Vegan Ventures

Summer Check-in

2008-07-05T11:11:00.003-05:00

Wow, I have not posted since my spring break! It has just been so hectic with AP tests, SAT's and SAT subject tests, finals, job searching, and then summer came and all I want to do is relax. I have been cooking a lot this summer but I have not been taking pictures of the food, sometimes it is more enjoyable to just eat the food instead of fussing with the camera for 15 minutes trying to change the aperture and shutter speed to produce "the perfect shot".

I had been contacted to be a tester for Probar and I am way over due in posting about them. I have always been loyal to Cliffbar but I wanted to give these a try. They have a very high fat content and not as much protein as I would have hoped for. The flavors were as follows:

cherry pretzel- good texture, but I did not like the intense cherry taste
cocoa pistachio- licorice after taste
kettle corn- okay but had the same after taste
maple pecan- very yummy
sesame goji- okay

Spring Break '08: Lots of relaxing, adventures, and much needed sleep!

2008-04-13T09:52:00.005-05:00

Two posts in one week, this is a new record for me for this year. Today is the last day of my srping break, that means one huge two day long bio Ap final, and two different midterms, await me next week. I am planning to go study once I finish this post...

My spring break consisted of a lot of great adventures ("vegan ventures", if you will). One of the days, I took the train to New York City for the day with a friend. I have never been in the city alone before but I manadged to navagate just fine, with out getting lost! We had lunch at Teany, a great veggie cafe with 98 choices of tea!

Chocolate cheesecake from Teany. Perfect, not too sweet. I would have wanted a more intense dark chocolate flavor though.

I also took a trip to the beach for the day. It was the hottest day of the week, even though it rained on and off. I just had to see the beach, it was a nice preview for summer. Hope everyone is doing well, enjoy my darkly lit food picutures below.

Kung Pao Tempeh (from vegetarian times) with sugar snap peas and barley

International quinoa salad (from Fat Free Vegan Kitchen). I had a lighting issue.

NEW POSTNEW POSTNEW POST

2008-04-06T08:41:00.002-05:00

It feels so weird to press the "new post" button after so long. So how is everyone doing? I cannot wait to check out everyone's blog and see what people have been up to in, and out, of the kitchen.

As for me, I have been crazy stressed with homework. Most of the work has been coming from my bio AP class which ends next week. I have no more homework to do for the class and I just have to study for my final and then for the AP test in May, but I no longer have the constant everyday homework load for that class. That class will be replaced with an easy current topics in biology class for the last quater of the year, which I am very exicted for.

My computer had a virus and everything was erased so I lost most of my unposted food pictures. The computer runs on windows 98 and had been running xp but once it crashed, i had to keep 98 on for a while until i was sure the computer was virus free. I can only get pictures out of my camera on windows xp. Very complicated. Oh yeah, I am on spring break right now, i am not going away or anything but it is such a nice break!

The one picture I still have:

It is amazing chocolate cake my friend made for valentines day. SOOOOO GOOOD!

Hope to post again very soon.

I AM TRYING

2008-02-18T21:25:00.001-05:00

I have been trying to blog, I promise!

I have been having computer problems and I am now running a windows 98 OS, so I cannt upload pictures onto my PC. I will be using my dad's computer to upload picutres in the near future, I hope.

Lots of crazy things going on, mostly just school stress and the fact that bio AP has become my life. Sorry for typing so sporadically. I have some pics from Valentine's Day and lots of other events to share.

Thanks so all who have posted and hopefully I will get back to blogging and reading peoples blogs soon.
And thanks to the blogger of Don't Get Mad, Get Vegan for the tip on the meatloaf!

2008-01-01T11:55:00.001-05:00

HI EVERYONE! I am so sorry for being the worst blogger in the world! Life has been so hectic around here with bio AP midterms and other life issues. My birthday was on November 29th and I got my license (the driving age is 17 here) and emptied my savings account and bought a VW Beatle! Christmas was great because I just hung with the family and went to my aunt and uncle's house in Massachusetts. I received the books Animal Ingredients A-Z and the Candle Cafe cookbook. Hopfully next post will not be months after this post, but I can not promise anything for sure.

My Brother Baked me chocolate cookies for my birthday.

And my friend made me vegan cupcakes. They were amazing!

Pumpkin pancakes I made over my christmas break. I used the VWaV waffle recipe and added more soymilk. SO good!

My baby!

(picture with camera phone)

It feels great to have paid for it with my own money because most people in my school are given cars. I have been saving my whole life. It is a 1999 Volks Wagon Beatle and I bought it at a used Honda dealership. It only had 30,000+ miles on it and I got it for a very, very good price. I even have money left over.

Thanksgiving- The Good, The Bad, and The Yukky

2007-11-25T14:57:00.000-05:00

Oh, Thanksgiving. The special time of year when I get to show case my cooking skills to the family. This year I made my pies the day before, so I had lots of time for cooking the next day. In the crazy rush, I had to take fast pictures so the quality of some of them are not so good.

Pumpkin pie (whole wheat crust from scratch)

Chocolate silk pie (crust from scratch)

Sesame tofu from whole foods

Green beans cooked in the wok with soy sauce

Salad

Corn (bad pic)

Sad sweet potatoes. I worked so hard to scoop all the insides out of the skins and then I poured the soy milk over them and THEN noticed the lumps and the smell. Sadly, the milk had gone bad. New rule, ALWAYS smell before using.

Waffles Gone Wrong and Veganomicon

2007-11-20T21:50:00.000-05:00

Everything has still been pretty crazy, but I managed to find time to cook. I had to try out a few things from Veganomicon because I have not used it yet. I have, however, read it cover to cover.

Waffles
I have been wanting to make waffles forever. I got a really nice waffle for christmas when I was 13 and have yet to make vegan waffles. I tried to use the VWaV pancake recipe to make waffles, but when I opened the waffle maker up they stuck and pulled apart. I tried extra oil but nothing worked. They half waffles still tasted good though. Oh well, that is what I get for using a pancake recipe to make waffles.

Hot and sour soup (V-con pg. 143)

All I can say is, wow! The flavors are perfect.

Smoky grilled tempeh (V-con pg.130)

I did not use liquid smoke and I broiled them, but they came out pretty good.

Served with salad and mashed sweet potatoes.

COMEING UP: Thanksgiving big post!

I am Alive!

2007-11-03T17:52:00.000-05:00

HEY EVERYONE!
I am so sorry that I was missing for over a month. There was (and still is) so much going on that caused me to have have very little time to blog and cook. I quit my dry cleaning job because I was having trouble balencing it with my school work. I also felt really sick the whole time I was working there and I found out that people can have reations to the perk (or perc) used in cleaning chemicals. I have a lot of blogs to visit and I can not wait to see what people have been cooking and eating. Veganomicon can in the mail a few days ago and I have post-it noted about 20 recipes. Reading through it has inspired me to get back into blogging and cooking.

Veggies and chickpea couscous rice

Baked falafel on pita

I have no quote to end my blog this time. I needed to post quickly so sorry for any spelling errors.

BUSY BUSY BUSY!

2007-09-30T12:01:00.000-05:00

Sorry I have been MIA to the max. I have just had a lot to deal with this month.
I am taking Bio AP, enligh 3 honors, spanish 4, and art 2 (my fun class) this semester and it has been a lot to balence along with the 3 days a week job I just started at a dry cleaner. I feel extreamly overloaded! Not a lot of cooking has been done, but I do have some pictures I will upload when I get the chance (though I do not know when that will be). Hope all is well with everyone.

The Best Kept Secret In Tomato Sauce

2007-09-01T20:27:00.000-05:00

FIRE ROASTED TOMATOES!!!

They give the sauce the best flavor of smokey goodness you could ever imagine!

Tomato sauce:
3 garlic cloves, minced
1 28 ounce can diced *fire roasted* tomatoes
1 teaspoon oregano
1/2 teaspoon basil
1/2 cup vegetable broth
2 tablespoons tomato paste
salt and pepper and onion powder to taste

Sauté the garlic in a saucepan with olive oil until it becomes translucent.Add the remaining ingredients, and cook for 15-20 minutes.

Pasta with sauce and nutritional yeast

Grilled pizza (recipe)

This grilled pizza looks like a lot is going on, but it was an experiment gone very well. I used my left over homemade sauce making this pizza completely homemade from scratch. It was awesome! On one side I have nutritional yeast. and on the other I have VeganRella. I had been wanting to try VR and I finally found some. It tasted gross plain but really good melted, hm. I don’t really miss cheese too much so I could go either way. I also topped my pizza with spinach and mushrooms.

Whole wheat pizza dough

2 1/2 cups whole wheat flour
1 (1/4 oz.) package of yeast
2 1/2 teaspoons salt
2 teaspoons sugar
1 cup lukewarm water(115- 125 degrees)
2 tablespoons olive oil

Combine flour, yeast, salt, and sugar in a large bowl and mix with a wooden spoon. Add the water and olive oil and mix until dough forms. Knead the dough for ten minutes. Oil a bowl. Put the dough in the bowl and cover bowl with plastic wrap. Let rise for 45 minutes.

In the meantime: Cook your choice of veggies. With your leftover time you can clean up, start the grill, and even do a little dance if feel the urge. I mean come on, your only minutes away from amazing grilled pizza, you should be happy!

When 45 minutes is up, take the dough out of the bowl. The trick is to break the dough into four personal size pizza balls then roll them into circles on oiled pieces of foil. The one at the right is about 8 inches in diameter. Put half of the coals on one side of the grill (that's your direct heat) and leave the other half without coals (that's your indirect heat). Put the pizza dough side down on the direct heat side of the grill (go ahead and put it directly on the grate, it wont burn if the grate is oiled, I swear) and then slowly peal the foil off. Cover the grill until the dough looks charred. Flip the pizza over and put your sauce, veggies, and soy cheese (or your choice of any vegan cheese, or no cheese) on top. Cover and cook until the cheese is totally melted or the crust feels crispy. Remove the pizza and be prepared to change the way you view all other pizzas forever. This recipe can be altered in many ways.

There are a million different topping, sauce, and cheese combos to test so go crazy.

*I watched a special on Jane Goodall a few nights ago on Animal Planet. She is a vegetarian (possibly vegan?) and one of my heros. I will leave you with two quotes by her:

"The least I can do is speak out for those who cannot speak for themselves."

"The more we learn of the true nature of non-human animals, especially those with complex brains and corresponding complex social behavior, the more ethical concerns are raised regarding their use in the service of man -- whether this be in entertainment, as "pets," for food, in research laboratories, or any of the other uses to which we subject them. "

-Jane Goodall-

Welcome to Paradise

2007-08-17T08:06:00.000-05:00

I have been back from my vacation in Long Beach Island, New Jersey for a while but have been very busy and unable (and forgetting) to post. I had a great time with pretty good weather and awesome waves! I found amazing shopping at Ron Jon’s Surf Shop and Ferias Surf and Sport. With a little pre-vacation research, I found the only veg restaurant on The Island called Living on the Veg! (the ! is part of the name) and if you are ever in LBI, the restaurant is located between 132nd St. and 133rd St., Beach Haven Terrace (phone # 609-429-4066). I am going to the beach with my friend all next week so goodbye for now, hope everyone’s summer is going great.

I learned that you CAN order a cheeseless pizza without any questioning remarks. Ponzone's Pizza has the best sauce out there! This pizza was loaded mushrooms and peppers.

*Here are my Living onthe Veg! pictures:

Green Burger (this picture was taken with my phone). I ordered this and my mom ordered the Tofu Burrito below and we split. They were aweomse!

Avocado Club

We had to go back again. My mom ordered this.

My dad ordered the Southwestern Burgerrito and it was fantastic!

I ordered the Atomic Veggie

A side of couscous

My dad's yummy smoothie

"In any weather, at any hour of the day or night, I have been anxious to improve the nick of time, and notch it on my stick too; to stand on the meeting of two eternities, the past and the future, which is precisely the present moment; to toe that line."

