Vegan Mousse with Rasberry Sauce! No way! Way.

So we were sitting around in this miserable heat hungry for something. What could I bake that required no baking? I flipped through the trusty Joy of Vegan Baking and found a recipe for chocolate mousse. No baking, just some fridge time. Also, this is like, the easiest thing ever in the history of history.

Traditionally, mousse is made with really disgusting items such as milk, butter, eggs, and heavy cream (dear lord no!). Here is what this recipe will require of you:

1 cup non dairy chocolate chips
12 ounces silken tofu
1/2 soy milk
1/2 tsp vanilla extract

Whaaaaat? lol no way! WAY! Easy as pie! (okay not really but you know..) Zap the chips in the micro for 2 minutes, stirring along the way. Process the tofu, milk, vanilla and chocolate. Um, okay, you're done. Muhahaha! This tastes AWESOME, very chocolaty and fluffy.

I decided to make a pie out of this, because I have no individual serving dishes, and I can't buy any more dishes because apparently an elf made my kitchen. I used a pre-made graham cracker crust, but I think next time I will go for the gold and get a chocolate cookie crust. It's probably not vegan, but as you know, I'm not 100% vegan anyway. So there.

For the topping, I did a raspberry sauce- also, ridiculously easy. Take 2 cups of fresh raspberries (about two packs) and process with 1/4 cup of sugar or sucanat. Chill in an air tight container.

Oh, what the heck is SUCANAT?? Don't worry, I looked it up. It's actually an acronym for sugar cane natural. Thank you wikipedia. Here's the article if you are so inclined to read about it.

Funky Summer Lasagna-Tasting-Like Asparagus Pizza

The 5-Ingredient Gourmet has a recipe for asparagus and red pepper pizza which I used as a base recipe for this one, it was mighty tasty, and filling!

The layers were in this order:

Pre-made crust
Red sauce ( I used a mushroom marinara)
Ricotta cheese
Blanched Asparagus and Red Peppers sliced up in bite size chunks
Mushrooms
Mozzarella cheese

Bake at 425 degrees for 15-20 minutes.

Cherry Pie

I made a pie! This was very exciting, being that it was my first pie, with non-store-bought crust. I have never been a fan of anything pie except for apple pie, but I let my husband pick a recipe and he picked cherry pie. I'm glad he did, because otherwise I probably never would have made this groovy pie.

The recipe calls for cherries either canned, fresh, or frozen. I went for frozen black cherries since those were the only cherries left in Trader Joe's the day I went. The filling was crazy easy. Just get a big bowl, and mix 5 cups of cherries (that's almost 2 frozen bags) with sugar (3/4 cup) and cornstarch (4 tbsp) and then let it sit for 10-15 min. This is when you can bake your crust, which conveniently takes 15 minutes as well. After 15 min, add 1 tbsp lemon juice and 1/4 tsp vanilla extract. Done with filling!

Okay, so crust is really hard to make. I did everything the recipe calls for, but when I got to the rolling out part, the dough was like a red-headed stepchild. It rolled out nicely when I started, but when I started to roll it a bit more, it started breaking. I added sprinkles of flour to get it to get the frack off my rolling pin, and water to mend the breaks, but it just kept breaking again. Two things I will do differently next time: 1) Chill it for longer. The recipe says to chill it for a minimum of 30 minutes, but I think I am going to do it overnight or something next time. 2) More water. The recipe calls for water when you are mixing the dough, but the author also says to chill all the ingredients, including the rolling pin, prior to mixing it together. Well, I did that, and my water froze. But I didn't notice that about a 1/3 cup of my water was frozen on the bottom of the cup until after I mixed it all together. Anyway, I wrestled to get the dough in the pan, and for the top, you can see all the patches I had to make to get it to cover the top. Regardless, it was a really yummy pie, and I would definitely make it again.

Here's the crust recipe:

2 1/2 unbleached all purpose flour
1 tsp sugar
1/2 tsp salt
1 cup veg. shortening
1/3 cup + 1 tbsp ice water

Blend on low in food processor. Divide evenly and chill in plastic wrap for a long time. haha.

LEMON CHEESECAKE!!! NO CHEESE!!!

