Vegan Chick-Fil-GAY!

With all the recent controversy surrounding Chick-Fil-A and their proceeds going to anti-gay organizations we have seen a lot of recipes floating around replicating the classic chicken sandwich minus the hate. These recipes are helping former patrons of the fast-food chain who believe the rights of others are more important than their lunch continue to boycott the restaurant and enjoy the food they have grown to love.

Now, if you're a vegan or vegetarian, or just like to eat more on the healthy side, we know- you were boycotting Chick-Fil-A before it was cool.

Well aside from some the occasional waffle fry or maybe a salad sans cheese and croutons, right?

To be honest, we found out about where Chick-Fil-A sent a portion of its profits about a year ago and haven't eaten there since. Doing so just seemed a lot like masochism, however, we also weren't faced with any cravings for chicken sandwiches (for obvious reasons) so avoiding the drive-thru really didn't bother us.

So here we are, with all these gay-friendly chicken recipes floating around the web for our meat-eating friends of Dorothy... and yet the fact still stands... chickens must die in order to replicate these sandwiches.

It sort of seems a shame not to use this opportunity to share a recipe we have created as a response to all the recent coverage that is not only hate-free, but also creulty-free. In the end, isn't what we're after?

Equality for all? Including chickens?

We came up with this little recipe which can be fried like a classic Chick-Fil-A sandwich or grilled for a more healthful option. The choice is yours!

You will need:

Arrowhead Mills Vital Wheat Gluten Mix (or seitan mix of your choice)
1 jar of sliced dill pickles
Buns

For breading you will need:

Flour
Dill Pickle Juice
Corn Starch
Salt
Paprika
Salt
Pepper
Canola Oil
Earth Balance


So first, decide if you are going to fry or grill or seitan patties. If you plan on grilling you will only need the first 3 ingredients.

Now, prepare your seitan cutlets by using the directions on the box then molding your cutlets into a slightly assemtrical and thicker shape.

Then set them in a pan of veggie stock and let them simmer for 1 hour. (Or whatever you box directs) Our box of Arrowhead Mills Vital Wheat Gluten made about 6 cutlets of seitan. 

Once finished, let them sit on a separate plate and cool for just a few minutes. Now, this is the choose your own adventure portion of our recipe. 

If you would like to grill them- then place your patties either on a skillet with light oil and salt and pepper the outside or use something like a George Foreman Grill to get those nice grill lines.

Once grilled, heat your bun by wrapping it in tin foil and placing in the preheated oven (probably 250-300 degrees F) for a few minutes.

Optional: coat both sides of bun with Earth Balance before putting in oven. It will make it extra savory.

The assembly is simple. Place sietan cutlet on bun with desired number of dill pickles and then other half of bun.

Enjoy with choice of sauce.

Tip: A pretty tasty mock honey mustard can be made with the right balance of deli mustard, yellow mustard, cider vinegar,Veganaise, salt, pepper, and maple syrup. Give it a whirl sometime.

Now, if you've skipped ahead to page 21 and chosen to prepare your patty the southern-fried way- let's do it!

Heat a skillet with a good amount of canola oil to about medium-high.

While it is heating mix 1 1/2 cups of flour with half a teaspoon of each- salt, pepper, and paprika and place on a flat plate or shallow dish.

In a smaller bowl or dish combine 1/3 jar of dill pickle juice with 3 tbsp of cornstarch and blend well. This stuff will get sticky and thick. Just keep stirring it.

Dip your cutlets in the cornstarch and pickle juice and coat well- then put immediately into the dry flour mix until totally covered.

Place each coated cutlet/patty into your heated canola oil and let cook on both sides until browned. They may come out looking a little grayer than expected, but don't worry- they'll taste just fine. The flour may also start to look a little piecey... again, no worries, it's yummy.

Once cooked throughly, remove from oil and set on paper plates to drain excess greasy stuff.

The assembly is the same. Prepare your buns by spreading Earth Balance on inside and outside then wrapping in tin foil and heating in preheated oven (probably 250-300 degrees F) for a few minutes.

Place seitan patty on bottom bun, followed by desired number of pickles, and then top bun.

For the full experience serve with waffle fries.

We shared this recipe creation with a friend the night we prepared it and not one of us got off the couch for 3 hours after eating. So keep that in mind! It sure was yummy, but next time we're opting for the grilled version!

With peace, love, and compassion-

The Two Vegan Ladies

For the Kids: Babbling Beetles Over Bananas!

So here's a little something from The Two Vegan Ladies for our younger followers. It's a great breakfast or snack and it's really quick and easy to make. This is something you parents out there can certainly have fun making with your kids. And it's good for them!


Babbling Beetles Over Bananas!


Don't worry, no adorable insects were harmed in the making of this dish! We call them babbling beetles because when you add all the ingredients together you're going to hear something magical!


What you'll need:
One Banana
1/4 Cup Whole Raw Almonds
1/2 Teaspoon of Brown Sugar


First, grab a square of aluminum foil and spread your raw almonds out evenly on it.


