Collard Greens and Mac 'n' "Cheese"

'Cause I didn’t get to the collard greens last night, they had to be done tonight. No excuses. But what to have with collard greens? Usually when I think of collard greens i think of fried chicken, but seeing as I've been having faux chicken meals all week, that idea went out the window. and then the answer came on page 104. Mac 'n' cheese. So my wife stopped by Sticky Fingers and grabbed some Daiya cheese. And now it’s 9 pm and we’re finally sitting down to dinner. Tasty, tasty dinner that took a while to make and was so worth the wait. Who doesn’t love mac’n’chesse?

Collard Greens

(WSCC pg. 90)

2 lbs collard greens, center veins cut out

2 ounces peppered vegan “bacon” product from Asian health food store (DC peeps, Terry’s Healthy Foods = faux meat heaven!)

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon sugar

8 cups water

Dice peppered vegan “bacon” product, combine with water, salt and sugar in a large stock pot and bring to boil. Add collard greens, turn heat to low, and simmer until tender. Apparently you should cook collards for 6-8 hours. But Fannie says 1-2. I cooked them for about 2 and a half hours. Also, the leftover liquid, called “pot liqour” one is supposed to dip cornbread in. Unfortunately, I didn’t make cornbread, so I can’t actually tell you if that’s any good or not.

Macaroni and “Cheese”

(WSCC pg. 104)

3 tbs margarine

2 tbs all purpose flour

2 cups nut milk (I used soy)

¾ cups silken firm tofu

½ tsp black pepper

½ tsp salt

Daiya cheddar “cheese” in the following measurements: 1 2/3 cups; 2/3 cups; 1/3 cup.

6 cups cooked elbow macaroni

¾ cup panko breadcrumbs

In a blender, combine soy milk and silken tofu until smooth. Melt the margarine in a medium saucepan. Whisk in flour until smooth. Whisk in soy milk/ tofu mixture. Add 1/3 cup daiya cheese and pepper is salt. Whisk until smooth and a little thick.

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees. Put 3 cups cooked macaroni in large glass baking pan. Cover with 1 2/3 cup Daiya cheese and layer the remaining noodles over the cheese. Pour all the sauce over the noodles and cover with the panko bread crumbs. Bake in the oven for 40 minutes. Sprinkle the remaining cheese over the breadcrumbs and bake for another 10 minutes.

Yum. Yum. Yum yum yum yum yum yum. Yum. 
 

Originally I made this with 8 cups, but upon further reflection I thought it may be too dry. So when my friend Julia asked for a mac 'n' cheese recipe, I told her to try 6 cups instead of 8. She did, and this is what she had to say: "I used jumbo macaroni because we already had it. We (her and her husband) ate it until we felt sick. I've never liked any vegan mac 'n' cheese until now." Thanks Julia!

Creamed “Chicken” and Biscuits

I’m tired and cranky tonight, but I said I was going to make creamed chicken on biscuits and gravy and collards greens. Well, I made it halfway through following through on that one. Didn’t really realize that I needed to cook the collards for 2 hours. 2 whole hours!!! So when I started cooking dinner at 8 o’clock tonight, there was no way in hell I was going to spend two hours waiting for collard greens. Nope, they will just have to wait. Fortunately, for me, creamed “chicken” and biscuits only takes about 20 minutes. Perfect.

So, I popped the cork on a bottle of wine and got to cooking.

Creamed “chicken” and biscuits

(WSCC pg. 20)

¼ cup margarine

½ cup thinly sliced celery

¼ cup all purpose flour

1 ½ cup soy milk (or rice, or whatever)

½ teaspoon salt

Few dashed of black pepper

Dash of chili powder

2 cups diced fake chicken (I used the rest of the “chicken” seitan I made or the bbq the other day, and when I try this recipe again (because I will!) I’m gonna get my hands on some of that gardien fake chicken. That would set this over the top.)

3 large biscuits (I just used bisquick and soymilk. I know, I know, why use bisquick when it’s so easy to make my own from scratch? I just love bisquick. I can’t help it.)

Melt margarine in medium heavy saucepan over medium-low heat and add celery. Cover and cook until tender. Sprinkle flours over mixture and stir until smooth. Cook for 1 minute. Gradually pour in milk and stir until smooth (I use one of the rubberized flat whisks. I love them. They make the best gravy every time). Stir in fake chicken and cook until thick. Serve on biscuits.

Tomorrow morning I am going to make toast and have the left over for breakfast.

Frozen Fruit Salad

 Before I get down to the "somewhere between solid and liquid" business that the next recipe embodies, I gotta give a "thanks for the Jell-O" shout out to my momma. See, I have A LOT of childhood memories involving the low-calorie jiggly little treat. Every Christmas my mom would make this layered dish with lime, cherry and lemon Jell-O dish (the lemon was whipped with cream cheese so it would appear white). Very festive. But more importantly, that dish was the shit! I mean, I would sneak into the fridge and polish off half a tray, ensuring she would have to make a second one for whatever holiday party it was planned for.

There was also a lime Jell-O cream-cheese pineapple salad I remember frequenting summer dinners, the standard strawberry Jell-O with strawberries and bananas, and once, right after the blue raspberry flavor came out, she made little cups of blue jell-o with gummy sharks strategically placed throughout. Cute, huh? But this Jell-O fascination wasn't just limited to my mom. It was like a bad gene that everyone on her side of the family inherited. My cousin and I used to joke that when you'd go to our family reunions, you best like Jell-O, since 3/4 of the food there was gonna be Jell-O salads. Seriously.

