Vegan MoFo: C is for Cauliflower and Caramelized Onion Casserole

This recipe popped up on my blog roll a few days ago and I knew it was perfect for day three: C. It is from a blog called Easy as (Vegan) Pie. I made a basic crust instead of using puff pastry. The crust consisted of flour, vegan butter, salt, and water.

I was feeling very lazy and have a headache so I ran the cauliflower through the food processor instead of taking the time to chop it. I still roasted the tiny pieces and think it was a fantastic move. The flavor was still there but the texture was completely different. The cauliflower blended more with the tofu mixture than I think it would have if it was in bigger chunks.

I also used flavored tofu: one package olive, one package vegetable. And finally, no cheese substitute. I just sprinkled paprika on top before baking. So many wonderful flavors in this casserole!

I also made a salad that consisted of lettuce, kalamata olives,  sun dried tomatoes, veggie chicken nuggets, pumpkin seeds, and for the dressing, a splash of the olive oil that the sun dried tomatoes were soaking in and a splash of balsamic vinegar.

Vegan MoFo: B is for Bagel Sandwiches

I have always wanted to make the bagels from Vegan Brunch but never found the perfect excuse...until today! I didn't worry too much about the shape because I was so nervous about the dough. But, they came out so good and tasted exactly like bagels! I was worried they would just taste like round rolls of bread with a hole in the middle. Fortunately, that was not the case.

I roasted some tomato flavored tofu and added lettuce, fresh tomato, and dijon mustard to make bagel sandwiches. 

I also made some pumpkin, quinoa and veggie soup. I followed this recipe from the Fat Free Vegan blog. I did not add the lentils though. For the veggies, I included the fresh version of the following: carrot, celery, brussels sprouts, mushrooms, spinach, and green onions.

Vegan MoFo: A is for Apple-Peanut Butter-Caramel Bars

My peanut butter mixture did not "drizzle" the way the recipe describes that it should. But seriously, who cares! These bars are fantastic.

Saffron Risotto with Roasted Brussels Sprouts

A is also for Arborio rice! I made risotto tonight which is so much easier than I ever imagine it could be. A diced onion is sauteed in olive oil until translucent. Add 1/2 cup arborio rice, 1/4 cup dry white wine, a pinch of saffron, a dash of salt and pepper and 1/2 cup veggie broth. Stir and cook until the broth is absorbed and add additional 1/2 cup increments of broth, stir until absorbed, totaling 2 cups.

I also roasted a batch of brussels sprouts. They are washed, the stem is cut off and they are chopped in half. In a casserole dish, add a splash of olive oil, balsamic vinegar, salt and pepper and roast until crispy. This is our absolute, no questions asked, favorite vegetable.

Mini Broccoli Quiches

We had brunch this weekend with our friends Hannes and Joy. They made fantastic Blueberry and Banana pancakes from the cookbook How it all Vegan and served fresh fruit. We made spicy roasted potatoes and broccoli quiche.

I do not have a pie dish so I made the quiche in a square casserole dish. It was fine, but more shallow than it would normally be. Therefore, I had a lot of leftover broccoli/tofu mixture. So, this morning I made mini quiches.

Pumpkin and Wild Mushroom Lasagna

The original recipe, from Vegan Planet, calls for butternut squash, not pumpkin. But, because it is Halloween and I was able to find pumpkin and not squash, I thought it would be a very creative and delicious swap. It was!

Here is the recipe. The tofu that I used had basil in it and I left out the vegan mozzarella completely. I used 2 cups of fresh, white mushrooms and 1 cup of a re-hydrated blend of wild mushrooms.

It seemed that there was too much of the tofu blend when I was assembling the dish, but after it baked I was not disappointed. We dug in before it had sufficient time to cool so the pieces didn't come out so beautifully!

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.

