Miss Lexy's Top 15 Vegan Miss Recipes (To Date)

I've been blogging Vegan Miss since 2009 and while I wish I posted more frequently with recipes (real life interferes, blast!), I do have some of my favorite gems. Here is a list of recipes that I think back to fondly (in no particular order):

1. Homemade Grilled Potato, Onion, & Cheeze Pierogies: These babies are well, bad ass. I have yet to find frozen vegan pierogies for sale in store. If you make a huge batch of this, it'll freeze and keep nicely for later use. Pair with some Polish braised red cabbage and sour cream for a very tasty Polish delight.
2. Balsamic Sage Butter Tortellini: I have yet to find vegan tortellini's anywhere as well. Someone should really just make tortellini's and pierogies in the frozen vegan variety. And cheese sticks. They would be a huge hit, I think! If you are feeling adventurous, these little guys will definitely rock your world. As with the pierogies, you can make a big batch and freeze them for later use. I would serve this with raw kale salad for a perfect meal!
3. Pumpkin Curry Soup: This soup is magnificent. Perfect fall weather soup. Even my mother who declared she hated pumpkin before trying this was converted. She had me make another batch just for her and my dad and again at Thanksgiving dinner. Serve with fresh brown bread.
4. Tiramisu: One of the desserts I crave still is tiramisu. I made a regular version for Valentine's Day 2011 and then a raspberry version for this past Valentine's Day. It's kind of like crack. Really delicious crack. Warning: you may want to eat way more than one serving.
5. Balsamic Baked Tofu Caprese Sandwich: One of my first recipes for Vegan Miss. The trick to this is to let the tofu marinate for preferably 24 hours. It'll really take in that flavor (tofu being like a sponge and all).
6. Deep Dish Pizza: Ah, vegan deep dish pizza. Living in Chicago for almost 7 years now, I've never had the traditional deep dish. This is my solution. It's an awesome, awesome solution. It was even my competition dish for the Chicago Vegan Chef Showdown. nom nom nom!
7. Italian "Beef" Sandwiches: Once again, in all my years in Chicago, I have never eaten an Italian beef sandwich. And trust me, they are mighty popular, originating here and all. This would be my vegan version which has been a hit with vegans, vegetarians, and omnivores a like. Don't forget the giardiniera!
8. Ginger, Carrot, Beet, & Sweet Potato Soup: This is the best winter soup. If you don't like beets, you will now. It is just the right combination of different root vegetables to have only a hint of that earthy beet taste. Don't blame me if you go back for seconds!
9. Vegan Horseshoe Sandwich: Most people don't know what a horseshoe is, so basically it is Texas toast with whatever meat you want on top and then cheese fries on top of that. Not healthy. The cheese sauce I came up with for this is still my go-to cheese sauce when I need to make nachos or anything cheezy like that. Even my omni, cheese loving friends liked it.
10.Chick'n Divan: Ah, 1950s food. This is recreated from the book, Dishes Men Like. I've been told this tastes a lot like the real thing sans all that gross meat and dairy. Serve with Caesar salad.
11. Chick'n Scallopini with Wild Mushroom Risotto: This one of my favorite romantic dinner recipes on my blog. It would be perfect for Valentine's Day or an anniversary. Gardein is such an amazing mock meat product that is ever expanding on the markets. I keep a package of their chick'n scallopini's in my freezer at all times! Serve with a bowl of French onion soup.
12. Chick'n Katsu: Did I not tell you that I keep those Gardein scallopini's in my freezer at all times or what?! I really adore Japanese culture and cuisine. I did my undergraduate minor in Japanese and studied in Japan as well. ♥ One of the nation's favorite dishes is katsu. Serve with some veggie miso soup.
13. Spinach & Mushroom Fettuccine Alfredo: Several of my followers have remade this dish and all have fallen in love with it like I have. This is another one of those romantic dishes I enjoy. Serve with a heaping bowl of Italian wedding soup!
14. Vegan Fried Rice: This is an oldie recipe, but a goodie. It has something like 12,000 hits on VegWeb. It is a great recipe to whip up during the week and have plenty of leftovers.
15. Southern Food Gone Vegan: Country fried seitan steaks? Check. Mashed potatoes? Check. Southern greens? Check. Biscuits and gravy? Check! If you want a simple gravy, you can dumb down what I have to a black pepper gravy. This is one of Vegan Miss' most popular entries over the course of the last three years. Another southern favorite is my chick'n & buckwheat waffles with preserves recipe. No one ever said southern food was healthy for you! ;]

Well, there you have it. My original intent was to have 5-10 recipes, but I just couldn't stop at 10! If you ever decide to recreate any Vegan Miss recipes, please email the pictures at veganmiss@gmail.com or post pictures on VM's Facebook and post a review of the recipe on VegWeb for me! 

