Thanksgiving Gathering

Ok I know this is a little late... but I was hoping to get more pics from the other people who attended with the rest of the food but o well my excellent writing skills (not!) will just have to spark your imagination of what the rest of the food actually looked like.

We had Cheezecake (amazing!), a fruit tart, mashed potatoes, samosas, stuffing with cranberrys, mushroom gravy, saffron rice, stuffed cabbage, fake roast, vegi salad, salad, whole wheat rolls, french bagettes, and warm bean dip. Theres probably more that im not remembering... Oh and the bottom picture is of Nancys kick ass vegan power tattoo!

Veganomicon Home Fries

So I just recieved my copy of Veganomicon so far it looks like an amazing book. I decided to make the homefries from the brunch section of the book with a couple slices of whole grain toast topped with homemade orange pinapple, and strawberry preserves. It was soo good!

Dont Worry Im Not Dead...

So I realize that iv been a giant slacker lately between college essay overload and my animals getting sick Ive been short on time, but don't worry my halloween resolution is to put more recipes up. So expect some yummy eats within a few days!

Heres a recipe I found at VegWeb that I have to share its seriously amazing!
(note the picture was not taken by me I forgot to take pics of mine)



The Sandwich That Got My Brother to Eat Tomatoes!

Ingredients:

2 thick slices of whole wheat bread ( I used sourdough)
1 good summer tomato, sliced thinly many times
thinly sliced red onion
Tofutti cream cheese
black pepper to taste ( I also added a sprinkle of sea salt)
healthy sprinkle of oregano ( I just use italian seasoning)
healthy sprinkle of chives
vegan margarine (I like Earth Balance)
garlic and herb blend (mine is McCormick salt-free)


Directions:

Spread one side of each slice of the bread with a thin layer of Tofutti.

Layer the thinly sliced tomatoes and onion over one side, pausing often to sprinkle with black pepper, and oregano. Sprinkle the other cream-cheesed side of the bread with chives. Lots of chives.

Close sandwich and spread outside sides of bread with vegan margarine. Sprinkle with garlic/herb seasoning in manner of garlic bread. Grill like a grilled cheese sandwich.

Peach Upsidedown Cake

I got this low fat cake recipe from the Fat Free Vegan Kitchen. I have to say it was really yummy! I made a couple modifications as usual. I used canned peaches, instead of ginger I used cinnamon and chinese 5 spice. I also found that the batter was really dry so I added some extra soy milk to the batter to thin it out a bit more. The cake was a bit stiff even after adding all the extra soy milk but thats probably just my bad baking skills haha.

Mac and Cheezzzzzzzzzzzze...

So I preety much used the New Farm Recipe with some alterations. First off I halfed the nutritional yeast, used soy milk instead of water, halfed the butter, halfed the oil and it all came out wonderfully! The recipe makes enough for a large family and its preety much only me so this is going to be my lunch for the next few days. Oh and if your wondering what I put on top thats shredded cheddar follow your heart. Im glad my first vegan mac was a edible haha.

I made a pie so I could eat my whipped cream!

Ive made this no bake pie before. I preety much only made it so that I could eat my soy whipped cream that I found at a store across the street. I was soo excited beacuse I havnt had whipped cream in forever.

Chocolate Coffee Silk Pie

1 block silken tofu
3/4 bag of vegan chocolate chips
1/4 cup strongly brewed black coffee
2 tablespoon vanilla flavoring
2 teaspoon almond extract
1 teaspoon cinnamon
graham cracker pie crust

Fruit topping of your choice (optional)


Melt the chocolate in the microwave or on the stove.

Blend all ingredients except for pie crust together untill smooth.

Pour into pie crust and let sit in fridge for atleast 4 hrs. or overnight.

Eggplant and Mushroom Lasagna

This lasagna has layers of Tofu Ricotta, Mushroom, Onion, Eggplant and Vegan Mozzarella. Yummy!

