Vegan Eggplant Parmesan

Vegan Eggplant Parmesan

At my house we have been growing a garden this year. The garden has taken up much of our free time but has provided us with so much good food.
The photo above (with the exception of the watermelon) all came from my own garden (my own watermelon isn't ready just yet but will be soon) The tomatoes are out of this world, they are so tasty I can't even begin to describe them.
We have one eggplant bush and it has been very successful. The eggplants coming off it are huge and numerous. I got a wild hair and wanted to try Eggplant Parmesan but since I'm sticking to the vegan diet I had to find a recipe that would be a vegan variety. After a lot of searching I found the recipe listed below. This is a keeper, I can't wait to try this again.

Vegan Eggplant Parmesan

Tomato Sauce:

1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil

4 Cloves of Garlic

1 14oz can of crushed tomatoes

1 tbsp dried Italian Seasoning

1/4 Tsp of Salt

Eggplant:

Olive oil cooking spray

1 1/4 cups bread crumbs

2 tsp plus 11/2 tsp Vegan Parmesan Cheese

1 1/4 tsp garlic powder

1/4 tsp fine sea salt

1 cup unsweetened plain soymilk

1 lb eggplant cut into six 1/2 inch thick slices.

1/4-cup nutritional yeast

1 tsp of black pepper

3 tbsp of Egg Replace, Egg substitute

Instructions:

To make sauce warm the oil in a medium saucepan over medium-high heat and sauté the garlic until fragrant (about one minute) and add tomatoes, Italian seasoning and salt. Bringing to a low boil, then lower the heat and cover. Simmer stirring often for 10 minutes.

To make Eggplant Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Line a baking sheet with nonstick foil and spray lightly with olive oil cooking spray.

In a shallow dish combine the bread crumbs, Vegan Cheese, garlic powder, salt and black pepper and nutritional yeast.

In a small bowl whisk together soymilk and egg substitute. Dip each slice of eggplant into the liquid and press into the bread crumb mixture coating each side well. Arrange on the cooking sheet in a single layer and spray lightly with olive oil

Bake for 15 to 20 minutes or until the bread crumbs turn golden brown. To serve divide the tomato sauce among plates placing a few tablespoons on each plate, place the eggplant on top of the sauce and cover the eggplant with a few tablespoons of sauce. 

Two of my Favorites

I'm getting kind of a late start on this tonight, it's been a long day. I have some tasty vegan cooking for you though so I hope that will make up for it.

One of the foods I grew up on is bread. Mom used to make her own and there were two type that I was particularly fond of; Banana Bread and Zucchini Bread. I'm allergic to a couple types of nuts so mom didn't make either of these breads with nuts.
I found our supply of Bananas going deep brown, almost black in some spots, and I suggested to my wife that rather than throw them out I could find a recipe for Banana Bread and "Veganize" it. Here's what I found.
2 cups of all purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 tablespoon of salt
1/2 cup of butter (replaced with "Earth Balance" Certified Vegan Butter)
3/4 cups of brown Sugar
2 eggs beaten (replace with "Egg Replace")
2 1/3 cups mashed over ripe bananas

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Lightly grease a 9x5 inch loaf pan (I used muffin a tin instead). In a large bowl, combine flour, baking soda and salt. In a separate bowl, cream together vegan butter and brown sugar. Stir in egg replace and mashed bananas until well blended. Stir banana mixture into flour mixture; stir just to moisten. Pour batter into prepared loaf pan.Bake in preheated oven for 60 to 65 minutes, until a toothpick inserted into center of the loaf comes out clean. Let bread cool in pan for 10 minutes, then turn out onto a wire rack.

