Broccoli and Sun Dried Tomato Pasta

Adapted from Cookie and Kate

Saute up some garlic and broccoli.  Toss with cooked whole wheat pasta, chopped sundried tomatoes, black olives, nooch, lemon juice, chickpeas, and a bit of arugula.

Was that easy or what ;)

Pearl Couscous, Veggies, Tofu

I've had this little container of pearled couscous in my pantry for ages now.  It's actually expired... but the couscous totally tastes fine, and I'm not dead yet.  Just goes to show you that the labels are usually quite generous with their dates.

 

 

I don't know if you guys even CARE or not...

 

But I DO know that you care about a pile of carbs, protein, veggies and olives!

 

Gotta love those olives...

Adapted from Olives for Dinner

First up, press your tofu slabs - 2 per person

Cook some pearled couscous (aka Israeli couscous)

Mix together

• Mirin
• Soy sauce
• Rice vinegar
• Liquid smoke
• Dried thyme
• Lotsa fresh parsley
• A drop of butter extract
• Vegetable bouillon
• A few drops stevia extract

Place chopped onions, red bell pepper, and tofu slabs on a panini press, and drizzle some of the sauce over the tofu.  Cook for ~8 minutes...
Serve: couscous, veggies, tofu, leftover sauce, and black olives.

Quinoa Salad

Ok, guys... I have exciting news!

No, I'm not pregnent... or moving... although it seems like every other blogger is one or the other, which is kind of odd.  Anyhoo...

I'm going to the Big Apple tomorrow!  Yup, that's right!  For college visits/vacation, so I won't be here for the next few days... be back next Wednesday, though, with loooots of pictures of good vegan restaurant food.  You know, I haven't been on a vacation in... what, 2 years or so?  That's a long time!  Well, I'll leave you with a faboo salad to look at..

And if you want more food, check out my tumblr page!

Adapted from Cook Easy Vegan

Grill up some chopped onions, carrots, and mushrooms on a panini press.
Mix cooked quinoa with nooch, southwestern seasoning, paprika, garlic powder, and  sumac.
Top with black olives, pistachios, and drizzle with sugar free maple syrup.

BBQ Tofu Salad

Yay!  Tofuuuuuuuuuuuuuu!!!!!!



 You have no idea how long I have been wanting to say that.

Yup.



I'm dead serious.

Adapted from Keepin' It Kind
First up, tofu: Cut one slab of tofu per person, press, and then slather with this bbq sauce (using 6 oz tomato paste, not 4, and no need to cook it).  Bake for 30 minutes at 375, and slather with more bbq sauce.
Base: lettuce.
Add in the tofu, black olives, canned mandarine oranges, broccoli, avocado, and top with this dressing.

Tomato-Olive Salad Dressing

M said this tastes like creamy tomato soup.  Well, I dunno about that, but it's tastey ;)

Adapted from An Unrefined Vegan

Blend together 1/2 cup tomato paste, 1/4 cup mirin, garlic powder, dried basil and thyme, 1 stevia packet, a few tbsp sugar free maple syrup, 8 olives, 1/2 cup mirin, juice of 1 small lemon, 1 tbsp apple cider vinegar, 1/2 tbsp veggie bullioun, and 1 tbsp nooch.  Add more mirin, until desired consistency is reached.

Ranch Pizza

Mmm, Friday pizza night!

Adapted from Mommy's Kitchen

I used this pizza crust, cooking it on the panini press
Topped with a vegan ranch dressing: tofu mayo (partially cooked silken tofu + lemon juice), a bunch of green dried herbs (think basil, majoram, oregano, etc), onion powder, and garlic powder
The came bell peppers and onions grilled on the panini press
Then tofu marinated in pinapple juice, soy sauce, and maple syrup, then grilled on the panini press
A few olives
And FYH mozzarella cheese/
All cooked together on the press.........

