Vegetarian Adventure

Falafels with Roasted Vegetables

2008-10-16T17:56:00.002-04:00

I tried a Falafel recipe from a Cooking Light cookbook that I have. I chose it mostly because it was simpler than a lot of other falafel recipes that I have, it did not have a long list of ingredients, but it still tasted delicious! I served it with roasted cauliflower and carrots. This is one of my absolute favorite ways to eat cauliflower: Toss cauliflower florets and carrot pieces with some olive oil, then sprinkle with salt, pepper, coriander, and cumin. Roast in a 450 degree oven for 35-45 minutes, until vegetables are tender. Yum!

Curried Lentils in Tomato Sauce

2008-10-10T18:55:00.002-04:00

I found this lentil recipe in one of my back issues of Everyday Food magazine. It is really easy and really good! The recipe was supposed to use canned lentils (it was a feature on fast meals), but I only had the dry so I had to add a step to cook those first. Also, I added in a diced sweet potato, which the recipe did not have. It was easy: saute a diced onion and 2 inch piece of ginger (grated) in some oil. Add 2 tsp of curry powder and 1 tsp garam masala, sautee 1 minute. Add two cans of lentils and a 26 oz jar of good quality marinara. Simmer 10 minutes (or until thickened), then stir in the juice of 1 lime and 1/2 cup chopped cilantro (or parsley). Serve over rice. I really really liked this dish! I think it will become a staple in our house.

A few other dishes I've made recently (I've been slacking on posting!), one is a bolognese sauce where I just simply subbed in Boca Cumbles. The kids really liked this one, it came out pretty good.

A tofu scramble I made for lunch one day with mushrooms, peppers, and onions. I had some black beans, salsa, and corn tortillas.

Pasta Dinner

2008-09-26T19:12:00.005-04:00

Tonight I made one of our favorites, Penne Pasta and Green Beans with Spinach-Walnut Pesto. I love this dinner! It is fast and healthy, and everyone in my family likes it. No wonder I make it just about every other week!

For dessert, I made Lingonberry Oatmeal Bars. These are the Raspberry Oatmeal bars from the Joy of Vegan Baking, except I used lingonberry jam. I also used half earth balance and half coconut oil instead of all earth balance because I was worried I would run out of my earth balance. (I mean, what if I wanted toast real bad, and there was no earth balance?? :) ) I actually think the coconut oil gave it a nice hint of something something.

Oh, and yes, the lingonberry jam was from IKEA, in case you were wondering. So if you happen to have a jar of that too, it makes nice oatmeal bars!

Pumpkin Pie Oatmeal

2008-09-23T13:50:00.002-04:00

Even though in Florida it's still pretty warm out, I was pretending it was fall this morning because there was a nice breeze. Pumpkin is my favorite fall flavor, so pumpkin pie oatmeal was a delicious treat this morning!

Pumpkin Pie Oatmeal (serves 1)

1/2 cup vanilla rice milk

1/2 cup water

1/2 cup oatmeal

1/4 cup pumpkin puree

dash of pumpkin pie spice

dash of cinnamon

2 Tbs chopped pecans

1 - 2 Tbs maple syrup

In a small saucepan, bring the milk and water to a gentle boil. Reduce the heat and stir in the oatmeal. Cook, stirring occasionally, until the liquid is absorbed and the oatmeal is thick and creamy, about 5 minutes. Remove from heat and stir in the pumpkin puree and spices. Top with chopped pecans and maple syrup.

Pan-Fried Polenta

2008-09-22T18:44:00.002-04:00

Tonight I was making a dish that I had made not too long ago, Butter Beans with Sweet Potatoes and Greens, but instead of serving it on rice, I thought I would try out Pan-Fried Polenta. I've made polenta before, but only the soft kind, that is the consistency of mashed potatoes. The firmer kind is really pretty simple, it only takes a little pre-planning (but not much):

Pan-Fried Polenta

4 1/2 cups water

1/2 tsp salt

1 1/2 cups cornmeal

1 Tbs non-hydrogenated margarine (I used Earth Balance)

Cooking Spray

Olive Oil

In a saucepan, bring the water and salt to a gentle boil. Reduce the heat to a simmer, and then using a whisk, slowly pour in the cornmeal, whisking constantly. Keep whisking for a minute or two, then switch to a wooden spoon. Cook, stirring frequently, about 15 minutes, until the cornmeal as become very thick. Remove from heat and stir in margarine. Spray an 9 x 11 inch baking dish with cooking spray, and then pour in the cornmeal mixture, spreading out evenly. Allow to cool at least 30 minutes. Pre-heat a large skillet over medium to medium-high heat. Add the olive oil to cover the bottom of the pan. Cut the cornmeal mixture into 16 triangles. Place 4 triangles at a time in the hot oil and cook 3 -4 minutes, then flip over and cook another 3 - 4 minutes. Remove from the pan, and repeat with remaining triangles.

Banana Harvest!

2008-09-18T19:47:00.003-04:00

Well, obviously we haven't eaten any yet since they are still green, but here are the bananas that I just cut down from my banana plant! Mark bought a teeny tiny banana plant for $11 about six years ago, and it grew and split off, and kept growing (in fact a few plants grew under the fence, so now our neighbors have a couple of nice banana plants). Every year we've gotten bananas, except this past year we had two bunches that were ruined by freezing temperatures. :( I thought we would be out of luck until the following year, but a few months later one of the plants bloomed! You have to wait a while to pick them - until the bananas are "full" but still green. They are smaller than the grocery store bananas, maybe about 4 inches. So cute!

When I was back in the forest of banana plants, I noticed another plant had just started to bloom, so soon I will have another bunch! Okay, so maybe in Florida I can't grow a great apple tree or pear tree, but bananas are fun, too!

Fantastic Foods Are Fantastic!

2008-09-15T18:55:00.002-04:00

With our schedules being busy with school back in session, I am all about the easy dinners. Tonight I made the Vegetarian Chili from Fantastic Foods, with spicy potato wedges and broccoli. I love that Chili! I like homemade Chili more (who wouldn't), but this is pretty good for about 10 minutes of cooking on the stove. It was super fast and healthy. We've tried a couple other products from Fantastic Foods, and we like the ones we've tried so far. (The Nature Burgers are one of my kids' favorite dinners.)

Asian Noodle Bowl

2008-09-11T14:04:00.002-04:00

A recent Rachel Ray episode was for a vegetarian Asian meal. I recorded it, and my son and I thought it would be fun to try and cook "live" with the show, to see if I could keep up. Well, let me tell you, Rachel Ray is a speedy chopper! I had to pause the show once or twice to catch up, but mostly the meal came together at the same time hers did! The meal was Asian Noodle Bowls with whole wheat noodles, veggies (peppers, napa cabbage, edamame, red onion), and a Hoisin sauce. It was good, but I think maybe I would try a different sauce next time. The other two dishes are Teriyaki Cremini Mushrooms and Cucumber Salad. The mushrooms were awesome! The kids were fighting over second helpings. The cremini's were tossed with vegetable oil, teriyaki, green onions, and grill seasoning. Then roasted in a 450 degree oven for 20 or 25 minutes. Easy! The cucumber salad was nice too, but didn't stand out as much as the mushrooms did!

Long Time No Post

2008-09-10T13:33:00.004-04:00

We've gotten so settled into the back to school routine now, but our meals have mostly been repeats of our favorites! Nothing I wanted to post about over and over. However, my mom has been complaining about having to look at the same blueberry muffin everyday, checking to see if I've posted something new. Sorry! I have two new dishes.

The first was a made-up recipe, I pretty much kind of threw it together: Pasta with white beans, spinach, and tomatoes. I used cherry tomatoes and sun-dried tomatoes, and I also seasoned the dish with some garlic and lemon juice. It was a great light meal to have on a hot day!

And so sorry, mom, but I made some more muffins. I bought bananas yesterday at the fruit/vegetable stand, but I guess I did a bad job picking out bananas because they were way too soft this morning! I froze a few of them, but I mashed the rest to make some muffins. I used the Banana Maple Bread recipe from Dreena Burton's Everyday Vegan. I added some chopped walnuts as well, and just baked them as muffins. I haven't had one yet because they are still cooling, but they smell delicious!

Two More Recipes

2008-09-02T14:26:00.003-04:00

Still trying out recipes from my new cookbook (Idiot's Guide to Vegan Cooking) I baked some blueberry corn muffins. These were made with spelt flour and cornmeal, and were actually supposed to have mixed berries, but I used all blueberries. I made the muffin batter up the night before, so all I had to do in the morning was bake them! They were good, although the kids didn't like them too much. I think because they don't like blueberries cooked.

Another great recipe was for the Spinach-Walnut Pesto. This was so good!! I made penne pasta and also cut green beans in the same shape as the penne, and I added them to the cooking pasta in the last few minutes. This was my attempt to hide the green beans, I figured with the green pesto sauce the kids would not notice. They noticed, but the pesto was so good they ate them anyway (green beans are not a favorite of my kids, for some reason). This dinner was so quick and delicious, I am actually making it again tonight! (Also, sorry for the "fuzzy" photo, a storm had just finished so my camera lens kept getting steamy!)

Butter Beans with Sweet Potatoes and Greens

2008-08-29T14:59:00.002-04:00

Okay, you caught me, I bought another cookbook. :) This one is called The Complete Idiot's Guide To Vegan Cooking. I don't usually like the "idiots" or "dummies" books for some reason, but I was flipping through this one and the recipes looked very quick, healthy and basic, just the kinds of meals I like, especially now that we are much busier with school starting back up. So yesterday's quiche was from this book, I just didn't mention it because I was in a hurry and trying to post quickly! And last night's dinner was the butter beans with sweet potatoes and greens that is pictured above. The green I used was Swiss Chard, and I was nervous because of my bad experience with the mustard greens. The swiss chard was delicious! It had a great mild flavor, and even the kids liked it. I have a few more recipes tagged, so I am sure you will be seeing more posts from this book! I will also try not to neglect the other cookbooks on my shelf!

Spinach-Mushroom Quiche

2008-08-28T14:30:00.003-04:00

Last night I made a Spinach-Mushroom Quiche. Well actually it was a frittata, since there was no crust. It had onion, portobello mushrooms, red pepper, and sun dried tomatoes mixed with tofu that had been seasoned with paprika, turmeric, and nutritional yeast. So good! On the side I made some roasted red potatoes with garlic and rosemary, mostly since the rosemary that I have in a pot on the porch is getting very large! What a great combo! Both kids ate theirs up in record time (not usually the case with something that is so veggie-heavy), and Mark liked his so much he didn't "accidentally" forget to take the leftovers to work today. I was actually hoping he would have forgotten. :)

Banana Oatmeal Peanut Muffins

2008-08-20T20:12:00.003-04:00

We've all been there before...you've got several bananas sitting on the counter that are too ripe and no one will eat them. I had four of them there today, so I made some healthy banana muffins. These were so good, that when I left to pick the kids up from school, the dog stole two of them. And she wanted another one, too! Sorry, Barbie, no more for you!

Just a note on the ground flax seeds: These are being used as an egg replacer and also just to add some nutrients. When I first started using them as an egg replacer from other recipes, I would never want to hassle with the blending part. I would think, "Oh, if I whisk them pretty good I am sure it's the same." It's not. Using the blender on them turns them really thick, frothy, and creamy. I couldn't believe the difference! If you don't want to get a big blender out (which I didn't), you can use your hand immersion blender in a small container or glass. This worked just as well. I also read that after blending them, they will keep in the fridge for a few days, so you could make extra if you had more baking planned. (I haven't tested this out, though.) Of course if you really really really don't want to bother, I am sure they could be left out from the recipe and it wouldn't change it much.

Banana Oatmeal Peanut Muffins

2 cups rolled oats

3/4 cup whole wheat pastry flour

1/2 cup sugar

1 1/2 tsp cinnamon

1 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

1 cup mashed banana (about 3 large)

3/4 plain soy yogurt

2 Tbs canola oil

1 tsp vanilla

2 Tbs ground flax seeds

6 Tbs water

3/4 cup chopped peanuts, divided

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Spray a standard 12 cup muffin tin with cooking spray. Using a small container and a hand immersion blender (or a regular blender), blend together the flax seeds and water until thick and frothy. Set aside. In a food processor, process the oats until fine and flour-like. Transfer the oats to a large bowl and whisk in the flour, sugar, cinnamon, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. In a separate bowl, whisk together the mashed banana, yogurt, canola oil, vanilla, and reserved flax seed mixture. Add the wet ingredients to the dry, and mix gently until incorporated. Fold in 1/2 cup of the chopped peanuts. Divide the mixture among the 12 muffin cups (they will be very full), the top evenly with the remaining chopped peanuts. Bake for 20 - 22 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center of a muffin comes out clean. Cool in the pan for 5 minutes, then remove from pan an finish cooling on a wire rack.

Bean and Cheese Quesadilla

2008-08-19T21:29:00.003-04:00

Wow! These turned out better than I was expecting. It wasn't even a planned meal, more of a last minute type of meal. I'll explain: The kids started school yesterday, so I had most of the weeks meals planned out ahead of time, especially the nights we are busy with after school activities. Well, a hurricane decided to kind of mess up those plans, and school was cancelled for today (the second day of school). We didn't actually get any hurricane weather, but the decision to cancel was set in stone. I didn't really want to "use up" my perfect after school meal plans (not sure why), so I was toying with taking the kids out to dinner. We were sort of thinking about going to Tijuana Flats, a mexican burrito bar-type restaurant. Except, the more I thought about it, the more I realized I had a lot of Mexican type ingredients on hand. And some of them needed to be used up: the avocados were ripe, the tomatoes were perfect, and I had a large opened can of baked beans in the fridge. (I would have preferred pinto beans, but I didn't want the baked beans to go to waste.) I mashed the baked beans with a bit of salsa and spread them on some corn tortillas. Then I topped it with the vegan rice cheese singles (I actually really like these!). That was pretty much the quesadilla! Those just got cooked on a skillet. For a side dish, I cut up tomatoes, avocados, and cucumber and tossed it with lime juice, salt, pepper, cumin, and green onions. I love when meals come together like that!

Polenta with Spicy Eggplant Sauce

2008-08-17T11:14:00.002-04:00

This was a simple dish, but so delicious! And the eggplants and red peppers were from my garden (if you could call it that) so the whole meal -4 servings- cost approximately, oh, $2. Can't beat that! The kids liked the polenta for a change from pasta.

Friday's meal was from the cookbook You Won't Believe It's Vegan! It was called the Love Bowl, and it was a layered bowl of brown rice, black beans, sauteed greens (I used mustard greens), baked tofu, and drizzled with peanut sauce. The peanut sauce is not in the picture because I actually almost forgot it entirely. The baked tofu was excellent, as well as the peanut sauce. Brown rice and black beans? Nothing exciting. The greens? Horribly, horribly bitter. To the point of being nearly inedible. I've never used mustard greens before, mostly I use collard greens. Are mustard greens supposed to be this bitter? I kept trying to fix them, but it was to no avail. Any suggestions? Although I probably won't be cooking mustard greens again. I'll just stick to the collards.