Then, stick your aluminum sheet in the toaster oven (or conventional oven) and toast for about 5-7 minutes. If you're using a conventional oven preheat to 375º first and try 8-10 minutes.




Now, while your almonds are getting nice and toasty peel your banana.

Did you know humans are the only animal who open their bananas from the top stem? All other animals pinch either side of the bottom portion and pull the peel apart! Give it a try!




Next, cut or break your banana into medium size pieces and set them in the bottom of a cereal sized bowl.

Are your almonds ready? Don't they smell delicious?



Carefully remove your toasted almonds from your oven or toaster oven and slide them in your bowl on top of your banana pieces.



Now for the last step sprinkle your brown sugar on top, and listen! Do you hear the beetles talking and scurrying around with the bananas? Magic!


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

Vegan Garlic Mushroom Alfredo Recipe

When we were vegetarian we often talked about going vegan. We knew it would eventually happen but we prolonged it because we didn't want to let go of certain foods. We both assumed that with committing to an entirely plant based diet came the fact that there were food items and certain meals we were committing to never eating again. What we have found however, since going vegan six months ago, is that those fluffy textures and savory flavors we thought we were going to miss out on- cheese, cream, egg- are all available to us in different non-animal derived forms. We just needed to figure out how to put them together.

Last night we had a little thrift store expedition with a few friends followed by a small dinner party. Don't get the wrong idea here. This was nothing too fancy. We didn't break out the fine dishes and dress in ball gowns. In reality, our dining room table remains covered in craft supplies, as usual, and we sat in the living room with our food watching reruns of Rupauls' Drag Race together. Yeah, we're that kind of glamorous. Looking back we probably should have worn ball gowns.


We've made this meal before for just ourselves and made a lighter version with slightly different ingredients, but tonight since we were making it for 5 people we changed it up a bit and made a full flavor version. Let me tell you we got some great reviews! This is the sort of meal you serve your non-veg friends so you can see their carnivorous eyes light up and watch them speak the words "THIS is VEGAN?"

 So without further ado we present to you another original recipe.

 The Two Vegan Ladies:

Vegan Garlic Mushroom Alfredo

Time to cook: 30 minutes
Difficulty: Moderate (it only looks hard, we promise)

Calories Per Serving: About 200 (excluding noodles) less than 100 if you're doing the lite version

Serves: 6-8

You will need:

4 tablespoons Earth Balace (we use soy-free, it seems to have the most natural "butteryish" flavor)

6 cloves of fresh garlic

3/4 cup of fresh basil

2 shallots

1 large package of white or baby bella mushrooms
1 cup fresh kale (optional)

2 cans of coconut milk (lite coconut milk if you're going for the lite version of this recipe- you may want to up your corn starch and nutritional yeast if you are using the lite coconut milk or else your sauce will come out on the thin side. *Note: If you sampled this dish at the potluck we made the full-flavor version with the regular coconut milk.)

1/2 cup nutritional yeast 

2 tablespoons corn starch

1 tablespoon garlic powder

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon black pepper

1 1/2 packages of noodles (we went with Barilla Penne noodles for this meal)

The way to make this sauce come out thick and smooth is to add everything together slowly and give the flavors time to meld. It will be a process but it will be worth it!

1. Heat a large sauce pan/skillet to medium heat. 

2. Add 2 tablespoons of Earth Balance to pan.

3. Chop all your garlic and shallots then add to pan. 

4. Chop half of your basil into medium pieces and add to pan.

5. Stir everything and let simmer for 2 minutes.

6. Then chop all mushrooms and add to pan.

7. If you are adding in kale (not shown in pictures but highly suggested for flavor!) chop and add in now. You want them to be bite sized when they cook.

8. When the mushrooms and kale are coated in the Earth Balance, shake the coconut milk cans. Especially on the full flavor coconut milk it can get very thick and chunky. It may even need to be stirred once opened. Add both cans into the pan. This is going to seem very runny. Let it simmer for a few minutes.

9. Now add the another 1/4 of chopped basil along with your nutritional yeast, salt, pepper and garlic powder. You can go a little liberal with the spices here. I like mine a little more peppery so I probably end up adding a lot more. Just do it to you personal taste.

10. Add the remainder of your Earth Balance and let melt in while stirring. 

11. Time to start thickening your sauce! Grab a whisk and add in the corn starch. (Add more if you're using the lite coconut milk and you feel like it needs to be thicker.) With this ingredient you really need to make sure to mix it well or you could end up with little chunks of raw corn starch in the final product... and no one wants that.

12. You should have half of your basil left now. Add 1/4 of it in and leave the rest chopped to the side.

*Super secret ingredient tip: taste your sauce. If at this point you feel that the mix needs a little something to even out the zip of the garlic add a pinch or two of raw cane sugar. That will do it!