I made this!! I know, you're shocked. I'm still shocked, actually, as it came out scrumptious like!
This is from the Joy of Vegan Baking (please purchase k thanks). I finally found some of that Ener G Egg Replacer- I had to literally dig around but I found the last box hidden on the shelf at Whole Foods. What it is is this powder that is a potato base. You mix it with water and poof!! Egg-like fluffiness!! Very exciting. I hate eggs. Forgetting all the other arguments pro-animal rights (which I do believe in) eggs are just GROSS. I shiver just thinking about it. So finding something that not only replaces eggs, but lasts a ton longer on your shelf at an equivalent of over 50 individuals eggs for about 4 bucks- was truly exciting. People always look at me like "poor you" when I tell them I'm a lactose intolerant vegetarian who can't have all this and that.. but I don't feel that way at all. I love cooking now, and finding new ways of eating the same items is very cool and liberating! No more bad eggs after only using 2, or rotten milk after only consuming a cereal bowl full. I save money so I can buy gas. lol

Okay so for this you will need a spring-form pan which is pretty sweet. I picked one up from Target for 12 bucks I think. Latches are cool.

First you need to get your "eggs" going. Blend with an electric hand mixer 4 1/2 teaspoons Ener-G Egg Replacer with 6 tbsp of water. Get it think & creamy. Then beat in the cream cheese for about 30 seconds. Don't over-do it, cheesecakes will crack if there is too much air. Then beat in the sugar, vanilla, lemon juice and lemon zest.

24 ounces cream cheese (3 tubs Tofutti Better Than Cream Cheese)
1 c sugar
1/2 tsp vanilla
2 tbsp lemon juice (juice from one medium sized lemon)
1 tbsp lemon zest (from about one lemon)
1 pie crust

Pour the batter onto your prepared crust ( I did a simple graham cracker one) and smooth it out. Bake until the center jiggles just a tad, and the sides begin to pull away from the edges. Mine was ready in about 55 minutes. The top was poofy and a little brown, but it flattened out when it cooled. Cool on a wire rack for at least two hours before serving. Top with strawberries!!!

I'm pretty proud of this one, it's really easier than it looks though. It does not have the richness of a real cheesecake, but it's good, and satisfies the urge if real cheesecake is equivalent to the devil stabbing your stomach with hot poker.

BBQ Pomegranate Tofu and Coconut Rice, G style

Who says tofu is bland? Pssh. This recipe combo was fairly simple, but did require items I didn't have in my kitchen, and frankly well, I had never heard of. For instance, pomegranate molasses. Dubbayu Tee Eff??? I ended up ordering some online. Tamari. Again, huh? I'm actually I'm still lost on that one, as Tamari is a brand of soy sauce. But sometimes she calls for soy sauce, and sometimes for Tamari.

So basically the key to this dish is firm, dry tofu cut into edible pieces. I think I finally got this down. You FREEZE it first, then thaw completely. This takes time, so you have to plan when you are going to take it out to thaw. I recommend when you are chillin at home doing tedious tasks, or staring at the void of pretty lights and mindless information in a box. Anyway, once your tofu is good, you slice it and marinate it briefly in peanut oil (2tbsp)and tamari (1 tbsp), then bake for 15 min or each side. While that is baking, prep the sizzzauce.

First you saute the shallots in peanut oil. Add garlic and Chinese five spice. Poke it around for a minute. Add the veggie broth, simmer. Once that is simmering away, dump the rest of the goods in and boil. Then lower heat at simmer (simma down now) for another 15min. When the tofu is done, pour the sauce into the pan with the tofu and bake for another 15.

The sizzzauce:
1 tbsp peanut oil
1 cup shiizzallots
2 cloves garlic
1/2 tsp Chinese five spice
2 c veggie broth
dizzash black pepper
1 can tomato paste
2 tbsp creamy peanut butta
2 tbsp pomegranate molasses
2 tbsp tamari
1/4 maple syrup
1 tsp hot sauce
1 tsp liquid smiizoke


Coconut Rice

So this rice goes swimmingly with the tofu. I'm actually pretty dumb though, I tried to get coconut milk from an actual coconut. AHAHAHA. Yeah. So you don't have to do that. You don't even need a coconut to make this. I would like to take this time to also thank my hero Al Gore for "inventing the internet". What would I do without it? I think I'd die. I discovered through the intertubes, that one can make coconut milk simply by blending coconut with hot water in a blender or food processor. It worked like a charm. I put about a cup of shredded coconut with 1 1/2 cup of hot water, and I got the exact amount of milk needed. Oh, you have to strain it to get the milk all milk like, so you'll need a strainer thingy bobber.

So you make this like regular rice, but with a few extras. Start with 2 cups of washed Jasmine rice. Bring to a boil with 1 can coconut milk (or about 1-1/2 cup of your own darn milk as detailed above), 1 cup water, a dash of salt, and a stick of cinnamon. Reduce to low heat and simma for 20 minutes or until liquid is absorbed. Mine was already slightly burning after 15 minutes, so check it every few minutes and give it a stir. When it's done, add some lime zest from one lime and stir with a fork. Set aside and get the topping going:

Toast up some fresh coconut flakes in a little skillet. I used the stuff in the ready-made bag because I failed at the real thing- whichever you prefer or have the time for.

