Are you getting ready for Thanksgiving? I’ll be sharing some items with you that we’ll be celebrating with at our feast, but I really wanted to make sure you include these at your table first. They really are THAT good:
Head on over to Vegan Monologue for the delicious recipe here. The only variation I made was to bake mine in a springform pan instead of a cake round.
You have to make these!
I haven’t entered any of the Vegan MOFO cooking challenges yet since I had no idea what I’d make with the ingredients given. This one was a no brainer…
We were given three ingredients to work with, Sunflower Seeds, Grapes and Hot Peppers. I used the hot peppers in the dried variety.
With those three ingredients, I created 3 recipes you’ll need to make this sandwich, a Savory Grape Focaccia, Thick “Ham Slices” and a Sweet and Sour Grape-Pepper Jam
Savory Grape Focaccia
Focaccia Dough: drizzled with olive oil, pressed with grapes and sprinkled with sunflower seeds, red pepper flakes and dried rosemary
Method: Combine flours, half the salt, half the olive oil, the active dry yeast and the warm water in your kneading apparatus (or use a large bowl and your hands) knead dough for 10 minutes until smooth and elastic. Cover and leave in a warm place until doubled, about an hour. Lightly oil a 9×13 pan with extra olive oil then roll press the dough into the pan with your hands to fit the sheet. Drizzle the dough with remaining olive oil and smooth it all over the surface with your hands. Press grape halves all over into the dough, sprinkle with sunflower seeds, red pepper flakes and the remaining salt. Preheat your oven to 375 degrees. In the meantime, let dough rise again until doubled in size, about 30 more minutes. Bake for 25-30 minutes, until crust is golden and crispy. Remove from pan and let cool on a cooling rack. Cut into sandwich sized pieces, I got 8 nice sized pieces.
Thick “Ham” Slices
Method: Preheat oven to 350 degrees. If your food processor isn’t broken like mine is at the moment, add all ingredients and pulse til combined. Otherwise, dump everything into a bowl and squish it all to bits with you hands. Beans should be mostly mashed. Press mixture into a lightly oiled (I used pan spray) 9×13 baking dish and score into 8 even pieces with a knife. Spray the mixture with a bit of pan spray and bake for 25-30 minutes until cooked through and and lightly browned. Remove “ham” slices from the pan with a spatula and let cool on a cooling rack.
Sweet and Sour Grape-Pepper Jam
Method: Blend all ingredients in the blender until small bits remain intact, pour mixture into a small saucepan. Bring to a boil over medium high heat, stirring occasionally. Turn down heat and simmer for 5 minutes then pour into a clean glass jar. Jam will set and thicken while it cools.
Additional Assembly ingredients for the Monte Cristo Sandwich:
Assembly: Preheat your oven on the broil setting, Slice focaccia pieces in half to make sandwiches. On a baking tray place thick “ham” slices and cover with slices of smoked coconut gouda. Spread jam from above on the bottom half of the focaccia pieces, cover with spinach, avocado, tomato slices and smoked coconut gouda slices. Broil all on top oven rack until cheez is melted, about 2-4 minutes. Slather top half of focaccia piece with vegan mayo and some of the jam. Put it all together, see if your mouth will possibly fit over it. If you are feeling absolutely ridiculous, sprinkle the sandwiches with vegan powdered sugar before serving.
I have a dirty little secret.
Even though I make bread nearly every day, I’m not really a bread maker extraordinaire.
I just don’t have the time for endless kneading, rising and baking. On top of that, store-bought vegan bread is hard to come by and pricey when you do find it. So I make vegan bread for pennies on the dollar and use some tricky shortcuts on the way…
Plus I have a little slave who helps me in the kitchen.
My bread slave, the Sunbeam Bread Maker. I bought it used at a thrift shop for $15
Add ingredients in order to your bread maker, bosch or large bowl. I just plop in all the ingredients and press any bread cycle to knead the dough and walk away. If you don’t have a kneading apparatus, don’t walk away, the dough needs you to knead it by hand for 10-15 minutes until smooth and elastic.
okay, I really need to wipe this baby down. It’s looking rough from daily abuse!
After my slave bread maker kneads the dough for about 10 minutes, I simply unplug the machine and let the dough rise in there for 45-60 minutes. If making by hand, put dough in a bowl and cover with a kitchen towel and put in a warm place.
While the dough is rising, preheat your oven to 200 degrees.
When 45-60 minutes is up, pull the dough out, shape it into a round and roll it in whole wheat flour.
Put the dough on a baking sheet dusted with a bit more flour to prevent sticking. TURN OFF your oven and set the baking sheet on the middle rack. Set your oven timer for 20 minutes. When the timer goes off, pull out dough and quickly slash (1/4 to 1/2 inch deep slashes) with a sharp knife, get creative with your slashy marks, it can make bread look professional, but don’t get too carried away because you might end up with mutant bread.
Put dough back in the oven and set the oven to 350 degrees (no need to preheat). Bake this particular loaf for 35 to 40 minutes, until golden. This is bread is lovely when toasted and served with Cozy Roasted Butternut Soup
When I’m really in a hurry I do sometimes let my bread maker cook the bread for me too, because my machine has an express function, I can have a whole wheat loaf ready from start to finish in less than an hour, but I’ll tell you more about that another day.
