Vegan Oreo Cake!

Vegan Oreo Cake!
Originally uploaded by rosieqanddan.

A goddess named Danielle has cornered the market on vegan treats in New York CIty AND I"M GLAD!!! Her stuff is incredible!!! Whoopie Pies and Cakes are out of this world!
This picture is of the last piece I could find before I went back home and it didn't look as good as the other one I ate earlier (It tasted good, though!) www.vegantreats.com/

More Rustic Crust Vegan Pizza success!!!

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Originally uploaded by rosieqanddan.

Another try with vegan pizza! This one rocked, too! New premade Rustic Crust brand pizza crust, Vegan Gourmet Mozzarella "cheese" and sauteed broccoli, arugula, red peppers and garlic. We sautee the veggies then put it on the pizza and bake it! Holy crap it was good!

Vegan Pizza!

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Originally uploaded by rosieqanddan.

HOly Sheeit! This was damn good! New Organic crust from Wheatsville with sauteed veggies and stringy cheez sauce from the new farm cookbook. This ruled!

Bouldin Style tofu and greens!

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Originally uploaded by rosieqanddan.

Following Rosie's reverse engineering, I made up some Bouldin style tofu. (We still go to Bouldin for the real thing, though!)

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Originally uploaded by rosieqanddan.

Wheatsville Southern Fried Tofu with Creamed Corn, Mashed POtatoes and Kale with plenty o' gravy!

Thank you!

Thanks so much to Moriah, Rosie, and Dan for posting some fabulous recipes and photos recently! Mmmm... Please keep posting!

I hope to be back in my cooking routine soon, but I am still not there yet due to this crazy pregnancy food aversion. My first trimester just ended, so I hope and expect to be feeling better soon. I can say that we have FULLY explored our eating-out options over the past 2 months. Lots of trips to Maria's Taco X-Press, Mother's Cafe, Curra's, Athenian Grill, and Wheatsville. We have definitely been spending a lot more than we usually do on food! It's a great reminder of why I normally like to plan and cook so much.

So, I hope to be back soon, but in the meantime enjoy the great recipes being shared.

Our Menu For Jan. 3 - Jan. 9

Wednesday, Jan. 3 - Tofu, Biscuits and Gravy
One of my favorite meals. I bake a simple biscuit recipe, whisk together a medium white gravy and dice some Italian flavored baked tofu, and voila!

Biscuits
2 C flour
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 T sugar
1/2 tsp salt
2 T vegan butter
1 C plain non-dairy milk

Gravy
3 T vegan butter
2 T corn starch
2 C plain non-dairy milk (Vanilla adds too sweet a flavor to go with this recipe.)
Pinch salt
1/4 tsp seasoning of choice, depending on what flavor you want to impart in the meal

Instructions:
Biscuits
1. Preheat oven to 425°F and spray a baking sheet lightly with cooking spray.
2. Mix flour together with baking powder, baking soda, salt and sugar and sift into a medium sized bowl.
3. Using a pastry cutter or wire whisk, cut butter into flour until the mixture becomes the consistency of fine crumbs. Pour milk into dry ingredients all at once and mix together with a fork. As soon as mixture holds together, turn out onto a floured work surface and knead gently.
4. Roll dough gently out to 1/2" thickness and cut into 2 1/2" round with a floured cutter.
5. For crustier biscuits, place rounds about 1" apart on baking sheet. For softer sides, place biscuits touching or 1/4" apart. Dust tops lightly with flour and bake for 10-12 minutes or until golden brown.

Gravy
1. Melt butter in saucepan.
2. Blend in corn starch, salt and seasoning.
3. Gradually add milk.
4. Heat to boiling; 2 minutes stirring constantly.

Make biscuits first so the gravy can be made while they are baking. Use any flavored tofu you desire, or marinate plain tofu, and cut into small cubes. Arrange tofu on a plate and heat if desired, put biscuits on top and cover with gravy. Add extra seasoning on top. Enjoy!

Thursday, Jan. 4 - Veggie, Lentil and Barley Soup
For soup, I usually throw in whatever I have on hand at home. This week, it's lentils and barley from the pantry, along with some carrots, onion and green pepper from the fridge. Then I add a veggie bouillon cube in water and some seasoning, let it simmer for about a half hour and it's ready to go.

