Vegan MoFo: Y is for Yogurt Cake

I have to be honest...I had zero energy to cook and/or bake tonight! But, with 2 letters and 2 days remaining in November, I decided not to push it. So, I found this recipe but did not have the lemon zest. Instead, I had fresh oranges that supplied orange zest and juice. I thought the addition of semolina was interesting. And it is no lie that this cake smells terrific while baking!

The texture of the cake was really nice. There was a thin, crisp layer to the top and edges, while the inside was extremely moist, fluffy and a bit grainy but in a very appealing way! I enjoyed the orange flavor (I also used walnuts instead of almonds) but I will also try it again with lemon someday.

Vegan MoFo: X is for Xoriatiki (Greek Village Salad)

X is a tricky one! But, this salad was fantastic. I made another batch of vegan feta and topped the salad with zucchini and orange pepper instead of cucumber and tomatoes.

Vegan MoFo: W is for Walnut and Mushroom Pâté

I have never eaten non-vegan pâté and am not a huge fan of the vegan versions I have had in restaurants. But, this sounded really good and I knew that even if I didn't like it, John would. As it turns out, we both loved it and ate the entire bowl with a loaf of bread!

 Here is the recipe.

Vegan MoFo: V is for Vietnamese Seitan Baguette with Savory Broth Dip

The recipe is from Veganomicon and made an excellent lunch. I followed this seitan recipe. Instead of cucumbers, we added zucchini slices.

I also substituted mayo with leftover sauce from the Kibbeh we had on Thanksgiving.

Thanksgiving Dinner

 We had a fantastic Thanksgiving with delicious food, fun friends, and lots of wine.

To start, I made Pumpkin Hummus and toasted pita bread. The hummus was my attempt to make the version I had in Thailand earlier this year. It included: chickpeas, pumpkin, tahini, salt, garlic, toasted sesame seeds, and green onions.  I chopped up pita bread that I made earlier this week and toasted it in the oven for a few minutes. The hummus has potential but I think I will experiment a bit more before I call it a success.

Next, I made Onion Soup Gratinéed with Cream-Truffle Mashed Potatoes.

I also made a Kibbeh with Apples, Walnuts, and Fake Feta cheese. The recipe is in a magazine from a grocery store I used to shop at in Eugene, Oregon. It is vegetarian but easily made vegan. For the feta, I followed this recipe.

Joy made two salads that were fantastic. One consisted of couscous, apples, raisins, and almonds. The other was kale and shredded beets. If we are lucky, maybe she will post the recipes in the comments section for all of us to enjoy :-)

And finally, for dessert! Hannes made a yummie Apple Crisp and I made Sweet Potato Blondies.

And, here are the place mats and napkins that I made to decorate the table. I found nice quality fabric remnants at IKEA and put them to use.

Vegan MoFo: U is for Udon Noodle Stir Fry

John made dinner tonight because I was busy making placemats for the Thanksgiving table.

My original plan was to make homemade Udon noodles but I bought a pre-cooked package over the weekend as backup. They were a lifesaver!


John mixed the leftover Thai Peanut-Burgers, crumbled, and peanut sauce from last night's dinner,  into the pasta along with zucchini, carrot, onion, and orange pepper.

Vegan MoFo: T is for Thai Peanut-Burger Wraps

Here is a link to the recipe posted by another blogger. I forgot to put the cilantro in the burgers so we just stuffed it in the pita with the lettuce.

The burgers were so good. Lots of flavor, good texture, and the recipe says that it makes 4 large burgers but I ended up with a dozen! 

I did not follow the recipe for the spicy peanut sauce. Instead, I mixed equal parts of soy, agave, and peanut butter.

I made a batch of pitas. I am telling you! Homemade pita bread is mouthwatering!

Vegan MoFo: S is for Soup

I can't recall ever having tasted Split Pea soup, so I figured it would be a nice effort for S.

