Thursday, July 19, 2007

Pad Thai

Neil made me this one night for dinner and then we made it for my parents while they were visiting. We just use our favorite veggies and tofu and it is so good.

20-Minute Pad-Thai-Style Noodles- vegcooking.com

You’ll find most of these ingredients in your pantry and fridge. In the time that it takes to boil pasta, you’ll have a delicious meal!

For the Sauce:
1/2 cup smooth peanut butter
1 cup hot vegetable broth
1/4 tsp. ground ginger
1 Tbsp. Sriracha sauce (or more, to taste)
2 Tbsp. sesame oil
2 Tbsp. flour

• Whisk all the ingredients together until smooth.

For the ‘Pad Thai’:
1 pkg. fettuccine noodles
2 Tbsp. extra virgin olive oil
1 1/2 Tbsp. minced garlic
1/3 cup sliced red onion
1 cup sliced mushrooms
1 broccoli crown, cut into florets
1/3 cup shredded carrots
1 yellow bell pepper, seeded and thinly sliced
1/4 cup crushed peanuts

• Cook the pasta according to the package directions. Drain.
• Meanwhile, heat the oil in a wok or large sauté pan over medium heat. Add the garlic and sauté for 1 minute, or until fragrant.
• Add the onion, mushrooms, and broccoli. Sauté for 3 to 5 minutes, or until the onion has softened.
• Stir in the carrot, bell pepper, prepared sauce, and cooked pasta. Sauté for 3 to 4 minutes, or until the sauce thickens and the dish is heated through.
• Top with the crushed peanuts before serving.

Makes 4 to 6 servings

Yummy Slow Cooker BBQ

Barbecue Tofu- vegcooking.com

Tofu is slow cooked in a zesty homemade barbecue sauce for a delicious anytime meal.

2 lbs. extra-firm tofu, pressed and diced
1 1/2 cups ketchup
3 Tbsp. brown sugar
1-2 Tbsp. soy sauce
1 Tbsp. cider vinegar
1 Tbsp. red pepper flakes
1/2 tsp. garlic powder
Salt, to taste
Black pepper, to taste

• Combine all the ingredients in a slow cooker. Cover and cook on low for 4 to 6 hours.
• Serve on a bed of lettuce or on a hoagie roll.

Makes 4 to 6 servings

I made this the other day for Neil and it was soooo good. His mom then made it with vegan meatballs and added some mushrooms and a little water to thin it out and it was amazinggg!

Monday, July 9, 2007

It's been so many months since either of us have posted! We have been so busy with planning our wedding and such but hopefully soon we will be back on and more consistent!

Monday, March 12, 2007

Veggie Jerky's

So I just opened up a packet of veggie jerky and it inspired me to write this post. i have only tried a few types of veggie jerky specifically primal strips and tasty eats. Also a few kinds of dried bean curd type from the Asian market.

Tasty Eats is horrible. VERY dry and the Jamacian Chicken one is awful tasting. I couldn't even swallow it. On the other hand Primal Strips are very good I love the texas bbq and my boyfriend loves the lime one.

Thursday, March 8, 2007

Crazy Times

It's been crazy lately with presentations, exams and march break. Neil and I just got back from Vermont yesterday and are trying to get back into our routines. Soon we will be posting more recipes and will be working on getting recipes up a few times a week.

Wednesday, February 14, 2007

Valentines Dinner Part 1

Neil and I decided since February 13th was our 5 month anniversary and Valentines day was the next day that we would each take on the challenge of making each other dinner. I got 2/13 and I decided to make a vegan 5 course meal.
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The First Course:
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Roasted Red Pepper Soup (vegcooking.com)
Creamy and savory, this soup is the perfect starter for any romantic meal.
1/2 cup vegan margarine (try Earth Balance brand)
1 large white onion, minced
2 carrots, peeled and finely chopped
2 garlic cloves, minced
3 roasted red peppers, seeded and chopped
2 cups vegetable stock
Salt and pepper, to taste
1 cup plain soy milk, at room temperature
Fresh basil for garnish
• In a medium pot over medium-high heat, melt the margarine. Add the onion, carrots, and celery. Sauté until slightly softened.
• Reduce the heat to medium and add the garlic. Continue cooking, stirring often, until the vegetables are soft. Add the peppers and cook for another 10 minutes. Add the vegetable stock and season with salt and pepper.
• Purée in a blender until smooth. Return to the pot and stir in the soy milk. Cook until warm.
• Divide evenly into 4 bowls and garnish with the basil.

