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2.7.13

Campfire Vegan Featured on Buzzfeed 41 Camping Hacks that are Borderline Genius!!!!

Our grilled polenta cakes recipes makes the list at the number 32 borderline genius hack! Here is the link: camping hacks that are borderline genius

borderline genius?

(also thanks buzzfeed!)

Check back for more posts over the summer. This year we will be cottaging more than camping so expect to see some more bbq recipes! Also I will be trying to update older posts with photos.

Happy summer!




Mushroom Hobo Pack

This is so simple it hardly deserves a recipe but I am working on compiling a solid list of good foil packs and mushrooms are one of our favorites.
  
What you need

button mushrooms, halved or quartered
a few dollups vegan butter or margarine or 1-2 TBSP olive oil
salt and pepper
1 tsp fresh thyme or rosemary, chopped or in tact
foil
 


Cooking method

Over campfire or bbq, resting on a grill preferably


 
Instructions

1. Prepare your foil pack by laying out your foil on a flat surface

2. On the foil spread out your mushrooms, try to evenly distribute dollups of butter, salt, pepper and herbs.


 

3. Seal up your foil pack

4. Cook over the fire on a grill until done.


 

5. Open foil pack carefully to avoid burning. 




Roasted Red Peppers and Sausages 2.0



This is a basic alternate method to prepare the Roasted Red Pepper and Sausages recipe I posted a while back here. In this version that we made on the bbq at the cottage we carefully cut and seeded the peppers, keeping them in one piece. 


We then pre-grilled the peppers and sausages. 



After that we wrapped the peppers around the sausages, securing with toothpicks and gave them a few additional minutes on the bbq to finish up. Remove the toothpicks before eating.






They were delicious!

If you haven't heard there is a new vegan sausage on the market. The brand is called Field Roast and they make very tasty, soy free, vegan grain meats including sausages, franks, roasts and slices. Check them out.



25.6.12

Simple Skewers

Skewers on the fire are quintessential camp food, yes? Here are a variety of skewer ideas....but it's no secret, you can make these as fancy or simple as you want, and you can cook almost anything this way.... as long as you can poke a stick through it!

What you need:

Bamboo skewers (soaked in water for 15-30 minutes)
Various Vegetables
Seitan 
Tofu
Olive oil
Garlic
Salt and Pepper
Herbs
Curry powder
BBQ Sauce 
Spicy Peanut Sauce 
Fruit!
Marinating dish

Instructions

Whatever you are making prepare your marinade and let your veg or fake meats soak in marinade ideally for 30 minutes.

BBQ Seitan Skewers

1. Cube seitan into 1-1 1/2" cubes.
2. Coat seitan cubes in bbq sauce.
3. Thread the cubes onto your skewers, loading each skewer with 4-5 cubes.
4. Cook on the grill over the fire, turning often, until cooked through.


Mushroom Skewers

1. Fine dice garlic and mix with 1/4 cup of olive oil, salt, pepper and chopped herb of your choice in marinating dish.
2. Toss whole white or brown mushrooms in marinade.
3. Thread the mushrooms onto your skewer, from the bottom of the mushroom through to the top.
4. Cook on the grill over the fire, turning often, until cooked through.



Red Pepper and Onions Skewers

1. Mix 1/4 cup of olive oil, salt, pepper and chopped herb of your choice in marinating dish.
2. Chop Peppers and Onions into 1 - 1 1/2"pieces
3. Thread the pieces onto your skewers, alternating, loading each skewer with 7-8 pieces.
4. Cook on the grill over the fire, turning often, until cooked through.


Baby Potato Skewers

These take a lot longer than the other vegetable skewers, so do it when you are in no rush, or pre-boil your potatoes a little to get them cooking faster.

1. Toss potatoes in a bowl with oil and coarse salt.
3. Thread the cubes onto your skewers, loading each skewer with 4-5 potatoes.
4. Cook on the grill over the fire, turning often, until cooked through.

 Spicy Peanut Tofu Skewers

1. Cube firm tofu or seitan into 1-1 1/2" cubes
2. Coat cubes in spicy peanut sauce.*
3. Thread the cubes onto your skewers, loading each skewer with 4-5 cubes
4. Cook on the grill over the fire, turning often, until cooked through.

IDEA: I haven't tried this yet, but I am thinking of trying these with pieces of eggplant (marinated in the peanut sauce) interspersed with the tofu peanut cubes. 

* Make your own, buy a jarred vegetarian version or make this delightful recipe by Robin Robertson. 


Curried UnChicken and Banana Skewers

Ok, this one has yet to be tested as well.....but I will be trying it this summer. It is inspired by a simple Caribbean recipe for Curried Chicken with plantains.

1. Cut fake defrosted unchicken (Gardein Meatless Chicken breasts) into 1-1 1/2" pieces.
2. Cut banana into 1-1 1/2" pieces.
3. Make a marinade of 1/4 cup of oil, 1 tsp salt, 4 tsp curry powder and juice from 2 limes.
4. Coat unchicken pieces in marinade.
5. Alternate threading unchicken pieces with bananas onto your skewers.
6. Cook on the grill over the fire, turning often, until cooked through. 
6. Squeeze a little lime juice over top before serving.