Falafel

2008-08-15T15:49:00.002-04:00

The most recent recipe I've tried from the new cookbook, You Won't Believe It's Vegan. I haven't ever made my own falafel (I don't know why), so I don't know how this recipe compares. It was very good, and the flavors were great, but the falafels were not very firm. I am not sure if this is because they were baked as opposed to being fried, but they were still delicious nonetheless. Both kids liked it a lot and ate all of theirs up! Good: They're eating well! Bad: No leftovers for me...

The kids and I also made a second trip to Consciousness Blossoms, the vegetarian restaurant in Palm Harbor, Florida. (Conveniently, it's only about 5 minutes away from the health food store!) The kids were ordering pancakes and waffles again (yes, for lunch), and I was intending on getting a sandwich but breakfast for lunch started sounding pretty good. I ordered their tofu scramble, which was excellent! Much better than the ones I've made at home. Wonder what their secret is...

New Cookbook!

2008-08-12T12:51:00.003-04:00

I went to Border's last week with my 30% off coupon in hand and a plan to buy Eat, Drink, and Be Vegan (I've been missing it since returning it to the library!). Unfortunately, they did not have the book in stock. I actually feel okay about this, because I remember seeing it there a few months ago, so that means someone else bought it and is enjoying some yummy vegan meals. Alright, maybe I was a bit disappointed. I didn't want to not use my coupon since I had driven all the way down there, so I browsed through the rest of the vegan cookbooks. The book You Won't Believe It's Vegan! caught my eye, the recipes looked delicious, and it seemed like the type of food I like to prepare and eat, so I bought it. I haven't had a lot of time to try much out yet, but I did make the Chickpea Untuna Salad. I was missing a few ingredients (celery, scallions, oregano, and dulse flakes - I used kelp powder), so I didn't make it exactly, but it still came out excellent. The first day I stuffed it into some pita bread, and the next day I had it on regular multi-grain bread. It was such a delicious salad, I think this will become a staple in my house! It's great to have on hand for a quick lunch either on bread (or pita), or it would probably also taste nice on top of salad greens. I have a few other recipes picked out to try this week (some of the quicker ones, not any of the fancier ones), so be on the lookout for more from this book!

I also wanted to share my lunch from today. It wasn't anything special, I threw it all together, but it surprised me by how good the flavors came together, so I snapped a picture. I guess I'd call it BBQ Baked Bean Salad. It was romaine lettuce, sliced tomato, sliced cucumber, diced carrot, diced avocado, 1/2 cup corn, with a squirt of lime juice and a dollop of salsa on top of all of those, then some warmed baked beans on the very top and garnished with green onions. I love lunches like that!

Fancy Brownies

2008-08-09T08:35:00.000-04:00

Yesterday, out to lunch at Panera, my son and I were noticing how fancy the brownies looked, mostly because they were baked in a round pan, frosted, garnished, and sliced in pie slices. We were invited over to dinner at the neighbor's house, and I had said I would bring a dessert, so I thought I would completely copy the Panera idea and make some fancy brownies. I baked them in a springform pan (easy!), frosted them, and garnished with chopped walnuts. I think it made them taste better! (Although brownies are pretty good any way you slice them.)

The brownie recipe I used was the "more"-ish brownies from Dreena Burton's Everyday Vegan, and the frosting was the chocolate brownie frosting from Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World.

Nature's Burger

2008-08-06T21:23:00.003-04:00

For dinner tonight, I tried the Fantastic Foods Nature's Burger mix. I was a little skeptical about "instant" burger mix, but I had no need to be. It mixed up quick, but it was a very tasty burger! I cooked them in a skillet and then stuffed it into a pita with sprouts, tomato, and avocado. I also thought I was wasting by giving the kids each a whole one, but didn't really feel like cutting it in half since it would have gotten messy. Well, I was definitely not wasting! They both gobbled them up in no time, one adding mustard and the other adding vegenaise. Both kids are also suddenly avocado fans, as long as they are sprinkled with a bit of salt.

On the side I made a quick cucumber salad with red onion, apple cider vinegar, and olive oil.

Consciousness Blossoms

2008-08-05T15:29:00.003-04:00

There's a vegetarian restaurant called Consciousness Blossoms near me! Hooray! Back in the spring, I had looked it up before on http://www.happycow.net/ , but when I had tried to go, I couldn't find it (I was looking on the wrong side of the street), and they didn't answer their phone, so I sadly assumed they had closed down. Today, I was planning on taking the kids out to lunch, so I looked on happycow again to see if there was anything new near me. Consciousness Blossoms was still listed, so I thought maybe, maybe, it was open? I gave them a call, and they were open, so I got directions and headed out there! The other bonus is that it is located near Mark's work so he was able to join us for lunch.

I'm not brave about taking pictures in restaurants, but I did stealthily snap a photo of my lunch. I ordered the Tempeh Barbecue sandwich which was served on a whole wheat bun with lettuce, tomato, and grilled red onions. Yum! It was very moist, and the barbecue sauce was tasty! Mark ordered a portabella wrap sandwich, and the boys both ordered breakfast! We were very happy with our lunch, and I would definitely return, especially to try out the vegan buckwheat pancakes! On our way out, we noticed some wrapped cookies for sale. Our waitress told us that they bake them fresh there every morning. We chose one oatmeal raisin and one chocolate chip to have later at home. Both were very good, my favorite was the oatmeal raisin!

Two Recent Meals

2008-08-04T19:24:00.003-04:00

I have two meals to post! One is from Friday, I just never got around to posting it, and the other is tonight's dinner. On Friday, I had planned on trying out a new recipe from the cookbook I got from Costco- A Moroccan eggplant tagine. I was using some eggplants from my garden (hooray!), and wanted to try something different from the usual Italian type eggplant dishes. This was very different! It had zucchini, eggplants, and potatoes in a tomato sauce spiced with coriander, cinnamon, turmeric, and cilantro. My older son had a friend playing over, and as I was making it, the friend asked if he could stay for dinner. I got a little panicked, because my kids are pretty used to me making different dishes (not that they always like them or eat them...) but this boy was probably expecting Friday night pizza or something! I think he thought the meal was a little odd, but he graciously tried it, however he thought it was a little too spicy. Oh, well. At least he tried! (I said it was a potato-tomato stew, because I thought that might sound more normal than Moroccan tagine.)

My dinner from tonight was a pantry meal. I didn't make it out to the store today, but happened to have some great ingredients on hand. As some spaghetti was boiling, I simmered some garlic, red pepper, and sun dried tomatoes in the oil from the tomatoes. Once those were warm, I added a drained can of cannelloni beans. After draining the pasta, I tossed it with the bean mixture and also with some baby spinach. It was quick and tasty! And the kids LOVED the sun-dried tomatoes! They have had them before, but I guess they never stood out for the kids to notice them. They asked if we could buy more of those. (Pizza topping anyone?)

Tomato and Red Lentil Dahl

2008-07-30T20:51:00.002-04:00

I got a really neat vegetarian cookbook from Costco for only $5.99. I am pretty sure it is from England, especially because some of the ingredients are called different things (aubergine for eggplant, courgette for zucchini, and passata for tomato puree). It has some really nice looking dishes in it. It's vegetarian, and not vegan, so there are a few recipes that I could substitute easily, but there are a few that wouldn't work out as vegan. But for $5.99, I thought it was a pretty good buy!

I made this Tomato and Red Lentil Dahl tonight, and it came out really good. It had a lot of earthy spices in it (cumin, mustard seed, turmeric, chili powder), and also some lime juice, so it really had a lot of flavor! I love lentils, they are so yummy!

Fresh Garden Eggplants

2008-07-26T16:13:00.005-04:00

Hooray! Some eggplants from my garden! I have mentioned before, I am actually not a very good gardener. I stick some plants in the ground and hope they do all right. The only reason my garden is organic is because it would be too much work to go out and spray my plants. I barely weed. (Just enough so the plants don't get completely choked out.) So I was pretty surprised that I actually grew these eggplants. Especially since about a month ago, every time it blossomed, the flowers just fell off. They finally set and I have about four eggplants growing plus the three I picked yesterday.

With the three that I picked, I made an eggplant spaghetti. I cubed and roasted the eggplant until soft, then added it to a tomato sauce of canned tomatoes, garlic, and red pepper flakes that I had simmering in a skillet. Then I tossed all of this with cooked whole wheat spaghetti. The eggplants tasted so good!! There wasn't any bitterness at all, which I have sometimes had with eggplant. I can't wait for my next "harvest".

Another Belgium Treat

2008-07-25T20:57:00.006-04:00

My son requested this for lunch today, it was one of his favorite things to eat in Belgium! The sandwich spread is called "Speculoos Pasta [paste]". If you've ever had those little ginger-ish cookies they sometimes give you on airplanes, then you might have eaten the speculoos before. The spread, however is a new product in Belgium. It is the speculoos cookies ground into a paste. It has the consistency of very smooth peanut butter. It sounded odd to me, but it tasted really good! I was actually surprised at how yummy it was.

The sprinkles on top are actually a Dutch treat known as Hagelslag. They look just like the sprinkles we use here on cupcakes and such, but they are not a sugar coated chocolate jimmie, they are pure chocolate! They melt in your mouth just like a chocolate chip would! Sprinkled on top of the Speculoos, it is a decadent treat.

Still feeling a little jet-lagged and tired, I opted to have a healthier lunch. I made a huge salad with pretty much everything I could fit on the plate!! Romaine, spinach, tomato, cucumber, carrot, red onion, avocado, chickpeas, and broccoli sprouts topped with an olive oil vinaigrette. Now that's a detox-jet-lag-salad! My kids were shocked that I ate the whole thing. Gillian McKeith would have approved.

Home from Belgium

2008-07-25T08:18:00.006-04:00

I'm back! We had a great time visiting my sister in Belgium. Fortunately, my sister is also vegan so it was nice to have someone else cooking for me for a change! Unfortunately, I wasn't very good about taking too many food photos. I did get a picture of two dishes she made for me, however. The first photo is a Mushroom-Spinach Quiche that is one of my sister's favorite recipes. It is a recipe by Peter Burley. It was really really good! I hadn't had a vegan quiche yet, and this one was excellent!

Another dish Amy made was Five-Spice Baked tofu, one of her family's favorites. She served it on top of stir-fried veggies with an asian cabbage salad on the side. Again, this was delicious!

We also cooked some meals together, and I cooked my favorite Teriyaki Rice Bowl for her family. (Although we actually served it on plates.) Amy and I also hosted our first all vegan party! One of our excursions was to tour the Stella Brewery, but you need a large group to be able to do that, so Amy invited several of her friends along. Afterwards, they were all invited to her home for dinner and drinks. Amy and I prepared all of the foods, the main attraction being the Avocado, bean and corn enchiladas from ED&BV that I had made a few weeks earlier at home. We had several veggie sides with it, and for dessert Amy made the Lower Fat Chocolate Cake from Veganomicon. Everyone at the party enjoyed our food, and I think we even surprised one guest an ADAMANT NON-VEGAN, that everything was vegan. :) Here are a few photos from the brewery tour, but I apologize that I was too busy to remember to take photos of the food and party!

Book Review

2008-07-09T10:18:00.003-04:00

Before I leave to go out of town (Belgium!!), I wanted to take some time to give a quick book review. Gillian McKeith's Food Bible: The Complete A-Z Guide to a Healthy Life. (You can visit her website here.) The publisher of this book contacted me through my blog a few months ago and asked if I would be interested in the book. (Just a note, they didn't ask me to review it on my blog, but I thought I would anyway.) I checked out the website, and the book seemed interesting, and they were willing to send it for free, so I agreed. I had never heard of Gillian McKeith before (she is from the U.K.), but I was pretty impressed with the book. The first part of the book discusses healthy diet foundations, and the second part is specific conditions and ailments, and how certain nutrients can help (or hurt) those conditions. Gillian McKeith is not recommending a strictly vegan diet, however the majority of what she recommends is vegan, just not exclusively. She really believes in a whole foods diet, with a lot of emphasis on vegetables (lots of them!), fruits, beans, nuts, seeds, and whole grains. Since this is mostly how I try and eat (except for those maple blondies a few days ago...shhh!) I could appreciate the message in her book. And it was very interesting to look up an ailment and see what kinds of foods can help out for healing.

The neatest thing was that one day I was flipping through channels on the TV, and on BBC America (which I never really watch because it is a high up channel, and I never seemed to get to it), I got interested in a program called "You Are What You Eat." The show was about an unhealthy person, usually overweight and suffering from a poor diet, going through an 8 week nutrition program. As I was watching, I realized the nutritionist on the show was Gillian McKeith! I went and got my book to make sure it was the same person, which it was. Well I have to say that now I like the book even more after watching her show. She really is tough as nails on the people on the show, and tells them the truth about their poor diet and health. But she cares about them and really helps them learn how to eat right. If you've never seen the show, look and see if you get BBC America and watch it!

I've looked at Gillian's website, and she has several other books published, including a cookbook, which I am thinking about ordering. A lot of the recipes she features on her show look delicious, so I am curious to see what other good recipes she has! If you are interested in eating for health, I think you would enjoy what Gillian McKeith has to say.

Maple Pecan Sticky Blondies

2008-07-05T09:00:00.002-04:00

So yummy!!! This is from Eat, Drink, & Be Vegan. Are you convinced to get this book yet? Because I am. I have to return my copy to the library on Monday, so I guess I am going to have to buy the book for myself! (That, or I could keep checking it out from the library over and over, but that wouldn't be fair, would it?)

I will be leaving on Wednesday to go and visit my sister in Belgium. She is vegan also, so hopefully I will be able to post some yummy things we cook together. However, we may be so busy having fun together that I may not get to blogging as much! I will try my best to keep you updated on some yummy Belgian foods!!

Cesar Salad

2008-07-01T15:44:00.003-04:00

Again, a recipe from Eat, Drink, & Be Vegan (by Dreena Burton). I made the recipe for the Cesar dressing. The base is cashews and pine nuts blended with the other Cesar-type flavorings. It came out really good, I was very impressed! I'm telling you, I better buy this book before I have to give this copy back to the library. Otherwise I will miss it!

I tossed the dressing with romaine lettuce, and on top I sliced some of these Tofu Chicken Steaks:

They were a product I saw at Whole Foods, and thought I'd give it a try. They were pretty good, although I am sure you could make something similar on your own, but I haven't, so it was nice to have these waiting for me in the freezer.

Eat, Drink, and Be Vegan

2008-06-27T19:30:00.003-04:00

I was lucky enough to find Eat, Drink, and Be Vegan (by Dreena Burton) at my library! Let me say, I am very impressed. I think I may have to buy my own copy before I start spilling stuff all over the library one.

Tonight I made the Sweet & Sour Chipotle Tempeh with Sweet Potatoes. Not only was it delicious, but it was very easy to prepare. The sauce I just whisked together in a bowl, then I tossed it into a baking dish with the tempeh, sweet potatoes, pineapple, onions, and green peppers. The dish the just goes into the oven! No stir-frying! The sauce thickens up as it bakes, so it coats all of the veggies nicely. This one was a big hit with our family, I would definitely make it again!

