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Fireplace Chili Mac for VeganMofo

October 8, 2012 · by · 1 Comment

It actually was too cold for me to have all the windows open yesterday. It was wonderful to finally put on a sweater and we finally got to use the fireplace in our new house for the first time. In fact, I’m sipping on some rose tea in front of the fire as I’m writing this. Sigh…if only I could make this evening last a few days longer!

This is a lazy dinner that you can make at a moment’s notice. Perfect once winter gets going and if you, like me, tend to hibernate. All you need is a can of vegan chili and whole wheat shells in the pantry plus some salsa and vegan shredded cheese in the fridge to make this heart warming meal. [Read more...]

Filed Under: Busy Vegan, Chili, Dark Days, Fall, Non-Slow Cooker Recipe, Not Slow Cooker, Pasta · Tagged: , , , , , ,

Vegan Summer Slow Cooker – Pasta Sauces

July 11, 2012 · by · 4 Comments

Today we’ll look at making some yummy pasta sauces from scratch. Yes, even in the summer your slow cooker still comes through in a big way. I love the way you can take your csa or farmers market jewels and turn them into sauces for a great pasta dish.

They even freeze well for last-minute meals now or when tomato season is just a vague memory. These sauces are amazing with bread sticks and can even be the base of a grilled pizza!

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Filed Under: Pasta, Summer, The Vegan Slow Cooker Book, Vegan, Vegetarian · Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Super Simple Slow Cooker Tempeh Mushroom Stroganoff

February 22, 2012 · by · 8 Comments

This Tempeh Mushroom Stroganoff is amazingly easy and full of great flavors. It has few ingredients, but the mushrooms combined with the bouillon create an amazing broth that becomes the base of the sauce.

I don’t use tempeh as much as I should. It’s a fermented soy product that’s originally from Indonesia. Most people agree that fermented soy products are better for you and easier to digest.

Tempeh has a reputation for having a bitter taste, but if you steam it for 10 minutes before adding to your dish it will take most of that away.

If you are lucky, like I am, you might have an artisanal tempeh maker in your neck of the woods. The triangle area has Tempeh Girl and I think there is one in Asheville, NC and Gainesville, Fl. (If there’s one in your area please share the info in the comments.)

I’ll be talking more about Tempeh Girl, but she uses a different culture than the mass producers do and her tempeh is not bitter at all. And it’s ready to use right out of the package, so no steaming needed!

(I don’t usually do before pictures, but I wanted you to see the new tempeh I’m using. See how pretty it looks?)

Slow Cooker Tempeh Mushroom Stroganoff
gluten-free (with plain soy  tempeh and gluten-free pasta)
serves 2 to 3

I used my 3 1/2 quart, but think this would be better suited for a 1 1/2 to 2 quart slow cooker. If you are using a 4 quart or more you can double the recipe or add even more extra water.

  • 1 package (8 ounces  or 227 g) tempeh
  • 2 cups ( about 5 ounces or 142 g) mushrooms, chopped small
  • 2 cloves garlic, minced
  • 1 to 2 cups (250 to 500 ml) water, use more if you will cook longer than 8 hours
  • 1 teaspoon Not-Chicken Bouillon
  • 1/2 teaspoon paprika
  • 1/3 cup vegan sour cream (sub cashew cream or unsweetened non-dairy milk)
  • pinch dill, optional
  • salt and pepper, to taste
  • cooked pasta, for serving

The night before: Chop tempeh and mushrooms. Steam tempeh for about 10 minutes unless you have a locally made tempeh and then follow their recommendations. (For Tempeh Girl tempeh no steaming is needed!) Store in fridge until the morning.

In the morning: Add tempeh, mushrooms, garlic, water, bouillon, and paprika. Cook on low 7 to 9 hours.

20 minutes before serving: Add vegan sour cream and mix. Taste and add more paprika if needed, as well as salt and pepper. Serve over pasta (or mashed cauliflower, rice, quinoa, etc.) and top with dill if desired.

Filed Under: Cooking Time 6 hours, Cooking Time 8 hours, crockpot, Fall, Gluten-free, Slow cooker, Vegan, Vegetarian, Winter · Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Quick and Easy Vegan Winter Squash Pasta Sauce

January 25, 2012 · by · 1 Comment

Sometimes I leave the house without dinner in the slow cooker. For days like that this pasta sauce is easy to put together and tastes like you really put a ton of effort into it. In fact, it’s good enough to serve at your next dinner party!

