teriyaki stirfy

bok choy and fried tofu...teryiaki/pineapple style!

Balsamic chickpeas with mustard greens

Oatmeal cookies!

With chocolate, walnuts, and banana!

Almond cake with vanilla frosting

Cheezy Calzones

Birthday Cake!

Dark chocolate cake with chocolate mousse and chocolate ganache. This should be illegal.

WTF!?!?! VEGAN poached eggs?

Vegan poached eggs are apparently possible. I saw, I attempted, and I triumphed! Tasted kind of like eggs!

Better than a flue shot!

Golden potato and vegetable soup

More PIE!

Maple sweet potato pie and mixed apple pie. So warm and delicious!

chick'n lettuce wraps

I diced some leftover Soy Delight soy nuggets and sauteed them with some zucchini, frozen stir-fry veggies, garlic and onion, and seasoned it with a ginger teriyaki. Served with lime juice, and chow-mein noodles...oh, and lettuce.
Nom

Chik'n and gravy

I was getting a little homesick the other day and, remembering how often my mom made chicken and rice for us growing up, I decided to recreate it.

I grilled some Soy Delight soy nuggets in Earth Balance buttery spread, with plenty of garlic, onion, and cracked pepper. Topped it with some home-made white gravy (almond milk, Earth Balance butter, olive oil, whole grain flour, garlic, onion, vegetable bullion, nutritional yeast, soy sauce, red pepper flakes) and served on a bed of fresh spinach and brown rice. On the side: whole grain drop biscuits, fresh out of the oven. Love you mom! Nom

chickpea 'tuna' melt

Chickpea 'tuna'
Crush canned chickpeas with fork until you reach desired texture.
Mix with veganaise, spicy mustard, pickle, radish, celery, red onion, nutritional yeast, garlic (or other ingredients as desired)
Grill on whole grain bread with vegan pepperjack 'cheese'
Nom

Maple sweet potato pie

Stuffed eggplant with marinara

Baked stuffed eggplant with marinara
Filling: Boca crumbles (mock ground beef), zucchini, spinach, garlic, onion
Sauce: Roma tomato marinara with grilled eggplant and vegan parmesan

Juicing fast - bring it on!

L and I decided to do a week-long juice fast/cleanse; I went to the international market for the cheapest local veggies around and loaded up on everything that I could carry. Let me tell you, prepping 200 lbs of fruits and veggies in one evening is quite the pain (only exaggerating a little bit here) in the arse.

Favorite juices/combos
Apple/beet/carrot
Tomato/celery/radish/spinach/pepper/carrot
Cucumber/melon/apple/pineapple

Cherry Pie? Yes, please and thank you!

Twice baked potatoes....fully loaded

Scoop the insides out of a baked potato, mash with sour cream daia cheddar, green onion, earth balance 'butter'. Re-bake and top with vegan 'bacon bits'.

Yellow Curry

Yellow curry with coconut milk, green onion, cauliflower and tofu. Served with jasmine rice.

Bacon Cheezeburger

Boca burger on whole grain toast with tempeh bacon, tomato, pepperjack cheeze, mustard, onion, and pickles. Served with organic avocado oil bbq chips.

Spaghetti and Meatballs?

Whole grain pasta, sauteed mushrooms, roma tomato sauce, and homemade vegan meatballs

Blueberry pancakes and scrambled tofu

Blueberry pancakes with blueberry sauce and 'butter'
Scrambled tofu with pepperjack cheeze
Bananas w/ vanilla soy yogurt

Portabella and Asparagus Ziti

 

Whole grain pasta seasoned with olive oil, fresh garlic, and nutritional yeast.

Tossed with asparagus, portabello mushrooms, and tofu sauteed in 'butter.

Monkey Bread! Well, sort of.....

One of my favorite treats (or at least most remembered) that my mom made for us growing up was monkey bread....we took those biscuits that came in a can and .....did something? Whatever we did to them, it was delicious. I decided to challenge myself to recreate the taste based on memory and not by looking up a recipe....just to see if I could.....Oh my, was it amazing! Not quite monkey bread, but delicious nonetheless.

