Chickpea Almond Melt, Grocery Finds and LYFE Kitchen Review.

My fave chickpea salad made with chickpeas, ground almonds, celery, green pepper, red onion, vegan mayo, garlic powder, a bit of mustard and salt and pepper. It's truly delicious! I made a scrummy melt with whole grain bread and Daiya cheddar. It was so gooey and satisfying.

If you haven't tried this, do it TODAY!

Yummy accidentally vegan treats. The cashew brittle is to die for.

Asian pasta salad I made with quinoa pasta. I liked it at first but then the next day it sucked. Never buying quinoa pasta again. It fell apart and was hard yet overcooked at the same time.

LYFE Kitchen in Culver City. This was my first time. It has something for everyone: omnivores, veggies, vegan, gluten free. I got this corn chowder which was really good.

The caesar salad with Gardein chicken was good too.

Tasty English Muffin.

Dinner: Pan fried english muffin with veggie ham and Daiya jalapeno havarti vegan cheese. I ate it with tamarind chutney and a nice arugula salad with cranberry and fried onions. So tasty.

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.

Apple Pumpkin Upside Down Cake, Polka Dot Muffins and Quesadilla

Pumpkin apple cake from an adapted recipe that was featured at the Midcentury Menu blog. I used a can of pumpkin and a box of spice cake mix for the batter. That's it! The apples, I just simmered in juice (cranberry or apple will do) until tender. I melted Earth Balance margarine on the bottom of the pan and sprinkled brown sugar, layered the apple slices, then poured batter on top. After 28 or so minutes in the oven, it was perfect! This cake went to a house party we went to last night. It was gone in a flash.

Polka Dot Muffins recipe from The Complete Vegan Kitchen cookbook. It uses cream of wheat in the batter and for me, it was a little too coarse of a muffin. I don't know if I'll make these again. They were just ok.

Breakfast Daiya cheese quesdilla.

Sunflower Mac n Cheez, Fountain of Health Hummus.

I made a vegan mac n cheez today loosely based off the Veg News mac and cheese recipe. The base is usually cashews and some veggies like potato, carrots and shallots. Well I didn't have cashews so I used soaked sunflower seeds, potatoes, kabocha squash, onions, carrots and miso. Came out so creamy! I also added about 1/2 cup of Daiya and stirred it in at the end. Would you like some mac with your cheez?

Fountain of Health hummus now available at select RALPHS supermarkets in southern California! This is my favorite packaged hummus that I found on my last trip back to Montreal. It's made in Quebec (under Fontaine Sante) and it's so lovely. Creamy and fluffy and just perfect! I got two flavors. I hope they never stop selling it here. This made my day today.

On a bagel. Yummy snack.

Sunflower Mac n Cheez recipe

Ingredients:
1/2 box of macaroni
1 potato, peeled and diced
1 onion, peeled and chopped
1/2 cup carrots, sliced
1/2 of a small kabocha squash, peeled and sliced
1 cup raw, hulled sunflower seeds that have been soaked in hot water for about 15 minutes
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 heaping tablespoon yellow miso
1/4 to 1/2 cup plain almond or soymilk
2 TB lemon juice
1 tsp. paprika
2 tsp. salt
1/2 cup Daiya cheese

Method:
Place the potatoes, onions, carrots and kabocha squash in a saucepan and cover with water. Bring to a boil and let simmer for about 15 minutes or until vegetables are tender.
Cook macaroni in salted water. While pasta is cooking: drain the sunflower seeds and put the sunflower seeds, garlic, miso, 1/4 cup almond milk, lemon juice, paprika and salt in a blender and blend until smooth. You may add more almond milk if it's not smooth enough.
When vegetables are cooked, drain the water that they were cooking in and add the vegetables to the sauce in the blender. Blend for about 2 minutes or until all ingredients come together and the sauce is smooth. When pasta is finished cooking, drain and put back into the pot. Add the sauce, stir in the Daiya. You can turn on the heat a little to get the Daiya to melt. Usually, the sauce will be pretty hot coming from my high speed blender.

"Get Well Soon, Paul!" cupcakes and other weekend foods.

So the love of my life, Paul McCartney got ill the day after he arrived in Japan a little over a week ago. He was so ill that he canceled the entire asian leg of his tour. You can imagine how worried I've been! We need you to be well Macca! I forget that he is almost 72 years old. He is normally so bouncy and energetic that I can't fathom him ever being sick. And Paul hardly ever cancels shows so to hear that five shows were canceled was pretty alarming. I made some vanilla cupcakes today with chocolate icing to wish Paul a speedy recovery. So far his people have said that he is definitely recovering. I hope he gets lots of rest. I'm seeing him at Dodger Stadium this August so I am very excited.

I used kittee's moist vanilla cake recipe and a chocolate icing recipe from The Complete Vegan Kitchen cookbook. I used Ghirardelli chocolate in my icing. Yummy.

Keeping the McCartney theme, this is Mary McCartney's pan fried cheese, tomato and onion sandwich. I used Daiya vegan cheese for gooey meltiness.

Crockpot pinto beans from scratch. Just a bit of onion, garlic, cumin, salt, pepper and liquid smoke for seasoning.

Tostada with pico de gallo, avocado and hot sauce. So delicious!

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.

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.

More weekend eating.

