Vegan Holiday Recipes from Ellen's Chef Roberto Martin

When I woke up this morning and looked at the date on my phone, I was shocked. I don't know how this month flew by. I can't believe that Christmas is only a few days away. How did I not realize this? At any rate, it's crunch time. I had all kinds of grand ideas for what I would make for Christmas, but now realize that I have only a few short days to cook, finish shopping and start wrapping. Yikes!

Here are some great holiday food ideas from our friends at the Ellen Show. There are links below to dishes mentioned in the video as well as some others that would be great for the holiday season. I wish you all luck in wrapping up your holiday preparations! Hopefully you are all done - unlike me!



Breakfast / Brunch:

Holiday Breakfast Casserole (If you make this, I recommend using shredded Daiya Cheese, available at Kroger and health food stores like Whole Foods Market)

Potato Latkes
Potato Latkes

Pecan Crusted French Toast




Banana and Oatmeal Pancakes

Oatmeal with Nuts and Raisins

Dinner :

Celebration Roast


Vegan Pot Pie (sub extra vegetables for the Gardein 'chicken' to avoid anything that even pretends to be meat)


Posole


Garlic and Chive Mashed Potato


Vegan Creamed Spinach with Peas


Roasted Butternut Squash and Yams with Caramelized Leeks



Dessert:

Pecan Chocolate Chip Magic Bars


Holiday Spice Cupcakes


Peanut Butter Pie



Drinks:

Cranberry Elixir Tea


Virgin Pomegranate and Cranberry Belinis


Spiced Coffee with Cinnamon


For more Holiday Recipe Ideas and inspiration, please see my post Vegan Thanksgiving Recipes from Ellen's Chef Roberto Martin or Creating a Vegan Thanksgiving or Holiday Meal with the Compassionate Cook.

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Top 10 Tips for Vegan Travel

It's the busiest travel time of the year here in the United States and I thought I'd share a few tips I've learned through my travels. I've done my fair share of traveling and have managed to eat vegan throughout my travels. It hasn't always been easy, but it's become a whole lot easier as I've learned along the way. I hope these tips helps you make it through your holiday travel (or any travel) with ease.

1. Research food options before you go: googleHappyCow, local bloggers - Check both airports & destination. Find directions too (you may not be able to access the internet at your destination). Sometimes this information is out of date so try to pick a few options just in case the restaurant you've selected has recently closed. I've traveled with and without researching ahead of time and doing the research ahead means the difference between a delicious vegan meal and something that you're eating just to survive.

2. Order a vegan meal on the airplane if your flight serves food. You need to do this ahead of time.
Call the airline phone number, or add vegan meal option online through your reservation information.

3. If you're traveling abroad, look up how to say vegan in the language of your destination. Also look up vegetarian, no meat, no chicken, no fish, no dairy, no eggs, etc. because some people will not know what vegan means. Sometimes people even think that vegetarian includes chicken, fish, etc. I have used google in the past, but recently found this site with vegetarian phrases. You could also get a vegan passport which has this information in a handy little guide book for you.

4. Pack your own cruelty-free products. Sometimes the nicer hotels actually have vegan toiletries, but this is pretty rare. You can usually get travel size products at health food stores, Whole FoodsAvedaOrigins. I'm not sure about travel sizes exactly, but I know you can have them cut you tiny pieces of vegan soap bars at Lush. You can also get those little plastic travel containers and fill them with your favorite cruelty-free bath and body products.


5. Bring snacks! (Larabars, trail mix, peanuts, sandwiches, fruit, veggies, hummus, individual size nondairy milks) Consider instant smoothie mixes or protein powders (such as Vega) that will stay good for the length of your trip and can be added into water or juice when you're on the go. I had to rely on these several times when we took a tour group and we had little, if any, time to get lunch some days.