This combo was really good, I will definitely make it again. It does take some time and prep, but it makes enough for seconds, and is great to give to your meat eating friends. They'll turn.. oh yes. *insert evil eye here*

Fronch Toast & Tempeh Bacon

This was a 50% success. The Fronch toast was super awesome!!! One thing that truly would be depressing about being a vegan to the core would be the lack of delicious breakfast foods. Almost every dish contains eggs, milk, or butter. The author of Vegan with a Vengeance admits that breakfast sucks for her when she goes out with her friends because the only thing she can eat is oatmeal. Boo!

So the trick to the egg-like taste of the toast is chickpea (garbanzo bean) flour. Who knew? It was fun searching for it in the store. I hired my husband to help with the search and after a few minutes I heard him say, "I only see garbanzo bean flour". Tee hee.

So all you do is mix the following in a bowl:

1 cup rice milk
2 tbsp cornstarch
1/4 cup chickpea flour

Then dunk your bread in the mix, then in to the pan to fry over medium high heat. Use stale bread or baguette slices. I opted for the baguette, since stale bread is slightly creepy to me. :P
Cook each side for two minutes. Eat with some syrup for yummy goodness.

The tempeh bacon was, um, icky. I think I did several things wrong, so I'm going to try again then post about a second attempt. It was all good though, I think we demolished the fronch toast regardless.

Brownies!

As you can tell, I've bit of a sweet tooth recently. Brownies.. yum! This was my first try using flax seeds and applesauce in lieu of eggs and other gross animal parts. It came out marvelous, and super chocolately- perfect for bouncing out of a depression. Besides, you can always tell yourself that flaxseeds are so good for you, so you can't get depressed about eating something 100% bad for you. These are only 75% bad for you. :P

This recipe comes from The Joy of Vegan Baking. Have you bought it yet? Go go hurry... I'll wait.

Okay, so here's the goods:

1 1/2 cup sugar
3/4 unsweetened applesauce
2 tbsp water
2 tsp ground flaxseed
1/2 cup water
2 tsp vanilla extract
1 1/3 cup flour
3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
3/4 tsp. baking powder
1/4 salt
1 cup nondairy semisweet chocolate chips
1 cup chopped pecans (optional)

Prep your flaxseeds first. I got a little bag from Henry's bulk sections for super cheap, then blended them in my food processor attachment that came with my mega blender. They are hard little suckers to grind, so you might need to use a coffee grinder. Pour them in a spice jar and keep in the freezer- they are highly perishable. Put the 2 tsp flaxseed and 2 tbsp water in the blender, then blend em up. It will be foamy. Woo foam!

So you basically prep the dry and wet separately: wet- sugar, applesauce, water, flaxseed mixture, vanilla.

Dry: flour, cocoa, baking powder, salt, chocolate chips, nuts.

Mix your wet and your dry! Slap in your brownie pan and bake at 350 degrees for 40 min. Serve with So Delicious vanilla and chocolate syrup.

Prep time: 10 min
Cook time: 40 min
Pans: a good bit
Taste: heck yes.

Almost totally vegan chocolate chip!

This was interesting, for sure. I first attempted this recipe from Vegan with a Vengeance a week ago, but I used vegan margarine spread instead of the regular non dairy margarine. Everything was going fantabulous until I got to the part where you add the flour, making a nice soft dough. I ended up with basically a crumbly mound. I went over the recipe in my head several times, and concluded I must have messed up with the margarine. Tired, I made an easy chocolate cake instead. Sorry, we ate that so fast I didn't get a good pic to blog with. Anyway, so I tried again the other day with real margarine. Again everything was going swell-like, until the part where I added the flour. AGAIN, I ended up with a crumbly-crumb castle. There is nothing in the book that mentions, "oh yeah, and by the way the dough's consistency is in no way similar to that of regular eggy cookies." I was stumped. I followed the recipe perfectly!

I decided at that point, well, maybe this is just the way that these are supposed to be. So I experimented. The first round I just plopped on the baking sheet and kind of smooshed together to form a circular structure. It looked really messy. So with the second round I pressed the dough into a spoon to make little spoon shaped cookies. That looked better at least, but my spoons are a funny shape. So then I got out the big guns- a serving spoon with shell shape to it. That seemed to work well, and those are the ones you see on top there, in the picture.

After all that work, the good thing is that they taste pretty darn good. They are a bit crispy, so I am going to experiment with some recipes to see if I can find a way to make them chewier (I was always a fan of the gooey cookie). Oh, and the reason they are not completely vegan would be the Ghirardelli chocolate chips I threw in there. Yummers.

