Mother's Day Lunch.

Happy Mom's Day to all the motherly ones out there. For today, my mom wanted pizza which we ordered it from her fave pizzeria. For sides, I whipped up the following. All vegan all the time!

Grilled veggies.

Potato salad.

Arugula salad with crispy onions, almonds and cranberries in a lemon-white wine vinaigrette. For the dressing: 1 tsp lemon juice, 1 tsp white wine vinegar, 4 tsp olive oil, a drop of agave nectar, salt and pepper.

My plate!

Edited to add a photo of my dinner! I made Mary McCartney's hummus, avocado and chili jam sandwich yet again. I absolutely love messy and satisfying sandwiches. Mmm, mmm!

Weekend foods.

A gorgeous and really delicious potato and green bean salad with capers, olives and red onion tossed with dijon vinaigrette. The recipe originally adds white beans but I was out. You can find the recipe at this blog page*.

Easy dinner of Dr. Praeger's California veggie burger brushed with bbq sauce on Ezekiel bread. It was yum.

I had a fight with my sweet tooth and my sweet tooth won. I broke down and baked a chocolate sheet cake with cocoa walnut glaze. Damn good and totally worth it! I used Fran Costigan's "Mix in the Pan Chocolate Cake" which is the same recipe as Crazy Cake, Wacky Cake and all those vegan egg free chocolate cake recipes out there. She adds a teeny bit of cinnamon which makes it nice.

*I'll post the recipe for the potato salad here just in case that link doesn't work later on.

Sicilian Bean and Potato Salad (Recipe from Linda McCartney's On Tour cookbook)
1 pound new potatoes, unpeeled
1 pound green beans, steamed and cut into 1 inch lengths
1 cup cooked or canned haricot (navy) or cannellini (white kidney) beans
1 small red onion, chopped finely
1/2 cup black olives, pitted and sliced
1-2 tablespoons capers
Classic Vinaigrette
2 tablespoons freshly chopped parsley

In a medium saucepan, cook the potatoes in boiling water until they are tender. Allow them to cool slightly and cut them in half.
Mix the potatoes, beans, onion, black olives and capers in a large bowl. Pour sufficient vinaigrette over the salad to moisten it and toss well. Sprinkle with parsley and serve.

Classic Vinaigrette (Recipe from Linda McCartney's On Tour cookbook)
1-2 teaspoons fine or grainy mustard
2 tablespoons fresh lemon or lime juice, or 2 tablespoons wine, balsamic or cider vinegar
6 tablespoons olive oil
crushed garlic to taste (optional)
sea salt and black pepper to taste

In a small bowl, mix the mustard with the lemon or lime juice or vinegar. Whisk in the olive oil gradually. Stir in the garlic if you are using it. Season to taste with salt and pepper.

Chocolate Cake (adapted from Vegan Chocolate cookbook by Fran Costigan)
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup sugar
1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
3/8 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/3 cup olive oil
1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup chilled almond milk

Sift flour, sugar, salt, baking soda, cinnamon and cocoa powder in a bowl. Whisk to combine. Add oil, vinegar, vanilla and milk. Mix until batter is smooth. Pour into a greased rectangular baking pan and spread batter to make it even. Bake at 350 F for 15-20 minutes or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean. Frost immediately with cocoa walnut glaze.

Cocoa Walnut Glaze(adapted from a Ree Drummond recipe)
1/2 cup margarine (1 stick Earth Balance buttery stick)
4 TB cocoa powder
1 tsp vanilla
2 TB almond milk
1/2 lb. powdered sugar
1/2 cup chopped fine walnuts/or pecans
To make glaze:
Melt a stick of Earth Balance margarine (about 1/2 cup) over medium heat. Add 4 tablespoons of cocoa powder and whisk to combine. Turn off heat and add vanilla, milk and powdered sugar. Whisk to get all lumps out and make it smooth. If it's too thick, add a little more milk. If too thin, add a little more sugar. Stir in walnuts and pour over warm cake. Glaze will set a little bit and give it a nice crackly finish.

Father's Day Food & Gluten Free Chocolate Cake!

Outdoor grilling on Father's Day as requested by Dad. I made the usual fare. Grilled veggies, Tofurky sausages, baked beans, grilled potatoes, dill potato salad and for dessert, a gluten free, vegan, flourless chocolate cake.