6. Bring your own add-ins: for example: avocado, hemp seeds, nuts can all be added to salad and you can usually find a salad anywhere. This saved me a few times on my recent Scotland / Ireland trip. I have also added nuts or hemp seeds to a plain pasta dish.


7. Look for foods or snacks that are naturally vegan: nuts, hummus, peanut butter, plain potato chips, juice, fruit, veggies. Check out these accidentally vegan foods. They may not be foods you'd eat on a regular basis, but it's nice to have readily available vegan food options.


8. Keep an eye out for eateries that usually have vegan options: ethnic restaurants, Chipotle (or similar), Noodles & CompanyPei WeiP.F. Chang's, salad places, juice bars. Here's a list of chain restaurants with vegan options.

9. Consider grocery stores or health food stores when restaurants with veg options are nonexistent or few and far between. Sometimes these health food stores even have decent cafes. While traveling in not very veg-friendly areas of the Southern United States, we have eaten a few meals from the Whole Foods salad bar and hot food bar. It seems weird but one of my favorite memories from Italy was eating a jar of artichoke hearts from a tiny shop while standing in the rain. (They had other options; I just somehow thought this was really fun.) You can usually find health food stores listed on HappyCow.

10. Use the hotel to your advantage and get creative with it's amenities. Usually hotels will allow you to use their microwave even if there is not one in your room. You just have to ask the front desk. They may also let you have a refrigerator in your room if you ask for it. You can do a lot with that tiny coffee maker or tea maker. I used the tea maker in our room in Scotland to heat water to make vegan Ramen noodles I packed for an emergency situation (and being stuck in the room with a sick person without being able to leave was kind of an emergency situation). I have used a coffee maker to heat water for instant soups like Dr. McDougall's and rice noodles which I combined with veggies and those tiny soy sauce packets. When we traveled to Cleveland for one of my husband's work parties and I thought we wouldn't have good vegan options at the dinner party, I microwaved an Amy's soup and ate it before heading to the party.


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Vegan Thanksgiving Recipes from Ellen's Chef Roberto Martin

Chef Roberto Martin and Ellen DeGeneres
Chef Roberto Martin and Ellen DeGeneres
Thanksgiving is right around the corner and I wanted to share another great video to help with your Thanksgiving meal planning. In this video from the Ellen Show, Ellen DeGeneres's Chef Roberto Martin shows how to create your own vegan turkey-less roast and some ideas for side dishes. I have put links to some Thanksgiving recipes from Ellen's website below the video. I found her website to be a little difficult to navigate if you are specifically trying to find Thanksgiving recipes so here you'll have them all in one place.



Salads:

Quinoa and Cranberry Salad (This is a great recipe to bring to Thanksgiving when you are the only vegetarian and you want a healthful, protein-rich food that you can eat and share with the omnivores at your gathering)

Grilled Apple and Pear Salad

Mixed Greens with Grilled Persimmons, Pomegranate Reduction and Toasted Hazelnuts

Main Dishes:

Turkey-less Roast

Quick Mushroom Gravy (not a main dish, but it goes with the roast)

Vegan Pot Pie (This recipe uses a vegan chicken substitute. If this bothers you, just replace the vegan chicken with extra vegetables and you have a main dish that doesn't try to mock a meat dish in any way)

Sides:

Stuffing

Vegan Mashed Potatoes

Garlic and Chive Mashed Potatoes

Mashed Yams

Roasted Carrots and Sweet Potatoes

Roasted Butternut Squash and Yams with Caramelized Leeks

Vegan Green Bean Casserole

Sicilian Collard Greens with Pine Nuts and Raisins

Desserts:

Pumpkin Pie

Pecan Pie

Mixed Berry Cheesecake

Oven Roasted Banana Rum Cheesecake with Spiced Pecan Crust and Maple Rum Sauce

6 comments:

Creating a Vegan Thanksgiving or Holiday Meal with the Compassionate Cook

The Compassionate Cook - Colleen Patrick-Goudreau
The Compassionate Cook - Colleen Patrick-Goudreau
I don't know about you, but now that it's November I can't stop thinking about Thanksgiving. I have been doing a little research into Vegan Thanksgiving dishes and I came across this excellent video from one of my favorite cookbook authors, Colleen Patrick-Goudreau. I think this video will help those of you planning your own vegan Thanksgiving meal as well as those of you who might have a vegetarian or vegan coming over for the holidays.





