Neatballs in a Sweet Sauce

I made these, sans the oil, and mixed them with roasted green beans, sugar free strawberry jelly, bbq sauce (sans oil and alcohol), and chili powder.  Yum!  (Idea from This Can't Be Vegan)

Also ate some cinnamon apple bread that I made a few days ago with these... oh, wow, that stuff is so good... from Plant Powered Kitchen (using sugar free maple syrup, baking blend stevia, and no oil.  Since I used all whole wheat flour, the baking time was also increased by about 15 minutes).

Black Bean and Nut Burgers

Hey, guys.  I'm back from the dead.  (All that SCHOOL WORK.  I literally have died 3 times since I last blogged)

 

 

With a really, really good burger.

 

And a single serving hamburger bun!  It's perfected!

 

Single serving bun, adapted from CCK:

 

Mix together:

• 1/4 cup whole wheat flour
• 3 tbsp non-dairy milk
• 1 tbsp applesauce
• 3/4 tsp baking powder
• a teensy bit of salt

Plop all of this on a baking sheet coated with nonstick spray, and sprinkle with sesame seeds if you want.  Stick into an unpreheated oven, and turn the oven to 420.  Bake for about 11-13 minutes, until it feels hamburger bun-like.  Done!  That was easy!

For the burgers (adapted from Oh She Glows):

Mix together, form into patties, and bake at 350 for 30 minutes:

• 1/2 cup onion, chopped, sauteed
• 1 clove garlic, minced, sauteed
• 2 1/2 tbsp flax seed + 1/2 cup warm water
• 1 1/2 cups breadcrumbs (make sure they are vegan - some brands aren't)
• 1 cup grated carrots
• 1 cup cooked black beans
• 1/4 cup chopped parsley
• 1/4 cup chopped almonds, toasted
• 1/3 cup sunflower seeds, toasted
• Soy sauce, cumin, oregano to season

Serve on buns with avocado and pickles

What's Up In My Kitchen - Recipe Round-Up (Finally!)

Ok, go glance at this article.  It will make you smile.

Blended chia pudding: if you don't like the texture of chia pudding, just blend it!  Makes all of the lumps go away, and it has the texture of yogurt.  Here, topped with piles of granola.

 

Made a batch of tofu feta.  Only this stuff is better than your normal tofu feta, because it's a LOT firmer.  Changes: 1/3 cup agar flakes, 3 tbsp olive oil (I ran out).  Wow, this stuff was good on a salad!

 

Pancakes... Mmmm... Sans frosting and raisins (which I left out and added a few pepitas), these make 2 292 calorie servings.  And the servings are HUGE!  I wanted to make the frosting, but forgot to chill my can of coconut cream... :(

 

 

 

Roasted Veggie Salsa - my first shot at homemade salsa.  I would recommend using less lime juice, but otherwise I loved this recipe.  Oh, and I used hatch chilis instead of jalapenos.  Because I have ALWAYS wanted to use those things...

 

Quinoa/Adzuki bacon.  Dang, this stuff smelled SO good in the oven.  Changed: cooked the beans, cooked up 1/3 cup quinoa to replace the buckwheat, Italian seasoning instead of thyme, and no oil.  It was a bit crumbly, but that was OK by me.

 

As for lunches... well, I've made a wrap with peaches, basil, lettuce, avocado, and sugar free blackberry jelly - yum!  Lots of fruit!

 

 

 

My other wrap has been peaches (can you tell I like peaches?) with the tofu feta, bacon, lettuce, and avocado.  Again, yum!  (adapted from Iowa Girl Eats)

 

 

 

Another new b-fast food: banana bread in a bowl.  Blendm, let sit for 45 minutes or so, and it's like ice-cream for breakfast.  Did I mention you should top it with chocolate (which turned out very good, by the way!)

 

 

 

 Salad dressing!  Good for using up a surplus of basil... Fat free and creamy basil blast for your salad!