At this point your alfredo sauce should look something like this:

Yeah, it's sort of a gray. Don't worry that's natural coloring from the mushrooms. (Note: If you added in the kale it will a lot more green and leafy!)

13. Turn heat down to low and let simmer while you boil the water for your noodles. Keep stirring the sauce every so often for a few minutes then remove from heat. It's ready to use!

14. Once cooked, drain your noodles then set to the side. 

15. In a large bowl layer your sauce and noodles so that every bit is well coated. 

16. Mix pasta and sauce well then garnish with your remaining fresh chopped basil.

As Rupaul would say:


"It's an eleganza extravaganza!"


But really it's more of a basil alfredo garlic and mushroom (and kale!) extravaganza.






Serve with a big scoopy spoon or tongs and don't be surprised when your friends go for seconds.

With love, peace, and compassion-

The Two Vegan Ladies

Vegan Crabby Cakes Recipe

Vegan Crabby Cakes

So let's get this started right with a little recipe we created the other day. We were both raised in a fishing community in southern Florida and we grew up eating a lot of seafood. When we stopped eating fish and shellfish a few years back it was quite a transition to find something to curb that craving. Especially when it came to crab cakes. 

There's a lot of imitation meat out there. Hell, you can really get a fake version of just about anything if you look hard enough online. There's a website that makes a one pound hunk of textured vegetable protein molded into the shape of a lobster and dyed shades of red and white.


Not that we don't appreciate the effort the vegan community is making, but the idea of it actually being molded with legs and claws sort of creeps us out a bit.

Anyway, were trying to keep it a little more natural here. We like to take natural things and flavor them to taste like other things. You can do anything with just the right ingredients and spices. 

So with that introduction we give you one of our newest creations.

Name: Vegan Crabby Cakes
Difficulty: Moderate
Servings: 6-8
Calories (Per Serving): 150

You will need:
1 large sweet potato
1 cup bread crumbs (homemade or canned)
4 cloves of garlic
1 small red bell pepper
1 small green bell pepper
1 small red onion
2 ribs of celery
2 pinches fresh rosemary
2 pinches dill (fresh or dried)
2 TBSP soy sauce
tsp cumin
1/2 tsp turmeric (optional)
tsp salt
tsp pepper
tsp garlic powder
2 TBSP olive oil

First: Take that sweet potato and stick it in the oven if you have a year or so to bake it. If you don't have a year then stick it in the microwave. Either way you want it to get very soft. The idea is that once cooked you'll be able to pull all the insides away from the skin without much problem. Once throughly cooked, set aside to cool for a minute while you chop your veggies.

Next: Chop your garlic, peppers, onion, and celery. You may also need to give your rosemary and dill (if fresh) a little chop depending on how large you want your pieces. Everything should be small enough to fit nicely into the patty without sticking out.

Now: Cut your semi-cooled sweet potato in half and scoop the contents of into a large mixing bowl. Add your vegetables and fresh spices. Mix well.

Then: Add 2 tablespoons of soy sauce along with the remainder of your spices and continue to mix. The mixture will be semi-thick. By the way, the turmeric is optional because it really just adds a yellow tint to the mix. It is not necessary for the flavor. So if you want your patties orange then you're good to go. If you want them to be golden yellow then throw some turmeric in that bowl.

Next: Add your cup of bread crumbs and continue to mix throughly. The mix should be thick enough to easily form patties with. If not- add more bread crumbs. Make sure your bread crumbs are saturated in the mix or else one of you diners may get a nice bite of dry bread crumbs, and no one wants that.

Now: Heat a large skillet with olive oil on medium heat. Form your patties to the desired size (we like mini but if your going for crab cake sandwiches make them the size of your buns) and throw them on the pan. Cook each side until golden brown. You should probably let each side sit for 5 minutes or more and cover with a lid for a bit- you want that raw garlic to cook through.

Finally: Once cooked set patties on plate lined with paper towels to drain extra oil. Serve with vegan tarter sauce.

Oh no! Vegan tarter sauce- what's that? Well don't you worry this is a super easy recipe and we're gonna throw it at you right now.

You will need:
3 TBSP Veganaise (you can get this just about anywhere now. We have it at our local Publix near the eggs. Why near the eggs you ask? Because where else would vegans look for fake mayonnaise that contains no egg or dairy products? Of course! Right next to the eggs! Bad placement on the part of Publix. We're working on that one with them right now. If you have a Whole Foods or a local store that specializes in vegan products they should carry it as well. (Always shop local when possible!)

You will also need:
3 TBSP Sweet relish
1 TBSP Deli Mustard (or spicy brown mustard)

Mix those ingredients together in a small bowl and you'll have yourself some delicious vegan tarter sauce! For us a seafood-esk meal is never complete without some tarter sauce goodness. The calories run a little high on this scrumptious sauce though so use it sparingly (if possible).

A little wedge of lemon is also a nice edition to serve with your crabby cakes. Enjoy!

With love, peace, and compassion-

The Two Vegan Ladies