Okay I’ve done it again. Even though last time I made deep fried pickles I promised I wouldn’t make them again for another 10 years, I did it. It’s been at least a year though so that’s okay, right?

The original recipe I posted were for pickle ‘chips’ rather than spears. I had tried making spears but the coating kept falling off in the fryer. But then I decided to try to figure out a way to make some coating that didn’t fall off. And I did it.

These are true-to-form deep fried pickles that you’d find in a pub on the appetizer menu. Except these are totally gluten-free and vegan. (Though still what I’d consider gluten-free vegan junk food. Not endorsing this as a healthy option by any means. Hehe.)

I tested this out with a couple different flours and flour blends. My advice is to use just a plain brown rice flour in this recipe. I have used millet flour just fine as well. I’d avoid pre-mixed gluten-free flour blends that have an indeterminate amount of light starch (cornstarch, tapioca starch, etc.) or xanthan/guar gum added to it as they tend to have a gummy effect in this recipe and require a lot more liquid. This recipe was written and tested using brown rice or millet flour.

The key to making these pickle spears is a three-step breading process. First, the excess moisture from the pickle spear is absorbed by a light dusting of gluten-free flour. Then the spear is dipped into the gluten-free batter. Lastly it’s dredged lightly in the seasoned bread crumbs and placed ever-so-gently into the deep fryer to get nice and crispy.

It can be a bit of a messy project but it’s a fun one too.

Make sure you eat your pickles as fresh out of the fryer as you can without burning your mouth (after letting any excess oil drain off onto paper towel). They’re not as spectacular once they’ve cooled down to room temperature. Levi still ate them but I wasn’t as crazy about them cooled off as I was when they were nice and hot still. You can eat these plain or serve them with the vegan buttermilk ranch dip that I shared in the first fried pickle post here.

Gluten Free Deep Fried Pickles II

 

Print

Prep time

10 mins

Cook time

10 mins

Total time

20 mins

 

Another version of gluten-free deep fried pickles – this time I made crunchy fried pickle spears. Yum!

Author: Megan – The Gluten Free Vegan

Recipe type: Appetizer

Cuisine: Snacks

Serves: 4 as a snack

Ingredients

• 3 large (and I mean large) dill pickles, cut lengthwise into 4 spears each
• ¾ cup gluten-free flour, divided
• ½ cup water (plus more for thinning as needed)
• ½ cup gluten-free vegan bread crumbs
• ⅛ teaspoon garlic powder
• Oil for frying

Instructions

1. Preheat oil in deep-fryer to about 375°F, according to manufacturer’s instructions.
2. Arrange three shallow dishes with edges in a row. Place ¼ cup of the brown rice flour in the first dish. Whisk the remaining ½ cup of brown rice flour with water in the second dish. Add more water by the tablespoon as needed to thin to a pancake-batter consistency. Mix gluten-free bread crumbs and garlic powder in the third dish.
3. Roll the pickle spears in the brown rice flour until they’re just lightly coated. Dust off any excess.
4. Dip in the batter. Don’t let too much drip off as it may come off in big dollops.
5. Roll gently in seasoned bread crumbs to cover the batter completely.
6. Place gently in the hot oil. Fry until just lightly browned – about 5-10 minutes depending on your deep fryer.
7. Remove and let drain on to a paper towel lined plate to soak up any excess oil.
8. Serve hot.

WordPress Recipe Plugin by EasyRecipe

3.2.1230

Ah broccoli and cheddar. A match made in heaven. A perfect marriage of flavors. There’s something comforting about broccoli and cheddar. Except you don’t need real cheddar. You can use Daiya cheddar shreds and still enjoy this classic flavor in this tasty recipe.

These little cute bites make a great appetizer or a fun side dish. If you don’t have a mini-muffin pan I recommend baking this in a casserole dish and serving it up like a baked quinoa side dish. I tried making these in a regular muffin pan once and they just didn’t stay together nicely for a pop-in-your-mouth appetizer. The flavor will still be amazing both ways.

These keep in the fridge for a couple days once baked up but will lose their crispiness so if texture is important to you, gobble these up the same day.