Friday, Jan. 5 - Pizza
I make homemade pizza almost every Friday. It's kind of tradition in our house. So you can imagine I make several different types so we don't get bored. :) But this week is just a simple veggie pizza.

1 pizza crust from scratch
1 (8 oz) can of pizza sauce
1 green pepper
1 onion
1 small can mushrooms
1/2 block Follow Your Heart cheese

Spread sauce over unbaked crust. Pile on veggies and cheese. Bake at 450 degrees for 12-14 minutes.

Saturday, Jan. 6 - Tofu Scramble
This is a quick, easy meal that I've seen many variations of. But we always do this one:

1 container extra firm tofu, dice or mash
1 tomato
1 bunch scallions or 1/2 an onion
1/2 block Follow Your Heart vegan cheese
Two large flour tortillas
Taco seasoning
Hot sauce

Saute the tofu, tomato and scallions in a little safflower oil. Put shredded cheese down the middle of the flour tortillas. Top with sauteed mixture, sprinkle on taco seasoning and a few dashes of hot sauce. Roll up and enjoy!

Sunday, Jan. 7 - Macaroni and Cheese
This recipe has been an experiment in the making. We're really trying to create a creamy, sinful vegan mac 'n cheese, but haven't found the right recipe yet. This is what we're trying this week:

3 T vegan butter
2 T flour
1/2 tsp salt
2 C oat milk
2 C vegan mozzarella cheese, shredded and divided (I usually use cheddar but Whole Foods didn't have it)
1 pkg (7 oz.) elbow macaroni (1-3/4 C), cooked, drained

Instructions:
1. Preheat oven to 350°F.
2. Melt butter in large saucepan on low heat. Add flour and salt; mix well. Cook 2 minutes or until bubbly.
3. Gradually add milk, stirring until well blended. Cook on medium heat until mixture boils and thickens, stirring constantly.
4. Reduce heat to low; simmer 3 to 5 minutes or until thickened. Add 1-1/2 C of the cheese; cook until melted, stirring constantly. Add macaroni; mix lightly.
5. Spoon into 1-1/2-quart casserole; sprinkle with remaining 1/2 C cheese.
6. Bake 20 minutes or until heated through.

Monday, Jan. 8 - Mexican Layered Casserole
I love Mexican food, so this quickly became a favorite. And the best part, lots of leftovers!

Ingredients:
1/4 C water
1 each onion, chopped
1 each green bell pepper, chopped
1 clove garlic, minced
15 oz refried beans, canned
15 oz black beans, canned, drained and rinsed (or freshly cooked)
1 1/2 C frozen corn kernels
1 1/2 C cooked brown rice
1 1/2 C tomato sauce
4 oz chopped green chiles
2 tsp chili powder
2 tsp ground cumin
4 C enchilada sauce
12 each corn tortillas (soft)
4 each green onions, finely chopped

Instructions:
1. Place the water in a large pan with the onion, green pepper, and garlic.
2. Cook over medium heat, stirring frequently, until softened, about 5 minutes.
3. Add the beans, corn, rice, tomato sauce, chilies, chili powder, and cumin. Stir to mix, then cook over low heat until warmed through, about 10 minutes. Remove from the heat and set aside.
4. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
5. Pour about 1/2 cup of the enchilada sauce into the bottom of a 13x9" casserole dish and spread evenly over the bottom. Pour the rest of the enchilada sauce into a bowl. Dip 4 of the tortillas, one at a time, into the enchilada sauce, then layer them in the bottom of the casserole dish. Spread half of the bean mixture over the tortillas. Repeat with the next 4 tortillas and the remaining mixture. Finish with the last 4 tortillas. Pour the remaining enchilada sauce over the top and spread evenly. Sprinkle with the chopped green onion.
6. Cover and bake for 40 minutes. Remove from the oven and let rest 5 minutes before serving.
Serve with salsa to spoon over the top, if desired.

Tuesday, Jan. 9 - Philly Seitan and Cheese Subs
My husband and I love seitan, so we try to use it in many different ways. We came up with this last year some time and have had it at least once a month since. It's awesome!

