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 ;)

Carrot & Sesame Burgers

Adapted from Maple Spice

Saute up 1/2 chopped onion and 1 cup grated carrots.  Put half of this mixture aside, and the rest in a blender with:
1 tbsp flax meal soaked with 1 tbsp water for 5 min
2 tbsp sesame seeds
1 tbsp cornstarch
1 tbsp cumin
zest of 1 lemon
1/2 cup bread crumbs
1/2 cup water

blend until pretty much uniform, and then add water/bread crumbs as needed.
Stir in remaining chopped veggies, and form into patties.  Bake at 350 for 20-30 minutes, until cooked through.
Serve on hamburger buns, with avocado, arugula, and red onion slices.

Two Serving Veggie Pot Pie-Thingy

Hey.  I got up at 4am this morning, and couldn't go back to sleep.  Bleck.  The worst part of it is I didn't get to sleep until 10 or so last night, since I was working on an English project, then had to come home and make soup, salad dressing, pizza, and salads (the pizza was AMAZING, by the way.  but more on that later).

 

 

Anyhoo, here's a lovely little dish that makes 2 servings... in an effort to get though all of my saved recipes I am cutting most things down to 2 servings... 

I added a gravy sort of thing, and I think that made this dish taste SOO much better than the original recipe.  But to each his own, I suppose.

 

Adapted from Sunday Morning Banana Pancakes

 

For the crust:

mix 1/4 cup flour, 1 tbsp applesauce, and 2 tbsp cold water.  Spread into 2 ramkins coated with nonstick spray, and bake for 10 minutes, until firm.

For the Tofu:

Mix crumbled tofu, stemmed/wilted spinach, nooch, lemon juice, and garlic.  You should total about 3/4 cup-ish tofu mix

For the veggies:

Peel, cube, and boil a very small sweet potato until tender.

Saute bell pepper, red onion, and mushroom until almost tender.  Add chopped rosemary, paprika, vegan worchestire sauce, home made vegetable broth powder, a few drops butter extract, and a small corn starch slurry.  Add a few tbsp water as needed to make it a sort of gravy.

 

Add the tofu mix to the ramkins, then top with veggies.  Bake at 375 for 25 minutes, until heated through.

Pasta, Pesto, and Broccoli [and Chick'n]

Alright!  I totally got swamped by English for a few days, but that's over now.. So, back to the food. 

Ahem.  Yes, well, this is a good, hearty pasta dish.  With chick'n.  Yes.  And broccoli is on sale right now for me, so win-win...

Oh, yes.  Today is Friday!  Yaaay!

Adapted from Meet the Shannons

Pesto: blend

• 1/4 cup hazlenuts
• 1/4 cup water
• 1/3 bunch spinach, washed, destemmed
• handful fresh basil
• handful fresh parsley
• 1 clove garlic
• 3 tbsp nooch
• 1 lemon

Mix with sauteed broccoli, whole wheat pasta, and chick'n (baked instead of boiled at 350 unitl firm, ~30 minutes)

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.

Saturday Dessert Plate

 Chocolate-filled Cookie Dough Truffles.  So, basically, for the chocolate part, mix up one batch of Foodie Fiasco's coconut butter, and use that in CCK's home made chocolate.  You'll have a bit leftover, but I'm thinking that this would be a good low-cal replacement for chocolate chips.  Then make the batter for these cookie dough truffles, using PB2 instead of peanutbutter, and stevia + molasses for the brown sugar (next time I would probably double the stevia, and throw in some cinnamon).  Leave out the chocolate chips, and add in 1-3 tbsp water to make a workable dough.  Wrap little squares of the dough around teensy balls of the chocolate, and refridgerate.  Done!

Blackberry cookies, adapted from Chocolawty.  They had a really pretty colour, and a nice, suttle blackberry flavour.  (I couldn't find stevia-sweetened blueberry jelly, so I bought blackberry instead... close enough!).  The only changes were halving the recipe,  using applesauce instead of oil, and using lemon zest in place of extract.

Made these peppermint patties... oh, HEAVEN!  It's been too long since I've had peppermint... Changes were using reduced fat coconut shreds instead of coconut butter (although I FINALLY broke down and bought coconut oil.  Dang, that stuff is expensive!), and using sugar free maple syrup.

