The Veggie Gal

This Thanksgiving has snuck up on me quickly and I am just not prepared to come up with some new dinner/dessert spread this year!  Life can become so busy that you don’t realize that time has slipped away and you are all the sudden expected to create a grand meal for you family on Thanksgiving and whoops, uh what it is next WEEK!  Well, this happens to the best of us and when it happens you go into your recipe arsenal and look for familiar things that you know your family will love.

I created this “new” recipe last year and it was a huge hit.  I actually have been dreaming of it since last year and figured it would be something I made along side of a new creation but because my mind has been elsewhere there are not new creations floating around up there right now.  Well, that’s ok because this pie is awesome enough to be a familiar re-run that everyone will welcome with open arms.

For me this is a perfect blend of Thanksgiving dessert flavors, rich and creamy cheesecake and a subtle sweet/spicy pumpkin all swirled together atop a rich and buttery graham cracker crust, then topped with the sweet and tart cranberry sauce.  UGH, so freakin good!

**FYI, I figured I would start to mention the brands I buy just in case you are new to vegan eating and are not sure what to get.  I am by no means endorsing any of the brands (unless I say so).  If I love something I will add it to my substitution page and say so.   I bought New Morning Organic Cinnamon Grahams and they are pretty darn good and I used Toffuti’s non-hydrogenated vegan cream cheese (in the yellow tub).  I also used Silk’s non flavored creamer and I usually buy the organic Florida Crystals vegan sugar.

Pumpkin Swirl Cheesecake with Cranberry Sauce
Serves 6-8

Crust:
1 1/2 c ground graham crackers (**see above for brand)
5 Tablespoons Earth Balance buttery spread
(If your graham crackers are not very sweet you could add 1/4 cup of sugar)

Cheesecake part 1 cream cheese:
2 tubs of cream cheese, softened (** see above for brand)
1 cup sugar (** see above for brand)
2 teaspoons vanilla
3 teaspoons lemon juice
2 eggs worth Ener-G egg replacer
1 pinch cardamom

Cheesecake part 2 pumpkin: this makes enough for 2 cheesecakes so I freeze the second half for the next time I make one or you can use it for your favorite pumpkin recipe.  
1 can pumpkin puree
1 1/2 teaspoon pumpkin spice
1/2 teaspoon maple flavoring (or vanilla)
1/4 teaspoon cardamom
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup sugar
2 Tablespoons vegan creamer (**see above for brand) (or full fat soy or almond milk)  If you can’t find anything just omit it
2 eggs worth Ener-G egg replacer

Cranberry Sauce:
6 ounces fresh or frozen cranberries
1/3 cup of sugar
1 cup orange juice (I used orange pineapple blend since that is what I had)
1 teaspoon ginger powder
1 teaspoon lemon extract or zest of 2 lemons
1/4 teaspoon salt

Preheat the oven to 350º.

Melt the butter in a sauce pan then mix in the graham crackers and sugar if using.  Press the mixture into the bottom of a pie tin or spring-form pan then set aside.

For the cheesecake part 1 mix up the egg replacer equaling two eggs per the box instructions but making sure to really whip it up well.  One trick I have found it pouring in the water, stirring then let it sit for a minute then whip well.  Then in a medium bowl mix softened cream cheese, sugar, vanilla, lemon juice, cardamom & egg replacer liquid with a hand-mixer or a tabletop mixer to whip it well then set aside the bowl.

For the cheesecake part 2, prepare the egg replacer per box instructions then in a medium bowl mix the pumpkin, pumpkin pie spice, maple flavoring, cardamom, salt, sugar, creamer and egg replacer liquid with a hand-mixer or a tabletop mixer to whip it well then set aside the bowl.

Pour half of the cheesecake part one onto your prepared crust.  Pour half of the pumpkin mix into a storage bowl and freeze for the next time you make this cheesecake.  Then talk half of what is left and place it in dollops across the top usually a tablespoon amount at a time separated by about a half inch.  With a butter knife swirl the two together making sure to make it pretty .  Repeat this process with the rest of each part.  I do it in two parts because you would have too much pumpkin to make a nice swirl doing it all at once.  If you want it a to be a little thicker and taste more cheesecake-ish then just split the pumpkin filling into thirds, then you have enough for 3 of them!

