Baked Falafel and Black Bean Hummus

John had a "guys night in" and I was recruited to make snacks. I kept it simple with chips, salsa, and homemade guacamole. Then I added a bit of complexity by making Baked Falafel from Appetite for Reduction, Black Bean Hummus from this recipe, and Whole Wheat pita bread from this recipe.

The falafel (gluten- and soy-free) had a nice flavor but due to the lack of oil, it was a little dry. I also started with dried chickpeas, soaked and boiled them. I feel like this is a cost-effective technique for salads and things that use the chickpeas whole. But, for a recipe requiring the chickpeas to be creamy, canned seems to work better for me. For a low fat version, I give it a thumbs up. If you are expecting greasy, crisp falafel, find a different recipe!

The Black Bean Hummus was a little bland. I am not sure what it needed, but I will find a different recipe next time.

I have only positive things to say about the pita! I can't imagine ever buying pita again knowing how easy it is to make.

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.

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: K is for Kiwi Salsa

I love having people over for dinner because they always want to help out in the kitchen. And, it usually ends up that they make a significant portion of the meal! I think it is brilliant. So tonight's guest chefs: friends (that I happen to work with) Kat and Frud.

Frud made the kiwi salsa. Strangely enough, we put a small portion of an extremely hot jalapeño pepper in, but the salsa did not have any spice to it. It was a bit bland except for the sweet burst of pomegranate seeds. Next time, I will add a splash of hot sauce instead of the jalapeño pepper to ensure a bit of heat.
Here is the recipe. I would like to make it again and experiment with the flavors. I love the concept of it.

Here are the chefs, hard at work.

Apulian-Style Bruschetta with Cherry Tomatoes and Basil

Last night for dinner we had Roasted Beet Risotto. It is rare that I repeat recipes but both John and I really enjoyed it last time and I had a ton of beets. We ate it with green beans and this Bruschetta from the Vegan Italiano cookbook. It is a really long name but a very simple, basic style with a fantastic flavor. Using a loaf of Italian Bread, like ciabatta, slice it in half horizontally. Bake it for about 15 minutes and remove from the oven. Cut a garlic clove in half and rub it over the baked bread. I added a thick layer of crumbled Sheese Mozzerella to the top of mine and baked it for a few more minutes while the sheese "melted" or in my case, browned.

The topping is a pint of tomatoes, 1/2 cup basil leaves chopped, 1/4 cup olive oil, salt and pepper. I added a diced garlic clove to mine for the extra flavor. This sits for about 10 minutes and is then placed on the bread. It says that the bread can then sit out for up to an hour. Ours did not last that long!!!

Happy Vegan St. Patrick's Day!

I decided to make a feast for St. Patty's Day and it started with Irish Creme Kisses from Vegan Cookies Invade Your Cookie Jar. I didn't actually make these for John and I but instead, for him to take to work and share with his co-workers. It is becoming a bit ridiculous how easily I can find an excuse to make cookies from this cookbook. The frosting was very sweet, so I put it into a pastry bag and just gave each cookie a pretty squirt. I got really tired of shaving the chocolate, so some had nice, thick curls and some just had broken bits. The cookies have a combo of whiskey, espresso powder, and chopped walnuts that will make these a yearly tradition!


So, the dinner menu consisted of Tempeh Sausage Stuffed Mushrooms, Irish Lemon Soda Bread, and Potato Leek Soup. For dessert, Irish Oatmeal-Apple Crumble with Whiskey Cream Sauce. Here is a picture of my dear husband sitting patiently at the set table while I take pictures of everything!


The mushrooms were stuffed with the Tempeh Sausage from Vegan Brunch. John and I absolutely love this recipe because it resembles sausage in texture and spice-flavor and can be successfully added into so many dishes. It tastes amazing in pasta, on puff pastry, in a vegan omelet, by itself, or stuffed in things!




I had to buy a few ingredients to make this bread, but was SO glad I did! Originally, I was going to make a basic soda bread but felt it was a) not super nutritious and b) boring. After a little internet noodling, I found this recipe and felt it would be perfect with soup. It is slightly sweet, lemon-y, crunchy, and delicious! I discover that Weizenkleie is Wheat Germ and Goldhirse is Millet. I also bought this cute new bread pan! It makes longer, thinner loaves and I think it will be fun for sweet breads like banana, zucchini, etc.