-Henry David Thoreau-

Surprise! I Made Desserts

2007-08-02T10:35:00.000-05:00

On Saturday we had a surprise party for my dad. I helped out by doing almost all of the cooking. Since my job was to make all the non-meat dishes, I of course had to make them vegan and awesome. For hor’dourves, I made hummus with veggies and guacamole. For the main dishes we had sesame peanut noodles, corn and black bean salad, grilled veggies, and a bunch of fruit. For dessert I made dark chocolate brownies and carrot cake cupcakes. Since I was the designated photographer for the night, I had a chance to quickly snap pictures of the dessert table before they were gobbled up. I made a ton of brownies so we still have enough brownies to feed an army, though I gave some away to my friend, but the carrot cake cupcakes were devoured.

On a side note, I am going to the beach on vacation for a week but I will be back with a long post. I plan to visit the only vegan restaurant for miles and take plenty of pictures.

Very dark chocolate brownies
topped with powdered sugar
Recipe

Carrot cake cupcakes with basic buttercream frosting
(from VWAV)
My dad LOVES carrot cake so I decided it would be classier to make it in cupcake form. I had two cuppers and ate about a cup of frosting during the prep. My brother and dad had about 6 or more each. I made plenty but they did not make it to the next day.

"I went to a restaurant, and I saw a guy wearing a leather jacket, eating a hamburger, drinking a glass of milk. I said, "Dude, you are a cow. The metamorphosis is complete. Don't fall asleep or I will tip you over." "- Mitch Hedburg

On Top Of The World

2007-07-24T19:36:00.000-05:00

Italian tempeh nuggets from Students Go Vegan Cookbook over pasta and peppers

Stir fry with tofu, sugar snap peas, peppers, and bean sprouts

Pasta and tomatoes

I made a "tomato sauce" with crushed tomatoes, red peppers (my neighbors gave us a bunch of peppers and I am trying to use them up), veggie broth, spices, and spinach

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Wow I am in desperate need of a post. I have been way busy doing so much, and then absolutely nothing at the same time. I started volunteering where I remove invasive plants. It is great to know I am helping the envirnment and I love working outside. I went to visit my aunt in Massachusetts and we went up to New Hampshire and climbed to the top of Mt. Monadnock. It is the world’s most climbed mountain and to top has been reached by Ralph Waldo Emerson and Henry David Thoreau; two of my favorite writers. It was awesome to reach the summit and feel like I was on top of the world.

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Above tree line

View from the top

Marker on the summit

Me at the summit (check the boots from my earlier post)

"I wish to speak a word for Nature, for absolute freedom and wildness, as contrasted with a freedom and culture merely civil... to regard man as an inhabitant, or a part and parcel of Nature, rather than a member of society."

"Whatever my own practice may be, I have no doubt that it is a part of the destiny of the human race, in its gradual improvement, to leave off eating animals, as surely as the savage tribes have left off eating each other when they came in contact with the more civilized."

-Henry David Thoreau-

A Quicky

2007-07-09T12:40:00.000-05:00

I went to a BBQ for the Fourth of July at my friend’s house and made a great salad. They had grilled Portobello mushrooms for me and lots of fruit. It is really nice when people go out of their way to provide food that I can eat. I love when People surprise me.

Corn and Black Bean Salad

2 cups fresh corn kernels
1 cup diced bell pepper (about one pepper)
1/2 cup chopped black beans
2 tablespoons fresh cilantro
1 (15 oz.) can black beans, rinsed and drained
1/4 cup balsamic vinegar
1 teaspoon sugar
2 teaspoons oil (I use safflower)
1.2 teaspoon garlic powder
1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
1/2 teaspoon chili powder
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
Dash of salt

Combine corn, bell pepper, onions cilantro, and beans in a medium bowl. Mix vinegar and remaining ingredients in a small bowl (I find it easier to measure out the vinegar and add everything to the measuring cup). Drizzle vinegar mixture over the salad and toss to evenly coat. Cover and chill for a minimum of 30 minutes. Garish with avocado slices.

I made a burrito with the left overs and ate it with salsa and Terra chips.

Chai Tea Soy Lattes

I mixed cooled double strength chai tea (the kind without honey) with ice and soy milk. So, so good!

"When I look out into the world, I see the forces that would bring us disaster. I see the deep night of unthinkable cruelty and blindness. But I also look within the human heart and find something of love there, something that cares and shines out into the dark universe like a bright beacon. And in the shining of that light, I feel the dreams and prayers of all beings, In the shining of that beacon I feel all of our hopes for a better future, and the strength to do what we are here to do."

-John Robbins (The Food Revolution)

Being Vegan Is About More Than Just Food

2007-07-03T08:35:00.000-05:00

Hello, Hello! I hope everyone is having an awesome summer and enjoying the fairer months and the seasonal foods. I do very well when it comes to eating vegan food. I have never conscienceless eaten something non vegan, but have made a few accidental mistakes which I am sure has happened to everyone sometime or another. I do, however, use a few products that depend on exploiting animals. My old running shoes are made of leather and I am waiting to wear them out. I stopped using all my non leather belts, except a peace sign one that my dad made and I cannot bear to part with it. I used soap and shampoo that is most likely tested on animals and use a bunch of other things that I am sure are tested on animals that I am not in charge of buying so they are out of my control. I know when I am able to choose the cleaning products I buy, I will get ones that are not tested on animals. Over the past few weeks I have needed to buy new shoes and soap and I made a conscience effort to buy vegan.
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I heard about Dr. Bronner's Magic Soap from a friend and I think it is really amazing! You are supposed to be able to use it for 18 different things, but just a word, DO NOT TRY IT FOR TOOTH PASTE OR YOU WILL BE SORRY! I have not tried washing my hair with it yet but it works great as soap and shave gel.

Shoes!
I love shoes and have been buying vegan shoes for a while. I always had canvas Converses in the past but I wanted to try somthing different. I saw a girl wearing these Keds slip ons in the mall and so I went online to find them. They are very comfortable and have no leather in them.

I am starting my volunteering at the wildlife sanctuary soon and I really need hiking boots (last year I had to wear sneakers which was horrible). I went on a quest from non leather boots and found them on Zappos.com in the vegetarian section. I recomend checking Zappos whenever you need vegan shoes. They were majorly on sale with free overnight shipping both ways.

AND NOW FOR THE FOOD

My two newest vegan loves are Newman's Own plain popcorn (which I melt EB to put on top) and Rice Thins rice crackers.

My aunt came yesterday and bought me two HUGE bags of dark chocolate covered espresso beans and dark chocolate covered cranberries! Need I say more?

TLT (Tofu lettuce and tomatoe) on pita

Italian-flavored tempeh nuggets over salad

I found the recipe for the nuggets in the Students Go Vegan Cookbook (pg. 124). They were so easy to make and came out perfect. Don't forget to simmer and steam your tempeh first to get the bite out.
One last thought to end my long post. Many people feel they need to be protesting animal rights on the streets, this is great if you have the courage and drive to do it, but I think everyone with a vegan blog is positively protesting in favor of the animals. When we get people interested in good tasting vegan food, we get them interested in why we eat this way. Isa Chandra Moskowitz (author of Vegan With a Vengeance and Vegan Cupcakes Take Over The World) writes on this idea of “culinary activism” here. Good job everyone and keep up the amazing work!

SUMMER TIME... and the livin's easy

2007-06-21T08:27:00.000-05:00

Guess what? I am officially on summer vacation! For Father’s Day I made my dad biscotti and we ate it with espresso (I have an espresso machine). The farmer’s market was up for the first time but it was pretty bare. I plan on going every weekend. Yesterday I went to the beach with my friends for the first time of the year. It rained but we still had a great time. We stopped at this great soft serve Italian ice place with ices that were so creamy, they tasted like ice cream.

Grilled pizza

Stir fry

Biscotti (from Vive le Vegan) and espresso

Peas from the farmer's market

I forgot the name of these but the are from onions

I love the beach!

Seven Things and Why I love My Brother

2007-06-12T17:16:00.000-05:00

Sorry I have been MIA for a while. My teachers have been piling on the work at school and I just have not had a break. I have final exams this week and next week, but I am finally on summer vacation on the 20th!
Midwest Vegan tagged to say seven random things about myself:

1. I have no cousins. I love my family so much and I do not really mind not having cousins, but people always think it is strange that they have 20 or more cousins and I have none. My aunt has a dog so he is kind of my cousin.

2. I have never been on a plane. My dream is to fly to California someday.

3. I like going to the dentist. I love the feeling of getting my teeth cleaned. I have never had any major work done or had braches. It’s weird, but I really love my teeth.

4. I like black coffee.

5. My favorite shows are Gilmore Girls, Entourage, Little People; Big World- to name a few.

6. My favorite sport is skimboarding. When people think of skimboarding they think of 7 year olds sliding around on the sand. I take it to the next level and do it as an extreme sport. To learn more about it you can go to skimonline.com.

7. My favorite bands/musicians are: AFI, Hellogoodbye, Jack Johnson, Jimi Hendrix, Acceptance, Dashboard Confessional, Eric Clapton, Led Zepplin, Sublime, Cream, Blinl-182, Ok Go, 30 Seconds to Mars, Dispatch, My Chemical Romance, OAR, Paul Anka, Panic! at The Disco, Taking Back Sunday, Yellow card, The Postal Service, Pink Floyd, The Beatles, Simon and Garfunkel, Phantom Planet, The Starting Line, The Used. Chevelle, Greenday (old stuff), Queen, Coheen and Cambria, Story of the year, Motion city soundtrack, Say Anything, Reliant K...to name a few.

My brother is home from college and I came home one day after school to find that he had cooked blueberry muffin bread. We had no cow’s milk (only soy) and the only butter we have is Earth Balance so they were vegan! The next day he decided to make vegan banana bread, even though we had cow’s milk. I was so happy that he cared enough to make vegan food so I could eat it too. Both the breads turned out fantastic!

My brother is amazing!

Strawberries are in season! I also put grape fruit in the bowl with them.

Where My Muffin Tops At?

2007-05-26T09:58:00.000-05:00

Hey everyone! I hope you are all enjoying the almost-summer and supporting your local farmers market. I still have a few more weeks until the farmers market starts up, but I cannot wait! I recently made muffins, but I disappointed because they don’t have tops and come out like cupcakes. Does anyone have a suggestion on how to add to the recipe so I will have enough batter for there to be tops on the muffins? A few more weeks until I am out of school so I an start posting (and commenting) a lot more.

Tempeh Burritos

(From my cookbooklet: Powered By Plants)

Marinade:
1 teaspoon cumin
1 tablespoon chili powder (or more for added spice)
3 tablespoons salsa
2 tablespoons olive oil
3 tablespoons fresh squeezed lemon juice (you can use lime)

Combine all ingredients in a shallow bowl big enough to fit all the tempeh and stir.

8 ounces of tempeh (1 package)
6 corn or whole-wheat tortillas

Cut tempeh in half length wise. Place the tempeh in a pan with enough water to cover and simmer for ten minutes. Remove the tempeh and pat dry with a paper towel. Cut the tempeh in strips 1/2 an inch thick. Add the tempeh strips to the marinade and stir to coat the pieces. Marinate at room temperature for an hour, turning the tempeh at least once.

In an oiled frying pan on medium high heat, cook tempeh for 30 seconds. Turn the heat down to low and cook, covered, for 3 minutes. Remove cover and use a spatula to flip the tempeh and cook on medium heat for 3-4 minutes, or until the tempeh is browned. Remove tempeh from pan.

Heat tortillas in a dry skillet until heated and soft. Fill with tempeh and your choice of fillings, fold your burrito, and enjoy!