Tip: Hate trying to carve a giant winter squash? Worry about cutting yourself? Some winter squash are huge and cutting them can be intimidating. Next time try softening it up in the oven first. Poke holes in your squash, place on a cookie sheet, and cook for 15 to 20 minutes at 375 degrees. Take it out and let it cool enough that you can touch it. You should be able to slice through it much easier. You can also use pre-cooked purée from your slow cooker!

Quick and Easy Vegan Winter Squash Pasta Sauce
Serves 4

  • 2 cups winter squash, peeled seeded and chopped (or pre-cooked purée)
  • 1 tablespoon Better Than Bouillon No Chicken Base (or other vegan chick’n base)
  • 3 to 4 cups water
  • 2 tablespoons fresh sage, chopped (or 1 teaspoon dried sage)
  • a few drops to ¼ teaspoon liquid smoke, to taste
  • 1 teaspoon balsamic vinegar
  • salt and pepper to taste
  • cooked pasta, for serving

In a saucepan with a lid, add the prepared squash, bouillon, and add enough water to completely cover the squash. The amount of water needed will vary on the size of pan you choose to use.

Cook with lid on over medium heat for about 10 to 15 minutes, or until you can pierce the squash easily with a fork.

Remove the lid and turn the heat to medium high. Add the sage and mash the squash with a wooden spoon as you stir. Cook down until the extra water has evaporated and it is a thick sauce. (If it was almost cooked dry in step 2, add ½ to 1 cup extra water, then mash.)

Add the liquid smoke, vinegar, and salt and pepper. Taste and add more salt, pepper, or sage if it doesn’t make you happy yet.

Serve over cooked pasta.

Filed Under: Beyond Easy, Busy Vegan, Fall, Main Course, Vegan, Vegetarian, Winter · Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Slow Cooker Summer Pasta Sauce with Fresh Basil

July 12, 2011 · by · 4 Comments

I fell in love with all the vibrant colors at the farmers market this weekend! There were various shades of eggplant from lavender to deep purple, peppers of all colors and heat, even Italian tomatoes in red, yellow, and orange.

The colors memorized me into buying more eggplant than I can typically sneak by Cheryl, my resident picky eater, in a week. But then I thought about cooking the eggplant down in a pasta sauce. Usually summer sauces are made with fresh veggies barely cooked and tossed with pasta, but there’s no rule that says that’s the way it has to be.

I used wax peppers in my sauce because they were beautiful and cheaper at the market. Any kind of sweet (as in not hot) peppers will work great.

For the fresh tomatoes it’s best to use Italian since they are meatier and not as juicy. If you use regular tomatoes seed them or be prepared to cook your sauce down longer than 8 hours. You can also seed the Italian ones to make a thicker sauce.

Slow Cooker Summer Pasta Sauce with Fresh Basil

Prep time: 15 minutes
Cooking Time: 6 to 8 hours on low (or 3 to 4 on high)

  • 1 to 2 tablespoons olive oil
  • 1/2 cup onion, minced (about 1/2 a medium onion)
  • 1/2 cup sweet or bell pepper, minced (about 1/2 a medium bell pepper)
  • 2 cups (164 g) eggplant, diced
  • 2 1/2 to 3 cups (395 to 474 g) diced fresh Italian tomatoes (of any color)
  • 3 cups diced tomatoes, or 2 cans (around 14 ounces or 392 g each)
  • 1 teaspoon dried oregano (or 1 tablespoon fresh)
  • Fresh ground pepper and salt to taste
  • 1/4 cup (10 g) fresh basil, chopped

The night before: Chop the veggies. Heat the oil and sauté the onion and pepper until translucent. Store the onion mixture and together with the diced tomatoes and eggplant in the same covered bowl in the fridge overnight.

In the morning:  Combine all the ingredients (except for fresh basil) in your slow cooker and cook all day on low (or 4 hours on high).  Season to taste with salt, pepper, and then stir in the chopped fresh basil. Serve over pasta. (Whole wheat angel hair is my favorite.)

You can also purée the sauce with an immersion blender for really picky eaters or for an extra thick sauce.

