Purely Vegan Positively Chickenless Almost Pot Pie – Gluten Free!

My mom loved to cook and had many specialities up her sleeve when it came to the kitchen, a few being: old world Italian meat lasagna with sauce that simmered for days, gumbo flecked with seafood surrounded by a rich roux, and creamed chicken – poached chicken drenched in full-fat seasoned cream.  I used to drool over them.  Now, it just makes my insides hurt.  However, my almost-New Year’s goal this year is to re-make them all into healthier veganized classics.  It begs be done. 

This recipe began as a vegan hybrid of Chicken Pot Pie and Creamed Chicken.  The sauce came from Creamed Chicken inspiration, and I meant for it to go fully in that direction.  However, after I added the celery, I found kale stems lurking in the back of the fridge.  And, chopped them up.  Then, I found the carrots I had planned to add, but forgot about.  And, they went in.  Then, I found chickpeas, and…  I wanted to add some frozen peas that I bought this week, but I left them in the freezer of a friend’s apartment.  It’s a long story.  But even still, they would have been excellent in here.  And so, veganized “creamed chicken” morphed into veganized “chicken pot pie” without the crust.  Mmm – pour this over rice and watch “When Harry Met Sally.”  You’ll feel like you’re ten again.  It’ll be fun. 

Purely Vegan Positively Chickenless Almost Pot Pie

For the base:
2 Tablespoons olive oil
1 cup diced onions (I used brown, but feel free to substitute white or sweet)
1 cup diced celery
1 cup diced kale stems
3 cups diced carrots
1 Tablespoon dried thyme leaves
1 Tablespoon dried tarragon leaves
1 and 1/2 cups cooked chickpeas (also known as: Garbanzo Beans)
salt and pepper, to taste

For the sauce:
1 cup vegan sour cream (Store bought or homemade – recipe for that coming soon!)
2 cloves fresh garlic
1/2 cup raw cashews
1 Tablespoon nutritional yeast
1 and 1/2 Tablespoons vegetable bouillon, “Chicken flavored”
2 Tablespoons tapioca starch (also known as Tapioca Flour)
2 and 1/2 cups water
salt and pepper, to taste

Directions: Place a large saucepan (also referred to as a “Dutch Oven”) over medium heat.  Add oil, onions, celery, and kale stems.  Cook until tender, stirring occasionally.  Add carrots, thyme, and tarragon.  Cook until carrots are tender.  Add chickpeas to the remaining ingredients in the pan and cook until warmed through.  Season with salt and pepper.

Place all ingredients for the sauce in a blender and blend until smooth.  Transfer to base ingredients in the pan, stirring occasionally.  Cook until bubbling and thickened.  Remove from heat.  Allow to cool and serve!

Makes: 4-6 servings

Creamy Tuscan Cannellini and Kale Soup with Lemon – Gluten Free

It sounds weird, but trust me on this.   

Since the moment I saw this recipe on Pinterest, I’ve been [absolutely] pining to do a remake.  To be honest, I looked at the recipe long enough to see that the creator used a cashew cream base, which she homemade using equal parts cashews and water.  And, I knew I needed some sundried tomatoes, kale, and white beans – from the first picture and the recipe’s title.  But, I wanted to switch things up a bit, lessen the cashew to water ratio, and give it a thinner base.  As a result, the flavor needed to be richer, in order to compensate for the richness lost in the thinning of the broth.  And so, instead of sautéing all the vegetables, I chose to roast the carrots and caramelize the onions – alongside the added bonus of using a flavor-intense oil like olive oil instead of a milder, avocado or coconut oil.  Bon appetit! 

Creamy Tuscan Cannellini and Kale Soup with Lemon

1 large brown onion, chopped
3 Tablespoons olive oil, divided
1 teaspoon dried thyme leaves
2 Tablespoons chopped sundried tomatoes (use the olive oil packed kind)
1 cup chopped kale stems
1 and 1/4 cup cooked cannellini beans (feel free to substitute with White Kidney Beans or Great Northern Beans here)
1 cup chopped roasted carrots
2 teaspoons italian seasoning
2 cloves fresh garlic, smashed and minced
3/4 cups raw cashew pieces
1/4 cup nutritional yeast
2 + 1 + 2 cups water
1 and 1/2 lemon, juiced
salt and pepper, to taste

Directions: In a large saucepan, add chopped onion and 1 Tablespoon oil.  Sprinkle with thyme leaves and season with salt.  Cook over lowest possible heat setting until onions are browned and caramelized.  Increase heat to medium.  Add 1 Tablespoon oil, kale stems, and sundried tomato pieces to saucepan and cook until kale stems are tender.  Next, add cannellini beans, carrots, italian seasoning, garlic, and one cup water to pan.  Cover and bring to a boil.  Continue cooking until all water has evaporated (or, more than 75% – if it absolutely makes you nervous to wait until all that water evaporates).  Decrease heat to low.  Add 2 cups water to pan and cook until heated through.

Meanwhile – add 2 cups water to a small saucepan, place it over medium high heat, and bring to a boil.  Get your *blender* (or Vitamix!).  In it, place the cashews, all of the boiling water, juice of 1/2 lemon, nutritional yeast, and a sprinkle of salt.  Blend until smooth and then, blend for 2 minutes longer – you want it to be REALLY smooth.

