Plan ol' good Veggin food

I've been craving French Toast for ages. None of the recipes that I came across really didn't seem appealing to me....but then I found this one!
Dreena's Fantastic French Toast! And that it is fantastic.

So on Sunday, after my 4 mile run OUTSIDE- OUTSIDE IN THE FRESH AIR, NO SNOW, SIDEWALKS CLEARED, - did I mention- OUTSIDE???? And can I mention that I ran 4 miles Saturday OUTSIDE...and now I will mention that I had to run on the treadmill, inside this morning because we got snow over night...okay, so anyway, Sunday I made the french toast.

Here is my naked french toast ~ before the maple syrup.

Recipe from her website (link above too)~

1 cup vanilla non-dairy milk
(note: I only have plain soymilk - I used that plus 1/2 tsp of vanilla)
2 tbsp flax meal
1⁄2 cup silken firm tofu
1⁄4 tsp cinnamon
1⁄8 tsp freshly grated nutmeg
1⁄8 tsp sea salt
1 tsp canola oil

8 - 9 slices bread of choice

2 - 3 tsp canola oil (or more, if needed, for frying)

Using a hand blender or in a blender (used this), purée the non-dairy milk, flax meal, tofu, cinnamon, nutmeg, salt, and canola oil until very smooth and thick (it will get thicker as it sits a little while and the flax absorbs some of the liquid).

Dip a slice of bread in the batter. Turn over and let it sit for a few moments to soak, then remove and place on a plate until ready to fry. In a non-stick skillet over medium-high heat, add the canola oil when hot and reduce heat to low/medium-low. Fry bread for 4-6 minutes on each side, until lightly brown (try to flip only once so that the batter will set and brown nicely on the bread).
Serve with pure maple syrup.

Goods said that now he expects it every weekend. And don't we know "expecting" and it "happening" are two totally different things.

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Sunday we invited a friend (LM) over that has been spending a lot of his time traveling and staying in hotels for business...thought maybe he could use some good VEGAN food (or as LM says ~ Veggin)

Premeal (no pics)-
**Horseradish "Cheese"with crackers ("Vegan Vittles" recipe for crock cheese with horseradish added)
** Hummus and veggies

Main Grub-
**Garden Salad

**Freshly baked Light Oat Bread from Allrecipes.com~

INGREDIENTS
1 1/4 cups water
2 tablespoons margarine
1 teaspoon salt
3 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cup rolled oats
2 tablespoons brown sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons active dry yeast

DIRECTIONS
Add ingredients to bread machine pan in order recommended by your manufacturer. Use regular light setting.

This is awesome bread - so light and fluffy; I've made it before and will make in many times again.

**Fettuccine Alfredo with Veggies ~ recipe to follow

Here is my plate - kind of messy

LM couldn't believe that I was taking a photo of him eating.....

But Goods was all nonchalant about it, reassuring LM that it's okay, I do it all the time and that the photo will only end up on my blog.

LM stated that this was the best thing I ever made him....a tear came to my eye. But here is the recipe I concocted for the Veggie Fettuccine Alfredo

The Sauce-

Blend together with emulsion blender or other blender:
1 container of Tofutti Cream Cheese
½ c. firm Tofu
4 Tbs. of Earth Balance
1 C. Rice Milk
2 Tbs. Nutritional Yeast
1 Tbs. Dried Parsley
1 tsp. Sea Salt
1/4-1/2 C. of Vegan Parmesan Cheese
Fresh Ground Pepper to taste

Put in medium sauce pan.

Add one bulb of roasted garlic (we LOVE garlic)

Heat thoroughly. It's ready to use!

Veggies for in the pasta - I used asparagus, onion, carrots, artichoke, broccoli and roasted red pepper (homemade). Cook in a little olive oil until desired doneness.

Cook one package of Fettuccine (actually I didn't mix about 1 c. of cooked fettuccine upon assembling). Drain and rinse. Mix the noodles, veggies and sauce. TA-DA- Done.

