Once a year lasagna!

I only make this once a year and I have no idea why! It's so delicious! This one has almond-tofu ricotta, spinach, peppers, mushrooms, onions, Follow Your Heart vegan cheese and tomato herb sauce.

I have to say that Follow your Heart cheese is better than Daiya for something like this. It melts without getting goopy like Daiya and it's milder in taste which works.

Recipe:

2 TB olive oil
1 onion, chopped
2 tsp. chopped garlic
1 container cremini mushrooms, sliced
1 red pepper, chopped
1 green pepper, chopped
1 bag of baby spinach
1 jar of marinara sauce (Whole Foods tomato herb)
1 recipe of almond tofu ricotta (see recipe below)
12 lasagna noodles
1 bag of Vegan Follow Your Heart mozzarella cheese

Cook pasta as per directions. Add a little oil to the boiling water so pasta doesn't stick together. When finished cooking, drain and set aside.
Meanwhile, saute onion, garlic, peppers and mushrooms in olive oil in a pot. Season with salt and pepper. Add spinach and saute briefly until it wilts just a little bit. (Another option is to add the spinach raw while you are layering the lasagna.)
Coat a lasagna pan with some red sauce. Layer 4 noodles, half of the ricotta, then one half of the veggies, a little cheese and a little sauce, continue layering the same way until you end up with noodles. Pour the remaining sauce over and top it with the cheese. Cover with foil and bake at 350F for 1 hour.

Almond Tofu ricotta (adapted from the cashew ricotta from Veganomicon):
1/2 cup slivered almonds
2 TB olive oil
1/4 cup lemon juice
1 container of firm tofu, drained
1 1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp italian herb blend (or just dried basil)
Blend all ingredients in a blender or food processor until creamy.

Once a Year Lasagna.

It seems I only make lasagna once or sometimes twice a year. I could be wrong but that's what it feels like. I don't know why because I LOVE lasagna. Making a vegan one is super easy and just as good as any other. The trick is to have a good creamy "ricotta" that will give you that cheese-like taste and texture. I use the cashew tofu ricotta recipe from Veganomicon. Today's lasagna has spinach, mushrooms, onions, carrots and a nice tomato basil sauce.


Out of the oven.


And plated. View 1.


View 2.

Tempeh & Veggie Rolls

Delicious tempeh and veggie rolls (recipe from Veganomicon) that I will serve to my in-laws and husband for supper. The filling is tempeh chunks coated in vegan mayo with a little sesame oil and chili sauce, carrots, cucumber and scallion.


A mountain of rolls in celebration of my two days off tomorrow and Friday!

Mock Crab Cake Wrap, Cauliflower White Bean Dip

Yesterday's "crab" cakes made beautiful wraps for lunch today.


Also on the lunch menu: cauliflower white bean dip. This was adapted from the "Lower Fat Cauliflower Hummus" recipe from Veganomicon. I didn't have any chickpeas so I used white beans as a nice and creamy substitute.

Panera-esque Black Bean Soup & Spiced Pita Crisps

I'm so bad about using up the dried beans that like to hang out in my pantry. I usually go for convenience and use canned beans. But this weekend, I decided to put a bag of black beans to good use by making this soup. I've only been to Panera Bread once and had the black bean soup in a bread bowl. My husband wasn't fond of the food there but I really enjoyed my soup. Since he doesn't ever want to go back, I thought I'd re-create the soup at home. Luckily I found a recipe online to guide me. I did a few things different, one obviously being the use of dried beans instead of canned and adding carrots to the mix instead of the red bell pepper. I also added more cumin, threw in some cayenne, lemon pepper and black pepper. It was beautifully thick and perfect with the spiced pita crisps. The crisps recipe is from Veganomicon in which I used whole wheat pita, chili powder, garlic powder and salt.

Note: I cooked the dried beans the day before in the crockpot. 1 lb. dried beans plus 8 cups of water in the crockpot on low for 8-10 hours.

Eat Your Greens!

Mmm, kale! I sure do love this dark green leafy that I've been eating a lot of lately. I'm sure to some of you, the idea of eating a serving of dark green vegetables plain is not desirable in the slightest. Which is why it's a good idea to pair it with something that will make you love your greens. Today I made two sauces that I ladled over steamed kale. Both were absolutely wonderful!