Two nights ago I made the Bean & Corn Tortilla Lasagna with Avocado. Again, delicious and easy to prepare. (I didn't post it right away because the photo is not so good. Bad lighting.) I will be making this one again, in fact when I go and visit my sister in Belgium, I think I am going to make it for her. I will only have to pack some corn tortillas in my suitcase because she can't buy them there! I made a salad with shredded romaine lettuce and julienned jicama, and I tossed that with the Cumin-Cinnamon Vinaigrette that is also from this book.

Dreena Burton sure does know her flavor combinations! I can't wait to try out some more recipes from this book.

Oatmeal Sandwich Bread

2008-06-26T21:30:00.002-04:00

Lately we've been making a lot of homemade bread because my youngest son has been on a bread making kick. That's because it's the only way he'll get white bread. I just can't get myself to buy white bread at the store. I convinced him to make oatmeal bread this time. He argued some, but I insisted we'd use white flour, but just put some oatmeal in it. It was an easy sell because he likes oatmeal. (Maybe next time I can sneak a little whole wheat flour in as well.)

I adapted a recipe from King Arthur's Whole Grain Baking cookbook, and let me tell you...this bread was awesome! This one tasted even better than the white bread we usually make, and it made GREAT sandwiches. And toast. And buttered slices. Well, you get the picture. Here's my adapted recipe:

Oatmeal Sandwich Bread

1 1/4 cups plain soymilk

1 cup old fashioned rolled oats

2 Tablespoons of margarine (I used Earth Balance)

1 1/2 teaspoons salt

1/4 cup agave nectar

2 teaspoons yeast

3 to 3 1/2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour

Heat the soymilk until very hot, but not quite boiling. Combine the soymilk, oats, margarine, salt, and agave nectar into a bowl. Let cool until warm. Once it is warm, stir in the yeast until dissolved. Let stand for 5 minutes.

In a large bowl, combine the oat mixture with 2 1/2 cups of flour. Gradually stir in the remaining flour until it starts to form a ball. (Add the least amount you need so as not to dry out the dough.) Knead dough, either by hand or with a mixer fitted with a dough hook, until the dough is soft and smooth. Place it in a lightly greased bowl, cover it, and rise for 1 hour or until the dough is doubled in bulk.

Lightly grease a 9 x 5 inch loaf pan. Gently deflate the dough and shape it into a 9 inch log. Place it in the prepared pan and cover it gently with plastic wrap. Allow it to rise until it has crowned the rim of the pan by 1 1/2 inches (about 1 to 1 1/2 hours). Near the end of the bread's rising time, preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

Uncover and bake the bread for 45 minutes, tenting it with foil after 20 minutes to prevent over-browning. Remove it from the oven and turn it out onto a rack. Cool the bread completely before cutting.

Cinnamon Applesauce

2008-06-25T10:01:00.002-04:00

Did you happen to make a poor choice at Costco and decide to buy the large clamshell of apples in June, when they are not in season, and get them home only to realize they are all slightly mealy and not crisp at all? You didn't? Oh. So now I feel silly. The apples weren't bad, they just weren't that great for eating right out of hand. If life gives you mealy apples, make applesauce - isn't that how the saying goes? Or something. Even if you didn't buy mealy apples, applesauce is very easy to make and it tastes so good!

Applesauce

Several apples, peeled, cored and chopped

1/2 tsp cinnamon (more or less depending on how many apples)

Place the chopped apples in a saucepan that has a lid. Add 1 or 2 Tbs water and turn heat to medium. Once the apples start to heat up and the juices and water are slightly bubbling, turn the heat to low, cover, and simmer. Stir occasionally, and continue cooking until the apples are starting to breakdown. Stir in the cinnamon. For a chunky applesauce, use a potato masher to mash the apple chunks. For a smoother applesauce, use an immersion blender and blend until desired consistency.

Edamame Corn and Tomato Saute

2008-06-24T08:45:00.002-04:00

This recipe was just a variation of the one I found in How to Cook Everything Vegetarian by Mark Bittman. My family likes edamame, but usually we've only really had it with Asian flavors, and this tasted a little bit more tex-mex. It was really good, and it came out nice and saucy, so the brown rice soaked up the flavor too. I improvised a lot according to what I had on hand, so here's my version:

Edamame Corn and Tomato Saute

1 Tbs Olive Oil

1 yellow bell pepper, diced

1 can diced tomatoes with garlic and onion, with juice

1 can corn, drained

1 tsp cumin

2 cups frozen shelled edamame

1/2 cup chopped cilantro leaves

coarse salt and pepper

In a non-stick skillet, heat the olive oil over medium heat. Add the bell pepper and cook until starting to soften, about 4 or 5 minutes. Add the tomatoes, corn, and cumin. Cook for a few minutes until the tomatoes are bubbly. Add the edamame and cook until they are heated through. Stir in the cilantro leaves and salt and pepper to taste.

Oatmeal Raisin Walnut Cookies

2008-06-22T14:28:00.002-04:00

More cookies...you caught me! Actually I just wanted to use up the bit of tofu in the fridge (yeah, right). This is similar to the chocolate chip cookie recipe, and it's not too big of a batch so you don't have to feel piggy if you make chocolate chip one day and oatmeal raisin the next. Just sayin'. Actually the oatmeal cookies came out softer than the chocolate chip, I am thinking mostly because I used all brown sugar? Anyway...

Oatmeal Raisin Walnut Cookies

3/4 cup all purpose flour

3/4 cup quick oats

1/2 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

1 tsp cinnamon

1/4 cup Earth Balance

1/4 cup Vegetable shortening

3/4 cup light brown sugar

1/2 tsp vanilla

1/4 cup silken firm tofu (from aseptic pkg)

1 cup raisins

1/2 cup chopped walnuts

Pre-heat oven to 375 degrees, and line a cookie sheet with parchment paper. In a large bowl, combine the flour, oatmeal, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and cinnamon. Mix with a whisk and set aside. Using an electric mixer, blend the brown sugar, earth balance, and shortening until creamy. Add the vanilla and tofu and mix until all of the tofu is blended in. Lower speed on the mixer and slowly add the flour mixture, mixing just until combined, then add the raisins and walnuts. Place rounded tablespoon fulls on prepared baking sheet 2 inches apart. Bake for 12 minutes, remove from oven and cool on cookie sheet for 2 minutes. Then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.

Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookies

2008-06-21T08:37:00.002-04:00

Last week I went to our local health food store and they had some fresh baked cookies in a small bakery case. My son was excited to point out that some of them were vegan! We all picked one out, and let me tell you, they were the best cookies ever! They were very thick and moist and chewy. Yuuuum. That's my favorite kind of cookie. Too bad we each only picked out one, because the next day we were all wanting more. I thought I'd try to re-create the cookie at home. I did a pretty good job, but it wasn't quite what we had at the store (not quite as thick). My mom thinks it's the difference of a home oven vs. a commercial oven, but I will probably try again. However, the cookies I did make were awfully good, so here is my recipe. This makes a smaller batch than most, about 18 cookies.

Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookies

1 1/2 cups all purpose flour

1/2 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

1/4 cup Earth Balance

1/4 cup vegetable shortening

1/2 cup sugar

1/4 cup brown sugar

1/2 tsp vanilla

1/4 cup silken tofu (from aseptic pkg)

1 cup chocolate chips

Pre-heat oven to 375 degrees. In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, and salt. Set aside. Using an electric mixer, blend the earth balance, shortening, and sugars together. Add the vanilla and tofu and blend until all the tofu is Incorporated. Turn the mixer to low speed and add the flour mixture a little at a time until all is mixed in. Add the chocolate chips and mix just until combined. On a baking sheet, drop rounded tablespoon fulls of dough two inches apart. Bake for 12 minutes, remove from oven and let cool on baking sheet for 2 minutes. Remove from baking sheet and finish cooling on a rack.

Favorite Fries

2008-06-19T16:22:00.002-04:00

These are our favorite way to have oven fries. My youngest son is a really big french fry fan, so if he likes these, then I am sure most everyone who likes fries will. The trick is in the ice bath...

Seasoned Oven Fries

3 -4 potatoes, yukon gold or russet

2 Tbs canola oil

1/2 tsp Cajun seasoning, or other seasoning mix

1/2 tsp coarse salt

Peel the potatoes and slice into fry shapes. Place all of the potatoes in a large bowl filled with ice water. Let them soak 10-20 minutes. Pre-heat oven to 425 degrees, and line two baking sheets with parchment paper. After potatoes are done soaking, drain off the water and place them on a clean kitchen towel. Blot all of the moisture off, and return to the large bowl. Add the oil, seasoning, and salt, and use your hands to toss the potatoes well. Place the potatoes evenly among the two baking sheets, leaving room between each potato slice. Place in the oven and bake for 15 minutes. Flip the potatoes over, and rotate the baking sheets. Continue cooking for 10 - 15 minutes more, until golden brown. Remove from oven. Serve hot!

Enchiladas

2008-06-16T20:07:00.003-04:00

My sister Amy has a cookbook called Everyday Vegan by Jeani-Rose Atchison. In it, there is a recipe for Creamy "Mozzarella." It seems so simple, that Amy and I were wanting to try it out, but neither of us had gotten around to it. Today I was planning on making some enchiladas, and I thought that the creamy mozzarella might make a nice topping. I called Amy up, and she happily gave me the recipe. It was easy to make, it was mostly water with some flavorings (nutritional yeast, onion, tahini, lemon juice, and sea salt) and thickeners (oats and arrowroot) blended together in a blender. Then the mixture is cooked on the stove top for about 10 minutes until it was thickened. It was actually better than I expected! It came out thick, but spreadable, and I used it on the top of my enchiladas. It really gave them a nice tangy, creamy flavor! (For the inside of the enchiladas I used fantastic foods chili, and I had them smothered in a green sauce.)

I've hadn't seen Jeani-Rose's book, in fact I kept thinking that my sister meant Dreena Burton's book, The Everyday Vegan. But the creamy mozzarella came out so good, I definitely will look for it!

Green Chili Quinoa

2008-06-13T20:08:00.003-04:00

I couldn't think of a better name for this, but it pretty much sums it up. I saw a similar recipe in a book called Magic Foods, but that was more of a side dish. I added in a few more ingredients to have it for a main meal, and I served it with some warm corn tortillas. It was really good, I love the combination of lime, garlic, and cilantro. Here's my version:

Green Chili Quinoa

1 medium onion, diced

1 Tbs olive oil

1 can (4 oz) chopped green chilis

2 cloves garlic, minced

1/4 tsp cumin

1 vegetable boullion cube

1 3/4 cups water

1 cup dry quinoa, rinsed for 2 minutes

1 cup frozen edamame

3 green onions, chopped

1 small bunch cilantro, chopped (about 3/4 cup)

Juice of 1 lime

1/4 tsp coarse salt

1 avocado, diced

In a medium pot that has a lid, heat the oil on medium heat. Add the onion, and cook a few minutes on medium heat, then lower the heat, and cover for 5 minutes. Meanwhile, heat the water and dissolve the boullion cube in the warmed water. Remove the lid from the onion, and add the chilis, garlic, and cumin. Cook for one minute. Add the quinoa and water with boullion, bring just to a boil. Lower the heat and cover. Cook for 20 minutes. Stir in the edamame, cover, and cook 3 minutes. Remove from heat and stir in the green onions, cliantro, lime juice, and salt. Either reserve the avocado to use as a topping, or gently fold in the avocado pieces. Makes about 4 main dish servings.

Summer Pasta Salad

2008-06-12T18:08:00.002-04:00

This really doesn't need a recipe because it is so simple. Cook some pasta, any shape or style you like, chop up any of your favorite veggies (I used zucchini and tomato), add a can of beans (I used chickpeas), and use any herb you like or have growing in a pot. In the last minute of cooking, I added the zucchini to the water, just to cook them a little, but leave them crisp. After draining the pasta and zucchini, dump everything back into the pot and add some vinaigrette. I used a lemon-dill vinaigrette.

I love versatile meals like these! They are quick, cheap, and tasty!

Tempeh Meatballs

2008-06-10T10:44:00.003-04:00

Sorry for the poor picture quality! It was storming out at dinnertime, so the lighting was not so good. But the meal was! I used a tempeh meatball recipe from Vegan Dad. This was my first time grating tempeh and using it in a mixture. It came out really good! The meatballs held together well and browned nicely. They had a good texture as well. I would definitely make these again! Vegan Dad also has used the same basic recipe for different versions: burgers, meatballs, gyros, and tacos. Yum!

Mediterranean Edamame Salad

2008-06-04T13:23:00.002-04:00

This combination came out really good! Romaine lettuce, tomatoes (from the garden!), cucumbers, parsley, and shelled edamame tossed in a lemon-dill dressing. If I would have had it on hand, I would have loved to add: green onions or red onions, marinated tofu-feta, kalamata olives. I was especially missing the olives.

Smashed Pea and Barley Soup

2008-06-02T18:22:00.002-04:00

Have you had this soup from California Pizza Kitchen before? I have, it's always been one of my favorites. In fact, I had it last week and it while I was thoroughly enjoying it I remembered I had seen a recipe for it. I don't know if you've ever heard of Top Secret Recipes by Todd Wilbur, but I have one of his books and I also love his website http://www.topsecretrecipes.com/ Basically he clones restaurant foods and packaged items. This is great if you either want to save money and make it yourself or control the ingredients to suit your own diet (like vegan!). I searched on the website and found the recipe for the California Pizza Kitchen Dakota Smashed Pea and Barley Soup (I am really not sure why the "Dakota" needs to be in that name. Are the peas from North Dakota?) The recipe was free (some are free and some are a small fee to download) and can be found here. My only change was that I used pearled barley instead of the regular whole barley, so my barley didn't need to cook as long. Also my immersion blender wasn't working so my soup was a little chunkier than usual, but not very noticeable. The soup was really good, and it did taste just like the California Pizza Kitchen one. And at about the same cost as the cup of soup at the restaurant, I made enough to feed our family of four. Twice.

Chewy Peanut Butter Cookies

2008-05-30T11:44:00.003-04:00

These are adapted from King Arthur's Whole Grain Baking. Mmmm! They were so chewy and good! I never mentioned to my youngest son that they were made only with whole wheat flour, and he didn't even notice (and he thinks he has such a fine tuned palate!). I like this recipe also because it doesn't use any butter, the fat is coming only from the peanut butter. But, they are still a cookie, so I am not fooling myself that they are a complete health food!

Lunch of Late

2008-05-29T14:26:00.002-04:00

Sorry for the lack of recent posts! Most of my dinners lately have been quick and easy, or they have been repeats that I have already blogged about! I did want to post my new favorite lunch that I've been eating lately. It's nothing super creative, but I think that's the point for a quick lunch. Veggies and Hummus. I pretty much use whatever raw veggies I have on hand (my favorites are tomatoes, carrots, and cucumbers, but I am not too picky), whatever chip/cracker I have on hand, and a generous scoop of hummus. My favorite Hummus is the Sabra brand Roasted Red Pepper flavor. I usually make my own hummus (which is good, too) but when I am feeling extravagant I buy the Sabra one. My older son likes it too, and we usually fight over who gets to scoop up the diced up pieces of red pepper on the top.

