A Good Sandwich.

As you know from past blog posts, I love sandwiches. Sometimes you get lazy and home made sandwiches can be pretty boring but when you put a little effort into it with different breads and good ingredients, they are delicious. Last night I made this sandwich for dinner on russian rye. It has avocado, red bell pepper, cucumber, vegan cashew based cheese (that I made a while ago), sprouts, tomato and vegenaise. I squeezed some lemon and sprinkled salt and pepper. My brother and I shared it. So good!

Raw Vegan Wraps.

Healthy wraps for lunch today made with collard greens and zucchini slices as wrappers and two different nut spreads and an assortment of fresh veggies. The spread on the left is the black pepper cashew cheeze (cashews, lemon juice, miso, water, black pepper) from Ani Phyo's raw book. I added yellow miso for some saltiness. The one on the right is the Sun-dried tomato pâté from "You Won't Believe It's Vegan". I didn't have enough sun-dried tomatoes so it's not as red in color but it's got good stuff in it: almonds, sunflower seeds, walnuts, olive oil, parsley, garlic, lemon juice and black olives.

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!

Cheezy Enchilada Casserole & Lemon Loaf Cake

My love for casseroles will never die. Today I made an adapted version of Bob Barker's vegan enchilada casserole which you can find here. I forgot to top it with Fritos at the end, bah! But it's ok it was still amazing. I used black and pinto beans along with a package of veggie ground from Helen's Kitchen. I also added a lot of sauteed peppers and onions. And for the cheese, I used Pepper Jack Daiya vegan shreds.

So good with homemade guacamole.

And a dessert to celebrate the weekend: lemon scented vanilla cake with lemon icing. This cake recipe uses olive oil which I find makes cakes very very moist.

Vanilla Lemon Loaf Cake
1-1/2 cups flour
1 cup unrefined sugar
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 cup almond milk
1/3 cup regular olive oil
1 TB grated lemon zest
1 TB cider vinegar
1 tsp vanilla

Preheat oven to 350F. Grease a loaf pan with oil. Sift dry ingredients into a bowl. Add wet ingredients and mix until smooth. Pour into greased loaf pan and bake about 30-35 minutes or until toothpick test comes out clean. Let it cool for 5-10 minutes. Poke holes in cake with a wooden skewer. Make icing and pour over cake.
Lemon Icing
1/2 to 1 cup powdered sugar
2-4 TB lemon juice
Mix until smooth and thick, but pourable. You may add more sugar or lemon juice until you get the right consistency.

"Cheesy" Broccoli and Quinoa Casserole.

And here we have yet another casserole this week. I found the recipe here and gave it a go when I got home from work. Only thing different is I also sauteed some celery and carrots with the onions. I also added 1 tsp miso paste and 1 tsp veggie broth powder to the sauce. I cut my salt to 1 tsp because I figured the miso would make up for the other, but I probably should have kept the salt content as the recipe directed.

I would definitely make this again. It's creamy and very satisfying.

Eggplant Caponata, Cashew Cheeze Spread and Banana Bread

I like to make snacks that I can eat all throughout the weekend. I made the caponata yesterday after coming home from work because I wanted all the flavors to meld overnight. I used a recipe from The Mediterranean Vegan Kitchen cookbook. The recipe asks you to roast the eggplant which I was too lazy to do, so I just threw everything in a pot and cooked it slowly. Came out yummy. I plan to use the leftovers (there are lots) to serve over pasta. The cashew cheeze is just raw cashews soaked overnight that I blended with garlic, tahini, oil and salt in my new Blendtec.

Banana bread with chocolate chips and dried cherries. This is to have with hot cups of tea.

Everything is better with chocolate!

Long time no blog!

Sorry I haven't blogged in a while. I've been eating lots but not cooking as much as I want to. I am addicted to Domino's cheeseless thin crust pizza with mushrooms, olives, onions and green peppers and extra sauce, help! I really do want to cook from scratch at home. I have lists that I keep of foods I want to cook. Here are a few things that I've made recently.

I made another cashew cheese from the Vegetarian Times recipe, this time with a black pepper crust. So good.

Here is our spread along with goodies from the much too expensive antipasti bar at Whole Foods. $8 for the container on the right - what?

Nosh nosh!

This was a delicious grilled portobello burger along with grilled potato that I made last weekend.

Monday's chili made into chili dogs on Tuesday with chopped onions and kraut!

