Vegan Garbanzos con Chorizo (Chickpeas and Sausage)

Posted on December 14, 2012 by cameraphonevegan

Okay, it’s been a while, but here’s another veganized cuban classic! This was my 1st try at Garbanzos con Chorizo. In an attempt to be thriftier, I made the chickpeas from scratch, but you can easily use can beans. I’ll leave the salt up to you depending on what you decide to do there. ~~When I get the right combination I’ll mark it as such, and add it to my recipe page.~~ This really came out so good, I don’t think I’m going to change the recipe much in the future.

Vegan Garbanzos con Chorizo (Chickpeas and Sausage)

1/3 c. olive oil (will probably try to cut this back some more next time)

1 large onion, finely chopped
1 green pepper, finely chopped
3-4 cloves garlic, finely chopped

4 oz. tomato sauce (alternatively, you can use a whole 8oz can of tomato sauce, and skip the tomato paste and water)
3 tbsp. tomato paste
1/2 c. water

3 cups of well rinsed garbanzos, or 2 cans worth
1 package of vegan sausage (I used a 14 oz. pack of Tofurky Brats, but there are vegan chorizo out there.)

salt & pepper, to taste
dash of cayenne pepper, optional

Directions:

1. Heat olive oil over low heat in a large, deep skillet. Add onion, pepper, and garlic. Raise heat to medium, and cook for about 5 minutes. Add tomato sauce, paste and water, and cook for a few more minutes.

2. Stir in chickpeas and sausage, cover, and drop heat to low to simmer for about 30 minutes. Stir occasionally, and taste for seasoning.

You’re done! Serve over rice and enjoy.

I’m not the biggest fan of chopping things finely. Especially when it comes to onions, so I cut the onions into eighths, and threw them in with some roughly chopped pepper and garlic.

Ta-da!

This worked out really well for the sausages too. I chopped them up and threw them in.

And pulsed them to the perfect, crumbly texture.

Result: I really thought this recipe was going to use more tweaking, but this first attempt came out pretty awesome. Not a whole lot of work yields a whole lot of flavor here. Not only that, it made my kitchen smell like my grandma’s used to. I’m adding it to the recipe page.

Leftovers! Penne with Italian Sausage and Roasted Potatoes

Posted on December 7, 2012 by cameraphonevegan

Just a quick hearty meal I threw together in a flash!

Ingredients

8 oz brown rice penne, cooked according to package directions

1 package of Tofurky Italian sausage, sliced into 1/2″ rounds, and browned in a dry skillet

~1 c. Leftover roasted potatoes, onions, and garlic

~2/3 jar of pasta sauce

How I did it:

I simply browned the sausages while the water heated for the pasta, and simmered the leftover veggies in the sauce. Then I tossed the sausage in with the sauce until the pasta was al dente, and combined everything. Done!

A very quick, filling meal. More lengthy posts to come; I just wanted to say hi!

Baked Chickpeas

Posted on October 25, 2012 by cameraphonevegan

The cameraphonevegan kitchen is now officially closed until Seattle! This was the last recipe that I threw in the oven today. I chose it based on fact that it only had 2 ingredients, 1 of them being chickpeas, which I had two cans of staring at me on the counter. I had bought them to make some fake tuna, but then realized I was out of Veganaise. The other ingredient was Bragg’s, which I just drizzled and tossed to coat them evenly~ish. I got the inspiration from this photo posted on facebook. Their recipe uses soaked, uncooked chickpeas, but I just used rinsed, canned ones. I baked them @ 350*F for 35 minutes and got a mixture of soft and crunchy chickpeas. Cook longer for more crunch! I left them out on the counter for us to snack on while we’re packing!

Ty's Perfect Pumpkin Pie (Vegan)

Posted on October 17, 2012 by cameraphonevegan

Reblogged from cameraphonevegan.com:

I'm happy to report that my last trial pumpkin pie last night came out PERFECT! :D This was my third attempt and it yielded a pie with the absolute perfect texture. Not too soft, not too firm, lots of pumpkin goodness and just the right amount of spice. I was waiting until today to see what resulted after the full chilling in the fridge, but Thomas knew right away when he dug in that this was the one.

How to make TVP / Vegan Ground Meat Substitute in 5 Minutes

Posted on October 16, 2012 by cameraphonevegan

If you are new to vegan foods, then you may be wondering what the heck TVP is. Just in case you don’t care to read the wiki page, I’ll give you the run down. It’s defatted soy flour. It’s crazy cheap, and it’s incredibly easy to make. Commercially it’s used to cheaply bulk up ground beef. You can flavor it in a variety of ways depending on your needs, and for a cheap, easy source of vegan protein, TVP really can’t be beat. You can find it in the bulk bin section of nutrition stores or whole foods, or you can order bags of it on amazon.com.

