Orzo with a Very Flavourful Sauce

So, when I say flavourful, I mean FLAVOURFUL.  This packs a punch.  Not for the faint-hearted... Adapted from PPK.

Heat 3/4 cup pineapple juice, and then add in 3/4 cup TVP.  Allow TVP to soak up liquid, adding more juice as needed. 

In a saucepan, saute 1 small chopped red onion and ~2 cups broccoli florets.  Add in 6 cloves of roasted garlic (smashed with the flat side of a knife), 1 cup white wine, anise, rosemary, 1 cup pineapple juice, veggie bouillon, 1 tbsp flour, 1/2 cup chopped sun dried tomatoes, nooch, and coriander.  Then add in ~2 cups torn spinach, and allow to wilt.  Serve sauce over cooked orzo pasta, and top with TVP.



Soup... with LOTS of Stuffs

Soup! 

Adapted from Oh She Glows

Veggies were onion, carrots, garlic, and bell pepper.  Then soaked pinto beans, tomato sauce, and diced tomatoes went in, along with some brown rice.  Spices were cinnamon, majoram, brown sugar, nutmeg, coriander, and 2 bay leaves, along with veggie bouillon.  Towards the end frozen peas, chopped parsley, and a corn starch slurry were added.

Low-Cal 15 Minute Coconut Macaroons

Me: =D
Thanks to Chocolate Covered Katie... The only thing I changed was to skimp on the coconut milk by
~2 tbsp, and micorwave for 3 minutes instead of 2.

These are like little bursts of coconut...

Pea Risotto, Grilled Tofu, Grilled Mushrooms

It's been AGES since I've made risotto.. which is odd, because I have occasional cravings for it every once in a while... so, tonight I made this.  It turned out really good, and I especially liked the tofu!

Adapted from WTHDAVEA

Press a few slabs of tofu, and then marinade in soy sauce, agave, and ketchup.  Grill on a panini press with sliced crimini mushrooms.
Saute 1/2 small chopped red onion and chopped garlic.  Add a generous cup of risotto rice, and 2/3 cup white wine.  Once the wine is almost gone, add water and vegetable bullioun, adding more water until the rice is SUUUPER creamy, and really cannot take any more water.. about 35 minutes.  Also, stir the rice as much as you can - like, every other minute, give it a few seconds of good stirring. Once the rice is saturated, add in peas, nooch, and butter extract.  Serve topped with tofu and mushrooms.

Coconut Veggies, Beans, Tofu

Meh.  AP exams.  Take.  Over.  My.  Life.
But I can still cook!...  So, about this dish.  I slightly overcooked the broccoli, undercooked the beans, and should've added more coconut milk.  But it was still good, and I would totally eat this again.  :)

Adapted from WTHDAVEA

Cook some brown rice.  Boil a small chopped/peeled sweet potato.  Press 4 slices of tofu.
Saute chopped garlic and broccoli florets until the broccoli starts turning green, then add 1 1/2 cups black beans.  Stir together and add: coconut milk, corn starch, maple syrup, 'cowboy' seasoning mix, chili powder, thyme, and butter extract.  Add in the cooked sweet potato.
Slather the tofu with maple syrup and grill on a panini press.
And then it's all done...

Roasted Potatoes, Green Beans, Tofu, Wine Sauce

So, M asked me what we're having for dinner.  I said "this fancy thing" and she was like "What's that supposed to mean?"  Well, here's this fancy thing...

Adapted from WTHDAVEA

Roast fingerling potatoes, green beans, and garlic.  Cut a slit in a large fried tofu cube and stuff a clove or two of roasted garlic in there, and then pop the tofu in the oven to heat it.
Saute 2 cups sliced crimini mushrooms, and set aside.  In a saucepan, saute 2 chopped shallots until brown, then add 1 tbsp flour.  Stir in 2 cups white wine, slowly, until all the wine is added.  Add veggie bouillon, pepper, 1/4 cup tomato sauce, a bit of butter extract, and Italian seasoning.  Simmer until slightly thickened, and add the mushrooms to the sauce.
Serve the roasted thingies, and ladel the sauce over all.

