Cookbook Review: The Sexy Vegan's Happy Hour at Home + A New Recipe!

When author Brian Patton aka The Sexy Vegan began dating his soon-to-be wife, he offered to entertain her with Friday night Happy Hours at her apartment or his. After a long workweek, she was ready to kick back and enjoy a cocktail or glass of wine, and it was the perfect way to enjoy summer evenings. After a couple weeks, these evenings weren’t just for two because her friends begged for invitations after hearing rave reviews of Brian’s delicious tapas and appetizers.

Brian created so many recipes that he decided it was time to put them into a book.  The Sexy Vegan’s Happy Hour at Home is divided into 20 Menus, each with 3 or 4 recipes, and libation suggestions. The dishes in each menu complement each other, using similar spices and overlapping ingredients, making the menus efficient. Designed around specific themes, each menu has a unique twist but can easily be combined with other finger foods to provide everything you need to entertain vegan and non-vegan friends and family alike.  

I fell in love with Brian's first cookbook last year and was so excited when I found out he had another book on the horizon (and a new wife, and a new little vegan baby!) I was even more thrilled to get a chance to cook my way through the book and fall in love with the new collection of recipes from The Sexy Vegan's Happy Hour at Home. Being a mom to a toddler I don't get too many happy hours (and by that I mean I get none) but these recipes are perfect for any occasion, including a regular ole family dinner - which is how I used the recipes in our house. My daughter is quite an adventurous eater but when it comes to faux meats she turns up her nose (and why shouldn't she?!) so I was thrilled to see that this book is free of the fake stuff and uses healthy, basic ingredients to make extraordinary dishes. The lentil patties that go into the Little Mac's are her new favorite burger and she asks for them constantly. 

I loved every recipe in the book except two - the yamburger sliders and the tamales  The yamburgers because they were nothing but slices of yams and I expected more from the recipe and the tamales because they really shouldn't be called tamales at all. The taste, textures and ingredients are not even close to a tamale. But that's a personal bone to pick with me because I grew up on authentic tamales and am pretty inflexible about changing them up even the slightest.

This Little Macs recipe is from the book’s The Happiest Meal Happy Hour Menu that also includes a recipe for Baked Sweet Potato “Fries” with Adobo Dipping Sauce.

  

Little Macs with Very, Very Special Sauce

One 15-ounce can black or green lentils, drained

1 1/2 teaspoons smoked paprika

1/2 teaspoon onion powder

1/2 teaspoon garlic powder

1/8 teaspoon pepper

1 tablespoon low-sodium tamari

1 teaspoon vegan Worcestershire sauce

1/4 cup plus 1 tablespoon vital wheat gluten

2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil

16 small slices vegan cheddar cheeze

8 tiny sesame seed buns (about 2 inches wide) plus the bottom halves of
8 other tiny buns (to use as the middle bun)

1/2 cup Very, Very Special Sauce (recipe follows)

2 cups shredded romaine lettuce

2 small dill pickles, thinly sliced

1/2 cup minced white onion

8 long toothpicks or skewers

To make the burger patties, in a medium bowl, combine the lentils, paprika, onion powder, garlic powder, pepper, tamari, and Worcestershire. Mash it all together with a fork or your hands until about 70 percent of the lentils are mashed. Add the wheat gluten and continue mashing until there are no dry parts remaining and you have a ball of dough. Scoop out a heaping tablespoon of dough and place it on a large cutting board or other work surface. Repeat until you have 16 lumps of dough. Roll each lump into a ball, then flatten it into a 2-inch patty.

In a large skillet, heat the olive oil to medium-high, and add the patties (you may have to fry them in two shifts). Fry on one side for about 5 minutes, or until browned. Then flip, top each patty with a cheddar slice, and fry for another 5 minutes.

In the meantime, get your tiny buns ready. Slather the top and bottom bun halves, and one side of the middle buns, with the Very, Very Special Sauce.

