Gluten-Free Mung Bean Pasta!

We've been on the hunt recently for something delicious and sans gluten to cook up for a gluten-free friend of ours. We really wanted to have a little dinner party and make something new and interesting that she could partake in. There were a few options we came up with but after recently sampling the gluten-free Mung Bean pasta made by Explore Asia we knew exactly what we were going to make!

This stuff is so unique and scrumptious! Made of totally organic green mung beans it is not only naturally gluten-free but also high in protein, low in carbs, and 100% vegan. 

So what are mung beans? They are small green legumes which are seeds from the pods of plants. You might know them better as bean spouts in their sprouted form. That's right! Those white sprouts that are served with Pho and other dishes- they're mung beans sprouts!

Like many other legumes, the mung bean can be eaten raw when sprouted, or else eaten cooked with the skin on or off, but unlike many other beans, the mung bean is quite easy on the digestive tract and doesn’t usually cause a gassy reaction.

At first we just stared at the bag and weren't quite sure how we were going to prepare them. Should we treat them like spaghetti noodles and cover them in lentil meatballs and red sauce? Should we follow the suggestion on the package and toss the cooked noodles in vegan butter? Hrm...

After a little thought and some research we decided this was a job for our signature coconut milk alfredo sauce! The main ingredients: coconut milk, nutritional yeast, and corn starch are all gluten-free! Yay!

If you link to the blog post for the alfredo sauce recipe note that we didn't follow the directions exactly as we would for the kale alfredo. Instead we made the sauce in one small pan, sauteed the kale in another, and lightly steamed some broccoli separately. We then mixed them all together and got this as a result:

And man on man was it just as delicious as it looks! 

One can of coconut milk made enough sauce for about half the bag, which was about 2-3 servings. You could certainly stretch the bag and feed 6-7 people. Just add extra veggies! 

The texture is a little different than a typical pasta. Thin and flat. Less starchy than flour pasta for sure, possibly slightly al dente, but oh so good!

Next time we may even consider adding this pasta to a stir-fry and going the soy sauce or other asian sauce route. We may even top it with some Gardein Mandarin Orange Crispy Chik'n.

Either way, we highly suggest giving it a try and doing some experimenting of your own. Especially if you are gluten-free or have gluten-free friends! 

With peace, love, and compassion-

The Two Vegan Ladies

Vegan MoFo! Day Four: Coconut Kale Alfredo Sauce

So let's be honest here... there's nothing quite like a good helping of pasta. And as vegans, we typically get pretty lucky when it comes to pasta dishes.

When you get stuck at a non veg-friendly Italian joint with omnivorous friends or family members it's pretty much guaranteed that you are going to end up munching on bread and a bowl of pasta with some sort of red sauce and veggies. (Hopefully veggies!)

It's wonderful that most marinara sauces, whether they be jarred, restaurant, or homemade are typically vegan. But, not to knock red sauce here, it would be nice from time to time to have a little variety. Like alfredo sauce for instance.

When's the last time you had a nice creamy garlic -egg and diary free- alfredo sauce to go with that pasta from the farmer's market you like so much? We know, it had been ages for us too! So we had to do something about it!

Now, we have posted about this recipe before. It's a little creation we came up with in the early days of the Two Vegan Ladies blog and we have since perfected!  You can read the original post here but we'll admit it has a few extra steps than are necessary.

This has really become one of our most requested dishes and after making it several dozen times at various potlucks and social gatherings we have changed our method a bit. What used to take almost an hour and a half to make can now be whipped up in 20 minutes!

So let's get started on this revamped recipe- shall we?

*Note: This is A LOT of sauce. If you are making this for a small family dinner you may want to cut recipe in half.

You will need:
4 tablespoons of Earth Balance (we like soy-free)
4-6 chopped cloves of garlic or 2 tablespoons minced garlic
2 chopped shallots
1 bunch of kale
2 cups of sliced mushrooms
1/2 cup chopped fresh basil (leave some finely chopped pieces for garnish as well!)
3 cans of coconut milk
3 heaping tablespoons nutritional yeast
salt
pepper
garlic powder
1 teaspoon raw sugar
1 teaspoon dried oregano (optional)
4 tablespoons sundried tomato paste (totally optional)
4 tablespoons corn starch
and 1 mighty whisk

What to do:
First, get out a large pot. We used to make this in a sauce pan but have found it easier to mix everything together in something with higher sides.

Put on medium heat, add 2 tablespoons of Earth Balance, and in this order, add: garlic, shallots, kale, and mushrooms. Let cook, stirring well, for a few minutes.

Next shake coconut milk cans and add to pot. Stir well and add chopped basil along with 2 more tablespoons of Earth Balance. Let cook for a few minutes.