Place in the preheated oven and bake for 50-60 minutes until the sides begin to pull away and it starts to crack a bit, it will be a little lose in the middle but that is ok.  Allow to cool for 30 minutes and then refrigerate for 3-4 hours to set up well.  I usually make it the night before so it is ready for dinner the next day or you could do it the morning for dinner too.

Prepare the cranberry sauce an hour before you want to eat your cheesecake.  Place all the ingredients into a pan and bring to a boil then reduce heat to a simmer for 5 minutes stirring well so you don’t burn it.  Then mash half or more of the cranberries with a fork and remove from the burner to cool until you eat.

When you are ready to eat it use a wet butter knife to loosen the sides of the cheesecake, re-wetting when needed.  Do the same for when you slice it making sure to wet the knife between each piece so that it does not break apart or pull up half of the slice.  Top with cranberry sauce if desired and ENJOY!  YUM.

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Tags: Dessert, Pumpkin Swirl Cheesecake, vegan pumpkin cheesecake, vegan pumpkin pie, vegan recipe, Vegetarian

I know I know, I use the hell out of cashews but they are fabulous!  They make so many different kinds of dairy substitutes that are actually delicious and when you buy the cashews in bulk it is not any more pricer than buying the highly processed stuff at the store.

When they go on sale in the bulk department buy a ton and freeze them, then you will always have some on hand to make this wonderful sour cream or any of my other cashew based dishes like Cucumber Cashew Ranch,  Chick’n & Cashew Chow Mein, Twice Baked Potatoes Mushroom Stroganoff (to be posted soon), Sour Cream Enchilada (to be posted soon), and the many dishes I make out of Sweet Cashew Cream mmm mmm mmm .

It is always BEST to soak your nuts to not only soften them but to get the most nutrients from them and to remove natures protective toxic layer.  Even if you only have 30 minutes to soak the nuts it will make a huge difference.  If I forget to soak overnight then I usually start soaking them right away when I am preparing my meal and by the end of making the food (30 mins to 1 hour) I can quickly blend the cashews into whatever I am making, in this case sour cream.  Rinse the nuts well with nice clean water and use filtered water to blend them with.

I LOVE Mexican food just like everyone else and you don’t notice it does not have cheese on it if you use this wonderful sour cream.  This sour cream can be frozen if you make too much.  A great way to freeze it is in an ice tray, pop out the frozen cubes of sour cream and put into a freezer safe container.  Then you can pull one or two out of the freezer the night before you are making something you want sour cream for.

Cashew Sour Cream 

1 cup of Soaked Cashews
Filtered Water to just cover the cashews
1/2 teaspoon Lemon Juice (adjust to taste)
1/2 teaspoon Apple Cider Vinegar (ACV) (adjust to taste)
Pinch of Salt (optional)

Rinse your soaked nuts well and pour into a Vita-Mix, good blender, Magic Bullet or good food processor.  Add enough water to just barely cover the nuts, add the lemon juice,  ACV and the pinch of salt.  Blend until very creamy adding in more liquid of your choice as you go by tasting and getting to desired creaminess.  ENJOY!

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Tags: Cashews, Easy Vegan, Gluten Free, Vegan Cashew Sour Cream, vegan recipe, Vegan sour cream, Vegetarian

To continue from my last post about dehydration I would love to share these wonderful Golden -Coconut Flax Crackers with you all.  I was looking for a sweet version of flax that I could eat my beautiful raspberries with and so I got creative and Viola these little beauties were born.

I had been reading so much about the health benefits of chia seeds so I used flax, chia, sunflower seeds and coconut at the base of these and a little bit of cardamom makes them heavenly.  Then to make them sinful I topped them with my Cashew Cream and some juicy, sweet and delicious raspberries, OMG.

