VeganMoFo – Slow Cooked Pumpkin Latte

I promise I haven’t given up on VeganMoFo or the slow cooker. I just needed a break.

 

This morning, I made myself a pumpkin latte. The original recipe was from my friend K, who got it from the Crock Pot Girls on Facebook.

Ingredients:

3T instant espresso

6C plant milk

7T pureed pumpkin

2 1/2 tsp pumpkin pie spice

Sugar – to taste. (My milk was unsweetened, and I used oat milk, which I’m not a huge fan of, so I used a bit more sugar than I would have if I had used sweetened)

3T vanilla (less if your milk is vanilla)

Whipped topping – I still have some Rich’s leftover, but if you can find Soyatoo & like it, use it! (If you can find a place to get Rich’s and you’re not a restaurant – please let me know!)

 

Mix all of these in the crock pot. Cook on high for twoish hours. Top with whipped topping and a sprinkle of cinnamon

VeganMoFo – Slow Cooked Seitan Pot Roast

 

 

I’ve been posting VeganMoFo pins on Pinerest, and there are a handful of others doing the same! Check out http://pinterest.com/brontosaurkelly/veganmofo/ to follow along!

Seitan Pot Roast – Serves 2

Ingredients:

1/2 recipe Cracked Coriander Seed & Chai Tea-Rubbed Vegan Steak (by Jenn Shagrin, from The Vegan Girl’s Guide to Life by Melisser Elliot) — or, your favourite seitan recipe. Enough for 2 people.

1/2 large sweet potato

1/2 very large parsnip

3 garlic cloves, cut in thirds

1/2C no beef broth

Add all ingredients to 2qt crock pot. Cook on low 4-6 hours, or until seitan is cooked and veggies are tender.

VeganMoFo – Homemade Veggie Broth

Homemade vegetable broth is just about the easiest thing in the world to make. Especially if you have a slow-cooker. You can leave out any veggies you hate (celery, for me!), and add lots of those you love.

Save potato skins, carrot skins, pepper tops, ends of green onions, or any other veggie bits you cut up and aren’t going to use. I also use cleaning out my veggie drawer as an excuse to make broth – any vegetables that are going bad or are past their prime. I like to throw in some thyme, bay leaves, and any fresh herbs I have on hand.

Fill your 6qt crock pot to the top with vegetables. Then fill it with water. Cook on low all day long (or overnight). Store in canning jars in the fridge or the freezer.

VeganMoFo – Slow Cooked Yeast Bread

You read right. Slow cooked bread. Like, the kind of bread I can make delicious sandwiches with.

When I read about making bread in a crock pot, I was a little dubious, but had to try it. I decided that, instead of experimenting with a new bread recipe cooked in a new way, I’d use my favourite, tried-and-true, never-fail bread recipe. It’s the Outrageously Easy BIG Bread from VegWeb.

I use this recipe for everything from cinnamon pull-apart bread to dinner rolls (perfect for Thanksgiving!).

Anyway, I didn’t make any changes to it this time. I just threw it in the slow-cooker and let it rise (first rise) for about an hour, then punched it down, and turned the slow-cooker on low – it rose the second time while the crock pot was warming up.

The bread was a little more dense than it is when you cook it in the oven. I may let it rise a little longer the second time when I make it again? I have no idea if that would actually make it less dense. Either way, I’m not super concerned – it was awesome.

VeganMoFo – IRON CHEF CHALLENGE!

It’s the weekend, and it’s VeganMoFo, which means, it’s IRON CHEF WEEKEND! I missed the last one because I was camping, but, this is my favourite VeganMoFo event. I love a good food challenge.

 

This weekend’s ingredients – coffee and bananas.

My dish – Mocha Banana Bread Pudding

Happily, this dish has enough coffee in it to please coffee lovers, but not so much that it’ll scare away coffee haters. If you want it to taste more like coffee, it’ll taste great with more added.

Ingredients:

1Loaf Sweet French bread

2 cups of your favourite vegan creamer (I actually used some Rich’s vegan whipped topping, un-whipped. If you like Soyatoo or can get your hands on Rich’s use it)

2 of your favourite plant milk

1C sugar

1/4C Earth Balance, melted

2T EnerG + 1/2C water (mixed)

3tsp instant espresso, dissolved in 1/2C water

2 bananas, sliced into coins

1 scant cup of vegan chocolate chips

Cut french bread into cubes. Put them into a bowl and keep overnight to get a bit stale.

The next day – put bread into 6qt crock pot.

In a separate bowl, mix creamer, milk, sugar, Earth Balance, EnerG mix, and espresso. Pour over bread and let sit for about 15 minutes. Gently mix in bananas and chocolate chips.

Cook on high for 2-3 hours. Low for 4-6.

Try not to sneak too much of the bread while it cooks.

 

 

VeganMoFo: Slow Cooked Coconutty Brussels Sprouts

Tonight’s recipe combines my two favourite things – Brussels sprouts and coconut.

Ingredients:

1lb frozen Brussels sprouts (of course, you can use fresh, but if you do, I’d add probably 1/4C liquid – water or broth)

2T Earth Balance Coconut Spread

a few T dried coconut flakes (unsweetened!)

a splash of soy sauce

Throw all the ingredients into 2qt slow-cooker. Cook on low for about 2 hours.

I served mine with leftover spicy orange black beans and brown rice.