Black Bean Tortilla Pizza

Yes, I left the broiler on a bit too long... but it still tasted great.  Just goes to show you how good this dish is ;)

Adapted from Oh She Glows

Saute sliced red onion and red bell pepper.  Mix together 3 tbsp soy milk, 2 spoonfuls nooch, garlic powder, onion powder, a smidge of dijon mustard, a smidge of flour and a drop of butter extract*.  Add the nooch mixture into the veggies along with some black beans. 
Spread a tortilla with tomato sauce, then add the veggies. Sprinkle with cumin, chili powder, chopped parsley, and FYH mozzarella.  Bake at 350 for 10 minutes, and then broil for a minute.  Not more than 2... unless you like burnt crust...

*So, I found some butter extract at Walmart yesterday... appearently it's VEGAN (but still has lots of chemicals... you can't have everything...) .  Who knew?  So, instead of using Earth Balance or some high calorie thing like that, I'll use this stuff... this opens up so many possibilities.

Avocado Pesto Pasta with Broccoli

Another quickie, this one to A) use up the pesto and B) use up the avocado and C) to taste good.  It met all of these requirements... very well...

Adapted from Oh She Glows

Cook some whole wheat spaghetti.  Saute broccoli florets and chopped garlic.  Mash avocado, and mix with pesto that was used in this recipe.  And just throw everything on a plate, and stir it up... :)

Pesto Tofu Tower

This was QUITE good.  It was so nice to have pesto!  Can't wait for other recipes that use pesto as well... as soon as my basil plant recovers...  Inspired by EatingWell.

So, tofu was cut into large, thick bricks of varying sizes, lightly coated with italian flavoured bread crumbs, sprinkled with FYH mozzarella cheese, and baked for 45 minutes and 375.  In the last 15 minutes of baking, I threw in some asparagus spears as well, to get some veggies in the plate.
The pesto was a mixture of fresh basil, mirin, garlic powder, peanuts, and cashews.
That's it... easy, right?

Black Bean Soup

Another busy night, another quick post...

Adapted from Kalyn's Kitchen.

Veggies were onion, garlic and carrots.  Added diced tomatoes, tomato sauce, black beans, brown rice, Cowboy seasoning mix (could also use taco seasoning), veggie chicken bouillon, vegetable bouillon, chili powder, dried ginger, fresh oregano, fresh cilantro.  Thickened with corn starch, and served with fake meat.

Asparagus, Tofu, Pasta Casserole

Quick post tonight - lots of homework to do (physics... precal... you name it!)  Adatped from WTHDAVEA

Cook ww penne pasta.
Bring a pot of water to a boil, plop in 19 silken tofu, and remove from heat.  Drain after 2 minutes, blend tofu with jucie from 2 lemons.  Reserve 1 cup of tofu for another use.  Mix the remaining tofu with a smidgen each of maple syrup, soy sauce, nutmeg, nooch, shredded FYH mozzarella cheese, and apple cider vinegar.  Chop some fresh oregano and parsley, and mix this in as well.
Saute a shallot, carrots, garlic, and chopped asparagus.
Mix all of this in a casserole dish and bake for 30 minutes at 375.

Tofu, Mandarin, Grilled Veggie, and Mixed Lettuce Salad

All I have to say: wow.  I've never had fresh arugula before (it's homegrown, actually).  Wow.

Adapted from HHL.

The base was iceburg lettuce, then came arugula, torn cilantro, shredded carrots, canned mardarin oranges, grilled onion/mushrooms, and leftover tofu.
Dressing was tofu mayo (partially cooked silken tofu mixed with lemon juice) and the juice from the mandarines.

Wow.