 

Chocolate, Vanilla, and Brownie Pudding Pie.  Yes.  I used Chocolate Covered Katie's brownies, with dark chocolate cocoa powder for the brownies.  The only changes were halving the recipe, using stevia in place of sugar, and dark chocolate cocoa powder + extra soy milk instead of chocolate chips.  Even M, who doesn't like most of my desserts, LOVED this pie!

Lemon squares.  Not too good.... too much lemon, and a weird texture. :(

And, lastly, I finally made a variation on banana-fro yo (adapted from HHL).  It was 1/2 frozen banana + a scant cup frozen pineapple.  Yum!

Limey Wild Rice and Broccoli Salad

I hope you like lime...

Because I have a pile of lime-intense food for you today.

If you don't want to be BLASTED with lime, I would cut it down drastically... same goes for the lemon.  All kidding aside, though, this was one unique dish!

Adapted from The First Mess

Cook up some wild rice.

Chop and grill on a panini press onion and broccoli.

The dressing was... (all blended in my lovely Mr. V)

1 orange

1 lime

1 lemon

~6 oz tofu to thicken

a few drops stevia extract

a large handful of fresh basil leaves

The whole shebang got topped with sunflower seeds and chopped avocado.

Chickpea Noodle Soup

Better the next day?

I think so!

You know, it was kind of funny-  M said the broth tastes buttery.  Why?  Don't ask me... -_-  No clue.  It's good though...

Adapted from MyRecipes

Veggies: carrots and onion (duh), garlic

Seasonings: veggie chicken bouillon, chopped fresh parsley, bay leaves, juice of 1 lemon, Spike seasoning, dried majoram

Finished with whole wheat shell pasta, cooked chickpeas, a cornstarch slurry, and seitan

What's Up Wednesday #6

Interesting article about agave - Why I Never Use Agave Nectar.  I never knew this stuff!

I tossed leftover veggies/setian on a bbq sauce - slathered bun, and called that dinner.  (Ok, so I had my usual soup and salad too...)

Friday was a MASSIVE cooking session for me! 
First up, I made Colby Cheese from Ordinary Vegetarian.  This was my first time trying agar... THAT STUFF IS SO WEIRD.  No kiddin'... I omitted the lemon juice (all my lemons went into making lemonade!), used 2 roasted bell peppers, cashews, and straight up sesame seeds instead of tahini.  It smelled fabulous...
Secondly was a strawberry bbq sauce, which also smelled really good.  I slathered it on tofu slabs, and stuck that on a sandwich.  Uh, YUM!  (Adapted from Vegan Yack Attack) Changed to the sauce: half recipe, 3/4 cup strawberries, add a bit of water, and ~1/4 cup sugar free blueberry jelly... I ran out of strawberries...

Lastly was this super-awesome-amazing salad dressing from Fat Free Vegan.  I followed it pretty closely, just doubled it, used a shallot in place of onions, and used sesame seeds in place of tahini.  Oh, gosh, this is the BEST dressing I have made in ages.. Susan is such a dressing genius.

And on Tuesday, I made a little army of vegan sausages!  OK, guys, repeat after me: I will read the instructions in the recipe and not blindly assume that all water goes directly in the dish.
I totally added the two cups of water to the gluten... and you can imagine how watery THAT turned out... -_-  Oh, well.  I ended up omitting the apple part of the sausages, using 1/2 cup oat flour in place of oats, 1 1/4 cup gluten, and 1/4 cup brown rice flour in place of rice.  They actually turned out realllllly good, though.  Although they did need about 45 minutes of baking time, not 30.  But, still, I think the flavour can best be discribed as 'calming', if that makes any sense at all...

One last thing... this morning I made Coffee Gingerbread Oatmeal... mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm.
Good stuff.  I made bottomless oats, and then added the banana and spices from this recipe (and stevia), using instant coffee powder in place of brewed coffee.

Oh, sorry, I lied.  HERE's the last thing... I made a coffee flavour of my b-fast tofu dip, which went very well with pizzerts.  Just blend silken tofu, almond milk, instant coffee grounds, and stevia.

