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!

Tempeh Served on a VEGAN TABLE

Or I guess I should say Tempeh from The Vegan Table.....

I love this cookbook.  Actually someone bought me it, along with 2 other great ones The Kind Life and 30 Minute Vegan . My friends bought me copies along with ones they bought for themselves. Sadly, I don't think they have made anything out of them (& it's been over a year) - but I have- They are pretty much my go to books when I'm looking for something easy and good!....and here is one of the recipes from The Vegan Table....Cornmeal-Crusted Tempeh with Orange Ginger Sauce.

 The tempeh in the photo is smothered in the sauce....but trust me - it was the yummiest tempeh - I totally dug it without the sauce the next day....right from the fridge.  But I am a total tempeh freak....love love love it.  I served it with baked sweet potatoes and Goods grilled some asparagus.   Wish I could share the recipe with you but since I did have Business Law last semester (acing it BTW) I don't want to take my chances and get thrown in the slammer.  But I suggest you go buy this book, you won't be sorry!!

Now you ask....How are classes going this semester?  What are you taking???  Well...if you can tell from the above photo - I am learning to do plate presentation - stack the food- build it vertically.  I am in Culinary Techniques, which involves a kitchen lab where we learn and make different foods.  Yes, it is a bit of a struggle for me since it is not a vegan class, but my chef instructor and my classmates are very respective of my vegan ways....and curious too!  So all is good...except for the chicken breast I had to butterfly last Friday - I had gloves on for obvious reasons, but I haven't touch chicken in over 11 years - but I manned up and did it.

So.....some of my posts will be of food we prepared in kitchen lab....but I will veganize it - sounds fun huh?

Another class I have is Beverage Service....seriously??? I get a grade and credit for learning about and making cocktails???  A "I died and went to heaven" moment.  But I'll post more on that class later - I will spread the knowledge!

So winter....I can't stand winter....so we are going to play a game.  How many animals do you see in the photo?  Please note how well I train my squirrels....synchronize squirrels...but there is a hawk in the photo too....

So now onto the much needed....LIQUID SUNSHINE...

I couldn't decide what photo to use so you got both.  These little puppies are Oprah's Lemon Drop Martinis, not that I am a fan of Oprah....but I am a fan of these.  I put some food coloring in the sugar for some extra prettiness.

And if you can't beat winter....join it....well good for them. 

I just included this because I thought it was pretty.....it's down at the lake (Lake St. Clair) in our subdivision.  But right after I took the photo, that little boy fell and smacked his face on the ice- guess you can say winter was beating him. (He was okay- little drama, but boys can be like that)

Cheers!

I am the last to know.....

I have a story....a sad sad story.

Last weekend I was making a huge arsh vat of chili.  Everyone, including animal eating people love my chili....sorry...the recipe is a secret, and that would be mainly because I wing it each time.  Anyway....back to my story.   So I have all the ingredients in the vat, the last thing to add was the "fake burger".  I get my packages of Morning Star Farms Crumbles out....seeeeee

When I was taking the packages out of the freezer, I laid them with the backside upon the counter to ...and what do I see -  "Contains: MILK & EGGS"   WTF???
I was flippin mad!  I've been buying Morning Star for years....never thinking I had to RECHECK the ingredients!  Yes, they use to be VEGAN...then they changed the formula in 2009!

So just a warning if anyone out there didn't know there was a change...they are a bunch of weiners!!  I will be buying Boca from now on.  I use to buy which ever one was on sale.

But now Goods has a big honkin' vat of chili all to himself, thank goodness it freezes just dandy.

The BEST Vegan Chocolate Cookies

I did it....I, the busiest laid off vegan has tweaked the perfect chocolate chip cookie recipe- just look...... What makes the best you ask???? These puppies don't get hard after a couple of days, they are just sweet enough and the chips themselves get all gooey - they are perfect, well at least in the Goods household. Here is my tweaked recipe from the tollhouse site..........