These crackers can be eaten all by them selves as a energy snack or sweet treat as well but if you are going to save them for later snacking make sure to dehydrate them until they are completely dry so they do no harbor any bacteria.  If you want to eat them all when they are nice, warm and soft like a cookie you can not dehydrate them all they way, you decide.

You can sub 1/2 of the flax with buckwheat groats to make it more dense and add different nutrients.

Golden -Coconut Flax Crackers

1 cup Gold Flax Seeds
1/2 cup Unsweetened, Finely Shredded Coconut
1/4 cup Chia Seeds
1/8 cup Sunflower Seeds
1/2 cup Pure Maple Syrup (date paste works wonderful to-may need a little more to desired sweetness)
1/2 teaspoon Sea Salt
1/8 teaspoon Cardamom
2 cups Filtered water

Blend, in a high powered blender or a goof food processor, 3/4 of the flax seeds into meal and pour into a large bowl.  Add the remainder of ingredients and mix well then let stand for 10 minutes to thicken.

Spread thinly (1/4 inch) onto parchment paper or dehydrator sheet, score into desired cracker size and dehydrate at 115° for 4 hours, flip onto the mesh sheets of the dehydrator, peel off the dehydrator sheet or parchment paper and continue to dehydrate until crisp, approximately 4-6 more hours.

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Tags: Breakfast, Dehydrated, Dessert, Gluten Free, Golden -Coconut Flax Crackers, raw food, vegan recipe

The benefits of having your own food dehydrator are great!  These wonderful little un-ovens can make tons of delicious and healthful treats, help you store your garden harvest so it doesn’t  go to waste, help you build your food storage supplies and allow you to retain the nutrients of foods that would be lost during cooking.

Dehydrator

Now I am not a raw foodist but I do appreciate the teachings of that lifestyle and believe there is enormous value in trying to eat as much raw food as you can.  We all know that the soil our food is grown in is depleted in nutrients and is only getting worse so we need to keep as much of what is available as we can.

Obviously growing your own food in soil that you have enriched naturally is the best and you can reap more health rewards by doing so.  Saving as much of your harvest (or store bought if you need to) for use in the winter is a wonderful way to save money and increase your nutrient intake.  If done right you can start to store more for longer term use and know that as food prices start to sky rocket you are eating healthier and cheaper food than you can buy.  If you employ a quality dehydrator you can increase your intake of nutrient dense food while making all kinds of wonderful dishes.

Raspberry Fruit Roll-up

I do not have an affiliation with the company Excalibur who makes the type of dehydrator I chose to buy.  I only can tell you my experience with my own dehydrator and you can choose for yourself.  I did some research before buying a dehydrator and chose the Excalibur because of the reputation it seems to have all over the internet   I read tons of reviews and compared other machines and decided this one was the right one for me.  Now it is much more expensive than some of the others on the market but the quality and longevity made it worth it to me and I won’t have to replace it every year or two.

There are literally thousands of recipes you can make with a dehydrator and that is just in the vegan world.  You also can dry flowers and other arts in the machine so keep that in mind.  I will start to post some of the recipe I have made with my dehydrator and put them all in the “dehydrator” category so if you are looking for vegan dehydrated foods you can just go through my list.  There are so many wonderful recipes out there on the internet you could look for a year and probably not get to the end.  Pintrest has some awesome ones that I have yet to try but will be doing so soon.

Various Fruit Roll-ups

One word of caution,  my dehydrator does put off a little bit of heat and since you are drying food for hours at a time it can get toasty in the room it is in.  I like to use it in the fall and winter since it is chilly during that time of year and it is doing double duty, heating my kitchen and making my food.  In the summer I might put it in a room in the basement, in the garage or even out on the covered porch if I want to make things and not heat my house.

