Our Veggie Kitchen

My wife is allergic to peanuts, which sometimes puts a damper on my Thai cravings.  So, when I set out to make tofu satay, I decided to make a tahini based 'peanut' sauce.  This sauce turned out to be a winner for sure.  It was an amazing dipping sauce for tofu.  Then, I took the leftovers, added a little water and used the rest for salad dressing.  Since then, I've made two more batches for salads and we just can't get enough.



Thai No-Peanut Sauce
1/2 cup tahini (preferrably roasted)
1/4 cup fresh lime juice
3 tbs golden mountain sauce (or soy sauce)
4 cloves garlic, minced
1 tbs ginger, minced
1 tbs red curry paste (I use Thai Kitchen)
1/4 cup water (1/2 cups for salad dressing)
1 tbs agave syrup

Add all ingredients to a blender or food processor.  Blend until smooth.  Makes about 1 1/4 cups.

10 servings:  87 cal (6g fat, 4g carbs, 3g protein)

My mother-in-law makes thousand island dressing with vegenaise & catsup that's pretty tasty but it's way over the top calories wise.  I like my salad dressings to be in the 5-6 grams of fat per serving, and this is no where close.  I found that I could get the creamy texture with strained soy yogurt and a little olive oil.  The result is probably not the same as Thousand Island (I really don't remember for sure), but the flavor is good, its good on salad (and tots!!) and it's really low-cal.



Thousand Island Dressing
1 cup soy milk yogurt
1 Tbs olive oil
2 Tbs Ketchup
 1/2 tsp ground mustard
 1/4 tsp salt
1/2 Tbs lemon juice
1 clove garlic
1 Tbs minced shallots
1 Tbs Minced Pickle

Layer a piece of cheesecloth in a strainer and let the soy yogurt drain for 20-30 minutes.  Sometimes I get impatient and wrap the yogurt in cheesecloth and gently squeeze.  This works but is a little messy.  Combine the strained yogurt and other ingredients in the blender and blend thoroughly.  If you'd like it a little chunky, withhold the pickles and shallots, blend everything else, then add the pickles and shallots and pulse to desired consistency.  Leave the dressing in the refrigerator for at least an hour to allow the flavors to blend.

28 cal (2g fat, 3g carbs, 1g protein)

I made a batch of tzatziki for last weeks zucchini fritters and I'll use the left overs this weekend for chickpea burgers.  I've also used it as a dressing for chickpea & chard salad or topped on biryani.  Typically, it is made with Greek yogurt, which is thicker than normal.  You can strain standard soy yogurt or, as I've done here, add a little cream cheese (Tofutti has a trans fat and a non-trans fat vegan cream cheese).



Vegan Tzatziki
1 cup soy yogurt
2 tbs vegan cream cheese
3 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp black pepper
1 lemon, juiced
1 tbs mint, minced
1 cucumber

combine all ingredients, except the cucumber. Either blend or vigorously whip in a bowl. For the cucumber, peel and quarter. Scoop out the seeds from each quarter, cut into long matchsticks and dice. Stir into the yogurt mixture and refrigerate for at least an hour. Makes about 2 cups.

16 servings: 29 cal (1g fat, 4g carbs, 1g protein)

This dressing is crazy good.  It's a creamy cashew dressing with a chipotle kick.  I love it on tacos or a taco salad (with mojo tofu) and it makes tater tots sing.  When I want a dip, I leave out a bit of the soy milk, but the dressing is nice and thick on its own.

I keep a few chili powders in hand at all times.  I keep the basic, everyone has it in their spice rack, chili powder for most purposes.  I love ancho chili powder when I want a more fruity flavor, sweet paprika, and chipotle for a smoky kick.  This dressing has some heat.  If you want to cut back on the heat, replace some of the chipotle with another chili powder.



Chipotle Ranch
2/3 cups cashews
1 cup soy milk
1/4 cup vegenaise
1 lime, juiced
1/2 lemon, juiced
1 clove garlic
2 tbs shallots, chopped
1/2 tbs chipotle chili powder
1 tsp paprika
1/4 tsp salt

Add all the ingredients and blend thoroughly.  The dressing will thicken after it refrigerates.  Makes about 2 cups.

16 servings:  64 cal (5g fat,3g carbs, 2g protein)

Traditional Caesar salad dressing packs a bold, savory punch with eggs, anchovies, and Parmesan cheese. But these are all things that any vegan can do without. So I swapped out the nasties, added miso, kombu and kalamata olives and kept the fresh lemon juice and dijon mustard and this dressing fast became a household favorite.

I had the flavor down long ago, but the presentation took a little work. If you blend the olives, you end up with a purple mess, so mince them as fine as you can manage. And 2 tbs of kombu is just not enough mass for my spice grinder to handle, so I blended it with some cashews--otherwise you get chewy chunks of kombu on your salad. But with these tips, it will turn out wonderful.



Caesar Salad Dressing
3/4 cup cashews, divided
1/4 cup lemon juice
2 tbs white wine vinegar
1 cup water
1 tbs miso
1 tbs dijon mustard
1 cloves garlic
2 tbs olive oil
2 tbs kombu, chopped (about 1 folded strip)
1/4 cup kalamata olives, very finely minced

Combine 1/2 cup cashew nuts with the lemon juice and vinegar in a blender and blend to a cream. Add the water, miso, dijon mustard, garlic and olive oil and blend thoroughly. Add the kombu to a spice grinder (or coffee grinder) and grind as best you can. Then add the remining 1/4 cup of cashews and grind to a powder. Add to the blender and blend to combine. Then add the minced olives and pulse, just to combine. Pour into containers and refrigerate. It will thicken as it cools. Makes about 2 cups.