I made the vital error of waiting until the night I was going to make my soup to send John to the grocery store to get split peas. First of all, the store didn't have them. Second, they would have taken hours to cook and this was all going on around 6pm. So, the soup took a dramatic turn and changed from Split Pea and Tomato Soup with Spinach (from the Vegan Italiano cookbook) to Frozen Pea and Tomato Soup without Spinach (John made the soup and forgot to put the spinach in!!!) 

At any rate, the soup was so delicious. It is a winter wonderland here in Denmark right now, so hot soup is very comforting. The soup consisted of a basic broth, the usual veggies (celery, carrot, onion, tomatoes), garlic and spices, and tiny elbow macaroni pasta. One cup of chopped spinach is supposed to go in shortly before it is served, but if you forget, the soup is still wonderful!

Vegan MoFo: R is for Raspberry Sorbetto

Another hit from Vegan Italiano! The recipe is actually for Cherry Sorbetto, but I had frozen raspberries and a desire to fulfil my R duty.

Very simple ingredients: water, sugar, orange juice, vanilla and almond extract, and frozen raspberries.

No icecream maker required. I froze the blended mixture and poured it into ice cube trays to freeze. Then, into the blender and voila! Tangy, sweety, fruity sorbetto.

Vegan MoFo: Q is for Quiche

I have made quiches before, but this quiche is the king of quiches. It took me an hour and 45 minutes to prepare, contains pricey and unique ingredients, and packed so many flavors in that I figured today was the perfect day to spend making it.

                           

While I was preparing the crust I was thinking, there are easier crust recipes out there. But, it really was worth the effort. I love the addition of flax seeds and chickpea flour. I used dried herbs instead of fresh.

For the sauteed filling, I used half a red and half a yellow pepper. And for the blended part, I used cornstartch instead of arrowroot, sesame parm, and one slice of Tofutti Mozzerella style cheese.

The crust got a bit too dark while baking but the center took longer to get firm than the 40 minute recommended bake time. It didn't taste burned though!

All in all, I would make this again for a brunch or other special occasion but probably not just for John and myself. Also, the 1 TBSP of red pepper flakes is too much for our liking; next time I will use a teaspoon. And finally, John tried to eat one of the baked lemons. This is not recommended!

Vegan MoFo: P is for Pomegranate Pancakes

I had pomegranate seeds leftover from the Kiwi Salsa that I made earlier this week. The recipe for the syrup calls for juice, so I put them in the blender and strained the inner seeds from the juice.

The pancake recipe is from Vegan Brunch. It is very cinnamon-y! John made the pancakes silver dollar style.

I made the Pomegranate Syrup from this recipe.

It was good but not great. And, after sitting for a while, it got thick and sticky. It reminded me of jam and I thought of making it again and spreading it on bread.

Vegan MoFo: O is for Onion Soup Gratinéed with Cream-Truffle Mashed Potatoes

My new favorite soup...in my new heart-shaped ramekins. Here is the recipe.

Vegan MoFo: N is for Not-tella

The Danes love chocolate and bread. Although Nutella is popular here, more traditionally they have thin sheets of chocolate that they lay on slices of bread and eat for breakfast.

Unfortunately, Nutella contains milk. But, this easy recipe solves that!

Vegan MoFo: M is for Mac Daddy and Peas

This has been a very stressful week at work. 3,000 people were laid off at the company both John and I work for (fortunately, neither of us!) and this has caused me to feel emotionally exhausted. Nothing like a little comfort food to cheer me up!

This vegan version of Mac and Cheese is awesome. I did not have regular tofu, so I used olive and tomato flavored. It added a nice flavor. I also sprinkled peas on the pasta before mixing in the sauce. Here is the recipe.

Vegan MoFo: L is for Lentil Tacos

These tacos were made to accompany the kiwi salsa, with the help of our guest chefs!

I had leftover flour tortilla dough in the freezer that thawed in the fridge all day and was ready to go! John rolled the tortillas out and Kat fried them.

I followed this recipe for the Lentil Tacos. I liked the fact that it had a variety of veggies included. I substituted the refried beans with black beans. I also didn't use a substitute for the cheese. The kiwi salsa was enough.

I was not in the mood to chop all the veggies, so I gave them a whirl in the food processor and saved a load of time!