1 green pepper, diced or sliced into thin strips
1 onion, diced or sliced into thin strips
1 pkg seitan, sliced into small strips
4 slices Follow Your Heart vegan cheese
2 whole wheat sub buns, sliced in half
A1 Sauce

Saute green pepper, onion and seitan in a little safflower oil. Put two slices cheese on each bun, top with sauteed mixture and smother in A1. This makes a really tasty, hearty meal. And who cares if it's a lot of carbs! :)

Simple stirfry with white wine sauce

This is a favorite of mine because it is so simple. I serve it w/shortgrain brown rice. Veggie: whatever is in the fridge! I like to pick about 5 veggies, plus garlic and sometimes onion. That way each vegetable gets its chance to shine. Plus I rarely plan ahead, so 5 is as many as I'm likely to find edible in the bin. This time we had celery, carrot, zucchini, collard greens and mushrooms. Score - I'm so happy when the refrigerator yields a good mix - we've got orange vs. green, crisp vs. soft, and something leafy. Add a pound of tofu cubes. Fry, stir, make sauce.

Good marinade: One yellow bouillon cube, 1 cup of hot water (dissolve together), big splash white wine, medium splash soy sauce (more if your bouillion cube is not salted), some pepper, and if you like spicy, a teaspoon of chili garlic paste. Add to almost-done veggies

In a separate cup I mix a teaspoon of corn starch with a couple tablespoons of water, and whisk it in last. Glossy saucey.

A few December foods

12/3 Tortilla Soup - from Vegetarian Times Jan '02 - really good. Recipe at http://tinyurl.com/yzmmmf. Somehow I magically had all the ingredients in the pantry.

12/4 Tofurkey Sandwiches - we usually have some kind of sandwich once a week.

12/7 Tofu scramble with oven fried potatoes and yams. See picture below.

12/10 Failed soup - the beans never cooked! Cooked for 3 hours, soaked more overnight, tried again for 2 hours - no results. Old beans = will never cook. Resulting depression kept me from cooking again for next 4 days. Note to self: throw away old beans. They can ruin your week.

12/15 Stir fry with white wine sauce. See entry above.

Smart Dog with sauteed kale and onions on a bun

Smart Dog with sauteed kale and onions on a bun
Originally uploaded by rosieqanddan.

Smart Dog on Greens

Smart Dog on Greens
Originally uploaded by rosieqanddan.

Tofu Quiche!

Tofu Quiche!
Originally uploaded by rosieqanddan.

Pasta e fagioli

Pasta e fagioli
Originally uploaded by rosieqanddan.

HMmm! Brussels!

HMmm! Brussels!
Originally uploaded by rosieqanddan.

Not a menu per se, but I would like to temporarily pause and plug Brussels Sprouts!

Stir Fry with Tofu. Baby Bok CHoy and Red Peppers

Stir Fry with Tofu. Baby Bok CHoy and Red Peppers
Originally uploaded by rosieqanddan.

Well Baked Soy/ Maple Tofu

Well Baked Soy/ Maple Tofu
Originally uploaded by rosieqanddan.

Tofu Scramble with Potato and Sweet Potato fries

Tofu Scramble with POtato and Sweet Potato fries
Originally uploaded by rosieqanddan.

Kale Dogs

Hot dogs are still junk food, even if they are made out of tofu. 'Cause you know they make them out of all the bits and ends of tofu left over after they've used all the good parts for Tofurkey. Just try not to think about the soy snout and okara skin, hide them in a good whole wheat bun - and smother them with a thick layer of sauteed kale and onions. MAN that tastes good with mustard!

Yellow Soup

So, it's soup, and the broth is yellow. We used to call it "Free the Chicken Soup" but somehow that name didn't really roll off the tongue. The idea is to make chicken noodle style soup. Over the years, we've strayed from striving for authenticity and moved toward simplicity.

My mom taught me that if you cook the noodles separately, and store the leftovers separately, they don't get soggy and drink up all the broth. Sometimes I follow her advice - other times I embrace the fat-noodle way. (Don't be reading anything dirty into that.) Separate is faster, because you can start the water before chopping the vegetables. Start plenty of water, so you can have some ready hot for the broth, too.

I saute an onion, with some carrots and celery and oil, add potatoes and about 2 quarts of boiling water. Cook for about 10 minutes, add a cube of bullion, lots of pepper, and a half to a full cup of nutritional yeast. Maybe a can of white beans or a handful of chopped fresh parsley. Cook until the veggies are spoon tender. Adding extra salt makes it taste salty. I mean, makes it taste more comfortingly like childhood.

Slurp...