I love when she says "just because we've always done something, doesn't mean we have to keep doing it."

Colleen Patrick-Goudreau is so much more than just a cookbook author. She has a podcast, makes videos (one of which I found at a local library), runs the 30 Day Vegan Challenge and more. She is an advocate for animals and makes veganism delicious and easy for all of us. Browse her site, where you can also get my favorite of her books, The Joy of Vegan Baking.

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Tips for Going Vegan from Reader's Digest

Monday, November 04, 2013 , , , 4 Comments


World Vegan Day was November 1st and veganism got a little more attention than usual. When I came across 'Becoming Vegan: 12 Tips from the Experts' from none other than Reader's Digest, I almost had to pinch myself. Really. I even love how it starts out - "Vegan's not just a buzzword." It took Reader's Digest to inform me that more American's consider themselves vegans than vegetarians. Wow. Although this article is about going vegan, I think that these are great tips for going vegetarian AND for those of us who already are vegan or vegetarian. Though I've been vegan for years now and vegetarian for even longer, I found out new information from Becoming Vegan: 12 Tips from the Experts. Here are a few of my favorite tips they give with a little of my own input on each one:

# 1. Go at your own pace. I think this is a great tip because going vegetarian or vegan can seem overwhelming, if not impossible, to some people if they have to do it overnight. Being vegan is easy once you know the tips and tricks, but if you're clueless it can be crazy hard. It's good to give yourself some time to figure things out. That said, this tip only works for some people. For many people, finding out what happens to animals or just how devastating the impacts of a non-veg diet can be on the environment or their own health, it becomes impossible to continue living the way they were when they were totally ignorant. If you are one of these people, I suggest you really focus on tip # 4 and tip #12 below. 

# 4. Find a vegan support group. I think the phrase 'support group' can have a negative connotation, but the idea behind this tip is still pretty right on. Changing the way you eat can be a big deal and it's possible that people around you will feel threatened or feel like you are turning your back on tradition or them when you're really just trying to make a positive impact on the world and yourself. People can be judgmental when they don't understand something. You need some cheerleaders in your corner who get what you're trying to do. It's great if you know someone already and maybe they can introduce you to some of their friends, but if you don't there are still plenty of options for you. Try to find a Vegan group in your area, such as through meetup.com or a local group like VegMichigan. In addition to local groups, you can also find yourself an online group of virtual cheerleaders. Search out some online vegan groups or vegan blogs. You will find a lot of vegans on facebook, pinterest, instagram, twitter, etc. Without a doubt, you will find someone who knows of some resources, recipes, restaurants, etc. that you didn't know about no matter how hard core of a vegan you may already be. 

# 12. Get resourceful! Case in point. I did not know about half the resources presented with Tip #12 in the Reader's Digest article. There is so much helpful information out there, get searching. This is the best time there has ever been to find information on anything you want - including going vegan. I have shared a few links on my website of sites I have found helpful, but there are TONS and tons more. Whatever you are looking for, do a search. If you're still having trouble, ask someone from your vegan 'support group.' 

Going vegetarian or vegan can seem overwhelming, but with the right support, it can be easy as (vegan) pie. Even mainstream media outlets such as Reader's Digest are now willing to help you make the transition! Whether you are just considering ways to incorporate more vegetarian/vegan options into your diet or you are a long-time vegan, check out these great tips from Reader's Digest.

