Good Eats from The PPK

When I transitioned to a vegan diet over two years ago, one of the first web sites I encountered on my quest for delicious, yet uncomplicated vegan recipes, was The PPK. What I love about Isa and Terry's recipes is that they make amazing vegan food accessible to people like me with limited cooking skills, a small kitchen with appliances circa 1976, and no Whole Foods Market or gourmet grocery for over a hundred miles. Taking a look through my food photos the other day, I realized that in recent weeks I have made quite a few PPK recipes so decided to do a post showcasing them all. Enjoy!

Chocolate-Chocolate Chip Cookies - without the walnuts, from Veganomicon. A staple food in our household!

tlT - tempeh, lettuce, and Tomato sandwich made with Tempeh Bacon from Vegan with a Vengeance, served on Ezekiel sprouted grain bread. I capitalize the T in Tomato because that beautiful Tomato is the star here. This is the only time of year that I make tlT's as I despise those pale, grainy tomatoes that one finds in the market the rest of the year, and I'm certainly not going to insult my tempeh bacon by having it share a sandwich with anything inferior!

Almond-Quinoa Muffins - from Veganomicon. The subtle hint of cardamom combined with the delicate crunch of quinoa make my mouth sing with joy! I was out of dried fruit, so simply omitted it from the recipe. See the quinoa peeking through the roof of the muffin?

Broccoli Polenta - from Veganomicon. I have made polenta plain, with spinach, with carrot juice, in my slow cooker, in my microwave, and on my stovetop, but not of my prior efforts come close to comparing with this recipe. If you've never liked polenta before, give it a second chance with this recipe. I don't like to spend a lot of time in the kitchen most days so I simply poured it into an 8x8 glass dish then cut it into rectangles once it set, then served it with Southwest Beans from Fresh from the Vegetarian Slow Cooker by Robin Robertson. I reduced the oil in the polenta by 1 Tbs with no ill effects. Hiding in back are some fire roasted tomatoes and Sour Cilantro Cream, (made without the oil), also from Veganomicon.

Spicy Pinto Sausages - click here for the recipe from the PPK blog. I shaped these into patties before steaming then served them breaded and pan fried, per Julie Hasson's recipe for Spicy Italian Cutlets, along with Julie's sauce from the same recipe, over spinach linguine. Absolutely delicious! No need for spending the big bucks at a fancy Italian restaurant when you have this!!

French Lentil Soup with Tarragon and Thyme - from Veganomicon. The recipe can be found here on the PPK website. I love lentil soup but had never made it with French lentils before trying this recipe. The texture of those tiny little lentils combined with the tarragon, makes this no ordinary soup. A must try!

Hummus, Some New Twists

I can never have enough hummus recipes on hand. Now that the weather is warming up, I find myself already craving food that's served at room temperature or chilled. A recent trip over to the Everyday Dish cooking show led me to find a couple of new twists on my old favorite:

Smoky Pumpkin Hummus
adapted from Everyday Dish TV

The original recipe may be found by clicking here. I modified this recipe quite a bit to give it more flavor. I also reduced the amount of tahini by 3 Tbs and added toasted pumpkin seeds. I served this on assorted vegan mini toasts from a local bakery.

2 cups cooked garbanzo beans
1/2 can pumpkin
1 Tbs tahini
2 cloves minced garlic
2 Tbs fresh lemon juice (juice of one lemon)
1 tsp ground cumin
2 tsp Chipotle Tabasco
1 Tbs Braggs liquid aminos
5 sundried tomatoes, rehydrated
handful of pumpkin seeds, toasted

Process first eight ingredients in a food processor until smooth. Garnish with toasted pumpkin seeds.

Chipotle Lime Two-Bean Hummus
adapated from Everyday Dish TV
I found this recipe on a food blog search that began when I realized I had 1/2 cup fresh squeezed lime juice in my fridge with no place to call home. Since I also had some garbonzo beans and pinto beans, I thought I would give this recipe a try. The combination of chipotle, lime, and cilantro, with the added hint of the allspice, bump this up to a gourmet hummus in my book. I omitted the 2 Tbs olive oil called for in the original recipe and substituted pinto beans for the kidney beans called for.

Since I'm not a fan of all the preservatives found in store bought tortilla chips, I simply toasted some Food for Life sprouted corn tortillas and then cut them with a pizza cutter to make my own healthy chips.

1 cup cooked pinto beans
1 cup cooked garbanzo beans
1 tsp lime zest
1/8 cup fresh squeezed lime juice
1 1/2 Tbs tahini
1 clove garlic, minced
1/2 tsp salt
1 1/2 tsp chipotle Tabasco
1 tsp agave nectar
1/8 tsp allspice
1-2 Tbs water (to thin dip as desired)
1/4 cup fresh cilantro leaves

Combine all ingredients except lime zest, water, and cilantro in a food processor. Puree until smooth adding water until desired consistency is reached. Add lime zest and cilantro and puree briefly.

Pink Bean, Quinoa, and Spinach Soup

from Vegan Express by Nava Atlas as posted on Fatfree Vegan Kitchen blog. Interesting and delicious combination of flavors. Quick and easy to make! Definitely a keeper.