 

And, finally, 100% whole wheat strawberry pepita muffins (adapted from Chocolate and Carrots)!  Mix:

2 cups whole wheat flour

1 tbsp + 1 tsp baking powder

1/3 cup pepitas

1/2 tbsp cinnamon

1/4 cup stevia baking blend

1 cup almond milk

1 tbsp apple cider or white vinegar

1 tsp vanilla extract

1/2 cup unsweetened applesauce

1/3 cup chopped frozen strawberries

 

Pour into muffin tins and bake (I have only a mini muffin pan - this made 24 muffins, 250 calories for 7 muffins.  Bake for about 17 minutes for mini muffins, probably 27 for regular)

 

 

Beany Salad

Adapted from Vegan Belle

• Lettuce (arugula + iceburg)
• Black beans
• Chickpeas
• Avocado
• Croutons (dice bread and stick it in the oven until dry and crisp.  Yup, it's that easy!)
• Carrot sticks

TVP Burgers

Epic burger-ness!

Yay!

And, like M said, the pickles are the best part.  (Totally kidding ;) )

Adapted from Melomeals

For the sauce: blend together 1/2 cup tofu, 2 tsp onion powder, 2 tsp garlic powder, a few pickles, liquid smoke, and 1 tsp dried mustard.  Set aside.
Bring 2 cups of water to a boil.  In a large-ish bowl, mix together 1 cup tvp, 1/2 tbsp garlic powder, 1 tbsp onion powder, fresh chopped oregano, sage, paprika, 1 tbsp flax meal, 3 tbsp nooch, 1/3 cup oatmeal, and 1/2 cup italian flavoured bread crumbs (whew!  That was a lot!)
Pour about 1/2 of the boiling water into the tvp mixture, and add 1/2 tbsp soy sauce, liquid smoke, 2 tbsp ketchup, and a bit of balsamic vinegar.  Add water until the mixture can be formed into patties.  Shape into patties and bake at 350 for about 30 minutes.  Serve on hamburger buns with tofu sauce, cheeze sauce, and pickles!

What's Up Wednesday #2

Gingerbread Cookie Oatmeal.  That's right. So sweet!  A combination of Bottomless Oatmeal and Gingerbread Oatmeal (minus the molasses, lots of sugar free maple syrup, no coconut, steiva)

Been reading a good book: They Came to Baghdad by Agatha Christie. It's nice to actually read a book again, since I've been so busy with school work :D

I made these coconut flour sandwich thins (with guar gum and no nooch)!  Since the bread that I've been using had milk in the ingredients list (!) I knew I had to switch.  So, then I stumbled onto Foodie Fiasco - and WOW what a fabulous blog!  So many low-cal, healthy things.  Anyway, the sandwiches were super good.  Although, next time, I would make 8 pieces instead of 4, and then there would be no need to cut them in half. (UPDATE: I did make the 8 pieces yesterday, and it worked marvelously!)

Pineapple-Orange Setian - using oatmeal for the soy flour, mirin for the olive oil, and leaving out the nooch.  So, it was quite an ordeal to get this cooked!  First, I steamed it for 30 minutes.  It was still undone, so I baked it at 350 for 15 minutes.  Then I had it in a stir fry, but it was still super gummy.  the next day, I cut it into thin strips and grilled it on my panini press, and now it's OK! ;)  Next time, I would just steam it for 45 minutes and then grill it.  THAT should be muuuuch easier!

I've been enjoying this sandwich for lunch, on the sandwich thins that I made, with the Pineapple Orange Setian.

Super yummy salad dressing, a great way to use up that tomato paste in the fridge! ;)
(Of course with lots of changes: tomato paste for sauce, added LOTS of mirin, cider vinegar for the tarragon vinegar [have any of you ever seen this? I sure haven't], onion powder not juice, and Italian herbs in stead of dill)

And here's an interesting link that vegnews posted on facebook, in case you didn't read it: how being vegan saves water too!  Wow, we're sooo good! ;)
Ok, so another VegNews story.  Gross, or interesting?  You decide!