Mushroom Rigatoni

2008-05-23T18:08:00.004-04:00

Yum! This is one of those easy one-pot meals. I am actually kind of proud of myself for coming up with it! Whenever I tell my kids that I came up with the recipe myself, my older son seems to really give it a chance. He loved this dish, and ate two big bowls of it! (Hey! Those were supposed to be my leftovers!) My younger son, well, he's never happy. But I think that's just an act.

Mushroom Rigatoni

1 Tbs olive oil
1 onion, sliced thin
2 cloves garlic, minced
pinch of red pepper flakes
2 8oz packages of cremini mushrooms, sliced
1 lb dry rigatoni
3 cups marinara sauce
2 cups water
1/2 - 1 tsp salt
fresh ground pepper

In a large saucepan heat the oil over medium heat. Add the onion, garlic, red pepper and mushroom. Toss to coat. Cook, stirring occasionally until onions and mushrooms are soft, the mushrooms are golden brown, and liquid has mostly evaporated. This should take about 10 minutes. Add the remaining ingredients. Stir well and bring to a boil. You may need to add more water, it should be very soupy. Cover and reduce heat to medium. Cook for 15 minutes, stirring occasionally, until the pasta is tender and the liquid is thick. If the pasta is done, but it still seems to liquidy, remove the cover and simmer a few minutes. It will thicken upon standing.

Red Pepper Hash

2008-05-22T18:13:00.003-04:00

The Master Gardener was at it again. Today I plucked not one, but TWO red peppers off my pepper plant. I'd been watching them for a few days now. I wanted to highlight them in my dish (rather than dicing them up so teeny tiny like yesterday), so I came up with a Sausage, Pepper, and Onion Hash. Wait, let me rephrase that... Red Pepper, Onion, and Sausage Hash. It was a pretty simple dish. I sliced the peppers and sauteed them with a diced onion in some canola oil. While they were cooking, I microwaved whole yukon gold potatoes until just shy of being completely done. I also had some vegan sausages made up beforehand, andouille style, courtesy of Vegan Dad. After cooking the potatoes, I diced them, then added them to the pepper mixture. Then I added some salt and pepper, and finally mixed in (carefully) the vegan sausages, sliced. This was so filling and delicious, and I really liked the new cajun spices in the sausages (thanks Vegan Dad!)

Master Gardener

2008-05-21T19:01:00.003-04:00

I am starting to feel like a master gardener. I most definitely am NOT, my way of gardening is to stick some plants into the ground and see what happens. But for some reason, this year I am having some small successes. So far I've planted some lettuce seeds, spinach seeds (only one of those plants worked), two tomato plants, two red pepper plants, and an eggplant (plant). Plus I have in containers oregano, basil, parsley, and a patio tomato. The extent of garden work I do on these plants is to occasionally weed them. And wonder why the eggplant flowers keep dropping (I think some of them finally "set" - hopefully). And I never get a huge "bumper" crop since I really don't plant very much. But I can't tell you how exciting it is to walk out the back door and pick the largest, reddest, sweetest red pepper you could ever imagine. And the tomatoes! I think I've harvested five of them now! Yes, I know, that's really not very many and they won't be making a large batch of marinara to be frozen. But I treasure each tomato and really enjoy it. That took four months of patience for one tomato!

My one pepper plant in particular I've had my eye on. It had such a huge pepper on it, that I wanted to cut it off last week when it was still green and cook it up. But I waited. Each day it turned a little redder. And today, it was perfect. I diced it up super small and used it to make the Quinoa Salad with Black Beans and Mango (from Veganomicon). The red pepper was such a stellar ingredient that I should call it Quinoa Salad with Perfect Red Peppers.

So maybe one day I will actually know what I am doing outside and truly become a master gardener. But for now, I am happy with my good luck and small crops.

Ikea Bread

2008-05-20T21:52:00.003-04:00

I love Ikea. I don't have one very close to me, but they opened one in Orlando this year (about 2 hours away), so that is better than nothing and we've made a few trips out there. (Although not recently with those gas prices!!) In their small food shop, I found this Swedish Rye Bread. The fun part about it was that you just add warm water to the cardboard container, shake it up, then pour it into your loaf pan to rise. After 45 minutes or so, you bake it. How easy! It's been in the pantry awhile, but today I thought I'd give it a try. It came out really nice, dense and chewy, just like a hearty rye bread should be. (Even Mr. I-Don't-Like-Whole-Wheat liked it. That's because I said it wasn't whole wheat, it was rye.)

Along with the bread, I made a Lentil soup that I am dubbing "Garden Veggie Lentil Soup" because I had this one lone stalk of spinach in the garden (the others didn't make it), but it was not a tender baby spinach, it was more like collard greens. I had been letting it grow and grow, because I wasn't sure how I would prepare it. It wasn't enough (just the one lonely stalk) to sautee it up unless I was just serving one person. Instead, I sliced it up and added it to my lentil soup. Also I added this long hot pepper that my oldest son had picked out at the vegetable stand. I am all for encouraging them to try new produce, but just how was he planning on eating one skinny, long, hot hot pepper? I put it in the soup, and he seemed happy about that.

Barbecue Platter

2008-05-17T08:36:00.003-04:00

I made some Barbecue Seitan again (using the same method I used last time - I LOVE this BBQ sauce!), only this time I didn't have any buns to serve it on, but I had a ton of veggies in the fridge. So I made it platter style, served with steamed corn on the cob, biscuits, and sauteed zucchini, portabellos, and red onion. Yummy! Although I like it better served on the bun, but who doesn't love a BBQ sandwich?

P.S. This was the store bought seitan, I still haven't tried making my own seitan yet!

Mmmmm....fresh bread

2008-05-16T08:19:00.002-04:00

My youngest son is always always complaining about the "full wheat" bread I pack his lunch on. The other evening when he started up, I took it upon myself to be a quick lesson about wheat. I had on hand some wheat berries, whole wheat flour, and white flour, and I showed him the difference from the three. (I kept emphasizing the fact that the white flour is BLEACHED! with CHEMICALS! but it didn't faze him.) His answer was to declare that I should make him some white bread. Humph. Only if he helps. So that's what we did, and I have to say I have never seen him more helpful with baking before. He was very good about checking the dough, and announcing that it was growing. The bread went into the oven after his bedtime, but in the morning we sliced it up and had some toast, and then I packed his PB&J with the nice bread. I have to say, if you are going to eat white bread, then homemade is the way to go. This loaf somehow came out perfect, and at least now my son can appreciate how much work goes into making bread. He's got enough for one more sandwich today, and then it's all gone.

Last night for dinner I used my new cookbook again (The Vegetarian Family Cookbook by Nava Atlas), and made the black bean and potato hash. (Not sure if that's the exact name, but being too lazy to go downstairs and look.) This was really good, I used a mix of different peppers I had bought, and I really liked the addition of the corn tortillas cut up into the mix. It made quite a big batch, so there are even leftovers for lunch.

Tasty Patties

2008-05-14T20:51:00.003-04:00

Tonight I made the Chickpea Patty recipe from The Vegetarian Family cookbook by Nava Atlas. Not to be confused with the Chickpea cutlets from Veganomicon, these are completely different. I was thinking they may taste somewhat like falafel, but actually they had a nice soft texture more similar to a tuna patty (without the fishy flavor, of course). I really liked them, and the kids did also, but they put a lot of sauce on theirs. The sauce was vegenaise, mustard, and pickle relish. More mustard than most would use, but both my kids really like mustard. In the background of the photo is a ripe yellow tomato that I bought at the produce stand today. I love when you can find things that are not the run of the mill!

Hodgepodge

2008-05-12T18:56:00.003-04:00

Sorry about the lapse in posting! I've been cooking (and eating!), but recently most of my meals have been either pantry staples or using up portions from the freezer. Quick and handy for me, but not too interesting for my blog. I did want to share the jam bars pictured above. I got the book The Vegetarian Family Cookbook by Nava Atlas, and tried out the jam bars today. They were pretty tasty, and surprisingly low in sugar. She also uses whole grain pastry flour for nearly all of her baked goods, and that's what I like to bake with as well. There were a lot of other great looking recipes in the book and a lot of them looked kid-friendly.

Last week when I stopped by our nearby produce stand they had locally grown Black Cherry Tomatoes for sale. They looked just like regular cherry tomatoes, but they were a dark purple color. I sliced them in half and tossed them in with a salad of romaine lettuce, avocado, and a lime vinaigrette. They were so juicy and sweet! (The salad was served with baked potatoes topped with canned vegetarian chili. See, I told you the meals haven't been very interesting!)

One of my freezer meals was the Red Beans and Rice I made a while back. I had frozen the bean and veggie mixture, so for dinner tonight, I only needed to cook the brown rice. When the rice was nearly done, I added the defrosted beans along with 1/2 a can of coconut milk and cooked it until thick. Mark said it's his favorite red beans and rice (not that he eats it all the time or anything. I think he really likes the coconut milk in it!)

Hot Dog Salad

2008-05-09T14:24:00.002-04:00

Okay, it sounds kind of weird, but basically it is a hot dog without the bun with extra toppings on it. I got the idea a year or so ago from a Rachel Ray magazine, and my kids have always liked it. And how easy to make it vegan! Only sub out regular hot dogs for veggie ones. You also can pretty much make the salad part to your taste according to your favorite hot dog toppings. The salad in the picture was romaine lettuce, shredded carrot (not normally a hot dog topping, but I still put it in), tomatoes, cucumbers (or pickles if you like), red onion, and sauerkraut. The hot dogs you slice on the diagonal and cook them in a skillet (with a little oil) until golden brown. The piece de la resistance is the dressing: 1/4 cup yellow mustard, 2 TBS apple cider vinegar, 1 heaping tsp of sugar, and 3 TBS olive oil. Yum!

Tempeh Fajitas

2008-05-05T19:57:00.002-04:00

Happy Cinco de Mayo! I couldn't resist having Mexican food today. I made up this recipe based on how I used to make fajitas, and just used the tempeh. (the secret is the lime, garlic, and cumin combination!)

Tempeh Fajitas

8 oz package of tempeh

1 cup of your favorite marinade

1 Tbs canola oil

1 large onion, sliced

1 or 2 red bell peppers, sliced

2 cloves of garlic, minced

juice from 1 lime

1 tsp ground cumin

tortillas for serving

In a steamer basket, steam the tempeh for 10 minutes. Remove from steamer, slice into thick strips, and place in a container. Add the marinade, cover and refrigerate at least one hour. In a large skillet, heat the oil over medium high heat. Add the onion, and stir for 1 minutes. Add the bell pepper and stir for 2 - 3 minutes, until vegetables are starting to get tender. Add the garlic and cook for 1 minutes, then add the tempeh, lime juice, and cumin. Stir and cook until the tempeh is heated through and vegetables are soft. Serve on the tortillas, top with your favorite topping such as salsa or guacamole!

Seitan on the Grill

2008-05-04T20:20:00.005-04:00

Tonight was my first attempt at my own homemade seitan. I used the recipe for the seitan cutlets from Veganomicon since I wanted to finish them on the grill. They tasted good, but I am not sure I like the chewier texture of the cutlet-style recipe, so the next time I would try a classic seitan recipe.

I also grilled some potato wedges that were seasoned with cajun spices. These were good!

And while the grill was hot, we threw some pineapple wedges on there until golden, then served these with homemade banana-walnut ice cream. Yummy!

Mmmm... Pancakes!

2008-05-02T21:30:00.003-04:00

Did ya know that Bisquick was vegan? I love making whole-grain-nutty-fruity-healthy pancakes, but it is kind of fun having the classic fluffy pancakes on the table every once in a while! Guess these don't need much explaining...

Teriyaki Rice Bowl

2008-04-30T23:06:00.004-04:00

I know I posted this recipe only a few weeks ago, but it is really really good! (Only this time I remembered to garnish with sesame seeds.) It's pretty fast and easy to make, and tastes delicious. I came up with the recipe when I was trying to recreate the teriyaki dish I had at Pei Wei in Dallas. I think it's a pretty close version, their tofu was a little crispier, but I like mine more tender. Both kids like this dish as well, so that's another bonus!

Just wanted to share my first red tomato! This one is actually from a potted tomato plant (a "patio" version), so it's actually not very big, only about the size of a golf ball. Isn't it cute?

Barbecued Seitan Sandwich and Mom's Potato Salad

2008-04-28T19:30:00.003-04:00

So guess what? I like seitan. Yes, I really like it. Yes, I was scared to try it, unsure of how to prepare it and how it would taste. When I had the Barbecue seitan sandwich at the Spiral Diner in Fort Worth, I was hoping I would be able to make something similar at home. And, tonight I did! I used store-bought seitan, not homemade (that will be for yet another challenge), just to take some of the pressure off. :) These were really easy to make, and so so good!

Barbecued Seitan Sandwich

1 Cup Barbecue Sauce (my version is posted below)

1 small onion, sliced thin

1 pound seitan, sliced thin

1 Tbs canola oil

Heat the canola oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Add the onion and saute until the onions are soft, about 5 minutes. Add the seitan and cook a few minutes, until lightly golden. Add the barbecue sauce and heat through. Serve on buns.

I also finally tracked down my mom's homemade potato salad recipe. This is pretty much the only potato salad I really like, it's creamy and tangy. It was a cinch to vegan-ize it (only change the mayo to vegenaise), but it was harder to get the recipe out of her. She never measures, just eyeballs everything, and that's the way she learned from her mom. After playing 20 questions on the phone about the recipe, I forged ahead to tackle it. I came very very close, I think maybe hers might have a little more vinegar? But anyway, here are the measurements in a tidy recipe:

Mom's Potato Salad

2 lbs. red or yukon gold potatoes

2 stalks of celery

1 small onion

1/4 cup rice vinegar

1/2 - 1 tsp salt

1/2 cup vegan mayonnaise

2-3 Tbs yellow mustard

1/2 Tbs rice vinegar

1/4 tsp celery seed

Wash the potatoes and then cut them into 1" pieces. Place the potato chunks into a pot and cover them with cold water. Bring to a boil, and cook until a fork can pierce the potatoes, but they are not falling apart. Drain into a colander, and immediately pour the 1/4 cup of rice vinegar over the hot potatoes and sprinkle with the salt. Meanwhile, Slice the celery very thin and chop the onion very small. Place in a large bowl. In a separate bowl, mix the mayonnaise, mustard, and 1/2 Tbs of rice vinegar. Add the potatoes to the onion and celery, then add the mayonnaise mixture and toss to coat. Sprinkle the celery seed on top, then chill for at least an hour.

Fast and Easy Barbecue Sauce

1 cup ketchup
1/2 Tbs soy sauce
1/2 Tbs chili powder
1/4 cup apple cider vinegar
1/2 cup finely chopped onion
1/2 tsp garlic powder
1 Tbs yellow mustard

Combine all ingredients in a small saucepan and simmer for 10 - 15 minutes.

Grilled Vegan Sausages, Vegan Breakfast, and Vegetarian Meet-up!