Chilean Corn and Un-Turkey Chowder

Holidays are my favorite excuse to make elaborate, often expensive, and always gourmet meals that take days to plan and prepare. So, with Thanksgiving only 26 days away, I have already begun the search for the perfect meal!

When I was growing up, holidays were a big deal in my family. We would gather, eat the traditional foods, play games, eat more, and basically spend the day together catching up. Because John and I live so far away from both our families and rarely make the trip back during any of these peak days, friends are crucial to the plan. This year: Hannes and Joy!!!

Anyway, I found this recipe while re-reading the Vegetarian Times Nov/Dec2008 issue. The timing was just right because Joy wanted to make a batch of baked seitan (from this recipe!!!) and seitan was the perfect "un-turkey" for the chowder. Additionally, an important lesson was learned: Gluten flour is NOT the same as Vital Wheat Gluten and will NOT make seitan!

I ran out of veggie broth but substituted water with a few herbs sprinkled in. I used dried thyme instead of fresh and added a carrot and spinach but left out the avocado and cilantro.

The chowder was very hearty and creamy and rich. The flavor of lime was strong, in a good way!

Tofu Tikka Masala with Red Rice

During one of my latest trips to the Asian Market, I found a jar of Tikka paste and set my sights on Tikka Masala! Tikka means chunks of; masala means a mixture of spices.


There is a speedy recipe on the jar that calls for 500 grams of chicken, but tofu was the perfect vegan substitute. The tofu is marinated in the following for 2 hours: 4 TBSP Tikka paste, 1 TBSP soy yogurt, 2 TBSP vegan butter.

After marinating, pour the tofu and sauce into a pan, add veggies and cook to the desired vegetable consistency.

While I was in Thailand in August of this year, my absolute favorite Thai meal was served with red rice. I was extremely excited to find red rice in Denmark.

Breakfast Burritos

We ran into friends, Joy and Hannes today. Vegetarian, fans of Portland, stellar taste in music...all around our kind of people! The topic of brunch came up and made me so hungry for something brunch-like, such as breakfast burritos.

Actually, more like tacos. But, our intention was to make burritos! We didn't realize how tiny our tortillas were when we were rolling them out and cooking them but when it came time to fill them, it became very obvious! We also spent very little time worrying about making them perfect circles. Because this recipe is so fantastic, it has been easy to stick to my guns and not buy tortillas.

The burrito buffet included: roasted potatoes; tofu (pressed, then sauteed in olive oil and sprinkled with sesame parm); roasted veggies: carrots, red pepper, zucchini, red onion, and mushrooms; sauteed spinach and garlic (which I mixed with the roasted veggies after it was finished cooking); black beans mixed with salsa; fresh tomatoes and Sheese Mexican Style spread (great on tacos or other things with various flavors but too strong to eat on its own or as a dip).

Chickpea and Potato Soup

So simple but so much flavor! Here is the recipe.

On the side, Poppin' Popovers from The 100 Best Vegan Baking Recipes.

Braised Seitan with Brussels and Sun-Dried Tomatoes

The recipe, along with the recipe for the seitan, are from Veganomicon. It calls for kale but due to the fact that we couldn't find kale at the store, we left it out. There was discussion about substituting spinach, it just didn't happen. I made the seitan the day before. Here is a link to the actual pages from the cookbook, also including the recipe for chickpea cutlets (best. things. ever.) I love this seitan recipe because it is very easy and unlike the recipe for Simple Seitan, the cutlets bake, not boil.

We spooned it all over rice and really enjoyed the flavors of the sun-dried tomatoes, wine, brussels, shallots, and everything else! Easy and delicious.

Tomato and Roasted Eggplant Stew with Chickpeas

I swear I have made this recipe before but I can't find it on my blog anywhere! So, here it is again. I made it for dinner tonight and John brought home a loaf of fresh bread. The recipe, from Veganomicon, says to serve it with polenta. I opted for bread because I thought polenta would be too much food! Everyone (including me) has been talking about eating less and slimming down lately.