Here's the recipe:

1 cup nonhydrogenated margarine
1 1/4 cup sugar
1 tbsp molasses
2 tsp vanilla extract
2 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt *if you use salted margarine, don't add the salt!*
1 1/2 cups semisweet chocolate chips

oven- 350 degrees

taste 7 (my non veggie friends "say" they really liked 'em
prep time 15 min
cook time 10-12 min per batch

Sweet Potato Fries

So, I purchased two new books- this recipe comes from Vegan with Vengeance and it truly kicks ass. I love fries. If you set a plate of fries in front of me, I will eat them all- ALL I SAY! I love salt, and I love the comfy taste of warm, squishy potatoes. But I never succeeded in making good homemade fries. So I decided I'd try these so I would have something to eat with my veggie burgers. Here's the recipe:

2 pounds sweet potato (I just used one honking one- it was HUGE!)
1 tbsp olive oil
1 tsp ground cumin
1 tsp ground coriander
1/4 tsp black pepper

Preheat to 475 degrees. Slice up the sweet potato into fry-like sticks, about 1/4 inch thick. In a bowl mix the oil, cumin, coriander and pepper. Toss the potato sticks in the bowl to coat with the mixture, then place in one layer in a baking sheet. Bake for 10-15 minutes for each side.

I'm very excited that these came out perfect, the first time! They taste great, and are reminiscent of thanksgiving yams. They even taste good with ketchup, but you really don't need it.

Taste rating: 9
Prep time: 10 minutes (depending how sharp your knife is- those potatoes are hard suckers!)
Cook time: 20 mins
Dishes: one pan, one bowl. Woo!

PS- pay no attention to my lopsided bun!
PSS- my new favorite patties is the vegan patties from Boca.

Staple ingredient for non-cow eaters and sensitive bellies

So you may have noticed my absent for the past few weeks. What happened? Well, a few things: work- which you all know about, has slowly chipped away at my soul and energy, for one. Also, I have been using the recipes I have discovered over and over again- because they are so easy, and so good.  Therefore I will take this time to link some fabulous little ingredients that have become staples in my house, and are just gosh darn fun.

1:  Better than cream cheese by Tofutti It's true! This stuff is purely awesome.  I buy it two tubs at a time now because my husband slathers it on his bagels like peanut butter.  I recommend bagels with tomato slices topping the Tofutti.  

2: Sour Supreme by Tofutti

This is the same concept, but for sour cream. I tried it for the first time the other day on tacos, and it was very much like the real thing. I have never been a fan of sour cream, basically because of the fat content and the reaction my tummy has with it, but this stuff is great!  

3.  Speaking of tacos, no taco would be complete without Morning Star Farms' crumbles.  What I have been doing is cooking the "meat" in a frying pan with a bit of oil, then adding water with some taco seasonings.  Once the water has evaporated, you have delicious tasting crumbles.  I layer the shell with crumbles, mozzarella, lettuce, tomato, sour cream, avocado and lemon juice. I am turning into quite the fan of the lemon. Good stuff.

4. And lastly, my favorite. Soy ice cream by Turtle Mountain.  Just wow.  The fudge and coffee flavor was so good I ate half the pint in one sitting (it had been a while since I could eat ice cream) and the vanilla is perfect for smoothies.  If it's been a while since you have had soy ice cream, give it another chance, as it is very good now.

Quinoa Broccoli Bake

Quinoa is cool!! Everyone should eat this. Quinoa, is apparently a seed that grows in mountainous regions, particularly in the Andes of South America. Now it is being grown in Colorado, and is catching on as a healthy alternative to pasta. It's even considered a "superfood"! Ya! If you try this, make sure you rinse the quinoa in a sieve throughly, as the outside of the seeds have a bitter saponin coating that is not yummy to eat.

Ingredients:
1 1/2 cup quinoa, throughly rinsed
2 tbsp olive oil
1 large onion
2 chopped broccoli crowns
1 cup grated cheddar cheese

Boil 3 cups of water, then add the quinoa and simmer. Quinoa is done with the water has evaporated- about 15 minutes.

Heat oil in a skillet and saute the onion. Add the broccoli, and 1/4 cup water, cover, and steam for 5-7 minutes.

In a bowl mix the cooked quinoa and broccoli mixture with half of the cheese. Season to taste, and spread in a casserole dish. I made a little extra, so I used the big one, but if you are following the recipe exactly, you probably only need the little one (9x9?). Sprinkle the rest of the cheese on top, and bake at 375 degrees for 20 minutes.

Taste rating: 8 from both
Preparation: 20 minutes
Cook time: 20 minutes
Dishes: A good amount.

