Homemade animal food analouges

[catnip]

As a spinoff to the thread about fake meat, I wanted to start a thread about homemade veggie meat, cheese, ice cream, etc. These are the homemade veggie patties, the Julie Hasson style steamed 'sausages', lentil loaf, tempeh bacon - bring 'em on.

I'll start with my favorite homemade veggie patty:

1/2 cup thick rolled oats (first step is putting this in a bowl with 1/2 cup water)

1 cup chopped mushrooms
1 medium onion, finely chopped
1 carrot, shredded or finely chopped
1/2 tsp paprika
1 tsp parsley
1/2 tsp sage
1/2 tsp thyme
black pepper
oil to saute

1 tbs soy sauce (you could easily leave this out, add some salt and a bit of water
Dash vegan worchestershie sauce or pickapeppa sauce
1/4 cup nutritional yeast
1 tbs flax meal
1/4 cup bread crumbs (I cut the crusts off of the bread for LOs sandwiches before making them, that way they can be saved to make breadcrumbs with)
3/4 cup cooked brown rice
1/2 cup finely chopped nuts (I use pecans, almonds and cashews)

1/2 cup wheat gluten
1/4-1/2 cup more water

Preheat oven to 350.
Put the oats on to soak, then saute the veggies in olive oil. Add to bowl with oats, and add other ingredients up to the nuts and mix. Sprinkle gluten over the top, and add 1/4 cup water, then mix in the gluten. Knead this mixture for about 3 minutes, adding more water if it seems too dry. Use an ice cream disher to drop mixure onto a parchment or silpat covered cookie sheet, and flatten each patty. Bake 25-30 minutes, until firm.
I get about 12 small burgers from this, I use 2 in my sandwich, the LO eats hers torn in pieces and dipped in ketchup with the bread seperate, DH has 2 patties and 2 buns. If you freeze them, they can be reheated in the oven wrapped in foil for about 15 minutes. (I put on oven fries at 400, set the timer for 15 minutes, then stir the fries, throw the foil wrapped patties in with them and cook it all for another 15).

[catnip]

My lentil loaf recipe (adapted from a recipe created at http://www.veganlunchbox.com/loaf_studio.html)

1/2 cup pecans
2 tsp olive oil
One onion, diced
One large garlic clove, minced
One large carrot, peeled and grated
One cup mushrooms, cleaned and chopped
2 cups cooked lentils
1 cup dry whole wheat bread crumbs
1/4 to 1/2 cup vegetable broth, as needed (usually not needed, I don't drain my lentils)
1 heaping TB flaxseed meal
1/4 tsp. dried thyme
1/2 tsp. dried sage
1/4 cup nutritional yeast flakes
2 TB ketchup
Several dashes vegetarian Worcestershire Sauce
Freshly ground black pepper, to taste
2 TB soy sauce

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 350º. Spray a loaf pan or 8x8 square baking pan with nonstick spray and set aside (an 8x8 pan makes a crisper loaf). I'm still working on perfecting the mini-loaves baked in a muffin tin.

Chop the nuts coarsely, dump in a bowl.

Sauté the vegetables in the olive oil until soft. Add to the large mixing bowl along with all the remaining ingredients. Mix and mash together well, adding only as much liquid as needed to create a soft, moist loaf that holds together and is not runny (you may not need to add any liquid if the grains and protein are very moist). Add more binder/carbohydrate as needed if the loaf seems too wet.

Press mixture into the prepared pan and bake for 45 minutes to 1 hour, or until cooked through.

Let the loaf cool in the pan for 10 to 15 minutes, then turn out onto a plate or platter and slice. I serve it with baked potatoes and broccoli or green beans. We call this "dinner-shaped dinner."

Cold leftover slices of make a great sandwich filling.

[I-Love-Alaska]

I make banana ice cream with ripe bananas and almond milk... After the bananas are ripe (over ripe is fine) I peel them, break them into a few pieces, and put them in the freezer for future use. I *always* have some on hand for ice cream or smoothies...

To make the ice cream I just pop about 3 bananas worth into the Vitamix with some almond milk (I don't measure). I add more milk as it's mixing if needed... We eat this ALL the time.