Costco Style Chick'n Bake

So after going to costco and watching them make chicken bakes thru the window I was like hey I can make that vegan! So I asked the guy sitting next to me for a napkin and a pen and started writing all over the napkin like a crazy person haha. Today the dream was realized when I made the Chick'n Bake and let me tell you I thought it would taste good but omfg it tastes exactly like the real thing! Seriously though you need to make this and it doesn't even take that long to make so you have no excuses.


First you need to make the Pizza Dough for the outside the dough isn't my recipe I found it on VegWeb.

Dough

Ingredients:

1 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 cup lukewarm water (dissolve yeast in luke warm water)
1 tablespoon yeast
1 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons vegetable oil or melted margarine


Mix all ingredients and leave in bowl while you prepare the filling.


Chick'n Bake Filling

Follow your heart Mozzarella Cheeze
1/4 cup Bac'uns fake bacon bits
1/4 cup Green Onion
Whole Package Chick'n Strips (I use lightlife)
1/2 tablespoon per bake Vegan Ranch Sauce

Preheat Oven to 400' degrees

Grate about a half of the block of cheeze don't put all of the cheeze in the filling bowl put a little bit in a second bowl because your going to need it later. Take the bac'uns and put them into a bowl add a tablespoon of water and warm in the microwave for 30 seconds this just softens them up so they aren't crunchy. Add the softened bac'uns to the filling bowl. Cut the green onion and add to the filling bowl along with the chick'n strips.

Ok so now your going to need the dough cut the dough into 2 pieces and roll it out flat put the 1/2 tablespoon of ranch sauce in the middle of the dough and spread it not all the way to the edges but almost. Then add half of the filling pull the dough over the filling making a pocket then roll don't fold the ends just pinch them a little. Sprinkle a little bit of the cheese onto the top of the chick'n bake and place in the oven until the whole thing is golden brown.

This should make about 2-3 Chick'n Bakes Depending on which size you make them.

Raspberry Cake

I promised cake so heres the cake as for the sushi well thats a work in progress haha.

Heres the Recipe for the cake add the raspberrys to the cake once the batter is mixed.

2 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 cup sugar
1 cup water
1/2 cup soy milk
1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1/4 teaspoon almond extract
3 tablespoons oil

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350.

In a large bowl, mix together dry ingredients together.

In another bowl, mix all wet except oil and stir well.

Mix together wet and dry together.

Add oil, 1 tablespoon at a time and mix well.

Bake for 22-25 minutes until lightly golden.

Scrambled Tofu

This was my first time making scrambled tofu with tumeric I added way too much beacuse it turned bright yellow and I could taste the tumeric haha but it was still really good. I topped it off with sauted mushrooms, garlic and onions. Oh and also lots of hot sauce and ketchup.

Ill be making something exciting soon like sushi or a cake or maybe both! haha

Almond Junket

So I was flipping through one of my new chinese cookbooks and I saw this recipe for Almond Junket its basically a fruit salad with almond flavored agar agar cubes. Mine had cantalope, cherries and pineapple gels. I think next time I might put the cherrys inside the agar like my mom use to. Im probably going to make this 6874 times before summer is over.

Cookies and Nature

These are the same Chocolate Chip cookies I made a couple posts ago the only difference is I rolled them out and cut them into heart shapes since they dont spread at all the reason why they look a bit darker is beacuse I added more cinnamon this time. We took them on our picnic along with some macaroni salad and baked tofu I think I prefer baked tofu to grilled tofu just has a better texture. ya know? Anyways theres some pictures of where we hiked below. We actually hike there atleast once a week but I usually dont take pictures for some reason.

Chocolate Chip Cookies!

So these were really good the only problem was they didnt spread at all during baking and I wasnt aware of that or else I would have flattened them out. The recipe was really simple and didnt take long at all to make.


