Category: Vegan

bookmark_borderHomemade vegetable stock/broth

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Vegetable stock
Vegetable stock

There are plenty of vegetable stock recipes out there. This is one I've come up with that has worked so far for me. There is no salt or pepper in my version, and as usual for my recipes, this uses fresh (not canned!) ingredients.

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bookmark_borderMoroccan spiced vegetable stew

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Moroccan spiced vegetable stew
It's beginning to warm up here in north Texas, which means it will soon be time to move away from winter recipes in favor of ones that rely more on seasonal fruits and vegetables. As a last hurrah for the colder weather, I'm going to share a recipe I put together by combining an idea I saw on Instagram with a quick broth recipe and Moroccan seasoning mix. After some tweaking, I eventually came up with what is presented here. This dish has proven to be quite popular at potluck dinners, and for when I need to prepare something warming that pairs really well with bread. Whether it should be called a soup or a stew is a matter of individual opinion, but I've always referred to it as a stew.

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bookmark_borderVegan baking powder biscuits

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I gave up most dairy products a long time ago, and I've never looked back. Cow's milk isn't something meant for humans to consume, as evidenced by the fact that most of the world's people develop an intolerance to lactose as they get older. But like a lot of people, I have my food weaknesses, and two of my most particular weaknesses are breads and fried foods. And two of my favorite breads from back in the day are pancakes and biscuits.

Unfortunately, despite various attempts over the years to come up with a good replication of the baking powder biscuits I grew up with, I always came up short when it came to replacing the buttermilk and nailing a good texture. Finally, after gaining some new knowledge concerning buttermilk substitutions, and after some more trial and error and tweaking, I came up with the recipe that I'm presenting here. These biscuits aren't quite the same as the ones I grew up eating - they have a softer texture and some natural sweetness due to the use of sweet potato - but they are good enough to keep as my "go-tos."

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bookmark_borderA Few Words on Dairy

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I made the decision to mostly give up dairy products over a period of years beginning around 2003. Milk wasn’t a big issue with me, as I’d never been fond of it growing up or at any time afterward. Eggs weren’t too difficult, either, as I tend to look at them as eating an abortion (sorry if that imagery is a bit disgusting), even though mainstream commercial eggs are unfertilized. There’s still all the amniotic fluid (aka egg whites) inside, and the thought of frying that up and eating it strikes me as more than a little disgusting. The real issue, then, with removing eggs and milk from my diet has been not the two ingredients themselves, but the fact that they (and their derivatives) are so heavily utilized in almost everything edible on the market that’s not a raw fruit or vegetable. To me, there’s a real point to be made regarding cow’s milk in that it contains elements necessary for a calf’s growth and development, not for a human’s. It isn’t, nor has it ever been, something intended for human consumption. As a child I had to load it down heavily with chocolate or strawberry flavoring to be able to drink it, and as I got older I gravitated farther and farther away from even that until I arrived at my present point, where I try not to consume it at all, in any form, save for the use of butter on toasted breads and on popcorn.

When it comes to desserts, there are alternative binders and leaveners that can be used in place of milk and eggs for many breads, cakes, and cookies. As for those particular foodstuffs for which those ingredients are integral to the taste or texture, they are simply not things I’m particularly interested in making. I’m not interested in using eggs at all, for any purpose, at any time. The whole point of cooking for oneself is to be able to make food exactly the way you want it.

In any case, that’s my stance on dairy. Back to work now 🙂

bookmark_borderHannah’s Lemonade

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For my very first post, I'm going to go with one of the very first things I learned how to make, and something that is still a favorite. It’s a simple recipe, one that’s very easily scalable – doubled, tripled, halved, and so forth – and very easy to make. In other words, it’s great for that "getting one’s feet wet" kind of post. Lemonade is also one of those things that, it seems, a lot of people don’t really know how to make well. But it’s actually super easy to do, as it only requires three ingredients and a stove, pot, pitcher, and, optionally, a juicer.

I’m calling this Hannah’s lemonade because several months ago I sent my friend Hannah home after a visit with a large plastic pitcher full of freshly made lemonade, and it’s something of a tradition now that every time she comes over she brings the pitcher along and I fill it back up.

Start with fresh lemons. I find that about 6 or 7 large ripe lemons yield about 2 cups of lemon juice. Continue reading "Hannah’s Lemonade"