2008-04-27T21:25:00.002-04:00

These vegan sausages are so versatile! When I had made some for my pizza on Friday, I made sure to have enough left over for another meal. Today we grilled them and then served them in toasted buns with mustard and sauerkraut! Yum! They taste much better than store bought vegetarian sausage, and they really are not hard to make.

I have had one lone potato sitting on my counter all week. He was too big to have just for one person, but he wasn't enough to serve four of us as a side dish. The poor potato was starting to worry me. Saturday morning I thought I'd try him out as hash browns. I didn't do anything special, just shredded it up and added a little salt and pepper. I heated some oil in a pan, and dropped clumps onto it. I gently patted them flat and waited patiently, without disturbing them until the one side was golden, then flipped and cooked the other side. I was thinking they might not come out good, since I didn't use any kind of binder, but they were perfect! Nice and crispy. I had a tofu scramble along with the hash browns. (And by they way, as hash browns, they did serve all four of us!)

I had a double dose of stepping out of my box on Saturday night. The local vegetarian/vegan meet-up was having their monthly meeting at a nearby Thai restaurant. I am not usually the big social group kind of person, and I also have never tried Thai food. (Mark has been trying to get me to go, for like, 12 years at least.) Unfortunately, I was too shy to get my camera out, otherwise you would have been able to see for yourself it was a great success! I had a great time meeting some new people, and the restaurant was delicious! (The kids liked it so much, they wanted to go back again today!) The restaurant was Thai Bistro, and I was very impressed! I think I will be eating Thai food again! :) Thanks to Katie for challenging us to try new foods! And I promise the next time I go, I will take some pictures!

Pizza!

2008-04-25T21:14:00.002-04:00

Dinner tonight was a Sausage and Roasted Onion and Pepper pizza on a whole grain crust. I didn't mean to make the crust "full wheat," because I didn't want my youngest son to yell at me again, but I was all out of regular flour and only had whole wheat pastry flour. In fact I ran out of that, too, so I had to add about 1/2 cup of spelt flour. The crust came out good, actually, and my son liked it. But he crabbed about the toppings. (I think he just has to have something to crab about!) The sausage was homemade vegan sausage (plain, I forgot to add the sun-dried tomatoes that Mark likes), and I roasted the onion and peppers for about 20 minutes to soften them. I also topped it with some Follow Your Heart mozzarella, I had some since I went to Whole Foods yesterday. The pizza was awesome and I am looking forward to the last two leftover slices for my lunch tomorrow...

Another ice cream! Cookies and Cream (made with Newman O's). I used the Veganomicon recipe again, but instead of soy milk I used coconut milk (in addition to the coconut cream from the top of the can), so it would have a nice mild coconut flavor. I really really love my new ice cream maker, it's hardly any effort at all to make homemade ice cream!

California Boca Burger

2008-04-24T18:09:00.002-04:00

I went to Whole Foods today, and I don't get there too often so it is fun perusing the aisles. I got some broccoli sprouts because my sister Amy has been telling me some of the benefits of sprouts lately. She even got to visit a sprout farm - how cool! I thought they would be nice on top of a Boca burger. I don't make Boca burgers a lot, but I have some on hand for a quick dinner. I also added some avocado (to give it that "California" vibe), tomato, dijon mustard, and vegenaise. I put it all on a sprouted grain bun (see? more sprouts!), which I can't get at my regular store. My regular store only carries the sprouted bread, but not the buns. It was really delicious and even the kids loved it. (My youngest one sometimes crabs that I make stuff too healthy, and why can't he have his sandwich on white bread instead of "full wheat"?)

Also, last night I tried another ice cream! I got this recipe from Vegan Ice Cream Paradise, this one is Blueberry Cheesecake. I had a graham cracker pie shell that I poured the soft ice cream into, and then froze it until firm. Vegan Ice cream blog has tons of creative ice cream recipes! What a cool site! I still think my chocolate one from the other day is the winner (recipe from Veganomicon) but it's a little unfair to be in a competition with chocolate! I mean, really! Chocolate always wins!

Tomato-Rice Soup with Roasted Garlic and Navy Beans

2008-04-23T19:19:00.002-04:00

I made the Tomato-Rice soup recipe from Veganomicon, and it did not disappoint! The soup was delicious! Tomato soup is always a family favorite, I've made several different versions, but this recipe is one of the best. The roasted garlic really adds a nice creamy flavor to it, and the brown rice and navy beans make it a truly filling meal in a bowl. (Plus, the recipe made a lot, so I froze some and set a few servings aside for lunch this week.) On the side I served a salad and some cornbread (that I had frozen from a different day).

Also, I just have to share my lunch:

Grilled banana and peanut butter sandwich! Katie always posts about these (in fact she adds in raisins and calls them the Sandwich of Dreams!) So yummy and decadent tasting! And actually pretty healthy too. Totally a comfort food. :)

Three-Tomato Sauce and Ice Cream

2008-04-21T21:35:00.002-04:00

Mark's parents came over for dinner tonight, it is their last evening here before heading back to New York for the summer. I thought I would try a new pasta sauce out, Three Tomato Sauce, which uses sun-dried, canned, and fresh tomatoes. The original recipe is from Everyday Food cookbook, but I had to change it some because my mother-in-law doesn't eat garlic or onions, so I had to flavor it in a different way. (I will post my recipe below.)

We went to Costco this weekend and I was eyeing the ice cream maker they had for sale. I have one, but it is the older kind with the giant bucket that you have to fill with rock salt (which I never seem to have on hand) and ice (which we never have enough from the ice maker to fill the bucket), and it is extremely loud. As you can imagine, I didn't get around to making a lot of homemade ice cream. The one at Costco had the bowl that you can keep frozen and ready to go at any time, no ice or salt needed. It was tempting, but I figured I didn't need another appliance, when I had an ice cream maker that still worked. That was until Mark offered it to be an early mother's day gift. Yippee! I used the recipe from Veganomicon which was very easy, and I made a batch of chocolate and a batch of strawberry. They were both a big hit for dessert tonight, they tasted very creamy and full of flavor. Not only is it cheaper than buying non-dairy ice cream from the store, but it is WAY better, there wasn't any kind of weird soy taste or anything. I even got rave reviews from my kids, who still snub soymilk because of the "beany" taste (I think they are just being stubborn). Needless to say, you may be seeing many different types of ice cream on my blog soon...

Three-Tomato Sauce

1/2 cup oil-packed sun-dried tomatoes, sliced
1 Tbs oil reserved from the sun-dried tomatoes
1 28 oz can crushed tomatoes
1 pound cherry or grape tomatoes, sliced in hal
1 Tbs balsamic vinegar
1/2 tsp sugar
1/2 tsp dried oregano
Salt and pepper to taste
1 lb fettuccine, cooked to package directions

In a large saucepan, heat the oil over medium heat. Add the sun-dried tomatoes and the canned tomatoes and cook, simmering and stirring occasionally for 15 minutes. Add the cherry tomatoes, vinegar, sugar, oregano, salt and pepper. Cook an additional 10 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add the hot, cooked noodles (drained) to the sauce and toss to coat. Serve immediately.

Quinoa Pilaf and Marinated Squash

2008-04-18T20:42:00.004-04:00

A nice simple dinner that was easy to put together. The marinated squash I made up earlier in the day since it needs several hours for the flavors to blend (I will post my recipe for it below). For the quinoa, I sauteed one onion and two carrots in some olive oil until soft, added 1 tsp coriander and 1 tsp of dried basil, plus some salt and pepper. Then I stirred in 1 cup of rinsed quinoa and 2 cups of water, brought this to a boil, then reduced the heat and covered the pot. It took about 20 minutes for the quinoa to cook and absorb all of the water, and then I stirred in one can of chickpeas that were drained and rinsed. How easy!

Marinated Squash

2 Tbs Olive Oil
2 Tbs Red Wine Vinegar
1 tsp dried oregano
1/4 tsp coarse salt
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 Tbs finely chopped parsley
2 small zucchini
2 small yellow summer squash

In a bowl, whisk together the olive oil, vinegar, oregano, salt, garlic, and parsley. Thinly slice the zucchini and squash, either by hand or with a mandoline. Add to the bowl with the marinade and toss to coat. Cover and refrigerate 8 hours or longer.

We also had some ripe strawberries with our dinner. They were from the farm produce stand again, but this time I did not turn them into strawberry shortcake. I thought about it! But I didn't. :( Maybe next time...

Black Bean Soup, Spiced Sweet Potato Wedges, and Avocado Chunk Salad

2008-04-16T19:38:00.003-04:00

I came up with this dinner all on my own! :) I love cookbooks and I love taking their "menu" suggestions, but I am also happy when I can think up a meal myself and it turns out to blend really well. I was pretty much surveying what I had on the counter as far as produce goes, and how I could prepare it without running out to the store. I used my onions, carrots, and bell pepper for the base of a black bean soup. AND the bell pepper was from the garden! Okay, I was supposed to wait for it to turn red, but I picked it when it was green. (Oops. I couldn't wait.)

The sweet potatoes I cut into wedges and then tossed them with some canola oil, chili powder, and coarse salt. Then I baked them in a 400 degree oven for about 20 minutes.

As for the salad, I didn't have enough lettuce to rip out of the garden to make it mostly leafy, so I used a few well place leaves as a "base" and then chunked up some tomatoes, avocados, and green onions. I squeezed some lemon juice on top and sprinkled it with salt and pepper.

The surprise hit? The chunked salad. The kids really liked this one, I think it was a nice change from the usual salad. The soup was a little bit too spicy for Noah, but Andy ate it all!

Amanda from the blog Walking the Vegan Line was a co-host for a vegan radio show (Go Vegan Texas) on Monday, and I had some time today to listen to the episode. Mostly the episode was about vegan bloggers, and I thought it was a really well done radio show. I know for me, blogging has really helped me out with my vegan diet. In the beginning, (before I had my blog), I perused the blogs for all kinds of recipes and ideas. After gradually switching to a vegan diet, I decided to start my own blog as well, and all of the support, comments, and interest from other bloggers has really helped me even more. I don't think I would have been so adventurous if I didn't have several people checking in each day to see what I made for dinner! I want to thank everyone who reads my blog and everyone who comments as well. It really means a lot to me! Also, I want to thank Amanda for the links to the radio show, you can find them on her blog if you are interested in listening!

Fresh From the Garden

2008-04-15T21:54:00.003-04:00

Tuesday is my busy day, we have about 30 minutes in between after school activities to make dinner, eat dinner, feed the dogs, change clothes (into Tae Kwon Do uniforms), and leave the house. Needless to say, dinner has to be very fast. Before I picked the kids up from school, I had some time to make cornbread and a batch of the vegan sausages. This time for the sausages, I diced up some sun-dried tomatoes and added them to the mixture. It was really good this way! Anyway, once we got home, all I had to do was throw the sausages on the Foreman grill, heat up some chili beans, and throw it all on the table. Well, I didn't actually throw it, but you knew that. :)

Also I had some salad with dinner, the lettuce you see in the picture at the top. It was from my garden! I am the most impatient gardener ever, Mark always teases me and says I should just plant radishes. (But even those aren't fast enough.) Anyway, my lettuce rows are finally looking great, and then, of course, I don't want to pick them and ruin them! But I took a nice photo of this lettuce head before picking it and then washing it for dinner. I am trying my hardest to be patient for the tomatoes, peppers and eggplants that I also planted.

Teriyaki Tofu

2008-04-14T20:27:00.004-04:00

Tonight I was trying to re-create the meal I had at Pei Wei. It was a teriyaki stir fry with tofu, broccoli, sugar snap peas, green onions, and served on top of brown rice. I think I did a pretty good job making a similar dish at home, so I will post my recipe. My only complaint was that I should have made more! :)

Teriyaki Stir Fry

1 lb extra-firm tofu, drained and pressed

2 Tbs canola oil

2 cups sugar snap peas

2 cups broccoli florets

3 green onions, chopped (reserve some green parts for garnish)

1/4 cup teriyaki sauce

1/4 cup maple syrup

2 Tbs rice vinegar

2 cloves garlic, minced

Pinch of red pepper flakes

2 tsp cornstarch

2 cups hot cooked brown rice

Cut the tofu into thin strips. In a small bowl, combine the teriyaki sauce, maple syrup, vinegar, garlic, red pepper, and cornstarch. Mix well and set aside. In a large skillet (or wok), heat one tablespoon of the oil over medium-high heat. Add the tofu and cook a few minutes without stirring, until lightly browned. Flip over and cook a few minutes more, until both sides are browned. Remove from pan to a plate. Wipe out skillet and add the remaining oil. Add the broccoli and cook, stirring, for 2 minutes. Add the snap peas and green onions and cook, stirring for 3 minutes. Add the tofu. Stir the teriyaki mixture, and then add to the pan. Cook 1 minute until heated through. Serve on top of the brown rice.

When I was in Texas last week, I went to Half Price Books. I was pretty excited when I found Everyday Vegan by Dreena Burton. (And it was half-price!) I just happened to have all of the ingredients on hand to make the More-ish Brownies. (Called more-ish because you want more.) They were really fudgy and good, and it was one of those recipes where it made me wonder why people starting baking with eggs in the first place! (?) Oh, well, I guess now we know better, and just need to spread the word!

Trip To Texas

2008-04-13T20:54:00.003-04:00

I'm finally back from my trip to Texas! I wanted to give a few delicious highlights from my trip. However, as far as food pictures go, I didn't get any good ones. The lighting was either bad, or I was too hungry. :) Also, I was too shy to pick up my meal in a restaurant and walk over to a window for better lighting. (My mom wanted me too, but I wouldn't.) So, I will post a few other photos, and hopefully you can use your imagination on the food part...

My parents drove me and my family down to Austin to spend the night. A few of our stops were visiting the state capitol, viewing the famous bats in the evening, and touring the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower center (where the picture of the bluebonnets came from). The morning on our way to the wildflower center, we were all hungry for breakfast and looking for a place to spot. My mom spotted this restaurant:

It looked funky and cute, so we gave it a try. It was great! It was easy enough for me to find something vegan on the menu. They had breakfast tacos with a list of ingredients, and you can pick two ingredients to fill them. I chose the black beans and potatoes, with salsa on the side. Yum! My mom indulged in some gingerbread pancakes with strawberries...they smelled delicious! We were all happy with our choice for breakfast, and we were pretty full (for awhile).

Later in the week, my mom and I had a girls day with massages, lunch, and shopping. We stopped at Pei Wei for lunch, which I had never been to, but have heard many good things about it. My mom and I split the steamed edamame for an appetizer (I love these!), and I ordered the teriyaki tofu and vegetables with brown rice. I really wish my picture would have turned out, because it was really delicious! The tofu was almost crispy, and the broccoli and snap peas were cooked perfect. And again, very easy to order vegan here. I hope a Pei Wei opens up in Tampa soon!

