Vegan MOFO

i'm gonna do my best to be part of the Vegan MOFO this year :)

tofu scramble

With these gloomy fall mornings, we've been craving substantial breakfasts. Today I decided to make the hubby a tofu scramble. There are so many different versions of this recipe online, I always just do my own thing with whatever I have on hand. Here's what I did today:

ingredients:
3/4 block extra firm tofu
2 T nutritional yeast
dash garlic powder
dash onion powder
dash turmeric
dash Spike seasoning
1 T peanut oil
1/2 small red onion, chopped
1 carrot, grated
salt, fresh ground pepper and hot sauce to taste

-crumble the tofu in a bowl and stir together with nooch, garlic powder, onion powder and turmeric. your mixture should be a little yellow and slightly fragrant
-in castiron skillet, cook up the onion with a lil oil, when the oil starts to get soft, add the tofu mixture in
-season with spike, salt and pepper
-cook until the mixture isn't so moist, maybe 10-15 minutes
-stir in grated carrot, top with a lil hot sauce

This recipe would work with a whole bunch of different veggies tossed in, and with lots of different spices. I was thinking this morning that it would be good with some curry powder in it. Very filling and satisfying breakfast :)

brussels sprouts with peanut sauce

This is one of my absolutely favorite dishes! Brussels sprouts have always been my favorite vegetable, even since I was a little kid. Much of this can be attributed to my earliest brussels sprout experiences being my grandma 'Bushie' cooking them for me. They were straight out of her garden and smoothered in butter... I fell in love right there.
Theses days I can't get enough of brussels sprouts anyway they are cooked. They are super yummy roasted, or shaved and made into a slaw. Mostly, I'm a sucker for my sprouts covered in peanut sauce and served on brown rice.

This is a dish authentic to no culture but my own, and I like it that way.. haha I used my standard yummy easy peanut sauce. I cooked up the brussels sprouts, cleaned, trimmed and cut in half, then steamed in a little water, when the water evaporated, I added a little EB to the pan and fried them til a lil crispy. Then I added in my peanut sauce and stirred until nicely coated.

pb stuffed cookies.

ive made these cookies twice in one week, that's how good they are! yummy chocolate cookies stuffed with sugar and peanut butter, yes please!
they are a little time consuming, but well worth the effort :)
i found the recipe here

spinachy fettucini alfredo

This dinner came out yummmmmmmy!!! Sometimes I get really excited about pasta, this was one of those dinners :) This recipe is a combination of a recipe I found on vegweb.com and a little of this, and a little of that.. Super healthy, filling and tasty! Here's what I did:

ingredients:
1 cup raw cashews
3 Tb nutritional yeast
1/2 large onion- chopped
2 cloves garlic- pressed
1 Tb earth balance (butter)
squeeze fresh lemon juice
1 tsp chickpea miso
salt and pepper
1 package frozen chopped spinach
1 lb. whole wheat fettucini
1 cup starchy pasta cooking water

-process cashews in food processor until cashews are in fine pieces, almost to a powder
-cook onions and garlic on stovetop in the earth balance, until slightly tender
-thaw frozen spinach
-add onion, garlic, thawed spinach, nooch, miso, and the pasta water to food processor.
-process until it becomes a thick creamy sauce, season with salt, pepper and a squeeze of lemon
-stir into pasta, and serve with vegan parmesan

holy yum yum yum

mac n' pepper-cheese

I convinced the hubby to buy me a copy of The Uncheese Cookbook when we were at the NY Vegetarian Expo a couple weeks back. This is the first recipe I tried from the cookbook. The recipe is for Baked Macaroni and Cheeze. I didn't quite follow the recipe exactly, I used more roasted red peppers than the recipe called for, and I didn't have a lemon, so no juice. The sauce consisted mostly of roasted red peppers, raw cashews, nooch and spices--all blended up. I used whole wheat rotini, and sprinkled homemade breadcrumbs on the top. Then it baked til bubbly and golden. I was surprised how orange and cheesey the sauce turned.

This was a very healthy recipe with barely any fat in the sauce. I think it came out quite yummy, not as cheesey-greasy tasting as my usual Vegan Mac recipe. I would definitely make it again. I think I just won't make this when I want comfort food. I admit.. I added some earth balance to the top when I ate the leftovers, I think I like my mac and cheese a lil greasey :) Cool cookbook though! I can't wait to try one of the firmer cheeze recipes.

pretty baked mac and cheeze

curried acorn squash soup with salad

This is tonight's veggie filled dinner. I realized that I have not been eating a ton of raw veggies lately, so I knew I wanted to have a big salad with dinner tonight. We got a bunch of salad veggies from the Greenmarket this morning. Here's the yummy salad I came up with: butter and red leaf lettuce, grated raw beets, sliced red onion, carrots, and pumpkin seeds, tossed with a lil balsalmic vinagrette. I really enjoyed the raw beets in the salad, their juiciness really made the dressing coat all the veggies.

I made a hearty soup for dinner. This was the kind of soup that warmed my soul, rich and flavorful, full of veggies too, so it was super healthy!

here's how I made the soup...

ingredients:
2 Tb olive oil
1/2 red onion- diced
1 large clove garlic- chopped
1/2 inch ginger- grated
1 tsp mustard seeds
2 small potatoes- cut into large chunks
1 acorn squash- peeled, seeded, then cut into large chunks
5 small carrots- peeled, then cut into large chunks
3 c. broth (i used 1/2 c. chickpea cooking broth, 1/2 c. kidney bean cooking broth, 2 c. water, 1 veggie buillion cube)
3 T curry powder
1 can coconut milk
salt, pepper and mango chutney to taste

-I heated the oil, in my big heavy soup pot, over med heat. I added the onion, garlic, ginger and mustard seeds, I cooked this together until fragrant (maybe 8 min).
-I then added in all the other veggies and the broth. I turned up the heat until I saw some small bubbles. I simmered this for about 25 min until the veggies started to get soft.
-I then added in the curry powder, and coconut milk. I used an immersion blender right in the pot, until the soup was completely smooth. I seasoned my soup with salt, pepper and 1 spoonful of mango chutney.
-I let the soup cook for about another 2o min.

We ate the soup with a lil dollop of EB on top and a slice of yummy bread. soup soup soup <3