16 Servings: 62 cal (5g fat, 3g carbs, 1g protein)

I grew up eating this salad almost daily, it seemed, in late summer. We always had fresh cucumber, tomato, basil and sweet onion from the garden. This salad, with all of the ingredients warmed from the sun (well, except the mayo) was always a treat. No matter how much of how often, I always had seconds.

This is definitely a dump and pour recipe. Just make sure to have enough tomatoes so their juice mixes with the mayo for the dressing. Really, I eye ball everything, though.



Tomato & Cucumber Salad
8 Medium Tomatoes, diced
2 cucumbers, peeled, quartered and chopped
1 sweet onion, diced
1/4 cup vegenaise
1/4 cup fresh basil, chopped
3-4 cloves garlic, minced
1/4 tsp salt
lots of cracked black pepper

Combine all ingredients and stir. Its best if it sits for a few minutes and served at room temperature. Its good cold or the next day too.

6 servings: 98 cal (6g fat, 8g carbs, 2g protein)

Today was a great day. We bought starts this weekend and, today we banded together, the three kids (a teenager, a tweener and a kiddo) banded with mom and dad and did about two days worth of yard work.

Our soil is rock solid clay. Between $100 in soil additives this year and last year, I've transformed it into nearly rock solid clay minutes after it's tilled. But for a few minutes, it was gorgeous. Between the two beds, we planted, 30 starts of greens (3 kinds of lettuce, spinach and chard), 12 tomato plants, 2 rows of Walla Walla Sweet Onions, and a smattering of zucchini, cabbage, cauliflower, cucumber, eggplant and most of my herbs. Most of my recipes have fresh herbs. That's because I plant my own. Otherwise, the cost would eat me alive. Planting three or four kinds (in my case, Parsley, Basil, Oregano and Thyme)will cost $10-$15 and you can enjoy fresh herbs for at least half the year.

So, in celebration of planting a summer's worth of salad, I made ranch dressing. This dressing is not only delicious, but it's low in fat and calories, and it's thick enough to cling to veggies, lettuce, or however you use it.



Thick & Creamy Ranch Dressing
1/2 cup soy milk
1/3 cup Vegenaise
1/3 cup vegan sour cream
1/4 cup vegan cream cheese
1 tsp dried herb (dill, basil, parsley, etc)
1 clove garlic, minced
1 tsp sugar
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp ground mustard
1/4 tsp black pepper

Combine all ingredients and blend thoroughly. Add more soy milk or vegan cream cheese as necessary to thin or thicken the dressing/dip. Makes about 2 cups.

16 servings: 64 cal (5g fat, 4g carbs, 1g protein)

I posted this before, but I've changed it some and it really is a great dressing/dip. It's pretty thick, so you may want to add some extra soy milk if you want it for salad dressing ... or not.



Creamy Avocado Dressing
1 small avocado
1/2 lime, juiced (more to taste)
1/4 cup Vegenaise
1 tbs shallots, minced
1 clove garlic, minced
1/2 tsp Tabasco or tapatio
1/2 tsp sugar
1/2 tsp salt (more to taste)
1/4 tsp black pepper
3/4 cup soy milk, a little at a time
1/4 cup cilantro, chopped

Combine all the ingredients except for the cilantro and 1/4 cup of soy milk. Blend until smooth. Add more soy milk (possibly more than 1/4 cup) continue blending until the desired consistency is reached. Add the cilantro and blend for several pulses, until well combined. Makes about 2 cups.

16 servings: 47 cal (4g fat, 2g carbs, 1g protein)

My favorite pesto has always been a simple affair with quality ingredients. Good extra virgin olive oil, fresh basil and the best parmesan cheese you could find. I've been putting off veganizing this because I thought the cheese was essential.

This pesto remains simple. It's quick, easy and endlessly versatile. I used this batch to make a pound of pasta, some pesto butter and a batch of creamy pesto salad dressing.



Basic Vegan Pesto
1/4 cup cashews, ground
1/2 cup olive oil
4 cups basil (packed), divided
1 cup parsley (packed), divided
2 cloves garlic
1/2 tsp salt
1 tbs miso
1/2 small lemon, juiced

Roughly chop the basil and parsley. Mix the herbs together and split in half. Blend together the oil and cashews, then add to the blender half the herbs, garlic, salt, miso and lemon juice. Blend thoroughly. Mince the remaining herbs, add to the blender and pulse, just to combine. Makes about a cup of pesto.


Pesto Spaghetti
1 Spaghetti or other pasta
1/2 cup Basic Pesto (about 1/2 recipe)

Cook pasta according to directions. Drain and stir in pesto.

4 Servings: 579 cal (18g fat, 88g carbs, 16g protein)


Pesto Butter
6 Tbs Earth Balance, Softened
2 Tbs Basic Pesto

Cream together the pesto and margarine. Chill until it hardens to desired consistency.

8 Servings: 114 cal (12g fat, 1g carbs, 0g protein)


Creamy Pesto Vinegarette
3 Tbs Basic Pesto
1 cup soy milk
1/4 cup white wine vinegar
1/4 cup vegenaise
1 tbs arrow root
1 tsp sugar
1/4 tsp black pepper
1/4 tsp salt

Combine all ingredients and blend in in an immersion blender. Chill in the refrigerator for at least an hour.

16 Servings (4g fat, 2g carbs, 1g protein)