Lentil Chili and Cheddar Garlic Beer Bread!

Cheddar garlic beer bread! I found this recipe at the Daiya website and I printed it out. I don't think it's on the site anymore but I posted a pic of the recipe at the bottom of this post.

It's tender and chewy and really flavorful! I added a clove of crushed garlic to the recipe for more flavor.

Lentil chili on the stove.

Armenian Lentil Soup, Garlic Cheesy Bread, Cake!

Armenian Lentil Soup recipe from The Happy Pear cookbook. It's got red lentils, potato, carrot, swede (my addition, it called for celeriac which I didn't have) onion and dried apricots. It's lovely and smooth after it gets blitzed in the blender. Very tasty!

Garlic cheese bread again!

Plain vanilla cake with vanilla icing and sprinkles.

Broccoli Rice Casserole, Garlic Cheesy Bread and Mocha Blueberry Cake.

Last week I made this broccoli rice casserole following one of those old Campbell's recipes. Instead of cream of mushroom soup, I used Imagine portobello mushroom soup. It was good. Next time I'll add more soup and more salt.

Saw this pull apart cheesebread recipe going around that I had to make vegan. You basically melt Earth Balance, add garlic and scallions. Then you pour this mixture into the crevices of your cut up bread loaf. Wrap it in foil and bake for 10 minutes at 350 F. Then unwrap and fill with cheese, then bake for another 15 minutes unwrapped at about 400 F.

It's totally doable!

Delicious and so bad for you! I probably ate most of it on my own. The guilt!

And for weekend dessert, mocha blueberry cake! I used this recipe. I used blueberry instead of plain yogurt so mine had a hint of blueberry flavor.

It is intensely coffee flavored. The dark chocolate drizzle is a must to balance out the strong coffee.

Chickpea Ketchup Curry and Homemade Roti.

Chickpea ketchup curry from River Cottage Veg cookbook. Easy and satisfying.

Homemade roti! Here's a good recipe using whole wheat flour. I used white flour for mine.

So tasty!

For dinner yesterday I made the Spicy Chickpeas and Carrots from the River Cottage Veg cookbook. It has great flavors: cumin, garlic, orange zest, orange juice and smoked paprika.

For supper tonight we had a bunch of lovely things to nibble on. Salad, tomato bruschetta, white bean hummus, agave roasted cherry tomatoes (that I made yesterday) with fresh seeded baguette slices.

Arugula, cranberries, grilled zucchini, grilled mushrooms tossed in a light italian dressing.

Tomato bruschetta which is simply fresh cherry tomatoes, garlic, olive oil and basil, salt and pepper.

Popped open the Moroccan Olive Salad that I bought yesterday from World Market. This stuff is good! Green olives bathed in olive oil, tomato sauce and spices.

All served on seeded baguette slices. I love eating like this so much.

So tasty!

"Life Changing Loaf of Bread".

This "bread" recipe has been going around the internet and has been blogged about many times by foodies like myself. I wanted to try it because I'm a fan of dense breads full of fiber. I buy Mestemacher german breads often and I love them. This one is not really like Mestemacher because there is no rye. It is loaded with different nuts and seeds which creates a crunchy texture. It is very dense and very flavorful. My loaf was made with flax seeds, chia, sunflower seeds, sliced almonds and roasted hazelnuts, psyllium husk and oats. It is lightly sweetened with agave and rich with coconut oil. Find the recipe here! Pictures of my loaf below.

As you can see, the loaf came out beautifully browned and golden.

I cut them into slices and topped it with Trader Joe's eggplant hummus, arugula and tomato bruschetta salad. Delicious!

I pre-sliced some and will save for later!

More lavash pizza and "Help Yourself" lunch.

I love making lavash pizza. I made these on Saturday. So simple and quick! Just ten minutes in the oven.

With arugula salad.

I love this. This was today's mid day snack. My husband just told me today that growing up, his mom would make lunch that she would call "Help Yourself". She would lay out a bunch of items like breads, crackers, meats, cheeses, spreads, pickles, etc and everyone would help themselves. I kind of did something similar today. Homemade tomato bruschetta with store bought hummus and olive tapenade, Daiya cheese, crackers and fresh bread.

