Christmas Foods 2015!

Happy Holidays everyone! Hope you are enjoying your weekend. I'm just going to dump all my food pics. I am so full and fat from it all! Love!

My husband and I had dinner on xmas eve at our friend's place. Every year they have made a vegan friendly dinner for us. This year vegan Yorkshire puddings were a first!

Delia Smith recipe using soymilk, ener-g egg replacer and oil instead of animal products. They were heavenly!

All together now. My plate. I made the tofurky roast and orange herb gravy.

My friend Hope is a non-vegan vegan baker! She's amazing. Everything just comes out perfect.

These are Fran Costigan's Chocolate Tortes TO LIVE FOR. They really are.

Apple Cider cupcakes from VCTOTW.

Every year we make these Espresso Oatmeal Chip cookies from VCIYCJ.

I got a genius brainwave the next day. Leftover ganache and coconut milk with a little agave made delicious hot chocolate!

Sprinkled with some cinnamon.

Christmas day with my folks and brother. I made breakfast. Vegan Brunch's pastry puffs using Field Roast sausage instead of tempeh. Amazing everytime.

Broccoli quiche from Vegan Brunch. Can't go wrong.

Diner home fries from Vegan Brunch.

Leftover quiche and Bubble and Squeak made from leftover home fries and cabbage for Boxing Day breakfast! Mmmmm!

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!

Salad & Steamed Cake!

Made a good salad today with hot sauce tofu, avocado, coconut bacon and vegan ranch!

Then my sweet tooth was begging me to make a cake but I didn't feel like baking. Browsed the internet for steamed cakes and found a recipe for steamed semolina pineapple cake and used apple sauce instead of pineapple. Came out great! I also added sultanas to mine.

I was so happy that it steamed beautifully in about 35-40 minutes.

Mine was steamed in a small pyrex glass bowl.

Served with Coco Whip. Mmmmm!!!!

Steamed Cake Recipe

1 cup semolina flour
1 cup coconut milk
1 cup applesauce
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 tsp baking soda
a couple handfuls of sultanas
Mix all ingredients and pour into a greased glass bowl or pan that fit into your steamer apparatus. Make sure you have enough water in the lower pot of your steamer so as to not have it dry out. I used a small pyrex bowl and steamed it inside a small pot with a steamer attachment. Steam for 35-40 minutes until toothpick inserted comes out clean. Some crumbs attached to it are ok. Let cool before turning out and cutting into.

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.

Vegan Shepherd's Pie

Vegan Shepherd's Pie

Posted by Tasty on Wednesday, November 4, 2015

Saw this video on Facebook and loved the simplicity of it. I already know how to make shepherd's pie but thought I'd try to go by this recipe.

I feel like the liquid is too much for this pie. Maybe it was because my veggies were smaller, I don't know. But no mind, I made it work.

I used the last of the Thanksgiving mashed potatoes. Just added a couple more boiled potatoes and mashed them all fluffy.

Came out beautiful and very tasty!

Vegan Thanksgiving 2015

Happy Thanksgiving! Our menu today: Tofurky Roast with Orange Herb Gravy, Kale salad with dried cranberries in a shallot mustard vinaigrette, Mustard Green Beans, Herb Stuffing, Mashed Potatoes, Baked Sweet Potatoes and Apples, Cranberry sauce with Mandarin Oranges. And for dessert: Bryanna Clark Grogan's pumpkin pie!

Mustard Green Beans from The Complete Vegan Cookbook.

Herb stuffing from The Vegan Family Cookbook.

Baked sweet potatoes and apples from The Complete Vegan Cookbook (no sugar added to mine).

Tofurky Roast!

Bryanna's pie never disappoints. I was going to make pumpkin custard but I couldn't deviate from my usual! Maybe next year I'll do something different.

Broccoli Sweet Potato Soup, Heidi Ho Cheeze.

Great soup recipe from The Happy Pear cookbook. I used Japanese yam and it was beautiful. Smooth and creamy.

If you don't have this cookbook, you must get it. I got it on Amazon for $20.

A new item to try. A basic cashew cheeze that is great on crackers.

But, I used it in salad and it was amazing! Also added coconut bacon (recipe from Salad Samurai) that made it even more amazing.

Huge Photo Post To Make You Hungry.

Was going through my food photos and I realized I neglected to share a bunch of deliciousness that I've been eating. Check it out!

I'll start with the black bean burgers I made tonight after work. Very simple, just black beans, onions, garlic, herbs, spices and oats to bind the mixture. Bake for 30 minutes flipping halfway and you've got a tasty burger. One can black beans makes 4 burgers.

Served with salsa and vegan thousand island sauce.

One weekend I made homemade hummus, tomato bruschetta and olive tapenade. Love eating this stuff with fresh bread.

The grape leaves are from Trader Joes and they come in a can.

A night out at CPK. The Tuscan hummus is vegan!

The roasted veggie salad is also vegan with the ginger hoisin dressing. So good.

Homemade baked falafel. Vegan with a Vengeance recipe never fails.

Served with Vegan Diner home fries!

In a pita with luscious tahini sauce.

Homemade pizza deliciousness with Trader Joe's dough and vegan mozzarella!

Night out at Tacomiendo for veggie taco and potato taco (half eaten)! Order with NO CHEESE!

Guac and chips!

Tacomiendo has great juices. This one is the Healthy Heart: Carrot, Ginger and Apple!

Tender Greens in Culver City has the freshest food.

Happy Vegan Salad has edamame hummus, spelt salad, tabbouleh, quinoa salad and mixed greens. So tasty and filling.

Roasted tomato soup with basil oil is so warming.

Breakfast tofu sandwich.

With lots of ketchup and Vegenaise on toast.