Soup with Spaghetti

Here's another soup, pretty similar to the ones I have already made, but still good in its own right...  Adapted from here.

1 large onion was chopped into half ring, and sauteed with an equal amount of carrots, plus several cloves of garlic.  Soaked Peruano beans were added, along with diced tomatoes and tomato sauce, white wine, vegetable bouillon, rosemary, thyme, a bit of soy sauce, paprika, and chopped fresh parsley.  It was simmered until the beans were cooked, then whole wheat spaghetti and a corn starch slurry were added, and simmered until the pasta was cooked... and served with fake meat.

Tofu Sliders

Squee!  These were so much fun to make and eat... oh, yeah, they tasted good too... makes me feel like summer is here already.  Adapted from WTHDAVEA.

So, I basically used Vegan Dad's bun recipe, but skipped the oil and subbed butter, and doubled the rising time.

The burgers were ~14 oz mashed tofu, nooch, chili powder, liquid smoke, and a good amount of mixed parsley.  I also sauteed 1 small red onion (finely chopped) and 2 cloves garlic and added that to the tofu mash.  Vital wheat gluten was added to the mash until things were shape-able, then the patties were made. They were grilled on the panini press for about 15 minutes, until both sides were browned, flipping in the middle.  Serve the burgers on the buns, topped with vegan cheese, pickles, and tons of ketchup!

Simple Coconut Stir Fry

Sorry, my camera ran out of batteries, so no pictures tonight. (Updated with picture, now, obviously...)   Which is reallllllly annoying because the stir fry was so pretty.  And coconut-y...  Adapted from HHL.

Brown rice was cooked with a bay leaf, garlic powder, and dried ginger.
Tofu was cut into slabs, marinated with maple syrup and liquid smoke, and grilled on the panini press.
Veggies were broccoli, onion, carrots, and mini-potatoes; sauce was 50/50 low fat coconut milk and maple syrup, with a smidge of Perfect Pinch sweet and smokey flavouring, thickened with corn starch.
Plated: rice, veggies, tofu, shredded coconut, and peanuts.  Eat with chopsticks.

Cheesy Pasta and Broccoli

With fresh basil!  I feel like fresh basil is the only thing this dish really needs... it's just THAT good.  This was also my first time trying Follow Your Heart cheese, which was rather exciting for me!
Adapted from 101 Cookbooks.

Cook some whole wheat macaroni, and put into a casserole dish coated with nonstick spray.  Mix with grated FYH mozzerella cheese, and sprinkle with lots of chopped fresh basil.  Top with 16 oz canned tomato sauce and chopped broccoli.  Sprinkle lightly with bread crumbs.  Bake at 350 for 30 minutes, until broccoli is done.  Sprinkle with Perfect Pinch Sweet and Smoky seasoning - I added this the second time I had this dish, and that added the perfect punch that this dish needed.  Smoked paprika or chili powder would work well as well.

Coconut Soba Stir Fry

As usual, this one is super easy to throw together - not to mention that I haven't had coconut milk in ages, so that was really nice. Adapted from HHL.

Veggies were broccoli, carrots, grated ginger, and onion, plus deep fried tofu.
Sauce was 1/4 cup peanut sauce (this peanut flavoured stuff I get from the Asian market), rice vinegar, 1/2 cup coconut milk, and cilantro, thickened with corn starch.
Served over soba noodles, topped with cashews.

Starring... Fresh Oregano!

This was yet another good soup.  Yay soup!  Adapted from Kalyn's Kitchen.
Sorry I haven't posted in a few days - I've been so swamped with homework.  AP exams are coming up, and I am going to have a LOT less time for the next few weeks...

The veggies were onion, carrots, cabbage, and garlic.  Spices were vegetarian beef bouillon, vegetable bouillon, fresh parsley, thyme, fresh oregano, chili powder, and cooking sherry.  Other stuff included tomato sauce, diced tomatoes, soaked red kidney beans, and potatoes.  At the end of cooking I added torn spinach and corn starch slurry to thicken.  Served with fake meat.

