Spaghetti and "Meatballs".

For dinner tonight I decided to try something from a new cookbook I just got called Country Life Vegetarian Cookbook. Along with some tempting loaf recipes (I dig veggie loaves so much.) there are also a few "meatball" recipes, one of which are made with tofu. I decided to try that recipe and use them for spaghetti and "meatballs". This afternoon I made a quick marinara and let it simmer while I made the tofu balls. While they were cooking in the oven, I was able to catch the Dodgers on tv. Yes, they won! (And Casey Blake is still my boyfriend.) Here is a picture of the meatballs cooling out of the oven.


Later on at dinner time I just reheated the sauce and meatballs and put a quick salad together with the "Sauce Rouge" dressing from the same cookbook. Sorry about the quality of photo, it got darker by this time.


It all went deliciously well. The tofu balls were very nice and surprisingly filling. They reminded me of mini tofu loaves. Three balls on top of the spaghetti and sauce was enough for me. Lots of leftovers for tomorrow!

Stuffed Peppers & Creamy Chili Lime Coleslaw

I made stuffed peppers for dinner last night that were pretty awesome and easy to make. They are stuffed with soy crumbles, corn, onions, rice and tomatoes and spiced with cumin, oregano and other mexican seasonings. I originally wanted to use cooked lentils instead of the crumbles but my husband is a big fan of the crumbles. Next time I'll try lentils. I also made a really nice creamy coleslaw with the flavors of lime juice and chili powder to go with the flavors of the stuffed pepper. For dessert we had banana cake. I used this recipe but omitted the chocolate chips.


Stuffed Peppers

3 large green bell peppers, cut in half lengthwise with seeds and membranes removed
2 TB olive oil
1 onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
1-1/2 cups frozen corn, thawed
1 12 oz. bag Morningstar Grillers Crumbles, frozen (you may substitute rehydrated TVP or even cooked lentils.)
1 14 oz. can stewed tomates, broken up and with juice
1 TB taco seasoning, store bought or make your own
1/2 tsp cumin
1/2 tsp oregano
salt and black pepper to taste
1-1/2 cups white or brown rice cooked
tomato sauce seasoned with a little taco seasoning

1. Preheat oven to 350 F.
1. Bring a pot of water to boil. Submerge peppers in the boiling water and let them cook for 3 minutes to soften them a bit. Take them out and let cool.
2. Heat olive oil in a pan on medium high heat and saute the onions and garlic for a few minutes. Add the corn and cook for about 4-5 minutes until onions are soft and corn is a little browned. Remove from pan and set aside.
3. In the same pan on medium high heat, add a little oil and add the soy crumbles. Stir around for a few minutes until all the crumbles are no longer frozen. Add the corn/onion mixture and the stewed tomatoes. Add the spices and continue to cook for about 3-4 minutes or until everything is incorporated and heated through.
4. Pour the mixture into a large bowl and add the cooked rice. Mix everything until combined. Season with salt and pepper if needed. Proceed to stuff each pepper half to bursting with the stuffing mixture.
5. Place stuffed peppers in a baking dish and spoon a little tomato sauce on top of each pepper. Add about 1/4 cup water to the baking dish. Bake uncovered for about 30-40 minutes or until peppers are soft and tops get nice and browned.



Creamy Chili Lime Coleslaw

1 small head of cabbage, chopped or sliced thinly
1 carrot, peeled and grated or sliced thinly
1/4 red onion, sliced
Optional ingredients: corn, olives, tomatoes, avocado etc...

Dressing:
1/2 C vegan mayo (Vegenaise preferably)
2 tsp olive oil
2 tsp red wine vinegar
juice of 1 lime
1 tsp (or more if you want) of chili powder
1/2 tsp cumin
1 tsp of sugar
salt and pepper to taste
You may add more or less of any ingredient to your tastes.
Whisk all ingredients together and toss with cabbage mixture. Chill in the fridge for a few hours.

This is what dessert looked like...

Snobby Joes Tostadas?

This is Veganomicon's 'Snobby Joes' recipe and I was very excited to finally try it. This is a vegan version of good old Sloppy Joes but taken to another level. Instead of using ground meat (obviously), lentils take their place. As I put everything together - cooking lentils, sauteeing peppers and onions... I realized I didn't have any hamburger buns to eat them with! So I improvised and made these "Snobby Joe Tostadas" by lightly frying a couple of corn tortillas in oil and adding corn kernels on top with a shot of hot sauce. Delicious! You'd be surprised how hearty and filling these are. Can't wait to have leftovers tomorrow.

Recipe can be found at the ppk website:
http://www.theppk.com/recipes/dbrecipes/index.php?RecipeID=2059

Vegan Mac n Cheese!