2 1/4 cup unbleached flour

1 tsp baking soda

1 tsp salt

1/2 c Earth Balance "Butter"

1/2 Spectrum Shortening

1/2 c. of white sugar

3/4 c. of light brown sugar

2 "eggs" using Ener-G egg replacer

1 tsp. vanilla

2 c. of Kroger Organic Chocolate Chips

Beat the butter, shortening and sugars together. Add in the eggs and vanilla, beat some more. Combine in another bowl, the dry ingredients- whisk together. This is my lazy way of sifting- don't judge, it works just fine. Mix the dry stuff into the wet stuff. Add the chips. I used a 2 tbs. cookie scoop to put the dough onto a cookie sheet - don't grease it - just a naked cookie sheet. Bake at 375 degrees for 9-11 mins. Enjoy with a glass of cold soymilk, or better yet, a vodka and diet coke...again, don't judge me :-)

Enjoy!

Vegan Chicken Cacciatore

I know- shocking, no fancy or smart ass title for this entry. Just a plain & simple for a not so plain & but simply delicious meal.

I've never had Chicken Cacciatore, vegan or un-vegan before. Not sure how I even came up with the idea of veganizing this dish- but I did know that I had to use this package of seitan before too long. Oops, I took the photo AFTER I cut it open.

Never had this stuff before - but it was very yummy, not to mention convenient!

So the recipe I was guided by to create the vegan version was from the foodnetwork.com site. It is right HERE. Now you will find my recipe, conveniently right below:

Ingredients:
1 package of seitan
1 c. soy milk
2 Tbs. flax meal
3/4 c. unbleached flour
1 tsp. (heaping) garlic
1 tsp. (heaping) parsley
1/2 tsp. onion powder
1/2 tsp. Italian seasoning
1/4 tsp. paprika
1/4 tsp. pepper.
veggie oil (which on is up to you)
15 ish oz. can diced tomatoes
4 roasted red peppers-chopped (I used jarred)
1/3 c. sliced onion
1/4 c. green pepper chopped

1 Tbs. dried basil

6-8 cloves of garlic- sliced

red pepper flakes
1 c. white wine
thinly sliced lemon (I used only 3 whole slices)

First, combine soymilk and flax meal in small bowl and let sit for 5ish minutes.
Then combine flour, garlic, parsley, onion powder, paprika and pepper. (I don't use much salt, so that is your call if you want to add it)
Slice the seitan to thin - semi-bite size pieces.
Picture time.....

In a cast iron skillet heat some veggie oil up. Once it's hot fix the seitan.
Dip the seitan in the milk, then dredge it in flour. Then fry it in the skillet until crispy, then let drain on paper towel until ready to use. Repeat process until you are done.

Saucy time next-
In a pan w/ a touch of oil, cook onions & green peppers until tender. Then add the diced tomatoes (I drained off some of the juiciness), garlic slices, roasted red peppers, basil, pepper flakes and lemon slices. Let simmer for 20 minutes or so

Lookin' like this at this point....

A closer shot....

After the simmering - add the wine. The original recipe calls for fresh basil to be added- I didn't have any. That's a lie, I have some, but my basil plants are 6 inches tall, still in the little containers just waiting to be planted- but next time I will use fresh basil.

After mixing the wine in, I scooped out 1 cup of the mixture, put it in my emulsion blender cup and puree it...JUST 1 CUP OF IT. Then I put the emulsified part back into the pan and mixed it in. I also picked the lemon rinds, that all that was left of the lemon.

Now, I did not mix the fried seitan into the sauce - I didn't want the leftovers to be all soggy and gooey, so we just assembled the concoction on our plates

Goods had his on regular noodles.....and mine served on a bed of my favorite gluten free soy noodles.... This was totally awesome- Now, again I can't compare it to another cacciatore but I loved the mix of peppers, tomato and a hint of lemon. I really think fresh basil would add to it....so a message to my basil plants "grow babies grow"...but as we were eating, I did like the fact the the sauce was soaking into the coating on the seitan, so I might change things up a bit with adding some of the seitan into the sauce ahead of time.

Can I give it 6 out of 5 forks????

This Stuff is the Dee-Shizzzz...

Rich and creamy and delish!
But is it really VEGAN with "Live Cultures" in it???
Kind of creeped me out as I ate it.

Black Lotus Brewing Co.

