Vegan Cheesecake

I made this amazing cheesecake for my husband. I love the recipe (click here) because neither the crust nor the filling have refined sugar. It was my first time using medjool dates, and I am now a huge fan. The crust is gluten free. And the whole thing is flippin delicious! Plus, it came together really quickly, which is essential with a 7.5 month old that has been refusing to nap lately!

Happy Valentines day everyone!

Kale and Potato Gratin

Recipe

Another huge bag of kale to eat this week! 

I also roasted some beets. So yum.

Ultimate Vegan Lasagna

Recipe

I picked this recipe because you don't have to cook the noodles before assembling the lasagna. Huge time saver.

I did not use vegan sausage but instead added mushrooms, zucchini and carrots. I also used cashew cream  instead of vegan cream cheese.

'Cheesy' Mushroom Quinoa

Recipe

Last of the kale was used up in this meal!!! I made a few substitutions: red kidney beans instead of white and I did not have bok choy so instead added broccoli and spinach.

Simple, easy and tasty.

Eggplant Bacon and Butternut Pasta

Recipe

Still working on using up the enormous bag of kale we bought at the farmers market. I came across this non-vegan recipe and saw the vegan potential!

I used eggplant bacon, cashew cream (1 cup water, 3/4 cup cashews blended until creamy), veggie broth and vegan mozzarella. This dish was so good I can't wait to make it again!

Pumpkin and Cannellini Beans with Kale

Pumpkins and kale are all over the farmers market right now, and sold in large quantities, so they will be on the menu a lot in the near future!

Recipe

So good and met the quick-to-fix criteria. 

I planned to use this really delicious vegan cheese that is meant for the grill instead of holoumi but unfortunately the store was out. So I used tofu marinated in soy.  I will make this again as soon as that cheese comes back in stock, though!!!

I also cooked the kale down in a bit of margarine first, just to soften it up. 

Barley Pumpkin Kale Soup

Recipe

The weather here in Denmark was really nasty today. Cold, gloomy and raining. Pretty typical for this time of year, though.

The theme of my cooking lately has become 'whatever is quick'. My three and a half month old is getting a tooth already (i.e. many sleepless nights).

This soup was awesome because everything got washed, chopped and thrown in at the same time. It was supposed to cook for about an hour. Mine cooked for over three because that is just how long it took for me to have time to eat it!

It is very hearty and nutritious, which is good because I feel like I am running on empty lately. :-)

Vegan Quiche

Recipe

I used eggplant bacon, broccoli, red pepper, red onion, and spinach for the veggies. I also did not follow the suggested crust recipe, but instead made a simpler one out of flour, butter, salt and water.

I had to cover the edges of the crust with foil after about 45 minutes of baking because it was getting too brown while the filling was still very under cooked.

The flavor was excellent! I added more veggies than the recipe called for so next time I will make a bit more of the filling, as there was plenty of room in the crust.

Sweet Potato and Kale Quesedillas

Quick and tasty, after a long day with a fussy 3 month old! :-)

Sweet Potato and Kale Quesedillas 

Dinner Greek Style

Vegan Spanakopita
Greek Salad (lettuce)
Greek Potato Salad

YUM!

Baked Polenta with Sausage and Artichoke Hearts

This is a Martha Stewart recipe that I 'veganized'. I used vegan chorizo for the sausage and veggie broth instead of chicken.

I made my own polenta, which was really easy. 3 cups dried polenta, 1 cup water, a veggie bullion cube and a sprinkle of dried basil. When the polenta was cooked and getting stiff, I spread it out on a plate and let it cool. It then cut into squares nicely.

I marinated the artichoke hearts in olive oil and lemon juice, salt and pepper and sauteed them before adding them to the sausage.

I left the parsley off because I didn't have any fresh and didn't have the energy to thaw my frozen stash.

Puff pastry pizzas

I used to make homemade pizza dough in my sleep. Not so much these days! So, for dinner tonight I used puff pastry and made two different kinds of pizza. The first is pear, potato, pesto and shallots. We used to get this pizza when we lived in Eugene, Oregon, from a restaurant called Pizza Research Institute. They have amazing, unique pizza. The second is more traditional with tomato sauce, roasted zucchini, red pepper, red onion, mushrooms and some vegan chorizo. Both were fantastic.

Back...sort of!

Life has been busy and I have been updating a different blog recently...one documenting a new addition to our family. I had a baby in June and have been blogging about that to keep family in the loop. We are still living in Denmark and still vegan!!!
Dinners have been all over the map lately, in addition to a lot of eating out. We have a Thai restaurant nearby that is pretty good. There is also a very good sushi restaurant with a great vegan sushi platter and a pizza place that knows us by heart, as we are the first and only people to order pizza from them without cheese!
But, being vegan is still important to me and I won't let this blog go - even though posts will be very sporadic.
I have been trying to space cooking out throughout the day when the baby naps. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't.

Tonight, we are having portobello steaks (marinated in white wine, soy, balsamic vinegar, olive oil and liquid smoke, then roasted) and green bean casserole. Both were YUM!