Simple Alfredo Chickpea Spaghetti

Look out world, my basil plant is grown!  Since M killed my old basil plant (looong story), I didn't have one for the longest time.  This spring we bought one, along with oregano, watercress, and arugala.  I used the first from the plant in this recipe...   Adapted from Book of Yum.

It's really easy.
Cook up some whole wheat spaghetti.
Grill red bell pepper on a panini press.
Saute 1/2 cup finely minced onion until browned in a pan coated with nonstick spray.  Add 1 tbsp flour and 1/2 cup soy milk.  Stir well, and let thicken.  Add in enough soy milk to make a sauce.  Add in 1/2 cup cooked chickpeas.
Chop fresh basil and parsley.
Serve: pasta, sauce, pepper, herbs, pine nuts.

This was not super WOW, but it really hit the spot for me tonight.  I think the addition of some extra seasonings, more bell pepper, and perhaps some sauteed mushrooms would have made this even better.  This is a great spring board for so many combinations...

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! ;)

Lentil and Chickpea Soup

I also made this soouuuupppp!  It was souper thick.  And souper flavourful.  Puns intended.
Adapted from Kalyn's Kitchen.

Veggies were chopped onion and carrots, and minced garlic.  I also added brown rice, tomato sauce, and diced tomatoes.  Seasonings were caraway seeds, Perfect Pinch Sweet and Smoky seasoning mix, oregano, and vegetarian chicken bullion.  Other stuff included liquid smoke, soaked brown lentils, and soaked chickpeas.  This was simmered until the chickpeas were soft, then frozen peas and a corn starch slurry were added.  Served, as always, with fake meat.

Lat...kes?

Erm.  So, these were SUPPOSED to be latkes, but they turned out more like burgers and french fries all rolled into one entity.  Either way, they were pretty yum.  Adapted from VegNews and HHL.

Bake 1 large russet potato in the microwave, and refridgerate overnight.  The next day, peel and grate the potato.  Mix with chopped green onions, 3 tbsp applesauce, 3 tbsp whole wheat flour, some nooch, and some chili powder.  Bake at 350 for 20 minutes, then broil for 3 minutes.  Serve with ketchup.

Low-Calorie Ice Cream

So, I found Chocolate Covered Katie's blog a few weeks ago, and have been polking around it ever since.  It's fun to look at the pretty desserts...
Last Saturday I tried making her Voluminous Ice Cream recipe, and it didn't turn out all that great - it was all crystalized.  Then, last night I made it again.  Weeee!  It worked... and the best part was, I got a whole cup of ice cream for 40 calories.  Not bad, right? ;)
Not to mention this takes about 7 minutes total to throw together.  Essentially, you mix together 1 cup soy milk - I used Blue Diamond Unsweetened Vanilla (don't use Silk almond milk, that's what I did the first time when it turned out bad) -, 1/4 tsp something extract - I used coconut because that's what I have but Katie calls for vanilla -, 1/16 tsp salt, and a sweetener.  The sweetener can be stevia, agave, sugar, whatever.  And then you can add in cocoa powder or whatever flavouring you want.  I also tossed in a bit of banana, just as an experiment.  After all that is mixed you freeze it, then blend it REALLY REALLY well.  I used an immersion blender, which worked fine; Katie used her VitaMix.  Either way, just blend until super smooth.  Refreeze for a few minutes, and then indulge in healthy ice cream.  Pile with toppings...

Sorry, no pictures.. my camera was out of batteries.  But Katie has some really nice ones. 

Yes.  THIS REALLY WORKS AND TASTES LIKE LEGIT ICE CREAM.  BELIEVE IT.  1 CUP ICE CREAM = 40 CALORIES.  It's probably less that $.50 per cup, as well.  :D

Update: Here's a picture..