[catnip]

The basic lentil-barley-nut mixture in this recipe can be used in a number of recipes to replace ground beef. I alter that recipe a great deal to match my family's idea of what shepherd's pie should be - heavy on the onion and lemon-pepper, but the basic idea is freaking ingenious.

http://allrecipes.com//Recipe/vegeta...ii/Detail.aspx



The mixture is this:
# 1 1/2 cups vegetable broth
# 1 teaspoon yeast extract spread, e.g. Marmite/Vegemite
# 1/2 cup dry lentils
# 1/4 cup pearl barley
# 1/2 cup chopped nuts (original recipe calls for walnuts, I'm allergic, and sub pecans)

You can season it to use for tacos, spaghetti, whatever you might want beef for. I make a stroganoff recipe with it, though I have not managed to replace the commercial non-dairy sour cream in it, so I'm not willing to post it in this thread (yet- I'm working on a cashew-based alternative, stay tuned!).

[I-Love-Alaska]

Catnip- Thanks for the recipes above!! The sound yummy!!

[catnip]

Okay, and these guys: http://blog.fatfreevegan.com/2007/05...itan-ribz.html ?

Mindblowingly amazing. My uber-picky omnivore mother, who generally turns her nose up at vegan food LIKES THEM BETTER THAN THE REAL THING.

Just the ticket for homemade barbecue sauce (I made a cherry-chipotle one this year that was heartbreakingly awesome).

[catnip]

I make an apple-sage version of these (still experimenting to get the results to come out consistent, fresh apples make precise measurements tricky) and freeze them for weekend breakfasts: http://everydaydishtv.blogspot.com/2.../sausages.html

[catnip]

I've discovered that the trick for really, really good tempeh bacon without making it overly greasy is to deep fry it in hot oil. It starts cooking more quickly, and so absorbs less oil.

I've also had great results baking it in a pan, marinade and all, but the clean up is a PITA.

Here's the marinade from Vegan Vittles, which I like for it's simplicity.

1 8 oz pacakge tempeh
1/3 cup water
1/3 cup soy sauce
1 1/2 tablespoons Maple syrup *
1 teaspoon liquid smoke
1/2 tsp granulated garlic

*(sugar in a tempeh marinade does not make it sweet-tasting, but I've noticed that it does something to transfer the flavor of the other ingredients into the tempeh- I left the tablespoon of agave out of my version of the chili-beer-lime marinade from V'con last time, and it was unbelievably dull and flat tasting - you couldn't taste the lime at all)

[Mama2Xander]

Good idea for a thread

Does anyone have a great loaf recipe that is gluten-free, lentil-free, and chickpea-free? So many of the recipes posted here sound good, but we need to stay gluten-free and my DH is allergic to lentils and chickpeas.

[catnip]

If you click the link up there in my lentil loaf recipe, it will take you to the magic loaf studio, where you can create a recipe with your choice of ingredients. I've made that lentil one with rice instead of breadcrumbs, and you can sub a different bean for lentils.

[Mama2Xander]

Originally Posted by catnip

If you click the link up there in my lentil loaf recipe, it will take you to the magic loaf studio, where you can create a recipe with your choice of ingredients. I've made that lentil one with rice instead of breadcrumbs, and you can sub a different bean for lentils.

Thanks, I'll check it out!

ETA: That is a very cool site!
I noticed she doesn't list kidney beans as a protein, but I assume you could just substitute them for another bean if you wanted to. Kidney beans are one of the few beans that my DH actually eats, lol.

[catnip]

Originally Posted by Mama2Xander

Thanks, I'll check it out!

ETA: That is a very cool site!
I noticed she doesn't list kidney beans as a protein, but I assume you could just substitute them for another bean if you wanted to. Kidney beans are one of the few beans that my DH actually eats, lol.

Yeah, just use them instead. It should work fine. I've done the tofu and breadcrumbs formula once and lentils and rice a couple of times - that's crumbly, but good.

[Koalamom]

Subbing!

Thanks for the recipes.

[mnnice]

The Vegan Dad blog always has interesting vegan BBQ and other homemade "meat" types of things. I have a couple I've printed, but haven't made yet.

[PoetryLover]

Subbing!