Makes 4 servings


Second Course:

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Stuffed Crescent Rolls

1 pkg. whole wheat crescent rolls
1/2 mushrooms
1 small onion
1 clove garlic
1 T olive oil to cook in

sautee in a pan.
grease a muffin tin.
stuff the mushroom/onion mixture into crescent rolls and place in muffin tin.
bake at 375F for 11 minutes.

Third Course:

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Sundried Tomato Penne

1/2 small jar of sundried tomatoes with oil
1 T italian seasoning
1 t crushed red pepper

Blend in a food processor and mix with warm whole wheat penne.


Fourth Course:


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Stuffed Portabello Mushrooms
· 2 portabella mushrooms
· ¼ c spinach, chopped
· ¼ c bell pepper
· 1 clove garlic, chopped
· ¼ c onion, chopped
· 1 tbsps olive oil
· 2 tbsps vegan parmesan (1 tablespoon for each mushroom)
· Salt and pepper
· 1 c red rice
Cut the portobello stalks and carve the inside using a small spoon, reserving the flesh.
Cover the portobellos with a little oil, using your hands so that the oil goes everywhere.
Put them in the oven and grill them until they are almost done.
cook bulgar according to directions Drain.
In a pan, heat some olive oil, sauté bell pepper, garlic, onion, spinach and portobello flesh. Add the bulgur and stir everything together. Salt and pepper to taste.
With this mixture, stuff the portobellos, sprinkle with parmesan and bake for 5 minutes

Final Course:

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Chocolate Cheesecake with Oreo Crust


Cheesecake
Ingredients:

1/2 block soft tofu, drained
1/3 cup + 1T soy milk
1/4 cup sugar
2 tablespoons cocoa powder
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

Directions:
Mixture can be prepared the night before you plan to make it. Preheat oven to 375F. Soften tofu in large mixing bowl, combining in cocoa powder, vanilla extract and sugar. Once the added ingredients are combined, gradually stir in chocolate soy milk. Make sure all ingredients are well combined.

Pour mixture into graham cracker crust. Place in preheated oven for 25 to 35 minutes until the top of the cheese cake appears solid. Allow cheesecake to sit in fridge for 1 to 2 hours, before serving.
This recipe for Vegan Chocolate Cheesecake serves/makes 4

Cookie Crust:
2 1/2 cups vegan creme-filled chocolate sandwich cookies (i.e. vegan version of Oreos)
2 tablespoon margarine
Cookie Crust:

1. Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees F.

2. Place cookies in large plastic bag and crush with rolling pin. Or crush the cookies in a food processor.

3. Transfer crumbs to medium bowl, drizzle with melted margarine, and mix with fingers until well combined. Pour crumbs into 9-inch pie plate.

4. Press crumbs evenly onto bottom and up sides of pie plate.

5. Refrigerate for 20 minutes to firm crumbs, Bake until crumbs are set, about 10 minutes. Let it cool.

Lovers who luncheon

For lunch one day I made a sweet potato corn chowder and a veggie burger on top of curried lentils and spinach topped with homemade hummus and sauted mushrooms, onions and red peppers.

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Indian Night

I don't remember the recipes for these unfortunately but we made a chickpea curry, some samosas, so indian bread and some indian fried rice.

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Burrito Bake

This is a recipe i came up with randomly. I was making black bean soup and we had a ton of left overs so i made this.

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Black Bean Burrito Bake

Layer in a casserole dish:
2 cups of red rice
1 cup black bean soup
1 cup black beans
1 cup salsa
1 cup vegan cheddar
1/4 cup green onions
top with crushed sweet chili heat chips

back at 350F for 25-30 minutes

Spinach Ceasar

I made this spinach ceasar salad awhile back and i believe i used the vegan ceasar dressing recipe off of the bunnyfoot blog.