The DIRECTIONS are pretty simple:

1. In a small saucepan, heat water and seasonings to a boil.

2. Remove from heat, and stir in TVP. Let sit for 5 minutes. It is now ready to use in your recipes.

Here are some different ways that I season TVP to use in recipes. You can use plain water, broth, or water + a bouillon cube and vary the flavorings based on the recipe you’re adding it to.

For a smoky, meaty crumble to pair with squash

1 c. of TVP granules
1 c. water or vegetable stock
1 tbsp. of liquid smoke
2 tbsp. of braggs/tamari/shoyu/red sodium soy sauce

For pasta sauce

1 c. TVP granules
1 c. veg broth
1.5 tsp. liquid smoke
1 c. TVP

Or you can just add it into pasta sauce like I did here:

1 1/4 c. TVP
1 1/4 c. water
2 tsp. liquid smoke
2 tsp. vegan worcestershire

For Tacos and Nachos

1 cup of TVP granules
1 cup of water or veggie broth (i used water & a 1/4 of a bouillon cube. you can use a whole one if you want more flavor)
2 tsp liquid smoke
2 tsp vegan worcestershire
2-3 tbsp taco seasoning (chili powder, garlic powder, onion powder, cayenne powder, paprika, cumin, salt & pepper)

TVP also works in a variety of dishes like Meatballs

Meatloaf

And for picadillo!

AFR Tamarind BBQ, Roasted Brussel Sprouts and our move to SEATTLE!

Posted on September 28, 2012 by cameraphonevegan

This is something I made months ago! I’ve been ridiculously behind on blog posts, but I think it really all worked out, because October is VEGANMOFO – Vegan Month of Food, and I have plenty to blog about! October is always the darling of this household’s calendar because of things like pumpkin beers and pie, and of course, Halloween, but this year it’s going to be an extra bit hectic because we will also be preparing for our MOVE TO SEATTLE! I’m flying out to Seattle on October 30th with Ganon (our kitty) and as much clothing as possible, and then coming back in 2 weeks to do the drive with Thomas. We’re very excited, and that extra long road trip will be packed with vegan goodness as we travel from south Florida to New Orleans, Austin, San Diego, LA, San Francisco, and finally Seattle. We’ll even get to spend Thanksgiving in Santa Monica/ LA, which will be VERY cool!

This is definitely one of my favorite dishes from Appetite for Reduction. I served it over some brown rice, and tossed in some roasted brussel sprouts for an awesome, easy meal that all cooks at the same time! The rice cooks while the other two bake up together. I just swapped their positions halfway to ensure even baking.

The full recipe for the sprouts is in my recipe tab at the top of the page, but I’ll post the simple version here for you too. This lovely, warm, comforting meal was just SO good!

Simple Oven Roasted Brussel sprouts

small to medium brussel sprouts
extra virgin olive oil
sea salt & fresh ground pepper to taste, I used smoked pepper

Directions:

1. Pre-heat oven according to directions for AFR dish, and prepare a cookie sheet.

2. Wash sprouts and trim off the brown ends. Remove any yellow or unappealing looking leaves, and cut in half if medium to large in size. Little ones are fine left whole.

2. Place sprouts in a bowl and spray or drizzle with olive oil. Sprinkle with salt and pepper and toss with hands to coat.

3. Bake right along with tempeh. Don’t forget to switch the positions of the trays halfway! They should be nicely browned and just starting to blacken on top; this is the where the toasty sweet flavor comes from, but keep an eye on them so they don’t burn up!

Easy Vegan Candy Bar Ice Cream + 50k

Posted on September 24, 2012 by cameraphonevegan

First, I’d like to bring your attention over to the total number of hits on the cpv page. My mom called me early this morning to report I’d passed the 50,000 mark, so thanks to all of you for reading out there! If you don’t already, you can follow this blog through email, wordpress, facebook, twitter and/or tumblr using the links on the right side of the page.

Today is also my dad’s birthday, so a very happy birthday to him!

And now on to the ice cream…

With all the Halloween Candy on display recently, I’ve been longing for sweets in a way that only comes this time of year. I decided to make up a batch of candy ice cream to tame the the cravings for non-vegan things like candy corn, Reece’s Pieces and Butterfingers. I made my own ice cream many years ago, but never had much success making vegan ice cream myself, so I went with just mixing a chopped candy bar into some store bought vanilla. I used a Jokerz bar from Go Max Go foods to make fake Snicker’s ice cream, but you can use whatever candy you like best.