Spinach Riocotta Pasta

Another awesome 5 ingredient pasta. This dish came out incredibly cheesy, so I think for next time we will modify.

Ingredients:
Spinach Fettuccine
1/4 cup ricotta per person
Big ol' bunch of fresh spinach
Parmesan cheese
Margarine tbsp or so

The original recipe says to mix 1/2 cup of pasta water with a full cup of ricotta. This made a crazy cheese sauce of types, that was a bit too much for me. So for next time, I think we will simply cook the pasta, mix in the tbsp of margarine, then top with about 1/4 ricotta , steamed spinach, and sprinkle with Parmesan cheese.

What I really like about the 5 ingredient book, is that she has all these quick tips, that save you time and dishes. For this recipe, she writes to steam the spinach in the same pot you just used for the pasta, with only the water from the freshly rinsed spinach. This worked perfectly, and saved me (err my dishwasher) from washing another pot.

Taste rating: 7 this time- too cheesy
Preparation time: 15 minutes
Cook time: 10 minutes
Dishes used: one big pot, and some bowls.

Fruit Tart!

So the master, the REAL Rachael of cooking, is in town.  We (okay I handed items to her) made a delicious tart! 

Crust:

One package graham cracker

1/4 cup sugar

7 tbps melted butter (or more if it doesn't stick)

First she made a crust of graham crackers.  Crush the crackers in a food processor.  If you don't have one, put them in a plastic bag, and crush with a rolling pin. Mix the sugar in with the crackers in a medium bowl.

Slowly add the melted butter while you stir the crumbles.  Press the mixture into a pie pan.

Custard: 

3 egg yolks 

1 1/4 cup milk

1 tsp vanilla extract

1/4 cup sugar

2 tbsp flour

3 tbsp cornstarch

1 tsp liquor (optional)

Mix egg yolks and sugar in a medium bowl.  Sift in the flour and cornstarch while stirring consistently until incorporated.  In a medium saucepan heat milk and vanilla.  Bring to a boil then remove from heat when it starts with the rising rolling boil. Pour slowly and steadily into the egg yolk mixture until mixed.  Make sure you pour slowly as not to over cook the egg yolks. If this happens, pour the whole mixture through the sieve. 

Heat mixture in the saucepan over low-medium heat stirring continuously until it thickens, making it difficult to stir. Pour in a shallow bowl or dish.  Lay plastic wrap over the surface to prevent crusting.  Let cool to room temperature or cooler- about an hour.  

Glaze:

2/3 cup seedless jam 

1 tbsp liquid (she used cranberry juice but you can use water)

Heat jam in small saute pan on low heat.  Mix in the liquid until it's thin.

Putting it together:

Brush the glaze on top of the crust.  Then use a spatula to spread the custard over the glazed crust.  Decorate with your favorite fruit (we just bought a pre-cut mix from the store), then brush the fruit with the leftover glaze.  Sprinkle with powdered sugar, and put in the fridge to cool. 

* We used vegan butter and soy milk, so ours was a little different tasting.  I liked it, but you can experiment on your own.

** Make sure you have things like, a sieve, a basting brush, and a pie dish. Those were helpful.

Taste rating: 8

Preparation time: 2 hours plus cooling

Dishes: A good amount

Asparagus Pasta

This was most excellent! Very simple, quick, and satisfying for the starved working person.

Pasta, asparagus, garlic, and a mix of goat, feta, and mozzarella are the ingredients.

Saute some garlic in a bit of olive oil, then add the asparagus. Add a few tablespoons of water, and over to steam.

You are so hungry right now, aren't you?

When the pasta is done, throw in the asparagus, then sprinkle the cheeses on top. Mix it all up and let it melt in to the mix.

Salt and pepper to taste.

Taste rating: 9 from both
Dishes: one big ol' pot and a saute pan
Prep time: 15 min- no joke.

Spinach and Mushroom Wrap

Wow, this was super delicioso. If you like spinach, make this. This is an adaption from the 5 or Less book.

All you need is some mushrooms, a bunch of spinach, your choice of cheese and some tortillas.

Saute the mushrooms with a bit of olive oil and some minced garlic. Throw in the raw spinach, and let it reduce. Salt and pepper to taste.

Spread the mix in your tortilla, and sprinkle with cheese. We used mozzarella this time. Fold up, and bake in the oven at 400 degrees for no more than 10 minutes.

I liked the baking part, the tortilla got all nice and crispy, which was super exciting.

Prep Time: 10 min Cook time: 10 min Taste: 9 Dishes: min.

This was difficult to photograph, as all the good stuff is on the inside. Ignore the corn, he's a photo hog.

Black Bean and Avocado Salad

This is a perfect summer salad- no cooking required, just some mixing and chopping.

