I’m including a few sides here so your stews and sandwiches don’t get lonely. I know that when you’re in a hurry, it’s easy to skip adding anything else to a meal.
Here are Zucchini Masala Fries, Sweet Potato Fries with Parsley, Garlic and Lemon Zest, and Baked Crispy Breaded Green Beans that will satisfy your cravings and turn that snack into a satisfying meal.
Then there’s the recipe for Dreamy Greens, which can be made into a meal with just a few easy changes. Spicy Creamed Corn is a nice side for any Mexican meal, but it’s also a perfect appetizer dip that you can keep warm in your slow cooker.
Finally, there are exciting drop biscuits flavored with veggies, and one even contains quinoa. Since they’re drop biscuits, you won’t have to roll out or cut the dough! Try them with Maple Walnut Sausage Patties or pair with one of the soups in Chapter 2.
• gluten-free option* • soy-free option**
Delicious and hearty drop biscuits are common throughout the South, but they are usually laden with animal products, unhealthy fats and highly processed flours. This version is vegan, easy and savory. Try making sausage biscuits with DIY Golden Creamy Gravy.
1 cup (237 ml) soy milk (or other nondairy milk and leave out the vinegar)
1 teaspoon apple cider vinegar
2 cups (242 grams) whole-wheat pastry flour (*use gluten-free all-purpose baking mix)
1 tablespoon (11 g) baking powder
1 teaspoon ground rosemary (or 1 tablespoon [2.5 g] minced fresh rosemary)
1 teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon ground black pepper
½ cup (90 g) canned pumpkin purée (can substitute sweet potato or butternut squash purée)
2 tablespoons (29 g) coconut oil
Preheat the oven to 425°F (218°C). Oil a large baking sheet.
Whisk the soy milk and vinegar and set aside. While it stands, it will curdle and thicken, creating a vegan buttermilk substitute. (This only works with soy milk. If you use a nut milk or coconut milk, it will not thicken but the recipe will still work.)
Measure the flour into a blender or food processor. Process until the flour is finely ground. This is an important step, because grinding the flour makes the biscuits lighter and fluffier.
Pour the flour into a medium-sized mixing bowl. Add the baking powder, rosemary, salt and pepper. Cut in the pumpkin purée and coconut oil with a pastry cutter or two knives.
Mix the soy milk into the flour mixture. The dough will be sticky, which will create extra-moist biscuits.
Using a large cookie scoop or measuring cup, scoop ¼ cup (60 ml) portions of the dough onto the baking sheet.
Bake until the bottoms are medium brown, about 10 minutes.
Per serving: Calories 123.4, protein 2.7 g, total fat 3.6 g, carbohydrates 20.9 g, sodium 114.5 mg, fiber 3.8 g
• gluten-free option* • soy-free
People in the South love their biscuits, and I am no exception. These biscuits are a little healthier than the usual, and the perfect way to use up that leftover quinoa in your refrigerator. They have the added bonus of containing a few greens, too.
¾ cup (177 ml) soy milk (or other nondairy milk and leave out the vinegar)
1½ teaspoons (7 ml) apple cider vinegar or white vinegar
1 tablespoon (15 ml) olive oil or broth
½ cup (55 g) finely grated carrot
1½ cups (100 g) finely minced kale or other green
1 cup (185 g) cooked quinoa
2 cups (240 g) whole-wheat pastry flour (*use a gluten-free all-purpose flour)
2 teaspoons (7.5 g) baking powder
½ teaspoon baking soda
½ teaspoon salt
½ cup (112 g) vegan butter, shortening or refined coconut oil
Preheat the oven to 350°F (177°C). Whisk the soy milk and vinegar and set aside. While it stands, it will curdle and thicken, creating a vegan buttermilk substitute. (This only works with soy milk. If you use a nut milk or coconut milk, it will not thicken but the recipe will still work.)
Heat the olive oil or broth in a sauté pan over medium heat and add the kale. Sauté for 1 to 3 minutes or until it turns bright green. Pour into a large bowl with the carrots and quinoa. Set aside.
To a food processor, add the whole-wheat pastry flour and process for about 2 minutes to make it finer and the biscuit a little lighter. Add baking powder, baking soda and salt and process for about 1 minute.
Next, add the vegan butter or shortening to the food processor ⅛ of a cup (28 g) at a time and pulse for 30 seconds to a minute after each addition. The mixture will start to look like coarse cornmeal. If there are a few teaspoon-sized lumps of butter, don’t worry—they will mix in later.
