Veganmofo: Cupcakes and Squash

This morning I was very ambituous and I decided to makes cupcakes and roasted squash soup for a dear friend of mine who just found out her father has cancer. She is home right now to be with him and her mom and I decided to make some "lets be positive cupcakes" and some yummy comforting roasted squash soup. I am going to deliver them to her tonight after work, I hope they enjoy them!

Roasted Squash Soup:

adapted from Andrea's Recipes

Ingredients
1whole butternut squash (about 1 1/2 pounds)

1 whole acorn squash (about 1 1/2 pounds)

fresh ground black pepper

kosher salt

4 tablespoons (1/2 stick) margarine

1 onion, diced

2 large garlic cloves, chopped

6 cups of vegetable broth

1 1/4 teaspoons minced fresh thyme

1 1/4 teaspoons minced fresh sage

1/4 cup plain soy milk

1 T maple syrup

Preparation
1. Preheat oven to 400° F.
2. Cut the butternut and acorn squash in half and scoop out the seeds. Drizzle with olive oil and lightly sprinkle with kosher salt and pepper. Place face down on the prepared baking sheets and bake for 45 to 50 minutes. Remove from oven and allow to cool so that you can handle it without getting burned. (If you have a convection oven, do not preheat. Put the prepared squash on the baking sheets and put into the cold oven. Bake at 400° F for 20 to 25 minutes.)
3. Scoop all of the squash out into a large bowl and mash with a potato masher.
4. Melt the margarine in the pot over medium heat. Add onions and garlic and sauté until tender, about 10 minutes. Add the broth, mashed squash, and herbs and bring to boil. Reduce heat, cover and simmer until the squash is very tender, about 20 minutes.
5. Pour about 1/3 of the soup into the blender and puree. Pour puree out into the large bowl and repeat two more times. Pour the pureed soup back into the pot. Stir in the soy milk and maple syrup and bring to a simmer. Season with salt and pepper.

For the Cupcakes:

I added thawed frozen raspberries and saved the juice for the frosting.

Frosting Recipe:

INGREDIENTS
1/2 cup nonhydrogenated shortening
1/4 cup nonhydrogenated margarine, we use Earth Balance

1/4 juice of raspberries

3 1/2 cups powdered sugar, sifted if clumpy
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1/4 cup plain soy milk or soy creamer
INSTRUCTIONS
Beat the shortening and margarine together until well combined and fluffy. Add the sugar and beat for about 3 more minutes.
Add the vanilla and soy milk, and beat for another 5 to 7 minutes until fluffy.

Veganmofo: Yummy Pizza

So we had some yummy pizza last night...I know we were all about the mashed potoates but it just didn't happen so hopefully tonight it will. But we ran around and didn't get home until late and then we wanted to watch the debate so we made a quick pizza using this wonderful crust:

It was so good. Not too thick, but not too thin and it held our topings of mushroom, marinara, green onions and sundried tomatoes perfectly.

Veganmofo: Comfort Food

Tonight we are having a big bowl of comfort food- mashed potatoes. Neil received a big bag of potatoes from a guy at work and now we have to use them. The plan is to make some yummy Montreal Chicken Spice Mashed (rather whipped) Potatoes. They will then be topped with vegan gravy, french fried onions and to add a little green we will have some salt and pepper roasted brussel sprouts on the side. I know not the most well balanced meal but we have been craving something warm, creamy and comforting in these last few cold and rainy days in VT.

Vegan Gravy (adapted from Vegetarian Gravy on http://www.vegcooking.com/)
3 Tbsp. Earth Balance
3 Tbsp. corn starch
2 1/2 cups vegetable stock (I like to use Veggie Better than Boullion)
3 Tbsp. dark soy sauce salt and pepper to taste
• Heat the oil in a saucepan and add the cornstarch. Stir over moderate heat for a few minutes until the flour turns brown.
• Pour in the water or stock and stir slightly until thickened. Simmer for 10 minutes, then add the soy sauce and a little seasoning to taste, if desired

For the Potatoes:
4 potatoes, diced
3/4 cup soy milk
2 Tbsp. margarine
1 T Montreal Chicken Spice (trust me makes all the difference)

Cook the potatoes and then add the remaining ingredients and whip with electric beaters.