2 cans drained black beans
3 diced tomatoes
3 Tablespoons cilantro
1/2 cup vinaigrette
pepper
slice of lemon
1-2 Avocados

Mix the beans, tomatoes, cilantro, vinaigrette and pepper. Before serving, top with avocado then sprinkle lemon and salt on top.

We made our own vinaigrette which was more of a balsamic vinaigrette, you can really use whatever. Next time, we may do some onion with it, and perhaps some toasted tortillas.

BBQ Tofu Salad

New to being vegetarian? Got a hankering for those delicious BBQ chicken salads you used to get at restaurants? Satisfy your urge with this delicious recipe from my own head, but I'm sure there is a recipe for this somewhere out there in internet-land.

Mixed salad greens

1 can rinsed and drained black beans

1 can rinsed and drained corn kernels

1 diced tomato

1 diced jalepeno

1/2 one purple onion, diced

1/2 cup of mexican shredded cheese (or vegan cheese)

BBQ tofu

BBQ dressing (1/4 cup BBQ sauce to 2 tbsps of vegan mayo)

Drain a pack of extra firm tofu, and marinate in BBQ sauce for 20 minutes.  Place on a cookie sheet in a single layer, and bake at 375 degrees for 15 minutes.

Toss the greens, beans, corn, tomato, jalepeno, onion and cheese. Top with the tofu slices. Drizzle with the BBQ sauce mixture. 

We are going to add tortilla strips next time, if we can find some, to sprinkle on top.

Prep time: 30 min (bake the tofu while you chop and mix)

Taste rating: 9 yummmm!

Dishes: minimal 

Vegan Potato Leek Soup

This was perfect for a rainy Sunday afternoon.  The recipe is from The Vegetarian 5- Ingredient Gourmet.  This is my new book, and it's super cool for people who work, but want to eat well and flesh-free.  I substituted vegan butter and soymilk for the butter and milk to make it animal product free as well. I also used vegan vegetable bullion. 

Basically, you chop 3-4 leeks and saute in some vegan butter, using your soup pot.  Leeks are my new friend! You chop off the tops and slice up the white and light green parts.  Be careful, because they are super dirty on the inside, so wash them a few times. 

Peel and dice 6 Yukon Gold potatoes, and throw them in the pot. Add two cubes of vegan vegetable bullion and water to cover the potatoes, and simmer for 20 minutes.

Remove two cups of the potatoes and mash them, then throw them back in the pot and add about a cup of soymilk. Salt, pepper, slurp!

I was surprise at how easy, and tasty this turned out to be.

Prep time: 10 minutes

Cook Time: 25 minutes

Taste Rating: 9 from both of us.

Dishes: not a lot!

Vegan Cinnamon Rolls

Well, I have learned many things today. #1 Getting dough to rise can be an adventure.#2 If your dough hasn't done anything in 3 hours, you are probably doing something wrong. #3 Do your own research if you are attempting something new. #4 There is nothing wrong with asking people such as your mother and your chef buddy questions at 10 am.

So I attempted the recipe outlined here. Being that I have never made anything like this from scratch before, I read, reread, and reread the instructions before starting. I had all my ingredients ready to go, and I got started at 7:30 am because I knew there was a lot of wait time involved.  

I mixed the four and "vital wheat gluten" (I'm still not exactly sure what this is but I found some at Whole Foods) in my bowl. I warmed the soy milk and vegan butter. Then I had to make the yeast.I had never done this before, so I went by the instructions on the blog. Mix the yeast with warm water and sugar. Okay. What exactly is warm water? Boiled? Tap? Meh, I thought little of this, got some warm tap water, and mixed it up. Wait until bubbly. Okay. As soon as I saw some bubbles I decided that was good, and mixed it all up. Woo! I was rockin'!

I mixed the dough, and got to kneading. Now that was fun! You can get a sweet workout by kneading dough. I made my ball, and put it in my greased bowl to rise.

I checked it in an hour. Hmm, still a little ball. 

Next hour came, yeah, still in a ball. 

Next hour, I wonder if i did something wrong...

Next hour, I mix new yeast while placing the dough in an oven with an additional bowl of  hot water to get it to rise. APPARENTLY, it needs to sit in a warm place.  Who knew?  My new batch of yeast, by the way, I let sit for 10 minutes, and it was really foamy. Foamy! There is a distinct difference between "foamy" and "bubbly". I think you want foamy for yeasty things.

So, after 4 hours, my dough started to rise.  I finally got to roll it out, spread the cinnamon goodness, and slice it up.  Then, you have to wait 45 minutes for them to rise more.  After this, they cook for 30 minutes.  

