Mock Hollandaise Sauce - Vegan!

Serves 2 (can easily be doubled)

1/4 cup cashews
1 cup water
4-5 Tbs Lemon Juice (to taste)
1 tsp nutritional yeast powder
1/2 tsp onion powder
1/8 tsp garlic powder
1/8 tsp salt
1/16 tsp turmeric pinch cayenne (or paprika)
1 Tbs cornstarch
   freshly ground black pepper (to taste)

Place cashews and 1/2 cup of the water in a blender; process briefly (until smooth looking); add remainder of water (1/2 cup) and ingredients; process for 30 more seconds. Pour into a saucepan and heat over medium fire, stirring constantly, until thickened (it's okay if it comes to a slow boil - remember, this is mock Hollandaise)!

My mother serves this as a main course over an opened baked potato stuffed with steamed broccoli. To make the potato entree, simply, bake the potato and stuff it with steamed broccoli.  To finish, nap the sauce over the top and sprinkle toasted sliced almonds! It makes a super yummy, and super healthy meal...and best of all, it's low-fat and vegan!

Cucumber Salad with Olives, Oregano, and Almonds

Serves 4 to 6 .

WHY THIS RECIPE WORKS:
We started our Cucumber Salad recipe by selecting American cucumbers, which are crunchier than their English cousins. Draining the thinly sliced cucumbers on paper towels helped to wick away some of their moisture...

This salad is best served within one hour of being dressed.

INGREDIENTS
4 cucumbers , peeled, halved lengthwise, seeded, and sliced very thin
1/3 cup white wine vinegar
1 tablespoon lemon juice
2 teaspoons extra virgin olive oil
1 1/2 teaspoons sugar
1 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon pepper
1/2 cup pitted kalamata olives , chopped coarse
1 shallot , sliced very thin
1/2 cup chopped fresh parsley
1 teaspoon minced fresh oregano
3 tablespoons sliced almonds , toasted and chopped coarse

INSTRUCTIONS
1. Evenly spread cucumber slices on paper towel–lined baking sheet. Refrigerate while preparing dressing.
2. Bring vinegar to simmer in saucepan over medium-low heat; cook until reduced to 2 tablespoons, 4 to 6 minutes. Transfer vinegar to bowl and set aside to cool to room temperature, about 10 minutes. Whisk in lemon juice, oil, sugar, salt, and pepper.
3. When ready to serve, add cucumbers, olives, shallot, parsley, and oregano to dressing and toss to combine. Let stand for 5 minutes; retoss, sprinkle with almonds, and serve.

Potato Enchiladas

1 28-ounce can Green Chili Sauce Medium by Las Palmas

4 ounces water

1/3 cup salsa

2 cups mashed potatoes made with potato water instead of milk

10 flour tortillas

3/4 cup chopped green onions

3/4 cup frozen corn kernels, thawed

1 4-ounce can diced green chilies

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Add water to can of chili sauce and stir to combine. Spread 1 cup of sauce over the bottom of a casserole dish. Stir the salsa into the mashed potatoes and mix well. Spread a line of potatoes down the center of each tortillas; sprinkle on some green onions, corn, and green chilies. Roll up and place seam side down in casserole. Pout remaining sauce over tortillas, cover, and bake for 30 minutes.

Mexican Rice

3/4 cup water

3 cups cooked brown rice

1 cup chopped green onions

1 green bell pepper, chopped

1/2 teaspoon minced fresh garlic

1 10-ounce can Ro-tel diced tomatoes and green chilies

1/2 cup salsa

1/4 cup cilantro

Place water in saucepan. Add green onions, bell pepper, and garlic. Cook, stirring occasionally, for 10 minutes. Add the tomatoes and salsa. Stir in the hot rice and mix well. Cook until heated through. Stir in the cilantro and serve at once.

Easy (Overnight) Spelt Pancakes

From the cookbook Vegan Yum Yum!

