Adventures in vegetarianism

Long time, no blog!!

2009-06-25T16:45:00.004-04:00

Wow, it seems like forever since I've posted anything here. I've been busy and otherwise consumed with my new technological obsession, Twitter. It's actually been so long that I have some photos of meals that I no longer even remember what they are!! I admittedly haven't been very creative in the kitchen lately, and have been making repeat meals or meals directly out of cookbooks. I've also been using the grill a lot, for veggies, tofu and my new favorite, Italian Style Field Roast. I've been meaning to do a pizza on the grill, but just haven't gotten around to that yet. Maybe next week.

These are just a few things we've been eating lately:

Grilled Barbeque Tofu

I froze this in the sauce, and then thawed before grilling. It gave it a nice, dense texture, and really infused the tofu with the sauce.

Grilled Potato Packet

This has been one of my favorite ways to make potatoes for as long as I can remember. I know a lot of people have issues with cooking in foil, but it doesn't bother me so much. This is so simple, and makes THE BEST potatoes. Slice potatoes thin (skins on), add sliced onion, salt, pepper, olive oil. Toss with hands, and seal up the foil packet. Poke some holes in the top of the packet and throw on a hot grill. It doesn't take long to cook these, just test them after about 10 minutes by poking a sharp knife through the packet, it the potatoes give no resistance, they are finished.

Grilled Zucchini with Corn and Radish salsa

This is a recipe from the current issue of Vegetarian Times. My youngest daughter LOVES zucchini, and I'm always looking for new things to do with it. The salsa is really what sold me on this one, after all, who hasn't grilled zucchini before? Anyway, this salsa is made with grilled corn that you coat with garlic oil, radishes, onions, jalapeno pepper, a little lime juice and cilantro. I made it a few hours before serving, and couldn't wait to eat it. Man, this stuff is out of this world. I don't think anyone else really thought so, but I loved it.

That's it for what's been cookin' around here lately. Maybe creativity will strike soon......until then, I have a few recipes that I have my eye on. Back with more later.

Shift of Consciousness

2009-06-04T14:40:00.004-04:00

I love being vegan. Being vegan makes me happy for reasons that are hard to explain. It almost feels as if a weight has been lifted off of my shoulders. A weight has been lifted....I no longer have to carry around the guilt that comes with eating the flesh and secretions of another being. My body feels free, healthy and alive. And in fact it is more alive, being nourished by healthy plant based foods and not nourished by suffering and death.

But, being vegan means more than just dietary changes. Veganism is an entire lifestyle of rejecting anything that creates suffering to another being. It is a lifestyle of compassion. It is a lifestyle that has changed my life.

Being vegan has really brought me to a higher level of consciousness. I've suspected for quite sometime that being vegan has changed me in some way, but it was never quite evident what that way was until recently. My first "a-ha" moment was earlier this year during Kentucky Derby time. The Derby has always been an event that I have loved (not so much for the racing, but simply for the fact that it indicates the start of summer around here), and like so many others around here I loved checking out the racing form and placing my bet. Even last year, at the start of my shift to veganism, I still placed a bet on the race. This year things were different. I had absolutely no interest in the Derby, and was even able to turn down an invitation to attend the race the day before and spend time with some out of town friends. It just didn't feel right anymore. Exploiting those animals for my entertainment just felt fundamentally wrong. Granted, those horses are often treated phenomenally well, they are worth millions after all, it wasn't mistreatment that turned me off. It was the sheer fact that they were being exploited. I am sure many human beings that are exploited are treated well, but that doesn't make human exploitation right, any more than it makes animal exploitation right. My days of a Louisvillian living for Derby are over.

The Derby episode was one of the first major shifts in consciousness that I became aware of. But, what really solidified the shift was this weeks visit to the zoo. It started with an uneasy feeling that something just wasn't quite right about going to the zoo, but I convinced myself that it was fine. The kids love it, the animals are treated well, they are safe from predators and what not, and it is after all, educational. It didn't take long to realize that all of the convincing I had done was based on a lie. My first glimpse of an animal in cage brought heartbreak. I felt a piece of myself sitting behind that glass, longing to be free, longing to succumb to my instincts. I couldn't bear to look at the orangutans or the gorillas without nearly feeling sick. Why do we as humans feel that we are the superior species? What has conditioned us to believe that it is ok to imprison innocent animals so that we can drag our kids around to look at them? Why doesn't this seem wrong to anyone else???

Needless to say, I will not be renewing my zoo membership this year.

What to do with abundant fresh berries???

2009-05-30T09:57:00.004-04:00

Make Raw Berry Cobbler, of course........................

I do believe that this is my new favorite dessert. Well, at least for the summer that is. I'm not going to abandon my first dessert love, the cupcake, but I mean yummy dessert with no oven required, how can you beat that on a hot summer day??

Not to mention, as an added bonus you get ALL of the nutrients from the berries, nuts and seeds because they aren't cooked out. And I guarantee, this is one of the healthiest desserts you will ever eat.

Raw Berry Cobbler

Crust:

2 cups Almonds Soaked & Drained

1/2 cup Sunflower seeds Soaked & Drained

2 Tbs Shredded Coconut

1/2 cup Pitted Dates

1/4 cup Lemon Juice

2 Tsp Vanilla extract

1 Tsp cinnamon

1/2 tsp Nutmeg

Filling:

1 cup raspberries

1 cup blueberries

1 cup Mango, dried and re-hydrated

3 Tbs Agave Nectar

To make the crust: In a food processor, process the almonds, sunflower seeds, coconut, dates, lemon juice, vanilla, cinnamon and nutmeg. Press mixture into a pie plate.

To make the filling: In a food processor, process the berries, mango, and agave. Pour the fruit mixture over the pie crust and refrigerate for two hours or more, allowing the pie to solidify.

A new quick and easy favorite

2009-05-14T08:04:00.002-04:00

So, I'm still on that quick and easy kick. I can not wait for school to be over and life to slow down a bit this summer. Not to mention, I can't wait for the rain to stop and the farmer's markets to get in full swing. They've been on for about 3 weeks now, but they are pretty skimpy this time of year.

Lack of time + Lack of inspiration = Quick and Easy!! Luckily, though, with this sandwich quick and easy does not = boring. What sandwich do I speak of you ask?? Well, that would be "Better Than a BLT" from ED&BV. I was a huge fan of BLT back in the day, but I've never been much of a fan of tempeh, so I figured my BLT eating days were over. That was until I came across this recipe that called for the tempeh to be chopped (and since my dislike of tempeh is a texture thing, I thought chopped might do the trick). Not only did this recipe take care of my tempeh problem, it also included one of my most favorite foods in the entire world, avocado.

I can't even begin to tell you how delicious this sandwich was. It will definitely be a summertime staple here....can't wait until those tomatoes get ripe!! Since the girls didn't like it too much there were leftovers which we had as a condiment on tofu scramble tacos the following night....again, a delicious use of this sandwich filling.

Along with the sandwiches we also had Roasted Garlic and Artichoke dip from ED&BV as well. This dip was good, but slightly too garlicky for me. I think next time I will decrease the amount of garlic a bit. Surprisingly the garlic didn't even phase Mairin, who gobbled up a rather hefty portion. This will be a fantastic dish to bring to any summer picnics that might come up, as it can be served hot or at room temperature, and can withstand several hours of setting out on a buffet or in a basket with no need for refrigeration.

Food Again

2009-05-11T11:42:00.000-04:00

Finally, some food to post. This is actually something we had several weeks ago, that I'm just now getting around to posting about. I'm not sure what has changed in my life, but I recently seem so overwhelmed with things to do that cooking has taken a backseat. We've been having a lot of simple repeats recently, and experimenting with a lot of homemade pizzas (which just seem too mundane to blog about). Even on my evenings off I've been looking for quick and easy recipes/methods. Enter this Jamaican Jerk Seitan with Caribbean Coconut Rice and Greens. The rice recipe comes from the May (I believe) issue of vegetarian times, and the seitan is simply Westsoy Chicken style seitan simmered in a jar of Whole Foods brand Jerk marinade. Quick, easy, and tasty. Perfect for a busy summer weeknight.

Happy Earth Day!!

2009-04-22T09:30:00.002-04:00

No food to post today.....just a quick note to say Happy Earth Day to all of my readers. Do something special for our Mother Earth today. Here are a few ideas to get you started:

1. Plant a tree

2. Give up one eco-unfriendly practice (running the water while you wash dishes, running the water while you brush your teeth, using papertowels to clean up messes, leaving your car running when you aren't driving)

3. Switch to cloth napkins

4. Switch to eco-friendly cleaning supplies (Method brand from Target are great, animal friendly, and reasonably priced)

5. Remember to "reduce, reuse, and recycle"

6. Stop drinking bottled water (get a water filter and buy a reusable bottle)

7. Eat Organic and/or Local whenever you can.

8. Use reusable shopping bags....keep them in the front seat of your car so you don't forget to take them into the store with you

9. Switch to CFL bulbs, turn off and/or unplug electronic equipment that is not in use

10. Adopt a mostly (or completely *wink*, *wink*) vegetarian diet. Did you know, factory farming produces more greenhouse gas than our addiction to our automobiles? The single most important thing you can do for the environment is to stop or greatly reduce your meat and dairy consumption.

And if ten ideas weren't enough.........here's one final suggestion.....go outside, enjoy nature, notice it's beauty, and you can't help but want to protect it.

A vegan in Disney World

2009-04-18T07:27:00.002-04:00

Finally, this long ago promised post is making it's way onto Adventures in Vegetarianism. Life has been so busy since our return from Disney that it almost feels like a lifetime ago I promised my ever patient readers a review of vegan Disney. I'll save you all of the details of our trip some good, some bad, all absolutely memorable.

I'll start by letting you know, I have no idea what you can eat for breakfast in Disney World if you are vegan. You see, we stayed in a cabin in Fort Wilderness, and ate breakfast at the cabin every morning. We decided to do this to save time, money, and hunger if there were nothing suitable and filling in the park. We just stopped by Whole Foods Market in Orlando, picked up some supplies for the week, and we were set. We alternated between vegan pancakes and cereal to start the day. Since we drove, I also brought along the juicer and we enjoyed our regular fresh fruit juices most mornings.

OK, breakfast is over.....what does a vegan eat for lunch at Disney World?? Well, we aren't that family that gets up and makes it to the park by opening time. As a matter of fact, we are that family that comes moseying in around lunch time, when most people have been in the parks nearly four hours already!! So, a few days we actually made sandwiches at the cabin, and packed a lunch to take with us. We did soynut butter sandwiches, Smart Deli Turkey sandwiches, veggie booty, bananas and fruit snacks. This seemed to work well for us, because we mostly ended up eating our lunch while we were waiting in lines (we were able to make up some time this way).

I bet by now you are wondering what exactly can a vegan eat that they serve at the parks, right?? Well, let's get to it then. My first experience with vegan Disney really had me worried. We of course spent our first day in The Magic Kingdom, and having two young children went straight to Fantasy Land. Starving, and not wanting to leave Fantasy Land we ended up at Pinnocchio's Village Haus. Not a good place for vegan to eat. This was a pizza place, serving pre-made pizzas, so no leaving the cheese off. I settled for a salad (which was basically iceberg lettuce, a few shredded carrots and 1 grape tomato) with sub par packaged dressing, and fries. The fries were delicious, but not good fuel for a day at Disney World. Vegan options for the girls were few and far between at most restaurants, but there were at least veg options for them. Pizza or mac and cheese were the standard vegetarian options for the kiddos, and they alternated between the two when we needed to. They also offered PB&J at several places, but peanut butter is off limits to us, so that wasn't really an option for our family.

This sub-par lunch meant I was ready for a snack in just a few hours. I was very happy to see that there are fresh fruit and vegetables available at many of the snack stands. And, while this of course would have been the smart option, we were after all on vacation, so we went instead the the ice cream cart. They didn't offer any vegan ice-creams at the cart, but they did have several popscicle choices. One in particular was delicious, and not really all that bad for a person. It was Edy's brand I think, and while it was full of sugar, the rest of the pop was just pureed strawberries, and even some whole strawberry pieces. Delicious.......I had more than one of these throughout the week!! I will throw in one caveat here in the snack section......if seeing people eat meat really disgusts you, you should think long and hard about going to Disney. Apparently one of their most popular snacks are giant (and I mean GIANT) turkey legs. It is the most disgusting thing I have ever seen in my life....hundreds if not thousands of people walking around with these giant bird legs gnawing on them as if they were cave-men. Absolutely horrible, my husband and I had to avert our eyes every time we saw one.

My hopes for dining vegan at Disney World were raised quite a bit when we landed in Tomorrowland for dinner. We ended up at Cosmic Ray's Starlight Cafe. It's listed as a chicken/burger place, but we found an incredible veggie burger there, and lo and behold the veggie burger was sans egg (miracle of miracles, I know!!). Anyway, all 4 of us went with burger and fries this night. This burger was awesome, carrots, corn and broccoli all visible in the patty, and it was made even better by the build-your-own-burger toppings bar.

Day two we didn't eat anything at the parks except for another popscicle. We ended up back at the cabin around dinner time, and cooked up some Tofu Pups and sweet potato fries for a delicious meal of chili dogs and fries. We went to Animal Kingdom this day, and I've read on the internet that you can find some vegan options here, but as it's not really a park that you can spend an entire day in we just thought it was best to head back, rest, and know for sure we'd have something we like to eat.

Day three started as usual, breakfast in the cabin and sandwiches to take along. We spent this day in Epcot. Epcot is actually a fantastic place for a vegan to find a meal. There are several places in the World Showcase that you can find a decent meal and snack. In Germany they have fantastic soft pretzels. In China they have several veggies stir-fries and a seared tofu dish. In Japan there are two sushi places that will make veggie sushi for you, then there is a teppinyaki place that can do veggies and tofu. Apparently you can get some good curry in England. And, in Morrocco there's hummus, pita, falafel, and tabouleh. We chose Morrocco as our country of dining because the girls love hummus and falafel. We ate at Tangierine Café because it was a little more low-key and seemed to have more options for us. We actually visited Epcot twice on this trip and ate here both times. We had all of the favorites, hummus, pita, falafel, tabouleh, marinated olives and tangerine couscous. This place was delicious. Their pita unfortunately had the potential to be cross contaminated with nut products so for Stella they served us an Ener-G roll to go with her hummus. As a side note, if you are traveling with food allergies (or even as a vegan) Disney World is fantastic at making sure you know exactly what goes into your food, and having at least one option for everyone.

Our snack at Epcot, was popcorn, which despite it's buttery appearance is actually vegan. And, very yummy to boot!!

After all of this we had only one park left, Hollywood Studios. We didn't actually eat much here, but there were a few options. Toy Story's Pizza Planet had a nice greek salad that you could get without the cheese, and Starring Rolls Cafe had a grilled veggie sandwich on focaccia. I think I also recall that the ABC Commisary may have had a grilled tofu dish, but don't hold me to it. And if I'm not mistaken, the Hollywood Brown Derby even had a vegan option, but it was quite pricey. We ended up at the Pizza Planet, so it was cheese pizza for the girls and Rob, salad for me.

Having done all 4 parks the girls wanted to go back to Magic Kingdom on the fifth day. We went for lunch in Adventureland this day. El Pirata y El Perico Restaurant is a taco place. We all had vegetarian tacos, which is just a crunchy corn taco shell filled with beans. Then you dress it up yourself by visiting the topping bar for lettuce, tomato, onion, and salsa (and cheese and sour cream if you are into that sort of thing). A good choice for lunch I think, filling and satisfying. Dinner this evening was Tomorrowland Terrace Noodle Station for Rob and I, Cosmic Ray's veggie burgers for the girls. At the noodle station Rob opted for the Noodle Bowl, which was veggies and tofu with egg-noodles in a veggie broth. I had the tofu and veggie with rice. It was fantastic once I added a little spicy mustard sauce and some soy sauce, I actually ended up getting a second order.

Day 6 was our final day, we did lunch in Epcot's Morrocco again, and for dinner we had a special meal planned in Cinderella's castle. The girls got all dressed up like princesses and we got to dine at the very fancy Cinderella's Table. We met Cinderella, and appearances were made by The Fairy Godmother and Cinderella's Mice Friends. It was a magical evening for the girls, they just had the time of their lives dressed as princesses and eating in the castle. It was the perfect end to a perfect vacation. I had called ahead to arrange this dinner, and spoken with the chef about our food allergies and preferences. The girls were served pasta with butter substitute (which probably had a little dairy in it, but I was ok with that), and Ener-G rolls. Rob and I had pasta with oil and grilled veggies, I also had a fantastic raspberry salad (they just left the cheese off), and for Dessert we all had Tofutti Vanilla Ice-cream.

Being vegan in Disney World proved to be quite easy for me (a little more challenging for the kids, but we managed with only one or two dairy based meals). I didn't find it a challenge at all, and I didn't find that I had to make special requests too often, beyond "hold the cheese" on few salads. I do however suggest staying in a cabin so you can prepare some of your own meals. It's a great way to save money, and make sure you are getting at least a few healthy dishes into your kids. Disney World bills themselves as the Happiest Place on Earth, and they really want to live up to that title. When you tell them you are vegan/vegetarian/food allergy they do all they can to accommodate you and make sure you have a satisfying meal. It pays to do a little research ahead of time, but all in all I we were satisfied with our vegan Disney exp"ear"iance.

Feelin' Like Summer

2009-03-20T08:04:00.002-04:00

Hello everyone, let me start by apologizing for my long, long absence. I really don't have an excuse, other than I haven't felt much like cooking anything that hasn't already been blogged about. Plus, I'm swamped with reading from a yoga course right now, so I really don't have time to do much else beyond work and read (OK, I guess that was an excuse wasn't it?).

We are leaving today for Disney World (I'm still doing laundry, so of course in true procrastinator fashion, NOTHING is ready to go........so what's a good procrastinator to do, sit down at the computer and waste half of the morning surfing the internet and blogging, of course!!). Anyway, the point of telling you we are leaving on vacation today was to warn you that my return to the blogosphere will be short lived.

Unfortunately, for my short lived return I don't even have a recipe for you, only the lovely photo above of what may now be my new favorite meal, and something that is sure to be made over and over again this summer......Mexican Sunflower Salad. This dish is fantastic, it's nothing but chopped up sunflower seeds, tomato, onion, cilantro and some spices, olive oil and lemon juice as a dressing, and it's out of this world. My favorite way to eat it so far is wrapped up in a nice big lettuce leaf with some alfalfa sprouts. I'm waiting for permission to reprint the recipe here, so check back often because when I do this will quickly become your new summertime favorite too!!