Oh, and a note about chopping the broccoli. You should make sure you actually chop it up into nice small pieces. I left some bigger florets the first time I made these and where there were bigger chunks of broccoli the mini-muffins fell apart.

5.0 from 1 reviews

Broccoli ‘Cheddar’ Quinoa Mini-Muffins

 

Print

Prep time

5 mins

Cook time

35 mins

Total time

40 mins

 

Vegan and gluten-free broccoli ‘cheddar’ quinoa mini-muffins are a great appetizer or a fun side dish. Healthy and delicious.

Author: Megan – The Gluten Free Vegan

Recipe type: Appetizer, Side Dish

Serves: 24 mini-muffins

Ingredients

• 2 cups cooked quinoa
• 2 cups chopped broccoli
• 1 cup Daiya cheddar-style shreds
• ½ teaspoon garlic powder
• ½ teaspoon onion powder
• ½ teaspoon dried parsley
• ⅛ teaspoon Herbamare or your favorite seasoning blend
• Oil spray for mini-muffin tins

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 375ºF. Grease a 24-cup mini-muffin tin with oil.
2. In a large bowl combine all ingredients. Stir to combine well. Taste and adjust for seasoning.
3. Spoon mixture into greased mini-muffin tins. Press firmly to pack each muffin cup fully.
4. Bake in preheated oven for 30-35 minutes until edges become lightly browned and crispy. Let cool about 5 minutes before popping the bites out out of the muffin tin.

Nutrition Information

Serving size: 1 mini-muffin Calories: 37 Fat: 1g Carbohydrates: 5g Sugar: 0g Sodium: 60mg Protein: 1g

WordPress Recipe Plugin by EasyRecipe

3.2.1230

Oh man do I ever love tzatziki. I would whip up a batch of this stuff (pre-vegan days) and eat all of it mindlessly. I’d add so much garlic that it was embarrassing to go out afterwards but I didn’t really care. It was so good.

I haven’t had a single bite of tzatziki since going vegan four years ago.

Actually, I am surprised it has taken me this long to make a vegan version of tzatziki. Now with the abundance of vegan yogurts available easily at the grocery store and health food store I suppose it’s back in my mind again. Aside from the substitution of plain vegan yogurt for the regular Balkan-style yogurt that’s the only alteration I had to make to my original recipe.

Speaking of yogurts . . .

Vegan yogurts – or at least all the ones I’ve tried so far – aren’t going to be exactly like regular yogurt, especially if you were fond of Balkan-style. That being said, some of them are quite impressive. I am not a huge fan of the soy yogurts for the same reason I am not a fan of soy milk. I find them a tad chalky-tasting. But I’ve tried almond yogurt and coconut yogurt and both are rather pleasant.

When I bought the plain coconut yogurt for this recipe I didn’t think it would have sugar in it. It does. It’s actually quite sweet for a plain yogurt. In fact, after looking it up online it seems like most non-dairy yogurts have sweetener in them and very few can be found that are unsweetened. A bit disappointing actually. But, I still used it and just adjusted my seasoning as needed to counteract any of the sweetness that came through after it was mixed up and sat for a bit. It wasn’t really that sweet tasting in the end.

My original recipe calls for 2 cups worth of yogurt that gets strained overnight in cheesecloth. My container was only 454 grams – so roughly 1 3/4 cups worth of non-dairy yogurt. I still used the regular measurements for everything else  because it turns out there’s not much liquid to strain out of non-dairy yogurt like there is in Balkan yogurt so I really think the measurements ended up being very similar. The So Delicious Plain Coconut Yogurt I used did not drain any liquid through the cheesecloth and it ended up being a real pain to scrape the yogurt off the cheesecloth. The brand of non-dairy yogurt you use may need to be strained.

The one non-negotiable in this recipe is the use of fresh garlic and fresh dill. If you don’t have either of those, don’t make this. You’ll be less than impressed if you try to use jarred minced garlic or garlic powder and dried dill. Now, that being said, fresh minced dill that has been frozen may be a passable substitute only if fresh dill isn’t available.

Vegan Tzatziki

 

Print

Prep time

1 hour 10 mins

Total time

1 hour 10 mins

 

A vegan version of one of my favorite appetizers and dips – tzatziki! So garlicky, zippy, lemony and dilly. Yum!