Add 3 heaping tablespoons of nutritional yeast along with a few pinches of salt, pepper, garlic powder, sugar, and oregano (if desired) and continue to cook for a few more minutes.

Now, you may have noticed the picture above has a more redish-orange tint to it than our usual off-white alfredo sauce creation. This is because we decided to go for a sun dried tomato flavor in our alfredo sauce this time around.

If you would like to alter the flavor to some sun dried tomato goodness it's easy enough. You can certainly use actual sun dried tomatoes, or go the lazy way like we did. Most grocery stores carry a sun dried tomato paste or spread like this one. Just pop open the jar and stir about 4 tablespoons of the spread into your sauce pot.

This stuff is also great on sandwiches with hummus and fresh veggies!

So now remove your sauce from the heat and get ready, because it is time for... THE MIGHTY WHISK....

Grab your corn starch and your mighty whisk of choice because we're about to turn this concoction into a thick and creamy sauce.

Add the corn starch 1 tablespoon at a time into the pot and whisk, whisk, whisk those clumps away! You may need more than 4 tablespoons, you may need less... just keep whisking till you feel like it's working.

Also, keep in mind that the sauce will thicken as it cools so take it easy there vegan tiger as you add tablespoon after tablespoon of starchiness. You don't want to end up with a solid block of alfredo sauce.

You can use this sauce as a dip with bread or, of course, put in on top of your favorite noodles. In version 1.0 of this recipe we layered the sauce with our noodles and mixed it together. This seems to be the preferred method for potluck style dining because the sauce and kale are more evenly spread amongst the noodles. 

For social gatherings this is probably enough sauce to cover 2-3 boxes of pasta- depending on how saucy your guests like to be. ;-)

Top with freshly chopped basil and enjoy!

This has certainly become one of our signature dishes and we would love to see everyone's results and variations. If you would like, please post a picture on our facebook page here when you prepare it.

With peace, love, and compassion,

The Two Vegan Ladies

"I Can't Believe it's Vegan" Lasagna

The other night we made our own veganized version of a tradition lasagna. The best part about serving this dish to friends, whether veggie or omni, is the compliments we receive.

Our favorite: "I can't believe this is vegan!"

Now, this is not to say that vegan food is typically unappetizing or that eating something delicious and vegan is a rare and divine miracle.

The reason this lasagna is so impressive is that it really and truly looks and tastes like any traditional lasagna. We dare say you could bring this to an omni potluck and no one would be the wiser. If you're looking for a dish to share with people who are skeptical of you compassionate diet choices or believe that all animal product free food is tasteless and odd... or if you have a friend that says "I could just never give up my cheese!" this is the recipe to make for them.

So let's begin.

You will need:
1 package of lasagna noodles
2 jars of your favorite red sauce
2 packages firm tofu
1/2 can chilled coconut milk
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 package Boca Crumbles
1 package Follow Your Heart Vegan Gourmet Mozzarella Cheese
1 small package mushrooms
1 zucchini
3 green onions
1 yellow onion
4 cloves of garlic
4 heaping tablespoons nutritional yeast
salt
pepper
garlic powder
Italian seasoning
dried basil

What to do:

Firstly, put your can of coconut milk in the fridge the day before if possible. If not set it in now so it has some time to chill.

*Note: Before using canned coconut milk always make sure to give the can a good shake.



Next, cut open your tofu and using either a TofuXpress or your bare hands, squeeze the water out from the tofu. Then, using a food processor, combine 1 package of tofu with 2 heaping tablespoons nutritional yeast, 1/4 chilled coconut milk, a sprinkle of salt, pepper, Italian seasoning, and basil then blend until smooth and creamy. Empty in a bowl and repeat the same process with your second block of tofu. Set to side.

Now, in a large skillet heat a tablespoon of olive oil on medium heat. Crush four cloves of garlic and add to oil followed by 1 chopped yellow onion, 1 small package sliced mushrooms, 1 green onion, and Boca crumbles. Stir well, season with salt, pepper, garlic powder, and other dried seasonings then let sit for a few minutes before adding 2 jars of sauce. Let simmer on low heat,  stirring occasionally.

Next, boil lasagna noodles. Try not to overcook. Noodles will continue to soften once layered and put into oven.

Check on veggies/sauce. If not seasoned to your liking you may want to add more dried spices or a pinch of organic cane sugar if too salty/acidic.

Now, wash and chop 1 zucchini into medium-thin circles. Set to side.

Drain noodles and let cool for a minute before attempting to separate. Turn off heat on sauce/veggies.

