Vegan Recipes from Cassie Howard

Vegan Insanity >> Vegan recipes that are delicious and easy to make. Plus, kitchen, cooking & shopping tips!

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Smoky Barbecue Chili with Vegan Sour Cream

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Homemade-Barbecue-Chili-Vegan

Okay FINE. It’s fall. I get it. I’m accepting the cold weather that won’t seem to go away. I’m accepting that soon enough, my kitchen will be bursting at the seems with all things pumpkin (no complaints there!). I’m accepting that OMG CHRISTMAS IS COMING.

I suppose I should get going on my shopping then, huh?

But first – chili. Smoky barbecue chili. To help ease my pain of no more summer.

Homemade-Vegan-Barbecue-Chili

This is such a fun change from the regular chili that I make. I love adding Sweet Baby Ray’s barbecue sauce, because I find it has a sweet, smoky flavour that is really delicious in chili. I also added smoked paprika because, why not? Smoky goodness up in huuuurrrrr.

Vegan-Barbecue-Chili

You don’t have to feel bad eating this chili either. It’s loaded with veggies, veggies, and more veggies. And with a silky white drizzle of delicious, homemade vegan sour cream added on top?

Hot damn! This is a tasty meal. A tasty, healthy meal that I ate two bowls of last week. In a row. I am not ashamed!

Barbecue-Chili

Smoky Barbecue Chili with Vegan Sour Cream
Recipe Type: Entree
Author: Vegan Insanity
Prep time:
Cook time:
Total time:
Serves: 3-4
Ingredients
  • Barbecue Chili
  • 1 tsp extra virgin olive oil
  • 1 medium-large red bell pepper, diced
  • 1/2 large onion, peeled and diced
  • 4 garlic cloves, peeled and minced
  • 6 cups diced tomatoes, fresh or canned
  • 1/2 cup vegetable broth
  • 3 tbsp tbsp chili powder
  • 1 tsp cumin
  • 1 tsp smoked paprika
  • 1/4 tsp red pepper flakes
  • 1 cup cooked kidney beans
  • 1 1/3 cup cooked black beans
  • 1 cup frozen corn
  • 2 tbsp barbecue sauce (I used Sweet Baby Rays)
  • 1 cup chopped spinach
  • 3/4 tsp salt
  • 1/2 tsp freshly ground black pepper
  • Chopped green onions for garnish, if desired
  • Sour Cream
  • 1 cup raw cashews, soaked for at least 2 hours
  • 3/4 cup water
  • 2 tsp lemon juice
  • 1 tsp apple cider vinegar
  • 1/2 tsp salt
Instructions
Barbecue Chili
  1. Heat oil in a large pot over medium heat. Add in the pepper and onion and cook until onion becomes translucent (about 5 minutes). Add in the garlic and good for another minute or so, or until lightly browned.
  2. Add in the diced tomatoes, vegetable broth, chili powder, cumin, smoked paprika, red pepper flakes and mix well.
  3. Add in the beans, frozen corn, and barbecue sauce, and mix again. If it looks too thick, add in some more vegetable broth, just a bit at a time. Remember that it will thicken as it cooks, so you don’t want it to be too thick right off the bat. Cook for about 20-30 minutes.
  4. About 15 minutes before the chili is done cooking, add in your chopped greens, salt and pepper. Adjust s&p as necessary.
  5. Serve, topped with vegan sour cream, chopped green onions, or whatever else you like on your chili!
Sour Cream
  1. Add all ingredients to a food processor or high powdered blender and process/blend until smooth. Will keep in the fridge up to 5 days.

 

My Vegan Cuts Snack Box Review

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Vegan Cuts Sneak Peek

I’m sure you’ve heard of Vegan Cuts by now, but if not, here’s a brief description:

Vegan Cuts offers all kinds of vegan goodies in 2 types of boxes: the Vegan Cuts Snack Box (which I’m reviewing today) and the Vegan Cuts Beauty Box. They also have an online marketplace where you can buy individual vegan products.