I'll be back in a few weeks with my "Vegan Disney" report.....here's hopin' I'll get to eat more than undressed salad over the next 8 days!!!

Fat Tuesday Cake

2009-02-27T08:01:00.002-05:00

Yes, I know it's Friday, and Mardi Gras passed 3 days ago, call me a procrastinator!! We celebrated Mardi Gras with a Vegetarian Gumbo and Cornbread. But, I couldn't let Fat Tuesday pass us by without a fattening dessert. This year I tried my hand at a vegan King's Cake. I made this recipe, which was basically a giant, sugary, cinnamon roll. It was very delicious, and while it wasn't the most unhealthy dessert in the world, for some reason it felt so sinful to have the leftovers the second night!! My cake didn't turn out beautifully, but now that I know what I'm doing I think I can improve it for next year. I didn't have a tiny baby figurine to bake in the cake (and I'm not sure I could have baked a baby in a cake even if I'd had the appropriate figure), and being that the kids were going to be partaking in this dessert I didn't feel safe about hiding a dried bean in it either (it felt like a bit of a choking hazard). Therefore, our cake was without it's good luck charm..........I hope this doesn't mean misfortune for the rest of the year to come.

Chocolatey Goodness

2009-02-20T07:50:00.002-05:00

Here are a few pics of some desserts we've been eating lately. As many of you know, I was on a major cupcake kick for the biggest part of a year. While I still love cupcakes, and plan to be baking them again soon, I thought it was time indulge in my other favorite sweet treat for awhile....Brownies!!

Until now I've been quite disappointed with vegan brownies. Don't get me wrong, I've made and eaten them. They tasted fine, OK, they tasted good. But they just didn't' have that satisfying, moist gooey goodness that I love in a brownie. I've found most vegan brownies to be dry or cake-like, and to be honest, just too darn healthy. I love health food, I even have strange cravings for it at times, but when I eat a brownie, I don't want it to be health food, ya know?

Flipping through Vegan Planet one day I fast forwarded to the dessert chapter, and saw the recipe for some sort of peanut butter swirl brownie. It really started the brownie craving, but a) peanuts are forbidden in our house, and b) I don't like things mixed into my brownies. Lo and behold, the recipe had an option to leave out the peanut butter. Lucky me, I had all of the ingredients and went straight to work. This brownie recipe is both delicious and gooey. As a matter of fact, best I can remember, it's just like its non-vegan counterpart. I am convinced that what does it for this brownie is the chocolate chips melted in canola oil. This is what lends that gooey brownie goodness. Most brownies call for cocoa powder, which in my opinion just makes them cake. Anyway, if you are a brownie lover, get this book and make these brownies STAT!!

Next up is another recipe that I can't quite remember the exact name of. It comes from Eat, Drink, and Be Vegan. The name of it goes something like this, Chocolate Chunk Spice Cookies. Really though, the name's not that important, what you people want to know is, are they good. Good, you ask......these are delicious!! I didn't have enough dark chocolate to chunk, so I combined chocolate chunks and chocolate chips for these cookies. The chocolate and spice is a perfect combination as we finish out these last few weeks of winter.

Speaking of finishing the last few weeks of winter..........I can't wait!! I can't wait for my CSA to begin. I can't wait to get some things planted in the garden. I can't wait for the grocery store to be full of fresh, local produce. I can't wait for the days to get longer. I can't wait to have natural light when I photograph my food!!

To take some of the burden of all of that waiting we are taking the girls to Disney World for Spring Break in a few weeks. We are staying in a cabin at Fort Wilderness, so a lot of our meals will be cooked by me there. But, I am excited to check out our vegan options throughout the park. We have one special dinner planned with the princesses, and when I told them we were vegan and had food allergy issues with Stella the chef from the restaurant called me and assured me that we would all have plenty to eat. I'm also under the impression that both Rice Dream ice-cream and Tofutti ice-cream are available at the ice cream shops in the parks!!! So, expect a Disney review coming up here in a few weeks!!

Deconstructed Guacamole Sandwich

2009-02-19T07:55:00.003-05:00

I'm sure this isn't a new idea, but for anyone who hasn't thought of it, I thought I'd share. My step-dad keeps telling me about this guacamole sandwich he had in Miami. Every time he mentions it I think, "Hmmm, that's a good idea". I'm always up for guacamole, but I don't always want tortilla chips or raw veggies to dip in it. So, yesterday, when contemplating what to have for lunch I finally decided to throw together that guacamole sandwich.

I'm pretty sure that the sandwich my step-dad had was actual guacamole dip on a sandwich, but I decided to save some work and make a deconstructed version of guac to go in my sandwich. Since I already have onions and tomatoes sliced in the fridge all I really had to do was slice open an avocado, and rip off some cilantro tops. I stacked it all up on some sprouted whole wheat bread, squeezed half a lime over the top, topped it with another slice of bread, and it was lunch.

Second Call for Tartar Sauce

2009-02-18T07:56:00.002-05:00

Blackened Tofu Sandwiches

The last time I made this Blackened Tofu dish I had the idea to make it into a sandwich on a toasted bun with tartar sauce. Being that I had tartar sauce* left over from the "crab" cakes, last night I did just that. I cooked up the tofu, toasted some sprouted grain buns, then dressed them up with romaine, tomato, onion, and loads of tartar sauce. Served up with some red skinned potato wedges, it was a "seafood" meal that would satisfy any seafood lover.

*The tartar sauce really develops in flavor after sitting in the refrigerator for a few days. I suggest making it a day or two ahead of time.

"Crab" Cakes

2009-02-17T07:45:00.002-05:00

This started out as a plan to make Chickpea Sensation Patties from Eat, Drink and Be Vegan. However, I came upon this post from Vegan Dad, and decided to change my plan and make these instead. We've had the Chickpea Sensation Patties several times, so it seemed appropriate to take another direction....plus, Vegan Dad's meals are almost always kid friendly and my kids almost always like them.

Now, I know, in Vegan Dad's post he says these weren't an attempt to replicate crab cakes, but as soon as I read the recipe I thought "crab cakes", and naturally my mind went straight to tartar sauce. It also seemed that I could sell these to Rob a lot easier if I called them "crab" cakes instead of chickpea cakes!

These were out of this world, and the addition of homemade tartar sauce put them over the top. My only complaint is that I could only get 8 decent sized patties from the recipe, and Stella ate 3 of them. So, aside from my toddler, the rest of us were left wanting more. Next time I will definitely double this recipe.

For anyone who's curious, the tartar sauce was just Vegenaise, sweet pickle relish, small diced onions, and lemon juice. I didn't measure the ingredients, I just mixed and added to taste.

And finally, I'll leave you with a shot of our Valentine's dinner................

Orange Sesame Tofu, sauteed sugar snap peas, cilantro lime rice, and mixed salad with cumin lime vinaigrette.

Griddle Sandwiches

2009-02-13T08:06:00.002-05:00

On the rare occasion that we ate at McDonald's before our vegetarian/vegan days, I loved their McGriddler sandwiches for breakfast. The sweet maple-y favor of the pancake paired with the savory spice of the sausage was a fantastic combo. So, in an attempt to provide an interesting breakfast for my kindergartner, I made a veganized version of the McGriddler. Just as tasty, and quite a bit healthier to boot!! There's really no recipe to share with this one. I made Isa's pancake recipe from Vegan with a Vengeance (obviously making them "silver dollar" sized). I made a big batch of these in advance and froze them for quick weekday breakfasts. Add one vegan breakfast patty (I have no brand loyalty here, so buy what you like), plus a side of maple syrup for dipping, and it's a quick, tasty breakfast in minutes.

I realize this isn't the healthiest breakfast to send my kid off to school on, but in my opinion, it's better than an empty stomach. She's not a breakfast eater (she prefers to be awake for quite sometime before she'll actually eat), but she will eat this with no reservations. She does like tofu scramblers, but I just don't have the time for that in the morning. It's a struggle to get her to eat cereal, and any sort of "health" food muffin is left on the plate only slightly nibbled. So, short of waking her up at 5 a.m. so she has a few hours before breakfast, this is what she's been getting a few days a week. If there are any other parents with picky breakfast eaters out there, I'd love to here what your kids are eating for breakfast........maybe some sort of breakfast "cookie".....got any ideas??

Curried Butternut Squash-Sweet Potato Soup

2009-02-12T13:41:00.003-05:00

Hi to everyone still hanging around here!! It's been so long since I've updated I wouldn't blame you at all if you've given up on me!! I do have several things to post about, I'm just having trouble finding the time to actually sit down, transfer pictures from camera to computer, then transfer to blogger, and finally write something interesting about them.

I just made this soup last night, so I guess I'll start with this. It comes from a recipe my mother in law sent over from Ireland, but I did change it slightly, which I hope added to the yumminess. The original recipe did not call for roasting of the squash and potatoes, but I opted to take the extra time and roast them first to intensify their flavors. I just love the taste of roasted butternut squash.

This recipe makes a HUGE batch of soup, and is very filling, so there will be tons of left over soup to freeze. I froze several single serving containers for Rob to take to lunch, and a few double batches to have on hand for quick dinners. Unfortunately the girls weren't big fans and ended up eating Light Life Smart Deli "Ham" sandwiches.

Curried Butternut Squash-Sweet Potato Soup

1 Tbs spoon Olive Oil (plus more for drizzling squash before roasting)

1 butternut squash (weighing a little less than 1 pound)

2 large sweet potatoes (again, a little less than 1 lb)

1 medium onion, diced

2 cloves garlic, crushed

1 Tbs curry powder

4 cups quality vegetable stock

9 oz plain soy creamer

torn basil leaves for garnish

Preheat oven to 425. Peel and dice butternut squash, place on baking sheet and drizzle with olive oil, toss to coat and roast about 25 minutes, until tender. In the meantime, roast sweet potatoes in their skins on same baking sheet. Remove from oven and cool until you can handle the potatoes.

Heat remaining Tbs olive oil over medium heat, add onion and garlic and cook until soft. Add curry powder and cook for another minute, until fragrant. Add sweet potatoes, squash and stock. Bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer 10-15 minutes. Using a hand held blender or food processor, puree soup. Stir in soy cream and heat through. Ladle into serving bowls and top with basil leaves.

I served this soup with a big salad and some home made bread. I'm working on a good whole wheat sandwich bread, but I haven't quite perfected it yet. My girls eat a lot of bread and I hate to give them store bought bread. There are only a few brands that I can buy that haven't been processed on a line with peanuts, and some of those brands don't have the best ingredients in it. So, I've set out on a quest to make my own. I've gotten quite good at specialty breads (thanks to Vegan Dad), but my kids really like their sandwiches on that chewy, airy and not at all crumbly store bought stuff. As of now it's not completely whole wheat because I can't find any whole wheat bread flour. Right now we stand at about 2 parts whole wheat flour to one part unbleached bread flour, but as soon as I find some whole wheat bread flour I hope to have a recipe for 100% whole wheat sandwich bread.

Some of our Favorite Juices

2009-02-03T12:20:00.002-05:00

Wow, we've had such a strange week....last week we were hit by a major ice storm, which resulted in school being closed for an entire week. Rob was even home from work for 2 days because of the storm. We had a fantastic time playing in the snow, playing Wii, and spending some great quality family time together. We did eat, and I have some photos to post later to prove it, but for now I'll leave you with some of our favorite juice recipes.

Fresh juice is a fantastic way to start your day. Fresh fruit and vegetable juices are loaded with concentrated vitamins, minerals, and antioxidants, bringing you a fantastic burst of energy for the morning. It's best to drink your juice at least 30 minutes before eating your breakfast so that digestion of your breakfast doesn't interfere with the absorption of vitamins from the juice. And, it's always best to drink the juice immediately after it is prepared.

Carrot-Apple-Pear

4 carrots

1 apple (any type)

1 pear (any type)

1/2 inch piece ginger

Run all ingredients through juicer according to manufacturers directions and enjoy immediately.

Super Greens Juice

1 cup tightly packed kale

4 stalks celery

1 1/2 apples (any type)

1 inch piece ginger

1/2 lemon (zest and pith removed)

Juice according to manufacturers directions and enjoy immediately.

Carrot-Apple-Beet Juice

1/2 beet

1 apple (any type)

4-5 carrots

1/2 inch piece ginger

Juice according to juicer directions and enjoy immediately.

Commercial promoting Vegetarianism Banned from Super Bowl

2009-01-29T15:18:00.001-05:00

'Veggie Love': PETA's Banned Super Bowl Ad

NBC has banned PETA from airing this video during the Super Bowl on Sunday.

Drink Your Greens

2009-01-20T16:21:00.003-05:00

I realized recently that I haven't posted any juice recipes. Partly because I haven't really made up any of my own, and partly because I drink my juice each morning about 7:30 a.m. and I'm just too lazy to get the camera. This morning the camera was already on the counter, so here is the first of my juice posts. This morning we had "Green Pineapple Juice". This is one of my very favorite juices. It's health in a glass!! I got this recipe from my yoga teacher during teacher training, and couldn't wait until I had a juicer of my own so I could make it!!

Green Pineapple Juice

1/2 ripe pineapple (peel can be left on if pineapple is organic)
4 leaves collard greens
1/4 inch piece of ginger
handful of spinach

Place ingredients in juicer following manufacturers directions, juice, and enjoy!!

Lentils and Rice Two Ways

2009-01-20T16:14:00.002-05:00

This first version of Lentils and Rice is a dish we've had before and liked very much, Savory French Lentils (from Eat, Drink, and Be Vegan). On this particular night the lentils were served with a brown and wild rice combo, steamed kale, and roasted butternut squash. Hearty, delicious, and satisfying on a cold winter night. These are the kind of meals that I love the most.

The second version is Curried Lentils from Vegan Planet. The curry was served over brown basmati rice with a spinach salad drizzled with Miso Ginger Dressing. Again, another delicious, warming wintertime meal.

The dressing is made by combining about 1 tsp grated fresh ginger, 1 tsp of mellow white miso, about 1 Tbs sushi vinegar, and a little less than 1/4 cup mild oil.

Something Old, Some Things New

2009-01-13T09:01:00.005-05:00

My friend Shannon requested that I start posting some repeats so that she can be refreshed about some of my older dishes. So, the first of my repeat posts are these Tomato Basil Lasagna Spirals from Vegan Planet. I can't believe it took me until now to repeat this dish. They really are delicious!! This time I made my own pesto subbing sunflower seeds for the pine nuts, and of course omitting the pamesan. These are so good that even the omnivores wouldn't miss the meat from their lasagna. I've decided that these are the next dish I'm making for any pot lucks that may come up.........or maybe I'll just have a dinner party of my own!!!

Also, in the repeat department, we had Lentil Tacos. These appear pretty frequently on our menu, at least once a month, sometimes twice a month. The girls really, really love these tacos (Rob and I do too). They are perfect for a weeknight when I have to teach. I just prepare the lentils ahead of time and when I get home all I have to do is heat the shells, whip up some guacamole, reheat the lentils and voilà, dinner is served.

Now on to something new. The mess of a dish pictured above is the Old Fashioned Pot Pie with Biscuit Crust from Fresh From the Vegetarian Slow Cooker. Absolutely delicious. The steam from the crockpot cooks the drop biscuits so moist and tender. This is comfort food at it's best.

I was short on garbanzo beans so I used half garbanzos and half black eyed peas. Plus, I didn't have any frozen peas so I subbed corn instead. This was so good I was craving it when I woke up the next day, so I finished off the leftovers for breakfast!!!

And the last new dish of this post......Channa Masala. This recipe came from The Essential Vegetarian Cookbook, but there are plenty of recipes to be found all over the internet. Again, incredibly simple and absolutely delicious. I made it quite mild so the girls would eat it, and eat it they did. Mairin finished hers and asked for a second helping, and Stella made good work of hers as well. Along with the chickpeas I served the ever popular naan bread from Manjula's Kitchen. Everyone here loves this naan so much I have to double the recipe!! This time I subbed coconut milk yogurt instead of soy yogurt and the results were fantastic. I think the consistency of coconut milk yogurt is more comparable to dairy yogurt.

And finally, is it just me, or are the rest of you finding it very difficult to be inspired in the dead of winter? There's nothing local at the grocery store, there's no CSA bounty, nothing growing in the garden. All of that equals uninspired resorting to cookbooks for me. I feel like I haven't created my own dish in months. I have my CSA application hanging on the refrigerator waiting for me, but May is sooooo far off. I guess the cookbooks will be getting some good use for the next few months!!

Asian Inspired

2009-01-07T07:50:00.004-05:00

We've had a few Asian inspired dishes since the start of the New Year.......actually, thinking back on it, this first dish may have been our New Year's Eve Meal. First up we had Spicy Mushroom Lettuce Wraps. This was inspired by the Spicy Tofu Wraps in the current issue of Vegetarian Times. , but I decided to skip the tofu and go for mushrooms instead. I just subbed one 8oz package of button mushrooms, chopped very fine for the tofu, omitted the water chestnuts, and subbed 1/2 tsp chile paste for the chile sauce and otherwise kept the recipe the same I love lettuce wraps when we go out, so I had high hopes for these. "Did they meet your expectations?", you ask. The answer to that is a resounding yes. These were fantastic, probably even better than most of the lettuce wraps I've had in restaurants. We enjoyed the wraps with a side of soba noodles, and some deep fried tofu with chile dipping sauce.

Next, we had this Sweet and Sour Noodles and Vegetable dish from The Essential Vegetarian Cookbook. I got this book for Christmas, it's not all vegan, but there are several vegan dishes to choose from, or dishes that are easily veganizable. Despite some of the outdated, or misleading information (that it is necessary to combine pulses and grains for complete protein, or that you have to be extra careful with vegan children.....which I find hilarious since my vegan children eat a wider variety of fruits, vegetables, legumes and whole grains than most of their omnivorous counterparts), this is a very good book as far as organization and ease of use. The recipes are rated using a star system depending on their level of difficulty, which I like for finding quick and easy meals on weeknights. Also, this book has beautiful pictures, which is always a plus in cookbooks.

The Sweet and Sour noodles were fantastic. Rob liked this dish very much, but thought it could use more noodles. The recipe called for egg noodles, which I subbed out for wide rice noodles, but unfortunately didn't have many of.

Let's Get it Started........

