VeganMoFo: Mediterranean Dinner Party Food.

I had a fantastic dinner party last night with a beautiful buffet of food that I FORGOT TO PHOTOGRAPH! I was so mad at myself when I realized after we had eaten. So I present to you the leftovers. In front: heirloom tomato bruschetta, green beans with sundried tomato and olives (Mediterranean Vegan Kitchen recipe), spanakopita (Vegan with a Vengeance recipe) and Greek 'gigantes' lima bean casserole (Greek Vegetarian cookbook recipe). Not pictured: roasted lemony potatoes. They were delicious and were gobbled up so fast.


For dessert I made the baklava from Tables of Lebanon cookbook. Great recipe with perfect results every time.

Quiche-y Part 2.

A new week, a new quiche! Last week I made the Classic Broccoli Quiche from Vegan Brunch. Today I made a similar one with cauliflower, lima beans, red peppers and red onions. This one's for supper tonight. YUM! Recipe here (I substituted cauliflower for broccoli etc.)

A Greek Lunch and Chickpea Blondies!

Ah hello weekend! I had a long week and was so looking forward to a weekend of cooking, reading, dvd watching and relaxing on my patio. So far I've done all of these and Saturday is not over yet! I decided to go Greek for lunch. I pulled out my 'Greek Vegetarian' cookbook and made a couple of delicious dishes.


Gigantes which are oven baked beans with dill and tomatoes. I've made this before and I normally use dried large lima beans from scratch but this time I was lazy and used frozen butter beans. I wished I hadn't because for some reason the beans didn't get as mushy and tender as they usually do when I make this dish. But it wasn't a total loss. The flavor was amazing still!


Plated with whole wheat bread and skordalia, a very creamy garlicky and slightly tangy potato dip. So heavenly!


Served alongside a colorful salad of cucumbers, tomatoes, assorted olives, pepperoncini, pickled turnips and fresh lemon wedges.


So much flavor!


I finally got around to making these beautiful chickpea blondies. Mine are not gluten free. I used spelt flour to make these. Instead of strawberry jam, I used a combo of fig jam and date syrup! Deliciously sweet, tender and chewy.

Greek Gigantes, Lemon-Caper Potato Salad & Baba Ganouj

You don't understand, I crave Mediterranean flavors all the time! Yes, I switch gears and do Thai or Indian and even good old American but when it comes to food that just does it for me, it's this kind of food. I think it's because of the glorious mediterranean climate here in California that gets me in the mood. Today I revisited Greek Gigantes. I made it once before using a recipe I found online. This time I used Diane Kochilas' recipe from "The Greek Vegetarian" cookbook. You're supposed to use authentic greek big beans but large limas do the trick just fine. I also omitted the honey and used a bit of sugar to counterbalance the tartness of the tomatoes. They turned out beautifully creamy and tender and flavored with lots of dill. I also made potato salad with lemon-caper mayo and dill. Also baba ganouj and fresh pita to round out the meal. Husband and I ate together and washed it all down with a cold beer/tomato juice cocktail.

Edited to add a picture of dessert! How could I forget to put this up?

Date cake with vanilla buttercream frosting. All vegan!

It's all Greek to me.

I went to the library a few days ago and checked out a Greek cookbook called "The Olive and The Caper". It's not a vegetarian book but there are so many appealing vegetarian recipes in it that I wanted to try out this weekend. I should say that my interest in Greece and greek cooking has been sparked up again because of a suspense novel that I'm reading that takes place in this magical place. (The book is My Brother Michael by Mary Stewart by the way.)


First up, Eggplant and Yogurt Dip. I swapped greek yogurt for plain unsweetened soy yogurt. It's a beautiful mixture of eggplant pulp, yogurt, garlic, red onions and salty black olives. This was amazing. I'm definitely going to make this for parties.


Next, "Russian" Salad. Green beans, carrots, potatoes, in a lemon-caper mayonnaise (vegan mayo of course!). It's supposed to also have lima beans and peas but I left them out. Very good and creamy.


For the main dish I made Gigantes which are big beans in a tomato based sauce. We're supposed to use authentic greek big beans here but large lima beans are a popular replacement. I didn't really use the recipe from the book but instead adapted this recipe I found online. The beans are baked with diced tomatoes, onions, garlic, celery, dill, oregano and olive oil. I replaced the honey with a bit of sugar and left out the carrots. They baked up beautifully (though a little mushy) but were so tasty both warm and at room temp.


Closeup of the tender buttery beans. The dill flavor shined through just the way I had hoped.


My plate with a side of pita for dipping!


To go with the Mediterranean theme, dessert was orange blossom cake with fig yogurt sauce. I used kittee's basic vanilla cake recipe and subbed a little orange juice and orange blossom for some of the water. For the sauce, I just whisked a few spoonfuls of fig jam into plain soy yogurt.


The cake was moist and sweet with orange blossom notes. The yogurt sauce took it to another level. So many beautiful flavors!

Stuffed Peppers with Lima Beans, Rice and Dill

This recipe was pretty much thrown together with what I had in the fridge that needed to be used up. I had two red peppers, a cup of frozen lima beans, half a zucchini, a handful of grape tomatoes, cold jasmine rice from the day before and some fresh dill. I sauteed some garlic and onions in olive oil and threw in the defrosted lima beans, chopped zucchini, halved grape tomatoes and dill and seasoned with salt and pepper and cooked everything until the tomatoes and zucchini were soft. I added this mixture to a few cups of rice and seasoned it with more salt and pepper and a pinch of cinnamon. I then cut the peppers in half, stuffed them with the rice mixture and put them in a baking dish with a little water at the bottom. I drizzled a little watered down ketchup and soy sauce over the tops of the peppers, covered them with foil and baked for 30 minutes at about 350 degrees F. I removed the foil and baked for another 10 minutes. They look and smell really good. This is dinner tonight after I get home. I like to cook my dinners in the morning and reheat them later to save myself time. The last thing I want to do at 6pm is cook a meal. Tonight all I have to do is reheat the peppers and serve them with a side of the Uzbek potato salad that I made yesterday. Can't wait!

Vegetable Paella

Ooh, doesn't this look so appetizing? I was stumped as to what I wanted to cook tonight because I didn't have that many fresh vegetables in my fridge. After a quick perusal through The Mediterranean Vegan Kitchen cookbook, I came across the paella recipe that I could use as a base for the ingredients I had on hand. I had some basmati rice, one medium japanese eggplant, one tiny white squash, one large carrot, a bag of frozen fordhook lima beans, a bag of frozen corn and one can of stewed tomatoes. Even with these limited ingredients, it turned out so beautiful looking. And the taste is so nice, so creamy. This one's a keeper!