Onion Soup + Extras

Well, I can't just have onions!  Soup must have carrots.  And beans.  And rice.

Adapted from Smitten Kitchen

Saute onions sliced into half rings (or whole rings, if you are feeling patient) and carrots. 
As far as seasonings go: vegetable and veggie chicken bouillon, Italian seasoning, butter extract, fresh basil and parsley.  Then came wild rice.
At the end of cooking, I added cooked gargantuam lima beans, red kidney beans, and pinto beans, along with a corn starch slurry (using up random beans, can you tell?)
Served with fake meat, toasted bread, and cheese, French onion soup style. ;)

Brussels Sprouts + French Toast

So, I have odd combinations for dinner.  It tasted good.  Any questions?

Brussels from 101 Cookbooks; Toast was from Chocolate Covered Katie.

Both were fairly simple.  The brussels were tossed with mirin, garlic, oregano, and fresh parsley, and then roasted at 375 for 25 minutes.
The French toast... mix together 1 smaaallll mashed banana, 1/3 cup soy milk, and cinnamon.  Dip bread in the mixture and cook in a frying pan until done.  It will smell very good and bananay.  Yes, that is a word.  It came into existance just now.  Mmm... I will probably be making this stuff again soon, it was sooo goooooddd.....

ADORABLE Wonton Pizza Cups, Bagel Sandwich, and Roasted Potatoes with a Dip

Heh, yeah, I'm so behind on this blog, so I'm doing really BIG posts.  Whatever works, right?

Ok, so first up these wonton pizza thingies.  Man, they are the cutest thing I have eaten in for-ever.  I seriously mean that!  Ok, so they were a bit of trouble to put together in the pan, but I didn't really have much else to do that night so it was all good.  Plus, they were so full of flavour and different pieces that I didn't mind what work I did put into them.  Another plus was that there were 24 of them, so there were quite a number of leftovers.  They actually do smell like pizza when they bake, too, so that always such a treat.  What really shocked me was how much the tofu did really taste like ricotta cheese- it had just the right texture in this dish.  One thing about these, though, is you can't eat them with your fingers.. boohoo.

Next up, this lovely bagel sandwich.  I think I have it perfected now!  I have been wanting something different for my breakfast for quite some time now, so I decided today was the day!  Plus, I wanted a nice excuse to use my panini press, so this seemed like the perfect chance.  So, this takes about 5 minutes to throw together, and you can do other things while the bagel cooks.  I got my bagels from Einstein's- they're not homemade, but they coud be if I got ambitious.  They're slightly spicy from the fake sausauge, and sweet from the jam.  All for around 350 calories!  Yum...

Finally, these roasted potatoes.  The potatoes themselves are not a total ingenious thing, but, paired with the dip, they are something that I will certainly be making again when I'm in a pinch for time!  They are so simple to through together, and make a nice addition to any meal.  Leftover sauce is really good on baked potatoes, too.

Wonton Pizza Cups

Adapted from Chow Vegan

Makes 24

24 wonton wrappers          1 cup tomato sauce

1 tbsp molasses

1 tbsp Italian seasoning

1/4 cup cheese

2 oz mushrooms, thinly sliced
2-3 small carrots, coined

1 garlic clove, minced

8 oz tofu, pressed

10 basil leaves,

1 tbsp red wine

1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon garlic powder

Salt and pepper to taste

Preheat the oven to 375.

Heat a small frying pan, and sauté the mushrooms, carrots, and garlic until tender. Set aside.
Mix together the tomato sauce, molasses, and Italian seasoning in a bowl, and set aside.

Put the tofu, basil, wine, nutmeg, garlic powder, and salt and pepper in a bowl and blend with an immersion blender. Alternatively, put in a food processor or blender and blend. Blend until well mixed but not smooth and creamy- about the consistency of ricotta cheese. Set aside.