I have made the soup recipe before and it never has failed me. After watching and reading Julie and Julia, I realized there was ONE Julia Child recipe that could be made vegan, this soup. It is so easy but, when cooked for a long time, has the best flavor imaginable. Last time, I used vegan cream. This time, vegan butter. Both turned out equally scrumptious.


And, for dessert, I though something fruit based would be a nice change from the recent overload of cookies and cupcakes I have occupied my time making. The whiskey cream was really, really good! And by really, really good, I mean, "drink with a straw" good.

Flexible Thai Soup and Spring Rolls

I think the soup is called "flexible" because you can add any vegetables you feel like. I added a handful of spinach, a cup of sliced mushrooms, and half a block of tofu, cut into strips. I used a very large shallot and 4 cloves of garlic, instead of 1. For the lemon juice, I used 2 TBSP of the kind in the plastic lemon. For the chili sauce, I used a few squirts of Sriracha Hot Chilli Sauce. It is really good stuff and has its own facebook page. Random, yes! It is served over jasmine rice.




I also made spring rolls to go with the soup. I could make and eat these every day! I was first introduced to them by Isa Chandra Moskowitz at a cooking demo. Yes, she is the amazing author of my favorite cookbooks including Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World, Vegan Cookies Invade Your Cookie Jar, and Veganomicon. They are insanely easy, versatile and great for having people over and making together. For this batch, I included yellow pepper, mushrooms, spinach, green onions, rice noodles, and smoked tofu. I made this dipping sauce but added a pinch of hot sauce and a dash of lemon juice along with a 1 inch piece of diced ginger.

Artichoke-Sunflower Spread

I have wanted to make this recipe for a while because of the delicious combination of artichoke hearts and garlic and sunflower seeds. It also has olive oil, oregano, hot sauce, and salt. All in the food processor and served with homemade crackers, it was a perfect treat for watching a movie on a cold, Friday night.The recipe is from Vegan Planet and the author, Robin Robertson, has a blog of her own right here.

Vegan Brunch (for dinner!)

This was going to be our brunch spread this Saturday but we decided to go out of town this weekend, so I made it for dinner tonight instead. All recipes are from the cookbook Vegan Brunch. I think I can safely say I intend to make every recipe from this book based on the awesomeness of the ones I have tried so far.




Normally, when I made some sort of meat-substitute, John comments on how delicious it is but makes sure to tell me it tastes nothing like the "real thing." It has been so long since I have had meat that I always swear soy-bacon tastes exactly like real bacon. Anyway, I made the Tempeh Sausage Pastry Puffs and both John and I agreed, "This tastes like sausage!" It has something to do with the combo of tempeh texture and the seasonings, especially the fennel seeds. We ate the entire batch (18!) and I guarantee these will be making future appearances. My only change next time will be to buy regular puff pastry as opposed to light. They did not puff up as much as the picture in the cookbook but the flavor was so fantastic, like little thin crust sausage pizzas. It was my first baking experience with puff pastry and at first, I was really nervous because the sheets of pastry are so flat! But sure enough, they did puff.



We also had Roasted Butternut Squash. It was easy to prepare and very sweet. Next time, I will throw in a little sage to numb the sweetness a touch.



And finally, Pumpkin Pancakes topped with berries and soy whipped cream. I have made vegan pancakes in the past but like this recipe because a majority of the moisture comes from the pumpkin and therefore they don't need a huge amount of flour. Also, it has a large variety of spices including cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, and cloves for a scrumptious flavor!

Lemon-Pine Nut Rice, Eggplant and Black Olive Tapenade and Italian Marinated Tofu

Both the rice and tapenade recipes are from Vegan Italiano.


For the rice, pine nuts are toasted and then sauteed alongside a red pepper, scallions, and garlic. It is topped off with lemon juice, parsley, salt and pepper. The flavor is lemony but light, and it can be served as a main or side dish. It came together very quickly and therefore, sat on the stove top for about an hour on low heat. It did not dry out or lose flavor.




The green beans are blanched then topped with a tapenade-style mixture. The original recipe is a topping for crostini but there is a note saying it can be added to asparagus instead of bread. I attempted to buy asparagus but found it was over $9 for a small bunch. I decided green beans would be a nice (and inexpensive) substitute. To make the tapenade, eggplant is boiled in a combination of water, red wine, peppercorns, a bay leaf, garlic and salt. This is drained after 15 minutes and added to a food processor. Along with the eggplant, olives, olive oil, and additional pepper is added and pulsed until combined but chunky. I scooped it over the green beans and served it.