Author: Megan – The Gluten Free Vegan

Recipe type: Appetizer

Cuisine: Greek

Serves: 4

Ingredients

• 1¾ cups plain vegan yogurt (unsweetened preferably)
• 2 large Long English cucumbers, peeled, seeded and grated
• 3 – 4 cloves garlic, crushed
• ½ lemon, juiced (or 1½ tablespoons bottled lemon juice)
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 tablespoon fresh dill, minced finely
• Salt and pepper, to taste

Instructions

1. Place grated cucumber in a mesh sieve over a bowl. Sprinkle with sea salt and stir. Let sit in refrigerator overnight to allow moisture to drain. Squeeze excess liquid out of the cucumber.
2. In a large bowl combine non-dairy yogurt, drained cucumber, garlic, lemon juice, olive oil and fresh dill. Stir to combine well.
3. Season with salt and pepper. Stir and taste. Adjust for seasoning.
4. Let sit in fridge for about an hour to allow the flavors to meld. Stir well before serving and give it a quick taste for seasoning again.
5. Serve with crackers, chips, gluten-free pita, etc.

WordPress Recipe Plugin by EasyRecipe

3.2.1226

The crackers I served in the above pictures are a new variety I found just a while ago. They’re a local grocery store brand so if you’re in Canada and shop at any of the Loblaw’s stores – Superstore or Extra Foods for sure – you’ll probably find them. They’re the President’s Choice Blue Menu Cannelini Bean Chips. They were really quite good.

Now that I’m getting into making my own everything – which you’ll see a lot of coming up in the spring and summer months on the blog – I am considering that maybe I should try making my own vegan yogurt. I’ve watched a few tutorials online and read a lot of blog posts from other vegan food bloggers who have had success and I figure why not try? If I get around to it and get it figured out you’ll see something on the blog about it, for sure.

Superbowl XLVII has long been over (who won anyway?) but the party we attended is still fresh in my mind. The food (and the company) was so good! Huge thanks to Jacquelyn – The Gourmet Housewife – and her hubby for throwing such a fun party. We don’t even really follow football and we had a blast!

I had posted on my Facebook page asking you guys for some help on what to bring to the party. I knew I was making a chili but wanted to bring some sort of appetizers or snack foods too. Your suggestions were awesome! I intend on making some of the recipes and ideas you shared.

Someone mentioned serving a Warm Spinach & Artichoke Dip with crackers. They listed off a few of the ingredients they use to make their version and wow does it sound good. It reminded me of the dip and stuffed mushrooms I used to make back in the low-carb dairy-loaded dieting days of the first decade of the 2000′s. Wow that was a long time ago! I hadn’t made any sort of stuffed mushroom appetizer since abandoning that diet years and years ago. It was definitely time to give it a try again.

This recipe uses vegan cream cheese. I haven’t experimented with making my own vegan cream cheese like I have with vegan sour cream and vegan feta or ricotta. I will definitely have to. I found a great recipe and instructions from Healthful Pursuit. I didn’t have time to make this recipe for these stuffed mushrooms but I am sure it would taste awesome with a homemade vegan cream cheese over using Tofutti. This time I did use Tofutti because I had it in my fridge. On my last trip to the local health food store I did find Follow Your Heart vegan and gluten-free cream cheese and next time I make these I’m going to try it out and see if it’s any different than Tofutti.

This recipe makes a lot of filling – enough to fill 24 nice sized mushroom caps. If you don’t happen to have 24 mushrooms on hand you can do a couple different things with the filling. Overstuff the mushrooms you do have and then spread the remaining filling gently over the entire dish and bake it like that. People will have to fish around to find the mushrooms and probably will have to eat it with a fork but mmmmm so good. Or, stuff the mushrooms you have adequately then spoon the remaining filling into a small baking dish and bake it separately as a dip with tortilla chips or gluten-free crackers. Because I only had 17 mushrooms I ended up having a lot of filling left over so I chose to bake it separately as a dip.

So, basically I am giving you guys two recipes out of this one. Lucky you!

Spinach & Artichoke Stuffed Mushrooms (vegan, gluten free)

 

Print

Prep time

15 mins

Cook time

15 mins

Total time

30 mins

 

A vegan remake of a classic dip – Spinach & Artichoke – which is then stuffed into mushroom caps.