For the Brussels sprouts:
1 bag frozen sprouts (fresh if you can)
1t salt
1/2t pepper
4 Tbsp. extra virgin olive oil
• Defrost sprouts slightly and then cut them in half, arrange in a baking dish, and set aside.
• Mix the salt, pepper, and olive oil and pour the mixture over the Brussels sprouts. Bake in a preheated oven for about 25 to 30 minutes at 375 degrees F. Turn after about 15 minutes to ensure even cooking.
Makes 4 servings

Veganmofo: Dinner Tonight

Sesame Soy Curls with Asparagus and Roasted Garlic Couscous

Adapted from http://veganyumyum.com/2008/05/sesame-soy-curls-with-asparagus-and-quinoa/

Serves Four

1 package Dry Soy curls

2 Tbs Oil

2 Cloves Garlic, minced

2t chili flakes (I like mine spicy)

1 box frozen asparagus

2 Tbs Sugar

5 Tbs Soy Sauce/Tamari

2 Tbs Rice Vinegar

2 tsp Toasted Sesame Oil

Sesame Seeds for garnish.

Place soy curls in a bowl and cover with boiling/near boiling water. Let sit for 10 minutes or so to re-hydrate. Once hydrated, squeeze out any remaining liquid.
Heat a wok over high heat and add oil. Add soy curls and stir-fry until browned. Remove curls from the wok and add garlic, chili and veggies (using more oil if needed). When asparagus is bright green and tender-crisp, add soy curls back into the wok. Add soy sauce, sugar and vinegar and toss well. Drizzle sesame oil over the top. Taste a soy curl and adjust seasoning if needed.

Serve over Roasted Garlic Couscous

I am using Near East Roasted Garlic & Olive Oil Couscous

What a little research will find you....

So I have spent the morning doing some research on restaurants- specifically chain ones. I was just inspecting Uno's and i found that their Balsamic dressing isn't vegan:

BALSAMIC VINAIGRETTE

INGREDIENTS: soy oil, balsamic vinegar, water, salt, sugar, xantham gum, spice, garlic, fish oil, caramel, pg alginate, calcium disodium, paprika.



kinda scary to think that balsamic vinaigrette would have fish in it!



CPK has a vegetarian menu and it detials the vegan options:
http://www.cpk.com/menu/vegetarian_%20gluten.pdf




also BE AWARE Panda Express is NOT vegetarian they use a chicken base!





Legal Seafoods:

Vegetarian Box (vegan friendly) 17.95
Asian flavored stir-fried vegetables, Thai red coconut curry sauce, cashews, tofu and brown rice

Yummy Kung Bao Chik'n

Last night I made stir fry veggies with May Way's Kung Bao Chicken over whole wheat couscous. It was amazing the flavor was just right and it had a little spice to it and the texture was great (I bet it could even fool grandma!). It was great to finally eat something so yummy considering that the last thing we tired from May Way was the prawns and they were awful. So far we have tried
BBQ Pork - receives an A
Chicken Legs- receives a B
Prawns- receives a F-
Kung Bao Chicken- Receives an A+


I have pictures to come I just need to upload them. And of course I just got to work with my beautiful creation of sesame-peanut noodles and I forgot to take a picture!

A Picnic Dilemma....

So tomorrow is my department picnic and it's a pot luck so everyone is to bring something...of course I'm the only vegan in my department....as well as the only vegetarian. There is one uy who is really into vegetarian/vegan cooking however he's the exception out of the other 35 people. I checked the list today and there is very little for me to eat, so this is what it boils down to- whatever I make is what I am going to be eating so it better be yummy! (of course haha).

I have decided to go with sesame peanut noodles because I think that it will go over relatively well with everyone. Some might think it is strange but I hope people will be willing to give it a chance I mean really unless you have a peanut allergy most everyone I know enjoys peanut noodles.

I found this recipe for Seasme-Peanut Noodles and I think it will work great with a few alterations

Adapted from:
Sesame-Peanut Noodles
by Ted Allen
from The Food You Want to Eat
(Clarkson Potter, 2005) (found on http://www.leitesculinaria.com/recipes/cookbook/sesame_noodles.html)
Serves 4

Kosher salt for boiling noodles
1/4 cup sesame seeds
1/4 cup peanut butter
1/4 cup toasted sesame oil
1/3 cup roasted peanuts, cashews, or whatever nuts you have
1/3 cup low-sodium soy sauce
1 tablespoon red wine vinegar
1 tablespoon mirin or sherry (see Note)
2 medium garlic cloves
1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes (or more if you like it spicy)
1 English cucumber (also called hothouse cukes — the long, skinny ones), peeled
1 pound soba noodles (I really don't like the taste and texture of Soba Noodles so i am going with fettucine)
1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
3 scallions, green parts only, sliced 1/4 inch thick on an angle (I like the white part too so i am mixing them in and garnishing with the greens)

I am also going to top with some bean sprouts and shredded carrot to give it some color and crunch!



Directions
1. Bring a large pot of salted water (1 teaspoon salt per quart of water) to a boil.

