Bryanna Clark Grogan’s Vegan Feast Kitchen/ 23rd Century Table

              Mid-East-Influenced Easter Dinner with Crusty No-Knead Bread

                                          Yeasted Easter Sweet Breads

See also the post "Baking Lesson", where I make Greek Easter Bread with my granddaughters.

                                Cinnamon Roll "Lamb"-- a family favorite

           If you're in a hurry--  Bread Machine Cinnamon-Nut Monkey Bread


Pics from another fantastic Vegan Easter Dinner Party with our Vegan Dinner Group

2009 Family Easter Dinner + Vegan Dinner Party Group Feast+ My Favorite Spinach Salad

                               Herb-and-Nut Encrusted Vegan Cheese Log

MORE RECIPES FOR THE EASTER SEASON:

APPETIZERS

There aren't many vegan fish substitutes readily available in markets, but sometimes I crave something "seafoody".  This is one of the recipes I've come up with over the years to satisfy that.  Kids really enjoy these crunchy nuggets, and big kids, too! The bran flakes make a nutritious, crispy, and nicely-browned coating for the "scallops" and you don't need alot of oil, so, along with the cucumber sauce, it's a healthful and fairly low-fat meal, high-fiber and high in protein, too.

Printable Recipe

A "monkey bread" is a sweet or savory loaf made by putting together small squares or balls of dough with melted "butter" and nuts plus cinnamon sugar OR herbs (and sometimes cheese with the herbs-- you could use vegan parmesan). The bread is pulled apart to eat-- kids love it! I don't use a bread machine very often, but I thought it would be fun to make a specialty bread IN the bread machine-- not just the dough, but the shaped bread as well. The result was great!  It would even make an easy and yummy Easter breakfast bread.

Sorry I don't have time for much more than this recipe that I've been meaning to post for a long time-- many deadlines last week and this week!  I hope you enjoy this-- it's great for Easter (or any) entertaining, or potlucks, or just general snacking.

Printable Recipe

BRYANNA'S HERB-AND-NUT-ENCRUSTED VEGAN CHEESE LOG

This last weekend on the CBC Radio One program "North by Northwest" they were asking for readers'  stories and experiences looking for lost childhood favorite recipes or foods.  That got me thinking about my own childhood favorites.  Of course, like most of us, I was not raised vegan, so some of my old favorites were "meaty".  My late mother, Eve Urbina, was a great cook, but not a baker, so not many homemade desserts came to mind (we mostly had yogurt and fruit for dessert).  But one of my real favorite from my Mom's repertoire  was chicken sauteed in olive oil with white wine and rosemary, which resulted in a sticky, flavorful "goo" at the bottom of the pan, which she would mix with steamed long-grain rice to serve with the chicken.

So, I attempted a vegan version for our Saturday night dinner, using some Gardein-made meatless "chicken breasts" we can buy frozen in our local Great Canadian Superstore.  The most difficult part is getting the "goo" at the bottom of the pan.  I tried a trick from my Italian cookbook "Nonna's Italian Kitchen", agar-jelled broth, but made with Better Than Bouillon No-Chicken Vegan Broth Paste instead of my homemade broth from the book. However, despite my jelled broth addition and cooking it down, the residue in the pan refused to get as “sticky-gooey” as the original.  That’s probably because there was much more fat in my childhood version.  But no worries— the resulting sauce was absolutely delish!

I meant to post this recipe for Valentine's Day, but it didn't happen!  But, better late than never-- these beauties would be delicious any time of the year.  I based them on the white bean/oat waffles that I developed for the first version of Dr. Neal Barnard's Program for Reversing Diabetes-- low in fat; high in protein, fiber and other nutrients.  They also just happen to be gluten-free.

My two 12-year-old granddaughters ate quite a few of these for brunch this last Sunday after a sleep-over at our house.  They were quite surprised when I revealed the "secret ingredient", white beans, but that didn't deter them from eating more!

Don't be put off by having to put the beans in water to soak the night before. This takes just minutes before you retire for the night and then, in the morning, the batter is quickly made in the blender while the waffle iron heats up. They can be reheated quickly in a very hot oven for a short time (you just want to crisp and heat them, not dry them out), or in a toaster. Keep some ready-made in the freezer for quick toaster snacks-- they are great eaten out of hand with a little low-sugar jam.

NOTE: Use only dried white navy beans or Great Northern beans or split (white) urad dal for making white bean flour, or purchase bean flour made from only one of those varieties. (Chickpea flour is fine, too.)  
DO NOT use cannellini beans, red or white kidney beans, butter beans, broad beans or lima beans for making flour; nor should you use those 6 varieties of beans whole, soaked (but raw) and blended into recipes to be cooked or baked. Those 6 varieties of beans all need to be soaked for at least 5 hours, water discarded, and then boiled in fresh water for 10 to 15 minutes before simmering until tender before eating.  This eliminates toxic lectins which can cause all sorts of digestive distress in some people.  
And be advised that slow-cookers do not always get hot enough to get rid of the toxin, so soak and boil as advised above before finishing in a slow-cooker.  If using a pressure cooker to cook kidney beans or the other 4 varieties mentioned as problematic, you do not need to pre-boil for 10 minutes as the very high temperatures reached inside the pressure cooker are adequate to destroy the toxin, but definitely soak first and discard the water. (Info from this article.)
The toxin in white kidney beans at about 1/3rd the concentration of red kidney beans, and broad (fava) beans, butter beans and lima beans at about 5 to 10%. 

Don't panic about lectins, but be informed-- see https://authoritynutrition.com/dietary-lectins/  and http://www.medic8.com/healthguide/food-poisoning/red-kidney-bean-toxins.html