If you do decide to buy a dehydrator because you want to store your food and keep the nutrients and enzymes intact you should look up all the particulars that go along with it.  Some that I have learned so far are; never heat above 115° to keep all the enzymes and nutrients in the food (above that starts to kill them), store your food in air tight containers to prevent bacteria growth, I prefer to use my food saver to pull out all of the air and then I seal that in Mylar bags to keep them from the light, store the food in a cool, dark and dry place.  Rotate your food so you keep the freshest food (you can store food anywhere between 1 year and 30+ years!), when re-hydrating be sure to use the liquid since all the nutrients are in that liquid, when drying keep it thin to shorten drying time.  Now of course there are tons of other “rules” but these are the basics and are all pretty simple.

I have added some picture of the wonderful things I have used my dehydrator for which include, flax crackers, coconut flax cracker, vegetables, soups I have made from those vegetables, banana pancakes, fruit roll ups, dried apples, sweet lemons and bananas, flax pancakes, raw pizza, and kale chips .  I will continue to make things with it and will post as I go along to share.

Re-hydrated Soup

Coconut Flax Crackers with cashew cream and berries

Kale Chips

Cheezy Kale Chips

Blueberry Flax Pancakes

Dehydrating Bananas

Dehydrating Meyer Lemons

Banana Pancakes

Dehydrated Apples

Flax Crackers

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Tags: Dehydrator, Healthy Meal, Nutrition, raw food, Vegan Dehydrator, vegan recipe, Vegetarian

Last winter when we were living in South Dakota we had to travel to Minneapolis, MN.  While there, we found the wonderful Cafe Lucé and I would love to share with you some of the awesome vegan food they have available. Cafe Lucé is an adorable restaurant that is very vegan friendly, like many restaurants in Minneapolis who proudly show when something is vegan on their menu.   Cafe Lucé offers specific vegan meals but also does vegan on request and even gluten free if you desire that option as well.  I honestly wish they would open a Cafe Lucé here in Utah because it was that good.

I have the photos of what we ordered but there were even more options that we did not get to try.  They have vegan hoagies, salads, appetizers, and 4 vegan pizza’s to choose from!  They will let you build your own pizza and have so many vegan options you could eat there for weeks without ordering the same thing.  We went a little overboard with the food but there were 5 of us so we could order more than one thing.

The little kids had the traditional spaghetti topped with Diaya cheese melted perfectly and it was delicious (yes, I tried some)! For the 3 big people we ordered garlic cheese toast that they made up with small amount Diaya cheese an mixed in what I’m guessing was a vegan Parmesan but who knows, it was so good I could have just eaten that as my meal dipped in the wonderful marinara on the side.

Of course when you are ordering and your stomach is empty your eyes are big so we also ordered the Pizza Athena, veganized of course, this one is a Greek like pizza that has Kalamata olives, artichoke hearts, red onions, spinach, and without the feta cheese but Diaya added instead.  It was quite scrumptious and the crust was amazing, slightly chewy but light and airy, yum!  Then, because I knew I was going to review it  (good excuse right!) I just HAD to order the vegan dessert, even though I could have exploded by that point.  They had these sinful Chocolate Peanut Butter Bars that had granola and crispy rice cereal inside of them, that they then topped with chocolate syrup and some powdered sugar.  UGH.

If you are passing through Minnesota check out one their many locations and eat up and if you are lucky enough to live there but have not been then GO!

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Tags: Minneapolis, Vegan at Cafe Luce, vegan italian food, vegan pizza, vegan restaurant

As promised I am posting my Sweet Oatmeal Crepes.  These babies are so good we eat them for dinner quite often along side of the Cheezy Tofu Scramble.  The great news is every single person in our house loves these so I always know they are going to be a hit.  The extra great news is every single guest to our home who has had them loves them and will always ask for seconds.

The recipe for the crepes is basically the same as the Oatmeal Waffles but with more water to thin the batter.  That being said, like the oatmeal waffles, they can be a little soft in the middle.  When cooking these make sure to press down on the done side to squeeze out the batter.  They take way longer than a normal flour crepe but are so worth it so be prepared.  Plus, they are much higher in fiber and good nutrients that are missing in typical flour.  I thank Dr. Neal Barnard for the amazing oatmeal waffle recipe because I have now used it for not only the Oatmeal Waffles but for Oatmeal Pancakes 3 Ways and now Sweet Oatmeal Crepes.