Full Meal Muffins

From vegan lunch box

Stir Fry

My weekly staple

Can You Believe I Have Not Had a Cookie In A Year? Yeah, I Had To Change That

2007-05-18T18:02:00.000-05:00

I have been craving good old chocolate chips cookies and I finally made some that my whole family devoured. I get out of school on June 20th so be prepared for a lot of food experiments once the summer is in full swing.

Pasta with tomato sauce

Always a classic

Sitr Fry

Black bean burgers

Recipe

This is a Powered by Plants recipe. It amazes me how much these resemble hamburgers. I used some Anne's Smokie Maple BBQ sauce.

Tofu and veggie skewers

Chocolate chip cookies

This recipe is from Eats Like A Bird (thank you so much). These cookies are just the way I like them, crunchy on the outside and soft on the inside.

So moist and yummy!

2007-04-29T11:21:00.000-05:00

We had some really nice weather last week with almost 90° temperatures; I even got a slight tan! It was nice enough to use the grill for the first time of the season. I made grilled pizza and wow, did it taste good! I also finished my cookbooklet and am going to start giving it out to people.

Grilled Pizza

Recipe

Tofu Burritos

I have been going a little burrito crazy lately. I used tofu that I had been marinating in BBQ sauce, soy sauce, and a little garlic and cooked it in a cast iron pan with a few shakes of Tabasco sauce. Then I warped the burrito with lettuce and dipped it in salsa.

Stir Fry

I think I stir fry in my wok at least once a week. This stir fry has tofu, snap peas, broccoli, yellow squash, zucchini, and spinach.

The cookbooklet is nice and compact and contains six of my best recipes:

black bean burgers, tempeh burritos, granola, fruit and nut energy bars, lasagna, and sesame peanut noodles.

Happy One Year (vegan) Anniversary To Me!!!

2007-04-20T22:15:00.000-05:00

Thanks for everyone's nice comments. To summarize, I went to the doctor and he told me I had lose joints all over which explains why I can pop all of my joints. It seems that I have medial tibia stress syndrome in my left leg that may have irritated a nerve, causing the tingling sensation. Today was day two of physical therapy for my shoulder (which seems to be helping) and I have to get special made orthodics for my shoes or I will continue to get shin splints and maybe even stress fractures (yikes!). I am not allowed to run until I get my orthodics so I joined the YMCA and I have been doing the elliptical. When I do get my orthodics, which won’t be for a few weeks, I have to start out VERY slowly only running on grass and working up from there. My track season is basically over but if I battle hard over the summer, I will be running cross country in the fall.

Back to the food. Today is my one year vegan anniversary! (I only know it because it is also the day of my friend's birthday). What a year it has been. I think since becoming vegan, I have changed my entire outlook on life and have learned so much about the animal product industry. Some people thought my veganism was a phase, but I know I will stay vegan for life. I am working on putting together a small booklet of a few of my best recipes to hand out to people who have inquired about eating vegan. I will post the recipes some time soon. Here are two dishes that I am including:

Tempeh Burritos

I used the Tempeh Taco recipe from the Students Go Vegan cookbook as a base for this recipe. I wrapped up the tempeh in a tortilla with lettuce and tomato with salsa on the side.

Sesame Peanut Noodles

Original post

I changed the recipe around from the one in the original post. I also used whole wheat spaghetti.

Here is the lasagna recipe I promised. I am also going to use this in the booklet. (Midewest Vegan, this recipe has tofu in it but not the tofu ricotta kind. I don't like the tofu ricotta kind so I used a creamier sauce like kind that I really like.)

Lasagna With Spinach and Mushrooms

1/2 pound fresh mushrooms, sliced
9 lasagna noodles (uncooked)
10 ounces frozen chopped spinach, thawed

Tomato sauce:

1 medium onion, chopped
3 garlic cloves, minced
1 28 ounce can diced tomatoes
1 teaspoon oregano
1/2 teaspoon basil
1/2 cup vegetable broth
2 tablespoons tomato paste
salt and pepper to taste

Sauté the onion in a saucepan until it becomes translucent. Add the garlic and sauté for another minute. Add the remaining ingredients, and cook for 15-20 minutes. Sauté the mushrooms over medium heat and add them to the tomato sauce along

“Cheese” filling:

1/2 cup extra-firm silken tofu
1/2 cup unsweetened soymilk
1/2 cup vegetable broth
2 tablespoons sesame tahini
1 teaspoon onion powder
1 1/2 tablespoons nutritional yeast
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon pepper
2 teaspoons corn starch

Put all the ingredients in a blender and blend until silky smooth. It should be soupy. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F.

Spread half the tomato sauce mixture in the bottom of a 9x12 inch glass pan. Place a layer of noodles evenly over the sauce leaving a little space in between them. Put all the spinach on top of the noodles and spoon half of the filling evenly over that. Follow with another layer of noodles and then put the rest of the filling on top of the noodles. Top with a final layer of noodles and pull the sauce over this. (The order is sauce-noodles-spinach-filling-noodles-filling-noodles-sauce). Cover the pan tightly with foil and bake for 30 minutes. Remove the foil and bake for 30 more minutes, or until the noodles are cooked through. Waiting 15 minutes before cutting the lasagna will help it hold it’s shape.

*I almost forgot, April 22nd is EARTH DAY! How is everyone celebrating?

2007-04-09T21:24:00.000-05:00

Hello everyone. I have been cooking and eating all kinds of good food but my mind has been else where and I forget to document most it. I already mentioned that I got a new stove, but the hood (you know, the thing that sucks the smoke out) was installed recently. We never had a hood before but now I can cook things in my wok at extremely high heats and not worry about smelling up the whole house with smoke. I will take a picture of them and post it next time. I have to ask if you could please continue to keep me in your prayers because I have been having pain in my left shin since it started to throb with pain last Friday in track practice accompanied by a strange tingling/throbbing that I still have. I have been unable to go to track practice since then and have missed our first scrimmage, our first two meets, 5 practices, and I was not able to get my uniform and track clothes. I am trying to be strong but it is slowly wearing away at me. I am going to a really good specialized doctor on Wednesday and I am hoping he can tell me exactly what is wrong with me. In the mean time, I am on spring break so I am just trying to keep occupied with cooking and trying to find cross training things to do.

I have been doing a lot of cooking but I recently photographed my lasagna and my granola. The granola is my own recipe and the lasagna is an adaptation of two recipes put together that I will some day type up and post.

Lasagna

Granola

recipe

Pi Day! (3.14)

2007-03-16T09:57:00.001-05:00

Hey everyone! I have been very distracted and very forgetful when it comes to taking pictures of my food. This month has been big for injuries. I hurt my rotator cuff a few weeks ago and then recently re-hurt it because I went back to working out with too much weight too soon. I also injured my calf last Tuesday in track and have not been able to run since then. I am finally getting better and hoping I will be back to normal by the end of next week.

On a lighter note, my math class celebrated Pi day (3/14 as in Pi is 3.14.....). It is a little elementary but we have been working so hard in class that we deserved a break. I made a chocolate silk pie but I forgot to take a picture of it because I was rushing around to get it finished. I wrote out the pi symbol in chocolate chips. I did not tell anyone it was vegan except my teacher after she had eaten it. She said she loved mine because it was dark chocolate. We got a new stove and the first thing I baked in it were muffins. They came out so moist and yummy. Hope everyone is having a good pre-spring.

Chocolate Silk Pie

Crust-

1 1/2 cups whole wheat pastry flour

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/4 cup canola oil

about 2-4 tablespoons cold soymilk

Combine the flour and salt in a large mxing bowl. Cut in the oil with a fork until the mixture froms coarse crumbs. Sprinkle the milk or water over the flour mixture and mix with the fork until moist. From the dough into a ball with year hand and place it between two sheets of waxed paper. With a rolling pin, roll the dough into a circle about one inch larger then your pie plate. Flip the crust into the plate very cerfulling and flatten the crust against the plate. trim the edges and flute them (you can use your fingers to make that cool little ribbed effect). Prick the sides and the bottom of the crust with a fort.

-To fully bake crust (for this recipe and all other pies that DO NOT need to be baked)

Bake in a pre heated 400 degree oven for 20 minutes or until it turns deep golden brown and is crisp. Cool before filling.

-To prebake crust (for pies you need to bake)

Bake in a preheated 400 degree oven for 12-15 minutes or until it turns golden brown. Cool before filling.

Filling-

12 oz. silken SOFT tofy

12 oz. vegan chocolate

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Melt chocolate in microwave or in a double boiler, let cool untill its warm, not hot. While chocolate is melting, put the tofu into a belender or food precessor, and blend until smooth. Add the chocolate and belend again until the mixture has no white color left in it. Add the vanilla and blend again. Pur into pie crust and refrigerate for 1 hour, and serve at room temperature, if you can wait that long.

serves- 9 but could very likely serve 1

Full Meal Muffins

Amazing recipe from Vegan Lunch Box. They came out perfect! No added oil, sugar, salt, and they are wheat free. They also have zuchinni in them, are you intrigued yet?

Burgers, Bars, Bowls, and Pasta

2007-02-24T09:40:00.000-05:00

Tofu Burger

I sated the tofu in a little bit of soy sauce added spinach, tomato, and avocado.

Fruit and Nut Bars
I Changed this recipe a lot.

1 cup whole spelt flour
1 cup rolled oats
1/3 cup apple sauce
1/4 cup chopped dates (about 3 whole dates)
1/4 cup raisins
1/2 cup chopped dried apricots
1/2 cup chopped walnuts
1/2 cup chopped sunflowseeds
1/3 cup water
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
Combine all ingredients in a bowl and knead with your hands until well blended. Press the dough into a parchment paper lined (or lightly oiled) 8 in. by 8 in. glass pan (or some would call a square casserole). Cut into squares before cooking. Bake for 25 minutes. Keep in the refrigerator.

I made the bowl in ceramics.

Pasta fagioli with spinach
Falafel Burgers

I used Isa's recipe from Vegan With a Vengence (pg 98-99) but I baked them at 350 degress for 10 minutes on each side.

I Am Still Here!

2007-02-10T10:33:00.000-05:00

Don’t worry everyone, I didn’t abandon my food blog or leave the country. I had finals/midterms at the end of January so I had to focus my time solely on studying for them. I am still cooking, cuz a girls gotta eat, but I have been forgetting to take pictures or just did not have enough time to get them out of my camera. I am hoping I can keep up with posting this month (at least once a week) but I have to see how my new classes go as far as homework and tests. This is going to be my first year doing spring track which means once March comes around, I am going to have practices and meets all the time.

As a healthy vegan, I work out regularly and can not stress enough the importance of working out. I think healthy food and healthy living go hand in hand, so I would like to share my work out routine. It has changed a lot over the years, but this is what it is currently:

Monday- Weight training, ab and leg workouts, and stretching/yoga

Tuesday- Punching bag (it sounds weird, but it is a great cardio workout/stress release), running around my hilly street, stretching/yoga

Wednesday- Weight training, ab and leg workouts, and stretching/yoga . Running at school for weekly track pre-season.

Thursday- Punching bag, running, stretching/yoga

Friday- Weight training, ab and leg workouts, and stretching/yoga

Saturday- Punching bag, running, stretching/yoga

Sunday- Running

I am interested to know what other people do to stay healthy and active. For any vegan athletes, this web site is really good http://www.veganfitness.net/.
Okay, back to the food. The weather is getting colder and colder so I pulled out my trusty chile recipe to warm me up. I also used one of my new cookbooks for the first time and made tempeh tacos. Wow, one whole month and all I have to show for it is two recipes. I cannot wait until summer...

Chile
I have finally perfected this recipe and it never fails me.
Original post with recipe here.

Tempeh Tacos
From the Student's Go Vegan Cookbook (by Crole Raymond).
This recipe came out amazing and yet was incredibly simple to make. I used toasted whole wheat pitas instead of taco shells and added some shredded lettuce and tomatoes.