So scrummy.

My favorite Daiya wedge flavor, jalapeno havarti. It's so creamy and good with a slight kick.

Pumpkin Cranberry Bread Pudding.

This is a good one for the holidays. I got the recipe from 1,000 Vegan Recipes. I used a day old french loaf that I knew was not going to be eaten so I used it for this. I also had exactly 1 cup of pumpkin puree leftover from Thanksgiving that was hiding out in my freezer. 45 minutes later, we have bread pudding. It was so good, soft and tender with holiday flavors. Yummy.

Pav Bhaji.

Indian cravings call for a spicy mashed vegetable curry (bhaji) served with "buttered" bread (pav). Pav Bhaji is a popular street food in Mumbai which is a potato based curry that is mashed up with a variety of veggies, spices and tomato until it becomes thick and saucy. I like to leave some of the vegetables chunky in mine. The recipe I use calls for cauliflower as one of the ingredients but I didn't have any so I used a 1/2 bag of "mixed vegetables including lima beans" that I found in my freezer. Worked in a pinch with the potatoes and 1/2 bell pepper I had. The curry is eaten with buttered buns which I didn't have (shame!) so I made do with pita breads spread with Earth Balance vegan margarine. I served it with mango ginger chutney, chopped red onion and a squeeze of lemon. This was SO DELICIOUS. I have to remember next time not to wear a white shirt when eating this!

Here's a link to the recipe. Don't forget to sub Earth Balance for the butter!

Baked Tofu Sandwich, TVP Indian Curry and Banana Split Tea Bread

I made this sandwich last week using delicious baked tofu. Toast some whole grain bread, throw on some Vegenaise, lettuce, tomato and you've got a great lunch. Soy or tempeh bacon and avocado would be great additions as well.


Experimented with TVP chunks again to make this simple indian curry with kale and potatoes. It was so good on jasmine rice. I don't use TVP often so this was a nice treat.


This is the banana split tea bread recipe from Vegan Planet. It's so colorful and has bananas, walnuts, chocolate chips, cherries and coconut (my addition). It baked up beautiful but because of my wonky oven, it was a little underdone even though I checked it with a toothpick and it came out clean! WTH?


Thankfully the underdone bits are more "mushy banana" tasting rather than "uncooked batter" tasting.

Banana Molasses Bread

Look what I made last night! I would have taken a photo of the whole loaf but a lot of it is gone already! I based it off of this recipe. I didn't have Sucanat so I used regular unrefined sugar and added some blackstrap molasses for color. I also used spelt flour and omitted the chocolate chips. It came out so moist and amazing. This will be my go-to banana bread from now on.

Ham and Radish on Rye.

I received some coupons from the folks at French Meadow Bakery to try out some of their products. All their products are made with natural organic ingredients and if you want to find them at your local health food store, you'll find them in the refrigerated/freezer section. I picked up a loaf of this really nice rye bread with whole grain and used it for my sandwich.




A thin slice of dense rye bread slathered with vegenaise, german mustard and topped with a slice of Yves veggie ham and radish slices. This was really delicious. I liked the bread a lot and it reminded me of the Mestemacher German breads that I also like. My next sandwich with this bread will be grilled rye with veggie ham and melting Daiya cheese!

Cherry Tomato and Roasted Red Pepper Bruschetta

I got 'Vegan Italiano' yesterday and wanted to break it in so I made this delicious bruschetta. So simple and so fresh, it has cherry tomatoes, roasted red peppers, garlic, fresh basil, olive oil and a touch of balsamic vinegar. This makes me think of what summer is going to be like. Fresh and colorful foods, baseball, sunny days...can't wait! (And this is coming from someone who loves rain and grey weather as well.)

Lemon Poppyseed Muffin Bread

It's been raining for the past week and it even hailed this morning. I made this lemon poppyseed bread to welcome back the sun and whattya know, the sun just came out right now!


This is the lemon poppyseed muffin recipe from The Chicago Diner cookbook. It's less hassle for me to just throw the batter into a loaf tin. This beautiful bread is a result.


So good with a spread of margarine and blueberry jam.