Stuffed Apricots

It's been hot- did you notice?  So we were invited to a picnic and I wanted to bring something light, cool and DIFFERENT.  I searched and came up with these puppies - Pistachio Stuffed Apricots.  They were easy peasey and to boot -- I got to use one of my 3 cool deviled egg plates that have been in the cabinet for over 5 years! 

A closer look.....

Even closer look....

They were delicious!  Perfect seasonal appetizer...which I will most generously share my version with you!

Stuffed Apricots - Vegan of course

9 - Apricots - cut in half and dee-pitted
(mine came out very easily and clean too!)

4 oz of Tofutti Cream Cheese (1/2 container)

approx 1/2.c chopped pistachios

Vanilla to taste (approx 1/2 tsp for me)

Mix a 1/4 c. of pistachios & vanilla  into the room temp cream cheese.

Scoop a scoop of mixture into each apricot half.

Top the top with some extra chopped pistachios.

Done - see how easy peasey! 

Enjoy!...and I will be back....

Super Vegan Appetizers

Well the Super Bowl was not so super for me...but our snacks were!  Allow me to share with you...first off.....

Pizza Dip!  Before...

After.....

I served with tortilla chips to maintain a gluten free status...but this would be excellent with some soft and gooshie breadsticks....just saying.

The recipe is linked above....I of course veganized it by the following:
Ingredients:
- 1 8oz Tofutti cream cheese, softened
- 1 14oz jar of pizza sauce
- 1/2 cup chopped green onions
- 1/2 cup chopped green pepper
- 1/2 cup black olives, chopped
- 5 ounces VEGAN pepperoni, finely chopped***
- 2 cups shredded Vegan mozzarella cheese

***I make my own pepperoni....but you can use the store bought kind.  My pepperoni goes as follows:
I use the spices from the Fat Free Vegan Blog here then I use the gluten "dough" from Vegan Vittles the Seiten Salami, Pepperoni, & Pastrami Recipe. You might be able to find the recipe on line but I'm not about to be illegal and post her recipe....I value my freedom and my clean criminal record.
But you ask...Why do you use a combo of the two recipes....well I will be happy to answer that...I like the spiciness of FFV, and the VV "meat" seems to be moister after baking it.

On to one of my creations....BEAN CIGARS!

VEGAN! GLUTEN FREE! And YUMMY!

Served with homemade salsa and canned jalapenos!

So all  you need to create these BEAN CIGARS yourself is....

- corn tortillas

- a can of refried beans

- jalapenos - sliced

- seasonings: cumin & chili pepper

- vegan cheese

First- toast the corn tortillas lightly- you just want them cooked enough to make the rollable... here is an action shot.....I do them on my gas burners.....

But be very very careful NOT to burn or set them on fire....Not that I've ever done that before.

Next gently spread a layer of refried beans on the tortilla - okay, I usually just slap it on the tortilla.  Add a few slices of jalapenos...

I do usually preseason the beans with some cumin & chili powder....for kicks and giggles.
Add some cheese to the middle of the tortilla (middle is best for less melty mess when cooking).

Then start at one end and roll them to look like this.....

Dust them with a little cumin & chili powder....I might have used some garlic too - be wild- be creative.

Bake them at 350 degrees for 10-15 minutes....you want them with just a tinge of toastiness going on.

Then a repeat favorite....roasted garlic toasties....I talked about them before but they are worth mentioning again.

All you do is..... 

1. Take some roasted garlic and mix it into a container of toffuti cream cheese
2. Slice some baguette bread and lightly butter one side.
3. Put the butter side of the bread onto a prepared cookie sheet.
4. Spread the garlic cream cheese mixture on each one.
5. Top with some vegan mozzarella cheese.
6. And Sprinkle with some green stuff - truly...I'm not sure what that is....I'm thinking maybe parsley?  The crazy sh*t I do...
7. Bake at 350 degrees for 10 ish minutes.

So easy and yummy - Goods requested these...so of course I abided!

So it was sad that the Steelers lost but at least we made it to the Super Bowl - ENJOY!

GET RED-DEE FOR DINNER!

Goods & I were invited over to dinner to his Bro's and SIL house this past weekend. In the course of chatting about the plans, I said to SIL- "oh- we should do a red theme party some day". Well SIL took the challenge, thus I too bring offerings of redness to the evening. What GREAT FUN!