By now your patties should be ready, so it’s time to start assembling. Place one patty on each of the bottom bun halves. Top the patties with half of the lettuce and half of the pickles. Place
the middle bun pieces, sauce side down, on top of that, followed by the remaining patties, lettuce, and pickles, and the onion. Finally, cover with the bun tops and use toothpicks or skewers to hold them together. 

Very, Very Special Sauce

1 cup vegan mayo

1/2 cup sweet pickle relish

1/2 cup ketchup

1/4 cup yellow mustard

In a small bowl, whisk all this stuff together.

Excerpted with permission from The Sexy Vegan’s Happy Hour at Home ©2013 by Brian Patton.  Published with permission of New World Library http://www.newworldlibrary.com

Brian Patton is author of The Sexy Vegan’s Happy Hour at Home and The Sexy Vegan Cookbook. He is also executive chef for Vegin’ Out, a vegan food delivery service in Los Angeles. As the quintessential “regular dude” vegan chef, he started posting instructional cooking videos on YouTube as his witty, ukulele playing alter-ego The Sexy Vegan and quickly gained a large following.  Visit him online at http://www.thesexyvegan.com. 

Independence Day BBQ Tempeh Hoagies with Chipotle Mayo

After a nearly 4 month absence I'm back! I've been busy working on my new book Quick and Easy LOW-CAL Vegan Comfort Food  and a new blog dedicated to veganizing Paula Deen recipes called The Lady and Seitan. I'm busy as ever but finally back and I have a stockpile vegan goodies to review for you. What better way to start the month than with a recipe for BBQ Tempeh Hoagies with Chipotle Mayo from Quick and Easy Vegan Celebrations. Enjoy!

BBQ Tempeh Hoagies with Chipotle Mayo

Makes 4 hoagies

Get your napkins ready and your bib on tight because you’re about to dive into a boat of Smokey Maple BBQ Sauce with a little tempeh on the side. If there are skeptics of vegan food in your life then this is the hoagie to start them out on. I set these out at a cookout last year just for a moment while I went to grab some chips, and when I came back I found they had all been kidnapped by my omnivore friends. Let’s see how long they last at your summer cookout.

2 tablespoons canola oil

½ small white onion, sliced thin

½ medium bell pepper, of any color, sliced thin

One 8-ounce package tempeh, any variety, sliced thin

1 cup Smokey Maple BBQ Sauce (recipe below)

4 hoagie rolls, lightly toasted

Chipotle Mayo

½ cup vegan mayonnaise

1 teaspoon vegan Worcestershire sauce

1 teaspoon adobo sauce

1 chipotle pepper in adobo sauce

¼ teaspoon dried oregano

Warm the canola oil in a skillet over medium heat. Add the onions and bell pepper and cook for 1 minute. Add the tempeh and cook for 4 to 5 minutes, or until the tempeh is warmed through, stirring often.

While tempeh is cooking, add all chipotle mayo ingredients to a mini food processor and process until smooth.

Remove from heat and stir in Smokey Maple BBQ Sauce.

Spread Chipotle Mayo on each side of the hoagie roll and fill with the tempeh mixture

Smokey Maple BBQ Sauce

Makes 1¾ cups

1 tablespoon canola oil

½ cup diced white onion

2 garlic cloves, minced

1 cup ketchup

¾ cup Grade A maple syrup

2 tablespoons vegan Worcestershire sauce

½ teaspoon hickory liquid smoke

¼ teaspoon red pepper flakes

Warm canola oil in a small saucepan over medium heat. Put in the onion and sauté until translucent, about 3 minutes. Add the garlic and sauté until fragrant, about 1 minute.

Stir in the ketchup, maple syrup, Worcestershire sauce, liquid smoke, and red pepper flakes.

