Shepherd's Pie

There's nothing better than digging into a bowl of comfort food on the weekend while kicking back on the couch watching tv on dvd. This pie came together quickly with veggie crumbles, frozen veggie mix and mashed potatoes. The gravy was flavored with red miso, red wine and veggie broth. It was delicious!

Catching Up...

Hey all! Been missing in action the past week and a half because my camera cord broke so I couldn't upload anything. I finally got a new cable so I'm able to show you what I've been eating. Sorry about the bad lighting!


Soba noodles with ginger peanut dressing. Served with sauteed spinach. Recipe here.


Thai red curry with tofu, sweet potato and eggplant on top of somen noodles.


Dinner in bed. Egyptian lentil soup, salad and Fabe's chocolate cake. The cake was good but veeeery health foody tasting.


Falafel night! Baked not fried.


Falafel sandwich with cucumber garlic sauce (cucumbers, cilantro, garlic, vegan mayo, lemon juice)

Casserole-ing It.

Hot from the oven, bubbling away...a casserole is a one pan meal that you can dish out on a plate, grab a fork and happily eat in front of the tv. This is what casseroles mean to me. There is something so comforting about them. Not only is it easy and quick to get on the table, but it's economical. It always makes a lot. You can eat it all week if you want. I made my favorite standby: quinoa veggie bean burritos, enchilada style today. I've made this dozens of times and it always gives me the same result. Like warm hugs, this dish will make you feel comforted and cozy inside.


My plate of yumminess with added avocado. In case you're wondering what the orange blobs are on the top photo, it's Vegenaise!

Thai Sukiyaki!

We were originally going to have pasta with garlic and olive oil for dinner because there was nothing else to eat but my mom came to the rescue and made us Thai sukiyaki! I love this dish. It's a noodle soup dish made with vegetables and meat (in my case, tofu cubes) and mung bean noodles (also known as cellophane noodles or bean thread noodles). The secret is the "sukiyaki sauce" which is made from soybean curd, chili and garlic. When you mix the sauce into the soup, it turns a wonderful red color. It's spicy and savory and yummy yummy yummy. I was happy eating this and making happy noises all throughout dinner. Thanks Mom!


Sukiyaki sauce.


Big bowl of sukiyaki! Slurp slurp!

Thai Sukiyaki Recipe (from mom)

Ingredients:
Water for broth
Thai "Healthy Boy" brand mushroom soy sauce
salt, pepper, minced garlic, pinch of sugar
cubed tofu
veggies: sliced green onions, mushrooms, bok choy, chinese broccoli (gai lan) or regular broccoli, napa cabbage, celery...whatever you want!
mung bean noodles aka cellophane noodles, bean thread noodles. In Thai, "woon sen"
Thai "Pantainorasingh" brand sukiyaki sauce

Make soup broth for 2 servings:
Boil a few cups of water (a small pot), add mushroom soy sauce, salt, pepper, garlic, a pinch of sugar. Add vegetables and tofu and cook for a while until veggies are tender. Add more mushroom soy sauce to taste if needed.

Meanwhile soak mung bean noodles in cold water until they soften and expand in size. Mung bean noodles are usually sold in 4 small bunches in a package. 1 bunch is good for two people. If you want more noodles go ahead and use 2 bunches. Then boil water in separate pot and cook them for however long it says on package. It's usually not very long because they are so thin.
More about mung bean noodles/bean thread noodles here.

Put a serving of drained cooked noodles in each bowl and pour broth/veggies/tofu over. Add 2-3 TB of Thai sukiyaki sauce to the bowl and stir through. The more sauce, the spicier it will be.

Enjoy!

Egyptian Potato Soup

This will be dinner tonight along with a crusty baguette that my husband will pick up from the market after work. Recipe is from the 'Olive Trees and Honey' cookbook. A very simple and naturally vegan recipe that is simply prepared with potatoes, onions (or leeks), garlic, celery, water, bay leaf, turmeric, salt, pepper and lemon juice. I used red potatoes with the skin on and added a little cumin (my favorite!).

Want Some Dim Sum?

Dim sum is like the greatest thing ever. It's like a chinese version of tapas, an array of light dishes which can make an excellent dinner. Dim sum may include something like what I made tonight: yummy dumplings of steamed dough with a tasty filling and dipping sauce. One year on my birthday back in my omni days, my friend and cousins took me to a local dim sum restaurant. It was so fun getting to choose which dishes we wanted from shu mai to steamed buns and dumplings of all kinds. Unfortunately a veggie dim sum place is nowhere to be found here in Los Angeles, at least not to my knowledge. Tonight's dinner featured only one dish of tofu and veggie potstickers with a homemade sweet and sour sauce served with coleslaw. If it was the weekend, I would have made a few more dishes to heighten the dim sum experience. But just having these and salad was completely satisfying.

Recipe for potstickers here. (This time I steamed them in a steamer basket instead of pan frying first!)

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!