By now there ought to be oodles of fresh greens coming out of your garden.  We’re enjoying fresh, tender kale and collards.  Unfortunately, the gophers ate most of the beets, so we’re on the war path.  But, here is my favorite way to cook greens.  I cook them all the same, except when I just stir fry with a little olive oil and garlic.

Tasty Cooked Greens
from Vegan Homestyle: Simple Recipes For Healthy Living by Kay Hansen

Carefully wash and coarsely chop greens of your choice such as: kale, collards, chard, beet greens, mustard greens, etc.  The stems may be removed during washing by pulling the leaf away from the stem.  Greens will cook down to about 1/4 in volume. Plan to cook 1 bunch per 2 people served.

Place approximately 1/4 - 1/2 inch of water in a large pan.
Layer the following:

          Chopped greens
Olive oil - spray lightly with Misto^® Sprayer
Garlic - 1-2 pressed or chopped cloves
          Onion - 1-2 T. chopped onions per layer
         Vegetarian Chicken-style Seasoning - 1-2 t. per layer (see below)

Cover the pot with a lid. Bring water to a boil, turn to medium heat and steam for 20-30 minutes until tender. Stir occasionally.

Live-for-Health Vegetarian Chicken-style Seasoning

1-1/3   c.         yeast flakes

1/4       c.         onion powder1          t.          garlic powder

1          T.         barley malt powder

1          T.         parsley

1          T.         salt

1          t.          basil

1/2       t.          marjoram

1/2       t.          paprika

1/2       t.          ground celery seed

1/2       t.          turmeric

1/2       t.          savory
Place all ingredients in a dry blender and blend until well mixed.  Store in an airtight container. Use for seasoning tofu, soup, veggies, gravy or sauces.

This is my new favorite breakfast treat.  It’s high protein and makes my tummy really happy with I have fried tofu on toast for breakfast.

Slice you 1 lb. of firm tofu into 8 even slices.  I cook 1/2 one day and the other 1/2 the next.  Heat a cast iron fry pan on medium, spray with non-stick spray or olive oil and add your tofu.  Sprinkle the top of your tofu with a little Bragg liquid aminos.  Fry until brown on the bottom.  Turn.  Sprinkle with a little vegetarian chicken-style seasoning.  When brown on the bottom, turn and cook for just a few seconds (too long and the CS seasoning will burn).  Serve on fresh toast.   Better than bacon!

Whole wheat pita bread is so tasty with your homemade hommus. I’ve found that my homemande pita doesn’t fall apart like the ones I buy frozen. You just have to give it a little attention. The recipe for Whole Wheat Pita Bread is in my book, Vegan Homestyle. Here are some tips: Divide the dough and weigh them out into 4oz. balls. This will make just the right size pita. When rolling into a ball, keep folding toward the center and pinch to make a nice tight ball. Then your margins will be smooth when you roll it out. Also, roll it thin, 1/8″ or less. It won’t rise much but it will puff nicely in the oven. Make sure you preheat the oven and the pan or baking stone you are going to use so everything is hot. They’re simple. I mixed up a batch in my food processor the other day and it was easy.

Whole Wheat Pita Bread

1 T. active dry yeast, scant
1 t. barley malt powder or Sucanat®
1 1/2 c. warm water 110-115°
2 t. salt, use canning salt
2 t. olive oil
3 1/2–4 c. whole wheat bread flour, fresh ground if possible
Unbleached flour for rolling

Mix together warm water, sweetener and yeast. Stir until dissolved and let proof until bubbly. Add yeast mixture to bread mixer or bowl. Add enough whole wheat flour to make a soft spongy mixture and mix to develop gluten for 5 minutes. Add salt, oil and enough whole wheat flour to make a soft, only slightly sticky dough. When too stiff to stir, turn out on a floured board and knead, adding a little flour if needed, until smooth and elastic, about 10 minutes. If you use a mixer or food processor it won’t need that much hand kneading.  Divide dough into 8–10 balls, cover and allow to rest for 10 minutes. Dust the board with a little unbleached flour and roll each ball out into a circle 6–8 in diameter and about an 1/8 thick or less. Place on a baking sheet and cover with a towel. Place in a warm place for about 30 minutes.
Preheat oven to 500°. Put a baking sheet or pizza pan with little holes, or a wire mesh on the lowest oven rack. Place 2–3 pita rounds on the baking sheet on the bottom rack (whatever will fit) and bake for 3 minutes. Pitas will puff up like a balloon. Do not allow pitas to become crisp. Remove to a cooling rack and cover with a towel to retain moisture. Pitas will deflate as they cool. Bake the remaining circles the same way. When cool, pitas can be wrapped in plastic and refrigerated or frozen. To reheat, cut pitas in half, slightly separate the edges and stack in a casserole dish. Cover and reheat for 10 minutes at about 250°. Serve with Hommus and lots of chopped veggies.

