Anniversary Dinner!

John and I celebrated our 2 year wedding anniversary with this lovely dinner. I did most of the prep work the day before (Sunday) so I could have it on the table at a decent dinner time (Monday). The meal included:

Cashew Nut Loaf stuffed with Garlic and Mushrooms
Silky Chickpea Gravy
Butternut Coconut Rice
Green Beans with Truffle Oil and Sea Salt
Lemon Macadamia Nut Cupcakes with Lemon Buttercream Frosting

So, the loaf is excellent. My mother-in-law made if for Christmas dinner last year and John specifically requested it for this meal. Instead of making a stuffing (an option in the recipe), there is a layer of sauteed garlic and mushrooms in the middle (assembly process shown below). I have always shied away from nut loafs because of a previous, bad experience. Fortunately, this one has turned me back on to the concept.

I used a combo of almonds, pecans, and cashews. For the bread crumbs, I used a combo of panko and crushed spelt crackers (I didn't realize that I didn't have enough crumbs until it was too late to go buy more! But, it worked out very well.)

The gravy is rich and thick and salty and sage-flavored. It went nicely with the loaf.

I do not have a link to the Butternut Coconut Rice, which is a complete shame because it was the highlight of the meal! I am not a huge fan of rice, but I will make this recipe any and every time I can find a butternut squash at the grocery store! It is a combo of garlic and ginger along with sesame oil, shallot, lime, red pepper flakes, and topped off with creamy coconut milk. We also sprinkled toasted coconut on top. It is addictive stuff! And even better, the recipe is from Appetite for Reduction.

The green beans were sauteed in a touch of truffle oil and sea salt.

And finally, the dessert! I bought new cupcake liners (silicon) and was really excited to try them out. They worked very nicely, left no paper waste, released the cupcakes very easily and in perfect shape, and were easy to clean.

The recipe is from Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World. The cupcakes are tangy and fruity while the macadamia nuts are crunchy and delicious! I did substitute almond meal for the macadamia nut meal and, in the frosting, coconut oil instead of shortening.

We also had Tofutti Strawberry flavored icecream. Unfortunately, we were very disappointed. The flavor was so bad we are considering writing the company. John even suggested that we somehow got a 'bad batch' because of how awful it tastes. It is reminds me of some horrible chemical strawberry flavoring. It is organic and I am usually not disappointed with the brand (LOVE the icecream sandwiches). But, in this case, we will never buy this product again!  

Welcome 2011!

John, me, Sarah, Thea, Morten

We celebrated New Year's Eve with our neighbors, Thea and Morten. Thea made the BEST vegan meal! Her and Morten are not vegan so it was incredibly thoughtful and considerate that she made everything vegan! Not to mention, delicious! 

 For dessert, vegan Cream Cheese brownies and Baked Apples. Happy New Year!!!

Vegan MoFo: D is for Devil's Food Cupcakes

 Today is John's birthday so I used my letter d to make him birthday cupcakes. I followed this recipe but did not make the filling part. I made cream cheese frosting from this recipe.

We are leaving tomorrow for Hamburg, Germany to spend a long weekend shopping and relaxing with friends and then we will see Jamie Lidell perform Monday night! So, I will have to pick back up with my alphabet postings when I return.

November is Vegan Month of Food

I am going to participate in this fun project called Vegan MoFo: Vegan Month of Food. For the entire month of November, my goal is to make something new for each letter of the alphabet (this idea was stolen from the Vicki Vegan blog site! Thanks Vicki!)

So, stay tuned for 26 new and hopefully fabulous recipes, beginning tomorrow!

And, check out the website behind this fantastic concept here.

Easter Dinner: The Vegan Ghost of Julia Child Menu

In the back of Veganomicon, there are menu ideas. Each typically has a main course, salad or soup, and dessert pairing. I selected the Vegan Ghost of Julia Child because I knew it would be as gourmet and fancy as I could handle, and because I have made the salad and dessert in the past, giving me a leg up.


The entree is Sautéed Seitan with Mushrooms and Spinach and Herb-Scalloped Potatoes. It is paired with a Bulgur, Arugula, and Cannellini Salad. For dessert, Heart-Shaped Apple Galettes with Vanilla Soy Ice cream.