I just made some drop biscuits, mixed in some cinnamon and sugar, layered them in a pie pan on top of brown sugar and butter and baked. When they were done, I covered them in a ginger-cinnamon glaze. So good!

Afterwards, I looked up the monkey bread recipe. I was soooo close but not quite there!

Peach Cobbler

I have been lusting after peaches for weeks, and the fiance surprised me with a huge bucket of the ripest farmers-market peaches that I have ever had! Needless to say, he deserved some home-made peach cobbler.

Breakfast sandwiches

Spelt english muffins, lightly toasted w/ Earth Balance.
Vegan sausage, formed into patties and sauteed until crispy.
Topped with plenty of Daia cheddar cheese.

Because spelt muffins tend to be a little dry, I would add a sauce or tomato or tofu to 'juice' it up next time.

New discovery - chinese broccoli

I recently stumbled across some Chinese broccoli and grabbed it up right away. I sauteed the stalks, leaves, and buds in some olive oil and I can honestly say it is now my favorite vegetable.......the stalks tasted like asparagus, the greens like a robust spinach and the broccoli buds like (believe it or not) BROCCOLI!

I served it with some fried tofu and a ginger teriyaki sauce.

SNOWFLAKES...in the summer?

These taste like something you would get at the fair and is also a very kid-friendly treat.

Get some organic flour tortillas, fold into halves a few times and cut out shapes to make a 'snowflake'

Heat up just a Tbsp or so of your favorite oil (or vegan butter) and saute them til slightly crispy and dust with powdered sugar or cinnamon while still hot. Delicious!

Leftovers, now what?

Sometimes when I make a soup or stew, I tend to make waaaay too much. Last week I cooked a pot that we didn't finish, so I came back to it a few days later (you can keep it in the freezer for as long as you like!). Here is a great example of how to utilize leftovers.

Original soup in a 'nearly home-made' vegetable stock with fresh thyme and red pepper.
Potatoes
Carrots
Celery
Kidney Beans
Cauliflower
Brussels Sprouts
 - Served with whole grain bread


When it had dwindled down to the final dregs, I added:
Stewed  tomatoes
Garbonzo beans
Lima beans
A bag of spinach
A bag of broccoli
- Served with brown basmati rice and had a completely new dish in less than 10 minutes without throwing anything out.

Vegetable Curry with Couscous

This is one of my go-to dishes when I am in a time pinch. Hardly any fresh produce here, so it isn't something I want to cook often, but it is definitely filling and is a tasty choice when you are in a hurry.

All you do is cook a box of Mediterranean couscous and saute a frozen bag of mixed veggies in Earth Balance with a can of Chickpeas and diced tomatoes. (organic, no salt added if possible)
I threw in a diced onion and some fresh zucchini and seasoned it with curry, chili powder, turmeric, oregano, ginger & black pepper.

Top it with green onion and the whole thing is ready to eat in 7-10 minutes....Probably faster if you have a better can opener than I do...half the cooking time was spent being pissed off at my dollar-store can opener and trying not to lose a finger.

Dark chocolate/walnut oatmeal cookies

A humongous thank-you to my sister in Ohio for this base recipe. I altered it just a tad and added some extra ingredients and voila! The best (and easiest) oatmeal cookie of all time.

Original Ingredients:
Slow-cook oats
Banana
Brown sugar
Melted Earth Balance
Vanilla
Baking Soda
Whole grain flour

I added few treats:
Bran
Flax seed (ground)
Dark chocolate chips
Chopped walnuts

Lemon Bundt Cake with Strawberry Sauce

So I discovered that a bundt cake needs a bundt cake pan for a reason.....it cooks quite differently in a 9" glass cake pan.....the middle didn't quite get to the right consistency, but the edge pieces were nice and tart! This is a rather lightly flavored cake and uses maple syrup instead of sugar so it becomes less sweet. I added a strawberry-lemon sauce (strawberries, preserves, lemon juice/zest, powdered sugar, cornstarch)....Overall, a pretty decent desert.