I made another snack from Mary McCartney's book FOOD. It's the Pan-Fried Cheese, Tomato and Onion Sandwich. I used yellow and red cherry tomatoes and Daiya vegan mozzarella style cheese. It was delicious.

Gooey Daiya cheese.

Here we have a breakfast specialty of mine, a scrambled tofu sandwich. I added mushrooms today. Usually I have it on white toast but all I had was a loaf of Dave's Killer Bread which is full of whole grains. Worked out fine and was very satisfying with lots of Vegenaise and ketchup!

Vegans love cake too! Here is a tried and true eggless, dairy free date cake that I make often. It's so easy and so moist and sweet. Perfect with a hot cup of tea in the afternoon. Recipe here. (Substitute almond milk for the dairy milk!)

Another Casserole! (And A Salad too.)

This casserole making is getting out of hand! But since we are heading towards fall, don't you think comforting foods that bubble and bake away in a hot oven sound appealing? This "Chilaquiles Casserole" is based off of this recipe. I didn't use enchilada sauce, instead I used one can of tomato sauce mixed with one can of El Pato sauce. I also used Daiya pepper jack vegan cheese and added an extra can of beans to the filling. Mmm, mmm good. I love cheesy and saucy food. I'll have seconds, please!

This was my dinner last night. A giant bowl of salad with sauteed tofu and other good stuff. Tossed with sesame oil, lemon and soy sauce.

Not again!

YES! Again! I make this when I want something easy and super satisfying. This quinoa and black bean tortilla casserole dish never disappoints. I make it so much I should really start referring to it as "The Casserole". This time I added Daiya vegan cheese to create a nice melty top.

Quinoa and Black Bean Tortilla Casserole

Filling:
2 TB olive oil
1 medium onion, chopped
1 green bell pepper, chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 zucchini, chopped
1 tsp. cumin
1 tsp. chili powder
1 tsp oregano
1 14oz. can diced tomatoes, drained with juice reserved
1 14oz. can black beans, drained and rinsed
2 cups water
3/4 cups quinoa
salt and pepper to taste
1 cup Daiya cheese
Sauce: 2 - 8oz. can tomato sauce or you can use 2 cans of EL PATO sauce (yum!)
1/2 tsp. cumin
1/2 tsp. chipotle chili powder or plain chili powder
pinch of cayenne
1/3 cup Vegenaise
8 flour tortillas (to make it gluten free, use corn tortillas!)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Heat olive oil in a medium sized pot and saute the veggies and garlic until they are soft. Stir in the cumin, taco seasoning and oregano and then add the drained tomatoes, black beans, water and quinoa. Bring to a boil and then lower heat to medium low and cover. Let simmer for 20 minutes or until quinoa is tender. Season with salt and pepper. Prepare sauce: Mix the cans of tomato sauce and the reserved tomato juice in a bowl. Season with 1/2 tsp cumin and 1/2 tsp. chipotle chili powder. Add a pinch of cayenne and stir until combined. Prepare drizzle by combining vegenaise and about a TB of the reserved tomato sauce. Cut tortillas into 4 wedges each. Spread a little bit of the red sauce in the bottom of a baking dish. Layer some tortillas wedges on bottom of dish. Spread with half the filling. Top with more tortillas. Pour half of sauce and sprinkle half of the Daiya cheese. Layer with more tortillas, spread rest of filling, top with more tortillas. Pour remaining sauce on top and the drizzle with vegenaise mixture. Top with other half of Daiya cheese. Bake covered for 30 minutes.

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.

Pita Pizza.

This is a result of using what you have. Pita bread + Daiya vegan cheese + red onions = delicious and crispy pizza.

A Dang Good Sandwich.

Veggie ham, Daiya vegan cheese, tomato, sauerkraut, red onion, piccalilli, vegan mayo/ketchup on german sunflower rye. This was amazing.

Chilaquiles Casserole and Coffee-Cinnamon Tea Cake

I was craving mexican food this week and waited patiently to make this today. It's loosely based off this recipe. I made my own red sauce (recipe below), added an extra can of black beans, substituted chopped spinach for zucchini and used Daiya vegan cheddar. It turned out really yummy and satisfied my craving.

Red Sauce for Chilaquiles Casserole

Soak 5-6 dried chili peppers in hot tap water for about 20 minutes. I used a combination of anaheim and pasilla.

In a blender combine these ingredients and puree until smooth:
1 14oz. can diced tomatoes
soaked chili peppers and about 1 cup of the soaking liquid (you may add more if sauce is too thick)
2 cloves garlic
small handful of cilantro
1/2 tsp cumin
1/2 tsp oregano
salt to taste
pinch of sugar


Yum.


I also made a cake today. I used kittee's vanilla cake recipe but used brewed coffee for the liquid part of the batter instead of water. I also added a bit of cinnamon. The coffee flavor didn't come out as much. If I had coffee extract or espresso powder, it would have been better but still this is very good, especially with tea.

Cheese n Pickle Sandwich, Tuscan Braised Beans

This was my breakfast this morning. Daiya cheddar and Piccalilli on sunflower rye bread. It was sooo good. Must try this with Branston pickle next time!


I made the Tuscan Braised Beans from The Urban Vegan cookbook for dinner. It's so good with pita bread or even by itself! The beans were braised with olive oil, lemon, vinegar, garlic and sage. Yummy!