Tender Greens and some vegan snacks.

Went to Tender Greens today to celebrate our 3 day weekend. Haven't been here in years which is sad because their food is very good!

I got the lovely Roasted Tomato soup. I love the drizzle of basil oil.

This is the delicious HAPPY VEGAN salad which has green hummus, quinoa salad, tabbouleh and farro salad along with mixed greens.

Snacks are always nice. Vegan Sriracha popcorn from World Market.

VEGAN TOFFEES!!! YUM!

Chickpea Almond Melt, Grocery Finds and LYFE Kitchen Review.

My fave chickpea salad made with chickpeas, ground almonds, celery, green pepper, red onion, vegan mayo, garlic powder, a bit of mustard and salt and pepper. It's truly delicious! I made a scrummy melt with whole grain bread and Daiya cheddar. It was so gooey and satisfying.

If you haven't tried this, do it TODAY!

Yummy accidentally vegan treats. The cashew brittle is to die for.

Asian pasta salad I made with quinoa pasta. I liked it at first but then the next day it sucked. Never buying quinoa pasta again. It fell apart and was hard yet overcooked at the same time.

LYFE Kitchen in Culver City. This was my first time. It has something for everyone: omnivores, veggies, vegan, gluten free. I got this corn chowder which was really good.

The caesar salad with Gardein chicken was good too.

Bean Tostada and a Grain Bowl.

Today's lunch was a delicious tostada that had refried black beans, corn, sauteed garlic kale and potatoes and avocado.

I also prepared a grain bowl for my lunch tomorrow. Quinoa, spinach, sauteed tofu, yellow tomatoes, sweet potato, cranberries and miso tahini dressing.

"Cheesy" Broccoli and Quinoa Casserole.

And here we have yet another casserole this week. I found the recipe here and gave it a go when I got home from work. Only thing different is I also sauteed some celery and carrots with the onions. I also added 1 tsp miso paste and 1 tsp veggie broth powder to the sauce. I cut my salt to 1 tsp because I figured the miso would make up for the other, but I probably should have kept the salt content as the recipe directed.

I would definitely make this again. It's creamy and very satisfying.

Not again!

YES! Again! I make this when I want something easy and super satisfying. This quinoa and black bean tortilla casserole dish never disappoints. I make it so much I should really start referring to it as "The Casserole". This time I added Daiya vegan cheese to create a nice melty top.

Quinoa and Black Bean Tortilla Casserole

Filling:
2 TB olive oil
1 medium onion, chopped
1 green bell pepper, chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 zucchini, chopped
1 tsp. cumin
1 tsp. chili powder
1 tsp oregano
1 14oz. can diced tomatoes, drained with juice reserved
1 14oz. can black beans, drained and rinsed
2 cups water
3/4 cups quinoa
salt and pepper to taste
1 cup Daiya cheese
Sauce: 2 - 8oz. can tomato sauce or you can use 2 cans of EL PATO sauce (yum!)
1/2 tsp. cumin
1/2 tsp. chipotle chili powder or plain chili powder
pinch of cayenne
1/3 cup Vegenaise
8 flour tortillas (to make it gluten free, use corn tortillas!)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Heat olive oil in a medium sized pot and saute the veggies and garlic until they are soft. Stir in the cumin, taco seasoning and oregano and then add the drained tomatoes, black beans, water and quinoa. Bring to a boil and then lower heat to medium low and cover. Let simmer for 20 minutes or until quinoa is tender. Season with salt and pepper. Prepare sauce: Mix the cans of tomato sauce and the reserved tomato juice in a bowl. Season with 1/2 tsp cumin and 1/2 tsp. chipotle chili powder. Add a pinch of cayenne and stir until combined. Prepare drizzle by combining vegenaise and about a TB of the reserved tomato sauce. Cut tortillas into 4 wedges each. Spread a little bit of the red sauce in the bottom of a baking dish. Layer some tortillas wedges on bottom of dish. Spread with half the filling. Top with more tortillas. Pour half of sauce and sprinkle half of the Daiya cheese. Layer with more tortillas, spread rest of filling, top with more tortillas. Pour remaining sauce on top and the drizzle with vegenaise mixture. Top with other half of Daiya cheese. Bake covered for 30 minutes.