Catching Up! Macaroni Pasta Salad

Heh, my AP US History exam is over... I literally feel like a ten pound weight has been lifted off my shoulders.  So, now I can do more IMPORTANT things, like blog. ;)

This recipe is adapted from HHL, I believe, but I can't find the link... (found it, 15 minutes later!)

Base: whole wheat pasta
Veggies: torn basil, chopped sun dried tomatoes, olives, roasted red bell pepper
Dressing: tofu mayo (partially cooked silken tofu blended with lemon juice), mirin, garlic powder, nooch, Spike seasoning, chopped parsley
Served over chopped iceburg lettuce.

Loong Recipe List

This was a school project.  We had to do a 'self portrait'.  I was like "I can't draw/paint"... so I asked my teacher if I could cook something, and she said that was fine.  So here are the fruits of my labour! (Apologies for the funky formatting... I copied and pasted from Word, so that usually messes things up)

Adapted from (in order)
Chocolate Covered Katie
Chocolate Covered Katie
HHL
Notes from the Vegan Feast Kitchen

Minted Brownies

Mix together ¼ cup mint cocoa powder, ½ cup whole wheat flour, ¼ tsp baking powder, ¼ tsp salt, and ½ cup sugar.  Add in 3 tbsp blended silken tofu, 1/3 cup applesauce, 1 tbsp oil, and 2 tbsp soymilk.  Stir well, and pour into a loaf pan.  Bake for about 20 minutes at 325, until firm.

Peanut Butter Cookies

Mix together 5 tbsp whole wheat flour, ¾ tsp soda, ¼ cup sugar, and 2 tbsp brown sugar.  Mix in ½ cup peanut butter and 2 tbsp applesauce.   Refrigerate overnight.  Shape into small balls, and bake at 350 for 12 minutes, until firm.

Vegan Cobb Salad

Base: lettuce.  Toppings: mandarin oranges, black olives, broccoli, kidney beans, cheese, and tofu bacon.

Tofu Bacon

Press tofu for 30 minutes in a towel between two plates to get out extra moisture.  Slice.  Marinade in ½ cup soy sauce, 2 tbsp nutritional yeast, 2 tbsp brown sugar, 2 tbsp ketchup, and 1 tsp liquid smoke overnight.  Grill on a Panini press until completely flat.

Cheese Sandwiches

Spread white bread with tofu mayo and add soy cheese slices.  Cut into squares and serve.

Roasted Red Bell Pepper and Cream Cheese Wraps

Preheat the oven to 375.  Chop a red bell pepper in half, and then knock out most of the seeds, and take off the stem.  Place the pepper, skin up, on a baking sheet, and bake for 45 minutes – 1 hour, until the skin is blackened.  Set aside to cool, then peel the skin off, and cut into strips.

Spread a thin layer of Tofutti herbed cream cheese on a wrap, and add bell pepper strips, and fresh basil.  Cut into slices and serve.

I'm Feeling GOURMET!

Although this took 1 1/2 hours to put together, the end result was totally worth it.  Yum, I l-o-v-e fennel!  Adapted from EatingWell.

Preheat the oven to 400, and coat 3 pans with nonstick spray.  Slice up 1 fennel bulb, saving the fronds, and lay that on one pan.  Chop/slice 1 large leek and 1 small red onion, and put that on another pan.  Chop up 1 lb broccoli, and put this on the final pan.  Drizzle each pan with about 1/2 tbsp olive oil.  Then cut off the top bit of a garlic bulb and dip the exposed bits in olive oil, and place the bulb on another pan (yes a bulb, as in a head... not a clove).  Bake all of these pans for 20-35 minutes, until veggies are tender.  Broccoli will finish first, garlic last, so check these periodically.

Meanwhile, coat a large casserole dish with nonstick spray, and mix together 2/3 cup ww flour, 2/3 cup sunflower seeds, 2/3 cup oatmeal, and applesauce in the pan to form a pie crust.  Smooth the dough over the pan's bottom and sides, and bake for 12 minutes, until browned.