Easy Vegan Candy Bar Ice Cream

1 pint of ice cream, flavor of your choice (A quart is pictured here, but I only used half.)
1 full size vegan candy bar, or equivalent

Directions:

1. Take the ice cream out of the freezer and let it sit out for about 10 minutes.

2. Chop up your candy. Basically, you want a third of it in bigger chunks to your liking, and the rest chopped up finely to disperse evenly into the confection.

3. Scoop ice cream into a a medium sized bowl and fold in candy bits until well combined. Eat as is for a blizzard type dessert, or freeze it for a nice custom ice cream!

Quick and Easy Low-Cal Vegan Comfort Food’s Slim Alfredo, CPV Garlic Bread, & Ganon

Posted on September 14, 2012 by cameraphonevegan

So I’ve been meaning to tell you about Alicia Simpson’s new cookbook, Quick and Easy Low-Cal Vegan Comfort Food. I had pre-ordered it for my kindle as soon as I could, and based on the couple of recipes I’ve already tried, I think it’s going to be a new fave. In this case, she slimmed down her Alfredo recipes from her 1st book, Quick and Easy Vegan Comfort Food, which I had actually always meant to try, but never gotten around to. Here she admits that part of her original recipes’ charm was the copious amount of oil. In this case the base is soft, silken tofu, which funny enough, I almost forgot to add in at all. And then I added to much of… hahaha!

Since I was going all out indulgent for our first meal home together as a family [with Ganon's arrival] I decided to make a nice loaf of garlic bread to go along with dinner. Now don’t think I went crazy here and baked the bread too, I mean, I had a new kitten at home! I picked up a nice multigrain loaf at the grocery store and slathered it with garlic-y goodness.

Cameraphonevegan Garlic Bread

1 loaf of italian or french bread
or
2 smaller loaves

2-3 garlic cloves, minced
1/4 tsp dried oregano
1 tsp dried parsley, or 1 tbsp fresh
1 tsp olive oil
1/3 c. non-hydrogenated vegan buttery spread, softened
3 tbsp vegan parmesan

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Combine spread, garlic, oregano, parsley, olive oil and parm.

2. Either cut loaves in half lengthwise, or make 1″ slits vertically, but not all the way through bread. Spread mixture on both sides of cuts. Wrap in foil and bake for 12 minutes in oven.

If you have any leftover garlic parm butter, you can store it in the fridge for a couple of days in a ramekin covered with plastic wrap. Spread it on toast, bagels, pizza crust, etc.

Here’s a picture of Thomas & Ganon getting to know each other while I was cooking dinner! More at the end!

So back to dinner. It’s a really easy recipe to follow. You boil the pasta. Throw all the sauce ingredients in the blender to combine. She recommends steaming some broccoli to add in to the finished result, but I decided to just throw it in with the pasta for the last 2-3 minutes. It’s way easier, and I’d just come off of eating high raw, so I wanted my broccoli to retain much of its fresh texture as possible.

After putting all the ingredients in the blender and whizzing away, I kept saying, “It just doesn’t look like enough sauce for all of this!”

Then I remembered I had totally forgotten to add the main ingredient… 2 packages of soft, silken tofu! Oh yah!

Then there was a TON of sauce. Way more than you need in fact.

Which was kind of hard to tell by looking at the two separate entities.

But became extraordinarily evident when combined!

The next day I added a whole bag of frozen spinach (that I rinsed in a colander with hot water) to the leftovers, and still had more than enough sauce!

The garlic bread was AMAZING!!!

Results:

Even though the sauce was way too much, the flavor was really good. I ended up adding a bunch more nutritional yeast to it though. EDIT : Alicia Simpson contacted me asking if I used the big 14oz tubs of silken tofu or the 12oz tetra packs! I forgot, I USED THE TUBS! I only went on the quickest of shopping trips to the nearby grocer and couldn’t find the tetrapacks I would normally use. There was some moment that I briefly remembered, and meant to check the recipe to see which it called for, but then I completely forgot until I got her message. Yes, with the smaller packs of tofu, I would obviously not have had as much extra sauce. Still might add in 1 pack first, and then a little at a time. A good excuse to make this recipe again! The garlic bread did a good job of using up that extra sauce though!

I also can’t wait to try out numerous other amazing sounding recipes from this book! You should check it out.