They turned really amazing (if I do say so myself) 

For Dinner tonight my wife came up with a homemade Chop Suey that she was able to "Veganize"  
It also turned out amazing. 
1 head of Bok Choy (leaves and salks)
1 onion
1 cup of mushrooms, sliced (she used baby portabella mushrooms) 
2 cups of mung beans 
2 cups vegetable broth 
(This can be thickened with corn starch or non thickened)
If you like you can add vegetarian soy sauce to taste. 
1 coil of vermicelli noodles 

Bring a pan of water to boil and add vermicelli noodles and cook until desired firmness is achieved.
In a wok set to High saute onions until they begin to turn translucent. Add Bok Choy and cook until it begins to soften. Add mung beans and mushrooms and vegetable broth then cover and allow to cook. 
When done add vermicelli, mix and serve. 

(We ate outside on or deck tonight)
We ate the Chop Suey with a Thai Chili Pepper and Garlic sauce that added a real spicy bite to this dish and had iced, herbal, tea on the side. 
(The fruit just happened to already be on the table. I set it out there today in hopes of ripening it a bit more, I think it adds to the shot though) 

Try these recipes and tell me what you think.

Why You Don't Need Milk for Calcium

 One of the myths of eating a vegan diet is, "If you don't drink milk or eat dairy you can't get enough calcium in your diet and you will suffer from more bone fractures, plus, women will be at higher risk of Osteoporosis"

I'm going to keep this one short as I'm just going t recommend that you read an article that I came across today.
The article is on the "Reboot With Joe" web site and poses the question of whether or not we need to drink the USDA recommended 3 glasses of milk a day. (Spoiler Alert: We Don't)
I myself haven't touched milk in years. Strangely, I suddenly became lactose intolerant several years ago. It came on me suddenly and from out of nowhere; just one day milk started making me sick. I have added high calcium foods to my diet to compensate for not being able to drink milk and I haven't suffered at all.
Here is a link to the article, it's a good read. The article contains links to related information.
Why You Don't Need Milk for Calcium

Your thoughts and comments are always appreciated. 

Vegan Peach Smoothie

At my house I have a stock of bottled peaches. The peaches were bottled by my wife last year and there are a lot! The bottles are quart sized mason jars.
My wife tells me that we need to start using these up because she wants to bottle more this year, she tells me that she has a different method that she wants to try and so we need to use what we have.
I was kicking around some ideas the other day while I was enjoying a Vegan Frozen Mocha (an earlier post) and this started me thinking, Peach Smoothie?

Peach Smoothie

(This recipe makes 2 Smoothies) 

2 cups of crushed ice

1 1/2 cups of soy milk

1 one quart bottle of fresh peaches

1 teaspoon of real vanilla 

2 teaspoons sweetener. (I was out of my favorite artificial sweetener so I used pure cane sugar)

Blend in blender until smooth 

You can increase or decrease the amount of liquid to change the thickness of the smoothie according to you personal preference but I prefer them smoother so I go big on the liquid.

Give this a try on a hot summer day and tell me what you think.

Vegan (Garden Fresh) Vegetable Soup

My wife has awesome soup making skills.
That said I should also say that [partly] in an effort to eat healthier we have been growing a garden in our back yard. The garden has started to produce some delicious, fresh, vegetables. My wife visited our garden yesterday and then fired up her soup making skills and I wanted to share the results.

Vegan Vegetable Soup

The recipe is very simple.
Carrots
Squash
Zucchini
Potatoes
Onion
Green Beans
Lentils
Vegetable Soup Base.

Most of the ingredients came out of our own garden.
Slice the veggies, leave the skin on the squash and the zucchini, make certain you have good and thick slices. Pour the soup base into a pot and add veggies then salt and pepper to taste.
This was such a delicious soup, very filling and the left overs were even better (I think it has something to do with being left to let the flavors blend)
We ate our soup with French Bread (made with Egg Replace) and Earth Balance vegan butter. Words cannot express.  :-)
Give this one a try and tell me what you think.