This was originally the end of the meal but I found fresh, homemade tofu (the kind that isn't even in a package!) at the Nachtmarkt today. I will do a future post about this place because it is absolute heaven. I pressed the tofu really well and sliced it. I then marinated it in Italian Marinade for about 3 hours, flipping it every hour. It baked up puffy and crisp. I will be going back to get more of this stuff in the near future!!!

Spinach and Garlic Stuffed Mushrooms

After an excellent turnout of the stuffed bell peppers last night, I decided to try stuffed mushrooms today.

I googled many recipes but didn't find one that really stood out to me so I made this one up, combining bits and pieces of things I liked from the other recipes.

Here is a list of the ingredients I used:

14 baby bello mushrooms, stems removed and diced

1 chopped leek
1 Tbsp vegan butter
3 crushed garlic cloves
2 diced Shallots
1 bunch of spinach
1/4 cup white wine
Salt and pepper

1/4 cup crumbled Cheshire style Sheese
2 Tbsp nutritional yeast
1/4 cup chopped walnuts

1. Wash the mushrooms and remove the stems. Dice and save for the filling.

2. Melt the butter in a pan, add leeks and cook until soft. Add garlic and shallots, diced mushroom stems and spinach, wine, salt and pepper. Cook until everything is soft and the liquid is all gone. Slightly cool.

3. Add to a food processor the Cheshire sheese, nutritional yeast, walnuts, and the mushroom mixture. Blend until only slightly chunky.

4. Stuff the mushrooms with the mixture. Bake at 350 for about 25 minutes. I was chatting on the phone with my mom and overcooked mine a bit! Be careful! They dry out if cooked too long

Here is the Sheese I used.

Coconut Rice and Spring Rolls

With John still not feeling 100%, a late and filling lunch of leftover pasta still in our bellies, and movies to watch, we settled on a light dinner consisting of spring rolls and a new rice recipe.

Usually I set the spring rolls up buffet style and let everyone make their own. It can get quite entertaining! But, a buffet seemed less appealing with a sick person in the house so I made them all ahead of time. To make sure they were still moist when we were ready to eat, I sat them on and covered them with wet paper towels. This is extremely important because they dry out fast.

The rolls are wrapped in rice paper (actually made with tapioca) that is soaked in warm water until completely soft. For the filling, I used random groupings of the following ingredients: baby spinach, baked tofu (marinated in spicy thai seasonings), cooked rice noodles, sunflower seeds, pumpkin seeds, avocado, red pepper, carrot, and green beans.

I normally make this sauce but felt lazy and didn't want another pan to wash. Instead, I mixed light and dark soy sauce, a smashed garlic clove, a splash of apple cider vinegar, water, and a squirt of Sriracha Hot Chilli Sauce and a squirt of agave syrup. It was fantastic, so easy, and gained permanent status in my world of spring rolls.

The rice was a new recipe I have wanted to try forever and it was delicious. I sprinkled toasted coconut on top.

Crackers and Dip

I had leftover cheezy sauce and white bean aioli from cooking earlier in the week. I decided to make crackers to use up these leftovers. I have made this cracker recipe before and love it because it is simple, tasty, and versatile. I divided the dough into two and gave each a different flavor. The first is sprinkled with dried rosemary and Himalayan salt. The second has nutritional yeast kneaded into the dough and is sprinkled with fresh cracked pepper, more nutritional yeast, and onion powder. Yum.

Spring Rolls

I fell in love with making these in Portland after seeing a cooking demo with the amazing Isa Chandra Moskowitz. Basically, any ingredients can be added but the foundation should be something crunchy (nuts, seeds, etc.), something chewy or soft (tofu, potato, avocado, etc.), and anything else that sounds good and will fit in the papers!


For this batch, I used smoked tofu (I baked it in the oven for a few minutes to make it hot), sliced avocado and red pepper, walnuts, pomegranate seeds, and sprinkles of vegan parm. I normally like to throw in baby spinach, but was out. I have found that after making these at home, I never order them from restaurants anymore. Restaurants simply add carrots, lettuce, and mint. In my world of adventurous Spring Roll creation, that is just boring! The sauce is super simple and goes well with any combination of ingredients I have ever tried. I also like to add Sriracha Hot Chilli Sauce to mine to give it a little bite.