Makes approximately 12-16 medium-small pancakes (about enough for two people).


1 1/2 cup almond or soy milk
1 TBS sugar
2 TBS oil
1 cup spelt flour (you can substitute all-purpose flour*, but the spelt flour adds an amazing sweet flavor to this recipe)
1/3 cup all-purpose flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
1 tsp extract (any flavor, I used orange, but vanilla is a no-brainer)
1-2 TBS water, to thin batter (if needed)


Add milk to your blender. Add remaining ingredients, except the water, and blend for a few seconds until combined. Scrape down any dry flour stuck to the side of the jar and blend again. Place the top on the blender and refrigerate overnight. You can also use the batter immediately.

In the morning, place the blender back on the base and add 1-2 Tbs of water, blend to mix. This re-thins the batter that had thickened overnight.

Preheat oven to 200º F and put an oven-safe plate on the middle rack. Heat a non-stick skillet over medium heat. Pour the batter directly into the center of the ungreased, heated pan. I prefer silver dollar sized pancakes (2 1/2 to 3″ in diameter), but you can make any size you want. This batter will create fairly thin pancakes, which are great for staking and eating!

After a few minutes of cooking, the batter will start to bubble and set; flip your pancake! If your pancake doesn't look properly brown by this time, turn the heat up. If the pancake looks overly brown, turn the heat down.

As the pancakes finish cooking, stack them on the plate in the oven (this will keep the whole stack warm and soft while you’re cooking the others).

Serve with vegan margarine (Earth Balance) or my low-fat millet butter (as shown in the picture below - recipe on the blog) and real maple syrup.

Vegan or not, these are simply wonderful pancakes to make and share!

*If using only all-purpose flour for this recipe, you may need to add more liquid. Regular flour absorbs more moisture than spelt.

Basic White Bread (Bread Machine)

1 cup lukewarm water.
2 1/4 tsp bread machine yeast (1 package rapid rise yeast will also work)
3 TBS honey
3 cups white bread flour
1 1/2 tsp salt
1-2 tbs olive oil

Place water, yeast and honey in bread machine and stir lightly; allow to sit for 3-5 minutes, so the yeast can get started. Add flour, salt, and olive oil. Set-up the machine for "white bread" and press "start." The cycle time should take about 3 hours and 40 minutes to complete the loaf.

My Friend Monique's Amazing Potato and Leek Soup

5-6 large russet potatoes (or 10-12 small/medium)
2-3 leeks
water
salt
white pepper
Tofutti sour cream (blue tub brand which is not hydrogenated)

Peel potatoes and cut into 1 inch pieces. Place potatoes into a soup pot and barely cover with water (my friend Monique never writes this recipe down and when she recites it verbally to friends, she always cautions, "don't put too much water in the pot!"); so don't put too much water in the pot!

Slice the roots off the leeks and discard any ragged or coarse outer leaves. Also trim the darkest green part off each stalk as you'll only use the tender light green and white portion of the vegetable for this recipe! Slice the leeks down the center and then slice into 1/4 inch pieces. Place in a bowl of cold water and bounce the leeks to remove the dirt (the dirt and grit will sink to the bottom). Repeat as necessary to ensure the leeks are clean! Place them in the pot with the potatoes, and add a little water if needed.

Add salt and pepper to taste, and bring soup to a simmer over medium heat; cook 20-30 minutes or until vegetables are tender. When the potatoes pierce easily with a fork, use a hand-held potato masher to lightly mash everything into a creamy soup! Adjust seasoning if needed.

Place hot soup immediately in bowls and serve with a large dollop of Tofutti sour cream!

Serves 4-6 as a main course!

Note: Monique always makes this soup with regular sour cream; she will generally stir a whole, small container of sour cream right into the soup before serving. Although not vegan, this is a most excellent variation! If you are having guests and dairy is not a problem, this version makes an elegant first course.