Blend together 1/3 cup olives, lots of parsley, and a bit of mirin to make an olive tapenade.

Chop the fennel fronds and lots of parsley with the roasted garlic.  These don't have to be very finely chopped - rough is OK.

To assemble, spread the olive tapenade over the bottom of the pie crust.  Mix together roasted veggies, chopped fennel frond mixture, 1/3 cup nooch, a bit of red wine vinegar, dried rosemary... and pour all of this in the casserole dish.  Bake for 20ish minutes, until the top is slightly browned. 

Eat and feel super fancy because this is a GOURMET dish! ;)

Quickie Lunch Wraps

So, here's what I made for my lunch today:

A whole wheat healthfied wrap lightly coated with Herbed Toffuti.  The veggies were red bell pepper, grated carrots, olives, and avacado.  Quick yet satisfying.  It seems like avacado is really growing on me...

Adapted from Healthy Happy Life

Orzo and Grilled Veggie Salad

This one is for M's lunch box.  However, I couldn't resist having some for dinner (I DID make it for her, after all), and so here's the recipe..  Adapted from here.

Cook just over 1 cup of orzo. 
On a panini press, cook 1 small onion and 1 large red bell pepper, both cut into strips, and about 1/4 lb mushrooms.  Mix with orzo, along with halved black olives and chopped parsley and basil.  For the dressing mix together dijon mustard, mirin, balsamic vinegar, and Italian seasoning.  Mix everything together, and enjoy! 
If you're not vegan, this salad is supposed to get feta on top of it, which is rather tasty.  However, I am trying to be vegan, so no cheese for me.

Sheesh, sorry, my camera's being stupid... picture tomorrow!

And... it's tomorrow!  Here's the picture:

Pizza

Christmas Dinner - Pizza

I used this crust (nixing the oil), which I had frozen some time ago, and grilled it for about 10 minutes.  The sauce was a mixture of tomato sauce, Italian seasonings, fresh parsley oregano, fennel seeds and garlic powder.  The veggie toppings consisted of grilled mushrooms, onion, and bell pepper, and some wilted spinach.  Topping everything was some black olives and vegan mozzarella cheese.  The whole thing was grilled for around 10 minutes.  Slice and serve!

Just an FYI - if you split the crust into 10 balls, each one will be about 200 calories.  Then you add your toppings etc., and split it with a friend.  You have yourself a 150 calorie pizza!

Mexican Tomato Rice

So, here’s a very simple, very hands-off sort of recipe that will satisfy carb cravings, and will still provide at least a serving of veggies, if not more. Sound good? Yeah, that’s what I thought. I think I have totally fallen in love with those taco seasoning packets. They are so useful, and have just the right mix of spices to give whatever dish a burst of great flavour. Taco-y flavour, too. Who doesn’t love that lovely taco-y flavour, with its good taco-y-ness? Come on, don’t tell me that you don’t like it…

If you even care what my favourite brand is for taco seasonings, it would certainly have to be the Taco Bell. Yeah, I know it’s kind of weird to be using a restaurant brand. Buuut… it’s sooooo much cheaper than all the other brands that I see next to it on the shelf. And I am perfectly happy with it, and see no need to switch. But really, I’m just cheap. Which isn’t necessarily a bad thing. It just implies that I will be very successful later in life because I am cheap. Yeah. Whatever.

So back to the food. Like I said, there is quite a heap of flavour in this little rice dish. And I know it is very watery to begin with. Trust me, it will get less soggy, especially the leftovers. The tomatoes give it such a nice rich, robust flavour, and really do lend a nice red hue. I love the olives. Like, really love the olives. Probably because they are really high in fat, but what the bananas. They taste flippin’ good, and add that nice little burst of flavour every now and then. Which is totally down with me. Also, the rice seemed to be a little spicy, but I have no clue why. There weren’t really any spicy ingredients, soooooooo… Hm. A mystery? Oh, I love mysteries! Food mysteries… Yeah. Anyway, here’s the recipe, in all its glory.