2. Meanwhile, toast the sesame seeds in a dry skillet over medium heat, stirring frequently, until they turn golden brown, about 5 minutes.

3. In a food processor, combine the peanut butter, sesame oil, peanuts, soy sauce, vinegar, mirin or sherry, garlic, and red pepper flakes. Process to a purée. Stir in half the toasted sesame seeds.

4. Cut the cucumber in half lengthwise and scoop out the seeds with a spoon; discard the seeds. Slice the cucumber halves crosswise about 1/4 inch thick; set aside.

5. When the water comes to a boil, add the noodles and cook until tender, 4 to 5 minutes. Drain very well, shaking the colander until it stops dripping, and dump into a bowl. Add the peanut mixture, cilantro, and black pepper, and toss to coat. Turn out onto a large platter. Arrange the cucumber slices around the edge of the platter, sprinkle the scallions on top, and sprinkle the remaining sesame seeds on last. Serve warm or at room temperature.

Note: Mirin is a sweet Japanese rice wine; you'll find it in the Asian section of your supermarket.



I am going to save some for dinner tomorrow night because my husband loves peanut noodles and top it with some yummy smoked tofu.

Pictures to come! and updates on how well it goes over!

May Wah- Veggie Prawns

Last night my husband and I had stir fry Thai noodles with veggie Prawns that we had purchased from May Wah (vegieworld.com). I have to say by far they were the worst tasting veggie thing I have ever had. The consistency was slimmy and just completely unappetizing. It turned me off from my whole meal. On a positive note the veggie pork and chicken that we have tried from May Wah has been great so far just the prawns were awful and we would never recommend buying.

May Wah

I am excited to post that we just received a huge package of food from May Wah (www.vegieworld.com).

This is what we got:














I am so excited to use it all!

So far I have used the BBQ Pork which was amazing. We first had it as a side with some stirfry veggies and brown rice, just heated up. Then today we are having it in an Asian BBQ stirfry with mushrooms, peppers and onions over whole wheat couscous YUM!

I used some of the chik'n legs and made a shake and bake with them and I plan to make some buffalo wings with the remainder.

More updates, pictures and recipes soon!

Back from Our Disneymoon!...our dining experience

Neil and I just got back from a wonderful (but very short) Disney Honeymoon. We had 4 nights/3 days at Disney and it was the best time (we can't wait to go back). We stayed at the Port Orleans- French Quarter and it was great we even got upgraded to a river view room, we originally were supposed to be facing the parking lot. It was also a great place because there was a boat that takes you to downtown Disney we we were the first bus stop for all the parks.

Our first day we just wondered around some of the Disney Resort hotels and downtown Disney. We went to the Contemporary Resort were we played some games at the arcade and then went to lunch at The Wave.


We got honeymoon sparkling shiraz wine it was Delicious!


I had the vegetarian (vegan) stew with wild rice it was amazing. It was filled with fresh veggies and had a light vegetable broth.

Neil had the veggie tofu sandwich sans goat cheese and it was just as amazing and came with oven roasted potatoes.




Following this we went back to the hotel and lounged by the pool for a bit before we had to head to the Animal Kingdom Lodge for dinner at Boma. Dinner at Boma was great the chef came out and walked us through the buffet to let us know what dishes were vegan she was also willing to make us some other dishes if there wasn't enough but there was a ton of options. We had couscous, roasted veggies, a variety of rices, falafel and some yummy olive hummus, as well as a variety of salads and fruit! Our waiter was great too and got us a special desert some raspberry and coconut sorbet because there was nothing at the buffet we could have, overall it was great!








The next day we went to Epcot and Hollywood Studios (former MGM). We went to lunch at Epcot at the Rose and Crown Dining Room where we had a great lunch of vegetable curry with quinoa and bread and vegetable samosas with tamarind and mango sauce (sorry no picture we were so hungry).

Once it started to pour we decided to take a walk over to Hollywood Studios where we had a great time, Neil loved the Tower of Terror. We decided to go to dinner there at the Brown Derby where we had a yummy coconut crusted tofu noodle bowl that was filled with bok choy, edamame and shiitake mushrooms with a red curry sauce.




And we also got another free glass of champagne this time with a strawberry!



Our last day we went to Animal Kingdom which ended up being our favorite park I could have spent the entire weekend there it was so amazing. We went to the Rainforest Cafe where we had a portobello sandwich which was good. We spent the 2nd part of the day at Magic Kingdom which was packed! We were overwhelmed by all the people but made sure not to leave before we stopped at the Ice Cream Parlor and had some Toffuti! I had chocolate which was so yummy and Neil had vanilla.






Over all we had an amazing time and can't wait to go back!