Showing posts with label the mediterranean vegan kitchen. Show all posts
Showing posts with label the mediterranean vegan kitchen. Show all posts

Saturday, June 28, 2014

Marinated Beans, Artichoke-Black Olive and Tomato Bruschetta and Eggless Chocolate Cake.

When you have a nice baguette or a box of water crackers or a package of pita bread or lavash, you must have lovely things to eat them with like hummus, vegan cheese (Daiya havarti jalapeno is my choice!) and the following two salads. I made a simple batch of marinated garbanzo and white beans. Two cans of beans get to marinated in lots of olive oil, garlic, a bit of chopped onion, white wine vinegar, parsley and italian herbs.

Next up, I made the Artichoke, black olive and tomato bruschetta from the Mediterranean Vegan Kitchen cookbook. This book is amazing. So many great ideas like this. I must remember to use this book more often.

For dessert, an eggless chocolate cake made with tofu. I don't normally make cakes with tofu in them but I had half a block of tofu hanging out in my fridge that I wanted to use up. I made a quick chocolate glaze/icing on the stove with cocoa powder, margarine, vanilla and powdered sugar. Sprinkles for color.

Gotta have ice cream with your cake! To be honest, I'm not a fan of tofu in vegan cakes. I get that it is trying to substitute for eggs but it really doesn't need tofu at all. The texture is more dense and "eggy" and not light and fluffy like the normal vegan cakes I make.

Saturday, August 24, 2013

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!

Saturday, June 2, 2012

Random Cooking.


Stir fry eggplant and bok choy with szechuan pepper and vegetarian "oyster" sauce.


This was my memorial day food. Portobello sandwich, homemade bbq beans and potatoes.


Panzanella from The Mediterranean Vegan Kitchen.

Saturday, January 1, 2011

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!

Sunday, November 7, 2010

VeganMoFo: Mediterranean Dinner Party Food.



I had a fantastic dinner party last night with a beautiful buffet of food that I FORGOT TO PHOTOGRAPH! I was so mad at myself when I realized after we had eaten. So I present to you the leftovers. In front: heirloom tomato bruschetta, green beans with sundried tomato and olives (Mediterranean Vegan Kitchen recipe), spanakopita (Vegan with a Vengeance recipe) and Greek 'gigantes' lima bean casserole (Greek Vegetarian cookbook recipe). Not pictured: roasted lemony potatoes. They were delicious and were gobbled up so fast.


For dessert I made the baklava from Tables of Lebanon cookbook. Great recipe with perfect results every time.

Sunday, October 10, 2010

Greek Lenten Spinach Pie


I've been on a greek food kick lately. Can't get enough! This is the greek lenten spinach pie from "The Mediterranean Vegan Kitchen". It's basically spanakopita without the cheese. It is served during lent when animal products are forbidden. I've had non-traditional spanakopita with tofu (Vegan with a Vengeance recipe) which is very rich and filling. This pie is a little on the lighter side yet satisfactory. I think I may use a few sheets less of phyllo as I found it way too much.


My pie had a serious hump top from the phyllo puffing up a lot. It soon deflated a bit when I cut into it. I think I might double the filling next time.


Served with russian salad, a potato salad popular in greek cuisine and lutenica which is a red pepper spread from Bulgaria.


Good stuff.

Saturday, May 29, 2010

Weekend Cooking: Veggie Heaven.


This is my Memorial Day weekend cooking. A boatload of roasted veggies. They were simply tossed in olive oil, crushed garlic, dried italian herbs, salt and pepper before roasting in a hot oven.


Two recipes from The Mediterranean Vegan Kitchen cookbook: Bruschetta with Artichokes and Olives and Broiled Mushrooms with Pesto. Both absolutely delicious.


My plate. Also pictured, roasted red potatoes!

Monday, February 15, 2010

Zucchini-Lemon Couscous


Ah...another gorgeous day in sunny California. More Mediterranean flavors here with the zucchini lemon couscous from a great cookbook called 'The Mediterranean Vegan Kitchen' by Donna Klein. I believe this is the first vegan cookbook I ever bought and it's been wonderful. It doesn't call for any meat substitutes or tofu or tempeh or anything like that. It's just fresh and inherently vegan recipes from the mediterranean that have ingredients that are easy to find at your grocery store. Buy this book!

Sunday, February 7, 2010

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?