Sautéed Seitan with Mushrooms and Spinach
I absolutely love seitan so it isn't hard for me to fall for a recipe that includes garlic and mushrooms and wine and spinach and seitan! I was picking at the leftovers all night.

Herb-Scalloped Potatoes
Okay, first, these potatoes were delicious. Creamy, rich, buttery, and everything you would expect from scalloped potatoes. But, not what you would expect from "herb" scalloped potatoes! John prepared this dish and was so excited by his exquisite layering of the potatoes that he forgot to add the herbs. Missing from the dish is thyme, basil, rosemary, paprika, salt, and pepper! Fortunately, the nutritional yeast, garlic, soy milk, and veggie broth, plus time under the broiler to crisp everything up, provided a wonderful taste! But seriously, just look at that gorgeous layering!

Bulgur, Arugula, and Cannellini Salad (I substituted spinach for arugula)
The recipe says to make this a day, or even two, ahead of time. Mine sat in the fridge for 2 days and the flavor of the dressing was deliciously and evenly marinated into everything. I made half a batch because a full batch makes enough for 8 servings and last time, it went sour sitting in the fridge for so long before we were able to finish it.


Heart-Shaped Apple Galettes

These might be very close to one of my favorite desserts. They are very easy to make and look impressive! Instead of rolling the dough out and cutting hearts with a cutter, I chopped the dough into 6 pieces and finger pressed them into hearts. Their shape is not as defined but it was faster.

The recipe calls for apricot jam. I was hesitant to use apricot jam last time because I didn't think I liked apricots. But, it turned out to be a delicious addition to the crust, spices, and apples. I did switch it up this time because although I enjoyed the apricot jam, I was not able to use the remaining jam before it molded in my fridge. Because there were no smaller jars of this flavor at the grocery store, I opted for a trio of tiny jars in the exact amount necessary for the 6 galettes. The flavors are strawberry, peach, and raspberry.

Easter Treats

For Easter, I ordered John some vegan candy from VeganVersand. It was my first time ordering from them, and I was so excited that the box arrived in just a few days. Most of the things available online are also available in stores near to me, but I could see orders coming in handy occasionally. They also sell refrigerator items like cheese and icecream. I am not sure how those survive the shipping, so I think I will stick to traditional grocery shopping for that sort of stuff.

I did order three of their candy bars: Twilight (Milky Way), Jokerz (Snickers), and Mahalo (Almond Joy). I also ordered gummy Cola Bottles. We saw them in a store one time and John commented how much he loved them, so they were a perfect addition.

Besides the Easter treats, I also ordered Rice Mayo and Wheat Gluten. It is called "Seitan Mix" but the ingredients are simply wheat gluten.

Eggplant-Potato Moussaka with Pine Nut Cream

For our 1 year wedding anniversary this month, I made the vegan meal that was served at our wedding! The recipe came from Veganomicon. While planning the wedding, I emailed the recipe to the chef and he did a wonderful job preparing it. This was my first time making it and the recipe made a huge 9x13 casserole and provided leftovers for lunch for a week. It is such a pretty casserole because of the layered veggies.

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.

Sweet Potato Gnocchi with Marinated Italian Tofu

Today is a big day for me!!!! 2 years ago today, I decided to become a vegan. I feel like I have accomplished so many things in these two years that support my decision. I have also been able to spread information and gain support and understanding from people that otherwise wouldn't have been able to define the word vegan!

Along with learning to prepare nutritious vegan meals, I managed to have a vegan menu option at my wedding, including dessert, move to a different country, survive travel through 4 countries, and more states and cities than I care to count all while keeping myself full and happy!

So, to celebrate I made a simple but flavorful meal for John and I.

After the failed attempt at pumpkin gnocchi, John requested I try with sweet potatoes. They did not turn out as soft as the first batch with white potatoes, but were so much better than the pumpkin! I think I figured it out though, a flour issue. If I remember correctly, the first batch was made with a super fine, white flour. The next two attempts, I used a heavier, more wheat-y flour. I will have to give gnocchi a fourth try with that fine, white flour again and test my theory. Here is the recipe.