**Dessert~
Vanilla Soy Ice Cream (homemade) with Carmel Sauce (from "Vegan Ice Cream Paradise" website) if you had room, they did, I didn't. I screwed up the Carmel Sauce because I apparently can't read directions...but the boys assured me that it was really good.

The Vanilla Ice Cream is just a variation of my new found ice cream formula-

2 C. Soy Creamer
(I think french vanilla creamer would be good here- next time!)
1/4 C. Powdered Soy Milk
4 oz. Tofutti Cream Cheese
1/2 C. Sugar
3 tsp. Vanilla
Chill above mixture, if you have time. In ice cream maker, put the “cream” mixture in and cycle for approx 30 minutes.

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That about wraps up my food production. I've been doing a lot of crafting - mosaic-ing anything that doesn't move....but I'll save that for another post. 'Till then - I'm out.

Food Fest

I wasn't exactly going to spend most of my weekend in the kitchen, but by the looks of it, I did. But really I didn't.

Friday's food was tofu stuffed spinach rolly things...not a real catchy title but they were really good. Everyone I'm sure has made these, one time or another.

On cooked spinach lasagna noodles I spread a mixture of:

3/4 of a box of firm tofu

assorted veggies: shredded carrots, green & red peppers, & onions.

approx 1/4 of nutritional yeast

seasonings: roasted garlic, Italian seasoning, pepper - I think that is all.

This made 6 rolls - perfect!

Some pics:

Then I poured this over it-

I love this sauce. I only posted a pic because I'm so excited to find a sauce that is tomatoeey, and not over powered by spices. I had to replace my favorite sauce because it had milk products in it. I was quite distraught over it- I use to bring cases of it back to Michigan from my hometown Altoona, PA. Oh, and by the way, I found this sauce at Costcos for under $6 for 3 jars! Much less then at the supermarket.

Then Saturday night I told Goods I wasn't really cooking - guess I lied a tad. But really are appetizers really cooking???? Goods made some cheese on the grill (all his) and served with some grilled flat bread. The dish that is bright orange in the left hand corner is "Cheese Nacho Dip" OMG, if you never made this- go do it now. It's the best, even omni people tell me how yummy it is.

Then I made some potato skins. I stuffed them (prebaked) with spinach, roasted garlic, vegan cheese and tempeh bacon I made from "Vegan Vittles". Being pretty much a tempeh newbie, this time I bought tempeh that had bigger soybeans in it- it just crumbled apart- tasted as good as the last time I made it; so that's all that counts but it would cause havoc in a sandwich!

This is something I did to the OUTSIDE of the potatoes before I stuffed them. I coat the outside lightly with oil, and sprinkle seasoning on it - it this case, garlic, onion powder & paprika.

I also so this with my bake potatoes before I bake them....just adds a little something.

Then Sunday we had a family kiddie b-day pizza party to go to, so I volunteered to bring a vegan dish for us vegans in the crowd...okay, it served more then just the two of us. This is a very easy dish to make. I stretched out premade bread dough (prefrozen, thawed and raised) and filled it with whatever I have- in this case, cooked spinach, roasted garlic (whole cloves), sun dried tomatoes, precooked in a little oil: vegan sausage, onion, red & green peppers; sprinkled with nutritional yeast and toasted walnuts. The walnuts are great in this, I never skip that ingredient. Add some choice spices and bam, you're done.

Pinch the sides together in the middle and sprinkle with sesame seeds. Bake for about 30 minutes @ 350 - until brown.

I don't have a "finish product" photo, but it was delish. This is good warm, room temp or cold.

I mentioned above that I used some vegan sausage in this dish....it was really very good-

....but the only problem with them was that each link was around 250 calories! OY!

So after the weekend of cooking, I guess Guido was pooped.

If you are wondering WHY she is laying there, the kitchen has a heated floor, so when she is too warm from laying in front of the fireplace, she lays on the cooler heated floor....ahhh, what a life.