Chick*n

One of the blogs that I follow - Vegan Dance if You Want To - recently posted a link to a brand of vegan chicken that she recommends. She also commented on the 'mysterious pink mechanically seperated meat' that any and everyone on Facebook has seen. Nasty!

While I have eaten this brand before, Gardeins, it is not available in Denmark. We do have some interesting replacements here though.

I am a fan of a brand called goodsoy. They sell dried soy products. I especially love them because they have an incredibly long shelf life, come in a variety of sizes (crumbles, bites, nuggets, fillets, etc.) and come back to life with a bit of veggie broth. I have bought the 'steak' variation as well. Same flavor, different color.

Here are a few meals I have made using the goodsoy dried soy products.

Chick*n Parmesan: Noodles, fillets breaded in breadcrumbs, nutritional yeast, and seasonings, tomato sauce and shredded vegan mozzarella.

Super Easy Vegan Chili (soygood crumbles)

Breaded fillets: breadcrumbs and seasonings

Caldo Verde with Crumbled Tempeh

I have been cooking up a storm lately, just not blogging much. I have decided that to catch up, each time I post something new, I need to also post something old!

John picked this recipe from the Appetite for Reduction cookbook. I am not a huge fan of tempeh but was excited that he was helping out with meal planning!

It turned out so good. I was not sure what to expect, but it is a soup (I now know that Caldo Verde means green soup!) that is spicy and tangy and really filling. It consists of onion and garlic, fennel, thyme and red pepper flakes, along with veggie broth, potatoes and kale (recipe calls for chard). The tempeh is boiled to remove the bitterness and flavored with lemon and tamari.

I did skip the step at the end where you are supposed to puree half the soup for a more creamy consistency. I just did not have the motivation to get the blender out and then have to wash it. Regardless, this soup is fantastic.

Carbonara Style Spaghetti

This recipe was 1) so good and 2) so easy that we not only made it for dinner but then again for lunch the very next day!!!
The basics are spaghetti, a cream sauce and vegan bacon.

The cream sauce consists of an onion cooked in coconut oil and a blend of 6 oz rice milk, 1.5 oz shredded cheddar style 'cheese', and 4 TBSP soy creamer. When the sauce is poured into the hot spaghetti, the 'cheese' melts down a bit and it thickens up nicely.

I made a batch of eggplant bacon and it was absolutely perfect sprinkled on top. I can see this recipe showing up weekly around here now!

'Veef' Stew

John made dinner tonight! I suggested a vegan beef stew to use up the 'Veef' that we had in our freezer. I Googled and found this recipe, although it was incomplete. John said it listed several ingredients that were never in the instructions. I guess it was not difficult to figure out when to add them but still annoying no less.

We used shallots instead of onions and sweet potatoes and no celery seed. Here is the recipe. It really was excellent. Very hearty and flavorful and filling!

Happy New Year!

This was the view from our patio last night! Hundreds of people were setting off fireworks all over the city for hours!

This poor blog has sat neglected for far too long. I have been taking pictures of nice meals I have made; they just have not made it up! Eventually I will catch up, or more likely, not even try! But I am going to start posting more regularly!

...starting with our New Years Eve dinner. We had a frozen piece of 'salmon' that I just kept putting off. I guess mainly because I had no idea what to do with it.

We finally decided it would be nice pan fried with jasmine rice and Hollandaise sauce. On the side, roasted Brussels sprouts in olive oil and balsamic vinegar.

The sauce was great. The 'salmon' was what I expected. It was covered in a layer of seaweed to give it a fish-like flavor. Appearance wise, it looked just like salmon. But it was mushy and had that universal 'fake meat' flavor. I would have no problem eating it again, but it will not make it into a permanent rotation around here.  

Walking Table - Crepes

My friend Per and I decided to name our style of dinner parties 'Walking Tables' because generally everyone is up and preparing food together and we just sort of eat stuff as soon as it is ready. So we started picking themes and everyone brings ingredients to prepare their own version of whatever our theme is. We take turns preparing and eating while someone else then works on their contribution. It is fun, social, and takes the pressure off one person to do all the work. ;-)

Our first Walking Table theme was Crepes and it was a huge success! Here is Per featuring one of our crepes (and here is the crepe recipe!):

Here is what each of us came up with:

John: Tofu ricotta, sauteed garlic, mushrooms and spinach:

Per:Asparagus with Hollandaise sauce:

Miriam: Black beans, corn, fresh tomato, taco seasoning, avocado, Sriracha hot sauce:

Courtney: Roasted peaches with cinnamon oatmeal crumble and whipped cream:

Caesar Salad with Eggplant Bacon

This eggplant bacon is definitely something to write home about.

The salad consists of lettuce and a Caesar Chavez Dressing (shallots, cashews, tahini, miso, lemon juice, dijon, capers, water, salt and pepper blended) from the Appetite for Reduction cookbook.  Here is the recipe for the dressing.

The eggplant bacon is very simple (but burns easily and is then disastrous!) and includes only 3 ingredients: eggplant, soy sauce and liquid smoke. The eggplant is sliced, roasted for 8 minutes, flipped, roasted again for 3 minutes, then cooled. After it is cooled, it is dipped in the soy/liquid smoke mixture, roasted for 3 more minutes and ready to eat!