Catchin Up

2007-01-05T23:15:00.000-05:00

I have been cooking more, but posting a lot less. It’s hard to balance school work, cooking dinner, and having a life. I find my self making extra food and eating left overs for three or more nights afterwards (not that there is anything wrong with that). My brother is home from college so my mom has to cook him separate meals and I have been cooking entire meals and cleaning up while she cooks for my brother and dad. I have finals/midterms (finals in my half year classes and midterms in my all year classes) coming up so this may be one of my last posts for a while.

Tempeh, spinach, shiitake mushroom, and broccoli stir fry

I used garden veggie tempeh and I simmered it in water for ten minutes, which is a trick I learned in the Student's Go Vegan Cookbook to take out the bite.
Pasta fagioli (kind of)

I used a recipe for pasta fagioli from this month's VegNews but I used fusilli (spot that Sienfeld episode) pasta.
Butternut squash soup
Original Post

Fettuccine and spinach

This was a rushed meal so I just made a ton of pasta and cooked some spinach. Then I added olive oil, garlic powder, and basil. I used Ezekiel 4:9 sprouted whole grain pasta, which is so amazing and packs in seven grams of fiber and nine grams of protien. We also get Ezekiel 4:9 bread and it happens to be my all time favorite bread! The next night, I made tomato sauce to eat with the left over pasta.

Cooking Catch Up and Merry Christmas

2006-12-26T12:33:00.000-05:00

Hey everyone! I have a good nine days off and I have been meaning to post but you know, things happen. I revamped two previous mistake recipes. Falafel burgers and potato leek soup. The first time I tried falafel burgers their recipe was from my mom’s Cooking Light and we made them together and they ended up being way too wet. The potato leek soup was originally made by my mom but it was left with chunks of potatoes and leeks. In this recipe, I decided to blend it to make it creamy.

One of our Christmas traditions is to have coffee cake while opening presents. This year my mom and I made a vegan coffee cake that came out, in my opinion, better than the original because it was a lot less sweet. I would like to wish everyone happy holidays and hope everyone is enjoying being with family and friends at this time of year.

Potato Leek Soup

Falafel Vegan With a Vengence (pg 98-99)
I put it on whole wheat pita bread with tomato, avocado, and spinach.

Coffee Cake recipe from theppk.com

I took a picture of all my food related presents. I got a measureing cup, mini cake pans, a box grater, vegan carob chip cookies, chocolate covered coffee beans and almonds, dark chocolate worlds, and Vive le Vegan (by Dreena Burton), and Student's Go Vegan Cookbook (by Crole Raymond). I can not wait to start using my new books!

Cupcakes At Last!!!

2006-12-16T10:33:00.000-05:00

When I try an ingredient for the first time, I usually go on a cooking binge and attempt to incorporate it in as many dishes as possible until I am well acquainted with that food. I have been playing with tempeh lately and I can safely say that it is becoming a must have staple in my refrigerator.

Now, the moment you (or at least I) have been waiting for...
I finally made cupcakes!!! I have been oh so busy and just never had the chance to use my new book. Yesterday my friend Lauren came over for an unofficial "birthday party" for me, and well, what is a birthday party with out cupcakes? They were so amazing and moist and perfect. Enjoy the pictures.

Tempeh over salad

I used three grain tempeh and sautéd it in a cast iron pan with a little bit of soy sauce. I put the chunks of tempeh over a green salad with lettuce, spinach, carrots and tomatoes with oil and vinegar.

Sexy low-fat vanilla cupcakes with chocolate mousse topping

From Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World by Isa Chandra Moskowitz and Terry Hope Romero. Cupcakes page 41 and chocoalte mousse pg. 155.

Tempeh Time

2006-12-11T10:52:00.001-05:00

I finally had time to cook over the weekend! I have never tried tempeh before and now I think it could become one of my favorite foods. The weather is getting colder (19 degrees on Friday morning) which means it is time to make some chili. The chile was just the thing to bring me into the could winter months.

Chili

1 red bell pepper, diced

1 green bell pepper, diced

1/2 medium yellow or white onion, diced

1 carrot, diced

1or 2 cans of beans (I prefer kidneys, but any will do)

3/4 Cup prepped textured soy protein (TVP)- will explain below

2 tablespoons Cumin powder

2 tablespoons Chili powder

1 serrano or jalapeno pepper, diced (more or less, whatever you prefer)

1 28 oz. can stewed tomatoes, crushed with juice and all

olive oil

Prep the TVP: simply add the 3/4 cup of textured soy protein to 1/4 cup very hot water, and stir. When the textured soy protein fluffs up and absorbs the water, you're ready.

Heat large stock pot over medium heat, and pour in a few tablespoons of oil. Add the first four ingredients, and saute for about 5-7 minutes (the more you saute here, the less time it will take to simmer later).

Add the tomatoes, beans, spices, hot pepper, and textured soy protein. Stir all the ingredients, and add water if it gets too thick. Let this simmer for an hour, at least, and more if you have time. The longer it simmers, the better it tastes! You can adjust the spices as you wish, I usually just eyeball the quantities so these are best estimates.

Tempeh

I used seasame tempeh and sautéd it in a cast iron pan with a little bit of soy sauce. I ate it on whole wheat bread spread with sesame tahini.

A Very (almost) Vegan Thanksgiving

2006-11-30T15:45:00.000-05:00

I have been taking a break from Vegan Ventures for a long long time and I am sorry but I needed to neglect my food blog because I just had too much work. I am all caught up for now (as best as I can be at least) so I can finally add my pictures. I hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving, whether you had tofurky, Chinese food, or PB&J for your feast. My grandma brought the turkey (no comment) and I was in charge of making all the sides. I made pumpkin crusted tofu from VWaV for my main food, mashed sweet potatoes, corn bread, sugar snap peas, creamed spinach, and a pumpkin pie. No one in my family knew the sides were vegan and my grandparents even ate the tofu, and liked it. All in all it was a very successful first vegan Thanksgiving.

Yesterday was my birthday and I was going to make brownies but, again, I was too busy writing a huge paper for bio. My mom made vegan chocolate chip cookies from this allergen free mix (ie. no wheat, eggs, dairy, soy, peanuts...). I am not allergic to anything but at least they were vegan and very tasty. I am going to try to do some baking over Christmas break.

Corn Bread
Recipe

Pumpkin Crusted Tofu
from Vegan With a Vengence
Previous post

Sugar Snap Peas

Pumpkin Pie

Crust recipe Pumpkin pie recipe I used firm silken tofu and I put the tofu in the blender until uit was smooth

Back; After An Insane Week

2006-11-12T17:57:00.000-05:00

I have not cooked in such a long time but I finally got to it last night. I just had such a hard week of midterms and a family emergency that took up all my attention.

Stirfry with brown rice noodles

I cooked red and green pepper, spinach, shiitake mushrooms, and tofu in the wok with some soy sauce. Then I put it over brown rice noodles. So simple. So good.

2006-11-02T17:59:00.000-05:00

I have mid-terms next week, so I will be MIA for a while. I have off Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday, and I am going into the city with my mom in search of some good vegan food/items. Any suggestions? I made lasagna about a week ago and it came out so good. The tofu was well hidden. So well in fact, that I am going to serve it to my grandparents one day (*gasp*). Last night I stir fried veggies and tofu in the wok. We don’t have a hood that sucks the smoke out of the house which caused a lot of smoke to fill the kitchen. I love my wok anyway, I asked for it for Christmas a few years ago (so a teenager would rather get a wok for Christmas than a new cell phone; stranger things have happened). I also think everyone should check out this website. I do not care too much for MTV (I am a Fuse girl all the way. Those of you who live in NY/NJ area know what I am talking about). I do commended MTV for airing these commercials though. Maybe it will get people more aware, or at least more accepting, of eating veg.

Lasagna
Recipe from Fat Free Vegan Kitchen (I am in love with her blog)

I made my own sauce and omitted the black olives. Read the directions carefully, you have to cook it for an hour.

Stir Fry

Broccoli, cremni mushrooms, spinach, adn tofu.
I cooked the tofu for and took it out. Then I cooked the broccoli and mushroom.
I added the tofu and put in a little bit of soy sauce and added the spinach at the very end. Not the extra long chop sticks for stiring.

2006-10-23T16:33:00.000-05:00

Last Thursday, I went pumpkin picking with my mom. I have been doing this every year for basically my entire life, and I was not about to break the tradition. It was a great chance to test out my camera. I have been taking pictures whenever I have time, and learning how to use all the professional features (exposure, aperture, shutter seeds, things of that nature). I also made black bean burgers a few days ago. I know it is really cold out, but I grill all through the year (even in the snow). I just bundle up, and go for it. I swear, I live in California in my head. On Saturday, I went to Veggie Heaven and got take out. It is an amazing Chinese restaurant that my mom and I love (and my dad thinks is just okay). I got moo shoo veg chicken. It tasted so good. I bought a pumpkin lantern at AC Moore (it’s right next to Veggie Heaven). Hope everyone had a good weekend.

Black Bean Burgers
(On a whole wheat bun with BBQ sauce)
My recipe

G-Town

2006-10-18T20:09:00.000-05:00

I am back! I got back late Sunday night and have a had an extremely homework saturated week so blogging was put on the back burner for a while. As I said before, I went to visit my brother at college. he goes to George Mason in Fairfax, Virginia. He is actually transferring after this semester because he does not like it. Mason is a commuter school so the campus is dead most of the time. We went down for family weekend. Instead of doing the activities the collage had planned, we went into Georgetown and shopped all day Saturday. Georgetown is like a mini New York City that is a lot cleaner (I have nothing on NYC, but G-town is almost spotless). The town had tons of upscale stores (Banana Republic, Urban Outfitters, American Eagle, J. Crew, and even Armani and other designers), it also had some great little shops. I have come to the conclusion that I love Georgetown. We ended up eating of this very antivegan restaurant for lunch. The only vegan thing was salad, which I got. I lived on peanut butter, soy yogurt (the hotel had a fridge), fruit, the banana bites I made, and the fruit and nut bars I made, the whole weekend. We ate dinner at Panera Bread and I got the black bean soup (yum!). Before we dropped my brother back off at Mason, we went I for lunch. We were driving around and we came to a vegetarian restaurant called The Sunflower. My brother and my dad actually agreed to go in, and my mom (being almost totally vegan, when convenient) was all for it. It was a cute little Chinese/Japanese/Americaish/other style place. I ordered the Organic Braised Tofu (the picture was with my camera phone). It was tofu, broccoli, and other asian veggies in a ginger sauce. It was very good. We also ordered a piece of vegan pumpkin pie (the entire menu was vegan upon closer review). Anyway, that was my weekend.

Away For The Weekend

2006-10-12T19:29:00.000-05:00

I am dieing to make cupcakes! Sadly, I am going to have to keep you in suspense until next week. I am going to visit my brother in college this weekend and I do not want to have left over cupcakes sitting in the fridge while I am gone. I am sure my family could have eaten some before we left, but I do not want any cupcakes wasted. My brother loves my banana bites (as you can see by this post). I baked a bunch today to bring to him. I could have brought him cupcakes, but they are just too hard to transport and I do not have a container that they could fit in without getting squashed.

Banna Bites
(Original post)
I found letting the batter sit for 5 mintue before you scoop it out helps them hold their form. I do this while I am preheating the oven.

Getting Ready To Take Over The World

2006-10-10T14:30:00.000-05:00

I have been so busy getting to know my new camera these past couple days, that I haven't had the chance to post my pictures from the weekend. I had a lot of homework and studying to do on Sunday (almost the entire day) so on one of my breaks I wanted to experiment with the fruit and nut bar recipe. They came out so amazing and I think I am going to continue to tweak this recipe. I also used silken tofu for the first time to make eggplant “parmesan” . My whole family loved it and I think the picture came out very good. When I got home today, a small box was waiting for me at the door. I picked it up and saw the smile synonymous with Amazon.com. I literally screamed out loud because it was, Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World (by Isa Chandra Moskowitz [who also wrote Vegan With A Vengeance] and Terry Hope Romero)!!! I, of course, had to take a picture of it and read it from cover to cover as I waited for my pictures to load. I am so souped to start making cupcakes! The book was not suppose to come until November, 2nd, so I am not prepared with cupcake papers (but I do have a piping bag). Stay tuned for cupcakes...