Daiya Wedge Quesadilla and Pasta E Fagioli.

I bought a product called "Daiya Wedge" today in the jack flavor. I've bought Daiya shreds before but never this. It's basically a compact wedge of Daiya that you can slice and use how you wish. It melts nicely. I made a gooey quesadilla with roasted red peppers.

This is the pasta e fagioli recipe from Urban Vegan cookbook. I pared down the recipe because I was cooking for one so I think my liquid to pasta/beans recipe was a little off. Normally I like it more soupy. But this was still excellent. I added sauteed onion, celery and carrots to mine. I topped it with Parmezano Sprinkles, which is a parmesan cheese substititue that contains cashews, miso paste, nutritional yeast, and salt.

Mmm. More weekend food.

I actually had the motivation to cook this weekend. Have a look see.

Sauteed tofu on salad greens with cranberries and poppyseed dressing (Brianna's).

Stuffed mushrooms via this recipe.

Vegan cashew cheese from the Vegetarian Times recipe.

On top of crackers of course.

Homemade vegan potato salad (potatoes, vegenaise, red onion, celery, parsley, dill, mustard, apple cider vinegar, sugar, salt and pepper) and roasted vegetables. Very yummy.

Gardein Beefless Burger

Gardein ("garden" + "protein") makes wonderful meat substitutes which you can find in the freezer section at your local grocery store. I was able to find them at Ralph's, Vons, Whole Foods and even Target! I've had several varieties from their line of vegan proteins and this beefless burger is probably one of the best veggie burgers I've ever had. I cooked mine on a charcoal grill and basted it with bbq sauce. The texture is pretty meaty and hamburger- like with a pretty good flavor. Makes a great cheeseburger with a slice of american Tofutti vegan cheese.
Gardein website.

Vegan Snack Time Again.

Homemade "cheddar" from The Ultimate Uncheese Cookbook. It's made out of almonds, roasted peppers, miso paste, nutritional yeast and other spices.


It slices well but is on the softer side. Very tasty though! I topped a wasa bread with the cheese and olive and red pepper salad.

Chickpea Salad Melt

This takes me back to when I was living at my college dorm in the mid 90's. The decor was very dated as was the food in the dining halls. The starchy greasy food made me gain the Freshman 40. Awesome right? Well, one of those foods was the tuna melt. Toasty bread, mayonnaise-y tuna salad and melted cheese on top. I decided to re-create that dish today, vegan style.

The first thing I did was make the tuna salad equivalent. I made chickpea salad out of mashed chickpeas, chopped celery, red onion, vegan mayonnaise (Vegenaise brand), garlic powder, onion powder, a touch of mustard, salt and pepper. The proportions are up to you, taste as you go. If you want a "fishy" taste, you may add dulse or nori flakes. Next, I made the "cheese" sauce. The recipe I used is very similar to the "Cheese Sauce" recipe you'll find here. It's the 3rd recipe down. You don't have to make the whole amount, cut the recipe in half if you want. You can always store the rest in the fridge for later. Ok, so after that, I assembled the sandwich. I buttered a slice of whole grain bread with Earth Balance margarine, spooned some chickpea salad on top, dolloped a couple TB of cheese sauce and put it under the broiler for several minutes so the toast browned and the sauce got all bubbly.

VeganMoFo: Nachos

Quick dinner of homemade nachos with refried beans, jalapenos and fresh salsa. I used the Nacho Cheez recipe from The Ultimate Uncheese cookbook. It's very smooth and creamy with a nice kick from the cayenne and other spices in it.

Black Bean Chilaquiles

I've never made authentic chilaquiles before so I asked one of my coworkers for tips. She gave me a quick rundown and I came home and pretty much followed her instructions. (Though she did say to make a lot of sauce which I should have done!) It was super easy and delicious! I used Daiya vegan cheese which didn't melt well in the skillet so I had to stick it under the broiler at the end. That worked just fine. It was sooo good with some avocado on top. Some of the chips were soaked in the spicy chilaquiles sauce and some were still a bit crispy. Definitely going to make this again.


Simmering the sauce.


Just out of the broiler.