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Anjali's Vegan Gajar Halwa / Gajar Ka Halwa (Carrot Pudding)

Vegan Gajar Halwa
Vegan Gajar Halwa
Right now there are more than a billion happy people celebrating the Indian holiday Diwali. Diwali is kind of like a combination of Christmas and New Years. Homes throughout India are adorned with colorful decorations and earthen lamps (which are kind of like candles in clay bases) and fireworks are going off all around. People are dressing up in new clothes, getting together with family and friends and exchanging sweets, dried fruits and nuts. Sweets are always such an important part of Indian festivals and holidays, and I am so excited that my friend Anjali has decided to share a recipe with us just in time for this mother of Indian festivals!

Diwali decorations
Diwali decorations from Anjali's place in Michigan
(This ancient Indian symbol is used to decorate many homes throughout India. The Swastika is an auspicious symbol, not to be confused with the Nazi Swastika which Hitler stole from the Indians and perverted. Most of the people of India are of Aryan origin and preserved this ancient Aryan symbol as a part of their culture. In his quest to find a symbol of Aryan pride, Hitler took this symbol from the Indians and completely changed it's meaning.)

Diwali decorations
Diwali decorations from Anjali's place in Michigan

My husband and I really lucked out when our friend married Anjali because we got another amazing friend out of it! Anjali is kind, beautiful, creative, open-minded, and, most of all, hilarious. She is the kind of person who lights up a room by being in it and you know that any party will be fun as long as she is there. We always enjoy the good company and great food when we go over her place. I could go on and on, but I think you are probably really hungry for this Diwali sweet from the multi-talented Anjali. Here is Anjali's post:

Festival of Lights "Diwali" is here and it goes without saying that in every Indian home, there will be some or other sweets / desserts being planned. There is so much variety in sweets that comes from every corner of India specially for this particular festival . Also, its that time of the year when its lot more pleasant weather wise as well.

As I will be celebrating Diwali with my family in Michigan, I was looking for options that could also be bit healthy ;) considering my 2 year old son.

Gajar Halwa (Carrot Pudding) is an all time classic (healthier!) sweet that is savored at this time of year. There are a few different ways to cook this recipe. I tried to explore the Vegan way :)

Ingredients:
A couple pinches of Cardamom Powder
1 - 2 Tbsp Finely ground nut mix (pistachios,almonds,cashews)
2.5 Cups Finely Grated fresh Carrot (about 5-6 carrots), cleaned and peeled
1/2 tsp Earth Balance Buttery Spread (or other vegan margarine), optional
1.5 Cups Almond Milk
3 - 4 Tbsp Sugar (add to taste)

Servings : 2 people
Time : 30 min
Type : Very easy

Method:
For fresher flavor, you can grind the cardamom by hand in a mortar and pestle. If you do not have one, you could also grind it in a spice grinder or buy ground cardamom.
Grinding Cardamom in a Mortar & Pestle
Grinding Cardamom by Hand

Grind cashews, almonds, and pistachios in a blender.
Ground Nuts for Gajar Halwa
Nut Mix Consistency

Roughly chop carrots and grate them in a grinder, blender, or food processor to an almost fine consistency.
Grated Carrots for Gajar Halwa
Grated Carrots

Optional: In a wider pan, warm vegan butter until melted. In the next step, add the milk to the butter in the same pan.
Earth Balance Natural Buttery Spread (Vegan)
Earth Balance Natural Buttery Spread (Vegan)

In a wider pan, warm almond milk on medium low flame.

Silk Almond Milk

Warming Almond Milk for Gajar Halwa
Warming Almond Milk

When you see small bubbles start to form in the milk (after about 5 minutes), mix the grated carrot and keep stirring consistently so that the carrot does not stick at the bottom of the pan. Lower your heat to simmer to avoid sticking.
Making Gajar Halwa
Add carrots when bubbles start to form. Keep stirring.

After 10 min or so, the milk will seem almost evaporated and the texture will be creamier as well. Mix in the sugar and nut mix.
Making Gajar ka Halwa
Mix in sugar and nut mix.