*********************

Fruit and Nut Bars

I took this recipe and changed it to make these energy style, very healthy, bars. If you have the prepackaged prunes then all you really need is a 1/2 cup to do this recipe.

1 cup whole spelt flour

1 cup rolled oats

1/4 cup prune puree (or one 2.5 oz baby food container of prunes)

1/2 cup chopped dates (2 whole dates)

1/2 cup chopped driedapricots

1/2 cup chopped walnuts

1/2 cup chopped peanuts

1/2 cup water

1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

Combine all ingredients in a bowl and knead with your hands until well blended. Press the dough into a parchment paper lined (or lightly oiled) 8 in. by 8 in. glass pan (or some would call a square casserole). Cut into squares before cooking. Bake for 25 minutes. Keep in the refrigerator.

Vegan Eggplant Parmesan
This recipe is from Fatfree Vegan Kitchen. I have had this recipe in the "to make" section of my recipes binder (yes I am that organized). I wanted to save it until I had my camera. I used hemp bread to make the bread crumbs because I conveniently ran out of bread that day. I also used the almons instead of the vegan pamesan. I ended up baking it for 45 minutes because the eggplant was just too tough. It was a great recipe that I will be making again. I am planning on eating some left overs when I am done here.

Vegan Cucakes Take Over the World

I can not wait to start baking!

I LOVE MY NIKON D-50!

2006-10-07T18:43:00.000-05:00

I have been saving for a good camera for as long as I can remember. Photography has been my passion from a very young age. I used to want to be a food photographer. Now I can finally pursue my hobby as a photographer; as well as producing fantastic pictures of my cooking adventures. I have had my Nikon D-50 for less then 6 hours., and I already love it. There are so many features I have to learn, and some I don’t think I ever will. Hope you all enjoy the new quality of my pictures as I strive for higher quality cooking.

Apples

My first food subject, the picture is so clear!

Pita with avocado, tomatoes, and fresh spinach

If you compare this picture to the other pita picture in a recent post, the difference in quality is astounding.

Spinach; Oh, How I Missed Thee!

2006-10-05T17:32:00.000-05:00

Now that the quarantine on the amazingly flavorful green leaf has been lifted, it is time to celebrate! I used fresh spinach (not from a bag) to make these two dishes. First I made an all spinach salad with tomatoes and carrots. Then, I made grilled pizza with spinach and yellow peppers. We need to support spinach in it’s time of need.

3 Day Weekend!!!

2006-10-03T15:43:00.000-05:00

I had a three-day weekend because of Yom Kippur. I am not Jewish, but for those of you who are, I hope you enjoyed your day; especially your break-fast. The three-day weekend gave me a chance to catch up on some much missed cooking. On Saturday, I made some hummus which I ate on a whole wheat pita with campari tomatoes, crisp lettuce, and crunchy cucumbers. Then on Sunday, I had to go to the Fall Festival in my town and help out, because I am in the National Art Honors Society. I had to paint kid's faces for an hour. One community service hour down, 19 more to go. Before I had to leave, I decided to try this recipe for fruit and nut bars that was just screaming to be made.

Hummus

Fruit and Nut Bars

This recipe is from Jennifer Shmoo, of Vegan Lunch Box, and can be found here. It is part of my on going quest to bake no added sugarl, no oil, Eat to Live friendly, foods. I did not have enough raisins, so it was made up of mostly apricots. I also used pumpkin seeds and almonds because I did not have walnuts. I think I am going to use this recipe as a base and change it around a little bit.

A Very Chile Day

2006-09-30T17:54:00.000-05:00

I woke up this saturday morning to find that the temperature must have forgotten the inbetween warm and freezing weather, and went straight for absolutely frigid. I had prepped some granola the night before that was now ready to bake. I love having the oven on when it gets really cold, it feels amazing. On cold nights, soup is almost mandatory. I made this awesome chile with TVP (textured vegetable protein). I also baked some corn bread to have on the side.

Granola
I changed my original recipe because I had the cooking time wrong.

3 cups rolled oats
1/3 cup slivered almonds
1/3 cup sunflower seeds
1/3 cup peanuts
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon, or more to taste
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
1/2 cup maple syrup

Combine dry ingredience in a plastic container. Pour the maple syrup on top until everything is lightly saturated. (You can use more if you think you need it, but if you use to much your granola will be a hunk). Cover the container and let it dry in the refrigerator overnight. This allows the flavors to seep in. (If you must have granola you can just cook it now, but the drying overnight really enhances the flavors).

The next day:Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Put parchment paper on a cookie sheet and spred the granola out in a single layer. Bake for 20 minutes (depending on the oven). The granola should be completly dry and crunchy when cool. Enjoy with your favorite vegan milk of choice (I like vanilla soy), add it to a trail mix, or just take along plain.

I always change the amount and type of nuts and seeds I use. You can do anything you want, as long is it equals a cup. You could also add raisins after cooking.

Chile
I found the recipe here: http://vegweb.com/index.php?topic=12858.0. I think it tasted very good. I have never used TVP before, so it was a good experience. I like the texture the TVP gives it, and the added protein.

Cornbread
This was also a vegweb.com recipe: http://vegweb.com/index.php?topic=5729.0. It tasted like the real thing! Nice and moist and perfect.

Mi Sopa es MUY Caliente

2006-09-28T14:12:00.000-05:00

I always love to create my own original recipes but I decided to venture out and cook a few more things from cookbooks. I think it is a good base for creating my own recipes. I also preordered Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World, so if your my friend, you already know what your birthday present is going to be.

Basil Tofu Ricotta

(Vegan With A Vengence pg. 133)

It did not taste like ricotta but was still really good with whole wheat pasta.

Chipotle, Corn, and Black Bean Stew
(pg.60)

This is the second try on this soup. The first time my mom and I split up the ingredients to prepare. One of her jobs was preping the spicy hot chipotle chiles. When I went for my first spoonfull of the soup, my eyes began to water and my mouth was on fire. It turns out, my mom added two CANS of chiles! The recipe called for two chiles (that is about 16 more then we needed) The next go around for this soup producted fantastic results.

I always complain about my camera (example). I have been saving forever for a good DSLR camera. I have settled on the Canon Digital Rebel XT 8MP Digital SLR. I am still searching online for the best price. If anyone has an comments on DSLR cameras please share.

Vegan Ventures; With a Vengence

2006-09-20T18:21:00.000-05:00

Pumpkin seed- crusted tofu
(VWaV pg. 155)

*The recipe says to fry these, but I decided to saute them.

Continuing on with my Vegan With a Vengence cookbook(/food bible) theme, I decided to try a tofu dish. I have a theory that if cooked correctly, everyone can find a way to prepare tofu that tastes good to them. Most of the time, people who eat meet like tofu that resembles chicken. This dish looked and had a similar texture to chicken. I served it over quinoa for added protein. Don't be afraid to cook with the other, other white meet.

First Soup of The Season

2006-09-18T20:19:00.000-05:00

I love summer. I also love seeing the good in things. That said, the only good thing I could find in the brutle fall and winter months is cooking and baking. I love filling the house with the smell of good food and standing near the hot stove on those freezing winter nights. I love the warm feelings you get eating a big bowl of piping hot soup or stew. With the coming of the chilly weather, I have to be optimistic at that at least I can enjoy my cold weather food.

Roasted Butternut Squash Soup

This is from Vegan With a Vengence (Isa Chandra; you're my hero!), page 62-63. It was so creamy and perfect. I did not have any onion so I had to use onion powder. I am sure real onion would make it so much better.

I have never worked with butternut squash before, and this is not what I thought they looked like. I was expecting a gord with a long neck and bulb at the end. The sticker said "butternut squash" and I belive everything I read.

I have been neglecting this cookbook so I decided to resort back to it. As you can see, I have a very percise system when it comes to ladeling pages. Blank yellow is any food, yellow with a D is dessert, and red is tofu.

Our throwback food processor is 18 years old. It worked great for processing the soup. I usually use the mini processor that came with the blender, but I needed more room and power. This has a small crack in it and a very small amount of soup was lost, but it still does the job.

You can see the steam coming off the soup. So good!

Jalapeño Madness

2006-09-17T10:12:00.000-05:00

Yesterday, I was craving somthing spicy. When it comes to foods I am a huge fan of heat, so I wanted to use the jalapeño pepper I had in the refrigerator. I realized I had a ripe mango on the counter which reminded me of an amazing recipe. I went to my friend Paige's house and her mom made us mango salsa. It was fantastic! I did not know the exact amount so I just used the basic idea.

Mango Salsa

(Recipe compliments of Paige's mom)

1 mango; cubed
1/4 cup medium white onion; chopped
1/2 of a jalapeño pepper; finley chopped*
1/2 cup tomatoe; cubed
salt and pepper to taste

Combine all the ingredients in a bowl and mix. Serve with chips.

*Caution: wear gloves when chopping the jalapeño peppers, especially if you wear contacts. It is hard to get the juices of your hands, even if you wash them very well. You can use more or less jalapeño, depending on how much heat you want. You can also omit it all together.

I put the salsa inside toasted whole pita bread because I did not have any chips.

Dinner: Salad and Homework

2006-09-13T20:11:00.000-05:00

I realize I set the table wrong (fork on the left, napkin on the right) but a place setting does not usually include a chem binder either.

This was a simple salad with tomatoes and lots of chickpeas. I also had an apple and some chai tea.

I am still here!

2006-09-10T14:08:00.000-05:00

I am relaxing with my first two days of school out of the way. But with a full load of classes, I am stressed. (This semester, I have Chem Honors, Drawing (for 1 quarter then intermediate ceramics for another quarter), Biology Honors, US history AP, and Spanish 3. Next semester, I have English 2 Honors, Algerbra 2 Honors, Gym (yay!), and history and spanish three go all year. When I am feeling stressed, I bake. So I decided to break out the trusty brownie recipe.

Brownies

2 cups flour (I use whole wheat)
1 cup water
1 cup brown sugar
1 cup sugar
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
3/4 cup baking cocoa
1/2 cup oil (I use canola oil)
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 cup vegan chocolate (recemended but not required)

Boil water and 1/2 cup of the flour over low heat, stirring constantly, until it reaches the consistency of a thin gluey paste. Remove from heat and let cool completely.

Mix vegan sugarand brown sugar, salt, vanilla, cocoa and oil. Then add the flour-water mixture. Mix well. Add the remaining 1 1/2 cups of flour, baking powder and the chocolate chips, if you choose to add those.

Spread mixture into a greased 11 x 7 pan. Bake at 350 for 25 minutes, or until a knife can be inserted and come out clean.

Store in the fridge for longer brownie life.

Grilled Veggies and Couscous: What An Amazing Combination

2006-09-06T12:46:00.000-05:00

I grilled up some fresh famrers market squash, pattypan squash, and zucchini. Then I added them to couscous which I cooked with tyme. Very simple.

I am going back to school tomorrow so I will probably be posting a lot less often. I will still try to post somthing a least once a week but I can not make any promises until I know how hard my course load will be. Thanks to everyone who reads my blog and for everyones great comments.

Disaster

2006-09-03T17:27:00.000-05:00

It looks so pretty...

But tasted like crap!!!

I bought bad apples but I did not taste them first! Then I changed the ingredients because I was missing a lot of stuff. I will work on this recipe and post again with the new, better tasting, version. It should have been an apple crisp with a nut crust. I did not have apple juice so I used apple sauce, not a smart move. It was not sweet enough at all. Oh well, I wil learn from my mistakes and keep on trying.