Black Bean Chilaquiles

olive oil
1/2 onion, chopped
2-3 cloves garlic, minced
1 jalapeno pepper, chopped
1 15oz. can diced tomatoes
1 15oz. can black beans, drained
1 tsp. cumin
1/2 tsp. oregano
a pinch of sugar
salt to taste
2 cups tortilla chips
2 cups vegan cheese

1. Heat a bit of olive oil in a skillet on medium high heat. Saute onion, garlic and jalapeno for about 5 minutes or until soft.
2. Add tomatoes and half the beans.
3. Stir in spices and simmer on low for 10 minutes.
4. Add tortilla chips, the other half of the beans and cheese. Cover with a lid for 5 minutes. Uncover and transfer to broiler to further melt the cheese.
Note: You can always double the sauce part to make the tortilla chips more soggy-like.

Junk Food Alert!

I had nachos for dinner. Yes these are very junky but what the heck! I was in the mood for them so I made sure that this was on the menu tonight. I made "taco meat" out of tvp and taco seasonings and cheez sauce from 'The Ultimate Uncheese Cookbook'. It's the "instant cheez-it sauce" and I added a few TB of salsa to it. With some black beans, jalapenos and a vegan mayo "sour cream" (just mix it with lime or lemon juice), I had a drool worthy plate of nachos!


There's this recipe for microwave chocolate cake on vegweb that I had made a couple of times before. I was in the mood and I needed it now. So I whipped this up in 3 minutes in my microwave. I added vegan chocolate chips and white chocolate chips. Sweet coconut on top made it a fun dessert to indulge in. This is something I will not do often because it's junk food, but when you want it, you gotta have it!


And you're wondering, is it good? Why yes. Yes it is. It's very fluffy and soft and gooey from the melted chocolate chips.

Spaghetti w/ Red Wine and Rosemary Marinara

Made dinner with help from my new cookbook 'Vegan Italiano' tonight. Very simple sauce that came together in under 30 minutes. I added lots of fresh basil and zucchini. I topped my portion of pasta with a blob of creamy cashew cheeze sauce that I got from work (sorry can't give you the recipe). The sauce was great when mixed in with the pasta, it made it very creamy and so yummy!

Hummus, Black Olive Tapenade, Black Pepper Cheeze

To continue yesterday's delicious Mediterranean theme, I made a few things to enjoy today. The rain had gone, leaving a bright, breezy and sunny day in it's wake. I was not going to waste a weekend by staying indoors and not enjoy the beauty. I brought my book and a tray of delicious snacks to the patio.


My tray of deliciousness. I made hummus and I always use the same recipe everytime which is from the "Tables of Lebanon" cookbook. It's creamy, lemony and garlicky and just perfect. I also made black olive tapenade, black pepper cheeze and mint iced tea. And of course with all these dips and spreads, I had pita bread and fresh baguette slices.


Black olive tapenade. Recipe from "The Mediterranean Vegan Kitchen". It's made with olives, garlic, dijon, capers, herbes de provence and olive oil. So good. I can see this being used to toss with hot pasta.


Black pepper cheeze from "Ani's Raw Food Kitchen", made with cashews, garlic, lemon juice, black pepper and crushed red pepper.


Mmm, can you imagine?

Daiya Cheese Quesadilla

This was a quick lunch for me before I head out for work. I've had Daiya before on homemade pizza which I liked but having it in a quesadilla I loved! For some reason, the combination of melty cheese inside a grilled flour tortilla with buttery earth balance margarine made it taste just like real cheese. I can't wait to try this again and maybe add grilled vegetables to it.

Pizza with Daiya Vegan Cheese

Hello melty gooey vegan cheese that is Daiya! Found some shredded Daiya at Whole Foods and decided to make this yummy pizza. It's got tomato sauce seasoned with za'atar, chopped garlic, tomatoes, onions and sliced olives.


This cheese is very melty and to me tastes kind of similar to Follow Your Heart. (I think I might like the taste of FYH better...) I liked it well enough but would not go out of my way to have it on pizza every time. It was nice to have a change from cheeseless pizza.


And to go with my "lounging on the weekend and watching dvds in bed" theme, I brought a tray to my room. I topped the pizza with arugula salad. Also on the tray, homemade baba ganouj/sundried tomato hummus with cucumbers for dipping and a gingerberry kombucha. I enjoyed all of this while watching 'Death on the Nile' which was most excellent!


Later on, I brought tea and dessert to bed. The tea is Cameronian gold blend and dessert was Fabe's chocolate chip cake.


Considering this is a "health food" brand of cake, it was still very moist and sweet enough (it's not sweetened with sugar, but rather barley and chicory syrup).