Grab your Follow Your Heart Vegan Gourmet cheese and a grater with a fine setting and get ready to go to town!

But first, preheat oven to 350ºF.

Then...
In a large casserole dish begin layering as follows:

small amount of sauce/veggie/crumble mixture
noodles
1/2 tofu ricotta
1/2 zucchini slices
1/4 block finely grated vegan cheese
sauce/veggie/crumble mixture
noodles
1/2 tofu ricotta
1/2 zucchini slices
1/4 finely grated block vegan cheese
sauce/veggie/crumble mixture
noodles
sauce/veggie/crumble mixture
1/2 finely grated block vegan cheese
1 chopped green onion (for garnish)

Bake at 350ºF for 30-45 minutes (when cheese seems good and melted) and then remove and let sit for at least 30 minutes before serving. You want the casserole to set so that it does not fall apart when sliced into.

Besides, everyone knows lasagna is better the next day anyway!

Makes 12 servings and is about 235 calories per piece depending on type of sauce used. Zero cholesterol and packed with protein and other nutrients, of course! Serve with salad and garlic bread and wait for the compliments to roll in!

P.S. Shout-out to all our Instagram followers for all their awesome comments about this dish. We hope you enjoy it once you make it yourself! Please post pictures, and let us know @twoveganladies, we would love to see them!

With peace, love, and compassion-
The Two Vegan Ladies

 

The Notorious P-H-O

Move over tomato soup! We've recently found that when it comes to comfort food nothing beats Vietnamese Phở soup. We started eating Phở somewhat recently and are very fortunate to have a wonderful all-vegan Vietnamese restaurant near us where we can get it any time. But as we sat and sipped our uniquely flavored and addictive new favorite food we wondered- how can we make it easy for other vegans to get ahold of this delicacy? 


So we set out on a course to make a batch ourselves and see if we could capture some of this Asian soup magic. 


This recipe may seem intense but we assure you the product will be well worth the effort. It can be quite the process, but don't fret, we've included lots of pictures for this recipe to help you out!


It makes 4-6 servings so either invite some friends over, bring some to someone who needs a good meal, or save it (broth and noodles separately) for another rainy day.


First we are going to make the broth. This broth is difficult to compare to any other traditional american-style soup. The flavor is rich and unique. It's pretty amazing stuff.


You will need:
2 unpeeled shallots, halved

1 small unpeeled onion, quartered
a 2-inch piece of ginger, coarsely sliced
2 pods of star anise
3 two-three inch cinnamon sticks
8 garlic cloves, halved
4 cloves
8 cups clear vegetable stock
3 tablespoons soy sauce
salt


Now, we know what you're thinking. Unpeeled onions and shallots? And what the heck is star anise?


Firstly, yes leave the peel on your onions and shallots because they will add to the flavor of the broth but won't actually end up in your soup.


<--- Secondly, this is star anise. 


It's sort of smells like licorice and adds a really unique accent to the pho. You don't need much of it, but the flavor is quite impressive. 


To make the broth:


1. Heat a large pot over medium-high heat. 


2. Add the onion, shallots, garlic, ginger, cinnamon sticks, star anise, and cloves and dry-roast, stirring occasionally, until the vegetables begin to char. 

3. Add the stock and soy sauce and bring to a boil over high heat. 


4. Turn the heat down to medium-low, cover, and simmer for about 25 minutes. 

5. Strain into a clean pot and discard the solids for compost. 

6. Taste the broth and add salt if necessary. 


7. Keep warm over low heat.




Now, for the soup ingredients you will need:

4 scallions, thinly sliced (both green and white parts) 

2 carrots, peeled and sliced

4 ounces or more prepared seitan, chopped into bite-sized pieces
4 ounces or more of baked tofu, sliced into bite-sized strips
14-16 ounces of rice noodles

First add carrots and scallions to broth and let simmer for a few minutes alone before adding in your seitan and tofu. Continue to let simmer. 


While the broth is simmering, prepare the rice noodles according to the package. Some will need to be boiled, some will need boiling water poured over them while dry. It will depend on which type you buy. We like this brand.

When your noodles are ready do not add them to the broth. Let them sit to the side. You want these two items to come together only when they are about to be eaten or else the noodles will get too soft. Also, don't drain them too soon or they will stick together.

When the carrots in your broth seem semi-soft you're ready to assemble the soup. Divide broth and rice noodles evenly among 4 to 6 large bowls.

One of the nice things about pho soup is sharing it with friends and giving them the freedom to season their soup as they wish.

For the sides:

about 2 cups bean sprouts
a good amount of basil
1 lime, cut into wedges
sriracha chili paste

Some people like it spicy with the sriracha chili paste and others just like the balance that the lime and basil offer. We both like to throw a lot of bean sprouts in ours for a nice fresh crunch.