Tagged

2006-09-02T19:43:00.000-05:00

I was tagged by Midwest Vegan to be a part of the Traveler's Lunchbox project to find out the top five thing people should eat before they die. My job is to pick the top five things I have eaten and think everyone would eat.

My Top Five

Peanut Butter- This ground up legume goes with everything. I love it on whole wheat bread, paired with sweet grape jelly, or licked off my fingers after dipping them in the jar.

Vanilla Silk Soy Milk- I could not live without my soy milk. I have it on my cereal every morning for breakfast. It also helps me feel normal, insted of the weird vegan, when I go to Starbucks with friends and have the freedom to order my favorite soy mocha or a soy chai latte.

Vegan Brownies- This was the first vegan desesrt recipe I ever attempted to make. They are chocolaty goodness of yummy gooey magic, and a dark chocolate lovers dream!

Pink Lady Apples- Oh my gosh, these apples are so tasty and sweet! They are never mealy, even when out of season. I found these at my health food store and always stock up on them.

Tofu- This could be the greatest food on earth. The preperation possibilities are endless. "Broiled tofu, sauted tofu, stir fried tofu, tofu on the barbie..."

Food Processor Double Feature

2006-08-31T13:52:00.000-05:00

Today I was really hungry so I automaticly went to the refrigerator and reached for the bread. The plan was to toast it and eat it with some chunky peanut butter. When I went to look for the peanut butter, I found tahini (seasame paste) which reminded me that I have a recipe for hummus waiting to be made. It's my first time making hummus so I did not know hwat to expect. It came out so yummy and creamy.

Hummus

1 small garlic glove
1 1/2 cups cooked chickpeas (or one 15 oz. can, drained and rinsed)
3 tablespoons fresh lemon juice (about 1 lemon)
1/4 cup tahini (seasame paste)
1 tablespoon minced fresh parsley (1 teaspoon dried)
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon cayenne (red pepper)

Put garlic, chickpeas, and lemon juice in a food processor and process until finely ground. Add the tahini, parsley, salt, and cayenne and proccess until smooth and creamy. Store in a tightly covered container in the refridgerater.

I cut a pita in half and toaster it. Then I added hummus, tomatoes, and cucumber. So much better than having peanut butter again.

Kate's new and improved black bean burgers

My original recipe

Ingredients:

1/4 cup grated onion
1/4 cup grated red pepper

3 garlic cloves, minced
1/4 teaspoon (or 1/2 for very spicy burgers) each of dried red pepper, cumin and chili powder
1 teaspoon each of oregano and basil
1 tablespoon parsley
1/2 cup coarsely chopped almonds
1/2 cup coarsely chopped sunflower seeds
1 teaspoon sesame oil

1 15.5 oz. can black beans
2 tablespoons of water
3/4 cup of wheat germ

Directions:

After grating the red pepper and onion set them aside in a medium bowl. Combine the garlic, spices, almonds, sunflower seeds, and oil in a food processor and pulse until texture resembles bread crumbs. Transfer mixture to the bowl. Put the black beans and water in the food processor and process until smooth. Add this mixture to the bowl along with the wheat germ. Mix (preferably with your hands) completely. Separate into five balls and shape into patties. Make sure the patties are not too thin or they will fall apart. Grill for 8 minutes on each side, or until slightly browned. Enjoy with your favorite burger fixings.

Serves: 5

This recipe-revamp was caused by a mistake made me blending the ingredients out of order and then adding water to the bean part. The final product was a wet mess so I looked for bread crumbs to throw in. I could not find any bread crumbs but I grabbed some wheat germ. I thought, why not? This was the greatest mistake of my life. They taste so much better and are way less crumbly.

New Recipe!

2006-08-27T20:56:00.000-05:00

So my brothers off to college and now I have freedom over all dinners. I cane ven use tofu now without him freaking out. But it is very strange and quiet without him here.

I made the simplest lunch. I sauted whole shitake mushroom caps and spinach. Then I thinly sliced a tomato. I layered them on whole wheat bread to create this sandwich.

Rigatoni with zucchini and eggplant

I have wanted to try this dish forever. I got it from Fat Free Vegan Kitchen. I can not find the direct link so I am re-typeing the recipe.

1 large zucchini -- sliced in 1/4" half moons
1/2 medium eggplant -- cubed
1 large onion -- chopped
1 bell pepper -- seeded & chopped
3 cloves garlic -- minced
3 tablespoons water -- (more as needed)
12-14 ounces tofu -- (lowfat) mashed
1/4 cup pine nuts
1 tablespoon dried parsley
2 teaspoons dried basil (divided)
1 1/2 teaspoon dried oregano (divided)
1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes -- (optional)
1 tablespoon nutritional yeast
1/2 tsp. dried rosemary
1 1/2 teaspoons salt -- (divided)
8 ounces pasta -- rigatoni or other small tubular pasta
two 14.5 oz. cans diced tomatoes (fire roasted, if available)
3 tablespoons tomato pastesoy Parmesan (optional)

Preheat the oven to 350°.
Boil pasta according to package directions, cooking until just barely tender (a little undercooked is better than overcooked). When it's done, reserve 1/2 cup of the cooking water before draining the pasta.

While the pasta's cooking, sauté the eggplant, zucchini, onions, bell pepper and garlic in 2 tbsp. water in a nonstick pan over medium heat, adding more water if needed to prevent sticking. When the vegetables are tender, add the reserved pasta cooking water, 1 tsp. basil, 1 tsp. oregano, the rosemary, 1 tsp. salt, tomatoes, and tomato sauce; stir, and keep warm.

Combine the mashed tofu with the pine nuts, parsley, nutritional yeast, and remaining basil (1 teaspoon), oregano (1/2 t.), salt(1/2 t.), and red pepper flakes. Stir the cooked rigatoni into the tofu.

Lightly coat a 4-quart casserole with vegetable oil spray. Spread a thin layer of the vegetable mixture over the bottom (you just want a little sauce there to keep the pasta from sticking). Place a layer of half the pasta mixture, then cover with half the sautéed vegetables; repeat layers.

Cover the casserole and bake it for 30 minutes. Remove cover and bake another 15 minutes. Before serving, sprinkle with soy Parmesan cheese, if you want.

Cooking the veggies and sauce.

The tofu and nutritional yeast mixture tasted like cheese!

Rigatoni out of the oven.

My whole family really enjoyed this recipe. It's a good way to hide tofu. I halved the amount of zucchini and added half a squash. I did not have fire roasted tomatoes so I used regular canned ones. I also did not add soy parmesan at the end. All and all it was a successful recipe!

Last Post For Two Days

2006-08-23T18:35:00.000-05:00

That's right, we are leaving tomorrow to take my brother to college and I won't be back until late Friday night. It's so sad watching him pack all his stuff and having his friends come over to say goodbye. It's pritty tense in my house right now, and when I am stressed I bake. My brother really loves the banana bites (you can find them in past posts) so I baked some more and set aside some for him. Then I hid the rest in the fridge. It's hard to focus on food when my brother leaving but I can not forget to bring things for me to eat on this trip. We are going to have dinner at Panera Bread.

Food For The Trip
- Banana bites
- Bread and peanut butter
- Granola
- Cereal
- Soymilk (the hotel has a fridge)
- Apples

Spicy bean and corn dip

I do not ever post any side dish/party foods, so I decided it was time. Enjoy.

1/3 cup chopped fresh cilantro

1 T. minced chipotle chiles (or 1/2 or jalepenos)

1 t. ground cumin

1 t. chili powder

4 t. fresh lime

1/4 t. salt

1/2 cup avocado

1 can black beans

1 can no salt whole corn (8 1/2 oz.)- or simmer 1 cob.

1 cupt diced tomatoes

Mix ingredients together in a bowl and serve with tortilla chips. I used blue corn chips. You can also add it to a tortilla with some rice. Very tasty.

Can You Top This Pizza?

2006-08-22T09:41:00.000-05:00

Grilled pizza with spinach, squash, and mushrooms

My Grilled Pizza Recipe

I am trying this new plan of never putting the same topping on a pizza twice. I used to always put mushrooms and peppers on my pizza (and cheese pre vegan, yuk). I don't really like vegan cheese too much because I like to taste the toppings and sauce. Now that I don't use cheese anymore, I want the pizza to be exploding with flavors from the vegetables. I also add a lot more sauce to the pizza then I ever did before.

I love spinach. Most peeple find it a little werid, but I just love the taste. As you can see, I added a lot of spinach to this pizza. I also used shiitake mushrooms that are hiding under the other toppings. The yellow stuff is pattypan squash from the farmers market. Its so tender that it melts in your mouth. To give the pizza a cheesie flavor, I mixed nutrirtional yeast into the sauce before adding it to he pizza. Just remember not to go overboard with toppings or they will fall of when you try to eat your pizza.

*I would love to hear suggestions for other toppings.

Stir Fries And A Morning Surprise

2006-08-21T19:11:00.000-05:00

Stir Fry

Awww yeaaa! What Is more perfect and simple then a stir fry? It takes more time to cut the veggies then to cook the food. Great meal for when your pressed for time.

For this dinner I added squash, broccoli, zucchini, red peppers, and tofu. Then I added soy sauce and sesame oil after the veggies cooked a bit. So good!

I made banna bread bites again (recipe from vegan lunch box). I made a full batch this time, which was about 36. My family and I ate about half that amount when they came out of the oven. Then I put them in a container to be refrigerated (second picture). This morning I came down stairs to find that my brother had eaten all of them!! There had to be a least 18 in there! (Note the emty box in the third picture). Well the way I look at it is, I try hard to get my brother to eat vegan food and at least he was eating these insted of somthing eles.

I did save six in the fridge for me eat when we take my brother to college later this week, so it's not a total lose. I guess I need to make some more!

I Love Sundays Because Of..

2006-08-21T11:51:00.000-05:00

The Farmers Market!!

OH BABY!!!

Tomatoes, peaches, nectarines, pears, Broccoli, lettuce, cucumber, zucchini, pattypan squah, crooknech squah, and some weird white squash.

Peanut Tofu And (More) Granola

2006-08-20T11:56:00.000-05:00

The granola revolution

I ran out of granola so fast that I had to make another batch. This is half of my third batch of granola because I doubled the recipe so it would last longer. I have been topping my cereal, lOptimun Power Breakfast, off with home made granola every day .
The second picture is of my cereal on top of John Robin's Food Revolution. Which, by the way, is a must read book. My original granola recipe can be found here.

Griled Peanut Tofu

I love trying new marinades for tofu. I used the idea for the peanut noodle sauce to create a salty-sweet taste.

I mixed peanut butter, soy sauce, fresh garlic, and a few drops of sesame oil in a plastic bag and added the tofu. I let the flavors seep in for about 30 minutes in the fridge. Then I grilled the tofu for ten minutes on each side. I took the tofu off the grill and let it sit in the left over marinade for a few mintues.

It was good but I want to add more peanut butter next time. I will try to remeber to write down the amounts of what I use.

Jumbo Size Bag of Organic Oats

2006-08-11T14:28:00.001-05:00

For my first experiment with making granola, I used Quaker Oats. I really like organic foods. Most of the foods I use are organic so I decided to invest in organic rolled oats. I went to the health food store and got a jumbo size bag. Perfect. Now armed with my oats, I was ready to got crazy...

Almond and walnut granola

I loved the first batch of granola so much I just had to make more. I decided to use walnuts in this batch and found it better then the first batch. I started useing it on my cereal everyday. Any suggestions on what eles to add to the granola? You can find the original recipe here.

The healthiest banna oatmeal cookies in the world

Recipe from Vegan Lunch Box.

Nothing about these makes them cookies. They contain no wheat, sugar, salt, or oil (and naturaly, being vegan and all, no eggs or dairy either). You may be skeptical but they taste soo soo good. Think of the taste as a crunchier banna-nut bread. I used a mini ice cream scoop to make popable mini bites.