What's Up Wednesday #5

Lemon poppy seed oatmeal!  Again using this bottomless oatmeal recipe, and adapting the flavouring from The Oatmeal Artist.  Notes on the oatmeal: You have to let this stuff simmer for about 2 hours - as long as possible, really.  The idea is to force the grains to absorb as much water as possible.  Also, leave the lid on your pot - this will keep the water in, and force it to be absorbed.  The more liquid that escapes, the smaller the portion!  However, I have ended up having to leave the lid off for a few minutes right before I eat the oatmeal, in order to not have it SO liquidy.  To the oats I added: juice of 1 lemon, a bit less than 1/2 mashed banana, ~2 tsp poppy seeds, ~1/4 cup sugar free maple syrup, ~3 tbsp baking stevia, and ~ 2 tsp cinnamon.

More oatmeal (again, using the bottomless oats recipe), this time with CHOCOLATE!  Yay, giant bowl of chocolate [oats] in my tummy right now!  Basically, I added 1 1/2 tbsp cocoa powder, a few hazlenuts, and a whole pile of stevia, adapted from Chocolawty.  Uh, YUM!  (You know, this really makes me think that I need to get some stevia extract.  All of this powdered stevia is getting a bit overwhelming... )

Attempted, and HATED, this cereal.  Erm... wow, epic fail, right there, guys!

I started a new anime - Soul Eater.  Boy, I am SUCH an anime freak.

My computer totally got infected with a virus on Friday, and I spent all Friday and the better part of Saturday babying the poor thing.  Luckily, M and I were able to fix it, and all is well now... I hope!

Guess what!  Home made lemonade: 1/2 lemon to 1 cup water, and stevia to taste.  YUM!  It's so easy, why haven't I tried this before?

What's Up Wednesday #3

Hm... first time making almond cheese!  I made a lightened up version by Healthy Hipster (using lemon juice instead of lime, Italian seasoning in place of curry powder, and sweet potato), and put it on this pizza!  It was pretty good - obviously, not EXACTLY like cheese, but it had an excellent flavour.  I was highly pleased.

Made a single serving chocolate cake from CCK for my b-day!  It was alright, but I think I'm not a HUGE fan of baking in the microwave.  Things just don't turn out as well.  But I made her Reeses Pieces frosting (using sugar free syrup, and PB2), and that was super yum - I ended up just dipping my cake in it.  You have NO idea how long it's been since I had cake with frosting - it was such a treat!

Speaking of my birthday, lookie at what M got me.

I AM NOW THE PROUD OWNER OF A VITAMIX!

That's right... be jealous.  I can't wait to play with my new toy! Squee!!

And oatmeal continues to pour out of my kitchen.  Not literally.  But I did make bottomless oats again, this time Banana Bread flavoured (using maple syrup instead of molasses, and using 1/3 of a banana).  I have found that the oats are best simmered really low with the lid on the pot for about 1 1/2 hours - then they get nice and thick, and no liquid is gone - hence, more food ;) !

(lots of pictures!)

And, I made Chai Oatmeal with the bottomless oats - nixing the fennel, and adding maple syrup, using pre-ground spices, and Foodie Fiasco's low cal cookie butter

Zesty Stuffed Potatoes

Mmmmmm... just spicy enough for my wimpy taste buds!  These were quite simple to make, despite the number of components to them.  I do, however, need to improve my potato-scooping-out skills...

In other news, my head is reeling with photography stuff.  I'm researching how to do better photos!  Yay me!  (Because, honestly, they are preeeetty bad)

Adapted from That Was Vegan?

Bake 2 medium russet potatoes in the microwave.  Cut in half, and scoop out most of the inside, to form a boat.  Stuff with half a batch of refried beans (I used ketchup instead of canned tomatoes, omitted the molasses, and added liquid smoke), vegan chorizo, and vegan cheese.  Bake at 450 for 25 minutes or so, and serve with a dollop of sour cream (I used stevia for the sweetener).

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.

Lasagna

Oh, gosh.  I got a job at a restaurant for the summer, and it has TOTALLY messed up my schedule.  I haven't had a "normal" spare second for the past two days, so I haven't posted this lasagna yet... but here it is!  (Although, I love my new job.  Wouldn't trade it for any other...)  And sorry, I'll get a picture soon, I was just WAY toooo tired last night, and Saturday as well.

Adapted from HHL

Sauce: mix together 3 8 oz cans tomato sauce, 1 tbsp rosemary, chili powder, red wine vinegar, mirin, Italian seasoning, LOTS of chopped parsley, and other stuffs that should go in tomato sauce ;)
Noodles: Yup.. you need noodles for lasagna.
Tofu ricotta: mix 12 oz pressed/crumbled tofu, nooch, nutmeg, juice of 1 lemon, garlic powder, and onion powder.
Veggies: saute chopped onion, carrots, garlic, and mushrooms until their juices are gone, then add some frozen peas.