Author: Megan – The Gluten Free Vegan

Recipe type: Appetizer

Serves: 6

Ingredients

• 24 large mushrooms, stems removed
• 8 oz. (1 cup) vegan cream cheese (homemade or store bought)
• ½ cup vegan mayonnaise
• 1 x 10 oz. package frozen chopped spinach, thawed and squeezed dry
• 1 x 14 oz. can artichoke hearts, drained, rinsed and chopped
• 2 tablespoons nutritional yeast
• ½ cup Daiya mozzarella shreds
• ¾ teaspoon garlic powder
• ¼ teaspoon onion powder
• ⅛ teaspoon ground pepper
• ¼ teaspoon sea salt

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 350°F.
2. Spray a large 9×13 baking dish with cooking spray. Arrange mushrooms in a single layer in the baking dish.
3. In a large bowl combine the remaining filling ingredients and stir well to combine.
4. Spoon the filling into each mushroom cap until nicely mounded.
5. Bake in preheated oven for 15 minutes until the filling bubbles a bit.

WordPress Recipe Plugin by EasyRecipe

3.2.1215

I think these were a pretty good hit considering I just threw a bunch of stuff together and hoped for the best.

What did you make for Superbowl this year? Have you reinvented some of your old appetizer classics with good results?

Anyway, despite all that crazy mess you see, I was able to make a new recipe. It’s one that Levi quite enjoyed. It really does amaze me how far he’s changed in his food tastes in the past 12 years since we’ve been together. The Whopper burger-loving candy addict is really a different man. Okay, he’s still a candy addict. But he lives without Whoppers happily now. But yes, where I had to try a few before I decided I really liked these, he liked them instantly.

So here’s the thing. These could be like a new veggie burger patty. But, they’re not meant to be. They stick together well for a mini-ball or patty but for a big patty I think it might fall apart easier.

I made these with skin-on eggplant. I like the skin. I didn’t find it too tough and I liked seeing the dark purple chunks throughout my mini patties. But, if you’re anti-skin then take it off. Easy peasy.

5.0 from 2 reviews

Eggplant Bites

 

Print

 

Ingredients

• 1 medium eggplant, sliced width wise into 1″ thick slices (peeled or unpeeled)
• 1 cup water
• ½ cup quinoa
• ¼ cup hemp hearts
• 1 clove garlic, crushed
• ¼ cup ground almonds
• 2 teaspoons balsamic vinegar
• 1 teaspoon Italian seasoning
• salt and pepper, to taste

Instructions

1. Place slice eggplant on a wire rack over a baking sheet. Salt generously. Let sit at least 20 minutes to draw out the excess moisture. Rinse and pat dry with a kitchen towel or paper towel.
2. Preheat oven to 350°F.
3. Lay out salted eggplant on a parchment-lined baking sheet. Bake in preheated oven for 20 minutes, until softened but not mushy.
4. Let eggplant cool then chop into small pieces.
5. Meanwhile, bring water to boil in a small saucepan over medium heat. Add quinoa. Reduce heat to low. Cover and simmer for 10-15 minutes, until all liquid is absorbed. Remove from heat and let cool.
6. In a large bowl combine chopped eggplant, cooked quinoa, hemp hearts, garlic, ground almonds, balsamic vinegar and Italian seasoning. Check for seasoning and add salt and pepper, as needed.
7. The mixture should be sticky enough to roll into balls or small patties.
8. Place on a lightly greased and parchment-lined baking sheet. Bake in 350°F oven for 15 minutes per side until browned and crispy.
9. Let rest for at least 5 minutes before serving.

WordPress Recipe Plugin by EasyRecipe

2.2.6

Artichokes are stupid vegetables.

Don’t get me wrong. I love them. But man, are they ever a pain in the ass. You go through all this work to prepare them for tasty goodness. And then you have to painstakingly peel off each petal and scrape the soft good bits off with your teeth. That’s how you eat them. Ugh. What a waste of time.

Have I discouraged you from making these? I sure hope not.

