Thanksgiving 2013.

Happy Thanksgiving everyone! Hope you're home with friends and family, cozy and pleasantly full! I sure am. This Thanksgiving was low key as it was just me and my husband. My parents and brother went out of town so I didn't make a gargantuan amount of food as I usually do. We ate two plate of food and have been relaxing on the couch with a glass of wine and Twilight Zone marathon on the tv. I am now blogging from the comfort of my couch with a cup of holiday black tea nearby. The following is what we ate today.

First up, Tofurky Roast! I swear, every year it just tastes better and better. I roasted mine on top of carrots, turnips and onions with a delicious olive oil/soy sauce/orange juice/herb marinade.

Delicious herb stuffing from The Vegan Family cookbook. My husband complimented me on this and I was glad because he's used to boxed chicken flavored stuffing. Homemade is best!

First time for me making a sweet potato casserole. I got this recipe from Susan V. here. It's very good but so sweet. I'm not used to adding sugar and syrup to sweet potatoes, but I'm glad I tried it. I only used two sweet potatoes so I pretty much halved the recipe.

I gave these vegan Yorkshire puddings a go. I was very scared but I'm happy I tried. They didn't come out puffy and light like the traditional ones but these were quite nice. I would add less salt next time. I used Jeni's recipe here. I subbed almond milk instead of soy and all purpose instead of bread flour which could be why they didn't turn out how they should.

My plate. Everything was so delicious!

And for dessert, german chocolate cake! I used Susan V's recipe here.

Easy Weekend Food.

Today was all about simple, easy to prepare food. The risotto was oven baked which left me with not much to do as the oven did it for me! I threw in a few handfuls of bagged broccoli slaw in with the risotto for some color. The cauliflower was tossed in a bit of olive oil and I popped that in the oven on a sheet pan while the risotto cooked. The chickpea dish was simply canned chickpeas tossed with garlic, olive oil, lemon juice, mint, parsley and salt. Everything came out delicious.
You can find the risotto recipe here. You may omit the nutritional yeast if you don't have it. Tastes just as good without it. I left out the margarine which didn't affect the flavor at all. Make this, it's so good!


The coconut pudding was from The Vegan Family cookbook and has silken tofu, rice milk, coconut milk, cornstarch and sugar which simply got blended together, boiled and then refrigerated until chilled.

Moroccan Black Bean Stew

You can tell it's fall by looking at my dinner. This is the Moroccan Black Bean Stew recipe from The Vegan Family cookbook. It was so simple to throw together. I added 2 TB of tomato paste and some cumin (which I love!) and I decreased the sugar to 1 tsp. Came out just perfect. Looking back I should have added ras al hanout as well which is a Moroccan spice blend. Next time! This was very warming and tasty served on a bed of rice with a dollop of harissa (North African chili paste) on top. This will also go well with couscous or quinoa.

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...

Breakfast in Bed: Raw Strawberry-Banana Pudding and Toast!

I whipped up this decadent raw pudding this morning that was so thick, rich and creamy. It was really yummy and filling too. Yes, it's healthier than most desserts but it's not low fat because of the nuts.

Raw Strawberry-Banana Pudding

1/2 to 1 cup raw unsalted cashews (I didn't really measure but think I used close to a cup!)
8 dates, pitted
6-8 fresh strawberries
1 frozen banana

Soak cashews and dates in hot water for at least 20 minutes. Drain water. Blend all ingredients in a blender until thick and creamy. Serve with fresh berries on top.

Edited to add:


This is dinner tonight. It's a cauliflower, potato and mushroom gratin adapted from Brian McCarthy's Broccoli and Cauliflower Gratin from The Vegan Family Cookbook.

Curry & Scones.

I have Brian McCarthy's book 'The Vegan Family Cookbook' and I've only made a few things from it which have been absolutely stellar. I decided to try another one today. This is the "Tomato Garam Masala with Garbanzo Beans" which is kind of a saucier version of channa masala. It's very tomatoey and a little light on the spices so I upped the garam masala and added cumin, cayenne, coriander, ginger, cumin seed and mustard seed. I also added potatoes which was a good idea. Very yummy, saucy and comfort foody.


Really good cranberry and raisin scones. An easy easy recipe that I got from Vegweb.com. I love this site. You'll find the recipe here. I used half whole wheat flour and half white flour. Yum yum. I want to eat these all the time! They are great with a cuppa tea.


A pat of Earth Balance margarine make it even better.

Biscuit Casserole Stew

It's cloudy and overcast today which makes me want comfort food. I'm still trying to use up whatever I have in my kitchen and after thinking a bit, I remembered this stew from Brian McCarthy's 'Vegan Family Cookbok'. It's a very easy recipe where I was able to add things from my fridge that needed using up. It's a thick soup-like stew with a split pea soup base and features potatoes and carrots with a drop biscuit crust. I added some extra veggies and made whole wheat biscuits for the top. There was a bit of overspill in the oven (should have use a bigger dish), but it made it look interesting I think!

Ingredients from my pantry:
can of split pea soup
plain soymilk
whole wheat flour
all purpose flour
olive oil
veggie broth powder

Ingredients from my fridge:
mushrooms
broccoli
potatoes
carrots
onions
garlic
zucchini

Ingredients I had to purchase:
none


Warm and comforting.

Sharing at family gatherings.

Went to a family shindig yesterday (to celebrate 2 birthdays) and it was a great opportunity for me to bring a dish to share. I usually freak out a little when something like this comes up because I want to impress them with my vegan cooking skills and show them that I still eat great tasting food with lots of flavor and variety. I also didn't want to scare them away with 'weird' ingredients (like tempeh or any kind of fake meat) so I decided on a vegetable lasagna. Something familiar and comforting yet a little different from the usual. This one had a creamy white sauce instead of the usual marinara. To put this together, I used two compenents of two different lasagna recipes. I took the spinach white sauce preparation from the Florentine Lasagna in 'The Vegan Family Cookbook' and the creamy herbed tofu and soy cream cheese filling from the Cheesy Lasagna recipe over at vegweb. I thought it was ok for me to use tofu in this dish (which to some people is still weird) since it was going to be hiding inside the layers of lasagna.


Some of the ingredients. Cremini mushrooms, zucchini and carrots, tofu and soy cream cheese for the filling. Onions, garlic and a bag of spinach for the white sauce.

This is what the filling looked like as it bubbled away. See, you can't see the tofu!


After boiling the noodles and making the spinach white sauce (forgot to get a photo of this), it was just a matter of layering it all together. I had this idea to peel thin slices of zucchini to decorate the top. I think it worked well.


Before going into the oven...


And just out of the oven. How beautiful it looks in the dappled sunlight!


I also made Thai coleslaw which was really good except probably not that great as a potluck dish. Because it was sitting out most of the day, it got warm and wilty and lost it's crispness.

So the verdict? Everyone loved the lasagna and I was happy to see pieces missing as the day turned into night. The coleslaw, not so much but that's ok. The cookie dough brownies I made were a hit with the kids.