Lunch Wrap + Blueberry Muffins

Double whammy today! 
A) I'm proud of myself for starting to be braver about eating raw foods - like onion.  I used to be so scared to eat raw foods like onion and cabbage, because I thought it would mess up my stomach (don't ask).  However, my courage is slowly returning.  Thus, I put raw onion in my lunch wraps, and am loving it!
B) Have been searching for frozen blueberries for a llllllooooong time, and finally found them!  I don't like fresh blueberries (I know, don't hate), but decided to try frozen.  Voila, I like 'em!

And with all of that...

Muffins are from HHL, changes are whole wheat flour, baking blend stevia in place of sugar, omitted orange juice and oil, gingerbread cookie tea, and no almonds.  24 mini muffins at 35 calories per muffin.
The wrap is adapted loosely from VegBurgers.  It consists of:

• avocado
• raw red onion slivers
• silken tofu blended with lemon and cilantro,
• iceburg lettuce
• smoky cashew-pesto cheese, using this pesto recipe (omitting the oil, using water instead, and omitting the miso), and adding sun dried tomatoes to it
• tofu, pressed, cooked on the panini press after being smothered in bbq sauce (omitting the oil, omitting the bourbon and adding vegan worchestire sauce and rum extract)

And I suppose that I should go ahead and add in here that I made a pizza with the bbq sauce:
Pizza crust topped with bbq sauce, paninied mushrooms and red bell pepper, arugula, and the cheese from above.

Chilli with Sour Cream

 

More soup, catching up still...

 

As far as I remember, this was pretty tasty!

 

 

Side note on my life:  Homecoming is tomorrow.  I, obviously, don't have a date, and am not going (will probably be fast asleep when the dance starts at 9).  Is it weird that I'm proud to scoff at people who waste time/money on that stuff?  ;)  I literaly told someone "Why would you spend $100 on homecoming?  Do you know how much tofu that would buy?"  That totally got so many laughs from my friends... :D

 

Anyhoo...

 

Chili, adapted from Vouge Vegetarian

 

Veggies:

• Onion
• Garlic
• Carrots
• Canned, diced tomatoes

 

Seasonings:

• Vegan worchestire sauce (annie's is vegan)
• Cilantro
• No chicken broth powder
• Chili powder
• Cumin

 

Other:

• Setian of choice
• sour cream, to serve (use stevia, add the nooch - deeeelish!)
• Pinto beans
• Corn starch slurry

'Sausage' and Mushroom Cream Sauce over Rice

Well, as I should be studying for physics and french, I'll try to keep this short.

 

 

Heck, who am I kidding?  Studying is the LAST thing I want to do right now.

... well.  Yes.  This dish.  M reeeeeeeeeeally liked it!  Nice and wintery.  The sad thing is, it's been in my line-up for AGES, and I just now got around to making it.  But it's made now, and I have had the delightful experience of eating it.  My life just got that much better.

 

Adapted from Fat Free Vegan

 

Saute until tender:

• 1 small chopped onion
• 1 coined carrot
• 1/2 chopped bell pepper
• 8 oz sliced mushrooms
• 4 cloves chopped garlic . 

 

 Add in:

• 1/2 tbsp smoked paprika
• splash of soy sauce
• 1 tbsp thyme
• lots of chopped fresh basil
• 1 1/2 cups water + vegetable broth powder
• 3 tbsp whole wheat flour (whisk this in slowly)
• A good amount of chopped 'sausage' - I omitted the oil, and baked this at 350 for 30 minutes, until poofy and firm

 

Cook until thickened, and serve over brown rice.

Dessert Plate

 

Ok, so this first one... let's just say I wasn't expecting it to taste all that great after I made it - it looked kind of off.  BUT, contrary to my expectations... WOW.  It had that flavour of sweet, sweet fruit.  Seriously, this is good stuff.

