Easy food on Labor Day.

Taking it easy, nothing fancy at all. I made tofu scramble and vegi sausage for breakfast and finished my last donut. Lunch was homemade hummus with tomato salad, Daiya cheese and crostini.

Zankou falafel and breakfast,

Went to Zankou yesterday with my husband. He gets chicken. I get falafel! This is the falafel plate which comes with so much! 6 falafel balls on top of salad and pickles, hummus, tahini sauce and pita. We always get a side of their excellent muttabal (eggplant dip) and rice. And last but not least the best garlic sauce ever!

My breaky this morning trying out the Yves veggie sausage patties. I also made some cheesy tofu scramble with Field Roast cheese and toast. All very deliciously filling.

More weekend foods.

The usual pizza! Always delicious!

Love these cookies from India.

Can't let another precious day off go by without another fry up! I never eat breakfast on any normal day so this is a treat.

Baking will not be ignored! This is an orange flavored white cake with orange glaze using fresh squeezed orange.

Vegan Fry Up!

Fried tomatoes, mushrooms, sausages, hash brown and Heinz beans. Toast with apricot jam.

Sausage gravy on toast.

Doesn't look appetizing but let me tell you, this was delicious! I cooked some Gardein crumbles with onion, garlic, peppers and spices like smoked paprika, black pepper,  fennel and rosemary, sage and thyme.  Then I made a basic bechamel sauce and added the Gardein mixture and the magic ingredient: Sriracha! I should have made biscuits but I was lazy.  Everything is good on toast!

Biscuits n Gravy & Nachos!

I used the recipe from the Southern Vegan blog. I first browned some Gimme Lean sausage in oil.

Then made a creamy gravy with oil, flour, soymilk, salt, pepper, Sriracha and then added the sausage.

Made a giant biscuit. Got this idea from my friend Maile. To save time, she makes one big biscuit then just cuts them into squares to serve.

The final result! So creamy and salty and deliciously fluffy.

Made nachos for a snack with Daiya cheese sauce, beans, tofutti sour cream, jalapenos, olives and green onions. Yum!

Perfect Roast Potatoes and Other Stuff.

I was in the mood for roast veggies last night so I rushed home from work and made the following: roast potatoes, roast carrots and Tofurky sausages and gravy. I wanted to make perfect roast potatoes so I consulted Jamie Oliver's book The Ministry Of Food. I borrowed a UK copy from my neighbor but if you go on amazon I think the US title is Food Revolution. So anyway, Jamie says to parboil the veg in water for 5-7 minutes and then let the spuds steam in the colander for 2 minutes after they are drained. Then you shake up the colander to bash the spuds a bit so the edges get kind of fluffy which makes them get all nice and crisp in the oven. Then you prepare a baking pan with a few glugs of olive oil, smashed garlic and fresh rosemary. Toss the spuds in the flavored oil, spread in the pan and roast at 425 F for about an hour. I took mine out after 40 minutes because I was in a rush and they were very well cooked and crisp. If I had left them the full hour, they would have been more perfect and crispier I suppose. But even at 40 minutes, they were delicious!!!! I will make roast potatoes this way from now on (and roast for the full hour).

I love you roast potatoes. My husband and I ate a lot and had the rest for lunch today.

Roast carrots, plain and simple.

Also a Tofurky sausage and canned peas. The gravy is my Thanksgiving orange herb gravy. The best.

Condiments are always a part of my dinner table.

Food, food, wonderful Christmas food!

A tradition at christmas eve with our friends Hope and Gary: samosas from India's Sweets and Spices.

A Christmas Feast. I brought the Tofurky and gravy. Gary made the beautiful veg and Hope made her killer mash with soymilk and Earth Balance.

Tofurky roast, mash, gravy, roasted veg, piccalili.

For dessert: VCTOW's gingerbread and toasted coconut cupcakes. Heaven. To die for.

Mocha Mama cookies. These are also to die for, especially the next day with a cup of coffee.

Christmas morning, I made the tempeh sausage puffs from Vegan Brunch and waffles.

This is a mushroom and kale lasagna that I made to bring to my aunt's house for another christmas gathering with my cousins.

Lentil Sausage Soup & Bisquick Biscuits!

I was watching The Barefoot Contessa during lunch break at work the other day and Ina was making a couple of soup recipes, one of which was this lentil and sausage soup. I've never used french green lentils before so this was a first. I substituted Tofurky Kielbasa for the meat version. It is so hearty and beautifully seasoned with cumin, thyme, onions, garlic, leeks, carrots and celery.

And to go with it, biscuits made from the Bisquick mix. I used the biscuit recipe from the side of the box and substituted almond milk for the cow's milk.

So delicious!!!

Recipe here.

Simple Labor Day Food.

Didn't want to work too hard it being Labor Day and all. I simply grilled a Tofurky Andouille sausage and small potatoes and mushrooms on my trusty cast iron grill pan then made a quick arugula salad. I also made a frozen mango daquiri (not pictured). So delicious!

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.

"Sausage Rolls".

Happy New Year guys! Here's wishing we all are happy and healthy this year and every year. I woke up around 9am this morning and decided to make sausage rolls for breakfast. I used the tempeh sausage pastry puffs recipe from Vegan Brunch as a guideline and instead of using tempeh, I substituted chopped leftover celebration roast from last night's dinner. What a success! They came out fab and were really good with a hot cup of coffee and a coconut bar.

Szechuan Cabbage and Tofurky.

Kind of a weird pairing but it worked well on top of brown rice. The cabbage was deliciously flavored with a sauce made with sesame oil, soy sauce, sugar and rice vinegar. I got the recipe from The Complete Vegan Kitchen.

"Full English", Vegan Style.

I've always loved the idea of the full english breakfast. Before I was vegan, I had one once in London. It had bacon, eggs, sausage, grilled tomato, mushrooms, beans and toast. I think there were potatoes or "bubble and squeak" too, I don't remember. Now that I don't eat meat or eggs, I have to improvise. Mine has scrambled tofu with onions, sauteed mushrooms, heinz beans (a british product), LightLife brand vegan sausage patties with some HP sauce on the side and tomatoes. I'm missing the bacon aspect because I really didn't want to add another protein to my dish! It was way too much food as it was!


Also included, hot ceylon tea and white toast with Earth Balance and apricot jam. This was a nice treat on my patio on this fine Labor Day holiday.

Sausage!

Got on to quickly post this pic. Tofurky sausage on a bun with caramelized onions and peppers, kraut and mustard. I had this while watching the game (Dodgers vs. Braves). Game's still on (we're tied 4-4) so see ya later...

Tempeh Sausage Pastry Puffs

Happy World Vegan Day! To celebrate, I opened up 'Vegan Brunch' this morning and made the "Tempeh Sausage Pastry Puffs". WOW. WOW. WOW. These are amazing. The tempeh "sausage" crumbles are wonderfully spiced with sausage seasonings like fennel, rosemary and thyme and encased in a golden flaky shell. I used store bought puffed pastry that was vegan and it made it all come together so easily. I also used the new Trader Joe's brand of tempeh which tastes great. My husband really loved these. He said they were awesome. And coming from a man who loves sausage pizza, that is a compliment!