yum vegan lasagna

Oh, this poor blog!  It's so sad and neglected. I haven't posted much since the Summer.  I will make it a goal to do better for this coming year.  I have a fun recipe for Peanut Butter Pie!  For Christmas, I made this:  

https://www.hummusapien.com/easy-vegan-lasagna/

I didn't get any pictures, and I changed it up (of course). We took out the tofu and made it with cashew cream and hummus.  I also skipped the nutritional yeast and did miso and lemon instead.  Next time I'll probably add a little bit of nutritional yeast, but it was pretty darn tasty.  And instead of spinach I used kale.

I'll post pictures the next time I make it.  I've never been a fan of making lasagna -- I think either Mom or Dad thought it was too much work.  It wasn't as bad as I thought it would be and it was tasty and fun.  Nat and Audrey were part of the process too and cooking with friends and family is always more fun.  More coming soon!

Fried Rice

Only the vegetable loving vegans in our house like this, but we do like it!

https://runningonrealfood.com/healthy-vegan-cauliflower-fried-rice/

I food processed the cauliflower.  I started chopping the small head by hand, but my arms were really sore from body pump so I got out the food processor.  I'm glad I did.  It took less than 14 seconds to make the rice (my food processor has a timer on it).  If I'd chopped by hand, I'd probably still be standing there chopping instead of having already devoured this.

I did pretty much what she suggested at the above link, heated the pan with the sesame oil, poured in peas and carrots (I didn't measure, but about 1/3 of a bag -- mine were frozen and the carrots are match strip cuts so they cooked super quickly).

I stuck the corn in (probably also about 1/3 of a small bag of roasted corn), some garlic 1 teaspoon of chopped dried, and the cauliflower with 3/8ths of a cup of soy sauce. I also put in some onion powder 'cause I didn't have green or regular onions, and the red pepper flakes.  I added a few shakes of Bragg's Amino Acids -- I didn't count, but quite a few with some squirts... probably about 1/2 - 1 teaspoon.

We ate it as soon as it had cooked for about 6 minutes and we love it!  File under another recipe we'll make again!

I was going to make this, but I didn't have all the ingredients.  Hopefully I'll make this next weekend, but I don't know.  It's going to be hard to NOT make this fried rice.

(And I forgot to take a picture.  We devoured quickly!  Next time!)

Philly

I'm a little over a month behind on many things...

We went to Philly in June and who knew there was such good VEGAN food there?

https://puresweets.com/

This was dinner one night.  OMG, so good.  I would go back in a heartbeat to eat there again.  They had a super fun "cheese" board as a starter, awesome pizza, good burgers (the buns weren't my favorite, but that is my only mild complaint).  Amazing desserts--brownies, tiramisu, ice cream sandwiches on delicious cookies.

And then there was

http://hipcityveg.com/

Fast food vegan, with all compostable wrappers/plastic ware.  So tasty -- we ate there twice.  They had fun milkshakes!  I loved the Philly "cheesesteak" wrap and the curry wrap ... I had a bite of the Bistro Bell....YUM!  I could have eaten there a few more times, but we were only there for 3 days.

I am hopeful that when I go to DC for work I'll get to go to the Hip City Veg there.

We also had dinner at my nephew's house and he made is what I am now calling "the Philly burrito."  I'll share what I've done with it since I've come home.

I didn't get pictures of food 'cause I was too busy shoving the food in my face... Here's a picture of the girls with their cousin at the Ben Franklin Science Museum.  We enjoyed Philly!

 

Vegan sushi

 

Nori

Cucumber

Avocado

Tomato

Sushi rice (grown in CA)

Roll

Here are the spices in the tomatoes...1/2 tablespoon soy sauce or tamari,  1/2 teaspoon minced ginger,  1/2 tablespoon sriracha, 1/2 tablespoon sesame oil, 1/2 tablespoon kelp powder

For the rice (at the end of the cooking cycle) 1 tablespoon rice vinegar, 2 teaspoons sugar, 1/2 teaspoon salt

See http://www.carrotsandflowers.com/vegan-sushi-tomato-spicy-tuna/ for the full recipe, the beautiful pictures, and the directions.  

I was intimidated, but it really was pretty easy.  

Oh, you need a SUPER sharp knife for cutting you sushi.  Fortunately, Nick got me new ones for Mother's Day.  (I need to blog about them.)  Natalie, Tia, and I loved this and can't wait to make it again!

 

Watermelon!

 

little one

 

~29 hours later! 

 

A bigger one.

 

 A very little one.

So excited!

The garden in July

 

We have beans, artichokes, zucchinis, corn, tomatoes and sunflowers.  They are all very happy and tall. 

Zucchini

 

It's that time of year again!  

This year, I made a roasted zucchini hummus instead of a raw zucchini hummus.  All I did was slice the zucchini, brush it with olive oil, and then roast it for about 40 minutes.  When it cooled, I made the hummus with the recipe on the previous page with the slight exception of cutting back on the tahini.  

