Peanut Noodles

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.

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

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?

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.

Surprise! I Made Desserts

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