Southern Dinner - Vegan Style

My mother in law and her friends have a CSA subscription with a farm in Port Royal in Henry County Kentucky.  She often times will give us food because its hard to keep up with eating all the produce she receives. So.... I anticipate the next few posts will be dealing with local summer produce, as it tends to dominate meal choices this time of year. 

I actually grew up in the country in Carroll County, Kentucky.  It's just a few miles from the farm where the CSA subscription is coming from. My grandmother was born there, and my father's side of the family hails from those river hollers since the late 1700's.  I still have family there.  

This southern girl, Miss Carroll Country Tobacco Festival, is best at being southern in the kitchen!  Sans the bacon grease!  Bring on the Earth Balance, a wonderful vegan butter substitute. 

Tonight I made cornbread (southern.... not sweet!!!!).  I found and used this recipe, and really liked it:

http://organicgoddess.wordpress.com/vegan-101/columns-2002/2002-03/

Corn Bread

Recipe By: Lisa T. Bennett
Serving Size: 8
Preparation Time: 0:45

1 cup full-fat soy milk (unsweetened preferred, but regular okay.)
1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar
3/4 cup safflower or canola oil
1 1/2 cups cornmeal (white or yellow)
3/4 cup whole wheat pastry or unbleached all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon Ener-G egg replacer powder
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt

Preheat oven to 450 F.

Mix soy milk and vinegar – let sour. It will look lumpy and clabbered, like buttermilk.

Pour safflower oil into a cast-iron pan. Let it heat in the oven while you mix dry ingredients in a large mixing bowl. (If you don’t have a cast-iron pan, use an 8″ round cake pan or an 8″ X 8″ square pan.)

Pour oil into a well in the dry ingredients. Add the soured soymilk – mix quickly. Batter should be like thick cake batter. If too dry, add more soy milk (doesn’t have to be soured).

Pour batter in hot pan, place back in oven and bake until golden and crusty – about 20-25 minutes.
—————
Variations: add any or all of the following: a handful of corn kernels, diced red or green bell peppers, a tablespoon of diced jalepenos, or a teaspon of diced or pureed chipotle peppers.

I also made Southern Fried Cabbage.  Here's a link to the recipe source.  I loved this dish!

http://vegweb.com/index.php?topic=10944.0

Fried Cabbage, Southern Style

Ingredients (use vegan versions):

    2 tablespoons oil
    5 cups cabbage, coarsely shredded
    1 medium onion, chopped
    1 tablespoon salt
    dash nutmeg
    1 1/2 tablespoons sugar
    cayenne pepper, to taste
    2 tablespoons vinegar

Directions:

1. Heat oil in large skillet.  Add cabbage, onion, salt and nutmeg.  

2. Cover and cook slowly about 20 minutes.  Add vegan sugar and cayenne pepper to vinegar and mix well.  

3. Pour over cabbage and cook 5 minutes longer.

Delicious with vegan cornbread.

Serves: 2-3, Preparation time: 15 min. or less

Also, because I had peas from the CSA, I tossed them in the skillet with water, Dr. Braggs, garlic paste, and sweet chili sauce. I only cook them for about two minutes, and they turned out amazing.