3-Bean TVP Chili

I've been in the mood for chili lately, so despite the hot, humid weather we've been having, I made a pot. Hopefully I'll continue to be in the mood for chili for the next few days, as it seems to be impossible to make just a few servings of chili.

3-Bean TVP Chili
yield: 8 servings

1 1/2 cups TVP, reconstituted in vegetable broth
1 large onion, diced
3/4 lb button mushrooms, sliced
1 TB olive oil
1 15 oz. can of black beans, drained and rinsed
1 15 oz. can of kidney beans, drained and rinsed
1 15 oz. can of vegetarian baked beans (I used the Whole Foods brand)
1 14.5 oz. can of diced tomatoes (crushed would be fine, too)
1 15 oz. can of refried black beans (I used the Whole Foods brand)
1/2 cup vegetable broth
3 TB chili powder
3/4 ts salt
1 ts cumin
1/2 ts cayenne
1 ts garlic powder

1. To reconstitute the TVP, place it in a bowl and pour vegetable broth over it until it is just barely covered. Let sit while you cook the onions and mushrooms.
2. Heat olive oil in a large pot over medium heat. Add onions and mushrooms and cook 7-10 minutes, until onions are translucent.
3. Add the rest of the ingredients and stir. Raise heat to medium-high and bring to a slight boil. Cover and reduce heat to low and let cook for 30 minutes, stirring occasionally.
4. Remove from heat and let sit, covered, for 30 minutes.

Sparkled Ginger Cookies and Orange "Chicken"

These are the sparkled ginger cookies from Vegan with a Vengeance. They are absolutely awesome and you should immediately drop what you are doing and go make some. After you do, you should probably hide most of them from yourself because you will want to inhale them in just one sitting.

And this is orange "chicken" (those are green peppers mixed in...I was running low on vegetables that day). The faux chicken are TVP chunks. This is a bastardized recipe from Bryanna Clark Grogan's Authentic Chinese Cooking. I was supposed to fry the TVP chunks before adding them to the sauce, but I wanted to go lower-fat (and less messy) so I baked them instead. That probably would have been fine, but I still battered them as per the frying instructions. They ended up kind of gooey. Oops.

I have cooked lots of food for Thanksgiving, but haven't taken any pictures yet. We are leaving for Nashville in a little while. I'm bringing a field roast (this will be my first time trying one--I'm really excited that we were able to find one at Earth Fare), cornbread stuffing, sweet potato latkes, gingerbread apple pie (from Vegan with a Vengeance), and pumpkin muffins (also from VWAV). I also have a can of cranberry sauce that I got from Whole Foods when I was visiting my parents a couple of weeks ago. Momma said that the kind I got would not be the jellied kind (which I don't like), but now I'm not so sure. I guess I'll be finding out for sure tomorrow.

Veggie Burgers and Fries

Veggie burgers and baked Cajun french fries, both from Vegan With a Vengeance. An all-American sort of meal. Well, all-American with a twist, anyway. I always add some chickpea flour to the veggie burger mix to help it hold together better, and normally I bake them. Today I pan-fried them like the recipe instructs, though. Actually, this is the first time I pan-fried them. They are more delicate this way, but very good.

Sloppy Joes and Vegan Cheesecake

TVP Sloppy Joes. I don't have a recipe because I just made it up as I went along, but they actually turned out nicely. Much better than the terrible potato recipe that I shall never attempt again.



Vegan cheesecake with strawberry topping (the topping is homemade). I got to use my new Cuisinart to make the filling. I love my new toy! It makes things so much easier. This is a dessert that I will definitely be making again--it's not cheap, though, so I can't make it too often.