Vegan MoFo: Slow-cooked Spicy Orange Black Beans

I’ve been terrible with my VeganMoFo posts! I went camping last weekend (hooray, vegan camping!), and haven’t caught up.

Today, to make up for it, I made some rockin’ black beans, and ate them with squash on corn tortillas.

 

A note about my crock pot(s) – they cook really hot, so, my cooking times may be less than what you need. As your cooking time comes to an end, check to make sure your meal is cooking properly.

Ingredients:

1C dry black beans

3C water

2 smallish fresh sage leaves

1 bay leaf

about a tsp oregano

salt (to taste)

1/4 red onion, chopped (mine was a leftover from dinner the other night – it was oven-roasted)

2 garlic cloves, minced, or crushed

1 jalepeno, roughly chopped (use less if you don’t like things super spicy – mine are from the garden and some are super spicy, others aren’t so much)

chipotle powder (to taste. I used about 2tsp)

Tapatio, to taste (again, I used about 2tsp)

cumin, to taste

4T orange juice, divided (I use simply orange, I think if you’ve got a sugary orange juice in the fridge, you probably want to use fresh-squeezed, if possible)

1T lime juice

In a 2qt crockpot, combine beans, water, sage, bay leaf, oregano, and salt. Cook on low until beans are tender (about 3 hours), but not quite thoroughly cooked. Sautee vegetables until onion is translucent, add to beans. By now, there should be very little water above the beans, maybe 1/4 inch? If there’s much more, dump some of the water. Add chipotle, Tapatio, cumin, and 2T orange juice. Cook on low for about another hour.

Just before serving, add 2T orange juice and 1T lime juice.

I served mine on corn tortillas with roasted delicata squash (from my garden) and sauteed bell peppers (mine were mini bells from the garden)

VeganMoFo Day 3 – Crock Pot Mac and Cheese Soup and Crock Pot Crisp

Crock Pot Mac and Cheese Soup

Warning, this feeds a LOT of people. I had a big serving and have enough for probably 6 more servings.

Ingredients:

Broccoli – about 3 Cups

4C Nutritional Yeast

about 2tsp salt

1 1/2 C flour

1/2 tsp garlic powder

1/4 tsp mustard powder

6C water (you may need to add more, depending on how much your soup cooks down. Just add it in a bit before you serve it – I added two more cups)

4T margarine (I used Earth Balance)

a splash of lemon juice

4tsp prepared yellow mustard

a few shakes of cumin (I didn’t measure this one)

about a half bag of Daiya Mozzerella shreds

2C macaroni

Throw your broccoli in the slow cooker on high for 20-30 minutes to cook a bit. Add everything but the macaroni to the slow cooker and mix well. Cook on low for 2 hours. Add the macaroni, cook on high for another hour. Add extra water if necessary.

 

Crock Pot Berry Crisp

Okay, maybe this is more like a cobbler, or a pie. The top wasn’t as crispy as I had hoped. No big deal – it was delicious.

Berry ingredients:

1lb strawberries, greens removed, roughly chopped

3C boysenberries (or use whatever you have locally available)

1/3C sugar

1T Sugar

1 1/2T cornstarch

Mix ingredients in crock pot

 

Topping Ingredients;

1/2C Flour

3/4C Oats

1/2C Brown Sugar

a few tablespoons Earth Balance (mix it up and use their new coconut spread!)

mix everything but the margarine in a separate bowl, spread evenly over berries. place bits of margarine over topping. Cook on high two and a half hours. Uncover and let sit with heat off for about a half hour before serving.

Eat with vegan ice cream.

Next time I make this, I think I’m going to throw about a half cup of chopped pecans into the topping.

VeganMoFo Day 2 – Slow-cooked Eggplant Curry

Curries might be my favourite way to enjoy my slow cooker. The long cooking time is perfect for letting the flavours combine. This curry is unbelievably simple.

Ingredients:

1 can chickpeas, rinsed well

1 can coconut milk

1 can petite diced tomatoes (and juice)

1/2 yellow onion, diced

1 chopped eggplant

1tsp curry powder

1 tiny can tomato paste

1 tiny can peeled, chopped green chilies

crushed red chilies to taste

Throw everything in your slow-cooker. Cook 4-6 hours. Eat over rice, quinoa, cous-cous, or, do what I did, and eat it over a baked potato (first smothered in Earth Balance Coconut Spread)

Happy VeganMoFo, and a Slow Cooker Breakfast Recipe

Happy VeganMoFo! This is my second year participating in VeganMoFo. Last year, VeganMoFo was the month of November, so, naturally, I blogged about Thanksgiving foods and holiday treats. This year, with the weather beginning to cool here, I’m blogging about slow cooking. All month long, I’ll be posting awesome slow-cooker recipes. That said, my crock-pot doesn’t see the light of day nearly enough, and, if you’ve got a recipe you’d love to see, please, let me know!

My favourite way to use my slow cooker is overnight. I love waking up to breakfast already prepared. Last night, I threw a breakfast cobbler together.

Slow Cooker Breakfast Cobbler

Ingredients:

2 apples, peeled and thinly sliced

2 heaping tsp. cinnamon

1 tablespoon (real) maple syrup – use to taste. Next time, I’ll probably use less

1C your favourite granola (I used my version of Hannah Kaminsky’s granola from My Sweet Vegan)

Throw apples, cinnamon, and maple syrup into 1.5 quart crock pot (mine has high/low/warm settings). top with granola. Cook on low 4-6 hours. Top with yogurt in the morning.