Keep stirring and switch off the gas once all the milk has been evaporated in few minutes.

Vegan Gajar Halwa
Vegan Gajar Halwa

The Gajar Halwa (Carrot Pudding) is ready!! It tastes best when warm :).
The carrots are naturally sweet which will add up to the flavor making it a healthy vegan sweet / dessert for kids as well.

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Halloween Blood Red Vegan Salad - Beets, Oranges, Walnuts!

Halloween Blood Red Vegan Salad - Beets, Oranges, Walnuts!
Halloween Blood Red Vegan Salad - Beets, Oranges, Walnuts!

This salad is great for a Halloween Party. It's a very healthy addition to any Halloween lineup. The star ingredient is beets, which are a great antioxidant, anti-inflammatory and detoxifier. Beets have also been shown to decrease tumor growth in some studies. Between the beets, oranges and walnuts, you know you are getting folate, manganese, fiber, vitamin C, Omega 3 fatty acids, potassium, magnesium, iron, etc. The list goes on and on. It's truly scary how healthy this salad is.

Ingredients:
Salad
6 Cups Roasted Beets, diced (about 12 small beets or 4 giant ones)
3 Cups Oranges, each slice cut into thirds
2 Cups Walnut Halves
Seeds from 1 pomegranate, optional
Sliced red onions, optional (directions below)

Dressing
(This dressing will need to be adjusted according to the quality and flavor of your salad ingredients)
1/2 Cup Pear Infused Balsamic Vinegar (or any balsamic vinegar should work)
3 Tbsp Maple Syrup
1 Tbsp Dijon Mustard
1 tsp salt
1/2 - 1 tsp pepper

Method:
1. Optional Onions: If you are adding the onions, spread sliced onions in a shallow dish and almost cover with balsamic (or any) vinegar and liberally apply salt over them. If you are using a vinegar that is very sour and not sweet, you may want to add a little maple syrup. Allow to marinade on their own until you are ready to eat the salad.
I like this part, but my husband prefers the salad without so we keep our onions on the side and I add them to my portion only.

2. Roast beets whole in the oven for about 50 minutes at 400 F (205 C). Check them a few times around the end because smaller beets will cook a little faster than larger beets. You could also steam the beets, but roasting will give a richer flavor.

3. Now is a good time to chop your oranges and seed your pomegranate, if using.

4. Whisk together dressing ingredients. The proportions may need to change based on the freshness, quality and flavor of your salad ingredients. I made this salad two days in a row and had VERY different tasting ingredients. If your ingredients are very flavorful, you will probably need less dressing.

5. Once the beets are done and have cooled a bit, remove their skin and dice them.

6. Mix all of the salad ingredients together, except onions.

7. Add dressing little by little and mix. You may need more or less than the recommended amount of dressing. I can not stress this enough. The flavor of the dressing will get stronger the more time you allow everything to marinade together. This salad tastes even better the next day.

8. Add onions just before serving or allow individuals to add onions to their own servings if not everyone is a fan of onions. Keeping them aside as long as possible allows them to develop the maximum amount of flavor.

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Quinoa with Fresh Vegetables and Herbs

Vegan Quinoa with Fresh Vegetables and Herbs
Quinoa with Fresh Vegetables and Herbs

Tonight we had a very fast, simple and healthy dinner. It was one of those 'we need to clear out the fridge and we need to eat right away' type of dinners. Since quinoa cooks in only 15 minutes and goes well with all vegetables and herbs (what was filling my fridge), I knew this would be the perfect combination to meet our needs. If you are not familiar with this ancient superfood of the Incas, it is a versatile seed that is usually treated as a grain and can often replace rice or other more familiar grains in dishes. It's quick cooking time and excellent nutrition have made it very popular as of late.