Adapted from Sweet Healthy Living

Part 1, the fruit: Mix together 1/4 cup chopped frozen strawberries, 1/4 cup chopped frozen bananas, 2 tsp chia seeds, a drizzle of maple syrup, a dash of cinnamon, and a dash of dried ginger.  Let sit in the fridge for several hours to thicken.

Part 2, the whipped cream (more than needed): blend 1 pear (ripe, cored, peeled, roughly chopped), 3/4 cup unsweetened applesauce, 1/3 cup raw cashews, a dash of dried ginger, 2 dates, 1 tbsp vanilla extract, and 1/2 tsp xanthan gum.

When you are ready to serve, top the fruit with the cream, and sprinkle with granola (I just used store-bought).  Mix together.

 

And now for the cookies and such...

 



The newcomers here are...
The white blob on the bottom is cookie dough from Chockolawtay.  I halved the recipe, skipped the protein powder, butter extract, coconut extract, rice flour, and vanilla paste.  I added vanilla extract and rum extract, and used baking blend stevia for the sweetener.  Big hit!
The chocolate to the right of the cookie dough is red velvet fudge from Foodie Fiasco.. although, obviously, not so red.  I opted to use banana, and thought these also turned out excellent.  Zapping in the microwave is not optional, trust me.
On the veeery right of my plate was some banana-pistachio bread.  Yuuum!  Straight from Boy and the Rabbit, only I skipped the frosting and added the pistachios straight into the bread.  Hey, that worked too...
The cookies on the left are pumpkin oatmeal.  I wasn't too impressed with them - rather flavourless, actually.

Shepherd's Pie

Perfect pile of root veggies, ready for winter.  I eat as I have a fan blowing on me because it's 80 degrees out.  Oh well...

 

 

One can hope, right?.. right... ?

Maybe?

 

 

Adapted from Oh She Glows

 

Mash 1 1/2 lbs yukon gold potatoes (washed, cubed, boiled) with 1/3 cup soy milk, pepper, nooch, and garlic powder.

Saute:

• 1 small onion, chopped
• 2 large carrots, coined
• 2 large parsnips, chopped
• 3 cloves chopped garlic
• 1 cup-ish frozen peas

Add in and simmer for a few minutes:

• 1 tbsp home made vegetable broth powder
• 1 tsp vegan worchestire sauce (Annie's is vegan)
• 2 tbsp thyme
• 1 tsp Spike seasoning mix
• 3 tbsp whole wheat flour
• 1 tbsp red wine vinegar

 

Pour the veg mixture into a casserole dish, and spread the potatoes on top.  Bake at 425 for half an hour.

Vegan Sandwiches Save the Day!

I won this cookbook in a contest a while back, and am reading it front to back.  Don't judge.  I've been trying out a few recipes, and here's the pictures from a couple:

Broccoli on an english muffin with hollindase sauce:
(I used this recipe for the muffins.  Soooo much fun to make - you should try it, really.  I used baking blend stevia for the sugar)

And these were called Greek Burgers:

Welcome Fall! Split Pea Soup

Ok, so I'm not so big on pureed soups - you can probably tell.  They are just too... well... uniform.  No chunks, no excitement.  Boo hoo.  So that kind of ruled out split pea soup for me - and then I tried this recipe.  Nom nom nom!  Good stuff, this soup.  And quite simple to make, too.

Adapte from WTHDAVEA

Drizzle with sugar free maple syrup and roast at 425 for 20 minutes:

• 1 large sweet potato, peeled and cubed
• 1 onion, roughly chopped
• 3/4 lb parsnips, peeled and coined
• Quite a few carrots, coined
• A few russet potatoes, diced

Soak 2 cups green split peas overnight.  Drain, and cook until soft with ~ 4 cups water.  Add:

• 2 tbsp homemade vegetable broth powder (GOOD STUFF, just use about 1/2 of the salt called for, and I left out the tumeric because I hate it)
• A dash of cloves
• Liquid smoke (hickory flavoured, if possible)
• Dried rosemary

Puree the soup base, and let it thicken by cooking with the lid off if needed.  This will thicken up a lot over night.
Serve: veggies, broth, seitan of choice, and sugar free apricot jam

It's Pizza... No, It's Quinoa... No, It's Pizzaquinoa!