Because the crepe part can take a bit of time I make them ahead of time and put them in the oven to keep them warm on the lowest temp.  These keep well in the fridge for leftovers (if you have any) and put together well for lunch the next day.

~NOTE~This is a 3 separate recipe meal so make sure you read this WHOLE thing before you get started so you can pre-make what is needed!!

Sweet Oatmeal Crepes
Makes: approximately 8 large crepes

2 cup rolled oats
2 1/2 cups water (add more as it sits and thickens if needed)
1 medium banana
1 tbsp raw sugar, or other sweetener
1/4 tsp salt
1 tsp vanilla extract
Sprinkle or two of cinnamon (optional)

Filling

Sweet Cashew Cream mmm mmm mmm 
Sliced bananas
Chopped or sliced fresh berries of your choice
Chopped nuts of your choice (pecans are a great compliment-use a small amount-there is a enough fats in the cashew cream)
Ground flax seeds (a small sprinkle)

Topping

Berry Sauce

Make sure you have soaked your cashews for the cashew cream-read the recipe before you start this one!  Make the cashew cream and berry sauce before you make the crepes so it can chill in the fridge while you make the crepes.

For the crepes place all ingredients in a high speed blender and blend until smooth. Let stand a few minutes; if batter becomes too thick, add enough additional water to make batter easily pourable and thin enough to make a thin crepe.

Pour into a heated large skillet and rotate pan around right away to spread the batter to the edges making a thin crepe.

Cook until the edges start to come up and it can easily be flipped over.  (Tip-spray your spatula with some cooking spray on both sides so it does not stick and rip the crepe when you flip it)

Cook the second side while periodically pressing down on it to spread it thinner and make it cook through completely.  Cook until it is well browned on each side, it will look like it is not fully cooked but that is ok it will dry out a bit in the oven and soft is good.  Store in the oven until you are ready to put them together.

Chop the fruits and nuts.  Lay out one crepe on a serving plate, spread desired amount of cashew cream length wise down the crepe.  Top with chopped fruits and nuts and sprinkle a small amount of flax on top of that.  Spread a thinner amount of cashew cream on top of it all so it will stick when you roll the crepe.

Roll the crepe tightly and top the crepe with Berry Sauce and/or pure maple syrup then ENJOY!

Sweet Oatmeal Crepes Sauces

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Tags: Breakfast, Dessert, Dinner, Dr. Neal Barnard, Sweet Oatmeal Crepes, Vegan Crepes, vegan recipe, Vegetarian

In preparation for my post of sweet oatmeal crepes I am posting this Berry Sauce.  I use this sauce all the time in many things and since it is not exclusive to the crepes I thought it should have its own posting.

I have had many people ask how I make this wonderful sauce and once they hear how super simple it is they are excited to go home and make it for themselves.  All you need is berries of your choosing (fresh or frozen work equally), sweetener of your choice and a splash or two of water.  Then you can pour this scrumptious liquid over anything you can think of.  I have used it for my raw cheesecake, rice pudding, oatmeal waffles or pancakes, cakes, muffins, on sweet socca and mixed with frozen bananas for a yummy vegan ice cream that is actually healthy.

If you want to make it thick use less liquid or add in some chia seeds as you blend and it will thicken right up, plus you get the added benefits of more fiber and healthy omega’s.

Berry Sauce

Fresh or frozen berries of your choice
Sweetener of your choice (I like stevia or agave nectar the best-or a combo of both) date paste works well too but does give it a date taste
water
chia seeds (optional if you want to thicken it)

Put desired amount of berries and sweetener into a blender and mix, adding water slowly to desired consistency.  Pour over something delicious and ENJOY!

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Tags: berry sauce, Easy Vegan, Gluten Free, Vegan, vegan berry sauce, vegan recipe, Vegetarian

This Cucumber Cashew Ranch post is for my MIL (Hi J!), she enjoyed this dip that I served at my daughter’s graduation party.  She was excited to hear it was cholesterol free and only had good fats (the kind your body knows what to do with) in it so it is ultimately guilt free.