2009-01-05T07:49:00.003-05:00

Ha Ha...........a little Black Eyed Peas/New Years humor to start the year off!! Of course, we started the year with black eyed peas and cabbage. As a kid we had just that...a heaping scoop of black eyed peas (that I'm almost certain had been cooked with some kind of meat in them), alongside another heaping scoop of braised cabbage, and some cornbread on the side just to round things out. For the last 5 years we've moved the Christmas celebration to my house which I've enjoyed immensely, so starting last year we moved our New Year's Day meal to my house as well. Not being one who likes to break a tradition, I do like to put a new spin on them, you know, give them my own (vegan) signature. And hey, a tradition meant to bring good luck.....who in their right mind would mess with that? Even if half of my family hates black eyed peas and cabbage, I'm not about to risk a whole year of bad luck to please their palates on this one day.

We started 2008 with Hoppin' John, purple cabbage, and cornbread. It was a success, so I was sure I could please even the black eyed pea haters this year as well. I'd planned on Hoppin' John again, but came across a recipe for New Years Day Soup in the newest issue of Vegetarian Times, and decided to give that a try instead. I'm glad I did, it was fantastic. The flavor combo was great, and their was just enough heat for Rob to forget he was eating black eyed peas. My only advice is to make the soup a day in advance and just re-heat it for your New Year's Day meal (it was even better on January 2). Alongside our soup we had braised cabbage, and cornbread. Tradition indeed!!

Now, just a little note on my lack of blogging of late. Long and short..........I've been busy. With Mairin home from school, and Rob home from work a lot we've just been spending a lot of good quality time together and eating a lot of easy repeats. And, with the lack of CSA goodies, I've been very uninspired. (I also guess I should mention that after a long wait I finally got a Wii, and I've been totally consumed by video games since Christmas) I do have few things waiting on my attention that I'll be blogging about soon, plus some new dishes to prepare over the course of this week. So, hopefully I'll be back with more regular posts now that the busy holiday season has passed.

I also got a juicer for Christmas, so I've been busy concocting juice recipes. Juicing is awesome!! I'm totally addicted to my daily juice now. There's something so pleasing about cramming all of those nutrients into one glass and ingesting them all!! I mean seriously, it's 8:15 a.m. and I've already had 5 carrots, 2 oranges and a 1/2 inch piece of ginger........not possible by any other means than juicing. Plus, there's some green juice in my future today as well!!

Pasta and Lentils

2008-12-18T08:18:00.003-05:00

Another Rachael Ray recipe......and believe it or not, one that didn't need to be veganized!! This is a perfect winter pasta dish consisting of brown lentils, crushed tomatoes, cumin, chili powder, and allspice. There are also some carrots and green chard thrown in for good measure. Quick, delicious, and healthy....what more could you ask for??

Green Minestrone

2008-12-12T13:42:00.002-05:00

This is a recipe I veganized from Rachael Ray. Yes, I know I'm a naughty vegan, liking Rachael Ray and all. I've discussed this before, and while she's far from vegan (can you say cheese in EVERYTHING), she inspires people to cook. It would be great if the whole world were vegan, but people skipping fast food and cooking at home is at least a step in the right direction. And for that reason, I like Rachael Ray.

Anyway, this was simple enough to veganize, just leave out the meat and cheese, change the chicken stock to veggie, and there you go. Delicious served with buttered (read Earth Balance) sourdough bread.

Green Minestrone

2 Tbs EVOO (it is a Rachael Ray dish after all)

1 medium onion, chopped

2 ribs celery, chopped

2 large cloves garlic, minced

1 bay leaf

1 medium zucchini, diced in bite sized pieces

salt and pepper to taste

2 cups cannellini beans

2 cups garbanzo beans

8 cups vegetable broth

1 cup small pasta (I used small shells)

1 16 oz package frozen cut green beans

1 10oz package of baby spinach

Heat EVOO in a soup pot over medium heat. Add onion, celery, garlic, bay leaf and zucchini. Season with salt and pepper and saute, about 5 minutes, stirring frequently. Add cannellini beans, garbanzo beans and broth. Cover and bring to a boil. Add pasta and green beans and cook about 8 minutes, until pasta is tender. Stir in spinach to wilt. Season to taste.

Not a Holiday, Holiday dinner

2008-12-11T15:32:00.004-05:00

Here's that "holiday" dinner I promised you..........I made the Vegan Turkey Roast from Everyday Dish. Mine doesn't look as appetizing as Julie's, but it was still tasty. Mairin really liked it, and she doesn't like much!! Rob and I were both pleased with the results. Only, I wish I had an electric slicer so I could make the slices thinner. This was a trial run for our Christmas meal, and while we were all satisfied with the seitan roast, we decided that it's probably not the best thing to feed to our entirely omnivorous family. I know that when I became vegetarian I would not have enjoyed eating seitan, it took a long time for me to come around, so plopping a big seitan roast on the table is probably not the best thing to do for Christmas dinner!!

We had all the fixin's along with the roast; mashed potatoes, dressing, green beans, and brussels sprouts. The brussels sprouts were sauteed in olive oil along withe some yellow pearl onions. When they were nicely sauteed I added in about 1 Tbs of Earth Balance and enough bread crumbs to lightly coat. This is by far one of the best ways to eat brussels sprouts.

In other news......two of my sweet readers nominated me for the butterfly award. Thank you to Chessa and Elizabeth. I really appreciate the award and I'm so glad that you still put up with me considering my recent lack of blogging. I promise to reciprocate your generosity, and play along with the butterfly award, just as soon as I have some time!!

I'm back

2008-12-06T22:44:00.002-05:00

Wow, it' s been a very long time since I last visited my blog. We were away on vacation during the holiday week, and I feel like I've been going non-stop since then. This is such a busy time of year, and something had to give. What gave was cooking and creating new dishes, and posting on the blog. We've been eating, and we've been eating well. We just haven't been eating anything that deserves to be blogged about.

Starting with our trip.......I managed to eat very well in Mexico. I never had any problem finding something tasty and vegan with which to fill my belly. And there was of course plenty of fresh fruit and vegetables. However, one of the most interesting finds turned out to be a vegan staple.........soy milk. The place we stayed had the most delicious soy milk you've ever tasted in your life. The brand was AdeS, and unfortunately is not available in the US market, but keep you eyes peeled, all of the US commercial soy milks pale in comparison.

Since our return, and even before we left or meals have been mostly comprised of old stand-by's. I've not been creative enough to cook anything of my own, and I've only been motivated enough to cook one meal from a recipe. That would be the tasty soup you see above. This is Lentil Soup with Ribbons of Kale from Fresh From the Vegetarian Slow Cooker. This soup was delicious. My family of four finished the entire pot at one meal!! And it's so satisfying to have a healthy, hearty meal waiting for you at the end of a long cold day. Expect to see many more recipes from this book over the long, cold winter days ahead.

Since we missed Thanksgiving, we did a small meal here before we left which consisted of Tofurky and the fixin's. However, it was really kind of a quick, thrown together Thanksgiving meal, so tomorrow we are putting up our Christmas tree and eating a proper, takes all day to prepare, Thanksgiving. Stay tuned for that in the near future.

Smoky Chipotle Black Bean Soup

2008-11-19T09:10:00.003-05:00

The idea for this soup came from a similar soup that they serve at Whole Foods Market. As you all know, Stella loves anything that contains beans, and she's developed a taste for the spicy as well. She loves this soup from WFM, and of course was thrilled to have it prepared for her at home!!

Smoky Chipotle Black Bean Soup

2 cups dried black beans

1 Tbs Cumin

1 bay leaf

salt and pepper

2 Tbs olive oil

1/2 cup onion, roughly diced

1/4 cup celery, roughly diced

3 cloves garlic, minced

2 chipotle peppers in adobo, chopped

2 Tbs adobo sauce

4 cups vegetable stock

Rinse beans, cover with water and soak for 8 hours, or over night. When ready to prepare soup, drain beans. In medium sized soup pot add soaked beans, cumin, bay leaf, salt and pepper, and cover with water, and bring to a boil. Cook beans for 30-45 minutes, or until done. In meantime, heat olive oil in a large soup pot over medium high heat. Add onion and celery, and saute until beginning to brown. Add garlic, stir and cook a minute more. Add chipotles, adobo sauce and vegetable stock. Bring to a boil, then reduce to simmer. When beans are cooked pour beans with their cooking liquid into soup pot, stir to combine, then puree with a hand blender (or in batches in your food processor). Serve with a dollop of Tofutti Better Than Sour Cream, and a few avocado slices.

Chipotle Portobello "Burgers"

2008-11-18T16:48:00.003-05:00

I was flipping through the channels the other day and came across this grilling show on PBS. I don't typically stop on grilling shows, as they are very meat centered, but as I was watching I realized that this was an entire show dedicated to "Vegetarians at the Grill".

I was so excited, and as I watched in excitement they cooked up this delicious portobello burger. I love portobello burgers of all types, but I have to say, I think this one was my favorite!! And to go along with it I whipped up some Smoky Chipotle Black Bean Soup (watch for a post to come). Get some portobellos and get grillin'.

Thai Curried Squash and Vegetables

2008-11-17T21:25:00.002-05:00

I apologize for my absence, I've had a lot going on, and very little time to set at the computer and do my real job, let alone blog about my cooking!! Not to mention, I wasn't able to download the pictures from my camera for a few days.

After 18 months of teaching yoga things have fallen into place, and I'm finally working toward the certification I've been wanting for so long. So, as you can imagine, there's a lot of reading and a lot of study involved. Therefore, my blogging may not be as frequent.......however, I could surprise you, I do love blogging about all of the great vegan food we eat, so just keep me on your feed list, even if the posts get few and far between!!

Anyway, the photo posted above is a dish from a week or so ago. I had 2 sweet dumpling squash from the CSA that I needed to use, but I didn't really know what to do with them. The Urban Vegan had a post a while back about stuffed squash, so that's what I decided to do with it. However, Rob isn't really a fan of squash, but he is a fan of curry, so I just whipped up this Thai style curry using green curry paste, coconut milk, brown sugar, lime juice and a big mix of veggies (including the squash that I cut out of the bowls), and served it all inside these cute sweet dumpling squash bowls.

A Question for the Vegan Community

2008-11-10T14:17:00.002-05:00

Hello vegan friends......I have a quick question for you all. Have any of you ever tried Better Than Milk powdered soy milk? We are leaving on vacation to Cancun in a few weeks. I've just checked with the resort, and they inform me that they do not have soy milk or dairy alternatives available. Last year we traveled with our own individual serve boxes of Soy Dream and Rice Dream, for cereal, coffee, etc. However, I thought this year we may take some milk powder along, as it will take up less room in the luggage, produces less waste, and is also less likely to cause an incredible mess on our clothes should something happen to the packaging.

Problem is, I've never tried the stuff, and it's a bit pricey. I can get it from our local HFS, but it costs $16, and that's a lot of money to spend on something that tastes horrible. So, I'm wondering from my friendly readers, do you think it's worth the money, or should I risk bringing along individual drink boxes??

A Peek Inside

2008-11-07T07:56:00.004-05:00

I haven't made much food beyond tofu scramble and spaghetti since Tuesday's big victory. So, since I don't have any food to report I thought I'd give a peek inside my vegan refrigerator. Don't you all just love snooping around other people's things??

So, here we go, I'll start with the bottom drawer of my freezer (I have one of those fridges with the freezer on the bottom). The pictures aren't too clear, but on the right half of the drawer you see all of my frozen veggies. There are a lot of greens (kale, spinach and mustard) that came from the CSA this summer. Plus there are chopped and frozen bell peppers, frozen snap peas, corn, peas and broccoli. On the left half, in the containers with green lids are frozen stock (there are 14 cups of stock there). The blurry bag you see is a gallon sized bag filling with veggie scraps to make stock. And the black lid is my coffee canister.

On to the top shelf...On the right, you see stacks of frozen tortilla (corn and flour), we eat lots of tortillas. Stacks of frozen beans, mostly black eyed peas and pintos at this time. The green lid canister is black beans, the ball jar behind that is vital wheat gluten, as is the bag to the right of that, the container behind the wheat gluten is bread crumbs. That bag of wheat gluten is sitting on top of a box of phyllo dough, and in front of that is a bag of ginger root. On the left side of the drawer you see a container filled with stuff for smoothies (there are blueberries, strawberries, raspberries, and bananas). In front of the smoothie stuff are stacks of frozen pancakes, next to that are teething rings. Behind the teething rings in the purple lids is frozen pumpkin puree (2 cups there, but I still have 2 pumpkins on the counter that I need to cook, puree and freeze). Behind the pumpkin is a baggie with seeds left over from planting the garden this year. And ice packs for lunch boxes behind that.

Now the refrigerator. This obviously is the main section of my fridge. Here we keep yeast, coconut milk yogurt, gelatin free "jello", silk creamer, flax oil, flour of all types, tahini, Better Than Sour Cream and Better Than Cream Cheese, flax seeds, citrus fruits, avocados, applesauce, Earth Balance. Looks like there are some mushrooms there and also some cider. And of course, containers of left-overs In the drawers are my fresh herbs and veggies, tofu, Tofuky deli slices, tortillas and pitas.

And, in the door, various sauces and jams, soy milk, rice milk, water and wine. Plus, Earth Balance Shortening and Buttery Sticks.

So, that's it. That's what this vegan keeps in her refrigerator. I considered showing you my pantry but it's such a disaster. Maybe this will motivate me to get in there, clean it out and snap a photo.

Election Night in America

2008-11-04T22:49:00.004-05:00

WOW!! What an exciting night. I've never, ever felt so excited about an election. It's not over yet, but it sure is looking good for us Obama supporters! I really believe that Obama is going to do something wonderful for this country, I can't wait to witness it.

To celebrate election night and support our candidate, I baked up some "Elitist, Chicago Style" Deep Dish Pizza. I used my usual crust, baked in 8 inch cake pans, and topped with crushed tomato, shallots, artichokes, red bell pepper, crushed red pepper, sliced mushrooms and Follow Your Heart Mozzarella. What a delicious way to celebrate what appears to be a victory for us liberals!!

Catching Up

2008-11-04T09:50:00.004-05:00

Honestly, I don't know what I've been up to that got me so far behind in my blogging. I guess we had Halloween, and I had a birthday, and then we had a lovely weekend, all during which I didn't feel like sitting at the computer!! So, I guess I'll just start where I left off.

Let's see......one evening last week I made up a big batch of falafel, and some Hummus en Fuego to go along with it. I got the idea for the hummus from the 101cookbooks blog, but I didn't follow Heidi's recipe exactly. Basically I just made my regular hummus recipe, adding in a few tsp of hot chili oil. Then, I drizzled it with a few more tsp of chili oil when I served it. This hummus was delicious. Stella, my 2 year old, loved it so much she was eating it with her hands!! She loves everything HOT!!

For Halloween I wanted to have something that I could get ready and feed the kids early (read: before they went trick or treating), but that would still be tasty later when Rob and I were ready to eat. Plus, I wanted something to kind of fit the season and the theme of Halloween. So, this Black and Orange Chili is what I came up with. In my haste to get dinner going I didn't write down a recipe, but basically this chili is started by sauteing onions, celery, carrot and garlic. Then I added in some diced sweet potatoes, cumin, chili powder, oregano and about 4 cups of vegetable stock. Bring chili to a boil, allow sweet potatoes to start to soften, then add LOTS of black beans. Heat through and serve. The kids really liked this, and I felt good that they'd filled up on something healthy before trick or treating!! Of course, Stella can't eat any of the candy she collected, and I did allow Mairin a few pieces of non-vegan chocolate from her stash. Since then the candy has been sitting untouched in the closet.

And finally, I just wanted to share with you one of the lovely birthday presents the kids gave me. I got this beautiful cupcake tree, and some fantastic heart shaped muffin cups. The muffins you see on the tree are chocolate chip muffins that I've shared the recipe for before.

Pumpkin

2008-10-30T07:44:00.004-04:00

I have so much pumpkin, I don't know what to do with it all. We've been getting giant pie pumpkins from the CSA every week!! I've done pumpkin pie, pumpkin muffins, pumpkin cupcakes, and pumpkin cake. I've also made pumpkin sauces for pasta. Now I still have about 4 cups of pumpkin puree in the refrigerator, and TWO more pie pumpkins sitting on the counter! Luckily winter squashes will last on the counter for awhile (because I also have butternut squash, carnival squash, and sweet dumpling squash), but at some point I'm going to have to cook those pumpkins. I'm open to any suggestions and ideas.......by the way, does pumpkin puree freeze well??

Anyway, while I like lots of savory squash dishes, I really do like pumpkin best in sweet, dessert type dishes. Following are my "veganizations" of two pumpkin recipes I love.

Pumpkin Crumb Bars

1 1/2 cup quick cooking oats

1 1/4 cups flour

3/4 cup light brown sugar, firmly packed

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 tsp baking soda

3/4 cup Earth Balance, room temperature

2 cups pumpkin puree (or one 16 oz can)

2/3 cup hemp milk (or other non dairy milk of your choice)

1/3 cup light brown sugar

Ener-G egg replacer for 1 egg

1 1/2 tsp cinnamon

3/4 tsp ground ginger

1/4 tsp ground nutmeg

1/4 tsp ground allspice

Preheat oven to 375. Combine oats, flour, 3/4 cup brown sugar, salt, baking soda and Earth Balance in bowl of stand mixer. Mix until crumbly. Reserve 1 1/2 cups crumb mixture and press remaining mixture into a 13x9 baking dish that has been sprayed with canola oil. Bake crust for 10 minutes.

In the meantime, prepare filling. Combine pumpkin, hemp milk, brown sugar, egg replacer and spices. Beat until smooth and well blended. Spread over crust, sprinkle with remaining crumb mixture. Return to oven and bake for 25 minutes, or until filling is set and crumb topping is golden brown. Cool in pan and cut into bars. These can be served at room temperature, but I prefer them after they've been refrigerated.

Whole Wheat Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Bread

1 cup whole wheat flour

1/2 cup sugar

2/3 cup unbleached bread flour

1 tsp baking soda

1 tsp ground cinnamon

1/2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 tsp cloves

1 cup pumpkin puree

1 Tsp canola oil

1 6 oz container vegan yogurt (I used vanilla Coconut Milk yogurt)

1/4 cup + 2 Tbs water

1/2 cup chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350. In bowl of stand mixer combine dry ingredients. Mix to combine well. In a small bowl whisk together all wet ingredients. With stand mixer running, pour wet ingredients into dry. Combine just until moistened. Fold in chocolate chips. Pour batter into 9x5 bread pan that has been sprayed with canola oil. Bake for 1 hour to 1 hour 15 minutes, until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool in pan for 15 minutes, then remove from pan and cool on wire rack until completely cooled.