Coat 24 muffin tins with nonstick spray (I used a mini muffin tin) and press a wonton into each cup, like a liner. Put a dollop of the tofu mixture in each wonton, then a layer of veggies, and finally the sauce. Sprinkle with cheese, and then bake for about 12 minutes, until heated through and the wontons are slightly browned. Serve.

Bell Pepper and “Sausage” Bagel Sandwich

Adapted from Healthy Happy Life

Serves 1

about ¼ cup red bell pepper strips

1 soy sausage patty

1 bagel, cut in half

1 tbsp apricot sugar free jam, or other jam

Preheat your Panini press, and press the bell pepper and patty for 5 minutes. Spread the lam on both sides of the bagel, and then put the bell peppers and sausage on the bagel. Press the bagel for another 1-2 minutes, until heated through. Serve hot!

Roasted Potatoes with Spicy Dip

Adaptd from Gluten Free Diva

Serves 3-4

2 lbs potatoes, any kind, cut into ½ inch cubes

1 tbsp olive oil

Salt and pepper to taste

1 cup fat free mayo

½ tsp cumin

1/2 tsp smoked paprika

1/4 tsp onion powder
¼ tsp garlic powder

Salt and pepper to taste

Preheat the oven to 375. Mix together the potatoes, olive oil, and salt and pepper in a plastic container or bag, and spread on a baking sheet. Bake for about 35-40 minutes, until tender.
Meanwhile, mix together the remaining ingredients in a small bowl.
Serve cooked potatoes with the dip.

Gourmet Grilled Cheese (It Comes With Veggies!)

Yeah, I know.  It's not the healthiest thing in the world.  And grilled cheese.  Come on Basil, really?  Yes- I would sink so low as to make a grilled cheese sandwich and post about it.  But... this is much MORE than your average grilled cheese sandwich.  It's got... veggies in it!  Yeah- some onion and bell pepper.  So that makes it unique.  Perhaps I am not original.  In fact, I know this is not original, beause I got the idea from Happy Healthy Life.  But whatever.  I have been craving a grilled cheese for quite some time, so this was something that was a compromise between unhealthy and healthy.  As we all know, grilled cheeses are not all that good for a person.  There's the bread first of all, which is not your most heathly food in the intire world.  I  think, though, I have minimized that because I used thin slices of homemade, whole wheat, fat free bread in this sandwich.  Secondly, I used low fat cheese, so that got rid of some fat there.  Finally, I know that 99% of those grilled cheeses out there on various recipe sites slather the outside of the bread with butter or oil, or something along those lines.  I decided to totally omit that part, and let the bread do its stuff as far as browning goes.  Plus, the addition of veggies made me feel much less guilty about eating this sandwich; moreover, (haha, I feel so sophisticated.. I used a semicolon) they added an extra boost of flavour and interest.  So, yes.  I was very satisfied with this little indulgence, and it went very nicely with a tomato-based soup for a rather... perked up traditional dinner, if I do say so myself.  Another major added bonus was that this was so quick to make.  I had come home from a summer cap totally exhausted, as usual (more on this in a later post), and this took very little effort to throw together. 

Gourmet Grilled Cheese Sandwich

Adapted from Happy Healthy Life

Serves 1

1 slice low fat cheese
A few slices of onion and red bell pepper

2 slices whole wheat bread

Heat a small frying pan over medium heat with a bit of nonstick spray. Sauté the onion and bell pepper without water, stirring almost constantly, until they start to burn/brown, about 10 minutes. Remove from heat.

Meanwhile, preheat the oven broiler. Lay the slice of cheese on one slice of bread, then top with the veggies when they are done. Cover with the other slice of bread, and bake in the oven for about 3 minutes each side, or until each side begins to brown. Eat hot, with some tomato-based soup and a big salad!