When I was a vegetarian Ranch was one of my must haves and something I used a couple of times a week.  When I went vegan I tried some of the tofu or “sour cream” ranches but they just did not hit the spot so I quite even trying.   I then started to play with cashews as our dairy source and triple SCORE!  I now make almost everything creamy that I used to love from dairy for out of them (Ranch, sour cream, ice cream, mac & cheeze, whipped cream and more…).  I can even get my kids to eat some of the raw veggies that they normally would not touch by dipping them into this creamy and delicious dip.

This recipe is not exact as everyone has a little bit different taste preferences and honestly I make it slightly different each time so I will just give you the ingredients, approximate amounts to use and you adjust it to your taste.  I have made a chipotle ranch out of this as well by just adding chipotle spices and it is a totally different dressing/dip.  Get creative and you could have many different recipes from this one base.

I used this dip to try the Gardein Buffalo Wings (pictured below) which unfortunately I do NOT recommend.  First of all the wings have to be fried in a lot more oil than it says for them not to stick which is just not healthy.  They never really crisp up like the Gardein Crispy Tenders (which I think would work much better with your own homemade hot sauce).  They are soft, slimy and the hot sauce is just hot and not tasty, BLAH.

**If you do not have a vita-mix I highly recommend you soak the cashews overnight to soften completely.**  If you do have a vita-mix or other high powered blender then I still recommend soaking for a couple of hours to get more nutrients from them, make them easier to digest and to soften them so it will be very smooth and creamy.

Cucumber Cashew Ranch

1 cup soaked raw cashews (NOT roasted or salted!)
1/2 cucumber, add more to taste and texture consistency
Enough clean water to just barely cover the cashews once placed in the blender or food processor
1 teaspoon (or more) garlic powder
1 teaspoon (or more) onion powder
1 teaspoon (or more) dried parsley
1 teaspoon (or more) chives
1/2 teaspoon (or more) dill weed
1/2 teaspoon(or more) lemon juice
1/2 teaspoon (or more) sea salt
pepper to taste

Make sure you soak your nuts, rinse completely and pour into your high powered blender or food processor.

Add all the rest of the ingredients in the order listed and blend until creamy.  If you are doing this in a food processor stop periodically and scrape the sides down.

Taste and adjust the spices to your liking.  If you need it to be thinner adjust the moisture with either more cucumber or more water.

Pour into a container with a lid and refrigerate until well chilled, although it can be eaten right away if you do not mind it slightly warm.

Once it is chilled serve on a salad, as a veggie dip,or  with your favorite vegan chicken wings and ENJOY!

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Tags: Cashew Ranch, Cucumber Cashew Ranch, Easy Vegan, Gluten Free, Quick vegan, Vegan, Vegan Ranch, vegan recipe, Vegetarian

I’m Baaaack!  I know I have been away a little bit longer than I said I would be but besides going to Alaska for over two weeks we had a personal tragedy in our family.  My ex husband and father of my two oldest children passed away.  He had long standing health problems but we honestly did not expect this at the time that it happened.  It was a very difficult time for us all and I needed the time away to help my children through it and deal with his passing myself.

I decided to post this recipe because he had a MAJOR sweet tooth and after trying my Carrot Cake Muffins with Cashew Cream Topping at our daughter’s high school graduation party he decided he loved cashew cream. I am posting this in his honor. “Hello Newman” – Jerry Seinfeld

Organic strawberries are frequently on sale this time of year and I highly suggest using organic only for this recipe. Not only are the better for you because they are not covered in pesticides, herbicides and other horrible chemicals that turn them into little chemical bombs in your body they taste a thousand times better!

These Strawberry Shortcake’s with Cashew Cream are super quick (lazy) and easy because I use the low fat Bisquick mix but obviously you can do homemade and make them  healthier by using whole wheat flour and so on but if you want a quicky recipe this works really great and they taste A-mazing!!