Finally, after 7 hours, I had my breakfast. They came out actually good, a little tough, I'm owing to the 4 hours of "rising".  

Prep time: 7 hours? rofl

Cook time: 30 minutes

Taste rating: 8, surprisingly (I was really hungry though)

Dishes: a good amount. Kind of messy.

Spinach Orzo Mint Bake

This is a recipe from my trusty Veggie book. The original recipe is actually for a stuffed pepper, but man, that takes a lot of work.  After struggling with stuffing, then eating the pepper stuffed, I changed the recipe to a bake. Instead of stuffing a funny red pepper, I just chop one up and throw it in with the rest, then pour into a small casserole dish. (Casseroles run in my family, if you can't tell already)

Here's the recipe:

12 ounces orzo (1 bag)

2 tomatoes

1 bag thawed frozen spinach

1 cup chopped scallions

3 ounces feta cheese

2 tablespoon fresh chopped mint

1 tablespoon nonfat sour cream

1 chopped red pepper

1/2 cup mozzarella cheese

Cook the orzo as called for on the bag or box.  By the way, orzo is a type of pasta that looks like 

rice.  If you can't find it at your supermarket, try Henry's type of market.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Rinse orzo and add to a large bowl.  Then add the rest of the ingredients except for the mozzarella.  Stir, then pour into a casserole dish.  Sprinkle the mozzarella on top, then place in oven. BAM!

Bake for 25 minutes. 

Prep time 20 minutes

Cook time: 30 minutes

Taste rating:  9 from both

Dishes: minimal

Black Bean Pizza

We probably make this once a week. It's easy, quick, and super yummy. And since it's a pizza, you can play around with different toppings, cheese, and crusts. This one is in my cookbook, so here's the recipe:

Ingredients:

1 can drained black beans

1 japanese eggplant, thinly sliced lengthwise

1/2 tsp. garlic powder

1/4 ground pepper

1 pre-made pizza crust (Boboli works fine)

3 ounces goat cheese (or feta)

1 large tomato

1/2 cup scallions

2 ounces mozzarella cheese

2 tablespoons grated parmesan

1 tsp. olive oil

Directions:

Preheat the broiler. Coat a cookie sheet with non stick spray. Place the eggplant slices in a single layer on the sheet, and sprinkle with garlic powder and pepper. Broil for 3 minutes each side, or until eggplant is browned and tender.

Set oven to 475 degrees. Place your crust on a pizza pan (get a round cookie sheet-like pizza pan, it's super coolness)

Sprinkle your goat or feta on the crust. Top with eggplant, tomatoes, scallions and beans. Sprinkle with mozzaarella and or Parmesan. Drizzle with oil.

Bake until golden and melty, about 10 minutes.

We have taken to using an organic sourdough crust, which is muy delicioso. Also, don't forget to drizzle with olive oil, that is key to this recipe, I'm not sure why, it just is. :)

Prep time: 10 minutes

Cook time: 10-12 minutes

Taste rating: Solid 9s from both of us

Dirty dishes: Just a pizza and cookie sheet really

Tofu chicken nuggets!

This recipe came from compassion over killing as well.  The thing to remember with this one, is that the tofu needs to be frozen before you start.  I dried out the tofu before freezing it, but after I microwaved it to defrost it, it was soaking! So have lots of paper towels or a few soft towels ready.  It only takes about 5 minutes in the microwave.

After the defrosting, dip in water, then dip in the bread crumb mix. Pretty easy! Bake for 30min on a cookie sheet.

While they were baking a sauteed some mushrooms and scallions just for kicks to put on top of the brown rice.  

To make it fun, I heated some pre-made orange chicken sauce and drizzled on top of the cubes. Ba M!

Prep time:  15 min

Cook time: 35 minutes

Taste rating: Em-8  Joey- 6 

Dirty dishes: minimal

Next time, I'll probably use a teriyaki marinade or sauce instead of the orange sauce- it was a bit on the sweet side.

Stuffed Artichokes

This recipe is also from Jonathon's blog.  I learned some things with this one: number one, I need a sharp knife.  I went through three dull knives trying to cut the bottom and tops off of the artichokes.  Number two: Joey likes artichokes.  It's been awhile since I have seen such a reaction.  This was his first artichoke "not on a pizza" and he was highly impressed. 

So basically you cut the ends off and stuff with a bread crumb mixture. Place in a small casserole dish with about a 1/2 inch of hot water (it doesn't have to be "boiling"), and cover with tin foil. BAM! Super goodness.

That's your basic corn and store-bought flavored tofu, all microwavable- perfect for the weekday meal.  We used hummus for the dip instead of vegannaise or regular mayonnaise. 