Mexican Tomato Taco Rice

Adapted from I Eat Food

Serves 6

1 small-medium onion, finely chopped
1 small red bell pepper, diced
3-4 cloves garlic, pressed
2 scant cups brown rice
14.5 oz can petite diced tomatoes
1 ½ tbsp tomato paste
1 cup water
1 taco seasoning packet
A splash red wine vinegar
2 tbsp chopped parsley

½ cup thickly sliced black olives

Heat a large pot over medium high heat. Add a bit of water, and then the onion, bell pepper, and garlic. Sauté for 5 minutes or so, until the onions are turning translucent. Add in the rice through vinegar, reduce to low heat, and simmer for 35 minutes. Stir in the olives and parsley, and simmer for another 15 minutes, until the rice is tender. Serve hot.
As leftovers, this will become dryer.

Another Potato Pizza

Here's something new to try: a potato pizza.  These are a lot healthier than normal pizzas, and, I think, a lot better.  Plus they are more fun to eat.  This version was better  than the first type that I tried, and I would totally try several different variations on these.  And they are quick to throw together.  I loved taking them for lunches, too, because they traveled well.  The addition of a few spices to the veggies made all the difference to make this dish stand out.

 Potato Pizzas #2

Adapted from A Dash of Flavour

Serves 8

1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
1/2 teaspoon ground coriander
1 teaspoon garlic powder
2 large baking potatoes, sliced the long way into flat pieces about 2/3 cm thick

1 small can tomato paste
1 small onion, chopped

1/2 red bell pepper
1 cup mushrooms, sliced

8 black olives, sliced
dried chilli flakes to taste

½ cup mozzarella cheese, grated

Preheat oven 350.
Heat a small, frying pan over medium heat, and add the onion.  Sauté for 3 minutes, and then add the mushrooms and bell pepper.  After those are tender, about 5 minutes, add the cumin, coriander, garlic powder, and chili flakes. 

Put the potato slices on a baking sheet coated with nonstick spray, and then top them with the tomato paste.  Add the veggies, and then olives and cheese.  Bake for 35 minutes or so, until the potatoes are tender.

Italian "Ham" and Veggies with Green Olives

It's kind of sad, but I have no clue what I will be cooking for Christmas.  Which, I suppose, is not all that crazy because it will only be for M and I.  But still, I feel like I should be making something special.  Perhaps just winging it will be the best option, and whatever comes will come. 
Just as another little side note, yesterday I ate a bad potato.  Note to self: never eat a potato with a rotten center, because it will make you feel sick for the rest of the day.  And that was so not cool.  I came so close to just staying home for the whole day, because that's how close I came to being sick.

But, most thankfully, the food today was much better.  Dinner was a very elegant affair with this dish.  What's kind of funny though is that I had intended to bake this dish, but had totally forgotten about that.  So I ended up making it into a stir fry type thing, which is just as good.  I thought this was quite an excellent dish, and it certainly looked fancy enough.  I had mine over wild rice, and M had hers over whole wheat spaghetti.  Both were delish, we agreed.

“Ham” with Veggies and Green Olives

Adapted from Practical Pasta and Italian by Fiona Biggs
Serves 4-6

½ 100 gm log of “meat”, cut into 16 semi-circles
1 onion, chopped
4 cloves garlic, pressed
2 small red bell peppers, chopped
1 lb crimini mushrooms, sliced
14 oz diced tomatoes

¼ cup dry cooking sherry

½ cup green olives, cut into thirds
Salt and pepper
Chopped cilantro

Preheat the oven to 350. Bake the “meat” for 10 minutes, until heated through. Keep warm until ready to serve.
Heat a wok over medium high heat. Sauté the onion and garlic for a couple minutes, then add the bell pepper, and mushrooms. After a couple more minutes add the tomatoes and cilantro. Cook until tender.
Serve the rice/pasta first, then veggies, and finally the “meat”. Add the olives and salt and pepper to individual servings.