Happy Vegan Chocolate Chip Cookies
Recipe by Denise

Ingredients:

2 cups unbleached flour
2 tsps baking powder
1/2 tsp.salt
cinnamon to taste (optional)
vegan chocolate or carob chips - put in as many as you like
1 cup raw sugar (turbinado #1, sucanat works too but sucks up a lot of the moisture)
1/2 cup canola or vegetable oil
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/4 cup water

Directions:

VERY IMPORTANT-make sure all ingredients are at room temperature. It will work if they're not at room temp but it works MUCH better if they are. Also while your oven is pre-heating put the cookie sheets you are going to use on top of the oven so they get preheated as well. Preheat oven to 350.

In a large bowl mix flour, baking powder, salt, cinnamon (if you choose). Add chips. Make a well in the center and set aside.

In a medium size bowl mix vegan sugar and oil. Mix it well. Add the vanilla and then add the water. Mix it well. Add the wet to the well in the dry. Mix it well but be careful not to overwork it. Add more chips if you need to. Spoon onto ungreased cookie sheets. Put them in the oven. Bake for 5 minutes and then flip and rotate the sheets.(top to bottom,and 180 degree rotation) Bake another 4 minutes and check them.

The cookies are done when they seem a little bit softer then you want them to be. They will harden up some as they cool. I usually go in two minute increments from here untill they get to where I like them.

Take them out when they are done and move them to wire cooling racks. If they split or come apart when you try to remove them let them sit on the pan for 2 minutes before transferring them to the racks.

Kabobs and Potato Salad

My dad came over today and stole 3 of the kabobs before he left haha he said they were "amazing". Awww I love my dad he always bosts my cooking ego. I marinated the tofu for a few hours before skewering them I wanted to marinade some mushrooms to but I didnt have any in the fridge o well next time. The potato salad was really good but I ate so much that I thought I was going to die.






And as a prize for putting up with my bad photo skills another photo but this one with me and my kitten Miso.

Chocolate Rum Chip Cupcakes

These are really good I actually prefer them non iced but their good either way. Seriously though Id pretty much put rum in anything baked if it was my choice haha I just really like the taste of it im not an alcoholic or anything.

Chocolate Rum Chip Cupcakes

Ingredients
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
2 tablespoons flax meal (optional)
3/4 cup sugar
1/4 cup baking cocoa
2 teaspoons instant coffee (I add alot more)
2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup soy milk
1/2 cup vegetable oil
2 tablespoons soy yogurt
2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 teaspoon rum extract (or more/less to taste)
1/2 cup chocolate chips

Directions

Preheat oven to 375 F.

In a large bowl, mix together dry ingredients.

In a seperate bowl, mix together wet ingredients until emulsified.

Pour wet into dry and combine until dry ingredients are moistened. Fold in chocolate chips. Bake 15 minutes or untill done.

Forking Good French Toast

Ok so I made this recipe up beacuse well all the other vegan french toasts tasted like cardboard crap on a stick or like someone threw nutritional yeast in my mouth uck! So here is my version of what I consider a preety darn good french toast. Make it, Eat it, Love it... you can thank me later.


French Toast


Ingredients

1 cup soy milk (plain or vanilla)
1 1/2 tablespoon nutritional yeast flakes
2 tablespoon flour
2 tablespoon sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 teaspoon almond extract (you can add more if you want)
Dash Cinnamon
Dash Apple Pie Spice or Nutmeg

Bread


Mix all the ingredients together in a bowl with a wisk.
Heat up skillet.
Soak bread in mixture but be carefull not to oversoak or else its going to fall apart.
Put on skillet untill brown flipping as needed.

Top off with fresh fruit, syrup, and powdered sugar.

Mini Chocolate Silk Pies

So I decided to make this today since I was craving chocolate and didnt have any time. Btw this is a no bake recipe which makes it even more easy! I made 6 mini pies and topped them off with fresh strawberrys but you could put whatever you want on top. Its really surprising how hard these set after 4 hrs its hard to describe but who knew tofu could work such amazing pie miracles lol, I think I might be going crazy... on that note heres the recipe!


