throw everything in the Crockpot and cook for 6-8 hours.

Slow Cooker Recipe Series- Beefless Stew February 17, 2011

 

This is the second recipe of my Slow Cooker Recipe Series! Eddie brought home a couple of packages of Gardein Beefless Tips the other day from Whole Foods and wanted me to make a couple dishes with them. I have never been fond of beef. Even during my meat eating days, I generally stayed far away from anything that contained beef, even hamburgers; I have always preferred veggie burgers over beef patties. Consequently, I had no idea what to make! I have never had a reason to look up or cook any recipes containing beef, vegan or non-vegan! What is a girl to do? I did what I always do when looking for new recipes, I went online and looked at blogs, foodgawker, and tastespotting, and came up with a few ideas.

 

The first was some sort of Asian stir-fry. I sautéed some vegetables with the beefless tips and some sesame oil and made a sauce out of soy sauce, mirin, rice vinegar, miso, garlic, ginger, agave syrup, some veggie broth, and some cornstarch to thicken it and added this to my stir-fried veggies and beefless tips. I served this with brown rice. The verdict? Bleh. Both my husband and I were not very fond of the beefless tips in this recipe. They were quite bland and did not really do anything for the dish. I would have liked the dish much more with tofu.

 

The second dish I made with the beefless tips was this beefless stew. I do not think I have ever eaten real beef stew but I thought this vegan version was pretty good! Even my husband liked it, even though he is not very fond of the beefless tips! And the best part is that it is so easy to make! Just chop up the vegetables and throw everything in the Crockpot and let it cook for 6-8 hours! I served mine with quinoa but it would be great with polenta, rice, or just on its own!

 

What is your favorite vegan “beef” recipe?

 

 

  Crockpot Beefless Stew

Makes 4 Servings

Printable Recipe

Ingredients:

 

1 package Gardein Beefless Tips

1/2 cup flour

1/2 onion

handful of baby tomatoes, sliced in half

2 large celery stalks, chopped into 1” pieces

2 large carrots, chopped into 1” pieces

2 handfuls green beans, ends removed and beans chopped in half

1 package sliced mushrooms

2 cups veggie broth

1/4 cup red wine (optional)

1 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes

2 tablespoons Italian seasoning blend

1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce

 

Directions:

 

1. Thaw the beefless tips and place in a bowl with the flour. Toss to coat, then add the beef to the Crockpot. Discard the rest of the flour.

2. Add the rest of the ingredients to the crock pot.

3. Cook on low heat for 6-8 hours.

4. Serve warm on its own, or with your favorite grain!

Slow Cooker Recipe Series- Jambalaya February 9, 2011

I have recently discovered a new found love for my Crockpot. With a newborn at home I do not have time to cook dinner so it is nice to be able to just throw a bunch of chopped vegetables, grains, vegan protein, and some spices in my Crockpot and let it do all the cooking! So to show my appreciation for my Crockpot I am going to feature a series of slow cooker recipes here on my blog.

 

 

The first recipe is adapted from the recipe for Red Bean and Seitan Jambalaya from the Veganomicon Cookbook. This is not supposed to be a Crockpot recipe but it looked so good and I have been wanting to make it forever that I thought “why not try throwing all the ingredients in my Crockpot and see what happens?”

 

So that is exactly what I did, with a few changes:

 

1. I used black rice because that is what I had on hand and I have been dying to use it in a recipe.

2. I used 1 cup of rice and 1 1/2 cups of veggie broth instead of the usual 2 cups. This is because slow cooking food caused extra moisture to accumulate and I did not want my rice to be too mushy so I cut down on the water a bit.

3. I used Field Roast Vegan sausage instead of seitan because sausage just goes better with Jambalaya

 

As you can see by the picture this is not the prettiest of recipes, but it was really tasty. Even though I cut down on the water the rice was still a bit mushy but not too bad! And the black rice went really well with this dish! I will definitely make this recipe again…and again… and again!

 

I have included my version of this recipe below. Enjoy!

 

 

  Slow Cooker Jambalaya

Adapted from Veganomicon

Serves 4

Printable Recipe

 

Ingredients:

 

1 cup black rice

2 links Field Roast Vegan Sausage

1 green bell pepper, seeded and cut into 1/2 inch dice

1/2 yellow onion, cut into 1/2 inch dice

2 stalks celery, cut into small dice

4 cloves garlic, minced

3 heaping tablespoons tomato paste

1 1/2 cups vegetable broth

2 handfuls cherry tomatoes, cut in half

1 can red kidney beans

1 bay leaf

1 teaspoon dried thyme

1 teaspoon dried marjoram

1 teaspoon paprika

1/2 teaspoon celery salt

1/2 teaspoon onion powder

1/2 teaspoon cayenne

1 teaspoon salt

fresh ground pepper

2 teaspoons dried parsley or 2 tablespoons fresh parsley

 

Directions:

 

Throw everything in the Crockpot and cook on low for about 6 hours until all the liquid is absorbed and the rice is fully cooked. Mix everything thoroughly halfway through cooking.