We've also made zucchini bread (3x I think) -- Nick's specialty, roasted zucchini with pasta sauce, and a raw hummus.  The zucchini hummus (roasted or raw) is a very good pasta sauce!  

I'm looking for more zucchini recipes.  I have 2 very large ones sitting on my calendar.  Maybe my friend wants one (or two).  

In sad news, our apricot tree isn't doing so well and we didn't get any apricots from it.  Well, I guess we got about 10, but that's pretty sad considering we were getting so many a couple of years ago. 

Green kid

Today's spirit outfit for school.

Kira creates Bean Dumplings and wins!

Simply marvelous!  You can read the recipe on her blog.

Over the summer, the girls have a way to make money... Find or create a new recipe and blog about it.  They get paid $2-10 for the recipe.  Desserts earn less money than super healthy dinners.

New Pancakes!

We reached burnout on pancakes I made every week for 3-ish years.  We stopped making them 6 months to a year ago.  It was good while it lasted, and I expect we'll be back at some point, but for now, we needed new options.

It was last summer that Natalie found this recipe.  So simple and yummy.  Absolute perfection!  Here's Natalie's blog post about the recipe and a special topping.

Yum!

And, I just realized our scanpan is officially 4 years old and going strong.  We NEVER use oil in it.  The recipes may have a little oil in them, or nut butter, but we don't put oil into the pan.

Garden

I am so bad at blogging this year; we had a broken foot (two metatarsals) and a big meeting at work. Wooooooosh went four months.  Now we have three dance shows (plus two other performances that already happened).  (Can you say a little crazy around here?)

We've made a couple new dinners and I need to get them blogged. Natalie made a basil and cilantro pesto, Kira made a new pasta dish, we've been making a lot of guacamole and taco bars, and our list is helping us make a better rotation in our dinners. 

In the meantime, enjoy the pictures of our spring garden.  It was planted about a month ago (and these pictures are a couple of weeks old (see BAD at blogging this year). 

 
Artichoke, Zucchini, bush beans.
 

 
Corn for the summer!

 

 
fava beans from the winter garden that are now harvested and frozen for use through the year.

Green!

 

Love the green!

Lemon Muffins

I found this lovely recipe.  They sounded scrumptious.  I only changed it a little.  Here's what I did.

 
(Here's a picture, finally. The dame picture is on another post.)

1 flax egg:
1 tablespoon ground flaxseed
3 tablespoons warm water

1 cup whole wheat flour
1 cup of other flour -- I did a mix of almond and oat flower ~ 1/2 cup each, but I didn't measure super carefully (I never do)

2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt

Zest from 1 large Meyer lemon + 2 tablespoons juice
1 (5.3-ounce) container non-dairy yogurt.
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/4 cup unsweetened flax milk
1 tablespoon canola oil
2 teaspoons vanilla extract


Preheat the oven to 350ºF line a tin (my "tin" is silicone) with 12 muffin paper liners.

Make the flax egg -- whisk the flaxseed and water. Set aside.

Whisk together the flours, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in a large bowl.

When the flax egg is thick, add the lemon juice and zest, the non dairy yogurt, sugar, flax milk, camola oil, and vanilla extract -- stir to combine.

Pour the wet mixture into the dry mixture. Stir gently, being careful not to over-mix.

Divide the batter into the muffin cups. Bake for 15-18 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center of a muffin comes out clean.

(I ended up making 18 muffins, in mini muffin papers, but they were fat b/c I don't have a mini muffin tin.)  I cooked for 14 minutes. 

The recipe says you can freeze and explains how...To freeze: Cool muffins completely and freeze them in a large freezer bag or airtight plastic container. Before serving, thaw muffins overnight at room temperature or microwave them for 25-30 seconds.

I do not think we'll need to freeze these.  YUM!

Read more at http://ohmyveggies.com/meyer-lemon-vanilla-muffins-3-more-make-ahead-vegan-breakfast-ideas/#6FspzJoYVORBdoJx.99

Lemon Muffins

Happy Valentine's Day

My first sweet daughter made me this lovely peanut butter filled chocolate covered bites for Valentine's Day!  She knows the way to my heart!  Recipe soon.  (But don't hold your breath, it won't be that soon.) 

very very very easy

I think this blog should be known as the blog where recipes are SUPER easy.  I take recipes and try to hack them to make them easier and faster to make.  This blog is dedicated to people with very little extra time EVERY where!

Some of my hacks include:
1) using frozen veggies
2) cutting up onions ahead of time and freezing them
3) just being lazy

Today, I decided I wanted a chickpea scramble for lunch.  However, putting the chickpeas into a bowl and mashing them seemed like too much work.  I decided I needed to try to simplify chickpea scramble.  (What???! Chickpea scramble is VERY simple--it can't be done, they cried.)

It can and it was.  Here's how.

Open 2 or 3 cans of chickpeas.  Drain off 2/3 - 3/4s of the brine in the can, but keep 1/3-1/4.  Pour the chickpeas and brine into a regular pan.  Add a teaspoon or so of olive oil.  Add spices.  (I used 3 cans of chickpeas; I knew this was going to be good.)