The wrapper is Rice Paper (made from tapioca flour, not rice!). The key is to get a large bowl filled with hot water(hot but not too hot that you can't stick your hands in!). Drop a rice paper in and let it get all soft and gel-like. Isa compared them to jelly fish and the resemblance is definitely there. When it is completely soft, take it out, shake the extra water off, and lay it flat. Put the ingredients in the center of the paper but don't overfill!!! Fold two parallel sides together and roll from the other side. I usually have to make about 6 of them to start because they are so delicious and if you just make one at a time, you will be annoyed with yourself! If you are making these for guests, it is fun to set up "buffet style" and let people make their own. Lots of fun!

A Vegan Thanksgiving Feast!

Okay, Thanksgiving day did not turn out to be a breeze! But, I was thankful for all the work that I did ahead of time. Dinner was supposed to start at 7 but unfortunately our dinner guests got lost! So, we ended up eating around 9. Things were pretty well cooled off but we were all so hungry that we didn't let it bother us.

Harvest Canapés with Chipotle Cheese Topping
I had these little yummers set out when people arrived. I was not able to find chipotle chile in adobo sauce here so I used a mexican salsa instead. Not the same, but close enough. I also couldn't' find plain vegan cream cheese so I bought herb and garlic instead. I think it did a little something special! And, continuing the pattern of straying from the recipe, I garnished with carrots and cilantro. First, I don't like radishes, and secondly, I needed fresh cilantro for the salsa so, 2 birds, one stone.


Arugula Salad with Roasted Grapes
I just wanted to taste roasted grapes! Instead of pecorino cheese, thinly sliced, I used Sheese Cheshire crumbled. I picked it for no particular reason other than it seemed unique. I also used dried thyme instead of fresh in the dressing.


Poblano-Cucumber Salsa
Truly, I don't know why I am even calling it this. I didn't follow the recipe at all! I couldn't' find a poblano chile and I am allergic to cucumbers! I basically made a chunky guacamole.

Spicy Fall Stew Baked in a Pumpkin
I had to make some big substitutes in this recipe also! I wasn't able to find tomatillos or hominy. Instead, I used corn and beans, and a red, green, and yellow pepper. The stew was supposed to make 6 servings but I didn't feel like it was enough so I added more water, 6 potatoes and 4 carrots. I have only found one company that makes vegan cheese here and it is one I had heard about and wanted to try while living in America but never got around to. It is called Sheese. I bought the Smoked Cheddar to sprinkle in the bottom of each pumpkin before the final bake. I half pre-baked the pumpkins a day early to make it easier/faster. They only had to cook for about 45 minutes to melt the cheese and heat the pumpkin and soup before dinner.


Green Beans with Walnuts and Shallot Crisps
I made these last year. They are amazing but the shallots are a bit of a pain in the butt. Completely worth the effort though. The only change I made was using olive oil instead of vegetable. I also used my homemade "maple syrup" and it tasted wonderful!


Pomegranate and Maple-Glazed Beets
I am not a fan of cranberries but love beets so I strayed from the traditional route, but get points for similar color, right!? I was able to use my homemade "maple syrup" for this recipe also! I bought one pomegranate and decided to use my blender and make my own pomegranate juice because I knew one would be enough for the juice and the garnish (plus the juice is insanely expensive!). What a pain and a complete mess! I had to designate one sponge specifically for clean up duty. Juice was everywhere!!! I was washing parts of my kitchen that may have never been touched before.


Roasted Brussels Sprouts with Garlic
I am obsessed with Brussels Sprouts and have made this basic recipe hundreds of times (seriously). I always get the same response from guests, "I don't care for Brussels Sprouts." But, I have never had a person eat one and not love them when prepared correctly!


Cauliflower Purée
You have to scroll down pretty far to find this recipe but I loved it as a substitute for mashed potatoes. I found a vegan Parmazano cheese that worked well and again, used dried thyme instead of fresh.



Mexican Mocha Pudding with Pumpkin Cream
YUM!!! I was thinking of skimping out and buying some instant chocolate pudding and adding the spices and simplifying my life. But what fun would that have been? Needless to say, I am so glad I didn't. I used Sucanat for the sugar, as the recipe suggests. I found an egg replacement product called Substitut d'oeuf. The recipe calls for 1 large egg and 2 egg yolks. I basically used the equivalent of 2 eggs. The whipped pumpkin cream calls for 15 oz of canned pumpkin. I searched high and low and gave up on finding it! I ended up roasting my own pumpkin and it was delicious and easy.



Chai-Spiced Pistachio Brittle never happened. I ran out of time but did purchase all the spices and nuts, so maybe in a future post!