On our last day, we made a special trip to Fort Worth to visit the Spiral Diner, which is a vegan restaurant. How nice to be able to pick anything on the menu without hesitation! I ordered............ Seitan! My first time trying it! I had the BBQ sandwich, which was the seitan sliced very thin in a tangy barbeque sauce, with pickles and onions on multigrain bread. It was so good! (Now I am not afraid of seitan anymore.) My mom had a club sandwich with tofu and avocados. She hasn't had much tofu, and she was pleasantly surprised. Mark ordered the sandwich special, which was portabello mushrooms, pine nuts, and a bunch of other stuff (he can't remember now). It was so good, he forgot to give me a taste! My dad had the spiral burger, and it was very tasty as well. The kids both ordered grilled cheez. I was wishing they would have picked something more exciting so I could taste, but oh well. Of course we saved room for dessert, I had been eyeing the carrot cake in the display case. It was a huge slice of dense, moist carrot cake with cream frosting. It was very good! My mom chose the apple pie, which we all liked. Noah picked a chocolate chip cookie, it was thick and chewy and very good (he didn't want to share)! Andy chose a vanilla milkshake, but the vanilla wasn't very detectable, so it tasted a little bland, and he didn't finish it (he shoulda picked chocolate). Mark picked the brownie a la mode, and I think we all liked his the best. It was a very fudgy brownie, nice and warm and gooey. We were all happy with Spiral Diner, it was a great lunch, and the restaurant was very cool. (Here's a photo of Noah outside the door, putting on a smile.)

Spiral Diner was about 10 minutes from the Fort Worth Zoo, so that was our next stop. I only intended to give dining highlights from our trip, but I have to share this photo of the hippo...

I didn't crop this at all, in fact I was standing right by the sign you see in the foreground! The hippo climbed up the fence, we all were scared it was coming at us! But instead, it was just reaching to eat some leaves off of the willow tree hanging above. I managed to get my camera out and snap this picture before the hippo went back into the water. The animals were all very active at the zoo that day. I guess it's spring fever!

Vegan Sausage

2008-04-02T20:50:00.003-04:00

I had been eyeing the sausages that Vegan Dad has made a few times, so I finally tried them out tonight. They are so good! They are really easy to make, you mix the ingredients up into a soft dough, roll up portions in foil and twist the ends shut, and then steam them. After that, I sauteed some onion and added the sausages (sliced up) to the onion just to brown a little and then added all of this to my cooked pasta and tomato sauce. Everybody liked these, and Mark even asked if they were meat, because he wasn't sure at first. It made a lot, which I was happy about because now we have leftovers for tomorrow! (So, I am sorry to say I probably won't have anything to post tomorrow!)

I didn't post these yesterday because Tuesday's is my busy day and I never got a chance to get on the computer, but I did snap a picture of the Poppy Seed - Cornmeal Roti from Veganomicon. I actually made these up earlier in the day and quickly warmed them for dinner, served alongside some hummus, carrots, celery, tomatoes, and olives. I am always surprised how much my kids like hummus. The vegetables take a little more coaxing, but the hummus gets eaten up pretty quickly!

Spanish Black Beans

2008-03-31T19:11:00.002-04:00

This week's meals may not be that exciting. We will be leaving on vacation this Saturday, so I am mostly trying to use up some of the foods in the house. It is not too imperative I use up everything because my in-laws will be staying in our house to puppy-sit, but it's kind of that pre-vacation mode anyway, to not have any elaborate meals and use up what you've got. But I thought I would share tonight's meal, because it was pretty tasty. I made some Spanish style black beans. I had been flipping through How to Cook Everything by Mark Bittman, and came across his recipe for them. I didn't really follow his recipe, but I kind of made something along the same lines. I served it with baked sweet potatoes with Earth Balance and cinnamon sugar, and a salad with carrots and tomatoes. You can't see the lettuce in the picture (buried under all those tomatoes!) but it is from the garden. Yep! The garden! Our first "crop." Mark thinks I am the most impatient gardener ever. I plant the seeds, and think I should be eating something a week later. :) The lettuce didn't take too long, but it was definitely longer than a week.

Spanish Style Black Beans

1 Tbs canola oil

1 Onion, diced

1 Red Bell Pepper, diced

2 cloves garlic, minced

1 tsp cumin

2 tsp chili powder

3 cups drained black beans

1 cup bean cooking liquid or broth

1 can Ro-Tel tomatoes, with liquid

Salt and pepper

1/3 cup chopped parsley

In a large skillet, heat the oil over medium heat. Add the onion and pepper and saute about 5 minutes, or until softened. Add the garlic and cook one minute more. Add the cumin and chili powder and cook for 1 minute. Add the black beans, liquid, and tomatoes. Simmer 15 minutes, or until beans are hot and the mixture has thickened. Stir in the parsley and cook a few more minutes. Season with salt and pepper, to taste.

Sunday Snack Cake

2008-03-31T13:24:00.003-04:00

Wanting to put to good use the extremely ripe bananas I had bought on Friday, Saturday night I made this cake. Banana-Chocolate Chip Squares from King Arthur Flour Whole Grain Baking. There wasn't much I needed to do to make it vegan, only sub Earth Balance for the butter and omit the one egg the recipe called for. The cake was made with whole grain spelt flour, which our family really likes the flavor for. One of the things with spelt flour is that sometimes it has a hard time absorbing liquid, which is why this recipe instructed to let the cake rest overnight after it has baked (which was why I made it Saturday night to have for Sunday). Of course, that didn't stop my husband and I from sampling a tiny piece on Saturday night "just to see the difference." :)

The cake was really good. The spelt flour gave the cake part a really nice flavor, it was very moist as well. The top of the cake is covered with bittersweet chocolate chips and chopped walnuts - what a great combination! Yum!

Strawberry Shortcake

2008-03-28T20:58:00.002-04:00

I have to post the dessert first, because it was just that good. But I promise we ate our dinner before the dessert! I stopped by the fruit and vegetable stand today, and I need to remember to go here more often! They have great selection and really good prices. I also could not resist some of their deals on very very ripe fruit (meaning you need to eat it right away!). I like to refer to them as the "scratch and dent" produce. :) So they had scratch and dent bananas at 19 cents a pound (those will be turned into pancakes tomorrow), and strawberries at 1/2 price. I bought two boxes of the strawberries with visions of shortcake in mind. Besides the juicy strawberries, the other reason I like strawberry shortcake is because a shortcake is basically a biscuit, lightly sweetened. :) I used a shortcake recipe I got from vegcooking.com, it was just a basic biscuit type shortcake and it came out very nice. For the creamy part, I mixed 1/4 cup of vegan sour cream and 1/4 cup of vegan cream cheese, some powdered sugar (to taste), a few drops of vanilla, and 1/2 tsp fresh lemon juice. It was tangy, creamy and fresh tasting! This was one of those desserts where you are thinking, "I'm awesome!" Yeah, okay, bratty...I know.

The dinner part was an evolving process. I was originally going to make mini meatballs out of the Chickpea cutlet recipe and serve them with pasta, but at the produce stand they had a 5lb bag of yukon gold potatoes for 89 cents. That's practically free, people! So then I changed my mind and planned on making Chickpea cutlets, mashed potatoes, and green beans. But it's Friday, and I was feeling like something a little more fun. I finally decided on Chik-P-Fil-A, aka chickpea cutlets on a whole wheat bun with vegenaise and pickles. The potatoes were turned into cajun oven fries, and just to be slightly healthy, I did include the green beans on the side. Yeah, I'm awesome. :)

Banana Bread

2008-03-27T21:14:00.002-04:00

Has anyone noticed yet that I like to bake? There were some bananas on the counter just begging to be turned into banana bread, and well, why not? I thought I'd try the Veganomicon recipe for Lower Fat Banana Bread. My only substitutions were instead of all-purpose flour I used whole wheat pastry flour, and instead of applesauce I used pureed butternut squash. I was all out of applesauce, but happened to have some butternut squash puree in the freezer. I know, odd. But anyway. Veganomicon did not disappoint (it usually never does), and the bread was delicious! I should know, I had about four slices (good thing I used that whole wheat flour!). Particularly nice warm with some Earth Balance. Mmmmm.

Also, I just wanted to mention my experience with the whole wheat pastry flour. I have been subbing it a lot for regular flour, and I have noticed that the finished product is still nice and light, but the texture is a bit more crumbly. Not that it is a bad thing, but that's just been my experience so far. So when texture isn't a huge deal, and you are wanting a healthier choice, go for the whole wheat pastry flour. But if you don't want crumbs all over your floor, or you don't want someone to think it's because it's "vegan" (i.e. you are sharing with omni's), go for the all-purpose. In my humble opinion.

Tofu and Noodles

2008-03-26T19:44:00.002-04:00

Boy, this dinner came together quick! Whole wheat noodles tossed with tofu, cabbage, carrots and snow peas. Then this mixture was coated in a soy/peanut glaze. I was slightly afraid of the peanut sauce (I love to have my peanut butter in a sweet way!), but it was really good, actually! And now I am sure Mark will again get on my case about trying Thai food. He has wanted me to try Thai food, and I am not sure why I am resistant to it. I guess because I am not familiar with it, so I really wouldn't know in what direction to go with the ordering! (I know, kind of silly.) When I had made my rice with the coconut milk on Monday, Mark was sure to mention that coconut milk is reminiscent of Thai food. (That's his gentle way of being pushy.) Anyway, back to tonight's dinner, the original recipe was from Everyday Food magazine, but I tweaked it a bit, so I will post what I did.

Tofu and Noodles

12 oz whole wheat spaghetti
1/4 head of green cabbage, shredded
4 carrots, shaved with a vegetable peeler
1/2 pound snow peas, strings removed
1 1/2 pounds firm tofu, drained, and cut into cubes
4 Tbs peanut butter
3 Tbs soy sauce
3 Tbs rice wine vinegar
3 Tbs brown sugar
salt and pepper to taste

In a large pot, bring water to a boil. Add the pasta and cook according to package directions for al dente. Two minutes before pasta is done, add the cabbage. One minute before pasta is done, add the snow peas, carrots, and tofu. Reserve 1/2 cup of pasta water, and drain the mixture when the pasta is done. In the pot, add the remaining ingredients and stir until smooth. Return the pasta and vegetables to the pot, tossing to coat with the sauce. Add pasta water as needed to thin the sauce to help coat the noodles. Season with salt and pepper as desired.

***Update: Mark just sat down to eat his dinner, and the first thing he said: "Oh, this tastes a little peanut-y, that's kind of like Thai food!" :)

Red Beans & Rice

2008-03-24T18:47:00.004-04:00

Yum! I know Red Beans and Rice doesn't sound very exciting, but these were actually really delicious. I started with dried red beans that were soaked overnight (and I happened to get these for FREE! from the grocery store because they rang up wrong, and their policy is to then give you the item for free). I got them started cooking in a big pot, and while those were going I sauteed in olive oil: two small onions, a red bell pepper, two celery stalks (all of this chopped), and three cloves of garlic. Once they were soft, I added a can of fire roasted tomatoes, 2 bay leaves, thyme, and allspice, simmered for a few minutes, and then added all the veggies to the beans until the beans were done cooking. This was a big pot full, so I took half of the beans and veggies and froze them for later. To the rest I added 1 1/2 cups brown rice and two cans of lite coconut milk. This was cooked until the rice was done and the liquid was absorbed. It was kind of time consuming, but mostly the unattended kind, so it wasn't anything difficult to prepare. Also, I was doubting how the coconut milk would taste, but let me tell you, it was wonderful! It made the dish nice and creamy, but it wasn't an overpowering flavor. It just gave it that little something somethin'. On the side I served fried okra, my oldest son's favorite. He actually cheered out loud when I told him I was cooking some. Yes, out loud. I think that is the only vegetable he gets excited about. I guess that's because he was born in the south. :)

Also, I just wanted to give an update on the leftover situation. Those potato rolls...you know from yesterday? They are just PERFECT split in half, toasted, then smeared with Earth Balance and jam. Much like a biscuit (and everyone knows how I like biscuits). We all had them for breakfast this morning. Delicious! Hooray for leftovers!

Happy Easter!

2008-03-23T20:48:00.003-04:00

We celebrated Easter over at Mark's parents house. My contribution was Homestyle Potato Rolls from Veganomicon. I love baking, and I really love baking yeasted breads. I got this love from my mom, she also loves yeast breads. (In fact sometimes she will say she just whipped up a tray of sticky buns. Yeah, you don't "whip up" sticky buns, mom. They take like four hours.) Potato rolls were a first for me, but they came out really good. I actually made the dough yesterday, and let it do the final rising in the fridge overnight. Not only did this save me time today, but I think an overnight rise in the fridge makes your breads more tender. They were so delicious! We served them alongside some of Uncle Dan's Lentil Soup (he was there in person to make it from scratch!) as our first course.

My other contribution was dessert (more baking!), in which I brought the famous Smlove Pie (also from Veganomicon). Of course, this was excellent, again. I made this for Valentine's Day, so I am actually just re-using my photo from that pie, but both times it came out decadent and perfect.

BBQ Lentil Wraps

2008-03-21T19:40:00.003-04:00

For these, I basically used the lentil taco filling recipe, but I subbed in barbecue sauce instead of the salsa. I used a little less liquid also, to make it thicker. Then I had shredded lettuce and tomatoes wrapped inside with them. The barbecue flavor came out really nice. I love how versatile lentils are! I am posting my recipe for this version:

BBQ Lentil Filling

1 onion, chopped fine

1 Tbs canola oil

2 cloves garlic, minced

1 cup lentils, checked for stones and rinsed

1 Tbs chili powder

2 tsp cumin

1 cup vegetable broth

1/2 cup water

1 cup barbecue sauce

In a large pan, heat the oil over medium heat. Add the onions and saute until soft, about 5-6 minutes. Add the garlic and cook one minute more. Add the lentils, chili powder, and cumin and cook, stirring, one minute. Add the broth and water, bring to a boil. Cover and reduce heat and simmer 20 -25 minutes until lentils are tender. Remove the cover and raise heat to medium. Add the barbecue sauce and simmer until thickened, about 10 minutes.

Lentils and Rice with Carmelized Onions

2008-03-20T21:46:00.002-04:00

Such an easy meal! Lentils and Rice is a Middle Eastern staple meal, and it is pretty easy to make. I have seen a couple different versions, but tonight I tried the recipe from Veganomicon. The onions are caramelized in the oven, separately, and then added to the lentils and rice at the end. The rice and lentils (red lentils, in this case), are cooked together and spiced with cinnamon, allspice, and cumin. I can't believe how yummy such a simple meal is! I was worried I wouldn't like the spice combination, because usually I like cinnamon as a sweet spice, but it wasn't too overpowering and really lent an earthy flavor to the dish. This dish will definitely make its way into my dinner rotation!

Eggplant Caponata

2008-03-19T21:51:00.002-04:00

I was really looking forward to trying this recipe out because I haven't cooked with eggplant a lot, so I don't know very many ways to use it. The Eggplant Caponata recipe came from the current (April 2008) issue of Everyday Food. I also liked this recipe because it purposely was a large batch so that some of it could be frozen for later. For dinner, we had the sauce with whole wheat penne pasta. The eggplant sauce tasted really good.