I made an alfredo sauce to go with the gnocchi. I have made it before, it is cashew based, super creamy, and wonderful to pour on top of pretty much anything! This is good because it makes a lot!

We also had Italian Marinated tofu from Veganomicon and green beans. The recipe for the green beans is so simple but hands-down our favorite. Blanch the green beans, then marinate in olive oil, balsamic vinegar, salt and pepper. Serve room temp.

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!

Thanksgiving Dinner - Tomorrow!!!

Today is a busy day so that tomorrow I can work on making the house look nice, setting the table, and the final assembly of the food. And a bit of relaxing before guests arrive! So, the plan for today is as follows:

Clean and roast the 4 pumpkins for the soup bowls. (I will only half-roast because I plan to heat them and the stew up along with melting the sheese in the bottom tomorrow. I don't want them to be too mushy).
Prepare the spread for the Canapés.
Make the salsa, the dressing for the salad, the mocha pudding, the dressing for the green beans and beets, and the brittle.
Roast the grapes for the salad.

I won't add the dressings or spreads or put anything together, just have it all prepared and in air tight containers in the fridge.

It seemed like a lot to do in one day (it was!) but it all came together pretty quickly. And tomorrow will be a breeze :-)

Thanksgiving Menu

We thought it would be fun to invite a few of our new non-American friends over for Thanksgiving. John has made friends with a guy at work and he and his girlfriend will be joining us for dinner. I am so excited to meet new people and make friends! So, last week I created a spread sheet of 5 meal options and, with John's help, narrowed it down to the final menu! Most of the items come from the October 08 issue of Vegetarian Times Magazine. The meal includes:

Harvest Canapés with Chipotle Cheese Topping
Arugula Salad with Roasted Grapes
Spicy Fall Stew Baked in a Pumpkin
Poblano-Cucumber Salsa (goes on top of the stew)
Garlic Roasted Brussels Sprouts
Pomegranate and Maple-Glazed Beets
Green Beans with Walnuts and Shallot Crisps
Cauliflower Purée
and for dessert, Mexican Mocha Pudding with Pumpkin Cream and Chai-Spiced Pistachio Brittle.

The brittle is a little unnecessary but John drooled over the picture for a few minutes so I tossed it into the mix.
My first thought, this is a lot of food for 4 people. But, the stew will be baked in individual little pumpkins and, although there will be more stew to offer, I wonder if people will ask for seconds considering the massive amount of other things to choose from. Also, most of the side dishes make food for 6-8 people, but I am making half portions.
Knowing this meal was going to take quite a bit of time to prepare, I got to work as soon as the final menu was set in stone. I started buying the dry ingredients about a week ahead of time because a) I have trouble finding ingredients here mainly because their names are in a language I don't read/speak (yet)! and b) there are so many ingredients to find.
Today, 2 days before Thanksgiving, I accomplished the following: All ingredients are purchased. Veggies are appropriately washed, chopped, and stored in Green Bags (these are the most amazing invention ever!).
The pumpkin for the dessert topping is roasted and pureed(this is only if you live in a country that doesn't have canned pumpkin or if you just want to make it fresh yourself).
The walnuts are roasted and I prepared the shallots for the green beans.
The bread is sliced and in the freezer in an airtight container.
I made the maple syrup substitute. (Again, this is if you live in a country that charges €9 for maple syrup. Please! That is over $13.)

Happy Thanksgiving

We had vegetarian friends over for dinner so there was no pressure of answering the question "Where is the turkey?" Last week John bought me the latest version of my favorite magazine, Vegetarian Times, and they featured a vegetarian (very easily converted to vegan)Thanksgiving dinner that I copied exactly. We had Mushroom, Cheese, and Vegetable Strudel. This link takes you to a blog that shows excellent pictures of the process. I substituted vegan cream cheese and cheddar and it was my favorite part of the meal.

The salad is called a Beautiful Fall Salad. It included mixed field greens, beets, fennel, oranges, radicchio, red onion, and a lemon/olive oil dressing with a little bit of ground fennel seed, salt and pepper mixed in. Very tasty. Normally, I don't like oranges on salads because it makes it too sweet for my liking, but they really complimented the flavors this time.