I've tried ever so many mac n "cheese" recipes and while they all have been good, I always want to try another recipe just to see if it's better. This one did not disappoint. If you haven't been to Vegan Dad's blog, you should check it out. He makes a lot of tasty comfort foods, kid friendly foods and vegan versions of old favorites. When he posted his mac and cheese recipe, I knew that I had to try it. This recipe requires nuts which makes the sauce so much creamier. He uses cashews, sunflower seeds and pine nuts, all of which I didn't have in my pantry so I substituted flaked almonds. It came out very tasty. I think if I used cashews it would have been even better. This recipe is definitely a keeper. You will find the recipe here.

Some pics. Sorry about the yucky flash photos.


Right out of the oven. I baked mine with panko bread crumbs on top. I wish I would have used normal bread crumbs as these didn't brown enough to my liking.


Plate of creamy goodness.

Note: This recipe has nutritional yeast in it. If you're wondering what that is, it is a vegetarian supplement which has a "cheesy" flavor. It comes in flakes or powder and is full of protein and B vitamins.
You can find this online or at Whole Foods market in the supplement aisle or at your local health food store.

Another way to use Boca Chik'n Patties.

I do like Boca Chik'n patties that you can find in your grocer's freezer. They're so easy to just heat up and make a sandwich. Well today instead of making chik'n sandwiches, I used them to make enchiladas.


First I pan fry the patties until they are browned on both sides.


I then chop up the patties into cubes and add them to sauteed peppers, onions, mushrooms and spinach and a little enchilada sauce.


All rolled up and ready to be sauced! (Enchilada sauce recipe at the end of this post.)


30 minutes later, we have bubbly enchiladas out of the oven.


Served with a lightly dressed salad on top. Mmm...! I learned to eat them this way from the eat'n veg'n blog.

Easy Enchilada Sauce

1 small onion, chopped finely
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 14 oz. can stewed tomatoes, blended in a blender until smooth
1 8 oz. can tomato sauce
1 cup water
2 TB chili powder
1 tsp dried oregano
1 tsp ground cumin
salt and pepper to taste

Saute onion and garlic in a little oil. Add the chili powder, oregano, cumin. Stir to coat onions. Add blended stewed tomatoes, tomato sauce and water. Bring to a boil then lower heat and simmer for 20 minutes. Season with salt and pepper to taste.

Grilled Cheez and Gypsy Soup.

These hit the spot!


I make these sandwiches ALL the time using the "Colby Chedda" Block uncheese recipe from The Ultimate Uncheese Cookbook. They are so good.


Gypsy soup (aka creamy tomato soup)

There's this cafe in Westwood called The Gypsy Cafe. And they have (or had, I haven't been there in years) this creamy tomato soup called 'Gypsy Soup'. I remember it being my favorite thing on the menu, served with 1/2 a sandwich. I never knew what was in it but I think ricotta cheese was what made the soup creamy. At that time I would recreate it at home very cheaply with a can of condensed tomato soup and a tub of ricotta.

I haven't thought about that soup since then but tonight I wanted tomato soup to go with my grilled cheez sandwich. I've never made my own tomato soup before so I decided to just wing it. I brought out stuff from the pantry and fridge and next thing I knew, I was making a creamy soup that reminded me a lot of the Gypsy Soup from that cafe. yeah!

Vegan Gypsy Soup

1 TB olive oil
1 small onion, finely chopped
1 clove garlic, minced
1 TB fresh basil, chopped
2 TB soy sauce or more to taste
1 tsp sugar
1 14 oz. can stewed tomatoes, blended until smooth in a blender
2 1/2 cups plain and unsweetened soymilk
4 tsp. (or more if desired) tomato paste
1 TB nutritional yeast (optional)
freshly ground black pepper to taste

Heat the olive oil in a saucepan and saute onion and garlic until softened. Add the basil, soy sauce and sugar and stir. Add the tomatoes and bring it to a boil. Slowly add the soymilk. Add the tomato paste and stir until it is dissolved. You may add more depending on how tomato-ey you want your soup. Add the nutritional yeast if using and ground black pepper. Lower heat and simmer for about 10 minutes until everything comes together and thickens a bit.

Asian Food Night.

So this is what made for dinner last night from some of the stuff I bought yesterday. (Speaking of which I didn't show you all my purchases - I found two cans of coconut juice under the seat in my car!) Anyway on to the food...


I made this simple vegetable stir fry with broccoli, baby bok choy, onions and that mushroom oyster flavored sauce.


Sweet and sour pineapple tofu. I tossed them in cornstarch first before I fried them in oil. This makes them nice and crisp on the outside. Then they get covered in this pineapple sauce recipe here.


Here is the mock chicken from a can experiment. I stir fried it with broccoli and onions in oil and used a black bean garlic sauce. To be honest, this didn't go over very well for me. It had a weird aftertaste that I can only attribute to it being in a can. If you're going to cook with gluten/seitan (aka 'mock meat'), make it yourself. I recommend Julie Hasson's fool proof recipe. It says 'Spicy Italian' but you can easily change up the spices for a different tasting mock meat. And they're in sausage shape but once you slice it up, you can use it for anything!