Broccoli Bistro Soup

A super fast, delicious soup recipe. Rosemary and parsnips really make it pop. Here is the recipe from the Appetite for Reduction cookbook.  I sprinkled toasted pine nuts on top.

Thai Green Curry - 2 ways

We make different varieties of Thai curry for dinner at least a few times per week, so we buy the curry paste in large quantities. Recently we ran out of green curry paste and replenished our stock from the Asian market. I was so irritated to realize, after getting it home and cooking with it one time, that this brand contained shrimp paste! Fortunately, the market also carries a brand that is vegan and my friend Miriam was more than happy to take the other off my hands.

We generally make the curry sauce the same: green curry paste, coconut milk, a little vegetarian stir fry sauce, and a little palm sugar. Sometimes a splash of Mirin or soy, sometimes extra ginger and garlic. The veggies are typically onion, bell peppers, broccoli, zucchini, eggplant, and whatever else seems good at the time.

The most recent variations:

Red Rice and 'Veef' (vegetarian beef)

Noodles and Vegan Shrimp

Bread Pudding, Cupcakes and Cookies

Here are a few favorite desserts made within the past few months, all packed into one delicious post.

Banana Chocolate Chip Bread Pudding from Veganomicon. I made this to take to a brunch and became a fan of bread pudding for the first time in my life.

Chocolate Cupcakes from Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World. I opted for a sprinkle of powdered sugar instead of frosting.

Vanilla cupcakes from Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World topped with strawberry jam, a strawberry, and a drizzle of powdered sugar icing (powdered sugar and oat milk).

Dark Chocolate Chunk Marzipan Cookies from the blog 'seitan is my motor'. 

Manhattan Glam Chowder with Tomato-Parmesan Crackers

This recipe has been on my mind since I bought the Appetite for Reduction cookbook. I have never in my life eaten clam chowder so it isn't because I miss the 'real thing'. For some reason, it just appealed to me.

I did learn that Manhattan Clam Chowder is tomato based and New England is the creamy version. I am definitely a fan of a thin, veggie flavor over a heavy creamy one.

The soup was great, the texture was fun (the 'clams' are chewy shitake mushrooms and the 'ocean' flavor comes from nori sheets!) and the crackers added a nice crunch. I followed this recipe but used 1 cup all purpose flour and 1 cup fine corn meal. I added dried tomato flakes and sesame parmesan to the mix.

On the side, mixed greens, sunflower seeds, marinated red peppers, garlic and olives, and the leftover roasted veggies and chickpeas from dinner a few nights ago. 

Vegan Eating in Malmö, Sweden

John and I recently spent a long weekend in Malmö, Sweden. It is a little over a three hour train ride from Aarhus, Denmark (where we live). We took our bikes, crashed at a friend's apartment, and enjoyed the surprisingly perfect weather all weekend.

Before starting the trip, we checkout out the Happy Cow website and were so relieved to find a variety of vegan restaurants and health food stores. I give Malmö a thumbs up for vegan friendly city.

For breakfast, Chez Madame was a great choice. It had a granola, fruit, salad, and baked goods type buffet. They also make a heavenly soy latte.

I can't say enough about the vegan pizza at Pizzeria Algarve. We each got a pizza - taco for me, kabob for John - and devoured it. The menu has so many choices and they have homemade sauces to go with each. Without question, this is the best vegan pizza I have ever eaten, in the world.

Here is my taco pizza...

...including melty cheese. 

And the unique kabob pizza. They even have a huge chunk of 'meat' on a big stick that they shave off for the pizza. So authentic. 

We had dinner at Vegegarden one night. We decided to order the pre-set "Dinner for two" menu, which was delicious but way too much food!

On our way to the train station to head home, we stopped at Astrid and Aporna to pick up some supplies. They had a huge selection of vegan meats, cheeses, and goodies. 

Licorice, chocolate, and cookies:

Instant soup (lunch for me on days when I can't stomach the canteen) and rice mayo:

New soy cheeses to try (Mozzerella, Blue, Edam, and White Cheddar):

A smorgasbord of vegan meats (Veef, chicken nuggets, salmon, shrimp, and Tzay: something made by monks):

And dried soy nuggets in a variety of sizes and colors (brown for beef, strips, nuggets and wafers):

 

An Unintentially Orange Meal

I had a pumpkin that was beyond the point of 'possibly using for dinner tonight' and on to 'if we don't cook this tonight, it is getting thrown away'. So, I made mashed pumpkin, followed this recipe (minus the cayenne pepper), and felt really happy to not see it go to waste. Instead of boiling the pumpkin, I chopped it in half and roasted it in a baking dish with shallow water.

I initially thought I would stuff the pumpkin with a pilaf but decided on a risotto instead. After the pumpkin was roasted it had completely lost its shape and would not have held anything, hence the mashing.

A few days ago I made a batch of sesame Parmesan that I can't get enough of. I googled Parmesan risotto and settled on this recipe for Parmesan-Carrot Risotto that was easily made vegan. Along my vegan parm, I used risotto rice instead of white, veggie broth, and vegan margarine.