BBQ Jackfruit sandwich.

Got a pic of my lunch today. It was so delicious!!!!

New snack. Addictive!

Happy New Year! BBQ pulled jackfruit and mocha chip loaf.

I wanted to take a bunch of pics with my phone but it ran out of space so I couldn't take more than two photos. I need to free up some space! I ended up making an Instagram story with it and screenshot some pics. This first pic is frying up the green jackfruit in oil after being covered in BBQ rub.

Excuse the blurry screenshots. 

I got Vegan Richa's Everyday Kitchem cookbook for Christmas and I made the Firecracker sauce. It's spicy goodness!

After stirring up and mushing it around, I had gorgeous pulled jackfruit!

Finished product. These will go into buns with fresh coleslaw.

I also made the mocha chip muffin recipe into a loaf from Vegan With A Vengeance, To be eaten on a plate with a scoop of vanilla soy ice cream!

Coconut Curry Lentil Soup

I made the soup that my friend made for us in Christmas Eve. It's super easy and ready in 30 minutes.

I was emailed the recipe:

Vegan coconut curry lentil soup

• 1 tbsp coconut oil (or olive oil)
• 1 large onion, chopped
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 tbsp fresh ginger, minced
• 2 tbsp tomato paste (or ketchup)
• 2 tbsp curry powder
• ½ tsp hot red pepper flakes
• 4 cups vegetable broth
• 1 400ml can coconut milk
• 1 400g can diced tomatoes
• 1.5 cups dry red lentils
• 2-3 handfuls of chopped kale or spinach
• salt and pepper, to taste
• Garnish: chopped cilantro (fresh coriander) and/or vegan sour cream

Instructions

1. In a stockpot, heat the coconut oil over medium heat and stir-fry the onion, garlic and ginger until the onion is translucent, a couple minutes.
2. Add the tomato paste (or ketchup), curry powder, and red pepper flakes and cook for another minute.
3. Add the vegetable broth, coconut milk, diced tomatoes and lentils. Cover and bring to a boil, then simmer on low heat for 20-30 minutes, until the lentils are very tender. Season with salt and pepper.
4. {Make-Ahead: May be cooled, frozen in air-tight containers, and re-heated over medium-low heat.}
5. Before serving, stir in the kale/spinach and garnish with cilantro and/or vegan sour cream.

Holiday Foods!

We went to our annual Christmas Eve dinner at our friends and we had this curried lentil soup as a first course. It was  delicious and full of flavor: coconut milk, ginger and spices and a little kick from red pepper.

A beautiful Christmas table with: Tofurky roast, green beans, mashed potato, roast potato, stuffing balls, meat pie (only thing not vegan), gravy and Yorkshire pudding.

Christmas Day, I stuck with my tradition: vegan sausage pastry puffs. I used the recipe from Vegan Brunch but used Field Roast instead of tempeh.

Christmas lunch was: Tofurky roast again, mash, stuffing, gravy and kale salad.

My little elf. 

Christmas Kale Salad

Taking this pretty red and green salad to the family gathering today. Happy Christmas and Merry Holidays!

Recipe: (double if you like)

1 bunch kale torn into small pieces

Cut the following into small pieces: Carrots, Red onion, Red bell pepper.

Put all into a big bowl and add 1Tb olive oil and a squeeze or two of lemon juice. Massage kale and veggies with your hands. This will soften the kale leaves. Add Dried cranberries and Toasted nuts (walnuts or pecans are good). Then toss with dressing. Refrigerate an hour or more.

Tahini dressing:

1/3 cup tahini

1/2 lemon, juiced (or more to taste)

2-3 tablespoons water

1 clove garlic, minced

2 tsp maple syrup

1 tsp dried dill

pinch of cayenne

fresh chopped chives

salt and pepper

Whisk all ingredients until smooth. Add more water if too thick.

Mince Pies.

I've never made mince pies before. So proud of these! I used the mock mince recipe from The Joy of Cooking. The crust recipe is from Vegan Baking. It was pretty easy!

Before going in oven.

Out of the oven.

Decorated with powdered sugar!

Curry and Cookies.

Got a chance to cook today. I wanted to make something that would be quick and would make a lot. I chose a recipe from Urban Vegan cookbook. It's the cashew curry casserole except I made some changes. I used coconut milk instead of rice milk and peanut butter instead of cashew. I also added soy sauce, lime juice and a bit of sugar, maybe a half teaspoon? 

Turned out so good! Served it with rice. 

Betty Crocker sugar cookie mix made vegan by subbing Earth Balance and Ener-g egg replacer instead of butter and egg. Icing was just powdered sugar with a teeny bit of soymilk and almond extract.

Banana Bundt with Frosting.

I had a bunch if bananas that were very spotty so I decided to make cake. But the question was, which one? I was bored of my go-to banana cake do I opened up My Sweet Vegan and picked out the Banana Foster cake recipe. This one is rich with margarine instead of oil, both white and brown sugar and lots of bananas, five I think. The only thing I didn't have was rum so I left it out. And I also didn't top it with caramelized bananas because laziness. So it's just a banana cake minus the foster.

It came out soooo sweet and tender! To be honest it didn't need the frosting though it was delicious and brown sugary. I will def make this again!

BBQ pulled jackfruit sandwich with homemade coleslaw.

To make: 

1. Drain 1 can of young green jackfruit. (Unripe jackfruit) Rinse with water.

2. Put into bowl and dust liberally with a dry BBQ rub. I made my own using a recipe I saw online. 

3. Heat oil in a pan and brown the jackfruit in oil. Once it's browned and softens up you can start shredding it with a fork.

4. On medium heat, add about 1/2 cup BBQ sauce and hot sauce of choice as much as you prefer. 

5. Keep cooking and stirring until BBQ sauce coats all pieces mixture dries up a bit, if it's too wet/watery, keep cooking. 

6. Serve on toasted buns with coleslaw of choice.