Last step: Stir the juice of 1 lemon and the cashew “cream” and season with salt and pepper.  And – eat!

Makes: 4-6 servings, depending on how hungry you are.

Tofu-Cashew Ricotta

After reading this post, I suddenly had an urge to make pesto.  And then I wanted to use it in a lasagna.  But, oh the carbs!  Bad?  Not quite.  Original?  Not quite.  And so, my brain wondered off into the land of “This would go well in an au gratin,” but – that’s a later post.   There are so many vegan ricotta recipes, it’s hard to give credit to any sources – specifically due to the variety of ways available to make this one food item, and honestly – I have probably made them all.  I like not using 100% tofu – and instead, adding some sort of nut in order to enhance the texture.  Cashews have a mellow taste and can easily blend into a sauce or even… a ricotta, and so – they were a natural (and very welcome!) addition.  If you’re out of cashews, try substituting raw almonds – the taste and texture might change slightly, but they might yield a more grainier-ricotta like feel.  For a less-grainy texture, try soaking for a few hours before blending.

Serving suggestions: stir into pasta to make a creamy sort of Alfredo sauce, add to lasagna (and make everyone wish they were you!), stuff into shells, spread between vegetable layers and quickly roast for a twist on Mozzarella Caprese, or use it as a topping for this recipe.

Tofu-Cashew Ricotta

1 block firm tofu, drained
1/4 cup raw cashews
2 Tablespoons nutritional yeast
1/4-1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon apple cider vinegar
1 clove fresh garlic clove, chopped

Directions: Place all ingredients in a blender and whirl until the desired consistency is reached.  Use immediately or chill overnight to attain a thicker ricotta (pictured above).

Makes: around 1 cup

*Note: for a slightly different taste, try substituting lemon juice for the apple cider vinegar.

NO Sauce. Zucchini Lasagna al Fresco

Zucchini Lasagna al Fresco

Before we begin, allow me to apologize for the yellow-y-ness of the pictures. That’s what I get for cooking at night (yes!) and allowing artificial light photobombs. Not intentional. Promise.

I almost wanted to call this “Lasagna al Fresco.” Oh wait, I just did.

We ate this tonight. It was yum. So yum that the husband had a second serving. Oh yeah. It happened.

This recipe would be REALLY good with fresh basil laced throughout the zucchini layer. Something to think about if you happen to have a handful lying around. Or, if you like basil.

Weird fact to insert here, but I’ve read that basil actually helps digestion. Do your colon a favor and eat this (with basil). Now.

Zucchini Lasagna al Fresco

Zucchini Lasagna al Fresco

9 oven ready lasagna noodles (or use the Cook-Then-Oven kind)
3/4 cup Tofu-Cashew Ricotta
6 Tablespoons “milk”
4 medium sized zucchini, VERY thinly sliced
1 Tablespoon + 1 teaspoon olive oil (or another type of oil: avocado, canola, etc. Coconut might leave a weird taste; as much as I love it.)
1 large (or 2 regular size) plum tomato, chopped
salt and pepper, to taste

Directions: Make Tofu-Cashew Ricotta (recipe at end of post) first to allow it time to chill in the fridge while you do everything else.

Next, preheat oven to 375 degrees. The process will go by pretty fast, and it’s better to cook it right away (even if you don’t plan on eating it right away) just so that the flavors have time to meld. In the kitchen, melding is a good thing. At parties, not so much. In beer… eh.

In a large mixing bowl, combine zucchini and 1 Tablespoon oil. Season with salt and pepper. Set aside.

In a small mixing bowl, combine tomato and 1 teaspoon oil. Season with salt and pepper and set aside.

In a medium mixing bowl (I know, I’m out of order!), combine Tofu-Cashew Ricotta and “milk.” Stir until smooth. And, yep – you guessed it – SET ASIDE.

Time to assemble! In an 8″ x 8″ baking pan, place one layer of sliced zucchini. Top with 3 lasagna noodles. Top THAT with (or – Spread a layer of) 1/3 Tofu-Cashew Ricotta mixture. So good. Next, add another layer of zucchini. Then 3 noodles. Then ricotta. Then: zucchini, noodles, ricotta, zucchini. So – in total, you’ll need: 4 portions zucchini, 3 portions noodles (hence the 9 noodles required), and 3 portions ricotta. Yes! You’re finished. Almost.

Top the entire *lasagna* with the tomatoes (from the small mixing bowl). Sprinkle evenly.

Bake at 375 degrees for 30 minutes. Remove. Allow to cool. And, if possible (WHAT!?!) eat tomorrow.

Zucchini Lasagna al Fresco

Zucchini Lasagna al Fresco

Tofu-Cashew Ricotta

1 cup raw cashews
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons lemon juice
1 clove garlic
3 Tablespoons “milk”
2 teaspoons nutritional yeast
1 teaspoon ground chia seeds
1/4 teaspoon white vinegar
1 teaspoon rice vinegar
pepper, to taste
1 teaspoon probiotic liquid – think: cultured soy but not yogurt – (optional)
1/2 block extra firm tofu (try to get organic) – squeeze out the water, but draining well isn’t super important.

Directions: Put everything in blender (add tofu as the last ingredient. It’s heavy, so it will help alleviate having to stop blending to scrape the sides. Gravity is awesome. And now: Blend until smooth. Use in Zucchini Lasagna al Fresco. Not as toothpaste.