Last Friday Goods and I were off to Whole Foods....it's a little jaunt away, so we don't get to go very often, but afterwards we thought we would try an new place for some grub. Black Lotus Brewing Co. in Clawson, MI.....
Of course I previewed the menu on line like any good little vegan would do. They had loads of vegan options....but ended up not having any VODKA, so I ended up with a beer with a hint of apricot in it. Not bad for beer. They had free popcorn too! I love popcorn so I scooped some up......

It was a pretty place....had setting outside too. Here is a pic of Goods trying to contain his excitement....

Goods had un-vegan food, but I had pizza, with tempeh, pineapple and toffuti cheese. I asked for extra sauce on it, but it didn't happen.

It was good, but nothing exciting. Here's another pic of the place in the other direction - they have a stage for entertainment...Good's wouldn't let me go up and dance, he can be a stick in the mud at times........

I doubt that we will go back, one because it's a jaunt away, and two, they don't have vodka....but it was nice to go to a place that I had loads of options!

Dee F. Changs

I heart, PF Changs. Loads of VEGAN options for me and the food is great....and they make great cocktails to boot!

I normally get their Coconut Curry Vegetables, because it's so yummy, and also because Goods isn't gaagaa over curry so I don't use it much at home. But....I was perusing some blogs, one of which was "Yeah, that Vegan Shit" because she's so funny (I think she's a she)...and there was a new link to her new site "Vegan in Cleveland" - I know where Cleveland is so I followed the link. She mentioned that at PF Changs you can get ORANGE PEEL TOFU.

When went to PF Changs a few days later, I looked for it. Well I saw it in the "dead chicken section" of menu, so I asked them to sub tofu. I WAS IN HEAVEN- it was the yummiest! Here is a pix of some left overs.....
No veggies with it, but that was okay, the dish wasn't really saucy, but yet so flavorful...brown rice was perfect with it.

So this past weekend I wanted it again. One problem, I wasn't at PF Changs, I was only in my kitchen. On line I found the copycat recipe - Looky here: ORANGE PEEL CHICKEN MINUS THE CHICKEN RECIPE.

I, of course, used tofu...and mine turned out saucy!
I served it with some veggies from leftover kabobs I made a few days before. Here is the sauce recipe I used from the link above; with the exception of the water, I substitute orange juice for it.

Sauce:

1 tablespoon vegetable oil

2 tablespoons minced garlic

4 green onions, sliced

1 cup tomato sauce

1/2 cup water (OJ for me)

1/4 cup granulated sugar

2 tablespoons chili garlic sauce

1 tablespoon soy sauce

Prepare sauce by heating 1 tablespoon of oil in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Add minced garlic and sliced green onions. Add tomato sauce and water quickly before the garlic burns. Add sugar, chili garlic sauce and soy sauce and bring to a boil. Simmer 5 to 6 minutes or until sauce thickens, then turn off the heat.

Last night for dinner, was fridge cleanout night, and I scored the rest of the orange peel tofu. I added a chunk of leftover bbq tempeh, and ate it over some tofu noodles. It was a lovely dish of protein! I think next time I will make the orange peel tofu with tempeh instead, it was totally yummy in it.

So after dinner it was time to go to my weekly ceramic class. I was excited to go since this was the day I got to take home the finish product of my hard work (BTW 3 coats EACH COLOR!!!!!) from the last few weeks.....TAH DAHHHHHH...

I designed, drew, and painted a "DAY OF THE DEAD" plate. Goods and I collect Day of the Dead art, so I was excited to bring it home to our collection. If I choose, I can even serve vegan food on it!

The weekend is almost here - ENJOY!

Dee is for D-isastor

So I got a new cookbook...

I was leaving for ceramic class last week and I asked Goods to pick out some recipes that looked appealing to him so I/we could make them that coming weekend. All the little colored tabbies were the recipes he choose, obviously I/we didn't make them all....but here are the ones we decided on:

• Garlic Puree with Croutons (page 12)


• Provencal Chickpea Flour Pancake to serve w/ above (page 8)


• Fennel, Orange & Black Olive Salad (page 69)


• Squash Gnocchi with Walnut Sauce (pages 107 & 108)

Sounds yummy, no?

So here I am boiling 2 heads of garlic for the Garlic Puree....

And another picture to show you my fancy spoon holder I forgot I had and never used.

