Flashback...

...to December!

I've been promising to post pics of what I made for my dad's soiree and still haven't quite gotten to it yet!

Until now...

Here's the menu!

Pad Thai from Vegan with a Vengeance



This was received well, but we took half of it home. This is M's favorite, so there was no complaining about that!

Green Bean Casserole



I made up the recipe as I went along for this. I used a couple of bags of frozen green beans, some pureed white beans thinned with some soymilk, and lots of garlic, Earth Balance and thyme. I found the French Fried Onions at Trader Joe's and used the entire canister. This was delicious!

Portobello Stroganoff (with meatballs) from Vegan with a Vengeance



I used the recipe from VwaV for the stroganoff and replaced the seitan with mock Swedish meatballs that I whipped up with some Gimme Lean ground beef style. This came out really well, and people really liked it. People did not like it as much as my real Swedish meatballs, but I have yet to find a convincing version. Give me time.

Chickpea Broccoli Casserole from Vegan with a Vengeance



I made this because it's easy and I love it. It is one of my most favorite recipes ever. People didn't go for it so much. They thought it was quiche. We told one woman that there was no egg and no cheese in it and she took a big scoop.

I had leftovers all week! :)

Tourtiere as inspired by my family recipe (with crust from Whole Foods)



My memere is very specific about how to make Tourtiere. In our family we only use potatoes, no oatmeal. Of course she also only used pork in her recipe, whereas my other memere always used different kinds of meat. My dad's side of the family were more spicy than my mom's side of the family who only used onion as seasoning. I always loved my mom's side's texture, but loved my dad's side's spiciness.

The key, according to my memere is to boil the potatoes with the skin on. So for this I scrubbed 3 medium russet potatoes and boiled them. When they are tender, run them under cool water and gently peel away their skins. Voila!

I used a tube of sausage style Gimme Lean and basically sort of boiled it with the potatoes with some garlic, cinnamon, nutmeg, and onion. I just dumped everything into a pot and added a bunch of water and let it cook down and mashed it. That's how the meat version is made, so I figured, what the heck!

It came out amazing. Wow is not the word. I didn't actually eat any of the pie, but I did have some of the filling.

The pie crust was a different story. Crust is the bane of my existence! I tried using a recipe out of Bryanna Clark Grogan's Almost No Fat Holiday Cookbook and it was a bust. I then tried another oil based pie crust recipe off of Vegweb and that failed miserably as well. I called all the Whole Foods in my area and they were sold out of vegan pie crusts, so I settled for one made with butter. Desperate times called for desperate measures, and I didn't feel so bad about it because I was making this for omnis and my dad acutally paid for it. If someone has a good pie crust recipe, please email it to me!

Farfalle with Grape Tomatoes and Olive Tapenade from Vegan with a Vengeance



This was something I threw together because I sort of had the ingredients. I subbed farfalle for the orrechiette as that's what I had and they are so fun! I also used grape tomatoes instead of cherry, and only about half the amount. I didn't have Kalamata olives, so I used the can of black olives I had in my cabinet. All things considered, this tasted excellent! I'm sure it would have tasted better without my substitutions, but it tasted restaurant quality on its own. I think that is the big reason I love VwaV so much! I can totally futz with a recipe and it still comes out wonderfully.

Indian Spiced Rice from Vegan with a Vengeance



This was yummy. It was like something out of a restaurant. Most of it was gone! I was able to sneak some out, but it was only about one serving.

Apple Butternut Casserole



This was inspired by a recipe from Vegetarian Times. It's really really simple and made more delicious by the buttery panko crumbs on top.

It was a lovely affair, and everything I made was vegan with the exception of the pie crust for the tourtiere.

My dad always takes care of snacks (chips and dip and cheese and crackers) and always has his choir members bring dessert. I always make something to bring for a dessert in case the unthinkable happens and people show up empty handed. This NEVER happens, so we always have this dessert orgy. What made it worse was the fact that my dad went whole hog and got a tray of various brownies from the bakery in addition to the multi flavored cheesecake and tub of cookies he usually gets. What he didn't bank on was that his choir members really like to go all out and bring big desserts. There was this huge German chocolate cake, tons of cookies both store bought and homemade, brownies, bars, fudge, truffles... It was like the Million Calorie March!

I made some oatmeal raisin cookies and some Gigantoid Peanut Butter Oatmeal cookies from VwaV...


Even with all of the desserts, they were popular, but I did take half of them home.

All in all it was a success. No one asked any questions so there were no awkward moments!