Hodgepodge Salad

I honestly have no clue how this salad came to be.  I am pretty sure, though, that you could call it something that is a clean-out-the-fridge sort of dish.  It sort of ended up as something to use up all the odds and ends that were lying around, bugging me.  The original thing that got this salad started is called Salad Nicoise from Allrecipes.

And, obviously I got a bit carried away with throwing in everything that came to mind.  But the end results were really good- although M liked it a bit more than me.  I think the one thing that did not belong was the eggs, but other than that, it's a great salad at any temperature, very filling for you, and very emptying for the fridge.

Hodgepodge Salad

Adapted from Salad Nicoise and French Cafe Summer Salad

Serves 6

• 1/2 pound new potatoes, chopped
• 1/4 cup chopped fresh basil
• 10 green olives, sliced
• 2 cups cabbage, shredded
• 1 red bell pepper, chopped
• 1 tablespoon capers
• ½ cup dried pink beans, cooked
• ½ red onion, thinly sliced
• 1/2 pound fresh green beans - rinsed, trimmed and blanched
• 4 cups baby spinach, stems removed
• Juice of 1 lemon
• 2 tbsp raspberry vinegar
• 2 tbsp soy sauce
• 1 tbsp balsamic vinegar
• 1 tbsp miso paste

Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Add potatoes, and cook until tender but still firm, about 15 minutes. Drain and cool.
In a large bowl mix the basil through the spinach. Add the potatoes.
In a separate bowl mix the remaining ingredients and add to the big mixture. Serve, or chill until ready to serve.

Spicy Browned Curry Tofu and Veggies

Wow.  This dish turned out... really spicy.  Not to mention good smelling and tasting... but still.  M and I were actually crying a little bit at the end of our bowls.  But, despite the heat (foodwise, and outdoors, still), it turned out to be something quite memorable!
This is another dish that I adapted from the cookbook Wok.  It was originally called Spicy Fried Meat, and used pork, and had lots of oil and cucumber.  But, obviously, neither of those sit well with me, so I decided that some changes were in order!  At the last minute, I asked M what other veggie we should throw in, becauce the pile looked rather skimpy, and she liked my suggestion of cauliflower.  I actually really liked that addition, so yay.
The tofu seems to take forever to brown properly, but M and I were patient, and I think it was in the wok for atleast half an hour.  We were well rewarded though, and it was so nicely browned.  And I have included the original amout of chili sauce and curry paste in the recipe, but, just warning you, it's HOT. 
We served ours over a bed of raw green cabbage, but this would also be a great dish to have over rice or with noodles.  I might give rice a whirl next time... we'll see.

For some reason, this week I have been craving mushrooms.  M and I made a trip to the Asian market yesterday, and we came back with a boatload of mushrooms.  They have a really strong odor, but I don't really mind- nor, thankfully, does M.  It's actually quite envigorating.  But our fridge is exploding with things of Asian origin... need to work on that.

Spicy Browned Curry Tofu and Veggies

Adapted from Wok

Serves 4

1 tsp peanut oil

1 lb tofu, chopped (I did triangles just for a change here)
½ tsp pepper
4-5 tbsp soy sauce
3-4 tbsp rice vinegar
1 tbsp stir fry sauce
1 tbsp chili sauce
1 ½ tbsp yellow curry paste
2 shallots, chopped
1 cup cauliflower, sliced into florets
8 cloves garlic, thinly sliced
1 ½- 2 cups purple cabbbge, shredded
2 large king oyster mushrooms, chopped
8 black olives, sliced
8 green olives, sliced
2 baby bok choy, chopped
Nutmeg, to taste
Peanut for garnish

Heat the peanut oil in a wok over medium high heat. Add the tofu, and fry for about 30 minutes, turning occasionally, until nicely browned on all sides. Remove to a bowl.

Mix together the pepper, soy sauce, vinegar, stir fry sauce, chili sauce, and curry paste in a small bowl. Set aside.