The whole object of the Garlic Puree was to cook the garlic, with the skins on and put it through a food mill....with the remaining broth that was left and it would come out a garlic paste and spread that your bread or croutons...so I envisioned. It came out more like a broth with a hint of garlic. No way was I going to waste 2 bulbs of garlic goodness - so I set forth to remedy the "puree".
I got my emulsion blender out, added a couple of gloves of raw garlic and some olive oil. It helped, but it sure wasn't what we were expecting.

For the Chickpea Flour Pancake - well the recipe was a runny mess, so I added A LOT more chickpea flour and made a butt load of pancakes in a skillet - sorry no picture. They were good, but I've made them before that way.

Now onto the Gnocchi- let me stat that this was my virgin attempt in making these....and I need some practice. They came out really puffy spongy, so instead of baking them in the oven, as the recipe calls for, we "fried" them in a skillet to try and take some of the moisture out.

With the Pesto Sauce (which was a pretty good pesto)

With just some butter and nutritional yeast, oh and maybe some seasonings.

And here is a pic of the rest of the food....

I made the croutons for Goods, I try and stay on a low gluten diet as much as possible. The mustardy colored stuff on the left is the garlic mess. The Fennel Salad...I had high hopes for it....but we sere disappointed - it was bland....pretty, but bland.

And here is a close-up of the gnocchi.....just to torture you some more.

We will be attempting gnocchi again. I think more flour was needed. You couldn't taste the butternut squash in them which was disappointing. BUT....a couple of days later we had left overs....to torture Goods some more. The gnocchi actually firmed up some, but this time they were baked with spaghetti sauce and vegan cheese.

That is the end of the disaster.

Next entry will be much more positive...probably.

Grandma B goes Vegan

My Grandma B was a GREAT baker. I've been lucky enough to have some of her recipes passed on to me. I remember helping her make Christmas cookies, even though I'm sure I ate more then I helped. Here are some of my favorites!

Grandma B's Banana Bread

I know, everyone has an awesome banana bread recipe, but I SWEAR this is the best. I've tweaked it and veganized it, but it's just the bomb. It's moist, fluffy and makes you all warm an fuzzy inside

Banana Bread
1 c. sugar
1/4 c. earth balance
1/4 c. shortening
1/2 tsp. salt
2 eggs-Ener-G replacer
3-4 smashed bananas (I go 4)
1 tsp. baking soda in 1 Tbs hot water
2 c. flour
1 tsp. vanilla
1/2 c nuts (or more)

Cream together with mixer, sugar & "butter". Add "eggs", baking soda mixture, & vanilla and mix. Add flour and salt, little at a time while mixing. Then add bananas, mix and then add nuts. Spread into prepared (greased & flour) loaf pan. Bake @ 350 degrees for one hour, or until toothpick comes out clean.

I changed the "butter" amount from my Grandma's original recipe. It did call for a complete 1/2 c. of butter but I changed it to 1/4 c. and added a 1/4 c. of shortening. This made it a lot fluffier, and moister, all butter tends to make it drier. Also, I use bananas prefrozen. I think this adds some moistness also to the bread. If the banana have too much liquid when they thaw, I do drain it off.

Next up.....

Butternut Ball Cookies

I've totally avoided making butternut balls since I turned vegan. These are my favorite, and I just didn't think the Earth Balance could pull it off. Well I'm tickled to report - IT DID!! Goods confirmed after sampling MANY, you could NOT tell the difference. Here is the very simple recipe...

Butternut Balls

2- 3/4 cups of flour
3/4 c. power sugar
1/2 tsp. salt

1 c. Earth Balance "butter"
1 tsp. vanilla
2 -1/2 c. chopped walnuts

Sift flour, sugar and salt in separate bowl. In larger bowl cream "butter" and vanilla. Mix flour and cream mixture well. Add walnuts, mix. Roll approx. 2 tbs (a little shy) of mixture into balls. Bake at 350 degrees for 10 minutes or when sides get tanish. Roll in powder sugar when balls are still hot/warm. [FYI- if any of them make it to your freezer- these puppies are excellent to eat frozen!]
And the final recipe...

Raisin Filled Cookies

The recipe that I have for these, is very vague...so hopefully I filled in the blanks correctly...well I guess I did because the cookies turned out very yummy. Goods calls them Raisin Pies since they are so big.