Goodness...it's been so long!

First of all, I hope you have had a wonderful holiday season. I was incredibly busy. It started Thanksgiving when I had to make an impromptu week long journey out West to see my mom and grandparents. I'm not complaining, but boy did I get sick during and after my trip! The week after that I had that party to cater for my dad's choir group. It went very well, I have to post about that (next post, promise!). I thank everyone for their recipe suggestions!

And then, well, that whole Christmas thing... Family, friends, work, shopping, cooking, baking...it seemed never ending. I made gifts for a lot of my coworkers and boy did that take time!

I should also mention that I began a concerted effort to workout at least 3-6 days a week. I joined the gym in my office building and go at least 3 times a week. I've been doing this since just before Thanksgiving and it has helped me to de-stress and fit in to my pants. Both are good things.

Sadly, I haven't had the time to do much blogging. Oh yes, I cooked, I baked, I even burnt weird little designs on my hands and fingers from knocking around in the oven and not realizing that my skin has touched a searing hot oven rack (or worse-the door) until after the damage has been done. Goodness, after all the blood, sweat and blisters, I feel I should have more to share!

Here are a few of the highlights of my hiatus:

Wilma :)

She is my mom's little Yorkie/Chihuahua mix. She was the family dog until I moved out! She's 7lbs of spunk and love. She is a little love that enjoys opening doors, stealing the eyes out of unsuspecting stuffed animals and sleeping in the crook of your knee. She lived for several months as a feral dog, the leader of a small pack of strays that lived in the woods for an unknown amount of time. You would never know it now...



Emily :)



Wilma's playmate. My mother and her husband decided that Wilma needed a canine pal a few years ago. Enter Emily, the toy poodle. Wilma and Emily get along, but are usually just competing for attention. Emily is a kiss monster.

Pumpkin Muffins from VwaV

Yikes. I made these for Thanksgiving breakfast. Everyone loved them. The word 'vegan' was not used, I just told them that there was no butter or egg. My memere loved them so much she wanted the recipe!



Road Shots (driving from Vegas to Lake Havasu, AZ)









Some of the shots are a little blurry, but please bear in mind that I am an amateur with a digital camera and I was taking pictures through the window of a moving car.

Some interesting bits around my grandparents house in AZ



Their prickly pear cactus is HUGE!



They have a little palm tree they planted in the backyard that is so incredibly cute...



And these pretty flowers. I have no idea what they are. I should have asked my memere!



Grub



My last meal in Vegas, made with Thanksgiving leftovers. Collard greens, chickpeas, butternut squash and my addictive cranberry sauce.



Quinoa with spinach, garlic and tomatoes topped with some tofu pan fried with nooch.



Pumpkin hummus (chickpeas, pumpkin & sesame oil) and broccoli for dipping. I think I got the idea for this off of a fellow blogger's site, but it escapes me. Props to you whoever you are!



M's second favorite dish, Soyboy tofu ravioli in marinara sauce. Thank goodness for simple pleasures!



I found these when I was at the conventional grocery looking for some cheapy baking supplies. They were on the expensive side, but it did mean not getting take out for dinner. In the grand scheme of things, they were really very good, though they were shaped much like fish sticks for those of you who might harbor painful memories of school lunches.



I made scrambled tofu & roasted potatoes more times than I could count. It's fabulous as a no brainer stand by.




Okay, Sammy was drinking at the time...I couldn't help it, I so rarely get him still while he's conscious!

So that was a nice journey down memory lane...

Now, let's get up to speed.

My New Year's resolution was to go macrobiotic. I don't know for how long, perhaps only a few weeks or months, perhaps forever. I have issues with energy and health that just haven't been resolving themselves and my doctor really hasn't been a help. Exercise has helped immensely, but I need something else. I have the luxury of having a macro buffet place close to home and work, so I knew that the food could be delightful. I had a day of decadence on December 31st which included red wine, peach bellinis, French Cambodian food, champagne, chocolates, and Banana Split Brownies from VwaV.

Starting January 1st, I started eating like this:



(blurry shot of lentil stew with quinoa, boiled collard greens, kinpura carrots and parsnips, and cabbage pickle)



Butternut squash soup garnished with toasted nori



Scrambled tofu (macro style), quinoa & boiled broccoli



Miso soup with tofu, wakame, daikon, shiitake & red miso



Pressure cooked cauliflower and millet

So far, so good! I like the food, but it is a little more work than I am used to. If anyone out there has any tips or experience in this realm, please--enlighten me!

