Mashed Potatoes and Punk Rock Chickpea Gravy

Tonight I was in the mood for comfort food so I pulled out the vegan bible.

I'm ashamed to say that I've had this book for 8 years and I have never made this. Bad mouse!

It turned out beautiful. I made a few adjustments. I used a tsp of whole grain mustard because I did not have mustard seeds. When it was done, I found it to be too tart possibly because my lemon was too big. So I added a tsp of miso paste, a pinch of sugar, a squirt or two of Bragg's liquid aminos to counterbalance the lemon. It worked.

I was so happy to finally taste this amazing gravy. Going to make it again and again. The texture of the chickpeas was nice because it felt like my meal was a little more rounded with protein, veg and carb. The recipe is posted online here.

Breakfast for One and Soup.

This morning I woke up and made the diner home fries from Isa Chandra Moskowitz's Vegan Brunch again because they were so amazing yesterday. And to go with it, I made the tofu scramble from Vegan Brunch. Normally I make mine pretty plain-ish with tofu sauteed with onions and some salt, pepper, turmeric and maybe garlic and onion powder. The recipe from VB calls for fresh garlic, cumin, thyme, turmeric and nutritional yeast. These flavors were surprisingly good in the scramble. I wasn't sure about the cumin at first but it worked and gave a nice kind of smokiness. I served with Vegenaise/ketchup sauce.

I love Linda Mc's book "Linda's Kitchen". It's out of print now but you can probably find it on amazon marketplace selling for less than a fiver. I have a handful of recipes that I turn to again and again.

This soup is one of them. You must try it!

Here is the soup ready to simmer away. I substituted potato for turnip and seasoned with Maldon salt, freshly cracked black pepper and summer savory. Such a good soup.

Vegan Brunch: Quiche, Carbs and Cake.

My friend Maile came over today and we had an epic brunch complete with mimosas and The Mindy Project on dvd. The deliciousness of this brunch was enchanced by all the carbs. At least we had some protein from the quiche!

You must have QUICHE when you have a brunch. I used the broccoli recipe from Vegan Brunch of course. It never fails and it's really amazing. If you miss quiche and you're vegan, make this!

Diner home fries from Vegan Brunch. So good! Loved the crispy bits.

Maile made this gorgeous fried rice! She veganized her daddy's recipe and it's damn good!

All together. It was quite the spread.

Can't have brunch without mimosa material!

And cake because, CAKE!

"Beef" Kebab Sandwich.

First thing, make this blend and keep it in an airtight container or jar. You only need about 1/2 tsp. of this for the sandwich.

Saute about 1/3 bag of Gardein beefless tips in olive oil, garlic and onions. Sprinkle the 1/2 tsp of shawarma seasoning blend and cook until browned. Season with salt and pepper.

Stuff the beef tips into two pita halves and add any veggies or condiments you want. Mine has hummus, tahini, olive salad, tomatoes, cooked squash, lettuce and hot sauce.

Seriously this was amazing. Make it today.

Pita sandwiches to die for, soup, squash and spice cake!

God this was so good. Hummus, olive tapenade, avocado and tomato in a pita.

Gorgeous isn't it?

Another sandwich, this time with pico de gallo instead of plain tomato. Just as delicious.

VWAV split pea soup never disappoints.

Beautiful baby squashes with shaved brussels, roasted.

Spice cake from a box made with canned pumpkin and topped with cinnamon bun frosting.

2 ingredient cake!

1 box of Duncan Hines (I think!) devil's food cake mix and 1 can of pure pumpkin makes this luscious pumpkin-chocolate cake. I piped Pillsbury chocolate fudge frosting on top (used a ziploc bag as a piping bag) and added sprinkles. I normally make my cakes from scratch but today I was in need and I wanted it fast. It was so good and so satisfying.

Enchilada Casserole and Pumpkin Pie Scones.

I was craving mexican flavors the other day so I decided to make this for the weekend. The filling is mixed vegetables, whatever was in the fridge (onion, brussels sprouts, carrot, corn, edamame, green beans), black beans, diced tomatoes and gardein crumbles with spices (cumin, chili powder, oregano, paprika, salt, onion powder). Then I layered corn tortillas with the filling and topped with El Pato tomato sauce, Daiya cheese, vegenaise blobs and olives.

Topped with Cholula green sauce!

Got these at Target. They are vegan and you only need vegan butter and vegan milk to make it. I used Earth Balance and almond milk.

Came out really nice.

Perfect with coffee. The glaze was nice but a little too much clove I think. The scones were very nice and tender.

Backlog Photos Of Foods I Ate.

When my husband cooks for me, he almost always makes me pasta. This is a simple spaghetti with marinara (we buy Gina Rispoli, Newman's, or Mezzetta) and Trader Joe's meatless meatballs. Very hearty and filling.

Homemade sandwich on whole grain with Tofurky italian deli, Chao cheese, avocado, red onion, lettuce, tomato and Vegenaise!

Awesome sandwich.

Had my sandwich with a cup of Annie's tomato soup. This is so good if you don't have time to make your own soup.

Last Thursday was my birthday and I made my own cake! Chocolate with penuche frosting. I got the frosting recipe from a vintage Betty Crocker cookbook. It's a brown sugar frosting that is sooooo good.

My dad bought me a birthday pizza from Domino's. Thanks Dad!

For my birthday weekend, my husband and I spent time in Santa Barbara. We ate at the following restaurants:

British fish n chip shop. The chips are so good.

While my husband ate fish n chips, I had chips n baked beans.

At The Natural Cafe there are some good vegan options.

Like this sandwich. It's called the "Local's Favorite". Ask for no mayo and get a side of tahini sauce. Such a good little spot to grab lunch.

On our last night we hit up Galanga for amazing Thai food.

Spicy Mint Noodles with tofu. Make sure to order without fish sauce and egg.

Delicious veggie red curry. No fish sauce.

My plate. I was so full afterwards. Can't wait to go back to SB!