For pre-meal food - SIL had some great Muir Glenn Black Bean and Salsa-
And per her request, I made Nacho Cheese Dip from Shmoooo's website - (close enough to red, wouldn't you say??). Love love this stuff....

Even their Granddog- DUFFY, got into the red theme.....here he is with Goods - a note, Goods is also adorned in RED, as was SIL and I.

First course - Tomato Basil Soup - from William Sonoma - SOUP cookbook. This was excellent, she used soy milk instead of the cow milk it called for....I'm waiting for the recipe from her.

Marinated fresh tomato salad...so nice and fresh, but we all agreed we really miss our garden tomatoes! Hey! Only 6 more months to wait!

Angel Hair Pasta w/ garlic, sundried tomatoes and roasted red pepper sauce. Loved the olives in it. It was a recipe that she concocted and it is definitely a recipe I'm copying from her :)

After all that food, someone was too pooped to party with her RED fish. This is another Granddog- Sarah.

So as we let the food settle in our tummies, we played a wild game of HI-HO-Cherrios (I know, cherries - I guess I should say RED cherries)

Not exactly sure what Goods is doing here, maybe just maybe Goods has come to LOVE HI HO CHERRIOS as much as I and he is showing it his affection. I love HI HO CHERRIOS- yeap, ask the youngsters and the adults, if we are going to play games it is mandatory that the first game is HI HO CHEERIOS. BTW, Good's Bro. won.

Then came dessert- Cherry Cheesecake "Ice Cream" -

Cherry Cheesecake Ice Cream

***Does not get rock hard in freezer ice cream!***

(NOTE: I did modified a recipe from vegsource.com and came up with this)

2 C. Soy Creamer
1/4 C. Powdered Soy Milk
6 oz. Tofutti Cream Cheese
1/2 C. Sugar
2 tsp. Vanilla
1 Tbs. Fresh Squeezed Lemon Juice

Chill above mixture, if you have time.

Cherry mixture:
Approx 1 cup of Frozen Cherries
1/2 C. of water
1 tsp. Vanilla or Lemon Juice
Combine in small sauce pan and bring to boil.

Combine:
2-3 tsp. Arrowroot
Add just enough Water to dissolve Arrowroot.

When the Cherry Mixture starts to boil, add Arrowroot mixture, turn off stove and stir well. Cool.

In ice cream maker put the “cream” mixture in and cycle for approx 30 minutes.
Add the Cherry mixture and cycle for 5 more minutes.

EAT!

What I really like about this ice cream, besides the awesome taste is that you can take leftovers out of the freezer and serve immediately! It doesn’t get rock hard- Now doesn’t that ROCK!

I have also made pineapple/ mango ice cream, instead of making the cherry mixture I just throw in, in the last 5 minutes, one cup of fresh mango & pineapple (cut in some pieces).
Totally yummy!

ALSO - When I was making the cherry cheesecake recipe I opened my Soy Creamer and it was BAD- so I used 2 C. of Soymilk and 1/2 C. of Powdered Soymilk.

______________________________________

We had such a fun time! And it was such a fun idea. Maybe for St. Patties Day we will do a green theme! More odd-themed dinner will be in the future....the possibilities are endless.

Enjoy!

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.

Has Spring Sprung???

We could only hope....but I think this Robin has been hanging around all winter. The cowbirds were feeding in the yard yesterday, so that is a good sign is intending to come this year.

Then this Coopers Hawk decided to visit the "bird buffet" in our yard today...
Sometimes it's hard to believe we live 10 miles from Detroit.

And one last thing to leave you with, an appetizer I made last night

Helen's Extraordinary Tofu Spinach Dip

This was a recipe I found on Fat Free Vegan site http://www.fatfreevegan.com/appetizers/tofu_spinach_dip.shtml

I pretty much followed the recipe for once. Except - I cut the recipe in half, THANK GOODNESS! Just half made a ton. Then I added some grated carrot and finely chopped red pepper. I also used the whole can of water chestnuts- because I love them. I would definitely make this again, but I would add some chopped onion, add more garlic, and maybe use the whole packet of soup mix. I give the recipe 3 out of 5 forks.

On the next addition - I will be serving Mangotinis. I just can't bring myself to write about that today - oy.