You can freeze the leftovers for another meal later in the month. (Or make extra pasta and use the leftover for lunches instead.)

When you come home you may need to add extra water if the sauce is too thick. If it is too thin put the handle of a wooden spoon between the lid and the crock then turn it to high. This should help the extra liquid to evaporate. If it is really watery, transfer it to a pot and cook on the stove without a lid to reduce it faster.

Filed Under: Beyond Easy, Cooking Time 8 hours, crockpot, Gluten-free, Overnight (8+ hours), Pasta, Slow cooker, Soy-free, Vegan, Vegetarian · Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Slow Cooker Hide and Seek Veggie Pasta Sauce

April 4, 2011 · by · 3 Comments

This sauce gets puréed before serving so it’s a perfect place to hide some of your families least favorite veggies. Eggplant works great in addition to the carrots or in place of them. I just didn’t have any on hand.

Make sure to think about the color while you are adding more veggies. If it’s not fairly red, they will suspect that something is not right. And those picky eaters have some crazy heightened senses!

Check out the recipe for the homemade Sun-Dried Tomato White Bean Wheat Balls over at my other blog Busy Vegan.

Slow Cooker Hide and Seek Veggie Pasta Sauce

Prep time: 15 minutes
Cooking Time: 6 -8  hours

  • 4 to 6 cloves garlic, minced
  • 6 cups diced tomatoes, or 2 cans (14 to 15 ounces each)
  • 1 cup carrots, chopped
  • 1 bell pepper, chopped
  • 2 tablespoons tomato paste
  • 2 tablespoons fresh or frozen basil (or 2 teaspoons dried)
  • 2 tablespoons agave nectar, if needed
  • Fresh ground pepper and salt to taste

The night before: Chop the veggies and store them together in a covered bowl in the fridge overnight.

In the morning:  Combine all the ingredients (except for basil, agave, salt and pepper) in your slow cooker and cook all day on low.  Taste the sauce and add the agave if it needs some sweetness. This will depend on the tomatoes. Season to taste with salt, pepper, and add extra basil if you’d like. Purée and serve over pasta. You can freeze the leftovers for another meal later in the month. (Or make extra pasta and use the leftover for lunches instead.)

When you come home you may need to add extra water if the sauce is too thick. If it is too thin put the handle of a wooden spoon between the lid and the crock then turn it to high. This should help the extra liquid to evaporate. If it is really watery, transfer it to a pot and cook on the stove without a lid to reduce it faster.

As seen at:

The Saturday Evening Post

The Healthy Home Economist

Filed Under: Cooking Time 8 hours, crockpot, Gluten-free, Overnight (8+ hours), Pasta, Slow cooker, Soy-free, Vegan, Vegetarian · Tagged: , , , , , , , , , ,

A New Blog for a New Week

March 28, 2011 · by · Leave a Comment

Happy Monday everyone! Hopefully yours is less weird than mine. 3 days last week the temperature got into the 80s. This morning it’s in the 30s and was sleeting. It’s just too surreal for a Monday…

Since I just don’t have enough to do I thought I’d start a new blog. (Ok, maybe I had some things to do that I decided to avoid for the weekend like taxes…)

Busy Vegan is going to be a place for me to post non-slow cooker recipes. Don’t get me wrong, Healthy Slow Cooking will keep going strong. But I don’t cook in my slow cooker for every meal, and sometimes I’m running too behind in the morning to even think about dinner. I also want to get back into a meal planning frame of mind.

So if you have a minute check out the Penne with Fresh Peas Topped with a Creamy Sun-dried Tomato Sauce recipe I posted over there. It was very easy to make and my picky eater loves peas – the one vegetable I’m not over the moon about. You can also sign up for updates on the new site and get then via email or rss.

Filed Under: Busy Vegan, Slow Food not Slow Cooker, Soy-free, Vegan, Vegetarian · Tagged: , , , , , , , ,

Dark Days Challenge Week One

December 6, 2010 · by · Leave a Comment


This winter I’m participating in the Dark Days Challenge that’s run by the (not so) Urban Hennery. The challenge to eat at least one meal a week made up of SOLE (sustainable, organic, local, ethical) ingredients.