On the side, Green Beans with Walnuts and Shallot Crisps. The walnuts were toasted and the shallots were fried in safflower oil making them 100x better than those fried onion pieces people normally put on green bean casseroles! After boiling the green beans for 5 minutes, I added 3 Tbsp each of apple cider vinegar, dijon mustard, and maple syrup.

The Garlicky Mashed Sweet Potatoes were really simple. 4 sweet potatoes and 2 diced apples boiled for about 10 minutes. After draining, a roasted head of garlic and rosemary were added along with 1 tsp balsamic vinegar. More rosemary was sprinkled on top for a pretty look.

Double Cranberry Chutney, whoa was it powerful! It only took a tiny bit but was much nicer than that can of cranberries people crack open and dump out, then slice. Eww.

And for dessert, Triple Nut Chocolate Tart and Pumpkin Pie with whipped cream.

Our guests brought Pumpkin Risotto.

Happy Vegan Birthday!

I never posted a picture of the German Chocolate cake John bought me from Sweet Life for my birthday! Here it is, it was heavenly!


Because John's birthday falls on election day, we decided to have an Election Day/Birthday gathering. Our apartment is very small, so we had to keep the guest list limited. Lots of fabulous people showed up and I think everyone eventually found someplace to sit. I could kick myself for not taking a picture of the snack table. It was a really nice spread! For snacks, I made spinach dip and poured it into a bread bowl. The dip was tasty, although next time I will use fresh spinach instead of the frozen kind. I don't think it will effect the taste but I think it will make the color less green (and scary to some people!) I was finally able to break out my fondue pot for a "Miso Fondue" or so I called it. We dipped pretzels, rice crackers, and veggies. We also had chips and salsa to munch on. For dessert, I made awesome vegan cupcakes. John and I are getting married in March and have decided to serve cupcakes instead of a traditional cake. I have been making cupcakes for a few weeks now so we can select the flavors we would like made. We are settled on the Strawberry Mousse (pictured here with raspberries on top) but the other kind, Cookies and Cream, were just for fun.

Anniversary Dinner

John and I recently celebrated two years of dating bliss. In honor of this anniversary, I made a special vegan dinner. I tried to make things that fit the theme of *sweet hearts* for the occasion.



We started with a "Heart Beet" salad (I am not clever enough to come up with this on my own! I took the entire meal from a different blog. She was also celebrating an anniversary!) It consisted of romaine lettuce, sliced beets and hearts of palm. For the dressing, Avocado Caesar. Not only was it the cutest salad ever, it was tangy and delicious. The dressing made a ton though, so I froze the left-overs. Not sure how it will thaw, but fingers are crossed!



For the main course we enjoyed Sweet Potato Stuffed Shells in garlic cream sauce. I followed the recipe carefully for the shells, minus the red pepper and curry sauce. Instead of a curry flavor, I sauteed several garlic cloves in olive oil. Next, whisked in soy milk, salt, veggie broth, and nutritional yeast. Finally, arrowroot to thicken it up. I poured the sauce over the shells before baking.



I have never cooked Rainbow Chard before but couldn't take my eyes off of it at the grocery store! It is the most colorful, cheerful veggie I have ever seen! To cook, I simply heated olive oil and sauteed a few cloves of garlic, then added the chard and covered until it had softened. I used both the leaves and the stems for a crunchy/soft texture combo.


Another veggie I had never prepared before: Thyme-Scented Fava Beans. The preparation took a little time, but was very easy. When the beans were ready, I let them marinate in olive oil and fresh thyme.



And, my favorite new side is....seared Artichoke Hearts. The recipe (minus the snow peas) sounds complicated but the time goes by quickly and is WELL worth the simple effort!

Okay, to conclude the meal I made a heart-shaped cheesecake with a chocolate crust; one of John's favorite desserts! I was very nervous while it baked because it appeared to be cooking on the sides, but never in the middle. I used a spring-form pan; that might have been my mistake! Next time, I will use a pie dish. Anyway, cut and served with blueberries, it was so fabulous. The perfect way to end a romantic dinner!