First up is this delicious garlicky sauce that was invented by my friend Lauren. She eats kale by the ton and uses this sauce that she whipped one day. She is addicted to it and I think I will be too! She ran the recipe by me today and I came home and made it. It takes not more than 3-4 minutes and is worth the preparation. This is what you do: Chop finely a few cloves of garlic. Heat some olive oil (I used about 2TB) in a small saucepan over medium heat. Add some Earth Balance margarine, just a bit for some saltiness. Add chopped garlic and saute until it lightly browns. Then add nutritional yeast flakes(I added only 1/2 cup, Lauren uses a full cup!) and then add some water little by little while stirring to make a sauce with the thickness you prefer. Season with black pepper and cayenne. Pour over steamed kale and toss to coat.


Second sauce is the Tahini Dill sauce from Veganomicon. Super easy to make as well in your blender. It's a wonderfully smooth and creamy sauce made with tahini, dill, garlic, lemon juice, olive oil, water and vinegar. The recipe called for balsamic but I used red wine vinegar instead. Very good on fresh salad too.

Hurrah for Vegan Biscotti!

I think I must be dreaming. I haven't had a biscotti in a million years it seems! When I went vegan, I pretty much said goodbye to these sweet cripsy italian cookies that I loved having with a coffee. The biscotti that you can buy at your local coffee shop or specialty store were off limits because of the ingredient list which traditionally contains eggs. Today I was craving biscotti and after shopping at Whole Foods and ogling the pretty holiday biscotti packages, I decided that I would make my own today. I knew there were a couple recipes in Veganomicon so I hurried home and got to work. I used the 'Almond Anise Biscotti' recipe but omitted the anise as I didn't have any. I also ran out of canola oil so I subbed olive oil with no problems. And instead of whole almonds, I used slivered almonds, mmm! The egg replacement in the recipe was ground flax seed that was whisked with soymilk. They did the trick and in about an hour, I had beautiful golden crunchy biscotti!




They were so heavenly dunked in coffee.

VeganMoFo: A Stew in the Fall.

What better food to eat in proper fall weather than a stew? I'm soooo glad that our hot, humid summer has finally turned into mildly sunny, breezy, chilly weather! This is still Southern CA so it's not that cold but just enough nip in the air to make you want comfort food. Last year's Veganmofo on this same day the 5th of October, I made a soychorizo corn stew. Well, I decided to make it again and it was even better than I remembered! I didn't have any green pepper or eggplant so I subbed carrots and zucchini. Any squash or veggies will do really...


I put homemade roasted garlic croutons on top (crouton recipe from Veganomicon). This is a really tasty stew with a bit of spiciness from the chorizo. I had a little taster bowl for lunch and it was so warm and comforting. I'll be having more when I get home from work today.

Cheater Baked Beans!

Not the best picture of all time but this is my kind of dinner. I love love love beans and couldn't wait to try the "Cheater Baked Beans" recipe from Veganomicon. It was so easy to just pop open a couple cans of beans instead of soaking dry ones overnight. One day I'll do baked beans the real way. But tonight I wanted them fast so I decided to cheat. I paired them with a baked potato and a fresh salad. Super super good and filling too.

Potlucky.

Foods that I slaved away to make but had much fun doing it. I was lucky that it all came out great! Hope everyone enjoys them at the party.


Spanakopita from 'Vegan with a Vengeance'. These were quite challenging to make. I was originally going to make a large pie but thought that individual servings would do better at a party. They came out really cute and have been taste tested by my husband. He gives them two thumbs up. (The party has not yet started and I saw him sneak another one and steal away to his room!)


Prospect Park Potato Salad from 'Veganomicon'. I've made this several times and it's always a hit.


Beautiful bean salad (kidney, white, fava) seasoned with garlic, lemon juice, olive oil and parsley.


Isa's famous chocolate chip but with added mocha chips. Yay!

I also made fresh salsa and hummus which came out fabulously as well.

Dee Da Doo Day...

I'm bored. I know I should be getting to bed early (have to wake up at 6am for jury duty tomorrow!) but I don't feel sleepy. I've been going through old food pictures I took before I started this blog. Some of the yummy dishes I made I almost forgot about! I'd like to share them here with you.


This is Eggplant and Chickpea Kibbeh that I got from a book called "Vegan Planet". This was really good. It has bulgur, tomatoes, eggplant and chickpeas of course. I made a lemony garlic sauce to go with it along with roasted asparagus and boiled potatoes. i have to make this again soon.