Prep time: 15 minutes

Cook time: 45 minutes

Taste rating: me 8, Joey 9. We are now on the search for the "perfect" artichokes

Dirty dishes: minimal

Messiness: 10!  But fun!  We actually used our dinner table. Don't faint!

Vegan Pumpkin Scones

So, I'm not sure what made me think I could make these.  I was feeling good, feeling "inspired". Oh yeah, just whip up a batch of these to go with my morning tea. 

I found the recipe from Jonathon's blog and it looked so easy on his page.  He's a grad student (okay I'm an ex-grad student) and a computer programmer (okay I'm techy!) so I mistakenly thought if he could do it, so could I!

Everything was going swimmingly: I mixed the dry ingredients, then the wet. It was the combining of the two when things got sticky. Literally! I poured the mixture on my lightly floured surface, and it stuck to my hands. I couldn't get it to even look like a ball. So I ended up putting it back into the bowl and adding gobs of flour until I could work with it.

It turned out okay in the end, but I'm baffled by what I did wrong.  Any thoughts?  Wrong flour? Not enough?  Did I mix it too much? I don't know. I will probably wait awhile until trying this again; but at least I have breakfast for a week, even if it's kind of chewy.

Prep time: 25 minutes (less if you don't get a muck situation)

Cook time: 15 minutes

Taste rating: Em- 6 Joey-2 (he spit it out, but he has never had a scone before)

Dirty dishes: A few, lots of bowls and spoons

Quasi Vegan Spinach Lasagna

We are not vegans. But it's fun to pretend.  My stomach is not particularly friendly with tons of cheese, so I tried this recipe because it replaces all the ricotta with Toffuti non-dairy cream cheese (found at Henry's or Whole Foods).  Basically, it's three layers: sauce, noodles, and spinach mixture.  

For the sauce, use soy taco meat with a jar of your favorite sauce.  The recipe says to saute in a frying pan, but I opted for a regular sauce pan. Okay, I didn't really opt, I was already using my one frying pan for the spinach. But it worked better because red sauce didn't go flying around my teeny kitchen.  Just saute the faux meat until it looks not-frozen-like, then add the sauce. BAM!

For the spinach mixture, saute a bag of your most fav frozen spinach with a tad of olive oil, then remove from heat and add the two containers of fake cream cheese. Okay, this is easier said than done.  This stuff is sticky! Leave it out at room temperature before you start so it softens. It makes a very creamy spread. BAM! BAM!

The layering is: sauce, noodles, spinach spread.  Joey was the noodle master, making sure they didn't stick. If you have help, use it, or call in a favor from your most loved family member to assist in this layering odyssey.  

Non vegan part: we sprinkled heavenly mozzarella on top.  Super BAM!

Prep time: 20 minutes, plus one run to Henry's because I forgot it's TWO tubs of cream cheese. ><

Cook time: 45 minutes (plenty to time to blog it.)

Taste rating: 8

Dirty dishes: A good amount.

**Note:  The recipe says 45 minutes for cooking, I would check it at 30, ours was a tad overcooked, but still yummy.

Orange Tofu Steak

This recipe is from compassion over killing.  It's a really simple way to replace meat in any dinner plate.  Basically, you make a quick marinade of lemon juice, orange juice, maple syrup, vinegar, oil, rosemary, garlic, soy sauce and pepper, and whisk.  This took me about 10 minutes (one minute to locate a whisk).  Use extra firm tofu, and dry it with paper towels.  One site said to lay the tofu on a few paper towels, then put some more paper towels on top, then on top of that lay a cutting board on the tofu so it really absorbs the water.  You can do this while you make the marinade. Slice the tofu horizontally and lay flat in a casserole dish.  My pack made 5 steaks.

Pour the marinade on top, cover, and refrigerate for 8 hours or so.  This time I refrigerated for more like 6, and it still came out pretty dang good.  I grilled mine in a pan, since I don't have a barbeque grill, and it worked fine.  Brush grill with olive oil- the less you use, the more crunchy of a steak you get.  Grill for 5 minutes per side. Done!

Prep time: 10 min

Wait time: 6-8 hours

Cook time: 10 minutes

Taste rating: 7

Dirty dishes: medium

Next time I will use fresh herbs instead, and more garlic than is called for in the recipe.

We tried this again this week.  We used less oil for some crispiness, and more garlic and fresh rosemary.  Also, we cut the tofu block in half, and made big steaks, one for each of us.  The taste was more distinct, but the fat slices were a bit much.  We might try strips next time- kind of like chicken strips- because the steak block is a bit strange. :P

Welcome

I created this blog to keep track of vegetarian recipes that I am trying from the web. Feel free to post your own mean recipes and add your two cents to any aspects of the process.