Spices:
1-2 teaspoons of smoked paprika
2-3 teaspoons of chili powder  (maybe more)
1/2 teaspoon oregano
1-2 cloves of garlic
a few shakes of onion powder
1/2 - 1 teaspoon cumin
A few squeezes of Sriracha sauce (could be cayenne pepper)
1 teaspoon salt (remember I had 3 cans of unsalted chickpeas)

(Spices are approximate, I don't measure.  If you're nervous, start with the smaller amount, and then add more if you need it.  Tasting is part of cooking!)


Stir all the ingredients in the pan and smash the chickpeas while cooking.  I used a big stainless steel spoon to stir and smash.  Easier and less messy than smashing them in a bowl for chickpea scramble.  I cooked this for about 10-15 minutes.  I forgot to take a picture of what it looked like.  It wasn't that exciting; next time I'll get a picture!

I put it on a tortilla and smashed the chickpeas even more.  I added broccoli to my wrap.  YUM.  (I ate too much.)

Next time, I'll probably add some kale to the mixture. 

Sort of Socca

I call this sort of socca because we fry it instead of baking it.  

1 cup chickpea flour
1 cup water
3/4 teaspoon sea salt

spice with:
cumin
garlic or garlic powder
onion powder
chili powder or cayenne (optional)

Also needed olive oi.

I mix up the chickpea flour, water, salt, and desired spices and then let sit for a little bit of time (1/2 hour is good).

I make this into little pancakes in my cast iron pan with as little olive oil as I can manage.  The pan definitely needs to be coated well, and you need to keep adding it as you cook, but you don't need to deep fry.  (Although, I have used a lot of oil and it is good.)  I tend to make the pancakes somewhat small--about 1/4 cup of the batter at a time.

(Depending on how much oil you use, you might want to put these on paper towels to let cool so you can get rid of some of the oil.)


Yum!

Serve with sauteed onion and kale (or your choice of greens).

(This is comfort food, hence the "not healthy" label.)

Gyro "meat"

Reconstituting Soy Curls...
I spread them in a rectangular baking pan (9x9 or bigger so there's more surface area).

I sprinkle the soy curls with garlic powder and onion powder and add a little VERY HOT (almost boiling) water.  Add just enough to cover the bottom layer of the soy curls.  Stir a lot.  Add a little more water you need after you've stirred if some seem dry.  The bottom of the pan should be have maybe 1/8 - 1/4 inch of water on it.  Keep stirring.  Add other spices if your recipe needs it.

For the Gyro "meat" I sprinkle 1-2 teaspoons of dried oregano, 1-2 teaspoons or dried rosemary, a little ume plum vinegar about 1-2 teaspoons, and the juice of a lemon.  I don't add salt 'cause the plum vinegar is VERY salty.  If you use red wine vinegar you may want to add a little salt. 

I do this during the 10 or so minutes the water is soaking in and I'm stirring.  You may need to add a little more water and keep stirring.  The texture will be very soft, but not totally soaking.  (If you've soaked them in water you will see the difference.  I'm trying to get as much flavor into the soy curl as I can with this method.  If it's full of water, it can't soak up the flavor.)

In my big cast iron skillet, I add just enough oil to very lightly cover the bottom of the pan.  I stir them will browning them -- it takes about 10 minutes, maybe a little more.  I like them kind of crispy.

We serve with lettuce, tomatoes, and whatever sauce we have (sometimes hummus, sometimes more like a mayo)... I'll need to come back and list sauces.  I'll also need to add a picture.  Yum!

This is one of Kira's favorites!

Happy New Year's!

For 2017, I thought I'd start with a list of dinners that we like.... You know, the age-old question, what's for dinner?  Here's a start and most can be found on this blog (and I'll keep adding the ones that aren't here yet).

Veggie Burgers (so many choices)
French Toast
Pinto Beans & Rice
Black Beans & Rice (I make my Pinto Beans and Black beans almost the same.) 
Spaghetti & Marinara Sauce
Tofu Stuffed Baked pasta
Baked Tofu
Quiche
Socca bread  -- good with red sauce and stir fried kale and onions
Soup (so many choices! Curry, Veggie, Potato, Split Pea etc.)
Mexican Lasagna
Teggs & fakon (fake bacon)
Grilled Sandwich of some sort (really yummy with a homemade vegan cheese)
Mexican Quinoa Casserole
Mexican Garden Quinoa
Peanut Sauce with noodles and a vegetable
Pizza (on bread, on crust, on tortillas)
Curry Quinoa (not on the blog yet)
Roasted Red Pepper Sandwiches
Italian Meatballs with pasta
Indian Comfort food
Hasharole (2 kinds)
Enchiladas
Gyro "meat" (made with soy curls)
Chipotle Hummus  (Adobo Sauce + Hummus)
Chickpea Scramble
"Tuna"
Black Bean Dip
Nat's teriyaki noodles (now only Nat and I like these, but she'll eat a LOT of them so it's good to make them)
Bean Dumplings
Turkey dinner and lunch meat (coming soon).