Despite all my whining and misgivings about fresh artichokes, I do think you’ll like this recipe. Just save it for a weekend grillfest rather than a Monday night when you’re exhausted, cranky, and have loads of homework, housework, and blogwork to catch up on. Not sure who would be foolish enough to make these on a Monday night such as that. Probably whoever is that foolish made these as a part of ‘cooking therapy’. Perhaps. Maybe.

Enough with the negativity, let me talk a bit about fresh artichokes. They’re a unique vegetable. They’ve almost got prickly outer leaves that can be a nuisance. There’s this weird hairy bit at the very center of the choke. But even so I still think the artichoke is one of the more beautiful-looking vegetables. I would wager a guess it’s a very photogenic vegetable and many a painting has been painted of their beauty.

Even I, with my unsteady hand and lack of camera prowess, was able to snap quite a shot of my artichokes in action.

Grilled Garlic Artichokes with Dipping Sauce

 

Print

 

Ingredients

• 2 large artichokes
• 1 lemon, quartered
• ¾ cup olive oil
• 4 cloves garlic, chopped
• 1 teaspoon salt
• ½ teaspoon ground black pepper
• ⅓ cup olive oil
• 1 garlic clove, minced
• 2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar
• 2 tablespoons ginger ale
• 1 teaspoon maple syrup
• 1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
• 1 teaspoon basil
• ½ teaspoon oregano
• ¼ teaspoon sea salt
• ¼ teaspoon black pepper

Instructions

1. Fill a large bowl with cold water. Squeeze the juice from one lemon wedge into the water. Trim the tops from the artichokes, then cut in half lengthwise, and place halves into the bowl of lemon water to prevent them from turning brown.
2. Bring a large pot of water to a boil. Meanwhile, preheat an outdoor grill for medium-high heat.
3. Add artichokes to boiling water, and cook for about 15 minutes. Drain. Squeeze the remaining lemon wedges into a medium bowl. Stir in the first amount (3/4 cup) olive oil and 4 cloves of garlic, and season with first amounts of salt and pepper. This is your marinade.
4. Brush the artichokes with a coating of the garlic marinade, and place them on the preheated grill. Grill the artichokes for 5 to 10 minutes, basting with marinade and turning frequently, until the tips are a little charred.
5. Let cool slightly to dig out the hairy part by the choke and discard.
6. Serve immediately with the dipping sauce.
7. To prepare the dipping sauce combine the second amount (1/3 cup) olive oil with 1 clove garlic, Dijon mustard, maple syrup, apple cider vinegar, ginger ale, basil, oregano, sea salt and pepper.

WordPress Recipe Plugin by EasyRecipe

2.2.6

I poured the dipping sauce right into the hollowed out area near the choke. It worked rather well.

Speaking of dipping sauce, I used ginger ale because it was what I had. If you had apple juice, apple cider, lemon-lime soda or anything else it would work too.

Now let me highlight one of my favorite parts of cooking fresh artichokes. It takes a while to consume them. It actually forced us to have a sit-down dinner on a weeknight, where we took our time eating petal by petal dipped in the most delightfully zippy sauce. It’s often a complaint of mine that I’ll slave over a beautiful meal and within minutes it’s eaten and people are pushing away from the table. With artichokes, my friends, this is not a problem.

If you want to impress people with your culinary talents and ever-expanding repertoire of vegetable offerings then I suggest this dish. It really is rather impressive.

It would probably be slightly more impressive if I hadn’t neglected them on the grill those last few minutes. These are a tad more charbroiled than I would have liked. But the flavor was still fabulous.

Go eat your ridiculous vegetables people! And enjoy them!

In any case, I settled on going without a ‘j’ in my title. (So, not Baba Ghanouj or Baba Ghannouj.)

Now, moving on. I don’t know if it’s become clear by now or not how much I like eggplant. I will find ways to add it to any recipe that I’m working with. Curries, pastas, roasted vegetables, etc.

So, one would think that I’d have made baba ghanoush before. But, nope. I suppose there’s a first time for everything.

Basically every recipe I researched online to come up with my own version was identical. So I stuck with a classic for my first time.