Reduce the heat, cover, and simmer for 30 minutes. This sauce can be stored for up to a week in the refrigerator in an airtight container

Game Day Nachos (from Quick & Easy Vegan Celebrations)

I'm not a sports kinda girl by any stretch of the imagination. I managed to make it through 2 years of cheerleading in highschool without ever actually learning how the game of football is played. But what I can do is cook up a big vegan feast for damn near any occasion and Super Bowl Sunday is no exception. Here's my recipe for Game Day Nachos from the Game Day Spread chapter of Quick & Easy Vegan Celebrations. Other Super Bowl Sunday favorites from this chapter: Spicy Seitan Burgers, French Onion Burgers, Sun-Dried Tomato Pinwheels, Loaded Potato Skins, French Onion Dip, Spinach Artichoke Dip, Seven-Layer Dip, Roasted Five-Spice Nuts and Brownies.

1 medium Yukon Gold potato, peeled and diced

1 medium carrot, peeled and diced

½ cup diced white onion

1 garlic clove, chopped

1 cup water

½ cup cooked navy beans

¼ cup canola oil

¾ teaspoon fine sea salt

1 tablespoon lemon juice

½ cup cashews

One 10-ounce can diced tomatoes with green chiles, drained

One 13-ounce bag tortilla chips

1½ cup cooked black beans

2 green onions or 1 bunch chives, chopped

1 cup sliced green or black olives

½ cup jalapeño slices

2 cups shredded romaine lettuce

Combine the potato, carrot, onion, garlic, and water in a small saucepan and set over medium heat. Bring to a boil, lower heat, and simmer, covered, for 10 minutes or until vegetables are tender. The smaller you cut the vegetables, the less time it will take to cook them.

Put the navy beans, oil, salt, lemon juice, cashews, and cooked vegetable with the cooking water into a blender and process until completely smooth.

Transfer the sauce to fondue pot or large mixing bowl and stir in the diced tomato with green chiles. Ladle the sauce over tortilla chips and top with the black beans, green onions, olives, jalapeños, and lettuce, as desired

Toasting to the New Year with Gingered Champagne Cocktails

I can't believe 2010 is drawing to an end. This has been such an amazing year and I thank all of you for contributing to making it a joy for me. I've loved sharing reviews with you and thank you so much for your support of Quick and Easy Vegan Comfort Food which made Quick and Easy Vegan Celebrations possible. I've got some amazing plans in store for next year that I hope you all will love. But for now, it's time to toast to the New Year!

The Gingered Champagne Cocktail from Quick and Easy Vegan Celebrations (New Year's Eve Chapter) is how I have rung in the new year two years in a row. I'm an unashamed lover of vodka and there's nothing better than mixing a New Year's tradition with a Saturday night favorite.  Happy New Year to each and every one of you!!!!

Gingered Champagne Cocktail

Makes 8 cocktails

¼ cup candied ginger

One 8-ounce bottle ginger beer

½ cup vodka

One 750 ml bottle sweet sparkling wine or champagne

Divide candied ginger among eight Champagne glasses, Add 1 ounce ginger beer and 1 tablespoon vodka to each glass. Top off each glass with sparkling wine and serve.

Also Pictured Sweetheart Sangria from the Valentine's Day Chapter of Quick and Easy Vegan Celebrations.

Christmas Tamales

These tamales are from my new book Quick and Easy Vegan Celebrations. There’s no quick way to make tamales, but, as a California girl, there is no way I could open the Christmas season without them. In Mexico, Christmas and tamales go hand in hand, and in my hometown of Fresno, California, the same notion rings true. It simply isn’t Christmas without the tamales.

These tamales are also Soy Free and Gluten Free.

12 dried corn husks

2 cups masa harina

1 teaspoon fine sea salt

¼ teaspoon garlic powder

½ cup canola oil

1½ cups vegetable stock

1½ cups steamed fresh or frozen corn

1½ cups cooked black beans

1 whole roasted red pepper diced

1½ teaspoons sofrito

2¼ teaspoons Taco Seasoning

Soak the corn husks in warm water while you prepare masa and filling.