Yay! For Nutritional Yeast

2006-08-11T14:28:00.000-05:00

It had been raining on and off all day yesterday, but I really wanted to make grilled pizza. I rushed to cooked the dough, flip, add the toppings, take it off, collect all my supplys, and run in the house before the very heavy downpour of rain. This pizza had a lot of determination used to make it and the made it taste evern better.
My grilled pizza recipe.

I also picked up nutritional yeast for the first time. I have heard many praises for it in various vegan cookbooks so I had to try it. For my first test, I sprinkled some on top of my pizza. Very yummy and light kick of a cheesie flavor. I have to go hunt for some more nutrirtional yeast recipes.

A Very "Back To Nature" Day

2006-08-08T21:05:00.000-05:00

I have always wanted to make granola because people always joke that I am a "granola health food freak"; though I had never eaten it in my life. Maybe they had a point? So I decided to make some granola. I found the basic structure of granola from recipes from vegweb.com and made my own.
Today was my first day of volunteering at a wildlife sanctuay where I get to be outside for three hours. I have to remove invasive plants so they do not kill the good plants. I love learning the names for plants, birds, and insects. Then I got to help track wood turtles and mark them in the GSP system. The turtles were so cute!! Anyway, I love nature so this was the perfect day for me.

Almond Cinnamon Granola

3 cups rolled oats
1 cup slivered almonds
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon, or more to taste
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
1/2 cup maple syrup

Combine dry ingredience in a plastic container. Pour the maple syrup on top until everything is lightly saturated. (You can use more if you think you need it, but if you use to much your granola will be a hunk.)

Cover the container and let it dry in the refrigerator overnight. This allows the flavors to seep in. (If you must have granola you can just cook it now, but the drying overnight really enhances the flavors).

The next day:
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Put parchment paper on a cookie sheet and spred the granola out in a single layer. Bake for 7 minutes (depending on the oven). The granola should be completly dry and crunchy when cool. Enjoy with your favorite vegan milk of choice (I like vanilla soy) or just take along plain.

This was so easy to make and came out so tasty. I added it to my cereal. I want to experiment with other ingredience. Different nuts and raisins, Ill keep you posted.

Grilled Summer Dinner

2006-08-07T20:01:00.000-05:00

BBQ tofu with two kinds of grilled squash, purple green beans, and sweet corn

I went to the farmers market again on sunday and decided to use the great vegetables I got that day to make a fresh grilled sunday dinner.

I chopped some crooked neck squash, pattypan squash, purple green beans (they turn green when cooked), and corn that I broke in half and put them all in a bowl. I put on some olive oil, salt, and pepper and tossed.

I took some Annie's Natural Organic BBQ Sauce, which is the most amazing BBQ sauce ever, and slathered it all over a 1 inch slice of frim tofu. If you put some knife slits in the tofu it helps the sauce flavor go into it. Then I let that sit for about 30 minutes before grilling. The longer it sits the better (any time longer then 30 minutes of sitting should be done in the fridge. 24 hours is the best but anymore time after that is just insane)

Then I grilled every thing up and ate outside. Perfect night.

Mushroom Risotto

2006-08-06T19:42:00.000-05:00

I looked up a ton of different risotto recipes until I decided to take what I had learned and create my own. Give your self plenty of time before starting this recipe because it takes a while to make and you have to stir the entire time but is well worth it. You have to use arborio rice or it is not really risotto and you can use what ever mushrooms you have on hand. I used cremini mushrooms here but one cup of cremini and one cup of shiitake would be really yummy.

Kate's Mushroom Risotto

1 Onion chopped
4 gloves of crushed garlic
2 2/3 cup arborio rice
4 cups vegetable stock
2 cups mushrooms, sliced
1/2 cup sundried tomatoes
1/4 cup fresh tyme
1/4 cup fresh rosemarry

Place the sun dried tomatoes in a 2 cup liquid measuring cup. Pour boiling water up to the 2 cup line. Let sit for 5 minutes and take out the tomatoes and dice them. Save the water in the cup.

In a pan, combine the onion and garlic. Stir until lightly cooked.

Add the rice and stir for about 5 minutes. Then add the water that you set aside.

Cup by cup add the vegatalbe stock, only adding the next once the stock has been absorbed; about 5 minutes. STIR CONTINOUSLY OR THE RICE WILL STICK AND BURN.

Once all the stock has been added, add the mushrooms and sundried tomatoes. Cook until rice is very soft and the mushrooms are tender.

Add the tyme and rosemarry.

You can also add a few drops of truffle oil to each plate. It gives it a really earthy flavor that few can resist.

Lunch Time

2006-08-06T18:42:00.000-05:00

Tofu, spinach, and tomato sandwich

I usualy do not cook at lunch time but somtimes I just get in the mood. This is the first way I ever had tofu served to me and it still stands as one of my favorites.

All you have to do is cut the tofu in thin squares and cook it in a pan for 5 minutes on each side, or until golden. Then you add soy sauce to the pan and add the spinach. You let that cook for about 2 minutes and serve with tomatoes or anything eles (avocado is always good) on whole wheat bread.

Peanut Noodles

2006-08-06T17:42:00.000-05:00

This is one of those amazing recipes that just happens to be vegan. The peanut butter (legume) and udon noodles (grain) also make it a complete protien, sweet right? Udon noodles can be found at an Asian grocery or specialty foods store. You can make these with other types of noodles if your want, but the udon noodles really makes the dish authentic.

Udon Noodles with peanut sauce
6 T. water
1/4 cup creamy peanut butter (if you use natural then add 4 T. of sugar)
2 T. brown sugar
2 T. soy sauce
2 T. rice wine vinegar
1 1/2 t. minced peeled fresh ginger
1 1/2 t. dark sesame oil
1/2 t. cornstarch
2 garlic cloves, minced
a few sprinkles of red pepper flakes (if you want spicy noodles)
8 oz. uncooked udon noodles
random veggies

Combine first 10 ingredients in a small sauce pan; stir with a whist until blended, Bring to a boil and cook 1 minute, stiring constantly.

Cook noodles in boiling water for about 8 minutes. Drain well. Add sauce to noobles and top with your favorite veggies. I used squash, Japanese zuchini, red pepper, and spinach.

The Freshness Continues

2006-08-01T09:20:00.000-05:00

Tofu and mixed vegatable stir fry

I got home late and wanted somthing fast and easy so I cut up so farmers market vegatables and tofu and had myself a nice 9:00 dinner. *Note the sweet dragon fly plate I got from the Chinees grocery store.

I used red pepper, regular squash (market), broccoli (market), cremini mushrooms, spinach, and firm tofu and did them in the wok with soy sauce. I made quinoa on the side because it has a similar texture to brown rice.

If you have not already noticed, my camera's picture quality is absoltuley horrible. I am using an Olypus D-380 which is about the size of my whole hand. At 2.0 megapixels the pictures are always crap so just bare with me with food pictures and use tour imagination when needed.
Some day I will get a better camera.

Farmers Market

2006-07-31T13:43:00.000-05:00

Farmers Market Fresh

Yesterday I made the greatest discovery ever. There has been a farmers market going on in walking distance from my house every Sunday since the beginning of June and it lasts untill October. Why didn't I ever know about this?! But anyway, it is an open air market with about 5 food stands and a few flower stands. The real find was the ORGANIC sign hanging above a generously stocked food stand which immediately caught my eye.

The food was a feast for the eyes and I came home with some really great fruits and veggies.
The top picture is lettuce wiht no brown spots to be found. The second picture is an English (seedless) cucumber. Under it are the juiciest, dribble-down-your-chin, peaches and nectarines I have ever tasted. The next is a picture of these odd puple podded green beans that supposedly change green when cooked, a Japanese zucchini, two regular squash, and the yellow round flat thing is a type of squash called pattypan squash. I also got some broccoli that was so good you can eat it raw, but I forgot to take a picture.

With the lettuce, zuchini, left over lentils, and some carrots, I made a farm fresh salad. Oh wow was it good!! The lettuce was so crisp and perfect I can not even describe the greatness. Okay so I love fresh food, what can I saw?

I have decided to go to the farmers market every sunday until it ends to stock up on weekly needed foods and try out strange new ones. It also feels great to support local farmers because that is where I would like to see America headed.

Be prepared to see future posts featuring amazing farm fresh foods. I think I want to try to grill that crazy looking squash. Hmm, so many options...

Cremini mushrooms

2006-07-29T19:42:00.000-05:00

Cremini mushrooms, green peppers, and spinach over pasta

I think it's time to get some new plates to display my food on. I have used this plate/bowl thing a lot. This is a very simple idea of a recipe; pasta and veggies. It never fails for a simple fast dinner.

I boiled water and put the whole wheat pasta in. I cubed the green bell peppers and thinly sliced the cremini mushroms. Then I cooked the mushrooms and peppers in a cast iron pan and I added a splash of balsamic vinegar and a few sprinkles of basil and garlic powder.

Quinoa: the grain of the week

2006-07-28T19:54:00.001-05:00

Grilled veggies over quinoa

I first heard of quinoa when I watched Super Size Me and Morgan Spurlock's girlfriend (who just so happens to be a vegan chef) fed him a dish containing quinoa for his "last supper". I highly recomend that movie to everyone. Quinoa contains 12 grams of protien for a 1/2 cup, making it a good choice for vegans.

I started out by boiling 2 cups of water to one cup of quinoa. I added the quinoa and let it cook until the water was gone (about 7 minutes).

The I grilled zuchini, eggplant, red and green peppers, and onion. I cut up all the veggies and added them to the quinoa and added a little bit of olive oil and slat and pepper.

Each individual plat was served over a bed of spinach.

Black bean burgers and brownies: revisited

2006-07-28T19:54:00.000-05:00

My Computer died in a lightning storm and was finaly fixed! Now I am back with some old favorites.

Brownies:Revisited
You can find the post here.

I made brownies again and they came out perfectly moist and cakie. I don.t have pictures of them because they were gobbled up by greedy non-vegan friends and family.
After licking the brownie bowl clean, I came to a revolation: If these had not been vegan brownies, I would be eating raw eggs which could carry salmonella! Blah! Again, more proof vegans do it better. I mean come on, who wouldnt want to be able to eat large amounts of baked goods before they are cooked without dieing? I know I would.

Black Bean Burger: Part II
Original post here.

I made my trusty recipe again and they came out even better. I managed to find vegan buns so they were oh-so-tasty. The top burger is freshly made and the one below that is my next day lunch leftovers.

¡Tortillas muy bueno!

2006-07-15T12:42:00.000-05:00

Whole wheat tortillas from scratch

I was really in the mode for some tortillas but we did not have any pre-made kinds. I went online searching for a recipe and found a few good ones. I used the recipes to make my own recipe for crispy tortillas.

Crispy whole wheat tortillas

1/2 + 1/8 cup whole wheat flour
1/4 t. baking powder
1/4 t. of salt
1/4 cup of warm water (120 degrees)

Mix dry ingredients well and add water. Gather into a ball and knead untill the ingredients are completly mixed (3 minutes). For perfect circles, roll out dough with a rolling pin and use a small bowl to cut out the shapes. Have an oiled pan ready (cast iron is best), and pan fry tortillas one at a time on medium high heat. Three minutes on each side is good. Add your favorite veggies and sides and enjoy! (Makes 4 small tortillas)

I added avocados, peppers, and salsa to my toritillas.

Light Monday night dinner

2006-07-11T10:52:00.000-05:00

Spinach, shitake mushrooms, and tomatoes over whole wheat pasta

I have been eating black bean burgers for dinner three days straight (needless to say, they still taste amazing), but it was time for a change in menu. I was craving some sort of light pasta dish so I used the veggies I had on hand and made a simple dinner.

I cooked the veggies in the cast iron pan with some balsamic vinegar, garlic powder, and basil. Very simple, earthly flavor.

Burgers at last!