Pineapple Tofu. So so awesome. I like to fry up tofu cubes after dipping them in cornstarch and then drowning them in a pineapple sauce. The recipe for the sauce is here.


Oven Herb Roasted Tomato Pasta. Now this looks very plain and almost boring but wow, does it taste good. The recipe is from "The Mediterranean Vegan Kitchen".


How did I forget about these Grilled Yuca Tortillas??? Recipe is from Veganomicon. These are so gorgeous. It's mashed up yuca with lime, jalapenos and corn. I've made this a few times with fresh guacamole.


Cashew Coconut Curry Casserole. Wow, I remember this. It was soo rich and so delicious. Recipe is here. It's one of those throw in a baking dish and bake kind of recipes.


Szechuan Noodles. Easy and cheap and yummy. Recipe here.


Sexy Lowfat Vanilla Cupcakes from "Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World". This book rocks.

Ok now, off to bed. Good night!

Quinoa Salad with Black Beans and Mango

It feels like summer today. It's warm, there's a breeze (I live 3 miles from the ocean) and I can smell the jasmine flowers in my backyard from my open studio door. In this kind of weather, a salad is refreshing and delightful. I didn't want to make a regular lettuce based salad so I quickly went through my copy of Veganomicon and found this quinoa salad. I was lucky to have a ripe mango in my fruit bowl so I used that along with scallions and fresh tomato (to replace the red pepper). I punched up the flavor a bit by adding lime juice and chili powder to the dressing. It's yummy! It makes a lot so I'll be having this throughout the week along with my kale soup. I'm quite happy.

I just checked the weather forecast and it looks like we'll be getting rain this week. Great.

Roasted Veggies, Potato Salad and Pine Nut Couscous

I feel like I haven't made anything really healthy in a while. Today my goal was to make something simple using vegetables. I've forgotten how simple and delicious roasted vegetables are. I made asparagus, carrots, zucchini, red onions, yellow onions roasted in extra virgin olive oil and a little bit of salt and pepper. I served them with pinenut couscous and Veganomicon's Prospect Park potato salad (I used red potatoes this time). I can eat this meal every night, it was so good.

Spicy Tempeh Nori Rolls

These never fail to please. One of the first recipes I tried from Veganomicon. Really yummy! The tempeh chunks are coated in creamy Vegenaise and hot sesame oil which make them nice and spicy too. Have a great weekend!

Potluck food.

Going to a potluck today. It took me forever to decide what I wanted to bring. I was originally going to make an enchilada casserole when I realized that I had already made that for a family get together not long ago. So I decided to make the Chickpea Tahini Casserole that I love so much. I even added roasted asparagus as edible decoration! For a "side" dish I made Veganomicon's Prospect Park potato salad. You can't go wrong with potato salad. Mine doesn't have grated carrot because I was out! But no matter, I added some sweet red onion to help balance out the flavors.

Onto the pics:


Here's the casserole out of the oven waiting to be adorned...


So if this doesn't entice people to try my food, I don't know what to say!


Glorious potato salad. I overcooked my potatoes a bit but that doesn't bother me!

BBQ Baked Tofu

Haven't had tofu in a while so I bought some today to make bbq baked tofu. I was going to make a homemade bbq sauce out of Veganomicon but I didn't have most of the ingredients so I used a bottle of Trader Joe's Smoky Kansas City Style BBQ sauce in a pinch. To go with my saucy tofu, I had Brooklyn Deli Pasta Salad (which is a recipe from Veganomicon) and garlicky sauteed zucchini. It was all very delicious indeed.

If you're interested in baking some tofu slices, here's a good recipe. I pretty much followed the baking time instructions but instead of using the marinade, I dipped my tofu slices in bbq sauce and I baked them on a baking sheet instead of a dish. It was very easy and I can see myself making a big batch of this to use for sandwiches.

Lasagna Rollups Recipe + Holiday Gifts

The family bash was great. Had loads of fun being surrounded by my gigantic family. They are such a happy bunch. I brought a Lasagna casserole to the party which got eaten up by lots of folks. I think there were only 2 rollups left at the end! This recipe was a last minute idea. I was originally going to make a shepherd's pie but thought better of it and made this instead.