Grilled Fruit Skewers

Try any combo! Peach, Plum, Mango, Orange, Strawberry, Banana, Pear, Pineapple!

1. Cut pieces of fruit into beautiful slices, pieces or even keep some fruit whole...like strawberries.
2. Optional options!: 
Lightly brush (did you bring your pastry brush?) oil on to fruit.
Sprinkle fruit with cinnamon.
Sprinkle fruit with lemon juice.
Sprinkle fruit with rum! 
Combine all of these things into a marinade!
Or just go plain...grilled fruit is delicious just on its own.
3. Thread the fruit pieces onto your skewers, alternating in a pretty pattern.
2. Cook on the grill over the fire, turning, until cooked through.






22.4.12

Grilled Polenta Cakes

Polenta cakes can be a versatile addition to many meals. We do tend to prepare the polenta cakes at home and bring them along for grilling. You can also buy solid polenta in a tube that you can slice up which could save you some time (but you would have to read the ingredient list as some of the popular brands may contain cheese). Here is the at home part:

Ingredients:

8 cups water
2 cups cornmeal 
1 TBSP Earth Balance or olive oil (optional)
1-2 TBSP nutritional yeast (optional)
salt and pepper to taste
Instructions:

1. Bring water to a boil in a sauce pan.

2.  Reduce to simmer and gradually whisk in cornmeal and KEEP ON STIRRING for about 20 minutes or until you just can't take it anymore ( I usually make it to about 17 minutes).

3. Keep stirring and add any of your extra seasonings.

4. Take off heat and immediately pour (it should be thick and if you let it cool it will set too quickly to pour) into a baking dish (12 x 12 or 9 x 13 depending on your desired thickness). 

5. Let set and refrigerated until it is time to pack in your cooler.

At the camp site:

1. Slice polenta into squares (or pre-slice at home).

2. Brush with olive oil if you are feeling fancy.

2. Place on grill. Cook until warmed through and slightly toasty. 

3. Serve with grilled vegetables, stews or breakfast scramble.


Polenta cakes, roasted tomatoes and stewed white beans, getting started over the fire. 




18.3.12

Campfire Pizza

This is similar to making a BBQ pizza...just over a campfire. You definitely need to be using a fire pit with a grill to rest your pizza pan on. We tried this last summer with a well loved jelly roll pan that we didn't mind getting blackened from the fire.What you need:

Jelly roll pan
Foil
toothpicks or broken down bamboo skewers
Something to roll your pizza dough (rolling pin, or other improvisational cylinder)
Cutting board is nice to have
1 whole wheat pizza dough
3-6 TBSP BBQ sauce (commercial or homemade)
sliced button mushrooms
sliced onions
analog pepperoni
daiya 'mozzarella' cheese
...or any other combination of your favorite pizza toppings
Instructions:

Assemble your pizza:
1. Take your pizza dough out of the bag and let rest in a bowl, covered with a towel, for an hour or two to give it a chance to rise.
2. Once risen, or after skipping step one, roll or stretch out your pizza dough (wine bottle anyone?) and transfer onto your pan
3. Pre-bake over the fire for a few minutes
4. Spread BBQ sauce on crust and spread the rest of your ingredients evenly over top.

Cooking:

1. Insert several toothpicks around the edges of your dough to create foil tent. You will want a few inches clearance between the pie and the foil. Wrap the foil over the toothpicks and down the sides. You are essential creating a little mini oven for the pizza to cook in.
2. Bake for approximately 30 minutes until faux-cheese is melty and the dough is cooked through.
3. Remove foil carefully to prevent burning.
4. Enjoy!

19.2.12

Cold Rolls

Ok, so this is not a campfire recipe. But it is still a camp recipe. Trust me - on a hot summer afternoon you will appreciate these fresh, cool, crunchy, cold rolls. Also, the ingredients are not fussy to pack - dried rice paper sheets plus a few whole vegetables that you can slice up at the site. How easy is that? Also, it is a nice thing to make a few days into your trip if you have some half used veggies that you want to use up. We pre-make a peanut sauce and keep it in the cooler until we get the hankering for cold rolls.

Here goes:

What you need

1 package rice paper rounds
1 carrot (peeled and julienned)
1 red or yellow pepper (seeded and julienned)
napa cabbage (julienned)
1 cucumber (peeled and julienned)
cilantro leaves
cooked rice noodles in sesame oil (if you are super fancy)

1 cup or so spicy peanut sauce*

Instructions

1. Peel, seed, cut and otherwise prepare all of your filling ingredients for the cold rolls (who doesn't like having leisurely chat over the picnic table while julienning?).
2. Fill a shallow bowl or deep plate with water.
3. Lay the first rice paper round in the water until it softens.
4. Pull the rice paper out and allow the excess water to drip off.


5. Place the moistened rice paper on a plate or flat surface.
6. Place one to two of each ingredient on the centre of the rice paper. Make sure to lay all the veg in the same direction.
7. Then experiment with your favorite rolling techniques. I like to fold over the left side, fold down the top, fold up the bottom and then complete it by folding over the right side.
8. Repeat until you have an appropriate sized mountain of cold rolls.
9. Serve with peanut sauce for dipping.


* We like this recipe by the wonderfully, inspirational Robin Robertson, author of Vegan Planet and many other essential cookbooks.