Chocolate Silk Pie

1 block silken tofu
1 bag of chocolate chips (or you could use 2 bars pure chocolate)
1/4 cup strongly brewed black coffee
2 tablespoon vanilla flavoring
2 teaspoon almond extract
1 teaspoon cinnamon
graham cracker pie crust

Fruit topping of your choice (optional)


Melt the chocolate in the microwave or on the stove.

Blend all ingredients except for pie crust together untill smooth.

Pour into pie crust and let sit in fridge for 4 hrs.

Top with fruit and enjoy!

Mc. Vegans

Take that mc.donalds! Who would have thought huh? Well I would have probably make these just for kicks even if they werent amazingly good and preety darn easy. I havnt had the real thing since I was 6 but alot of people say they taste really close.


Mc. Vegans (original recipe from VegWeb)


Ingredients:

1 pound extra firm tofu
1/4 cup apple cider vinegar
1/4 cup olive oil
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 package veggie Canadian bacon
Vegan cheese of your choice
Vegan English muffins

(optional)Margarine or Veganaise ( I like to use Miso Mayo instead)



Directions:

Preheat oven to 450 degrees.

Take the block of extra firm tofu and press it to get as much of the water out as you can. After you do that you take a drinking glass which is about the same size around at the top as the English muffins are, cut around the cup (or if you want, press the glass into the tofu) so that the tofu comes out round in shape. Take the round piece of tofu and cut it in half horizontally, so you end up with two circular pieces. Take the two halves and cut those into thirds, so that you end up with six round pieces of tofu that are about 1/2 inch thick. If you don't want to make 6 English muffins you can cut the tofu into four pieces if you like, which will yield a thicker egg.


In a bowl, pour the apple cider vinegar, olive oil, and salt and mix together. Put the tofu in this mixture and coat both sides id also let it sit there for a few min. so it can soak the mixture up a little. Put the tofu on a baking sheet and bake for 10 minutes on one side, then flip and bake for another 10 minutes.

Place the veggie Canadian bacon on a large frying pan on a medium low to low heat, flip it often and don't allow it to dry up, as it will turn up on the edges.

After the tofu pieces are baked, turn off the heat and place a slice of the vegan cheese on top of each of the tofu rounds. Place back in the oven to allow the vegan cheese to melt.

Toast the English muffins, and butter them on both sides with the vegan margarine of your choice, or if you are using Vegenaise put Vegenaise on one side and margarine on the other. Place one of the tofu rounds and Canadian bacon slices between the English muffin halves, salt and pepper to taste (if you want) and they are ready to eat.

No Crust Pumpkin Pie

I found a recipe for crustless pumpkin pie online and thought it was a good idea. Didnt really like the recipe so I made one of my own and it came out really well! Im esp. fond of this pie beacuse I hate crust... well maybe not hate but strongly dislike lol.


No Crust Pumpkin Pie


Ingredients:


1 1/2 cups soy milk
1 tablespoon cornstarch
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 cup pumpkin puree
1 1/4 cup firm silken tofu
1/2 cup white flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
3/4 cup sugar
1/2 tablespoon apple pie spice
1/2 tablespoon pumpkin pie spice
1 teaspoon cinnamon
(you can add other spices if you want)
1/2 teaspoon salt


Preheat Oven to 375 F.

Mix all the dry ingredients together in one bowl.
Puree the tofu into a paste and put in separate bowl with wet ingredients and mix until well combined.

Add small amounts at a time of the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients and whisk until the batter is smooth with no
clumps.

Put the batter into a pie pan and cook for 40-50 min. until golden brown ontop. The mixture will puff up a small amount
while cooking but it will de puff once it cools.

Once done cooking let cool on counter for 20 min. then put into fridge for 4 hours until completely cooled.

Serve with ice cream or soy whipped topping and enjoy!

Dutch Apple Pancake

Ahhh jeeze this is good, and really simple! Its not actually supposta be pink but since I only had strawberry apple sauce in my fridge it came out pink hahah.

I added less butter then the recipe called for and used puree'd tofu as an egg replacer this is a breakfast recipe but it can double as a dessert.

Heres the Recipe.