I’ve been back to making soy yogurt. The price of food these days has propelled me back into the kitchen. You can save a lot of money by cooking at home. One quart of soy yogurt is about $2.79. You can buy Kirkland brand soymilk for $1.00 and make your own yogurt. Or make your own soy milk, it’s quite simple.

Soy Yogurt

I start with 3 c. of soy milk because then I can fit it all in a quart jar. Or you can start with 1 quart soy milk if you use a larger container.

Take about 1/2 of the soy milk (room temperature or cold) and stir in 1 T. of tapioca powder or arrowroot powder. You may also add a tsp. of vanilla and 1 T. sweetener if desired. Heat and stir with a whisk to thicken, but don’t allow to boil hard. When thick pour this into the remaining soy milk and stir with a whisk. Allow the soy milk to cool to about 100 F, checking with a thermometer.

When it is the proper temperature mix in 1/2 c. of culture. (For the culture use 1/2 c. of commercial soy yogurt with live organisms or use 1/2 c. of your previous batch of yogurt) pour the thickened soy milk into a quart jar and place in a warm place to incubate. You may use a yogurt incubator which uses water to surround your container and keeps it at the proper temperature. Or many ovens will be the proper temperature if you just turn the light on. Check with an oven thermometer. 100F to 106F is what it needs. A crock pot will be too hot.

Allow the yogurt to incubate for about 6 - 7 hours. After six hours stick a spoon in it to see if it has thickened. The longer you leave it the more sour it will become. This yogurt will have a mild pleasant taste. It will not be a thick as commercial yogurt, but wonderful on cereal or fruit. Try it and let me know how it goes.

Kay H.

I received a question today about summer savory.  It is one of the herbs used in the Live-for-Health Chicken-style seasoning from Vegan Homestyle.  Summer Savory is a perennial herb with a mildly spicy flavor. Traditionally it has been used with fish, beans, stuffing, pates and other meat dishes.  I like to use it for its mild tangy taste in place of pepper, which is an irritant.

Savory can be easily grown in a pot or in your herb garden.  Harvest leaves and dry in the summer and you’ll have them all winter.

If you cannot find it in your grocery store, the chicken-style seasoning can be made without it.  There will be little change of flavor.  I encourage people to make the seasoning though, you’ll find tons of uses for it.

blessings,

Kay H.

I received a phone call from a very lovely lady the other day who is new to vegan cooking. After purchasing Vegan Homestyle she wondered where in the world you can get chicken-style seasoning. Well there is a recipe for it in the book. It is in the section called “Essential Little Bits” where you’ll find other tasty and useful seasoning mixes that you can make very simply. It’s called Live-for-Health Chicken-style seasoning and it’s on page 195 in Vegan Homestyle: Simple Recipes For Healthy Living.

This vegetarian chicken-style seasoning has no chicken in it, but sort of a reminder of a light chickeny taste. As opposed to a heavier beef-style flavor. I use it in the noodle soup, which is surprising like chicken soup. But I also use it in scrambled tofu and many other soups and casseroles.

We’ve thought about packaging a selling it, which we may in the future. But it is very simple to make. Make a double batch and put it in a jar and you’ll use it often. Other vegetarian chicken-style seasonings on the market can be used, but the often have more salt so you’d have to correct for salt.

If you need a source for the yeast flakes, try somethingbetternaturalfoods.com or bobsredmill.com. Either source will be happy to ship it to you.  Here’s the recipe:

Live-for-Health Vegetarian Chicken-style Seasoning

1-1/3   c.         yeast flakes

1/4       c.         onion powder1          t.          garlic powder

1          T.         barley malt powder

1          T.         parsley

1          T.         salt

1          t.          basil

1/2       t.          marjoram

1/2       t.          paprika

1/2       t.          ground celery seed

1/2       t.          turmeric

1/2       t.          savory
Place all ingredients in a dry blender and blend until well mixed.  Store in an airtight container. Use for seasoning tofu, soup, veggies, gravy or sauces.

My friend, Agness, shared these tasty walnut meatballs at a recent potluck dinner. Everyone wanted the recipe so I’m sharing it on our website. Just click on the link for the recipe.

Tofu Walnut Meatballs with Sweet & Sour Sauce