2006-07-08T20:06:00.000-05:00

Black bean burgers

I have not had a burger since going vegan, and I was really in the mood to prove vegans can grill their own burgers and they can be tasty. This was my first test with making veggie burgers, so I was reluctant about puting them directly on the grill. Theses guys were not crumbly and they held their shape perfectly.

I found this recipe on Vegweb but I modified it a little. I used three galic gloves, a red pepper, and 1/2 a teaspoon of the spices. They were very spicy and next time I am going to do 1/4 teaspoon of the spices but if you like spice them be my guest and do the 1/2. I did not have coriander so I left it out. I did not have cashews and only had a little bit of sesame seeds so I ended up doing 3/4 cup of almonds and 1/4 cup of sesame seeds. I am betting any nut would work here, as long as they equal a cup of nuts. I also left the salt out because the beans were salty and I forgot the pepper. My version made four medium burgers. Wow were these yummy!

Here is my final recipe:

Kate’s Black Bean Burgers

Ingredients:

1 15.5 oz. can black beans
1/4 cup grated onion
1/4 cup grated red pepper
3 garlic cloves, minced
1/4 teaspoon (or 1/2 for very spicy burgers) each of dried red pepper, cumin and chili powder
1 teaspoon each of oregano and basil
1 tablespoon parsley
1/2 cup coarsely chopped almonds
1/2 cup coarsely chopped sunflower seeds
1 teaspoon sesame oil

Directions:
Combine all ingredients in a food processor and pulse until texture is course but blended well. You may need to add a little water so the texture is just moist enough to be able to blend in the food processor.
Separate into four balls and shape into patties. Make sure the patties are not too thin or they will fall apart. Grill for 5 minutes on each side, or until slightly browned. Enjoy with your burger fixings.

Serves: 4

*Side note: As if we didnt need any more proof vegans rocked. I grilled my veggie burgers and my parents grilled their icky cow grossness (we have designated sides of the grill so no cross contamination can occur). We ate outside and we wrapped our leftovers in foil. While we ate, flies kept landing on my parents plate and food and face and I was fly free. Then, I looked over to find literaly 20 flies sworming the foil with the beef and I looked at my wrapped veggie burgers to find not one fly! Praise God for good clean veggies, amen.

Grilled pizza: no cheese required

2006-07-07T21:11:00.000-05:00

Grilled pizza with mushrooms, peppers, spinach, and extra tomatoes

Grilled pizza has become a staple in my summer dinners (and even sneaks its way into my winter dinners when I am feeling adventurous). For this pizza I decided not to use soy cheese because it tasted weird and there was no chance I was willing to risk the flavor of my favorite food.

I went very basic for the ingredients but the flavors were fantastic! I put a few fresh tomatoes in the broiler with basil and garlic powder to add to my pizza. The sauce I used was the amazing Don Pepino Pizza Sauce. Remember that these personal sized pizzas are about 8 inches in diameter (depending on your stretching skills and how thick you want your crust) so everyone can pick their toppings.

You can find my pizza recipe here.

Cast iron pan to take over the kitchen

2006-07-06T14:04:00.000-05:00

Tofu, spinach, and tomatoes with spicy white balsamic vinegar sauce

This recipe is an adaptation from similar dishes I featured. I have a whole bottle of chile oil left over from the mango summer rolls so I am trying to incorporate the oil into my basic recipes. I say, the werider the better!

I marinated the tofu in my spicy sauce while I cut my veggies. I pan fried the tofu until golden brown and added the tomotoes and waited until they cooked down in size. I added the spinach and the marinade for the final touch. (The glory of meatless dishes is being able to re-use your marinade for sauces or try adding cornstarch for a thicker version of your marinade)

The marinade/sauce was equal parts white balsamic vinegar and olive oil, a few drops of chile oil, basil, garlic powder, and toasted almonds.

I have no idea if chile oil was made to go with balsomic vinegar but oh well, it tasted good to me.

Vegans can eat muffins?!?!

2006-07-04T20:29:00.000-05:00

Blueberry Muffins

I found this recipe on Vegweb.com because I really wanted to find a good easy recipe to satisfy my skeptical friends; they loved them by the way. I made this recipe a few times so I could work out the kinks.

I decided to use whole wheat flour. The finely ground kind makes them taste more like real muffins and the regular kind makes them taste more earthy. I also used 1 cup of flour instead of the half cup because they were just not sweet enough for me. I wanted to experiment with other ingredients so I added dark chocolate covered coffee beans (my all time favorite treat ever!!) to one muffin before I added the blueberries to the batter. It was soooo good I have to make more and try other foods in this batter. I am thinking bananas, raspberries, strawberries, almonds, peanuts, walnuts, or any combonation of those.

I fell in love with Vegan With a Vengeance

2006-07-04T20:07:00.000-05:00

Fresh mango summer rolls (with Thai dipping sauce)

If you have never heard of Vegan With a Vengeance, you are missing out big time. I first heard about this cookbook from reading other peoples vegan food blogs so I had to see what all the fuss was about. Needless to say, I ended up post-it noting most of the recipes in the book after my first read. This was the first recipe I tried but definitely expect more soon.

These rice paper wrappers contain mango, cilantro, rice noodles (I used whole grain ones), roasted peanuts, and the recipe says to use bean sprouts or seedless cucumber and I went with the seedless cucumber for the crunch. The rolling and handling of the rice paper wrappers was a little tricky to get the hang of, but after some practice it was a snap. There is almost no cooking needed (besides cooking the noodles for 10 minutes). It is an amazingly refreshing main course or side dish with the perfectly spicy Thai dipping sauce.

(New lime green cutting board from Crate and Barrel)

Tofu: one million options and counting

2006-06-26T12:08:00.000-05:00

Tofu, tomatoes, and Couscous

I love tofu. It takes on whatever flavor you cook it in and never gets boring. It seems to be the one food that can adapt to many dish and fit into anyone's taste. I use tofu almost everyday in some form or another and I never get tired of it. In this case the tofu picks up the tomatoes flavor.

For this tofu recipe, I put it in the cast iron pan that was coated with a little bit of canola oil. Then I sprinkled on my Chef Prudhomme Magic Seasoning Blends. I flipped the tofu when it was brown and then added the tomatoes. I added more seasoning, basil, and garlic powder. I cooked untill the tomatoes where soft and added it to the couscous. Simple, easy, yummy.

I say avocados, you say one love

2006-06-20T19:05:00.000-05:00

Spicy tofu, tomato, and avocado sandwich on whole wheat bread

I had a perfectly ripe avocado just begging to be thinly sliced and placed comfortably atop a bed of juciey tomatoes and spicy tofu. The whole wheat bread is from Cost Co and is actually really yummy and wonderfully chewy (go figure).

I have been experimenting with the many possibilities of flavors tofu has to offer and I tried a dry rub of spices from Chef ____ (Chef Bob or Tony or somthing) and stir fried it in my cast iron pan. It came out amazing.

Dessert (It's about time!)

2006-06-18T18:05:00.000-05:00

Chocolaty goodness of yummy gooey magic

So I think it's about time for some treats on here. I made brownies for fathers day and only let a few people know they were veagn. Everyone loved them and noone questioned the ingredients.

I got the recipe from here (vegweb.com is an amazing vegan website FYI)

I used whole wheat flour (*gasp*) and they still came out gooey and moist; not gritty like I was expecting. I used powdered sugar for the top to make them pritty)

Fresh out of the oven. A dark chocolate lovers dream.

It's not delivery...it's just the wok

2006-06-17T17:52:00.000-05:00

Tofu, broccoli, and spinach stir fry

If you do not have a wok, but love Chinese food, it is probably one of the best cooking investments you can make. It gives you the peace of mind that no animal products are mixed into your dish (which makes some vegans wary of chinese food places). You can also find all kinds of recipes online so you can re-create take out at home.

This stir fry is with spinach, broccoli, and tofu in soy sauce and sesame oil.

If you prefer a thicker sauce, then you can add corn starch.

The tomatoe gift that keeps on giving...

2006-06-15T14:05:00.000-05:00

Semolina pasta with spinach and tomatoes

With this being my 5th consecutive my tomatoe dish, I think it is time to mix it up a bit. Expect some desserts in the near future...

This is again a very simple light dish from the healthy vegan. I used semolina pasta to get a nice hearty texture. Then I cooked up the spinach and tomatoes with some basil in the cast iron pan. I put them together and added some garlic powder and some more basil for taste.

Fire up the grill, and throw on the tofu?

2006-06-10T14:05:00.000-05:00

Grilled tofu over a simple green salad

Yup, I said grilled tofu. As you can see I love throwing anything on the grill I can get my hands on. Tofu is a meat alternative so it is only natural to test it out on the grill. Note the sweet grill marks.

Start by marinating the tofu in balsamic vinegar and sesame seeds for as long as you deem fit. Put it on the grill and grill each side for about 8 minutes each (you can do it for more or less time depening on your preference and your grill)

The salad can be made with what ever you have laying around. This one was made with lettuce, spinach, carrots,cucumber, and tomatoes (as you may have noticed, I have a lot of tomatoes on hand and I love them). Then I dressed it with balsamic vinegar, garlic powder, basil, salt, and pepper.

Grilled Pizza

2006-06-09T14:05:00.006-05:00

Whole wheat grilled pizza w/ spinach, tomatoes, peppers

Betcha didnt know it was possible to grill pizza did ya? I have been playing around with pizza crusts for a while and I now have a perfect whole wheat dough recipe.

whole wheat dough:
2 1/2 cups whole wheat flour
1 (1/4 oz.) package of yeast
2 1/2 teaspoons salt
2 teaspoons sugar
1 cup luckwarm water
(115- 125 degrees)
2 tablespoons olive oil

Combine flour, yeast, salt, and sugar in a large bowl and mix with a wooden spoon. Add the water and olive oil and mix until dough forms. Knead the dough for ten minutes. Oil a bowl. Put the dough in the bowl and cover bowl with plastic wrap. Let rise for 45 minutes.

In the meantime:
Cook your choice of veggies (I used spinach, peppers, (in a frying pan) and tomatoes(set on broil in the toaster oven with a little fresh picked basil from my basil plant, yum yum) With your left over time you can clean up, start the grill, and even do a little dance if feel the urge. I mean come on, your only minutes away from amazing grilled pizza, you should be happy!
When 45 minutes is up, take the dough out of the bowl. The trick is to break the dough into four personal size pizza balls then roll them into circles on oiled pieces of foil. The one at the right is about 8 inches in diameter.
Put half of the coals on one side of the grill (thats your direct heat) and leave the other half without coals (thats your indirect heat). Put the pizza dough side down on the direct heat side of the grill (go ahead and put it direcly on the grate, it wont burn if the grate is oiled, I swear) and then slowly peal the foil off. Cover the grill untill the dough looks chared. Flip the pizza over and put your sauce, veggies, and soy cheese (or your choice of any vegan cheese, or no cheese) on top. Cover and cook untill the cheese is totaly melted or the crust feels crispy. Remove the pizza and be prepared to change the way you view all other pizzas forever.

This recipe can be altered in many ways. There are a million different topping, sauce, and cheese combos to test so go crazy.

Couscous with spinach and tomatoes

2006-06-09T14:05:00.005-05:00

Couscous with spinach and tomatoes

I recently bought a cast iron pan and decided to try it out. I have never cooked couscous before so I decided to play around with it (10 grams of protein for one serving!).

I made the couscous in the microwave and added salt, pepper, and a splash of balsamic vinager. I cooked the spinach in the pan until wilted. That gives it a light crunch and ensures it will not be soggy when added to the couscous. I have been experimenting with different tomato dishes and I found that putting the tomatoes on foil in the toaster oven, and setting the oven to broil, cooks them fast and gives them very good flavor. I combined the spinach, couscous, and tomatoes in a bowl and added basil and garlic powder for seasoning. I think I might try it with some mushrooms and peppers next time. It's a pritty simple dish and good for protein.