Cooking with Apples

2008-10-27T07:40:00.004-04:00

I had a big (huge) bag of apples that we bought at Huber's the other week, and it needed to be used up. I'd planned to make apple butter with it, but time got away from me, apples were eaten as snacks, and eventually there weren't enough to make making a batch of apple butter seem worth it, so instead the remaining apples were cooked up with our dinner this weekend.

First, I made some Maple Baked Lentils with Apple. I started by pre-cooking 1 1/2 cup lentils with one bouillon cube. While the lentils were cooking I peeled and diced 3 large apples, 1 carrot, 2 ribs of celery, and 1/2 large onion. When the lentils were tender, I combined those (drained from their cooking liquid), with the chopped veggies and apples in a baking dish, and mixed in about 1 tsp dried thyme leaves. I added about 1/4 cup apple cider and 1/4 cup pure maple syrup and baked at 350 until veggies were tender and juices were starting to bubble. We had the lentils served over a mixture of brown basmati rice and bulgur, with a side of Roasted Squash Rings from Eat, Drink and Be Vegan (I could eat the whole squash prepared this way), and a salad of mixed greens from the CSA with Annie's Goddess Dressing. This was delicious, and perfect on a cool Autumn night. But, truth be told, I thought the lentils were actually better as leftovers for dinner the next day.

Fast forward a few days, and the apples were out for dinner once again. This time I made "Sausage", Apples and Onions with Apple Cider Sauce. For this dish I used Tofurky Kielbasa style sausage, but you could use any vegan sausage you like. I browned the sausages in a little olive oil in a large skillet. When the sausage is browned, remove it from the skillet and set aside. Add to the skillet 2 large apples (sliced) , and 1/2 large onion (sliced). Saute apples and onions for a few minutes until apples begin to soften (don't let them go too far, you don't want them to turn into applesauce), return sausage to the pan then add in about 1 cup apple cider vinegar that's had about 1 tsp arrowroot powder whisked into it. Bring to a boil, reduce heat, and simmer for a few minutes until sauce begins to thicken. I served the sausages on top of a heaping mound of mashed potatoes with a side of cornbread. Again, another perfect autumnal meal. The sweetness that the apples and cider added to the sausage was perfect. My picky eater, Mairin, gobbled up every bite of sausage!!

Apple Crisp

2008-10-23T13:29:00.002-04:00

Apple Crisp is so delicious.......as you can see, we couldn't even wait until the photo was taken before we dug right in. It's a wonderful dessert any time, but especially great when the local apples are in season and it's made with apples fresh off the tree. I used Jonathan apples, but any tart/sweet cooking apple will do. I make my apple crisp with the skin on the apples, because the pectin from the skin helps to keep it thick. I'm sure most of you have an apple crisp recipe floating around somewhere, but some of them can require quite a lot of ingredients. This one is simple to assemble, with only a few ingredients, and bakes up in about 40 minutes. It's perfect served with vanilla vegan ice-cream or drizzled with vegan vanilla yogurt (preferably coconut milk yogurt).

Apple Crisp

4-5 large cooking apples, cored and cut into bite sized pieces

1/4 cup light brown sugar, packed

1/2 tsp ground cinnamon

dash nutmeg or allspice

1/2 cup whole wheat flour

1/2 cup rolled oats

1 stick Earth Balance margarine, cut into pieces

1/4 cup light brown sugar, packed

Preheat oven to 350. In a 9x9 baking dish combine apples, 1/4 cup brown sugar, cinnamon and nutmeg. In bowl of food processor combine flour, oats, Earth Balance, and rest of brown sugar. Pulse until margarine is broken down and mixture is crumbly. Sprinkle crumb topping over apples and bake for about 40 minutes until you see some juices of the apples bubbling up around the edges, and crumb topping is golden brown. Serve warm.

Pasta e Fagioli

2008-10-22T21:33:00.003-04:00

As the weather is getting colder and colder, soups and stews are becoming more frequent on my menus. Just a few weeks ago, The Urban Vegan posted about her pasta fazool, reminding me that it had been ages since I'd made or eaten pasta e fagioli. I'm so glad she reminded me. It's warm, hearty, and so comforting. I won't post a recipe, because I'm sure you all have your own recipe for this dish already (and if you don't, I'm sure you can find one quite easily on the internet), but I hope I've reminded you that it's time to make pasta e fagioli for yourself.

Southern Comfort

2008-10-21T09:41:00.004-04:00

Food that is....sorry if you thought this was going to be a post about that spicy, fruity whiskey drink. Nope, this is a post about beans, greens, and cornbread. It doesn't get any better than that, now does it. Ok, so I guess it depends on who you are asking.....my husband and kids would probably disagree, but hey, they don't do the cooking do they? Seriously, I could eat beans and greens until I was sick, I love them that much.

When we were up a Huber's a few weeks ago I picked up a jar of their Chow-Chow. I've been meaning to make my own, but I'm just too damn lazy these days, and when I saw it on the shelves I had to buy it. I mean, locally grown, locally produced, and locally canned, it doesn't get any closer to homemade.

In the south chow chow is typically served over pinto beans, but I didn't have any of those, so I cooked up a big batch of black eyed peas and served the chow chow over that. Rob is usually not a fan of beans as a main dish, but he indeed liked them when served with a big spoonful of chow chow on top. Mairin claimed to not like them, and Stella preferred hers without chow chow....oh well, that leaves more for me I guess.

To go along with the beans I cooked up some greens, loosely based on Chessa's ravings about these smoky greens. Now I say loosely, because I was actually missing most of the ingredients and I didn't have collards. So, my concoction was a combo of mustard greens and kale from the CSA, I didn't have mushrooms, and I didn't have chipotle in adobo (but I did have bottle of Frontera chipotle sauce which is basically ground up chipotle in adobo, so I used that), and finally I didn't follow any of the measurements in the recipe because I didn't have 5 lbs of greens, so I just threw things in here and there. I have to say, the results were damn good. These were by far the best greens EVER!! I can't wait to follow the recipe and find out what the actual results are.

And, what's a southern Beans and Greens dinner without cornbread? Well, it's not complete, that's what I say, so of course, there was a big pan of cornbread to accompany the meal. Oh, and some southern fried potatoes and onions from the CSA as well.

Just look at that feast, it really doesn't get any better!!

Now I Know My ABC's.......

2008-10-14T07:37:00.003-04:00

I don't often make things that are considered kid friendly meals. Both girls have pretty sophisticated palates for children, so for the most part they eat, or at least taste, whatever I've prepared. This meal however was prepared specifically with the kids in mind. Mairin has been begging for "Alphabet soup", so I obliged with this version that is reminiscent of what your mother used to pour out of that little red and white can. This meal went over really well with the girls.....Stella called hers "elephant soup"!!

I wanted the soup to be kid friendly, and I didn't want the vegetables to overshadow the small alphabet pasta. Therefore, this recipe does require some tedious chopping. But your kids will feel so special that you've made a meal "just for them".

Alphabet Soup

2 Tbs Olive oil

1 onion, diced small

2 ribs celery, diced small

2 carrots, diced into small cubes

3 small yukon gold potatoes, diced into small cubes

3 cloves garlic, minced (optional only if your kids like garlic)

2 bay leaves

1 tsp thyme leaves (dried)

1 tsp oregano (dried)

1 14.4 oz can diced tomatoes with juice

6 cups good quality vegetable stock

1/2 cup frozen peas

1 cup frozen corn kernels

8 oz alphabet shaped pasta, cooked and drained

Heat olive oil over medium high heat in a large soup pot. Add onion, celery, carrots and potato and saute until veggies are becoming soft. Add minced garlic, bay leaves, thyme and oregano. Add salt and pepper to taste. Toss around in pan until fragrant. Add tomatoes and their juice, using juice to de-glaze pan if needed. Add vegetable stock, peas, and corn and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer until ready to serve. Check seasoning and add extra salt if needed. Just before ready to serve, add pasta to pot, stir to heat through. For the adults, I added a few Tbs of chopped fresh parsley to brighten the flavor a bit.

To finish the meal I made the classic childhood favorite, Oatmeal Raisin cookies. I used Dreena's wheat free recipe from Eat, Drink and Be Vegan. These cookies are absolutely perfect. They taste exactly like a cookie your grandmother would have baked for you when you were a child.

So, get cookin', and make a special meal for you kids tonight!!

Nachos with ques"no"

2008-10-13T07:47:00.002-04:00

Yesterday we spent the afternoon at Huber's. We picked pumpkins from the pumpkin patch (we got two quite large ones, and one baby). We shopped for deliciously fresh apples (after a while in the pumpkin field we didn't think the girls were quite ready for picking their own yet), and the best apple cider you'll ever drink. Then Rob and I shared a bottle of wine as we watched the girls frolicking in what will surely be one of the last 86 degree days we'll see for awhile. After a long and restful afternoon in the sun I didn't feel much like cooking when we returned home.

A while back when I was reading over at The Veggie Patch, I saw a link to a recipe for vegan queso. I also received my VegWeb weekly recipe e-mail and there is a very similar recipe there as well. Now, I haven't really missed cheese at all, except for queso. There have been a few times that we've eaten at Q-doba and I have longed to dip my chip in some of that warm, gooey queso. There happen to be lots of vegan queso recipes that involve melting soy cheese (which can sometimes prove tricky, and quite honestly, just grosses me out a little), or involve some combination of ground nuts. Imagine my delight when I stumbled upon a soy free, nut free cheese recipe!! I put it on my list of things to make soon, and a day when I didn't feel like cooking felt soon enough!! I whipped up some of the queso (which takes about 5 minutes), poured it over a pile of tortilla chips, with some black beans, diced onion, black olives, and chopped cilantro. Voila, nachos!!!

This queso is fabulous!! It has been awhile since I've had queso, but I do think this one is very close in flavor and texture to it's dairy laden counterpart. It hasn't been quite so long since Rob's had queso, and he too thought this one was amazingly close to dairy queso. I've got so many ideas for this deliciously cheesy dip, you can expect that it will be made around here quite often. And as an added bonus......you don't feel fat, gross, and guilty after you eat this queso, even if you eat a ton!!

Happy Birthday........

2008-10-09T08:34:00.001-04:00

...........to Adventures in Vegetarianism. This blog turns 1 year old today. I can hardly believe it’s been a whole year since I started this. And it’s even more unbelievable that I’ve been able to keep up with it!! Little did I know when I started this blog that it’s birthday falls during Vegetarian Awareness Month and VeganMOFO…….so, we’ve a lot to celebrate this month.

This year has been quite and Adventure indeed. This started out as a vegetarian food blog, and has now morphed into a vegan food blog. As I learned more and more about the effects of farming both on the animals and the Earth, I couldn’t help but take the next step and switch to Vegan. I feel better both physically and spiritually for having made the switch, and I can’t imagine ever going back. I’m now living an almost entirely vegan lifestyle (save for a few exceptions, like my non-vegan deodorant that I just can’t find a good replacement for). Rob has converted to vegetarianism 100%, and both he and the girls are embracing veganism with only a few exceptions (like I still can’t convince them to order pizza without cheese). I’ve even convinced a few people to try out more vegan and vegetarian options.

I’ve learned a few things along the way as well. First, I’ve learned that being vegan isn’t nearly as hard as everyone assumes it is. I’ve learned that I love seitan, but that I prefer not to make it from scratch. I’ve learned that pizza is good……maybe even better…….without cheese. I’ve learned that vegan eating in Chicago is fabulous, but in Indianapolis, not so much. I’ve learned not to be afraid to scramble tofu, it’s really good, and really easy. I’ve learned that I LOVE vegan cupcakes. And finally, I’ve learned that I’m much more creative in the kitchen than I thought I was!!

In short, it’s been a great year. This blog has served it’s purpose well, and I look forward to sharing another year of my Adventures in Vegetarianism with you.

Split Pea - Barley Soup

2008-10-07T07:43:00.003-04:00

I love it when my family surprises me!! I threw together this split pea soup thinking that I was going to be met at the table with an awful lot of grumbling. To my pleasant surprise, there wasn't one single grumble to be heard. In fact, second helpings were had all around, and Mairin requested the leftovers in a thermos for her school lunch!!

There really isn't a lot to this soup. It's very minimalist on the seasoning allowing the wonderful flavor of the split peas to shine through. Even without extra spices and seasonings it's still bursting with heart warming deliciousness.

Split Pea - Barley Soup

1 Tbs olive oil

1/2 large onion, diced

2 large carrots, sliced

2 stalks celery, sliced

2 tsp Hickory Flavor Liquid Smoke

1 tsp tarragon leaves

2 cups green split peas, rinsed and picked over

4 cups vegetable stock + 2 cups water

1 cup pearled barley, uncooked

3 cups water

1 vegetable bouillon cube

1 large radish, thinly sliced

In a soup pot, heat olive oil over medium-high heat. Add onion, carrot and celery and saute until tender. Add liquid smoke, tarragon, some salt and pepper and stir to combine. Add split peas, veg stock and 2 cups water. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat, cover and simmer until peas are tender. In the meantime, bring barley and 3 cups of water to a boil with bouillon cube. Once boiling, reduce heat, cover and let simmer until liquid is absorbed and barley is tender, about 30 minutes. Remove barley from heat and set aside. Once peas have become tender, transfer soup to food processor and puree until smooth and creamy (this may need to be done in batches, depending on the size of your food processor; alternatively you could use a hand blender to get the job done). Add barley to pureed soup and stir to combine and heat through. Season with salt and pepper, if needed, to taste. Ladle to bowls and garnish with radish slices in the center.

Squash Enchiladas

2008-10-06T07:40:00.003-04:00

The acorn squash used for this dinner was intended to be stuffed squash, but I knew that wasn't really something that was going to excite the masses. Not to mention, it was back up to around 85 degrees today and stuffed squash just didn't seem appropriate for the weather. Hence the acorn squash became enchilada filling. All I can say is, great idea!! Pureed roasted acorn squash mixed up with some sauteed veggies made for a fantastic enchilada. Both the sauce and the poblano pepper I diced into the filling added some heat, but even so these were deemed likable even by the kiddos!!

Acorn Squash Enchiladas

makes 9 enchiladas

1 acorn squash

1 tsp chili powder

1 tsp salt

1 Tbs olive oil

1/2 large onion, diced (or one small I guess)

1 medium poblano pepper, seeded and diced

8 oz white button mushrooms, chopped

9 8-inch whole wheat tortillas

1 can Hatch Roasted Garlic Green Chile Enchilada Sauce

1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro leaves

Preheat oven to 350. Cut squash in half, remove seeds, and place cut side down in a baking dish with 1/4 inch water. Cover tightly with foil, and bake until soft, about 30 minutes. Remove squash and let cool. Once squash is cool enough to hold, scoop flesh into bowl of food processor, add chili powder, and salt and process into a smooth puree. Meanwhile, saute onion, pepper and mushrooms in olive oil. Add pureed squash to sauteed veggies and stir to heat through. Coat bottom of 9x13 pan with a few Tbs of enchilada sauce. Divide squash mixture evenly among tortillas and fold enchilada style (leaving one end open). Place tortillas side by side in baking dish and cover with remaining enchilada sauce. Place in 350 oven and bake until sauce is bubbly, and enchiladas are heated through, about 30 minutes. Remove from oven and sprinkle with cilantro.

Vegan Planet

2008-10-02T12:43:00.002-04:00

You may remember awhile back when I posted about my copy of Vegan Planet missing an entire section, and when I contacted Robin Robertson about it she arranged to have a new copy sent to me. Well, that copy arrived and I've made 2 recipes from the missing section (which happened to be the pasta section). Both were a total success.

First, I made the mac and cheese. This dish was a big hit with the girls, which is always fabulous. They both requested helping after helping of this incredible shells and cheese. The recipe makes a ton of mac and cheese, so we actually had this two nights in a row. It was just as successful on night number two, which isn't usually the case around here. Honestly, Rob and I both preferred it the second night over the first.

Next up I made the Pad Thai, as a "date" meal for Rob and I one evening after the girls were in bed. Now, Pad Thai isn't usually the first dish I go for on a Thai menu, so it's been quite some time since I've had Pad Thai. Therefore, I can't vouch for the authenticness of this recipe. However, I can tell you that it is fabulous. As you know, our house is nut free, so it is of course missing the peanut garnish. It's also missing the bean sprouts, as I did my grocery shopping a week before I prepared this dish and bean sprout setting around in the fridge for a week just kind of grosses me out. My local grocery doesn't carry such "exotic" things as bean sprouts, so I just opted to omit them. Still delish even if it's missing 2 main ingredients!!

Fall Cupcakes

2008-10-01T07:50:00.003-04:00

In keeping with my fall themed cooking of late, I decided to make some fall themed cupcakes to accompany.

When I think of fall I think of cool weather, vibrantly colored leaves and bon fires. Of course, no bon fire is complete without S'mores.....................hence, S'mores cupcakes from VCTOTW. These are definitely reminiscent of S'mores, but they aren't spot on. I think they could be improved with a bit of Marshmallow Fluff (do they make vegan Marshmallow Fluff??) instead of the buttercream. Another idea might be to attempt to melt down some vegan marshmallows to drizzle on the tops. Maybe a vegan marshmallow hidden in the center of each cake? I don't know, they just need a little more marshmallow-y-ness!! Also, if you decide to make these, don't fill the muffin tins full, as directed......these babies rise and the result will be less than pretty tops (see photo below).

S'mores Cupcakes from Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World.

And of course, like everyone else on Earth, I think of pumpkins when I think of fall. So, it only made sense to try out the Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cupcakes with Cinnamon Icing from VCTOTW. Isa and Terry dare anyone to call these a muffin. I'm a girl that likes a dare, and I dare say, these are really more of a muffin than a cupcake. Nonetheless, they are out of this world. The sugar and spice is just right to allow the pumpkin and chocolate combo to shine through. And just like Isa and Terry say, the icing just adds a little somethin' somethin'. We did eat them as cupcakes for dessert one night, but I must admit that Mairin and I played "pretend" and ate them as muffins the next morning!!

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cupcakes with Cinnamon Icing
from Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World.