As usual, I will try to incorporate the slow cooker in the challenge as much as I can. But I must warn you that this post is not slow cooker related. I’m hoping to make a slow cooker version of my pasta sauce later on, but for now I’ll post what I did to make my dinner tonight.

Tonight I attempted to make pasta for the first time. One of the farmers at the market sells whole wheat flour, corn meal, and grits. I figure I better get pasta making down for the challenge, it and polenta will be playing a bigger part in my diet this winter. My pasta attempt wasn’t really a failure, but it certainly needs refining. I made the noodles too thick, so the next batch will be thinner for sure. I used Vegan Dad’s pasta recipe as a starting point, but I used only whole wheat flour. I did get a beautiful pumpkin at the market and cooked it up to include in the pasta and my oatmeal for the week.

I made the pasta way too thick as you can probably see, but that’s ok it was still tasty if dumpling like. Plus I’ll have all winter to perfect the technique!

The sauce is all local except for a little balsamic vinegar, salt, and pepper that I used. The tomatoes were the last from my garden. I picked them green and they ripened in the house. They are an assortment of green zebra, yellow pear, and mortgage lifter. I harvested some rainbow chard from my front yard garden and used broccoli that I got at the farmer’s market.

I just chopped the tomatoes skin and all and threw them into the sauté pan and cooked them down with a little salt and a crushed clove of garlic.

Then I added about 2 cups chopped Swiss chard and the broccoli and covered the pan and cooked it until they were tender. Then I added salt and pepper, and a little balsamic and served it over my homemade pumpkin pasta.

Filed Under: Dark Days, Slow Food not Slow Cooker, Vegan, Vegetarian · Tagged: , , , , , , ,

Slow Cooker Protein Packed Pumpkin Lasagna

January 12, 2010 · by · 8 Comments

This is a twist on the heavy, fat laden traditional lasagna.

One of the questions I get as soon as I tell people I’m a vegetarian is ‘How do you get protein?’. We don’t need as much protein as they thought we did in the 50′s. But sometimes when you are switching your diet adding a little extra protein can help you feel less  hungry.

This is a perfect dish to serve at a dinner party. It’s easy to make and hearty. Just add a nice spinach salad with a balsamic vinaigrette and you’re all ready for company.

Slow Cooker Protein Packed Pumpkin Lasagna

Prep time: 20 minutes
Cooking Time: 6 -8  hours

  • 1 batch Pumpkin Tofu “Ricotta” – recipe below
  • 3/4 package of whole wheat lasagna
  • 1 jar organic marinara sauce (homemade works fine too!)
  • 1-16 0z can cooked white beans (low or no salt is best, and organic if you can find it)

Pumpkin Tofu “Ricotta”

  • 1 container tofu (silken, soft or firm – they all work fine)
  • 1-15 oz. can cooked pumpkin (or the equivalent cooked fresh pumpkin)
  • 1/4 cup nutritional yeast (give it a try adds a more cheesy flavor)
  • 1 Tb. Italian seasoning
  • 1 tsp. onion powder
  • 2 cloves crushed garlic
  • 1 Tb olive oil
  • 3 sun-dried tomatoes, re-hydrated and minced
    (pour boiling water over them and let them sit for a few minutes)
  • salt and pepper to taste

In a food processor blend the olive oil and sun-dried tomatoes until you have a paste. (It’s ok if there are still some lumps in it). Add the rest of the ingredients, blend until creamy. Add a little water if you need to thin the mixture. Taste and adjust seasonings.

The night before: Make the pumpkin tofu ricotta and store in the fridge until morning.

In the morning: Spray the crock with olive oil so you won’t have a nightmare cleanup on your hands later on.

Break off the corners of one side on each piece of the lasagna noodles so that they fit snuggly in the crock pot.

  • Spread thin layer of sauce covering the bottom of the slow cooker
  • Put in a single layer of whole wheat lasagna noodles
  • Now spread some of the cheese pumpkin mixture
  • Spread another thin layer of sauce
  • Sprinkle some of the white beans on top of that

Repeat those steps ending with a last layer of lasagna noodles and top that with sauce.

Cook on low for about 8 hours. It’s ok to leave it longer if you need to.

Filed Under: Cooking Time 6 hours, Cooking Time 8 hours, Pasta, Vegan, Vegetarian · Tagged: , , , , , , , , ,