A whole lotta veggies!

My plate.

Found this wonderful gluten free cake recipe here

Here it is after I glazed it with a basic cocoa glaze.

So this was really delicious. Super dense like a brownie, rich, chocolatey, sweet, yummy. I would make it again.

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.

New Year's Day Lunch.

Spent all morning preparing this fantastic greek spinach pie. I was so eager to eat that I forgot to photograph the whole pie. This recipe is from "The Mediterranean Vegan Kitchen". I added cremini mushrooms and red bell pepper to the spinach filling which was a nice change.


We ate this with dijon potato salad, chickpeas with yogurt sauce and a Bulgarian relish called Lutenica. Delicious food!

Greek Roasted Vegetables & Dijon-Dill Potato Salad

I based this vegetable recipe loosely from a Briam recipe in The Essential Mediterranean Cookbook. It's a greek vegetable casserole with assorted veggies flavoured with olive oil, garlic, oregano and dill. It's supposed to consist mainly of potatoes, tomato and zucchini but I added eggplant, onions, red peppers and carrots. They baked up beautifully.


Served with pita and potato salad. This potato salad is one of my favorites. The dressing is a mixture of olive oil, lemon juice, Vegenaise, dijon mustard, whole grain mustard, a pinch of sugar, chopped dill pickles, capers and dill. So tangy and tasty!

Weekend Cooking: Bruschetta, Dijon Potato Salad and Lake Cuomo Pasta

We're going to be enjoying a picnic al fresco later on this evening so I got some fresh baguettes and made this beautiful bruschetta with cherry tomatoes, roasted red peppers and fresh basil.


And what's a picnic without potato salad? I made this dijon potato salad that has dill, capers, pickles and pepperoncini in a dijon/olive oil/lemon/vegenaise based dressing.


Say hello to my cute 2.5 qt. dutch oven! I picked up this baby at Cost Plus World Market last night for a good deal and was very eager to make something in it! I decided on this Lake Cuomo Pasta recipe but halved it and instead of ricotta cheese I made a mixture of crumbled tofu mixed with italian herbs, garlic, red pepper flakes and a touch of miso paste.


So I layered everything in there: pasta, juice from tomatoes plus water, olive oil, salt/pepper, tomatoes/basil, veggies, tofu ricotta and more veggies. It went into the oven for an hour.


And out of the oven! A half recipe really makes a small batch so next time I should add a little more of everything.


I mixed the pasta before serving to get all the ingredients to blend together.


Ta da! This was so good. It was kind of like lasagna, creamy and rich. I loved it! Can't wait to make more!

Eggplant Chickpea Stew, Russian Salad and Lemon Cake

Munazalit Bathinjan or Eggplant and Chickpea Stew from "Classic Vegetarian Recipes from The Middle East and N. Africa". Origin of this recipe: Lebanon and Syria. It's wonderful both hot and at room temperature and served with pita and/or quinoa.


I made this delicious Russian Salad (from The Olive and The Caper cookbook) a few weekends ago and made it again today. It has potatoes, green beans, carrots, peas, baby lima beans and lemon caper mayo. This time I added lots of fresh dill.


Lemon cake!

Uzbek Potato Salad

I have this beautiful new cookbook called Silk Road Cooking and it's full of gorgeous photos and recipes that are inspired by cuisine found along the Silk Road, the exotic spice and trade route from China, through the Middle East to Italy . I veganized this Uzbek potato salad by using vegan mayo and omitting the hard boiled egg that the recipe called for. It's got potatoes, carrots, peas, apples, raisins, scallions, celery and flavored with a curry infused sauce. It's really yummy. Can't wait to try more recipes from this book.

Roasted Veggies, Potato Salad and Pine Nut Couscous

I feel like I haven't made anything really healthy in a while. Today my goal was to make something simple using vegetables. I've forgotten how simple and delicious roasted vegetables are. I made asparagus, carrots, zucchini, red onions, yellow onions roasted in extra virgin olive oil and a little bit of salt and pepper. I served them with pinenut couscous and Veganomicon's Prospect Park potato salad (I used red potatoes this time). I can eat this meal every night, it was so good.