Baba Ghanoush

 

Print

 

Ingredients

• 2 medium eggplants
• ¼ cup lemon juice
• ¼ cup tahini
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1-2 tablespoons good quality olive oil
• Salt and pepper, to taste

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 400°F.
2. Pierce eggplant skin all over with a fork. (This is crucial as the steam needs to escape while roasting or it may explode.)
3. Roast for 20 minutes. Carefully wrap each eggplant in foil and return to oven to roast for an additional 20-30 minutes, depending on size of eggplant, until soft.
4. Remove from oven. Unwrap eggplant, being careful to save any juices in the foil.
5. Plunge eggplant in a large bowl of cold water. Remove eggplant skin. Work in/over a bowl to save any juices that run out of the eggplant while you’re working with it.
6. Place eggplant, lemon juice, garlic and tahini in a food processor or blender. Puree until smooth.
7. Season with salt and pepper.
8. Transfer mixture to a bowl and slowly mix in olive oil.
9. Refrigerate for at least a couple hours before serving to allow the flavors to meld.

WordPress Recipe Plugin by EasyRecipe

#version#

Some Notes:

When you wrap the eggplant in the foil, make sure you use this opportunity to turn the eggplant and continue roasting the second half on the other side.

When I unwrapped my eggplant I thought there would be a lot of juice to reserve. There really wasn’t. I don’t know how much of an important step wrapping the eggplant in foil while cooking is. I can see the benefit of doing so right out of the oven to help steam off the skin before putting it in the cold water bath. I am purely speculating at this point. Next time I’ll try roasting it without foil and just using it after and see if there’s a difference.

Use a high-powered blender, like a Vitamix, for a very smooth and creamy result to your dip.

I served this dip with rice crackers and lentil chips.

Now that I’ve made this recipe the traditional way (or as traditional as I figure it must be made) I am keen to start experimenting with adding some more Middle Eastern flavors in there and enhance it. I’m thinking that adding some cumin would be a great place to start experimenting. Maybe adding some heat and spice. I’ll keep you all posted with what I come up with.

Oh and one more thing. I think this would be really awesome to make during the summer, by roasting/grilling the whole eggplant on the barbecue. (That’s weird to spell out.) The alternative method I found in my searches for roasting the eggplant was over an open flame to char the skin – like roasted peppers – then wrapping in foil and continuing to finish the cooking in the oven. I figure cooking on a bbq would do sort of the same thing, imparting a nice smokiness that I’m sure charring the skin would do.

My newest dog, Sophie, fell very sick on Tuesday and has been at the vet clinic since. My days have been split between a couple hours of school each day and spending time sitting with her at the clinic. She has Hemorrhagic Gastroenteritis. It’s a horrific and sudden disease that can be fatal if it isn’t caught early. Thankfully, we got Sophie the treatment she needed immediately and with HGE timing is everything. She is still at the vet clinic, and every hour that passes she is improving. We hope to be able to bring her home tonight as long as she’s improved enough.

When a loved one – even a furry one – is sick it really becomes a focus. The rest of my day-to-day activities were just not as important as being by Sophie’s side, petting her, and massaging her soft ears. I am thankful to have an amazing Vet, Jenny at Woodridge Vet Clinic who has given Sophie so much attention and care at all hours of the night.

Needless to say, I haven’t done any work on this Super Bowl post aside from compiling a few recipes, some I’ve written and some from others. I’m sorry I couldn’t have done anything more.

While you are enjoying watching ummm which teams are playing again? The Patriots and The Giants? I will be cuddling up my Sophiekins (and Kannon and Kato too). Enjoy your weekend. Love up your animals and the people in your lives.

Appetizers/Snacks

• Deep-Fried Pickles with Vegan Buttermilk Ranch Dressing
• 7-Layer Dip (served with tortilla chips)
• Artichoke Salsa (from The Gourmet Housewife)
• Sundried Tomato Hummus
• Crunchy Five Spice Tofu

Treats

• Chocolate Mess Cookies (No Bake)
• Pumpkin Pie Bars
• Never Fail Chocolate Cupcakes (If you were a die-hard fan, you could decorate them to match your team colors.)

That’s all I’ve got this year folks. I will try harder next time around, I promise.

Have a great Super Bowl weekend!