Back, and needing help!

I have had a busy and rough couple of weeks! I got a cold/throat thing while in Las Vegas, so my visit wasn't the greatest. I did get to spend some time with my mother and grandparents, so that was good. I was very disappointed with the restaurants I went to out there, with the exception of Chipotle, and really I just ate a lot of steamed greens and chickpeas most of the time I was there. I'm okay with that, it just got a little bland over time.

Food pics are coming, as I did do a little cooking while I was out there and after I came back.

I am now gearing up to cater a party for my dad's choir group. My father organizes a volunteer choir group that sings mostly religious/spiritual holiday music at various nursing homes in his area during the holiday season, and even organizes a special Christmas "Midnight" mass at a local Catholic nursing home on Christmas Eve. It's a great time for the members, and for the residents, and over the years my dad has even persuaded some nursing home residents to join his group. This party is typically semi-potluck, and usually my dad asks people to bring dessert to help me out. I don't think he knows how much I love to make desserts. I am going to keep the menu 90% vegan, and I was thinking of making a bunch of recipes from VwaV as they are fairly easy, always tasty and I feel that many of them could appeal to many of the older, unadventurous palates that I'll be feeding.

So my question to you is...do you have any great fairly easy recipes that you think can totally rock a bland omni's world? Oh, and does anyone have a good vegetarian recipe for Swedish Meatballs?

Thankfully...

...I've made something to post! The past couple of weeks have been kind of hectic and I've made nothing worth posting. The good thing is that I've been getting aquainted with the gym in my office. The bad thing is that we've been eating a lot of boring food lately.

Since M and I are going our separate ways for the holiday, we thought it would be nice if we did a pre-Thanksgiving feast. I toyed with the idea of a Tofurkey, but they're kind of pricey and well...I've heard some mixed reviews. I decided that since we won't be home, we should just use up what we have in the fridge/pantry and make something wonderful out of what we had.

The Menu

Stuffed Tofu
I used the idea from Susan's post and just stuffed with a different filling and used a different marinade. I think the only thing that remained the same was the tofu and method of preparation.

I marinated my tofu with a little water, a spoonful of Vegebase some thyme, garlic bay leaves and a little sesame oil.

Quinoa Stuffing
I love quinoa. I like it better than rice even, so I thought it would be great as stuffing. Here's what went into mine.

4 cloves garlic, minced
4-6 scallions, snipped
3 ribs celery, finely chopped
2-3 medium carrots, finely chopped
2 cups veggie broth (I used water mixed with Vegebase)
1 tsp thyme
1 tsp fennel seeds
1 cup quinoa

Saute veggies until they start to soften slightly (about 5-7 minutes). Add broth and quinoa and bring to boil. Lower heat and simmer until most liquid is evaporated.

Cranberry Sauce
Easier than easy, here's how I make mine.

1 cup fresh cranberries
1 cup orange juice
1/4-1/5 cup sugar

Set it to boil and then reduce to low. Let it cook until most of the liquid has evaporated and it starts to look like jelly. :) It took mine about an hour... Keep it covered for maximum effect.

Roasted Broccolini
I had a pound of broccolini in the fridge that might have been wasted had I not made use of it! All I did was wash it, trim the ends and throw it into a foil pouch and into a 350 degree oven for about 20-30 minutes. It took the same about of time as baking the tofu with the stuffing, coincidentally enough...

Lemon Garlic Broccoli
We had some leftover steamed broccoli, so I just quickly sauted in a pan with a little Earth Balance, some fresh lemon (I used the juice from one small lemon), garlic and dried Italian seasoning. Yum!

Herb & Garlic Beer (cider, actually) Rolls
This was a mix that I have had forever. No really. I am almost positive I got it at the Duty Free Shop the last time I went to Canada on the way home and I was trying to use up the rest of my Canadian currency so I bought random things there. I love the Duty Free shop...they sell the most random things there (mostly maple syrup, tshirts and alcohol, but still). I decided that the mix should be used, so I mixed the dry stuff with some Magner's (I had no beer, only cider) and baked it in a muffin tin instead of a loaf pan. I'm really not much for white flour, but I knew these would find a place in M's heart (he ate two with dinner). The cider with the herbs and the garlic made a great combo.

And here it is all plated!




I'll be doing a lot of cooking for the holiday, so stay tuned! :)

Pad Thai leads to padded thighs...