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Couscous Soup

I love making soup and using anything i can find in the kitchen to make it. I unfortunately do not measure much when i do this so here are the basic ingredients that I used to make this soup.

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1 32oz can of crushed tomatoes
1 packet of onion soup mix
2 servings of whole wheat couscous (cooked)
1 can of butter beans
about 2 cups of vegetable broth
1 tablespoon of earth balance
1 small onion
1-2 gloves garlic


I sauted the onion and garlic in oil until the onion was soft. Then i added the tomatoes, broth and earth balance. Let cook for 10 minutes. Then add beans, couscous, and onion soup mix. let cook 10 more minutes. serve warm. best if made a day ahead and reheated.

Pictures of Scrambler

Sorry it's been so long since we have posted but things have been crazy around here.

however, we have managed to keep up on the picture taking of our food (for the most part) and here are those pictures of tofu scrambler.

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Tuesday, January 16, 2007

Tofu Scramble

Okay, so there's defintiely pictures to come. I promise.

At least once a week, Lindsay and I make breakfast food. Sometimes it is actually for breakfast and others it is for lunch or dinner. Either way, it's my time to make food for her since she usually makes everything else (with my assistance of course!). My breakfast specialty is tofu scrambler and we always have that with a side or two (usually toast and hashbrowns or fake breakfast "meat").

I don't use a recipe or anything for the scramble, just add spices and veggies (and sometimes veg*n cheese or bacon) to the mix and go.

Here's what i used for this batch:

  • chopped mushrooms
  • diced onions
  • diced tomatoes
  • veggie spice
  • cumin
  • turmeric
  • curry
  • paprika
  • salsa
  • 1 block of vegetable tofu (FIRM)
and the process:
  1. Chop the onions, tomatoes and mushrooms.
  2. Fry up the onions and mushrooms in olive oil until the onions are translucent
  3. Crumble the block of tofu into the pan
  4. Mix in about a cup of salsa
  5. Min in a couple of teaspoons of veggie spice for flavour and colour
  6. Mix in cumin, curry, paprika, turmeric to taste/smell
  7. Make sure everything is mixed well and reduce heat on the frying pan and let it cook for a while to absorb in all the flavours

Thursday, January 4, 2007

Get Better Soup

Poor Neil is sick so i decided to make him some soup to get better!

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Ingredients:
1 small onion
1 large carrot
1 largish potato
a few mushrooms
a few morningstar chicken strips
1 head of roasted garlic
6 cups of "chicken" stock
1 teaspoon of veggie boullion
2 teaspoons of veggie seasoning
salt and pepper
1 can of canellni beans
1 tablespoon of cornstarch and a little of the cooking liquid


saute the onion in oil while doing this cut up the carrot and potato and then add to pot. cook for a bit and then add the diced up mushrooms and chicken strips. stir and then add the veggie seasoning and salt and pepper. mix and let cook about a minute. then add the "chicken" stock and the veggie boullion. mix a bit of the cooking liquid with the cornstarch and then add. Let come to a boil. Then add the beans and roasted garlic. Let simmer about 30 min. (best to set over night)

let

Mushrooms and Fava's

I decided to make mushrooms with sage and a side of cajun roasted fava beans

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for the mushrooms with sage:
2 cups of mushrooms
1 small onion
1 tsp sage
1 tsp vegetable spice
1/4 c sour supreme
salt and pepper to taste
and left over potato wedges

saute onion in a small amount of oil. once translucent add mushrooms, sage, and vegetable spice. cook for 3-5 min. then add salt and pepper and potato wedges. then add sour supreme

for the fava beans:

i use frozen and thaw them a bit in the microwave.
pre-heat oven to 450 degrees

on a sheet pan put 2 cups fava beans and then sprinkle about a tablespoon of olive oil over and about 2 teaspoons of lime juice. next sprinkle a good amount of salt on and some pepper and cajun seasoning (i like to use a little montreal chicken spice and cayenne pepper) then toss to coat and place in the oven and cook until golden brown.

NB PIZZA NIGHT

This is Neil's yummy pizza:

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Pre-made pizza crust
sauce of bruschetta
topped with roasted red peppers, fresh tomatoes, mushrooms, zucchini and artichokes!