Saturday Comfort Cookin'.

Nice to get back in the kitchen on the weekend instead of going out to eat all the time. Today I wanted comfort food so I made my standby. It's my quinoa-black bean tortilla casserole, adapted from a stuffed pepper recipe from Vegetarian Times magazine. It has layers of flour tortillas, quinoa, black beans, veggies and spicy tomato sauce with a creamy vegan mayonnaise topping. I love this thing and could probably eat the whole pan by myself. CLICK HERE FOR RECIPE. You can be creative and add any kinds of veggies you want. Today I used red bell pepper, corn and zucchini.

Along with the casserole, I made sweet corn cake which is a recipe I got from The Tropical Vegan Kitchen cookbook.

All together now. After a few shots of Tapatio, I was ready to dig in.

I also made banana bread because of some overripe bananas I had lingering in my kitchen. Who doesn't like banana bread?

I took a break from guitar practice to have a cup o' tea and a slice. So good!

Quinoa Enchilada Casserole.

Made my old standby today which actually I haven't made in a while. Find the recipe here. This time I used spinach, chipotle pinto beans and El Pato jalapeno salsa/tomato sauce for the sauce. And if you're wondering what the orange topping is, it's Vegenaise mixed with a bit of salsa and lime juice.


Excuse the messy plate. This was my second helping topped with avocado.

Casserole Sunday.

I'm in serious need of comforting this weekend so I made my old standby. Yummy quinoa/pinto bean/broccoli slaw/tofurky sausage filling inside tortillas doused in chipotle tomato sauce and a Vegenaise drizzle. Recipe here. Change up the veggies like I did if you wish.


Served with steamed broccoli.

Quinoa-Beans and Greens Tortilla Casserole

You've seen this thing a million times on my blog. Instead of burrito style I made it casserole style with layered pieces of tortilla between the filling of quinoa, kale, beans and sauce.


Recipe here.

Cooking out of the pantry: Enchilada Casserole and Sweet Corn Cake

So, day one of cooking from my pantry! I was lazy today to look for a new recipe so I reverted back to my old standby. This time I added tvp to the filling to bulk it up a bit. To go with the casserole, I made a side dish of mexican sweet corn cake which is a recipe from The Tropical Vegan Kitchen.

Pantry staples used:
quinoa
1 can black beans
tvp
1 can diced tomatoes
1 can tomato sauce
dried herbs/spices: cumin, oregano, new mexico chili powder
6 whole wheat flour tortillas
masa harina
cornmeal
sugar
canola oil

Other vegetables/fruits and fridge items etc:
1 red bell pepper
2 cloves garlic
1/2 onion
10 oz. frozen corn
Vegenaise
Earth Balance margarine

Ingredients I needed to purchase: none


Mmm, casserole!


Mexican sweet corn cake. This was really delicious and sweet.

Sunday Casserole & Oat Bran Muffins

I like to make a casserole on Sundays; something that I throw in a baking dish and pop in the oven while I go about my household duties. If you've been reading my blog for a while, you know that this casserole of quinoa bean burritos is my old standby. Instead of serving them as a burrito, I just cut into the casserole and served up little squares of layered tortilla, quinoa, spinach, red peppers, corn and beans. The topping is Daiya cheese with a vegenaise/lemon juice/chili powder drizzle. The drizzle made the Daiya get all melty and cheezy.


Just out of the oven. Look at that topping!


Mmm.

Later in the day I made oat bran muffins with a recipe I found in The Vegan Family Cookbook. I haven't had a proper bran muffin since before I went vegan and what I remember was that they were dark brown, sweet, sticky and full of raisins. While good and wholesome, these muffins were not that. So I'm asking my fellow vegans, can you point me to a recipe for a bran muffin that I described? I need to go through my cookbooks...

