Vegan for Life - Jack Norris [46]
• Barbecued beans: Mix 3 tablespoons prepared barbecue sauce into each cup of cooked beans.
• Zesty beans with tomato sauce: Mix 3 tablespoons prepared spaghetti sauce (try a spicy one) into each cup of cooked beans.
• Italian-style beans with figs: Sauté ¼ cup chopped onion and a clove of minced garlic in 1 tablespoon olive oil. Add 3 cups cooked beans and ½ cup chopped dried figs. Season with 1 teaspoon each dried basil and rosemary.
• Hoppin’ John: Sauté 1 cup chopped onion and 2 minced garlic cloves in 3 tablespoons olive oil. Add 4 cups of beans and ¼ teaspoon ground cayenne pepper (more if you like your food very spicy). Add ¼ cup chopped veggie bacon (or a sprinkle of bacon bits) if you like. Prepare this dish with black-eyed peas for a traditional southern New Year’s Day supper. It’s supposed to bring good luck for the coming year.
• Beans with apples and sausage: Sauté ½ cup chopped onions in 2 tablespoons olive oil. Add 3 cups cooked beans, 1 diced apple, and 4 ounces vegan sausage (defrosted and crumbled). Simmer until everything is heated through and apples are tender.
All bean types
• Sloppy Joes: Add a 15-ounce can of Sloppy Joe sauce to two cups cooked beans. Heat and serve over whole-wheat hamburger rolls.
• Bean and potato soup: Sauté one cup chopped onions and 2 cloves minced garlic in 2 tablespoons olive oil. Add 2 cups diced potatoes, 2 cups cooked beans, and 8 cups vegetable broth. Simmer for 20 minutes until potatoes are tender. Season with basil and oregano.
• Bean and grain salad: Toss 3 cups of any cooked grain with 1 cup cooked beans. Season with bottled or homemade salad dressing. Add ¼ cup each of minced onion, chopped celery, and/or shredded carrots for added flavor and crunch.
Take Advantage of Familiar Favorites for Breakfast
Many people eat the same breakfast every single day, perhaps with a slight variation on the weekends. Hot or cold cereal with nondairy milk, toast with nut butter, juice, and fruit make a very hearty and healthy vegan breakfast that will suit the needs of most family members. Pancakes, vegan French toast, or scrambled tofu are good choices for more leisurely weekend breakfasts. Don’t be afraid to think beyond traditional breakfast foods. A veggie burger or soup is just as good for breakfast as for dinner.
Identify Snacks, Treats, and Desserts that are Vegan
You might want to experiment with egg-free baking (see page 114) or look for baked goods and frozen desserts in the natural foods store. Old-fashioned, all-purpose cookbooks have recipes for fruit crumbles and crisps that are vegan—or that can be “veganized” by replacing butter with margarine. If you love all-American cuisine, take a look at the Betty Crocker Project (www.meettheshannons.net/p/betty-crocker-project.html), which aims to veganize every recipe in the Betty Crocker Picture Cookbook published in the 1950s.
Many snack chips are vegan and so are several brands of commercial cookies, including Oreos. Take a peek in the freezer section of your natural foods store, too, for frozen desserts such as Coconut Bliss, hempseed-based Tempt, and So Delicious products.
Learn to Bake without Eggs
The egg’s main claim to fame is its role as a functional participant in cooking. In baking, it helps with leavening, and in savory foods, like veggie burgers, it’s a binding agent. But other ingredients have those same properties, and there are plenty of effective ways to replace eggs in cooking.
To keep vegan loaves, burgers and croquettes from falling apart, add a little bit of flour, bread crumbs, or rolled oats.
For egg-free baking, you are likely to get better results by using refined flours since they are lighter and more easily leavened. (It’s fine to use whole grains, though, just as long as you know to expect a somewhat heavier product.)
Look for recipes that call for just one or two eggs since it is easy to replicate them with a vegan version. Most cake mixes lend themselves well to vegan baking. For foods that don’t require a great deal of leavening, like pancakes,