Combine the masa, salt, and garlic powder in a large bowl. Add the canola oil and mix with your hands. Add the stock 1/2 cup at a time. Continue to mix with your hands or a large spoon, adding in stock until you have a consistency that you can spread with a knife.

Stir together the corn, black beans, red pepper, sofrito, and Taco Seasoning in a medium bowl. One at a time, shake excess water off corn husks and lay flat on your cooking surface.

Spread masa mixture evenly over the corn husks, working it with your hands if you need to. Spread a large spoonful of filling on top of the masa.

Fold the sides of the corn husk to the center over the masa so that they overlap, making sure that none of the filling leaks out. Fold the empty part of the husk under so that it rests against the side of the tamale with a seam.

Place the tamales in a steamer and cook for 40 to 45 minutes. The tamales are cooked when they separate easily from the corn husk

Quick and Easy Hanukkah Menu

Happy Hanukkah! Working on the Hanukkah chapter of Quick and Easy Vegan Celebrations was one of the most fun yet most challenging weeks in the kitchen mostly because of recipes like Challah, and the baked and fried version of Sufganiyot which both require time to rise which means I had way too much time on my hands to sit around anxiously waiting to see if the recipe was a success. As it turned out these recipes were some of the big favorites of my book testers and  by the time the book was wrapped and off to the printer nearly all the dishes in this Hanukkah chapter worked their way into staples in my home. Here's my Quick & Easy Hanukkah Menu:

Portobello Brisket

Roasted Vegetables

Potato Latkes

Sweet Potato and Parsnip Latkes

Cauliflower Latkes

Challah

Sufganiyot

Baked Sufganiyot

Applesauce Donut Holes

Portobello Brisket and Roasted Vegetables (Carrot, Parsnips, Turnip, Celery Root)

Quick & Easy Vegan Celebrations Booksigning (Atlanta, GA)

 I'll be signing copies of Quick and Easy Vegan Celebrations and Quick and Easy Vegan Comfort Food 

Saturday, November 6th at 3pm

Borders Buckhead in Atlanta (3637 Peachtree Rd. NE, Ste. C Atlanta, GA 30319)

Hope to see you there! 

Quick & Easy Vegan Celebrations Cookbook Giveaway!

It seems like only yesterday I was announcing the release of my first cookbook Quick and Easy Vegan Comfort Food to you guys, beaming with pride like a new mom. I want to thank all of you who have purchased Quick and Easy Vegan Comfort Food and for all your amazing tweets, facebook messages and emails, it's because of all of you that I was given the amazing opportunity to write my second cookbook Quick and Easy Vegan Celebrations which is now officially available in stores coast to coast and online.

Quick and Easy Vegan Celebrations is an indispensable cookbook for vegans and for anyone with vegan or vegetarian friends. Whatever the occasion, celebrants can learn to serve delicious, traditional holiday fare without using milk, eggs, or meat. Quick and Easy Vegan Celebrations updates classic holiday recipes to be vegan-friendly and as delicious as ever. Readers find everything needed for New Year's Eve, Super Bowl Sunday, Valentine's Day, St. Patrick's Day, Easter, Cinco de Mayo, Independence Day, Thanksgiving, Hanukkah, Christmas, Kwanzaa, Mardi Gras and birthdays. Author Alicia C. Simpson takes the guesswork out of menu planning with over 150 festive new recipes—so all readers have to do is have fun cooking, partying . . . and eating!

You can find photos of the recipes from the book on my new website www.aliciacsimpson.com as well as a Soy Free and Gluten Free Guide to both Quick and Easy Vegan Celebrations and Quick and Easy Vegan Comfort Food and sample recipes from both books as well.


And now the moment you've all been waiting for. THE GIVEAWAY! One lucky person will win a free signed copy of Quick and Easy Vegan Celebrations. It's super easy to enter. Just leave a comment below with your email address and tell me what your favorite holiday or celebration of the year is. The giveaway contest starts October 21st and the winner will be announced on the first day of VeganMofo (the Vegan Month of Food) Monday, November 1st. GOOD LUCK!