Raisin Filled Cookies

4 c. flour
1 tsp baking powder
1 c. shortening
1/2 tsp salt
2 "egg" replacer
1 c. white sugar
1/2 c of soy milk
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp. vanilla

Blend together flour, baking powder, shortening and salt in one bowl. Mix together sugar, eggs, milk, baking soda, and vanilla in a separate bowl. Then mix everything together. Put in refrigerator to chill.

THE FILLING

1 lbs raisins (approx 2 1/2 c.)
1 c. white sugar
2 c. water

Cook - Simmer the raisins, sugar and water for 15 minutes. Thicken with arrowroot until mixture is like gravy. (I used 3.5 Tbs. of arrowroot)

Assembling- Roll out chilled cookie dough (Good's job- he is the BEST roller!). Using two different size glasses, cut the dough (larger glass for top of cookie) . Place filling mixture on smaller dough circle and cover and seal with larger dough circle.

Baking- this is were it got a bit crazy...not sure if it's because I made them so big (like 3" diam) but I baked them for 30 minutes at 350 degrees. My vague recipe doesn't state how long they should be in the oven, but I've read other recipes that call for 8-10 mins.

The end.
Enjoy your holiday!

Weekend part 2- D-Derby

Saturday Night, Goods & I headed off to downtown Detroit. First off, was to grab some grub. We were running late, so I forgot to take food porn pixs so a list of food will have to do. We ate at Pegasus, in Greektown. We had the basics, hummus, roasted peppers, salad, grape leaves, and Goods had the flaming sagnaki. Some nice vegan choices for me.

Then we were off to the DETROIT DERBY GIRLS! We really enjoy going, we've made it there at least once a year for the past three. The venue is a the beautiful Masonic Temple. (sorry the photos are so bad, they didn't allow you take take photos, so I snuck them)

ZOOMMMMMM.....
Goods, watching intently....

And my PISTOLWHIPPERS WON! It was a nail bitter too!

Here are some miscellaneous photos inside the Masonic Temple. I took my cheap camera, so the photos aren't so good....

The detail.....

Need to make a call??? I hope not....
(all brass framing)

Such a fun thing to do, again in Detroit!

Friday - Food, Family and Festivities

Last Friday was our annual adventure to Greenfield Village for their Holiday Nights. We go with Good's Bro and & Sis-in-law and we always have a grand time....but first we must feast on food! This year I got to cook! I decided upon PPK Seitan Portobella Stroganoff , I'm not a fan of mushrooms but I thought I would give it a shot - and am I glad I did. The recipe calls for 3.5 cups of seitan, I used the left overs from the seitan crockpot roast I made earlier in the week. It was perfect for it! Here it is getting all crispy....
Of course, I changed the recipe a tiny bit....
For the mushrooms, I used baby Portobella, small whites, and Shiitake mix. I knew I could hand the Shiitake, so that is why I included them. I didn't know what cremini where, so I went with small white fungus.
For the soy milk, I substituted Tofuttii sour cream.

Here is how it turned out.....

Served with noodles and broccoli..

Verdict: I LOVE MUSHROOMS. Really truly, after this dish, I've even eaten stuffed ones! Oh, I'm still going to be a picky with the fungus, but I now no longer can't stand them! I made rice noodles for myself (cutting back on gluten) but I don't think next time I would make them for myself- just throw it on the broccoli, which was a great accompaniment...oh or a baked potato.

Oh but next time I will cut the salt to just 1 tsp. I was the only one that thought it was salty, but since I'm the cook, I can do what I want.

And look how shocked Good's Bro was, because it was so good....

So after good eats, we were off to Greenfield Village....

It was cold....

It was festive....

This is in one of the houses you could go into and see how they celebrated the holidays, way back when. Look a table set for a VEGAN FEAST!

And here is the "lady of the house" explaining all about their celebration, and what VEGAN food she will be preparing for all to enjoy.....

I'm guessing you know I made up the "VEGAN FEAST" part..

No festivities would be complete with out some music...

Music inside and outside...

And the festive finally...

Perfect evening! We are so blessed.

Next up - Saturday's Detroit adventure......