Apple Pumpkin Upside Down Cake, Polka Dot Muffins and Quesadilla

Pumpkin apple cake from an adapted recipe that was featured at the Midcentury Menu blog. I used a can of pumpkin and a box of spice cake mix for the batter. That's it! The apples, I just simmered in juice (cranberry or apple will do) until tender. I melted Earth Balance margarine on the bottom of the pan and sprinkled brown sugar, layered the apple slices, then poured batter on top. After 28 or so minutes in the oven, it was perfect! This cake went to a house party we went to last night. It was gone in a flash.

Polka Dot Muffins recipe from The Complete Vegan Kitchen cookbook. It uses cream of wheat in the batter and for me, it was a little too coarse of a muffin. I don't know if I'll make these again. They were just ok.

Breakfast Daiya cheese quesdilla.

Michelada, Quesadilla, Chopped Salad, Curry and Vegan Snacks.

Yesterday was a nice hot Saturday and cocktails were in order. Here is a vegan Michelada which is 1 can of beer, 1 small can of tomato juice, squeeze of lime, salt, chili powder, a few drops of soy sauce (or vegan worcestershire) and Tabasco. So refreshing!

Breakfast quesadilla this morning made with Daiya cheese.

This is a vintage copy of The Watkins salad book published in 1946 that I inherited from my late mother-in-law. I made one of the french dressing variations in it and made a yummy chopped salad.

Rainbow salad.

The dressing was so easy to make too. I added capers and chili sauce to mine.

This salad was very good.

Also made a quick chickpea and potato curry with glorious basmati rice. I made the rice lebanese style with lots of olive oil! This is key.

Ran across these accidentally vegan snacks at the store. The ice pops are really light and fresh and the Sahale Valdosta pecans are so good. I can probably make them myself but I liked the convenience. They have cranberries, black pepper and orange zest. Tasty!

Daiya Wedge Quesadilla and Pasta E Fagioli.

I bought a product called "Daiya Wedge" today in the jack flavor. I've bought Daiya shreds before but never this. It's basically a compact wedge of Daiya that you can slice and use how you wish. It melts nicely. I made a gooey quesadilla with roasted red peppers.

This is the pasta e fagioli recipe from Urban Vegan cookbook. I pared down the recipe because I was cooking for one so I think my liquid to pasta/beans recipe was a little off. Normally I like it more soupy. But this was still excellent. I added sauteed onion, celery and carrots to mine. I topped it with Parmezano Sprinkles, which is a parmesan cheese substititue that contains cashews, miso paste, nutritional yeast, and salt.

VeganMoFo: Tofutti Cheese Quesadilla, Cilantro Basil Pesto Spaghetti

A quick quesadilla I made this morning with Tofutti American style vegan cheese. If I had a superior vegan cheese like Daiya or Follow Your Heart, I would have used those because they melt much better. But this did just fine for my breakfast.


1 bunch of cilantro + a handful of fresh basil + slivered almonds + garlic + olive oil + lemon juice makes a great pesto. I tossed it with thin spaghetti and added a smattering of olives. Very quick, easy and tasty weeknight pasta dinner.

Corn Tortilla Quesadillas, Tofu Stir Fry

After that gigantic English breakfast you probably thought I couldn't eat anything else but it's a holiday after all and I felt like cooking! Made these as a snack mostly for my husband but I had a little. I had a container of Daiya vegan cheese that I had to use up so I made these quesadillas with corn tortillas instead of flour. I've never tried this before and it worked wonderfully. Really yummy these were.


When dinner rolled around, I whipped this up out of the leftover tofu and mushrooms that I didn't use at breakfast. This is the "Tofu Stir Fried with Vegetables and Hoisin" recipe from "The Power of Ancient Foods" cookbook. Very simple and very satisfying with a bit of rice and a side salad.

Oriental Salad, Split Pea Soup and Daiya Quesadilla

This was dinner:


Oriental salad with romaine, pea shoots, mandarins, carrots and a sesame dressing.


Curried split pea soup (recipe from Vegan with a Vengeance) and Daiya vegan cheese quesadilla.

Food rundown.

Thursday night's dinner: macaroni with esme's special sauce (delicious!) with steamed carrots and kale. Haven't made this sauce in so long and so glad I thought of it. Husband approved!


Saturday's lunch: romaine salad with red cabbage, cucumber, homemade croutons and tahini dill dressing,


Saturday's dessert: parsnip-carrot cake with a mess of a cream "cheese" glaze (didn't set up at all!) Got the recipe for this cake in a bargain book I found at Borders called 'The Ultimate Book of Vegan Cooking'. I had problems with the batter because the recipe didn't call for enough liquid so I had to add some in increments. Good thing the cake turned out. It was wonderfully spiced with cinnamon, nutmeg and very moist but the frosting recipe was a disaster. It didn't ruin the taste so I was happy enough.


Saturday's dinner: glorious quesadilla with Daiya cheese, roasted red peppers and caramelized onions. This is a vegan copycat of Giada's Italian quesadilla recipe. Amaaaazing.

Daiya Cheese Quesadilla

This was a quick lunch for me before I head out for work. I've had Daiya before on homemade pizza which I liked but having it in a quesadilla I loved! For some reason, the combination of melty cheese inside a grilled flour tortilla with buttery earth balance margarine made it taste just like real cheese. I can't wait to try this again and maybe add grilled vegetables to it.

Vegan MoFo: Soy Chorizo & Potato Quesadillas and Caesar Salad, the right way

One would think a vegan can't have quesadillas because of dairy cheese. Who needs cheese when you've got a whole lotta other stuff that you can put in them? You can use absolutely any combination of ingredients that you have hanging around in your fridge. Things like soy chorizo, soy cream cheese, spinach, garlic, red onions and potatoes. Not bad I say!


This is what Soy Chorizo looks like...a lot like the real thing, no?


This is what the filling looks like.


All grilled up. Ridiculously tasty! Spicy "soyrizo", sweet red onion, tender potatoes, gooey cream cheese with a crunchy tortilla crust...Recipe at the end of this post.

I have a big jar of Veganomicon's caesar dressing in the fridge so I whipped up homemade roasted garlic croutons this time to go on a side caesar salad. What a delicious recipe! I'm glad I made the croutons this time as they are 100 times better than the store bought! And you're lucky that you can get this recipe online here.




Soy Chorizo and Potato Quesadillas
(makes about 3-4 quesadillas)

1/2 red onion, sliced
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 tb olive oil
1 soy chorizo link
1 cooked potato, peeled and cubed (I poked a raw potato with holes and cooked it in the microwave. It was easy to peel after it was cooked.)
2 handfuls baby spinach, roughly chopped
flour tortillas (soft taco size)
Tofutti Better Than Cream Cheese
margarine

For filling:
Heat oil in a pan on medium high heat. Add onions and garlic and saute until onions get soft. Add soy chorizo: to do so, cut off one end of the casing and squeeze the "meat" mixture out into the pan. Stir around and cook for a few minutes. Add cubed potatoes and stir around again to coat the potatoes with the chorizo mixture. Then add the spinach and keep cooking until it wilts. Set mixture aside.

Preheat a skillet on medium heat. Take a tortilla and spread margarine on one side. Flip it over and spread cream cheese on other side. Put about 1/2 cup filling on top of cream cheese only on one side. Fold the other side of the tortilla over to press and close together. Place the quesadilla in a hot skillet and use a spatula to press it down while cooking. Grill both sides until golden brown and hot.