So, I raise a toast to my childhood and offer you my adaptation of “Frozen Fruit Salad,” (WSCC pg. 132) an interesting "salad" that originally include unflavored gelatin, mayo, and canned fruit cocktail. oh, and whipped cream. Truth me told, I was a bit scared when I saw the recipe, but I dove in head first and in the end, while this fruit salad isn't a true Jell-o salad, it is reminiscent of those old Jell-O pops that used to be served after school lunch in the spring. Only fruitier.

1 tbs agar agar flakes

½ cup boiling water

2 tbs cane sugar

1 16 oz can fruit cocktail in syrup (don’t drain it)

½ cup veganaise

1 can soywhip

In a small saucepan, place the agar agar flakes and the water. Let it sit for at least 15 minutes. Trust me on this. I have heard that “agar agar is scary!” It’s not. Not if you let it just soak for a while. While you agar agar is soaking, mix your fruit cocktail (with syrup) with the veganaise (I know, right! Gross! Who the hell mixes mayo and fruit cocktail?) and place in the fridge. After your agar agar has soaked, bring the mixture to a boil, turn it down to a simmer and stir until the flakes have dissolved. Add the sugar and stir until that has dissolved as well. Pour the mixture into your fruit cocktail/ veganaise mixture until full incorporated and place in the fridge for 5 minutes. While your mix is chillin’, shake the shit out of your can of soywhip (mad props to my roomie Jen who shook that bottle like a polaroid picture). Take your mixture out of the fridge and empty that can of whip into your fruit cocktail/ veganaise mix. Fold the soywhip in, fully incorporating it. Once your mixture is a smooth creamy mix, pour it into a container, cover, and freeze overnight.

The result? The center was a little icy, the salad melted a bit fast, and if I ever make it again, I may up the agar agar, but for a first try it ain't that bad. And the taste? Pure bliss. Really. Cold sticky sweetness tangoing on your tongue. Add some sweet ice tea and it would be perfect for a hot humid day in July, sitting in a rocking chair on the veranda. Whoda thunk?

Blue Plate Special #1: BBQ “Chicken” Nuggets and Slaw

First of all, I didn’t realize tonight’s dinner would make my whole house smell like apple cider vinegar. It does. Nor did I realize that I was going to have to stock up on cider vinegar and vegan Worcestershire sauce to make it through the Whistle Stop Café Cookbook. I do. But as I sit here with my belly full and the tang in the back of my jaw beginning to soften, I’m perfectly happy to stock my cupboard full with both if it means I’ll be eating like this!

First, I made the “chicken”, using Sarah Kramer’s faux chicken recipe from La Dolce Vegan. It was first foray into making seitan, and it was much easier to make the “chicken” chunks than I had imagined. Excluding a few mock meats, I will be using seitan for the bulk of these recipes. Tastes good, is pretty easy to make, and is seriously about 5 times cheaper than buying premade mock meats. I then laid out the chunks in 2 quart glass baking pan, poured the below BBQ sauce over them, covered the pan in foil, and baked in the oven at 350 degrees for 35 minutes.

Modified “Aunt Bess’s Barbecue Sauce”

Whistle Stop Café Cookbook (WSCC pg. 70)

½ cup water

¼ cup apple cider vinegar

¼ cup soy free earth balance

2 tablespoon cane sugar

2 tablespoons brown sugar

2 tablespoons vegan Worcestershire sauce

1 tablespoon prepared mustard

1 ½ teaspoon salt (I used black lava, gave for a more earthy taste)

¼ teaspoon chili powder

1 small drop liquid smoke

1 thick slice lemon

1 thick slice peeled white onion

½ cup ketchup

Combine all the ingredients except ketchup in a medium saucepan and bring to boil. Reduce and simmer halfway covered for 20 minutes. Remove from heat and take out lemon and onion pieces. Stir in the ketchup.

This is not a thick BBQ sauce, and while it is quite good, I think a dash of chipotle, and adding in 1-2 tablespoons of agave at the end would really just take it over the top. Maybe molasses. I also used yellow mustard, as that’s what I had in the house. That was a huge mistake. Likely should have used dijon. Will try that next time.

For the slaw I quite simple made Fannie Flagg’s slaw as the recipe instructed (WSCC pg. 135) which I’m not sharing, as I think it’s rude to just post other people recipes, but it’s pretty close to this. There’s half an onion blended in the sauce, and the sauce is blended in the blender, so it’s not quite the same, but you get the idea. Prior to making this slaw, I had no idea people even made slaw without miracle whip, but I’m sure glad southerners got it right first and left me nothing to improve. This stuff rocks! Especially when it’s served with tater salad, corn on the cob, and on an actual blue plate. Yum!

Potato Salad

This isn’t a true southern potato salad, but I’ve spent a few years trying to perfect a vegan potato salad like the one my mom used to make. And I think I have. Even my mother-in-law loves it. That’s sayin’ a lot.

For the salad:

4 lbs baby red potatoes, cooked and cubed  
½ med purple onion, chopped  
¾ cup finely chopped Italian parsley  
5-7 dill pickle spears, chopped  
½ tsp black sesame seeds (optional)  
½ cup finely cubed extra firm tofu (optional)

For the sauce:

1 ½ cup veganaise  
2 tbs dill pickle juice  
1 ½ tbs mustard  
1 ½ tbs nutritional yeast  
½ tsp black pepper  
¼ tsp garlic salt  
1/8 tsp sea salt  
Dash chili powder  
Few dashes paprika

Mix all the sauce ingredients together. Add the onion, Italian parsley, pickles and tofu (if you want- totally optional, they just act as a replacement for those egg chunks in traditional tater salad).  Pour the sauce over the cubed taters, mix everything to kingdom come, sprinkle on the sesame seeds and RESIST THE URGE to wolf it all down. Instead, cover the bowl and place it in the fridge for at least a few hours. I try and leave mine overnight to let all the flavors get kinky with each other, but it hardly ever makes it that long.