Lasagna Rollups

1 box of lasagna noodles
Filling:
1 recipe of Cashew Ricotta (recipe from Veganomicon but you can find it online here.)
1 10oz. box frozen spinach, thawed and drained of all water
2 TB olive oil
1 red bell pepper, chopped
1 onion, chopped
3 cloves garlic, chopped
6-7 mushrooms, chopped
Sauce: (you can used jarred sauce if you want!)
2 TB olive oil
1/2 onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 28oz. can crushed tomatoes
1 8oz. can tomato sauce
1 tsp sugar
1 tsp italian herbs (or just oregano)
1/2 to 1 cup plain unsweetened soymilk (optional)
vegan parmesan (optional)

1. Make filling: Prepare the cashew ricotta. Defrost spinach in microwave and squeeze out all the water from the spinach. Mix spinach with the cashew ricotta and set aside. Heat the 2 TB of olive oil in a saucepan and saute the red peppers, onion, garlic and mushrooms until soft. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Add this mixture to the ricotta/spinach mixture and combine well. Place this mixture in the fridge while you prepare the lasagna noodles and sauce.
2. Prepare lasagna noodles al dente according to package directions. While they are cooking, prepare sauce. (If you want to use jarred pasta sauce, you may do so.) Heat the 2 TB of olive oil in a pot. Add the onion and garlic and saute until soft. Add the tomatoes, tomato sauce, sugar and herbs. Bring to a boil then simmer on low. Add about 1/2 to 1 cup of soymilk to make it a creamy tomato sauce if you want. Otherwise leave it out and keep the sauce as is. Simmer for about 15-20 minutes.
3. Spoon some of the sauce into the bottom of a baking dish and set it aside.
4. Roll 'em up: Take the ricotta filling out of the fridge. Take a sheet of aluminum foil and lay it flat on a table or counter. Spray with some oil. When lasagna noodles are done, drain them and lay them flat on the foil. Spread about 2 TB of filling along each noodle. Roll up and place them seam side down in the baking dish side by side. Cover the whole thing with sauce. Cover with a sheet of foil and bake at 350 degrees F for 30 minutes. Uncover and sprinkle with vegan parmesan and bake for another 5 minutes.

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I got some great cooking related gifts! Took pics to show you.


Let's say it all together: "OMG!" I've always wanted one of these. Pancake puffs here I come!


Three great looking cookbooks that I can't wait to cook out of!


And my non-cooking related gifts only because I'm so flippin' happy that I got them! TV on DVD is the best.


Some good reads.

Not pictured: a beautiful vintage purse, chocolates, pretty washcloths and other great things...

Snobby Joes Take 2

I finally got around to making Snobby Joes once again. The first time I made them, I didn't have any burger buns so I had to use corn tortillas which were actually quite good. This time I had cracked wheat buns as well as a nice spinach, red pepper and cranberry salad with a strawberry balsamic vinaigrette. I had all the ingredients for a healthy meal. Protein? Check! Dark leafy greens? Check! Whole grains? Check! Antioxidants? Check! A very satisfying and tasty meal that took me back to my "Manwich" eating childhood.

Quick Strawberry Balsamic Vinaigrette

2 tsp strawberry preserves
1/4 cup balsamic vinegar
1/4 cup olive oil
1-2 tsp dijon mustard (optional)

Whisk all ingredients together. You may use less preserves if you want it less sweet.

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.

HB to Me.

It's my birthday and I am making my own birthday cakes! Just because I can't get a cake from the nearest bakery does not mean I can't enjoy birthday cake! I took it upon myself to make my own sweet treats to celebrate the 32nd year of my life. I really enjoyed making the mini loaf cakes last weekend so I made them again, two kinds: Vanilla and Raisin-Spice. To make the raisin spice I just added some raisins and some cinnamon, nutmeg and allspice to the batter. I drizzled the vanilla with a plain vanilla glaze and colorful sprinkles and the raisin-spice with a dark rum flavored glaze.

Lookee here:


And my birthday lunch today? Veganomicon's Caeasar Salad! Sorry, I didn't make my own croutons like the recipe says. I was horribly lazy and subbed store bought croutons. Next time though, I promise! I also sprinkled a little Parmezano Sprinkles in it which was a nice touch. The dressing was creamy and garlicky and very very good. I have a giant jar of it in my fridge that will not go to waste.



Tonight the husband is making me dinner (yes!) and then later on in the evening I'll be tuning in to the season premiere of my new favorite show, 'Pushing Daisies'.