Lentil Loaf

Erm.. sorry about the weird font stuff going on in this post...

Loaf adapted from here.

Ok, so this one is rather complex… soak and cook 1 cup dried green lentils, then mash.  Toast ¼ cup chopped walnuts.  Sauté 1 cup chopped onion, garlic, a couple green onions, and 1 medium grated carrot.  Mix together 1 tbsp ground flax seed with ½ cup warm water.  Then all of these things get mixed in a pan, along with vegetarian chicken bullion, 1/3 cup applesauce, ¼ cup raisins, ½ cup cranberries, lots of dried thyme, 1/3 cup oat flour, and ¾ cup breadcrumbs.  All of this went in a loaf pan and was baked at 350 for 45 minutes.  The sauce on top was a mixture of ketchup, syrup, and balsamic vinegar.

I have to say that the first night I had this, it was not that great.  But I didn't bake it for the full 45 minutes - so that's esential to success.  Secondly, I like the outside bits the best because they were the crispiest, so I would maybe try spreading out the loaf in a thinner layer to get more crust and less inside. I'm pretty sure with these changes, this would be really yum.

Chili-ish Soup

Om nom nom!  This was good!  Adapted from HHL

Veggies were onion, carrots, and garlic.  Added to that red kidney beans, yukon gold potatoes, diced tomatoes, tomato sauce, vegetable bullion, vegetarian chicken bullion, 1/4 cup mirin, 2 tbsp chili powder, chipotle chili powder, allspice,, 2 bay leaves, apple cider vinegar, 1/4 cup nooch... oh yes, and lots of chopped parsley.  Finished off with a bit of torn up spinach and veggie ham, thickened with corn starch slurry.

And some pictures of asparagus.  I made it, but it didn't taste that good, so no recipe.  The picture was nice enough, though...

Roasted Chickpeas in a Trail Mix

So, I decided to make a trail mix type thingy for my lunch to go with my sandwich...

It was a mixture of roasted edamamme, almonds, rice crackers, and these chickpeas, inspired by the Book of Yum.

The chickpeas were mixed with chili powder and baked for 40 minutes at 400F.  That's it... literally.  And they were quite good, but next time I would let them bake a bit longer because they could have been a bit crunchier.  Other than that, winner!

Lotsa Baked Beans

Wow!  Ok, so before you make this dish, make sure you have lots of things to soak the beans in, and lots of dishes to bake them in.  I filled a 13x9 casserole dish, 4 small ramkins, and 2 large ramkins.  Now I know what I'll be having for dinner this week... but it's totally ok - these are amazing, and just spicy enough for my wimpy taste.  Adapted from I Eat Food

Oh, real fast before I forget, I also made a pretty good salad dressing: tofu mayo (silken tofu + lemon juice), apple cider vinegar, dried spearmint, dried basil, and raspberry syrup.

The beans were a mixture of GIANT lima beans, pinto, great northern, and red kidney.  About 1 1/3 cups dried of each, and then soaked overnight and cooked.  Then I sauteed a large onion, a couple of carrots, and a small-ish red bell pepper, and added the beans.  The sauce was 16 oz canned tomato sauce, 1/2 cup light bbq sauce, 3/4 cup brown sugar, 1/4 cup molasses, 1/3 cup ketchup, 1/4 cup apple cider vinegar, 1/3 cup dijon mustard, 1/2 tbsp liquid smoke, 1 tsp chipotle chili powder, 3 tbsp chili powder, 1 tsp allspice... yup, that's all..

Then this was stuffed into pans/ramkins and baked for 45 - 90 minutes, depending on the size of the pan. 

The one thing I would change next time would be to add a bit more sauce, although I had the smallest ramkins tonight so they might have dried out anyways.  It was still so amazing and satisfying - it's been waaay too long since I've made baked beans...

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

Fish and Chips... erm... Breaded Tofu and Sweet Potato Fries

These turned out GREAT!! The tofu was actually super crispy, and both the fries and tofu had great flavour...  Adapted from Oh She Glows

The tofu was pressed and cut into thin slabs.  Dip #1 was soy milk, and dip #2 was Italian flavoured  1/3 cup bread crumbs, 1/3 cup corn meal, cinammon, chili powder, and cumin.  Make sure to coat the tofu really well...

The fries were sweet potato wedges coated in mirin, cinammon, cumin, and paprika.

Both were baked for 40 minutes at 400F, flipping halfway through, then broiled for 3 minutes (the original recipe called for five minutes but the fire alarm went off after three because the tofu started burning, so M and I decided to call them done...)

Serve with ketchup

Chickpea and Pasta Soup

This soup had a very memorabe flavour.. :)

Adapted from WTHDAVEA

The veggies were onion, carrot, spinach, and broccoli.  Spices were vegetarian chicken bullion, and lots of smoked paprika and Italian seasoning, fennel, and a vegetable bullion cube.  I also added spiral whole wheat pasta, chickpeas, and vegetarian ham.  Thickened with cornstarch slurry... wow!  Flavourful, much...

Black Bean and Sweet Potato Enchiladas

Mm... enchiladas!!  Adapted from Oh She Glows.

The filling was sauteed onion, bell pepper, and garlic.  Mixed with sweet potato and black beans, a small bunch of spinach, and then combined with a bit of nooch and lots of chili powder and cumin.  And a bit of chipotle chili powder for good measure.  This all went into 6 wraps.