Sausage and Mushroom Pizza

I had such a craving for pizza today. When I was young, we would order pizza almost every week. I don't feel guilty about eating this pizza though! I used spelt flour for the crust and loaded a ton of veggies including yellow peppers, red onion, mushrooms, and sun dried tomatoes. I used a boxed tomato sauce and made a batch of Seitan Chorizo Crumbles. I also added black olives.

And finally, I added a few slices of this cheese alternative, broken up into bits and spread out over the crust. It melted and added a really nice, tangy flavor.

Cholent

Yet another excuse to use my newly acquired TVP, this recipe is from Veganomicon. Great flavor and extremely filing. Also, lots of leftovers.

I made a batch of homemade crackers seasoned with nutritional yeast and topped with poppy seeds. It was a perfect addition to the meal.

Meaty Burgers and White Bean Salad

I finally found TVP here in Denmark so I was able to try this recipe from the blog, Your Vegan Mom. The burgers were chewy, like seitan, but the chunks of TVP made some bites spongy. I really liked the texture compared to some of the softer, pastey consistency bean burgers I have made in the past.

I made the buns from this recipe. They are so easy to make yet John still gives me a strange look for making hamburger buns. "Normal people just buy buns." Whatever.

Also from the Vegan Mom blog, I made Teriyaki sauce to top the burgers with. So freaking good!

And finally, I had cooked white beans that needed a nice recipe and this one fit the bill. I also added diced sun dried tomatoes.

Cauliflower and Mushroom Potpie with Black Olive Crust

Good cook, bad blogger. I have been busy with work lately and making a lot of old favorites. This was a new one though from Veganomicon. John's first reaction, nicely done. We then proceeded to eat the entire casserole in one sitting! Here is the recipe.

Roasted Veggie Chili and Corn Muffins

I have made the chili and corn bread recipes in the past. This time, I added a large batch of roasted veggies to the chili, including red and green peppers, mushrooms, carrots, and eggplant. I only used black beans, no kidney. I also left of the TVP.

Yeasted Zucchini Pie with Herbed Pepita Cream Cheese Filling

Today was my first day back to work in 15 months! There has been quite a bit of household tension when the topic of "sharing the household responsibilities" is brought up. This morning I got up early and made the crust for this lovely dish. It says to let it rise for an hour; mine was given about 11! I have always been big on planning our meals for the week in advance, and I know this trait is going to make dinner/life much easier as I get deeper into my new job. It is extremely important to me that we continue to thoroughly enjoy vegan meals with new and interesting recipes.

Here is the recipe that I followed. The author is not only a fantastic vegan cook; her photographs are equally as appealing as her recipes!

I used regular tofu, not smoked and soy sauce instead of miso. For the crust, I used spelt flour and my herbs consisted of the following: dried basil, oregano, and tarragon.

The flavor was fantastic but the filling never firmed up like I expected it to. Next time, a bit more chickpea flour. Also, it may have had something to do with my lack of pie pan (it broke in our latest move :-( ) I think the square casserole dish did the job just fine though!

Enjedra with Spinach

I had never heard of this meal before stumbling upon it while "blog surfing." Pride and Vegudice is a very cute blog that posts interesting meals and commentary. The author provides a simple explanation as to what Enjedra is; a Middle Eastern dish consisting of spiced rice and lentils with caramelized onions. YUM!

The recipe is simple but very flavorful and filling. It is suggested that greens can be added; I added fresh spinach. Next time, I will not put quite so much salt in though. I also used Basmati rice instead of brown and 5 spice powder instead of All-spice.

It makes a lot and I have a feeling this will make for fantastic leftovers!

Cacao Nib Cookies

I followed the recipe for Chocolate Chip cookies from Vegan Cookies Take Over Your Cookie Jar. The recipe requires the use of only one bowl, making clean up a snap. Instead of chocolate chips, I used Cacao Nibs and LOVED them! They are very crunchy and not sweet. I also added chopped pecans. The cookies are fantastic and paired nicely with this new tea that I purchased in my recent travels. It is Green Tea with Rose Petals.

