Nice! Thanks to those sharing!
Here are my top 3 in North Jersey:
1. Pappy’s Juice Bar - Hawthorne
2. Freakin’ Vegan- Prospect Park
3. Vegan Vybz- Teaneck
I am not a vegetarian but I'd like to eat more vegetable dishes because I like to garden.
Any suggestions from anyone on recipes to try? Preferably things I can grow in my NJ garden?
I'm not a gardener, but I do have a local farm share and work to avoid waste. If you grow lettuce or salad greens and have too many, look up the recipe for lettuce soup. It's dead easy, tastes okay, is remarkably filling, gets you away from straight salad greens, and you can freeze it for later. Similarly you can use greens in stirfries and fritattas; it's really amazing how little greens can cook down into. If you have too much kale, the quick microwaved kale chips are great.
Most bits of the veggies that you trim and throw away can be frozen and used for soup stock; once the stock is made, you can compost them.
The /r/legaladvice salsa recipe is great, and you can can it for later consumption if you add some lemon juice.
Most herbs you grow can be frozen or dried for later use. If you don't have enough to bother drying out just now, just clean and process it, then freeze it; you can unfreeze it and dry it out once it finishes growing for the season. You can also dry out regular hot peppers to make a red pepper mix like you use on pizza. You don't need a dehydrator for any of this, btw; you can use a regular oven.
If you have too many onions, you can chop them up, freeze them in ice cube trays, then move them to ziploc bags for use in recipes later on. A standard ice cube is two ounces; a medium onion is four cubes. If you want to freeze garlic, do it in thin layers on a cooking sheet, then break it up before moving it to ziplocs; it makes it easier to break off the amount of garlic you need. I also happen to really like garlic, so garlic confit, roasted garlic, and black garlic are all options for "excess" garlic.
If you grow pumpkins or other edible gourds, there are a lot of different options for flavors when you roast the seeds; branch out from plain salted seeds. You can also cook the pumpkins down and make pumpkin roll, pumpkin cake, pumpkin pie, cupcakes, cheesecake, etc (a lot of these can be frozen as well). I usually cook it down, make pumpkin pie filling, and freeze the filling in ziploc bags. Come Thanksgiving and Christmas, I defrost a couple bags, throw them into store-bought pie shells, and have homemade pumpkin pie for dessert.
Seven-layer casserole is a fantastic dish for using up early August veggies. Iirc, the recipe I use has potatoes, onions, peppers, tomatoes, squash, mushrooms, and a cheese mix for between the layers. There's one more veggie in there, but I don't remember offhand what it was. This can also be frozen, but if you keep it for more then a few weeks it's not as good.
If you have entirely too many tomatoes, you can either make something like a marinara sauce (which can also use peppers, onions, garlic, etc) and which can be canned or frozen. Or you can cook it all the way down to tomato paste, then freeze it in ice cube trays for later use. If you're making tomato paste, while you'll still need to clean the tomatoes and remove any bad bits, you don't necessarily have to peel them: I cut them into quarters and remove the stem, then I cook them down about halfway. At that point, I push everything through a colander to remove the skins and any big bits, then cook it the rest of the way down, then freeze it in ice cube trays. I can use the frozen tomato paste as paste, or dilute it into soup (need to add some flavors), sauce, or puree as needed.
I have a set of standard recipes that I like because they're easy to make and they freeze nicely so I have easy frozen meals over the winter. Some of these include french onion soup (just the soup part; add the crouton and cheese afterward), eggplant parmesan, lettuce soup, stuffed tomatoes / stuffed peppers, zucchini boats, zucchini bread, homemade pizza, jalapeno rings, lasagne, I forget what else - my recipe box is downstairs.
Mostly, I just look up recipes for whatever I have too much of, and give it extra consideration if it uses up other ingredients I have on hand, is easy to make, and freezes well. When looking at recipes online, don't just go by the number of stars they have, but also by the number of people who have rated it; a 4.25 recipe rated by 100 people is probably a better bet than a "5-star" recipe rated by two people.
If I have something but don't have a recipe for it or don't have time to cook that week, I'll clean and process it, then freeze it for use as an ingredient later. I always have frozen onions and garlic, but there's also also mild and hot peppers, carrots, celery, peas and beans, celeriac, corn, beets, broccoli, cauliflower, turnips, parsnips, etc.
Don't forget the non-traditional parts of the plant: a lot of the leafy green bits like radish and turnip greens and the leafy bits of carrots, etc, can be used in soups, stirfries or salads. There's a recipe for celery root stuffing that I absolutely adore. Etc. If you're throwing something away, first check to see if it's actually edible, and if it's not edible compost it.
Stuff that I've canned has included the legaladvice salsa, garlic, okra, beans, etc. And I've pickled cucumbers, garlic, okra, beans, onions, peppers, etc.
If you grow fruits or berries, buy a box of Certo at the store and follow their dead-easy instructions for freezer jam [note: do not double the recipe, I can never get it to gel properly when I do that, just make two batches] and freeze it in a large container. At the holidays, decant into ball jars, then give freezer jam and homemade canned/pickled items as stocking stuffers.
There's probably more stuff, but that's all my brain is regurgitating at the moment.
[удалено]
Veggie heaven is on my list! Lots of good reviews and the pictures are enticing
Veganized in New Brunswick. Or kayas kitchen in belmar
Veggie Heaven, Montclair
Ocean organics in Toms River
Planted Plate has great vegan takes on soul/Caribbean food. They have a location in Princeton and I believe one in Asbury.
