4th of July weekend food.

A big giant burger with a vegan Boca patty, grilled veg and Chao Cheese!
I wasn't too fussy this holiday. Wanted to keep it simple.

Grilled veg, the usual.

Delicious beet and apple salad, a Happy Pear recipe (without the spinach and toasted nuts).

A very colorful coleslaw with a KFC style dressing (vegenaise, soymilk, lemon juice, vinegar, sugar).

Yesterday I made another BKT salad, this time with mixed greens which included baby kale, spinach, tatsoi etc. and I used coconut bacon instead of tempeh bacon. Still delicious!

Blueberry BISQUICK cake. I followed the old vintage recipe for "velvet crumb cake" but instead of the egg, I used half a banana, soymilk for the milk and instead of broiling a sugar/crumb mixture on top, I sprinkled a bit of brown sugar before baking. Oh and I added blueberries! This tasted exactly like blueberry muffin. I should have baked them in muffin tins.

Lentil Sausage Soup & Bisquick Biscuits!

I was watching The Barefoot Contessa during lunch break at work the other day and Ina was making a couple of soup recipes, one of which was this lentil and sausage soup. I've never used french green lentils before so this was a first. I substituted Tofurky Kielbasa for the meat version. It is so hearty and beautifully seasoned with cumin, thyme, onions, garlic, leeks, carrots and celery.

And to go with it, biscuits made from the Bisquick mix. I used the biscuit recipe from the side of the box and substituted almond milk for the cow's milk.

So delicious!!!

Recipe here.

Indian food and cake.

I made a delicious indian feast today: Mixed lentil dal curry (split masoor dal, moong dal and split urad dal) and Aloo Palak (potatoes in spinach gravy). So good with rice and buttered bread!

For dessert I used 2 cups Bisquick mix with two mashed bananas, two tablespoons sugar, 1 cup almond milk and vanilla. Before I stuck it in the oven, I sprinkled a mixture of Earth Balance, cinnamon, brown sugar and Bisquick to make a topping.

It's really good. Kind of a cross between a pancake and a muffin in taste. Not too sweet because of the small amount of sugar. Perfect for tea! *Edited to add: I guess this is more like "coffee cake"? It's really good the next day even after refrigerating it. I had to keep it away from ants!

Black bean burger and Bisquick cake!

I whipped up these black bean burgers and baked them in the oven. I served them with grilled onions doused in bbq sauce. They were pretty good.

Aaaaand, I played around with Bisquick again and made a cake! I used a recipe from the vintage Bisquick cookbook. It was for the "Velvet Crumb Cake" in which I substituted the 1 egg with 1 TB of cornstarch. I think I will try a different egg sub next time. Not much rise on this cake. I added finely chopped dark chocolate to the batter.

Very moist and tasty with a cup of tea or coffee.

A vegan Bisquick pancake.

I bought a box of Bisquick the other day in order to try out some recipes from a 1964 Bisquick cookbook that I have. I haven't yet tried any of those retro recipes but yesterday came across a recipe for vegan pancakes using Bisquick at Modern Martha blog. Link to recipe here. Yes, I know that Bisquick is not healthy and contains hydrogenated oil of some kind but I had to try this out! I normally use the Vegan Brunch recipe which is much healthier (and delicious) and uses "from scratch" ingredients. The Bisquick one was very rich and very fluffy. It was really good with some Earth Balance margarine and a drizzle of Lyle's Golden Syrup. I also made Lightlife sausages pictured in back.

Groceries on the cheap, british snacks, grilled food and a vintage Bisquick cookbook!

So the 99 Cents Only stores have a very quick turn around for produce. It wasn't like this a few years ago! Now they are constantly unloading new produce into their growing produce section. All this for 25 bucks! I got spring mix, iceberg lettuce, broccoli, peppers, mushrooms, zucchini, 2 kinds of tomatoes, yellow potatoes, raspberries, strawberries, pineapple and more. Some organic, some not. It sure does help to save some money.

And they also carry 100% coconut water for 99 cents each! I usually pay $2.50 per can at Vons.

The Continental Shop in Santa Monica have a huge selection of british foods for your pleasure. I have here an assortment of crips, tea biscuits and chocolates. The non-vegan crisps and chocolates are for my husband. Both tea biscuits and the Corkers thai chili crisps are vegan. I also picked up a can of Lyle's Golden Syrup for my pantry which is not pictured.

Whoa the color! I was fiddling with my camera and put on on the POP color setting which is why my grilled food is particularly saturated in color. It was nice out today so I decided to cook outside.

Yellow potatoes were so good.

I'm becoming redundant with my grilled meals. Another grilled veg sandwich on a kaiser roll with vegenaise and bbq sauce.

Got a book I ordered in the mail today. This vintage cookbook was published in 1964. Love it.

Ooh!

I love vintage cookbooks. I have a box of Bisquick in my pantry. Now I need to work some of these out, vegan style.

I just love looking at the photos. Some look appetizing, some not so much!