I usually like to write some long-winded back-story to each recipe I post. Sometimes though, there’s nothing to it. There’s really no story here other than I wanted to do a vegan version of this for an upcoming recipe round-up for Super Bowl. (Yes, there will be a post with Super Bowl food suggestions coming very soon.)

So here goes.

Vegan 7-Layer Dip

 

Print

 

Ingredients

• 1 (19 oz.) can pinto beans, drained and rinsed (or refried beans, see note below)
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• ¼ cup white onion, diced finely
• 1 clove garlic, minced
• 1 small jalapeno pepper, seeded and minced finely (optional)
• 1 package taco seasoning (or 2-3 tablespoons of your own blend)
• 2 avocados, mashed
• 1 tablespoon lime juice
• ¼ cup cilantro, chopped
• ¼ cup good quality salsa (preferably homemade!)
• Pinch garlic powder
• Pinch salt
• Pinch pepper
• 1 recipe vegan sour cream
• 1 bunch green onions, minced
• ½ (14 0z.) can sliced black olives, drained
• 2 large tomatoes, diced
• ½ cup Daiya cheddar-style shreds

Instructions

1. Heat olive oil in a skillet over medium heat. Add onion, garlic and jalapeno pepper and saute until softened. Add pinto beans and mash with a wooden spoon. Fry for about 2 minutes. Add some fresh water a bit at a time and mix until the texture is that of smooth and creamy refried beans. Season with a bit of salt, to taste.
2. Mix in taco seasoning with vegan sour cream.
3. Mash together avocados, lime juice, cilantro and salsa. Season with garlic powder, salt and pepper.
4. In a large 9×13 baking dish layer the dip as follows:
5. Refried bean mixture.
6. Vegan sour cream mixture.
7. Avocado (guacamole) mixture.
8. Tomatoes.
9. Green onions.
10. Daiya cheese.
11. Black olives.
12. Serve with tortilla chips.

WordPress Recipe Plugin by EasyRecipe

#version#

Note: Some refried beans contain lard. I actually quite like to make my own refried beans and that’s why I’ve gone to the work of doing it for this recipe. If you’re in a pinch and have a good brand of refried beans that you prefer just use it here and omit the olive oil and white onion in the ingredients and skip step 1 in the directions.

This is a staple recipe from years and years ago that I simply forgot was in my repertoire. (Thank you, word of the day!)

These green beans definitely have an Asian flair and you can adjust the spice to your own level. We like things spicy over here.

I’ve made these with fresh green beans when available and have also used frozen whole green beans when fresh aren’t in season. I think they turn out just as good. Don’t thaw out the frozen green beans before cooking though. Just toss them in frozen and stand back.

Spicy Sesame Green Beans

 

Print

 

Ingredients

• 1 lb fresh green beans, trimmed (or use frozen whole green beans)
• 1 tablespoon grapeseed or olive oil
• 1 teaspoon sesame oil
• 1 clove garlic, minced
• 1 teaspoon fresh ginger, grated (optional)
• 1 tablespoon Bragg’s Liquid Soy Seasoning
• ½ – 1 teaspoon red chili flakes
• Fresh ground pepper, to taste
• 1 teaspoon toasted sesame seeds

Instructions

1. Heat oils in a wok or large skillet over medium-high heat.
2. Add garlic and ginger, if using. Saute for 30 seconds.
3. Make sure the wok is nice and hot before adding the green beans (especially if using frozen).
4. Add green beans. Stir-fry until beans start to get a nice crispy skin – about 5 or 6 minutes.
5. Add Bragg’s, chili flakes and black pepper. Toss to heat through.
6. Taste a bean for doneness. It should be hot all the way through but still maintain a slight crispness.
7. Remove to a serving dish and sprinkle with toasted sesame seeds.
8. Serve hot.

WordPress Recipe Plugin by EasyRecipe

#version#

These are super tasty.

A while back I tried something similar to these at Moxie’s off their appetizer menu. Theirs were okay, just very salty and I don’t think they had spice to them like these ones do. For how quick and easy this recipe is, you should really try it at home.

I took a picture and forgot the toasted sesame seeds. They’re just as good without but I like them normally.

Also you’ll see chunks of ginger throughout. I like my ginger and didn’t grate it but left it in big bits so Levi could pick it out since he’s less of a fan.