Broiled Kabob & Quinoa

I just got a great cookbook, 1,000 Vegan Recipes by Robin Robertson. There are so many great things in it that I can't wait to try. I l have a few of Robin's other cookbooks and I really enjoy using them. I love her recipes because they are very straightforward and usually don't call for any hard to find ingredients. I made the vegetable kabob recipe and used tofu instead of seitan and I broiled instead of grilled. The marinade is a wonderful mixture of olive oil, balsamic vinegar, garlic and herbs. They were perfect with a side of fluffy quinoa. Because I like condiments, I served the kabobs with a side of homemade bbq sauce. I adapted the sauce recipe from an old Susan Powter recipe book that I have.



BBQ Sauce

2 tsp. olive oil
1/4 onion, chopped
1 cup tomato juice or V-8
1/2 cup ketchup
3 TB balsamic or apple cider vinegar
1 TB lemon juice
2-3 TB brown sugar
1 TB dijon mustard
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. black pepper
1/2 tsp. crushed red pepper flakes
1/8 tsp. liquid smoke (optional)

Heat olive oil in a small saucepan. Add onions and saute until soft. Add the rest of the ingredients and bring to a boil. Lower heat to simmer for about 10 minutes.

Casserole-ing It.

Hot from the oven, bubbling away...a casserole is a one pan meal that you can dish out on a plate, grab a fork and happily eat in front of the tv. This is what casseroles mean to me. There is something so comforting about them. Not only is it easy and quick to get on the table, but it's economical. It always makes a lot. You can eat it all week if you want. I made my favorite standby: quinoa veggie bean burritos, enchilada style today. I've made this dozens of times and it always gives me the same result. Like warm hugs, this dish will make you feel comforted and cozy inside.


My plate of yumminess with added avocado. In case you're wondering what the orange blobs are on the top photo, it's Vegenaise!

VeganMoFo: Stuffed Acorn Squash with Quinoa and Cranberries

This is quite fall festive is it not? I originally intended to make these last night but our power went out due to the rain so we ran out and grabbed burritos instead. I have time before work so I decided to make these this morning and just reheat for dinner. To make the stuffing, I used leftover cooked quinoa and sauteed celery, onions, garlic, fresh chopped rosemary, thyme and dried cranberries. They were baked in the oven for about an hour at 350F. I haven't tried them yet but do they smell delicious!



Edited to add:
Dinner was great! Husband liked the stuffed squash to my surprise. I served them with salad and garlic toasts.

VeganMoFo: Thai Red Curry with Butternut Squash and Beans

O' my heavens above this was so good! I make thai curries all the time but tonight the combination of sweet butternut squash and hearty beans was outstanding. I also added white squash and red bell peppers for color. Anything with coconut milk gets an A in my book. I was greedy and enjoyed my curry with two different beds of grain. On the right side I have quinoa, a delicious nutty grain that goes perfect with the flavors of the curry and on the left side, "kanom jean" (or somen noodles) that is a more traditional Thai accompaniment to curry. It was wonderful and I ate this all up!

Basic recipe for thai curry here. You can use any kind of curry paste, green or red, panang etc. And also change up the veggies, omit tofu and add beans, whatever!

VeganMoFo: Quinoa Black Bean & Chorizo Enchiladas

Gotta make do with what you have! I still had 1/2 a tube of soy chorizo that I needed to use so I made some quinoa, heated up a can of black beans that I sauteed with onions and garlic first, then added the chorizo to it. Corn tortillas and tomato sauce completed my enchiladas. The topping looks like cheese but it's actually vegan mayo that was mixed with lemon juice, chili powder and a bit of tomato sauce. It really gives the enchiladas more flavor (not to mention fat!).


I was so eager to show you the insides so I cut into them too soon. They fell apart. But you can see what's in there. I ate this bit and it was delicious!