OK, assembley.  Sauce, noodles, tofu, veggies, noodles, sauce... etc etc... end with noodles, sauce, and FYH cheese.  Bake for 45 minutes at 400. 

I didn't eat this the day I made it, so I can't say that it gets better with time, or less watery, or whatever.  But I would assume both statements are true.  :)

Wheat Berry Salad

This salad makes you feel healthy.  No, really, I'm not lying.  Those are the first words that popped out of my mouth when I tasted it...  Btw - this has A LOT of protein.

Adapted from Oh She Glows

Dressing: blend together 1/4 cup toasted sesame seeds, 1/4 cup Silk, a bit of olive oil, 1/4 cup nooch, garlic powder, juice of 1 lemon, and 1/3 cup mirin. 
Cook a generous 1/2 cup wheat berries, then mix with 1 1/2 cups cooked lentils, dressing, sauteed onion, carrots, bell pepper, and garlic, and chopped parsley.  And wilted spinach.  Mix well. ;)

Ricotta & Pesto Pizza

Mmm... pizza... pesto... mmm...

Adapted from HHL

Pesto: blend together 1/2 cup walnuts, 1 packed cup basil leaves, 1 hefty cup spinach leaves, 1/4 cup parsley, a bit of nooch, juice of 1 lemon, and enough mirin to make it a pesto consistancey.
Tofu Ricotta: Press and crumble tofu, and mix with lemon juice, Italian seasoning, nooch, and garlic powder.
Grill chopped red onion and mushrooms on a panini press, and wilt some spinach.
On a pizza crust, spread a layer of pesto, followed by spinach, mushrooms, and onions, and lastly the ricotta.  Cook/heat for a few minutes on the panini 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.

Spinach, Broccoli, and Quinoa Salad

Mm... this was yummy!  I didn't expect it to turn out all that great, but it was...

Adapted from HHL.

Boil 1 cup water, add 3/4 cup quinoa, cover and simmer for 25 minutes.
De-stem and finely tear 1/2 bunch spinach.  Mix with cooked quinoa to partially wilt.
Saute 1 small head broccoli and 2 cloves minced garlic, and add to the quinoa.
Other stuff to add: 1/2 cup parsley, chopped; 1/4 cup nooch; 2 tbsp lemon juice; 1/3 cup tofu mayo (partially cooked silken tofu blended with lemon juice); 1/4 cup orange juice.

Serve warm, cold, or room temp, topped with chopped blood oranges and avocado.

OMG Ok, so I found blood oranges for a decent price at Target the other day, so I decided to get one... this is where it went!  They taste like a cross between a grapefruit and an orange, and have a lovely deep red colour.  Mmmmm...

Broccoli, Rice, and Chickpea Casserole

Adapted from Fat Free Vegan.

Cook 1 generous cup brown rice.
Saute 1 medium, finely chopped onion, 3 cloves garlic, 1 small bell pepper, and 5 cups broccoli florets.  Mix in rice, and 2 cups cooked chickpeas.
In another small bowl, mix together 1/2 cup nooch, lemon juice, cooking sherry, smoked paprika or paprika.liquid smoke, 2 T Spike seasoning, dried mustard, and pepper.  Mix this into the rice mixture. 
Spread into a casserole dish and top with a thin layer of tofu mayo (18 oz silken tofu, partially cooked, blended with 1/4 cup lemon jucie).
Bake at 350 for 20 minutes or so, until you are ready to eat.

Quinoa and Bean Patties/Wraps

So, these were SUPPOSED to be patties, but they were WAAAY too crumbly for that, so they kind of turned into a wrap filling.  Adapted from here.

For the patties: Cook 1 cup dried white beans, and mash with allspice, cumin, and mint.  Cook 1 cup quinoa and mix that in, and cook 1/2 bunch green onions and mix those in.  Then shape this mixture into patties, and either bake, grill on a panini press, or just leave as is.

Put into a wrap with shredded carrots and tofu mayo (18 oz silken tofu, partially cooked, blended with 1/4 cup lemon juice).  Eat, and watch out for quinoa explosions...