The lovely folks at Vegan Cuts sent me a Vegan Snack Box to review last week, and I can’t tell you how excited I was when it finally arrived at my door step. There’s just something about getting a box full of vegan yumminess straight to my door that makes me a little giddy.

In my box I received:

Vegan Cuts Snack Box Review

Cobra Corn: Chai Caramel – If you’re a fan of Chai tea, you will love this caramel corn! I found it very reminiscent of the Chai flavor tea I used to drink. Since I’m no longer a Chai tea fan, I didn’t care much for this caramel corn.

One Potato Two Potato Kettle Potato Chips: Hawaiian BBQ – As someone who really REALLY doesn’t like barbecue chips, I was surprised just how much I loved these ones. They were so good I snuck away to eat the whole bag to myself before my family could get their hands on them.

Earth Balance Mac & Cheese: White Cheddar – I was the most excited about this product! After seeing it all over online, but not having access to it in Canada, I was so eager to get my hands on a box. And it really did not disappoint! It was very creamy and cheesy. Absolutely perfect. Now I just need to find the cheddar flavor…

Chewy Banana Bites – I gave these to my husband to take on a trip with him and he told me they were fantastic. Very portable, minimal ingredients, and delicious taste. Now I’m on the hunt for this snack in Canada so I can try them too!

Wild Friends Chocolate Coconut Peanut Butter – I loved this stuff on toast! The only thing I didn’t like was that the packaging made it very difficult to squeeze it all out. However, if you’re buying this in a store, you’re going to get it in a jar, anyway. So no worries!

Protein & Green Packets – I liked all but the “Ultima” packet. The chocolate protein drink was pretty good, though, unfortunately, not as good as the Silk chocolate milk I’m so fond of. The “Field Greens” and “Instant Shiitake” went into a green smoothie and I couldn’t taste them, so I guess that’s a good thing, right?

BuddyFruits FruitBreak: Strawberry, Banana & Apple – This was SO delicious! I gave it to my 5 year old, but tried a bit myself first, and it was yummy. I love that it only has fruit in the package, nothing else. This is something I’d definitely feel comfortable giving to my kids!

All in all, I was very impressed with the Vegan Cuts Snack Box. For only $19.95 per month, it’s a fun way to try new vegan snacks that I may not have the opportunity to try otherwise.

This would make for an awesome Christmas gift! I think I might gift one to myself. Yes. Yes, I think I will.

Subscribe to Vegan Cuts

If you’re interested in signing up for the Vegan Cuts Snack Box, the price is $19.95 and shipping is FREE if you live in the US. Canadian orders are an extra $8 and international orders are an additional $15.

Disclosure: This Vegan Cuts review does contain affiliate links, so if you were to make a purchase, I would get a small commission.

Our Menu Plan This Week

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Dinner Pic
Simple pasta with garlic bread sticks & roasted cauliflower.

Every week, I create a menu plan for the week ahead. I’ve always found menu planning to be helpful, but especially when eating a vegan diet. Sometimes I forget to make one, and those weeks are just awful. I stare into the fridge and whine that there’s “nothing to eat”, even though the fridge is packed full of deliciousness. It’s bad.

So – I menu plan every week (usually) to make things easier on myself. And it works. I promise.

Here is the menu plan for my family this week:

Breakfast:

Lunch:

  • Loaded Potato Crisps, Vegan Cesar Salad, Tex Mex Casserole
  • “Tuna” Salad Sandwich, Fruit
  • Leftovers x3
  • Veggie Stir-Fry
  • Picnic Lunch

Dinner:

  • Garlic & Tomato Pasta with Parsley & Basil, Garlic Bread Sticks, Oven-Roasted Cauliflower
  • Quinoa Mac & Cheese with Broccoli
  • Cajun-Spiced Rice, Zucchini Fritters
  • Smoky Barbecue Chili, Garlic Bread Sticks
  • Mediterranean Freekeh Salad
  • Sweet Potato Shepherd’s Pie
  • Spicy Potato Wedges, Roasted Veggies with Tahini Sauce

Snacks/Dessert:

  • Fruit
  • Raw Nuts
  • Banana Ice Cream
  • Chocolate Zucchini Muffins
  • Cheesy Dill Popcorn
  • Fruit Pizza

What’s on your menu this week?