I was invited to a neighbor's house tonight for a bunco game, so of course I offered to bring a snack. I used the eggplant sauce as a topping on crostini. These looked really cute, and they were tasty, too. I am not sure which way I like it better! Oh wait, yes I am, I looooove bread, so I would have to say I like it better as crostinis. Although I am pretty sure it is healthier to have it served with the whole wheat pasta. :)

Quick Dinner

2008-03-18T21:11:00.003-04:00

I originally wasn't going to post this meal, but decided to anyway, which I will explain in a minute. Tonight I needed something fast because Tuesday is our busy day. The kids get home from school, and we have about 20 minutes for homework and then we have to take my youngest son to gymnastics. Then we get back from that and we have 40 minutes to make and eat dinner, feed the dogs too (can't forget about them!) and then get changed to take me and my older son to Tae Kwon Do. So I really have to be prepared ahead of time with heat and eat leftovers, or something that can be made in 10 or 15 minutes. So this meal wasn't very exciting, but I was pretty proud that I put it together in 10 minutes: Potato cakes (the leftover mashed potatoes coated in panko bread crumbs and then pan-fried), baked beans, and sauteed zucchini and mushrooms. Not too shabby!

The reason I posted this semi-lackluster meal was because the other reason I was proud about it was that I have seemed to reach my stride in the kitchen with vegan meals. I have been vegan for almost three months, and while I did have a few stand by meals that were already vegan, mostly I was re-learning how I plan and prepare all of my meals. I was on a vegan learning curve you could say, and I still haven't become an expert yet (ahem, seitan...). But the fact that I could quickly throw something together and it still come out reasonably healthy and vegan was showing me that I am finally thinking about my meals in a whole new way. No more thinking "meat, starch, and something green." Now it is more thinking about what flavors and foods go together to me, and what would taste yummy and be healthy? So this is good news to me, although it may not be so great for blogging since I won't be using new recipes every day! But don't worry, I still love trying new recipes and I can always find something yummy to post! (I can always experiment with some new muffins, right?) Tomorrow's should be pretty good, I am actually looking forward to making it!

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

2008-03-17T19:26:00.003-04:00

Barbecued Tofu with Sweet and Sour Braised Cabbage, and mashed potatoes. Yum! I love cabbage, once it is cooked it always tastes so buttery and good. St. Patrick's Day is a good excuse to have some cabbage, and mashed potatoes as well! I also like Irish Soda bread, to me it is like a giant biscuit (you know how I like those biscuits from the biscuit tent!), but I didn't quite feel like making it, plus I made a lot of mashed potatoes (to use up the bag), so I was thinking I didn't really need it either. Guess I'll just have to make biscuits another time.

For dessert, we had fresh strawberries with cashew cream on top. The cashew cream was pretty good, although my blender didn't get it quite as smooth as I wanted. Mixed with the berries, it tasted really good.

Cashew Cream

1 cup raw cashews
1/2 cup water
1 - 2 TBS agave syrup or maple syrup

In a blender, puree the ingredients until smooth. You will need to stop and scrape down the sides several times. Also you may need additional water if it seems too thick.

Saturday Morning Breakfast

2008-03-15T10:46:00.002-04:00

This morning I made the Oatmeal Banana Raisin Waffles from Vegan With a Vengeance. I had made these before, but in pancake form. I really like this recipe, it is so delicious! And also pretty good for you too (as far as waffles go). I even subbed whole wheat pastry flour for the all purpose, so mine were 100% whole grain. The recipe makes a lot, but don't think there were any leftover in my house! They were all gobbled up. The boys and I ate several, and then Mark returned home from his long run, and he polished off the rest. It was a pretty big pile, but hey, he ran 14 miles this morning. I think he deserves to fill his belly on waffles today. :)

Also, I again couldn't decide which photo I like best, so here is the other one...

Mac Daddy

2008-03-14T20:09:00.003-04:00

Today's dinner didn't exactly go as planned. Fortunately, everything turned out alright, but this is how it started: I hadn't planned ahead for dinner (and by plan ahead, I mean like three days ago, when I was at the store), so I knew I was going to have to rummage through the freezer/pantry to see what I had. In the freezer were two frozen balls of pizza dough, and some frozen broccoli. The fridge and pantry turned up tofu and cashews. So, the original plan was to make some calzones with the Veganomicon cashew ricotta and broccoli. Sounds pretty good, right? I took the dough out to defrost and rise some. By 5:00, they were no where near doubling, and there was no way I was going to get four calzones out of it. I felt like throwing it all away and eating out. But, back to the drawing board, and by that I mean the pantry. I had some pasta shells (a whole new box), and a lot of nutritional yeast. As it turns out, I has almost all of the ingredients for the Mac Daddy from Veganomicon. I was only missing the lemon juice, so I subbed white vinegar. I hadn't ever made the Mac Daddy before, and it came out pretty good! The kids seemed pretty happy with it, but they were even more happy that I gave them the dough (that wasn't rising), and let them make breadsticks to go with the pasta. The broccoli, of course got turned into the side dish (not exciting, but oh well). I'd rather save the dining out for when I actually want to eat out, and not because I don't have anything for dinner, so I was pretty pleased with the outcome tonight!

Tempeh Stroganoff

2008-03-12T18:32:00.002-04:00

Yum... this was basically the recipe for Wheat-Meat Stroganoff from Vegan Planet, only I used tempeh instead of the seitan, and I didn't have the green bell pepper that the recipe called for. This recipe was awesome! I served it with mashed potatoes and broiled asparagus. I think the next time I will make it with the seitan, but today I only had the tempeh on hand. Also, I haven't actually tried seitan yet. I am not sure why, but I am a little afraid of it. I know you can buy it or make it yourself, and I don't know which way is the best way to go. Does anyone have an opinion on this? So yeah, that's basically the reason I haven't cooked with seitan yet. I am afraid if I buy it, it won't be very good, and then I will be turned off. On the flipside, if I make it myself and unknowingly screw it up, and it's not very good... well you get the idea. And yes, I am aware that I am kind of being silly about the whole thing. :)

BBQ Tempeh Chopped Salad

2008-03-11T21:17:00.002-04:00

A had a nice piece of the Barebeque Tempeh left over from last night, and it occurred to me that I could turn it into a delicious salad! I chopped it up into small cubes and put it on top of a bed of romaine lettuce, spinach, grape tomatoes, corn, and avocado. (I probably would have thrown even more in there, but that was all I had on hand.) I used the house dressing from The Uncheese Cookbook. The first time I made this dressing, I served it right away and didn't really like the flavors. But after mellowing in the refrigerator for a day, it tasted much better. It suited this salad really well.

Barbeque Tempeh

2008-03-10T19:29:00.002-04:00

I wanted something relatively quick and easy tonight, so I came up with this. It does require about 15 minutes of prep work a few hours ahead (so it can marinate), but then it just pops in the oven and is no fuss. Both of the kids really liked it as well, so that is an extra bonus! I served it with green beans and potato pancakes.

Barbeque Tempeh

2 8oz packages of Tempeh

1 cup ketchup

1/2 Tbs soy sauce

1/2 Tbs chili powder

1/4 cup apple cider vinegar

1/2 cup onion, chopped fine

1/2 tsp garlic powder

1 Tbs yellow mustard

Salt and pepper to taste

Cut each piece of tempeh in half, and then cut the halves in half into triangles (you will have eight triangles). In a large saute pan that has a lid, bring 1 inch of water to a simmer. Add the tempeh, cover, and reduce heat. Simmer for 10 minutes. Meanwhile, in a small saucepan, combine the remaining ingredients. Cook over medium-low heat, stirring occasionally, for about 10 minutes. When tempeh is done, place in a baking dish. Cover the tempeh with the barbeque sauce. Cover with foil, and refrigerate for at least 1 hour. Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees. Place the baking dish, still covered, in the oven and bake for 30 minutes.

Uncle Dan's Lentil Soup

2008-03-09T20:53:00.005-04:00

Mark's Aunt and Uncle rent a condo in Orlando for a few months in the winter time, and since it is nearby, we like to go out and visit them. Of course it's a bonus that Uncle Dan loves to cook! Uncle Dan is Italian, and he is one of the best cooks that we know. My son always loves to eat Uncle Dan's food. Today, Uncle Dan shared his famous lentil soup, and he also said I could share the recipe on my blog! So, here it is (I hope I got everything right!):

Uncle Dan's Lentil Soup

1 1/2 cups lentils, washed and checked for stones
2 or 3 cloves of garlic
4 carrots, washed and diced
4 stalks of celery, washed and diced
1 onion (kept whole, or chopped)
1 (28 oz) can of crushed tomatoes
1/2 or 1/4 cup of wine (optional)
Salt and pepper
1 tsp sugar
parsley
Short pasta, such as ditalini

In a large pot, heat some oil in the bottom of the pot. Saute the garlic and onion. Add all of the chopped vegetables and some water and cook for 15 or 20 minutes. Add lentils, crushed tomatoes, and wine. Fill the empty tomato can with water and add to soup. Add salt and pepper to taste, the sugar, and some parsley. Simmer for 2 hours. Meanwhile, cook the pasta separately according to package directions. When soup is done, add the pasta with some of the pasta cooking liquid, if necessary.

I brought over some dessert, the Chocolate Peanut Butter brownies from Vegan Planet. The top was supposed to be swirled with the peanut butter, but it didn't really come out right. I was afraid the taste would be off as well, so I sampled a small corner before taking them over to Mark's Aunt and Uncle. They tasted pretty good, just didn't look the way I thought. Uncle Dan and Aunt Margaret gave me a hard time about the missing corner, however.

Black Bean Burgers

2008-03-06T17:48:00.003-05:00

I was wanting to try a new recipe, but not anything too exotic because while my kids are pretty adventurous, I think they were craving some familiar foods. I flipped through Veganomicon and decided on the black bean burgers. As a bonus, I had all the ingredients I needed except for buns! So I quickly stopped at the store for the buns (and a few things for tomorrow's dinner as well). I also picked up some sweet potatoes to serve on the side as sweet potato fries. Okay, the kids gave me some grief on this one. My youngest asked how come I had to make the orange fries, because he likes the yellow fries better. They kind of skipped over them. I think they had one, as a formality. But the burgers...those they gobbled up! These were really good, they had a lot of flavor, and they were easy to prepare. Why is V-Con so darn good?!? I mean, I think I've made more than a dozen recipes from here, and I was only disappointed in one (the beanballs, remember my post? They were mushy), and in defense of the book, I haven't re-tried it so it could have been my fault.

The other day, my son came home from school and told me he had a funny story. He said at lunch on his tray (he bought that day), was a package that said "Power Ball, Energy Ball" so he, of course, ate it. He said, "Mom, do you know what the 'energy ball' was? It was a do-nut hole." Even though he loves do-nuts, he saw the irony in the fact that the school was calling a do-nut an energy ball. I decided to create a real energy ball for an after school snack. I had remembered seeing a raw brownie recipe on Ruby Red's blog here. I followed the link she had to the brownie recipe. Now, technically what I made isn't raw, because I used cocoa powder, which is roasted. If you wanted it raw, you'd have to use carob powder, or I think cacao nibs. Anyway, here is how I made mine:

Brownie Bites - Energy Balls makes 15-18 balls

1 cup walnuts

1 cup dates, pitted

1/4 cup cocoa powder

pinch of sea salt

ground almonds

Place walnuts, dates, cocoa powder and salt in a food processor. Process until blended well, you may still see small bits of the walnuts. With clean hands, roll into small balls, and roll each ball into the ground almonds. Place in freezer to firm.

You may have noticed that this is the second recipe I've made this week using dates and walnuts. Yes, we had a Costco trip this weekend, so I am sure you can guess some of the stuff we got. :) Plus, dates are super healthy and we especially like them as a recovery snack for after any of our runs. Walnuts are of course healthy too!

I also wanted to mention that I am so proud of my sister Amy! She was the one who inspired me to go vegan because she had read The China Study. I was too afraid to read it (Amy ended up stressed out about food for a week!), but took what she said to heart, and gradually started eating vegan part-time. Eventually, I went to full time vegan and started my food blog. Well, now Amy is moving towards full time vegan, as she just mentioned on her blog here. I am so excited for her! I have had only great experiences with being vegan so far, and I have never felt better about my diet in regards to my health, the environment, and ethics. Now I have someone else to swap recipes with!

Date-Walnut Muffins

2008-03-04T21:04:00.002-05:00

Another rainy day, so of course I felt like baking. When we have after-school activities to get to quickly, I like the kids to have a healthy snack on the way, instead of just grabbing some packaged snacks. Muffins are the perfect thing. They are healthy because they contain whole grain flours, fruits, and nuts, but not so healthy that the kids won't eat them. (Muffins also freeze well, so the extras can be defrosted another day!) Here's my creation for Date-Walnut Muffins. I am still in the middle of tweaking the recipe, but these came out really well, so I thought I would post the recipe anyway. If I tweak it more and it improves, I will be sure to post the new one.

Date-Walnut Muffins

1 1/3 cups light vanilla soymilk (or plain), room temperature

1 tsp white vinegar

1 cup whole wheat flour

1 1/2 cups all purpose flour

2 tsp baking powder

1 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 cup brown sugar

1/3 cup canola oil

1 1/2 tsp vanilla

2 Tbs ground flax seeds

6 Tbs water

1 cup whole dates*

1 cup walnut halves*

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Spray a 12 cup muffin tin with cooking spray. In a bowl, mix the soymilk with the vinegar and set aside. In another bowl, mix the flours, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Roughly chop the dates and walnuts. Gently fold the dates into the flour mixture so the dates stay separated and do not clump together. Stir in the walnuts. To the soymilk mixture, whisk in the brown sugar, oil, flax seeds, and water. Whisk vigorously. Add the soymilk mixture to the dry ingredients and gently stir until combined. Do not overmix. Scoop the batter into the prepared pan, filling way to the top. Bake for 25 minutes, or until wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool in pan for 5 minutes, then remove from pan and finish cooling on a wire rack.

*If you use pre-chopped dates and/or walnuts, decrease amount to 3/4 cup

We couldn't agree on which photo was best of the muffins, so I am asking you guys to vote! The one at the top won with 3 votes in our family, and the photo below only got one vote. Let me know which photo you like the best!

Lentil Tacos

2008-03-03T20:18:00.003-05:00

Alright, so I realize you can't actually see the lentil filling inside the tacos because of my liberal use of toppings, but trust me when I say they were really good. Carrie had made this recipe the other day and was raving about it, and I hadn't made anything like it yet so I thought I would try. She linked to the recipe on her blog, which is found here, and I was excited to try it because it was from Runner's World. Hey! I'm a runner! So these must be good, right? After you saute some onions, garlic, and celery, you add dry lentils, chili powder, cumin, oregano, and some water to simmer for 20 minutes or so. (And Carrie was right that it needed more water than what the recipe said.) Then you add some salsa and cook until thickened. It really was that easy. Aren't lentils great? They are so versatile and quick to cook! Oh, and yummy too!