Pumpkin Pie

2008-09-30T07:42:00.004-04:00

I've been craving all things, pumpkin lately. Something about that fall bite in the air really has me wanting pumpkin......not to mention some of the things Vegan Dad has been posting. You'll be seeing those sweet rolls lurking around here soon!!!

I decided to satisfy my pumpkin craving with a pie. Before becoming vegan I was always commissioned to make the pies on Thanksgiving, so I thought I'd get started finding a suitable vegan pie. I wanted to avoid a pie that used tofu. I'm not scared of soy, but I do think it's best to limit it where we can. I also wanted to do something interesting to replace the evaporated milk that my usual pie called for. So, for this pie I just went with Ener-G egg replacer and coconut milk. The result was delicious, although less firm than I was hoping for. I'll post the recipe, just in case you are craving a pumpkin pie too.....but I plan to perfect this one a little, so look for it again in the coming months.

Vegan Pumpkin Pie

recipe for pie crust

1 can pumpkin puree

3/4 cups packed light brown sugar

1 tsp salt

1 Tbs cornstarch

3/4 tsp ground ginger

1 tsp ground cinnamon

1/8 tsp ground nutmeg

egg replacer for 3 eggs

1 can of coconut milk

Roll out one ball of dough into a circle 14 inches in diameter (freeze the other ball of dough for up to 2 weeks). Fit dough into a 10 inch pie plate, and create edges. Prick dough bottom with a fork and freeze until firm, about 10 minutes. Preheat oven to 425.

Cut out a circle of foil to fit in the bottom of the pie, fill pie with dried beans or pie weights and bake for 15 minutes. Remove pie crust from oven, discard beans, and reduce heat to 350.

Combine pumpkin, sugar, cornstarch, salt, spices, egg replacer and coconut milk in a large sauce pot and heat over medium heat. Be careful not to boil. Pour pumpkin mixture into crust, and bake until firm, about 50 minutes. If the crust gets too dark, cover edges with foil.

The pie will be loose in the center, but will continue to firm as it cools. Allow to cool on a wire rack until completely cooled. Transfer to refrigerator to cool for 2 hours or overnight. Serve chilled.

Roasted Butternut Squash Soup

2008-09-29T07:40:00.003-04:00

Fall is definitely upon us. The days are still warm (in the mid 80s), but the humidity is non-existent, and the mornings and evenings are cool and crisp. Not to mention, the farmers market is abundant, and the CSA is stocking us on winter squash.

This past week we received 2 large butternut squash, so I decided to make them into a soup. Served with a salad loaded with diced fall apples and dressed with maple-dijon vinaigrette, it was a delightful fall meal.

Roasted Butternut Squash Soup

(serves 8)

2 large butternut squash

2 large cloves garlic

2 Tbs olive oil

2 large carrots, cut in half lengthwise and sliced

2 stalks celery, sliced

1 medium sweet onion, diced

1 Tbs fresh thyme leaves

4 cups vegetable broth

salt and pepper to taste

Preheat oven to 375. Cut squash in half lengthwise, and scoop out seeds. Place squash, cut side up in baking dish with about 1/4 inch water. Roast in oven until soft, about 45 minutes. While squash is roasting, place garlic cloves, skin on, in aluminum foil drizzled with olive oil, and roast along with squash.

In a large soup pot, heat 2 Tbs olive oil over medium-high heat and saute carrots, celery and onion, until soft. Stir in thyme and continue to cook until fragrant. Add vegetable stock and bring to a boil, then reduce to simmer. Once squash is cooked, scoop the flesh into a food processor along with the roasted garlic (skins removed) and puree until smooth and creamy. Add squash puree to soup, return to a boil and stir puree to loosen and combine, then reduce heat to simmer. Salt and pepper to taste, and keep warm until ready to serve. I left the vegetables whole in mine to keep it a little chunky, you could run your hand blender through it if you prefer a creamier, smoother soup.

Beef free Stew

2008-09-23T14:11:00.002-04:00

This hearty stew will satisfy even the omnivores. It's thick and filling, and beef free!!

Beef-free Stew

3 Tbs olive oil

1 large onion, diced large

1 lb potatoes, diced bite-sized

3 cloves garlic, minced

2 bay leaves

1 lb baby carrots, cut into bite sized pieces

1/2 tsp celery seed

1 tsp thyme

1 tsp browning sauce

4 cup good quality vegetable stock

1 tsp vegan worcestershire sauce

1/2 tsp Bragg's Liquid Aminos

1 Tbs tomato paste

2 Tbs corn starch

1 cup frozen peas

2 cups fresh greens, chopped (I used chard)

salt and pepper to taste

Heat oil in a large stew pot over medium high heat. Add onion, cover and cook until translucent. Add potatoes, garlic, bay leaves and carrots and cook until veggies are starting to brown and soften. Add celery seed, thyme, and browning sauce and stir to combine. Then add stock. Bring to a boil, add worchestershire, Braggs and tomato paste, stir to combine and reduce heat to simmer. Simmer on low for about 45 minutes, until veggies are tender. Ladle out 1 cup of hot stock, add cornstarch to hot stock and stir to dissolve. Return cornstarch mixture to stew pot and stir to thicken. Add peas and greens and heat until greens are wilted. Add salt and pepper to taste. Serve piping hot.

Spaghetti Squash Aglio e olio

2008-09-23T09:03:00.003-04:00

A quick dish of Pasta Aglio e Olio, subbing spaghetti squash for the pasta. The spaghetti squash gave the dish an interesting twist, crushed red pepper gave it a little kick. This dish can be ready in the time it takes to roast the squash, about 30 minutes depending on the size of your squash. Just before the squash if finished cook 2 heaping tablespoons of minced garlic in about 1/4 cup of good quality olive oil over low to medium low heat. Be careful not to let the garlic burn by removing it from the heat just as it starts to brown. Toss the oil with the squash and serve.

Tofu Vindaloo

2008-09-22T08:29:00.003-04:00

On Friday we decided to let the girls choose their own dinner, then we put them to bed and enjoyed a "date" in our basement. For our date meal we had Tofu Vindaloo from Vegan Planet. This stuff is hot, as vindaloo should be, but if you can't take the heat you might want to stay away from this recipe (it calls for 1/2 tsp of cayenne pepper). Cooking this dish filled our house with the aroma of an Indian restaurant, it was great. We both enjoyed this dish, and our "date" very much. We're thinking of turning it into a weekly thing, so you might seem some more "adult-friendly" food here.

By the way, in case you wondered, the girls chose mashed potatoes, black beans, tortillas and apples as their dinner. Not something I would have come up with on my own, but quick and healthy so I can't complain!! I mean, we gave them the choice, there were many worse things they could have gone for.

Carnival Squash-Roasted Garlic Ravioli

2008-09-20T21:53:00.005-04:00

I've had in mind to make some pumpkin ravioli soon, now that fall is in the air, and the evenings are starting to turn chilly. This week in our CSA box we got these beautiful Carnival Squash, so I decided to turn them into a filling for ravioli, instead of pumpkin. I also bought some of the biggest heads of garlic I've ever seen at the farmer's market today, so I wanted to incorporate those as well. The resulting dish was out of this world fabulous! Honestly, I'm still in shock that I created something so delicious right out of my own imagination!! The process of making your own pasta, and then turning it into ravioli is a little time consuming, but with this incredible filling, it's oh so worth it!!

Carnival Squash-Roasted Garlic Ravioli

2 carnival squash (or other winter squash)

1 head garlic

1 small candy onion (or other sweet variety of onion)

6 sprigs of fresh thyme

1 Tbs Olive oil, plus more for drizzling squash and garlic

3 sheets of fresh pasta, cut into 48 ravioli sized circles

1/2 cup Earth Balance

Preheat oven to 350. Cut squash in half, de-seed, and place in a dish with about 1/2 inch of water. Drizzle squash with olive oil and bake for about 45 minutes, until soft. Drizzle garlic with olive oil, wrap in foil and roast in oven while squash is baking. When squash and garlic are finished remove from oven and set aside to cool. While cooling heat olive oil in a small saute pan over medium high heat. Add onion and 4 sprigs of thyme (leaves only) and saute until onion is soft. Add squash flesh, garlic, and onions to food processor, season with salt and pepper, and process until a thick puree forms. At this time, set puree aside and get a large pot of water boiling. Also, melt Earth Balance with leaves from 2 more sprigs of thyme in a large saute pan. Place 1/2 Tbs of puree on 24 of your pasta circles. Top those circles with the reserved pasta circles, and using the tines of a fork, press edges to seal. Drop ravioli in boiling water (in batches of 8) and boil until pasta begins to float, about 1-2 minutes. Remove from water, with tongs, immediately and place in saute pan with melted Earth Balance. Lightly brown both sides of pasta in melted Earth Balance and remove to a platter. There will be extra puree left, it's nice to serve the ravioli over a large spoonful of puree for extra flavor.

Vegan Lasagna

2008-09-18T21:55:00.000-04:00

This is something that I made much earlier in the week, but it's been kind of a strange week around here. It all started with a very bizarre wind storm on Sunday, the remnants of Hurricane Ike, still packing hurricane forced winds as it blew through Kentucky and Indiana. The storm left hundreds of thousands of people in our local area without power, water and telephones. We were fortunate enough to only be without power for 15 hours, some friends are still without power as I type. So, anyway, school has been closed for a week, and I've been keeping very busy with both girls at home........by the time evening falls, typing blog posts has been the last thing I've wanted to do.

You'll recall the Lasagna Spirals I made not long ago. Well, I decided to use that yummy tofu ricotta and make a full sized lasagna. I also got really ambitious in the kitchen and made my pasta from scratch as well. I love freshly made pasta, it just tastes so much better than the dried stuff. I use a recipe that came with my pasta roller and cutter attachment for my Kitchen Aid. The recipe calls for eggs, I just sub Ener-G for the eggs and it works beautifully. The lasagna consists of layers of my quick tomato sauce, fresh lasagna pasta, tofu ricotta, chunks of some veggeroni that I had left over, frozen spinach, and fresh tomatoes. On the top I sprinkle some shredded Follow Your Heart Mozzarella, and baked at 350, covered with foil until sauce is bubbly, then I removed the foil, turned the oven to broil and melted the FYH.

We haven't had a lasagna since going vegan, but after this one, I am sure we will have many, many more. Lasagna is one of those things that offers itself to infinite variations, and a great way to use up things in the fridge. .

Homemade Cinnamon Rolls

2008-09-14T11:28:00.002-04:00

Let's be clear before we even get started.....these in no way have any nutritional value, and perhaps aren't an ideal breakfast on a weekly basis, but on rare occasions, I say "what the heck, go ahead and indulge"!

Just like baking bread, there's something so satisfying about making these rolls from scratch. The end result is incredibly rewarding. I've done homemade cinnamon rolls a time or two before, but the recipes have always called for large amounts of eggs and egg yolks, so I decided to give it ago and try to create egg free cinnamon rolls. I have to say that the end product was quite nice. In fact, far better than many of their egg laden counterparts. And, quite professional looking to boot!

As with the ciabatta, cinnamon rolls aren't a spur of the moment decision.....unless of course you like to eat breakfast about 3 hours after you wake up (which happens to be lunch time around here, but hey, cinnamon rolls for lunch, who am I to judge??)

Vegan Cinnamon Rolls

2 1/4 tsp active dry yeast

2 tsp sugar

3 tablespoons warm water

1 cup vanilla soy milk

2 tbs Earth Balance margarine

3 cups unbleached bread flour

1/2 tsp salt

1/4 tsp nutmeg

pinch ground cinnamon

1/2 cup brown sugar

2 Tbs ground cinnamon

1 Tbs melted margarine

Mix yeast, sugar and warm water in a small bowl, stir to dissolve yeast and set aside until the mixture becomes frothy. Heat milk and margarine over low heat until warm, then remove from heat. Combine flour, salt, nutmeg and pinch of cinnamon in bowl of stand mixer fitted with dough hook. Turn on mixer briefly to combine dry ingredients. Slowly add milk and margarine mixture, followed by active yeast mixture. Continue to knead in mixer until dough becomes smooth and elastic, about 10 minutes. Turn dough out into a well oiled bowl and cover to let rise, about 1 1/2 hours, or until double in size.

Punch down dough and let rest for about 10 minutes. In a small bowl combine brown sugar and cinnamon. Turn dough out onto a well floured surface and roll into a 12x16 rectangle. Brush dough with melted margarine then spread cinnamon sugar mixture on dough, leaving about 1 inch at one end of the dough.

Tightly roll the rectangle, pinching dough as you go (the width of your roll should be 12 inches). When you get to the uncovered end, brush with margarine and press to seal roll. Cut roll into 12 equal parts, and lay them in a well greased baking dish, with as much distance as possible. Cover dish and allow to rise for about 45 minutes, or until all rolls are touching. If using the next morning, cover baking dish with plastic wrap and refrigerate over night.

Preheat oven to 350. Brush tops of rolls with melted margarine and bake for 30 minutes, or until rolls are slightly browned. Allow rolls to cool slightly, then frost while still warm. (I like the icing melted, and the rolls warm. You could cool the rolls completely to keep the icing from melting if you desire.)

Cinnamon Roll Frosting

1/4 cup Earth Balance

3/4 cup confectioners sugar

1/2 tsp pure vanilla extract

1 Tbs vanilla soy milk

Beat Earth Balance with a hand mixer until soft and fluffy. Add confectioners sugar in 3 batches, beating in between. Continue to beat margarine and sugar until fluffy. Add extract and soy milk and beat until well combined. Refrigerate until ready to use.

Moroccan Vegetable Tagine

2008-09-13T19:23:00.003-04:00

Tonight wasn't exactly perfect weather for stew (it was 95 degrees today, and so humid the air actually felt heavy), but I've had my mind set on making a tagine for quite some time now. Not only did the Urban Vegan post a tagine recipe a few days ago, but Vegetarian Times also featured several tagine recipes in their current issue.

The Moroccan tagine is named for the vessel in which it is cooked. I don't have a proper tagine, but a large stock pot will work just as well. Traditionally tagine is slow cooked, however this is a relatively quick cooking version with some of the veggies broiled in the oven rather than braised on the stove top. This recipe is adapted from a recipe over at Vegan Soul Power, however, the recipe there didn't quite jive with the ingredient list and I increased the seasonings, so I'll post my version of the recipe here. I served the tagine over French Cous-Cous, with a side of pita for dipping (or stuffing......Mairin enjoyed her tagine stuffed inside the pita like a sandwich). The ingredient list looks long, but it should be mostly pantry staples (I think fresh thyme was the only thing I bought special for this dish)

Moroccan Tagine

1 large eggplant, quartered and sliced

2 zucchini, sliced

4 Tbs olive oil

1 medium yellow onion, diced

4 garlic cloves, minced

1 Tbs fresh ginger, peeled and minced

2 medium yams, diced

1/4 tsp turmeric

1/2 tsp paprika

1 Tbs ground cumin

1/2 tsp ground cinnamon

1 sprig fresh thyme

1/2 Tbs chili powder

1 8oz can tomato sauce

1 Tbs tomato paste

1 cup water

1 Tbs orange marmalade

2 cups cooked chickpeas

1 c. diced dried apricots

salt and pepper to taste

Preheat broiler. Place eggplant and zucchini in a colander and salt them liberally. Allow to sit a few minutes, then rinse, toss in 2 Tbs olive oil, place on a baking sheet and broil 20 minutes or until browned, turning once. In a large stock pot, heat remaining olive oil and add onion, garlic and ginger. Cook until onion is translucent then add potatoes. Add all spices, cover pot and allow potatoes to soften. Once potatoes are soft add tomato sauce, tomato paste, water and marmalade. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat and simmer 10 minutes. Add zucchini, eggplant, chickpeas and apricots. Cover and simmer 20 to 30 minutes, stirring occasionally. Salt and pepper to taste. Serve over couscous or grains.

Product Review

2008-09-12T13:58:00.002-04:00

You might remember my review of Turtle Mountains, new So Delicious coconut milk based yogurt from a week or so ago. I mentioned that there was also a new line of coconut milk based ice creams that weren't available here yet. Well, guess what, last week they were finally available at our local Whole Foods. So of course, I snatched up a few. And again, the name says it all. These are Purely Decadent. In fact, I'm quite sure that all of the non-vegans out there would never even know this was dairy free. The coconut milk makes for a much smoother and creamier texture than soy based ice creams. And that subtle hint of coconut is divine. We've only tried the mint chocolate chip and cookie dough varieties, and I honestly can't say that I have a favorite, each is superb in it's own way. My only complaint with these products is that they are sweetened with agave, which would be a major plus, unless your toddler has an allergy to agave. These products claim to go above and beyond to avoid allergens (i.e peanuts, tree nuts, wheat, dairy, etc), that is of course unless you have an obscure allergy to agave. Oh well, I guess it just leaves more for me, because we of course can't eat it in front of her, which only leaves sneaking spoonfuls straight from the container late at night!!!

Lasagna Spirals

2008-09-11T07:38:00.003-04:00

My kitchen window sill was being taken over by tomatoes and basil, so I needed something to do with it all, and fast. Now, I have no problem using up tomatoes, as I can just slice one on my plate, sprinkle it with salt and there you go. Basil, on the other hand, I'm limited in my scope of usage. So, I started perusing my cookbooks looking for the solution.

My initial plan was to make "Drunken" Noodles from Vegan Planet. So I go to the page it's supposed to be on, and lo and behold, my book is missing that page. My book is actually missing an entire section (and has 1 chapter printed twice). So, I figured that was out, and moved on to the next thing under "basil" in the index - Tomato Basil Lasagna Spirals. By making my own pesto (sans nuts and cheese) in addition to the other basil called for in the recipe, I was able to use up several cups of basil all in one meal.

This is probably my favorite vegan pasta dish, ever. It's a filling of tofu, pesto, garlic and shallots all rolled into a lasagna noodle, and baked in a simple home made tomato sauce. The filling is very much like ricotta, more so than other tofu ricotta's I've tried, and the tomato sauce really tastes authentic and slow cooked (and in reality it only cooks for a brief time). Everyone loved this pasta, the girls shoveled it in. Rob took the leftover pasta for lunch and said it was even better the next day.

Going back to that missing section from Vegan Planet.........I e-mailed Robin Robertson for the "Drunken" Noodles recipe, and she sent it straight away on Sunday evening (look for it to pop up here soon). To my surprise, yesterday I had an e-mail from both Robin and the publisher saying that a new copy of Vegan Planet was being sent to me!!!