Strawberry Shortcake with Cashew Cream

Makes 4 shortcakes

Desired amount of strawberries, sliced (organic tastes best and does not require you to sprinkle sugar on it to take away the bitterness)

1 cup Bisquick mix

2 Tablespoons sugar

1/3 cup almond milk or other non-dairy milk

Cashew Cream topping (Click through to get the recipe on another page)

Heat the oven to 425°.  Stir Bisquick mix with 2 Tablespoons of sugar and the milk until just blended.

Drop 4 even spoonfuls onto a cooking sprayed cookie sheet and bake 10-12 minutes. Let cool until able to handle.

Using a downward angle to make a bowl, cut the top off the cakes.  Fill with desired amount of Cashew Cream and strawberries, place the top on and repeat  then ENJOY!

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Tags: Breakfast, Dessert, Easy Vegan, Quick and easy, Vegan, vegan recipe, Vegetarian

Trying to embrace the vegan food lifestyle my husband finds the most amazing recipes.  He found this wonderfully scrumptious recipe from the Herbivoracious blog.  He calls them “Vegetarian Frijoles Charros – Mexican Cowboy Beans with Smoked Onion” but since they are so freakin tasty in our house we call them AMAZING~Smoked Vegan Beans.

Call them what you want but make them and enjoy an amazing, savory and creamy dish that you can serve with just about a ton of things.  We have put them in fajitas, served on the side of veggie dogs, or simply with a salad and corn bread but the possibilities are vast.  We are going camping this weekend so we will precook our beans in the pressure cooker to bring along and the rest throws together really quickly.

These can be made low fat by replacing the oil with a quick spray of cooking oil.  We have made them without the chilies and with and both ways are amazing but we did not use the type of chilies he used so I can’t say how his are exactly. Obviously without the chilies this recipe is a little more kid friendly if your kids are sensitive to heat.  We also did not use the type of onion he suggests and I add a little more garlic because I love it.  Another change we made is how we smoked our onions so make sure to look at his recipe to choose which way you would prefer to smoke your onions.

Here is how we put his recipe together but the credit is ALL his, just marvelous!

AMAZING~Smoked Vegan Beans
Serves: 4+

1 handful smoking wood chips
1 large onion, chopped (depending on how you grill them you may need larger pieces then cut them down after you cook-ours fell through the grill plate we had)
2 whole dried chilies of your choice
Cooking spray (he used 3 T oil-your choice)
3 garlic cloves, thinly sliced
Salt to taste (the tomato paste and crushed tomato have a lot of salt in them so start with less and adjust up it can be too salty-our first batch was)
3 tablespoons tomato paste
1/2 cup canned crushed tomato
4 cups unsalted home-cooked pinto beans, and 1-2 cups of their cooking liquid

Prepare your home-cooked pinto beans the way you prefer.  We cook our in a pressure cooker for 26 minutes and they turn out perfect.  Make sure to keep all the cooking liquid.

Bring your grill to approximately 600° then put a handful smoking wood chips inside of some tinfoil, fold it securely, poke some holes into it and place onto your hot coals.

Slice up your garlic and set it aside until you need it. Chop your onions and place onto a grill plate with holes for the smoke to get through and place onto your hot, smoking grill and grill with the lid closed for 7-10 minutes.  Check at 7 minutes to be sure they do not burn, the end ones might burn a little but that is ok.

Cook your peppers for a minute or two on each side in a hot pan to soften them up a bit.  Pull them out of the pan and chop into small bite size pieces then put them back into the pan with a little cooking spray (or oil) and add the smoked onions, garlic and a teaspoon of salt and cook until it all softens up, maybe 2-3 minutes.

Add the beans, one cup of the bean liquid and the crushed tomatoes, bring it up to a simmer then reduce the heat and cook them for another 15 minutes.  Taste to see if you need to add more salt or more bean liquid to your desired consistency then serve and ENJOY!

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Tags: Beans, Cowboy Beans, Easy Vegan, Gluten Free, Quick vegan, Smoked Vegan Beans, vegan camping, vegan recipe, Vegetarian, vegetarian beans