Indoor Grilling and Vegan Cheese Making.

Hi folks! I'm back with pure happiness. I love to grill veggies. I usually grill outside on our tiny charcoal bbq but I decided to opt out due to laziness of setting it all up. I have one of those large grill pans that you set on the burners on your stove. Worked just fine except you don't get that charred taste that comes with charcoal grilling. It's ok. I was happy anyway.

Not too bad eh? I grilled some portobellos mushrooms, zucchini, peppers, red onions and cherry tomatoes.

I made some vegan cheese to enjoy with crackers and also to put in sandwiches. I used the Colby cheez recipe from The Ultimate Uncheese cookbook. It's made from cashews, roasted red peppers (I used some ajvar instead), nutritional yeast, tahini, lemon and spices and seasonings. I made the 'cheddar' variation which adds miso paste. It's tasty.

Slices nice too.

This sandwich was ridiculous. I smeared some Vegenaise and garlic spread on russian rye and layered on the cheddar, portobello mushroom and veggies and seared the sandwich on both sides over medium heat. So good!

It's a lovely and relaxing Saturday. Nibbles to nosh!

We love to nosh on delicious spreads that go well with baguettes and crackers. They are especially nice on weekends because we are relaxed and unhurried and martinis are usually on the menu as well.

First up, we have really amazing hummus and garlic spread from Fresh n Nova that find at Whole Foods. So far this is the best packaged hummus for me. I don't know why it's so hard to find good packaged hummus! Below is the garlic spread which is very much like the famous garlic spread at local middle eastern restaurant Zankou Chicken. So garlicky and amazing.

My husband is a runner (I'm more like a "kind-of" runner!) so he was excited to get this book which has both meat and veggie recipes. The vegan recipes are clearly marked which I like. It's a gorgeous book with tempting recipes.

Pretty photos too and clear, concise recipes.

Here is the chickpea spread. I made it pretty much how it was written except I added the juice of a small lemon. It needed some brightness. I also chilled it a bit instead of serving it hot. It's really good!

And a quick olive tapenade made with chopped black and green olives, red onion, white onion, garlic, red wine vinegar and olive oil.

All together now. Let me tell you, it's all scrumptious and vegan! My husband loved it so much he wants it all again tomorrow!

Saturday Taco Lunch, Stir-Fry and Carrot-Nut Muffins.

Had a delicious lunch with my mom and her best friend yesterday. Mom helped make this delicious spread of food. Tacos with sauteed tofu, veggie ground, fresh salsa and guacamole and potato salad. The tomato salad was fresh from Gelson's.

Stir fry using Tofurky sausages flavored with vegetarian stir fry sauce (kinda like oyster sauce) and sweet chili sauce.

Ok, so this was my attempt at making a raw vegan carrot cake with carrots, dates and nuts. All I can say is...FAIL.

So I transformed it into a cooked carrot cake. I just dumped 1 cup of carrot/nut mixture into kittee's vanilla cake recipe (halfing the cake recipe). I saved the rest of the raw cake mixture in the freezer for future use.

Vegan "Fish n Chips" (or Panko Crusted Tofu)

I've said this before on my blog that I never liked fish but these panko crusted tofu "fish" fillets are so good with homemade tartar sauce, a squeeze of lemon and a side of fries (chips) and peas. The tofu was first marinated for a few hours in an olive oil/miso paste/mustard/seaweed flakes/soy sauce/garlic/ginger mixture and then covered in flour, dipped in almond milk, then coated in panko bread crumbs and baked in the oven. I normally fry these but I wanted to keep it fairly low fat. If you want to fry, by all means do! I'm sure it'll be even crispier and tastier that way.

Creamy tomato soup & grilled cheese, salad w/ homemade croutons, gluten free cake and another casserole.

It's supposed to rain all weekend, so I made an all American favorite: tomato soup paired with a grilled cheese sandwich. So comforting and delicious! I loosely followed Mary McCartney's "Must Have Creamy Tomato Soup" (subbing almond milk for the soy creamer) and made the sandwich using pepper jack and mozzarella Daiya vegan cheese. Yummy yummy yummy yummy....

A simple salad with mixed greens, homemade croutons (made from Ezekiel bread) and one of the most delicious salad dressings ever. It's the Caesar dressing recipe from The Ultimate Uncheese Cookbook. Make it now! Recipe for the dressing below. For the croutons, just toss bread cubes with olive oil and garlic powder and italian herbs and toast in a 400 degree F oven for 15 minutes, stirring 1/2 way.

Gluten-free chocolate cake loaded with candy sprinkles.

I made this casserole last week. It's the usual quinoa, black beans and Daiya cheese tortillas casserole. I love it so much.

Caesar Dressing (Adapted from The Ultimate Uncheese Cookbook by Jo Stepaniak)

3 TB nutritional yeast flakes
2 TB tahini
2 TB Dijon mustard (use whole grain mustard!)
1/2 tsp crushed garlic
1/3 cup water
3 TB lemon juice
1 TB red wine vinegar (she used balsamic)
2 TB Vegenaise (my addition!)
Whisk all ingredients together and chill. If too thick add a little more water.

Victoria Sponge with Lemon Curd

Cake time again! I made another victoria sandwich with lemon curd. I had a bit of a lemon curd meltdown with a recipe I found online, so I think I'll be on the lookout for another one next time.

Even though the curd was a little runny, it still tasted amazing!

Tofurky Artisan Sausages

Tofurky has some new sausages out. Their new artisan line has three flavors: Andouille, Spinach Pesto and Chickn and Apple. I brought home a package of the Andouille flavor to try out in a bun.

I heated the sausage in a pan with a little oil. It doesn't need much cooking time. So easy. They work great on a grill too. This is a really good sausage with a slight kick of heat. Loved it on a bun with all the fixings: chopped onion, mustard, ketchup and sauerkraut.