Ciabatta Bread

2008-09-10T07:56:00.003-04:00

I've made ciabatta bread twice over the past few weeks. Last night's loaf, pictured above, was out of this world. It was so good warm from the oven, and tasted just like bread you'd get at your favorite Italian restaurant. It had a nice crusty shell, with that chewy, airy inside that you'd never image you could replicate at home.

Last year at this time we were in Italy on vacation, and believe me, I consumed A LOT of bread in those few weeks. Last night's ciabatta rivaled all of the bread I ate while visiting Italy. The real deal has nothing on this bread. I found the recipe here, and just subbed plain soy milk for the milk, otherwise I followed the recipe exactly.

Baking ciabatta takes a little planning, as you have to make the starter, or the sponge, the night before. But as long as you remember to get the sponge started, your fast on your way to delicious home made bread. All in all you'll need about 4 hours of rise time and 20 minutes of bake time. All of the kneading is done in a stand mixer, so there's almost no hands on time.

One caveat.....do not make this bread with All Purpose Flour. For my first attempt I had no bread flour on hand so subbed AP, the result was a deliciously flavored loaf of bread, but as you see below, it did not have that airy or chewy characteristic unique to ciabatta bread. You definitely need the extra gluten and barley flour found in bread flour to create a distinct loaf of ciabatta.

What are you waiting for, go get that sponge started and bake some ciabatta tomorrow!!!

Masoor Dal

2008-09-08T12:22:00.002-04:00

I got the recipe for this Red Lentil (Masoor Dal) soup from Mothering.com a long time ago. It is a very mildly spiced Indian soup. Since red lentils cook quite quickly, it's a very quick meal to throw together on a busy night, and it's mild enough for the kids. When I went to the site to post the link to the recipe, it is no longer available, so I will copy the recipe here for you.

Red Lentil Soup with East Indian Spices

recipe by: Cynthia Lair

1 Tbs ghee (I used Earth Balance)

1 onion, chopped

2 Tbs minced garlic

1 tsp tumeric powder

1 tsp cumin powder

1/8 tsp cayenne

1 cup chopped tomatoes

1 cup dried red lentils

4 cups water

1 tsp sea salt

1 tsp ghee (use Earth Balance)

1 tsp cumin seeds

1 tsp mustard seeds

1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro

Heat Earth Balance in a large pot, saute onions slowly until browned. Add garlic and spices and stir 2 to 3 minutes. Add tomatoes and cook until they break down. Wash and drain lentils. Add lentils and water to pot. Simmer 45 minutes (my lentils were cooked much sooner than 45 minutes), stirring often. Stir in salt. Heat 1 tsp EB in a small skillet and fry seeds over low heat until they pop. Stir fried seeds and cilantro into finished soup. Makes 4 servings. (I left out the fried seeds, I don't like the flavor and crunch that they add to the soup, for me it doesn't pair well with the smoother texture of the soup)

One Bite Brownies

2008-09-05T15:40:00.005-04:00

Satisfy your sweet tooth with these delicious One Bite Brownies. They are perfect for when you need a quick chocolate fix, but feel too guilty to eat a whole brownie, cupcake or cookie. They are great stored in the refrigerator for a chocolate "pick-me-up" any time of day.

One Bite Brownies

2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour

1 cups white sugar

3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder

1 teaspoon baking powder

1 teaspoon salt

1 cup vanilla soy milk

1/4 cup vegetable oil

3/4 cup unsweetened applesauce

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1/3 cup semi-sweet vegan chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350. Combine all ingredients in a large bowl and mix well. Spoon into mini muffin cups, filling cups almost full. Bake for about 20-25 minutes, until top is no longer shiny. Remove from oven, let cool for 1 minute in pan, then remove to wire rack to cool. Makes 3 dozen mini brownies.

Hardy Italian "Sausage" Pasta Sauce

2008-08-31T15:21:00.003-04:00

It's been a week or two since I made this dish, but it was so quick to throw together and so tasty I didn't want to miss sharing it with you. It was a rich and hardy pasta sauce that is great served over your favorite pasta, or even on a nice crusty hoagie roll with some vegan mozzarella melted on top to make a delicious grinder.

Hardy Italian "Sausage" Sauce

1 Tbs EVOO

1 package Tofurky Italian Sausage, sliced

1/2 large onion, sliced

1 bell pepper, any color, sliced

3-4 cloves garlic, minced

1 tsp dried oregano

1 small can tomato paste

2 tsp unrefined sugar

1 cup water, or more as needed

Fresh basil, chiffonade to garnish

Heat olive oil in large skillet. Add tofurky sausages to hot oil and saute until for a minute or 2. Add onion, pepper and garlic and saute until sausage is browning and veggies are becoming soft. Add oregano and stir to combine. Add one can tomato paste and sugar and stir to combine. Add water to thin sauce to desired consistency, and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer while pasta cooks, or until ready to serve. Serve garnished with fresh basil.

Cakes

2008-08-29T15:58:00.002-04:00

This is almost embarrassing.....I've made 2 cakes this week. Shameful I know. It's quite surprising that my family and I are not grossly over-weight!! What with all the cupcakes I've been obsessed with lately, and now the cakes!!

In my defense, neither of the cakes have been all that unhealthy. While they were both made from white flour, neither of them contained refined sugar, and of course both were cholesterol free (unfortunately I can't say they were fat free!!). Actually, one of them is a great way to eat your veggies.......but in a surprisingly sweet dessert!!

First I made the Chocolate Sin-namon Cake from Eat, Drink, and Be Vegan. This Chocolate cake is delicious with just a hint of cinnamon to add some interest. I decided to frost it with some Fluffy Buttercream from VCTOTW. I added 1 tsp of cinnamon to the frosting and then sprinkled the entire cake with cinnamon when it was finished. The recipe makes two 9 inch cakes that I stacked together with a layer of buttercream in the center. Yum!

Next was this awesome Zucchini Cake that the Dalai Mama posted about earlier in the week. I ended up with 4 giant zucchini in my CSA share this week and was looking for ways to use them up. This cake was incredible. Rob could not believe that it had zucchini in it (one of his least favorite veggies). I made a few minor changes to the recipe; I only used 1 banana, I used only half the amount of sugar called for, I subbed applesauce for half the oil, I added about 2 Tbs of vanilla soy milk, and I of course left out the walnuts. And, as you can see, I added some Quick Melty Ganache from VCTOTW to the top!! Definitely a dessert I didn't feel bad about letting Mairin have 2 pieces of!! The refrigerated left-overs made an awesome breakfast with a nice cup of hot coffee.

Palak Paneer

2008-08-26T20:40:00.003-04:00

Initially I was going to make Palak Soybina Panira from Eat, Drink and Be Vegan. As I was looking over the recipe this afternoon it hit me that Dreena's version of Palak Paneer totally left out that creamy component that makes Palak Paneer so good. So, I set out to hunt down another recipe. I came across this recipe and decided it looked easy to veganize, so this is the one I went for.

For the paneer I used Dreena's recipe of cubed tofu marinated in lemon juice and tamari, and I subbed soy creamer for the heavy cream. Otherwise, I followed the recipe exactly. While this isn't exactly like the Palak Paneer you'd get at an Indian restaurant, it is a pretty close replication. I was very pleased (although the photo looks less than appetizing!!). As was Rob, this was one of his favorite meals we've had in a long time. It is a bit spicy, so you could definitely cut down the red chili powder if you'd like it milder. It was too spicy for the girls, however I only used about 1/2 of the tofu in this dish and they loved the other half.

To help cool the mouth we munched on this delicious homemade naan. I used this recipe, subbing soy yogurt and Earth Balance for the yogurt and ghee. A few of my naan got slightly too thin, and therefore over-cooked. But, even the crispy one's were nice. A terrific Indian feast.

Vegetable Filled Phyllo Rolls

2008-08-23T21:20:00.003-04:00

I was reminded by the Blackened Tofu how much I liked Eat, Drink and Be Vegan, so I decided to go with another recipe from it tonight. This time I tried the Moroccan Infused Vegetable Phyllo Rolls with Balsamic Maple Sauce. Once again, Dreena did not disappoint. This is super simple to make, yet it's such an interesting dish you'd think it took hours (well, actually, it does take hours, but that's just baking, not actual "in the kitchen" work). I used the vegetables that are called for in the recipe, but really I think you could use just about any combination you had on hand......actually, I was thinking that some yam would be fantastic in this dish. And while I did add the dried apricot, I really think it could do with out. The apricots got a little hard in the roasting process, and they didn't add that much sweetness to the dish.

My mom and brother both came over for dinner tonight, and both very much enjoyed this dinner. They are often critical of my vegan food, so I'm always thrilled when I've made something that they enjoy (which, for the record, is most of the time!!).

Blackened Tofu

2008-08-22T22:04:00.003-04:00

I didn't exactly have a plan for tonight, but being that it's Friday, and we didn't have to rush around like crazy trying to get the kids to bed for school the next day, I knew I wanted to cook something "special". Well, with no plan, I had to come up with something that I already had the ingredients for, which isn't really all that hard, as I generally tend to have a pretty well stocked pantry. I had some tofu that needed using up, so I knew I was going to make a tofu dish. We've been doing stir-fry a lot with all of the CSA veggies, so I didn't want to do that again. That's when I recalled seeing a recipe for Blackened Tofu in Eat, Drink and Be Vegan. I haven't cooked anything from ED&BV for awhile, so this seemed the perfect opportunity. I had almost everything that was required for the spice blend. The recipe calls for 1 Tbs of paprika, and I only had about 1/2 Tbs left. Since this kind of reminded me of a seafood dish, I decided to fill that 1/2 Tbs void with some Old Bay Seasoning. I also left out the fennel seeds, as the flavor of fennel always reminds me of sausage, and I was going for seafood here.

This tofu was incredible, I will definitely be making it again, and soon!! It was very similar to a blackened fish (without the fishy flavor of course). The only thing I'd do different is to cut the tofu into fillets before I press it so that the thin slices of tofu have less liquid in them (this time I pressed the tofu as one large block). We just ate them as is, but I think they'd be great on a toasted bun with some vegan tartar sauce, red onion slices, tomato slices and a romaine leaf.

"Beef", Pepper and Asparagus Stir Fry

2008-08-22T13:50:00.004-04:00

I was intrigued by how much Vegan Dad's beef seitan actually looks like stir fry beef, so I decided to give it a try. It's definitely pepper season at the CSA, so I thought I'd showcase them in this stir-fry along with the "beef". I left it simple, seasoned with a home-made stir fry sauce of tamari, ginger, garlic, chili oil, and scallion. The flavor of the "beef" is very nice, and the texture was good too after the initial fry. However, when I threw it back in the mix to add the sauce the seitan ended up just a bit mushy. It wasn't inedible, just not as firm as I would have preferred.

Mint Chocolate Cupcakes

2008-08-21T14:02:00.002-04:00

Mint Chocolate Cupcakes with Mint Icing and Chocolate Ganache from Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World. The BEST cupcake I've ever eaten. Not too sweet and minty delicious. We were all pining for seconds!! Make these ASAP!!

Garden Party Anyone??

2008-08-20T15:24:00.001-04:00

This post has absolutely nothing to do with vegan food, or even with food for that matter. But, I've stumbled upon this sewing blog, thanks Jenny!! Anyway, this lady makes these absolutely fantastic little girls clothes, then she GIVES THEM AWAY........yes, I said GIVES THEM AWAY. I know, I had to read over her blog several times, just to be sure that was the case. Anyway this Garden Party Frock is one of the cutest things I've seen, and being that I have two little girls, I'd get a lot of use out of it, if by some lucky chance I was the winner.

If you've got a little girl, or even if you know a little girl, you must check out her site and see her clothes. They are beyond beautiful, and so unlike anything you can get at the stores. After seeing how cute her clothes are I'll warn you, you are likely to see a few more of these posts in the future as I tempt my luck!!!

Vegan Indianapolis

2008-08-20T13:53:00.004-04:00

photo from salon.com

So, I know that I said the weekends were going to be when I do most of my cooking now that school has started. Here we are, a weekend has passed, and I've yet to post a dish. As it turns out, I didn't cook this weekend. We took a short trip up to Indianapolis to see Bill Maher. I've really been missing Real Time this summer, so it was great to see Maher again. And, it reminded me that his movie Religulous is due out soon (which I can't wait to see). In addition to Bill's intelligent, witty and liberal take on politics and his humorous and thought provoking views on world religion, Bill is on the board of PETA, an animal rights activist, and not at all shy about telling the American people that they are fat and unhealthy because of their addiction to a meat based diet!! Go Bill!!! Oh yes, I can't forget the hilarious aside to this story.........as we left the theater there were a group of people (probably 40 or so) standing on the sidewalk, holding candles, and singing hymns, praying to save our souls. Apparently Bill Maher has very few friends in the religious circle!!

Vegan eating in Indy isn't really as easy as I thought it would be. There isn't even one 100% vegetarian restaurant in the entire city. Plus, being that we were staying downtown and the show was downtown we, of course, wanted to eat downtown. Our best shot at getting vegan food downtown was PF Chang's. With the vegetarian lettuce wraps, and the coconut curry vegetables, it was a very satisfying vegan meal. For breakfast the next day we drove to The Abbey, which is the one restaurant/cafe in Indy that features vegetarian/vegan options. Here we had some incredibly good vegan pancakes smothered with the freshest, sweetest berries I've had in quite some time. This little place is definitely a gem in Indy's dining scene. I can't wait to go back and try some of their lunch/dinner options which all sounded incredible!!

Maple Dijon Pasta with Roasted Vegetables

2008-08-14T20:33:00.002-04:00

Tonight's dinner was just thrown together using a lot of our CSA veggies from this week, and it turned out superbly. It was a bit more fancy version of the pasta salad I blogged about before, and served warm.

This time I started by roasting 2 large red peppers. Roasting peppers is so simple, and it makes them taste so delicious. For those of you who might not know the best way to roast a pepper, this is a pretty good tutorial.

After the peppers had roasted, I tossed 1 pint of grape tomatoes with olive oil, salt and pepper, and roasted them in a 400 degree oven for about 10 minutes (until they were beginning to burst). While the tomatoes were roasting I also had 4 cloves of garlic roasting (in the skins, drizzled in EVOO and wrapped in aluminum foil).

On the stove I sauteed 2 small zucchini, sliced and 2 small summer squash, sliced with about 1/2 of a large red onion, also sliced. While sauteing and roasting the veggies I cooked about 8 oz of whole wheat penne. Once everything was roasted, sauteed and cooked, I tossed it all together (except the garlic) in a large bowl and drizzled it with a maple dijon vinaigrette.

Rob declare this dish delicious, and we both went back for a second helping. It's really quick and easy to make and a great way to retain the fresh flavors of your summer veggies.

Maple Dijon Vinaigrette

1 Tbs Dijon Mustard

2 Tbs Maple Syrup

2 Tbs Balsamic Vinegar

1/4 cup Extra Virgin Olive Oil

4 cloves roasted garlic, smashed into a paste

Combine all ingredients except oil in a small bowl. Whisk to combine, then slowly add olive oil while whisking, until emulsified.

Product Review

2008-08-14T15:58:00.003-04:00

I don't typically do product reviews, and this one doesn't so much need a review, as the name says it all. So delicious!!! Turtle Mountain has out done themselves with this new line of coconut milk based dairy free yogurts. I've always been a fan of the Turtle Mountain products, namely their ice cream, but they've really raised the bar with this product. I've tried all of the available flavors, and while they are all good, this one in particular (Passionate Mango) is exceptional.

There is a new line of coconut milk based ice cream they have out under the Purely Decadent brand as well. As of my last visit to the health food store it wasn't yet available here, but you can bet I'll be buying up as much as I can when it becomes available locally.

Stawberry Shortcakes

2008-08-13T20:43:00.003-04:00

This has been our first week of school, and I've been trying to make most of the things that are Mairin's favorites, along with a few special treats for her. Yesterday she was greeted off the bus with warm Chocolate Chip Cookies and a glass of vanilla soy milk. This morning before she left for school she was telling me how much she loved strawberry shortcake ("you know, the desserts mommy, not the girl"). Luckily, Vegan Dad had just posted a recipe for shortcake, so I knew exactly what my special treat today would be. We actually finished up our chocolate chip cookies from yesterday after school and had these delicious shortcakes after our dinner. The cake was just right, and served with Temptation Vanilla Ice Cream, it was just like the strawberry shortcakes from childhood.

For dinner we've been having meals that I know Mairin will eat.....I want her to be well fed for the first week of school, ya know. So we've had "Giardino" Burgers, spaghetti, and tonight a tofu scramble. I've made a similar curried tofu scramble that I blogged about before. This scramble had green onions, carrots, garlic and spinach scrambled with the tofu and seasoned with salt, pepper and curry powder. The kids actually like this, which has surprised me twice now!!. I served them with some potato cakes that I made from mashed potatoes that were leftover from earlier in the week.

Another Birthday

2008-08-10T20:50:00.003-04:00

This time we celebrated my Big Girls birthday. Mairin turned 5 on Friday, and we had her a little party this afternoon. We celebrated Fancy Nancy style, with a fancy dress tea party. The kids had a great time decorating tiaras, sipping their raspberry tea (decaf of course), and getting all dolled up in feather boas.

And, what party would be complete with out cake?? Cupcakes for us of course. I just did the basic chocolate cupcakes from VCTOTW, with fluffy buttercream frosting that had been dyed, just to add to the fancy factor.

The party was at lunch time, so we served soy nut butter and jelly sandwiches, chips, pretzels, and of course, you can't have a proper English tea party without scones!! I used this recipe, and they were probably the best scones I've had......lot's of compliments on these! Another vegan birthday party that was entirely a success!

School starts this week , so things will probably be changing around here a bit as far as dinner goes. With me teaching until almost 7 three nights a week, and the girls needing to get to bed earlier, most of our week night meals are going to become quick and simple (and probably un-blog-worthy). As a matter of fact, we may turn in to that family that designates each night a meal (i.e. Monday is taco night, Wednesday is spaghetti night, etc.). Tuesday, Friday and the weekend will be the days that I will really be able to cook, so hopefully I'll be able to get in a few exciting things in those days and keep you guys interested and entertained with my cooking adventures. And maybe, if I get creative, I may even have a few good "vegan school lunch box" posts.

Catching Up

2008-08-07T14:18:00.001-04:00

I've been terribly remiss in blogging lately. This week was our last full week before school starts, so we were rather busy. Not to mention, we had a major heatwave for most of the week and I just didn't feel like cooking. We ate lots of cold dishes, and I fried up some Fakin' Bacon and made BLT's with some of our CSA tomatoes.