Pour the flour mixture into the large bowl with the veggies, quinoa and soy milk-vinegar mixture. Mix well with a wooden spoon to spread the veggies throughout and smash up any butter pieces that remain.
Grease two cookie sheets or line them with parchment paper. Using a large scoop (about ¼ cup [60 ml]), form about 12 biscuits. They will be domed from the scoop; if you wish, flatten them with the palm of your hand. They will not spread out during cooking.
Cook for 13 to 17 minutes, or until they turn light brown on the bottoms. Eat as is, covered with gravy or in the middle of your favorite meatless stew or chili.
Per biscuit with oil: Calories 212.4, protein 4.4 g, total fat 9.9 g, carbohydrates 26.5 g, sodium 115.1 mg, fiber 4.2 g
TIP: Try using this recipe to use up other cooked grains such as millet or rice.
• gluten-free • soy-free
There’s always too much zucchini in my summer CSA, and often even more in my small garden, too. Once you get tired of zucchini noodles, make a few batches of these zucchini fries. They are easy to whip up, and the Indian spices will add some zing to your next dinner party.
4 small or 2 large zucchinis, cut into sticks approximately ½” × 2½” (1.3 × 6.3 cm)
1 tablespoon (15 ml) olive oil
2 teaspoons (6.3 g) brown rice flour (or any flour you have on hand)
1 teaspoon garam masala
1 teaspoon cumin
Salt and pepper
Preheat the oven to 350°F (177°C) and line two baking sheets with parchment paper.
Toss the zucchini and olive oil together in a bowl.
Mix the flour, garam masala and cumin together well, then add it to the zucchini. Using your hands or a wooden spoon, mix until the spice mixture is stuck to the zucchini.
Spread out the zucchinis on the baking sheets, then lightly sprinkle them with salt and pepper. Bake for 10 to 15 minutes, until tender but not limp.
Per serving with oil: Calories 61.6, protein 2.1 g, total fat 3.7 g, carbohydrates 6.7 g, sodium 0.2 mg, fiber 0.0 g
TIP: Make a creamy dip by combining unsweetened vegan yogurt or Cashew Sour Cream with chopped cilantro and a little coriander and cumin.
• gluten-free option* • soy-free • oil-free option**
This is a treat you can feel good about serving. Deep-fried green beans made this dish popular, but yours will be baked after being coated in bread crumbs. Best part: the sriracha mayo you dip them in! These are great as a side or a party snack.
1 pound (453 g) green beans with the stem end snapped off
1 tablespoon (15 ml) olive oil
1 cup (45 g) bread crumbs (*use gluten-free)
½ teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon granulated garlic
Sriracha Mayo Dip, to serve
Preheat the oven to 400°F (204°C). Line two cookie sheets with parchment paper.
Toss the green beans and olive oil in a mixing bowl. In a separate large mixing bowl, combine the bread crumbs, salt and garlic.
Put a handful (or tong-ful) of oiled green beans into the bread crumbs and toss to coat. You can use a wooden spoon or tongs to mix the beans around in the crumbs. A light coating will stick to each green bean. (“Light coating” means there will be some uncoated spaces on the beans.)
Spread out the beans in a single layer on the baking sheets.
Bake for 13 to 16 minutes, depending on the thickness of the beans. Test one for doneness: it shouldn’t taste raw, but it shouldn’t be limp, either.
The beans won’t turn dark brown, but if you’d like them to, you can broil them for a couple of minutes.
Serve with Sriracha Mayo Dip.
Per serving with oil: Calories 171.6, protein 5.7 g, total fat 4.9 g, carbohydrates 27.5 g, sodium 204.4 mg, fiber 5.1 g
TIP: **Spicy Oil-Free Version: Use a mixture of 1 tablespoon (15 ml) mustard and ½ tablespoon (7.5 ml) apple cider vinegar in place of the olive oil. You won’t need the Sriracha Mayo Dip because the beans will be spicy all by themselves. Try some vegan yogurt on the side to cool things down.
¼ cup (60 g) vegan mayo, or Cashew Sour Cream or Tofu Sour Cream
½ teaspoon to 1 tablespoon (0.25 ml to 15 ml) sriracha, to taste
Mix the mayo and sriracha in a bowl. Serve in individual dipping bowls.
• gluten-free • soy-free • oil-free option*
If you have ever belonged to a winter or spring CSA, you know what it’s like to get a mountain of greens every week. You can make only so many green smoothies before you’re looking for other places to use them up. No matter how tired of greens you are, I promise that these rich greens with coconut milk and nutmeg will still seem special. Be sure to try the Indian spice option, too!