The sauce was tomato sauce, salsa, cumin, chili powder, liquid smoke, and balsamic vinegar. 

The sauce was dumped over the wraps, and then all of this was baked at 350 for 30 minutes. 

Served with mashed avacado mixed with garlic powder, cilantro, and lime juice.

Stir Fry

:)
It's another stir fry...

Veggies: carrots, onion, broccoli
Sauce: soy sauce, sugar free maple syrup, mirin, hoisin sauce, corn starch
Brown rice...
And the best part:  the Tofu Cube!  I got the giant deep fried tofu cubes from the Asian Market.  Then I cut an X in the tops and stuffed them with...
Stir fried spinach and garlic with 2 slices of ginger that were removed, mixed with a bit of hoisin sauce.

Add the tofu cubes once the veggies are done cooking, when you add the sauce.  They will heat through.  And they are so much fun to eat!  (I took bites out of my cube without cutting it... M cut hers.  Typical.)

Adapted from my new favourite blog, WTHDAVEA

A Rather Odd Sandwich

But it's sooo good.  Weird how those odd combinations work out so well...

I used this bread, and one half got tofu mayo (partially cooked silken tofu blended with lemon juice), shredded carrots, and avacado.  The other half got tofu mayo, apple slices, and almond cheese (pepperjack flavour).  I know, odd.  But tasty, nonetheless!

Adapted from Healthy Happy Life

Quickie Roasted Bell Pepper and Green Beans

Ok, I have to say that I didn't expect that much from this dish... WOW!  It was so good!  Yum, and super easy to boot.

I wanted to have a few pieces of granola with dinner, on a whim, so that's what's next to the veggies on my plate..

Adapted from Kalyn's Kitchen.

Mix together 1/2 tbsp olive oil, 1 tsp grated ginger, 1 clove minced garlic, about 1/2 lb green beans, and 2/3 of a bell pepper cut into strips.  Bake for 20 minutes at 450F, until nice and roasted.  Serve, and top with pine nuts.

Lentil and Black Bean Soup

Hah!  I actually have the picture this time, as well... this is another excellent lentil soup.  Super thick, too!

Ingredients were 1 large onion, equal amount of carrots, lots of garlic, 1 tbsp smoked paprika, 2 bay leaves, diced tomatoes, tomato sauce, soaked lentils and black beans, water and vegetarian chicken bullion, cumin, rice, and parsley.  Yup... I think that's it...
Oh, of course, I tossed in some fake beef too.  Bliss...

Adapted from here.

Spaghetti Salad

Here's the salad I was talking about yesterday.  I had some for lunch today, and it was pretty good! 

Base of 10 oz ww spaghetti.  Sauteed about 1 cup each red onion, red bell pepper, broccoli, and chickn nuggets.  The dressing was 3/4 cup fat free Italian dressing (yeah, I know, that's cheating... but I seriously can't figure out how to imitate Italian, and I was not about to make something up that night), poppy seeds, salt, paprika, garlic powder, pepper, and a smidge of cayenne pepper.  Mix it all together and let it marinade.

Erm.  Yeah, once again no picture.  It'll come soon, promise!

A Massive Cooking Session Today.

And only one thing that I actually ate... so I can only post one thing!  I made soup, spaghetti salad for M's lunch, and mac n cheeze. Here's the mac recipe, adapted from here, which I thought was really REALLY good.  Nice and creamy, and it tastes quite like cheese.

Blend together until creamy: 1 cup tofu, 3/4 cup almond milk, 1 medium-small sweet potato (peeled, cubed, and boiled), 1 tbsp apple cider vinegar, garlic powder, 1/2 cup nooch.  Mix with about 5 cups cooked ww spiral pasta in a casserole dish.  Top with sauteed broccoli mixed with cilantro, 2 vegan hot dogs (coined), and a bit of caramelized onion (no oil, just cooking spray).  Cover with foil and bake until hot.

Serve with a dab of salsa.

 :)

Fail Ravioli, but Good Sauce

Yeah, I don't like boiled wonton wrappers.  I found that out tonight - I used them to make ravioli, but didn't like their slimyness.  But the filling/sauce was good over pasta, so here that is!

Adapted from WTHDAVEA

For the tofu mixture: wilt 1/2 bunch spinach.  Mix with 10 oz crumbled tofu, nooch, nutmeg, parsley, and pepper.
For the sauce: mix 2 tbsp corn starch with Silk, and add that to a kettle with more Silk and Toffuti sour cream.  Turn to medium heat, and keep stirring until it gets really thick.
Heat the tofu, and serve with the sauce over pasta.

Chickpea and Onion Patties

Sorry, no picture tonight.  It'll be up tomorrow!

This has been my lunch for this week, and it's YUMMMMYYY!  :)
I put one burger on this bread, which I slather with tofu mayo.  Shredded carrots go on the other half of the sandwich.

Adapted from here.

Mash 2 cups chickpeas, and stir in 1 small sauteed onion, 3 cloves sauteed garlic, parsely, cumin, nooch, coriander, sumac, pepper, lemon juice, 1 tsp baking powder, and 1 cup Italian flavoured bread crumbs.  Add about 1/3 cup mirin and/or some water until it holds together.  Shape into patties and bake.