Thursday, January 28, 2010

Lentil-Vegetable Soup with Red Wine and Miso


It's soup time! This is adapted from the "Lentil and Escarole" soup in The Mediterranean Vegan Kitchen cookbook. I swapped escarole for kale and added potatoes, summer savory, red wine and red miso paste. It also has onions, garlic, celery and carrots. So hearty and delicious!

Edited to add: This soup gets very thick the following day and turns into stew! Yum!

Thursday, October 1, 2009

VeganMoFo: Happy Birthday To Me!


Hello! Welcome to the VEGANMOFO! Vegan Month of Food that is! For the whole of October I'll be blogging about vegan food as much as possible to spread the word that vegan food is delicious and worth talking about. There will be a ton of action from the blogosphere so to keep up with it all, bookmark this public RSS feed!

Today is my 33rd birthday and it was a great one. I came into work and got lovely cards and a beautiful birthday cake that my boss made for me. It's apple-walnut and looks like a giant apple fritter! It was soooo delicious and I'm happy to enjoy it for the next few days. Hope it lasts that long!


We sampled some pieces at work so here it is photographed after I got home.


Moist and delicious with chunks of apples covered in a sticky sweet glaze!

When I got home, I got wonderful gifts and cards from my parents and my inlaws. My husband presented me with a sentimental card that made me cry, a stash of gifts (Vicar of Dibley boxset and books about tea and spices!) and he cooked a lovely dinner!


Spaghetti Al'Arrabiata from The Mediterranean Vegan cookbook with olives and vegan sausage. Red wine and bread made it all complete. It was a lovely lovely lovely birthday and I feel so loved.

Thursday, September 24, 2009

Penne with Summer Vegetable Sauce



So the first day of Autumn has passed but it certainly still feels like summer here in Southern CA. It's downright hot and nasty right now. I probably should have made a salad for dinner but opted for this summery vegetable pasta made with fresh and beautiful produce: eggplants, zucchini, red bell peppers and mushrooms. Oh, and canned plum tomatoes from Italy! It was adapted from a recipe from 'The Mediterranean Vegan Kitchen' cookbook. It was a delicious celebration of the bounties of summer. Goodbye Summer, I'm looking forward to Fall now!

Thursday, April 23, 2009

Dee Da Doo Day...

I'm bored. I know I should be getting to bed early (have to wake up at 6am for jury duty tomorrow!) but I don't feel sleepy. I've been going through old food pictures I took before I started this blog. Some of the yummy dishes I made I almost forgot about! I'd like to share them here with you.


This is Eggplant and Chickpea Kibbeh that I got from a book called "Vegan Planet". This was really good. It has bulgur, tomatoes, eggplant and chickpeas of course. I made a lemony garlic sauce to go with it along with roasted asparagus and boiled potatoes. i have to make this again soon.


Pineapple Tofu. So so awesome. I like to fry up tofu cubes after dipping them in cornstarch and then drowning them in a pineapple sauce. The recipe for the sauce is here.


Oven Herb Roasted Tomato Pasta. Now this looks very plain and almost boring but wow, does it taste good. The recipe is from "The Mediterranean Vegan Kitchen".


How did I forget about these Grilled Yuca Tortillas??? Recipe is from Veganomicon. These are so gorgeous. It's mashed up yuca with lime, jalapenos and corn. I've made this a few times with fresh guacamole.


Cashew Coconut Curry Casserole. Wow, I remember this. It was soo rich and so delicious. Recipe is here. It's one of those throw in a baking dish and bake kind of recipes.


Szechuan Noodles. Easy and cheap and yummy. Recipe here.


Sexy Lowfat Vanilla Cupcakes from "Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World". This book rocks.

Ok now, off to bed. Good night!

Wednesday, September 3, 2008

Vegetable Paella



Ooh, doesn't this look so appetizing? I was stumped as to what I wanted to cook tonight because I didn't have that many fresh vegetables in my fridge. After a quick perusal through The Mediterranean Vegan Kitchen cookbook, I came across the paella recipe that I could use as a base for the ingredients I had on hand. I had some basmati rice, one medium japanese eggplant, one tiny white squash, one large carrot, a bag of frozen fordhook lima beans, a bag of frozen corn and one can of stewed tomatoes. Even with these limited ingredients, it turned out so beautiful looking. And the taste is so nice, so creamy. This one's a keeper!