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Vegan Blueberry SconesTasty Vegan Grilled Salad with Tofu and PortobellosFour Ingredient Vegan Chocolate TrufflesSix-Ingredient Vegan Butterscotch Pudding with Mango and BlueberryMaking Panini for VegansRich Vegan Mushroom Linguine with BasilMaking Better Hummus at HomeVegan No-Meat-Ball Sandwich

Tag: sauce

Vegan Basil Pesto Cannelloni in Rich Tomato Sauce

Like so many other European dishes that involve stuffing something into something, cannelloni seems ripe for a vegan reworking. (I've also got serious designs on cabbage rolls, stuffed peppers, ravioli and pierogies.) For the cannelloni, I wanted something substantial, but light enough that I could take it to work for lunch. It took a few attempts, but I think this combination of lentils, mushrooms and soy, bulked out with a little rice and seasoned with basil pesto flavours, hits the target. I had them at work all last week and I did not have one single urge to nap after lunch. More

Filed under: Recipes > Main Dishes

Tags: Italian, lentil, tomato_sauce, basil, pesto, soy, mushroom

Vegan No-Meat-Ball Sandwich

This no-meat-ball sub has been on my to-do list for a while now. It's pure comfort food for me -- how could it not be with the combination of Italian spices, tomato sauce and bread. The meatballs add substance, protein, fibre and no small amount of flavour. I'm impressed with how well they stay together after cooking, which I chalk up mostly to aquafaba. More

Filed under: Recipes > Light Meals & Snacks

Tags: lentil, soy, mushroom, meatball, marinara, tomato_sauce, sandwich, aquafaba, sauce

Grilled Tempeh in a Spicy Vegan Manchurian Sauce

Hakka cuisine occupies a unique culinary space somewhere between Chinese and Indian. My local Hakka restaurant serves astonishingly flavourful dishes with lots of chilies, garlic and ginger (another reason to love Toronto restaurants). One of my favourites is Manchurian sauce. The vegan option with Manchurian sauce is plate full of little fritters like pakoras, made with cabbage and carrot, served over rice. It's tasty, but I was hoping for something with a little more protein to make a complete lunch. As I committed to duplicating the sauce at home, I mentally jettisoned the fritters and settled on grilled tempeh as the protein. More

Filed under: Recipes > Main Dishes

Tags: spicy, Chinese, Indian, Hakka, tempeh, ginger, cilantro, sauce

Spicy Vegan Chipotle Mayo Sauce

I love vegan burritos, and naturally I want to be able to make them at home. But for a homemade burrito to be satisfying, it has to have some kind of spicy sauce that really clings to the other ingredients. Think mayo or sour cream, but obviously vegan and obviously much hotter, preferably with the smoky beauty of chipotle. More

Filed under: Recipes > Side Dishes

Tags: sauce, spicy, chipotle, nutritional_yeast

Messy Delicious Italian Veggie Sandwich

One of the local Italian sandwich shops does a vegan version of their typical breaded meat on a kaiser with cheese and tomato sauce. I ordered it because someone had suggested this place for a catered lunch at work, and I was blown away. As I devoured it, I was of course also analyzing it to try to duplicate it at home. More

Filed under: Recipes > Light Meals & Snacks

Tags: peppers, zucchini, mushroom, tomato_sauce, sandwich, Italian, marinara, sauce

Spicy Tofu-Mushroom Stirfry

Every month or two, I get the urge to try a totally new vegan stirfry combination. These often involve tofu in some way, and as you know, tofu is a bit of a blank canvas that readily absorbs whatever it's cooked in. This time, I decided to try shiitake mushroom and pickled hot red chilies. More

Filed under: Recipes > Main Dishes

Tags: tofu, stirfry, mushroom, shiitake, spicy, Chinese, sauce

Spicy Maple-Ginger Tofu with Veggies

This sweet-and-sour tofu dish has become one of my favourite vegan Chinese recipes. The sweet comes from (real) maple syrup, which can be obtained almost anywhere these days in large bottles. Rice vinegar provides the sour flavour, and if you like a little spice, a couple of Thai red hot peppers fit the bill nicely. But I have to say the star of the show here is the fresh ginger. It's the aroma that you notice first and the dominant flavour absorbed by the tofu. Serve it as part of a larger Chinese-style feast, or by itself on some steaming jasmine rice. More

Filed under: Recipes > Main Dishes

Tags: Chinese, tofu, maple_syrup, ginger, spicy, sauce

Roasted Cabbage with Vegan Dijon Sauce

A lot of the recipes I like that use cabbage call for a half head (e.g., Chinese noodle dishes). I was looking for something to do with the other half. I've also been on a bit of a lentil kick lately, using small green lentils as a low-carb, high-protein base for a lot of my meals. (You really can use them the same way you would use rice, you get a fair bit more in the way of nutritional goodies.) The only problem is the lentils need some contrasting flavours to keep the dish interesting. Why not roasted cabbage in a zesty mustard sauce? More

Filed under: Recipes > Side Dishes

Tags: cabbage, salad, mustard, sauce

Surprisingly Zesty Vegan Queso Dip

Nachos with cheese sauce has become a ubiquitous fixture at sporting events, movie theaters and basement rec rooms. It's not altogether clear how much actual cheese goes into the sauce, but as omnivore comfort foods go, it's a surefire crowd pleaser. Let's try to make a vegan version, shall we? More

Filed under: Recipes > Light Meals & Snacks

Tags: comfort_food, queso, dip, appetizer, nutritional_yeast, sauce

How to Make Thick Tahini Sauce

Toronto's falafel shops vary widely in quality. The tahini sauce is one of the ways to tell if you're dealing with the real thing or a cheap imitator. Watery tahini that pools in the bottom of the pita without sticking to anything on the way down is a sure sign of an inferior establishment. And tahini sauce isn't just important for falafels. With its balance of tangy lemon, salt and sesame, it makes a great salad dressing, and it's fantastic in pretty much any vegan meal-in-a-bowl that includes quinoa. So you can imagine my disappointment when tried to make it for myself and got low-quality, tahini-flavoured water. I obviously had something to learn about technique. Turns out that tahini needs to be handled in a certain way if you want the sauce to be thick and rich. You can't just throw the ingredients in a blender and press start, as the cookbook I was using had suggested. Fortunately, the fix is really simple and it also provides vegans with a new use for their underused whisks. More

Filed under: Recipes > Light Meals & Snacks

Tags: tahini, sauce, Lebanese, falafel

Grilled Tofu in Garlic Lemon Sauce

Tofu is an acquired taste for sure, and it's a rare person who is a fan on first tasting. Common complaints include blandness and a gelatinous texture. I felt the same way at first, but I'm glad I stuck with tofu past these early impressions. (Who really liked beer the first time they tasted it?) Over time I developed a taste for tofu. More

Filed under: Recipes > Main Dishes

Tags: tofu, garlic, lemon, healthy, grill, sauce

Grilled Tempeh Bowl with Vegan Mushroom Gravy

In many North American meat-eating households, family celebrations almost always feature turkey, mashed potatoes, gravy and veggies. A lot of us grew up participating in these celebrations and the memories are deep-seated. KFC taps into these memories quite effectively by marketing a bowl consisting of mashed potatoes, corn, chicken and gravy. What if we could make a vegan version of that bowl with a good source of protein and a vegan gravy that actually tastes good? More

Filed under: Recipes > Main Dishes

Tags: comfort_food, tempeh, gravy, potato, mushroom, sauce