Poppin' Popovers

I haven't used one of my newest cookbooks very much, The 100 Best Vegan Baking Recipes, but gave this recipe a go along with a pasta dish. John commented that I didn't bake them long enough, evident by the fact that they did not rise to their full potential. I will definitely make them again. The recipe says they make 6 but I stretched the dough out to make 12. I think these will make a fantastic addition to soup recipes this winter.

Thai Chick*n Pizza

Last time I was at Ganefryd, an organic grocery store here in Aarhus, I found frozen Sesame Chick*n nuggets. My original plan was to top a salad off with them but then decided to get a bit more creative. We are having a good friend stay with us this weekend (I think she is still a vegetarian too!!!!) and I wanted to have something easy and fun ready to eat when she arrived late in the evening. We also added two fantastic friends, David and Julia, to the mix. Julia helped prepare the pizza so I could take pictures!

Upon googling Sesame Chicken Pizza with no luck, I stumbled upon this Thai Chicken Pizza recipe. This "how to" video moves really quickly, but flashes the actual recipe for less than 5 seconds at the end, so be ready to pause it! The jist of the recipe is simple: crust, peanut sauce, chicken, veggies, peanuts, and cheese.

I made the crust from this recipe. It has a sweet flavor, is chewy on the inside and crisp on the outside. For the peanut sauce, I added equal parts of the following: agave, peanut butter, and soy sauce. Delish! Along with the Sesame Chick*n, I included red peppers, yellow squash, carrot, and green onion. I still had a ton of Black Sesame Parm leftover, so that was sprinkled on top.

To balance flavors out, and ensure enough pizza for all, I also prepared a second, more traditional pizza. I followed the same crust recipe mentioned above, minus the sugar, plus Italian seasonings. The sauce was a jar of spaghetti sauce and the pizza was topped with veggies, soy Chorizo, and black olives.

Seitan Chorizo Crumbles and Mexican Cole Slaw

We had dinner with a couple; he works with John and she is a spunky housewife like me. She was a vegetarian for 6 years but now eats meat and dairy. I really love these two because they have a ton of food allergies making them the only other couple I know with as many food restrictions as me!

We decided on tacos for dinner. I made roasted potatoes and Seitan Chorizo Crumbles. I have had this recipe bookmarked for a long time but finally got around to making it this week! I cooked the crumbles until they were browned, on the verge of burning. I don't like soggy seitan!

I also made Mexican Cole Slaw but wasn't crazy about this recipe. It was very sweet; I would have preferred a bit more spice. I added corn and used red pepper, instead of green.

They made a fantastic zucchini, red pepper, and tomato mixture (that reminds me, I really need to get the recipe from her!) We also had black beans, sprouts, green onions, tomatoes, and guacamole.

Southeast Asia on a Vegan Shoestring

My blog has been severely neglected lately but with good reason. I have been/will be traveling through South East Asia for the month of August. So far, I have been to Pangkor Island, Malaysia; Boracay, Philippines; and Bangkok and Chiang Mai, Thailand.

Finding vegan food has been a cinch, especially Thailand. Today, I had the most amazing lunch consisting of tofu and green beans in a spicy red curry and green curry all served on a red colored rice. It was insanely spicy but well worth the burn! The restaurant was called Thai Vegetarian Food (very original!) and was a large cart in front of a sitting area. There were about a dozen prepared dishes to choose from. I pointed and the guy loaded my plate. The charge was 20 baht (about 63 cents!!!)


Tomorrow, I am off to Siam Rice Thai Cookery School! We prepare a 6 course meal, including a homemade curry paste and curry dish, noodle dish, soup, salad, stir fried vegetable, and dessert. So freaking excited! I will post pictures of my work soon!