...or so my jeans tell me! I made Pad Thai from Vegan with a Vengeance tonight. I didn't make it for me to eat because I'm trying to be good and eat in a manner that would make Dr. Fuhrman proud (and/or help me shed pounds, either way it's a win-win, right?). I made it for M as he is totally enamoured with this recipe, and because it makes a ton of food, he can have it for lunches and dinners and what have you over the next several days.

Ugh, this is too good not to eat! I tweaked the recipe a small bit, using sesame oil instead of peanut oil, leaving out the cilantro, and using cashews instead of peanuts as I didn't have any, but it still came out wonderful! I really should work on adding an ingredient or two that I don't like so I wouldn't crave this and dream about grabbing it out of the fridge everytime I walk by...



Yes, it's hard to be strong when you know that there is a hefty bowl full of that goodness hiding behind your orange juice and carrots. Actually, I think I put it behind a big bunch of kale. Kale will save me, right?

So while M is feasting on that lovely load of carbs, oil, and soy sauce (oh, it's wonderful!) this is what I'm eating...



Tempeh Sausage Gravy (from VwaV of course) with pureed cauliflower (I meant it to be a mash, but it had other ideas) and grilled asparagus.

Good. Very good actually. But it's not Pad Thai!



Oh well, time to go cuddle a puppy!

Bananas: Scourge of my childhood, passion of my maturity...

Little Nikki did not like bananas. Little Nikki didn't like much of anything.

One day, Nikki grew up and her taste buds changed. Suddenly all sorts of food that she did not like before started tasting wonderful. It was like magic!

Nikki met Mr. Banana one day on her way to make a smoothie.

Mr. Banana said, "You should take me with you because I love smoothies!"

"But, while I think you're beautiful, I really don't like bananas."

"Just give me a try, just this once. If it doesn't work out, we'll never have to see each other again!"

So Nikki took Mr. Banana and added him to her smoothie. Sure enough, the end result was a symphony in her mouth. She loved it so much that Mr. Banana became a regular in her smoothies and soon thereafter he became her egg replacer of choice for baking.

Nikki quickly became a little too obsessed and accumulated two dozen bananas. "How am I going to eat ALL of these?" she wondered out loud. Suddenly it hit her!

Banana Bread!

And with all of those bananas there were enough for not one, not two, but three whole loaves!

Banana Chocolate Chimp Bread (courtesy of Sticky Fingers Bakery as published in VegNews in their Oct 06 issue)



1/3 cup margarine
1/2 cup sugar
2 cups flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
2 medium ripe mashed bananas
1/2 cup soy or rice milk
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 cup of chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350. Cream margarine and sugar, mix in flour, baking soda and baking powder. Add bananas, soymilk and vanilla. Mix until batter is moist and sticky. Fold in chocolate chips.

Pour batter into greased loaf pan and bake for about 50 minutes or until top is brown (or passes toothpick test).

This recipe is great. It is very easily adapted to any filling you might want to substitute for the chocolate chips, and is good on its own too. I happened to make one with the chocolate chips, one with pineapple chunks, coconut and sunflower seeds (a tropical banana bread!) and a plain one with a bit of cinnamon, nutmeg and quince butter for added spice.

Getting Autumnal on the Charles (River)

Saturday



Sam: I wanna go outside!

Me: [groan]

Sam: Please?



Me: Ugh

Sam: I could just lift up my...

Me: Okay already!

Sam: I like our pumpkin!



Me: Move it, buster.

Sam: My shadow is so cool, it looks like another dog!



Me: You're so cute! Let's cross the street!






Sam: Let's go on the river path!

[runs and pulls at full grey speed]




Sam: Oh look, there's my favorite log to sniff!





Me: Oooh, do you see how pretty the river looks?












Sam: Yeah, this is great...but I want to go exploring!

Me: You're the boss!









Sam: HEY! Watch your step!

Me: What? Why? Ahhhhh!




Me: What is that??!?!?

Sam: It's just a caterpillar.

Me: My, what a big fuzzy thing...

Sam: Oh look!

Me: What now?



Me: I think the wind must have knocked it over or something.

Sam: Can we go back home now?

Me: Sure, let's take the stairs to the street.






Sam: [sigh] I don't like the asphalt walk home.




Me: Look on the bright side...your shadow is back...



Sam: Yes! Oh look, our pumpkin has a friend!



Me: Looks like it! I think someone deserves a treat!

Sam: I'm good with that.





This excursion was brought to you courtesy of:



My brandspanking new digital camera which I have named Betty. :)