Quinoa & Black Bean Burger with Vegan Nacho Cheese Sauce

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Black-Bean-Quinoa-Burger

Now that the weather is warming up (I hope!), I’ve been dreaming of burgers. Burgers of all kinds.

Last week, I decided to make them. Who cares if we were having a huge rain storm that day? Burgers were on the menu, and I was thrilled.

Especially because I was going to slather my burger in spicy vegan nacho cheese sauce. Mmmm, yummy.

Quinoa-Black-Bean-Burger-Vegan

I highly recommend wrapping your burgers in plastic wrap and sticking them in the fridge for an hour or so before you cook them, too. I found that this helped to keep the burgers together better than when I’ve made them before and not refrigerated them first.

Also, you don’t have to bake these in the oven. You can also throw them (gently!) on the barbecue, or fry them on the stove. Cook them however your heart desires. Any way you cook them, they turn out pretty awesome.

Quinoa-Black-Bean-Burger

I topped my delicious burger with vegan nacho cheese sauce, baby spinach, tomatoes and alfalfa sprouts and it was a magical combination. So good. But of course, use whatever you like on a burger!

Quinoa & Black Bean Burger with Vegan Nacho Cheese Sauce
Recipe Type: Dinner
Author: Vegan Insanity
Prep time:
Cook time:
Total time:
Serves: 5-6
Ingredients
  • Nacho Cheese Sauce
  • 1 1/4 cups water
  • 1 cup raw cashews, soaked for at least 2 hours
  • 3 tbsp lemon juice
  • heaping 1/4 tsp paprika
  • heaping 1/2 tsp onion powder
  • heaping 1/2 tsp garlic powder
  • 1 1/2 tsp salt
  • 1 large roasted red pepper
  • 1/4 cup nutritional yeast
  • Quinoa & Black Bean Burger
  • 1 flax egg (1 tbsp ground flax seed + 3 tbsp water)
  • 1 1/2 Cup Cooked Black Beans (if using canned beans, rinse & dry them first)
  • 1/4 cup uncooked quinoa
  • 1/2 cup water
  • 1/2 cup bread crumbs
  • 1/4 cup bell pepper, minced (I used red)
  • 2 tbsp onion, minced
  • 1 large garlic clove, minced
  • 1 tsp cumin
  • 1/2 tsp salt
  • 1 tsp hot sauce
  • Burger Ingredients
  • 5-6 burger buns
  • Toppings of your choice
Instructions
Nacho Cheese Sauce
  1. Add all ingredients to a food processor or high-powered blender and process/blend until smooth,
  2. Pour mixture into a medium pot over medium heat and warm it up for about 10 minutes, stirring constantly.
Quinoa & Black Bean Burger
  1. Pre-heat your oven to 400F.
  2. Whisk together the ground flax seed and water for your flax egg. Set aside.
  3. Bring the quinoa and water to a boil in a small pot, then cover and simmer for about 12 minutes, or until the quinoa is cooked. Set aside.
  4. Mash up the black beans in a bowl, using a fork. Don’t use a food processor because I’ve found this to make the burgers difficult to form into patties. You don’t have to mash every last bean, but do your best.
  5. In the bowl with the black beans, add in the bread crumbs, minced bell pepper, minced onion, minced garlic, cumin, salt, hot sauce, cooked quinoa and your flax egg. Mix together with your hands and them form into patties. You should be able to get 5-6 burgers, depending on how large you make them.
  6. Place your burgers on a baking sheet with a non-stick mat or parchment paper. Cook for about 10 minutes, or until browned on the bottom, then flip and cook another 10-15 minutes, or until browned on both sides and cooked through.
Putting it All Together
  1. Put your burger on a bun, top with vegan nacho cheese sauce and your choice of toppings (I used alfalfa sprouts, baby spinach and tomatoes).
Notes
*You can store any extra nacho cheese sauce in a mason jar in the fridge for up to 5 days. Simply re-heat it on the stove.