Beyond Vegan

When I started the Vegan Experiment my motivation was [primarily] one of health and wellness. I had seen a lot documented evidence that meat and other animal products were bad for you, I had seen proof that the hormones and steroids and antibiotics that were being pumped into animals to bulk them up and force them to produce more meat were causing cancer and other diseases in humans. I have seen a substantial amount of evidence that would suggest that the industries involved in the production of animal products for human consumption are fully aware that these steroids, hormones, and antibiotics are making people sick and in some cases even killing them but that the money that it makes them comes first and that their, so-called, bottom line is more important than human life. I don't want to go into any great detail because this is not the correct forum for this, besides I don't want to come off sounding like a conspiracy nut, and also it would just be better if you did your own investigations into these claims and this is my challenge to you; investigate.
My quest for better health and wellness goes beyond Vegan though.
I also began investigating "Packaged Foods."
I work nights and my dinner meals have always been something that is an inconvenience for me. I can't cook at work, (we don't have the facilities) and so if I don't have something that can just be tossed into the microwave then I have to go out and eat fast food. I ended up eating a lot of prepackaged dinners. Dinners that you take out of a box and toss into the microwave and in ten minutes you eat something that looks nothing like the picture on the box and tastes nothing like you would expect. If you look at the ingredient list and really think about what your reading it's terrifying! Most of the stuff you're eating you can't even pronounce.
The majority of Americans are obese, have heart disease, suffer from diabetes and the numbers (like most Americans) keep getting bigger.
Back when my wife and I started focusing on better health we were convinced that we could achieve better health through (first of all) better food, better nutrition, and the elimination of strange chemical additives and preservatives as well as pesticides and GMO's.
Beginning in May of this year I started preparing our yard to plant a garden in which we could grow much of the food we would eat. It was my goal to grow clean, organic, food and to replace store bought food with food from our own garden as much as possible.
I'm proud of our accomplishment.
We have begun harvesting some of our own foods already. So far we have had radishes, tomatoes, zucchini, and two kinds of beans come from our own efforts. Getting close is carrots, beets, egg plant, and corn and I'm seeing small watermelons appear already and other melons are flowering.
I have some photos here of the garden that I thought I would share.

Our Garden

My Wife Picked Some Sting Beans

Corn on the Cob!

It is really my hope that my little experiment will inspire other people to make an attempt at being healthier by, first and most importantly, making better food choices.

Your comments are, as always, appreciated. 

Something From My Childhood

Greetings all.
I haven't entered anything in a while because I haven't really had anything new. What I've been doing is pretty much the same thing that I have been doing and I really dislike repeating the same things over and over.
I have come up with something that I did want to share though.
This is not a vegan recipe because I used eggs, I have to say that right from the beginning.
It is a vegetarian recipe and if you don't mind the eggs I highly recommend this.
This recipe takes me back to my childhood. My Dad used to make this back before I was even a teenager. It's very simple to make and if anyone can help me out with an alternative to egg I would much appreciate it.

Fried Zucchini

My wife and I planted a garden at our house this year and one of the things that we planted was Zucchini. Now much of our garden is already starting to produce. We already have tomatoes and reddish and [of course] Zucchini. Zucchini is prolific. I don't know if you've grown this before but the plant will suddenly take off growing and almost over night goes from a tiny little plant with just a few leaves to a monster huge plant with tons of these enormous squash.
When I was a kid, in my neighborhood, it was share with the neighbors (as much as possible) Zucchini Bread, Zucchini Muffins, and Fried Zucchini.
Fried Zucchini is easy and it's what I'm going to share with you.

Peel and Wash and slice one medium Zucchini.
Scramble 3 eggs with half a cup of milk (soy milk) in a large bowl.
On one plate place one cup of flour
On another plate place one cup of Panko Bread Crumbs
Dip the Zucchini in the egg then coat with flour and then coat with Panko
Place each slice on a clean plate.
In a fry pan place a couple tablespoons of butter (I used Earth Balance Vegan Butter) turn the stove on and get the pan sizzling hot.
Place coated Zucchini in the pan and fry until golden brown (turning frequently to evenly brown.)
That's it. How many this recipe makes depends on the size of the Zucchini and how think your slices are.
Enjoy!
Again, if anyone knows how to make a Vegan "Dredge" please let me know. I have about a ton of Zucchini on it's way.