1 to 2 tablespoons (15-30 ml) olive oil (*sauté in water instead)
½ cup (80 g) chopped onion
2 cloves garlic, minced
6 tightly packed cups (200 g) cleaned and torn fresh greens (see note below**)
½ cup (120 ml) coconut milk
¼ teaspoon nutmeg
¼ teaspoon salt
⅛ teaspoon pepper
1 teaspoon tapioca or cornstarch (optional)
Heat the oil in a soup pot over medium heat. Add the onion and sauté for about 5 minute or until translucent. Add the garlic and sauté a minute or two more.
Add the greens 2 cups (67 g) at a time as they cook down. Once they have all been added and wilted, stir in the coconut milk, nutmeg, salt and pepper.
If you’d like to thicken the sauce, spoon out a tablespoon (15 ml) of liquid from the greens and mix in the starch of your choice. Add the mixture back to the greens and cook until thickened.
**Note: Greens can range from mild to bitter. If you aren’t sure about what you have, take a bite of it raw. Also, the weight of greens varies by type. Metric users, measure by volume if possible.
Per serving with oil: Calories 156.7, protein 3.5 g, total fat 4.0 g, carbohydrates 15.6 g, sodium 1474.5 mg, fiber 6.4 g
TIP: Make this into a whole meal by doubling the recipe, replacing the nutmeg with garam masala and adding a can of chickpeas or seared tofu for an Indian saag.
• gluten-free • soy-free • oil-free option*
Ann Oliverio is the force behind the Virtual Vegan Potluck. She also makes tasty food and is the photographer for this book. About this recipe, she says, “Just look at those bright orange babies dotted with flecks of fresh green, dabs of garlic and zingy lemon–all glistening with one of my current favorite muses: coconut oil.” Make sure to check out her new cookbook Crave, Eat, Heal.
1 very large sweet potato, peeled and cut into long strips (like fries)
½ tablespoon (7 g) virgin coconut oil
1 clove garlic, minced
¼ cup (15 g) parsley, minced
Zest of 1 lemon, minced
Preheat oven to 425°F (218°C) and line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Spread sweet potato slices onto pan in a single layer and bake for about 15 minutes.
Turn slices and continue to bake until they are soft and beginning to brown, about 5 to 10 minutes more.
Just before the fries are done, heat the coconut oil over medium heat and sauté the garlic in the oil until fragrant. Add the fries to the pan and stir, coating them with the oil and garlic.
Remove pan from the heat and stir in the parsley and lemon zest.
Per serving with oil: Calories 50.2, protein 0.6 g, total fat 1.9 g, carbohydrates 8.1 g, sodium 4.4 mg, fiber 1.0 g
TIP: *Mary Banker, one of my new testers, modified this recipe by tossing the fries in lemon juice in place of the coconut oil. It’s a great oil-free option!
• gluten-free • soy-free • no oil added
Cheryl, my picky eater, loves creamed corn. This is a veganized and spiced-up version of her old favorite. It’s great a side dish and a great dip with tortilla chips. I like to double the recipe and keep it warm in a slow cooker for parties.
½ cup (113 g) cashews
½ cup (118 ml) water
½ cup (74.5 g) chopped bell pepper
1 tablespoon (11 g) chopped green chilies (or minced jalapeños for extra heat)
1 teaspoon cumin
½ teaspoon smoked paprika
½ teaspoon chili powder
½ teaspoon chipotle powder (optional)
¼ teaspoon jalapeño powder (optional)
2 cups (332 g) corn kernels
1 teaspoon oregano
¼ teaspoon liquid smoke
Salt, to taste
Soak the cashews in the water for 2 hours if you have a high-speed blender, or overnight if you don’t. Blend until smooth. The mixture will be thick like cream. Set aside.
Heat a sauté pan over medium heat and add the bell pepper, green chilies, cumin, smoked paprika, chili powder and the additional chipotle and jalapeño powder, if using. Cook until the spices are fragrant and the bell peppers soften, about 3 minutes.
Stir in the cashew mixture, corn, oregano and liquid smoke and cook until the corn kernels are tender. Salt to taste and serve.
Per serving: Calories 86.0, protein 2.2 g, total fat 6.5 g, carbohydrates 5.6 g, sodium 55.6 mg, fiber 0.3 g
TIP: You probably have chipotle powder in your spice drawer, but you might not have jalapeño powder. I like to keep it so I don’t have to run to the store for a fresh jalapeño. Try sprinkling it with a little salt over cooked beans—it’s amazing!
