Pi Day! (3.14)

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

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!

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

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

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!!!

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

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

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

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.

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.

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

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

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

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...

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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!