If you’re in the market for a bread maker, do try to purchase a used model, it will cost you less and used bread makers are everywhere. Make sure the model you choose still has the dough hook (like an idiot, I didn’t check and mine didn’t have the hook, so I had to order it online) and the recipe manual. You might not need the recipes, but bread makers come in all sizes so you need to know the approximate measurements for loaves that will work in your machine (if you choose to bake in it). An express function is also especially handy for harried cooks.
After all the ogling over that veggie burger yesterday, are you ready to check out these pretzel buns?
They are super simple to make and are oh-so-worth the time.
Ingredients:
Method: In a bread maker or other kneading apparatus (possibly your hands) knead all of the above ingredients for 10 minutes. Let rise for 30 minutes. Punch dough down, divide into 8 hamburger buns or 12 rolls. If making hamburger buns, smash each piece of dough down firmly with your hands, making 3 or 4 inch rounds.
Let dough rise for 15 more minutes. In the meantime, bring to a boil: 2 quarts (8 cups) water with 1 T. kosher salt and 4 T. baking soda. When the water comes to a rolling boil, Poach 2 buns at a time for one minute, turning over halfway through.
Remove buns with a slotted spoon. Slash each roll 3 times across the top with a sharp knife. Quickly Sprinkle with a bit of sesame seeds or kosher salt.
Repeat until all buns are poached. Let rest while oven preheats to 400 degrees.
Bake for 20-25 minutes for hamburger buns or 15-20 minutes for rolls. Please use parchment paper to bake on, otherwise you will need a chisel and a hammer and quite possibly ruin your favorite baking sheet.
Pretzel Buns/Rolls are best eaten the day they are made.
This recipe is shared at VVP6 here
Now this is the way to kick off the Vegan MOFO! I’ve been on a quest to perfect the veggie burger since I went veg. It needed to be hearty, not crumble everywhere and taste delicious. I loved the Black Bean Veggie Burger at Smashburger, until I found out that neither the burger nor the bun were vegan and the calorie count was 670 stinking calories and 36 fat grams, -without sides! Blast!
Adapted, veganized and healthified from this awesome recipe.
It really needed a vegan makeover….
Method: In a large bowl, mash beans with a potato masher, leaving some beans whole. Add in all other ingredients and mix with your hands until all combined. Refrigerate burger mixture for 30 minutes. Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Remove from fridge, divide into 8 portions. Roll each portion into a ball and smash into a thin 3-4 inch round patty with the palm of your hand. Spray a baking sheet with cooking spray. Arrange patties on tray, spray tops of patties lightly with cooking spray. Bake for 20 -25 minutes, turning once.
Serve up with some of these home baked oven fries (1 potato/sweet potato per person, cut into fries, toss all in a large bowl with a small amount of olive or coconut oil, seasonings/salt/pepper to taste bake at 450 degrees for 20-25 minutes or until golden brown and crispy) and this cucumber salad. Top with guac, lettuce, tomato, pickles, sliced onion, sliced jalapeno (if you like it like that), sliced pepper jack cashew cheez (not pictured, used up the last of it in the burgers), organic ketchup or bbq sauce and of course, dijon mustard. Best served on a whole grain pretzel bun… Recipe for the pretzel bun coming tomorrow!
Now, let’s get a little more acquainted.
I started blogging earlier in the year at Good Clean Food and I wouldn’t be where I am today without the help of my three friends there: Amanda, Erika and Carolyn. They gave me my blogging wings and helped me stand firm when the transition to a plant-based diet was toughest.
In an act of penance for leaving them and going solo on this site, here are 3 fabulous recipes in photo form, one of my favorites from each lovely lady.
recipe here
This beauty of a dish is a one pot meal. You can cook it on the stove-top like in Amanda’s directions, but it’s also fabulous simmered in a slow cooker all day. It’s autumn comfort food meets creamy, spicy and peanut buttery goodness.
Guess what else? There’s a whole head of kale in it (shhh!) and your kids will eat it AND lick their bowls.
recipe here
When Erika named these cookie dough bites, she wasn’t messing around. She brought them to a lunch we had at my house and we were all very happy to eat every last one.
They made us so happy we couldn’t stop. Delicious, meet nutritious!
recipe here
I’ll admit when Carolyn first posted this recipe I was too afraid to try it. Quinoa and black beans in sourdough bread? Um, weird! Then, once I made it, I couldn’t figure out why I waited so long. It’s unique and amazing!
Here’s a little hint: don’t go searching high and low for the black bean flour. Grind your own flour from bagged, dried black beans in your high powered blender or coffee grinder. If you’re trying to cut back on oils and sugars like I am, just replace them with an equal amount of almond milk in the recipe.
If you don’t all ready have a sourdough start, there are also lots of recipes on-line for getting your own start going. Carolyn gave me some of her ancient sourdough starter with this warning: if it turns orange, it means DEATH! Chuck it out! Thanks girl, it still hasn’t turned orange!
Much love and thanks, Somer
p.s. I’m finally on Facebook and Pinterest. I don’t know what the heck I’m doing in either forum yet, but you’re welcome to come hang out with me in either place.
Vedged Out 