Fried Spring Rolls!

 

 

My younger sister and I made these spring rolls together last night! In my family, frying egg/spring rolls is definitely a tradition....and one that I have missed terribly since it is difficult to find vegan wraps in the area. However, we stumbled across a little Asian market the other day that had them and grabbed these right up! Also, with us being the cooks we had the privilege of eating the filling right out of the bowl as we were wrapping the rolls.....we maybe or maybe not ate almost half.........Yummmmmmmm!

We sauteed the filling in Earth Balance for the filling
      extra firm silken
      tofu,
      cabbage,
      carrots,
      broccoli
      seasoned with ginger, garlic, red pepper, black pepper, soy sauce, and a secret extra seasoning

We fried them in pure canola oil and served them with brown rice and crunchy lo-mein noodles.
Sauce: store-bought spring roll sauce

Boston Cream Cupcake w/ vanilla custard and chocolate gonache

So, I tried to recreate my memory of a good boston cream doughnut and it turned out very.....drum roll please............. MEDIOCRE!
Perhaps my expectations were much too high.....this is simply a challenge and I need to tweak it a bit.

So moist....so sweet....so coffee-ey?

Walnut/ginger coffee cake. The best coffee cake I have ever had....impossible not to brag about it.

LASAAAAAAGNA!!!!

Spinach and Broccoli lasagna wit a roma tomato marinara, olive oil, and vegan parmesan.

Carrot-Potato soup w/ northern beans

Extra-brothy soup is ideal for bread dipping or tasty crackers! Unfortunately I was out of bread...and the crackers were stale...what is a gal to do? Sneakily dig to the bottom of the pot for the biggest pieces when no one is home, that's what! Muah ha ha ha ha....

Broth: organic bullion, celery seed, fresh thyme and parsley, Nutritional Yeast, sea salt, black pepper

Veggies: Carrots, golden potatoes, white onion, white northern beans....simple and delicious

*I also sauteed some onions and garlic in plenty of Earth Balance and Olive Oil, added cracked red pepper and tossed it into the pot for a golden 'fatty' addition...Kinda reminded me of old fashioned chicken noodle soup....minus the chicken and noodles, of course. Yum!

Fresh blueberry-lemon muffins

Lemon extract and zest add an amazingly fragrant and tart addition to fresh blueberry muffins...such a smell has never filled my kitchen before....we were drooling only 5 minutes after they went into the oven! I'm not going to lie, I ate 4 of these in one sitting......burnt my tongue (no kissing for a while, I guess), but it was worth it!

Rice wraps

Rice wraps w/ avocado, fried tofu, cucumber and onion.
Orange ginger dipping sauce and organic rice w/ sauteed cabbage on the side.

Loaded Nachos

It has been so long since we have had our traditional Taco Night with our friends, that we had to compromise last night with some loaded nachos. The best part is they only take about 15 minutes to make - if you are handy with a knife at least!

• Organic blue corn tortilla chips topped with red onion, Daia cheddar 'cheese' , and chili powder (broiled in the oven until nice and bubbly!)
• Add black beans sauteed with Boca veggie burger crumbles and pre-packaged taco seasoning (I got a little lazy, I know) and plenty of fresh garlic.
• Top with lettuce, tomato, avocado, chunky salsa, and vegan sour cream...we were sadly lacking some fresh jalapenos....
• Serve with a new episode of Modern Family and ENJOY!

Homemade apple pie

Organic 6-apple pie with raw sugar glazed crust. Served with vanilla rice ice-cream and soy whipped topping. You know you want me.

Baked mac and cheeze

Hello my Lovers,
If you miss mac and cheese, this is the dish for you!

• whole grain spiral pasta
• 2 bags of Daia cheddar cheeze
• frozen spinach and fresh broccoli
• unsweetened almond milk
• Earth Balance butter
• paprika
• shallots/green onions
• nutritional yeast
• Vegan parmesan