Recap: The Chicago Vegan Chef Showdown

This weekend was the Chicago Vegan Chef Showdown. All proceeds from this event went to Mercy For Animals life-saving work to help promote veganism and reduce the suffering of farmed animals in the United States. Each team or contestant had to use Upton's Naturals seitan (any one of their varieties) in their dish as they were hosting this event. The event was held at the Funky Buddha Lounge here in Chicago on July 23rd. The turnout was incredible! Over 200 people showed up to support the competitors, MFA, and Upton's Naturals. Vegan Miss competed with one of my favorites, my deep dish vegan pizza. My friends and I spent the whole day before making pizza after pizza; in total, fourteen! So much pizza! We had quite the assembly line after a while going on in the kitchen. ;]

Though Vegan Miss did not place, two of MFA's great volunteers, Meagen and Blythe, won third with their cheeze and seitan ravioli's. A company called the Rootsy Vegan won first place with their jerk seitan which was really good. Dishes of the day were a "beef" curry with raita and rice, seitan tacos with a mango salsa, empanadas (won second, very tasty - indeed!), corn bread muffins with seitan and a glaze, seitan and pasta, and others. Kelly Peloza of the Vegan Cookie Connoisseur and Seitan Beats Your Meat was competing too - right next to VM! Congratulations to all the winners and great job to all contestants! We all worked really hard.

I very much enjoyed this event and the preparations I had to make ahead of time. We made business cards, a sign, a new blog layout, and did a little antique shopping to decorate the table. Alas, there was to be a flier with the recipe instructions, but time became an issue and it was never printed.

Many, many thanks to Chicago Soydairy for helping this blog doll out with a massive amount of Teese mozzarella. Could not have done it without them! 


Photo Credit: Louis McGill

Deep Dish Pizza

Many people think it is impossible to veganize certain things. I am to prove people wrong. With the exception of something such as say oysters rockefeller, most things can have meat and dairy-free alternatives. The task at hand this time was vegan deep dish pizza and it was successful!

Deep Dish Pizza

* Prep Time: 45 minutes
* Cook Time: 20 minutes
* Ingredients (for dough):

• 1 tsp sugar
• 1 package active dry yeast
• 1 cup warm water
• 2 & 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/2 cup finely ground yellow cornmeal
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 2 tbsp olive oil
• 2 tbsp yellow cornmeal & flour (used to dust counter to roll out dough)

* Ingredients (for pizza filling):

• 1 package Upton's Naturals All Natural Italian Sausage*
• 1 package mozzarella flavored Daiya*
• 1/2 package mozzarella flavored Teese, cut into slices*
• 1 cup baby bella mushrooms, sliced
• 1 cup (yellow or white) onion, sliced
• vegan Parmesan cheese*

* Ingredients (for sauce):

• 1 8 oz. can tomato sauce
• 1 tbsp dried oregano
• 1 tbsp dried basil
• 1 tsp garlic powder
• 1 tsp onion powder
• Salt & pepper, to taste

* Recipe:

1. In a separate bowl, combine water, sugar, and active dry yeast to activate yeast and let sit for at least 5 minutes.  
2. In a mixer, add the dry ingredients and mix on a low setting using a bread hook. When the yeast is ready, add it to the mixer with the olive oil. Let the dough form in the mixer until it forms a uniform ball and starts to climb the bread hook. (If you do not have a mixer, then combine the dry ingredients with the bowl of yeast, kneed until smooth.)
3. Remove and let stand for at least half an hour or until it doubles in size.
4. While waiting for the dough to rise, prepare the other ingredients. To prepare the sauce, add all of the ingredients in a sauce pan and let simmer on low heat until ready to use, stirring occasionally.
5. In a lightly oiled skillet, add the seitan and lightly brown. Prepare the mushrooms and onions now while you have the time.
6. Once the dough has risen, punch it down and then use the the cornmeal and flour to dust the counter. Form an even roll and cut in half. Lightly oil one half and place it in a zip lock bag in the freezer for another day.
7. Roll or press out the dough into a circle that will fit in a round, 9 inch cooking pan (I used a spring form pan for this). Lightly oil the baking pan and lightly dust with flour to prevent the dough from sticking. Place the dough in the pan so that it climbs up the sides to make a wall.
8. Preheat the oven to 450°F. 
9. Begin layering the ingredients. To keep it authentic, add the seitan sausage first, then the mushrooms and onions. Sprinkle a layer of vegan Parmesan cheese. Now for the cheese: add half of the Daiya for the next layer, being sure to spread it as evenly as possible. Then add the sliced Teese followed by topping it with the remaining Daiya. Sprinkle oregano over the cheese for a little added flavor. Add the pan to the oven and bake for 15 minutes.
10. Remove and add a layer of the sauce. Place in the oven again and bake for an additional 5 minutes.
11. Remove and let cool enough that you can handle and remove from pan. Place on a cutting board, slice, and serve.

* Note: Upton's Naturals is a local Chicago seitan company. They sell their faux meats here in Chicagoland. You could use other seitan-style meat crumbles such as Boca Ground Crumbles. As many of you have heard, Daiya is great. You can find it at Whole Foods as well as vegan websites such as VeganEssentials.com. Teese is a local soy cheese made by Chicago Soydairy. You can order it online from vegan websites as well. I used these two types of cheese for this pizza specifically since they melt well and taste good. Please try to use these brands if you can get a hold of them. Lastly, for vegan Parmesan I used Vegan Topping by Galaxy Nutritional Foods which you can also find at your local health food store or places like Whole Foods.