I do have just a few highlights from the past week to share with you though. Because of the heat I was trying very hard not to turn on my oven or make anything that would heat up the kitchen too much. Therefore, the grill became the perfect place to cook a pizza. The photo below is just a typical veggie pizza with FYH mozzarella, and some fresh corn from the CSA. Other toppings included onions, bell pepper, and banana pepper (all from the CSA)

Last Sunday I made up a batch of the Ultimate Barbecued Seitan Sandwich to take over to my mother's house for lunch and swimming. With the left over barbecue we decided to throw together a Barbecued Chicken Pizza and cook it on the grill. This one again included corn and banana pepper from the CSA and red onion. No cheese on this pizza. This one was out of this world. I'll be using my left over barbecue for this one many times.

I also managed to throw together this pasta dish using local heirloom tomatoes and again, the apparently ubiquitous, CSA corn. There are also some cooked chickpeas thrown in there. This one was a recipe from a current Vegetarian Times. The sauce is raw, you just boil the pasta, combine it with the tomatoes and corn and dress it with a cumin lime dressing. Very good!!

And finally, I did turn on the oven one morning to make these delicious Cinnamon-Oat Scones. They are becoming a new favorite here. They aren't as heavy as traditional scones, and are actually a bit more like a giant muffin.

Cinnamon-Oat Scones

1/2 cup whole wheat flour

3/4 cup all purpose flour

1/2 cup non-hydrogenated shortening

1/3 cup brown sugar

1 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

1 tsp cinnamon

1 cup quick cooking oats

1/3 cup soy milk (plain)

2 Tbs. turbinado sugar

Preheat oven to 375. Combine dry ingredients. Cut in shortening until crumbly. Add oats and stir. Add soy milk and mix until a dough forms. Turn out onto a floured surface and form into a 7 inch circle. Cut into 8 triangles (don't cut all the way through). Place on ungreased baking sheet and sprinkle with a turbinado sugar. Bake for about 30 minutes, until golden.

Peach-Rosewater Cupcakes

2008-08-01T21:41:00.005-04:00

The last time I was at Whole Foods Market I was in the baking aisle, looking for some good vanilla extract and came across this beautiful bottle of Rose Flower Water. I didn't really know what to do with it, but thought the bottle was just so intriguing, it looked so old, and it was just so pretty....so I bought it.

Lo and behold, when looking through Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World I saw a recipe for Pistachio Rosewater Cupcakes. So, now I had something to do with my rosewater, only, when am I going to be able to get away with making cupcakes that contain nuts and not have Stella begging for one? So, I file away the fact that the recipe is there, I put the beautiful bottle of rosewater in the drawer and more or less forget about it, until tonight.

I pulled out VCTOTW, looked over the recipe, and decided to give it a go sans pistachios. The result was this absolutely gorgeous Peach-Rosewater Cupcake with Rosewater Buttercream Icing. They became "peach" because I didn't have any vanilla soy yogurt. My two options were peach or blueberry, and well, peach just seemed to go better with rosewater. I also didn't have the cardamom that the recipe calls for, so I omitted that. Otherwise, I followed the recipe. I also used the buttercream recipe from VCTOTW, reducing the sugar by 1 full cup, and adding 1 tsp of rosewater to the icing.

The resulting cupcake was a wonderfully moist, not too sweet, peach flavored cake with a hint of rose in the background. They were so elegant and delicious, and of course, loved by all!!

Miscellaneous

2008-08-01T21:23:00.003-04:00

I'm back from Chicago, again with no food pictures to share with you. As a matter of fact, I'm back with no food anything to share with you. I went to Chicago with a non-vegetarian friend, so we didn't even venture to any of the veg only restaurants that Chicago has to offer. Therefore, my eating consisted mostly of pasta with grilled veggies, cheese-less veggie pizza, and burritos sans cheese. Don't get me wrong, I ate a lot of good food, but it was your typical vegan finds at conventional restaurants, ya know?

I do however have a few miscellaneous food items to share with you. First, there's this Terriyaki Stir Fry that I made up on Tuesday evening. When I got home Monday evening I was faced with a ton of CSA veggies from the previous week. Uninspired and at a loss for what to do with them all, I diced them up and threw them in a stir-fry. Damn good idea, as this was one delicious stir-fry. It consisted of eggplant, zucchini, summer squash, onions and green pepper. Once the veggies were stir-fried I hit it with a little home made terriyaki (Mirin, Shoyu, and sugar) and a few dashes of dried red chili. I served it over white jasmine rice with a side of crispy fried tofu and called it a meal.

A few days later I tried out the tofu fritatta from a recent Vegetarian Times issue. It's a combo of diced, sauteed veggies mixed with some tofu and vegan cheese, topped with tomatoes and baked until firm. The concept and the flavor of this dish were both superb. Unfortunately, the consistency was a bit off. The recipe didn't call for the tofu to be pressed before processing with the cheese, but I think that pressing the tofu first would have gone a long way toward fixing the consistency of this dish. So, I will definitely be trying this recipe again, only with pressed tofu. When I get it just right I'll share the recipe with you..........for now, you'll just have to enjoy the photo.

Coldplay......and a few other things

2008-07-25T17:14:00.005-04:00

I apologize for my recent absence. We have been eating, but I just haven't been cooking much that's new, exciting, or blog worthy. Part of my absence was due to the fact that Rob and I headed up to Chicago for a few days to catch Coldplay. The show was phenomenal, Rob won an on-line auction and we had seats in the 13th row!! Coldplay never fails to put on a tremendous stadium show, and this one didn't disappoint, complete with giant orbs dropping down from the ceiling to show live footage of the band, a seemingly endless shower of butterfly confetti, and a few songs on a makeshift stage just feet from where we were sitting. And then of course there's Chris Martin (swoon!). Ok, back to being an adult now........

The concert was nice, and the eating was great. We started our visit with a trip to Jamba Juice for an Acai smoothie. For lunch is was off to the Silver Spoon for some crispy fried tofu, and spicy basil leaves (sans fish sauce). Our dinner was with our good friends Jesse and Holly at Karyn's, and as expected after our last visit, didn't disappoint. We started with Thai Skewers (skewered thin sliced seitan, slathered in peanut sauce). The main course for me was the Seitan Fajitas with a side of guacamole. And, of course, I can't eat at an all vegan restaurant without having dessert, so I finished with a slice of Pecan Pie and a scoop of Vanilla Ice Cream. Yum!! I'm sorry that I don't have any pics for you, I just feel so weird about taking pictures of food in restaurants. We started the next morning with cereal and soy milk from room service, and made a stop at Dao's for Spicy Crazy Noodles with Tofu (again, sans fish sauce)before heading back to the airport. It was a lovely trip of good music, good friends, and good food!!

I do have a few food pics for you, of some things I made last week. First up we have Red Velvety Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Icing, or something like that , from VCTOTW. I didn't have the full 2 Tbs of red food dye that the recipe called for, so mine aren't as red as I would have liked, but the flavor wasn't affected any. These were awesome!! I think I like the cream cheese icing better than the buttercream I've been making (although, once again, the sugar needs to be cut quite a bit next time).
I also made this simple maple dijon pasta salad last week when we went swimming at my mom's house. All I did was just grill our CSA veggies (squash, zucchini, onion) and toss it with some whole wheat penne, some diced roasted red peppers, and then drizzle it all with a dressing made of dijon mustard, balsamic vinegar, olive oil, and maple syrup. This turned out awesome. Everyone LOVED it!!

I'm off for another trip to Chicago tomorrow. Going on a girls weekend with a friend, so I'll be sampling some more tasty vegan fare from the Windy City.......who knows, maybe this time I'll get brave enough to snap some shots!!!

"The Ultimate" Barbecued Seitan Sandwich

2008-07-18T22:12:00.004-04:00

I know it's very un-vegan of me, but I admit, I love The Food Network. It's unfortunate that almost every dish on every show is centered around animal products. None the less, I love food, and I love to watch people cook.

From time to time I'm inspired by something on The Food Network, and come up with a great vegan dish. Take the other day for example, I was watching Tyler's Ultimate, and Tyler Florence was making his Ultimate Barbecued Ribs. There are probably a million different meat analogs I could have used to veganize this recipe, but as soon as I saw Tyler make this barbecue sauce I knew I had to have a barbecued seitan sandwich. Wow, did I ever make a great choice!! This sandwich really is "The Ultimate". Rob, who usually very much dislikes barbecue loved this sandwich so much he ate 2 of them and just couldn't stop raving. And it was another winner with both of the girls!!

For the sandwich I used 1 lb of chicken style seitan. I made the sauce according to Tyler's recipe, only I replaced the bacon with a few dashes of Liquid Smoke. After the sauce had simmered I removed the onion, garlic, and thyme sprigs, then I crumbled in the seitan and let it heat through. I served the barbecue on a bun with some sliced onion. Best barbecue sandwich EVER!!

To go along with the sandwiches I also made Tyler's Ultimate Baked Beans, again replacing the pancetta with liquid smoke. An added bonus of these beans.....I got to use up some of the chipotle pepper I was wondering what to do with a few weeks ago! Again, outstanding dish. The beans had a kick and they were just incredible. Little Stella loved them, heat and all!!

In addition to the sandwiches and beans, we had one of my childhood favorites....cucumbers, green peppers, and onions soaked in white vinegar and salt water. My mom used to make this all of the time in the summer, and I've always loved it. It was perfect for cooling off your mouth after the heat of the beans!!

I can't wait to make this barbecue for my friends and family.......it's definitely the next dish I'll be serving guests.

Crispy Baked Eggplant Medallions and Pasta

2008-07-18T14:37:00.003-04:00

We got this giant eggplant from the CSA this week. Plus, we got tons of squash, zucchini and tomatoes. So, last night I decided to use up most of it and throw together a little Italian dish. The pasta was a new favorite for all. Mairin asked for seconds, which almost never happens, and then immediately asked when I'd make it again!!

For the pasta I just sauted some of the zucchini and squash in a little olive oil, then added in some minced garlic, diced tomatoes, salt and pepper. When the pasta was cooked I threw it in the pot with the veggies and heated it through, then garnished it with some chopped fresh parsley.

I also made some crispy eggplant. Other than as baba ghanoush, crispy and baked is the only way I like eggplant. You can lightly fry this dish instead of baking it, but baking makes it a little healthier (and my huge oval pots were already taking up all of the space on the stove!).

To make the eggplant medallions, slice one eggplant into slices that are about 1/2 inch thick. Dredge the medallions in flour, then dip in dijon mustard that has been thinned with water. Dip the mustard coated medallions in breadcrumbs. Lie them in a single layer on a baking sheet, season tops with salt and pepper and bake at 375 for about 30 minutes, or until golden and crispy. I like to serve the medallions topped with tomato sauce.

Spicy Stir Fried Brussels Sprouts

2008-07-16T16:19:00.003-04:00

This isn't so much a recipe as it is a method. But, none the less, I think it's my new favorite way to eat brussels sprouts. I simply shredded them very fine then stir fried them in a mixture of sesame oil and olive oil. When they were almost cooked I added a few splashes of tamari and a few dashes of crushed red pepper flakes. Yum.

I served these brussels sprouts with a terrific Curried Tofu Scramble from Super Natural Cooking. I kind of had it set in my mind that I'd have to fix the kids something different for dinner, but much to my surprise and delight the both gobbled up their tofu scramble and asked for seconds, and thirds!!

Strawberry Rhubarb Pie

2008-07-14T15:57:00.004-04:00

Yesterday at the grocery store the rhubarb was just calling to me. I passed it up several times, only to be drawn to it again and again. So, it finally made it's way to my cart along with a package of strawberries to be made into a pie.

I used the pie crust recipe I've blogged before, and followed a recipe from Mark Bittman's How to Cook Everything. The filling was a combo of the fruit, some sugar, a few spices, and cornstarch as a thickening agent.

This pie was fabulous!! Rob had never had rhubarb before, and he loved it....I probably shouldn't be telling you this, but he ate 3 pieces!!! It really was a fantastic summer pie. As you can see, the filling was a bit runny, and I even added more cornstarch than was called for. I think next time, and yes, there will be a next time, I'll omit the cornstarch and add a little arrowroot instead.

Happy Birthday Baby Girl

2008-07-14T15:43:00.003-04:00

My baby turned 2 on Saturday, so of course we celebrated with none other than........cupcakes!! I just made basic Golden Vanilla and Chocolate cupcakes from Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World. They were topped with Vegan Fluffy Buttercream and Chocolate Vegan Fluffy Buttercream respectively. Needless to say, the cupcakes were a hit with all of the folks at the party. I made mini-cupcakes, and I believe almost everyone had more than one!!

We also had hummus, pita, veggies, and mini-falafel. All of which were devoured by our guests. There wasn't one falafel left on the tray, and I've had to share the hummus recipe with more than one person since the party!! It does make me laugh though, Stella's probably the only 2 year old that enjoyed having falafel and hummus at her birthday party!!

I haven't been up to much other cooking lately.....we were on a camping trip last week, and I think roasting Tofu Pups over a camp fire hardly counts as cooking.

Muffins x2

2008-07-07T21:19:00.003-04:00

Today I spent almost the entire day in the kitchen. We are taking off on a little camping trip tomorrow (well, not really camping, more like RVing) so I spent the day getting ready for that. Mostly I made a lot of old favorites like Giardino Burgers, Snack bars, hummus, Black bean and quinoa salad and of course pasta sauce so my spaghetti lovers can eat their spaghetti. Vegan camping with children (read picky children) is quite a bit of work. I mean, it's not like my kids are going to set down and eat a bunch of grilled veggies, etc. And, after long days of hiking, biking, and hopefully horseback riding they are going to need some serious refueling come dinner time. Therefore I thought it prudent to bring along some of their favorite meals so we can assure adequate eating at dinner. I also gathered plenty of healthy snacks for the afternoons....lots of fresh fruits, raisins, soy yogurts, whole wheat crackers and smooshed fruit.

I also made some muffins for us to have as a quick grab and go breakfast option. There were a couple of really ripe bananas sitting in my fruit dish, so first up was banana oat muffins. The recipe is adapted from a VegWeb.com recipe.

Whole Wheat Banana Oat Muffins

2 large bananas, very ripe

2 Tbs olive oil

1/2 tsp vanilla extract

1/3 cup + 2 Tbs plain soy milk

1 1/3 cup white whole wheat flour

3/4 cup turbinado sugar

1 Tbs baking powder

1/4 tsp salt

1/4 tsp nutmeg

1/2 tsp cinnamon

3/4 cup quick cooking oats

Preheat oven to 350. In a small bowl smash bananas. Mix in oil, vanilla and soy milk and set aside. In large mixing bowl combine flour, sugar, baking powder, salt, nutmeg and cinnamon. Add the wet mixture to the dry and mix just until combined. Stir in oats. Spoon mixture into oiled muffin tins. Bake for 20 minutes or until lightly browned.

Next up were these deliciously decadent Chocolate Chocolate Chip Muffins. They definitely aren't the kind of thing you'd want to serve for breakfast on a weekly basis. But they'll be a great treat for our camping trip, and would make a nice item on a brunch buffet. It's always easy to impress your non vegan friends with a bit of chocolate-y vegan goodness!!

Chocolate Chocolate Chip Muffins

1 1/2 cup unbleached all purpose flour

1/2 cup cocoa powder

1/2 cup turbinado sugar

1 tsp salt

2 tsp baking powder

1 cup + 2 Tbs soy milk

1/4 cup canola oil

1/2 cup chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350. In a large mixing bowl combine dry ingredients. Add soy milk and oil and mix until just combined. Fold in chocolate chips. Fill oiled muffin tins and bake for about 20 minutes, or until skewer inserted in center comes out clean.

Independence Day

2008-07-05T14:44:00.002-04:00

What better way to celebrate the 4th than with cupcakes of course!! These were Classic Golden Vanilla Cupcakes from Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World. Iced with Vanilla Buttercream Icing, piped in star shapes and of course sprinkled with red and blue sugar. Best plain vanilla cupcakes EVER!!

Orange Chipotle Glazed Tofu over Confetti Rice Salad

2008-07-03T15:07:00.004-04:00

This recipe came from the June issue of Vegetarian Times. It's a broiled and glazed tofu served over a rice and black bean salad. It's a really easy dish, and it provides quite an impressive presentation for the ease of it all.

The tofu is magnificent. Even the littlest one loved it, and it's a bit spicy. The rice salad is similar to the Quinoa Black Bean Salad, only not as good. The next time I make this tofu I'll make the quinoa salad to serve it over instead.

I do have one complaint about dishes that call for chipotle in adobo........WTH am I supposed to do with all of the leftover chipotles and adobo sauce??? I don't know of one recipe that calls for a whole can/jar, and I'm always at a loss to do with the nearly 2/3 of a can that remains. What are your favorite things to do with chipotles and adobo?

More cupcakes

2008-07-01T22:06:00.002-04:00

I still have 74 recipes from Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World to try out (ok, so maybe a few less since I have to pass on the nutty ones). However, my copy of Vegan with a Vengeance is due back to the library this week, and I couldn't let it go without trying the Coconut Heaven Cupcakes. Yes, it's true that we are probably the only vegetarians in our town, and I'm quite sure we are the only vegans, so I could probably renew the book 100 times over and no one would complain........but, being a good vegan, I keep taking it back and leaving it on the shelves for a few months at a time just hoping someone will stumble upon it and try out a cruelty free diet. Never the less, about the cupcakes................Heaven doesn't even begin to describe them. These cupcakes are out of this world! I made them into mini-cupcakes and they are just perfect for popping in your mouth when you need a little sweet kick!! My experience with other cupcake recipes has taught me that most icing recipes are too sweet for my liking, so I started with just half the confectioners sugar that's called for, and it was just about right. I used slightly more than half of what the recipe calls for. If you have this book and you've never made these cupcakes, go do it now!!

Panini

2008-07-01T22:01:00.002-04:00

Today I felt like doing some baking, the family loves Vegan Dad's focaccia, so I decided to go with that. I didn't feel like having pasta with the focaccia tonight, so instead I made panini. I had everything I needed to make the Tofu-Basil Ricotta from Vegan with a Vengeance, and I had some tomato and red onion. These were really delicious, and the girls loved them. Typically my kids aren't fans of panini, but these were gobbled up in no time. That Tofu-Basil Ricotta has really been a hit around here. Pair it with the focaccia and you're sure to have a winner.