And now more pictures of Ganon for you. Ganon is a Devon Rex. We got him from a breeder because it’s a fairly rare cat, and we couldn’t find any rescue devons nearby. A friend of ours has two, and we made sure Thomas spent lots of time visiting with them and not reacting to them, since he was SO allergic to my previous kitties. Devon Rex cats are the closest thing to hypoallergenic I could find, and he has had no problems with the breed in general. They’re not actually hairless, like the Sphynx cat, but Ganon had recently molted his coat when we picked him up. The breeder did say that his particular coat was thinner than some of the other kittens, so he was a good choice for us, given the reason that we were looking for a cat. So he may never have a full coat, but it is starting to come in a bit now, and it should be well filled in by 6 months.

Easy Spiced Split Peas

Posted on September 12, 2012 by cameraphonevegan

So life is good. The last two months were especially difficult for me, and part of that was the loss of a wonderful lady in July, my grandmother. She would have been 90 in October. Now that I’ve been starting to feel better again, my appetite has come back, and I’ve started on cooked food again. This recipe was made with lots of love for a very sick Thomas last week, and made from the split peas I inherited from my abuelita’s kitchen. She wasn’t a woman who had a lot earthly possessions, but what she did have was an extreme love for her family, and a strong desire to feed us whenever possible! So it’s extra nice that I’m able to produce a few last meals that still feel like they came from her, at least in part.

Easy Spiced Split Peas

1.5 c. split peas, rinsed
3-4″ piece of kombu, optional
6-8 c. of filtered water
2 “not beef” bouillon cubes

1 medium-large onion, chopped finely
3-4 carrots, chopped finely
1 red bell pepper, chopped finely
1 poblano pepper, chopped finely
1 tsp. liquid smoke
2 tsp. cumin
2 tbsp. curry powder
cayenne pepper, to taste

greens of your choice, optional

Directions:

1. Throw rinsed split peas and kombu into a 5 qt. pot with water and turn the heat up to high.

2. Chop up everything else while your waiting for them to boil, and toss in as you go. Add in seasonings. Throw in some greens if you have some, or feel so inclined.

3. Drop heat to low, to simmer for 1 hour. As you stir the soup, the kombu will mash up and disperse. At this point everyone should be all cooked and happy, and your house should smell delicious.

Enjoy as a soup with some fresh baked bread, or as a stew over a nice simply cooked grain.

Raw Apple Pie #2

Posted on August 28, 2012 by cameraphonevegan

Well, it had been far too long since I posted about and ate Raw Apple Pie #1, so I decided to remedy that. Here’s a slightly modified version using some substitutions like prunes and unrefined coconut oil, which made this crust smell heavenly. And P.S.- You don’t have to use buckwheat groats. You can use all almonds, or a combination of almonds and walnuts would probably be delicious! Hmm… Sounds like a good idea for Raw Apple Pie #3!

Raw Apple Pie #2

1 c. buckwheat groats
1/2 c. raw almonds
5 prunes
3 tbsp. of raisins
2 tsp. unrefined coconut oil
2 tbsp. raw agave
2 tsp. cinnamon
pinch of nutmeg
pinch of allspice
pinch of ground ginger
small of sea salt

1 apple, cut into chunks
2 ripe bananas, broken in half or quartered
3 tbsp. raisins
2 tsp. of cinnamon

1 apple, thinly sliced for topping

Directions:

1. Add buckwheat groats and almonds to a food processor and grind down to a sandy texture. Add prunes, raisins, oil, agave and spices, and pulse until well combined. Press firmly into a pie plate with a rubber spatula.

2. Add apple, bananas, raisins and cinnamon to processor and blend until smooth. Scrape out with spatula and spread onto crust.

3. Arrange apple slices in a pinwheel pattern to completely cover pie. (I start on the outside and work my way in!) Sprinkle with cinnamon and cover tightly with plastic wrap.

This slices up best when left to set in the fridge overnight!

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Category Archives: recipes

Vegan Garbanzos con Chorizo (Chickpeas and Sausage)

Leftovers! Penne with Italian Sausage and Roasted Potatoes

Baked Chickpeas

Ty's Perfect Pumpkin Pie (Vegan)

How to make TVP / Vegan Ground Meat Substitute in 5 Minutes

AFR Tamarind BBQ, Roasted Brussel Sprouts and our move to SEATTLE!

Easy Vegan Candy Bar Ice Cream + 50k

Quick and Easy Low-Cal Vegan Comfort Food’s Slim Alfredo, CPV Garlic Bread, & Ganon

Easy Spiced Split Peas

Raw Apple Pie #2

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