A lot of vegetarians, especially new vegetarians, like quinoa because it is a complete protein and is packed with minerals and nutrients. It is a good source of protein, iron, fiber, thiamin, riboflavin, vitamin B6, folate, magnesium, phosphorus, potassium, zinc, copper, manganese, and selenium. It's also a source of vitamin E and calcium. Quinoa has a low Glycemic Index (GI) ranking. Of course, it's also cholesterol free as all plant foods are, and is low in fat, with no saturated fat or trans fat. I found some of this information by looking at the Self Nutrition Data for Quinoa. You can see the amino acid profile and amounts of each nutrient there.

This is not really a recipe, but describing it in a paragraph didn't feel right so I wrote out the steps I followed to give you an idea of a starting place. Again, this was just a very simple meal so you could really get creative here. I also listed the ingredients I used for a reference point.

Ingredients:
Vegetable bouillon or other vegan bouillon
Chicken curry masala (it's vegan)
Turmeric (1/4 tsp)
Quinoa
Cashews
Assorted vegetables (we had green bell pepper, chilies, carrots, radish greens, lima beans, green peas, potatoes)
Assorted herbs (we had fresh basil, parsley, dill and cilantro)

Method:
1. Dissolve vegan bouillon and spices in hot water.
2. Add half as much quinoa as water, chopped vegetables and herbs (you can save the herbs until the end when it's all cooked if you're not feeling too lazy and hands-off).
3. Boil quinoa, then simmer for about 15 minutes.
4. Toast cashews and garnish finished dish with them.

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5 Minute Meal - Near East Roasted Garlic & Olive Oil Couscous

Near East Roasted Garlic & Olive Oil Couscous
Near East Roasted Garlic & Olive Oil Couscous

Near East Roasted Garlic & Olive Oil Couscous is one of those "accidentally vegan" products. It seems to be available in just about all of the grocery stores around here. I bought it because it says "cooks in 5 minutes" and that's about all the time I had. Not only does it cook in 5 minutes, but it is very easy to make.

To make it, you only need to combine the couscous and spice packet with boiling water and olive oil (not actually required), wait for 5 minutes, and it's ready to eat. The directions tell you to combine it in a saucepan on the stove, but this time I just boiled the water in my teakettle and poured it over everything because I needed a hot cup of tea anyway and I thought I'd save energy this way. It turns out delicious both ways. You can also cook this couscous in the microwave, which makes it great for cooking in a hotel room (if you have a bowl) or in a dorm room.

One of my favorite things about this product is that it doesn't have a lot of unnecessary packaging and it doesn't have any plastic bags! Lately I have become really aware of packaging and I've been trying to reduce my environmental impact. I do realize that going vegan is the biggest thing you can do to lessen your environmental impact, but there is still a lot I can do. Knowing that there is so much plastic in the ocean makes me sick and I find myself picturing those bird skeletons with undigested plastic pieces in their stomachs when I look at unrecyclable plastic.

My husband will eat couscous, but it's definitely not his favorite thing (which is really surprising to me because he could live on wheat alone). He said this was "really good" which means a lot coming from someone who likes his grains to be jazzed up with vegetables and Indian spices (unless they come in the form of bread.)

I do realize that couscous only takes 5 minutes to cook and you could add your own seasonings, but I thought I'd give this one a try and I am glad I did. You can't chop onion and garlic and roast the garlic in 5 minutes anyway. The Near East Roasted Garlic & Olive Oil Couscous has the convenience most people want nowadays without a giant list of unrecognizable ingredients and a ton of unnecessary plastic bags.

This product makes a great side dish, snack, small meal, stuffing for a squash or vegetable. It's also good with some added ingredients like vegetables, legumes or nuts.  It is totally something I would pack for travel, especially travel to those not-so-vegan-friendly places in Middle America. You could even use the coffee maker to get boiling water if you are staying at a hotel room that didn't have a microwave.