Cookies n' Cream Cupcakes

2008-06-29T14:15:00.002-04:00

I finally got my hands on a copy of Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World. With 2 birthdays coming up in less than a month I thought it was time to expand my cupcake repetoire a bit. Now comes the fun part.......sampling these yummy recipes in search of just the right cupcakes to make for the girls parties!!

Our first test was Cookies n Cream. Very, very good, although the icing is a little too sweet for my tastes. I will definately make these again, only I'll add less powdered sugar in the icing, and I'll also use less soy milk, as the icing didn't set up as firm as I like it.

Chili Dogs

2008-06-26T21:22:00.004-04:00

This is the most unhealthy meal that's been served in my house in quite some time.........but oh was it good!! Onion rings aside, it wasn't really all that unhealthy, or at least not as unhealthy as it's disgusting meat filled counterpart. OK, so heavily processed soy topped with processed soy isn't really healthy, but hey, at least it won't give me cancer or clog my arteries, right? And, there were no unmentionables in our wienies!!

Our chili dogs consisted of grilled Tofu Pups, WFM 365 brand vegetarian chili (which is mostly beans and relatively little TVP), sliced pickles, sliced onions and classic yellow mustard. The kids really loved these. I told Rob that all we needed was a delicious vegan milkshake along with dinner and it would have been like eating at a vegan DQ ;)

Tomato Roasted Garlic Soup

2008-06-26T13:46:00.001-04:00

I don't typically serve soup in the summer months unless it's gazpacho, or some other chilled soup. However, yesterday I planned to make some falafel but failed to soak the garbanzos over night and had to come up with an alternate plan. That alternate plan was this Tomato Roasted Garlic Soup that I've been wanting to try for a long time now. This soup was so delicious, even on a hot and humid summer evening. It had a very fresh flavor and was very light compared to the heavier, creamier cousin cream of tomato soup.

To go along with the salad I made the Pita Panzanella from May's issue of Vegetarian Times. I always want to make panzanella, but Rob has a serious aversion to even slightly soggy bread, so bread salad isn't a great choice. This version however replaces the typical bread with toasted whole wheat pita triangles. I toasted the pita longer than the recipe suggests in order to get them nice and crispy so they would hold up against the lemon-mint dressing. I realize that since the pitas didn't absorb the flavor of the dressing this isn't actually panzanella, but it was a terrific salad, regardless. A perfect summer evening meal.

Golden Bowl

2008-06-25T15:09:00.003-04:00

This is a recipe from I think June's issue of Vegetarian Times. It comes from The Grit restaurant in Athens Georgia. It won a spot as one of VT's top vegetarian restaurant menu item picks. I don't know if it's deserving of the award. Don't get me wrong, it was good, but it was really nothing special, just stir fried veggies and tofu over brown rice....how's that for stereotypical vegetarian fare? Honestly, I've had better vegetarian items at non-veg restaurants. The one fantastic thing about this recipe is that my kids liked it (it's that lack of complex flavor thing again!!)

Layered Rigatoni Bake

2008-06-23T15:56:00.003-04:00

A simple pasta dish I threw together that the family just went crazy for. Layers of Quick Tomato Sauce (recipe to follow), Rigatoni, and Tofu-Basil Ricotta from Vegan with a Vengeance. I had intended to stuff each rigatoni with the ricotta, cover with the tomato sauce and then bake. But, as I was stuffing the rigatoni my pastry bag burst open. The rigatoni are too small to stuff with a spoon, so I just layered it all lasagna style and threw it in the oven. It turned out fantastic. I can't wait to use the ricotta again, I have so many ideas for it....stuffed shells, pizza, panini, the possibilities are endless.

Quick Tomato Sauce

1 28oz can Crushed Tomato with Basil

1/4 tsp Garlic Powder

2 Tbs Tomato Paste

2 tsp. unrefined sugar

1 tsp dried basil

1 tsp dried oregano

Add all ingredients to a sauce pot, bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer for as long as you have time to. Quick and simple.

Stuffed Pattypan Squash

2008-06-20T21:37:00.000-04:00

We got some beautiful pattypan squash from the CSA this week, and I just couldn't decide what to do with them. They seemed too unique to just slice up and saute, and I wanted to do something that would more or less keep them whole. Finally, I was inspired by some leftover grains and a big bunch of kale, and I stuffed them. We also got loads of kale this week, and I needed some new ways to use it up. This recipe took care of that! It turned out really nice, and even the girls ate some of it (which is always a good thing if there is kale involved!).

Stuffed Pattypan Squash

4 pattypan squash

1 lb kale

2 Tbs Olive Oil

3 large spring onions, diced

2 cloves garlic, minced

1/3 cup roasted red pepper, diced

1/2 large tomato, diced

1 cup cooked grains (I used a mixture of brown rice and bulgur)

1/2 tsp Vegan Worcestershire Sauce

1 tsp Braggs Liquid Aminos

1/4 tsp nutmeg

salt and pepper to taste

1/2 cup bread crumbs

4 Tbs. Earth Balance

Start a large pot of water boiling. Once water has started to boil place whole squash in to boil until a sharp knife is easily inserted through the skin, about 10 minutes. Remove squash from water and set aside to cool. Preheat oven to 400. Once squash have cooled, cut a small piece off of the bottom of each squash so that it will set evenly. Cut away tops, scrape out seeds and scoop out the flesh. Add scooped out flesh to the bowl of a food processor, along with kale. Process until kale is completely chopped. In a large saute pan, heat 2 Tbs olive oil. Saute onions and garlic until onions become translucent. Add kale mixture to saute pan, along with roasted red pepper, tomato, Worcestershire, Braggs, and nutmeg. Stir to combine then add grains. Heat through and salt and pepper to taste. Spoon mixture, heaping, into hollowed out squash. Sprinkle evenly with bread crumbs and add 1 Tbs Earth Balance to the top of each. Bake for about 30 minutes, until breadcrumbs are golden brown.

Cookies 'n Cream "Nice" Cream

2008-06-16T22:36:00.003-04:00

So, it took me this long to find out.....Oreo cookies are vegan!!! However, I didn't use Oreo's for this recipe. Instead I opted for the slightly healthier Back to Nature Classic Creme Cookies. Don't you just love that big open mouth in the background ready to devour this tasty treat!!??

Cookies 'n Cream "Nice" Cream

1 package Mori Nu Organic Firm Silken Tofu

1 cup Silk Soy Creamer

1 cup Vanilla Soy Milk

1/4 cup unrefined sugar

1/4 tsp vanilla extract

8 Back to Nature Classic Creme Cookies, crumbled

In a small saucepan, heat soy milk and dissolve sugar in the heated milk. Add vanilla. Do not boil. Meanwhile, combine tofu and soy creamer in the bowl of a food processor or blender and process until smooth and creamy. In a separate bowl combine heated soy milk, and tofu mixture and stir to combine. Refrigerate to chill, then freeze in an ice cream freezer according to machines directions. When ice cream is nearly frozen add cookie crumbles and churn a few minutes more.

Vegan Tzatziki Sauce

2008-06-16T22:19:00.004-04:00

Before I get into the sauce, I have to tell you about the new falafel recipe I tried. I've been using a falafel recipe out of an old cookbook for awhile now, and the flavor is really good, but they always fall apart when you go to fry them. So, I decided I'd search around for a new recipe. I found this one, and was intrigued by the use of uncooked garbanzos, so I thought I'd give it a try. The recipe was spectacular, the flavor was right on, and they held together beautifully while I fried them, not to mention they turned a lovely golden brown (which doesn't happen too often when I fry things...you'll recall, I suck at frying!!). I did make just a few minor changes. I omitted the hot pepper, so that the girls would eat them. And, instead of using 2 Tbs of cilantro, I used 1 Tbs cilantro and 1 Tbs mint.

I served the falafel the traditional way, in a pita with some raw veggies. I like them topped with tahini sauce, but decided to give some vegan tzatziki a try. Tzatziki is a cucumber, yogurt sauce that I didn't think would be too hard to replicate. I can only find flavored vegan yogurts here, so I had to use something in place of the yogurt. I happened to have a half container of Tofutti Better Than Sour Cream sitting in the refrigerator waiting to be used. I thought maybe that would make a suitable replacement. I thought correctly, the sauce was incredible, and could also be used as a wonderful dip for crudite, or even as a salad dressing (when you're in the mood for a creamy dressing)

Vegan Tzatziki

1/2 container Better than Sour Cream

1/2 english cucumber, diced very small

2 cloves garlic, minced very small

handful of italian parsley, chopped very small

Combine all ingredients in a small bowl. Refrigerate for at least one hour to allow flavors to marry. Serve over falafel, or as a dip for your favorite raw vegetables.

Sweet and Sour Tofu Skewers

2008-06-13T21:48:00.003-04:00

My poor husband has been working like a dog this week. He's been up and out the door before dawn every morning, and home late into the night many nights. The girls have hardly seen him, and the extent of my seeing him has been nudging him in the ribs when the alarm goes off at 4:30 am and pushing him out of bed so as not to have the alarm sound again in 9 minutes.

We were assured that he would arrive home early this evening and we were all very excited. Mairin asked me all day "Mommy, what time will it be evening?". The long hours working has resulted in very little eating for him, and when he has eaten, it's surely been less than healthy. Tonight I wanted to fix him something fun and tasty for his arrival home. I'd planned on grilling tofu skewers, but unfortunately the weather didn't cooperate, and broke out in storms this afternoon, so my skewers got grilled indoors.

These skewers consisted of cubed tofu (marinaded in half a can of crushed pineapple and juice, 3-4 Tbs of brown sugar, and a dash of Tamari), fresh pineapple chunks, onions, zucchini and summer squash (both from this weeks CSA basket). I served the skewers on a bed of romaine (also from the CSA) and with a side of Coconut Basmati rice. The skewers were a big hit, and I was very pleased to see Rob enjoying a nice, healthy meal.

For the girls, I cooked up a small batch of Vegan Dad's Baked Tofu For Kids. Stella really liked the baked tofu, but surprisingly she liked the sweet and sour tofu even more. Mairin, who typically likes tofu, was in a rather obstinate mood tonight, and decided that she didn't like anything I made and opted for cereal instead!!

Lindsay's Apple Blossom

2008-06-11T15:02:00.003-04:00

For Mother's Day Mairin made me a lovely cook book at her preschool. Each kid had to bring in their favorite recipe and the teacher laminated and bound them all with a picture of your child dressed as a chef on the front. It's such a cute little keepsake, but it unfortunately won't get used much here. Our recipe (lentil tacos) is of course one of only two vegan recipes in the book (and I'm quite sure the other is just vegan by coincidence). Some are easily veganizable, but most are so heavy on the animal products that there's no way I could even begin to veganize them.

Mairin's friend Lindsay brought in the only other vegan recipe, and today we decided to give it a try for snack time. It's diced apples cooked inside a tortilla. It's a clever little snack, but would make a fantastic dessert paired with some non-dairy vanilla ice cream, when you need something quick and simple.

Lindsay's Apple Blossom

1 small apple, diced

sugar (I used unrefined)

cinnamon

tortilla

Place diced apple along center of tortilla. Sprinkle with sugar and cinnamon. Wrap burrito style and microwave for 1 min. 30 sec. Let cool a little, and serve.

An Old Favorite (and a new one too!!)

2008-06-09T22:07:00.005-04:00

Tonight I made an old favorite of ours. This simple pasta dish is perfect for busy nights, and light enough for a hot evening. The temperatures have been soaring out of control this past week, and we haven't felt like eating much.....which works to my advantage, since I haven't felt like cooking much!! Anyway, I decided it was time to get some real food on the table, but again, the heat really drains the cooking energy, ya know.

This pasta couldn't be easier. Start by cooking your pasta as directed. I recommend penne rigate for this recipe, but any short pasta would do. When your pasta is nearly finished heat 3 Tbs of olive oil over medium-high heat. Mince 6 cloves of garlic and drop them in the hot oil, along with about 10 whole basil leaves. Cook for a few seconds until garlic and basil begin to sizzle. Be careful not to burn garlic. Add one 28 oz can of whole peeled tomatoes with about half of their juice. Add cooked pasta and simmer until heated through. Serve drizzled with good extra virgin olive oil.

I served the pasta with a simple side of baby spinach drizzled with olive oil as well, along with a baguette from Blue Dog Bakery. The girls devoured this pasta. They either really, really liked it, or they were extremely happy that mommy started cooking again!

For dessert I made another version of my "nice" cream (remember: my name for cruelty free ice cream!!). Tonight I made Mint Chocolate Chip. This is a new favorite!! This flavor got lots of praise from everyone. The peppermint flavor was just right, and was not overpowered by additional sweeteners. I intended to make the finished product green, but they wanted $16.99 for a box of 4 small natural food colorings at the store, so I opted to leave the ice-cream white!!

Mint Chocolate Chip "Nice" Cream

1/2 of a 12 oz package of firm silken tofu (I use Mori Nu brand)

1 cup Silk soy creamer

1/2 cup Soy Dream Vanilla soy milk

1 tsp Peppermint Extract

2 Tbs Brown Rice Syrup

Green food coloring (optional)

1/3 cup vegan chocolate chips

In a food processor combine all ingredients up to chocolate chips and pulse until tofu is smooth. Refrigerate for several hours to chill. Freeze in ice cream freezer following manufacturers directions. When ice cream is nearly frozen add chocolate chips while paddles are still churning.

Vegan Pound Cake

2008-06-04T22:21:00.003-04:00

In anticipation of more strawberries from the CSA today, I decided I wanted to make shortcakes for dessert. So I set about looking for pound cake recipes. Most that I found called for silken tofu which I just used the last of in a smoothie the other day, so that was out. Most also called for lemon extract, which again I did not have. What to do, what to do?? Improvise!!

Working from several recipes and ingredients I had on hand I devised my only little recipe for

Orange Tofu Pound Cake:

1/3 cup softened Earth Balance
3/4 cup unrefined sugar
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 package firm tofu
juice of 1 orange (plus 1 1/2 tsp orange zest)
1/2 cup water
1/2 cups white whole wheat flour

Preheat oven to 350. In your food processor or blender process tofu with orange juice until smooth. In bowl of a stand mixer (or with a hand held mixer) cream together Earth Balance and sugar (unrefined sugar doesn't cream as well as white granulated sugar, but it was all I had). With machine running add baking powder, vanilla, tofu mixture, orange zest and water. Slowly sift in flour until batter forms. Lightly oil 5x6 baking dish and fill with batter. Bake for about 1 hour 15 minutes, until top is golden brown and skewer inserted in center comes out clean.

Thankfully the CSA came through with 4 pints of strawberries this week!! After washing them I sprinkled them with unrefined sugar and allowed them to macerate while we at dinner. Then I served them over slices of Orange Tofu Pound Cake. The creamy topping you see on them is just the other half of the tofu from the pound cake processed in the food processor with 1/4 cup of maple syrup and 1 Tbs powdered sugar.

Yum yum, strawberry shortcake is a sure sign that summer is on it's way!!!

The Envelope Please..........

2008-06-03T10:57:00.003-04:00

And the winner is..........Adventures in Vegetarianism!! That's right, thanks to all of my loyal readers I've been voted Best Food/Wine/Cooking blog from 2007. My win is your win, I couldn't and wouldn't have been able to do it without all of you.

When I started Adventures in Vegetarianism in October I never expected to have so many readers in such a short time. You have all really inspired me to keep trying out new recipes, and keep sharing my adventure. Many of you even inspired the move to veganism, which I am extremely grateful for. It's great to have such a wonderful community of caring and compassionate people to be a part of. Your support and encouragement has really made the process much easier than I ever could have imagined. Thank you, thank you, a million thank yous.

I would also like to thank my family for their patience and adventurous palates. They are always willing to try out new recipes (they don't always like 'em, but at least they try 'em). My husband, Rob, has been so supportive and understanding of the changes our diet has undergone over this past year.........thank you honey!!!

Stay tuned as the Adventure continues in 2008!!!

I Scream, You Scream, We All Scream for............

2008-06-02T15:23:00.002-04:00

Ice Cream!!!!

First up were ice-cream cookie sandwiches. I just whipped up a batch of Dreena's Homestyle Chocolate Chip Cookies and made them into ice cream sandwiches using Temptation's French Vanilla Soy Ice Cream. These were a big hit, and so easy to make!

Later in the week I tried the Strawberry Swirl non-dairy ice cream from the current issue of Vegetarian Times. They have a whole section on vegan ice-cream this month......yahoo!! This was delicious, and almost perfect in it's consistency. The only problem with it was that I had to sub maple syrup for agave (as suggested in the recipe) and the maple syrup didn't quite taste right with the strawberry flavor. I'm going to have to play around with the sweetner a little on this one, but it's definitely a keeper. And see those cute, perfectly ripe strawberries on top. They were part of our CSA basket last week. We got 1 quart+1 pint of them, and we're all hoping for more this week!

And finally was this little creation.....Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Ice-Cream in a Waffle Bowl. Yesterday the girls were eating waffles and it just came over me to attempt making waffle cones. I used my regular recipe for waffles which included baking powder, so no matter how thin I poured the batter on the waffle iron, the dang things kept fluffing up too much to roll into cones, so I improvised and made bowls instead. It was really quite easy. I just removed the waffles from the iron before they were finished and while they were still quite pliable, then formed them over an upside down custard bowl. I then baked them at 350 until they were nice and crispy. I was very happy with the result, although next time I'm going to leave out the baking powder and try to make cones.

I made up the ice-cream recipe as well. Now, I'm not usually one to brag on myself or inflate my own ego, but I must say, this was the best vegan ice-cream I've ever tasted, hands down!! The consistency was right on, just like it's traditional dairy counterpart, and the flavor couldn't be beat. I've decided to call is "nice" cream because it's cruelty free (and nice to taste as well!!). YUM.......I'm so glad summer is here!!

Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Nice-Cream

1/2 block silken tofu
1/2 cup maple syrup
1/2 cup plain soy creamer
1/2 cup vanilla soy milk
1 Tbs. Pure Vanilla Extract
1 Recipe Dreena's Homestyle Chocolate Chip Cookie dough

In a food processor or blender combine all ingredients, except the cookie dough, and blend or process until tofu is creamy. Chill in refrigerator for several hours, then transfer to bowl of ice-cream freezer and freeze according to your freezer's directions. When ice-cream is nearly finished freezing add in 3/4 of the cookie dough while paddles are still running to allow cookie to dough to be combined into ice-cream.