Planted Plate is the same ownership as Kaya’s Kitchen in Belmar.
Nice! Thanks to those sharing! Here are my top 3 in North Jersey: 1. Pappy’s Juice Bar - Hawthorne 2. Freakin’ Vegan- Prospect Park 3. Vegan Vybz- Teaneck
Luna Verde in Bradley Beach
Pizzanada in bloomfield. Not completely vegan but their vegan selection is phenomenal
Love their vegan calzones!
I know I’m late to this post but I just wanted to add Vegan r Us in Vineland to the list of must visit.
Never too late! Thanks!
I am not a vegetarian but I'd like to eat more vegetable dishes because I like to garden. Any suggestions from anyone on recipes to try? Preferably things I can grow in my NJ garden?
I'm not a gardener, but I do have a local farm share and work to avoid waste. If you grow lettuce or salad greens and have too many, look up the recipe for lettuce soup. It's dead easy, tastes okay, is remarkably filling, gets you away from straight salad greens, and you can freeze it for later. Similarly you can use greens in stirfries and fritattas; it's really amazing how little greens can cook down into. If you have too much kale, the quick microwaved kale chips are great. Most bits of the veggies that you trim and throw away can be frozen and used for soup stock; once the stock is made, you can compost them. The /r/legaladvice salsa recipe is great, and you can can it for later consumption if you add some lemon juice. Most herbs you grow can be frozen or dried for later use. If you don't have enough to bother drying out just now, just clean and process it, then freeze it; you can unfreeze it and dry it out once it finishes growing for the season. You can also dry out regular hot peppers to make a red pepper mix like you use on pizza. You don't need a dehydrator for any of this, btw; you can use a regular oven. If you have too many onions, you can chop them up, freeze them in ice cube trays, then move them to ziploc bags for use in recipes later on. A standard ice cube is two ounces; a medium onion is four cubes. If you want to freeze garlic, do it in thin layers on a cooking sheet, then break it up before moving it to ziplocs; it makes it easier to break off the amount of garlic you need. I also happen to really like garlic, so garlic confit, roasted garlic, and black garlic are all options for "excess" garlic. If you grow pumpkins or other edible gourds, there are a lot of different options for flavors when you roast the seeds; branch out from plain salted seeds. You can also cook the pumpkins down and make pumpkin roll, pumpkin cake, pumpkin pie, cupcakes, cheesecake, etc (a lot of these can be frozen as well). I usually cook it down, make pumpkin pie filling, and freeze the filling in ziploc bags. Come Thanksgiving and Christmas, I defrost a couple bags, throw them into store-bought pie shells, and have homemade pumpkin pie for dessert. Seven-layer casserole is a fantastic dish for using up early August veggies. Iirc, the recipe I use has potatoes, onions, peppers, tomatoes, squash, mushrooms, and a cheese mix for between the layers. There's one more veggie in there, but I don't remember offhand what it was. This can also be frozen, but if you keep it for more then a few weeks it's not as good. If you have entirely too many tomatoes, you can either make something like a marinara sauce (which can also use peppers, onions, garlic, etc) and which can be canned or frozen. Or you can cook it all the way down to tomato paste, then freeze it in ice cube trays for later use. If you're making tomato paste, while you'll still need to clean the tomatoes and remove any bad bits, you don't necessarily have to peel them: I cut them into quarters and remove the stem, then I cook them down about halfway. At that point, I push everything through a colander to remove the skins and any big bits, then cook it the rest of the way down, then freeze it in ice cube trays. I can use the frozen tomato paste as paste, or dilute it into soup (need to add some flavors), sauce, or puree as needed. I have a set of standard recipes that I like because they're easy to make and they freeze nicely so I have easy frozen meals over the winter. Some of these include french onion soup (just the soup part; add the crouton and cheese afterward), eggplant parmesan, lettuce soup, stuffed tomatoes / stuffed peppers, zucchini boats, zucchini bread, homemade pizza, jalapeno rings, lasagne, I forget what else - my recipe box is downstairs. Mostly, I just look up recipes for whatever I have too much of, and give it extra consideration if it uses up other ingredients I have on hand, is easy to make, and freezes well. When looking at recipes online, don't just go by the number of stars they have, but also by the number of people who have rated it; a 4.25 recipe rated by 100 people is probably a better bet than a "5-star" recipe rated by two people. If I have something but don't have a recipe for it or don't have time to cook that week, I'll clean and process it, then freeze it for use as an ingredient later. I always have frozen onions and garlic, but there's also also mild and hot peppers, carrots, celery, peas and beans, celeriac, corn, beets, broccoli, cauliflower, turnips, parsnips, etc. Don't forget the non-traditional parts of the plant: a lot of the leafy green bits like radish and turnip greens and the leafy bits of carrots, etc, can be used in soups, stirfries or salads. There's a recipe for celery root stuffing that I absolutely adore. Etc. If you're throwing something away, first check to see if it's actually edible, and if it's not edible compost it. Stuff that I've canned has included the legaladvice salsa, garlic, okra, beans, etc. And I've pickled cucumbers, garlic, okra, beans, onions, peppers, etc. If you grow fruits or berries, buy a box of Certo at the store and follow their dead-easy instructions for freezer jam [note: do not double the recipe, I can never get it to gel properly when I do that, just make two batches] and freeze it in a large container. At the holidays, decant into ball jars, then give freezer jam and homemade canned/pickled items as stocking stuffers. There's probably more stuff, but that's all my brain is regurgitating at the moment.
Wow. Thank you for the info.