Heat up the wok again, and add a little water. Add the cauliflower and shallots, and stir fry for 2 minutes, adding water as needed. Add the mushrooms, cabbage, and garlic, and cook until fairly heated through. Add the bok choy and both kinds of olives, and cook until bok choy is wilted. Stir in the sauce, and add the tofu and nutmeg. Heat through, and serve when all veggies are done, topped with peanuts.

Serve over rice, noodles, or raw green cabbage, with plenty of tissues and water.

Two Dishes (that were) in the Making

Last night's dish was Polenta Pizza.  The toppings turned out excellent, but... the polenta crust was rather mushy.  I think I might have added too much water, and will keep playing with the polenta- I'm only a beginner with the stuff, after all!  When M and I reheated it in the oven tonight, the crust turned out better and more crispy, but the toppings were burnt quite badly!  Although... they were still tasty.

And another dish called Cashew Asparagus came on the menu for dinner.  Actually, since green beans are in season, they posed as the asparagus, but they are both long green things, right?  Anyway, I dunno what went wrong, but the dish didn't turn out as good as last time- although that might have been because the beans were rather tough...  Oh well, it still tasted decent! 

Oh, a very depressing story.  I was provided lunch today by the group I was with, and they had pizza. Just the smell of greasy pizza makes me natious... and for snacks, they had more chips.  Again, lovely, fattening oil!  So, I ended up with a blueberry muffin for lunch, really late.  It was not at all good- greasy and 8 grams of fat in one, unfilling muffin.  And the group leaders said the food was actually going to be healthy.  Go figure!

Well, here are the two recipes.  Muchly improved, might I add.

Rosemary, Mushroom, and Olive Polenta Pizza

Adapted from Polenta by Brigit Legere Binns and Whfoods.com

4 servings

Ingredients

• ½ cup polenta
• Salt
• 1 ½ cups water
• 2 tsp fresh rosemary, chopped
• 2 tbsp veggie broth
• 1 1/2 cup mushrooms
• 1 small onion, sliced into half-rings
• 10 black olives, sliced
• ¼ cup reduced fat blue or feta cheese
• 1 tbsp fresh rosemary, chopped
• 1 tbsp sun dried tomatoes

Preparation

1. Bring the water, lightly salted, to a boil in a medium pot. Slowly pour in the polenta, stirring with a wooden spoon. Add the 2 tsp rosemary, and continue stirring for 20 minutes, or until the spoon can stand up for a couple of seconds by itself.
2. Preheat oven to 350.
3. Pour polenta into a pizza pan, and spread as thin as possible.
4. Bake polenta in the oven for about 20 minutes, until it begins to brown. Remove and set aside.
5. Meanwhile, heat the broth in a frying pan coated with non-stick spray over medium heat. Add the onions, cook for 4 minutes, and then add the mushrooms. Continue cooking until tender, and remove from heat.
6. Top the polenta with mushrooms, onions, olives, cheese, tomatoes, and 1 tbsp rosemary, and bake in the oven for 10-12 minutes, until the cheese is melted and toppings are done as desired.


Cashew Green-Beans-Posing-as-Asparagus

Adapted from Better Homes and Gardens

4 servings

Ingredients

• 1 tbsp soy sauce
• 2 tbsp teriyaki sauce
• 1 tbsp mirin
• 1 tsp corn starch
• 2 tbsp broth
• 1 small onion, sliced
• 2 cloves garlic
• 1 lb green beans
• ¼ cup chopped red bell pepper
• ½ lb mushrooms, sliced
• Pepper, to taste
• ¼ cup cashews

Preparation

1. Mix together the soy sauce, teryaki sauce, mirin, and cornstarch. Set aside.

2. Heat the broth in a wok coated with nonstick spray over medium high heat. Saute the onion and garlic for 2 minutes, and then add the green beans. After two more minutes add the bell pepper and mushrooms. When the mushrooms have begun to soften, add the sauce, and cook until all the vegetables are tender. Stir in the cashews, season with pepper, and serve.