Chickpea Parmesan

2008-03-02T20:55:00.002-05:00

One of Mark's most favorite meals is Chicken Parmesan. He orders this at nearly every Italian restaurant. Lately I have seen other vegan bloggers using the Chickpea Cutlets (from Veganomicon) in a version of chicken Parmesan. I had been wanting to try this combo, and tonight was the perfect opportunity. Besides having everything on hand in my pantry, the whole meal came together in a snap. (Less than 30 minutes!) I made the Chickpea Cutlets pretty much as V-con said, only I forgot the soy sauce (rushing), and added in some fresh parsley. I chose the pan-fry method since it seems a little quicker. I served it with marinara sauce and whole wheat fettuccine. Mark was happy to pitch in and make a nice side salad. We had a great Italian meal, and with the nice weather, we were able to dine al fresco. If you haven't tried the chickpea cutlets yet, you need to, NOW! They are so good, quick to make, and very versatile. (My son still prefers the version where you put it on a bun with Vegenaise and pickles. Chick-P-Fil-A). They are such a great meal!

Whole Wheat Apple Cinnamon Pancakes

2008-03-01T08:52:00.004-05:00

I seem to make pancakes often on Saturday. That's because I have three big pancake fans in the house. (It's actually not me. I like them, but I would be fine with oatmeal.) So, I guess if 75% of the family prefers pancakes for breakfast, there is going to be a tall order for them on the weekend. Today I was trying out my own creation. Lately I have been using the whole wheat pastry flour. Mostly because this wasn't as difficult to find in the stores as I thought. Either Bob's Red Mill and/or Arrowhead Mills makes a brand, but it doesn't say "whole grain pastry flour" on the label. It says "organic pastry flour." So I kept passing it up at the store, wondering when they were ever going to carry the whole wheat version, or when I was going to get the courage up to ask them to order it. For some reason one day, I picked up the "organic pastry flour" and read the label. Oh. The ingredient list: 100% whole wheat flour. Well, so now I have some! You can use regular flour in these pancakes if you haven't yet found the whole wheat pastry flour, but you may need to increase the liquid some.

Whole Wheat Apple Cinnamon Pancakes:

1 Granny Smith Apple

1 Tbs Non-hydrogenated margarine (I used Earth Balance)

1 Tbs Brown Sugar
1/2 tsp cinnamon

1 cup plain soymilk

1 tsp white vinegar

1 1/2 cups whole wheat pastry flour

3 Tbs sugar

1 1/2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

1 Tbs canola oil

1 Tbs ground flax seeds

3 Tbs water

In a non-stick skillet, melt the margarine over medium heat. Add the brown sugar. Peel and core the apple, then dice. When the sugar dissolves, add the diced apple and the cinnamon. Cook, stirring occaisionally until apples are soft, about 10 minutes. Set aside.

Bring the soymilk to room temperature, or warm in a microwave 30 - 40 seconds. Stir in the vinegar, and set mixture aside.

In a large bowl, combine the flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Stir with a whisk. In a small bowl, whisk the flax seeds with the water vigorously. Add to the soymilk mixture, add the oil, and whisk to combine. Pour the soymilk mixture over the flour mixture and stir gently to combine. Fold in the apples. Set bowl aside. Pre-heat a griddle or large pan to 350 degrees (about medium to medium-high heat). When a drop of water sizzles on top, then the pan is ready. Spray lightly with non-stick cooking spray. Pour batter by 1/4 cupfuls onto pre-heated griddle. Cook until the edges are dry, and bubbles have formed on the top, about 3 -4 minutes. Flip, and cook on the other side until done, about 3 more minutes. Serve with maple syrup.

Roasted Vegetable Quinoa Salad

2008-02-29T18:33:00.002-05:00

I've made something similar to this before, but I changed/added a lot of ingredients tonight, so I thought I would share my recipe:

Roasted Vegetable Quinoa Salad (serves 6)

1 Head Cauliflower, cut into bite size chunks

4 carrots, cut into chunks

1 small onion, sliced into large slices

2 zucchini, cut in half lengthwise, then sliced thickly

2 Tbs canola oil

1 tsp ground cumin

1 tsp ground coriander

Coarse salt and pepper, to taste

1 1/4 cup quinoa, rinsed in a sieve under running water for 2 minutes

2 1/2 cups water

Juice of one lemon, divided

1 Tbs olive oil

1 tsp dijon mustard

8 oz baby spinach

1 can chickpeas, drained and rinsed

Preheat oven to 450 degrees. In a large rimmed baking sheet, toss the cauliflower, carrots, and onions with the canola oil, cumin, coriander, and salt and pepper. Roast in the oven for 20 minutes. Meanwhile, bring the quinoa and water to a boil in a medium saucepan. Cover, reduce heat to low and simmer about 15 minutes or until all the liquid is absorbed and the quinoa grains look translucent. Set aside.

After 20 minutes, toss the zucchini with the rest of the vegetables and return to oven to roast for 15 minutes more. Meanwhile, whisk together the half the juice of the lemon, the olive oil, and dijon mustard. Season with salt and pepper. Toss the dressing with the spinach leaves, and divide the spinach among six serving dishes.

When vegetables are done roasting, add the chickpeas and remaining lemon juice and toss. Taste for seasoning. Mix in the cooked quinoa, then serve over the spinach leaves.

Chocolate Chip Cookies

2008-02-28T21:02:00.002-05:00

So what do you do when your nice warm Florida tempertures suddenly drop to cold temps? Bake cookies! Yum! Thanks to Veggie Girl for linking these cookies on her blog the other day! They are Dreena Burton's Homestyle Chocolate Chip Cookies. The only subsitution I made was to use whole wheat pastry flour instead of white flour. So that makes them a health food then, right? I sure hope so because I think I ate a lot. Whoops. That's what cold weather will do to ya.

Pumpkin Oatmeal Muffins

2008-02-26T16:04:00.002-05:00

I have been making these muffins for a while now, as they are one of my husband's favorites for pre-run fuel. In fact, I even dubbed them "Mark's Marathon Muffins," and I had posted about them on my running blog here. However, they were not vegan, and I hadn't tried to make a vegan version of them yet...until today! They tasted just as yummy as before, but of course, we will have to see what Mark thinks, so I will make sure he leaves a comment about them. I also should point out that they are a healthy muffin (not a cupcake in disguise!), 100% whole grain, low(er) in sugar, and they contain a vegetable! Can it get any better than that? Yes, it can, they are delicious as well! If anyone tries them, please let me know what you think! Here is the recipe...

Whole Grain Pumpkin Oatmeal Muffins

2 cups old fashioned oats

3/4 cup whole grain pastry flour (or regular whole wheat flour)

1/2 cup sugar

1 1/2 tsp cinnamon

1/4 tsp each of: cloves, nutmeg, and ginger

1 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp each of salt and baking soda

1 cup canned pumpkin

6 oz (3/4 cup) plain soy yogurt

2 Tbs canola oil

2 Tbs ground flax seeds

6 Tbs water

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Spray a 12 cup muffin tin with cooking spray, set aside. In a food processor, place the oats in, and process until fine and flour-like. Transfer to a large bowl. Add the flour, sugar, spices, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Stir with a whisk. In a separate bowl, whisk together the pumpkin, yogurt, and oil. In the food processor, add the flax seeds and water, process about 1 minute, until slightly foamy. Add to the pumpkin mixture and whisk well. Add the pumpkin mixture to the dry ingredients and stir just until moistened and incorporated (batter will be thick, do not over mix). Spoon batter into the muffin cups. Bake for 20 minutes, or until a wooden toothpick comes out clean. Cool in the pan for 5 minutes, then remove from the pan and cool completely on a wire rack.

Spinach Baked Ziti

2008-02-25T18:41:00.002-05:00

Tonight I made baked ziti, for the most part I threw it all together. I used up my Follow Your Heart mozzarella, and Carrie had asked me the other day if I thought it was worth the money. I would have to say, yes! I did not love the cheddar flavor, and probably wouldn't buy that one again, but the mozzarella is different. It tastes a lot like dairy mozzarella, the only difference being that it is creamier once you get it melted. And also, it takes high heat to melt it. It is kind of expensive, so I probably wouldn't be eating it on a regular basis, but actually, come to think of it, I don't think it is too much more than what I used to pay for dairy mozzarella.

More importantly, my kids liked the meal! In fact my older son ate two servings. Gotta love that! Especially when there is spinach in the mix! Here's my recipe for tonight's dinner:

Spinach Baked Ziti:

1 lb whole wheat penne pasta

5 oz fresh spinach, roughly chopped (about half a bag)

1 lb firm tofu, drained

1 garlic clove, minced

2 tsps lemon juice

1 TBS dried basil

1/4 tsp salt

ground pepper

2 tsp olive oil

1/4 cup nutritional yeast

1 jar of marinara sauce (or about 3 cups of your own sauce)

6 oz Follow Your Heart Mozzarella, grated

Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees. In a large pot of boiling water, cook pasta until al dente (about 9 minutes). Add spinach to the pot during the last 1 or 2 minutes of the cooking time. Meanwhile, crumble the tofu into a bowl. With a fork, mix in the garlic, lemon juice, basil, salt, pepper, olive oil, and nutrtional yeast. Set aside. When the pasta is done, drain the pasta and spinach in a colander, and return to the pot. Add the marinara sauce, the tofu mixture, and about 2 oz of the mozzarella. Mix gently, and place into a 9x13 baking dish. Cover the top with the remaining mozzarella. Cover with foil and bake for 20-30 minutes. Turn the oven to broil (move the oven rack up if you need to), remove the foil, and place pan under broiler for about 5 minutes, just until the mozzarella is melted. Remove from the oven and let stand 5 minutes before serving.

Chile Cornmeal-Crusted Tofu

2008-02-24T19:25:00.002-05:00

Tonight I made the Chile Cornmeal-Crusted Tofu served with Mexican Millet, black beans, and mango. Both the tofu recipe and the millet recipe are from Veganomicon. I followed the tofu one to the letter, but I was missing a lot of ingredients for the millet, so I improvised. Both were really delicious. The tofu was especially good, everyone liked it. My father-in-law was having dinner with us tonight, and he liked it as well. He even "priced" my dinner, saying that in a restaurant my meal would go for (based on taste and presentation): $34.95. Wow! My husband always likes to "price" my meals as well, but I don't think he's priced anything higher than $15.

Also, I wanted to post my picture of pizza with Follow Your Heart mozarella. I was disappointed in the cheddar, but I went ahead and gave the mozarella a try (since it always seemed to sell out at Whole Foods). When we were celebrating my nephews birthday last week, we all made pizzas, and I had made one with olive oil, garlic, sliced tomato, and basil. I got to take home my leftovers, so I figured it would be a good chance to try out the mozarella. And... it was great! It took a little coaxing to melt (under the broiler in the toaster oven), but once it did, it was so creamy and melty! So, I am sorry Follow Your Heart, for giving the cheddar a so-so review. The mozarella was very good. :)

Cupcakes!!

2008-02-23T08:55:00.002-05:00

I got the super cute Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World book. (Written by the same authors who wrote Veganomicon). Some of the cupcakes in there look so good! I think there may be some cupcake making in my future... Anyway, we had some family in town this week, and we were planning on having an early birthday celebration for my nephew. I offered to make cupcakes :)

Since my nephew doesn't like chocolate or anything too fancy, I went with the standard vanilla cupcake with buttercream frosting. They were a big hit! Everyone enjoyed them, especially my nephew who said he usually doesn't like frosting but he liked this one. (My niece addded that they tasted like a sugar cookie turned into a cupcake).

Of course, none of my in-laws are vegan (or vegetarian), so when I mentioned that the cupcakes were made without eggs or dairy, they were all pleasantly surprised! My son proudly pointed out that "no animals were harmed in the making of these cupcakes." Have I mentioned before that baked goods are probably the easiest thing to make vegan? It makes me wonder why people started baking with eggs and dairy in the first place. Oh well. Hopefully these cupcakes will take over the world just like the title says.

Catching Up

2008-02-21T16:27:00.002-05:00

Sorry I haven't posted! Let me assure you, that yes, I have still been eating :) I got a new camera for my birthday and didn't take the time to figure out how to load them on to my computer until today. Let me catch up on some recent foods...

Sunday I made a large batch of a red lentil pasta sauce, which we served over whole wheat angel hair pasta. This is another reason for my lack of posting, because we had a lot of leftovers. The original recipe was from Vegan Planet, I only made a few small substitutions. This was really good, and gave the pasta a creamy, hearty taste!

I cannot resist homemade bread. Yes, it kind of takes a lot of work and a long time, but it is so worth it to have the aroma of freshly baked bread. I am not really sure why a loaf of homemade bread only lasts 2 days in my house, but store bought lasts about a week?! :) Anyway, this was a whole grain oatmeal sandwich bread. I adapted it from King Arthur's Whole Grain Baking book.

Another Vice Cream attempt! I tried cinnamon, which was me just adding cinnamon to the classic vanilla recipe. I did not like this one as much as the chocolate, I don't know if it was because of the cinnamon, or if the chocolate is just that much better. I will be trying other flavors out, so I will be sure to post them.

Maple Pecan French Toast

2008-02-16T08:44:00.002-05:00

Yum! This was so delicious and so easy! I was hesitating to make it because I didn't feel like getting out the blender, but actually that was probably the hardest part. I got the recipe from Vegan Planet, which I was lucky enough to find at my library! (I am also anxiously awaiting a copy of "Vice Cream", which is in transit from another library...)

Both boys gobbled their french toast up quickly, and my husband's is waiting for him when he gets back from his run. In the background, pictured is a different sausage, this one is the Boca links. Much better than the Smart Bacon, but the kids didn't like it much (or they were full from all of their french toast). It's not that I am trying hard to find a sausage/bacon substitute because I didn't ever eat the regular versions much anyway (way too unhealthy!), but when I eat a sweet breakfast, I do better if I have some protein with it. Otherwise my blood sugar drops rapidly and I don't feel so good. So if anyone has a suggestion, I would love to know! (I actually really really liked the morningstar farms version, but alas, they are not vegan, just vegetarian.)

Also, not to make anyone in a cold climate jealous (sorry, Amy!), but I put a few plants out yesterday, and here's a picture of some basil, still tiny and young. I am sure when it grows up it will be making an appearance on this blog. Maybe in the form of pesto or something else spectacular!

Do...You...Smlove It??

2008-02-15T12:15:00.003-05:00

Valentine's Day foods, a day late! Of course, I had to try out the Smlove Pie from Veganomicon. It has a lot of steps, and it is a little time consuming, but it isn't hard to make. Wow! What a show stopper! This one is really really good. A must for special occaisions. It is a chocolate fudge pie (almost like a chocolate cheesecake), with a creamy peanut butter caramel layer on top, studded with maple pecans, and then drizzled with chocolate. Aren't you just drooling from reading all of that? And you can be jealous of me, because I have lots more pie in the fridge!

So, before we dug into the pie, our acutal dinner was tofu hearts with a raspberry glaze, roasted asparagus, and brown rice. We also had "heart salad" which consisted of romaine hearts, celery hearts, marinated artichoke hearts, and hearts of palm, all tossed with a citrus vinaigrette. My older son really liked the whole heart theme of the salad, and he thought it was especially cool that the celery hearts actually looked heart shaped when all sliced up! (I can't say that he ate up all of his salad, however.)