About two months ago, I was watching a food documentary on Netflix about the state of meat production in the US. Why, oh why, do I do these things to myself? After watching, I sat down and talked to Andrew and told him we seriously needed to consider a more vegan lifestyle, even if that meant anywhere from 1-3 meals a week were vegan. In my eyes, there’s always room for improvement and until we have enough land to humanly raise our own animals, then going vegan as much as possible is the next best thing.
Around this same time, I was asked to review a new cookbook, The Easy Vegan Cookbook, and I jumped at the opportunity. Between the time we decided to find vegan meals and receiving the cookbook, I had tried to make some recipes I found on some vegan blogs, and every time they were complete fails for the family. I can, personally, eat any much anything without a problem, but Andrew is extremely picky, and even Skibbles wasn’t eating the food, so I really knew they weren’t that great. So, admittedly, I was a bit nervous about receiving the cookbook and the recipes still not being great.
Luckily, I was wrong.
I have tried out at least six of the recipes in the book so far and they are amazing. We loved the Cuban Style Black Beans and the Avocado Lemon Basil Pesto. One of my favs was a Rice and Beans recipes that was like a stew and loaded with veggies. But the Veggie Quinoa Biscuits I’m sharing here with you are amazingly simple to make and delicious. Skibbles ate two of them before dinner was even ready and she loved “helping”.
Once we got them on the sheet, we popped in the oven and in about 20 minutes they were ready for us. The recipe said 13-18 minutes or until golden brown and it took us about 22-25 minutes for that to happen.
But glorious perfection once they were completed!
Veggie Quinoa Drop Biscuits
Ingredients
- MAKES ABOUT 12 BISCUITS
- ¾ cup 177 ml soy milk (or other nondairy milk and leave out the vinegar) (we used coconut milk)
- 1½ teaspoons 7 ml apple cider vinegar or white vinegar
- 1 tablespoon 15 ml olive oil or broth
- ½ cup 55 g finely grated carrot
- 1 ½ cups 100 g finely minced kale or other green (we used spinach)
- 1 cup 185 g cooked quinoa
- 2 cups 240 g whole-wheat pastry flour (*use a gluten-free all-purpose flour for GF)
- 2 teaspoons 7.5 g baking powder
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ½ cup 112 g vegan butter, shortening or refined coconut oil
Instructions
-
Preheat the oven to 350°F (177°C).
-
Whisk the soy milk and vinegar and set aside. While it stands, it will
-
curdle and thicken, creating a vegan buttermilk substitute. (This only works with soy milk. If you use a nut milk or coconut milk, it will not thicken but the recipe will still work.)
-
Heat the olive oil or broth in a sauté pan over medium heat and add the kale. Sauté for 1 to 3 minutes or until it turns bright green.
-
Pour into a large bowl with the carrots and quinoa. Set aside.
-
To a food processor, add the whole-wheat pastry flour and process for about 2 minutes to make it finer and the biscuit a little lighter.
-
Add baking powder, baking soda and salt and process for about 1 minute.
-
Next, add the vegan butter or shortening to the food processor ⅛ of a cup (28 g) at a time and pulse for 30 seconds to a minute after each addition. The mixture will start to look like coarse cornmeal. If there are a few teaspoon-sized lumps of butter, don’t worry—they will mix in later.
-
Pour the flour mixture into the large bowl with the veggies, quinoa and soy milk-vinegar mixture. Mix well with a wooden spoon to spread the veggies throughout and smash up any butter pieces that remain.
-
Grease two cookie sheets or line them with parchment paper. Using a large scoop (about ¼ cup [60 ml]),form about 12 biscuits. They will be domed from the scoop; if you wish, flatten them with the palm of your hand. They will not spread out during cooking.
-
Cook for 13 to 17 minutes, or until they turn light brown on the bottoms.
Courtney says
I keep trying to tell my hubby to go vegan and he just won’t have it. I’m more vegetarian these days since I like milk, cheese and eggs. Can’t wait to try this recipe and need to get this cookbook!!
Kathy Hester says
I’m so glad that your family enjoyed my recipes! I have a picky eater myself, so I know how that makes everything a little harder on the cook.
Let me know if you are ever looking for a particular vegan recipe and I’ll do my best to recommend a good one to you!