So, I made this Pizza Quinoa casserole...

 

 

It was the PERFECT start to a 4 day weekend!  What flavour!  Excellent!

And, now since I have a bit more time to type tonight, I will take advantage of that and rant for a bit.  I think all of my friends, and I now that I think about it, have senioritis.  It's bad, and the year is not even half overwith yet.  I feel like my emotions inside are kind of rolling around, like a giant wad of tangled thread.  It's like of weird - I'm either laughing or about to cry or both.  I'll stop now, and move on to food...  so I don't get too depressed.

 

Adapted from Food Doodles

 

In a casserole dish, combine:

• 1/2 cup dried quinoa, cooked with 1 cup water
• 1/2 onion, finely chopped and sauteed
• 2 cloves garlic, chopped and sauteed
• 1/3 red bell pepper, finely chopped and sauteed
• 3 tbsp home made ketchup (heavenly stuff - use stevia for the sucanat to reduce calories)
• 2 tbsp tomato paste
• 1 tbsp each freshly chopped basil and oregano
• 1 tsp sumac
• 1 tsp fennel seeds
• 2 tbsp nooch
• a few drops liquid stevia

 

bake at 350 for 20 minutes or so

Corn Salad and ... Date-Coffee Pancakes

Well, I'm still catching up here, so I couldn't manage to dig up a picture for the salad.  Perhaps my camera ran out of power or something..

 

 

Anyhoo, I couldn't give you a post without pictures, now, could I?  So, thus, I give you pancakes and corn salad.  Which TOTALLY makes sense.  Right?  Right.

 

 

Pancakes adapted from The Tolerant Vegan

 

In a small bowl, mix together:

• 1 cup whole wheat flour
• 1 tsp baking powder
• a pinch of salt
• 1/2 tbsp baking blend stevia
• 1/2 banana, mashed
• 1 cup nondairy milk
• 1 tbsp instant coffee
• 1/4 cup chopped dates

Make like you normally make pancakes.  Makes 2, 322 calorie servings

 

Corn Salad adapted from One Green Planet

 

Mix together:

• Cooked corn from 2 ears
• 1 red bell pepper, cut into strips, cooked on a panini press
• 1 small onion, sliced, cooked on a panini press
• 2 tbsp chopped sun-dried tomatoes
• 2 tbsp vegetable broth
• a splash of cider vinegar
• 1 clove garlic, minced
• 1 tsp smoked paprika
• chopped fresh oregano
• liquid smoke
• 1 cup red kidney beans

 

Sweet Potato Balls and Spaghetti

So, I've got some pasta for you guys tonight!

 

 

Although I made this ages ago, I seem to remember that is was super yummy, sooo..

Quite a good first 'meat'ball recipe for me!  They stuck together, which was really nice.

 

Sweet Potato Balls from Fat Free Vegan

Sauce from Ambitious Kitchen

 

For the sauce: blend until smooth, and heat:

• 1 roasted hatch chili pepper
• 28 oz can salt-free tomatoes
• 3/4 cup chopped onion, sauteed
• 5 cloves garlic, chopped, sauteed
• 2 cups water
• Chick'n bouillon for 2 cups of broth
• Cumin to taste
• ~1/4 cup cilantro

For the 'meat'balls, mix together, shape into balls, and bake at 350 for 30 minutes:

• 3/4 cup chopped mushrooms, sauteed
• 1 small sweet potato, peeled, boiled, mashed
• 1/2 cup cooked quinoa
• 1/2 onion, chopped, cooked
• 3 cloves garlic, chopped, sauteed
• 1 cup chickpeas
• 1 tbsp flax meal
• 1 tbsp nooch
• oregano, paprika, fennel, sage, liquid smoke to flavour

Serve sauce over pasta, topped with 'meat'balls

 

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