You could also serve this dish with hoison sauce or fresh cilantro depending on your taste preference. 

We guarantee you will love this soup and it will instantly become your new favorite go-to comfort food.

Have a non-veg friend who's feeling a little sick or down? Bring them a bowl of this delicious homemade stuff instead of chicken noodle soup! Just an idea!

And don't forget your chopsticks! 

With peace, love, and compassion-

The Two Vegan Ladies

Crafty Mac 'n' Cheese

For some of us, no matter how much we change our diets for the better there are still foods that stick with us. We may know that processed foods can make our bodies feel icky and slow but that doesn't change the fact that, even though we no longer consume them, we can look back on quick staple meals from our childhood like boxed macaroni and cheese with fond memories. We may even crave them.


There are even some of us who (although we may not want to admit it) were actually so previously accustomed to the taste of boxed mac and cheese that anything made with real whole foods just seems flavorless or just not quite to that level of radioactive powdered cheese perfection.


This recipe attempts to address that mac and cheese distress your inner child has been expressing, and give it a more natural spin. So whether you're getting off the boxed variety because it contains animal products or because you know the combination of yellow #6, yellow #5, and sodium tripolyphosphate is probably not something you should be putting in your body-  give this recipe a whirl and see if it silences your inner 5 year old for just one meal.


Before we begin, let's say a few words about the hero of this dish, turmeric. A truly underrated spice, turmeric not only has an unlimited number of health benefits (check this list out: Benefits of Turmeric), but it is also what will be making our dish naturally yellow. No dyes, no chemicals- straight from the earth-type color. So thank you turmeric! 


What you'll need:


1 package of soft tofu
1/2 cup Nutritional Yeast

Turmeric

1 teaspoon Deli or Spicy Style Mustard

2 teaspoons Yellow Mustard

1 teaspoon Powdered Mustard

1/2 teaspoons Ground Sage (optional)

2 tablespoons Garlic Powder (powder not salt)

2-3 tablespoons Turmeric

1 teaspoon Cumin

1 teaspoon organic cane sugar

4 tablespoons Earth Balance (soy free is our favorite!)

1 teaspoon Lemon Juice

3 tablespoons Soy Sauce
1/2 cup Almond Milk

Salt

Pepper

1 package of noodles, elbow or rotini work best

Step 1: Open and drain water from tofu then place in food processor with nutritional yeast, all mustards, sage, garlic powder, turmeric, cumin, and sugar. Blend until smooth and creamy. Make sure to push down any wandering clumps of spices. You really want this to be smooth.

Step 2: In a medium sauce pan melt Earth Balance over medium heat. Once softened add the contents of the food processor and stir well.

Step 3: Give the mixture a few minutes to blend then add lemon juice, soy sauce and almond milk one at a time, stirring constantly. 

Step 4: Turn heat down to low and simmer for 10 minutes. Try not to let it bubble too much if possible. Stir often. Add salt and pepper to taste. 

Step 5: Boil and drain noodles, mix in 'cheesy' sauce- enjoy!

So what about baked mac and cheese? You know that stuff that's super moist and has crumbled crackers in it? The soul food type of mac and cheese...?

If you want to make a casserole style baked mac and cheese dish then you will need just a few more things. 

You will need:

3 tubes of Vegetable Ritz Crackers 

4 Tablespoons of Earth Balance (again, soy-free tastes the most like butter to us)


Note that blneding the crackers and vegan margarine into this recipe will add in a little more of the processed food element and certainly up the fat content. However, a recipe for a baked casserole version was requested, so here it is!

Step 1: Use the previous mac and cheese recipe but cook the noodles a little less than normal. You want them to be a little firm. Once baked, they will continue to cook.

Step 2: Melt your butter and in a rectangular casserole dish pour about 1 tablespoon of butter then crush 2 tubes of crackers and place on top. You don't want to grind the crackers into a fine powder. Just enough so that they will easily move around the dish.

Step 3: Layer your mac and cheese on top then give the noodles and crackers a few quick stirs to blend the crackers into the mac and cheese.

Step 4: Crush the last tube of crackers and layer it on the top of the casserole then take the remainder or your Earth Balance and drizzle all over the top, coating the crackers. 

Step 5: Bake at 350ºF for 20 minutes. Let cool before serving.

Note: If you're looking for some more nutritional content for this dish try adding some kale or spinach. We've also seen people add peas, carrots, really any veggie to the mix. Your inner five year old may complain, but they'll get over it. We promise!

With peace, love, and compassion-

The Two Vegan Ladies