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Campfire Dinner - Vegetarian Foil Packets

Vegan Campfire Dinner
Vegan Campfire Dinner

This is one of my most favorite dinners ever! It's always a big hit. Campfire dinner is a combination of potatoes, veggies, and veggie sausage cooked in a foil packet. The name came from the old days when there was not yet a barbecue grill at our cabin and we cooked over an open fire in the fire pit. My grandpa started by cooking potatoes wrapped in foil, but then later it evolved into putting everything right in there together to make a whole meal. I think my mom is the one who came up with the idea of putting everything together in the packet, but I'm not sure. At any rate, my mom who gets credit for the version I am sharing here (except for my additions to make it more spicy, of course).

Campfire dinner is a great way to use up what you have left in the fridge, in your CSA (community supported agriculture) box or from a farmer's market haul. When we first got a CSA share from our local farmer and I didn't know what some of the vegetables were or what to do with them, I found this to be an excellent way of combining them all together.

One of the great things about this meal is that you can easily customize it for each person since each person gets their own individual packet. I like a lot of greens, so I usually put extra swiss chard, spinach, kale, or whatever greens I have available in my campfire dinner. In my husbands, I put chilies, jalapenos, poblanos, etc to make his more spicy. If we are totally out of peppers, I use ground cayenne or crushed red pepper on his. If you are really on a budget, this can be a great recipe because you can use whatever vegetables are on sale or cheap at the time.

Ingredients:

Cooking Spray (or oil)
Potatoes, sliced
Onions, sliced
Diced Vegetables of your choice (bell peppers, carrots, celery, broccoli, cauliflower, asparagus, green beans, zucchini, root vegetables, greens, cabbage, herbs . . .)
hot peppers, optional
Vegetarian Sausages, Sliced or Chopped (my favorite for this are Field Roast or Tofurky Italian), optional but recommended
Earth Balance Buttery Spread (or oil or cooking spray)

Seasonings
Salt
Pepper
Curry Masala for chicken (it's vegetarian - available at an indian store) or garam masala, curry powder or your favorite seasoning, optional
Cayenne pepper or crushed red pepper, optional

Method:
1. Get two sheets of foil paper, about 2 feet long each and place one over the other in the shape of a plus (+) sign. (This is for each dinner so if you are making 4, you'll need 4 of these.)

Making Campfire Dinner
Lay out your foil.


2. Spray the foil with cooking spray (or drizzle with a little oil) so that the food doesn't burn.

3. Put a layer of sliced potatoes and sliced onions. Season. Put a little cooking spray (if using).

4. Add on your veggies, a couple pieces of the sausage. Season. Spray with cooking spray.

Making Vegan Campfire Dinner
Layer potatoes, onions, vegetables, and sausage slices

5. Add more potatoes and onions. Season. Spray. Repeat steps 4 and 5 as needed.

6. The top layer should be the veggie sausages, some of the hot peppers, more seasoning and some Earth Balance buttery spread or a drizzle of oil. The sausage infuses a lot of flavor into the dinner. If you decide to skip it, you might want to add more seasoning.

Making Vegan Campfire Dinner
Add more seasoning, cooking spray, vegetables, and seasoning.

7. Seal up your foil packet. See pictures below.

Grab the long sides of the inner foil.

Sealing Campfire Dinner
Pinch together.

Sealing Campfire Dinner
Fold a small flap, then keep folding all the way down.

Sealing Campfire Dinner
Now take the open sides and fold them up like you are wrapping a gift.

Sealing Campfire Dinner
This is how it will look after you fold up both of the remaining sides.

Sealing Campfire Dinner
Now repeat for the outer layer of foil.

Sealing Campfire Dinner
Use a marker to label the finished packets if they are different.

8. Cook on the barbecue or on the embers or hot coals of a campfire for approximately 45 minutes. OR cook in a 400 F oven (205 C) for about 45 minutes - 1 hour. When you start to smell them, they are probably done. If the potatoes are tender, it's done. Be careful opening! Steam might burn your hands.

4 comments: